tpttt
COLL.. VAN CLKVB.
ALBANY,
OREGON.
A TRITE GENTLEMAN
In our day it is common to speak of
iflemenpYBition
means, geptjemen of the press, com
mercTal and! " sporting gentlemen, etc
15'raTiiirKB6ffii'i"Ben8e that
James I., who, when his nurse entreat
ed him to make her son a gentleman,
replied that he could make him a lord,
hat that it was ont of his power to make
hi a gentleman. The word does not
now bear the interpretation it formerly
did. ' While at one ' time it expressed
the idea which the term gentilhomme
does in France where it retains its
original significance to' designate the
members of a caste, distinct and apart
it has, in successive periods, been ap
plied to degrees Jnore widely extended.
As now understood, the term is indica
tive of conduct rather than lineage
of character rather than position of
the qualities that contribute to its for
mation as much as their manifestation
in life. A gentleman is something
unique, apart from any consideration oi
rank, education or pursuits. . There are
many men of plain manners and limit
ed means as thorough, .gentlemen as
any noble in the land. A certain Judge,
in . his charge to the, jury .,, in an action
wherein it was alleged that the. defend
ant had said to the plaintiff, " Do not
speak to me ; I am a gentleman. Yon
are a tradesman," took . occasion to ob
serve : ".Gentleman is a term which is
not confined to any . station.' The man
of rank who deports himself with dig
nity and candor, the tradesman who dis
charges, his duties; with integrity,' and
the humblest artisan who . fulfills the
obligations incumbent upon him with
virtue and honor, are alike entitled to
the name gentleman, in preference to
the man,' however high his station, who
indulges in ribald and offensive re
marks. The true gentleman may be
unassuming even '' bashful by no
means brilliant in conversation not
noted for good dressing ox lavish ex
penditure; but he cannot, stoop to a
mean thing. He' never struts in bor
rowed plumage. He never stabs in the
dark. He is not one thing .to a man's
face and another' behind his back.
Papers hot meant for his eyes are
sacred. .Bolts, and bars,, locks and keys,
bonds ana securities, and notices to
trespassers, are not , for him. He is a
consistent observer of the second great
commandment,; .whatever he judges to
be honorable, he practices toward all.
WASHINGTON'S STRENGTH. . I
(Gen. Wilson relates an account of a
conversation witn Mr. Curtis, from
which he obtained, some interesting
personal reminiscences of Washington.
During a visit at Arlington House,
Va, in 1854, the writer asked Mr. Cas
tas if Washington could, lik Marshal
Sake, break a-, horseshoe, And received
for; reply, that, he; had no doubt he
could had he tried, for his hands were
tho largest and -most' powerful he had
ver seen. Mr. Custis then gave sev
eral instances of the General's strength,
of which I recall the following : When
Washington was a young man, he was
present on one occasion, aa looker on
of wrestling games,' then the fashion in
' Virginia' Tired of the sport, he had
retired to the shade of a tree; where he
sat ,; perusing ; ' a pamphlet, ' till chal
lenged to a bout by the hero of the
day and the strongest wrestler in the
State. "Washington declined, till,
taunted with the remark that he feared
to" try conclufions with the gladiator,
he calmly came forward, and, without
removing his coat, grappled with his
antagonist. There was a fierce strug
gle for a brief space of time, when the
champion was 5 hurled to the ground
witn sucn tremendous loxce as to jar
the very marrow in. his . bones. An
other instance of his prodigious power
was his throwing the stone across the
Rappahannock at ; Fredericksburg a
f aat that it is quite safe to say has
never been perforated, since. ' Later in
life a number of young gentlemen, were
contending - at Mount Vernon in the
exercise of throwing v iae bar. - Wash
ington, after looking on for some time,
walked forward; saying, Allow me to
try,' and, gasping1 the bar, sent the
iron flying through the air twenty feet
beyond its former limits. ' Still later in
his career, ' Washington whose ' age
was like5 a 'lusty winter;" frosty, but
kindly,' 6bserved three of his workmen
at Mount Verhon'vainly endeavoring to
raise a large stone. ' when. : tired of
witnessing their unsuccessful attempts,
he put them aside, ' and, taking ,it in
his iron-like ,( grasp,', lifted it-to, its
place, remounted his-horse, and rode
on." '' " ' ' f . - '
A SHARP TRANSACTION.
