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1 A RABBIT PLA&UE. A State and Two Terrritories Overrnn With the Pests. The Infliction Almost as Damaging as in Australia, General Brisbiu says in a special to the New York World that "the rabbits are again becoming a plague in many portions of Idabo, Nevada and Wyoming. These little bonnies bid fair to do as much damage in our country aa they have in Australia unless timely steps are taken for their oxtermina- j tion. In Australia in many places they have eaten up the whole of the country, even the sheep pastures being destroyed by them. It seems strange that national legislation should be required against so small an animal as a rabbit, but the English colonists of Australia are glad enough to have the Government aid them in de stroying the little pests. Everything green and every blade of grass is eaten by them to the earth, and, except the grasshopper, it would be impossible to conceive of anything more destructive to vegetation than a rabbit They appear in vast I armies, and, moving across a country, strip j it of all vegetable matter. Gardens are their ; special deught, and not a vegetable is left ] where they can once take held. { "When out in Idaho, a year or two ago, I i had some experience with rabbits. They appeared in great numbers along the Oregon ' Short Line, and at some towns destroyed all j the gardens. Near Boise they attacked the ! grain fields and even the pastures. The ineth- ! ods of destroying them were sometimes quite ; novel One gentleman who bad a grain j field and a garden patch surrounded the ! field with a board on his feroe next to the j ground. Above the board he Jrew a wire very tightly, and just close enough to the board to let the rabbits' head t': rough. In . trying to get over the board tht/ got fast "nrl harxrari f.homs?lve<L His field was OTOttV well strung around every morning with dead j rabbits. "Another farmer put a brush fence around | his held and here and there made a hole through it. On the other side of the holes i he sank large boxes in the ground. The | bunnies would run through the hole, fall into j the boxes and be unable to get out. Another ! farmer put boxes under his fences with tilting ! lids. The outside was firm enough, but no sooner would the rabbit attempt to run through than j the treacherous lid would tip upand land him j in the box below. Then it would tip back ; into its place again and be ready for another rabbit. In the morning the boys, armed with pitchforks, would go around* the field, kill the rabbits and pitch them into a wagon. . They often got a wagon load in a morning. The rabbits were fed to the hogs. "Another method was the 'surround.1 A j large pit or hole was dug in the ground where | the rabbits were thickest, and brush piled i around the pit for some distance out. Then i the men and boys made a surround, beating j the brush up and frightening the bunnies to- i ward the pit As they closed in t&e raouits would take refuge in the brush around the hole or pit. When all had closed in the brush was fired all around the outside, and the little creatures to escape the flames would jump into the pit. Those that did not fall into the pit were roasted or killed by the men and boys who stood close together around the outside i armed with clubs and pitchforks. I "Lux & Miller, the great cattle raisers, i whose ranches were completely overrun with j rabbits, offered a reward of five cents apiece ' for tb?m, and the boys made good wages killing them. A boy in a day with good j 'luck could kill and deliver from fiity | to one hundred, so he made a good enm. | |Lux & Miller threw ft he dead rabbits into a big I jvat, where they were boiled, skin and all,and J then fed to t"ie hogs to fatten them. It is I ,said they make Rood hog feed, and the hogs j !fatten very rapidly upon rabbit flesh. I t'Poc+onr tho Vronoli nnH ! curer of mad-dog's bite by inoculation, says i !he can kill off all the rabbits in tiie United j .States and Australia by inoculation. His j plan is to inoculate live rabbits with . jchicken cholera and then let them go I among the other rabbits. The disease is very 'contagious and fatal, and he contends they ! Iwould soon give it to each other and all die ! off. It is certainly worth trying, for a greater pest than an excess of rabbits can- | inot be imagined.'' LATER NEWS! | Dairymen of New York State, in sessior ! at Middletown, petitioned Congress not U change the Oleomargarine act Ge.veral Thomas Kilby Smith, a promi- , ??? TTa WoI ir? f.Vin olvt'l wnr HioH fl I few days ago in New York. He was born in Ohio in 1821. The largest capture of illicit distilleries J ' " ever made at one haul took place a few days ! since near Jasper, Ga. llevenue officers captured four stills in full operation. Two out of thro* colored men who shock- > ingly assaulted Mrs. D. J. Oberry and hei ! daughter at Pemberton Ferry, Flo., wer< caught in the woods and roasted alive. Stockmen are invoking Federal or Stat< aid against the thieves and desperadoes op eratlng in the public land strip on the north ; ern border of the Panhandle, Terns. Mur- i ^An/.iiMxnnnr. ori/1 noftlo on i UCIO Ui C Ul UUI1J VA/UUliVUV.W, UI1U VUWVJV I stolen and killed for their hides by thousands ; A sheep herder, named Jamison, was killed and afterward the murderers lynched his father, brother and uncle. Mrs. Cleveland has declined a gift of i ; very handsome and expensive jewel' casket ! sent her by an Italian dealer in works of art. Secretary Fairchild has recommendei j * the appropriation by Congress of $2o0,030 foi ! the establishment of a marine hospital ir j New York City. Senator Frye's bill to promote the political and social prosperity of the United States | by providing for a congress of American Re I publics in October of next year was passed j unanimously by the Senate in the last Con ! gress. Mr. Blaine was presented to President j v^ai nub, vi riaiu o, u uaja omw, wj : United States Minister McLane. The German Crown Prince's throat disease is again reported worse, an 1 his physiciau, Dr. Mackenzie, has been summoned in ho" haste to his royal patient's side at Sai Remo. "V^illiam McCormick, a poor man resid I ing at St. Martins', New Brunswick, is alleged | to have found a pot buried in the beach con I tainlng $40,000 in gold. . EECESS APPOINTMENTS, j A Lonx List Sent to the Senate by ! the President. The President has sent to the Senate a long j list of appointments made during the recess n#rv?iirK>N inolnrlinr those of the following i V4 WU^iVW, ? 