The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-05-07
A Good Thing for the Soldiers

Uoou IhlnS LOT the soldiers.
If there is ny-way in which the mel
who carried muskets and stopped balls
during our wa. for the Union, can turf
an honest penny out of it at this late day
every body will be glad of it. Thank,
TO the new homestead law, any one O.
them who is in circumstances to move
West can now do handsomely. He can
by an agent, enter homestead of I6C
acres on the line Of Immigrant rail-
road, have six months in which to take
possession of it, and mis- time of service as
soldier will be deducted from the five
years occupation otherwise necessary to
secure full legal title to his homestead
If, for example, he served four years he
will thus come into full possession in six
months after his arrival on the ground
If he joins the Red River Colony, as
many are now doing, the managers, with.
out charge for their services, will imme.
diately locate his homestead on picked
land, where he will have good neighbors
and school and church privileges, and he
can take the summer for moving on and
getting settled. Land there is now worth
from four to five dollars an acre on the
average, and it is as certain as anything
can be certain in this world to be worth
ten dollars, or more, in two years. Many
n laboring man, doing his best in his pres.
ent home, and saving only one or two
hundred dollars year, by going there
can support himself and family meantime
and in two years have a title to property
worth $4,000 in the open market II
he have little money to invest in rail
road lands alongside his homestead, al
the better, as the usual experience o.
first settlers is that such lands soon dou
BILE in value.
The FIRST APPEARANCE OF johann
STRAUSS, who is coming to the jubilee, in
London was in 1868, and created nc
small excitement. An exchange thus dos-
cribes it; Every night, i'll the mid
die Of the concert, slim and dandif.
ed young man. with profusc black beard
and mustachc, would step jauntily on to
the platform vacated by Signor Bottesini
His appearance was the signal for frantic
applause, to which, fiddle and bow in
hand, he bowed goodhumorcdly; then
turning sharp round, he would catch the
eye Of every one in the ban, and raising
his violin bow, would plunge into one Of
those rapturous dances which, once heard,
could never be forgotten. Now shaking
his bow at the distant drummer, egging
ON the wind picking up the BASES, turning
hercely on the stringed instruments then
stamping, turning pirouette, and dashing
his bow down on his own fddle-strings
the clear twanging Of the Strauss violin
would be heard for some moments above
all the rest. Presently the orchestra
sways as one man into the measure, which
flows capriciously-now tearing along
then suddenly languishing, at the will OF
the magic electric violin. Johann Strauss
danced, pit and boxes danced, the very
lights twinkled in time everybody and
every thing seemed to turn into waltz
or galop BY yonder memorable "pied
piper" until some abrupt clang brought
all to a close, and the little man was left
bowling and smiling, and capering back,
ward to an audience beside themselves
with delight. Nothing of the kind has
been seen in England before, and al
that can be said is, that of its kind it il
simply inimitable.
a DYING NATIoN.-The accounts OIL
the famine in Persia, which continue tc
arrive in greater detail, bid fair to treat
the world to the spectacle Of calamity
the like OF which has not been witnessed
in historic times a, least-the sudder
extinction Of nation for want of food
This has been the fate of the great state.
which once filled the valley of the Euph
ates, and it is fate which has for cen
turtles been threatening some modern
states-Spain, for instance. Man hat
stripped the soil of trees the absence
of trees has brought droughts; drought
have slowly diminished the productiv,
powers of the ground, and finally des
troyed them; the population in the mean
time dwindling in numbers and vitality
Spain had forty millions of people in tn
time Of the Romans, and flowed will
milk and honey; it is now an arid region
only half of it under cultivation, witt
only sixteen million of inhabitants, and
if modern science had not come to its aid
would probably go the way of Babylon
Persia was one of the most powerful
states Of antiquity, and even in the four
teenth century was able to support tn
army of Tamerlane who marched with
out commisseriat or baggage, during
bloody contest. 1t is now almost wi
derness, with population of only tw
millions-about half of them nomad
which is rapidly perishing from famiu
brought en- by drought. The worst of
is, that, owing to the absence Of eithe
common roads or railroads, it seems I
be impossible for the charity of the worl
to reach the sufferers, so that there
really a strong prospect ofthe tota, d,
population Of the country.