ENGLISH AND FOREIGN CLIPPINGS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 4002, 20 June 1870, Page 4

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN CLIPPINGS.

DEFEAT OF GENERAL itOC&E, A battle took place at San Luis Potosi tfn the 14th of January between insurgents and Government troops. The insurgents were victorious, capturing 20 pieces of artillery and c< impelling General Boche to fly iv hot haste.

THE HAIR TRADE. The hair trade has recently become a great interest, and has all the importance of a mediaeval guild. There are a score or so of heavy wholesale houses engaged.inthis trade in New York, and several of these do alarge importing business. Some of them not oiOy irnportbut manufacture, andhaveretail shops, also, so as to improve all ways of profit. Tresses of 20 inches bring $50 "»er pound, while those of 40 inches are worth $120. At this price, or at a proportionate rate, many women could be willing to part with their tresses. The enormous price of hair has led to tht adoption of substitutes, themostpopular of which is jute, a species of hemp. This is largely used in the manufacture of waterfalls and chignons, and when properly dressed looks very well. But jute, though cheaper than, hair, is still a high-priced article, and hence Yankee ingenuity has been get at work to find another substitute. This was discovered lately by an enterprising man in the bark of a species of basswood, which, when dried, combed out, and oiled, makes a very pretty article. The cheap coils now sold under the attractive . name of "Japan hair" are of this character. The hairdresser's bill is a costlyonetoouryoungladiesof means, and the changes in the fashions are very annoying. A waterfall or chignon costs from .$2 to -$10, and sometimes much more. 'J he curl which dangles in solitary beauty down the maiden shoulder costs from $2 to $6, and is one of the most graceful of this class of fashions Hairdressers charge for diessing alady'shair for a party from $2 to $5 ; they have a fee for cleaning dust out of waterfalls and for many other similar duties. A hairdresser was recently employed to cut off a lady's hair because her health required lb, and was was told by her husband that he could give him out of it a braided watch-guard. The hairdresser did so, and then sold the tresses for $75. They were 40 inches in length,, which is veiy rare. — Troy (New York) Times.

ECONOMY OF KID GLOVES. It is not generally known, or does not appear to be known, even by those who weai kids almost exclusively, that the cUirability and set of these articles depend very much upon how they are put on the first time. Two pairs may be taken from one box, of exactly the same cut and quality, and, by giving diffei ent treatment when first putting the hands into them, one pair will be made to set much better, and to wear doubly, or nearly that length of time, longer than the other. When purchasing the gloves, people are usually in too much of a hurry : they carelessly put them on, and let them go in that way then, thinking to do the work more completely at another time. AVhen this is the case, a person is sure to meet with disappointment, for as the glove is made to fit the hand the first time it is worn, so it will fit ever after, and no amount of effort will make a satisfactory change. Never allow a stretcher to be used, for the gloves will not be likely to fit as well for it. All the expansion should be made by the hands ; if the kids are so small as to require the aid of a stretcher, they should not be pui'chased, aj they will prove too small for durability, comfort, or beauty. When selecting gloves, choose those with fingers to correspond with your own in length ; take time to put them on, working in the fingers first, until ends meet ends, then put in the thumb, and smooth them down until they .ire made to fit nicely. A glove that sets well will usually wear well — at least, will wear better than one of the same kind that does not fit well. When the ends of the fingers do not come, down right, or when they are so long as to form wrinkles upon the sides of the fingers, they'will chafe out easily ; where the stretcher ha.s to be used to make the fingers large enough, the body part will be so small as to cramp the hand, so that it cannot bo shut without bursting the seams of the kids. Some recommend putting new kid gloves into a damp cloth before they are put on, and allowing them to remain until moistened. With this treatment they can be put on much easier than otherwise, and will fit very nicely until they get dry, but on second wearing there will be an unnatural harshness about them, wrinkling in spots, and they will not set so perfectly as at first. I has^e tried the damping process, and do not approve of it. — Canadian Journal of Cominert p.

