The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-04-24
MISCELLANE

-Mermaids are wearing many an
imported spring suit, cut to fit fair
Americans, but lost with the Oregon.
N. Y. Tribune.
In no part of the Southern hemis-
phere is population increasing so
rapidly as in Sydney. In 1870 the
population of the city and its suburbs
was about 140, 900; at the close of 1885
it was estimated at 100000, having
more than doubled in fifteen years.
When the West Shore railroad was
being built one of the workmen had
two fine St. Bernard dogs, which he
kept at shanty at Pegs Point, near
Observation-Disclosures. He went
away Unexpectedly in 1881, and never
returned. The dogs remained, and
now there is quite large pack of them.
They are fine, large fellows, very shy
but savage, and are known all along
the river as the ''Wild Dogs of Pegg's
Point.-N Y. San.
The baseball season opens rather
spiritedly. The first reports naturally
come from the sunny South. In game
played at Charleston, S. c., between
the Charleston and Philadelphia clubs,
the center-fielder of the Charlestons
broke his knee-cap, which will disable
him for life, and another member of
the same club lost q valuable finger.
AS these casualties occurred early in
the engagement it is not surprising to
learn that the visiting club scored big
victory. Chicago Tribune.
Says Mr.. Carnegie in his new book:
whenever an American is met abroad
with the assertion that government in
the Republic is corrupt, he can safely
here there is a full pound avordupois
in Britain; for every Job here, twenty
yonder. One nobleman gets 1000
pounds ($20,000) per annum for walk
ing backward before her Majesty upon
certain occasions; and so on through
chapter of jobs so long and irritating
that no American could patiently read
through it. Pittsburgh Post.
1t is curious thing that, generally
speaking, those who are least fitted to
stand exposure take the greatest risks
in that direction. Who wear the thin
nest shoes and oftenest complain Of
wet, cold feet? Men or womenp 1t is
always better to err on the safe side
and to act upon the maxim that pre-
vention is better than cure. Proven
ton is always practicable, but cure is
frequently impossible. In too many
cases wisdom comes too Pate to be of
any benefit. Montreal Witness.
During the year 1885 we expended
nearly SAT, 000,0 900 for about 563, 000,-
900 pounds of coffee In 1884 our cot.
fee bill was about S50,000,0O0, we re-
ceiving therefor about $50, 000,0 900
pounds. From this showing it would
appear that coffee to the people of the
United States is no longer luxury but
necessary of life, and very generally
used, while the people OF Great Britain
spend nearly four times as much for
tea as for coffee. With us the proper
tions are reversed.-Chrjstian Union.
"A gentleman writing IRONY okohama
says: 'FThe japanese have acquired
such passion for being tattooed that
a law has been passed forbidding the
marking of natives. The law does not
apply to foreigners. 1t is quite the
thing now to be tattooed, and elabor-
ate designs are traced on many travel
ers as an indelible "Reminiscences of
their sojourn in the East. The sons of
the Prince of Wales, when here a few
years ago, were tattooed, and several
Russian dukes and sprigs of nobility
have undergone the process"
Charles Girard, chemist of Paris,
recently amused himself by in
vestigation of the ingredients of a beau
tiful red currant jelly charmingly put
up for export to the United States.
There was not an atom of fruit in the
mass, as was demonstrated by the add
ing to it of methylated alcohol, which
would have turned it green had it con-
tanned any fruit acid. 1t was found to
consist of gelatine, sweetened with
glycerine residue, colored with pichsine
"a poisonous mineral extract), and
favored with no one knows what. A
great many people in this country i'm
agine no currant jelly so good as that
which is imported from France.
"A correspondent writes that in
North Carolina there is mountain
formation very closely resembling the
Sphinx. 1t is called the ''Pilot Knob,
and is in Surrey County, in the north
western part of the State, just east of
the Blue Ridge; its position prone on
the Piedmont plain, like gigantic lion;
its body at right angles to the precipi-
tous ridge, and with head reared aloft,
as if in the act of rising. The head is
of solid rock several hundred feet in
height. The shoulders and breast are
finely proportional, and at the distance
of few miles it looks like a thing of
life and intelligence. 1t rises about
fifteen hundred feet above the plain. 1t
as seen at the distance of fifty miles,
but as yet no railroad approaches it
nearer than twenty miles Washing
ton Star.