Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 35, 8 February 1873, Page 1

Services appear to be of interminable leDgth in some of the London churches. An advertisement recently anuounced that at St. James's Church, "on next Sunday afternoon, service will commence at halfpast three, and continue until further notice.'* A man in London lately, in making a return of his income to the Tax Commissioners, wrote on the paper, " For the lost three years my.income has been somewhat under a hundred and fifty pounds. In future it will be more precarious, as the man is dead from whom I borrowed most of the money." The Alta, one of the most influential of th,e San Franciscan journals, predicts that America, " before the end of the century, will be the most populous and wealthy of any nation in Europe." An American may be able to prove the above statement, but we confess to be rather puzzled to know what is meant. Drunkards.—An Inebriate Bill, or, in other words, a bill ''to provide for the cure of inebriates," has been brought into the Victorian Assembly. It authorises the Governor in Council to issue licenses for " Betreats" for inebriates and habitual drunkards, any [one of whom may in a sober interval go before any Justice and convict himself of his besetting sin, and thereupon get committed to a Retreat for any term not exceeding twelve months. Lapland, —Within a generation a great reform has been wrought. In many parts no drink is to be had, and for hundreds of miles no liquor is sold. Ia Lulea. and other model towns, there is no traffic in strong drink, and so 2000 or 3000 people live year after year in peace and health. No magistrate or policeman, no pauper or criminal, no doctor or coroner, no fires or insurance office —because no drunkardmaker ! They say that when Mr Wood, one of King Cakobau's Cabinet Ministers, was lately in Sydney, he conceived that he was not treated with the courtesy and ceremony to which his high office entitled him. Mr Parkes, to whom the complaint was made, delicately hinted that there was perhaps some difference between the relative importance and dignity of the offices they respectively occupied. "Of course there is," retorted Woods; " I am the Prime Minister of a kingdom, you are the Chief Secretary of a dependency." Mr Disraeli is the son of a Jew ; the Premier of Great Britain (Mr Gladstone) is the son of a Liverpool merchant ; the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Lowe) was an Oxford tutor and Australian emigrant; Mr Goschen, the First Lord of the Admiralty, a few years ago was a city merchant; Mr Stansfeld, another Cabinet Minister, was a brewer ; Mr Jessel, the Solicitor-General, is tbe son of a Jewish dealer in diamonds, and is married to a daughter of Mr Moses, the noted clothier. Mr Lowe is the son of a clergyman. An Unfortunate Mistake. —Some ladies in Texas were desirous of doing honor to the editor of a local journal, so they presented their hero with an embroidered shirt, which contained a splendid history of Texas, and also pictures of the fruits and cereals of the state worked all over it in red worsted. Now this particular editor had never worn a shirt, and supposed the brilliant specimen before him to be a banner for an approaching temperance procession. In his speech of thanks he puzzled the lady donors by declaring that he would " fling it out for ever to the breezes of heaven, that they may kiss its folds, and till his hands palsied it should never be trailed in the dust." Scotland. — If all the dramshops in Scotland were massed together, they would make a town as large as Edinburgh! If ali the drunkards were gathered into one host, they would outnumber the army which Bruce led to Bannockburn ! If the death-roll from drink, in 1872 could be printed on one huge broad-sheet, it would be enough, to set every church-bell in Scotland a tolling! There is tenfold more money spent 'for ales and whisky in the land of John Knox than for all tbe churches, and schools, and institutions of charity. The adoption for 1873 of a " Solemn League and Covenant against the drink-demon would make Scotland a " garden of the Lord."--~_9r Cuyler. Bobbing the Lord Mayor. —Fairseat House, Highgate, the private residence of the Lord Mayor, has been broken into and robbed. The thieves entered; the house while the family were at dinner and most of the servants engaged. They seem to

