The Portland daily press., 1867-10-31

1t is related of the King of Sweden that
when at Vichy his Majesty contracted casu-
al acquaintance with man of business of
good standing ON the Paris Bourse, and Of
high financial and industrial capacity. AT
length the King took fancy to the latter,
and used to walk about with him. They talked
of finance, reforms, improvements of every
shape and kind One morning Charles XIV ex-
posed at full length his plans for making SOM
railways i'll Sweden and Norway. Meanwhile
the experienced financier evinced some impa-
tience, and finally burst fourth: "Stuff and
nonsense What rubbishl"--Then he stopped
short, and added: 4" beg your pardon, sire,
but the fact is, an not accustomed to such
distinguished company" The King, though
not accustomed to this style of plain speaking,
laughed and showed himself man of spirit
Carlyle has evolved another political art-
Gle, which he calls Bull in the Whales
Belly" Democracy is the whale, and England
is the Jonah, and Carlyle describes the man
ner of digestion. -u-l
An elm tree at Hampden, Ohio, furnished
seven thousand feet of inch boards, clear stuff
The tree was six feet ten inches in diameter,
and weighed sixty thousand pounds The con-
centric circles, which said to indicate one
year each; numbered seven hundred and nine
ty-two. 1t was sapling when William the
Conqueror died, and four hundred year old
when Columbus discovered America.
"A pert miss was reading the parable Of
the wise and foolish virgins, when she sudden
ly paused and began laughing well, what
did they forget ?" asked the teacher encourag-
lsr Co.. tI.a;.
piled miss ive-year old.
Mr. Charles Dickens has sent over his
agent again, with full power to make all ar
rangements for his proposed visit to America
next month. MIR. George Dolby arrived
Friday in the China and will very soon an
nounce to the public the programme for Mr.
Dickens's readings in our principal cities The
Boston Advertiser understands that Mr.. Dick
ems can give only limited number OF even
ihgs, as he must be back in England in early
spring, and that this can be his only visit to
this country. He intends on his return to
England to give farewell series of readings
and thus close those remarkable entertain
ments with which he has delighted the Eng
lish public during the last ten years. Mr., Dol
by's address is at the publishing house Of
Messrs. Tcknor s. Fields. Iti not yet certain
whether Mr.. Dickens will read fist in Boston,
or New York. In the former city he will oc-
cupy the fremont Temple
Tho Paris Rothschilds are said to have
made hundred Thousand dollars, at the
Bourse, by getting the news of Garrbaldi's
rest an hour and a. half in advance ofthe Gov
ernment
A ms IN haa lata hoau inIl
pie in Hereford, England, who had relatives in
this county, by peIsonating said relatives He
found no difficulty in making old men and wo-
men believe he was their "long-lost son" and
borrowed money OF them Finally one honest
dame insisted ON seeing the strawberry. mark
on the arm" and as he could not show it, lac
was sent to Jail. t ...r
Old Growler, who went to the Sheridan
ball the other night, says there was but one
drawback to the perfect eDjoyableness of that
occasion, and that was the inordinate length
of the trains worn by the ladies'. When step
ped on they proved a serious drawback to the
ladies themselves. I.s-
DIR. Timothy Titcomb Holland said the
other day in lecture that women "loved their
husbands best when ruled by them with sweet
sternness." Whether it was the sternness
they liked or the saceharine element our senti-
mental American Tupper didn't say. Sweet
sternnesslp Ladies' think Of thail
AT Cork, Ireland, gentleman had often
taken his little son to see the play Thinking
the boy was getting old enough to atteBl the
service at church, he took him there one Sun
day. Patiently the child sat tor time but
tancying that it was time the amusements be-
gun, he commenced clappng his hands, and
Mortified his father by shouting with all ms
might at the top of his tiny shrill ve'ce, up
wild de rapp' (the usual cry In the Cork thea
tres when an audience consider it time for the
curtain to risel
Some people, remarks the Boston iran
script, think the impeachment OF President
johnson will only be soft Impeachment
after all If the country can continue to en-
durc him to the end Of his official term, history
and the Judgment of mankind win take care
that he gets his deserts.
As universal a practice as lying is, aud as
easy one as it seems, Dean Swift said he did
not remember to have heard three good lies in
all his conversation even from those who were
most celebrated in that faculty.
The Union IN. W News tells the story OF
an enterprisng genius in Vestal, who bought
an old watch for S1.50 and jack-knife for 70
cents; traded the knife for an old gun, traded
the watch and gun for an old white horse,
traded the old horse for five sheep, one calf
one pigc one spring wagon with two whee 5
and two dollars in money, beside working the
old horse five days on the canal
The London Times has some misgivines
about the Abyssinan expedition. IL says Ii
is vain to disguise, what every one know ana
feels, that by invading Abyssinia we are max
ing another leap in the dark quite as venture
some az that which signazed last season. The
ceopraphy and resources of Abyssinia are less
well ascertained than We're those of Aiehanis-
tan in 1899, while the political motive Tor hos
tilities against it is intellectually weaker.