MISCELLANEOUS.

Evening Star, Issue 3662, 17 November 1874, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Jewish ladies of Melbourne are about to present a purse of sovereigns to the wife of the Rev. Mr Crnstein, on nis retirement from the duties of minister of the Me.bourne Hebrew congregation. Heath under curious circumstances has happened at Scroll, Tasmania, to a lad named Alomes. He was playing in his * father’s kitchen, imitating acrobats-Walk-ing about with bis i.ead between his legs, and his arms stretched out behind his back, if ter doing the trick a second time he ran into the sitting-room, and complained of great pain in his shoulders. Remedies were cried without avail, and the boy at la&t went into convulsions, lying in a state of coma, and died after three hours’ terrible suffering. Wht n the police “ have a clue ” to a murden r in this country, it is well known th it all chance of discovering and capturing him is over, and there is a general understanding that the “ clue,” if it. leads anywhere, points in an opposite direction to the object of pursuit.— ‘ Tall Mail G.z He.’

Bir George Campbell delivered an address on “ The Peoples between India and China” in the Anthropological section of the British ssociation. Among one of the tribes, he said, the wife was the head of the household. Bhe courted and proposed to the man, and after marriage took the responsibility of providing for the family. She lived in her own house an I on her own estate, and descent was on the female side. An important change is abut to be made in the dress of th •• British Volunteers. It is uodlied that any application from corps or battalions to change the color of the.p unform to scarlet, will be ‘favorably tc* ceived at the War Office. At the same time, uo corps will be obliged to change the color of its uniform except where the corps forming an administrative regiment are not dressed alike.

iho Melbourne correspondent ‘of the * Hamilton Spectator ’ is accountable far this :— ‘‘ By the last mail I learn that even royalty is not exempt from trials within the sacred precincts of the royal circle. My informant states that H.s Royal Highness the Prince * f Wales’s two sons are smart little fellows, but regu.ar pickles. These young men were recently dining with Her Majesty, and Piince George, the second boy, forgot etiquette, and commenced to comport himself in a riotous manner. His illustrious relative, the Queeu, told him to go under the table and remain there until he was good, which the royal young rebel did. Several times he was asked by Her Majesty if he was good ; if so he might come out—but he declined. At last he announced that he would be good, acd desire 1 to come out. He was told his pemteuce was satisfactory, and that he might re appear, when, to the astonishment and amusement of all, the young pickle emerged as naked as when he was born.

The ‘ Golburn Herald’ draws attention to the fact that by the balance sheet ot the YassMunicipal Oouucil it appears that during the half-year ended Angus- 2, that body received as rates the magnificent sum of Ll2 Os and that during the same period they paid away for legal advice Lll 15* 6d, being within 5s 34 1 of the whole amount contributed by the ratepayers. The watering ot the streets of London is a w attended with an annual cost of L 135 000 It emp oys 1,600 horses and carts, -/ news'stem is now on trial, to cost L 23 000 Pipes are to be laid down along the gutters , erforated at inteivals, so that little jets can be spurted on the roadway, and watermg p rformed gradual y. An Ame.itan paper says that Mr Sotheiu, att;r fulfilling engagements in Liverpool, Duban and Birmingham, was, on the 6tfi of October, to begin an engagement of eight months at the London Hay market. Afterwards he purposes to take an extensive tour of the tuglisfi Provinces, to journey to Australia by the overland route, to spend four months on that continent, to return to England and play a farewell engagement at the London Uaymarket, and finally to go back to America tor a home.

A correspondent of the ‘Kyneton Guardian ’ says that a layman-wh 1 undertook to act in lieu of a clergyman twice fell from his ho se on the road to the cemetery, and appeared at the grave with his ooat torn from the neck to the tail from the effects -of a pugilistic encounter indulged in previously Brink had been freely indulged in by many persons present, and utter absence of the solemnity and decorum which should characterue the scene was displayed, btylea's antidote tor jibbing horses is certamly the most novel yet invented. George fetyles s latest freak is specially remarkable for its originality. He bvcamo posscased of a horse • wot wouldn’t go” upon any occasion, and was equally attadfast iu rejecting the peaceful but persuasive endeavors of its master. Styles’s man tired a bank charge under its tail, but the auimal stood impassive, and Styles tried the effects of another charge himself, but with no better results.