The following transaction,, which oc
curred in Brooklyn,, Jsew ..York, is a
pretty good illustration of how to do a
large business on small capital. A
man named Herring owned a , block of
ground near Prospect Park, which he
recently put in the market." ''. One; Nel-
son offered him $45,000 for the t block
which was deemed a fair price, and' the
offer was accepted. 'Nelson' said that
in making out the deed he - wanted the
consideration placed' at $100,000, -as he
might want to Bell the property, and he
did not care to have the actual price p
pear. . Herring said he had 'no-V objec
tion if he could do so lawfully, and hav
ing referred the matter to" his lawyer,
who examined the law " and ' found he
could, jdo' so idthf prriety, accepted
Nelson's terms.: -.The deed was made out
and placed in a third person's hands
until nsynisn't should Jblj msdei V :; ; ' '
The deed being made, the next ques
tion was how to pay for the property ;
but Nelson was equal to the occasion.
He went to the Knickerbocker Life In
surance Company and told them he
wanted to borrow $70,000 on a piece of
property he had just bought for $100,
000. An examination of the deed
showed the facts to be, apparently, as
stated, and the company's appraiser
was directed to examine the property
and'report its value. Several parties
to whom he was referred by Nelson ap
praised the property at from $100,000 to
$125,000, and report was made accord
ingly. The company's lawyers drew
up the necessary papers, a mortgage
was executed. Nelson received the $70,
000, paid Herring $45,000, and pock
eted the remaining $25,000. There is
no need f his coming West to grow np
witn the country. - He had better stay
in New York.
A SBAKESPEAREAN HEADER.
A village ten miles from Covington,
Ky., has literary aspirations which take
the form of a debating society. This
organization received a letter from
Clarence Stanley offering to give read
ings from Shakespeare, the payment to
be simply his expenses from Covington
and his board while there. This seem
ed a generous proposition, and it was
at once accepted. Mr. Stanley came.
He was intellectual of face, but ragged
of clothing. Would they loan him a
suit of clothes ? ' A public-spirited vil
lager said he would, and his best broad
cloth was soon upon Mr. Stanley. , An
admission fee of twenty-five cents was
charged, and long before 8 o'clock on
the night appointed for the reading the
hall was fulL When Mr. Stanley ar
rived, he asked one of the committee
to lend him a watch to use in timing
his entertainment, and got it. Then
he slipped down to the ticket-office and
told the seller to give him the receipts.
The young man supposed it was al
right, and counted out the money thai
had been taken. Mr. Stanley put it in
one of his borrowed pockets, glanced
casually at the borrowed watch, and
sauntered off. He may be sauntering
yet for all that the lyceum knows'
about it.
AN INDUSTRIOUS SPIDER.
A spider constructed its web in an
angle of a garden, the sides of which
were attached by long threads to shrubs
at the height of nearly three feet from
the gravel path beneath. Being much
exposed to the wind, the equinoctial
gales of this autumn destroyed the web
several times. The ingenious spider
now adapted a new contrivance. It
secured a conical fragment of gravel,
with its larger end upward, by two
cords, one attached to each of its op
posite sides, to the apex of its wedged'
shape web, and left it suspended as
movable weight to be opposed to the
effect of such gusts of air as had de
stroyed the webs previously occupying
the same situation. The spider must
have descended to the gravel path for
this special object, and, having attach
ed threads to a stone suited to its pur
pose, must have afterward raised this
by fixing itself upon the web, and pull
ing the weight up to a height of more
than two feet from the ground, where it
hung suspended by elastic cords.
PERILS OP THE ATLANTIC.
There is no great thoroughfare of
commerce or of human intercommuni
cation on the globe so beset with dan
ger and difficulties as the voyages
from New York to Liverpool. The
Gulf Stream brings a current of warm
water fifty miles wide and a thousand feet
deep and flowing at the ordinary cur
rent of a river from the tropical seas.
and pours it out in a vast expanding
mass over and beyond the banks of
Newfoundland, where it turns to the
eastward, and finally loses itself in the
Northern seas ; while to the westward
oi it a counter current coming down
from Baffin's bay a current ef nearly
equal magnitude and force pours into
it a stream of icebergs, ice-floes, and
ice-cold water. , The effects of this con
fluence are, beneath the water, the ac
cumulation of vast deposits of Band and
rocky debris, brought down by the ice,
and in the atmosphere above an almost
perpetual succession of fogs and mists
and- driving rains, " accompanied by
gales and squalls.
