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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 466, 16 February 1869, Page 3

The Longest Tunnei. in the Wobld. —The moat stupendous tunnel enterprise has lately been accomplished at the silver mines in the German

Hartz mountains The mines were over 3000 feet deep, and scarcity of » fuel prevented the use of steam for » pumping) which was done by water f wheels, aided by tunnel drains. But , the great depth reached in 1865 prei eluded further progress in that manner, and a tunnel was commenced for deep drainage, which is just now finished. The tunnel is twenty- two miles long; . two million cubic yards of solid rock were excavated: ten thousand pounds of powder used; and the lineal extent of blasting-holes drilled is one hundred and eighty miles. Naturally, on the successful completion of this colossal work, thirty-thousand miners, whose lifehood is now assured for twenty years, celebrated the event with glad rejoicings. Gossipping.—lt is not alone insmall neighbourhoods that scandal exclusively operates. How much heart-burning is caused by it, how much hatred, how much annoyance. And yet those who meddle most are often very good people who would not do any harm for the world, and are quite shocked at the results which their abominable interference has brought about. Everything is heard to be repeated, and suggestions are made by them which become afterwards affirmations of your own, that do all manner of harm. And yet the meddlers do not know what they have done. They might, indeed, weep with you over crushed hopes that their very propensity has caused, and bear no malice in their hearts towards anybody; as an innocent colt might, in an excess of lovingness, kick his owner's and best friend's brains out. The Beauties ob 1 Natube and Beeb.—As a rule, the great unwashed section of society cares very little for the beauties of nature. That highlyintelligent artisan, the Journeyman Engineer, in his new work, " The Great Unwashed," tells us that on one occasion he was travelling with a Lon- ' don-bred workman, when they came to a very lovely spot. The Journeyman Engineer was enthusiastic in his admiration, and pointed out lovingly to his friend the charms which met their eye. To his disgust the only reply was, " Oh, blow your beautiful scenery; I wish to the Lord I could see a publichouse ; that would be the scenery for me." He adds, "This Cockney, I found, when I came to have a greater experience of working men, was by no means an exception in holding the opinion that the beautiful and the practical are one, for since the day when I stood on the hill-side with him and was shocked by his horrible though honest practicability I have met thousands of working-men who, like him, considered a public-house the most attractive feature of a rural landscape." At a polling-booth for the Montrose Burghs a stalwart voter, having given his name and address to a polling sheriff, was asked for whom he voted, when he'shouted his reply in stentorian tones, " Cornal Macdonal," of course: I ken't him when he was sooking his mither!" At another of the booths, a respectable-looking voter, evidently one of the newly-enfranchised classes, and knowing nothing of the election formalities, advanced to the sheriffs table, when the following colloquy ensued. Sheriff: Do you wish to vote, sir ? Voter: Tes. * Sheriff: What is your name ? Voter: What's yours ? Sheriff (after having got his name) : Who do you want to vote Voter (placing his arms akimbo on the table, and, with a knowing and familiar smile) : Wba are ye for yoursel."? An American paper, noticing the ope ing address of a college by Dr M'Cosh, formerly of Belfast, says :—A student then proposed three cheers, which were given with a will, followed by the usual tiger and " rocket." This rocket, by the way, deserves a word of description. It is given with a f-z-z-z —boom —a —h! The first exclamation is supposed to imitate the flight of a rocket in the air; the second the explosion, and the third the admiring exclamations of the enthusiastic spectators as they witness the burst of coloured fire. It is believed this species of vocal pyrotechnics originated in the army, but wherever it came from the effects of it, as given by a couple of hundred studients who have " given their minds " to perfecting themselves in the art, is ludicrous in the extreme.