The Van Buren press., 1896-11-14
isHMAEL's MANeRovE Tpr.
A Fache Horticaiturist from India NJ
Wonders In q Maine lou ofsss

Wonders In n Maine jan ofass
Chief Gilman, of the Banoor
force, has curiosity at his residen Inv
the west side, which, if it continna.h
thrive, will be likely TO prove mora :. 70
sensation to people of this vicinity VI
anything which may result from 'a %
November election or the eontin.
fall in the price of lard. This is nr ,..u
little plant, about footin height wbias
Ishmael, the circus Hindoo now IN ~
county Jail here, tricked out of = n ,ae
of wet dirt up at the prison the othas
night. Ishmael is already well lno,sa
to our readers. 1t was he who stabh.a
the Singalese rascal who dared to ia,
Guile the faith of Brahma, and he o.,
into Bangor Jail for doing it.
As soon as he struck the jail he bee.,
to amuse the other prisoners with b;s
antics. He is more of an athlete tbaa
has ever been seen in Bangor and
though he is only 10 years of age and
rather nadersized, he can handle man
twice his weight and years in a w.s
that simply t stonishes the latter; tbers
is no fathoming his tricks forwrestlne
for he has catcl'es and holds that bays
been handed down in the inner circles
of his race for MANY generations Ia
Is as solid as a bundle OF wires and az
docile as a child. He is handsome boy
and he became the pet O the Jail in.
mates as soon as he got acquainted
there.
Ishmael brought with him to jail a
few of his goods and chattels. Tieyaa
queer lot of dinky doddies, mina turs
tom toms, dried betel nuts, niece, OIL
cork, spools, snake skins, stones, C..
eoanut shells and tin dishes-eyervl
thing you can think ola pile OF com.
mon things with very uncommon pow.
ers, as Ishmael makes them work.
The young Hindoo is a fakir-nottbe
kind that haunts the street corners and
sells shoe strings and patent medicines
for they are the creations of the slanp
language of the day; he is a real EastJn.
dian fakir, and the tricks which he does
are regarded by his people as wel.ngb
supernatural. They have never been
solved excepting when betrayed BY
some member of the race who pot
drunk on western fire water and ex.
posed the whole thing. These rascals
die suddenly soon after.
One of the best of his tricks is the
growing Of bush out Of a pile of dirt
in full view of an audience. Ishmael
can do it. He did il the other night up
in the Jail when Sheriff Brown gave him
chance TO use his apparatus, and Chief
Gilman has the plant as proof.
Ishmael took little pipe of sand md
mud which had been brought for him
in the Jail yard underneath the window
where he looks out and thinks up new
tricks every day, and placed ii in the
middle of the floor on cloth. Then lie
took what he said was n seed and
showed it to his audience. This seed
was the same thing from which he had
produced dollar bill few minutes be-
fore by simply squeezing it, but that
didn't make any difference to him, but
he put it in the dirt and got ready TO
grow his bush. Nobody thought he
was really going to do 1t. He swore
that he would produce mangroye tree
Ishmael first took n cloth and placed
1t over the earth; then he began to say
off some kind of heathenish incanta.
ton, and in the course of half a minute,
when he removed the covering, there
was little sprout starting up about an
inch above the pile. That's pretty good.
Ishmael smiled demurely and winked
the other eve.
Again Ishmael put the cloth on the
dirt and again he ratified of his rubbish
in choicest Hindoo. Something sudden,
~ stuck itself up inside the cloth, which
peaked up and wrinkled as it did So
and then off came the cover with q
swish and exposed a very healthy young
bush standing there in the dirt.
OF course everybody said that the
bush was made of paper, but it wasn't.
1t was real thing, and II was moist and
soft and plthy just as II it had been
newly plucked from the ground out,
side. At its bottom was full set Of
little roots which were covered with the
clinging earth in which It had-well'
grown.
Chief Gilman, who was present, look
the bush home with him and set 1t out
in his garden. He said on Saturday
that it was getting on well, and that ~
looked as il It had come to stay. lie
can't understand how Ishmael did II.
Neither can anybody else. Some OF the
men in the Jail declare that the young.
ster is a devil in disguise, but most OF
them consider him mighty smart laa'
But he is a great vegetation starter
he beats super-phosphates at their own
game.
The bush is worth seeing; it is COM
posed of close-growing green leaves on
n straight stalk and little red blossoms
nre beginning to grow on the top oil 1t
It's a curiosity.
Ishmael says it's as easy as rolling
off a log.-Bangor Courier.
Frontier Guard Il Exploits.