Topics Of The Times

EX-GOVBBKOB SbTMOUH :ind Mr. Ceovgc William Curtís are cxpectcl to t eliver addresses at the dedication of rti monument ne:ir Schuylerville oomatemoratire of the surrender of Buroyne. The monument is now ncarly tinished. Czak Alexandek TH. nakesahobby of pólice and military umioiiuo. x has changed the eostumo of tho St. Petersburg polic three ümesflince his arcession, and carcíully examines the miautest details of all new styles, sometimes taking hours to decide apon the pattern of a button. ueen Victoria will spejid the lal!'..'part of this winter at La Mortola, jwtar Mentone, where she hopes to enjoy more peace and quiet than shc found at Mentono last winter. The Duke and Duehcss of Albany will at the samo time oceupy the villa. at. Cannes whioh was engaged a short time ago for her Majesty. ClemEKCBAÜ, whom Frenehmen are talking about as Gambetta's BUOBesaor. is said to enjoy in a large degree the confldenoe of the thinking masses. He has differedfrom Gambetta on questions of foreign policy and on the policy of centralization. He has persistently opposed, in and out of the Chambers. any and all schemes of eentralization. The Government of India did a capital stroke of business when it establishcd chinchona plantations. The cash proiit on the Uengal plantations alone last year was 130,000 rapees, besides 350,000 rapees saved on thequininefurnished to the troops - that sum reprosenting the differencé between the cost of procluction and the raarket price. The resignation of the Saga.sta Cabinet has been brought about by a diflterenco of opinión on a point hardly related lo the constitutional questions that have lately agitated Spain. One Minister favorecí tho sale of the State forest lands, and another opposed it; so they all resigned. If Senor Sugasta wished to test King Alfonso's attachment to his present set of advisers, he could hardlj have selected a botter way of finding out where the monarch stood. Fob Thursday, February 15, weathcr prophets may predict violent squalls in London. On that day Mr. Bradlaugh having done with violence in the lobby proposes to makc a demonstration in forcc in Hyde Park. He will bring, h says, 20,000 or 30,000 followers from th provinces, and tells his London admir ers that they must raise in the metropo lis at least ten times as many more "for it must be a real meeting." H iutends no longer to endure the "bitte shame" of bcing separated from th raat of tlio House of Commons bv mabogany railing. GoiNG out to hunl in the forest on day late lust antumn, thc Empresa Austria saw anóld, half-crippled womai tottering on llio very bi'ink of a high steep river-bank. Springing from lie horse, she ran and caught the poo reatare, jnst in time to save her life and then discovered that tlie oldwoma was blind, and that the cliild who va acting as her guidf had lagged behinc fhe Empresa waik-.. lili the truantcam up, and administered a severo reproo for its carelessness, gave the oíd woma a pursc full of gold, and then rejoine ter oompanioits in tl! chasc. Thb flrst spinning frame made in thi country which has been temporaril intrusted to Brown University for saf keeping, will soon bo sent to the Patei üflice at Washington. Samuel Slatei the inventor, íntroduced it into the olc spinning mili at Pawtucket about th year 17(JÜ. It was first started in clothier's shop of that town, togeth( with two other machines of somewha similar pattern. In a year and a ha il is saui uiat iney oversiocKeu me market, as several thousand pounda of yani liad accumulated in that time, despite the mauufacturer's cft'orts to dispose of it. The machine is still in excellent 01 der, eonsidering its great age. A Twenty-five pouud tom-cat Ion ind favorably known on Washington-s wüarf, San Francisco, whese he was uorn, reareu anu ensconceu in me aifections of his owner, deliberately committed suicide on January 3 by laying his head upon the pavement and holding it there until an express wagon had rollecl over it. A number of spectators are willing to swear that the act was prearranged and intentional, and several persons now reniember that the cat ñau snown previuus sympioms ui ijxsauity. He had, moreover, undertaken to commit suicido scveral times before in a similar way but lost courage at the last moment and fled from the approaching whecls. Sam Howahd has been a gold miner in California for many years luis been uniformly unlucky. But flckle fortune has smiled on him at last. A short time ago while sitting on the bank i üie Imlian Rtver, watching a China? man in his einploy at work, he saw au immense nugget fall out of the dirt into thecut. As miglit be expeeted for a time it completely unnerved him. It is related that he had the nugget all that day and could hardly deeide what to do with it. After a few days the excitement woro away, and the niass of motal is now on its way to the mint to bc comed Lato cash that shall fecd, clothe and edúcate his children and bring comforts to hia lowly home. The pieoe is flat] umi would if squared out bc about foui inches square and onc and one-haU inches thick. It is a little worn by washing and has several pieces of quartz si il sticking to one side of it. It weighed 150} ounces and is valued at $2,500. The Fort Worth Democvat tells of a light that recently oceurred down there between a rattlesnake and a bt&cksnáke "The rattlesnake was apparently on a journey, and the meeting was quite accidental. At iirst the rattlesnake sought to avoid a difflculty, bul when the blaeksnake pressed the matter he halted am fuided liïs length into a coil. The blacksnake glided aroundin swift circles; Lh rattlesnake never changed its position. But the circle still diminished its size, nd as the blacksnake dret? close tho iKlcsnakd appeared to grow oonfused. [is rattle ceased to give out the sharp )ünd, :ind bia head dropped as if vortio waa seizing him. The blaeksnake ilzed, by a lightning morement, tliv attler by the throat, and winding him pin folds the two rolled over and over tsrether, and in a few moments the ratlêsnake cea3ed to breathe. An oxamiation of the dead bodv of thc nake rcvealod a íraotnre oí the apiñe complete as if done ly a blow willi a lub. The rattlesnake measured, dead, iv fet and tlu-co inches."