The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1880-06-25
CURIOUS AND INTERESTING.

cook and confectioner, and which viii
undoubtedly come into extensive use.
masmuch as the number of green eolors
suitable for such uses, and which arenot
poisonous, Is very limited. This color
ing matter, according to the account
given OF the process of extraction. is OBJ
tanned In the following manner: The
coffee grains are crushed and the oil is
extracted by means of ether; they are
then dried and agitated with the white
OF eggs, SO as to form a sort of paste. and
the latter is exposed for several days to
the air. The presence of the white of
eggs then determines the appearance of
an emerald green A simpler process is
to merely moisten the crushed and dried
coffee berries with water, expose them
three or four days to the air, and then
extract the coloring matter by means of
alcohol.
VARIOUS accounts are given of the
origin of the compression of the Chinese
ladies' feet. One is, that an Emperor
was jealous of his wife, and, to prevent
her from gadding abroad, put her feet in
iron stocks. Another is, that certain
Empress, Tan-ke, HOO B. c., was born
with club feet and that she caused the
Emperor to issue an edict, adopting her
foot as model of beauty, and requiring
the compression of a female infants feet
so as to conform to the imperial stand
ard while third account is. that the En-
perOr, Le-yul, was amusing himself one
day IN his palace, when the thought oc-
CURED to HIM that he might improve the
appearance of the feet of favorite slave.
He caused her feet to be so bent as to
raise the instep into an arch, to resemble
the new moon. 1t is said that another
Emperor placed a stamp Of the lotus
flower on the sole of the small shoe of
his wife, so that at every step she took
she left on the ground the print of the
flower Girls with small feet are compli-
mented at the present day as "the golden
lilies. The operation Of bandaging and
COMPRISING the feet is very painful.
Modification of the feet has been known
to result from the practice. Custom i'm
poses it as necessary attraction in Chi
nese woman.
THE following is the story of the nine
of diamonds being called ''The Curse of
Scotland :" A few evenings before the
battle of Culloden there were gathered
In the apartments of the Pretender, at
Inverness, a few of his friends, for the
purpose of playing at cards. In the
course OF the evening the nine of dia-
monds belonging to the pack with which
they were playing was lost. On the
night after the battle, which resulted so
disastrously for the rebel army, the
077IyO e L
and, as was his invariable custom, took
up his quarters in the apartments which
had been so recently occupied by Prince
Charles Edward. On the following
morning a scout brought in word that a
small portion of the rebel army had
taken shelter In a deep gorge among
the mountains. The Duke at once di-
rected an officer to take a number of
men, surround the party, and put every
man to death that was found in arms
The officer, reluctant to execute this in
human order, and, perhaps, fearful Of
other consequences, declined to take the.
command without a written order. The
Duke looked round the room for piece
of paper en- which to write the order.
when some one picked up the lost card,
and presented it to the Duke, who wrote
his order on the back of it and handed it
to the officer. The soldiers departed on
their errand of butchery, and SO well did
they execute the Dukes command that
not one of the devoted Highlanders es-
capped death. Hence it is that the nine
of diamonds is called "The Curse of
Scotland"
An Ancient Chinese Superstition.
The Chinese are accustomed to assOci-
ate the fortunes of their reigning fam
lies with the lives of trees and each
dynasty has a special tree dedicated to
it. The duration of the dynasty is held
to be indissolubly bound up with the.
existence Of the tree and inspection is
frequently made of the latter in order to
ascertain from its condition the prospect
before the sovereign. The appearance
of the tree is expected to furnish incon-
testable proof of the true state Of the
empire. It is impossible to assign an
origin to this superstition, which is of
great antiquity but, to go no further
back than the fifteenth century. Yung-
lob, the third of the Ming rulers, planted
a fir tree, endured until the overthrow.
$50 years afterward, Of his descendants.
by the Manchus. The story is told that
Bwan-Tsing, the last of the Ming EN-
perors, hung himself upon this very
tree, after having killed his wives and
children, rather than submit to the victo-
rious Manchu General, Taitsong. This
tree, known as the Wry-neck Fir, was
then chained up by order Of Chuntche,
the first Emperor Of the existing i'm
perial line; and, although fallen to the.
ground, its remains, with the chain
around them, are still shown AS if In
revenge for the unfortunate Mings, the.
popular fancy has evolved another su--
perstition out of Chuntche's act and it
now passes as a. current belief that if the
chain were to be removed from the fallen
trunk some terrible catastrophe would
happen to the Manchus. The Using
dynasty is also not without its own pc
culiar tree, which was planted by Chunt-
che in the courtyard Of temple at Tan.
o1oo Cc77 ono7, PolziD go 1O7t0 90 4biC