Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1886 — Crows Who Know a Good Home. [ARTICLE]

Crows Who Know a Good Home.

A couple of tame crows, which have been kept as a sort of household pets by a New Hartford family, at length became such mischievous nuisances and thieves —stealing every bright and glistening thing they could pounce upon, including ladies’ jewelry •of all kinds, ; and hiding it in distant trees, and once nearly making off with a gold watch—that it became expedient to get rid of them. They were taken (tied up in a bag, so that they couldn’t see) to a piece of woods eight miles distant, and there liberated —the wagon* being driven off in another direction. Next day one crow wa3 back again, hunting about the kitchen for food, and every evidence of great satisfaction at getting back, while the cook joyfully welcomed him, and his companion wasn’t long in returning. This first returning wanderer was a knowing fowl. When a hard, dry piece of bread was given him he would take it off to his basin of water, put it in, and let it soak a little. If, on taking it out, it was found to be still too hard to suit him, Mr. Crow would put it back and with one foot hold it down under the water for a good while. Then he would devour it very contentedly. If that was not reason, what was it? —Hartford ( Conn .) Himes. The executors of John McCullough’s estate say thaf over s3ti,ooo will be left to the family, dear of all debts. Mrs. McCullough will receive two-thirds of (his. She already owns her house in Philadelphia. : -W s d,.

The Mexican dandy is one thing, and the average life of the people is quite another; but the tendency to hang coL. ered banners upbn the outer walls ofi the national life is the same in all; 'classes. The Indians or peasantry wear l white cotton shirts and ttowsers, that cunt last well with their brown skins and straw hats. They all carry tha scrape or blanket that is a necessity for the early morning and evening, and this is always brilliant-hucd. The costume of the women is equally simple—generally a white waist and skirt, with a shawl called a reboso. Gay colors are frequently affected in the .petticoats and rebosos, and the passion for gow-gaws and cheap jewelry Ik; trays a universal feminine weakpeeß. Both Hexes wear sandals of raw hide), and while the women most frequently cover their heads with the shawl, they are often' hatted like the men. These people live cheaply, and also very informally in many ways. The climate is on their side, as its mildness necessitates much less in the way of food, clothing, fuel, and shelter than with von. The scale of their life is somethings .between the luxurios of your civilization and vicissitudes of Indian experience in the west—and far inferior to the. comforts of the old slave days of the south. The idea of home life, as you know it, is wanting. The independent house is unknown to the laborers of the cities, whose room or rooms are on the ground floor, where there is little light and practically no ventilation. In the sUberbs of this city and in the country the Indians usually own their abode and mud dwellings or cabins. It is a strange domestic life, which every street stroller can contemplate in all its details. The common laborers use neither chairs, tables, nor beds, the substitute for the latter being rolls of rush matting; the rooms are very full of life, but they are bare of furniture; a variety of earthen vessels hold the family food and drink, and, during the morning hours the women are universally occupied m grinding out corn on a metnte. or flat stone. This is a laborious preliminary to the preparation of the tortilla or Indian bread, that is eaten with frijoles or boiled brown beans, and meat broiled or fried—when the latter can be afforded. A not unpalatable sauce, concocted out of lard, red pepper, onions, aid cheese, is a ’prized accompaniment. These people are not unhappy in their primitive and inadequate accommodations, but they need better things. To live on an undrained dirt floor, in an unventilated room, above the swamp that underlies a,ll this city, and amid the sharp daily changes of even a mild climate, Is to invite tha grim destroyer, - He comes very frequently in the form of pneumonia, as might he expected. It is pleasant to note that improved tenements are now being built, which will bring the laborer nearer to the comforts possessed by those whom he serves so-faithfully. The new tenements have wooden floors, raised several feet above the ground, are. neat, light, and airy, and open upon courts that are paved, drained, and supplied with water.