Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-08-22
IN GENERAL.

AT the New Orleans worlds fair next win
ter Mexico will exhibit garden of tropical
plants covering 220, 900 square feet.
Max O'Rell's little book, John Bull and
his Island" is said to have netted him S2O,-
600 He now contemplates Jonathan and
his Continent"
"A Kansas cyclone recently carried of o
bank. The cashier had carried of the funds,
and fast train had carried off the cashier the
day before. So honors were easy.
"A stroke of lightning at Matamoras, N. Y,
recently, knocked one Abram Cuddleback,
stricken with paralysis, into the middle Of the
room, and he arose perfectly well man.
"A West Somerset (Eng.) jury is said to
have returned the verdict, "Died by the her
editary visitation OF God" in the case of Q
man who had broken his neck when drunk,
and whose grandfather had met with q like
mishap.
The Pail Mall Gazette notes the fact that
the speed of railroad trains in England has
not been increased since 18iS, at which period
train made record Of 531 miles in AZ min
utes, winch has never been beaten.
Gen. George b. McClelans great. grand
mother, Mrs. Samuel McClellan, planted three
elms in Woodstock, Conn, when she heard
the news Of the battle of Lexington, and to-
day they are the pride of the place, the larR-
est ana hnest elms IN town.
Two Frenchmen, the brothers Fore have
invented new kind of harp, made entirely
of wood. Instead of strings the inventors use
strong strips of American fir. The sound is
produced, as in tAe ordinary harp by the use
of the fingers, but the player wears leather
gloves covered with rosin. The tone of the
instrument is said to be of remarkable purity.
Nicholas Anchorena, who but recently
died at Buenos Ayres, was probably the rich
est farmer in the world. His executors re-
port his rural property as follows: Land,
17lO square miles; COWS, 152, 900; sheep,
410,00 He also owned much house prop
erty in Buenos Ayres, and his assets have been
valued at 60, 400, 600. He inherited f2OO, 900
from his father 80 years ago.
Now that the Old and New Testaments
have been revised, a number of the English
committee are to undertake q revision of the
Apocrypha-writings which used to hold q
prominent position in the family Bible be-
tween its two divisions, and are still distin-
guished by that companionship in England.
Gen. James b. Eads, the engineer who
built the St. Louis bridge over the Mississip-
pi and the jetties at its mouth, has received
the Albert medal of the society of arts. The
prince of Wales, as president of the society,
| presented it to him. and he is the first Amer
icsn awarded this distinction.
The dispatches say that in Omaha, Kan
sas City, and in several Illinois towns, orders
have been issued forbidding women to appear
| upon the public streets in Mother Hubbard"
costumes, on the ground that for public wear
they are vulgar and indecent" Several
women, it is said, have actually been lodged
in jail for the offence. The authorities should
take the dudes along with them.
The latest telephone dispenses with cleo
tricity altogether. Its diaphragm is split will
low or other wood closely woven, dried and
vanished. The drying contracts the fbres
and produces q very high tension. In the
centre of the diaphragm is a strong copper
| plate, to which the wire is attached. For dis
| tances less than two miles the new telephone
conveys sound better and more distinctly than
the Bell The difficulty in switching" the
wires, however, limits its uso.
Three Milwaukee lawyers recently settled
| an estate with vengeance. II was valued at
$32, OOO and they putin bills amounting to
$25, 600 for services rendered. But the judge
took them down in this way ''These ohArg-
es are infamous. They are such as men who
are scoundrels and thieves at heart would
make. This charge Of $4,000 is cut down
10 $500, and those Of $1,000 to $500 each.
Repeat such piece of rapine in this court,
and will disbar every one Of you"
Jonathan Steele, who recently died at Oil
City, Pa, was famous for his way of keeping
money. lie made 500, 600 in one oil specu.
lstion, and kept the whole sum in greenbEcks
| under his bed because he distTusted banks.
Burglars tried him several times, but he was
wAtehful and pugnacious and drove them of.
The bills grew mouldy and he spread them in
the yard to dry, and had the whole family on
guard against thieves and wind for several
days. The money made his life burden and
did him no good.
For his famous Florida place Daniel Web
ster was paid $1,000 in ten 800 bills. He
was engaged in study when the money was paid
to him, and after giving receipt resumed
his work That night the money could not
be found, nor did the most diligent search re-
veal any clue to its whereabouts. Several
years afterwards, as Mr.. Webster was turning
tho leaves of a book long unused, he found 9
800 bill. On turning the next leaf he found
another, and so on SUCCESSFULLY until the en-
tire ten were brought to light from the place
where he had absent-mindedly put them az hC
| studied.