0 w ; Ministers to foreign governments: Oscar S. Btrauss of New York to Turkey, j Alex. R. Lawton of Georgia to Austria-Hun- j gary, Bayless W. Hanna of Indiana to the { ?- Argentine Republic, S. S. Carlisle of Louisi- j ana to Bolivia. Consuls General?Jared L. Ratlibone, of California, at Par s; Charlton H. Way, of Georgia, at St Petersburg; D. L. Pringle, of Soutn-Sarolina, at Constantinople; H. M. Sewell of Maine, at Apia. There are also several Secretaries of Legation, a large number of Consuls, G. Browne Goode to Ive Fish Commissioner, Leigh XV. Reed of Virginia to be Assistant Register of the Treasury, four Collectors of internal rev- j enue, ten Collectors of customs, a number of appraisers and special examiners in the cus- 1 toms service, promotion in the revenue marine service, two supervisors of steam vessels, s PnofmoQharQ* &DU trn luuumuft A William W. Fisk. Athol, Mass.; Frank A. Campbell,Woonsocket,R. L; Louisa T. Long, Greenville, Ala.; James W. White, Kosciusko, Miss.; Louis E. Humricbouse, Dighton, Kan.; William W. Thielkeld, fc-'cott, iCan.; Herbert Battenberg, Haysprin^s, Neb.; Frank Pay, Benkleman, Neb.; William S. Marrow.Nashville, 111.; Hugh C. Armstrong, Noeaho. Mo. _______ _ Nearly $500,000 in deposits is lying miclaimed in the savings banks of Boston. It belongs to 3(37 unknown depositors, not one of whom has put in an appearance at (his bank for more than 20 years. THE NEWS SUMMARY. Eastern and Middle States. The schooner Nellie S. Jerrell, bound from Baltimore to Wareham, Mass., collided off the New Jersey coast with the 6teamer Algiers, and was sunk. The steward and two : men were lost. The tab^e glassware workers of Pittsburg, Penn., struck against the rules adopted by the manufacturers. Every factory but one waa closed, and 3,500 men were idle. The Rev. Charles A. Berry, of Wolverj bampton, England, has declined to accept the pastorate of Plymouth Church, to which he had been called some time since. Mrs. John J. Astor, the leader of fashionable New York society, is dead in her sixtysecond year. *? ?-? 1 f it? nt tha I he uenertu ucvuinti uwtu .... . Knights of Labor have issued a circular, preI pared by Grand Master Workman Powderly, | attacking Jay Gould for his monopolistic ten- } j dencies and strongly favoring the establish? ! | ment of a postal telegraph by the National I Government. 1 Henry S. Ives, the young New York finanI eier, who failed recently for many millions, has been arrested upon the charge of grand larceny, growing out of his railroad transactions, ana held in $2.5,000 bail. ! Mayor O'Brien has been re-elected in Boston by 2*i,fi2l to votes to 24,865 for Hart, nominee of the Republicans and 1 ndependents The Common Council is Democratic. Salem and Newburyport have gone Republican, and with Worcester have been carrieJ in favor of liquor license. Sonth and Ten leaders of the striking ore handlers at Fairport, Ohio, were arrested and taken to Gainesville on tne cnarge 01 inciung vo nut. One man was instantly killed and seven were seriously injured by the fall of a scaffold near Alton, 111. As a passenger train approach Geneva, a small town in Miller County, Ark., at seven o'clock the other evening, three man boarded the train and two miles east of the station rang down the brakes and, entering the express car, robbed the safe of its contents. A Dallas (Texas) inventor has an electric fish line which kills a fish as it seizes the hook, and at the same time rings a bell on shore. In* the stomach of a blue heron shot by Charles Smith at Burg Hill, Ohio, were found forty-seven carp. From their appearance thftv fYinsti tuted but one meal. A VKIM of coal four feet thick has been discovered near Blanstown, Iowa. Forty-two United States prisoners, the largest party of the sort on record, have just been taken in a batch from Indian Teritory to Fort Smith, Arkansas. A shock from an electric bell wire behind the scenes instantlv killed Stage Manager James O'Connell, of Andrews s "Michael StrogOiT' Company in Cincinnati. The first cremation in Michigan has just taken place at Detroit. The body cremated was that of Mrs. Barbara Schow, of Millersburg, Ohio. Thirty Chinese women, who arrived re> cently in San Francisco, claiming previous residence, have been refused a landing. TO T O TT n* Sow UbV, 1. O. A.AliliUV n, OA-iuajVl VI wan Francisco,who was shot and severely wounded by Charles De Young, proprietor of the San Francisco Chronicle, eight years ago, has just died in Washington Territory. De Young was afterward shot to death by Kalloch's son, whose trial resulted in an acquittal. E: L. Harper has been sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for criminal acts in connection with his position as Vice-President of the Fidelity National Bank at Cincinnati. Mayor Latrobe, of Baltimore, welcomed the delegates to the second annual convention of the National Federation of Labor, and President Gompers replied. A firr in Chicago destroyed nearly one million dollars' worth of property. A balloon, containing a man who had evidently starved to death, tumbled from the sky to earth, near Owensboro, Ky. A joint committee of the Presbyterian Church, North and South, have been in ses- | sion at Louisville, Ky., considering the question of organic union. Washington. The Republican National Committee published an address to the voters of the country announcing; the preparations for the next convention. The delegates of the Evangelical Alliance called in a body at ths White Hous9 and were received by the President and Mrs. Cleveland. Rev. Dr. Burchard was among the visitors. Mr. Cleveland made a short j address to the delegates. There are thirty-eight widows of revolu- i tionary soldiers on the pension lists. Ant effort will be made in the present Con- j gress to reduce letter postage to one cent. Judge Sn'ell of the police court in Wash- i ington lined George W. Harvey, a restaur- I ateur, *100 for refusing to serve a colored j lawyer named Hewlett. Harvevltook an an peaf. Chairmen of the Senate Committees, as I appointed by the Republican caucus, are: Appropriations, Allison; Commerce, Frye; J Finance, Morrill; Foreign Relations, Sher- I man; Judiciary, Edmunis; Pensions, Davis; ! Public Lands, Plumb; Agriculture and For- j estry. Palmer; Education and