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CURRENT PARAGRAPHS. The regatta of Washington and Lee university and the university of Vir ginia will occur in June. The civil engineers in convention at New Orleans visited the jetties, finding the greatest depth of water seventy feet, and the least depth twenty-twe feet. Sheriff Holmes, who was shot through the bead at Trinity Texas, the 11th ult., .while attempting to arrest! Captain McGee, late of Indian territory, died the 26th ult. McGee is at large. ! There are 375 appointments to be made on the police force of New Orleans, | and there have been 2,500 applications j (only), and, Governor Nicholis having been consulted, is of the opinion that the 375 vacancies won’t stretch to the desired capacity. , The old “Virginia Building” at the centennial has been taken to pieces and shipped to Richmond, where it will be erected on the state-fair grounds, as it has been generously donated by Colonel Knight, ex-president of the agricultural society. Moody and Sankey have concluded their Boston labors The Advertiser says: “ Boston has.not been profoundly stirred. A large majority of our citizens have been no more effected by it than by any other temporary phenomenon which they knew was an occasion of in terest to many, but which assert no im perative demands upon their attention.” “ Yankin wak!" is the Turkish cry of fire, and instead of ringing alarm hells, the Constantinople authorities discharge seven Krupp guns. The locality of the fire is indicated by flags or lights. The firemen are called “tumulbadgis,” and the different companies often fight each other, as in Christian countries. The sultans themselves used to run to the fires, but they are now more dignified. New Orleans Democrat: The cot ton-gin created a revolution in the cost and production of this important fleece. Decently another invention has been patented which may produce almost as marked an effect as the cotton-gin. It is the ’picker. It is a wagon-like ma chine, which is driven through the ripened folds, and picks clean every scrap of cotton, and nothing except cot ton, and saves the labor of one hundred hands. Where the price of the staple may go to with this invention in general use it is impossible to fathom. This machine is a North Carolina affair, and is said to do good work. Appropriations by congress to southern waters: Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas, a balance of $25,000; Ouachita, Arkansas, a balance of sll,- 200 ; Yazoo, Mississippi, $14,000 ; Little Kanawha, West Virginia, $7,300 ; Hia wassee, Tennessee, $10,000; mouth of the Mississippi, a balance of $10,0u0; Appo mattox, Virginia, $15,000; New river, Virginia, $15,000, Cape Fear river, North Carolina, $22,5000 ; South Branch Eliza beth, Virginia, $5,000; Norfolk harbor, $3,600 ; Perquimons river, North Caro lina, $2,500; Nansemond river, North Carolina, $5,000 ; French board, North Carolina, SIO,OOO ; and this exhausts the appropriation. Indian territory has a larger popula tion than the state of Nevada, number ing 77,000. It is a sad mixture of whites Indians and negroes. There are j wild Indians “by blood,” called “blanket j Indians,” composed of Osage, Cheynnes, j Aarpahoes, Kiowas and Pawnees. These do pot till the ground, and are not much , mixed with each other. They number j about 20,000. There are other “Indians j by blood,” that are not wild, such as j (,'herokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws j and Chickasaws. They are partly civil- ! ixed, and much mixed. There are white persons, who have married Indians, and are called “ Indians by marriage.” They are entitled to all the privileges of the tribes. The negroes of the nations of Cherokees, Creeks and Seminoles were made free by the treaties of 1866, and are called “ Indians by treaty.” Of the civilized “ Indians by blood,” “ Indians by marriage,” and “ Indians by treaty ” there are 55,000. There are, however, 6,500 negroes who are not “Indians by treaty.” O VER-BENBITIVENESS. A great deal of discomfort arises from over-sensitiveness about what peo- I pie may say of you or your actions. This requires to be blunted. Consider whether anything you do will have much connection with what they will say. And, besides, it may be doubted whether they will say anything at ail about vnu. Many unhappy persons seem to imagine that they are always in an am phitheater with the assembled world as spectators; whereas all the while they are playing to empty seats. They fancy, too, they form the particular theme of every passer-by. If, however, they must listen to imaginary conversation about themselves, they might, at any rate, defy the proverb, and insist upon hearing themselves well spoken of. <£ljc Jeauji Sentinel. VOL. I. THE DOWNWARD SLOPE. I>owu