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Opelousas Courier OPELOUSAS : : LOUISIANA. CALIFORNIANS are told by the Sat Francisco Call that, it they want five cent pieces, they must get over their prejudice against the nickel, as there art not enough silver pieces to answer the demand. LDt. I. I. HAYES has introducedin the New York legislature a bill to establish at the lower end of Manhattan Island a grand underground railroad depot and to tunnel the Hudson river so that the great trunk lines could enter New York. SAILS are recovering somewhat of the estimation that ten years ago they threatened to lose entirely. It is found that all the advantages are not on the side of steam. In freightage of the heavier, coarser kind, cheapness is morn of an element than speed. A UFAL telegraph has been invented by an English mechanical engineer. A writer in London' moves his pen, and simultaneously in Brighton another pen is moved in precisely similar curves and motions. The writer writes in London, the ink masks in Brighton. The pen at the receiving end has all the appearance of being guided by a spirit hand. The apparatus is shortly to be made public before the society of telegraph engineers. THE common horse-chestnut is capas ble of furnishing several useful products, which are regularly manufactured in several localities in Europe. The seeds contain over thirty-six percent. of starch -250 pounds of the seeds yield 100 pounds of dry starch. Paste made from the starch is extremely adhesive, and is not attacked by insects. It is also used for producing certaing kinds of distilled liquors. LGEN. SHERIDAN received recently from Ben Clark, the interpreter and cout at Fort Reno, a handsome Indian trophy, in the shape of bow, and arrows and quiver. The quiver, is a unique specimen of Indian art. It is made of a beautiful soft panther's skin, decorated with bits of red flannel. The tail is or namented with bead work, and the huge claws are preserved at the bottom of the bow case. In the quiver are several ar' rows, which are of Indian manufacture, with the exception of the heads, which are of iron made by Yankee machines and sold to them by the traders. PAcIFC coast whalers set forth from their winter quarters early in'the spring, provisioned for a cruise of at least six months. The crews number about thirty five men, a force sufficient to man four or five boats. The number of boats car ried depends on the locality of the hunt. ing ground and the nature of the whales to be captured. In the extreme north whales never attack a boat, but in the south they do so frequently. The best of the weapons carried is the patent haer poort gun, which is darted from the hand, and explodes after striking the whale, causing instant death when it enters a vital part. Bev. JOuN BRADY is now a Presby terian mimionary in Alaska. Only a few years ago he was a street vagabond in New York, sleeping wherever he could find a shelter. Alter spending a term on Blackwell's island he was sent to a farm, where he both worked and studied. Then he became bell ringer at Yale col. lege, and was in due time graduated, with a highly creditable record. Then his friends paid his way through the New York theological seminary. On en. tering the ministry he chose the Alaska field as tone where there was plenty of hard work. The Rev. John Brady will succeed. IN the government of Oherson, aus sia, in the bed of a river, a peasaniound an egg of unusual size. It is equal to forty en's eggs, whereas the ostrich egg is equal only to twenty-four. It is of a yehowSib color, and, being found be tween the clay and gypsum layers, I su-pposed to belong to the tertiary for. matIoe. The purchaser of this ege oared it to the Imptal Academy o eleuace, St. Petersbrg, for one thousand r-oubks. The academy failed to buy it on sanccut of lack of means, but asked permsaionteo take a mould from it. The British museum has now bought this unique egg, to the grief of the RuBssan students of nitural seience. Wuavruanso, in Germanys is often vislted by terrible hail storms. In some parts ef the country whole districts seent to be exempted from thyland tax on ac count of the damage caused by the hail. And these hail storms areapparently be coming more destructive. As regards liability to being visited, it appears that pine woods enjoy comparative immuni. ty, w!ik beech woods and bare hillsides are particularly unfortunate. The par. Ilas meat frequently devastated lie on theiautosirt of wooded hills, but it does `n eat that clearance of a wood haay deleterics influence. The val. I-ys o eckarand some other riv - teitt. troubled by this annoy. Do 'posuana play 'posnsum? Is the q cai k by a selentl$ journal it then des 'cto show that they do not. f t, b eriP I d deluslons of eue vah before the seareh. at It as been to slevs its pu rP 0 4nageld bIsig dethp foi thi a~ t get et -:ýte n vily as it pretended. An investigator rives it as his opinion that the 'possum eally faints instead of feints. It seems hat the little animal is so timid that it s easily frightened into a temporary death, and, of course, when it wakes up it makes off as quickly as possible. A DECIION fon politeness was recently given by the supreme court at Boston. A hotel clerk sued his employers, who ead discharged him before his time was up, they alleging that he had injured their business by being too familiar with guests in addressing them by their Chris tian names or surnames only. The alle gation was admitted, and the court said: "To address a person by his Christian name, unless the parties have been intir mately connected, socially and other wise, is uncalled-for familiarity, and, therfore