The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-02-24

THE distance from New York to Ban
Francisco is 3, $50 miles.
YELLOW bananas come chiefly from
the Isthmus of Darien. The ped ones
come from Cuba.
HUrs, instead of tents, were used by
the ancient soldiers, as the mode of war
fare consisted chiefly in sieges and
standing camps.
SINGLE grain OF gold may be beaten
out into an extent of several square feet,
and yet the leaf remain SO intact as to
transmit no ray of light.
In Elizabeths time repeater
watches were so rare that some rustics
took one they heard for the devil, and
threw it out of the window with the
tongs.
DURING storm in Vermont in 1870.
the lightning struck horse in pasture,
burning off his hair or pulling it out,
cutting hole two inches long in his
head and throwing of his shoes. The
horse recovered.
In the time of William, the Conquer
or, an English pound was an actual
pounds weight of silver and coined into
twenty shillings. Now pound is worth
less than four ounces of silver and is
coined into twenty-six shillings.
SAINT DENIS, the patron saint of
France, was put to death in the year
272, upon an eminence near Paris, since
called, from the circumstance, Mont
martre. According to the legend, his
head had no sooner been cut off than
the body rose and walked without it two
miles.
AT the close of the year 1880 there
were 93,67l miles of railroad in the
United States. The RaiL,0oy Age states
that the track laid III 1881 was about
5000 miles, which Is much the largest
mileage ever constructed in any one
year. The cost of building and equip.
ment of railroads in the United States
per mile during the year 1879, the latest
official statement, was about $50, l34.
The average cost of construction per
mile in Europe for the year 1878 was
about $110,475.
A MIRAGE is an appearance of distant
objects in the air, as # standing or re-
fected from the surface of the water. 1t
is produced by reiractiJn in strata of
different densities, decreasing or increas-
ing rapidly, and sometimes by refrac-
ton and reflection combined. There
are several cases of which the following
are the most common The mirage of
the desert, that has the appearance of
inverted bjects or reflections from the
surface of water that which has the
appearance of objects inverted in the
air, and which Is seen over the surface
OF water simply looming, when objects
appear to be elevated above their real
level, but are not inverted, the appear
ance usually taking place over the sur
face of water and combination of the
two last given, III which are appearances
of objects both erect and inverted.
Some OF our readers may be able to ex-
plain why this phenomenon appears in
the locality Indicated.
The first railroad for carrying passen-
gers was i'll England--the Stockton and
Dai llngton road, built by Edward Pease
and George Stephenson, and opened on
Sept. 81, 1926. The Liverpool and Man
chester road, commenced in 1926, and
opened Sep. Is, 1880. In 1914 George
Stephenson constructed his first locofno-
| tive, which travelled at the rate of six
miles an hour. The first railroad con-
structed in America was projected by
Gridley Bryant, civil engineer, in 1925,
and carried through by himself and Col.
| Il. Ii. Perkins. III 1926. 1t was designed
! to carry granite from the quarries at
Quincy, Mass, to the nearest tide
water, and Is known as the Quincy rail
road. 1t was four miles long, including
branches, and its first cost was $50. 600.
| One of the locomotives built by George
Stephenson, at Newcastle upon-Tyne,
arrived ut New York IN the spring of
1929. Another, butt by Foster, Rast-
rick e. Co., Stourbrldge, arrived shortly
afterward, and went upon the railroad
III the latter part OF the summer. This
was the first locomotive put into use in
America. 1t had four wheels, multi
tubular boiler, and the exhau,t steam
| blast.