Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1889 — Page 2

A BLACK KISS.

He was certainly very bold and persistent! Did he think that after having refused so many young men, and the flower of the country, too, Bhe>-would-condescend to marry a carbonaio, a. dirty, black, hairy charcoal burner, who washed his face once a week, when he went to Peppe, the barber, to be shaved? The Lord deliver her, she would rather be an old maid all her life; yes, indeed, for she was well off at home, she was independent! ,r And Cencia, with ill-concealed disdain, repeated the popular rhyme: Non voglio 1! carbonaro she mi tinge. Ma voglio fl mulattiere she mi stringe. “Tell the fellow,’’ she had said to the old neighbor Serafina, who for the time had gone as a mediator to the girl, “tell the fellow not to come singing under my window any more, and if he don’t heed a kindly warning, he will get something worse, as true as the Madonna, sia lodata! What did he think? What did he expect? Did he still persist, after having been twice refused? Didn’t he understand by this time, that she wouldn’t have him, even if he were covered with gold and precious stones? And the good old woman, Serafina, who went to plead the case of the carbonaio, returned crest-fallen and discouraged to the young man, wh o stood waiting for her, leaning by his back against the winepress. “What did she say?” demanded he, anxiously. Serafina shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t think of her any more, mio hello. Do you see that stone? Upon my word, it is not harder- than her heart.” ~.-J’” . ' • * • • • Giuseppa Talamo had made his request of marriage in the symbolic way that was customary in the country. Towards midnight he had gone and placed before Cencia’s door a block in which he had made a crevice with an axe, and bad inserted therein a wedge. It may he imagined with what anxiety and palpitation of heart be had run the following morning, before the dawn had scarcely tinted with red tho picturesque mountain of the Pollino, to see if the block had disappeared. It was there in the same place where he had left it, which signified clearly that his request was refused; but he was not discouraged for that It is well known that stubborn are the Calabrians, and, nothing daunted, he .passed under Cencia’s window every evening, on his way home from the coal kiln, playing his guitar, slung over his shoulder, and singing in a melancholy voice. And Cencia hearing him, trembled, saying angrily: “Will he never get through—the dirty face? If he would only go and look in a mirror—and if he hadn’t one she would give him one herself.” Carmine, the farmer and father of Cencia, would not have been unduly particular about the choice of a husband for his daughter. Provided she was satisfied, it was all the same to him, whether the man was a coal burner, a shepherd, a herder, or a farm laborer, and not for all the money in the world would he have forced her to marry against her will. “What did you reply to Guiseppe, the carbonaio?" asked he. “That I did not want him.” ‘Tothink that he is the fifth suitor that has presented himself, and you have refused them all,” said the farmer with a sigh. Cencia’s only answer was to turn toward the door of the house, and in a monotonous and sorrowful voice she called together the hens and chickens that were picking away at the bran, dried in a paste upon the snout of a pig that lay contentedly meditating near the empty trough. “■Cuuuri, curi, curi, curi, cu—cu." And the roosters, and the hens, and the chickens, running at the familiar sound, crowded around her, while she emptied for them her apron which she held aloft by the two corners, and in which she had put two or three handrfuls of barley. Strange, capricious girl! The great trouble was. that her father had brought her up badly; she was his only daughter, and had been allowed to have her way in everything; and she, knowing her advantage, made the most of it A good husband would really have been agreeable to her, and several had presented themselves, but she had found some fault, or raised some objection, until now there was not a dog that would offer himself, as was maliciously whispered among her friends. She repented of having been so hard to please, and vowed in her heart to correct herself, but the repentence came too late, and now, after two years during which she had hoped in vain that some of her rejected suitors would come again—after two years of melancholy existence, without sunshine—behold a carbonaio appears! Cencia could not suppress a sentiment of disgust, and bit her lips, turning green with rage. A carbonaio 1 . When she had turned away Blasi, a brave young fellow who had served his time with the grenadiers and could read and write like a doctor; and Ntoni Pavone, a miller of the country, tall as a mainmast, with brilliant eyes and proud and fiery glance, on Sunday he wore his coneshaped hat, trimmed to the top with y4lvet ribbons that fell away jauntily

