News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-07-19
MYSTERIES OF A DAY.
NOTABLE EVENTS WORTHY OF
NEWSPAPER RECORD.
The Teacher Was Left-A Smell of
Gas An Exploded ShelI-The
Mormons-At the Dead Letter
Office, &c, &c.

| NCAAO
was on the point of reporting the case
- to the truant officer, when she spoke of
the matter to one of the woman super
visors. This woman believes in kind
! ness rather than harsh measures, and
I told the teacher to send the offender to
her house the next time he was troubles
= some. So one afternoon there appeared
; at the supervisors home boy. The
, | supervisor was all smiles and attention.
She treated him royalty to q choice
spread, feast the like of which he prob
ably never had enjoyed before. He was
soon made to feel perfectly at home.
Now, thought his benefactress, is the
.. time to preach him my little sermon.
So she unfolded to him the evils of tru-
ancy, and besought HIM to be model
boy in the future. Imagine her surprise
when he said to her: 81 amt the boy
that runs away from school, marin
He gave me O cent to come here for
him."
DR.. PAYsoN, of Portland, Me-, used to
tell this good story: One very rainy Sun
day he went to his church as usual, but
no One appeared except an old negro, who
came in and asked if Dr. Payson was to
preach. The Doctor said eyes," and
went into the pulpit and preached to the
choir and the old negro. Some months
afterward he met the negro and asked
him if he enjoyed that sermon. "Enjoy
dat sermon 2" replied the old man. 81
'clar, Doctor, 1 nebber heerd a better
one. Yo' see I had a seat pretty well
up front, an whenebber you'd say some
thin's pretty hard like gin de sins OBJ
men, I'd jess look all rOun' ter see who !
you's hittin', and [ wouldn't see no.
| lOIxr I,,A, 49, 10, GOLF
he muss mean you, Pomp, you's sech a
dretfuI sinner Well, Doctor, dat az
sermon set me thinking what big SIN
ner I war, an l went an jined the
church down home. Use deacon, !
now"
WHILE at neighbor's few days ago
Mr.. George W. Fisher, Of Independ
ence, Kan, heard q racket out in the
kitchen and going out to investigate the
cause found that large rattlesnake had
crawled into the kitchen and was fasten
| ed in the handle of a jug in the follow
| ing manner: There were some eggs and
q jug on the floor when the snake crawl
| ed into the house, and it swallowed one
of the eggs, and as the jug was lying on
its side had crawled through the handle
! as far as the egg he had swallowed
| would admit, and finding another egg
| convenient as he crawled through the
handle of the jug he had swallowed that
egg also, and as the egg was too large to
to pass through the handle of the ing
Mr.. Snake was fastened so he could
neither move forward or backward,
there being an egg inside of him on
either side of the jug handle.
HERE in North Warwickshire, says an
English letter, we should like to know if
the pest of caterpillars which is stripping
our noble oaks in the Midland counties
has been experienced elsewhere. Thou ,
sands of trees in our fields, hedgerows, !
and woods have been reduced to q :
condition which is heartbreaking to :
those who delight i'll the leafy month Of !
June, and especially in our oaks, which {
are the pride of Warwickshire. 1t is no :
uncommon thing for splendid tree to :
be attacked By this pest and entirely :
stripped of every green leaf within three
days. May ask if this blasting pest ;
has extended to other counties? Strange
to say not another tree is touched, but !
we dread and fear that when all the oak
foliage is consumed the caterpiIlars will !
begin to devastate other trees.
A NEW method of furnishing dishonest :
bank clerks is now being tried in GER !
tain institution Of that kind in New l
York. Some time ago a clerk s accounts :
were investigated and he was found to -;
be several thousand dollars short. To
remove and prosecute the man would
have been troublesome, and apt to hurt :
the reputation of the bank, 50 they have :
made him stay, as if nothing had hap !;
pened, but have placed him in such !:
position that he can take no more, and =
informed his fellow clerks of the defalca-
ton. He is avoided by the insiders, '
and his position is about as disagreeable
as can well be imagined. Constantly =
under surveillance, he will work out in :
time the amount he has taken and will !
then be discharged. .
The Dead Letter Office at Washing 9
ton gets a good many curious articles .
through the mails, and the employees
who open the packages are accustomed :
to many strange sights. The contents
OF a package received to-day, however, y
takes the lead. 1t was the scalp of a II
white woman stretched out on bent
willow frame, and from marks on the u
package the conclusion was reached q
that it was q trophy of some Indian II
warrior. The hair was long and dark,
and the scalp had evidently been re- !
moved hastily, judging from the ragged
edges. 1t is supposed that it was kept 9
as curiosity. An effort will be made d
to find the owner, and then probably %
the history OF the scalp will be made q
known. II
elbow long does it take to learn short |,
hand? my son. Well, that depends" u
says Burdette, con what you want to L
learn it for. If you want to be a court -
report Just exactly what the speaker u
says, and nothing else, it will take you
two or three years to learn, But if you 4
merel y want to report political speeches,
in which occupation you merely look
wise while you make hen tracks, and a
then go the Office and write down the
speech from memory making the speak
ers say whatever you think will please
the managing editor and hurt the other
party, about six weeks light study, with Z
intervals of recreation, will be a thor tC
ough university course h
A GENUINE hoop snake has been cap
turcd near Des Moines, Ia, by George B
Milton, Il farmer. 1t is about Is inches fc
in length, is streaked with black and il
WIlICe, VIII spiked tall, which IS of q IL
bronze color On top OF its head, be
tween the eyes, is u small socket, in tt
which the end Of the spike tail fits when v
coiled up like hoop. Mr.. Milton was ii
in the field ploughing, when he saw an II
object like n hoop roll down and strike OIL
his plough beam with its tail He saw oil
that it was n snake, and when it attemp B
ed to roll away he struck it on the head W
and killed it. A Des Moines druggist h,
has it preserved in alcohol This spe- al
cies of snake is said to be moro poison
GUS than the RATHER. IL
A SHOCKING accident recently occurred IL
at the camp at Auvours, France An
artillery non commissioned officer, hay IL
ing CHANGED upon an unexploded shell, fo
removed the screw of the projectile, and is
scattered the powder with which it was Ell
filed along the ground in a long line. tn
He then asked comrade, who was W
by smoking a pipe, to empty ve
its glowing contents on the powder. TT
The man complied with his request,
but, unfortunately, the shell had not ia
been completely emptied. The burn
ing powder spread to it, and the pro It
iao+iIo av1o1n1aJ li+or Il 10 l.;