i t " - 1 ' 1 1 i
Oiivk oil is produced in large quan
tities in Tunis. The olive crops dur
ing the past two years have been so
abundant that there is still a great deal
of oil in the country, notwithstanding
the immense quantities, amounting in
all to 3,472 tons, of the value of 125,
893, that have been shipped during the
past year to Great Britain, France and
Italy. It is said that unless a great
reaction takes place in the oil trade of
Europe, venders in Tunis will be puzzled
to know what to do with the supplies
they will have on hand. The deposits
or tanks in the town ore said to be capa
ble of containing 6,000 tons of oil, but
they were not clear of the old supplies
before the new was ready to be brought
in. So far as the working of the native
oil-mills is concerned, it is stated that
no improvement has taken place. An
Italian company contemplates the in
troduction of a steam mill. For this
purpose the "British Vice-Consular
house and . its premises have been
bought, and are to be converted into a
mill. , Some years ago one, was tried at
Mehidia, but did not answer. A second
was erected pear Susa, with the view of
buying up the refuse or oil-cake after
passing the native mills, and submitting
it to further pressure; but this in the
hands of the natives blew up.
A oiOAimc ' engine on the Pennsyl
. ... .. s -a- J- 1 l :
v&nia rauroaa nas maue mp
successfully, ' on ' which occasion it
trundled' along comfortably with one
hundred and forty lcded cars, weigh
ing 2,252,000 pounds, making a train
one-third of a mile long. The engine
itself weighs 44 tons. '
- REMINISCENCES ' OF PRENTICE.
Says a late writer in Harper's Maga
zine talking about Geo. D. Pneptiee :
The editor of the Journal evinced his
eminent fitness for his profession. He
wrote hot only nervous leaders, but
telling squibs and pungent paragraphs,
which, being something newin journal
ism, attracted great attention and were
widely copied. He is reputed to have
been the originator in the American
press of the short and pointed .para-,
graphs, now grown so popular, by which
aa antagonist may be more readily ever
thrown than by the most elaborate edi
torial. Here are some specimens, culled
at random :
"The Eastern Argus Bays that the
administration goes on swimmingly. It
has tumbled overboard, and must go
swimmingly or not at all" i
"An editor in Indiana threatens to
handle us without gloves. We would
certainly never think of handling him
without at least three pairs, and thick
ones at that."
" What would you do, madam, if you
were a gentleman ?" " Sir, what would
you do if you were one ?" .
"We know some men who, when they
are perplexed in argument, get out jus
as poor debtors sometimes get out of
jail they swear out."
"We have before us a copy of the
famous postoffice circular, soliciting
contributions for the Postmaster-Gen
eral's picture. On the whole, we are
not surprised at his resorting to this
expedient. Having expended the last
farthing in his possession, what is he to
do if he cannot run his face ?"
"The editor of the Advertiser says
he was the first to apply to Gen. Hani
son the title of the ' Hero of Tippeca
noe,' and that he applied it ironically.
The title of the ' Lion-hearted' was first
given to King Bichard by his own harle
quin, yet it was worn most proudly,
Though given by a fool, it was borne by
a hero."
"An exchange has this: 'The editor
of the Journal said he has caught us,
but he finds he hascaught it.' Yes, we
mistook your gender. We stand cor
rected." i
"It has been thought strange that a
dinner to which a man has not been in
vited is generally the one that sits the
hardest upon his stomach."
Each issue of the Journal contained
from a dozen to forty such paragraphs.
Many of them were very bright, while
others were labored, often common
place. All of them, after a year or two,
gained great currency as well as popu
larity, and contributed so much toward
the circulation of the paper that it
would have fallen off materially with
out them. 1
NOT ENO UGH INTROD UCED.
Our lady readers may find a nice
little moral in an incident that hap
pened recently at mash vine, ; wmcn is
thus described by a local paper : One
of Nashville's brightest and most
sensible young ladies was busily en
gaged a few mornings since in making
a cake. She donned a calico dress and
pinned a flaming red shawl about her
shoulders, fastened her heavy brown
hair into a coil on the top of her head,
and had just plunged her hands into
the dough when the door-bell rang.
She happened to be the only one in the
house at the time, and so was compelled
to answer the call herself, which she
did after hastily washing her hands,
and was horrified at discovering her
visitor to be a spruce young gentleman
friend and three strange gentlemen.
