Earlier text: Where?THERE is a great deal of poverty in the world which cannot be cured by large crops or an easy money-market. It lies deeper; it is in the heart. It is astonishing to see how poor rich people will sometimes be; while, "out of their deep poverty," the poor will give most bountifully. William Taylor, the evangelist, tells of attending a camp-meeting in northern Indiana, where the presiding elder made a desperate begging appeal Sunday morning to raise $250 for the circuit deficiency, and got, in collections and pledges, only about $38. He was awfully crestfallen, and said, "There is no use to try this again. You cannot get blood out of a turnip, for the reason that there is none in it." He afterwards said to Taylor, "You can't sell any books to these people. They have had drouths and failure of crops, and are dead broke." "All right, brother," said Taylor, "my mission is to preach the gospel. My book business is secondary and incidental, and of no account compared with my gospel preaching." On Monday forenoon Taylor made a little speech, and the people cleaned out a box of his books in fifteen minutes. He had hard work to find change enough to break the five and ten-dollar bills that were turned out of the wallets of those "dead-broke farmers." The presiding elder opened his eyes. "Why," said he, "I am astonished. Those people have plenty of money. I must go at them again and clear off this circuit debt." So after Tuesday forenoon preaching he stated the case, Taylor offered a few remarks, and in about twenty minutes the same people paid the last dollar required to liquidate the debt. At another place, the people were so ignorant and so stingy that the minister could not get them to buy a book or subscribe for a paper; so he sent for Taylor, requesting him to bring a good supply of books. He did so, and after preaching several times, the elder called the attention of the people to the books, and in a few minutes he had sold the last book on hand, and ran into the preacher's tent, shouting, "Hallelujah!" We heard of a boy who once asked a man to give him a cent. "I would give you a dollar just as soon as I would a cent, if you will only make me willing," replied the man. There is the whole difficulty. "If there be first a willing mind," all things move easily; but begging and dunning do not produce a willing mind, and so money comes hard. "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn," but the trouble is, some oxen do not tread out much corn, and they need not be surprised if they are poorly fed. Keep treading out the corn, and see that it is good corn, and there will be something for him who treads it out. But stingy, begging ministers make stingy and covetous churches; and the Lord, who "loveth a cheerful giver," abhors them both.—Sel. WE boast of our missionary spirit; but how few Christians have any real conception of the meaning of the words they so glibly roll from their tongues! It is a solemn fact that uncounted millions have never heard the only name under heaven by which we can be saved. It is a startling fact that of every three persons on the surface of the globe, two have never seen a Bible. The missionary fire burned in the heart of John Williams, when he said: "I cannot stay in a single island; human souls are perishing all around. It grieves me to the very heart. I must have a ship to send a messenger to other islands to guide the heathen to Heaven." Liegenbalk could say of himself and of his fellow missionaries, "If the Lord grant us but the conversion of a single soul, our journey shall be abundantly rewarded." Carey made his rude map of the world, and as he pointed his customers to one land after another and said, "That is pagan," and "That is pagan," the tears would steal down his cheeks. And can he have felt the love of Jesus in the depths of his own heart, or can he know anything of the value of souls, who hears of Christless millions, and whose life at least says: "What care I? What is all that to me?" Can it be necessary to urge upon the Christian to rescue the perishing? Can we look with complacency on the uncounted millions of the heathen? Is ten cents or ten dollars or ten times ten dollars a year all we owe to Christ, and more than a billion souls Christless and hopeless?—Sel. THE mission work in Formosa, under the care of Rev. G. L. Mackay and colleagues, of the Canada Presbyterian Society, is achieving great results. Mr. Mackay has given himself entirely to the service, has married a Chinese wife, and devoted his life to the conversion of Formosa. In North Formosa there has been, he reports, a remarkable revolt from heathenism. Some time ago he telegraphed that 1,000 were seeking Christian instruction. He now writes that he is below the mark when he says that over 2,000 have thrown their idols away and expressed a desire to worship the true God. In one village a chapel has been opened, in another of upward of 200 inhabitants, every soul wants to be a Christian, every house is cleared of idols. In another village of 300 the people have begun to sing hymns. The people in one village offer 150 days' labor, those of another offer 100, in the erection of chapels. He calls for $2,500 immediately to erect ten chapels. In another letter he writes of Sa-ksk-sig, one of the worst places of North Formosa. Hitherto the mission could hardly get a foothold there because of the ruffians. Now there is a large chapel, which the more respectable people are beginning to fill. Scattering Good Literature
