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In a case of robbery tried at Aberdeen, Scotland. recently, the prosecutor identi- fied a £1 note by the following couplet which had been written by a previous owner on the back of it: This came to mo in time of need And went away with railwey speed. An exchange states that Hachette 00., Paris. is the largest publishing house in the world. It employs five thousand persons, turns out a book a. day, and does a business of 83,000. 000 a year. Frank Harrington, of Springfield, Ohio, eloped with the pretty daughter of Colonel Doltz. One of the first per- sons the met on the train was Elder Knight, be young man's former pastor in Mayeville. Frank told the elder that he was looking for a clergyman to marry him, and the clergyman volunteered to do the job then and there. So, when the conductor came along, he was pulled into the seat as a witness, and while the train was speeding thirty-five miles an hour, the two were made one. A cable dispatch recently sent from Auburn, N. Y., to Australia, consisted of thirty-three words, and cost $64.98. The course of the message was as fol- lows: From Auburn to New York; to Heart's Content, N. E; to Valencia; to London; through Germany, Russia, Siberia, toNladiwoodstock, a point on the coast of Mantchooria; thence through the Japan Sea to Nagaski, on one of the Japan islands ; through the Yellow Sea to Shanghae, China ; thence down the coast of China through the China Sea to Saigon, Siam; to Singa- pore, Malay; thence to Batavia, on the coast of Java ; thence to St. Darwin, on the northern coast of Australia, and to Sydney. A Persian populace in not like a Euro- pean one. In Europe a monarch return- ing to his people after a lengthy voyage would be received by loud acclamations of joy and welcome, but when the shah recently landed in his own dominiona, on his return from his European tour, the people 01 the towns through which he passed merely bowed down their heads in silence. A monument has recently been erect~ ed in one of the Edinburgh cemeteries by Miss Burdette-Ooutts, of London, to the memor of a faithful dog. It sp- ears that t is dog followed his master’s ody to the grave, and after seeing it interred, took his position by the side of the grave, and could not be persuaded to leave it. For fourteen ears he re- mained in the churchyard. is favorite resting-place being the foot of his mes- ter's grave. Food was furnished him by the members of the family, and one morning he was found there lying deed, and his history being well known he was buried by his master's side. Miss Coutt‘s, on hearing of his singular his- tory, ordered the erection of a monument over his remains closely resembling the faithful animal. Foreign journals state that the total number of “recompenses” of all sorts to be accorded to the exhibitors in the Paris exhibition is definitely fixed at 29, 500. They will comprise 2, 600 gold medals, 6, 4003' silver, 10, 000 bronze, 10, - 500 honorable mentions. The number of exhibitors 18 53, 005. The celebrated “Keeley motor," which all the scientific journals have pronounced a fraud from the beginning, 18 now pretty well ascertained to be driven by compressed air, secretly in- troduced into strong iron tubes, which are thus “sensitized" before the ma- chine is shown. The present German parliament is composed of one fieldwsrshsl, one lieu- tenant-general, one colonel, one ambas- sador, seven ministers, eleven presidents of governments, seven councilors of gov- ernment, forty-one judges, five crown rosecntors, twenty - four barristers, {lites directors of provinces, fifteen landrethe (directors of circles), thirteen professors, eight burgomesters, four directors of gymnasiums (schools pre- paratory for the universities), five phy- sicians, thirty-four ofl‘lcers of various ranks, twenty-four clergymcn, twenty- six persons living on their incomes or their fortunes, 106 landed proprietors, thirteen authors and journalists, thirty- fOur manufacturers and merchants, one bookseller, one turner, one brewer, end one photographer. Among the members Miss Boo, of Dublin, had a wedding- cske eight feet high and weighing 300 pounds. It was ornamented with the arms or the Roe and Gordon families and six bnunemts with arms and mono- grams, and strewn with orange blossoms and myrtle. The Chinese in Nevada are becoming as good stock gamblers us my “ Meli- oan’ 'members of the traternityy. The Cincinnati Commercial says: “ Last year a family of seven