Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1891 — Page 4

slje s«tiocraticSfntiiut RENSSELAER, INDIANA. 9. W. McE WEN, ... PmtT.nonrm

About the only women in the world who swing their arms when walking are Americans. Tennessee has passed a law providing that school directors must be able to read and writeA Washington. D. C., colored man has been arrested thirty-three times since Nov. 23, 1890. He will have a rest now, as his last sentence was 364 days to jail. Phcenicia was at the pinnacle of power between the years 2000 and 750 B. C., and, in fact, its people were the instructors and civilizers of the whole western world. An arc lamp with four carbons arranged radially in a nearly horizontal plane, but having their central meeting points slightly depressed, has lately appeared in Paris. Accuracy of statement is the aim of a certain Maine newspaper. It recently gravely stated that a large number of “fresh” mackerel had just been caught off Portland harbor. While Mr. W. K. Vanderbilt’s Alva was steaming through a storm on her way to Villefran'che, an enormous wave deposited a seventy-pound turtle on the deck. It was good to eat, and therefore was eaten. The difference between the 50,000 Americans found in Italy and the 500,000 Italians found in the United States is that the former are rich and go there to spend, and the latter are poor and come here to accumulate. There are are 152 British peers who between them own 1,539 places where intoxicants are sold. The list is headed by the Eax-l of Derby, who is the owner of seventy-two drinking places. Next comes the Duke of Bedford with fortyeight. The average soundings in the open Atlantic give a depth of two or three thousand fathoms. The sun’s rays illumine this mass of water to a depth of two or three hundred fathoms only. The greater part of the ocean bed is thus pitch dark.

At Mont Del, in Brittany, the remains of about 100 elephants have been discovered, gathered on a small surface of about 1,900 square meters. All the bones are broken, and it is thought that the animals must have been eaten by prehistoric men. j • ' r M. D’Ennatskt, the Russian gentleman who bet 25,000 roubles that he would drive his troika from Samara to Paris in eighty days, reached Paris oa March 17, twenty-two days ahead of time. He used three little Ural horses, the maximum distance covered for any day being about 120 miles. Fob a given number of people who can use railroads, Austria provides more trains than India, Germany more than Austria, England more than Germany, and the United States more than England. Each concession to the public convenience in this matter involves a loss which must be p aid for somewhere. Frank Campbell, a storekeeper at "Victoria, B. C., who died recently, was noted for his good humor and widespread charity, and was also widely known as editor of the “Bulletin.” This was not a paper, but a big blackboard, on which was placed every bit of local news as soon as it was known. The people consulted the “Bulletin” with as much confidence as they did their newspapers. Edison, when in Paris, laid great Btress upon the fact that it was dangerous to be sending, side by side with gas conduits, through subterranean Paris, electrical currents by wires oharged with high-tension currents, and predicted that explosions would be the result. Many explosions from this cause are now occurring in Paris, and newspapers of that city are reverting to Edison’s warning. An insult to the national bird of freedom was perpetrated bv an unpatriotic darky in East Nashville, Tenn. He deals in poultry, and berog short of stock the other day, he killed, and sold as a turkey, a forty-year-old eagle which his former master had given to him at the close of the war. The purchaser could not sink his teeth in the flesh of the tough fowl, brought it back, and had the darky arrested for his irreverent treatment of the national bird. The young fops who congregate at the rear doors of theaters, to view the ballet girls as they emerge after the performance, may heed the warning lately administered by the proprietor of the Central Theater, Philadelphia. He had repeatedly requested the welldressed sidewalk statues to pass on. They heeded him not until the other day, when, without a hint of what was coming, he turned the hose on them. One of the fops has sued the manager for $l5O, the cost of a ruined suit of clothes. - ' i A New York merchant noticed, in the course of years, that each successive bookkeeper gradually lost his health, and finally died of consumption, however vigorous and robust he was on entering his service. At length

! it occurred to him that the little rear j room where the books were kept opened into a back yard so surrounded | by high walls that no sunshine came ( into it from one year’s end to another. An upper room, well lighted, was immediately prepared, and his clerks had uniform good health ever after.

“While digging in the side of a steep bluff," reports a Nebraska contemporary, “William Isaac of Scitoria unearthed a portion of a skeleton which is a remainder of the wondrous forms of animal life represented in ancient times. The bones and teeth were found imbedded in solid clay at a disance of fifty feet from the top of the bluff. The teeth measure across the end fifteen inches, and weigh twentyfive pounds apiece. The bones found are proportionally long and heavy.