Such a mode of dealing with the poor animal was net long in reaching the of tho proper authorities, and he bad to pay 20s for experimenting. At one of the fheds in the district (»avp the ‘ T'ubho Dispatch,’ N.S.W.). some very tall shearing ia reported to have tak n p’ncs Two crack shearers, named . Q in nett and Jones, w< re pitted against each other, and the contest lasted for three days Pinnett shore 199 the first day, 2t)4 the second, ard 208 the third —total, 611. Jones shore CO3 207, and vl2 -total, 622 sheep. This shearing was in the grease, and we think, adds the ‘Dispatch,’ it would be bard to top it anywhere. A case of some importance to insurers was decided by Baron Aranblct.t at Birmingham, recently. The plaintiff. Dr Jay, married a Mrs T.upton, who possessed an annuity of 11,000 a-year. To protect himself, he insured her life in 1872 for I 3.000, with the Gresham T jf e Assurance Society. Mrs Jay, died in 1873, and the assurers refused to pay the money, aliening that. Dr Jav had concealed the material fact that his wife had for years been addicted to excessive drinking. The evide- ce as to Mrs Jay’s habits was very strong, though vitiated in part by the malice of the witnesses, some of whom were relatives and therefore hated Dr Jay for taking Ll,ooo a-vear out, of the family. The evidence for his knowledge of the facta was not. however, so strong ; and the juvv. after a five-hours’ dispute, found a verdict for the plaintiff Both they and the Judge were obviously influenced by the feeling that no po’icy which had once been granted ought to be resisted, unless there is suspicion of foir plav. The assurers can prosecute for fraud if they like, without refusing to stand by their own blunders.

The ‘Mirror’ t°l's the following story about the Archbishop of York and a smart little Yorkshire urchin. His grace distributed prizes at a L> eda ragged school, and subsequently, when riding in the vicinity, he came across a youngster collecting roaddirt, whom he thought he recognised. Thereupon the following conversation ensued : —“ Archbishop : ‘ Poy. 1 know your face ; you were at the Leeds Ragged School and obtained a prize for drawing?’—Urchin : ‘Y’a, mnn, T were.’—Archbishop.- ‘I hone you still keep ur> your studies in that art ?’ Urchin: ‘Y’a, mon, I do—look you yeere ’ (pointing to a model made of the material he was collecting) —Ar hbisbcp (wit 1 astonishment): ‘ What do you c-11 that?’— Urchin ; ‘ Ah, mon, that’s the model of a church ; and them’s the pews, and there’s the vestry—and that’s the poolpit.’—Archbishop (smiling): ‘Very clever, I declare; but where g the parson?’ —> rebin : ‘ A’ye, mon, it tabs a deal of muck to make a pa’son ’ ” His grace rode on.

The Australian snake is developing a practice of crushing its victims to death in place of fascinating and then biMng them A farmer at Marohg had his attention and that of an assistant man to the screams of a magpie, and, on running to the spot, found that it was being crashed in the cobs of a monBtrons snake. The snake, which measured sft 7in in length, was despatched, but Mag’s life was extinct. The body presented a horrible appearance, hone, hill, and feathers being crushed into an indistinguishable pulpy mass.

novel system of medicine inaugurated by Dr Declat in Paris, is creating a stir, and a magazine is to be started to advocate its claims “1 he hypothesis is briefly that all disease is propagated by living germs, and the treatment consists in the sub cutaneous injection of such medicine* as nitric acid, A c. ' novel nse of the telegraph is about to be put into operation in New York. The conr rooms in that city are to be telegraphically connect d with the offices of the'leading lawyers, so that the state of the calendar and the progress of trials can be announced, an the pa-ties snmm red when wanted. “The telegraph,” ib*is adde 1, “in this promises to be quite as useful as it is on the stock exchange or in business’circks.”

It would appear that, with its increasing commerce, Melbourne is following the wake of the metropolis of the mother country and that for the sake of obtaining small extra profits the interests ami the health of the employes disregarded. This is borne mi* by paragraph in a rrcent re ort by Mr Gird’estone, the health officer of the Melbourne Ciiy Council He gives particular of a visit to twenty-two factories, in the larger number of which all the regulations in regard to ventila'ion, warming, lavatories, and out offices, for men d wome q were treated as a dead letter, “Tn some of th places 1 visited,” v r reports, “the crowding was sufficient to be injurious to the v-mates, in many to such an extent as to make the rooms oppressive and sickly ; and in a few the hands were double the num’ her allowed by the Actin the space alot ted ” The Lord and Lady Byrou mystery has been solved again, and this time also by America. Mrs Stowe did it in an unpleasant , suggestive way, which left all sorts of nn satisfied questions behind. The C mutes Guiccioli denied it all fervently, and drew Byron’s posthumous • portrait 'in angelic colors ‘Leslie’s Illustra'ed Paper’ now denies the Stowe insinuations, and says the cause of Lady Byron leaving her husband was the revela’ion of a previous marriage ti a Spanish Jewtss. by whom there was iasm a son, named after his father, George Gordon Byron. Dr Lu-hington and Lady Byron’s father were m«de aware of the Spanish marriage, and the whole- affair was kept secret, lest the illegitimacy of 'da Byron should transpire, and the succession to the peerage he imperilled. ‘Leslie’s’ says, moreover, that young Byron was known to be in New York some years since, and that he had the true By route face. Further, he was engaged in preparing a history of family affairs, hut something stopped the business. Altogether it looks at present to be a splendid American story, more sensational even in its way than that of '*ra - towe.

