Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1882 — Page 6

Women in Russia.

In Russia, where in the middle classes the seclusion of women was even a few years ago nearly as great as in a harem, the advocate of women’s rights wO'ild today find little in demand for any class ot females above the level of the peasantry. The moujik still administers corporal chastisement to his wife as he would to his child, and his right to do so, though denied by the written law, is tacitly acknowledged in practice. The girl however, whose brother has described as going to the Lycee and subsequently to the university, is nearly as independent as her male relations. Likener brother, and from similar causes, she too often becomes disgusted with her home and determines to seek what she imagines to ,be the delights of the independent life led by the numerous female students who follow various university courses, and particularly that or medicine. Sometimes, when her parents .refuse her permission to leave home, she simply runs away, and having no passport, her permission at once becomes illegal, and she naturally finds her companions among those who, like herself, have got into some trouble with the authorites. In some cases enthusiastics like Solovieff, who fired at the late Czar in April, 1879, marry girls with whom they liave scarcely any acquaintance, and for whom they have no feeling of aflection merely to free them the obligation of obtaining a passport from their parents, and their consent to leave home. The young husband and wife proceed together to the university town, and there, having no particular taste for each others society, they often separate immediately, and even where they would desire to maintain their nmuial connection, the pressure of poverty and the difficulties of their position frequently oblige them to part company. Even without the specially demoralizing effect of such circumstances as I have just mentioned, the general influences of life at the universities are mast injurious to the majority oi the young women who frequent them. The ideas of family ties and of the obligations of married life which prevails in the homes of the students are probably lax enough, but even t hese are cast to the winds by the young men and women who adopt a code of morals of their own in the Bohemian society of which they have become members. Parental authority, which a few years ago was such a marked feature in domestic life in Russia, has become a thiug of the past as far as regards the majority of the students, and University and Government officials are equally condemned. The mystic reverence for the Czar appears absurd to the young philosophers, and the church itself is despised by those who have learnen to recognize the ignorance of its ministers, and the superstition with which its rites are practiced by the ignorant masses.—[Fortnightly Review.

The Highest Building in Europe.

Hitherto the Hospice of the Great <3t. Bernard, which stands 3,200 feet above the level of the sea, has enjoyed the distinction of being the most elevated inhabited building in Europe. This honor, according to the Builder, it can no longer claim. During the past year the city authorities of Catania, in Sicily, have caused to be erected near the summit of the great volcano, Mt. Etna, an astronomical observatory, which stands 2,943 meters abvoe the sea level or fully 1,000 feet lugher than the Hospice of St. Bernard. The structure is nine meters in hight, and covers an area of 200 square meters. It consists of an upper and lower story, aud is built in a circular form. In the lower story there rises a masse ve pillar, upon which is placed the great refracting telescope. The lower story is divided into a dining room, kitchen and storerooms, intended for the accommodation of astronomers and tourists visiting the establishment. The roof consists of a movable cupola or dome. From tlie balconies of. the upper story a psospect o vast extent ana grandeur is presented. The spectator is able to see over half the island of S’clly, the island of Malta, rhe Lipari lies, and the province of Calabria, on the mainland of Italy. The observatory is erected up. on a small cone, which will, iu the case of eruption, protect it completely from the lava streams which cl way b flows down on the opposite side of the volcano.

Selling Girls in Sheets.

A correspondent at Des Moines writes: Up at Clear Lake, that centre off summer pleasure parties and Sabbath school associations in lowa, the churches became tired o! the old stereotyped plaus of raising money, and a new scheme was evolved from the inner consciousness of some bright genius. The treasury' of the Congregationalist church became rather bare, and so the young folks got together and determined to fill it even to overflow. After a long discussion it was ■ decided to bring about the desired end by putting all the girls of the church ' tip at auction ,to be disposed of to the highest bidder. The time came around, and every young man in that part of lowa in or near Clear Lake who had any money or oould possibly borrow any was promptly on hand, eager to bid to the fullest extent. But there were some of the girls on whom it would have been impossible to obtain the bid of an old fashioned copper cent, while there were others for whom the love sick swains would willingly have bid their' last dollar, ■jmri. in the spirit of Artemus Ward the last dollar of any of their relatives. Bo to give all the boys an equal chance, the girls were wrapped up in

