HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Record, 1881-02-04, Page 61
14;c! 11 the Tyra
Cn&1i0I8.A,rm esLApte opt IlurrX 1(},-.'At•SR,
Rfiet xa Aweedd rapsaxiTs,
Corinthia (Austria) Cor. Chtcave Timed
In the veeluded valleys of the Austrian
Tyrol, as this region is 'sometime/1,9410d; the
sports and recreatious of the people are in
strict accordance wit)i the spirit of by -gone
days which characterizes the stanchold race -
dwelling in the recesses of these almost in,
ncceesible mountains.. Living in a country
lying between two of the lowest paesots, of
the Alps, which formed the chief highways
between civilised Italy end rough Germany,
and oonstauly crossed by victorious or"de-.
Mated armies marching to or returning from
Italy, they have preserved a aturel, war-
like spirit, fostered by their tradititional and
steadfast attachment to the ruling house of
Hapsburg. The gentry and /superior class of
peasautly and mountaineers are very fond of
target•shoating, which almoat invariably
follows their weddings, dances and merry
makings, which usually continue throughout
the day and night. The targets are placed
at a distance of about two hundred yards,
and omelet of a fixed bull's-eye and rings, a
figure of a,, deer atrest and a 'c running.
stag." This conaiets of the wooden figure of
a stag, rigged up by means of a huge pantie -
Juin in such a manner that when loosened it:
darts across an open space eight feet in
width, between tall and dense bushes. The -
pace at which this imitation stag traveled
was about equal to a living specimen in full
fligeht,,aind the target, set, over the region of
th
heart, must be hit while it pasaeq.this
space, a momentous feat, considering the
speed with which the object passes;' but I
have seen it done several times rn succession
by these expert riflemen.
A LOVE OF THE CIiABE
seems inherent to this hardy people.. I have
already given a description of stag and chs:
moil hunting, and limited sport is furnished
to the intrepid hunter by several varieties of
game birds. Among these are' the black
cook and the golden eagle. The Week' cock
(tetrad telrix) belongs to the grouse /species,
and the sport requires. great hardihood and
patience, and an accurate knowledge of his
peouliarities. Like the pinnated grouse of
the prairies, he is polygamous; but,unlike
them, is shot during the pairing season, the
hens being carefully spared. The descip'-
tions the hunters give of the love-aiek bird'
strutting and gamboling around the base of
a tree for the edification of- the henswho
crowd around their lord and master are In.
dicroua in the extreme. His lone song,.
which„cousists of three distinct notes repeat-
ed cogstantly at More . or .less regular inter-
vals, is frequently his ruin, for in the midst`'
of- his;ecstacies,. during. the execution of; the:
third note, he is insensible to. danger, and
becomes an easy prey to `the .rifle of the ex
pert huntsman. Of. courseeif you -adopt -the
English idea of sport you can build a minia-
ture hat er blind of bushes in the course of
the day, close to the tree selected by the •.
jealous old cook for his morning song, pa
tiently await the advent ofthe genie, :and
•then murder him in cold blood. But this is
far different frcm the genuine sport, where
foot and"hei d; eye and ear, are oil t
to take advantage of any indiscretion of your
quick-witted opponent. • it is a contett,be-
' tween the acute intellect of the featherless.
biped and the keens instinct of hie feathered
prototype. The golden eagle (aqula chrysac-
los), the ti ex of his race occasionally is occasion y seen
• circling around his eyrie amopg the lofty
crags, and his young are sometimes captured
by the intrepied hunter.' They are of.im-
mense size, sometimes measuring eight feet
from tip to tip of the • wings; and are the
greatest foes of the chamois and roe buck,'
as well as the farmer's stook of young pigs,
kids and lambs. I had the pleasurable ex-
citement •of seeing one. of" these rapacious
birds carrying off a young chamois, Which he
had swooped down upon with resistless fur-
ry, and by the mere force of the concussion
hurled down the 'abyss, at the brink of,
which it happened to be feeding, Several,
times the great weight of the.prey -obliged
him to loosen his hold upon. it while circling
at a terrible height over ravine and peak. As
it fell the eagle darted after it, and catching
it in his claws, and sinking thirty or :forty
feet by the mere ?impetuosity of his down-
ward• flight, he spread his mighty wings to
their widest extent and resumed his circling
ascent, with his prey firmly clutched in his
strong talons.