Heat and dynamite do not harmonize. A laborer at Tidnish. N. Y., placed seventy-five pounds of dynamite before a stove in a shanty, to make it “thaw out.” ■ As this process would take some time be went to his home, a mile away, for a rest and a smoke. On arriving there he heard a distant explosion. It is supposed to have been caused by the dynamite, which must have thawed, and gone at once to work, as the stove and the shanty have not since been seen.

Very few people know what wonderful feats of engineering have been accomplished in the Andes. It appears that the highest inhabited place in the world is G alexia—a railway village in Peru, 15,635 feet above the sea, or within 100 feet of the summit of Mont Blanc. Near it a tunnel, 3,847 feet long, is being bored through the peak of the mountain, 600 feet above the perpetual snow line. The railways of the Andes exhibit some of the most marvelous results of engineering skill which the world contains.

In Switzerland a Sunday law has been enacted applying to all railroads, and steamboats, and tramway companies, and postoffices. Working time must not be more that twelve hours a day, even on occasions of increased traffic. Engine and train men must have at least ten hours of unbroken rest, and other employes nine hours. They must also have fifty-two days off yearly, and seventeen of these must be Sundays. No reduction in wages is to be made for such rest days. All freight traffic on Sunday is prohibited, except live stock.

The first sign of the hatching of a snake, according to Dr. Walter Sibley, is the appearance of a slit at the part of the eggshell which happens to be uppermost. The young reptile’s snout appears at the crack, and after a time the head protrudes, and may remain thus several hours before she body and tail are hatched. If disturbed, the head is withdrawn into the shell, while fully hatched snakes often seek their shells as a safe retreat. These infants are smooth and velvety to the touch, with eyes open from the first, and begin to hiss at the age of a few days.

Attached to a freight train passing through York, Pa., the other day was a car containing a number of horses, one of which leaped from the car when about two miles from that "city. He described several somersaults on the ground, arose, and, finding the way to the track, trotted after the fast receding train until he came to a culvert, through whjchhis forelegs went. The brute tried in vain to extricate himself. He was held fast until word could be sent to Brill Hart’s station, a short distance away, where a gang of railroad men were working. They immediately went to the spot and removed the animal, which was badly though not seriously, injured, thus averting a horrible railroad disaster.

Seven beautiful young girls were landed at the barge office, New York, the other day, from the steamship Majestic. They were accompanied by their father and mother, and all came from Fifeshire, Scotland, and their name is Harrison. The most remarkable resemblance between the sisters exists. The oldest is nineteen years old and the youngest six years, and the hair of all is of a beautiful goldenred tint. Their skin iu like rich velvet, with a complexion suggestive of peaches and cream. The interesting family were admired by all who saw them, and they were voted the handsomest girls that ever came over in the steerage. They were very well dressed and were bound for Urban a, Ohio, where their father, who is a stonecutter, will secure work.

A few mornings ago, on arising, residents of Nashville, Tenn., were surprised and somewhat alarmed to find the ground cowered with a yellow deposit, resembling powdered sulphur, which for a time it was supposed to be. The substance was soon found, however, to be the pollen of pines, carried by the winds from a strip of pine forest, extending from Louisiana through North Carolina to Virginia. The force of the winds is 60 great and pine pollen so light that the latter is sometimes carried from the pine regions to Chicago in snch vast quantities that the waters of Lake Michigan for miles out' side the city limi'f3 are covered with a thick, yellow scum. This pollen, although minute in the present age, in prehistoric times was of great size, spores of some species of lycopodiums and selagenellas, which are allied to the coniferre, having a diameter of one-sixteenth of an inch, and composed almost entirely some of the E iropean coal beds.

ANCIENT WARFARE.

Wh»X Took the Place of Our Mode-.-n Gunpowder. The predecessor of gunpowder in the history of war has always been considered to be a wonderful combustible known as Greek fire, of which the most marvelous accounts have been circulated among mankind during the past two or three centuries. It is somewhat difficult at the present day to obtain exact information in respect either to the composition of this substance or the construction of the engines or other apparatus employed in projecting it. The slinging engine represented in this

FLOATING FIRE-BALLS.

article, and copied after an illumination in a Latin manuscript of the thirteenth century, was constructed to throw a barrel of the combustible compound. The beam was drawn back by means of a rope wound round the capstan. Its elasticity, after being brought into a state of great tension, was then suddenly released, when the end of the beam, carrying the barrel of combustibles previously set on fire, was thrown violently forward and the barrel hurled from the sling, all in flames, into the works of the enemy. A battering engine is represented standing by the side of the sling. » In naval warfare a species of vessel was used covered with a roof sufficient to protect the navigators from spears and arrows, and provided with a pointed prow to act as a ram, and projecting beams bearing barrels charged with materials for producing Greek fire. The fire was also used by fort soldiers in armor or by men on horseback or in

