consin was at the soldiers' reunion at Milwaukee in 1880. In the early part of 1881 a fire started mysteriously in a portion of the Capitol at Mad taon, near the eagle's large onge." The blase oreated an enormons volume of black and offensive smoke, which at once filled the cage. Abe uttered such a scream as had never before been heard in that building. Persons rushed to the rescue, and opened the door, of the cage, through which he escaped. He was never well after that event, ate little, sat in a semi-comatose condition for a few days, and March 26. 1881, expired in the arms of his attendant, George Gillies. At drst it was proposed to bury him with military honors, but finally it was decided to preserve and stuff him. and he now stands in the war museum of the Capitol. This necessarily brief outline of the career of the famous bird would be incomplete were there not added Old Abe's engagements, as follows: Battle. Fredericktown, Mo.... Date. Oct. 21, 1861 Siege of New Madrid and Island No. 10, Mo.. difficult to give this a written form by means THE BEY. CHARLES T. TORREY, FORT DODGE, Iowa. Would like some secount of the life and death the Rev. Charles T. Torrey. In what prison did he die? Why was his funeral not allowed in a church of his own faith? D. D. HALSTEAD Answer. The Rev. Charles T. Torrey was one of the most prominent of the early Abolitionists in New England. He was, in 1887, settled as pastor of a Congregational Church at Providence, RL The awakening “anti-alavery agitation at that time aroused him greatly, and accordingly, in the autumn of 1838, he resigned his pastorate and engaged in lecturing in behalf of freedom the slave. In 1842 there was a convention March and April, 1862 feat Annapolis, Md., for the purpose of revis Point Pleasant, Mo................March 20, 1862 LANGUAGES OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. OTTUMWA, Iowa. We are told that a copy of the Bible has been printed in the Indian tongue. How could this be since the Indians had no printed or written lanruage? 0. Morrer. Answer. The tribes of the North American In dians had, it is true, no alphabet or written tongue. Their only means of conveying ideas by writing was through rude pictures of objects, or hiero glyphics. This plan of picture-writing was, among the Aztecs and Toltecs, and other tribes of the Southern continent, reduced so far to a system that, as with the Egyptians, historical and other records had been made by its means. But among the tribes of North America only the most crude form of picture-writing was known, and this was put to but little use. As the spoken languages of the tribes, however, have each a complete dialectic structure, it was not at all held ing the "labor laws" of that State. Its object was to render more stringent existing provisions against the escape of negroes from bondage. Mr. Torrey went to that convention as a correspondent of several Northern papers, but soon after his ar rival, his abolition sentiments, becoming known, he was arrested and thrown into jail. After sev eral days' incarceration the judge decided that there was no cause for his detention, though he was put under bonds of $500 to keep the peace. defended him without charge, and became surety Two prominent lawyers of Annapolis, however, on his bond, so that he was then set free. While in that prison it is said that Mr. Torrey met a number of negroes who had been imprisoned on unjust pretexts, and at the story of their wrongs his .own feelings were so deeply aroused, that he recorded and signed a vow that while he lived he would devote himself wholly to the cause of emancipation. After his release he went to Albany and became editor of a paper. While in that city a negro slave who had escaped, but was going back to Virginia to take his family from bondage also, begged Mr. Torrey to go with him and help him. An appeal like that could hardly be made in vain to a man of such strong convictions, but the results of the attempt was what might have been expected. Mr. Torrey, while passing through Maryland, was again ar rested, imprisoned, and brought to trial. He was defended by Reverdy Johnson, and friends of the well-known lawyer exerted themselves to lessen the trials of his imprisonment. To but little avail, however, for soon after he tried to make his escape from jail and to take with him a number of negro slaves also confined there. They were detected in the attempt and all were heavily ironed and put in separate cells. When Mr. Torrey was brought to trial he was convicted, and Dec. 80, 1848, he was sentenced to six months!' imprisonment in the penitentiary. Many efforts were made by his friends in Maryland and elsewhere to have this sentence re?! voked, but popular feeling had been so aroused: warming the food and air which enter cold inte the stomach and lungs, we can understand that the internal source of heat must be both large and constant. This source is a purely chemioni one. It is found in the conversion of the food materials-staroh, sugar, fat, eto,-into carbonié