The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1885-10-17
MISCELLANEOUS.

AT the annual strengthening in
Vermont the heaviest rams fleece
weighed twenty-eight pounds thirteen
ounces, and the heaviest ewes fleece
twenty-one pounds nine ounces. This,
1t is claimed, exceeds the record at any
public shearing. -Boston Journal.
"A woe-begone looking specimen OF
humanity. telling wonderful stories
about being captured in the mountains
of Syria $50 years ago, shedding six
sets of teeth, etc.. and claiming to be
the veritable Wandering Jew, has been
doing up Winston. N. C.-Charleston
Is. e. NeUS.
"A man named Selig Voitcjtmnotev.
ky applied to New York court the
other day for the privilege of dropping
the last twelve letters out of his name.
He based his plea upon sanitary and
economical reasons. and the court
granted his prayer. His name is now
Mr.. Selig Volt, and he has our con-
gratulations.-N y. Sun.
"A Providence Journal correspond
ent recalls that Nathaniel Hawthorne
once attended Bowdoin alumni BAN
guet at which he was expected to speak.
The presiding officer at the proper time
arose and introduced him with some
highly laudatory remarks. and then,
turning around. found Hawthorne's
chair vacant That shy genius had
slipped out of the room unobserved and
was not seen again that evening.
Toward the close of the reign OF
Queen Elizabeth. blacksmith manu-
featured paddock of iron, steel and
brass, of eleven pieces and pipe kew,
all OF which only weighed one grain.
lie also made a chain of gold of forty.
i've links which he fastened to the lock
and key and put around the neck of a
flea. which drew the whole with perfect
ease. The chain, key. lock and flea
altogether weighed one grain and q
half.
b. +. Eastman writes to the Port
land (Me.) Advertiser that, on the 9th
OF June, 1916, as he remembers, the
ground froze in the region of Portland
10 the depth of two inches, and summer
birds died with the cold. There were
frosts in every month of the year except
August, and not one bushel of corn RI
pened. People with money went on
horseback to Hallowell to buy the Vir-
ginia Tor hOrsetooth) corn at two dol
lars bushel. People without money
went hungry all the next winter.
The myth that large sum OF
money had been offered by the En-
glish Government for 1000, 900 postage
stamps is said to have arisen in the fol-
lowing way: An advertisement ap-
peared in London, England, asking
charitable people to send their stamps
to poor boy in Brighton. who wished
to cover his walls with the portraits OF
her Majesty. When they should be COW
cred the lads education was to be paid
for by a wealthy lunatic. Thousands of
stamps were sent, and then cleaned and
sold. The police broke it up.-M Y.
Mail.
Pope Leo spends an hour or 50
every afternoon, SAYS the Independence
Beige. of Brussels, in preparing the
material for a monumental history of
the papacy. He has had study fitted
up adjoining the Vatican library for
convenience of access to the archives
for the papal prison is vast and dis
tances are great. The gigantic task
will, of course, not De finished in the
lifetime of Pope Leo; but even a mere
value to the student of modern history.
since it must in the main be based upon
unpublished documents.
"A congress of philologists will as.
semble in Vienna to persuade the world
to adopt a universal language. The
scheme Is by no means novel. In the
thirteenth century Toulousian monk
named Roger worked very hard to con-
vince his contemporaries that it would be
to the advantage of humanity if
tongue of his own invention was gener-
ally spoken. But his mongrel jargon
was more wordy than French and near
ly twice as diffuse as Greek, and, al
though the apostle of reform wrote sew
era! books in the new language. there is
no record that anyone save himself ever
knew exactly what they treated of.
IL remember" said a Detroit boy
to his Sunday-school teacher, ''you told
me always to stop and count fifty when
angry. and I've done it." "Yes? Well,
I'm glad to hear it. 1t cooled your an
ger, didn't it?'' you see, a boy came
into our alley and made faces at me and
dared me to fight. Twas going for him.
He was bigger'n me, and I'd have got
pulverized. l remembered what you
said and began to count" "And you
didn't fightp" mo, ma'am. Just as
] got to forty-two my big brother came
along, and the way he licked that boy
would have made your mouth water. I
was going to count fifty and then run.
Detroit Free Press.