JwsittM} ipiitftg journal.
J. R. GROVE & J. B. ODER,
VOLUME I.
. . t’lilcnso.
RY'j. 0. WHITTIER.
Men pui<l at vcpners : All is well!
In one wild night the* city fell:
Fell shrines of prayer and marts of grain
Before the fiery hurricane.
On threescore spires had sunset shone,
Where ghastly sunrise looked on nono :
iMcn clasped each other's hands and said :
The City ol the West is dead !
Brave hearts who fought, in si /w retreat.
The fiends of fire from street to street,
Turned, powerless, to the blinding glare,
The dumb defiance of despair.
A sudden impulse thrilled each wire
That signaled round that sea of fire ;
Swift words of cheer, warm heart-throbs
canto:
In tears of pity died the flame !
From East, from West, from South, and
North,
The messages of hope shot forth.
And, underneath the severing wave.
The world, full-handed, reached to save,
Fair peemed the old ; hut fairer ptill
Tbonew tho dreary void phall fill,
With dearer homes than those o’erthrown.
For love phall lay each corner-stone.
Rise, stricken city!—from theo throw
Tho ashen sackcloth of thy woe ;
And build, as Thebes to Amphion’s strain.
To songs of cheer thy walls again 1
How shriveled, in thy hot distress,
i ho primal pin of selfishness !
How instant rose, to take thy part,
Tho angel in the human heart!
Ah ! not in vain tho flames that tossed
Above thy dreadful holocaust;
The Christ again has preached through thee
The gospel of humanity I
Then lift once moro thy towers on high,
And fret with spires the Western sky,
To tell that tjou is yet with us.
And love is still miraculous !
—Atlantic for December,
HASS SCHSATS’ SPV-GLASS.
ItY MM. ERCKMAMN'-cnATRIAN.
At one time I knew, at Mayence,
an honest apothecary, named Hans
Schnaps. The door of his shop opened
on to (lie Thiermack, and was sur
mounted by a sign-board, the panels of
which were ornamented with the cadu
ceus of Mercury and the serpentaria of
Esculapius. As to ITans Schnaps him
self, instead of attending to his business,
he strolled about the streets, carrying a
big spy-glass under his arm, and leaving
his drugs to the care of a couple of
youths in his employ.
He was a singular personage, with a
long nose, gray eyes, and mocking lips.
From the look ol his wide-brimmed felt
hat, his great coat of reddish drugget,
and his heard trimmed into a point,
you might have taken him fora Flemish
painter.
I sometimes mot him at the tavern of
the Pol ile Talac , on the Soil, where we
played together a game of youclcer , or
chatted about the weather. Schnaps
never felt called on to give me any in
formation on the subject of his occu
pations, and 1 saw no necessity for en
lightening him on the subject of mine;
> it was, in fact, a matter of little or no
importance to either.
One day, Burgomaster Zacliarias said
to me:
“Hoctor Benedum, you associate with
a certain Hans Schnaps.’’
“Quite true, burgomaster; we meet
pretty frequently.’’
“'■’hat Schnaps is a madman.”
“I’ve never noticed it.”
“Nothing is more positive ; instead of
attending to his business, he goes pad
ding about, with a spy-glass under his
arm, stopping here and there; in short,
losing his time and his customers.”
“That’s his aii’air, burgomaster; what
would you have me do in it?”
“ But he makes his wife unhappy,"
urged the burgomaster.
“ What! is lie married ?’’
“ \ es, to the daughter of a draper, a
very worthy and well-to-do-man.”
“ . much the better; Schnaps will
come in for some ol his father-in-law’s
money.”
“Yes; but he’ll soon see the end of
it.”
“With his spy-glass?”
“ i but with his experiments.
Imagine, doctor—lie’s established him
self ill his cellar, and fabricates there
the deuce only knows wliat, If, by
chance, you throw a look through’the
grating, you find his spy-glass leveled at
you; Schnaps eyes you with a roar of
laughter—and when noon comes, his
wife is obliged to call out to him at least
four times: ‘llans! Hans! the soup is
ready 1’ ”
“ Poor woman, she is very much to be
pitied 1”
Tho burgomaster suspected that 1 was
making fun ol him, but he pretended
not to see it, and proposed that we
should share a pot of beer together. 1
accepted his invitation, and we talked
of other matters.
'1 hese odd revelations, however, did
not tlie less take hold of my attention.
What the deuce was Schnaps about in
his cellar? B hat was the meaning of
the spy-glass leveled at tho grating?
Was it a joke, or reallv some serious
experiment? All this kept running in
my head, and, a tew days later, I went
to the shop (or the express purpose of
finding out what I could. It was about
nine o’clock. Madame Schnaps, a dry
and nervous little woman, with dull
ey A S ’.„ featuro3 generally insignificant
anti ill put together, anti cap set awry
upon her head—one of those beings
who, without speaking a word, contrive
to suggest the idea that they are victims
—Madame Schnaps received me behind
the counter.
