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r* y. VOL. XvI. PICKENS, S. C., TIIURSDAY, JULY 14, 1887. TIL MISSISSIPPI COLLE(JF. ITS OlIGIN, ITS 1'ISESENT EQUI'MENT ANI) ITS WORKc. An Observer's Account of Gen. S. 1). Leo's Farner's College--The Class-1toon and the Farm. (From the News and ('ourior.) AGIcUIJruItAL AND MECHANICAL COr LEGE of MlssIssII'I, July 4.-Referring to a number of notes taken in a mid summer tour of four of the most import ant Southern States, I do not know that. I could select a more interesting subject than the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Mississipl)i. This may be stated without discounting, in any wise, tho many places, institutions and tl.ings of note along the lines of railways v hich connect Charleston with the pecutl itrly S " favored land in which Vie institution named is situated. TIl[S COLLEGE. To begin with, however, the term "Agricultural and Mechanical Collego," as applied to this College, is a misnomer. The mechanical department has not yet been provided for, but may be realized at iny time when the institution is so I far favored by the Legislature of Missis- I sippi. The College is, therefore, prac tically an agricultural institution with1 its handmaidons of the mechanical art; in t expectancy. But whatever this institution may be it 1 has e.used a great stir in social, agr:cul tual and political circles ever since its I establishment, seven years ago. It was cradled in opposition, strong but not fatal; it has traveled over a rough road and still survives; and it has lived (own a certain class of opponents and is still doing battle against sorao formidable foes. As between the enemies of the College and its friends the lines are very sharply drawn; and even the conilara tive stranger, who runs, may read. 'ri-: IssUEs s'rA'rED. Broadly stated, the question is on. of I utility: Does it pay the taxpayer to :.Up port the College; and, granting the ob j eels of the College to be fully cal ried out, do the results warrant the State in continuing its appropriations? The his tory of the College up to the pre:.cnt time carries with it the solution of every ouc of these problema. Sometling of this history is, therefore, essential I) clear conception of the interesting titu ation. iT olIoIN. From what can be learned from the various published reports, the College owes its origin to the Act of the General Government, passed in 1862, to encour ago the establlshment of industrial col leges in the States. This Act, an))ng other things, prosided for the "envow mont, support and maintenance in each State of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without exclud ing other scientific and .assical stuci ics, and including military tactics, to tc ach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the Legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe in or der to promote the liberal and pract ical education of the industrial classes." Mississippi's share of the agricultural land scrip fund amounted in 1878 to $227,150, which is now in the State treasury bearing five per cent. interest. The \IMississippi Legislature in 1878 divided this fund between Alcorn Uni versity (for colored youths) and the present Agricultural and Mchlan icalI College of Mississippi, giving to each $113,570. Subsequently the Legislat nire expended $15,000 of this money in the purchase of lands, leaving to each of the juistitutions named a balance of J98,575, which yields an annual interest at live per cent. of about $1,928. The State Legislature up to within the past year or two has appropriated the sum of $32,50() annually for the support of the institution. To enable the State to avail itscit of) the Federal aid it was necessary to erect the College buildings, and these M ere completed for occupation by the tu dtents and professors in 1880. Thelase buildings are about a mile and a half west of Starkvitll, and occupy p)ositions on both sides of a branch of the Mobile and Ohio IRailroad. The principal build Wings taco the south and are just north of the railroad and on the crest of a hill, to which the ascent from the railroad is over a well-kept lawn. These buildings are: First, the academy, three stories in height, of brick, and 127 feet long by 70 feet wsidu. T1hie upperi story consists of six class-rooms for the use of citain professors in toaching; the second1 story 4 consists of six rooms for the use of other professors, andt on the first floor are the College hall or chapel and thie olhices of the presideont, (Gen. Stephen D). Lee, aend the secretary, Prof. TI. 1F. Watson. Second, the dIormitor'y, three stories in height, with basemen't. I.t has a front of 275.feet, running east and west, and two wings, each 140 feet in depth, ex tending at right angles to the main building. The fIrst floor contains the * library, musoumn, a leoture room, the cammandant's quarters and a wvriting room. On the second floor are two large * rooms, an armory and a guard room. 