Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 January 1883 — Page 3

Rensselaer Republican.

BY GEO. E.*XABSHALL.

Thb Chemical Review nuys that recent analyses of water from the holy well at Mecca—where it is eagerly drunk by pilgrims—show it to be ten times stronger than average London sewage. Thb heirs of Benjamin S. Botch, of Milton, Mass., who had figured upon receiving 1200,000, have been agreeably surprised by the discovery that the estate inventories over $3,000,000, of which $46,000 is in Chicago real estate. That husband and wife are equal before the law was emphatically demonstrated in a Chicago court recently. One McLeod, now in jail awaiting trial for laroeny, filed an affidavit before Judge Tuley setting forth that he was put in prison at his wife’s instance so that he could not defend a suit for divorce brought by her. Some time ago he sold his property and gave the money to his wife, and he therefore prayed the court to grant an order on Mrs. McLeod to advance him sufficient funds to defend the suit. Judge Tuley appeared to think that there was justice in the request, and granted a rule on the woman to show cause why she should not advance the neoessary money. It is a poor rule that will not work both ways even in divorce suits. -

An Illinois stock-raiser of the name of Pracy Clark gives an amusing account of a recent trip to Cincinnati with a car-load of hogs. He left his home at Albion on Saturday) Dec. 9, by the afternoon freight train, which was run upon a side-track near Princeton, Ind., at about 9 o’clock to let two passenger’ trains pass. The engineer, conductor, fireman and brakeman made themselves so comfortable in the locomotive cab that they all fell sound asleep and did not awake until morning, when an employe of the road, who had been sent out fi*om Princeton to find the missing train, aroused them. Of oourse they had lost their right of way, and the train, which was due at Cincinnati Monday morning, did not arrive until Tuesday night. “Damages, gentlemen, heavy damages,” is now Mr. Clark’s ultimatum. , Gen. Wallace, our Minister to Turkey, has been awarded $15,000 by the American-Mexican Commission as a claim for services rendered in 1865. At the close of our civil war the General aocepted a commission as Major General in the republican army of Mexico, with a view to organizing a legion composed of discharged American soldiers, to aid in driving the Emperor Maximilian and the French out of Mexico. The Legion organization failed, but the General rendered valuable services to the Mexican republican cause, for which he was not able to receive pay, mainly owing to the poverty of the Mexican treasury. ‘ The • General brought his claim before the American Commissioners in 1869, but it was not allowed for want of jurisdiction. But payment has now been secured through the efforts of Minister Foster.

At a recent social gathering in Boston the conversation was upon literature, and somebody chanced to mention the saying about a prophet’s lack of honor in his own country. “Yes,” remarked Mr. J. T. Trowbridge, “I know all about that. The tax collector called upon me last spring, and, in the course of conversation, asked me what I did for a living. I said I wrote, and, after having to explain to him that I was neither a book-keeper nor a copyist, I told him I wrote books. ‘Pshaw, now,’ said he, ‘I want to know! Wa-al, now, it’s kind o’curious I never heard o’ that. Got Any of ’em about yer ? ’ I said I had some of them in the house, but I didn’t keep a very large supply on hand. ‘Well, you can git’em, I s’pose?’ was the next remark. I said I could, and he gave me an order on the spot. ‘ Send me down the handsomest copy you've got,’said he, ‘and I'll pay you for it. If we’ve got a man that kin write, I’ll do my duty by him.’ ” People who look - with jealous eye upon the power of Vanderbilt, says the Chicago Times, might find the events of the last three months a most intert esting study. Within that brief period the railway king has been twice handbagged and robbed upon the financial highway. The tusk was easy enough to men who had the nerve required. The first event was what may be termed the Nickel-Plate job. Vander-

bilt looked on with apparent in differ) enoe while the Lake Shore road was quickly paralleled by men who knew his temperament and understood his interests. But when an effective rival line had been created he made haste to secure it at a price much greater than it has since touohed on the stock exchange. The dazzling success of this operation, which placed millions in the pockets of its projectors, inspired an attack from a new quarter. A Chicago road in whioh he is the heaviest stock* holder was chained down by a lease which forced it to join in any warfare that might be commenced, but left it utterly powerless to retaliate in any way. The holders of .the leased property flung their stock into the market and reaped the highest figure. Then they were free to inaugurate what promised to become a desperate struggle and lead up with securities at panic prioes, leaving Vanderbilt to settle privately and hurriedly with them or to pay sueh rates for stock as they exacted through brokers in Wall street. No lamb was ever more thoroughly sheared. The railway king purchased peace through one or both of these methods, and now holds a road only one-third of which is of any use to him. The belligerent leaders stepped down and out, and a President and directors were installed who represent the family interest exclusively.

