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THE CITY OF HOMES.

AT the beginning of the year 1873 there were in the city of Philadelphia 134,740 buildings of all kinds. Of these 124,302 were dwelling-houses or residences of families, some of them being also used in part for store or manufacturing purposes. The dwelling-houses exceed in number those in any other city in the United States. They were 60,258 more than there were in New York city in 1870, when the relative number of dwelling-houses were, New York, 64,044, Philadelphia, 112,366. They were 78,468 more than there were in Brooklyn in 1870, and 84,627 more than in St. Louis, 83,952 more than in Baltimore, 79,682 more than in Chicago, 94,679 more than in Boston, and 99,752 more than in Cincinnati in the same year. They were more than in New York and Brooklyn combined in that year. They were only 16 less than the whole combined number of dwelling-houses in Baltimore, St. Louis, Boston and Louisville in 1870. They were 658 more than there were altogether in the same year in San Francisco, Cal., Washington, D. C., Cleveland, Ohio, Providence, R. I., New Haven, Conn., Albany, N. Y., Charleston, S. C., Mobile, Ala., Richmond, Va., Savannah, Ga., Portland, Me., and Wilmington, Del.

12,302 COWS, 210,276 hogs and 749,500 sheep. In addition, the farmers brought to their markets immense supplies of food, such as beef, veal, mutton, pork, poultry, game, venison, butter, cheese, vegetables, the amount of which, with other articles, such as oysters, clams, lobsters, fish, etc., cannot be ascertained.

They were accommodated in their local travel by means of street passenger railways operated by fifteen incorporated companies, and extending over 2121⁄2 miles of railway, which ran thereon daily 794 cars drawn by 4860 horses. These roads had carried during the previous year 66,781,456 passengers, who paid for that service, in fares, $4,107,980.69. The feed for the horses on these railways during the previous year required 13,281 tons of hay, and 474,352 bushels of corn, with oats, etc., not ascertained.

In the preceding year the deaths in the city were 18,987, of which 2585 were from small-pox, a disease which was in that year throughout the United States a contagious epidemic, which commenced its ravages in 1871. In the year 1870 the whole number of deaths by that disease in Philadelphia were 9, and in 1869 but 6. Of the whole number of deaths in 1872, 9154, or 44.55 per cent. of the whole, were of children under 5 years of age, and 9936, or 48.35 per cent., of children under 10 years of age. The proportion of deaths to population (excluding still-born cases, say 18,987 deaths to 726,144 persons) was one death in 38.24. Taking off the loss by epidemic small-pox as an exceptional mortality, the ratio was one death to 44.21 persons. Death rate per 1000 was 26.01, and exThe city in which this population lived had an cluding epidemic small-pox deaths, 22.61 per 1000. area of 120 square miles. There were 900 miles of According to the returns of the English registrarstreets and roads opened for the use of the inhabit-general lately made, the annual death rate per 1000 ants, of which more than 500 miles were paved, in the principal cities of the world is as follows: and lighted by 9023 public lamps, all of which except 14 were lighted with gas.

At the ratio established in 1870 for dwellings in Philadelphia, viz., 5.99 (the Compendium of United States census by an error makes it 6.01), there were residing in those dwelling-houses, in the beginning of 1873, at least 726,144 persons, combined, according to the ratio of same census (5.28 per family), in 137,527 families.

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They were supplied with water by five principal water-works, having means of filling seven storage reservoirs. During the previous year 13,100,018,461 U. S. gallons of water had been furnished them, the number of houses receiving water by this source being 120,516, in which there were 34,222 bath-rooms, most of them furnished with hot water, being a larger proportion of baths to dwellings than in any other city in the world. 15,913 wash-stands, water-closets, etc., were supplied by the works. The people of Philadelphia worshiped God in Water was also supplied to 4496 fire-plugs for over 400 churches, meeting-houses and synathe extinguishment of fires, and 54 public drink-gogues, which furnished sittings for not less than ing fountains. The water was supplied to them from more than 546 miles of street service mains. For this necessary supply they paid to the water department in water rents, at low rates, $1,043,613.11.

