"FRIDAY,Dec 8 Yesterday Evening Mr. Woodward and I went as invited by Mr. Coates to eat Venison with him. Mrs. Coates had made a pie of it which was very good, and some of it was fried, also very good but rather hard. We had Green Tea, as usual, since coming to Iowa, which was good, but I do not like it so well as good black tea. After the cream is put in, it looks exactly the color of whey. After tea Mrs. John R. Waller came in and we had a long discussion on the election of President and Tax Officers, the franchise, and the merits of the two systems of Government in England and the U.S. I find that our Government has a great many admirers in America, who are tired of the constant change of Office holders, re-elections, the ignorant vote, the Catholic vote governed by the Priests, and the shameful way in which the Newspapers of both Republicans and Democrats try to degrade the opposite Party and the characters of the individuals representing it. The American Newsp! apers are very poor affairs in the way of Politics and, to pamper the tastes of the multitude, indulge in monstrous headings and spiteful language. Some of them have, notwithstanding, the merit of sparing no pains in gathering news from all parts of the world. If the Americans desired better Papers, of course, they could get them, at the same price as the bad ones; therefore, they (majority) have no on to blame but themselves for it. "How this system of Universal suffrage, which now seems to be a source of danger to the U.S., will answer when a higher state of intellectual development in attained, remains to be shown in the future, but certain, it is, there are at present large numbers to whom it is pure folly to entrust with a vote. "The other day we went out to Centre Grove and Joseph Reynoldson asked us to call which we did. He and his wife seem very comfortable in their little house. She showed us a Maltese Cat and kitten both of a slatey [bluish-gray] color. Joseph took us to look at his sheep, 25 in number; they are rather short wooled, slightly resembling Cheviots, and a bout the same size. Last year he made $8 each and kept up his stock. He is quite confident that our of a stock of 100 ewes he could make an average $7 each, or (pound)140 a year of them. His sheep clip on an average 8 lbs.and one ewe clipped 12 1/2 lbs., two years in succession. The price of wool is about 23 cents per lbs., at present. The ewes are a mixture of Old American breed, merinos, and Leicesters. He has bought a Cotswold Ram to improve the breed. The ewes commence to breed [as] shearlings, but breed the best lambs at about 7 years old. They weigh when fat about 20 lbs. per quarter, [and] they require foldin! g every night, to protect them from dogs and wolves. Very few farmers here keep sheep, though they pay better perhaps than anything else. They require considerable attention, or the dogs and wolves will worry them. The dogs being more numerous, and unused to sheep, are supposed to do more damage than the wolves. Pork sells for 6 1/2 cents per lb., living. Beef 3 1/2 c[ents} and sometimes 5 cents when very well fed. Joseph Reynoldson says they give over fattening here where they ought to begin." jiminal