RELATION OF IMMIGRATION TO THE AMERICAN FARMER

Ellis Island, New York harbor.

Cortland Evening Standard, Tuesday, March 7, 1893.

The Relation of Immigration to the American Farmer.

   The following is the very admirable paper delivered by Mr. Henry Howes of Cuyler at the Farmers' institute in Cortland last week:

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
   It has been said, and I think very wisely, that "The highest duty of a nation is self preservation," and, if this be true of a nation, it should apply equally as well to a class or an individual. I do not believe that any nation has a right to exterminate other nations for the purpose of building itself up or that any class or person has that right, but that every individual class or nation has the right of self protection and they should exercise that right. The last census of the United States showed that our country was increasing rapidly in population, and that as a whole it had gained more in wealth in the preceding ten years than it had in any other ten years of its existence. This is something for every one of us to be proud of, but, while we have viewed with satisfaction the growth and prosperity of our country as a whole, we as investors and laborers in a business that for the ten years from 1880 until 1890 was far from prosperous or profitable have had some cause for sorrow. The depreciation in the value of eastern farm property during those years was at a greater per cent than ever known before, not excepting the ten years immediately after the close of the war.
   Now what was the cause of this unfortunate condition of the farming industry? We know that there have been many. But one which has not seemed to attract the attention of farmers very much has in my opinion been one of the chief causes. It has been the policy of our government to stimulate immigration. The whole world has been given to understand that this was a free country and it has been demonstrated that it was nearly so. Now the question uppermost in our minds is, can we keep it so or are we to become yoke wearers and burden bearers to be controlled at some future day by this element which we have allowed to be planted here? To the honest manly immigrant anxious to become an American citizen in all that the name implies and sturdily able to support himself, as unwilling to wrong others as to suffer a wrong at their hands, we cordially extend our hands now as we have in the past.
   We receive every year scores of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of immigrants whose presence is a boon to the land, who themselves become good citizens, as good as any in the country and whose children are Americans of the best type. But we also receive scores of thousands and it is to be feared under certain conditions we may receive hundreds of thousands of immigrants who are as emphatically a curse to us as their fellows are a blessing. They may be a curse in any one of several ways. If they refuse to assimilate with us, and are indeed incapable of such assimilation then they should be kept out. Again, if the immigrant can be assimilated, but if it must be the work of many generations, he should only be admitted in small quantities and not tax too severely the national digestion, and again. if he is of immoral character, he should be kept out entirely. Murderers, convicts and felons of every kind should be rigidly excluded and we have no place here for the anarchist, the dynamiter or the socialist. Over this country there is room for but one flag, and of all flags there is none more alien to the Stars and Stripes than the bloody flag of anarchy. Again if the immigrants are morally unobjectionable, if they are used to low scale of living—and nearly all who land here now are of this class—they should not be allowed to come here and practically given our best farming lands and immediately brought into direct competition with us, their mode of living being such that they can subsist where an ordinary farmer would starve.

   The United States has been offered as an asylum for the oppressed of all nations, but this should be withdrawn when the oppressed of other nations become our oppressors.

   The people who come to our country now may be derived into three classes: viz., the thrifty immigrant who by the most rigid economy in his foreign home has been able to save a little money and on his arrival here, as I said before, is given land and comes directly in competition with us and has helped to cause an overproduction in every farm product.

   The second class—I hardly know what to name them—they are the men who at home in their native land are plotting to overthrow their government, they become afraid to stay there and so come to this free country to try to educate the people as to what freedom means.

   The last class is the pauper class which is a very large class. I want to give you an extract from the report of the New York State Board of Charities and Correction. They say after giving statistics, "It may be well to add that it is the general impression of those most familiar with the subject that the extraordinary flood of immigrants coming to our shores of recent years do not so much represent voluntary immigration as that which is stimulated.

   "Foreign steamship lines have found that there is no cargo so profitable as a human one that loads and unloads itself and virtually imposes no cost for care. With this view little care if any apparently is paid by the lines to the kind of passengers, whether fitted or unfitted for self support and it is said that to secure steerages full of passengers special efforts are made by runners and agents scouring the interior and remote parts of Europe to induce all they can to go to America even if in so doing they sell their little possessions and have but mere pittances for their support on landing here in a strange land, strange in tongue and with ways and activities that they cannot in their day and generation assimilate with or become accustomed to, especially while they congregate as they do into city districts and form so to speak separate bodies of different nationalities retaining and using their own language and maintaining their native habits with hardly a perceptible effort to become 'Americanized.'

   "On their part much as we should like that process to become spontaneous and universal to all claiming citizenship with us what wonder then that so many find their way to become beneficiaries of the public and other charitable institutions that its cities and the state of New York itself now abound with covering all forms of relief. Yet all perpetually crowded, requiring new ones annually to be built or existing ones enlarged or expanded with branches to accommodate increasing patronage."

   Now pardon me for one more extract this from the committee on foreign relations at the national grange held at Concord, N. H., last November. "Your committee views with alarm the constant flow of immigrants from the European nations though we welcome with hospitality the industrious and the worthy. Yet when we consider that more than half a million landed on our shores within the last twelve months and when no one doubts or denies that the status of manhood and womanhood of these immigrants are getting lower in the scale of humanity each year as compared with the former days of our Republic, it has become alarming. Thousands upon top of thousands of the scum, the drift, the debris of pauperized depravity continue without any abatement. They are a threat to morality, an injury to our honest wage earners. They vitiate the sanctity of the ballot and sow seeds of discontent. This Republic will prosper just so long as the man who labors is self-respecting, hard-working, thrifty and a fairly successful citizen and the minute he ceases to be such, that minute the whole country is in danger."

   I do not think we need to be alarmed about our lawyers, clergymen or professional men being brought into unfair competition with immigrants entering the same profession, but we have every reason to believe that the standard of the men who till the farms, dig the mines and build the houses is lowered by undue competition with the multitudes poured upon our shores through the steerage cabins of the countless European steamships.

   Now what seems to be for the best interest of the farmer to encourage competition and over production, to allow people to come here to advance theories entirely opposed to good government, to keep our gates wide open and become the asylum, poor house and jail for the whole world (China excepted) or to use our influence as a class to bring about some relief from this one evil?

A Good Performance.

   There was a fair sized audience at our cosy little Opera House last evening to witness for the first lime the presentation of the "Two Old Cronies," The entertainment combined a large number of good specialties. The dialogue fairly bristled with funny sayings and witty repartee which kept the audience in a continual roar during the entire evening. John B. Wills and Monte F. Collins in the title role created no end of amusement and their "make up" would have caused a graven image to laugh. Miss Norma Wills, captured the audience by the rendition of several popular airs in a highly pleasing manner. The support was all good, Misses Madelain Marshall and Violet St. Clair being especially worthy of mention.

  One of the best and most rapid stage shifts of scenery ever seen in Cortland was made when the incandescents were turned out for a few seconds on scene on board the ship Columbia and when they were re-lighted an Indian encampment appeared, as if by magic, on the stage. Taken all in all—the new songs, dances, music and specialties and the originality of the action—it was thought by some who were there to be one of the best performances given here this season.

Judge Parker's Order on Brewer and Brown Injunction.

   Some of the parties interested in the legal complications in which the Cortland Top and Rail Co. is now involved have called our attention to the fact that the paragraph in our yesterdays issue in reference to Judge Parker's decision in the matter of the injunction granted E. H. Brewer and D. H. Brown was not a full statement of that decision.

   The order reads as follows: "I do hereby order that said injunction order is hereby set aside, vacated and annulled as to the judgments and the executions thereon in favor of George Bennett and John Bennett and Charles Kinley against Cortland Top and Rail Company, Limited, and that the sheriff of Cortland county be and is hereby authorized to proceed under such executions, such order otherwise to remain in full force and effect. And it is further ordered that plaintiffs in this action, within ten days from this date, execute and deliver and file a good and sufficient bond or undertaking in form, substance and with sureties to be approved by the county judge of Cortland county, in the sum of $5,000 in lieu of the bond or undertaking presented upon the application for said injunction order; such undertaking to be for the benefit of the said defendants other than John Bennett and

George Bennett and Charles Kinley, and in default thereof said injunction order is wholly vacated and annulled."

PAGE FOUR—EDITORIALS.

The Village Ticket.

   The Republican village ticket this year is a more than ordinarily strong one.

   Calvin P. Walrad, the nominee for president, has already filled that office very acceptably for one term, and stands (among our most solid, judicious and trusted business men. During his long mercantile career and as treasurer and president of the Cortland Savings bank he has gained a wide acquaintance and won the confidence of the community. When nominated before for the office the Democratic convention put no candidate in the field against him—a recognition of fitness such as is rarely made.

