Kansas City journal., 1897-11-15
OF CURRENT INTEREST,

Just now Is the 'possum season down
in my country" said a Georgia man the
other day. "'Possum dinners are in great
favor with our local epicures. and the town
Of Newman. from which our popular gov.
ernor halls. is preparing to give a dinner
to him In the near future, at which the
'possum will be the piece de resistance
Governor Bob Taylor. Of Tennessee. will
be seated alongside Governor Atkinson on
that occasion. and between the good eat
ables and the funmaking of the fiddle
playing Tennesseean there will be a not
time in the governors town that night.
'PossumS when cooked well, as they only
know how to cook them in the South, to
my mind make a dish almost, IL not quite,
the equal of Chesapeake bay terrapin.
They are never served right except In a
mammoth dish. fianked with yellow yams
that ARE SO sweet that sugar forms on
them in crystals. When thus brought to
the table they are a feast fit for the OIym-
plan gods. The 'poesum is not thoroughly
ripe till good hoarfrost. the same time
that the persimmons are at their best.
The two have been thus praised by a
Southern poet:
I've tried the French chefs (and German
ones, tool,
With sauces piquant and soups a la R.ine.
Salmis of duck and the great Boston bean;
But. say! there's dish that has ne'er mad
Give me 'possum and taters and good sim
mon beer.
The wreck of the New York Central train
at Garrisons has brought to light many
| stories of other wrecks and many inter-
esting incidents. The next day after the
terrible disaster there were survivors of
the Ashtabula and other big railroad
| wrecks all over the city. says the Buffalo
News. One ran across them everywhere.
One man I met had a very peculiar story
to tell. Yes he said. that was bad
smashup, but 1t was nothing so bad as the
Ashtabula affair. 1 had most narrow
escape from Geath in that wreck. / was in
Cleveland at the - hotel I had my
| trunks all packed and taken to the sta
| ton for that train, but I was saved by
| the most unusual occurrence. I took four
| drinks of rum just before train time. and
got into a quarrel with a porter about my
| trunks. That was what saved me from
| taking that train" He looked musingly at
| the glass before him for a moment. and
| then drank 1t slowly remarking as he did
| SO, "And have always remembered that
| and am never without the four drinks of
| rum. When a man or thing saves
mans life it should not be forgotten"
This is late story of Calvin 8. Rrice:
| A friend of his had scheme for building
| a tramway across the White pass to con-
| meet with the lakes leading up to the
| Kiondike This man telegraphed Brice
! description of the project that fairly made
| the wires glow. All he wanted was $780,
| OG1 to put the scheme through. and 1t was
| sure to yield 100000 profit every month
| right from the start How much of the
| $4,000 would Brice take? BY return wire
1 ba npedY,'f lock ar>v
further. I'll take the whole of 1t. Pay for
it out of the first months earnings. Send
| on the SIS coo surplus at once
| Lord Kelvin estimates the time since the
earth became sufficiently cooled to become
| the abode of plants and animals to be
| about 90 10000 years, within limits of err
| ror ranging between 15.0op.0o0 and 3D,oC0. 900
! years. From similar physical data Clar-
| ence King has made an estimate nearly
! agreeing with this. Warren Upham says
| that biologists generally regard this period
| as toe short. Dana, WQlcott and others
| compute that the duration of time since
| life began on the earth is from 60 OG0 900 to
100. 600 years.
Last week Seth Low filed an affidavit in
| the county clerks office in New York to
| the effect that his election expenses were
| s+4.5 Teiegrams. postage, clerical work
| and cab hire Were the items noted in the
| bill John Henry Mccarthy spent S. $50 So
| for election purposes. Printing. postage.
| cab hire and advertising consumed $3.50 So.
| Tammany Hall was the recipient of s. 900.
| John Henry was reelected Judge Of the
| city court Seth Low was defeated for the
| mayoralty.
Senator Foraker, OF Ohio. Is building one
| of the largest and finest residences In
| Washington in the very midst OF the new
| fashionable residence quarter. at the COR
| ner of Sixteenth street and Madison place.
| The house promises to be a beautiful spec
| linen of architecture and is large enough
to accommodate considerable colony Of
| the senator's friends.
OF the 916.0l4 pensioners On the govern
ment rolls only 1850 receive as much as $50
a month. Altogether this number draw
about 100000 a year. against total pen
sion expenditure Of nearly $1i0.0oe.oOa