THE CHARLOTTE MESSENGER / a VOL. 111. NO. 49. THK Charlotte Messenger IS PUBLISHED Every Saturday, AT CHARLOTTE, N. C. Jn ' lie Interests of the Colored People ol • Country. Mile mu l well-known writers will contrib . i* * ils col ii in ns from different parts of the amt rv. mill it will contain the latest Gen ei.'il N* v's of Hie ilay. in Messenger is a first-class newspaper mi.! will not allow jiersonal abuse in its col nniiis. It is not sectarian or partisan, but n !e| km it lent—dealing; fairly by all. It re i > the light to criticise the shortcomings •*t 'ill public oilieinls—coni mending the worthy, ami recommending for election such men as In iUs opinion are liest suited to serve tii interests or the p«*ople. il is intended'to supply the long felt need . . i new sjvtper to advocate the lights and defend i lie interests of the Negro-American, esj.e. iall\ in the Piedmont section of the 4 ’aroliuiis- SUBSCBIPTIONS: (Always in Advance.) I year - - - $1 50 * months - -1 00 0 months ... 75 i mouths 50 o months - - 40 Address, W.C. SMITH, Charlotte NC, How i hermotueters Are Made. If thermometers were all of uniform cm liber and graded accurately there would, of course, be no difference in their records. But the fact is that many are imperfectly made and carelessly graded, and these, of course, will give widely differing results. The first point in the cuustiuctionof the mercurial ther mometer is to see that the tube is of uni form caliber throughout its whole in terior. To ascertain this a short column of mercury is put into the tube and moved up and down, to see if its length remain ; the same through all parts of the tube, if a tube Whose caliber is not uni form is used slight differences arc made in its graduation to allow for it. A scale ■!if eipial parts is etched upon the tube, and from observations of the inequalities ol the column of mercury moved in it a table giving the temperatures corre sponding to these divisions is formed. A bulb is now blown on the tube, and while the open end of the latter is dipped into mercury heat is applied to the bulb to expand the air in it. The heat is then withdrawn, and, the air writhin contract ing, a portion of the mercury rises in the lube and partly fills the bulb. To the open end of the tubb a funnel containing mercury is fitted, the bulb placed over a flame until it boils, thus expelling al| air and moisture from the instrument, and, on cooling, the tube instantly fills with mercury. The bulb is now placed in some hot fluid causing the mercury within it to expand and How over the top of the tube, and when this overflow has cca cd the open end of the tube is heated with a blow-pipe flame. To graduate the ir, trument, the bulb is placed in melting ice, and, when the top of the mercury column has fallen as low as it will, note is taken of its position referred to the scale on the tube. This is the freezing point: It is marked as zero on the ther mometers of Kclsius and Reaumur, and as :ft» u on the Fahrenheit system. To determine the boiling |>oint, the instru ment is placed in a metallic vessel with double walls, between which circulates the steam from boiling water. Between th** freezing and boiling point of water 100 equal degree* are marked in the centigrade graduation of Celsius, 180 degrees on the Fahrenheit plan, and 80 degress on the Reaumur. On many ther mometers all three of these graduations are indicated on the frame to which the tills* is attached. Home weeks after a thermometer has been made and graded it may lie noticed that when the bulb is immersed in pounded ice the mercery does not quite, descend to the freezing point. This is owing to a gradual ex pansion* of the mercury which usually <>i-N mi for nearly two years, when it is found that (lie zero has risen nearly a wli.de degree. It is then necessrry to < nil down the scale to which the tube is f i-tenid, so that it will read accurately the movement* at the mercury. After thin change, the accuracy of the thermo fin ter is assured, as there is no further ex pansion of the mercury column. — Jnter (/<■ in. A turned is pro jected to lie bored tinder •Bray's Peak, in the Rocky Mountain.. Il will be placed -1,000 feet below the summit of fhc mountain, will lie about wsf*foo feet long, and will direct com munication Iwtween the valleys in the Atlantic k|ojk* and those of the Pacific dd«\ with a sltorb’iiirrg of some 300 mile* in the traiiHinontanc distance. The railrondsof thin country own abouf freight cars used in revenue ser vice, which represents capital to thf ainoym of at least $400,000,000. THE GOLD FEVER. A TALK WITH A CALIFORNIA ARGONAUT. The First Piece of Gold Found Now Kept at the National Mn seuvn—Early Scenes in the Gold Fields. The original cause of the great Cali fornia gold fever—the first fever germ— is at the National Museum. It is secure ly sealed in a little glass bottle,and there is no longer any danger of contagion. It is a little flattened piece of gold about the size of a gold dollar. It is the piece found by Marshall, while digging a mill race the year before the fever set in. It was sent direct