The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1866-10-12
CURRENT ITEMS.
Personal anu Literary.


RuMoR forecasts the marriage OF james
Gordon Bennett, Jr, and q daughter o
General Dix.
PHILADELPHIA paper announces the ad
mission to the bar of Jonathan J. Wright,
full-blooded negro.
Hon. JonN BIaELow, Minister to France
will resume his editorial chair in the off 30 Of
the New York Epeniay Post upon his return
TO this country.
EVEN if Macmillan is turned out Of
Mexico he won't be badly off, as his wife'e
inheritance from her father, King Leopold
is worth $8,000.0OO.
Louis NAPOLEON is over sixty years OF
age; his death, therefore, ought not to be
considered as an event unlikely to occur be
fore many more years have passed.
MISS MARIA S. CuMMINs, authoress OF
the "Lamplighter," "Mabel Vaughan"
and other well known works, died ut Dor
chester, Mass, on the 18th inst
Mn. WALTER, late M. P. for Berks, and
the proprietor Of more than half the shares
Of the London Times, started with his son
in September for o tour in the United
States.
Ar tho first Philadelphia Convention, q
Savannah gentleman was introduced to
Theodore rilton, and inquired if that fellow
was q son of Old Tilton, of the Independent.
The reply was, " Yes, his oldest SON"
DIR. Rurus ANDERSON has resigned the
Secretaryship Of the American Board Of
Foreign Missions. which he held for "a
years. On retiring he was presented with
two checks of $4,000 each, by gentlemen
Of New England and New York.
Col. LEASE, who has been appointed
United States Marshal for the State Of CAL
ifornia. settled at Los Angeles, California,
in 1868. He erected the first house in
zebra Buena (now San Francisco), and
raised the first American flag that was dis
played in that city.
REV. Dir. CnERvER, in q recent sermon
criticised statement Of Henry Ward
Beecher that he expected to meet the Pope
Of Rome in heaven. Chcever says such
doctrine is erroneous, tina, Popery was self
Christian, and its followers would scarcely
be saved, except by miracle.
DICKENS favorite time for working is in
the morning. lie rises very early and sets
to work at once. He lightly breakfasts at
about %, and continues to work until IL
o'clock. At this hour he lunches After
lunch he goes out into the fields, and does
not return home until 81 o'clock. He
He walks rapidly. Dickens favorite wine
is Bordeaux wine. Dickens is extremely
hospitable He is fond of receiving COM
pany informally and intimately every day
Of the week, and especially Sunday.
Miss MARA S. CuMMINs, daughter Of
Judge Cummns, died on the 1st, at Dor
chester, Massachusetts. She had been ill
for quite period. Her literary career be-
gan in 1858, when s.The Lamplighter'
was published Within eight weeks, so
great was its popularity, over 10000 copies
were sold, and it has passed through several
editions; in this country aud England, its
sales probably exceeded 100 600 copies. In
1857 she produced Mabel Vaughan" and
in 1860 Gel Furiedis," from her pen. was
published simultaneously in this country
and England. Subsequently. she wrote
another work, entitled ;. Haunted Hearts,
She has, Of late, been q contributor to the
atlantic Monthly.
AUGUSTUS N. DICKENS, a gentleman who
has been well known for several years in
Chicago as connected with the land depart
ment of the Illinois Central Railroad died
in that city on the 4h inst. He was the
younger brother of Charles Dickens, the
illustrious author-the "pet child" whom
the latter more than once alludes to with y
one from whom he derived the so6riguet Of
sBoz," name famous in literature. In
his preface to the "Sketches," Charles re.
lates how he came to adopt the name of
"Boz," which was familiar nickname
given in childhood to this younger brother:
and again, in a recent edition OF the Pick
wick Papers, he recurs to the subject.
"Boz, my signature in the Morning Chronicle,
appended to the monthly cover Of this book,
and retained long afterwards, was the nick
name Of pet child, younger brother,
whom had dubbed Moses in honor of
the Vicar of Wakefield, which being face
tiously pronounced through the nose, be-
came Bosses, and being shortened became
Boz. Boz was very familiar household
word to me long before was an author, SO
came to adopt it,"
The peculiarities of authors are always
interesting, and we are thrilled with delight
when we read that Miss Braddon wrote sit
ting on low stool, using book as her
desk. George Sala, we are also informed,
writes on u chair, bending on his knees
before his paper, because he is near
sighted. ln our testimony with authors,
says some wag, we have noticed some of
their characteristics which are amusing
Dr. Holmes wrote Elise Venner while he
If his ideas ceased to flow, he gave his body
the requisite impetus, and after humping
his head several times against the ceiling,
resumed work. Thurlow Weed, of the New
York Times, writes his articles on the top of
his hat reclining on his back on q sofa at
the Astor House. Horace Greedy seats him
eelf on q cushion filled with bran, and uses
pen handle two yards long. He also uses
q broad sheet, about the size of the Tribune,
which is pinned against opposite walls OF
the room. Bayard Taylor composes, while
travelling up and down broadway in an
omnibus. There are very few. if any,
writer's of distinction who sit down like or
binary mortals at desk.
Domestic Paragraphs.
Government allows jeff. Davis $40 per
week for the purchase of rations.
The population Of New Orleans is
double what it was during the war, one
fourth larger than ever before.
"A contract has been signed to complete
the Union Pacific Railroad two hundred and
fifty miles west Of Fort Riley by December
!, 1867.
A race horse having been recently
killed in South Carolina by lightning, the
owner said that there was nothing but
streak Of lightning ever caught him.
Tho cable across the straits of North
cumberland has been successfully laid.
Prince Edwards Island is now in tele-
graphic communication with New Bruins
wick and Europe.
- al II. 1~A