Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1888 — SOME ODDS THINGS. [ARTICLE]

SOME ODDS THINGS.

Dickens' picture of ’ speculating may be often repeated, And be always appropriate: “Speculation is a round game—ttfe nlayers' aferr iitrir or nothing of their cards at first starting. Gains may be groat; and so may losses. The run cf luck went against Mr. Nicklebv. # A mania prevailed; a bubble burst Four stock brokers took villa residences at Florence: four hundred nobodies were ruined, and among'"them Mr. Nicklebv!” But the villa occupants go next, and the game is a round one still —it always gets around to the' chief players last. It is a queer spectacle, that of Garrett haunted by Gould, a specter trying to seize his railroad and telegraph. Rather a lively set of resolutions was recently passed by the Arkansas Medical Society, one of which reads: “Resolved, That the appearance in religious papers of homilies on prayer and praise, side by side with cures of incurable ailments (with often e<Wtorial indorsement), and other medicines really intended for fo-ticide, largely tends to shake the confidence of the profession of medicine in the integrity of the managers and editors of such journals.” The doctors then hint that, as their services are gratuitous to clergymen, they expect the latter to withhold indorsements from quacks. Part of the wording of the resolution might shake the confidence of schoolmasters in the grammatical skill of the medical profession of Arkansas; but the complaint is just, if the charges are true. It must be remembered, however, that'those who publish such stuff carefully refrain from Sunday issues. . _

The Center of population of the United States is near Louisville, Ky., Like the big fortune yarns there periodically come along accounts of persons going off into a trance and narrowly escaping burial alive. Almost invariably the supposed dead return to life in the coffin, after having gone through the usual preserving process—-almost generally sufficient to cause death. The latest story of this kind originated in an Ohio town. Dog swimming races are the ‘‘latest” addition to Boston sports. Floats are anchored at a given distance off shore, and from these the canines start, being, preceded by their handlers in boats,who jarge the animals to do their utmost by holding tempting morsels of food at an unreasonable distance. Recently the winner of a half-mile contest «&>r docs over one hundred pounds finished in nine minutes. A Dakota man essayed the perilous task of assisting his wife on wash day. He was assigned to hanging the garments on the lines. The unfortunate man moved to his doom like a Roman martyr. He had almost completed his job when the lonely suspender which held his pantaloons gave way. To grab the falling garment was his first impulse,ahdm doingsoth~e~ clothespin' held in his mouth dropped into his throat. A commotion ensued. To protect his person and prevent suffocation occupied both hands, but his wife arrivpin and save his life. Hereafter he will journey to the country on wash day. The greatest set of rattles ever cut from a rattlesnake are now on exhibition in the office of the treasurer of Lycoming county, at Williamsport, Pa. The string measures eight and one-half inches and contains forty-five rattles., The biggest string on record previous to this was taken from the big snake killed near Westport last week. That string measured four inches in length and contained twenty-one rattles. The snake that bore it was the biggest one ever killed in the State, being.seven feet long. The mos°t curious fact connected with the monster Williamsport set of rattles is that it was taken from a snake less than three feet long, the rattles forming almost one-fourth of the reptile’s entire length. If it is true that a rattlesnake g ows a rattle every year after the first year, the snake must have been 40 years old. This freak among snakes was killed by County Treasurer 'Eld red in the Pine creek region.

A German local paper give away an interesting business. It says: “Very interesting female figures are to be noticed at the Konigsberg railroad depot —a considerable number of youfig, pretty maids coming from Russia and bound to America* there to get married. No fallacious illusions caused them to leave their native country. They had been regularly .engaged by a commercial concern that is in the international matrimonial business, and, for some time has been supplying marriageable women to the farmers of western American regions where the population is thin and there is great demand for intelligent, able-bodied housewives willing to share in a fanner’s life. Some shrewd business men having become aware of this need, and considering _ Russia the bestfield wherefrom to get the best crop to suit American farmers, have established a company as above gfwWi for the recruiting ol female immigrants. When two quarrel both are in the wrong.