An embarrassing introduction took
place, the 'visitors were seated in the
parlor, and then -the young lady ex
cused herself, to reappear in a few mo
ments in a costume better suited to the
parlor. During her absence she made
such a complete transformation in her
appearance that she was mortified at
finding her stranger visitors did not
recognize her, thus rendering a second
introduction necessary, which ceremony
the Nashville young man performed by
saying : " She is the same young lady
we met at the door, gentlemen the
very same young lady."
HABITS OP THE ALLIGATOR.
A Southern naturalist has made some
observations on the habits of alligators.
Among them he records the following :
That alligators swallow their young.
x nave naa ocuiar demonstration in a
single case. ' I was engaged in making
a survey oh the banks of the Homo-
chitto lake, near the Mississippi river.
The day was warm and sunny, and as I
halted near the margin of a pond, near
ly dried np, to pick np some shells, I
started a litter of young alligators that
scampered off, yelping like puppies ;
and retreating some twenty yards to
the bank of the Homochitto. I saw
them reach their refuge in the mouth oi
a five foot alligator. She1 evidently
held open her mouth to receive them,
as in single file they passed! in beyond
my observation. The dam then turned
slowly round and slid down beneath the
water passing into a large opening in
the bank, beneath the roof of an ash
tree. Doubtless this refuge,, is tempo
rary, and the young are released at their
own or their mother's , pleasure; the
descent being but partial, and in ho
way reaching or interfering with the
process of digestion."
THE PETRIFIED FOREST. . V
The Healdsburg (California) Flag
says r xne lamous petrinea xoress oi
Napa county is eighteen mues from
Healdsburg, by way of Windsor, ,' and
lies just across the county line, . The
trees are all prostrate and lie scattered
quite thickly , over an extent of fifty
acres, The proprietor of the forest has
lately been engaged in. digging away
the . soil, and lava from the partially
buried trees. Lewis Face, of Coving
ton, Qhio, and L. R. Childs, of Healds
burg, visited the place this week, and
report that the trees that have been
unearthed far surpass in size any that
have heretorore been discovered. One
fragment, that appears to have- been red
wood, measured eleven feet in diameter,
and is 67 feet long. The tree must
originally have been two hundred feet
in length. Numerous other specimens
ranged from eight to eleven feet in
diameter.' '
" THE OLD-FASHIONED MOTHErT '
JThank God some of us have had an
old-fashioned mother. Not a woman
of the period, enameled and painted,
with her great chignon, her curls, and
bustle, whose T white, jeweled hands
never felt the ; clasp of baby fingers ;
but a dear, old-fashioned, sweet-voiced
mother, with eyes in whose clear depths
the love . light shone, and brown hair
just threaded with silver lying smooth
upon her faded cheek. Those dear
hands, worn with toil, gently guided
our tottering steps in childhood, and
smoothed our pillow in sickness, ever
reaching out to us in yearning tender
ness. Blessed is the memory of an old
fashioned mother. It floats to us now,
dike the beautiful perfume from some
wooded blossoms. The music of other
voices may be lost, but the entrancing
memory of hers will echo in our soul
forever. Other faces may fade away
and be forgotten, but hers will shine
on. When in the fitful pauses of busy
life our feet wander back to the old
homestead,' and, crossing the well worn
threshold, stand once more in the
room so hallowed by her presence, how
the feeling of childish innocence and
dependence comes over us, and we
kneel down in the molten sunshine,
streaming through the open window-
just where long years ago we knelt by
our mother's knee, lisping, " Our
Father." How many times when the
tempter lured us on has the memory of
those sacred hours, that mother's words,
her faith and prayers, saved ns from
plunging into the deep abyss of sin.
Years have filled great drifts between
her and ns, but they have not hidden
from our sight the glory of her pure,
unselfish love. -
THE CATTLE INTEREST OF THE
UNITED STATES.
Increase the aptitude to fatten and in
average weight has been continuous
and marked during the last half centu
ry. Since 1817 there have been im
ported into North America nearly, if
not quite, one thousand well-bred ani
mals for stock improvement, mainly the
beef-yielding short-horn ; but also many
of the best specimens of the;. Ayrshire
for quantity of milk ; the Jersey and its
congeners of the Channel Islands, for
richness of cream and quality of but
ter ; the black and white Dutch, Dev-
ons, Herefords, and other breeds, not
excepting the fat cow of Brittany. So
great has been the success of this at
tempted improvement, that the cattle
of the' central portions of the West have
become high-grade short-horns of in
creased size and superiority of flesh,
with a far smaller proportion of offal,
Instead of degenerating, the thorough
breds have been improved by the skill
and care of our wide-awake breeders,
until one family of short-horns, the
Botes stock, has been for years export
ed to England at prices commencing at
S2.UUU to S3,ouo each, advancing in a
year or two to $7,000, as appreciation
abroad was intensified, and culminated
last season at the magnificent figure of
$40,000 for an elderly cow, amid the
excitement of competition between the
most skillful breeders of two conti
nents.
