Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 294, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1916 — ODDITIES OF LIFE NOT PUT IN BOOKS [ARTICLE]

ODDITIES OF LIFE NOT PUT IN BOOKS

PROVING “TRUTH IS STRANGER TH AN "FICTION.” Amazing News Stories Due to Energy ! of Fact Writers Who Watch for Queei Happenings. Harvard University—The person responsible for the time-worn •Truth is stranger than fiction," were he alive today, would have no cause to change his opinion. The Letionist who would daie to perpetrate some of the things that actually happen would stand -mall chance of having his waitings considered “convincing” by the\ average editor. Undoubtedly such queer happenings have always bjgn going on, but it is only, today, 'With newspapers galore and fact-writers searching the globe for material, that the actual truth of the old ‘saying its perfect proof. On every hand one encounters records of incidents, existing customs and so on, that run the gamut of the quaint, fantastic and bizarre. ’ ' Here is a man .whose name is O. Hell. He wanted "to enlist, but was too short of stature. “It beats the devil,” remarked Mr. Hell, “that a fellow can’t join the Army.” On another page it is announced that a snatye charmer at Coney Isl nd started a panic when one of his pet rattlesnakes bit him. When he dashed into the crowd waving a handful of serpents the bearded lady/ the fat woman and the living skeleton all took to their heels as well. Perhaps one of the most astounding things is the news that an electric light service company recently cut a month’s, bill from $62 to $2 when the patron appealed to the Public Service Commission. A woman’s club it is announced, is r.bout to be formed in New York the members of which will all be 60 years of age or older. The projector of the organization says she is weary of hearing women of 50 and over being referred to as old. She proposes, however, that the club shall be named the “Sunset.” A prospective benedict in Sangamon County, Illinois, asked tor marriage license, but found he didn’t know the name of his fiancee. The clerk advised him to go and ask her and then return for the document, which he did. Robert Wyzyezchozwwski, of Jersey City, wants his name changed. He said in Poland it was a perfectly good name, but no one here, not even himself, could pronounce it, so he felt it would be better to get a new one. No one d/nied the reasonableness ot bis request. Indeed, animal stories are the commonest variety of so-called freak news, and even the story of the snake '■« zoo wi- (■') st ells up like a tov balloon whenever its keeper approaches leaves me unmoved. A young lady accountant fell heir to i fortune. For years she had dreamed cf the wild animals that she would like to have as pets when she could not afford it. On receiving her money she went straightway and bought a leopard. Then she purchased three coatimundis (ant eaters with extension spouts), a monkey from India, a crow, a fox and Napoleon—lion cub. Now she’s after a grizzly With her it will not only be a case, of “love me, love my dog,” but love my menagerie. A man died in Pittsburg at the age of 107. He had never ridden in a street car in his life and attributed his longevity to early rising and the o':-in l of cigarettes. Of course, if he hadn’t smoked there’s no saying how much longer he might have lived. A vegetarian was in the habit of stopping in front of butcher shops and exhorting possible customers not to buy meat. He even objected to shoes made of leather. He also yowled at women wearing birds on their hats. He has been suppressed for annoying strangers with his anti-meat campaign. A- physician who likes to shave by music'performed his toilet to the tune of “The Lost Chord” played outside his window on r trombone. There was a lost chord somewhere and the time was wrong, with the result that he cut himself badly. Certain society women who hated to use leather or wire muzzles for their pet dogs embroidered some from silk. But the hard-hearted and unesthetic authorities refused to sanction their rise, lacking faith -in their efficacy.