Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1886 — Page 7

The Republican. RENSSELAER, INDIANA. kX. MARSHALL. ~ ~ PoMUiram.

A club for deaf and dumb people has been formed in Paris. It is called the “Club of the Silent,” and nobody who is not deaf and dumb can be a member. The waiters and other servants are also deaf mutes, lliere are over-fifty members, all wealthy, and all great whist players. ' An English sportsman, shooting on the north shore of Long Island, was invited to dinner at a farm-house, and was so astonished that he w rites to a London newspaper about it: “I wonder how often in merrie England,” he says, “a farmer, -with his family and two men servants, sits down to roast turkey, chicken pie, with four or five vegetables, and cranberry pie, to say nothing of both beer and whisky to drink.” A recent incident recalls the curious effect produced on many ladies present at the marriage of the Duke of Albany by the violets used in trimming the frocks of the bridesmaids. “What can they be thinking about ?” said a baronet’s wife; “violets are fit to deck a funeral, not a wedding. No good will come of this. ” For such excellent reasons opals, the prettiest gems in the world; never fetch their real value, and emeralds, also held unlucky, are little cared for, while pearls are of great price.

King Milan, 1 of Servia, so say the gossips of his court, has taken to wearing a hidden coat of mail which is, however, hardly what a Norman warrior would have understood by the phrase. Next the body it is of the softest s-ilk. Over this is a thick, tightly-compressed layer of eider down, and upon this, again, is a layer of wadding; the outer surface is of the toughest leather. This dagger and bullet-proof case, which reaches from the neck to knees, and covers the arms as far as the elbows, cost £SO. It was obtained from a firm in Yienna. Anybody who wishes to take a peep at another world than ours has only to look at the planet Yenus, which now shines brilliantly in the Southwest after sundown. Venus is of'nearly the same size as the earth, and astronomers think it may possibly bear life not altogether unlike that upon the surface of our own planet. Yet at the distance of some 80,000,000 of miles its huge bulk appears reduced to the dimensions of a star, reflecting the sunlight to us like a pellicle of silver. We inhabit a w onderful world, but our world belongs to a still more wonderful family of worlds. The young man -of wealth is constantly seeking new means of spending his income. It used to be the thing to buy teams and ballet girls and yachts —now r the rich young man buys a base ball club. Jim Lucas, the St. Louis millionaire, indulged in the luxury of a club, and now his example is being followed .by other men of means. Erastus Wiman, of Staten Island, has just bought the Metropolitan Base Ball Club and Avill take it over to New Brighton for his own amusement. Pretty soon a man who doesn’t own a base ball club w’ill not bo admitted to the highest society.

Senator Beck says (according to the Louisville Courier-Journal ) that the reason the Democratic Senators did not suggest to Vice President Hendricks before the special session of the Senate adjourned that an opportunity should be given the Senate to elect a President pro tern., which could only be done, of oourse, by his retirement a, day or two prior to the adjournment, was beoause they knew his health was bad, and that he was aware of the fact Himself that his hold on life was precarious, and they feared te alarm him by any suggestion which would seem to imply that he 'Would not dive through recess of Congress. In Arkansas a young girl is always off with the old love before she is on with the new. Miss Jennie Orrall, of Morrillton, that state, was in love with a young man named Barnes, who was •tried for murder. She attended the trial, and evinced the deepest affection for the accused. But when he was sentenced, she consoled herself by at once marrying J. B. Dickinson, the prosecutor. Time, one week; beating the record by fifteen minutes. The married Couple wisely left for North Carolina. Should Mr. Barnes regain his liberty, there is no tilling but a sudden divorce might be had and another impromptu wedding arranged.