TRE WEDDINGS OF TUE rE•$se&NTEY
are solemnized in the, chapel, after the usual
form of the Catholic Church, but there, are
some observances connected with them
which have a character, of their own. One
of these consists of presentation of money to
the newly married couple by each person;
be It man, woman, or child, present at the
wedding.The gifts are received by the
godmother of .the• bride, the Mother never
being permitted to be present at any part of
her daughter's wedding: The".name of the
donor and the amount of the gift is carefully
noted down by a brother or other, relation of
the bride, and when the giver marries he
expecte the exact amount of his•gift to be.
returned by the bridegroom. The gift is•
never less than two donne, aboutone dolloi
one of which is to pay for the suliper.
Sometimes articles. of household furniture
are presented, and in some remote valleys
the custom still exists of each of the discard-
ed lovers of the bride Irretenting her with a
cradle. Thus, a rustic belle who has for .a.
series of years held her court in her auntiner
palace, the A.lp•hut, will sometimes find a
half dozen of rough'cradles at the front door
on the morning•after the wedding. But the
most comical feature of all occurs when
guest after guest stands forth and in rough,
improvised rhyme and song, accuse the bride
or bridegroom of any queatiohable incidents
in their lives, and tells tales of former sins,
accompanied by much laughter aid shout-
ing, They are usually assembled at the
house of the "wirth," or landlord of the
village, and dance the day and nigh away,
fortified' by copious potations of beer •arld
• numerous huge dishes of " speck," bacon;
"knodela," bails of dough fried in lard, and
"smarn," flour, water, butter and salt;
The dance is the universal vitae, varied by
an.occasional independent "hoe-down," by
some of the strapping fellows, who perform
some strange gymnastics. I have seen ono
suddenly spring up from the floor and drop
with a thud upon his knees, and then with
folded arms throw his. head back and strike
the hard boards with three or four sounding
raps, and then regain hie feet with a sudden
spring,. without touching the floor with his
hands --a feat that many au athlete of re-
pute could net. imitate. All this time .their,
buxom partners are ciredinground the wennalone,eoquettishly spreading out their short.
but, ample shirts, and encouraging their
Partners . to still greater exertions. Tho
music is generallya trombone, ass bora and
flute, frequently aecompanied by the
"zither," which to Many cultivated ears is
the mist charming musical instrument in
existence.
In some districts of the Al$e:
A rRNA$ LAW
of inheritance prevails, by which the eldest
son of the peasant succeeds to the ownership
of the few acres of land possessed. by the
father, encumbered by a mortgage to each
of his brothers. .If he can not, by dint of
the greatest economy and care, pay off
mortgage after mortgage, his property is
sold and hie children become paupers.+• The
girls are provided for by little savings of the
parents and. themselves, The opportunitiee.
for acquiring . wealth are few indeed, still
we find an occasional peasant owning a
pretty piece• of land with a comfortable
house and well Built and roomy barna built
of stone.: and, perhaps even the little church
in their .immediate vieinity. .Formerly a
municipal regulation in many rural districts
compelled a man desirous of entering into,
'the holy bonds of. matrimony to prove a cer-
tain • income, and also. be the ow,ifer. of a
house or homestead of seine kind, before
the license was $ranted. , Very recently only
has tho`Austriau Governinent annulled this
law, presumably from the fact that this re-
striction clauses a low state of morality
among the solitary young people of the
distant peaks "and glens of this picturesque
country..
Altogether, the inhabitants of these se-
cluded regions afford interesting. means of
philosophie etudes, 'far superior to those
afforded the tourist by the potter, speaking
imperfect English,:' at the average. hotel re-
commended by the guide book.
Russian Sampio-Rooms.
(London Globe.). •
The. enemies of licensed viotualers in Eng-
land should, if they desire a few holm' sin•
core gratiniation, take a trip to St. Peters-
burg, where the kdbacs, or small taverns, are
dealt with in a high-handed way quite pee •
culiar to the dofniuions of the• czar, These
places of entertainment had, as the .d=elves
explains, immensely increased in Russia
until about six' yearn ago,. when the authori-
ties. suddenly resolved to take.them in hand.,
Between that time and• this they have ac-
cordingly diminished the number from 1,100;
title=;: a reeitlt.'whieh speaka.volumes
the sanctity of vested interests in the Rue
sian official mind. ' But.with the reduction
iu blather of these houses, came a result
which.was not Quite ,so gtatifying in 'a' po-
cuniaryas'inan ethical:point of view.. The
army of . drunkards which offended the eyes
of: moralists' • in the capital o£ Holy Russia,.
