AMERICAN.

Colonist, Volume XX, Issue 2398, 8 June 1878, Page 5 (Supplement)

AMERICAN.

The Russian Minister has removed his residenoe from Washington to New York/in order to be in a more convenient position for the rapid despatch of business in the event of war.

Numerous letters have been reoeived from California, asking the price of> arms, and there is an impression that hostilities are probable between the working men and Chinese. A vigilance committee baa been'formed at Omaha, to suppress nightly robberies by tramps. Hundreds of vagrants were arrested one night. A Chinaman sued the Sheriff of San Franoisoo for IOO.OOOdoIs. damages, because he compelled him to submit to prison regulation by cutting his hair within an inoh of the scalp. He claims for loss of his queue, which demoralised and disgraced him in the eyes of himself aud friends.

Professor Aundre and a party of French astronomers are engaged at-Ogden, taking observations of the transit of Mercury. Three photographs were taken up to 1 'p.m., after which seventy-five photo« graphs were taken to the time of exit., The observations are regarded an satisfactory, and oonfirm previous observations. ; In view of the rumors of Bussia preparing a fleet on the Pacific coast to be ready, in the event of war with England,. the following despafcoh from Yokohama, Japan, which was received at New York, may have significance. It was received by a shipowner from the master of his barque, " Things look warlike here. I can Bell the vessel to good advantage j answer what you will take." Duff,, of Toronto, started from that place on lsfc. : May, to* walk a distance the circumferenceof the earth! He proposes to walk forty miles on ,eaoh working, day for two years, which will give him a day over what he requires to accomplish it. During his walk he will try to bring down the best records of various distances, arid will continue to walk in the principal cities of Canada and the United States, 'crossing afterwards to Paris, and then visiting the principal places of Great Britian, and the Continent. Henderson stands "six feet in his" stockings, "and is twenty-eight years old. I St. John's, in Canada, has been invaded by an army of tramps. They flourished pistols and behaved in a riotous manner. The appearance, of some of them led to the belief that they had: some. ; deeper design than mere disturbance. : '--. '■ ■' ■• • The Cuban, sugar ,ci op falls short bj_'nearly^4o,ooo tons of last year. ' " ' ' ;.,./'. John Rink,was hanged at San Frahoigco for the murder of a police officer named Cdbtes. The mur derer shot him dead becasue he arrested hisfriend.

\ A tremendous 'storm i in, the State"oflb#a'.demolished buildings and' destroyed - Jtxfe..; Houses were lifted from the ground and dashed into gplinters. . A Congress map, named -Douglas, .from- Virginia, charged with drunkenness on the floor of the :House, and with making a show of himielf, deniei tihe impeachment, and *ays he was Buflfering froni a "peouli»;r illness."

A resolution was favorably reported on in Congress, authorising a conference between the .United States, Great Britain, and China on the qaestion of Chinese immigration. - ; . ■ ■ A Catholic priest, Father Cuddely, created a sensation at Milford (Mass.), by denouncing in severe terms; the society of the; Ancient Order of Hibernians from the pulpit. He deolared all pews in the church held by them Vacant, and warned Americans against the Order, as Mollie Maguire disturbances in Pennsylvania might be repeated in New England. ; -. ;

Exciting Scene in-a Church.—A melancholy Bcene was witnessed at St Paul's Church, Clapham, during the service on Sunday morning. The Rev. Mr Barßfcon, a curate who had lately come to the Parish Church, officiated. During the earlier part of the service his wild and eccentric manner was noticed by the congregation, but. as it proceeded it was more and more marked. The first Psalm for the day, the 116 th, he read in a loud and excited: tone, and when he came to the verse, "The pains of hell gat hold upon me; I shall find trouble; and heaviness, and I will call upon the name of the Lord," he suddenly stopped v short, glared wildly at the congregation, and throwing his arms frantically around hia 'head, shouted out again and again, " I will call on Him! Yes, by Heaven, ,I will!}'. The people were seized with panic, and the ladies present rushed to the doors; while several gentlemen ran up to seize Mr Barston, who had fallen heavily from the reading desk to the floor. Kising; however, before they could catch him, he ran down one of the aißles behind the retreating congregation, and his running and shouting increased the alarm.* The screaming and shrieking were terrible. (Several ladies fainted. On reaching the door, he was seized by several men, who threw him on the door mat, whilst the sexton ran for a doctor. Here, however, he became furious, and made such desperate struggles to get away that eight people were required to hold him down, while at the same time he continued shouting out, " 1 will, I will call on his name, by God I will; 0 Lord, deliver me." A doctor, who had been brought from a neighboring church, soon arrived, and the poor curate, now grown considerably, weak, was put in a carriage and taken home. Several people

