The Osceola times., 1876-04-08
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

ONE county in Illinois sold its pepper.
ment crop last year for five thousand
dollars.
"WHY should we celebrate Washing
toms birthday more than mine 7" asked
a teacher. Because he never told a
lie," shouted little boy.
THIRTY Indian families, with their
dogs, trappings and paraphernalia, will
cncamp on the Centennial grounds, un-
der the direction of Professor Baird.
The finest part of the Italian display
will be in the art department. There
will be two hundred exhibits Of statuary
alone, and the paintings will be carefully
selected.
The entire process of reducing and
amalgamating ores will he illustrated by
a California firm. They have contracted
for the construction of a miniature
twenty-stamp quartz mill for that pur-
pose.
AN oyster opener in Toulouse, France,
found in an oyster magnificent pearl,
worth several thousand dollars, and she
pocketed it but the person who ordered
the oysters insisted that the pearl be-
longed to him. His contention is that
the shells, juice, oyster and everything
else in tho shell are his property; the
knotty question has been referred to the
law courts.
WHAT is to he made of such luck as
this? M. DE Vaulcgrement, an officer
of General EAdmirault's staff in the
French army, had both legs broken in
an Italian railway accident. He re-
covered heavy damages, which he de-
voted TO building votive chapel, and
put it into a bank for that purpose.
The bank has just broken and the chapel
has not been built!
THr Bowling Green, Kentucky, Pan
tagraph; Some weeks since Mr..
Eaton, of Lower Green river, killed q
perfectly white deer. Its hoofs were al
most white, and it had what are termed
"glass" eyes. He killed the deer,
which had in company with her a half
grown fawn of the same peculiar charac
teristics, which he says he could have
killed, but in endeavoring to capture il
after long race it escaped.
Four structures in the villa style of
architecture, in addition to the main
building, will be erected TO accommodate
applicants for space in which to exhibit
works of art for which there is no room
in the main building. They will each
he one hundred and forty by forty feet.
The cost of the four will be twelve thou
sand five hundred dollars. Four rooms
will also be added to the north side of
the annex to the art gallery.
A MAGNIFICENT cameo, supposed to
be the portrait of Octavia, the second
wife of Mark Antony and the sister of
Augustus, has been brought to the
notice of the Paris academic des inscrip-
tions The stone is sardonyx, with a
milky surface, the interior being of a
reddish black, and the workmanship of
the cameo is exquisitely delicate. The
face is evidently a portrait, and the head
resembles that of the Venus of Milo.
THE preparations for the Centennial
are now in more advanced condition
as far as the buildings and grounds are
cOncerned-than were those for the late
exhibition at Vienna when the latter
began. The main building, machinery
hall, the womans pavilion, the govern
ment building and the two sets of officers
--one for the Centennial commission and
the other for the Centennial board of
financc-have all been transferred in a
complete condition to the respective
authorities by the contractors.
WHY was one hundred and ninety-six
pounds selected as the weight of a bar
rel of -four! Because weights formerly
computed by tons of two thousand two
hundred and forty pounds, hundred
weights by one hundred and twelve
pounds, quarters, ETC., and quar- 4
being one quarter of hundred wei: 1T
or twenty-eight pounds, and seven quar-
tiers, or one hundred and ninety-six
pounds, being the limit that could be
conveniently handled, this weight was
adopted by statute in England under a
heavy penalty for its violation.