acid and water, by means of the oxygen which is absorbed in breathing. If a portion of starch or sugar is burned in the air the result is seen to be carbonic acid and water, attended “by the dison by Mr. Torrey's words and" acts against slavery that the Governor would not consent to pardon him. It was thought that something might be dene for him if he would confess that he had done wrong in violating the laws of Maryland, bas the herofą martyr to principle refused to oon øde even a single point to the aggressions of the slavo power. His health at last gave- way under the hardships of his imprisonment,” and he died in the Baltimore Penitentiary May 9, 1846. After his death his remains were taken to Bos-gagement of heat and light. Within the body the ton. His brother-in-law engaged Park Street Congregational Church for the funeral services, but many prominent members of that church were not in sympathy with the Abolitionists, and so the permission to use the building was withdrawn. His funeral services were held in Tre ment Temple, which was thronged with a multitude of his friends, and the body was taken to Mt. Auburn for burial. ▲ handsome, monument was subsequently erected there to his memory. .. GENERAL GRANT'S NAME. ED RANDOLIS. WAUKESHA, Wis. I have heard that Ulysses Simpson was not General Grant's given name. Explain it to us. “Answer.—Hiram Ulysses was the name given General Grant, but by a strange error he will be known in all history as U. 8. It came about in this way: When the General was about 17 he reestyed his appointment to West Point through the Hon. Thomas L. Hamer, then a member of Congress. That gentleman unwittingly gave the young soldier's name as Ulysses S. Grant. Simpson was the maiden name of the General's mother, and was alsó borne by one of his younger brothers. This circumstance was, no doubt, the origin of the error. The General applied to the West Point authorities and to the Secretary of War to have the error corrected, but no notice was ever taken of his request. His associates at the Point soon adopted, with the quickness of bright young men, the initials U. S., and he was known among them as Uncle Sam, a nickname he retained in the army. He graduated in 1843, and his commission as brevet Second Lieutenant' and his diploma both styled him Ulysses 8. Grant, and by that name he has ever since been known. · Answer.—The internal heat of a healthy adult in temperate climates is about 9819 degrees F. In hot climates it rises to 100 degrees. The horse has an internal heat of 101 degrees, the cow of 104, birds of 106, while in reptiles the mean heat falls to about 80. It is plain that as the bodies of animals are always warmer than the medium in which they live, they must have within them a source of heat which is independent of external nature. When we consider how much heat is continually radiating from the surface of a warm animal into the cooler air, how much is spent in vaporising the water which escapes from his lungs in invisible steam and from his skin in insensible perspiration, and how much is used in result is the same. No light is evolved because the procers is so slow, but heat is produced because the action upon the food material of the oxygen breathed in by the lungs and imparted to the blood is precisely the same as that caused by the application of fame to it in the outer air—it is burned up The lungs contain some 600,000000 of minute cells, which at every inhalation are Alled with oxygen. The heart, with seventy beats to the minute, sends in that time the entire em rent of blood in the body twice through the lungs,“ absorbing oxygen as it flows. Of the food constituents taken in through the digestive organs gluten and fibrin play but little part in heat production, as they are directly absorbed into the substance of the body. The other elementa sugar, starch,albumen, and fat-which constitute by far the largest proportion of the food taken by man, go mainly to continue the supply of inter nal heat, which is an absolute essential to diges- · tion, respiration, circulation, muscular action. and all bodily functions, in fine, to the sustenanos of life itself. PAYSIPPL MILLEB AND THE MILLERITES. Give a sketch of the foundation of Millerism. a church founded before the time first set for the destruction of the world? H.A. MOWAD. Answer.