   Harry Swan, the nominee for trustee in the First ward, is a representative working man, and is now holding the office for which he is again a candidate. He has many elements of popularity, and during his present term has been diligent and faithful in the performance of his duties. His renomination he can fairly claim as an endorsement of past service and as a promise of future support.

   T. C. Scudder, Jr., nominee for trustee in the Third ward, is a resident of Cortland of many years standing, widely known, and universally respected. He is an accurate, careful, common-sense man, and will be a valuable member of the village board.

   Wm. Corcoran, for police justice, is one of the most prominent Irish Republicans of Cortland, and was president of the Tippecanoe Marching club last fall. He is one of the younger members of the Cortland county bar, has good natural abilities and legal acquirements, and popular manners. He has served acceptably one term as town clerk of Cortlandville and was reelected to that office at the last town meeting.

   N. J. Parsons, for assessor, is an admirable selection. Mr. Parsons is an excellent judge of property, candid and judicial in forming his conclusions, and given to doing whatever he undertakes with energy and thoroughness. He can be trusted to perform the somewhat difficult and delicate duties of the office to which he is called with eminent success.

   Mr. P. J. Peck, for village treasurer, is as well fitted for the place as any one who could be found in Cortland. As the popular and efficient book-keeper and cashier of the National bank of Cortland he has had just the training necessary for the discharge of the duties of the office, and the accounts will come from his hands neatly and systematically kept and balancing to a cent.

   W. E. Phelps, for collector, is a popular and in every way satisfactory nomination. Mr. Phelps will look after the work of the office himself and can be trusted to do it thoroughly and energetically.

   Of the nominees for Commissioners of Union Free School district No. 1 for full term, Messrs. D. P. Wallace and F. W. Kingsbury are old members of the board, of tried and proven efficiency, and Mr. W. J. Perkins, who takes the place of F. E. Whitmore, is too well-known as one of our leading business men to need commendation. Mr. Wallace was one of the first men who came upon the school board by election, and has for several years been its valued and valuable presiding officer. Mr. F. D. Smith, who is nominated for two years to fill out the unexpired term of Mr. E. Frank Squires, resigned, has already served on the board by appointment, and shown himself a useful member. Mr. A. S. Brown, nominated for one year to fill out an unexpired term, is the present popular county treasurer of this county, and to his experience in that office he adds the training gained in an active and successful business career. He fills the measure of the idea conveyed by the word "hustler," and can be trusted to do any work that falls to him "with neatness and dispatch."

   Though the usual Democratic raid will probably be made on one or two candidates, the Republican line would seem to be strong enough to resist a great deal of hard pounding.

 

POLYDORE BROWN CORWIN

Cortland Evening Standard, Monday, March 6, 1893.

Polydore Brown Corwin.

   The subject of this sketch, a notice of whose death and funeral has already appeared in these columns, was born March 30, 1801, at Aquebogue, L. I., and was a son of Ezra Corwin, whose ancestors came from the Highlands of Scotland whither the family with others had been driven by Jesuit persecution from Hungary, where one Matthias Corvinus (Corvinus being the Hungarian name for Corwin) was made a king and who reigned acceptably to the people upwards of thirty years, during which time the country was very prosperous. In their flight much property was left behind which was confiscated by the new government. He had a connected family history running back seven generations, and was a descendant of Matthias Corwin, who settled at Ipswich, Mass., in 1623 and removed to Long Island in 1640. This branch of the Corwin family have a large number of descendents scattered throughout the United States. In the time of the Revolutionary war they were loyal to the colonies and some of them were under arrest as rebels.

   At the time of coming to this part of the country, then known as Homer, Onondaga county, only one house stood where Cortland village now has been built, and that was a partly log and partly frame building standing near the site of the present National bank. Having settled at Blodgett Mills in 1808 with his father when this country was new, he had witnessed the dense forests give way to the fertile cultivated fields. Later in life he went to New York City, where he was engaged in the grocery trade till the death of his second wife in 1845. In 1847 he married Catherine Parmiter and settled on a farm.

   Upwards of forty years ago he united with the Presbyterian church of Cortland and was a member at the time of his death. Of late years deafness prevented his hearing satisfactorily and consequently he was less frequently in his accustomed pew. He was three times married. His last wife survives him, but is in poor health. She makes her home with her son, Mr. Dudley G. Corwin on Union-st.