upon his shoulders, and displayed h.s broadcloth jacket trimmed with green passementerie, and his broad white shirt collar fresh and shining from the laundry, set on fire the hearts of all the pretty girtein the country. A carbonaio, indeed, how the people would laugh behind her back! And who else do you suppose was another one who had made soft eyes at Cencia? No less a personage than an officer of the carabinieri, who with the excuse of taking fresh air, often came to sit in front of the tavern kept by her Uncle Rocco, and who while sipping his wine, used to cast sly glances at the girl, who I know for a fact was not at all displeased on that account, and when she heard him talk, she stood still in open-mouthed wonder and admiration, although she could, not understand a sylable of What he was saying, for the officer was a Florentine, and in our part of the country a Florentine could easily pass for a Turk or an Indian. She was enamoured, not so much with his face, (which by the way of parenthesis was not the most beautiful in the world), but with his soft and winning voice, with his noble and gallant bearing, and his long mustache waxed and twisted into a point at each end, and finally with the superb tuft of red feathers which he wore in his hat. As to his person, he was tall and thin, with long ears and a red nose freely sprinkled with freckles at the end. But why did not the brigadiere, it he really felt so much sympathy for her, (and those glances were certainly a proof of it), why did he not ask her father for her hand in marriage? What happiness that would be to marry a brigadiere! a man so highly respected and used to all kinds of honor; a friend of the mayor, to whose house he was often invited to dine, and to whom was granted the honor enjoyed by but few, of sitting on the right hand of the mayor’s wife, and would not all the girls in town burst with envy at seeing her upon his arm? The day on which she learned that it was forbidden to soldiers to marry until after they had served their time, and that not before four years would he be free, Cencia was very sad and shed some bitter tears. What a pity! She could not then marry the brigadiere, and little by little she drove from her mind the memory of the tuft of red feathers that had made her heart palpitate so wildly. • •••••• One day she went down to the shore of the river, the' Plctrone, which takes' its name from the .little town, to do her washing at the spring, and after having spread the clothes to dry upon the branches of some willow trees, she, feeling very tired, threw herself upon the ground to rest. Laying her head upon an overturned olive tree, with her hands clasped behind her neck, and her eyes closed as if asleep, she said: “The first one that going by comes to kiss me, even though it were a dog, I will marry him, and if I do not keep my word may there be no salvation for my soul.** And many of the fine young fellows of the town passed by on their way from the fields to their midday meal; but no one paid any attention to Cencia, who with her eyes partly closed saw them file by, with their spades on their shoulders, and their faces shining with perspiratio&r— -One-of- them, noticing her, said, turning to his companion: “Oh, see! there is Cencia, she sleeps like a dormouse.” “She is dreaming of a husband,” replied the other one. “Oh,” broke in maliciously a third, “of the red feathers of the brigadiere." And so they went on, gossiping and amusing themselves at her expense, who hearing them, fairly foamed at the mouth with rage. Until this time she had been only pretending to sleep, but a half-hour later, overcome by fatigue, she was asleep in fact; whilst the July sun darted his rays of light upon the ripe harvest fields, and the crickets chirped in chorus in the mulberry trees. At this moment, a young man, tall and of fine figure, but whose black face indicated but little intimacy with water, appeared at the top of the winding path leading down to the river. He • approached softly to the place where Cencia lay, and when he was but a step away from her he leaned over, and without any ceremony gave her a rousing smack upon the lips. She awoke with a sudden movement of fright and cast around her a hasty glance, but the man with the black face had disappeared behind the bushes. Then, instinctively she looked at the limpid waters of the spring, and when she saw her image reflected there she quickly covered her face with her hands and gave a piercing shriek, she had a black mark upon her mouth! “Who had dared to make that mark upon her? It was a joke, of course, but she would not allow such jokes, and if she only knew who it was he would pay dearly for it.” Suddenly she bethought herself—- “ The carbonaio I yes, it was he, the impertinent, the impudent fellow!” “Yes, it was I.” exclaimed the young man, coming forward and planting himself before her, erect and with his arms crossed. Cencia looked at him with an unconquerable feeling of disgust, and made a very insignificant grimace, which was but slightly encouraging. “Will you have me, yqi or no? I