Mr. G. H. D. Gossip, an appropriate name for a raconteur, is writing interesting reminiscences of old Parisian liferin an Australian monthly. One of his papers relates to the frequenters, twenty years ago, of the Case de lar Regence, which was the resort of all the famous chess players. Here is what this ready Gossip has to say of the President of the French Republic, who, as Jules Grevy, dressed in plain black alpaca coat, used to play chess“ His large intellectual forehead, firm month and clean-slaved face gave him a marked personality. Grevy was a quiet, reserved man, with a certain noli me tang ere air, as if conscious of his oirn merits, and his habitual tactitarnity contrasted strangely with the volubility

of the great. sculptor, Lequesne, and other loquacious Frenchmen who frequented this resort.” Richmond (Va.) Religious Herald: The pastor travels sixty miles on horseback twelve tiroes a year (he is a once-a-month pastor) in meeting his appointments, on a salary of SIOO a year, and the church has gotten $125 behind in paying him. The writer was present at the last church conference, and presided while the subject was under discussion. A committee was appointed to confer with the pastor about the $125, and they stepped out a moment and returned with this report: “As * the pastor had failed to meet some of his appointments, we have agreed to put the amount due him at $75, he giving up SSO of his claim*” The pastor explained that he had buried his wife after a long season of poor health, and that caused him to fail to meet some of his appointments. The village of Cavendash, Vermont, has just lost its oldest character in the death of Dave Ordway, an old miller, whose peculiarities were not altogether cheerful. Years ago he had a costly coffin made for himself. When it was ready he paid a clergyman SIOO to preach his funeral sermon, and, laid out in this coffin, was borne amid doleful dirges down the aisle of the church to the foot of the pulpit, where' he lay listening to hii mock obsequies. This over the coffin was placed in his parlor, and remained there until the time for its real use came. One of his millstones forms the base of a quaint monument, bearing the following inscription—a little thing of his own: “Tho I am dead yet speaketh, for here in rest upon this millstone top I sot this noble block to let the world know what I have done.”

It is noAV said that the death, of Yice President Hendricks was not so much of a surprise to his intimate friends as has been generally supposed, and that even those Avho, though familiar Avith his condition, did not think the end so near,*had little hope that he would again assume the duties of his office. Yice President Hendricks Avas a disappointed man. His ambitions had been thwarted, and an election to the Yice Presidency by no means —satisfied them. —It—is thought possible that he brooded too much over his defeats, or rathasr his lack of such success as he had hoped for, and that the effect was direct upon. his health, his brain suffering from too much thought upon one subject. A visit last summer to St. Clair, Michigan, to test the virtues of a mineral spring, seemed to result in good, but the effect Avas only ephemeral. His old vigor of thought would not return, and his friends recognized the difference in him. The end, almost as it came, Avas prophesied by more than one of them. The new system of disposing of dead bodies devised by a Brest chemist has much to recommend it —that is, if its practical features hav*e not,been overrated, says the Chicago Tribune. The process consists simply in coating the body with a substance Avliich, after proper treatment, leaves all over it a metallic deposit. Then, just as an electrotype plate is treated in the process of its manufacture, the body goes into a bath of sulphate of copper, electricity is employed, and a fine, hard copper skin is,produced all over it. This can be plated with gold, silver, or any metal desired, according to the wealth of the deceased and the wishes of his heirs. It will be perceived at a glance that the new process will be a great tiring in the event of a great man’s death, as affording a means of setting up an absolutely perfect statue of him at the minimum of expense. He is plated and put upon a pedestal—that is all there is of it—and the traveler of the future, gazing upon the statue of a famous personage of the past, Avill have the satisfaction of knowing that he has before him, not merely a marble imitation, but the famous personage himself, with only the change in personal appearance of having. a firmer and brighter skin than in real life, and of lacking something, perhaps, of what might be called vivacity of expression. How different must be the traveler’s sensations in such a case from what they would be were he looking merely at an unmeaning block of stone heAvn out by some artist of more or less ability. And, aside from the case of a great man, the new system has its enormous advantages for use in private life. It cannot cost much to have a body eleetrotyped in plain copper, and then, in case of straitened cireumstances, thestatue can be laid aside until means are available for plating it. The deceased will necessarily look for a season like an American Indian, but that can be changed at any time. The scientist of Brest appears to have hit upon a great device—something calculated to make even crematory stock go down.

A Pat Proverb.

Mrs. Samnelson is the mother-in-law of Gilhooly. The last time they, met, she said, reproachfully : TYou haven’t been to See me in’a long time.” “I have been intending to pay you a visit for some time, but you know the proverb: ‘the road to perdition is paved Avith' good-intentions,’ ” replied the wretch.— Texas Siftings. - I would not laugh but to instruct; or, if my mirth =ease to be instructive, it shall never eaase to be innocent.Addison. .

