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Sketches of Southern Literature. Southern W riters and Authors. THE PAST AND PRESENT. NOG. Bf JUDGE WILLIAM ARCHER COCKE, of Florida. Author of the Constitutional History of United States and Common and Civil Lau> in United Stales. In Southern State history, we hare very good works on North Carolina, by Ramsay, and another by Foot. W. G. Simms has written a history of South Carolina, which, though somewhat upon the school bo )k order, is still a very good and readable work. t There has been written by John H. Wheeler, of North Carolina, “ Historical Sketches of North Carolina from 1584 to 1851.” It embraces sketches of her Statesmen, Jurists, Lawyers, Divines, and Soldiers. The arrangement of the work is by counties in alphabetical order. It also treats his tory in that style which introduces ns to the do mesticity of a people, which the literary taste of the community ought to appreciate and encourage. A curious volume of Slate history |is found in the Annals of Tennessee,—a name suggested for the State by Andrew Jackson—extending to the end of the eighteenth century; comprising its settle ment as the Watauga Association from 1769 to 1777. A part of North Carolina from 1777 to 1784. The State of Franklin, from 1784 to 1788. A part of North Carolina from 1738 to 1792. The Territory of the United States from 1790 to 1796. And the State of Tennessee from 1796 to 1800, by J. G. M. Ramsay, A M., M.D., who was Corresponding Secretary of the Tennessee Histori cal and Antiquarian Society, and one of (he first born sons of the State. The early civil and politi cal history of this State, presents a romantic and fruitful subject for investigation; beginning with a feeble and remote settlement of hunters disso ciated from Virginia and North Carolina, by a di rect mountain. The Watauga Association, in its rude unlettered garb, laid the foundation, from which arose the sovereign State of Tennessse. The history of the Valley, by Samuel Kerchival, commencing in 1732; and the history of the early settlement and Indian wars of Western Virginia, from 1700 to 1791, are very well written, and in teresting works. The former comes down with some important State documents. The latter em braces a shorter period, but contains more brilliant narrative and stirring events. In historic literature we have other works of merit. From Alabama, has been produced an in teresting history of the State, by Col. Pickett; abounding in local events, and full of statistics. From Mississippi; we have a sprightly State history from the pen of John F. II. Claiborne; a native of Natchez, but educated in Virginia, and a member from his native State to the United States House of Representatives, from 1835 to ’38. He has also published a hightoned, and well exe cuted memoir of the statesman, general, and jurist, John A. Quitman, whose kindness of heart, and manner, united with talent, integrity, and cour age, whether on the bench, in the Senate, or the battle-field, won the admiration of his country men. Buckingham Smith has offered to the litera ture of the South a very lively and entertaining history of Florida; in which is gathered many startling incidents of its early Spanish settlements, and Indian wars. The Southwest presents an attractive theme for the literary pen; from St. Augustine to the upper waters of the Mississippi, there are documents, and traditions, inviting the attention, and wooing the labor of the elite, in French and Spanish, yet to be woven in many romantic, but truthful chap, ters of history. Long before the Pilgrims had landed at Plymouth, or the chivalrous Cavalier had touched the savage wilds of Virginia, Span ish enterprise had occupied the greater portion of that territory, now embraced within the States of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida. It was that part of North America which was first settled by Europeans. As early as 1512, Juan Ponce de Leon, the bold Cavalier, the dis tinguished companion of Columbus, discovered the peninsular of Florida, on the day of the Pascua Florida, which gave rise to the name which the Spaniards applied to all the Southern portion of North America. Ih this connection we refer the reader to the in teresting sketches of the pilgrimage of