The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-11-14
Varieties.

Or
Thomas Hood used to say, 81 often wish /
was two or three children-bnt L can't be-
and wouldn't put off my three pairs of shoes
and socks, and go padding in the sea np to
my six kneesi"
The fortress of Mayence by the laying OF
cable under the Rhine, has Just been con-
nected with the telegraphic network which
places all the fortresses of the Rhine in COM
munication with Berlin, or in case OF necessity
with the commander-in chief of Prusian
army.
The English House of Commons is not
lazy body, at all events. Its average time of
sitting during the last session was over eight
hours, two hours OF the time being after mid
night. EDghsh Legislators eat late dinners,
and do the best part of their work afterwards.
Though communication by railway be-
tween Calcutta and Bombay, according to a
kurrachee paper, was to be opened on the
10th instant The journey will occupy Eve
days
while all England is uneasy about the
Fepians. Scotland is troubled by incendiares,
who have been unusually active Of late They
seem to prefer to burn barns and haystacks
An eminent spirit merch ant in Dublin an
nounces that he "has still on hand small
quantity of the whisky drank by George
Fourth when he was in Dublin.
Remark of a steamer passenger on view
ing the revolving light: Goshl the wind blows
that light out as fast "a the man can strike it!'
There is now in a hospital in Pittsburg a
poor woman who claims to trace her misfor-
tunes to the terrible work OF. that terrible wo-
man Martha Grinder She is utterly prostra-
ted with nervous complaint which her ply
sieians conclude NAV be at least partially ow-
ing to her experience at the hands Of the
Poisoner.
"A Cincinnati pork packer told friend
who wished little pure lard for hair. dressing
for his private use, to send bottle as large as
he pleased, and it should he filed Number
two applied to a glass blower and had vial
made which held over one hundred pounds
Number one fulfilled his promise and the lard
was then presented 10 orphan asylum
"A clergyman in the neighborhood of IL
minister, England, issued a kind of edies to his
parishioners, the other day. ordering them to
continue kDeeling after each service while re
left the church for the vestrv. MANY of them
declined to do so, and among others YOUNG
mans way to the vestry The reverend gen
tleman convinced him of the error of his way
by smack in his iace-a Christian act of
chastisemcnt which is to be investigated at the
next petty sessions of the district
"A "plastering match" is the latest in the
rage of the tournaments of skill
The triumph of extortionary landlords in
Washington city seems at length to have come
to an end. What with the hundreds of now
houses which have recently been built. the
dismissal of thousands of Government en-
ployes, and the cessation of the immense in
flux Of contractors and jobbers and brokers
and lobbyists, there are now, more lodgings
than dodgers; prices are falling rapidly, and
the sign is everywhere to be seen, lodgings
to be Let
The following scene is laid in first class
hotel: Traveller-I desire to be called at six
o'clock. Clerk with gold chain)-If you will
ring the bell at that hour one of the boys will
attend to your ease.
Alarming rumors are in circulation in
Antwerp to the critical state OF the dykes
in Holland 1t is asserted that the weirage of
the eastern branch OF the Scheldt in altering
the course Of the river, has acted in a disas-
trous manner on the dykes. They are men
aced ON several points, and they must all be
strengthened, an immense labor which viii
cost millions, and perhaps cannot be finished
in time to prevent disaster.
The Davenport brothers, after leaving
Russia and Poland, have visited Saxony where
they were patronized by the Crown Prince and
the nobility, of course. The last heard of
them they were in Vienna, expecting a good
time il the Poll had no objections
An English letter mentions circumstance
that happened a few days ago in Derbyshire,
strike against ghost. A workman in a col
lery declared he had seen a ghost. The news
spread through the pit; the colliers trooped to-
gether with horror-stricken countenauces, de-
manding to be taken to bank When those
who were below had thus left work and had
come to the surface, they met the "day SHIFT
preparing to descend The story was told, and
as the news spread from mouth to mouth,
similar horror to that which had prevailed be-
low seemed to be communicated. The day
men refused to go down, and all the coihers
thereupon returned to their MONIES. In this
wav nearly two hundred men and boys have
| "la,d Themselves idle, and the ghost presuma-
tl,, holds possesson of the pit. A collier was
ao.;dantslly killed in one of the workings a
| few days ago
Miss Emma Hardinge, the noted spiritu-
alist, has engaged TO deliver series of Sunday
evening discourses at the Polygraphic Hall,
near Charing Cross. She is considered by
William Hewitt and others the most re-
markable orator or oratress in England, but
the Saturday Review does not wholly coincide
with their opinion.
Political economy is the most shirked, and
the most needed of all studies.
A sailor, unaccustemed to society, said to
his partner after waltz, ,"et me take YOU back
to your supercargo.
The sixteenth and last volume of Mche-
let's "Histoire de France" has lust appeared.
1t treats of the reign Of Louis XVI.
Second childhood rarely attacks man,
however aged, whose mind has been vigorous
ly apd habitually kept in activity during his
life.
An ingenious Frenehman has patented
an Illuminating canefor those who return home
late at night 1t is TO be used exclusively by
| bachelors.
"A French teuilletcnlste has discovered
copvbook in which Napoleon i. wrote out with
his own hand the geography of the world
Its incomplete, but it is very curious that
the last line should be; "Sainte Helene (petite
81 tlgt = Il Il. t,l.