to the Smithsonian in Aifgust, 1848. The following is a copy of the letter that accompanies it: Han Francisco, August 23, 1818. This paper contains the first piece of gold ever discovered in the northern part of Up |K*r California. It was found in February, 1848, by James W. Marshall, in fcho race of Captain A. Sutter's sawmill, about forty five miles from Mutter’s Fork, on the south branch of the American Fork. It was beaten out with a hammer by Mr. Marshall to test it s malleability. It is presented to the Na tional Institute, Washington. D. C. J. L. Folsom. J. L. Folsom w'as a captain in the United States service. There are many yieecs of gold in California claimed to be the first found, but none of them have the facts in favor of their claim. The discovery of this piece of gold by Marshall led to the search of more, and it was found. It was the seed that up to 1880 had produced $1,200,000,000 in gold. Prior to this discovery, Indians and a few missionary priests had been collecting some gold in other parts of the State,but this was the very first piece found in the gold belt, and it led to the great rush to California in ’49. Dr. I*. M. Dawes, the dentist of West Washington, was one of the forty-niners who started out from • Washington. He was talking over the matter w ith a Star reporter for a little while last eventng. “A party of us,” he said, “took a sail ing vessel at Baltimore in March, and we were seven months and fourteen days making the trip Jo Han Francisco. There were my brother and cx-Scnator Sargent, then a local reporter in Washington, one or two other Washington boys and my self, and there were quite a number of others from Baltimore to make up the party. That was the way Sargent first went to the State he afterward repre sented in the Senate. We had a pretty hard voyage. The Captain of the vessel treated us so badly that when we got to Rio de Janeiro we complained to the Consul and had him removed. This caused st delay of fourteen days. Then at Valparaiso we had to unload a steam engine atid other cargo, which caused a delay of twenty days more. It was a very weary voyage before we got to Han Francisco. Sargent did not go all the way with us. He got off at Valparaiso, and from there sailed to San Francisco in another vessel. I remember that he studied Spanish all the Way from Balti more to Rio de Janeiro. “When we arrived at San Francisco several of our party who were carpenters stopped there. They got sl6 a day for working at their trade there, and thought it better than taking the chances in the mines. There were six in my party who went into prospecting. Every thing was fever and excitement there then. All sorts of sensational reports of big finds were circulated, but there was not as much outlawry as many people suppose. In San Francisco there was considerable gambling. It was not much of a city then. All the buildings were frame, and the gambling-houses were like the frame harrarks they put up for soldiers. The gaming-rooms were in front and the bar in the rear. Gambler* would pay SSO a night for each table. They never counted the money, but just stacked it up on the tabic, and measured it in that way. The gamblers were the only men who wore w hite shirts. “There were no courts. If a man com mitted an offense in the diggings he was tried by twelve men selected for the oc casion, and their decisions were prompt and just. For that reason there were few crimes committed. Our gold was left in camp without any one to guard it and it was never stolen. I would sometimes leave a day's diggings in a j»an out in the sun to dry. No one ever disturbed it. For serious crimes the jury of twelve would hang a man; for petty larceny thev would horse-whip him and give him twenty-four hours to get out of camp. If a man sunk a pit and threw a pick or shovel in it he could go on prospecting, and if he returned any time within ten days lie would find his claim to the dig gings respected. “When our party landed,” he contin ued, “we went to Sacramento, where we .got three yoke of oxen and a wagon that had come overland, and started for the CHARLOTTE, N. C„ SATURDAY, JULY 9, 1887 diggings, well stocked with provisions. We went first to South Fork, then to North Fork or Feather River. There was so much mud that we had to abandon our cattle and wagon and carry our packs on our backs. We did pretty well, but I was sick and had to keep out of the trenches and give up mining for a while. When we dissolved partnership at North Fork a sack of flour fell to my share and I sold it for S2OO. I then bought a boat and gun and shot quail and jack rabbits and sold them in San Francisco. Quail brought $7 and $8 per dozen dead, and sl2 alive; and jack rabbits $7 and $8 each. The second time I went back to San Francisco the cholera was raging there. Men were dropping dead like sheep. “I went to the diggings again, and we came across a big rock near Middle Fork standing high out of the water, which whirled in a swift eddy around it. We knew if there was any gold in that locality it would be right in this eddy. So we filled bags with sand and mad? a dam to turn the water aside so that we could get at it. The very first dip of my pan brought up $2lB worth of gold. After working there a week we divided up, and each got S9OO as his share There were six of us.”