Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-09-11
IN GEN ERAL.

The public libraries of Europe all togeth-
er contain about Il 900, 600 volumes those
of this country contain about 50,000,000.
A convict out in Ohio in giving his wife
a parting kiss slipped into her mouth a note
telling her where some of his booty was
concealed.
Secretary Blaine Washington residence
is being put in order for his return. Or
ders have been received to have it ready
for the reception of the family not later
than Oct /.
The Louisiana sugar crop is likely to
reach from 400,000,000 to 100000, 900
pounds this year, and under the new sugar
bounty law the state will receive from
-, 100000 to SGOO0,00O of bounty.
The estimate of the worlds population
in 1880 is as follows: Europe. $50, 200, 900;
Asia. SjO,0OO,0OO; Africa, 127,0OO,O 900;
Australasia, 4.73O.OO0: North America,
81. 2j0,0 600: South America. 3G, 40, 600; to-
tai, l, ,4s7, 100000
The largest gun ever made by Krupp is
the property of the Russian government.
1t is made of cast steel and has a barrel
10 feet long, with bore of 13i inches. 1t
costs $500 to fire single shot from the
gun.
The ocean grayhounds charge for a first
class passage $50 to $40 more than other
steamships run by the same company. But
the extra consumption of coal makes the
swift voyages of the racers far more cXpen-
sive.
The period of a generation has been
heightened: it used to be 30 years, and lat
er increased to "a: now a scientist says, the
average term of human life has increased
in the last 80 years from 81 to ~ years.
\ Sedalia (Mo) minister announced
week ahead that he would preach sermon
on Liars but finding afterward that it
was going to be taken as personal matter
by more than half of his congregation the
discourse was indefinitely postponed.
\ South Carolina epitaph: "Here lies
Jane Smith, wife of Thomas Smith, mar
BILE cutter. This monument was erected
by her husband as a tribute to her memory
and a specimen of his work. Monuments
of this same style, $3.50.
In the Antarctic ocean icebergs have
been noticed from time to time that rose
/ 400, 800, 700 and even 1000 feet above the
water. and were from three to five miles
long. Their enormous bulk may be infer
red from the fact that the part under water
is about seven times as large as that above.
The Chicago Farmers Review says: A
report from our correspondents in II states
shows that the frosts have done little dam
age in any of the states. with the exception
of Wisconsin. Iowa. Minnesota and the
Dakotas, and that the damage in these
states is confined to certain localities. the
extent of which will not greatly influence
the total crop.
The Asiatic pheasants which were i'm
ported into Oregon and Washington a few
years ago and set free in the forests in the
hope that they would thrive and multiply,
have done very well where they have been
left unmolested. These birds are valuable
for their gorgeous plumage, their excellent
qualities as game birds, and their hardness
and physical endurance. Stringent laws
have been passed to protect them from eX-
termination by too eager pot-hunters.
Gen. Longstreet relates that on one of
the long night marches in Virginia the on
ly way he could get rest was to lie down
on the ground while the column was pass
ing and sleep for an hour or so. He woke
up Just as the stragglers were coming along
the rear and heard an old Georgia cracker
solilOquizing about the situation: Il love
my country and I'll fight for it, and I'll
die for it, and I'll go naked and barefoOted
for it, but when this war is over I'll be
cursed if | ever love another country
Washington county, KY, is plagued with
honey bees. There never have been so
many bee trees in the forests, and this sea-
son the swarms have taken to the houses,
barns and churches. In Springfield, the
county seat a number of swarms have TAX
en- possession of the attic of the court
house. a swarm took possession of law
yers Office and stopped his business for
several days, until he could starve them
out. A man passing along road had
hard struggle to keep swarm that settled
upon him from smothering him and from
stinging the life out of him.
The largest check ever given in this coun-
try was that given by Jay Gould to Thom-
| as Allen for the Iron Mountain railroad.
| He paid s., ,OO0,0 for it, and handed AL
| len a check for that amount upon his ac-
ceptance of the offer Allen looked at the
paper that represented this vast amount
and said: "Isn't this good deal of mon
ey for one man to have in one bank?" Il
| don't know replied Gould. "Perhaps it
! is. Let me have the check" Allen then
handed the check back to Gould and he
handed it over to his office boy, saying,
'Here, boy, take this check to the bank
and have the cashier certify to it," And
the boy went out and did it.
In the matter OF mere distance covered
the records of the worlds famous travel
lers do not make much of a show beside
those of some railroad men. An old rail-
road man named Layton, now sleeping
car superintendent at Indianapolis, has
kept record of his journeyings since
1868, and the total is 2,33S, ,246 miles.
Conductor s. G.. Boone late of the Read
ing, has covered 2,S47 600 miles, and an
other Reading conductor has ridden some
thing over 1897, 700 miles. Even these
figures would probably be far surpassed by
the records of some of the old captains of
the ocean steamships.
1t costs something to live and good
deal to die; in fact everything costs, says a
bright exchange. Some one estimates that
getting born costs the people of the United
States S250,000,0 900 annually; getting mar
ried, $500, 900, 600, and getting buried S75,
600, 900. 1t might be added that getting
drunk costs the people of the United
States more than 5000, 600, 600 annually,
or over one and one-half times as much as
getting born, married and buried put to-
gether, and more than all the bread and
meat consumed in the nation.
} In Brazil, says a traveller, rats are very
numerous, and to rid their houses of the
pests the inhabitants resort to peculiar
, method. The gibOia, small species o.
! boa, is reared expressly for the purpose
and the serpents, many of them 10 feet IL
/ length and about five inches thick, are solo
. in the markets of the PRINCIPAL towns