Arizona republican., 1899-12-28
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TOPICS OF THE HOUR 5
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S iOPlLS OF HE HOUR 2 S@eAes~eAoeSeNeScesN sN soeeeS
 A plum pudding craze has broken out in London. One firm has sold 100000 pounds of pudding three weeks before Christmas. Surprises are now enclosed in these, ranging from buttons to gold sovereigns and half soversigns, gold thimbles and diamond rings. One pad ding ordered had in it a diamorfl and opal brooch worth $500, enclosed in q silver box.
 Mountain toothache is a new addition to our bodily ills. It has attacked en- I gineers and Iaborers on the Jungfrau railroad at a height of $500 feet above sea level as a jumping toOthache that attacks several teeth at q time, lasts seven or eight days and leaves the pa tient with a swollen face, which it takes another week to re1uce. After that, the teeth are ace,imated and give TO further trouble.
 
 No large prices were obtained for the Talleyrand pictures at the recent sale of paintings and tapestry from the Valencay and Sagan chateaux, the total receipts being $32,94 A Gobalin tapestry. The Two Bulls" brought S2, $40 and a ''Telemachus" $500. 4 portrait Of the Emperor Paul of Rus sia. when a child, was sold for $1,24J; that of the Empress Marie, for y1 S65; the Empress Catherine II, for SI7o and the duchess of Courland for s2.16D 4 Meeting in the Park" attributed 10 Watteau, brought $2,52O. The safe of f 1a Fol 1Iarr T will follow.
 A German statistician has been counting up the books that have been written about famous women. He finds that Marie Antoinette, Joan of Arc, Mary Stuart and Pope Joan head the list, with over a hundred books each. They are followed in order by Maria Theresa, Queen Elizabeth, Catherine II of Russia, Marie de Medici, Mime. de MaintenOn and Christina of Sweden, then at a considerable interval by Mme. de Stael, Queen Louise of Prussia, Mines. de Sevigne, de Pompadour and de Barry, the Duchess de Berri, He loise, Charlotte Corday, Ninon de Len clos and Queen Caroline of Brunswick. Nine books have been written about Katharina von Bora, Martin Luther's wife.
 The farmers of New York state are agitating the abolition of the Saturday i half-holiday law. As matter of fact the law is practically a dead letter, no- body paying much attention to it in the cities except during the summer months. With farmers. however Sat urday afternoon from time immemorial has been the favcrite time for going to town" and shopping and visiting the banks. As the latter always rigidly observe every legal holiday the farm CTS find it inconvenient, as they are | compelled to get into town before F o'clock Saturday if they have any busi- ness at the banks. Consequently they are demanding the repeal of the law, or at least it's restriction to the larger cities In this movement against the half holiday the farmers are acting, of course in their own interests. In real ity, they have practically always taken ! Saturday afternoon as a kind of half | holiday except when work is very pressing, and while they are now in fla vor of abolishing the legal half holiday it is only that their own immemorial way of celebrating it may not be inter- fered with.
 l No man in the house of representa- tives carries his years So remarkably well as Galusha A. Grow, the veteran member from Pennsylvania About v years of age, he is as erect and active as the youngest member of that body. ! He does not appear to be over 90. He | delivered q speech on the floor the other day on the subject of expansion, and his voice was as clear and carrying as that of a college graduate. MT. Grow 1 is perfectly sound in wind and limb, and his face shows hardly a wrinkle. He was speaker of the house in 1881. | A new practice instituted a short time ago by the New York banks, has added greatly to the scarcity of money ! in that city, and greatly aggravated | the trouble there. The Gotham bank ] CTS decided that they would charge all | outside banks for the collection of checks. They reasoned that while a check was going through the mails from Lincoln, Neb., for example, to New York they were without the use Of the money it represented. Accord ingly they charged a collection fee equal to the amount of the interest during the time consumed. One con- sequence of this lack of comity was to make the country bankers very mad, and when it came New Works turn to want money, and to want it badly, the bankers suffered the consequences.
 
 1 The Washington correspondent of the Chicago Journal says the democratic members of both house and senate are preparing to make things exceedingly lively for the majority. They propose | to take advantage of what they claim is a widespread sentiment in this cour- 1 try in favor of the Boers. Senators Bs- con and Tilman and Representative Sulzer have itroduced resolutions of