LI HUNG CHANG. Rise and Public Career of the Bismarck of China. For Years He Has Been Vir tual Chief of China. The fact that one of the greatest of living statesmen arrived, a few days ago, at his 76th year, has almost es caped the attention of the press. The statesman in question Is Li llung Chang, who, for over a quarter of a century, has controlled the affairs of the oldest empire in the world. For the past thirty years every important negotiation with foreign governments has been practically conducted by Li Hung Chang oil behalf of the Cliineso Court; and the title of the Bismarck of China iias been, perhaps appro priately, applied to a man who em bodies the views of tl>o Pekin au thorities as completely as the great Chancellor ever represented tlie policy of the German Empire. Li llung Chang first rose into fame during the Taiping rebellion. When the empire seemed to bo at its last gasp he stepped forward to the rescue and enlisted foreigners to aid in crushing out the gigantic insurrection which threat ened the overthrow of the imperial dynasty. To his action in securing the assistance of the late Chinese Gor don and other able mercenaries, may be attributed the suppression of the most formidable rcbelliou which has disturbed the Chinese Empire duru-g the past two hundred years. Li llung Chang rapidly rose in favor, aud in 1870 ho was appointed Viceroy of the Imperial Province and Guardian of the Heir Apparent to the Throne. These ollices, with numbers of others, lie lias since held. It is not often that an Oriental statesman has been ablo to hold his own for over twenty years against detractors aud opponents, who commonly spring up to check the career and thwart the policy of prominent politicians in the East; and it may truly be said that if it had not been for his sagacity in per ceiving the merit of foreign inven tions, and utilizing them to strengthen tiie empire, and at tlio same time to secure his own position as chief of state, Li Hung Chang would doubt less have shared the fate of other famous but less foitunatc Chinese Premiers. He established a torpedo school, an arsenal, a railway and a foreign trained military force within his juris diction on lines which made him, be yond comparison, the most powerful Viceroy in the empire. Even if policy had made it advisable to weaken his authority any attempt to do so would have been attended with so much danger that the palace government at Pekin would probably have shrunk from the endeavor. Happily for the cnyiire, as well as for Li Hung Chang, the fact that his policy has been suc cessful and that he lias never appar ently overstepped the limits of liis authority have kept liiin firmly estab lished in office aud in the favor of his sovereign. Li Lung Chang shows no signs of decline, and it is probable that he will continue for years to come to be the virtual chief of the Chinese Empire. It is to be hoped that this will prove the case, for he surpasses other Chin ese statesmen of the day in liberality of thought aud action. He has a prudent appreciation of the strength aud capacity of Western nations, and while lie makes it his aim to maintain by every means within his grasp the power and influence of China, ho pre fers diplomacy to force in dealing with Europeans and Americans. He has improved immensely the defensive ability of the empire, and while in this ho has served iiis own ends, lie has also had in view the interests of his country. There can be no com parison between the China of tin present aud tho past, so far as military and naval power are concerned. This should not be forgotten by American statesmen when called upon to pro vide for the protection of American interests in the Pacific.—[New York Press. Anecdote of General Beauregard. The death of General Beauregard re calls to an old contributor to Harper's Weekly the unusual circumstances under which his last interview witli Beauregard.took place. He writes: "When iu Confederate service I was thrown in with General Beaure gard in a fairly singular manner, and the incident of my coming across hi in wou d have made a neat epnode for Archibald Forbes. It wag two daj-s after the fall of Columbian, South Carolina, and I had been ordered on ticklish service, which was to scout as near to Columbia as possible. "I had been working on from dawn, and fairly familiar with the country, avoiding the roads, I had taken short cuts across the woods. I made out beyond a clump of trees a man, some what Napoleouesque iu attitude, for his hands were cia«ped behind his back. He was striding to and fro be fore some embers. Peering through the thicket which screened me, I knew it was General Beauregard. !» never would have done to have bounced in 011 him. My arrival was a surprise. He wheeled quickly, as if on a pivot, and faced inc. 1 told h'm that if he remained au hour more where he was bivouacking, lie stood a fair chance of being captured. '•lie certainly did not know the danger he was 111. I was probably much more excited than was General Beauregard, for he received the infor» ination I gave him with perfect sang froid. Then he called to an officer— who was his aid, I suppose—who came in, tottering under au armful of wood and addressed him in French. As I was familiar with French. I said, •General Beauregard, English si- French are about the same to ine, so if you do not wish me to understand what you arc saying, 1 had better go away. 1 I again explained conditions to him, giving him fuller details. 