ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ITEMS.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 961, 12 April 1872, Page 3

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ITEMS.

The death of Mr Joseph Gillott, the well-known steel-pen manufacturer, is an event which should not pass unnoticed by those who, but for him, would literally have been " quilldrivers." Although not the actual originator of steel pens, Mr Gillott was the first to manufacture them by machinery, and thus to render them cheap enough for general use. He is therefore fairly entitled to be considered a public benefcetor in these days of much writing. Originally a grinder in Sheffield, he raised himself by patience, perseverance, and publicity—not the least important element of success nowadays—to the rank of a manufacturing prince, and no one can grudge him his success. To advertising indeed he owed much, for, like the renowned " Professor" Holloway, it was (and is) almost impossible to take up any newspaper or other serial publication, without findimg his goods advertised in it. Persons who hide their lights under bushels because they are too timorous or too parsimonious to advertise, may take a lesson from these men of pills and pens. At a bazaar in Glasgow lately, the chair in which the Princess Louise sat during the day was sold for £ls. The Leeds Town Council have purchased Roundhay Park, for the public use, at a cost of £139,000. Smoking is very much on the decline in England. At the Universities not one man in five now smokes, whereas a few years ago at least four in five did. But in America it seems very much on the increase. A St Louis paper says that all the fashionable ladies in that city smoke. The deposits in the Irish Savings Banks amount to £26,000,000, and are rapidly increasing. The Anglo-Australian in the ' European Mail' says : —Or Fenthfirslon is in Scotland, busy in the matter of procuring suitable emigrants for New Zealand. The Londonderry estates of the Marquis of Waterford were sold lately in the Landed Estate Court. A considerable number of lots were bought by tenants. The entire amount realised was £23 4,262. A miniature steam-engine, built of gold, set with diamonds, and standing on a three-cent piece, was one of the attractions at the Schenectady Masonic bazaar. The Missouri State Prison now contains 91S inmates. It is gauged to accommodate 350 persons. A Kentucky farmer refused to buy a sewing machine—" he sowed his wheat out of a bucket." There are 76 hotels in Boston, and 1121 wet-goods stores. Mowing machines have killed 70 farmers in Illinois last year. Maine kept down her surplus population last year with 113 fatal accidents, 17 drownings, 52 suicides and eight murders. The Musical Jubilee, for which Boston is now preparing, is to be held in a building 832 feet long, 422 feet wide, and 172 feet high, and the roof is to be supported by arches springing from the ground on each side and at the ends. The building erected for the musical festival of 1869 was only 500 feet long and 300 feet broad. There are in Boston at present thousands of unemployed women whom starvation stares in the face. A scientific American journal predicts that the sun will burn out in 44,389 years. No one is likely to live long enough to prove the prediction false. Garotters and other desperados are numerous in Salt Lake City, and neither life nor property is safe after nightfall. A practical joke played off in New York has given rise to much scandal. Some young men had inserted in the sandwiches prepared for the luncheon table at a well-known civic reception of the Grand Duke Alexis, thin layers of soap to replace the ham which had been previously abstracted. The exquisite enjoyment of the perpetrators of the joke may be imagined when the sandwiches were bitten and the portion tasted forcibly swallowed for manners' sake by the unfortunate victims. The champion temperance man lives in Danbury, Connecticut. He has signed the pledge 83 times. A little girl down East, who was impatiently waiting the tardy movements of her mother, a few Sabbath mornings since, cried out, " come mamma, the bell's tollin' and Dod's awaitin'." Husband-selling has been inaugurated in Adair County by a Mrs Alexander, who recently offered to " swap" her husband for a sewing-machine.

The St Louis girls wore so badly frightened by the experience of one of their number who dislocated her neck while resisting a kiss, that now they hold their lips in the softest and most comfortable position whenever they see a man anywhere near.