DeSoto, and essays on the history of Alabama by Judge A. B. Meek, of Mobile, who was the first to trace the route of DeSoto through the South west, which has not only been received as authen tic, but as the basis of all subsequent history upon this subject. Meek is a classic and brilliant writer of histori- cal sketches, and often throws the drapery of the muses around the details of simple narrative, without obscuring the truthfulness of history. The works of the Hon. John C. Calhoun will stand an enduring monument of political and phi- losophical literature, without an equal in this country or in England. His first volume contains a very profound disquisition on government, which shows the philosophy and mental power of one among the first statesmen the world has pro duced. It also contains a paper of great power on the constitution and government of the United States; though we cannot at all times agree with the author, perhaps, had his life been spared to the present day, he would have seen that there was no theory or plan by which the Constitution of the United States could have been made to ope rate for any length of time, with ordinary justice or ordinary success. It has required but a brief period to develop its utter failure, and we can now see that the very moment the ship of State was launched, it carried the torch and the powder that would blow it to atoms. _ . “ The Lost Principle,” is the title of a political work, published under the signature of Barbarossa. It is known to be from the pen of a very able and accomplished Virginian, John Scott, of Fuquier. While we differ with the author in the views he has advanced, we consider it a work of great thought and power. Its object was to prove that •‘The Lost Principle” was the political equili brium established by the Constitution of the United States, between the North and the South, when the government first went into operation. The writer has argued every point made with great ability but, as we have elsewhere contended, we do not believe a political equilibrium was attempt ed, or even attainable, under the constitutional connection of the United States, but that sec tional preponderance of one portion or the other, wag the legitimate result of a union, that should never have existed. This work, well gotten up by a Southern publisher, is a valuable contribution to the political literature of the South, and places the author in a high position among our writers. Hugh Swinton Legare, of South Carolina, was the most elegant and accomplished scholar the South has yet produced. The North has not had his equal, even in Everett “ the bright consummate flower of American literature, as Wendall Phil lips was pleased to designate him. Legare had every opportunity for a most complete education, he used with untiring energy. He gradu al the University of South Carolina, and commenced the study of law under Mitchell King. He afterwards visited Europe, and for several years studied at the Universities of Paris and Ed inburgh. He spent some time in traveling in France, Germany and other portions of the Con tinent. He was deeply read in the classics, and master of many modern languages; with science and philosophy he was equally familiar. But amidst all this varied learning, he still fonnd time to make himself one of the most finished Jurists that modern times has yet produced; as eminent in letters as Sir William Blackstone, or Lord Stowell, and the equal of either in the accomplish ments of the bar. He had a strong passion for the principles of the civil law, and an equal ad miration for its learning. His great ambition was to be a master of the civil law, and after practic ing his profession in Charleston until he stood at the head of the South Carolina b »r, he went abroad in a diplomatic capacity; and at Brussels, where he resided, devoted himself anew to the study of civil law, with a view to make it subservient to the great object of his life, the expansion of the common law, and the forcing into it the enlarged and liberal principles af the Roman jurisprudence. It was during the summer preceding his death, that he communicated to Judge Story his in ten tion of translating Heineccius’s Elements, for he wished, as he said, to entice the American lawyer to the study of the