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TIMELY TOPICS. A bath kb heroic act is that o! Spain, dying of internecine straggles, to go Into thfrsasAstiog a loss of $7,00n ; fl00 to indemnify Porto Hicane for the loss of their emancipated slaver. The y*llow fever is at Pensacola, It < is unusually early for this dreaded man ifeetation. In some of the mo3t de vastating yellow fever seasons the dis ease has not shown itself on the gulf oo let until September. Thb plague, or Black Death, has twaked from.its thirty years sleep in the east, and is reported to be spreading with rapidity in Asia. Abont eighty five years ago, it desolated Bnssia, and one hundred and fifty years have passed since it ravaged mid almost depopn lated some parts of Europe, Thb postoffioe department has sent to the department of-,justice the names of thirty-nine mail Contractors who are to be prosecuted for failure to perform servioe after their bids were acoepted. The contraots were relet by the gov ernment, and the difference between the amount paid and the bids, for the thirty-nine routes, was $417,087, whioh is the amount of damages claimed against the delinquent bidders. Thb German minister of finance re ports a deficiency in the Budget for this year of $6,000,000, and the tax on beer is to be raised—a proceeding whioh will be immensely unpopular in Germany, Where everybody consumes largely of the ruby liquid. Such a large defloienoy as $6,000,000 would seem singular, with the millions whioh have been paid by Franoe, were it not apparent that Ger many has been putting all her money into,her armies. Thb Boston Journal of Chemistry re grets that the millers use all their finest, soundest wheat for fine flour, and the poorest for Graham or brown bread, a general name given to mixtures of bran and spoiled flour. “What we need is good, sweet, whole wheat flour finely ground, and put up secure ly for family use, and any western mil ler who will give his earnest attention to furnishing suoh flour will realize a fortune speedily; securing the most xmtritive principles the Creator has stored up for man’s food.” Thb substance of Jno. D. Lee’s oon- fession is that thirty Mormons, with the assistance of a largenumber of Indians, deooyed emigrants from their entrench ment by a flag of truce; that all were murdered except seventeen children; that the deed was done under orders of the leaders of the Mormon Church; that he took news of the massacre to Brigham Young, who deplored the transaction, and said it would bring disaster upon the Mormon people. The statement of Lee, so far as known, only confirms previous reports in regard to the massacre. Thb clerical newspapers in Franoe speculate on the causes of the great flood with some asperity. It appears that the municipal oouncil of Toulonae recently refused to ereet a statue to 4 ‘the glorious and miraculous shep herdess of Pibrac,” and one of theoounr cilora said; “We prefers fountain/ 1 Whereupon the Gazette de Nimes now remarks, “God has fulfilled the wish of tiiiv*;”. fiwU^rsfels C-GUUCliCrS s2u K.-U- — fountain to the capital of Laguedoo which they little expected. Had the town voted the required sum Divine Providence,” says the editor, “wonld never have treated Toulouse so se verely.” It is understood that the bishop of Chartres is ot the came opinion. to son. O Hope I The committee appointed by the Delaware Fruit Growers’ convention to oonfexwith the steamship companies in regard to the shipment of peaches to Liverpool have reported that they called upon the authorities of the American steamship company, and they favored the project. The company wonld allow the growers to fit up the steerage for ward cabin with their refrigerators, whioh can bo done with five hundred dollars for eaoh vessel. This portion of the ship would hold 25,000 or 30,000 baskets, and a compartment immedi- diately underneath could be fitted up whioh would carry 6,000 additional. They would charge the growers for the shipment of this amount of fruit to Liverpool about two thousand dollars, and give them the privilege of sending out an agent free of charge with each consignment. The July returns to the department of agriculture shows that the acreage in oom is about three per cent, greater than last year. New England has in creased her acreage about eleven per eent. and the Paoifio states about one per oent. All the great oom growing regions have increased acreage—Mid ele states two per bent., South Atlantic states three per cent Gulf states, in land southern states, twelve per oent, states north of Ohio seven, west of the Mississippi fourteen per oent The condition of the crop is below an aver age in the New England and South At lantic states. The minimum condition, eighty-two per emit, being in Bhode Island, Florida and Alabama are also below the average, but other Golf states and inland southern states are abont the maximum, 112 in