AMERICAN NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 433, 4 October 1869, Page 3

AMERICAN NOTES.

We are indebted to the Otago Daily Times for the following collection: — Petroleum is said to have been discovered on the line of the Pacific Railway. It is estimated that there are now 170,000 Chinamen in the United states. The wheat crop now growing is tbo largest that ever has been raised in the United States. Two Canadian presbyteri-s have voted that revivals are at variance with the Westminster Catechism. South Orange, New Jersey, has a newspaper, coiled the Budget, the editor of wh eh is aged twelve. The Chicago Journal au*urs favourably of the success of a female orator, " from the strength of her jaw." The intelligence enraes from I . wa that Mrs Bloomer has" abandoned her principles by again donning petticoats. The St Louis Times says that there are about 3COO opium-eaters in that city, and that they consume 13,320 grains of morphine daily. On an opening night at a Nevada opera house an enthusiastic admirer threw an eighty-dollar brick at the debutante. There are now morethan 1,000,000 people on the Pacific slope. San Francisco, not twenty-five years old, has 150,000 inhabitants. The use of absinthe is said to be increasing to an alarming extent in New York. Many of the bars retail it as they do other liquors. lowa plants every three years a forest of 5,000,000 trees, and within considerably less than half-a-dozen years 25,000,000 foresttrees have been planted. Jefferson Davii' plantations U now leased to one of his former slaves, who pays 10,000 dollars a year rent, nnd employs 150 hands to work it. No white man about tho premises. A New York paper says tbat nearly all the brilliant complexions seen among the fashionable women of that city are the results of eating arsenic. Since the introduction of the blonde fashion, arsenic eating has become almost a mania. The anniversary of the Declaration of Independence was observed as a general holiday throughout the United States, and was celebrated enthusiastically in the North, bat much ara'hy is reported to have been manifested in the South. The Lima Nacional says that the most extraordinary and unheard-of phenomenon has been discovered in the road of Locumba, worthy of being studied, and which appears to have been caused by the late earthquakes. Every beast that reaches a certain spot immediately falls dead. This has so often taken place that immense numbers of carcases are heaped on the spot. Enterprising impreaades may take a hint from San Francisco. Professor Morey gave

a concert in that city, and offered a premium of fifty dollirs t> the lady who should bring the greatest number of gentlemen in attendance on her. A fair creature nvide her appearance, accompanied by about a dozen cavaliers, bnt soon nfter a young lady entered triumphantly with a retinue o seventy gentlemen, ami the fifty dollars were at once awarded her. Another young la<"y, attended by sixty-one gentlemen, obtained the second prize. ""jkl'he New York papers of July Ist publish tlb^f olio wing despatch : — "* San Francisco, Tuesday, June 19. — Successful experiments have been made in thi* city with a working model of an aerial navigation machine. 1. not only ascended into the air, but was prnpel'ed in any required direction by the machinery, and it has the capacity for eirrying eight or ten persons, heing constructed for the purpose ot miking trips to New York. The inventor is confiJent that tlia trip cm be maiie iv 24 hours." A curious bet was mado lately betr/ecn two gentlemen of Montreal noted for the amplitude of their beards. One is an eminent Q.C., and the other, if not exactly a legal functionary, exercises control over an institution of justice near tlie foot of St Mary current. The bet was that the loser of the toss shou'd at once denu.le himself of his magnificent be*rd and moustachios. It was made in an idle moment, and promptly ac cpted. '1 he QC. won the toss iv two straight heats, and ih^ gaoler, utterng a cry of anguish, took a uin sling and rushed to the nearest barber's saloon. Dr Mary Walker delivered a lecture on " Pure Love and Sacred Marriage," some short time since at Washington. Tlie fair doctor was dressed in fashionably-cut troupers of neat checked green _>ilk, with black lace stripe, down the side, short dress of the sam^ material, reaching just below the knee, hand--Bome'y trimmed, with a heavy flounce. The costume was c >m;deted by a w. ite-laced collar, and embroidered bosom, neat-fitting gaiters, and a badge. " The doctor," remarks a Yankee reporter, " exhibited one of the failings of her sex in stopping to take one more Io >k at the glass, before she mounted the platform." A young couple were lately married in the bay of San Francisco, under rather trying circumstances. The girl's father objected to her marri.ige, but she was of legal &x.c. Dreading an interruption if the ceremony was couducted iv a church, the couple hit upon the idea of Irring a tug-boat, an 1 getting the minister on board Bnd putting outon the bay, and there have the ceremony performed. This was accomplished, and while secure from the annoyance of parents or the importunities of friends, the ceremony was begun, when suddenly a portion of the tug-boat's machinery gave way with a terrible crash. 'Ihe wedding p<rty were startled, and confusion prevailed for a moment. The tug was so injured that she could not move. A signal of distress was hoisted, and the wedding jarty finally returned to the i-ity. General Grant and bis family, ie will be remembered, narrowly escaped destruction through a railway accident at Annapolis. This event made a gre.'it impression upon him. The danger to his family affected him much more than the personal peril of many hotly-contested fields, and he declined all hospitalities uutil the impression wore off. The accident was brought about in a very singular manner. A cow wa3 struck by the engine whilst passing through a cutting, and thrown upon tbe bank. '1 bo engine, tender, baggage, and mail cars passed by, but the animal rolled down the bank under the wheels of the first passenger car. It was thrown off the line and destroyed, two or three succeed ing cars following it. The laSter part of the the train was not injure!. Sever ..l perjoat were seriously hurt, but none fatally. A New York paper publishes the names and incomes of about 1000 inhabitants of the 18th, 20th, and 21st municipal wards of that city. The figures are derired from the returns furnished to the Treasury, and the list comprises only those persons whoso incomes exceed £2000. Mr A. F. Stewart, the dry goods merchant, returns his net income at £600,000. There are thirty persons iv the receipt of from £20,000 to £30,000 per annum, thirteen who receive between £30,000 and £40,000, nine whose incomes range be tween £40,000 and £00,000, and one with £80,000 a year, Mr Delmonico, the wellknown restaurateur, is in the enj .yinent of £25,000 per annum; and Mr James Gordon Bennett, the proprietor of the New York Herald, draws £37,000 from that flourishing concern. The private detective system and its abu : es are shown up in the New York Times. It seems that there are several firms, and a large number of individuals in their employ, who make it a business bf studying the i.abits of young men in responsible positions, for the purpose of reporting them to their employers or partners in business. This is technically called '* shadowing." The officer, after getting a,l spot " on the clerk (seeing him for the first time) takes up a position near tbe latter's place of business shortly before closing-up time, and when the clerk conies out, he " shadows " him till he retires to his home for the night. When tho clerk enters a billiard-room or restaurant, it is the duty of the " shadow " to follow him in, if he can do so without being " dropped on " (noticed by the clerk), to see how much money he spends, if any; if so, finds out with whom, whether they are fellow-clerks or more disreputable and dangerous associates of either sex.