After The Centennial

[From the Chicago Tribune.} The great Exposition has closed. The ralsations of big engino have ceas?d. 'ho Turkish restaurant no longer disODsesclliccory ooffee. No longer through ihe halls roams the young man from tlie couutry. The agent for tlie patent machine has quitted the lair where he laid n wait for unwary visitors. The Cennnial hotels are being sold off for old umber, and will be forgotten soon by sight-seers who ore beguiled into patronïzing them, and who until tlieir latest day will not cease to cali them accursed. 3one are the sight-seers from all over ;his broad land, and the tourists from all creation have departed, and now the balance-sheet is being rttruok. Therefrom it appeara that dxiring the 159 days in which the tkhibition was open the aggregate number of visitors was 9,907,125 - greater than at any of the International Exhibitions, with the exception of that at Paris in 1867, at which the attendance is claimed to have been atrifle greater than at Philadelphia. But the Paris Exposition for that year was kept open 210 dayn. When the drawbacks which the Centennlal encountered in tho eicitement of the political cativass, the extreme sultry weathfer of the past summor, and the refusal of the railrofids runÜinR ifito delphia tö rednoe faros moro thau 24 per cent. are reckoned, the great success of the [Centennial in point of attracting visito will be fully appreciated. The following table giving the number of visitors at each of the International Exhibitions nhows how in this regard the Genteftnial rank : 1851, Lohdön ;ü 0,039,195 1855, Paris ftjlOV! 330 1862, London 6,211,11 1867, Pari 10,000,01.0 1873, Vienua 7 2.14,687 1376, PÜlladelpllia 9,907,125 In a flnancial point of view, the Centennial was no less a success, tbe aggregate receipt8 exceeding those of any of the International Exhibitions by over $100,000, ns the figures, giying the receipts of each, reduced to our currency, show : Ixmdon, 1851 í?,53íi,0OO Pari, 1855 640,500 liomlon 1862 , 2,300,000 Pari8,186t ,...:. 9,822.932 Yienna, 1873 (abont) 2,000,000 Phlladelphia, 1876 3,m,000 These were the receipts from admissions alone. Besides, the receipts of the Oentennial from sales of concessions amounted in round numbers to $1,500,000. Those who are disposed to heap contumely upon the humble vender of pop-corn will, perhaps, modify their notion in some degree when they learn that he paid 83,000 for the privilege of selliug on the grounds. For the like privilege, the lager-beer men paid $50,000, and for the exclusive privilege of publishiug and selling on the gronnds the official catalogue, a roun'l 8100,000 was paid, which, of coursO, was more than returned for advertisements. The number of exhibi tors was 30,864. The following figures show how, in respect to the number of exhibitors, the Centennial Exhibition comp ures with the other Interi-ational Expositions : IiOndon, 1851 13 937 New York, 1853 4,65 Pari, 1885 SO.839 LondoD. 1863 28.0VÍ Pria,l67 42,217 Pliiiadelphia 30,864 But the most unexpected feature of the exhibit is that, instead of sinking money, our Centennial Exhibition actually pau all expenses. The sole concern of thp stockholders now is to make it pay the largest dividend. That can be done bj gobbling the million and a half votec by Congress in aid of the Exhibition It was a coudition of the act of Congress that this sum should be repaid the United States before "any proflts" were paid the stockholders - the design being that only in event the enterprise proved a losing one was the general Government to be called npon to cntribute. In f act, it appears that, instea1! of the million and a half, the Exhibition returns a profit of between one and two millions. But with that desperation wiüi which holders stick to claims against the goneral Government, the stockholders stick to their claim to pocket this million and a half of Uncle Sam's money, and are preparing to go into the couvts to get it. Washing Jtay. It was Tuesday morning when Mrs Waito stepped íd at her neighbor's honse to borrow a bit of beeswax for her flat irons. They were getting a little rough she said, " and would stick to the starched clothes." " Why, Mrs. Sheldon, are jon al tbrough with your washing and ironiDg and seated down to dress-ruaking ? You have qaite the start of me." " I have not washed this week at all,' said Mrs. Sheldon, as she broke off a piece of yellow wax f rom a large lump and wrnppod it up for her neighbor. ' ' ■ never wash on Monday, unless in som e verv urgent case." "Indeed! How differently people plan their work ! My husband says he ' does believe that if Motxlay came on Sunday, I wonld wash.' I must wash on Monday, rain or shine." " It always seemed tornea very inconvenient day, with little to recommend it except the