' . t
HENRY A Xf ARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher.
NIL DESPERANDUM.
- f,
Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. IV.
MDGAVAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1874.
NO. 43.
4
Tho Handful of Earth,
It's Hailing I am at tho dawn of day,
Tu my brotlior that's over tho sea,
But it's lit tle I'll cave for my life anywhere.
Tor it's breaking my heart will be ;
But a treasure I'll tako.for onld Ireland's Bake,
That I'll prize all belonging above ;
It 8 a handful of earth from tho land of
birth,
Trom tho heart of tho land that I lovo.
my
Anil w on't the poor M in his exile be glaJ,
"When !-.eet8 tho bravo present I bring !
And wo'.'t there be (lowers from liii treasniro
C f curs
In f.ie warm of tho beautiful spring !
Oisb, Erin mashroe' though H'apartin we be,
"leasing I II leave oa vour shore,
a ...i ... , ... .
.luu jum uiuuuinui: ana streams 11 eoo in
my dreams
Til) I crof;s to my country once more.
AT THE RACES.
"John !"
" I hear yon, mother."
"John, I I wish to speak soriotu-ly
10 you, uiy son,
"Very well. I'ni listening."
Jjittlo Mrs. Thurlow Rtood up, to
giro her words more weight. They did
not Boeni to mean anything at all to
her ; she was eucU a very little woman.
nud her back ached so much, aud her
Hands trembled so that she had to
steady herself on tho back of a chair.
She suddenly romcmbored how John's
father used to r.troke her pretty pink
Lauds aud cnll her " Baby," and say no
iroarjio fiiiouut ever conio nigh nor.
Aud when Lo tailed on Lis last cruise.
ho tuui jguij woiuu uo nor comiort un
til ha came back. And now John was
breaking her heait I
" You will not go to Eppton with that
boy, to-morrow, dear. I mean you
r.uau hoc go, joun. I certainly will
havo some authority over vou I"
John was standing, too, looking her
full iu the face. The angry red came
into her cheeks una theu died out as
quickly, and her blue eyes were full of
tears. " You won't go, Johnny, dear!
You won't vex mother V"
John shut his mouth tight aud
fi'iivtiPjTed his Fihoulders. lie had vrv
i.. i . i: -. . . , .
iiutiy iouim out mat women were a
waii lot, and tnat men ought to control
things iu the world, aud that ho was a
man. jjis momcr was so little nua so
fussy, and she never knew her cvn
ruind 1 wo minutes 1 A pretty thin H
t-ho was goiug to Bay, " You shall," ami
" You shall not," lo hint all his life !
" Don't go to Eppton, Johnny," the
continued coaxing. " J.'ra sine if ir'
your lather were here he would say that
vi-.leot hoy was a very bad companion
for you."
"And whal'll I do at home if I stay ?
It's a holiday," Buid John, savagely
shaking oft' tho hand sho laid gently on
liis arm. His voiee was growing deep,
like a man's. He was tidier than she
in theso last few months, and looked
over her head en they stood together.
He studied books and talked of things
of. which she knew nothing.
And yet it wa3 only tha other d.iy
she held him in her arms her baby"!
Only tho ether day 1 Now that his
father was auy, and site almost feared
might bo oead, what had she in tho
world but her little boy ? She always
thought God had given Lim to Ler, just
to her, to be her own. Now he wan
going from her fast, fast. He came
home with that Wulcot boy tho other
night with tho smell of liquor on hir,
breath. He had not let her kiss Lim
for daya, not touch his mouth the
sweet mouth where she used to watch
tho teeth coming like pearls one !,
one.
She pre .7 pale, her eyes were wii.l
with terror, as ehe caught him by the
arm. " O, for God's sake, doa't turn
from me, John 1 It would be bett.r
that wo were dead together than that
you should fjo ca tbi road that yon
ure going."
'I'm going nowhere but to Eppton,
to see a hoive-race," ho replied, rough
ly. " And if I stay at home, what cau
I do to amuse myself ?"
Mrs. Thurlow glanced from side to
side in diwany. When Lo could le
amused with toys or a story-book she
managed very veil, but now
" You might lish in the morning, and
111 take you with me to the boning
socie ty iu the evening," with brighten
ing face.
John's fmwl grew darker, but ho
made no direct reply. His mothers
tears hurt him btrnngtly.
" Very well. I'm go'ing to bed now.
Wo"l talk it over iu tho morning,"
lightiii his candle liud going off ab
ruptly. Alter he hoard his mother shut ber
chauibt r door ho went down stairs, and
out to the drug shop, where he was sure
to iind Tom Wulcot. That gay city
ing eageny together for a long time.
John appeared reluctant and worried.
" Don't mind her," said Walcot, o
leaving. "They're all alike. Weak,
weak as water. You're doing no barm.