persons. living near Wilmmgton, Ohio, by actual count consumed 1,165 pies. This is a hot and can be-substantmtod.” paper recently appeared this remarkable Item: “ The queen drove two cows yea- terday to visit the king and queen of Denmark at the Lisbume Home." For “ two cows,” reed ” through Oowea." A New Bodtord (Mum) minister has preached 8,000 sermons. He is nearly ninety year. old. Boys under sixteen who smoke in the streets of Ooblentz. Sunflouis and Tre- Vee are fined or imprisoned. In the “Court Newsfflqf on quliqh MELY TOPICS. In many parts of the country the no- tion has long prevailed that if horse hairs be placed in a brook and leftthere, the will after a time become endowed wit life;in short, that they will turn into hair eels. Very recently, a cor- respondence on this subject was pub- lished in the columns of a prominent flcotch newspaper, between an anonyâ€" mous writer and Dr. Andrew Wilson, of the Edinburgh school of medicine ; the former alleging thata friend in Shet- land had succeeded in efi‘ecting the transformation of hairs into “ hair eels, " the latter denying that any such “ spon- taneous generation ” of living beings was possible. The life history of the Gordian aquaticus, as naturalists name the hair eel, is perfectly well known. It passes the earlier stages of its existence as a parasite; lying coiled up within the body of an insect, such as the grass~ hopper; the worm exceeding its host many times in length. In this condi- tion it is immature, and has no power of reproducing its kind. When mature, it leaves the body of the insect and seeks the water, being found in summer at the breeding season in thousands in some: localities. There the eggs are laid in long strings, and from each is developed a tiny embryo or young gor- dius, which gains admittance to an in- sect host, there to lie quiescent for a time, and soon to repeat the history of its_parent. , Modern playwrights on the watch for a new sensation could hardly ask one more dramatic or more dire than the catastrophe that happened at sea not long ago, on the African coast. Two dozen boats full of Greek sponge fishers were getting water at Mandrouka, when a party at Arabs tried to make them pay tribute of money and food for the privi- lege. They were driven ofl' after a bloody fray, with their ammunition gone; but just then a contraband seller of powder came on the scene with his vessel. The fishermen hurried to him, and got his promise not to sell powder to the Arabs till after their own departure next morning. He gave the pledge, but then, reflecting what a good thing he had lost, broke his word, and landed a few barrels at midnight. The flslqermeri rushed aboard his vessel, volnble with reproaches, and, it is said, struck him. The enraged trader drew his revolver and fired into his powder barrels, when a terrible explosion tore to shreds the vessel and all on board. or the seventy Greek fishermen that so perished, fllty-flve were from the Isle of Halkis; the others were mostly Rho- dians and sailors from Oalymnos. cedure adopted to produce the hair eels. Thus, for instance, it would be an ab- surd supposition were any one to main- tain that hair eels could only be formed artificially from hairs. It is a perfectly evident truth and demonstrable fact that they reproduce their kind by means of eggs, and this fact shows us that they possess a natural method of reproduc- tion, and further, that the statement of any supposed infringement of a natural law should be received with caution and suspicion. â€"Scicntiflc American. The “ telegastrograph " is a hypothet- ical invention of startling'ncvelty. By its aid people can eat and drink at several miles’ distance from food and beverages â€"â€"-at least they can enjoy whatever deli- cacies are served, and even become ex- hilarated with stimulants. The modus operandi is supposed to be something as follows: A dainty dish is placed in a re- ceptacle connected with a powerful bat- tery. Wires are attached, corresponding to the number of guests invited, and of sufficient length to reach their respec- tive abodes. At the appointed dinner hour each guest places the Wire in his mouth, and immediately the full flavor of the dish is transmitted to him. More- over, a sense of repletion is experienced proportionate to the quantity of food consumedâ€"or rather the length of time the wires are held in the month... But, unfortunately, as soon as the wires are disconnected from the battery, the feast remains only a leasant