life’s western siope alone 1 seem to tread my lonely way; Behind are yeers forever flowu— Before me one •terual day. Ah, ara I uow indeed alone? Is there for ioe no friendly gnide ? No willing hand within my own t No loving helper at my side ? No one to earthly vision dear, To cheer, to help ? No mortal hand— No loving one—no friend Is near To guide me o’er the darken'd strand ; Yet Bweetlv felt in waking hours, And dimly seen around my lied, At night, when sleep the lorm o’erpowers Are darling oues the world calls dead. They are not dead ! They speak to me In gentle accents sweet and clear: Telling of jpyj that are to be And of a h<7tvn that's ever uear. And soon this feebly-beating heart. Will cease the passing time to count, Spirit and body kindly part, The soul on wings of light will mount, Oh, joyful thought! Oh, vision bright! The lonely homesick soul to cheer i Remain to bless my spirit sight, That I may know thee ever near; Then the declining slope I’ll tread, With fearless step and joyful heart, And cross the valley of the dead, Nor sigh when call’d from earth to part. SINGULAR INCIDENT. Uoir a Valuable Diamond Breastpin teas Recovered from, a Dishonest Servant through a Dream. San Francisco Chronicle : A singular incident happened in connection with a theft in a mansion on Vann Ness avenue, a few nights ago, which spiritualists will immediately seize ujkmi as an evidence that departed spirits are really wont to return to this mundane sphere and exer cise theirpporerw r er for good or evil on the inhabitants thereof. In the elegant mansion referred to lives a lady who has recently been visited by a s’ster, one of those fortunate mortals who is the pos sessor of diamond jewelry and gold coin in abundance. Shortly after her arrival the lady of the house, for some good reason, discharged a female servant and employed another in her place. A day or two after this event the visitor, desir ous to go on a shopping expedition, took her purse, containing a valuable diamond pin and a respectable amount of coin, from its place of security in a drawer and laid it upon the bureau. >She went from the room several times in making her preparations, and when ready for de. parture the purse with its contents was missing. The alarm was at once given, and the two Indies, assisted by the new servant, made a thorough search. The house was swept, the furniture moved, and every possible crevice into which it could have fallen examined, but ail to no avail; the purse had disappeared as com pletely as though the earth Md opened and swallowed it. It was late at night before the search ended, and completely tired out, the household retired. In the middle of the night, the lady of the house was wakened by the entrance of her sister, who was acting in the most sin gular manner, and asking constantly for writing materials. Her nervous system seemed to be highly excited, and she did not appear in her right mind, though it was not a case of sonambulism. Paper and pencil were given to her, and she immediately covered the former with scrawls, which were decipherable. She soon quieted down and lapsed into her normal condition, when the two ladies set themselves to work to decipher the writing, in which they were finally successful, finding, however, it all to be a repetition of the sentence, “ She has hid it under a stool.” They decided that “ she” meant the new servant, and proceeding to the latter’s door they knocked for admit tance. The girl soon unlocked the door when.the latter informed her that she could not sleep, the loss of the purse made It impossible, and that she must dress and assist them in a further search, j She grumblingly obeyed, and as she came 1 out of the door the ladies entered. At the foot of the bed stood a covered stool, the cover reaching to the floor. Highly ex cited the ladies rushed to it, tipped it over, and there lay the lost purse, with its conteuts intact. The servant from the outside had closely watched the ladies’ movements, and as they placed their hands upon the stool she turned, and ran down stairs, unlocked a door, and rushed into the street and away before she could be apprehended, and i she has not been seen or heard of since. So far from being a spiritualist, ] the lady is very positive in her disbelief of any such agency, and moreover, is an old-school Presbyterian, and in accord ance with her religious doctrines is op posed to any such theory as spiritualistic influences. She ascribes the incident to the fact that her nervous system was very much overwrought; that she had been thinking and dreaming about her loss, and as there was no one upon whom the blame could be charged, she accused the servant of the crime, though an ap parentlv unexplained circumstance is the fact that she had never been