Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1891 — Page 4

[?]O CORRESPONDENTS.

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! Thebe is peace in Europe—but they goon building steel ships and manufacturing great guns. The latest fad of “the 400” is to wear a diamond ring on the thumb. Probjably the nose will come next. A New Jersey man named Lockschmidt jumped into the river the other day because—well, same old reason—love laughed at him. Hailstones lately fell in Arkansas City the size of a soda biscuit. It is still a problem which baking powder concern will claim them for its own. Thebe seems to be no doubt that the Standard Oil Company has secured a permanent footing in Germany. The American hog has conquered at last. Now that Mrs. James Brown Potter, Kitty O’Shea, and Nina Van Zandt are all married, the store of romance in the world is ’way down below normal. It is claimed that Jules Verne has become a broken-down, disheartened man since Joe Mulhatton’s name became prominent ap the greatest liar on earth. A baby was sold for $1 the other day, and the seller gave a warranty deed of the property. It was probably not deemed necessary to give an abstract of title. Rud Kipling says: “I write all my poems on an empty stomach.” Any one who reads them can readily believe. They have a sensation of goneness which is accounted for.

The parents of a live baby in Nevada, Mo., sold it the other day for sl. If that child lives to become an Aiderman it will bring a much higher price than that—at least fifty cents higher. ' A lecturer in Massachusetts is trying to demonstrate to the young ladies that old maids are the salt of the earth. That may be true, but the girls prefer to be likened to the sugar of one household. Another air enthusiast dreams of constructing a balloon that will carry passengers across the Atlantic in twenty-four hours. But the air-ship record will bo made across the Styx for some time yet to come. Sing Sing now wants not only to have its prison removed elsewhere but to change its name. It may reasonably object to the prison, perhaps, but it will never find a more musical name than the one it now has. We believe that if a millionaire would devote a few of his thousands to bettering the condition of the homeless he would find flowers where he thought it was a desert, and sunshine where he thought it was a starless midnight. It is said that the Prince of Wales has been paying exorbitant prices lately for his horses. British royalty has before shown a tendency to be rather extravagant in the matter of horseflesh. Richard 111. once offered his kingdom for a horse. In a signed editorial in a New York newspaper the venerable but vagrant B. Peters Hutchinson tells of Chicago’s glory, and declares that the town is still young. Thus does he heap coals of fire on the head of a city which dubbed him “Old Hutch.” A man in Paris has bequeathed 100,000 francs to the French Academy of Sciences, to be given to any one who discovers a means of communicating with another world, star or planet. What’s the matter with a servant girl and oil-can kindling a fire in the kitchen stove?

It’s a strange thing to think of a man who can lift a chair with his teeth, and walk fifty miles, trembling and turning cold at only a look from one woman out of all the rest of the world. It’s a mystery we can give no account of; but no more can we of the sprouting of the seed, for that matter. The New York papers in advising the directors of the World’s Fair to abstain from dime-museum methods are not in error. Neither will the directors be in error if when in need of advice they turn to New York. For anything more substanial, however, they will have to face the other way. Two Milwaukee girls climbed to the top of the Pabst brewery chimney—a height of 225 feet —and were wildly cheered by thousands of spectators. They were pretty high up in the air, and had good nerve, surely; but their performance will not make them famous nor raise them higher in the estimation of those who read of their tom-boy exploit. A New Yobk dentist has died from the effects of a woman’s bite, while a San Francisco man has been cured of a threatening wound by having several square inches of cuticle stripped from h female nurse grafted upon his lacerated body. The two incidents taken (together seem to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that woman’s bite is vone than her bark. Bishop Coke, of Buffalo, protests against ladies riding bicycles, because

it reminds him too much of witched riding a broomstick. As it wps perfectly appropriate for witches to ride broomsticks in olden times, the Bishop’s objection will not hold water. American women look well on bl? cycles, and that is what they ride them for. . Papa Kiep, of Sturgis, Mich.,stopped at the altar the wedding of his daughter, a belle in the German-American society of that community, because he had suddenly found out that his intending son-in-law did not pay his bills. If all fathers, under the like circum-! stances, had Papa Kiep’s decision of character there would be fewer wrecked; lives and homes, and fewer unhappy! marriages for the divorce courts to undo.

