Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-02-13

A CELEBRATED singer, Maudiue LIZ
Rochois, was giving to younger com
panion in art some instructions In the
tragic character of Medea, which she was
ABOUT to sustain. "Inspire yourself with
the situation" said she; fancy yourself
in the poor woman's place If you were
deserted by lover whom you adored,
what would you do?" The reply was as
unexpected as it was ingenious u
should look out for another"
A RECENT work On coffee gives sim
pie test which housekeepers might apply
with advantage: "a spoonful of pure
coffee, placed gently on the surface OF a
glass Of cold water, will float for some
time, and scarcely cover the liquid If it
contains chiccory it will rapidly absorb
the water. and, sinking to the bottom OF
the glass. communicate deep reddish
brown tint as it falls" Numerous sub
stances besides ehiccory are used to adul-
terate coffee. A test for all of them
would be useful.
oman wants but little here below, nor
wants that little long," is a libel, Josh
Billings asserts. "Man wants every
thing he can see or hear ov, and never is
willing to let go of hiz grab. Whenever
yu find man who is thoroughly salts
lied with what he haz got, you will find
either an idiot, Or one who haZ tried hard
to get some more and couldn't do it. The
older a man grows the more wantful he
bekums; as hiz hold on life slackens, hiz
pinch on dollar grows grippy."
POUNDED alum is one of the simplest
modes of purifying water-a fact which
should be more generally known A
tablespoonful Of pulverized alum
sprinkled into a hogshead of water (the
water stirred at the same time), will, after
few hours, by precipitating to the bot
tom the impure particles, so purify it that
it will be found to possess nearly the
freshness and clearness of the finest
spring water A pailful, containing four
gallons, may be purified by single tea
spoonful of alum.
A SOLICITOR who had recently been en-.
gagged by prominent life insurance firm,
returned to the Office Of his employers,
the other day, and complained that he
had been snubbed by gentleman on
whom he called. ''S1ubbed," cried the
manager, snubbed? Why what did
you do that he should have snubbed you?
Ihave solicited life insurance from the At
lantic to the Missississippi, and have
never yet been snubbed. l have been
kicked down stairs, beaten over the head
with chairs, and thrown out of windows,
but snubbed / never have been" The
solicitor is driving coal wagon.
A PROMINENT member of church in
Kingston, n. Y, the other Sunday, in a
fit of abstraction, went early to church,
and took a seat in the pew ahead of his
own. The next person that came in,
knowing that his pew was the one ahead
of the prominent members, also sat in
the wrong psw. Every one that came in
a1terward pursued similar line of argu-
ment, and, in consequence, that m0rnipg
everybody on that side Of the church was
in the wrong pew. The man who occu-
pied the front seat thought his pew didn't
look natural; but as Brother B. was Just
behind him, it wasn't possible he himself
could be mistaken.
THE supervising architect of the Treas
ury Department, Mr.. Mullet, says that q
couple OF inches Of plaster, made with
hydraulic cement, laid on the joists of a
floor so as to stand an inch. above the
upper edge, and the flooring laid on this
plaster, and then tie piastering of the
ceiling done with like material on wire
lathing, will make floor that will resist
a fire long enough to give the engines a
wide margin, and that in this way any of
our brick buildings that have walls sub
stantial enough to stand alone may be
made. practically, fire-proof as to the
floors. Mr.. Hiram Powers says the same
of brick laid on top of the jOists, and
says that in Florence, where floors are
made in this way, no house has burned
in the many years he has lived there
Similar means will protect the roof
Thus it appears that, practically, the fire.
proof requirement is not so difficult as
people think.
THIS is Mark Twain's picture of Harris,
the Hawaiian Prime Minister: "Harris,
for instance. Harris is an Americans
long-legged, vain, lightweight village
lawyer from New Hampshire. If he had
brains in proportion to his legs, he would
make Solomon seem failure; if his mod
esty equaled his ignorance, he would
make violet seem stuck up; if his learn,
ing equaled his vanity, he would make
Won Humboldt seem as unlettered as the
backside of a tombstone; if his stature
were proportional to his conscience, he
would be a gem for the microscope; if his
ideas were as large as his words, it would
take a man three months to walk around
one of them; if an audience were to con
tract to listen as long as he would talk,
that audience would die of old age; and il
he were to talk until he said something,
he would still be on his hind legs when
the last trump sounded. And he would
have cheek enough to wait till the dis
turbance was over, and go on again"
HINTS For YOUNG MoTHERs-The
+ h hol ~
sleep, plenty of food, plenty of flannel
The saying that man is bundle of habits
is as true of babies as it is of grown
children. If an infant is accustomed
from its birth to sleep from six o'clock at
night until daylight, the habit of carly
sleep will be formed, and the mother may
have all her evenings to herself. If the
baby sleeps all night, a long morning nap
will naturally come about dinner time,
after which the child, except when very
young, should be kept awake until G
O'Clock. Perseverance in this routine
will soon result in securing quiet evenings
for both the child and parent. Some
mothers have a long season every morn.
ing and every night in getting the baby
asleep. They rock them and sing them
till Morpheus enfolds them. With most
children this is entirely unnecessary. An
infant can be accustomed, by few days
training, to go to sleep itself for morn
ing nap as well as for the longer rest al
night.-Jou1mal Of chemistry.
SEA SWALLOWS AND FIsHERMEN.-AI
interesting association exists between the
sea swallows and fishermen of Lake Pal
lageri, in Lapland. In the center of this
lake is an island, on which the fishermen
build their huts in summer At early