I live on a farm on the Ohio and Central Railroad. 
I have a pet lamb. 1 seo Lilian asks when the 
first English edition of the Blblo was printed In 
America. It was printed In Boston, in 1712. I 
have two brothers and two slaters. This Is my 
first attempt in write for a paper, l will not be 
discouraged U I do uot see. ibis in print. 1 ain 
eleven years old, fi ve feet and a ball Inch high, 
and weigh 1*25 pounds. Please accept me as a 
cousin.— Tamsky \V. D. 
Send Him a Marne. 
This Is the first time I ever tiled tn write a let¬ 
ter. 1 am a farmer’s boy, nine years old last 
October, i go to school. 1 Study arithmetic, 
spelling, reading, and writing, l have three 
brot hers and two sisters. The youngest Is over 
three months old and has no name yet. will 
some of the Itnui. Cousins send us a name In 
some of their letters uud oblige—w. w. u? 
TERMS FOR 1877, IN ADVANCE, 
INCLUDING POSTAGE, WHICH PUBLISHERS PREPAY. 
Kindle Copy, $2.90 per Year. To Clubs -Five Copies, 
and one c:op> free to Agent or getter tip of Club, for 
ddl.26. Hev'-n Copies, and one free, for $16.05 . Ten Cop. 
left, and one free, gait -only @2 per copy, The above 
rate*include pontn/jr. (under the ritnv law) to any pari, 
•o the United States, and the American postage on all 
•copies mailed to Canada. On papers mailed to Europe, 
by steamer, the pontage will be H5 cents extra for each 
subscription. Drafts, T’ost-OfHce Money Orders and 
.■Registered Letters may be mailed at our risk. Sir* Lib- 
•oral Premiums to all Club Agents who do not take free 
•copies. Specimen Numbers, Show-Bills, (to., sent free. 
'i \flits of flic ©loth. 
®jf* Mrr. 
CLASSICAL ENIGMA. 
1 am composed of 56 letters: 
My .'it, 6, 4, 9, la the goddess of fire. 
My 49, 46, 21, 10, 7, it demigods. 
My 18, 35, 39, 16,23, 33,40 the first Roman dictator. 
My 1, 45, 8, 36, 3, 20 a king of Argos. 
My 24, 17, 2, 82, 54, 26, 25, 15, 22, 27, 12 a king Of 
Babylon. 
My 53,19, 31, 30, 6, 14, 55, 44 a philosopher of Phoe¬ 
nicia. 
My 28,36, 42 a loving name. 
My 11, 51,46, 00 to sharpen. 
My 29, 52, 48 part of a lock. 
My 66, 47, 31 are consonants. 
My whole Is an old proverb. 
SIT" Answer in two weeks. Little One. 
-*♦«- 
ANNIE STEWARD’S RIDDLE. 
The following additional solutions have been 
received : 
Geo. S. Graves, Newport, N. Y.“ I send what 
I call an answer to the Annie Steward Riddle, as 
follows: Perfection, Emerald, Right, Serene, E 
long, Prompt, Orestes, Life eternal, Ingots, Sliver; 
answer, Persepolls.” 
“Moimkmk,” Fredonla, N, Y.;—“1 have waited 
to see it you wore successful In getting a solution 
before sending this: 
“ The UOblMt object of the artint in Deiutfu , 
And nature’#, brijjhteKt grin in Intellect must shine. 
Th' essential pmnt Retainer w the lawyer's case; 
And Rocket* flash, in peace, a# signals in the air. 
Anticipation prompts the farmer to his plow. 
The soldier’s duty, Constancy —the lover’s vow. 
Hesperus brightly shines between the earth and sun, 
Bui merit, Immortality has never won. 
Usury —the badge of Jews. tin - miser will reward, 
Yet Merit prompts the wife and us the priest's award. 
By the lirel letters of these answers as they come, 
You find the ancient city tamed Dirruehitun.” 
Mrs. Emily E. Barber, FnrestvlHe, >f. Y.:—“I 
make out the solution of Annie Steward’s Riddle 
to he the definite article thr, The Riddle says a 
corresponding word or every line, not. tor every 
line, consequently no word Is to be added, and I 
find no corresponding word but the. Again, It 
does not s ty the Initials will spell an ancient city, 
but an ancient city will be shown. Every line 
commences with the. Of course the first letter 
is T, T, and so on. The ancient city is Nankin, 
China, and is noted (or renowned) for Its porce¬ 
lain lower, nine stories high, which revolves on a 
huge metal pivot.” 
