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T. A, HAVRON, Publisher. YOUR CONDITION. The Bible Account is Not Exag gerated When It Says You Are Miserable, Blind and Naked-Sermon by llev. T. Be Witt Tal inage, 1). I>. Bhookltx, -'Hie subject of Dr. Talmage’s discourse this morning was “(Salutation Front the Chariot,” and his text, 11. Kings, x., 15 : “Is thine heart right!” With mettled horses at full speed, for he was celebrated for fast driving, Jehu, the warrior and King, returns from battle. But seeing Jehonadab, an acquaintance, by the wayside he shouts, “Whoa! whoa!” to the lathered span. Then leaning over to Jehonadab Jehu saluted him in the wortls of the text—words not more appro priate for that hour and that place than for this hour and place. Is thine Ueart right! I should like to hear of your physical health. Well, my self, 1 like to have every body else welt, and so might ask, is your eyesight right, your hparing right, your nerves right,your mugs right, your entire body right! But 1 an! busy to-day taking diagnosis of the more important spiritual conditions. I should like to hear of your financial welfare. 1 want every body to have plea-, ty or money, ample apparel, large store house and comfortable residence; and 1 might ask: “Is your business right, your income right, your worldly surroundings right!” But what are these financial ques tions compared with the inquiry as to whether you have been able to pay your debts to Cod; as to whether you are in sured for eternity; as to whether you are ruinjng yours ;lf by the long credit system of the soul! 1 have known men to|liave no more than one loaf of bread at a time, and yet to own a government bond of Heaven woiffh more than the whole material uni verse. The question I ask you to-day is not in regard to your habits. I make no inquiry about your integrity, or your chastity, or your sobriety. Ido not mean to stand on the outside of tlie gate and ring the bell; but coming up the steps I open the door and come to the private apartment of the soul, and, with the earnestness of a man that must give an account for this day’s Work, I cry out, ‘ Oh, man! Oh, woman immortal! Is thine heart right I will not insult you by an argumeut to prove that we are by nature all wrong. If there be a factory explosion, and the smokestack be upset, and the wheels be broken in two, and the engine unjointed, and the ponderous bars be twisted, and a man should look in and say that nothing was the matter, you would pronounce him a fool. Well, it needs no acumen to dis cover that our nature is all atwist and askew and unjointed. The tiding doesn’t work right. The biggest trouble wo have in the world is with our souls. Men sometimes say that though their not be just right, their heart is nil right. Impossible! A farmer never puts the poorest apples ou top of his bar rel, nor does the merchant place the mean est goods in his show window. The best part of us is our outward life. Ido not stop to discuss whether we all fell in Adam, for we have been our own Adam, and have all eaten of the forbidden fruit, and have bean turat'd out of the paradise of holiness and peace; and though the flaming sword that stood at the gate to keep us out has changed position and comes behind to drive us in, we will not Tiie Bible account of us is not exagger ated when it says that we arc poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked. Poor: the wretch that stands shivering on our doorstep on a cold day is not so much in need of bread as we are of spiritual help. Blind : why.the man whose eyes perished in the powder blast, and who for these ten years lias gone feeling his way from street to street, is not in such utter darkness as we. Naked: why, there is not one rag of holiness left to bide the shame of our sin. Sick: why, the leprosy has eaten into the bend and the heart and the hands and the feet, and the marasmus of an everlasting wasting away has already seized on some of us. But the meanest thing for a man to do is to discourse about an evil without pointing a way to have it remedied. Ispeak of the thirst of your hot tongue only, that I may show you the living stream that drops crystalline and sparkling from the Rock of Agps, and pours a river of gladness at you v feet. If I show you the rents in your coat, it is only because the door of God’s wardrobe now swings open; and here is a robe, white with the fleece of the Lamb of God, and of a cut and tnqke that an angel would not be