Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, July 2, 1898, Page 4

By E. C. KILEY. , WO DOLLARS A YEAR IN ADVANCE x Months..........1.00 | Three Months......... itered at ti Ipostoflicefat Grand Rapid Minn., us second-class matter. THE MAGNETIC STROMSTADTS. ‘hey Drank Iron Water avd Were Magnetized by Lightning. A remarkable story comes from the tipper Yakima. Two years ago Mr. eter Stromstadt located on a piece of land near what is now known as Barox Springs, his family consisting of his wife and two children. A few jays after his settlement Mr. Strom stadt discovered a spring close to the shack he had erected, the water of which was strongly impreguated with fron, but was not unpalatable. Mr. ftromstadt dug out and deepened the spring, and since July, 1893, the fam- ‘ily have used the water for all domes tic purposes. On the night of April 2 a heavy elec trical storm passed over the Cascades, accompanied by vivid displays of ligntning. The following morning Mra, Stromstadt, while kindiing the fire ip the stove, found it almost impossible to separate the stove lifter from het hasd. Hes husband, hearing her cali, ran to her assistance, when, to his sur prise, he found that he, too, expert- enced great difliculty in detaching any article’ of iron with which his hands | same in contact. Breakfast was finally prepared and the family sat down to the meal. The children, two girls of five and seven years, drank their milk from tin cups, and upon reising theit cups to their lips found themselves unable to de 1 the cups from their mouths. Mr. ormstadt, who is ap intelligent immigrant from Sweden, was nonplussed, and while unable to account for the wonderful occurrences, nevertheless laughed at his wife’s ex- ited declarations that the family bewiched. Mr. Stromstadt has written a friepd in town. He says that the small bed on which the chil- dren sleep is upon roller casters and that in the morning the bed invariably. | pointed north and south, the bed be- | ing a little to the east of north. The case in one of the most remarka- ble on record. A member of the Academy of Sciences, to whom the cir- cumstances were related, states that the Stromstadt fa.nily have become saturated with iron, which was ren- dered magnetic by the passage of elec- tricity from the clouds to the earth during the storm on the night of April 2; and they are actual human magnets —xacoma Daily News. OIL ON THE WATERS. An Automatic Machine Operated by the Holling Waves. A simple device for distributing oil on rough water ts meeting with adop- tion among British shipowners. The arrangement is practically automatic, taking advantage as it does of the rise and fall of the vessel to create an air pressure, by means of which the oil is forced from the reservoir and mixes with the sea. Briefly, a tank 7s placed in a convenient pesition at the fore or after end of the vessel, above the water ling, and is about three parts filled with oil, the remaining Bpace acting as an air rvoir. In connection with and pas: this tank is a tube, the lo which is carried as far down as pos- sible, and is open to the sea, the upper part being fitted with an air valve to admit of the air pressed up by the column of water passing iuto the re- servcir. In connection with the mata tube an acditiomal air tube is fitted immediately under the water line, which, when the vessel rises, admita air into the main tube, and by means of a valve prevents its escape. The air is acted upon by the column of twain tube by the pitching of the ves- sel, and a pressure of five to six pounds can easily be obtained, which, acting. upon the air stored in the re servoir, ejects the ofl through the dis- tributing pipes to the sea.—London Invention. g through Grim Highlanders, My father had no end of anecdotes about our ancestors, parts of which I remember, though I was only a school room child of under fourteen when I | beard him relate them. I was, how- ever, old enough to feel keenly inter- asted in them. One story thatrim- pressed me very much was related to account for the origin of the Clan Macintyre. A party of Macdonells on one occasion were out in a boat, when a knot of wood sprang out, causing a serious leak; whereupon one of the arty stuck in his finger to fill the ole, and then cut it off with his dirk, thus saving the lives of the whole party. From this cireumstance his de | ecencants were caled the Macintyres, or Sons of the Carpenter. Another story which I heard my father tell relates to the bloody hand which appears in our coat of arms. A doubt having arisen as to which of | two brothers a certain estate belonged, {t was agreed that he whose flesh and blood should first touch the property was to be regarded as the rightful owner. Accordingly the two young men started in two boats for