traditions of our mothers and graudmothers. It needs considerable preparation beforehand, and no woman should make such preparation on the Sabbath. It is generally the hard work of the week in most families, and when one starts the week wearied out, the wnole reinaining housework is apt to drag as the daya wear on. My plan is to begin my principal sewing work on Monday morning ; as, for instance, this suitfor Minnie. We brought out our patterns as soon as the breakfast dishos wero washed on Monday, and ent and fitted it, and had all the seams run on the machine before time to get the dinner. After dinner we worked briskly, and finished the under and upper skir'.s; so to-day we have nothing but the basque to make. That will leave us plei. t ƒ of time to gather up all the clothes this evening and put in soak those that neod it. To-morrow the washing will be quite a rest to us after our two days of steady sewing. I always find I can accomplish much more sewing by pursning this plan, and that I oan work off the washing much more comfortobly W doing it on Wednesday. This gives m ampie timo for the ironing and mending before the week is out. I learned the fashion from a neighbor who had traincd a large family of girls to work with ber at tailor's work. They always did their washing on Wednesday, and said ït was quite a rest, coming in the middle of the week, but it tired them all out wben they undortook it on Monday. I believc the majority of housekeepers would find it a much more convenient day if they would only fairly make the experiment. " " I dare say you are right, but it is Buch a time honored custom that few liave tho courage to change. Do you find it an advantage to soak your clothfs over night?" "It suits me better. I assort tho clothe8 very carefulJy and put the finest by themselves in clean warm water. I rarely use soap in the water, as there are so many sitains that are ' set ' l,y it. [ put the coarser articles in a tub by ;hemselves. In the morning I pour off ;he water in which they havo soaked, and pour on niee warm sufls, and I find ihey wash bo easily, I hardly care for a washing -machine. Washiug is really one of the fine arts when you go about t right. It is a great help to have your wash ready to begin at once, as soon s ronr fire is built in the morning. It ïeoms to consume the best of the time when j-ou have to hunt up your clothes , and set out yonr tnbs, and assort the j articles after you get up in tho morning. Ulo girls and I usually rise a half an lour earlicr on wnsJiing day, so as to get a good start. We have everything out usually by 10 o'clock." "We aro glad to get through by 3 o'clook," aaid tho other, " and we have no more in the family than yon. But we have very large washingg." " We do not stint ourselves in fresh nits in uummer. I teil the girls as we lo our own laundry work we can afford t. If we had to hire it dotic, or to hear a hired girl fret about it, wo might iecl difforently. When you are jour own servant yon can afford to be served aR well as you ploase. It is the wny to true ndependence in living. Bince my girls ïave grown old enough to belp me I ïave been happy to dispense wíth any other help. While they were email it was different. By saviug my strength hen, and always keeping help when I neoded, I am ablo to do my own work with comfort and real pleasure. " " I wish that all our daughters were as helpful as yours," said the other, sup pressing a sigh. " Did I ever give you my recipe for washing fluid?" eaid Mrs. Sheldon. "lam sure you would find it a great help. It saves me a good deal of rub bing, and does tho clothes no harm. I have used it for seventeen years, which I think is a very good test "Take one pound of washing soda, one-fourth of a pound of unslaked lime, or a small teaüupful of white-wash, and pour on one gallon of boiling water. When elear, pour off into a jar and use one teacupful to a boiler of clothes. The worst stains will bleach out in one such boiling. 1 do not rob clothes very hard when I use this preparatlon, and they come out bcautifnlly white." "Thank you verymuch, Mrs. Sheldon - it is a very easy recipe to try. I in tend to try yonr whole plall net week and see if I cannot lighten this hare work, for I must own the washing is the biigbear of the week with me, and ] think it is with most housekeepers. " All Sorts. DODBIiK DECKED CSrS 0T6 COming illto use in Philadelphia. San Francisco lady shots adopt the Creedmoor posture. Twenty cent pieces with milled edges are being passed for quarters. Pine logs snnk in the water at Nantucket fifty-six yeara ago are so well preseived that their "smell of pine" is still distinct. Qüeen Victobia has reoeived from the Empresa of Brazil a present of a dress woven of the webs of tho large South American spider. A Philadelphia woman's ears have just been robbed of a pair of $6,000 earrings, once the property of NftDoleon IE[. 