Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1874 — ITEMS OF INTEREST. [ARTICLE]

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

At Veazie Tillage, Me;, a Mr. .Thompson has in a living sprihg a tame brook trout that will come at Mi call and otherwise shows appreciation of- kindness. An old woman called' at a h° use i° Boston the other night, and begged for some food, but a plate of cakes being set before her_ she threw it into the face of the lady of the house and rushed out, crying, “Meat, meat; darn your did dough!” A short time ago the daughter of a German grocer in Rochester N. T., was married. Her father, with pride and a spice of humor, placed a placard in the window, bearing this device: “This store is closed on account of some ftm in the family.”

A Louisville excursionist on a e Champlain boat recently went to sleep on deck and in the morning couldn’t find Ms shoes. “ Where did you put them?” asked a sympathizing friehd. “ I opened that little cupboard and laid them on the shelf, ”he replied. The victim had opened the wheel-house and laid his shoes on the paddle, wheel. The Captain said he thought the wheels started “ uncommon hard.” A little blind boy at Indianapolis possesses a wonderful memory, and is a perfect walking#egister of the doings of the Fire Department of that city for sev-’ eral years past. He can give the date and place of each fire, what engines turned out, the number of the alarm box, Whether a fire or a false alarm, the engine that got the first water on, etc. The firemen say he’is better informed of the affairs of the department than the Chief Engineer himself.

When an enterprising and ingenious superintendent of a Ban Francisco street railroad line invented a plan to registei the passengers by a spring on the lower step of the rear platform, he made no provision for the ingenuity of the conductors, who became excessively polite and stepped off to assist parties to alight, but all the time kept one foot on the step, so that no more than one person was registered, as the step was not allowed to spring back. Laura Berry recently fell fainting in the school-room at Carson, Nev. Tbere was nothing mysterious in the origin of her swoon; the only wonder was she recovered from it. She had within three weeks committed to memory 300 pages of history and 200 of natural philosophy. Hie night before she and a class-mate had not gone to bed at all, but studied throughout the night and until nine that morning. Her guardians, it is unneces-. sary to state, never fainted away over books.

The Laporte (Ind.) Democrat tells this dog story: “ A large dog, about a year old, belonging to a neighbor, who had been bitten in his ears, had his head washed several times with carbolized water. Several weeks later he saw one of the children of the family bathing her head with liniment for the earache, when, watching an opportunity, he gets the liniment bottle on the floor, spills it, and dabs Ms own head in the spilled liniment, and then rubs it in with his fore-paws. This was witnessed by four members of the household." . Connecticut has a marksman who gave an exhibition of bis skill at a fail" recently. He used an improved targetrifle, requiring neither cartridge, powder •nor air, a percussion cap alone, sending a large shot—single force sufficient to penetrate a pine board at some distance. He stuck a pin in a board, twenty-five feet distant, took his rifle in one band, pistol fashion, and knocked the pin down. He then stuck his knife in the board, at the same distance, and split several shots in succession, while he rang the target-bell nine times out of ten.

As the cars were moving away, from Terre Haute, Ind., the other day, a pretty young woman came from the ladies’ car and rushing into the smoking-car, frantically appealed to everybody to stop the train. Catching sight of the conductor, she explained piteously: “ Mr. Conductor, do please stop the train; I’ve left my baby.” The train was stopped and the baby recovered amidst the hearty cheers of the people on the platform and the passengers; and while the young mother laughed and cried and hugged her little one she tried to explain how the baby was such a new one that she hadn’t got used used to it. Hot Ground.— The Virginia City (Nev.) Enterprise adds the following to its long list of curious stories: “We are informed that the reason why there are no shade trees about the hotel at the Gene* Hot Springs and why none can be grown there is that the ground is too hot for them. It is said that upon digging through the thin surface soil a substratum of hard earth —called a hard-pan —is found. This is two or three feet in thickness, and upon digging through it almost anywhere in the neighborhood boiling hot water is encountered. On account of this subterranean lake of hot water trees of no kind can be made to grow in the neighborhood. Soil enough for the nourishment of the trees cannot be collected upon the surface, and the moment their roots pass through the substratum they are in hot water and are cooked. By sinking an artesian well in this place there could doubtless be obtained a fine fountain of hot water, but if it were desired to surround this fountain with trees it would be necessary to have them made of cast iron.” —HSo far, so good,” as the boy said vriien he finished* tb* first pqt of his mother's jam.