The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1878-06-06
Some Munchausen stories.

Claims of the Rev. Samuel Peters as an
Artist" by w. L. Kingsley, editor of the
Nep Englander. According to Mr.. Kings
ley, Peters "lHistory Of Connecticut" /"
published in 1881, is In great measure
the source of the famous Gbels on Con-
necticdt in the matter of the Blue Laws.
How worthy this author is of belief may
be inferred from the following stories
told in the History as sober truth:
One night in July, 1853, the frogs of
an artificial pond three miles square and
about five from Windham, finding the
water dried up, left the place in a body,
and marched-or rather hoped Ito
ward Winnomantic River. They were
under the necessity of taking the road
and going through the town, which
they entered about midnight. The bull
frogs were the leaders, and the pipers
followed without number. They filed
the road forty yards wide for four
miles in length, and were, for several
hours in passing through the town, unu-
sually clamorous The inhabitants were
equally perplexed and frightened; some
expected to find an army of French and
Indians, and others feared an earth
quake and dissolution of nature The
CONSERVATION was universal Old and
young, male and female, fled naked from
their beds with worse shriekings than
those Of the frogs. The event was fatal
to several women. The men, after a
flight of half a mile, in which they met
with many broken shins, finding no enc
mics in pursuit of them, made halt
and summoned resolution enough to
venture back to their wives and chill
dren, when they distinctly heard from
the enemy's camp these words: fsWight,
Hilderkin, Dyer, Tete." This last they
thought meant treaty; and, plucking up
courage, they sent a triumvirate to capi-
tulatel with the supposed French and
Indians. These three men approached
in their shirts, and begged to speak with
the general; but it being dark and no
answer given, they were sorely agitated
for some time betwixt hope and fear; at
/ length, however, they discovered that
the dreaded inimical army was an army
of thirsty frogs, going to the river for a
little water.
These stories are thrown into the
shade by the famous account of Bellows
Falls, in the Connecticut River:
Two hundred miles from Long Island
Sound is a narrow of five yards only,
formed by two shelving mountains of
solid rock, whose tops intercept the
clouds. Through this chasm are COM
PEELED to pass all the waters which, in
the time of the floods, bury the north
ern country AT the upper cohos the
river spreads twenty-four miles wide,
and for five or six weeks ships of wal
might sail over lands that afterward
produce the greatest crops of hay and
grain in all America. People who can
bear the sight, the sgroans, the tremb.
lings and surly motion of water, trees
and ice, through this awful passage
view with astonishment one of the
greatest phenomena in nature. Here
water is consolidated, without frost, BY
pressure, by swiftness, between tht
pinching, sturdy rocks to such degree
of induration that an iron crow cannot
be forced into it. Here iron, lead anc
cork have one common weight; anG
here, steady as time and harder thar
marble, the stream passes, irresistible
if not swift as lightning. The electric
fire rends trees in pieces with no greatel
ease than does this mighty water. Tht
passage is about four hundred yards il
length, and Of zigzag form, with OBJ
tuse corners. sb 9ti5 '
Science Popularized for the People.
In whaling, oil is generally strucl
while floating on the water. Anoutwar(
application of tar and feathers over tn,
whole body szefectual lin keeping OF
mosquitoes during the Winter. GolC
coin has been beaten so thin in the Unitel
States that it has not been visible for tn,
last fifteen years. Some of the fxet
stars are atsuch immense distances from
the earth that a man, could not, with,
two-foot rule, measure the immeasurabl
distance in a whole year. 1t is now dis
covered that the Peter Prussiate of potasl
when triturated with the Diocleledon o
| the bromideo of potassia, will unite in thI
form symposium of pizerinctum. Til,
ephimeris of the five inner satellites O
Saturn has been calculated for the ensu
ing year. 1t should be framed and hum
up in every coafcellar. If the ,eartl
should be suddenly stopped in its orbit
a degree of heat would be evolved which
would furnish motive power for twenty
five hundred locomotives going at tn,
rate of two miles a minute, for fou
thousand years. The bones Of a Nastur
ton were recently found in Urgo, France
The stomachic cavity was full of meltet
ice, a proof that it lived before the glacia
period. Professor Squigly announce
that the Pharaohs built the Pyramids t,
make three corners in building materials
Gunpowder may be kept non-explosiv
by keeping it away from the fire. Pro
fessor Tynderall has been making som
interesting experiments on sound. III
finds that the phrase, " Will you TAX
something to drink ?" uttered in West
ern bar-room, will be heard all over the
building a third quicker than an,
other combination of English words.
l. - A. "I,sko