sheets so as to be completely unrecognizable. Each young man was positive that beneath the sno.wy folds of the sheet he could discern the outline of tbe girl on whom he doted, and when from 15 to 20 of the young fellows singled out one particular sheeted object on which to stake their fortunes excitement ran high, and money ran out of pocketbooks like water down a slanting roof. After all the fftir ones were disposed of, tbe order was given to “haul up tbe sheets”; and then ensued an indescribable scene of mingled happiness and disappointment. Maidens who had been purchased for a mere song, owing to a lack, of bidders, turned out to be the best looking girls i in the town, while beings whose sylph like appearance under a sheet excited i the' greatest admiration, and drew ; hard earned money from unwilling pocketbooks, were found to be most commonplace creatures indeed. But all made tbe best of it, and the disapi pointed ones bore themselves bravely. Altogether the plan was a great suc- : cess, a-ud, as long as churches will i raise money by lottery schemes, why not adopt this method ? It is harm i less, and yet productive of as much i good to the participants as any game i of chance we know of. It gives the homely girls and bashful boys an equal chance with their respective opposite, besides resulting in a grand financial success, and we look for its general adoption. To be sure, it is asking a good deal of modest, wornan- ; ly, refined girls. But then church so- , ciables are always doing that.

The Czar Alexander’s Widow.

The Princess Dolgorouki inspires much ipterest here. She was for some years the Government of Russia, and now that I have seen her 1 can fully understand that she liked to govern. Before Ihe Czar, her husband, was assasinated, she inclined a little to embonpoint. Since that event took place she has recovered tbe slenderness of 18. One is struck with her suaviiy, gentle decision, and graceful forms of expression. She is one of those women who would look the lady in a cotton dress and simple in brocade, Through her feet are small she wears a long dress, which does not, however, trail. A widow’s coif, un peu ala religieuse, well covers over the shorn head, for when the Czar was dead the Princess had, according to Russian custom, her hair cut off, although a place was not allowed for it in Alexander’s coffin. Her complexion is still fresh and of the texture of a petal, The present Czar has done nothing to deprive her of the fortune which his late father left her. She has a large retinue with her. The English governess goes out with her and tbe three children to the Bois. The Princess is used to being stared at, and beats with calmness being mobbed. I think it bad taste for her to let dolls, in as deep mourning as she is, be paraded by her daughters. It is not her present intention ever to go back to Russia. She is afraid the Nihilists, or a group of them, might lay hold of her son, and proclaim him national Emperor, in opposition to the German one. who fs now afraid to stir out of Gatschina. The boy resembles both Alexander 11. and Nicholas, but his eyes are not so staring as theirs were. He is neither plain nor handsome, but is remarkable. One sees that puzzling idea and reflections have been turned over in his young brain, and that he already has a painful consciousness of his false position. The girls are fresh, fair little things, and the youngest knows nothing more about the tragedy of March 13 than that it is the cause of her doll being in mourning. The whole party, dogs and all, are sumptuously lodged. One of the animals was the daily companion of the Czar in his walks, and" slept at the side of his bed. According to an exchange, $40,000 worth of chewing-gum is gatheredjn the State of Maine every year, "in Oxford County is a man who mr.kes it his business to collect spruce gum. Every year he buys from seven to nine tons. The gum is found chiefly iu the region about Umbagog Lake, and about the Rangely lakes. A number of men do nothing else in tbe winter season than collect gum. With snow shoes, ax,and a toboggan, on which the gun is packed, they spend days and nights in the woods. The clear, pure lumps of gum are sold in their native state, the best bringing $1 per pound. Gum not immediately merchantable is refined by a peculiar boxes are covered with spruce boughs,on which is placed the gum. Steam is introduced underneath. The gum is melted, is strained by the boughs, and then passed into warm water, where it is kept from hardening until the packer takes it out, draws it into sticks, and wraps it in tissue paper, where it is ready for market. The gum meets with a rerdy sale. There is not a village,to n, or city in Maine Where it is not in demand. One dealer last year sold $1,400 worth. In the large mill-cities gum has a free sale.

A Miraculous Draught of Fishes

All the large shad and herring fisheries on the North Carolina sounds have closed operations for the season, it having been generally successful and profitable. Some of the herring catches were enormous and without Srecedent. Some three days ago, at Brinkley’s Croatan fishery in Croatan Sound, a wonderful haul was made. He caught and saved over 500,000 fish although be was two days and nights in saving them, working all on the beach to their utmo-t capacity.. In addition to what caught and saved many were l?t out of the seine or sold at greatly reduced rates in order to get clear of them. The haul is estimated by competent judges at OLO.OOO fishes, and is one of the largest on record.

Mrs. Douglas’s Tea-cups.

