The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-09-24
PERSONAL AND LITERARY.

Senator Sherman has been nearly
thirty-eight years in Office without in
terruption. This is remarkable REC
ord as to time. The senator has also
become a very wealthy man.
The most precious life in the world
Is that of Viscount Dudley, who has
just been insured for Gl,aOO,OOO. The
prince Of Wales can not get his life i'm
sured for more than f65O,0oo.
The king of Sweden is great SWIM
mer and had an ambition in his youth
to emulate the deeds of the Berserkers.
He wears gants dc Suede in swimming
to keep his hands from tanning.
The famous composer. Camille de
Saint Saens. has left Paris for Switzer-
land. SO great is his horror + curiosity
hunters he travels incognito, and tellH
none Of his friends his destination.
Addressing camp-meeting at De.
catur, Ill. Bishop Turner said that any
man who thought he was near the close
of his life at sixty or sevehty-fivc ought
to be ashamed of himself, and that
those who obeyed natures laws ought
to live to the age of one hundred years.
Bishop Turner is sixty-nine and in his
prime.
MIR. Greeley said half his life was de-
voted to the Tribune. and the other
half in preparation for it. He opposed
adopting literature as profession in
the following words: Literature is
noble calling only when the call issues
from world to he enlightened and
blessed, not from void stomach cla-
moring to be gratified and filed"
Mr.. Gladstone, in the face of pro-
test. clings to his belief that the sum
paid to Milton for his paradise Lost
was the first regular payment for lit
erary work. ''ln the sixteenth CEN
tury," he Comedies" there were authors
in the pay of booksellers. Milton, how
ever,was no journeyman. lie sold a
property; and I have not yet received
notice of any earlier case in which a
literary work was made the subject of
sale and purchase.
A novel plan for extinguishing a
church debt has been hit upon in Mel
bourne, Australia. The church COM
nittee-Or vestry, as the case may be
divide the total debt among themselves,
and each man insures his life for the
amount that falls to his share. The
policies are transferred to the church.
and the annual payments on them are
made out of the collections. Then, of
course, as the members of the commit
tee drop off, the sums ON their lives
drop in, and later, when the only sur
vivor dies, the last installment of the
church debt is paid.-London Public
Opinion.
Octave Thanet, the novelist, is an
Iowa girl, her real name being Alice
French. She has been obliged to go
away from home for material for her
stories. the scenes of many of which
are laid in Arkansas and the eastern
states. 1t is certainly remarkable that
she should have been able to overcome
the disadvantages of non-residence SO
completely as to portray with the fidel-
ity and accuracy credited to her the Cd
dities and dialectic peculiarities of Ar
kansas rural life. The material for her
sketches was collected mainly during
summer outings i'm the Adirondacks and
in Canada, with an occasional winter in
Arkansas.
Jan Van Beers, the celebrated
painter, gave midnight supper to
some friends in London recently. The
entertainment was full of surprises
The electric light was suddenly
switched off, whereupon the table and
the guests became mysteriously illumi-
mated from an unseen source. 1t was
then evident that the table was sheet
OF glass under the cloth, and that the
lights were beneath it. Two pates
We're handed to the host, who promptly
released from them some dozen tame
Java sparrows, who hoped and twit-
tered about the room. The temporary
ceiling was a vellarium, and thereupon
were thrown, by magic-lantern, por-
traits of several of the guests.