Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1893 — Page 6

®J)e lemocroticScntincl RENSSELAER, INDIANA. J. W. McEWEN. ... Publisher

STORIES ABOUT SHEEP.

RISE AND DECLINE OF THE u MANIA FOR MERINOS. Bow the Famous Breed Was Introduced Into This Country—Washington’s Flock —Wonderful Wool Gathering—A WUd Breed in the Mountains—The Piney Woods Product. Columbus B-ought Sheep.

sissippi the work has been in the hands of Gen. Ezra A. Carman, for years the chief clerk of the Department of Agriculture. West of the river the ranch side of the sheep business has been most thoroughly investigated by H. A. Heath, of the Kansas Farmer. There is no politics in “the sheep book." Some people can’t think of sheep without confounding thorn with the tariff. Gen. Carman and Mr. Heath have managed to collect a great deal of interesting information, and have not formulated an argument either for protection or for free wool. There were wild sheep in North America when the discoverers came, says the Globe Democrat. The descendants of these wild sheep still inhabit theKocky Mountains. At a glance the wild sheep look clumsy, but when frightened they go over the rocks with the agility of the goat They are the best of mountain

A YEARLING MERINO EWE.

climbers. They make their way to cliffs where nothing else without wings can follow. There is nothing in venison to approach this wild mutton. Englishmen who have eaten it say it surpasses the finest tame mutton of their country. On his second voyage to America, in 1493, Columbus stopped at a port in the Canary Islands, and brought live stock for hreeding purposes in the colony he was to found. Besides eight hogs, Cplumbus brought r a sufell hock of sheep* In 1530 Cortqz had .A falling out with the politicians in the City of Mexico, went to Cuernavaca and founded a great sheep ranch. The eight hogs imported by Columbus were the progenitors of countless thousands which stocked the Spanish possessions. From the Cuernavaca ranch of Cortez the flocks of sheep were driven in all directions. They occupied what is now Old Mexico awFStexas and New Mexico, and were seven driven into the Utah of today. Pizarro took some of these sheep with him on his expedition for the conquest of Peru, and the over South America, crossing ' tne Andes and occupying the great plains of La Plata. When Menendez came, ttf 1565, under commission of the King of Spain, to colonize Flor-

THE MOUNTAIN SHEEP, OR BIG HORN.

Ida, he brougnt 400 sheep, as well as 500 negro slaves, and San Augustine, “the oldest town In the United States, ” was founded. The traces of that Spanish origin are seen to-day in the sheep of Florida and Southern Georgia. Sheep played an important part in the early settlement of this country. The Catholic priests who established a string of seventeen missions for the Indians from San Diego to San Francisco had over a million sheep in flocks attached to those missions. Virginia in early times had a law prohibiting the removal of any sheep from the “collonie.” At that time tobacco was currency in Virginia. The colonial authorities gave a bounty of five pounds of tobacco for every yanj of woolen cloth made by colonists. But he was a Virginia states-! man— yohn Randolph—who said he “would go out of his way any time to kick a sheep.’’ Maryland had sheep ♦from the very beginning of settlement. The Swedes brought sheep into Delaware. They trimmed the taHs so as to leave a bunch of wool at the end like a lion’s tail. Ok was thought to improve the appearance, and also to make a better dHfctfie against fleas. « Kentuckians began early to improve Ifcrfrlfccka la 1809 the first mer-

inos brought into Kentucky, only of them, sold for $1,500. In the next three or four years the Kentuckians went wild on the subject of improved breeds. Prices mounted to fabulous figures. Samuel Long, of

r O “the horse book" and “the cow book” the Government is about to add the sheep book. Experts have been engaged several months gathering the material for the story of the sheep industry. East of the Mis-

50 feet by 70 feet. The house cost $15,000. Thoroughbred sheep dropped in value long before the house was finished. Within six months after Long had completed Trotter’s house the same kind of sheep could be bought for S2O. Long kept his highbred ram and ewe until they were worth no more than ordinary sheep. Then lie killed them, in viced his neighbors to a barbecue and thanked God he wasn’t worth a dollar. Soon afterward he died of a broken heart. The craze for fine sheep to improve the breeds was not confined to Ken-

A SHEEP RANCH IN MIDDLE PARK. COLORADO.

Lexington, bargained with Mr. Trotter, of the same place, for one ram and one ewe. He agreed for these two sheep to build a four-story house

FAMOUS VERMONT MERINO.

