Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 December 1875 — BREVITIES. [ARTICLE]

BREVITIES.

A Moonlight Maiden —Sarah Nade. Distant Relatives—Our foreigli relations. Kerr-ent Literature —Puns on the Speaker. > Some Kansas papers are urging silkgrowing in Kansas. A man horn without feet must necessarily be no-to-rious. A cow 'weighing 1,450 pounds is claimed by Berks County, Pa. Virginia City, Nev., consumes from two to three tons of fish daily. Fifteen thousand sheep have been imported into Montana the present year. History classes, it is said, will take the place of spelling-schools this winter. Lack of bands has caused the stoppage of the Wilmington (N. C.) c&tton sac-

tory. Japanese paper-napkins are in use in a number of the cheap eating-houses in New York. A Bill of Sail—Tweed.— New York Commercial Advertiser. A-dieu Bill— That $6,000,00®. The last season is said to have been one of the best for years for the White fountain hotels. Thus far fifty-seven different conventions have been called at Philadelphia during the centennial year. Two hundred and fifty-two friendless dogs were slaughtered by the San Francisco pound-keeper in November. The New York papers tell about a “ drawback on sugar.” That’s nothing. There has been a fearful pull-back on ’lasses all summer. Burlington, Vt., is growing in importance as a lumber center. A shipment of 5,000,000 feet of pine lumber was recently made to South America. The New York Evening Post says that if the city charities had been wholly forgotten in Mr. Astor’s will the public disappointment would have been less. One of the attractive features of our foreign trade is that American photographs find a large sale in London on account of their superiority over English photographs. The whip trade at Westfield, Mass., is very dull, and nearly all the large factories are running on reduced time, and have large quantities of manufactured goods on hand. The he was a kyid Sheriff named Connor, Who said: ” Aiming thieves there is honor; Get a livery boss And coupe fcr the Boss." In an hour Wm. M. was a goner. X " —A. Y. Graphic. A bank President of Lancaster, Pa., has been arrested for assaulting an orange boy, who importuned him to buy of his wares. The President whipped the lad, who caused his arrest. A newly-married couple in Lewiston, Me., who had just gone to housekeeping, had pudding and milk for their first sbpper, declaring that they wanted to begin as they could hold out. A physician who does not possess a regular diploma from an established medical college, or who has not practiced 1 medicine in the Stale for five years, must stop doctoring in Nevada. A high Uhlan officer of the Prussian Guards has been sent-nced to a year and a half’s imprisonment in a military fortress for being married to a young lady who was not of noble birth.

In Gloversville, N. Y., the glove trade has steadily increased until the sales last year footed up Some $5,000,000. There are 211 manufactories and the hands employed number 3,000 persons. YOung loafers in Minneapolis are diverting themselves by disturbing religious meetings. A number of them had to be ejected from a cliapel the other evening before the services could go on. “John,” said a fopd wife, enthusiastically, pointing out to her husband a little shop on Main street, “ when you die I’m going to take the insurance and buy that little place and set up millinery.” The threatened lock-out among the iron-workers of Pittsburgh, Pa., has been averted by mutual concession. The price for puddling has been fixed upon at $4.75 per ton, to continue in'force until Feb. 14. The shoe-manufacturers of Rochester, N. Y., at a rccerft meeting, formally resolved to sustain the 2b per cent, reduction in wages. The new rule went into full operation in all the shops on Dec. 15.

The Russian Duke who stole his mother’s diamonds and gave them to an American adventur ss repinis in the Caucasus Mountains —an exile from home on account of his innate good-for-nothing-ness. Two teaspoonfuls of finely-powdered charcoal drank in a half a tumbler of witfer will often give relief to the sickheadache, when caused, as in most cases it is, by a superabundance of acid on the liver. The son of Patrick Casey, of Calais, Me., of course did nqt mean to kill his father when he strung a rope across the road a few days ago; but it was night, and the father fell over it and is not expected to live. • The Troy Press says: “A teacher in one of our prominent female seminaries on the Hudson, on being asked by a young lady of her class what pig-iron is, replied^”’ Iron given in exchange for swine!” When the weather is wet and gloomy, the people commit suicide, and when it is cold and brisk they go skating and get drowned. This is what makes it so very hard for “Old Prob” to decide which kind to deal out. When you are on the way to your mar-

