Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1885 — Skepticism Cured. [ARTICLE]

Skepticism Cured.

A Newry (Me.) farmer was attacked by a bear -while in the mountains with a yoke of oxen. It was a stern chase between the cattle and the bear. The farmer jumped for the plug in the yoke, and dangled there until the oxen had carried him out of reach. The bear tore the oxen fearfully, but could not reach the farmer. So wholesale was the dead-beating at Boston this year that the American Board of Foreign Missions will no longer send delegates and their families into private families to be guests during convention week. This year there were 4,000 visitors that enjoyed free board. Some pastors brought large numbers of relatives and friends; six thrifty bridal couples spent a week of their honeymoon “D. H.;" where three or four “delegates” were invited six or eight came, and so on.

An immigrant at Castle Garden asked for information with regard to the size of Dakota Territory, and was handed the followings “Pull Dakota up by the roots and throw it over the fence into the British possessions, and you have a hungry-looking hole big enough to bury Minnesota, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, and what the tornadoes have left of lowa. Cut the vacancy left in the ground up into knot-holes, and you have enough lumber to build houses for all of the United States and part of New Jersey.”

According to an official report, there are six times as many lunatics in Paris as there were in 1801. A curious fact is that down to the year 1866 the number of female lunatics exceeded that of the male, but since that date the men have predominated in an increasing ratio, and now supply nearly 56 per cent, the total, against about 44 per cent of women patients. The numbers of the married and the single are almost exactly equal. Excessive drinking and domestic trouble are responsible for about 60 per cent, of the cases.

An incident of the craze for family and noble ancestry in Philadelphia is noted by the Press. A rich manufacturer of agricultural implements offered an agent a large fee to compile a history of the manufacturer's lineage for 250 years. The agent, after a preliminary search, came to the conclusion that it was impossible to connect the family on this side of the ocean with the stock on the other, and declined the fee; but the manufacturer went elsewhere, and now bears a new coat of arms, in red and yellow, as big as a pie-plate.

Some months since, Holkar, one of the great East India rulers, while on a visit to Lord Dufferin, saw ; his lordship going through the process of cutting his newspapers and reviews. The Indian potentate asked for the ivory paper knife, promising another in return. The Prince returned recently to Government House, taking with him a young elephant. The animal had its tusks shaped and sharpened, and between the Rajah’s two visits to Calcutta, had undergone a training in secretary work. When led into Lord Duffer in’s presence, it took up some newspapers with its trunk, cut them, and placed them on a carpet in an orderly fashion.

A dozen years ago an Antwerp tailor bought, for a franc, a dirty little picture which had belonged to an old doctor then recently deceased- ’"i-a tailor hung the picture upon the wall, but did not think it worth the cost x»f cleansing,- and nobody found it very attractive. A little while ago, however, an artist happened to see it, and induced the owner to lend it to him to . clean. No sooner was the first coat removed than there was seen in one of the corners the signiture, “Pietro Paulo Rubens, 1G14." The picture represented Christ blessing the world, and is said to be in excellent preservation. The tailor has already received several good offers for his picture, but he is waiting until a rich American comes along.

A lady who bought a watch-dog for protection was dismayed to find that he possessed a disposition so social and gentle that strangers were welcomed rather than urged to retire. One day a veritable tramp appeared. To prevent the dog from exhibiting his usual affectionate manners', the lady chained him securely, when the following conversation took place: Said the tramp: “That’s a very fierce dog?” “Very,” said the lady, .looking anxiously at the good-natured brqte. “It makes them fiercer to chain them,” volunteered the tramp. "Shall I unchain him?” The tramp turned a shade paler and began to retire quickly. “Oh, no; not to-day. That’s a very fierce animal. I guess not to-day.” And as the lady made a movement to unchain the dog, the tramp retreated precipitately. y ■ - Gkobge Gould, all reports to the contrary, is as abstemious as his father. George inherits his father’s piercing black eyes and retiring disposition, but, otherwise, the features and temperament of his mother. Probably because he sees there is no necessity for it, he does not devote himself as assid-

- , ■ i T uosly to his business as his father did at his age, and indulges an inclination to hunting, fishing, and yachting. But all the while he is the shrewd, careful, conservative, economical man that his father is—a chip of the old block, indeed—and all the stories of his youthful indiscretions are coined in the brains of those who promulgate— hose* who write them- As cold blooded apd calculating as his progenitor, he is careful to never get himself in any scrape that he cannot clearly see his way out of.

