Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1880 — A Relic of Benjamin Franklin [ARTICLE]

A Relic of Benjamin Franklin

(West Chester (Penr.) Republican,! There hangs iu the parlor of Abram Hall, South Church street, an interesting relic of the days of the Revolution. It is a letter written by Benjamiu Franklin to a member of the English Parliament, and is constructed in a style characteristic of that great champion of liberty and independence. Mr. Hall ciyne in possession of the manuscript in 1873, while he kept store in Wildstown, Merritt Palmer, an employe, finding it among some discarded papers. Following is a copy of the interesting document: Philadelphia, July 5,1775. Mr. Strahan—You are a member of Parliament, and one of that majority which has doomed my country to destruction. You have began to burn our towns and murder oui people. Look upon your hands. They are stained with the blood of your relations. You and I were long friends. You ate now my enemy, and I am

yours.

FRANKLIN.

The tallest men of whom re ord ts made were a German named Hans Bar and a Hungarian soldier, name not given, who lived several centuries ago, each of them being eleven feet high;their weight is not known. The heaviest man of whom record is made was Miles Dardon, the Tennessee giant. who was seven and one-half feet high and weighed over 1,000 pounds; he died in 1857. Daniel Lambert, the English “mass of flesh,” was five feet and eleven inches in height, and weighed 738 pounds. The dramatic editor of a French paper had occasion recently to criti cise severely the performance of a somewhat popular actress. Shortly afterward the lover of the young lqd,y met the journalist in the theater, and presented him with a package of goose quills. “This, sir,” said he, “is apresent from MissX.” “What!” exclaimed the critic, “did she tear all these out of you herself? How you must have suffered!”

A farm hand near Lebanon, Pa., was hired to plow a ten-acre field. His boss, wishing to have him plow a straight. furrow, directed his attention to a cow grazing in an adjoining field, and told him to drive directly towai’d her. On his return, half an hour later, he found the cow had left her Diace and was walking about, while the hired man, in pursuit of her, was drawing a zig-zag furrow all over the field. The following prescription for the treatment of “diphtheric sore throat” emanates from a New York physician, ami has been “used with happy effects in ths most obstinate cases Sulphate of quinia, 10 grains. Dilute muriatic acid, 90 minims. Chlorate of potassium, 1 drachm. Mix with gum sylup sufficient to make in all two ounees Dose, a teaspoonful every hour. It the patient needs stiinu lant give good rye whisky. When we read that nearly all the im portant railroad companies in the North west have adopted “paper” car wheels, one is struck with amazement. This idea of making a wheel from materia! which, of ell others, would seemingly be the most uufit, sounds like a burlesque, and yet practical experiment has demonstrated that paper car wheels are not only more durable hut safer than those made of iron. “Why dul General Washington cross the Delaware on the ice during the storm of an awtul night? 1 ’ asked a teacher of her young class iu history. “I reckon,” piped a small voice in answer, “it was because he wanted to get on the other side.” The wife of fioveruor Yan Zandt,, of Rhode Island who barely escaped the Russian mission, is a daughter of Albert G. Greene, whose name is widely known as the author of “Oil Grimes is Dead.”

A celebrated beauty in the time of Napoleon Bonaparte ( Mme. Louise Lu cerne, has just reached her one hundredth year. She was the friend aud rival in beauty of Mme. Becamier. A little fellow was sitting under a window, intently fallowing the copy on Ids slate, wnen a cloud suddenly obscured the sun. Starting up with a frown he ex claimed, “Dere now! who bloweddatsun outl” It is very difficult to rind fault with a dear little turce-year-old who buries his head under ike elotnes and sings, “Now I lay me down to sleep. Pop goes the weasel.” An eminent political economist has grave fears that the gradual extinction of the cannibal races is owing to the reckless aud inju dons aclußeration of the missionaries. Capt. Thomas Simpson, of Burnet, Texas, keeps the remains of his wile, recently deoeased, in his parlor in an elegant metallic coffin. A woman’s head is turned by thejou*side of a bonnet —a man’s by wliat is inside of it.