Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1886-09-10
A BOOK CRANK.
How Wealthy Monomaniac Spends His
Handsome Income.

How Wealthy Monomaniac Spends His
Handsome Income.
Perhaps the most curious buyer of
books in Washington is wealthy crank
who seems to be half lunatic, but who
understands the value of books perfect
ly, and who bids high prices for what
he wants. have often seen him about
the auction-room, big man with
round, bullet head, and a little, low
derby hat, several sizes too small for
him, placed on the front of it and down
SO as to almost hide his eyes. The back
of his neck is painted black, and his big
cheeks show the suspicion of rouge.
He wears a sac.-coat with sleeves sew
eral sizes too long for him, and he has
very small hands and feet. He is proud
of these hands, and the cuffs which sur
round them are always of the whtest,
and they are so large that he can
pull his hands up into
them out of sight. His shoulders are
padded out so that they become a de-
formity, and where the sleeves fall at the
end of the shoulders they hang in hol-
low limp wrinkle, as though the coat
was hung on wire frame rather than
on human being. He wears very
small shoes, made Ike those of a lady
with the heel near the middle of his
foot, and he walks necessarily in mine
ing way. At thesbook auctions he al
ways has book in his hand, and while
the sale is not in progress he is reading.
He speaks to no one, and seems to be
,oyt of misanthrope. l could tell you
his name, but it will suffice to say that
he is son of wealthy parents, who have
left him fortune so tied up that he gets
only the income. which, by the way, is
large amount, and is paid to him reg
ularly. He has one of the finest private
libraries in Washington, and he adds to
it every day.-Cor. Cleveland Leader.
CRABS AND OYSTERS.
New York Commands Who Don't Know
Good Thing When They See 1t.
New Workers consider that they know
more about good things to eat than any
people in the world. The fact is. they
know less. New York itself produces
singularly few of the choicest table deli
CAGES. Now, much ado is made over
softshell crabs in New York, and the
New York gourmands gobble mp the
pasteboard things sold as soft crabs and
think they are delicious. The truth is
the flavor of the soft crab is so delicate
that it is at once ruined by being put
on ice, the destroyer of all flavors. The
softshell, when he leaves his native
rver, is fascinating fellow, with a
charming saltish taste. Take him up
to New York and keep him on ice
twelve hours and he is the most taste
less thing that can be imagined. 1t re-
| quires as much salt as there was in Lots
wife to make him eatable. His outside
is all right, but his inside is dismal
failure But the connoisseurs of New
York exult over this melancholy
shadow OF the crap, in happy ignorance
that the soul, the spirit, the je nesias
quoi. the essence, the spiritual part of
the soft crab is gone to return no more
They eat their Blue Point and Saddle
Rock oysters. forgetting that the oyster
loathes civilization, and that the near
ness of a great city demoralizes it be-
yond repair, 1t is only in the virgin
waters of Maryland and Virginia that
the oyster is really found.