Hebrew resentment over the definition of “Sheeny, a sharp fellow, hence a Jew,” is wholly just. That editorsi of the “Century Dictionary” should, permit so gross an error to deface s' page of that work is as surprising as it is censurable. The slang epithet is by no means limited to one race, but has been vulgarly applied to persons of various races. In revision of the work into which it has slipped by unintentional oversight its offensive restriction will be, of course, expunged. Womanly devotion to an unworthy scamp was never more forcibly instanced than when the deserted wife of Letter-Carrier Barlow, of Chicago, tearfully pleaded with the authorities for leniency for her disgraced husband. Barlow had deserted his wife two years before, had ill-treated her while he did live with her, and in many ways had forfeited all claims upon her respect and affection; yet, when ho was detected in his thieving, this devoted little woman was the first to offer him comfort and to intercede in his behalf. Truly, the depth of woman’s lovo is yet unfathomed.

Away with such a hybrid, such a monstrosity, such a Frankenstein freak of a word as “electrocution” for inflicting the death penalty by electricity. It is an etymological absurdity, because the criminal is not “cuted” by electricity or anything else. He is not even executed. It is the sentence of the law that is executed, as any other sort of authoritative order is executed.; Some punishment fitting the crime] should be devised for the man who in-j vented the words “electrocute” and “electrocution.” They should be boycotted by every speaker and writer of good, honest English.

The landing of 95,000 bushels of wheat at Liver; 00l in unbroken bulk from Chicago is an interesting event in the history of international transportation. It saves elevator charges at Buffalo, canal or railroad freights to the seaboard and the heavy terminal charges there. If the exploit of the Wetmore could be repeated safely and reliably throughout the reason of navigation there would certainly be a field for a fleet of such vessels, and the effect upon the Liverpool wheat market would be pronounced. The Wetmore is a credit to Michigan enterprise and to the skill of her b uilders.

Within the memory of a multitude of living people it was the custom of Americans upon all festive occasions to boast that “America was the land of the brave and the home of the free,” and they rejoiced over each ship-load of immigrants that reached our shores. But times have changed. There is no longer any rejoicing over the incoming multitudes, but a sober reflecting on how immigration can be reduced in quantity. The immigration for the current year will doubtless reach more than 600,000. Over 400,000 reached the port of New York alone. Those that have been returned as unfit for citizenship are so few as scarcely to deserve notice, while the number wholly lacking in all essentials of the American citizen were undoubtedly greatly in the majority. What will happen if this class continues to pour in upon us and increase with the years it is not difficult to surmise.

Official secrecy has no place in a popular government. In a despotic country, where the sovereign is the state, his majesty’s counsel is necessarily reserved to himself and his cabinet. Under the rule of an aristocracy the purposes of the rulers are shrouded in darkness, and the blows of the Senate of Borne or the Council of Venice were accustomed to fall without warning. But, under a system founded upon the intelligence and choice of the whole people, it is monstrous, it is intolerable, that any act of any public servant should be kept from general knowledge and shielded from investigation. Especially is this the case when the state exercises its authority to take the life of any man, though the very humblest member of the community. The law of the State of New York, so far as it enjoins or allows the putting to death of criminals in secret, or in the presence only of a few witnesses pledged to secrecy, is capable of abuse, discordant with our institutions, violative of private rights, restrictive of a free press, and unworthy of this country and this age. It must be amended. The people must have light. They must know what the public servants are doing. They must know whether cruelty and torture are perpetrated. The four men who died at Sing Sing were executed by command of the sovereign people of the State of New York. And the people want to know in what manner it was done.

TOLD TIME FOR PRINCES.

Bern* Bar* Clocks and Watches In aa Auatrton Palace—Tro sure* W .rth Seetot. For many centuriei the "Burg,” as the palace of the Emperor at Vienna is designated, has been the home of Austria’s rulers. It is a rambling, old-fashioned building, without pretense to architectural beauty, which contains so many quaint corners and quiet nooks that it is a constant snrErise and pleasure to the person who i so fortunate as to obtain the entree to its almost sacred portals. The treasury of the imperial house is worthy of many visits, as it contains a wonderful collection of antiques of inestimable value. The collection of old watches and clocks alone numbers 101, and is, without doubt, the most unique and valuable in the world.

