The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-04-14

TIMHLY TOPICS
A little Philadelphia girl, eight years
old, recently lost her life, perhaps
through her own heroic self-control
She was holding a baby when hel
clothing caught fire. She succeeded ir
placing the baby uninjured in its cradle
and then ran into the street to save the
house from being burned down. Hel
own injuries were so severe that she
died.
The United States is far ahead Of al
other countries as meat consumer. Re
cent statistics show that there are 66e
cattle to every 1000 inhabitants, while
Great Britain has but 224 and France
but 1926, while the average for Europe is
only 3l8. Not only is the supply Of cat
tie twice rs great in the United States
but a far larger proportion is grown fol
beef.
Perhaps the liveliest set of men in the
world to-day are the contractors who
are to lay the rails in the st. Gothard
tunnel. Everything must be completed
by October l, and for every day there
after that tie line is incomplete the
contractors must pay 1000 for the frs:
six months and $4,000 day afterward
Thus it is that they are hurrying up the
completion of the line.
Thirty years ago there was but one
pottery in this country making white
and yellow ware, and not mill to grind
material. All the flint and stone re-
quired was imported from Great Britain
Now there are 800 potteries in the
United States, ,representinga a total capital
of over S6,000,000. The pottery craze o1
the last two or three years resulted in
the erection Of thirty new kilns in 1879
Two hundred years ago the shaft O.
the turquoise mine in Chalchuti noun
tain, New Mexico, caved in and hun.
dred Indians below at work were killed
The Spaniards tried to folce the Indians
to work the mine, and the result was 9
rebellion and the expulsion of the Span
ish. Now some American capitalists
are about to reopen t e mine, which il
the only one of its kind OF the CONT
nent.
Mrs. Lille Devereux Blake wants
policewomen to be employed at the po
lice stations in New York, as they are ir
Saxony. She bases her suggestion or
the fact that among the hundreds o.
women who are arrested many art
crazy or i'll, and need other attention
than the policemen can render them
She would have the policewomen strong
healthy women, Of good physique, anc
paid the same as policemen.
The Journal des Debats' special CORE
spordent in Holland writes apropos o
the kings sixty-third birthday and the
thirty-first year of his peaceful reign
thai the King of Holland is now about
the only monarch who finds kinging il
a safe and easy business. This does moi
arise from any personal attachment Il
the king, who is an exceedingly ordin.
ary and uninteresting person. but from
the fact that the bourSeoiste are pro
foundly attached to the dynasty ol
the house of Orange, and the people al
large have profound belief in mon
archical institutions.
At an auction sale Of books in New
York Bradford's collection of the Laws
and Acts of the General Assembly tol
Their Majesties Province of New
York" (l694). being 1.-the first book
printed in New York and the first
collection Of the Laws of New York,
brought $1,000, for which sum ii
was bought by the New York State
library. This is the largest price
paid for single volume in long while,
A newspaper in two volumes, the Penn.
sylvania Gazette (l72s-l730), printed by
Franklin & Keimer. and the first news.
paper printed by them, brought $3.50,
and went to Yale college.
Tea drinkers nowadays will do well
to apply the following simple test to the
tea purchased of their grocers: Turn out
the infused leaves, and if they are found
a good brown color, with fair substance,
the tea will be wholesome; but if the
leaves are black and of rotten texture,
with an oily appearance, the tea will not
be fit to drink. The purer the tea, the
more the distinctively brown color OF
the leaf strikes the attention: The mix
| ing that is frequently adopted to reduce
prices results in the two kinds of leaves
being supplied together. 1t is import
ant to see that the leaves have the ser.
rated or saw-ike edges, without which
no tea is genuine.
Professor Fawcett, the blind member
of parliament, recently had an unpleas-
ant experience when he rose in his place
to ask some question of the speaker,
after the division bell had rung and the
doors were locked. The speaker pointed
out to Mr.. Fawcett that any statement
he felt inclined to make must be deliv-
cred in his place, with his hat on accord.
ing to established etiquette. Promptly
seating himself, the member vainly
groped for his hat: Unsuccessful in his
search, aid arrived from an unsuspected
quarter, Mr.. Macdonald promptly pull
ing off hissown hat and clapping it. on
the unsuspectipg head of Mr.. Fawcett
who dashed the Vicarious covering to the
ground amidst sympathetic laughter
from all sides, and refrained from put
ting his Question.
It is only a few years ago since the
brakeman working on the circular whee
at the end of the passenger coach was
the only means of retarding the motion
OF a train. The air-brake made tina,
active PERSONS position almost sine
cure. A late number of the Scientific
american supplement illustrates q de-
vice that is still in advance of the air.
brake if it works as well in practice as
it looks on paper. 1t is an electrical air
brake, the generator being on the loco.
motive. The plans provides for an at
tachment to the bell rope 80 that any
passenger, by pulling the rope, can in
sstantly apply the electric brake, at the
Detroit Free Press suggests that by-and.
bye we will have electric brakes on the
train, AZ electric bell on the locomotive
m electric headlight in front, making
the track as light as day, electric can.
dies in each car, and perhaps an electric
ngine as motive power.
Origin of Oil Springs.
The source of these vast supplies ol
oil has been much discussed, and there