-The founder of Millerism was William Miller, a farmer of Northern New York, who in 1812 was captain of a company of volunteers organized to protect the frontier. His opportunities for education were slight. and he seems never to have been master of what are supposed to be necessary resources for Biblical criticism; but in 1833 be began to lecture on the speedy second coming of Christ, announcing that, in aocordance with his interpretation of the prophecies, the world was to be destroyed in 1843. His confidence in this belief, and readiness in defending it, attracted many, and it is said that about 1840 his disciples numbered nearly 50,000. We do not And the date of the first church organization given, but it was oertainly prior to 1840. In that year a semimonthly journal was started in Boston to aid in spreading the new faith. The date of the second coming of Christ and the destruction of the world was first fixed in October, 1842, and that failing, other dates were chosen by the sect, with equal ill success, in 1843, 1847, 1848, 1857, and 1861. Notwithstanding the repeated errors into which they fell with regard to the date of the second advent, the numbers of the sect were said to steadily increase until after Miller's death in 1849, when there was a division » in their views, and subsequently a great falling off in their numbers. There are now three ad ventist sects the Advent Christian Association, the American Millennial Association, and the Seventh Day Adventista. It may be remarked that no one of the other churches has over, as a body, accepted the Adventist^interpretation of the prophecies, though it has secured the adherence of so many individual Christians. CHILDREN'S DAY. MIHA ANDERSON. Онихол. П. Tell something of the origin and history of Chilren's Day in the churches. Answer-Children's Day as now observed by the Protestant churches of this country is a festival of quite recent origin. It seems to be a combination of the festivals of May-day and Whitsuntide, its resemblance to the former being shown by the abundant use of floral decorations, May-day, as a secular festival, has for centuries* been the especial delight of children. Whit-Sunday, which occurs some time in May or June-it is one of the movable feasts, and comes une. This, in addition to the property inherited ^ from his mother, made him one of the richest men in Baltimore, and he devoted himself to the management of his large estate. He received a handsome allowanos from his father, whom he visited several times when Ü in Europe, and who always received · bim with much apparert affection." Louis :* Philippe permitted him to reside for a time'nt>" Paris, but only under the name of Patterson; he attracted much attention while there because of 4 his likeness to the great Napoleon. In 1852 family council of the Bonapartes decided to al-› understanding that he was not a member of the low him to take their surname, but only with the imperial family; and he several times visited Napoleon III while Emperor, by invitation. › After the death of the elder Jerome Bonaparte in 1860 the Patterson claim was again brought' before the French courts, but though the cause was u pleaded by the great advocate, Berryer, the decision was against it. Mr. Bonaparte never be came naturalized in the United States and always called himself a French citizen. He died at PRODUCTION OF GOLD AND SILVER just fifty days after Easter Sunday-was, during an CHICAGO I would like a statement of the product of the gold and silver mines of Ameries of the past Afteen years. for each year relatively. A.H. THORNTON. Answer.-The following are the figures as given in official reports of the United States mint: Year. Gold. Silver. Total. 1868.... $48.000,000 $12,000,000 $60,000,000 1869.... 49,500,000 1870.... 50,000,000 1871. by chosen the Church of England or any other Protestant church, and it is no unusual sight in a European city to see whole troops of children, from 6 to 10 years, dressed in white and garlanded with flowers, going to take part in this service on Whit-Sunday. With the Lutheran churches, at least, a special musical service and sermon, adapted to the children, were also part of the day's ceremonies. The appropriate conneetion of children and flowers has led a great. aumber of churches in our own land to give up a Babbath, during the season of blossom, to services Specially suited to the comprehension of the little ones. JEROME BONAPARTE. RED BIRD, Neb. Would be obliged for a brief history of Jerome Bonaparte, F.B. TORBERT. Answer. Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, the son of Mme. Patterson-Bonaparte, is probably here meant. When his parents returned to France, a year after their marriage, the wife was not permitted to land there, because of the opposition of the Emperor, and was compelled to take refuge in England, where her son was born. at Camberwell, July 7, 1805. Mme. Bonaparte, being unable to secure a recognition of her rights, returned to her parents in America. Her son was educated in Europe and in the United States, and graduated at Harvard College in 1826. He studied law, but never practiced, and in early manhood married Miss Williams, of Roxbury, Mass., who brought him a large fort 12,000.000 61,500,000 16,000,000 66,000,000 48,500,000 23,000,000 66,500,000 1872.... 36,000,000 28,750,000 64,750,000 1975.... 33.467,85631,727,680 65,195,416 1876.... 39,929,166 38.783,016 78,712.182 1877.. 46,897,390 1878.. 51,206,860 1879.... 38,899,858 1880.... 36,000,000 1881.... 34,700,000 1882.... 1883.... 32,500,000 39,793,573 86,690,963 45,281,385 96,487,745.. 