Dade County weekly times. (Rising Fawn, Dade County, Ga.) 1884-1888, February 10, 1888, Image 1

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T. A. HAVRGN, Publisher, QUEENS OF THE BIBLE. VaPbt!, and Rachel, Deborah, Hah nah and Mary. Unselfish Unit Glorious Work for tho iVorW* IWtressert— I Talninge'g Sermon. Brooklyn, >l— Rev. Do Witt Tal- Uiage, D. D., prcsched Sunday morning the fifth in the “Series of Sermons to the Women of America, with Important Hints to Men.” His subject was, “The Veil of Modesty.” and hi - t xt, Esther 1.. 12: “The Queen Vashti refused to come.” If you will aceopt. my arm I will escort you into a throne-room. In this fifth ser mon of the series of sermons there are cer tain womanly excellencies which I wish to commend, but, instead of putting them in dry abstraction, I present yon their imper sonation in one who seldom, if ever, gets sermonic recognition. Wo stand amid the palaces of Bliushan.* The pinnacles are aflame with the morning light. The columns rise festooned and wreathed, the wealth of empires flashing from the grooves; the ceilings adorned with images of bird and beast, and scenes of prowess and conquest. The walls aro hung with shields and emblazoned until it seems that the whole round of splen dors is exhausted. Each arch is a mighty leap of architectural achieve ment. Golden stars, shining down on glowing arabesque. Hangings of em broidered work, in which mingle the blue ness of the sky, the greenness of the grass, and the whiteness of the soa-foam. Tapes tries hung on silver rings, wedding to gether the pillars of marble; pavilions reaching out in every direction. These for repose, filled with luxuriant couches, in which weary limbs sink until all fa tigue is submerged. These for carousal, where Kings drink down a Kingdom at one swallow’. Amazing spectacle! Light pf silver dripping down over stairs of ivory on shields of gold ! Floors of stain ed marble, sunset-red and night-black, and inlaid’ with gleaming pearl! Why, it stems as if a heavenly vision of amethyst, and jacinth, and topaz, and chrysoprasus had descended and alighted upon Shushan. It seems as if a billow of celestial glory had dashed clear over Heaven’s battle ments upon this metropolis of Persia. In connection with this Palace there is a garden, where the mighty men of foreign lands are seated at a banquet. Under the spread of the oak, and linden, and acacia, the tables are ar ranged. the breath of honeysuckle nnd frankincense tills the air. Fountains leap up into the light, the spray strtte-x tbroifgh with rainbows falling in crystalline bap tism upon flowering shrubs —then rolling down through channels of marble, and widening out here and there into pools swirling with the tinny tribos, of foreign aquariums, watered with scarlet ane mones, hyporicums, and many-colored ranunculus. Meats of rarest bird and beasts smoking up amid wreaths of aromatics. The vases filled with apricots and almonds. The baskets piled up with apricots, and dates, and figs, and oranges, and pomegranates. Melons tastefully twined with leaves of acacia. The bright waters of Kulacus fill ing the urns, and sweating outside the rim in flashing beads amid the traceries. Wine from the royal vats of Ispahan and Shiraz, in bottles of tinged shell, and lily shaped cuj.s of silver, and flagons and tankards of solid gold. The music rises higher, and the revelry breaks cut into wilder transport, and the wine has flushed the cheek and touched the brain, and louder than all other voices are the hic cough of the inebriates, tho gabble ol fools and the song of tho drunkards. In another part of the palace Queen V-ashti is entertaining the princesses of Persia at a banquet. Drunken Ahasuerus says to Ids servants: “You go out and fetch Vashti from that banquet with the women and bring her to this banquet with the men, and let me display her beauty.” Tim servants immediately start to obey the King’s command, but there was a rule in oriental ’ society that no woman might appear in public vvilhout having her face Vailed. Yet there was a mandate that no one dared dispute demanding that Vashti come in unvaiied before tho multitude. However, there was in Vashti’s soul a prin ciple more regal than Ahsuorus, more bril liant than tho gold of Shushan, of more wealth than tho realm of Persia, which commanded her U disobey this order of the King: and so all the righteous ness, and holiness, and modesty of her nature rises up into one sublime refusal. Hhe says: “1 will not go into the banquet unvailed.” Of course Ahasuerus was in furiate; and Vashti, robbed of her posi tion and her estate, is driven forth