THE SINGLE WOOL CLIP OF A NEW MEXICAN RANCH.

tucky. In New York State the merinos were eagerly bought at SBOO or SI,OOO a head, and even as high as $1,500. That was in 1810 and 1811. But the speculative fever ran only a short time. In 1815 merinos sold for $1 apiece. After the war of the revolution there was such a rush from the United States to import fine sheep from England that that country revived an old law to stop it. A penalty of £3 fine and three months’ confinement was Imposed on any person who exported sheep from England. One of the most enterprising sheep-breeders In this country was George Washington. He had a flock of 700 or 800. He bred them up until they yielded five pounds of wool to the sheep. Thomas Jefferson, as Washington’s Secretary of State, became so Interested in the subject that he concluded to “push the number of sheep” on his plantation, saying he “had never before considered, with due attention, the profit from that animal.”

After Washington’s death some of the best of his sheep were bought by George Washington Paike Custis and taken to Arlington. A new flock, with added fame, was created. Custis inaugurated the custom of annual sheep-shearing meetings. Gentlemen farmers came from the neighboring counties. The date was the 30th of April. The meeting place was the great Arlington spring, which gushed out not far from the Potorcac. Toasts were drank, speeches were made and prizes were distributed for the best specimens of sheep. While the merino mania lasted it overshadowed everything. The fever

THE PINEY WOODS SHEEP.

• ran, like something contagious, from town to town and from farm to farm. The papers were full of it. Marvelous statements of the great profits to be made were in circulation. Farms were advertised as peculiarly adapted to merino sheep. The ■worst scrubs were given the, names of the most noted Spaniards. Ships were named

“The Merino.” A farmer in New Jersey who got half a bushel of potatoes from a single one used for seed called the product merino potatoes. Bull calves In Pennsylvania were advertised as “the pure merino breed. ” A

farmer’s wife named her tenth child “Merino Schmidt. ” Robert R» Livingstoh, of New York, known in American history as “Chancellor Livingston,” was largely responsible for the mania. Livingston was Minister to France. He went abroad, he said, to get information which would be useful to his fellowcitizens, especially in agriculture. Up to that time Spain had made the rest of the world believe that merino sheep could be raised advantageously only in that country. She had put the rest of Europe under tribute to her for this precious commodity. France, however, had begun to exferiment. Livingston siw, as he hougM, a great opportunity. He became convinced, after studying the merinos, that they would thrive in the United States. Through his influence as Minister he secured two couples of merinos in France and sent them home to the United States. He followed up this beginning with other shipments. But on his return to the United States in 1807 he was astonished to find that the subject of merinos had attracted very little notice. He set to work to enlarge the number of his merinos as fast as posssble. He wrote articles telling of the wonderful increase in the amount and quality of the wool which the merino cross insured. He was a sanguine man, and soon had his

neighbors wild about the new breed of sheep. The mania started, Livingston began to sell merino lambs at $l5O. Merino wool was made into blue cloth superior to anything that had been produced in the United States. Samples were sent through the country. Livingston’s sheadings were public affairs. At one of the meetings the famous Jaron yielded 11 pounds and 11 ounces of wool. Ex-President Thomas Jefferson and

AN IMPROVED KENTUCKY SHEEP,

President Madison caught the merino fever. Both had estates in Virginia. Mr. Jefferson wrote to United States Minister Erving at Madrid, asking him to send over some merino sheep. The Minister turned the matter over to Consul Jarvis, who managed to get twelve of the famous escurials on board a ship at Lisbon. Jefferson at Monticello and Madison in the White House exchanged letters congratulating themselves that the merinos were coming. Jefferson unfolded in detail his plan to make the sheep perform the greatest possible amount of good. He scored Livingston roundly for his lack of patriotism in accepting such high prices. Livingston had just sold four of his merinos for $6,000. “Since fortune has put the occasion upon us,” Mr. Jefferson wrote to Mr. Madison, “is it not incumbent upon us to so dispense this benefit to the farmers of our country as to put to shame those who, forgetting their own wealth and the honest simplicity of the farmers, have thought them fit objects of the shaving art No sentiment 1s more acknowledged in the family of agriculturists than that the few who can afford it should incur the risk and expense of all new improvements, and give the benefit freely to the many of more restricted circumstances.” That was pretty good doctrine. Mr. Jefferson then suggested to Mr. Madison his plan. He proposed that they “give all the full-blooded males we can raise to the different counties

