Litchfield enquirer., 1872-01-11

were, shortly afterwards, permitted to take their departure. Ets
 Mir. OIeary, next day, was duly in formed of the disaster, and lost his situa- tion. The same fate befell the unfortu- nate Puffier, who, 1t appeared upon enqui- ry, was really laboring under some severe indisposition that to confne him to his bed; and being naturally unwilling to lose his salary, he provided substitute, like Mir. Whifdes, utterly unable to play, and to whom he gave, in effect, instructions almost identical with those given to our hero by Mir. O'Leary.
 MT. Whif1es returned to the home of his ancestors wiser man. He has never been to theatre since, and never thinks without shudder of his terrible advent
 ure connected with the two trombones. AN ENGLIsaMAN IN CALIFORNIA thus re- ; lates his experience on the Pacific coast, in & letter from California in the London Spectator. This traveller appears to diff fer very widely from most of his country men who visit America. His estimate of the difference between Californians and other citizens of the United States is nov el, at least. He says-
 All Engishmen with whom I have talked agree that there is marked difference between Californians and other Americans, and in favor of the former. It comes out, think, most clearly in the
 manners of the lower classes, who have 8 certain frank courtesy that have not met elsewhere in the States. Our explanation Is that California has been settled by picked men from all countries of the
 world. Perhaps the general prosperity
 has something to do with it; it is easy to be good natured when you are we'll off, as Becky Sharpe felt that she could beT vir-
 tuous upon three thousand year. But
 am inclined to think that the habit of wearing and using arms, which prevailed
 almost universally till quite lately, has had something to do with the punctilious pollteness of miners and field laborers.
 remember being told three years ago, by late inhabitant of Julesburg, when that
 remarkable township had only just ceased to exist, that it only recognized two codes, slX-shooter law and lynch law; you shot
 man if his manners were bad, and hang
 ed him ii his morals were unsatisfactory
 Both codes were rather vigorously en-
 forced.
 There is a story of miner who shot his opposite neighbor at the breakfast table
 because he had helped himself to too much gravy, have seen the spot where ! drunken lawyer was shot down for ill., treating an Indian, by philanthropic blacksmith, who had tried remonstrances
 without effect, and whom jury declared 1, to be not guilty of murder. And I have
 been myself in gambling saloon ill Chey- enne where every man was armed to the teeth, and have admired the stately deco rum with which the occasions of quarrel were avoided. A trifling incident that oc- cured to myself in small miners town the other day may perhaps show that something of this spirit has lasted over in- : to peaceful times. 1 was glancing at the names in the visitors book of the hotel,
 when a man of the toughest type came be-
 hlnd me and began reading over my shoulder. l drew back, observing that he
 Was no doubt ln hurry, and that could easily wait, as had the evening before me But the man was so'obyiously diseon- certed that l had to resume my place.
 Later in the evening I passed by him in me, and came up to speak 'I should be very sorry forIyou, sir, to think thatI was one of those bummers who loaf about a hotel and try to force themselves upon gentlemen. thought my old schoolmas- ter had come to the town by the stage, this evening, and was so anxious to see if could find his name that took the lib erty of looking over your shoulder. But didn't mean ts disturb you" I assur- ed hlm he hadn't done so; and, 1 hope. left him Ut peace with himself. But it certainly struck me that there are not many countries in the world where such man would have been troubled for such a matter. The pleasanter side of such def erence to strangers feelings is self respect which makes the lower classes in California among the most agreeable com panlons have known anywhere in cor responding class.
 HUMAN LoNaEvITY.--A recent writer in the Herald of Health takes much more hopeful view of human longevity than is common now-a-days. We have grown so used to the statistics accumulated by dil- 1gent mathematicians to prove that the length of human life is constantly growing less, that we have come to look forward with more or less of cheerfulness to the time when, by easy stages, it should who'll ly pass out. But now we breathe freer, and feel at least ten years younger. For the average longevity of the race, accord ing to this latest writer, has been constant ly increasing for centuries, and better, will continue to increase for centuries to come. The race IS now in transition state which brings about literally ''the survival of the httest. In the process, greater mental power IS added to the contestants. The conclusion drawn by some hasty writers, that the increased mental expenditure which marks the present age must of ne- cesslty tell against longevity, is unfound- ed and erroneous. The strained and hur- ried lives, which we read are not of neces- sity shorter than the sluggish and slow paced ones of the men of the Dark Ages: the structural capacity of the race keeps pace with the demands made upon it. If this were not so, the race must inevitably become extinct through the increased diff ticultles of existence accompanying in- crease of population. So far from this, as we approach the perfect state of civiliza- tlon man becomes adjusted to his condi- tlons, life has fewer needless drafts upon it, and energetic centenarians, whose walks, choppings of wood and plowings of many acres are now chronicled as feats will be- come the types of the race. The writer adds another hopeful idea. It Is that af- ter species has been exempt for several generations from certain disease. the seeds of the disease die out. If, for in- stance, sanitary precautions could keep off the small pox from species for several generations together, 1t would afterwards be exempt from it. In this way one after another of all the s'thousand ills" that flesh IS heir to would be eliminated, and our very remote grandchildren, cycles of years hence, would be comparatively free from sickness, and might soon be driven to suicide when they grew tired of life.- Boston Journal F.
 How TO BUmD.-The Chicago fire prov ed the superiority of brick and mortar to stone or iron, and now Hiram Powers writes that no fires make headway in Flor ence, because the floors are covered with
 brick tiles. The flames find it impossible to work through the floors or to go up the stairways. Every thing is as tight as a brick, and the Florence Fire Brigade, which consists of ten men, three with pipes, four with buckets and three with brass auuirts. find very little occasion for their valuable so. . Ii. [