in pov erty and ruin to gutter the scorn of a na tion, and yet to receive the applause of after generations who shall rise up to ad mire this martyr to kingly insolence. Well, the lust vost igo ot that feast is gone, the last garland has faded; the last arch has fallen; the Inst tankard has been de stroyed, and Hhushan is a ruin; but as long as the world stands there will be mul titudes of men and women familiar with the Bible who will cotne into this picture gallery of God and admire the Divine por trait of Vashti the Queen, N ashti the vailed, Vashti tho sacrifice, Vashti the silent. In the first place, 1 want you to look up on Va hti the Queen. A blue ribbon, rayed with white, drawn around her fore head, indicated her queenly position. It w.ts no small honor to be Queen in such a realm as that. Hark to tho rustle of her robes! Heo the blaze of her jewels. And yet, my friends, it is pot necessary to have a palace and regal robes in order to be queenly. When I see a woman with stout faith in God. putting her foot upon all meanness and selfishness, and godless dis play, going right forward to serve Christ and tho ruoe by a grand and glorious Soviet, l say: “That woman is a Q .oen,’ 7 and the ranks of Hea\en look over the battlements upon the •;oiouation i and, whether she comes up bom the shanty on the common* or vb* **on9a *f vbt iquu’i, * her with tho shout: “All hail, Queen Vashti!” What glory was there on the brow of Mary of Scotland or Elizab tli of England or Margaret of France or Catharine of Russia, compared with the worth of some of our Christian mothers, many of them gone into glory? Or of that woman mentiouo l in the Scriptures, who put her all into the Lord’s treasury 1 or of Jephthah’s daughter, whe made a demon stration of unselfish patriotism? or of Abigail, who rescued the herds and flocks of her husband? o cf Ruth, who toiled under a tropical sun for poor, o'd, helpless Naomi* or of Mrs. Ad on Tain Judson, Who kindled the lights of sal vation amid tho darkfioss of Bnrmah! or of Mrs. Herkans, who poured out her holy soul in words which will for ever be asso ciated with hunter’s horn, and captive’s chain, and bridal hour, and lute’s throb, and curfew’s knell at the dying day? and scores and hundreds of women, unknown on earth, who have givoi. water to the thirsty, and bread to the hungry, and med icine to the sick, and smiles to the discour aged—their footsteps beard along dark lane and in Government hospital, and in alms-house corridor, and by prison gate? There may be no royal robe—there may be no palatial surroundings. Hhe does not need them; for all charitable men will unite with the crackling lips of fever struck hospital and plague-blotched laza retto in greeting her as she passes: “Hail! hail! Queen Vashti.” Among the Queens whom I honor are the female day-school teachers of this land. I put upon their brow the coronet. They are the sisters and the daughters of our towns and cities, selected out of a vast number of applicants because of then especial intellectual and moral endow ments. Theie are in none of your homes women more worthy. These persons, some of them, come out from affluent homes, choosing teaching as a useful pro fession; others, finding that father is older than he used to be, and that his eye-sight and strength are not as good as once, go to teaching to lighten his load. But I tell you the history of the majority of the fe male teachers in the public schools when Isay: “Father is dead.” After the estate was settled tho family, that were com fortable before’, are thrown on their own resources. It is hard for men to earn s living in this day, but it is harder fer women—their health not so rugged, their arms not so strong, their opportunities fewer. These persons, after tremblingly going through the ordeal of an examinatioh as to their qualifications to teach, half-bewildered step over the sill of the public school to do two things—i nstruct the young and earn their own bread. Her work is wearing to the last degree. The management of forty or fifty fidgety and intractable children, tho suppression of their vices, and the de velopment of their excellencies, the man agement of rewards and punishments, the sending o I so many ba.