'i'he remainig rooms on this iloor are chambers for the students. On tIn . ",. story are about fifty roona, -used 'xclu sively by the students. Te ac,commao dations of the dormitory are for fromi 200) to 250 students. Third, the laborator'y, 56 feet long by 38 wide, a two story building, the upper01 story of which contaLins a large lectuire room, an analytical room for the stu oents, a private work-room for the pro fossor of chemistry, ndn apparatuis roomus. T[he lower story is used p)rinlcipally as storerooms and analytical rooms, ulsedl by Prof. A. M'. Meyers, who is also the State cheoLot of Mississippi. The mess hall is a two story wooden building. On the first floor are a dining hall capable of accomnmodating three hundred students, kitchen and bakery. On the upper floor are two halls used 4two rival literary societies of theCo loge. Th'lere is also a hospital containing eight rooms, which are very seldom oc cuod. South of the railway is a pnm two story brick mansion, occupied b; General Lee and his family; and at vari ous points on the grounds are residence for the other professors. '1'he otho principal buildings are a farm-houso, I dairy, a barn, an engine-house, and thn stables for the stock, each of which k entitled to some special description. FARMINU AND TII1TCULTUIt. The Collego owns 1,7(2 acres of land. which is divided into cultivated fields, pastures, orchards and vegetable gar dons, and ornamental grounds. There are, of the 1,7iJ2 acres, about 60() under actual cultivation in (1iflerent crops. These (00 acres are divided into the farm departmenlt and the horticultural department. The former includes the cultivation of the usual plantation crops, such as corn, cotton, peas, etc. The lat ter includes all the common vegetables and fruits. In the farm department the student is familiarized with the planting, raising [md harvesting of the large commercial crops, the actual care of the cattle on the farm, the construction and use of barns, stables, pens, and with the prac ical use of all the irproved agricultural nachinery now in the Southern States. n the farm work is included a special ourso in dairy husbandry, covering the heory of breeding stock, feeding for nilk, and of making and shipping milk, ream and butter. This is all reduced A practice in what is called the creame y, for the purposes of which there are naintained on the farm 200 head of cat le, pure bred, grade and native. There s also much attention paid to ensilage, he raising and curing of hay, clover, tc., all of which, it should be borne in nind, is done by "the boys" themselves. In the horticultural department there re gardens in which okra, tomatoes, abbages, beans, Irish potatoes and 'ruits of all kinds are raised. (OU1Sl 01' sTU)T. The course of study prescribed for the tudcnts is made up of (1) biology, the nest important branches of which are 'ertilization and the relation of insects Lud plants; (2) agriculture, including the )rinciples of stock-breeding and feeding, irainage, cultivation, curing and mar ceting of crops, improvement of soil and nanuring; (8) horticulture, fruit and regetable culture, botany, silk culture, te.; (4) chemistry, us applied to the mItalysis of soils, plants, foods, water, tc. ; (5) English, course of reading in )rose and poetry, logic and mental cience, with written essays monthly; ,) mathematics, all the elementary >ranches, up to analytical geometry, alculus and civil engineerilg. THE MIITAIRY hU\NCh. There i. also the military organization >f the College, with General Lee at the icad of the military department, and second Lieutenant i1. C. Davis, United 3tates Army, as commandant of stu ler ts. The students are all uniformed n cecdet gray and are divided into five ompanies. Practically, the discipline >f the College is military, and the rules nd regulations in this respect are of the 1sual military institute order. All the Alasses are taught company and battal on drills, dress parade, guard duty, etc. i'he senior and junior claases are taught arget practice and service of the field >iece; in the junior year Upton's tactics tro taught, and in the senior and junior ear there arc lecturcs given on the science and art of war. The military equipment of the cadets ;onsists of two 3-inch field pieces, 250 illes, cartridges, etc., all of which is urnished by the United States Govern aent, with the exception of 100 rifles urnished by the State. LIFE OF THE STUDnT:. The foregoing sketch of the work lone at the institution gives only a dry dbstract of the essential details of the ifo of the student. Th~lis life is, how sver, one of great variety and activity. L'he goveirnment of the institution is all >f a rep)ublic within a republic, and is livided shiarpily between the military mud agricultural features. In fact these eatures are quite dlistincet, and in nowise :oniflict with each other, the discipline >f the one securing discipline in the >thor. When the college boy here goes out nito the field lie do01Ts his miltary trap) >inigs and puts1 on his 01(1 clothes, old hioes, old hat, etc., just as his father lees on the hiomesteadl farm in aniy ounty in Missisaippi. in other wvords 1e goes out to work and lhe dloes not go ui holiday attire. In the morning, in the class-room or >n dress parade, hie is as gorgeous as you might desire. Heo has a fine uniform vith plenty of brass buttons, all of which It) wears with the self-conmplacency of ainmg paid for them b)y honest labor brough long and dusty in summer or vet and( dreary days in winter. In the afternoon you may meet him at tome 1place, any pilaco, on the farm and you will not know him. Hoe wears a douch hat, very honest 01(d clothes anid very honest old face. Maybe lie is weeding turnips or digging plotatoes, or you will meet him out on some of the green pastures (driving the cJws, or if you peeph inito tile cow stables you see him playyilg the milk maid. You will mneet him at any giveui p)oint over all the broad acres of the farm, an?d in niinoty ine eases out of a hundred lhe is do-ng somethiing that will help him to payi is expenses at the College. And this lie dloes ill at faishion thlat deserves a special At nighit, aifter an1 atfternioon's work, lio goes home to study antd in the morning he alilears again at miliitary chrysalis as gaudy and as happy as oni the day before. 