Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1886 — A Pat Proverb. [ARTICLE]

A Pat Proverb.

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.

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. .