Republican News Item. CHAS. LOREN WING, Editor. THURSDAY JUNE y, 1898. "HIRST OF ALL—THE NEWS." The News Item Fights Fair. IT IS A PATRIOTIC HOME NEWSPAPER. Published Every Friday Morning. By The Sullivan Publishing Co. At the County Seat of Sullivan County. LAPOBTE, PA. Entered at the Post Office at Laporte, as second-class mail matter. SUBSCRIPTION —$1.25 per annum. II paid in advance SI.OO. Sample copies free. All communications should lie ad» dressed to REPUBLICAN NEWS ITEM, Laporte Pa., For a garden hoe, garden rake, grul>. liing hoc, pick, shovel, etc. call on.l. W. Buck. Wall paper with line borders to match, .Inst received at .1. W. Bucks, Sonestown. II you need fence wire, [call on.l, W. Buck, lie has different, sizes on hand. New Rule nl Five O'clock*. Fashionable women have this season discovered how to obviate the neces sity of taking too much tea and yet to preserve the aspect of sociability as they make the rounds of the five o'clock affairs. This is by taking plain hot water, flavored with a little of the lemon or cordial that is an in variable accompaniment to the fash ionable tea service. There has been a decided tendency to vary the usual wafers by some sort of fresh warm bread. At some houses delightful Sally Lunu is handed round, and min iature tea biscuits, too, hot, and to be eaten with butter, have been often seen. Small fresh round sponge cakes, often the work of the hostess herself, are offered at some studio af ternoons, and there is a universal sup pression of sandwiches. These are no longer deemed necessary or even de sirable. Wuuinn'i )!»«■ I ■■■ iiortH nee. The position of woman has changed greatly for the better in late years. In the latter part of the sixties Miss Laura Addington, of lowa, built up a large business as a real estate draughtsman and conveyancer. She had talent, if not genius for the work, and was so skillful that she won the confidence of both the bar and the banks. In response to their request the Governor appointed her register, notary or some other official connect ed with that kind of work. The Chief •executive issued a commission to L. Addington. When asked, it is said, why he did not write the first name, "Laura," in full, he answered: "It's enough disgrace to tlie State to have lo appoint a woman, and there ain't auy necessity for letting it be known to the whole world." Art of Talking Well. One wonders if the great increase of women's clubs has had anything to do with the desire on the part of society women to improve their conversational powers. It is certain that the aver age club-woman learns to think very quickly when on her feet. It is also true that some New York women this season have felt their inability to con verse well, and have secured a con versation teacher for the purpose of Improving them in this respect. She is quite different from the current topics instructor or the class-lecturer. Her object is solely the cultivation of conversational powers, and she does this, taking anything as her subject. She prefers not to take her pupils in classes, and, it may be added, her pu pils prefer to come singly. The l.adlem' Valet. The latest creation of the century is the Indies' Valet. This is not a per son, but a little business concern. It has a certain number of subscribers, upon whom it calls once a week to per form the functions of the valet and maid. It receives boots, clothing and bonnets. It does no laundry work, and no boot cleaning. It repairs foot wear, sews buttons and half soles and heels. It cleans clothing, darns and renovates. It retrlms hats and makes them presentable. It returns all the goods within a few days after they are received. For this weekly visit and all this work the charges are a moder ate annual subscription. To I'revent llold-l pn. An inventive genius in Jdfedia, Pa., has rigged up a device which he con fidently predicts will put an end to street car hold ups. He is a conductor on an electric line and lias lined the Interior of his car with wires charged with electricity. Along these wires runs a small trolley device, intended to be kept in his hand constantly, no matter where he may be in the car. Food Valued of Laid. It Is estimated that twentjr-two acres of land is necessary to sustain ona man on fresh meat. The same spac* of land, if devoted to wheat culture, would feed 42 people; If to oats, 88; potatoes, Indian corn and rice, 176; and if to the plantain or breadfruit tree, over 6,000 people. *sx«p ijxis xpio «{.ieqis °1 pn« s/sp Xienju }noqn uuza>j 'pn«| •Sua u{ osi inoqu 'pnvpji u[ J*a>£ em Ut S.tup 80S eSjMOAV TIB HO Sttfß.l II •■pjo&u «J|os : THE DURATION OF FOGS. I One In the I.aat Century Lmted For Tito Year* and Caused Alarm. The whole of Europe, during the two "years 1782 and 1783, was shrouded by a dry fog so thick that ft noon day, in summer, the sun took a blood-red hue. This extraordinary haze was a pale-blue color, and ■ never lifted day or night. Voy aging on the Mediterranean was made dangerous by it, and it was just as i thick on the tops of the highest Alps. : It was not in the least affected by rain, : and extended alike over countries such as Britain, where the climate is changeable, and Spain and Italy, where i it is usually serene and clear. The greatest alarm prevailed; public prayers were made, and, probably, so agitated a state of the public mind was never known before. Its cause is sup posed to have been the terrible erup tion of the volcano of Skaptar Jokull, in Iceland, which ejected over 80,000,- 000 tons of matter. One of the worst ! fogs within recent times alike for its 1 density and protractedness was one j which prevailed in London from the beginning of November, 1879, to the following February. The deaths for the six weeks ending February 21 were 1.730, 1900, 2,200, 3,370. 