By Editor
THERE is much dangerous, impure, and ungodly literature in the world, but weeping or complaining will never drive it out. Can we do better than to scatter good reading far and wide, and so overcome the evil with the good? Good books, good tracts, and good papers are among the best instrumentalities for fighting that which is evil. Let us do what we can to scatter words of truth and righteousness; and in doing this we shall be doing our best to hinder and restrain evil. Gospel Work From House to House
The carrying of the gospel to men and women in their homes is one of the most effective forms of Christian effort, and yet in many instances is sadly neglected. Mere social calls amount to very little,—they rather hinder than help,—but earnest seeking of souls from house to house in the power of the Spirit cannot but be fruitful. God's promises to his servants are exceeding great and precious, such as the following: "I will never leave you nor forsake you." "The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night." Only a Chinkstone.
By Dwight Lyman Moody
NO MAN is fit for God's service who is not willing to do little things. The people who are always waiting for an opportunity to do some great thing, never do anything. If you want to be wise in winning souls you must be ready to do just what the Spirit prompts you to do. It may be he will call you to go to the home of the drunkard, and stay there and mind the children while he or his wife goes to listen to the word. If this were done by Christians generally, streams of salvation would break out in every quarter. I do not believe in dreams, but sometimes they illustrate a truth. I read of a man who wanted to do some great thing. He was going to endow a charitable institution, but his object was really to glorify himself, to build up a name. Let me say here that no young man or young woman is fit for God's service who is actuated by any such motive. If you are going to work for God you must let him take care of your reputation. If you look for your reward here you will be doomed to disappointment. The reward will come hereafter. This is the time of Christ's humiliation, and we are to go "outside the camp bearing his reproach." The nearer you live to Christ the meaner will be the things that worldly people will say about you. If you want the applause of the world, you had better give up Christian work, because you cannot be useful in God's vineyard without the world beginning to slander and abuse you. This man was intent on building up a large fortune and endowing that institution. One night he dreamed that he was taken away to heaven and an angel took him into a temple of polished marble. Everything was complete, except one little stone left out, and he said, "How is this?" "The Master-Builder," said the angel, "intended that for you; but as you wanted to fill some greater place, you have been left out of the temple altogether." From that time the man made up his mind that if he could only be a chinkstone in the building he would be content.—D. L. Moody. "This is the second match I have picked up in this house to-day," said Paul Yardley, with considerable severity in his tone. "It is a very bad sign, indeed, Matilda, with regard to our prosperity. If one is not saving in these small matters, no matter how large the income is, one can never get on in life. I have often spoken of having one of those mantel vases filled with lamp-lighters, so we need not use so many matches, but for some reason I never get these things attended to. I am sorry to say it, Matilda, but we are running behind in our affairs, and I must be allowed to repeat a remark I heard a man make yesterday, 'A man must ask his wife's leave to thrive.'" So saying, Paul lighted his cigar with the air of a man who had discharged a weighty duty. He felt that he had given a fitting rebuke to his wife's wastefulness, and he walked away to his shop completely satisfied with himself. Matilda went about her accustomed duties with a slightly depressed air, as Aunt Sylvia could not help observing. Aunt Sylvia was making a visit at the house of her nephew, and could not help taking mental notes of much that went on around her. She was Paul's mother's sister, and had tried to do her duty by the boy when he was growing up, but she felt that somehow she had missed a point or two. She quietly resolved that she would do her best to supplement former deficiencies before she went home. She would open Paul's eyes a little, so that he might take a more just view of himself and his wife, if it were in her power to do it. Not being of his "wife's relations" it was easier for her to speak out. Besides, she had a few thousand dollars to leave to somebody, and that gave weight to her opinions among all her nephews and nieces, not to speak of their parents. So it happened on that rainy evening, as Matilda was hushing the baby to sleep in the nursery, that Aunt Sylvia took occasion to have a