'Losi'. ol' Til si-ssioN. di ust. nowv the Colljege is abt out to close for the presenIt year. 'The commence aienit exercises for i887 were opoedt yes (Oirdav at I I a. m., at wvhi ch timI e D1 r. W. AI1. (Greer, of Ersk~iine College, South Carolina, preached a siermaoni and again lat night at S.;;(0 O'clock. Thlese exer alsos are a great evtent in th e itamediate locality, and in facL tie necessarily 1look od upon, with great initerest all overI the State, there being repraesentative y,ounIg mleni here from almnost every couiuy InI i%ismisippi and from several ether States. Theo students iii atteiidtne number 276. W rites Mrs. Elia Ann SmithI, of Vor million, Erio county, Ohio, to toll thc ldie. everywhere that nothing caJrpassoe i). arite' Iron Tonic for all irrogu laiies. "It cured mu when the physi cians and all otermedie.s .al .. .. . SO\E BALLOON STOIU ES. TIIICILLIN(G EXPEI iNCES O1 PI'o. KI(NG AND TIIE WiSES. Tra . cling Seventy lilc an iIonr--.an(ting in a W'i4rowerne--Caught in a Snow Storm Without a Valve Iope--)riven to Sea. (From the Philadilphia Times.) There ara no two names bettor known in the annals of of American aeronautics than those of King and Wise. Professor Samuel A. King is now in his sixtieth year. Since 1851 ho has been a practi cal aeronaut, making his first ascension in the summer of that year from the old Zoological Garden, in Fairmount Park. Since then he has made 28( aerial voy ages and a great many lesser ascensions. His wife, who is a quiet, modest little woman, has made a number of ascen sions with him and regards ballooning a much safer mode of traveling than car riage riding. She is afraid of horses, but doesn't mind taking a jaunt through the air a mile or so above the earth. In one of her trips she once had a narrow escape. It was two years ago at In dianapolis. After a remarkably pleasant ascension the balloon in descending sud denly swayed when near the earth and caught in a dead tree. The sharp branch ripped the balloon open, causing it to collapse, and landing the basket in which she and her husband sat in a fork of the tree, sixty feet from the earth. As quick as thought Professor King braced the basket with a rope, until he had cut the balloon away, then, dropping another rope to some farm hands, he loosened the basket and was lowered over a limb to the earth. Neither he nor his wife received a scratch. The only timo ho was ever hurt w.as in an ascension from Augusta, Ga. When he descended the balloon caught on a dead pine and was torn. IIe attempted to descend by the drag rope, when the balloon collapsed and came down with a crash, badly bruising, but otherwise not hurting him. Some of his voyages, how ever, have been exceedingly perilous. SOME TIIInILLiNG VOYAOES. On October 14, 1878, he went up from Scranton, got caught in a windstorm and cane down at Oak Station, Mont gomery county, 140 miles from the start ing point, the whole trip consuming but two hours. On October 15, 1881, he made his memorable ascension from Chicago with Iashagen of the Signal Service Bureau. He was up nineteen hours, and descended in the Wisconsin wilderness, where ho and his comrade lost their way and sufThred terribly be fore they again came in contact with civilization. One night he was suspended between sky and earth for 13 hours over the Maine and Canada wilderness. his exl)ericnce that night was thrilling and remarkable. The ascension was made at 1 p. in. at Plymouth, N. II., his companion being Luther E. lolden, of the Boston Jour na!. For six hours they hung over a mile above the wilderness, the balloon not losing a foot of gas or the car an ounce of ballast. When they landed next morning they came down at the head of a new railroad which was being constructed 250 miles below Quebec, near the Gulf of St.. Lawrence, over which they had spent a portion of the night. The road was 2t)0 miles away from any other road or civilization. They rode to Quebec on a buckboard, driven by a French Canadian. Mr. Holden always attributed their lucky descent to an interpositioni of Divine Providence. In an ascension he mnade in August, 1875, from Burlington, Iowa, ho was caught in a thunder storm, and came near being struck by lightning. The expansion of the air acted on the balloon and drove the gas from the neck on to his head, and through the open valve with terrific velocity. iIe had a thrilling descent through the clouds, and on reaching the earth went crashing throuigh trees, landing twelve miles from whtere he ascendied, having been driven back by the storm. The wvhole trip consumled three-quarters of an hour. AN AF.IAL~ nIiuDALI 11 TIi'. On the Fourth of July of tihe same year he took a party of seven, including two bridal couplles, over