SELECTED ARTICLES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 189, 28 November 1876, Page 3

SELECTED ARTICLES.

VITAL 'STATISTICS. Tho rate of mortality u 33.533.333 every year, 91,t>."V1 every day, 3.730 every hour, *"»0 every mtnute, 1 every second. The average duration of life is 33 years ; one-fourth of the- population die before the 7th year; one- halt* before the 17th. Only i in 10,000 reaehts the 100 th ; only lin 000 taw 6>th year. Married people live hmger than unmarried on-.>3, tad persona timber than shortened. Only (s"j persona in IfX) contract marriage. Only the eighth part of the population is tit to bear arms. Out! hundred years ago France traa the most populous Empire in Europe. At that tuna Kusata had but 17 millions *,f inhabitants; Austria, IS millions: Germany, t » millions; France, —i millions. Now the population of Russia is 76 millions : of Germany, 41 miitwiui : of Austria and Hungary, 3<> millions : whsle France has decreased to 3f> millions. EDITING A NEWSPAPER. Editing a newspaper is a very pleasant matter, people won't have it. If the type is too large, it don't contain enough reading matter ; if the typs? is too small, they can't read it. If we publish telegraphic reports, people say they are nothing but Ltu'.j; it' we omit them, they say we have no- enterprise, »>r sttppress- them ior our own political objects. If we have in a few jokes, they say we are nothing but ractleheads ; if we emit j»>fces, they say we are old fuaatfe. If we write original articles, they criticise and condemn them, preferring choice selections; if we make selections. people say we have either no bra n or are to<> ta/.y to till our columns. If we give a man a complimentary notice, we are censured for being partial ; if we do not, alt hands say we are a great hog. If we speak well of an act, people say we are afraid to do otherwise ; if w« censure, they call its traitor. If we stay in ottr office, and attend t»> business, folks say we are too proud to mingle with our fellows. 11 v. r e do not pay our bit Ist promptly, folks say we are not to be treated ; if we pay promptly, they say we stole the money. A BALLOON ATTACKED BY A BULL. On Wednesday, on the occasion of the Po'iee- fV#' at the Alexandra Palace, Mr. J. M< >rto«, the aeronaut to the company, together wtth Mr. Silvanus Tanner, made a" most successful ascent, and soon attained an altitude of feet, at which height they passed over the east of London into Kent, crossing the Thames no ksa than three times, fpott arriving near Ettham. they descended in a large meadow, and were just in the act of letting otf the gas when a tremendona bellowing was heard, and on looking in the direction whence the sound proceeded, a targe bull was seen rushing wildly towards them. Mr. Tanner, fully realising the danger of the situation, witEi great presence of inind, immediately seized thu two remaining hags of ballast, and threw them bodily out of the car. The balloo.* roae, but onty just in time to escaped the horns of the infuriated animal, who, upon seeing the balloon suspended over him, turned hist attention to the bags of sand, the contents of which ho s"on scattered in all directions. In this attack his horns came in contact with the grapnel rope, and the jerk releasing the grapnel, set the balloon free, but, atthe same time, threw Sir. Morton, who was attending to the ropa, out of the car. Fortunately, he succeeded in clutching the netting, and, with Mr. Tanner's assistance, was hauled into the balloon before it had ascended many hundred feet. The aeronauts sailed away for about a mile, when they found a safe haven in the grounds of Mr. M'Ewing, of Mottinghani House.

FELLO WCHAFFS FOUR-MILE RE COKD BEATEN.

The grounds of the Louisville Jockey Club were very much crowded on the 27th, thousands of t.ome people and sfcrnngeis gathering there to witness the famous Ten Brueck make his run against time. Fellowcraft made four utiles in 1574, at Saratoga, in Tinin. lOiaae. Since then it has been thought his" time could not be equalled, and tip to this occasion it has not been. Tae betting was about even last Tuesday evening, but to-day, with a ekar iky and a good" track before them, the people of Kentucky put their money oa trie horse, letting strangers look after the time. Add

was entered in the race w;fh Ten I3roeck, and in the send-off led hiui h dt a length. He soon took the 3econd place, however, and from ths.n on steadily dropped behind. The utile was made in very slow time—lutin. Harper, Ten Uroeek's owner, stood at the string and waved his feat to go on. The jockey complied, and

the second mile -was made in lmin. 4yL*cc., and the thi;ri iu lmi.i. At the commencement of the fourth mile Add Wfv< ,i eld?/.!! lengths behind. A new horse; now joir.-ri in the race, and, runr,:n_' Tt;> a'on:'.*;d" Ten Broc-ck, the two g.J" ped along t->gi;ther to i'iie quartermtte. when Ten Broeck shot forward, and wast never again behind. As he caine down the finish, the thousands, who had been as quitt as possible, now feeling that Kelly» craft's time would soon be wiped out, gave forth long and enthusiastic cheers. The last mile was made in lmin. the entire uistance in Tmin. 35|see, or three and threr-qr,alter seconds quicker than Ls'xingt:-'ii'ji i;•.tat New Orleans in 1855. M.\ Frank Harp.r was congratulated by hundreds, amid wild scenes of dancing, shout'.ng, hat throwing, &c. Willie "Walker rode the victor, and Bobby Swim was on Add, who, on the finish, was at the distance pole. An oiler of $120,000 for Ten Broeck has been rejected. BULLS OF VARIOUS RACES. It was a Scotchman who said that the butcher of his town only killed half a b-ast at a time. It was a British Magistrate who, being told by a vagabond that lie was not married, responded, " That's a very good thing for your wife." It was an English reporter who stated, at a meeting of the Ethnological Society, that there " were casts of the skull of an individual at diifurt-nt periods of adult life,'' though D'j.an Swift certainly mentions two skulls preserved in Ireland—one of a person when ho was a boy, and the other of the same individual when he grew to be a man. It was a Portuguesa Mayor who enumerated among the marks by which the body of a drowned man might be identified when found, "A marked impediment in his speech.'" It was an American gentleman who solemnly said one evening, " Parents, you may have children ; or if not, your daughters may have." It was a German orator, who, warming with his subjeck, said : "There's no man, woman, or child in the house who has arrived at the age of fifty years, but what has felt the truth thundering through their minds for centuries."