MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VI, Issue 328, 20 June 1874, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

Tho Paris correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette writes : — " An interesting sale of autographs lias just taken place here. One of the most curious letters disposed of was written by Mine, do Canipan in tho year VII, of the Republic to Joseph Bonaparte. It contained such extraordinary passages as this: — 'The cltoyenne Leclerc entered my house six months ago, and has made astonishing progress ; she can now read and write.' Tho lady in question was Napoleon's sister Pauline, who first married Gen. Leclerc, who porished in St Domingo, and who was aftorwards hotter known as the levely and rather dissolute Princesse Borghesse. It is strango to learn that tho sister of tho first captain of tho ago was, perhaps, unable to sign her marriage contract. Another Bonapartisfc letter was quite as well worthy of notico as tho above, being addressed by Lucien Bonaparte to his uncle, Cardinal Fesch. Tho languago is not such as should havo been used by a nephew to a Prince of the Church. The Cardinal, most likely prompted bj Napoleon, had advised Lucien, who always oxhibited an extraordinary amount of independence, to put away his wife, and Lucien replied :: — c I havo beon ontrageel by you once more in a manner of which I hardly considered yon capable, I have answered m&mma in details, boing willing to suffer anything from. her. As for you, cease this want of respect. Bo consistent and havo some noble feeling ; at least have the good senso not to assimilate ino to Jor6me (father of the present Prince Napoleon ), and sparo yourself tho shamo of your useless and cowardly advice ; in a word, leave off writing to mo until religion and honor, which you tread under foot, have dissipated your blindness; and if you are destined to remain such as you appear in your letter, at least hide tho baseness of your sentiments under the purple, and make your way in silence along tho road of ambition. These are my last counsels ; they arc worth more than yours, and I wish you enough honor and judgment to profit by them. Youn Nephew." A San Francisco sclnol teacher received the following note from the 'ostensible' parent of one of his pupils: 'I hope as to my John, you will flog him as oiin us you kin. Ileus a bad boy— is John. Altho I've bin in hnbit of tcachin him miself, it seems to me he w ill never lam anithing — his spellig is ottragously dofishcnl. Wallop him well, scr, and you will recciv my thanks. PS. What accounts for John being sieh a scholar is that ho is my sun by my wife's fust husband.' Says a rrccnt London paper: — The mortal remains of .Adolphe Brideau, a French Communisfc of tho wildest type, were interred nt Finchley. Tho coffin wrapped in red flags, vas borne through tho slrci-ts, followed by about two hundred Frenchmen. Tho i-rocesbion was albo headed by a large crimson Hag.

A contemporary, in speaking of Victor Hugo's latt boot, says that " one has not oven had time yet to cut tho leave* of the now volume— « Quatro-Vingl-Treize.' Skimming opinions agree, that, that the old mau hns lived again in thishis latest, and to be last, work. Tho description of the streets of Paris will certainly take rank among the most curious parts of the book. In 1794, it appears, ever/ citizen and citizoness ate their meals in public before the doors. Everthine was frightful, and yet no person was afraid, leople laughed heroically, though the guillotine was visible above < all heads. Some celebrities who were denounced, beran, lor example, awaited his executioners in his robe do chambre and, slippers, playing tho flute at his window. Others forwarded their address to the terrible Fonquier-Tinville, praying that he would deliver them from life. The marine store dealers shops were full of the demolitions of the church and ot monarchy; there were mitres and crowns, sceptres and soutanes ; in tho wine shops people drank out of a pyx taken from some church ; and coal men, wrapped in altar cloths, paraded the streets on asses. Famine was sore in the land. A pouud of lamb cost 15 francs, and women waited through a whole night before the baker's shop till their turn came ; suffered as uncomplainingly as did their descendants in January, 1871, when, in addition to want, 'the psychological moment' was aggravated by Krupp ihells." On Tuesday a domestic servant, Susan Richmond, ttged 62, died in the Sheffield Infirmary from hydrophobia. On tho morning of Christmas Day she was engaged in toasting a piece of bread before the kitchen fire in her master's home,, when the cat fastened upon her left hand and bit it, keeping its teeth fixed in the wound it had made. A fellowservant came to the rcscuo, and with the greatest difficulty compelled tho animal to relinquish its hold. On the day following Christmas Day tho cat bit a man named John Ellis, a mason, living in Gloucester street, Spring lane. The poorfellow died of hydrophobia on the 22nd of J anvmry last- > In the case of Richmond, however, no serious symptomswere observed until last week, when she became exceedingly unwell, and was taken to the infirmary. On Sunday tho symptoms of hydrophobia developed themselves, and on Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock she died. Up to the time of her death she was sensible and calm, and there was none of tho distressing scenes which have been so often reported as occurring at tho death-bed of a patient suffering from this dreadful disease. The cat was destroyed on the 26th of December. — Daily News, April 3. _ - Summer suits are nearly all made of whito or buff linen, pique, cambric, or muslin, and the art of preserving the | new appearauce after washing is a matter of the greatest 1 importance. Common washer-women spoil everything with, soda, and nothing is more frequent than to see the