Cariosities of Statistics.
Lot >is observe what our farms and
farmers are annually producing fot
very man, woman and child of the
■country's population. The year 188(1
produced for each person thirty bushels
■of corn, nine bushels of wheat, eight !
bushels of oats, one bushel of barley,
two-fifths of a bushel of rye, one tenth
of a bale of cotton, three pounds of wool,
two-thirds of a ton of hay, half a pound
of hops, two pounds of rice, ten pounds
of tobacco, three and a half bushels of
Irish potatoes, and half a bushel of
sweet jwitatoes.
Of animals there was one hog for
every person, one horse for every five
persons, one mule for every twenty
eight persons, one milch cow for every
four persons, and two sheep for every
three persons. There were fifteen and
a half pounds of butter and a half
pound of cheese made for each person,
and the cows averaged sixty-two and a
half pounds of butter each for tin- year.
Although our farm products seem im
mense in amount it is an astonishing
fact that if every acre of Illinois was
devoted to wheat for one year, and the
average yield should be the moderate
amount of fifteen bushels to the acre,
the crop would exceed in amount the
entire wheat crop of the country for
the last year. If the state of Missouri
was wholly planted with corn, and
should give a moderate yield of forty
busheb to the acre, the aggregate
would equal the entire corn crop of
the country for the year l*Bi>. The
state of Kansas alone can raise beef
enough to feed the present population
of the country. When we have ten
times the present population, and
when all our lands areas well cultivat
ed as the valley of the Nile, the aggre
gates of the farm products will be ex
pressed in figures difficult to compre
hend. Agriculture is becoming chem
istry, and husbandry is becoming
mechanics, so that one good man be
day can do as much work upon a farm
as four men did fifty years ago.
Facial Characteristics.
In the practice of the art of palm
istry some knowledge of physiognomy
is of great advantage; indeed. the two
sciences go hand in hand, one supple
menting the other. This <s why the
shrewd gypsy fortune teller scans the
face almost more closely than the hand
of her patron.
And first of all, the soul dwells in
the eye; and the ability to understand
its language is inborn with most
people without having to study it; but
a few words in regard to it may not
be amiss. Very quiet eves that impress
and embarrass one with their great
refxese signify self command, but also
great complacency and conceit. Eyes
that rove hither and thither while
their possessor speaks denote a deceit,
ful, designing mind. Eyes in which
the white has a yellowish tinge, and is
streaked with reddish veins denote
strong passions. Very blue eves be
speak a mind inclinisl to coquetry;
gray eyes signify intelligence; greenish,
falsehood and a liking for scandal;
black eyes, a passionate, lively temper
anient; and brown, a kind, happy dis
position.
Of the nose—A Roman nose denotes
an enterprising, business-like char
acter; a long nose is a sign of good
sense; a perfectly straight nose indi
cates a noble soul, unless the eyes con
tradict it; a hpz retreusae signifies a
spirit of mischief, wit and dash; a
large n<>so generally indicates good
mind and heart; a very small nose,
good nature but lack of energy.
Thick li|)S indicate either great
genius or great stupidity; very thin
lips cruelty and falsehood, particularly
if they are habitually compressed.
Dimples in the cheek signify roguery;
in the chin, love and coquetry. A lean
face is a indication of intelligence; a
fat face shows a person inclined to
falsehood.
Irascibility is accompanied by an
erect posture, open nostrils, moist
temples, displaying superficial veins,
which stand out and throb under the
least excitement, large unequal, ill
ranged eyes, and equal use of Icotb
hands.
A good genius may be expected from
middle statue, blue or gray eyes, largo
prominent forehead, with templ.-s a
little hollow, a fixed, attractive look
and habitual inclination of the head.
Utile C. (iffen.
The Voritur Man Was Fold.
"Good morning, John," said one of
the leading pastors in Scranton, I'enn.,
at a young friend whom he met on the
street the first warm day of the season,
"How does your father stand the
heat?". The young man made no re
ply, but went his way with a clouded
brow. And when the good pastor
learned that the young man's father
hail died only a week before he nnder
itood why his cordial greeting was
met so coldly.
FLACM FOB TIIK RATIOS.
Millions of Thru* Supplied t>y ih !*•%▼
York -11 it a fact ii re i • American Hunt
lug Ahead*
" What can you tell about (lags that
is interesting?" was asked of the pro
prietor of one of the largest factories in
New York city.
