FACTS AND SCRAPS.

Southland Times, Issue 1948, 17 July 1874, Page 3

FACTS AND SCRAPS.

The Rev. Henry Ward Beeclier makes this reply, in the Christian Union, to a query as to whether it is wicked to dance : — " Ifc is wicked when it is wicked, and not wicked when it is not wicked. In itself it has no more moral character than walking, wrestling, or rowiug. Bad company, untimely hours, evil dirces, may make the exercise evil ; £oo<] company, wholesome hours, an ! home influences may make it a very great i benefit." j The world uses 250,000,000 p muds of I tea, and 718,000,000 pounds of coffee ! every year. China furnishes nearly nil the tea, and Brazil more t^an half the coffee. It is reported that the Society f>r the Prevention of Cruelty to animals recently bad a servant girl arrested for beating an egg that happened to have an unhatched ehickeu iv it. " Two sweet pledges of affection !" cried the nurse, addressing the anxious husband, on the stairs. " Ah," sighed he, " I was prepared for the pledge, but not for the duplicate." A Nevada paper, iv speaking of a deceased citizen, says — " He was a good man, but he had his little frailties, like the rest of us. He sometimes bet on the i wrong horse." I There ia something very sensible in the impromptu remark of a pretty girl : " If our Maker thought it wrong for Adam to live single when there was not a woman on earth, how criminally guilty are the old bachelors, with the world full of pretty girls !" The Point. — " "What would our wives Bay if they knew where we are ?" said the captain of a schooner, when they were beating about iv a deep fog, fearful of going ashore. " Humph ! I shouldn't mind that," growled the mate, "if we only knew where we were ourselves." Popular Opinion. — Laugh at it though we will, public opinion is our master. Its influence is far greater than is generally imagined; and as it makes our reputation, it is well that we take some thought of the impressions we leave, and show a degree of respect for the sentiments and cherished opinions of society. A large oyster-bed has been discovered off Shoreham harbor, about six miles at sea. The master of an oyster vessel trading from Shoreham was the fortunate finder. The oysters are described as about double the size of natives, and equal in quality. Tiiousands have been dredged during the past few days, and the oyster fishers have made quite a harvest. The selling price has averaged 10s a hundred. The following is said to be the form of oath in some western county courts — " Sommy swathytesmy you shagginkaae nowntril shabby truth nothin butty truth seppy gob wasby name." The first lady doctor in Holland has just passed her examination. The candidate was Miss Jacobs, and she has obtained her diploma at Groningen. The Commission of Sacred Archaeology at Bocae has just discovered, in a cemetery of Diomitilla, a relative of the Emperor Diocletian, a church of the early ages of Christianity. An inscription found in the excavation leads to the hope that in this spot the explorers will come upon numerous bodies of martyrs of the first century of the Christian era.