TURKISH WATCH.

The first watch that attracts attention is one of Turkish manufacture, in a case of plain silver. A small circle on the dial plate, with the Turkish figures, marked the hours and half hours. A large golden circle marked the days of the month; a red disk marked the phases of the .moon; a hollow on the right side contains the names of the month on a movable silver disk, and in the hollow on the left the names of the days of the week are designated in the same manner. The watch now actually marks Dschumma, Bth, muharren, 30th, 12 o’clock noon (1045 Mohammedan era), or Friday, Aug. 1, 1664, the day of the battle of St. Gotthard. It is attested by documents accompanying it that this watch was captured from a Turkish pasha during that battle. Another watch that possesses more than passing interest is one of gold, in the form of a book, entirely covered

THE BOOK WATCH (1575).

with arabesque work. The principal dial indicates not only the hours and the minutes but the time of sunset. The smaller or upper disk set on the age of the moon will indicate its phases and the time of its riring and setting. The watch also contains an alarm. On the inner side of the ca-e or cover is a sun d al and a compass. It was made in 1575. One of the most noticeable clocks in the collection is an obelisk of agate, ornamented by three circles of garnets, and supposed to be the first in which the pendulum was used as a regulator. It was manufactured by J. Burgi, of Prague, in 1606. Right and left two watches of oval form are joined. The covers of these watches, if they can be called such, are of rock crystal, surrounded with plates of smoky topaz. The watch on the left points the minutes and hours, and strikes the latter as well as the quarters ; the clockwork of the quarters is to the left, and that of the hours to the right. The large hand of the watch on the right points the davs of the week, and the small hand the age of the moon and its phases. The signs of the ; odiac are engraved on the inner part of the dial-plate. Probably the most wonderful timepiece is a cylindrical case of cut rock crystal, containing the clock-work. This rests on a silver hemisphere, which contains a crystal globe, and is qu turn supported by an octagon pedestal of porphyry, ornamented with golden foliage and caryatides of the same precious metal. The clock points the hours, minutes and seconds on three

THE OBELISK CLOCK (l606).

dials, placed one above the other, in front, and on an opposite dial the ages pf the moon and its phases. On the ■Bata] globe the signs of the zodiac

and ecliptic are visible. It is said that it is possible to solve, with this globe,' every astronomical problem. This' work of art was completed about the year 1000, for the Emperor Rudolph IL, by the same J. Burgi who made' the clock described above. Burgi was born in 1552 and died in 1632, and from, all accounts he was not only a mel chanician and clockmaker, but one of the most celebrated mathematicians of his age. His supporters claim that he was the discoverer of logarithms, the use of the pendulum as a regulator, thd proportional circle, and many other things of almost equal value to the world, but that, through his careless-] ness and lack of business methods in most instances he lost the credit of priority.

Snow-White Oxen.

