The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-08-28
GENERAL.

A LONDON firm advertises that it has
for sale one of the identical stamps bv
which George III. attempted to impose
the obnoxious tax on teas imported into
British America.
NATURAL caverns of large size, one
at least being six hundred feet LONG.
have been discovered at West Harptree'
near Wells, Somersetshire, England. Ii
is limited that the investigations have
revealed matters of great interest to an
tiquarians and psychologists.
THERE are now less than two hun
dred boys in the Massachusetts Reform
School, and but a small portion of the
new building is required or used This
is the smallest number there has been
for several years, and the number at one
time reached six hundred.
SOME one has undertaken the bust
ness of lion-breeding at Bond, in Alge-
ria, in order to supply menageries and
geological gardens with specimens of
the king of beasts, for which there is a
great and growing demand. The ex-
tirpation of the lion in wild state in
Algeria, from variety of causes, is only
a question of very short time.
CALIFORNIA gold-hunters have in
vaded the wilds of Sonora, one of the
northern States of Mexico, where the
American has been known only by ira
dition and the customs of the seven
teenth century have been preserved with
a Chinese hatred of improvements.
Rich treasures of gold are said to have
been found, and an exodus of California
miners is expected.
RENNIE NASH had lain abed for sew
eral years at South Hadley, Mass, help
less with rheumatism. The physicians
could do nothing for him. He lately
sent for a Connecticut colored woman
who had the reputation of being won
derfully effective in prayer She touched
his forehead with oil, laid her hands on
his shoulders, and prayed three hours
continuously for his cure Then he got
up and walked. The staid NORTHAMPTON
gazette tells the story and vouches for
its truth.
GEORGE W. PARsHALL, a Roche ter
IN. " bird-fancier, has been at in
finite trouble to get the national red,
white and blue represented by three
birds, which will live peaceably in the
same cage. He has finally secured birds
of the same size and which eat the same
kind of seed, the red bird being q species
known as the Napoleon, from South
America, the blue an indigo bird from
the same country, and the white spar
row from Java.
The late Sultan of Morocco was one
day rowing on lake with the ladies of
his harem. The boat upset, and two
men, at the peril of their lives, saved
the whole party. 'sTo have seen his
Majesty in such an undignified position,
and moreover with his ladies'" writes
Captain Colville, "was a crime punish
able only by death. The unfortunate
men were accordingly walled up in a
small room and left to starve or die of
suffocation. Their skeletons were found
while some repairs were being made in
the palace on the present Sultan's ac-
cession."
CERTAIN Dutch naturalists are test
ing the ability of the domestic cat to act
as postman. Selecting LUX for their
headquarters, they thence dispatch a
number of cats, securely tied up in
wooden bags, to the neighboring villages,
where they are freed from confinement
and turned loose, with neat packets of
letters securely strapped to their backs.
At once their domestic instincts come
into full play, and they swiftly flee
homeward with answering directness.
OF the thirty-seven cats thus con-
strained to serve their country, not one
has hitherto failed to fulfill its postal
functions with excellent punctuality.