“ Dear matiame.” I said to her, bow
ing graciously, with lifted hat, “ Dear
madame, where can I find your bus
band, Monsieur Schnaps?”
“ In the cellar,” she answered, with a
pointed smile.
“So early !”
The excellent creature appeared
charmed by my manner, and raising
her eyes directed me to a door on the
left.
I hastened along the passage, and
succeeded, after a good deal of stum
bling on the dark stairs, in reaching the
stone-paved lloor of the laboratory.
It was really a cellar, hut high, wide,
spacious, and perfectly dry; filled with
gigantic telescopes, mirrors of all kinds
fiat, spherical, parabolical—prisms,
crystals, and burning glasses, mounted
on tripod stands ; in short, the whole
apparatus of an optician.
Hans Schnaps turned in surprise on
hearing me descending.
“Mai ha! ha!” he cried, “it’s you.
Dr. Benedum I Glad to see you.”
He came toward me with open arms.
But, stretching forth my hand with a
tragic gesture—
“ Halt! halt!” 1 cried, “stop a mo
ment, before we indulge in familiarities.
I come on behalf of the burgomaster to
feel your pulse 1”
He gravely held out his arm to me;
1 placed my thumb oil the artery, and
speaking in a thoughtful tone, and witli
pouted lip, 1 said :
“ Aha! you are not so ill as they say.”
“ 111 1” he cried.
“No; you are not yet wholly out of
your wits."
These words sent him oil’ into such
fits of laughter that Madame Schnaps
leaned over the stairs and peered down
into the cellar with wondering eyes.
“Sophia! Sophia!” cried the apoth
ecary, “ha! ha! ha! Do you know
what they say of me? Ha! ha! ha!
They say I am out of my wits !”
His wife made a grimace, and hurried
away without answering.
Becoming a little more calm, Hans
Schnaps said to me :
“ Take a seat, Dr. Benedum, and toll
me what has procured me the honor of
this visit?”
lie placed an arm-chair for me, and
seated himself on the box of a daguer
n otype apparatus, his long grasshopper
legs sprawled wide apart, his elbows on
his knees, and his pointed heard drawn
out between his bony fingers.
llis was truly a strange physiognomy,
seen by the dim light admitted by the
cellar grating, and tho vague gleams
that faded into shadow amid the thou
sand optical instruments added to the
singularity of the scene.
I simply related to him the conversa
tion I had had with the burgomaster,
and Schnaps far from becoming angry,
I urst into new peals of laughter.
“That animal of a burgomaster,” he
cried, “for whom I have just invented
a new kind of syringe?—a superb dis
covery, doctor! And—lull ha 1 Observe
that spy-glass ; it’s the famous Schnaps’
syringe, unique of its kind I With this
wonderful instrument I am able to ac
complish what has never before been
possible—to syringe the brains of idiots,
imbeciles, cretins, and burgomasters gen
erally! I pour into the body of the
pump a decoction of Voltahe, Shak
speare or Father Malebranclie; I deli
cately introduce into your eye the small
end of the instrument—l press, and,
crack I—you are filled with good sense,
poetry, or metaphysics!’’
“ Aha ! my dear friend,” I said, “ an
excellent joke.”
“ .loke!—not the least in the world.
You are much too sensible, Doctor
Benedum, not to know that our opin
ions depend upon our point of view ; a
miserable beggar, without fire or shel
ter, covered with rags, and with only a
dunghill to lie upon, sees things in a
light very different from that in which
a nabob looks on them ; social order
appear to him detestable, laws ab
surd.”
“ Doubtless, hut”—
“ But,” interrupted Schnaps, “ seat
the fellow at a splendid table, in a
beautiful house, surround him with
odoriferous tlowers and pretty women
in magnificent dresses, feed him on the
daintiest dishes,let him drink Johannis
berg, and place behind his chair a
dozen lacqueys who call him monseig
neur, highness, most eminent, etc.; he’ll
find that all is lor the best in the best of
all possible worlds; social order will ap
pear to him magnificent, and he will
proclaim our laws masterpieces of hu
man wisdom.”
“ Agreed, my dear Schnaps, agreed ;
what you now say is the history of hu
manity; we all look at things through
the great or small end of the spy-glass,
as it may happen. But what the deuce
are you driving at?”
“Ah!” cried the apothecary, “it’s
very simple. From the moment that
all depends on our point of view, the
question of happiness is reduced to
lind the point of view that is the most
agreeable—and that is precisely the
merit of my discovery. Judge lor
yourself.”
He handed me his spy-glass : I applied
it to my eye, and could not refrain from
uttering a cry of admiration. I saw
myself President of tne Scientific Socie
ty of Berlin, plump, ruddy and hearty,
decorated with the Order of Merit, of
the Black Kagle, of the Brown Eagle,
of the lted Eagle, of the Legion of Hon
or. of the Garter, and others besides. I
held the bell, and called people to or
der. Through the windows of the am
phitheater I saw my two-horse caleche
and my footman bedizened with lace.