riage, young man, there is no necessity of looking as though you were on tie way to a bank you know had busted. A brave man meets misery witli a smile. — Mapfield (Eg.) Monitor. An exchange says fashionable young people are calling upon somebody to invent a new dance. Suppose somebody invents one wherein the young lady dances around the house and looks after everythin?.— Chicano Tribune. “ Oh, I’ll make you hate the whole sex!” said a Virginia (Nev.) woman to her roving husband last week. And then she carved him with the bread-knife to such an extent that he is not likely to leave the house for weeks to come. A Mississippi doctor personated Gen. Beauregard in a sleeping-car at Milan, Miss., for the purpose of securing a berth after all had been engaged. Thera ■ was some confusion w hen the real General, who w r as in the car and overheard the conversation, revealed himself. The Parisians are beginning to talk anew about an underground railway in their city. They began the process soon after the establishment of the one in London, but now they think they must have it, and accordingly plans are being prepared for submission to the authorities. In the German Parliament the parties are divided as follows: National Liberals, 146; tlie Center, 93; Party of Progress, 37; German Imperialists, 32; Conservatives, 30; Poles, 19, and 50. Independents, including the Alsatians, the Social Democrats and the impracticables generally. To Tan Sheep-Skins.—Pulverize together two parts saltpeter and one ot alum; rub the flesh side well with this mixture, in a little water; double the skin together and roll tightly, lay in a cool place four or five days, then clean and rub. This will tan any kind of skin with the hair on.

Pickled Mutton Hams. —Three gallons soft water, one pound coarse sugar, two ounces saltpeter, three pounds common salt. Boil and remove the scum, and when cold pour over the meat. In two or three weeks the ham will be excellent for baking or boiling. It may be smoked if preferred. * If you will carry business problems into the bosom of your family, dream over them at night, and get absorbed in them again while making your morning toilet —if you will do this, why, don’t expert your wife to sympathize with your 'efforts to sharpen your tooth-brush on your razorstrop, that’s all. , v The London College for Working-Women-is meeting with great success. It has been attended during the past year by 431 students. Of this number about 350 were employed during the day in shops and various trades which afford occupation for women. The college is open in the evening only. Forty-six chests filled with Phoenician antiquities, collected in Tunis by M. de Sainte Marie, were on board the Magenta at the time of the explosion on that vessel. Not less than 2,083 Phoenician inscriptions were in the collection. Fifteen of the chests have already been recovered from the wrecks Bridegrooms in Oregon do not take kindly to the “ horning” system. A chivari party .gathered about the residence of Air. S. F. Johnson, at Forest Grove, where there was a newly-married couple. The result was that half a dozen of the mock musicians found themselves soundly thrashed, and the sport came to a speedy end. Hiiip-building’ is looking up again in Maine. Bath reports that there have been built in that district since Jan. 1, 1875, eleven ships, three barks, one barkentine, sixteen schooners, two steamers and two Sloops, aggregating 22,200 tons, and there are now on the stocks five ship?, six schbbhers and one bark, with an estimated aggregate of 8,000 tons. A coRRESi*t)NDENT of a Canadian paper writes as 0 'follows; “I have obtained all the lard oil that I have needed for several years by making a hole in the bottom of the keg ami tacking a piece of thin muslin over it, which will let the oil runoff. Oil made up in this way is the best and purest quality, and leaves tlie lard firmer and better than before.”

