The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1878-10-23
TIMELY TOPICS.

The recent obsequies at Notre Dame
in memory of Thiers cost $18, ,0O0.
There were only 1900 twenty-cent
pieces coined in 1876, and they are said
TO be worth $1.50 apiece.
The consolidated and floating debt of
Turkey now amounts to about 81, ,0OO,-
OOO,OO and the annual expenditures
greatly exceed the revenue.
Mrs. Anna Wittenmyer, president OF
the Woman's National Temperance
Union, is at work in Canada, organizing
women's temperance societies.
Chicagos barking girl is put in the
shade by the cat-Laby of Racine, Wis,
which news like cat In distress, has
claws instead of nails, a mouth like that
OF a cat, and an arm resembling a cats
paw.
The emperor of Brazil has invited
eminent doctors from Europe to Rio
Janeiro to study on the spot the true
character Of yellow fever, and discover a
remedy for It. Several have accepted
the call.
Two men Of st. Paul have patented
an express and postal car to be made of
bullet-proof iron, fixed with brakes and
coupler that may be operated from the
inside, and with springs by which the
doors and windows may be Instantly and
violently closed at the will of the in
mates. There are loopholes and various
other means of defence against train rob-
bers.
James II. Slater, the new United
States senator from Oregon, is an old
settler, having gone thither when the
Territory was almost wilderness. He
is an Illinois man, fifty-two years OF age,
and q lawyer of prominence for many
years. He was member of the Terri
torial legislature, and subsequently of the
State Legislature, and in 1870 was elected
to Congress, serving one term. He
defines himself as q Democrat opposed
to initiation, but in favor Of substituting
greenbacks for national bank notes.
The grand canal of China, which is as
famous as the great wall of that country,
is to be abandoned. This waterway
was constructed by Kublai-Khan and
his successors OF the Yuen race, and is
600 miles in length. There are 10000
fat-bottomed boats on the canal, and
these are used in the transportation of
grain. It costs an enormous amount
every year for repairs, the appropria-
tions there, as elsewhere, not being en-
tirely devoted to the purpose for which
they are meant. Junks are DELAYED
every month while channels are being
dug for their passage. This year, for
the first time since the construction Of
the canal, the grain from Nankin, with
the consent of the government, has been
forwarded by sea, and this fact has i'm.
PEELED the Pekin authorities to consider
the expediency OF abandoning the canal
as a commercial highway.
Vesuvius is at it again, after quie-
tude for six years. Outbreaks are few
and far between that next preceding
1872 was in 1855, which overwhelmed
the village OF Cercolo, the stream of
lava flowing ten miles. Between 70 and
4ooO only IorIy-nlne serious eruplOnS
are believed to have occurred, and dur
ing the early part of this century the
crater had been 30 inactive as to justify
Sir Charles Coldstream's remark !:
"There's nothing in it." The summit
had become in appearance a rocky sur
face, pierced by assures, whence vapors
escaped. In October, 1892, violent
eruption carried away more than 800
square feet, leaving vast chasm miles
in circumference. The eruption that
overwhelmed Pompei was in 70. The
amount of matter eructed is enormous,
that sent forth in 1887 being over 49,.
| $50, 900 cubic feet.