Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 August 1885 — Nora’s Balance. [ARTICLE]

Nora’s Balance.

Cholera germs show decided affinity for human lips; therefore fruit - from infected districts is dangerous. The orange especially, or any fruit which, like this, is washed with water before shipment, is very likely to transmit the germs. To touch the body of a cholera patient and afterward accidentally to touch one's own lips with the same hand would probably cause cholera to the person so doing. A man residing on the line of an Eastern railroad has taught his dog to bark vociferously at every passing train. The impulse of the firemen is to watch for the barking dog, and hurl pieces of coal at him in passing. The result to the owner is that he has delivered at his door all the coal he requires for his own use free of cost, and is now contemplating the opening of a coal-yard for the supply of his neighbors. He thinks he can compete in price with the oldest coal-dealers in the vicinity. “~Zera Babbett and wife, nf Norfolk, have had six daughters, says The Neiv Hartford (Conn.) Tribune. The first death in the family was the father, at the age of 84 years, then followed the mother at the age of’B6—nothing so remarkable in the age of the parents, as the six children who survived them. The circle was not broken until July 3, 1885, by the death of Eliza M. Humphrey, wife of Deacon James Humphrey, at West Norfolk, at the age of 71, the combined age of the six sisters being 420 years. The following list of words was “given out” to the applicants for admission into the New York City Nor--1 mal School, and although apparently not difficult, they proved veritable stumbling-blocks: Aberration, Gauge, Rarefy, Acquiesce, Hyacinth, Recollect, Aqueduct, Irascible, Seize,. Balance, J< cular, Siege, Ballast, Lattice, Tyranny, Belligerent, Lettuce, Vaccination, Cerefnents, Palace, Vacillation, Correlation, pusillanimous, Afghanistan, Coralline, Militia, Panama, Defamation, Negotiate, Bosphorus, Delegation, Omniscient, Reuben, Embarrass, Oscillation, Benjamin, Felon, c_j Parish, Hannibal, =feicassee. Quinsy.

Final preparations are now making at Philadelphia for an expedition to Vigo, Spain, in search of the Spanish treasure galleons sunk in the bay in 1702. An engineer who visited the spot last summer declares that he has positively located eleven of the sunken treasure galleons, and in a diver's suit, went down upon the decks of several of them, which were lying at the depth of thirty or forty feet below the surface. With a charge of-dynamite he blew off the deck of one of them and laid bare the general Cargo, which consisted of huge logs of mahogany and logwood in perfect preservation. He also picked up coins from the deck, and iron balls, mementoes of the sea fight 183 years ago. , From Mr. Ruskin’s Autobiography: “My mother forced me, by steady daily toil, to learn long chapters of that discipline, patient, accurate, and resolute, I owe not only much of my general power of taking pains, but the best part of my taste in literature. Once knowing the 23d of Deuteronomy, the 119th Psalm, the 15th of I Chrinthians, the Sermon on the Mount, and most of the Apocalypse, every syllable by heart and having always a way of thinking with myself what words meant, it was not possible for me, even in the foolIshest time of my youth, to write entirely superficial or formal English, and the affectation of trying to write like Hooker and George Herbert was the most innocent I could have fallen into.”

A lad of 17, who was with the Egyptian Army, under Hicks Pasha, was an eye-witness of his death, and gives this account: “Hicks Pasha and the very few English officers left with him, seeing all hope of restoring order gone, spurred their horses and sprang out of the confused mass of wounded,, dead, and dying. These officers fired their revolvers, clearing a space for themselves, till all their amunition was expended. They killed many. They had got clear outside. They then took to their swords and fought till they felt Hicks Pasha alone remained, He was a terror to the Arabs. They said heuever struck a man with his sword without killing him. ' They named him Abou Deraa Dougal, the heavy armed (or‘thick of .brawny). He kept them all at bay, but he > was struck on the wrist with a-sword and he dropped his own. He then felt”

