The New York Herald Newspaper, December 18, 1876, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD} BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES CORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year. Three cents per copy (Sun- day excluded). Ten dollars per year, or at rate of one dollar per month tor any period less than six months, or five dollars for six months, Sunday cdition included, free of postage. ‘ All business, news letters or telegraphic despatches must be addressed New York Henarp. Letters and packages should be properly sealed. Y Kejected communications will not be re- turned. PHILADELPHIA OFFICE—NO. 112 SOUTH SIXTH STREET. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. PARIS OFFICE—AVENUE DE L'OPERA. NAPLES OFFICE—NO, 7 STRADA PACE. Subscriptions and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. VOLUME -NO. 353 TS TO-NIGHT. AMUSEMEN FIFTH AV THEATRE. THE SCHOOL FOR SC ASP. M. THEATRE. PARK THEATRE LITTLE NELL, at 8} Lotta. ARE THEATRE, UNION MISS MULTON, at 51. 5 ¥ NEW YORK AQUARIUM. Open daily. BOW TRE. REBEL TO THE COR Oliver Doud Byron, GILM GRAND EQUESTRIAN GR BLACK CROOK. EATRE, dwin Booth. GERMANIA THEATRE. CHRIST AND JUDE, a8 P.M. TONY, PASTOR’ VARILTY, avs P.M. TIVOLI’ THEATRE, VARIETY, at 8 P. M. EAGLE THEATRE. VARIETY, at 8 P.M. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, ats? M. KELLY & LEON’S MINSTRELS, atSP.M. Ly RICHELIEU, at 8¥ $ THEATRE, HELLER'S THEATRE, PRESTIDIGITATEUR, at 8 P. M. COLUMBIA OPERA HOUSE, VARIETY, at 3 P.M. THEATRE COMIQUE. VARIETY, at SP. M. MASONIO CROMWELL’S ILLUSTRATH CRITE! VARIETY, at 8 P. M. OLYMI VARIETY AND DRAM 1. PHILADELPHIA THEATRES, ‘AL THEATRE, ALIIAMBRA VALACR, ‘AGE TO THE EARTH. NT Owing to the action of a portion of the carricrs, pewsmen and news companies, who are determined that the public shall not have the Hsraup at three tents per copy if they can prevent it, we have made arrangements to place the Herat in the hands of all our readers at tho reduced price. Newsboys and dealers can purchase any quantity they may desire at No. 1,265 Broadway and No. 2 Ann street, and also trom our wagons on the principal avenues, All dealers who have been threatened by the news com- panies are requested to send in their orders direct to us, at No, 2 Ann streot, From cur ‘reports this morning the probabili- fies are that the weather to-day wil! be slightly warmer and cloudy or partly cloudy, with, pos- silly, light snow. Ovr Hesrew Crrizens are always respon- sive to appeals for charity, and their charity ball promises to be a grand success. Ir Axy Man with a warm heart and a full pocket wants to know how to distinguish between tramps and destitute workingmen he can get the desired information from our article headed “The Sabbath of the Hungry.” Teanxs To THE Enterprise of the postal authorities the Hrrap’s readers in Phila- delphia, Baltimore and Washington will get their paper to-day several hours earlier than usual, and have the news to think over in- stead of sleep over. Furtner Detaits are presented to-day of the case of Mrs. Norton while a patient in the Bloomingdale Asylum. As an ad- ditional arraignment of the cruelty prac- tised in that hospital they will prove unin- teresting to its officials but important to the public. In AnotHer Corvmn will be found an in- teresting account of the progress being made at Newton’s Channel. It is unnec- essary to assert the importance of appro- priating the money required for its comple- tion. The simple announcement that one of the greatest engineering feats of modern times would be delayed in its accomplish- ment by the want of funds is sufficient. Tne Crry Hatt Crocx.—Whiat is the mat- ter with the official timepiece of the city ? Of late it has been out of order and does not truthfully inform, but deceives, the thou- sands of people who consult it daily. A clock that does not teli the time accurately is worse than no clock at all. Our City Hail shouid not be like the London Monu- ment, ascribing the great fire of 1666 to the Catholics, which Pope said Like a tall bully lifts its head and lies, Unciean Fanaticism.—Every little while society persuades itself that the days of licentiousness under the garb of organized religion are past, and just as often some sickening revelation startles respectable people from their sense of security. The latest irregularity of this kind is fully re- ported in another column. Why women in a quiet Missouri village should abase them- selves in fanatical adoration before a mani- fest impostor does not plainly appear, but itis absolutely certain that if the vital truths of religion had been faithfully urged upon the community in which occurred the dis- gusting affair alluded to public sentiment would have prevented the clerical humbug from enunciating his disgusting blasphemies, Churches of every denomination will do well to consider our report in the light of ® warning. NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1876.