Rensselaer Union, Volume 2, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1870 — CURRENT ITEMS. [ARTICLE]

CURRENT ITEMS.

' Caummutu hs* * million sores of Mor • tingle city official get* a cent of p*y st Treasure City, Nevada. DmotUM are applied in the Washington Life to make the policies larger. Cincinnati claim* to have lost sixtyfive reaident* by drowning thia year. Why ia a king who can’t talk like hi* dominion* f Because he ia a king dumb. The Stockholder* of the Washington only receive the intereat their own money earn*. The official report diapela the exaggeration! aa to the loss by the Constantinopie fire. Only 850 person* perished. Mains boasts of an eleven-year-old girl, “ who manages a mowing machine with the ease of a born former." Thh San Franciaoo Coroner’s annual report give* 452 cases during the part year —22 murders, 57 suicides, and 74 accident*. Once when a bad man died, a savage wit being apprised of the event, observed that the average value of mankind was sensibly raised.

Scon county, Ky., boasts of a hen that is nursing a pup, which she shelters and scratches for to the neglect ot her own offspring. ▲ young somnambulist recently in the harbor of Provincetown, Mass., leaped overboard, was rescued, and only awoke after safely reaching the deck. A notorious miser having heard an elegant charity sermon, exclaimed: ’’This sermon strongly proves the necessity of alm*. I have almost a mind to turn beggar." A California paper says a box of cherrits has been shipped to New York, the majority of which measure three and a half inches in circumference. It is said that a new hotel at Hampton Beach is to bear the title of the Quoquinnapssakesosanagnoc House. Tne proprietor wanted a name that was easy to remember. A lawyer in an Eastern city has conspicuously displayed In his c fUce the following suggestive notification: "Gentlemen who expectorate on the floor cannot expect to rate aa gentlemen." A Frenchman, wishing to compliment a girl as a “little lamb,” called her a “small mutton." He did not understand the technicalities of the English language. The French enamelers guarantee permanent beauty for 500 francs. It takes a month, during which the patient “ must not think of washing, nor even blow her nose." , li is estimated that America, when her productive power is fully developed, will oe-able to feed four times as many person* as there are now on the face of the earth. The first “money article” for a Philadelphia paper was written for the Ledger, July 1,1840, by Joseph Sailer, who has ever since conducted that department of the paper. In Lowndes county, Tenn., a few nights since, Dr. James C. Carroll, in applying at a house for assistance, was mistaken for a burglar by the landlord, who fired from a window, killing the doctor instantly. A St. Joseph, Mo., city councilman is reported to have delivered the following speech at a late meeting of the Council: “Mr. Mayor and gentlemen of the Council, let us put our heads together and make a wooden pavement.” A tradesman who had failed in the city of Bangor, wrote on his front door, “ Payment suspended for thirty days.” A neighbor reading this said, “ You have not dated the notice.” “ No,” said he, “ I do not intend to do so; it would run out if I did.” . Comparative Virtue.— A shopkeeper at Doncaster had for his virtues obtained the name of the little rascal. A stranger asked him why this appellation had been given to him. “To distinguish me from the rest of my trade,” quoth he, “who are all great rascals.” The famous trotting mare, Lady Thorne, met with an accident at Rochester, N. Y., a few days ago, which will probably disqualify her for the turf She fell from a bridge on which she was being led into a car, and dislocated a hip-joint. An enterprising deputy sheriff in Litchfield county, Conn., recently seized at a grocery store and removed with great care, two casks, one marked bourbon and the other rum, which were found on examination to contain eighty-eight gallons of stale rain water. A little nine year old girl named Annie Rosch, residing in Quincy, ILL, died recently from the effects of a needle which she accidentally run into her left breast * few days before. The needle was broken in attempting to extricate it, and it is supposed that theffiroken portion worked into the heart In New Yojk, a few months ago, a Frenchman borrowed $25 of a Frenchwoman, and left his daughter in pawn. The other day he wished to repay the loan, but the woman refused to give up the child, as she had become attached to her. The disconsolate parent made ineffectual attempts to recover his child, and finally appealed to the courts. In addressing a burglar for whom he was about to provide a home for a term of years, Judge Bedford,of New York, informed him that the Judge* of the court had decided to hold that every burglar entered a house intending to murder, if necessary, and to give such worthies twenty years in the Penitentiary. Never ask Questions in a Hurry.— “ Tom. a word with you.” “Be quick, then; I’m in a hurry.” “ What did you give your sick horse, t’other day ?" “ A pint of turpentine.” John hurries home, and administers the same dose to a favorite charger, which, strange to say, drops off defunct in half an hour. His opinion of Tom’s veterinary ability is somewhat staggered. He meets him the next day,. “ Well, Tom.” “Well, John, what is it»” “ I gave my horse a pint of turpentine and it killed him, dead as Julius Cmsar.” “So it did mine! ”

