Miscellaneous.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1032, 4 May 1894, Page 7

Miscellaneous.

There is not now living a single descendant in the male line of" Chaucer," Spenser, Miltoii, Cowley,* Butler, Dry-den^-Pope, Cowper, Goldsuiith/vlSyron, or Moore ; not cine of Sir Philip Sydney; nor of Sir Walter vßaleigh j no? one* of Drake, Cromwell, Hampden, Monk, Marlborough, Peterborough, or Nelson ; not one of Boilingbroke, Walpole, Chatham, Pitt, Fox, Burke, Grattan, or Canning ; not one of Bacon, Locke, Newton, or Davy ; nofc one of Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, or Sir Thomas Lawrence ; not one of DavidGarrick, John Kemble, or Edward Kean. We have yet to learn the art of wise and noble living; and what is chiefly needed at the present 'day is to show the quantity of pleasure that may be obtained by a consistent, well-adminis-tered competence, modest, confessed, laborious. We need examples of people who, leaving heaven to decide whether they are to rise in the world, decide for themselves whether they will be happy in it, and hare resolved to seek, not greater ' wealth,- but simpler pleasure ; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity, making the first of possessions self possession ; and honoring themselves in the harmless pride and calm pursuits of peace. — W. J. Dawson, in The Young Man. When coal was first used in England prejudice against it was so strong that the House of Commons petitioned the King' to prohibit the use of the ' noxious ' fuel. A royal proclamation having failed to abate the nuisance a commission was issued to ascertain who burned the coal within the city of London and its neighborhood, to punish them by force for the. first offence, and by the demolition of their furnaces if they persisted in transgressing. A law was finally passed making ifc a capital offence to burn coal in the city, and only permitting it to be used by forges in the vicinity. On April 1, 1860, an extensive hoax on society in general was carried out in London. A vast mutlitude of people received through post a card having the following inscription, with a seal marked by an inverted 6d at one of the angles, thus having to superficial observation an official appearance : ' Tower of London. Admit bearer and friend to view the annual ceremony of washing the lions on Sunday, April 1, 1860. Admitted only at the White Gate. Ifc is particularly requested that no gratuities be given to the warders or their assistants.' The trick is said to have been highiy successful. Cabs vvere rattling about Tower Hill all that Sunday morning, vainly endeavoring to discover the White Gate. It is the more remarkable that any such trick should have succeeded when one reflects how identified the first of April has become wifch the idea of imposture and unreality. The lion Wallace, who provided New York with a first class two days' sensation some time ago by his escape from his cage and fight for liberty, was the hero of a similar adventure, but of a much milder type, in Chicago on the night of Feb. 22. The lion was being exhibited in the Clark Street Museum. The cage had been placed on the stage and the trainer entered. He closed the door, as he thought, behind him, but some obstacle prevented its fastening. The animal saw his opportunity, ancl took advantage of it. He sprang through the door wifch a bound and jumped into the orchestra, landing within a yard of the front row of seats. The place was crowded, and there was a general stampede on the part of the panic-stricken spectators. The lion roared and trotted up and down the centre aisle, while the people climbed upon the window sills or made for the doors. The trainer followed the animal, and after some little time whipped him into subjection, and got him back to the cage. The lion's escapade created consternation, and was the talk of the town, but it was attended by no serious consequences. All Paris has been laughing at the squabbles of couple of tragedy queens, Mdlle Rousseil and Mdlle Tessandier, both well-known actresses. Up to recently they were on such terms of intimacy that they lived together, and ' My sister,' 'My friend for life,' were the terms which accompanied their little gifts to each other. But a change came over the scene, and they parted. What was the cause of the quarrel does not appear, but the pretext on the part of Mdlle Rousseil was the cooking at Mdlle Tessandier's house. ' Not coming o,'0 ,' said Mdlle Rousseil, from the land where flourish the onion and the garlic, I have suffered the torments of the condemned after eating your food.' This attack on her cook Mdlle Tessandier bore in silence, but when Mdlle Rou sseil proceeded to send in a bill to her — a favorite of the public for 30 years — for 600fr. for lessons in elocution, she could stand it no longer, but retorted with an abusive post card. Hence an action for libel, Mdlle Rousseil claiming 100,000fr. damages, a sum reduced by a cold, calculating tribunal to 25fr. The rival tragedy queens, both clad in imposing black velvet gowns with sombre mantles of ample dimensions, held forth with passionate fervor on the subject of their disputes, to the great joy of court, barristers and the public, who were represented in great force.