insulting to the party so a dressed. To address a party by his sur name only, shows a want of respect, and would imply that the party so addressed was beneath the party addressing; there fore it is discourteous and would be con sidered insulting. To speak of employ ers by their surnames only shows a great want of respect on the part of the em ploye toward the employer. While it may be customary for a person to ad dress his juniors, clerks or under servants by their Christian or sornames, to ad dress others so shows a want of respect, and the party so addressed would natu rally evade contact in future with any one who had previously so addressed him.' Politeness, added the court, costs nothing, but the want lof it had cost the plaintiff the loss of his situation. The complaint was dismissed with costs. SOUTHEERN NEWi ITEMS. The Mississippi-printing offices are ex empt from taxation. The number of educable children in Mississippi is 336,540. A l'ew Hampshire man is endeavoring to establish starch factories in Florida. Machinery has been put up at Fer nando, Fla, to work the palmetto fiber. The sponge trade of Cedar Keys. Fla, since the first of January amounts to $75,500. A company of capitalists have com menced building a street railroad in Vieks burg. About one hundred and fifty bills have been passed by the Tennessee legisla ture. Florida immigration,while not so brisk as heretofore, is of a more substantial char' acter. There has not been a white man con. fined in the ;ail of Taliaferro county, Ga., in three years. Athens Ga., has a bonded debt of $125.000, which bears interest at the rate of seven per cent. An Augusta man has sold seven bush els of watermelon seed at the rate of thirty. two dollars per bushel. The society for the prevention of cru elty to animals numbers one hundred and twenty members in Little Rock, Ark. The $10,000 appropriated by the Ala. bama legislature to purchase limbs for maimed soldiers is exhausted already. North Carolina will employ fifty con victs in draining and reclaiming Angola bay, an immense body of swamp land. Mr. Joseph Jefferson will soon have 1600 acres of his orange grove plantation enclosed by a hedge of Macartney roses. A New Orleans policeman endeavored to prove to his sweetheart that he knewhow to handle a pistol, and accidentally shot her in the chest. The rennessee legislature has passed a bil a· thorizing the state board of health to establish quarantine whenever and wher ever it may deem it advisable to do so. A correspondent of the Augusta Sen tinel is of the opinion that Georgia society will not be what it should be until the prao tice of carrying concealed corkscrews is en tirely done away with. The penitentiary feature was stricken from the tramp act in the Texas senate, and the penalty made thirty to ninety days' im prisonment at hard work in the county. Appeal: Memphis was never bette governed than she is now; she was neves in a better sanitary condition, never had a better outlook, and never saw the day when her people should be more cheerful as to the future. Knoxville Tribune: Putnam county bas the champion moonshiner. He is a boy ten years old. He used tar kegs for bees tubs, an old cofeespot for a still, and an elder-stalk for a worm. A good average fox this miniature moonshine establishment was four gallons per week. Dallas (Texas) Herald: Capt. Hall has a force of five hundred men at work, has completed nearly fourteen miles of grade, and this week has opened up the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth and eih teenth miles on the Weatherford extension of the Texas and Pacific. The Mississippi papers state that a fatal disease has broken out in the counties bordering the Alabama line, which is pro nounoed by the physicians as " black meas. les," and by the negroes as the "black plague" It is re pr nted to be very con. tagious and usuly fatal, not a single case having thus far recovered. Key West Vidette: Reports brought by the sponging fleet inform us that in the bay to that sheet of water extending from the Tortugas to cape Florida they found millions of the largest sponges floatrg upon the water, all perfectly putrildkilled, as tbey believe, by the poisoned water that not long sinee destroyed myriads of fish. Sootteboro (Ala.) Citisen: We had an interview with Mr. Daniel Martin, of the Belle onte vicinity, last Tuesday. Mr. Mar. ,in informed as that he is now in his 79th tear, and married his present wife, who is not yet seventeen, about four years ago. She was only twelve years and fifty dsys old when he married her an. he was sevety-five. Arkansas Democnt: Enough food is thrown away every year on worthless dogs in Arkansas to support five times the num' ber of suffering poor in the state for the same period. And vet a gretaany people -duobtless a najorty-are oplpesd to aay infringement of the sacred sad inalienable rights of the dog. We are a queer people. Albany (GanAdvertiser: If the Geor gia legislature will restore the code of honor by removing all penalty fro n dueling, and substitute for the present law an aet makina the pracoe of carrying eoneealed weapons punishable by deatb, bloodshed will de o.rease, and such shocking tragedies a the one enacted In the state eapitol, last week, will soon become iEke apgl lsits Celrr~hu l Q Times: This la a re the south heed no odrdthe rth in all berasbes of leans. try. Why, we don't naed eves theiri* any oo coo e our snmmer drianks, for the mauIngo e as mICn aretle ef thE~ ndta Dmbh-ls um ma moatrnis:t I _s. bab('Daw~al sitls) OmrtlL- : _.ni~~ The citizens of Natchez and Concor dia parish, La., have held a meeting to call the attention of congress to the