Have you ever seen the white oxen, of Italy? I do not mean those of Southern Italy, where every pair of horns is a wonder, where the question! is not whether the load of hay, but the horns, can pass through a gate. Ourj oxen here in Central Italy are prettier* animals—white as snow, large, but splendidly proportioned, pretty littlei black horns and eyes. Jupiter! I have! never seen such eyes! (Beg pardon*' but I may as well say “Jupiter** at once, and have done with it; you knowi the old story as well as I, and I be-! lieve could no more help thinking of it than I if you were to see the splendid 1 oxen.) Just a little ways outside the! walls - of Perugia, down on the hillside among the olive trees, where we got walking almost every day, is a litue farm-house, before the door of whichJ tied by his horns to a fig tree, we see’ very frequently the very beau ideal of these animals, and have become so* attached to the pretty creature that] we tremble for fear we shall lose him in the fair. We looked for him yesterday morning, for I am sure even among his many thousand snow-white fellows we! should have recognized him at once if we had seen him. I suppose his poormaster, for whom, perhaps, he is the] only treasure, would like to sell him,< yet I cannot help hoping when we go] that way again we shall find him still! tied to the fig tree, turning upon us; those beautiful eyes to welcome our approach. Such lashes! half as long as my finger, jet black, and resting, when he shuts his eyes, on his silky white cheeks with such effect. I could easily believe that, like a coquettish, beauty, he does it with a purpose. I do not know how many of these! splendid animals were on the fairground yesterday. Two or three days ago a farmer boy, who volunteered to instruct us concerning the comingi fair, when we asked him how many oxen we should see there —if many, thousands—answered, with a smile of 1 >ity at our ignorance: “Oh! more than that!—many millions!” Well, supposing there was a field as large as F ranklin Square, New York, covered as thick as they could stand with snow-white oxen—every one snow white —how many oxen would there be? I think there were more than could etaod on Franklin Square, but I do rot think there were “many millions,” Afterward, when we had returned to the city, we went to the highest point, called “Porta Sole,” and looking from there down on the white field, were reminded of the miracle of snow which fell once in midsummer in Rome on a square just as large as the basilica' (Santa Maria Maggiore) which was afterward built on the spot thus miraculously indicated.

The Immovable Coin.

Place a silver dime in the center ofj your hand when fully opened, asl shown in the illustration. Then ask! your friend to take an ordinary clothes brush and brush it off your hand. Ha

must not shake your hand, but be sat* is tied to do as if brushing his coat. H he does this you will be safe in telling him if he brushes it off he can have the coin.

Some Uses for Lemons.

After paring the lemon very thin (as the white part is bitter), and extract-* iug the juice, there are many ways for using the “remains.” Have you a tin, copper, or brass saucepan? Do not waste your time and muscle scouring it. Fill with cold water, drop in some of that discarded pulp, set it on the back of the stove, and let it boil about ten or fifteen minutes; then wash, and it will be as bright as new. If any spots remain, take some of the lemon, 1 dip it in salt, and rub thoroughly; all' stains will disappear as if by magic.’ Copper boilers can be cleaned by rubbing with the lemon and salt, in less time than by the old process, and one is less liable to be poisoned. For those, long, dark scratches which reveal that some one has tried to light a match by drawing it across the paint, take half a lemon and rub briskly, then wash off with a cloth moistened in water, then, dipped in whiting; rub well with this cloth, and in nine cases out of ten the mark will vanish. These marks defy soap and water; of course, anmatimes they are burned in so deeply that they can not be erased. The pulp of lemon rubbed on the hands will remove all stains. Drop a few drops of lemon juice on a rust spot, sprinkle with salt, and lay in the sun; the rust will disappear.—Hbusekeaper’s Weekly. Governor Markham. of California, has signed the bill making train-wreck-ing punishable by death. All our State Legislatures should follow the example of California. ' j

GREAT IN BIBLE WORK.

Ch«riM Haddon Spurgeon, Loudon** Flrat Pulpit Orator. Bev. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who was recently brought so near death’s door, is one of the really great men. He was born at Kelvedon, Essex, June 19, 1834, and was educated at Colchester, Maidstone and elsewhere, finally becoming usher In a school at Newmarket Having adopted Baptist views, he joined the congregation which had been presided over by the late Robert Hall, at Cambridge, He subsequently became pastor at Waterbeach, and his fame as a preacher reaching Rendon he was offered the pastorate of the church meeting In New Park Street Chapel, In Southwark. He first preached before a London congregation in 18S3, with so much success that ere two years had elapsed It was considered necessary to enlarge the building, pending which alteration he officiated for four months at Exeter Hall. The enlargement of the chapel in Park street, however, proved insufficient, and hearers multiplied with such rapidity that

C. H. SPUBGEON.

It became expedient to engage the Surrey Music Hall, and Mr. Spurgeon’s followers determined to build a suitable edifice for their services. The Metropolitan Tabernacle was accordingly built and opened in 1861. Mr. Spurgeon has published a sermon weekly since the first week of 1855, and at the end of 1889 the series—inclusive of double numbers —had reached No. 2120. The weekly circulation of these sermons is about twenty-five thousand. Mr. Spurgeon has also published a number of other works, the chief of which is “ The Treasury of David; or, ah Exposition of the Psalms,” in seven volumes.

