R. T. Van Horn & Co., Publishers.*

Saturday, June 25, 1870.

     An Irishman, who has lately been fined by the Recorder $7.60, was heard to remark yesterday:  "Be jabers, if yez would only put the fine down to a dollar and a quarter, as they do in Dublin, yez would have forty av them ivery mornin."

     There will be preaching at the United Presbyterian Church, on Walnut, near Tenth street, this evening, at 8 o'clock.  Sermon by Rev. J C. Wilson, of Beaver, Penn.  Subject:  The "Master's Call."

     The spirit of improvement has taken possession of the people of our city in good earnest again.  On all hands houses are springing up as if by magic, and pavements are being laid where they have long been needed.  No where is this more observable than on both sides of Man street, below Twelfth.

     A young man from the East, represented as being a graduate of a fine college, and exhibiting all the signs of refinement and good breeding, left the city yesterday for Leavenworth, to join the army as an escape from starvation.  Some kind-hearted gentleman paid his passage on the cars.

     In a delightful nest  of new mown hay, the perfume of which pervaded the atmosphere as it passed through the city in a cart yesterday, were five rosy cheeked belles from the rural districts, one of whom handled the reins that guided the team -- a gallant  yoke of steers.

     Yesterday St. John's Day was celebrated in fine style by the colored Free Masons of this city.  Arrayed in full regalia, and making a fine appearance on the street in procession, they marched off to a wood adjacent to the city, headed by a brass band, and enjoyed themselves with a picnic.  One of the features of the procession was a huge wagon of eatables that brought up the rear.  In the evening they had a festival at Long's Hall and were addressed by the renowned colored Missouri orator, J. Milton Turner, in an eloquent style, after which they had a grand dance.  The hall was filled to its utmost capacity.

     Quite a number of our citizens, and especially Free Masons went over to Independence yesterday to take part in the celebration of St. John's Day.  We are informed that the occasion was a gala one, and a most enjoyable.  A grand procession, music, addresses, and a picnic being the most prominent features of the day.  In the forenoon the crowd was adressed by John F. Houston, High Priest of the Royal Arch Chapter of Missouri, and in the afternoon by Rev. S. S. Bryant, Presiding Elder of hte Lexington Circuit of the Methodist Church, who is also a prominent Mason.  Both addresses were eloquent and were received by the brothers of the mystic and everybody else present with enthusiasm.