The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1877-02-15
FACTS AND FANCIES.

CAPTAIN BuRNABY was asked by his
Turcoman guide which an Englisman
likes best, his horse or his wife, but the
author answered automatically, "That
depends on the woman"
THE ice crop is enormous this season,
and suggests the probability that the
consumption of water in a liquid state
next summer will be proportionateIy less.
"lf we can have cheap ice" said a man
with Il blossom on his nose, 1--WE don't
really need any water"
AMONG the most recently discovered
population of savages, the cannibals Of
New Ireland, in the South seas, there is
custom which requires that chiefs
daughter shall be kept in cage within
her fathers house until her introduction
into society. The cage scarcely gives her
room to move, and she cannot leave it
during anypart of the day, though she is
allowed to take stroll with near rela-
tives after nightfall.
A WRITER in Fraser's Magazine says
eyeglasses ought never to magnify much,
but merely show the objects clear and
exactly as they are. Every person ought
| to be able to read with their speCtacles
at he same distance that he was accus-
toned when his sight was unimpared.
Pebbles are preferred on accout OF their
clcarncss, never becoming dull from
moisture, but they are dearer To test
true eyeglasses hold them obliquely over
print, when, if the glass is correct, the
letters will preserve their true character.
A MAN who looked like cOuntryman
was lately walking IN the street with a
packet in his hand, sealed and addressed,
with memorandum that it contained a
thousand dollars in bank notes. AS the
bearer appeared to he at a loss, he was
accosted by man, who asked him what
he was looking for. The simple country
man placed the packet in his inquirer's
hands and requested that he would read
the address, as he was unabled to do so,
and had forgotten it. The reply was
made as with agreeable surprise: "Why,
this letter is for me! | have been ex-
pecting it for long while" The mes
senger, upon this, demanded a dollar for
the carriage of the package, which was
readily paid The new possessor of the
packet hastencd to an obscure corner to
examine his prize; but, on breaking the
seal, he found nothing but few sheets
of paper, on which was written the sim
pie word "Done"
THE artistic scene painter may now
pack UP his pots and brushes and learn
another trade. Theatrical managers no
longer have need of him. Science,
the magic lantern, photography, and
oxyhydrogen lights have eXtinguished
them, BY these appliances some of the
London theatres are producing their
scenery. A blank curtain at one end of
the theatre, a man sliding a bit of n pic
ture in oveat the other, and temples,
prisons, landscapes, dungeons, cities, or
dark glens for murder, beautiful brook
banks for love making chase each
other across the stage like the phanta
sies of dream. Worse even than this
the parties on the stage who have nc
part but that of simply putting in ar
appearance-the armies, the ghosts, the
street lounger, the walking but not the
talking gentlemen-may in time all be
supplanted by shadows. A little slnfu
ventriloquism thrown in, and even these
could be made to perform small part'
,, effectively. A simple stage, six or sever
9 good sock actors, one good ventriloquist
a grst-class hand organ for the orchestra
, a spectroscopc, and we have the principle
. adiuncts of the coming theatre.