The average weight of importations
two and a half centuries ago probably
did not exceed 300 pounds ; in 1710 the
average in the London market had been
reported at 370 pounds ; at the begin
ning of the present century the London
average had advanced to about 500
pounds, and now the official average is
600 pounds for British and 500 for im
ported beeves. The stock of this
country, not including that of Spanish
blood, is now nearly np to the British
standard of weight. Phrenological
Journal,
THE MOUNTAIN MEADOW HORROR.
A Salt Lake dispatch says : "A
statement published here, purporting
to be a description of the Mountain
Meadow massacre, by Rachel,' wife No.
4 of John D. Lee, states that at the
time of the massacre, Lee was living
at Fort Harmony, as an Indian farmer
under Brigham Young, who was then
Governor and Superintendent of Indian
Affairs in this Territory ; , that these
emigrants poisoned a spring at Corn
Creek; and an Indian and some ' stock
died therefrom ; that the Indians then
rallied, followed the train, and, not
withstanding all the efforts of the
Mormons,! the party was surrounded by
Indiana that, - after several days'
fighting, Lee induced the emigrants to
surrender their arms to him in two
wagons,1 with which he started for
Cedar City, telling them to follow for
protection, scon after which he heard
firing and sounds of the massacre. The
statement comes through Lee's attor
ney." -' ;- . ' - ' ' : :
Fsou the accounts given in the book
of Chronicles relative to the gold and sil
ver gathered by David for the building
of the' temple, a writer in a Boston
paper concludes that the precious met
als existed in the days of David and
Solomon in fabulous quanties ; as, after
reducing the talents and drachms of the
ancients to dollars and cents, it appears
that the contributions exceeded $5,000,-'
000,000. .
- - .j: .
At Point Pleasant, W. Va., on the 6th
inst., Capfc. H. McDaniels was, fired
upon and instantly killed by a man
named Wetzel, from a window of bis
residence. Wetzel surrendered himself
to the Sheriff and is now in jail. He
claims in justification of, the deed that
McDaniels was criminally intimate with
his wife.
A DECEIVED .BRIDEGROOM AND A
S DISAPPOINTED BRIDE.
The Wilcaingtoif (Del.) Republican
telle a story of a sudden and total in
terruption of the. course of true love.
It says; "Thursday week two lovers
took passage on tie afternoon train
from this ciftd"Philadelphia for the
avowed purpose of being united in wed
lock. On their arrival in Philadelphia
a'mepsen.ger was dispatched to Camden
to secure the services of a certain
preacherwhomthey desired to officiate.
At 8:30 6'clock the loving pair appeared
before the reverend gentleman and an
nounced, themselves ready to take a
new departure" into the state of
matrimony. - The minister was required
either by" the law of his State or the
regulations of his church to keep a cor
rect and complete record of the names
of all parties married, also their real
age, their nativity, the full names and
age and nativity of their parents. The
ceremonies commenced in due time;
the intended bridegroom answered all
questions promptly. To the question,
how old are you ? he replied 25 years.
The intended bride answered all ques
tions until she was asked her age.
This question she point blank refused
to answer, whereupon she was politely
informed by the officiating preacher
that he could not proceed further unless
she would give a correct answer to the
question. She paused for a few min
utes and then responded, I am 31 years
of age 1' This unexpected announce
ment seemed to surprise , the intended
bridegroom, and apparently with great
feeling he stated that her mother posi
tively declared that she was 26, and, as
he was 25, he considered this an at
tempt to deceive him, and after further
discussing and considering the situa
tion, he finally decided not to marry
any woman who was so much older
than himself, and who had tried to de
ceive him." .
ANOTHER MORMON HEGIRA RU
, MORED.
The recent rumor that the Mormons
were going to leave behind them their
well-built city of Salt Lake and the well
cultivated farms in Utah, and emigrate
to some point beyond the jurisdiction
of the United States, is again current.
Now we hear that they are going to
Mexico, about he last place to which
these people would betake themselves.
They have perfect freedom for their re
ligion, and Mormonism is as free to
grow as any other sect. It was only
when it took a form which was opposed
to morality that it has met with opposi
tion from the government and people.'
