The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1881-07-29
BITS OF INFORMATION.

SIR HUArPHREY DAv1 invented his safe
| ty lamp. TO prevent accidents which are
! liable to occur III coal mines, SO early as
| 1915.
The signature of Boz" used by
| Dickens, was adopted from " Moses. y
pronounced through the nose-a nick
name of his younger brother.
The phrase piping hot " originated
| from the custom of a baker blowing a
pipe or horn in the villages of England
to let the people know he had Just
drawn his bread hot from the oven.
MoIAssEs, liquorice paste, decoc-
tion of figs, and giycerine are used in the
manfacture of plug tobaceo to impart q
sweet taste give color and prevent raT5fI
used for fiavoring anise and other aro-
.natics are added fer their flavor.
BANCROFT, in his history, has the fol-
lowing in regard to the Introduction of
slaves into what is now United States
territory: "In the month of August,
| 1919, Dutch man-of-war entered James
river and landed twenty negroes for sale.
This, indeed, was sad introduction of
negro slavery in the English colonies. -
| The most of the authorities make the
date December, 1920.
Mrs. SARAH J. HALE, lifetime editor
of Godey's Lady's Book" wrote
"AIary Hal a Little Lamb" The or
igin of the poem il this A daughter
Of Mrs. Hale's neighbor was taken very
i'll, and the doctor was asking the girls
mother what she had been eating. Mrs.
Hale, who had just come over to the
house, heard the mother say MARY
had little lamb, and Mary loves lambs,
you know" These simple words touched
Mrs. Hale 80 deeply that she went home
and wrote the immortal poem.
Ii is said that the custom of present
ing eggs Mt Easter is the survival of an
old pagan custom celebrating the ami
versary of the creation or the deluge
The egg presented by the pagans was an
allusion to the mundane egg, for which
Ormuzd and Ahriman were TO contend
till the consummation of all things.
The custom of dyeing eggs at Easter is
very old and common to all countries,
but may have been taken back to the
East by Christian travellers.
THE house of John o. Groat's was sit
uated on Duncan's Bay Head, the most
nOrtherly point in Great Britain. 1t re-
ceived it's name from John of Groat and
his brothers, who came from Holland in
14S9. The house WAS octa8On In shape,
being one room, with eight windows and
eight doors, to admit eight members of
the family, the heads of different
branches of it, to prevent their quarrels
for precedence at table, which on one
occasion nearly proved fatal. BY this
contrivance each came in at his own
door, and sat at an octagon table, at
which, OF course, their places were all
alike.
The Spaniards visited Canada previ-
Gus to the French, and, finding no gold
or silver which they were in search of,
often said among themselves, ..aateS.
zzlztsa. Tiers Is letA;EE<,S 49, s:sF7rz7,
ing. The French arrived and the In
dams, who did not want their company,
and supposing they were also Spaniards
on the same mission, were anxious to
inform them in the Spanish sentence
"j3cd NADIA" The French, who knew
as little Spanish as the Indians, sup
posed this incessant recurring sound was
the name of the country, and gave it the
name of Canada, which it has borne
ever since