The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1869-04-27 00:00:00

PIONISITORT LAW 1.11 MASSACHUSITTS. -On He
31,1 hutch ths HOURS of Representatives in Massa.
ch usetts rearried the Prohibitory Liquor Law by a
vote of 129 to 65-two to OM
Tail MARPLE MUIDII.--Jamis luoa maid, who WM
coodemned at the resent Chester Assizes for the
murder of James Halley, at Marple has had the seaters
commuted to penal servitude foe life.
Wituri Scott, the nephew of Sir Welter Scott, who
has been for some tier beak • sick inmate of the at.
Andrew'. Home in Montreal, died in that institution on
the 9th inst., from caner in the stomach. He wee 64
years of age,
Tittle is e story going the round that while in a shop
at Norwich Steward's attention was saaidentallr directed
to • work relating to the discovery of long-hidden
murders. It was noticed that he appeared mach
&arta, and hurriedly left On shop.
A VALU•SLI 8000EST1010.-A large rablic meeting
wee held in Parts the other evening to discur the
question of the high rata of house rent. A. a remedy
to the evil under Consideration, one of the speakers
moved that all proprietors of bores should be
guillotined.
THI A TTIIIFTID ASSABSINAI7ON OF THS DVIER OF
EIWABUICH.—The following item appears in the
Treanor chest account just Weed:- Advanced to the
acting Colonial Treasurer, at Ceylon, for coot of
telegrams relative to the attempted assawinstion of his
Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, £223 96.
Hssairreoes Vtits.-On the 7th Jur. a fire broke out
li. one of the gold mines at Nevada, San Francisco,
which soon spread to two other mines. In all of them
the miners were at work at the time, and it is stated
that at least 40 men have perished by the calamity. The
tidings left the locality on tbu Bth, at which dote ten of
the bodies were unreoovered, and, on account of the
her and smoke, unrecoverable.
A PERMISSIVI HILL III( IDINT.—About two o'clock
on Wednesday afternoon an old maim was conveyed in
custody to the Northern Police-office, Glasgow, being
drunk and incapable. He was found in this state at a
table erected is trout of • lamp at the head of
Buchanan-rivet, where he was engaged in reesieing
signature, to the petition in favour of Sir Wilfrid
Lesson's Permissive Bill, about to be presented to
Parliament.
BURIIIIIG Or • STEAIIII AID Loss OF LISS.- 1
A terrible conflagration occurred in Buenos Ayres port,
March 10. The fine American-built steamer Zi took
fire at about eleven o'clock p.m., whilst at anchor in
the inner roads, and burnt to the water's edge. Nothing
whatever was saved, era four of the mew are
The port cart min and men put off to render assistance,
hut their all sat easier, there being no gunboat near
to fire into her, and no hands on board to 'curie bee
The whole ropulatioo of the town were up all night
piing at the awful spectacle, and such warn th- crowd
at the Mole Head that at time time it warn feared the
Mole would give way. About three o'clock a.m, a stiff
breeze blew the blare among the shipping, but luckily
there .111 no verels anchored near her, and the lighters
all put off. The 7i was built in the United Stet*e
last year, and belongs to a company of about 30 share-
holder in this port and Monte Video. She Gott
£31,000. She is betted to be fully insured.
THE MOVIES OT PARLIASTST.—The first estimate for
the construction of the Palace of St. Stephen's was the
prodigious sum of £700,000. Up to this time the maned
disbars, went has amounted to £3,600,000 ! The sole
object of the bet:ding was to accommodate the Lees.
later. The ridiculous failure stands centered in the
fact that the present House of Commons is Et only to
be it. own lobby, and that a new Chamber has yet to he
built which will probably es far exceed the Estimate as
the former. Men of business! Why, to call Members
of Parliament by that name is enough to provoke
laughter "like the neighing of all Tattersall',. They
appointed commissioners to *Meet the rope Ice the new
Parliament House, and were offered that of which
Edinburgh was built, which bad mired the hyperborean
northern climate for 300 yaws. No-that was too plebs
a treaseetion. They must job the edifioe to an English
quarry-ester, and the building drays at Oise •.nd before
It ia fini.hed at the other, being fused up with cosmetic
petrifsetiona to arrest for a time the crumb/ins away of
a notional edifice not yet out of the contractor's hands.
