Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1894 — Page 6

TOPICS OF THESE TIMES.

A MODERN SEEK. The times are prolific in prophets. Ja-apiteoftkeohstiaate refusal of the events, heretofore foretold, to “come to time’’ and save the reputation of the. seers at the expense of this terrestrial ball and its inhabitants, those people with a petfchant for the mysterious continue to devote much time and thought to scientific investigation upon which to base their uncomfortable theories. Probably the most remarkable of these modern seers is Professor Ealb, of Vienna, wdo has a great reputation aaa scientist throughout Europe, and who has long been regarded as an authority on earthquakes. His predictions in regard to these disturbances of the earth’s crust have, it is claimed, been frequently fulfilled. It is stated that he foretold the terrible earthquake at Zante last year, his prediction having been given to the world through press dispatches on the day previous to that great disaster. Professor Kalb has within the past month given out his predictions concerning meteorological phenomena for a period extending over five years. If his -programme shall e entuate as laid down then, it would ie “m, that tho seventh seal had been opened, as foretold in Revelations, when a great star is to fall from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, upon a third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters. The date set by Professor Kalb for this star performance is November 13, 1899, when the erratic wanderer known to astronomers as the comet of 1866 will reappear and collide with our globe; then, “fireworks” and —darkness. The Professor, however, is not satisfied to wait so long for a test of his prophetic powers, and has arranged dates for a number of minor preliminaries to the grand catastrophe. Among other things, he predicts that New York will disappear under a tidal wave in July or August of the present year, while California and Florida will probably become islands as a result of a submarine earthquake on the same date. The theory upon which Professor Kalb bases his predictions is that the interior of the earth is a mass of molten fire, which constantly evolves gas that is always seeking an outlet, which it finds through volcanic vent-holes and at places where the earth's crust is thinnest, and at times when the moon is closest to the earth. These days when the moon is closest to our planet the Professor calls “eriticat” days. The •“critical” days for 1894, according to the Professor, are as follows, in the •order of maximum danger: August 30, September 29, February 20. August 1, April 6. Januarv2l, May 5 and October 28. There'oro nthe mosi serious disturbance lor this year may be looked for August 30 and the slightest October 23.

ITALIAN TROUBLES.

The era of peace that has seemtngly settled down upon the face of Europe, after so many years of diplomatic strife, intrigueand contention that at all times rendered war a possibility, has apparently failed to reach the land where once the Coesars ruled. The cities of Carrara and Massa di Carrara have rebelled against the government of Humbert and Crispi and have been declared in a state of siege by royal proclamation. Premier Cri3pi assures the world that the troubles are entirely local and can not affect the kingdom in a general way, but it is known that taxation of the most burdensome character has alienated the loyalty of Italian subjects to the point of revolution, and that the present regime can only continue by means of the most rigid military support of the civil authorities, or a radical change in the governmental policy. In Sicily the imposition has already resulted in ominous violence and the popular feeling is aggravated to a dangerous tension. What with anarchist and other secret societies constantly plotting for its overthrow, the state of actual rebellion in Sicily and at the Carraras, together with the ever-preseut undercurrent of sympathy with the Pope because of his loss of temporal power, the future of the dynasty founded by Victor Emanuel does not seem particularly auspicious, and the world need not be surprised at startling changes in Italian affairs within • short tim;. The day when an intelligent people can be ruthlessly robbed under the guise of taxation and then kept under by force of arms has passed. Garibaldi did not fight in vain and his heroic deeds, though failing of their ultimata purpose, have left an enduring impress upon Italian intelligence that mav yet bring freedom to an outraged people. ___

HARD TIMES IN SOCIETY.

A Washington society woman is reported as having responded to an

invitation to a swell reception with the intimation that she would have to wear on old brocade if she attends ed, and that if her society was not desired on that account the hostess was given the liberty to withdraw the invitation. The s. w. stated that her husband still had plenty of property, but owing to the hard times no rea ly mosey to expen d on expensiveanddecollette gowns. This state of affairs will not cause a great wave of popular sympathy to roll in upon the Federal District, and it is not probable that a popular subscription will be raised to buy the aristocratic matron a new party dress. Society people have a very dim and illy defined idea of hard times, as is evidenced by this circumstance. The questionable brocade which wa3 deemed of such doubtful usefulness on the great occasion and which caused its owner so much unhappiness was probably a dress that cost as much as a good town lot in an average Indiana town, ail mny worthy wives anl tho hard-working women’ of all the. rural regions would deem themselves of the favored ones of earth could they even have such a garment once in their lifetime. Happiness is the absence of unsatisfied wants, and misery is the continued presence of unsatisfied desires. Both may be found in full blown pjrfection in every grade and condition of life, and their absence or presence is largely due to individual predilections rather than to remote causes over which mankind individually has but little control.

