The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1874-02-28
HOME AND FOREIGN GOSSIP.

line, near Marshall, and Two woods Da-
kota. The mail sack is tied about his neck,
and he carries it with safety and dispatch,
which is more than Uncle sam always
does,
JOHN PORTER lives irt Morgan county,
NO., and is 106 years ofage-probably the
eldest man in the State A letter says he
can see TO thread needle and read the
finest print without glasses. His hair is
Lerfectly black, and he has a full set OF
teeth which have grown within the past
few years. He enjoys good health. lie
is native of North Carolina and is one OF
the early settlers.
THE French Government, acting on the
recommendation of the Committee on For
tifications, has determined to keep for the
next five years 5000 pairs of carrler-plge-
ons for breeding purposes for service IN
war time. Each fortress will have mill
tary pigeon house, and each pigeon house
will contain 1000 birds. Two general sta
tons will be established. at each of which
10000 pigeons will be kept. The German
fortresses at Metz and Strasburg have been
for a year past connected with other Ger
man forts by a system of carrier-pigeons.
LozENGEs sold in shops and on street
corners, and continually offered to passen-
gers in railway cars are frequently
wrapped in green paper. The Journal Of
Chemistry states that 1t has subjected a
wrapper of this kind to chemical analysis.
The whole wrapper for single roll OF
l0Zenges contained tWenty square inches.
Sixteen square inches were found to con-
tain 2.34 grains of metallic arsenic, suffi-
Gent TO destroy the lifeaof an adult. 1t Is
evident how very dangerous it must be to
put such papers of confectionery into the
hands Of children.
A JOINT-sToCK company of very novel
but useful character is being formedi in Bos-
ton, and will apply to the Legislature fora
charter. The company proposes to guar
antee the honesty of persons it recon-
mends for alf fidueiary trusts, and hence
becomes pecuniarly responsible for their
derelictOns. OF course this is in its nature
an insurance company, and persons who
desire to obtain positions of trust will be
expected to take out guarantee policies,
when their services will naturally become
of higher value to employers. We do not
see why an organization of this kind may
not become one of tie institutions of the
age.
WE are indebted toI the Newburyport
Herald for curious bit of philology. 1t
appears that " a tinkerfs dam y is not pro-
family, but simply an Enclosure made. COM
monty of bread, around the hole to be
mended, that the melted solder may be re-
tanned till it cools off around the metal.
After being subjected ito this process, the
bread is burned and spoiled, and is fitting
type of utter worthlessness. This is one of
those instances not uncommon in which
the corrupted phrase is quite as forcible
aud fittingas the original-tinkers usually
being vagabond persons to whose swearing
nobody pays much attention.
Owing to the worn-ou condition of the
soil, neither Spanish meats nor vegetables
possess any flavor; among fruits, water
melons and grapes arealone grateful to the
taste. Flavor is confined to butter and
onions. Of the latter, very little goes a
great way of the former, the very least
goes no way at all with one not to the but
ter born. 1t is simplyimpossible, and well
deserves the name of I hogs lard" | do
not refer to olives, because they are excep-
tlonally fine and prove the rule. There is
no country in EuropeHwith so horrible
cuisine as Spain. This is the dominant rea-
son why self-respectirsg travellers carefully
avoid it.-Kate Field
THE daughter of a prominent capitalist
of Cincinnati, who had enjoyed every adj
vantage of school and fashionable society
which wealth and position could bestoW,
became so fascinated with the melodies of
the cork opera that she ran away from
heme about a year ago and went on the
stage as a ballet dancer. She next appeared
at q Chicago theater iii a subordinate part
during Lawrence Bafrett's engagement,
Her father offered to settle $4,000 upon
her if she would renounce her wayward
life. She refused to leave the destinations
of tinsel and foot-lighfS, and again disap-
peared until few weeks since, when a
Chicago policeman Rescued her from
drunken braWl.
RECENT Investigations into the condi-
ton OF the workingnIen of England have
disclosed some ratherisurprising facts rel
alive to their earnings, savings, etc. 1t
appears that i'll the savings banks of the
country, established for the working
classes, the deposits row amount to 96O.-
100000. As much al e20000000 of this
has been deposited since 1862, though a.
cotton famine and a commercial panic has
occurred within that time. These depos-
its in 1871 alone amounted to 93.S20, 294,
In addition to this, the various friendly
and benevolent societies, of which there
are about twenty thousand, own an acctl-
mulated capital of about twenty million
pounds sterling, or one hundred million
NoAi.ai9s ~ tlAio IAlllsb SILL Dc duU6Q the
wealth OF the trades unions, which COM
prise over 100000 men, and have an
aggregate capital of about seven million
pounds.
Mr.. F. A. ROSE, living two miles below
Port Jervis, N. Y, on the Milford Road.
has such passion for driving young and
fractions horses that Notwithstanding he
has had both legs broken twice, one shout
der diSlOeated both arms and cavarol ,.;bc
broken, and his top-lights badly smashed,
IN his favorite pursuit, he still insists upon
teaching the young trotting idea how to
step. 1t is common thing to see him
hobble on clutches to his rickety wagon.
get in behind a spirited animal and drive
to Pert Jervis, Drawing the noise and the
danger OF locomotives and cars. When a
horse becomes so tame that there is no
longer any danger in driving him, he sells
or exchanges him for younger and more
mettlesome one. Aside from his number
less mlshaps, which have left him a Grip
PIE Mr. hose Is haleiand hearty, and says
III ne don't get his neck broken that heinz