condi' tion of the Mississippi between the banks of Concordia parish and Adams county, and the danger of its breaking into Lake Con cordia and changing its course. This would seriously damage a number of Louisiana planters, and at the same time cut off Natchez from the river just as Vicksburg has been out off. The New Orleans and Texas railroad is now completed to a point about four miles beyond Berwick. The road is well graded, and about two miles of the distance is surfaced. t he work is being pushed ac. tively forward and about a third of a mile of track is daily put in running order, the dis. tance varying from 1800 to 2100 feet every twelve hours. It is estimated that by this route, when comoleted, the run between New Orleans and Houston will be made in fifteen hours. New Orleans Times : The reports from the parishes continue to speak in large terms of the exodus of the negroes now in pro. gress. It is said the enthusiastic welcome tendered the citizens of Natchitoches on their return after the trial in this city, has caused a consternation in the minds of the colored people, and that, in spite of the ru mored ill-treatment received by the emi grants in St. Louis they are moving out of Morehouse, Madison, Ouachita and Natchi toches parishes in vast crowds. The negroes, also, are selling everything they have at the best rates they can get. These rates are of course very low. Thomasville (Ga.) Times: Uncle Jack had been out among his sheep a little during Saturday afternoon, and he made to us the following statement: In one "bunch" of about forty-five or fifty head, he saw three lambs; in another lot of about one hundred and twenty-five, he found only one lamb. Cause known to be hoes and dogs. During the same visit we learned that the sheep in the Colquitt range are dying at a tearful rate with a species of distemper. Mr. Wil liam Hurst told us on Saturday that, on good authority, he had it that one stock owner in the range mentioned has already lost 600 out of 12t0 head by distemper. We learn that over 80 000 tons of guano have been regularly inspected and sold in Georgia during the present season. This amount is absolutely enormous. The cash value of it is not much less than three million five hundred thousand dollars. lhis is a total that will make the farmers shud der. It is estimated that fully two-thirds of the amount might have been kept within the limits of the state if its natural resources had been developed, and that one-half of the total amount miuht have been saved to the farmers themselves if they had only utilized the natural resources of their farms. The inspection fees for this vast quantity of fer tilizers amount to over $40,000-the fee being fifty cents for a ton. This will prove a very handsome reves ue for the state, and will much more than support the Agricultural bureau, under whose auspices it is made. CONGRE.SIONAL. In the senate, on the 81st, numerous bills were introduced and referred, among them the following : By Mr. Grover : Extend ing the time for the construction of the Northern Pacific railroad. By Mr. Johnston: To authorise a national board of health to investigate and report on infectious and contagious.diseases of animals. BI .Ir. Pen dleton: For the relief of Col. Thomas Worthington, of Ohio, for army supplies furnisbed in 1861. Also a joint resolution relative to requirine a court ot inquiry into the case of Col. Worthington, of the forty. sixth Ohio regiment volunteers. Adjourned. In the senate, on the let, a bill appro priating $200,000 for disinfecting yellow fever vessels was passed......Mr. Cockrell introduced a bill for the erection of public buildings at Jefferson City.....J4he senate went into executive session pending a mos tion by Mr. Edmunds to take up the resolu tion heretofore introduced by him declaring that the business and other interests of the country required that legislation should be confined to the objects for which the extra session was called. When the doors were reopened the senate adjourned. In the senate, on the 2d, various bills were introduced, among them one by Sea a tor Harris, providing for a treaty with Mex ico......Senator Sanlsbury made a report against the admission of Bell as senator from New hampshire, on the appointment of the governor. It will cowe up for con sideration......Senator Hoar presented tne views of the minority of the committee in favor of admitting Bell, signed by himself, Cameron [Wis.] and Ingslls......The senate went into executive session. When the doors reopened it adjourned. In the senate, on the 3d, Senator Voorhees introduced a bill authorizing the president to appoint James Shields, of Mis souri, a brigadierageneral in the army, on the retired list......The report of the comar mittee on privileges and elections, on the credentals of Charles H. Bell, appointed by the governor senator from New Hampshire, were taken up at the opening of the senate. Senator Hoar argued in favor of admitting Mr. Bell, saying that there was an unbroken line of precedents for so doing......After an executive session, the senate adjourned till Monday. moysm . In the house, on the 29th, the session was given up to discussion of the army ap propriation bill, In the house, on the lst, Mr. Atklns (Tenn.) reported the legislative appropria tion bill. It appropriates between fifteen and sixteen million dollars. The bill con tains provisions repealing sections 801, 820 and 821, revised statutes, providing that all jurors, grand and petit, shall be publicly drawn from a box containing the names of not less than three hundred persons posses sing the necessary qualifications. It also repeals sections 2016, 2018 and 