Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 November 1884 — The Monkey Family. [ARTICLE]

The Monkey Family.

William H. Chain, the Democratic Congressman-elect to succeed CoL Tliomas Ochiltree, from the Galveston (Texas) district, is the first native from Texas ever elected to Congress from the Stite. Colonel Tom said the same thing of himself. Judge Lippincott, of Ulidia, Meagher County, Montana, is reported to have caught a mountain eel weighing seventy-three pounds and eleven ounces, the skin of which he will have stuffed and sent to the New Orleans Exposition as a representative of Montana’s fisheries. An English clergyman was rebuking his congregation for deserting him on a •charity sermon Sunday. “Why is it,” asked he, “that to-day the church is full, and this day week, because there was a collection, it was simply empty ?” "Cos yer don’t give tick!” shouted a voice from the free seats. Bismarck has not yet gained the highest honor the Kaiser can bestow. There is another German order of merit, founded in 1866, of which the badge is a star bearing the portrait of Frederick the Great. Those only who are privileged to wear it are Kaiser Wilhelm, “Unser Fritz,” Prince Frederick Charles, and “Moltke the Silent.” An interesting feature of the World’s Exposition at New Orleans will be a united encampment of the veterans of the war, embracing soldiers of the Union and Confederate armies. The Board of Managers of the Exposition have voted SIO,OOO for this purpose, and 1,000 tents will be constructed for the free accommodation of the veterans. The Railroad Gazette reports a total of 162 miles of new railroad constructed in November, making 3,192 miles reported to date for the current year. The total track reported laid to the .corresponding date for twelve years past is as follows: Miles, j Miles. 1883 5,271) 1877 1,867 1882. 8,731; 1876 1,5*1 1881 6,0fiHi1875 1,128 1880 4,046 (1874 1,504 The cat-o’-nine-tails was lately used in Manitoba for the first time. The subject was John McCormick, under sentence for larceny, who escaped and was recaptured. Attorney General Miller ordered two dozen lashes, twelve of which were administered in the presence of all the prisoners in the jailyard. The prisoner was stripped to the buff'. The snow was descending heavily. His back was fearfully lacerated. Salt water was then applied.

In a case of extensive b.urn, unhealed after six years, Dr. Frank C. Wilson, of Louisville, Ky., in the Methodist News, says: “I made use of three different kinds of skin grafts, namely, from the skin of a young rabbit, from the human skin, and from the inner membrane of a perfectly fresh hen’s egg.” Of the three he much preferred the egg membrane, as being much more readily obtained, and one egg will supply any number of grafts needed. Among the ancient Greeks deaf mutes were looked upon as a disgrace to humanity, and under the barbarous laws of Lycurgus they were exposed to death. Nor was highfy cultured Athens less cruel than Sparta toward these unfortunate creatures. Deaf mute children wero pitilessly sacrificed without a voice being heard on their behalf. Aristotle declared congenital deaf mutes to be incapable of instruction, and this was the universal opinion of classical antiquity. The Romans treated the unfortunates with the same cruelty as the Greeks. As soon as a child was found to be deaf and dumb it was sacrificed to the Tiber. Only those escaped whom the waves washed'back to the shore, or ' whom the natural love of their parents kept hidden from the eyes of the world. Touching the three R’s in politics, the New York Tribune remarks: “The hasty and probably inadvertent use of an old sectarian phrase in an extempore speech, a few days before the election, may possibly yet prove to have had as grave consequences as one of the decisive battles of the world. ‘Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion’ is thought by many to have changed 10,000 votes in this State alone. No human being in the history of the race ever before, succeeded in changing the course of empire by an alliteration. The ‘three R’s’ have had an elementary value in popular education, but never before has the political opinion of a great country been decisively affected by ‘apt alliteration’s artful aid.’”

This time it is something Senator “Zeb” Yance did, not said, that is related. He was riding home at evening with three other gentlemen, and a box of apples—his favorite fruit—in the carriage. The driver did not know the road well, and upset them on the brink

of a ravine. Help was at hand, a light was struck, and the three friends of the Senator were found near the carriage, somewhat braised, but Vance himself was at the bottom of the ravine, on all fours, picking up the apples.

Curiosities of the election: A Los Angeles (Cal.) citizen agreed (on a wager) to eat four quails a day for thirty days or forfeit SI,OOO, if the election in New York resulted contrary to his expectations. A prominent citizen of Pulaski, Tenn., being too ill to go to the polls, the judge carried the ballot-box to him that he might vote. A sulky bedstead with small flags, containing a very fat man, and drawn by a man of slender proportions, went through the square to Lake View Park at 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon, says the Cleveland Leadei'. The portly man was John Stofft, who keeps a saloon on Ontario street, and the steed was A. A. Seizer, an employe of the planing-mill of I. Sturtevant & Co. Before the election Stofft and Seizer bet on their respective favorite Candidates, Foran and Burnett. Seizer lost, and fulfilled the conditions of the bet. Stofft guided him with harness reins, and flourished a formidable whip. Deputy Sheriff Myer was carried to the top of the old Court House in a derrick bucket at noon to-day, and slid down on the rope. He bet Deputy Sheriff Zucker that Sayer would be elected. Police Magistrate Ladner, of Philadelphia, agreed to grind a hand-organ three hours if Cleveland was defeated. A large crowd gathered at one of the fashionable skating-rinks of Cleveland, Ohio, the other night to witness the paying cf an election bet. The wager was between Assistant Manager Newton and Supt. Brown, the former agreeing to wheel the latter six times around the rink in the event of a failure to elect the plumed knight to the Presidency. The evidence that Mr. Nerwton had lost being conclusive, the wheelbarrow was gayly decked in bright colors by Mr. Newton, and at 9:30 o’clock sharp Mr. Newton donned the rollers, and, getting his massive load into the vehicle, began the voyage, amid the cheers and laughter of the crowd.

