Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 January 1889 — SOME ODD THINGS. [ARTICLE]

SOME ODD THINGS.

A horse owned in Pittsburg has developed an appetite for clay, and wben allowed to get at ft will eat two quarts at one time.. Rural dame: “Have you any pretty wall paper?” High-class dealer (indignantly): “Pretty wall paper! No,madam; we keep- nothing but the most highly artistic designs.” a * ' A botanical exploring party from Geymanv recently discovered on one of the Philippine islands a number of plants whose flowers were almost a yard in diameter, the petals, five in number, being oval and of a creamy white shade. A boy living near Abilene, Tex., was recently bitten by a snake and was soon taken with convulsions. An old Mexican scraped out the bowl of a briar pipe, applied the scrapings to the child’s wounds, and the next day-the boy was well. Martin Swetman, of Blaine, lAwrence county,-=Ky., killed a valuable cow one day last week that had been seized with fits. On examining the head of the dead animal a small live snake was found hanging between the nostrils, with its head in one and its tail in the other nasal passage. In Nagasaki, China, lives a fire-workß maker who manufactures pyrotechnic birds of great size that, when exploded, sail life-like througn the air and perform many movements exactly like living birds. The secret of making these wonderful things Jias been in the possession of the oldest male child of the family of each generation for over 400 years. Near the City of Mexico six members of a family were recently found dead, and murder by poisoning was strongly suspected, as no marks of violence were found on the bodies. Upon examination the coffee pot was found to contain a dead centipede, which had cra,wled into the vessel, been boiled in the coffee, and the reptile’s poison thus exracted h»d killed these persons.