Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1880 — About Nutmegs. [ARTICLE]

About Nutmegs.

Nutmegs {row on little trees which look some like pear trees, and are generally over twenty feet high. The flowers are very much like the lily of the valley. They are pale yellow and very fragrant. The nutmeg is the seed of the fruit, and mace is the thin covering over this seed. The fruit is about as large as a peach. When ripe it breaks Open and shows the little nut inside. The trees grow on the island of Asia and in tropical America. They bear fruit for seventy or eighty years, having ripe fruit upon them at all seasons. A fine tree in Jamaica has over 4,000 nutmegs on it yearly—That is a clever Persian story sbout Mahammed Ali and the camels; and though it will be familiar to many, they will scarcely be sorry to be reminded of it A Persian died, leaving seventeen camels to be divided among his three sons in the following proportions: The eldest to have half; the second a third, and the youngest a ninth. Of course, camels can’t be divided into fractions; so, in despair, the brothers submitted their difficulty to Mohammed Ali. “Nothing easier,” said the wise Ali. “I’ll lend you another camel to make eighteen; and now divide them yourselves.” The consequence was, each brothergot from oneeighth to one-half of a camel more than he was entitled to, and AU received hifi camel back again; the eldest brother getting nine camels, the second, six, and the third, two. —George M. Clark, of large renown as a rhowman and of goodly repute as a gentleman, was giving a deposition in Manchester, N. H., the other day, in the case of Kelsey vs. Osborne. James F. Briggs, counsel for the plaintiff, did not Uke the looks of the deposition from his stand-point, and undertook to weaken it by belittling the witness. Hence he began, with a sneer: “You are in the negro minstrel business, I believe?’ “Yes, sir,” was the reply. “You black your face and sing for a living, do you T’ sir.” “Weil, don’t you call that rather low business to follow?’ “I don . know but it is, sir; but it is so much better than that of my father before me that lam Hither proud of it” “Why. what did your father do?’ “He was s lawyer!”

*“ —As Dr. Johnson was riding in a carriage through London on a rainy day, he overtook a poor woman carrying a baby. He invited her to get in with her child, which she did. The doctor said to her, “My good woman, I think it most likely that the motion of the carriage will wake your child in a Uttle while, and I want you to understand that if you talk any baby talk to it you will have to get out of the coach.” As the doctor had anticipated, the child awoke, and the mother exclaimed, “Oh, the Uttle dear; he is going to open his eyesy pysy!” “Stopthe coach,driver!” shouted Johnson, and the woman had to finish her journey on foot. - ■ - ■ ■ ■ ♦ ♦ ♦ ■■ .. —The Chinese carte de etzite is a curiosity. It consists of a bright scarlet paper, with the owner's name inscribed in large letters—the larger the more exquisite. For extra grand occasions the card is folded ten times: the name is written on the right hand corner, with the humiliating prefix, like “Your very stupid brother,” 4 Your unworthy friend, wlm) bows his head and pays his respects,” etc., etc. The words “Your stupid,” taking the place of “Yours respectfiiliy.” It is etiquette to retun' these raids to the visitors, it being presuinsbte that the expense is too great for general distribution.

—Fortunes in Florida from orange growing are made as easily, on paper, as cities are built by companies on suburban farms. A Mr. Dewnurst thus glowingly calculates what his income will be. He has a four'hundred acre farm at Piney Point, and has just planted it with eighty-four quarts of orange seed, which are expected to produce 420,000 trees. If they bear 5,000 oranges each annually, he will have 2,100,000,000 oranges, which, at the low price of two cents each, would give an income of $42000,000. - —We cannot look, however imperfectly, upon a great man, without gaining something by him. He is the living light fountain, which it is good and pleasant to be near; the light which enlightens, which has enlightened, the darkness of the world; ana this, not as a kindled lamp only, but rather as a natural luminary, shining by the gift of heaven; a flowing light fountain, as we say, of native, original insight, of manhood and heroic nobleness, in whose radiance all souls feel that it is well with them. —Hathaway got away with $1,000,000 as manager of two Fall River cotton mills. George Hathaway 1 George Hathaway ! To squander cash he hath a way; to speculate, hypothecate and play with fate he hath a way. George Hathaway I George Hathaway I To rob the poor he hath a way; to forge his name and bank the same and bluff the game he hath a way. —Death is the only master who takes his servant without a character. A sourfaced wife fills the tavern. When pride and poverty marry together, their children are want ana crime. When hard work kills ten, idleness kills a hundred men. Folly and pride walk side by side. Friends and photographs never flatter. Wisdom is always at home to those who calk

—Contentment produces, in some measure, all those effects which the alchemist usually ascribe to what he calls the philosopher's stone; and if it does not bring nches,itdoes the same tiling by banishing the desire of them. If it cannot remove the disquietudes arising from a man’s mind, body, or fortune, it makes him easy under them. — w ® are entirely out of ammunition/’ said an orderly sergeant to his commander on a field-day. “What I entirely out of ammunition ?’ exclaimed the captain.“Yeß, entirely out,” was the reply, “Then cease firing,” peremptorily odd the captain. —A wit having been asked by another mnon whether ne would advwe him to end a certain friend of theirs money, said: “What! lend Am Money/ Ydu might give him an emetic, and he wouldn’t return it” .C-A pound of wool woven into comwill measure aboot three