Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1891 — Page 4

To CORRESPONDENTS

All eommanuxtlons for thia paper should be acoon* panted b/ the nemo of the author; not necessarily foa Publication but as m evidence of good faitb on tbe pat', es the writer. Write only on one aldo of tbe paper. Be , ©art'nularly careful in giving names and dates, to java Ce letters and figures plain and distinct

That terrible fall which dislocated the Kaiser’s knee-cap did not even Jar the toggle-joint of his tongue. Man, imperial man, is indeed wonderfully made. A New Jersey woman who marled a cowboy now has to pay him S 3 11 week alimony. Here’s one Instance i fcf retribution—the woolly West for < jnce gets even with Jersey. A paragraph is now going the rounds that “the Chinese do not permit their women to be potographed. ” It will take something higher than the Chinese wall to keep the kodak nut of the empire. And now Chicago boasts a leprosy case. When New York discovered that it had a leper a few days ago it it was not to be expected that the announcement of a similar find in •Chicago would be long delayed. If you hear a man mispronounce a word, the polite thing to do, if you have occasion to repeat it, is to mispronounce it as he did. Anything -else would be in the nature of a correction, and few people like that. When you go on a visit, always announce how long you intend to . -stay. Your hostess is curious to know, and by telling her, you will give her a chance to plan your pleasures to fit the time you will spend with her.

In all the cities the theatrical managers complain of the press of stagestruck females—girls, and wives who have abandoned their husbands to take part In comic opera. They would find in the long run more happiness and profit in the kitchen. More suicides are committed in the hottest month of the year than in the ■eleven months put together. If you are feeling at all despondent about anything, compel yourself to be more cheerful. Your relatives do not want to put on heavy crape in hot weather. * The people who are always expecting to die usually live the longest. If a man wants to live a long life let him moan and groan at the slightest pain, and talk of death as though it nudged him every moment on the elbow. He is the man who lives to be the oldest inhabitant.

The piano has become such a nui■sance in Boston that practicing is regulated by law. Children are only allowed to practice one hour a day, and that in the morning. Other cities are talking of adopting the same regulation. There is no doubt that the piano is tiecoming a very prominent nuisance. ' Too many of the good times are lor the young. There is no reason why a man should stop having a good time because he has passed 50. The *old people should get together, enter their protest, make arrangements for themselves, and leave the young folks at home to watch the house for a change. i A marble statue has been found on the island of Milo of a Grecian boxer, and is said to be a splendid work of art, in a good state of preservation. It is slightly larger than the average pugilist of these times, and does not show gloves. Perhaps they did not have Marquis of Queensberry rules In the old times. 'The world do move.” A prominent Texas paper, the Austin Statesman, in a leading editorial declares that “the pistol must go.” That is the voice of civilization. Not one time in twenty does the pistol hit or kill the right party. The practice of carrying one in the pocket is cowardly and the result is usually disastrous.

Why do people say that a thing is like a dream to express their opinion that it is beautiful? There is nothing very pretty about most dreams. They are usually a repetition of everything wretched and unhappy that has happened during the day. To every pleasant dream you have, you have twenty that make you feel sore all .next day.

As a source of wheat for export, ■Canada has been credited with a surplus of 20,000,000 bushels. It is now jannounced that the Dominion can ■spare at least 33,000,000 bushels. ‘This is an increase of 18,000,000 over Hast year in surplus, and indicates the irapid advance of the Red River country into the grain-growing competition of the world. The Shah of Persia knows his business. Furthermore the Shah is, to >use a sporting expression, very hot t«tufi to deal with. News has just .London that Abdullah Kahn, igovernor of one of the Shah’s has been boiled alive by •order of the monarch because he embezzled taxes. Embezzlers do sometimes get into hot water after all. Fkance politely announces the transfer of Minister Roustan from "Washington to Madrid as a “promotion,'’ and sends to Washington in Shis stead an obscure diplomat who Sms been vegetating in Tangier. Con-

sidering the very light estimation id which the United States is held by French diplomats it would be but! fair play to reciprocate by making Fred Douglass United States Minister to Paris. An esteemed contemporary remarks that “the woman who lights the Are with coal oil is still abroad in the land.” Begging the esteemed contempo’s pardon, she is not still abroad in the land. The woman who is just going to light the fire with coal oil may be, but the woman who just has done so—she may be still, and she may be abroad, and she may be in the land, some six feet or so in it, but she is not still abroad in the land, not by a jugful. The discovery of the new route across the continent of South America, by which it is possible that the journey from Lima to the eastern river ports may be reduced from thirty to four .or five days, will tend to postpone the building of the proposed “back-bone” railroad. The advantages of the newly discovered short cut added to the present advantage of the water route would make a trip by the proposed railroad route a time-wasting journey.

