Huntsville gazette., 1888-03-10
OF GENERAL INTEREST.

Electricity is now applied to black
ing shoes
There are now 1000 theaters in the
United States, and S1.000,000 day is
paid for amusements in this country.
The academy at Pekin has got up
one of those treasures of human knowl-
edge which leaves the Britannica far
/ behind so far as bulk is concerned, be-
ing in 100000 volumes.
AT colored Sunday-school in
Hayneville, Ala, the scholars are ex-
pected to bring either a penny or an
egg every Sunday. As result of this
the school last week was able to throw
nine dozen eggs upon the Hayneville
market.
yellow House, Berks County. Pa,
farming settlement among the Num-
tawney Hills, had population of
sixty-tive, according to the last census,
and has increased but little since then.
Among the inhabitants of the place are
twenty-six persons between seventy
and ninety-two years of age.
"A pipe connecting New Haven
house with a sewer was recently ex-
amined to see why it was choked up.
1t was found that roots of large elm
in front of the house had entered the
pipe at the point of two sections, and
then had grown 50 luXuriantly that for
six feet the mass of fber-like roots
completely filled the pipe, rendering it
useless.
The owners Of one Of the largest
ranches in Texas have contracted with
Chicago firm to have the top wire all
| around their pasture fence charged
with electricity, so as to give shock
to all animals touching it and to enable
their cowboys to telephone to them by
attaching a portable instrument to the
| wire A break in the fence will ring
bell at headquarters.
There is a chain of prairie dog
| towns along the Texas & Pacific rail
road for distance of one hundred
miles. Some of the villages cover five
acres of ground. Hunters say it is al
most impossible to kill one Of the dogs
and get his body, 50 quickly does he
dive into his hole at the explosion of
Gun. DeIuging their holes with water
will not drive them out.
A queer sight was witnessed at
Fort Smith, Ark, recently. There is
not q foot of paved street in the city,
and when it rains it is almost impossible
to get around. Some ingenious resi-
dents hitched pair of mules to a skif,
one drove the mules, another used the
oars and third managed the rudder.
The sight caused a good deal of cheer
ing from the crowd that watched it.
1t is not generally known that
Washington is the most southern of the
| capitals of the great nations of
the northern hemisphere. Madrid,
Constantinope and Rome are
even further north, while Paris
is up in the latitude of New
Foundland, and London and Berlin are
on the line Of Labrador. St. Peters
burg is on the same parallel as Green
land, and is one thousand four hundred
miles due north Of Washington.
A physician in the american Mag
dzine describes February as the time
Of saturnalia Of colds. He advises ex-
ira effort to guard the space between
mans coat collar and hat brim. Be
meath this exposed skin lies the eerebro-
spinal axis, whence proceed the nerves
that govern both heart and lungs. The
face is supplied with blood vessels
twice as plentiful as the neck, enabling
it to resist external cold in that proper
ton For diet in February he advises
fatty food and fresh lettuce and spin
ach, anti-scorbutics, which should be
eaten freely.
IS. l.. Barret, an electrician. was
sentenced to Jail in Houston, Tex, for
a period Of twenty days for using
pistol in the county court house. While
in Jail he invented an instrument which
he calls micro-detective While in
working position it will warn jailer if
prisoners are attempting to escape by
saving, filing, or using any other
| adroit means. 1t was tested by a num-
Der OF citizens they posting themselves
in front room in the back part of the
prison with doors closed. A clock was
put in motion. Every click could be
distinctly heard in the room. A saw
was used gently on the bars and pro-
duced loud, saving noise. The in
strument is worked by electricity on
single wire, the various noises of the
cells coming over it distinctly.
A postmaster in small village in
Mississippi has written to the Postmas-
ter-General asking him to discontinue
the Office He explains that his neigh
bors, who are wool growers, became dis
trustful of his rabbit dog. and in con-
sequence, he states, lit turned up
missing. So ] am left here" con-
| tinues the postmaster. pathetically,
without the means of sustenance. so
| if you expect me to get up nights for
the trains you will have to forward at
|