Little Willie, having hunted in all the corners for his shoes, at last appears to give them up, and, climbing on a chair, betakes himself to a big book on a side table. Mother says to him: “ What is darling doing with the book?” “It ith the dictionary; papa lookth in the dictionary for thingth, and I’m looking in to thee if I can find my thoeth.” A retriever dog, whose owner was working in a garden in an English town, lately killed a favorite cat that frequented the same grounds. Having committed this unprovoked murder, the dog deliberately took the cat in his mouth, carried it some distance, dug a deep hole behind some bushes, and alter depositing the body therein so carefully replaced the earth that, had he not been observed, there would have been no evidence of his crime. , Wm. B. Astor made the following bequests : To the American Bible Society, $10,000; to the Society for the Relief o 1 Respectable Aged Indigent Females,. .$5,000; to the Institution lor the Blind, $5,000; to the New York Lying-in Asylum, $5,000; to the Ladies’ Repository, $5,000; to the Exempt Firemen’s Benevolent Fund of the Volunteer Fire Department, $lO,000. He also added $200,000 to previous gifts to the Astor Library. After reasonable beouests to various members of his own ana the Astor family generally, the great bulk of the property was given to his two sons.

In a work describing the present condition of the domestic industries of Russia, M. Weshniakoff states that not less than 30,000,000 of wooden spoons are annually made in that country, the Industry having its great center in the district of Semenow. Poplar, aspen, maple and box are the woods used for this purpose, and the cost of . the spoons varies from about $5 to S2O per thousand. The first operation consists in cutting the wood into the proper lengths and making these up into bundles; the latter are sold in the markets and are often procured from long distances. The second stage is that of forming the bowl of the spoon; the third shaping the handle; and the fourth and last, dyeing them of a vellow colbr. The power of the French, as a nation to find some good use for everything was never more strikingly illustrated than in the case of a woman who has established, near Paris, an institution for the propagation of the ant species. She has inured herself to the stings of her pet insectsand handles them with perfect confidence. From every brood born in her preserves she selects the best “ layers’’ to rear, and their eggs are sold at a fair price, to birdfanciers, as food for pheasants. The police see to it that she keeps her ant-house a good distance out of the city, and a number of agents are continually scouring the forests in the rural districts of France and capturing large nests of ants to send to hey. Her establishment is,

therefore, not only“fio nuisance to her neighbors, but a positive blessing to thousands of farming people.— N. Y. Evening Post. A married woman named Boyon has been condemned to death at the Lot Assizes, in France, for murdering her seven children and a grand-daughter by pushing •needles into their bodies. She had ten children, seven of whom died while less than twelve months old, but it was not till the death of her grand-daughter that an investigation was made. Her apparent motive for this last crime was that the child might die before its father, -who was in a desperate condition, and that she might thus secure part of his property, to the prejudice of her daughter-in-law, whom she detested. When asked how she came to think of sticking needles into her children’s bodies, she said that at the publichouse she kept there was one day a conven ation on infanticide, and it was said babies did not suffer when murdered in this way. The jury in thiscase could discover no extenuating circumstances. Louisiana rice-planters have had suggested to them a plan for utilizing ficestubble which, if taken’ advantage of, will result in an addition to the marketable products of that State. It is proposed to save the stubble left after harvesting the second crop and bale it in the same manner as grass hay and apply it to the same use—as fodder for cattle. For this purpose it is said to have no equal. It .contains more nutriment than oats and it is eaten with greater avidity by nearly all kinds of live stock. It is thought that if properly baled it will in a short time find a good market, and will bring fully as much money as the rice itself. Besides being remunerative in this manner, it will dispense with the offensive odor that proceeds from the Stubble under the effects of heat and rain during the months of August and September. — Massachusetts Ploughman. An old gentleman residing between this place and Icksburgjhad a large locust tree cut and the trunk taken to a saw-mill and cut into 2W-inch planks about twelve years' ago. The planks he put in a dry place to season, where they remained until about a month ago, when he delivered them to a cabinet-maker to manufacture into a coffin for himself, which was accordingly done. Last week the coffin was delivered to the old gentleman well finished and neatly made. He admired it very much and pl aced himself in it to see if it was a “good fit.” He ordered the lid to be put on that he might see how it goes to be shut up in a coffin. He then gave orders that they should bury him in a secluded spot in the woods where the devil could not find him. After marking out a spot and blazing the trees to the place, he pronounced himself ready to die, saying he had made ample preparations.—Newport {Pa.) News.