of our State, one to each county, as fast as we can furnish them.” Mr. Jefferson in a letter to Mr. Jarvi? returned thanks to the Coi> sul for putting him in the way to “extend the imprbvcment of one of the most valuable races of our domestic animals.” Ho repented his intention to give each county in Virginia a ram. In that and other ways the ex-President disseminated the new breed through the State. He placed Virginia under debt to him for a period of great prosperity. Merinos became common. The bottom fell out of speculation. This importation of merinos from Spain for Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison was a great diplomatic feat. At that time Spain’s policy was to prevent, by heavy penalties, the sale of her sheep to go out of the country. Consul Jarvis made several unsuccessful attempts. Then, all at once, the opportunity came. Napoleon had invaded Spain. Europe was at war. By shrewd negotiations the United States obtained the privilege of trade as a neutral nation. From Maine to Georgia the skippers loaded their vessels with wheat, corn, codfish, bacon, beans, rice and other stores. They set sail for the Spanish peninsula. At Lisbon and Cadiz flour sold for sl7 and $lB a barrel; corn for $2 and $3 a bushel, other things in proportion. Just at that time Spain was in a distracted condition. Estates were being confiscated. Flocks were being broken. The famous sheep were on the market at from $lO to SSO each. Yankee captains, with the proceeds from their cargoes of provisions, bought whole flocks. These

THE SOUTHDOWN, FAMED FOR MUTTON.

sheep sold in the United States for SIOO and $l5O. The profits were enormous to the shipowners. Many sailing masters made fortunes in a single trip. In just twelve months there were brought over to this country 18,953 of these Spanish merinos. From the seaports the merinos were distributed in every direction. As early as August, 1811, a St. Louis paper announced that “this valuable animal is already introduced into Upper Louisiana, where it promises to flourish in great perfection. ” From Maine to Georgia and throughout the entire region east of the Mississippi, merinos fullbloods, half-bloods, and all degrees—weie for sale. Merino lambs sold for SI,OOO in the height of the fever, and came down to sl. In the piney woods of West Florida and'Southern Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and. Louisiana is one of the queerest branches of the industry. Sheep run wild. They roam at large in the pine woods and are selfsupporting. When shearing time comes round the owner hunts up his tiock, wrestles with it for the fleece, and pays no more attention to his property for twelve months. In Jackson County; Florida, a Mrs. Carpenter has a flock of 4,000 which grew from seven sheep. In some years Mrs. Carpenter has got as much as $4,000 for her wool.

To many people a sheep is a sheep, and that is all. There is as much difference in breeds of sheep as there is in races of people. Six centuries ago some of the breeds of sheep in England were no larger than rabbits or rats. In 1700 an English ox weighed 400 pounds; calves, 50 pounds; sheep, 28 pounds; lambs, 18 pounds. In 1800 the live weight of cattle in England was 800 pounds; sheep, 80 pounds; lambs, 50 pounds. Last year Armour & Co., of Chicago, killed over 2,000,000 sheep, and, the average weight was 99 pounds. Most of these were from west of the Mississippi, where the average weight is not equal to that east of the river. The human race is not all that has been growing better. What can be done with sheep is shown in the increase of the wool bearing. In 1840 the average weight of the fleece east of the Mississippi was 1.85 pounds; in 1850 it was 2.48 pounds; in 1860 it was 2.86 pounds; in 1870 it was 3.67 pounds; in 1880 it was 4.71 pounds; in 1890 it was 5.04 pounds. A better illustration of what can be done in sheep development would be hard to find.

But another great change is taking place. Its progress the past two years has been very marked. The eastern portion of the country is going in for mutton-raising instead of wool-rais-ing. New England, New York, and New Jersey began some time ago to banish the flne-wooled merino, and to bring in the English breeds for food. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin are now following. Wool-raising Is being turned over to the ranches in the West. The sheep-raising in the East is now primarily for meat. We are becoming a nation of mutton-eaters. Thechop is dividing honors with the steak.

Taken Two Rascals to Work It.

Land values increase so rapidly in New York that it is easy to mortgage such property pretty well up to the selling value, and this fact has opened the way to an ingenious method of something very like swindling. A, representing himself as the agent of B, purchases desirdble vacant land for say $175,600, and before papers pass, B sells the same to A at $225,000. B then, upon the strength of this transaction, obtains a mortgage of $200,000 upon the property. Of course A and B are in collusion, and the original purchaser really represented both, while the second transaction was solely for the purpose of establishing a price upon which the mortgage could be obtained.

Good Idea.

