Connecticut western news., 1880-02-18
NOTES AND COMM MENIS.

IiS uSSS III u StF, 10 Wli pfOUSULy OS' clare his ignorance, and be astorished when fold that our 500, ,000,00 in. hAbitaEts consume on an average forty three pounds per head during twelve months. the poor using more than the rich. Thero is duty of about three cents 0 pound on all except the small quantity imported from the Sandwich Islands, under the reciprocity treaty.
 A cooperative boot and shoe factory sohemo is reported as on foot at Milford, Pa., in which the workmen will share, profits and losses with those who furnish the capital, according to regulated schedule. Tho capitalists will select manager, who will engage the workmen, buy&the necessary stock, superintend the manufacture, and sell the goods either through himself or through sales- mon. Workmen to receive four-flfths of their earnings only, as wages, the re- meining fifth to be reserved as fund to insure the capitalists against loss.
 -Dr. lren seus Prime tells about how lazy brother managed his sermon com position. Ho says that the temptation to lazy men to appropriate the thoughts of others is sometimes very great, and it is the greater when their laziness has led to pm tting off preparation until late hour. cone of these procrastina- tors, neighbor of mine, was at my houso one Saturday night. When it came ten o'clock he rose to leave. I said !; Do not be in haste.' T must go,' he replied, T have half g sermon to write this evening don't you feel sorry for me?' Not bit,' I said, T pity the people,"
 The nearest realization of tho Cheeryble Brothers of Dickens is fur niehed in Sir w. Lawrence and Alder man Lawrence of London, brothers and partners, who retired from business a few weeks ago. They handed over the whole of their business to their clerks and managers who had served them faithfully for years, with the sum of e30, ,000 to carry it on, gave the artisans who had served them for ten years and upward sums in prop ortion to the num- Der of years, and few of the oldest an annual pension of 920, reserving no in- terest in the new firm for themselves.
 A vineyard proprietor of the Houte Garonne, France, while recently en- gagged in testing his wine, came to a large vat of the last vintage, and was shocked at what he described as it's fantastic favor" He accordingly al- lowed it to run off into other vessels, and proceeded to examine the bottom of the receptacle, when. to his horror, he discovered the body of one of his own workmen, who had mysteriously disap- peared last October. The comforting piece of intelligence is added that the authorities have forbidden the sale of tho wine, but the sequel is less satis- factory to brandy drinkers, who learn that the fluid, which has been undergo ing such unusual treatment, will be handed over to the distillers.
 Mysterious burglaries were com- mitted night after night at Hartford. The strangest thing about them was that the thief never carried off anything of much value, leaving solid silver articles and very valuable jewelry un- touched but he did serious damage by slashing fine upholstery, pouring mo- lasses and oil on expensive clothing, and in other malicious ways. A large num- Der of special policemen were put on duty to catch him, and he was at length taken. He proved to be negro who had just been discharged from prison, where he had served three years on a charge of stealing a coat. He said that he was innocent of that crime, and had made up his mind to get teven with Hart ford in the manner described.
 The temperance movement has ex- tended to Switzerland, and M. Boden- heimer has been delivering a ,ries of lectures with the, view of impressing en the public the necessity of taking some steps to check the spread of drunk enness. The number of distilleries has multiplied enormously of late years, especially in the cantons of Argan, So- leure and Lucerne, while in the canton of Berne alone there are 12,000 stills. There ara stills in nearly every farmers house and peasants cottage, alcohol being made from potatoes and beetroot; while from Germany is imported quan. tity of so-called "mixed brandy, (which possesses the most deleterious proper ties. M. Bodenheimer suggests that the most effectual means of meeting the evil would be to increase the duty upor alcohol, which at present is less than z thirtieth of the amount levied in Eng land while there is no restriction upor the number of distilleries, which do mol require license and pay no tax.
 Some of our millionaires are astonishing everybody at home as wei as abroad by the extravagance of then entertainments. But none of them have yet equaled the munifcence of the Caliphs of Bagdad. Gabryl, the physician of Haroun-al- Raschid, en tertained his guests in summer in room cooled by artificial snow, and in winter in a conservatory warmed with charcoal of perfumed wood. The birds consumed at his dinners had been fe6 with almonds and juice of pomegranates' At tho birthday festival of the first son of Caliph Motawakkil, the floors of the palace were carpeted with gold tissue embroidered with diamonds, rubies anc pearls. Amber and musk were burning in golden vessels, some of whiot weighed over hundred pounds each
 Heaps of gold and silver coins were il