The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-06-04
MANKATO FREE PRESS.
GOSSIP OF THE DAY.

GOSSIP OF THE DAY.
| FORTY per cent. OF the Chinese OF San Fran
cisco have been hack and forth between this
! country and China four five times Most
Of the Chinese go back once in five years, and
rarely any one stays longer than eight years
| continuously in this country. Many Chinese
merchants return regularly TO spend the Chi
nese New Year at home.
The Baltimore councils have ordered the re-
moval of the mark on the front of the Maryland
institute showing where the water-line was dur
ing the flood of July, 1868. The removal was
desired by the owners of property in the neigh
| borhood, who claim that the mark was det"i-
mental TO their property, as it often deferred
strangers from living in the vicinity.
The New York Times says that in all our
large eastern cities fashionable people entrust
| their children to French bonneS Thus the
little things grow up TO be six or eight years of
age without learning to speak their own lam
guagc except with Il marked foreign accent.
This Is not the worst of it. Many of these chill
dren Of fashionable people grow up to he men
and women without learning American ideas,
|
''savc with marked foreign accent"
An amusing instance of the extremity to
which the customs regulations are carried be-
tween Germany and Austria is reported in
| German paper. A Saxon farmer living near
the Austrian frontier had employed some men
To work Oh one of his fields across Il q border,
| Bohemia, and sent 10 them some bread and
butter and brandy for lunch. The prov isions
were seized by the Austrian customs officers
| contraband and the sender is summoned TO ap-
pear before the high customs council TO answer
| for his alleged evasion of the Austrian customs
| regulations.
! WEDNESDAY was the one-hundredth ami
| verSary of the celebrated "dark day" i'll New
England. strange and ncyer-cxplained phe-
nomenon which caused much terror and apprc-
hension. The legislature of Connecticut was in
session in Hartford at the tune. A member,
surprising the day of Judgment had come,
| moved an adjournment. Abraham Davenport
said if that day had not come there was no
need Of adjourning, and if il had come he wish
ed TO be fouud at the post Of duty, so he pro-
posed that lights he brought in and they go on
with the business. Mr.. John q. Whittier has
made the incident the subject of poem.
THIRTY years ago the British consumption of
| American and foreign cheese was not quite one
pound Ier capita; to day il is nearly six pounds,
or l37, 000, 900 pounds i'll the last fiscal year. as
| against l2l 900, 900 pounds the previous year,
| imported from America. John Bull drinks more
| tea, uses more sugar aud more wheat flour than
ever before. Our choice granted steers are
acknowledged by him to BE- equal to the best do
nestle beef, far better than the frozen, grass
fed flesh of Australian cattle. The great At
lantic ferries and our trunk lines to the west
have practically, as far as food supply is con-
| cerncd, annexed the English shires to our
| republic.
A FEW weeks ago President and Mrs. Hayes
went to Mount Vernon aud passed the night
there, sleeping in the bed formerly used by
George and Martha Washington. good deal
| of fun was had when the fact got out, but the
custodian of the property at Mount Vernon says
that il Is the usual thing for presidents to do.
Lincoln, Grant, Johnson, Buchanan, Pierce,
| Fillmore and Tyler, he says, have all slept in
| Washngton's bed, and he supposeS that other
presidents have, but that is rs far as his mem
DRY runs. Some of the presidents named occu-
pied the bed several nights during their term of
| Office, and President Pierce in the habit OF
| going to Mount Vernon TO pass the night very
often during the summer.
A SYSTEM of electric fire-alarms, similar in its
essential features to that which has been en-
ployed i'll American cities for years, has just
been established Tor the first time in London;
and, with the characteristic innocence Of the
English people in matters pertaining TO the pro
gress Of invention, is hailed as a new revelation
i'll the world of practical science. A London
paper explains the working of the system at
some length, and thus naively summarizes its
advantages over the old methods; This eX-
cellent arrangement will obvate the necessity of
running off to the station, and, what Is Of the
utmost importance i'll cases of fire. enable the
fremcn u have their engines al the place indi-
Gated almost Immediately after the discovery Of
| he fire.
Two York state seamcn are about to repea
| the foolhardy attempt to cross the Atlantic in
dory, and expect to sail from Gloucester IN June.
| Their craft, which has been named the Little
| Western, in contrast to the Great Eastern, is
| the smallest that has yet undertaken the voy-
age. II is about 16 feet II inches over al, 1917
| feet keel, and G feet wide; sloop-i gged with
mast IL feet high, bowsprit feet long, and
manboom Of - or ii feet, and will carry
heavy mainsail, fore-staysal, jb, gaftopsail
| and square sail. The house will be three feet
| long, rising ten inches above deck, and will be
| built with air tight compartments, and furnished
with sliding seats, to afford opportunity for ex-
ercisc by the navigators, who will also row when
| the wind is moderate.
SENATOR GORDON, of Georgia, states that he
| il simply carrying out lOng-cherished desire to
| retire from pubic life. He has hitherto subOr-
dinated that desire to his sense Of duty and re-
| luctance to leave the service of a noble, gener
Gus people. For nearly twenty years his life
| has been one of incessant anxiety and great
labo.. For more than half of that long period,
either in war or i'll public Office, his energie-
! have been devoted to what he conceived to be
the welfare Of the southern people and the best
| interests of the whole county, and now that
| the restoration Of Louisiana and South Caro-
| lima 10 the rights of sclf-gOyernmcnt secures to
the entire south full and rightful representation
in the legislative department OF the federal gov
eminent, his most cherished object i'll politics
| has been attained.
CAPTAIN EVERETT, writing from ErZcrOLm,
says that i'll many villages the people are totally
dcsolatc and deaths from starvation are con
| stantly occurring. A letter from Mosul says:
| "Kurds. Arabs and HISTORIANS from the mount
aims, who have absolutely no means of support,
arc constantly hocldng in i'll large numbers.
There are many deaths from starvation, and
both Christians and Moscms have for some
days past been selling their children to obtain a
few piastres for food, while others abandoned
their children at the doors Of the mosques and
houses" II the famine gets the mastery in
Ahatic Turkey the havoc will be fearful, as il
will be almost impossible TO distribute relief
among the afflicted people. There Il not means
Of transportation sufficient to save the people
even if food were gathered at the chief towns.
The United States government has caused
several Atlantic steamship captains to DC ar
rested; they are charged with breach of the
law limiting the number Of passengers to DC
carried by any vessel On account OF the inn
mense immigration, the steerages Of Atlantic
steamers have been generally crowded the
| present season; hence the enforcement Of the
law on the part Of the government. On the
other hand, the agents of the steamship lines
claim that they have infringed no law. More
than this, they assert that the United States
government has no right to interfere with the
passenger or other arrangements of inward
bound foreign vessels rs respects either freights
T.. H..