The Press., 1894-01-25

The steamer Normannia, which sailed from New York last Thursday with over 100 cabin passengers for Algiers, Genoa and Naples, returned on: Tuesday disa- bled. She was struck on Sunday morn- ing by great wave, supposed to be a tidal wave, and came very near going down. Secretary Charles D. Hine of the state board of education was one of the passengers. The wave is described by one of the officers as "mast high" and on the port bow. That it was distinct from an ordinary wave was evident from the fact that the storm had begun to subside and the sea was not as rough as on Sat urday. Many of the passengers had not dry article of clothing. Every service was rendered by officers and servants. Those who were driven out of their state rooms were provided with good quarters, and efficient attention was given to their comfort. The injury to the vessel was forward.
 Norman Sprague of Andover died at his home in that town Monday afternoon, aged 89 years. MT. Sprague was, with one exception, the oldest person in An dover. He was native of that town, and had always lived there. The cause of his death was old age, although he had been ailing with an affection of the throat few days before his death. He was @ man of considerable wealth for a person never engaged in mercantile ventures, preferring rather to invest his money in Connecticut farm mortgages. Many young man has MT. Sprague to thank for aid in purchasing his first farm. He leaves a wife exactly one year younger than himself, and one daughter, the wife of E. D. White of Andover.
 Massachusetts is about to establish a new normal school, and Greenfield, North Adams and many other towns want it. Belchertown is one of the other towns and would seem to be an ideal place for | it's location. It is truly a Chill town," commanding from it's noble old common one of the finest views in New England. It is a favorite summer resort, all evil dence of it's pure air, and healthy attri- butes. No better selection of place for the schools location could be found than "old Belcher Hill."
 The statistics of the number of cabin passengers landing at New York for 1893 indicate that the Chicago fair failed to attract any great number of Europeans. It was only 838 greater than the number who landed in 1892. It would be unfair , to infer from this that the Columbian Ex- position drew only 838 more foreigners to the United States than in the preceding year. It is known that there was fall ing off in the number of American tour ists to Europe, and as fewer Americans went abroad, fewer returned, and the fact that there was an actual increase in the number of cabin passengers arriving here from foreign ports is evidence that a larger number of foreiglhrs came than in former years. But this number was noth- ing like as much as was expected.
 | Fhe House has decided to discard the 1 graded sugar bounty feature of the Wilson bill as drawn and also decided against placing duty on sugar. This action leads to only one logical conclusion and that is that the income tax is an absolute necessity with the Wilson bill. They must go together. If one fails, the other fails. The only possibility of avoiding this state of things lies in the senate where the democrats and populists have a large enough majority to carry it through possibly.
 Boston Transcript: Richard-"W What kind of girl is Miss Zephyr, any way Is she much of conversationalist ?'
 Thomas-"There's where she excels. I played whist with her last evening, and if it had not been for her there would hardly have been any conversation at all. But she was the life of the table. She always had something appropriate to say such as Whats trumps?' Is it my play?" 'Oh dear! I didn't know it was yours,' and numerous other equally per tinent remarks. Oh, yes, she's splendid conversationalist."