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BRUNSWICK, GEORGIA. TIMELY TOPICS. Naval armaments are still in a tran siiies itaie. It is nwrted is England that the moment an 81 ton gun is fairly -afloat, in a ship built to carry it, and use it, the fate of csa going armor-clad, vessels of the present type is sealed, Tbs Union Pacific threatens a war against the express companies, propos ing to ran the oars and do the business itself. If some of the profit^ on expres sage weie diverted to modify the charges on freight and passengers, the public would bid this new movement God-speed. London advices indicate that the financial breeze is over, and attribute the late crisis to over speculation, par ticularly in teas, silks and opium, aud an excess of discounted paper. It may be remarked that in this country also the tea trade threatens to be overdone, as it now comes round the world to us both wayp, from the east as of old, and from the west via San Franoisco. Postmaster General Jewell ex plains that the increase in the rate to be charged for registered letters, from eight tojen cents, has been made neoes- eary by the fact that this branch of the service has not been paying expenses The law leaves the rate optional with the postmaster general, and Creswell re duced it from fifteen to eight cents. There were 4,500,000 letters registered IaBt year, Speaking of the crops in Louisiana, the New Orleans Picayune says Reliable accounts from every quarter concur in representing the crops of this year as exceptionally fine. A better mutual feeling prevails as between employer and employe, and there has been a be neficent concurrence of circumstances to reward the courageous energy with which, despite the many reverses and discouragements of the past, the plant ers have labored to secure the present and propitiate the future. The United States steamer Plymouth, which is to go to the month of the Rio Grande to assist in preventing Mexican raids, carries twelve guns; but as the river is not navigable on account of sand and shoals, the servicesof the vessel can probably not extend beyond the protection of Brownsville, the capital of Cameron county, which is only thirty-five miles from the Gulf. Boats may ascend, however, to a considerable distanoe, provided they can be of any use. The new system of prepayment of postage on newspapers by stamps seems to promise satisfactory results m the way of revenue. The weight of this class of matter from the New York postoffloe during the first quarter of the present year aggregated 3,745,357 pounds, The postage collected amount ed to 882,353. At this rate New York .city alone will pay during the year much more than it he* ever paid be before, or about one quarter of the ec tire receipts throughout the Uuited States from this source. are, no donbt, glad to get work now, even at the rednoed rates, for many of them were reduced to the verge of Star vation by their prolonged idleness.,' The homliest women in th'e'worla are said to live in the valley of Spiti, twelve thousand feet above the sea, in the Himalaya mountains. Their faoes are horribly repulsive, mid they wear high leather boots dear up to their bestir*, which they fill with flour to keep their extremities warm. Yet, nevertheless, travelers say that the men of Spiti are just as apt to get “ looney ” and lose their sleep over these ridienlous crea tures as are the men of more favored regions over their own beauties. There 7 is just as much sighing in Spiti as there is anywhere else. The project of the St. Petersburg conference on the international laws of war seems to be kept in abeyance. As yet only Austria, Germany, France, Italy and Sweden, have signified their readiness to be parties to it. Four of these powers havi given in simply their adhesion, while Germany has, at the same time, sent in the amendments which she means to make to the prelim inary stipulations of the protocols signed last year in Brussels. England, as it is well known, has decided to take no part in it, while none of the smaller powers have as yet returned any answer either way. A physician in London sends to the Lancet a letter which he received from a firm of nndertakerB inclosing a check for £2 14s., being five per cent commis sion on the amount received by the firm for two funerals furnished on the physician’s recommendation. It had not occurred to the physioian that he was entitled to commission on funerals until he received this bribe, and be im mediately inclosed it to the Lancet, in quiring what he shonld do with it. He was advised to send it back, and donbt- ess did so. It must have produced a queer sensation when the honest doctor found himself credited with a commis sion on the fnnerals of his patients. THE FINE AND THE WALNUT. BY THOMAS BAXLEY ALDRICH* (Xewcattle, 1862.) A mile or so from the Kray little town Of Newcastle, ptrchtd like a gall by the ees, On the Klttery side (where the banka soelve down To the lovely river’s golden brown) There towered, long since, sn old pine tree. And acrose the stream, in a right ber-line, Like a c-ntry guarding tbe rained fort. Wss a Isrge-llmbed wtloot. where the sine Huddled togHuJishower and sh ne, Nibbling the herbage, sparse