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BUJINK1) AT SEA The Dcstltntc Crew of , the Brlp Belle Arriv nt Philadelphia. The steam sailing vessel Wyoming of the Clyde line , of ten.carries a barge of coal oil , powder cartridges , am other dangerous stuff , and in consequence quence is not allowed to carry passes ffors , says T/fc Philadelphia Press. when she arrived at this port , how ever , Tuesday night , she did have or , _ _ _ _ _ lir nTT * nT / * > sks % * ! i t ! * - " - "jj"u nuiULluu Ul IIUUS WUIUU lilt , Wyoming had made in taking them on board was a gracious act of kindness , there were eleven persons , one of whom was a woman , and they were nil in a sorry state of destitution. Their story was sad in its details.and su/ revealed a pitiable view of sea life. Uhey belonged to the brig Belle , a ewfoundland. vessel from Glace bay , laden with soft coal for New York. The mariners who arrived Tuesday night were falsely reported by a Phil adelphia paper as arriving last Sunday afternoon. The weather was bad all through the trip , and when within a hundred miles of New York the vessel met with an overwhelming disaster. -The entire hold was a mass of red-hot tfre . It was on Friday afternoon when Capt. French's attention was called to what was thoucht to be steam rising from the-deck" . Hascening to the hatchway leading to whore the coal was stored ho rushed down the steep stairway and saw a volume of smoke coming up from bolow. Rushing back to the deck , he cried : "The coal is on lire. " At once the men were set to work at the pumps , but the water froze almost as soon as it left the pipes , and though the effort was continued for a long while the fire could not be extinguish ed. At last It was given up and the . crew made ready to abandon the brig. Two boats were lowered. In one was placed all the clothing , papers , and -personal property that could be gath ered. As the. men were busy at this task the Alatnes from tons of burning coal worked their way through the -decks and around the cabin. The woodwork , coated with ice , was at tacked by the blaze , stripped off the frozen covering , and little by little eaten up by the fire. Through the scams in the deck a long , narrow line of yellowish black-topped flame pro truded. Around the edge of the ves sel ran a rim of fire. Overall rose the sickening smell of coal-gas. The waves of the sea were freezing cold and very rough. The great boat was lowered , and a part of the crew manned it. Then the small boat was let down , filled with all that the un fortunate sailors and the wife of Capt. French could rescue from their float ing home. Some of the men got into this boat , and then the small crafts made off. Those in the boats were Capt. French , Mrs. French , Alexander Ol- sen. William Fewer , James Maloney , John Joy , William Wright , William Kavanagh , Thomas Wood , Thomas Carey , Louis Williams , the mate , and a pilot from New York. Williams and the captain and his wife are from St. John , N. F. The others came from various parts of Newfoundland. Once at sea a harder experience was undergone than had been anticipated. The abandoned burning Belle and the little party floated apart. The brig soon became a big oblong mass of flame and smoke. The two little boats were tossed roughly about , and the limbs of the men were stiff with cold. The party in the small boat could not care for their freight and were com pelled to leave their boat. The small boat , left to itself , soon filled with water and was lost. The larger craft floated around , despair settling down upon its unlucky passengers. But relief soon came. A schooner was sighted , and the crew and the one woman rescued. This schooner was the David Clarkson. She took them on board about fifty miles off Barne- gat , and soon brought them to the capes. There they were transferred to the Wyoming , by which they came to Philadelphia late on Tuesday night. Capt French and his wife stayed on the Wyoming and the crew were at the Ridgway house until yesterday morn ing. Some of the crew left for some of the sailors' boarding houses then. Capt. French reported at the British consulate. A pilot from New York who had boarded the brig to bring her into New York harbor left at once for his home. The others of the party ar ranged to make the journey to New foundland' at once. The loss on the vessel and cargo has not been defin itely estimated. One of the sailors had several hundred dollars in charge , which was lost with the other valua