It's time you took masters into your
own hands. And bo sure and bring
-," lowering Lis voice. "It will
show tho boys what class in society you
belong to. They are all nobby dress
ers." " Jack," said Mr. Day, as be put up
bis shutters, "I'd steer clear of that
Wulcot fellow, if I were you. Nobody
knows anything about him. It don't
become your father's son to be hail fel
low well met with a lad like that."
Day said t bis wife that night it was
a thousand pities Jack had iot his
father to manage him just now. Dr.
Thurlow was as thorough a gentleman
as there was in the navy, and John was
on the high-road to become a black
guard. Nearly four years had passed since
the ship on which Dr. Thurlow was
surgeon had left on the long cruise, and
he was expected home soon.
By daylight tho nest morning John
and his friend were jogging along the
road 'lo Eppton. John's face was nn
U6uully red, and his eye unsteady. He
took out a heavy gold watch from his
pocket now and then, and flashed in the
sun a diamond ring that he wore on his
little finger.
" That's a reg'lar old turnip," said
Walcot, glancing at ths watoh furtive
jouru lungncu a good deal at tueesrly-to-bed
habits of the village boys. Day,
the druggist, noticed tho two lads talk
ly. "No notion of its value, have
yon ?"
"Six or seven hundred," said John,
loftily. " It was my grandfather's. It's
got the family crest on it in jewels, d'ye
see ? I supposo the boys will under
stand that."
" O, they'll appreciate the watch, no
fenr," with a laugh.
"I borrowed mother's ring, too,"
turning it to make it sparkle. " I don't
know what she'll say if she misses
them. But sho onglit to let me show
people that I'm not a beggar, when I
go into society."
"Certainly," By the way, did you
bring any money, Jack ? You kuow I
told you thore'd bo betting. All our
set risk a little, just for the "fun of the
thing. Oi course they don't caro to
win. Money counts for nothing wih
these fellows. But it loo!:s well to bet,
you tej."
" No, I didn't brinr auy," John said,
flushing hotly. ' The truth is, Tom, I
won't bet. It won't ! break mother's
heai';, I do belicv :, if T did that."
"Bah!" muttered Walcot, with un
limited dispubt. " Break her heart, in
deed ! Well, well, you'll learn to be a
man some timo."
Eppton, tho country town, was
reached in a eouplu of hours, and John
was introduced to " the boys." Now
John, full of conceit as he was, was
shrewd enough, and wa quick to see
thii' the coarse faces, gaudy clothes
and sham jewelry of tho young men
were very different from those which
should belong to gentlemen's sons.
But ns he had no money to bet they
they treated him with indifference.
leaving him to Walcot during the dy,
me races were exciting, more was
a certain delight, too, in standiug in a
crowd, sucking the end of au unlighted
cigar (ho knew ho would be sick, if lie
smoked;, stroking tho down on his up
per lip with the jeweled fiuger.
But as the day waned evou these
pleasures paled. Th6 oaths aud ob
scenity about him sickened the boy,
He remembered it was time for his
mother to read the chapter end the
evening prayers. Tho little, fnssy, dear
woman ! She micht be fussy and weak.
but her re'ieion seemed to John at that
moment a pure and awful thiug, before
winch tuee men aud their "world
were vile ntd insigmSeant.
He touched Waicot on the. b ho alder,
" I'm going home now, Tom,"
1 he men around hustily glauc d at
eneh other.
" Come, take u drink, first. ' I
c-au't go back to-night, Jaek," said
Walcnt. " You'll havo to trudge
alone, if you will go. Better tay where
you are."
" No. And I'll not drink unythiug
more, lioou evening, KeuUemen.
Ho hurried through tho crowded
streets to the turnpike loadioor home.
The day had beeu a disappointment,
after ail. He might as well havo been
lishiug or at the sewing society for oil
the pleasure ho had had. And yet a
boy ought to havo some amuaemeut, he
thought.
He trudged on miserable enough,
with an aching head and uncertain
steps. "As for the wine, what do I
take it for V I hale it, tnd it makes me
sick as death. If Wulcot woulda't jeer
at cola water prigs 1
Tho sun had set before ho started
homeward. The road lay between hill..
When he had gone a mile or two, he
lound himself in almost absolute dark
ness. He truuged on manfully,
though, and had reached tho Narrow's,
where the hill rose on one side of the
road and tho river ran ou tho other,
when he observed four figures, appar
ently waiting for him. One was iu form
so like Walcot, that, Lo thought the
boys had changed their minds, nud de
termined to go back it'i him.
" H tnat you, lorn ? ' ne shouted.
The mail came ciuicklv n to Lim.
He was marked.
I want tho time of night, boy." he
said, iu a strained voic?.
John, trembling, buttoned his coat
tightly over his watch.
"I want to know what time it is !"
drawing a revolver and pointing it at
his heai';.
" The watch is not mine." cried John.
ytliiug, "Help, ha p !" lor a moment,
until a olow on the head felled and
ttuuued him. Ho knew, however, that
his watch und ring weie dragged from
him before another blow left him life
less.