"A great deal," ho said. "The
trade Is booming ; that's interesting to
us. Flags form one of the necessities
of life. They are the most prominent
outgrowth of American enthusiasm.
We get married at an altar draped
with the national colors. Sunday
schools parade the streets, and go pic
nicking with (lags In the hands of the
children. Christinas trees are deco
rated with them. The advent of bock
beer or the opening of a bar-room calls j
for the use of the patriotic emblem of \
freedom. We nominate political can- j
didates in flag-druped halls. The open- I
ing of the great bridge called for thou
sands of fiags. We honor the memory
of the soldier dead by decorating their
graves with the (lag they fought for.
We listen to stories of the wrongs in
dicted on theoppressed in another land
in halls where the stars and stripes are
twined with the emerald field and the
harp. Everything that excites the
emotions sells our llags. There is no
place like America for (lags ; there is
no (lag so beautiful as the American
(lag."
" Have you any idea how many (lags
are made and sold in a year? "
•• Not a very accurate one. They !
are made by the million. Our concern !
turned out a million and a quarter i
last year. There are dozens of other
firms turning out other millions. We
fill orders for a thousand gross of the
small (lags. We keep hundreds of j
thousands constantly in stock. Flags
are perishable. When the present ex
citement is over the (lags are thrown
away. When the future excitement
comes new ones are Ixcught. They are
so very cheap that no one cares to keep
them. Thus we make small paper
(lags, tine by one and a half inches
large, mounted on a pin, that we selj
at thirty cents a gross. From that
figure the price runs up to f2i* for a
very large and elegant silk banner
handsomely embroidered. The largest
bunting (lags seldom exceed thirty-six
by fifty feet in size. Such (lags are
used by hotels. Then there are the
streamers, the burgees, or banners with
mottoes, the signal llags for merchant
ships and yachts. Those may becalled
side issues to the dag business, but
they are a large factor in the trade."
" What do you make your (lags of?"
"Silk, bunting, muslin and paper.
Hik (lags are usually made to order.
We keep a great variety of bunting
llags in stock. These (lags are made
by sewing the different colored cloth
together. The next cheaper grade of
(lags is made by printing the colors on
the white cotton cloth. We can
print them as large as six feet in
length. Tliev are printed on hand
presses, much the same as newspapers
were printed years ago. All attempts
to cheapen the work by steam power
have failed."
" Do you make foreign flag*?"
" Thousands of them. They are
wanted for decorating purjeoses chiefly.
Ships buy some, but not many. They
gel them abroad. The foreign con
suls give us orders for some very ele
gant (lag-."
" To what territory do you look for
your trade?"
"The whole rountrv. New York
supplies the nation, although many
fiags are made elsewhere. Here is an
order from Cincinnati. Over there is
a bundle for San Francisco. You can
say that in the (lag trifle, as in a great
many other things.New York City leads
the world."
(told from Permian llivers.
The whole of Chueamba, (Peru),
says a correspondent in Iron, for a
number of leagues alcove and below
the temple of the sun is auriferous,
and the inhabitants of the province of
Huamelics, through which it passes,
obtain by washing the sand, and by
means of sheepskins. 200,000 or 300,-
000 dollars' worth of gold annually.
The wool on the skin is cut out until
it is nlxcnt half an inch in length.
The skins are then anchored down,
with the wend side up. by means of
, loose stones placed on them, in and Ice
low the various rapids. In which |x>-
sition they are suffered to remain from
six to twenty-four hours. They are
I then carefully raised out of the water,
' turned wool side downward in a lcatea
j (tub) of water, and thoroughly
washed; the gold falling from the
wool of the skin is finally collected
from the bottom of the batea. Sheep
were unknown to the Incas, and as
they had obtained an Immense amount
of gold from this Pactolean stream, it
is presumed that they used the skins of
the llama and those of the vicuna
The alcove will not only Ice of Interest
to the general reader, but will also
furnish a wrinkle to the gold miners
similarly situated.
TOPICS OF THE DAT.
The camphor tree has recently been
introduced into California and prouiis
es well. It grows well all along the
coast, and one tree at Scramento has i
already attained a hight of thirty feet.