bles in the small boat. Genius and Loug Life. There is a proverb which says , * 'Those whom the gods love , die joung. " It is sometimes inferred that this means that men and women who are in any way unusually endowed , are usually short-lived. It is by no means proved , however , that persons of ge nius are any more apt to die young than more prosaic people. There are" of course , many instances of talented men and women who have gone early to their graves ; and it is a somewhat striking fact that thirty-seven has been a fatal age to quite a number of bril liant geniuses whose fame is still great in the world. Byron , Shelley , Burns and Rapbel all died in their thirty- seventh year. On the other hand , multitudes of instances may be cited of men who , had they died before their thirty-seventh year , would never have been'heard of by the world ; and multitudes of others who , while win ning some degree of fame before that age , greatly increase it in later years. Goethe was a surprising example of this. Had he died at thirty-seven , his fame would not have equalled that of Schiller ; the work he done in middle life carried it far beyond that of his German rival who died so much earlier. If Milton had died at thirty-seven , we should not have had "Paradise Lost. " At that age , George Elliot had not written anything to contribute to the oreat reputation she won at last. ° We cannot doubt that the genius of Byron and Shelly , of Keats , Atherton , and Henry Kirk White , was yery far 'from being exhausted at their early deaths. ' Death , indeed , found thes young geniuses all afire with inspira tion , and ardently longing to give ex pression to greater thoughts than the ; had over yet uttered. If wo turn from literature to politi cal life it is not surprising to see hov great ability , far from exhaustini physical power , and wearing out it poifl3ssor I ofore his time , seems n'jtiiolb to sustain his vigor and lengthen ou his days. It is true that Pitt died at fifty am Gambclta at lifty-four. But where w < can point to an isolated instance , hen and there , of a man of political geniu ; dying before or in middle life , we lint a long list of those who have growr gray and bdnt in the heat of political contlict. In our own time we have seen Gortschakoff , a man over eighty , controlling the Russian Empire ; Thiers , a man of seventy-seven , presiding ovei the Frencc 'Republic ; the Emperoi William , a man of eighty-live , ruling the newly-united Germany ; Gladstone , a man of seventy-four , proving him self the most vigorous Prime Minister of England , in this century ; and Von Moltke , a man of eighty , commanding the German armies. The vitality of genius , indeed , is far more evident in the biography of the. world than , its destroying power. It ia rarely that a poet or an author ex hausts himself in a single work , or an orator or statesman in a single great speech or great legislative measure , that such instances are quoted as curi osities. On the contrary , the rule seems to be that a man of genius i = ? not only likely to live long , but to go on produc ing , and mantaining his mental visor , until he is overtaken by the shadows of old age. Micheal Angelo was still a great sculptor and architect at eight- eight. .Titian painted finely in his ninety-ninth 3 car. Victor Hugo , at Mghty-one , is still writing eloquent and iery stanzas. And in our own country , ; he examples of Longfellow. Holmes , 3ryant , Whittier , Emerson and Irving are enough to remind us how our lit erature has been enriched by men who lave passed the psalmist's limit of three score years and ten. Youth's Companion Beecher's Rebuke. Henry Ward Beecher , aft or his ser mon Sunday , touched upon the alleged disaffection of his congregation owing to his action in the late campaign. He alluded to his forty years' pastorate , ind said he never mixed politics with his theology in the pulpit. He said he did not know how far the trouble had spread , but only learned it from news papers. If there were any pew-holders ) fl'ended he did not know them. He lad hoped the republican party , which lad done so much for the nation ; would get wisdom , but he was bitterly disappointed. He would have shed : ears of joy if that party had put in ts platform a welcome" the south and made one of its candidates a outhern man. From conviction" deep as any he ever had he entered the canvass , and when he went into any- hing he never went in by halves. He cared nothing for life , reputation