little talk with Paul. "So business does not go exactly to your mind these times, Paul," she remarked. "Why no, auntie, not quite. We ought to make another payment on our house next month of fifty dollars, but I can't raise five dollars." "Business is dull and it costs a great deal to keep house. I am not quite sure but boarding would be cheaper. I don't think Matilda understands saving quite as well as she ought. She does not mean to be wasteful, of course, but little leaks sink a ship." "Just like every man since Adam's time," said Aunt Sylvia, a little tartly. "Always ready to throw the blame on a woman. Now I have been in your house above a week, and I am of the opinion that Matilda is a much more saving and prudent wife than you deserve." "You always were hard on me, Aunt Sylvia," said Paul in an injured tone. "None too hard for your good, Paul. If Matilda was a little more self-asserting and less patient with you, it would be to your advantage. I blame her for putting up with what you said this morning about that match. She should have spoken her mind to you plainly. Paul, how many matches do you suppose one cigar would buy? Hundreds. Thus every time you smoke a cigar you waste, in reality, hundreds of matches. If Matilda struck off a whole box to light her fire, it would not begin to compare with your wastefulness. I know you do not smoke less than three cigars a day. That is enough to keep your wife in matches for weeks, if not for months." "Now paper lighters," she continued, "are all very well when you have children to make them. But a busy house-keeper's time is too valuable for such work. You remember the old proverb about saving at the spigot. You would have your wife continually on the look-out about these infinitesimal economies, while you squander dollars on trifles that you could better do without." "The loss of a day to your business is another great waste. How many weeks pass without a holiday of some sort? Last week it was a journey by railroad, which cost you $3.00 fare, and I don't know how much more for dinner. This week, you know, you hired a horse to go with a friend into the country to see his new place. When has Matilda taken even half a day's holiday?" "But a woman's place is at home, Auntie," said Paul, rather vexed at being cornered. "And a man's place is at his business. It cannot go on all the same when he is away from it—that is, if he has any ability worth speaking of. Come, Paul, you must learn to be more reasonable, or I shall have to be ashamed of my share in your bringing up. Drop this habit of looking out for motes in your wife's eyes, and consider the beam in your own eye." "So distinctly understand, my boy," said Aunt Sylvia, with her decided shake of the head which Paul knew so well, "not a penny of mine ever goes for cigar money or livery stable debts, except it is to take wife and child out for a drive. I am quite willing to have you call on me for that supply once a week. I expressly stipulate that the customary check which I send on Christmas, is to be spent to the last penny on Matilda herself, and I am to have the privilege of looking over her account book, with the items noted, when I come again." "She will not have the slightest objections, and it will serve as a check to your teasing it all away from her. You see I don't forget how you used to tease your old auntie in former years, and I must try to make amends to your wife for spoiling you so badly." The sound of a weary little foot on the stair put a stop to further conversation, and presently Matilda entered, and with all haste brought down the sewing-basket in an absent way, and forthwith was immersed in its contents. Her finger's were nimble in spite of the day's hard work, and mended garments were laid out, neatly folded on the table, one after another, in a way that astonished Paul's newly opened eyes. To think that she must work on and on for hours after his work was over, and he had never thought about it before! And he had been calling her wasteful, and all that, in return! "I am an awful scamp, auntie," he said, suddenly, as he arose and picked up the basket and set it on the shelf, while Matilda followed him with bewildered eyes. Auntie nodded approvingly, and Matilda inquired if Paul had gone crazy. "No, dear; I am just coming to my right mind. No more work after this time of night, or I shall feel compelled to lose your thimble." "I'm afraid your toes will be cold this winter if I don't—not to speak of poor little Frankie's." "The fact is, dear, I am going to turn over a new leaf. I shall smoke fewer cigars, and with what I save buy new socks for baby and all of us. You shall not wear your life out mending these old things. You must work less, and take more recreation. Auntie here has been giving me such a dressing down as I haven't had since I was ten years old. Come, play me an old tune, dear, and show that you have forgiven me for being such an old bear." Wise old auntie slipped away to write a letter she wished to mail in the morning, and gave the two their bright sitting-room all to themselves. It was the first of many bright evenings, and the two had never reason to regret the fortnight's visit from good Aunt Sylvia.—Agriculturist. Homely Plenty.
