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A wealthy Frenchman who has a hatred
of sharks has been cruising in a steam
vessel for a year passed and killed over
3,000 of the monsteis. When he began
work in the harbor of Havana the au¬
thorities warned him off.
The Sioux Reservation, onc-lialf of
■which it is proposed to open up to set¬
tlers, contains an area of 37,000 square
miles. That is to say. it is larger than
the State of Kentucky, and only a few
square miles smaller than the State of
Indiana.
During the last famine in China it re¬
quired fifteen days to transport relief to
the people over a distance of 200 miles.
Contrast with that the fact that at the
time of the big Chicago fire in 1871, a
relief train from New York traveled
1,500 miles in 21 hours.
There is a considerable increase in the
force of Protestant missionaries in Mex¬
ico. Tlie results thus far are anything
but discouraging. With only about a
hundred ordained missionaries upward
of 350 congregations have been organ¬
ized, with 18,000 church members and
35,000 adherents.
The Queen of Madagascar recently at¬
tended the opening services of two
Christian churches at Ambokimanaga.
In fourteen years 700 Protestant chapels
have been built in Madagascar, making
the number now 1,200. There are 8,000
Protestant communicants and all the
churches are self supporting.
A little gill of Met/, Alsace, 14 years
old, named Louise Fuchs, has been con¬
demned to eight days’ imprisonment foi
having insulted the Emperor of Ger¬
many. The insult consisted in writing a
private letter to one of her little friends,
in which there was something disrespect¬
ful to his majesty. Such sentences are
-Said to be quite common in Alsace-Lor¬
raine.
It has been calculate d that the quan¬
tity of beer brewed yearly in the under¬
mentioned countries is about as follows:
Great Britain, 1,050,000,000 gallons;
Germany, 900,000,000; Austria, 270,000,
000; Belgium, 180,000,000; France, 150,
000,000; Bussia, 50,000,000; Holland,
33,000,000; Eetimark, 30,000,000: Swe¬
den, 30,000,000: Switzerland, 17,000,
010; Norway, 10,500,000.
Frederick Ellison, who was appointed
Consul to the Island of St. Helena by
President Cleveland, has handed in his
resignation of the position, and returned
to his home in Indianapolis, Iud. He
says that St. Helena is so dismal that he
wonders that Napoleon survived so long
as he did his exile on that dreary rock.
Mr. Ellison landed on the island at night.
Had he reached it in the daytime he
says hs would never have gone ashore.
A recent lecture given at the National
Museum at Washington, by Fernow,
undertakes to show the need of forest
protection and forest culture for the
fourfold reason: (1) Forests furnish
our material in the industries; (2) they
are regulators af climatic conditions; (3)
they are regulators of hydrologic condi¬
tions influencing the waterflow ir.
springs, brooks and rivers; (4) they are
regulators of soil conditions.
A Government agent traveling in
Alaska says that the American citizens
in some portions of that country still
piay for the Emperor of Russia. Iu one
town only one man was found who
knew the cam# Of an American city, and
that wa3 San Francisco. The repoit
says: “After laboring with them one
man was found who had sqmehow heard
of Chicago. Boston, New York, Phila¬
delphia and Washington were unknown
regions.
At the close of the war there were
only forty-eight miles of railroad in the
State of Arkansas. In 1874 there were
only about 700 miles. Now, there are
near 2,000 miles, and as many more miles
projected on the different lines, which
will be built ere long, some of
which are in course of construction.
Soon our State, says the Arkansas
Traveler, will be checkered by these
pioneers and indispensable adjuncts of
civilization.
This is a great country, remarks the
New York Sun. A photograph taken in
Los Angeles, Cal., of the servants of an
American lady living there shows six
persons. On a wheelbarrow, trying hard
to keep from giggling, are two pretty
maids, one Welsh, the other Scotch.
Behind them stand the colored cook, in
cap and apron; the Mexican gardener,
the English groom, and the Chinese
waiter man. The mistress calls the
gathering a “Congress of Nations.”
The efficiency of oil, when dropped
upon the water to calm boisterous waves
may now be regarded as established. It
is astonishing how small a quantity of
oil will answer the purpose. Admiral
Clone gives the amount as from two to
three quarts an hour dropped from per¬
forated bags hanging over the sides of
the ship in positions varying with the
wind. The oil, then, by its own out¬
spreading, extending over the waves,
forms a film of less than a two and a hall
millionth part of an inch in thickness:
and this is enough to reduce hi caking
waves and dangerous “rollers” to un¬
broken undulations that are practically
harmless. The oils that have been found
most effective are seal, porpoise, and fish
oils. Mineral oils, such as are used for
illumination, are too light; but the lu¬
bricating oils are denser, and may be
found sufficient.
The fagots.