civil law. Judge Story said he was about accomplishing the great object of his professional ambition; for his arguments before the Supreme Court were crowded with the principles of Roman law, wrought into the texture of the common law with great suocess. It is impossible to do justice to Legare in a mere sketch. His arguments as pre sented in the Reports of the Supreme Court, stand as luminous monuments to his learning, ability and refined culture. His miscellaneous papers which have been pub lished in two large volumes, show the elegant scholar—the pure, rich classic writer in a degree as near perfection as has been ever attained. Here we may speak of the “Southern Review,” which, sustained by such men as Cooper, Grimke, Elliott, Hooper, Drayton, Haynes, Nott, and Le gare, attained, in profound learning, elegant scho larship, lofty and generous criticism, a position not inferior to the Edinburgh itself. It had be come so favorably known in Europe, that many of its articles were translated into other languages, and read with delight by the enlightened scholars of England and the Continent. Among the papers of this author, distinguished With him came the great founder of Methodism in America, John Wesley, who planted his stand ard on this island, and thus speaks of their object: “It is not to gain riches and honor, but to live wholly to the glory of God, as we have come in the serene hour of peace, when the floods of contro versy have subsided, to sow the gospel seeds.” John Bartrum visited St. Simon’s Island in 1774, anifthus makes a record of his repast with a friend: “Our rural table was spread under the shadow of oaks, palms and sweet bays, fanned by the lively, salubrious breezes wafted from the spicy groves; our music was the responsive love lays of the painted nonpareil and the alert, gay mockingbird ; while the brilliant humming-bird darted through the flowery groves, suspended in air drinking nectar from the blooms of the golden Jassmiue, Lonicera, Andromeda and Azalia.” As we approach Fernandina, we are nearing historic ground, where is located Dungenness, once a most charming and attractive place, situa ted near the Southern extremity of Cumberland Island, the former home of Nathaniel Green, of revolutionary fame, where his last days were spent in quietude, of which pleasant period he thus speaks : “The beautiful birds that sing around me morn ing and evening, the mild and balmy atmosphere,” together with the flower garden, seemed to have constituted the happy close of his eventful career.” The English planted an olive grove on this is land that succeeded as well as though the trees were indigenous. They used the fruit in making pickles, which were considered very fine. It is this tree which the Christian should love and venerate, even to the “hoary dimness” of its delicate foliage, subdued and faint of hue, as if the “ashes of the Gethsemane agony had been ca-tupon it forever.” It was the foot of Mount Olives, beneath the shadow of the trees from which it derives its name, that was selected for the most wonderful of scenes, “the Savior’s Passion.” The good and the wild olive tree will both flour ish in this climate. The wild olive blooms in March, producing a profusion of pink-tinted white star-shaped flowers, while its polished ever-green verdure remains all the year, affording a compact and beautiful shade. It was these trees which furnished the apostle Paul with one of his most powerful allegories. On this island was seen growing, before the war, a scuppernong grape vine, about three hundred years old, supposed to have been planted by the Spanish missionaries. It had always been pronounced a prolific bearer, producing two thousand pounds of fruit per an- in literature and philosophy, we would call atten- i num, and covering three acres of ground. I inn In Thp flnn nf i I n linn n.1 Hiutnrv nf flrppnp ” ! IT— nil . 1.* ........ ? 