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JOHN It. HANCOCK, Publisher. WOMANLY AMBITION. Her Great Influence for Good or Evil. A Man fs No Better Than His Wife Wilt Bet Him Be—Ail Awful Responsibility nests lp«n Her Course—Tul mage's Ser mon. In the Brooklyn Tabernacle Sunday morning Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D., preached the sixth of his series of “Sermons to Women of America, With Important Hints for Men.” The subject was: “Wifely Ambition, Good and Bad,” and Cite text was I. Kings, xxi. 7: “Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be mer ry: I will give the thine vineyard of Na bofti.” I>r. Talmage said: One day King Ahab, looking out of the window of his palace at Jezreel, said to his wife Jezebel: “We ought to have these Royal gardens enlarged. If we could only get that fellow Naboth, who owns that vineyard out there, to trade or sell, we could make it a kitchen garden for our palace.” “Fetch in Naboth,” says the King to one of his servants. The plain gardener, wondering why he should be called into the presence of His Majesty, comes in, a little downcast in his modesty and with very obsequious manner bows to the King. The King says: “Naboth, I want to trade vineyards with you. I want your vine yard for a kitchen fßuden, and I will give a great deal better vineyard in place of it, or, if you prefer money for it, I will give you cash.” “No, no,” says Naboth, “I can not trade off my little place, nor can I sell it. It is the old homestead. I got it of my father and he of his father, and I can not let the old place go out of my hands.” In a great state of petulancy King Ahab went into the house and flung himself on the bed, and turned his face to the wall in a great pout. His wife Jezebel comes in and stie says: “What is the matter with you? Are you sick:” “Oh,” lie says, “I feel very blue. I have set my heart on getting that kitchen gar den, and Naboth will neither trade nor sell, and to be defeated by a common gar dener is more than I can stand.” “Oh, pshaw!” says Jezebel, “don’t go on that way. Get up and eat your dinner and slop moping. I will get for you that kitchen gar Jen.” Then Jezebel borrowed her husband’s signet or seal, for then, as now, in those lands kings never signed their names, but had a ring with the royal name engraved on it. and that impressed on a royal letter or document was the signature. She stamped her husband’s name on a proc lamation, which resulted in getting Naboth tried for tr eason against the King, and two perjured witnesses swore their souls away with the life of Naboth, and he was stoned to death and his property came to the crown, and so Jezebel got for her husband and herself the kitchen garden. But while the wild street dogs were rending the dead body of poor Naboth, Elijah, the prophet, tells them of other ca nines that will, after a while, have a free banquet, saying: “Where dogs lick the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.” And sure enough, three years after, Ahab, wounded in battle, his chariot drip ping with the carnage, dogs stood under It lapping his life’s blood. Andaiittle after ward his wife, Jezabel, who had been his chief adviser in crime,stands at her palace window and sees Jehu, the enemy, ap proaching to take possession of the palace. And to make herself look as attractive as possible and queenly to the very last, she decorated her person, and, according to Oriental custom, cl> sed her eyes and ran a brush dipped in a black powder along the long eye-lashes, and then from the win dow she glared her indignation upon Jehu. As he rode to the gates in his chariot, he shouted to the slaves in her room: “Throw her down!” But no doubt tho slaves halted a moment from such work of assassina tion, yet, knowing Queen Jezebel couid bo no more to them and the conqueror Jehu would be every thing, as he shouted again: “Throw her down!” they seized her and bore her, struggling and cursing to the window case ment and hurled her forth till she came tumbling to the earth, striking it just in time to let Jehu's horses trample her and the chariot wheels run over her. While Jehu is inside at the table refreshing him self after the excitement, he ordered his servants to go out and bury the dead Queen. But the wild street dogs had for the third time appeared ou the scene, and they had removed all h r body except those parts which, in all ages, dogs are by a strange instinct or brutal superstition kept from touching after daeth—the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. All this appalling scene of ancient his tory was the result of a wife’s bad advice to a husband—of a wife's struggle to ad vance her husband’s interests by unlawful means. Ahab and Jezebel got the kitchen garden of Naboth, hut the dogs got them. The trouble all began when this