A story has been going the rounds of the press lately attributed to Mrs. Senator Bingham—if any historian can remember such a senator—that infringes too closely on the life of Mrs. Stephen A. Douglas to be let ass unmolested. The tradition-tellers and legend-lovers of Washington have remembered the pretty and graceful ways of Mrs. Douglas, and never ceased to hold her up a model of a statesman’s wife. Her tact and her amiability were boundless, and although when she married the Little Giant she was very young and much his junior, she adapted herself to the position from the start so thoroughly thatno wife of twenty years experience in public life could equal her. For every friend, for every constituent, and for every eDemy of Senator Douglas she had just the right thing ready to say, and with her wonderful memory for faces, names and places, she was never without some personal inquiries to make of each stranger. Her social instinct was as marvelous as the gift of second sight, and when she accompanied Mr. Douglas on his famous journey through the South to visit his mother, there was not a person encountered in all that tour that she could not have recognized at sight and called by name, had they entered her parlor unannounced a year later. Mrs. Douglas’s popularity was wonderful at that time, and her face and winning ways made friends right and left for the Senator, at that time a candidate for the presidency. At one of her receptions in Washington a great, shy, awkward constituent from the most rustic region of Illinois, presented himseir in Mrs. Douglas's door way, sent up there from the Capitol by the Senator, who Had assured him that his wife would Le delighted to see him. The visitor was anything but a parlor ornament, a rude unpolished son ,of the praire, unused to any of the ways of society, but a power in tbe politices of his home, and a man whoss Influence could be of vast assistance to Mr. Douglas. Entering the room gave him a nervous chill, Mrs. Douglas’s pretty greeting threw him into a feaver, and her inviting him out to the refrehsment-room com pleted a case of palsy. Ignoring his trepidation, she chatted awav to him herself, paid no attention to Bis stammering refusals, and poured out the tea into some miraculous little cups of egg-shell Bevres. Grasping the fairy calyx iivhis fingers for a first sip, the delicate bit of Sevres was crushed to pieces and the hot tea poured in a stream over Mrs. Douglas’s silken train. With a gay laugh, the lady said: “How brittle they are, just look at mine,” and with a mighty effort she broke another cup between her fingers. Reassured, the constituent drew his breath and found him self at ease, while that incomparaale hostess talked to him; asked about his mother, his wife and his children all of whom she remembered so well and called by name. That man went home to woak for, vote for and swear by St/ephen A. Douglas, and way back of his political convictions lay the pieces of those two broken teacups.

Danger to the Eyes.

Professional writers and constant loaders have most to fear from weak eyes. In reading a fair sized volume of live hundred pages your eye must go over a million letters! We can do no bettor service to readers and writors than to call attention to this great danger of failure to take the best of care, which is none -too good, for the eyes. Every tyro knows that he should have the best light for reading, should shun carefully early dawn or twilight, should always stop at the first signs of pain or weariness, etc. Most know Uiat the glare from a plain white surface is very trying, and that the eye is relieved by a tint. Recent experiments in Germany are reported to indicate some yellowish tint as the easiest for the eyes. Dark papers, inks that show little color on first writing, faint lead pencil marks that can be read only by straining the eyes, are fruitful sources of mischief. So is bad writing. The bad paper, ink and pencils most of our readers will have too good sense to use. Fine type, solid matter and poor printing'ahould be condemned by all. <

Carbolic Acid in Diphtheria.

Dr. Z. T. Magilly-of Lincoln, Missouri, contributes totheChicago Medical Journal the method of treating diphtheria from which he has secured better results than from any other. He uses an ordinary hose, from three to five feet long and about one inch in diameter. One end is placed over the spout of a common tea-kettle, into which haVbeen put half a gallon of water and half an ounce of carbolic acid. The Kettle is then placed on the stove, over a good fire, and when the water reaches the boiling point, the free end of the hose is carried under a blanket thrown over the patient’s head. The room must be closed. In a short aime the patient will perspire freely. If persevered in at short intervals, breathing becomes softer, and piesently, after a succession of quick explosive efforts, the patient throws off a coat or tube of false membrane. The acid vapor seems to prevent the reformation or exudation. Alcohol and sulphate of quinine are used in conjunction with the acid, for their supporting propertiesMr. James Gordon Bennett intends to give a series of receptions on his yacht before he sails for the Canaries. Two sides of a disposition: “Mister,” began a small hoy, as he entered a Woodward avenne grocery yesterday, “ma bought some mackerel here last night.” “Yes.” “And In making change you gave her—” “No, I didn’t! I haven’t had a quarter with a hole in it for a month.” “But ma says you gave her ” “Don’t believe it—-

don't believe it! I remember now; I gave her a half dollar, a quarter, and a nickle.” “Ma says you gave her a gold piece for a penny, and here it is.” Good gracious aliye! bat so I did—so I did. I remember now that I gave her a dollar bill and a lot of small change. Bub, what’s your name, and do you think you can eat three sticks of lemon candy? Ah! it does me god to find honesty and reward it.”—Detroit Free Press.