in the ser vant’s room, and knew nothing of how it was furnished. The facts occurred, JESUP, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY. JUNE 1577. however, precisely as above stated, and spiritualists and anti-spiritualists will each undoubtedly be able to furnish a satislactory explanation. AS EXTIt iOUUIXAItY II -S T U UNT. The Sacramento (Cal.) Union of the 12th inst. says: “The large, double building on the north side of M street, between Third and Fourth, owned by E. Torrev, and occupied asaboarding house, has of late appeared to be the headquar ters of a vast number of bats, which managed to get in between the ceiling and roof through small apertures along side the water-spout. The vampires be came a great nuisance, and Mr. Torrey concluded to make an effort to get rid ol them. With this end in view he pro- cured a five-gallon coal oil can, and nr ranged it something like a rat trap, bo that the bats might enter it readily, but could not get out. A number of small holes were also punched in the can to admit light. The can was on Thursday placed in such a position as to completely cover the opening through which the animals passed in and out of the build ing. The result was that a short time alter dark it was filled with the little pests, who made a great scratching and squealing. The remainder of the bats, finding their usual place of exit stopped up, looked about for another, and dis covered a small hole in the plastering of the ceiling. Through this they made their way in great numbers, and found themselves prisoners in the sleeping apartment of two young women. The latter aroused from their slumbers by a mysterious noise, and feeling their faces fanned by invisible wings, became alarmed and sprang from the bed, but their feet came down upon a mass of squirming, scratching and biting some things, while other somethings struck them in the face, and on the head and body, chattering viciously, and having a disagreeably cold and,damp feeling. It was not a pleasant situation by any means, and the girls opened tlie door and’ hastened into the hall, calling for assistr- ance and closely followed by their tor mentors. Other occupants of the house, alarmed at the noise, opened their doors to see what the trouble was, but were glad to close them again to keep out the bats, some of the boardersdesired to go down stairs, but every step was a bat roost. and they had to get out upon the balconies. After much hard work, which lasted nearly until daylight, the animals were driven or swept from the upper story down into the basement where they were gathered into a heap, so far as possible, and killed by the application of boiling water. Those thus killed num bered, by actual count, 760, and the girls subsequently killed four more in their room. The trap was placed in a wash-tub filled with wafer, and its occu pants drowned. There being consider able curiosity to know how many bats a five-gallon measure could hold, they were counted and amounted to 228. The slain, all told, filled four buckets. Yes terday the opening in the ceiling was plastered up and the trap set at-ain. Last evening it was well filled, judging from the noise, and it was estimated that there was a ‘ right smart chance ’ of bats about the house still.” what TROum.KH ./oriy rtr/ir.. It is the Russian performances in Asia Minor that no doubt trouble John Bull. The public assurance of the Muscovite commander-in-chief, that the czar's ob- j ject is not conquest, makes very little impression. Perhaps it only irritates England and the more because all czars and all Russian commanders have told that touching falsehood so often. Mr. Gladstone believes it, of course. In bis j resolutions he does not even venture to | regret the presence of the Muscovites in their neighlxir’s territory. If the czar announced that there was no truth in the assertion that his troops had crossed the Truth, Mr. Gladstone would believe it. His hatred of Ird Baconsfield and the Turks is so great that it blinds him to everything else, though the utter fail ure of his last sensation pamphlet has opener! the eyes of his publisher to the fact that a great man who has worked a lifetime to build himself a reputation and a name may level the edifice to theground in a few short months. The reading public will not buy Mr. Gladstone’s latest work at any price. It has fallen as dead as Ginx’s-Baby-Jenkins’ attack on the government. When the shadow of sword has ever appered in the politi cal atmosphere of England it has been the patriotic habit of all parties and all I classes to rally round the government, and the great bulk of the people resent the unstatesmanlike and un-English ef- I forts of Mr. Gladstone to break down [ this honest and loyal practice.