Wheu he came to himself a mm was
lifting him into a buggy standing ou
the road. In the darkness, and his be-
wildormo-Et from tho blow ho had re
ceived, he could just see that tho man
was large and powerfully buiit.
" Are you going to kill me ?" John
asked, quiet enough, considering the
importance of the case.
The gentleman laughed. No.
You've had rough usage enough, poor
fellow, You are too youug a boy to bo
drunk and nghting," arranging the
cushions about him in tho seat, and
taking the reins. "Now tell me a'l
about it."
There was something so kind and
strong in his voine that the boy ner
vously told him the whole story, with
sobs and tears.
"It is mother I care for," hn said.
" To think how I turned against her I"
The gentleman looked down at him
closely, his own face strangely agitated.
He took the boy's hand and held it,
crushing it in his own until Johu al
most cried out.
They stopped at the cottage door.
John'u mother stood at the gate, where
the poorlittle womau had been watching
all day. When she saw the boy come
staggering down the path toward her,
she ran to meet him, and then stopped
short, looking at the man behind him,
with a wild cry nf " George 1 George !"
" Yes," said Dr. Thurlow to his wife,
the next day, " it hns all ended like a
story in a book. The pclioe have the
thieves aud we have the watch and
ring, and I came home just when I was
needed in more ways than one. No
fear, little woman, of our boy. He only
needs a man's stronger hand to guide
bim aud to make him fit to appreciate
his mother." Youth's Companion,
A Georgia citizen tried to increase
the weight of his cotton by packing in
it a lot of old iron and now it is all be
can do to raise money tu pay his way oat
of the penitentiary.
The Germ Theory of Disease.
Trof. John Tyndall writes a letter to
the London Times, called forth by a
treatise on typhoid fever by Dr. Wil
liam Budd. The following is tho con
cluding paragraph of tho letter :
What in tho nature of the typhoid
poison ? The "yellow typhoid matter"
already referred to, Budd describes as
made up of nucleated cells. The term
"germ-theory " does not, to my knowl
edge, occur once in the volume, pos
sibly because of the opposition and
ridicule that theory encountered in the
English medical press. Over and over
again .Budd speaks of "germs," but, it
might be imagined that he used the
word figuratively. Those who kuew him,
however, were well awa'fl that this was
riot tho case ; and in the early part oi
the present volume, after de'stribk't;
the calamities incident to typhoid
fever, he remarks : " It is humiliating
that issues such as these should be con
tingent ou the powers of an agent so.
low ia tho scale f being that tho mil
dew which rprii'gfl on decaying wood
mntbeconsideredhigu in comparison."
Four or five years ago I, ou outsider,
ventured upon this ground of medical
theory, for it involved no knowledge of
medical practice, but simply a capacity
to weigh evidence ; and the evidence
that epidemic diseases were parasitic
appeared to me very strong. Ou tho
Oth of June, 1871, 1 ventured to express
myself thus: "With their respective
viruses you may plant typhoid fever,
scarlatina, or small-pox. What ere
the crops that arise from such hus
bandry? As surely a3 a thistle rises
from a thistle-seed, as surely as the fig
comes from the fiir, the grape from the
grape, nud the thorn from the thorn, so
aurely does the typhoid virus increase
and multiply into typhoid fever, the
scarlatina virus into scarlatina, the
small pox virus into smull-pox. What
is the conclusion that suggests itself
hero? It is this : that the thing which
we vaguely call a virus is to all intents
aud purposes a seed ; that, excluding
the notion of vitality, in the whole
range of chemical science you cannot
point to an action which illustrates ihis
perfect parallelism with the phenomei-a
of life this demonstrated power of
self-muUiplication and reproduction."
It was the clear nnd powerful writing
of William Budd, joined to those of the
eclcbrattd Past nr. that won mo to
these views. It is partly with a view of
sauipiu at a receptive moment salu
tary truths npon tho public mind, but
p artly rIso through the desire of ren-d-jing
justice to a noble intellect, which
has been literally sacrificed to the
public good, that I draw attention no:
only to the masterly combination of
observation and inference exhibited
from beginning to end of Dr. Budd's
volume, but also to the crowning i'aot
already published iu the medical jour
nab, aud to which my attention was
first drawn by my eminent friend Mr.
Simon, that Dr. Klein has recently dis
covered the very organism which lies
at the root of all the mischief, and to
the destruction of which medical and
sanitary skill will henceforth b
directed.
Merchant Vessels of the United States.
Tho Bureau of Statistics furnishes
the following information relative to the
tonnage owned in the United States on
the 30th day of June, 1871 :
yon.,
;,!v,7,7n.:u
U7.4i4.MI
7.iK,H.)S.S4
HU,4.8.:i'.l
:ui,44ii.uu
4,(i,.5.8s:t.7,J
4,4iiS,04li.Bl
Atlantic iiml (iulf coasts 21,MS
t-Kt-Tii nverii l,5i)4
Northern laki.-a., 4,Ht
Pai-iBu ooai-t I,rj5
I'uriKgi-d vessels nut reported.. 2,0;tti
Total, 1R7.
