NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 2264, 12 May 1891, Page 4

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

— fc AdmiraUy statistics show that one man out of every six in the Royal Navy is a total abstainer. Take iv your hand a crystal of quartz, a sttick of deal, a daisy, an acorn, and you will not find in them one single element of matter that is not also found in your physical frame. Argonia, Kansas, is well satisfied with its first year's experience under a woman mayor. She has attended to all the duties of her office, done all her own sewing and cooking, and looked after her little girl, now several months old. A man murdered a farmer in Texas, and then shot a policeman who attempted to arrest him. The murderer was I pursued by the. mob, and when caught, his clothes were saturated with kerosene, and a rope was placed round bis neck. His clothes were then ignited, and he was drawn up to the bough of a tree, his blazing body lighting up the surrounding country. A mein who has just died in Greorgia bore such a strong resemblance to Booth, the murderer of President Lincoln, that people declare that he was none other than the assassin himself, who, though supposed to have been shot by his pursuers, was thought by some to have really escaped. He was a clergyman, bat had to give up bis church some time back because he could not give a satisfactory account of his past history.

The impurities thab collect under finger nails have been investigated in the bacteriogical laboratories of Vienna. The matter obtained in 78 examinations was placed in culture solutions, and gave 36 kinds oi rnicrococi, 18 of bicilli, and 3 of Harciuae. : CleaDlines of Hie nails is especially necessary for all who come near a wound, and for those who live near where an epidemic prevails. In Professor Mahaffy's latest work, " The Greeks under Roman sway," it is rather curious to find that some ! 2000 years ago the rabbit pest was the bane of the agricultural and pastoral industry, as it ia now in Australia. According to Strabo, it infested all the south-west of Europe as far as Massillia, including Corsica and the, Balearic Islands. The Spaniards, it seems, had devised various remedies for the evil, including the domestication of the ft African weasel " (the mongoose ?). Mr Mahaffy remarks that there seems to be no mention of these rabbits in later authorities, from which he infers that they were disappearing even in Strabo's time. He thinks that, similarly, in Australia the day will come when natural causes will accomplish what human ingenuity is now unable to effect. It is a significant fact that many of the old aristocracy are getting rid of the estates associated with their names for centuries to men who have just made their fortunes in business. The Earl of Egmont sold his beautiful estate near Epsom, known as Nock Park (1,600 acres), to Mr F. Column, the well-known maker of mustard. Sir W. Peace, son of the great shipbuilder, who, together with his mother, inherited about a million of money, has bought Chilton Lodge, near Hungerford, for £80,000, and is spending many thousands on a fine new house. Mr S. C. Lister, a well-known mill owner, bought the Ockton Hall estate in Yorkshire for £192,000, bringing up his total land purchases to over a million pounds. Mr W. Stephens, of the ' Family Herald,' has purchased Selsdon, and Mr Fmdlay, who owns the ' Scotsman,' made large additions to his estate at Buhcrornb. The Duke of Buccleugh, it is said, is getting out of land wherever he can. Mr Walter Shoolbred, the well-known Regentstreet shopkeeper, has now brought up his deer forest to 50,000 acres. If this sort of thing goes on it will soon be considered unfashionable in England to own land. A good story is told of an American heiress named Miss Lighter and the late Lord Beauchamp. The name of the nobleman ia pronounced BeecLam. " Say, my lord, I guess you can spend; pretty much what you please on your fancies," quoth the heiress. '" Well," replied His Lordship, "I would hardly say that. A man in my position has so many embargoes on his income: that in these days of agricultural depression his stock of pocket money, is often microscopical." "My ! but. surely a few more columns of advertisements are always bound to bring in another 'hundred thousand'?" — (The lady counted in dollars.) "I — I — hardly understand, advertise ! What should I advertise — my poverty ? " " Poverty, no, your pills ! Ain't you Beecham's Pills ? " " No. I rather wish I were." "My word ! and to think I've been taking those nasty squirmy things all my days, in preference to my own uncle's article, simply because I thought a lord sold them ! Weren't you made a lord for your success in the pill business ? " "No," replied the nobleman pensively; " it is only the brewers who are made lords, not those who manufacture the correctives of their beer. lam a lord by inheritance."