General News

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4565, 22 August 1883, Page 2

General News

The Ber. Joseph Cook, who posed in Australia as a representative of Boston culture, is thus referred to by the New York Post:—" There is probably no person professing to be educated who has brought so much discredit upon the American mind as Joseph Cook. His gross ignorance, his incorrect reports of the opinions of foreign philosophers and thinkers, have done much to disgrace the reputation of the country among those whose reputation is worth anything." At Branxholm, Tasmania, there is a daughter of the postmaster who, though she is under 13 years of age, acts as telegraph operator, and performs the duties very well. Her brother, aged 14, has built by himself a very neat cottage near his father's place and completed it. M. Maurice Sand, son of the eminent novelist, George Sand, has a theatre and a troupe of his own, unique in their way. The company contains more than 400 actors and actresses, big and little, handsome and ugly, all carved by M. Sand himself, dressed by him, with real hair on their heads, and a pair of black eyes, round and shining, that produce an excellent effect on the stage. His plays are most complicated affairs, full of romance, of movement, of spectacular effects, fairy pieces, military dramas, and scenes of every-day life. His actors and actresses appear to sit down, to rise up, to walk, to go up and down stairs, to open and shut doors and cabinets. ' The dialogues are carried on by friends, who lend their voice, and their musical talent, from behind the scenes. The accessories are managed with wonderful ingenuity, afford* ing imitations of every sort of sound, the falling of rain, the roar of the sea, the rattle of thunder, the roll of a carriage, the trot of a horse, the report of firearms. The scenery, excessively pretty, permits the representation of landscapes, city scenes, interiors, etc.

In the Tinnevelly district of the Madras Presidency, oa the sth June a whirlwind passed over the country near the village of Neelisnallur, attached to the Kurkulputti station, and in its progress two boys, aged 13 and 15, a girl aged 10 years, an old woman of 68, and a man of 56 years of age, who were working in a field, were seized and sent spinning in the air. The man and woman never recovered from the shock. When the children came to, they found both lifeless. It was some time before the children recovered consciousness. An inquest was held, the verdict being " Death from whirlwind."

Practical experiment has shown that the railway journey between Melbourne and Sydney can be accomplished in 15 hours. ■ , '

The Czar of Russia, they say, has be^* come a partial convert to the faith Jr* modern spiritualists. It came about ra^

this way. When the Czar was in some perplexity respecting the measures to be taken for the safe conduct of the coronation ceremonies, it was suggested to him that he should " ask counsel of the spirits" at the hands of a lady medium who had been practising for some years iv London.. The lady, who is an American, was accordingly sent for to St. Petersburg, and gave a " sitting" to the Czar. The result of the seance was so satisfactory that the preparations for the coronation were hurried forward with greater energy tbaa before, haste being recommended with emphasis. Everything having passed off extremely well in Moscow, the Czar has come to think that •• there may be something in spiritualism after all;" and the. lady, on her part, is said to be extremely well satisfied with the results of her visit to the Eussian Autocrat. The Eev. H. W. Beecher completed his seventieth year on the 24th of June* An American correspondent thus describes his present appearance:—"Standing about sft. Bin. high, with hair per. fectly white and long, he has a keen, kindly blue eye aud full face, with heavy features reddened and toughened by exposure to the air, and as handsome a mouth as was ever chiselled in marble. His body is heavy, his hands short and fat. He walks rapidly and with tremendous push."

Attendants at Windsor Castle hare to exhibit mnch tact in getting rid of lunatic*

who desire to see the Queen, to obtain redress for their wrongs, fancied or real. On an average there are folly.a dozen in the course of a year. Some of them are harmless, and others very violent. They have been known to drive up to the Castle with a cabload of luggage and ask if their rooms are ready. Others assert that they have come to claim the hand of the Princess Beatrice. One sfflicted person was known to have come from America for this purpose. He was rich, had a splendid turnout of portmanteaus and baggage, and his appearance as tounded the sedate lodge keeper atone of the principal gates. But the startling information that this wealthy American desired to become bridegroom of a Eoyal Princess recalled the worthy functionary to a sense of the situation. The marriage of a member of the Eoyal family with a. successful speculator in " ile" was a little more than loyal flunkeyism could stand.

Every day France is finding out more and more of the difficulties attendant upon a spirited colonial policy. More than ever does it become doubtful whether Jacques Bonhomme, eager as he may be for cheap glory, will submit to the pecuniary sacrifice which the policy of M. Challemel Laconr would entail upon him.