Total, 1B73.
.81.1IVM
.Sl.tMl
luerease iu 1S74 over 1873. . 2'M 1'27,H;1(;.U1
The tonnage is classified as follows :
XHtiltnrH.
li'll.
Suiiiutf vessels
steam vesweln
rnrijceil vessels
VltritJgtd vessels not reported.,
17,22(1 2,257,154.2a
V.l.'H 1,11(1,4.-12
5.W1 t.'.l.i,t.)S.ii7
2.'.loS 3.11,445.74
Total
..81.B2J 4,5'.3,(S).4e
Previous to tho passage of the act of
April IS, T874, canal and other boi.ti
employed on inland wafers or canals
were required to be enrolled and licensed
under the provisions of the net oi
February 18. 1793, if they enter naviga
ble waters, and from the fact of such
enrollment and license wore included
iu the returns of tonnage belonging to
the several districts ot the United
States, June 30, 1873. Tho act of
April 18, 1874, txempts this clafS of
boats, with but few exceptions, from
enrollment and license, and hence they
do not appear in the returns of tonnage
belonging to the several customs dis
tricts Juue 30, 1874 The difference
between the tonnage of unrigged ves
sels reported Juue 30, 1873, and that
reported Juue 30, 1874, is assumed to
be the amount drooped in consequence
of tho passage of the last-named act.
The Buttle or )il.
Once upon a time there lived an old
gentleman in a large house. Ho had
servants and everything he wanted, yet
he was not happy ; and when things
ditl not go ps he wished he was cross.
At last his servants left him. Quite
out of . temper, he went to a neighbor
with a story of his distresses.
it seems to me, said the neighbor.
sagaciously, " it would be well for you
to oil yourself a little."
" To oil myself r
"Yes, and I will explain. Some time
ago one of the doors in my house
creaked. Nobody, therefore, liked to
go in or out by it. One day I oiled its
hinges, and it has been constantly
used by everybody ever sinoe."
" Then you think I am like your
creaking door ?" cried the old gentle
man. "How do you want me to oil
myself?"
"That s an easy matter," said the
neighbor. "Go home aud engage a
servant, and when he does right, praise
him. If, on the contrary, he does
something amiss, do not be cross ; oil
your voice and words with the oil oi
love."
The old gentleman went home, and
no harsh or ugly word was found in
his house afterwards. Every family
should have a bottle of this precious
oil, for every family is liable to a creak
ing binge in the shape of a fretful dis
position, a cross temper, a harsh tone,
or fault-finding spirit.
An Instrument of Exchange.
Here is a half sovereign which I hold
in my hand, said Prof. Price, in a
lecture at Oxford. That is a coin a
piece of currency. What is it ? This
coin is a piece of gold with a ninth
npon it. What is that mark? The
arms of the Queen Victaria. Those
arms are put upon it at tho factory
where it was made the Royal Mint of
Euglnud. Did they put into this metal
anything besides gold ? Yes ; they
pnt a little alloy into it merely or the
purpose of hardening it, iii order that
tne mart; may not be erased by constant
war. lint in England nothing is
charged for that. You get the same
quantity returned to you in coin that
you bring to tha ba.ik in ingots ; and,
therefore, ii is a pure piece of gold.
What on earth was this little thing in
vented for? If I were in Egypt I
should say ii was something to put
arouu.l a woman's neck or in her ears,
to use as ornaments ; but we know that
this is not the application of it in great
cities and nations. Theu I must trace
it, ana wnat uoes it o t if i see a
cart I understand directly what n enrt
is. There are two shafts, which un
mistakably indicate a horse ; the wheels
indicate motion, nnd tho body indicates
a capacity to carry weight, and I know
all about a cart at tho vary first sight.
What is thi3 coin for ? I must wateh
the people who use it. I find people
l.uy it. Thoygive their property for
it, and as they don't use it iu tho way
of ornament, 1 watch them closer, and
I perceive this man who has given cer
taiu property for it is very soon anxious
to got rid of it. That is the next won
derful thing about this little coin. It
is bought, and then the next step is to
get rid of it as quickly as possible. It
becomes, then, a "current" thing. It
runs. Currency is the "running " from
curro in Latin. Then I buy it to run,
and not to stay with me. My next step
is : What is that necessary for ? When
it leaves mo what has happened to me ?
