Morning journal and courier., 1884-12-24

yided with this kind of flooring, and it is said that, although it's prime cost is con- siderably greater than that of boards, glass ! is in the long run far cheaper, owing to it's almost unlimited durability
 Professor Blackie recommends Scotch songs as substitute for tobacco. This sug- gestion was made in the course of a concert lecture he delivered at Manchester sHeW people, " he said, "can get through their idle hours don't know. In railway coaches and other places I see a number smoking what they call tobacco. We'll, whatever may be said about that it is not an intellectual or moral stimulant, and the flavor of it is not at all like the rose or any poetic thing I know. It is essentially a vulgar sort of amusement. My amusement is to sing songs. At home l am always singing Scotch songs, and l abroad when those wretches are smoking hum to myself Scots wha hae, A mans man for a that, and songs of that kind" ;" Professor Blaekie then advised his audience Esto do the same." Their souls, he informed them, would by this means become t'singing birds, and the devil won't get near the1n.' Boston enjoys the proud distinction of be- ing the richest city in America in proportion to it's population. It has 2,500; persons with 1 in it's limits who pay taxes on real and per l sonal property to the amount of 1000 or | more. One corporation pays over $100, GOO l in taxes; five persons or corporations pay more than $50, ,000; six more than $40, 1000; nineteen more than $25, ,000; forty-nine more than $15, 900; eighty-eight more than $10,- 900 and 278 more than $5, ,000. The heaviest individual taxpayer is Joshua M. Sears, who pays $59, 900 on S3,419, ,000 of real estate Nathaniel Thayer and trustees pay SAT, 900 l on $2, TT, 900 of personal property. John s. Gardner pays $s2, 1000 on $1, 300, 900 of real estate, and Harvard college pays $24, 900 on $1 ,400,0 ,000 of real estate. Hon. Charles Francis Adams pays for himself S8,000 on $520, 900 of real estate, and he and his son, Charles Francis jr., pay together $5,000 on S324, GOO of real estate.
 MT. W. H. Preece, F. R. S., at meeting of the Society of Arts in London, recently, called attention to the fact that electric more than in England There were probab-
 
 every night in the States, and there were many central stations working regularly, both with arc and glow lamps Contrasting the brilliantly illuminated ave- nues of New York with the dull and dark streets of London, he stated that on the even ing of October 21 he drove from the Windsor Hotel, New York, to the Cunard wharf, distance of about four miles, through streets entirely lighted by electricity. On the 30th of October he drove from Huston Station, London, to Waterloo without seeing single electric light. He also commented upon the influence of electric street lighting upon the morality and safety of the public, and stated that the Chief of Police of New York had gone as far as to say that ''every electric light erected means policeman removed' Philadelphia is getting bad reputation as an asylum for dissatisfied husbands and wives from other parts of the Union, such people even journeying all the way from the notoEieus Indiana And aGe1necsisvlt to the shrine of William Penn, because under his benign rule their marital fetters can be stricken off more easily, and with less noice and cost than in any other place in America. More secretly, that is great point gained. Examination of the docket shows that in a large number of ap- plications recorded blank is left for the in- sertion of the names of the parties when they 1 think fit. Who is responsible for this fav- oritism seems not to be capable of proof, at least in the present state of public indiffer- ence. Then again it used to be a custom for referees, appointed to hear the evidence, to be secured with an admirable considera- l tion for the feelings of itigants. Thus law l yers could get their own partners and clerks appointed, people who would not inquire too deeply into the evidence or make public what was unpleasant. This scandal has of late been ostensibly rectifed by change in the rules, but apparently little trouble is taken to carry them out, and conniving, it is charged, still goes on