Further off, 1 saw my mistress, a
premiere ilanseuse, captivated by my
charms, walking under the lindens, a
parasol in her hand—and I said to my
self, “ Benedum ! Benedum ! For
tunate being! sublime genius! great
man !”
A burst of ironical laughter drew me
from this profound contemplation. 1
lowered the spy-glass and found my
self in tho cellar, in front of the apo
thecary, who was watching me, liis
little malicious eyes wrinkled to his
ears.
“ Well, well,” ho said, “what do you
think of that?”
“ Oh, my dear Schnaps,” I exclaimed,
“ let me have it!”
“ A good joke 1” he cried ; “ you for
get that it cost me ten years’ labor to
make it. With this spy-glass the uni
verse belongs to me, after a manner ; I
can see my wife, young, pretty, prepos
sessing; I am always gay, laughing and
contented. This spy-glass lifts me
above the most powerful monarchs of
the world; renders me richer than
Croesus, more omnipotent than Xerxes;
I would not lose it for tho world ! That
is not all ; with this spy-glass 1 can
give myself injected doses of good
sense, poetry, or metaphysics, accord
ing to the requirements of my tempera
ment.”
“ But, in the name of heaven,
Schnaps,” I replied, transported witli
enthusiasm, “ how did you make this
sublime discovery?”
“It is not so marvelous as you be
lieve,” he said, laughing : it is nothing
more nor less than a kaleidoscope, but
a kaleidoscope of a new kind ; instead
of allowing flowers and bits of glass to
fall at hazard it draws them together in
a natural color. In other terms, it is a
combination of the telescope and the
daguerreotype, two instruments which
nature herself has united in our
hands.”
At this moment he took out of his
pocket a small snuff-box, and slowly in
haled a pinch, as if to collect himself,
and then continued:
“ For three years I tried to fix the
solar spectrum on a copper-plate. To
this end I employed chloride of silver, |
An Independent Paper—Devoted to Literature. Mining, Commercial, Agricultural, General and Local News.
FROSTBURG, ALLEGANY COUNTY, MARYLAND, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1871.
bitumen of Judea plunged in oil of lav
ender and petroleum, iodide of silver,
bromide of lime, solid and (luid; in
short, all imaginable chemical combina
tions without obtaining any decisive re
sult. One evening, under the influence
of a more sensitive composition, red,
orange, and violet light appeared to fix
j itself; the plate took vaguely the tints
: ol’ the iris. I was forming the host
opinion of it, when my dear spouse, ac
cording to her immemorial custom,
cried out: ‘Hans! the sou] >is getting
cold! Hans! Ilans! tho soup is get
ting cold! Hans! Hans! Hans! tho
soup is getting cold ! The soup is get
ting cold !’ These cries rasped my
nerves. W hether 1 would or not, I was
obliged to interrupt my experiment. 1
placed the copper-plate on the jut of
the wall you see over there and, which
served me to stand a candle on ; that
done, I went up stairs and quietly seat
ed myself at table.”
“ And what did von sav to your
wife ?”
“ Nothing.”
“ In your place, I should have wrung
her neck.”
The apothecary smiled slily.
“That same night,” he replied, “ af
ter supper, 1 went down again into the
laboratory. Fatigue and weariness of
mind forbade my continuing my labor:
I sat down in that arm chair and fell
asleep. On awaking at ono o’clock
in the morning, I saw that tho candle
had gone out: but tho rays of a star
broke through the grating, and reflect
ed the metallic plate at the far end of
the cellar. While my attention was
fixed on this luminous spot, I was
thinking of my wife; I felt impelled
to correct her ; a thousand little home
discomforts passed through my head;
but at length, tired of these reflections,
T fell off to sleep again. The next day
all was forgotten, till, happening to east
my eyes on the plate, 1 saw there—
what?—my dream of the past night im
printed on it with striking truthful
ness: my wife, tho dining-room, the
clock on the chimney, the windows at
tlie hack, the little yard beyond—my
househouhl interior to the smallest de
tails. Only fancy played in the scene
to a certain extent: I was about to ad
minister correction to Madame
Schnaps I
“Imagine my enthusiasm. I speedily
conceived my spy-glass. I compre
hended that tlie brain of man is like
the eye of the fly, an optical instill
ment with a thousand faucets; that
whatever is reflected in it may come
from it by refraction, and imprint it
self upon a chemical substance, tho se
cret of which I had discovered.
“ Thus, dear Doctor, all your pas
sions, all your desires, all your
thoughts, form themselves in thin spy
glass. You improvise better by a look
than by speech, you materialize instan
taneously the intellectual world moving
within your mind.”
This discovery seemed to me miracu
lous.
“ Master Schnaps extraordinary
man !” I cried, “ sutler me to embrace
you. Greater than the pyramid of
Cheops, your memory will descend
through the coming ages, and shine in
the future like a star of the first mag
nitude. But I beg of you to enlighten
me on one point. How can you inject
doses of philosophy, or of any other
science ?”