I have gained other goods. It lias had
this wonderful effect upon mo. I have
ii-Si rid of a quantity of goods iu my
hands which I did not want, and I have
got int.j my hands a quantity of goods
i ma want, an, tueu, 1 see as once
what it menn3 ; the operation finished,
I find I have exchanged the wods I
bad for another st of things. There is
a certain quality iu human nature
which finds its way into humau soeiety,
aud it is this : We cannot make ail our
things fo. ouvsolves. There must be a
division of employments, division of
makings. One Eays : "I will make hats'
if you will make shoes." Another says :
"I will make coats." A third says:
" I will make carts." And iu human
life all these things must bp exchanged
somehow. Tho man is not going to
give his horsa for tho hnt. That would
uot do at all. " Well," says the hatter
to the other person with whom he is
trading, "there i3 something resou
abla iu that. The horse cost you a
great length of time in care, plonty of
coin, plenty of hay ; r.o it won't do to
give it for the hat. ' We must have some
principle of exchange." And then he
discovers that this little thing which I
s:ow to you is a tool. And, gentle
men, from the first word I say to you
uow to the last word I say to you, I
wish you never to look on the currency
as any thiug else than a tool of exchange ;
and i!l the mess, and oil the disorder,
and nil the utter confusion on this sub
ject is that people will not submit to
grasp the idea that this thing was in
vented as a machine for exchanging
gctidn, aud for nothing else nothing
else at all.
A Thrifiy Womau.
A case which gives a queer illustra
tion of woman's rights is reported in a
recent Cincinnati court report. Ii ap
peals that Charles A. Mayhugh went vo
California, and in 1859 ceased to com
municate with Li3 wile. After waiting
eight years the wife gave him up for
dead, and thiough a real estate agent
named Robinson exchanged her prop
erty in Cincinnati for a farm. Five
years after that Mayhugh tinned up,
claimed his property in the city, cud
Robinson paid him S3,000 for a qnit
claim deed. Doubtless Robinson
thought that as tho wife had conveyed
all, she had conveyed her right in it.
But iu a yi-ar Mayhugh died, and then
the wil'e put iu a claim to her dower in
the very property she had conveyed
wholly to Robinson when sho thought
her husband dead. Thus she made a
good thiuj.? out of him, both dead and
alive. Robinson was now called on to
pay tho third time for what he bought
out-and-out the first. The dower claim
was defeated in the Court of Common
Pleas, but tho District Court held that
as tho wife's deed, when her husband
lived, was null, her right of dower still
remained. As there is no bar to a wife's
securing a conveyance; we supposo she
held on to thfl farm that was conveyed
to her, and that Robinson had no re
course on her. This was considerably
better than the entire independence of
the wif?.
Legends of the Apple,
The apple, which, as well as we
know, is tLe first fruit mentionod in the
Bible, has been the theme of various
legends and superstitions. In Arabia
it is believed to charm away disease,
and produce health and prosperity,
Iu some countries the custom remains
of placing a rosy apple in the hand of
the dead, that they may find it when
they enter Paradise. The Greeks use
it as a symbol of wealth and large pos
sessions, thus attesting their esteem
for the fullness and richness of its
qualities. In northern mythology the
apple is said to produce rejuvenating
power. Germany, France and Switz
erland have numerous legends regard
ing this fruit. In some it is celebrated
as the harbinger of good fortune.
causing one's most earnest desires to be
ful ailed ; in others its beautiful prop
erties are shown forth as bringing
death and destruction; others again
speak of it as an oracle in love affairs ;
this is especially the oase with the Ger
mans, not only in their numerous tales,
but in some surviving customs. Iu
England, as well as in our own coun
try, is known among school girls the
popular use of the apple seeds in divin
ing one's sweetheart. The peeling is
aiso used as test in this delicate
matter,
U. S, POSTAL DEPARTMENT,
Itepnrt of tho l'nliiintrr (Jriicrnl l'r llir
l.nnt Klnrnl Yenr.
The Postmaster General has rendered
a report of tho work and condition of
the Post-office Department. Ho says :
The ordinary revenues of this de
partment during the year ending Juno
30, 1874, were $24,590,508.84, and the
expenditures of all kindsS32,126,414.58.
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1873,
the revenues from tho same sources
were 22,928,157.57, and the expendi
tures of ull kind.! 23,084,915. C7. For
the ljst fiscal year there was au iu
c react j of n-vtuue, exclusive cf revenue
from tho nionoy crder business and
from official stamps, of 81,674,411.27,
ft 7.30 per cent. . and -au increase of ex
penditures of $3,041,408.91, or 10.457
per coot. A cotupa.iisou of the fiscal
year 1873 4 with 1871-2 shows a,n in
crease in revenue, exclusive of revenue
from the mon.y order business aud
from official st;mps, of 33,130,570.28, or
14.58 percent., and iu expenditures of
$5,463,222 27, or 20.51 per cent.
Tho estimated expenditures for tho
year ending Juno 30, 187, are .$30,904,
034. The total estimated revenuo for
the year ending June 30, 1870, is $29,
148,150, leaving a deficiency to bo ap
propriated out of the general treasury
of 7,815,878.
The foregoing estimates do not in
clude special appropriations to be made
out of the general treasury amounting
to .$2,098,500.
The number of ordinary adhesive
postage stamps issued during the
year wu C;J2.7b:l.42 . representing. . . 17.27S,242 CO
Stamped envelopes, plain, li,,Ul7,6UO. .
stumped envelope.-, request, 6I,!'40,2."0
Newspaper wrappers, ordinary, 11,
370,7ot Postal earits, lil.ll.'.l.oj!
otUeiul postage stamps 32,320,085. . ..
