San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-05-04
HERE AND THERE.

THOMAS JEFFERsoN's birthplace,
"shadwell," in Virginia, is about to be
sold at public sale.
A WYTHEvILLE, Va, dentist is said
to extract teeth painlessly simply by
pressing on the patients temples dur
ing the operation.
THE Polytechnical Society of Berlin
pronounces the scheme for connecting
Berlin with the sea feasible. Berlin is
about 105 feet above the level of the
Baltic.
LAST year Mr.. Mills, New York
broker, made European trip in his own
Yacht. This year he is wondering where
he can get his breakfast. He speculated
too much. ogf -.
A MUscATINE, Iowa, man, who has
had no tidings of his father for 81 years,
found him last week occupying re.
sponsible Government clerkship at
Washington.
AN Icelandic newspaper is published
at Gimli, 100 miles north of Winnipeg,
in Keewatin, British America. 1t is
called the Frampart, which means Prog
ress. ~ ~
SOME of the Washington restaurants
use as sign of " Before He Went In,"
the picture of Alexander Stephens, but
for the sign "As He Came Out" they
l,lo Cono%or Davis
A SOLICITOR at Manchester, England,
has been sentenced to five years. penal
servitude. He defended client who
had stolen a portmanteau from Mr.. Par
nell, M. P, and was convicted of taking
payment from his client derived from
the stolen goods. knowing the money to
have been thus obtained. M #.
In the office of the Ansonia Clock
Company, Connecticut, is a clock with
phonograph attachment. Instead OF
striking the hours, it calls them out.
An alarm is also connected with the
clock, which wakes sleeper at the de-
sired hour, with loud cry of "Hurry
up! 1t is time to get up, you lazy fell
low!"
In Nelson Comfy, Va, a hawk was
recently seen to seize a large moccasin
snake, and soar to considerable height
with the serpent whiting in its claws,
when suddenly the bird clasped its
wings and fell heavily to the ground.
The moccasin had bitten it in the neck,
but the talons of the hawk were so
buried in the vitals of the serpent that
it also died.
THE negroes are to hold conven-
ton in Charlotte, N. c., on the 10th of
September next, the object of which is
to petition the law-making powers of
the country to restore the whipping
post for stealing and other grievous Of
lenses. Stephen McCorkle, a colored
man, is at the head of the movement,
and he says there will be delegates from
several of the Southern States.
YOUNG ladies are cultivating new
industry. They buy fine, plain thread
hose for 81 pair, have them stamped
and embroider them with blue, pink, or
cardinal silk, until they look as if they
had cost $40 pair. This is what is
called adding to the value Of raw ma
terial. Then they pay S12 for a pair of
strapped shoes to display the en-
broidery.
In an article on the straw-hat trade,
an English paper says that "art has
gained immense value from the presence
of straw hat, adding SO much addi-
tional beauty and grace to Dolly Var
den, when painted by a Naclise, that
1000 guineas are not considered too
much to give. The almost fabulous
sum realized for the celebrated picture
of Gainsborough derived an inexpressi-
BILE charm from the graceful form OF
hat worn by the Duchess of Devon
shire.'
TEA is beginning to take place al
most side by side with coffee in Ceylon,
and samples of Ceylon grown leaf have
been received and favorably reported
on in London. The cultivation of the
plant is encouraged by the offer OF
prizes at The colonial agricultural exhi-
billions, and experienced planters have
given very favorable opinion of the
capabilities of the soil and climate OF
parts of Ceylon for the production of
high class tea.
AT recent meeting of the st. Louis
Academy of Sciences, Mr.. j. A. Dacus
presented drawings of the ruins of a