—WITH SUPPLEMENT. Is Governor Chamberiain Insane? This desperate man has been driven by his insolent and ignoble ambition to medi- tate a measure which stamps him either as a Cataline or a maniac. The most charitable treatment his friends could bestow on him would be to shave his head, put him in a straitjacket and commit him to some kindly managed retreat for the in- sane. If his power were as great as his temper is ungovernable and wicked he would be a dangerous man to be left at large. What he now threatens is to arrest Wade Hampton on a charge of treason. The atrocity of this wild threat does not con- sist in the intended consequences to the victim. The hanging of General Hampton would be small crime in com- parison with the incendiary effect of such an attempt. A maniac who should carry a torch into a powder magazine, or a villain who should send a tool on _ that errand, would hardly excite more horror than an _ incendiary politician undertaking to arrest for treason the most popular and trusted citizen of South Caro- lina in the present inflammable condition of public feeling in that State. A man must be absolutely insane not to know that such an act would kindle the whole State into a conflagration. It would be absurd to say that the author did not intend this consequence if he should venture on such an act when | popular passions are excited to such a pitch that the restraining moral influence of Wade Hampton himself is the only thing that has prevented violent outbreaks. If Governor Hampton could be arrested, tried, sentenced and hanged with as little tumult as attends the ordinary course of justice, even then theconduct of Chamberlain would be ignoble and detestable. But if sucha thing were attempted there would be a gen- eral uprising throughout South Carolina and the neighboring States to protect and defend him, and when violence had once begun in that way all control over popular passions would be lost, and nobody could foresee to what extremi- ties they would go. It is not the one life of Wade Hampton that would be put in peril, but the lives of half the people of South Carolina. The worst enemy of the country in such a crisis as this is he who flings firebrands into an excited and combustible community and _ sets its passions in a blaze. No lan- guage of indignant denunciation can be strong enough for so atrocious a trifling with the public peace. This threat of Cham- berlain is, of course, mere impotent wicked- ness so far as it concerns Governor Hampton himself; but its insolence will not be impotent in its effect on public feeling if an attempt is made to put the threat in execution. Even if it be only an exhibition of idle bullying and bravado it is still wicked and seditious, as tending to provoke disturbances of the peace. Treason against a State is an obsolete idea. To be sure, the States have laws de- fining and punishing treason, but they have so long been a dead letter that not one citizen ina thousand is aware of their ex- istence. They are like a sword that has rusted so long in its scabbard that it cannot be drawn. In the whole history of our country there has been but one trial for treason against a State government, and that solitary instance was an egregious blunder soon repented of. In the State of Rhode Island .Thomas W. Dorr was con- victed of treason and sentenced to imprison- ment for life. But when the public excite- ment had subsided he was pardoned, and the Legislature of the State passed an act restoring his civil rights and ordering the record of his sentence to be expunged. It was felt to be a disgrace to the State that its records should be stained by a sentence fortreason. That was the first treason trial in any State of this Union, and it will prob- ably be the last. The States stand in no need of a treason law, because their govern- ments are guaranteed by the United States. When public excitement ran so high in Louis- iana and Arkansas over contesting claims to the government there was no talk or thought of arrests for treason, because that remedy is alien to our institutions. Even the federal government places no depend- ence on treason trials for its security. Not asingle trial for treason followed our great civilwar. Jefferson Davis was arrested and indicted, but the government released him on bail and was too glad to avoid a trial. The abortive trial of Aaron Burr is the only one in our judicial records. Mr. Chamber- lain must be as crazy as he is desperate and malignant to brandish the threat of a treason trial in the faces of the people of South Oaro- lina. Even if the courts of the State recognized his title to the Governorship, even if he had judges on the bench as servile and brutal as the infamous Jeffries, he could not procure the conviction of Wade Hamp- ton, The idea that a South Carolina jury would find a verdict of guilty is ridiculous, even if the judges were tools of Chamberlain. But, fortunately, the courts of South Carolina have of late acted in a very becoming inde- pendence of party ties. Whenever the claim of Chamberlain to office comes before them for adjudication they are likely to decide against him. It is preposterous for him to think that he can get rid of his competitor by a prosecution for treason; but the threat and an attempt to execute it might provoke a bloody resistance. Per- haps this is what he wants. He would seck refuge in the headquarters of General Ruger and expect the federal army to find the excuse which has not yet been given it for shooting down the people of the State. The