A New York man has invented a sort of collapsable hat to be worn by women going to the theater. On the street it is an intricate maze of bows and lace, but in the house, by the pulling of a string, it becomes an unobtrusive and modest little affair. The inventor will win the gratitude of posterity if he succeeds in getting the idea adopted by the fair sex, but, being an old seafaring man, he should recall the old adage of his craft about turning a woman and a ship. Children should be taught early that water drowns and that Are burns. The dangerous combustible oils that explode and cause death and the treacherous under-currents which drown the expert swimmer, should convey lessons of caution to the living that would never be unlearned. There are people, however, who are foolishly trustful in the accomplishment taught at a natatorium |is the mother who, when asked if sl;e was not afraid to let her daughter'Cross the ocean, said: “La, no; she cay swim.” A New York! woman has just distinguished herself by scalding a man who declined to become her son-in-law. Here is a new danger. It is bad enough for a man to be roasted by the mother of his wife, but when by avoiding that danger he simply jumps from the roasting pan into the scalding vat, there Is no safety left for the poor male sex. If every man were to be tortured by the would-be mothers-in-law he Jias disappointed some would have a bard path to travel to the grave.

Loafers are as regular in their habits as business men. You can always find them at their favorite places, and generally in the same chairs. They are usually great readers, and are promptly on hand to read the morning paper. Having performed this duty, they will discuss politics until noon, when they get a beefsteak and go home. They are down town later in the day, but only for a short time, unless they are poker players. If they are poker players, their afternoons are devoted to work.

Now that the dirty journalist and disreputable newspaper man, Elliott, of Columbus, is at last behind the bars of the penitentiary, where the equally infamous Bebout harbored for a year, it is to be hoped that those who consider slander as legitimate will be somewhat chary of indulging in personal abuse. It is a strong object lesson which some may wisely take to heart, and profit thereby. A newspaper is not properly the vehicle for the gratification of personal malice, nor for the extortion of bloodmoney nor black-mail.

The most unique souvenir spoon is the one which has the weird design of an arched-back cat and an old woman astride a broom. It is not a new feature of the spoon collection, having been manufactured some years ago, and it does not take with American people. It has not become a craze yet to claim descent from witches, but foreigners buy these souvenirs with avidity. They certainly represent a remarkable epoch in American history. The prehensile ancestor and the witch of Salem made a picturesque lineage, to say the least.

It was assumed that when the Great Eastern was condemned as a structure too large for profitable use upon the water, the limit of size for ocean steamers would be reached far below the dimensions of the experiment of a third of a century ago. That was 692 feet in length on deck, and was a failure for the uses it was built for. It was made of service in laying of some of the ocean cables, and within the past year or two was broken up for junk. But the tendency now is to enormous size with the increase in speed. The Cunard line is building a steamer to be 600 feet in length, which is expected to break the present record. It is eighteen feet longer than the Teutonic, the latest record-breaker, and 100 feet longer than the champion of 1882. The limit does not appear

LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS.

THIS IS THEIR DEPARTMENT OF THE PAPER. Quaint Sayings and Doings of Little Ones Gathered and Printed Here for Other Little Folks to Bead. The Girls of Ninety-one. They tell me ’twas the fashion. Oh! long and long ago. For girls to look like Hiles white, And alt at home and sew. Forth strode their sturdy brother* On many a gallant quest; But the maids behind the lattice Their weary souls possessed. To-day the times have altered, And pretty Kate and Nell Are playing merry tennis— In sooth, they do it welL They ride across the country, They climb the mountain-side. And with oars that feather lightly. Along the rivers glide. If they've not yet been to college, They are going by-and-by, To shake the tree of knowledge, Though its branches touch the sky. For all their Greek and Latin, And poring over books. With faces smooth as satin. They’ll keep their dainty looks. Do you want a happy comrade, In study or in fun? Be sure you’ll find her quickly ’Mid the girls of Ninety-one. She’ll keep that bright and steady, Unharmed in any whirl, And not a lad will love her less Because she’s a girt —Margaret E. Sangster.

