Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-06-12
LEVITIES AND BREVITIES.

A Florida jail not having had an inmate
in four years, the commissioners have
turned it into corn crib.
The name "grass widow" is of French
origin. 1t is derived from the French grace,
and origins lily meant widow by courtesy.
A pocket bOot-jack has been invented.
You put your foot into your pocket, give a
spring into the air, and of comes your
boot.
A Jacksonville, ILL.,, urchin tied the baby
carriage to the old mares tail, and bis little
brother got q lively ride and a broken
head.
The smart boys in Quincy, H., cut of
rats tails, plant them in flower pots, and
sell them to unsophisticated florists as q
species of cactus.
A Burlington: Qowa,) baby is immor-
talzed by the following epitaph:
'Beneath this stone cur baby lays,
He neither cries nor hOllers;
He lived just one and twenty days,
Aud cost US forty dollars"
Christ's Hospital, Que Of the oldest
school-houses in London, the school having
been established by King Edward vi. has
been sold to a railroad company for de-
pot, bringing 100000
The Cork correspondent of the Boston
Pilot says that more people are now emf
grating from Ireland than at any previous
time. Not less than four thousand leave
the country every week.
A mean fellow named A. P. Waldron has
been sent to the Albany Penitentiary from
Whitehall, for four years, for stealing a
child's tin box containing about eight dol
lars in pennies and small coins.
The British army exclusive of commits
stoned officers, contains 177,678 men of
whom 117,701 are English, 1902 Irish,
and 1882 Scotch. The proportion of
Irish is very large in the infantry regiments
of the line.
A female emigTant on car coming west
from Toledo gave birth to male infant in
Michigan, and after crossing the State line
to its twin brother in Indiana. The pas
sengers baptized one Wolverine and the
other HOosier.
Mr.. Charles Henry Salisbury Pickwick,
of BradfOrd-on Avon, England, gives notice
that he has forever abandoned the name
''Pickwick," which has acquired an incon-
venient comic popularity, and taking that Of
"Sainsbury."
Dunlop says that in all European literature
there are not more than 800 distinct plots
and $50 of these are earlier than Christi
snity. Almost all the newspaper jokes
have reached a venerable old age, and all
the Irish bulls are Greek.
An Oregon correspondent describes a
candidate for Congress as plain, sandy
haired man, ''nnt advanced enough to wear
a white shirt, though he succeeds in sur
mounting this wooden OVershirt with pa
per collar, which shows that he belongs to
the present age"
A country clergyman, paying q profess
sional visit to dying neighbor, who was a
very churlish and universally unpopular
man, put the usual question: 'Are you
willing to go, my friend }" ooh, yes"
said the sick man. 81 am" ''WeIl,"
said the simple-minded minister, 81 am
glad you are; for the neighbors are viii
ling"
The Archbishop of Paris made the follow
ing remark the other day to one Of the
French ministers: "We hear great deal
about religious Intolerance and persecution,
but think your Excellency will agree with
me that the intolerance and persecution Of
irreligion is far more terrible and bitter"
During the DEBATE on extending the suf-
frage to women householders, in the House
of Commons, one of the members ad-
dressed the Speaker "with sentiments
tinged with sadness and mournfulness,
arising from the reflection that he was pro-
badly addressing the last male occupant
Of the Speakers chair"
A new Canadian paper started out with
the idea of discarding the ''u" as in char
bour," ''colour," and SO forth, but
''public sentiment" has forced the paper to
take up the letter and use it. The paper,
hover, makes up the disappointment by
spelling 'nigger" with one "g," and
'dog" with two Of them.
London is the largest city in the world,
far surprising all others of antiquity. Ac-
cording to Gibbon, the population Of an
Gent Rome, in the height Of its magnif-
cence, was l, 100000; the population Of Pekin
is supposed to about 2, 000, goo; that of Lon
don is over 100000, one-twelfth of the
population Of the whole United States.
Lord SALISBURY, in speech at the
Turkish Mission Aid Society, at Exeter
Hall, abiding to the late eruption of Vesu-
Vius, said sit was a popular delusion to
think England free from tie probability of
these eruptions. The most eminent geolo-
gists had often told him that England con-
stituted the cover of subterranean well of
fire, and we are liable at any moment to
the fate of the district round Vesuvius."
The following anecdote is said to have
taken place in a school near Salisbury, Eng
land: Snow, then, the first boy of the gram
mar class stand up" First boy stands up,
blushing: "Hers 1 be, zir." Examiner
''Well, my good boy, can you tell me what
novels are?" First boys-sVowls, sir?
Ees, of course I can" Exaniner-"Tell
me, then, what are vowels9" First boy,
grinning at the simplicity of the question
isVowls zir? Why, vowls be chickensP"
ALondon correspondent thus writes con-
corning the indulgence of English women
in the flowing bowl: "You go to the thea
ter, and between the scenes well attired
women in the dress circle win take out a
pocket flask and refresh themselves with
brandy or port. You enter q railway car
riage, and your fair Wis avis most unblush-
ingiy takes her flask and sucks her sherry
before your eyes," Rude-Yery. q Don't
they ever offer it to their neighbOrsg