A Playful Goat.

Once ih a while a thing will happen op. the street so ridiculous as to cause those yho witness it to remember it to their dying day. Indeed, so comical is the sight that wejre they to call it to mind at a funeral, they would laugh in spite of themselves. Such a scene was recently witnessed over on the west side by a street-ear load of people, as well as several pedestrains who happened along at that moment. A prominent west side society lady was walking quietly along in an absent minded sort of way, when suddenly a handsome large goat of the “Billy” spicies hove in sight and came galloping toward the lady with an I-own-the-street-expression ip his large, liquid, fawn-like eyes. Anyone at all familiar with the habits of our American goat is aware that in a case of this kind the safest place to get is on top of a high board fence, but the lady in question had probably never associated with goats to any great extent, and so when he came charging down upon her, as she quietly backed up in a corner of the fence, spread her umbrella before her ass he would a shield, and bravely stood her ground, undoubtedly thinking that the act would frighten his goatship, and leave her in full possession of the field. .Those who witnessed the charge say that on sight of the umbrella the goat fairly smiled for joy, but whether that be so or not is hard to say; may be they imagined that he smiled, but nevertheless, he raised upqn his hind legs as if he enjoyed the joke hugely, and then as though changing his mind he suddenly straightened out stiff as a frozen cat, and made a dead center shot upon the umbrella with his head. It was very evident that the lady was unprepared for this, for she got down upon all fours and yelled like a Comanche Indian with a flock of hornets browsing upon different portions of his anatomy. A gentleman, also well-known in society, came rushing up at this moment, and without paying any attention to the goat, who was quietly munching away upon the contents of one of the lady’s packages, which, to the occupants of the car, looked very much like new underwear of the, female persuasion, proceeded to assist the unfortunate lady to her feet. The goat seemed to know what was coming, and watched the man out of the corner of his eyes till his position was such that a well directed blow from behind would drive the man head first through the fence. As the man was just about to lift the lady to her feet the goat seemed to be satisfied with his position, and after biting off the undergarment that lie was chewing, part of wliieh was already doyvn his throat, ho snorted, shook his head, hand shot through the air with a swiftness that made the wind fairly whistle as it blew through his whiskers. There was a muffled sound not tmlike the proverbial “dull thud,” and once more the lady bit the dust, jwhile the .only thing that saved the gentleman who so galantly came to the rescue from having a broken head was his plug hat, which came between his cranium and the fence. Once more the lady yelled from “do” to high C, while the man said “so boss, so boss,” but “Billy” wasn’t that kind of a boss. He seemed to feel insulted to think that anybody would spring a foreign language upon him, and to demonstrate his feel[ings he let go again just as the gentleman was trying to arise, and basted him in the name locality as on the former triii. Probably if it hadn’t been for the enr driver the goat would have been playing polo with the lady and gentleman yet, but a few well directed blows from that worthy’s whip soon drove “Billy” from the field, and the couple were allowed to hie themselves to their respective homes, slightly disfigured, but still able to walk.— Peck’s Sun.

American Children.