Senator Jones, of Nevada, gives an account of De Long’s Arctic expeAtion, which he got from Capt. Neibaum in San Francisco. Neibaum is a Russian, who has for many years been in the service of the Alaska Fur Company. He was the last man from whom De Long received provisions. He says: “De Long left my station at almost the northern part of Alaska, and I furnished him, at the order of the Alaska Fur Company, with sledges, dogs and provisions. He took twenty-seven dogs and one Indian. I account for the loss of the party on the theory that they killed the dogs. I do not believe that De Long knew anything about the undertaking he was grappling with, and was ignorant of the means by which progress oould be made in that regionI see by his diary that there was but one dog left a few days prior to his death. He must have killed the dogs without knowing their great value, and when the dogs are gone there is absolutely no hope left. The dogs could net have died or been lost; they were kill|d. The scent of these animals L remarkable, and they will detect provisions, no matter where they may be. When men in thes*e regions kill polar bears and have more meat than they can keep, they cache the meat, and it sometimes lies in the ice for years, until it is discovered by dogs. The ice is full of these places. If you meet an Indian there and kill his dog he lies down and dies. He also neglected to take the right kind of guns. De Long refused a fowling-piece I offered him, made expressly for the Arctic seas and climate. He said he wanted a gun for bears, not ’birds, and would not listen to me. The weight of the Remington rifles hampered him. They took no fishingtackle, and all their chances for life were thrown away through ignorance, I liked De Long personally, but he was not the man to command an Arctic expedition. ”

Too Late to Mend.

A sharp disciplinarian is Gen. Gallifet. While directing the maneuvers of the French army on review at Chalons recently he noticed some error in the movements of a dragoon brigade under the command of Gen. Clermont Tonneire, one of ihe oldest officers in the service. Quickly he directed the latter to repeat the movement. The veteran complied, after consulting with members of his staff, and through the evolutions constantly received suggestions from them. At last, “Retire, gentlemen,” cried Gallifet, “you annoy the general.” “No,” said the other, “they assist me. Ido not understand these maneuvers, and have asked these gentlemen to refresh my memory, so I may not seem ignorant before the troops.” "You do not understand the drill?” cried Gallifet, pale with' emotion. “How can you expect it?” was the response. “I am in garrison, with two small squadrons and a miserable insufficient drill-ground. But I can learn it in eight days.” “In eight Jays,” said Gallifet, ‘it will be too late. I <»» obliged to ask you to resign. Place your command in the hands of the oldest of your colonels.” A oountby preacher was exhorting his unbelievers, and his text was “The Flood. ” As he waxed eloquent he said: “And Noah warned the wicked that they might repent, but they heeded him not; and the floods came and drowned them all, and what do you suppose they thought then ?” Lohofellow’B study remains just ag he left it. Not *'l>ot>k hor a pieoe of furniture has been moVed. , 4

SIGNS AND SUPERSTITIONS.