mistaken wife aroused her husband out of his mel ancholy by the words of the text: “Arise and cut bread, and let thine heart be merry. I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth.” Tho influence suggested by this subject 1* an influence you never before heard dis coursed on, and may never hear again, but » most potent and semi-omnipotent influ ence. and decides the course of individu als, families nations, centuries and eternities. I speak of wifely ambition, good and bad. How important that every wife have her ambition—an elevated, righteous and divinely-approved ambi tion! And here let me say what 1 am most anxious for is that woman, not wait lag for the rights denied her or post poned, promptly and leoisively employ the rights she already has in possession, bome say she will he in fair way to get ad her rights when she gets her rights to the ballot-boll. J wish that the experiment might be tried and se’tled. 1 would like to see all the women vote and then watch tbi result, i (1q pot kuow that it would change ar.y thing for the better. Most wives and daughters and sisters would vote as their husbands and fathers and brothers voted. Nearly all the families that I know are solidly Republican or Democratic or Prohibition. Those families all voting would make more votes, but na difference in the result. Besides that, as now at the polls, men are bought up by the thousands, women would be bought up by the thousands. The more voters the more opportunity for political corruption. We have several million more voters now than are for public good. We are told that female suffrage would correct two evils—the rum business and the insufficiency of woman’s wages. About the rum business I have to say that mul titudes of women drink. And it is no un usual thing to see them in the restaurants so overpowered with wine and beer that they can hardly sit up, while there are many so-called respectable restaurants where they can go and take their champagne and hot toddy all alone. Mighty tempernuce' voters those women would make! Be sides that, the wives of the rum-sellers would have to vote in the interest of their husband’s business or have a time the in verse of felicitous. Besides that, millions of respectable and refined women of America would probably not vote at all, because they do not want to goto the polls, and, on the other hand, womanly roughs would all go to the polls, and that might make woman’s vote on the wrong side. There is not, in my mind, much prospect of the expulsion of drunkenness by fe male suffrage. As to women’s wages to be corrected by vvoman.’s vote, 1 have not much faith in that. Women are harder on women than men are. Masculine employers afe mean enough in treatment of women, but if you want to hear of beating down of prices and wages in perfection, listen how some women treat washer-women and dress makers and female servants. Mrs. Shy lock is more merciless than Mr. Shylock. Women, I fear, will never get righteous wages through woman's vote. And as to unfortunate womanhood, women are far more cruel and unforgiving than men are. After a woman has made a shipwreck of her character men generally drop her; but women do not so much drop her as hurl her with the force of a catapu' 1 clear out and off, and down and under. I have not much faith that woman will ever get merciful consideration and justice through woman suffrage, yet I like experi ments, and some of my friends in whose judgment I have confidence are so certain that alleviation would come by such pro cess that I would, if I had the power, put in every woman’s hand the vote. I can not see what right you have to make a wo man pay taxes on her property to help support city, State and National govern ment, and yet deny her the opportunity of helping decide who shall bo mayor, Gov ernor or President. But let every wife, not waiting for the vote she may never get, or, getting it, find it outbalanced by some other vote not fit to be cast, arise now in the might of the eternal God and wield the power of a sanctified wifely ambition for a good approximating the in finite. No one can so inspire a man to noble purposes as a noble woman, and no one so thoroughly degrade a man as a wife of un worthy tendencies. While in my text we have illustrations of wifely ambition em ployed in the wrong direction, society and history are full of instances of wifely am bition gloriously triumphant in right di rections. All that was worth admiration in the character of Henry VI. was a reflec tion of the heroics of his wife Margaret. William, Prince of Orange, was restored to the right path by the grand qualities of his wife Mary. Justinian, the Roman Emperor, confesses that bis wise laws were the suggestion of his wife Theodora. Andrew Jackson, the warrior and Presi dent, had his mightiest reinforcement