Lake Eric fromi Cleveland. The balloon sailed over the lake to B3uflalo, where it struck a back cuirrent and retulrned1, passing Clevelan d, gradlually approaching the Canada shore, which it struck at Po'int an P~ele. It then crossed a strip of Canada andl 35. miles of Lake St. Clair, landing 11 miles from Port ]Iuron at midlnight, having made -480 miles in 113 hours. .On another Fourth of July he took five newspape)r men from Uildo to Quinton, N. .J. lie crossed the Alle ghenies and followed the Susquehianna as far as Hlavre de (Irace, took a sharp turn and sailed (du1 east across D)elaware into Now Jerstey, the whole trip taking thirteen hours. Ptrofessor Charles Wise, uncler whose directioni the "I.ndependlence"' wvill be sent up, is tihe son1 of the late P.rofessor John Wise, Sr., who was lost while making aln aerial voyage, iIe made his first asBcenlsion thiirty-seveni years ago, when but 18 years of age, at Shannandale Springs, West Virginia. 1Ile went up two( and oine-hailf miles and staid up three hours1, landing sixty-six miles fromi time starting point, to which pla1ce he re turned in an ox cart. F"our years later hoe made an ascension froni Newberry port, Mas. oin the occasion of ai civic celeb ration. T1hie winid was bldow ing to ward time ocean andl( the committee o1'or ed to pay the price (of the as~cenion irathier thain take any risks, but after con sulting with his fatheri lie decided to make the ascenlsionl. After going up IM,000lt feet very rapidly and1( descending still more raid(Ily lhe struck P lum Islandl h ar. As tihere were 1no inihiabitants and no0 plc to grapple the only alter-native was to jumpil out oif the car. This he dlid, landing safely in the 51and(. The Idloon, lightened of its load, shot into the air and blew out to saea. Th'ie uext morning it wasi picked up by a whaler f600 miles away and brought into [Provincetown, Thle whole ascent and descent occ.upied one-half hour. The sailors on the whaler, when they saw the balloon floating in the water, ttmvh it was an immense blubber and harpooned it. It immediately collapsed and was takon on board, tho Nowborryport papers of the previous day being found in the car. The professor has been over since actively engaged as an aeronaut, and at various times has taken up every mom bor of his family, having in thirty-filvo years made over 300 ascensions. his son, John, Jr., who will take up the "inde pendence" to-day, made his, first ascen sion at the ago of 8, with his grandfather. cAUolr IN A SNOW STORM. One of the most notable ascensions that has been made was made by him, under the direction of his father, at Waynesburg, Green county, when ho was onty 14 years old. After wording a half day at inflating the balloon, the sup ply of gas gave out when the balloon was only half full. The balloon refused to ascend with the boy, when his father decided to do a thing that has never be fore or since been attempted. lie cut the lower half of the balloon ofl. While he was doing this some officious specta tor cut the valve rope two feet beyond the boy's reach, and in the midst of a rain storm the 14-year-old aoronaut wont sailing into space, and beyond the clouds, hatless and coatless and without a valve cord. He was directed by his father not to go over two miles, but bcidg unable to reach the valve cord, he got caught in a heavy snow storm and was driven forty miles in forty minutes. Landing where there were no means of communication, lie was not heard from for two days. The excit'e'n,t of the citizens was so intense that they organized a committee to search for and give him a reception when found. When he was found the citizens lilled his hat with money. lie was nearly frozen to death during the voyage, and when he descended was coV ere(d with icicles. Since then be has made 250 ascensions without an accident. Two 1(IARmAnLE AS(ENSIONS. The highestasceeion ever made was on September 5, 18 2, by James Glaish er, F. Ii. S. lie left the earth with aeronaut (c ggswell at Wolverhampton, England, lit 1.i p. in., and at 1.51 was 2,000 feet high, going up at the rate of 1,000 feet per minute. He kept on as cending until the balloa attained an altitude of W7,00t feet. ( laisher bCam1111e utterly unconscious, but Coggswell climbed up the ropes and pulled the valve rope with his teeth. They de scended at the rate of 2,000 foot per min ute until the balloon formed . parachute, when it came down easily, seven miles from the starting point. The longest and fastest balloon voyage was made on .July 1, 1859, by Joun Wise, Sr., La Mountain and Oliver P. Gager, of New York. They left St. Louis at Gi p. in., and landed in Jeffer son county, New York, at 2.35 p. in. the next day, the distance I eing 1,100 miles as the bird flies, and 1,200 miles as the balloon ilew. MI0'NTA I N IiO)iiIiti. IaIr IhuOatly I)leetis-TIrave"lers Wvho IlaaVO I)isalappea real. Jim Putnam county, Tennessee, before the war, for seventy-five years, a road within tLree miles of Cookevile, leading from Louisville, Kentucky, through down into Georgia and Soutlh Carolina, was known as the Kentucky stock road, and was at that time the prineipal high way for traders Ibetween the two sections. I'lanters, shive dealers and stock men would drive their negroes, mules, etc., down to the southerin market, returning with the money from their sale. Such partiees