St. Landry democrat., 1880-05-15
MISCELLANEOUS.

Sixty telephone wires hang on the
poles on Harrison Avenue, in Leadyille,
! almost obscuring the sky at that point
AS regards telephone wires, Chicago
claims the championship, having three
hundred and fifty on single pole.
At the recent town election in old
Concord, Mass, only twenty votes We're
cast for the School Committee and all OF
these by women. The result was that
three men and one woman were elected;
the men for a period of three years, and
the woman for only one year.
Experiments have recently been
made in England as to the maximum
speed that skater can attain, Mr.. fish
Smart, one Of the champion skaters of
the world has made twelve miles in PSI
minutes. This nearly represents the
time made by the best bicyclists.
A fig tree still flourishcs, and is an
object of worship by Buddhists, was
planted by Divinipiatissa, in the year
2sS b. c., in Ccylon. Its history is pre-
served by a mass of documentary evil
dence and tradition. 1t was described
by the Chinese traveller, Fa Ham, in the
year IA, and by the earliest Europeans
who visited it.
The old family Bible that belonged
to MARY, the mother of Washington,
is still in existence, and is kept in Il
branch of the Washington family in Eir-
ginia. 1t contains the family register,
recording the birth of George Washing
ton, February %, 1892. The binding
l 6 ,1,>tI Nv l,, l.,
OF his mother.
MFR. McCulloch, Of Australia, takes
no thought of expense about his cattle.
Lately he gave $4,000 for the cow
" Duchess of Lancaster and $22,5OO
for Berkely, Duke of Oxford,' buying
them to replace two valuable Oxford cat
tie which the sanitary authorities of Mel
bourne killed by giving them poisonous
water in quarantine.
Thirty attempts were made against
Louis Philippe's life. Seven of them
have become historical, and are set down
among the records of his reigns. In the
year 1888, pistol shot by Bergerop;
1885, Internal machine by Fieschi; 1886,
pistol shot by Alibaud; same year, another
pistol shot by Meunier; 1910, gun shot
by BARNES; 1916, a rifle shot by Pierre
Leconte; and in 1916 a pistol shot by
one Joseph Henri, who, while the King
is assuring the crowd that he is unhurt,
fires again, and again misses him.
The French Duke of La Tremouille
has shooting preserve in the forest of
Rambouillet, and to protect it against
poachers has studded it with man traps
the gamekeepers heard the electric
alarm jingle, and rushing to the desig-
mated poacher trap found the Duke, who
in roaming about his estate had stepped
into one of his own snares and found
himself in the twinkle of an eye dumped
into deep narrow pit, out of which he
could not Chamber.
There are hard times in New Zealand
where prosperity has been the rule. The
labor market is overstocked and thou
sands are idle. Relief boards have been
established, and to add to the misery
there has been a large influx of French
Communists, generally convicts from
New Caledonia, many of whom are
escapes. Altogether the outlook is a
gloomy one at the present time. Victoria
IS also suffering from the effects of an
)verstocked labor market and stagna-
ion of business generally.
"A telegraph messenger boy, while
passing along Clifford Street, Rochester,
Y. Y, a few days since, heard strange
noise in some shrubbery beside the walk
On investigation he found cat which
vas completely enveloped by huge
striped snake. The snake was wound
'ound and round the body of the feline,
md the latter was completely exhaust
ID in its efforts to free itself. The
make was killed and the body dis
Engaged from that of the cat, but the
after died almost instantaneously. Its
,ody was covered with bruises, while
hat of the snake was bitten in many
,laces.
Joseph K. Emmett, the former ne
no minstrel, and now the prosperous
ctor of German-American characters,
las accumulated large fortune within
few years. He has bought place on
he Hudson, near Albany, and begun the
rection of a magnificent residence.
here is a large music room, furnished
With an immense orchestrion; the parlor
5 modelled after that of an English
manor, with timbered roof, every room
n the main story is an octagon, with
ay window and balcony A feature of
he grounds will be a big windmill of
he Dutch sort. which will pump water
OF picturesque cascade.