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THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
Publisher’s Notes. 
In this issue of the Floral .Cabinet will be found 
the timely announcement of the following Florists, 
Seedsmen and Nurserymen, and we bespeak for 
each of them the favorable .consideration of our 
readers: 
H. S. Anderson, 
Paul Butz & Sons, 
W. Atlee Burpee & Co., 
J. L. Dillon, 
Dingee & Conard Co , 
Henry A. Dreer, 
J. A. DeVeer, 
F. E. Fassett & Bro., 
N. S. Griffith, 
Peter Henderson & Co., 
V. H. Hallock, Son & Thorpe, 
J. G. Heinl, 
Fred. N. Lang, 
Geo. A. Long, 
Gabriel Marc, 
E. J. Markey, 
Wm. B. Reed, 
Storrs & Harrison Co., 
Hiram Sibley & Co.. 
Geo. S. Wales, 
Woolson & Co., 
W. C. Wilson, 
Union Springs, N. Y. 
New Castle, Pa. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
Bloomsburg, Pa. 
West Grove, Pa. 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
318B'way, N.Y. City. 
Ashtabula, Ohio. 
Independence, Mo. 
New York City. 
Queens, L. I. 
Terre Haute, Ind. 
Baraboo, Wis. 
Troupe, Texas. 
Woodside, L. I. 
Fort Wayne, Ind. 
Chambersburg, Pa. 
Painesville, Ohio. 
Rochester, N. Y. 
Rochester, N. Y. 
Passaic, N. J. 
New York City. 
s T. S. ARTHUR AT SEYENTY-FIVE. 
For many years the genial countenance of Mr. T. 
S. Arthur has been a familiar sight to the citizens of 
Philadelphia, as he has walked the streets of the 
city on the route between his home and his office. 
His name has been a household word among the 
readers of pure literature throughout the whole 
country. And “ Arthur’s Home Magazine,” which he 
has so long and so successfully edited, has secured 
so hearty and so permanent a welcome in many 
thousands of the best households in the land, that 
Mr. Arthur cannot be regarded as a stranger by in¬ 
telligent people anywhere. 
It might be supposed by those who have not per¬ 
sonally seen Mr. Arthur that a man who could for 
years work so diligently as he has, and who could 
produce the extraordinary amount of superior liter¬ 
ary material which has come from his pen, must be 
one of giant physique and robust constitution. 
Those who are familiar with his slender form know 
that it is far otherwise. His constitution was never 
strong. About 1870 he had suffered to such an ex¬ 
tent from physical and nervous exhaustion that 
most of his friends gave him up as not likely to live 
long. It seemed as if his work was almost done. 
The narration of Mr. Arthur’s decline in health, 
and of his restoration to vigor and the enjoyment of 
life, is of singular interest, as given by himself to 
one of our editors who recently enjoyed a protracted 
conversation with him. Mr. Arthur said, substan¬ 
tially: 
“Previous to the year 1870 my health had been 
very poor. For a number of years I had been stead¬ 
ily losing ground in consequence of the constant 
physical and’ nervous strain resulting from over¬ 
work. I became so exhausted that my family and 
friends were very anxious about me. Only a few of 
the most hopeful of them thought I could live for 
any considerable time. I was forced to abandon all 
my most earnest literary work, and I regarded my 
career in authorship at an end. I was so weak that 
I could not walk over a few squares without great 
fatigue. 
“About this time my attention was attracted to 
Compound Oxygen as then administered by Dr. 
Starkey. I had heard of wonderful cures wrought 
by its agency; so wonderful indeed, that, had I not 
personally known the Doctor and possessed the 
fullest confidence in him, I should have been very 
skeptical on the subject. I tried the Compound 
Oxygen Treatment, first simply as an experiment. 
I knew it could not make me worse than I was, and 
I hoped it might make me better. That it would do 
for me what it has, I had not dared to hope.” 
“ Its effect was not that of a stimulant, but of a 
gentle and almost imperceptible vitalizer of the 
whole system. Soon I began to have a sense of such 
physical comfort as I had not known for many years. 
My strength was gradually returning. This slowly 
but steadily increased. In a few months I was able 
to resume my pen, and within six months after 
doing so I completed one of my largest and most 
earnestly written books; and this without suffering 
any drawback, and without any return of the old 
feeling of exhaustion. For^more than seven years 
after this I applied myself closely to literary work, 
doing, as I believe, the best work of my life.” 
“ The improvement was substantial and permanent. 
Not only had I no return of the old weakness and ex¬ 
hausted feeling, but I was able to work in my study 
from three to four hours a day. The constant re¬ 
mark I heard from my friends was, ‘ How well you 
are looking 1’ Nor was it only in the strength and 
vitality that I gained by the use of Compound Oxy¬ 
gen. For twenty years I had suffered with parox¬ 
ysms of nervous headache, sometimes once or twice 
a week. They were very severe, lasting usually six or 
seven hours. In a year after I commenced the Com¬ 
pound Oxygen treatment, these were almost entirely 
gone. It is now over ten years since I had such an 
attack. I was moreover liable to take cold, and I had 
frequent attacks of influenza, which always left me 
with a troublesome cough. It is very rarely that I 
now take cold. When I do so I at once resort to the 
Compound Oxygen, which invariably breaks up the 
cold in from one to three davs.” 
And now, Mr. Arthur, what is your present condition 
of health? 