1 ; .1. , If.. tion to “ The Constitutional History of Greece, “Demosthenes, the Man, the Statesman, the Ora tor;” “ The Origin, the History and Influence of Roman Legislation;” “Roman Literature;” “Kent’s Commentaries;” “ Cicero de Republics;” “ Clas sical Learning;” “ The Public Economy of Athens;” “ Codifications Dr. Aguessean,” as equal in classio learning and taste, in style and philosophy to any productions of the knd in the English language. IN FLORIDA. Petals Plucked irom a ,, Clime. Sunny Savannah; the Inland Route to Florida— Pass St. Simon’s Island—Frederica Settled bg Wesley—Cumberland Island the Home of Nathaniel Green—Olives —Ihe Scuppernong Grapevine—Dun genness, the Burial Place of Light Horse—Harry Lee—Source of the St: Mary’s Rivet—The Home of the Yam- assee Indians. January 1st, 1878. A trip to Florida during the winter season is now the popular move for everyone, whether inva lid or not; one living in close proximity as Atlanta cannot resist the temptation. It is pleasant to go via Savannah, for this city by the sea has many attractions. The present site of Savannah is where Gen. Oglethorpe was met in 1733 by the Yama- craw Indians, when, after landing, they presented him a buffalo skin, on the inside of which was painted the head and plumage of an eagle, accom panied with the following address: “The feathers of the eagle,” said the Chief, “are soft, and signify love, the buffalo skin is warm, the emblem of protection, therefore, ‘love and protect our families.’ ” Oglethorpe, in coming to America, was stimu lated with the desire of finding a home for the op pressed piotestants and bankrupt gentlemen of England. After adjusting terms with the Indians, he proceeded to lay out the city of Savannah, with the greatest regularity. It then contained ten public squares of two acres each, in ail of which were trees, walks and a pump. The number of squares has now been increased to twenty-four, with granite walks which are swept daily. For syth Park is on a more extended plan than these small squares, containing a large fountain, fine flowers, magnolia trees, etc. Pulaski Square is named for Count Pulaski, who was mortally wounded during the American Revo lution, while in an engagement on the ground where the Central depot now stands. He died on board the brig Wasp as she was leaving Tybee for Charleston, when his body was consigned to the sea. The citizens of Georgia, through their munificent bequests, have erected in Monterey Square, a monument to Count Pulaski, the corner stone of which was laid when Gen. LaFayette vis ited America for the last time. The magnificently sombre and unique Cemetery of Bonaventure, has been too often described, to need another pen-stroke to aid in calling up a pic ture of those weirdly beautiful grounds—the ranks of immense moss-hung live oaks with interlacing branches extending far and wide, their deep shadows flung across the white tombs at their feet. These beautiful grounds, named Bonaven ture, which means in Spanish, “Coming good,” once belonged to the T tnall family, but have long since been purchased and consecrated as the home of the dead. Travelers, in leaving Savannah for Florida, can go by sea or the inland route. Many prefer the latter, on account of avoiding sea-sickness, the passage being made between sounds, inlets and islands before Fernandina is reached. The inland steamers are first-class in every respect, ana the long marsh grass contains many of those colossal lizards called alligators; they crawl about fear lessly in their hiding places, while the swamp blackbird whistles sweetly for us as we glide along so quietly that we are scarcely conscious of any movement, though ten miles an hour is our pro rata of speed. We are now close to St. Simon’s Island, where Gen. Oglethorpe, in 1736, began another settlement called Frederica. On this equably tempered island, they began a town, built a fort with four bastions to protect their palmetto cabins, which the histo rian relates, “appeared like a camp with bowers, covered with leaves of a pleasing color.” Natu ral paths and arbors were here as if formed by the hand of art; while the ripe grapes were hanging in festoons of a royal purple color. The settlements made by Oglethorpe were the first formed in this portion of the country, with the true spirit of improvem mt and permanent colonization. Here rests all that remains of Light Horse Har ry Lee, the gifted and honored dead. Here his lamp of life flickered before being extinguished. He died March 25, 1818. The devastations of the late war have fearfully invaded this once sacred retreat. Silent though it be, there are memories lingering here still vocal amid