SCISSORS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3969, 9 April 1884, Page 4

SCISSORS.

China has a bridge at Langang five miles l° n o- . . . A foreign Princess is now singing at a London music hall. Soudan literally means "The Land of the Blacks." , ~ . A Bath gentleman has bequeathed £29,000 to the blind. Last year the New South Walos police made 39,700 apprehensions. Switzerland turns out three and a half million watches per annum. _ China absorbs 30 per cent, of the English exports of lead. Fifty-one towns in North Germany have each an opera house of it own. The expenditure on milk in the London hospitals is now greater than their alcohol bills, with satisfactory results. Tho banking deposits in the United Kingdom wore over £550,000,000 last July. The New York Spirit of the Times in January gavo a portrait of Martini-Henry. Tho rental of all the agricultural land in England is only six per cent, of the national income. Tho motto inscribed on the coat-01-nrms adopted by North Dakato, U.S., is " Fear God, and take your own part." In Breslau, Germany, a chimney fifty feet high has been erected of paper pulp, chemically prepared to resist combustion. According to the last census there is 1 milliner to every 37 women, while there is only 1 tailor to every 79 men. Blindness in England is steadily decreasing, duo to improvement in surgical treatment and tho diminished prevalence among children of smallpox. Tho first meerschaum pipo was made m Pcsth by Karol Kowatcs, a shoemaker, and is still preserved in the museum of that city. The pipe was made in 1723. In the Fijian almanac, issued by tho Wesleyan Mission, Her Majesty is styled "Naßanadini Viti Xci Piritania "—the Queen of Fiji and Britain ! Tho Countess of Dudley has a coronet _ of pear-shaped pearls, and her whole collection of pearls exceeds that of the Queen in value, and is said to bo the costliest on record. An indication of tho enormous sum of money invosted in mining is afforded by tho fact of Mr 11. B. Fletcher, the defaulting manager at Sandhurst, having passed through his hands £800,000 in connection with ono company alone since his appointment as manager. Who says there are international j ealo usies now-a-days ? Why, in Russia tho thormomotor of Leslie, an Englishman, is in use; in Germany that of Reaumur, a Frenchman ; in Franco that of Celsius, a Swede ; and in England and America that of Fahrenheit, a German. At the Brierly Hill Police Court a summons was withdrawn which had been issued against a man, named John Hobson, an ironworker, for using threats. It appeared that the threats were uttered on tho day of Hobson's marriage, and on tho same day ho contracted small-pox, and died on tho following Monday. At Mr Henry George's meeting in Birmingham a person in the audience inquired ■whether if he bought land with money earned by his own labour ho was entitled, to it or not. Upon receiving a negative answer, the interrogator retorted:_—" Mr George, you can go back to America and tell them to restore tho land to the Red Indians." Tho London Standard has adopted tricycles for the purpose of delivering its ovoning issues. So successful has tho experiment been that during this session of Parliament there are started between the "Houses" and Shoo Lane, at eight o'clock every ovoning, a corps of tricyclists, in lieu of tho old horseback .system, for the purpose of carrying news to press. Whilst the stationmastor at Saltloy Station, Birmingham, was cautioning a number of people not to cross tho lino, an engino came up behind him and hurled him to the ground. By tho exercise ef a remarkablo amount of self-possession ho threw himself flat upon his_ face, and tho locomotive passed over him without so much as bruising him, though ho felt the fire-box unpleasantly ruffle his coat. A story ii told of a young commercial traveller who recently called upon a local storekeeper (says tho Warrnambool Standard), and by mistake handed him a photograph of his betrothed instead of his business card, saying that ho represented that establishment., Tho merchant examined it carefully, remarked that it was a fine establishment, and returned it to tho astonished man, witli a hope that ho would Boon bo admitted into partnership. In tho door yard ot Dolos Hutchkiss, at Cheshire, Conn., stands an apple - tree, ■which is supposed to be the oldest, largest, and most fruitful in New England. It i.t tho last survivor of the orchard which was set out by tho first settlors of tho neighborhood, and popular belief fixes its age at 180 years. The tree is GO foot high, and tho tips of its uttermost branches aro 104 foot apart. The owner affirms that he has picked 125 bushels of sound apples from it in (i singlo year. A gontloman was sitting alono with his dog when tho recent earthquake in Casamicciola took place, and they were buried, but not crushed. The dog within twentyfour hours scratched a hole large enough to get out. Ho reconnoitred around and Haw a peasant carrying bread. Ho rushed at him, seized a largo loaf, and ran away. Broad being scarce, he was pursued with slicks and stones, but he flew till he reached tho hole, and then plunged in and gave the bread to his master. The peasantry at once understood that there was something thoro, and they dug until they rescued both master and dog , alive. An Arabiaifwoman, when loft a widow, mourns her husband devoutly, but not unfrcquently marries again. Tho night before hor second marriage she pays a visit to her first husband's gravo. There she kneels and prays him not to bo offended. As, however, she feels he will bo offended, the widow bridgs witli her a donkey, laden with two goat-skins filled with water. Tho