2,49fi, and 2010, the deaths in the fourth week being thus nearly double those of the first. In the ilrst three weeks of 18S0 when London was large ly cleared of fog, the deaths fell 30 per cent, below the average; but in the end of January, when the fog again became severe, the deaths rose to 43 per cent, above the average.—Tit-Bits. Curly llnireit .luroi'N. There is a well defined prejudice against curly haired men when it comes to choosing a jury to try crim inal cases. The prejudice, when it is manifested, comes from the defence. When asked to explain the objection to curly haired men, a prominent prac titioner yesterday said:—"When I was Just starting my lpgal mentor incul cated that idea in me. He said that curly haired men had almost invar iably been the pampered darlings of their parents and in their youth had been so used to having their own way that they had come to believe that everybody on earth was wrong except themselves. In Hjis way the seeds of opposition wore sown, and when they grew older thay made a point to dis agree with everybody and everything. If everybody else on the jury votes for acquittal they vote for conviction as a matter of course. They live on com bat and are as stubborn as the days are long. A curly haired man never gets on the jury when I am defending a man if I cau see him in time." >laino*M Wo mil ii Diver. A woman diver is something new, but Mrs. Llllic Cordon of South Port land, wife of Nat Gordon, the famous submarine diver, can lay claim to this distinction. In June, while her hus band was constructing a stone wharf at Hurricane Island, Mrs. Gordon don ned the diver's suit and went down in thirty feet of water. She went down as steadily as a veteran diver, says one who was present, and though lor a minute she felt as though she were smothering, she reports the sensation at the bottom of the sea as a very pleasant one. Only one person in fifteen has perfect eyes, the large percentage of defective ness prevailing among fair-haired peo ple. .*lll lit* 111 I Silk, The occupation of the silk worm is being successfully attacked from four different quarters. A German chemist dissolves the silk of worn out dresses, remnants and of the cocoons and with it plates cotton or linen threads, which, when woven, are more brilliant than silk prepared in the ordinary way. A French chemist makes an artificial silk out of vegetable tissues, which he dissolves and forces, when in liquid form, through minute holes in a steel cylinder. These holes are like the spinnerets of all insects which produce threads. There is a liquid comes through them. The volatile parts evaporate, leaving an almost invisible thread like that of a caterpillar. These are brought together and spun into thread, which, in turn, is woven into cloth. Another inventor is utilizing the spiders which make cobwebs, while a fourth makes thread and cloth out of Sanitary Inspector Brunner reports to the Surgeon General from Havana, that during the week ending October 7, there were seven deaths from star» vation, and during the week ending October 14, 21. To the deaths from utarva; tion, he says, must be added, scores re sulting from other immediate causes that would not prove fatal if sufficient food was obtainable. The deplorable conditions to which the degpotlam of Weyler subjected the pacifies is incon ceivable unless the subject is made a special study. They were restricted to narrow limits where they could not procure food and so densely that sani tation was impossible. Blanco prom ises relaxation. Politics in Newark, New Jersey, de veloped many phases of human nature In the campaign just closed. In one ward where there were 205 Democrats registered there were 285 votes cast and countd at the Democratic primary. A member of the Grand Jury was nominated for a county office and the Grand Jury adjourned until after the election in order to allow him to do his campaigning. A red hot Republi can was a delegate to the convention, * a howling partizan of a candidate and | secured his nomination. Then the , Democrats nominated his brother for | the same office and the Republican told | his friend to help his brother and the friend took off his coat and went to I work to defeat bis candidate. A MASCOT IN REALITY. Ptlcu of land Boom Wherever Ex-Frail dent Cleveland Resides. Orover Cleveland is a mascot for real estate boomers. He has made money in large sums for landholders in three widely separated parts of the country. When he was married, ten years ago, ! during his first term, Mr. Cleveland bought for $21,600 a place of twenty -1 eight acres in the suburbs of Washing ton. Until that purchase the sight liness of the locality had not been recognized. The land was in small small farms and there were few Wash ington people who had homes along the unfashionable pike. The President made some alterations in the com fortable old stone house and lived there in tho summer time. When he went out of office, after two or thre« seasons' occupancy of "Red Top," as the place was called, from the brightly painted roof, he sold his twenty-eight acres for $135,000. But previously thousands of acres surrounding had changed hands. Cleveland Heights had been laid out, an electric road had been built and all of the accessories ol real estate speculation on a grand scale had been applied. Mr. Cleveland's next venture was in a desolate tract of land on Buzzard's