or nfluence if the country might not live ogether in harmony. That under certain conditions he did everything wisely he would not say ; that he made no statements he would not now make n a better light he would not under- ake to say. He said his congregation hould have hud confidence enough in lim not to have taken impetuous peech-making as a special plea and distort its application. As far as his ) olitical judgment and endeavors were soncerned , he looked upon them with unfeigned admiration. There were mistakes and errors. He was sorry or them and apologized. He did not want any dissatisfied person to sneak awaj. Let him come to Beecher face o face , and tell him he is dissatisfied , and Beecher would bless him. In rc- ation to pew-rents , he did not care f they were diminished. He had ived on a salary of § 1,500 when he first > ecame their pastor , and if necessary could live upon it now. If there was "a majority in the church or a strong minority who no longer wanted him le would go. If the great majority wished him to stay , he would die with hem , and nothing would drive him away. If he stayed , the congregation would have to receive him , not on a ) itchfork , but in the palms of their lands. Pastaiid Present. I often wonder if the young men of this day enjoy themselves as much as we old folks used to when we were heir age. I sometimes think they do not , because they pay more attention to their dress than their pleasures , and they seem to take their vices in coarser draughts than their prede cessors in the flowery paths of youth and riot. But this may be only the jillous view of a disgruntled philoso pher who regrets that the wine has est the sparkle of twenty years ago , and one night's indulgence in the delights of the table is followed by a week's active palpitation of the liver. Positively one every-day young man is a repetition of the other. They are as much alike as Chinamen. It is difficult to tell them apart unless one 'ellow has a cast in his eye , a limp , or has a broken nose. To me they look as if the same tailor made their clothes , the same bootmaker their soots , and their hair and moustaches were trimmed by the same barber. Their mannerisms have been acquired jy the same school , and their slang studied from the same book. They tire me because I am old , and I detest i young fellow who cannot be original n something his vices even , if noth- ng else be left him. The old crowd , tae crop of gay boys that flourished twenty years ago' were more independent. If one fellow ap peared with long hair- his friend ivould have-his cut short. If one in vented and acquired an odd express ion , oath or otherwise , his right to it was respected. Nobody trespassed upon his preserves , nobody borrowed lis property. His method of lighting a cigar , or lifting his hat , or wearing lis necktie was never copied by a friend. Indeed , the man who could not cut his own swathe , -who had not Drains enough to devise a peculiarity , was barred'from our circle. The Ir. glcside. USEFUL AND PLEASANT. It is impossible to have any flood lu France , because the water in tba country is always 1'eau. The snow is so deep in northern Arizona that stage-drivers refuse t ( drive between Prescott and Phoenix. The total production of cigars in thi country , as estimated by one of tin largest manufacturers , is about 3,000 , 000,000 a year. The capitalists of the Lake Superio : copper mines" universally oppose th < Spanish treaty because of the rich cop per fields of Spain. A traveling Illinois theif , unawar < that his wife had cone to housekcep ing in Elgin , broke in at night ant carried oil a lot of his own jewelry. Mr. W. W. Story , the America : sculptor now living in Rome , has received coived a commission from Cornell Uni versity for a bronze statue of Ezn Cornell. , The information is just at hand that the country contains over twelve thousand medical students. . It was , indeed , time for a change of admin istration. Boy ( with feeling ) I'm an orphan , and father's broke his legs and is ic jail , and mother's in an insane asylum , and if I go home without any money they'll lick me. Mrs. Martha Strickland and Miss Lee of Michigan have lately been nomi- uated for the offices of Circuit Court Commissioners by their respective parties in Michigan. The Florida orange crop this season is reported to be so * much larger than the packing-box manufacturers antici pated that the shippers now find it difficult to buy boxes for their fruit. A band of