St. Landry democrat., 1880-04-24
MISCELLANEOUS.

Miss Kneiss, of Armstrong County, |
Pa, aged fifteen years, weighs 236
pounds.
Mime. De Lesseps says that Ameri- /
can ladies surpass all others in style OF
dress.
The Chinese Government has dcci- |
ded on establishing a complete system Of
tclegraphing throughout China.
The records of life insurance COM
panies as presented in the reports for
last year show that the death claims
were considerably greater than in pre-
vioTls years, which would seem to indi-
cate that last year was an unhealthy one.
In one of the private gardens of
Aiken, S. c., there are twenty-five tea
plants five years old. They are about
three and a half feet high and, though
growing in a sandy soil and dry sitll;-
ton, they are healthy and vigorous.
The ancient Egyptians were the first
to embalm the dead. They believed that
the souls Of the dead, after many thou
sand years, would rcinhabit their bodies
if they were preserved entire. Some of
the bodies buried 5000 years ago are
per1GcL 10 lllS Gay.
The house of Mr.. Walter, the pro-
prietor of the London Times, is adjoin-
inc and runs into the Times building, in
fact is substantially part OF it, although
far away from the social life and rest Of
London. The dwelling Of Mr.. Delane,
the late editor, stands quite near the
office The leading men of the paper
attend very closely to its business. and
work as hard as if it were Il new enter
prise.
There is little doubt but that the inl-
migration from Ireland during the pres
ent year will be greater than in any
twelvcmonth since the famine of AS
sent the tide of Celtic immigration with
uncxampled force across the Atlantic.
Already the inpour has begun, an unr-
sualy large number of Irish immigrants
having landed at New York during the
past few weeks.
The Constellation, the American
frigate, which, under a resolution of
Congress, goes to Ireland provision
laden, has a history in the navy of the
United States. She is of wood and was
the second vessel built for the navy. She
was launched at Baltimore in 1897, and
was attached to Decatur's squadron in
the Mediterranean in 1903. She was re-
constructed for the war of II, rebuilt in
"a, and has been in active service one
way or another ever since.
1t has often been noticed that an
Englishman travelling in America finds
few things so strange and foreign to all
his habits of thought as Indian corn. His
doubts and difficulties at the dinner
table as to how to proceed when he first
meets a boiled ear Of corn, are apt to be
comical, to say the least: while his ex-
pressed opinion upon the flavor of corn
cake is not infrequently the reverse Of
complimentary.
The rules of Buddha interdicted to
the Lamas the use of garlic, brandy and
tobacco; garlic being prohibited because
it is unbecoming to present ones self be-
fore the image of Buddha with bad
breath, offensive in itself and capable of
injecting the perfume of incense; brandy,
| because the fatal liquor disturbs the rea-
son and exctes the passions; tobacco,
because it engcnders idleness and alb
serbs precious hours that ought to be de-
voted to the study of prayers and of doc
trine.
The law in New York recently per-
fected, rendering women eligible to office
and electors in all matters relating to the
public schools of the State, proves to be
/ so circumscribed in its action that its en-
thusiastic advocates will experience re-
vulsion of feeling. The Attorney Gen.
eral of the State gives it as his opinion
that while women, under the provisions
of the law, may be elected to any school
| office, from the highest to the lowest,
they can vote only in the rural districts,
and in three cities, where school officers
are elected at district meetings. The
suffrage is limited, also, to women own
ing or hiring real estate.
The saddest story which has yet
come from Ireland is that detailed by a
member of the New York Herald COM
mittee in cable dispatch to that paper.
Large numbers of children are unable to
attend school in consequence of the de-
bility resulting from insufficient food.
Starvation has so reduced them that they
are unable to undergo the slight labor
involved in school attendance. The
School Commission reports 10000 alb
sentees from this cause, combined with
insufficient clothing. The plan has been
adopted, in some instances, of furnish
ing breakfasts to children at the school
rooms, and the famished little ones,
many of them almost naked, repair thith-
er with alacrity.