The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1868-11-06
a Hundred Y,eass ii Prison.

/ A certain house breaker was condemned
ia the latter part Of the last century In
France, and under peculiar circumstances,
toa hundred years in the galley and strange
to relate, this man made his appearances in
his own native province at the advanced
age of 1870 years, he being about 90 years
of age when the sentence which condemned
him, to such dreadful punishment was,
passed. 1t is difficult to conceive what the
feeling must havebeen with which he reIl
turned, as soon as emancipated from the
shackles which had enthralled him force
century, to breathe once more the cherished,
air OF the scenes of his infancy. Bourg, in
the department of Ain, was his native home.
but time had SO changed the place that he
recognized it only by the church of Bron,t
which was the only thing which had UNI
dergone no alteration. He had triumphed,
over laws, bondage, man., time everything.
Not relation had he left, not a single be-
ing could he bail in acquaintance, yet he
was not without experiencing the homage
and respectthe French pay old age. For
himself Ire had forgotten everything con-,
nected with his early youth; even all recol-
lection of the crime for which he had suff-
cred was lost, or, If at all remembered it
was a dreary vision confpunded with thou.
sand other dreary visionsof days long gone
by. co7 iL9n OH g53 foA4a sd 40 Llig
Instantly and connections for several
generations all dead, himself living proof
of the clemency of Heaven and the severity
of man, regretting, perhaps, the very irons
which had been familiar to him, and half
wishing himself again among thewretched
and suffering beings with whom his fate,
had hnau lpnera. aaaoofotaA- tr,snrlHt
he be called the patriarch of burglars.
-----..~ - = --------- We ~ lts
ral5a7sv Speed 81 birds. asi1g yiao
We suppose it is not generally known
what speed birds can attain, when on the
wing; but some of them eleave the air with
almost incredible swiftness. Humboldt says
the condor scars to. an elevation of twenty
eight thousand feet, from whence he would
be able to overlook Great Britain, and
then again in a few minutes darts down to
the level of the sea. The albatross, quietly
facing the gale, bids defiance TO the fury
of the unshackled storm. The frigate- bird,
though frequently met with at the distance
of four hundred legues, or twelve hundred
miles, at sea, is said to return every night
to. his solitary land roost. The carrier pi-
geon has been known to travel in less than
six hours from London to Liege, in Belgium
Teal ducks have been shot by sportsmen in,
the waters of Canada, with rice from the,
fields of the Gulf States still undigested in
their crops To perform such flights these
birds have been gifted with enormous
spread of wing. Thus the pinions of the
albatross extend from ten to thirteen feet,
and those of the frigate bird and the, CON
dor measure even more from tip to tip
The tiny huinming- bird, though general
ly averse to long mgrations, darts from
flower to flower with such velocity that the
most attentive observer is unable to distin-
guish the rapid vibrations of its wings
which seem to be in a state of rest. y grT
Two hundred miles per hour woali APP
pear to be beyond the power ofani 'i-FFto
compass; YET there is every reasol. ~ af!
lieve that the frigate- bird can sustain this
tremendous rate of speed for hours at a.
Time. .iiJ ~ r0.siIgEP roll - 10 nozlo5Ig1