The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-01-15
GENERAL.


GENERAL.
CHEsTNUTs with their leaves and
prickly burrs are seen upon Paris bon
nets.
AT recent heather festival in India
the offerings to the idol were valued at
81, 100000.
DURING the month of December there
will be two new moons, the first ap-
peared on the LIST, and the second will
appear on the 31st.
A LADY at St. Paul on retiring to her
bedroom the other night found man
curled up in the bed with his hat and
clothes on, drunk, and fast asleep. He
had evidently intended burglary, but
was too drunk.
A TREMENDOUS beating of gongs has
been kept up night and day for weeks in
the house of Feng Chan Sung, a Chinese
merchant of San Francisco. This is
done to drive out devil who has been
fostering Sung's pretty wife. She says
that the monster has lustrous green eyes,
red hair, blue skin, and yellow tail.
He comes to her in the night, and is an
exceedingly auacidous fellow. The din
has not yet dislodged him.
A FASHIONABLE amusement now Of
fered by hostesses to their guests is of
the tombola variety. Each guests in
yitation is numbered, and the number
is a chance in the lottery which comes
off some time during the evening. Of
course in this model lottery there are
s51 blanks, and the handsomer the
prizes or gifts, the more successful and
delightful the evening-to the guests at
least.
THE Rev. Lewis Barber was the most
popular negro preacher in Georgia. He
had circuit of four congregations, with
membership of about 5000 persons,
over whom his sway was absolute in
both temporal and spiritual affairs. He
died several months ago. Over the pull
pit of his church in Lee County an ef1igy
of cloth and straw, blackened with char
coal, has been placed to represent the
dead pastor This rude image is re-
garded with awe by the negroes, some
of whom are said to bow before it in
worship.
LOUISE MICHEL, the heroine of the
Commune, was handsome woman of
twenty-seven when sent to New Caledo-
MIA eight or nine years ago. When she
returned to Paris the other day she was
worn and haggard woman, who looked
at least fifty years old, and whose raven
hair had turned to gray. Her eyes were
very dark and sweet, but seemed too
habituated to express suffering to look
glad.
Mr.. BIGGAR, Mr.. Parnell's right
hand man, is hump backed, deformed
looking little creature, but he is an able,
racy and effective debater and speaker
He leaped into fame one night last ses-
sion by occupying the time of the House
of Commons five hours by speech con-
sisting chiefly of extracts read from an
enormous pile of blue books that he had
wheeled into the House on hand cart!
He was born in August, 1928, was edu-
Gated at the Belfast Academy, and is
unmarried.
WITH the exception of about $4,000
worth of pearls which come from fresh
water muscles and are found all over the
Union-particularly in the Miami River,
Ohio-the American pearls come from
the Gulf of California. They are as
fine as any Oriental pearls, and are val
ued as highly. The fresh-water pearls,
are almost all small, but brilliant and
somewhat rosy in tint. About half of
the California pearls are black, and COM
mand a higher price than the white
pearls. Some years ago about 80 per
centum of California pearls were black,
the proportion having diminished rapid
ly during the last ten years. The big
gest pearl ever found in this country
was the celebrated one found about
twenty years ago in New Jersey pond
and sold to the then Empress Eugene.
ARTIFICIAL eyes have been used
from the remotest times, and it is said
that they have been found among the
mummies of ancient Egypt. The artif-
cial eye is not a globe, but is mere shell.
Some are so well made and so carefully
adapted that they escape detection not
only by casual observers but also by
doctors conversant with the strides
made of late years in this department.
1t is essential that the eye should not be
too thick, on account of its weight, and
it must not be too thin, or it will be
brittle. There are many advantages in
wearing false eye after the true one is
lost. 1t keeps the eyelids in their prop
er position, it prevents the lashes from
turning inward and producing irrita-
ton, and it prevents foreign bodies from
entering the eye. Many a servant wears
an artificial eve without his emnlovar