Bay. He went there on the recom mendation of Joseph Jefferson, found good Ashing and bought liberally ol the rocky and sandy acres. The his tory of Red Top repeated itself, save that Mr. Cleveland did not sell when the boom came. Buzzard's Bay has come into prominence as one of the choicest localities on the Atlantic coast for summer homes. The land has gone up ami up until the advances parallel those of the first neighborhood to which Mr. Cleveland lent his name. And now the news is that Princeton acres, and especially that part in which the ex-President has invested, are soaring in values. They Got Jined. "The most amusing nuptial event 1 ever officiated at," said good old 'Squire Hiram Cate, of Kentucky, the marrying magistrate of the Penny rile,' who died not long since, "was in the winter of '7l. I was awakened one cold night about midnight by vig orous knocking on my front door. 1 went to the window, and by the light of the moon could see two forms on my front porch. 1 raised the window and asked what was wanted. A wom an of the backwoods type, answered in about this language: "Why, hits us, Jim an' me, as wants to git hitch ed.' 1 hurried down, and on opening the door found a poorly clad, flnnieky looking man of about forty, led by a determined looking woman of perhaps thirty. I could see that the female was the business part of the proces sion, and addressed myself to her, asking why they had chosen such a late hour for their 'hitching affair.' This was the reply in quick, snappy sentences: 'Why, hits this way. Jim Owens is bin a-sparkin' uv me, 1 low, for fo' yeres, an' I got fetched tired uv his mincin' wurds, so tuk an' ast him to-nite, I did. ef he wuz evei gwine ter pop. I tol' him, 1 did, 1 'spected him 'votedly, and ef he wanted me, to cum on an' less git jined tonite, er 1 wuz gwine to take Pletch Bog gesses' boy, Hez, an' settle down. Jim lowed—he did—he reckined he'd cum, tho' it wuz a long trip. So I took an' fetched him in pap's mill waggin'. Didn't I, Jim? Jim nodded a doleful assent. In answering the questions J put to the groom in the ceremony the brawny better nine-tenths gave the bashful 6pouse about to be the cue, anu she paW me a halt dollar, taking the money from Jim's pocket book. II beat any wedding I ever witnessed, 1 think." I'nbindliiK CUlna Women's Feet. Are any Chinese women's feet un bound in consequence of the exertions of foreigners? Yes; but no more than European ladies are they going to walk barefoot through the streets to con vince doubters. And what is far more important, numbers upon numbers of little girls are remaining unbound in missionary schools at Amoy. Hang chow and all up and down the river. And at parties ladies who so far as we know are untouched by Christian influences yet show with pride their soft-footed little girls, saying, "My old people bound ray feet, but I will never bind hers." It is the upper circles of China who are giving up binding. The man on the streets yet binds and loves bound feet, just as in Singapore all the Straits-born Chinese have cast oft binding, if it be not the very poorest of the poor. Same l"ay for Everybody. An aged Georgia negro, Nathan by name, is employed by a gentleman prominent in State politics. That Nathan also has an eye to political favors is shown by the following con versation which recently took place between Win and his employer: 'Marse Jim," said Nathan, "is you gwine in dis yere race for Governor?" "Haven't thought about it." "Well, ef yer does run, an' gits elect ed, will you give me a job?" "Certainly I would remember you, Nathan. What would you like?" "Well, auh, I'd des like ter black boots roun' de Capitol." "And what would you expect for that service?" "Well, suh," he replied, "I should say $4 a day would be reasonable. Das what de yuther legislators get." Some Day, The Fair One—l suppose you will marry, though, when the goiden oppor tunity offers, won't you? The Cautious One—lt will depend I upon how much gold there is in tht j opportunity. Free Medical Advice Do you understand ju*t what 1 >r. J. P. Ayer's medicines will do f.r you? Are they helping you as fast as you think tlivy ought? Write to our doctor, lie w..l answer all questions, and givu you t'..e best medical adricu, absolutely five. Address the J. C. Ayer Co., Lowell, liasa. A Horrible Railroad Accident is a daily chronicle in our papers; also the death of some dear friend, who hud died with Consumption, whereas, if lie or she had taken < IIIU'H Cure for Throat and Lung diseases in time, life would have been rendered happier and perhaps saved. Ileed the warning ! If you have a cough or any a flection of the Throat and Lungs Call on T. .1. Keeler,Laporte; W. L Hoffman, llillsgrove; B. S-Lancaster, Forksville; C. B Jennings, Agt. Ivtella; Jno. W. Buck, Sonestown, and get a trialjpackage free. Large sire 50c and l!sc. G. A. Rogers FMIiKsVIM.K. I'A. (Successor to B.W. Kaweett.) Watches, Jewelery, Silverware, Etc. Bicycle repairing. Bicycle sundries. Fishing tackle, at lowest possible Price. A Cut in Price is Giving Voice. Ami the liK'is car) !»h lortrnrl l»y call ing Tlk "line S|H»J. of John V. Finkle, Lu porte. Furreign prices as follows: Men's shoes, hull sole and heal. tiOc. Women's shoes do ,'!()e. Children's shoes do "_'sc. I 'cmeiit patches, 05e. I'"inc I res 11 oranges, lemon- ami bananas at John W. Bucks, Sonestown. Ktlnrnto Vonr llowels With I'asearets. Canity Cathartic, cure constipation forever. 10c, Joe. if C. C. C. fall, druggists refund uioney. ''all in and see the new nickel oil stove, a good thing for summer use. J. W.Buck. To I ore' «_: