The Newtown bee., 1879-07-30
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 TIMELY TOPICS.

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 p TIMELY ToplCs. as9 z e
 No less than seventeen wife beaters were convicted and sent to prison in one day at Rugby, England. Three women were aiso charged with assaulting their husbands. Two ofthese militant matrons were discharged, but the third got her month snug, just as if she were man. This lady had borrowed an antique hint from the fighting females of New Pallas, and polished off her liege lord with a loaded stocking.
 The Ogden Otah) Freen,an says that during Jay Gould's recent trip in the West a band of desperate train robbers posted themselves along the unguarded plains on the line of tbe Union Pacific Railroad with the idea of catching him as he passed through to Ogden. The robbers proposed to take him into the British possessions and there keep him untii he should pay an immense ransom. Gould heard of the plot, liberally re- warded his informant, and made his escape.
 The frigatet of war Constitution, now eighty-fve years old, and lately en- S"SIAl III lllc ptiCtlul OttuDdllOn Ol It. turning exhibits from the Paris eX hibition, has been rebuilt so often that not piece of the original wood re- mains. So say the naval officers. In this respect the old craft resembles the constitution of man, who at the age of elshty-iive is not supposed to retain a particle of the substance he started out with, but in the latter the change is so gradual and continuous that it goes on without hiG Ia m, En1. I.n1No In the whole the mechanism of a man is more perfect and wonderful than that of any known production.
 The heirs and attorneys representing about 40 lineal descendants of Robert Edwards, who owned at one time pro- perty in New York city, now valued at S90, ,000, have been i.l conference in Akron, Ohio. John A. Edwards, of Seward, Neb., represented fifty of these heirs, and IT. W. Ingersoll, of Akron, and Capt. Henry Edwards, of Kawaka, Canada, the remaining ninety. After a full comparison of facts and views, 8 satisfactory conclusion was reached that the documentary and other proofs at hand were sufficient to warrant lega proceedings whenever they choose to in- stitute them. One of the heirs is a washerwoman, named Sherbandy, who lives i'll the suburbs of Akron.
 Complaint is often made that garden seeds do not sprOut into plants with that certainty that the flori acatalogue of the scotsman would lead us to expect. Peter Henderson. the veteran scotsman, thinks he has discovered the cause and the remedy is certainly simple enough. Be fore the recent convention of nursery men and florists he said that if seeds when planted in spring are pressed firmly with the foot after they are under the ground they will invariably grow, drought or no drought. Peter says that although he has been in the business for over quarter of a century he only dis covered this simple truth few years ago. This information may be rather late for this season, but it is in frstrate time for next spring.
 Five ancient cities-deserted and for gotten-have been discovered in the Great Desert, beyond the River Jordan. A report made to the Royal Asiatic Society, by MT. Graham, an Englishman, lately returned from travels in the East, gives the particulars of the discovery: 'They were as perfect as if the inhabi- tants had just left them-the houses re- taining the massive stone doors which are q characteristic of the architecture of that region. One of the cities is re- markable for a large building like a castle, built of white stone beautifully cut. Further eastward other palaces were found, where every stone had in- scIiptions in an unknown character, bearing some apparent likeness to the Greek alphabet formerly in use in South ern Arabia ne % @# M
 In order to secure accurate vital statis- tics General Walker, Superintendent of the Census, to be taken next year, is talk ing measures to obtain returns from all the practising physicians and surgeons in the United States numbering sixty thousand orseyenty thousand. as to the deslths occurring in their practice dur,ineT the year ending on the 31st of May. A
 To each practitioner is sent book con taining twenty blank forms and page of explanation. If more than tWenty-four deaths occur within the year in any phy- sician's practice one or more additional books can be had. The blanks call for the place and date of death, the name, sex, race or color, age, with date of birth, and occupation of the deceased the cause or causes of death, or the symptoms where causes cannot with certainty be given, and the fact that poSt-77a0Ttena examination was or was not held.
 Almost every day some strayling is pick up by the New York police and con- signed for temporary shelter to the motherly arms of Matron Webb, at po- lice headquarters. And almost as often as a waif is rescued from the street it is reclaimed by a parent, brother, sister, relative or friena. So rare is it that lost child is not fought for that when it occurs the matron is at loss how to dis pose of the charge. Occasionally a child is found whose appearance indicates its descent from wealthy and refined people. In such instances, while it receives the same care and attention as other waifs, extra effort is made to discover those to whom it belongs. Advertisements are