In Mexico there is but little toleration
for creeds, let alone practices which are
directly and palpably antagonistic to
every phage of Christianity. That Mor
monism is destined, sooner or later, to
succumb where it is now located, is
probable, and the migratory character
of the Mormons would also seem to
lend'color to a projected exodus, but
they are divided among themselves on
the subject of polygamy. Besides, it
is not as easy to move from Salt Lake
as from Nauvoo.
ALL ABOUT EGGS.
A writer in the " Medical Journal,
discoursing on dyspepsia, says : We
have seen dyspeptics who suffered un
told torments with almost every kind of
food. No liquid could be taken with
out suffering. Bread became a burning
acid. Meat and milk were solid and
liquid fires. We have seen these same
sufferers ' trying to avoid food and
drink, and even going to the enema
spring for sustenance. ' And we have
seen the torments pass away and their
hunger, relieved by . living upon the
white of eggs, which have been boiled
in bubbling water for thirty minutes.
At the end of a week we have given the
half yelk of the egg with the white, and
upon this diet alone, without fluid of
any kind, we have seen them begin to
gain flesh and strength, and refreshing
.sleep. After weeks of this treatment,
they have been able, with cure, to begin
upon other food : and all this, the
writer adds, without taking medicine,
He says that hard-boiled eggs are not
half as bad as half-boded ones, and ten
times ad easy 'to digest as raw egge,
even in egg-nog. ;
THE LION IN HIS OLD AGE.
When a young lion reaches the age of
two years he is able to bring down a
horse or an Of ; and so he continues to
grow and increase in strength till he
reaches his eighth year, when his talns,
teeth and mane are perfect, and he grows
no more. ; For twenty years after he ar
rives at maturity his talons and fangs
show no signs of decay, but after that he
grows " ohubbiah. He is no longer a
match for the tremendous buffalo ; he
prowls around the cattle kraals, and
snatches a lamb or kid, just as he did
when he set out with his parents, nearly
thirty years -before. A woman or a
child at night shares the same fate. His
strength and sight .now decline mere
and more, till the. mighty lion grows
lean and mangy, and crawls about from
place to place, eating any offal he can
pick np, and despising not even so small
an animal as the field mouse ; and he
starves and dies, or is fallen on and
slaughtered by a few cowardly hyenas
or is discovered, unable to move, be
neath a tree, and knocked on the head
by some wandering Kaffir.
Debts or Massaohusktib Crrnts. t The
messages of the Mayors give the debts
of the nineteen cities of Massachusetts,
as follows : Boston, $44,719,123.09 ; in
crease, $1,252,818.91 ; Cambridge, $4,
400,164.22 ; increase, . $1,094,451.01 ;
Worcester,- $2,984,760;. increase, $43,-
523; Lawrence, $1478,103.77; increase,
$753,107.05; Newton, $387,000 ; de
crease, $20,000 ; ' Fitchburg,ii$728,-
872.84 ; increase, $78,000 ; Chelsea,
$1,469,800; not stated ; Salem, $1,396,
722.07 ; decrease, $82,444.86.; Somer-
ville, $1,419,854; increase, $373,500 ;
Taunton, $275,600 ; decrease, $111,
763.25; Lynn, $1,849,605.41; not stated;
Holyoke, $792,221.50 ; increase, $2,
809.43; Newburyport, r $490,600 ; de
crease, $6,278.60; ; Haverhill, $389,
416.95; decrease, : $36,541.37 ; Fall
Biver. $2,444,047.23; not stated;
Springfield, $1,794,875 ; rot stated ;
Lowell, $2,189,000 not stated; New
Bedford, $1,097,600 ; not stated ;
Gloucester, $202,043.43; ; decrease,
$20,221.48. Boston Advertiser.
