The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-01-20
BITS OF INFORMATION.

The bicycle was invented in Paris in
1890.
The first lucifr match was made in
1920.
The first iron steamship was built in
1880.
The first balloon ascent was made in
1883.
HATS were first made in England by
Spaniards III 1910.
THE first American play put upon the
stage was "The Contrast" written by
Royal Tyler, of Vermont.
MASON and Dixon's line is the bound
AIRY hne between the States of MARYLAND
and Pennsylvania. The line was sur
veyed by Mason and Dixon, two mas
ters OF the science, sent from England
Tor that purpose.
ACCORDING to the returns from the
Census Bureau, the people Of Maine are
the best.educated community in the
Union. here are some items from the
report mentioned. Percentage of those
who cannot read:
MAINE "a 30 per cent
New York. q IS per cent.
Sohnecticut. .s.37 per cent
renhsyNanls. .3.4l Per cent
New hampshire. ..3.45 per cent
S'n"nt' .......s...........o9 l per cent
'.4.zi per cent
hnOue isiaho. ...ol per cent
A LOCKER, in seamens parlance, is
place where stores are kept Jones is
corruption of Jonah, and Davy is
"duffy," the name among West Indians
for spirit or ghost. "Gone to Davy
Jones locker" is, therefore, "gone to
a place OF bookkeeping, where Duffy
Jonah was sent" The expression is
generally applied to one lost overheard,
the reference to Jonah being obvious.
WHEN on the union of the two crowns
London was inundated with Scotchmen,
Buckingham was the chief instigator of
the movement against them, and parties
used to go about every night and break
their windows. To retaliate, party of
Scotchmen smashed the windows of the
Dukes mansion, which had 30 many
glass windows tnat it was called the
Glass House. The court favorite APP
pealed to the King. who replied, Those
who live i'll glass houses should not throw
stones"
NOBODY knows where the potato came
from originally. 1t has been found ap-
parently indigenous in many parts of
the world. Mr. Darwin, for instance,
found it wild in the Chonos archipelago.
Sir w. j. Hooker says that it is COM
mon at Valparaiso, where it grows
abundantly on the sandy hills near the
sea. In Peru, and other parts of South
America, 1t appears to be at home, and
it Is a noteworthy fact that Mr.. OAR
win should have noted it both in the
humid forests of the Chonos arch
ipelago and among the Central CHILEAN
mountains, where sometimes rain does
not fall Tor six months at stretch. 1t
was to the colonists whom Sir Walter
Raleigh sent out in Elizabeth's reign
that England is indebted for potatoes.
Herriot, who came out with these colo
nists, and who wrote an account of his
travels, makes what may, perhaps, be
regarded as the earliest mention OF this
vegetable.
CHIMNEYS were unknown in England
until the twelfth century, and even then
they were made the subject of legisla-
ton, as windows were at later day
Only one chimney was allowed in q
manor-house, one in a religious house,
and one in the great hall of castle
When freplaces became the luxuries OF
the rich, the fues extended only few
feet into the thickness of the wall, and
were then turned out through the wall
to the back of the fireplace, the openings
being small oblong holes. In the days
OF Henry VIII. no fireplace was allowed
at the University of Oxford. Indeed, it
was not until the beginning of the six
teenth century that the old state of
things--a fire in the center of the hall,
the smoke escaping through the roof
was altered. An examination of the
chimneys in the great halls of manor
houses will prove that they must have
been inserted about this period.