sheep belonging Mr. Love , of Lower Power , Oregon , be came frightened and stampeded , and , running into a narrow canyon , two hundred of them were smothered to dealh. When little Willie L. first heard the braying of a mule he was greatly frightened ; but after thinking a minute he smiled at his fear , saying : "Mamma , just hear that pour horse wiv the whooping cough ! " In Virginia City , Nev. , a few days ago , a Sierra valley man offered four hundred jack-rabbits for sale. The Enterprise says the skins would almost clothe all the remaining members of the Washoe tribe of Indians. A number of persons from Maine to California unite in testifying , in. the last number of Forest and'Slream , that a brook trout weighing twenty-four pounds was caught about 1849 in a pond near Kennebago lake. Maine. The humorous market is dull. We quote coachmen jekes , prime , at 5 and G cents per million ; ice cream jokes , no demand ; bank cashier jokes , weak .it 1 to 1A cents per ton ; choice plum- jer jokes in demand at § 1 to § 2 per ; on. Examiner Now can you tell me which of the planets were known to the ancients ? Student Ah , there was Venus and ah Jupiter and and 1 think , think the earth , but but I'm not quite certain about the atter ! A newly-imported bush fruit from South America is being introduced , among the fruit-growers of Los An- jeles. It is called the melon shrub , .t bears a luscious fruit about the size of a goose egg , and produces fruit all the year round. "Smith , how is it that you always get such gopd bargains ? " queried Jones. "Because I was taught from nv infancy habits of thrift , patience , and economy , " replied Smith. "My father was always drumming it into me to 'wait a little while and you'll jurchase cheaper. ' Why , even n\y nether used te sing 'bye-low , baby , ' before I could walk. " Jones was per fectly satisfied with the explanation. Insurance Agent "It's all right. The doctor says you are the best risk ic ever examined. " Citizen "The 3est risk ? " "Yes ; soundest constitu tion , and perfect health , you know. " "Did he say that ? " "Yes , indeed. No trouble about your case. He said ; here was nothing to prevent you from iving a hundred years. " "You don't mean it ? " "Honest truth. Come right around to my office and I'll fix . " "No thank up the papers at once. , you ; it won't pay. I'm too healthy. " The most cunning in fish lore with us consider that the German or Euro pean carp is par excellence the fish of : he future the fish for the million. So other fish can to so large an extent DC cultivated for edible puiposes. It possesses every requisite essential to jultivation , and especially for still water. It is in the main a vegetarian , and , indeed , omnivorous not refus- ng animal food if properly prepared. [ t requires no food or care during the winter , which it sleeps away in its "kettle , " alongside its bed-fellows , until awakened by the warmth of a spring sun. The rate at which this ish grows is almost inci edible. As two women were riding a few days ago , in a phaeton drawn by two lorses in the vicinity of Fort Keogh , Montana , the animals took fright at an old buffalo skeleton lying on the prairie , and dashed toward the bluffs > verhanging the Yellowstone river , all ; he efforts of the occupants of the ve- licle to check them being in vain. "When within a few yards " the preci- jice the ladies managed to leap from ; he vehicle , and fortunately escaped with few bruises. A few seconds later ; he horses and phaeton went over the jluff , the former being horribly mang- ed and the latter smashed to atoms on the rocks below. An echo from Marseilles : "You can lave no idea , you fellows here , how rank the vegetation is in India. Now , when I was there , visiting a lajah , a great friend of mine , I just took a run iround the place for an hour's shoot- ng. There was a clover field there , and pretty soon my dog Dash splen did animal comes to a halt. I ad vanced and Hush two elephants 'etch down one with each barrel. Give rou my word , gentlemen , I hunted or one of those elephants , high and ow through the tall clover , but couldn't find the first sight of him. low was that for clover , eh ? " ' 'But what became of the other elephant ? " "Oh , Dash retrieved him ! " . CASUAI/flES OP THE YEAR. The year's casualty list begins or January 2 with a collision on the Grand Trunk Railway , near Toronto , by which 25 lives were lost. On the 5th the nuns' school , in Belleville , 111. , was burned and 26 