were frequently missing very mysteriously, no trace of them ever being found. The road ran through a wild, thinly settled mountain country. T1hue stopmig lacnes, or dIwellings where a traveler could get shelter, frequently were thirty or forty miles apart, and as recent investigations show, were kept by robbers andl murderers of the wvorst de scrip)tion, who for years followed this business of wholesale robbery and mu decr. About thirty years ago a man, who is now a citizen of Cooke, found a skele ton at the entrance to a cave, but no fur thuer investigation was ever made until a coup)le of years ago, and it was left for a stranger to make discoveries thiat cast in the shiade all stories of like deserip tion, where the writer finds his terrible chiaracters only in his own brain. A partiy was oirganiized under the lead ershiip of Mi-. Ferd Kincaid to explore the cave wher-e the skeleton was found thirt y years ago. Back on the mountain side about one-half a mile from one of the inotoriouis stopping plhaces describ ed, the entrance to the cave was for-med1. A hole, sominxtg like a we'll, going straight down thirty -live feet, was first piassedi through, and then the cave oipens into large caverns, with a downward course uundei- the mountain. At the bot tom of the shaft the piarty found Inunani bones 'udl with a little digging in the debri. I iat bad accumulated at this pioint, unearthied abiout sixty skeletons oif men who have been murdered aind th rown down this hole. Somae skulls were found withI bullet holes through thenm, others being mkashied wvith an axe or instrumnuut of that kind. Old citizens now living in this vicinit y say that the keepers of these dens would keep, track o,f the travelers when they passed thruough with stock, and on their return they would bie almost certain to dhisapipear. T1he robbers werei even soi bolt theny would take the clothing and saddles and horses of their victims and us~e thema publicly. T1hey would get a mtani dIrunk, if possible, and, as whiskey was plentifult and the cuistomii of drinking coimmoni, it was nio hiard matter to do, then in their drunken stupor kill, r >b and throw their bodies ini the hole, and without doeub t ninny meni, as this fearful <isclosure proves, never retuirined to thiei r h omue:i, am n xious friendsa waitedl and wastced and wondered why they ro tulrnedl not.9 Not far off, by the side of the road still stands a house. 'Tho walls of one r-oom are stained andi spotted1 withi liummax' blood. Above, in the nmouuntains, about twenty miles, wast still a wvorso pla(ce, if possible, than thiis. Another case is IIhere, anti womuld, if investigated, rep)eat 'lhe siekening story. 'Thue peopk. are much excited over thin discovery, as many descendantM of this robber gang are still living all thr:mghi Pilunm COun ty. Uut '"dead men tcil no tales," and the history of these fearful crimes will never be known. The "avorlt.e Prescriptlin" of D)r. Piece cures "'female weakness" and kIndred affections. Ry dengtmltt. LOSSES IN Til E UNITEI) STATES ESTI MATED AT 1300,000,000. Tornado-Centering liegilons--Frequeucy of Cyclones In the MMssissippi Valley--187 a Tlld Tornado Year. The terrible destruction of life and property by tornadoes at this season I causos much fear in several States. Be cent investigations by Lieutenant John P. finlay, signal service, United States j army, reveal to some extent the danger in each region, which will do much to allay unnecessary alarm in the Eastcru < States. At the same time other regions before thought to be comparatively sate are found to be more dangerous than i had been supposed. t The first striking result of the exami nation of Lieutenant Finlay's map, show ing the geographical distribution of tor- f nadoes from 1882 to 188G inclusive is that they uniformly avoid extended mountain ranges. The Rocky Moun- i tains present so insurmountable a barri- 1 or that the country lying west of this t great range is almost entirely free from 'l the long, violent tornado tracts seen in a Kansas and Missouri. It is known that a storm centers which form west of the I ltocky Mountains are imperfectly de- s veloped, and are not persistent or vio- I lent in their course until the Mississippi c valley is reached. Tornadoes form at an a rverage distance of -153 miles southeast p )f the main storm center, as shown in p forty-ono cases cited by Professor 11. A. c Hlazen, of the signal service. It follow:; ; that the cold air from the foot of the p Rtocky Mountains, coming in the wake )f and eastward moving storm manifest ing unusually low barometer, causes sharp contrasts of temperature in Kansas I and Missouri, and these contrasts, some times as much as fifty degrees, result in great tornado frequency in northwestern Missouri and northern Kansas. It is ( further shown by the distribution of 1l tornado tracts that the average of severi- I ty and destruction steadily lessens as the 1: storm centers move eastward from the Mississippi valley. This waning of tor- u nado power is gradual, but the danger I does not entirely cease as the Atlantic I eoast is approached. The coast lines of n the Gulf of Mexico and of the Atlantie I ocean are nearly free front tornadoes, IL b)ecause great contrasts accompanying s storm centers cannot develop, owing to t the equalizing ettect of the ocean ten- \ perature and