2020 and all of the succeeding sectionl down to and in eluding 2027, and also section 5522. It also strikes out of section 2019 the words, "for the purpose of engaging in the work of canvassinr allots," and strikes out of sec tion 2028 the words, "' or a deputy marshal," and the words, "city, town, county or par ish." It also repeals section 2031, except such part of it as relates to the pay of super viLors of elections. It repeals all other sec tions and laws, authorizing appointment of chief supervisers of election and special or deputy marshals of elections. The house went into committee of the whole on the bill. In the house, on the 2d, on motion of Mr. Dunnell (Minn ), all general debate on the army appropriation bill was ordered closed at three o'clock Friday, leav ing five minutes' debate still open .....The house then went into committee of the whole, and after a lengthy debate the com mittee rose and the house adjourned. In the house, on the 8d, the debate on the appropriation bill was continued, and the evening session was given up to the same subject. Sleep.Walkdni Extraordinary. St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Proes. George Tarr, an Illinois detective, was staying at a St. Paul hotel over night, having just arrested two desperate mur derers. Tarr dreamed that one of his prisoners had escaped and that he was chas-g the tugitive, and awoke to find thsb had jumped through the window of hi room, taking the sash with him, and had fallen upon a projecting roof several feet below. Bealiing his strange position and dress, he impulsively con* lauded to climb up the side of the house to hisa room. Gripping the corner with one hand, lawling the outside boards with the fngeks of the other, and making a ifre use of his toe-nails, he actually s.,c seeded aIn climbL g up the walls like a eI d eat, and eutered his room s yt of the ·people c his baudsa nd feet, however, leaving treessof blood on thedde of the build iRa id ab tisrte , whihb. establish he really iade the won. A NEiSI4ON FltH TsTHE NmISTaCr .. BY IRWIN ,UICSELL. I nebber breaks a colt alo-e he's old cuough to trabbel : I nebber digs my taters tell dey plenty big to grabble ; An' when you sees me ;lsln' up to stroutiiy in mretin' l's lust elumb up de knowledge-tree and done some apple-eatiu'. I sees some sistahs pluzlnt, mighty proud o' what dey wearin', it s well you isn't arple', now, you bItter he de clain' I For when you'd heerd yo' unarkit-pri.e, 't'd hurt yo' litt'e feletn a You wouldn't I tch a dime a peck for at yo' lancy pe lin a. O sistaha-leetle apples (for you're r'al'ly mighty like 'enm) I lubs de ol -time russets, do'igh it's Eeldom I kin strike 'eur ; An' so I tlubs you, sistahs, for yo' grace, an' not yo' graces - I don't keer how my apple looks, but on'y how it tas es Is dey a dabbaf-scholar heah? Den let him form his mudder How Jacob-in-de-bible's boys played oil upon dey brudder I Dey eol' him to a trader-an' at last he struck de prison : Dat comtl of Joseph's struttin' in dat streaked coat o tils'n. My Christian frien's, dis dtry proohes dat eben men is humal- Hlied hld a di zmn fancy colts, ef he'd 'a 'been a 'ooman I De cuse!dness oh showin' oft, he loun' out all about it; An' yit he woo a Christian man, as good as ever shouted. It lamed him ! A' I bet you when he come to git his riches Dey oldn t go for stylish coats or Philadelphy brea ches: He dion't was'e his money when experunce taught him better, But went aroun' a-looknl' lice lie's waitin' for a letter ! Now, sistahs, won't you copy him ? Say, won't you take a lIsson, An' mind dis sollum wahnln' 'bout de sin ob fancy drecsin' ? How much yo' epen' upon you o'f ? I wish you might rtimember Yo' preacher ain't teen paid a cent since somewhar in November. I better close. I sees tome gals dis sahmon's kinder hlttin' A-whisperin'. an' 'sturbin' all dat's near whar dey's a-sittln': to look at dem, an' listen at dey onrespec'ful jab ber. It turns de milk ob human kineness mighty nigh to cla, ber ! -AA-A-MEN! PHILOSOPHY OF " SPIRITISiM " The Medium a MIId-Reader. According to the Sprlngfleld Kepublican. Acceptance of a term does not neces sarily imply belief in a theory. That there are and always have been certain phenomena not explainable on physical grounds alone few thinking persons will deny. That they are attributable to the influence of departed spirits is a doctrine to which the rational student of mental philosophy is less liable to give credence. Eminent physicians may contend that Miss Fancher, the Brooklyn "ecstatic," does not possess clarivoyant powers. She may and she may not. A condition which is not impossible to a person in strong health should hardly be denied to one in whom, in consequence of long illness, mind must predo..inate over matter. A knowledge of anatomy and drugs does not establish a man's claim to precedence in deciding matters of this kind. One may have a perfect acquaintance with the physical structure of the brain, but he is no better qualified than any other reasoning observer to ex plain mental actions. I am free to ad mit that most mental effects are affected by physical causes, but sometimes we find them going beyond. That there is such a ,thing aý clarivoyance, or mind reading as some may term it, I affirm That true spiritualsm exists, I am bound to deny, since every personal attempt to fathom the so-called mystery hss results ed in nothing more than barefsaced fraud. One incident of many in a long period of investigation will serve to il lustrate my points. In preface, let me say, what most know, that the majority of professional mediums claim to be controlled by Indian spirits, and for the purpose