The Penn's Grove record., 1888-01-07
NEWS IN BRIEF.

Two brave girls, living near
Campbellford, Ont, met a bear In the
woods, and, instead of retreating In
terror, picked up a club each and gave
him battle. Bruin stood 1t for a while,
but was at last forced to turn tail and
run.
Little Maggie Ream was playing
by the roadside near Johnstown, Pa,
when a Nimr0d from the city came
along. A ribbon around her neck
flnttered In the breeze, and he thought
she was a turkey. Taking deliberate
aim be shot her in the neck.
Montana territory claims to be
ready for statehood, with plenty Of
property. plenty of population, 1.400,-
900 cattle, 100000 horses, 1900, 000
sheep, and gold and silver at the rate
of SIG, 000, 900 a year.
The skin of the catfish is O
tanned into leather In Germany. The
new leather is tough, supple and OF
good appearance. 1t is made into
purses and shoe laces. Tanned salmon
skins are used as robes by the women
of Castrio's Bay.
In Italy turkeys are always fat
tened with walnuts Thirty days be.
fore the turkey is to be killed one wal
nut is stuffed down his throat. Each
day he is given an additional walnut,
and on the twenty-ninth day he has
tw~enty-nlne walnuts. He is then i'm.
mensely fat.
"A Calais MEL gentleman gave a
birthday dinner the other evening, and
all the game served-the snipe on toast,
the w%oodcOck, the partridge pie, the
roasted duck-was shot for the coca
sion by the host. AT the plate of each
guest was a souvenir of snipe wings,
arranged with bright ribbons.
There Is a watch in the Swiss
museum only three-sixteenths of an
inch in diameter, inserted In the top of
a pencil ase Its little dial not only
Indicates hours, minutes and seconds,
but also days Of the month. 1t is a
relic of the time when watches were
inserted in snuff boxes, shirt studs and
finger rings. Some were fantastic
oval, octangular, cruciform or in the
share OF pearls, tulips, etc.
According to 1Ir. liolyoke the out
look of the industrial class fifty years
ago was as dreary as Siberia. Food
was scarce. The English race was
thin. Even girls had an ill favored
look because underfed. In a few years
after the repeal of the corn laws every
LOCO, 600 Of adult persons in England
weighed IL 900 IONS heavier than they
did before the repeal, and the young
people had grown ten times comelier
than they were.
The funeral of Napoleon, when
the body was brought back from St.
Helena, fsrnished a theme for one of
the longest articles in Hugo's 'Choses
Vue5," in which are noted a few Curl
Gus facts, among them chat the stabapt
of Marshal Ney furnished for the o.,
casion was a foot too tall, 30 the chiefs
Of The Beax Its department s-sssn--
twelve inches wide, and stuck the two
pieces together again as well as they
were able"
Perhaps the statement may be Of
interest that the little screech owl is
getting much more common in the
vicinity Of cities in which the English
sparrow has become numerous, and
that the imported birds Will find in
this owl as bold an enemy as the SPAR
row hawk is to them In Europe, and
even more dangerous. since his attacks
are made toward dusk, at a time when
the sparrow has retired for the night,
and is not so wide awake Tor ways
and means to escape.
There have recently been discov-
cred in tie high Alps, neal the sum-
nit of the great st. Bernard, five large
granite affairs and a number Of other
relics of the stone age, such as axes,
knives, ETC., used In pagan epochs for
sacrifices. Swiss writer's emphasize
the historical importance of this dis
covery, in that it is a proof that Mr..
st. Bernard was a place of sacrifice in
pagan times, and that as far back as
the age of stone tire Canton Valais
was inhabited by human beings.
-Conformably to the laws of advance
and retreat of glaciers. it Is said those
in the valley of Chamoanix, Switzer-
land, are now beginning to advance.
The lower extremity of the Glacier des
Blossoms Is mot mort than 5000 feet
above the level of the sea-" and is 60
ing still lower. During the last three
years this lower extremity has lad
vanced at the ate Of fifty yards a
year." 1t is said that "a grotto cut
out of the ice in May, 1886, a quarter
of a mile from the extremity, has
moved down more than sixty yards"
Although other Alpine glaciers, which
cannot be so definitely observed, are
known to be increasing in width and
height, it will require many years Of
the present speed 'before they OCCUPY
ground which within the memory Of
living persons they onc covered"
The Kings mead was first used as
n of the the hall marks on English
silver in 1854. The story is that
George III. having attended a dinner
at Goldsmith's Hall, was greatly i'm
pressed with the rich display of plate
used on that occasion. His Majesty
was In need of money, it being Just
after the close of the American war,
aud the Idea was suggested that silver
plate was a good article for taxation.
Soon after the Duty Act was passed,
which imposed a tax of six-pence per
ounce on all silver made in England,
and also enacted that the additional
stamp of the Kings head OF duty
mark should be placed on all articles
as an evidence that the duty had been
paid. The sovereign's head is the
9th mark, therefore any piece OF
English silver with only four marks is
certainly v a hundred years old.
There are many fine specimens of the
earlier period owned in Boston.
Before the rain was obtained in
the Pho-ting Prefecture the drought
was severely felt by the peasants, who,
having been unsuccessful in all their
efforts to obtain relief, engaged a Tao
list priest, who erected in the open
street a wooden stage, covered around
with matsheds. Incense sticks we're
kept burning in the font, and a coffin
was prepared, with four gentry, or
Ielders, of the people, standing one at
each corner of the coffin, while the
priest Frustrated himself, murmurlng
and burning some paners. Pr ar that