A Sure Way to KtU Them. The guides who make their living by piloting parties through the unknown regions of the Maine woods are a jolly, good-natured set of men with a knack for story telling that the following anecdote illustrates: “Frost Bunker, of the Dead River region, is a guide who, it is said, is a successful rival to Janies A. Smith, of Phillips—a Rangely guide—in story telling. Frost is intimately acquainted with ‘John Smith,’ who is well known in all parts of the country. He says he was with John on a hunting trip once on a time, when they came upon a man who had Ared at an owl perched in a big tree about a dozen times without success. As they approached the stranger offered John a $5 bill if he would secure the owl. John cocked his rifle and walked around the tree. The owl turned his head in the same direction as far as John walked. John kept on going around the tree, the owl turning his head all the while. Just as John completed the tenth circuit the owl’s head was twisted off and he fell to the ground dead. John said small owls couldn’t be killed that way because their feet would fly up in turning.” Old Jack. My father was a farmer, and lived about three miles from the city of L., New York, says a writer in the Rural Home. He had a bright sorrel horse named Jack we raised from a colt. He was a very handsome hurse and had a great deal of spirit, but never had any bad tricks. His right hind foot was white, and he had a white star in his forehead. His eyes were prominent and always kind, while his whole expression indicated unusual intelligence. Jack was an animal that would attract attention anywhere. A few days after having been shod one time, he began to limp, and not being able to discover any cause he was turned loose in the barn-yard where it would be softer for his feet. Suddenly he was missed. The gate, which had been fastened on each side by a wooden peg, was open, the inside peg lying on the ground. I could see Jack’s footsteps leading toward the city. Harnessing another horse I was soon following, but was, as I learned, over two hours behind him. On reaching the city I drove through the main street and at the further end there beheld Jack, standing in front of our family grocery store, with his head up to the post, quietly kicking flies and wearing a very dejected air. As I came up he greeted the horse I drove, it being his mate, and quietly submitted to the halter that I imposed. The groceryman came out and said he knew the horse, and that he had been standing there for some time. It occurred to me to take him to the blacksmith, whose shop is not far away, and see if he could discover the cause of his lameness. As I drove up the blacksmith met me at the door and said that about two hours before Jack crowded his way into the shop where he was attending to other horses. That he drove him out three times, but he kept coming in again. He Anally procured a whip that he had used, and then Jack went off down the street, limping considerably as he trotted off.

I said that was why I bought him —relating the circumstances, and asked him to pull off the shoe he had put on a few days before. He did so, and from one of the nail-holes came a large quantity of pus. He had driven one of the nails crookedly, and it had gone into the tender part of the hoof, hence the trouble. I told the blacksmith if Jack ever came there again to treat him more considerately, and I never took another horse to that shop again. Poor old Jack! After my father died and the farm was sold, he was sold, too, and the family went to the city to live. I did not hear from Jack for several years, until one of the neighbors one day said they saw him hitched with another horse towing a boat on the Erie Canal. I knew then he must be near his end, for this is about the hardest work a horse can do, and they are soon used up. All along the canal can be seen horses the boatman have turned out to die, The canal was only about half a mile from my father’s farm, a crossroad leading direct, and Jack had uften been there after the sand and

gravel that is obtained from a large pit on the bank. The next I heard about Jack was from the man who purchased the old farm. He said that on going out to the barn one cold, rainy morning late in the autumn he was surprised to And a horse lying down at the barnyard gate, which opens from the road and is kept securely locked. At Arst he thought it was one of his own, but a closer examination soon satisAed him on this point. It was a very old sorrel horse, terribly poor, and had evidently been subjected to hard usage. He touched the animal with his foot, but it did not move—it was dead. The neighbors, he said, told him what horse it was. Poor old Jack had come home to die!

THE NEW COMMANDER.

Captain John Palmer, of the G. A. R.,and His Creditable War Record. The newly elected Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, Captain John Palmer, of Albany, N. Y., was born on Staten Island, March 22, 1842. His war record is an excellent one. On Sept. 10, 1861, he enlisted in the Ninetyflrst New York Volunteers, and was constantly with that regiment until it was mustered out July 3, 1865, taking part in all its engagements. He was seriously injured at the battle of Five Forks in the combined charge of cavalry and infantry. By force of his soldierly qualities he attained successively the grades of Corporal, Sergeant, Sergeant-Major, Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Adjutant, and Captain. Since the war he has been engaged in the painting and decorating business at Albany. He is one of the best-known and most popular members of the order of his State, is a charter member of Lew Benedict Post, No. 5, Department of New York, and was for several terms Commander of this post, which, with head-iuarters at Albany, is one of the largest and most influential posts in the country. He was twice elected Commander of the Department of New York, and in 1879 was

JOHN PALMER, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, G. A. R.

chosen Senior Vice Commander-in-chief, acquitting himself with credit in all these important positions. Being thus placed in the direct line of promotion to the highest office in the Grand Army, his election was assured the moment the delegates from New York determined to unite upon him as their choice. He is a forcible speaker, a good presiding officer at department and national conventions, and has frequently been placed at the head of important committees by both State and national encampments.