- - London I Cor. New York Timet. CHINA’S A WFUL FAMINE. Thf Vend AI read;/ Numbered by Million*. The famine which our Shanghai cor respondent’s letter describes this morn ing, is a disaster of woful magnitude. It extends over a very wide region of the empire, it is carrying oft the population by thousands, and there is no near hope that its ravages will soon be over. Through the north and east of the coun try, from the near neighborhood of the imperial city and from the shores of the Yellow sea, beyond the line of the great wall which shuts off China from the western world outside, the terrible visi tation extends. The suffering, we are told, is beyond description. In addition to the multitude who have already per ished under it, there is the larger num ber of those who are just managing to keep alive, and from whose exhausted ranks fresh victims are continually added to the dismal roll. Anything that will allay hunger is eagerly sought after, no matter how uninviting or unfit to he used as food. The rotten thatch of the houses and dried leaves that serve generally for fuel are not now neglected as nause ous or unsatisfying, and lucky indeed is the man who can get a full sup ply even of these. The government is making the semblance of an effort to relievo the widespread misery ; but the means it employs are wholly in adequate. An expression of verbal sym pathy, a grant of money which allows about a farthing a day lor the relief of each case of distress, and some well meant but mistaken edicts, which have had the effect of simply making matters worse than liefore, are the measure of assistance which the Chinese rulers can bestow. The famine proceeds in spite of them, and matters are rendered worse by the intense cold which was prevailing at the date ol our correspondent's letter, the snow which lay so deep as to prevent the people from picking up any of the wild produce of the soil. As summer advances and as the weeds begin to grow and the trees to l>e covered witli foilsge, there may be a change expected lor the better. Meanwhile there is no remedy to be found, except in the readi ness of he people to do anything and submit to anything that will furnish them with the bare moans of supporting life, and in the willing but insufficient relief found which is subscribed among the foreigners resident in China and dis tributed by the I’rotestant missionaries in the North. The cause of the famine is the same as that from which India is now suffer ing. The crops of last summer were, we are told, almost entirely destroyed by drought, and the peasantry have now come to an end of their slender reserves of grain, and have nothing left on which they can fall back for support. China is a country in which at the best of times the population presses very closely upon the means of subsistence. There are no waste stores anywhere. Everything is already turned to account, and when the necessity comes there is little room for any further saving or reduction. Land and water are alike taxed to the uttermost to furnish food and dwelling-space for the teeming multitudes which cover them. The Chinese are hard workers, contented with slender fare, and able to put up com fortably with a general scale of living ; which would be simply intolerable to j Englishmen. These qualities and habits, | which turn to their advantage abroad when they ar brought into competition j with other races, arc a source of danger to them at home. The Chinese can j undersell the Irish immigrant and the! native “white trash” in the distant labor market of California. They can j not be equally sure that they wiil obtain | the poor pittance with which they will ;be satisfied in China. In ordinary seasons they can pull through well enough, and' can thrive and think themselves well off on the slender material supplies with which they have learned to be content. But when the pinch comes, as come it must sometimes; when the parched earth will no longer yield its accustomed increase, or when the store of food for any reason begins to fail, the suffering is speedy and severe. It is a question then, not of the surrender of luxuries which can tt any rate le spared, hut of the want of the hare necessities which it Is impossible to forego and live. To the :great eastern hive, thickly swarming! with its uncounted millions of inhabi-j tants,'the chance of famine is never far distant, and the worst reality of famine arrives very easily It is present among 'them now, and it is fearful to think of the intense and widespread misery which 1 it will bring with it before it lias run its ' course. There is the bojie, our corre i spondent writes, of good crops in the NO. 40. coming season for those who survive. The snow, which does much to aggravate the present distress, is at least a security against the reoccurrence