Tlie steamship Australia was infested by a small but determined gang of Avhat I may term fiend children—American children, I am sorry to say—and I am sorry to add that they Avere all children of saloon passengers. There were several well-enougli conducted babies in the steerage, and a few tolerable toddlekins in the intermediate cabins; but a more exasperating set of little desperadoes, male and female, than the first-class brats it Avould be difficult to imagine. I am passionately fond of what Leigh Hunt used to call “the small infantry who go to bed by daylight,” and I know that I love and fancy that I understand the pretty ways of ordinary children; but Avlien tlie “small infantry” assumes the aspect of so many diminutive zaptiens and bashi-bazouks in miniature, when they decline to go to bed* bv daylight, or by lamplight either, until tliey are driven like sheep in their bunks; when from sunrise to supper time they never desist from impish tricks, the “small infantry” become to you objects, not of tenderness and sympathy, but of terror and horror. The leader of the gang was an attenuated girl-demon of about 9 to 10. She and the sallow-faced little goblins whom she led made our rives miserable. They ran races in the saloon; they made raids on the steward’s pantry; they blocked up the companion; they worried the cooks in the galley; they raised commotions in the forecastle; they sprawled about the hurricane deck, stopping up with yells of exultation the ventilators, Avhich' should have given a little air to the aptless passengers, sweltering in the cabins below. They perelied on the taffrail, and Avere in continuous peril of tumbling overboard; they hung on the rigging, and made Gordian knots of carefnllv-coiled ropes; they burst into the smokingroom, and disturbed the quietude op the five gentlemen who were constantly playing poker in that divan; they ran between the legs and all but destroyed the equilibrium of the smok-ing-room steAvard, who periodically brought “drinks” to the five pokerplayers; they overturned the .deck chairs and made holes in the awnings; they derided rebuking quartermasters, and spoke to the man -at the wheel—and all this they did, not in the exhuberafice of infantile animal spirits, but in a sheer spirit of wanton turbulence and “enssedness,” wholly unchecked by their mammas or other'female relatives, who were either too seasick or too lazy to look after and control them. Our captain was shocked, but it was aot until late in the voyage, after we

had had one or two good, “northers” and a “southerly buster”—that is to say, stiff gales with a heavy sea running —that seasickness came to our aid, and for a while partially paralyzed the activity of those imps of the ocean.— Mr. Sola’s Letter} in London Telegraph.

Three Model Orphans.

-> The three wealthiest young ladies in Philadelphia are noted more than anything for their ! simple and unostentatious piety. Had they lived 400 or 500 years ago they probably would have founded a community of nuns. It has indeed been reported that one of them was to retire to a convent, but it may be said authoritatively tlvat there is no basis for the report. The ladies are the daughters of the late Francis X. Drexel, himself a man of religious feeling so strong and true that, besides giving away thousands a year during his life, he left at his death more than a million dollars to be divided among churches and charitable institutions. Their mother was possessed of exemplary virtues, and in the rush and whirl of tilings it is a high pleasure,, to speak of one who, with the possession of means to lead a life of splendid luxury, was happiest in the part of almoner to the poor. The young ladies were carefully trained, and they act upon the same general principles that guided the lives of their parents. With the exception of the charities spoken of, they were almost the sole legatees of their father, and the fortune of each exceeds $3,000,000. They are all uhmarried. They are seen very little in society, and place small store by its pleasures. They are now at their superb country place, at Torresdale, some fifteen miles from town. Their fortune is so well invested that the income of each of the girls is about $4,000 per week. Yet the living expenses of each cannot exceed $4,000 a year. They dress with the greatest simplicity, and their only extravagance is their charity. They give away to the poor and to religion five times as much as they spend upon themselves. Since the death of their father they have built tAvo memorial Avings to the chapel of the convent near their country place. In one of them a superb marble altar lias been erected to the memory of their father and in a crypt beneath it the dust of their parents lie. The young ladies attend services at the the cliapel, and they are there at hours so early that the sun has hardly time to rise: They have a Sunday-school for the children of the neighborhood in their own-house, and their pupils number about sixty, avlio, by the way, are very well cared for in temporalities as well as in spiritual matters. Withal they have had an excellent training in the affairs of every-day life, and are thoroughly able to take case of themselA r es. They ase perfect horse-Avomen, and a morning’s canter of ten miles is as child’s play to them. They are excellent book-keepers, too, and themselves maintain the records and accounts incidental to the care for their vast estate.

A Solar Cyclone.

