The Portland daily press., 1868-05-23
Varieties.

z William Brown had his forearm cut off by
. revolving buzz saw in a mill at Andover,
Mass, Saturday. He coolly picked up the
discovered member, shut off the water from
the mill, and walked home. .sl .s
"A posthumous volume of Lost Leaves,
Sketches and Criticisms" by Alexander
Smith, the Scottish poet, edited with me-
moir, by Patrick Proctor Alexander, is an
nounced in Edinburgh.
"A society has been formed among the Jews
of Russia to promote the use of the Russian
language by their co-religionists throughout
the Empire, in place of the jargon most of
them now speak, and which has the effect, it
is alleged, of isolating them from the rest of
the population. One branch of this society at
Odessa proposes to ask authority Of the Gov
ernment to publish q portion of the Hebrew =
Bible in Russia.
Crosses of the new Order of the Crown of
Italy have been pretty freely given away on
the occasion of the late royal marriage. Some
of the recipients are not considered worthy of
the decoration, and an italian journalist has
given his opinion of them in an epigram,
which one of our contemporaries has English
ed thus:
Men hung the thieves upon the cross;
In gentler times, with by your leaves
Men hang Cross upon the thieves"
The Italian government shows that it feels
the point Of the epigram, by sequestrating the
journal in which it appeared.
Mime. George Sand has dramatized her
"Petite Fadette" for the lyric stage; M. Tn.
Semet has written the score; it will be played
at the Opera Comique.
"A ball was recently given in Paris by the
Countess Pourtales, for the purpose Of intro
ducing the fashion of short ball dresses.
"A novel excursion is in contemplation by
a firm of Chippewa lumbermen, to take place
during the present season. They propose to
fit up large raft with evergreens, fal 5, dane
| ing platforms, etc., and invite party Of their
friends to take leisurely sail down the Mis-
sissippi; the party to return on one OF the st.
| Louis packets.
| Laurel House." Catskill Mountains this sum-
mer. He has grown wonderfully and is still
addicted to hugging strangers.
MIR. James Greenwood has written what
his publisher calls "A Wonderful Tale" to be
entitled "The Soul Trap" published in the
Easter Annual" which is now in press.
Mrs. Charles Henry will deliver the poem
at the annual commencement of Hiram Col
lege, Ohio, on the 12th of June.
There is a base ball club in Brooklyn cali
ed the Press Club. The idea is prepostsrous
-as If o newspaper man had time to play
ball!
B. P. Shillaber has an article in this weeks
Transcript, showing now completely the spirit
of Rock me to sleep, mother" pervadss Mrs.
Akers's earlier poems, and drawing some con-
clusons uncomplimentary to Mr.. Ball who
pretends to have written it. 1t is res adjtidi-
cdtd H.l
"A London letter says that some enter
prising discoverer in London advertises for
sale the original and only portrait Of the
mother of Washington, price $500. "with cop
les of the records relating thereto, establishing
his birth in Euglandl" There is a slight con-
troversy whether Washington was born near
er to Pope's Creek or Bridges Creek, in West
moreland County, Virginia; but the English
now want to claim him for their own soil.
| This picture and the records which are to al
| ter his biography are to be seen at gallery, in
London, if anybody should happen to be Curl
GUS about them. An extra cipher is probably
added to the price, in expectation of an Amer
| lean purchaser, all travelling Americans being
supposed to have more money than they
know how to spend.
The admirers OF cricket are to make an
| other effort this summer to awaken an inter-
| est in the game in this country. The eleven
| of all England" are coming over for profess
sional tour, and $4,000 have been raised to
pay expenses. So far as science and skill are
concerned, cricket is to base ball what bill
iards are to ten-pins. At least, so say its ad-
mirers. 1t is less known to Americans, De-
cause our national impatiencs and restiessness
| make it too much of bore for Us 70 do any
thing thoroughly; and cricket. hke onnards'
! is nothing unless well done. The Enghsn Doy
learns she game at seven or ten years oil age.
He n,avs at school, year in aud year out. He
nlavs ;r at Oxford, or Cambridge. He plays
90 ,,ember of Parliament; and every year
.ha House of Lords has a match with the
Commons. to see which be the better men.
The regiments OF the army support their clubs.
Every county in England has its eleven, and
hardly day passes, from spring to fall, but
some trial of skill takes place-Middlesex
against Suffolk, the North of England against
the South of England. Eton against hugoy'
the civil service against the war once ~.
gentlemen of England against the piASei'
Thus it goes. Viue Ia bdgateae!
| The latest chapter of Greelegs "hecoiiec-
t;ons of a Busy Life" is an account Of the
wr;ter,s experiences during two days spent in
jaill