— Washington Star. The Gerrymander. The history of the word gerrymandet is interesting. In 1811 the anti Feder alists, or Republicans, as they were then called, after a bitter contest, succeeded in electing their candidate for Governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry, and a majority in both houses of the Lcgisla ture. In order to maintain this majority in the future, they proceeded to re-ar range the Sentorial districts of the State, which had hitherto been formed without any division of counties, by di viding counties so as to secure an anti- Fcderalist majority, even though the counties were, m reality, strongly Fed eral in sentiment. The Federalists pro tested, but in vain; the divisions were made without even a consideration of the propriety of the act; the work was sanctioned by the Governor, and became a law by his signature; wherefore his political opponents soundly castigated him through the newspapers and at pub lic meetings. In Essex County the ar rangement of the districts in relation to the towns was singular and absurd. Russell, the veteran editor of the Boston Sentinel , who had strenuously opposed the scheme, took a map of that county and coloring the selected towns, hung it on the wall of his editorial room. One day Gilbert Stuart, the eminent painter, was in the room, and looking at the map remarked that the colored town ships resembled some monstrous animal. He took a pencil, and with a few touches drew a head, wings, claws and tail. “There,” said Stuart, “that will do for a salamander.” Reyolds looking at the hideous figure exclaimed: “Salamander) Call it gerrymander.” An engraved copy of this map was widely circulated by Russell, and the word was immedi ately adopted into the national political vocabulary as a term of reproach for those who change boundaries of districts for a partisan pur|K>se. —lnter-Ocean. Underdressed Children. Nearly 50,000 children under five years of age die annually in the United States of pulmonary affections, and there is no doubt that a large proportion of these deaths are due to needless exposure to cold and wet, and to the ignorance or neglect which so generally prevails with respect to the matter of clothing. The absurd delusion which suggests that to harden children it is essential to expose their legs and chests to the piercing blasts of winter, their bare feet to the wet, cold earth, their uncovered heads to the sum mcr sun, leads to many an illness which terminates fatally. We might reasonably exjH-ctthat examples of that belie! would bo furnished from among the Ignorant poor; but not so, we can see on our street* anyday in the winter months the children of our most intelligent classes clad in ex pensive dresses, with neck, arms and leg* jierfectly bare. The average moth** exercises little more discretion in dressing her children than an American savage The South. Csityrtsslsaal Wit. The pages of the Congressional Record are thickly strewn with “[applause];” “(laughter];** “(great laughter and ap plause),” etc.; but the reader of the con text often has difficulty in discovering the real occasion for the enthusiasm or hilarity of the members. The speeches, are as a rule, commonplace, the wit stale or pointless, the jokes dismally stupid. Congressional wit does not differ from that of the mart, the street, or the sa loon; it* life departs when removed from its surroundings,and very little of it will bear printing.— The American Magas the. POPULAR SCIENCE. . Italian astronomers say the world is eight million years old, and has been peopled about fifty millions. The “canals’* on the surface of Mars extend from sea to sea across the planet’s continent, and are about fifteen miles wide. The reptiles of Brazil are now reported by Prof. E. D. Cope to number sixty-two species (twelve being newly discovered), of which eighteen are batrachians, fifteen lizards and twenty-nine snakes. - The height of a proposed exhibition tower in Paris is so great as to render a ' hydraulic lift impossible,and a huge screw and nut, pressing a cage up and down, have been substituted, insuring safety and celerity. The red stars above the ninth magni tude have been catalogued by Mr *G. F. Chambers after sixteen years of labor. The list gives 711 stars as distinctly reddish or orange, of which not more than a dozen are really ruby or carmine. Among the many masses of meteoric iron which have been described, only nine, according to Prof. W. E. Hidden, have l>cen seen to fall, the places and dates beiug: Agram, Croatia, May 26, 1751; Charlotte, Tenn., Aug. 1, 1835; Braun au, Bohemia, July 14,1847;Tabarz, Saxony, Oct. 18, 1854; Victoria West, Africa, in 1862; Nejcd, Arabia, Spring of 1865; Ncdagolia, India, Jan. 23, 1870; Rowton, Shropshire, England, April 20, 1876; Mazapii, Mexico, Nov. 27, 1885. The increasing difficulty of adding to the world's stock of knowledge of the Arctic regions is turning the intention of explorers to the more distant but fresher fields for research lying about the South Pole. An Antarctic expedition is now being fitted out by Baron Nordenskjold, and is expected to leave Sweden in the Autumn for an absence of eighteen months; while it is probable that during the next few years several other expedi tions be attracted to the unknown ice seas of the Southern Hemisphere. The demand for cheap aluminium has stimulated researches in every possible direction. Mr. James Mac Clear in a paper before the Society of Chemical Industry describes a new method for manufacturing sodium and potassium cheaply. As now made according to the Deville method aluminium depends upon sodium. With caustic soda at $55 a ton the metallic sodium costs about 25 cents a pound, allowing 17 cents for fuel and materials. With sodium at this price aluminium can probably be put on the market at $4 a pound, or about one-fourth of its present value. It is a fact worth noting that no comet, so far as is known, has ever come in con tact with the earth, or mingled its sub stance with the earth's atmosphere. The neanst approach ever observed was Lexell’s comet of 1770, which approached to within 1,400,000 miles of the earth, and subtended an angle of 2 de grees 23 minutes, the largest apparent diameter yet observed in any comet. It has not not been seen since 1770, though an orbit was com pleted for it of only five and a half years, and astronomers are of the opinion that perturbation by Jupiter may have changed its orbit to one of long period. Money Value of a Wife. Let a man become a widower and he soon learns what the financial worth of a wife was to him. When he is compelled to hire the fowl cooked, the garments made or mended, the washing and iron ing done, he finds that about one-half of his income is required to meet these out goes. Who saved this expense before! Let the cold fingers and the silent lips in the graveyard bear testimony. The famih purse should be as accessible to a j faithful wife as to the husband. What, nia i would consent to l>ecome a partner | in a company in which his brother partner should alone have control of the com pany's funds? There is no one thing more degrading and depressing to a hard working wife, than to feel that she must beg like a tramp for every cent she spends ’ beyond her food, which as truly !*elongs | to her as though she earned it as a j domestic or shop girl.— New England j Farmer. A Watery Cowi •n a milk adulteration case at Chelten ham, England, the other day, a sample I of “babies’ milk” sold by the defendant was proved to contain ten per cent ol j added water. At the request of the de fendant, however; the cow, responsible , for the simple was milked in th« presence of the intqiector, ami the hulk, in legal phraseology, proved to corre j spoml exactly with the sample. The in ! sjH*ctor said (presumably): “How shall we deal with a watery cow? The law makes no provision for punishing • cow guilty of watering Her own milk.” _ SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON. INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR JULY 10. Lesson Text: “ The Flight Into 1 Egypt,” Matt., *l., 18-23—Golden Text: Ps. xvlifl., 10—Commen tary by the Rev. R. S. MacArthur. D. D. INTRODUCTION. Matthew alone records this part of our Lords life. This he does in harmony with the plan of his Gospel. Christ’s life and work 1 are the heart of Old Testament prophecy. Its fulfillment in him in most unexpected ways, often through the malice of wicked men, is an argument for the inspiration of the Script ures. We may see in to-day's lesson how God can watch over his Church even in its times of greatest danger. THE LESSON. Vs. 13-15. The angel , etc.— This expression in the Old Testament generally refers to the angel Jehovah, the Second Person in the God head. Strictly speaking, here it is an angel in the ordinary sense of that term, and refer ence seems to be to the angel Gabriel, who (Luke i.,26) appeared to Mary to announce the birth of the Lord. The word angel means simply a messenger. So used, it is applied to prophets,to persons,and even to in animate objects—to any person or thing which accomplishes God's wilL But in this applica tion it is limited to a race of beings of su perior intelligence and holiness, who did Rod s will by ministering to the heirs of sal vation. This messenger appeared now to Jo seph in a dream. The case is peculiarly urg ent; there must be no delay. Immediately, therefore, he arose and took the young child —the child, according to the usual scriptural method, is again mentioned first—and his mother. Egypt was at this time subject to the Romans, hut it was not under the control of Herod. It had been for centuries familiar to the Hebrews. The way was easy. The Jews were numerous there, and had synagogues there. Here the translation of the Old Testa ment- into the Greek was made: here the philosophers of the Greeks and Jews came into contact. It is certainly remarkable that in the land where the people of God had suf fered, the Son of God should find protection. During the lifetime of Herod they might not return, but his death occurred probably soon after their flight. The prophecy here cited is from Hosea xl., 1, Its primary application is to Israel in Egypt, but in the child Jesus it has its complete fulfilment. Israel was called God’s son, God's first-born. There are many points of similarity between Christ and Israel in Egypt In him all types and prophecies find their completion. Near the site of the Egyptian temple is the traditional place of Christ's temporary residence in Egypt. Vs. 16-18. The massacre of the innocents. —To Matthew we are indebted for this evi dence of Herod’s cruelty and God's prov idence. The wise men did not return to Herod. It soon dawned upon him that he trot mocked , i. <*., treated with discourtesy; in a word, that he had been “outwitted, made a fool of,” as Lange expresses it. This was not the design of the wise men, but it un doubtedly was the conclusion to which Herod came! two motives now influenced his con duct: first, he would gratify his wrath against the wise men: and second, he would be sure of destroying the child Jesus. All the children —all the boys. This is the true meaning of the word. Male children alone he desired to slay—not only those in Bethlehem, but also in the vicinity, the adjacent districts. Two years old and under.— It is difficult to decide on the exact length of time here in dicated. It may mean all under two years, or all who were entering the second year. If Matthew adopted the usual Jewish method of reckoning, as it is likely he did. he would reckon a child who had just passed the second year as two years old. Herod would judge of the age of Christ from the time the star appeared. But the number of children slain could not have been great. Bethlehem was a small town. Its vicinity was not populous. Dr. Hackett, as quoted by Dr. G. W. Clark, supposes the whole number was not more than twelve or fifteeu. Enemies of the gospel have seized upon this incident os if it were an ut terly improbable record. Many questions also' have been started by it. It has been sup posed by some that thousands of children were slain. This act of cruelty was quite in harmony with Herod's character, and it took place probably shortly before his death. We need not he surprised that Josephus passes it over in silence. The chief interest to us is in its connection with the childhood and preser vation of Jesus. In the sorrow which re sulted from this act of cruelty the evangelist finds the fulfillment of the prophecy in a secondary sense. Rama.— A city about six miles north of Jerusalem; not Ramah in the land of Ephriam, where Samuel was born and buried. This prophecy is typical. Its prin cipal reference is to the captivity of the Jews and their assembling at Kama previous to being taken to Babylon. Rachel, the niothe/ of Joseph and Benjamin, is dramatically re presented as rising from her tomb near Bethlehem, and weeping for her children, and her voice is heard in Rama. Herod's deed fills Bethlehem with similar outcries of grief. Vs. 19-23. The holy family returns from Egypt.— Again Matthew is alone in the rec ord here given. Herod is now dead. His death occurred at Jericho in the seventieth year of his age and the thirty-seventh of his reign, as the result of a loathsome disease. The time is fixed by an eclipse of the moon, which occurred in the seven hundred and fif tieth year of Rome, or four years before the boginning of our era. Again the angel ap pears in a dream to Joseph, and urges him io return to the land of Israel. The i/ are dead. —Not Herod alone, but those who aided him in the diabolical work; especially his son Antipater, who was heir apparent, and who would gladly seek the destruction of a rival heir. Ft is said that five days liefore Herod died he had his so - ., who liad aided him in the death of his two elder brothers, put to death. The return from Egypt was thus brought about. The sojourn must have been short. Archelaus received half the kingdom on the death of Herod. His title was eth iiareh. The other half of the kingdom was divided between Philip and Antipas. each re ceiving the title of tetrarch, or governor of the fourth part. After nine years the Roman emperor Augustus banished Archelaus because of his cruelty. He slew 3,000 lews at once in the temple at the beginning of his reign. No longer had Judoa a native K lug. The sceptre had departed. The sacred soil was immedi ately under the feet of mighty Rome, with a Governor whose headquarters were in Caes area. He itas afraid.— The presence of Archelaus alarmed Joeeph. Again he was instructed by God in a dream, and he turned aside into Galilee, and dwelt in a city called Nazareth. Four times Joseph was honored by a revelation of God's wilt Pales tine was divided into three parts— (*ali lee on the north, Ha maria In the cen tre and Judea in the south. In Galilee Joseph would be safe under Herod Antinas, who was gentle and kind as com pared with Archelaus. Nazaretl. means branch; there the Branch was to grow up. It was a small city under the hills of lower Galilee, about seventy miles north of Jerusa lem and midway between the Jordan and the Mediterranean. It was situated on tho side of the hi'l. The place was dot even Terms. $1.50 per Aim Single Copy 5 cents. named in the Old Testament, nor mentioned by Josephus. It was not a harsh critic, but the excellent Nathanael, who asked : “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Nazarene. —There is much difficulty in ex plaining this word. The word itself does not appear in the Old Testament. The best ex planation probably is that Matthew does not intend to refer to any one prophecy. He has in mind the general language of the prophets in regard to Christ as the Branch, and espe cially regarding his despised condition among men. That condition is well set forth by his being called tho Nazarene. All that the prophets had said regarding Christ’s humil ity would find its illustration in that despised term. The evangelist concentrates these various prophecies in that one word, Nazarene. To-day it is a word of honor. The despised town is held in everlasting re membrance. Jesus gave it something of his own glory and exaltation. POINTS TO BE REMEMBERED. 1. God still watches over the Church, and guards even his youngest and weakest dis ciples from the wiles of their ioes. 2. Safety is found only in implicit obedi ence to the divine command. 3. The enemies of God are also enemies of one another, and will liasten their own de struction. God thus makes the wrath of men to praise him. 4. Believers must be identified with Christ In his lowly life at Nazareth, that they may be prepared to share his glory in the New Jerusalem.— Sunday-school World . Minstrels and Burnt Cork. The popular idqa is that we put some sort of greasy preparation on our faces to make the burnt cork come off easily, says a famous negro minstiel to a Phila delphia News reporter; but if a man wants to become permanently black, all he need do is to grease his face before he blacks up. It would keep him scrubbing all night, and he would have to take the skin off before he could get it out. The preparation of the cork is simple. The property man put his corks in a pan, pours a little alcohol over them, lights the alcohol, and the heat does the rest. A little rubbing between the hands smoothes out the lumps and the grit. There’s another way to take out the grit, which is to drop the burnt cork into a tub of water, and the grit goes to the bottom. All he has to do is to skim off the floating substance, and he has the fine particies. A little water makes this into a paste ready for use. Unfamiliar with the Classics. It was on a west-bound train. A Boston young gentleman had struck up a conversational acquaintance with a Detroit young lady. “Do you like Smollett?” “I—l guess I’ve never seen him. Who’s he with?” The Boston young gentleman started, but, fearing that he had been misunder stood, he heeded not the query. “You are surely fond of Fielding?” he continued. “Oh, yes, it will do,” replied the Detroit girl, “but slugging is what Hike, and you just wait till our big four get after your bean eaters—they’ll make ’em think its raining base balls out in the back end of your park.* ; — Chicago Tribune. A Novel Park. A rich New Zealand Prince, full of new zeal and so forth on the subject of public parks, has presented to his government a large district of wild country w’hich he owns, for park purposes. One of the most interesting features of'the park that is to be, is a genuine volcano that is alive and kicking, besides an extinct volcano that might be made to erupt on the Fourth of July and other holidays, by artificial means, and a lake of boiling hot water. Picnic parties will find the latter very convenient for the production of hard boiled eggs steaming hot. No matter how stringent a prohibition law New Zea land may adopt, with two volcanoes in the park visitors will be able to find plenty of the “crater.”— Texas Siftings. Dead Capital in Farm Fences. It is said that the amount of “dead** capital invested in farm fences in tho United States alone reaches the immenso aggregate of $5,000,000,000, and that the construction of new fences and the renewal of old ones involves an outlay of no less than $200,000,000 annually. It S difficult to fix an approximate idea of what immeuse sums as these represent, but some conception of this enormous in vestment may be formed upon the fact that it nearly equals the capital stock of ill the railroads in the country, while the annual expense almost parallels tho ?ntire revenue of the National Govoin gent.—Chicago Times. Childish Precocity. Here is • story of childish precocity from the Boston Hwlg^t , illustrating tho , wsy these little ones puzzle their elders. I Paterfamilias, in a spirit of mischief, was attempting to confound the knowledge | of his six-year old by asserting that the i face of a clock was not a face, because it ! did not hare eyes; but the alphabet waa fresh in the child's memory, and she im mediately upaet her parent's argument by pointing triumphantly to the Homan nu merals II ii|>on the dial, with the con vincing. “Oh, yes, they have; them am two Is!”