Under the name of C’agots there live in
the Pyrenees and the old Aquitauian Spanish re
gions both sides of them—in the
Upper and the French Lower Navarre,
in Bearn, Gascony, Guienne and Lower
Poitou—a peculiar race who have been
much talked about and attracted the at¬
tention of the peoples about them from
very ancient times. Formerly the Cagots
(whose name linguists derive from canis
Gothicus, Gothic dog) were confounded
with Cretins. The association was a
mistaken one for the Cagots, with their
large, muscular form, shapely skull,
prominent nose,strongly marked features,
blue eyes and smooth, blonde hair, are
decidedly different from the weak
minded, deformed and goitrous in class: fact,
and their physical the appearance, etymology of their
goes to sustain
name that we have mentioned, and to
indicate a possible derivation from the
Aryan Goths. The type of which we
speak also corresponds fully with the
race relatives of the Cagots living out¬
side of the Pyrenees, who are variously
called according to the place, Cahets,
Caqueux, Caquins, Cocoas, Collibrets,
etc., and are spread to Lower Poitou, in
Brittany and Marne, and far do/ n into
Spain. The of the Cagots for hun¬
race was
dreds of years superstitior.sly avoided by
the other inhabitants of the country,
despised, persecuted, repelled, treated as
if abandoned and outcast and restricted
in all legal and social rights. Dark
superstition attributed and the prejudice them of constant earlier
times to a
leprosy; they were supposed to be have desti¬ a
peculiar repulsive exhalation, to
tute of eavlaps, to be color blind, to see
in the night like cats aud owls and were
accused of pretended, likewise disgrace¬
ful, offenses. They were treated as feeble
beings, "moral afflicted with contagious should disease
and impurities, who not be
touched and with whom as little busi¬
ness intercourse should be liad as pos¬
sible. Down to tire seventeenth century
they were thus treated. If they lived in the
towns they were confined to a particular
quarter in which the other citizens rarely
came; if they < ame out of their quarter
they were obliged to wear a piece of of their red
cloth on some conspicuous others might part recognize
dress, so that
them and keep away from them.— Pop¬
ular Science Monthly . .
RUSSIAN PEASANTS.
A GRAPHIC PICTURE OF STOLID
SUBMISSION TO FATE.
A Country With Gorgeous Churches
but Bereft of Schools -Distress
and Degradation—Pronipt
. lies in Paying Taxes.
There is a very strong contrast between
the appearance of things on the two sides
of the boundary between Germany and
Russia—as much as between the rural
districts of Massachusetts and Missis
sippi, says a correspondent of the Chi
cago New. On the German side the
homes, landscape with is dotted evidence with beautiful, cosey
every of prosperity
and thrift, with well cultivated fields,
vine-clad stables, neat-looking kme,
hedges tastefully trimmed, and patches
of flowers, while in the town and villages
are handsome railway stations, tempting
cafes, large factories, handsome school
houses, and every symbol of a higher
civilization and prosperity. On the east
side of the line there are none of these,
and the change takes place instantly,
Thrift and comfort are replaced-by dis
uncultivated, tress and degradation. patches The fields and are
except in here
there—spots where it was the easiest to
plow—the cattle are lean and hungry,
the hones of the people are log or mud
huts, and there is not a schoollmuse to
be seen from the boundary line to the
There are churches enough, however,
for iu every collection of cabins rises a
splendid temple with a gilded dome and
spire, sheltering candlesticks a mass and of precious vest- of
incuts, altar plate i
solid silver, and usually an altar of ]
malachite, lapis-lazuli, or some other I
precious poverty-stricken stone. One always and desolate finds, in the
most vil
lages, icons, as the images of the Saviour
and called, ornamented covered with with shields of gold,
all sorts of ewels.
.
The vestments of the priests cost more
than all the rest of the clothing in the
village, and the contributions for the
support of the church are usually equal
to, if they are not greater than a third
of the combined incomes of the people.
Of the scanty earnings of the moujik
one-third goes to the church and another
third to the crown, and both exactions
are The paid moujik without is only the glad slightest that the resistance,
gatherer do-not priest
and the tax take it all.
Centuries of oppression have left their
stamp indellibly upon the character of
the people.
The most striking characteristics of
the Russian peasant are sadness ancl
submission and the desire for strong
drink. A Russian seems to be truly
happy—1 am speaking of the lowest
class—only under two conditions. One
when he is drunk on vodka, he the corn
brandy, and the other when is saying
his prayers before his favorite saint.
To him the interior of the church,
gilded from floor to dome, decorated
with icons that are covered with sheets
of pure go’d, is a representation him of the
heaven the priests their teacli is awaiting
those who say prayers, fast on fast
days, and obey the Czar. He is always
loyal to the church and to the State.
The peasant is never a nihilist, never an
atheist, but pays his taxes and his tithes
without murmuring, and expects no
more than his father got, which was
nothing. is The into only gaudy recompense chapel, he bow has
to creep some
his head to the floor ia front of the icon
of his favorite saint, and let his dull and
listless mind enjoy the visions of para¬
dise that float over it. The church, with
its marble pillars, the vestments of gold
brocade, and the gold-incrusted pictures,
makes the most beautiful spectacle his
foggy imagination can conceive of, and
to live in such a place always, like the
effigies lie sees there, is heaven enough
for him.
