Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-15
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.


A Massachusetts, lady boasts Of having
made 799 pies during the past year.
One grower in 0viedO, Fla, lost 5000
boxes of oranges by dropping during the late
wet spell.
"A bill has been introduced in the
Alabama Legislature prescribing the study Of
State history in the public schools.
In China people in easy circumstances
buy their coffins long before they need them,
and exhibit them as ornamental pieces OF fur
niture.
1t has been calculated that not less than
2O.OOO,OOO of meteors, each large enough to be
visible as shooting star" enter our atmos-
phere daily.
The Hessian fly is destroying the wheat
crop in Central Illinois. In some places whole
fields have been destroyed The open but
freezing weather is also aiding in the work Of
destruction.
The Paris Academy of Science is just
now excited over plant called Colocasia. This
plant often exhibits a trembling or a vibrating
motion without any apparent cause, and as
many as 100 or 120 vibrations have been OBJ
served in single minute.
The Paris Figaro says that the Illus
trdted London NeWs will erect an exact re-
production of Shakespeares house at STRAIT
ford-on-Avon for its headquarters at the Paris
Exposition this year. The intention is to make
the copy complete in every detail.
"A red-cheeked, rusty-loOking old gen.
tleman bought bag of shorts at Bangor,
Me-, store not long ago, and the new clerk re-
fused to let him take them till he had paid.
He afterward found out that his customer
was an ex-Vice President of the United States.
This advertisement appeared in a Rome,
Ga, paper: ''Wanted-A couple who wish to
marry to call on Justice Walter Harris in his
new office over Bass & HIPS real estate office.
He has received his commission, and is ready
to perform marriage ceremonies at very low
rate"
"A gentleman in Columbus. Ca, has a
razor which has been in constant use lO4 years.
1t bears close resemblance to broadax, but
does good service yer. and may cut many
whisker before it is finally laid away among the
relics of bygone days or used tor trimming
corns.
The other day at Hampton. Va, Indian
School an elocutionist of some power had been
reading and reciting for the entertainment and
instruction of the school. and among other Sc
lections was one more or less familiar to the
Indians After the entertainments had closed
an Indian girl, in all seriousness, asked: Did
that man read to show how it ought to be read,
or how it ought not to be read?'
In the Ponce de Leon Hotel refrigerator,
in st. Augustine, Fla, are 500 bottles of cham
payne and other wines which are kept at a TEN
perature almost to the freezing point. Fine
old sherry of the vintage of 1873 and 1916. and
old white and Dom Pedro and numerous other
brands of wines of great age and rare flavor fill
the shelves around the roorn- One hundred
silver champagne coolers, costing the sum of
SIS each, are used in the freezing of cham
payne for guests at dinner.
The report of Adjutant General Drum
places the numerical strength of the New York
State militia at 1G, 532, the greatest in the
Union. Pennsylvania is second, with 8,351, and
Ohio third, with 1927. The fourth in line is
South Corolina, which has 5,3O5, or only Sz2 less
than Ohio, although the unorganlZed militia OF
the two States are liz. 900 and 49, 900 respect
t1vely Massachusetts, comes next, with g. l62,
but the sixth State might lead to some random
guessing, as it is Georgia, which surpasses Illi-
nois by few hundred Little New Jersey, al
ways an enthusiastic military State, follows,
having 4,1S4 organized militia, against the 4.2l9
of Illinois, with Chicago TO help. The next IS
California.
The ingenious plan proposed by a Ber-
lin inventor, of a simple and inexpensive ele-
vator for private dwellings in place of the
ordinary staircase, has attracted some atten-
tion as q long-felt desideratum. 1t is on the
principle of the inclined railway. and the
motive power is furnished by the city water.
which is applied in the cellar; each flight has
its separate chair, SO that. for example, one
person can ascend from the first to the second
story while another is on his way from the
second to the third, or still another is descend
ing from the fifth to the fourth. The chair,
being only of the width or the human body,
requires but little space, and still leaves a free
passage for any who wish TO walk up or down,
instead of riding. 1t is set in motion by simple
pressure upon one of its arms. while after 1t
has been used it slides back to the bottom step,
its descent being regulated in such manner
that the carrying of a passenger is matter OF
entire safety. The motive power is, of course,
more or less expensive, according to the cost
of water, this being, it is stated, in Berlin, at
the rate of little more than one-tenth of a
cent only for each trip.
Nearly five years ago the steamship
Germania, of the Lloyd 1ine departed from
Hague bound for New York. On board were
over 1,GOO passengers and highly valuable
cargo. The steamship never reached port. No
tidings of her were ever heard, and although
given up for lost several years ago, the partic-
ulars of her fate were never known The other
afternoon, while walking along the beach or
Hassler's Haven" southeast of Melbourne,
Fla, Frank p. Hassler found wine bottle
lying on the sands. IL was almost covered with
barnacleS and moss. On picking 1t up he found
it had been securely corked. Scraping the
Shiny moss off the bottle, two pieces of paper
were seen inside. The neck of the bottle was
broken off and the papers withdrawn. One
was a blank bill of lading of the steamer Ger
mania, Lloyd line, printed in German. The
other paper was simply brown wrapping
paper one side of which was covered with
writing in German, the characters being almost
illegible. After much trouble the following
mania is on fire and sinking. Gale blowing and
all boats swamped. All hope Is gone. Johann