MUNICIPAL PICKINGS

Thames Star, Volume III, Issue 1667, 7 May 1874, Page 2

MUNICIPAL PICKINGS

;; l Th 6 joliber]r of local auth'oMtiegltLtWs' country is of a meaner order than that which prevails; among "their, brethren in America. British vestrymen manage to give their friends contracts, the penalty clauses of which they rarely enforce, and often use the powers they possess for their own advantage ; but their corruption is never isublime like that- for instance, of the alderman,and city councilof Cinein- . nati, who.' serving without salary and without any visible means of suppa^ yet a-e^ej in luxury, Some the px-members of these boards have, it is stated,: lately "become communicajtiye, and #ie Cincinnati Commercial claims to h%v£ascerMhed bVth'eirC disclosures the following facts. Whenthe gas corapanyi^hicK supplied Oincinnatl W, .«" exclusive^ obtained a * renewal of its contrac j for' t«n'; yew's th 9 £ 3T2E®?n ere "-iSgSfed." totheextent of 65,000 dollars: When a certain barrtii *^ Y^^l^ >«*s£. outfEftiWlEhe : city,knownaßthe<<Ebnmnn6«W^w*ile»iel/ perpetually tp the city for a, year, m order to carry a water pipe T.m h »*« ...J°e councamen were propitiated with "■ Wnetf - the street connecion'J swas permit-tfid-feetween th*Little oMwm. Eafeoa^ the Ohio and the Mississippi i /Eailroad, the councilmen iandea T. 30,000 'dollaw. WQen M Burnet Wopds, were sold to the city for a park at a price'far beyond Y-a What could have beea obtained-from--prrva^^sto^irs^ thiScojuißani^/i^r^^ mitted themselves to, beiperiuaded to^e. ccpt 2£ooo dollars .ui^^aiy quiet way. t 'ThereJis tow ;ptoamg a waV consolidation; ifHh;^,^ apllars^ in 1 it for. accdinmodaiting^fcduHcilmen; $ne^' annual "swag" obtained in this 'k manner is, believed to average over 80,006" X dollars, and fully accounts for- the noble conduct of the ward patriots in^pngentuig t6 sacrifice their time withput/iwagei: for the good of the city.; When ourlnatitutions become adittle more Americanized, Ko shall perhaps* hatfeiiumeraus similar: instances; of magnificent self-abnegatioa among the local authorities of Great -- Britain .^Ball^jrall Gazette; O M " £ v>

■ {Now^eri«li%^^x-flpi^fe!4i£fe, t f^rt^34 cases containing New Dreis Qoodt, Miiiindry. Straws Jtibbonsi fPekthewi! novelties in "ancy WbolbGbdaii-Shawl^^ Ituffles, Gollaw^ &c.; iiaspoWje* direot'by •& Maeshah.—Adtt. a :t>

i A crack invisible 'ib ei^.^ The crack of a lwhip.f ,;: ai:;^;' ■fj''""-'"li . Thb Ship which, THBo"ltoßaHi«t} EDINBTSTBdH HAS NOW GlVßlf DP.—The court-ship. , r ,7 ; ; f ;

Thbeb HBASOKsi—Au /contemporary giieajt^ reasons Jin kettles should never be tied to, dogs 1 tails/ First, it is cruel to the dog; secondly, it frighten* horats. Let us add a tbird-that it is damaging to the kettle. — American paper. ' 'An artist who had painted the portrait of a gentleman noted for his frequent : libations invited the gentleman's friends to see it. One ot them, whorwas mther near sighted, approaching it too closely, the artist in, ajann exclaimed,; "Don't touch it, it i*n't dry! " "No use looking at it then! " replied the gentleman; '"it can't be my friend." J ■" - ' Anotheb Thbow op. the Hatchet.— The " Sat Francisco Bulletin " gays :-— I On Thursday a notice appeared in tht> dailies that an owner was wan ted t for* fine silk umbrella,. then at the police* stationtaken on the preceding day from a disreputable character.'' Before' XX o'clock on Thursday morning 3,74,1' men, 1,311 women, 50 boys and'girls, and 14 Chinese,had applied fop it."' •< r' ■ ; Tbust Me job That.—An old wntleman who-had-a suit in Chancery wmi called upon by his counsel to put in hit answer, for fear,of incurring contempt. " And why, ;«aid,the gentleman,*' is not my answer, put Jn P " " How, should I draw your answer," cried the' lawyer/ "till I know what you can swear P" ** Pshaw!" replied'the client; "do you part as a lawyer, and draw a sufficient answer, andletmenlone for.th* swearing,?' - i i Geobdie's Eusß.—Before the adoption of the Police Act" in Airdrie, a worthy named Geroodie Q—^-hadthe surveillanod of the town. A drunken, noisy Irishman was lodged in the cells, and he caused an "awfulrow" by-kicking the cell door with his boots. Geordie went to the c«IL and, opening ■ the door a little saioV♦•Man, micht putoffyer baits, $& I'llm*them a bit rub, so that yell be reibeetaUe like afore, baillie in the mornin'."

BrBvpLUTipNABT EftXTiTT.r-rJn, a real>ropertycaße, before a French judge, at. ,n early period of the Revolution, the lefendant, .whose title was contested, >roved that.the restate had been in his amily for more than2ooyears. "-Well," laid the judge,," it is now full time for mother family tp have a turn." Usbbul Catjtioh.—When a man milks a cow; he should not attempt to smoke a cigar at the same time. A young man out in the country tried it, and got along well;, enough until he lowered his head, and touched the cow's flank with the lighted end of his weed. The next instant himself and cigar were dreadfully " put out." The cow introduced about two tons weight into one of her hind legs, and then passed it under the milker's left jaw. When he ceased whirling around, and myriads of stars had disappeared, he said Jarming.was the hardest work a man fculd put his hands to. % Fbahkness Itself. —An old gentleman, one evening during the recent heavy fog in London, was making his way from the city to dine with a" friend at the Union Club, when, somewhere in the region' of the Strand, he became so hopelessly involved as to be unable, to ascertain his exact whereabouts. He walked on and on, until atlasthe found "himself descending some steps, and jostled violently against a man who was ascending them. " Hallo!" said the gentleman. " Hallo!' said the stranger. "Can you tell me where I'm going to? "asked the old gentleman. " Certainly, replied the stranger; "if you go straight on, you will walk into the Thames, for I ye just come out of it!" :' „ ,-, Eably Rising Madb Easy.—"My old friend, Bossiter," says a writer, "fixed his alarum so that at the foreordained moment, theTbedclothes were dragged from the bed, and Bossiter lay shivering. I have,inyseJf i; sQmew : here the drawings and ipecifications-for a patent~which I neverapplied for^-which arranges a set of cams and wheelwbrk under the bedsteadi'which^at the moment appointed lifts the pillow end six feet, and delivers the sieeperjpn,hiß.>feeton the now horizon^ fpot^wra^. |He is not apt to sleep long nfter tl^at. t: Kpssiter found another contrivance which worked better. The alarum clock .struck a match, which lighted the lwnp which boiled the water for Boaster's shaving. If Eosaiter stayed in bed too long, the water boiled over upon his razor, and dean shirt, and the prayer book his mother gave him, and Coleridge's [autograph, and hi« open pocket-bobk and all the other precious things he cpuld/put in a basin underneath when-lie went,to .bed; so hV had to get up before that mpinent came.''