Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-04-30
NOTES AND COMMENTS.

the State, are getting much better mill
than they did before he began to pro
secute the rascally milkmen.
Europe's population has increased by
2902S,OO0 In the last ten years. nearly
half OF the increase, 12,510,000, being
In Russia, while France has remained
stationary, her total increase being only
81, 200.
The people In Washington want
every bicycle to be provided with an
automatic bell, which will ring all the
time the machine is In motion. Wash.
ingtonians are tired of lodging and be.
Ing run over. The payements are near.
~ all asphalt, and the bike Is very pop
ular.
Some one In Washington Is sending
circulars to former slave-owners In the
South, telling them that the Govern
ment Is going to reimburse them for
the slaves set free by Lincoln's pr0cla-
nation. All that is required is a small
Zee, which the writer Of the circular
VIII kindly receive and give to the good
Government.
A tax on vehicles, whether kept for
hire or personal use, is imposed in
many Western communities, on the
principle that their owners should pay
specially for the use of the highway,
and the Indiana Supreme Court has de-
cided that such a tax may be collected
from non-residents who drive over the
streets Of a city.
A brand new disease has Just been
reported from England. They call it
scrumpox. 1t is found among football
players, and the first outbreak of it oc-
CURED among the player at Wellington
College. 1t is a form of skin disease,
and the college medical officer names it
football impetigo. The disease usually
attacks the face, and sometimes the
hands.
Secretary of the Navy Herbert has
finally recommended the preparations
OF plans for housing "homing pigeons"
along the Atlantic coast The object is
to establish communication with war
vessels while at sea, the pigeon being
taken aboard and liberated at certain
points to bear messages to their homes
on the coast. The stations are to be
established at various strategic places
on the coast.
Spain Is waking up to the necessity
of re-foresting her mountains The
little king recently went to village a
few miles east Of Madrid and planted
pine sapling, after which 1000 child
rem selected from the Madrid schools
each planted tree. Medals were dis
tributed among them, with the inscrip-
ton First Arbor Day instituted in the
reign Of AlfonZo MIL, 1896" Similar
festivities are to be held yearly in diff
ferent places, and the children are to
be taken out to see how their trees
grow, in the hope that they will foster
tree planting in their districts.
The great decrease in the value Of
horses in the West in recent years is
well shown by the results of recent
auction sale at Pomona, Cal. The ami
mails sold were not rough horses from
the range, but good carriage and work
stock. Several horses which five years
ago would have brought $50 or 500
were sold for So to 81. Teams Of car
riage horses that would have brought
$40 to $50 in 1892 sold for $42, and a
number of large, well-formed, fairly
well-bred horses sold for an average Of
$50 apiece, although a few years ago
they would have been cheap at 500 to
$3.50.
There are to be about 200 railway
stations distributed over the new Siber-
ian railway. The rolling stock will
comprise 1000 locomotives, 5000 pas
senger cars, and 10000 goods wagons.
The passenger traffic will be almost
confined to third and fourth classes,
and the tariff will be very low. The
works in connection with this great 'un-
dertaking are being pushed on with
much energy, and the work is expected
to be completed in from five to six
years. The opening of this line will
shorten the journey round the world
by about 20 days. The speed on most
Of the lines, however, will not generally
exceed about Is miles an hour.
A backwoods court is thus described
in The Cincinnati Enquirer: "A des-
perado was offended at the court and
used unbecoming language, and when
fined for contempt claimed that lie
could not be guilty of contempt, since
there was no courthouse. The squire
atr 10 10
courthouse, whereupon the desperate
got outside Of the line and renewed his
insults. When told that he disturbed
the court, he said: Make your court
house larger Another defendant was
guilty of breach Of the peace. The
court sent him to Jail, writing the fol-
lowing mittimus: Jailer Of Garrard
County-You will please lock John Be
vim up in jail and keep him until l call
for him. He has been cuttin' up and
cusslng and trying to fight"
According to Professor Alexander
Hogg, State Manager of Public Schools
in Texas, while the South has gained
"a per cent. in population In the last
twenty years, the increase in the en-
rolment of it's school attendance has
been 1870 per cent. In the same period
the value of the school property has in
creased from $4,000, 900 to SOL, 00O, 900,
an addition of nearly $2,0O0,OO0 per
year. OF all the people in the South,
white and black, one in five is in at
tendance at school during some part Of
the year. This is the proportion in
Saxony. which excels all countries in
Europe. 1t is estimated that Of the
cooo ooo ooO axnanded for education i'm