The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1885-04-24
Items of Interest.

y
on dairy or stock farm,
A COW attached to the gubernatorial
mansion ut Jefferson City, Mo-, having
been MIXED for five years by convicts,
now refuses toallow anybody in citizens
dress to approach her.
Curio parlors is the latest name for
dime museums in the West, where at
tempts at retinements of lauguaga often
seem to be in inverse proportion to pop
ular taste and culture.
The Nutmeg State is now reported to
have recently flooded the Australian
colonies with cigars made wholly of
paper, carefully colored and veined, and
favored with nicotine.
| For city of its populations Washing
ton is said to be the greatest fish market
| in the world. A dealer declares that
large supplies are sent thence to Phila-
delphia, Baltimore, Richmond and New
York
A small brass calendar that President
Garfield used to turn every morning,
and that now bears the date Saturday,
July 3. 1881, never having been changed
since that fatal morning, is a priced
memento in the home of II. D. Hayes.
In Arizona any person who uses pro-
fame, indecent, vile, or abusive language
or threats, within the hearing of women
or children, is held liable by law TO fine
or imprisonment.
A prize of gold watch put up recent
ly by a tradesmen of Ottumwa, Iowa, to
any one guessing the number of seeds
IN certain pumpkin on exhibition, was
won by farmers daughter, who
guessed the exact number -40i.
Maine papers say that Bath boarding
mistress surprised one of her boarlers
who was learning to play on the banjo,
by reducing the price of his board on
the ground that his singing and playing
had frightened away all the rats The
compliment discouraged the young man
so much that he has given up practice
When Proctor Knott made his fanciful
Duluth speech fifteen years ago the
humor of the thing tickled the entire
continent No one dreamed that Duluth
would ever amount to anything, and
when Knott called her the paragon of
cities" everybody laughed Still this
town is third in the list of grain-receiv-
ing points, beating Milwaukee, Toledo,
and st. Louis.
A teacher in one of the Sunday schools
of indianapolis desired to provide her
class, numbering twenty, with copies of
"Pilgriu's Progress" They
were ordered through a leading book
store In due time the teacher was
notified thatthe books had.come, and went
down to inspect them. She found to
her astonishment that the result of her
order was twenty copies of Henry
Georges Progress and Poverty"
the children's purchases.
In warm weather, at least, why not
sleep in hammock? Beds are occupied
night after night year after year, by
divers persons in sickness and in health,
in summers heat and winters cold, and
rs to when bedding is remade and
purified each one can judge by his own
experience. Compare this with the use
Of the South American hammock, which
only requires stout blanket inside,
and in winter woollen sleeping dress
rs well as one of suitable make, periodi-
cally washable. The sanitary difference
becomes at once startling to those
who have never considered the sub
ect before.
The Oldest bank note probably in exist.
ence in Europe is one preserved in the |
Asiatic Museum at st. Petersburg. 1t |
lates from the year 1899 B. c., and was
issued by the Chinese Government. 1t |
can be proved from Chinese chroniclers |
that, as early as 2697 B. G. bank notes |
we're current in China under the name
Of "fying money" The bank note
at st. Petersburg bears the |
name of the imperial bank, date and |
number ofissue, signature Of mandarin, |
md contains even a list of the punish.
nents inflicted for forgery of notes
This relic of 1000 years ago is probably
written, for printing from wooden tablets
IS said to have been introduced in Chils
only in the year 100 A. d.
The wax-plant is now grown on
arge scale in Algeria, and its product
IS gradually finding its way into the
markets of the world. The process of
separating the wax is simple The fruit
enclosed in bag of coarse cloth, is
plunged into boiling water, on whose
surface the substance soon floats. The /
wax is of the same chemical composition
Is beeswax, and is likely to be used in
,lace of it. 1t is stated that these wax
plants may be seen growing wild in
and the Carolinas.
"Pot holes have recently been dis
covered on Great Island, Me-, and some
persons have considered them of |
mysterious origin. A correspondent
Who has often seen similar excavations
llong the Columbia River, in Oregon,
ays they are due to the swift current
N the overflow of the rivers, which
orms eddies aud small whrlpools,
'ausing a motion in a loose boulder,
which acts us drill, and in course of
ime bores a smooth round pot" in
he rock in which it lies, the loose
tones becoming round in the process.
my number of the round stones may