of conveying their information in a more im pressive manner, employ a species o! jargon which is only a more corrupt use of language than a person of ordinary in telligence wou!d adopt in everyday life. As an assistance in creating impressions, the reception room is generally darkened -:n fact they strive to produce effects as uncanny as possible, thus preparing the credulous for unquestioning assent to "something very strange at least." Some time ago, in company with a friend, I visited a famous c!airvoyant in one of our largest cities. She lives in elegance, talks fluently, and with her whole family claims to believe in spirit ualism. This was our third visit, and we were in different disguise every time, going but once together. With aston ishing accuracy she read my entire life in brief, told me the mental and physical condition of absent friends, even what some were doing at that very hour, never once failing in the past or present, but she was hopelessly wrecked when she touched upon the future. The main facts she repeated after the first visit, giving just enough to prove that she had worked methodically if indeed respon. sible, then dismissing the old wi.h the remark that she had told me all that before. She gave names of friends living and dead, with personal descriptions, and further, described accurately some whom I had never known, and the cor rectness of those pictures I afterward proved by applying to those who had known them. The leading item on which I proposed to test her she gave me perfectly at the outset and good na turedly referred to my skepticisn. Through it all she was but twice thrown off her guard, forgetting then her dialect and answering me with very human irri tation rather than spiritual suleriority and forbearance. During my friend's interview with her-I waiting meanwhile-a refined, intellectual and dehcate woman was shown into the back parlor. The medium, not having gone under control, came out to say to her husband that she would like him to attend the new comer. A conversation followed, to which I confess I listened. I was there for information and felt entitled to all I might obtain in a public way. It proved that this lady, a skeptic, having attended one of the many seances at this house, had become convinced of the truth of the theory, and had for a week been seeing and convers ing with the spirits, and was now willing to be developed. The husband, a burly man weighing about 200, took her in charge, and from my corner I discovered that she was "completely entranced," nd was about t~write a communication from the spirit world, the man at 11 con trolling by suggestions and manipulasn tions. At this point I deliberately walked forward and took my seat so that I could watch the entire proceeding Buch action was tar from pleasing to the man and to his mother, who also was there. I asked him if she was in a trance. "Peretly so-entirely unconscious." At tLhat moment she opened her eyes, and then -began a violent twitching of iher arms, which he could L.ot stop, al though he foir soame time attempted'to "throw off the influence" At length, seeing these movements were eqhauating her, Iasaked ,ermission to try quieting her myself. In lve minuta she was herself again. As a result of this incident a conversation began, in which the lady gave me her peculiar experiences, and asked myopinion, which I unhesitatingly gave-that the whole thing was a hum bug as regards spiritualism, but that I had reason to believe that such a power as mind-reading exists. Of course this I brought the guns of both mother and son to bear upon me, not so much on account of my own skepticism, as because I seemed likely to snatch from them a wealthy and more than half-converted patron, who wanted only a few sharp, sensible words to carry her back into un belief and reason. Incidentally the man said, pointing to me: "There is a person whom I could never influence-the nature is too posi tive." Apparently piqued, the lady said: "You could not have c ntrolled me had I not been willing." "I think I could. I think my will is stronger than yours. Before I had ex, erted it upon you five minutes you were perfectly submissive." "Then, sir," I remarked, "you exer cised will power ?" "I did." " That is not spiritualism, it is mes merism, animal magnetism." Thoroughly vexed with himself and annoyed with me, he snarled out: "I claim that to a certain degree they are alike." "And I claim that' spiritualism' and mesmerism are by no means iden ical. The one supposes a human agency, the other a super-human." " Prof. Carpenter employs virtually the same means thatI take. He addres ses his hearers, interests and quiets them, and then begins to operate upon his subjects." "I agree with you, and precisely to the same end. But Prof. Carpenter honestly calls himself a mesmerist-you claim to be controlled by spirit influ ence." ' Has my wife not told you many truths to-day ?" " She has. Your wife is an excellent mind-reader." "Did she not go beyond mind reading? Has she not'told you, as well as others, facts which only the spirits know ?" No, she has told me many things I do not know, but I have not verified them yet. They are in the future." "You then absolutely deny that my wife has made or can make a spiritual communication to you ?" "I do-to me or anybody else. I do not believe that the dead friends of myself or any other person are coming to talk to me through your wife at one dollar a visit. I hold that if they had anything to say to me they would come to ne directly." " If one sends a telegram he sends by a hired operator, does Le not ? he cannot attend to the work himself." " The cases are not