great obstacle which has thus far stood in the way of this ambitious man is the noble self-command of the citizens of South Carolina, which has restrained them from any act of violence. He, perhaps, thinks that a turbulent uprising of the peo- ple would make his fortune. As soon as fighting had once begun between the troops and the citizens he would expect it to go on until his political oppo- nents were slaughtered or subdued. He feels that his power totters, sees that his last chance lies in overt acts of violence against his author- ity, and is desperate enough to make a threat whose execution would del- uge the State with blood. Such a reckless lunatic ought to be caged like a wild beast. Those who stand behind and abet this desperate political gambler and lunatic are almost as wicked as himself. How does this impudent man dare to act such a part? What emboldens him to hold on to an office to which the courts of the State say he has no titls and meditate proceedings which would convert the State into a scene of carnage? He ventures to brave the public opinion of South Carolina, to defy its courts of justice, to make insolent threats against the liberty and life of his political competitor, only because he is supported by federal bayonets, employed against law ond in subversion of right. President Grant must stand sponsor for his protégé. His atrocious insolence is inspired from Washington. Our bull-dozed President is pursuing a course of which he will repent. President Grant’s own impulses would never have hurried him into complicity with the law-defying proceedings in South Carolina. He is misled by the Chandlers, Camerons and hot-headed partisans to whom he has unwarily given his confi- dence, and who seek to make him the instruments of their partisan violence. We call on him to discard these reckless ad- visers, who are using him as a ladder which they will kick down when they have climbed on it to the attainment of their objects. We respectfully ask him to take counsel of the safe, moderate, wise men of his own party, men who enjoy the confidence and esteem of the country. He is soon to retire to pri- vate life, after a long and illustrious career of public service. His sincere well- wishers would be sorry to see him go out of office with his reputation tarnished by acts which law-abiding men of neither party can defend. The sooner he abandons Chamberlain the better it will he for the peace of the country and for his own tranquillity and fame. Heat the Street Ca: The street railway cags of this city are liberally patronized by the public, and the companies owe to the public a correspond- ing degree of attention. This obligation is not recognized. More attention is paid to the amount of dividends that can be paid to the stockholders than to the proportion of comfort that can be afforded to the passengers. At this season of the year this neglect is specially noticeable. No matter how warmly one may be dressed a trip over any of the lines is taken atthe risk of taking a severe cold. Abernethy laid down as an excellent rule of health to keep the head cool and the feet warm; but there is no attention paid to this rule by these companies. Whatever may be said of the discomforts experienced in the railway carriage in England the warm- ing pans of hot water which are provided for foot rests during winter are grateful recollections of all foreign travellers. The extremities of the body are the outposts that must be guarded from cold. The rest can be thoroughly protected by heavy clothing. Many cases of rheumatism, pneumonia and diseases of a similar nature so prevalent in the winter originate from leaving the indoor warm temperature and being compelled to ride for tifteen or mare minutes in the freezing atmosphere of our cars. In other cities small stoves are used. The only reason that can be given for their not being used here is that it prevents the crowding that is so profitable to the companies and so inconven- ient to the public. On many of the steam railroads an apparatus is adopted which cir- culates heated air around the sides of the car, small registers opening beside each seat, thus keeping the feet of the passengers warm. This device must be practicable for the street cars. Again, long iron tubes could be run the length of the cars on either side on which the feet might rest that could be filled with hot water at each end ofthe route, Of course it will entail expense upon the companies to provide some such convenience, but it is aduty they owe, and one which the public should exact, The Weather. The rapidity with which the depression that we noticed in the far Northwest on Saturday has changed its position since then is something very remarkable. Its move- ments have brought it from the vicinity of Fort Benton, Montana, southeastward toward Fort Sully in Dakota, thenco south- ward into Northern Texas and again north- eastward into the Ohio Valley, which region it is now traversing. Being on the west- ern side of the Alleghanies its progress will receive direction from the axis of that range, and it is probable that a considerable precipitation in the form of snow will result from the condensing in- fluence of the mountains on the humid at- mosphere of the storm centre. While