NOVEL USE OF MUMMIES. Such odd things are happening here ! Mutton fattened on ancient Egyptians ! It's a fact — a hoise chestnut is not a chestnut horse, but, by a sort of sorites inverted, we may arrive at the idea of a gigot which shall consist in a great part of dwellers in Memphis. The other day at Sakhara I saw nine camels pacing down from the mummy pits to the bank of the river laden with nets, in which were femora, tibite and other bony bits of the human form, some 2cwt. in each net on each side of the camel. Among the pits there were people busily engaged in searching out, sifting, and sorting the bones, which almost crust the ground. On inquiry I learnt that tho cai'goes with which, the camels were laden would be sent down to j Alexandria, and thence be shipped to English ; manui'e manufacturers. They make excellent manure, I was tod, particularly for swedes and other turnips. The trade is brisk, and i has been going on for years, and many go on for many move. It is a strange fate — 'to preserve one's skeleton for thousands of years in order that there may be fine Southdowns \ and Cheviots in a distant land ! But Egypt is always a place of wonders. — Times' correspondent.

! REWAKD FOR A BLUE DAHLIA. It may not be generally known that there is at this moment lying afethe Bank of England the sum of £20,000, lodged there by some zealous botanist, as a reward to be given to the man ox- woman who shall produce a blue dahlia We know not whether this is a myth or a fact ; we have obtained the information from a magazine of a year or two back, and givb it on our contemporary's authority, hoping that it may lea 1 some of our botanical readers to set their wits to work to produce the required marvel. It does appear strange that dahlias of almost every hno of the rainbow Lave been produced with the exception of green and bluo ; and why should these exceptions exist ? — D°lhi Gazette.

INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS IN COOKERY. Tho experiments in cookery which have been tried recently are extremely instructive. It is very strange that so little progress has been marie by mankind towards acquiring a knowledge of the principles which govern the most ordinary actions of life, and a knowledge of which is the most necessary for our every-day comfort and enjoyment. How few they are, if there be any, who know how to clothe themselves properly, or, knowing it, make a proper use of that knowledge. How few cooks know anything j of the chemistry of the kitchen, and of those who have learned a little of it theoretically how few know how to apply it. The peculiarity of Warren' 3 system of cooking, whereby the waste of the meat ia almost altogether prevented, lies in the circumstance that the meat is kept at the boiling point without ever rising above it, so that there is no escape of steam from the closed vessel containing the meat. It may be/ remarked, however, that there ought to/be no loss whatever in the old process of bailing, unless the water containing the nutriment which has been boiled out of the meat be thrown away. In comparing the/weights of the cooked meat, the fact is that the deficiency in thatwhichhasbeenboileti does not represent an absolute loss, but mer/ly the transfer of a aertain weight to the broth, which should certainly not be throwi away. In trying experiments of this kmd, there are certain conditions which sh/uld be observed and recorded. Thus, tlere are more ways than one of boiling meajlf If the object be to make soup, the meat should be put' into cold water, and/brought gradually to a

simmer,- go that the " loss " of weight in t meat m&f be? great, and the " gam "to M i soup in proportion* If, on the other ham the object be to serYA tfp a Juicy joint, withct regard to the broth, the water should h brought to the boil before ptrt*»«g i» the me*t.

BOXING-DAY AND 30XINGNIKHT. (EROM tflftJ "SATURDAY REVIEW.") " 1849, February 17.— Frightful accident at the D'mlop-street Theatre. Glasgow. An alarm of fire was raised, &c, and a general rush was made. , . . The poor creatures formed ,a dense mass, unable to* extricate themselves or move forward. . . Itwa* found that no fe«er than 61 had perished, and four more died in hospital. " "1859. December 27. Accident at the Victoria Theatre by a panic-stricken crowd from the gallery meeting on the staircase with a crowd waiting for admission to the new pantomime of 'Harlequin True Blue.' Fifeteen lads were crushed or trampled to death, and 30 were picked up maimed or insensible."To which we have now to add :—: — " 1869. December 27.— Accident at the Bristol Theatre by a panic-stricken crowd waiting for admission to the new pantomime of ' Robinson Crusoe,' and pushing their way into the theatre. Eighteen lads and girls were crushed or trampled to death, &c." From this it appears that the normal period of these great and exactly similar accidents at theatres decennial, and that they occured generally on the very same day.