Labor, Blair; Postoffices, Sawyer; Civil Service and Re- 1 trencnment, uiiacc. The second National Convention of third j and fourth class postmasters of the United | State? met in Washington. About 250 postmasters were present, representing twenty- ! three States. Forelen. The concentration of large bodies of Rus- ! sian troops on Austria's frontier has caused int?nse excitement throughout the latter country. Advices from tha Orkney Island! report the loss of twenty fishing smacks in a hurricane. M. Goblet beinjr unable to form a new French Cabinet, President Carnot called upon M. Falliere to undertake the task. Twenty-two persons were drowned and twenty-two fishing smacks lost in the recent hurricane off the Orkney Islands. M. Falliere having been a? unsuccessful as M. Goblet in forming a new French cabinet, President Carnot called upon M. Tirard to make the third attempt to organize a min istry. Yaqli Indians are devastating a large | region iu Mexico despite a big force of troops hunting close on their trail. Larue seed and oil mills at Driffield, Eng- j land, have been destroyed by lire; loss, ] $750,000. The charges against M. Wilson, ex-Presi- i dent Grevys son-in-law, accusod of par- j ticipation in the sale of French decorations tc ! whoever would buy, have besn dismissed, j The affair has created a great scandal in j France. General Digby Willoughbt, ex-Minis | ter of England to Madagascar, has been arrested for embezzling $60,000 government I bonds. Mme. Boucicact, a wealthy Parisian lady. | just deceased, leaves by will $3,000,001) tc ; charity. Presidekt Carnot's first message to the j French Parliament is considered a weak j document M. Hertenstein* has been elected Presid- i ent of the Swiss Republic. A FEW "CENTENARIANS. Jdst one week before her death, Mrs. Harriet Baker, of Philadelphia, walked to the cemetery and selected her own burial spot She was 102 years old. One of the oldest Democrats in the United States is Captain Nicholas Costello, of Boston, who is 104 years of age, and voted the straigdt ticket at the late election, i Mrs. Rachel Ireland, of Covington,Ky., j has just celebrated her 100th anniversary. She walks two miles to church, is in health, j 3 tUJU Ul bUUUU Ullliu. Mrs. Mart Gilbert, of Gloucester, Mass., has just celebrated her 101st birthday, 011 which oocasion she recited a poem with a delivery that might excite the envy of many elocutionists. Mathew W. Burchard. of Detroit, will be 10!) years of age on the next 4th of July. He is a native of Massachusetts and a selfmade man. He rises early and sits up lall day, enjoys life and has eleven children. Frank Hicks, when he was sold as a slave in 185U to F. H. Welch, was said to be eighty years of age. He does not look over seventy now, has never failed of doing a man's work at boeing, and this year, with his wife's aid (she is ninety), hi s harvested eight bales of ; cotton. He t-fcUl lives with Mr. Welch ai ilcKiuaey, Texas. FERRY FIRED UPON. Attempt , to Assassinate the ExPremier of France. Shot at Thrice in the Chamber of Deputies and Wounded, II. Jules Ferry, ex-Premier of France, was fired at three times Saturday afternoon by a man in the lobby of the French Chamber of Deputies. There was great excitement in and around the government buildings. M. Ferry waa shot by a man who gave his name as Aubertin. The assassin appeared in the halj of the Chamber of Deputies and asked to see both M. Ferry and M. Goblet. M. Goblet did not respond to Aubertin's request for an interview, but M. Ferry did, and on his appearance Aubertin drew a revolver and fired three times at him. The would-be assassin is fifty-two years old, with short, wiry, grizzly blonde hair and beard. His surname is Herckheim. He is the son of a small ironmaster near Metz,who, failing in business, hanged himself. Aubertin has been all over Europe and is a Jack of all trades, discovering singular adaptability to new situations and ..M/lrvM ni/ti'Mi'fnHAo Uo Koo nnfantiv) I OiOCtUUCJ UUUCi V lUIOOlVUUVO, A^VI llt?v< puw.iwu many inventions, published scboolbooks.been* a music-hall bard, a maker of stained glass panes, a man-milliner, a photographer, and lately a profess onal blackmailer. HiB murderous attempt was made at 3 p. M. Aubertin got hold or a card of Academician Herve, and sent it to M. Ferry with? written in his own hand?a few introductory words, as if from M. Herve. Thel-ewith was a slip of paper on which was: "A Lorrainer desires a short conversation and begs you will come to speak with him." M. Ferry was walking in the lobby with two friends when the message was brought to him. Quittingthem, he went to the round Jobby where the stranger awaited him. M. UViwtt mlin hoc hw>n f.hp mrwf. iinnnniilnr man in France since tbeTonquin misfiaps, has not for many weeks dared to venture into the public lobby, but, by arrangement with the questors,meets acquaintances in the rotunda. Going thither he met M. Revillon, who said: "You're'sought for yonder." Thereupon Mathieu, the head usher, ran up to M. Ferry, warning him of a sinister presentiment he had about the stranger. Pointing to the round-room Mathieu said: "Don't go there," but was calle 1 off before he could say more. M- Ferry, unheeding, proceeded and entered the round room. Aubertin stepped forward, saying: Tarn the person wanting you. I am come to show you a letter and pamphlet." He proceeded to the chair in the corner, on which lay ft portfolio, and fumbled therein for a sealed Jetter, which he handed to the statesman. M. Ferry went to a window and was opening the envelope when the stranger drew nigh to him and twice fired aslant in the heart region. Rapidly perceiving that the wouni had not been mortal or even disabling?the weapon being only a flimsy plaything?he shot M. Ferry in the forehead near the temple, but the ball glanced off without fracturing the bone. Ere the fourth shot could be discharged the crowd from the great lobby came rushing in. The assassin was collared and fearfully beaten and mauled. He seemed nothing daunted and cried out to his assailants: " I am a Lorrainerl I have avenged Lorraine and am happy 1" XM LI 1 1 ~ \1 !nrr I m, rtsrry, uiuuuieu u&c a vuipnc, icuimh and tearing open his waistcoat, exclaimed: *'I am not seriously injured," and staggered forward like one drunken. He was kept from fallen by four colleagues. A medical deputy took off his clothes to investigate the wounds and found them slight in character. He was conveyed to a hospital. The following day his wounds weresomev/hat worse. The attempt upon M. Ferry's life .