11l a few minutes tho mule was harnessed, tilt wagon crashed through tho brush, and that was the last 1 saw of General Beauregard. "Wanting to learn whether ho re membered the incident, I wrote him in November, 1884, and this is a por tion of his courteous reply: "I have recollection of the incident, I have no doubt that you saw me much troubled in mind. When you came suddenly upon me on tho road I was «till in doubt as to which route to fol low." •-Two hours afterwards live com panies of United States cavalry, four hundred strong, were scouring that South Carolina wood." —[Harper's Weekly. Plenty of Oeer Left. J. L. Dobbins, the former trapper and deer hunter of Reynolds County, '<lo., is spending a week at the Lac'cdc. Mr. Dobbins has probably killed more deer and black bear be tween the east fork of Black Itiver and Marble Creek than any hunter in Southwest Missouri. W r hile his long, silvery locks indicate his extreme age, his eyesight is yet good and not less than twenty deer have fallen before his Winchester since November. "It's no trouble to kill them, boys, but they are rather hard for a stranger to find," remarked the old trapper to a group of listeners at the St. James. *'l have tramped all over the famous Bush Mountains, Cuford's Range, the Siiutin, the twin Hills, the banks of the Big Black, Current Itiver, Marble Creek and other places in the south east for thirty years, and 1 know nearly every hill and rock iu the country. Of course, gauio is not as plentiful now as it was then, but it is all a mistaken idea about the deer being exterminated; there are plenty of them right now iu the cancbrakes and mountains of Sjuthern Mis souri, but 110 hunting party from the city can find them; it takes us old managers to do that, and, as hunting is our living, we are not very fast iii informing hunting parties where to find them, but on the other hand wc steer them just as far away from tho game as possible. Whilo I don't pre sume one mail out of ten from tho city could kill a deer, they succeed iu frightening them out of the country. These are tho parties that are respon sible for tho statement that there are no deer in the state. They are in structed by the hunters togo .to this place and that place until they become disgusted, shoot a few squirrels and pull out for home with the impression that there was not a deer within 500 miles of where they were hunting. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Smoke Detrimental to Health. A St. Louis physician says that there is no doubt whatever that the adop tion of some practical method that will tibate the smoke nuisance will greatly add to the health of the city as well as to the general comfort aud cleanliness. It is a mistake to c ill the various de vices smoke consumers. You cannot consume smoke, but there are several plaus by which the nuisance can bo greatly lessened by condensing the soot, which is what makes the smoke so unpleasant. Smoke thus free is much lighter, aud will readily rise in the air and be carried away; but laden with soot aud ashes, it becomes heav ier than air, and naturally settles toward the ground, where high build ings prevent the wind sweeping it away. This soot-laden smoke is tho cause of nearly all the throat and luugi diseases iu the city.— [Detroit Press. jf WHITE HOUSE WIVES. The Domestic Relations of the Various Presidents. Some.Presidential Love Affairs and Romances. It is a notable face, declares the New York World, tiiat most of the Presidents were or had been very hap py in their domestic relations. But, then, the ladies of the White House, from Martha Washington to Frances Cleveland, have been admirable and lorable representatives of their sex. Buchanan was the only confirmed bachelor among the Presidents, yet lie, too, had had his romance, lie had loved a Miss Coleman, whojillcd him without a word of explanation. When she died shortly afterwards, lie wrote to her father, saying "that he had loved her more infinitely than any other human being could love, and though he might sustain the shock of her death,happiness had fled from him forever." Van Burcn, Jefferson and Arthur were widowers when they en tered the White House. All of them cherished a most touchiug devotion to the memory of their wives. Arthur had met his wife at Saratoga and af ter her death he conld never bear to goto that place. Jefferson tended his sick wife four months, aud on her death-bed solemnly promised,his hand in hers, that he would uever marry again. When the end came ho stag gered into his library and fainted. When he revived lie was almost out of his senses and for weeks was c. n tine.l to the library, pacing up and down the room all day aud all night until exhausted nature could stand no more. One of the queerc-t couples that ever inhabited the White House, and one of the most devoted, wore Andrew Jack son and his wife. Sho was as demo cratic as himself, smoked a pipe and used strange country idioms and con fined her reading to