We wore just about, resolving to declare the 
contest, closed when we received a new version of 
the Riddle, and Trom the following It. appears the 
“claimants” can again exercise their Ingenuity : 
May c. Hope,B urton,Ohio, writes:—" I noticed 
In Rural or March 8, what purported to be an 
Enigma, left by Miss Steward (or Seward?), which 
led me 10 search lor a copy 1 had, and suppose to 
be a genuine document, which I will transcribe It, 
for the benefit of your many readers, can you or 
some one Inform me where the lucky person who 
solves It should apply for the promised reward? 
"TIm- noblest object in the works ol art. 
The brightest scone that nature can impart. 
The wen-known manat in the time of peace, 
'flic point essential in a tenant’s lease; 
The farmery comfort as he drives hie plow. 
A soldier's duly and a lover’s vow: 
A contract made before the nuptial tie, 
A blessm< nclun never can supply, 
A spot that adds new charm# to pretty faces. 
An engine used in f nndaniental cases , 
A planet sren between the earth andean, 
A prize that merit, never yet has won; 
A loss that prudence seldom can retrieve. 
The death Of Jllrtaa and the full of Eve; 
A part between the ancle and the kueo, 
A papist's toast and a physician's fee ; 
A wife's ambition and a parson's duos, 
A miser’s idol and the badge of Jews. 
“ If now your happy vent us can divine 
A corresponding word for every line. 
By the first letter plainly may be found 
An ancient city wry much renowned.” 
PUZZLER ANSWERS.—April 28, 
Decapitations.— 1, Fluto— Lute ; 2, Flog— Log; 3. 
Whip—Hip; I. Flush —Lash; 5, Elea—Lon ; 6, I’it It; 
7, Face-Ace, 6, Eye—Yu; 9, Spark Park; 10. Speck- 
Feck; U, Item.' -ling; 12, Trace— Race; 13. Tour—Our; 
14, Bounce—Ounce; 15. Sill—Ill; 16, Reach -Each; 17, 
Rasp—Asp; 18, Rant—Ant; 19, Shank-Hunk. 
Mtncku-ankovk Enigma.—A stitch in time eaves 
nine. 
Central .Puzzle.— 
Tacit 
StomAclier 
Stoically 
KtraTiurcm 
SiiUab 
TapStcr 
Hour-glass Puzzle.— 
t a A M P I. fc 
TRADE 
AGE 
E 
ANN 
LATIN 
TOTALLY 
TURCO-RUSSIAN WAR. 
No great battle has yet taken place between 
the contending forces In the East, nor can Euch 
highly dramatic and sensational results as attend¬ 
ed the progress of the Branco-German YVar, be 
looked for there. The season Is not favorable to 
the rapid movement, or the armies, and the coun¬ 
try Is naturally difficult and comparatively de¬ 
void of artificial means of communication. We 
give a brief summary ol the news, as follows: 
A proclamation of neutrality has been Issuer] by 
Queen Victoria, and other Powers have adopted 
the same policy. There Is considerable agitat ion 
and anM-Turklsli leollng In Greece. Admiral 
Hobart Pasha arrived at Constantinople, having 
brought his vessel safely through the fire or the 
Russian batteries on the Danube. The Russian 
advance has been delayed by Hoods. England is 
organizing a corps of 40,000 men. Her iron-clad 
fleet has arrived at Corfu. An English steamer 
was destroyed accidentally In the harbor of 
Kertch, in the Crimea, The Porte hag determ¬ 
ined to close the Danube to navigation. Bagazld, 
a fortified town In Asia Minor, has been aban¬ 
doned by the Turks, and Kars, near which place 
there has been some fighting, is now surrounded 
by the Russians. Fighting on the Danube be- 
tvveen the Turkish gunboats and Russian bat¬ 
teries is reported. Tbos. Carlyle has written and 
published a strong pro-Russian letter, and En¬ 
glish opinion continues much divided on the ques¬ 
tion of British Interest In the war. It is said that 
Austria will occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina. 
- 4 - 4-4 - 
CATASTROPHE. 
“Insatiate pussy, would not two suffice?”- 
The Rural office cat has kittens. This is an event 
not Infrequent In the feline world 5 but the usual 
allotment of a pair, or at most three at a birth, 
has been unceremoniously disregarded In the in¬ 
stance we note. The uncommon energy our cat 
has displayed will be appreciated when we state 
that the litter numbered eight! Eight kittens 
with nine lives each!—6x9 — Vif kittens at a birth! 