did certainly dwindle in 'a roost undeniable
style; . But then, the excite- receipts in. the
treasury fell Off .also in like proportion, -ant
leo;' alert during:theelait-thiee-yeatreetleagetliedmite
ister of finance has not been exactly in a:
position to acquiesce very cheerfully in mesh,
a toss.. of revenue, . • • Consequently, as the
kabaas vanished,.: the small hotels multiplied.
in. a corresponding ratio, :and: the loves s'of
strong'drinks were also encouraged by find -
rug a mian'trty of now retail'. stores where
theymight buy their favorite potations, and.
carry them off tobe discussed at home. The
habac, thus persecuted and drivenodt of the
field,. threatens t) •beeotne • .before lone a'
rather rare relic of .the past, and it rely in
future time be interesting to remember' what.
were its distinguished, peculiarities. The
principal articles cold: at the counter there.
are bottles of beer, which -cost from 4d to 5d
each, " measures ":of eau•de-vie,`containing
as much as three liqueur girt/tees, and casting
3 d; and. in the way of catebles-iiothieg
more epicurean than bread and salt;' ` This
frugality is not; the result of any aawilting,
nese on the part of the tavern-hilerpers to
encourage the idleness of • eating; feat is im-
posed:upori them: by an order of the govern=
meat., Another 'rule which is exactly op-,
posed to the policy of .our English law- le
that no kabac may provide its guests
with seats, This. restriction'.is. 'however,
evaded, by the simple process of sitting on
the floor `while 'the prohibition as to/selling
food is fh.tstrated by the presence of coster
mongers and basket -earners, who bang about
the. doors and provide the drinkera with
various delicacies,• in the Shape of herrings,
onions, butter, egge, and potatoes. ;' •
Sudden .Checkiug of Perspiration.;
A Boston merchant in " lending a hand'
on board of one of his ships on a windy day,
found himself at the, end of an hour • and a
half pretty well exhausted and. Perspiring
freely. He sat down to rest, and engaging
in conversation, time passed faster than he •'
was aware of. • In attempting to rise, he
.found he was unable to do so without assist-
ance. He was taken home and put to bed,.
where he remained twoyears;• and for a
long time afterward could not hobble about
without the aid of a crutch.' Less exposures
than this have in constitutions not so vigor-
ous resulted in in&amation, of the lungs.-
"pneumonia "—ending in death in less than
a week, or causing tedious rheumatisma to•
be a hoarse of torture for *lifetime'. Multi-
tudes of lives Would be saved every year,
and anincalculable amount of human suffer-
ing would be prevented, if parents, would
begin to explain to their children,at the age
of 3 or, 4 years, the danger which attends
cooling off too quickly after exercise, and
the importance of not etandrng still after
exercise, or work,'' ,or play, or of reinaining
exposed tothe wind, or of sitting at an open
window or door, or of •pulling' off any gar-
ment, even the hat or bonnet, While heated.
t
"Eye 'peeping" is the new game. Two
holes are Stade in a screen. The performers
stand behind it and place their eyes in the
holes, while the petsons in front guess to
whom the eyes belong. --[New York Herald.)
They have the same carpe, sonfeWhat;inodi.
fie&, out West. Eye bpeaera are drank,
a free fight ensiics, in which gouging pre*
veils, and then the person who sweeps up the
floor guesses to whom the gouged eyes be.
lohg.
Miserable. Fzince , Past and Present:.
' (slgravtiec). •
The Prince of Monaco was the relentless:
Bomba of a miniature Naples. His fathers,
indeed, had cheatised :the: people with
whips, but Piinoe, ammo eha4tieed them
with, scorpions. Among ether ingenious do.
vices, says M; Itendn, the Prince discovered
a new mode of exaction called the monopoly.
of cereals. Ile Made himetlf the sale miller
and cornfvotor of his dominions. Every ono
must eat the Priors/de bread, and. pax the
Prince's price for it. ' .Any person, 14 lone,
gasque or fogeiguer, whoa bought or eat of
any uuaet,horized deur was. punished by fine
had imprisonment. To make matters worse,
the Prince's cern was not only dear, but also
bad, the cheap.,st and vilest sweepings of the
Genoese, andMarreillais markets. Travelers -
passing thr,.ugh the country must leave their
sandwiches at the Prince's Custom -house ;
and Workmen coming to their daily work
from beyond :the borders could not carry,
their humble, luncheon in their pockets, to
the prejudice 'of our lord the Prince, his
crown and dignity. The skipper of some
little fishing bark who brought a few remain,
ing loaves from Nice er.Bordighera into the
harbor unconsuined was liable te harm hie'
vessel confiscated and, bo fined a round sunt
of money into the bargain. Every baker had,
to keep re register of the amount of bread
.purchased by each family and if the coq..
anmption scorned under .the .average, the.