the Bible. Yet she was intensely sensitive to public opinion. There had beeii some mis understanding about her divorce from her tirst husband, which, through a confusion of State laws, had not really taken legal effect until after her mar riage with Old Hickory. The scandal was revived when she entered the White House, and it was the object of Jackson's tendered solicitude to kcop from her all knowledge of tlio tharce ful attacks that abounded iu the news papers. She died in the White House aud her bereaved husband ever after wards bore around liis neck and hidden in his bosotn a uiiuiatiue, which every night he placed on a little table by hi s bedside, so that her face might be the first thing to greet him iu the morning. On her tombstone he had caused to be engraved the words, " A being so gentle and yet so virtuous, slander might wound but could not dishonor.'' General Grant during the whole of his married life wore a ring which his wife had given lain during his en gagement and at Ins request it was buried with him. General Tyler and Millard Fillmore were ilio only I'rcsideuts who were twice married. The forinor was President at the time of his second marriage, but for some reason he con sidered it indelicate to be married in the White House, a precedent which Cleveland rightly honored in the breach rather than iu the observance. Fillmore's first wife was taken sick on the very day his term of office expired, and died a few weeks afterwards at Wil lard's Hotel, in Washington, whither sho had been removed from the White House. Lincoln's romance was connected with his first love rather than with the lady whom he afterwards married. The former was a golden-haired little blonde named Anne Rutledge, to whom he was engaged at Uie age of 24. She died before thcjV could be married, aud Lincoln almost went out of his miud. His friends thought in deed that he was crazy. He was es pecially violont in gloomy or stormy weather, when ho WjOuld rave and cry that he could ncveij be reconciled to have the snow, raii or storms to beat upon her grave. J It was not until nearly ten years/afterwards that he became engaged!to Miss Mary Todd, who refused Stephen A. Douglas in order to accent him. But ho had a prescntimeuUHiat the marriage would not bo a htiJpv one. On the day first set for ho became sud denly ill J®d was unable to mako his appeiuyrfce, though bride, clergymen andjfucsts were all waiting for him. _\4,nro than a year afterwards the mar. fiugo was finally consummated. Most Wonderful Living Skeleton. The most singular freak of nature known to surgical or medical litera ture was Claude Ambroiso Leurat, a Frenchman, known all over tho world in tho early part of the present cen tury as the "Living Skeleton." At the timo of his birth, and for quite a period after that interesting event, Claude was as plump and fleshy as any of the little French cherubs of his neighborhood, Troves, France. One account says tliat he was born in 1787, but a half dozen others place it teu years later, so that we may con clude that, had he lived to the present day, he would only be three years older than the century. At the age of four Claude was al most a perfect miniature mummy, being a mere skeleton clothed in a dry, yellowish brown skin. Siill lie con tinued to grow in height, the bones eulargiug just as though they wore the framework intended to support their quota of flesh. At the age of twenty eight, when he was first exhibited iu London, lie wa3 a man iu height and general appearances, but weighed only fifty-six pounds. Ho stood five feet seven inches in height and is said to have looked for all the world like a varnished skeleton, the skin, which was tightly st etched over the bones, especially at the joints, being parch ment-like, both to the touch aud to the sight. When lie first began wasting away in flesh (this during the third and fourth years of his life) the breast • and sides retained their plumpness long after the legs and arms were literally "skill aud bones." Finally, when the flesh wasted from the breast, sides and shoulders, the skiu was so loose that it fell down and dried betwoon the ribs, making it pos sible for a person with the nerve to do so to clasp the fingers around tho libs and touch the ends together, there being nothing but the two thicknesses of skin to interfere. A writer on the London Times says of liiin: "He had tho appearance of a bag of hoops covered with leather and set up on two rough, knotty sticks." The great wonder of Lourat's case appears to lie, not in the fact of his extreme emaciation, but in the fact that such a degree of decay should bo compatible with human life.— [St. Louis Ilepublic. Story of an Altered Draft. Within a few weeks the power of chcmestry to aid criminals lias been made manifest in the case of a Buffalo (N. Y.) bank. This bank believed that it was amply protected against fraud by what is called the advice system. Its habit hss been at the close of each day's business to notify its New York bank correspondent to alt the drafts it has issued that day, and the numbers and amouuts of each of them. This it was supposed would prevent the payment of any altered draft when it reached the New York bank. But this advice system cost tho bank .