ashamed to wear. If I snatch from you the black, moldy bread that you are munching, it is only to give yon the bread made out of the finest wheat that grows on the celestial hills, and baked in the fires of the Cross, one crumb of which would bo enough to ninke all Heaven a banquet. Hear it, one and all. and tell it to your friends when you go. home, that the Lord Jesus Christ cau make the heart right. First, we need a repenting heart, If for the last ten, twenty or forty years of life we have been going on in the wrong way it is time that we turn around and start in the opposite direction. If we offend our friends, we are glad to apologize. God is cur best/' friend, and yet how many of us have never apologized for the wrongs we have done Him. There is nothing that we so much need to got rid of as sin. It is a horri ble black monster. it. polluted Eden. It killed Christ. It lias blasted the world. Men keep dogs in kennels, and rabbits in a warren, end cattle in a pen. What a man that would be who would shut them up in his parlor! But this foul dog of sin and these herds of transgression we have entertained for many a long year in our heart, which should bo the cleanest, bright est loom in all our nature. Out with the vile herd! Be gone, ye befoulers of an immortal nature! Turn out the beasts and let Christ v.owc in 1 -A heathen came to an arly Christian who had the reputation of cur.tig diseases. Ihe Christian said: “You must have all your idols destroyed.” The heathen gave to the Christian the key to his house, that he might go in and desti oy the idols. Ho battered to pieces all ho saw. but still the man did not get well. The Christian said to him: “There must be some idol in your bouse not yet destroyed.” The heathen confessed that there was one idol of beaten gold that he could not bear to give up. After a while, when that was destroyed,in answer to the prayer of the Christian the sick man got well. > , Many a man has awakened in his dying hour to find his sins all about him. They clambered up on the right side of the bed, and on the left side, and over the head board, and over the footboard, and hor ribly devoured the soul. ‘Repent; the voice celestial cries. Nor longer dare delay; The wretch that scorns the mandate dies, And meets a fiery day." Again, we need a believing heart. A good many years ago a weary one went up ohe of the hills of Asia Minor, and with two logs on his back cried out to all the world, offering to carry their sins and sor rows. They pursued Him. They slapped Him in the face. They mocked Him. When He groaned they groaned. They shook their fists at Him. They spit on Him. They hounded Him as though He were a wild beast. His healing of the sick, His sight-giving to the btind, His mercy to the outcast silenced not the revenge of the world. His prayers and benedictions were lost in that whirlwind of execration. Away with Him ! Away with Him! Ah! it was not merely the two pieces of wood that He carried; it was the trans gressions of the race, the anguish of* the ages, the wrath of God, the sorrows of hell, the stupendous interests of an unend ing eternity. No wonder His back bent. No wonder the blood started from every pore. No wonder that he crouched under a torture that made the sun faiut and the everlasting hills tremble, and the dead rush up in their winding-sheets as He cried: “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” But the cup did not pass. None to comfort. gusts There He hangs! What has'that hand done that it should be thus crushed in the palm! It has been healing the lame and wiping away tears. YYhat has that foot been doing that it should be so lacerated ! It has been going about doing good. Of what has the victim been guilt. ! Guilty of saving a world. Tell me, ye Heavens and earth, was there ever such another crimiual! Was there ever such a crime! On that hill of carnage, that sunless day, amid those howling rioters, may not your sins and mine have perished ? 