FINANCIAL BALLOONS.

The present condition of the money market womd seem to be a positive assurance that the bubbles and schemes of the Western land agent, which have been ah important factor in bringing about the present,unsatisfactory status of affairs, would, for the time being, at least, cease to sail upward. The disastrous results that have attended so many Western boom towns in their attempts to rival the great cities of the continent in the splendor of their buildings and street improvements are well known, and the average Hoosier had settled down into the belief that, although the fools are probably not all dead, the confidence men who had so industriously “worked” them would for a time give thpm a rest. Such, however, is not the case, as appears from a transaction brought to light at Minneapolis, Jan. 17, wherein it was shown that a job lot of balloon mortgages to the amount of $100,060 or more had been floated in the East, the security being" twenty-five acres of land, fifteen miles west of that city, which had been platted and called “Wayzatta Revised. The assessed valuation of the property is $10,530, and It is doubtful if that sum can be realized. These and a large number of other “balloon mortgages” were placed by the Union Debenture Company, the security in each case given being inadequate and largely fictitious. People who have placed their money in these ill-advised ventures are likely to receive from ten to twenty-five cents on the dollar in the course of human events. Be ware of boom towns in the woolly West.

An Extinct Russian Family.

Marquis de Fontenoy in Chicago Kecord. One of the most celebrated Russian families has recently become extinct by the death, at Baden, of Prince Mentchikoff. The founder of the house was a pastry cook’s assistant. who hawked pies in the Muscovite capital. By some means or other he obtained an inkling of a projected revolt of the czar’s body-guard and informed Peter the Great of the fact. Peter showed his gratitude in the most generous manner, raising the young fellow by degrees to the rank of a general in the army, and a prince of the empire. On the death of the emperor Mentchikoff secured the succession to Catharine, who, in return, caused Peter 11. to marry the prince’s daughter. This seemed to turn his head, as he became so arrogant thSft the emperor ended by disgracing him and sending him to Siberia, where he died in exile. His great grandson commanr’el the Russian army ui chief during the Crimean war, of which he was one of the principal originators. After his disastrous defeat at the battle of Alma was deprived of his command. whi( h was intrusted to Prince Gortchakoff, and he died some time after in obscurity and partial disgrace. Hi 3 son, the last of the race, lived almost entirely abroad, keeping aloof from politics and devoting nis energies to the turf. Like the remainder of his family, he belonged to the rigorously conservative school of the Russian nobility, and made no pretense of disguising his contempt for the efforts made of late years tc bring the institutions of his country into conformity with western civilization. The mother-iu-law of the Mikadr of Japan has recently been 111. She was attended by 423 phrsicians, but has rallied.

AN AUSTRIAN PROPHET.

Tongh Times Ahead The Grand Finale Set For November ,13, '99. The records indicate that people have been looking for the end of the world at intervals ever since the world began, and predictions.of this character generally receive very limited credence; but when a scientific man 0 the standing of Professor'Rudolph Falb, of Vienna, makes a pi opheey of this sort, it is at least worth thinking about. Professor Falb has a reputation all over Europe for his meteorological knowledge, and particularly for his extraordinary familiarity with the habits and customs of earthquakes. His predictions of these seismic disturbances have been remarkably fulfilled. His prediction of the great earthquake at Zante last year was published in the press dispatches all over the country, the day before the earthquake occurred. An-

PROFESSOR RUDOLPH FALB.

other example of his accurate foreknowledge on this subject is shown in the fact that on March 31, 1893, he wrote to the Tourist Club of Vienna accepting an invitation to lecture about earthquakes, but adding that he would like to defer the lecture until after April 13, as an earthquake would occur by that time, which would aid him in giving them enlightenment. As a matter of fact, an earthquake occurred on April 8, and was felt all over southern Hungary. Professor Falb’s prophecies go back over a number of years, have usually been made from nine to twenty months in advance, and have in almost every instance been correct. Now, however, the Professor's prophetic eye has shot across a space of five years and he says that on November 13, 1899, the erratic wanderer, known to astronomers as the comet of 1866, will reappear and collide with our globe; then “fireworks” and—darkness.

