Connecticut western news., 1880-05-12
NOTES AND COMMENTS.

them must d1e every spring, as one mas died each season since the circus was organized. "Who is next?" is the ques- ton. Professional men are generally supersttious, and in this instance the belief seems to be established among Barnum's clowns that one of them must die each spring. With such feeling it is easy to imagine the feelings of all of them as each spring approaches.
 THE astronomical feature of the month of May is the unusual number of planets doing duty as morning stars. Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mercury and Neptune form a quintet that shine together as they await the coming of the sun. Ve- nus, Saturn and Mercury rose within 8 few minutes of each other on the 1st. The loveliest picture of the month was unrolled on the 7th, when the slender crescent of the waning moon, only two days before her change, was in close vicinity to the same shining trio. Throughout the winter Venus reigned alone as morning star, and Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, far asunder, spanned the evening sky. Now they are all morning stars, grouped near each other and near the sun.
 THE BERLIN Borse,a Zeit,t,eg says that the Prussian capital has long contained a jewel of fabulous value, the news of whose existence was first made known by the reports of the last session of the Polytechnic Society. This noble stone is a sapphire, and is the property of one of the members of that learned body. It weighs 8 little more than six ounces. The jury of the Polytechnic Society have settled its value at the frightful sum of 64, 900, ,OOO marks, or e3, 200, 900 of Eng fish money. It need hardly be said that such a treasure is not very likely to find purchaser at such price. Its present possessor has placed his treasure in State custody for the sake of his heir. All the experts who have scrutinized the sap phire agree that it is a genuine Corma- dunn. The "sappir"' of the books of Exodus and Ezekiel, like the "sap- phires" of Pliny, were probably our la2ois-lasuli.
 A FEW evenings ago the Chief of the Police at Kieff, Russia, was seized while returning from visit to some friends. tied, blindfolded, thrown into a carriage. and escorted to isolated house in the suburbs of the city There his eyes were uncovered, and he saw himself sur rounded by host of persons wearing masks and dressed in black. Four of the masks undressed him, and, stretch ing his body upon board, logged him until they fancied he had had enough of it. He was next required to sign re- ceipt for the fogging he had received. This the poor man refused at first to do, but he was finally persuaded by threats of another dose of the knout. He was then dressed again, tied, blindfolded, and conveyed in carriage to the corner nearest the police headquarters. The authors of the outrage, despite the most active efforts of the police, remain un- discovered.
 THE enormous quantity of liquor that is consumed yearly in Mexico can be es. timated from the fact that in the city ot Mexico alone the consumption is at the rate of pint a day for every inhabitant and that special train, t'e,a de loatlque runs twice day between Apam, vii lage in the heart of the maguey district and Mexico city, the freight from pulqut on each train amounting to between $7Ot and $500! The maguey yields anothe, liquor, which is not so deleterious in it effects either as drink or as an objec of labor as is pulque. This is the vin, mezcal, which is species of brandy distilled from the juice of the maguey but 1t can only be drunk as a liguero and is not unlike Jamaica rum. It i manufactured in large quantities o Apam, where the dry and cold tempera ture of the great dusty Mexican plail produces the maguey of the most fer, quality.
 ON THE 29th day of November, 1914 the London Tunes was first printed b, steam. The pressmen of that day, whel they got wind of the new steam pres being in preparation, threatened to de stroy the inventor, one Konig, "an, his traps" They believed that thei occupation would be abolished by it The new machine had to be careful, concealed from public knowledge unti all its details were completed. It wa constructed in a building adjoining tn
 Times office, and the whole of the i'm pression for the 29th was worked o1
 while the regular pressmen were directe '' to wait for expected news from tn
 Continent. At a. m, MT. Waite
 walked into the pressroom and aston
 ished its occupants by telling them tn
 Times was already printed by steam
 that If they attempted violence ther
 was force ready to suppress it, but
 they were peaceable, their wages shoul
 be continued to every one of them ti
 similar employment could be procured
 Thus was 8 great invention introduce
 into the world. Up to this period 45
 copies an hour were all that could l.
 thrown off by the old hand-press. Ko
 nig's press printed 1, 100 per hour.
 l TIE wild pigeons this year make the
 home in northern Michigan and come
 usual by the million. On the alternat
 years, when beech-nuts are not abundal
 in Michigan, they take some other cour.
 in their northward flight, but this ye,
 they come early, too early in fact, f,
 their own welfare. They spread ov,
 an area of more than fifteen miles length and six to eight miles wide, ar the prospect for time was that u