Mississippi. All ' other states except Missouri, 103 are below the average, the minimum eighty-two being in Wisconsin. Deceive me that I a» believe tbee; For I know tliet the flake will follow On tbe airy my of the swallow, i That the drift,eban lie where the my blowe And the Icicle hang from the stem of the roe*,— O Hope I—so more t OHopet Beguile yet awhile; Deceive me end l will believe thee, Though I know that the flake must follow . On the airy way of the swallow, That (he drift ranst lie where the lily blows O hoi>»: —"nee =;ore i —John Vance Cheney. MOUNTAIN MEADOW MASSACRE. That most insufferable of all idiots, the practical joker, does not always escape on earth the wrath that is laid up for him. There lived and taught school in St James parish, Louisiana, recently, a man by the name of Bow den, a well-meaning person, but af flicted with that peculiar sense of humor whioh is sure to get somebody or other into trouble sooner or later. One of his most successful jokes was that of displaying advertising bills printed in imitation of greenbaoks, and offering to bet hundreds ana thousands of dollars with people who didn’t fcrnw Sines the first of June, wheat has! ** «as ti.- a— — advanced ihiriy-tiireo ccata in the Testimony Elicited the Firtt Day of the Trial— How the Butcher was Planned and Executed, At the opening of the trial of the Mormons implicated in the Mountain Meadow massacre, at Beaver, Utah. Robert Kays testified as follows: Came to Utah October 2, 1857, through Mountain Mealows saw piles of bodies of woman and children, piled promis cuously; there were sixty or seventy bodies; the children were from two months old to twelve years; the. smaller were tom by wolves and crows; some of the bodies were shot, some had their throats oat, some stabbed, and all were tom by wolves except one woman, who laid a little way off, and appeared as' if asleep, a ball hole in her left side; it appeared the bodies were dead fifteen days; seven of us saw it. Piles of men’s bodies were further on; didn’t go to see them; no clothing on the bodies, except one sock on the leg of one man; none were scalped. Assatel Bennett called: Was at the Meadows Deoember, 1857; saw the bones there; horrible sight; skeletons of women and children; curls, long tresses hair, dried blood; children 10 to 12 years; some skulls had flesh dried on; the bodies had been covered up; wolves evidently dug them up Phillip Linger Smith, a defendant of San Bemandi, California, called: Pros ecution entered nolle prosequi as to himself. Lived in Cedar oity from 1852 to 1857. Was at the massacre in September, 1857; heard of the em igrants coming. The people were for bidden to trade with them; felt bad abont it; saw a few of teem at Cedar; heard rumors of troub^pSmday. It was the custom to have meetings of the president and oounril, bishop and oouncil and high oouncil. The matter came np for dismission as to their de struction. Haight, Higbee, Morrill, Allen, Mills, myself and others were there. Some brethem opposed their destruction. * I did. Haight jumped up and broke up the meeting, l asked what would be the consequences of suoh an aot. Then Haight get mad. The Indians were to destroy them. On Monday. Higbee, White and I met; same subject again. I opposed the de struction. Haight relented, and told White and I to go ahead and tell the people the emigrants should go through safe. We did so, and on the road we met John D. Lee. We told where we were going, and he replied I h*ve something to say about that matter; we passed the emigrants at Iron Springs; next morning we passed them again; as we came back they had twenty or thirty wagons; over a hundred people, old men, middle aged men, old wo men, middle aged women, youths and ohildren; near home I met Ira Alien; he said the emigrants’ doom was sealed, the die east for de struction ; three days after Haight sent for me, and said orders had oome from camp; didn’t get along, wanted rein forcements; that he had been to Prowin, and got farther orders from Colonel W. H. Dame to finish the massacre, to de coy and spare only small ohildren who could not tell the tale. I went off, met Allen, our first runner, and others, iiigbod said: you are ordered dren and wounded went on ahead with John D. Lee. The soldiers had to be all ready to shoot at the word. When the word halt came the soldiers fired. I fired ODoe; don’t know if I killed a man;net all killed at the first fire. Saw the women afterward dead, with their throats cut. I saw, as I came np to them, a man kill a; The Mmivuvu xxx uujiiiin /*!