the land fn question. One of them, seeing that he was losing the race, when near the shore pulled out his dirk, cut off his hand and threw it on land, thus es- tablishing his right to the property, as his flesh and blood had touched it first -—Blackwood’s Magazine. ‘This active principle of tobacco is-sy powerful that the small dose of one | thirty-seeond of a grain caused an in- tense burning of the throat, gullet and stomach, which was fellowed by giddi- ness, rausea, extreme muscular weak- ness, laborious respiration, and with icy extremities, partial loss of con- sciousness, a rapid, feeble pulse, and other indications of impending col- lapse. | tenced to death for touching wine. | have been considerable, for a citizen | under the title of Tricongius, or “three- | gallon man,” such having been a sin- i* aile I was dressing,” and he DRINKING IN MANY ACES. An Interesting Lecture on the History of Alcohol. At the Natural History Museum Charles E; Pellew, of Columbia Uni- versity, delivered the first of an inter- esting series of popular lectures upon alcohol last night. His subject was “The History of Alcohol,” and began by explaining the universal prevalence of stimulating or narcotic drugs as showing the universal craving of man- kind for something to hide the trials and troubles of life. He spoke briefly about the early beverages of the an- cient Hindoos and Chinese, and then illustrated the drinking habits of the ancient Egyptians with a curious col- lection of lantern slides. The habits and customs of ancient Greece came | next, and ihe worship of the great god Dionysus, or Bacchus, was illustrated by some splendid photographs of vases, statues and bas-reliefs. Their wine was drunk diluted, never stronger than half water, and frequently with two, four or even fifteen parts of the milder fiuid. Mention was made of the curious nature of their wines, the ad- mixture of heney and spices, or rosin and turpentine, even of salt water, and the question cf fermented and unfer- mented wines among them and the an- cient Hebrews. The use of wine among the more hardy and less civilized Mace- donians wasMess refined, and the ex- ploits of Philip and his son Alexander rivalled the tales told by the most ar- dent pro: onist. At the feast given by Alexander at the tomb of Cyrus, a prize was offered for the boldest drinker, and the victor, Promachus, credited with fourteen quarts of wine, died in three days’ time from the effects of his debauch, along with some fifty of his competitors. Early Rome was de- scribed as painfully temperate, espe- cially tor the fair sex, who were sen- It was sad to hear that kissing on the mouth was invented by the Roman husband to test his wife’s abstinence from the wine > Later, however, after Greece and the East were con- quered, wine flowed freely, and the later republicans vied with the sub- jects of the early emperors in gross and unbridled drunkenness. The /capacity of the Roman must was knighted by the Emperor Claudius gle draught of his. * New-England came in for a touch from the lecturer. It was somewhat surprising to heart that, in the first call for suppiies sent home by the Plymouth Bay eslonists, the famous appeal headed by “ministers,” there were, along with requests for barley, rye and wheat, for seed, and stores of fruit trees, a petition for ‘“vyne plantes” and for “bop-rootes.” The minister, Mr. Higginson, was duly sent in 1628, and his ship was furnished with “45 tuns beere, 2 tuns canarie, 2! galtons aqua vitae” and only 6 tuns of water. The lecture closed with a short de- scription of the last century, charac- terized by the growth and development of the temperance movement. Some fine illustrations were given from Cruikshenk’s powerful plates of “The 3ottle,” and a comparison of the drink- ‘ng habits of both the educated and un- educated classes of the present Gay as sompared with those of a hundred or even fifty years ago showed the great sdvance of the present civilization. He Didn't Mind, Andrew Lang, in the illustrated Lon- don News, gives an anecdote of Dean Stanley’s amiable simplicity. The dean was invited out to dinner, and was very late. Wher he arrived his collar was unfastened, and the ends vibratea like little white wings about the head of a cherub. People could not but look at him with curiosity during the din- ner, and at length, with due precau- tion, his hostess ventured to ask him if he knew that his collar had broken adrift. “Oh, wind?” “Not at all,” said the lady. “Then I don’t mind either,” answer- ed the dean. “The button dropped off contin- yes!” said the dean, “Do you ued his conversation. "It was not,” says Mr. Lang, “ab- synce of mind, but unrivalled presence o® mind that Stanley displayed on this o:casion. Any other human being than he would have been at the point of changing his shirt.” Easily Gauged. “Johnny,” said the farmer, “go down {n the cellar and draw a pitcher of that eweet cider. Take a candle with you.” “Don’t need no candle,~ said Johnny. “Ah, my little man,” said the min- ister, who was staying over night, “you must have quite an accurate judgment to have filled that pitcher in the dark without running it over.” “Aw,” said Johnny, “it ain’t no trick at all. When it got up to the first joint of my thumb i stopped.”