the mutations of fortune and the desolations of war—memories which carry the heart back to happy days and pe culiar excellencies which come not again. When Getferal R. E. Lee last visited Savannah, the burial place of his illustrious parent was not forgotten. It was the only tribute of respect which his great heart could bestow—the last mis sion of love he was able to perform. Did he then think that before spring should return again, decked in her gay robes, that his own grave would be visited by weeping hundreds, and loaded with the loving tribute of flowers ? AVe next pass the mouth of St. Mary’s River, the source of which is a vast lake, where dwelt the far-famed beautiful Indian women, or daugh ters of the sun. These were the last of the Yem- assee tribe, who had entrenched themselves here for protection, all efforts t<\ pursue them being like the enchanted lands, wttik -acceded as they were approached. Silvia Sunshine. Happenings Here and There. Willie Matthews, eighteen years of age, was killed by the accidental discharge of his gun last week. Dr. A. C. Demoux, of Vermont, has myster iously disappeared from Liberty, Va. Foul play is suspected. The body of Mrs. Adeline Murray, interred in Hendersonville, N. C., is petrified. A car load of nitro-glycerine exploded at Mar quette, 111., killing seven men and throwing the locomotive fifty feet from the track. A Nashville negro robbed a cattle dealer recently of $325 in cash and $1,500 in checks. James Fry was shot and killed at Morristown, Tennessee, by Nancy Simpson, his step-daugh ter. James Cooper shot and killed Head Giles, a desperado at Malvern, Ark., recently, in self- defence. Anas Dagnon died in France recently, at the age of 117. An elderly lady gave the Treasurer of the Foreign Missionary Society, at Nashville, $650 for the Mission cause, but refused to give her name. John Magnus cremated himself in one of the coke ovens of the Tennessee Coal & R. R. Comp any at Tracy city, Tenn. Dan Buckerell, brakeman on the Nashville, Chattanooga and Saint Louis R. It., fell from a conductor’s cab near Christiana, crushing his skull into the brain. He will recover. J. N. Puckett, aged eighteen, was killed re cently in Hickman County, Tenn., by the acci dental discharge of his gun. James Smith shot and killed Lem Rose- borough at Normandy, Tenn., recently. They quarrelled about some corn. Richard Jasper, colored, threw a four pound weight at the little child of B. AViller at Willow Chute, Bossier Parish, La., fracturing her skull. The daughter and only child of W. M. Abney of Cedar Bluff, La., was drowned in Red River recently. A mad dog was killed in Natchez, Miss., on Christmas day. J. M. Clark, Post-Master at Hernando, Miss., was garroted by three white men recently, and robhed of $630. A man named Hardwick, shot and killed C. H. Maddox near Coldwater, Miss., recently. Fairview, Ky., is afflicted with measles and mud. Mrs. Lucas made an unsuccessful attempt at suicide in Salisbury, N. C., recently. The father of Miss Winindger, who was killed in Norfolk, Va., by her insane lover, died a few days ago of grief. John Haddock, at Ferndale, Penn., stabbed his lady-love, Miss Lizzie Davis, with a butcher knife, on New Years Day, and then shot and killed her. He then killed himself. A colored man in Philadelphia was sentenced to five years imprisonment for shooting his wife. The Chinese massacred 15,000 men, women and children at the Kashgarian town of Manas. Rev. C. Y. Steptoe, of Brandy Station, Culp epper County, Va., recently drank some corro sive sublimate by mistake for whiskey, and died a few days afterwards. Mrs. Charles Gentry was burned to death re cently near Liberty lulls, Va. Ballard Drake, post-master at Ten Mile, W. Va., has been jailed for robbing the mail of $300. Diphtheria is prevailing in Fayetteville, Va. The mother-in-law finds a defender in the San Francisco Mail, which says: “If old Adam had had a mother-in-law to look after him and his wife, it is more than probable that to this very day we might have been able to caper about in the light and airy costume of our first ps> rents.” Movements in Southern Society. Gen. AV. s. Harney is on a visit to New Orleans. Tbe Sodality Dramatie Association of Mem phis presented “ First Love ”on the night of the 7th. Miss