Prince's gendarmes made a quiet domiciliary
visit in search of a hidden .trarrel suspected
to contain contraband flour, The poor wretch
found guilly of• eating untaxed bread, went
to =wises and his children to the dogs, Simi-
larly, Honore V, bad a monopoly of eduea-•.
tion. He established a college at Menton°,
and promulgated a law that ne one but his
own Professors: could keep a school or give
private lessons within the Principality.
Moreover, he instituted a complicated cattle
tax, hi accordance with which every peasant.
had to register at once 'the birth and sex of
every calf.or•lantb, on the day of its arrival,
and "upon /stamped Neter, out: of which, of
course, the Prince turned another honest
penny. If the oraaturo died; the fact must
be notified to the Pelice,.or else the family
were held to have sold it outside the bound,
ary line, without the knowledge and to•the
great damage of our sovereign lord. By
these and many like petty exactions, 1lonore,
V, managed to .pocket in 25 years (says M,
AdolpheJoanee) no fess a plum than 6,000,-
000.`,—a very reasonable remuneration for
the arduous task of governing 6,000 souls.
Had the office been submitted:to public, com-
petition. by open tender, no "doubt •many a
respectable provincial - Mayor would gladly
have undertaken .;ill the duties for a round
sum of 200f. a year Prince Florestan, his
successor, was•compolleii to abolish• the corn
monopoly;- but- still-stueir'to tire• oxher`
princely abuses. Acoordinl,ly, in 1843; as.1
haw already mentioned, the. better half of
his dometiqus, including Mentone and Boot
cahrunee,deelaresl themselves indesiendont,
and so remained till the French annexations
of'Nice. At that "period his highness. of:'
Monaco, always ready to look at, every. poi
=tiles= change in a commercial spirit, sold to
the Emperor his shadowy teudal rights over
las••ee for another lump sone of
--E1B- fiffd 'Mirrevclteil lieeover,'he ,obtained cave to
open his gaming tables ee the• Cassino,: and
so prepared the way for his present,Maga-
cent fortune. A'private• person who 'silent('
make• a living' by keeping .roulette.ttiblea
woilld; hot be looked neon with raver .in
general society.', but`.asiirinoa Florestan is'a
crowned head,. and the descendant of se.
many respectable: hereditary.plunderora, with
a pedigree reaching back to •a land: pirate of
the tenth century, we must not be guilty of
sacandaium magnetism by' calling him ugly
nam.e,.. So we wilt leave the poor blind old
Man unrnoleatesi in his. great white roomy
palace,' haunted only.: by -the ghosts. of the
ruined men who :blow their brains out at
Monte Carlo,• after •losing their last napol-
eon, at theapipallieg rate of .some' do,eri per
annum, eleinaecr is a beautiful little domain;
but still I" would not liketo stand id. the
Prince's shoes. •
PEARLS • OP !ROTH.
' It is the fear of things. which never happen
that causes half themisery from which we
A Thrilling Sketck.
A Lady'a Account of AA xndlaa Attack
ti Oise warm dam August, upon the bank
of the muddy Colorado, we children were
lazily sitting about on the ground, • Que
Sister was stringing' beads taken from an old
moccasin, and most of Om nun were sleep-
ing under the wagons through theheat of
the afternoon- There was a great, stillness
upon everything, save for the children's.
• chatter, and a heat rose from the ground
thatemote the eyes. Suddenly re was a
dreadful scream,echoed, re-echmulti.
plied ; then another, and: another, us when
one strikes the hand upon the mouth, till in
one second of the time the air seemed rent
and torn with yells. In juat that second
the close chappperal had beoome black with
Indians, who had crawled, serpent -like on
hands and knees, till, right upon us, in con-
cert they could leap into eight, They wore.
cloths upon their loins, and bad some teeth.
ers wound in their hair, with hideous paint
glowing ou cheek and breast. I gazed in
dumb amasement, benumbed with surprise,
and then I think I awoke to the excite-
went of the occasion. The woolenand
children,through. an air thick with- flying
arrows, were marshalled into one covered
wagon,- and there my mother wrapped us all
round with feather beds, .blankets and com-
forters. " I. do not think I was frightened,
not because of any precocity of courage
but because of a wild excitement that filled
rne,. T half,leaned upon the knee of my.
