Scissors.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5427, 17 January 1889, Page 4

Scissors.

" Kismet" means fate. It is an Arabic word. Electricity movos 288,000 miles per second. It is possible in France to insure the lifo cf a child one day old. The German Government will resume the building of large ironclads. The Japanese Army is now 150,000 strong It will be. 000,000 beforo long. Nearly nine thousand men are working on tho Manchester ship canal. The Government of Japan and private corporations are building railroads. King Otto of Bavaria thinks himself a black oat, and is altogether wobegone. Within the last two years lib persons have been convicted for stealing books in Paris. A Western dramatic critic recently said of a play that it waß as lively as an old •heeae. Miss Alice Draper, the woman's rights candidate for Massachusetts, received one vote—that of her brothor. There lately died in Paris an old woman who had amassed a fortune of £24,000 by telling fortunes with cards. Barry Sullivan, who is lying very ill in West Brighton, has entirely lost his reason. He recognises not even his wife. It is said now that England gave to tho Germans a copy of her now nflo m return for the recipe for making melinite. The Duchess of Cambridge (a single aristocratic instance) has received £220,000 in pensions from the British Government tor no special reason. The Jamie-Jons, owners of tho Irex, are building a large sloop at Queenstown to contest for the America Oup. Tho vessel •will be called the Shamrock. ' M. Arminiuß VambSry, tho well-known Eastern trra-reller and writer, is busy on a new book—a record of Turkey, as sho is today, from notes made on the spot. A dispatch from Shanghai says: It is announced that tho daughter of the Empress dowager's brother has heon selected as the consort of the Emperor of China.

The latest woman's olub is a New York organization. It is called "The Kindly Olub," and its object is the suppression of •« evil speaking, lying, and slandering."

A band of 30 armed Turks made a raid, on November 13, on the Servian town of Beski. Tho peasants rallied and offered a determined resistance. Many wero killed on both aides.

Marriage must bo a failure among tho Russian peasantry. Upon a convict ship conveying women only to Sagalien, 2. r » per cent of the prisoners had beon convioted of lolling their husbands.

The beautiful Countess of Dudley has ineured her life for £100,000, for tho benefit of her younger children. This is the lady who set the faahion in England of sleeping between black-silk sheets.

A lady teacher, at Streator, 111., U.S., •was knocked down by an unruly malo pupil. November 14th, and kicked in the breast. Sho died a few minutes afterwards from hemorrhage of the lungs.

In Scotland there tiro 750,000 people who havo no church connection of any kind, and a Glasgow clergyman says that tho want of sociability among tho members ono of tho chief causos that keops people away from the church.

Tho longest word in tho English language is not ' smiles,' although there is a milo between tho first and last letters. Tho longest word is " beleaguered,' with tho equivalent of three roilos between tho first and last syllables.

Sir Charles Youngo's play in tho stylo of his Jim tho Penman which was left unfinished among his papers, has, in accordance with the wish of the dead playwright, been completed by tho dramatist Wills, and is now ready for production.

Tho Belle Poule on which tho remains of Napoleon wore brought from St. Helena in 1840, and which had been carefully kept as a curiosity at Toulon, wan lately pulled from her dock and towed to Castigneuu, ■whore she will bo hrokon up.

When tho law passed it year ago, which calls for tho creation of cloven now regiments of cavalry, shall be fully met, the French Army will count eighty-nine regiments of mounted soldiers, twenty-six more than wero enrolled in 1870.

Uncle James—This is the first timo I havo seen you since you were graduated, Penelopo. Did you get a prize ut the commencement 't Penelope—No, uncle; but I danced every sot at the ball, and that is more than any of tho prizo-winnors did. — Life.

Tho smallest steam engine ever made has just been completed, after two years of labor, for the Paris Exhibition. It is composed of ISO pieces of metal, is a shade under three-fifths of an inch in height and ■weighs less than one-ninth of an ounce. A watchmaker made it.

A company is being formed by a group of largo Russian capitalists for the construction of docks in the principal ports of the empire, and of shipbuilding yards. It is proposed that the capital shall be 100,000,000 roubles, and that the head office of tho company shall be established at Kieff.

True Enterprise—" John, show thiß gentleman tho door," said the lady of the houao. "Thanks, John," said tho bookagent, cordially, " but you needn't troublo yourself. I saw tho door as I came in. Now, this work, madam, is "—The lady Vought tho book.—Harper's Bazar.

Bishop Vladimir, of tho Greek Church in America, has tho largest diocese in tho ■world. It includos all North America to Buenos Ayres in South America. The Bishop lives in Sitka, but spends a good deal of his time in San Francisco. He is now visiting his North Ainerioan diocese.

Miss Marie Tietjens, a nicos of the famous prima donna, will soon enter the musical profession. She has been studying in Italy and France, but her present professor is Mr. Caravoglia. Miss Tietjens, ■who has only just turned 17, is said to bear a striking resemblance to her aunt at the same uge.

