Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-07-27
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.


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The new French army law extends the
age of liability to service from 45 years to 90
-"Lost-A dark leather lady's pocket
book" is an advertisements in Bufaio paper
The return of land grants made in West
ern Australia shows that one man owns and
controls nearly 100000 acres
j. Backus, of Ingham county, Michi
gan, has a swarm OF fighting bees. They re-
Gently attacked flock OF Is turkeys and killed
every bird in the flock.
Peter Waddle, milkman living near
Atlanta, VIII soon lead his ninth wife 20 the
altar, eight having died. The dead are All
buried In his yard, and each has a tombstone.
Waddle has the wedding dress OF each hung In
his closet.
"A woman at Carbon Hill, Ala, wanted
to hang herself, but had no rope. She went
into the woods, peeled the bark from a hickory
tree. tied one end of the bark around limb
and the other around her neck and SUCCEEDED
IN her purpose.
"A newsboy IA years of age. who has
lost both legs below the knees, saved young
man from drowning at Council Bluffs last Sun
day. In spite of his misfortune he is good
swimmer. The citizens have started q fund TO
show their admiration for his bravery.
Providence, r. l., had a curious vista
tion after the severe storm Saturday. Myriads
of gnats and mosquitoes came. and the electric
several stores they were SO thick that gum
powder, it is stated, was exploded to drive them
There is cunning frog in q pool near
Glen Brook Cottage, Williamstort- He pre-
tends to be dead, and when his body is covered
all over with fies down he pumps and makes .
meal of them. When he feels hungry again,
he sets himself and goes through the same per-
formance.
I'm Gardiner, Me-, ever since the gem
eral adoption of standard time there has been
a fight over this question, and in it ordinary
politics is entirely lost sight of. In all munich
pal elections the candidates are either stand
ard' or local" and the friends Of the two
grades Of time fight out their differences at the
polls.
Atone factory in the United States there
are manufactured between two and three tons
Of postal cards day all the year round. The
largest order ever filed for one city was 4000,-
900 cards or about IL tons of paper. for New
York. There are 450 600, 900 postal cards manu-
factured annually, and their use is increasing
daily.
Samuel L. Farmer, of Henderson, JEFF
ferson county, N. Y, has invented boat
which he claims can be rowed faster than any
now in use. Only one oar is used, which ID
thrust through the middle of the boat. some
what after the fashion of a center board. The
boat is propelled by working the oar backward
and forward. The leverage obtained is enorm-
Gus. and the inventor says that a small boy in
his boat can beat professional oarsman in
shell.
Charles Bartlett, lad OF Burlington,
N. J., saw a bald eagle and fired at it. He only
succeeded In slightly wounding it, and as soon
as it dropped to the ground it arose and went
boldly toward the boy and began an attack
mr. ir, Tha hirH rnaf TnfA slr ruft
talons and beak, flying at him and endeavoring
to gouge out his eyes. In the struggle, that
lasted several minutes. Bartlett could with
difficulty free his clothing from the long, sharp
ralous Of the bird. Finally he released himself
and ran sufficiently far away to shoot another
charge at it. This time he killed the aerial
monster, which measured SIX feet from tip to
tip of the wings.
The other day the people who attended
the weekly market in a certain French town
offering for sale a horse, which was fairfield at
As. The same woman was selling a dog for
which she demanded f20 They thought she
must be mad, and told her SO. BE that as il
may" she said. "the man who wants to have a
horse for 4s, must first take the dog at f20." A
purchaser eventually secured the two, and
afterward would have the explanation. 1t
transpired that fhe deceased husband OF the
artfu1 peasant woman had charged her in his
will to sell his dog and his horse The price of
the dog was to be hers, and that Of the horse
ouc was 70 pay OFoI W NE Idnully.
The absorbing question for discussion
among the employees at the Short Line depot In
Louisville is whether or not bobtail dog can
swim. Monday night several Of the employees
went In bathing in the river and on coming
out found bobtail dog sitting on the bank
watching their antics, evidently with great in
terest The idea occurred to some Of them to
throw the animal into the water and see him
swim out, as it is generally understood that
any dog can swim. But this particular dog
could not, for he sank like stone as soon as
he hit the water. Now, this Unfortunate ~pup
tion among the men whether its inability to
swim was due to the want Of an eye or the want
of a tail.
DIR. s. P. Richardson, of Athens, Ga,
comes to the front with cat story. He tells
of three or four kittens being found in a certain
house one morning, and there was a little differ
ence among the children Of the family as to
how the stock could be divided. While the
discussion was going on the old Maltese cat
came in, and this ended the discussion, for
each member of the family could now have .
cat of their own. In the course Of a few hours
came In. and in a little while the old cat came
In and hopped on the strangers knee. The
gentleman stroked the cat, and discovered that
she belonged at his home. The old cat had be- !
come offended at the mistress of the home and
had removed herself and her whole family the
distance of seven miles.
"A weeping peach tree is one Of the
curiosities Of Denison, Tex. It is visited by
many persons daily. At times perfect mist
or spray surrounds it A number of SUPER
stitious persons think that spirits operate upon
the tree A leading Spiritualist visited the tree
last Sunday, and thought that a seance would
explain the my itery. The negroes attach con-
siderable Significance to the name Of the
variety of the peach, which is known as ths
Robert E. Lee. The most ignorant declare that
the spirit of the dead Confederate chiefrain Is
operating upon the tree. After dark they give
the neighborhood a wide berth. James Wal
lace, a negro who has been afflicted with
Infiammatory rheumatism for the past two
years and bed-ridden most of the time, was
Impressed that the fluid from the tree would
effect a cure. He was sponged with the fluid,
and said he felt much relieved.