By Mary Esther Miller
"CAN you tell me," said my friend, "how to grow poor gracefully? I do not feel that we can sacrifice our pleasant home and go to a humbler one, because of associations with this which money could not buy. But when I try to reduce our table expenditure, the meal looks so stingy and the children are so dissatisfied I am sick at heart." "There is only one way," I replied, "to reduce expenses in a satisfactory manner, and that is to keep in mind that there must always be a homely plenty. If one article of food is too dear do not stint it to a meager dish, but give it up altogether and descend to plainer and cheaper fare; always bearing in mind to have the food as nutritious as possible." "I think if I had been living in a luxurious way, with my roasts and my game, my ice-creams and puddings, my foreign fruits and rich cakes, I should at once sweep my board of these. Soups and stews flavored with a French delicacy, and a variety of vegetables nicely dressed, should still give abundance of good food. For dessert the great variety of prepared cereals offer us simple puddings, and for fruits our own apple orchards are not to be despised." "But how if you must step a little lower down the hill?" "Then I would discard meats altogether. Milk, at less price, used freely in the cooking and lavishly on the table, should supply the nutriment. How good the fare seems where milk is plentiful! How nice the cracked or parched wheat, the oat-meal, the steam-cooked food with cream, or even plain milk! When I left off the use of meat, I would also lessen the quantity of vegetables and depend more on grain food. Vegetables have in themselves little nutriment, and are only useful with concentrated food like meat. At the same time I would change my white bread for brown, for two reasons: one, its expensiveness; the other, that white flour has been robbed of the very elements that make bone and muscle. Look at a family of children fed mainly on white bread and butter, and their pale and flabby faces tell the story. To get the tough, hearty, rosy children of old time we must go back to old-time fare. And here one is reminded how, through Mrs. Stowe's New England stories, shine the warmth and glow of this same homely plenty." "The bread of our ancestors was made from the whole grain of rye, ground fine, mixed with one-third Indian meal, and sweetened with molasses. It was then baked several hours in a moderate oven. We bake it too little,125True, it had a crust almost needing an ax to part it, but keeping it a day or two in the cellar remedied that. These very crusts, how toothsome they were and grateful to the stomach! They were perfect antidyspeptics." "Butter and sugar, I find, make enormous bills, yet I do not like to say continually, 'Square the butter; stint the sugar.'" "The way to manage the butter question is to leave the article off the table entirely at some meals. By dressing the dishes with what is necessary beforehand, it can be left off always at dinner and frequently at breakfast. And as for sugar, when you cease from rich desserts and from cake or pie, when you use baked apples or stewed prunes or dried peaches for sauce, you will find a vast difference in the amount consumed; and really, though sugar is a good thing, it in some measure hides the individual flavors of things. I have sometimes wondered at the sense of taste which can discern the separate flavors of all the apples in a great orchard. As with the sense of smell, there is no confusion, and each flavor may be a distinct pleasure. Baked apples are a homely dish, but to the unperverted taste what variety of flavor may be found in them; and served with cream they need not be despised in a royal household. Plenty of fruit in its time. Plenty of milk at all times. Variety of breadstuffs well and plainly cooked; this is my outline of a homely abundance, with which the heart may overflow with gratitude to the Giver of every good gift, and the tongue may bless his name."—Mary Esther Miller. Do you know where the summer blooms all the year round;
Where there never is rain on a picnic day;
Where the thornless rose in its beauty grows,
And little boys never are called from play?