   Mr. Corwin was the builder of and the last surviving member of the five original trustees of the Reformed Methodist church at Blodgett Mills, the semi-centennial of which was celebrated about two years since, an account of which appeared in the STANDARD at the time. During the past summer he was actively engaged in caring for a large garden and seemed in usual health until he fell on a glare of ice by which he was kept indoors for some time. He had, however, recovered to a good degree at the time of a stroke of paralysis on Feb. 3, which was the immediate cause of death. He was the father of nine children, six of whom survive him.

   Many are the interesting incidents told by this gentleman of the frontier life in this vicinity, one of which was the building by his father of a log house with so capacious a fireplace that a horse was used in drawing in the immense backlogs which supplied the place of the modern Howe Ventilators and anthracite coal. So plentiful and so tame were the deer that they would come and sleep close by the house, and venison was easily obtained. Just in front of the house was the spot where the Indians met occasionally to burn the "White Dog" to appease the Great Spirit of the Happy Hunting grounds. John Ross, chief of the Cherokee Nation, who recently died in Washington, D. C., was at one time a guest of Mr. Corwin for several weeks.

   Mr. Corwin held commissions of promotion from the rank of private of the 53rd New York state militia to that of captain under General Roswell Randall. The funeral was held Saturday afternoon at his late residence on Prospect St.

   [Cortland Rural Cemetery, Sect. G, Lot 32, age 91. Date of death, March 2, 1893.]

Cremation in This Country.

   It is not every day that there are five cases of cremation at Fresh Pond, but the bodies of four men and one woman were reduced to ashes in the furnace there on Tuesday. The revival of the ancient practice of cremation in our times is a curious thing. We have not yet seen the last year's reports of the several crematories in the country, but we believe that over 100 dead persons were consumed in them during the year.

   Nearly all of these persons, with the exception of the victims of cholera, who were cremated in our bay last autumn, had left orders or had expressed a desire that their bodies should be thus disposed of. The most of them had been agnostics or atheists, and a few of them Theosophists. It is not to be supposed that any of them, leaving out the cholera stricken, had been believers in the doctrine of the resurrection of the body at the day of judgment, though of course cremation could not interfere with any design of the Almighty.

   We know of two crematories in England, and there are others in several of the countries of continental Europe. Should the cholera break out in England this year it is probable that a number of the municipalities will, in accordance with advice given by their health authorities, follow the example set by the New York quarantine commission last autumn and cremate the victims of the dreaded and infectious disease.—New York Sun.

Newspaper Workers in Chicago.

   Some time ago we took occasion to warn newspaper writers against the folly of coming to Chicago in the hope of finding employment here. We regret that the warning has been neglected by very many. This city has been overrun for several months by reporters (both men and women) vainly seeking work. The Chicago newspapers have for two years been getting ready for The World's fair season, and their several departments are filled with competent men. Therefore others who come to Chicago now in the expectation of securing employment are bound to be disappointed; there are no places to be had; in every newspaper office at the present time applicants are standing about 12 deep in the outer chamber, with never so much as the prospect of a possibility to encourage them.

   Many of these people are suffering from want of money. They left employment elsewhere to rush to this city of the World's fair, where they fancied their services would be snapped at. Most of these unfortunates will have to walk out of town or take to driving street cars for a means of subsistence.

   With a view to averting further trouble we ask our newspaper friends elsewhere to disseminate assiduously the information that newspaper work is not to be had in Chicago; that every place is filled here; that already we have with us an army of unemployed reporters, and that every newspaper writer who comes to Chicago with a view to getting work is pretty sure to have nothing but his trouble for his pains.—Chicago News-Record.

Cornstarch For Chilblains.

   The unusual cold weather of the winter has made chilblains quite a common complaint. A woman who has suffered from the most annoying torture which this particular infliction entails reports to have found relief from a new remedy, or at least from something which is not one of the usual remedies.

   "After trying hot salt and water, witch hazel, cold cream and the rest of the list," says this woman," the idea came to me that to bury my feet in the creamy coolness of cornstarch might assuage the intolerable burning. I tried it, with instant success. Don't use a little from a powder puff. Take a bowl or dish and plunge the foot in quite to the instep and keep it thus buried for some minutes. Then dust off most of the cornstarch, and the stocking and shoe can be resumed with comfort."

   This simple, inexpensive suggestion ought to be circulated. Car drivers and others whose occupation forces them to stand almost continuously are likely to be the greatest sufferers in cold weather from frost bitten feet and following chilblains.—Her Point of View, New York Times.

  

Fought for Blood.