moisture. IN TrlE MIssIssIPPI vALh:v. O1 the total number of tornadoes re ported nearly one half occur in the Mit; sissippi valley, which is the region of greatest violence. The lapse of time must make this even more marked, be causo the records of the Eastrn States 1 cover a much longer period, while the number of tornadoes is less. The region t of greatest frequency is along the north t and west boundary lines of Missouri, inl- i creasing toward the point of intersection. Then conies northwestern Georgia cx tending into Alabama. A very solid and compact region of tornado development 1 is in southern Michigan, tending toward the lower part of Lake Alichigan. F or a distance of about 2(11) miles square, this region nearly equals that of lanss in frequency, though it has not more than t one-tenth its extent, and its average se- li verity is far less. In the lIastern State., C the most remarkable region next to western New York, is in the Connecticut ' river valley, which seems to be p)ersi9te ontly followed b,y tornadoes through ~ Connecticut and1 iMassachulsetts into Now HJamnpshire. T1ho open country here b favors the development of a small torna- t ilo with a tract about a mile or halt a I mile long, andl from two hundred to live Lbundredl feet in widith. Western Coni-a uccticut andl Massachusetts favor thme icccumulation of warm air from the southwest, whlichi moves steaSdi ly niorth ward, white Pennsylvanaia, Virginia and western D elaware remain cool, thIiisat eaiusing sharp contrasts of temperature.v [nm soutuheastern Pennsyvanmia the 1benda >f the D)elaware river there is a group of I A)rnadoes conterinag naar Trentona, N. d. Southeast of Lakes E~rie and Ontario ;here is also a lively region, which is ian 3xtension due to thme still high contrasts f temperature common in the Missis aippi valley and southeastern Michiigan,. bI northeastern Mississippi there is a v cery marked extenisioni of the Gecorgiao mnd Alabama region, though not <puite 3(jualing it in freqjuency. nOssEs OF nIlIE AND Piloi''rV. The value of property reported to the signal service as dlestroyed in 205 years years was aibouit $28,000t,000Ot . ieuteant t L'inlay esthnates this to be about one-S ~enth the actual value, mking thle total osses abosut $8300, 000, (000. The nmber of deaths rio>rled wasb I, I 5, and the injured 5,019. These figures are doubtless nmehl be -t ow the actual damiage, biecauase torauda o reports includo the main facts only. Th1le bransmaission of new,s is piartly obstratet- a .d, antd isolated regions escapie rep>ort. I Ilho comp)arisona of a nuniber of torana- a lees, with the amiount of forest lanad by ~ Mtates, according to the United States c zensus, indlicates that these stornis area not applreciately influenced by the pres-a mnce or absence of forests. To'radaoes are caused by the persistenit maovemlen t amnd accumuiilation of air masses( (on ana Liiinuense scatle. Foresbts and of her loal b features of lanadscape have little ethet .9 Thec signal service repoarted 280) torna does for 1880, 180 for 1 885, 200) for I HM I, 101 for 1883, and1( from that linac back to 187(0 the nuuber diuminaishaes to 9. Tlhis does not represenat a change in the atuaal number, but only i ndicates addhitionaal facilities for observat ion, duea to the steadily increasinag interest tiaken lby the I prests and peopJle, as well ias to thea or ganizationa of a lairge st aId of v olunatary toradol( rep)orters ini 188 I, aanader thla suI porvision of Lieuteant liainlaiy. In 18a5 the numbler of reporters hadt increased to 1,500 and in 1886 to 2,500). Thlis hargeN workinig force sent mi an unmense majass of very valuable informiati'i, du~e to the I' goodl will of the people. These reports (I are usaed in estimatimg averges which will servoa as fotudations upon01 which the work cana and will be carried forward for b centuries.. By this means the <@nger for eo given refpons will be so well lymown that I I tornado mnsurance premliutms an be esti- I mated justly, and im that maanr much i ?xpenditure saved. There is every rca on to believe that if the tornado records vere carried forward for several hundred Vears an astonishing regularity would 1)0 liscovered. 'T'he statistics already show reat advance in this direction. 1887 A MIM -roltNA)O YEA1. The number of tornadoes reported rom January I to Juwo 11, 1887, is 123. i 188G, for the same period, there were It;, which shows that taken yearly there ire great 11ietuations. The figures so ar indicate 1888 is a very much milder ornado year than 1886. In July the astern States begint to Contrilbito their )roportion in addition to those still due n the \Vestern States. The most im )Ortaut deductions from the signal ser 'ice statistics is that there is no evidenco >f variation in the number of tornadoes, )Ut only alt alpparent increasO caused by etter reportorial anti press facilities. It would require a vast lapse of time o deuontstrate the theory that the out ing awav of forests affects the number nd leadly violence of tornadoes. They aay be considered a ixed characteristic f the United States, like the geological ormation of the mountain ranges, and lIe average number may be considered s little subject to change. They seem n inevitable result of the mcvemout of umeuso masses of air over comparative y level plains and on the boundaries be ween the temperate