OJUeial stumped envelopes and wrap
pers, 12,!HW,3illl
l.U;7,!l!2 30
1,73.1,78 4'J
220,5112 Ca
yio.nio do
1,415,845 21)
8.'.3.45ti fill
The whole uutnl'er of postage stumps,
stumped envelopes, newspaper wrap
pers and postal cards was UOi,451,:nj,-,,
of the valueol' $23.S37,52iI 02
The increase in tho issue of ordinary
postage stamps was 3.50 per cent. ; of
stamped envelopes, plaiu, 11.92 per
cent. ; of stamped envelopes, request,
12.21 per cent. ; of newspaper wrap
pers, 50.86 per cent. ; ot postal cards,
102,91 percent. au average increase of
8.17 per cent. The number of dead
letters received was 4,001,773, repre
senting a nominal or actual value of
.$4,037,429. Number of letters deliv
ered, 1,392,215, representing S3.909,
803 ; number which, containing circu
lars, or, failing in delivery aud being
worthless, were destroyed, 2,022,019.
Tho number of applications for dead
letters was 6,420. Iu 2,140 of these
eases the letters were found and prop
erly delivered.
There were in the service of the de
partment ou the 30th of June, 1874,
6,232 contractors for tha transportation
of tho mails Gn public ronies. There
was uu increase over the preceding year
in length of routes of 12,887 miles, aud
in annual transportation of 8,717,820
miles, and in cost of S1.7G0.716. Add
ing the increased cost of railway post
office clerks, route, local and other
agent3, 280,585, the total increase in
cost was 82,053,301. The railroad
routes have increased in length 4,277
miles, and in cost .$1,332,407, against
an increase last year of 5,540 mile3 in
length aud .'5754,425 in coat. This dis
proportionate increase in cost is owing
to the readjustment of pay uuder tha
act of Congress approved March 3,
1873,
Butter Without Cows.
The Paris correspondent of tho Lou
dou Standard refers as follows to a
new article of food in tho French
capital : "I must briefly allude to the
new butter, called Margarine Mouries,
If we tho world in general that is
rightly understand the pre cess by which
this substance is made approved by
analysis, adopted by the Council of
Hygiene, autLciized by the government
for army use, and taxed at one rate with
the genuine article tho end of all
things must be at Land. This butter is
composed of cream which never dwelt
in cow. As I uudeistaud, it is neither
laid, nor oil, nor grease of any sort,
whether iinimal, vegetable, or mineral.
It is made of 'things' in a chemist's
shop. Studying the process by whktli
green jjrasa is transformed to milk, M.
llouries-Mego has pursued the ta;:k of
simplification until ho can dispense
with tho cow's imscientifio processes.
Was it not Lord Brougham who looked
forward to the time when chemists
would bo our only butchers, when, with
the help of a few powders, a furnace, a
spectroscope, au 'i an elementary educa
tion, ono would turn a truss of hay into
a beefsteak in the back parlor ? That
is wt at M. Mego professes to have
done, or something like it, for butter,
and his brother savants ail declare the
result perfection. Though the process
is but a year old, it employs 400 men
in seven manufactories. The butter
to which that name is not given by the
inventor, but by the octroi officials is
sold at about hulf tho price of the real
substance in which the cow is not
avowedly ignored.
Wife Mcudeh. Barney McMahon,
living near Burkeviile, Monroe county,
111., is under arrest for murdering his
wife and burning tho body. The mur
der, it is charged, was committed on
Aug. 8th last, at which date Mrs. Mo
Mahon disappeared. For two weeks
afterward McMahon had a log heap
burning,' which emitted a terrible
stench. Suspicion being aroused, the
case was given into the hands of detec
tives, and the looation of the fire being
plowed over, disclosed hair pins, bones
of the hand, and a fragment of the
upper jaw.
A Miser. An old miser named Am
broise, residing at New Orleans, died
ono day recently from privation. He
was too stingy to pay seventy-five cents
for medicine a day or two previous to
his demise, though $1,200 in currenoy
and some 815,000 in good securities
were found on his person and about
the premises. The old man had been
accustomed to loan money out at heavy
interest, and had a steady income of
8500 to $600 per month. He died on a
bed of moss, and had not as much as a
sheet to cover his body.
HOW HATIONS GET POOR.
A Panic nml Whnt C'nno lt'oimiimln loo
Much.
How do nations get poor ? asks Prof.