-s cf s;ap and fine tooth combs on benignant ministry, the breaking of so many wild colts for the harness of life, sends her home at night weak, neuralgic, unstrung, so that of all the weary people in your cities for five nights of the week, there are, none more weary than the public school teachers. Now, for God’s sake, give them a fair chance. Throw no obstacle in the way. If they come out ahead in the race, cheer them. If you waat to smite any, smite the male teachers; they can take up the cud gels for themselves. But keep your hands off of defenseles s w omen. Father may be dead, but there are enough brothers left to demand and see that they get justice. Within a stone’s throw-of this building there died years ago one of the principals of our public schools. She had been twenty five years at that post. She had left the touch of refinement on a multitude of the young. She had, out of iter slender purse, given literally thousands of dollars for the destitute who came under her observa tion as a school-teacher. A deceased sis ter’s children were thrown upon her hands, and she took care of them. Hhe. was a kind mother to them, while she mothered a whole school. Worn out with nursing in the sick and dying-room of one of the household, she herself came to die. She closed the school-book, and at the same time the volume of her Christia.i fidelity; and when she went through the gates they cried: “These are they who came out of great tribulation, and had their robes washed and made white in tho blood of the Lamb.” Queens are all such, and whether the world acknowledges them or not, Heaven acknowledges them. When Scarron, tho wit and ecclosiastic, as poor as he was brilliant, was about to marry Madame de Maintenon, he was asked by the notary what he proposed to settle upon mademoi selle. The reply was: “Immortality! the names of the wives of Kings die with them ; the name of the wife of Scarron will live always.” In a higher and better sense, upon all women who do their duty.” God will settle immortality, not the im mortality, of earthly fame, which is mor tal, but tho immortality celestial. And they shall reign for eve ■ and ever. Oh, the opportunity which every woman has of being a queen! The longer I live the more 1 admire good womanhood. And I have come to form my opinion of the character of a man by his appreciation or non-ap preciation of a woman. If n man have a depressed idea or womanly character he is a bad man, and there is no exception to tho rule. The writings of Goethe can never have any such attractions for me as Shak speare, because nearly all the womanly characters of the great German have some kind of turpitude. There is his “Mariana,’’with her clandestine scheming, and his “Mignon,” of evil parentage: yet worse than her ancestors, and his “The resa,” the brazen, and “Aurelia,”of many intrigues, and his “Fhiiint,” the terma gant, and his “Melina,” tho tarnished, and his “Baroness” and hit, “Countess,” and there is seldom a womanly character in all his voluminous writings that would be worthy <>f residence in e. respectable coal cellar, yet pictured, and dramatized, ami emblazoned till the literary world is com pelledtosoc, No. No. Give me William tShakepeare'e idee of woman; and I ice it in "Seidfmenaj'' aal *'Cer4«li»,"and TRENTON, DADE COUNTY, GA., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10. ISSS. llnd,” and “Imogen,” and “Helena,” and “Hermoine,” and “Viola,” and “Isabella,” and “Sylvia,” and “Perdita,” all of them with enough faults to prove them human, but enough kindly characteristics to give UK the anthor’s idea of womauhood, his “Lady Macbeth” only a dark background to bring out the supreme loveliness of his other female characters. Oh, women of America! rise to your op portunity. Bo no slave to pride, or world liness, or sin. Why ever crawl in the dust when you can mount a throne? Be queens unto God forever! Hail Vashti! Again I want you to consider Vasht I, the vailed. Had she appeared lx:fore Ahasuer us and his court on that day, with her face uncovered, she would have shocked nil the delicacies of Oriental sociely, and the very men who in their intoxication de manded that she come, in their sober moments would have despised her. As some flowers seem to thrive best in the dark lane or in the shadow, and where the sun does not seem to reach them, so God appoints to most womanly natures a retiring and most unobtrusive spirit. God once in a while does call an Isabella to a throne, or a Miriam to strike the tim brel at the front of t ost, or a Mnrie An toinette to quell a French mob, or a Debo rah to stand at the front of an armed bat talion, crying out: “Up ! up ! This is the day in which the Lord will deliver Sirera into thy hands.” And when women are called to such outdoor work, and to such heroic posi tions, God prepares them for it; and they have iron in their soul,and lightning in their eye, and whirlwinds in their breath, and the borrowed strength of the Lord Omnipotent in their right arm. They walk through furnaces as though they