   A little "scrap" took place about noon to-day on Squires-st. which resulted in some blood being spilled but not much harm done. Thomas Sparrow, who boards at Dell Hudson's at 92 Squires-st., had a few words with his landlord which resulted in several blows being struck. Both men were so intoxicated that only flesh wounds were made. Mrs. Hudson in endeavoring to separate the combatants was struck and immediately rushed to Chief Sager's residence, where the chief was just enjoying his noonday lunch. He arose from the table and followed the woman to the scene of the battle and the two men were soon parted. Mrs. Hudson induced her husband to go into the house, where he was safely tucked in bed, and the chief induced Sparrow to visit the "cooler" where he was served in a like manner.

   Sparrow refused this afternoon to tell a STANDARD reporter the cause of the fight, but stated that he was employed by Holden & Seager. When he is sobered up and brought before Judge Bull he may be in a more communicative mood.

BREVITIES.

   —Regular meeting of the board of trustees to-night.

   —Regular meeting of Vesta lodge in their rooms to-night.

   —The C. L. S. C. will meet with Mrs. M. E. Cummings this evening,

   —Mr. Alex Mahan sold a Decker Bros, cabinet grand upright piano in Brooklyn last Saturday.

   —Mr. Alex. Mahan has secured large additions to his former territory for the sale of the Haines Bros. and Chickering pianos.

   —Revival meetings will be held at the Free Methodist church every evening this week except Saturday. All are cordially invited to attend.

   —One of the disgusting sights on Main-st. Saturday evening was a young man with a girl on each arm and all three smoking cigarettes.

   —A horse belonging to Mr. H. E. Andrews made a lively run on Groton-ave. this morning, but was stopped by Dr. F. W. Higgins, who escaped with a few bruises.

   —Mrs. John Nix, 28 Park-st., last Friday slipped on the ice at her back door and fell breaking the bone just above the wrist of her left arm. Dr. F. W. Higgins attends her.

   —Teachers' examinations for the first, second and third grades in the first commissioner district will be held at the Normal building from 9 A. M. till 4 P. M. Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

   —The many friends of Dr. J. W. Hughes will learn with regret that this morning he filed in the clerk's office assignment papers. The statement of assets and liabilities has not yet been filed.

   —The Tonawanda high school has just started a newsy little sheet devoted to the interests of the school. The first number of it has been received, and among the list of teachers in the school, as published in the Record, appears the name of Miss Mary E. Crofoot of the Normal class of June, 1892. She has charge of the third grade in Grammar school No. 1.

   —At Owego Saturday Judge Parker sustained all the injunctions against the Cortland Top & Rail Co. except those of the Chemung Valley bank and of Charles Kinley, which were vacated. Messrs. W. H. Newton, Buck & Lane and Cooper Bros., have made an application for receivership enjoining the Chemung Valley bank and Charles Kinley from selling the property. The hearing will be before Justice Vann at Syracuse on March 8. There it now no immediate prospect of a sale.

 

"CENTRAL SCHOOL, 1892"

Cortland Central School. Photo from Grip's Historical Souvenir of Cortland.

Cortland Evening Standard, Saturday, March 4, 1893.

"CENTRAL SCHOOL, 1892."

A MAGNIFICENT STRUCTURE DEVOTED TO EDUCATION.

Details of Its Building—Description of the Plans—Evidences of Faithful Work by the Board of Education.

   The outlines of the new central school have now become very familiar to almost every resident of Cortland, but it is probable that comparatively few have ever been inside its doors and realize what a fine building has been erected in the midst of this village, and how perfect are all of its arrangements.

   At the village election in March, 1891, an appropriation of $30,000 was voted for the issuing of bonds for the purchase of a site and the erection of a new central school building into which the students of the higher grades in the several ward schools could be gathered. The bill which was at once introduced in the legislature empowering the village to issue these bonds was left in the deadlock in the legislature that year and it was not until last year that the bonds could be issued and the money was available. The board of education upon whose shoulders rested the responsible task of building the school consisted of Messrs. D. F. Wallace, F. W. Kingsbury, F. E. Whitmore, L. D. C. Hopkins, E. F. Jennings, C. F. Brown, H. A. Dickinson, E. F. Squires and F. D. Smith, and the result clearly shows that the work was in good hands. Throughout the labors of the year the superintendent of schools, Col. Frank Place, has been in some degree associated with them.