Bonaman. From devouring, consum
ing more than they make ; then some
body must go to tho bad, somebody
must lose. Homebody must lose in
warmth ; somebody must lose in enjoy
ment ; somebody, perhaps, mnst be
starved. That is what is called a
" crisis," a " panic," an exceptional
and nndue dest notion of things be
yond tho amount of things that are
made. Then what follows ? The farm
er says to hs laborer, "I cannot feed
you this year ; I c.tuuot sell my wheat,
because other people have been de
stroying and have nothing to give me
for my wheat." f u that a? tha field
goes out of cultivation. There is a loss
of capital which tho man who worked
iu the field would keep alive. Si it is
with the store, so it is with the shop, so
it is with the factory. It i.i not what
the banks do ; it is what you do that
will determ no whether the nation is
going forward or backward ; whether
there will bo things enough made next
year. You hear a man say of another
ha has so many millions income. Do
you suppose any of us handle our in
come in dollars, paper or gold ? The
poor man, yes. The poor man, no
doubt ; he receives his weekly wages,
and that he touches iu money ; but tho
rich man who has 1,000 a year, he
does not touch probably 500. So it is
with tho great industries : they don't
touch money. " Income " means this :
Your Bhare.'your proportion of things
made and cultivated by the nation.
You count it in dollars. It appears as
if it were in dollars, but there is no
truth in it. Whether you are consum
ing more thau you ore making, it is
your share, your proportion of the
bread aud butter aud meat and shoes
aud clothes that are made. Capitol is
that whinh is destroyed liko everything
else. It is reproduced in goods mado.
A beautiful picture is not capital ; it
does nothing iu the way of making
other goods. You have lost your prop
erty, but you have tho painting.
Therefore, when men aro sins nnd
sober aud not wild, nations will create,
will increase their capital, will increase
machines for makiug t hose things which
are iudispeusabio lor itum.iu iifo and
itsenjoymeut.
Jollify and eat up nil your capital,
aud iu sis months the American people
must die sternly, absolutely die. It
is juf.t as easy to make au approxima
tion of death in this temporary undue
destruction of eapital. L.'t mo men
tion ouo instance war. War is a rapid
consumer. Fine orders for iron, flue
orders for coal, fine orders for clothing,
flue orders for all sorts of things ; gen
erals well paid ; great movements ;
great destruction. All goes on swim
mingly. But the process that is not
seen is the destruction. Therefore war
brings vu a great sense of prosperity.
Yon are eating your capital ; the bread
of twelve mouths you are eating up in
eight months. It is the same with
railways. You make too many rail
ways. If you make too many railways
what happens ? The old story, a dimi
nution of capital. You have fed the
laborers ; you have clothed them ; you
have given them tools, and when tho
railway is opened you are .astonished
that the nation is so poor. You Lave
destroyed the capital of the natiou ;
you have destroyed tho power of mak
ing goods. The people are poorer;
they must consume losj, go with worse
clothes to redeem what they have lost.
At last there comes the panic ; every
body thought the railway was good ;
everybody plunged into taking shares ;
they consumed more than they ought
to have consumed ; they made holes
in the ground, aud dug channels, aud
they ended in poverty. There seems
to be in this consuming more thau you
ought such liveliness of buying, such
a pleasant, buoyant feeling in every
store and shop, such a delightful
sense, that everybody helps hi3 neigh
bor iu the destruction. Theu comes
the speculator and the contractor, ond
all tho different officials ; the man of
small means sells his property aud puts
it iu the railway. But are dollars put
iu the railway ? Is a railway made of
dollars? They mean that a certain
largo proportion of their capital their
otock shall be used in making the
railway. Everything moves pleasantly,
and they buy objects for ornamenta
tion ; handsome carpets, more beau
tiful sets of china. I am told that there
are heaps of looms in which there is
840,000 worth of ornamentation. Or
namentation is not capital. Capital al
ways reproduces. The other day there
was great flatness in Chicago because
the land speculation has dropped. If
it is a mere bet that five years hence
land will be worth so much'moie than
it is now, no harm has been done. But
encourage these men to buy lands, aud
what happens ? There is a great flurry
in the market for laud, and the prices
advance, and what do they do? They
live in a more expensive way that is,
more is paid npon lands; and that
leads you to live in a more expensive
way, makes you go to the Broadway
stores and buy fine things, and you
feel jolly. Don't you see that the land
as land has remained unproductive,
and while men were led to believe they
were becoming rich and comfortable,
there was all the time a large destruc
tion of national capital,and consequent
ly they were on the road to poverty,
and that desolation follows ? Now,
you understand why it is that such ter
rible disorders as I have described hap
pen. Posfpoued.
In Milwaukee, the other day, a wed
ding had to be postponed a few hours
on account of a mistake made by a
messenger boy. The lad was employed
by a tailor to whom had been intrusted
the making of suits of clothes for both
priest and bridegroom, and being sent
to carry tho garments home he chanced
to deliver eaoh bundle at the wrong
house, The chagrin of the priest on
being confronted with a swallow-tailed
coat and white vest, and that of the
bridegroom at discovering in his paok
age an outfit of clothing of the most
sharply defined clerical pattern, can be
better imagined than described.
Items of Interes.
Who would bo a tm key hon,
Fed and futtoned in a pen,
Killed and out by hungry men
Oh 1 who would be a turkey hen ?
