Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1871 — CURRENT ITEMS [ARTICLE]

CURRENT ITEMS

Bosom Friends—Twin babies. The Woman Question—ls ho married. The “Dry Bones” of History— Mummies. Private-earing— Listening at a keyhole. How to Make a Hot-Bed—Set the mattress on fire. Tradesmen often get their living by various weighs. Insure your life in the Washington to the amount your farm is mortgaged for. In Massachusetts 33,961 females pay taxes on a total valuation of $131,683,393.28. The Mutual Life, of Chicago, is one of the safest and most successful companies in the country. A conclusive argument against suicides is, that it is the bight of impoliteness to go anywhere until you are sent for.

A young man who was caught straining his sweetheart to his bosom the other night justifies himself on the ground that he has a right to strain his own honey. We. read of a girl who was lately choked to death by her lover’s encircling arms. This is a warning to ladies to keep their alabaster necks out of (b)armsway. Tns whites of ten eggs saved the life of Jesse Crary, of Mystic, Conn., after the foolish boy had eaten a slice of buttered cake spread with arsenic, which his mother had prepared for black ants. T. B. Alice, w.ho is now in Pittsburgh (Penn.,) jail, is reported to have circulated more c muterfeit money than almost any other nmn of his nefarious trade in the entire country. He usually managed to “ shove ” on an average, about f 50,000 a month. A letter adddressed: “To Eny Prom incut Buisaniss Man Handclling Butchers Stock Quincy Ill.,” and containing the following marginal direction: “Post master will pleas hand this to some fat cattle ma'n,” was received at the post-office in Quincy a few days ago. A happy home is the one spot in all this beautiful world where the most perfect rest is found, and the most undivided confidence given. Its joys are like the flowers of paradise, perpetual in their fragrance and most delicate in their beauty.

At Fitchburg, Massachusetts, the other evening, a widow lady named Smith had occasion to reprove her son, about seventeen years of age, for some misconduct, whereupon he drew a pistol from his pocket and shot himself through the heart. A -correspondent of the London Publishing Circular points out the following curious typographical errors, oceuring in “Nuttall’s Pocket Dictionary”: “Aspen, a kind oi popular tree; Lac,a kind of gun; Madder, a plant much used in dying; Soot, condemned smoke." According to the law of England, as interpreted by the Court of Chancery in a recent case, a dead father has more Jurisdiction over a child’s education than a flying mother. A widowed mother has no rights that the relatives of a deceased husband are bound to respect. “ Her duty is to bring up her child according to the faith which the father , professed when he was alive, even though she utterly disap prove? of it," says the court. The latest revised figures of the census of A'ew York State shows a proportion of foreign-born population less than in 1855. In all the cities and towns except New York, there were, in 1855, 011,585 foreign born; in 1870, the number was 715,609. The nalive-born citizens have increased from 2,309,411 to 2,710,472. The foreignborn, in 1855, constituted 24J4 per cent, of the population of the State, outside of New York city. Now the per centage is less than 21. , „

Uncle Sam— a down East farmer, known far and wide by his patriotic title —had a neighbor who was in the habit of working on Sundays, but after a while this Sabbath breaker joined the church. One day our friend met the minister to whose church he belonged, “ Well, Uncle Sam,” said he, *‘ do you see any difference in Sir. P since he joined the church? ’ “ Oh, Yes,” said Uncle Sam, “ a great difference. Before, when he went out to mend his fences on Sunday he carried his ax on his shoulder, but now he carries it under his coat” A few weeks ago, a dispatch was received at San Francisco from the headquarters of the weather signal corps at Washington, stating that a storm might be expected in California that day. The storm had already begun, and was pretty general throughout the State, being especially severe in portions of the Sacramento Valley, where it was accompanied by terrific thunder and lightning. The San Francisco Bulletin says this is the second time the present season that storm predictions from Washington, where observations from all parts of the Union are received and compared, have been promptly realized. A plant in Ceylon has a singular prevision sos the distribution of its seeds. These are contained in a circular head which is composed of spine-like divisions that radiate in all directions, making a diameter of eight or nine inches. When the seeds are ripe for distribution these spherical heads with their elastic spines, are blown away by the winds ana roll, swiftly over the level shore for miles, dropping seeds as they go. If they come to water they float easily, and their spines serve as sails, so that they can cross estuaries. , A plant valuable for taking root in the sand, and protecting the shores from erosion, is thus widely distributed, as it could not be in any other way in a barren, birdless region. Ah Irish woman who fcame to this country about a year ago, and settled in Pennsylvania recently, grew so homesick that she became insane and attempted to starve herself; taking no food for twentytwo days. At the end of that time she was helpless, and was promised if she would eat she would be taken back to Ireland. She made her friends set the time

at two weeks in w*ch ■he was to start, and as they were net reedy st the exact day she took to her oR| tricks win. Hoeing it was useless to p%t her off they commenced the journey, *hcn she began to recover reason and health at once, and Is probably now as well and happy as any one.