   The first matter to be settled was that of a site. Various lots were offered, and strong were the efforts brought to bear upon the board by interested parties to prove that each individual site was far superior in every respect to all others. But the board of education canvassed the matter thoroughly, and kept their own counsel. Some lots in their opinion were not large enough, others were too expensive, and too large a share of the appropriations would be consumed in the purchase of a site and not enough would be left for the building itself, others were not central enough. At last the present site which had been in their minds to some extent all the time seemed to all the members to present the greatest number of points of desirability, and it was decided upon. It consists of nearly an acre of land fronting on Railroad-st. [Central Avenue] and was owned by Messrs. L. J. Fitzgerald and A. F. Tanner, and the sum of $9,500 was paid for it.

   The next point was the procuring of suitable plans. Messrs. Kingsbury, Jennings and Smith were appointed a building committee, and these gentlemen at once began the study of schoolhouses in general. Sometimes accompanied by Mr. Wallace, the president of the board, and by Col. Place, they visited a number of the most modern and best constructed school buildings in neighboring cities. The drawing of the plans was entrusted to Mr. N. Dillenbeck of Syracuse, an architect who has made the planning of school houses a specialty. The contract for the erection of the new building was let for $21,415 to J. D. Keeler & Co. of Cortland, a firm whose name has come to be a synonym for good work. Ground was broken in July and the building was commenced.

   All of the mason work was under the direct supervision of Messrs. Beers & Warfield, who form the "Co." in the firm of J. D. Keeler & Co. The building is 88 by 92 feet in size, two stories high, with a basement and a large and well lighted attic, which in case of need can also be finished off to furnish additional room. The foundations are of rough dressed Berea sandstone from Ohio. The building itself is of brick which came from the brickyard of Horace Hall of Homer. In the construction of the building 575,000 bricks were used. The mortar was colored and the whole building has been stained a dark red. The slate roof was put on by Cashman & McCarthy of Syracuse. The plumbing and gas fitting was done by L. R. Lewis of Cortland, and is a most admirable job. The oiling and varnishing was done by A. Loucks, all being subcontracts of the original contract.

   The building is entered by a broad flight of stone steps, which lead up to a portico. Over the entrance in large letters overlaid with gold leaf are the words "Central School, 1892." The visitor finds himself in a vestibule 5 by 11 feet in size which connects directly with the main corridor and which opens into it through broad swinging doors, the upper part of which are of beveled-edge French plate glass. As the building is arranged, a corridor nineteen feet wide extends directly through from front to rear. At the north end of this corridor there are two entrances for the pupils to the east and west, the front entrances being intended for the use of the teachers and visitors. Upon each side of the hall there are two recitation rooms 25 by 39 feet in size, 12 feet high and abundantly lighted.

   In the front rooms there are eight large windows, five on the side and three in front. In the rear rooms there are six large windows, five being on the side and one in the rear. These rooms are entered from the corridor under broad arches which add much to the attractiveness of the appearance. The doors leading into the two rooms on each side of the corridor are placed near together and are under the same arch. Next the door of each class room is a large cloak room for the use of the pupils of that particular room.

   Three broad staircases lead to the floor above, which is an exact duplicate of the first floor with the exception of the fact that the front part of the corridor over the entrance is separated from the rest by a partition partly of glass to form a room 12 by 19 feet in size for the use of the superintendent of the village schools and as a meeting place for the board of education; while in the rear over the two rear entrances are two small rooms to be used as libraries for the different grades. From each room a speaking tube goes to the superintendent's office. The third floor will for the present be left unfinished, but, though it runs into the roof, it is so arranged that, when the time of need comes, it may be cut into recitation rooms and be finished up. It is lighted by thirty windows large and small.

   All of the floors are of one-inch maple and are waxed, and they are all deadened as to sound by wool-deadening felt. All of the rooms and corridors are wainscoted four feet high with Georgia pine. The ceilings are of spruce and are varnished. In the corridors on each floor are four stationary marble wash bowls.

   The basement which is nine feet high, like each of the floors above, is divided into four rooms. The floor is grouted and finished with Portland cement. The building is heated by four furnaces furnished by the Smead Warming and Ventilating Co. of New York and the Smead system of ventilating and of dry closets is used. This system of ventilation is warranted to warm the air in the rooms and change it entirely every thirty minutes and is considered by experts to be one of the most perfect systems known. The Smead company in the contract which they made guarantee that they will be able to furnish thirty-five cubic feet of warm pure air each minute to each person in the room. Near the rear of the lower corridor there are two registers connected with a small furnace below, which will be run in winter for the express purpose of affording a place where the children may warm their feet.