were hedges of wild flowers, and cross seas as though they were shimmering sap phire, and all the harpies of hell sink down to their dungeon at the stamp of their womanly indignation. But these aro ex ceptions. Generally, Dorcas would rather make a garment for the poor boy; Rebecca would rather fill the trough for the cam els; Hannah would rather make a coat for Samuel; the Hebrew maid would rath er give a prescription for Naaman’s lep rosy; the woman of Sarepta would rather gather a few sticks to cook a meal for. famished Elijah; Phebe would rather carry a letter for the inspired Apos tle; Mother Lois would rather educate Timothy to the Scriptures. When I see a woman going about lier daily duty— with cheerful dignity presiding at tho ta ble, with kind and gentle, but firm, dis cipline presiding in the nursery, going out into the world without any blast of trum pets, following the footsteps of Him who went about doing good—l say: “This is Vashti, with a vail on.” But when I see a woman of unblushing boldness, loud voiced, with a tongue of infinite clitter clatter, with arrogant look, passing through the streets with a masculine swing, gayly arrayed in a vory hurricane of millinery, I say out: “Vashti has lost her vail.” When I see a woman strug gling for political preferment, and rejecting the duties of home as insig nificant, and thinking the offices of wife, mother and daughter of no importance, and trying to force her way up into con spicuitj’, I say: “Ah, what a pity; Vashti has lost her vail.” When Iseo a woman of comely features, and of a Iroitness of in tellect, and endowed with all that the schools can do for one, and of high social position, yet moving in society with super ciliousness and hauteur, as though she would have people know their place,and an undefined combination of giggle, and strut, and rodomontade, endowed with allopathic quantities of talk but only homeopathic infinitesimals of sense, tho terror of dry goods clerks and railroad conductors, dis coverers of significant meanings in plain conversation, prodigies of badness and in nuendo—l say: “Vashti has lost her vail.” But do not misinterpret what I say into a depreciation of the work of those glori ous and divinely called women who will not be understood til! after they are dead —women like Susan B. Anthony, who are giving their life for the betterment of the conditiou'of their sex. Those of you who think that women have, under tho laws of this country, an equal chance with meu, are ignorant of the laws. A gentlemau writes me from Maryland saying: “Take the laws of this State. A man and wife start out in life full of hope in every re spect; by their joint efforts, and, as is frequently the case, through the eco nomic ideas of the wife, succeed in accum ulating a fortune; but they have no chil dren; they reach old ago together, and then tho business dies. What does the law of this State do then? It says to the wid ow, hands off your late husbands proper ty: do not touch it; tho State will find oth ers to whom it will give that, but 3’ou, the widow, must not touch it, only so much as will keep life within your agod body, that you may live to see those others enjoy what rightfully should be your own.” And the Stato seeks the relatives of the de ceased husband, whether they be near or far, whether they were ever heard of be fore or not, and transfers to them, singly or collectively, the estate of the deceased husband and living widow. Now, that is a specimen of unjust laws in all ttie States concerning womauhood. Instead of flying off to the discussion as to whether or not the giving of the right of voting to women will correct these laws, let me say to men, be gallant enough, and fair enough, and hon est enough, and righteous enough, and God-loving enough to correct these wrongs against women by your own mas culine vote. Do not wait for woman suf frage to come, if it ever does come, but so far as you can touch ballot-boxes, and Legislatures, and Congresses, begin the reformation. But until justice is done to your sex by the laws of all the States, and women of America take the platforms and pulpits, no honorable man will charge Vashti with having lost her vail. Again: 1 want you this morning to con sider Vashti the sacrifice. Who is that 1 see coming out of that palace gate of Shu shan ? It seems to me that I have seen her before. She comes homeless, houseless, friendless, trudging along with a broken heart. Who is she? It is Vashti, tho sac rifice. Oil, what a change it was from re gal position to a wayfarer’s crust! A little wfiii* eg* fppi'9V*i tad leugfct ion #*w none bo poor as to acknowledge