—Cin- einnati Enquirer. A New Developer. Quinine has cropped up in a some- what singular way ia photographic work. An old story tells how a pho- tographer was driven almost insane by the repeated produetion, upon devel- opment of plate axter plate, of a death’s head upon the forehead of one of the sitters. The ghastly joke was explained by the sitter kaving made a _preliminary sketch on that part of the face, using q solution of quinine for the purpose. Whether the story is sv- thentic or not, it is wow claimed that if two grammes of sulphate of quinina, eight grammes of giuc dust and forty cubic centimeters of water are heated at 100 degrees centigrade, in a closed tube for ten hours, a liquid with strong reducing properties is obtained. It is _ said to act as an excellent developer, producing a clear and sharp image. HIS VISION IS PERVERTED. & Bow Who Writes Backward, but Sees it as If Written Correctly. A remarkable case of what, for want of a better name, is termed perverted vision is just now attracting much at- tention in North Adams, Mass, The victim of this strange malady is John Ghidotti, a six-year-old boy who at- tends the public schools of that city. Physically and mentally, so far as sci- entists and physicians can determine, he in no way differs from other boys of his age, except that it is, practically impossible for him to write in the or- dinary manner. He uses his left hand, writing from right to left, forming his letters and sentences backward. This peculiarity of the boy was noticed as soon as he began to take writing les- sons. He learned the letters quickly, and wrote rapidly for one so young, but his writing was invariably in the reverse order. Starting from the wrong side of the page he would cover his copybook with characters which looked unlike anything called writing, but if the page was held before a mirror the teflection was perfectly legible and ap- peared like ordinary writing. Strange to say, he makes figures in the proper manner. Yet he cannot explain the difference between writing figures from left to right and letters just the re- verse. It seems impossible to teach this child that there is anything pe- wuilar about his chirography, and he persists that his handwriting is like that of any other petton. One may guide his right hand over a line of copy in the proper man ter, but fae mo- ment his hand is released he instantly changes the pencil te his left hand and tommences to write in his through- the-looking-glass fashion. Another pe- culiar feature of this perverted vision is that apparently he has no difficulty in writing the handwriting of other persons, although there is such a dif- ference between his own and that of others. His teacher, Miss Alice C. Buckley, says that he evidently: tries very hard to do as he is told, but it is as difficult for him to write in the ordinary manner as it wou'd be for another to practice his unique method. She cannot make up her mind whether his difficulty comes from a defect in his eyes or from the fact that he is left handed, but she has little hope of remedy unless she can induce the child to use his right hand. Dr. C. W. Wright, of North Adams, specialist on the eye, after a number of exam- Inations of the boy’s eyes, has arrived at the conclusion that the child is, to use his own expression, “a freak of na- ture.” He does not, however, think that there is any unusual crossing of the nerve fibres of the eye. The doc- tor, in all his years of experience, never met with an analogous case. Some years ago a returning Arctic ex- plorer told of a number of Esquimaux whom he met in the north of Green- land. who, when he gave them some colored lithographs, persisted in hang- ing them upside down, and when asked why they did so declared that only when they were so hung did they, ap- pear natural. To these natives the ac- tual individual or object seemed to occupy a proper position, but in the case of pictures, apparently, they found it necessary to reverse them ia order to appreciate them. The Mountain Parrot of New Zealand. The Kea, or mountain parrot of New Zealand, is a very funny little beast. When he meets tourists on the tramp, he at once falls in solemnly, with his family and chums, ail waddling in Indian file. Here is a scene described by a traveler who recently made