   The work on the interior of the building is nearly completed. Since work began there has been an average of about fifteen men employed constantly though at times it has run as high as twenty-five. One particular excellence of the architecture of this building is that when the time shall come, as it undoubtedly will in future years, that more accommodations still will be needed, it will be possible to erect in the rear of this building another one similarly arranged and connected with it by the extension of the corridors. Neither will interfere with the other, as far as lighting is concerned, nor will the new structure be an unsightly addition tacked upon the older building. There is plenty of room on the lot for the addition when needed.

   A portion of the furnishing of the school has arrived and is ready to be set up, but the appropriation made did not allow for the complete furnishing of the building, nor for grading or walks, and it is for these purposes that the board of education this year ask for the additional appropriation of $6,000. There can be little doubt that it will be voted. Certainly if any one is in doubt as to how he should vote in the matter, the best thing he can do to convince himself of the worthiness of the object is to take a look at the outside and inside of this structure, which rises as such an ornament to our village and which when properly finished and furnished and equipped will be so complete in all its appointments.

  

McGrawville.

   McGrawville, March 3. — Albert Finn of Solon passed away to the ever increasing "silent majority" Feb. 28, aged 44 years. Rev. E. J. Brooker of this place officiated at the funeral services yesterday.

   William Shuler is very ill.

   Mrs. Woolsey is very ill and her recovery seems doubtful.

   The sad news reaches us that little Lee Chrysler of Polkville is very close to the valley of shadows with scarlet fever. The dreaded disease is in town also. Lee Maybury's son is very ill with it at the home of his grandmother, Mrs. Castle. Ira Wavle's little girl, and Lizzie Burdick are also sick with it. The primary of the school is again becoming depopulated, as many parents fear contagion.

   A. P. McGraw, Mrs. Harvey Frink, and little Charles Rowe are on the sick list.

   With all the bad news comes an item of good news heard from Elmer Norcott at noon to-day. He is doing nicely and another operation will be performed Monday.

   Mrs. D. E. Ensign will lead the Christian Endeavor meeting at the Methodist church next Sunday evening.

   We are sorry Nick was so engaged that one item at least did not appear in Friday's paper. Next Tuesday evening, March 7, a conundrum social in the interest of the Methodist church will be held at the residence of C. B. Warren. The supper will be served on the European plan. Also the mystic art gallery will be for the first time open to the public. Gems of art from all parts of the world, studies from the old (and new) masters. Come everybody and enjoy one of the best social events of the season.

   Miss Eliza Johnson has gone to her home in Lisle, where she has engaged to teach school.

   Examination at school next week.

   To-morrow Grover Cleveland will be set up in the high chair of the nation.

   Mr. John H. Kelley, who has been recently admitted to the bar at Albany, was home over Sunday.

   We wish that everyone who has not done so, and many who have would refer to Tuesday's, Feb. 28, edition of the STANDARD, and read from page 4 the article entitled "What Becomes of Them," by "One Who Knows." We believe there is no part of Cortland county that is free from the abuse of animals. People calling themselves human do not wait for them to get old and useless here before abusing them. The frozen bit is thrust into the quivering, sensitive mouth, they are left unblanketed for hours while their master "smiles" in a saloon. When old and useless they should be mercifully shot, and not given away. Oh, shade of Black Beauty, may your teachings be remembered. Earnestly,

   NEMO. [pen name of local correspondent.]

BREVITIES.

   —Village caucuses to-night from 8 o'clock.

   —The Celtic Daughters give a banquet March 16.

   —A school for newsboys was organized in Syracuse Thursday night.

   —Miss Valantine Meager has opened a dressmaker's shop at her home at 16 Woodruff-st.

   —Mrs. Lumden's free lecture to ladies at the Universalist church Monday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock.

   —The trustees of the House of the Good Shepherd at Syracuse have decided to erect a new hospital for surgical cases, which will accommodate 250 patients. It will cost about $30,000.

   —The funeral of Mr. Frederick H. Wilcox will be held at the home of his grandfather, Mr. H. J. Messenger, on the corner of Reynolds-ave. and Union-st. on Monday afternoon at 2 o'clock.

   —A "slush muggin" furnished a sleighride to a number of young people last evening. They are quite popular in the cities, but the craze has only just struck Cortland. It manifested itself last year in a slight degree.