40,812,132 79,711,990 88,450,000 74,450.000 43,000,000 77,700,000 46,800,000 79,300,000 46,200,000 76,200,000 SOME EMINENT COLORED MEN. OXFORD, Miss. Will Our Curiosity Shop give some names of eminent men of color? ·M. S. LYNOM. WALNUT HILL, Ashe Co., N. O... N Who are some of the negroes who have been elected to Congress? S. L. PERKINS. Answer.-The colored people have already been represented to some extent and well in the public affairs of this country during the past fifteen years. On Feb. 25, 1870, Hiram R. Revels, of Mississippi, took his seat as United States Senator, the first of his race to be honored with such an office. On Feb. 24, 1871, Jefferson F. Long, also a colored man, was sworn in as a member of Congress from Georgia. Then Presi dent Grant set a precedent, since followed, by appointing E. D. Bassett, a colored man from Pennsylvania, as Minister Resident and Consul General to Hayti, and then he followed this act by appointing J. Milton Turner, a Missouri colored man, to the same representative office in Liberia. In 1872 Fred Douglass was made a Presidential elector for New York, and voted General Grant for President; he was also appointed one of the San Domingo Cous missioners; was a trustee of the Howard University and of the Freedman's Bank, and was ap-gro army in St. Domingo. Soon after, the part painted United States Marshal for the District of Columbia by President Hayes, and Recorder of Deeds for the District by President Garfield. Blanche K. Bruce, became United States Senator from Mississippi in 1875, and served his full term, and in 1881 became Register of the Treas ury, John U. Langston rose to be our represent ative at Hayti, to succeed E. D. Bassett, and Langston was in May last succeeded by Dr. John E. W. Thompson, a colored man of New York State. There have been many other colored men of prominence, such as John R. Lynch, who was Temporary Chairman of the National Republican Convention, Mr. Pinchback, of Louisiana, not to mention the many who have been members of the Legislature, and have held other public offices of importance. }**£ this the latter was, during the following year, ade: » pointed to chief command of the French and ne THE CHICAGO WATER-WORKS. 620 AUSTIN AVENUE, CHICAGO. Will Our Curiosity Shop give the probable cost of the tunnel and crib which supply the Chicago Water works? Also, the capacity of the tunnel? W.V. P. Answer.-The entire cost of the Chicago Water-works was $10,099,658.07, which amount includes pipes laid, pumping-works, tunnels, aqueduct at the lake shore, etc. The North Side pumping-works cost $718,749.44: the West Side pumping-works, $861,015.47, and the pipes laid to Dec. '81, 1884, cost $5,905,528.35. The tunnels have cost the city very large sums, as follows: The first lake tunnel cost $164,866.05; the second, $415,709.36, and the land tunnel, 8542,912.68. The crib, which is out in the lake, cost about $90,000, On Dec. 31, 1884, there were 543 miles of water pipes in Chicago, and since that time about ten miles have been added. The daily capacity of the tunnel is 150,000,000 gallons. The average number of gallons pumped daily by the water-works is 80,000,000. TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE. ༤་་ ་་ "+ FLORENCE, Ala. Would like a sketch of the life of Toussaint Louver ture. L. B. MOON. Answer.-Francois Dominique Toussaint, surnamed L'Ouverture, was born at Buda, in St. Domingo, in 1743. Both of his parents were slaves of full negro blood. When the slave insurrection broke out in St. Domingo in 1791 Toussaint refused to join it, at first, but after having secured the escape of his master from the island he joined the negro army, in which he was soon appointed Brigadier General At first he had favored the cause of Spain, as against that of France, but when, in 1794, the French Assembly declared all slaves free, Toussaint, who had become Commander-in-Chief of the insurgents, declared in favor of France, and joined his army to that of the French General, Laveaux. A British force which had invaded the island was ably attacked by Toussaint, and by his efforts a very large part of the island was brought over to the allegiance of the French republic. In 1795, by & conspiracy of some of the native generals, the French commander, Laveaux, was arrested and imprisoned, but was soon set free by the determined action of Toussaint. For of the island which had been held by the British. and was thrown into a dungeon, where he died in * f Auswer. The exact date of St. Paul's birth a not known, but it is supposed to have been be→ tween the years 5 and 10 of the Christian era As it is believed that Christ was born some four years previous to the era from which we count our years, we e may suppose that Paul was from nine to fourteen years years younger than the Savior. Paul was born at Tarsus, in Asia Minor.. but he was sent to Jerusalem to be educated Whether he eve ever saw the Savior while there is not known. St. Paul died at Rome. He was be headed in the year 67 or 68, during one of the persecutions of the Christians under the Emperor Nero. THE ESMERALDA. CHICAGO. Give a description of the famous Chilian vessel FA meralda, size, etc. F. W. GRUNDIES. cruiser