prayer ended, sho proceeds to pour the water on thu grave, to keep her first husband cool under the circumstances about to tako place ; and having well saturated him, fcsho then departs. What is eaid to bo tho oldest clock in tho world is now in tho possession of a Boston undertaker. It is called the "Mycall clock," from the fact that it was taken to America from England by John Mycall, who settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1710. Ho moved to Newburyport in 1793, and presented the clock to his intimates friond, Benjamin Dearborn, tho [inventor of tho balanco scales, on condition that he would name his son John Mycall Dearborn. Tho clock passed through the hands of successive generations, and in 1881 it was sold at auction to Lewis Jones, its present owner. Tho latest idea in tho fashionable world of New York that is noticed in the newspapers is that of thistle costume. It was worn by a lady who, at a recent fancy dress ball in New York, appeared in a costume resembling a silver-lined cloud, with which she woro grey silk stockings ombroidered with tiny silver thistles, grey satin sandals, on which hor monogram appeared in steel beadwork, and grey Suede Saxe gloves, on which tho device of thistles was again apparent in delicate hand-paint-ing. Silver thistles were worn in her dark hair, and bunches of tho pugnacious plant, gono to weed, fastened back tho sumo folds of hor dress, which was of silver-grey tulle over silver satin. An Adelaide paper reprints an extraordinary playbill sent to it from Calcutta: — "Now scenery and mechanical effects!" " Calcutta's celebrated author actor." "Special engagement of India's charming tragedienne," and "Limelight effects." "Wonderful new programme! Popular Shakesporian play in another language ! Macbeth ! by Calcutta Dramatic Company, at National Theatre, (! Beadou .street, Saturday, tho 19th January, 188-1, at 9 p.m. First grand rendering of immortal Shakespeare's world renowned tragedy, ' Macbeth. , The work of a rising genius !!! Macbeth, the author himself ; Lady Macbeth, Miss Jaguttarini. Witches! Witches! Witches ! O. C. Gosh, manager. If tho Duko of Marlborough parts with tho historic canvases of his house, it is to be trusted that, as tho Times suggests, they may become tho property of tho nation. Tho collection contains a paintiug of the Maflonna by Ruphael, which is probably tho finest belonging to a private owner iv

tho woiid, and which is valued at £70,000. The other chief artistic treasures of Blenheim are paintings by Rubens, which were given to the first Duke by different cities in tho Netherlands that lie had saved from the enemy. It is possible that tho projected sale of these paintings may bo the cause of a serious quarrel in tho Churchill family. Nor is it quite certain whether tho present Duko possesses absolutely, as he believes, the power of disposing them. The other members of his family, it is said, aro hostile to the dispersion of tho pictures. Some very interesting old playbills were secured by Mr. E. W. Colo at tho sale of Mr. Garner's effects, and aro now on view in the secondhand department of his book arcadeinßourke-st., Melbourne. The earliest dates back as far as 1758, and contains the announcement of Sheridan's final performance of tho part of Shylock in the " Merchant of Venice." Tho others are dated 1767, 1771, 1781, 1798, 1810, coming down to 1819. The casts comprise the names of England's greatest tragedians, including Garrick, Komble, Macrcady, W. Farren, Fawcett, Matthews, Liston, Palmer, Buckstone, Miss Terry, and Mrs Philips. One of tho bills is printed on satin, and announces a benefit to Mrs Garrick, at Liverpool, in 181 G. The collection, if not unique, is certainly a rare one, and will, no doubt, be inspected with great pleasure by old play goers. An excellent collection of the portraits of old and modern actors is also on view beside the playbills. A charming story was told to Mr Conway by an intimate friend of the novelist. One wintry day Hawthorne received his official notification that his services would no longer be required. With heaviness of heart ho repaired to his humble homo. His young wife recognised tho change, and stood watching for the silence to bo broken. At length he faltered—" lam removed from office." Then she left tho room. She returned with fuel and kindled a bright fire with her own hands. Next .she brought pen, paper, ink, and set them before him. Then she touched the sad man on the shoulder, and, as he turned to the beaming face, said—"Now you can write your book." Tho cloud cleared away. The lost office looked like a cage from which he had escaped. " The Scarlet Letter " was written, and a marvellous success rewarded the author and his stout-hearted wife. She was a woman worth loving. A romantic story, and a true ono, is told by a lady just now residing not far from Ballarat, but who is about to return to England. Thirty years ago she was sought in marriage by a suitor whose addresses wore by no means displeasing to her, but hor mother being a widow, and she tho only ono of the family living with her, she declined his offer of marriage rather than leave her parent. Tho young- fellow emigrated to Now Zealand, and entering into squatting pursuits, became very wealthy, and he married. The lady not long ago came to Victoria to live with a married sister, and to help to educate her nieces, as she had some means of her own. Since she came out here tho young fellow (now in his fifties) having lost his first wife, wont to England to seek his first love. Ho learned that she was still unmarried, and tho lady is going back to England, at hi.s earnest request, to enter into the