Oh! hey! it is far away,
In the wonderful land of Nowhere. Would you like to live where nobody scolds,
Where you never are told, "It is time for bed;"
Where you learn without trying, and laugh without crying,
Where snarls never pull when they comb your head?
Then oh! hey! you must hie away
To the wonderful land of Nowhere. If you long to dwell where you never need wait,
Where no one is punished or made to cry,
Where a supper of cakes is not followed by aches,
And little folks thrive on a diet of pie?
Then ho! hey! you must go, I say,
To the wonderful land of Nowhere. You must drift down the river of Idle Dreams,
Close to the border of No-man's Land;
For a year and a day you must sail away,
And then you will come to an unknown strand,
And ho! hey! if you get there—stay
In the wonderful land of Nowhere. —Sel. A Model Institution for General Culture. Instruction Given in the Branches of the Usual College Curriculum.
Special Attention to Common Branches and the Elements of Learning.
Physical Culture and Experience in the Most Common Affairs of Practical Life, and the Useful Trades are Combined in This College with the Study of the Regular School Branches.
This College is Very Successful in the Education of Youth, Because it is Founded on Correct Principles.
1. The Bible is made the Text-book of Morals and Religion, and nearly every member of the school has Daily Recitations in Biblical History. 2. The union of manual and mental labor among the students will secure to them habits of industry, as well as a knowledge of the most common methods of obtaining a livelihood, and will thus make of them practical men and women. 3. The strong Moral and Religious Influence finds its equal in no other Institution of the kind. 4. The expenses of Students for Board, Tuition, etc., come within the ability of all. 5. The Discipline is rigid, and the Instruction is thorough and Practical throughout. One of the most prominent features of Healdsburg College is the effort to impress upon its students the claims and benefits of morals and religion. Any one of known evil habits, who is exerting a pernicious influence upon his fellow-students, is not tolerated in the school. During the year 1883 there was completed a large building called Upon a tract of five acres of ground, the whole designed for a Students' Home, where will be afforded the best home influence, and an opportunity for combining manual labor with study. No other institution offers so favorable facilities on so reasonable terms. To those who wish to obtain instruction in the Bible, Old and New Testament History, &c., special inducements are offered. A class will be opened at the beginning of the Spring Term, for old and young. is connected with the College to accommodate those children whose parents desire to place them under the instruction and moral influence of the school. The Spring Term began January 2, 1884, and closes May 29, 1884. Any information, and calendar sent on application. Address, S. BROWNSBERGER, A. M., President, Healdsburg, Cal. YOUNG folks should be mannerly. How to be so is the question? Many a good girl and boy feel that they can't behave themselves in the presence of company. They feel timid, bashful and self-distrustful the moment they are addressed by a stranger or appear in company. There is but one way to get over this feeling, and acquire easy and graceful manners; that is, to do the best they can all the time at home, as well as abroad. Good manners are not learned by arbitrary teaching so much as acquired by habit. They grow upon us by use. We must be courteous, agreeable, civil, kind, gentlemanly and womanly at home, and then it will become a kind of second nature to be so everywhere. A coarse, rough manner at home begets a habit of roughness, which we cannot lay off if we try when we go among strangers. The most agreeable people we have ever known in company are those who are perfectly agreeable at home. Home is the school for all good things, especially for good manners. "GOING to do it," never made a fortune, built a house, or won a name. "Going to do it," has been the bane of more people than would fill the census of a dozen New Yorks. The man who is always "going to do it," rarely, if ever, does it. The only thing he does do, is to go out of the world without doing it. If he has a task which must be done, he at once announces, with a deal of boasting and a great waste of words, time, and breath, that he is "going to do it." And while he is thus "going to do it," somebody else who is not suspected of "going to do it," does it, and reaps the reward. The man