1 believe it. Oli, the ransom has been paid. Those arms of Jesus were stretched out so wide that when He brought them together again they might embrace the world. Oh, that I might, out of the blossoms of the spring or the flaming foliage of autumn, make one wreath for my Lord! Oh, that all the triumphal arches of the world could be swung in one gateway, where the King of Glory might come in! Oh, that all the harps and trumpets and organs of earthly music might, in one anthem, speak His praise! But what were earthly flowers to Him who walketh amid the snow of the white lilies of Heaven 1 What were arches of earthly masonry to Him who hath about His throne a rainbow spun out of everlast ing sunshine! What were all earthly mu sic to Him wheu the three hundred and forty and four thousand on one side and the cherubim and seraphim and archan gels stand on the other side, and all the space between is filled with the doxologies of eternal jubilee—the hosannah of a re deemed earth, the hallelujah of unfallen angels, song after song rising about the throne of God and of the Lamb! In that pure, high place let Him hear us. Stop! harps of Heaven, that our poor cry maybe heard. • Oh, my Lord Jesus, it will not hurt Thee for one hour to step out from the shining throng. They will make it all up when Thou goest back again. Como hither, O blessed one, that we may kiss Thy feet. Our hearts, too long withheld, we now sur render into Thy keeping. When Thou goest back, tell it to all the immortals that the lost are found, and let Thy Father’s house ring with the music and the dance. They have some old wine in Heaven, not used except in rare festivities. In this world, those who are accustomed to use wine on groat occasions bring out the bev erage aud say “This wine is thirty years old,” or‘‘forty years old.” But the wine of Heaven is more than eighteen centuries old. It was prepared at the time when Christ trod the wine press alone. When such grievous sin ners as we come back, inethinks the cham berlain of Heaven cries out to the serv ants, ‘‘This is unusual joy! Bringup from the vaults of Heaven that old wine. Fill all the tankards. Let all the white-robed guests drink to the immortal health of those new-born sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.” There is joy in Heaven among the angels of God over one sinner that repentoth, and God grant that that one may be you! Again, in order to have a right heart it must he a forgiving heart. An old writer says: ‘‘To render good for evil is God like: good for good, man like; evil for good devil-like.” Which of these natures have wet Christ will have nothing to do with us as long as we keep any old grudge. AVe have all been cheated and lied ifbouf. There are people who dislike us so much that if we should civile down to poverty and disgrace they would say: ‘‘Good for him! t Didn’t I tell you soi” Tbev never have understood us. and never will. They do not understand us. Un sanctificd human nature says: ‘ Wait till you get a good crack at him, aud when at last you find him in a tight place give it to him. Flay him alive. No quarter. Leave not a rag of reputation. Jump on him with both feet, Pay him in liis own coin—sar casm for sarcasm, scorn for scooii, abuse for abuse.” But, my friends, that is not the right kind of heart. No man ever did so mean a thing toward us as we have done toward Cod. And if we can not forgive otbQl‘3, bow can we expect Cod to forgive TJiENTON, DADE COUNTY. GA., FRIDAY, DECEMBER lb. 1887. us! Thousands of men have been kept out of Heaven by an unforgiving heart. Here is one who gays: “I will forgive that man the wrong he did me about that house and lot: 1 will forgive that man who overreached me in a bargain; I will for give that man who sold me a shoddy overcoat: 1 forgive them—all but one. That man I can not forgive. The villain —I can hardly keep my hands off him. If my going to Heaven depends on my forgiving him, then I will stay out.” Wrong feeling! If a man lie to me once I am not called to trust him again. If a man betray me once 1 am not called to put confidence in him again. But 1 would have no rest if I could not offer a sincere prayer for the temporal and ever lasting welfare of all men, whatever meanness and outrage they have in flicted upon me. If you want to got your heart right strike a match and burn up all your old grudges, and blow the ashes away. “If yon forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses.” An old Christian black woman was going along the streets of New York with a basket of apples that she had for sale. A rough sailor ran against her and upset the basket, and stood back expecting to hear her scold frightfully; but she stooped down and picked up the apples, and said, God forgive •you, my sou, las I do.” The sailor saw the meanness of what he had done, and felt in his pocket for his money, and insisted that she should take it all. Though she was black, he called her mother, and said : “Forgive me, mother; I will never do any