“ In this manner,” replied Schnaps,
highly flattered by my compliments;
“ hut first allow me to place before you
some general considerations of the
highest interest. You may have re
marked, Benedum, that great philoso
phers, great mathematicians, great
poets, and generally all great ideologists,
end miserably. Scoll’ed at during their
lives, dishonored, despised, and some
times even hunted like wild beasts,
they become, after their death, the prey
of a certain class of individuals known
under the name of practical men. A
great deal of beautiful sentiment has
been written, during the last three
thousand years, against this use of
genius by mediocrity; but that does
not prevent things going on, at the
present time, exactly as they went on
in the days of Homer, Pythagoras, So
crates, and many other celebrated
ideologists; ‘they persecute, they kill
them,’ safe to make for themselves
reputations, and to coin money out of
their discoveries! All this is passably
melancholy and distressing, I admit,
Doctor ; hut at bottom nothing is more
simple and I will even say more natural.
For an idea to succeed in this world, it
must have the support of the masses.
Now the masses, who don’t know how
to raise themselves to the light of the
pure ideal, admirably understand the
ideal materialized, that is to say, fact.
This is the sole source of tho pretended
power of practical men over over ideo
logues. Those fellows are rich, power
ful; they govern the world, statutes are
erected to them. Why ? —because they
set it down to imbecility that any poor
devil of a great man should ever die of
hunger in a garret. Is that true, yes or
no?”
“ It’s positive, Master Schnaps.”
“Well,” continued the apothecary,
with an ironical smile, “my spy-glass
will suppress the practical men and re
store to the ideologues the superiority
which is their due ; it will materialize
ideas, and put them in direct commu
nication with the masses ! Let us sup
pose, for example, that I wish to take a
lavement in metaphysics; 1 apply my
eye to the lens. You read Kant to me,
and in the proportion and to the extent
to which 1 hear you, and his reasoning
enters my head, will it pass forth from
my eyes, and print itself upon tlie pre
pared plate; it will materialize itself,
take bodily form ; I see it, it is real,
positive ; I can have no doubt of its ex
istence, since it is recognized by my
senses; and this result is obtained by
my lavement.”
While Schnaps was explaining to me
this great mystery, a furious desire to
possess the spy-glass seized on me.”
“ My dear friend,” I said to him, “ I
hope you will make several of these
spy-glasses. Such a discovery belongs
to entire humanity.”
“To humanity!” he cried; “ I should
like to know what humanity has done
forme! It has treated me as a mad
man, it has compelled me to live with
an insupportable wife, it would have
left me to die of starvation, like so
many other inventors, if I had not had
the resource of selling drugs.”
“ But you will obtain public consider-
ation—universal esteem and admira
tion.
“ What do I care for tho admiration
of a heap of idiots ?” cried the apothe
cary. “ Take away from them the dis
coveries of (iuttenberg, Galileo, Newton,
and Volta, and there would be nothing
left but a troop of asses on their knees
before a sabre. The admiration of such
people ! No, no! Let humanity make
spy-glasses for itself, I shall keep mine
and use it for my own satisfaction."
I was indignant at such selfishness.
“ Master Schnaps," I replied, repress
ing my anger, “permit me to tell you
that your reasoning is absurd. You
make sublime spy-glasses—very good;
but others cultivate the land, sow, reap,
grind the grain for us. and bring bread
to our houses ; others make medicines,
others clothes and shoes, others procure
for us wine, beer, tobacco, none of
which things.you disdain. We are all
bound one to the other, Master Schnaps;
therefore,"—
While 1 was developing this thesis,
the apothecary looked at me through
his spy-glass.
“Aha!" he cried, interrupting me, “I
see what you want. You care very little
for humanity. What you want is my
spy glass; but you shan't have it. Ila !
ha! ha!”
On this he shut it up like a spring hat,
placed it in a box, which he carefully
locked, then turning to me with a ban
tering air, said :
“ You'll not put that up to your nose
any more. That will be a lesson to you,
and teach you, for the future, not to
play the hypocrite, and preach the gos
pel for your own profit. You’re a sly
dog, I>r. Henedum—a philanthropist!
I don’t like people of that kind. Oblige
me by departing by the way you came.”
The blood mounted to my face. I
felt a terribly strong desire to chastise
Hans Schnaps, who watched me with a
cunning expression in his eyes, and in
solently pointed to the door; but I all
at once recollected that the two boys in
the shop above were a pair of thick-set
fellows, and prudently retired.
Since then I removed from Muyence
to come and live in Nuremberg, and for
nearly two years have not seen llans
Schnaps. 1 think he still goes about
the streets in his rusty cent, with his
spy-glass under his aim ; at least, so
burgomaster Zaeharias recently told me
in a letter, and 1 have no doubt of the
fact.
What a pity that such a magnificent
secret should be in tho hands of such a
fool !
A tiling strange and worthy of re
mark is, that men of good sense have
never invented anything; it is the fools
who, up to the present time, have made
all tho great discoveries.