parellel. We start ed from a spiritual stand-point, and you have wandered into the physical proper ties of matter. But right here let me ask you a question. It your wife wishes to tell me through the spirits, or through her, something about an absent friend, why does she wish to cold in her hand a lock of that person's hair or a letter written by him? Do spirits need a tangible connection with our world ?" " We must work by established meth ods. You admit that the lock of hair and the letter assist the communication?" "I admit that your wife's talk is more rapid under those conditions, but I have my own theory on the subject. I deny in tote the published theory of spiritists." " How will you explain my wife's telling the things you acknowledge to be so?" '1 I cali it mind-reading." "' What, when it touches the thoughts and actions of your absent friends?" " Yes." "I came from a state of infidelity into a full and perfect faith in Spiritualism. If I lose that faith I shall go back to infidel ity. Why should we profess this if we do not believe it ?" "The business pays." "You call it mind reading-how do you explain the process?" "I do not pretend to explain the most ordinary workings of the human mind, nor can anybody else. How, then, can you expect me to demonstrate to you the action of mind in an abnormal con dition ?" "How do you satisfy yourself, then. that it is not Spiritualism ? D3 you deny there;is such a thing as true clair voyance ?" "I do not deny that, but I claim that clairvoya ce is not spiritualism. I hold that your wife, or anbody else success ful in the business, as well as many in private life, has, beyond the majerity, the faculty of rendering her mind utterly negative, so to speak. The esseen tial thing, at the start, is a quiet. passive condition on both sides. especially on the part of the medium. The darkness and the silence contribute to this result, as the attention is not drawn off by outside objects. The mind of the medium being thus obedient, for I claim she can pro duce this e&ect upon herself hy a mere effort of will, or rather a non-exertion of will, she is, for the tiie being, mentally subordinate and her mind is virtually the servant of the other. How this is done I do not pretend to say. I further believe that, using her sitter as a means of communication as well as guide, she can put herself in partial connection with absent minds. That this has about it something material as well, is illus trated by the fact that she wants some thing which the absent one has handled. She may or may not be unconscious all this time-there are differences. You claimed this lady was unconscious during the entire time she was under your in. fluence. She said she was not uncon scious for an instant, but was powerless to speak. Everybody knows that we are affected in different ways by the society of different people. This is only another leaf out of the same book which we are discussing, but nobody sees anything supernatural in it. It is my belief that, as this mind-absorbing power is much more common than we once believed, and is largely a matter of temperament and setsibility, existing to as great a degree among those who do not practice it for gain, and who utterly repudiate all thec ry of spiritualism in connection with it as among acknowledged spiritual ists, sooner or later we rhall come to such an understanding of these mental phe. nomena as will make it posbible to know the general principles which govern such action, if not to comprehend it in its fullest extent. And it seems to me that the wisest way to combat the effects of an ignorant belief in spirits-effects pernicious to the holders of such belief and alarmingly hurtful to general society-would be to experiment with a few thorough skeptics who pomess this gift, for there are many Smch. Many slhrink from this, lest like others as wise and sensible, they should be led into adopti.n of the folly. Bult ift spitual ism is merely pcularWntld ateion lnvestigtion will only lead to good results. "How do you account for materialized spirits ?" "I have never seen any, and have never known any one who has. I claim that the faces which some honest ones purport to see are brought before them solely by the power of imagination, and that such hallucination is nothing more strange than any other vagary during a diseased condition of the brain. Stimu lants bring strange visions in their wake; why may not an imagination, highly wrought upon, see ghosts and flowers, after having gone through a course of training to that very end? In both in stances, the mind is in an unnatural, unhealthy state. This is my theory, sir." " We can not convert each other, I I see." Here our talk ended. I take pleasure in adding that the lady mentioned came over to my side of the argument and warmly thanked me for my efforts in her behalf and my auccess in leading her back to agreeable skepticism. As I believed then, I believe now, basing that opinion upon long observa tion and study of what I hold to be a very pleasant and agreeable subject, when detached from the gross trickery of professionals who make capital out of a widespread credulity. With regard to MIss Fancher's ability to live without eating, I have nothing to say. It is easily tested. Concerning the keenness of her mental perceptions and the sub tlety of her grasp upon objects invisible to arnd remote from her, I hold that she simply possesses to a remarkable degree the same power which belongs, to a less extent, to five out of every ten whom we meet daily, but who are too absorbed in the busy whirl of life to Tay much heed to impressions and premonitions. A Dramatic Court-Room cenue. In the trial of Bishop Burton, at Salt Lake, Utah, on the 24th, for the Mor risite massacre, Philip Hewit, the eye witne s of the affair, testified as follows: "I was in the Morrisite camp on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of June, 1862. The sur render was made on the 15th. I knew Burton at that time and had known him before. I worked for him at the court house. I knew Mrs. Bowman and Mrs. Swaney. The Morrisites were gathered together in front ot the school-house. He raised his head and shouted: ' Joseph Morris, where are you?' Morris step. ped lorward and asked: ' Gentlemen, what do you want?' Then Burton said : 'Will you give up, give up, give up?'