Iowa County democrat. [volume], April 25, 1879, Image 6

About Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938

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THE AUSTRALIAN WILDS.
Their Proposed Exploration
New York Gruplilc Interview.
Sir Thomas Elder,who has just passed
through New York on his way to Aus
tralia via San Francisco, has success
fully eluded the reporters. Jt is to he
regretted tnal a gentleman who has it
in his power to imparl much valuable
and interesting information regarding
the condition and progress of Australia
should be of so retiring and modest a
disposition. The queen of England lias
been pleased to confer the dignity of
knighthood on him in recognition of his
services. The commander of the new
Australian exploring expedition, Lieut.
Young, was visited at his rooms in
Twenty -sixth street, and notwithstand
ing he was deep in the mysteries
of a mathematical problem, kindly put
aside his books and prepared to answer
any questions his visitor might ask.
“What is the object of sending out
this expedition?"
“As the squatter’s herds increase and
the government resumes his land, in
order that the cockatoo (tanner) may
cultivate the soil, new pastures must lie
found for cattle and sheep. Thus the
squatter's frontier is forced further and
further hushward every year. This
opening of the interior Ims hoen Kir
Thomas' liohhy fur years. Me Inis spent
an immense amount of money and
lime in gratifying his fancy, and 1 am
very glad to see that other countries im
prove of his munificence hy honoring
him with their hospitality and honor.
Me certainly lias done a great deal for
the furtherance of geography, liolany,
geology, natural history, etc,"
“You have explored Australia before,
have you not, Mr, Young?”
“Yes. I had the pleasure to he as
tronomer to the expedition under com
mand ol Ernest (tiles, in 1H74,"
“Were you successful?"
“Perfectly! Thanks to the admirable
manlier in which wo were equipped,
and the wonderful staying powers of
the camel, we went across between the
Ulllli and .‘loth parallel of latitude to
Perth, on the west coast. Most of the
country was sand, spiinfex, and flats,
perfectly useless at present, hut science
may bring it into r< quisilion some day,
I fail to sec how, at present, though."
“I have always understood that you
have great didie.ully in (hiding water.
Is that the case?"
“That is generally the explorers most
anxious problem. Where to find water
is his lirst thought in the morning and
his last at night, as also during the day,
and lie dreams of it at night. On one
occasion—the last lime we traveled no
less than 517 miles without water, ex
cept that it rained on the eleventh day,
enabling us to bridge over Ibis long
stretch of dry country. After the
shower we had !ll!7 miles, which look
us seventeen days to do, without (hid
ing water, over hoi, burning sand, spun
fex and thick 'crub some seventeen to
twenty-two n et high.”
M)(. you use horses as well ns camels?"
“Wo tried to, hut they do not travel
well together. The horses died of
thirst, though they each had a bucket
of water every morning, which the
camels carried for them."
“Arc there any large wild animals in
the country you are going to explore?"
“1 think not. Crocodiles and alliga
tors, wild dogs Wild iiiarsmiiids are the
only larger animals. Snakes arc, of
course, plentiful, as (hoy are all over
the tropics.”
“What will ho the greatest dillleulty
you will have lo contend against?"
“There you bother me. A traveler
never looks for dillloullies ought to he
always prepared for them, and takes
them as they come. And if wo know
what wo should have to contend with,
there would he no merit in going.”
Is anything known of the country you
are to explore?"
"No! Otherwise it would hardly be
an exploration. We know that there
are rivers and creeks (lowing into the
sea, and we know that these water chan
nels must, have some water-shed, and
where there is water there is generally
good pastoral country. It is this good
country 1 hope to find,"
“Do you meet with many natives,
*ml are they troublesome?"
“I hope to find plenty, for in Austra
lia, where there are natives, (here is wa
ter. 1 opine they will not give us much
trouble. Our superiority of weapons
ami the grotesque I mures we present to
their uncivilized minds keeps them dis
creet."
•‘1 believe you Iniil omi or two brush
es with (lii'ni on your last x|>tlilion? M
“Yes, lull wo always got (ho hotter ol
them, although at tiiuoa (hoy worn
Iwonly to ouo, Thoir spears, boomer
.vugs, aial wooiloii swords too osoloss
against our Snydor and W'iuohostor re
l maters."
