Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 June 1881 — BITS OF INFORMATION. [ARTICLE]

BITS OF INFORMATION.

The gauntlet which was commonly thrown down as a challenge to an adversary was an iron glove. It was part of the full suit of armor.

John Carboll, who was born at Upper Marlborough, Md., in 1735, was the first Boman Catholic Bishop in the United States. He was appointed to that office in 1789.

The saying, “ Nine tailors make a man,” is a perversion of “ Nine tellers mark a man.” A toll of a bell is called a teller, and at the death of a man was tolled three times three times; hence the expression, “Nine tailors make a man.” Wyckliffe, the “ Morning Star of the Reformation,” is supposed to be the scholar who, with the aid of learned Associates, made the first complete translation of the Bible into the English language. This great undertaking, it is believed, was completed about 1383, not long before the death of the great reformer.

It is stated upon what is believed to be good authority—William 8. Patterson —that, while the date of the introduction of printing into America is uncertain, yet it is believed that the art was introduced into Mexico by Viceroy de Antonio de Mendoza, probably after his arrival in October, 1535. The same authority states that the first printer was Juan Pablos.

UmbbkTjLAS are an invention of great antiquity. They are seen in the sculp tures of ancient Egypt and Assyria. They are also seen on early Greek vases. They were used by our Saxon ancesti>rs as a shelter, or mark of distinction, for royalty. In an Anglo-Saxon manuscript of the tenth century, preserved in th< British Museum, is the drawing of a King, who has an umbrella held over his head by an attendant, in the same way as it is borne over modern Eastern Kings. The form is precisely similar to those now in use, though they were an entire novelty when reintroduced in the last century.

The expression, “ Don’t crowd the mourners,” is said to have originated in this way: The Mier prisoners in Mexico were compelled to draw lots. A number of beans were placed in a hat, every tenth bean being a black one. The man who drew the black bean was to be executed the next morning. Gne of the unfortunates, who had already drawn a black bean, was jostled accidentally by a fellow-captive, who was crowding up to try his luck. The jostled person, whose fate was already sealed, laughing ly remarked : “Go slow; don’t crowd the mourners, boys.” Chocks were first used in monasteries, and the word originally meant bell, and the two—clock and bell—in calling their inmates to their devotions, performed the same office. They were, however, tower clocks ; not small ones for apartments. One was set up in Prance in 1734, and created a great excitement, being the wonder of the age. The maker of it was made a nobleman for his services in constructing so great a piece of workmanship. The first one in En gland was during the reign of Edward I , and was placed in the tower opposite Westminster Palace. The hour-glass and sun-dial had long been in use, but this was the first thing that could be called a clock except the water-clocks, which had been taken from France to England by Richard Occur de Lion. The word “watch” is from the Saxon word “to wake.” At first a watch was as large as a saucer, and had weights, and was called “ the pocket clock.”