« Sraf. ; then thrown in single file, with the sol- diers along side. The emigrants were congratulating themselves on their safety from the Indians. At last John M. Higbee came and ordered my squad to fire. Lee, like the rest, had firearms, No emigrants were allowed to escape; saw soldiers on horses to take on wing those who ran; saw a man ran; saw Bill start on a horse and kill him, and a wounded man beg for life. Higbee oat his throat. I was told to gather up the little ohildren. I went, and saw a woman running toward the men, crying, “ My husband, my husband ! ” A soldier shot her in the back, and she fell dead. Post Office Points. The following late rulings by the postoffice department in regard to mail matter will be found of interest to- every one engaged in mercantile pur suits : When paokages of merchandise or samples of merchandise are wrapped so as to prevent examination, or have any writing upon them except the address, it is the duty of the postmaster to rate them up with letter postage, to be col lected on delivery. Samples may be marked in pencil or ink with letters or figures by which they are to be dis tinguished in a descriptive letter or in voice (each separately) Without subject ing the package to letter postage. An address may be written on a cir cular, but any other writing thereon except the mere correction of a typo graphical error, would render it sub ject to letter postage. It is the duty of a postmaster when mail matter is sent to his office through mistake, to forward it to its destination. Book manuscript, when so wrapped) as to admit of examination, is oharge- with prepayment of postage afr rates of thira-olass matter, viz: (me oent limited to Chicago market. If the reports at hand are reliable, the wheat crop of Europe will be almost an entire failure, and consequently •’ the demand upon our produots will be unprecedented. This will ensure the producer good paying prioee for tbe produots of bis farm for at least a year to oome. While Great Britain and the continent may suffer, the people-of America will be greatly bsoefited. Just when the advance in prioee will oease it would be hazardous to predict, offensive smell coming from an out house led to a search for the cause, and the corpse of Bowden was found .beneath the floor and under a oovering of corn husks, where it was rapidly decaying. A Swedish plantation hand, who had seen him displaying his imita tion bills, had mistaken him for a per son of large and available means, and had murdered him for his money. The Swede is now a fugitive,’and he feels doubly the weight of the joke, for he got no money, and the Governor has offered $1,000 for his arrest. liucu. ouu equipped; so I went; Hop- kins, Higbee, John Willis and oam Purdy went along; had two baggage waggons; got to Hamplen’s ranehe in the night, three miles from emigrants; there met Lee and others from the gen eral camp, where the largest number of men were; then found the emigrants not all killed. Bateman or Lee went out with a white flag. A man from the emigrants met them. Lee and a man set down on the grass and had a talk; don’t know what they talked. Lee went with the man into the intrenchments. After some hours they came out and the emigrants came out with their wounded in wagons ahead. The wounded were those hurt in the three days previous an ounce or fraction thereof, four pounds in weight. Paper with writing on it, should not be used as wrappers for newspapers, as this would subject the packages to letter postage. To entitle regular subscribers to re ceive newspapers free of postage, they must reside in the county where each papers are printed and published. Mail matter inolosed in sealed en velopes with the corners notched, ie subject to letter rates of postage. A postmaster is required to examine all printed matter, or third-olass matter, lassing through his office, to see that it s charged with proper rates of postage and to detect frand. Matter contained in a sealed envelope notched at the comers cannot be satisfactorily ex amined without destroying the wrapper. Prepaid letters must be forwarded from one postoffice to another at the re quest of the party addressed without additional charge of postage; but let ters having been once delivered accord ing to their address require postage at the prepaid rate when returned to the office for forwarding. * Packages containing liquids, or any other matter liable to deface or destroy the contents of the mails, or hurt the person of any one connected with the service, should be exoluded' from the mails; but sealed packages deposited in ‘ postoffice, prepaid at letter rates of stage, in the absence of any positive owledee of their contents, forwarded out, t<> their destination. Unsealed circulars denosited in a letter-carrier office for focal delivery through the box or general delivery, or by earners, are subject to a postage of one oent eaoh circular, to be prepaid by stamp affixed. L. and B., page 61, seo. 99. —The duke of Sutherland is the largest land-owner in Great Britain, owning in one county—Sutherland—1,-, 176,340 acres, while his wife owns 149,- 879 acres in the county of Boss. He ought to be called the duke of AUtbe- land, —A belle at Saratoga wean diamonds on her rimes.