Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1875 — BREVITIES. [ARTICLE]

BREVITIES.

Euphemism.—“ Indiscreetly murdered,” way the verdict of a Chicago jury in a killing case the other day. This year the Southern peach crop is so prolific that limbs of the trees are frequently broken off by the weight of the fruit. An engine has been invented in Paris which is driven by the alternate expansion and contraction of oil or some other liquid contained in cylinders. The Carthage (Mo.) Patriot celebrated the Fourth rather neatly, appearing in red white and blue, the head being in scarlet and the rest of the printing in blue. Cows are no longer allowed to run at large in the streets of Toledo, and they get together and resolve to hold on to their milk until they are restored to liberty and their former privileges. Keely, the motor man, says that his discovery can be applied to the Bogardus kicker so as to enable the machine to kick a man 14,000 times per minute. Keely is on the right track. It is said that the ants have gone to work chewing tobacco. The growers in East Granby. Conn., complain that they have attacked their plants, and in some cases have entirely destroyed them. The New England boot and shoe trade is getting on a better footing. The shipments from Boston since the beginning of tike year exceed those of last year by more than 47,000 cases, or nearly 10 per cent. The construction of a gun weighing 100 tons has been begun by Sir William Armstrong in England. This gun is to be a muzzle-loader, seventeen-inch bore, and if successful will be the most powerful weapon ever constructed. A lady made a wager of a box of candy with a gentleman the other evening that she could not pronounce the word vagary 'correctly the first time trying, and she won the sweetmeats. He pronounced it vagary, while the right way is vagary. The Count Samaileff, who drives a four-in-hand of gigantic Siberian hounds around Paris, has been called off the ■streets by the authorities, who want him to confine his “ doggoned” amusement to times when the hydrophobia isn’t around. In view of the number of unfounded scandals already distracting the public mind it is a relief to learn that Prof. Limpricht in the handsomest manner publicly “ retracts his opinion of the relations of four isomeric monobromobenzenesulphonic acids The Springfield Union says it-is a cheering sign that the farmers of Western Massachusetts, who of late years have •been diverted from the raising of corn and potatoes by quicker profits on tobacco, are returning this year to growing those orthodox crops. A large hole in the roof of .a barn in Pottsgrove Township, Montgomery County, Pa., supposed to have been the result of a thunderbolt, was discovered to have been made by the farmer’s daughter, who wanted to get on the roof to pick some .fine cherries that could not be Reached in any other way. At Bahia, in Brazil, the time-honored Bahia sedan chair, carried by negroes—which for more than a century has been the only means of reaching the upper from the lower or commercial town—has at length been superseded by a powerful hydraulic elevator. From 4,000 to 5,000 persons use this elevator every day. Long Branch has every kind of luxury that can be mentioned almost, except a sufficiency of beaus, which is being dreadfully complained of by sentimental misses with nothing else to do but flirt. It is a poor year for beaus. The wide-spread feeling among tailors that “trust” is a blighting delusion is causing all this trouble. At the Saturday night meeting of the Fifth Maryland Regiment a letter was read from a lady of Boston, living opposite the public gardens. Though not desiring to be considered a strong-minded woman, she expressed the wish to become a member of the gallant Fifth. She was accordingly elected a life honorary member amid loud applause. —Baltimore Gazette. The semi-yearly dividends just paid in Boston are stated at $9,889,540. ''This is $772,162 more than the corresponding payments of last year, and only $240,553 less than those in the flush times of 1873, before the balloon collapsed. The dividends paid Boston during 1875 may be estimated, in round numbers, at $20,000,000. This represents a capital of at least $320,006,000.

<* A substitute for ink lias been devised in Berlin, which consists of poistg, 'like the leads of ordinary pencils, that can be fitted into holders. The writing at first very much resembles lead-pencil marks, but when moistened immediately assumes a violet tint, and then adheres to the paper like ink. As many as six good copies can be taken from it by mean's of an ordinary copying press. Pbof. Abel, in a recent lecture at the .Pdyal Institution, London, gave same instances of the recklessness of miners in the .use of explosives. They have been known to open a gunpowder barrel with a crow;bar or a stone, or even with a red-hot poker; dynamite is apt to freeze, and is taken to bed over night by the tyorkman who is to use it in the morning or put into the oven while he eats his breakfast. A gentleman in Atlanta, Ga., has a .two-headed snake, which was captured in . 2872. It is one of those venomous species of snakes commonly called the copperbellied moccasin, and measures nine indies in length. It has two clearly-de-fined heads, two mouths, a forked tongue in. each, four eyes, two in each head, and eight fangs. The heads diverge from the neck,.there being but one neck-bone. Considerable stir has been created in fasfaionahle circles at Portland, Me., over the /exploits of a young man who recently disappeared, after running through alarge property, but soon returned in greater style than before. He was much courted until his mother suddenly appeared on the scene and charged him with stealing several thousand dollars from her bank account, and now he has gone for good. When Vassnr College was built and filled at once by about 400 inhabitants, none of them could find one closet in the whole immense buijldjng. Matthew Vassar was astounded at being told that the girls wanted closets. “ Why,” lie said, “they can have two nails in the Mail, one for their school dress and one for their best dress, and what do they want more V" But, in spite of the unreasonableness of the demand, the closets had to be built after all. A writer in one of the London papers suggests that during the hot weather store keepers on such'streets as Regent strCet or Piccadilly might stretch an awning or velarium right across the street from the houses on each side: Thus the whole street would be converted into a shady and cool promenade, and would be more popular than ever, to the advantage of the §bop-keepers, who might also siia-

