The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-09-12
SELECT SIFTINGS.

About $50, 900 plovers eggs are annu
ally consumed in London to gratii'
epicures. The nests are robbed and
robbed again till the birds can lay no
more.
There is a cat in Ulster Count Ny,
which violates all the feline trad ions by
diving into the water after a,h. She
goes down to the pond regularly every
day, and as regularly returns with a fish
for her little family.
4 Catskill, n. Y, man has a curiosity
in the shape of lemon and orange com
bined. On one side is perfect lemon
skin and the juice soar, while the other
is an orange and sweet. Thus writes an
exchange. The story is probably more
curious than true.
A Providence antiquarian of good
memory says that the last criminal whose
ears were legally cropped in Rhode
Island went through the operation on the
18th of October, 1929 The name of
the man was Malone Briggs, and his
, oifense was the passing of counterfeit
money.
The largest room in the world, under
one roof, and unbroken by pillars, is at
st. Petersburg. 1t is 620 feet long by
$50 in breadth. BY daylight it is used
for military displays, and a battalion can
completely manpuver in it. Twenty
thousand wax tapers are required to
light it. The roof of this structure is a
single arch of iron, and it exhibits re-
markable engineering skill in the archi,
tcct.
One of the animated controversies now
going on IN the columns of the press is
whether the vutures discover their prey
by means Of sight or smell. No two
writers seem to agree. Many curious
instances of the marvellous power OF the
vulture for discovering carrion are quo
ted. These birds have been known to
travel twenty miles after the carcass Of
dead COW buried under heap Of leaves,
while after battle in the open desert the
air is full of them.
The Manse Tower on the Rhine is on
an island i'll the river, 1t was erected
1t is believed in the middle ages by some
OF the robber' knights of the Rhine. The
ruins have been covered with stucco,
and converted into a watch-tower. 1t
derived its name from the legend of the
/ cruel Archbishop Hattie OF Mayence.
| According to the story, as told 10y
Southcy in his familiar ballad, the bish-
op, having burned alive harmful of
starving poor in order to rid himself of
their opportunities for food from his
well-furnished granaries, was punished
for his cruel act by being devoured by
whole army of rats in his tower on the
Rhine, to which he had fed for safety
A copy of George Washington's sun
dries account during his eight years as
President from 1889 to 1896 has just
been brought to light by II. NJ. thinner
man, Of Washington. Among other cur.
ious items in the account, which is writ
ten in Washington's own hand- writing,
are; two dogs, weight thirty i've
pounds, from Farmer Bassett, to guard
the Presidents house," thirteen patent
lamps to illuminate the Presidents
premises ''Damask curtains for the
state dining-room :" "a massive desk for
the Presidents office, el20 10sn Be
side these items the account includes
various amounts loaned 10y President
Washington to different parties, beside
amounts paid for at least 100 looking
glasses and French mirrors. A Franklin
stove" for Mrs. Martha Washington's
room, cost four pounds, and French
painting for the main parlor,' cost
thirteen pounds.