Close votes aro nothing new in this country. As early as 1824, in the contest between Adams and Jackson, the former carried Maryland by only 109 votes. Four years later that State voted on these same candidates, and though there were early 25,000 additional votes divided between them, Adams still led by 2,181. In 1832, when Clay and Jackson were the rival candidates, Delaware gave Clay but 1,866 more than Jackson got, and in Maryland there was an actual difference of only 4 votes, Clay getting 19,160 and Jackson 10,156. The vote in New Jersey that year stood: Clay, 2*2,392; Jackson, 23,85(5, a trifling difference of 464 votes. In 1808, when Harrison and Van Buren were the petitioners of suffrage, there was a difference in Connecticut of only 768 votes, in Louisiana of 207, in Mississippi of 201, and in New Jersey of 545. In 1840, when Harrison ran against Van Buren, there was a difference in the vote in Maine of only 411, in Michigan of 1,835, in Pennsylvania of 1,345, in a total vote of 287,097, and in Virginia of 1,392. Between Clay and Polk in 1844, there were differences in Louisiana of 70). votes, in New Jersey 823, and in Tennessee, Polk’s home, Clay led him by just 113 votes. In 1848, between Taylor and Cass, the difference between votes for the two was, in Alabama 981, in Delaware 523, in lowa 1,009, in Mississippi 615, and in Virginia 1,462. The race of Pierce against Scott, in .1852, was correspondingly close in some States, the advantage being in Delaware only 25 votes, in Louisiana 1,392, in North Carolina 686, and in Tennessee 1,880. In the memorable and remarkable contest of 1860, Lincoln had only 657 votes the better of Douglas in California. In 1864, McClellan got only 612 more votes than Lincoln in Delaware. In California, in 1868, Grant received but 506 more votes than Seymour, and in Oregon but 164 majority. In 1872 again, between Greeley and Grant, Delaware held her party votes within 909 of each other.

Bullock’s Cheek.—This requires to be well washed and rubbed with salt until every particle of slime is removed; all the bone must be taken out first, then rinse it in clear, cold water, wipe it dry and roll the meat up neatly, tie it firm with twine, put two ounces of dripping into your jar, shake pepper and salt Over the meat both before you roll it and after, stand it in the jar, cover close and bake three hours; just before taking it up put a good sized teacup of boiling water over and stand back iu the oven a few minutes; any kind of vegetable with plain or snet swimmers eats well with this inexpensive but savory and wholesome dish. The meat done thus turns out both mellow, juicy, and tender. A traveler through Arabia rwites that when a Bedouin is asked to drink his answer would frequently be: “No, thanks; I drank yesterday.” In response to such an invitation in Philadelphia a man takes enough to last him till to-morrow. The bald man’s motto: “There i« room at the top.”

According to Martin, the second order of the mammalia are the quadrumana, or four-handed. Among them are found the ape, orang-outang, baboon and monkey. Bnffon divided them as follows: those which have long tails are apes; those with short tails are baboens; the most numerous division have long tails, and are called monkeys. The orang-outangs are not numerous; they inhabit the impenetrable forests of Borneo, Java and Sumatra, as well as the forests of Guinea and Congo. The natives of Borneo insist that the orang-outang is q man, and.that he will not speak because he is afraid he will be made to work. He is the only ape who uses sticks and stones as a means of defense; he had some idea of artificial weapons, and in this respect differs from all other animals. When an elephant invades a part of the forest which they have appropriated, they seldom fail to drive him away by the use of sticks and stones. The bonneted monkey (simia sinica) is found in Bengal; it is brown in color, but on the upper part of the head is a portion of white, which, diverging in rays, fashions a sort of bonnet like that worn by the Chinese. From his fleshcolored visage, the white cap, the lively brown eyes and human-shaped ears, the bonnet-ape looks like a little old man. • He imitates everything he sees, He can be taught to smoke cigars, dance on a rope, and walk with a cane. The Chaema, or Black Pavian (simia porcaria) is a variety of the baboon family, and resembles a pig in the face. He is dusky olive in color, and on the end of h s tail is a tuft like a tassel. He is a native of the Cape of Good Hope. Living in tribes, and always ready to plunder, this race of monkeys commit fearful devastation in the vineyards and gardens. With a sagacity almost human, they will station a guard on the outposts to watch. A portion of them enter the inclosure, climb the trees, pluck the fruit and toss it to those standing below. These hand it to others, who form a line reaching to the rendezvous outside, which is generally in some craggy mountain, and thus, all assisting in the work, the booty is soon safely disposed of. As soon as the sentinel sees some one approaching, he gives the alarm by uttering a loud cry, and the plunderers all scamper off. If ho neglects to warn them in time, the whole party will fall upon him and beat him severely. The howling monkeys are remarkable for the frightful noises which they make by the use of a singular bony sub-, stance connected with the larynx, which serves as a resounding board. They are very numerous in the primitive forests of South America, where they live in companies. At night they hold their concerts, which are terrifying in their character, and can be heard for miles. A company of soldiers belonging to a garrison at Surinam, having been sent out at night to reconnoiter, landed in a creek in the neighborhood of a forest where these animals were holding their nocturnal assembly. Hearing the terrible noise, they became alarmed and retreated, with the announcement that a formidable enemy was approaching.