thing so mean again.” Ah! there is a power in a forgiving spirit to overcome all hardness. There is no way of conquering men like that of bestowing upon them your pardon, whether they will accept it or not. Again, a right heart is an expectant heart. It is a poor business to be building castles in the air. Enjoy wliat you have now. Don't spoil your comfort in the small house because you expect a larger one. Don’t fret about your income when it is $3 or 14 per day because you expect to have after a while $lO per day, or SIO,OOO a year because you expect it to be $20,000 a year. But about heavenly things, the more we think the better. Those castles are not in the air, but on the hills, and we have a deed to them in our possession. I like to see a man all full of Heaven. He talks Heaven. He sings Heaven. He prays Heaven, de dreams Heaven. Bonis of us in our sleep have had Ihe good place opened to us. Wc saw the pinnacles in the sky. He heard the clicks of the hoofs of the white horses on which victory rode, and the clapping of the cymbals of eternal triumph. And while in our sleep wo were glad that all our sorrows were over and burdens done with, the Throne of God grew whiter, whiter and whiter, till we opened our eyes and say that it was only the sun of the earthly morning shining oil our pillow. To have a right heart you need to be filled with this expectancy. It would make your privations and annoyances more bear able. In the midst of the City of Paris stands, or did stand, a statue of the good, but broken-hearted, Josephine. I never im agined that marble could be smitten into such tenderness. It seems not lifeless. If the spirit of Josephine be disentaber naeled the soul of the Empress has taken possession of this figure. I am not yet satisfied that it is stone. The puff of the dress on the arm seems to need but the pressure of the finger to indent it. The figure at the bottom of the robe, the ruffle at the neck, the fur lining on the dress, the embroidery of the satin, the cluster of lily and" leaf and rose in her hand, the poise of her body as she seems to come sailing out of the sky, her face calm, humble, beautiful, but yet sad, attest the genius of the sculptor and the beauty of biie heroine lie celebrates. Looking up through the rifts of the coronet that encir cles her brow, I could see the sky beyond, the great heavens. Where all woman’s wrongs shall be righted, and the story of endurance and resignation shall be told to all the ages. The rose and the lily in the hand of Joseph ine will never drop their petals. The chil dren of God, whether they suffer on earth, in palaces or in hovels, shall come to that glorious rest, oh, Heaven! sweet Heaven! at thy gate we set down all our burdens and griefs. The place will be full. Here there are vacant chairs at the hearth and at the table, but there are no vacant chairs in Heaven. The crowns all worn; the thrones all mounted. Some talk of Heaven as though it were a very handsome church, where a few fa vored spirits would come in and sit down on finely cushioned scats all by themselves, and sing psalms to all eternity. No, no. “1 saw a great multitude that no man could number standing before the throne. He that talked wdth me had a golden reed to measure the city, audit was twelve thousand furlongs” —that is fifteen hundred miles in circum ference. All! Heaven is not a little colony at one corner of God's dominion, where a man's entrance dependsupc u what kind of clothes he has on tiis back, and how much money he has in his purse, but a vast em pire. God grant that the light of that blessed wdrld may shine upon us in our last moment. The roughest time we had in crossing the ocean was at the mouth of Liverpool harbor. We arrived a" nightfall, and were obliged to lie there till the morning, waiting for the rising of the tide, before we could go up to the city. How the vessel pitched and writhed in the water! So sometimes the last illness of the Christian is a struggle. He is almost-hi ougli the voyage. The waves of tempts Don toss his soul, but he waits for the morning. At last the light dawns, and the tides of joy rise in his son!, and lie sails up and casts anchor within the veil. Is tliy heart right 1 What question can compare wit'll this in importancel It is a business question. l)o you not realize that you wilt soon have to go out of that store: that you will soon have tc -e --sign partnership; tin,t soon among All the Billions of dollars’ worth of goods that ate #oid in New York you wjlj upt have the handling of a yard of cloth, or a pound of sugar, or a penny worth of any thing; that soon, if a conflagration should start at Central Park aud sweep every thing to the Battery, it would not disturb you: that soon, if every cashier should abscond and every insur ance company should fail, it would not affect you! What are the questions that stop this side the grave compared with the questions that reach beyond it! Are you making losses that are to be everlasting? >-e you making purchases for eternity! Are you jobbing for time when you might be wholesaling for eternity! What ques tion is so broad at the base, and so altitu dinous, and so overwhelming, as the ques tion : “Is thy heart right!” Or is it a domestic question! Is it some thing about father, or ’mother, or compan ion, or son, or daughter that you think is comparable with this question in import ance! Do you not realize that by univer sal and inexorable law all these relations will be broken up! Your father will be gone, your mother will be gone, your com panion will be gone, your child will be gone, £ou will be gone, and then this su pernal question will begin to harvest its chief gains, or deplore its worst losses, roll up into its mightiest magnitude, or sweep its vast circles. What difference now does it make to Napoleon 111, whether he triumphed or surrendered at Redan! Whether he lived at the Tuileries or at Chiselhurst? Whether ho was Em peror or exile? They laid him out in his coffin in the dress of a field marsha’. Did that give him any batter chance for the next world than if he had been laid out in a plain shroud! And soon to us what will be the differencs whether in this world we rode or walked, were bowed to or mal treated, were applauded or hissed at, were welcomed in or kicked out, while laying hold of every mo ment of the great future, and burning in all tho splendor of grief, and over arching and undergoing all the time and all eternity, is the plain, simple, practical, thrilling, agonizing, overwhelming ques tion. “Is thy heart right!” Have you with in you a repenting heart, and expectant heart! If not I must write upon your soul what George Wnitefield wrote upon the window-pane with hrs diamond ring. He tarried in an elegant house over night, but found that there was no God recognized in that house. Before he left his room in the morning, with his ring he wrote upon the window-paue, “One thing thou lacliest.” After the guests .were gone tho housewife came up and looked at the win daw and saw the inscription, and called her husband and children: and God, through that ministry of the window glass, brought them all to Jesus. Though you may be to-day surrounded with com forts and luxuries and feel that you have need of nothing, if you are not the chiJdreu of God, with the signet-ring of (Jurist’s love, let me inscribe upon your souls: “One thing thou lackest.” I pray you that, whatever else you i ’fv miss, you may not miss Heaven. bri home to lose. Your soul has been bought at too dear a price. I preach to you of the blood that cleansoth from all sin. Casting your sius behind you, I beg of you to start this moiling for the Kingdom. “Yes,” you say, “I will start, but not now.” William 111. proclamation when there was a rev olutigb in the north of Scotland that all who e\ue and took the oath of allegiance by the of December should be par doned. JLwlan, a chieftain of a promi ncr| clan, resolved to return with Hie rest of lio rebels, but had some pride in boif|f tho very last one that should take the oath. He postponed starting for this purpose until two days before the expira tion of the term. A snow-storm impeded his way. and before lie got up to take the oath and receive a pardon from the throne the time was up and passed. While the others were set free, Maclan was inisei ably put to death. He started too lute and arrived too late. In like manner some of you are in prospect of losing forever the amnesty of the Gospel. Many of you are going to bo forever too late. Remember the irrepart-ble mistake of Maclau ! Drinking tVlillo Kitting. Nature never intended people to wash down their food while eating. Nature wise ly placed salivary glands in various places in our months; they secrete a fluid for moistening, besides n chemical action of the food after mastication. This gets the food in a suitable condition for swallowing. Prink ing every few moments while eating pre vents the usual flow of saliva; also, it washes it down before it can have a chemi cal action on certain portions of the food. One of the most pernicious habits to health is drinking several glasses of water while eating; better drink warm drinks. The stomach will not digest one particle of food when it has a temperature below one hun dred degrees Fahrenheit; neither will it di gest one atom of food until all the fluid is first absorbed. No healthy person should drink more than a half pint of some mild fluid while taking food, and dyspeptics should not drink a drop while eating, nor for three or four hours afterward.