There is said to be no instance in
which a peasant ever refused to pay his
.
taxes. Once a year the collector enters
the village, taps the window and culls
“Kaza 1” Then the man or woman of the
house comes out with the money, which
is always ready, tos-es it into the bag of
the collector, who does not count it, be¬
cause he knows it is*all the monjik lias
got. When night house corfies in the collector village,
enters the best the
hangs his money-bag under tiro image
of the Saviour, and carouses or sleeps
till morning, being will perfectly be disturbed, confident
that his money not
because of the veneration for the Czar,
whom he represents, and the image
under which the treasure is placed.
How the people live is a mystery to
those who have not investigated the
subject. The ordinary traveler only
sees their little gardens, where are
grown a scanty allowance of potatoes,
corn, when turnips they and hungry, cabbage. They eat
bage are generally cab¬
soup, always simmering on the fire,
are drunk as often as they can get vodka,
and when night comes curl up some¬
where on the floor in a warm place like
a kitten or a caterpillar. In the citbius
one seldom finds a bed or a table or a
chair, and very few dishes. They have
no comforts whatever, not even what we
consider the necessaries of life—the
church takes the place of them all.
The Only Female Mayor,
“Female Mayors are no good,” said
t i, e ex-Cily Marshal of Argonia, Kan.
“Why, Mrs. Salter has just killed Argo
nia . j used to have a hotel there and
was city Marshal, scooted, but I couldn’t stand
it, so I just and I expect I’m to
blame for her election, too.
“You know she wasn’t nominated in
an y 0 f the conventions. About 9 o’clock
on 'lection day all us .boys were feeling
gay an d agreed to meet at a hall and
nominated a candidate to knock out
Wilson. Jack Ducker—he is the tough
est man in the place and the undertaker—
got up in the meetin’ and nominated Mrs.
Susanna Medora Salter for Mayor, and
the nomination was made unanimous,
We rushed into the streets and corn
menced to work for our candidate. At
nooll her husband came to us and
us to qu it the racket, say in’ it was anin
su i t to his wife. We wouldn’t do it, and
the voters commenced to come our way
j n dusters. We got full of whisky and
enthusiasm, and at 4 o’clock everv one
was votin’ for our candidate. Weil, you
know as how she was elected. We had
a jollification, and when she took her
sea t like a man all our fun was busted,
“I sent up to Kansas Citv for some
cra b apple cider just to please the boys,
She heard of it and asked me to stop it.
y ou can’t fight a woman and she the
Mavor. Then I started a little poker
,. 00 m, more for sociability than anything
heard e lse. Chips and were only 10 and cents. She
of it came to me I had to
st 0 p. Then the druggist, before she
was elected, used to keep blue grass bit
ters, lemon rye and extract of malt, and
a few other things like that. He don’t
do it now. The Mayor heard of it.
Then two billiard rooms were Tunning,
Thev’re closed up now. The Mayor
don’t think it is fashionable to push the
ivories. That’s the way it is with every
thing. I just couldn’t stand the towu
an( l so I came up here.”
“She’s she the only woman Mayor on
earth, is not?”
“That’s just what she is. You ought
to see the letters she gets, foreign autograph, letters
an a the like, askin’ for her
and askin’her if it is true that she is the
Mayor, and all questions like that,
when I was Marshal I used to act under
her, and many’s the letter she has shown
me from abroad.”— Indianapolis Journal.
Benner’s Prophecies for 1888.
Samuel Benner, an Ohio farmer, who
has gained the considerable far his notoriety predic¬
through of future newspapers and who
tions events, a few
years ago and published a small volume on
the ups downs of prices, which had
a great sale, has now communicated to
the Ileal Estate Journal, of New York
City, his prophecies for the year 1888, in
which he says:
“This year, 1888, being the closing
year in this cycle of low prices—seven
years from 1881—is the golden oppor¬
tunity to commence the foundation for a
business. If there is any benefit to be
derived from a knowledge of these cycles
in trade, it will be in taking advantage
of them.
“Young men who are about to com¬
mence their business career should em¬
brace their present opportunity. There
are few of these characters in an ordi¬
nary life. It requires about ten years to
complete an up and down in general
trade.
“When the depress ions” which follow
commercial crises reach their lowest
limit, as determined by these 'price
cycles, they afford the best opportunities
for investment, and the height of specula¬
tive make eras are the most dangerous in any* periods
to a commencement enter¬
prise. “This is the
mine, opportunity build for investors
to open a to a furnace, to
erect a mill, to baild a ship, to equip a
railroad, and to make investments in
agricultural, operations. commercial and industrial
“Geerge Peabody laid the foundation
for his fortune by buying American?
securities iu one of our commercial de¬
pressions. ”