* reated the wildest excitement throughout France; and from being the most unpopular man in the country he suddenly became a hero in the eyes of thousands of frenchmen. Jules Ferry was born in 1832 at St. Die, France. He was very poor, and had great struggles to acquire an education. He went to Paris in 1854 a lawyer, and began a political career. He ioined a band of young lawvers. and aided the Deputies to maintain a constant opposition upon the Empire. In 1863 he published a pamphlet called "The Electoral Contest," which made him famous and influential. In 1870, after the proclamation of the third Republic, M. Ferry was appointed one of the members of the new Government. Ho also became Mayor of Paris. Hatl he been caught during the Commune he would have been executed. After a brief career at Athens he broke the Cabinet, and later was nmde Prime Minister j by President Grevy. Recently he was a for- i midable candidate for the Presidency, but j was defeated by Sadi-Carnot.. CHICAGO CHOSEN, The Republican National Convention To Be Held Jnue 19, 1888. The Republican National Convention of 1888 will be held in Chicago on Tuesday, June 19. That was the decision reached the other afternoon at the meeting of the Republican National Committee in Washington after the morning had been givon to listening to 15minut^ speeches from representatives of Minneapolis, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Omaha, Philadelphia, Chicago and Washington. The committee was called to order at 11 o'clock in the morning at the Arlington Hotel by B. F. Jones, of Pennsylvania. Chairman Samuel Fessenden, of Connecticut, acted as Secretary. With one or two exceptions everv State and Territory responded at roll-call either by a delegate or proxy. On the first informal ballot the vote for cities in which to hold the Convention stood: Chicago, 11; Omaha, 10; Philadelphia, 9; Cincinnati, 8; Minneapolis, 6; St. Louis, 2; Washington, 1. On the next ballot the vote stood: Chicago 22, Cincinnati 9, Minneapolis 8, Omaha 4, Philadelphia 3, St. Louis 1. On the third ballot Chicago received 25, one more than a majority; Cincinnati 13, Minneapolis H, and Omaha 1. Subsequently this vote was made unanimous for Chicago. Dakota and Washington Territories were each allowed four contingent delegates in addition to the two regular delegates to the convention. The Chairman and Secretary of the Committee were instructed to prepare the call for the convention. A request from. the National Republican League of Washington to be .permitted to do campaign work in tho Southern S ates, under the direction of the National Republi can Committee, was granted. The Commit- | <eethen adjourned. SEVEN LIVES LOST, A Mother and Six Children Perish in the Flames. The residence of Michael Harris, a farmer, living in the western part of Beadle county, Dakota, fourteen miles from Wessington, was totally destroyed by fire the other night. Mrs. Harris and six children, ranging from three to twenty years, were burned to death, having been overcome by the smoke. Mr. Harris and one daughter succeeded in makin? their escaoe. thousrh badly burned. I NEWSY JJLEANIN GS, Hard coal is worth $16 ton at Los Angeles, Cal. Venice, Italy, is slowly but surely ainking into the sea. Tjie States of Georgia, South Carolina and Louisiana pay taxes on $48,00J,(XX) worth of property. A young mulatto girl who barkB furiously and constantly like a dog is a curiosity of I Starke, Fla. A woman living in Watkinsville, Ga., haa | become the mother of five children within the I Inst. Alnvpn months Bikds' nest and sharks' fins were lerved at a recent dinner given by the Chinese Minister in Washington. In Charleston, S. C., $150,003 in Confederate bil.s were sold the other day at twentylive cents per thousand. There are nine British missionary societies now laboring in Africa, with an aggregate annual expenditure of Thk final estimate for the potato crop in the United States is 134,0JJ,U00 bushels, against 10>,00",GJU bushels last year. A blood-red owl was caught in the woods 1 near Jacksonville, III., the other day. It is | the only one of the kind ever seen hi the State. SUMMARY OF 00SGBES3. Senate Proceedings. 5th Day.?The new list of Committee was adopted as reported by Mr. Hoar....A large number of miscellaneous petitions were received, and among the bills introduced ; were the following: By Mr. Dawes?To I grant lands in severalty to Indians in I Dakota; Mr. Beck?For the issue of coin certificates; Mr. Dolph?To reform the land laws; Mr. Bowen?To provide a new basis of national bank circulation; Mr. Aldrich?To apply the Treasury surplus to purchasing bonds; Messrs. Hoar, Sawyer and Mitchell?To amend the Alien Land act; Mr. Turpie?1To admit Montana and New Mexico into the Union; Mr. Farwell?Prohibiting immigration of convicts, paupers, idiots or insane persons; Mr. Dolph ?Appropriating 1126,377,800 for seacoast defenses; Mr. Eustis?To provide for a joint celebration at Washington in 1889 by the sixteen American republics in honor of the centennial Constitution of the parent republic?the United States. It provides for a Commission of nine memberB to make arrangements for the celebration, and appropriates $300,000 for expenses: Mr. Edmunas? To provide for the establishment of a postal telegraph; Mr. Vance?To amend the Civil Service act; Mr. Manderson?Granting a pension for every soldier and sailor who is incapacitated for the performance of manual labor, and for pensions to dependent relatives of deceased soldiers and sailors. (He said that he introduced the bill at the unanimous request of the Executive Committee of the Grand Armyof the Republic)-.... Mr. Butler offered a resolution, which was adopted, for the appointment of a select commiffoa r\9 flna frw innniro infrt tViA orlwicaKili'f.V and practicability of establishing and maintaining a postal telegraph.... MnHall offered a resolution providing for the appointment of a select committee of seven to examine fully into the present condition of the civil service in all its branches... .Executive session. 