The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-06-02


The average passage for each vessel IS
about 10000 miles, in IN average time
of little over four months.
The japanese government constituted
q mixed commission of native and Euro
pean scholars, with the object of finding
the way ef expressing the immense mass
of Japanese written symbols in Europe
an letters, and of fixing rules for spell
ing japanese words in our alphabet.
they have SO far succeeded that they
have compiled japanese dictionary
printed in Roman characters. g."
Soldiers guilty of desertion during the
Civil war, who afterward voluntarily re-
turned to the army, and finally were
honorably discharged at its close, were
not considered as being entitled to ar
rears of pay or bounty. A recent de-
eision of Second Comptroller Maynard
changes all this, and such soldiers will
hereafter be considered as having as
valid claim to such compensations as if
they had never deserted.
Mrs. Laura de Force Gordon, who
shares with Mrs. Lockwood the honor of
being admitted to practice law before the
United States supreme court, is the pl-
oneer in securing the admission OF
women to the California bar. She and
Mrs. Faltz secured the repeal of the State
law which provided that only men should
become lawyers, and they afterward Sc
cured q mandamus compelling the law
department of the California State uni
versity to open its doors to them. Mrs.
Gordon was admitted in 1879, and her
FIRST case was the defense of q man &C.
cused OF murder, in which she made q
Jury speech and secured her clients ac-
quittal.
The Indian chief, Red Cloud, is evil
IDENTIFY born aristocrat. He is the only
chief who refuses to allow his children
to attend school. His contempt for labor
is almost inexpressible. 1t was lately
suggested to him that his men should
learn to cultivate the soil and support
themselves. To this he replied that the
instructor of agriculture furnished by
the government was by no means salts
factory to the noble red man. ''He
comes here and wants our warriors to
work. What we want is for the great
father to send us white men to plant our
corn, hoe it, reap it and put in barns,
which they should build US. We are
warriors, and don't work. Only squaws
work."
California and Oregon are liable to the
ravages of three species OF locusts, the
most dangerous of which is tho great
Rocky mountain locust, whose attacks
several years ago came near starving out
the people of two Or three Western
States. The locust is remarkable for its
power of flight, and travels in dense
swarms high up in The air, darkening
the sun, or filling the sky with the
glistening light of their wings. Obser.
vers have stood on the highest peaks of
the Rocky mountains, and, straining their
eyes upward, seen the sky filled with
clouds of these tiny insects, so high up
as to be barely discernible. After de-
vastating one region, they rise into the
air to look for fresh fields and pastures
new.
Some of the opium dens in the large
cities are owned by Americans, it is now
said, while seemingly the enterprises Of
the Cinnamon who conduct them. The
practice is to bring men in through the
enticements of fellows who pretend to
be like the victims, bent on seeing the
vices of the town. Pretense is made OF
inquiring out den, and Of difficulty in
gaining admission. Then the two smoke,
and when the dupe is unconscious his
pockets are rihed. He discovers his loss
on awakening, but his companion pre-
tends to have been plundered too, and
they conclude that to make any report
to the police would expose them to ridi-
cue. In this way robberics are COM
mitted in the mock opium resorts very
extensively.
About the most curious item of news
coming from "the other side" is the for
nation in Dresden of society of paint
ers who oppose the wearing of the mod
ern garb, and ore to wear nothing but
ancient costumes. The society consists
| of some eighty members, all of whom
took their oath never to put on modern
habiliments again, and as the Germans
are famous for not only binding them
selves by all sorts of oaths, but for
sticking to their compacts, the streets
and lager beer saloons of Dresden must
occasionally present q curious appear
ance. The figures of the old masters
collected in the famous gallery of that
city serve as patterns of dress to the new
association, and the strange costumes
that are to be met with look like so many
suddenly animated pictures which have
Just jumped out Of their frames.
The average American probably. does
not realize how dangerous great crowd
is, remarks city paper. In this coun-
try, even in rough neighborhoods, thou
sands of people often get together IN
close quarters without harm. So orderly
is everybody that the fear of death is
the last thing one thinks of when ne
starts out to sec great spectacle. In
Europe, however, large crowd is sell
dom collected without some one being
hurt or trampled to death. So simple
an incident as gathering to give sere,
made to Nilsson in Stockholm resulted
in the death of seventeen persons and
serious injuries to twenty-nine Others.
The reason for the difference between
Continental and American crowds may
| .,..,;l>Ir In fonnd in the fact that the