-at the same time firing three shots at him. Morris replied: 'I will never give up my principles; they are eternal truth,' and that is what he meant when he said he would not give up. Burton could have taken Morris with out firing a shot if he had pleased. The arms of the Morrisites were stacked be hind the school-house, and a body of Burton's troops were guarding them. After he had shot Morris three times, Burton cried out, 'Where is your pro phet now?' Just then Mrs. Swaney came rom the crowd, saying, 'Is this going to be another Mountain Meadows massacre?' Burton shot her also. MrI. Bowman ran up and cried, 'You blood thirsty wretch!' Burton said that no one could call him that, and then shot her too. I went a little distance away and saw John I anks lying on the ground wounded. He knew me and waved his hand to me. I knew that it was Burton who shot Morris and the two women, for I was acquainted with him. I don't know whether I could recognize him now or not, for it has been seventeen years since the event." The prosecution asked the witness to look about the court room and pick out the man. The witness left the stand and peered into the faces of the defend ant's counsel, one after another, until he came to Burton, when he said: "If that man will stand u I can tell whether he is Burton or not. By direction of the prosecution the defendant arose, tall and erect, whereupon witness recognized Bur ton, and in an excited voice pronounced him the man whom he saw shoot Joseph Morris and the two women, Mrs. Bow man and Mrs. Swaney. Wonderful Things in Leather. The McKay Sewing Machine company, which is now having a fight in congress, sewed 4i,000,000 pairs of shoes last year, and theie were pegeed upon the pegging machines 55,000,u00 pairs last year. And those machines have entirely revo lutionized the business There are 450, 000 bushels of loose pegs made in New England, and those pegs sell from sixty five to seventy-five cents per bushel; yet a patented peg-wood (a strip or rib' bon of wood cut against the grain, and ot a width just equal to the ler.th of a peg) has so superseded the loose pegs that last year there were 55,000,000 pairs of boots and shoes pegged with it. The whole expense of this peg-wood averages about one-fourth of a cent per pair. Nearly one thousand of these pegs are driven into the shoe in a minute, and there are about four to six pegs to an inch, or about twenty two inches of peg. ging to a shoe. Over two hundred varieties of shoe machines are now in the market. The man who invented this peg-wood had to borrow money to enable him to perfect his device and pay the fees of the solicitor and patent office, besides having borrowed $60,000 to in troduce it into the market. It cost the parties who invested and introduced into the shoe shops the "cable screw wire machine," $300,000. Six hundred pairs of pegged shoes can now be made in a day by a garg of ten men. Where before shoe shops existed throughout New England, now shops have become large, labor is classified, and receives ,a larger compensation (strikes to the con trary notwithstanding); wages have ad vanced 50 to 100 per cent. to the laborer, and the shoe in quality is 25 per cent. better than twenty-five years ago. The Niagara Falls Ice-Bridge. The great ice-bridge at Niagara has almost disappeared. A correspondent of the Buffalo Courier says. "It is strange, but a fact, that most of the bridge was snow, and nothing but the severe cold weather that we have had kept it to eether so long. It is estimated that about eighteen thousand people have crossed this bridge. Mr. Convoy, the well-known guide, was the first to cross the ice bridge on December 30th. The last to cross was a boy, accompanied by a dog, Wednesday afternoon, the 12th ultimo. Although there have been a great many dangerous places about the falls during the winter, and so many thousands of people have gazed upon the grand sights and superb scenery, it is pleasant to know that not a single accident has oc curred. It will not be surprising it we haveanother ice-bridge this spring, when the ice comes down from the lakes. May 8, 1877, an ice.bridge formed just below the American falls. while gaes was being cut 'u Prospect Patk. People crossed the bridge at that time for two or three days. It broke and went down the river on the 14th." FAC N A'i] I t' Ir , MARY'S CHILL.. Mary had a little chll Which gave her i :pS of pain: And when s.o tried to, !'.ake tb. jchill, It shook her back again. It followed her t:' ahool one dlay, Which was aean" the rule It made the chulirn ;a">,h to aee Poor Mary hak- in e: '-," And so fize. tea r h ir !,. l:n ,. And Ili 'i.n ' t, ' ' ,, ,. i l,. To reconstruct her sstenm antl] Ifo iuJidate the blie. What tmakt a lo :r '"arv hove t'hi'chillls; And shake lo af i. 1at ? Why don't e'i t'oke p r .