Items Of Interest

Tho ne.ín'o physfeians of Tonnossea have organlzoa a State JMcdical Society, of vrkich Dr. J. M. Jameson is president. David Bnrlis is the oldest living boatman on the Kcntucky lliver, having boen born in 1791. lio has -valked froin New Orlcans to Frankfort- üfteen hundrcd miles - six tiiaca. A Paterson, N. J., silk mili has jiist received an order for $200,006 worth of a certain class of silk goods. Tliis is said to be tlie largest single order of the kind vet given. The Gemían War Department m bnsy with a plan for the ïbrtificatioB of Bei-lin after the fashion of Paris. Scveral of the Continental nevrspapers nrc airead y discnasing the details, The defencó will hiclude some twenty outlying l'orts. The average finnual attendance of colored pupila at the public schools in South Carolina i'roin 1860 to 1876, was 41,691, while lYom 1876 to 1880 the aven: y atteiitlance was 80,728- an increaae of a littlo more tlian forty-fivo per cent. The people of Virginia are detcrmined that the name and famc of Stonewall Jacfeson shall not pasa out of the public mind. A new county has just been formed to whicll the name Stonewall has been given and that of Jackson has been fixed upon for the county tseat. A San Francisco thief did not knffW that the woman whose pocket he tried to piek was tlic Great American Female Samson, belonging to a circus then in the city; but he was sure he had made a inistake when slic strttofc out ft'om the shoulder, kaocking him down like a ten-pin with the big ball# "William Smoak, a patriarchal German of ninety-seven, living in Orangcnvcg County, South Carolina, has 13children, 139 grandchildren, 4G0 gi-eatgrandchildren, and 7Í) of the next iíciieration. Total number of descendant 691, of whom 575 are living. Mr. Smoak's wife died a few years ago, but lived to sec her youngest andthivteenth child a grandmother. A somewhat l'oollmrdy act has been performed at Calais by an octress, who entered the liou's cage at a menagerie, and there reeited Victor ILugo's "Capavano." Her musical voice evidently had the traditional effect of "soothing the savage breast," as the lions never" attempted to interrupt her performance, A famous Parisian doctor, who lias given much time to the observation of childreu of párente who indulge in intoxicants, publishes as the resul t of bis study, that ineighty-thrce familie thus aillicted thci-e -vvere 410 childrenf of vhom 108 - more tlian a quarter - - had convulsions ; in two yeurs' timo169 -Ycre dead, and of the 241 still alive, eighty-tlircc - more thau a third- were epileptic. Mr. and Mrs. Stratton (Toni Thunih) live at Middleboro', Mass., in a three-story voodeii mansión, tastefuUy paiiited, witli piazzas and bay windoWa commnnding au extensiva view of variegatod sccnery. The house isluxuriously fnrnished,and amcmg oth-er objects of interest, are ;i diiiiinutive sewing machine, and tifo general' grand piano, two fect high. Aecording to Ilerr von Puttkammery tlic l'nissian minister of edueation, thero lias been a constant incroase oí' crime and immorality in the greaC towns of Germany dnring tho last ten years; and the minister declarad in Parliament tliat this unsatisfactory state of things had not been without effect on the teachers of clementary schools, except in Berlín. This was to be attribnted in a considerable measure to the inercaaed facilities t'or drinking which had been provided by recent legisla tion, and wiiieh had injuriously alleeted large sectlona of thocouutiy. A Green River Kentackian has priven bis seven childrcn the foHowihg' ñames : Robert Goderich Channing De? Aubrey Phelps, Quitmao Freinont Itnrbide Cad-vrallader Phelpa, Belehi Zenobia Sémiramis Phclps, JamesRichard Augustas Phelps, Botheai Pei-melia Melvina Phelps, Esau 14ahursal Alhashbar Phelps, Dyonisiu Edric I5ob Turner Phelps, Thompwffl Baker Sainson lioanerg'es Phelps. The latest novelty ia :i barometer handkerchief. The design printed on it represents a man with an umbrella. In line woather the umbrella is bloe, in eh.aneeable weather sray, and ift rainy weather white. Tlie secret lies in printiníí this design i n chloride of cobalt, but the iirst washing removes this sensitivo chémical, and destroy the barometric properties. During the past five years 1353,018,255 worth of propertv has been deBtroyed in this country by tire. In 1875 the loss was 878,10286; in 1876, $64,680,600; in 1877. $08,265,800; in 1878,64,315,900; and in 1879, $76,703,700. Of the States, New York leads in big figures. J Ier loss in loo was S14.0U0.ÖÜ0; in 1877, $11,406,400: i 1878, $9,897,000, and in 1879, $15,79?.,200. Pennsylvania comee next with i total loss in the four years of 28,123,600. At the ennual meeting of the Glasgow Ship-Owners' Assooiation, tho chairman, Mr. Alian, of the Alian Line company, expressed tho opinión thai Mr. Flimsoll's bilí to regúlate tho shipnient of grain cargoeB is not requfred, and ir brought into operation would in sonie respecta be iiijurious. He also expressed the irish tnat the New York Herald would abandon the issue of storm -vvanmigs, as in verf inany instanceg thcy were incon-ect and caused timidity in setting out for sea wlieu there vras really no occasion for it. At the present time there are, according to a lately publkhed return, no fower than 12,486 oflioers in the infantry. and 2,32 in the caviUry of tlio Spanish arniy, although lts total nominal strength, including the torces serving in the island of Cuba, is only some 180,000 men. Attempts liavo been made trom time to time to reduce this excessiv-ely largo number af offieera, but they have been fruitlem. Of the 15,000 oiiiccrs of the CftValry and infantry, again, only 10.U1 can be Betively employed; so then are bohío 4,500 oflicers on hall'-pay waiting to be absorbed as vaeancies occur. m ■ - I ufanare applied broadcast to meaílows early Ín autumn, later if it lias not beca ilono sooner, uieroases the luxuriance of the grovvth before winter, and f,ávcs tho grasa aa early and lurnriíint start in srinf. Manure which was tooiSga th60ld twi 'V,",11-" seasc ough, u pileu m hear