Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1894-03-03
OF GENERAL

lOT tue DTcdhldSl ldpiN'
"A hawk was shot by Albert New
lin, of Lawreneeburg, Ind, the other
day. When he went to pick the body
up the birds mate attacked him with
beak and wing and finally bore on the
body of its dead mate in triumph.
Musical culture among working
people has been tried successfully by
Charlotte Mulligan in Philadelphia
Beginning with a Sunday school class
of bootblacks, she has had twelve thou
sand working men in the last twenty
eight years.
"A canal connecting the Elbc and
Danube has been piojected. 1t would
start neal Vienna, nea kronnenb burg,
extend 1888 miles northwestward to-
ward Budweis, and from the latter
point the channels of the Moldau and
Elbe would be ''canalized" for 1897
miles. The greatest difference in level
along the route is 1,3l2 feet. 1T is esti-
mated that so, 900, 900 tlorins (S32, OOO,-
000) would cover the cost,
A widowcrs' association has been
formed in Dresden. No man car join
unless his wife is dead, and if he mar
ries again he becomes an honorary
member merely. One of the chief pur-
poses of this association is to help
newly made widowers by looking after
their wives funerals and caring for
their children. Members will also
meet for mutual sympathy and enter
tainment, There are at present forty
members.
-Georgc Augustus Sala wants mems
evening dress reformed and offered a
prize for the best suggestion to that
end. The winner, a lady, suggests
that the present harmony in black and
white would be admirable with "a
triting addition which would lend the
necessary touch of color and effect
namely: the gold embroidering of the
coat collar and waistcoat oven colored
materials, such as crimson or dark blue
Tclvet."
Any persons interested in the
work of the vessels which surveyed
the cable route between Hawaii and
the California coast would be surprised
TO sec how very level the ocean bed is
so level" as one Of the survey
officers remarked, that if on dry land
a railroad train could run over a
stretch of five hundred miles Of the
bed at a speed of sixty miles an hour
without the grade belt being altered
anywhere"
Mr.. Gladstone has usually been
commons. This is not quite true. Mr..
Nillicrs ninety-onc) is older, and so is
Sir Isaac Holden (eighty-scven). But
MIR. Gladstone has been at Westminster
siXty-onc years, having been elected
for Newark in December, 1882. He
held his first otlicc-as junior lord of
the treasury, under Peel-tifty-ninc
years ago. Mr.. Gladstone was IA lord
of the treasury before Mr.. Morley, Mr..
Asquith, Mr., Balfour and Mr.. Cham
berlain were born and when aver Sir
William Harcourt was only a child of
seven.
Prof, Thomas Kirk, of Wellington,
New Zealand, some time ago wrote to
n of the Harvard professors that he
had selected two logs of the rata tree,
Mctrosideros robusto, for the college
museum, The logs arrived on Friday,
4 and A. feet in diameter, respectively.
fEh, p.,,le 90 a., ,,+,, t,., ,,.,..-.. =.
the forks of lofty trees, sending down
aerial roots which reach the ground
and draw therefrom a supply of moist
ure, while the young plant above sends
out branches with foliage to appropri.
ate from the air the other requisite
materials of food. The roots increase
in thickness, and the branches continue
their growth until this interlopcr
actually crowds out of existence the
trees which Graded it in its infancy.
The wood is used for shipbuilding and
cabinet work.
While much of the area of New
Mexico and Arizona is 'arid land on
which such hardy vegetation as can
exist is low, sparse and dry, wherever
the soil is irrigated its enduring fertil-
ity is revealed. The water turned over
the land in all the lower valleys carries
the detritus of mountain sides in solu.
ton, which makes a fcrtilizing deposit
akin to that left by the annual inunda-
tions in the valley of the Nile. Such
a soil, in many places composed of dis
i~ntegrated volcanic matter, is natural
ly favorable to the cultivation of the
vine, and the visitor is not surprised at
the fine quality of the Rio Grande
grapes, and-under proper vintage
processes-the wines. Such fruits as
apples, peaches, nectarines and plums,
raised on the higher slopes and levels,
are unsurpassed anywhere in beauty
and flavor,
Maj, William Downic, one of the
most noted pioneers of 40, died in San
Francisco harbor under singularlv pa
thetic circumstances. One of the feat
ures of the midwinter tair is a 40 min.
ing camp, in which are the identical
cabins in which lived some of the most
''N '''b
amous miners, o mostly million.
aires, of those days, such as Mackav,
Flood and O'Brien. Maj Downie's
cabin is prominent in the camp, and he
was on his way from Victoria, h. G., on
the steamer City of Ppebla to occupy it
during a portion of the time the fair is
to be open. A committee went aboard
TO welcome the old miner, and while
they were telling him of the grand old
times that awaited him, and he was
ccstatic over the prospect of again meet
ing his old partners of pioneer times.
an attack of heart failure, undoubtedly
brought on by emotion, came on, and
he fell over on the deck dead.
branding a Maverick.
In a dell in the forest we esDied Soma