this snow fall will bo heavy on the western slopes of the Alleghanies it is improbable that we will experience much of it on the coast, ‘at least not on that portion southward of Cape. Cod. The temperature northward of the lakes and along the St, Lawrence Valley continues below zero, while as far south as St. Louis, except within the storm area proper, the thermometer records below freezing point. In the South the weather is generally cold and, except at a few points along the Gulf coast, is far below the normal temperature at this season of the year. Two centres of high pressure are now in motion eastward of the Rocky Mountains—one in Dakota and the other in the St. Lawrence Valley. The latter is following closely in the track of the recent storm, and the former attends the depression in the Ohio Valley. Snow is now falling at Keokuk, Chicago, Milwaukee, Grand Haven, Indianapolis and Cairo in the West; at Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo and Rochester, in the lake region, and at Toronto and Saugeen in Canada. The formation of heavy ice and snow blockades are reported from Detroit. Rain has fallen in the Northwest and Southwest over small areas. The wind velocities are highest on the northwestern margin of the approaching depression, but at a considera- ble distance from its centre. ‘They chiefly flow from the area of high pressure now cen- tral in Dakota, The weather in New York to-day will be slightly warmer and cloudy or partly cloudy, with, probably, light snow. General Barlow's Statement Relat- ing to the Florida Election. It is scarcely necessary to invite attention to the clear and candid letter of General Barlow printed in another column. It is sure to be read with deep interest in every part of the United States. General Barlow is a gentleman of integrity and intelligence, a republican in politics, a citizen who has been honored with importent public trusts and of the highest standing for truth, honor and social respectability in this community. He visited Tallahassee to witness the action of the State Canvassing Board, and was present throughout its pro- ceedings. In the interesting letter which we publish this morning he makes @ succinct statement of the chief facts on which the result in Florida hinges, | from which it seems tolerably clear that he thinks the State fairly belongs to Mr. Tilden by a slight majority. He does not state this distinctly as his settled opinion, but the facts he presents will hardly bear any other interpretation. The paramount interest of the country in this matter is to know the exact truth, and the public should be grateful to General Barlow for his candid attempt to state it. We hope a like spirit of moderation and candor may be manifested by gentlemen on both sides who have undertaken to in- vestigate the facts connected with this elec- tion. Whether Mr. Tilden or Mr. Hayes received a majority of yotes in any State is a question of fact which there should be no difficulty in deciding after a fair investiga- tion by intelligent and competent men. Whether votes returned from particular counties or precincts for one candidate or the other have been rejected and thrown out contrary to law is also a question which honest and intelligent men can easily decide with the law and the facts before them. It is absurd to pretend that there is anything intricate in such inquiries, A cavilling and perverse ingenuity may create difficulties where none exist and throw doubt on well attested facts. But in the hands of fair men the returns of an election and the testimony which accompanies them will afford means of reaching the truth. Every State, county and township in the United States has canvassers in ses- sion every year, and in these myriads of cases there is seldom any doubt or dis- pute as to the real result. We believe that the truth can be clearly ascertained in all the doubtful States if the examination is made by honest men, with a sincere pur- pose to do justice, without favor or antipa- thy to either party. But if the examiners seek to count in one side instead of seeking to find the simple truth there will be no difficulty in raising quibbles and befogging people ata distance. If the Congressional committees of investigation ‘shall prove to be «as fair-minded as General Barlow the true result will be ascertained and acknowl- edged, and the final count in the presence of the two houser will be embarrassed by no exciting controversies. In any honest result the whole country will acquiesce, and the defeated candidate, whether it be Mr. Hayes or Mr. Tilden, ought to feel what Mr. Clay once so nobly expressed, ‘I would rather be right than be President.” We have had in this State in former times, and doubtless have now, public men whom no party advantage could seduce from the path of rectitude. Perhaps the most signal instance was that furnished by John Jay when he was Governor of this State. When the early elections of the year 1800 had shown unexpected democratic successes and it seemed certain that New York would vote for Jefferson, Hamilton wrote a strong pri- vate letter to Governor Jay asking him to call the federal Legislature together to pass a law requiring the Presidential electors to be éhosen by separate districts, which