FIRE-ARMED HORSEMAN.

chariots in war. The torch borne by the foot soldier, or by the horseman, was used oft&n for the purpose of setting fire to the wooden works of the enemy, or to heaps of combustibles previously piled up before a gate or other point assailed. There are accounts, also, of large bodies of men being thus armed to operate against a hostile force in array upon the open field. But this method of warfare could not be employed with advantage except when there was a strong wind blowing from the position of the assailant toward that of the assailed. In this

COVERED RAM AND FIRE-SHIP.

case the advancing line would be preceded by a cloud of smoke consisting of the most poisonous and suffocating vapors, before which no human being could stand. The lances used in these cases were formed with an iron receptacle for the fire at the end. This receptacle terminated in points at the extremity, which formed a very efficient weapon after the fire was exhausted, or even perhaps while it continued to bum. In the case of the horseman the shank of the lance was

ENGINE FOR THROWING GREEK FIRE.

supported by a ring open at the top, fixed upon the horse’s head, and the horse as well as the man was covered with an iron armor, in order to protect them from any sparks or flecks of flame which might be driven against them by the rapidity of the onward motion, notwithstanding the precautions taken in respect to the direction of the wind. Shells were also so constructed that when thrown from a height into the water, their buoyancy raised them to the surface and the Greek fire which had been previously kindled con timed to burn and scatter ruin around. Water added to the flame merely created steam whose explosive force scattered the burning materials far and near. Melbourne., Australia, has in flew a drainage system costing $‘25,000,000.

RUSSIAN PEASANT SUPERSTITIONS.

How Small-Hox Is Propagated Among the Poor and Ignorant People. Last October small-pox broke out in the Poodozhskiy and Povienetskiy districts of the Government of Olonetzk, on the coast of Lake Ladoga. Since then the plague has spread throughout the region, and is still unabated. In the villages and towns where the scourge has appeared 10 per cent, of all the children up to the age of 12 years have died, mostly such as had not been vaccinated. A large percentage of adults have also died. The medical and the administrative authorities are doing all in their power to resist the evil, but the prejudices of the common people are against them. These prejudices are very curious. The people of Olonetzk regard small-pox (Ospa) as a divinity to be propitiated and not angered. They call it “Ospa Ivanovna,” or “Matooshka (little mother) Ospa”— appellations which imply profound respect. Since vaccination is a means to oppose it, they believe that it would be a sin to be vaccinated, and try to avoid the operation by all possible means. As soon as a person gets stricken with the disease all the children of the village are dressed as nicely as their parents can afford and taken to his house to pay their respects to Ospa Ivanovna. They take cakes and fruit to the house of the invalid, which they deposit on a table placed by his bedside for the purpose. Then they kiss the sick person on the mouth and sit around him for some time talking and partaking of the food they had brought with them, or of the other victuals which the host provides. Sometimes children are brought from a distance of twenty versts (seven versts are five miles) to salute Little Mother Ospa in this wise. As long as there is smallpox in the house the rooms must not be cleaned, and the inmates may not wash themselves or change their garments. No rough expression or curse may be pronounced in a house where there is a small-pox patient. If such an expression escapes involuntarily from the lips, the offender must forthwith kiss the invalid by way of propitiating Ospa Ivanovna. No medicine is given to the patient, but he must be bathed in hot water twelve times during his illness. The presents which the children bring must be left on the table by his bedside for visitors to partake of. These superstitions are deeply rooted among the peasants of the entire region, and serve to propagate the disease despite all efforts made by the more cultivated.

Didn’t Use His Club.

“Come, wake up! Where do you want to go ?” A man lay on the sidewalk on Park row in the small hours of yesterday morning, curled up as if he were tucked in bed and sleeping soundly. He had been visiting several saloons, for his clothes were all awry and covered with dirt, and he looked as if he had been Bleeping in a mud-cart. A policeman shook him by the shoulder and tried to raise him to his feet, but the man aimed a vicious kick at the officer, saying: “Lem me alone. I want ter sleep, What-cher disturb a sleepin’ man for?” To the surprise of the officer the man suddenly struggled to his feet and struck out with his right hand at him, catching him under the chin. The act showed such genuine ill-nature that one of a small group of bystanders who gathered around shouted: “Club the brute. He doesn’t deserve kind treatment.” The man glared sullenly at the crowd and aimed another blow, overbalancing himself in the effort and falling heavily to the ground. He gathered himself up again and became very abusive, calling the officer every offensive name he could think of, while the latter tried to prevent him from falling again. The man then grew frightened, sobered up a little and told where he lived, and the officer put him on a Third avenue street-car and then disappeared. “Say what you like about the police, that officer is a gentleman,” said a well dressed man who had viewed the little scene. —New York Journal.

