General News.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4512, 21 June 1883, Page 2

General News.

iM r John Bright w no beh'tver in the noble dream of Imperial federation. \*fl« maintains that with colonies at, tho ot&er ■ side of the world growing rafmtly iv popu* lation, growiug not less rapidly in wealth, growing in all the instincts, of country *nd of patriotism, the probability is—navl-the certainty is—that such a state of things tends, by an unalterable lair, to a disposition to self-government uncontrolled by a country, howerer much respected, admired, and loved, which: is 10,000 or 15,000 miles away. An Indian rajah, whose ideas of /the. luxurious arson an Oriental seal eof magnifieenco. has obtained a new bedstead which is really a wonderful effort of art. Immediately the bed feels the weight of . the rajah's form it bursts forth into melodious selections from Gounod's most tuneful operas, and lest evow the ftupkn ; music from " Faust" may sometime* flik ' to soothe his navage breast,, «t the four corners of the bed are placed four life* size female automaton figures, which, on being wound up, fan their-, luxurious master, and at the same time, if the details are correct, make eyes at him in the most languishing manner. The International Fair" held in aid of the building fund of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, realised gross £8621, and net £6017. Bankrupts have a hard time in China. The broker of the silk firm of the £*d Peacock shop of Shanghai, wljick has suspended payment, was walking is* the street, when he was set upon by fc'CfOjrtl of bankers, creditors of the firm, wlra carried him off to a house, where they hung him up by the queue, so that his feet were off the ground, and otherwise maltreated him. The man wasreaeoed, but as appears to be usual in such eafes, the bankers stated their intention, if'th* ma.) came into their power, of biting him to death, and eating him afterwards. An old farmer, A. J.. Wing,.., was frightened to death at SomerriUe, Ohio. The boys knowing he was hi mortal-fan-eta negro who threatened to shoot him, for a practical joke, had one of their number concealed nekr where'he wa% passing and fired a shot... Wing raa a short distance and dropped d«ad..-A verdict of died from fatty degeneration of ■• the heart was found at the inquest. "A story of Mark Twain and Sergeant Ballantyoe is told as follows:—Shortly after the English barrister arrived here he wrote to Twain for some special pi«a«r <rf information. The humorist for#qt7tp answer, and Ballantyne, after wailing awhile, sent him by mail a sheet of pap^r and a stamp. In 'course of time ho re~ ceived the following response, written on a postal card: " Paper and stamp received. Please send an envelope. Mark Twain," The joke has an antique flavor. whiehfd«t only verefies the suspicion that Mark really worked it of ou the unsuspecting Englishman. > 1

What the beat time to ntd the book of nature ?—When spring opens the ItiVb'i Mid autuuia turns them.