would have given the federalists votes enough to turn the scale. Governor Jay took no notice of the request. After his death Hamilton's importuning letter was found among his papers, with this indorsement, in his own handwriting:—‘‘Proposing a meas- ure for party purposes, which, I think, it would not become me to adopt.” No act of that illustrious man’s life reflects greater credit on his character. The Railroad Peace. The long and wasteful contest between the great railroads is ended, and the public are deeply interested in the question whether if the war was justifiable anything has been gained by the settlement. In order to ascertain this a brief review of the situation becomes necessary. The companies have had repeated difficulties and agreements during the past few years, but every arrange- ment patched up to secure higher rates recognized the mileage basis as the only method of equalization. As Baltimore was so much nearer Southern and Southwestern points this gave to that citya discrimina- tion in her favor varying from fourteen to twenty-four per cent on both competitive and local traffic, amounting generally to ten cents, and when rates were very high to much more, per hundred pounds less than New York. As often as the New York roads were affected by this in ma- terial loss of trade compacts were broken and desperate efforts made to restore the equilibrium. But the invariable result was the diversion of some portion of the business from this city and permanent gains to its Southern rivals. Mr. Vanderbilt at length attempted to remove this disturbing element from railway peace and this in- creasing peril to the business of his line and the prosperity of New York by proclaiming that freight from competitive points to and from the seaboard and beyond should no longer be equalized by the same rate per ton per mile, giving the shorter route the ad- vantage of less total price, but that with- out regard to distance the final cost to and through every port to destination should be the same. To prevent this the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore and Ohio have maintained for nearly a year the fiercest and most desperate conflict in railroad records. It ends in victory for the New York Central and in establishing prin- ciples of transportation which will confer the greatest benefits upon New York. As we understand the agreement all com- petitive business to and from the South, Southwest and West with Europe, the coast of America and the Brit- ish Provinces is to be done at equal rates. The mileage basis, which has worked such incalculable injury to our city and State, is abolished. Even the local business of Baltimore and Philadelphia, which is none of our affair and in which we have no interest, is limited to percentages nearly half those which for- merly governed all classes of traffic. New York can now compete with all rival ports, North and South, for the carrying trade of the continent and the handling of its exports and imports upon equal terms. It has its natural advantages, its prestige and equal rates of transportation. It our mer- chants are duly alive to the advantages se- cured for them by our New York roads the city will enter upon a new era of activity and prosperity. Some Approved Methods of Disposing of Children, In spite of the progressiveness of our age, as indicated by the success of the Centen- nial Exhibition and the popularity of the Henaxp, there are some people who are con- tinually mourning for the good old times, Such of these depressed souls as dislike chil- dren wag doleful heads and sigh forth com- Plaints that our age can produce no such activity inthe demand for small coffins as existed during the spirited reign of that Pharaoh who knew not Joseph, or under the Herod that Hebrew mothers never mention except when they want to frighten their chil- dren, For such despondency as this there is no excuse. True, there is no American autocrat who devotes special attention to this feature of rulership, but it should be remembered that we live in a Republic in which every man isa sovereign, and in which every woman, in spite of trifling con- stitutional disabilities, isa ruler. Compre- hensive acts of nominal rulers are not fre- quent, but on the other hand the cumu- lative results of the efforts of individuals are great enough to make Oriental despots turn green with envy. As neither Dr. Schliemann nor General Cesnola has yet begun to excavate in Egypt and Palestine, the official reports of Pharaoh’s and Herod’s saviours of society are not where we can conveniently refer to them, but we defy the most dissatisfied undertaker in the land to declare that he would rather have been in business in the olden times than now. ‘When the world was from two thousand to four thousand years older nothing short of a royal edict could bring about a wholesale slaughter of children; but now, thanks to a higher civilization, millions of people are silently attaining the same end without com- pulsion or even special request. There is the custom of exhausting chil- dren by exposure, for instance. Pharaoh could not avail himeelfof it, for the mercury in Egypt always stood nearly ns high as the Pyramids; but in our own favored land of cold snaps and storm signals