The Newtown bee., 1879-06-25
TIMELY TOPICS.

TIMELY TOPICS.
 It was recently said that no new heatnen temples were now building in Northwestern India, but a missionary writes home that the people are "stifl mad on their idols; almost every house has them; new temples are constantly being built in honor of these idols, and the religious bathing-places and assem- bly-grounds are crowded"
 In New York city there are dealers, incredible as it may sound, who make living by buying broken meat, given as aims by tender-hearted servants to inn portunate beggars. These mendicants. from out Of their days receipts. select such Jumps of meat or half-picked bones as will prove salable, and at nightfall proceed direct to these stores, where they dispose of their unsavory wares. Then the scraps from the tables of the rich are resold.
 A wealthy old gentleman living in Berlin fell in love with the young daughter of poor widow. He wooed and won the girl, and before the we'd ding-day arrived, he made will leaving her all ms property, amounting to sev- eral hundred thousand marks. The marriage was celebrated in brilliant style, and the welded pair with their guests sat down to breakfast Scarcely had the teasting began, when the vener- able bridegroom dropped his knife, and sank back in his chair, dead from heart disease.
 A lighthouse keeper near the mouth of the Potomac has devised an ingeni- ous plan for the slaughter of the ducks and geese which light on sand bar near his station. He has battery of twelve muskets firmly fastened to two heavy timbers, six above and six below; these are heavily loaded and connected with the lighthouse by long wire cable. As soon as he sees geese near enough he pulls his cable and explodes all the guns at once, and then takes his skiff and picks up the game. His most successful shot this year gave him thirty-three geese.
 A New York veterinary surgeon as- serts positively that even the saliva of a dog may communicate hydrophobia "One of the most marked causes of hydrophobia that ever occurred in this city," he says, twas that of a gentleman who had allowed pet slut to lick his face. The animal had shown no symp- toms of madness, and did not afterward become mad, so far as l am informed. The victim had a slight abrasion of the skin on his face, and allowed the crea- ture lick it, with an old-fashioned faith in the healing virtue of a dogs tongue. He died within four weeks of pro nounced hydrophobia.
 There is a story that Q wealthy Chi cago merchant lately prevented the breaking of his will by calling his rela- tives about his death-bed and getting them to make affidavit before a notary that he was competent to make a will, After the funeral it was found that all his property was given to lunatic asy- | lum. Then the heirs tried to have the will set aside by showing that though sane at the last, in 1875, when the will was made, he was raving mad. Thereu p on the eXecutor produced a will exactly like the first, except that it was signed and witnessed a few minutes before the affidavits as to the testator's sanity were | taken.
 It seems that the common people in | Sweden do not continue the family name | from father to children Indeed, they have no family name. The name ot the | child gives no intimation whatever of the surname of the father. Thus, sup pose a man is named Peter Ohlson. his | boy may receive the name of John Peter son, and his grandson perhaps Peter Johnson, the surnames being formed from the given name of the parent, and thus being changed with every generation. It will be seen that this makes it impossi- ble to trace families. This custom does not prevail among the higher classes in Sweden, but is universal among the common people who con- pose the greater portion of the emigrants to this country.
 A remarkable case of lynching has. oc- cured at Cheyenne, Wyoming. A man named Dug Reed, who had been guilty ofa crime particularly obnoxious to the citizens. was taken out of jail. Then, with unusual courtesy, the lynchers al- | lowed Reed to select the method of death most agreeable to him; and when he stated that he would prefer to be hanged, they went still further in their courteous regard for his feelings, and allowed him | to be his own executioner. He took the rope in his hand. climbed telegraph | pole, fastened one end around the top, and formed a moose in the other end through which he passed his head. Then he made his last dying speech, which was short, being no more than Goodbye, boys," and, jumping off, was launched into eternity.
 --=oording to the Springfield (Mass.) hepal6ticaaa, ''an effort is being made to provide a permanent exhi- bition building in Boston for the indus trial products of New England. The | New England Manufacturers and Me | chanics' Institute, chartered by the | State, seeks to erect a suitable building for the holding of stated fairs and exhi- bitions and for the permanent exhibition of such products as our manufacturers shall find it for their interest to leave in the building. The proposition is to make each exhibitor pay small rental for the space occupied, and to distribute :lalx