ROUND THE WORLD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1905, 3 February 1885, Page 2

ROUND THE WORLD.

Advices from India say that a terrible cyclone has visited the Madras Presidency, causing very great damagri. The Queen of Beauty in the Paris show is to be chosen by photograph, the likenesses of all contestants being taken by .one artist.

The last census of Roumania gives a total population of 4,424,961, of which. 2,276,558 are males, and 2,148,403 are females. • •

It costs §3OO a night to light"the Grand Opera House in Paris. The fuel is §IO,OOO • a year, and the expense of sweeping and ; dusting S7OOO a year. Members of both the House of Lords ■ • and House of Commons sit with their hats on, removing them only when they rise to <■'- speak or to go out of the chamber. The process of hiring negroes in the yr oystor industiy of Maryland is accomplished by auction. Gentlemen who wish laborers bid. so much a week .for the negro's service, • The ono who bids the.. • highest secures ;tlie negro, V &, The shade trees which have been vm pride of Savannah are dying at a rapid , rate. In the last two years more than two hundred oak trees in tho streets Kayo died and been cut down. The mischief is attributed to.whitewash and the sewers/. ■

In the public schools of Greece the four ••• gospels of the' New Testeme'nt are Used-as; • a reader, by the children \of the mtist' I ''' advanced classes of : the primary depart--' I 'i ment,,and the.Minister of Education-pro- , poses to extend' their use"into • the higher • schools.

At the recent German Catholic Congress held at Breslau, 400 delegates wefe in attendance, and Prince Blueher, grandson of'the Protestant General of.,that name, who saved the allied armies at Waterloo, occupied the chair. • An Independent: " Why, J—, do' you swear?" "Yes." "And bet on horses?" "Yes, sir." "And play cards?" "I.do,": "Why, Heaven help us J—, I thougljj;' you were a strict presbyterian?" "Oh• no," replied J—: "I am not, I'm 'an' A independent Presbyterian. " Ah. sMgp December 2nd is a remarkable day 3 Bonapartist annals. December 2nd,'1804 Napoleon Ist was crowned. The same day in the next year he won Ids chief victory of Austerlitz. December 2nd, 1851 Napoleon 111 made himself master of France, and December 2nd, 1852, lie was proclaimed Emperor, ' .'

Recent researches show that-eleolion-oering was carried on in Ancient Pompeii vory muoh as at the present day, Insbrip-. tlons have been found informing'th# public that "a vote for Lontulus: ii a \ ote for honest government," and asking all patriotio citizens to'vote for "Balbus, tho true friend of the people," •, Mr Ashton, author of " Social Lifo of the Roign of Anne," aocusos'Justin McCarthy of plagiarism in his recently ' issued "History of .tho Four Georges;" The Athenaeum prints a column of mrrjd; lei passages from each work. JVJr Aghtqii writes that Sfr McCarthy hat so ltjng-lieen associated with uentlemen who advocate" non-payment of rent that he has adopted their principles even in literary work. <• " You've got my seat, sir," said a mfflf on a Texas railroad, who had left his .■ for a moment. " There is nothing to show that you have retained this seat." " Loo| \ - up there! There is my hat box on % rack right qver the seat, 1 ' < 1 Well, then you sit up there on your hat box, if that's'' where you have retained your seat." " A. schoolmaster in lowa called his prettiest pupil to his deck and asked her • if she would marry him. She replied promptly that she would not. "If you , were the last man on earth, and I was'' forty, instead of sixteen;" she added, " F wouldn't take you. Resuming his character of pedagogue, he decided that .her language was disrespectful, and ferruled the hand which he could not get matrimonially. The girl now sues him for damages.

A terrible tragedy occurred recently a(j Weatfield, Mass., Isaac Branson and hia wife had a family of seven children, the youngest only two years old. On'o nis;hfc recently the wife consulted with her husband about the justice of putting an end to her life in order to escape from her earthly troubles to the "spirit land,'], whence she would often visit him," Bronson replied that he would put na obstacles in her way, alttymg]} l|e shofl| regret her bod jly departure, Then she tooT a dose of Paris green, and as she lay in tho agonies of death, her husband sat by her side and watched for its dissolution. As death approached he called in some neighbors to witness her spirit's departure. Medical aid, when summoned by an exceptionally rational individual,- came too late. To all questions and reproaches the bereaved husband only replies ; Her spirit was her own; her spirit washer own." This curious couplo were not lunatics; they wero only spiritualists—if tho terms are not synonymous. Yet wo wonder at the superstition and fanaticism which believed in witchcraft two hundred years ago. i •

A dramatic incident occurred recently at a public lecture in Dubid. The lecturer recited " Shamus O'Brien" and graphically described the scaffold scene, Just at the most thrilling part of the recital a piercing shriek rang out from tho body of the hall, and a woman wasseon. struggling'in hysterics, and several men rushed to hcv assistance, but it was impossible to restrain her until she fainted from exhaustion. She was carried from the hall to a druggisjjgkiy» where restoratives were applied. WhOTfc . sho recoved consciousness it was found alio was tho sister of Joo Brady, who was hanged for complicity in the niurder:of Lord Cavendish and Mr Burke in Phcenix. Park. :