the ascent of the Fox glacier: The keas having settled on the ice began to fol- low in a long straggling line, about 15 of them. Then have a preternaturally solemn walk, but when in a burry they hop along on both feet looking very eager and very much in earnest. To see thesg fifteen birds hopping along behind in a string f their very lives depended on keeping me in sight was ridiculously comic. ‘The ice was undu- lating, with little valleys and hum- mocks, and the birds would now, for a second or two, disappear into a hollow and now show up on a hummock, pause a@ moment, and then hop down again out of sight ‘into the next shadow. To judge by their expressions and manner, they were in a great state of anxiety on emerging from a hellow on to a hummock, as to whether I was still there. Now and then the one in front would appear, cranifg his neck, and on seeing me still ahead, would turn round and shriek “K-e-e-a,” as much as to | say, “It’s all right, boys, come along.” And the others, putting their heads down, would set their teeth and travel “all they knew,” a fat one in the rear evidently making very heavy weather of it. Flooded With Pear's, A Bond street jeweler was telling me some weeks ago of the new rage for pearls and the consequent rise in price, A tiny pearl which cost two shillings two years ago would now cost ten shil- lings. Since then I have learned that the London market has become -ab- solutely flooded with pearls. Tho poor, famished Indians have sold all they possess at famine prices and the Hatton garden merchants have profited by their distress. Great, then, as is the demand for pearis, the supply ig far greater—a hint to those who fondly desire a necslet of pearls in this year of grace 1897—The Gentlewoman, A Rule That Di Work Both Ways. “What’s your name?” said the new. school teacher, addressing the first boy on the bench. Y “Jule Simpson,” replied the lad. “Not Jule—Julius,” said the teacher. And paareneing the next one, “What is ‘heme?’ “Billous Simpson, I guess.” Sy the pew teacher had to rap for ex. | tress, now really interested. was the reply, “he was telling us how, HAS NO TEAR OF SNAKES. Maryland Man Who Allows the Most Poisonous Reptiles to Bite Him. The only man in the world who does not fear a snake bite, and upon’ whom the venom of serpents apparen*~ ly has no effect, is William F, Witmer, whose home is in Wolfsville, Md., says the New York Herald. His perform- ances with copperheads, rattlers and vipers are a constant source of won- der and amazement to all who know him, and even to his lifelong ‘friends there is a large element of mystery about the man and his strange power over snakes. He takes great pride in this respect, and when among stran- gers it is a favorite form of amusement with him to hunt up some ugly look- {ng speciment of the serpent family —the more deadly the better it fits his purpose—and to let the reptile sink its venomous fangs in his bare arm or hand. Recently, while on a visit in the mountains of western Pennsylva- nia, a half-dozen spotted vipers were found in a bunch under a stone. Roll- ing up the sleeve of his coat until his arm was bare to the elbow, Witmer proceeded with his other hand to take the largest and ugliest-looking viper by the tail and, shaking him apart from the rest of the snakes, swung him about until he was thoroughly enraged. He then allowed the viper to sink its teeth in his arm. Then one by one the other vipers were picked up and al- lowed to seize the arm, until there was a full’ half-dozen of the spotted writhing things Hanging from Wit- mer’s flesh and writhing themselves about the arm in a very frenzy of rage. When the spectators were sufficiently horrified the man took off the snakes one by one by the tail and, shaking them loose from his arm, killed them by snapping them like the lash of a whip. For the rest of the day no one would have been surprised to see the man drop dead any moment, but, on the contrary, he seemed among the liveliest of the party. There was no swelling of the arm nor any numbness of the flesh, the only trace of the ex- hibition being a number of tiny red spots on the arm, which looked as if ® needle had punctured the flesh. Those were the marks of the snakes’ fangs. Witmer himself says of the strange peculiarities which he possesses that it is something inherited from his an- cestors, one in each generation back as far as he knows having had this same immunity from the poison of venomous reptiles. “I do not try to explain it,” said he; “all I know is that I have no fear of snake bites; and although I have been bitten hundreds of times I never felt the slightest ill effects from any of them It is only a pastime for me to hunt and catch the most deadly serpents, and a peculiar feature of it is that once a snake has