Discouraging to Widows.

There is great excitement among the Bhotiias, a rich and important Hindoo se'-tion of Western India, owing to the occurrence of the first widow marriage in their caste. The lady is 27 years old, and has been a widow since the age of 10. She and her husband,'who are both Bhotins, became acquainted in the native State of Cuich, the headanarters of thoir caste, and, knowing their marriage to be impossible there? they eloped to Bombay, where the Bhotias are also very strong, .and where the ceremony was celebrated under the auspices of the Widows’ Remarriage Association. A small band of native reformers thoroughly approve the marriage, but a feeling of strong indignation has arisen among a great majority ,of the caste. The only Bhotia who attended the marriage has been excommunicated, and the lady’s relatives are attempting to have the bride and the bridegroom arrested a charge of stealing jewels and sent to Cutoh, where they propose dealing with them for an offense against the caste rules. Doubtless the Bombay Government will refuse to give them up.

A Great Mistake.

Be content with Nature’s handiwork, my adiposo friend; you may not 4© with her. Stout women rnako a vast mistake in praying to be tliin, and recklessly adopting the Banting system. For every ten pounds lost, ten years are added to the looks of a naturally stout person. The waist may become a trifle more slender, but the loosened flesh and wrinkled skin tell a tale tfcat no woman wishes to have read on her; own face, to say the least. When victims of adipose rejoice in losing flesh through dieting, let them remember, that nature is not to bo trifled with,} even though she does not immediately hang out danger signals, for rheumatism and gout are lying in wait to re-, ward one lor being a fool in thus trying to “improve” upon her handiwork. ; So long as your health is good, do not fret about your appearance. ' , ,

New Process for Washing Linen.

An English magazine says: In Germany and Belgium a substitute has latterly been introduced for soda in the laundry, which, while it has all the detersive qualities of soda, does no injury to the linen. Two pounds of soap are dissolved in about five gallons of water as hot as the hand can bear. To this are added one tablespoonful of oil of turpentine and three of liquid ammonia. This mixture is then well stirred, and in it the clothes are steeped for three hours, the washtnb being covered up as carefully as possible. Next, the clothes are washed, rinsed and blued as usual. The mixture will serve a second time, only it must be re-heat-ed and one-half spoonful of oil of turpentine and one and one-lialf of ammonia added to it. This process economizes time, labor and fuel. The clothes are not injured, because the ammonia evaporates very quickly; and as for the smell of the turpentine, that disappears in the drying.

No Economy.

The niggardliness whioh leads people to economize in the matter of food is pitiable. There ere those who really grudge ten cents for vegetables, because they say it is too dear; others will restrict their children in milk; others will buy no fish because there is nothing in it; others-will deny the little ones a refreshing orange or banana, and others will never have a pudding on the table. Moat and bread, hot cakes, chops and steaks they call cheap, because it is real food. These pcoph forget that variety really nourishes tin body, and makes up for that food which alone can supply our requirements. Besides that there is no real economy in it. Meat and bread cost more than vegetables and puddings combined with thorn. The former leave you craviDg for something else, while a good mixeadiet supplies all your wants.

What We Live For.

“What is life?” some one asked Montford. His answer is ono of the most charming things ever written: “The present life is sleeping and waking; it is ‘good-night’ on going to bed. and ‘good-morning’ on getting up; it is to wonder what the day will biing forth; it is rain cn the window when ono sits by the fire; it is to walk in the' garden and see the flowers and hear the birds sing; it is to hear news from east, west, north and south; it is to read old books and new books; it is to see pictures and hear music; it is tc have breakfast and dinner and tea; if' is to belong to a town, and havo neigh-* bors, and to become one in a circle oi acquaintances; it is to have friends and; love; it is to have sight of dear old; faces; and it is to know themselves thought of many times a day, in many places, by many children and grand- 1 children, and many friends.” j

A Seine that is a Seine.

A Stony Point (Fairfax County) letter says: “Large crowds daily witness the landing at this place of the largest seine in the waters of the Potomac. It is owned by Capt. Wm. Knight, and is said to be eight miles in length. It is hauled ashore by a twenty-horse-power engine, and requires between seventy-five and eighty men additional to fish it.” Fredricburg Star.