By way of preliminary to the main event, however.it may be mentioned that, according to the program, New York is to disappear under a tidal wave next July or August, while Florida and California will probably become islands as the results of a submarine earthquake. Sunday, January 21, the day on which the great tidal wave struck the steamship Nonnannia, was one of the dates for which Prof. Falb had predicted great elemental disturbances and phvsical upheavals. The prediction would under any circumstances be renarkable, but when it is taken as coming from the same man who tells that New York will be inundated and almost entirely submerged during the present year, then the fulfillment is of very deep and serious import to ail dwellers on Manhattan island. Had the wave continued a few miles more it would probably have washed the winows of James Gordon’s Bennett’s house on Washington Hights, which is the highest point within the boundaries of New York city, being 264 feet above the tide water. This occurrence points to the important fact that New York city is comparatively quite low-lying, and would be an easy victim to such a monstrous wave as the Normannia encountered.

The most unpleasant feature about these prophecies is, as already intimated, the fact that they are- not prophecies at all, strictly speaking, but scientific predictions based upon scientific investigations into mundane anatomy. To put his theories in as simple a fashion as possible, it may be said that Prof. Falb believes, first of all, that the deep-down interior of the earth is tilled with a molten mass, which is subject to ebb and flow, just like the waters of the ocean. Between the earth and this molten sheol, which is slowly cooling, there is only a shell of anaverage of eighteen miles in thickness, upon which we mortals live, and love and die. In some places the earth’s crust is thicker than in others. Where it is thinnest the confined terrible forces of the under world, chiefly iu the form of gas. seek constantly to escape, and when the pressure of the atmosphere around the earth is lowest the gas finds an outlet usually in well-defined districts, generally through the volcanic vent-holes. But h“vpnd the constant pressure of gas Professor Falb has the theory that the sheolic molten mass beneath us is subject to the influence of the moon, which produces waves, and occasionally great tidal waves, which sweep round the inner crust of the world with terrific force, shaking the earth in its passage. Professor Falb publishes every year a. list of the days on which he expects seismic convulsions. These he calls “critical day»” —and these days are thosj when the moon approaches close to the earth. The oritical days given by Professor Falb for 1894 are stated in the order

of maximum disturbance as fol’o vs: August 30, September 29, Feb: u ry 20', March 21, August 1, Api I 6, January 21, May 5 and October 28. Thus the most serious disturbance may be looked for on August 30 and *the slightest- on October 28. In connection with the great scientific contest between mother earth and the comet which, to use a phrase current in scientific circles, is to be “pulled off” in 1899, it is recalled that on January 14. 616, ten people were killed in China bv the fall of a meteor. In the year 823 thirty-five villages in Saxony were destroyed by the fall of a meteor and many men .and animals were killed. On Nov. 4, 1749, a meteor struck the mast of a ship that was crossing the Atlantic, killing five seamen. Each of these cases can be regarded as the fall of a small comet upon our world. It is a comfort to know that some Vienna scientists believe the comet is going to get the worst of it, and point to the fact that the comet Lexwell, when it went too near to Jupiter, was thrown off its course and sent flying out of our planetary system.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

A Gatling gun fires 5,000 shots in a minute. There are now 7,500 miles of electric railroads in this country. The smallest bird in the world is the golden-crested wren. Satisfactory gas pipes are now made of Manilla paper, coated with asphalt. .'- r . •_ It is estimated that one of the largest stones in the Pyramids weighs fully eighty-eight tons. In the Royal Aquarium of St. Petersburg are fish which have been on exhibition for 150 years. The brain of an ant is larger, in proportion to its size, than that of any other known -creature. It is estimated that the sunflower plant draws from the soil and exhales, in twelve hours, twelve ounces of water.

Fulton G. Berry, of Centreville, Cal. j has on his plantation a tree which, last season, produced 4,01)0 oranges. In Russian theaters, when the auditors desire to express disapprobation, they throw dead cats at the actors. The refuse hops, hitherto thrown away in breweries, are now converted into a good article of paper by a German chemist. The healthiest children in the world dwell in the Scottish highlands. They seldom wear shoes before they are twelve years of age. Water alone has been known to sustain life fifty-five days. If only dry food were taken, death would result in a cuarter of tliut time. In Japan a man can live like a gentleman for about $250 a year. - This sum will pay the rent of a house, the salaries of two servants and supply plenty of food. As a leaper, the kangaroo is ahead of all. It readily jumps from sixty to seventy feet. A horse has jumped thirty- seven feet, and a man twenty - five feet six and one-half inches. A student in an Ohio college was poor, but energetic and persevering. He tried to earn money enough to pay for hisseducation by selling moonshine whisky to his fellow-stu-dents.