Then we have " smut improvements =win" in light
and scientific irsefittens, who manage without any notice
at all to leave the great inqueat of the nation Inn dark-
ness of • sort not its own. Next the &rehire quarrels
with the highly philosophical ventilator and house-
warmer, and between them they treat the assembled
Commone to a climate alternating the tropri and the
arctic circle, diversified by hot and cold blastm. which
improve their eloquence by colds in the bead, and
gratify their sense of smell by draughte of the average of
the "rim r Themes." The bells and cloak are confided

to the care of a lawyer. One falls with hideous ruin
and combustion down" from the top of the tower—
soother is silenoed by an incurable crack. Tbefrescoes
—tawdry UlailitS of theatrical scene-painting—peel off
from unreasoned walls, and the "collective wisdom," no
has been seen, has been actually persuaded that it is
strictly scientific that • House of ad members should
only be fitted to contain 470, and then led bask again
Into the conviction that a tenement should have room
enough to accernmatlate its tenants. When her Msjerity
imminent's the attendance of her faithful Commons in
the hall paid for with their own money, they hays to
draw lots in • bat to determine for which of them room
Is to be bond; and to crown the screaming farce with
It. mint outrageons absurdity, niches are left for the
statues of our historical magnates, the orders are wrung
by hungry sculptors from the Minister of Work; the
statues are completed, and nog till then it is discovered
that not one of the niches is large enough to let them in !
What next?
Awn FeItEILALIL—The solaoe which untutcred
people find In the observance of all t .e funeral cere-
monies which pertain to their clam is, indeed, no dear
to them that the legislator could make no r 11.4.1
dangerous experiment titan one that would interfere
with the treatment of the dead. The Irish wake is ,
only a coarse and barbarous expression of the feelit g
which was in the lady's mind, when she saw that her "
kinswoman looked "comfortable" in her coffin. The
Irish beg.trotter makes the dark waters palateable by
miring s hiskey with them. His grief is genuine : ant
he eases it by the observance of the boisterous forms
peculiar to his kind. The ragged widow is soothed
when she his achieved a crape fall for her bonnet. If
them were DO comfort in all these funeral forms, and
in the etiquette of consolation, the poorest would not
struggle ss they do to get • share. The burial club is a
source of consolation to the dying woman or mac—but
especiaFy to the woman Half the bitterness of the
loss is saved when the widow ham given her husband a
" decent burial." The poor will make any naerifioe,
bind th•mselves in debt foes long time, to save the re.
mains of a child from • parish funeral. The awful
respect which the humble unletterei mourner feels for
the corpse is as sentiment not to be rudely shaken, nor
to be lichtiv put amide. It steeds, for the present, in
the geed of a finer light. There are few who have
quite shaken if the proneness of the heart to eneoin•
pass the dust of a loved one with a reverenee—th.t.
estimated us just so many chemical elements, it should
not command from reasoning man. We pity the
besotted wake party : our strong.heads are full of die.
dais shout the upholstery of the undertaker. There
are tnow who would burn the body, there are people
who .0 not "old with moornieg." Bat the feeling
which Lars the French widow, flanked by her daughters,
to trim ti.e rop.s over her husband's resting.place. ii
respeetslile. The bunch of flowers upon the baby'.
coffin ..pcx!,--ee don't pause to inquire why—to the
heal t, and warms it. The philoeopliers' cemetery icon
institute-n or shall reach, it may be ; bat let us lei
certain that the true sublime has been fixed in every
gosherl's nature first. —By Blanchard Jerrold in Tar
Lotdvii, a capital sixpenny magazine.

