Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1880 — BITS OF INFORMATION. [ARTICLE]

BITS OF INFORMATION.

Following is a list of the Generals of the army : General of the Army, Wm. T. Sherman; Lieutenant General, P. H. Sheridan. Major Generals—W. S. Hancock, J. M. Schofield, Irvin McDowell. Brigadier Generals—John Pope, O. O. HoM-ard, A. H. Terry, E. O. G. Ord, C. 0. Augur, Geo. Crook. By act of Congress, May 19,1828, the National Mint was permanently established at Philadelphia. Branch mints have been established at New Orleans, La.; Charlotte, N. C.; Dahlonega, Ga.; San Francisco, CaL; Denver, Col.; Carson City, Nev.; Dallas City, Ore., and an assay office for smelting, refining and assaying at New York city and at Boise City, Idaho. The date of the earliest eclipse of the sun recorded in the annals of the Chinese, when “on the first day of the last month of autumn the sun and moon did not meet harmoniously in Fang,” or in that part of the heavens defined by two stars in the constellation of the Scorpion, has been determined by Prof. Von Oppolzer, of Vienna, to have been the morning of Oct. 22, 2137 B. C. The iron crown of Italy is said to have been forged from the nails of Christ’s cross. Charlemagne was crowned with this crown, and after him all the Emperors who were Kings of Lombardy. Napoleon L, at Milan, on May 26, 1805, put it on his head, saying, “God has given it to me; woe to him who shall touch it.” He founded tlie order of the Iron Crown, which still continues. The croM-n was removed from Monza to Mantua by the Austrians in 1859.

The Boston Transcript retells the origin of the rhyming old saw: ' There's many a slip ’Tween the cup and the lip.” A King of Thrace had planted a vinef’ard, when one of his slaves whom he tad much oppressed in that very work, prophesied that he should never taste of the wine produced in it. The monarch disregarded the prediction, and when at an entertainment he held a glassful of his own wine made from the grapes of that vineyard, he sent for the slave and asked him what he thought of his prophecy now. To which the other replied: “Many tilings fall out between the cup and the lip, ” and had scarcely delivered this singular response before the news was brought that a monstrous boar was laying waste the favorite vineyard. Turning in a rage, he put dowu the cup which he held in his hands, and hurried out with his people to attack the boar, but, being too eager, the boar rushed upon him and killed him, without his liavine tasted of the wine.