of the occupants perished in the flames , and on the HtL there was a tremendous explosion oi fire-damp in a mine at Arras , ic France , fay which 19 minors were lost. On the 14th the Chinese steamer Huai Tuen was lost in the Pacific with 200 passengers , a disaster followed on the 18th by the loss of the City of Colum bus in Vineyard Sound , with over 100 of the passengers and crew. The 24th was marked by a black stone from the death of 57 miners by a firedamp ex plosion in Crested Butte , Col. , while on the following day the steamer Simla was lost with 22 passengers. The 2Gth will be remembered in England for the great storm that wrecKed an unknown number of coasting vessels with most of their crews , while the 27th will not be forgotten by the wives of 14 Welch miners who perished in a firedamp explosion. On the 30th the steamer Rhywabons was lost with 12 of her passengers , and the narrative of the month's disasters'closed with a terrible railroad accident near Indian apolis , in which a train went through a bridge , with a loss of 14 lives. The month of February had fewer accidents of unusually fatal nature , the record beginning on the 1st with a gasoline explosion at Alliance , Ohio , eight lives being sacrificed to the de sire to kindle a lire with neatness ami dispatch ; while on the 4th the army of Baker Pasha was entrapped into a de file and the whole force , 3,500 strong , annihilated. The llth proved fatal tea a wedding party of 35 who attempted to cross the ice of the Theiss , in Hun gary , and were all drowned ; while on the 14th a party of 50 fishermen on the < Caspian Sea were carried into open water on the ice floes and drowned. On the IGth the news arrived of the capture of Sinkat and the massacre of Tewlik Bey and his troops four days earlier ; while the 19th will be remem bered in the Central Valley States for tremendous tornadoes that caused great destruction of property and life. The 20th witnessed an awful explosion of firedamp in the Uuiontown "mines , in Pennsylvania , by which 19 lives were lost , and on the 25th the boilers of the Japanese steamer Katsai Hong- Kong exploded , killing 19 passengers and wounding many more. During the latter part of the month there were notable floods in the Ohio River Val ley and many destructive storms in the South. The month of March experienced a lull in accidents , there being but two of any consequence , one , however , be ing perhaps the most destructive of the kind ever known in America , the loss of 154 lives by an explosion and subsequent fire in a coal mine at Pocahontas - hontas , Va. The other was an acci dent that is considered certain sooner or later to happen , its occurrence be ing but a question of time , the explo sion of a nitro-glycerine factory at Thompson's Point , Pa. , by which 6 lives of workmen were lost. All Fool's Day , the 1st of April , wit nessed the destruction of Oakville , Ind. , by a tornado , with great loss of life , while on the same day there were many tornadoes West and"South. . On the 3d the steamer Rebecca Evering- ham burned on the Chattahooehee River with great loss of life , and on the same day the Daniel Steinman was wrecked off the coast of Nova Scotia , with a loss of 125 passengers. On the 18th , there was a collision in mid- ocean between the Florida and the Ponema , resulting in the loss of both vessels and the drowning of 135 of the passengers and the crew. The 23d was celebrated by a panic in the Bu charest Theater-Circus resulting from a fire and causing many deaths , while on the 27th a bridge gave way under a train near Cindad Real , in Spain , kill ing 40 passengers. The 29th was noted for the burning of 14 paupers in the Van Buren County Poor House , in Michigan , together with the blowing up of a powder magazine at San An tonio , Cuba , the explosion killing 21 workmen. The last four days of the month were also remarkable for the breaking out of forest fires in New York , New Jersey and Pennsylvania , by which great destruction of both life and property was caused. May had three disastrous accidents. On the 14th a collision on the Balti more and Ohio , causing 14 deaths ; an earthquake at the Kishau Islands in the Persian Gulf , destroying many villages and killing 200 of the popula tion , and , on the 23d , the wrecfcof the Senorine , off the banks of Newfound land , bywhich 62 lives were lost. On this date also Berber was captured and 3,500 of the population and garri son were massacred. June 1 was signalized by a cloud