A Dog Story from the “Hub/'
From the Boston Herald.
Mr. Kdward Watts, a well known citi
zen residing at. No. 2.'i Harvard street,
tells a very remarkable story about a
pair of English bull terriers that he
owns and prizes very highly. lie says,
and Officer Coombs of the fourth Sta
tion vouches for the truth of the story,
that one day last week he had occasion
to go from his house to Portland street,
a good mile, for the purpose of paying
a small bill. Arriving at Portland
street with the dogs, he met the man
he wished to see on the sidewalk, and
there paid the bill, at the time drop
ping a S2O bill on the curb stone, though
lie knew nothing about it till his arrival
home, some two hours afterward, and
after calling at several places on his
way home. Finding this 820 bill gone,
he took his dogs and started back,
calling at the places he visited on his
way home. On reaching Sudbury street
he called his dog Jess, showed him a
820 bill, looked about as if hunting for
it, and told the dog to “ smell it out.”
The dog then started off with liis nose
to the ground in front of his master,
and pushing round into Portland street,
where they had been before, and where
the bill was paid, lie stopped, poked
about the dirt with his nose and in a
few minutes ran up to his master with
the lost S2O bill in his mouth. That
looks like a very tough story, but if
truthful men are to be believed then is
this story true.
Transforming n White Man into a
Negro.
That the skin of the Ethiopian is
tolerably secure from change has ever
been an undisputed fact, yet according
to the most recent revelations of science
such is the case no longer. A San
Francisco doctor lias discovered a pro
cess by which a white man can be
transformed into a negro, which is cer
tainly no less remarkable than that the
African should bo converted into a
white man. 'The surgical operation,
that has become so common since its
recent discovery, of transplanting a
portion of skin from some other part of
the body, or even from some other per
son, to an ulcer, for the purjio.se of start
ing a new growth of cuticle, was jier
formed upon the arm of a white man
of 25 years, and a ruddy comjilexion,
the borrowed cuticle having been taken
from the arm of a full-blooded negro.
The experiment was a success, so far as
the ulcer was concerned, hut to the
horror of the victim the black skin is
sjireading rapidly, and the jileasing
probability is that he will soon become
a negro. Of courso a corresjionding
ojieration on a negro might go far to
ward making him what our Southern
friends call “Caucasian.”
The mystery of the “ frozen well” at
Brandon, in which water remains fro
zen during the hot months of the sum
mer, has never been satisfactorily ex
jilained. It was supposed that the
freezing was due to the dissolution of
some material in the water, or to elec
tricity, but it is found, by chemical an
alysis, that the water holds nothing in
solution which would account for its
temperature, and the electric needle
fails to show any current of electricity.
Tne opinion is that the ice in summer
is caused by the freezing of the gravel
lied during the previous winters, and
that the cold gets fastened in, in some
incomprehensible manner, and the ice
just stays through the summer.
A sewage scheme has been adopted
by the corporation of Birmingham, Eng
land, to exclude injurious matter from
the sewers, and to purify the sewage by
filtration upon an area of nine hundred
acres of land. The cost of the scheme
is estimated at 81,500,000.
The National Finanees—Annual Report
of (Jen. Spinner.
The annual report of tile t’nited
States Treasurer shows the condition of
the Treasury as it was at the close of
the fiscal year, which ended with June
13, 1871, and is addressed to the Secre
tary of the Treasury. He says, in rela
tion to the new loan, that under the
Secretary's commission he visited dur
tho past season the principal cities of
Great Britain, Saxony, Baden, Bavaria,
Wurtemberg, Austria, Bohemia, Switzer
land, and France. For tho jiurjiosc of
aiding in the negotiation of the new
loan he called ujion the agents ajipoint
ed by the Government, with a view to
ascertain tho stejis already taken by
them in regard to its negotiation, anil
made them such suggestions as seemed
expedient to place the subject in a
favorable light before the European
public. With tho same view lie called
ujion our Embassadors, Ministers, Con
suls, and commercial agents, and upon
many bankers and financial men in the
countries named. Through this inter
course with all kinds of jiersons who
were well informed upon such subjects,
lie learned that the time for jilacing
our new loan in Eurojiean markets was
an unfavorable one for its success. It
was too late, and too soon. Had Con
gress given the Secretary authority to
negotiate this loan before the breaking
out of the late war between France and
Germany, it would have been all taken
at once at that time; but later, the
bonds of several other governments
were in these markets, and were offered
at rates much more favorable to the
jnirchaser than those authorized by
Congress for the negotiation of our
loan. An almost insujierable difficulty
in the way of the negotiation of our loan
was the low rate of commissions.
It is, however a source of gratification
that by the Secretary’s own act, and
Judge Richardson’s adroit management,
all obstacles were removed, and the
loan was disjiosed of at a day much
earliar than Gen. Spinner—who had
looked over the whole ground—had
supposed Jiossible. It is, therefore, not
to be wondered at that even our friends
at home should have disbelieved in
what is now known to bo an accom
jJished fact. The enemies of the Gov
ernment, he says, are not even now
satisfied : and would perhaps be equally
dissatisfied whether the loan was or was
not taken. The eavilers are now silenced
by the fact known to all well informed
persons, l hat all the five jier cent stocks
offered by tho .Secretary have been
taken, and that the Government has
now none for sale.