her ac quaintanceship. Vashti, the sacrifice. Ah, you and I have seen it many a time. Here is a home cm; alaced with beauty. All that refinement, and books, and wealth can do for Ilia’ home has boen done; but Ahasuerus, the husband and the father, is taking hold on paths of sin. Ho is grad ually going down. After a wlii'o he will flounder and struggle like a wild beast in tho hunter’s net —further away from God further away from the right. Soon the bright apparel of tho children will turn to rags; scou the household song will become tho sobbing of a broken heart. The old story over again. Brutal Centaurs break ing up tho marriage feasts of Lapitha?. The house full of outrage, an i cruelty, r ... aba nination, while trudging forth i.’um the palace gate aro Vashti aiul her children. There are homes represented in this house this morning that aro in danger of such breaking-up. O Ahas uerus, that you should stand in a home, by a dissipated life destroying the peace and comfort of that home. God for bid that your children should ever have to wring their hands, and have poiple point their fingers at them as they pass down the street, and say: “There goes a drunkard’s child!” God forbid that the little feet should ever have tj> trudge the path of poverty and wretchedness. God forbid that any evil spirit, born of the wine-cup or the brandy flask, should come forth and uproot that garden, and, w tli a blasting, blistering, all-consuming curse, shut for ever the palace gate against Vashti and the children. Oh, the women and the meu of sacrifice are going to take the brightest coronals of Heaven! This woman of the text gave palatial residence, gave up all for what she considered righ 1 . Sacrific ! Is ther any thing more sublime? A steamer call ed the ‘'Prairie Belle ” burni ig on the Mis sissippi river, B u Iso, the eng neer, de clared ho woul I keep tho bow of (he boat -to the shore till all were off, nnd he kept his promise. At his post, scorched and blackened, he perished, but he saved all the passengers. Two verses of pathetic poetry describe the scene, but the verses are a little rough, and ; o 1 changed a word or two. “Through the lict, black breath of the burn ing J m Bludso’s voice was heard. And they all had trust in h'g stub o me ss. And knew he would keep his word. And sure’s you’re born they all got off Afore the smoke-stacks fell; And Bludso's ghost went up above. In the smoke of the ’Prairie rdie.’ He weren’t no saint, but at Judgment I’d run my chance with Jim. ' ‘Long side of some pious gentlemen That wouldn’t shake hands with him, seen his duty, a dead-sure thing, And wont for it there and then, And Christ is not going to be too hard On a man that died for men." Once more: I want you to look at Vasht. tho silent. You do not hear any outcry from this woman as she goes forth from the pa'ace gate. From the very dignity of her nature you know there will be no vo ciferation. Sometimes in life it is neces sary to make a retort; sometimes in life it is necessary to resist; there are crises when tiie most triumphant thing to do is to keep silent. The philosopher, confident in his newly discovered principle, waited for the com ing of the mere intelligent generation?, willing that men should laugh at the lightning-rod nnd cotton-gin nnd steam boat—waiting for long years through the scoffing of philosophical schools, in grand and magnificent silence. Galileo, con demned by the mathematicians and monks and Cardinals, caricatured every where, yet waiting and watching with liis telescope to see the coming up of stellar reinforcements, when the stars in their courses would fight for the Coperuican system; then sitting down in complete blindness and deafness to wait for the coming of the gen erations who would build his monument and bow at his grave. The reformer, exe crated by his contemporaries, fastened in a pillory, the slow fires of public contempt burning under him, ground under the cyl inders of the printing-press, yet calmly waiting for the day when purity of soul and heroism of character will get the sanction of earth and the plaudits of Heaven. Affliction, endurin' 1 ’ without any complaint the sharpness oi the pang and the violence of the storm and the heft of the chain and the dark ness of the night; waiting until a divine hand shall be put forth to soothe the pang and hush the storm and release tho cap tive. A wife abused, persecuted an l n perpetual exile from every earthly com fort ; waiting, waiting until the Lord shall gather up llis dear children in a Heavenly home; and uo poor Vashti will ever be thrust out from the palace gate. Jesus, in silence, and