It is easily propagated from seed or '
cuttings. Itesides producing the well- > ,
known drug, the tree Is valuable for ,
lumber. j \
A late liritish lllue-Ilook shows ! ]
that 559,498 persons were employed j
in all the mines of the I'nited King
dom during the year 1882. The total
number of fatal accidents was 959, re
sulting in the death of 1218 persons. (
an increase of 105 as compared with
the year 1881. Modern methods, more- ;
over, have not made mining safer in
Great Britain, for in 1882 there
was one fatal accident for every 582 |
persons employed, whereas the aver
age for the past nine years was one
fatal accident for every 590 persons
employed.
South America is the lurid of cheap
beef, after all. In that country cattle
have increased so rapidly the last few
years that fat bullocks have declined
from #!'• per head to a few cents over
#0 per head. It is estimated that in
two years from now the number of
cattle in the Argentine Confederation
will number 28,' KM •, 00", against 1-i,-
000,000 in 1877, 5,000,00<l of which
are in the state of Buenos Ayres. The
Confederation also claims oo,o<Hi,ixK,t
sheep, lo.ihmi goats, |,ixm,ooo horses,
and 18,inwi ostriches. The population ,
is only about two to the square mile.
Partially paralyzed, apparently, is
the old man who hobbles into Phila
delphia jewelry store on crutches
He asks to see diamonds; but his hands
hang powerless, ami therefore he can
not touch the jewels. He can only
gaze into the tray, and that at close
range, for he is almost blind. Then
a remarkably handsome girl enters, {
asks a questipn atnuit something in
the window, and the instant that the
clerk turns his eyes from the dia- '
monds the old man transfers one of.
them to his mouth by thrusting out
his tongue, lie is a thief in disguise.
An intelligent young Knglishniun,
a baronet's son, who has been invest
ing largely in lands in Texas, was
asked how it was that so many of his
countrymen were buying land in this
country just now. "1 will tell von,"
he s;ud. "There is ,i vt-ry general feel
ing that there will In- a great change
in F.ngland soon, equal to that made
in the >outh bv your civil w.tr. Al
though they would laugh at the idea
if you suggested it, nine out of ten
men in F.ngland lielieve that Albert 1
K.dwnrd, Prim eof Wales, will be tie
last king F.ngland will ever have. A
revolution is silently but surely pre
paring that will uproot all the rem
nant-. of the old feudal system."
"A spurious Napoleon IV," says
the I.ondon Urophi', "has lately de
ceived a good many jieople at Turin.
He was a young Italian weaver of
very good address and decidedly hand
-1 some, anil for some time succeeded in
keeping up his pretended position as
the late prince impcral, who he de
clared had not been killed in Zululand.
His money having come to an end, the
pretender took to highway roblwry,
and when caught, so loudly declared
his Napoleonic pretensions that hewas
treated as a madman and sent to an
asylum, front which he escaped and
practiced his old tri<ks. Being caught
again the Jury was less lenient, and
the false Napoleon has ls-en sent to
the galleys for twenty-one years."
Of all women in the world, th 0
ladies of China arc probably kept in
the closest laindage; for while they
are com|elled to render to their
parents an oliedience more alisolute
than is practiced in any other country,
with the acquisition of husbands they
find themselves committed not only
to a complete acquiescence in the wills
of their lords, but also to a veritable
Ixindage to their fathers and mothers
in-law. This last consideration, coup
led with the inevitable doubt wheth
ther each will l>e the only star to shine
in her new sphere, deprives matri
mony of that charm which generally
surrounds it in the eyes of maidens.
Such a reversal of the common order
of things could only exist in a coun
try where the needle points to the
south and where men wear petticoats.
During a recent lecture in London
IK- fore an assembly of army officers,
inventors of small arms and other ex
perts, Colonel Fosbcry astonished his
audience by suddenly drnwing from
under the table a wca|sin which he
had just brought from Liege and
which he railed a "baby electric gun."
It could not ix!discharged until brough
in connection with the source of elec
trie force, but that done, it could b*
worked with amazing rapidity, its in
ventor, Mr. I'ieper, of Liege, having
few days before llred 104 rounds in
two minutes. Colonel Fosbcry exhi
bitisl its mode of operation by mean'
of a small electric accumulator secret
ed under his vest, ami minute car j
tridges containing only powder and
wad. Various speakers afterward ex ]
pressed the opinion that electricity'
would again revolutionize the inanu I
facture of small arms.