The ‘Memorial diplomatique ’ says;— v o other Sovereign of Europe can vie with tht indefatigable activity of the ‘mperor. Assnrredly he imposes upon himself fee hardest life that may be imagined. Winter and. summer he rises at five, and wa’ks about 'ill seven, mostly by himself Then be his coffee, and works for two hours with the Privy Councillor Braun and other secretaries of the Privy Coun il. /»fter that ht takes to his carriage, and leaves Schuubrunn, or Laxenburgh as the case may be, to give audience to the Ministers and deputations who have previously obtained app<dntmentaTwo hours follow! g are employed in visits over the town. At eleven a very frugal lunch is taken, and the dinner comes between four and five o’clock. The f mperor is no grear eater, and still less a drinker, and generally only stays thirty-five minutes at the dinner table, and prefers the Austrian cuisine to any other. In the evening, after the opera is over, his Majesty is again at work for a few hours with his Ministers, and then retires to bed never lat r than ten (?) In case of a fire, he equals in zeal a London reporter, who would ride on a fire-engine and be crushed under a fa’ling wa'l rather than miss tb q pyemieTes, and his Majesty is always fbst on the scene of conflagration. During the hunting season, be will take the railway at nine p.ra. for Eeicbenan or Murzznchlag, d> eased in a Tyrolese yoppe, and the very same night is spent among the crags, for early at daylight surprising the bright eyed and shy chamois, or the am- reus axd cunning spielhahn. In spite of these incessant fatigues of the mind and the body, the health oPthe Emperor is excellent. Tie is, in fact, like his ancestors, both a man of the fieldv and of the studio.

Tn America the birch rod and the cane have become obsolete—tortures of the pasi to boyhood and gir'bood. Now, in tin United States it is held that a schoolmaster or a schoolmistress who is compelled to re sort to corporeal punii hment is as little fit to undertake the control cf children as a horse breaker who is unable to bring under sulijett on the noblest of animals. When a school teacher has to resort to physical force with his pupil, it ia he’d in America that he is unfit for his office, and he is at once advised to send in his resignation Among other reports comes one from the t bicago Hoard of Education, in which it is stafed that since the abolishment of corporeal punishment in the public schools, there has been infinitely better discipline than was formerly maintained, the only change do manded being the discharge tf the old class cf schoolmasters, and employing those ■>f superior mental calibre. When a bo/ or a girl is found not to he amenable to simple admoniti n, he or she ia suspended until thr promise of reform cm be relied upon. Since abolith n of co-poroal punishment taking Chicago as a fair sample of all the other States of America, there has been only one suspension in every 24 000 pupils. It follows then, that if better results can be obtained without flogging than wi hj it, certainly tlm last mason for corporeal punishment has disappeared. RECOVERY or RArlSd PESTS. A case just decided at t iverpool with regard to the recovery of racing debts i likely ro cause some con-ternaiiou among that vattnr numerous class who consider it a great weakness to pay their debts when they h'se, and a great bore to be asked for the money. A forgeman, who, as is customary m the north, executes small commissions at Barrow for his fellow-wmkmen, had for a long time been in the habit of telegraphing to a bookmaker in Manchester, to cover or otherwise invest for '.dm ; but gettingduring the .Spring of the present year 184 in debt, this backer thought it a vi vy good opporfor cutting the connection, novei dreaming he could be made to pay. It seems he had some grievance, real or fancied, about t! e bookmaker’s not having invested as desired upon Vestminster last year for the Lincoln Handicap, and considered that his evasion of payment would make the matter quits. After hearing the case, how ever > the jury, despite the acts which wer. C'ted in the defendant's behalf, returned a verdict at once f-m the whole of the amount caimed. This will he a cruel blow to those who have cnnsid'red themselves piivileged oy Act of Par lament to plunder bookmakers by drawing when lucky and ignoring transactions when the reverse.