Old Saws and Modern Signs. Omens Far the Superstitions. . “Matrons who toss the cap and ass The grounds of fate in grounds of tea.** It has been said that no human being exists who is without superstition, and often the greater the intellect, the higher the intelligence, the more unaccountable and puerile the belief h l signs and fatalities. Selden remarks that they who are against superstition often times run into it on the wrong side, and adds, If I wear all oolors but black then I am superstitions in not wearing blaok.” One man laughs at another because he wears his shirt turned wrong Bide out for luck, but the man who laughs will not start on a journey on Friday or cross a funeral on its way to the grave or see the new moon over his left shoulder. We none of us believe in signs, and it is only by way of joke we allude to the bad omen of 13 sitting together at table,, of being unlucky if we spill the salt, of expecting a stranger if we drop a fork and the point sticks in the floor, or expect company if the rooster crows on the door-step. It is said that all signs fail in dry weather, but who ever saw a cat wash her face that it did not rain soon after? The fact is, we are all, every one of us, full of queer, quaint ideas natural or inherited, idiosyncrasies of character which makes us individual, things that we do believe and don’t believe all in one breath. Four people meet and shake hands across—a rare occurrence indeed—and some one of the four exclaims “there will be a wedding. ” You mention * that you dreamed of some one dead and the suggestion is at once made that you will hear good news of the living. If you rock the cradle when the baby is not in it it is a sign of death. If a door creaks suddenly that will be news from a land; if your right hand itches you will get money; if your nose itches it is a sign that you will kiss a fool; if you are single and stumble in going up stairs you will not be married this year. There are peculiar sensations which betoken bad luck. A shiver of the scalp denotes that some one has walked over the spot where your grave is to be. If yaur ears burn it is a sign that some one is talking unkindly about you; personal signs are more frightful than those of inanimate things. Unlucky Fridays are numerous, but there is hardly any day of the week that is not unlucky to some one, but give a dog an ill name and hang him! Friday is not in good odor, perhaps because it is hangman’s day. Young people do not care to get married on Friday. Actors are as a rule highly educated and accomplished men, but they are very superstitious. If the first ticket to a new play is sold to a cross-eyed man, good-bye to luck; that piece will never succeed. When the “Black Crook” was first played in New York, at Niblo’s Garden, a lady with a'small child by the hand was the first one to enter the theater. Mr. Wheately, the manager, turned the lady round, forced her into the hall, and let several men rush in; and then he mode a polite apology and escorted her himself to her seat.

“There would have been nothing but failure,” he said, “if a woman had been the first to enter—it’s bad luck; afways admit a man first.” Sailors, gamblers and colored people are very superstitious. The weather is almost controlled by superstition. The goose bone is as much believed in by farmers as if it really by its spots made the ensuing season. Tne ground-hog is a pet superstition, for no fine can authentically state that the little animal comes out of its hole in mid-winter to make the meteorological observations attributed to it. The crackling of a wood fire, like the crunching sound of footsteeps on the snow, is supposed to indicate an immediate fall of snow. On the walls of old chimneys back of a wood fire there will appear luminous spots composed of tiny sparks, which are called “wild geese,” and these intimate rain. It is a'popular belief among farmers that pork which is not killed at the right time of the moon will curl up and act ugly in the pan when cooking; also, that you can see the exact shape of the cow’s hoof in a bowl of milk. There are many good people who if they once leave home and forget something which compels them to go back will always sit down to avert the bad luck which must inevitably follow if they omitted this. To call one member of a family by the name of another who is dead is believed to be very unlucky. Some are fortunate in possessing lucky numbers or days; seven is popularly believed to be a lucky number and the seventh son can cure all diseases, including king’s evil. Tuesday is generally believed to be a fortunate day. Evil days were very prominent in the Saxon calendar and at one time there were so nlany that the whole year seemed to be endangered. The southern people are fond of Tuesday, and it is their great national fete day—mardi gras. In Lidia it is considered unlucky to marry on a rainy day, and “Happy is the bride that that the sun shines on.” On the contrary, “Blessed are the dead that the rain rains on.” Dean swift in a letter to Sheridan, rhymes Thursday with “Cursed day.” The queerest reason for the existence of an unlucky day is given by the Malays, who avoid the 24th day of the new moon, because on that day Mohammed lost his front teethl

Action and Reaction.

Under certain known conditions, says the Germantown Telegraph , the forec that generates heat will also generate tight, electricity, and even sound. Bo the powers of the mind are convertible V

into each other. Mental drill and discipline gained in one way will avail us in a hundred other ways. Knowledge in one direction has intimate relations with all other knowledge. Power, developed and exercised in one sphere, is ready for use in another; and he who has drawn it from many sources will be best fitted to put it forth in his chosen vocaticti.

What Malaria Is.