memory, and the guest is as ungry as before the banquet, and as thirsty as ever. Whether viands and wines are consumed or not in this processis not on record. Such is the inventor’s dream. It is plain that in such a life-history there' is neither room not need for the supposition that hair eels are develop ed in an nnnntuml fashion, and at the will of mdn. The fallacy that hair eels are tmnsformed hairs arises frequently from imperfect observation; often from pre- conceived notions, and from an inability to perceive the unnatural nature of the supposition, oz: to reapon out _th_e pr_o- Mr. John McKeoman of .Norristown, I’m. has invented a wagon designed to run without steam, water or horse power, and has made application for I patent. Of the eight hundred persons suddenly submerged in the river Thames b the Princess Alice disaster, scarcely a ozen saved their lives by swimming. The reason is that at that place the river is little better than a mass of sewage. It regularly carries away the liquid refuse of the city of London. and at the instant of the collision there was being poured into It near the Intel spot the contents of two great ccespools. The immediate eflect of immersing a person in sewage, say the chemists, is asphyxia, and the eight hundred excursioniste must have become numb, and incapable of any efl‘ort. The bodies, when recovered, had undergone strange changes. Identifica- tion was dimcult. Clothing had changed color, and the decom )osition had been swift. Everything p0 nted to the action of some powerful chemical substance. are one duke, eight princes, twenty- seven oonuta, and 126 petty nobles. Hair E918. None of the fish were to be seen. Every tin of them had sunk to the bot- tom. Whether we had caught ten or ten thousand remained to be proved. Now lifting the net is no easy job. The weight of nearly ten thousand square yards of seine is alone immense, but when it is wet with cold sea-water, and held back by the pushing of thousands of energetic little noses. to pull it into a rocking boat implies hard work. How- ever, little by little it came over the gnnwales, the first thing being to bring up the great sinker and ascertain that theolosing of the purse at the bottom had been properly executed. Yard by yard the cork line was contracted, and one after another the frightened cap- tives began to appear, some folded into a wrinkle or caught by the gills in a torn mesh (and such were thrown back) until at last the bag was reduced to only a few feet in diameter, and the menhaden were seen, a sheeny. gray, struggling mass, which bellied out the not under the cork line and under the boats, in vain anxiety to pass the curious barrier which on every side hemmed them in, and in leaping efl'orts to esca e the crowding of their throng- ing felows. How they gleamed, like fish of jewels and gold! The sunshine finding its way down through the clear green water seemed not to reflect from their iridescent scales, but to penetrate them all, and illumine their bodies from within with a wonderful changing flame. Gleaming, shifting, lambent waves of color flashed and paled before my en- tranced eyesâ€"gray as the fishes turned their backs, sweeping brightly back withathousand brilliant tints as they showed their sidesâ€"soft, undefined and mutable, down there under the green glass of the sea; while, to show them the better, myriads of minute medusa) carried hither and thither glittering little phosphorescent lanterns in gossa- mer‘i’ramesnnd transparent globes. mer names and trans nrent globes. All possible slack aving now been taken in, the steamer approaches, and towing us away to deeper waterâ€"for we are drifting toward a lee shore â€"comes to a stand-still, and the work of loading be- gins. The cork line is lifted up and made fast to the steamer's bulwarks, to which the boats have already attached themselves at one end, holding together at the other. This crowds all the bunkers together in a mass between the two boats and the steamer's side, where the water boils With the churning of thon- sands of active fins. A twenty-foot car is plunged into the mass, but will not snlllce to sound its living depths. Then a great dipper of strong netting on an iron hoop is let down by tackle from the yard-arm, dipped into the mass under the guidance of a man on deck who holds the handle, the pony-engine pnfis and shakes, and awe aloft for an instant swings a mass of nnkere, onlyto be up- set and fall like so much sparkling water into the resounding