— it tali - »,i./ vnCi'Uic. • ■ ■■ -» *♦- Value of a Kind Voice. There is no power of love so hard to set and keep as a kind voice A kind hand is deaf and dumb. It maybe rough in flesh and blood, yet do the work of a soft henrt and do it with a soft touch. But there is no one thing that love so much needs as a sweet voice to tell what it means and feels; and it is hard to get and keep it in the rigit tone. One must start in youth, and he on the watch night and day, at work and play, to get aud keep a voice that shall speak at all times the thoughts of a kind heart. It ia often in youth that one gets a voice or a tone that is sharp, and sticks to him through life, and stirs up ill will and grief, auu falls like a drop of gall on the sweet joys of home. Watch it day by day as a pearl of great price, for it will be worth more to you in days to come than the best pearl hid in the sea. A kind voice is to heart wh it light is to the eye. Itisalight tha7 slugs as well as shines. —Elihu Lurrtlt. The: man who Epeiflls his entire ' jne in criticism, snapping, clawing and biting at all who come in his way, does very litti* harm, perhaps, but what a very miserable time he has of it! If he could but sweeten himself up so that grace wouid flow from his lips, he would find life full of a new biussed* — UnUfd IN A FELON’S CELL. Edward L. Harper in the Ohio Penitentiary. The Trip From the County ,I»U to Colum bus—Will Not be I*ut at Menial I.ahor at Present. Columbus, (.)., Dec. 12.—'The ride to this city was none too long for E. L. Harper, the bank-wrecker, who spent mest of the time in conversation with members of his family. He must have been disturbed by the crowds of people who tried to catch a glimpse of him, but, with his usual nonchalance, ho evinced no sign of dis comfiture. At Cummiusville and Bond Hill, a large number of persons assembled at the depots to catch a sight of the train and the ex banker as it passed. At Loveland, when the train slowed up. some fifteen hundred people had gathered. They pushed and dragged and climbed all over the coach endeavoring to satisfy their curiosity, but like all others were unsuccessful. At almost every sta tion crowds were assembled. Wiien with in about ten miles of Columbus, Harper remarked: “We are nearly there.” Being answered in the affirmative he said: “Well, I will celebrate my birthday in the penitentiary to-morrow. lam thirty-nine years old.” The depot at Columbus was crowded and it was with difficulty that the party could approach the lunch stand, where they had supper. Harper was then taken to the penitentiary. Mrs. Harper and her sister for the first time broke down and cried. Mrs. Harper put her arms around her husband's neck and kissed and kissed him. Miss Mathews kissed him. His father-in-law shook him warmly by the hand and they departed, leaving Harper to spend his first night in the penitentiary. He was now taken to the guard room. As he entered the corridor he suddenly stopped. He had seen a prisoner standing at the door in his suit of stripes. Harper had an orange in his hand. “Thro.w up your hands,” said Cap tain Confoy. Harper did so, and for the first time lie seemed affected. Ho grew suddenly serious, and his hand trembled like a leaf. Every thing was taken from him. His band some gold watch and chain and all his papers and letters were handed to Cap tain Henry. “Have you any change!” asked Warden “Yes a little.” “You had better give it to me. as every one in there is not honest.” Harper went down in his pocket and pulled out $152 75, which he handed to the Warden, who locked it up. Shortly afterward ho was taken to his cell, seven by mine feet. He will be treated just the same as any other ordinary prisoner. His serial num ber will be 1D,217. Warden Coffin has de cided not to put Harper at any menial la bor, but will put him at work in the library or secretary’s office. To-morrow morn ing he will be awakened at six o'clock. At seven o’clock he will bo marched out with the rest of the prisoners, and will be made to take a bath. After that he will be inarched to the dining-room, where he will be given his first prison breakfast, which will con sist of black coffee and dry bread. He will then be taken to the barber shop, where his handsome mustache will be shaved off and bis coal-black hair will be cut off close to the scalp. From there he goes to tho State room, where ho will be furnished with a suit of stripes. SHIVERING SETTLERS. A Lamentable State of Affairs tn Western Kansas. Lkavexwoutu, Kax., Dec. 12.