Variety

An effurt i being mado in St. Louis to supply the jdil with books for the criminal. A very good idea, to give ihemnn Oiportunity lo read, hut in most cases it would be necessary to oinploy a teacher to first learn them how to read, for it is nol ofien that the reading community are" caughtin that box. - Madison Express. There are now in Van Diemen's Land about 34,000 convicts, male mul feroale, and 27,000 {ree persons, manv of wliom are emancipateá convicta. They are distribuled over the islands in gangs of 250 j to 300 encb, and nearly the same system is pursued with the females.Shamefül. - The Washington Union publishes a notice of the commitment to jail, as a runaway slave, of n negro vvoman, who calis herself Ann E. Hodges. She is sbout 22 years of age, and says she is frep, having served her time out with a Mr. Benjamin Daltey, of Southampton, Va. She has two scars on her left leg, near the knee, ono on lier left wrist, and one on the poiut of her breast bone. - The owner is required to come forward and prove her, or she wil! be sojd fur her prison expenses, as the law directa. So it seems that a woman who claims to be free, rnay be seized, u-pon bare suspicion, imprisoned for a whüe, and then", without nny proof-thal she is a slave, sold into a slavery vorse than denth ! VVhile such things are done in theciiy of Washington, the Capital, of the Uniled States. who can wonder that our boasls of l'reedom are held in dension by intelligent foreigners 1 A female died in Rochdale, on Saturday week, from taking Morrison's pills. On the day she died she swallowedtwo boxes of '.hem, each containing 132 pills. On the 15ih ef August last, it appears from official returns, that there were 1678 Divisionsof the Order of the Sons of Temperanci! in the United States. - Since the lst of May last, a period of three and a half rr.onlhs, they have increased 207 Divisions, being an average of nearly three each day. The inórense of new members to the Order, during the last live years, has more thun averaged one for every half hour of time. The Diving Bell succeded a short time sisee, in raising about $25,000 in specie, from the wreek of the Tennessee, which was sunk near Stack Island, in the Mississippi nbout 24 years ago. A Great Coat. - The editor of the Vicksburg Whig has seen a coat lately, thai measured five feet arround the waisi. It was mnde for a gentleman from Kentucky, whose weight is nbout four hundred pounds, is 26 years old nnd has got bis full grovvlh. He is aboiit six feet si.x inches in height, measures fifiy four inches over the breast, sixty around the waist, and tvventy-two across th back. Beauties ov English Orthografiiy. - We appeal, says the Anglo Saxon, to any man of cornmon sense, whether it is riglit or not, to block up the road to learaing wilh such absnrdi'.ies as these : Theri? nre nbout si.xty thousand words in ihe Englisli language, not sixtv of which are pronounced astbey nre spelled ! and every child who goes 8 vears to a common schoot, spends not le.ss than 4 of ihem in learning to spell. A witty friend of ours being asked if he was ir. favor of the war, replied, "Yes, Ï am in favor of the war. Í went ngainst n war once to my great cosf, and you will never cntch me in nnother scrape of that kind. Tliis time (said he) I go in fia war, peslilence, andfamine." How admirably does this stroke of irony take off some of the co'.d-hearted and hot-headed demagogues of ihe day. Por there are demagogues who do not go in for ihe war, nor lor any thitig else, simplv because they deem it just ; but they would go in for war, pestilence, and famine, if they could gain lieir on selfish ends by jt.ÏUinois Journal. The War.- Waste of Human Life. Of all the incidents which go to Ilústrate tho horrors of war, we have seen Done which presenis them to the niind in a more slriking and powerful mnnner than the present contiition of tbe South Carolina regiment of vuhmteers. They left their humes six months ago about 800 strong ; of this numbsr 140 died at Vera Cruz or on ihe march to Puebla, 3C0 we re left sick in lhe various hospilals. About 272 were in a condition to fight in ihe late hnltle, andofthat numberl37 (including their gallant Colonel, Pierce M. Butler) were küled or wounded, le.iving a meng re remnnnt of 135, a moiety of whom may yet perhaps fall in baltle or porish by disease before the war shall terminate ! What a contrast wit! the retnm home of this shattered corps present lo the "pride, pomp, and circumstance" which attendeJ their enlistment and deparitiro 6w the seat of Vir.-Richncsnd Whig. Gambling in Breadstuffs. - One of the wisest regulations ever ssued by the Emperor of Russia. or by ony olher soveielgn, is thé forbid ling of land owners and dealers in eoni from niaking linifbargains for ihe salo and delivery of thnt article. The sale of corn in London, to be delivered on a certaiu day forward, at a certain price, was carrieJ on during the last setison of scarcity to an astonUhing extent, and nrlünns of bushel.s of wheat vere bouglit anrl sold by parlies who never held a grain, but who, whon the diiy of delivery came, paid or received the difference beUveen th? price stipulated for and the markel price of the day. - This gnmblii.g had a bid effect upon the market, raising it or depressing it unduly. If it bad only aft'-cled the porties to the tiansnction it would not iiave siguiíied so much ; but it also cffected the sizeof the pooi1 man's luaf, and was itjjurioiis to the fair dealer and the lona pie holder o( grain, who worked in the dark, and ran the risk of ruin without being aware oí its cnusp, or being crpaMe of aveiting il. Corr. of Nat. lntcWgencer. A IIarvesting Barrow. - The Democratie Pacifique nol ices a newly patented harve-.ting innchine, invented by Adolphe Nouviairéof Langwy ( Moselle) which, t says, wil] supersede the use of the èiukïe on the Continent, and make an immense saving, not only of labor but of grain, much of which is now lost by the wenlher in the flow mode of harvesting. Tliis Machine it calis the Harvest Barrow (Brouetle moissonneuse.) "A single man," itsays, "propels wiih ease the harvesting barrow on all fields, whatever unevenness they may present. The impulsive forco which he gives it, passing directly from the .vheel to the cuitéis, causes them to cut the grain stocks, and any parasitic plañís that may be mixed with them. lts vvork is wonderfulhperfect - the stubble is cul khort and al an even he'ght. and what is very important is, that the machine can be repaireii by the common wheelwiighls and blacksmiths of a villog ; and besides, the sharpeniugofthe blades can be done bv the workmon biinself, as easily as he sharpens the scythe." Is t not wonderfnl that Yankee ingenuity had not invented a thing so obviouslv practicable and immensely useful ? Our inventora have all been looking to expensive machines to be propelleJ by horses or steam power, to be emploved only by lnrge capital, and thus fir have mat with so liule success that our art of harve.itiog cannot be said to have reachcd beyond its eradle. - Chronolfipe. The Earl Fitzhardings spent L25,000, at the late eleclion for West Gloucestershire, in unsuccessfal opposition to his brother, Mr. Giantly Berkley.