of another drought. But it holds out no early hope of relief. When summer comes all will he well for those who Are alive to witness it, and to enjoy the plenty which is in prospect for them. Meanwhile, in the dreary weeks which still remain the suf fering is growing worse. The people have been driven already to their last resources, and they have proved to be in sufficient. The total loss it is not easy to estimate. We hear of villages of five hundred families with three hundred re ported as dead from starvation. This, or something like it appears to be the actual condition of some 8,000 villages, and there are others besides in which the pressure is less extreme, but still terribly severe. The numbers of the dead, it is clear, must be already reckoned by mil lions, but we can hazard no conjecture as to the total which will have been reached before the return of summer.— London Time*, May 1. THIS COSSACKS. The Cossacks are divided into several corps—the Cossacks of the Don, the Cos sacks of the Ukraine, the Cossacks of the Caucasus, etc. Each of these divisions has a chief, who is called an ataman, and holds the rank of general, and all the Cossacks of the empire are united under a single chief, who has the title of the ‘ ataman general.” The latter title al ways devolves upon the hereditary Grand Duke. The Cossack clothes and equips himself and his uniform and his horse lus hing to himself. He wears a large, round, low cap made of skin from Astrakan, wide pantaloons stuffud into his boots and reaching just below his kneeH, the whole covered by a kind of overcoat but toning on the back and having three long flaps reaching to thefoctnnd fastened on the full length. On his breast to the left and right in vertical cases he carries six cartridges at each side. In his belt he carries a poniard. A bald rick liangH from bis right shoulder and passes to the left side, where it supports a long saber in a leather scabbard. On his back, hanging from a bandoleer and wrapped in a case made of goat’s skin, he carries his rifle. The Cossack always carries in his hand a whip, with a short lash, which he calls kirjal. His horse is small and rather ugly, and though he is made of good stuff his form is somewhat angular. To form an idea of' the Oossack saddle, imagine an ordinary saddle upon which would ho fastened by a strap a square leather cushion about four inches high. This is the reason that at first sight one is so much surprised to see this curious looking cavalier perched up so high on his saddle. Jle sticks on his horse’s hack by sticking his kr.ees into the animat's sides witli all his strength, which gives the legs the appearance of a pair of pin cers. The stirrup is an equally curious thing. The bottom is round and thick enough, but from that up it resembles very much one of those tin boxes in which preserves are gold. It has been already said that the Cossack’s horse is his personal property, and it may bo added that he turns it to business ac count by hiring it out. .Since the arrival of the troops at Kischeneff they have ibeen the delight of the collegians, who, for a rouble an hour, have been enabled to make promenades on horseback in bands on these valiant little animals.— 1 Kuchenrff Cor. of the tino York Jhrali. A local correspondent of the Boston Transcript writes: “One Sunday, in the absence of the teacher, I took charge of a class of boys of from four to six years of age. ‘Speaking the truth,’ was the basis of our conversation together. I asked the hoys if either of them could tell the story of George Washington and | his little hatchet. One of the boys promptly began telling the story, and ; was listened to most attentively by the i dozen or more of the class. One little fellow, who had given the most careful attention, turning his head a little ta j one side, his bright eyes snapping, and with a most determined expression upon I his face, exclaimed, “ Well, Mr. B , r don’t care, my father had an oleander | hush and I cut it down. He asked me jjf I did it. 1 told him I did—and he licked me.’ ’’ A Blackwell’s island prisoner es caped in this way : “He took a large beer keg, knocked out one of the head ings. and bored air-holes in the other. Then he stuck bis own head into the keg and jumped into the water. Those who saw the keg in the water had no idea that there was a man under it.” THAT NASAL TWANG ; it is Ca tarrh : cure it at once, before it shows on your face, iiyDr. J.H. McLean’s Catarrh Suuß. It sootne* irritation, cures Stores in the nose, ; iaee or skin. Trial boxes M cue, by mail. I Dr. J. 11. McLean,3l4 Chestnut ST., St, Louis. Git A VE AND GAI. There never was a good war, or a bad peace. —Franklins A letter from one tramp to another was picked up in Fairhaven, Vermont, the other day, which closed