will say it three times, and if the first, the second -and the third time you say no, I will go far, far away, where the wind will noteven bring you news of me. Will you have me?” “That is ofice, will you have me?” ' a Mo. get away!” “That is twice, ‘•Think well, Cencia, before answering the third time, for. if you repent of it some day, it will then be too late, beUa mia; I shall have married the daughter of Pepse, the farmer, a girl that—l will not say—Will you have me?" ’Cencia did not reply, but a few hours later, Giuseppe, the carbonaio, helped her to gather up her clothes already nice and dry, and to put them in the basket, whilst the July sun darted his rays upon the ripe harvest fields, and the crickets chirped in chorus in the mulberry trees. —Translated by Annette E. Crocker, from the Italian of Pasquale Martire, for Chicago Herald.

Aim.

Aim for the beautiful and bright, Aim for the good and true; Aim m the lark soars in its flight, And flowers reach for the dew. Aim, though thy way be in the night, Still aim with lifted eye; Seek for the hidden stars whose light Shines in the darkest sky Aim, though in lowest depths thy way, Thy path lie through the mire; Aim yet to reach high up thy way With hopes that never tire. ----- So bravely go, and upward reach, And oft though thou may fall. Each trial sweeter hope shall teach If thou but heed the call. ~ | Than take unto thy heart this thought, ’Twill be thy leading star, If faith be thine each trial’s wrought With beauty from afar. ’Tis upward to the realms that blest . Then walk with soul of trust ; In skies above go seek thy rest— Not low, within the dust.

Oatmeal as Food.

Oatmeal has recently received some adverse" criticisms. This is not surprising, as no food article is just the thing in every case or at all times. Our daily experiences convince us of snch truth, by likes and dislikes for very common and the most wholesome foods. It is natural and best to have soma variation of diet. Ona thing may be just adapted to the state of the individual —bodily and mentally—at one time and not at some other; while called “eternal fitness of things” needs to be carefully studied before deciding an important question top hastily. Without entering into lengthy uninteresting details, chemistry, physiology, and experience, all prove oatmeal one of the most valuable cereal foods for producing good muscles and clear heads. Why, then, is it frequently found to disagree? It is easily answered. By being used almost exclusively as mush, it is swallowed so easily that it is not properly mixed with the saliva—the first step for digestion. When there is little or no saliva, as in some diseases, there is also a very weak or no digestion. A good authority, “No saliva, no indigestion.” If any soft food, mush or toast, etc., is swallowed too rapidly, or any food is washed down with tea, coffee, milk, wine, or water, some degree of indigestion is thereby produced, sooner or later, as -often shown by a sense of ftrllnessr~dis=comfort, belching, and other disturbances. -If there to a lack Of saliva, or that of proper quality, it is often best to eat some hard kind of bread, as the thin, hard, Scotch oatmeal bread, bread crusts, rusks, etc., when the teeth admit of it, and very slowly, to thus naturally increase the amount and quality of saliva. Such a course is often a better and safer corrective than all the drugs and nostrums In the country. Good health can usually an d should be secured by correct living. The best physicians are those who recognize this fact, and try to teach it to such patients as are wise enough to employ them. Oatmeal can be used in a variety of ways. As mush, it to often drowned in too much milk, sugar, butter, etc., for good digestion; it is swallowed so easily that it helps lead to overeating and its bad results. Let us go slow before we reject oatmeal as food.—Ex.

A Youth Marries an Old Woman.

A curious wedding has just taken place at Lodz. A young man, 18 years of age, and of good position, for some unaccountable reason married a poor widow with a numerous family. The “blushing” bride to in ner 74th year! The “happy" bridegroom has now eleven stepsons and daughters, the oldest of wbum is 33; besides twenty-three grandchildren and twenty-three great-grandchildren—and all that at 18.—Pesth Zeituug.

Chicago has the “Sand.”

“While we are well informed,” say s a New York paper, “of the ultimate fate of a city built on a rock, like New York, and one built on the sand, like Chicago, we are unhappily left <in the dark concerning one founded on gas, liKe Pittsburg.” The allusion to Chicago In this sentence might be misleading to some who do not know the modern meaning of the word “sand.” The writer, of course, means to be Complimentary to Chicago. It is emphatically a city built by men who h*d plenty of “sand.”—Chicago Journal.