and torrid zones. ornadoes occur in India and Japan, ud parts of Europe where land surfaces re free from extended mountain ranges. t would be a valuable contribution to cience if the tornadoes that occur in ndia and Japan were classified and re orded. This might lead to the further dvancemnent of the science of tornado rcdiction in the United States, which at resent awaits the action of Congress to arry it to a high degree of perfection, iing many lives and much vahiable roperty. - --- - -- --- AN OI' FICIAI. [1511 51'4Tit'. Iow)' ('i :iniIi 1.lIIgston'(i W 'l ill' y1 a0 siwotrd"-i il. (1 (I t ': w : 1iii t( n :- tar, .Iinly 2) A butlletin or the United States Fish onionli si on just isstiued gives the follow g acctout, as tscribed in ia letter to( rOfiest riaiid, of tie killing of a mai y it swon il-fi:ih: "'th'e scooeluar V'en u, U suutl Vessel f about twelve tont, owned anti com uite(td-tl by Fr 'utkliil1). l niiigsfoid, to ,tn(.;ville, ?lb:.., w\iit a cre\w of thre( it'n, (im~a:('td ii ilt g n rl1'P i;heri'st oil toetoaist df lita;lehui:"tts. On Mondltay' torning, .\ o; t , ('ap tain I auiftoii tiled ri'omi btuot ii puitr.-,tait of svord st. A 'ett I o'cloc. in the iorining. rhen tiglh' iiiC northe I at:t trom llalibut 'oint, iii I psWien i,y, leshi wts seen. 'lte cptain, with on t i:aU, taking a uoy, gtve"t chase, iil soon harpoonmed he fisl, tlhrowinig o .' a ituoy i ill with in' ll:tclri to tie lui -;po, u, aIt ''r wli"lh lie fish we lef't ad the,' rturin to th' 'essel f'or tliner. Al tout anli hour later lie captain, w\itih one man, againl took is dory aitl wnt out to secure the Ilsh. 'icking upl) the huoy', (;aptail i Lnigsford rok ho1ld of tlie hu', 1puling his boat :)oartlhe swotiIsli, whlicll wa; quitt irge and noti ;utdlV wv,uli('td. The liin 'ia taut. as the Ibo:1at :lowiv ltearled tlht' sh, t hiiclh t i. Cap;:iii iiteiidetl to lance n(d this kill it. \\ he; near the iish, ut. 10) liii' ItWaLr to rt'atIht it witl the mie', it qlickIly tIIUntl uand1l i'lhd at t utler the boait, thristing its sword i sw'ortl ip tlhoui;ghi 1t liottin of tlt iott t.vt lity-thrre iines . As the fish iruied aitt rush0(d toowti tlie ltboat the 00\ waos siibtlt.'t,ly shttiel, tti-aing the aptaiii to fol over oil hi a uck; and hile he was in toot ot'I( uf ris lig the vordl eaine piering thrioghi thet botat itd into his ibdy.At Ihis timie anoothecr vordtlfish was~ ini 'ighot nooiar byi, antd thle ata;ini, extcited1 r.n ja nxius to seetre otho, ratised himoselfI up, oit kn lowinig oat hoe was wounded. Seeinog the swortd, a B seizedl it, exclaininig, ' We've got hiino, iwvay !' lie lity in [bhe bottomo of [te :>ry, hioldinog last to th l'sw(ordt unotil his~ assel entne alhongside, whoilethie fish, be og undeltr thie boat, could niot he00 r''eh 1. Soon the Capinii said, 'I think .I n hurt, andt quiite- badly." \\'ht-n theI :sse o airived h le wenit on board, toiiok ii w stepos, imod ft'll, niever rising aganin, lie b oat andot fish werte soon1 hioistedl oni >00 id, whoen thle swordi was ehoppi~ed1 oil free the boat, andt [bho fish wais killedr oit theek o'fithe veosel. The it;fshr eighedut 21> pO ounis. ater its headtt and001 ilI were coot tif' andt tote viscera rooivetd; he lievot e it we;ighe stom501ethinog overe )It onds. Capjtin Lantogsfordit sor-e ved thet inijury absout thoree days, dyinig i Thiursd*ay, Aougusat 12 of pieritoitio. o lie swordl hoas bIe dt;m epo sitted in theL nited Stateos Nat iional Moluseum."i. C.iolanl:soN. , S. ( X., Ju lly 6,----teriooos oubole is foeae on0 [t;he ati ls of [lit' tvnwtho Iliver0i nar Augusdta, (hro. Thoe cv. David i;orooito nd hto'rs Spoener otl Miiurray, .\b,r'iaoooat ;-soties, haveyt eni praochootinag as that ltoality for' someit liii. Theay have ot\t co tdahtoool [tweoi. -ai; fanubjol oft th P''trO igotomt bit esa. The a dot Iian. I ioiluuled ist ta I whoi tdo .,t as.,p taie faithi oif Mor .nis suOi g~ 'o to t toh beoftote I8 w~t)ill detstroyedt by tiro; [liat 000no;arriages *e ini aectordanceo w iith thle laws of (jodl ofpt loose sooactioneda boy thle Morioni hurcho antI tht 010 w~)o0 an h en ttaiiin to .oltefio pterfetationi ini [ale fututre' utiless ariiedi'o in thois lifte. Ntotice fo feavo [lie< eni holy hias bteeno ;2'\l toi the mission-0 i i-is boy theo moroia re'spaoniletcitizensux it [.1h< y Ihav'e ia fus-it to compaly. 'Tlit 15s'onarties ar 0c1~e attd upj boy thecir conl tots, 0110d dlechtre thI at [tey will resist iy atttemplt tof thea rtegutlators to drive; 02e0 froml [lie counitry. .0" at 'iy ~tonae of~'I ler copaita die'. o, hu f unioltss that d oiseaseod livteo 0oo be rstored'o to hen'itby ac;ftin, it wils ogfloe htings wvitho ('orrupitinog 00.u0 ter' s 0) 1ong too ltei' spoeedy otet.:ytit lo t'i we, haveyt ctoaopftion,i wvohih isj o i"N.t cot thit bioits, ini its woriist fioraoo othoig <a hie lot're0 fhappuily c:i.o'o loto o ly t lot; <huiger'h inte hioi thano is Dr)o. '(oire oden Miedica:l I )P.,eo y." By 'ggist. A deacon tof Steymour, Intd., loos eon etxpllehtd from tho church for' de aring his belief [liat the worldl is 1,000 , 30) years old and that it is likely t'o ~and for another raillion before the idgmnent ay com.a TI. A. EDISON, THE WIZARD. TELLINO ABOUT HIS EXPERIMENTS= IN SUBIMARItNE SIGNALIN . The Captaius of Vessels Seven Miles Apart Can Talk With Each Other--In Philadel phla Buying Electrical Apparatus