They were furnished with light at night by five principal manufacturing gas-works, which had during the preceding year made altogether 1,559,519,000 cubic feet of gas. This gas was supplied to and ready for use in 1,020,401 burners. The number of private consumers of gas were 79,410, and the greater proportion of the gas was used in private dwelling-houses. The street mains laid down to furnish the gas extended 6021⁄2 miles. This gas was sold to consumers at the average price of $2.25 per 1000 cubic feet.

Vast quantities of provisions were necessary for their sustenance. There were furnished to them by their butchers in the public markets during the preceding year the flesh of 134,850 bullocks,

350,000 persons.

For the education of their children there were 396 public schools of all grades, valued, with buildings, lots and furniture, at $4,272,284. In these schools there were 1630 teachers and 84,387 pupils. The cost of maintaining them for the previous year had been $1,381,460.54. There were also a large number of seminaries, academies and private schools, which were attended by many thousand children, and also collegiate institutions for the higher branches of education, science, theology, etc.

Taking as a basis the industrial returns of 1870, according to special report to City Councils in 1872, that in the former year the total value of Philadel phia manufactures was $334,852,458, being more than $12,000,000 in excess of United States census returns, and estimating the increase at the ratio for the preceding ten years-there were in Philadelphia in 1873 about 8650 manufacturing estab

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IN the year 1874 there will be four Eclipses, two of the Sun and two of the Moon, and a transit of Venus over the Sun's disk.

The Total Eclipse of the Moon on the 24th and 25th of October will be visible at midnight in Philadelphia. The Eclipses in order are as follows:

I. A Total Eclipse of the Sun, April 16, 1874, begins on the Earth 6.47 A.M., Philadelphia time, in longitude 6° 52′ east from Washington, and latitude 58° 33′ south, and ends in longitude 102° 24' east from Washington, and in latitude 6o 13' south. This Eclipse will be total near the Cape of Good Hope, Africa, and will be partly visible over the southern half of Africa and over a narrow strip of land in the southern and south-eastern part of South America.

II. A Partial Eclipse of the Moon, chiefly visible in the Pacific Ocean, begins in longitude 140° 50' west of Washington, May 1, 1874, at 8.07 A.M., Philadelphia time, and ends in longitude 171° 25' east of Washington at 9.56 A.M., Philadelphia time. Both beginning and ending are between 15° and 16° south of the Equator.

III. An Annular Eclipse of the Sun, October 10, begins 3.47 A.M., Philadelphia time, in longitude 47° 13 cast of Washington and in latitude 66° 33′ north, and ends 8.37 A.M. in longitude 137 56' east of Washington, and in latitude 10° 49′

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north. This Eclipse will be best seen in Western Asia, and will be partly visible in Europe, a portion of Africa and in Greenland.

IV. A Total Eclipse of the Moon, October 24th and 25th, 1874, visible in Philadelphia, will commence October 24, 11.43 P.M., Philadelphia time. The following are the times of the various phases of the Eclipse:

Moon enters Penumbra Oct. 24, 11.43 P.M.

Moon enters Shadow
Total Phase begins
Middle of the Eclipse

Total Phase ends

Moon leaves Shadow Moon leaves Penumbra

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FEBRUARY. During this month the Moon will be50' north of Jupiter on the 5th. 40' south of Saturn on the 15th. 3° 43′ south of Venus on the 16th. 3° 36' south of Mercury on the 17th. 2° 29' south of Mars on the 19th.

Phila, Time.

THE Philadelphia Ledger is one of our valued exchanges, and its money article in particular is always well written, and is received in all parts of the world as very high authority.-New York Journal of Commerce.

lishments, having a capital of $185,000,000, employing 145,000 hands, the annual value of the products of which was at least $384,000,000.