“How manv moil will vonr part v con
sist of?"
“Siv or even. The more moo wo
lake tho more provisions wo havo to
carry and tho moro water wo havo to
thul."
“ Do you anticipate having to travel
through a malarious country or sand,
as on your previous (rip V”
** We shall probably havo some of all
sorts. In folloiviug down the rivers and
river hods there is generally more or
less fever, hut I don't want to anticipate
anything had."
" Arc tln> natives unite uncivilized'.'"
“ Yes; they have never seen or heard
of white men, fire-arms, or any animal
larger than a Kangaroo, and their sur
prised look on seeing these may he im
agined.”
“ How manv camels and how much
provision shall you takif"
“ Knur camels to each man, and proh
ahly one year’s supple of food.”
" How do you manage for water when
on a protracted march?"
" Tho water camels carry two fifteen
gallon barrels of water each. There
will he about four of them, besides sev-1
eral small hags ol water distributed in |
dillerent parts of the loads.”
“ Are the camels imported ?"
“ Yes; they wore imported from Him
racheo, hut originally came fromOahnl.
Sir Thomas has some COO or OIK) of
them and some twenty-three Afghans
to look after thorn.”
"Do Afghan camel-drivers go with
you ?’’
"Ono only; if more go they are apt
to want too much power.”
“Will the learned societies of the
world derive much information from
the results of the expedition.
“Undoubtedly. Botanical, geoogil
cal, natural history, and other speci
mens will he collected, and most likely,
ns on previo >a journeys, Ilia proceeds
presented to museums after their char
acteristics have been published in the
archives of the society to which they
belong. Besides which indications of
mineral deposits are certain to he
found."
I lie French National Flag.
Probably no national ling Ims under
gone so many vicissitudes as that of
Franco, which Ims lately been the sub
ject of oflicial consideration. It was in
4!)8 that Clovis, first King of Franco,
chose for his standard the cope, or
cloak, of Ht, Martin. Ht. Martin, of
Hunganan origin, was elected Bishop
of Tours in 574, and died about 400.
The first saint .to whom the Roman
! Church offered public veneration, ho is
alleged to have divided his cloak with a
naked beggar at Amiens, and this,
being miraculously preserved, became
a most precious reue, and in war was
carried before the monarch. The word
for it in French being chape, the ora
tory in wbielijit was deposited came to
bo called a c/uipdlc, ana its custodian a
c/uiptlier. It will llms be seen that tbe
banners of knigbls have a very ap
propriate resting-place in lioly fanes, as
in the chapel of St. George, at Wind
sor, and the cathedral of Kt. i’atrick,
at Dublin. St. Martin’s standard,
which succeeded the cope, was the
richest of tbe flags ever borne by
France. It was made of talfrty—a
kind of rich, glossy silken stuff em
broidered with the effigy of thesainl.
Under I’hilip Augustus the royal stand
ard was while, thickly powdered with
golden lilies, and remained so until the
time of Charles Vi., when it invariably
consisted of three golden fleurs-de-lis
on an azure field, with a while cross in
tbe middle. In tbe middle ages ibe
hoisting of a white flag was regarded as
significant of defeat, or as signifying in
the case of the besieged that they
needed help; but, strange to say, it
subsequently became in France ilie
personal ensign of eolonels-gener
als, odicors of very high grade,
until Louis XIV., thinking that
these gentlemen took too much upon
themselves, suppressed the rank, and
assumed the white Hag himself. In
178'.t the white standard gave place to
the tri-color. There have been several
versions of the origin of this renowned
ensign, but that lately given by the
Journal Ihn Dthuht, and copied by tbe
Journal (IffhJel, is to the effect that Ca
mille Desmoulins, having snatched a
poplar leaf from the garden of the Pa
lais Royal, held it up before the excited
crowd, and proposed green us the na
(ional color, telling them that they
must have an emblem whereby lo rec
ognize eaeli other. But then it. was re
membered that green was the livery of
the Count D’Artois, the most delisted
of the royal families. Subsequently, it,
was resolved to take the colors of the
City of Pails, the red and blue, which
hud already figured in popular move
ments, and the while was added in de
ference to the semi-loyal National tl mud
at Paris. After the Bast,ilesurrendered,
Dully and Lafayette formally present
ed Louis XVI., with a Iri-eolorcockade
in the hall ol' tim Motel de Ville, ami it
heeame the national ensign hy legisla
tive decree. The standard of Napoleon
1. was a gulden eagle on an a/.ure field,*
studded with golden bees. What was
known as the Flag of Elba., which in
ISI I he presented to the National (inanl,
and used next year in Franco, is now
how are the mighty fallen!—at Mine.