6th Day.?The bill to refund the direct tax to the States was unanimously reported favorably from the Finance Committee.... Mr. Hoar introduced the Constitutional Amendment to change the date of inauguration day to April 30.... Bills introduced: By Mr. Cullom?To am md the Inter-State Commerce law and to establish a postal telegraph; Mr. Reagan?Providing for an international silver coinage commission; Mr. lngalls?To remove the limitation in the payment of arrears of pensions.... Mr. Piatt offered a resolution to amend the rules so that hereafter the Senate shall consider and act upon treaties and Executive nominations in open session, except when otherwise ordered. Referred to the Committee on Rules. 7th Day.?Mr. Hoar, from the Committee on Privileges and Elections, presented a report statins that Charles J. Faulkner, and not Daniel H. Lucas, was entitled to the seat as Senator from West Virginia. The resolutions were agreed to, and Mr. Faulkner was thereupon sworn in.... Bills introduced: By Mr. |Teller?To provide for the coinage of half-dollars, quarters and dimes; by Mr. George?To protect innocent purchasers of patented articles, making it a valid defence against actions for infringement that the article was bought for u9e or consumption, not for sale, and in good faith, and in the usual course of trade, and providing that all patents shall be subject to purchase by the Government for general use, at a reasonable valuation. Upon motion of Mr. Piatt, the last bill wus referred, after debate, to the a'l^urocj a'i uiu vi*v ?, partment's Report. The December statistical report of the Department of Agriculture relates mainly to farm prices of agricultural products. Tho average value of corn is43.8 cents per bushel, against 36.6 last year and 23.8 in 1883. In 1881 it was 63.8, when the estimated product was 1,194,916,000 bushels. The difference is largely due to a general depression of values. The prices respectively in 1883 and 1887 are 61 and 48 in Ohio, 60 and 45 in Indiana, 38 and 41 in Illinois, 44 and 34 in Iowa, 65 and 37 in Missouri. 58 and 67 in Kansas, and 39 and 30 in Nebraska. Prices in the Gulf States average lower than last year, resulting from a nearly full home supply. In the Atlantic States prices of home-grown corn are only slightly advanced. The average value of wheat is B'J cents, only three mills higher than the average last year. It is 82 in New York, (il in Pennsylvania, 74 in Michigan, 73 in Ohio, 72 in Indiana, 70 in JLliinois, 64 in Wisconsin, 02 in Missouri, 81 in Iowa and Kansas, 59 in Minnesota, 53 in Nebraska and 52 in Dakota. The average for oats is 30.7 cents, against 29.8 last year. Barley averages 52.2 instead of 53 last year. Buckwheat 56.1, or 1.7 cents higher than last year. The cereal averages for the entire country differ very slightly from those of last year, except as to corn. The value of potatoes is greatly enhanced, being 68.5 cents against 45 last year. It is higher than for seven years, except in 1881. The value of hay is much increased. It averages $9.34 per ton, against $7.36 last year. The advance has been in the drought area of the West Cotton values are about half a cent higher than in December last. The average plantation prices by States are as follows: 8.7 cento per pound for the States of the Atlantic coast; 6.6 for Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana; 8.5 for Tennessee and Arkansas, and 8.3 for Texas. PEOMINENT PEOPLE. Senator Stanford pays the porter of hi* private car $200 a month. The Marchioness of Westminster celebrated her ninetieth birthday recently. Senators Edmunds, Hoar, Sherman and Eustis read French like native Parisians. Governor Ames, of Massachusetts, carries life insurance policies aggregating $12o,000. Lord Tennyson receives an income of from $20,000 to $25,000 a year from the sale of his booka Peter Hat.iv an Burnett, the first American Governor of California, is in his eighty-first year. He enjoys life like a man ot forty. It is probable that next spring Queen Victoria will unveil the colossal bronze statue of General Gordon, which is to be erected at Aberdeen, in front of the Art Gallery. Rev. O. H. Walker, of New London, Conn., has a greav record as an inauscriou* preacher. He has been absent from liis pulpit only two Sundayj in thirty Ave years. Jay Goulo has only grown indifferent as to his wearing apparel within lihe last few years. He once paid big tailor bills, and on one occasion gave $75 for a pair of suspenders ?:?t- ?ij i 3.1? 1 wim goiu uuukiea, auu uo nuiv ?uvm. Fault of tho Justices of the Supreme Court of tho United States?Chief Justice Waite und Justices Field, Bradley and Miller ?are over seventy years old, and are entitled ty law to retire With no loss of salary. Michael Richards, recently appointed one of tho Railway Commission of the State of New York by Governor Hill, is a member of the Utica lJivision, No. 14, of Utica, New York. Brotherhood of Lecomotive Engineers. John Good, the Now York manufacturer, has just been c reated a Count by His Holiness Pope Leo XIlI., in recognition of his lifelong devotiou to the Church and bis munificent gifts to religion and charitable institution* Committee on Patents by 40 yeas to ?5 nays ... .Mr. Morrill spoke in favor of his bill regulating immigration. Its main object, hs said, was to have the character of foreign immigrants examined first by United States Consuls at the ports of departure, instead of by State Commissioners at the porta of arrival. House Proceedings. 4th Dat.?The Speaker called upon Mr. Crisp to preside, and requested the House to appoint a Committee of Elections. He stated that the e irly election of this committee would greatly facilitate the appointment of the other committees.... A resolution was adopted providing that the House will the next day proceed to the election of the Committee on Elections, and the House then adjourned. > 5th Day.?A large number of executive communications were laid before the House by the Speiker and appropriately referred: nnd then at 12:10 tho House took a recess until 1 o'clock. After the reces*, Mr. Cannon (111.) offered a resolution declaring that the following named gentlemen shall constitute the Committee on Elections: Messrs. Crisp, O'Ferrall, Outhwaite, Barry, Maish, Heard, Johnson of North Carolina, O'Neill of Indiana, Moore, Rowell, Houk, Cooper, Lyman, Johnson of Indiana, and Lodge. The resolution was unanimously adopted. The Speaker, having resumed the chair, directed all papers in the various contested election cases to be referred to the Committee just elected, and then the House adjourned for wo days. PRICES