Evening star., 1896-10-23
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS

ST have seen the statement that no man
could drink half a gallon Of brandy day
for more than a very short time." said
John L. Smith Of Linden, Va, at Will
lard's. ''but there Is q man living In the
town I reside in who has never missed
drinking that much brandy in day for
twenty years. His name is John Hudnall,
and he owns a brandy distillery near Lin
den. He has used liquor as beverage
since early youth, and for the past twenty
years has consumed half q gallon Of BRAN
dy day. He is not an inebriate, by any
means. not becoming intoxicated by the
brandy. He is hale and hearty and stands
well in the community where ne lives, as
q business man. No explanation can be
given Of his remarkable power of with
standing the effects of liquor, but no one
to his having drank the amount I have
said. 1t has not impaired his digestion in
the slightest degree, as 1t Is usually claim
ed 1t will do. The statements going the
can be used as a beverage by man re-
quire revision"
"a great deal has been written about
Irish bulls" said T. ]. O'Donaghue of
Knoxville. Tenn, at the National. 81
have never been able to understand why
the Irish people should make them, but
the fact remains that they do. I do not
refer to wit, but the mistakes made in
speech. have myself unconsciously per-
petrated some of the worst bulls that could
well be imagined, and my father. who was
one of the best-educated men in Ireland,
was constantly guilty Of laughable blum
ders 1t probably comes from the Irish
being excitable and speaking too quickly
without stopping to frame sentences. I
was at hotel with Judge McDermott,
one of the leading lawyers of Tennessee.
when Irish stories were being told. For
time they were confined to wit, which
we enjoyed, and then bulls were introduced
Judge. with mild brogue interposed.
"Gentlemen." he said, 'you must know
that half the lies told about the Irish are
not true" and the crowd roared with
laughter.
II know a boy who has peculiar de-
feet in his eyesight," said A. C. Lawrence
of Rappahannock county. Virginia, at the
Howard. His name is Eddie Howe, and
the story can be substantiated by almost
any citizen of my county, as the case is
well known in that locality. From birth
the boy was supposed to be practically
blind, and he was five or six years old
before the discovery was made that, while
he could not see in daylight, everything
being blurred, and his eyes unable to bear
the glare, he could see well at night. When
the boy was five or six years old his father
bought pair of red-top boots for him
and took them into his sons room in the
dark, expecting to leave them and have
Eddie said. oh, father, what pretty boots
ana copper toes, too. As the father could
not see the boots 1t was so dark, he began
10 investigate. and found that the boy
SUula S1,aa see, Ihe next morning the lad was
blind again. and since then a great MANY
ocuilsts have been consulted None Of
them have been able to cure the defect or
even to determine what caused the peculiar
ine position Of copy reader on a literary
magazine is a hard one," said s. A. Gal.
lagher OF New York, who has had a good
deal OF experience in that line, at the
Raleigh. I'm the first place, space is lin
1ted, and there seems to be no limit to the
contributions offered. It Is necessary ir
order to keep up the system and tone of a
magazine, to contract for particular arti.
cies from well-known writer's, and the
amount OF matter that can be bought is
comparatively very little, not one article in
five hundred. Some Of the very best arti.
cles must be rejected. For instance. very
able paper on live topic reaches us from
an author wholly unknown; at the time
another comes from a man whose reputa-
ton gives weight to what he says and
whose connection with the magazine will
sell thousands of copies. The latter NAV
be much inferior to the former article. hut
1t would be an absurd business policy to
print the article that no one would read
ana throw away the one which everybody
Wouid look eagerly for. An announcement
that Howells will have a story sells thous.
ahds OF copies; an announcement that
refer Jones would have q story would not
1.,b,tnn Tne: Magazines are not run pro bono
puDnco: but In order to make money. and
every literary publication declines better
matter than 1t prints on many subjects
"A fact that is well known to all farm
nf
Of corn are always even in number" said
A. D. Catlin of Tolorio ILL., at the Metro
politan. There may be eight ten, twelve.
fourteen or sixteen rows, but never nine
eleven, thirteen or fifteen. This fact and
the knowledge Of it cost several men in
my neighborhood very dearly few days
ago. farmer who raises a small cron
OF corn and who has always been regarded
as OF rather weak intellect, concluded
that he raw chance to make some bets
Early In the season he carefully scraped
from dozen ears of corn Just formed
one of the rows. The corn ripened and
the remaining rows grew together, so as
10 nide the evidence Of the one removed
ever having existed. Then the farmer Of
fered to bet either that the others could
not or that he could find ears of corn with
odd rows. He had no trouble in getting
some very good bets on the latter PROPOSE
ton, but, of course, none on the first He
then found the ears he had fixed and made
as much money on the dozen ears as he did
On the entire crop of corn. Now, any sug-
gestfon of corn with odd rows is provo
cation for fight in that reighborhood."
Il met man in Washington last August
who has remarkable life history" said
c. I. Northup Of st. Paul at Wizards.
He was here at the time of his retire
ment under the age limit. 1 refer to Capt.
c. de Rudio, who now lives In San Diego.
CAL When twenty years Of age he was
sentenced to death by guillotine for COM
plicity with Orainf in the attempt to as
sassinate Louis Napoleon. His comrade
was executed. and before the black cap
was adjusted De Rudio asked to be allow
ed to smoke pipe. Permission was given.
and before the tobacco was consumed an
order arrived ordering the execution post
poned, it coming exactly one minute before
the condemned mans time on earth was
to expire. Another trial resulted in his
being exiled for life. He came to the
United States served through the civil
war, became an officer Of the cavalry ard
remained in the service until two months
ago, when he was retired. His record has
been good one and no officer Is better
known on the Pacific slope.''
Probably the Oldest living preacher who
is still actively engaged in the ministry is
Father Waugh of my town. said R. P. Can
ron Of Sonora, Cal, at the Ebbitt. HE is