SCISSORS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4173, 5 December 1884, Page 4

SCISSORS.

The crowning , of tho Rose Queen took place under Bedford Oak, Epping Forest, on October 4th. The silk producing , power of China is enormous. In 1843 not a bale left China; in 1845, oyer 10,000; in 1855, over 50,000,' and in late years between 50^00' and 100,000 bales have been exported. Southoy did not forget to record, in his commonplace book, how a physician of his acquaintance "had treated more than 40,000 cased of small-pox, and never met with the malady in a person with red or flaxen hair." "MrWhito," said a Harrisburg lawyer to a witness in the box, "at the time these papers were executed you were speculating-, ■were you not ?'' " Yes, Sir." "You were in oil?" "I was." "And what are you in now?" "Bankruptcy," was tho solemn reply. In tho Island of San Domingo there is a remarkable salt mountain, a mays of crystalline! salt nearly four miles long, estimated to contain nearly 90,000,000 tons, and said to be so clour that medium sized print can bo read through a block lft in thickness. A very simple way of coloring- a meerschaum bowl is by painting it, while you aro smoking, and after it becomes warm, with the creamy surface of good milk, or with cream, by means of a common hair pencil, which brings out the brown and yellow colors beautifully. In middle life Mr Gladstone formulated to himself rules for chewing food. Thirtytwo bites were to be given to eacli mouthful of meat, certain less numbers to fish, bread, &c, &c. These rules ho has since I closely adhered to, and ho has. trained his children to do the same. "Pyramids of Instruction" are being erected in various towns and cities throughout Germany. They show upon their faces the elevation of the place above the sea level, the difference between local time and that of Vienna, Paris, London, New York, &c, and much statistical information. On each pyramid also are placed a dock, a thermometer and a barometer. A curious ctse of abduction, or elopement, has happened in Paris. A gentleman went with his two daughters, aged respectively 17 and 18, to tho Opera. Thcro being no room for all three in tho same box, the two young ladies wero accommodated in one, the father in another next to it. During the intervals ho saw and conversed with hiij daughters, but at the end of the performance tho party got separated going down tho grand staircase, and the girls havo not been heard of since. There has been a great increase in tho past ton years in the number of women engaged in various industries in England. There aro 100' female law clerks, 264G" midwifes, and 35,175 women engaged in subordinate medical service ; 122,810 women are engaged .. in educational work, female musicians and music mistresses number 11,370', inn or hotel servants 26,487, and domestic servants 1,230,40 G. A well-known authority as to negro questions in the United States, who, after an interval of seven years has revisited the Southern States of America, reports tho result of his observations as follows:—" As a laborer or peasant class, tho negro ia to-day better housed, has better food, wears better clothes, and has less difficulty in getting hold of the soil than any like class in Europe! I observed more pride of race among our people, more independence of character, greater neatness of dress, a desire to enter business, and a thirst for education equal to that just after the war." The island of Mauritius is the home of witchcraft. The London Times asserts positively lhat young children arc frequently tortured and killed for alleged magical purposes. One Pioot was tried by tho British authorities and condemend to death. Ho coolly told his judges that they could not hang him ; nor did they. Tho house of tho Chiof Judge was instantly haunted by spirits who threw stones ; night after night the missiles rattled about tho slates. No watchers could discover tho human hands of the flesh and blood allies. Finally, "Tho Judge's lady was nearly frightened to death," says the Times, and the Judge himself pleaded for Picot's life with the Executive Council. A severe test of official integrity was recently witnessed in a criminal court in (he County of Limerick, where tho judge sat in a case against his own son for felony, and sentenced him to five years' penal servitude. The young man had, at one time, been SubSheriff of tho County, and had afterwards been allowed an ample income by his father, though it proved insufficient for his extravagant requirements. To force further supplies, ho resorted to various vicious practices, among them attributing to his own father the most infamous and abominable offences, for which his after excuse was a diseased stato of mind. The father did his duty with a courage and fairness that parallels the storness of the old Romans. In a dancing saloon one night a sailor was asked by a messmate to explain to him in a few words and aa quickly as possible tho third figure of a quadrille. His description was as follows:—"You first of all : heave a-head, and pass your adversary's yard-arm; then in a jiffy regain your berth i on the other tack in the same kind of order ; ] slip along sharp and take your station with 1 your partner in line ; back and fill; and , then fall on your heel and bring up with , your consort. She then manoeuvres a-head \ off alongside of you ; then make sail in ; company with her until nearly astern of the other line; make a stern board; cast her off ] to shift for herself; regain your place out ] of the scramble in tho best manner you can ( and let go your anchor, ' ] An ignorant looking man, with a good deal of money, was showing himself about the streets in a manner calculated to attract social sharks, when a couplo of young . gamblers got hold of him and asked him if - he didn't feel liku having a nice, quiet little game. He replied—" Wall, I duimo: I " reckon I mought jes' as well pull yer leg for n little more skads as not." They winked r nt each other and led him to their lair, 0 when they all sat down at tho table and one of the boys dealt tho cards. He had packed .£' the deck in such a way that he knew, if the j countryman should cut about in the middle, j, his partner would get four aces; but tho h countryman did not cut at all, and the deal j gave him four kings and a queen, while four nines were in the hands of the dealer, n and tho partner of the dealer hold three v , queens and a jack. " How much are four c . /sevens worth r , " queried the countryman. Both the gamblers said it was a good hand, j and he pulled out a big roll of monoy, and p began to bet liberally. They finally got the wager up as high as they could go with tho funds at hand, and they called him, when - he laid down his hand and raked in all tho ~? money in sight. As ho bade them good day lie remarked—" Yer can't play tho game as ■well as I kin. I've been runnin' a monte ranch in Texas nigh onto twelve y'ar, an' R I reckin yer hit the wrong chap."