in his plain wife, whose inartistic attire was the amusement of the elegant circles in which she was invited. Washington, who broke the chain that held America in for eign vassalage, wore for forty years a chain around his own neck, that chain holding the miniature likeness of her who had been his greatest inspiration, whether among the snows at Valley Forge or amid the honors of the Presidential chair. Pliny's pen was driven through all its poetic and historical dominions by his w’fe Calpurnia, who sang his stanzas to the sqund of flute, and sat among audiences enraptured at her husband’s genius, her self the most enraptured. Pericles said he got all hiseloqnence and statesmanship from his wife. When the wife of Grot-ius rescued him from long imprisonment at Lovestein, by means of a bookcase that went in and out, carrying his books to and fro, he one day transported, hidden amid" the folios, and the women of beseiged Weinsburg, getting permission from the victorious army to take with them so much of their valuables as they could carry, under cover of the promise, shoul dered and took with them, as the most im portant valuable, their husbands. Both achievements in a literal wav illustrated what thousands of times has been done in a figurative way, that w ifely ambition has been the salvation of men. k De Tocqueville, whose writings will bo potential and quoted while the world lasts, ascribes his successes to his w i fe, and says: “Of all the blessings which God has given to me, the greatest of all in my eyes is to have alighted on Maria Motley.” Martin Luther says of his wife: “I would not ex change my poverty with her tor all the riches of Croesus without her.” Isabella of Spain, by her superior faith in Colum bus, put into the hand of Ferdinand, her husband, America. John Adams, Presi dent of the United States, said of bis wife: “She never by word or look discour aged me from running all hazards for the salvation of my country’s liberties.” Thomas Carlyle spent the last twenty years of his life in trying by his pen to atone for the fact that during his wife's life he never appreciated her influence on his career and destiny. Alas! that, having taken her from a beautiful home and a brilliant career, he should have buried her in tho home of a recluse and scolded her in such language as only a dvspcptic go- TRENTON, DADE COUNTY. GA., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17. 1888. nins could manage, until one day while in invalidism riding in Hyde Park her pet dog got run over and under the excite ment the coachman found her dead. Then the literary giant woke from his conjugal injustice and wrote the lamenta tions of Craigen-Puttock and Cheyne Row. The elegant and fulsome epitaphs that husbands put upon their wives’ tomb stones are often an attempt to make up for lack of appreciative words that should have been uttered in the ears of the living. A whole Greenwood of monumental in scriptions will not do a wife so much good after she has quit the world as one plain sentence like that which Tom Hood wrote to his living wife when he said: “I never was any thing till l knew you.” O. woman, what is your wifely ambition, noble or ignoble? Is it high social posi tion? That will then probably direct your husband, and he will climb, and scramble, and slip, and fall, and rise, and tumble, and on what level or in what depth or on what height he will after a while be found I can not even guess. The contest for so- I eial position is the most unsatisfactory j contest in all the world, because it is so ; uncertain about your getting it, and so in ! secure a possession after you have obtain | eel it. The whisk of a lady’s fan may blow it out. The growl of one bear or the bel lowing of one bull on Wall street may scatter it. Is the wife’s ambition the political pre ferment of her husband ? Then that will probably direct him. What a God-forsaken realm is American politics those best know who have dabbled in it. After they have assessed a man who is a candidate \ for office which he does not get, or assessed him for some office attained,and he has been whirled round and roundand round among the drinking, smoking, swearing crowd who often get control of public affairs, all that is left of his self-respect or moral stamina would find plenty of room on a geometrical point which is said to have neither length, breadth nor thickness. Many a wife has not been satisfied till her husband went into politics but would af terward have given all she possessed to get him out. I knew a highly moral man, useful in the church and possessor of a bright home. He hacl a useful and prosperous business, but his wife did not think it genteel enough. There were odors about the busi ness and some times thqy .would adhere to his garments when he returned at night. She insisted on