Symptoms of Failing Vision.

Spots or sparks of light floating before the eyes. Quivering of the lids or sensation of sand in the eyes. Perceptible fatigue or the requirement of strong light in reading. The holding ’of objects at arm’e length or close to the eye. Squinting one eye or seeing objects double. Dizziness or darting pains in the eyeballs or over the temple. Perceiving a colored circle around the lamp. Sensitiveness of the eyeballs or contraction of the vision field. Blurring of the vision or beiDg unable to see objects distinctly at a distance. Watering or redness of the eyes or lids, running together of the letters when reading, or seeing the vertical better than the horizontal lines.

Girls Were Scarce.

There is a young bride, fresh from the South, who live-; up in Mount Vernon. She was quite ignorant of our Northern social conditions until recently. She is better informed now. It chanced that she needed a servant, and, as she had always been used to colored girls, set out to find one. It also chanced that she met a middleaged colored woman in the street, and, after the custom of the said to her: “Auntie, I want to get a bright you Dg colored girl to work for me. Are there any in your family out of a place, or do you know of any ?” “Auntie” looked at the bride with cold and crushing hauteur, and then replied: “No, I know of no such a girl, madam. lam looking for a white girl myself.” —New York Herald. A marine view, to be true to nature, must be painted in water colors. Electric cab 3 run on the streets of Stuttgart.

GLOBE GIRDLING ON BICYCLES.

Two Washing;ton Mon on Thoir Way Around tha World on Wheels. Two young Washington lawyers, Mitchell and Stevens, are to encircle

CEO. D. MITCHELL.

it takes them ten years to complete their long journey, nor how many hairbreadths escapes they may experience. No attempts will be made to break records —the two venturesome young men caring only to inspect the world from the saddle of their “bikes.” They have already traveled through Western Europe on their wheels and are enthusastic over their present tour. With them they will carry a kodak, revolvers, knives, guide books, maps, a compass, stationery, water

colors, one change of underclothing, a folding drinking cup, a canteen (for water), medicines, mending kit, soap and towels, all in tw'o bicycle kits. The two bicycles are awaiting the travelers at Queenstown, whence they wheel across Ireland to the north, through Dublin and Belfast, thence from

the Scottish Highlands down to London. Then they go straight through Erance, over the Alps and down the Danube, turning southward along the Grecian coast. Through Palestine and the far East they will take their time. After India they traverse Japan and Australia, thence to San Francisco and across the continent home. The two young men have passports and letters from a high official at Washington. Mr. Mitchell is a son of ex-Senator Mitchell, of Pensylvania, and Mr. Stevens comes of an old Virginia family. Both are twenty-five years of age, in perfect health and members of the International Cyclists’ Touring Club, having a membership of 25,000.

THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.

A Distinguished Asiatic Prince Who Is Now Visiting in London. This Eastern Asiatic Prince, who is now visiting London, and who has been sojourning more than a twelvemonth in different parts of the continent of Europe, mostly at Frankfort and Carlsbad, in South Germany, and

THE SUITAN OF JOHORE.

Switzerland, well received in high society, has his home, the capital of a small Malay independent State, thirty-five miles to the east of Singapore. Johore as well as the adjacent states in the southern part of the Malay Peninsula is under a British Protectorate; and one purpose of the Sultan’s visit is to confer with Her Majesty’s Government upon an arrangement for securing the succesion of his son to the throne. The Sultan, who is a Mahometan, has about 115,000 subjects, Malays and Chinese, and lives on most amicable terms with the English of Singapore and other Europeans. He has shown much hospitality to distinguished travelers from England, including the late Duke of Sutherland and Lady Brassy, w r ho were courteously entertained by him as guests of the Palace at Johore.

A Husband’s Right.

A singular case was recently tried by a court at Glasgow, Scotland. George Sharp applied to have a friend of his wife, named Jane Hannah, interdicted from entering his house in his absence. Jane defended the case, stating that she had Mrs. Sharp’s permission to come to the house. This was denied by Mr. Sharp, but he stood on his right that Mrs. Sharp could not receive any visitor—not even a near relative—against his wishes, 'ihis contention the court holds, is sound law. The interdict asked for was granted.

Churchill's Repartee.

A story is at present being told of Lord Randolph Churchill, which is given with due reserve. It runs that at Lincoln a rather noisy member of the bookmaking fraternity addressed his lordship as follows: “Glad to see you again, my lord: my name is Hopkins, but I bet you don’t remember me.” “You’ve won your bet,” was the quiet reply, and Lord Randolph strolled quietly away in an opposite direction. —Home Journal.

the globe on their bicycles. They claim that theirs is not a “relief expedition,” but an effort to locate the Gar- ; den of > den. They j.will travel without > a particle of baggage and will pedal their way into all the curious corners of foreign lands. They do not care if

EUGENE E. STEVENS.

FOR OUR LITTLE FOLKS.

A COLUMN OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO THEM. What Ch'ldren Have Done, What They Are Doing, and What They Should Do to Paw Their Childhood Days. Baby’s Catechism. Where did you come from, baby dear? Out of nowhere Into here. Where ..Id you get those eyes of blue? From the skies as I came through. What makes the light in them sparkle and spin? Berne of the starry spikes let in. Where did you get that little tear? I found It when I got here. What makes your forehead so smooth and high? A soft hand stroked it as I went by. What makes your cheek Like a warm red rose? I saw something better than any one knows. Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss? Three angels gave me it at one kiss. Where did you get this pearly ear? God spoke, and it came out to hear. Every Hoy His Own Blrdmaker. If yon would like to amuse the juniors of the family, gather up'a lot of old corks and proceed to whittle out the main parts of the birds shown in

the accompanying cut from GoldenDays. These birds are made with cork, matches and hairpins. They are “too comicid for anything.” Extremely Frank. “Now, Robbv, if you don’t want to go to Bessie Smith’s party, you must write a note and tell her so; and be sure and get it polite. You will find some models in this book of etiquette,” said Mrs. Carhart to her little son. Robbv struggled with the problem for an hour, and then presented for his mother’s inspection the following truthful but unconventional effusion: “Mr. Robert Carhart declines with" pleasure Miss Bessie Smith’s kind invitation for the 14th, and thanks her extremely for having given him the opportunity of doing so.”— Harper’s Bazar. All the Fifference in the World. A smart girl went to a children’s party the other afternoon. After she had returned home she said to her parents: “At the party a little girl fell from a chair to the floor. All the other girls laughed, but I didn’t.” “Well, why didn’t you laugh?” “ ’Cause I was the one that fell through.” tIt was the same little girl who, after a trip in the country, remarked, wistfully: “I wish I had a house out of doors.”

In No Danger. Little Dick—Mamma, mayn’t I have some of that black coffee ? Mamma—Mercy! No; it will make you jump out of your boots! “Oh, no, mamma; my boots is awful tight.”— Street & Smith’s Good News. Sayings and Doings of Little People. A little Massachusetts boy, who deserves election to the Law and Order League, recently printed a sign and fastened it on one of the posts of the front piazza. The sign read: “No smokc-ness, nor drunk-ness, nor swearwords, nor wickedness ’round this house.” “Of course we don’t do such things,” said little Master Yirtue, “but I thought it would be good to have the sign up there for the tin peddlers and the visitors to read.”— Wide Awake. Flossie is six years old. “Mamma,” the asked, one day, “if I get married will I have to have a husband like papa?” “Yes,” replied the mother, with an amused smile. “And if I don’t get married will I have to be an old maid like Aunt Kate ?” “Yes.” “Mamma”—after a pause—“it’s a tough world for us women, ain’t it ?”

Warranted Unique.

“You are the proprietor of this temple of fame ?" said a lean and haggard man in the private office of the dime museum. “I am.” “Then you want me. Yes, sir; you need mo. lam a marvel, a positive apotheosis of wonderfulness.” “What is your line?” “I’m an eminent physician, see ?” “Well.” “And I have never claimed to have known all about the consumption cure before Koch brought it out. ” And while he stood up proudly the proprietor began writing out a contract for next season at a fat salary.— St. Joseph News.

Preachers and Hacknen Whack up.

It is a curious fact that the Camden preachers are a prolific source of revenue to nearly every hack driver in Philadelphia. A formal agreementexists between the two classes, which provides that all. marriage fees shall be equally divided between the man who marries the couple and the man who drives them to the preacher’s residence. In this manner a sharp competition has developed, and the most popular preacher is the one who numbers the largest following of enterprising hack drivers. As a general thing the gentry who do the driving can tell a couple who intend to get married a block away. —Philadelphia Record. The working population of the world is estimated at 500,000,000; the power of the world’s steam engines at theequivalent of 1,000,000,000 men.