THE HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH ROCK.—­A flat rock near the vicinity of New Plymouth is said to have been the one on which the great, body of the Pilgrims landed from the Mayflower.  The many members of the colony, who died in the winter of 1620-21, were buried near this rock.  About 1738 it was proposed to build a wharf along the shore there.  At this time there lived in New Plymouth an old man over 90 years of ago named Thomas Faunce, who had known some of the Mayflower’s passengers when a lad, and by them had been shown the rock on which they had landed.  On hearing that it was to be covered with a wharf the old man wept, and it has been said that his tears probably saved Plymouth Rock from oblivion.  After the Revolution it was found that the rock was quite hidden by the sand washed upon it by the sea.  The sand was cleared away, but in attempting to take up the rock it was split in two.  The upper half was taken to the village and placed in the town square.  In 1834 it was removed to a position in front of Pilgrim Hall and enclosed in an iron railing.  In September, 1880, this half of the stone was taken back to the shore and reunited to the other portion.  A handsome archway was then built over the rock, to protect it in part from the depredations of relic hunters.

GRANT’S TOUR AROUND THE WORLD.—­General Grant embarked on a steamer at the Philadelphia wharf for his tour around the world May 17, 1877.  He arrived at Queenstown, Ireland, May 27.  Thence he went to Liverpool, Manchester, and on to London.  He remained in that city several weeks, and was made the recipient of the most brilliant social honors.  July 5th he went to Belgium, and thence made a tour through Germany and Switzerland, He then visited Denmark, and August 25 returned to Great Britain, and until October spent the time in visiting the various cities of Scotland and England.  October 24th he started for Paris, where he remained a month, then went on to Lyons, thence to Naples, and subsequently with several friends he made a trip on the Mediterranean, visiting the islands of Sicily, Malta and others.  Thence going to Egypt, the pyramids and other points of note were visited, and a journey made up the Nile as far as the first cataract.  The programme of travel next included a visit to Turkey and the Holy Land, whence, in March, the party came back to Italy through Greece, revisited Naples, went to Turin and back to Paris.  After a few weeks spent in the social gayeties of that city, the Netherlands was chosen as the next locality of interest, and The Hague, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam were visited in turn.  June 26, 1878, the General and his party arrived in Berlin.  After staying there some weeks they went to Christiana and Stockholm, then to St. Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw, and back over German soil to Vienna.  Another trip was now made through Switzerland, and, then returning to Paris, a start was made for a journey through Spain and Portugal, in which Victoria, Madrid, Lisbon, Seville