General News.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3758, 13 January 1881, Page 3

General News.

A Peerage in Danger.—A sad story concerning one of oar oldest and best endowed earldoms will shortly see the light. It seems that a peer, lately gathered to his fathers, whose namVhe did not endow with great lustre, is now alledged to have been married, and^to have had a family at the time he made the only marriage the world has yet recognised or heark of. The result of this alleged fact, which from all I hear seems but too certain to be established, is that the peer's widow will cease to be Lady H., and will become plain Miss 8., while her son and. daughters, who were recently brought out in society, will' be placed in a very painful position. The young ladies will, however, as I learn still retain the fortune of £12,000 a year each, left to them by their grandfather, fcut their brother will lose an earldom, and with it an income of £90,000 a year. , I understand the Queen, who takes the kindliest interest in the poor lady who has been so abused, will in the event of the worst expectations bfing realised, proliably give her another- title in lieu of that, whereof sho will be deprived iv so shocking a manner.—Vanity Fair. The characteristic of American humor, which is supplanting all other humor, consists in what may be called " delicatelyhinted inference i" and if one wanted an 'example of this, it would be found in the Travellers' Record under" the 1 heading of *? He'll want them " :—-" A subscriber to a south-western paper died recently; leaving four years' subscription unpaid. The editor appeared at the grave, and silently, but with; deep emotion, deposited on the coffin 'a palm leaf fan, a linen coat/ and a thermometer.'"

In one day alone,' a leading London house a short time ago. sent to the Post Office 2'tons 18 cwt. of circulars, paying postage thereon to the amount of £514. A noted promoter of racing sweeps in Melbourne declares that one-third of his patrons are females. When a Kentucky legislator appeals from a decision of the Speaker he never uses such ambiguous language as,"l most respectfully appeal from the ruling of the chair."- No, he remarks in the simple language of the south west. " Look hyar, yer pig headed snipe P ,What I argers I ken backup. Draw yer we pins if yer ker to ; but it yer don't back water on thato'er decision dawn yer go in yer tracks! D'ye hear me?" It appears thatMr Justice Higinbotham, of Victoria, is another of the poany examples of men having mounted from the reporters' gallery to the Judicial Bench. Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Victorian Shorthand Writers' Association, of which he is President, -his Honor said be felt that he owed much to the art of shorthand. Some of his most pleasant associations were formed while he wad engaged in learning it, and subsequently iv practising his profession as a reporter in the gallery of the House of Commons, he heard some of the wisest, bestv and foremost men of England, and learned more than by any other means of prbcticirl politics, a study in which, it appeared to him, all should feel an int»r|lpfc» Alluding to the faults of public sp«|ijsß|rt,!he said he had heard only two thoroughly coherent and accurate speakers in his'life—Gladstone and Bright.

The sect called the " Peculiar People " hare again been before the English magistrates for neglecting to call in medical advice in case of illness. At Upchurch, Kent, an inquest was held on the body of an infant named Sears, aged thirteen months,' the child -of John Sears, an agricultural laborer and one of the members of the Peculiar People.; This sect carries out literally the directions contained in certain portions of the 'New Testament, and refuses to call in medical aid. Thus, no doctor had been summoned to the deceased, although for over seven days the child gradually wasted away. The elders of .the Peculiar People had, however, been called in. - They anointed the infant with, oil, and prayed over it. The elders, who are bricklayers, in examination, maintained that God would care the faithful when they fell ill unless they were sick unto death. In reply to the jury, one of them said {.hat he would not take an emetic if he had accidentally swallowed poison, nor would he take medicine in case of an epidemic of English cholera, but he would seek-surgical aid if he broke his leg. A vei'dict of " man : slaughter" was returned against the father. On Tuesday evening the child was interred in the parish churchyard. The .burial was conducted 1* by the Peculiar People in an orderly and reverent manner. There was a large attendance, both of sisters and brethren. There was no service, but prayer was engaged in by an elder, and a hymn commencing, " You are tempted much and tried — never mind," was sung.—Star.