hold. ” How man does lhat dipper hold '2" ' “ About a t onsand.” “Very well, I will count how many times it goes after a load." “ Heave itl" yelled the captain,and in each boat a sailor whose place it was worked like a steam-engine, throwing the net overboard, while the crews pulled with all their muscles in oppo- site directions around a circle perhaps a hundred yards in diameter, and de- fined by the line of cork buoys left he- hind, which should inclose the fish. In three minutes the boats were to- gether again, the net was all paid out, an enormous weight of lead had -been thrown overboard, drawing after it a line rove through the rings along the bottom of the seine. The effect, of course, was instantly to packer the bottom of the not into a purse, and thus, before the poor bunkers had fairly apprehended their danger, they were caught in a bag whose invisible folds held a cubic acre or two of water. This was sport! I had not bargained for the hard work to come to the un- sportive character of which my blister- ed palms soon testified. Meuhade- Unhin- all” Lou Islandâ€"Myth ads 0! Fish Can-In in n. Hloule Haulâ€"â€" The U-es to Which The: are Put. 0:! Culloden Point the look-out ex- citedly announced, “ Fish oil‘ the port how i" The captain seized his glass and scanned the water. So did I. ' ‘ “ There's a big bunch," he shouts. “ Watch 'em flirt their tails l Good color! See how red the water is l" “ Oh yes, to be sure," I cry. " By Jove, that‘s a good actor I” M vacant face must have belied my W0“ 3, but he didn't notice it. He was shouting, “ Lower away the boats! Stand by to ship the nets 1" furiously ringing signals to the engineer, giving hssty orders to the wheelsman, ensconc- ing himself in a pair of oil-skin trous- ers so capscious I halt expected he would disappear altogether; and so, amid the roar of escaping steam, the creaking oi davit tackle, the laughing excitement of the crews, and the rattle of rnwlocks, I tumbled head-foremost into a. boat, and the steamer was left he hind. Now the flirting of tiny tails was plainly visible, but I must confess that I did not learn to distinguish the reddish bus which indicates a school of these fish until much later in the day. The two large boats side by side were sculled rapidly toward the shore where the fish were seen, the forward part of each host piled full at the brown seine, which ex- tended in a great festoon from one to ihe other. There 'were four men in each beat, all standing up, and in our red shirts and shiny yellow oilcskin overalls, we must have made a pretty picture on that sunny morning. Close by was a pound net, where a porpoise was rolling gaily, notwithstanding his captivity ; but by maneuvering we got the “bunch " turned away from it and well inshore where the water was not too deep. At last we were close to them, and now came a scene of excitement. A PBCULIAR INDUSTRY. Articles classed as general hardware 30 to Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, British North America, West Indies, East Indies, British colo- nies in Africa, British Guiana, China, Japan, all the South and Central Ameri- can States, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries. Agricultural implements, clocks and watches, firearms, and many other manufactures, seem to go in greater or less amounts to nearly every country of the world. Machinery is sent to Great Britain, Germany, France, Cuba, Hayti, San Domingo, all the South American States, Mexico, Central America, all parts of Europe, Africa, Australia, China, Japan and elsewhere. Mary, wife of William Austin, now a resident of Washington, has had forty- four children, only eleven of them born alive. She had twins thirteen times, and triplets six times. Her sister, Mrs. Carrie Kinney, aged forty-three, has had twenty-six children, and her hus- band's sister has had forty-one children, making a total of 111 for three women. This seems almost incredible, though the figures are vouched for. Mrs. Aus- tin, a native of South Carolina, and reared in Tennessee, is the daughter of John G. Klind, a printer. She Is a reg- ular ph sieian, and has practiced for twenty- ve years, having been one of the first women doctors in the country. She studied medicine in New Orleans under the well-known Dr. Stone. She lost an eye while with the Federal army in the Valley of Virginia, received medals for the able and fearless manner. in which she had discharged her duty, and was granted, likewise, a regular commission. She is fifty-four, of good grepcrtions and appearance, and, as may e inferred, of vigorous constitution. Her husband was also in the Federal army, and bears the marks of a score of serious wounds, which would. have killed any man less tough. Nails are sent chiefly to Great Britain, Germany, France. Danish West Indies, British West Indies, Porto Rico, Cuba, Africa, British Guiana, Hayti, Columbia, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Cutlery is sent chiefly to Great Brit- ain, France, Quba, Honduras, British Guiana, Columbia, Brazil, Mexico, Ven- ezuela and Australia. Pumps are sent chiefly to Germany. Great Britain, France, Cuba, Columbia, Brazil. Venemmln,-Australia, Mexico, New Zouland, Sandwich Islands, the East and West Indies, China, Japan animgmy other countries.” to be substituted, and are now almost exclusively employed by those who are able to embark any money in the enter- prise. About seventy are engaged, all the way from New Jersey to Nova Sootia, catching an aggregate of 50,000,- 000 a year. Greenport alone is said to have half a million dollars thus invest- ed. Thie competition, however, has out down the large margin of profit formerly enioyed. _ 11f October the menhaden disappear, whither no one knows, pmbably to the deep water of midooceanrâ€"Harper'a Magazine. A correspondent of the British Iron- monger has been examining the monthly reports of the United State treasury department, to see what becomes of ex- ported hardware. He finds the destina- tion of some of the principal articles to be as follows: The business of catching these fish and reducing them to oil and manure has only lately been developed into large proportions. From the earliest times the coast farmers have been accus- tomed to catch them in seines and spread them on their fieldsâ€"a very un- savory practice; and to some extent oil was pressed from them long ago. But the fishing was all done in small sailing vessels, and depended on the good for- tune of the fish coming to the right spot. A few. years ago steamers hogan a flower, was cast -in lovely confusion into that rough hold. There lay the raw material of beauty, the gorgeous ele- ments out of which dyes are resolved- abstract bits of lustrous azure and pur- ple, crimson and gold, and those inzle- finable greenish and pearly tints that make the luminous background 01 all celestial sun: aintiug. As the steamer rolled on the illows, and the sun struck the wet and tremulous mass at this and that angle, or the whole was in the half- shadow of the deck, now a ceruleau tint, nowanot brazen glow, would spread over all for an instant, until the wrig- gling mixture of olive backs and pearly bellies and nacreous sides, with scarlet blood-spots where the cruel twine had wounded, was buried beneath a new stratum. ‘ "How many?” I asked, when all were in. “ Hundred and ten thousand," replied Captain Hawkins. “ Pretty fair, but I took three times as many at one haul last week.” “ What are they worth ? ” “Oh, something over a hundred dollars. Hard a-starboard! go ahead 810W. Butldidn’t. Ifor otinlookin down the hatchway. The oor of the 3 allow hold was paved with animated silver, and evety pew addition falling in elovely cataract from tar overhead seemed to shatter a million rainbows as it struck the yielding mans below, and slid away on every side to glitter in a new irides- oenee till another myriad of diamonds rained dovm. If you take it in your hand, the moss‘buuker is an ordinary-looking fish. like a small shed, and you do not admire it; but every gleaming fiery tint that ever burned in a sunset or tinged a crystal, or painted the petale of The Mother of Forty-Four Chidren. Where the Hardware Goes. Little minds are wounded by the smallest things. The truly generous man is oblivious of a slight and never becomes mgr] at a slut. The methods of initiating fire, as has been seen, were, up to this faint, by rude mechanical expedients. t is only during the last half century that science may be said to have been applied to the manufacture of matches. One of the earliest novelties was the “instantane- ous lighting box,” which contained a bottle charged with sulphuric acid and fibrous asbestos. . The tipped match was let into the bottle, and caught fire in its contact with the acid. The revolution in match-making, and the origin of the match manufacture, as a large and im- ortant industry, may be said to date ran the introduction of phosphorus as an ingniting agent applied in various ways. Keep the way always