There are some questions which the scientific mind is continually grappling after, but whioh somehow it never reaches. One of these questions resembles the Irishmans flea, whioh, when you put your finger upon it, “isn’t there.’* , Such a question is, What causes Mhlaria ? The malarial mystery is one which has long troubled the scientific mind. The very best authorities are not agreed as to the question of its precise origin. Scientists on both sides of the Atlantic generally concur in the opinion that it germinates or sprouts in the human body from very minute spores, numbering "perhaps *B,OOO to an inch. But how these seeds are transported, or what the conditions of receptivity and susceptibility under which tney are developed, nobody can yet tell. There is evidence that sporadic cases occur in dry, upland regions, but the disorder loves marshes, clings to artificial lakes or ponds, riots by the banks of sunken streams, and works it burning and shivering damage most malignantly where the normal mutual relations between sCil, vegetable matter and stagnant or moving water have been unsettled. This disease is frequently engendered in newly broken prairie, with the grass turned under to decay,in damp places obscured from the sun by liigh weeds or thick shade, decaying vegetable matter, and in animal deposits, about yards, stable lots, fence corners, or the rich soil, probably manured annually on lawns. In some parts of the country malaria is making the most alarming enoroachments on the public health. A startling picture of its growth in portions of New England is given in a recent number of the Congregationalism in which Bishop Huntington says pf its manifest growth there: Natives of Western and Central Massachusetts, who have been sent out to do their work in less lovely regions, have been surprised, on coming back for rest during the last half-dozen years or more, to find their old neighbors shaking with fever and ague, and a general alarm creeping with the malady not only along the water course, but, to some extent, up the sides of the hills. The presence of the mischief is undeniable. Laboring-men, mechanics, shop-keepers, broom-makers, as well as farmers are disabled about half of their time. Hard-working women, needing every ounce of their strength and every hour of the week are prostrated. Children are interrupted at school, and become objects of anxious care at home. The household economy is sorely strained. Spirits are depressed. The “task of life" is fearfully aggravated. In some instances important branches of industry are embarrassed, enter-. prises are checked, business engagements are broken, temper and patience are tried. The moral atmosphere is disturbed with the physical. Of course, those families suffer most where the out-of-door exposure by day or night, is greatest, and where health is less firm. But even good constitutions are weakened, and the doors and windows of the body are thrown.open to all sorts of interlopers, marauders, and despoilers. * This is a startling picture of the ravages of this disease. Medical science should set its wits to work and throw more light on a subject which so sadly needs it. There are still many questions as to the ignorance of which model medical scientists can be arraigned with as bitter and caustic words as those in which Gail Hamilton showed its lack of knowledge a year ago. (Let the malarial mystery be solved. —Dee Moines Register.

Common Errors.

“God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,” was long attributed to the psalms of David, until oft-repeated corrections have convinced people that the sentiment belongs to Maria in Laurence Sterne's “Sentimental Journey.” The epigram, “Spare the rod and spoil the child,” is still often quoted as one of the proverbs of Solomon, and is rarely attributed to its author, Butler, (see “Hudibras,” part 11., canto 2, line 843). The nearest approach to any such plwase to be found iu the Bible is the text, “He who spareth the rod hateth his son.” (Prov. xiii. 24). The reference to “pouring oil on the troubled- waters” is often supposed to be scriptural, though the Bible does not make any such allusion. “Man wants but little here below,” is an expression no older than Goldsmith’s “Hermit,” though it is generally quoted either as scripture or from a line of an ancient hymn. “Mansions of the blest” are mentioned in the Revelations, not of St. John the Divine but to the monk of Eversham (A. D. 1496).— A1l the Year Round. A mukioh professor has invented a bracelet that will remedy the affliction known as “writer’s cramp.” The penholder is fastened to the bracelet in such a manner that it can be used to write with ease and without bringing the fingers into use at all. The hand can rest on the table, moving easily along as the letters are traced, and it is said that little practice is required to rive expression in the use of the invention

THE FAMILY DOCTOR.