answering not a word, drink ing the gall, bearing the cross, in prospect of the rapturous consummation when “Angels thronged his chariot wheel, And bore Him to His throne: Then swept their golden harps and sung— The glorious work Is done.” An Arctic explorer found a ship floating helplessly about among the icebergs, and going on board he found that the captain was frozen at hi- log-book, an 1 the helms man was frozen at the wheel, and the men on the lookout were frozen in their places. This was awful, but magnificent. All the Arctic blasts and all the iceberg could not drive them from their duty. Their si'euce was louder than thunder. And this old ship of a world has many at their posts in the awful chill of neglect, and frozen of the world's scorn, and their silence shall be the eulogy of the skies, and be reward ed long after this weather-beaten craft of a planet shall have made its last voyage. I thank God that the mightiest influ ences are the most silent. Tho fires in a furnace of a factory, or of a steamship, roar, though they ouly move a few shut tles or a few thousand tons; but the sun that warms the world rises and sets with out a crackle or faintest sound. Travelers visiting Mount Etna, iiaving heard of the glories of a sunrise on that peak, went up to speud the night there and see the sun rise next morning, but when it came up it was so fir behind their antici pations that they actually hissed it. The mightiest influencos to-day are like the S’.anetary system vsmpletely *ii«in. it! t fail* in'? lUSI FIFTIETH CONGRESS. First Session. Washington, Feb. I.—Senate. -An adverse report \va< made on the bill to open an over land route between the United Slates. Asiatic Russia and Japan. Bills were reported for an inspection of meats for exportation, and in creasing the pension of soldiers and sailors who have lost both hands. A resolution was adopt ed calling on the Secretary of the Navy for in formation in regard to the change of plans on the new cruisers. Among the bills introduced was a service pension measure by Mr. Cameron, fixing the rate at a cent a day for the time served,the amount to be paid monthly. Mr. Call's resolution hhout railroad receivers was considered until the Blair bill came up. Mr. Pugh addressed the Senate until 4:30. House.—A memorial was presented praying that pensions be granted to Ihose engaged in the iife-saving service. The urgent deficiency bill was reported. Additional committee rooms were ordered in the Congressional Hotel on the report of the Commitler on Accounts that there was not sufficient accommodation in the Capitol. A resolution was adopted calling on the Attorney-General for the names of all U. S. Assistant District At torneys being paid out of the hist sundry civil appropriation bill. A joint resolution was pass ed ordering fourteen thousand additional copies of the report on wool from the Bureau of Statistic*. A bill extending the leave of ab sence to Government Printing Office employes to thirty days was passed. The Reading strike resolution was considered. An investigation by a special committee of five was ordered. Washington, Feb. 2.—Senate.—Unimport ant bills were reported and others introduced. The special Committee on the Pacific railroad was announced. The resolution in regard to the Insufficiency of postal service in the West and Smith was discussed. Mr. Riddleberger tried to secure consideration of the British treaty in open session, but failed. At 2pm. Mr. Kenna replied to the tariff speech of Mr. Sherman. Mr. Sherman answered, and Mr. Reagan followed. The motion to refer the President's message went over without action. Mr. Stewart spoke ou the Blair bill, and Sena, tor Call obtained the floor. At 4:10 p. m. the Senate adjourned until Monday. House —A bill was passed amending the statutes to provide that no publications that are but books or parts of books, in whole or in part, bound or unbound, shall be admitted to the mmj as second-class matter. Also a bill regulating the construction of bridges across the Muskingum river, in Ohio. Speeches were made by Messrs. Barry, of Mississippi, and Cooper, of Ohio, on the White-Lowry contested election cuse, and the matter went over until to-morrow. The House at 4;45 p. m. adjourned. Washington, Feb. B.—Senate.—Not In ses sicn. HOUSE.—A bill was reported authorizing the appointment of eleven division superintend ents of the Ra'lway Mail service. Private bills were considered and a dozen passed. At 4:05 p. m. the House adjourned, Mr. Crist) giving no tice that he would 'all up the I.owry-White contested election case to-morrow. Washington, Feb. 4.