have procured a short ladder from a hayrick in the grounds.Jand with thia they ' reached the window of the dressing-room of the Lady Mayoress. They there forced open several drawers and cupboards, and stole many articles of jewelry of the value of about £300. The robbery was not discovered till some time later in the evening, but tbe thieves had then managed to escape. Among the articles said to have been stolen are the insignia of the Order of the Mejidie, conferred upon the Lord Mayor by the Sultan on his visit to the city, some Corporation medals and badges, and, what was a great deal more prized by the family, some jewelry which had belonged to his lordship's eldest son, who died last year. Accident in a Cornish Mine.—Dolcoath mine is the deepest and richest ia West Cornwall. On November 15, at the time for making their ascent, the men were congregated at the main shaft, 1600 feet deep, waiting to ascend, when two young men at a level working, 300 feet from the bottom, were standing on a great heap of loose stuff wbich suddenly rolled forward, carrying them with it, and swept down the shaft, breaking away all the supports and ladders in its fall. Most of the miners below stepped back into the levels and avoided the avalanche, but one, curious to see tbe cause of the noise which was heard, ran forward to lhe shaft, and was carried down and buried with the two others under many tons of rubbish. Instant and strenuous efforts were made to dig the men out, but only two of the bodies have been recovered, dreadfully mutilated. Several miners had the narrowest possible escape, one being only saved by timber falling transversely above him. Going- a-Fishing. — The following is an " order for supplies " for a fishing party of two: — "Please to send by bearer the following articles, which, if you prefer it, you can charge to either Mr. A or Mr. B . Either is the safest: — Four pounds of salt and a small cask of whisky; one pound of ground black pepper and a dozen bottles of whisky; four pounds of lard and a jug of whisky; four canvassed hams and six quart bottles of whisky; three good stout fishing lines and a quarter of a hundred-weight of biscuit, same weight Cheshire cheese, and two large quart pocket flasks of whisky; one paper of large Limerick hooks, and a gallon of whisky in an old vessel you don't use; also send one pound of white sugar and a small jug of whisky. P.S. As we shall be gone several days, and as we may get wet fishing, my doctor, who has just stepped in, suggested that we Lad better take a little whisky. Send it, and enter it on your books with other items above. " Heroism op a Little Boy. — The Orkney mail gives particulars of a disastrous fire in the island of Sandy, and the heroism of a little boy in saving two younger children of the family. The bouse was an old family residence, but was occupied by two separate families, one of tbem having five children. During -the absence of the adult members, excepting an infirm widow, the youngest child was in a cradle, and the eldest was off on an errand, four little children being left in the house. Early on the morning one of the little ones, missing an article of clothing, lighted a paraffin lamp to seek for it in a bed, and while so employed upset the lamp, and in an instant the apartment was on fire. Seizing his sister, the second son bore her down stairs in her shift. Returning, he lifted his little brother out of the cradle, and bore him out also. By this time the staircase was on fire, and in passing with his burden the hair of his head was singed. Meantime the little fellow who bad caused the conflagration had escaped to the outside in little more than his shirt. The noise and smoke soon aroused the aged widow, who hastily arose and fled for her life with very little clothing on. The neighbors were speedily alarmed* by the smoke and flames, and a multitude gathered; but, owing to the combustible nature of the old dry wood, the flames spread so rapidly that in a very short time the roof fell in, and the whole was a blazing mass of ruins; Fortunately no lives were lost, but the poor inhabitants have lost their little all, save what clothing they happened to bave on. Freshman— "l say, this umbrella I bought of you last week is all coming to pieces." Shopkeeper — "Indeed, sir. You must have been taking it out and getting it wet, sir, I think !" At a recent church bazaar at Boston, U.S., a lottery upon a very novel plan was introduced, whereby a triple profit was realised, and much fun, mirth, and jollity resulted. At one table aprons of all imaginable colors were sold to the ladies, at another ties were sold to match to the gentlemen; and upon a given signal, the gentlemen who bad a tie that matched an apron was obliged, to invite the lady who wore it to the ice-cream table . ■„ |