Tussivnd’s waxworks in London, togeth
er with his traveling carriage, taken at
Waterloo, and many other interesting
relies. It is tri-color, embroidered with
silver, and was taken hy the Prussians.
The Imperial standard of the Second
Empire was the Iri-eolor, powdered with
gulden bees, with the eagle of the em
pire <m the white. The visitor to Wind
sor sees in tlietinard Chamber two lit
tie French lings of considerable historic
interest. Over tho bust of John Chur
chill, lirst Duke ul Marlborough, n the
white flag of (tie Bourbons; over that of
Arthur Wellesley, lirst Duke of Wel
lington, is the tri-color. They are re
newed every year on the anniversaries
ol Blenheim ami Waterloo, and are the
tenure hy which the descendants of
these warriors hold the estates given
(bom by their country.
Tun following story is (old of Con
gressman Morrison, of Illinois: Three
years ago Morrison was lying very ill at
Willard’s Hotel, and his life was des
paired of. Two of his colleagues were
ivatehing with him, and in the middle
of the night Morrison revived some
what. from a stupor in which he had
been lying for several days, and asked:
“ I )oi •stlie doetor think I'm going to I
die ?"
" No, I guess not," was the reply,
“ you're coming out all right."
“ I'm glad of that,” said Morrison,
with a breath of relief. “I have been
lying here thinking and thinking, afraid
to ask that question lest you might say
I had to die. I'd hate to die in con
gress."
"Why?"
“ All the blank fools in congress will
want to deliver eulogies on me If 1
do din 1 want Springer to oiler the
usual resolutions, and I'd like to have
him and Fort and Jon Dilution make
speeches; hut when Sparks gels up I
want yon all to cough him down, and
he sure to tell Springer to call the previ
ous question on the resolutions before
that ass Harrison gets a ehauee to say
anything."
If Morrison had not recovered, these
would have been his la.-t words
<'ll riovitit's of ('oiTespoinb'iiee.
Ni >\ York UoirtUU
I Fi'\v people outside the profits on of
journalism can know tlio extraordinary
character of the correspondence that
daily reaches the mail bag of a mavs
paper. From tin' letter of Iho man
who had personal grievances to avenge,
and asks (or satisfaction through the
columns of a paper by asking that the
crimes of his enemies ho made public,
to that of Iho individual who believes
ho has discovered the means of revolu
tionizing science, there is a gradation
with which every journalist is familiar.
AERONAUTICS.
Frof. King to Make an Attempt in ISSO
to Cross the Atlantic in a Balloon.
Philadelphia, April 5.
To the I'ldilor of the New York Herald: —
I trust that you will allow me, through
your widely-circulated columns, space
in which to make a statement to the
public of my plans and purposes dur
ing the coming season. For a period of
nearly thirty years I have made
a study and practice or aerial naviga
tion. During the whole of this time,
in the course of which I have made
something over 200 ascensions, without
injury to life or limb, I have steadily
endeavored to avail myself of whatever
experience or suggestion might afford to
make traveling in the air practical, de
finite, and useful. Numerous and often
costly experiments have shown me
that, with no mechanical appliance or
power yet discovered, it is ini possible to
journey definitely and with certitude
through the air to any previously desig
nated point, in opposition to the direc
tion of a prevailing wind. The balloon,
therefore, remains to-day what il was in
the days of the Montgolfiers,—a ma
chine that all the skill and ingenuity of
man cannot prevent from floating with
| the wind, which controls and direct* it
i absolutely from the moment it is
I launched. The application of any
known mechanical power, to he of any
use as against a wind directed upon the
vast surface of a balloon, is entirely im
practicable on account of the weight in
volved. We must, il is evident, await
Ihe result of the discoveries of an Edi
son, or until someone else shall have
succeeded in devising a harness with
which to control the electric current.