A story is told in a London paper which illustrates and emphasises iri a peculiar manner the advantages of science. Two telegraph clerk's were sitting opposite oaeh other in a Chicago office, one sending a message to New Orleans, and the' other receiving one Prom that city. The sender wanted to borrow a plug of tobacco from th**, receiver, but dare not break the rules by j asking him. He therefore telegraphed his wish to the New Orleans operator, who in his turn passed it on. In a moment or so the plug of tobacco was handed across the partition. A yard separated borrower and lender, but the 'request travelled more than a thousand miles. If there was more push in the world there would be fewer hungry, halfclothed, homeless, suffering children ; fewer broken-down, dissipated men and women ; less need of almshouses, houses of correction, and homes for the friendless. Push means a lift for a neighbor in trouble. Push nieans a lift for yourself .out of the slough of despondency and shiftlessness ; out of trouble, real or fancied. Push never hurts anybody. The harder the push is the better, if it is given in just the right direction. Always push uphill — few need a push downhill. A curious case of fraud, in which a man named Thomas Brown figured, was heard at Sydney recently. The charge turned on tbe wish of Ellen Wotton, an elderly lady, to get her sister out of a local private asylum, Brown had been a warder at the establishment, and on his representing that he was able to secure the release of the woman by strategy Miss Wotton advanced him Ll7 to induce one of the female attendants at the asylum to connive at the kidnapping of the patient, Then he got L2O from her for passage money to New Zealand. Subsequently he drove Miss Wotton to the asylum, where he disappeared. He was nofc again seen by the prosecutrix until she indentified him at the police station. The accused was committed for trial. Palgrave, in his work of Central and Eastern Arabia, mentions a plant whose seeds produce effects analogous to those of laughing gas. The plant is a native of Arabia. The dwarf variety is found at Kasuro, and another variety afc Oman, which attains a height of from 3 to 4 feet, with woody stems, wide-spreading branches and light-green foliage. The flovvers are produced in clusters, and are yellow in color. The seed-pocls contain two or three black seeds of the size and shape of a French bean. Their flavour is a little like that of opium, the taste is sweet, and the odour from them produces a sickening feeling, and is slightly offensive. Their seeds, when, pulverised and taken in small doses, operate upon a person in a very peculiar manner. He begins to laugh loudly and boisterously, and then signs, dances, and cuts up all kinds of fantastic capers. The effect continues about an hour, and the patient is extremely comical. When the excitement ceases, the exhausted individual falls into a deep sleep, which continues for an hour or more, and when he awakens he is utterly unconscious thafc any such demonstrations had been made by him. A Reuter's telegram gives an .account of a terrible affair which is reported to have taken place at Krosehe, a town in the. Government of Kovno, Russia, aboufc 30 miles from the German frontier. The authorities at that place, ifc is stated, received orders from the Russian Government to close the local Roman Catholic Church, and to prevent this from being done the Roman Catholics assembled in the church, and occupied ifc day and night. Finally a detachment of troops, led by the Governor, one night forced their way into the building, and attacked the occupants with drawn swords. Before the building was cleared 20 persons were killed, and more than 100 were wounded. The remainder then fled, but were pursued by Cossacks, and, in attempting to escape across a neighboring river, a large number of them were drowned. Some hundreds who were taken prisoners are to be tried before a court-martial. At the Bic6tre Hospital in Paris, the well-known M. Landrey, has performed a curious operation on a workman of Belgian nationality. The Belgain, it appears, got drunk a short time ago, ancl was taken to the Police station at Gentilly, when in a state of utter helplessness. While he was in the cells, another drunkard, a mechanical engineer named Machant, • was brought ( in in a state bordering on delirium tremens. Machant was in a terribly excited state, and' he attacked his fellow-prisoner with extraordinary ferocity, striking him and, horrible to relate, biting off both his ears. When he came to himself, -Machant became very ..penitent, and. asked to betaken to the .bedside of his victim, who was npw in the Bice'tre Hospital, in order to ask his forgiveness. Dr Landrey, who was there said c Should you like to give him back his ears V ' Certainly,' said the man. . ' Then,' said the doctor, 'let me cut a couple of small slips of flesh from your arm, and it can be done.' The man consented, and the doctor did as he had suggested. The pieces of flesh j he shaped as well as he could to the likeness of a pair of ears, and joined v them to the wounded places. According i to the. latest account, the operation has been a complete success,