his doing something more elegant although lie was qualified for no business except that in which he was en gaged. To please her he changed his busi ness, and in order to get on faster abandon ed church attendance, saying after he had made a certain number of hundreds of thousands of dollars he would return to the church and its services. Where is that family to-day? Obliterated. Al though succeeding in business for which he was qualified, he undertook a style of merchandise for which he had no qualifica cation, and he soon went into bankruptcy. His new stylo of business put him into evil association. He lost his morals as well as his money. He broke up not only his own home, but broke up another man’s home, and from being a kind, pure, gener ous, moral man as any of you wlio sit here to-day, has become a homeless, penniless libertine. His wife’s ambition for a more genteel business destroyed him and dis graced her and blighted their only child. Bat suppose now there be in our homes, as thank God there are in hundreds of homes here represented, on the wifely i threne one who says not only by her i words but more powerfully hy her ac tions: “My husband, our destinies are united, let us see where industry, honesty, common sense and faith in God will put | us. lam with you in all your enterprises. 1 can not bo with you in person as you go to your daily business, but I will be with you in my prayers. Lot us see what we can achieve by having Gxi in our hearts, and God in our lives, and God in our homes. Be on the side of every thing good. Go ahead and do your best, and though every thing should turn out different from what we have calculated, you may always count on two who are going to help you, and God is one and lam the other.” That man may have feeble health, and may meet with many obstacles and business trials, bvtt he is coming gloriously through, for he is reinforced and inspired and spur red on by a woman's voice, as much as was Barak by Deborah when Sisera with nine hundred iron chariots came on to crush him and his army, and Deborah shouted into the ear of Barak: “Up! for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Bisera into thy hands.” And the enemy fell back, and Bisera’s chariot not getting along fast enough in the retreat, tho Gen eral jumped out and took it afoot, and ran till he curne to a place where a woman first gave‘him a drink of milk and then sent a spike through his skull, nailing him to the floor. Borne of us could tell of what influence upon us has been a wilely ambition conse crated to righteousness. As my wife is out of town and will not shake her head be cause 1 say it in public, 1 will state that in my own professional life I have often been called of God, as I thought, to run into the very teeth of public opinion, and ail out siders with whom 1 advised told me I had better not; it would ruin me and ruin my church, and at the same time I was receiving nice little letters threatening me with dirk and pistol and poison if I per sisted in attacking certain evils of the day, until the commissioner of police con sidered it his duty to take his place in our Sabbath services with forty officers scat tered through the house for the preserva tion of order; but in my home there has always been one voice to sav: “Go ahead and diverge not an inch from the straight line. Who cares, if only God is on our side?” And though sometimes iteecmed as if 1 was going out against nine hundred iron chariots. I went ahead.cheered by tho domestic voice:. “Up! for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Bisera into thine hands.” A man is no better than his wife will let him be. Oil! wives of America, swing your scepters of wifely influence for God and good homes! Do not urge your hus bands to annex Nal»oth's vineyard to your palace of success, whether right or wrong, lest the dogs that come out to destroy Na- both come out also to devour you Right eousness will pay best in life, will pay best in death, will pay best in the judg ment, will pay best through all eternity. In our effort to have the mother of every household appreciate her influence over her children, we are apt to forget the wife’* influence over the husband. While the French warriors on their way to Rheims had about concluded to give up attacking the castle at Troyes because it was so heavily garrisoned, Joan of Arc en tered the room and told them they would !