Hut il seems to me that a great deal
lam he accomplished with the balloon,
slave of llie wind though il he. Thus
far balloon voyages have been limited
to the duration of a few hours at most.
The longest voyage on record was that
made by Messrs. Hager, La Mountain,
Hyde and Wise, from Hi. Louis, Mo.,
to Henderson, N. Y., iu 1859. The bal
loon left Ht. Louis at 0 o’clock on the
evening of July 1, and at 35 minutes
past 2 on (lie following afternoon il
made its landing. I have myself made
an air voyage of oyer 500 miles; hut,
generally speaking, balloon journeys
have been very brief, extending over a
comparatively limited stretch of coun
try. The masons for this are us
plain and true as when expressed by
the English aeronaut, Hrcen, in 1840,
These reasons are plain, as I have
staled, because of the manner iu which
aeronauts have managed and operated
their balloons. Is it possible to operate
them so as to prolong their carrying
ability? This is a question which has
long vexed those versed in air-voyaging,
anil it is one which i am prepared after
a series of very careful experiments to
answer in the affirmative, and 1 may
speak confidently of my ability to make
a balloon voyage of a mouth’s dura
tion, sufficient, with a thirty-live mile
breeze, to circumnavigate the globe.
The experiments in which I have been
engaged almost exclusively for the Inst
two years have demonstrated to my'Sat
isfaction that it is not only feasible to
construct a balloon that will maintain
Ihe hulk of its lifting power, but that il
is also easily practicable to keep il
a limit and in transit lor this length ot
time.
The results of my experiments have
been laid before a number of gentle
men of ample means in your city, and
they have taken sufficient interest in
the subject to place at my disposal the
fun Is necessary to enable me to
continue my experiments until
t shall have attained a result l
that will abundantly justify mo in nn- ;
delinking a transatlantic voyage in a
balloon. I have secured an eligilile and
convenient location at Manhattan
Beach, where I shall istahlish an aero
nautic observatory during the coming
season. I shall construct here a wood
en inclosure, 35 feet high and 200 feet
in diameter, for the purpose of allbrd
ing my balloons and apparatus proper
protection from the winds. 1 shall have
two spheroidal balloons, -each of a di
ameter of do feet, and of a capacity of
150,000 cubic feel of gas, I shall, of
course, work hut one balloon at a time,
but shall provide the extra balloon in
ease of damage to Hie other. 1 shall
construct my own gas-works and inflate
with hydrogen, which is far superior to
common gas and has nearly double the
lifting power. Tims equipped I shall
be able to conduct captive ascensions
from the sea-coast during the summer
season, and make observations on the
state of the atmosphere and the pre
vailing direction of the winds from va
rious altitudes. 1 shall use a cable 1,000 .
feet in length to elevate and lower tin 1
balloon, and this cable will ho woikeil
by a steam hoisting apparatus. It is ]
my purpose to make those ascensions i
during both day and night, except when
the weather prevents, and i- shall thus
he able to record a great variety of ob
servations and experiences which will
be ot incalculable use to me in the fu
ture. Thus equipped, with experience
derived from actual experiments dur
ing a large number of ascensions made
under every possible condition, t pro
-1 pose to lit out a balloon, in which it is
- my intention to make the transatlantic
I attempt in earnest. This elVorl may not
1 he made until the spring or (all of 1880,
as it will require several months in
which to construct the proper appara
tus, which will entail an air-slup of
double the size of those 1 shall use in
my captive experiments. My observa
tory at Manhattan Beach 1 expect to
have in thorough working order by the
15;h of June next.
SiMfU. A. K ino, •Aeronaut.
Whcri’ tin' Hiir (iiiiin Are Made.
