The Northern Pacific farmer., 1883-09-27
Interesting Topics.

! Fogs have been so heavy upon the
California sea coast that streams of wa
ter have formed under trees where s
large amount Of moistu re had concen
trated.
Twenty years ago Mr.. Frank Buck
land was ridiculed for predicting thet
the day would come when salmon would
be cheaper than meat in England, but
1.-THE dav has come and his foresight is
confirmed.
A careful examination Of the ruins in
Ischia shows that the great destruction
was due in part to the f1lmsy manner IN
which the houses were constructed.
The National Board of Health reports
that Dayton, Ohio, is the healthiest city
in the country. It is below Is in every
thousand, while the average for the
whole country is over Is. New Orleans
and Memphis have the highest death
lrate-27 to the 1000. Brooklyn and Bos-
ton are % per 1000 each.
The cod-fshing in Iceland this season
has been almost failure. Several smacks
| tried to force their way as far as North
Cape, but were prevented from doing
so by barriers of ice. The Shetland flee
| is expected home about the end of No
vember.
| The number of letters despatched by
the British post office department last
year gave an average of 40 for each in
| habitant in England and Wales, 80 in
Scotland and 16 in Ireland. In the
United States the average is 81, in
France l5, in Germany, and in Italy
6.
The Chinese soldiers, who may soon
face the French troops, have one fight
ing advantage. They wear light, airy
uniform, which consists solely of q cap,
thin linen jacket and gauze pair of
| pants, while the Frenchman are attired
IN thick blue uniform, solid red trous
| ers, a thick shirt and hard leather
| boots.
| 1t is predicted that Washington will
be gayer and more dissipated than ever
| the coming winter. The session of con-
gress is the long one.
| Railroads on the continent in Europe
are not friendly to dogs; they refuse to
carry them in the passenger cars, and
declare that they must be transported
as freight. Notwithstanding this rule,
women are to be met with their pet ca
mines packed into sort of valise, which
is covered when they enter the car, in
order to elude inspection. When they
| are once seated, however, they lift up
! the slide of the valise, under which ther
is an open wiring, which enables the dog
| occupant to get air. Conductors wink at
| this.
Galveston merchants hope to solve
the problem of deep water for that port
by forming a company with $4,000, 900
| capital to- build wharves out through
Galveston Bay to deep water in the
Gulf of Mexico. They will endeavor to
induce the state, which has surplus of
$1,000, 900 in the treasury, to lend the
money on bonds bearing per cent. in.
terest and to run thirty years.
Kansas City is profoundly excited ov-
er the professional engagement of
Mdlle: Rhea. The papers come out
with the stern demand that during that
amiable actresses's season in their midst
full dress shall prevail. This has natur-
ally occasioned widespread consterna-
ton. Heretofore Kansas City people
have been in the habit of doing opera
and theater in the same calico gowns
and blue overalls with which they pur-
sued their daily vocations of laundrying
and pork packing. It remains to be
seen whether Rhea and the Kansas City
papers can accomplish the social reform
they have undertaken at Kaw's mouth.
The latest way of making a raise
comes from Clinton, Mass, where it is
said lady mixed a batch of bread
which failed to rise, even after delay
of twenty hours. She did not wish her
father to see the waste of flour, SO she
baried the dough in the garden. The
next morning her father called her out
an unheard of variety that he had dis
covered. He was calling his neighbors
to see the curiosity, when his daughter
enlightened him as to the nature of the
plant.
An English tailor in Paris uses for the
purpose Of advertisement several red
carts. Some of these are driven by in
visible coachman, others by coachmen
seated on the roofs of the carts. Three
years ago the prefect of police issued
warrant for the suppression of the carts
with invisible coachman, as they fright
ened horses. But Lord Lyons, on the
petition of the English tailor, interfered,
and the execution of the warrant was
suspended for three years. The pres
ent project of police went to work the
other day and had all the red carts i'm
pounded, and the English embassy once
more come to the rescue Of the tailor.
Gentlemen are at Saratoga this season
who knew the place in the olden time,
when all comers travelled on horseback,
with ladies on pillions behind the sad
die; the "Spring'' was in the midst of
the woods, when little shanty on the
site of the old United States was the sole
hotel, and board was 81 a week; when
tin cups were used for. drinking, and
when thu table was better than now
lucious drop cakes, genuine cream, de-
icious butter and broiled chickens that
were chickens, graced the board; when;
when fashionables were few, and the
real invalid, halt, lane and leprous
came to stay and to be healed.
Richard Whalleu, a St. Louis youth,
turned variety theater performance into q
tragedy hv; killing himself alter An ineffeC-