Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-05-08

japanese girls send their best young men
letters written with their delicately sharpened
finger nails. This is considered very high
compliment and the choicest bit of fattery
known to the sex in that land.
Two Troy men have Invented machine
which, it is claimed, will practically revolution
ize match making. 1t has been operated to
make "a, 600 perfect matches in minute and
it's capacity is expected to reach 10, 900, 900 in
10 hours.
The immense stone bridge constructed
by Chinese engineers over the arm of the
Chinese Sea at Lugang is finished. The
bridge is five miles long, entirely of stone and
has 800 arches, each 20 feet high. The road
way is 20 feet wide.
A new English custom at the theatre is
to set elaborate scenes in full view of the
spectators. Picturesque tableaux are turned
inside out, dragged on and off the stage aud
raised aloft, while the house appreciates the
elaborate construction of the scenery.
False teeth have been found in a skull
taken from an ancient Etruscau cemetery.
The sepulchre dated from the fifth to the sixth
century b. O., which proves that false teeth
are not a new invention, but in the early times
the teeth were simply animal teeth attached
to human teeth by means of gold plate.
An eccentric man of Hollis, N. H., named
Twiss has just died, and his will has scan
dalized the State. Among other curious fea-
lures, it provided that $50 should be expended
for peanuts and candy for the mOurners, and
that brass band, to be paid $40, should fnr-
nish music at the funeral. The judge has re-
fused to admit the will to probate.
There is so little demand now for the
fam ous Sea Island cotton of South Carolina
that few planters have sold their last years
crop. II was formerly used TO adulterate
silk but the demand has ceased without any
| apparent reason, except that by means of i'm
proved machinery ordinary cotton may be
used for thread and other purposes as we'll as
the long staple.
A miller at Johnston s. O., has a cat which
is an expert fisherman. As soon as the gate
is shut down tabby runs down behind the mill
aud gets on log just over the sheeting over
which the water is flowing. She will then
look very intently into the water, which is
from eighteen inches to two feet deep, until
she spies 6sh she then plunges in, frequent,
| ly burying herself under water, but almost
always coming out with fish. She then
| quietly sits down on rock near by and en-
| joys her meal.
There is now living in Pickens county
Ca, a man who during the rebellion dOnned
his wife's dress, kept his face closely shaved
and wore a big sun bonnet, in order TO pre-
vent being conscripted and sent to the front.
The officers in search of recruits frequently
visited the house and asked his wife where
her husband was, and at the very moment he
could be seen working in the field in female
garb. By the time he had worn ont seven of
his wfe's dresses he became tired OF masquer-
aiding, and enlisted and became good sol
dier.
An absent-minded schoolmaster of Con-
nectieut according to a correspondent of the
Norwich Bulletin, recently went in hurry
for hod OF coal and pail of water, to save
his wife the labor, just as the school bell was
tolipg. Entering the house at gallop, the
hod in one hand and the pail in the other, he
set the coal carefully in the sink, and poured
the water into the stove. No harm came of
the disposition of the hod, but the accom-
panyng operation blew hssures in the stove,
filed the kitchen with ashes and steam, and
burned the sehoolmaster 80 severely that he
was compelled to remain done up in linen
bandages for a week At the end OF that time
he observed, "Absenoe of mind is a form OF
idioey OF which sensible man ought TO be
heartily ashamed"