Many of our jieople, he says, object
to making the interest on our loans
payable in a foreign country, alleging
as a, reason that it lowers the dignity of
our money transactions. If there is
any loss of dignity it occurs at the bor
rowing of the money, and not with the
payment of the interest thereon.
'l’lie delays of banks in making their
semi-annual returns and in the {lay
men t of the duty referred to in his last
annual report, have increased during
the last fiscal year. Mo* of the na
tional banks jiay the tax due from them
promjitly within the time specified by
law, ami treat this requirement as they
do other obligations against their re
spective institutions. But there are
other banks that have been careless if
not wilfully and habitually negligent in
making their returns and paying the
duty due from them to the Govern
ment. For the jirotection of tho Treas
ury against the growing evil he respect
fully renews the recommendations of
his last annual report that a percentage
ujion such duty be added to it for every
ten days’ delay in jiayment, after the
expiration of the one month’s time now
allowed by law. Legal enactments,
giving authority to his office to add one
jier cent to the duty due from banks,
for every ten days’ delay after the time
fixed by law for its jiayment, would
seem to be tho most effective measuro
to insure prompt payments of the duty.
Gen. Spinner concludes his rejiort as
follows : “ Without the least intention
or desire to throw blame upon any other
officer, it is due to the officers of the
Treasury that the emphatic declaration
should be made that for tile deification
of an officer belonging to another do
jiartment of the Government, neither
this office, nor any one emjiloyed in it,
is in any way responsible, as will ho
clearly made to apjiear should a legal
investigation of the whole matter
(which is desired on my jiart) ever be
made. The lisoal year has ended with
out the loss of a single cent to the
Treasury by the act or by the negligence
of an employe in this oflice. For this
and lor other escajies from loss I hope
that I am truly thankful and grateful
to that power that has now again, as in
the jiast, shielded me from personal
harm and the nation from consequent
jiecuniary loss.”
The appendix shows the hooks of the
office were closed June 30 last, after the
entry of all monies received and dis
bursed on authorized warrants within
the fiscal year, as follows :
Balance in Treasury from
lust year $149,502,471.60
Received, formeny credited
as available 3,3%. 13
Received from Loans $120,020,626.90
Received from Customs 206,270.403.0.6
From Internal Revenue 143,0%,153.63
From Lands 2,388,646.63
From War 22,837,092.04
From the Navy 3,203,648.42
From the Interior 814,678.91
From miscellaneous 32.165,226.89
Total receipts for tho
fiscal year $831,393,481.52
Total $980,904,319.30
Paid on account of Public
Debt $634,910,114.51
on account of the Army 58,637,083.36
< >r the Navy 22.634,675.63
Of tho Interior 42,685,571.23
of the Treasury (proper).... 24.259,851.93
Of Customs 17,037,452.40
of too Treasury (Interior).. 5.479,247.54
of Internal Revenue 9,128,164.23
Of Diplomatic 1,661,063.22
Of Quarterly Sula/ies 708,748.84
Of War (civil branch) 924,386.11
Of the Judiciary 2,911,507.51
Total expenditures for
the fiscal year $870,986,872.06
Balance in the Treasury at
tho close of the fiscal year $109,917,477.24
Balance $980,904,349.30
[Noth.—Tho above includes transfers between ap
propriations and repayments.]
On J une 30 the number of national
banks that had deposited securities of
the United States with this office pre
liminary to their organization was 1,698.
The number of new banks organized
during the last fiscar year was 141. The
total number of banks on June 30,
1871, was 1,830.
The colored people in Gainsville, Ga.,
regulate their timepieces by a wooden
watch used as a .jeweler’s sign.
Foreign Note*. 1
A woman at Breslau has been sen
tenced to four years’ imprisonment, for
sending three young ladies to the
United .States, under the false pretext
of securing positions as governesses in
good families for them.
A beautiful piece of Woman mosaic
pavement has been recently found at a
depth of twelve feet under a carpen
ter's shop in Cordova, Spain. Only a
portion of it has been laid hare, hut so
far as exposed it consists of four female
figures, supposed to represent the sea
sons. Each hit of mosaic is less than a
quarter of an inch square, and consists
of marbles of almost every shade of
color. The work is of beautiful tinish,
and in an excellent stato of preserva
tion.
A sign of the times—One of the dra
matic censors of Paris recently con
demned a play because it made threats
at the Emperor. “ But,” argued the
author, “the Emperor is dethroned.
“ He may come back,” was the censor's
reply, and his judgment had to stand.
A very fine specimen of the rough
diamond, as found at the Cape of Good
Hope, was recently offered at a jewelry
sale in London. The stone weighed
over 23 carats, and appeared to give
every promise of becoming, under the
cutter’s hand, a fine brilliant. It was
knocked down, after a sharp competi
tion, at $3,350.