burst in Frenchman's Gulch , Col. , by which 11 miners were drowned , and on the 10th the schooner Six Brothers foundered off the Grand Banks , with the loss of 14 of the crew. Mexico suffered a railroad accident at New Laredo , by which 14 men were killed , " and the lsi"st ten days of the month wit nessed cyclones in the central and western states. July had but two accidents of any note , one being the breaking of an en gine axle on the Manchester and Shef field rs'lroad , Eng. , on the 16th which caused the loss of 25 lives , and the collision of the Spanish steamer Gijon with the English steamer Lexham , off Corunna , on the 21st. both ships sink ing and 13 sailors being drowned. The first great accident in August was on the 19th , when an underground canal at Brave , France , was flooded , drowning 17 "workmen , while on the 20th the Tallapoosa was run down off Martha's Vineyard and 2 men lost. Firedamp in the Greenback mines in Pennsylvania killed 8 miners , while the sinking of the transfer steamer Belmont , in a storm on the Ohio river , drowned 16 railroad passengers. The 7th of September v/ill not soon be forgotten in Cleveland , O. , for then began the frreat lire in that city , and the llth will be remembered in Ice land for the storm that swept over that unhappv island. Floods on the llth destroyed § 4,00',000 worth of proper ty along the Eut Claire and Chippewa rivers ; but this calamity , great as it was , bore no comparison to the Kiang See Province in China , whore , on the 15th. over 70,000 lives wore lost by the floods. On the 23d , the English gun boat Wasp went down off the Irish coast with 5 of her crotv , and on the 27th a cloud-burst over Pachuca des troyed the liveu of 30 of the popula tion. tion.October October 8 witnessed the burning of the royal palace at Copenhagen , and the 12th saw a hurricane in Sicily that destroyed a dozen villages and caused great loss both of property and life. Firedamp in the Moravian mines kill ed 20 miners on the 19th , an accident repeated at Uniontown , Pa. , on the 27th with a loss of 14 lives. All Saints' day , the 1st of November , behold a panic in the Star Theater , Glasgow , in which 16 children were trampled to death , while ou the 9th there were two explosions of firedamp , one at Wasmes , in Prussia , the other atTredegan , in Wales , causing re spectively 20 and 15 deaths among the workmen. A railroad collision on the 14th astonished the people of Hanau. Prussia , and killed 15 passengers , while on the same day another similar in its particulars took place on the Houston and Texas Central , causing 12 deaths. December 1 brought news of the mysterious plague in the mountains of Kentucky ; on the 2d , the steamer Mary Joseph was lost on the Grand Banks with almost all on board , while on the 4th , .a great gale oft" the Banks destroyed a whole fleet of fishing ves sels and caused immense loss of life , and on the same date a schooner smug gling Chinamen over from British Columbia was lost with 19 men. The 12th was noted for a storm on the Rap- pahannock , drowning 36 fishermen. The 15th brought another firedamp ex plosion , this time in Stierdorf , Prussia , while on the 18th occurred the burn ing of the Brooklyn Asylum and great loss of life. On the 19th came news of the collision of the Bulnau and Maria off the Plullippine Islands , while on the 20th came a hurricane in France loss of life and . with great property.- - SI. Louis Globe-Democrat. A PresidentialJ unk-Shop. The queerest place in the state is Gov. Cleveland's barn , or store room , writes an Albany correspondent of The St. Lords Post-lipatch. Your correspondent pendent was permitted to visit these quarters to-day , and a stranger col lection of old junk it would be impos sible to find anywhere. The barn is a substantial structure. Built just back of the executive mansion , and during the administration of more wealthy governors it was used for carriages and horses of these worthies. Gov. Cleveland , however , doesn't keep a team , " and since his election to the presidency the vacant barn has been used to store the vast collection of miscellaneous presents that come pouring in from every part of the union. Formally these packages wtre delivered at the executive chamber on the hill , but as they kept constantly increasing in number and variety , it was found impossible to receive them , and so a kind of union depot was open ed in the barn. It keeps one man busy receiving , arranging , and shipping back the