BOW THEY TREAT GRASSHOPPERS
IN CHINA. :
The local authorities, whether civil
or military, are held responsible for the
stamping out of these ' insects as
soon as their appearance has been re
ported. They are required to summon
a large body of men, and at once sur
round and destroy the locusts, the ex
penses of the maintenance of the men
and compensation for crops trodden
down during the chase being furnished
by the provincial treasury. Should the
local authorities succeed in stamping
out the locusts within a limited time,
their services are favorably reported to
the Emperor ; but should they fail, and
the locusts spread and do damage, they
are liable to be deprived of their posts,
arrested and handed over to the proper
board for punishment. A certain sum
per bushel is paid to peasants for bring
ing in tin win cred locusts, and half that
sum when the locusts are able to fly,
while compensation is given for crops
trodden down in the chase. ; The lo
custs are swept with besoms into the
trenches dug at the sides of the corn
fields, in which a vigorous fire is kept
up. The best time to capture locusts
is when they are feeding, at dawn of
day, when, their bodies being heavy
and their wings wet with dew, they are
unable to jump or fly. If the Western
States, or any part of them are to be
visited in future as they have been of
late years, some system of defense will
have to be adopted. Under existing
circumstances, the use of men in large
bodies is impracticable, and the inge
nuity ef inventors or scientists is our
only hope. The prospect, it must be
confessed, is not very cheering, for the
vast uninhabited regions afford . breed
ing grounds which effectually defy all
attempts at extermination. i
BIVALVES. ;
It is related in a foreign scientific
journal that a fresh-water clam was,
during a voyage from Australia to En
gland, kept in a perfectly dry state for
231 days. On being thrown into water
at the expiration of that time, it gave
evidence of being healthy and lively.
Arrived at Southampton, 498 days after
leaving its native waters, the mollusk
was restored to the liquid element,
when it immediately opened its valves
and resumed its usual habits. Becent
experiments have shown that other bi
valveB have an unsuspected power of
retaining life. M. Hamon, of Nantes,
once had occasion to leave a basket of
oysters untouched for seventeen eon
secutive days in the hottest term of
summer. When examined afterward,
they were found to be uninjured, though
they had not been treated to a drop of
water in all that time. On being placed
in a bed at Cancole, the same oysters
throve luxuriantly.
THE STORY OF THE APPLE TREE.
The following story is told by a Penn
sylvania paper: "Near Mount Pleas
ant lives a rich farmer, and, as is the
case everywhere, he has a poor neigh
bor. The times being hard this winter,
the latter, whose family is large, had a
tight time of it. His neighbor, al
though rich, is a kind-hearted man. He
helped the poor neighbor and gave him
permission to cut down and take home
for fire-wood an old, hollow-butted
annle tree, which had stood the storm
of many a long year. The man did cut
down the tree, and discovered in the
hollow thereof something to make his
heart glad. With him hard times,
tough struggling, and battling with the
cold were over, for in that hollow, rot
ten trunk he found at least a hat full of
gold, enough in value to make him a
comparatively rich man."
THE POTTER FAMILY.
The recent appointment of one of the
Potters as Supervising Architect of the
Treasury, says the New York Iribune,
calls attention afresh to the remarkable
amount of brains generated in the fam
ly of the late Bishop of Pennsylvania.
One of his sons, Mr. Howard Potter,
represents one of the great financial in
fluences of the metropolis, ..Another,
Mr. Clarkson N. Potter, is an influen
tial member of Congress. A third
brother is President of Union College.
A fourth brother is the rector of .Grace
church, New York, who has just declined
his election to the Bishopric of Iowa. A
fifth brother, Gen. Potter, of Rhode
Island, was a gallant officer, and made
an admirable record during the war.
The sixth, the new Supervising Archi
tect, has already risen to prominence in
his profession. And even yet the sup
ply is not exhausted. ; j
Thk Russians have gone inad over
Patti again. At Moscow, recently, the
receipts on the opening night were
$7,500, and when it is stated that in the
course of the evening she was called
before the curtain no less than sixty
times, and that upward of two thousand
bouquets were showered upon her, some
idea may be formed of the triumph she
achieved. At the conclusion of the
opera Madame Patti was presented with
five splendid stars of rubies and dia
monds, together with a magnificent or
nament consisting entirely of large
brilliants. -.-X-
Ansa Eliza says that thirteen of
Brigham's daughters sat in the front
seats and made faces at her the; first
time she lectured.
RV8SIA PREPARING FOR CONQUEST
The man who writes, in 1900, the his
tory of the last half of the nineteenth
century, says the Chicago Tribune, will
express his amazement at the indiffer
ence with which European politicians:
regarded Russia for the twenty years
that followed the . Crimean. jmhs The
allies conquered , Sebaatopel. because
Russia could not utilize her forces. The
lesson was not lost upon Oortsqhakoff
and his imperial masters. Sinoe that.
time, step after step has been taken to
wards the formation of a power that:
could smile at opposition. By freeing
the serfs, the foundation was laid for
calling into being a race of yeomanry
such as England once, had and such as
Germany now has." By rigid military
laws the nation is Jareing converted into
an army. Finally,' by a gigantic system
of railroad and internal improvements,
the widely separated parts of the em
pire are being brought near each otheiv
until vast armies can be transported
to any threatened point with all the
rapidity Which the best equipped rail
roads in the world can give. This sys
tem is to be still further extended. The
Emperor has been in consultation with.
