The Portland daily press., 1869-03-31
Glea nings and Gossip. u.

The miniature ship, "Red, White and
Blue" has arrived at New York, as 'passen-
ger on board a Liverpool steamer.
"A Harrisburg, Penn, mechanic has in
vented still another flying machine. The
wings are fifteen feet in length, and the two
will present to the air a surface of nine hun
drsd square feet.
Young men in Frankfort are becoming
naturalized in Switzerland to escape thu Prus-
sian conscription.
The latest issue OF the New York Sunday
Herald devotes nearly page to an elaborate
disquisiton ON cock-fghting, with hints as to
the best breeds of fighters, and general ac-
count of the present condition of the sport
"A sharp-witted fellow in Utica, N. Y, has
been making money hand over fist by pretend
ing to.be the heir to an estate worth $40 900,
900 in England, and as he requires funds to
prosecute his claims, is selling $1,000 bonds on
the estate for $5 each.
Fields of uncounted acres lie waste all
around st. Augustine, Fla, but the natives
will not cultivate them, notwithstanding that
ready market for all they could produce is
right at their doors.
There has lately been introduced into th
British House Of Commons bill to amend the
law affecting the property of married women.
1t proposes that they shall be capable of hold
ing property, of contracting, of suing and Of
being sued, the same as single women. A
husband is net to be liable for his wife's debts
contracted before marriage, and is not to be
liable in damages for any wrong committed by
her. Upon the death of wife intestate, her
husband is to take the same distributivs share
In her personal estate as a wife would take in
that Of husband, if he died without leaving
will. The principle of the bill is that married
women, to all intents and purposes so far as
property is concerned shall be on the same
footing as though they had remained single.
After existing for thirty or forty years,
Chicago suddenly awoke two or three years
ago to the fact that, whatever else she had, she
was painfully destitute of public parks. 1t
was resolved to remedy this defect; and now,
despite natural deficiencies, the work is going
forward rapidly. Lincoln Park has been ex-
tended, so that it now contains some $50 acres,
finely situated on the lake shore; a grand
Southside Park has been authorized, contain
ing some 1000 acres, from two to three miles
south of the city limits, and three parks on the
west side are authorized, of FROM 100 to 200
acres each, connected by grand boulevard.
In Paris, recently, party of students and
studentessss were returning from ball at the
Chatelet; they were all more or less 'disguis-
ed" both in dress and liquor Suddenly they
came ON wretched beggarwoman, with an
actually starving child crying, if not dying,
from exhaustion. Etudiants and etudiantes,
as rule, are not rich, especially after balls
uqasouss; but one lady cried, "Haltr' She
then took out her lace pocket-handkerchief
and collected all the remaining money of the
gay colbert, and gave it to the mother. 1t was
a nice act, nicely performed; but the last act
crowned the work. A ''swelr' going by wit
messed the performance, went up and took the
handkerchief and its contents from the hands
Of the poor woman, unfolded it, added two 100
francs notes to it. and put the handkerchief in
her bosom.
The buffaloes found in the telegraph poles
of the overland line new source OF delight
on the treeless prairie-the novelty OF having
something to scratch against. But it was ex-
pensive scratching for the telegraph company
and, there indeed was the rub, for the oisons
shook down miles of wire daily. Dright
| idea struck somebody to send to 81 Louis ana
| Chicago for all the brad-awls that could be
purchased, and these were driven into the
noles with view to wound the animals and
check their rubbing propensity. Never was a
greater mistake The buffaloes were delight
ed. For the first time they came to the
scratch sure of a sensation in their thick hides
that thrilled them from horn to tail. They
weuld go fifteen miles to find a brad-awL
They fought battles around the poles contain
ing them, and the victor would proudly climb
the mountainous heap of rump and lump Of
the fallen and scratch himself into bliss until
the brsd-awl broke, or the pole came down
There has been no demand for brad-aWis irO"
the Kansas region since the first invoice
In Balkan, Bulgaria, the WIDOWS wear
their clotb;n0 inside out for year, as token
of mourning for their husbands.