and short, nx. Bummer and wisicr those brave old tree* Watched the bine rivtr that slipt between, Leaned to the aunsblne and drank tbe breeze, Clothed like emperore, taking their ea«e, Now in ermine and now in green. / ■ IT. i Many • time, when I was a lad, I drifted by with tuepended oar, Tbe wind in the walnut seemed so sad 1 But ab, wbat a blustering voice it bad In the rugged pine on the other shore! And often, in restless clamber tost, I teemed to be drifting down tbe tide, Hearing the strident wind on the coast, To die away like a murmuring ghost In the drooping boughs on the farther side. Perhaps liras a boyish fantasy, Tbe dream of f dreamer, half afraid, That tbe wind grew sad in the walnut tree. But snrged through the pine like the surging sea. With a sound cf distant cannonade I vn Only a fantasy • Who can tell ? But I think twill haunt me to ihe end, Seeing wbat curious things befell Tbe walnut tree, and tbe pine as well— For they went together, friend and friend I vm. From a sullen clcud broke war at last, And a grim, sea-dng of tbe quarter deck Took tbe gaunt old pine for a mlzzen mast. In the flame of battle his Spirit past, And tbe mizzen dragged by tbe shattered wreck' K. With tbe Union Jack across him laid, They bote him back to the town by the sea; Tbe guns st tbe Yard his requiem played; And tbe Admiral’s coffin, it is said, Was shaped of tbe planks of tbe walnut tree CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC. Cotton-spinning appears to pay well in England. According to the pros- peotns of a new company, “no other class of industrial investments returns profits approaching the average divi dends earned by the numerous Lan cashire cotton-spinning and manufac turing companies, and it is now gener ally admitted that the profits of public companies in this branch of industry are even higher than those of private firms, many of these companies paying dividends of from 10 to 45 per cent per annum.” The names and dividends of twenty companies are given in proof of the latter statement. Of these companies the dividends of five average 15 per cent; of twelve, 23 per cent; and of three, 41 per cent per annum. The strike that has just oome to an end in the Pennsylvania coal regions is estimated to have caused a loss of at lout ten millions of dollars to the op erators and workmen. It was all about a reduction of ten per oent. in the pay of the workmen. As they have resumed Work at the rates proposed by the op erators, it will be seen that they have gained nothing, bnt have lest their wages for three or four months. They —A singular illustration of the para lyzing effect of the imagination under some circumstances was recently afforded at Allentown, Pa.: A bright boy of eleven years was engaged in watching some cattle in a field, and killed time by swinging with a rope from the branch of a tree. His brother, also a small boy, was near him. All at onoe the boy with the r?p<_ dipped with his entire weight upon the rope, but with hfs knees almost tonohing the gronnd. The brother, very much alarmed, at onoe ran for assistance, bnt before aid came the swinging boy was dead The rope was ent, when the loop fell from the vietim's neck, indicating the fact that there had been no knot, and that the looping was bnt an accident. The boy, imagining himself beyond all self- preservation, had become so frightened as not to stand upon bis feet, as he might have done, bnt had fallen for ward, and bo strangled. A more strik ing illastration of the remarkable influ ence over reason sometimes obtained by the imagination oould scarcely be af forded. Calcium chloride has the property of attracting moisture, and objects wet with its aqneons solution do not dry, It is proposed to use this to subdne dnsty roads. It has been found to keep land moist for three days, when ordi narily it would dry in an hour. As the ohlorides are injurious to vegetation, it can not be utilized in agriculture, as illustrated by the reclaimed marshes of Holland, where the saline matter has to be washed away by spring water before vegetation appears. A Cure for Opium Eating.—Many devices, says the Troy Times, have been resorted to enable opinm and morphine- eaters to break the remorseless habit, bnt we think the one tried by the friends of an old lady in Jefferson county nan not be beaten. She first used morphia as a relief from the pains of a tumor. Nothing conld induce her to give up the use of the poison after the tnmor had been removed. The family accordingly resolved npon a harmless deception. Oare ully prepared potato starch was substituted for the morphia in tbe bottles. She complained that tbe drug was of an inferior quality, bnt reassured by her physioian, continued to use it with Bublime faith in its virtues until her death, fifteen years afterward. At no time conld she do without her potato starch. Once, when ill, her physician gave her Dover’s powders, bnt she could not rest nntil she had taken some of her bogus morphine. The success of this deception ought to be a suggestion to the friends of slaves of this drag. Joannqn has made a communication to the academy of sciences in Paris up on the method adopted by him in fresh ening the saline lands