The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1894-01-06
ONE MANS DIPLOMACY.
It stopped the Bnby's Crying and Earnes
Him Everlasting Gratitude.

Him Everlasting Gratitude.
1t was in an al" train and baby
was crying with all the strength of its
two-year-old lungs. rThe expression
on the faces of the occupants of the
car changed from Indifference to pity,
then to annoyance, and finally to
downright anger. Finally, says the
New York Recorder, a man two or three
seats from the crying child leaned
over and snapped his fingers quickly.
The effect was magical. The child
stopped in the middle Of yell, and
gazed open eyed and open moathed at
the man. He snapped his fingers sev-
eral times, then, accompanying them
with grotesquely cheerful smiles and
peculiar shake of his head which
seemed to highly interest the cross
eherub and appeal to his sense of
humor, for u wavering little smile
crept around the corners of the droop-
ing mouth and the cries ceased for
good. The man leaned back in his
seat, bestowing occasional cheerful
winks and smiles at the vanquished
foe.
he reaped his reward. The old fell
~" A1C@hV w AA1ik1 \iSSleiAC GU ilS lttN pAO-
macy enough to make prime minis
ter, the men opposite peeped at him in
friendly recognition over the tops of
their papers, the woman near him with
nerves and headache said: "Thank
you," and the pretty girl in the cor
ner gave him a sweet smile. That man
left the car followed by score Of
blessings, and the cross baby turned
over and actually went to sleep.
INVITED TO HER SUICIDE.
A Chinese Woman Calls In Her Friends
to Witness Her Adieu.
Mr. Medhurst, for many years British
consul at Shanghai, tells of singular
'card of invitation" which, says the
Million, he once received in China. It
was from lady, intilnating her inten.
tion to commit suicide at a specified
date. She was very young and attrac-
tive, and belonged to a wealthy family;
but the Chinese gentleman to whom
she had been affianced from childhood,
having died Just before the date fixed
upon for their nuptials, she gave out
that she deemed it her duty to render
her widowhood irrevocable by dying
with her betrothcd. So she sent cards
around to the local gentry giving no
tice of her purpose.
No attempt was made by her rela-
tives or the local authorities to frus-
trate her design, though Mr.. Medhurst
appealed to the mandarins, the gen.
eral opinion being that she was about
to perform q meritorious act. Eventu-
ally, on the day named, the woman did
deliberately sacrifice her life in the
presence of thousands of spectators.
A stage was erected in the open fields,
with tented frame over 1t, from which
was suspended slip of scarlet crepe.
One end of this slip she fastened round
her neck, and then, embracing little
boy presented by one of the bystanders,
she mounted chair and resolutely
jumped off, "her little clasped hands
saluting the assemblage as her body
twirled round with the tightening
cord"
The woman was not bounded on by
frantic mob, as was the practice at
suttees in India, but immolation an.
peared to be an entirely voluntary act.
Sacrifices OF this kind, according to
Mr.. Medhurst, are not uncommon in
certain districts of China, and, strange
to say, they are rewarded with monu-
ments, sometimes erected by order OF
the emperor.