this practice is within the ability of the simplest nurse girl, and it is followed with that energy which justly distinguishes the American mind from that of decaying Europe. Not onein twenty of the children of affectionate parents wears as much clothing in winter as is sufficient to the parents themselves in mild weather, and though the bodily warmth which escapes on this account does not sensibly modify the winter temperature, it leaves the children themselves in a condition to enlarge the bank accounts of physicians and un- dertakers. To allow a small child to appear in the street without an inch or two of bare skin just above and below the knee is extremely unfashionable, and this exposure every year removes so many children to a better land that reason comes to the support of Holy Writ and doubly as- sures us that ‘of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Then there is the child’s shoe; its sole is generally as light as that of a fairy, and the cold feet which it induces cause so many javenile departures that, compared with these thin slips of leather | the great Pharaoh seems a pretentious old potterer. The child’s glove is another po- tent first cause of tiny tombstones. Tyndall says that if o man~ holds his finger in a glass of water long enough to raise the temperature of tho fluid one degree he expends force which would be sufficient to throw the same water hundreds of feet upward. It makes us dreadfully thirsty to think what a dry world this would be if all the force dissipated through the insufficiently covered hands of children were applied to the raising of water from the earth’s surface. Such an event would give us a chance for direct rail- way travel to Eucope, ond if foreign built ships were imported at all they would come in tffe homely guise of kindling wood. These methods—to which may be added that of keeping babies with bare feet and of covering children at night with bedding as thin as it is dainty—are not all produc- tive of immediate results; but children that escape suffer a complication of disorders which make them wish they were dead, and this is as near tothe fact itself as can be hoped for in an imperfect world. There are plenty of other ways equally effective and popular, but with the Henanp’s regard for timeliness we mention only those pecu- liar to the season. For proof of their efti- cacy we refer to half the parents and nurses in the land. A Hint for the New Comptroller. If Comptroller Kelly will look at the City Record—a paper in which the transac- tions of the city government are conveni- ently hidden away from the people—of Oc- tober 30 last, he will find therein a list of all actions and proceedings pending in the office of the Counsel to the Corporation on the 30th day of September, 1876. The list is a startling one. Thirty columns are de- voted to the titles of the actions, including petitions for relief, to which the city is a party, and the number of the suits is in the neighborhood of three thou- sand. This enormous legacy of liti- gation comes to us from Comptroller Kelly's predecessor, and in many in- stances the city isa defendant against the advice of the Corporation Counsel. No doubt in numerous cases the city has a good defence and is justified in fighting to the end, whatever the result may be. But the judgments that ore constantly rendered against the city and the repeated calls of the late Comptroller for authority to issue bonds to pay such judgments are good evi- dence that the wholesale litigation in which we have indulged has been a costly luxury to the taxpayers. Law is expensive, and prudent persons will often submit to a little injustice rather than enter the dangerous precincts of the courts. Comptroller Kelly will act wisely if he directs the Corporation Counsel to » carefully select from the frightful list of city actions all cases in which the city has not a good and sufficient defence and then settle such cases on the best terms he can secure, The number of suits brought by assessed parties to vacate assessments is very large, This will probably direct the attention of Comptroller Kelly to the whole matter of assessment bonds and what is called our “floating” debt. The total of assessment \ bonds now ontstanding is, we believe, about twenty-three million doliars. Mr. Green has allowed this fiction of a ‘floating debt” to run on through his history of our financial condition for five years, when, in tact, a considerable portion of it belongs and should be transferred to the “funded” debt. We think the new Comp- troller will find that some five million dollars of the so-called ‘‘assessment bonds,” which are supposed to be returnable to the city from the property of individuals as- sessed, should be transferred to the “‘pere manent debt” of the city. Assessments on city property and vacated assess- ments will, we believe, reach fully that amount. But the whole subject claims Comptroller Kelly's early attention. Our entire system of assessments for im- provements is wrong. No such thing as ase sessment bonds ought to be known in the city finances. Mr. Green is not respon. sible for the system, it ig true; but a capa. ble and earnest Comptroller will not rest { until the system is reformed, and will not | allow