Ella Bolling, the most popular belle of Memphis, was married on the 2d to John Poston. Miss Banksmith, of Memphis, is on a visit to Evansville, Indiana. The first marriage license issued in Giles County, Tenn., was dated March 8, 1800, and issued to A Laughlin and Lucinda Menifee. Mrs. Laughlin is still living and will be 100 years old in August. Miss Viola Porter, of Central City, Dakota, has adopted the stage as her profession. In the recent tournament at Slabtown, S. C., Thomas Guyton, Knight of Beaverdam, was the successful Knight, and crowned Miss Lizzie Smith, Queen of Love and Beauty. Giles Johnston, aged seventeen, was married near Danville, Va., recently, to Alice Richard son, aged eleven. Mosby Paine and Miss Mary Morris were married in Lynchburg, Va., recently. Two “lads” in Raleigh, N. C., drew straws to find out which should take the girl. Eighty-four marriage licenses were issued in Pittsylvania County, Va., in December. Mrs. Craig, of Nashville, recently assisted in a grand concert at Knoxville. Miss Whitman, of Dalton, is a fine pianist. Dr. A. W. Bivings was married recently in Dalton, Ga., to Miss Lizzie M. Green, daughter of Gen. Duff Green. Misses Ivie Duke, Florence Kesee, and Mattie Beach, of Clarksville, Tenn., are on a visit to friends in Todd County. Miss Susie Dortch, of Clarksville, Tenn., is spending the winter in Pennsylvania. The Misses Abernathy, of Pulaski, are on a visit to Mends in Clarksville, Tenn. Miss Cummings, of Nashville, and Miss Hal- lie Hahn, of Louisville, are visiting friends in Guthrie, Tenn. Miss Ella B. AValker, of Union Springs, Ala., is on a visit to Miss Mollie Clar’ - of Vicksburg, Miss. Thomas Lord, aged 84, was recently married in New York to Mrs. AV. W. Hicks, aged 43. O, Lord ! Miss Emma Calloway, of AVheatville, is on a visit to Dangerfield, Texas. MissBirdie Johnson has returned to Lafayette, Ga. Miss Lula McCraw has returned to AVarrenton N. C. from hc-r visit to Raleigh. Miss Sue White of AVarrenton N. C. is on a visit to Petersburg. Miss Lucy Phelps of Hopkinsville Ky is on a visit to her brother in Louisville. The St' Louis Journal contained five columns of announcements of New Year calls. L. S. Overman has been appointed private secretary of Gov. Vance of North Carolina. The Enzelian and Pnilomathesian society of AVake Forest College N. C. celebrate their 43 an- niversery on the 15th of Febuary. Miss Lizzie Townes of Oxford Miss, is on a visit to friends in Milan Tenn. At a “mum” party in Milan Tenn. Miss Ella Herron was voted the handsomest lady and Gran Barrow the hansomest man. Dr. R. L. Madison of Lexington Va. is on a visit to Southern Georgia for his health. Gen. Jubal Early has retusned to Lynchburg Va. R, S. Jeffries, of Atlanta, was married to Miss Hattie Gould, of Augusta, on the 9tb. S. B. McConnico and Miss Adele Jackson, of New Orleans, were married on the third. J. N. Fain, of the firm oi Stewart & Fain, and Miss Virginia AVatts, of Atlanta, were married on the tenth. Hugh H. Gordon and Miss Carrie Williams, sister of C. H. AVilliams, of the Tribune, were married in Atlanta on the eighth. Miss Alice Thomas, of Athens, is on a visit to Augusta. Miss Cornelia Johnson, of Columbus, is in Augusta. Miss Mary Breckenridge, daughter of Gen John C. Breckenridge, was recently married, in New York, so Anson Maltby. Miss Mamie Shoemaker is the Austin, Texas, correspondent of the Indianapolis Sentinel. Gainesville (Ga) landlords are noted for hand some daughters. A HORRIBLE TALE. Five Mexicans Burned to Death for Practicing Witchcraft. A Mexican correspondent declares that an auto da fe. worthy of the days of Torquemada, has been recently celebrated in the village of St. James, in the district of Concordeo. For six months a man named Sylvester Zacharias had been bewitched, and having drank three glasses of holy water to “drive out the devil,” he denounced Jos. Bonilla and Diego Lugo as having bewitched him. These two persons were denounced to tbe prefect, and being arrested, Judge Murino, a member of the Supreme Court of Justice, ordered them to be burned alive. At 7 o’clock in the morning the witch and the wizard were bound to the stake, which stood in the centre of a hillock of faggots, about sixty persons, armed with long Mexican knives, surrounding these criminals. “As soon as the fire reached the witches,” says the official re port sent to the prefect of Concordeo, “they cried out for their gods to be sent to them (probably their soothsaying o>* conjuring paraphernalia;. The fire was extinguished and these ‘gods’ brought. As soon as they had them in their hands they de nounced three other persons as accomplices, and these having been compelled to mount the pile, all five were then burned to death.” A Fiend Indeed.