American citizen., 1879-04-26
FACTS AND FANCIES.

Z AN
HARD words have never taught wis
dom, nor does truth require them.
TEN thousand English were propos-
ing, at last accounts, to emigrate to the
Sandwich Islands.
MATCHES are made In New Haven. A
New Haven man has just married his
fifth wife in that city.
"I HAVE got so in the habit of being
married by an Episcopal clergyman,
that I really don't feel satisfied with any
othef kind,'' said Chicago widower.
Mr.. B. CHAMBERS of the Post-office
Department at Washington writes that
there are no fewer than 1000 women
Postmasters in the United States, and
that the number ie on the increase.
No MAN can succeed in all his under
takings, and it would not be well for
him to do SO. Things easily acquired
80 easily. 1t is by the struggle it costs
to obtain that we learn to rightly esti-
mate the value.
ALRIGHT little miss in Napa, Cal,
noted for her quaint sayings, said to her
mother the other day. "Mamina,
when you went to heaven to get me, did
you pick out the prettiest baby on Gods
fioorP" OF course mamma said yes.
THE oldest woman in New Hampshire
who accepted the privilege Of voting at
the recent town elections was Mrs.
Lovey Wentworth, aged 80 years. of
Rollinsford, who walked to the ballot
box with firm step and deposited the
first vote of her life.
New TRUSTEE: "Well, Mr.. Syntax,
you have a very fair school here" Mr..
S.: I. Yes, sir; the schools well enough,
but the curriculum is detective" New
Trustee "What, the curriculum defec-
tivep We must see the architect at
once about it, and have it raised few
feet higher.''
A FASHION writer says that dresses
are to be full this year. We prefer
them full. The idea of q dress slouch-
ing around empty. or only half filled
by scrawny individual, is ridiculous
in the extreme. We should like to
know what satisfaction 1t would be to a
young man to sit up till 2 a. m. by the
side of an empty dress.
A NEGRO man while accidentally
digging a clay floor of an old dilapi-
dated hut at Rockdam, on the Brazos
River, % miles from Waco, Texas. dis
covered an old iron pot buried contain.
ing over $4,000 in American gold, $1(
and 500 pieces. 1t turns out that the
money was buried dr-ing the war by ar
old bachelor named McKissick, who
owned plantation and slaves and was
murdered for his money by Confederate
bushwhackers.
THE Chinese are reported as making
trouble in Tahiti, not only in the new
way they have done it in California,
New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere,
but also in other and peculiar respects
They have introduced opium smoking
to which the natives threaten to become
addicted to an alarming extent. Con.
cribinsge is another feature they have
grated upon Tahitian society. This
they did also in the Sandwich Islands,
where, by reason of the scarcity oi
women, it has caused especial indig-
nation. The labor market in the Socie-
ty Islands is limited, and the Chinese are
mostly in business for themselves !;
but being able to live on less than their
white competitors, who are mainly
French, the retail trade is rapidly pass
ing wholly into their hands. Whatever
market there is for labor, they also
monopolize. Formerly the vessels sail
ing around the island had white cooks,
but now they are Chinese. The Gov
ernment has been petitioned for meas
ures to remedy this state of things. 1t
Is proposed, as it was in California, to
prohibit the Celestials from owning real
estate or transacting business without
paying heavily for license.
The late George Bidder, who made
his mark in youth as " the calculating
boy" had excellent business ability as
well as prodigious arithmetical power,
and died recently man of fortune.
His mathematical faculty never deserted
him, even in his last years. One might
read to Bidder two series of Is figures
each, and, without seeing or writing
down single figure, he could multiply
the one by the other without error.
Once, while he was giving
evidence before Parliamen-
tary Committee, council on the oppos-
ite side interrupted him with, You
might as well profess to tell us how
many gallons of water flow through
Westminster bridge in an hour" 81
can tell you that, too" was the reply,
and he gave the number instantaneous
". Other members of Bidders family
have the same or similar powers. His
son, successful barrister, can play two
games of chess simultaneously without
seeing the board. George Bidders eld-
er brother, a clergyman, was not re-
markabIe in mathematics, but he could
quote almost any text in the Bible and
give chapter and verse, SO extraordina-
ry was his memory.
A WOMAN named Julia Mccarthy,
formerly cook in the family of Mr..
Burr Wakeman of New York City, is
believed to have fallen heir to an estate
valued at from E5,OOO,OO to f6,OOO,-
600. This vast estate was amassed by
Major O'Keefe, a Quartermaster in the
British service in India. Major O'Keefe