An adventurous walk across the en
tire continent of Australia has recently 1
been completed by George Ernest
Morrison. The whole distance trav 1
ersed from the Gulf of Carpentaria tn
Melbourne, exceeded 2'" HI miles, and
was covered in 120 days. Passing
through uninhabited wastes, where
sometimes intervals of 1 <n miles in
tcrvened between human habitations
he had to carry a swag, with provis
ions and apparatus for cooking, and
this, of course, materially impeded hi
rate of travelling. He had to carry a
supply ol water in some parts of his
route, where water could only he found
at very long intervals. Part of tin
way led through a district inhabited
by hostile blacks, w ho, in revenge fur
being so mercilessly hunted down by
the remote settlers, show little mercy j
to any white man who comes their
w ay. He walked every inch of tlx
distance alone and unarmed, cooking
for himself such provisions as he could
secure by the way. and generally sleep
ing in the open air. muilled up in the
blanket he i arrii-d in his swag. Not
withstanding the hardships he en.
dured he finished his toilsome march
in robust health.
An old man ninety-three years o
age, a native of spam, recently re
turn's! from the I'nited Mates, where
he has been living many years, to hi*
native land. There is nothing re
markable a Unit this, but the prodig
ious family which accompanied him
lawk was certainly remarkable. I*
consikt<-d of sixteen daughters, twenty
three sons, thirty-four granddaughters
forty-seven grandsons, forty-five great
granddaughters, thirty-nine great*
grandsons, three great-great-grand
daughters, and seventy-two sons-in
law and daughters-in-law, making in
all two hundred and seventy-nine |t
sons. The old man had U-cn thr<*
times marriisl, and his oldest sun i
Dow seventy years of age. The shif
ii I -on which he and his astonishing
family • -lonv went to Euro)*' lielongi
to him, and is commanded by one o
bis numerous grandsons. Nut with
standing his age the old gi-ntlcinar
enjoys excellent health. Every day h*
takes tvvu hours'gymnastic exercise
walks fur two hours, and directs tlx
education of hi< great-grandchildren
He has never used -pirituuiis hquori
in any form, and does not smoke
He w ill shortly be presented at tlx
court iif Madrid
The Louisville Kv., f'ourU-r J'iur
no/resenting the lecturing of the presi
in other states, asserts lynch law i*
confined to no section of the country
but, as human nature is pretty ninct
the same everywhere, linds its advo
rates wherever and whenever the pas
sions of men arc excited by crimes of
particular magnitude or atro itv
That journal laments the fact, but
avers that the apparent necessity foi
people taking the execution of tlx
law into their own hands has grown
to a grievous extent all over the I'nk
on. It says the law's delays, col*
pled with the uncertainty of its pun
ishmcnt of crime, have exafcf>c rated
otherwise law-abiding citizens and
led them to a violation of the very
law s they are themselves demanding
shall l>e enforced. " But this is no!
sectional, it continues." •• Crime i
general, recognizing state lzoundariet
as little as it does the rights of pro
perty or the sanctity of human life,
and in the North as in the South
there is too much of it going unpun
ished. Atrocious villains, seeing this
arc loci to despise the methods of th,e
courts, and commit depredation* others
wise unthnught of. The liettcr classes,
recognizing the same faidts in the ail
ministration of the law, goaded to
madness by the sight of unpunished
crime, take the matter into their own
hands, and by tlie commission of a
crime themselves punish a still greater
offense. That is all there Is of it, and
it is done in Michigan and South Car
olina; in Illinois and Tennessee; in
lowa and Kentucky. The man wh
attempts to sectionalize these offenses
and impute them to one people alone
is blind to the facts or a willful per- \
verier of the truth.
Freight cars are now built to carry
4d,009 pounds.
THE SKA OTTER TRADE.
t lira of Ureal Flneneia art* l aluc lr
Huprrlar !• ftaalakln.
