It is remarked that Presidential electors were scratched to a considerable extent this year. It is as unreasonable a performance as kicking the stone you have stumbled over, more so indeed for the stone has done you some harm, while a Presidential elector is incapable of doing any harm. He is, by our political customs, merely a machine for transmitting a vote to the candidate of the party. But there has been so much of this scratching this year that politicians will probably estimate its influence hereafter. In a close election this species of scratcher might defeat his own wishes and his party by blind stupidity.
A new life of the witty Sydney Smith has brought to light a new piece of his inimitable jesting. A friend complained to Smith that in an important interview Lord Brougham had treated him as if he were a fool. “Never mind, never mind,” said the incorrigible wit, in his most sympathetic tones, “never mind, never mind, he thought you knew it.”
“Swift as the wind” is not very swift after all. The record of its travels in New York City, for a whole week in November, showed only 1,076 miles. Ocean steamers go nearly three times as fast, and through trains from New York to Chicago travel five times as fast. A good pedestrian would beat an average wind if he did not have to rest.
Since the November election there has been a marked increase in business failures. The wages of workmen have been reduced in many places, and many mills have suspended. Politicians are not agreed about the cause, but it is probable that this will be a hard winter for the poor. Heavenly charity will, we trust, be everywhere equal to the tasks laid upon her. Remember the poor.
It is positively affirmed that physicians regard canned foods as dangerous. Many cases of poisoning occur from eating such foods, but chemical testimony is divided. Some chemists trace the poisoning to special conditions of the food used; in other words, the food was in an advanced state of decomposition when it was put into the can. This is the opinion recently expressed by an eminent English chemist. In this view, proper caution in examining the food will avert all danger.