• tester. She said shewas conscious of n0
pain, she felt no sudden pang,; but some,
thing warm seemed, running clown her side,
and, looking down, she saw an arrow which
had pierced her flesh andeprotruded its flim
tv head from the wound. "Mother," she
exclaimed, "I am shot," and fainted. My.
mother, the woman whose spirit never
ed her in this or the dreadful trials which
suceeded this disasterous fight, put forth
her hand and drew the arrow backward
through . the wound. " It was while thus
supporting the head of the girl she supposed
dying, it, somehow' became known to her
that her husband ivus lying quite dead and
filled with arrows under the great cotton -
Wood tree round which the camp was made.
It was but a few moments .more till one of
the men spoke front the front of the wagon.
Said ho : "Our ammunition is given out.:
and we do not kuow but it may come to a
hand•to-h;tnd fight.' Get out the knives you.
have.iu tate bed ofthe wagon." Through
the backward march which followed it. was
even thewomen who rose superior to suffer-
ing and to'dangdr The men lost courage,
hope atid.spirit, but the women never. A
few moments, after the demand for the
knives, a =Methodist preacher, who had Betz-
ed,�iy lather's rifle, Rimed at the chief, with
tile-di/Mee
'qi inner ball depending from liia,oelt, and
saw him fall. In five minutes not an• Indian,
was to be Seen;; the living dragged with
them the dead as they wont. In:the mean-
time, under cover of the fight, , our great
herd 'of cattle had been marls to :swim the
river, and were eefely;eorraled in the Mo-
jave villages.
Hr
The :4bnse Of Trees.
A VIGORO S',PRQTEST-7F0M TIi0BL&8 iUGSSS'
Atx.tINST' FOREST 'imseet ATION, •
(To:raessee L ,tor to Lonsion Spocaator,):
•
There are few mareinteresting?x eriencca
.than a ride through these southern forets.
The scrub is to -low and thin that you can
almost always ece away for. long distances
atnong pine, white oak andchestnut trees,;
and every now and then at ridges where the
timber is. thin, or where a chimp of trees has
beau ruthlessly "girdled" and the "bare,
gaunt skeletons only remain standing, you
,nay -catch; glimpses, ofmountain ranges of
dif erontshades ot blue and ';green, stretch•
ing far away to the horizon. You can'.t live
many days up. here without getting to love
the trees even more, I think, than we de in
well-kempt England; and this outrage of
"girdling," as they :call it—stripping the
' bark from the lower part ofthe think,' go
that: the trees wither and die as they stand
—strikes one as a kind of household cruelty,
-as if •anman shtiulil.cut off or disfigure all his
wife's hair. If he wants a tree for lumber
or firewood, very good. , He should'have it.
' But' he should out it down 'like .a man and
take it clean away for some reasonable nee,
notleave•' it as a scarecrow to bear witness
of his recklessness and laziness, .: Happily
not much mischief of this kind hasbeen done
yet in the neighbourhood of Rugby, and a
:stop will now • he put to the wretched prac-
tice. There is another, too, almost as
ghastly, but which, no doubt, has more to
be said for.•it.. At least half of. the largest.
pines alongside of the, sandy tracks which do
dutyfor roads have a long, a in wound -in
their sides, about a yard from the ground.
This was the native way of collecting Cur-
pentine,•whieii oozed down aud•accumulited
et the bottom of • the gash ; but I rejoice to
say it no; longer. pays, and the cistern is in,
disuse. It must'be •suppreseed altogether,
but: carefully. and :gently; It,seems that,
if notpersistet in too long, the poor, dear,
' long suffering trees will close up their
wound, and not be much the worse,: so;1
trust 'hat many of the scored ppines,• spring
iag 40 ot 50 feet in the air before throwing
out a branch, which I passed in sorrow and
anger an mee &rst.long ride, may youtlive
those who outraged thein. Having got rid
of my spleen, excited by those two diabolic
customs, I can return tb our ride, which had
otherwise nothing but delight in it.
i -w
The largest lump of ambergris ever known
was in the, possession of the King of Tidore;
and•purohasod of his Majesty by the Dutch
East India Company, It weighed 182
-pounds. =Another enorrnous piece of 130
pounds, weight was found inside a whale
near the 'Windward Islands, and sold for
$2,500. The true ambergris, which is a
morbid secretion of the spermaceti whale,
gives out a tinges/lit smell when a hot needle
is threat into'it, and it also melts like fat,
lent the Counterfeit 'often sold instead of the
real thing does not present these features.