We puuse to call the attention of live stock men 
to the stimulating effect of Rural influences on 
animal production. Pussy accomplished t his feat 
without special encouragement. We have no 
doubt she will do better next time. 
- 4 4 4 
HOME NEWS PARAGRAPHS. 
Ross Wlnans left thirty millions. 
Angelu Onotto. ol Cincinnati, Is 10S years old. 
The crop prospects In Western Texas are the 
finest there tor twenty-four years. 
The Straits of Mackinaw were open for naviga¬ 
tion on the 3lst of April. 
The Niagara Suspension Bridge is pronounced 
by the examining engineers to be perfectly safe. 
The sturgeons ha ve commenced t heir migration 
up the Delaware. 
Twent y thousand brook trout were lately placed 
In Otsego County streams. 
The plow turns up an abundance of young po¬ 
tato bugs In Greene County, N. Y. 
Limestone, Cattaraugus County, has 70 good 
producing oil wells. 
The Yonkers carpet factory Is turning out 440 
yards of tapestry carpet dally. 
All the Peeksktll foundries are working on full 
time, with plenty of work ahead, 
“ The Mrs. R. B. Hayes Temperance Society ” 
has been organized in Washington, in compliment 
to that lady tor her dlsapprohatlou of furnishing 
wines at state dinners. 
The Yankee dipper ships maintain their an¬ 
cient reputation for speed, and there are many of 
these stately vessels which, with a fair wind, 
would bowl past the average steamer grandly, 
and show It a clean pair ol heels. The Young 
America, from New York to San Francisco, made 
1 hi' following distances In four days;—365, 860, 
338, and 340 miles, 
I’homas S. Phelps, an experienced officer in the 
rutted states Navy, Is to command the vessel 
which will set sail next October on a two-years’ 
voyage around the world. Students or graduates 
of Michigan University are to be passengers. 
The expense for eaeJi student may come within 
$2,500. 
A very large and enthusiastic meeting of citi¬ 
zens was held at the Court-house in Yankton, 
Dakota, 10 Dike the necessary steps toward se¬ 
curing a State organization. 
Mrs. Sarah Davis, who saw Washington lay 
the corner-st one ot the Capitol, and has shaken 
hands With every President, called on President 
Hayes. 
A gray eagle, measuring eight feet from tip to 
tip, was killed about five miles south’of Santa 
Rosa, Cal., recently. He and his mate are be¬ 
lieved to have carried off 100 lambs during the 
last season. 
Many of the Life Insurance Companies of this 
city are proving to be very rotten concerns, false 
swearing and other “ crooked" ways having been 
resorted to by the officers, at. various times, to 
cover up the most glaring and outrageous swin¬ 
dling. 
Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines, well known throughout 
the country for her persistent efforts to recover 
property In New Orleans, now of Immense value, 
willed to her by her father, has gained her suit In 
theU. 8. Court of Louisiana. 
The Remington Works at Illon have received 
an order for 40,000 stand of arms for the Persian 
Government. 
The committee in marge ol the Revival Taber- 
nyclo in Chicago, have finally consented to allow 
Mr. Thomas’ orchestra to ploy within its walls. 
Rolling chairs are to bo Introduced in Central 
Park for the use of Invalids, and old people or 
those who were “ born tired." 
The Legislature of New Jersey approved an 
amendment to the law “to define and suppress 
tramps,” commanding that, all tramps be arrest- 
ed. Constables or officers who refuse to arrest 
tramps are. to be fined?to each offence, the money 
to go to the poor fund of the district In which the 
offleor resides. 
Laura D. Fair, the San Francisco man-slayer, 
was recently In court as defendant In a lawsuit. 
Every spectator dodged whenever she put her 
hand in her pocket to get her handkerchief. 
Mr. Lewis C. Underwood and his wire of Indian¬ 
apolis, Ind., who receatly lost a child, intend to 
send the body to Washington, Pa., for cremation. 
The ashes will be carefully preserved in a vase 
and burled. 
Col, S. S, Taylor of Cairo, Ill., has carried In his 
valise for many years, when traveling, a rope- 
ladder and a pair or gloves. At, st. Louis these 
saved his life. 
Secretary Schurz has appointed P. W. Norris of 
Michigan, a Yellowstone National Park police¬ 
man. He Is to keep Lhe Indians off the grass. 
The roof of an apartment In the Post-Office, lb 
this city, fell and killed three workmen engaged 
In clearing rubbish thorerrom, aud wounded sev- 
al others. 