During the customs revenue year ending June 39, 1873, there were exported from the port to foreign countries merchandise valued at $24,203,125. There were imported articles valued at $26,824,333. The amount paid for duties on imported goods was $8,476,594.15 in gold.

The valuation of real estate for taxable purposes at the assessment of 1873 was $518,234,568. There were collected during 1872 upon account of current and delinquent taxes $8,993,198. The total expenditures of the city for 1872, exclusive of interest paid on loans, were $7,726,123. The funded debt January, 1873, including gas loans, was $51,697,147.67. During the year 1872 there were 701 fires in the city, by which the losses were $2,334.405. The insurances on some of the property destroyed amounted to $6,589,319, being three times more than the total loss, but the same not being for the benefit of the persons who met with losses but were not insured.

For purposes of health and recreation there were ready for their use ten parks and public squares. Fairmount Park, the largest of these, contains 2991 acres, exceeding in size any similar enclosure in the United States, and being exceeded only by three public parks in Europe. This park was enjoyed in 1872 by 1,783,225 pedestrians, 395,411 vehicles and 26,550 equestrians, showing, according to estimate, that in that time the park was visited by 2,969,458 persons.

MONUMENTS, TOMBS AND STATUES
OF A PUBLIC CHARACTER IN PHIL-
ADELPHIA.

low fever monument to volunteer nurses who died at Norfolk, Va., in 1855, North Laurel Hill.Gen. Hugh Mercer of the Revolution, tomb and monument, North Laurel Hill.-Thos. McKean, signer of Declaration of Independence, monument and tomb, North Laurel Hill.-Chas. Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress, monument and tomb, North Laurel Hill.-Julius R. Friedlander, founder of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, monument and tomb, Laurel Hill.-David M. Lyle, monument by Fire Department, tomb and marble statue, Old Oaks cemetery.-Fireman, marble statue by Battin, Odd Fellows' cemetery.-Fred. Graff, memorial monument and bust, marble, Fairmount Park.Wm. B. Schneider, monument and tomb erected by Masonic order, Mount Moriah cemetery.Wm. Curtis, tomb and monument by I. O. O. F., Mount Peace cemetery-Com. Stephen Decatur, monument and tomb, St. Peter's churchyard, Third and Pine.-David Rittenhouse, astronomer, signer of Declaration of Independence, monument and tomb, churchyard Third Presbyterian Church, Fourth and Pine sts.-Com. Hull, monument and tomb, South Laurel Hill.-Alexander Wilson, ornithologist, tomb, Old Swedes' Church ground, Swanson st. below Christian.

THE Public Ledger is a Philadelphia institution. Its commencement marked an epoch in our local history; in its progress it has been identified with all our local movements. At the outset it was a startling novelty; now it is a recognized necessity. How well I remember when the first number that was issued made its appearance! Though diminutive in size, it was, as the facsimile shows, a creditable journal from the beginning, alike in its mechanical execution and literary contents. And well it might be. Its publishers were three printers unusually skilled in all that belonged to their calling; its editor was a scholar of wide culture, a keen and bright observer, and a writer of uncommon fluency and force. Until Mr. Childs became its purchaser, two of its original proprietors continued to be its owners; until the death of its original editor, he continued to contribute to its columns. This permanence was and is characteristic of the Ledger. The men who devised 1, like the man who now conducts it, were wise and farsighted, and they laid its foundation on an enduring basis. They intended it should last; and not allowing any temporary inducements to swerve them from their purpose, they persevered until it was accomplished. And it is a striking example of what patient application intelligently directed can do, that an apparently hopeless undertaking, begun with limited means, under serious disadvantages, has, within the memory of many of us, largely enriched its projectors, and that the little obscure office in the old Arcade has been replaced by the palatial establishment, so vast in its design, so substantial in its structure, so ornate in its embellishments and so perfect in its appointments. For this we are indebted to the munificence of Mr. Childs; and while we of Philadelphia are under especial obligations for the beautiful edifice thus added to our city, his brethren of the press everyLe-where owe him gratitude and praise for the costly monument he has reared to the dignity, importance and value of our profession.-Hon. Morton McMichael, Editor of North American and U. S. Gazette, Philadelphia.