Much of the so-called ivory now in use is simple potato. A good sound potato, ■washed in diluted sulphuric acid, then boiled in the samo solution and then slowly dried, is all ready to be turned into buttons, poker chips and innumerable other things that ivory was used for ouco upon a time.— American Analyst.

The Minister of Muscovite railways has issued an ordinance that in future passengers who play at cards in the carriages will bo " judinally pursued." The Russian railways are infested by yrcc« who are not alwiws Greeks, and they manage somehow or other to bo generally richer upon leaving a train than upon entering. When a reporter at Columbus, Ohio, aßked Judge Thurman who defeated the Democratic party, the old Roman took down a morocco bound volumo and solemnly read tho story of " Who Killed Cock Robin ?" to tho astonished scribe. " Now," said tho Judge, with a twinkle in his dexter eye, " you know my opinion. I haven't varied from it once." Miss Jane Harrison, the first lady candidate for a professional ohair at the London University College, is, in spite of vast erudition and fame, a very pleasant and quite unaffected person. Miss Harrison is a graduate of Newham College, her lectures on Greek art have been widely praised, and her knowledgo of Greek is admitted by scholars to be exceptional. At tho desiro of the Italian Premier, Signer Mascharoni, the well-known composer and conductor of the Teatro Apollo, of Rome, has lately been visiting Germany for tho purpose of studying the general working and artistic management of tho leading operatic stages of tbo Fatherland. The maestro is said to havo returned to his native country full of praise of the institutions with which he hasbecomo acquainted. It comes as church news from England that the Bishop of Ely will hereafter license his deacons to preach only one original sermon a week, on the ground that a young man inst entering the ministry cannot with justice to himself or the subject prepare more than one subject a week. Ho thinks tho people will be tho gainers, as thoy hear two good sermons a week, ono original and one selected, instead of two poor original sermons.

Jiondon's famous preacher, Hhe Rev. C. H. Spurgoon, says that he is always premring .his sermons, reading and thinking, but the specific preparation begins at 0 o'clock on Saturday evening. His great difficulty is to find a text, he having preaohed so many sermons in tho course of his life. His published seiinons fill thirtythree volumes, and these he keeps on a shelf near at band, so that he may look back and see that he does not repeat himself.

Indian railway roturns show that in 185-1 20 miles only wero open, in 1874 there were $216 and at the present time 14,191. The separate lines had increased from 26 in 1874 to 50 in 1888. During the same period the capital expended had grown from £131 000,000 to over £183,000,000, the passengers from 44,000,080 to over 96 000,000, the tonnage carried from 8 775,000 tons to over 20,195,000 tons, and the gross receipt* from £11,952,590 to £fj,450;835.

A ourkras phenomenon' was recently rerelated by M. D'Arsonvalbefore the French | Academy of Medicine. After gazing for a few seconds on an arc light of intense brilliancy, he suddenly became deaf, and remained so for nearly an hour and a half. Surprised and somewhat alarmed in the first instance, hut reassured by the disappearance of the symptoms, he repeated the experiment with the same result. When only one eye was exposed to the light no very marked effect was produoed.

In connection with the Paris Exhibition it has been resolved to set apart a sum of £10,000 for illuminated fountains and waterfalls similar to those which were displayed in connection with the London exhibitions. Permission was also aocorded for the establishment on the Champ de Mars of Turkish and Indian cafes, of an English dairy, a Dutch bakery, a Javaneso cafe chantant, an Annamite theatre, and, finally, a chess tournament with living pieces. The human chessmen will be manoeuvred under the trees on the borders of tho Esplanade of the Champ de Mars.

The following estimate has been made of the average yearly produce of wine in the various wine-producing countries of Europe. The figures represent hectolitres of twentytwo gallons each:—France, 45,000,000; Italy, 27,638,000; Spain, 25,000,000; Austria-Hungary, 14,000,000; Portugal, 4,000,000; Greece, 2,500,000; Germany, 2,130,000; Southern Russia, 2,000,000; Switzerland, 1,280,000; Servia, 700,000; European Turkey, 000,000; Roumama, 336,535. Thus the total wine produced in Europe may be fairly estimated at 125,084,335 hectolitres, equal to about 2 752,00 C,OOO gallons, which at six bottles to a gallon, is 16,512,000,000 bottles, or about four dozen bottles of wine to each inhabitant of Europe.

A curious Thibetan muskot or matchlock has found its way from Sikkim, where it was picked up after a battle, to Calcutta. It is described in tho Indian papers as of primitive design, although comparatively new. It is a smooth bore muzzleloader, mounted on a long, narrow stock. The barrel is fitted with a double-pronged rest, the points of which aro shai-ply shod, so that the reßt itself may either bo placed firmly in the ground or used, if necessary, as a bayonet. Tho contrivance is ingenious, and tho weapon is not. altogether to bo despised. Attached to it is a belt, on which are strung six hollow wooden plugs for powder charges, and a small horn for priming powder. Tho workmanship of the whole is very rough, and there is scarcely any attempt at ornamentation.