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Lyttelton Times, Volume XVI, Issue 927, 28 September 1861, Page 3

The Bowie Knife in the States.—So certain, indeed, is the bowie-knife to appear in the quarrel, that the great anxiety of a disputant in the South seems to be, always to strike the first blow. So much so is this the case, that, in a violent argument with a Memphis or Vicksburg man, it would be unsafe to scratch the back of your neck, for it is down the back that the bowie-knife is often kept; to pull out your watch, for in the waistcoat pocket often lurks the miniature derringer pistol ; to take out your pocket handkerchief from your coat pocket, because there is the den of the ' five shooter,' Indeed, it is the rule, when you quarrel with suspicious characters, rowdies, or gamblers, as one of them himself told me, to fire the derringer from the trousers pocket the very instant you have called your opponent " darned thief,'' scoundrel,' or flung whatever mud of curses and abuse you choose to pelt at him. If you do not, ten to one three bullets and a bowie-knife will be in you before you can draw your pistol and fire, and there you will be dead and gouged on the bar-room floor. To draw the derringer would be dangerous, but by firing it from the trouser or paletot pocket, you gain a move in the game ; and if the ' blue pill' go right through brain or artery, the result to your enemy is unrnistakeably ' check-mate,' or, as a rowdy would say in billiard room jargon, ' one love.'— Temple Bar. Never Tell a Lie for the sake op a Pigeon.— The following dialogue is reported between two boys:—" What do you think? My father the other day shot nine hundred and ninety-nine pigeons, with one barrel of his gun." " Oh, why didn't he say a thousand at once?" Reply provokingly: "Do you suppose my father would tell a lie just for the sake of one pigeon?"

Prince Louis of Hesse.—ln the sitting of the Second Chamber of Grand DucalHesse,at Darmstadt, a few days back, the Government gave notice that it should submit to the Chamber a bill for increasing the allowance to Prince Louis from 18,000 florins a year to 40,000, on account of his approaching marriage with the Princess Alice of England.

Two Clever Scribes.—A millionaire of Paris wrote to Scribe:—"My dear Sir,—l have a great desire to be associated with you in some dramatic composition. Will you do me the favor to write a comedy, and to permit me to add to it a few lines of my own? I will then hare it produced in the most splendid style upon the stage, at my own expense, and we will share the glory!" To which Scribe replies :—My dear Sir,—l must decline your flattering proposals, because religion teaches me it is not proper that a horse and an ass should be yoked together." To which the millionaire replies:—Sir,— I have, received your impertinent epistle. By what authority do you call me a horse?"

Death of a Centenarian.—Died at Killiane, on the 26th May, at the advanced age of 101 years, retaining his faculties to the last, Bob Bowse, huntsman. He hunted the Killinick harriers more than eighty years ago, and was so devoted to the chase1 that, although fast wearing to life's close, he took considerable interest in the account of the recent deer hunt. The gentry of the neighbourhood and a great concourse of respectable people followed the remains to the grave in the old ruins of Drinagh Church.— Dublin Morning News.