FARM AND GARDEN.

Halve a plan for making your co: n crop and work it. Hens seldom pay expenses after they are three years old. Much is to be sained by the use of good varieties of seeds. The main point to be kept in view from first to last in making countrv roads is drainage. * Advices from Missouri, Nebraska and Indiana are very encouraging as to the wheat prospects for 1882. Never sow seed for hedges in the place where they are Intended to grow, but propagate in bed and transplant. An acre will yield about three tons of basket willow, which sells at from SSO to SSO per ton,according to quality The golden wax and the wax of butter beaus generally are almost stringless. They ripen early and are very tender. Japanese persimons can be grown in tuns, like oranges’ and transferred to the cellar late in the fall for protection against frost. A writer in the Homestead says: “I dos not believe there is any thing like it—so handy and effectual —to dispose a young heifer to keep her hind feet still at the first lesson of being milked as a small rope tied around the body back of the forelegs, and twisted tight with a short stick.” In Europe the carrot is grown to a great extent for feeding to cattle in the winter months. Roots of some kipd are fed the winter through to the cows. An lowa raiser of Jersey cows says he is accustomed to feed carrots, of which he usually raises 600 bushels per acre. Carrots"increase the flow of milk and improve the appearance and quality of butter. Beets are preferable to carrots for increasing the flow of milk; the milk, however, which is prodeed from beets is not as good for butter. Salicylic acid, whose preservative powers on fruit ought to be better known, is being used in Germany for various diseases of domestic animals. Veterinary surgeons find it very useful for cureing sore mouths. Eruptions about, the eyes and head of poultry are cured by touching the affected parts with weak salicylic acid but this acid is now used as a preventive oi disease, being given to horses and cattle at the rate of one-third of an ounce daily (costing about one cent)to each full-grown animal. The acid is dissolved in warm water.

Jn Southern France, where the industry of making cheese from sheep’s milk is rapidly increasing, and is found profitable (this is the noted Roquefort cheese),the sheep used are a peculiar breed, reared for milking qualities mainly. The ewes have four or six teats, udder large, wool rare, little yolk, ears large. A ewe nets about forty .eight frances yearly. Sixfquarts of milk make one p jund of cheese. In France, for instance, capital is being invested and many experiments are now in progress, with a view of plowing by electricity. Plowing by steam is gaining in popularity; the soil being tilled deeper and snore thoroughly by this than by any other system. The electric motion power as applied to plows,can be sent along wires for a distance of several miles. The horse like his driver and the dog like bis master A nervous, timorous man is almost sure to have a skittish horse, shying at anything, unsteady, and a runaway if he gets a chance. Many a cow is spoiled by a lack or patience and vuietness in the milker, and the amount of milk depends more on the milker than the pasturage. If a man is afraid of a horse, the animal knows it oefore he gets into the stail. A nonsy boisterous fellow about fattening stables will cause a serious loss in gain of flesh to them when they are digesting their food.—Exchange. It is reported by the Farmers’ Review, that Messrs.Congden & Waller, live stock dealers.at the Union Stockyards, Chicago, recently “bought twenty Southdown sheep, averaging 152% pounds each, one of which weighed 106 pounds net. The shrinkage on the lot was only 33 per cent. The sheep were raited by J.D. Gillett, the well-known Illinois stock-breed-er, and were bought for the Smithfield market of Chicago, which is always on the look-out for fine stock.’ Fowls to be pali table and lender shoqld be fattened quickly, From eight to ten days are sufficient. Place the birds in a roomy coop, in some out building, where they be free from draught and in a modified light, The morning food should be given as early as possible, and should consist of good sweet, yellow cornmeal, mixed with one-third its quantity of wheat middlings, mix with boiling water, and in the water should be chandler’s scraps sufficient to make the water quite greasy. To every two quarts of feed, every other day, mix a tablespoonful of powdered charcoal before tne water on the feed. Let it stand covered up for twenty minutes then feed. At noon use the meal, leavihg out the middlings, and in its place put in all the table scraps you can get and some finely chopped cabbage. Tse the charcoal only in the morning feed. At night feed corn that has been boiled until it has swollen twice its natural size. Every other day add to noon feed a little buckwheat(in grain).Give water after each feed. Warm sweet milk is best if you have it to spare. Give during the day, but always give water for drink at night. Do not feed anything for at least twelve hours before killing, and let the last feed be soft food; and if you like a nice gamey flavor to the meat’ let it contain a good portion of chopped celery. Fowls fed in this way fatten very rapidly, and their flesh is tender, juicy, and tempting.