were hurt, though not seriously," by'befng crashed against the doors in coming out; but the scene was a most painful and terrible one. Mr Barston, on entering the vestry in the morning, told the sextoQ.he.had not slept for four nights, Jlnd seemed tinusually haggard and excited., He hau,.it is believed, been studying lately for an es;aminaiiion. ; ' , Thkowing- the Slippee.—The :ancierifc custom of' throwing an old ahoe" after a person is still in many districts believed to propitiate success, as in servants seeking or entering upon situations, or about to. ba married. But it may be questioned whether the old shoe has been thrown for. luck only. It is stated in Scripture that "the'receiving of a shoe was an evidence and symbol of rejecting or resigning it." The latter is evidenced in Denteronomy, 25th chapter, where the ceremony of a widow rejecting her husband's brother in marriage ia by loosing his shoe from off hia foot; and in Euth we Bee that "it was the cußtom. in Israel concerning changing, that a man plucked off his shoe and delivered it to his neighbor." Hence, "the throwing of a shoe afterabride" was asymbol of renunciation of dominion and authority over , her, by her father, or guardian, and the receipt of the shoe by the bridegroom, even if 'acbidental, was an omen that the authority was transferred to him. - I^.;^,

. Hours of Labor in the Good O&d TiMES.-r-The. " Statutes of; Laborers" => in England, JBnacted inl4j96, regulated theJjaura of work and meals. It provided that the hours of labor from March to September should be from five o'clock in the morhing'till seven in the evening ; that one hour should be allowed .to .breakfast, an hour and a'half for dinner, and half an hour for noorimeate. The hours, of winter labor were from?" springing of day" to dark, and. only one hour was allowed for dinner, the extol half hour at the meal being allowed only for sleeping fi-om the middle of May to the middle of August. This statute fixed the rate of wages. If any unemployed person refused to serve at ihese wages, he might be imprisoned' till he found sureties to serve according 'to -the statute. Although the prices of provisions advanced considerably in the succeedingitw.enty years, it does not appear that wages underwent any material-alteration^; a c,

A Natural Phenomenon.—-Hood, in his Comic Annual for 1830, communicated- the following vfrom a contributor :-r-" Sur, ; my wjfhad a tomb cat that dyd.;: Being aJtorture shell, and a' grate faverit, we had him berried in the guardian, and:for; the sake of inrichment of the sile I had the/carkis lade under the roots of & guzberrylbush. .The frute being:up till then of the smooth kind. But the next sesons; frute after, the cat was berried^ the guzberris was all hairy and more remarkabul, the catpilers of the same bush was all of the same.hairy descriptibn;" ,:;

A Lawyer's Toast.—Belonging, as he said, to the profession which had the reputation of being fond of fees, he offered :—

Fee Eimple, and simple foe, And all the fees in tail, Are nothing when compared with thee,

Thou best of fees—Female.. A windy orator in our legislature, after a lengthy effort, stopped for a drink of water. " I rise," said Bloss," to a point of order." Everybody stared, wondering what the point of order was. " What is it ?" asked the speaker. " I think, sir," said Bloss, "it is out of order for a windmill to go by water!"

Holiowax's Piiiis.—When inclement weather checks to a considerable extent the natural exhalations of the »kin, an alterative is required to jtxpel them entirely from the body through, some other channel. Holloway's Pills can be confidently recommended at the easiest, surest, and safest means of attaining this desirable end without weakening the moifc delioate or incommoding the most feeble. When, from frequent chills or impure air, the blood becomes cold and the secretions vitiated, these Pills present a ready and efficient means of cleansing the former and correcting the latter. By this salutary proceeding disease is arrested at its outset, its pains and inconveniences averted, and the nervous structures Bayed from the depressing effects entailed upon them by an illness.— Advt.

That Spartan virtue, fortitude, <;is v afforded, an admirable opportunity for its display, when the joints and muscles arorackod by the tortures of rheumatism. Few, however, can endure its pangs without wincing. The disease is caused by acid impurities in the blood, which inflame the tissuo which forms the covering of the muscles aad ligaments of the joints. Udolpho WoLFb'a Schiedam: Abojiatio Schnapps cures, this disease by cleaning the blood through the, Sidneyi. — Advt. Perfection.—Mrs. S. A. AhjEnt's Woeld's Haib Ebstokeb never fails to restore Grey Hair to, its youthful color, imparting to it new lite, growth,,and lustrous beauty. Its action is speedy and thorough, quickly banishing Greyness. Its value is above all others. A single trial proves it. It is not a, .dye. It over proves itself the natural strengthener of, the Hair. (The genuine only in Pink Wrapper), Sold wholesale by J?£Lton,.G-bim:wade, & Co., Wellington, Kempihoene, Pbosseb, & Co.,.l)unedin and AuokI land, and retail of all Chemists and. Perfumers I throughout the Colonies.—jiciuf. ~ ,_,';. .