Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 February 1895 — Page 6
TOPICS OF THESE TIMES.
,_•* about the weather The Chinese war, the gold reserve, the Hawaiian insurrection, the unspeakable Senate and the Roby race track are all topics of. these times; but these subjects are for a day, and interest wanes with each descending eun. Unlike these passing episodes, the weather forms a perrennial (ount of observation and'Casual con-
ABANDONING THE FISHING BENTEEN EMMA BETWEEN SWINBURNE AND HOFFMAN ISLANDS, IN NEW YORK BAY.
versation. The different phase's of the moon and stages of the ever changing tides and waves, and the altitude or depression of the malicious thermometer form an ever-liv-ing theme for paragraphers and poets, and play no unimportant part in the industrial world as affording employment, to telegraphers and printers and all the allied crafts and trades. Like a motion to “the weather’' is always in order, and it may well be denominated a very “previous question,” the unsurinountabie difference being that it can not be “moved”—nor even carried unanimously. The weather is a law unto itself and “sticketh closer than a brother.” The topic n eve r pal Isnorfa ils to r 0 use an in terest in the minds of living men and women. The weather in fact is a topic of all times-*-of the fading past, the glowing present, and the swiftly dawning future. Where would we be without the weather, indeed. This brings us to remark that we have enjoyed considerable weather during the winter of ’94-’95. The settlers in the great Northwest, the ranchers of the Texas plains, the ice-bound sailors on our eastern; seaboard, and the brave and hardy mariners who come into Atlantic, ports upon seemingly steaming icebergs—all are •Unanimously of the opinion that the weather is worth talking about. In fact, the weather is about the only thing that Jias been “in sight” for several weeks. Various theories have been advanced to account for ■ the mildness of out —winters of late years. Everybody knows that all old settlers will contend that our winters now a-days are mere trifles compared to those of fifty years ago. History, also, can be cited to sustain their assertion's. In 1063 the Thames river in England was frozen over for fourteen weeks. In 1323 the Baltic eea was frozen over, and for three months travelers passed from the continent to Sweden on the ice. This circumstance again occurred in 1460. In 1740 the Thames was again
frozen for elevon weeks, forest birds perished and the very trees were split with' the frost. The harbor of Barcelona, Spain, was also frozen over in the same winter; The win ter of 1812-13 was the hardest ever known in Europe in modern timefi. This was the winter that' Napoleon retreated from Moscow and lost 400,000 men from cold and hunger. In 1863-64 a severe cold wave swept over the whole of North America. The thermometer fell to 60 below in Minnesota, and
THE UMBRIA ENTERING THE NARROWS.
'the ' [Mississippi- was frozen as far south as Cairo. Prof. Sloane, of Indianapolis,- during the winter of 1893-'94, in an article in the Indianapolis News, advanced the theory that the four lines of Pacific railroads had been important factors in bringing about what he assumed to be an actual change in our climate The theory advanced was that the rails had acted as electrical conductors and had equalized the magnetic conditions existing on the Pacific
coast and the countrv east of the Rockies, thereby bringing to us the mild winters which are assured in that favored clime bevond the great divide. So far as known the rails are still down on the four Pacific road?, but Prof. Sloane has not been heard from in explanation of why they have failed to “equalize” things in this blessed year of grace. The Indianapolis Journal, however, came to the front on the morning of Feb. 8, th e coldest day of the season, _
THE TEUTONIC AS SHE APPEARED FEB. 9, PASSING THROUGH THE NARROWS
with the following article on “Climatic Changes,” which is about as neat a bit of satire as we have seen lately: “Evidence that the climate in this portion of the Western hemisphere is changing appears in the fact that
we do not have any more cold winters. The records of the Weather bureau only extend back some twenty-five years, but tradition and folklore have preserved a store of weather wisdom much further back than that. Many of the oldest inhabitants now living hud grandparents, who, in turn, had ancestors who could touch hands with others whose memories ran well back toward the first settlement of the country. The interesting and trustworthy traditions thus preserved
and handed down- from -generationto generation, bequeathed, as .it were,-from freezing sire to frozen son, leave no doubt that the early winters were sometimes very cold. The ice used to form on running streams so thick that a wagon could be driven across safely, provided horses were attached to draw it. Snow would sometimes lie on the ground two or three weeks. Domestic fowls have been known to freeze to death on their roosts, and quails and Other wild birds to perish from cold. Men’s ears were often frostbitten and chilblains. were very common. It is needless to say we have no such weather now. The climate has changed. Our winters nowadays are comparatively open and mildcooler than summer,- of course, as winter should be, but nothing like ■ the winters of former times, It is a rare thing nowadays for water to freeze on a stove heated dav and night by natural gas. The ice on running streams seldom forms more than eight or ten inches thick, and not more than twelve or fifteen inches even on still water. If domestic fowls-are ever frozen-it-is—because they do not exercise enough. Great numbers of quails perish, but that is probably due to insufficient food. Many persons think our modern winters cold, but that is because the race is deteriorating and becoming enervated. If they could realize how cold it used to be they would be able to get a practical as well as a scientific understanding of the great change which our climate has undergone, resulting in the mild and open winters we now enjoy. “Whether this change is due to a i shifting of the axis of the earth, caused by a gradual retardation in , the procession of the equinoxes, t( , the slow sinking of the Western continent, causing a corresponding in [.crease in the weight of superiucum-
ment atmosphere, or to the operation of electrical forces whose origin and mission are as yet a mystery, is not the purpose of this article to discuss. The interesting fact established by traditions and folklore is that our climate is changing; —Some time, perhaps, science will be able to determine why it is that we do not have any more cold weather.” The people of Indiana have suffered, in many cases, from the severity of this winter’s cold, but we really have no conception of the terrors of a severe winter when we compare our comparative comfort with the terrors that have made this season so notable on land and sea in other climes. We append a few engravings from the New York World which will enable the reader to grasp the idea of the terrific grandeur of old winter in New York harbor. The stories told by incoming mariners at New York during the week ending Feb. 11 were of the most thrilling character, but lack of space forbids their publication in our columns.
Woman's Hair Turned White.
Portland Transcript. A Portland young lady received a few days ago a letter from a friend who appealed for aid in finding something to restore the blackness of her hair. The friend had suffered almost unendurably from neuralgia in the head, and had tried many vaunted remedies. Finally she was advised to have her hair shaved or cut extremely close, and adopted this desperate measure. The result of the experiment has been that with its renewed growth the hair is appearing perfectly white, though.it had been previouslv very dark, and the wearer is terribly chagrined at the unexpected change. The effect upon the neuralgia was favorable.
BIG BUILDING FOR NEW YORK.
Talk of a Structure to Cost $100,000,000 or Such a Trifle. Chicago Tribune. ■ New York people are talking of a building or a series' of buildings which are to be connected, the total Cost of which is to be $100,000,000. The-plans have been drawn, and the only thing which now remains in the way of its speedy completion is the site upon which to build it and the money to pay for its construction. These are matters of detail, however, and as the elevation has been drawn for the building New York papers are al ready talk ing about the completed structure. The project is not the construction of a tenement house, or a flat, or an, office building or factory, but a community in itself in which all things are to be provided under a single roof, with churches, schools, theaters, libraries, museums,, assembly halls, bath rooms, dining rooms, an observatory roof garden, and other things which it is thought might add to the happiness or comfort of the people who would take up residence within its walls. The main building will be nine stories high, and it is intended to have the various parts of the building grouped about a central structure thirty stories in hight. The library that is talked about is to include works on law, on medicine and on literature, in fact, a complete library, containing not only all sorts of works, but works in all the known languages. The size of this one-hand red-million-dollar city will be too great for any one block of ground, therefore they talk of getting four or more blocks and connecting them with underground tunnels and overhead inclosed passageways. There are to be flats of all sizes, and the occupants may either keep house or only have rooms and take their meals in. the numerouus dining rooms. Solidity of construction is the principal feature aimed at, and while there will be no extraordinary attempts at ornamentation, there will still be many features adding to its beauty and grandeur. There are to be immense baths built on the Roman plan, and in every way the building is expected to be a model, not of its kind, for there are none like it, but one which will stand alone in the history of building and of architecture.