The San Francisco Examiner says:
"The sea otter is an inhabitant of the
North I'acilic ocean, and is found no
where else in the world. Formerly
they were abundant along the coast
| from lower California northward, as
■ well as among the Aleutian islands,
I and from Kamskatka to the Kurile
! islands. Their fur is of the most ex
quisite fineness and richness in both
color and texture. The best skins are
of shining jet black, and their elegance
of surfaee and of l>ody is not perhaps
| surpassed by that of any other fur
1 known. The majority of the skins
show a very rich dark brown, those of
! a poorer quality hi-coming lighter. It
is somewhat remarkable that this fur
has never become fashionable in our
cities. The richest and most expensive
sealskin sacque ever seen cannot sus
tain comparison whatever in elegance
with what the same garment would
have la-en if made from prime -kins of
the sea otter. And yet this charming
fur is allowed to go almost exclusively
to the Chinese market.
The skins of scarcely any other fur
bearing animal brings so high a price
individually as do those of the sea
otter. A cargo of them win brought
Into San Francisco, of which not on<-
was worth less than |75, and they
, ranged from that to fl2'. Those,
however, were of uncommon excel
lence; they usually bring from $4O to
|7O, and it would probably be fair to
average them at |5O. When the
I'ryhilov islands were tirst discovered,
two sailors alone, named Lukannon
and Kaiekoy, killed in the tirst year
5000 sea otters; the first party which
reached Cook's inlet obtained 8""0
skins; the first visit of Russians to the
gulf of Gahkulat, in 1794, yielded 2'tO".
The skins were then worth as much as
they are now, so that the season's work
of those two sailora iirst mentioned, on
the island of St. i'aul, amounted to no
less a sum certainly than $250,00".
Such a wholesale slaughter could not
continue and the follow ing year they
got less than 1""". A few years later
the sea otter abandoned M. I'aul's
Island and have not reappeared there
since. All along the coast a similar
history is noticeable, and the sea otter
bids fair to become so m irly extermi
nated that they w ill cease to afford a
profit to the hunter. singular as it
may apja-ar. the otter's skin is too
large for him. Take hold of any part
of his b'*!y to lift him and the skin
comes 11]• loose in the hand as it dis-s
on the tus k•-f a dog. The cotiM-qucrici
is that, although the entire length of
the animal, from the nose to tin root
of the tail, is commonly but little over
thris- fist, yet wlx-n the -km i reuu \-
•d and stretched in drying it often
measures live feet, and in - iih- i .tw-s
nearly six.
TheTinnting of the otter is greatly
changed in the last twi-nty-five y< irs
Boats were formerly usisf fr-ou which
to shoot tlx-m, but it no longer pay,
Now men sbiit them from the In ah,
using n-1 boats. This is done on the
coast of Washington Territory, l*-tween
Port Granville and Gray's Harl-r. and
scarrx ly anywhere else at present
From morning till night the hunter
walks the ls-ai h, ready for a shot, but
even while he sees his game the chunc*
that he will sis ure it is not particularly
flattering. The lirst difficulty is that
of putting a bullet through it at |H'r
haps ■!'* to yards or even more.
It is not a Creed moor target, but a
little black spot in the midst of the
dark, leaden-colored sea, and is not
more than four inches across. Yet lie
often hits it, though generally after
many failures. The very best marks
men average at least twenty-live shots
for every otter kilbsl.
Oriental Torlnres.
Impalement, horrible as it is. Ls not
the crudest punishment inllictl in
(tricntal countries. Particularly the
Chinese and the inhabitants of Atmam.
Cochin Cliina and Main seem to leave
exhausted all their powers of inven
tion in devising new and insufferable
torments for criminals or persona who
had incurred the hatred of the rulers
uf those countries. In China relels
and traitors are literally cut into a
thousand pieces. The executioner
who is to carry out this dreadful sen
tence fastens the prisoner, who Ls tied
hand and foot, with a chain to a post,
end makes an incision over the fivre
head of his victim. He pulls the skin
of the forehead over the eyes of the
sufferer, so that he can no longer see.
A large basket with small knives Is
now placed beside the executioner,
who shakes them up several times and
takes them up, one by one.
I On each knife is written the name
I of a part of the human body which I'm
: (lend who takes the instrument of tor
ture from the basket proceeds to lace
rate slowly. Little nieces of 'jesh and
skin arecut from the struggling wretch,
and whim the executioner lIM cut and
slashed one part, in his opinion, auffl
eiently, he takes another knife from
the basket and proceeds an before, un
til at last all the knives have been
taken from the basket. But while the
victim suffer* horrible torments the
executioner operates on him with such
skill that no vital parts are touched,
and death doe* not come to the relief
of the sufferer. And when all the
nllrubers of this terrible lottery of
knives are drawn, the bleeding body
of the unfortunate man is thrown to
ravenous dogs, who, more merciful
than their masters, soon put an end te
the agonies of the doomed man.