'idle Government of the Bey of Tunis
is probably the most brutal in the world.
The attention of the Turkish Govern
ment—to which the Bey is subject—has
recently been drawn to affairs in Tunis,
and it has ordered the Bey to abolish
corporal punishment in his dominions.
In iiis rescript to the Bey, the Grand
Vizier says, “ This practice is brutal and
cruel, and it has been carried to excess
in Tunis.”
An enterprising Birmingham (Eng
land) firm which purchased for “a
mere song” a great quantity of the
French arms taken by the Prussians in
the late war, has already sold back to
the French Government cliassepots to
the value of £50,000.
A guild of ladies is proposed in Eng
land, under the leadership of Miss Har
rison Swange, Dorsetshire, “ to promote
modesty of dress, to do away with ex
travagance, and substitute the neatness
and sobriety suitable to Christian
women.
The Queen of Holland recently went
in state to the Vatican, where the Pope
conversed with herfor nearly two hours.
After presenting her suite to the Holy
Father, the Queen visited Cardinal
Antonelli. At the Vatican they attach
great importance to this visit of a Pro
testant princess to the head of the
Catholic Church.
The King of Italy is in treaty with
the Duke Grazioli for the purchase of
his magnificent villa Castel Porziano, a
short distance from Ostia, on the shore
of the Mediterranean. The Duke wants
0,000,000 francs for it, and the King has
ottered 4,500,000. It is believed that it
will be bought for about 5,000,000 in the
end. Castel Porziano is a place admir
ably fitted for field sports.
President Thiers Promises to Uphold
the French Republic.
M. Thiers received on the 20th ult.
the members of the Council General of
the Department of the Seine-et-Oise,
upon which occasion lie spoke as fol
lows i
“ You have all of you well understood
me when I say that 1 am not a man of
party. 1 am a Frenchman intrusted
with the task of helping the country to
emerge from a cruel crisis. I am not
the author of the Republic, hut 1 have
received it as a trust. lam a man of
honor, and that trust shall not perish in
my hands nor through any deed of
mine; but the mistrust which the lie
public inspires in many demands from
all Republicans a strong attachment to
the cause of order. The Republic has
need to be wiser than a monarchy, and
to show that it can exist side by side
with order and respect for the laws.
The Government was energetic and
resolute in the war which 1 was forced,
although with a bleeding heart, to wage
against the insurgents of Paris. It
wishes now to be moderate, but it will
not allow any one to disturb order, since
public peace is indispensable to liberate
our country. We must inspire confi
dence in foreigners, and prove to them
that France is recovering, so that they
may go and free our soil. Wo have not
been able to regain our glory at the
point of the sword. We must hasten
our liberation by work and order—by
efforts and sacritices on the part of all.”
A Dissatisfied Bachelor.
A correspondent of the Cincinnati
Gazette has some odious things to say in
favor of what he chooses to call “ Men’s
Rights.” “ I am,” he says, “a bachelor,
31 years of age, in sound health, and in
receipt of a salary of $1,500 per year,
and, therefore, a good match for any
woman, no matter who she may be; yet
1 remain unmarried from principle, and
will remain single until the laws are so
altered as to make me master of my
own home. I am the owner of real
estate acquired by my own labor. I do
not mean to allow any woman to con
trol me in the disposal of that property
simply because she should happen to be
my wife. She would have (lone noth
ing toward earning that property, and,
therefore, have no moral right in its
sale. Any law giving her a dower third
is simply a fraud on me, the more so as
the law does not give mo any dower
thi.d in her property. And then the
ceremony now-a-days, called marriage,
does not give me a wife ; it merely gives
me a woman who can leave me when
ever she pleases. I cannot keep her
against her wishes. She may go back
to her father or elsewhere, and 1 can’t
compel her to come back ; but should I
leave her for any reason she can have
me arrested and compel me to support
her. Such a thing is one-sided and un
fair. A woman held, by such a loose tie
is not, in my opiniovr, a wife in the holy
way a decent man has shrined in his
thoughts. The laiys have degraded her
into a concubine.’*
Saginaw co-jjjtv, Mich., rather prides
itself on cor p U ] en t infants. The latest
arrival in thjtt line kicks the beam at
18 pou fl j 3) ani [ when he inquires for
l' le ,P.aregorio during the lone watches
of *.ne night, he can be heard with great
'distinctness ten hlo<jks.
Editors and Proprietors.
NUMBER 12.
! Culex in Carmine.
BY 11. T. BTAKTON.
When so.*?'* migratory clouds,
Broke upon thw leafy shrouds,
Where the insects’ lay in crowds :
And a melancholy rain.
On the sounding window pane,
Beut it* funeral refrain ;
Through a crevice in the sash.
Where the spatter and the dash.
Made his purpose very rash,
A nionouito, lean and thin.
From tne drowning and the din,
Undertook to flutter in—
And a crazy shutter’s wing,
Made the hanging blossom.* fling.