The epidemics of 1830, 1845 and 1866 caused the people everywhere to adopt preventive measures which were thought to have great Efficacy. Care in diet was considered most important, of course, and fruits ‘'were almost entirely discarded. Watermelons and cucumbers were looked upon as poisonous, and even ripe peaches and other harmless fruits were permitted to rot. So heavy were the losses by fruit-grow-ers and dealers in the East in 1830 that for a few years after the plague disappeared no one would raise melons and other objectionable vegetables and fruits for fear that they could not be disposed of. Boiled rice, mjjish and

milk,-and bread and milk became the principal articles of diet in families, and meats and other heavy foods were partaken of very sparingly. Camphor came into universal use as a disinfectant, and nearly everybody wore some of it on the person. Flannels were w-orn all summer, and plasters of various kinds were used on the chest and back. —F u A portrait of General Garfield, painted by Frank B. Carpenter, th* painter of “The Emancipation Proclamation,” in the Capitol, is on exhibition in New York. This picture, upon which Mr. Carpenter has been at work since General Garfield’s death, represents the martyred President in a plain Prince Albert coat. His left arm is held behind him, and his right is slightly extended toward the spectator, as though the General were in the act of speaking. The figure is visible to the knees, and stands out from the gray background, seemingly extending a warm welcome to the beholder. This portrait Was bought by H. C. Bullard, son of E. P. Bullard, for $5,000. This young man, who was graduated last year from Dartmouth College, has shown his regard for his alma mater by giving the portrait to that institution. The presentation of the picture will take place at the Dartmouth commencement this week, when it wiil grace the walls of the picture gallery in the new library building.

John D. Williams, who died recently in Utica, New York, caught cold on a Hudson Biver steamer by sleeping between damp sheets, lost his sight, became dumb and blind and was unable to move a muscle except his eyelids. One of his most intimate friends remembered the recital in Dumas “Monte Cristo” of the invention of a little girl whose grandfather was a paralytic, affected very much like Mr. Williams. She told him to wink once when he meant “yes,” and twice when he meant ‘’no." When he or she had other than affirmative or negative communications, she would spell out the words by mentioning letters of the alphabet until the right one was reached, and by putting them together their wishes were understood. This system was adopted by Mr. Williams’ friends, and by patience and perseverance the wants of the sufferer were made known and. relieved as f r as possible. Of course the little girl’s simple code was improved upon, and from 1848 to the death of the sufferer communication was kept up in this way.

A man who knows John Roach well talks as follows: John Roach was born in Cork. I was talking about him the other day with his son Garrett, when I asked if his nativity was not Scotch. “He was born in Ireland,” said .Garrett,?, “but you can set him down as a thorough American.” His career has been one of the phenomenal ones in this country. At 11 years of age he came to America alone to hunt out an uncle who lived in Texas. He found that Texas was so far from New York that he concluded to remain here. The old iron works of James Allaire were then the largest in the country. The lad sought employment there, and was told he could be taken on as an apprentice to learn the trade by paying SIOO. He worked at odd jobs and hoarded for over a year to get that sum. When he reported to the foreman that official called him a good-for-nothing Irish brat, and refused to set him at work. The lad marched over to the office. He went up to the proprietor’s desk. Pulling out his memorandum he said: “Mr. Allaire, I’ve paid you my SIOO. I’ve got your receipt. But the foreman says I’m good for nothing and won’t take me on. I am good for something, and I want my chance.” Allaire was pleased with the Irish boy’s pluck and he got fair play. He was offered the foreman’s place years later and refused it. Afterward he was made foreman. The works passed into the hands of Theodosius Secor, and John Roach set up a l.ttle shop in Georck street. His first job was a lot of grate bars for a Williamsburg brewery, which he made and delivered himself, carrying over two or three at a time. With his own hands he made the pillars that still form the front of Bellevue Hospital. When James Allaire failed he formed a stock company and confined the business with Allaire at its head. His largest work was the Harlem Bridge.

Last summer, during the excitement owing to bank failures in Indianapolis, I was watching the anxious crowd besieging the doors of a bank that was supposed to be in danger, when I overheard the following dialogue between an Irish woman and her husband : “Nora, dhraw yer money out" “An’ shure, Patrick, I won’t.” “But, Nora, you musht dhraw it out.” “Faith an’ I won’t dhraw me, money out at alh” . “Nora, an’ don’t yees know they’ll lose yer money for yees es yeds don’t dhraw it Out?" “An’ shure, Patrick, ain’t they better able to lose it than we are?” Patrick was evidently overpowered with this last astonishing and unanswerable argument, they both left the scene apparently satisfied. Fortunately the bank survived the pressure, and its ability to lose Nora’s balance was not practically tested. — Editor’s Drawer, in Harper’s Magazine. In general that man is a coward who stapes his course of action by his fears; and he alone is a man of real courage who dares to do right