MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 88, 2 March 1864, Page 6

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

The Bushranger, Morgan, again.—The Border Post says:—The last exploits of this ruffian are the sticking-up of Mr Ariel, storekeeper, of Corowa, from whom he took £8 in cash, and complete suits of clothing, underclothes, &c., value in all, £3O. Morgan seems to have two mates, as he abstracted from the cart three of everything. He has also taken a very fine Arabian entire horse, belonging to Mr T. Henty. The horse had been purchased for £IOO, and presented to the Messrs Henty by their agents in India. He was celebrated there as a winner. What Morgan can want with such a horse we are at a loss to imagine, as he will, at best, be but an incumbrance to him. The presumption is that he will ''take it out of him" for a day or two, and then turn him loose; or perhaps he intends to make the overland trip to Queensland. In that cat-e Mr Henty ought to be entitled to the reward, as it. would be his horse that took Morgan—out of the district. As a pendant, says the Wagga Wagga Express, to the foregoing, we may mention that on Friday week, one of the men on Mr Henty's station, at Hound Hill, was stopped between there and Mundewadera, by Morgan, who bailed him up with a double-barreled gun, and took from him a chesnut horse of some value. Information has alio reached, that during the absence of a shepherd from his hut, at Brookong (Mr Osborne's), this miscreant went in and lay

down on the bunk, appropriating a revolving rille which he found there. He then went in search of the shepherd, and coming across him, told him he had heard that he was in the police, and was going to take him: but if he (Morgan) found out such was not the case, he would return the rifle. The news of a fresh robbery by this ruffian has just come to hand. On Sunday morning last a pedlar who had been stopping at Mrs Vincent's station, left there for Davidson's, and when about five miles on his road he was met by Morgan, and robbed of between £6O and £7O worth of goods, taking even to the ring off his finger. How long is this state of things to last 1 The Toast op "The Press."—We probably speak (says the Northern Whig) the sentiments of ninety-nine out of every hundred of our contemporaries when we make a deliberate protest against the continuance of the solemn sham and humbug which is perpetrated at every public dinner in the manner in which the toast of " The Press" is drunk. After every toast of every kind has been duly honored, after every health and every sentiment, abstract and special, public and personal, has been duly drunk, and very frequently when most of the sentiments—then arises the rivalry between the toast of " The Press" and that of " The Waiters," or, " The Cook."' Very often the toast of " The Press" is overlooked altogether, until just the last moment. The company is about to break up, and a gentleman in an imperfect condition of articulation is vainly endeavoring, in spite of dreadful difficulties with his consonants, to make a speech. " Mis'r Chai'man," says he, " I beg popose toast, B'fore we sep'rate, vey nessay t'drink health of invidwal whishh his jolly good no'—a jolly good flo'! beg leave Mis'r Chaim'n popose health of the Wait'r, for he's a jolly good" Here the orator is suddenly pulled down by his drcss-coat tails, and firmly silenced; and another gentleman rises, and, with immense assumption of solemnity, says — l '• Mr Chairman: Sir, 1 have a toast to propose which, Sir, should never, no Sir, should never be omitted in any assembly, iiir, where those who value their liberty and their freedom—those, Sir, who proudly claim the name of freedoifi, assemble—l mean, Sir, the toast of 'The Press.'" Here there is some banging of the table, and a spread of general confusion, and something like, dismay among the company, as if they had been caught in a fault, or were schoolboys who had neglected a part of their lesson. Those who are on their feet, making ready to be off, sneaking back to their eeat«, and look foolish there with great success. The chairman assumes an appearance cf the profoundest wisdom and appreciative interest, and looks depreciatingly, with apologetic entreaty, towards the reporters, who grin at one another, knowing to a word what is coming. The proposer continues—" The Press, Sir, the great ' Fourth Estate,' as it is termed—(applause)—is the palladium of our liberties. (Hear, hear.) A free Press, Sir, is the great engine of progress and enlightenment, the champion of our liberties as free subjects under a free constitution. (Hear, hear, hear.) Without that mighty engine, Sir—(hear)—of thought and power we should, Sir, be | little better than slaves under the yoke of a foreign despot! (Loud applause, and a very audible | hint to the speaker to 'cut it,' as 'that will do, ! surely.') To that mighty engine, Sir—(hear)— !we owe the blessings of—of— yes, Sir, the blessing of freedom of speech which we enjoy, and of which Continental nations vainly envy us the possession ; an aegis, Sir, to shelter us ; a champion, Sir, to defend us; a bulwark, Sir, to protect us ; a guide, to guide us: and a guardian, Sir, to guide us ; a—(imperfectly suppressed remark of '0! come now; cut it, cut it!')—a—a—." i Orator fails, and bawls out '■ The Press," which the chairman repeats; nobody drinks it; everybody rushes away from the table, lights cigars, puts on top-coats, and takes some other person's hat, and one of the reporters is left addressing the chairman, who looks profoundly annoyed at the horrid b:re of listening to him, but sits on, in the dread that, if he were to follow the inclinations of his own heart, and rush off, the reporters, in ! revenge, might mutilate his various speeches I during the evening, or—what would be a far I more deadly act of malicious vengeance—report ! him exactly as he spoke. The Lucky Shoemaker.—A French journal gives the following particulars respecting the origin of the fortune of M. Bravay, the deputy whose return in the department of the Gard has just been annulledM. Bravay was born at Saint-Esprit, in the Gard, where his fathar was a tradesman in narrow circumstances. After serving his apprenticeship to a shoemaker, the son went abroad, and returned last year with a fortune, which the least exaggerated reports estimate at 15,000,000 francs. It appears that on leaving France he went to Egypt, and obtained occupation in a shoe shop at Cairo. One day a stranger, evidently a person of rank, who had tern his embroidered slipper while walking, entered the shop, and wished to have it repaired while he waited. The master of the establishment called Bravay, who repaired the slipper very neatly to the great satisfaction of its owner. On going away the stranger told Bravay that he would send for him next day about other repairs which he wished to have executed. A messenger accordingly came and conducted Bravay to the palace, where he was ushered into the presence of the Viceroy, in whom he recognised the stranger of the previous day. The Viceroy showed him the slippers which he wished to have repaired, entered into conversation about his business, and at last proposed that Bravay should supply shoes for a part of the armyl From that time M. Bravay became an extensive contractor for Government supplies, and soon acquired great wealth and influence. At the death of the Pasha, M. Bravay realised his fortune,and returned to France. His first action on returning to his native place was to indemnify all persons who had suffered by his father's failure many years before.—Times, December 2.