Year: 1876

TIMELY TOPICS.


THE choir which assists in the rel
gious services under the charge of Messri
Moody and Sankey at the Hippodrom
numbers about one thousand two hun
dred and fifty of these, about six hun
dred are sopranos. The singing is YER
interesting and important part Of tn
exercises at these meetings.


SENATOR SHARON of Nevada, was ban
quoted at the Palace Hotel in San Fran
cisco recently. More than half of tn,
guests were millionaires, and the re
mainder were in mo immediate danger
of poverty. The bills of fare were en-
graved on solid silver dug from the Com
stock lode, and were retained by the
guests as souvenirs of the occasion.


CHINA has the largest garden in the
world. There are fifty thousand square
miles around Shanghai which are called
the Garden of China, and have been fol-
hundreds of years under high state Of
cultivation. Three crops a year are har
vested. 1t is all meadow land, raised
but few feet above the water, and has
a complete network of water communi-
cation.


Their is a new wonder reported from
CALIFORNIA; rival valley to the Ye-
semitic. 1t is in the South Forks of
Kings river, forty-five miles from vi
salia. The valley is nine miles in length
and has an average width at the bottom
OF half mile. 1t is 5000 feet above the
level of the sea, and its walls are about
5000 feet high. The falls have more
water, but are less picturesque, than
those of the Yosemite.


A MODEL for a wonderful ferry across
the British channel and the Atlantic
has been tried in England. The struc-
# ture consists of three parallel tubes, far
+ enough apart to allow paddles to work
between them, the whole being linked
together to form single vessel, covered
by deck, on which the inventor, Mr..
Edgarton, proposes to carry railroad
trains and thousand head of cattle at
time. The channel passage is to be
made with these ferries in an hour and
half, and cattle are to be transported
across the Atlantic at the rate of f2 a
head.


WHEN the Prince of Wales was visit
ing the public gardens at Colombo, Cey-
Ion, police officer, nOticigg a tall gen
tleman following close behind him, went
up to him, and with an angry oath bade
fnlr ,,fEI l,N Al
replied that when he met the prince or
had occasion to address him, he took his
hat of, but that at other times he re-
mained covered. As the policeman had
not the power to compel him TO walk
bare-headed, he cORtented himself with
saying, in a menacing tone, "You had
better stand back, and not dog his royal
hlghness like that" The officer was
somewhat chagrined when he afterward
learned that the suspicious character
whom he had threatened was the Duke
of Sutherland


The New York sun says: at was
President Andrew Jackson who Origi-
nally uttered the remark now attributed
TO Attorney-General Pierrepont: No
one man is absolutely needed in the run
ming of a government When jackson
was turning out the ofice-holders, there
was an old fixture in the treasury whose
friends pleaded for his retention as an
absolute necessity, on the ground that
he alone understood the complicated
business of that office, and that the
treasury would be thrown into confusion
by his dismissal. Turn him out! turn
him Out!' cried jackson, 'Pll have no
man here who is an absolute necessity
IN the running of this government


\ FRENCH journal thus relates the
romance connected with the marriage of
Lamartino; The lady was of an English
family named Birch and very wealthy.
She first fell in love with the poet from
reading his MeditatioRs Poetigues. She
was slightly past the bloom of youth,
but still young and fair. At length she
saw Lamartine in Geneva, and her love
became a part of her very life. Not
long after this she was made acquainted
with the fact that the poet was suffering
from the embarrassed state of his
pecuniary affairs. Miss Birch wrote to
him a frank and womanly letter, ac-
knowledging her deep interest and pro-
found respect, and offering him the bulk
Of her fortune if he was willing to accept
it. OF course Lamartine could not but
suspect the truth. Deeply touched by
her generosity, he called upon her, and
found her to be not only fair to look
upon, but a woman of brilliant literary
and artistic education. He made an
offer of his hand and heart, which was
promptly and gladly accepted; and in
the after-years Alphonse de Lamartine
owed not more to his wife's wealth than
to her sustaining love and inspiring
enthusiasm.


How the heather of India manipulate
English cloths for market is shown by
the following extract from the Madras
Mail: can unusual practice is common
among the cloth sellers in Jubbulpore,
Bales of English piece goods are carried
to the OOmetee rivuIet and washed. The
object of this is to thicken the texture
of the cloth, and so to get much higher
price that that current for them as they
arrive from Manchester. The pieces are
one by one opened out at the rivers
bank and washed in. the running water
This takes off the English sizing they
are next re-rolled and beaten with
wooden clubs, dipped and beaten again
and again, and so on for hours; the
threads then begin to swell and ,thickeu
the cloth, so that the weaving appears
close and tough. They are then re-
opened and partly dried, dipped into a