as follows: “ u won’t ketch me in this stat agin my advise to u iz tu go back tu york ceep clereof Vermont fur it iz not a good hum for a sensativ tramp.” ..I)r. Holland wants to know “Who can tell what a bltby thinks ?” Well, what would l)r v Holland think himself if he had to wegr clothes a mile too long for him, and have his back stuck so full •f pins that tliere,wasn’s room on it for half a square inch .of prickly heat? . .Speaking of the great men that con stitutes the Hayes cabinet, the Indepen dent says: “Every one has great big months, noses and ears. The size of the fourteen ears and seven noses of the cabinet is something remarkable. Mr. Evarts’ ears and nose, compared with his body, are immense.” .. Notwithstanding her deplorable mental condition the ex-Empress Char lotte of Mexico is in excellent bodily health, and it is said that she is now more attractive in appearance than she was belore her w'idowhood. ..America is ze queer country. T viseet one lino house wiz a friend zat in vite me. I say, “Beg parzen, I bin mooch thirsty,” an’ ze peoples quickly go bring one beeg—very Deeg pitcher wiz glass and puts zem before me, an’ smilo an’ smile—oh! zo sweetly! An’ zat waz not wine—no, no, zat waz all’ watzer!—my gote !—I see nothinks zu smile ’bout in zat watzer ! Alexander, pacing up and down be fore his tent —“Bashaw! lad him wave his Sandbag Sheriff, if he wants to. Would, however, that Alexis, with his bold white terrier, were here.” Enter a Cossack: “ Sire, Djbtubrichktivohmagdebig is taken!” Alex. “Upon me word! Well, speed the news to Ivan Bull. Ho, villian 1 Say to Nckopoitchitsky that ere nightfall our flag must be in Wban dispakoinensividsky 1 ” ‘ Retires to con sult the map.’ . . .The Burlington Hawkeye man is as well as could be expected. He. gave the baby some paragoric the other day and launched out thus : “ I)eath, while pass ing through lies Moines county one day, met an lowa tramp going to Burlington to beg his breakfast. l Ah 1 * exclaimed the King of Terrors, with a grim smile, ‘l’d give SI,OOO to get hold of one of you fellows.’ But the tramp only laughed in a sardonical manner, and giving Death a kick that made his anatomy rattle like a street car, passed on to his repast while the King of Terror sat down on the hillside and cried witli vexation.” And then he immediately turned right around and did thus: “ A man on Bond street went down to a New York bank rupt sale the other day and bought a beautiful spring suit, imported goods, worth SB6 for $7.60. The first day he, wore it he was caught in a drenching! rain,.and then .as he walked out in the sunshine his new clothes began to shrink up around Lis shoulders and pulled liis arms out of joint, and his trousers gath ered themselves up like a halkv hdrse. picked the rnan up, walked him along on his tip toes for a half, a block* ai>d were just on the point of twisting him clear over a garden -fence, when ,fejjs sus penders gave way and let them fly;right over his head and he never saw them again.” ■ J •• 001,1811 A ItMIRATION <>J' CItIMJ SA LH. If a jewel robbery is committed, we always hear of the address of the robber, who has discovered,where the jewels are kept and the habits of the owners and the weaknesses of the servant maids— who has, that is, exhibited a little—often a very little—of the skill of the most ordinary ami half-experienced detective. If a criminal escapes from prison, the papers are full of compliments on his ingenuity, patience ami skill in adapting means to ends, though he has done noth ing which an ordinary artisan, with a difficult job of repairs to finish, does not do every day. It takes more patience, and skill, and perseverance, for instance, to file a complicated door key than to cut through any number of bars; and the work is, in most cases, done at once better and more quickly. Forgery, a low variety of the common est imitative art, displaying no power except one posseseed by almost every draughtsman —we doubt if there is a portrait painter alive who, in a week, could not imitate any signature— -always moves reporters to admiration; while swindling, if only the amount obtained is sufficient, rouses judges and advocates to a loudly exp:'sued conviction that the swindler, had he only been honest, might, with less exertion, have risen high in any trade or profession. He would prob ably not have risen at all. Industry is wanting to all habitual criminals, and though there have, of course, been Exceptions, still, as a rule, the nio-t successful “ plauts,” the robberies which have excited the most attention and , raised their authors highest in the crimi nal claas, have demanded no qualities in those who arranged them beyond those which are displayed bv every minor actor, or wandering jugzler. —London Spectator.