who is always "going to do it," is a friend of Procrastination. He is ever just on the eve of doing it, when some trivial obstacle interferes and he gives up in despair, or puts off the "going to do it" until another time,—until that eternal to-morrow. "Going to do it" is a style of doing business which never did pay, and never will pay its way. Do ALL the good you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can, in every place you can. THERE is no lead pencil; and there has been none for fifty years. There was a time when a spiracle of lead, cut from the bar or sheet, sufficed to make marks on white paper or some rougher abrading material. The name of lead pencil came from the old notion that the products of the Cumberland mines, England, were lead, instead of being plumbago, or graphite, a carbonate of iron, capable of leaving a lead-colored mark. With the original lead pencil or slip, and with the earlier styles of the "lead" pencil made direct from the Cumberland mine, the wetting of the pencil was a preliminary of writing. But since it has become a manufacture the lead pencil is adapted, by numbers or letters, to each particular design. There are grades of hardness, from the pencil that may be sharpened to a needle point, to one that makes a broad mark. Between the two extremes there are a number of graduations that cover all the conveniences of the lead pencil. These graduations are made by taking the original carbonate, and grinding it and mixing it with a fine quality of clay in differing proportions, regard being had to the use of the pencil. The mixture is thorough, the mass is squeezed through dies to form and size it, when it is dried, and incased in its wood envelope.—Scientific American. SAID a young lady, who was fashionably educated at boarding-schools, and indulged in idleness at home, so that there was neither strength nor elasticity in her frame: "I used to be so feeble that I could not even lift a broom, and the least physical exertion would make me ill for a week. Looking one day at the Irish girls, and noticing their healthy, robust appearance, I determined to make a new trial, and see if I could not bring the roses to my cheeks, and rid myself of the dreadful lassitude that oppressed me. One sweeping-day I went bravely to work, cleaning thoroughly the parlors, three chambers, the front stairs and hall, after which I lay down and rested until noon, when I arose and ate a heartier meal than for many a day. Since that time I have occupied some portion of every day in active domestic labor, and not only are all my friends congratulating me upon my improved appearance, but in my whole being—mind, body, and spirit—do I experience a wondrous vigor, to which I have hitherto been a stranger. Young ladies, try my Catholicon." 1. LET him have his own way. 2. Allow him free use of money. 3. Suffer him to roam where he pleases on the Sabbath. 4. Give him full access to wicked companions. 5. Call him to no account of his evenings. 6. Furnish him with no stated employment. One of my Sabbath-school boys earned a new suit of clothes, shoes and all, by digging dandelions, and selling them for greens. "When did you find time, Jemmy?" I asked, for besides being a very punctual and constant scholar at a day-school, he did errands for Mrs. Davis—"when did you find time?" "There is most always time for what we are bent on," said Jemmy. "You see, I pick up the minutes, and they are most excellent picking, sir." The following ages have, on the authority of a skilled arboriculturist, been attained by trees: Yew, 3,200 years; schubertia, 3,000; cedar, 2,000; oak, 1,500; spruce, 1,200; lime, 1,100; Oriental plane, 1,000; walnut, 900; olive and cypress, 800; orange, 630; maple, 500; elm, 300. "A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain, which leaveth no food." Prov. 28: 3. THE qualities which are the most attractive in childhood are not by any means the most valuable in maturity. We look for determination, will, decision of character, firmness in the man, and refuse him our respect if he have them not. But, when the child exhibits these qualities, even in their incipient stages, we are annoyed, and perhaps repulsed. Instead of rejoicing in his strength of will and guiding it into right channels, we lament it as a grievous fault in him and a misfortune to us. It is the meek and yielding child who cares not to decide anything for himself in whom we delight, and whose feeble will we make still feebler by denying it all exercise. Yet, when he grows up and enters the world and yields to temptation, and perhaps disgraces himself and family, we look at him in wonder that so good a child should have turned out to be so bad a man, when, in truth, his course has been only the natural outcome of his past life and training.