The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-07-28
CITY INTELLIGENCE.

Ill IN CE-
Trn ArraoAcnrSo EcLlrsr OF ruK suS--on the 9th of
September ncxt there viii be eclipse of the SUM- in
which astronomers take great interest IL will not be
visible In the United States except at the extreme south
ern points and IL rs necessary for astronomers who desire
10 witness II to visit South America, with their nsr
ments, whera it will be central The English govern
meDt has offered generous facilities for her
and scientific men, and by the papers that private
enterprise has secured similar advantages for scientific
men, Mr. George Wheelwright, of Newburyport, Mass
has furnished the money to pay the expenses of Amer
lean astronomer to Peru The arrangements for the
expedition tsays Washington correspondent have not
been completed but able to say that IL will be
under the patronage Of the Smithsonian institution
and that the astronomer selected is Lieut.. James M
ellis, u N, whose character and reputation suf
cienty established from his splendid supern
tendent OF the late astronomical expedition to Chilli
whose primary object the determination of the solar
paraax Tho third volume of his elaborate report has
just been issued and is devoted solely to this subject
He will start his mission in the steamer of the
9th of August.
may add that the English company owning the line
of steamers the South American have cheernlly
given directions for his free passage and that of his
Instruments &c. and eyince the deepest and kindest
interest In the undertaking. The may also be said
of the proprietors of the line from New York. and thus
the expedition, from first to last will be sustained
mainly ty private enterprise.
ASornER nuisance The city fathers, in the plenitude
Of their wisdom have decided that hogs cannot be per-
mtted to in unrestrsined freedom through the
streets and that dogs shall be muzzed when running
large but they have omitted to provide for the security
of citizens against nuisance which is intoer
able than either of those above mentioned OF conrse
we aude to cats. When doors aud gates shut,
neither hog dog enter; but to what plan shall
resort to keep cats out Of our houses They
fences aud Sheds and scale the walls enter
through the second story window they steal and
our chickens, and keep in perpetual fear lest our
Canary birds should meet similar fate. Not content
with this feline felony they render the night hdcous
with their unwelcome serenades heavy tax should he
imposed these disturbcs of repose and in de-
fault Of other redress have been hcsitatng whether
TO resort to buck shot stycnine. One grey Tommy
in particular have strong impression, will die
with old 1t is inconvenicnt to have house over
with mice, but mousctraps disturb sum-
bers or put their noses in the. cream pitcher.
THE PunLIc SCHOOLS The act which recently passed
the Senate in relation to the public schools of Washing
ton has been the subject of little inquiry among
citizens. We suhjon the following abstract:
'Ihe first section provides that much Of the fines
and foreitures hereafter 10 be collected in the District Of
Columbia to the United States be surrendered
IL the city Of Washington for school purposes and IL
shall be lawful for the mayor of said city to demand the
money 30 collected not oftener than in every six
months and when received by him it shall be kept
other school funds are, and it shall be appropriated
to the purpose of building permanent school houses in
the city Of Washington and To no other and when
the whole received shall amount to fifty thousand
dollars the operations Of this section shall cease.
Section two enacts that the corporate authorities
may with the assent the of real estate in the
tny nf fapr
dollars worth of taxable property in the corporate limits
for the benefit Of public schools and that whenever the
Secretary OF the Treasury shall be officially notified by
the mayor that the said tax has been levied and collected
it shall be his duty to pay from the treasury of the Uni
States, the persons legally authorised to receive
the school funds for the city of Washington equal
to the amount thus raised by taxation; pror that not
than twenty thousand dollars per annum shall be
paid by the United States and that the payments shall
continue for five years, unless Congress shall otherwise
order.
Section enacts that it shall be the duty the tr,s
tees of the public schools to make annual reports of all
matters concerning the public schools in Washington
city the first Monday of November in each year to the
Secretary of the Department of the Interior whose duty
it shall communicate the same Congress on or
before the second Monday Of December following
Section enacts that for the purpose of testing the
of the property owners of Washington city to
whether they will submit to tax for the purposes
named in this BILL the mayor of the city shall order
election such day he may deem proper for that pu
pose said election to be conducted in all respects other
elections in said city, except that shall be deemed
qualified voter said election unless he owns property
subject to taxation in said city
SEC g. And be further enacted That the estates Of col
ored persons in the District Of Columbia shall be entirely
exempted from all taxes levied for schools and school.
houses in the District"
We HAVE had our attention several times called to
provoking in the making up of paper of yes
teriay morning By mismanagement these truth
full lines of Shakespeare
The man that hath o himself
| Nor Is u with ofsweet sounds,
III stratagcms, and sposp--
appeared part of the Ode sung at the Seuben
ument festival Although feel confident the senti-
nen which they nculcate meets with hearty response
we must admit that German fellow-ci citizens as we
understood them, gave no expression to it on that
cason The report will appear In Weekly in a cor
rected forp and copies may DO obtained at o'clock to-
day
BLAcKwooDs MAGAZINE I'VE have received from those
ente,prising booksellers and satoners Taylor Maury
the July number Of Backwood's Edinburg Magazine
The public are so we'll acquainted with the attractive
features Of this monthly that it needs recommendation
from any quarter
a happy neighborhood Within the last few days. seven
little strangers made their appearance in that locality
Two mothers gave birth TO twins EACH whilst another
has presented her loving husband with three plump
pledges of her affection The three families live in the