>e inside the castle in three days. “We would willingly wait six days,” said one of the leaders. “Six!” she cried, “you shall be in to-morrow,” and under her leadership on the morrow they entered. Or a smaller scale every man has garri sons to subdue and obstacles to level, and every wife may be an inspired Joan of Arc to her husband. What a noble, wifely ambition, the de termination. God helping, to accompany her eompaion across the stormy sea of this life and together gain the wharf of the Celestial City! Coax him along with you ! You can not drive him there; you can not drag him there; but you can coax him thore. That is God’s plan. He coaxes us all the way—coaxes us out of our sins, coaxes us to accept pardon, coaxes us to Heaven. If we reach that blessed place it will be through a prolonged and di vine coaxing. By the same process take your companion, and then you will get there as well, and all your household. Do just the opposite to your neighbor. Her wifely ambition is all for this world, and a disappointed and vexed and unhappy creature she will bo all the way. Her residence may be better than yours for the few years of earthly stay, but she will move out of it as to her body into a house about five and a half feet long and about three feet wide and two feet high, and concerning her soul’s destiny you can make your own prognostication. Her bus band and her sons and her daughters, who all, like her, live for this world, will have about the same destiny for the body and the soul. You having had a sanctified and divinely ennobled wifely ambition, will pass up into palaces, and what becomes of your body is of no im portance, for it is only a scaffolding, pulled down now that your temple is done. You will stand in the everlasting rest and see your husband come in, and see your j children come in, if they have not pre ceded you. Glorified Christian wife! Pick up any crown you choose from off the King’s footstool and wear it; it was prom ised you long ago, and with it cover up all the scars of your earthly conflict. SAVE YOUR HANDS. Precautions Which Should He Adopted by All Housekeepers. Women who have done housework a long time are in some instances troubled hy en largement of the joints of the fingers and hands. This trouble is brought on by the exposure of the hands to the extremes of temperature, and especially by putting them in hot and cold water, and letting cold air come in contact with them after having bad them in '!\ter. This may be avoided in several ways which I will men tion. A handled disli-mop can be used for all but the very worst dishes, and the hands hardiy be wet Another of these mops Ran be profitably utilized in cleaning lamp chimneys. With a self-wringing mop a floor can be wesfied without wetting the hands; a model housekeeper of my ac quaintance uses one, and says that with but half the labor it is as effective us a com mon mop A pair of mittens should be kept express ly for wear when hanging out clothes; they are best knit, but two thicknesses of old flannel make quite serviceable ones Another pair of mittens should be kept for out-door w ear, for making beds in cold rooms, or any work which chills the hands and can be done in mittens. Wearing an old pair of thick gloves, or better yet, loose mittens made from an old rubber blanket, when blacking stoves, does away with the necessity of washing lhe hands after the operation. A little whisk broom is useful in^cleaning windows; the glass can be washed and rinsed with it, and for the corners it is especially nice In rinsing clo hes a stick can be used to press the suds from the articles in the tub and lift them to the surface, where only the tips of the fingers need be used in feeding them to the wringer. Apples or vegetables to be pared in win ter should be brought from tho cellar in season to allow of their surfaces being warmed before being handled. Clothes taken from the line in cold weather should either be handled in mit tens or allowed to s’and awhile in a warm room before being folded or sprinkled; for the latter op irution warm wa er should be used. A tin box with a perforated cover, such as pepper and spice are sold in, makes a good sprinkler. It may be thought too much trouble to do work in this way, and doubtless it will take more time at first; but it will be found after a fair trial to be in reality superior to the old methoi. At al! events it will pay in the end. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. ” If any one is already afflicted with en larged joints, such precaution.-) will greatly retard the progres - f the d sense—in some cases arrest It, and one inst nee is known to m- of a partial cure being effected.— Cor. Farm and Home. ■Real Value of Money. It requires some ability to get money in this world; but, after all, it requires less ability to get money than it does to use it • More wisdom and skill are shown in ths using of money than in its accumulating. There are men of large wealth who do not know how to use their money, either for their own happiness or for the good of their fellows. There are other men who show no accumulation of riches, simply because th£y have used their money wisely all t.be way along in life instead of hoarding it There are yet other men who have wealth, and Who know how to use It; and there are still others who are always without money because they have never yet known what to do with money when they had it Money is valuable only for its using. He who doei not give the wise use of money the first place in all his thoughts of money-getting vi* of money-having does not know the worth of money; and it matters not whether lie has much or Luie of it —A- i>. Times, .FIFTIETH CONGRESS. First Session. Washington Feb. s.