Another punishment said to have
been indicted in China on great crimi
nals consisted in being brushed to
death. The instrument employed in
this torture was a wire brush, with
which the executioner brushed, or
rather scrajx-d, off the flesh of the cul
prit, a proceeding which natunilly con
sumed a great deal of time. The tor
mentor witli consummate skill, brush
•si around all the great veins and ar
teries, to prevent the victim from
bleeding to death, and kept him aliv
for a long time. In J-iam the death
penalty was indicted on rebels *'7
having tlie-in trampled to death by eie
phants. Others had a small cocoanut
forced into their mouth, so that they
ha<l to starve. Other horrible punish
ments have been inflicted by Oriental
despots, and many of them have taken
]iartic 11 Isr pains to vary the pain\
eh an gin g the mode of their torment
with every sufferer. But the above in
stance* will suffice to show what cruel
ti<* are practiced in those countries.
CLIPPO'Wi FOR TilK ( I RIOI S.
Spectacles were invented in 12'.K.
I'ins were invented in 14bG; neelh*t
in I'4'i.
The spinning-wheel, the precursor
of our modern l<>oins, was set in
motion by Jergensin 1 -VIO.
It i- a curious fact that so Arm in
texture is the paper of a genuine hank
of Kngland note that burning alous
< ;ui destroy it.
During ooe of the ri-cent hot days
in Brooklyn N. V.. the bridge de
s<-ended to within 1d.% feet y inches of
the water. I'nloadod, in the coldest
wlather, it would be two feet higher.
Tie* "Parliament of Bats" is the
name given to the Knglish Parliament
which convened in February, 142 G.
I in* uiernlM-r* were forbidden to w ear
theirsw• >rds, as they had l>een accuiw
, tomcd t> do, and armed themselves
with lmnieiise wooden bats.
A < aliforma man ha* a flock of
twentv-tive ilotiu*sticatel wild geese,
i ire jwularity f the wild geese u
that if it- mate dies, it never take*
anothi r. s-erond marriages, so ta
-js-a'K.are not tolerated them.
In olden time* an extraordinary
custom prevailed in Denmark, that of
''lining a live animal, a horse,a lamb,
i pig, ar. I sometimes even a child at
tin ciimiiii-ruetiient of a building. It
is strange that a similar custom a|>-
l>*ars. from the Servian ballad*. t
h;iM' prevailed among the Sclavonians.
\ lamb w i- generally cntornlied in the
foundation of a church; a horse in *
churchyard.
The "Knglish Prophetess" war
.h anna south cote. lorn about 177:1.
claiuieii to possess such miraciiloui
powi-r as would restore the dcadtt
life, ami once a large concourse ot
pcsiple assembled to witness the fill
tillmcnt of her profession. One of
the crowd suggested the expediency o*
ascertaining with a dagger, if tliemar
to la "raisisl" was really dead, where
njHin the "corjwe" sprang to his fee*
arui ran away.
The commissioners < hargeil with e*
amining recruits for the French army
were compelled to reject a. lad la
scars ago for the reason that he was
a fraction of an inch under the pre
scribed higlit. He was so young, how,
ever, tli.it there was efery reason to
siip]i*c that lie would grow, and ha
was marked as a likely .-andidatc tot
the next year. Last yean accordingly,
lie was measured again, but instead of
increasing in statue, the conuuia
sioners were amarcd to find thai ha
had grown perceptibly shorter. They
decided to give him one more chance,
and he has just lieen examined again,
only to 1H. Anally rejected, sinre it ap
pearad that lII* head is steadily sinking
toward his hoota During the two
years bis hight. has decreaaeil one*
t went iet h of an inch.
Tke rule forbidding a prince to con
tract a marriage with a woman of in
ferior rank is rigorously observed in
Germany. ITince Alexander, of Witt
genstein however, hat refused to al
low It to stand In his way. He fell in
love with Die governess of his chil
dren and renounced his
i title tew in order marry her.