Neighborhood Budget

The late-19th-century Ypsilantian newspaper ran a column called "The Neighborhood Budget." It comprised a hodgepodge of random news tidbits, many culled from other papers across the state with whom the Ypsilantian had an exchange.

Here are a few of the May 5, 1895 tidbits that editor W. M. Osband saw fit to share with his readers:

"An exchange says: A minister annoyed by tobacco chewing, thus spoke to his congregation: "Take your cud of tobacco out of your mouth on entering the house of God, and lay it gently down on the side of the sidewalk or on the fence. It will positively be there when you go out, for no rat will touch it, neither will a hog; you are certain of your cud when you go after it. Not the filthiest vermin of the earth will touch it.

"Might not the same advice apply to young ladies whose communion with the saints apparently is measured by the persistency with which they chew their cuds of gum during divine service.

"Ludington is credited with a bicycle riding ghost."