— Senate —Not in ses sion. House —A petition was presented against the enactment of prohibitory laws in the Dis trict; nt,o against menhaden fishing cn the coast. Jills were passed for the holding of terms of U. S. District Courts in Minnesota, and for the payment of certain claimants iu Cincinnati. The Lowry White contest was taken up. and speeches made by Messrs. Moore, Tex.; Dji'erra! l , W. V r u.; Roivell, Til.; Coch ran, N. V.; Wilson, Minn.; Oathwaite, O.; and Maish, Pa. The House, without reaching a vote, adjourned at 4 p. in. WASiiiNGiON.Feb. G.—Senate—Unimportant hills were reported and petitions and memo rials presented. A joint resolution was reported and passed for the Constitution Centennial celebration in the hall of the House. Mr. Snuls bury, ol Delaware, spoke on the resolution re filling to international coinage. The educa tional bill was laid before the Senate, but tem pojjirily set aside. Mr. Platt made a speech on the President’s message, arguing that the President is a free-trader. At 4:3) p. m. the Senate went into executive session and at 5:80 p. m. adjourned. HOUSE. —Mr. White, of New York, denied that he had a wire to his office in New York for dealing in stocks. Under the call of States a number of sew bills were introduced, includ ing Mr. Butterworth’s, for reciprocity with Canada. Mr. Carlisle resumed his duties in the chair amid applause, and Mr. Cox received the thanks of the House for his able and impartial services as speaker pro tem. The White-Lowry conlcst election case was taken up. Speeches were made by Johnson, of Indiana, O'Neil, of Indiana, Lodge, of Massachusetts, and Crisp of Georgia. The majority report declaring tlio sitting member, White, entitled to his seat was -<r eed to—yens 187, nays 105. Ats:2o p. m. the House adjourned. Washington. Feb. 7.—Senate.—Petitions and memorials on all sorts of subjects were presented as usual; one askinglhe appointment of a commission to investigate charges alleged against Catholic priests in hearing confes ions. Bills were reported and a resolution adopted instructing the Committee on Commerce to in quire into the expediency of Congress assuming control of the erection of bridges overnav igable waters within State limits Mr. Platt spoke at engthon the President's message. House —A resolution was adopted calling for information in regard to the loss or destruction of U. S. notes. Unfavorable reports were made on joint resolutions proposing constitutional amendments, giving Congress power to reg elate factory hours, and the alcoholic liquor traffic. The diplomatic appropriation bill was reported—total, 11,408,805. Among bills re ported favorably was one to create a Fourth Assistant Postmaster General. Also to organize the Territory of Oklahoma. Also for the relief of Win. McGnrruhan. Also to limit the hours of letter-carriers’ labor. A num ber of bills from the Judiciary Committee were passed. Also a bill increasing to eleven the num ber of postal mail superintendents. A hill was reported authorizing the President to appoint and retire Alfred Pleasontou as a Brigadier General. The Military Academy appropriation bill vat leported. * The first recorded photograph of a rain bow has been exhibited to the Photographic As ociation of London. The arch has the appearance of something solid—like an arch of wood. « Fkank Brigg- was drowned at Wicen don, Mass., and the bo iy was found by use of an electric light, which was put under water on a pole. Thebe's a craze for short hair mid wigs among the Washington ladies. Tin New York Stock Exchange has de clared war against the bucket-shop?., and has raised a fund of #lo,o Dto carry on the warfare. James Patterson, who died recently at Oakland, Gal., was tho mun who gave Garfield his first employas drive* «u ttiiefiMli VOL. IV.—NO. 50. A MOTHER AT THIRTEEN. Sirs. Stevenson’s Remarkable Story of Mat* rlmony and Maternity. St. Joseph, Feb. 7. —The police of this city vi ere called upon to deal with the most wonderful case with wiiich they have ever come in contact. Sunday night a girl, who looked r.ot older than thirteen years of age, was taken up at tlio union depot. Sho was given lodging, and tli la afternoon stated to the chief of po lice that sho had been deserted by her husband, and that she had come to St. Joseph to look for him. The police were at once disinclined to believe the girl’s story on account of her extreme youth, but it was afterward learned that she was telling the truth about her lost husband, and that she had been twice mar ried and was tlio mother of two children, now deceased, although she is not yet thir teen years old. The girl’s story is given as