Those who have looked through a large telescope under favorable atmospheric conditions, at one of those immense cyclones which’'"—occasionally break out on the sun, have derived from what they saw a very good idea of the origin of sunlight. They have seen that JJje brightest portion of the. surface of the sun consists of columns of intensely hot metalic vapors, averaging about thrtie hundred miles in diameter, rising from its interior and gloAving with extreme brilliancy, from the the presence of clouds formed, probably, of shining particles of carbon precipitated from its vapors as the tops of tlie columns reach the surface and lose heat by expansion and radiation. (A good idea of such a precipitation is had by observing the particles of water condensed from transparent vapor, is unusually high thunderheads, Avhere the action is in some respects similar.) Between these ascending columns are seen descending masses of cooler vapors, rendered dark and smoky by relatively cool and opaque particles of excessively lrigh temperature in the condition of transparent vapor. In the immediate region, however, where the cyclone is raging, these bright ascending columns are drawn out horizontally by the inrushing metallic winds” (which often reach a velocity of a thousand miles per hour) into long filaments, pointing in general toward the center of the disturbance, which is alvvays occupied by a huge cloud of smoke (frequently 20,000 miles in diameter) rapidly settling back into the interior of the sun. Over and across this great central black cloud are often driven long arms of the shining carbonclouds, which, when the cyclonic action is very strong, bend round into slowly changing spiral forms, very suggestive of intense action. A striking illusion, invariably connected with this sight, is that the observer seems to be viewing it from a position quite near the scene of the disturbance, Avhose minute and complicated details are seen with exquisite distinctness.

The Minister Getting Acquainted.

A new minister over on the West Side was getting around during the week making the acquaintance of his parishioners. He called on Deacon Smith, and, desiring to ascertain what business the deacon was in without seeming too curious, he concluded to get at it in another wav. “Now, my little girl,” he said to the 4-year-old, “what is your name?” “Sadie Smif, sir.” “Your papa goes down town every morning, I s’pose. Can you tell me what he does down town ?” ' " “No, I tan’t; but I heard ma tell him the other night if be did it any more she’d snatch him bald-headed. Didn’t you, ma?” —Chicago Heiald.

Medical Attention.

There Avas a fight on a street in New "York. A crowd gathered around a prostrate man. A kind-hearted gentleman examined the wounded party and exclaimed: " “For Heaven’s sake, send quickly for a doctor, the man is net quite dead yet’” —Texas Siftings. Germany devotes 9,000,000 acres to the cultivation of the potatoe. The yield last year was 23,000,000 tons.

THE OHIO BOOOLE-GANG.

The Investigating Committee at Columbus Secures Interesting Information. A Standard OH Company Agent It Watt Who Handled the Senatorial Slush Fund. V 'wH [Colnmbua (Ohio) special to Chicago Tribune., With the Senate adjourned over into next week, and no matter of interest likely to come before the House, Columbus would be dead politically to-day but for the latest developments in the Payne investigation. It is getting more and more apparent that direct testimony as to the buying of votes in the Democratic caucus will be hard to obtain, but it is nlso getting more and more apparent that the case made out to a moral certainty will be as damning to some political reputations asc ould be a conviction before a jury in a formal trial in court. The flight of witnesses desired is in itself on indication of their guilty knowledge, and the circumstances under which these disappearances occur, asaioipe new fact is stumbled upon by the committee of investigation, are such as to make reported incidents of the past dovetail into each other strikingly. The investment in Pendleton legislators avos made in a style which speaks volumes for the political acuteness of the purchasers. No checks were passed, no written promises to pay were given, and wliefi the money changed hands it Avas in the form of crisp SSOO and SIOO bills. So much new money was never seen in Columbus before. There must have been a trnnkful of it in some room of the Neil House, the Payne headquarters, and the. method of its expenditure was a triumph of secrecy. There was a slight trail, left, though, nnd this trail the investigating committee has ctnmbled upon. The money was handled by a stranger. Many of those who dealt with him did not know his name. He was not even a resident of the State, but he is known uoav. He lives in West Virgiuia, and he is a trusted agent of the Standard Oil Company. Of course the investigation committee cannot secure this man to give testimony, and if they could he Avould not talk; but he is not unlikely to have fame thrust upon him soon to an extent Avhich must be painful to one of his retiring nature. This paymaster must have been an exceeding shrewd as well as trustworthy personage. His connection Avith the prominent figures among the Payne boomyrs was never suspected by the multitude. Col. Oliver Payne, an officer of the Standard Oil Company, of which his father, the Seuator, is the long-headed adviser and schemer, occupied rooms- in state at the principal hotel in Columbus, and his hotel and all others in town of any note were practically rented for the occasion, everything being made free as water to'iegishitqrß gn'dTfagir~ families. There avus a roar and a bustle, an advent of hundreds of the Cincinnati gang sent on by Payne’s associates there, and amid the tumult the confidential man from West Virgiuia could move about unnoticed. The cashier was not a prominent personage before the caucus; after it he had but a few' hours’ work to do. 'and then he melted away like a fog in the morning. He has not materialized in Columbus, since. The list of those who, immediately after the Payne election, stepped suddenly from almost penury to what is opulence in the rural districts has received a number of additions. As the matter is agitated reports come in from the small towns, where each individual knows all about the affairs of every one else iu the place, and where the sudden prosperity of the member of the Legislature from the district became about a year and a half ago the subject of comment nnd scandal. The marvel is tlgit these scandals were never grouped before. But one town knows little about the scandals of another unless such scandals are printed, and it is only now, when the tales of sudden comparative wealth are brought together, that their full significance is seen and an idea obtained of the immense sum of money which must have been expended in Columbus immediately after the assembling of the Coal-Oil Legislature. Even the shrewdness of the men now employed- to get witnesses and damaging documents out of the way of the Investigating Committee is now taxed in interposing obstacles, from the fact that information sought is now comjng by letter from sources of w-hieh the Coal-oil people can have no idea. There is literally no popular regard Payne iu Ohio. He was not even a prominent Democratic leader before he appeared, with his enormous fortune and backed by the anti-Pen-dleton crowd from Cincinnati, to defeat the favorite of the majority, and now no hesitation is shown by Democrats of the better classrin telling what they know of the methods of his group. The very fact that the Payne investigation has been instituted is creditable to one portion of the Democratic party in the State and indicative of the presence -in its ranks of a large number of honest aud intelligent voters. It is from such as these that letters and telegrams are coming, and the obstructionists doxtot kneiv Avhere to find them. There is coming in this matter what the shrewdest men of both parties iu the Legislature say, as a political sensation, will dwarf the present struggle in the Senate.