The Storkwell Orphanage, founded by him in 1867, has since been enlarged to accommodate 250 boys and as many girls, and down to 1889 more than 1,400 children had been received. The Pastors’ College, founded by him in 18.56, has educated over 800 men, of whom, in 1889, 673 were still engaged as pastors, missionaries, evangelists or in some department of Christian work. The Metropolitan Colportage Association has about seventy or eighty agents occupying districts in different parts of the country, who, in addition to their other service, sell pure literature in the course of a year to the amount of £9,000. A “book fund,” carried on in Mr. Spurgeon’s house and superintended by Mrs. Spurgeon, has in ten years supplied indigent ministers of various denominations, free of cost, with over one hunddred and fifteen thousand volumes.

Mr. Spurgeon carries on a society for evangelists at home, and another for mission work in North Africa. His church has about thirty mission halls and schools affiliated with it. In 1879 he received a silver wedding testimonial of over £6,0C0, and in 1881, on attaining his 50th year, another sum of about £5,000 was presented. These funds were almost entirely distributed in charity, £5,000 having been devoted to the endowment Of the tabernacle almshouses. In 1887 Mr. Spurgeon withdrew from the Baptist Union. He had been a patient sufferer for many years from a compllca--tlon of diseases, chief of which was rheumatic gout. Added to this was influenza in its worst form. He lived near Beulah Hill, Upper Norwood, a pretty suburb of London.,

Mr. Spurgeon was a busy man, employing five stenographers and keeping them all going. With the exception of Mr. Gladstone he received the largest mail of any man ip the three kingdoms. A great many of his letters from sailors, from soldiers, from poor fellows whom he had managed to help out of the gutter, were simply addressed Spurgeon, England. To these he replied cheerfully and was always ready to give advice. Nor was this all He gave freely of his money. In fact, he was a poor man. If it had not been for the kindness of his congregation, he would have been penniless. A few years ago they purchased a house for him, the house at Norwood, the southern ridge of the wooded heights of Sydenham. Upon the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his pastorate of the church his congregation presented him with a large purse of money as a token of its esteem. It was intended that he should pay off the mortgage on his house, and take the remainder for a holiday. He did nothing of the kind; he divided the large sum equally between the pastors’ college and the orphanage. If it had not been for the prudence of some of his friends who insisted that it was his duty to keep his house free, he would have lived in hired apartments. His charity was not indiscriminate. His money was only given to those who deserved it He declined as many as a score of invitations to lecture throughout Europe and America at fabulous prices, because, as he explained, he was not a lecturer, and he didn’t want the money, and. he preferred to work in his own way among his own -people in London. When an American lecture agency offered him recently SI,OOO for every lecture and to pay all the expenses of himself and his wife and a secretary from London to America on a great lecture tour, and held out the tempting offer that he could make $50,000, Mr. Spurgeon declined it. He said he could do better. He would stay in London and try to save fifty souls.

Pat and the Guinea Hen.

Pat—Excuse me, sor, but shat soort of a bird do yez call that friokled janius jigglin’ the parts of spache on the since beyant ? Farmer—Why, that’s a guinea hen. Pat—A guinea hen, is id? Well, be the poipes o’ Ballyowen! it’s not worth it, so it isn’t. “Ladibs think, then act,” is an advertisement heading in an esteemed contemporary. The trouble is that so many ladies just reverse the order.

LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS!