OF PRODUCTS. cu?._i,a VoAin ?tin AnrlrnUnrnl T)n I A FLOOD OF BILLS. The Largest Number Ever Introduced in the Senate. Old and New Measures Brought Up For Action. The total number of bills and joint'resolutions introduced in the United States Senate on Monday was 504, a larger number than was ever before introduced in one day. Amonz the bills dresented by the Senators were a few new ones of genuine importance and a number of old ones which failed of passage last session. The most interesting of the former was Senator Beck's bill regarding the circulation of coin certificates, which he entitled: "A bill for the retirement of United States legal tender and national bank notes of small denominations, and the issue of coin certificates.'' Its purpose is fairly described in the title, and iterideavore to secure its object by preventing the issue of United States notes of less than $10, limiting national bank notes of less than $10 to one fourth of the entire circulation, substituting coin certificates for silver and gold certificates, which shall be retired when thev are received at the Treasury, and authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to issue fHoca in /lonnminnt.innQ lnoQ than 120 on all the surplus gold and silver coin and bullion in excess of $100,0J0,0D0 of gold. Senator Bowen touched upon the same subject by his bill providing a new guarantee for bank circulation, ana bis old bill for the unlimited coinage of silver. Both these branches of the financial subject were well represented among the bills of the other Senators. Senator Blair, among a series of labor and temperance bills, put in his old Educational j bill again, and Senator Cameron reintroduced, with some slight changes, bis bill permitting the International Navigation Company to bring their fleet of foreign built vessels under the American "register. This bill adds also the permission to replace any of their fleet lost or destroyed with new vessels constructed or purchased in foreign countries. He also introduced his last session's bill to promote the foreign trade of the United States, which provides compen sation for carrying the mails to vessels of specified classes at rates varying from four cents to four aud four-fifth cents per 100 tons per mile. Among other bills were the following: By Edmunds?Appropriating $2,003,000 for the establishment of a postal telegraph system, with four main trunk lines, centering at Washington, and lateral branches to con-' nect with leading cities generally, to be operated by the Postoffice Department. By Mitchell?To regulate immigration and j prevent the introduction of an objectionable class of citizens. By Pugh?To refer all claims coming before Congress to a committee having power to send them to the Court of Claims. By Dolph?To amend the Constitution, giving Congress power to make laws to govern marriages and divorces. By Eustis?Providing for a joint celebration at the national capital in 1SJ39 by the 16 American Republics in honor of the centennial of the Constitution of the parent Republic?the United States. The bill appropriates $300,000 for this purpose and provides a commission to have charee of the celebration. By Turpie?For the admission as States of Washington and Dakota Territories. By Hoar?For the erection of a monument to the negro soldiers and sailors who gave their lives for the preservation of the country. By Chandler?Fixing the salaries of the several Judzes of the United States District Courts at $5,000 yearly. By Cullom?For a pension to the widow of General John A. Logan: also for a constitutional amendment in relat ion to bigamy and polygamy: also to reimburse several States for interest pa d on war bonds. By Halo?To prohibit the letting of government work to contractors employing convict labor. Bv Dawes?A bill to grant lands in severalty to Sioux Indians in Dakota. By Manderson?The Dependent Pension bill, indorsed bv the Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Manderson said he would address the Senate in favor of the bill. By Vance?To repeal the Civil Service law. By Stewart?For the issue of Coin Certificates. IBE LABOR WOBLD, English workmen are coming to America in large numbers. The barbers have been holding a National Convention in Buffalo. Mr. Powderly says there are over 500,000 Knights of Labor in this country. Northampton (England), factories have begun a lock-out of 15,000 workmen. A Nebraska genius has invented an automatic cow-milker, which is said to be a succesa A school for political economy for workin ^mon has been started at Cooper Union, New York City. South Omaha is proud to be called "the Meat City." It is becoming a great live stock and packing centre. New stock yards covering four hundred and forty acres and costing $100,000 were opened at St. Joseph, Missouri. Since September two thousand five hundred hands employed in the South Carolina phosphate industry have been thrown out of work. It is said that there are 1,500 unemployed painters in Ne^v York city. Nearly 10,00;) carpenters, muurcre, uncKiajt'is, piuocviuio, etc., are said to be out of work at present. Srxpearl button factories in Newark, N. J., have been clo.se.-l and four are running on three-quarter time. As a consequence, over 1,000 persons are thrown out of employment The National Assembly of the Papar Hangers and Decorators will meet in New York on January 11th for tha purposa of electing officers and adopting rules to govern the trada THE MARKETS. new york. 59 Beef, good to prime 5% Vl4 Calves, common to prime.... 5 @ 8% 8heep 3%@ 5 Lam us 6% Hogs?Live 5 @ Dressed Flour?Ex. St .good to fancy 4 su (g ? West, good to choice 3 10 @ 5 Zo Wheat?No. 2 lied 8?%(& 89 Rye-State 50 @ oS Barlev?State Cora?Urzraded Mixed.... 64% Oats?White State 37 @ 37'f Mixed Western....... 30 @ 39 Hay?Mei3. to prime 75 @ 90 Btraw-No. 1. Rye <g TO Lard?City Steam 7 50 @ 7 SO Butter?State Creamery.... 20 (tij 28 Dairy 10 @ 27 West Im. Creamery IS @ 25 Factory 14 & 23 Clieese?State Factory 10 @ 11% Skims 4 Western 11M? Eggs?State and Penn 24 (i$ 27 BUFFALO. Steers?Western.... 3 35 @ 3 75 Sheep?(rood toUlioice ? 4? <g/ * w Joints?Western (5 10 CcQ '? '*() Hogs?Good to Choice Yorka 5 25 @ 5 3" Flour?Family 4 75 @ 5 15 Wheat?No. 1 8i>}/t($ 110 Corn?No. Mixed 57;f^?5 58 Oats?No. 2, Mixed ? & :>3 Barley?State 72 @ 85 BOSTON. Beef?Good to choi<.*e 7V^@ 8 Hogs?Live 5^'@ 0 Northern Dressed.... *>%(?