—Senate—A numtift i of Executive communications were presented and referred. The Senate bill to authorize the sale of certain mineral lands to aliens was discussed and laid over. A bill was passed appropriating M.ano.COi for a public building in Kansas City. Mr. Riddlebcrger objected to the discussion of any matters during the morn ing hour until he could have action on his resolution to consider Ihe British extradi tion treaty in open session. The chair ruled him out of order. A bill was passed for the relief of importers of animals for breeding purposes in certain cases. It directs the Sec retary of the Treasury to remit all such duties. At two o'clock the Blair bill was taken up, Mr. Call speaking. A vote will be taken Wednes day at Bp. ni. On a motion to go into executive session. Mr. Riddlebcrger demanded the yeas and nays. The vote was 48 to !>. Mr. Riddleber ger voting yea. When the Vice-President pro tern, ordered the galleries cleared Riddleberger made a motion to reconsider, and while trying to make his point the doors were closed on him. House.— in the House a memorial of sewer pipe manufacturers was presented, asking for more just and equitable protection. Also a memorial of furniture manufacturers for a re duction on French plate glass. Mr. Grosvcnor presented a petition of citizens of Ohio asking that all honorably discharged soldiers and sailors of the late war be placed on the pension roils. The bill making bills of lulling conclusive evidence in certain cases was passed. A bill was reported to pre vent frauds upon American manufacturers. A petition was presented from the Board of Trade of Indianapolis asking that the bill approprating 830,C00 for a monument to William Henry Har rison be passed. The special committee to in vestigate the Reading strike was announced. Washington, Feb. o.— Senate. a bill was reported to incorporate the Maraiime Canal Company of Nicaragua. A number of bills were reported. A joint resolution was reported and adopted for the distribution of various public documents. A resolution was offered directing the Secretary of War to furnish to Senators who might ask it certain information as to tho dis tribution of copies of the records of the rebel lion by order of members of the Forty-seventh Congress, which, it was explained, tin' Secre tary had refused. Mr. Riddleberger explained Unjt. the British extradition treaty having been temporarily defeated in executive session by a vote of 28 to 21. his resolution for its consider ation in public was no longer necessary. He was called to order by several Senators for re vealing executive session secrets. The Blair bill was taken up, but went over. A bill ap propriating fcVl.OOt) to finish the public build ing at Pensacola was taken up, and a debate ensued on the general subject of public build ings. At 4:40 p. m. the Senate v ent into execu tive session, and at 5:4 i adjourned until Mon day. House.—A number of bills were reported. A resolution was offered by Mr. Nutting, of New York, reciting the resolutions adopted at a con vention of seamen in Toledo. 0., in January last, denouncing the overloading of vessels, and calling on the Secretary of the Treasury for information. A bill was also introduced to prevent the overloading of vessels. A supnle ment'rtv urgency deficiency bill was reported. A bill was passed discontinuing the coinage of three-cent pieces. Petitions were presented favoring the classification ol worsted cloth as woolen cloth, and favoring speedy action on the subject of protection to wool Rovers anil manufacturers. The bill re quiring Pa.otie railroads to maintain and oper ate telegraph lines was reached on the calen dar. and was diseussed without action. At 4:40 p. m. t-lie House adjourned. Washington, Feb. 10.— Senate —No session. House.—Bill passed: Granting right of way through Indian Territory to a railway company. A resolution was adopted calling on the Post master General for information regarding the cause for the grievances complained of in the Western mail service, and whether any improve ments or extentions have been made in the last two years. Four bills relating to alcoholic liquor traffic were referred to Mr. Campbell’s committee instead of the District of Columbia Committee, where they hud been previously re ferred. A number of reports on private bills were presented, and the House 1 eg an the con sideration of bills on the private calendar. A bill for the relief of Donald McKay was oppos ed successfully hy Mr. Springer demanding the reading of the engrossed bill. Adjourned until Monday. Washington, Feb. I! —Senate.