For some years past there has beon
an annual immigration of 30,000 per
sons from Italy.
Mobile is almost entirely supplied
with coal from the mines in the north
ern and central parts of Alabama.
Massachusetts proposes to havo an
industrial census next . year. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics is now pre
paring the schedules for submission to
the Legislature during tho present win
ter. Hair dealers who buy in the French
provinces the abundant tresses of the
country women pursue a traffic that is
something dangorous. Recently a
countryman, whose wife had sold her
hair, caught the buyer and shaved his
hpad.
One of the indirect advantages of au
naimiited political canvass is instanced
in the case of a candidate's wife who
ha
ases her application for divorce npon
he accounts of her husband's private
the
character published in the opposition
newspapers.
An Augusta hen-pecked husband
closed his testimony in bis action for
divorce from his wife as follows : "I
don't want to say anything agin tho
woman, Judge, but I wish you could
live with ber a little while, aud you'd
think I told the truth."
A writer in tho Montgomery (Ala.)
Advertiser ascribes the troubles at the
South to cheap shotguns, powder and
lead. He says tho shooting of insec
tiverous birds has this year cost Ala
bama alone more than 810,000,000 in
the ravages done by tho cotton cater
pillar.
A gentleman at a public table, who
had exercised hi3 jaw for some fifteen
minutes npon a Small morsel of steak,
turned to a neighbor and said : " What
a pity to kill this animal." "Why?"
responded his friend. "Because, re
plied the other, "it would havo made
such tfgood working animal."
In South Boston a building four
stories high, and covering au area of
four thousand square feet, was raised
five feet from its foundations. liie
tenants were not disturbed, aud no
machinery or merchandise had to be
removed. Forty men working with
four hundred powerful screws did tho
job.
The Grangers and Sovereigns of In
dustry in Kansas are discussing the
raising of means conjointly lor the con
struction of tanneries, oil mills, plow
factories, etc., by which tho skilled
labor of tho order snail mrmsu tne
producers of the others, aud vice versa.
A considerable amount has been
pledged.
A man sent to iail in Plaiufi-il.t, N. J.
for larceny, thought he would liko to
write to his wife, and was permitted to
do so. This is what he wrote : " Dear
Wife: If-thev keep me in tne jail,
make them keep you in the poor-house."
Unfortunately, that letter was not sent
Her reply would have been interesting
reading.
A Bridgeport (Conn.) niau, who was
chopping wood, accidentally cut one of
bis fingers badly, and was so enraged
that he deliberately laid his hand on
tho chopping-block aud choppeil tuo
finger entirely off. The hand, which,
but a few moments before, had been
cold and numb, soon began to warm
up, aud the man began to howl.
It is told of a man poorly dressed,
that he went to church seeking an op
portunity to worship. The usher did
not notice him, but seated several well
dressed persons who presented them
selves, when finally the man addressed
the usher, saying, " uan you ten mo
whose church this is ?" " Yes, this is
Christ's church." " Is he in ?" was the
next question, after which a seat was
not so hard to find.
A liquor dealer ordered a barrel of
whisky from Portland, Ma., some time
m, . . A .l J
ago. rno uarrei came, was lappm, nun
its contents ireeiy aranu oi. uy-uu-hva
n. dance was civeu near by, and
such inroads were made upou the bar
rel that the morning alter the uanco
found it exhausted. That evening the
gentleman received a letter from the
Portland house froniwhoui ho had pur
chased, saying : "Send back the barrel
we sent you last ween, as our expense,
immediately. By mistake we sens; you
burning fluid instead oi wnisiiy.
Teaching tho Queen.
The London World has taken to
teaching Queen Victoria good man
ners. Its first lesson touches the pro
prieties with regard to the visit to Eng
land of the Empress of Russia, aud is
as follows : " Supposing you were an
elderly lady and your son had married
the only daughter of the richest, grand
est and most important of your neigh
bers, by whom every possible attention
Lad been shown to you and yours ; and
supposing on the occasion of jour
daughter-in-law's confinement her
mother came from a long distance to
stay with her in her London house,
don't you think it would be merely
decent and polite we would say noth
ing of politic behavior on your part
to come up from the far distant place,
where you persist in burying yourself,
to the great confusion of the business
which it is your duty to discharge, and
show some personal civility to your
guest?"
Ilia Salary,
A good story is told of Mr. Gladstone
by Lord Granville. Shortly after their
accession to office the practice of pay- .
ing the clerks in the various publio
offices their salaries monthly was
adopted. Lord Granville caused to be
circulated through the Foreign Office a
paper on which the clerks ot his de
partment were to state whether they
preferred the old system of quarterly
payments or whether the new practice
to be introduced into the Foreign
Office. Mr. Gladstone added, in his
own hand, "Mr. Gladstone experiences
great satisfaction in receiving his own
salary at the end of the month, bnt con
siderable disappointment at the end of
eaoh quarter.