ALEXANDER SULLIVAN.

A Succinct Review of the Noted Clansman’s Life. Alexander Sullivan’s career is studded with startling incident. A small merchant, he was acc used and acquitted .of arsdn.~ A politician, ho has flgured in every camp, holding some offices, seeking others, and assuming to act as a local Warwick, now in one party, now in another. Reduced to fiscal straits he scheduled as a bankrupt, and then relieved by the easy process once in vog&e of legal obligation to discharge enumerated debts he surprised his creditors by payment in full with a high rate of interest In the territories as in Chicago he had received and returned bodily menace. He has exchanged shots. Thirteen years ago in Chicago he killed a schoolteacher. Twice tried he was finally acquitted of murder. Perseverance and audacity marked his subsequent career, and his address can not be better illustrated than by the statement that in the office of that, journal which denounced him with uns paring vigor and bitterness and extended its animadversions to every one connected nearly or remotely with his defense he became a valued counselor. Even looking at it as a justifiable killing Hanford’s murder would have daunted the perpetrator had he a weaker nature than Sullivan. He faced popular indignation with grim but quiet resolve and had the satisfaction of finding himself courted where he had been condemned and sought where he had been repelled. Had Blaine succeeded in 1884 Sullivan’s success would have been complete. Having method, industry, thoroughness, and persistence Sullivan, once embarked on the career of an Irish nationalist, readily reached the first place. To gain leadership was not a difficult task to the possessor of ambition guided by an intelligence unswayed by the emotions. Opposition gave way before a man who wasted no time in thrasonical bar-room discussions, but studying men.and situations, worked while others slept. In the open he supported Parnell and constitutional agitation. Under the cover of a secret society he was one of a “triangle” preaching and practicing physical force. Never wholly without enemies, accusers, and detractors he attained, nevertheless, higher dictinction and broader influence thsn any assumed leader of the Irish in America ever commanded. Irishmen who would not join a secret society and abhorred the use of dynamite applauded him as one who implicitly accepted the leadership of Parnell, while the clansmen rejoiced in the knowledge that at the head of the Irish league was a dynamiter who had taken the bath of the brotherhood and as one of its directing minds was projecting mysterious expeditions against England. Sooner or later fractional differences characterized all Irish organization. Large sums of monej' raised by the secret societies were so mysteriously disbursed as to excite comment which led to accusation. Sullivan’s influence commenced to decline. The league had followed him in American politics and met disaster, but even if he were Alexander the successful and the just the Irish would have wearied of him as the Athenians wearied of Aristides. Some incidents in Sullivan’s life, his known speculations on the stock exchange and in the wheat pit, his lavish use of money in many directions, gave color to the whisperings against his fiscal honor. Chief among those who challenged his integrity was Dr. Patrick H. Cronin. Sullivan is a bitter and implacable foe. His animosity was aroused. He appeared personally to prosecute Cronin as a clansman and procured his expulsion from the society. But resolute and persistent as himself, Cronin, organizing factional camps, continued his charges against the “triangle” of which Sullivan had been the controlling force. A union of the divergent camps was effected and Cronin was once again a clansman. Prosecuted by Sullivan the time came when, despite the bitter protest of the accused, Cronin sat as a juror on the trial of Sullivan. Though in- the minority he held to the truthfulness of his charges and was perhaps stimulated by the disclosures made because of the failure of the Traders’ bank. The august meeting of the brotherhood was to be perturbed anew by the scandal, for Cronin resisted all pressure to cease and stood ready to renew the combat whicn he feared would cost him his life. Alexander Sullivan Lies in jail under the heavy accusation of having been a principal, an accessory, or of having guilty knowledge of the murder of Dr. Cronin. The crime is hideous, revolting. Against the deep damnation of Ct-on in’s taking off, accomplished as it was in secret by assassins and as the result of a horrible conspiracy, planned and persisted in with devilish ingenuity and firmness Of purpose, the killing of Hanford, done in open day in hot blood and under circumstances suggestive of self-defence, seems a trivial offense. If SuHivan is guilty he is damnably guilty. Coughlin was possibly a shallow knave, the iceman a fanatic. Woodruff a cheap mercenary, but the intelligence that planned, the hatred that persisted, the craft that inspired was, if the coroner’s jury is right, the intelligence, the hatred, the craft of Aliexander Sullivan. The

