Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-24
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.


Portland. Me-, manufacturer has made and
sold IS 900 hypodermic needles since 1856
The 1postofice, att Mineral Point, Col,
1900 feet above the sea level, is the highest
postofice in the country. But the postmaster
says his salary is about the lowest.
"A bill has been presented to the Prus.
sian Parliament for extending and improving
the railway system of the monarchy at an esti-
mated total cost of nearly 157, ,OO0,OOO marks.
AN enterprising editor in Nebraska.
wanting to boom the matrimonial market, Of
fers to send his paper free for six months to
every couple getting married in the county.
Guns are now being made so powerful
that the objects which their missiles are IN
tended to strike will be out of sight. Conse-
quently the guns can only be directed Dy tne
map.
"A Georgia couple, believing in the say
ing that fruit cake improves with age, Kept
their wedding ca Ike until last week, when,
with their children, they ate it. The cake was
16 ye ars old.
w. Won der Wettern, a Balti more
sportsman, has a collection of deer horns that
are valued at $4,000. The finest specimen is
from black-tailed deer killed in Colorado. Il
has 10 prongs.
In Stockholm they have not yet fR'
ished honoring Jenny Lind. A new street has
recently finished statue representing her in
the costume of Norma.
Six workmen of the late Thomas B.
Peddie Newarks millionaire, acted as his pail
bearers, and over 200 of his employees attended
the funeral. All the public offices in the city
were closed a portion of the day.
The clergyman in an English town,
having published the bans of matrimony be-
tween two persons. was followed by the clerk.
reading the hymn beginning with these words:
Mistaken souls, who dream of heaven"
"A great live eagle has been seen on the
ice on the North river. near One Hundred and
Eighth street, New YORK. for the last two or
three days, and many hunting parties have been
formed to capture it. As yet they have been
unsuccessful
"A Brewer (Me. woman, while hanging
out her wash, discovered what appeared to be
q patch in the hem of a skirt, and, investigat-
ing, found it to be S. BILL which she had long
before sewed into the hem for safe keeping
and forgotten.
About 100 years ago man named Droz
made very curious clock. Upon the top sat
negro, a shepherd and dog. When the clock
struck the negro played six tunes upon a flute,
and the dog moved toward him, as though
glad to see him.
"A burglar in Wheeling who aBoke one
of the sleepers in a house he was ransacking,
wasn't unnerved in the least by the query,
who's theref' He replied, Never mind,
you've been dreaming" and then continued
his search for Valuables.
A cyclone lifted vessel out of the
water at Disston City, Fla, carried it some dis
tance, and then dropping the craft, drove its
mast SO far into the sand that the stick
couldn't well be drawn, and therefore was cut
OF in order to release the boat.
"A Scotchman, in the picturesque and
airy costume OF the Highlands boarded a train
at Lyons the other day bound for Nice. Two
French ladies were in the carriage, and the
moment the Highland laddie made his appear
anee they were terrified, and rushed on the
platform yelling for help.
The Chinese Times saws: Some time
ago the imperial armory at Peking called the
WI Pi-yuan, received instructions to prepare
for the use of His Majesty's marriage $50 pairs
of boots. These boots have since been COM
pleted and on the 9th instant they were packed
in boxes and conveyed to the managing depart
ment of the imperial household.
AT weddings among Germans in the
Southern colonies $50 years ago, the grooms-
men attended in their beautifully embroidered
white aprons. Their duty was to protect the
bride from having her slipper stolen from her
foot. If anyone succeeded in capturing it,
Ine RrOOlnS1ndn pdlu DOLCle Oh wine IOr Ln6
loss. as the brides dancing depended upon it.
Paper doors are said to be great i'm
provements over wooden ones They are
formed of two thick paper boards stamped and
nodded into panels and glazed together with
glue and potash and then rolled through heavy
rollers. After being covered with waterproof
coating and one that is fireproof, they are
way.
{ The Prussian War Minister has lust
published in two volumes a history of the colors
of the Prussian army from 1907 1t appears
that In the campaign of 1864 and 1855 SO stand
ards were pierced by balls. In the campaign of
1870 the number of regimental colors pierced
was Isl. The flag of the Seventh Regiment Of
Infantry was hit by % balls in the single battle
of Mars-Ia-Tour. In the entire Franco-Prus-
sian war 80 Prussian standard bearers were
killed while holding their colors.
The process of imparting to wood some
of the special characteristics Of metal has be-
come of considerable industrial value in Ger
many; the wood surface by this treatment.
becoming SO hard and smooth as 20 be suscep-
tible of high polish, and, on being subjected
to burnisner of glass or porcelain, the appear
ance of the wood is in every respect that OF
polished metal, having, in fact, the semblance
of polished mirror but with this peculiar
and advantageous difference, namely, that, un-
like metal, it is unaffected by moisture.
-One OF the most remarkaDIe engineer
ing feats appears to have been achieved in
China, in the face of extraordinary physical
namely, the successful stretching
Of steel wire cable of seven strands across
The river Lunann, this feat having been accom-.
oIished by the Danish engineer, Delinde, as
listed: only by unskilled native labor. The
able extends between two points, at a distance
If nearly 700 feet apart, the height of the first
support being about $50 feet above the present
evel of the river, and the second about TAO
eet. The cable m question is said to be the
ongest In the world, with single exception,
lamely the cable across the Kistna, measuring
ome 5070 feet. There are also two cables
pectiVely.