The Hickman courier., 1881-10-21
FACTS FOR TIE CURIOUS.


O'E oyster may lay as many as 2,OOO,-
GOO eggs a year.
a BLOW from the leg Of an ostrich
will break a mans leg.
wOLR like tiger, having once
eaten man, prefers him to all else for a
dinner, and if Ire attacks man it is
proof that he has already dined off one
or had hydrophobia.
THE sea cucumber, one of the curious
Jelly bodies that inhabft the ocean. can
practically eflace himself when II danger
by squeezing the water ont of his body
and forcing himself into a narrow crack
so narrow as not to be visible 10 the
naked eye. He can throw out nearly
whole OF his inside, and yetliye and grow
it again.
ACCORDING to n writer in Nature, the
small migratory birds that are unable to
perform the flight of $50 miles across the
Mediterranean sea are carried across on
the backs of cranes. In the autumn
many hCcks of cranes may he seen com
ing from the north, with the first cold
blast from that quarter, flying low, and
utterlng a peculiar CRY, as if OF alarm,
as they circle over the cultivated plains.
Little birds OF every species NAV be
seen flying up to them, while the twit-
terIng songs of those already comfortably
settled upon their backs may be dis
tinctly heard But for this kind pro-
vision OF nature, numerous varieties of
small birds would become extinct in
northern countries, as the cold winters
wouldkil them.
BANK OF ENGLAND notes are made
from pure white linen cuttings-never
from rags that have been worn. So
carefully Is the paper prepared that even
the number of dips into the pulp made
by each individual workman is regis
tered ON a dial by machinery, and the
sheets are carefully counted and booked
10 each person through whose hands
they pass. The printing is done by a
most curious process within the bank
building. There Is an elaborate ar
rangement for securing that no note
shall be exactly like any other III exist
ence consequently there never has been
n duplicate bank note except byfOrgery.
The stock of paid notes for seven years
is said to amount to 81, 900, 600, and to
fill 10, 600 boxes, which, If placed side
by side, would cover over three miles in
extent.
Is England the north side Of church
ward is objected to as a place OF burial.
The old ecclesiastical reason is this
1.-The east is Gods side, where His
throne Is set; the west is mans side, the
GalIee of the Gentiles; the soutL is the
side of the angels and of the spirits
made just, where the sun shines III its
strength. The north is the devils side,
where Satan and his legion lUrk 10 catch
the unwary Some churches have still
" devils door in the north wall which
was opened at baptisms and commun-
ions TO let the devil ont. Miles Ever
dale, in his '' Praying for the Dead, "
a. ID. 1885, says: &" As they die, so shall
they arise; if IN faith IN the Lord, to-
ward the south, and shall arise
in glory; If IN unbeIef, to-
ward the north, then are they past all
hope"
The disproportion of the costs OF a
lawsuit 10 the damages obtained was
probably never greater than IN Il case
argued by William II. Seward IN 1913.
A newspaper addressed to a Miss FELTON,
was received at the Syracuse postotfice.
The Postmaster refused to deliver the
paper without letter postage, because the
initials of the sender were on the wrap
per. The lady sued IN a Justices court
for the value OF the paper, and was
awarded 6 cents damages The Post
master appealed, and the case was car
/ ried successively to the Court OF Com
mon Pleas. the Supreme Court of the
State, the Court Of Appeals and the
United States Supreme Court, each af-
firning the original decision. When the
case entered the last tribunal S136. 30 in
costs had been added 10 the 8 cents dam
aces