The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1879-01-10
GENERAL BREYIrIEs.

GENERAL BREvITIES.
The Marchioness of Camden was one
of the chief prize-takers in the pig
classes at the recent Smithfield cattle
show.
HERBERT MORRIS, q young dry goods
clerk of Shelbyville, Ind, recently per.
formed the rare gastronomic feat Of
swallowing 22-caliber cartridge. At
latest accounts it had not been recov-
cred.
GEORGE REED, a Woodworking man
OF Hart County, Ca, has married of
seven children in the year past, and has
seven more who will be eligible for mat
rimODy in the year to come.
ALocOMoTIvE shop in Paterson, n. j.,
has received an order for seven immense
electric lanterns from the Russian Gov
erHment. These lanterns are to be
placed at the bows of the seven men-of-
war.
MRS. MACKAY, wife of the bonanza
king, has q sapphire which was once
the property of q Russian prince, and
which cost her $4,000. It is an inch
in diameter. Her pearl necklace cost
$4,000 and her coral set cost $18, 600.
An engine has been built in Philadel-
phia for the A., T. and s. F. Railroad,
that weighs $4,000 pounds-the heavi-
est locomotive ever constructed.
Strangely enough, che wheels are made
OF paper, with steel tires.
GAMBLING is still carried ON at Mon
AGO, for very recently game was play
ed where the winner, changing his
wager of 1900 francs from red to
black, won eleven successive times
thing unheard of in this game of chance.
He pocketed 49,, 600 francs.
NEW MEXICO has seven different
tribes of Pueblo Indians, each speaking
a different language. Arizona has one
tribe that live in seven different villages,
adjacent to each other, however, and in
several towns q different dialect is
spoken-the Moquis.
THREE tourists undertook to walk be-
hind Niagara Falls few days ago. The
danger is great in winter, owing to the
ice. One of the trio, in picking his way
over the slippery path, ran against q
large icicle, which broke off and fell on
him. {. He was badly cut, and has since
been insane, but whether from blow
on the head or from fright is not settled.
THOUGH plants sleep at night, they
may be disturbed artiicially. A French
chemist tried the experiment on q sensi.
tive plant, keeping it in q bright light
at night and a dark room during the
day. The plant didn't take kindly to it
at irst, but soon got used to the change,
and at last turned day into night and
night into day as easily as newspaper
telegraph editor.
An old gentleman in Key West took
his sons watch to show him how easily
he could be robbed, and then asked him
the time. The young man was Distress
ed to find his watch had been stolen.
"Never mind," said his father, 81 took
it to show you how easily you could
lose it; here it is" But as he felt in his
pocket to return it, he was surprised to
find that some thief more adroit than
himself had taken it.
In January, 1871, a French gunner
was struck by fragment of . Prussian
shell which carried away his jaw, nose
and both eyes. The surgeons have at
last devised for him q metallic mask,
with eyes, false nose and an artificial
jaw that permits him to masticate bis
food. The woman he was engaged to
when the war broke out married him.
RECENT surveys by geologists are said
to warrant the estimate that there is
workable coal enough in the island of
Yezo-one of the Japanese group-to
produce an annual yield for q thousand
years equal to that of all Great Britain.
The japanese Government has agreed
to grant loan of $1,000, 900 for the
purpose of working some of these coal
fields, which spread over an immense
area. So the supply of coal is not like
ly to be exhausted just at present.
M. DE LEssEPs has Just returned from
trip to Tunis, whittier he went to in.
vestigate the possibility and advisable
ty of letting the waters of the Mediter.
ranean into the desert of Sahara, so as
to convert great portion Of that DESC
late eXpanse into an inland sea. NJ. de
Lesseps says that the Arab chieftains of
the south of the Aures keep up the ira
dition of there having existed in former
times sea in that neighborhood from
five to six hundred leagues in circum-
ference. He also has been enabled to
disprove the idea that the formation of
new lake would do away with the
GASES, for he has discovered that these
are all from fifteen to forty meters above
the level of the sea, whereas the des-
ert itself is below that level. Traces of
Roman civilization have been found in
the desert, and among them the remains
of an amphitheater like that in Rome.
PROF. NoRDENsKJoLD, who directs
the Swedish polar expedition in the
north polar waters, has written to q
friend in which he gives q highly inter-
esting account of the village Of Chabar-
ova, Nova Zembla, inhabited by Semo.
iedes, from whom, with considerable
difficulty, he obtained specimens of their
gods, which for the most part resemble
large dolls. Although converted to
Christianity. these curious people retain
many of their old customs, and sacrifice
on their affairs to gods. A Russian who
lives in Chabarova in summer for trad
ing purposes took the professor to see
one of these affairs in a tavern, which is
regarded as sacred. Although the
Archimandrite had destroyed it thirty
years ago, and had raised . cross on
its site, the Semoiedes have found in
the neighborhood evident traces of re-
cent sacrifices to the gods, whose images
were placed around.
Is Moncasi q member of the Inter-
national Society? The constant reiter-
alton of the assertion that he is, and the
equally persistent denial of it have Gre
hat =.