The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-08-08


Decatur county, Texas, has fam
lily of bobtail cats. They are not
different from other cats except that
they have, like the rabbit, mo tail at
all but a little bunch of hair" This
family or breed of bobtail cats are
said to be unusually smart.
Physical science is not taking a
backward step in Germany, where a
careful inquiry is to be made into
the eyesight and hearing of school
children. One oculist, who has been
making examinations, found over
thirteen hundred cases of ear disease
among less than six thousand chill
dren.
A cat belonging to Mr.. ]. II. I'M
gemach, of ZanesYille, o., few days
ago, gave birth to three kittens firm
ly united together with the unbiDi-
cal cord. One is a jet black, the
other a brown, and the other pure
Maltese. They are all strong, well
formed and healthy, and so highly
valued by the owner that he has al
ready refused s75 for them.
One voice all over the land goes
up from mothers, that saws, My
daughters are so feeble and sad, with
no strength. all out of breath and
lite at the least exertion. What can
we do for them ?" The answer is
simple and full of hope. One to
four weeks use of Hop Bitters will
make them healthy, rosy, sprightly,
and cheerful
a Hartford paper says: Mr.. Rich
ard Z. Rose has in his possession an
interesting relic ofthe late Gen. Tom
Thumb in the shape of a pair of
boots worn by the General when
twenty-one years old. The boots
are not over four and half inches
in length, and Mr.. Rose has never
found a child able to walk who can
put them on.
1t is observed as feature of the
census that the number Of people
whose ages are represented by even
tens Is greatly in excess of the num-
Der represented as Of other ages
The number who are of ages that are
multiples of five is also large by
comparison, and there are more
people whose ages appear as even
numbers than odd.
Jesse H. Lippincott, assignee for
the Markle estate, applied to the
Westmoreland county court last
week for permission to sell to II. G.
Frick the mill at West Newton
known as Mill A for $4,000, s15,-
600 of which will be paid upon the
confirmation of the deed, and the
rest in three equal |. payments
within the term of two years. It's
thought that the mill was purchased
for Capt. c. c. Markle. ~
Bayard Taylor used to say that of
all men he had ever seen, Haw-
thorne was the most remarkable for
possessing eyes that flashed FIRE, the
pupils being sometimes so dilated as
to render the iris invisible. Glad
stone had similar eyes, and some of
his friends attribute to them Queen
Victoria's lack of fondness for that
statesman. Her Majesty, they say,
has on several occasions been aetu-
ally terrified by Gladstone's gaze.
Pretty Jennie Arndt, of Elizabeth,
Dauphin county, who is Just four
teen wears of age, promised to mar
~ John Keifer, of Highspire, the
same county, who is forty-two years
old. At the last moment. when the
guests were assembled and the we'd
ding feast prepared, Jennie backed
out, but it did not spoil the fun, for
Keifer ordered all hands to get at
the supper. Then the fiddle struck
up, and there was dancing till broad
daylight.
Negotiations have been going on
which will likely culminate in the
leasing of the Wilson Female College
at Chambersburg TO the United
States Government for the use OF a
female Indian school. Capt. Pratt
and several Government officials are
in favor of it, and are working the
matter up. The Secretary of the In
terror has been advised of the prop
osition and terms, and tits expected
that az soon as he can be heard from
a lease for a term of years will be ef-
fected. .s.
In 2. W. Garfeld's yard, north of
Napa, Cal, there are two century
plants growing and about to BIOS
som. They were transplanted from
small pots eleven years ago and are
of immense size. Only short time
ago a stock from the centre Of each
plant began to shoot upward until
thew are n and 2o feet in height re-
spectively. In one day one Of these
shoots grew nine inches. From the
tops of these shafts the blossom will
soon appear and then the plant will
die, never TO bloom again
The boabab, or monkey bread
tree. grows to the height OF 40 feet,
but its girth is entirely out OF pro-
norton to its height, some trees be-
ing thirty feet in diameter. An old
boabab in Africa is, then, more ike
forest than a single tree. Their age
is incalculable. Humboldt consid-
ers them as the oldest living organic
of our planet. Some
trees are believed to be 300 years
old You can cut good.sized room
into the trunk of a boabab, with
accommodations for 30
men and the tree lives on and -four
shes, Ii produces a fruit about
foot long, which is edible. As an
example of slow growth in England,
4 baobod at Kew, though more than
so wears old, has only attained the
height of AZ feet. A kindred species
of the African boabab grows in Aus
tralia. They are 30feet high, with a
zirth of So feet.