—Petitions ind memorials were presented. A bill was passed appropriating 815,000 for the poor of the District, one-half to come out of the Distrie revenues. A number of bills reported, one ap propriating 8330,000 for the erection of a hall of record* in Washington. Several bills were in troduced and referred. Mr. Voorhees defended the Congressional Library Building Commis sion against the charges of extravagance. Mr. Plumb spoke against the Blair educational bill. Mr. Reagan defended the administration of the Post-office Department. Bills were passed ap propriating 8864.1100 for the enlargement of the public building at Newark and $500,00!) for a public building at Portland- Ore. The Senate at 5 p. m. adjourned. House.—Under the call of States bills and resolutions were introduced and referred. Dis trict of Columbia business was then considered. Tlte first bill called was one prohibiting lottery advertisements in the District ol Columbia. It -was finally referred to tho Judiciary Committee —yeas 117, nays 115. A bill was passed pro hibiting pool-selling or bookmaking in Wash ington and Georgetown on races and base ball. A bill to appropriate 885 oju for a bridge across Rock creek at the Woodley lane came up. bul was not aeted upon. At sp. in the House ad journed. Washington. Feb. 14 —Senate.— Bills were reported and placed on the calendar, and other were introduced and referred; one to eompen sate female nurses for services during the re hellion, and another to prohibit the sale or gift of tobacco to persons under sixteen in the Dis tvißt. The Plumb resolution for an itUestiga tlon of complaints about inefficient mail service was discussed. The Blair educational hill wa: taken up. Mr. Hawley speaking in opposition The bill for compulsory education of lndiiu children was taken up, and w ithout action tht Senate at 4: 0 p. m. adjourned after a short ex eoutive session. HOUSE.—A resolution was adopted ass<gnint the second and fourth Mondays m each rnontf to District business. Unimportant resolution* amending the rules wore adopted The Secre tary of War replied to the House r* solutior ealliugfor information regarding > flanges n the plan and scope- of the rebellion records. A joint resolution was passed appropriating 163.500 for printing copie-s of the report ot cattle and dairy products. A bill was re ported from Ways and Means to provide for the purchase of U. S. bernds by thf Secretary of the Treasury. A trill appropria ting 885.000 for the Rock Creek bridge on the road to the President's house, was passed. A number of favorable reports were made on pension bills and public buildings and bridges. The urgent deficiency bill was taker* up and considered bv sections A bill was introduced to pav to New York City K.393.67>? for bonds is sued ‘to the Union Defense Committee in 1861 and 18t>7. VOL. IV.—NO. 51. OUR CALIFORNIA LETTER Sacramento City. Jaauary 31. 1888. [Special Correspondence.! California, the largest State in the Union except Texas, is 700 miles long with an average width of 230 miles. The Sierra Nevada and Coast Range of mountains run parallel, northeast and southwest, the Sier ras having nn altitude of from *4,000 to 1-1,000 feat; the Coast Range from 2,300 to 4,000 feet, and they art) divided by a number of valleys and rivers, the principal one being the Sacramento valley, 200 miles in length and 45 miles average width, through which runs the Sacramen to river, a navigable stream for about 150 miles from its entrance into Suisun bay, a small bay at the head of the bay of San Francisco. Sacramento valley proper includes the counties of Sacramento, Yuba, Butte, Te hama, Colusa, Sutter, Yolo and Solane, these being bordered by the mountain counties of Amador, El Dorado, l’lacer, Nevada Sierra, Plumas, Shasta, Trinity, Mendocino, Lake and Napa, affording a great variety of soil and* climate, owing to the difference in elevation. The soil of the valley counties bordering upon the Sacramento river is principally a dark, rich adobe and alluvial soil, and well adapted to the growth of cereals. Along the foot hills varieties of soil from black adobe to light sandy soil appears. The lower slopes of the mountains contain dif ferent soil, somo being sands, of light color, others light clay, and much a deep red clay. The summits arc more rooky and volcanic, and the 6oils vary, some being clay hills, sandy ridges, loamy meadows and deep, rich valleys in the very tops of the mount ains, being the favorite resort of large herds of sheep and cattle during the sum mer months. Rlretching along the