—Arthur's Home Magazine. THE largest bell in the world is in the temple of Clars, in Kiota, Japan. Unlike the great bells in Pekin and Moscow it is whole, and its tone is as perfect and as sweet as when first suspended. Where and by whom it was cast is not known. Chinese and Sanscrit characters completely cover it; but they are not translatable by Japanese scholars. It is twenty-four feet high and sixteen inches thick at the rim. It has no clapper, but is struck by a sort of wooden battering ram on the outside. ANY duty neglected prepares us for a new disobedience—any sin committed paves the way for fresh transgressions. —Chicago had a $150,000 fire on the night of the 16th inst. —There are said to be 34,000 deaf mutes in the United States. —Up to the 16th inst. the rain was falling generally throughout California. —The jail at Wausau, Wis., was burned on the 12th inst., and the only two inmates were also victims of the flames. —The American steamer Goliath was recently fined $400 at Victoria for a violation of the Dominion coasting laws. —A society has been formed in St. Louis for the colonization of Jewish refugees from Russia, on public land in the West. —A “well-known and promising young member” of a Chicago church choir is in jail in Brooklyn, N. Y., charged with burglary. —A succession of dense fogs has hung over New York Harbor for over two weeks, causing great danger and considerable loss. —The Bey of Tunis has given M. Coudaire authority to carry out his scheme of transforming the desert of Sahara into an inland sea. —The running expense of the lower House of Congress is $1,000 per hour, yet there are many hours spent on very small matters. —An “attorney” is on trial in San Francisco for dealing in bogus divorces, a business he has carried on quite extensively for several years. —The steamer Nottingham, recently lost on the Atlantic by collision with an iceberg, was valued at $400,000, and the cargo at $150,000. —Eleven hundred settlers of Washington Territory have petitioned Congress to protect their land titles against the claims of the Northern Pacific Railroad. —The Turkish Government is sending an expedition to Jeddah, to be ready, in the event of arrangements with England, for immediate service in Soudan. —Mrs. Hammerling, of Minneapolis, Minn., died of trichinosis, last week, and her husband, sister, and three children are dangerously ill with the disease. Cause, eating ham. —A bitter factional feud exists among the Creek Indians. A fight occurred last week, forty miles west of Fort Smith, Ark., resulting in one killed and several wounded. —On the 11th inst. a wedding party of thirty-five persons in seven carriages broke through the ice while crossing the river Theiss, at Domrad, in Austria, and were all lost. —Hundreds of white men engaged in business (mostly farmers and stock-raisers) in the Indian Territory, have been adjudged intruders and ordered to leave at once. —The Municipal Council of Paris have voted 50,000 francs for the relief of homeless workmen, and have asked the Chambers to grant 1,000,000 francs for the relief of the poor. —A large mass meeting was held in Picadilly, (London), on the 16th inst., to denounce the Egyptian policy of the Government. Prominent nobles took a leading part. —Five of the six Bisbee (A. T.) murderers have been convicted of murder in the first degree. The other one will have a separate trial, but will probably be doomed with the rest. —Frank James has slipped through all the indictments against him in Missouri, and will be taken to Alabama to be tried on a charge of robbing a Government paymaster at Mussel Shoals. —Cornell University has procured, through the influence of the U. S. Minister to Egypt, a mummy from the Necropolis of Thebes. It is the remains of a man named Peupi, who belonged to the twenty-third dynasty. —Apropos of the red sky, Squire Ripley, of Kankakee, Ill., relates that about the year 1835, in Washington County, N. Y., the heavens were one night so deeply tinged with red as to cast a crimson reflection upon the snow. —In New York City 1,100 liquor dealers have received notice that their licenses have been revoked, because the records show that they had, previously to receiving them, been convicted of violation of the excise law. —Commencing on the 10th inst., the Missouri Pacific Railroad shortened the through sleeping service six hours between St. Louis and San