The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-07-29
arietieS.

1t is said the candle dealers paid the Phil
adelphia gas men to strike.
"A wag suggests that a suitable litanical
response for many city choirs would be, 30
Lordl have mercy on us, miserable singers"
Chicago has been visited by countless
numbers of the sand fly, an insect about the
size of the gaiinippers which infest the South
ern swamps. Their advent was sndden, and
many OF the saloons were compelled to close
up in order to prevent their ingress. Wherev-
er light was placed the flies gathered around
it in millions, and covered the glass in the
windows so as to render it almost an impossi-
bility to see the gas jet. The street lamps were
besieged, and in many instances the streets
were as dark as if no gas Were employed. The
sidewalks were covered and many were crush
ed to death beneath the feet of pedestrians.
But still they increased, and about half past
ten o'clock they covered everything. Then
they commenced to disappear, and at two
O'Clock next morning scarcely one was to be
seen.
Our foreign files give but meagre informa-
ton respecting the military conspiracy in
Spain. According to one account it was to
have broken out on the 9th of July, and its
ObJSNe
cording to another-and this is the more gem
orally received-the dynasty itself was to be
swept away. 1t is asserted that the Spanish
Ambassador in Paris was without full infor-
nation of what had taken place and that the
French government sent confidential agent
to the frontier to ascertain the facts.
There is no longer any Austria. The off,
cial name of the Empire is "the States of His
Majesty the Austrian Emperor and King Of
Hungary" ...r
M Viennet, the academician, is dead at
the age of 81. He was a Peer in the time Of
Louis Philippe, and made himself remarked
by going to the Chamber as bourgeois in an
omnibus with an umbrella under his arm.
Several of the large towns in Austria have
protested against the Papal allocution.
The Swiss glaciers are being utilized. A
considerable trade in ice has lately been organ
lied at Lausanne BY person named Robatel,
residing near Martigny. The ice from the gla-
ciers, having been sawn into regular cubes OF
small volume and perfect transparency, is
packed in boxes and sent off by fast trains to
various centres of population in France, and
arrives with very little waste.
"A little boy in Albany had narrow escape
lately. He was knocked down by milkman's
horse, and the animals hoof went so near the
chid's head as to catch its hair under the hoof
and hold it there until released.
The immense forests of sugar pine which
extend hundreds of miles through the State of
California on the mountain ran ges, contain an
exhaustless source of future wealth. The pro-
| prie.or of lumber mill in Mariposa county
has nod llv kraa Of fho,, ND
| acres of this pine, where the trees range from
three to twelve feet in diameter, and generally
rise from 100 to 125 feet to the first limb. A
belt of this timber extends at least three hun
| dred miles parallel to the coast, no part of il
above or below a certain altitude. 1t is resery.
ed for the wants of future generations; but
the subject of propagating this pine in all con-
genial situations is engaging the attention of
parties on the Pacific coast.
"A farmer in Liberty county, Illinois, went
to barley field last week with four horses
He thOnght the sun too hot and started for the
barn, bat before he reached it all the horses
| fell dead from heat. .s....t.
| The Paris Moniteur publishes a notice
| relative to the permission accorded to Baron
| Emile d'Erlanger and NJ. Reuter- to lay down
a telegraphic cable from France to the United
States The communication is to be establish
ed before Sept. 1, 1869. The line is to start
from Brest, and reach some point on the
American coast between Boston and New
| York The price of a dispatch containing
| twenty words cannot exceed lOOf
| Punch has written to Mr.. Darwin to in
| ouire if it is possible under the theory of de-
ve,onment. for a bay horse TO become a sea-
/ horse.
ventured to congratulate his umbrella maker.
sYes, that's all very well, sir" he replied; "but
then there's nothing whatever doing in para
| soils" . -... ..-...--.-.
The eight hour law is continually display
| ing new and unexpected Developments. The
| Boston Transcript records the following: An
| eight-hour- -a-day man on going home the 9TH
| er evening tor his supper, found his wife sit
ting in her best clothes, on the front door stoop
| raad;ng volume of travels. "How is this?'
| ha exclaimed; "Where's my supper?" 81 don't
know" replied the wife; 81 began to get
breakfast at six o'clock this morning, and my
| eight hours ended at tico p. M"
Says DIR. Doran, in his curious neV work,
Saints and Sinners" The name of Thomas
Beckett is a part of the slang OF his period.
When this most illustrious of Cockneys was
| born i'm Cheapside, the houses were not num-
bered, bat they were distinguished By . device
There was, in fact, a sign affixed to them. A
| c,rved or paiuted form of some animal or in-
! animate object decorated the dwelling, and
made il known 10 inquirers. Nov Lhomss .
Beckett means Thomas st the sn,Ee, Gs
counterfeit presentment Of which bird xsi va,
| doubtless to be seen in fron' oi inc ps'erna
4 residence" F....t