$ 7^ ? - T. 1L1 i-r AA i r *n forK?u,x. jrrimo, per uui. ..n w w Flour?Spring Wheat pat's.. 4 70 (gi 4 95 Corn?High Mixed. ? @ Oats?Extra White .'#5 ($ Rye?State 60 (S) 05 WATERTOWN (MASS.) CATTLK MARKET. Beef- Dressed weight W @ ~>lA Sheen?Live weight 3J^@ 43a Lamb? 5 @ 0 Hogs?Northern 6 @ PniLADELPHIA. Flour?Peun.ext.ra family... 3 75 (3) 3 87}? Wheat?No. 2. Red 87},'? 97^ Corn?State Yellow 5;i^@ 55 Oats Mixe.l 37 @ S8 Rye?State 53 Butter Creamery Extra... ? @ 30 Cheese?N. Y. Full Cream.. 12% BUDGET OF FUN. ' HUMOROUS SKETCHES FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. He Had Changed His Mind?Negotiating for a Dog?A Change of Fortune?The Unmaking of Him. Esmeralda Longcoffin to Hostetter McGinnis ?" Are you still mad at me, Mr MoGinnis ?" McGinn is?" What about ?" Esmeralda?44 You know on Christmas you proposed and I cruelly rejected your offer. I have?I have thought better of it since." McGinnis?Humph! So have I."?j Siftings. Negotiating for a Dog. Robinson?"That's a fine dog you i have, Dumley. Do you want to sell I him ?" |... Dumley?" I'll sell him for $50." Robinson?" Is he intelligent ?" j Dumley (with emphasis)?' Intelligent! W hy that dog knows as much as I do." Robinson?4' You don't say so! Well, I'll give you twenty-five cents for him, Dumley."?New York Sun. A Change of Fortune. " Do vou see that man sawinsr wood over there ?" *' Yes. What about him ?" 4< He wasn't always doing such work as that." 41 Has a history, eh ? What did he formerly do ?" " Why, when I saw him last he was splitting wood."?NeLraska Slate Journal. The Unmaking of Him. Omaha Man (on railroad train)?No, I am not travelling on business exactly. I am going East after my son. He is in a college there and was hurt recently in a I game of football. I shall take him out. I don't believe in these Eastern colleges anyhow?all play and no work. Stranger?Well, I do. I am a college graduate and I owe my present success to my collegiate training. I just tell you, football tOHghensa man up wonderfully. The knocking around I got in college was the making of me. . "Humph! What business are you in?" "I am a book agent."?Omaha World. No Time for an Argument. It was on a Central Hudson train, bound north, and he had been delivering a learned disquisition upon the political and financial outlook to a passenger i in the seat ahead. j "My friend," he concluded, "what is ! your opinion of Government bonds?" i Just then the whistle sounded for Sing I on/1 Viia fn'fln/l rnnliprl UUU UJO iwvuv. "I don't think much of 'em," display- | ing a pair of handcu.l'cd wrists, "but I'll 1 have to say good-by, sir. This is my station."?New York kiun. ' How Katie's Father Said Grace. A South End little girl was taking ' supper with a playmate a few evenings | ago. After the pater familias had "said | grace" with due soleinuity, the little : hostess turned to her guest, and asked: "Does your papa say grace at supper, Katie?" "No," replied Katie with a charming candor, "but he says something else." This answer of course aroused the interest of the elder persons. "What does he say?" was asked the little visitor." "Good heavens, what a supper?" was the sweetly calm response.?'Boston Commnn trsnlth. So Sudden. It is said that a genius has invented what is called an electrical lounge. The lounge is connected by wire with the parental bedroom. At ten fifteen, prompt, the cruel father touches a knob in his room and the seat of the lounge flies up and spills itsorcupants upon the floor. We can imagine a youth in the act of proposing when the knob is touched. He is saying: "Oh, Jennie I love you more than tongue can tell. Will you be mine? My own, ray very own? Will you " Just then, presto! change! up flies the seat of the lounge and the pair are sent spinning across the floor. How natural it would be for the young lady to say I then: 'Oh, George, this is so sudden."? ! Boston Courier. Excusing a Jnror. | The following was perpetrated by a judge of one of our higher local courts, now off the bench, but whose identity will be instantly discovered by many lawyers without mentioning his name. On the first Monday of a term many jurors were as usual iu line before him to present reasons for b;-ing excused from service. Among them was a very dirty, unkempt, shaggy-bearded man, who, despite the efforts of the attendants to restrain him insisted on advancing to the judge's desk and speaking privately with him. The judge, noticing his importunity, signified his willingness to allow the talesman to approa.'h and then said to him somewhat sternly: ''"Well, sir; I what is it?" The man leaned over the benoh until his lips almost touched the I judge's ear and then whispered: < tl?*ta rtr\T fVio itrh " The crowded court-room was watching the result with curiosity. "Mr. Clerk," said the judge instantly, without the slightest change of expression, and in a voice painfully loud and distinct: "Mr. Clerk, he's got the itch. Scratch him."?Neu> York Tribune. John Tarbox's Teeth. Look at the Maine individual over there in the red flannel shirt which is not even on speaking terms with soap. You might not think from casual observation that he had any peculiarity whatever, but the other day he came down with a terrible toothache?an ache that reared, and kicked, and ''bucked," all within thirty seconds, till the world | ceased to have any attraction for the j man who was entertaining it. Well, he i couldn't stand it any longer, and started post ha*te for a dentist in a neighboring town. The proprietor of a hardware store in I clo3e proximity to tliis dentist was standing in the door of his siore that afternoon, when he heard the most earsplitting shriek proceeding from the otfiee of the man of teeth. lie had become accustomed to moans and subdued exclamations from that quarter, but . i ? 1 1. | never nan uenru eutu <?o UUn | pierccd the air. His curiosity was so thoroughly aroused that a little later on he walked into the dentist's office, and said: "Whom have you been butchering over here' I never heard such a yell in my life." ; "Oh," replied the extractorof molars, "that was old .John Tarbox, from T . lie had a tooth out." 'Had atooth out!" replied the visitor. I should think sr and it must ? -t ' . " " '1 i 'have come mighty hard to fetch rccki a roar as that." "Oh, dear no," said the dentist; 4to didn't make that noise when I palled the tooth. It was afterward." << ' Afterward?" "Why, yes," was the reply. "T1m tooth came easily enough. The timl when he fetched that cry of agony wai when I charged him fifty ccnts for doing the job."