's frivolous epousc. A murderer was hung in Bombay, and just bef ore the drop feil he wbispered to the executioner : "In one i minute what a lot I shall know !" It Is tbe Puritan's Tbanksglving eve; And gathered home. from fresber homes aronnd, The old inan'n cbildren keep tho holiday - In dear New England, since the fathers slept - Tho weetest holiday of all the year. - Bitter-Sweet. The snappy cold of the late frosty nights reminds suoh caitle as have no shelter that their owners, snug in warm beds, belong to a mighty mean class of humanity. A Bridoeport preacher has jnst sneoeeded in converting a man 92 years old. It appears from this that lorglived sinners stand the best chance of getting to heaven. I have a personal grievance agaiust " Uncle Sammy" myself, because he is so short, and at 70 years still looks like a boy. I like tall, distinguished-lookiag men. - Jennie June. WaiiTer Scoït wrote his name in French in the register of the Hotel du Grand Cerf, village of Anselys Normandy, on Jan. 20, 1827. The name appeara there as "Oauthier Eccussais." Ah! - on Thanksgiving day, when from eaat and from west, From north and from south, como the pUgrim and ffuest. When the gray-haired New Englander seos round hls board The old broken links of affection restored. Sdjas Hatoh, of Brewer, Me., foremau in a ship-yard, is building a centerboard yacht, thirty-six feet long, in which he proposes to take his wife and four ehildren across the Atlantic and back. A ïiArge circle of relatives and friends will be grieved to hear that there are no Smiths left in the British peerage. Consolation may be found in the faot that the Smiths outside the peerage are still numerous and inoreasing. A toung Scotch tourist, named Earnest K. L. Scott, insisted upon breathing chloroform to ease a pain in his face, at Cheyenne, W. T., a few days since, ani took just enough to send him to sleep in this world and awaken him in the next. A Glasgow clergymaa hesitatel to teil a dying man he wou ld go straight to heaven, and a brother of the patiënt stabbed the minister twico in the head, on the ground that a preacher has no rignt to hang back on a thing like that. There is a demand for some contrivance that wilt sof ten' the sound of snoring on the sleeping-cars, the racket of the trucks not being sufficient to ovi-icome the horrible nasal concert that frequently takes place in a crowded coalla. A SPKCIES of ti-ade tyranny, the custom of "standing a footing," still prevails in England. At a London pólice court some plumbers were arraigned for half hanging a fellow workman, who steadfastly refused to stand a gallon of beer. A man in Tripoli, Pa., succeeded in hiccouglring himself to death the other day. The hiccoughs began at 8 in the morning, lasted without interruption till lp. m., when death carne. A physician prescribed laudanum, hot batns, and a dozen other things without the slightest effect. Algiers, 500 miles southwest of Marseilles, has now commuaication with it three times a week ; the voyage lasts about forty hours. The average winter temperature is abont 70 degrees Fahrenheit ; but the climate is variable. The invalid season is from November to April inclusive. A Tdrk residing for the past eight mouths in Paris with a seraglio of eight ladies has been arrested. He at first lived very privately, and his domes! ie arrangements were not interfered with, bnt the ladies ftaally formed acqnaintance with otliers, and created a suindal in the neighborhood. A correspondent has met Mr. Heneftge, of the English diplomatic senr'ce, who has just married the Princess SalmSnlm, and asked him where he was going to settle. "Oh," said he, "we dou't know jet. My wife is living at Petersburg and I in Londou till we sce how we suit each other." The Hindoos havea snperstition that if a cobra is killed some of its relatives will avenge its death. Por this reason the sorpent are allowed by them to multiply without any molestation. It is stated in a recent pnblication that in the Presideney of Bengal alone 11,416 persona died of snake bite in a year. Has it been sufficiently noticed that ;he word " culture" is acquiring a bad, as well as a good, signitieation? tío many persons have been pretending to t who have it not, and so many others javo ust d it offensively and snobbishly, that litorary mon of downright honesty hesitate to claim it for themselves. Quekn Victoria haa done a just and kindly thing in giving a pension of $750 yearly to tho widow of George Smith, the As8yrian scholar. There is one of the advantages of a monarchy ; the widow of an American scholar, however distinguished and laborious, would starve if she had ouly oflicial ivid to in vpke,