CHANGE OF SEASON.
Summer and Winter See a Difference in the Ethics of Courtship. [Detroit Free Press. When the two girls met on Woodward avenue the other morning there was a look of recognition flashed back and forth, which would convey to any but the most obtuse the knowledge that there was something of interest between them. - -It was too public right there to go into details, so they hurried along to a a quieter place on a side street when the younger one gave way to her curiosity. “Did Frank come up last night? she asked excitedly. “Of course. Hasn’t he been every night for two weeks?” ‘ Did he propose?” The other girl blushed. “Yes,” she answered. “And did you accept him?** “Certainly.” The first one showed her disappointment ' “Oh,” she exclaimed, “what did you do that for?" “What should I have done?” asked the other in astonishment. “Why, made him wait a week and ask again, o£ course,” The older one actually whistled her surprise. “Well, I guess not,” she said. .“This isn’t summer time,” Then they both laughed and came back on to Woodward avenue and went chattering along volubly.
For Women Who Weep.
Chicago Times. ‘ The woman who has wept until her eyelids and her nose are purple, her eyes bloodshot and her face swollen always feels a trifle embarrassed when she has to receive callers or go down to dinner immediately. She ■frequently —in makes a bad matter worse by washing her face in cold water. If she will, instead, bathe it gently with rose water for a few minutes and then lie down for a few more with a soft rag saturated in rose water over her eyes, she will be prepared to face any company.
An Indiana Story.
Washington Post. This is an Indiana story. It was an Indiana woman who told it to me. and I am not responsible for it. Somebody gave this woman and her sister a cat. They cherished it tenderly, and it became the apple of their eye. They named it Ben Harrison. One morning Ben Harrison did not appear as usual, but diligent search discovered not only the missing eat. but a brand new and vigorous family of kittens. So they named Ben Harrison Ben-Hur.
The Path to Success.
Toledo Bee. The first, move necessary to break into the United State Senate is to get born in Ohio, and the next is to have the price of a seat. After you get in you can live in New York or any old place. It is not absolutely necessary that you have red hair oy billy-goat whiskers, but if nature has done that much for you so much the better. There’s nothing succeeds like success and being born in Ohio. Says a fashion note: ‘'The return of the shawl is prophesied.” And now will somebody be sufficiently brave to predict the return of the umbrella?
DEPLORED HIS OWN WEAKNESS.
Uncle Josiah's Habit of Exaggeration Too Deeply Hooted for Eradication.. .■ : \ There lived down in Cambridge, Ind., a well-known old gentleman by the name of Josiah Nixon who in early boyhood had acquired the habit of gross exaggeration, says the Indianapolis Sentinel. The habit had grown upon him so that he believed that everything he said was the truth, no matter how great the exaggeration. After he had reached the ripe old age of three score and ten some of the deacons in the church thought his peculiarity was too much like lying to pass unnoticed, and it was . decided, after a great deal of consideration, that the old gentleman must be churched. One evening, while he was seated in front of his door telling a small circle of neighbors about the way pioneers had to live, the gate opened and the delegation of deacons filed in. “Yes,” the old gentleman was saying, “we had hard times then. I lived two years on grass and hickory bark on Sundays, We used to call Sundays 'bark days’ on that account," and that's the only way we could tell when Sunday come. Bears! I see twelve hundred great big varmints onc’t around our camp, and I killed —” “Uncle Josiah,” broke in one of the deacons, “we have come to see you about this habit of yours. You have the unpleasant habit of forgetting. the truth when talking, and we Save come to remonstrate with you.” “I know it, deacon,” replied the old man, as he looked around. “I know it, and I want to tell you that I have grieved over that failin’ of nine five hundred thousand times a lay for the past two hundred years.”
Health-Hints for Boys.
