The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-08-16
News snd Other Items.

Western railroads show largely increased
earnings this season.
Oak timber is rapidly disappearing from
Europe. The consumption in France has
doubled the last fifty years.
New York is building new Croton reservoir
which will cover an area of i450 acres and have
a storage capacity of 4,0000OO,o0O gallons Of
water. i -- i
Edwin Booth has steadily refused to play an
engagement at Washington since the assassina-
ton of Lincoln by his brother. but he is an
nounced to appear the coming season. go .'
The ex.Grand Duke of Tuscany has finally
giver up all hope of returning to his former do
minions, and has just ordered all his property
in Tuscany, amounting to $1,4o0oO0 in value,
to be sold.
Mother-'Now, Gerty, be good girl, and
give Aunt Julia kiss, and say good night"
Gerty-'No, no! if L kiss her, she'll box my
ears, like she did papa's last night" (Tab-
leau.)
Menasha, Wis, reports rain storm, during
which drops of ielly-like substance fell in
quantities varying from fifty on the square foot
to depth of an eighth of an inch. The jelly
proved to be Larvae like the mosquito family's.
A Brooklyn sick girl cleared space around
thirteen ears of green corn at one meal the
other day, and picking the fragments from be-
tween her teeth with q hair pin, observed: "If
ever get well enough again to eat much, I
think could live on corn"
The evil of croquet playing was illustrated at
Rome, N. Y, the other day, when a married
man, who was indulging in quiet game with
his wife, got into dispute with her about
point of play, and choked and beat her fear
ully in view of everybody on the street.
Journalism has received another blow. A
band of gypsies-the real Egyptian artcle-be-
ing interviewed" at Denver by reporter, the
spokesman of the party, a person "of olive
complexion and black, piercing eyes," inform
ed the inquirer without the least regard for his
feelings, that she didn't care snap OF his fin
gers for the newspapers" 10 I'D o4 &
| A young man of Muncie, Ind, was escorting
| a young woman to his home in carriage one
| day. when he came to bridge that had been
overf1owed by freshet. He drove his horse
into the water. but when the carriage was
| threatened with submersion an d the horse be-
| gan making an effort to get away, he cut the
traces, sprang upon the animals back and set
out for the shore, leaving his companion in the
middle of the stream. The torrent overturned
| the carriage and the girl was drowned
A Baltimore physician was using cameps
hair brush in cleaning childs threat, the
other day, when it slipped from the handle
and lodged in her windpipe, suffocating her in
few moments. The physician, in making out
the certificate, gave scarlet fever as the cause
| of the death. giving as his excuse for SO doing
| that, as the child was suffering from that dis.
ease at the time, he did not think it necessary
to mention the accident.
| Richard Grant White has an article in the
September Galaxy in which he ridicules the
proposition to introduce the metric system be.
cause of the difficulty of acquiring and retain.
ing knowledge of the old tables, remarking
that a man who ha, once learned this per.
picking part ofarithmetic and cannot remember
it for the rest of his life, is not very likely to
master or to remember anything" But just
before making this remark Mr.. White assure,
us that two gills make one pintP'
Mr.. Blivens, an old bachelor of Rochester
who is much absorbed in politics. visited the
widow Graham the other day, just after read
ing President Grants letter, and asked her
what she thought of the third term. Now thu
widow has been twice married, and, in response
to the question she made rush to the aston
ished Mr.. Blivens and taking him tightly in
her arms, exclaimed: "Oh, you dear, deal
man! What happy woman I ann At las
accounts Mr.. B. had locked himself in hi,
wood-house, and was endsavoring to explain
things to the widow through the keyhole.