“ It is all I have any right or desire to expect at my 
somewhat advanced age of seventy-five. I sleep well, 
and am able to take my proper amount of food, en¬ 
joying my meals with regularity and heartiness. My 
digestion, altho gh slow, is good. Iam able to attend 
to my customary literary work, devoling about four 
hours a day to it.” 
The testimonials and reports of cases published by 
Drs. Starkey & Palen in their pamphlets and adver¬ 
tisements, if literally true, show Compound Oxygen 
to be the most remarkable curative agent yet discov¬ 
ered. Do you believe them all to be genuine ? 
“ I have the most complete confidence in them. For 
years I have had personal acquaintance with Messrs. 
Starkey & Palen, and exceptionally good opportuni¬ 
ties for observing them, as well in their private life 
as in their professional relation to the public. I am 
sure that neither of them would or could become a 
party to any fraud or deception. But facts are of 
more value than opinions. Let me give you a. fact. 
I publish a magazine, and have had an advertising 
contract with Drs. Starkey & Palen for over six years. 
During this time I have published monthly, from one to 
six or seven different reports of cases and cures under 
their new treatment, or over three hundred in all. 
Now, in every case I have examined the patient's 
letters from which these reports were taken, and 
know the ext acts made therefrom and published in 
my magazine, to be literally correct. Stronger evi¬ 
dence of genuineness than this, cannot of course be 
given.” 
Mr. Arthur, some years ago you gave a testimonial 
in regard to what Compound Oxygen had done 
for you; and you have also spoken freely in your 
magazine concerning Messrs. Starkey & Palen. Do 
you, in view of your present acquaintance with these 
gentlemen, and your large experience with Com. 
pound Oxygen, endorse all you have said? 
“I do, most fully, and without any reservation 
whatever.” 
And now, as to testimonials. Have you at any 
time given a testimonial in favor of other special 
remedial agents or modes of treatment ? 
“Never. The first and only time that I have per¬ 
mitted my name to be used in commending a cura¬ 
tive agent to public notice and confidence is in the 
case of Compound Oxygen. This I have done, not * 
from solicitation, but voluntarily, and from a sense 
of duty. I believe, that in the use of this newly ;i 
discovered substance, diseases long classed as ‘in- 
curable,’ may be greatly ameliorated and very often 
entirely broken, and the sufferer restored to com¬ 
parative good health. I also believe, that by its use 
the liability to disease may be removed, and the 
general health of the community greatly improved, i 
From what I know of its action, as well in my own 
• case as in that of many others, I am satisfied that if 
promptly used it will arrest the progress of acute 
pneumonia, consumption, catarrh, and most of the 
diseases which originate in colds. Believing this, as 
I certainly do, and from evidence which is too direct !; 
and positive to be ignored, I would be derelict in my 
duty if I did not do all in my power to induce the ( 
sick and suffering to seek relief in the use of so 
beneficent an agent.” 
Have you seen and known other persons who have 
used Compound Oxygen; and have you had oppor¬ 
tunities of observing to what extent they have re¬ 
ceived benefit ? 
“ My observation and my opportunities in this re- 
spect have been large. I have been much at the 
office of Drs. Starkey & Palen, and have become per¬ 
sonally acquainted with many who have taken the 
Treatment. In almost every case, where a fair trial < 
was given, decided benefit was obtained. Some 
very remarkable cases in consumption, rheumatism, : 
catarrh, congestion of the lungs, asthma, etc., have 
come to my personal knowledge, the results of 
which seemed almost miraculous.” 
Drs. Starkey & Palen, 1109 and 1111 Girard Street, 
Philadelphia, are the sole dispensers of this remark¬ 
able curative agent, and will send, without charge, E 
their Treatise on Compound Oxygen, giving all de¬ 
sired information in regard to it, to any one who will ■ 
write to them. 
AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS IN 1884. 
From the edition of Messrs. Geo. P. Rowell & Co.’s i 
American Newspaper Directory, now in press, it 
appears that the newspapers and periodicals of all ' 
kinds at present issued in the United States and i 
Canada reach a grand total of 13,402. This is a net ; 
gain of precisely 1,600 during the last twelve months, 
and exhibits an increase of 5,618 over the fotal number 
published just ten years since. The increase in 1874 
over the total for 1873 was 493. During the past year 
t he dailies have increased from 1,138 to 1,254; the 
weeklies from 9,062 to 10,028; and the monthlies from 
1,091 to 1,499. The greatest increase is in the West¬ 
ern States. Illinois, for instance, now shows 1,009 
papers in place of last year’s total of 904, while Mis¬ 
souri issues 604 instead of the 523 reported in 1883. 
Other leading Western States also exhibit a great per¬ 
centage of increase. The total number of papers in 
New York State is 1,523, against 1,399 in 1883. Canada 
has shared in the general increase. 
Knabe Pianos for Brooklyn Schools^ 
[FROM THE BALTIMORE DAILY NEWS.] 
The award of the contract to supply the Brooklyn, 
New York, Public Schools with twelve Pianos has 
been made to Messrs. Wm. Knabe & Co., this being 
the entire number required. The award was made 
after a test of merit, the Board of Education having 
determined to secure the Piano which they believed 
t o be the best in the market, without regard to the 
difference in price. After a thorough examination 
and comparison, the Knabe Pianos were unanimously 
chosen. 
HOWARD CHALLEN, 
•7-i-S: Bioad-way, ITew -2Torl=, 
Supplies information regarding Books on Floriculture 
and kindred subjects. 