delicatetints of lawns and percales turned into dark blotches and muddy streaks by the ignorance and vandalism of a laundress. It is worth while for ladies to pay attention to this, and insiss upon having their summer dresses washed according to the^irections which they should bo prepared to give theirlaunBresseß themselves. In the first place the water should be tepid, the soap should not bo allowed to touch, the fabric ; it should be washed and rinsed quick, turned upon the wrong side, and hung in the shade to dry- and when starched (in thin boiled but not boiling starch) should be folded in sheets or towels, and ironed upon the wrong side as soon aspossible. But linen should be washed, in water, in which hay or a quart bag of bran has been boiled. This last will be" found to answer for starch as well, and U exctllent for print dresse3 of all kinds, but a handful of salt is very useful also to set the colors of light cambrics and dotted lawns ;. and a little ox gall will not only set bufe brighten yejlow and. purple tints, and has a good effect upon green. The following rather good story is supplied to the Bris~ lane Courier to show that the Queenslanders are nob beyond being suspected by the immigrants that they import :— ' An* old and respected resident, reading of the advent of theAlexandra, charged himself with the duty of engaging twofemale servants from amongst the now comers. He went tothe depot, and, after some trouble, found young ladies — shall we call them Miss Blackfriara and Miss Whitechapel ?' — wiiling to serve provided they could obtain service together. 'Old and respected resident' had no objection,, and would hire them both, when suddenly one of the young ladies seemed to have something on, her mind, called other enterprising immigrant aside, and, in what Biddy would call) ' a pig's whisper,' suggested that ' Hemmer should ask tho hold party 'ow long he' 'ad been in the colonies.' ' Old. party ' overhearing, and fesling rather proud of his ancient footing on the sands of Queensland, exclaims buoyantly,^ i ' Oh, you needn't bo afraid, I've- been here these 40 jears. " Miss Blackfriars almost swooneth, and hath only energy left to plead ' Ho ! Hemmer, don't go ,- hi really shouldn fc venture, he's been sent out ! ' Italics can't describe the chagrin of our ancient friend 1 and pioneer Mttier. Be lifted up his voice and went. At the Resident Magistrate'! Court, Nelson, the other day, a strange scene occurred. A man named Stephen Rough Matthews was charged, on the information of the Inspector of Police (the injured woman herself declining to prosecute), with stabbing and wounding Isabella Matthews, his wife. On the book being placed in the woman's hands, she positively refused to take the oath, stating that nothing would induce her 'to go agin him.' The following conversation,, according to the Evening Mail, then took place :— His Worship : I shall commit you to gaol for three days, and you will be brought up here every day and asked whether you intend to give your evidence. Mrs Matthews: You may send me there for three years, but I won't do it. Prisoner .•= It's no use for you to go on like that. Let the case go on. Mrs Matthews : Ah ! my good gentleman, you needn't talk to me ; you've too good a cheek altogether. His Worship r You are doing him no- good by refusing, for I' shall have toremand him from day to day until you give your evidence.. Mrs Matthews : Ah \ your Honor, I can't do it. He's a dangerous man, and I don't know what he may do to himself in pri6dn. You may put me there as long as you like,, you may send me there for twenty Tears, but I'll give nooath at" all. Prisoner, addressing his wife : From port toport, rind shore to shore, I swear under this canopy of heaven that I 'will follow you up from day to Amj until I-bring y«*ur to a true senso of your duties as a wife. I swear it. — The-|| woman was'then committed to gaol for three- days, and the* pi'isoner remanded. The parties to this case are well known* in Wanganui, where they resided for some time. • The many fatal cases of diphtheria throughout the colonjr of Victoria (says the Mount Alexander Matt)- caueed intense alarm to parents whose children have shown symptoms of* that dread disease. At Vaughan there are Iparents whosetove for their little ones is greater than their lore for conventional usage or customs, and they have employed a wellknown Chinese doctor to treat twbat is considered (writes a* correspondent) as a Chinese disease, and in every case he has. been successful. In one family he cured six, most of them very bad ; and of the numerous instancer-in which his services have been sought not a death has occurred. The "Loafer in the Street" in the Canterbury Press sty*. — " Some one will some day write a history of bonnets. A. cunning milliner would no-doubfc make a good thing of it,and the Darwinian theory might bo judiciously hauled inWhat I want to know is just now what is a bonnet ? t flatten my nose against the modistes' windows and gaze at their lovely productions with wonder and admiration, bufc which are hats and which are; bonnets I cannot make out. My landlady gives me tho following solutiSn to this problem t ( — When a lady's head-piece is tied under the chin it's a bonnet ; when it's made fast behind the head it's a hat. X like having a word or two on the fashions now and then, and I feel glad I know now what a bonnet is." The Liberal de VUst publishes the following address, which it states is being signed at Mulhouse, and is 1 to besent to Prince Louis Napoleon in reply to the Chiselhurst demonstration: — ' Monsiegneur,— On the occasion-' of your coming of age, we ex-French citizens, transformed into Germans through the crimes of your father, Ure sorry to beobliged to inform your Imperial Highness that we fervently pray to God that the soil of Feance may never again be touched by the descendant of Napoleon Hl.'