Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-01-21
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

that elopements are hereditary.
There are 1909 places licensed to sell
liquid refreshments in New York City.
Berry, England's famous hangman, has
his calling engraved on his visiting card.
The actual value of the real estate OF
New York City is said to be ls,OOO,OOoOOo
Under the terms of a will left by an
Iowa man, the same gold watch was left TO S
different persons.
AT Brattleboro, VT, last week, farmer
was plowing, while ten miles back in the coun-
try people were sleighing.
There is a young man in Carrollton
Ga, over q years old who never ate a bite OF
Dutter or drank any buttermilk in his life.
| There is young lady in De Land, Fla,
VINO Is collecting all the mustaches she can get
| guard.
There are two Episcopal ministers, mis-
sionaries, on the Yukon river, Alaska. They
are 5000 miles from the southeastern line Of
the Territory.
The Rev. Anthony Swensson, of De-
troit, is the first swede to become a Roman
Catholic priest since the Reformation. Out Of
population OF 100000 Sweden has only 1000
Roman Catholics.
1t cost a county in Nebraska s., 1893 25
to run the poor farm last year. AS there were
but two paupers. the daily cost per capita was
slightly more than S3-about the same as first
class hotel would charge.
Elijah Martin. of Sand Plains, W. Va,
is SO years of age, but is still as spry as man
of so. He works every day at his trade of
blaeksmithing. and can shoe horses as rapidly
as any smith in the county.
"A letter was received at the Executive
Office in Atlanta which ought to be framed or
placed among the archives. In the letter oc-
ours this sentence: 81 was mortally wounded
twice in active battle at Griswoldville."
The thistle at the antipodes seems to
attain most vigorous growth. Its root pene-
trates to depth of from II to 20 feet, and
this root, even when cut into small pieces, ge-
tains vitality, each piece producing new
plant.
w. c. Vandegrif, of Lithonia, Ca, had
had game rooster to commit suicide by jump
ing into a well last week because he was
whipped by another rooster. The rooster had
never before been whipped, and the humility
OF defeat was more than he could stand.
james Carroll, a San Francisco milk
man. is the possessor of horse whose hide is
covered with thick mass of curly white hair,
about three inches in length. When seen from
short distance, the hide presents a woolly
appearance, and the animal looks as though
nature had given him the skin of a sheep
through mistake.
Prof. Mulhall gives the following figures
as to the average number of children to a mar
riage in the chief countries of Europe: Ire
land, $50; Russia, 4s3: Spain. Ass; Italy, Ash;
many, 40; England, 4.OS; Austria, 404; Bel
gium, 4.O4; Switzerland, 394; Hungary, 270;
Denmark, 461; France, 3O3.
"A German trade journal advocates the
following method of testing the quality of roof
states: The samples of the slate to be tested
should be carefully weighed and then put into
boiling water for a quarter of an hour. The
water must, however, be fairly free from lime.
saltpetre and ammonia. The states are then re-
weighed, and those that show the greatest in
crease of weight are those most capable of re-
sistlng deterioration.
"A fan for cars and other moving vehicles
is most admirable invention. To one of the
wheels Of the vehicle pulley Is attached bya
belt to a vertical shaft, having suitable bear
ings on one end of the car, adapted to be-
clutched and uncutched from another shaft
extending the length of the car. The fan shafts
are across the car, and are operated by belts or
cords from the first, keeping fans along the top
of the car in vigorous motion, causing con-
slant circulation of air.
In the Pine Grove Mines, Esmeralda
county, Nevada, there is blind boy employed
to do errands tend cars and the like He has
a most remarkable faculty of finding his way,
not only through the intricacies of the mine,
but about the town. He goes to any part of
the mine for tools and never goes astray, and
on dark nights he guides the other miners
from the town to the house where most OF
them lodge They can't easily find the way
without him. for the trail is narrow and
crooked and on each side are many prospect
holes and old cellars.
The British Government has at last
settled on o white, almost smokeless, powder
for use in firearms. The Importance of this
is evident in view of the fact that
until the powder had been decided upon it was
to ascertain accurately the length
,f the cartridge, and, consequently, the pro-
portions of the coming weapon. There is,
therefore, no longer any obstacle to the manu-
'acture of the new magazine rifles, the pro-
iuction of which will make rapid progress.
The powder gives out very small report-not
much greater than that of an air gun.
Several Improvements are claimed in
utoeopying printing presses by Mr.. T. Reiner,
II Leipsic. He provides two cylinders which
nay act as receiving surfaces for the writing,
nd which also operate with pressure to feed
be paper to be printed upon. The patentee
rovides the cylinders with a surface composed
a mixture as follows: 100 parts soluble glass,
parts silicate of magnesia, 10 parts glycerine,
parts water, parts oxalIc acid, parts
langanese ore, and parts mineral color.
hese substances may be used on any suitable
lpports, as plates of metal, glass, earthenware
,r replacing lithographic stone. In combina-
on with the cylinders is an ink trough con-
sting of two parts separated by a slit having
,gulating screw. By the action of lever the
king mechanism may be thrown in or out of
,tion.
Cincinnati has the champion absent
inded man. A gentleman living in the
lburbs went in q store on Walnut street to
axe few purchases. The only light in the
ore was candle standing on the counter
lar the money drawer. After making his
irchases he handed the proprietor bill, and,
ter returning him the change, the proprietor
alked to the rear of the store to arrange
,mething when suddenly he was left in the
lrk. He started toward the counter. and
'oping around on it, found, not the candle,
1t the change. 1t struck him then that prob
bly, the man, in fit of absent mindedness
ID taken the candle instead of his change.
e started out after him, and catching up with
m, saw that he had the bundle in one hand
Id the candle in the other. After apologizing
r the mistake the stranger took his change
ID gave back the candle.
FUNNY MEMS FANCIES.