After si go.nl night's rout,a xisit to the
manufactory is arranged. Here tVtHK'
nun are regularly employed. The
vies with Woolwich. One im
portant dillereneo, however, 'xi>tj be
tween them, for whereas any foreigner
may go over ami examine Woolwich,
no foreigner, or even Herman, may go
over Essen, with the exception of some
ot the most miiinpartant workshop*,un
less he he personally known to Herr
Krnpp or to one of the committee. Two
immense workshops are filled by the
Bessemer steel works—-to those shops
an engine is attached for the purpose of
pumping air for the furnaces. In an
other, lines for railways are being man
ufactured; in another, pipes; then there
are the cannon workshops, the en
trance into many of which are forbid
den. It requires, on an average, about
a year to finish a large cannon; one,
now in process of manufacture, is. they
say the largest in the world—though,
judging from its appearance, it does not
seem equal to the Italian one of HX)
tons; it has been already two years in
hand, and is to lie completed shortly.
On leaving the shops, one observes on
the right a small detached building
called the museum in which is an ex
act and careful model of every sort of
gun. shot, shell and military equipment
made at Essen. Close at band are the
comfortably-built houses of the em
ployes, with shops for supplying their
various needs, where everything can be
bought at cost price, the whole forming
quite a colony. While being shown
over the immense Jabrique , it is not pos
sible to overlook a little house standing
in the very heart of the works,carefully
railed in and neatly kept; this is point
ed out as the place where Herr Krupp’s
father died, and where ho himself was
born. Though blocking up the way, as
it does; just in the busiest part of the
manufactory, where every yard of
ground is of value, he will on no ac
count allow it to he touched or iu any
way interfered with. Whoever comes
to Essen, he he Kaiser or Kronprinz,
this little house is pointed out to him
with loving reverence.
KALAKAI’A.
His I. Hid ClnimlaTlain “Doing" the
I'nited States.
Onmhu IlcruM.
Col. (I. il. Judd, chamberlain ami pri
vate secretary to his Hawaiian majesty,
King Kalakaua, passed through this
city last evening on his way to S,. Louis,
Washington and New York, on a busi
ness and pleasure trip. Col, Judd was
horn in the Sandwich Islands, hut is the
sou of an American, who went out as a
physician to the second American em
hass sent to the Sandwich Islands in
182S. This is Col. Judd’s second visit
to America, and the occasion of his
first railroad ride. Nineteen years ago
ho visited tills country, crossing the
isthmus of Panama and going thence
to New York in a sailing vessel. He
informed a Herald man, that the over
land ride had been a novel and excit
ing amusement. Ho was delighted
with it. He mentioned the fact that he
met Miss Woolworth, of Omaha, and a
party of friends in Honolulu and had
Ihe pleasure of showing them the royal
palace and the sights of the city. He
came to Ban Francisco on the same
steamer with them, and hut for a nec
essary delay in Han Francisco would
have conic to Omaha with the party.
Col. Judd staled that Kalakaua’s in
terest in the affairs of other countries,
and particularly America, is on the in
crease. Ho is a subscriber to many
American newspapers and periodicals,
including journals of science and me
chanics, in which ho takes great inter
est. He expects in a year or two to
visit America again, making also a tour
of the world. He is as popular as ever
with his subjects, who are now building
him anew brick palace, which will cost
about $1(10,1)0(1. The chamberlain esti
mates the population of (ho Sandwich
Islands at 80,000. Of (ho white settlers
Americans are largely in the majority.
There m great need of laborers on the
farms, and many Chinese are employ
ed. Col. Judd makes but a brief visit
to the United Stales, leaving San Fran
cisco on his return May 1.
Corsican Character.
Frazer's Miiguziiie.
A Corsican, like ;m Italian, .slabs a
man on the slightest provocation, anil
thinks it no dishonor to shoot at him
behind a stone wall. Having killed his
victim, hi 1 escapes into the maquis,—
the wild, open country, covered with
impenetrable,odorous brushwood, —and
there lives, supported by his sympathiz
ing fellow-countrymen, practically safe
from pursuit, for the gendarmerie do
not care much to venture into the wilds
on such an errand. So a Corsican gen
darme in the French service, bound
with others on a service of pacification
in a disturbed district, and who climbed
up behind the mule-cart, without leave
asked, chatting all'ably, informed us.
Moreover, the people of the neighbor
hood always give these “ banditti,” as
they are termed, timely warning of the
approach of the police. Some of tuese
gentry have killed quite a large number
of men; and if only the murders have
not been committed for purposes of
robbery, the banditti are most popular,
especially among women. Hut robbery
and theft are counted dishonorable, and
the Corsican banditti, therefore, justi
fiably object to be confounded with the
banditti of (Ireece, Italy, or Sardinia.
