Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1891 — Ostriches in America. Smoked Himself to Death. Overcome by the Honor. Too Young to Be Rever[?]nd. He Was Getting Acquainted. [ARTICLE]

Ostriches in America.

Smoked Himself to Death.

Overcome by the Honor.

Too Young to Be Rever[?]nd.

He Was Getting Acquainted.

There are certain old traditions aboat the ostrich which, I have been told by the owner of a California ranch, are fallacious. Ho says the ostrich does not bury his head in the sand and imagine he is unobserved by his enemies. On the contrary, he is a very pugnacious bird, and always ready for a fight. Nor does the female ostrich lay her eggs in the sand for the sun to hatch them. To do them justice, they are quite domestic, and deserve a better reputation. Nor is the ostrich ever used for riding, as he has an exceptionally weak back; any person might break it with a blow from an ordinary cane. His strength lies in his great breast and his feet. He has one great claw and a very small one, and with a terrible precision he can bring down the large claw with a cruel force that, will tear open anything not made of sheet iron. Savage birds at best, they are dangerously so during breeding time. The twenty-two birds brought to our California ranch trusted to their instinct, and laid their eggs during the California winter, which corresponded to their summer south of the equator. It being the rainy season, their nesti were tilled with water and the eggj were chilled; so the first season ol their Amerioan sojourn was a failure. The ostrich makes its nest by rolling in tho sand and scooping out a hole .some six feet in diameter, and, except ing an incubator-house, the California ranch requires no building for the use of the birds, though the land is divided off into pens fenced in, each about an acre in extent, for tho use of the breeding birds, every pair occupying one such inclosure. The ostriches live upon alfalfa and corn. Alfalfa is a grass cultivated all over the ranch; it resembles our clover, and grows to a crop some six times a year.

The most fantastic story told is that of the strange and slow suicide of the Baron Bela Olnyi, at Pesth, in the year 1875. The Baron was supposed to be very wealthv. He had a wife and six children. He lost his money in speculation, but this was not known. He went to Paris and insured bis life for 100,000 guelden each in live companies. He returned to Pesth and his habits began to change. He absented himself from home for long periods every day. The picture of health, he began to droop and pine away. In ten months he died of what the doctors called galloping consumption. The insurance companies were suspicious, and their detectives unearthed a most wonderful plot. The nobleman was discovered to have hired a small room in a remote and mean portion of the citv. It was broken into, and found to be furnished with a comfortable sofa, a table, two chairs and two chests. In one of these was found a comfortable dressing gown, a pair of loose Turkish trousers, a fez, aud a dozen long pipes. In the other was found about 200 strong Havana cigars and a half pound of common smoking tobacco. From the wrappers found in the bottom of the chest it would appear that in less than eight months the nobleman ' had smoked about 3,500 cigars and about 101 pounds of smoking tobacco, having deliberately poisoned himself will nicotine.

An amusing story is told of Archduke Eugene of Austria, while on a visit recently to a small hamlet in Hungary. Feeling the necessity for a shave, as ordinary mortals at times are wont to do, the Prince had the manager of the little hotel at which he was staying send for the best barber in the town. Overjoyed at the privilege ol shaving a member of the imperial family, the knight of the strop arrayed himself in all his Sunday finery and went to the hotel. Although somewhat timid, he succeeded in placing his imperial highness in the chair and covering his face an inch deep with lather. But at this point his Dalgetty spirit forsook him, and, razor in hand, he began to tremble as the traditional aspen leaf. “Your imperial highness,” he mustered courage to say, “the honor of shaving you fyps so excited me that I am unable to proceed with my work.” Ashamed of his failure, the poor fellow rushed from the room. The Archduke laughed heartily, but was obliged to remain in his uncomfortable position until a more courageous colleague arrived to complete the unfinished shave.

A very amusing story is told about a young clergyman who does not live over a hundred miles from here, who had gone to supply the vacant pulpit of a church in a certain village. Huwas just out of the theological seminary, And had an extremely boyish appearance. A little before the hour the new minister made his way almost unnoticed into the pulpit, where he wAs concealed by the reading desk in front of him. But an old lady who sat close on the right of the pulpit in consideration of her deafness, was much concerned to qee.a boy in the. place of the expected clergyman. , So. she arose very softly, stepped on tip-toe to the pnlpit stairs, and beckoning with her forefinger, whispered loudly,; in" coaxing accents: “Come down, my boy; you muag’t'.sit t&fefd.‘ ' That’s *he place forthfl-minister I”— Akron Farm "News.

Clara —1 rehllyfeel as if I were making som,e progress with yourig Mr. Goodcsateh. o Maud—How so ? Clara —The other night when he called»on me he didn’t- wear a dress suit.— Brooklyn, Life. < •' i‘ C.- .1 a ... A new device, if adopted, will cause every postoffice clerk to pnt his nurn--ler on each letter he handles. It is a thimble with self-inking stamp. Maine and New Hampshire mak* nearly all the world’s spools,