A petition for woman’s rights, which was 
signed by 1,600 taxpayers of Louisiana, was pre¬ 
sented to the Legislature of that, state recently. 
A train of cars on a Florida railroad passed a 
man on horseback, and there was a great hut rail¬ 
ing among the passengers until they discovered 
Shat, t he horse was tied to a feuce. 
salmon are becoming scarce in the Columbia 
River, and canning factories are to be established 
lieni Sitka, Alaska, this summer, where the sup¬ 
ply of the delicacy Is Inexhaustible. 
Irrigating the dry lands of Colorado from wells 
by windmill power, has been recently found prac¬ 
ticable by a farmer, named Evans, In that state. 
’With one small mill ah acre of vegetables was 
watered, and the thirst of a herd of eighty head 
of cattle, horses and sheep was quenched. 
r i he residence and grounds of Rosa Wlnans, in 
Baltimore, occupy an entire square. Years ago 
some of the staid residents com plained ot t he n ude 
statuary exposed there, and he showed his anger 
by building around it a high wall. 
A school teacher In Fori, Wayne, Ind., fills the 
mouths of offending pupils with cayenne pepper. 
Possibly to make them smart. 
A Buffalo man has been held In $500 ball for 
opening his wife’s letters. 
Petrified clams, one thousand feet above the 
nea level, have been found on N. C. Irvin's ranch 
In the Rocky Mountains. 
Memphis has $ 300,000 invested In the manufac¬ 
ture of oil from cotton seed, an Industry that was 
scarcely known till after the war. 
The company that published the caialogues 01 
t he Centennial Exhibition lost $130,000 in the en¬ 
terprise. The stockcioldeis in the Globe Hotel and 
Opera House Company lost about a quarter of 
t heir investment, ns did most of the other great 
hotel ventures near the grounds. The restaurants 
within the grounds, the city iheatros, and the 
regularly established hotels came out ot the Cen¬ 
tennial season with enormous profit*. 
According to law, trout fishing begins In this 
State on t.ho 1st of March, and in Pennsylvania on 
the 1st of April. 
One million dollars of the new Connecticut State 
bonds at 5 per cent., to take the place or the out¬ 
standing 6 per cent, bonds, were awarded at lost,. 
Three great errors In American educationOne 
is the practice of sending children to school at too 
early an age; auoiber Is the Imposition of too 
many studies, and a third is graduation at too 
early an age. 
Flour is selling for $14 a barrel In Brooklyn. 
Less maple sugar has been made this season 
than for a number of years. 
A bullet-proof passenger-car, weighing 6,500 
pounds, has been ouilt at York, Penn., for the 
Spanish Government for use In Cuba. 
A bill introduced In the Assembly provides that 
proprietors of hotels and boarding-houses must 
keep In all sleeping rooms more than two stories 
from the ground, a knotted rope at least three- 
eighths of an inch thick, ten feet longer than the 
height ot the windows of such room from the 
ground. A failure to provide such rope Is met by 
a penalty of $50. 
The prudent hotel guest occasionally lowers 
himself from a wludow for rehearsaL 
A bed of yellowish-colored paint, covering an 
area of at least two acres, and having a thickness 
of four feet, has been discovered near Cullman, 
Ala. The paint Is found to be superior to ochre, 
as it can be worked without adding white lead, 
aud cannot be surpassed for water colors. 
Mrs. Sarah Abels, in Sarona, Steuben County, 
labored under the singular monomania that her 
two houses were infected with small-pox, to get 
rid of which she set fire to aud burned them. 
The monopoly of the use of the entlro water of 
Niagara Falls upon the American side of the river 
wit h canal, etc., was sold at auction May 1 . 
Founding Day at Vassar College was celebrated 
with the usual zest on Friday, 27th of April. 
The cost of the production of cotton In the South 
Is greatest In Mississippi and Louisiana, while It 
is least in Texas, South Carolina, and Georgia. 
An effort Li being made to convert the fair 
grounds of the P'lorlda Agricultural Society, at 
•Jacksonville, Into a zoological garden. 
Every passenger tram that, crosses the Niagara 
•Suspension Bridge stops belore making t he pas¬ 
sage. and the passengers get, out and walk across, 
being told that the structure Is not safe. 
A sixty pound striped bass was caught In the 
Hudson River off t ho Palisades, April 30. 
The Oxford hats, which look like a plasterer’s 
mortar board, with a skull capon its underside, 
and a tassel at one comer, aro to bo worn by the 
Rutger^ college students. 