Penn Treaty Monument, Beach st., near Palmer.-William Penn statue, lead, Pennsylvania Hospital-Benj, Franklin statue, marble, Philadelphia Library building, Fifth and Library sts.Benj. Franklin statue, stone, by Bailly, Ledger building-Benj. Franklin statue, marble, by Battin, Odd Fellows' cemetery.-Benj. Franklin's tomb, Christ Church burying-ground, south side of Arch street, east of Fifth; visible from the street. Stephen Girard mausoleum and marble statue by Gevelot, Girard College.-Robt. Morris' tomb, Christ Church crypt, Second st., above Market. Washington and Lafayette monument, granite and bronze, Monument cemetery.-Washington statue, marble, by J. A. Bailly, Chestnut st., in front of Independence Hall.-Washington statue, wood, by Wm. Rush, Independence Hall. -Sir Walter Scott and Old Mortality group, stone, by James Thom, Laurel Hill.-Abraham Lincoln monument and statue, bronze, by Randolph Rogers, Fairmount Park.-Night, statue, bronze, George's Hill, Fairmount Park.-Hudson Bay wolves quarreling, group, bronze, Lansdowne drive, Fairmount Park.-Soldiers' monument, Scott Legion, Glenwood cemetery.-Soldiers' monument, Cedar Hill cemetery, 23d Ward.-Soldiers' monument and statue, bronze, Girard College ground.-Washington Grays' soldiers' monument, Girard av, and Broad st.-Soldiers' monument to Virginia troops killed in Revolutionary war, verington cemetery, Roxboro'.-Thos. Godfrey, inventor of the mariners' quadrant, monument, North Laurel Hill.-John Fitch, inventor of the steamboat, monument, North Laurel Hill.-Yel

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MARCH.

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THE Ephemeris of the present year gives, as heretofore, the day of the year, the day of the month and day of the week, in civil time, according to which the day begins at midnight. Next are given the time of sunrise, the time before or after noon at which the sun's centre souths and the time of sunset. The times of sunrise and sunset are in each case for the upper limb or edge of the sun, corrected for refraction. They are more accurate than usually found in popular almanacs, and will give the time with sufficient accuracy for

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1.37 P.M. Spr. beg. 6.43 P.M. Sirius S. 11.26 P.M. Ald. sets. 8.31 P.M. H south. 3.39 A.M. h rises. 11.33 P.M. 2 south. 6.54 P.M. sets. 4.40 A.M.HC. 8.43 P.M. OC. ŋ Leo. 8.36 P.M. sets. 7. O P.M. Proc. S. 6.14 A.M. «.

ordinary purposes. An ordinary surveyor's level will give the horizon where the upper edge of the sun should be at the time given in the almanac. If the telescope of the leveling instrument inverts, the upper edge will, of course, be apparently the lower one. Next are given the times of rising, southing and setting of the moon's centre, and also its age, or the number of days elapsed since new moon. Then follow the times of high and low water for Philadelphia. Lastly is given a collection of interesting astronomical phenomena for the year.

MR. George W. Childs did a good work for Philadelphia when he projected the Ledger Almanac, and gave another evidence of liberal enterprise by distributing over one hundred thousand copies gratuitously. In this, as in all matters, he has given practical evidence of an earnest desire to increase the prosperity of our city by all legitimate means. Success in business and an enviable reputation are his just rewards for a career that has benefited a large community. He has accomplished the ambition of his boyhood, which was to prove "that a man can be liberal and successful at the same time."-Philadelphia ProofSheet.

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