Such a flood upon his wing.
That ho rather fell than flew.
And was fairly driven through.
By the gusty wind that blow.
'Twas the chamber of a maid.
Who, her perfectness displayed—
In a measure disarrayed ;
For a taper in the gloom,
Of the curtained, quiet room.
Showed a woman in her bloom —
And the mellow light was shed.
On her bosom and her head,
In the splendor of her bed.
In a golden current there,
Kan her undulating hair.
From tho polished shoulder bare.
Splendid type of angel sleep !
Fairer than the pillow’s heap.
Lying thero in silenco deep—
Who will blame him while he dip?.
From the vintage of her lips.
Redder wino than Bacchus sips ?
Less impassioned things of earth.
Seeing such, would know their worth,
Feel it in a fever birth.
Any statue, wanting life.
Nearing lips so passion-rife,
Soon would wake to pulsing strife.
So the glad mosquito sank
Joyous on the fruity tank.
And to utter fullness drunk.
*##*****#•
Better far the cruel rain,
Thrumming on the window pane.
Fell upon his wing again—
Better far the shutter’s swing.
(’aught his cousin-crying wing.
Nevermore to let it sing.
Bettor ho hail known a drouth
In the marshes of the South,
Than the nectar of her mouth.
Earlv morning, fair and sweet.
Found him helpless on a sheet—
Glassy eye and icy feet.
Butterfly and humble bee.
For the coroner’s decree.
Early came the corpse to see—
Laid him out upon the floor,
Scanned his body o’er and o’er
As it never was before.
After consultation slow.
Pro and con, and so and so
There they let the insects know :
“ This mosquito, lying dead.
By the female in that bed,
Pizened was with carmine red 1”
Current Item*.
Persons at Red Oak, lowa, are buying
corn at 15 cents per bushel to use us
fuel, being cheaper than coal.
Tiie latest agony among fashionable
New York youth is to wear a small
thermometer on the side of the hat.
Tiif. water in Lake Huron is lower
than at any time before within the
remembranco of the oldest inhabitant.
Two hundred and odd Nashvillians
use their teeth to gnash villanous
opium. No, we forget; they use the
gum.
A .1 edge in lowa attempted to settle
the disputed ownership of a calf Solo
mon-fashion, by depositing the animal
midway between the residences of the
contesting parties, and noting the direc
tion it took. The calf,who was not posted
in the Scriptures, cocked his tail and
hounded over the fence, and was in
the next township before the counsel
had time to move an arrest of judg
ment.
Tub Houston County (Minn.) Democrat
confirms the statement that a man at
Spring Grove, in that county, is turning
into stone. His name is Harmon Sil
verson. He is completely petrified in
all his limbs and body—the only excep
tion being a portion of his mouth,
throat, and eyes. He has a good appe
tite, eats, and prays day and night for
the Lord to deliver him from this terri
ble affliction. He is perfectly helpless.
The process of petrifaction commenced
some time last spring in his feet and
knees, since which time it has gradually
increased.
Darwinian Retrogression.
A New Zealand correspondent of the
San Francisco Alta is responsible for
the following story :
However strange Mr. Darwin's theory
—that man is descended from a mon
key—may seem to be to many, the fol
lowiiiL' particulars in the early history
of one of the present members of Par
liament for New Zealand arc related in
all sober earnestness in Southern papers.
Mr. B.’b early life was spent in the wilds
of South Africa. When a mere infant
he was one day laid peacefully at rest
at the door of his woodland home. Ilis
worthy parent, near the cabin, shot the
otfspring of a large monkey, at which
the feelings of the all’ectionate mamma
were of course much wounded. She
was, however, driven away by the ap
proaching hunter, and, in passing tlie
cabin door, noticed and stole the future
New Zealand legislator. The loss was
not discovered for nearly an hour after
ward, and then all efforts to find the
robber proved unavailing. Three
months after this period a hunting
party came across a family of monkeys
in the wilderness, and there, in the
arms of the careful, although untutored,
wet-nurse, was the long-lost child, who
chatted and jibbered in the most ap
proved monkey fashion, apparently
fully equal to the exigencies of the
situation. Could there be any more
convincing evidence than this, of the
affinity of our race, and those hardy
denizens of the woods ?
It is seldom that any one wants a
dead man's shoes, hut those of the mur
derer Wilson are now preserved at the
Hartford police headquarters. They
are the same he wore when captured
after the Brown-Tliomson robbery, and
in the soles of which he concealed the
knife with which he murdered Warden
Willard. They are also the shoes which
were stuffed full of hash and exhibited
in the court, and in which he finally
walked to the gallows.
A Chinese drama, now running in
San Francisco, has been in progress one
hundred and sixty-four years in China,
and twelve years in this country, and
has only got to the middlo of the sec
ond act. A little is played every
night. __
A i.adv editor in Wisconsin advertises
in her own paper for a husband. She
says he must be a printer and possess
means sufficient to buy a new press.