Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1891 — SOMEWHAT CURIOUS. [ARTICLE]

SOMEWHAT CURIOUS.

There are one thousand unclaimed Christmas presents In tho New York postoflice because of the-sonders’ carelessness. In London one woman in every twenty is a pauper, one in every thirteen is illiterate,and one in every sixty is a gin drinker. i Some Manitoba Indians last summer sacrificed an Indian boy to secure good luck in hunting. He was lied to a tree and shot. High heels, it is said, owe their origin to Persia, where they were introduced to raise the feet from the burning sands of that country. In Lake county, Tennessee, a short time since, tr young man of twentyseven married a widow of forty-nine, who has seventeen living children. The widest plank on earth is on exhibition at Humboldt, Cal, It is sixteen feet in width and it will be among the Humboldt exhibits at the World’s Fair. There are now a number of places in New York where they will mend your shoes while you wait. At one of them soling and heeling is done in twenty minutes, and heeling in eight ' minutes. Hedgehogs are occasionally canniballßtic, the larger ones, when hard up for a dinner, chasing the smaller ones at a wonderful rate, and devouring them without sauce or mercy when caught and conquered. A man in Jonesboro. Me., is the proud owner of a plow that has been in use for sixty-three years, and only three new points have been bought for it in that time. Its owner says it is as good as new now. It is generally supposed that the life of a bird is not very long, but a pet yellow bird belonging to Mrs. E. R. Haynes, of Monson, Me., that recently died, was taken from its nest in the field in the summer of-1877, I The London Standard says that nearly all the funds belonging to the Roman Catholic Church are now invested in English securities or real estate. Even the reserved treasure of the Papacy is lodged there. A resident of Antelope valley, Nevada, reports thousands of wild horses ranging on the mountain plateau no: r his home. It is almost impossible < raise a band of tame animals in tl e section, as th< y soon join the wi d herd. The cockatoos of Queerisland, when plundering a cornfield, post sentinels to give an alarm. If one bird is shot the others, instead of taking to flight, hover screaming over their com rade until many of them share the same fate. Charlie Griffith, of Athens, ,Ga., has a curiosty in tho shape of a pipe. Tue bowl of the pipe is fashioned out Of a costly variety of briarwood, while the stem was taken from the leg of so ne ■jOHl" gobbler of the days of long ago. Blankets are loaned to the poor,during the winter months, free of cost, by a kind hearted citizen in Brunswick, Germany. They are stamped, to pre* vein them from being sold or pawned, and they are returned at the close of the cold weather.