Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 120, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1909 — Habits of Some Rich Cranks. [ARTICLE]

Habits of Some Rich Cranks.

A short time since there died at Como a rich man who was noted lor a very strange eccentricity. Although for years he had never been outside bis grounds, he would pnmdly inform his visitors that he had that very day walked to certain villages In the neighborhood. What he actual'y did was this. Whenever he made up his mind to visit a distant village or town he maue an estimate of the distance, and covered it on foot on a carefully measured walking track in his grounds. When he wished to call on his friends In the district he would not only do it by proxy, but would conduct a conversation for hours by sending a servant to and fro with questions ana answers.- ——- ——.. . A well-known Italian count, died recently at an advanced age, haa for many years <se:'ed the weather by drinking a solution of camph tr, which he considered an efficient substitute lor clothes. Summ r and winter alike he would sleep without a particle ci covering and witl the windows of his room thrown wide open, and would walk for hours in his garden on a bitterly cold day in the garment most people devote to night wear. There is in Capi Breton a worthy and much married gentleman wno has just taken his eighth wife to his hem and home. And a grewsome home it must be to greet a homejcrring wife, for seven of his rooms, each paintei in black and white and liberally garnished with skulls and cross, ones, are dedicated to wives Nos. 1 to 7. As the birthday of each of these departed spouses corn's round the by no means <?‘scon6olate husband entertains his friends at dinner in the room specially devoted te her memory ana improves the occn ioa by t 'ling anecdotes to illustrate her many virtues. In Vienna there is living today Count K——, a wealthy nobleman of Polish origin, who occupies a sumptuously furnished flat In the most fashionable part of the city. When he wants h!s servants he summons them by bugle calls, much to the annoyance of *-*s neighbors. His favorable pastime is to hire an omnibus and, dressed like an ordinary driver, to drive hie cumbrous vehicle wherever aristocratic equipages art thickest. He spends a fort”ne every year on the costliest of clothes, yet never wears any but suits discarded by ms valet; appears in ‘be ballroom decked from head to lael in white, with the exception of a u.a-ek shirt and tie; and when he dines—always at one ot the most exclusive restaurants —he begins his meal with a iup of black coffee and, working his way backward, winds up with the soup. Not' long ago, too, tnere lived near Hastings a geatlejan who3e eccentricities very naturally excited considerable attention. Punctually at the stroke of noon e”ch day he would appear in his front garden with a gayly colored turban on his head, his feet shod with richly embroidered and jewelled sandals, and with a coolie cloth around his waist, and, quite indifferent to the amusement he was providing for & crowd of spectators, would first pray aloud to the sun, “the father of light and good,” and then prostrate himself before a quaint miniature temple In which was enshrined a grotesque Idol with diamond eyes. To givo but one more example of eccentricity up to date, there is a certain lady In California who once every yecr perform? a singular act of self-imposed penarns. Many years ago her husband, to whom she was very devoted, loet his slyht, and Mrs. Williams—for that is the lady's namemade a vow that If he recovered it she would, in gratVude for answer to ber prayers, crawl on hands and knees cnce a year from her hours to the church, a distance of a quarter of a mile. This vow rhe has religiously kept for mere than twenty years.