A traveler is perfectly sale, though the
district fnrough which lie travels he in
fested with them; and when acts of pil
lage have been committed in their
name they who brought him back his
goods and chattels, informed him that
the thief was dead, and that he himst If
was Seraphim), the bandit. Honesty is
a Corsican virtue; so are hospitality and
generosity. Sexual morality does not]
appear to bo their strong point, though
any insult to an unmarried girl incurs
the implacable vengeance of her rela
tives. I was told, however, on excellent
authority, that the father of a distin
guished Corsican having been murdered,
the sou, who was too enlightened to
I avenge himself after the approved
I fashion of his countrymen, handed the
culprit over to French justice, which
sentenced the man I.) only a few years'
imprisonment, the resu't, being that
this miscreant, now at large, threatens
to exterminate not this sou only, but all
his family. It is ditlieult, one must
own, to feel much liking for such a race
of rsseals. Yet 1 am disposed to think
that a really good Corsican, when you
do get hold of him, is a very noble per
son, indeed. Such was Paoli, and such
was, we believe, the coachman who
! drove ns in all our subsequent i xpedi
! tions from Ajaccio.
California wines are selling well in
London, with a tendency to advance in
price. Their strength and purity com
mend them to both continents.
A SEW STEAMSHIP.
Two New Boats on the Red Star Line to
Hun to Antwerp.
The Red Star Line have added two
splendid new ships to their line, to run
to Antwerp. The Belgenland, the first
of these splendid steamers, is now in
port. She is a four-masted iron screw
steamer, 4H5 feet long over all, 402 feet
between perpendiculars, 40 feet beam.
02 feet, 8 inches deep from the upper
part of the keel to the top of the upper
deck beam midships. She measures
3,700 tons, has a straight stern and ellip
tic stern, with turtle backs forward and
aft, and on the main deck are substan
tial iron houses, containing saloons,
ladies’ room, smooking room, chart
room and the officers’ and engineers’
quarters, pantries, mess rooms, ice
house, store rooms, Ac.; a gallery and
appurtenaces, fitted to cook for 150
cabin passengers and 1,000 steerage
passengers. This magnificent steamer
is fitted with all the modern improve
ments far making the voyage comfort
able to passengers and also with all the
modern improvements for navigating
and handling the ship with safety. The
saloons of which there are two—one
forward and one aft—are on the main
deck. The state rooms are all in the
centre of the ship and under the
main deck. The forward saloon is fin
ished in polished paneling of satin
wood and mahogany. The upholster
ing is grained leather. The furnishing
is most attractive and substantial. At
one end of the saloon is a finely-fur
nished library. The skylight is of hand
somely polished teak wood, the fore
and aft windows of which arc orna
mented with the coat-of-arms of the city
of Antwerp and the city of I’hiladelphia.
On top of ihe house in which are the
saloons is a spacious hurricane deck,
where saloon pascengers can prome
nade without interference from the
crew, who work the ship from the
main dock below. On this hurricane
deck is the wheel house, a, luxuriously
furnished room for ladies and a very
comfortable smoking room for gentle
men, with lavatory, etc. Such is the
elevation of the hurricane deck above
the water line that even in the very
worst weather it affords a comfortable
place for promenading, which is not
possible under the old plan of arrang
ing passenger ships. The pantry and
galley aie large, spacious and well ven
tilated, so arranged as to give no in
convenience to passengers from the
smell of cooking, etc. In the pantry is
a register to which all the state rooms
are connected by electric bells, by
which system a servant can bo called
at all hours, day or night. The state
rooms arc in the middle of the ship,
where the least motion is fell at sea.