? Lmiston Journal. Scenes in Japan. We had boatmen take us over tht ; water, skirtinc the shores And t?nrhin? 1 at all the little moss-covered temples that 9 are dotted along the shores. There were Xj no priests, no signs of life or occupanoj I at aoy of the little temples, bat from the H curious way in which- one boatman wai jfl tolled off to watch usit was not intended tfi that the shrines should suffer any loss I or desecration, nor their altars be be spoiled of one of the scorea of little black wooden images with which"they 9 were decorated. From the water 3 Chnizenji village appears as a small vol- . I low spot between the unbroken slope of I Nautasian and the great lake. Its fine g tea-houses rise straight lrom the water's I edge, each with a triple row of outev V galleries looking out upon the beautiful view. Tsutaya, Idznmiya and Nakamarya are the names of three of these pretty inns, and life in them is mufth . more Japanese than at the much-frequented inns at Nickko. We have chairs and tables, but there the foreign concessions cease, and.we lookout'for our town ^ Knives ana iorKS, Dreaa, o utter, mi tic. beef, or go without. We sleep oil th* floar, wash our faces in a common basis on the inside gallery of the house, and go about in our stocking feet in thf house. When we want a servant we slide a screen, clap our hands, and a vigorous, " long-drawn " Hey 1" announces that the rosy-cheekcd mountain maid has heard us. The gentle rocking of the house tells that the vigorous maiden is running. < up the stairs "of the fragile bu;lding. The washing of the rice and vegetables, and kitchen utensils, and the family ' clothes, all goes on from the little plank, of a pier that runs out .from tho lowest floor of the house. Each hotel has a similar pier, and there are sociable timet when each pier has one or more maidens washing rice in bamboo baskets. Onemorning at sunrise I slid the screen to look out on the glorious panorama of green mountains wreathed in rose-colored clouds and reflected in the still mirror of' the lake, and saw a solitary figure standing at the end of a pior, tooth brush in hand and lost in contemplation of the scene. The servants of the houses takethe whole lake to wash their faces and j brush their teeth in each morning, but < now that the nights and mornings are almost frosty they do not plunge in to do it.?Ohbe-Democrat. Grist from Legal Mills. ' . '1 A conductor, says the Texas Supreme- S Court, must, when collecting fares, give H a passenger a reasonable time to find his tickct. Opposed to the rules prevailing elsewhere, the Massachusetts Supreme Court holds that a middle name or initial is part of a person's legal name. The highest court of New Jersey declares that for a false statement affecting the credit of a merchant, a mercantile agency is responsible in damages. A bequest to an adopted child on condition that she shall remain unmarried until she becomes twenty-one years of age, has just been held valid by the j uuun ui TTCSI# vjigmm. A lawyer's office table has been decided in Iowa to be an "instrument" necessary to carry on bis business, and exempt under the statute prevailing in that?. ; State from seizure on a debt. In Mississippi a passenger on a train was carried beyond his destination and then claimed damages on account of the mental anxiety caused by the separation from his family. But the Court "could not sec it." The English judges were recently very much divided in opinion as to the cor- ? rect method of getting out of a berth atsea. A practical jnry decided the question in favor of a lady who had stepped out forward on the top rail of a chair ..j which the stewardess had put there for - "* her and had f:illen and hurt herself^- 3 The record of a recent California mur- "t [ dcr case reads like a romance from the i 1.1 1 ?i i u:ua. "'3 laius ui uuivuirj'. n. unici ituu cauicu between two rival Chinese societies known respectively as the Ho Sin Sear Society and the Guy Sin Sear Society, and culminated in a murder committed by the accused while inra*ed in a steel coat of mail and irmed with four pistols. In Alabama it has been recently decided. contrary to the opinion prevailing I in nnorlu fill flip Strttpq thftf. thoiich one committing a murder can distinguish right from wrong, yet if by disease his- will is so impaired that he cannot resist the temptation to do the act, he is not responsible to the law. This is very dangerous ground, though the doctrine which many scientists have advocated. A Ddtermined Suicide. Some "Wallachian peasants were one day working in the field near the banks of the Maros. Suddenly they saw &. stranger rush frantically through the field,and plunge headlong into the river. They pursued, and dragjjed him out, dripping;he departed,and they returned to their work. Shortly afterward again appeared, and for the second tiwe took a suicidal "header.1' Again the peasanls snatched him from the raging torrent, and returned to their work. Yet a third time they saw him enter the field: but on this occasion he did not make for the river, but, climbing up a tree, delibirt tn }iAn<r himself from t/i ij |/1vvwvuvm ? one of the branches. This time his former preservers did not interfere, and be drained the cup of his fate to the last drop. Presently a crowd of the relatives and friends of the deceased, from whose custody he had escaped, arrived, headed by the parish priest, and roundly abused the peasants for permitting'the late lamented to kill himself. The peasants naively replied that they had pulled him out of the river twice, and as he was dripping wet, they thought he had hung himself up to dry.?Arg maut. Counting: Apple Seeds. The following rhyme, long in use in New England, has followed the eating of many an apple, and afforded much pleasure to youthful hearts in trying to decide their fate in love. The name of some person having been chosen, the fortune of the counter is decided according to the number of seeds, as follows : One, I love, Two, I love, Three. I love. I say; Four, 1 love with all my heart, And five least away; Six, he loves, Seven, she loves. Eight, they both love; Nine, he comes. Ten, ho tarries; Eleven, he courts, Twelve, lio marries; Thirteen, wishe-, Fourteen, kisses. All the vest little witches. -Fioston Hfrakl.