Gold leaves so thin that 282,000 of them would make only an inch in thickness wore recently exhibited in Paris. Each leaf was so perfect and so free from holes as to be impenetrable by the strongest electric light. For forty years the principal of a young ladies’ school in Copenhagen has been respected as a lady. “She” lately became very rude to one of her pupils, and was arrested. After twn days’ incarceration it Was noticed that “she” needed shaving. Then it became manifest that the principal was really a man. A noted caricaturist in Vieuna. Hans Schliessman, draws such excellent likenesses that, when addressing notes to prominent men, he merely puts on each envelope the picture of F * man to whom he desires to senu the letter, with the directions of the section of the city where the man resides. The letter never goes astray. A London iuebriate died suddenly from alcoholism. At the inquest it was shown that the proprietor of the public house ho had chiefly patronized held an insurance policy on his life for SIOO. It is customary for inkeepers to thus protect themselves against the loss of profitable patrons.

Probably the largest submarine cable ever laid in the country was stretched under the East river, from the foot of Eighty-eighth street tc the foot of Eighth street, Hunter's Point, on Monday. The cable measures nearly a mile iD length, two and three-quarter inches in circumference and weighs twenty-one tons. It contains twenty conductors, each consisting of three fine copper wires. Seven of the famous “traveling stones" of Nevada were recently displayed in a hotel in Denver. When placed ou a table, within two or three feet of each other, they commenced approaching until all met ai a common center. A single stone, having be *n removed four feet fron the Other six, which were left in a cluster, returned to the bunch. Taken to a distance ol five feet, it re mained motionless.

OUR PLEASURE CLUB.

A street car conductor knows whal the wild waves are saving when bt sees a woman wave her parasol. —Binghamton Republican. It is a fad for women to hang up a baby’s first shoe for an ornament, but we notice they quiL it after the babies begin to arrive in big lots. — Atchison Globe. Milliner —I don't see why you want any changes made in your bonnet; it is becoming, isn’t it? Lady- No. Milliner —What is the trouble? Ladv—lt makes my husband look terribly blue.

THE NEXT THING. Lire.

He —So you were never in love? She—No; but I've been -engaged > lots of men who were.

' DESPERATE. Trtith.

Raphael—Susanna, gaze on yonder deep declivity. Me sadder committed suicide dere t'ree years before I was born, and if yGU do not forsake de count and promise to be mine, I will t row meself down dem st<*ep roclls and end dis yere empty existence. “Goodluck has had his- salary raised; was it for extra work?” “Yes; he always listens when the proprietor tells his baby’s smart sayings.”

She giggled when he talked to her, She giggled wnen ne stopped; She giggled when he kissed uer first, She giggled wnen he ‘ popped:*’ She giggled when the day was net, She giggled when they wed; And now he often wonders if She'll giggle when he's dead. —Kansas City Journal. Just a little sunshine, Or just a little rain. . i And tnon tne groundhog question Is settled once aga.n.

"Maud's husband must be very wealthy." “Why: does she spend a great deal?” “I don’t know, but she cleans her own gloves now.” “Here is a very valuable paper I want to put away where it will not be disturbed. What would you advise me tp do with it?" Airs. Wilton.—Why, address it to your mother and give it to your husband to mail. “Oh, Tommy, don’t you feel afraid to eat so much cake? Tommy—No; mamma said your cake was the kind that would kill a dog. “I wouldn’t care so much,” said Timmins, “if I hadn’t signed the thing." _ What’s the matter?” asked Sirr.mous. “Why, I wrote a bit of verse with i line in it calling passionately for a new ideal. The fool printer set it up as calling for a new deal.” —Indianapolis Journal.

WANTED—FEEDERS.

Husband (triumphantly) lone it. I have played two games jf.rhess blindfolded. Wise —Well, I'd like to run out for half an hour. Suppose you mix the bread, mind the baby, stir the pudding, baste the roast, watch the veg?tables, and answer the doorbell for i while. You, needn't be blindfolded. The really successful man in this world is the man who always seems to take all the advice that everybody gives him, but who knows just when it is best not to follow it. “The little mermaids and merbovs sever have any snow under the X’pan. do they, mamma?” said Jacky. “No. dear." “I suppose instead of snowball ights they, have hsbball fights, eh,” laid Jacky.

AN INDIANA MIRACLE.