marriage she thirty years ago, out of filial regard for her mother, declined. " Did you ever suffer extreme hunger or thirst?" was asked of a Kentucky Colonel who had been relating some solid stories about himself. "Weli," he replied, "I never suffered what might bo called extreme hunger, but no man knows how to endure the agonies of thirst better than I do. I remember the time well," he continued retrospectively. " I was on a fishing excursion iind became lost in the woods. For three days not a drop passed my lips. My lengthened absence finally caused alarm, and a party Avas sent out in search of mo. They found me lying in an unconscious condition on tho bank of a littlo trout stream, and it was hours before any hopes of saving mo wore entertained." " Was tho trout stream dry," asked ono of the interested listeners. "Dry? Cortainly not. How could I catch fish if tho stream was dry 't " " Wall, I don't see how yon could suffer from thrust with a stream of water at hand." "Water close at hand!" repeated tho Kentucky Colonel. "And what has water got to do with a man's being thirsty." Two Japanese wrestlers who have given exhibitions in the St Charles Theatre, quarrelled with each other ono evening at their rooms in the Lao House on Camp Street, opposite Lafayette Square, and at midnight they ejected all tho other members of tho troupe, locked the door of their room, and without seconds, judges, timers, or anybody else, went at it. For at least an hour the struggle, which must have been a terrific one, lasted. Not a sound save now and then tho dull thud of a heavy body falling on tho floor, or a snarl similar to that of an enraged bull-dog, could be heard to denote that anything unusual was going on. At the end of an hour ono of tho wrestlers opened tho door and presented a most woeful appearance. Ho was a mass of scratches and bruises from head to foot, and his clothing was iv tatters. Ho was tho victor. His opponent was found lying exhausted on tho floor with blood streaming from his mouth, his lip being badly cut. His eyes were closed and terribly swollen, and it was necessary to convoy him to tho hospital. In concluding his speech at Birmingham on Wednesday night, Mr Chamberlain said—l will givo you a simple story of the sea, not told in sensational language, but as it fell from the lips of witnesses examined on oath in tho courts of law in the kingdom. There was a vessel, a fine vessel, sonic 2000 tons gross burden, which was owned by a man who had no knowledge of shipping, who was, I believe, a builder and land agent, and who had made money, and thought that he could make more by investing it in ships. He was at liberty to speculate as he pleased, providing that the counters were not human lives. This ship, according- to the builders' account, ought to have had a free-board of sft Gin. That means that the upper deck of tho ship ought to have been sft Gin out of the water when she was fully loaded. Other authorities said that that was not enough, and that she ought to have had 7ft. But this owner, who knew nothing about shipping, who wanted to make money, sent her to sea on her first voyage with a free-board of lft Oin. Sbo had a fine voyage ; there was no heavy weather, but she behaved so badly that when the crew came homo they left her, and refused to sail in her any more. What did tho owner do ? He gavo her the next voyage a free-board of 4ft 9in. On the second and third voyages she had again fine weather. She behaved badly both times. Both times the crews refused again to sail with her; and on the last voyage which she over went this owner sent her out to sea so loaded that her free-board, which ought to be oft Gin according to some, or 7ft according to others, was only oft 9in, and her crew, which ought to have been from 29 to 39 hands, was reduced by tho owner at first to 25 hands. So overladened and undermanned, she foundored in the first gale sho encountered ; every man on board was drowned, and widows and families remained without redress except from Heaven for the wickedness of which they had been the victims. The captain of tho boat, before lie sailed on his last voyage, wrote a letter to his father. Ho said: —"If I come back from this voyage, I will never sail in this ship again. Why should my wife be made a widow so that another man may handle a little coin ? Don't tell her don't tell my mother anything about this ; it might make them uneasy." I might tell you many other cases. Do you not think there was something in what tho late Justice Earle said on one occasion when a man was on trial before him and ho charged the jury:—"Gentlemen, is not this one of those instances in Avhich a ship lias been built, and equipped, and manned, and loadcdjjwith an intention of sending her direct to hor destination at the bottom of the sea?" Just think about it. Whenever there is .such a gale as that which blew around our houses and shook our windows and doors last week, you know that the next day in the paper you will read about tho great loss of life, and the black book at Lloyd's will be filled with the names of .ships that havo gono to the bottom of tho sea, of which no more will bo heard. Hundreds of men who are dear will have gone to the bottom of tho sea with the ships in which they havo sailed. I say to you upon all grounds, upon grounds of duty, upon grounds of morality, as well as upon grounds of interest, let every man, without distinction of party, assist me against even tho great and powerful interests which are involved in the conversion of tho existing system, and enable me to put a stop to tho state of things which is discreditable and deplorable, and which ought not to be endured.