MARVELLOUS SLEEP-WALKING.

Ashburton Herald, Volume I, Issue 240, 7 January 1879, Page 2

MARVELLOUS SLEEP-WALKING.

An astonishing incident occurred a few nights ago (says the New York “ Times”), during the run of the Chicago, Milwaukee,. and St. Paul express train, which is duo, at Milwaukee at’midnight. Among the passengers was. a lady.named Dixon, with a family of eight children j seven boys-'X and one girl, the eldest of the former being fourteen years. As the ‘train sped towards Milwaukee, the children one by one dropped asleep. The- train passed Lake station, and was flying over the rails at the rate of fully .thirty miles an hour, when the mother missed her eldest boy, and caught a glimpse of his slender form as it passed through and out upon the platform. She hurried after him, but before she could reach the platform he was gone.. He had' stepped off the car and plunged into the abyss of darkness that shrouded the train and its surroundings. The poor woman - became' frantic with grief when she realised that her idolized son, the eldest of her interesting flock, had encountered a danger from which the chance of .escape from;; certain death was, perhaps, but one out of one hundred. The remaining occupants of the car were also interested to such an extent that steps were instantly taken to find the conductor, with the - view of . having the. train stopped and backed to the scene of the accident. By the time this % could bo accomplished, however, _) Milwaukee was so close at hand that the conductor concluded to make the depot and send, a party of .yard-men to search the track for the lad. A switch engine ’, was accordingly despatched,, which pro* ceeded as far as Lake Station, where the youth was ■ found' wandering about the platform in a state of bewilderment, rubbing his eyes and . feeling, his shoulder and head, which had sustained slight scratches and- bruises. Beyond these, not the slightest injury could be discovered. The lad-could give no account of his singular accident. Hd only knew that he had fallen asleep in the car with his brothers and sister, and was awakened by the shock of striking the earth upon his shoulders.: The violence ;of the. concussion caused him to roll over arid oVqr down the slight embankment of the bed, and by the time he could collect his. scattered senses and regain his feet, the train was out of sight,- Not* : knowing\ ! ; which way to proceed, hewaiidered ; alongthe track at random, and* soon reached.-;, the platform at Lake where he concluded to remain until daybreak, whenthe rescuing party came; up. ; The jpyroff the mother on finding her boy safe sound can better be imagined than described, He had passed through a terrible ordeal in a somnambulistic state, and escaped without a sprain or fracture, and no discomfit beyond that occasioned by a few scratches and’bruises. - Mrs. Dixon. was en route from-Montreal 1 to Manitoba,’ 4 in the British possessions, where her husband is at present engaged as a contractor. ’.-A’

Xo Time foe Christian- Work: !—The Bishop of Manchester, in preaching at Oswestry on October ‘2O on behan o, a cottage hospital, drew », very s-ruving picture of the organised frivolity Ox man the fashionable world and the leisure days of a part of the operative world, lie read the letter of a young lady giving lum this account of her day, anu asking-linn where there was any time in it for (Jor:stian work :—“ We breakfast about ten. Breakfast occupies the best part of an hour, during which time we read our letters, and pick up the latest news m the papers. After that we have to go and answer our letters, and my mother expects me to write her notes of invitation, or reply to such. Then I have to go into the conservatory and feed the canaries and parrots and cut off the dead leaves and faded flowers from the plants. Then it is time to dress for lunch, and at two we lunch. At three my mother likes mo to go with her when she'makes and we then come home to a five o clock tea, when some friends drop in. After that we get ready to take our drive in the park, and then we go home to dinner, and after dinner" we go to the theatre or the opera, and then when we get home I am so dreadfuily tired that I don’t know what to do.” If this is the usual life of fashionable women, they certainly have reason to say, with the late Sir Cornwall Lewis, that life would be very tolerable but for its amusements. Quite apart from the moral dissipation of such a life,—and dissipation is of the essence of it, it must be frightfully wearisome, more wearisome even than the working-man s who lies in bed • half Sunday and drinks all Monday, but really exerts his whole power for four or five days in the week. It seems-strange that London mothers do not make room for a little infusion of nobler w&rk for thoir daughters, if it were only fori the mental and moral stimulus which such work would give to their characters, and the new expression it would add to their countenances. There is nothing more unlovely than ennui. Bret Harte’s Last. —From the “ Editor’s Drawer” in ‘'Harper’s Monthly” we extract the following:—To the brightest of American humorists, at present domiciled in the Schloss Hotel, at Heidelberg, we return "thanks for this bit of Dutch fun “ Dear old Drawer,— There be humorists in Germany. With infinite difficulty I have translated the following from a Manheim paper A thirsty man called for beer. Jusi as the foaming mug was placed before him some one sent in for him. The place was crowded. Could he trust his beer there 1 A bright idea flashes through his brain. He writes on a card, ‘ I have expectorated in this beer,’ fastens the card to the mug, and retires with triumph in his eye to see what is wanted. He returns presently, and finds his card reversed, and this written on it— ‘ Ich auch ’(‘ I also ). The Vintage. There is fairly good news for lovers- of claret from the Bordelais districts. “Vanity Fair ” says : It is admittedly the vignerons themselves—as good grumblers as Essex farmers —that it is a fairly good year, though nothing wonderful. This, being interpreted, means that it is, in fact, a very good year, and that we need not fear the price of claret rising. On the other hand, the ravages of tbe phylloxera in the Charente have been of the most serious character, and there will be a falling off of at least one-half in the quantity of cognac made this year. But let no one listen too much to the complaints of their spirit merchants on this matter. There are enormous stocks of brandy kept in store, so that the price should not at present be sensibly affected.