AMERICAN NOTES.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 630, 1 February 1870, Page 3

AMERICAN NOTES.

of 100 Grants attended a funeral in Canada lately. lowa recently had a wedding in which a female clergyman tied the knot and officially kissed the bridegroom. Baltimore proposes to erect a monument to George Peabody in Druid Hill Park, to cost ISO.OOOdoIs. Tom Thumb is disconsolate in California. He has found a fellow four inches shorter than himself. In New York, it is stated that from 15,000 to 20,000 children roam about the streets and never. attend school. In a Georgia mule case recently 38 witnesses were called to prove ownership, of whom 21 swore poiut blank on one side and 17 on the other. A lady at Preempton, Illinois, lately presented her. lord with six children at a birth. They are all living and doing well. What seems to throw a light of romance over the whole, is the further statement that the husband was " perfectly delighted." A post mortem examination of the body Dr Withorwax, of lowa, who used a hair dye dressing daily for four years, has revealed the fact that lead was in the liver and kidneys ; and the medical examiners reported that it came from the hair dye through the tissues of the body. At a wedding recently celebrated in Jersey City, U.S., there were four grooms-men-rail in full black— and no bridesmaid. The ceremony was performed in a Methodist church, and the music by which it was accompanied was entirely operatic. A summary has been recently published of the quantity of gold produced in Nova Scotia from the dare of the first discovery of the precious metal to the end of 18^8, a period eight years. The total is 160,0000z. : The best year- was 1867, when the yield amounted to nearly 30,0d00z. Boston .boaata of a citizen who on his 100 th birtnday ordered a pair of shoes, .saying that he wanted them stoutly built. The shoemaker remarked that he might not live to wear them oiit, but he sharply; retorted that he began this 100 years a good deal stronger than he did the last. 100. ' An Austrian baron, who was carrying the hod in exile at Galesburgh, Illinois, recently received a full pardon and a rich estate, just as he was about mounting the ladder with his load. He was so overjoyed that he gave SOOdols to the postoffice messenger who carried him the letter^ The negroes of the South have, at New Orleans and other points, established newspapers of their own sirice the close of the war. The colored people of Lexington, Kentucky, are about to start an organ. It is to be edited by colored persons, and will receive the moral support of the Grand Army of the Republic. A Chicago clerk, lately married, had a passion for scribbling little bits of love poetry on the brown paper within his reach while on duty at the store. One day a highly-excited individual rushed into the office, and showed to the heads of the firm a ditty that he had fouud wrapped up in a bundle of goods bought by his wife. The outraged husband demanded satisfaction, and was with difficulty appeased. A patent has recently been granted in America for a method of refreshing horses while in harness, which consists in making the bit hollow, and having perforations in it. A rubber-tube extends from one side of the bit to the carriage, and by pressing a rubber-bag which contains water, the driver is enabled to refresh his horses whenever he chooses without stopping. For saddle horses the water-bag is sus- * pended from the horse's neck or upon the pommel of the saddle. The performer of a fantasia on his own nose may now be provided with a novel American instrument through the medium of which his own music will be carried into his own ears. A tube of guttapercha is fitted to the nose, and passed from thence to the tympanum of the ear. As soon as the sleeper begins to snore, he is so alarmed and disgusted at his own performance, that he forthwith awakes, and, it is to be presumed, amends his ways and sleeps quietly ever after. An American paper tells a story of two plucky Southern officers. A Colonel White met a hot-headed Southerner at Vicksburg,and quarrelled with him. A challenge was passed and accepted, and a meeting appointed at sunrise the next morning. Daring the night the Colonel heard a boat coining up the river, and not relishing the idea of being shot, he shouldered his trunk and started for the landing. On nearing the boat he saw his antagonist before him, just going aboard ; so, returning, he was on the ground ue'xt morning with his seconds, and published his enemy as an " absconding scoundrel." A British officer committed an offence in the Crimean war, punishable by death, but being influential had that penalty commuted to perpetual reduction to halfpay, and to have his sword rivetted to the scabbard. He is now on duty in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His position requires him on public occasions to be in dose attendance upon the Governor, and this brings him conspicuously forward. At the late reetptibn of Prince Arthur, as the latter

