Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 August 1881 — BITS OF INFORMATION. [ARTICLE]

BITS OF INFORMATION.

Benjamin West was President of the Royal Academy, London; in l n J2. Plato was bom 429 B. C., id died among friends at a wedding f< rmt, at the age of 81. / The Rothschild family and house was founded by Anselm at Fraiikfort, in 1743 to 1772. The words “ Cornin' thro’ the rye” do not refer to a field of rye, but to a custom at a fording-place of the river Rye, where, if a young man and woman met he was entitled to a kiss. The origin of the phrase “dark as Egypt’s night” is found in the tenth chapter of Exodus, the "21st to 23d verses: “ And the Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness that may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days ; they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.”

The interest in the history of New Testament manuscripts, which has been occasioned by the late revision, brings to notice the somewhat-curious derivation of the word “traitor.” On the 22d of February, A. D. 303, the Roman Emperor Diocletian issued a decree requiring all Christians to deliver up their sacred writings to be burned, on penalty of torture and death. The decree went into effect simultaneously in the various provinces of the empire, and churches were broken into in the search for copies of the sacred writings, and when the books could not be found those who were supposed to be their custodians were tortured till they told their secret or died. Private individuals were examined with inexorable rigor, and bribes and tortures were freely applied. Soqjo yielded and delivered up their precious manuscripts to be burned. They wsre not many who did so, but for those who did a new word of infamy came into use. They were called “ deliverers up,” “traditores” in the Latin, and from this came our English “traitors.” The story of the origin of the phrase “the dark horse,” which is now so commonly used in a political sense, is as follows: Once upon a time there lived in Tennessee an old chap named Sam Flynn, who traded in horses, and generally contrived to own a speedy nag or two, which he used for racing purposes whenever he could pick up a “soft match ” during his travels. The best of his flyers was a coal-black stallion named Dusky Pete, who was almost a thoroughbred and able to go in the best of company. Flynn was accustomed to straddle Pete when approaching a town and ride him into it to give the impression that the animal was merely a “ likely hoss” and not a fast stepper. One day he came to a town where a country race-meeting was being held, and he entered Pete among the contestants. The people of the town, not knowing anything of his Antecedents, and not being over impressed by liis appearance, backed two or three local favorites heavily against him. Flynn moved among the crowd and took all the bets offered against his nag. Just as the “ flyers ” were being saddled for the race old Judge McMmamee, who was the turf oracle of that part of the State, arrived on the course and was made one of the judges. As he took his place on the stand he was told how the betting ran, and of the folly of the owner of the strange entry in backing his “plug” so heavily. Running his eye over the track the judge instantly recognized Pete, and said, “Gentlemen, there’s a dark liorge in this race that will make some of you sick before supper.” The judge was right. Pete, tho “ dark horse,” lay back until the three-quarter pole was reached, when he went to tho front with a rush, and wou the purse and Flynn’s bets with the greatest ease.