Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1874 — CURRENT ITEMS. [ARTICLE]

CURRENT ITEMS.

Tine chief cause of fires is carelessness of servants. In parts of Switzerland minors cannot use tobacco. At White Pine, Nev., mahogany is naed.for fuel. The ore richest in iron is the magnetic or black oxide. Hono Kong has about forty small steamers for harbor use. , Large bands of elks are reported in different parts of Oregon. Abundance of ozone is what makes Alpine resorts so healthy. Denmark is out of rabbits and has sent to France to buy 50,000. The Franklin Hotel at Worthington, Ind., was burned down recently. The Compulsory Education law of California went into effect Ist July. A rich vein of copper has been discovered at Rice’s Point, near, Duluth. As a rule, the rates for board everywhere are lower this year than last. British house-painters harden their hands by washing in oak-bark water. The submarine cable between Constantinople and Odessa has been laid. Woman’s glory is in her hair, but it is a good plan to tie it up when cooking. A vein of coal twenty-two inches thick has been discovered" near Louisville, Kan. Does anybody know why there is more dust inside the horse-cars than outside? These are the days in which to ask favors. Everybody is in a mcltine mood. The work of arching the Hoosac tunnel is well under way and progressing finely. They sell land in the region of Lake George, not by the acre but by the island. Ethan Allen, the famous trotting stallion, was sold recently in Kansas for $3,200. When a man parts his hair in the mid die the crease is very apt to strike into the brain. A woman at Lowell, Mass., who Weighs 891 pounds is ruining the hack business in that place. A Wisconsin book-agent has been killed by the kick of a horse — man’s most faithful friend. An old business sign in Philadelphia many years ago read; “ William Shot and Jonathan Fell.” Imagine how they exist in Florida without a daily paper. No w onder alligators are plenty. John Lane, of Omaha, Neb., is so tall that he can seize hold of a bar placed twelve feet high. Beauty and bashfulness are oftcD united, yet the loveliest maiden is admired for her cheek. The Italian Government proposes to establish a monopoly of the tobacco-rais-ing business in Sicily. Refusal on the part of a husband tc push the perambulator is to be madr ground for a divorce. Unfashionable persons say Lawng Br’nch, just as of yore ; fashionable persons say Lung Braanch. A Kentucky man was arrested and fined five dollars for making an unsuccessful attempt at suicide. A good way for parents to encourage cremation is to leave the matches where the children can get them. A fas with a watch on one side of the handle and a strong eye-glass on the other is the last thing out in Paris. The cotton factories of Columbus, Ga., have taken 6,442 bales of cotton thus far, an increase of 1,742 over last year. A man in Boston, in his hurry to assist a fainting lady, got a bottle of mucilage instead of camphor and bathed her face with it. The last excuse that young men offei to her mother is: “ Want to take he: over to the park and show’ her the comet ma’am.” The prize poetrj in the French Academy will be awarded in 1875 to the author of the best piece,of poetry on Livingstone. At last accounts over two thousand people were distributed amongthe Thousand Isles. That would be two persons to each isle. The mints of the United States and those of England, France and Germany won’t use any but Lake Superior copper in the manufacture of coin. A lecturer aptly demonstrates the theory that heat generates motion by pointing to a boy who accidentally sat down on a piece of lighted punk. There is a man in Indianapolis who declaims the “Quarrel of Fitz-James and Roderick Dhu” in such a way as to make the shirt collars wilt.’ An lowa paper predicts that in live Sears every barrel of Western flour will e sent East in barrels of paper, made from the straw the wheat grew on. A dispatch from Brownsville, Tex., reports the first bale of cotton shipped to New Orleans a few days since from the r&nche of J. Hynes, at Santa Maria. A boiler in the Eagle Iron Works at Terre Ilaute, Ind., exploded the other day, badly scalding Wm. Fisher, the engineer. He .will probably die of his in)uries. At Lebanon, Ind., recently, Eliza J. Beckham, aged seventy-five years, while engaged in picking cherries,’ fell from a step-ladder, and striking upon her head was instantly killed. “ Please, sir,” said a little girl who was sweeping a crossing for a living, “you have given me a bacl penny." “Never mind, little girl, you may keep it for your honesty.” “ I’d hate to be in your shoes,” said a woman of the East Side, recently, as she was quarreling with a neighbor. “You couldn’t get in them,” sarcastically remarked the neighbor. The Chicago doctors are trying with lamb’s blood to feed the lambent flame of life in a consumptive patient. Doubtful if they succeed thus in pulling the wool over the fell destroyer. “ Have yon seen my black-faced antelope?” inquired Mr. Leoscope, who had a collection of animals, of his, friend Bottlejack. “No, I haven’t. Whom did your black-faced aunt elope with?” Mount Ranter, in Washington Territory, gives token of being in active volcanic eruption. Immense volumes of dense, black smoke were seen issuing from the side of the mountain recently An orator who bad raised his audience to a great height by his lofty roarings exclaimed: “Twill now close in the beautiful language of the poet—l forget his name-—and—and— l forget what he saffc too." . A politician, wishing to compliment a well-to-do farmer, said: “You must have begun life early to accumulate such an as this.” “Yes," replied the farmer, “I began life when I was a mere “Dear me, how fluidly he talks!” said Mra. Partington, recently, at a temper- , anee meeting. “I am always rejoiced when he mounts the nostril, for his eloquence warn* every cartridge in- my There are 52,Olflgwater wheels in operation is American manufacturing eptabl|*hmeat*. giving a power of 1,130,41fi hor*et; while J&iagm, Fall* give, *

power of 11,868,036. ‘When will it be utilized? ■ Chief-Justice Waite- has bought a large lot on Rhode Island avenue, in Washington, of Atty.-Gen. Williams, and adjoining the latter’s fine property. The ChiefJustidfe proposes to build al handsome residence. An honest dame in New’ York standing beside the cotpse of her deceased husband, bewailing in piteous tones his untimely ; departure, observed: “ It’s a pity he’s dead, for his teeth are as good ap ever they were.” Col. Forney, Jr., well known in Centennial City society, was recently married in Paris to a daughter of Mr. John Lockwood, of the same city. Those who were present write home that it was a “ beautiful wedding.” The Dominion of Canada conies for ward with a girl of fifteen who recently ate for her dinner two pounds of beefsteak, one iargeioaf of bread, with half a pound of butter, a small measure of potatoes, and witlial three pints of baked beans.