Men engaged in whale fishing aro on the
lookout for ambergris,- and. usually find most
of it 111 the torpid, stole, or very loan flail,
consequently it would appear to be, what all
Medical practitioners say it is, the product
of a diseased liver.
Tin than who Was Cured by the mesmerist
says he was trance -fixed.
There is nothing in the world more beauti-
ful Or more helpful than a faithful` friend,
and nothing more difficult to find.
• It is a' -great pity that some people grow
bitter as they•grow old. It seems as though
the more teeth they lose the more they want
There is nothing ae siren as habit; It is.
told of 'a physician, who always" demanded
payment on the spot, that hewas so par-'
ticalar that when he per scribed for himself
he us3d to take 'a. guinea 'Mit of ono pocket
and put it' into another.
There can be no poesible•harm in a good
natured laugh. Indeed, it is just as truly
A duty to look 'for the pleasant side of life,
and while looking to laughatthe rollicking
humor which it sometimes. displays :as it is
to see its mord serious and soinbre side. The
man who honestly believes that he is always •
watkiug through a vale of teara either has
the dyspepsia or else has got hold of the
wrong. end of religious conviction. The
poet says :-
This life is not all sunshine,
Nor is ityet all showers;
But storms and ca=me alternate, •
As thorns among the
And while we seek the rases;
The thorns full oft we sera;
StaI1 fetus, though they. Wound us,
BS happy as we eau, • -
MISt1VDERSTAND/NO.:.-A young lady went
to'd"drng shop and had a_prescription, filed,
"Row much is it?" inquired the young
lady. Ono and twopence," said the cleric.
But I have only one shilling with me,"
replied the customer; "can't you let the
have irfor that t" " No, ma'am ; but you
can pay ane twopence when you conic irk
again, said the clerk. Bat suppose I
wore to die," said the lady, jocularly.
Well, it it wouldn't be any great loss," was
the smiling response. And immediately the
smiling clerk gathered, from the indignant
hash of the lady's face, that he had been
misunderstood, and before ho" could assure
her that it was the little balance and not
her that would be no great lose, she had
bounced out at a go•as•you-please gait, .and
was beyond the sound of his. voice,
England's L,a'test• Postai Reform.
(head= Standard.)
It may be useful to remind the public that ;.
the new system ofissuiug money orders bas
now come into operation; Practically that
system may be described as one which will
enable even the poorest person to enjoy the
luxury of. drawing a check for small sums.
without having a banking account, 1'h an-,
other sense it may be described as a scheme
for fleeting a paper currency at the back of
which is the guarantee of rnoneypaid to the.
government for the purpose of meeting that
currency. Henceforth, instead of buying
money orders in the old fashion, one may
go to a poetof&ee and purchase a kind of
printed cheek—paying £1.2s for a £1 cheek.,
and, of course, small surra pro rata for
amounts under a pound. This instrument
is negotiable and may be passed from hand
in hand, just like the Scottish £1 bank -note.
Like it, too, it is"only•payable on demand
to the bearer, at a particular office' specified
on the face of .the document, but unlike it,
it is not payable at any time, in fact, it is
not payable if pre/misted three'months after
6ep
ate of issue. The now postal'order has
another advantage over the Soottish bank-
note, It can be ' crossed like a check; And
made payable only through the banker
mentioned in the " crossing." Altogether
the new scheme is one that will give the
publio greater faselities for transmitting
small sums of money than they have yet en,
joyed, and perhaps render it possible for the
postoflioe to work their money -order organi-
zation with greater profit than heretofore has
been derived from it. The only . questipn
that suggests itself in oaneexion with the
change is : Why should these new orders
not be purchasable as long as a branch post -
office is open fortraneaeting business
There is a good reasonwhy they should not
be payable after a particular hour, but
there le absolutely no more reason why they
should not besold on demand, at any hour
when business is being done, than why
etatnpa should not be similarly vended.