the citizens, by a jumbled statement | of ‘‘permanent” and ‘‘temporary” debt, to be kept in ignorance of their real financial condition. Wy \ The Spiritual Life. {| Yesterday's religious services, outlined on another page, were peculiarly full of spiritual stimulus. Dr. Armitage showed that intellect does not always yield pure light, and illustrated his point by allusions to the moral condition of Greece and Rome under the philosophers, Dr. Brooks made manifest the generosity of soul that characterizes true spiritual lead- ers. Mr. Beecher explained that the “pecu- liar people” that Paul said Christians were y to be were not what the world calls peculiar, Mr. Frothingham en- larged upon the greatness of Provi- 1 dence, and showed how the most liberal i| theologian may extract weighty lessons from teachings which he does not literally accept. Atthe Cathedral Father Hogan explained man in his relationship to Christ. Mr. Hep« worth drew a noble parallel of the Christian race beside the temporal, How an influential church grew, apparently from nothing, was explained by Rev. Mr. Moment in a histori- cal sketch of the Spring street Presbyterian church. Rev. Mr. Moore, of Brooklyn, alluded to the fruitful power of the Christian life. Dr. McGlynn explained the position of the Church as Christ on the earth, while at the Church of the Nativity began the holy mysteries of the forty hours’ adoration. We Rerer ro an interview with Professor Vinton, of Columbia College, in relation to the statements made by Mr. Albert Hill in | regard to the specifications for the wire con- tract for the Brooklyn Bridge. It will be noticed that Mr. Hill is thoroughly indorsed by this competent authority and the Hzratp sustained in its position. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, The King of Greeco tames birds, A Virginia wild pigeon joinod » ‘:uss of tame ones, Bananas, fried in butter, are a tidbit for breagtast. Speaker Samuel J, Randall was in the city yesterday, Two centuries ago toa was scarcely known in Europe, A Greek is not permitted to carry arms in Constane tinople. Levy took his first lessons in music In front of a hand organ. Mexicans propare food for cooking by washing it im alkali water, The oldest Masofi in the United States is Captain Hiram Ferris, of Fond du Lac, Wis., now 86 years old, Ho joined in 1815. Armenians have patience, but no courage ready to kindle at a moment's notice; the Grecks have dash but no discipline, 7 Judge Green is likely to be the next United States Senator from Now Jersoy, be being a warm acquaint ance of Colonel Tom Scott, A Southwestern paper says:—‘‘Of course this Gen- eral Ruger was a radical before he wont into tho war, ’ That is the stripe that went into the war.’’ A Londoner says:—‘Most people must have noticed and rejoiced in the great increase of late years in the Noral decorations of our windows and balconies." A bride’s travelling dress was a bronze-green silk skirt, with gray and green polonaise trimmed with chenille fringe, cord green felt bat with gray and green feather. Tyndall writes a long treatise to show that heat is mode of motion. He might have saved himself the trouble by looking at a man take hold ofa hot stoves lifter. An English scientist arguos against want of economy in the use of apparatus that produces steam. The Congressional Committee in Now Orleans will take heed. Raw chester Democrat:. ‘ossie Turner still refusea to recognize her | lost brother, though the young man bas a strawberry mark over his left eye which she recently gave him herself,” A Kentucky music agent refused to advertiso that the piano which he sold received the highest medal becaure other pianos received as high medals as his, He was immediately discharged by the New York Y firm. Mr. James T. Dubois has been promoted to the posi« tion of managing editor of the Washington Nationag . Republican, taking te place of Colonel Davidson, who has resigned after a tenure of only a few woeks of suo cession to Colonel E. P. Brooks. Says an English critic:—‘The years betwoen sevene teen and twenty-one are the most critical of a girl's life. The final touches are then frequontly given to character; hence the necessity of inculcating high principios, combined with a sound jadgment,”” ‘The worst case yet is that of a young New York gentleman who visited New Jersey. Ho retired at midnight, after seven ‘hot apples, at six the next morning standing against the wall try. ing topullthe mantle piece upround his neck and complaining that ‘the clothes’? were not tucked in, Saturday Review:—“Tho great thing is to cultivate temperance as a social habit; and the most reasonable and practical method of doing this 1s to wean the work. ing classes from the haunts where they can do nothing bat drink by opening up other places whore moderate . Indulgence may be combined with innocent relaxa: * tion.” At the soirée of Mme, Anteson-Duperron one indy 4 wore a Renaissance robe of bluish brocatel, over which was a tunic, &¢., of blue taille, raised at the side with sliver cords. Avother toilet was of Ching pink faille, tho tunic divided at half length by a bing of five regular pleats, under which was an Andalusian lace, very deep and lost behind in the floating onds and Vouilionnée of the skirt,