$12,000. A well dressed man, well introduced apparently,with the manner of an active businessman, bought two drafts of this bank, one for $12,000 and one for $l2O. This transaction wag reported immediately to the New York correspondent. A day or two later a draft for $12,000 was received by the New York correspondent. Its number cor responded with that indicated in the letter of information sent from the BuDalo bank, and it was, therefore, paid. But when a few days after that another draft for $12,000 of the same number was received, it was evident that fraud had been practiced. The last draft was genuine. It had been negotiated iu a distant city. The first draft iiad been altered so that its number corresponded with that of the genuiiio draft for $12,000, and it had been raised to $12,000. Yet the alter ations were so perfect that it was al most impossible for Mr. Siee to detect them. As the New York correspon dent had paid the forged draft, it was, of course, compelled to pay the genu ine one, and the BufTalo bank lost its money.—[Atlanta Constitution. The Electrical Wonder. There has been some misconception as to the working of the so-called "electrical wonder," which is now drawing largo crowds in London. The invention would probably be more correctly described as a photographic wonder, the electrical part of the ar rangement consisting simply of the motor, which gives the rapid motion to the series of pictures, and an incan descent lamp in the interior of ilie machine, both of which are operated by a coin falling in the slot. The ef fects exhibited are truly wonderful. Figures of men and animals seem in stinct with life, and their animated gestures are absolutely true to nature. Notnblv an elephant and a camel walk and run respectively across the lield of vision, and not only is tho charac" (eristic gait of each made manifest. Lilt the action of tho various muscles of the body and limbs is distinctly seou. [Chicago News Record. PEARLS OF THOUGHT. Hope is the wing by which tlio soul ascends. We easily forget our faults when they are known only to ourselves. A gentleman is one who is willing to abalo something from liis right. Every action becomes more certain ly an eternal mother than an eternal daughter. No man convinces an audience who is not willing to make a fool of him self for his cause. Degeneratiou begins when the point is reached where one is thoroughly satisfied with himself or his attain ments. To discover truth is the best happi ness of au individual; to communicate it, the greatest blessing he can bestow upon society. Be not in too much baste to come to a determination of a difficult or im portant point. Think it worth your wailing to find out the truth. Men are tattooed with their special beliefs like so many South Sea Island ers; but a real human heart, will) divitio love iu it, beats with the samo glow under all the patterns of all earth's thousand tribes. Times of goeral calamity and con fusion have ever been productive of the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace, aud the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest cloud. A man that only translates will never be a poet; nor a painter that only copies; nor a swimmer that ewim.s with bladder*; so people that trust wholly to others' charity, and without industry of their own, will always be poor. Life is u succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddhf. There are as many pillows of illusion as flakes in a snow storm. We wake from one dream nto another dream. Hair-Dressing in Central Africa. During the hot hours of mid-day t when all actual labor is suspended ill the village, the natives, urged by van ity ami national pride, devote a great deal of time to the arrangement of iheir odd but elaborate toilets. Hair* dressing is one of the principal obli gations, and constitutes one of the numerous domestic duties allotted to tho "fair" sex. On arced mat spread out in some shady corner the woman sits down, and tlio man upon whom the operation is to be performed re clines at full length, resting his head in her lap. She begins at once to unplait his hair, and soon has it all ravelled, aud then, with a coarse instrument resembling tho head of a child's toy rake, she combs it thoroughly until it is clear of all entanglements, and stands out all over tho head in a thick bushy mass six or seven inches deep. It is now generously greased with oil from the palm nut. The woman then parts it off into sections, and very soon tho coafse bunch of hair, cleverly manipulated by her nimble fingers, is woven down closely to the head. They display a good deal of ingenuity in forming a variety of de signs. Sometimes a series of little plaited strands, like rat tails, hang in a fringe ail around the head. Often solid plaits of hair about the size of a goat's horn are made to stand out from the lioad in different styles. Two of these will appear sprouting from the top of the head, or one will drop over the forehead and lie along tho nose. A very popular fashion is to have a roll of hair along ench side of the head, ending iu two solid plaits, Which curl over each cheek like sheep's horns. Both men and women have the liuir treated in the samo way. The plaiting