A Case That Has Attracted Much Attention. A Well-Known Clilze i Whose Life Wn# Despaired <>t Is Again Enjoying Health and Strength—The Particulars •< Bill Be markable Cure a* Belated to a Keporter of ; the CrawfordgT.Ue Journal.

Crawfordsville Journal. There is probably no man better known in this city than G. M. Johnson, or “Mit,” as he is familiarly called by everybody. Six months ago it was a common remark that ’■poor Mit had but a few days more of his life,” his physical condition being such that not one of hi*' hundreds of friends had the slightest! hope of his surviving the summer. He had about abandoned all hope himself, evidently, and was confined! to his room and bed, unable to walk: or to attend to any business what-, ever. A representative of this par* "per who has enjoyed an intimate acquaintance with Mr Johnson for a long number of years, met him walking briskly up street today, and ia astonishment inquired of him what had brought so wonderful a change in his appearance and condition. < “Well,” said Mr. Johnson, “for a number of years I have had a com►p ‘cation of troubles, the most serlous being spinal and nervous trouble, which, as you know, brought me pretty near death's gate. My friends despaired of my recovery, and I had but little hope myself oi ever being about actively again. My health kept going from bad to worse until I became perfectly helpless; I was unable to walk a step, could not sleep, had no appetite; I just lived and suffered and could not die to get relief. Physicians did me no goods neither did all the other remedies I tried, and I believe I have takepj enough medicine in the last few years to stock a drug store. I was in this miserable hopeless and helpless condition when a friend called iny attention to a remarkable curt through the use of Dr. Williams* pink Pills for J?a!e People and urged me to try them. I felt that perhaps it was a last chance, and procured a supply of Pink Pills from Messrs. Nye A tlooe, the druggists. That was about six inouuis ago, and you see what they have done for me. lam a new rnau Pqw. I had not been taking Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills long when I began to find an improvement. I saw that I had at last hit upon a remedy that had virtue in it; hope returned luui l con tin ued to uau the pills and continued to improve in health and strength, and while I am not the stoutest man in the city I am a new man altogether. T fee] well. eat heartily, sleep soundly, the dizzy nervous trouble has entirely left. I can walk briskly, and am enjoying life as of yore. I consider this Pink Pill remedy a wonderful one, and have recommended it to a number oi! my friends who have been similarly afflicted. Why, I cannot recommend the remedy too highly. Just think, for nearly a year I could not stand up to take a drink of water without getting blind from dizziness, and tha most excruciating pains would seize me, and during these paroxysms I suffered untold ngonv. I am now entirely free from these pains. “Just say to any one who may want information that I will freely give them aiiy information they may desire on the subject, and will only be too glad to see some of ray friends benefited in the same way. I know pome who are in need-of something right now, and will urge to try the four p’s. There is nothing! in my opinion to equal them, and os I said in the start, I have tried all the remedies advertised.”

Our reporter then called upon Messrs. Nye & Booe, the well known druggists, who said there were many in Crawfordsville besides Mr. Johnson who Ijifd reason to be grateful to Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills, for restored health and strength. Indeed, every one who uses Pink Pills speaks of them in the highest terms. An analysis of Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills shows that they contain in n condensed form, all the. elements necessary to give new life and richness to the blood and restore shattered nerves. They are an unfailing specific for such diseases as locomotor ataxia, partial paralysis. St- Vitus’ dance, sciatica, neuralgia, rheumatism, nervous headache, the after effects of la grippe, palpitation of the heart, pale and sallow complexions, all forms of weakness either ia male or female, and all diseases resulting from vitiated humors in the blood. Pink Pills are sold bv all dealers, or will be sent uos| paid oa receipt of nrice, (50 cents a box. or 6 boxes for $2.50) —bv addressing Dr. Williams’ Medicine Co., Schenectady, N. Y., or Brockville, Out.

Miss Eugenia de Forrest, an actress, who makes her home in San Jose, Cal., has received the sanction of the authorities of San Jose to wear men’s clothes in public and proposes to obtain a legal right to appear in the same garb all over the country. She made her appearance on the itreets of San Jose a few days ago In a double-breasted sack coat and waistcoat of dark material, trousers of a striped pattern and a derby hat of the latest stvle. In her hand she swung an ebony cane. She says she Is realizing the dream of her life, phe is tired of skirts, and as her stage appearances are mostly in male parts, she knows the greater comfort of male attire. It is reported that Mr. Rudvard KipHngintends bn make , a vi*it to London the coming spring.