foot-hills and up the mountain sides to the altitude of 2,500 feet is what is known as the “ thermal belt.”' It is in this belt where the warm air lingers when the sun goes down, and to which the warm air rises when the first rays of the morning sun are thro ,vn upon the valley. Tender plants and semi-tropical fruits are grown In profusion, as was fully demonstrated at the Citrus fair held in Oroville, Butte Coun ty, in December last. This “thermal belt” is also noted for itswonderful curative qualities in lung and asthmatic oo inplaints. But very little good Government or railroad lan l near the railroads or rivers remain. Land is worth from $5 to SSOO per acre according to location and improvements. In the foot hill region land is selling from $5 to SSO per acre. In the valley bordering on the Sacramento river large ranches of from 1,000 to 00,000 acres have been the pre vailing feature. As population comes in these will be subdivided and on their rich alluvial soil thousands of small furms, tho homes of thrifty families, will be estab lished, but this can not be accomplished until the popuhUaQa_jncreases and there is a demand The popuiaYTou »# this great State is about 1,500.000, blit it is cnpt<u,e of supporting 10,000,000 people. Ail this vast region of soil, water and climate, unsurpassed hy any other, now in vites population—not lazy, shiftless, im pecunious persons, such would soon starve or be found begging—but men with brain and muscle, and enough money to give them a fair start, enough to sustain them while improving the lands, to make them produce that for which nature intended them—such men, if with families so much the better, can find abundant opportunities to secure at moderate cost such a home as will he pleasant and profitable. A man with a family willing to help him, if he has from SI,OOO to $2,000 in hand, is safe to make a beginning which, if he is judicious, should lead him to prosperity. Two branches of the Central Pacific rail road leaves S:.cramento—one on the east side of the valley, via Marysville and Uhico and the intermediate towns, the other on the west side, via Woodland Willows ami Williams and intermediate towns uniting at Tehama, the now head of navigation on Sacramento river. From thence the road is continued to Portland, Ore, this road having been completed within the last s xtv days, opening up country wonderfully rich iu farming timber and mineral prod ucts. Until the past five years the raising of wheat and barley was the principal occu pation of the farmers of the Sacramento valley, the grain being transported to Europe on ships, but the completion ot three trans-contincntal railroads—the Central Pacific, Southern Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka A- Santa Fe, with the prospect of other roads soon coming, affording in creased facilities and reduced rates of transportation, has given a wonderful im petus toward raising fruit, and California will soou be considered the garden spot of the world. Tile Sacramento valley has sup plied nine-tenths of the fruit sent East, and the “ Fruit Growers’ Union,” an association of farmers, m the year ISM 7 sold their fruit iu New York and Boston on the auction plan, and with gratifying succor It will be tried in other cities this coming season, with reduced rates of transportation, so tint sixty million of people in the Uv'led Sta es can afford to purchase these Ua jr nia frn'ts and the progress and develop ment of the fruit business will be something wouderfuL The largest grain-growers in the valleys do their plowing with gang plows and th ir harves.ing with the latest improved machinery. Consequently farm hands in the p: st hi d employment only during a portion of the year, but since the fruit and vine business is coming to the front, more and continuous labor is required, and in some of the more advanced fruit districts during the fruit picking season the school vacations are extended in order to allow the children 1o assist in securing the croi*. Dry-goods, clothing, and, in fact, all the lighter class of goods can be purchasjd as cheaply as in the Western States Heavy goods, where freight is an important item of i ost, are more expensive. Banks, both commercial and are plenty, the current rate of interest at this time be ng seven to nine per cent per an num. Hotel accommodation Ix-th good and reasonable, fair bo .rd being ol Gained at twenty-five cents per meal and tour dollars per week. First-class hotels charge from two to four dollars per day for room and board. There me plenty of good newspapers, churches ami ecbzoi* The writer, in his wanderings over the mountains and through the valleys of the central portion of this wonderful State, could not help noticing the cosmopolitan tharactef, free and easy, hosp.tab.e km l-Lqivrtod character of the people.