Tapper's Young People. In the first place always rise at the same time in the morning. ~ Lying abed Sunday morning three Hours later than any other day in the week is not really any pleasanter and besides, —it throws the whole scheme of your meals out for that day. I know a family—and they ought to know better—who have breakfast at eight on all weekdays, lunch at one, and dinner at six. On Sundays, that is once in seven days, they have breakfast at ten, dinner at one, and a hearty supper at five. The result is that by seven o’clockSunday night every one in the family feels stuffed, unnatural, tired, cross, and everything else that is disagreeable. Don’t do this. Eat breakfast at the same time every morning in the week. If at eight on .Tuesday, then at eight on Sunday* And'the same, with lunch and dinner, or dinner and supper. When you get out of bed in the morning, strip and go through a five-minute exercise, after studying particular partsof your body and what muscles arc weak. By going through these exercise, whatever they are, for five minutes, you will end by being in a glow, perhaps in a perspiration. Then take a bath. Don’t make the mistake some people make of thinking that the water must always be cold as it runs out of a cold faucet on as it comes of the pump. That is wrong. Englishmen very often do this; but the ture in England is much eve»er than in the middle latitudes of the United States, and consequently “water the temperature of the air" does not mean water that is nearly ice one morning and comparatively warm the next. A good plan is to let cold water run until the bath is perhaps three inches deep. Then put in a little warm water. That takes the chill off the water, and then it will not give any one a shock. A bath can be had in any house on the earth.and no one can say that he ?a 11 not ba the eve ry mor ni n g beca us e there is no bath-tub in his house. There is always water near a civilized" bouse, or any house, for that matter ind you can pump it or carry it to you room the night before if there is oo running water in the house. If there is no bath-tub, get a hat-bath >r, if you cannot well do that, take a big tub, but on no account give up the bath. Afterwards give yourself a long ind hard rub until your skin is red—ind then the day is well begun.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
Western Australia was first settled in 1829 as the Swan river settlement and for many years the population was very small, but in the end of 1889 it had risen to 43,332. A curious custom prevails at the coal pits on Hogmanay, in Scotland. The first man to come up the pit after his work is over is received with a shovejjul of hot ashes, which, being prepared for he dodges as best he can, while the last man gets a bucketful of cold water thrown at him. What is said to be the largest ice rink in the world has just been opened in London. The hall measures 22,000 square feet, of which 10,000 are covered with ice, manufactured at the rate of eight tons a day. There is a panorama of Niagiraqn winter in the background. I It has befen decided to establish a torpedo school at Chatham, Eng land, so as to avoid the inconvenience and expense of sending I dedway steam reserve men to the torpedo school ships at- Portsmouth Ind Devonport for instruction in that branch of naval warfare.
NOT HIS BLIND DAY.
The Free Ltrfich Fiend Can See Cer- ■. tain Signs. Bloomington Eye. \
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PEOPLE.
Prince Swengesletcheff of Russia has come to this country to study our prison system. A good many so-called ponces get inside information Of our prisons. > Simon Bolivar, the South American patriot, was a little man, only five feet four inches in bight. He never smoked, but was fond of dancing and lolling in a hammock. The lot on which the Blaine mansion in Washington stands was owned at one time by Henry Clay. He traded it to Commodore Rogers for an Andalusian jackass, one of four animals of the kind brought to the United States by the Commodore. Mr. Clay lost the jackass at the card table, but subsequently regained possession of it and sen t it to Virginia, where it became the ancestor of a strain of mules famous to this day. The dwelling house itself was built by Commodore Rodgers. Albert Chevalier, the London character singer, has hitherto resolutely refused all offers to his.songs in a private house. When Lord Rothschild offered him 50 guineas to sing a couple of ditties in his drawing room he declined, and even when Princess Louise sent a special messenger to-endeavor to secure liis services for a party at Kensington Palace he felt bound to excuse himself. Judge Geiger, a Kansas official in Phillipa county, . sentenced his son-in-law to eighteen months in the Deniteutiary for burglary recently-