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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 169, 18 July 1881, Page 1

One of the few things in which most Frenchmen are agreed in allowing to foreigners, more especially to Englishmen, a degree of excellence superior to their own, is the science of picking pockets and street-swindling. The following incident of Parisian lif i will tend to show that the ingenuity of French thieves leaves little to be desired. Eecently, whilst a peasant was carrying a sack down the Kue Lecoiirte, lie suddenly slipped acid fell' through a large pane of glass in front of a haberdasher's shop. The master of the shop came out and desired very naturally to be reimbursed for the damage. Jacques Bonhomme refused to pay, sayirig that it was utterly beyond his means to do so. An altercation ensued, during which a numerous croud collected around the disputants. After a short parley, a well-dressed man approached "the shopman and assured him that the peasant could well afford to pay, as he himself knew him, and knew him to be possessed of some means. Before this assertion and tho growing indignation of the witnesses, the soi-disant rustic Was compelled to pull out his purse, and to the astonishment of the bystanders produced a 1 OGOfr bank note. lie gave it to the shopman, who tendered him the change out of this round sum, and went his way apparently in the worst of humors. The next day the shopman, requiring some cash, sent to change the note. Great was his dismay when his employer returned with the tidings that the note was forged. The peasant and the welldressed man were two professional thieves, whose adeptness in realism had secured for them a good harvest A veterati lover of the chase, aud ode who has experienced some of its danger, has just passed away in the Old Country. Tho " Gaulois " informs its readers of the death of " Sir George Talkington, the habitual host and guide of the Empress of Austria, " when hunting. This eminent sportsitian Was 68 ivheh he was " recalled to the hunting prairies of another world," and " his body had been so often mended that little of the original remained;" The following is the list of accidents that, according to the " Gaulois," had befallen "Sir George ;" — "Fracture of the right shoulder, fracture of the skull requiring trepanning; double fracture of the left arm, three ribs broken on the right side, wound on the forehead, when the contents of a necessarie de chase, knives; forks, and spoons were forced into his right side, sprain of the right shoulder* sprain of the ankle and wrist, three ribs broken on the left side, fracture of the neck, a kick of a horse in the face, another on the left side, five deep wounds in the back, rupturo of the tendons below the knee, besides which he was seven times dragged out of rivers when almost expiring." These however, are not all* "At the age of 63, the intrepid old man lost his left calf in forcing his way through a hedge, and a few years later one of his toes had to be amputated." By his first wife he had eighteen children when she died, he married again at the age of 73 , and again begat a uumerous progeny. The Boers' Mode of Courtship. — Anthony Trollope, in his work on South Africa, gives an account of the curious customs of courtship prevailing amoii» the Boers. The young Boer, says Mr Trollope, who thinks he wants awifeand has made up his mind to look for one, begins by riding round the country to find the article that will suit him. On this occasion he does not trouble himself with the hard work of courtship, but merely* sees what there is within the circle to which he extends his inspection. He will have dressed himself with more than ordinary care, so that any impression that he may make may be favourable, and it is probable that the youn°* ladies in the district know what he is about. But, when he has made his choice, then he puts on his very best, and cleans his saddle or borrows a new one, and sticks a feather in his cap, and goes forth determined to carry out his purpose. He takes with him a bottle of sugar plums — an article iv great favour among the Boers and to be purchased at every store, with which to soften the heart of the mother — and a candle. Everything depends upon the candle. It should be of wax or some wax-like composition ; but tallow will suffice if the supposed bride be not of very high; standing, j Arrived at the door, he enters and his ' purpose is known at once. The clean' trowsers and the feather declare it; and the sugar plums, which are immediately brought forth—and always consiimed^leave hot a shadow of doubt, The mater takes the candle, sticks a pin into it a certain distance, lights it, and gives it to the young couple. They retire to a private room and make love until the flame reaches the pin when they must come out. This is all the courtship they get.