THIS IS THEIR DEPARTMENT OF? THE PAPER. Quaint Saying* and Doing* of UtUo Oao* Gathered and Printed Here t*r Otbea Uttlo Folk* to Bead. P. T. Barnum’* Philosophy for Children.’ Childish laughter is the echo of . heavenly music. The noblest art is that of making others happy. Amusement to children is like rain to flowers. Wholesome recreation, conquers evil thoughts. If you would be as happy as a child, please one. Childish wonder is the first step in human wisdom. Innocent amusement transforms tears into rainbows. i To best please a child is the highest triumph of philosophy, I would rather be called the children’s friend than the world’s king. ' Ho that makes knowledge most attractive to the young is the king of sages. A Beautiful Father. “Tell your mother you’ve been very good boys to-day,” said aechool teacher to two little new scholars. “Oh.” replied Tommy, “we haven’tany mother." “Who takes care of you?” she asked.; “Father does. We’ve got a beautiful father. You ought to see him.” “Who takes care of you when he is at work?” “He takes all the care before he goes off in the morning, and after he comes back at night. He’s a house painter,' but there isn’t veiy much work this' winter, so he is doing laboring till 5 spring comes. He leaves us a warm breakfast when he goes off, and we have bread and milk for dinner, and a good supper when he comes home. Then he tells us stories, and plays on the fife, and cuts out beautiful things with his jackknife. You ought to see our father and our home, they are both so beautiful”

The M'nlster’s Cat. It’s a pretty big story, but it’s true, and the minister will tell you so. It’s about Deborah, the minister’s oat. She was a very large tabby, with three white stockings, two green eyes, and a wise old head. . Once upon a time Deborah had six little blind kittens, and they and their mother lay fast asleep in a round basket behind the stove in the minister’s Study. Deborah was sleeping so hard that when Mr Neal, the milkman, came into the room she only pricked up her left ear and then went on snoring. She did not know that Mr. Neal had come to borrow her to kill off the rats*in his house. Indeed, she did not ’know that he had any house, or any rats, either. He lived a mile away across the plain, and. she caught her rats nearer home. But Mr. Neal knew all about Deborah. He hadjnot for years sold milk at the parsonage without hearing what a famous mouser she was; and he said now to the minister: “Good evening, Mr. Fenn. I’ve called this stormy night to ask if you’ll be kind enough to lend us your cat?" “Certainly,” answered the minister/ laying aside his pen; “only you’ll have to take her family, too.” . * “Of course,” said Mr. Neal; “and: I’m glad she has the kittens; they will' keep her happy.”

Mr. Neal had brought a great strong bag, and by the help of the minister I he put Deborah into it—basket, and all. She tried her best to get out,* but Mr. Neal tied up the bag and held it firmly while he walked to hir wagon. There he dropped the bag into a box that stood under the seat,; and fastened down the coyer. Then he drove away. “Poor Deborah can’t see where she is going any more than her blind kit-; tens can,” thought the minister, with a little smile, as he turned from the window. “I hope she won’t be homesick, for I’m sure she could never find her way home. Why, why, the ground is getting really white with snow!” Presently he sat down again to his sermon, and he wrote, and he wrote, till everybody else in the house was asleep. All at once he was startled by a sound from the porch. It was the mewing of a cat. He threw open the door, and in ran Deborah, carrying in her mouth a kitten. “Dear me, Deborah, can this be you ?* he cried, in great surprise. She dropped the kitten on the rug at his feet and ran out before he could close the door. He put the little wet, cold kitty on a warm cushion, and went to bed; but he was awakened from his first nap by another mewing on the porch. Deborah had come with her second kitten. An hour or two later she came with the third, and by the next noon she had them all home—all six of them. Soon Mr. Neal followed, bringing the empty basket. “I thought I must return it quickly, or Deborah would come for it,” said he, laughing. “You may tell her that I’ve bought a rat trap, and I’ll never disturb her again. A puss that will travel eleven miles in the snow for the sake of getting her family back' to its old corner deserves to live in peace." Now, isn’t this a pretty big story? I shouldn’t have dared to repeat it if the minister hadn’t told it to me himself.—Penn Shirley, in Our Little Ones.

Two Prayers.

Mr. Spurgeon had been reviewing a book on “Primitive Methodism on the Yorkshire "Wolds,” and was especially sleased5 leased with a story of a not very uent young man, who being in the habit of saying in his prayers, “Lord, help me to pray I” was answered one night by an old man’s ejaculation, “And the Lord help thee to give ower I" An itinerant blind fiddler who met with an accident at Stockton, CaL, and had to be taken to a hospital, was [found to have $1,200 on his person.