A hay saver, consisting of a threesided device which enables the horse to insert his head into the manger but does not permit any lateral movement of it, is a late invention.

HIS FIRST KISS.

How a German Officer Won a Jolly American Girl for Hl» Wife. A funny courtship was that of a well-known New York girl who is now married, to one of the kaiser’s officers. Graf von S •, who is a frank, direct sort of creature, with the stature of a giant, and the simplicity of a child, was captivated at once by the wild spirits of Edith A ’s girlish fun—fun which must have been “so unbecoming” in a Deutsches Madchen, but which was perfectly allowable in the American “Mees” (a distinction, by the way, which is almost universally made on the continent, our young countrywoman having much greater latitude allowed them than any others). Their first meeting was startling, to say the least of it. After a very lively dinner at the house of an American lady who had married a German officer, the ladies left the dining-room and lingered a moment in the little hall that connected with the drawing-room, to show Miss A , who had just arrived in Germany, the heavy Prussian helmets of the officers, which they had left on the table.

“How uncomfortable this must be,” said the girl, and lifting the cumbrous piece ol armor and placing it on her own head, she turned laughingly to her companions. What w;as her surprise apd consternation, when from the opposite dining-room her vis-a-vis at dinner, to whom she had not be’en introduced, Graf von S , rose from his seat, and without the slightest hesitation, stalked across the room with military precision and in the most natural and matter-of-fact manner—kissed her! Of course, she was furiously angry, and she was not at all appeased when she was told that it was a well-known German custom, and that she had brought it upon herself by putting on Graf S—-—'s helmet. She appeared to have forgiven him the next evening, moreover, for they danced, the “cotillion” together at the court ball; and not more than a fortnight later Mme. II , Edith A ’8 quondam-hosb-ess at the eventful dinner, burst in upon some of her particular cronies, who were having afternoon tea at a friend’s house, with: “Only fancy! What fun! 1 have just heard Graf S propose to Edithj I took them to the picture gallery this afternoon, and seeing a friend, left them for a few minutes in the little room where the Sistine Madonna is; and when I returned I was startled by hearing Count S saying in his wonderfully funny English: ‘I have lofed since the first eyewink’ (augenblick). I nearly screamed with laughter, but as they had not seen me I beat a hur.•icd retreat and left them there, and here I am.”

Of course the company weregreatly edified, and when .Edith herself sauntered is an hour later to find her friend she was surprised at their hilarity, and it was many months after she had been married into the same regiment as Madame R , that the latter lady ventured to tell her how she had inadvertently overheard the proposal.—New York Tribune.

THE FRAGRANT CLOVE.

Its Culture the Chief Occupation of Arab Planters in Zanzibar. Sultan Seyed Said bin Sultan in 1830 introduced the clove tree into Zanzibar, since which time its cultivation has formed the chief occupation of the Arab planter in that part of the world, especially those residing on the island of Pemba. Every portion of the tree is aromatic, says the Detroit Free Press, but it is the bud which forms the clove of commerce. The choicest are of a darlj-brown hue, free from moisture, and with full, perfect heads. The cultivation of this important article of domestic economy is very interesting. The seeds are planted in long trenches and kept well supplied with water for forty days, when the sprouts appear above the surface. These are carefully watered for two years, at the end of which time they usually attain a height of three feet. Then transplanting takes place, the shoots being set out at distances of thirty feet apart and watered until well rooted. After this occurs the trees require little attention, but are kept free from weeds and the earth about them is worked over from time to time. They do not bear until five or six years old, when the buds are fully formed into clusters and assume a dull reddish hue. The harvesting now begins and continues at intervals for six months, as’ the buds do not all mature at the same time. As the limbs of the trees are very brittle they wiil not bear the weight of a man, and the cloves on . the upper branches are gathered by means of very peculiar looking four-sided ladders. Immediately upon being taken from the trees the buds are laid out in the sun, where in a short time they assume a brownish color, when they are placed in storehouses and are ready for shipment. The usual yield of a 10-year-old plantation is twenty pounds per tree, while in one twice that age they often produce 100 pounds each. The stems also form an article of commerce, possessing about the same percentage of strength as the buds, but commanding not more than one-fifth their price. They are usually reduced to powder and enormous quantities are sold, being preferred by many to the whole buds. Pemba produces three-fourths of the entire crop of cloves, but those raised on the island of Zanzibar, on account of being more carefully cultivated, are considered superior to all others in the market

Girls, Read! Read!

A San Francisco exchange raises the alarm that California is suffering “a girl famine.” In every large town in fjiat State, 'with the exception of Alameda, there is a lamentable paucity of the gentler sex.

English Looms.

England is said to make enough linen yearly to enwrap the earth seventeen times.

Benighted.

The town of Forsyth, Mo., is fifty years old and-has never had a church.

Valid; but Sensible?

Girls over 12 can make valid wills under the laws of Scotland.

RUN WITH THE HORSES.

An lowan Invents a Race-Track Btractor* That Will Revolve. P. P. Cuplin, of West Bead, lowa, Is a genius of inventive turn of mind, who lays before the racing public a device which he is certain will save the investor in pool tickets the irksome labor of craning his neck and straining his vision in the effort to learn and see how his money is being carried through the race by the horse he has backed. His idea is a revolving, grand stand. It’s the very simplest thing in the world. The crowd is seated in the grand stand, which revolves as the racers go, and the occupants are always facing the horses in their journey from post to wire. The conveniences of the revolving grand stand are many, according to the inventor, but summed up broadly they become resolved to the main fact that an entire race is viewed at half the average distance, whereas now half the race is seen from twice the distance. The stand, of course, must Be in the center of the course. The judges’ stand is constructed in the style of an ordinary elevator. Its cage is gradually raised when the horses start un-

CIRCULAR AND KITE-SHAPED TRACK. [Showing revolving grand stand in center.]

til such a height is reached that the officials may see the racers passing behind the stand through the open space between the main portion of the stand and the roof, or between the upper and lower s*ections of the stand if the latter is one of two stories. The same obstacle is overcome successfully on tracks of queer shape by the aid of mirrors placed at the right points and at the correct angles. In mechanical construction Inventor Ouplin’s idea for the revolving stan3 is to have it rest in a shallow basin filled with water. He discreetly v/ithholds, however, particulars as •to ‘ihe application of power, but says: “Tiere is scarcely any limit to the

THE REVOLVING GRAND STAND.

size and seating capacity. A stand with 50,000 chairs is just as practicable as one that seats 5,000 persons. As the base is correspondingly large, the stand does not sink into the water any deeper. The power necessary to revolye the stand in the required time for mile tracks is one horse power for every 250 persons. The cost of constructing such a revolvingstand is about 50 per cent more than that required for the ordinary structure.

Another New Motor.

An inventor in this city claims that by his system the heaviest trains may be moved at a high rate of speed without the least danger to the motor. “I use,” said he, “a large wheel, say five feet in diameter. Around this I place any desired number of motors. Usually from four to six would be sufficient for the trains of the'elevated roads. These motors have a capacity of fifty horse-power each, giving an aggregate of from 200 to 300 horse-power, which may be extended to many more if necessary. Now, I amply divide thejeurrent, a separate conductor for each motor; this on the elevated structure is feasible and perfectly safe; through each of these conductors I transmit 500 volts of current, whicb is about the power used on the surface trolley. This gives a separate voltage for each motor and no possible danger to the armature. The large wheel is placed horizontally and supported by a pinion, on the end of which is a beveled gear wheel which meshes with a similar wheel attached to a shaft reaching to each axle and meshing with the axle gear wheels, thus transmitting the propelling power. - This mechanism is supported by the usual car frame, and, being free from complications, has an appearance of both neatness and strength. Brooklyn Eagle.

Appetite for Relics.

“Americans are the vandals that are now devastating Europe,” was the startling assertion made by Dr. Thomas Baxter a few days ago. “They are the most indefatigable relichunters to be found in the world, and every historic spot between the pyramid of Cheops and the Tower of London has suffered more or less at their hands. I verily believe that my fellow-countrymen would chip the nose from the Venus de Medici and carry it away, if they were not watched. And the women are even more aggressive than the men. Relichunting has become a craze with Americans, and manifests itself both at home and abroad. The old chair in which Lincoln put a splint bottom has to be kept in a wire cage to prevent relic-hunters carrying it away piecemeal.*

OUR BUDGET OF FUN.

HUMOROUS SAYINGS AND DOINGS HERE AND THERE. Joke* and Jokelet* that Are Snppoped to Have Been Recently Born—Saying* and Doing* that Are Odd, Carload and Laughable. Sprinkle* of Spice. The poet’s eye in a fine frenzy rolling seldom makes a ten strike.—Boston Gazette. When a man is too dull to see the point he gets little good out or the compass.—Troy Press. A literary man is said to have reached oblivioif when his works get into palace-car libraries.—Buffalo Express. The emery-wheel trust must not complain if everybody looks upon It as a grinding monopoly.—Chicago Tribune. Iron in the blood Is a common physical fact, but the real man of mettle must also have an iron will. Philadelphia Times. Time is generally represented as carrying a scythe. This will probably be kept up till it is no mower.— Philadelphia Times. In a general kick on the question of rank it appears that a number of the rear admirals want to come to the front.—Picayune. A damsel who becomes betrothed to a blockhead is no better than he. He is a wooden one and she a wooed an’ won.—Yonkers Gazette.

An Irish carpenter fell from the roof to the ground, and when picked up remarked: “I was coining down after nails anyway. ’’—Lampoon. Spex —“Didn’t you marry a Boston woman?” Billow—'“No; but I did the next thing to it I married a Miss Bean.”—Detroit Free Press. A Finnish woman in Minnesota has given birth to six children at one time. The father hopes that this will Finnish the family.—Siftings. George— “I wonder why Ethel calls me her chrysanthemum.” Binks —“She may have discovered the fact that you haven’t a cent.”—Brooklyn Life. Kiljordan, and Shadboit simply pointed to the front of it to show that the buttons had all come off.—Chicago Tribune. Nell— “I think it so nice to be married cn one’s birthday, don’t you?” Kate—“l don’t know, I have known it to bring bad luck. Look at Eve!” —Roseleaf.

Before Mr. Goddard is entitled to a fight with Corbett, he should put himself in the first class by licking one of our new postage stamps.— Washington Star. Breathing through the nose is the only proper way to sleep. If you awake in the night and' find your mouth open, get up and shut it.— Tamaqua Recorder. Dooley— “ They may talk about business being bad, but I know a man whose trade is looking up.” Dunn—“lndeed! What is he?” Dooley—“An astronomer. ” —Tid-Bits. “Won’t you try to love me?” he pleaded. “No, Mr. Adams, I cannot,” she answei-ed, “I am not over-strong, and my physician has advised me not to do too much.”—Vogue. “Wiiat extravagance, to buy your wife such an expensive ring!” “On the contrary, since she got it she has bought only half as many pairs of gloves.”—Fliegende Blatter. “There,” said the groeer, as he gave the boy half a dozen onions for a nickel, “I’m doing myself a rank Injustice. I’m giving, you six scents for five. ” —Washington Star. One of the poets says that a young and innocent girl is like a sheet of blank white paper. Hence, perhaps, the disposition of most young men to fold her up.—Philadelphia Times. “I didn’t see anything funny in the story that fellow just told. What made you laugh so over it?” “Do you know who he is?” “No. Who is he?” “He’s the head of our firm.”—Life.

“Dalton said he felt awfully cheap last night when Miss Savecash accepted him.” Morton —“Why?” “Because she never takes anything unless it's a bargain. ” —Chicago Inter Ocean. Magistrate “Now, then, McCarthy, no prevarication. Tell me all that passed between you and the defendant.” McCarthy—“Brickbats, yer honor jist brickbats.” Exchange. Johnnie— “Oh, mamma, what did Cleopatra use that needle for that’s in Central Park?” Father (putting in his par) —“Why, to file her bonnet bills on, if she had as many as your mother. ” —Truth. Rich Father-in-law —“My daughter will, I trust, prove a real helpmeet to you.” Impecunious Son-in-law—“l hope so. I don’t know how I’ll meet expenses without her help.” —Detroit Tribune.

A Costly Manuscript.

A papyrus manuscript found in the den of an old hermit in a cave near Jerusalem in the year 1880, and which experts have all along believed to have been the handiwork of St. Peter, “the friend of Christ,” was submitted to a committee of the Biblical Society of London in 1890. They have arrived at the conclusion that the work is in reality exactly what it porports to be—the latest literary work of the great apostle. It has not been ascertained exactly who has charge of the relic, but it is said that a “society of British literary voluptuaries” has offered SIOO,OOO for the document.

The Poultry Raisers' Rule of Ten.

Ten hens in a bouse that is ten feet square, with yards ten times the size of the house, is a rule to follow. Ten hens with one male is the correct mating, and ten eggs under a setting hen in winter, are enough. Ten weeks is long enough to keep a broiler before it goes to market, and a pair of ducks or fowls should weigh not over ten pounds. Ten cents per pound is the average price for fowls in market, and IQ cents should feed a hen one month.

An Expensive Charge.

The city of New York cares for 18,000 lunatics at a cost of $625*000 a 7ear.