The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-08-04
GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

L
GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.
| Of twenty eight leading cities of the United
States, Troy. New York, pays the highest ia,
rate, 5 Ia per cent and Detroit, Mich. Days the
| lowest "a per cent.
| the extortions Of the gas companies, and taker
to burning coal oil. During the last quarter
| 1000 meters have been taken ont and 20 0O(
| lamps purchased.
| been prosecuted with vigor and despatch re.
| Gently and German journals report sentences
| for this offence, In fur weeks, sggrega atipg
! 476 years of imprisonment.
Female artists are invading the domain oi
art, in France at least, in formidable numbers.
10 1875 there were 2S6 female exhibitors at the
Salon and there we're 3l2 in 1875, 446 in 1876
647 in 1877 and 762 in 1878
The Chicago Inter Ocean has compiled from
| the books Of the Illinois penit sn tiary record
| showing that murderers in that State who are
sent to the penitentiary do not average over
three years and six months of prison life.
On the door of the great temple of Ligmoto,
Japan, Is q soene showing frat o monkey, then
the series ende with q perfect man, surround-
ed by elephants and curious birds. The door
is several centuries old.
number of steam road d.wagons are at pres
ent undergoing tests in Wisconsin, among the
tssts being 200 mile journey over the roads
of the State. If one of the vehicles answers
all the requirements of the judges it's inven-
tor will receive $4,000 from tae State Treas
ury.
In England 16 3 per cent oflthe males and %
per cent of the females who were married in
1876 signed the registers with marks The
state of popular eduoat tion is lowest in Wales,
where the percentage Of illiteracy is % for
men and "a for women. Welsh names, how
ever, are 90 difficult to write that there may
be some excuse for this.
A stroller in Westminster Abbey lately dis
covered two fine bouquets on Charles Dickesn'
grave. together witu humber yet more
Souching tcibute-a little posy of wild flowers
which bore evidence of long distance and hot
upgloved hands, just what Dickens
would be pleased TO have placed on bis tomb
Recently, in the KsfR- war, the British
trooTs got gang of the hostile natives in a
cave, starved them out, and shot thirteen as
they broke from cover. This was the battle
of TahindolOda Cave, ga second Plevns in our
little K afir war;" says the London Times cor
respondent. The comparison reminds one of
Howard's parallel bot the battle of But
ler Creek and that of Missionary Ridge.
The Fort Smith, (Ark) Herald ssys Two
ly, left Fort Smith, MondSy, for the Ben nedictine
Monastery, at the Potta wattomie Mission, in
he Indian Territory, to become members of
that order, and devote their lives to the civii-
cation and spiritual advancement of the Indian
tribes. Mr.. Grf walked from New York to
this place in order to join the Benedotine
order.
A remarkable instance of depreciation in the
value of property is afforded by that once pro-
Htable and always excellent newspaper, the
Springfield Rep"blicaR. Six years ago Mr..
Samuel Bowles, its then owner, valued it at
$500, 700; after his death 1t was put into the
schedule of his estate at $75 ,o0O and it has re-
GENTLY been put into stock company with 9
capital of $3O. 900. Speculation, death, and
bad times, together, did the business.
The Rev. Joseph Straub, Of the Order of the
nlr hn at
ShArpsburg, Pa, from Arkansas, has secur ed
eighty Thousand acres of land near Spadra, in
that State, for q Pittsburg settlement Of Ca
church A0x69 feet, also priests house for
three prit q and two Brothers, in that State.
He will also build o church at Atkins, whore
nineteen families from Covington and Cinoin-
natl have st tiled themselves.
1t ia frequently said that the morals of high
society in England have undergone q great
change for the better since ViotorI0 became
queen Bat this is not the opinion OF all oh
servers. For instance, one OF the most int slii-
gent London correspondents says in the New
York Times 1T will occasionally force itself
upon the reflective minds of philOsophic look
is foil of social plague spots in high life. The
so-oalled upper ten of England is taint sd with
debauohery and social vice as deeply a. ever
it was in the days of Charles II"
Cremoua, an italian painter OF repute, has
j ast died at Milan under extraordinary oircum-
STANCES. He was man of the most careless,
not to cay dirty, habits, and in order to save
time he discarded the use of the palette, which
he deemed unnecessary and tron nblesome He
was wont, therefore, to spread his colors on the
palm of his left hand and on his bare chest.
The other day while standing at his easel he
was seized with strong cOnvulsions, and ex-
pired after forty, eight hours of agony. The
doctors attribute his death to the absorption
into the system of pOisons used in painting.
A Connecticut inventor has devised q safety
lamp for railroad cars. A kerosene lamp is
placed outside the car at one end, thro wing it's
light by q reflector into q tube q foot and u
half in diameter, which runs alongside Of the
ventilsting deck. At intervals the Tube is
tapped for light q system of rehectors dis.