clear for in. provement, by putting a gag in the mouth of ignorance. Avoid the companion who jeate at everything! Such people disparage, by some ludicrous association, all ob. jeots which are presented to their though ts, and thereby render themselves incapable of any emotion which can either elevate or soften them; they bring upon their moral being an influ- ence more withering than the blasts of According to the internal mannere- tnrns, the citizens of tho republic are drinking less whisky and more beer. Whiskyâ€"that part of it which paid rev- enue tax at leastâ€"fell from 57,000,000 gallons {or the fiscal year of 1877 to 50,704,000 in 1878â€" a difference of near- ly 6,300,000 gallcns. ‘ Forfho samc time, Great men undertake great things be- cause they are great ; and tools, because they think them easy. A man who shows no defect is a fool or a. hypocrite, whom we should mis- trust. There are defects so bound to fine ualities that they announce them -â€"de ects which it is well notto correct. the desert. the revenue-paying beer increased {morn 0.480.000 barrels to 9,937,000 barrels-4 an increase of 457,000 barrels, or 1,871,. 000 gallons. , - The grandest of heroic deedsere those which are performed within four walls and 11) domestic privacy. Fortune is ever seen accompanying industry, and is as often trundhng in a wheelbarrow as lolling in aoonoh and People who have nothing to do are soon tired of their own company. Idle- ness loaves the door open for grave:- sins to enter. ‘ It is a singular fact that those who devote so much time to other people’s business seldom pay proper attention to their own. Hard words are like hailseones in sum- mer, beating down and destroying that which they would nourish were they melted into drops. The Bank Clerke’ Associahon in not . secret society. They have tellers. steels, or “ frizzies," were made at Bir- mingham and Wolverhampton, England, where a considerable business was done in these articles. The flint was had from where it could be picked up. and the manufacturers and vendors of the matches were chiefly poor old women. The steel was of the form of the letter U elongated and reversed, the narrower stalk being the handle; the broader. which had a serrated outer edge, was used for striking the piece of flint, and producing the sparks that ignited the tinder, which in turn lighted the brim- stoneâ€"tipped match. The lighted tin~ der, when it had served its surpass. was extinguished by a close- tting inner cover that was pressed down upon it. This flint and aged were $8: used for lig ting ma -paperâ€"t 'c v porous paper that had been dipped in a solution of saltpeter and afterward dried. The match-paper was held close to the piece of flint, with its edge at the point of im- pact with the steel. lt ignited readily and burned freely, but without flame. Amadou, or German tinder, and “touch- wood,” being woody tissue in a certain stage of decay, were sometimes used in the same way‘as matchfpaper: In early ages, “ when wild in woods the noble savage ran," compliance with the request, “ Will you give me a "in“: please? " involved, it the camp fires gone out, a spell of unremitting hard work, considerable manual dexterity, and an unstinted application 0! “ elbow grease.” The primitive mode of strik- ing tire was by rubbing one piece of dry'c wood upon another until inoandesceuoo was induced. A tribe of South Ameri- can savages improved upon the egg wood friction process. They discov that they could generate showers,“ sparks by the sharp abrasive contht 0! a certain kind of pyrites upon siliceous or flinty stones. The sparks directed upon a quantity of dry, readil -inflam- mable fibrous material obtaiuei aflam with comparatively little trouble beyon procuring and preparing materials. In the matter of “striking a light,” the human family remained in a state of comparative barbarism till a period almost within the recollection of many juniors of “ the oldest inhabitant." Our grandmothers kept the kitchen fire alight all night by placing ablock of coal upon it, and packing it with small coal or ashes, so as to allow itto smold- er onlytill the morning. The first triumph of “applied science " in “ striking a light " lay in the discovery of the combined capabilities of burned linen, or tinder, flint and steel, and brimstone-tipped wood matches, or “spunks,” as they were sometimes called. The tinder was usually a domes- tic production, the tinder-boxes and .Prlmlllvo Modes 0! sumac Flu. Words of Wisdom.