THE RACIIIIL CADS was belore the Court of Queen's
Bench on Thursday, on an application from the Solicitor-
General to fix an early day for the bearing of the writ
d error which hoe been lowed to reverse the oonviction
obtamed at the Central Criminal Court. It was
arranged that the ease should DO argued on Saturday
week. _

ANOTIMI SDICIDI THIOOOII LOYL —ln Poplar, anl
inquest lam been held on tb• body of Iglu Squire, aged
18 years, • domestic versant. Deeesaed had been
engaged to be married to • young man who appeared to
have backed out of his engagement in a most heartless
manner. She was greatly distressed in mind in
consequence, and on Sunday night while walking with
the young man she broke away from him and jumped
into the river Lea and was drowned. The jury returned
a verdict of "Suicide while in a state of temporary
insanity."
STILLING TlMBRlL—Americati ladies, like thew of
our own country, have a weakness for appearing in bor-
rowed tresses. Pickpockets have began to vary the
monotonous businesa of abstracting pocket-handkerohiels
and parse. by the easier an I equally profitable event».
thou of cutting off ladies' hair. Armed with a pair of
sharp scissors, they haunt the entrances of theatres and
churches, and in mend all crowded place.; those
ladies who, according to the prevailing fashion, wear
eerie hanging down their beaks suffering most. Journey-
men hairdrween out of work find this an excellent
mode of turning their skill to • lucrative amount. The
Bishop of New Jamey has attenuate-ad that at the next
confirmation be will refuse to lay his episcopal hands
ea any avail adorned with borrowed tresses.
KIDNAPPING IN POLTNIMA.—Some terrible revela-
tions are coming out respecting the atrocities committed
by captains in the act of "recruiting" these poor
islanders in the southern mesa, under the British dqg
and the lioense of the Queesshind Government. A tam
ha. just come to the knowledge of the authorities of
Sydney which compel'ed them to put the law in force
against the offenders. The captain of the Young
Austialia and one of the crew stand committed to take
their trial for the murder at three native; of one of the
New Hebrides group of islands. The supercargo, who
is also implicated in the affatr, has been caught at
Melbourne, and is miming up. Briefiy, the particulars
are as Sinew :—The vowel mentioned, chartered by a
Sydney firm, sailed in September last or thereabouts
with • cargo for Fiji. The cargo being discharged, •
raid was proposed among the New Hebrides island, for
"nigger'," as the Polynesians are called, to work on
the newly-establisbcd plantations at Fiji. The vessel
was five weeks gene, sal when It retuned landed 230
natives, including six women, something like £l2lBO
having been cleared bi the transaction. The vessel
returned to Sydney. While here intelligence was
received from Fiji, which was wide known to the
Government. It app-ars that during that voys ge off
the island of Palms, three natives were forced on board,
who, breaking open the hold in which they were con-
fined, fought for their libecty, and were shot down and
tumbled overboard by command of the supercargo, and
under the silent ranotion of the captain. The vessel
was just on the point of starting again from Sydney
on another expeditien when the captain was arrested.
A RONAWAT MUDS.. -At Bristol County Court Him
Hulk, • young woman, claimed £3 12a, for six weeks'
board and lodging of • Mr. Webb's wife. M. Sdlin
said be bad the most complete answer to the charge.