in the south of France, so as to mate them available for agnonltore. There are immense tracts along the ooasi of the Mediter ranean, from Arles to Port Yendres, which are entirely unproductive in con sequence of the amount of colt which they contain. The process adopted by him consists first in draining, then in ditohing to a depth of about two feet, and then damming and covering with fresh watei. The water filters through the soil, and dissolving the salt contained therein runs off by tbe drains. This operation is to be continued with sub mersion from three to five months, ac cording to the nature of the soil. After this the layer between the level of the drain and the surface of the field will be sufficiently free from salt to be capable of cultivation. In one estab lishment, near Narbonne, a property which, before drainage, was worth $750, was, in a few years, raised in value to $8,500. FACTS. ANIT FANCIES. Two Pictures.— BEFORE MABBIAGE. My Maggie, my beautifol darling, Creep Into my arms, mv sweet, Let me fold yon again to my bosom So close I can hear yonr heart beat. Wbat! these little fingers been sewing ?' One’s been pricked by tbe needle, I see These hands shall be kept free.from labor When once they are given to me. All mine, Hi lie pet. I will shied you From trouble and labor and care. 1 will robe yon like some fairy princess. And jewels shall gleam in vour hair; Th se slippers yon gave me are perfect, That dressing-gown tits to a T ; My darling, I wonder that heaven Should give such a treasure to me. Eight—nine—ten—elven! my precious, Time flies so when I am with you, It seems but a moment I’ve been here. And now, must I eav it ? Adieu. AFTER MARRIAGE. Ob, Meg, you are heavy—I’m tired; Go eit in the rooker, I pray; Your weight seems a hundred and ninety When you plump down in that sort of way You had better be mending my coat sleeve— I’ve spoken about it before— And I want to finish this novel, And lcok over those bills from the store. This dressing-gown sets like the d—1; These slipoers run dowu at the heel; Strange, nothing can never look docent; I wish you could know how they feel. What’s this bill from Morgan's ? Why, surely It’s not for another new dress ? Look here! I’ll be bankrupt ere New Year, Or your store bills will have to grow less- Eight o'clock! Meg. eew on this button As soon as you finish that sleeve : Heigh-ho! I am so deucedly sleepy, I’ll pile oiT to bed, I believe. —Mark Twain, apropos of a new port able mosquito net, writes that the day is coming “ when we shall sit nnderour nets in church and slumber peacefully, while the discomfitted flies club together and take it cut of the minister.” —A Frenchman has discovered a method bj which he can bring down rain whenever it is needed ; or, rather, draw moisture from tbe air. He claims that sprinkling of chloride of calcinm upon tbe surface of the gror.nd is en tirely effect ve. —Here is an extract from a letter written to her lover by a Montgomery, Ala., girl: “ For your Pake, darling, I have quit using chewing gum, would you have quit gum for me ? I would not have quit gum for any other person in the whole world.” —According to lh6 New York Mail Mr. Bunker, the early proprietor of the hill of that name is not now living. It is rather unfortunate that Mr. B. should have been gathered in so soon. If he could be here now to see how far his hill has got ahead of old Breed’s it would do him good. —If a man wishes to cruelly lacerate the feelings of an acquaintance he re marks: “A cow would regard your feet with complaoence,” and, upon, being questioned why, he answers: “ Because she would see at a glance that her hide would not have to be cut down very mnch to make shoes for them.” —A young lady living in the northern part of Indianapolis has, through a ifcfcle simple vanity, nearly if not quite, destroyed her eyesight. A few days ago she painted her cheeks with the red coloring matter of some cinnamon candy and went to a party. Daring the evening her cheeko became very much swollen and the poison soon after com municated itself to her eyes. She be came quite blind, and, though receiving the best medical attention the eiiy conld afford, there seemed to be little hope that she would ever regain her eye- It was an ancient enstom of the Spartans, in order to inculcate among their yonth an abhorence of intemper ance and its kindred vices, to make their slaves drank with wine in tbe pub- lio market-places, so that the rising gen eration, npon whom wonld some day de volve the honor and safetv of the Lace demonian Republic, might see before them all the ghastly details of the drunkard’s disgrace, his loss of reason, and of physical strength. ’Twere well, perhaps, to-day, oornd some of our ybnng men contemplate a similar mstraotive lesson drawn from the life, showing them by a sharply drawn con trast, the advantages and true loveli ness of abstinence and virtue. Forspoh as appreciate these, Vinegar Bitters is the beverage best adapted, it being purely a vegetable draught, d void of alcohol or mineral poisons, and possessing all the virtues, but none of the damning curses, of the different poisons which year by year are sweep ing away thousands of dollars and lives.