operation is also ex tended to tho man's beard. Tho mus tache is removed, and so are tho eye brows, with a razor, which is a small cheese-cutter blade with a long sleuder handle. This is used somewhat as we hold a pen, aud tho stubby hair is really chiselled off tho face, no small amount of it being dragged out by the roots. Tribal custom compels its re moval, and tlio African is so insensible to pain that the means employed do not inconvenience him iu the least. Often when undergoing this treatment ho falls nsleep, and never betrays any discomfort. —[Harper's Young People. One Alan in a Million. "Hello, ltivers you liavo a bad cold." "Worst I ever had, Banks." I ain sorry for yon,old fellow. Wish I knew of something that would euro yon, but 1 don't. (With tears iu his eyes) "Give me your hand, Banks! You're the only man I've seen for three days that hadu't a sure cure I" CHILDREN'S COLUMJf. BEGINNINGS. O mighty, mighty river,®flowing down so deep and calm, With the mills upon thy fingers and the ships upon thy palm! Tell me why thou never failest, never grow est weak and small. But with ever-swelling current bringest down thy wealth to all? Quickly then the river answered: "Praise the little mountain spring, Ever sparkling, ever gushing, for the precious gifts I bring. "Far away among the forests, where tht moss lies deep and cool, There the mill hum* in a crevice, and the ship swims in a pool —[James Buckham, in Harper's Young Peo ple. "DON'T LOOK AT TIIE CLOCK." This is the motto Thomas A. Edi son, the "electric king," ouce gave to a boy who desired his advice on get ting on in the world. The implica tion is obvious. An employe who measures out the time he gives to business by the min ute, stopping in the midst of any work on which he happens to be engaged the instant the whistle blows, is not a clerk to be depended on. Just as ha watches the clock, so his employer Watches him, realizing that ho needs it. There is no heart iu such working. The boy who starts in on a business career with no higher aim than to make each day seem as short as possi ble and to draw his salary 011 Satur day, is certaiu not to have his pockets weighed down with an increase iu his pay. Don't look at the clock, then. Time will pas- no moro quickly because of your doing so; the way to bring this / about is to throw such zeal) and whole heartcdness into the discharge of your duties that you will forget such limi tations as time, which will then fly so swiftly that you will not note its pas sage.— [Argosy. THE THREE CARAVELS OK COLUMBUS. In the days of Columbus ves els were generally called "caravels," and it of considerable size for those times they were called by the Spaniards naos. When Queen Isabella determined to help Columbus to make his voyage, a royal order was sent to the city of Palos to fit out three caravels and to place them at the royal disposal. The city made a pretense of complying, but it was so well known that the ships were for Columbus's hazardous veuture into the terrible western ocean that neither money nor force could get them equipped and manned. Over and over again the people were as sembled in the public squaro and the order read with great poinp, but all in vain. Columbus, in his despair, begged that the prisons be opened and the convicts allowed togo with him. Finally, a ship-owner of Palos, Martin Alonzo Piiizou, was induced, by an offer of a large share of the rewards iu caso of discoveries, to make an active effort to lit out the expedition. He was a popular sea-captain and a vigorous mau of business, and it was entirely due to him that Columbus was able to set sail from Palos on his ever memorable voyage. Pinzou con demned two of the caravels given by the town, aud substituted two stanch vessels of his own. One was a decked vessel of three hundred tons, large enough to be called a nao, aud the other was a little tiling with lateen sails, which was chosen on account of her light draught, 111 case rivers had to be ascended in the country they expected to discover. The nao was at first named iho "Gallega," but they renamed her the "Santa Maria." Columbus took her for his flag-ship, for he held an admiral's commission from Ferdinand and Isabella. The little lateen-rigged caiavel was called the "Nina." Of the three caravels offered by the town of Palos, the only one which Piuzoti considered seawor thy enough to accept was tlio "Pinta,'» a boat about half as large as the Santa Maria, and rigged like her. Ilia shrewdness in rejecting tho other* was fully proved before the expedi tion reached ihe Canaries; for it was discovered that the Pinta had been tampered with, aud had been pur posely weakened. A long delay in the is amis was necessary to repair her. Such were the vessels in which Col umbus discovered America; one a* large us a small schooner, and the other two about the size of lighters. Hid ho su«poctod tho length of his jo ?ney, or known of the t.rriblo storms which can rage in the Atlantic Oce.tn, lie never would have dared to venture out iu craft so frail. [St. Nicholas. The New Orleans Hoard of Trade recommend* tho shipping ai.d hand ling of rico iu bulk instead ol' i.ibba r « at at present
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers