Tales from Alsace (Robert Carter and Brothers, New York) consists of a series of traditions and legends translated from the German. They carry us back to the days of the Reformation and to the land of legends, and are imbued with that genuine religious spirit which belongs to the age and country of Luther, and which has rendered the "Chronicles of the Schönberg Cotta Family" the most delightful of religious romances. It is an admirable book for the Sunday-school library, and a valuable addition to our light religious literature for Sunday reading. tains some stories that are good and some that are not so good, and differs from other similar collections only in the fact that the scenes of many of its stories are laid in California. body. FROM D. Appleton and Co. we receive three bound volumes of Waverley Novels, in continuation of their popular edition; five volumes, in paper, of Marryat's Works; with new editions of Phenixiana and The Tin Trumpet. Their duplicate publication of Waverley in cloth and paper, in clear though fine type, places that EnMadame de Staël, by Amely Bölte (G. P.glish classic within the reach of almost every Putnam and Son, New York), is also a translation from the German. It is an historical novel of the order which Miss Muhlbach has rendered so popular, in which romance and history are so skillfully blended that no chemical analysis can discriminate between them. Madame de Staël was a sort of literary sun in Paris during the Napoleonic era. This imaginary story of her life introduces us to Necker, Voltaire, Madame de Genlis, Rousseau, the First Napoleon, and other literary and political lights of the latter part of the eighteenth century. The interest of the book lies chiefly in the graphic portraiture which it affords of these personages, and of the times in which they lived. Fairy Tales from Gold Land, by May Wentworth (A. Roman and Co., San Francisco), con Five Weeks in a Balloon, by Jules Verne (D. Appleton and Co.), is, or pretends to be, a translation of a French burlesque on English books of African travel. It purports to describe the adventures of Dr. Ferguson and his companions in an aerial voyage across the continent of Africa. It claims to be accurate in its description of the country and its inhabitants, but purely imaginary in its narration of incidents and adventures. The interest of the book lies in the air of sober reality with which the most impossible of events are narrated, and in its opening chapters reminds us a little of the veracious reports of the transactions of the Pickwick Club, which the pen of Dickens has rendered immortal. Monthly Record of Current Events. UNITED STATES. UR Record closes on the 31st of March. that was mortal of JAMES HARPER. Of him the Editors of the Magazine will speak on a future occasion. At noon of the 4th of March the administration of President Johnson and the existence of the Fortieth Congress came to an end. President Johnson put forth a farewell address to the people, in which he set forth and vindicated the course of his administration. Con President took place shortly after noon. I have taken the oath of office without mental reservation, and with the determination to do, to the best of my ability, all that it requires of me. will always express my views to Congress, and urge On all leading questions agitating the public mind I them according to my judgment, and, when I think it advisable, will exercise the constitutional privilege of But all laws will be faithfully executed whether they interposing a veto to defeat measures which I oppose. meet my approval or not. I shall on all subjects have a policy to recommend-none to enforce against the will of the people. The Forty-first Congress assembled at noon of the 4th. Of the Senators elect and qualified there are 66, of whom 56 are classed as Republicans, and 10 as Democrats. In the House there The country having just emerged from a great reare 210 Representatives, of whom 170 are Re-bellion, many questions will come before it for settlepublicans, and 70 Democrats. But Alabama, ment in the next four years which preceding AdminConnecticut, Georgia, and New Hampshire had these it is desirable that they should be appreciated istrations have never had to deal with. In meeting not then chosen Representatives; and Mississip- calmly, without prejudice, hate, or sectional pride, pi, Texas, and Virginia, not having been recon- remembering that the greatest good to the greatest structed, were without Representatives. When number is the object to be attained. All laws to seall these vacancies are filled the ratio of the two forcement. cure this end will receive my best efforts for their enparties will not be essentially altered. When the new Congress assembled, Mr. Colfax, as Vice-President, took the chair in the Senate, ex officio. He had just received the unanimous thanks of the House for his able and impartial course as its Speaker. In the House Mr. James G. Blaine, of Maine, Republican, was chosen as Speaker, receiving 136 votes, against 57 cast for Mr. Kerr, of Indiana, Democrat. The formal inauguration of General Grant as A great debt has been contracted in securing to us principal and interest, as well as the return to a specie and our posterity the Union. The payment of this, basis as soon as it can be accomplished without material detriment to the debtor class, or to the country tional honor, every dollar of the Government indebtat large, must be provided for. To protect the naedness should be paid in gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. ments resumed, is not so important as that a plan How the public debt is to be paid, or specie payshould be adopted and acquiesced in. A united determination to do is worth more than divided coun The construction of the chief standing com sels upon the method of doing. Legislation on this subject may not be necessary now, nor even advisa-mittees has a great influence upon the course of ble; but it will be when the civil law is more fully restored in all parts of the country, and trade resumes its wonted channels. It will be my endeavor to execute all laws in good faith, to collect all revenues assessed, and to have them properly disbursed. I will, to the best of my ability, appoint to office only those who will carry out this design. In regard to foreign policy, I would deal with nations as equitable law requires individuals to deal with each other, and I would protect the law-abiding citizen, whether of native or of foreign birth, wherever his rights are jeopardized, or the flag of our country floats. I would respect the rights of all nations, demanding equal respect for our own. If others depart from this rule in their dealings with us, we may be compelled to follow their precedent. The proper treatment of the original occupants of this land the Indians-is one deserving of careful consideration. I will favor any course toward them which tends to their civilization, christianization, and ultimate citizenship. The question of suffrage is one which is likely to agitate the public so long as a portion of the citizens of the nation are excluded from its privileges in any State. It seems to me very desirable that this question should be settled now, and I entertain the hope and express the desire that it may be by the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. On the 5th the President sent to the Senate his nominations for Cabinet officers. These were at once confirmed. But it was soon discovered that Alexander T. Stewart, named as Secretary of the Treasury, was rendered ineligible by a law passed eighty years ago, excluding from this office any person engaged in trade or commerce. This law, which no one seemed to remember, was in force. Mr. Stewart is one of the most prominent merchants of the country. The President, in a special message, urged Congress to remove in this case the disability imposed by the law. Congress failed to act upon this suggestion, and the disability remained. Mr. Stewart could not at brief notice absolutely retire from his great business; but he proposed to transfer the large profits accruing from it to him to the hands of trustees, to be by them devoted to benevolent purposes, and to be placed wholly beyond his control. These profits would probably in four years amount to several millions of dollars. But, upon proper consultation, it was concluded that this course would not remove the technical disability, and the nomination of Mr. Stewart was withdrawn.—Mr. Elihu B. Washburne had been nominated and confirmed as Secretary of State. He withdrew upon the ground that his health would not permit him to discharge the duties of that office. General J. M. Schofield, Secretary of War during the last months of Mr. Johnson's administration, was nominated and confirmed for that position. It was understood, however, that his acceptance of the office was merely temporary, and that he wished, as soon as convenient, to resume his post in the regular army. He resigned a few days later.-The vacancies created by the resignations of Messrs. Stewart, Washburne, and Schofield were at once filled, and the Cabinet, as finally constituted, stood as follows: Secretary of State. Hamilton Fish, of New York. Secretary of the Treasury. George S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts. Secretary of War. John A. Rawlins, of Illinois. Secretary of the Navy. Adolph E. Borie, of Pennsyl vania. legislation. In the Senate the changes are few: Sumner remains at the head of the Committee of Foreign Relations; Chandler, Commerce; Cameron, Agriculture; Wilson, Military Affairs; Grimes, Naval Affairs; Trumbull, Judiciary; Ramsay, Public Lands; Howe, Claims; Willey, Patents; Howard, Pacific Railroad; Drake, Education; Conkling, Revision of the Laws; Cragin, Expenses of the Senate; Fessenden, succeeding Morrill, Appropriations; Anthony, Printing; Morton, succeeding Sprague, Manufactures; Harlan, succeeding Henderson, Indian Affairs; Edmunds, succeeding Van Winkle, Pensions. In the House, the chairmen of the chief committees are: Schenck, Ways and Means; Dawes, Appropriations; Garfield, Banking and Cur rency; Hotchkiss, Reorganization of the Civil Service; Stokes, Ninth Census; Washburn (of Massachusetts), Claims; Dixon, Commerce; Julian, Public Lands; Farnsworth, Post-Offices; Morrell, Manufactures; Wilson, Agriculture; Clark, Indian Affairs; Logan, Military Affairs; Bingham, Judiciary; Boyd, Revolutionary Claims; Scofield, Naval Affairs; Banks, For eign Affairs; Cullom, Territories; Ingersoll, Roads and Canals; Ferris, Mines and Mining; Dockery, Freedman's Affairs; Arnell, Education and Labor; Poland, Revision of Laws. The Public Credit Bill, an abstract of which was given in our last Record, was "pocketed" by President Johnson, having been presented to him almost at the close of the last Congress. It was again passed, and approved by President Grant, the section legalizing contracts payable specifically in gold Being omitted, for the reason that recent judicial decisions fully recognize the validity of such contracts, without special legislation. -A bill designed to equalize the distribution of the currency furnished by the National Banks has passed the Senate. Its essential provisions are: This currency shall be restricted to $300,000,000, one half to be apportioned among the States in the ratio of their population; the other half in the ratio of taxable property. In States where the present issues exceed the legal proportion, the Secretary of the Treasury may call upon banks to redeem and withdraw their proportion of the excess. It is also provided that banks located in States where there is an excess may, under proper regulations, transfer their places of business to States in which there is a deficiency.The Tenure-of-Office Law has at length been disposed of. The House voted to repeal absolutely; the Senate refused to concur, but made some important modifications. A Committee of Conference was called for, and a bill agreed upon, ostensibly an amendment, but really almost a repeal. It provides, in substance, that during a recess of the Senate the President may "suspend" any officer contemplated in the bill, and appoint another person to fill his place. When the Senate meets the President must present a nomination for the office, and if the Senate then refuse to concur, the President shall, as soon as possible, nominate another perThe bill as agreed upon by the Committee was passed in the Senate by 42 to 8, and in the House by 108 to 67. son. In accordance with the law for reorganizing the army, the regular infantry are consolidated at different periods is a fair measure of the relinto twenty-five regiments. The ranking offi-ative cost. In 1860 the Commissary-General cers in each regiment are Colonel, Lieutenant-paid for flour $6 77; in 1868 $12 72—an inColonel, and Major. We give a list of these crease of 88 per cent. In the various articles of officers. Most of them rank as Generals in the household use, such as flour, meats, vegetables, volunteer service. Not a few of these men will wood, coal, clothing, and the like, the increase be recognized as having performed great and at Lawrence, Massachusetts, from 1860 to 1869, often brilliant services during the late war: was from 36 to 166 per cent., the average being Colonels:-Robert C. Buchanan, Samuel W. Craw- a little more than 90. Of the most important ford, George W. Getty, Franklin F. Flint, Nelson A. item of rent Philadelphia is taken as a fair samMiles, William B. Hazen, John Gibbon, James V. ple. Here, of 26 houses, assumed to be fair exBomford, John H. King, Henry B. Clitz, Alvan C. Gillem, Orlando B. Willcox, Philip R. de Trobriand, amples of those occupied by working-men, the Charles S. Lovell, Oliver L. Shepherd, Galusha Penny-rents in 1860 were $382; in 1869 $882-an inpacker, Thomas L. Crittenden, Thomas H. Ruger, crease of more than 130 per cent. Charles H. Smith, George Sykes, George Stoneman, David S. Stanley, Jefferson C. Davis, Ronald S. Lieutenant-Colonels:-Pinckney Lugenbeel, Thomas C. English, John R. Brooke, Joseph H. Potter, Alexander S. Webb, Daniel Huston, Charles C. Gilbert, John R. Edie, Luther P. Bradley, Alexander M'D. M'Cook, George P. Buell, George W. Wallace, Henry A. Morrow, George A. Woodward, August V. Kautz, Robert S. Granger, Samuel B. Hayman, Emory Upton, Romeyn B. Ayres, Lewis C. Hunt, Frank Wheaton, Elwell S. Otis, George Crook, Cuvier Grover, Ed ward W. Hinks. Majors:-Martin D. Hardin, Peter T. Swaine, Richard I. Dodge, William M'E. Dye, Hugh B. Fleming, James P. Roy, William H. Lewis, John D. Wilkins, Edwin F. Townsend, Alexander Chambers, Lyman Bissell, Henry R. Mizner, Robert S. La Motte, Matthew M. Blunt, John S. Mason, William Carlin, Robert E. A. Crofton, James Van Vorst, George A. Williams, John M. Goodhue, Jos. N. G. Whistler, Alex. J. Dallas, Henry C. Merriam, Zenas R. Bliss. The Secretary of the Treasury has put forth a statement of the condition of the public debt up to April 1. The result is that the nominal debt, including accrued interest, amounts to $2,636,202,455. From this is to be deducted funds in the Treasury $111,005,993, leaving the absolute debt $2,525,196,421. The apparent diminution during the month has been $2,573,039, to which should be added $2,915,320 in bonds, issued to the Pacific Railroad Companies, which form really no part of the public debt. Putting these two items together, the actual reduction of the public debt during the month amounts to $5,507,359. The Secretary adds that had the report been delayed, as formerly, for a week, the additional returns would have shown a further decrease in the debt of about $4,000,000. Some time since Mr. David A. Wells, Special Commissioner of the Revenue, made a report in which he stated in substance that the necessary expenses of a family had increased since 1860 about 78 per cent.; and that wages for unskilled mechanical labor had increased about 50 per cent., and for skilled labor about 60 per cent. Exception was taken to this statement, especially by Hon. William D. Kelley, in a speech delivered in the House of Representatives on the 4th of February. Mr. Kelley said that this statement was not correct; but that "the cost of the necessaries of life was not more than 50 per cent. higher than in 1860, while skilled labor is now immeasurably more fully employed at an advance of from 80 to 100 per cent. over the wages of that year.' Mr. Wells, we think that the man who in 1860 Taking into account all the figures given by received $15 a week would require in 1869 $25 to enjoy practically the same amount of comfort; and to do this he must economize in the article of rent. That is, while being as well clothed and fed, he must have less space for a home; for rents have increased more largely than any other thing. The prices paid for labor can be given only approximately. Those paid on the Treasury extension at Washington may be taken as a sample. Skilled labor gained from 50 to 75 per cent. advance; unskilled 40; the average being 58.-Mr. Wells gives many reports from great manufacturing establishments. In some the advance in wages is small, in others larger; but the general result seems to us to be that in 1869 working-men are quite as fully employed as in 1860; and that upon the whole the condition of working people in the manufacturing districts of the United States is not less favorable than it was in 1860. In the agricultural regions we think it decidedly more favorable. CENTRAL AMERICA. The revolution in Mexico against President Juarez appears to have failed. The rebels under Negrete have been defeated by Alatorre, the revolutionary chief barely escaping with his life. The severest penalties have been visited upon the rebels. In Cuba the revolution still progresses, though it has not yet been able to establish for itself a provisional seat of government. General Lesca, starting from Nuevitas, has succeeded in marching through the interior to Puerto Principe, and has raised the siege of that place. He suffered all along the march from the insurgents who opposed him in the mountain defiles and inflicted upon him severe punishment. Early in March over three hundred political prisoners were banished by the Spanish authorities to Fernando Po, an island on the western coast of Africa. The Cuban revolutionists have decreed the immediate and unconditional abolition of slavery. General Dulce, the Spanish commander, on the 24th of March issued a proclamation asserting that the insurrection had already been mastered in the interior; but in order that no assistance might be rendered to it from abroad, he decreed that Mr. Wells, in an elaborate letter, undertakes "The vessels that may be captured in Spanish to justify the statements made in his report, bas-waters, or on the free seas adjacent to the Island ing his justification upon an immense number of statements furnished from many parts of the country, mainly from the manufacturing regions. He assumes that the Government buys to the best advantage, and the prices which it has paid of Cuba, with cargoes of men, arms, and munitions, or such materials as in any manner whatever may contribute to abet or encourage the insurrection in this province, irrespective of their point of departure or destination, and after ex amination of their papers and register, will be considered de facto enemies to the integrity of our territory, and treated as pirates, in accordance with the naval ordinances. The persons who may be thus captured will be immediately shot." EUROPE. ingly confess, thoroughly healthy one. Germany will continue to develop her strength under the aegis of the North German Confederation, and German disunion, formerly the cause of so much scorn, will cease. Have confidence in the future, for a disturbance of this peace is not to be thought of. I have made peace with Prussia, and as an honorable man I will keep it honestly and frankly, and therefore I can not approve of the intrigues of a party that daily preaches the separation of Saxony from the North German Confederation and the restoration of the old state of things, thus giving itself the appearance of discovering the secret and selfish aims of the Saxon Government. This party holds thoroughly mistaken opinions, and adopts a point of view vastly different from that of the Government. The restoration of the old state of things, gentlemen, is in Germany an impossibility." In Spain the Constituent Cortes on the 24 committed to fifteen members the task of drafting a Constitution, to define the rights and liberties of citizens and submit a form of government. The form of the Constitution submitted by this commission grants religious liberty, but retains Roman Catholicism as the State religion. Notwithstanding the opposition of the Republicans a monarchy is to be established, and, as now appears, the Duke of Montpensier, son of Louis Philippe, will be invited to the throne. It is proposed in the draft of the law that the King shall be chosen for life, and his heir shall attain his majority at the age of eighteen. Considerable disturbance has been created in Andalusia on account of military conscription, resulting in great loss of life. Before the British Parliament, which met in December last, was three months old, the deaths of five peers and five members of the House of Commons were recorded.-On the evening of March 1 Mr. Gladstone moved the introduction of his bill to disestablish the Irish Church, to make provision for its temporalities, and to disendow the Royal College of St. Patrick at Maynooth. He followed up his motion with a speech. The bill, he said, was intended to go into effect after January 1, 1871. A commission would be appointed for a period of ten years to guard the property of the Church. The bill would result in the abolition of the rights of bishops to the peerage. Provision was made for the clergy, who would receive life-annuities. Mr. Gladstone estimated the income of the Irish Church at £700,000 per annum; its capital was £16,000,000, and the charges imposed or retained by this bill were £8,650,000, leaving a balance of between seven and eight millions at the disposal of Parliament. This surplus, he urged, must be applied to Irish purposes, and not to purposes ecclesiastical. The proposed plan was to devote it "to the relief of inevitable calamity and suffering." The bill was passed by the House on the night of March 23, by a vote of 368 to 250. -The following account has been issued of the gross public income and expenditure of In Italy the legality of the marriage of priests Great Britain in the year ended September 30, has been argued in a remarkable case brought 1868: The customs produced £22,590,000; before the Court of Appeal at Naples. The adthe excise, £19,875,000; stamps, £9,250,000; vocate of the priest who was desirous of entering taxes (land and assessed), £3,507,000; prop- into the marriage state argued that celibacy was erty tax, £7,281,000; Post-Office, £4,590,000; în perfect contradiction to the nature of man, to crown lands (net), £347,000, and miscellaneous, the Scriptures, and to the example of Christ, who £2,867,561, making a total income of £70,307,- selected for his disciples and apostles married 561. The ordinary expenditure was: the in- men. These words of the advocate were received terest on debt, bonds, bills, etc., £26,495,771 with shouts of applause and vivas, which were 16s. 7d.; charges on consolidated fund, £1,860,- renewed when he went on to say that to moralize 474 13s. 9d., and supply services, £43,820,740 society the priests must be moralized, and this 78. 9d., thus making a total of £72,176,986 could only be accomplished by allowing their 18s. 1d. ordinary expenditure. The expendi- marriage. The advocate for the opposite party ture for fortifications under special acts was contended for the old state of things, and pro£805,000, and the total expenditure was there-tested against any changes which would do viofore £72,981,986 18s. lence to the prejudices of the multitude. What would be thought of a man who said mass in the presence of his wife and family? The AttorneyGeneral followed the advocate of the priest in a speech full of eloquence, and distinguished by the most liberal spirit. He said he would infinitely rather hold out his hand to a priest who took his wife to his house than to one who took his concubine. This speech was followed by the wildest demonstrations of applause. The court has declared that the opposition to the priest's marriage is inadmissible, and directs that the ceremony shall be proceeded with according to The session of the North German Parliament was opened on the 4th by a pacific speech from King William.King John of Saxony made, a few days ago, a speech to the legislative body of his kingdom. Saxony is, after Prussia, the most important member of the North German Confederation, and this expression of the views of the sovereign is of importance as indicating something of the future of Germany. The king said: "You have enjoyed for two years an uninterrupted peace, and such a one as I hope may continue till the latest times. The old condition of things has made way for a new and, as I will-law. ers. Editor's Drawer. TV gazine, with a circula- in severe terms of robbing and murdering the THE present Number closes the Thirty-eighth | just addressed the Indians, and accused them tion of about ten thousand copies more than it whites; when the chief alluded to, who was had at the close of the Thirty-seventh. Many called (for short) The-Man-Who-Was-Struckpleasantries come to us from these new subscrib- By-The-Rhea (meaning a Rhea Indian), made a To them we say, persevere; to the old, for- lengthy and apt reply, charging the whites with get us not. A young lady once remarked to an being the aggressors, in cheating and robbing the individual: "Your countenance to me is like the ignorant Indians, who, having no other mode of rising sun, for it always gladdens me with a redress, were obliged to take it out in killing. cheerful look." That is the mission of the He closed as follows: "You pick out poorest Drawer. A merry or cheerful countenance was man you got, and send um up here to give us always one of the things which Jeremy Taylor our goods. When agent comes here he poor; said his enemies or persecutors could not take but he get rich. After he get rich he go 'way, from him. The Drawer stands guard against and 'nother poor man come. Now there's the gloomy and forbidding, against the mourners g-r-e-a-t m-a-n-y white men, and there's some and complainers. The industrious bee does not thieves." And that, we reckon, is a fair solucomplain that there are so many poisonous flow- tion of the Indian question. ers and thorny branches in his road, but buzzes on, selecting the honey where he can find it, and passes quietly by the places where it is not. So doth the Drawer. TIME was when the ornate in music was mainly heard only in the Roman Catholic Church, or in some of the more wealthy of the Episcopal. That time, however, has long passed; and in our BISHOP BECKWITH, of Georgia, recently made day there may be, and is, listened to in Presbya visitation to the Southwestern portion of his terian, Methodist, Baptist, and other Protestant diocese. There being no Episcopal church in churches, music arranged from the best Roman the town, the Methodist church was borrowed masses, or from the choicest gems of the opera. for an evening service. A large concourse of This matter (and, for that matter, chacun à son people assembled to welcome the Bishop. The goût) was very neatly hit recently by a worthy whites filled the interior of the building; the minister whose taste ran to plain song. He was blacks, from curiosity, flocked around the doors. accidentally officiating in an opulent congregaThe Bishop retired to the rear of the edifice for tion where the quartette choir was of the very the purpose of robing, little anticipating the ef- first order. The ordinary announcement is, fect he was about to produce. Arrayed in his "Let us sing the 173d hymn;" but this outspokvestments he proceeded slowly, under the moon- en, homespun old gentleman, knowing the ground light, from the rear to the front of the building. on which he stood and the audience whom he adAs he turned the corner a gust of wind caught dressed, said, in rotund voice, looking squarely the flowing episcopal lawn, and expanded it like at the people: "We will now listen to the singoutstretched wings. The darkeys constantly had ing of the 173d hymn!" which was done with as been subjected to the terrorism of the Ku-Klux, much "deportment" as could have been assumed whose members, wrapped in white sheets and by a hundred Mr. Turvey drops, with the attendother disfigurements, had alarmed their super-ant Mrs., Miss, and Master Turveys. We all stitious nature; therefore, on now beholding this understand it, talk as we may. strange apparition approaching them, clad in white, they gave a frantic yell, "Ku-Klux! KuKlux!" and took to the woods. The Bishop preserved his gravity, entered the building, and held the worship; but throughout the entire service, and amidst the most pathetic parts of his sermon, the distant yells, "Ku-Klux!" were heard re-echoing through the forest from the running negroes. WE have a little anecdote of Faraday, which will be new to ninety-nine folks out of a hundred, the hundredth being he who reads the printed proceedings of the Royal Society, in one of the latest numbers of which there is a rich collection of biographical facts, chiefly derived from the correspondence and note-books of the philosopher. It appears that he and Sir Charles Lyell were sent as government commissioners to A HALF-WITTED fellow, well known in the re-watch the inquest upon those who died by the gion of Piqua, Ohio, came into the office of a gentleman of that place a few days since, and mentioned the sudden death of an old and much esteemed citizen. On being asked the cause of the man's death, he answered, "Hard disease.' "What's that?" "Well, I don't know; he was sittin' on his chair, and all at once he died-and he never noticed it!” THE manner in which General Sheridan has closed up the Indian business recalls to a Western correspondent, who was for many years connected with our Indian affairs, a good thing said by a Yancton Sioux chief at a treaty council held by General Harney in 1856, after he had thoroughly quieted the Sioux. The General had explosion in the Haswell Colliery in 1844. Faraday cross-examined the witnesses very pertinently. Among other questions he asked how the rate of flow of air currents was measured? An inspector, in reply, took a pinch of gunpowder from a box, as if it were snuff, and let it fall through the flame of a candle. His companion, with a watch, noted the time that the smoke took to travel a certain distance. The method satisfied Faraday, but he remarked on the careless handling of the powder, and he asked where it was kept? "In a bag tightly tied." Yes, but where do you keep the bag?" "You are sitting on it!" quoth the callous miner. For the wellintentioned people, not being overstocked with soft chairs, had given the commissioner their best |