for Ills Laboratory. . A smooth-faced, thick-set, youthful looking man, attired in a gray suit and accompanied by two handsome young women, stopped briskly up to the desk of the Continental Hotel office and regis- < tored in a plain round back-hand, "Thomas A. Edison, Orange, N. J." It was the wizard of elecricity. The young women were his wife and sister-in-law. lie appeared to be enjoying the best of health, and said the stories about his being at the point of death while in Florida wore without foundation. He said he had come to Philadelphia to purchase electrical apparatus for his new laboratory at Llowellen, N. J. TWO MILLIONS IN EXPE1IMENTS. The laboratory, the erection of which has just begun, will, when finished, be as large as the University of Pennsyl vania buildings and will be devoted on tirely to experimenting. The machine ry will be of the largest and most im proved patterns, the machine shop alone being 200 feet long. Mr. Edison, in speaking of the cost of experimenting, said he had expended over $2,000,000 in experimenting, but as it was strictly in the line of his business he had found it iuoney well invested. In speaking of his Florida trip ho said he was so well tleased with the climate that he had 3rocted a permanent laboratory on the banks of the Caloosahatchie river, where bie will continue his experiments every winter. lie has erected a number of ilectric-light plants in several Florida towns, but he has not devoted much lime to plants. SIONALING UNDER WATEn. One of his most interesting experi ments was in submarino signaling, by which messages can be transmitted from ihip to s1h) by means of steam whistles operated by keys in the same manner as telegraphic instruments. All his expe riments have so far been confined to the waters of Caloosahatchie, whore he has succeeded in conveying intelligible mes sages a distance of one mile. The prin ciple on which he will endeavor to per fect his experiment is the remarkable facility afl'orded by water for transmit ting sound. Divers in the ocean have heard the swish of a steamer's wheels fifteen miles away and Mr. Edison thinks ho can truisinit his message from ship to ship a distance of at least seven miles. What he purposes doing after ho has perfected apparatus is to have the large ocean steaolire celuipped with the steam whis ties and transmitters. Under the water line of each steamer will be a sounder, coinnected with the captain's cabin by a. thin thransmitting wire running through t tube. When the captain of one vessel wants to signal another he will sit down to his key-board, turn the steam on his vhistle, manipulato the keys and send he message out into the waves that reak against the sounder. This sound viii pass unbroken from wave to wave vith remarkable velocity until it runs up gainst the sounder of some vessel or essels which may happen to be within each of the volume of sound. As soon as the wav containing the. 0ound strikes the sounder on the hull of he vessel or vessels within reach, the, Liessage will run over the electrical wire. oi the capitain's cabin, where it will ring. n electrical bell. An attendant will hen take down the message as it comes. roma the water, by means of telegraphic> :eys, as comfortably and correctly as. hough he were sitting in one of Jay leould's Western Union Telegraph oflicos eceiving news about one of Jay Gould'e, ig dleals, l'A.ssING IT ALONo. After the message has been received he cap)tain can swing his vessel around, ud( continue the message through seven iiles of water, in the same direction,, util it strikes another steamer, when he operation may be rep)eatedl until the hole breadth of the ocean has been rossed. it will also be useful as a means f signaling by a vessel in distress. Mr. Edlison seenmed confident that his. xp)erimnents would meet with succek4 ut regrets that he cannot send the mes Ige by electricity, instead of a uteamie. thistle. I'Ianioi andI Organs. All of the best makes. $25 cash and >alanco November 1, at spotA cash prices n a I'ano. ~$10 cash and balance No ember I, at spiot croh prices on an )rgani. Dehivored, freight free, at your carest depot. Fifteen (lays test trial nd freight both ways if not satisfactory. Write for circulars. N. W. 'LTUMP, Albion, in Erie county, Pa., has a uniosity iln the shape of a cloe which tanids seven feet high, operated by hainis and great weights, the dial bear ng old iRoman iigures, with the entire vorks made of boxwood and bearings of mro ivory. It is a pectfct time-keeper ld upward of luut' years 01(d. --bouisa county, Va., is excited over ho alleged fact that after a white hand eOrchuief, which had been folded four hick and laid over the face of a dead vomnan, had been remnovedl, there were our distinct Pictures of the woman, thout the t4o of a 25 cent piece, plainly printed on the cloth. Spirits of camphor 11(d been applied to the face before the ~ce before the handkerchief was laid Lt is said that in Portland, Maineo here is a man with a false nose, a glass. ~ye, bult three fingers and one thumb, ,nie car, false teeth, falso hair and a. -ork leg. For all this he is the liveliest. mnan in Portland. Ho walks ten mil. avory day, rin or shine. Ho has had three wives, and survives them all, and has,oftuEod five chances to get mnarried again,.so he says, since he buried hli at wife, about a year ago.