The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1894-01-20
FOREIGN GOSSIP.

ESn6t9tV 00SSVs
The mourners at Persian funerals
are supplied with little wads of cotton,
which are used to wipe away their
tears. The cotton is afterward squeezed
and the tears are bottled and preserved.
They are supposed to possess restora-
tive qualities in case OF fainting.
A Hindoo baby is named when it Is
twelve days old and usually by the
mother. Sometimes the father wishes
for another nam. than that selected by
the mother. In that case two lamps
are placed over the two names, and the
name over which the lamp burns the
brightest is the one given the child.
: Tho vicar of Hoxton has startled
his district by pronouncing for dis
establishment. State control is irk-
some to him, but beyond that he said
it would be impossible to determine,
before the letters of the state were re-
moved, whether the church was 1.-THE
bride of Christ or of the aristocracy."
The Hungarian crown worn at
their accession by the emperors of Aus
tria as kings of Hungary as the identi-
cal one made for Stephen, and used at
his coronation over eight hundred
years ago. The whole is of pure gold
Except the settings), and weighs nine
marks six ounces almost exactly four
teen pounds).
The odd little paper weights, cups,
seals, trays, bowls, teapots, animal
figures. idols and knickknacks in soap
stone of various colors which travellers
bring from China are made, for the
most part, from the output of mines
near Wenchow. The white, jade color
and 'sfrozen" are considered the finest
and bring high prices. There are two
thousand miners and carvers at these
mines
Next to Paris, Lyons and Mar
settles, Bordeaux is the most populous
town in France. Though during the
last ten years the population has in
creased by about thirty thousand per-
sons. this increase has been almost en-
tirely due to the immigration from the
neighboring rural districts and from
foreign countries, for in late years the
number of births in this town has been
less than that of deaths.
The largest river is the Amazon. 1t
rises sixty miles from the Pacific ocean
and traverses the whole width of the
continent, distance of 1000 miles. 1t
is navigablc for large-sized ships 1900
miles from its mouth. In the last 800
or 400 miles of its course its width is so
great that from one shore the opposite
bank is invisible. The strength of its
current carries its fresh waters dis
lance of more than 200 miles out to sea.
"A Japanese wedding would appear
to be melancholy affair. When the
bride is told of the prospect she is ex-
pectcd to howl loudly and long. After
she has been richly dressed for the
event she must renew her shrieks un-
til one of the attendants throws veil
over her face. Then an old bag takes
her on her back and places her in a
sedan chair. When she arrives at the
bridegroom house she is wife, the
simple ride in the fiowerv chair being
the only ceremony required.
Everything passes away, and now
the picturesque is vanishing from
Turkey. country which is neverthe-
less strongly attached to the old Arab
calendar and even the Greek calendar
and adopt the one in use in western
countries. This measure has long been
contempla ted-since 1888 at Constan-
tinoplc-but up to the present time the
authorities have hesitated. But the
alteration was demanded by the
financiers of Europe. and the Otto
mans wore Obliged to make the change.
,-The british government has just
paid forty thousand dollars through
the unwarrantablc liberalitv of James
I. in giving away something which did
not belong to him. In 1891 roy al
gold cup given to Charles vi. of France
by the Due de Berry came to England
in return for money loaned TO the
French king to carry on war. One day
James ]. personally gave this national
treasure to Spanish ambassador. The
latter gave it to a convent, and the
abbess sold it to Baron Pichon in Paris
in 1885, 1t has now been bought by the
British museum for eight thousand
pounds.