Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-05-16
SOMEWHAT STRANGE.
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVERYDAY LIFE.
Funny Episodes and Thrilling Ad-
ventures Which Show That Truth
is Stranger Than Fiction.

| An Arkansas lad, aged sixteen, re-
Gently committed to memory half a
dozen of Lorenzo BOWS sermons, dom
ned the ministerial wig, blaekened his
face and preached 10 q large company Of
colored people. Fifteen minutes after
he began all the sinners present were on
their knees. The young preacher, be-
fore closing, announced that he would
! preach in the same house the following
Sunday night. He refused to go home
with any Of the colored brethren, stat
ing that mysterious provision would be
made for him. eff, however, he said,
sany Of YOU feel like giving few nick
els to aid in the support of an aged
| mother and crippled sister, the dona-
ton viii be most thankfully received. 7"
As If by one impulse, the right hand OF
every man went down into the pocket
and came out with money. The hat
was passed around, and, when the con-
tents were handed to the young preach
er, he thanked the congregation for
such noble generosity. On the follow
ing Sunday night there was not stand
ing room in the church. The preacher
was there before any of the eongrega-
ton arrived, and the question of how he
came there or where he had lived during
/ the past week was a mysterious one. He
was asked, but replied that the provis-
ions Of Providence we're equal to any oc-
casion. The same wild excitement was
created. The preachers words burned
their way into the emotional cloisters of
the sinners, and lighted lamp there
which, by its glare, showed the moral
corruption of the past. Another collec-
ton was taken up for the aged mother
and crippled sister, and after the preach
er had announced that services would
would be held on the following Sunday
I night, the congregation silently parted
In the shadow of the great cottonwood
tree. The next time he was found out.
eve see a great deal of the queer side
Of human nature" said New York
hotel clerk the other day, ''and think
absent-minded people give us as much
I trouble as any other class Of customers,
but there is generally so much t. amuse
one in their mistakes, that they are
willingly forgiven. can generally
spot absent minded people by the
/ quickness with which they assume a
l pre-Occupied air whenever the CONVEX
sation or their surroundings do not in
1 terest them. IL is not often, however,
4 that perfectly sane and sober man
forgets his own name, yet such a case
( once came under NV observation. A
/ stranger TO New York came in here one
/ dav, seeming 10 be little dazed with
I the hustle OF the crowded streets. He
was one Of that kind of men you often
bump against in Broadway, as he walks
I backward with his mouth a little open
and his ewes fixed on the ninth story OF
some building. As he came up to the
desk pushed the register toward him.
He took the pen, dipped it in the ink,
and then hesitated, scowled, and then
blushed. Thinking that perhaps he
could not write, | pulled the register
toward me to write it myself and said:
What name III be hanged if l
haven't forgotten If, he said, as mad as
q halter. l looked at the man in aston
ishment and said, Give me your card.
This brought it to his memory in
fash. Probably that part Of his thinker
that recOllected sounds was taking a
rest, but that part which remembered
how his name looked when it was writ
ten out was on duty.
Lone Island Sound has never been
considered the home Of the Goldfish. 1t
is only now and then that one of them
is caught in its waters, and those are
usually little fellows known among the
fishermen as .'rock cod Capt. Elna-
than Whittlesey, of Greenport, while
fishing for sea bass in his little smack
Washington off Cornfield Point shoal,
caught thirty-pound cod Of the variety
known as a ssracer, a distinguishing
Characteristic Of which Is a paunch of
tremendous size. There is but little
meat on racers bones. While the fish
was being dressed Capt. Whittlesey's
knife struck metallic substance, which
proved to be a round KEY check about
one inch in diameter bearing the word
'.Narngansett' stamped across its face.
A few miles from where the fish was
caught the Stonington line steamer Mar
ragansett was run into and sunk by the
Stonington on the night of June II,
1850. Over eighty lives were lost 1t
is supposed that the racer" had been
carrying the key check around in his
belly ever since. Capt. Whittlesey sold
the check to a New York drummer at
Saybrook Junction for 81.
MANI unsuspecting farmers in Bucks
and Huntingdon Counties have been
svindled out Of hundreds Of dollars re-
Gently by clever scheme, worked by
gang Of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS harpers. /
One of the gang drives up to farmers /
house and requests permission to store (
in the barn a number of pitchforks Of an
inferior quality. Permission being
granted. the farmer is told that the forks
comprise the last lot Of large consign- i
ment, and viii be sold at very low fig
ures IN order to close a transaction. A
tempting offer is then made of 80 per /
cent. commission to the farmer upon /
any sales made while the forks are tenn 1
porarily in his charge, and a long agree 4
ment, most Of which is In fine print, and 4
alleged to be only a stipulation IS 70 4
commission, is In most cases then signed (
by the tempted tiller Of the soil, who /
neglects to read the paper carefully, and 4
l. L.. 81.