Scissors.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), 3 September 1889, Page 4

Scissors.

•""' One thousand two hundred and sixty-six persons died from violence in New York during tho year ending June. The descendants of Rebecca Nourse, who -was hanged as a witch in 1622, had a reunion in Dan vers, Mass,, recently.

. A succession of. unusually frequent and heavy thunderstorms in Paris has led people to blame the Eiffel tower as the cause.

It has been found that a nickel-plated bullet will go through a man, where one without will stop short, anil England will hereafter nickel-plate all her bullets.

■ A century ago only 300 species of orchids •were known, and those very imperfectly. Now the latest authority gives the extreme number of known species as 10,000.

, .Since the ,flood receded an island near York, Pa., has become so densely, infested with serpents that owners of timber which has drifted there are afraid to go after it.

Among the revolutionary relics exhibited at Paris is the mask of Marat, molded after the death of l'Ami dv Peuple. The mask of Robespierre which is shown is thought not to. be authentic.

A new species of bird has appeared in the vicinity of York, Pa. It has a white cap, a red breast and a long tail. It eats voraciously of locusts, and oven the heads of ■wheat and hackleberry stalks.

The deaths caused by lightning in England and Wales from 1852 to 1880, as recorded in the returns of tho registrargeneral, : amounted to 546, of which 442 ■were of males and 104 of .females.

Col. F. D. Hitt, of Ottawa, 111., possesses some rare relics of the early French explorers of the Mississipi Valley. Among them are the camp kettle of La Salle and the Jesuit cross of Father Marquette.

An admirablo society for the help of bachelors has been started in London. The jprogramme is to provide persons who will sew on buttons, darn, mend, and otherwise care for the neglected habiliments of unwodded gentlemen.

A man with an artificial face has been attracting much attention at an English ■watering place. He had an artificial cheek, eye and palate, fitted by a surgeon of Bristol. He eats without the slightest difficulty and Bpeaks distinctly.

,- The Oriental presents which the Sultan of Morocco sent to the Emperor William, have been carefully examined by experts, who have discovered that, instead of being of eastern origin, they were manufactured in Germany and France.

During a short thunderstorm at Antrim, Tioga Co., Pa., two or three days since, 'lightning broke a telephone wire, turned one end back and welded it solidly, making a loop. It is said the weld was as perfect as any expert could have made it.

The City of Berlin is far ahead of London in telephonic progress, there being 10,000 subscribers. The entire net of wires iv the German capital has reached a length of 17,804 kilometers, and the average number of calls amount to 196,691 daily.

The Emperor of China has jiresented his bride with an humense tiara of gold, with a very lofty cap of Siberian sable, embroidered with rows of pearls and the feathers of the goldea pheasant. Twenty skilled workmen were employed for two months in making the head-dress.

At least 80 millions of pounds sterling are lost in Great Britain every year, according to the calculations of the London Stock' Exchange committee, through unprofitable speculations. The thrifty working classes are said to make, as a rule, the most of the ruinous investments.

A native company is being formed, says the Calcutta correspondent of tho Daily News, for the construction and working of a light branch railway in Bengal. The whole is to be in the hands of natives exclusively. Shares to the amount of more than one lakh of rupees have already been subscribed for.

It is sometimes the practice of tho colleges at Oxford and Cambridge to elect as their "heads" men who have been long divorced from University life, but have gained distinction in other careers. Tho headship of Brasenose College, Oxford, falls vacant in October, and tho fellows rather contemplate the election of Sir George Bowen.

A telegram from Sparta recently announced that the inspector of antiquities in the old Laconian town of Pilaris had unearthed some ancient tombs, containing a number of objects worked, in the best form of Greek art, ia gold, silver and precious atones, besideß several copper vu*es, all of great value. The historical museums of Athens are being enriched almost daily.

A romantic mountain railway from Alpnach to Esel, on the summit of Mount Pilatus, has been successfully inaugurated. The designs of the track and the locomotive are entirely new. > The incline is twice that of the Righi—namely, 48 in 100, and extraordinary engineering difficulties have been (surmounted. The ascent of 1,000 feet is accomplished in one hour and forty minutes.

A Chinese Imperial Decree, dated May 15, briefly notices a serious affair at Feng-hsien Hslen, near Shanghai. An officer and party of soldiers, belonging to tho salt adminitftration service attempted feloniously to carry off by force a quantity of salt lying outside the houso of a salt maker. The inhabitants of the place rote upon them in a fury and burnt them to death, 14lives iv all being lost.

