A Bull Roar— the term of which was so rare to the writer that he had to enquire for its meaning — took place at the “The Fortune of War” by a supper from the prize ox of last year’s Lean Stock Show at Hastings. The animal was afterwards fattened and purchased by Mr. Walter Vincent. The dead ox weighed 192 stone, exclusive of 18 stone of fat.
Temperance Rarities. — At the Temperance meeting on the 11th of September, presided over by Mr. W. Ransom, an analysis of a recent report was given by Mr. Pitter, in which D. H., a sawyer, had entirely recovered from a complication of diseases, said to be incurable, by adopting the cold-water cure and total abstinence. J. C., a bricklayer, once a complete drunkard, had greatly benefited by six months trial of temperance. F. C., had been very intemperate, but since his change had made himself a comfortable home. W. H., a railway time-keeper, after many years of moderate drinking, “fell down the hill” as a drunkard, but now as a teetotaller was a better man in all the relations of life. H. T., an old soldier, had been many years a drunkard, but was now benefited physically, morally and financially by teetotalism. F. Streeter had been ten years a member of the society, and hoped the cases enumerated would become less rare.
Union-house Rarities. — At the sitting of the Board of Guardians on Sept. 19, the proceedings occupied less than an hour, a fact said to be unprecedented in the history of the Board. Another rarity was the fewer inmates by 40 than the number in the previous year’s corresponding quarter. A third rarity came to the knowledge of the Board that a woman named Sarah Clayfield, aged 67, had recently died in the Stroud Workhouse, where she had been from infancy, and had cost for her maintenance, reckoned at 2/6 per week, no less a sum than £446, leaving out the interest. The Guardians might well hope that such cases would continue to be rare.
A rare farming operation was that of setting three grains of maize corn and getting an abundant crop. This was done by Mr. E. W. Stubbs, in his garden at Laurel Villa (now “the Laurels”). The seed was transmitted from America by Bartlett Woods, the youngest son of the Hastings postmaster, whose farm was at Hickory Ridge, Ross township, Indiana. The seed thus planted grew to perfection, and in the same time (March to October) as in America.
A Rarity in Shaving. — In the week which ended on December 28, a respectably dressed man entered Stonestreet’s shop and requested to be shaved. After the operation, he asked for it to be repeated, remarking that he had undergone this process in all quarters of the globe, but had never been so easily shaved before. The lather and the razor were again applied, not only once, but actually fifteen times, by request. All that time the barber’s whimsical customer showed no signs of risibility, whilst the operator could barely repress a fit of -