   —Owing to various hindrances the canvass for the Home Department work is still incomplete. So far as finished, the names have been handed to their respective schools. An effort will be made to finish the canvass, secure lesson helps, and distribute them before the first of April.

   —Edwin C. Kenney of McGrawville, N. Y., and late of company K, 157th regiment of New York Infantry Volunteers has just been allowed a pension under the old law at the rate of $4 per month from the date of his application and in the future. L. P. Hollenbeck of Cortland, N. Y., is his attorney.

   —Hudson Davis of Cincinnatus, who was late a member of Company F, 7th Regiment of New York Artillery Vols., has just been restored to the pension rolls and allowed an additional pension whereby he receives about $825 arrearage and $8 per month in the future. L. P. Hollenbeck of Cortland, N. Y., is his attorney.

   —The Syracuse Standard recently quoted from the Boston Herald a two-column article upon the remarkable adventures of Miss Deborah Sampson, the Revolutionary spy. It is very interesting, particularly as this remarkable young woman, who so long passed for a man, traced her lineage to the same origin as some families in this county.

   —It is reported that a woman living over in Hector attempted to throw a pail of water out of a second story window not long since, but the stream froze before it reached the ground and its weight pulled her out of the window, and she was blown clean over Cayuga lake before she struck the ground. The pail or ice has not yet been heard from.—Ithacan.

   —Much wonder was created this morning by the sight of a handsome lady's shoe standing in a prominent show window in Cortland in a place where shoes are not usually wont to be displayed, and having beside it a large placard upon which was the word "Lost." The owner came along in the course of the forenoon and claimed her property.

   —Dr. W. H. Price of Syracuse, a clairvoyant, was yesterday arrested on a warrant sworn out by a member of the Onondaga Medical society for practicing without a license. This society is making a determined effort to bring all no-licensed practitioners to justice. Dr. Price is over eighty years old and claims to have practiced clairvoyancy for more than forty years.

   —The Ithaca Journal says that every pauper before being allowed to enter the new county house was compelled to take a bath, receive attention at the hands of the barber and don new attire throughout. A few of the men protested and two were so scared at the prospect of getting into the bathtub that they ran away. One poor man remarked as he climbed into the tub, "I know it will be the death of me."

   —The Cortland Omnibus and Cab Co. has this week made an addition to the paint room on the second floor of the main building, by which the room is increased about one-third in size. Two partitions have been removed and some rooms formerly used for the storing of stock have been added to the paint room. The store room has been moved to the new building purchased last summer and moved down from the site of the Central school.

   —Mr. G. J. Mager received this morning from Mr. L. D. Graham of Titusville, Florida, a former resident of this village, a palmetto brush, manufactured by the Palmetto Brush Co. of St. Augustine, Fla. It is entirely vegetable, a solid block cut from the palmetto tree, the pulp forming the back of the brush and the fibers, the bristles. It is another of nature's wonderful productions, and with Yankee ingenuity combined, supplies a very useful article for the household. The brush may be seen and examined at G. J. Mager & Co's. store.

   —The locomotive on the 6 A. M train on the D., L. & W. this morning broke an eccentric strap about two miles north of Preble and had to send back to Cortland for help. The locomotive on the work train which was at the yard here started to the assistance of the train, but between Homer and Little York broke its equalizer spring. It was fixed, however, in about twenty-five minutes and the locomotive proceeded. It drew the train back to Preble and there got in front of it and took the train and disabled locomotive through to Syracuse, arriving there about two hours late. This is the second time within three weeks that the same train has had the same accident in almost the same place on the road.

What the Presidents Died Of.

   Rutherford B. Hayes was the only occupant of the White House to die of heart disease. Washington expired of pneumonia, John Adams of natural decline, Thomas Jefferson of chronic diarrhea, James Madison and James Monroe of natural decline, John Quincy Adams of paralysis, Andrew Jackson of consumption. Martin Van Buren of asthmatic catarrh, William H. Harrison of pleurisy, John Tyler of a bilious attack, James K. Polk of chronic diarrhea, Zachary Taylor of bilious fever, Millard Fillmore of natural decline, Franklin Pierce of inflammation of the stomach, James Buchanan of rheumatic gout, Abraham Lincoln assassinated, Andrew Johnson paralysis, Ulysses S. Grant cancer, James A. Garfield assassinated, Chester A. Arthur Bright's disease. Mr. Hayes was one of the three Methodists to become president, Johnson and Grant being the other two.—Columbus Journal.