Francisco. Trains run via the Iron Mountain, Texas Pacific, and Southern Pacific lines.127 —U. S. Senators have voted themselves each a private secretary, at $42 per week. This is deemed pretty high, as plenty of stenographers can be had for $20. One Senator appointed his son, who in turn hires the work done for $15. —The situation is growing more and more critical between China and France regarding Tonquin. It is now asserted that if Bacninh is attacked (which it no doubt will be soon) the French Ambassadors at Pekin will receive their passports. —The Sacramento, Cal., Board of Trade has petitioned Congress asking that the Indian policy be improved—that the Government never break faith with the Indians; that all intruders be kept off the reservations, and that they be educated. —Apostle Cannon of Utah has gone to Washington to personally attend to the matter of preventing the re-appointment of Gov. Murray. It is authoritatively asserted that the Mormon corruption and lobby fund amounts to $15,000,000. —Russian success toward Central Asia is a subject of considerable comment, and is said to be an increasing menace to England in India. The tribes of Merv have recently submitted to Russia, leaving only Afghanistan intervening between her frontier and India. —Attached to a death notice filed with the City Registrar of Boston, recently, was this statement: “Cause of death, primary—due to the Boston school system of cramming; too much study and brainwork. Secondary—congestion of the brain, resulting in coma.” —Reports of terrible suffering at the Poplar Creek and Wolf Point Indian Agencies, Dakota, come from Fort Buford. The Indians have eaten all their dogs and many of their ponies, and it is said if relief is not soon forthcoming, many will inevitably starve to death. —Two vessels will be sent on the Greeley relief expedition to the Arctic Sea; for these twelve naval officers are required, and 115 have volunteered. We suggest that the material for all polar expeditions should be selected from the army of “champions” now infesting the country. —A shade of unpleasantness has occurred between the United States and Germany over the death of Herr Lasker, a noted German scientist who died in this country recently. Congress passed resolutions of condolence and forwarded to the Government at Berlin; but it appears that Premier Bismarck did not deem Lasker’s position in Germany of sufficient consequence to warrant the action, and the resolutions were returned. —Heavy rains and a tornado in the vicinity of Galveston, Texas, last week, did much damage to property. Houses were blown down at Bartlett and Runge. Also, in the northern part of the State, heavy storms occurred, washing out railroad tracks, damaging stock, etc. A cyclone struck Texarkana, doing great damage to buildings and fences. At Wichita Falls, four inches of rain fell in one night, and two inches the following night. —The “False Prophet” in Soudan still goes marching on. His forces have captured Sinkat, which held out until starvation was upon them, when the 600 soldiers made a desperate attack on the enemy and were all butchered, together with over 200 women and children. El Mahdi’s successes are gaining for him followers and sympathizers wherever his co-religious fanatics exist. The English General Gordon is now in the country with plenty of money, and (if he escapes capture) is expected to turn the tide before long. In the meantime, however, El Mahdi is carrying everything before him, and the city of Suakim and other important points are in imminent danger. —“The Great Flood” are the words used by the newspapers in attempting to describe the disastrous flow of water in the Ohio River and its tributaries. “Higher than ever before” is thrown in as a further effort to convey an idea of the terrible situation. The details are indeed harrowing, and give the new year a fair start in rivalry of 1883 in the matter of disasters. There is and will be for some time a demand for assistance. Congress has appropriated $500,000, and the States affected are making liberal appropriations, and the donations of individuals, associations, and municipalities swell the amounts to apparently large proportions. But only the subsidence of the waters will reveal the actual wants of the people. The property, the business, and the employment of hundreds of thousands of people—from Pennsylvania to Arkansas—are destroyed. The loss of life, however, has been remarkably small considering the perilous situation. Whole villages have been swept away, and many buildings in the larger cities have been thrown down.