Gossip Of The Day

riiiLA-nimriiiA talks uf abolishing the deteoüve system. _____ A :ü ni :l i.m: marriage was reoenily eon.xummated ftt-Snaquehanna, É. The bridegroom was 71 yeaTS ojd, mul the bride i:$. The brMegrooiji haa oiglit marned eküdrBB anta soverai grandchildren, to whom hö hfts introduccd thiy li tilo girl in mothet md grandmothor. A ïoung man of Rpchestr, wj ros si-vcrcly injurcd ly jörópiag from ai trnin, was so anuoycd hy queattons as to how he wüs iiurt that hé luid a largo immber of cards printod, wliich he gstve out to every ono wbo lookod iííquiringly ut liis face or said a word about it. The oard read as f ollows: " Bttsted tkis nose in jumping from a train of ear.s Qear Fairpart, I'luirsday, April 29." An amusing episode is said to have ocoiu-rj(l fttone of the Moody and 8___key mootings in Ijondou where the ex. Proraicr was prosent. Upon hoartily grasping Mr. Moody 's liand, Mr. Olodstonosaid: " I wish I had your body." Mr. Moody b_L__ê roply: " I wish I had yourhead." Mr. (ttadstone aga_B retortod : ' 'I mean I wish I had your lungs. " To whicli Mr. Moody ngain replied: " I j wish I had your brains," and vritll hcarly good M-isluiH tliey partod. A SPitlNQPIBLD (I1J.) Justioi! of tllO Peace was called down town tktree times to periorrn a mariiage eoromony for a young oouple, anJ, after two poatponemonts, he succeeded in making them man and wifo. The happy groom Uien discovered tliafc he had ouly 50 cents to pay the Justiee, mul the laiter was foroed to takc what he oould pet. On iiguriug up liis exijeuso.s- car fare, etc. - he found that he had made jtist five cante by the operation. He tliinks that coupla begun to practico domestic ecouomy early. The Lidianapolis papers have shown a natural jealousy of tile growing rival of their city, and have indulgod in various ill-nahired flings at her late musical festival. In reply the Cincinnati Times makes tlie f ollowing neat liit : " It is falser than all fancy fathoms that our _ festival choras was swcllcd by two hundred hogs under tho stage, regulated by pincers applied to their tails, and counected with a pedal under Thomas' feet. It is false, sir, false - tho only hog admitted to the building was the representativa of the Lidianapolis Setvtinel, aud he dkhi't Hqucal until he got home.' A coRKEsi'ONWENT of a New York paper advances a novel idea in regard to churcEes being public, not private institutions. He says the church property in Brooklyn and New York is worth $360,000,000, on which no taxes are paid, nul suggests that the laws should be so amended as to'exempt from taxation all churches whore one-half or more of all Beats, pews and benehes aro freo to the public, and taxing at half-rates all other. Hifl theory is that if the public exompt churches from taxation on the ground of "Public Worship," Uiey have a right to roquire churelies to have public and not private worship. It would bo diflicult to decide which is tho most astonisliiug,a Japanése Sonate oraGhineee steam frigate. Theyear 1875 is, however. to witness both these curiosities.andone of the steam frigates which j China has latcly added to her navy is to make a vnyage around the globe. It is only a few years sinco that an eminent Chinainait, after visiting á foreigu ship, expreïsed the opinión that whileasteamer might do for foreïgn derik it Mas " too much piecee bobbery" for respectable Chinamen. Time Lae ehanged the popular Chínese estímate of tho steam engine, and real Chinese engineors now manage real Rtewm (nigines on real steam Bhips belengiag to Hle Chinese goverument. Tuk flnanci&i tóidítíon of Spain growe worse and fl-orse every day; its revenue, which was $115,000,000 in 1871, is u.nv bnt $80,900,000, and its debt, at 3 peí cent., is fully $205,000,000, so thut it wonld take alinoBt the cutiré revenue to pay the interest on the nalioiuil debt, if that interest werc paid, as of course it is not. The war expensas now abaorb I $75,000,000 amraally, or within i 000 of the total revenue, the surplus ! going to the siipp rt of the ehureh, the civil scrvjee, the inugistracy, and the central depnrtment of public works. Ko ' improvement oan bo lookod for until the end of the war and the pacifleation of j Cuba, and even then a bankruptcy of some kinö must be proclaimed. Gov. Tfmjen', in a recent special 1 sage to the New York Legielature, i ousaee in considerable detail tlie subject of municipal indebtedness, - which is rapidly assuming enormous proportions in tliis eouutry. Ho has obüiined and ! publishes statements of the finaiicial i ■condition of twenty-four cities in the State of New York, wlüch show the ! lomng resul ts : Aweesed valuatiön of taxablcs $i bbd (35 074 AgregatedeW 176 6671287 ■.■,;„:.. rlt,v taxation 36,439,121 V""r lavs 180487 Affgregate of t;x.ation 60 439 ';o;t The debt was equal to 75.80, and the ! animal tax k $21.65, per head of the populafeion of the twenty-four ci .:. These deota and tha annual taxation u-e on the increase. The debt of these óitfes is over 11 per cent. of the assesed valué of their taxablo property. i Though the country luis been suft'erirg fo: a gootl white from panics, u general shrinMng of values mul hard times generally, the pcople slffl manage to buy and consume the average quautity of neoessarioB aai the lesser luxurios of life. Tho Jatn report of the üureaii of Statial is nakea rather a earprisiog showing in this ireaëót. Por ínsíanoe,' We have iinpoilüd over .''.(KMI.ikm) wojIIi dI1 t"a daring the last ïiine mouths in excess of the same period last year. For tho same time we have imported $3,. 000,000 more of sagar, $800,000 more of wooleiiR, $200,000 more of lineas, $&Q0, 000 more of oottons, while tho importations of ooffee in exeess of last year run up into the millionn. The people are evidenüy detennined to feed and clothe themselves anyway, be the timea good or bad. Chicago is overrun with confidence men, bunko operators, pickpockel s, and thieves aml swindleni oï every description, tmd ciich issue of the daily presa of tlmt city reoonls soimi f their exploitü in the way of fciking in unsuspecting visitors. The other day a prómiueiul R-ovciniiiciii oiliciiil who had jast irriviul in the city from Washington icJl iuto tilt; hands of a braco of goutoel-nppoariiijí, smooth-tongued Bhorpers, by whom lie wis fleeoed out of a cousiilcrabk; sum of money. Pames -visitinn; Chicago aré wftrned against aooepting Uk; proffered ; acquitiiituiHTslup and friendly offices of j plausible stranger. They swarm all over tlie city, wfttcliing the trains, and lying in wait for nnwary vicfïms. If a Hlran'rr ftocösta yon ni Uni .stroef, olaiming tj havo met yon befovo, set liim down asa rascal and have notliing to do v.ifh him.