I suppose if any one was to ask, “Who is the biggest man in Boston ?” the universal answer would be, “Phillips Brooks”—the biggest man mentally, morally, and physically, writes a newspaper correspondent. Few, however, ever experience his size by being alone in the room with him. It is a belittling experience. The 1 Home Journal says a well-known Boston business man once had occasion to call upon him, and was shown into his study. On his entrance of Mr. Brooks his height and overpowering largeness quite overcame his* caller, who was something of a wag. With no waste of words the clergyman went directly to the business in hand. Hardly had he started, however, when his caller had put his hand beside his mouth and laughingly called out “Wait one moment, sir; I always insist on a platform of equalityupon which he leaped into a chair and retained his station during the entire interview.

Chicago Herald: A middle-aged man, wearing a tall white tile, a whitesatin necktie, lavender pantaloons and a corn-colored vest, shivered and looked blue on the rear end of a Madison street car. The conductor scanned his passenger with piteous eyes and at the bridge remarked that it was a cold day. The man in the dog-day raiment said nothing. At Green street a young fellow wrapped in a heavy overcoat leaped abroad and leaned his broad back against the car opposite the man with the white tile. “Guess it will snow before morning,” said the fellow in the big overcoat, after the gaze he planted on the corn-colored vest had taken root and sprouted. “I’ll bet it’,l be a blizzard,” chimed in the conductor. There was a shaking of teeth under the white tile and a pair of quaking jaws chopped off these words: “I that the bell toiled some time ago for this kind of outfit, but you see a fellow isn’t married every day and it seems rather raw to talk about the weather especially when a man has his wedding harness on and the wind is blowing icicles, November frosts and Michigan snow crystals down his back. I know it’s cold; just let me shiver and say nothing.”

“The great readers of the Sensite,” said an old Washington correspondent recently, “are many. Senator Voorheey has often from sixty to 100 books out of the library at a time, and he reads a great deal in preparing for his speeches He likes the biographies and speeches of statesmen—lives of Clay, Calhoun, Webster, and their speeches. He reads more for business than amusement. Secretary Bayard is much like Voorhees in this respect, though he does not read as many books. Senator Logan is now reading on the Civil War while working at his book, which is about completed. He has out now the “History of the War,” by the Comte de Paris, “Sherman’s Memoirs,” and Badeau’s “Grant.” Mr. Blaine read a great deal in preparing for his first volume. He devoured all'the literature relating to the times of which he wrote, and he came to the library and spent hours in readihg the newspapers of the period. Mr. Cox got a number of books from the Congressional Library, but he did not do any work in it. Cox is a great reader, but his drawings before this were books of travel largely. Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts, is one of the most learned men in Congress. He is very accurate in his knowledge, too, and he knows almost as much about books as the Librarian. He knows the different editions, is up on biography, of Americans especially,-and is a great student of American history. Senator Edmunds is a very learned man, and reads books in foreign languages as well as the English. Senator Ingalls is a classical scholar and a reader. Both Garland and Ransom are great lovers of the classics. Ranson is always quoting Virgil, and Garland is fond of hunting up the origin of the quotations from Greek and Latin. Senator Vance reads good books. Senator Sherman reads on financial questions, and generally for special purposes, such as for political and legislative speeches. He reads everything relating to finance. Joe Brown sometimes reads religious matter and also American history.”

“Mr. Jlagersoll, did you ever try a bottle of my Magic Anti-Fat Remedy?” asked'the'-proprietor of a patent medicine. -X' “I never did,” replied CoL Ingersoll, blandly. . “You should try a bottle; it does all that I claim for it in my advertisement.” “What do you say in your advertisement?’ “That a single bottle will convince the most skeptical.”—=Alar. Sweet. Wf. have jtfst discovered why a man going fishing always carries a bottle with him. It is in order that he may have the cork to use as a float for his line.