The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-11
TOPICS OF THE DAY.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.
Statistics of mortality in England show
that men now live two years longer,
and women three and a third longer
than they did thirty years ago, leaving
in the course of a generation two mil
lions more people in a country OF thlr-
ty millions, than it otherwise would
have.
A Quaker and his wife, who have
laboged for seven years among the
Modoc Indians, are reported to have
transformed them into well-mannered
and we'll dressed people. They own
nice farms, and, for the most part,
have connected themselves with the
Society of Friends.
There is apparently serious talk
about d pneumatic tube between New
York and Chicago for the transporta-
ton of letters and small packages. The
tube is to be four inches in diameter,
and boxes will go through in about
four hours. The cost of building is es-
timated at 81, $4,000
Yn-%taa IN:o1I re +hn Tnifn1 States
supreme court, says he travels 5000
miles a year in attending to his judi
cial duties. His travelling expenses
! amount to more than $1,000 a year
when he goes alone, and to more than
! $4,000 a year when his wife accompa-
MES him; and the judges alone, of.
high government officers, have to pay
their own travelling expenses, which
he freely declares he considers to be an
outrage. OF course, passes are offered
to him every year, but he always de-
clines them.
People are not generally aware that
Barnum's show is a travelling total
abstinence society. Of the TIC per-
sons who travel with it, every n is
pledged to total abstinence from al
sintoxicants' during the existence OF
his or her engagement. "My partners
and myself are rigid teetotalers, "saidthe
| veteran Snowman to a newspaper re-
porter, "and we pay for the brain as
well as muscle of all employees. We
are compelled to follow this rule where
the most thorough discipline and sys-
tenn are so vitality important"
Postmasters are directed to advise
the public that in sending newspapers,
books, pamphlets, and other articles by
mail to foreign countries. or to distant
points within the United States, the
address should always be placed "on the
articles inclosed" as well as on their
wrappers. Should the wrappers be-
come detached, as they frequently do,
through the friction and movement
incident to mail transportation by sea
or land, it will still be possible to de-
| liver the articles if this %precaution is
taken. Persons to whom such pack
ages are regularly sent from Europe,
or other places abroad, should advise
their CORRESPONDENTS to adopt the above
suggestions.
A pearl fishery of great promise
was, some time back, reported in the
Gulf of Mexico. During the winter
prospectors have found some pearls of
great value among not a few smaller
gems. The first was taken from the
shell of a pearl oyster in December,
1882. It is believed to be the largest
on record. It weighs seventy-fve Ca
rats. A jeweler offered $4,000,
which was accepted, though very far
below its real value. Another Of for
ty-seven caratsis since found, perfect
in form and finely tinted. 1t is valued
on the spot at 5000. A third pearl of
forty carats, yet more beautiful was
exhibited at La Paz, where $4,000 was
bid. And it is believed that there are
as fine pearls in the Gulf as any yet
taken out.
It is said that there are about 10000
Indians in the United States living on
reservations, who cost the country
$4,000, 900 annually, and the sum is in
creasing yearly. The total Indian pop.
ulation of the dominion of Canada is
10, sos, of whom 1904 are in thu
northwest, and 35,O52 in British Co
lumbia. The northwest Indians cor
respond in their habits and character
istics to those of the United States, ye'
Canada manages them, clothes, feeds
educates, and trains them in industrial
pursuits for about $1,300,000 annual
ly. That is to say, the Canadian In
dian population costs the governmen
$35 a year per head, while that of tn