May - The North Star Monthly

www.northstarmonthly.com MAY 2010 3
Young man recovering after rogue fire ball strike, Concord teen
returned to father after a brief stint as a fugitive
The North Star
“WHERE LIBERTY DWELLS THERE IS MY COUNTRY”
1807-1889
Est. by Ebenezer Eaton
Danville, Vermont
THE NORTH STAR
May 9,1879
Habits of the Honey Bee –
The honey bee is a model of neatness
as of industry. The infallible
instinct of the insect allows it to
select only the delicious nectar
produced in the grand laboratory
of nature. Bees are impatient of
any disagreeable odor and are enraged
if impure or decaying matter
is brought in proximity of
their hive. Bees sometimes go
three miles from the apiary in
search of honey. Whenever a bee
secures a load of honey, it at once
rises in the air to a certain altitude,
apparently takes its bearings,
and then starts in a
perfectly straight direction toward
its hive.
A Bath in the Dead Sea – A
correspondent of the Washington
Star, who has had a bath in
the Dead Sea, describes his experience
as follows. The water,
which is quite clear, and nearly
the color of the Niagara River
below the falls, seemed to be a little
more bitter and salt, than that
of the Great Salt Lake, as the difficulty
of swimming was greater
on account of the inability to
keep one’s feet under water. So
large a quantity of salt is held in
solution that the water has what
is called a “ropy” appearance,
much like a plate of well-made
tapioca soup. However, when
you come out of the water there
is not so large a deposit of salt
crystals on the body as after a
bath in the Great Salt Lake, and
the feeling of the skin, instead of
being dry and prickly, as expected,
was oily and sticky.
May 16, 1879
What is in the bedroom – If
two persons are to occupy a bedroom
during a night, let them
step on weighing scales as they
retire and then again in the
morning and they will find their
actual weight is at least a pound
less in the morning. Frequently
there will be a loss of two or
more pounds and the average
loss during the year will be
around one pound — that is, during
the night a loss of one pound
of matter from their bodies,
partly through the lungs and the
pores of the skin. The escaped
material is carbonic acid and decayed
animal matter or poisonous
exhalations. This is diffused
through the air, in part, and absorbed
by the bed clothes.
New Butter Market – Mr.
George W. Spencer opens his
butter market at St. Johnsbury
this week. The price of butter at
this time is quite low, and many
farmers may feel inclined to pack
their summers make and keep it
until winter, hoping there will be
a better price. The chances are
that this action will yield no better
a price than the one currently
being offered. Spencer desires to
bring Caledonia County as near
as possible to the head of dairy
manufacture in the state, and
with the help of our farmers he
could no doubt succeed. He will
be pleased to see all the best
dairymen in his shop on Eastern
Avenue.
May 23, 1879
Ball of Fire – A boy, about 15
years of age, named Edward
Brain, living with his father, left
to purchase some groceries at a
store nearby. He was joined on
the way by another boy, named
Robert Duroe, about 12 years of
age. It was raining hard. As they
were going across a vacant lot on
Pearl Street, at the end of Summit
Street, in order to get to the
store on Mechanic Street, Duroe
said he looked up and saw coming
toward them from above in
an oblique line a small ball of
fire, which in an instant struck
Brain on the left breast, passed
under his coat, and spread into a
mass of flame all over the boy’s
side. Brain was holding his left
hand on his breast at the time
and in it was a quarter of a dollar.
Both boys were terribly frightened,
and Brain said he was
nearly knocked down. They ran
into the grocery store and the
keeper quickly stripped off the
boys flaming clothes. The boys
coat was burned to a cinder on
one side and so was his under
clothing. His side was badly
scorched and blistered and the
end of his thumb, including the
nail, was burned off. His left
hand was also badly burned and
the 25-cent piece in his hand was
partly melted. The doctor says
the boys injuries are not life
threatening. The boy said he saw
nothing but heard a loud hiss
just above him before he was
struck. Brain said he doesn’t remember
feeling the shock of a
solid object and his friend distinctly
remembers the ball of fire
coming down and hitting his
companion. Both boys are truthful
in their story.
Smart Old Man – Mr.
Nathaniel Foss, now living in
Hardwick, but some years ago a
resident of this town, is about the
smartest man we know of, for a
person of his age. He is now 88
years old and was on a short visit
here last week. He is tall, straight
as an arrow, and steps off as
sprightly as a boy. He stated he
walked 15 miles without resting
and with no apparent fatigue. He
took the cars for home, and
being fearful that he might miss
the train, started for it with a
double quick step. A smart man,
surely.
Rapid Growth – Mr. John
Sias of this village has in his garden
about one acre of corn,
which is now some four or five
inches high. He planted it a week
ago. He also has potatoes that are
up and will soon require hoeing.
Vegetation of all kinds is doing
quite well. In many fields, the
wheat is up, and looking finely
and the grass is settling well, and
now promises a heavy yield.
None of it was winter killed.
West Concord – Chester Bailey,
a 14-year-old son of R.S. Bailey,
stole $40 from his father, a
week ago last Friday, and started
for Canada, with Edgar Blancher,
a boy about his own age, now on
furlough from a reform school.
The telegraph headed them off at
Sherbrooke and they were
brought back Saturday morning,
sadder and it is hoped, wiser
boys.
Timely Pension – Mrs. Isabella
Brock of Barnet has lately
received notice that her claim for
a pension for her son has been
granted, to the amount of $20 a
month, the back pay amounting
to $3,200. Her only son, Robert
H. Brock, colonel of the 77th Illinois
regiment, died of diseases
contracted in the service, Mrs.
Brock is 84 years old and her husband
is about the same age. They
have been married nearly 60
years.
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