—Deputy United States Marshal Charles Currier, who has traveled much about the western part of the State during the last two weeks, says that the condition of the people, so far as fuel is concerned, is truly pitiable. Coal is not to be obtained at any price, and many cases of actual suffering are re ported everywhere he went. The last cold wave exhausted what little supply they had, aud should another follow soon, none can esf imatc the misery that will ensue and possibly d«'ath. In a majority of cases where there is such a scarcity of coal it is partially jhe fault of the railroad companies andjie dealers. The latter did not order ecSSmntil late in the fall. Then the mines were not of sufficient capacity to supply the orders. The railroad com panies saw that they would be cut short if all the dealers were supplied, and by one pretext or another failed to deliver coal to the dealers, but put such restric tions and rates upon it that the mines wore compelled to furnish them in advance. Their supply is not limited but they have hoard ed it up to the detriment and suffering of thousands of people who have settled on the prairies of Western and Southern Kansas. ♦ Three Million to Employes. Daws, Dec. 12.—The fuueral of Madame Bouccieault was attended by all tl e em ployes of the Bon Marche. Her will de votes 13,000,000 in legacies of from t'*o to $2,000 to those employes who have been in her service ten years, $200,000 to associa tions for young workmen, $200,000 to Die Home for Convalescent Employes, $20,000 to M. Pasteur, and numerous other large bequests for charitable purposes,including $50,000 for the poor of Paris. ♦- - - Elopes With an Indian. Niagara Falls. Dec. 12. —Pauline Swit zer, the pretty 17-year-old daughter of a minister near Swarmsvilie, has eloped with Dave Littlejohn, a full-boodeJTusca rora Indian, who made the girl believe he was a Spaniard. He is a worthless fellow, liie giri’s relatives are hunting for him, and will make things unpleasant for him if they catch him. Death ot Mrs. John Jacob Astor. Nfw York, Dec. 12. —Mrs. .John Jacob Astor died this evening. There were present at the time of her death Wm. Wal dorf Astor and \v ife and John Jacob Astor, ' bus! and of the deceased. VOL. I V.—NO. 43. fiftieth congress. First Session. Washington, Dec. 7.—Senate.— The am"al reports of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General were received; also the annual reports of the Court of Claims and the First Comptroller. A resolution was adopted inquiring whether any person experimenting in the manufacture of sorghum under appropria tions made by the Government have taken out patents. At 12.30 the Senate adjourned. House.—Not in session. Washington, Dee. B.— Senate.— After read ing of the journal and the pres: ntation of a few department communications, the Senate ad journed until Monday. House.—The Speaker laid before the House the annual reports of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General aud the Clerk •f the House. A few resolutions relating to the amendments of the rules were introduced and the House adjourned until Monday. Washington, Dec. 12.—Senate—A resolu tion was adopted naming the Senators to con stitute the standing committees for the Fiftieth Congress. Also, a resolution naming the se lect committees. A large number of communi cations and petitions were presented and re ferred. Bills were then introduced and resolu tions offered. Among the latter was one bv Mr. Hale providing for the appointment of a select committee of seven to examine fully into the present condition of the civil service in all Its branches. House.