The Wolves of France.

J. J. Rousseau attributed any natural superiority that England possessed over France to her freedom from wolves. In 1889, 515 wolves were killed in France, and the bounties paid for their destruction amounted to 36,000 francs, or nearly 70 francs per head. The reward varies, following the age, the sex and the “antecedents” of the wolf. The ordinary sum is 40 francs; if a she wolf in young, 150 francs; for a wolf that has attacked a human being, 200 francs. Most wolves were killed —B2 and 76—in the departments of the Dordogne and -Charente. Under the ancient regime the Lieutenant for the destruction of wolves was an important functionary. To-day he is the largest landed proprietor in the forest district chosen by the Prefect, and who binds himself to keep a pack of wolf-hounds, etc., to hunt down the wolves in December and March. In return the proprietor is allowed two days’ free shooting per month in the Government forests. The wags say the Lieutenants are the natural friends of the wolves, in order to uphold their sporting rights. It is difficult to run to earth an old wolf, because the animal can run its 100 miles at a pinch in a single night. The Prince de Joinville has the best pack of wolf-hounds in France. Any one who captures a wolf, no matter by what means, has only to bring the animal’s ears and right forepaw to the local mayoralty to receive the reward. The ears are then slit to prevent a second presentation and the paw is nailed against the office wall and registered.—Paris Letter to Pittsburg Press.

Snubbed.

Paying Teller—You will have to be identified —have some one introduce you to me—before I can cash this check. Young Lady (haughtily)—But I do not care to know you, sir.— Judge. The honey crop this season will be the lightest California has ever known. The bees can’t find nectar enough, and hives that yielded twenty tons last year will not produce a peund this season.

NO TRICK AT ALL

Tying * Necktie Property Much Easier than People Think. A certain gilded youth, on being asked the difference between a made-

FIGURE OXE.

fingers of mothers, wives, sisters, or sweethearts. As a result, ready-made ties are purchased, stiff in construction and lacking the easy repose and artistic finish of a hand-tied scarf. A dress tie, that is for full dress,

should always be tied by the wearer, if possible. The four-in-hand and sailor-knot .are easier to co n - struct, and have remained in favor longer than any other style that is, of course, among those able to tie them. To those unable to man-

age the intricacies of tying their scarfs, recourse has usually been had to the puff and other* contrivances of the “shirt-concealer” order. Recently the “Ascot” has come into

FIGURE THREE.

to tie it himself, and the same portion of the scarf rarely comes on an edge twice in succession, thus causing the tie to last longer and retain a better appearance; The scarf comes narrow in the portion which is hidden in the back of the

collar and swells out toward both ends. It should be crossed Xshape as the in-1 itial move. i The second

move is. to push the outside lap up inside, showing the lining, as shown in figure 1; then cross the other end directly over, showing the reverse

side. This being done, allow the first flap to fall outside, over-lapping the crossed portion, as in figure 3, and then stick it up through the loop formed, as seen in figure 4. Draw this tight, fold the other down, showing the face of the scarf, cross the other portion over

THE TIE COMPLETE.

it, and the scarf is complete and in position, as figured in the last cut. Fasten with an ordinary scarf-pin at the point where the two ends cross.

NO CORKSCREW NEEDED.

One Way to Open a Bottle Without Drawing the Cork. Said Ctesibius to his pupil: “Heron, will you have a glass of soda?” “ I don’t care if I do,” said Heron, Whereupon Ctesibius produced a quaint glass bottle, having a thick conical bottom, and containing a liquid said to be soda-water. “Here, my boy,” said he, “here is your soda; drink it without removing or perforating the cork or breaking the neck of the bottle.” Heron scratched his head, and revolving the bottle in his hand, while the problem was going through a similar evolution in his brain, said: “As

DRAWING SODA WITHOUT REMOVING THE CORK OR BREAKING THE NECK OF THE BOTTLE.

you w>ell know, dear teacher, I am up in mathematics, proficient in mechanics, and not behind the age in pneumatics and hydraulics, but for this problem I have no solution.” “ Heat! Unequal expansion!” said Ctesibius, impatiently. Heron, being an apt scholar, needed no further hint, says the Scienttfic American. Lighting a candle he held V under the thick conical end of the bottle, and in less than a minute by the clepsydra, the bottom of the bottle cracked around, the pressure from within blew out the detached piece, and the soda was dicharged with a fizz into the tumbler. The rest goes without saying. What has become of the old-fashioned young man who used to wear cloth gaiters?