They are all of the same size, spacious,
well lighted and ventilated, and com
pletely furnished. Perfect ventilation
in warm weather, and in stormy weath
er, when it might bo necessary to keep
the companion-way doors shut, is sc
oured by means of a special engine
which drives a large blower, pipes from
which pass into every stale 1 room the
supply ut fresh air is regulated accord
ing to the convenience of passengers as
you would turn on and off heated air
in the registers of your houses. About
the deck and all the necessary places
the steamer is fitted with the latest im
proved machinery for handling anchors,
warping the steamer in and out of
docks, etc. Her engines are com
pound, of about 2.200 indicated horse
power; cylinders fifty and 00 inch, and
length of stroke, 4 feettl inches. There
are three boilers, containing 14 fires,
calculated to consume 45 to IS tons of
coal per day, producing an average
speed at sea of 13 to 14 knots. — Phila
delphia Timm.
Prizes for the Farmers' Hots.
Worcester (Mum.) Spy.
Almost jis good ns an agricultural col
lege in the education of farmers’ hoys,
and a great deal cheaper, is the oiler
of Stillman li. Allen, of Boston, to the
hoys of York comity, Me., of prizes for
I lie greatest crops of Indian corn on lots
of one-eighth of an aero each. The
first prize is SIOO, the second S6O, and
there are live prizes of $lO each. The
conditions are that the contestants
must have lived iu York county at least
two years, must he under 17 years of
age on the Ist of June, must enter their
names with the president of the York
County Agricultural Society, on or be
fore May 1, must do all the work them
selves, except that they may have help
to drive the team, for plowing or culti
vating, and must at the end of the sea
son make a repoit, giving the shape
and character of the laud cultivated,
with a detailed account of their process
es of cultivation. They may use as
much of any kind of fertilizer as they
please. The corn is to be measured
under the direction of the president of
the county agricultural society, whose
decisions and awards must be final.
Similar prizes in every county would do
much to stimulate interest in agricul
ture amt train Up a class of intelligent,
enterprising and diligent young farmers.
The Broker ot the Itothseliihls.
London Truth.
Anent the late financial scandal in !
Paris, it may he interesting to state ■
whence originated the intimate eonnee- j
tion between the Syndic d** ui/niln d<
change, M. Moreau, and the firm of
II ithsehild, which has been anew illus- 1
(rated by the event. The story is a eu-!
rious one, and was related to me sever
al years ago, as it had just taken place. I
The offices of brokers on the Paris
Bourse, as it is well known, are only I
sixty in number and under state super
vision. M. Moreau had just bought
his, and had not vet a large practice,
when a friend of his, a well known man
! on the ’Change, called one fine morn
ing on the famous Baron and addressed
i him as follows: ‘‘l am a ruined man.
The £16.000 I owe you I cannot nay.”
The Baron started on his chair and ex
i pressed his strong disapprobation of this
; piece of news. “Still," went on the
fellow, “there is some hope if you are
willing to subscribe to an arrangement.”
“I have subscribed hut too much al
ready," “Never mind the subscription,
I can procure a stockbroker for you
who will execute your orders at half the
usual ccmtniasiou. If you accept my
pronosal you will thus be repaid ere
j long: if you don’t you lose the money.”
The Baron accepted. Half an hour
later the man was in the private room
of M. Moreau. “Would you like to be
stock-broker-in-ordinary to the Baron*.'”
The rising agent de change laughed
heartily; “I should rather think so.”
“Well, you must do something for it.
It means simply a fortune, by giving
you the key of the market. Would
you undertake the job at one-fourth the
usual commission, giving to me a
fourth, and one-half to the Baron?"
The contract was struck. M. Moreau
I became a millionaire, and the head of
his corporation. His friend retained
the £15,000 which he had never lost,
paid his debt without parting with a
centime, and pocketed monthly a
handsome commission. That I "call
business.
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE.
Eminent Men Who Have Presided in the
Lower Branch of Congress.
There have been twenty-nine speak
ers of the bouse of representatives, and
forry-five congresses. The first speaker,
Frederick A. Muhlenberg, and the last,
Samuel J. Randall, wore both from
Pennsylvania. Henry Clay, of Ken
tucky, saw the longest service—twelve
years—having been reelected six times.
Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, who was
speaker during Jackson’s administra
tion, comes next in length of service,
having been four times elected. Nathan
iel Macon, of South Carolina, who was
speaker when Jefferson was president,
; Schuyler Colfax, and James G. Blaine
j were each three times elected. Jona
than Dayton, of New Jersey; Joseph
] Varuum, of Massachusetts; John W,
Taylor, of New York; James K. Polk,
of Tennessee; Lyon Boyd, of Kentucky,
and Samuel J. Randall were each re
elected to a second term. Jonathan
Trumbull, of Connecticut; Theodore
Sedgewick, of Massachusetts; Loudon
Cheaves. of South Carolina; Phillip Bai
bour, of Virginia; John Bell, of Tennes
see; R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia; John
White, of Kentucky; John W. Jones, of
Virginia: John W. Davis, of Indiana;
Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts;
Howell Cobb, of Georgia; Nathaniel P.
Banks, of Massachusetts; James L. Orr,
of South Carolina; William Remington,
of New Jersey; Galusha A. Grow, of
Pennsylvania; Theodore M. Pomeroy,
of New York; Michael C. Kerr, of
Indiana, were each elected speaker
once, but some of them served for only
a part of a congress.
Massachusetts and Virginia have
each had four speakers. Virginia has
had the chair for fourteen years, and
Massachusetts for ten years. Kentucky
has given the house three speakers,
whose combined terms have extended
over eighteen years. Indiana and Penn
sylvania have each had the speaker
three times also; and New York, New
Jersey ami Tennessee twice. The other
speakers have come from North Caro
lina, Georgia, Maine and Connecticut.
The northern states have supplied six
teen speakers and the southern states
thirteen, but the south has occupied the
chair fifty years to the north’s forty
four.
Proposed Hailroiid in Asia Minor.
Instead of the proposed Euphrates
Valley railway from Scanderoon or
Livaclia tc the head of the Persian
gulf, with an extension along the Mek
ran coast to Kurrachee at the Indus,
Mr. Haughton suggests a line passing
througli Sivas and Diarbekir in Asia
Minor, Mosul and Kafir in Turkish
Arabia, with a short line to Bagdad,
crossing the gates of the Lagros range
on the Persian frontier, going through
the Persian towns of llermanshah,
Hamadan, Teheran, Shahrud and
Mushed, crossing the Afghanistan fron
tier, and passing through Herat and
Kandahar and through the llolau Pass
into Shekapocre on the Indus Valley
railway. A branch line would also con
nect this system at Diarbekir with either
Livada or Scamleioon. Besides the
strategical importance of his route, Mr.
Haughton urges the fact that it would
open up a vast field for trade. The en
terprise uf the United States in con
structing a transcontinental railroad was
advanced to encourage the timid who
might hesitate to engage in so gigantic
an undertaking-
Unit From the Fire.
A quarter of tv century ago there was
a memorable conflagration at Sacra
mento City, Cal., by which the entire
business portion of the city was laid hi
ashes. When the great tire was at its
maximum fury, a wealthy merchant
named McNulty, who owned one of the
heaviest business establishments in the
city, gazed for a few moments upon the
work of destruction, and then, instead
of folding his hands and weeping over
th? disaster, lie went to the nearest liv
ery stable, hired a fleet-footed horse,
rode like John Gilpin during the remain
der of th' night, and before daylight the
next morning had purchased every foot
of lumber and every saw mill at Grass
Valley and Nevada City. There is, pos
sibly, no human being on earth who
would think of running oil' by the
light of his burning proporty in order
to literally make his fortune out of the
disaster except an American. McNulty
did so, however, and almost burned -
ately realized out of the sale of his lum
ber fourfold as much money as he had
lost by the great lire.
Irish Immigration to Canada.
Montreal Pott.
The Irish people have ceased coming
to Canada. When they emigrate they
go to a more genial, but not more heal
thy climate. During the jear IS7B 41,-
000 people left Ireland, and of these one
half went to England and Scotland. 14,-
OU# to the United States, 0,000 or 7.000
to New Zealand and Australia. Tie
emigration from Ireland to the Domin
-1 ion is principally from the north, but
altogether there were only OK) Irishmen
| left Ireland for Canada during the year
11878. Our emigration agencies in Ire
land cost th° country largo sums of
money, and ttu result is GOG immi
grants", and ot those we do not know
bow many found their way to the Unit
ed trtates. Our immigration system
cost the country |lßo,ouo lor 1878. and
we (ail to see an adequate return for sc
large an outlay.