Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-03-09

There we're SOB, 492, 900 gallons of petro-
leum exported last year, worth $44, ,623, 900.
"A spring in st. Tammany parish, La,
pours forth clear, cold water all day, but at
sunset it suddenly goes dry, dischsrging no
water until the sun rises again.
A boy in Mobile, Ala, burned down two
buildings to win two bets aggregating 81 that
there would be two fires in the city before
certain specified dates.
Less than one-third of the twenty-five
million acres in North Carolina are improved.
In some cases, extensive swamps or mountains
account for the absence of cultivation.
Paul Morphy of chess playing fame is in
New Orleans, with his mind hopelessly unset
tied. He lives with his mother and sister,
who support the family by giving music les
sons.
Taxation is to be largely increased in
Japan this year, to provide munitions of war,
owing to the danger of hostilities with China
Forts are to be erected along the coast and
large garrisons placed on the Loo Choo Is
lands.
"A branch railroad is under construction
from MADEIRA Cal, to the Yosemite valley,
and 2j miles Of it will be finished in May. It
will add materially to the comfort of the Yo-
semitic trip by reducing the length of the
stage ride
The Asiatic Society is about to erect
monument on the site of the Black Hole Of
Calcutta, the dungeon in which 14G British
prisoners were confined on the night of June
20, 1856, and from which only % were taken
out alive the next morning.
Gen. Sheridan says that he first met Gen.
Sherman few days after the battle of Shiloh,
about twenty years ago, and not one single
circumstance during that long period has in
terfered with his friendship for him or di-
minished his respect and pride in him.
The Cinnamon of San Francisco are buy
| ing property in the suburbs and moving
thither, because the owners of property occu-
pied by them in the city will not make re-
pairs, although deriving large revenue from
the rentals. The Chinese Six Companies are
aiding the movement
The savings banks of New York are en-
barrassed by the restrictions as to the invest
ments they may make, so vast have their de-
posts become. Some of them have been
compelled to discourage further deposits, so
| difficult is it to find use for the money
The dainty dish to be set before the
King" renowned in the Mother Goose melo-
| dies, was reproduced lately at banquet in
| Memphis. In six grand cakes were placed
live birds six in each cake, doves in some,
| quails in some When the cakes were opened
| the birds flew in all parts of the room and
| perched on doors and windows, to the great
delight of the guests.
"A game of chess with living pieces WAS
novel entertainment at Winchester England,
| recently. The chess board was the floor of a
large hall covered with squares of black and
white cloth. The pieces" were well drilled
and handsomely costumed players, whose
movements were directed by two chief play
| ers, stationed at one end of the room.
One of the ablest engravers of France is
a man who has no hands-Noel Mason. He
| lost both hands through the explosion of a
| shell during the siege of Paris, and now does
his work by fastening a grayer upon the
stump of his right arm. He has remarkable
talent and his latest wOrk-a large etching of
a view on the banks of the river Marne-is
described by a late French paper as singularly
delicate and poetic.
The Naples coral harvest has been very
plentiful, although the quality is not very
| ished up, worth about 81 ,000, 900. During
the past year 600 vessels and 57GG men were
engaged in dredging from February to Sep
tember off the coasts of Sardinia, Corsica and
Sicily, off the southern coast of Italy, and on
the Barbary coast.
"A negro in Merwether county, Ga, owns
plantation of 1900 acres on which he used
to work before the war, and which he has
since bought piecemeal from the heirs who
lost everything by the rebellion except their
land, and hadn't the faculty of holding on to
that. He can neither read nor write, yet is
estimated to be worth $50, 900, which he has
made by hard work and good management.