We hope that' Mr, Fawcett Will be able to
. repeal the absurd rule that limits thesale of
thethe'dneay:w orders to. certain specified hours of
•
Drunkeness in Germany..
(London TelogroplgT__
For many :centuries past the children:
,
Teat have endured with •placid. equanimity.
the scoffs And. jeers of . their neighbours,
whether of Latin or Slavonic.' extraction,
aimed at their beer -drinking proclivities ;
for they were 'hitherto comfortably cenvinc• - • •
ed that the assiduous ooersumption of malt
liquor was by no means ineompatable witha
high standard of national sobriety; On the "
other -}rand; among:77Co i5ineirtiri criefee-.of
British manners and customs. none • have
more bitterly or persistently denorinoeil the.- '
practices. of tippling and dram..driuking, as
vices peculiar to the 'natives of these isles,
than have.German writers, grave as well as.
gay. The gin -absorbing capacities of English
operatives have aroused the righteous wrath
of many a Teutonic journalist, in whorl° corn.
mente.upen"his own countrymen's amazing
•-featevin the•way-of.-swallowing-sevea•ur Birch
gallons of ale. at a sitting his readers might
an vain searcb.for any expression..of,`con. ".
deinfietion, : :Ix would appear, however,'that
whether.; or not. the Germans .of .times past ._ ,...
were justified by facts in laying claim to be •
a conspicuously sober people; the Germans
of. to -day' are, unquestionably open. to the -
seine reproach that they have. been . sceus-
tomed.to, lavish in such profusion upon Eng.
lishmen, We .learn from .Berlin that so
enormous hail been the Moreno ` of "exces-
sive drunkenness" within the last few years
that the Imperial Chancellor has just sub-
mitted to the Federal Pouncil.a bill devised
by him for the repression of a habit which
has . become a' national scandal," t hard
'times and cheap spirits are terrible promot-
ers of inebriety,.; and.' it is mere than"rob•
able that the severe 'trials through -which,
German agriculture;: commerce, and Indus-
try have - recently .passed, and the low
price at which corn and potato brandy, 'are
purchasable-. throughout the "'Fatherland,
•'may have brought about the deplorable pre. ••
valence sof drunkenness with which Prili'ce
Bismarck proposes to grapple: by exceptional
•legislation
•
Wheat -Growing."
Mr. Meohi, the celebrated;English Agri-
culturist, who died last December, writing
to the Nark Lane Express, amid,. those.,.. who
have witnessed his wheat crops duringthe
last thirty years mustbe convinced that on
poorest soils, such as hie, great wheat .crope '
can be profitably grown, :under the needful •
conditions, one of them being selected seed ;
and this he obtained in all his cereal' crops
by a powerful blower, which, being,used af-
ter the ordinary dressing machine, leaves
only the heaviest ands meat;. powerful ter-
r
nolo, Alter doing this, onc•is 'surprised at . .
-the large number of imporfect corns that
have been blown out. He has grown his
largest crop of wheat, . over seven quarters
per acre, on several occasions on those per. ..
tiaras of the field bowie or rather dibbled,
With one peck per acre, on kernel in each
dibble bole. Wheat crops require a very'
highly fertilized soil, for, owing to its root.
formation, Liebig tells us, that, in . order 'to •
produce ono full wheat crop, there meat be
be.
within ieach of the roots, the manure ole--
nronts of 100, wheat crops. •
Again he says, quoting Lieheg, although •
the land is not su{iicienti'y rich, or rnanured
to produce a full wheat crop, many rye crops
can be ;grown, and when these fail, oats,
which possess a greater number of roots and
more exhaustive power can stillsucceed af-
ter the rye fails. • If, then, we are. to grow
large Mops of wheat it must be by enrich-
ing our poor lands, by means of a more
abundant supply of immure. Laney can
never•be too rich for wheat, provided' we do
not overseed.
A number of English coal mines are being
worked wider the ocean. 1n Northumber-
land the net available quantity of,coal under
the sea is estimated at403,000,000 tons, and
on the Durham coast under the sea, includ-
ing a breadth of three and a hall miles with
an area of seventy.one square miles, 734,.
500,000 tons. The latter mine is in
a vein
of an aggregate thickness of thirty feet die-
tributed in six seams. Engineers are con-
sidering how itcan bo worked successfully
in the future,