The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-03-15
Varieties.


AN old Brahmin widow burned herself
with her husbands corpse some time since in.
India, and the English Governor has sent all
the men engaged in the "suttee" to prison for
seven years.
ANY person of good moral character, being
a voter, may practice law in Indiana. The
same qualifications, except the character, are
necessary for procuring divorce.
"A Frenchman and an Indian recently
discovered bear and her cub in a hole on the
road from Gorham to Mt. Washington. The
Frenshman shot the mother. The Indian dis
patched the cub with an ak as he ran out of
the hole.
"A French writer wittily defines e4uality.
as desire to be equal to your superiOrs, and
superior to your equals.
"A notice posted, on bridge near Athens,
Georgia, imposes fine for driving over it fast
er than walk" "it negro, twenty-five lashes
on the bare back. N. B. Halt the above re
ward will be given to the informant"
"A Rochester paper says that at the county
treasurer's sfice in that city, a few days since,
o lady, compelled to elbow her way to the
desk through motley crowd of men, signif-
cantly remarked that, though gentlemen pro-
test against the impropriety and indelicacy of
a woman pushing through crowd Of vulgar
men to deposit a ballot, yet they fail to see
nything indelicate or improper in her doing
the same thing in order to pay the taxes which
they impose upon her"
AN amiable old lady has lately died in a
French lunatic asylum, leaving her fortune by
will to his majesty the Emperor. The absurd
part of the matter is that his majesty win have
to go through ne end of legal forms to re-
nounce his right to the 1900 pounds in ques-
ton in favor of a poor nephew who for years
past has been anxiously awaiting the demise
of his aunt.
The Empress of Austria, says the GduIOis,
appeared at her last State ball at Vienna in
dress composed of the green and golden wings
of South American scarabei5, sewn with gold
thread on tissue Of white silk. A splendid
suit of emeralds and diamonds completed this
gorgeous costume, which marvelously set off
her extraordinary beauty. The wings Of the
scarabeii resemble those of the Indian beetle so
frequently employed by Indian embroderers
for the decoration of their gold tissues, but
they are of lighter green, and less bronged.
After the return of the French troops from
Mexico, quantities of these bright-winged in
sects were to be seen in the windows Of Curl
osity shops.
"A meeting of the friends of the Rev. Hen
ry Ward Beecher was held in Brooklyn on
Wednesday evening, when a committee was
appointed to secure subscriptions to place
colossal bronze statue of Mr.. Beecher among
the groups of eminent men to be placed on the
Lincoln Monument at Washington.
Here is a unique reason, given by a New
York paper, why Mr.. Beecher ought to refuse
his call to Montreal: 'Thera is, doubtless, a
well-written obituary notice of the distin-
guished gentleman in every welLregulated
newspaper Office in the country, and they ali
locate him at Plymouth church. It's not
likely that he would 60 back on the press in
any such way as this Montreal business would
indicate cav
An old English colonel has Just had
bullet extracted from his body whico he re-
ceived at the battle Of Vittoria, over fifty years
ago-whieh reminds one of Artemus Wards
hero, who fingered in a lonely dungeon for
fifteen years until lucky thought struck him
one day when he opened the door and walked
out. l
1t is curious to note the progress of the
Woman Suffrage idea among ladies' claiming
to constitute good society" Not very long
ago it was thought disgraoeful to hold the
idea. After time il was admitted to be re-
spectacle; 1t is now fast becoming fashionable,
and soon we look to it the rage When that
time comes let the tyrants tremble.
"A correspondent of the Pail Mall Gazette
attributes the failure of the Alabama negotia-
tions to the fact that Mr.. Thornton, "mere
diplomatist," was sent to Washington. He
recommends that Mr.. John Bright be sent
here on special mission.
A lady in Connecticut wears on her hat a
stuffed bird so exceedingly natural and life
like in appearance, that cat sprang at it and
damaged things in such way that they were
"a sight to behold"
"A Nashville mechanic has invented
shooting machine, which he calls a"Polyfer."
and which he claims win destroy regiment of
soldiers, distant about mile and hall, in
four minutes"
Thieves in Norfolk, Va, recently carried
off an iron safe and two large steam engines.
Fun inquiries how Ait-Union wers con.
Quoted in the days Of the Pre- Rafae.ites.
The Spanish recipe for salad dressing is a
model OF terseness and exactness: "A spend
thrift for oil, a miser for vinegar, counsellor
for salt, and a madman to stir it all up"
"A recent writer states that three hundred
and fifty bushels of potatoes remo1e ninet
pounds of potash from the soil ON which they
are grown; consequently, wood ashes is one
of the most valuable manures for this crop.