—Executive communications, princi pally relative to private land claims in New Mexico, were laid before the House and re ferred. A resolution referring the petition of Owing Chase, the delegate from the “publio land strip’’ adjoining Indian Territory, to the Committee on Territories, was laid on the table. Speaker Carlisle took the floor, and asked the House to appoint a Committee on Elections, on account of the pending coni -st for his seat, which made it improper for him to act. A resolution was adopted for the election of the committee to-morrow at Ip. m. A reso lution was laid on the table calling on the Sec retary of tho Treasury for information about the need of the Government for the tax on oleo margarine. Propositions were submitted to amend the rules. Washington, Dec. 13.— Senate.— After the presentation of a large number of petitions, Mr. Morrill, from the Committee oil Finance, reported back Senate bill to credit and pay to the several States and Territories and to the District of Columbia all moneys collected nil der the Direct %ax act, of sth of August, ISil. Calendar. Mr. Ingalls, introduced bills to re move the limitation in the payment of arrears of pensions, granting arrears in certain dascs to those pensioned Wy special acts of Congress. Other bills were introduced, among them the following: For the preservation of the woods and forests adjacent to the sources of navigable rivers and their affluents. Constitu tional amendment for the extension of the Con gressional term till the last, Tuesday in Apriu To amend the Inter-State Commerce act; also for the establishment and operation of a United States postal telegraph. House.— A large number of Executive com munications were laid before the House by the Speaker and appropriately referred: and then, at 12:10, the House took a fuco»a. After recess Speaker Carlisle hav ing called Mr. Mills, of Texas, to the chair. Mr. Cannon, ot Illinois, offered a resolu tion declaring that the following named gentle men shall constitute the Committee on E ec tions: Messrs. Crisp. Chairman; O'Farrell, Outhwaite, Barry, Maisb. Hoard, Johnson iN. C.);C)’Neii. (Ind.l; Moore, Rowell, Houk, Coop er, Lyman, Johnson, (Ind.); and Lodge. The resolution was unanimously adopted. The Speaker, haring resumed the chair, directed all papers in the various contested election cases to be referred to the Commit tee just elcet ed, and then the House at 1:10 adjourned until Friday. A Curious Suit for Damages. Memphis, Texx., Dec. 13. — Mom Plum mer, a colored policemen of this city, is about to bring suit against persons in Cal houn County, Hi., for abducting Him when a child and selling him into slavery. Plum mer has but lately learned the facts on which the suit is based. His father was a freedman, living in the county named, aud the abduction occurred in 1853. Great Haul by Post-Office Burglars. Toroxto, Dee. 13.—A daring burglary was committed at the post-office in the vil lage of Norwood early Saturday morning, by which a loss of sli.<X)o in cash, SSOO in stamps and over SIO,OOO in notes and secur ities was sustained. Tho registered letters were also taken. Tho burglars blew off the door of the post-office safe to get their plunder. Official from Dakota. St. Paul, Mix.n., Dec. 13. — The I‘ionrrr Prtxs has from Bismarck the official statement of the vote of Dakota on divis ion. In North Dakota the majority against division is exactly ten thousand ; in South Dakota the majority for division is 13,038. ♦ ♦ - - The Dempsey and Regan Fight. Nun Yokk. Doc. 13.—Jack Dempsey and Johnny Reagan fought forty five rounds, under London Prize Ring Rules, up the Hudson this morning for $2,000 and mid dle-weight championship. Dempsey was given the right after a hard-fought bat tle. ♦ ♦ Tramps Held for Murder. Cleveland, 0., Dec. 13.-Frank Ander son and John Clark, tramps, were held for trial at Steubenville, 0., to-day, for killing Michael McGinness, an old man, whom they assaulted last Saturday evening. Atlanta's High License. Atlanta. Dec. 13.—The city council to day fixed $1,500 as the cost of a retail liquor seller’s license. The ordinance re stricts saloons to certain streets and pro vides for strict regulation. A Ton of Powder Explodes. Wilkesbarke, Pa.. Dec 13.—The corning and packing mills of the Lafiin Powder Works, at Lafiin, containing a ton of pow der, exploded this afternoon. Louis Larch, the only employe about the premises, w i blown fifty feet and killed. Loss, $3 003. A Miner’s Horrible Fate. Cali mei. Mi< h.. Deo 13.—Nat Krusk. a miner, was caught in a limestone crushing machine at the Calumet and Hecla Mina to day and completely torn to pieces. Both legs were torn off and lie was beheaded and disemboweled.