packages addressed to the president elect. In spite of the fact that the greatest care is exercised in finding out who sends the stuff' and his address , man } ' of the packages re main unidentified. The governor's orders are that all presents shall be returned at once. But as about half of the gifts come anonymously , it is not so easy to carry out the instruc tions. A clerk was busy making and sending away packages when your correspondent called to take a tour of the place. The collection of oaid eagles , bicycles , chairs , desks , brushes and other bric-a-brac would have put a junk-shop to blush. Yet there was one marked difference between the stock in the governor's barn and the junk shop. Here every article was brand new. The eagle flapped his wings dolefully in his wooden cage , with an air that told plainly it was the first time he had ever been made a show of , and two owls stared in a monrnfully knowing way at the ex pressman "who was taking the things away. I\ot a speck of dust dimmed the brightness of the glittering bicycle that was promptly going back to Bos ton , and the red plush of a comforta ble arm chair showed its newness through the thin covering spread over it. The only thing that bore traces of wear was a barrel covered with coun try mud and with a number of open ings cut in the staves , through which the red and mellow golden of New York apples showed. A second ex pressman was unloading a half barrel af cider that had just arrived , , when the clerk caught him and told him to wait. A careful examination showed that it came from Binghamton , N. Y. , and , without taking itfrom the wagon , a receipt and bill of lading were made and the stuff shipped back. So it went all day. As fast as one thing was returned another came in to take its place , and the clerk considered him self lucky if two articles did not come in place of every one sent back. It is easy to understand how simple coun try folk take pleasure in sending little tokens of affection to the man they lionor and respect , and in whose good fortune they have had a part. But why these tokens so often take the form of animals is a question that sadly purplexes the poor clerk. One man" in Brooklyn sends a dog , another in Maine sends two owls , a third for wards an eagle , a fourth believes that nothing less than a Maltese cat will make the president happy , while a [ ifth hopes to win his favor by the pre sentation of a fawn. If this sort of thiug continues the barn attached to the executive mansion will soon con tain a menagerie which will make our Barnum hang his head in shame. The elect takes it all president good-natur edly , and as a huge joke. Said he to day , laughing over the matter , "Some body out west , I don't remember his name just now , sent me an eagle the other day. What am I to do with an eajjle ? I presume they will be send ing me an elephant next. " Then , mus ingly , "He would be just as useful as an eagle , though. " feXTKA PAY TO MEXICAN VETtfllAKS. g , * I | < * 3 Three Hontlis' Full fay and Allowances t ( Jlttlmed Under an Old Law. i The veterans of the Mexican war , j ai says a Washington telegram to The j New York Herald , have raised a very jj important point in connection with the ! { recent decision of the supreme court ! in the case of Gen. H-rnory namely , that they are entitled not only to thrco months' pay proper , but to three months' pay and allowances , which makes a considerable difference , the pay proper of an officer prior to Julyr 1870 , when allowances were abolished , being generally less than one-half , and in many cases not much more than one-third of his compensation. If the veterans' interpretation of the law bo orrect , all officers who have received tkrec months' pay proper for their services in Mexico have been under paid , and the whole matter will have to be reopened and probably relegated to the courts. To properly understand the question involved a brief statement of the law and the facts is necessary. In July , 184S , congress passed an act providing that officers and enlisted men of the army who Wore in actual service during the war with Mexico , and who served out the term of their f ! engagement , or were killed or honorably - ably discharged , should be entitled to ft three monthsT extra pay. At that .j time , and for more than twenty years | afterward , the remuneration of an officer - cer consisted of pay proper and allow- j juices of. various kinds. . A captain of cavalry , for example , received $50 