The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-05-10 00:00:00

CUTTINGS FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

It is said there are people in the mountain district
of Kentucky so green, that they followed a waggon,
which happened to pass that way, twenty miles,
"just to see whether the hind wheels
_would overtake
the fore ones."
A thief who broke out of gaol in Ohio, the other
day, being captured, told the sheriff that he might
have escaped, but he had conscientious scruples about
travelling on Sunday!
One of a party of Eastern men offered a half-dollar
to a Navada miner for showing them through the
Nevada silver mines. Re looked at the money a
moment, and then turning to the Easterner said:
"May I ask how much you are estimated at home to
be worth?" "About twenty-five thousand dollars,"
was the reply. "Well," said the miner, "I guess I
won't take your half-dollar. I made a quarter of a
million here last year."
A pretty girl "out West " told her beau that she
was a mind-reader. "You don't say so " he ex-
claimed. "Can you read what's in -my mind ? "
"Yes," said she; "you have it in your mind to ask
me to be your wife, but you're just a little scared at
the idea." Their wedding cards are out.
"My son," said good old Deacon Revels, be-
nignantly, to his youthful heir, "accustom yourself
, to be polite to the porter, the servant girl, the coach-
man, to all the servants; thus you will come to be
courteous to all people, even to your parents."
An American phrenologist says the principal bump
on George Washington's head is that of adhesiveness.
Ife alludes to Washington's head on a postage-
stamp.
Every once in a while we hear of a Californian
woman killing a bear. This is all right. But we
challenge the world to ransack the pages of hit3tory
and .show us where a woman has ever got away with
a mouse.
Young America has been always noted for its in-
quiring mind. One of the many budding Presidents
now resident in Chicago was told the other day by
his school marm " the story of William Tell's
famous shooting feat: The only comment the boy
made upon the story of the patriotic parent was,
"Who eat the apple afterwards?'
A Philadelphia convict has been granted a new trial
because—in the language of the judge—"his reason
had been torn up by the roots and judgment jostled
from her throne."
"May they always live in peace and harmony" was
the way in which an American editor wound up a
notice of the marriage of a couple of friends; and it
came out in his paper the next morning—" May they
always live on peas and hominy."

LOCAL TAXATION.—A return has just been issued,
giving the total net receipts of the local authorities in
England and Wales, including the metropolis, for
each year from 1875-6. For 1881-2 the receipts
were: Rates, £27,959,953; tolls and rents, £5,042,044;
Treasury subventions, £2,053,508: all other sources,
£6,953,198; loans, £15,351,914—t0ta1, £57,360,617.
In the metropolis the receipts were: Rates,
£5,768,672; tolls and rents, £1,101,443; Treasury
subventions, £126,940; other sources, £1,270,872;
loans, .0,987,464—t0ta1, £12,255,391. The outstand-
ing loans in 1881-82 were £151,704,640, of which the
metropolitan share was £32,175,831.
STATISTICS OE LITERATURE. - Germany produces
yearly more new books than any other country.
Recent returns declare the number brought out in
1883 as 14,802; whilst Great Britain produces 6145,
and the United States only 3481. Comparative
numbers among special classes of literature range as
follows :—Theology: Germany., 1504; Great Britain,
704; United States, 375. History: Germany, 795 ;
Great Britain, 414; United States, 119. Medicine
and hygiene: Germany, 922; Great Britain, 163;
United States, 211. Education and languages: Ger.
many, 2300; Great Britain, 556; United States, 197.
Law and jurisprudence: Germany, 1301; Great
Britain, 139; United States, 397; and in the field of
fiction: Germany, 1207; Great Britain, 349; United
States. 670. _