GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 139, 5 June 1880, Page 3

GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

In .San Francisco Gossip, Silver Pen pay*—Of late the suicidal mania lias not raged so furiously as of old: therefore this suicide came with appalling horroi upon 11 ie citizens a few days ago, Martin 1 .Mitchell was a schoolgirl of fifteen sum mors; she lived with her father and sister, and it appeals that the habits of the family wore peculiar. Spiritualism reigned in that littlo household, across whose threshold no friend or neighbour's foot ever passed. The two girls had no friend but their father, and he alone over took them to any place of amusement, or even for a walk. One day the girls had been washing, when hor sister asked Martha to help to sew, which she refused to do. Afterwards the elder sister loft the house, whereon Martha went upstairs, closed the shutters, and shot herself dead. No reason is assigned for tile act, although people suspect a mystery. One thing is certain, the girl was weary of her dreary life, without society or friends. After her death a "medium " was called in, who went into a trance, and said the dead gill was with her mother and happy in the spiritland, which perfectly stttislied the weeping fatßer and sister.

Dr. Richardson, lecturing on '' Golden Laws of Health," at Croydon, recently, speaking of sleep, says: "The fewer hour after dark that are spent in artificial light the better, and the sooner (hoy front to rest after dark the better. They required in the cold season of winter, when . the nights were long, much more sleep than they did in the summer. On the longest day of the year seven hours of sleep was sufficient for most men a d women who were in the prime of life ; on the shortest day nine hours was not overmuch, and for persons who. are weakly ten or twelve hours might be taken with much advantage. In winter children should always have ten or twelve hour's 'sleep. If was not idleness: .to. •indulge to that extent, but. an actual saving, a storage up of invigorate;! .existence for the future. Such rest conMbe obtained by going to bed very cnt'ly—say at halfpast 8 o'clock or 0. It was wrong lit the present season that they should be at that meeting robbing themselves of sleep. It was as wroiis as ever it could be that our Legislature should often be sitting up as they did, night after night trying against, life to legislate for life. It was foolish, too, that public writers and editors should be called on to exercise their craft at a time when all their nature was calling out to them, li Host! " He might lie accused of folly in saying these things, but ho was standing by nature and speaking uuilcr her direction."

The Chinese have two religions beside that of Confucius. The second is that of Taouisni, which is described as the worship of the forces of nature. There are in it gods of the sky, of the air, of mountains, of rivers and fields. It is materialism in its grossest form. The fliird is Buddhism, derived originally from India. This is almost exclusively metaphysical. Mr. Thurston, Chief Secretary of Fiji' was lately in Melbourne. lie has arranged with .Messrs. James M'Ewatl and Co.. proprietors of a large area of land at Suva, for the first sale of allotments to take place in September next, so as the building of the new capital of Fiji at Suva innv be proceeded with as soon as possible."