The meeting nr the extra session of Congress 
has been postponed to Oct- 15 . 
Bids for $2,500,000 worth of Indian supplies were 
opened on Tuesday, May 8, in tills city. 
The building of Poughkeepsie bridge across the 
Hudson is progressing rapidly. 
President Hayes and wife will visit this city on 
the Mi h Inst. 
The Harvard Club of San Francisco are consid¬ 
ering the feasibility or establishing a. Harvard 
school in that city, to tit boys for the University 
In Cambridge. 
Learners or designing In foncy goods in the In¬ 
stitute ol Technology at Boston, are now placed 
at a loom and required to produce a rabrlc with 
their original pattern. 
A bill has passed the Illinois Legislature, au¬ 
thorizing railroad conductors to Stop trains and 
put off everybody playing cards for money or 
using obsenee language. 
A number of railroad men are soon to leave 
Binghamton, N. Y.. for Broxtl. Work Is offered to 
600 skilled men of this class for three years, at a 
handsome salary. 
—-- 
FOREIGN NOTES. 
The King of Sweden speaks English, French, 
German and Italian fluently and with elegance. 
While yet Crown Prince he sent in a metrical ren¬ 
dering into Swedish of La Oermalemm$Liberata, 
to a literary society or Stockholm, and carried off 
the laurel of victory from all competitors. He Is 
studious, simple, and much liked. 
“ Poor Carlotta” received me news of the fate 
of her husband calmly, she has occasional fits of 
delirium. She Is still afraid that her food Is poi¬ 
soned, and refuses to partake of it until some one 
else has tasted It. She writes, paints, and studies 
music. 
The Governor of Gibraltar, Lord Napier of Mag- 
dala, visited the United states steamer Trenton 
on April 14. 
The Japan varnish tree lias been planted in 
great numbers In the Paris parks. It resists the 
ravages of dust and storm better than other 
trecu. 
Berlin, by the late census, Is found to have 
l, 000 ,Hoy inhabitants. 
The newest device at Parisian fancy balls is to 
dress the head alone In character, whereby the 
world Is edified with the spectacle of mediaeval 
princes in dress coats and pumps talking with 
Helen of Troy In a costume rresh from Worth’s. 
The Province ot M aultoba hua been awarded a 
rnedal by the Centennial Commissioners for Its 
display of wheat, seeds, and esculents. 
A telegram rrom Nice states that the Count Ar- 
nlm has lost tils sight through erysipelas, and 
that he Is not likely to long survive. 
A man who claims to own the ground upon 
whlch Cleopatra’s Needle lies, hasfonced It round, 
aud demands several thousands ot pounds com¬ 
pensation before lie allows the monument to be 
removed. 
The United States' Mediterranean fleet Is now 
In Turkish waters. 
The Island of Ilerm was put up at auction In 
London on April 9, with no bidders. It lies three 
miles from Guernsey and Sark, comprising an 
area or 400 acre3, with a good harbor, granite 
quarries, excellent Ashing, an old-fashioned resi¬ 
dence with a ehapel and a new villa, and no taxes. 
The great gold mine ot Los Crlstales at Can- 
quenea, In ChQl, has been found by three English¬ 
men. An avalanche slid Into and over It, and con¬ 
founded all the geographers for forty years in re¬ 
gard to its whereabouts. 
The English quarrel with Dahomey has been 
settled. Great Britain remits a large part of the 
flue of 600 puncheons of pahn oil sought to be Im¬ 
posed upon the King. 
An amnesty Is proclaimed to soldiers and offi¬ 
cers of every grade who participated In the Car- 
list or Cantoualist Insurrections if they surrender 
within 30 days. 
Thera Is much dissat isfaction among the En¬ 
glish Liberals at the small part the Marquis of 
Hartlngtpn lakes In Important business In the 
House of Commons. 
Gen. von Moltke, in the German Parliament, 
said, in substance, that a general war could not be 
avoided, and that Germany must be prepared, es¬ 
pecially In view of the efforts of the French to In¬ 
crease the efficiency of their army. Ills remarks 
produced a great Impression In Europe. 
An Inquiry as to home rule In Ireland was de¬ 
feated In the House of Commons. 
The steamer Alaska, at San Francisco, was 
found to have smallpox on board among the Chi¬ 
nese passengers, of whom there were 950, the 
largest consignment since the anti-Ooolle excite¬ 
ment of a year ago. The vessel and passengers 
were quarantined. 