Linseed oil and*charooal oil is aa excellent remedy for a scald or burn. A bit of cotton batting sprinkled with black pepper and wet with sweet-oil and idserted in the ear will immediately cure earache. A tea spoonful of the white of an egg well beaten and mixed with lemon and sugar taken occasionally will relieve hoarseness. To prevent the hair from falling out apply once a week a wash made of one quart of boiling water, one ounoe of pulverized borax, and half an ounce of powdered oamphor. Rub on with sponge or piece of flannel. Sleepless people—and they are many in America—-should court the sun. The very worst soporific is laudanum, and the very best, sunshine. Therefore, it is very plain poor sleepers should pass as many hours as possible in the shade. Many women 'are martyrs, and vet they do not know it. They shut the shunshine out of their houses and their hearts, they wear veils, they carry parasols, they do all possible to keep off the subtlest and yet most potent influence whioh is intended to give them strength and beauty and cheerfulness. Is it not time to ohange this, and so get color and roses in our pale cheeks, strength in our weak books, and oourage in our timid souls? The women of America are pale and delioate; they maybe blooming and strong, and the sunlight will be a potent influence in this transformation. Wet Earth Cure.— A new way of dressing wounds was discovered by accident by Dr. Neuberg, of Germany. Two years ago there appeared at the clinio a laborer who had sustained a compound fracture of the forearm eight or ten days before, with considerable laoeration. He had got a comrade to surround the whole forearm at onoe with a thick paste of peat mold, on whioh was laid a rough splint of wood. When he came to the olinio he was in good general health, and on olearing off the mold the doctor found the wound to be healing beautifully, without any sign of suppuration. Dr. Neuberg was led by this experience to investigate the properties of peat mold, and his conclusion is that it is peculiarly valuable for the purpose of dressing wounds, chiefly because of its great power of absorbing the products of decomposition.— New York Tribune.

How to Recruit Tired-Out Nerves. —Sometimes what we call “laziness” ought to be allowed. A child (or a man) who grows fat and lazy from over-feed-ing, should be put upon a plainer diet and urged to exercise. But those who grow languid and have little appetite from nervous exhaustion, ought to be carefully nourished by nutritious food of easy digestion (since the digestive organs are probablyin a weak condition), and allowed to rest and gather up , strength before being called upon to expend it. No stimulants will afford any real help. They call out the strength temporarily, and make one feel strong while the influence lasts, but this is only wasting the strength. One may live for a time upon stimulants, and appear to be helped by them, but only genuine nourishment really builds up the strength. Food alone, however good, cannot cure nervous exhaustion. Pure air, sunlight (all of this that one oan get and endure), cleanliness, warm, easy clothing,and restful surroundings, are all essential, and these natural agencies alone will affect a cure in almost every case if taken in time, while the case is curable. The food taken should be real nourishment, not simply the pretty little invalid’s dishes, made up of delicate starches and flavorings, that one often sees recommended by ignorance. Starch has nothing for the brain and nerves, and for this reason white bread is very poor food. Flour should be used that contains all of the gluten of the wheat. The “entire wheat flour” is recommended by physicians as the'best. Oat meal, good milk, eggs, beef and the best fruits and vegetables, all help nobuild up strength. Ptue air night and day are needed, and the time should be spent out of doors as much as possible. For those who are only beginning to suffer from nervous exhaustion, light gardening and other employment may be useful. Those who are much worn down with brain labor had better not try anything at first more laborious than riding, as walking wearies an already tired brain. There is nojnore healthful and enjoyable exercise than light horseback riding ; it brings many muscles into play, diverting the mind, and gives tone tone to both mind and body. “Diet and Quiet” are among the best of our nliysicians. —American AgricuU turixt.

Hunger.

There is nothing like hunger to take the euergy out of a man. The most awful cry on earth is the cry for bread. This was the cry of the Prodigal Son vhen he would fain partake of the husks that the swine did eat, and could not get rpS- r. that without stealing it It was a wis.. Jung for the prodigal to get home. He felt the pangs of hunger, the wages of sin. We know that Satan promises large wages if we will serve him, but he pinches his victims with hunger. He promises us luxuries. Liar! Down to the pit with thee! The wages of sin is death. But this young man was wise in time and went t to his father's house. — Ilev. Dr. Talmage. Air Altoona, Pa., wedding party were about to sit down to supper when the floor gave away. The groom «h*hlaok, the bride white, and the raftm about equally divided in hue. No Hie was seriously hurt.