Morning journal and courier., 1893-03-28
EDITORIAL NOTES.

1t is solemnly said that the Amszons In
Dahomey have pstitionsd their king for ar
NOR cut low in front.
Queer things happen In Chicago. The
other day a man with q wooden leg hailed
before Chicago magistrate q woman who
had stolen his glass eye.
1t is popularity supposed that 1t Is civili-
zation that increases and sggravates ner-
vous diseases, but DR.. Brinton says 1t d.
minishes them. Among the lowest African
races, which might be supposed to be de-
void of nerves, he found such diseases very
common. w.
In 1872 the production of cigarettes in
the United States was q, 900, 900, or about
half cigarette for each inhabitant, where
as last year the number manufactured was
2,s93, ,00O, 900 or A 7 per inhsbitsnt. Many
an inhabitant of New Haven is smoking
more than his share.
In the case of French countess who
left all her property to the pope, the
French court, in the action on the part of
the natural heirs of the countess to break
the will, decided that the pope could not
hold land in France-not because he was q
foreign sovereign, but because he was not
q concrete person, but an abstraction,
standing for the school of ideas known as
christianity, and because an abstract idea
cannot hold real estate in France.
T t.
but Mr.. N. Leroy Tracy of Hartford, who
is a. Sydney, New South Wales, writes that
the rainfall in three days at Moolooah, on
the north coast, was 81 inches, and in the
Blsckall ranges between January 81 and
February s, the rainfall was so inches.
The river Bremen rose eighty feet. Such
showers as these eeem Incredible in q
country where the total annual rainfall
seldom reaches five and half feet.
A notable instance of the working of the
Scotch marriage law has occurred in Edin-
burg, Scotland, where Paisley drummer
named Stevenson has secured decision
about $50, 900. The evidence showed that
in 1888 Maria Martin, woman of 10, pro-
posed marriage to him, and after several
repetitions of the proposal he consented,
and they exchanged documents declaring
themselves husband and wife, he being
then 20 years old. Three years later her
friends put her into an insane asylum,
where she now Is. The judge with con-
siderable reluctance found that the mar
riage was legal, and consequently Steven
son becomes the heir of the woman's es-
tate.
One of the incidents that illustrate the
helpfulness of humanity, when its sympa
thies are aroused, occurred in Dexter, Maine,
the other day. A barber in that town, who
last summer mortgaged his shop aud tools
In order to raise money to buy himself q
little home, has been unfortunate since
that, and so was unable to pay the note
when due. Saturday the mortgage was
foreolosed and officers removed the furni-
niture and tools from the shop A sym
psthizlng crowd watched the proceedings
and then went to work to repair damages.
One hunted up a barber chair, another
razor, mugs, etc., and by the time the con-
fscsted goods were all removed, the bar
ber was all ready to call for 'ne1t." The
came evening subscription was started
and enough money raised to buy a new
chair of the latest and most approved pat
tern.
| The "white squadron" will soon be some
other color. The navy department has
reached the conclusion that white is about
the worst color in the world for war ships;
the cost of keeping the white ships clean
is about twice as much as that of the old
black ships, While the supposed advantage
of making the ships inconspicuous at sea,
and therefore poor target for hostile bat
teries, is not realized 1t has not yet been
determined whether to repaint the ships in
black or to try some other color, but the
fact that the Gushing is being painted a
bottle green shade seens to indicate that
some new color will be determined upon.
1t is claimed that the color of the Gushing
is the closest available approach to the
night color of the sea, and that 1t will be
impossible, even with the aid of search
light, to discern her approach.