The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-08-17
GENERAL MATTERS.

In one grove i'll California are 1880
trees, none measuring less than six
feet in diameter.
The Irish members of Parliament
all denOunce England's attack on
Egypt.
Storms have done great damage
in various parts of Colorado the past
two weeks.
Arkansas and Tennessee are send.
ing large orders for London purple,
to kill cotton worms.
The new railroad bridge at Hen
derson, Kent 1cky, is to be 1856 feet
long and forty feet above high
water. The channel span is the
longest truss-span in the world,
being 525 feet.
A woman at West Cornwall, Con-
necticut, failing to induce her hus-
band to move out of a house which
she did not like, deliberately de-
stroyed it by fire.
A writer on dogs says that every
one given to sedentary pursuits
ought to keep a dog, as the necessi-
ty of giving exercise to the dog will
exercise the man.
1t is stated that the president has
decided upon strict enforcement
of the eight hour law, as that law
was construed during the admins
tration of General Grant.
Every shell fired by an army dur
ing siege operations costs, with the
powder with which the mortar is
charged, the sum of eight dollars
enough to support poor family for
a week.
A Cou7ier-JourndI special says w.
j. Murden, grocer at Van Buren,,
Arkansas, has been arrested on
requisition from North Carolina on
a charge of stealing j. A. Johnson's
wife and $500.
One of the modes of punishment
in China is 10 compel criminal to
die of sleeplessness, by keeping him
awake a week, day and night. Ten
days is sure to prove fatal and is
terrible agony for the victim.
There is a man in Newark, New
Jersey, so close that when he attends
church he occupies the pew farthest
from the pulpit to save the interest
on his money while the collectors
are passing the plate for contribu-
tions.
The south does not grow enough
provisions for home use, despite the
advance made in that direction. So
far this season, she has drawn on the
North for wheat to the value of $685.
100000; corn, $50,000,000, and pro-
visions $72,9OO,000. Total, $177,-
100000.
A gentleman in Buckingham
county, Virginia, has among his do
nestle animals large rat, which
was caught twelve months ago bv a
cat; but, instead of devouring it,
the cat nurssd and fed it, and they
now play and sleep together, like cat
and kitten.
The physical strength of the Arabs
is enormous. An officer of the z.
and o. mail steamers SAYS that there
are Arabian stevedOres who can
readily carry from three TO tour
hundred weight. The donkey boys
often lift up their dOnkeys.
The tailest trees in the world are
in Australia. a fallen tree in Gipps-
land measured 435 feet from the root
to the highest point of the branches.
Another standing in the Dunde-
nong district in Victoria is estimated
to be $50 feet from the ground to the
top.
Another of the Blue Laws in We
olden time was; "No one shall run
on the Sabbath day, or walk i'll his
garden, or elsewhere, except rever.
entially to and from meeting. No
one shall travel, cook victuals, make
beds, sweep house, cut hair or shave
on the Sabbath day. No woman
shall kiss her child on the Sabbath
or fasting day"
The English did not build up their
eastern trade until comparatively
late in the day. Even after the de-
feat of the Armada nothing was
done until the wreck of a great Por.
tuguese Indiaman, with a cargo
valued at $4,000, on the Devon.
shire coast, awoke the ambition Of
BristoPs merchants venturers.n
One small town in Georgia has
shipped this season 1872 900 melons to
the seabord cities. The net profit to
the county in which this town is sit.
uated, from early potatoes, melons
and cucumbers sent north by rail
this year, exceeds 100000. Other
counties have been more or less for.
tunate according to the enterprise Of
the inhabitants,
A traveller IN Germany anG
Switzerland says that thousands Of
girls in those countries cultivate
their hair as carefully as a farmer
does his crops, and once a year it il
cut off and sold to hair merchants
Swiss girls have the finest hair, anC
the prices vary from twenty-five
cents to thirty-five dollars an ounce
The will of the late Mr.. Jones, al
English millionaire, who has left al
enormous art treasure to the nation
for exhibition at the South Kensing
ton museum, contains many singu
larities. Among other legacies are
requests to every one of the cooks
yet living who ever served him. lie
also leaves a legacy "to the green
grocer who helped my servant t.
wait at table,"
While the foundation or pillars fol
the railroad bridge across Film
river, at Montezuma, Georgia, wa.
being constructed, one of the work.
men placed toad in the crevice o1
rock and fitted another rock ovel
the crevice, and then made the abode
of the toad air-tight by means OF
mortar. Sixteen years rolled by
when it became necessary to repair
the pillar, which was done by the
same workman that placed the toad
IN the pillar when it was first built
lie remembered the circumstance
and, upon examination, found the
toad still alive.
A russell apple tree in Skowhegan
Michigan, was planted in 1862. In
its branches a playhouse for child
rem has been built for half century
or more. The tree is seven feet from
the ground to the branches, five il
number, all of which are very large
and average thirty-five feet in length
covering a space of ground sixty.
three feet in diameter. 1t is more
than four and one-half feet in diam
eter. and has yielded an average Of
thirty bushels of apples each year
A sprout from this apple tree stands
thirty-two feet from the parent stem
but is forty-eight years younger.
The postoffice department ex'
plains that the order of May last
about mail matter held for postage
does not authorize the detention Of