—A series of frightful murders have been committed at St. Jean du Gard by a man named Emile Dumas. The assassin is twenty-eight years of age, and has only been married ten months. He had been in the habit of quarreling with his wife and her relations, and the crime was the result of a dispute which he had with the lat ter a few days ago. Going to the house where his father and mother, two very old people, lived, he attacked them with a hatchet. Taking advantage of a moment when his mother was bent over the fire attending to her cooking, he struck her a blow in the neck with his deadly instrument, which al most severed the head from the shoulders. Turn- to tho old man, he treated him in a similar manner, and then disfigured the bodies with a knife. Pro ceeding to his own house, after having taken pre cautions to prevent the crime from beiug discovered for the moment, Dumas concealed himself and awaited the arrival of his brother-in-law, whom he stabbed in the groin, but fortunately without a fatal result. His next victim was his wife. She had run up to him when he engaged in a struggle with her brother, and was struck down by a series of blows from the same knife which had wounded her relative. The poor woman did not survive the murderous attack above a few minutes. After ac complishing these crimes, Dumas took refuge in a barn, where he was first discovered by the police. On being confronted with the corpses, he expressed no repentanee or regret for what he had done. Dumas has since succeeded in hanging himself in the prison of Alais. There is nothing more mortifying to a man who is anxious to be published as a hero than to seize a drowning woman by the hair and then have the hair come off THE BUSY WORLD. All Around In Dixie and Elsewhere. Denison, Texas, has uniformed police. Dr. B. F. Graves, of Waco, Texas, paid $250-' for a mad stone. At that price the stone ought not to get mad. A Poland China hog, in Denison, Texas, weighed 745 pounds. A Williamson county, Texas, farm produced 95 bushels of oats and 30 bushels of wheat per acre. Sam Wilts, of Cairo, Texas, dug up $2,700 of old Mexican coins. Freestone county, Texas, subscribes $50,000 to the railroad from Palestine to Fairfield. Gen. Gano has organized a Christian church at Taylorsville, Texas. Wiley Sykes, of Northampton county, Va., raised last year twenty-seven 450 pound bales of cotton, and twenty-eight barrels of corn with one horse. W. H. Wise, Democrat, has been elected to the legislature from Caddo Parish, La., by 360 ma jority over R. J. Looney, Republican. _ The Governor of Kentucky favors single ses sions of the legislature of sixty days. J. C. Flood, Nevada, gave $6,000 Christmas to charitable institutions—a flood of benevolence. The Knights of Liberty, is the name of a new labor and more currency organization. They have a branch in every State. A Poland China sow, of Milan, Tenn., dropped 36 pigs itftea months. L. H. Coe was convicted of assault and batte ry in killing M. M. Beach, in Memphis, and fined $55. J. C. Miller and his youngost son, from three acres of cotton last year, gathered 4,902 pounds of seed cotton. California capitalists have expended $600,000 in the Black Hills, this season. J. L. Sneed, of Arrington, Va., killed thirty- four hogs that netted him 7,368 pounds. Humboldt, Tenn., voted a free-school tax of $2 poll and 25 cents on the $100 of property by a vote of 140 for to 80 against. “Elm Grove” farm, in Monroe county, Mis souri, was sold by Jeff. Bridgford to R. B. Pal mer, of Chicago for $32,000. Thirty families from Alton, Illinois, have set tled in Newton county, Mo. The salaries of the preachers in the Alabama Methodist Conference aggregate $60,000. The Mississippi legislature met in Jackson on the 8th. It is proposed to drain Big Swamp, in Lowndes county, Ala., which will open