I with his suite stepped upon the platform prepared for him, upon which were standing the Governor and other dignitaries, all the officers saluted with the sword, the single exception being this attendant upon the Governor, who, with his sword by his side, wns yet compelled to salute with his hand. . A young lady in Cincinatti, Ohio, was lately apprehended by the police for imitating the example of Dr Mary Walker, and parading the streets in male attire. The defence of the police was that the lady in question went further than the doctress, who simply wears short skirts and pantalettes, and appeared in full male costume. However, as in the case of so many other persecutions, a temporary defeat has turned out to be a victory. The lady was taken before a justice, Straub by name, who decided that there was nothing in the laws of Ohio or the constitution of the United States to prevent women wearing male clothing, and set her at liberty. Mrs Agnes Matthews has thus become a heroine ; and so general is the disposition to follow the new fashion she has set that the newspapers of that city declare that " men have to rise now before their wives to wear their Sunday clothes, and they have no assurance when they tindress at night that they will ever see their unmentionables again. " i According to advices fronvSan Francisco, it appears that a Japanese immigration is likely to be introduced into California simultaneously with that from China. A German named Schnell, who had been for a long time a resident of Japan, came to M Dorado county in June last, and made a purchase of lands for the purpose of establishing a Japanese colony, to be con-, ducted upon the co-operative laborsysteta, to engage in the culture of the tea plant, the oil plant, wax and mulberry trees, and the manufacture of silk, and the results thus far are alleged to have been very successful. The tea seeds, although planted at the most unseasonable part of the year, are represented to be in promising condition ; the mulberry cultivation is likewise in progress, and the growth of the oil plant has already been perfected, whence seeds are produced from which an oil is extracted that is freely used by the Japanese for seasoning different kinds of food. The plants grow in great profusion, and, from all appearances, seem to have found their element in both soil and climate. Herr Schnell, it is added, has duplicates of passports issued by the Japanese authorities, whereby a large number of persons, both male and female, had designed to join the polony some time ( ago, but who have been detained in Japan ■in consequence of the disturbance created by the civil war. Hence his agent in Japan has, as yet, been unable to secure a passage for the various operators, mechanics, and laborers who we % c designed to complete the plans mapped out for the colony. He proposes to gradually initiate them to adopt the habits and customs of the American people, and says they are not averse to these changes. Unlike the Chinese, they are not exclusive, clannish, or secretive in their habits ; but are willing to contribute all they possess of skill and knowledge in carrying out their plan of settlement. x According to a recent communication from the Salt Lake City, the rebellion of the Mormon girls against polygamy is progressing rapidly. It seems that the Mormon girls who have not yet " got religion" are very much opposed to polygamy. They had rather spend an hour in the company of a congenial sinner than a year in that of a saint, especially if the former is young, holds his head high, and is withal good-looking. There are occasionally such among the Gentiles, never among the Mormons. The girls call the young saints " cay uses ;" the Gentiles call them "yahoos." They manage to inveigle the Gentiles into an acquaintance through their brothers, through mutual ' friends, who are about 'alf-and-'alf, by! teJegrapLiag on the street, flirting at the tabernacle or the theatre — with the eyes only, mind you, and that very slyly. A likely young fellow, whom for variety I will call John Smith, became thus ac- j "quainted with Nabby, one of Brigham's daughters, and, in course of time their intercourse ripened into true love. An elopement was planned, relays of horses stationed along the road hence to Umtah, and about two weeks ago, in the later hours of night, the streets rather deserted, and darkness largely prevailing, the adventurous swain drove slowly west with his buggy along South Temple street, past the Royal grounds, which were early closed that night for some reason, past Temple Block, and still further westward. Four or~ five policemen issued from the vicinity of the Tithing Office and followed the buggy. Anon a slight scuffle and a smothered scream was heard, and a moment or two after the Royal carriage, with blinds drawn, dashed by on the gallop, and whirled through the Eagle Gate. John Smith drove his buggy back to the stable, hung round the town for a day or two, and then went to San Francisco. Nabby was locked up in the king's castle, and that is all. It appears that Nabby was to meet John Smith three squares west of her father's corral, and, getting into the buggy,,they were, to fly on the wings of love to a land of liberty. Both had evidently been watched, and just as the girl was entering the buggy the police appeared, chucked her into Brigham's carriage, which was unaccountably on hand, and having thus effectually clipped the aforesaid wings, either from policy or fear, allowed Smith to go about his business. (For continuation of news see Fourth Page.)