pend advertisements from the awning at intervals, and otherwise benefit by the idea*, Salem, N. C., is a great headquarters for the blackberry trade, the gathering and curing of berries being one of the principal sources of business in that town. Last year over 3,000,000 pounds of dried blackberries were shipped to Chicago alone. The cost of picking and curing varies from seven to twelve cents per pound and the cost of transportation to Chicago is one cent; the city dealers give fifteen oents per pound, so that the profit to the pickers is quite large, usually about $1.20 per bushel of green fruit. Tlfe demand is unlimited, and the production is increasing. It is stilted that in the best Russian manufactories of sheet-iron no article of that kind is considered of passable quality that will not bend four times without breaking, some of it, indeed, being capable of nine bendings without showing any break. The general weight per sheet is from six to twelve pounds, the larger demand being for those of ten so eieven pounds, but they are made weighing as much as thirty pounds, and may then almost be called thin boiler-plates, being used for stoves, etc. The power running the sheet rolls is equivalent to forty horses, the rolls making seventy to eighty revolutions a minute.

The cutting and dressing of stone is now clone by the new diamond-toothed saw-, which is regarded as one of the most important mechanical inventions of the age. It is said to “ execute in stone almost what the common circular saw does in wood.” The speed of this saw may be varied from five to five hundred revolutions per minute. Stone may be sawn to any length up to fourteen feet and of any angle or depth to five feet. It is claimed that one circular saw in this machine will do the work of more than 100 hand-saws, and this accurately, true and out of wind. The machine has already sawn 125 superficial feet of actual cutting in one hour, of the hardest kind of Beui’ea sandstone. Dr. Ivenealy has taken a sweet revenge upon his foes —bis fellow-members of the House of Commons. Not long since he moved for leave to bring in a bill to limit the duration of a Parliament to three years. Tke members all left the house as soon as he began speaking and the result was a “ count out.” Not abashed by this, he at once repeated his motion, ancl late that night, or rather early the next morning, he brought it .forward again. He spoke until 2:30 a. m., and as some, other business remained to be done a house was kept. At 2:30, however, an attempt at a count-out was again made, but the necessary forty •members rallied and he kept on speaking until 3:05. Then he sat down, the house voting by 68 to H that they did not approve of b iennial Parliaments. The doctor was defeated, but then he had kept the Speaker, the officers and seventy-nine members out of bed all night long. The “Black Crook,” as property, fell equally to the four brothers of Charles M. Barras, the author, and has been traded among them until Alfred owns threefourths of it and Washington the other fourth. John sold his interest to the administrator, .Hiram,ifor SI,OOO, and Alfred bought the half, then owned by Hiram, for $3,000. In relation to Barras’ death, it will be remembered that the railroad bain which was carrying him to the lady he loved stopped only at the next station beyond the village in Connecticut in which she lived. As the cars were swiftly passing,the residence of his bebothed he forgot danger, and, thinking only of her and happiness, leaped from the steps, and his lifeless body was picked up from the foot of a clay embankment. The unromantic part of it, like the disrobing of the illusioned dancers and their return to old clothes when the plav was over, is that the papa of the young lady put in a claim of $3,500 against the estate for services on that occasion.

Large ears, says a theorist, mounting his hobby, hear tilings in general, and denote hroad, comprehensive views and modes of thought; while small ears hear things in particular and show a disposition to individualize, often accompanied by the love of the minute. Large ears are usually satisfied with learning the leading facts of a. case, with the general principle involved; too strict an attention to the enumeration of details, especially all repetition of the more unimportant, is wearisome to them. People with such ears like generality, and are usually fitted to conduct large, enterprises; to receive and paiy out moneyiin large sums; they prefer to give with a free hand, without reference to the amount. Small ears, on the contrary, desire to know the particulars of a story, as well as the main facts; take delight often,in examining, handling or constructing tiny specimens of workmanship; are disposed to be exact with respect to .inches and ounces in buying or selling, to the extent at least of knowing the exact number aver or under the stated measure given or received. People with such ears would, in most cases, prefer a retail to a wholesale business. A curious case, showing how some newspapers are conducted in France, came before the Tribunal of Commerce on June 18. A few .months ago the Figaro , following the path of its rivals, offered its subscribers the especial privilege of a firstclass watch for thirty francs. The temptation was successful for a short time; uew subscribers flocked in; but at length they found out that the watches Mould not go. So they “ kicked up a row” and demanded their money back. In consequence of ■this, M. de Villemessant, the manager of the Figaro , brought an action against the watelimaker, who had guaranteed the articles by treaty. M. de Villemessant not only claimed the value of the watches returned to him and those left on his hands, bat also 2*5,000 francs damages for the harm done to his paper by the breach of faith oh the part of the watchmaker. The latter objected that M. de Villemessant, instead of selling the watches at die stipulated price, viz., twenty-two francs, sold them for thirty francs, thereby making eight francs out of each watch, and turning the affair into a commercial speculation, against the meaning of the treaty. The court allowed the plaintiff 10,000 francs damages for breach of faith, but or dered that the dispute about the watches should be decided by an expert