-a r' pIl!. (!r wear a liver-lad BAR pELIEF-I)rinking in a sampleh room to drown sorro'w. TiE late Prince Henry, of Holland, left an estate of at laot 4,41,0C0,000. THE largest steel roil mill in the United State- is to be erected at Bald win, near Harrisburg, Pa. A cr.OCi keeps it° hands before its face probably, because it is aihamed of the cowardly mann.r in which time flies. Iv the socialists Peep on shooting at the monarchs ,f iEirrope, t mi,,ht pay for some American to to over and copper the king. Aru.! the patents on India-rubber shoes have expired, and that's why most any sort of a man can get trusted for a pair this spring. CRITICS are pentinels in the grand army of letters, stationed at the corners of newspapers and reviews, to challenge every new author. EvE, it will be remembered, had no Ssprinir bonnet, yet she married the first gentleman in the land. She had a tall suit, however, of the fig-leaf pattern when she left Eden. ";'BRILLIANT and impulsive people," saida lecturer on physiognomy, "have black eyes; or, if they don't have 'em, they're apt to get 'em if they are too brilliant and too impuldive." TALMAGE may be guilty of heresv, bnr glary, arson and murder, but the one great fact that no one can go to sleep under his preaching should weigh tone in his favor. IT will please many of his admirers to know that Dan Rice will have fiveofhis shows around the country this season, and they will all be " original "and each will have the "only" Dan Rice with it. THE largest diamond in the world weighing 400 karat---has lust been found in India. It will be at least four weeks before hack-drivers can get anything on their shirt fronts to beat the rew find. TrE last rays of the setting sun were shining on the gilded frame of a mirror before which a young fop had been standing for hours, trying to arrange a refractory tie, when he exclaimed, "Aha! at last it's eventide." THE world's fair, at Sydney, Australia, to be opened on the 1st of next August, will be chiefly contributed to by the mother country and the United States. Two ship loads of American machinery and products are to be exhibited. " KEEP 'way from dat nigger, I tell you," said Uucle Rube to his sable daugh ter; "keep 'way from him. He's like what de 'Postil John lived on in de wild'ness." "How's dat ?" she asked. " Low cuss and wild, honey," replied Uncle Rube. SENATOR BURTOS, a colored member of the Texas legislature, sends money to Virginia to assist his old mistress who raised him and taught him how to read, and who is now living in straitened edr. cumstances. QUE.TION AND ANSWER. A.-What is the good and what is the bad? Where is the perfectly true? What is the end yenou live for my lad ? And what, may I ask, are you ? Unproven, I fe r. is y ,ur heaven above, Lilf is but labor and sor ow: Then why should we hope, and why should we love. And why should we care tot the morrow? B.-There may be a tight worth fighting,myfriled, Though victory there be none: And though no haven be outwa at the end, Still we may steer straieht on. And thougn nothing be good and nothing be had. And nothing be true to the letter, Yet a good many things are worse, my lad, And one or two things are better. REMARKABLE are the stories coming from Newfoundland as to the wealth of copper ore. According to these ac counts vast masse° of copper have been discovered near the sea, rising above the surface in lotty cliffs, easily quarried, and easily shipped, and of superior lich ness. EvERY now and then some chap writes to a newspaper for a recipe to prevent hair from coming out. It men would go home from the lodge before midnight with their legs sober, their hair wouldn't come out so rapidly. We always go home early, and we have more hair now than the day we. were born.-[Norris town Herald. Taa police in Alsace and' Lorraine have seized great quantittes of cigarette paper in the shape of a tricolor and in scribed with the arms of Strasbourg, Metz, etc : :.loo many labels for bottles marked "Ltberati'on Liquor" and "Ex tract of France, to be taken at the psychological moment," and some minia ture maps with the severed territory in black. THE late Prince Henry of the Neth erlands was one of the wealthiest prin ces in Europe. His property has been usualy estimated in Holland at $41,500, 000. The greater part of it consists in state funds; there are also shares in com mercial companies, landed estates and castles, and similar property, some of it in the Netherlands, the remainder in Germany and the Dutch colonies. THERE is some excitement iP ConneC ticut over the elopement of Gov. Hub bard's daughter with her father's coach man.;who seems to be quite a decent young fellow. He knows how to drive horses, and that is more than many young men know. On the whole, the young woman's chances for happiness are better than if she had married a youth of fashion and fortune.-[Chicago Journal. OTro McNANNY is a St. Louis manotf middle age and sedate manners. Mary Engelbrecht is young, with a shapely figure and a pretty face, and she dresses with artistic neatness. Otto saw Mary in the street for the first time, and was overcome with admiration. He threw one arm around her waist, drew her to him. exclaimed, " O, girly, grly," and kissed her three times before ehe ould break away. He subsequently paid fifteen dollars fine in a polite c.nrt. "-YouR daughter has treated me very curt--" And the youn.* man was lited up by the parental Iloot (Irto the door of his girl's house to the mnidleot the horse car track. He arose ..u ipck r s he could and mildly expisiti" i that he hadn't finished tho word. 'vhiih w,.s " cour teously;" and Aiph' .'. was taken un der the inhosptts:I' rtoot in.i'c mtre, had his pantaletorns ne dai was done iP in salwe, and wst liei _t ý`.? rw his ma in a l-ick. Thug is itru greatne"° re warded and impetuosity rebuked.