Thb Pittsburgh Commercial records the death of Mrs. Margaret Burns, in her 104th year, and adds: “ She never had a cough or any other lung disease in * her life; never wore spectacles, could see to thread a needle, and up to the time of taking to her bed could read her prayer book, which was in right large print. She always had excellent health, and never, under any circumstances, could she be induced to carry a cane. She had a >cmarkably good memory, and .could recognize without difficulty persons she had not seen for twenty years, an instance of this being afforded while she lay sick.” Whbat for Hobsbs,—-The Oneida Community. Circular of a recent date says: For the past month our horses have been fed wheat instead of corn. One bushel of wheat is mixed with two of oats, and the ground product fed with cut hay. The experiment was tried because corn was as high priced as wheat. Wheat has now risen fifteen cents per bushel, and consequently corn will be used again. The horses are, hqpvever, stronger and sleeker when fed on wheat. If barley does not command a good price next fall, the experiment will be made of feeding it to the horses, in imitation of the Arabic custom. ■ k sailor was called upon the stand as a witness. “ Well, sir, co you know the plaintiff and defendant ?” “I don’t know I

the drift of your word*,” answered ■ the sailor. “What! not know th* meaning of plaintiff and defendant t" continued the lawyer; “a pretty fellow, you,to come here aa a witness. Can you tell me where on board the ship it wa* that thia man (truck the other one J" " Abaft the binnacle,” answered the sailor. “Abaft the binnacle!" rejoined the lawyer, i “ what do you mean by that?’’ “A pretty fellow you," responded the sailor, “to oome here a* a lawyer, and don’t know what abaft the binnacle means!”

Thh Ban Francisco Bulletin, in noting the fact that the bay it foil of tiger shark*—a man having caught five in a abort time with a hook and line— throws in the following advice to small boys who disport themselves in the brine: “ The largest of these isjfl re feet long. It Is said that these fish are very fond of human beings for food, and usually swallow their victuals whole. While the five feet sharks demy to six feet men as a matter of convenience, they are especially fond of three feet and a half and four feet boys on account of both convenience of size and delicacy of fiber. Juvenile bathers should be exceedingly cautious until the tiger shark goes to sea,”

From the Springfleld (Mas*.) Republican we learn that a poet mortem examination showed that the recent death of a young lady at West Waterville, Mass, was caused by the use of a Jute “switch," the insects bred in it having eaten throufgi the skull and attacked the brain. Noting the operations of the pests upon the heads of the gentle sex in Springfield, the Republican says; “The disgusting little borers that fill the fibers of the jute plant, whether used in massive chignons or long bunches, are causing a lively and by no means pleasing excitement id various quarters Finding their way to the heads of their harborers, they burrow there until the scalp is raw, and in some cases affect the whole nervous system and craze the brain. In this city several women lie in danger of death from these loathsome insects; one of these dwells on the Hill, another on Dwight street, and the disease in its lesser forms is quite frequent

Dr. Gautz a celebrated German physiologist, has been applying himself for some time past to experimental investigations for the purpose of ascertaining to what extent internal refrigeration is injurious to the system. Arguing from the extent and number of the epigastric vessels, and their extraordinary influence upon the general pressure of the blood, Dr. Gautz hod been led to the conclusion that the extensive use of cold liquids must necessarily contract the minute arteries of the epigastric region and the adjacent organs, thereby increasing the arterial pressure of the blood, and inducing hemorrhage of the lungs, apoplexy, and kindred diseases. A series ot experiments upon dogs seemed to give positive proof that such was the natural result. It has been suggested that the startling number of what are termed sun-strokes which have occurred during the present season may have been Induced to some extent by the excessive consumption of ice-cold sodawater. Whether or not this idea has any genuine foundation, prudence would suggest a very guarded use of icy drinks at times when the system is in an overheated condition.