The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-08-03
TRAxI.
Varieties.

"A new paper on the cooperative plan is to
ed The Times.
An expedition is about to start from Hee-
ma, Montana, to open Muscleshell road and
restore to the possession of the owners and aid in
the development of the rich mines found bin
that direction. General Neil Howe takes COM
mand. One or two howitzers will be taken
along.
"A country youth, attending the circus at
Guelph, Canada, offered the elephant plug of
tobacco. The sagacious animal which had pro-
badly been tricked the same way before, stretch
ed out its proboscis as If to take the tobacco,
but instead suddenly seized the wight's hat,
and after chewing it to a mass of pulp, threw
IL down at the feet of the owner.
Mr.. Elias Howe, IL lies at the point Ofdeath
at his residence in Bridgeport, Conn.
"A Paris correspondent says: chanced
the other day in the Exposition, among the an
tiquities, upon some artillery of the middle of
the eighteenth century, in the Danish Depart
ment, and was not little surprised to find not
only rified cannon of that period, but breech-
leaders, wonder if they had them in Min
eveh, or if Noah's ark was steam propeller
The effect of the laws against cutting and
in favor of planting trees in France has been
such that, of late years, instead ofa steady de-
crease in the extent of woodland in the en-
pire, there has been constant gain. In 1850
the wooded surface of France was s7sS,34S
hectares, or less than % 900 acres the whole
| number of acres of land in France being at
least 125 100000. In 1865 the number Of hec-
| tares in wood had increased TO over 100000,
| or nearly million acres more than fifteen
| years before.
| Mrs. Otis, a native of Manchester, Ohio,
| has invented and patented a knitting ma
chine said to be the most perfect and wonder
| full vet brought before the public. 1t will knit
fifty pairs of stockings in a day, and is so sim
| pie that child can work it. It can be fur
nished at half the cost of q first-class sewing
machine.
| 1t is said that a copper lightning rod is
| preferable to one of iron. Glass insulators are
| of no special consequence Any secure way of
fastening the rod to the building is all that is
necessary. A building need not be covered all
over with rods, with numerous points project
ing upward This is a perfectly useless ex-
pense. Two good copper rods rising above the
chimneys of an ordinary dwelling are perfect
protection, if the ground terminauons are
properly attended to.
A few NIGHTS ago Tommy johnson, sou of
William johnson, q barber, in hendr'ckstown,
I'll - NJ, and cried out that there was a
=. h,s he'd. His mother, supposing he
I.oan dreaming, endeavored to quiet him,
ad succeeded. On the next night Tommy
evoke with the same cry, and for two or three
other evenings; at length bis mother, making
a more careful search than abe had done be-
fore, found good-sized snake in Tommy's
bed, which escaped through creyice in the
wall He usually awoke Tommy by crawling
around his arm and over his body.
"A sportsman in Indiana, blew in the muz-
zle of his gun to discover whether It was load
ed or empty. He found out what he sought,
bpt IL was the last thing he knew in this
world.
nv order of the post commander at Hous-
ION Texas, the captain Of steamboat frC m
that portygave "frst-class accommodations" to
three colored meu comprising Board Of Reg
istrars,-but not until after great excite
ment."
The introduction of the selfsealing, OF
black-lin stamped envelopes, by the Post
Office Department, is proving success. The
improvement which they have effected, as far
as introduced, in the legibiity of postal in
scriptions, is decided and remarkable. The
separation Of the direction and postmark, and
t the consequent preservation of their legibihty
4; which the British and American Post Offices
e have so long labored to effect by orders and In
: structions, seems likely to be secured by this
+ new and beautiful invention.