bittep me I have no difficulty in tam- GIRAFFES ALMOST EXTINCT. Unly Two in Captivity in American and but One in England. fhere is only one giraffe in England, two in America, and on the Continent of Europe the dearth {s as remark- able. In the wild beast market there are none to be had, and collectors are compelled to send agents into the in- teriov of South Africa to secure them. The giraffe is fast disappearing be- for2 the encroachments of man, and long before the great central plateau of Africa, whica is its habitat, has been opened up to civilization it will, like the great auk, have been com- pletely wiped out. ¥ormerly giraffes were exported trom North Africa by way of the Red sea, but since the introduction of fre- arms, and their general use by the Be- douins and Soudanese in hunting, these timid animals haye been driven far to the south of the Soudan: So the only gateway that is practicable to bring them out of Africa now lies through Cape Town, and for the last half doz- en years even that presents almost iu- superable difficulties on account of the constant wars between the natives and the Bters and English. At the beginning of the present c¢n- tury giraffes ranged as far south as the banks of the Orange river, but they are not to be met now below the North Kalahari country. There has never been a very large number of giraffes in American collec- tions, though in 1888 one great show went long on giraffes, and exhibited a herd of twenty-one, the largest num- Ser probably that has ever been seen together, since in the wild state they do not herd in large numbers, and are neyer found in groups of more than four or five. ‘The gira‘fe is not a hardy animal in eaptivi It does not thrive on dry food, like most ruminant animals, which de almost as well on hay as on grass. In the wild state the giraffe feeds almost entirely on the leaves and twigs of a species of acacia which the Boers. call kameel-doorn, or camel thorn, the giraffe itself belmg known to them as kameel, or camel. The food imparts to the flesh a pungent aromatic flavor which makes giraffe steaks a delicacy ,highly esteemed by African hunters. There is nc animal which gives its keeper more trouble in a menagerie, not even the treacherous elephant. While the giraffe is gentle in disposi tion, and not given to attack, even in the wild state, it is stupid and obsti- nate, and cannot be taught to mind. A full-grown one cannot be taken alive, for when defense is no longer possible it will kill itself. Self-destruc- tion is not difficult in its case, either, Sor tbe Joog neck is easily broken. A New Evotution. Two or three mornings after the ar- rival of a new butler the mistress of the house took the opportunity of ask- ing the cook how she liked her new fellow-servant. The report was an ex- cellent one. “In fact, ma‘am,” said the cook, ‘the servants’ hall is quite a dif- ferent place now.” Not unnaturally the mistress pressed for further par- ticulars. ‘Well, he talks so cleverly,” said the cook. “Last night, for in- stance, he explained things to us for an hour and a half.” “ixplained things—what things?” said the mifs- swell,” we are all descended from Mr. Dar- win.”—Westminster Gazette. If You Want: to File upon lands under any laws of the United States, or when you are ready to make final proof, call at the office of the Judge of Probate, . Court House, Grand Rapids. E. C. KILEY. Homesteaders Can save time and expense by proving up before E. C. Kiley, Judge of Probate, Grand Rapids. Filings Upon Land May also be made before bim. h expense of taking witnesses to Duluth or St. Cloud can be saved. Ell Business entrusted to my care will be given prompt attention. ‘SEE eae a eae ese eae ae eae ae a ae ae ae he ae ae ate ate seat te ate ae a be tse ate ee Hee at ea ae ee ae a ae te ee ae Try one of our 50c ineals for 25c. | % = wt aa od I 3 | ee a * % % % o Palace af & % i %. %, # % * & 4 # = % & = % % % = % a % & % ea %, ‘, i; as ee 3 aa ss & * Sarnple Reom —AND— Scandinavian Restaurant. LOGAN & DOYLE, Proprietors. This popular place has recentlys;been re arranged and a First-classsi Restaurant. SWVVVVVIVDSEVSEV*A opened in connection with o Ro m. 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Pokegama Boquet “~Cup Defender Manufactured in Grand Rapids By tt{t GEORGE BOOTH. CAlb NO for either of these brands and you will get an excellent smoke, None but the finest I stock used. “A Good Suit” is always a winner. ‘Clothes make the man,” isan old saying well worth considering. Many a young man has obtained positions and made a start in life by ing well dressed. A neat fitting tailor-made suit will make you look better and feel better. We guarantee the fit, material and workmanship. Lowest Prices. Best Workmanship. Broecker & Whiteaker. B C 2S Saeae a