The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-09-01
TIMELY TOPICS.

TIMELY TOPICS.
A San Francisco woman does q lucra-
tive business at driving devils out Of
| persons who IRE possessed by them, or
at least by pretending to do so. She
holds that most persons considered in
sane are merely melted by imps inside.
II have expelled hundreds and hun
dreds," she assured a1eporter.. Zone
case I had last fall vase. gentleman liv-
ing in the country-a nan OF n intel;
lect and cultivation, WHO was regarded
by his friends as on the sure road to q
lunatic asylum. He was impelled to go
days and nights without food; to take
long tramps which his normal strength
would not have been sufficient for. He
would talk brilliantly, and as if inspired:
one moment, and the next use low and
vulgar language. He came to see me
six times, and the lastitime l sat with
him from five o'clock tSgeleven o'clock,
when my band of spirits effected his
final release. AnotherTase is that OF a
young daughter of one of the most
prominent and wealthy families in the
city. She is highly educated and re-
fined in her natural stats, but, under the
strange control to whichshe is subjected,
will swear or appear I'm the greatest
agony of mind and body" Certain In
Carnations seldom failed, the woman
added, to make the devils get out.
-
At Voronesh, one of the great Russian
provincial criminal depots, whence
%convicts are periodically conveyed in
patches to the different penal settle.
ments of the EMPIRE the unmarried
state prisoners of both sexes have re-
Gently developed a surprising predilec-
ton for the matrimonial state. This
phenomenon is attributable to the fact
that the Russian government permits
married convicts under sentences OF
hard labor to settle in Saghalien, a To-
cality in many respects preferable to
Siberia. As, however, those DESTROYS
of qualifying themselves for the enjoy,
ment of this privilege are only allowed
to select their future companions from
among their fellow-criminals. some
Quaint alliances have resulted from the
benevolent dispositions in question.
For instance a military homicide, con-
demned to twenty years penal servi-
tude for staying his superior officer on
the parade ground, was only the other
day united to q muscular dame VINO a
short time previous had become a
widow by her own act;ahaving dexter
ously split her first husbands head in
two with a hatchet. The antecedents OF
this happy pair scarcely promise long
duration to their respective e%xistences.
They, probably, deem a short and merry
life of wedlock in Saghalien more de-
sirable than the attainment of celibate
old age in Siberia.
A gossipy New York correspondent
giyes some interesting information
about the great citY's free baths and
methods of lighting the streets. He
says that next to the Croton in point
of public benefit is the free bath sys-
tenn. This city has eight of such baths
in operation. one having been added
last year. The entire cost OF conducting
each of these baths during a season was
1884, and the aggregate number OF
bathers was nearly 3,0O0,0 600. These
facts ut once show the immense import
ance OF such institutions. Lighting the
streets il another interesting feature in
public benefits. New York has $50
miles of gas pipes in use, and contracts
are held with ten companies. The en-
tire expense for illuminating the streets
and public buildings last year was
nearly $500, 900. During the wasteful
expenditures of the ring it was $780,
600, but since then a degree of economy
at least has been maintained. The
number of public lamps in use is %, 500.
The annual cost OF lighting the court
house alone is 1854. The city hall
costs SO, 1892. Washington market S2,2lG.
Center and Fulton markets form an
aggregate of $4,000. The gas bill for
the public buildings reaches S26, 1872,
and q public clock, which is illuminated
ali night, is billed at Sls7. Lamp
lighters themselves form a costly item,
since the city paid last year for their
work alone the handsome amount OF
S42l ,000."
The peach originated in Persia and
Northern India, and is Of the same
genus as the almond. The nectarine
differs from the peach only in being
smooth, while the peach is downy. 1t
ls a mere variety, probably produced
and assuredly preserved by cultivation.
The tree-stone peach of the French is
their peche, while the cling-stone is
their pavie. A remarkable variety, of
Chinese origin, has the fruit compressed
and lattened with almost evergreen
leaves. The peach is cultivated widely,
in Southern Europe, in many parts OF
the East, in South America and Aus"
tralia, though it has never, it IS be-
lieved, attained the perfection of the
fruit in the United States. New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland n
Ohio have often peach orchards contain
ing from 10000 to $4,000 trees. Inc
quantity oil dried peaches is reported to
be steadily increasing, while peach
brandy is diminishing. Peach water,
obtained by bruising the leaves OF the
tree, mixing the pulp with water, and
distilling, is not only employed for ha7;
oring, but in medicine as a sedatlve and
vermifuge. The stone Of the fruit is
very like the bitter almond in its prop
critics, and the blossoms exhale an odor
of bitter almonds. Both the stone and
blossoms are used in the facture OF q
liuueur called Persieo. In the old n
new world there are, it is said, more
than 100 varieties of the delicious fruit