Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1876 — CENTENNIALITIES. [ARTICLE]

CENTENNIALITIES.

—The next convention of the chief en gineers of the fire departments of the United States will be held in Philadelphia Sept. 1. . 1 —By a note from Burnet Lanilreth, Chief of Bureau of Agriculture, It appearatliatas early as July 14th, applies tions for 9,500 dishes for fruit had been made.for the great Centennial Exhibition of Sept. 11—10 at Philadelphia. “This, ladies,” said a Centennial showman in the zoological department, “ this is the wild duck; a fowl of Well-known migrations habits.” “Migrations, let’s have a look at him,” screamed an old lady In the back part of the crowd.

—According to the statistics presented at the Centennial Exposition by the Department of Agriculture, there are 1,668,900 sheep in lowa, while there are 6,760,000 in California, and 4,546,000 in Ohio. Only six States ahead of lowa, which has 800,000 more than Illinois, 400,000 more than Indiana, and about the same ahead of M issouri . —lowa State Register. , —The Philadelphia Timet, in an elaborate statistical article,puts down the worth of fine Centennial show as follows: Buildings, $5,949,000, contents, $97,342,350; total, $104,820,840. A large proportion of the exhibits are articles which, while having little or no intrinsic value, could not be purchased probably for all that the rest of the Exhibition i 3 worth, they being regarded as invaluable for their antiquity, the remembrances wliich they recall, or the rare occurrence of their kind. Such exhibits the above figures do not take into account.

—The “ cynophere” is the latest novelty for which the Centennial Exhibition stands sponsor. It is not exactly a “ dogbearer,” as its etymology suggests, though the fact that the dogs are passengers as well as motive power makes the name passably appropriate. It is a three wheeled vehicle, two of the wheels being simply small treadmills operated by dogs, while the third is placed In front for a guide. The inventor, who is a Frenchman, claims that twelve miles an hour can be made easily with a dog in each wheel, and the enthusiastic ones predict that the “cynophere” will speeaily eclipse the velocipede and press the pony carriage very hard —One of the boys, while reading Whittier’s “ Centennial Hymn” yesterday to a little circle in the back room of a certain business house in the city, was interrupted with: “What! Old Whittaker writing hymns ? Well, well! "Why, I knew the old feller in ’49 in ’Frisco, and a harder, tougher, tightener cuss you never saw. S’posed he’d passed in his checks long fego. And he’s alive, is he, and writing hymns? Well! well! If old Whit can get away with hymns, bust me if I don’t commence writing missionary tracts.” Then the old “forty-niner” gazed with astonishment upon the smiling features of those around him, and proposed' “licking” anyone who doubted his knowing “ Old Whit” in “ ’Frisco” in ’4B.— Helena (Mont.) Herald.