The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-12-17
VarictieS.

cultural College, the freshmen hoe corn and
potatoes two days week, and the sopaomores
three. To lessen the labor and humiliation.
an occasional glass of - bit.ers MIGHT be
tried"
"A rascal lately set the outside of barrel
OF Kerosene on fire ia the freight house of the
Norwich and Worcester Railroad in the latter
CITY, Fortunately some men were found
brave enough, despite the risk of explosion, to
roll 1t out into the snow, and so sayed the
building.
A chicago dispatch to a Cincinnati paper
announcing the arrest of MIR, Baker, principal
oil the Skinner school, for brutaIly beating q
boy, was made to read that "Mr. Baker, rrin-
cipal skinner of school," was arrested, which
was not very far out Of the way on the whole.
"A widow friend of Lamb, having opened
a preparatory school for children at Camden
Town, said to him: II live SO far from town
must have sigu, think yoa call it, to show
that teach children" SWELL" be replied,
you can have nothing better than The Muir.
der Of the Innocents'"
The Vermont customs officers are getting
to be noted for shrewdness. Two men recent
y attempted to cross the line with twenty
eight tine mink skins, valued at $500. conceal.
ed under their clothing, but were caught.
The Marquis OF Harrington (seeretary of
war IN the Russell goyernmeut), who has lust
lost bis seat at the English elections, is "tne
youthful aristocrat who during the late war
illustrated his good breeding by entering a
New York ballroom wearing q Confederate
rosette in his button-hole." The yoong Mar.
qus distinguished himself in Eagland by
many freaks which will not bear telling quite
as well as his New York escapade.
"A Glasgow photographer has succeeded In
producing several fine landscape views by
means of moonlight They are to be used for
stereoscopic pictures, and the effect is said to
be very different from that obtained when the
light of the sun is the painter.
The influence of modern ideas is making
itself felt even in the Southern States. One
of the Savannah chivalry has settled duel
by having his challenger arrested for violating
the laws in sending defiance.
1t is remarked as somewhat sing ular that
nearly all the men who had reputation for
eecentricity of any kind in the late English
Parliament have lost their seats The new
House will assemble without its Mill, its Roe
buck, its Horsman, its Bernal Osborne (these
may be called its eccentricities of genius); and
without its Darby Griffith, its Sergeant Case
lee, and Its Reardeu, who we're eccentrioities
| of quite another kind.
1t is said that the common red fox comes
out Of his hding-place at night to catch grass
hoppers. In winter it has been observed leap.
Ing vigorously on the crust of the snow. The
farmers say this is to scare the field-mice out
of their retreats beneath, that they NAV catch
them.
The Saturday Review calls Mr.. Disraeli
| "a political Dousterswivel," and in reference to
his being compared to Louis Napoleon, saws
that whatever similarity there is between un.
scrupulous success and unscrupulous failure
may undoubtedly be pleaded in favor Of that
comparison"
The Scientific American says the city of
Austin, Nevada, COCO feet above sea level, has
an atmosphere SO thin that the least physical
labor causes great shortness OF breath; and
the atmospheric pressure is SO light that those
OF its 1000 Inhabitants who find it necessary to
wear artificial teeth experience extreme diff
Guilty in keeping their sets in position.
-Confederation with Canada is very far
from being popular idea in Prince Edward
Island. The Islander, a Union paper, pub
lished in Charlottetown, says: "There are In
| the Island few earnest advocates of Confed-
GRAFTON, who believe that even under existing
circumstances, the union of the Island with
the Dominion would be highly advantageous
to us; but the vast majority of the people are
hostile to it-more hostile than they were in
1864 aud 1865; and the subject of confedera-
tion is now seldom mentioned"
"A few days ago an English tourist, OF the
al !.
nifying" eye glasses in which they look in for
ty different ways" for Sunday" was passing
through Bolton Hills on the cars, and asked
the conductor whether the hills were of vol
canic origin. Before the conductor could re-
| ply, an individual who had large quantity of
liquor concealed about his person, staggered
up, and putting his hand on the Englishman's
shoulder said: STRANGER, it you'd dIink a
| few times of the whiskey they sell up in these
hills, you'd certainly think they were of vol
! canic origin"
| The Montreal Gazette says Of Fort Lafay.
ette, at New York which was lately burned,
| that lit must have been an extraordinary old
mousetrap,-built by carpenter, assisted by
a lumber dealer, with carte blanche, regard
| ing the expense. What would that old SLOW
coach John Bull, say, if one of his forts turu-
ed itself into bonfire and burnt away for two
whole days in spite of the garrison and first
rate fire Department."
"A Canadian paper tells the following sto.
| ry: Mr.. Mackenzie, a cool farmer, returning
from st. Mary's last Saturday week, was way.
laid by man who jumped into his wagon and
presented a pistol. Mackenzie, eyeing the
pistol with feigned curiosity, remarked, Hold
it little higher, I've got one like that at
home The blundering highwayman, did hold
it little higher, when Mr.. Mackenzie gave
him powerful blow in the short ribs, and
drove OFF, leaving the rascal sprawling."
| An exchange is assured on good authority
that Mark Twain's lecture, the American
Vandal Abroad" has nothing to do with Rev.
erdy johnson.
| Henry Ward Beecher's church has revived
the ancient and honorable order of deaconess-
es, and on Sunday evening elected Mrs Nor
rill, Mrs. Tanning and Mrs. Thalheimer to
that office.
An Ohio landlord dropped dead of appo
plexy while Gaming an overcoat thief. The lat.
ter remarked that it was the Judgment Of
Heaven, and walked off with his coat.
| Women have no greater weakness for
|
| is founded on the TACT that the dress of women
| is more demonstrative and snowy. THIS docs
not, however, involve a greater expenditure.
man sees the last of S100 bill b-n 20 5 ge5'ing
suit of clothes; woman spends soo, ah9 Is ac
cused Of indetensible extfaVagauSe VI zen
| men and ten women taken IN the stree6 as
| thev come II will he found that Tue men spend
| ,,ro SolIarss ~, ore of the women. Oh course q
a;n;,, u"G S men won't admit this; but it 10 the
tn'1,tl, n1p'"a sv0"rtheless.-Boston Post
whenever ths prince and princess Of
prussia give state dinner in their little PAL
ace, the latter has their two babes brought In
at the desert thing hitherto unheard Of In
the annals of Prussian royalty. A gentleman,
| who was present at q diplomatic dinner, says:
"The two children, charmingly dressed, fat,
happy and merry, were brought into the din.
ing room as soon as the cloth was removed,
the babe being placed in the lap Of its proud
young mother, the elder child on Its fathers
knee, and both duly complimented, admired,
| and allowed to take a minute drop OF wilma
| and little fruit, with as little ceremony as
| though they were not kings grandchildren"
While the heart of Christopher Columbus Is
preserved in Havana, his ashes are in an iron
coffin buried beneath the floor Of an old church
| in st. Domingo. 1t is intimated that these
ashes can be secured by our government aud
that President Baez will allow them to be
transferred to Washington for proper inter-
| ment.
/ IL a. ~ uIQ