Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-01-19
NEWS ITEMS.


of three millions in the last year.
A London newsboy found $4,000 dia-
mond which he carried about in his pocket
for month without knowing lis worth.
The present green tbree-cent postage
stamp, easy to clean and re use, is to be sue
ceeded, in May, by red stamp with white
ground, much like the red stamp OF 10
years ago.
w. c. Prime of the New York Observ-
or owns coin dating back to Alexander
the Great, said to be the only one Of the
kind in the world, for which he has refus-
ed $4,000.
"A handful signed by Rev. Mr.. Bax-
ter is being extensively circulated in Lon
don, England, announcing the approach
ing translation TO heaven of la 900 Chris
tlans without dying.
The ravages of grasshoppers have
brought the settlers on the northwestern
frontier 10 the verge of starvation. The
Governor of Minnesota has issued an APP
peal to the churches of that Stale in behalf
of the sufferers.
Commodore Vanderbilrs will is about
what has been expected. No public be-
quests are made, but the property romans
in the family, and the vast interests per-
tanning 10 it will be under the management
Of his son, William II. Vanderbilt.
Three Nevada hunters got "wounded
stag at bay" The animal ran one of them
through the body with ils horns, and freed
another, who finally cut the throat of the
enraged beast with his hunting knife, tied
to pole.
In the case of Miss Elizabeth s. Cook,
who was elected a county superintendent
Of schools in Iowa, the supreme court of
that State has decided that she is entitled 10
the office, as there is no provision In the
State constitution disqualifying women.
The British steamer Lotus" partly
loaded with arms from the Providence tool
company for the Turkish government, is
taking on the biggest cargo of cartridges
and shells ever shipped from New Haven
from the Winchester arms company, and
will sail direct to Conslantinople.
Another new design Of postal cards is
soon to be issued by the post office depart
ment. Many people, ii is said, still persist
in writing the message, address and sigma
ture on the same side with stamp, and 1t is
to be the object of the new design TO make
IL impossible to write more than the ad-
dress on the proper side.
Illinois expended sS,26S, $50 on her
public schools in 1876. In the State there
are 6S7, 446 pupils enrolled, while the num-
Der of persons entitled to school privileges
is $40, $50, showing that 80 per cent, of those
OF the age of scholars do not attend school.
-HoratiO Seymour has accepted the APP
poiDtment of orator on the occasion of the
centennial celebration of the battle of Sar-
atoga next October. Mr.. Longfellow, on
account of i'll health, has declined to dellv-
or the poem, and Mr.. Alfred b. Street, his
alternate, has accepted the trust.
Some curious reptiles, called "glass
snakes" are on exhibition in New York.
They come from Asia. They are about
three feet long and perfectly harmless, and
when struck with stick break into pieces
from four TO six inches long-hence their
name. They are exceedingly brittle from
the middle Of the body to the tail.
In Baidar Valley, near Balaklava, in
the Crimea, stands walnut tree at least
1000 years old. 1t yields annually from
oOtOOO ~ 1OO,OOO uulNs DtlOukS " uN6
Tartar families, who share its produce
equally.
.l-os .,-l--,-..-,.., t., tho Irniiad
States-Astor, Stewart aud Vanderbilt
have died within fineen months. The ag-
gregate wealth Of the thrSe was probably
$3.50, 000, 600 or four mes the amount Of the
public debt of the United States before the
war.
The legal contest that has hitherto pre-
vented the appropriation To the benevolent
objects that he designated of the SO, 800, 900
left by the late James Lick of San Fran
cisco has ended by an agreement of John
A., his natural son, to accept $533, 900, from
which he pays $4,000 to the other heirs.
1t is estimated that the market value of
the property is thus enhanced so per cent.
Italy has declared its seventeen univor-
stiles open to women. The like action has
been taken by Switzerland, Norway, Swe-
den and Denmark. A ministerial order
has been issued in Holland opening every
university and gymnasium to women.
France has opened the Sorbonne to wom-
Gu, and Russia its highest schools of med
icine and surgery.
Judge Gildersleeve of New York makes
the surprising statement that one result of
the hard times is a decrease of crime in
that city. Larcenies are greatly multi |
piled, but carousals cost money, and muir
ders and other desperate crimes stimulated |
by them are consequently abated. The |
Prohibitionists will be prescribing perpet- |
.ual hard times as their best ally If this is |
so.
-TuckolOtoo, or Hannah, the Esqui- |
maux, lately living in New London, Ct,
who has been in failing health for a num-
Der of months, died on the 4th inst, aged |
Al. She, with her husband Joe, and child |
Punny, were among the number separated
from the Polaris, who Hoated for more than
$50 days upon the ice-hoe. She had for a
of years made her home in Groton,
and had become familiar with the English
language.
New York City finds it difficult mat
ter in these times TO collect its taxes. Ac-
cording to the official statement of the
50, 500, 900 of last years taxes
are still unpaid, and there is besides S.
100000 in arrears for the preceding five
years. The latter sum is all due on per-
sonal property, and there are also some
unpaid taxes on real estate for the same
period, but these are collectable afler three
years by the sale of the property.
Nothing like the present winter is re-
in the sunny South" by the
oldest inhabitant." When the mercury
gets much below the freezing point, the av-
erage southerner thinks it has gone low
but since Jan. lst the thermome-
Ter has recorded several degrees below ze-
70, not only in Tennessee but even in Geor-
5ia. AT the same time there has been the