“Who is Bob Kennedy?” frantically shrieks an Ohio Democratic organ. What! Don’t you know Bob? Well, well! such ignorance is deplorable. There is hot a Democrat of prominence in the State of Ohio that doesn’t know him. Not know Bob Kennedy? Great Scott! man, where have yon spent all your life? The Democratic Senators and Representatives all know him. Tlie four Democrats in the Senate from Hamilton County know him; and Boh knows them—knows them intimately. Ajb len O. Myers knows Bob, and Bob knows Allen. Clerk Vallandigham has a passing acquaintance with him, but doesn’t 'know ‘ him well enough to call him Bob. County i Clerk Dalton knows Bob so well that he ! gave the four gentlemen from Hamilton County letters of introduction to him, and Bob has been treating these gentlemen very, warmly ever since. They will know Bob well—very well—before they are through with him. Hunt Bob up, Mr. Editor, and get acquainted with him. Half your life is gone by not knowing Mr. Robert Kennedy up to date. —Chicago Tribune. The Democratic party in Ohio is holding a finger over one of the jipots, and trying to play off four Senatorial dences for aces. of the heights of clouds have been made at tbe Upsala Observatory during the past summer. The results are approximately as follows : Stratus, 2,000 feet; nimbus, or rain clond, from 3,G00 to 7,200 feet; cumulus, from 4,300 to 18,000 feet; cirrus, 2’3,400 feet Cloud measurements are always somewhat difficult and uncertain, but these figures are considered fairly exact 't 'T r * r \ ‘ . .3 Really good men are unconscious of their goodness. — George Sand.

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

—Of the five prisoners in the SuPivan jail, three are held for outrage. —The house of Daniel Hosea, near Henryville, ha* burned. Los*, S6OO. E. F. Smith’s factory near Mancie was destroyed by fire, cansing a losa of $15,C00. —Toadleap and Lickskillet are the euphonious names given to two places in Shelby County. —George Kleespies, of Jeffersonville, has been fined $250 for leasing a boose for gambling purposes. —Robert E. Fleming dropped (Rad from apoplexy at Fort’Wayne while preparing to attend an entertainment. -7-While Edward Coule was feeding his team at his farm, a few miles from Evansville, he was fatally kicked by a vicicHW mnle. —The veteran drag house of*Browning A Sloan, of Indianapolis, has keen placed in the hands of a receiver, becanse the head of the firm is a bondsman for Pattison, the defaulting City Treasurer. —lsaac Kahn, proprietor of clothing stores nt Bloomington, Muneie, Greencastle, and Rnshville, gave chattel mortgages to secure preferred creditors. His liabilities are about $50,000.

