1890 Oddball Trivia

The editor of The Fowlerville Review would find trivia and news to print weekly in his paper. Here is a spattering of articles from 1891:

Here is a way to tell how fast you are traveling in a railway car: Every time the car passes over a rail joint, there is a distinct click. Count the number of these clicks in twenty seconds and you will have the number of miles the train is going per hour. This is a simple matter of arithmetic, as the length of the rails are uniform.

In the Albion Record~~Fred E. Watkins, while crossing a meadow in pursuit of a rabbit, found a clover blossom in full bloom on Christmas Day. The prophecy was made in 1462 that, after the first clover blossom found on Christmas Day, 62 days from then the world will come to an end. That will make the event due on Sunday, February 23.

In late winter, the Jackson Citizen says: Strange winter this. A robin was seen by a farmer five miles from Ann Arbor on the 30th day of January, and within a few days, the songster was seen in that city. Within a short time, one of its citizens says he saw in his yard a swarm of full-grown house flies, as large as a swarm of bees. That's nothing. On the 13th day of February, at high noon, a Kalamazoo man saw a whole yard full of snakes, most of them boa-constrictor size.

And then this -- A truly penitent looking fellow walked into a Beloit, Wisconsin, store the other day when the proprietor was alone and with difficulty keeping back the tears that would well up in his eyes, said: 'Four years ago I stole a pair of shoes here. It was during an 'off' sale and the shoes were marked $4. The fact has been weighing on my conscience until I have been driven to make restitution. Have me arrested if you will, but take the money,' and he plunked down a $10 bill. The merchant was overcome by this evidence of honesty, and giving the fellow $6 in change, bade him go in peace and sin no more. The penitent went, and two hours later, when the merchant went to the bank, he found that an ordinary tramp had worked a 'queer' bill on him and got good money in return. Next!