Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1895 — FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS. [ARTICLE]

FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS.

THE OLD MAX. 1 An old man came to our door iMt night, I wonder if he sailed at yours toe-; He wore a gray coat and his hair wa* white. And he sneezed all the time “chew chew.” He hasn’t been this way in week* before. We shall look for him now every night; He didn’t stay long, but just peeped in the door, And he covered the grass with white. Ah! now I think you can guess hi* name, •. * Tho’ nearly six months he’s been lost, An old man, cold and feeble and lame— Some call him Mr. John Frost. —[Youth’s Temperance Banner. MALFORMED TREES. Trees sometimes have a deformed and very grotesque appearance from the effects of storms and of lightning. Curious examples may be seen in any village neighborhood; frequently too, our trees are sure indicators of “the way of the wind,” for it is very easy in some situations to detect tho drift of the prevailing winds by the aspect of trees in winter. How often yOu will notice an orchard, in some exposed situation, in which every tree is leaning in one direction, notbecause they were planted aslant in the first place, but because the wind, blowing mainly from a certain point of the compass, inclines them during their young growth in a line with itssweep. You may see, also, at times,, isolated trees standing in upland pasture, with a groat development of branches on the side away from the wind than on that side which habitually gets its full blast. And, again, when oiijce in tho forest, the Indian will track his way through by th<P* appearance of the tree trunks, that side facing the north producing a. mossy or lichen growth on the bark, which is not found on its southern side. For this reason the woodman does not easily got lost, oven in cloudy weather, when the sun is obscured. —[Detroit Free Press. GYPSY PANCAKES. As homeless wanderers the gypsie* drift from town to town and from State to State, traveling by night with their covered wagons and ponies, pitching their tents beside a small stream at the edge of the woods if possible. In the evening they light their camp fires and cook over thecoals, and then dunce and sing and plav their games about the fire. They travel about in small tribes as the Indians used to do, but they have a queen instead of a chief, whom they love and obey as themother of the tribe. They dress in bright, rich colors and are fine riders. Not long ago I heard a dear grandfather telling some little folks of his. visit to a gypsy camp when, he- was a little boy, and of a queer lunch heate with them. It was In July, when the elder biishes were in bloom, with their broad, snowy blossoms. One of the gypsy mothers went round tho bush with a dish of thinbutter, and bending down the branches dipped the beautiful flowersin it, while another woman came after her with a pun of hot grease and held the flower in it till thebatter was baked and then let thobrunch fly buck. When all the blossoms were baked the- children danced round the bush, singing nrut'. shouting, and then sut down on thegruss and ate these wonderful pancakes. The next day lie-aixi'some-of the other village hoys went back, but the gypsies hud gone in the night, and the elder bush wus bare.—[Chlldl Garden, CURIOUS WAYS OF NAMING i A BABY. A Hindu baby !s< named when twelve days old, and usually, by the mother. the father wishes for another name tJian> that selected by the mother; in that casetwo lamps are placed over the two* names, and the name over which the [amp burns the brightest is the one given to the child. In the Egyptian family the parents choose a name for their baby by lighting three wax candles; to each of these they give a name; one of the three always belonging to somedeified personage. The candle that burns the longest bestows the name upon the baby. The Mohammedans sometimeswrlte desirable names on five slips of paper, and these they place la the Koran. The name upon the first, slip drawn out is given to the child. The children of the Ainos, a peopleliving in Northern Japan, do not receive their names until they are five years old. It is the father who then chooses the name by which the child is afterward to be called. The Chinese give their boy babies a name in addition to their surnames, and they must call themselves by these names until thej' are twenty years old. At that age the father gives his son a new name. Tho Chinese care so little for their girl babies that they do not give them a baby name, but just cal! them No. 1, No. 2, No. B, No. 4, and so on, according to their birth. Boys are thought so much more of in China than girls are that if you ask a Chinese father who has botli a. boy and a girl how many children he has he will always reply, “Onlyone child.” German parents sometimes changethe name of their baby if it is ill, and the Japanese are said to changethe names of their children four times. —[St. Louis Star-Sayings.