Evening star., 1896-07-04

n
BLESSINGS come in disguise" commented
a weIl-known farmer who resides near the
Burnt Mills in Maryland, but We did not
think that the hanging of Irwin Ford would
prove beneficial. though such is the case.
AS the news reached the colored folks
out our way on Friday night that
Ford had been harged, it had wonder
fully depressing influence upon them, and
especially upon the women. Since then
they have kept pretty we'll in their homes,
for, according 10 their stories and super
stitions, there is scarcely a farm in the
neighborhood which has not been visited
by Ford's ghost. The ghost seems to ap-
pear in a half dozen places at the same
time. and it has been hard since to get the
colored women to go to the springs, wells
or milk houses after nightfall. The prev
aleNce of Ford's ghost has stopped for
the tine all the night proWling, and to
that extent at least 1t has been blessing.
The men, though they do not see the ghost
as often do the women. now keep in
their quarters pretty well at night
x
Hunting diamonds in the dark IS a new
experience with me- said Col. Frank My
e.s of the pension office, but it proved to
be successful. A few evenings since some
Of the ladies' of my family indulged in q
srin on their cycles in the circle on the
White House lot. During their ride one of
them lost a diamond collar button OF
course they did not know at what point
they lost it, though they did know that
the wearer had the button on when the
ride began and did not have it when she
stopped AS the circle is a half mile
al ound it seemed to be almost an tmpossi-
Bile task to find it. but the ladies persisted
II. the search They secured the assistance
of several other riders in the search,
and later on three or four more. The
party then started out in single file to
make the circuit. and afterward in files of
four In the third trip 1 was the lucky
finder.
Grip poison is the newest in the way of
ailments" observed 14th street physician,
land during the rainy season of the past
two or three weeks | have had three we'll
marked cases under treatment. The pa
ti@nts were. OF course. gripmen on the ca
bic line It appears that during moist
weather the brass handle on the grip keeps
moist nearly all of the time. In case there
are scratches or abrasions of any kind on
the hand poison from the GRASS is absorb
ed. The ailment, however is not serious
though painful at times. 1t would not oc-
cur did the gripmen wear gloves, but dur
1Eg the warm weather many of the men
discard their gloves. In one of the cases
treated by me the poison was complicated
by the man rubbing his eve which was
seriously affected. The treatment consists
OF cooling washes. assisted by alternatives
and tonics where the system is in any
way run down
Dog physicians and dog hospitals are
rather numerous in this city now." remark
Cd prominent dog fancier and kennel
o." ner, and they are doing a good busi-
ness Persons who own fine dogs are
their customers, and they find 1T to be bet
ter and cheaper to send their sick or in
juIed dogs to a hospital, where they can
be treated and nursed by intelligent and
educated physicians, than to give up their
Owl time to them The mortality of the
dog hospitals. however is rather large as
Yet, for people generally are not educated
Gp to 1t, and do not send their dogs for
Treatment until they have tried all the
remedies known to them. By that time the
dog Is IN Sucl bad shape that there is
little hope of his recovery. The dog hos
pitaltherefore, comes in for the blame which
Is undeserving. 1t is the same way with
surgical cases resulting from accidents
bites from other dogs and the like. The
hospital IS the last resort, and in the
majority of cases blood poisoning has set
in before the dog is sent for treatment. 1t
Is not surprising under the circumstances
that the mortality is 50 large"
x +
sand diggers were numerous on the Po-
tomac some years ago." said an old-time
river man, "and their little scows were
always in sight just above the Long
bridge. Often dozen of them could be
seen at one time. But this is all past now,
and the sand digger is one of the many
other things that were. Formerly the
sand digger worked at low tide. and gath
cred his load from the bottom of the river
with a long spoon-shaped contrivance.
He could not work at any other time
than low tide and get prime article of
river sand In the place of the sand
digger sand Is now loaded into scows hold
Ing three to four hundred cubic yards by
the aid of hydraulic pump. operated
by steam This machine works in high
an hour from the bed of the river than
all the old-fashioned sand diggers COM
bined could gather in a day. The sand
Is dried and piled up into little mountains
In size at the river front at the foot Of
18th street. The retail price of river sand
delivered, averages about 81 per cart load
which is more than the same quantity of
coal costs in the vicinity of coal mines"
X X
IF ii is not too early / would like tn
tell you a campaign story" remarked the
chief of one of the bureaus of a downtown
department. "One of the actors in ii is
today very frequently spoken of as a pos
sible candidate before the Chicago con-
yention, though ne is by no means the
most prominent. and the other, by a De
culiar combination of events, bad been
tion as governor of his state. The scene
was in western state. though neither