Home valuable finds of antiquities belonging to the iron ago have recently been made in Norway. At Niitiero, on the Christiauia Fjord, there went found in a mound some bones, nn irou pot with handles, a sword 2ft 6in long, the handle having knobs of a yellow metal, an anvil, and a pair of smith's tongs. It is considered that the mound was at one time situated close to the sea; it is now some 300 yards inland. At Lttimig, -Swedon, a large number of similar articles were discovered iv two mounds.

There is, • c ays tho London correspondent of the ■ Liverpool Post, a famous club in St. James's ' street —perhaps tbe oldest in London—which contains among the " top shelf books" of its library, very valuable materials for the study of London life for the last 150 years. It is a volume containing a record of hots entered upon between members of the club—some of the records would not bear translation into print— throwing a lurid light upon the moral tone of the gentlemen of England in the latter half of the last contury.

A decision has recently been pronounced in the Court of Chancery which in of much importance. It is to the effect that a dividend declared by a compuny must, bo paid in cash. It cannot be applied to the creation of new shares, nor, as wo understand the tendency of the judgment, can directors allocate it to the writing up of shares. The principle involved is an equitable one. If a distribution of profits is proposed, it is unjust to the individul shareholder to deny him his right to receive his share in a manner.which will add to his income, and no majority of shareholders, however large, should possess the power to. withhold payment of the dividend in cash to the xuinprity.

Some curious lights have been thrown on the career of two pickpockets—a man and a woman—who were arrested with a batch of the light-fingered fraternity at Louchamps on the Grand Prix day. M. Goron, head of the Paris Detective department, discovered that the pair lived iv opulent style at Gennevilliers, outside Paris, as M. and Madame de Quitoinaire, retired tradespeople. They had a magnificent villa aud.garden, horsed, carriages, and servant,-*. In searching the hjuse, M. Goran, found a lurge collection of purses all under lock and key, and a heap of masks and fancy dresses. The pickpockets, having been questioned as to tho uses of the masquerading attiro and appurtenances, said that they wore them at the opera balls, where they made "most of their running" in tho thieving line.

On ouo occasion of the state visit paid by the Shah of Persia to the Royal Italian Opera in London, tho programme commenced with tho overture to " William Tell," followed by tho mad sceno from "Lucia," sung by Madame Melba, and Beethoven's ." Leonora No. o " overture, but these, items had been performed before the Shah put in an appearance. As the Shah with the Royal party entered tho theatre, the National Anthem and the . " Persian March " (which was composed by Signor.Via'nesi for the previous visit of the Shah)'were played, and the entire audience rose to their feet. Tho fourth act of "Faust," with Mesdames Albam and Scalohi, the brothers De Reszke and Mr. Lassalle'in the cast, was then given, and tho Shah was much amused with the mocking serenade of Mephistopheles, laughing heartily at it.- A short concert followed, in the course of which Miss Ella Russell sang " Caro Nome," Madame Melba tho waltz in "Romeo et Juliette," and Madame Nordica "Ah! fore o lvi" and its brilliant sequel. The garden quartet and Brocken scene from Boito's " Meiistofele"—chosen, doubtless, for the splendor of,its spectacle—brought tho programme to a conclusion. " . • ~

American' papers report the death in Boston, on the 17 th of June, of John Gilbert, an actor who, iv hia particular line —which was the same as that, of the first and second Farrcn—was without a peer in tho Uidt-jd StA.u.-8. Lin was what h> technically known as an " old man" in the American theatres at IS, and ho continued to play this line of characters for 00 years. When he first appeared as an actor Georgo the Fourth was on tho throne of England, and Charles the Tonth on that of France;

TalmS"was'-in"thei zenith "of"fes fame m Paris, and Edmund Kean was thrilling London audiences by the electricity of his genius in the greatest of Shakspeare's creations. John Gilbert's impersonation was presented at the Fremont Theatre, Boston, in 182S, and his last was in 1888, when he played Sir Anthony Absolute in conduction with v Mrs John Drew as.Mrs Malaprop, and'Mr Joseph Jefferson as-Bob Acres. His repertoire comprised 120 characters, and during his professional career he was associated with some of the most famous actors and actresses of his time, both English and American, includiug Maoready, Edwin Forrest, Ellen Tree, Charlotte Cushman, Tyrone Power, the Wallacks, the Keeleys, Blake; Placide, Warren, and Jefferson. Ten years ago his jubilee.as an actor was celebrated at Wallaok's Theatre in New York, when all that wejs most distinguished "in literature, science, art, and the drama assembled to do",honor to the veteran,,who had qualified himself to excel as an actor by., playing all sorts of oharac!ters outside, of that which nature and art had raadtt peculiarly his own. Thus, as he. once remarked, he had sustained every one of the parte in '' Macbeth " except those of the' Queen and the waiting gentlewoman, and all the parts in '[ Julius Cresar " except the "boy Lucius.