Esmeralda « * །་་ Answer. The protected was built for the Chilian government in England, at the works of Sir W. G. Armstrong & Co. She was launched in 1884. Her engines, boilers, and magazines are protected by a steel deck oneinch thick. She carries two 25-ton breech-loading guns, one as bow-chase and the other asstern-chase, and has six 4-ton guns on the broadsides, besides machine guns. Her displacement is 3,000 tons, in proportion to which her engine power is very great. She carries a very large coal supply, and her speed is eighteen knots an hour. Her protected character, taken in conjunction with her light weight and her speed, cause her to THE ASSAULT ON SENATOR SUMNERHOT, to مهمند insigh at etinens BJJ was taken by his friends into the ante-room of the Senate Chamber, wheres his! wounds were Ddressed, and he was carried by Mr Wilson and others to his lodgings” His injuries proved to be * very serious, and were long us o source dof' egrest anxiety to his friends.· ́ He was first ) treated: at » Washington, afterward successively at Philadelphia, Boston, and Paris, making two 'voyages to Europe, where he was treated by Dr. BrownSequard, and it was four years before he was pronounced convalescent. Mr. Brooks received a vote of censure from the House for his action, a motion to expel him, requiring a two-thirds vote, not being carried. He forthwith resigned his seat and returned to his constituents. He was triumphantly re-elected, however,” and in about two weeks · again took® bis ¤ deåt in Congress. Two threatened duels," its maya dibe remarked, were caused by this affair. Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, for characterizing the assault as “brutal, murderous, and cowardly," was challenged by Mr. Brooks, but ‹leclined the challenge from conscientious' scruples ¡against · dueling.'« Mr. ⇓ Burlingame, for using similar language in the House, was challenged by Mr. Brooks and accepted the challenge. The duel was not fought, however, - as › Mr. `Burlingame's second, Lewis D. Campbell," SoftOhio,” isohose Canada as the place of meeting, and Mr. Brooks declined to take the journey thither, fearing Sen-violence in the excited state of public feeling in -the Northern States. *MË. Brooks died at Washiington the following winter of a severe attack of Inflardmation of the throat.ady salino onim size 35 91THE TRANSIT OF VENUS 190,931 DOWNEY CITY, Cal. * Plosse explain' the transit of Venus. Why are servations of the transit regarded as of no 1 portance? ent sun Answer.-The transit of Venus is her apparcross the face of the sun, Were the orbits of this p planet, the earth, and the as all in the same plane, a transit would occur once in every 224 days, the time in which Venus takes to make the efrenit of her orbit, but owing to the different inclinations of these orbits it only happens" at long' intervals, that, 4 when » Vonus pusses one of her nodès-or points at which her orbit intersects that of the earth-she is in å direct line between the earth and the body of the sun. The earth passes the line of these nodes respectively on or about Dec. 7 and June 6, so that transits can only occur near these dates. Usually a pair of transitsTM occur near one of these dates with an interval of eight years between: then 243 years" must "elapse before a transit dan fall upon the same date again. But hear the midale of this period—not exactly the middle, beeause neither Venus nor the Earth travels qüfte a profound impression. The Southern members of both houses were excited to the verge of mad ́ness, and Preston 8. Brooks, ■ Representative from South Carolina, and a "relative of Senator Butler, undertook the task of wreaking vengéânce on the Senator from Massachusetts. After the ́adjournment of the Senate on May 22, Mr. Sumner remained writing at his desk. While so engaged, Brooks approached him and said I have read your speech twice over, carefully. It is a libel on South Carolina and Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine.” While yet speaking, he struck Mr. Sumner a severe blow on his head with a cane, which made him blind and almost unconscious. Endeavoring, however, to protect himself, in rising from his chair, his desk was over-uniformly in its orbit-one or two transits will thrown, and Mr. Brooks continued to rain blows apon him until he sank upon the floor exhausted, and covered the moment of attack the Senate Olamber was nearly deserted, but as the rumoro of the deed spread, members hastened into the room. No erort was made to arrest Mr. Brooks, who passed rogantly through the gathering crowd, the Alood-stained cane in his hand, Mr. Sumner occur at the other date. For instance, there was a transit Dec. 9. 1874, and another Dec. 2, 1882, and another pair occur for 243 years in 2117 and 2125; out during this period two June transits will occur, in the years 2004 and 2012. The transits of Venas are of much importance to us. Because she is so near to tie that her position in transit is "measurabiy different for observers differently placed on the |