—Andrew Hoppe, a farmer living in Union Township, Vanderbnrg County, while digging into an Indian mound on his farm unearthed a large number of stone implements and curious utensils, besides human bones. —Gibson County has a female school teacher Avho has been engaged in school teaching for abont thirty years, and for about fourteen years of that time has bee® employed in one school,-where she is still engaged. m —John Bryant was brought into the Mayor’s Court at Terre Haute as a vagrant. He .claimed to be a contortionist. Upon giving quite a remarkable exhibition of athletic skill in the presence of the court he was told to go. '—There are 300 students attending the Normal School at Terre Haute. Robert G. Gillum, the Principal of the Anderson schools, has been elected General Assistant, md will take the position at the beginning >f the spring term.- ' —A contributor to a New Albany paper lakes the position that municipal governments ra Indiana are a fnilure.andhe suggests that the Legislature abolish them and provide for their government by three Trusses selected from men who have successfully managed their own business. —Kinder Parks, a well-to-do Dnliois County farmer, who lived near Newton Stewart, went to Foswell to collect some money owing him. ‘He collected the money. As- he was drinking heavily, and has not oeen seen since, it is feared he has either been foully dealt with or has wandered into j snow-drift in the hills and perished. —Kewanna, a few miles west of Roebister, has a double-barreled postoffice. The new postmaster moved to quarters in the other end of town, leaving, his wellequipped predecessor, who is sow has deputy. Those who are in favor of the deserted postoffice have deputized the minister of the village to receive their mail and redistribute to them at the old stand. —Chris Spiker, proprietor of a large store it Spikerville, Wabash County, early the other morning captured a burglar, who had gained access to his establishment, rifled the cash-drawer, and begun drilling the safe-door. When Bpiker arrived the fellow ran nnder the building, whither Spiker pursued him with a shotgun, and, by threatening to shoot, induced him to surrender. Spike then searched him, recovered his money, secured a revolver and other implements of the profession, and then marched him to Wabash and turned him over to the authorities. 4 Concerning Faith Core*. Mrs. Charles Wilgns and Mrs. John Moore, respectable ladies of Indianapolis, whose husbands are well-to-db business men, have had an experience as subjects of a “faith cure,” which possessed some remarkable features. Both have been under medical treatment for some time, and thongh not confined to bed, have suffered much from disease. A newly made acquaintance, a lady who became aware of their ill health, persnaded them to try a “faith enre,” which had once, she said restored her to health, and with which she was familiar. So, unknown to their husbands, Mrs. Wilgus and Mrs. Moore engaged their friend to assist them in the matter. She required them to give her a number of rings, and these she apparently placed between the leaves of the family Bible, which was then Arrapped with* a handkerchief and securely tied with a cord. Next she took from the two ladies SSO in bills, and these she placed in small rolls, wrapped them with red yam and tossed them into a closet. Then a cake containing nine kinds of fruit was baked, and this was to be buried at the roots of a tree. When all this was done she led in prayer, and enjoined Mrs. Wilgns and Mrs. Moore the necessity of not tonching the Bible .or the balls of yarn till nine days bad elapsed. But the ladies’ curiosity got the, better of them, and they peeped into the Bible only to find some black buttons instead of the gold rings, and an examination of the halls showed that there was no money in ihem. They then went to the house of the woman and fonnd that she had left the city. It is possible that she is searching the forests to find a tree nnder which to bnry the cake, but the ladies think were swindled. At any rate they have concluded to take Paul’s advice aud ask their husbands hereafter when they want .to know anything. ; , —The loss by the homing of I. P. ' Evans A Co.'s oil mill at Indianapolis, has been adjusted, the insurance companies paying the firm $114,055 on a total insurance of $115,250. The total loss was appraised at $131,844. Of this, $03,000 was on flaxseed. ThexC was oa hand at the time ' of jhe fire 105,403 and 48,848 bushels was saved. The firm are considering a proposition to move to Chicago, and until that is decided upon nothing will be done toward rebuilding the wosks. •’ -C- ' I SHI