Defendant's we let him without the slightest cease or
reason. The defendant (who it appeared lived in the
neighbourhood of Trowbridge), • feeble, tottering old
man, stated that kr was 73 years of age, and that he
was married to • person of the name of Carpenter on
the 22nd of November, 1867. She stayed with him
three weeks and :brae days, and left him the Sunday
before Christmas. The defendant added, "I had no
idea of her goiog away. I waa very poorly in bed, and
she got up very early, got the breakfast, and brought
me up • coup of tea. She said she was going to chapel
rather earlier than usual, as she was going to call on •
Miss Desoon. She wished me good-bye and never came
back agaiu--(1 laugh) ; and the firet idea I had of where
she had gone was by receiving a Valentine's letter from
&idol with these wnrds in it_
Pith thee to dwell,
Oh! what a sell r

(roars of laughter).—Br. Edlin Was there any reason
why she should leave yon?—Defendant. None that I
know of. She wished me good-bye—(lughter).—
Plaintiff (to defendant): Did you starve your wile?—
Thfenclut (indinsantly): She bad £5 in her poaket all
the time she was living with me, and she took about
£l7 out of my possession when she started.—Defecdant
was naked how old his wife was, and he replied, "She
was 45—so she told me."—His Honour gave a verdict
for defendant.
As lams Woxff.—Yon have never aeon an Irish
wake I Probably not. Then listen to one who haa.
Nine winters ago, business took me to C—. iii the
west of Ireland. At last I pulled up in sight of a
.niserable cabin, and as I looked, I beard coming trans
the tumble-down door-way a plaintive wailing. Before
I bad removed the right foot from its skate, the wail
became • elirMk. In • few momenta I stood the epee-
gator of • scene which I can never forget. Farthest
from the dcor at which I stood, lay the lifeless body of
• fair young woman. I could have seen the whole of
the figure but for the presence of several persons, who
bent with upraised arms over the dead, and the outlines
of each object would have been very sharply defined,
ware it not that clouds of tobacco smoke hang listlessly
around. Around were grouped men, women, and chil-
dren, sitting either on low stools, or on the ground, and
bolding their beads on their bands. Snow white sheets
were arranged like • canopy over the deceased, and wax
tapers burnt at the feet with • lurid glare, in candle-
clicks whom bases were concealed by rolls of tobacco
and packets of snuff. Etut soon the wail burst out
afresh. An aged bag with dirty grey locks wa• leader.
and some half. /risen hungry-looking women waited for
the °horns. The, groups wild looks, their long lean
arms, their cracked "Sou, the tort mantle formed a
strange and terrible contrast to the slide set calm
which was stamped on the features of the corpse. The
hag went on in her unearthly scream, and this wu what
she screamed. "0, Eileen, thou moat not go—thou
shalt not go. Come back! Come back Why didat
thou leave thy young spouse? Why are those brunt,'
on which thy babe should slumber, cold in icy desth?
Cowie back Come back! licturn to thy spouse—to
thy babe—to thy father and mother—to thy kindred
bereaved. No slur dotb rest on thy name ; thou wert
the village pride. Come back ! The leaves and the
II , wars, the eaglets and the lambs, will soon appear,
and thou too must come buk." (Then a well burst from
the hungry-looking women, waiting for the chorus )
''No slur doth rest on thy name,'" Sm. The shriek died
away again to • wail. "The ring upon that finger is
still bLh fresh and bright, and the poor little- babe
(toner) is an orphan child to-night. Come back !
Come busk Then the shriek wan, with full gesticul-
atory accompaniment. Thus, the hag 111011 on—now
loweiing her voice ins moan—now raising it toe shriek
—while she &fare ell the calm face, sometimee hitting
on • rhyme, always singing most poetic prose. I turned
in awe, from a sight Kush as I had never witnessed
before; but my mind at once reverted to the descrip-
tion of a similar scene is the French novel Celonea.
Tbs Romans called thrift to their dead in the tomb,

but here. I nen scrviving friends asking the soul to
re enter its house of elay, and breathe life again
intq them) *WI limbs? If I bad thqught that I had
stray,..l five thousand miles from home, instead of two
days' j .urney, and if I further imagined I had been
thrust twelve centuries back into time by some unknown
power, no one oould have blamed me for being excel.
eivsly fanciful. And yet I have since seen this picture
repeated within ten minutes' walk of St. Paul's, and
seine years further on in the nineteenth century ! This
custom %till clings to the people, and it will be kept up
SS Wad as Irishinen—or womea—di.—The Loredols.