The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-09-13
QUAINT FEATURES OF LIFE.

QUAINT FEATURES OF LIFE.
People fond Of noting condolences
can note this one: In New York last
week, before Recorder Golf, Robert
Pentecost, convicted of larceny, was
defended by Hugh O.. Pentecost and
was prosecuted by Assistant District
Attornew James J. Walsh, whose prin-
cipal witness was, another James ].
Walsh. Neither the two P~entecosts
nor the two Washes were relatives.
Like the Japanese" writes William
p. Curtis to the Chicago Record-Her-
aid, "the Norwegians are very super
stitious, and, as in Japan, the forests,
the mountains and the gorges are peo-
pied with fairies. Nissen is the good
fairy of the farmers. He looks after
The cattle particularly and if he is
well treated they are healthy and the
cows give lots of milk. 20 propitiate
him it is necessary to put a dish Of
PoAAAu6O vi tuC IulCoAOlu VI Il0 COW
stable on Christmas morning. When
eve the family moves this invisible
being goes along with them and sits
on the top of the loads"
Former Mayor Henry Johnston of
Washington, N. j., vas fined 81 and
costs for having twice uttered the
word damn on the street. Johnston
was talking with a merchant in front
OF the ~latter's store a few days ago
when he used the e~xpletive, which,
unfortunately for the 'ex-mayor, was
overheard by one Of his bitterest en-
eIaies. A summons was issued, Mr..
Johnston pleaded guilty to. the charge
and, waving the legality of the action
paid the fine. Justice of the Peace
w. G. Creveling, who imposed the
fine, gave Johnston a severe lecture.
Johnston says he proposes to see that
the law against swearing is observed
to the letter by everybody in Wash
ington hereafter.
Tell a man that he has slept TWEEN
ty years and he will give you a pity
ing stare" remarked the man with a
mania for statistics, "but it's a fact.
The man who has reached the age
of 60 has spent one-third Of his life,
or twenty years, in slumber, and if
a man is lucky enough to live until
he is Is he has Rip Van Wrinkle beat
en- to a standstill. The average per-
son sleeps eight hours a day, or exact
~ one-third Of his days life. Again,
if you. abruptly inform a man Of 60
that he has slowed a herd of cattle
under his belt in his time he will put
you down as a third-year man at an
insane asylum. Figures, however,
don't lie and you can give him a Stats
tical knockout. A healthy man eats,
on a conservative estimate, one pound
of meat every day of his life, and in
sixty years he will devour 21,OO0
pounds. Allowing 1000 pounds as the
average weight of a beef, you have
twenty-five cattle, a pretty r%especta-
BE herd, l think.
Here is a snake story from the
.Lacon Gill; Journal: "Every we'll reg
ulated printing Office has a watering
can in which water is kept to wet the
type. For want of a. better place the
n in the Home Journal office is us
ually kept on a window sill on the
north side Of the room. One day dur
ing the recent drouth two of our print
ers were sitting on their stools at
this window sticking type, when they
were nearly petrified by the sight of
a snake protruding it's head above the
sill from the outside. The boys al
most broke their necks in getting
away. Reaching over into the pan the
snake took a good drink and before
the startled printers could secure a
club with which to dispatch the rep
tile it had disappeared. The next day
4
at the same hour the snake came for
another drink, and this was repeated
the third and fourth days, but the last
time it was attacked from the rear by
a big black Thomas cat that makes
it's home at Testers livery barn, next
door. It was a lively fight for a few
seconds, but the cat was too much
for the snaks, although it was fully
four feet long, and the reptile made a
shoot for the rear of the Office. The
cat was after it like .streak of light
ming. but the snake found a hole in
the brick wall and disappeared under
the building. That was two weeks ago.
Before that time the printing Office