M. .Ferdinand de Lesseps, the great en
gineer who planned x the Suez canal.
Great things are hoped for as the re
-suit of the interview. ' De Lesseps un
dertakes none but-great things. At.
present, the Russian railway pystenu
may be roughly defined as one of north
eastern and southeastern lines which t
cut one another at right angles, andl
thus divide the country into a mam-
moth checkerboard. Six different roads-,
radiate from Moscow. A letter in the
New York Herald, to which we are in
debted for some of our information,,
declares that this wholejietwork is
nearly completed. In 1860URussia hadi
1,000 miles of railroad. "New she has
10,000 miles. She can put an army on
either the Prussian or Austrian frontier
by half a dozen different rontes. Shei
is thus insured against successful inva
sion. All the lines of communication v
cannot be cut. She is almost equally-'
well guarded on her western border,,
Her armies against Khiva were fol
lowed by tracklayers and telegraph,
builders. It will be remembered that -her
inroads in Turkistan .excited the-
liveliest fears in Great Britain fears
so lively that she sent a special ambas
sador to London to assure England!
that she meant to dp nothing. Then,
she did a great deal. New she threat
ens British India. It is no probable--that
she means to strike a warlike blow
at English supremacy there. Her at
tack will be more insidious''and more
fatal. She means to control the trade
of Hindostan by opening a great over
land rail route through her territory.
Already Russian merchants are occupy
ing the comparatively narrow strip of
ground between the English and Rus
sian frontiers. It will not.be long,
they hope, before they reap the richt
profits of the East Indian trade. The
barbarian monarchs of Western Asia,
reign now only by the sufferance of the
empire.. One object ci the Persian
Shah's visit to Europe is supposed to
have been to get pledges' of support,
against Russian encroachment. If this,
is so, he failed. He is at her mercy.
Persia once conquered, Turkey would:
be threatened on her Asiatic as well as
her European frontier. Then' .the rea
son of Russia's recent violation of the
treaty of Paris might appear. With,
the Black sea controlled by her fleet
and the Turkish fror tier in Europe -occupied
by her armies, she might at
last realize her great ambition, and-,
drive the Crescent across tlWBospho
rus. If her greed for territorial gain is -not
satisfied then, she has the whole
Chinese empire to feed upon. Advanc
ing from the Siberian frontier; she can
swallow it np, bit by bit, repeating the
process she has made so familiar in.
Western Asia. These are the possibili
ties of the future. They are not, we
think, to be deplored. " Russia Is not a.
highly civilized state, but her advance
means civilization for Asia.
Pbkvious to the outbreak ofthe war
a project was under consideration for
the political unity of; the .peninsula,
which now contains fragment of three
States Delaware, Maryland -and Vir
ginia. This project was abandoned for
weightier considerations, butlil is now -
revived by the Delaware State Journal, .
the most influential newspaper in the
State. Chesapeake Bay form a nat
ural boundary for the threes States.
Maryland would cede the eastern shore -
-and 125,387 population; Virginia an in
considerable fragment and 17,415,.
which, with the present population of
Delaware, would amount to 245,817,.
more than is possessed by Florida, Ne
braska, Nevada, Oregon, or Rhode-
Island. The projsct is harder upon
Maryland than Virginia, but the dis
advantages of such an unnatural di
vision as the present are obvious enough. -The
peninsula is one, and the interests
of its inhabitants are identical, no mat
ter to which of the three States they
belong. The matter was discussed by-
the journalists of the peninsula at a re
cent reunion, and preliminary steps i
were taken by forming a peninsular -
editorial union.
Thb Rev. Dr. Manning, of Boston M
said in a sermon : " The more we read-,
the newspapers the less accurate - and-,
comprehensive is our knowledge of the
actual condition of the world," which-,
is evidence that the Re v.TDoc tor's read
ing is confined to the Boston papers.
A. L. STBOK0,of Easthampton, Mass.,.
a former Sheriff of . Hampshire county,
has absconded, leaving scores of cred
itors and a deficit of $30,000. It is-
said that the first wicked thing this
man did was to deliver a stolen speech'
in the Massachusetts Legislature.