The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-06-27
Pith and Point.

| n hANSAS newspaper man wrote COM
munication to rival editor, calling him an
ass, and then signed it yours frater-
y."-Syrdcuse Herald.
| A CHICAGO doctor who has a practice of
$4,000 year reports to the board of health
| on " soar throtes," dyptheria" and scar
lit ver."-Detroh Free Press.
TEACHER Clearing ancient history class:
Johnny, what was the circus maxmus2"
Barnum's." absurd! Tommy, you NAV
correct him" Forepaugh's."
THERE are 1000 species of insects in ex-
istence, but we doubt If anybody ever saw
more than $4,000 at one picnic in the
woods.-Phtsburg Chronicle Telegraph.
A Observation-Disclosures book on etiquette
says Endeavor to select your guests with
a sense of fitness" That is, do not invite a
fat man to slim dinner.-Hotel Mail.
A WOMAN on Long Island who died re-
Gently left most of her estate to her lawyer,
| believing that he would probably get it
anyway and she would save her relatives
expense.
A CALF was born on the farm of Michael
| Gibbons, Cambria county, Penn, without
the remotest sign of a tail. This refutes the
venerable saying that the tail always goes
with the hide.-LolceU Courier.
A GRUMBLING old lady, who expected
much from country board" told the land
| lord that there was one thing really good in
his house. "What is it you admire so
much?" "The salt" replied the old lady.
A CALIFORNIA widow had plans for $780,
900 monument for her late departed but
| when the lawyers got through fighting over
the estate the widow was doing homework
at 81 per week for the man who designed
the monument.-Detroh Free Press.
QUEER trout-fishing is in vogue in Cali
| fornia. a citizen went up into a canyon
and, tumbling into turbulent stream, was
| swept over a cataract. Escaping harm as to
! his fall he tQlp1 on hv his fri b,,+
to his surprise in his pockets were three
| fine trout.
| PROBABLY one of the oldest meeting
houses in the world is the Bangund church
| in Norway, the age of which is 800 years.
| The pagoda-like structure is covered with
shingles and an inch or two Of tar. Runic
inscriptions, interesting to scholars, are on
the building.
A VIENNEsE parvenue sarcastically asked
! how it happened that learned men were so
| often seen at the houses of the rich and the
rich so rarely in the homes of the learned?
Saphr quickly retorted: Because scholars
| know the value of wealth, but the rich are
rarely aware of the worth of learning"
con yes" remarked Ketchly in self
| satisfied way, " Lulu and will start out in
married life under very favorable circum-
! stances. Her mother gives us neat little
home, her father furnishes it and her Uncle
| De Long has stocked one of the neatest
|
snug income in her own name" "What
| part do you furnish?" Well-principallv
the name principally the name. It'd Bits.
THE latest mot concerns Dumas and
playwright indigenous to American soil
and endowed with genuine American
cheek He wrote to Dumas asking if he
would collaborate with him. Dumas, piqued
at his temerity, responded asking: How
dare you propose to yoke horse and an ass
together" To this the undaunted play
wright saucily replied " How dare you call
me horse?" an answer which so fetched
Dumas that the collaboration is already in
progress.
Mrs. JULIA WARD HOWE apparently did
not look upon her marriage as an end of her
! schoOl-days, for since her marriage she has
learned to speak French, Italian and mod
ern Greek tiuently, and has acquired pro-
| found knowledge of the works of Kant,
| Hegel, Spinoza, Comte and Fichte. But all
| girls are not Julia Ward Howes. If the
average of them could learn to do market
ing, keep house and cook well their future
| husbands would be reconciled to the lack of
further ccomplishments.-Tr Times.
A WISCONSIN banker claims to be guided
in his financial transactions by the spirit of
his deceased father. The spirit Of the dead
man, it is asserted by the son, has advised
every important investment he has made
since the death of the old gentleman and
has successfully engineered several very
|
an open account with his father, placing the
funds at the old gentlemans credit as he
| may direct, and at stated times rendering
an account of receipts, disbursements and
balance.
A GENUINE hoOpsnake has been captured
by George Milton, farmer, and is now on
| exhibition at Floris, Iowa. 1t is about fif-
teen inches in length, is streaked with black
| and white, with a spiked tail, and is of
| brOnzed color on top of its head. Between
the eyes is small socket in which the end
of the spike tail fits when coiled up like
! hoop. Mr.. Milton was in the field blowing
when he saw an object like a hoop roll
down and strike his plow-beam with its tail.
He saw that it was a snake, and when it at
tempted to roll away he struck it on the
head with a club and killed the reptile.
Mr.. Ramsey, druggist, has preserved it in
alcohol. 1t is a reptile rarely seen. This
species of snake is said to be more poison
GUS than the rattlesnake.
| How was it that Matthew Arnold died so
| poor? is question which good many peo-
pie besides those who belong to the literary
class have asked since his death. He was
! for many years a distinguished writer, and
what with the salary that he received from
the English government for the perform
ance of his official duties as one of the lay
inspectors of schools under the committee
| of council on education, a post which he
! held for long time, and what he earned by
his contributions to the periodicals, he
must have handled considerable sums of
money What became of it? He lived in
a quiet, scholarly, way; he was not extrava-
CANT; he entertained in the manner of an
English gentleman whose guests preferred
! his company to his cuisine. What did he
do with his money that, dying at the age
of sixty-five, he left his widow only paltry
thousand pounds or thousand and forty
pounds, to be exact? Why did Arnold die
so poor? This question is answered by the
Lounger," in the current number of the
! Critic "The bulk of his earnings" the
" Loupger " declares, went to pay the
debts of a son who had all the propensities
of millionaire's offspring without mil
| lionares bank account behind him. Mr..
Arnold denied himself everything to clear
the family name, and the object of his visit
TO this country was to earn money to satisfy
| that SON s creditors .MniL nnn ErnresS