reported to tho police, and is as follows: “About two years ago she was married in G rundy County, Mo., to Robert Patterson, a boy seventeen years of age. She was then ten years oi age and both of her children were tlio result of this marriage. Her husband died in the meanwhile and she returned lo her father’s home, near High land Station. Her father seemed to re gard her as a burden, and she was com pelled to marry John Stevenson, a young man of the neighborhood, twenty three years of ago. Tho last marriage occurroil about three months ago and until Tuesday last the two lived hap pily together. On tho last mentioned day Stevenson decamped, leaving her without food or fuel. The little she had was sold and sho started in pursuit of her husband. Hhe saw him in Mound City, but ho con trived to cludo her uni she started for St. Joseph.” She was kindly taken care of, and Mayor Doyle provided her with a ticket to Hickory Station, Grundy County, where her father resides. — GAVE HIMSELF UP* President Means of tlie Defunct Metropol itan in a Hail 15ox. Cincinnati, Feb. 7.—At noon District Attorney Burnet told Mr. Means, presi dent of the Metropolitan Bank, that lie was to bo arrested und that it was the de sire of the Government to spare him all tlie mortification possible in tiie matter. Mr. Means did not want to have the mar shal come to tho bank for him and he went to Marshal Urner’s office this afternoon nnd gave himself up. Ho took his bonds men with him. Mr. Means is charged with misappropriating tho funds of the bank to the extent of *200,000. Thi3 is a grave criminal charge and is exactly similar to the one on which Harper was convicted. It is now thought that the bank can not hope to pay more than 00 cents and it may not bo moro than 50 cents. Thinks She’s Struck Oil. St. Louis, Feb. 7.—While boring an arte sian well, on Clark avenue and Twenty second street, a few days ago, an oily sub stance was noticed on tlio water that was struck at. a depth of 700 feet. The boring was continued, and at a deptli of 1,100 feet the oil was found iu considerable quanti ties. Tests proved it to he crude petro leum. A pump has been at work for sev eral days, and, though a very imperfect ex periment, brings up about two ban-els of oil a day, mixed with large quantities of water. - - ♦ ♦ Mo Need To Turn Your Cuffs There. Springfield, 111., Feb. 7.—There is a fierce war being waged between the laun dries of this city. It was begun a few days ago and they arc now washing collars and cuffs at the rate of two dozen for one cent-, and shirts for two cents each. The Chi nese laundries have refused to cut tho rates so far, and declare they will quit rather than work for nothing. It is thought by some that the fight is a schema to run the Celestials out. A Book-Keeper’s Luck. Pittsburgh, Feb. 7. — Joe Craig, the oil prince, is to be married to-morrow at White Plains, N. Y., to Miss Mitchell, daughter of a New York broker. Craig is one of the largest individual producers iu the world. Ho was a book-keeper three years ago. To-day lie is very wealthy. He is not over thirty years old. — ♦ ♦ Murder and Suicide. PiT'ifßutoii, Pa., Feb. 7. A laborer named Onoill, residing at Thirtieth and Smallman streets, quarreled with his wife this morning. He pulled out a revolver and shot his wife, killing her instantly. He then shot Himself through the head. The wound is considered fatal. Jealousy is said to bo the cause. ■ ♦ ♦ ■ Cast Up by the Sea. Portland, Ore., Feb. 7.— A special from Olympia, W. T., says: Fourteen bodies from tho wreck of the Abercoru have been washed ashore. Among them are Pilot Charles Johnson, of Astoria, and Captain Irving. Those tsaved are Andrew Akiu, cabin boy; Gus McCloud and Robert Ran kin, seamen. ■ —- Canadian Underwriters Discouraged. Montreal, Feb. 7.—The insurance com panies lost #1,530,000 by fires in this city last, year which is two or three times as much as they received from premiums. One company is already closing up busi ness in this Province, and it is not unlike ly that one- or two more will follow its ex ample. — ♦ Gang of Counterfeilers Captured. Shawneetown. 111., Feb. 7.— J. F. No len, sheriff of Gallatin County, yesterday arrested Joe Williams and three other men at Saline Mines, who have been pass ing counterfeit money. The sheriff also got their molds and a lot of bogus half dollars. Coa! Ready at Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, Fob. 7. —The coal operators have thus tar succeeded in shipping very little coal on tho present rise, ou account of ice, though it Is how pretty well run out. There are ttti'ee Million tiUehelt awaiting shipment*