per month pay proper , $24 for rations , $16 $ lor forage , and $16.50 for servant's i pay , clothing , and rations , making his ft total monthly compensation $106.50. . He was also entitled to an additional i | j ration ( $6 per month ) for every five Uj years' service as an oflicer. The "ex- fi | tra pay" granted by the act of 1818 ! , ' was construed to mean pay proper only , and payments were made accord- In accordance with an opinion given by Atty. Gen. Reverdy Johnson soon after the passage of the act of 1818 , the secretary of war ruled that officers of the regular army , who continued in service after the close of the war were not entitled to extra pay , and that rul ing was adopted by the accounting of ficers. About six hundred officers were thus deprived of the gratuity bestowed by congress. lu February , 1879. the law of 1848 was revived with the following proviso vise : "Provided that the pro visions of this act shall include also the officers , petty officers , seamen , and marines of the United States navy , the revenue marine service , and the officers and soldiers of the United States army cm- ployed in the prosecution of said war. " On the strength of this additional leg islation a large number of officers of the regular army whose claims had been barred by the ruling of the au thorities in 1818 made application for three months' extra pay , but their de mands were not acceded to. Gen. Emory , one of the claimants , , took his case to the court of claims and re covered judgment in March last. The government appealed to the supreme court , which lias affirmed , the judg ment of the court below. This , it was supposed , , was a definite and permanent settlementof the whole matter , aud the accounting officers were preparing to adjust all the claims which have been held , up pending the decision of the court , but the old vet erans have sprung a mine under the astonished treasury officials , and boldly claim three months' full pay and al lowances. The acts of 1848 and 1879 , they say , do not contain the words "pay proper , " and the word "pay" as used in said acts means the salary , compensation , or recompense that the government paid to its military officers for their services. In other words , it is pay , rations , and allowances. If the veterans are successful in this their latest claim at least three thou sand officers , including volunteer and militia , who have already been paid , will be entilled to the difference be tween pay proper and pay and allow ances , which will amount to about $400,000. Those who have not been paid about six hundred officers and between four and five thousand enlist ed men will receive upwards of 8300- 000 , making a total cost of $700,000. If they fail , then only the unpaid offi cers sind enlisted men will be benefited , and the drafts on the treasury will not exceed $ .200,000. The roll of living officers who are now entitled to the gratuity provided by the act of 1879 contains many notable " ble names : Gens. Bragg , Don"Carlos Buell , Joseph E. Johnston , McDowell , an i Rucker were captains ; Gens. Grant , Sherman , Longstreet , Beaure- gard , . Fitz John Porter , Getty , Ingalls , H. J. Hunt , Doubleday , and Truman Seymour were first lieutenants , and Gens. Hancock , Franklin , McClellan , Pope. Augur , Gibbon , Pitcher. Charles P. Stone , Gustavus W. Smith , Pleason- ton , Sturgis , Stoneman , and others , were only second lieutenants. The octogenarian Harney was colonel of dragoons , and Philip St. George Cooke was a major in the sam rejriment. Fremont , the "Pathfinder , " was lieu tenant colonel of the mounted rifles , and Gen. Emory , who has had the trouble and expense of lighting the government in two courts , was a first lieutenant in the topographical engi neers , and lieuteuaut colonel of Hughes' regiment of Maryland and District of Columbia volunteers. As the claims of those Mexican vet erans who "went south * ' are just as valid as though their leally hud never been in question , there is a probhbil- ity that Jeff Davis will become entitled to $279 , that being the difference be tween his pa } * proper for three months as colonel of the Mississippi rilles and his full pay aud allowances for the same riiles. The extra pay does not belong to the estates of the veterans , con-rress having directed th : t it shall be paid to the"following representatives' only , in the order named : Frst. widows ; second , children ; third , parents , aa .l fourth , brothers and period. x