up 10,- 000 acres of rich laud. There is a congregation of Mormons in Butler county, Ala. Elijah Bentley,-Jr., of Haralson county, Ga., has an ear of corn eighteen inches long. Frank Little, of Atlanta, is working the Hol land gold mine, near Tallapoosa, Ga. Prof. Morgan H. Looney has a school of 100 pupils, iu Marshal, Texas. The Dallas and Wichita railroad has been completed to Trinity Mills, Texas. The debt of Marion county, Texas, amonnts to $199,626. A colony of 200 Germans is negotiating for 20,000 acres of land in the neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas. Galveston, Texas, has a population of 40,000; San Antonio, has 20,000; Dallas, Texas, has 16,- 000; Houston, Texas, has 15,000; Austin, Texas, has 15,000. The State Grange, of West Virginia, wants Congress to allow the producers of tobacco to sell it how, when and to whom they please. Price obtained a verdict of $15,000 against the Meridian and Vicksburg railroad for dama ges. The paper mill at West Point, Nebraska, is turning out wrapping paper. The first wagon has just been made at the Ne braska penitentiary. S.ilina, Kansas, with 2,500 inhabitants has seven churches. There are 150,000 Chinese in California. Hayne Folk, of Newberry, S. C., killed a hawk measuring four feet six inches from tip to tip. Senator Eustis, of Louisiana, gets $20,000 back pay and $3,000 mileage. The Upper Mississippi, for the first time in 30 years, was open for navigation at Christmas. A college has been organized in Salem City, Arkansas, to be called Buckner College in honor of Rev. H. F. Buckner. Four baskets of ripe strawberries were exhib ited iu Philadelphia, on the last day of 1877. An Ayrshire calf, one week old, at Anderson, S. C., weighed 112 pounds. A man in Central City, Dakota, offers $10 re ward for information as to who stole his saw buck. The State Treasurer of Tennessee has paid out $75,000 of the school fund. The City Council of Gainesville, recently cre mated $980 of mutilated city change bills. Richmond, Va., paid in 1877, $1,001,094 07 taxes, State, city and federal. Judge John N Lyle, a native of Virginia, has become editor-in-chief of the San Antonio (Tex as) Daily Herald. There are 1163 convicts in the Virginia peni- tention. There are 91 colored and five white females in it. John B. Craig has leased the Richmond Honse at Gainesville, Ga. Judge Hill’s decision, in Mississippi, lifts $300,000 of bonds off of Lowndes county. The Alabama Great Southern railroad has been mortgaged to the Farmer’s Loan and Trust company, of New York, to secure a loan of $1,- 750,000. PERSONALS. William M. Evarts has subscribed $250, Ethan Allen $100, and D. F. Appleton $50, for the pres ervation of the Old South Church, Boston. The Rev. Edward Abbott, who retired from his editorship of the “ Congregationalism” a short time ago, is about to become a member of the Pro testant Episcopal Church. Whittier says: “ It is not true, as has been said, that I dash off my writing rapidly, and send it to the printer without any correction. I don’t be lieve anybody does that, or has a right to do it.” Mrs. L. Wolfe, one of the wealthiest residents of Newport, has just purchased the celebrated painting, “ The Holy Family,” by Knauss. The price paid was $20,000. This painting was or dered by the empress of Russia, but declined by her on account of the breaking out of the war. Mr. Richard H. Ilayes, son of the President, it is understood, will enter upon the practice of the law, in this city, early ia January. It will be re membered that young Mr. Grant, the second son of the ex-President, is now a member of one of the law firms of this city.—N. Y. Ex. Senator Ben. Hill, in accepting an invitation to address the Teni essee newspaper men next June, says: “ I really desire to address a press associa tion, because there is no power in this country ca pable of doing so much good, and really doing so much evil, as the press of this day.” Mr. Raskin announcos a great discovery in hit paper, “ Fors.” He has found out that music and precise dancing” are among the most potent safeguards of morality. All the young hopefuls trained under the auspices of the St. George So- oiety are in consequence to be drilled from early inthucy in these accomplishments, and Mr. Ruskin has no doubt of results.