The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-10-14
TIMELY TOPICS.

The Scientific american says that
sugar, syrup, fresh cheese, wheaton
grits, hominy, juicy meats, are the
foods to make flesh. Almost any |
woman will get plump on brown |
bread and wheaton grits, or ,oat-
meal eaten twice day with plenty
of meat and vegetables at break
fast and supper of brown biscuits,
with sweetmeats, cheese and cream, or
coffee drank with plenty of sugar and
cream. 1t is not necessary to eat Largely
if the appetite does not call for 1t, but
the food must be tempting, and ii hun
ger is keen, one who would be plump
and spirited should not be afraid to in
dulge it. Unrelishing, distasteful food,
will not nourish and stimulate ike
what is piquant and savory and changed
in variety day by day.
A wealthy French gentleman, owning
an estate at Gonesse, near Paris, has Tor
some time past devoted his time, money
and attention to soothing the declining
years of superannuated beasts and birds
by accommodating them with comfort
able residences in his spacious park. He
has already collected a strange assem-
blage of venerable creatures, duly pro-
vided with authenticated records OF
their respective ages and careers. The
patriarch of this quaint community is
grizzled old mule, just entering his
seventy-third year, between whom ana
an obese goose of thirty-seven an attec-
tionate intimacy subsists. Mother
Goose is beset by mfr mites. Her legs
are so distorted that she cannot waddle
straight, and her webbed feet are studded
with huge warts, which sometimes dis
ft1r 20, hut VIZ
is cheerful, and even sprightly, for one
of her years. Among the companions
of this oddly-assorted pair of friends are
a cow of thirty-six summers and q hog
who will never see his twenty seventh
birthday again. In an aviary overlook
ing the park feebly pipe and twitter a
bullfnch of eight and-twenty, and a
sparrow Matched in the year lsi9.
Far out in the Atlantic, 1874 miles very
nearly due west of St. Kilda, aud 29O
miles from the nearest point of the
mainland of Scotland, there is granite
stack which rises to a height of seventy
feet above the sea, and at distance has
been mistaken for q vessel under sail
| The upper part is inhabited by vast
numbers of sea fowl. The name of the
stack is Rockall. The great sandbanl
from which it rises abounds with cod
For nearly two years man, through
has been calling the attention OF various
scientific societies and individuals tt
the suitability of Rockall for q meteoro
logical station, and has been offering
under certain conditions, to reside ther,
alone for twelvemonth, and take
series of observations. With founda
ton of seventy feet above the sea, o
even less, he says, there would be n
difficulty of liking house upon Rockal
which would laugh at the wind an
spray. One chamber would do, and
could be made of stout timber locked t
ringbolts, or to be built of concrete. I
connected by telegraph to the mainland
Rockall would, this person thinks, b
an agreeable residence; and even in it
isolated state it would be endurabl
enough if the occupant were cheered b
the reflection that he was pioneer i
o noble cause. A little money would b
well spent in trying to make storr
warnings more reliable than they hav
been of late. Besides meteorologicl
observations, an observer posted, Q
r )ckall might, if properly instructed, b
able to throw a little light on oceani
circulation, temperature, etc.
A letter from St. Michael, the largcs
of the Azores, says that two BIRTHS
steamers have been wrecked in the hal
Dor during q hurricane. II must strik
persons unacquainted with those island
J as very. strange that vessels should |
wrecked while in the harbor; but goo
harbors the group las always lacke'
Their want is one of the greatest draw
hacks to the prosperity of the Azore
The only t2lerable port is Angra, cap
tai of the islands, ON the south side
! Terceira, and even that ffers little pro
J lection save in fine weather. They al
of volcanic origin, and subject to mo
= extraordinary convulsions OF natur
' Eruptions, hurricanes, water-spout
earthquakes, cyclones and the like a.
so common that the natives think lit
r of them. In 1891, an ca, thquake. whit
continued twelve days, destroyed Il
? town of Villa Franco on St. Michat
) In; 1908, volcano suddenly arose on
George to the height of $500 fet
a burned furiously for a week, poured o
o flood of lava, overlooking the who
e island, and then became extinct. Thr
I years later the crater of a volcano W
!, abruptly thrust 300 feet above the sc
4 and, after emitting quantities of cindel
e stones and lava, slowly disappeare
|. Immense rocks and volcanic islam
It have been repeatedly pushed up frc
l. the bottom of the ocean, and after
v time submerged. The Azores do n
n appeal to the imagination of perso
,f fond quiet life and tranquility in n
}. ture. But their climate is delightfl
d the soil is very fertile, bringing eve
e vegetable product to perfection; til
IS are covered with cornfelds, vinegar
r. groves of lemons, and orchards. and
If peculiar archipelago is much enjoyed
d such foreigners as do not object to
" occasional tornado. eruption, watt
IS spout or earthquake. To America
ye who relish variety and excitement
it any kind, the Azores are usually VI
n. attractive.
Id