very enormity of the crime and its horrible circumstances stagger belief that Sullivan, who had everything to lose by discovery and nothingmuch to gain by accomplishment, is the awful malignant this accusation would make him out. That -any matr of even ordinary repute, happily married, . comfortably circumstanced, middle-aged, well acquainted with the sweeping character of the conspiracy law in Illinois, would deliberately incur the possibility of swift and ignominious death on the gallows and the pains of an eternity of torment, leaving a name infamous and accursed, is a monstrous supposition not to be accepted unless upon proofs. The Times has presented fully but will not make any present analysis of the testimony upon which the coroner’s jury acted. Happily the time-honored and wisely cherished maxim of the common law that an accused is innocent until his guilt is proved holds in our courts if it does not always guide popular expression. It remains for the state to prove its case. It remains for the state to prove its case before a petit jury with all the limitations upon testimony required by courts of record. It remains for the state legally to prove its case with the accused at the bar fighting for their lives. There, ought to be but one sentiment in the public mind, the sentiment of complete fairness expressed in the phrase, Let justice be done! Chicago Times. ;

The Latest New York Story.

The latest beggarly vagary comes from New York, of course, where a party coming from the theater was stopped by a ragged individual with a small kitten in his arms. He opened the conversation immediately and said: “Gents, maybe you think I am going to spar you for money, but I ain’t I am not hungry or thirsty and have a place to sleep, but I have no cash. I want a few pennies, not for myself, but to buy some milk for this poor little starving cat, which I found crying in this park.” The party was for a moment stunned, but amid roars of laughter a purse of nearly a dollar was collected and given to the guardian of the kitten.

A Chicken Eating ’Gater.

It is the custom of alligators to move across the country from one river to another. The purpose of this migration is not learned. They go alone and not in couples or droves as has sometimes been reported. A short time ago a monster alligator started from the Hillsboro River to a lake back of Tampa, Fla. He passed through the Central part of the town and finally reached the back yard of T. A Wilson. The reptile found himself in a flock of chickens and began at once to make a meal of them. This raised such a commotion in the poultry yard that Mr. Wilson’s attention was attracted to it and he went out to investigate. He discovered the saurian, and with a well directed shot hit him in the eye and killed him. The big saurian was then cut open and skinned. In his back, which is more like a piece of white leather than anything else, except an alligator’s back, were found a large number of bullets which had passed through the scales and embedded themselves in the backbone, where they had become fl attened but and evidently caused the reptile no uneasiness. When opened, the stomach of the alligator was a curiosity. A number of pieces of tin showed that he had enjoyed a tin can lunch, while from the fact that he had swallowed a beer bottle, it appeared that he was not a prohibitionist. There were two small fish, nearly whole, and a pair of baby’s shoes. It was not known whether he had swallowed the child or whether he had found the shoes where the child had placed them and made a meal of them, but every * mother who saw the tiny shoes shuddered and clasped her own child tightly to her. It will probably be never known how the’shoes came there; but it may be that some mother’s heart is sad over the loss of the little one who wore the tiny shoes. The alligator was skinned and the skin sent to the tannery. The reptile measured nine feet and seven inches in length. —St. Louis GlobeDemocrat.

Her Grandmot her Paid.

“How much is this silk a yard, sir?' A blushing damsel asked Of a gay and gushing salesman Who admiring glances cast. “Only a kiM,” he answered, With an audacious air, As he unfolds the fabric Before the maiden fair J “If you please, I will take ten yards, gir;” For a while his heart grew still, Till the cruel creature added: “Grandma will settle the bill!”

A Timely Caution.

Husband —“Don’t worry, my dear, if I get home a trifle late occasionally, now that Tve joined the Athletic Club. I used to be a great athlete when I was a boy, you know, and it seems like renewing my youth to go through with the old exercises again." Wife—“No, John, I won’t, but when you get home at 2 a. m., as you did this morning, please don’t renew your youth by standing on your head in the front porch, nor climbing through the transom, because it’s apt‘to excite remark, you know —that’s all, dear.”— The Epoch.

