The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-09-19
GLEAN1NGs AND GOSSIP.

more Inan clpnerlng is an accomplish
Inent, simple acquisition, to be gained
by few hours devotion. Besides the
advantage swimmer has when he finds
himself, perforce in the water, another
great gain is the courage the conscious
ness OF the ability to swim gives one,
when an accident is imminent. As an
example, to show how even those whose
pleasure or whose duties call them con-
stantly upon the water neglect to gain
the knowledge of swimming, only short
time since, on yachting trip, one of
the party ascertained that neither the
swner, the skipper, nor the mate of the
oycht, knew how to swim, while out of
en- passengers four could not swim
tro Ike. A weIl-knOwn captain informed
us that one-third of the officers and sail
Ors of the English navy are also igno-
rant upon the subject.
According to a Detroit paper, a
"gemman OBJ color" in that city, having
long admired a colored widow living in
the next block above, but being afraid
to come out boldly and reveal his pas
sion, went to a white man of his ac-
quaintance, the other day, and asked
him 10 write the lady a letter asking
her hand in marriage The friend
wrote, telling the woman, in a few brief
lines, that the size of her feet was the
talk of the neighborhOOd, and asking
her if she couldn't pare them down
little. The name of the colored man
was signed, and he was to call on her
Sunday night for an answer. A few
days after the writer of the letter met
the negro limping along the street, and
asked him what the widow said. The
man showed him a blOodshOt eve, a
scra' ched nose, a lame leg, and a spot
on the scalp where a handful of wool
had been violently ierked out, and he
answered in solemn tones, "She didn't
say muffin, an I didn't stay dar morn a
minute?"
-Gen1 Mcclellan is general mana
ger of a company Just established in
New York, which is called the United
rolling stock company, and might be
denOminated a railway livery establish
ment. It builds and buys, and keeps
r"ady to loan, such rolling stock as rail
way companies may need, such as loco
motives, passenger-cars, baggage cars,
freight-cars, cOal-cars, etc A railway
company Just established, which has
not the means TO stock its road properly,
may have locomotives and cars to any
extent from this novel corporation,
which has, or shortly will have, over
one hundred locomotives ready for use,
and cars al Hbitun1. The capital is
placed at s., 900, 900, and good dividends
from its operations are considered GER
tain.
The Victoria bridge at Montreal
must play second violin to a new bridge
to be constructed over the Frith-Of
Forth. This structure will be far the
largest bridge in the world. 1t will be
$50 feet in height, and will contain nearly
100 spans. The greatest span in the
center will be 1,5OO feet in width, or
nearly third of a mile in extent, di-
mansions which are without parallel for
any similar piece of architectural con-
trucJion and the smaller openings or
spans will be $50 feet in width, being
considerably beyond the average dimen-
sions of the largest spans in ordinary
bridges. 1t will cost at least $4,000. 900.
This, I take it, is the usual order
In human society: First industry, then
wealth, then luxury, then refinement,
then languor and safety, then reaction.
And by the time reaction comes, whether
to states, families or individuals, wealth
is pretty sure to be exhausted and vital
ity at low ebb. Then comes a revolu-
same circle is traversed once more.
But let nobody despise the wealth; for
It's power of amelioratiOn and cheer, if
transient, is very great.-MisS Preston.
The French residents of New York
propose to present one of the d" first
copies of Irving's Life of Washington
to NJ. Theirs. 1t is in the possession of
the family of the late George P. Put
l., - I,
over 300 engravings collected by Mr..
Putnam, it is rendered more precious
by several autograph letters of Washing
ton.
eli Perkins writes that Dan
Marks, veteran baggage smasher, ex-
perienced religion at Round Lake,
n. Y, and has since confessed in open
meeting that he had smashed S13, 200
worth of trunks in twelve years, and
that he had been too sick good deal
of the time to attend personally to the
business.
Philadelphia objects to so much
counting in her theaters. Every other
pair of seats is occupied by spooney
couple, his arm around her and her
head half the time on his shoulder,
and their soft and silly twaddle is an
intolerable nuisance to people who have
OutgrOwn such things.
There is loud and growing outcry
against horse cars in London, which the
commissioner of police declares are
daily becoming a greater nuisance to
the general public" and it is quite pro-
badly that street railroads will soon
cease to exist, at least in the heart of
the city.
X
vented explosive cartridges was tried
lately on grizzly bear in the Rocky
mountains, and fetched him beautifully.
the ear and exploded, disabling him i'm
mediately.
Upward of one hundred miles of
wooden railway are in operation in the
province of Quebec. The guage is four
feet eight and half inches. The run
ming time is about sixteen miles per
hour, but the trains have run at the
rate of thirty-five miles per hour.
An Indian woman, whose suit for
divorce had fingered along until she was
completely out of patience, burst into
her lawyers Office, last week, her face
radiant with Joy, and exclaimed,
esquire, the old mans dead q"
In old times. an essential part OF
a brides outfit was sand for securing
her kitchen implements. Nowadays
they don't trouble about the sand; all
that is required from the father is that
he shall "down with the dust.
"A report of the auditor of Ohio,
Just made, shows that the state contains
the following number of the animals
mentioned below: Horses, 724, 602 !;
cattle, l, 765, 331 mules, %, 73S; sheep,
1886, S64; hogs, 2,0SS,313.
The people of Middleton, Ireland,
lately "struck against an increase in
the price of gas by refraining from
using it in their houses or their streets.
using oil instead, and the company had
to come down.
The penal code of Lawrence, Kan,
makes no invidious distinctions on ac-
count of sex or color. A white woman
was chained to a negro man, and the
two were made to break stone in the