The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-08-01
CURIOUS FACTS.

A hand (horse measure) is four inches. !
It is said that Turkish women who
wish to be plump eat roses with butter.
Othman I. founded the Turkish enn-
pire, and was its first emperor, A. D.
1889.
As early as 325 the council of Nice
ordered the foundation of hospitals in
the principal towns. &
Hosea H. Lincoln, school teacher OF
Boston, has been ordained minister at
the age of sixty.seven.
William Wilson, of Pittsburg, Penn,
thirty years old, is to marry widow
thirty y-two years older. q
Wagons bearing immense advertising
signs are permitted to follow Chicago
funeral professions through the streets.
The Inspectors of Butcheries in Paris
report that the consumption of horse
flesh has increased to an extraordinary
extent.
The Alaska mosquito bites only in cold
weather, and can be found thickest
where the snow has drifted five or six
feet high.
The one-story frame cabin in which
Andrew johnson served his apprentices
ship as tailor is still standing at Coz
lumbia, Tenn. :.
The art of making glass bottles and
drinking glasses was known to the Ro-
mans before the year 79. Bottles were
made in England about 1858.
Minstrels werc protected by charter
of Edward w., but by statute of Eliz-
abeth they were made punishable among
rogues and vagabonds and sturdy beg
gars.
Bread was known in the patriarchal
ages, and the baking of it became
profession at Rome ITO B. G. Bread
was made with yeast by English bakers
in 1884. X ~
The crown of King Alfred the Great,
had two little bells attached, according
to an ancient chronicle dating a. D.
S72. It is said to have been long pre-.
served at Westminster, and, may have
been that described in the Parliamentary
inventory taken in 1649.
The novelty of pink pond lilies gives
way just now to surprise over the blue
ones, the color range Of which lies be-.
tween that of fringed ,gentian and q
forget.me-rot. The manufacture OF
these pond.lily tints remains as yet q.
profound professional secret.
A new fire escape in England is sort
of chair that slides down ropes, and
the host of house possessing it often
entertains his guests by permitting
them to take ride. At the Italian exc,
hibition in London it is expected to-
prove great rival to the switchback
railway. : -
The oldest newspaper in the whole
wide world is the hiag Pau, or Capstat
Sheet, published in Pekin. It first ap.
peared A. D. Oil, but came out only at
irregular intervals. Since the year 1851,
however, it has been published weekly
and of uniform size. Now it appears in
three editions dailv.-CaH.
In the Royal Library at Windsor,
England, there is to be seen a work OF
great magnihcence, a copy Of the
"Psalterieum," from the press of Faust
and scheffer, printed in 1457., It is tho
earliest book known with date and ID
superbly bound in garter blue velvet,
and on the sides of its covers are the
royal crown and cypher in solid gold,
with embossed gold cornices and loops.
Some years ago Franklin Muller OF
Sugar Creek Township, in Pennsylvania,
agreed to take care of an old couple, his
neighbors, with the understanding that
at their death he should inherit q farm
of eighty-six acres owned by them. After
their death, which occurred five years
later, Miller discovered oil on the farm
aud has already received $40, 0oo in
royalties from it.
It is said that the oldest man living
anywhere is James James, acolored man
of Santa Rosa, Mexico, who was born
near Dorchester, s. c., in 1862. He was
with his master in the Revolutionary
war, was forty years when Washington
was elected President, went to Texas
when 1O1 years old, moved into Mexico
five years later, aud now, at the ripe
age of 1876, lives in little hut, to which
he is confined by rheumatism, and Is
supported by contributions from the
citizens of Santa Rosa.