up scarf and one you tie yourself, replied, “About half an hour.” This is humorous, but it is not strictly true. To be. sure, there are hundreds'of men to-day i n any city who can’t tie a necktie. They depend upon the deft

FIGURE TWO.

great favor. Ordinarily it can be purchased al- | ready made up. The principal defect of the made-up tie of this design is its proneness to become soiled on the edges. Now, the proper way is for the wearer

FIGURE POUR.

She Is a Milleress.

Freedman’s Town, a suburb Qi Houston, Texas, boasts of a femala miller, who has repeatedly proved herself a match for any three men that have pitted their united strength against hers, and who successfully routed Officer John Baxter and three of his assistants, all men of fine physique. The woman is a negress as black as night, and of a stature’slightly above the average, but magnificently built and extraordinarily active. Her grip is such that she can easily stop any piece of machinery in the mill. Recently she broke a drive chain and thus saved the life of an old„farmer whose long coat tails had become entangled in the gears. She works in all parts of the mill, and when firing she frequently breaks coal with her fist, if the hammer is not near. Elevators are of no use in that mill, for she carries grain to the top of the mill faster than any machine that has been made. She can carry four two-bushel sacks filled with wheat to the top of the mill and bedown stairs again before most millers could walk to the top of the mill. She just takes a sack under each arm and one in each hand and up she runs, seemingly without effort. When the police attempted to arrest her, she not only was able to prevent them from putting the handcuffs on her, but taking the officer and his posse, one by one, flung them out of the house and closed and locked the door. Baxter, in particular, is accounted a man of unusual strength, and is of large build; but he says his muscles were as a child’s when compared with those of the colored woman. The woman, whose name is Caroline Jenkins, is about 30 years old, and is the mother of seven children. She has been seen to pick up a barrel of flour and carry it a distance without appearing to overexert herself, and when tested was found to be able to break with ease a new grass rope an inch in diameter. When she runs out of coal she should utilize her great strength to operate the mill.— American Miller.

An Aerial Top.

Zip! up, up, she goes! “There! she’s out of sight!” An instant of silence. “There she comes! down, down, down; there she is across the street.” In the lively scramble a lucky youngster grabs it, and hastening to the vender, says: “Here she is, mister.” “All right,” says the vender. “I give you a penny every time you catch the aerial top.” This is a Forty-second street scene: “Here is your aerial top, a regular sky skimmer. You cam see it go out of sight'. Only ten cents.” Meanwhile, in the intervals of the jangle, the vender with his bird warbler imitated the canary, mocking bird, various animals, and Punch and Judy. A newcomer says: “I’d like to see it go up,” and up she goes, down she comes, and another gamin gets his penny for securing the sky skimmer, while an occasional passer-by invests a dime in the interesting toy. The object of so much interest, says the Scienti/ic American, was a simple three-armed wheel punched out of tin, with its arms widened at their outer ends and all inclined in the same direction, a little spool with prongs at one end which enter corresponding holes in the central portion of the wheel, a wire supporting the whole, and a string wound around the spool for giving the filer its impulse. The string is quickly pulled, and the rapid rotation of this aerial

AERIAL TOP.

screw propeller causes it to leave its prime mover and fly skyward out of sight.

George Washington on Slavery.

An unpublished letter of George Washington, written to his nephew, Robert Lewis, Aug. 17, 1799, or only four months before his death, has just seen the light in London. It contains the following: “It is demonstratively clear, that on this estate (Mount Vernon) I have more working negroes, by a full moiety, than can be employed to any advantage in the farming system, and I shall never turn planter thereon. To sell the overplus I cannot, because I am principled against this kind of traffic in the human species. To hire them out is almost as bad, because they could not be disposed of in families to any advantage, and to disperse the families I have an aversion. What, then, is to be done? Something must, or I shall be ruined; for all the money (id addition to what I raise by crops and rents) that have been received for lands, sold within the last four years, to the amount of $50,000, has scarcely been able to keep me afloat. Under these circumstances, and a thorough conviction that half the workers I keep on this estate would render me a greater mt profit than I now derive from the whole, has made me resolve, if it can be accomplished, to settle plantations on some of my other lands.”

South Boston has a kindling-wood trust. We pine knot for anything of that sort.— New Orleans Picayune.