The Bismarck of To-day.

Bismarck has grown old during the j last few years. His mustache is white as snow and his walk less erect than in former years, but the ppwer of his face and the ' mightbf" as they were ten years ago. When ha sits down it is as If he was on guard, his sword laid across his knees, as formerly old Hagen in guilt and wickedness, he is a Hagen in faithfulness, and, if need be, in stern wrath. And he is on guard at the gates Of the fatherland. Bismarck, as everybody knows, is not an orator—l nearly, said, thank God, he is no orator. His speech has been likened to a forest stream which rumbles over stones and roots. The comparison is somewhat poor. I think I know a better, though rather a technical one—namely, his speech is like quicksilver drawn out Take a drop of quicksilver containing some lead or zinc, put it on a pane of glass and hold it slantingly. The drop swells and rolls, but presently it stops, becomes thinner and longer, remains immovable for a moment, gathers new strength to flow, becomes thin once again, and so forth. Thus it is with the chancellor’s words; first half a sentence comes out, then he hesitates,. ... stops, or utters a short, inarticulate sound, and goas on again. It is evident that to speak is a physical exertion, but even when he is in first rate form he does not talk fluently. But on closer observation the reason appears very soon. The form of his speech is improvised on the spur of the moment, but, unlike many fluent speakers, he does not use the first expression which may come to his mind, but while he is uttering the first half of a sentence he is thinking of how to shape the second half in order to express exactly what he wishes to say. If he makes a joke or slight observation he speaks quickly and without hesitation, but as soon as he returns to the serious treatment of a political subject this painfully accurate expression, the result of mental work, becbmeS"agaSn“" apparent, which shows that he endeavors not to say a syllable which he cannot reconcile with his responsible position. This is the reason why his speeches concerning foreign politics, read like official diplomatic documents, every word is carefully considered. His voice is peculiar, high-pitched and not very powerful. It has been called a thin voice, but this only expresses one of its qualities. Another is that it is so remarkable young that one would think it almost incredible for a man of his age to possess such a voice. If one does not see him while he is speaking it is difficult to believe that is not a young lieutenant of twenty-eight who is speaking (which, by the way, is rather a pity, since the snarl and the drawl of the German lieutenant is proverbally detestable.) But put in connection with this quality it can sound extremely soft and flattering, and I should not be surprised if in former years, when be was ambassador, some of his personal success had been due just to this timbre of his voice. —Ex.

Science Halts.

Layman—“l understand that you have devoted your life to the study of disease germs?” Great Scientist, (proudly)— ‘ ‘I have. ” Layman —“Have you found a remedy for any of them?” . ■ Great Scientist —“Well, no; but I have succeeded in finding good long names for them all.”—New York Weekly. —

The Moa Bird

Notwithstanding the great number of birds the Bird Puzzle made U 3 familiar with, we are always reading about one we never heard of before. There is the “parson” bird, for exam* pie, of which we have seen a description recently. It lives In Australia, and gets its name from its black color and the two white feathers under its chin, that looks like the ends of a clergyman’s necktie. But the most wonderful bird was the now extinct Dinornis, or Moa bird, of Australia. It lived there in the time of the Maoris, and was exterminated about 200 years ago. Skeletons of the Moa'have been found that show the' height of the bird to have been from fourteen to sxteen feet. They were' slain as food, for being wingless and very stupid, they easily fell a prey to man. That accounts for their extinction in the first two or three centuries of the Maoris’ presence in Australia. —Philadelphia Times.

Susan B. Anthony.

Somebody asked Susan B. Anthony at a reception given by the veteran women suffrage leader some days ago if it did not fatigue her to stand so long and shake so many hands. “Yes, it does tire ma,” came the quick answer,, “but not half so much as it did twenty years ago to stand all alone with no hands to shake at all." Miss Anthony is nearly 70, but her figure is straighter than that of many a girl at 17- Her eyes are bright and her rather thin face expresses acuteness and kindly intelligence. Her hair is quite heavy still and softly gray. She wears it combed down over the tips of her ears in the manner of a quarter of a century ago. She dresses quietly but richly in dark silks, with fine laoe for. garniture. She has one feminine weakness, a honor of going out in the rain.—NeW York Mail