Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-15
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

of sixteen applicants for charity who
were followed about by an officer in Chicago,
every one proved to be base impostor, and
12 of them had stolen articles from houses
where money had been given tEem-
A prominent citizen Of Parsons, Kan,
determined to sup with q party Of friends
against the will of his wife. He was resolved
that he would, and she that he should not go.
His friends missed him, and just for fun in
vaded his residence, where they found MN ana
ms wife sitting in their chairs fast asleep he
mad given her an opiate that he might sip
away, and she had given him one that he might
not
This story comes from Boston: A lady
opposed to corporal punishment visited
school. not in fashionable part Of the city.Just
as boy was being hogged. Before going away
she spoke to the culprit and asked him to come
aEo see her on certain evening, promising 70
make 1t pleasant for him. At the appointed
hour boy, dressed in his best, came, and for
an hour and more the lady and her daughter
laid themselves out to amuse him. Then the
lady began to speak of the Importance of good
behavior and obedience TO rules when the boy
interrupted her: "Oh amt that felIer He
gfme 10 cents to come instider him.
The French Court of Appeal has con-
frmed a judgment annulling the will of .
Frenchman named Louis August Travers, who
died in 1888, and left his money to the London
Workhouse or poor. He instructed his execu-
tor to consign his body to the deep Just of the
English coast, declared that France had always
oppressed him, that the French were nation
of dastards and fools, and that he only wished
that he might give them to the English, the
born enemies of stupid France. The Court
held that the London poor and workhouses had
no legal representatives, and that such anti
patriotic sentiments indicated insanity.
Front of Macedonia Church, in Columbia
county, Georgia. is quivering tree. Years ago,
the negroes Of the neighborhood say, murder
was done under its branches. Two men had
accompanied woman to church and after she
had entered the edifice they quarreled about
her, and one cut the other to death. The mur-
derer escaped, and ever since every limb, small
and large, on the tree trembles as if in fear or
as suffering animal would quiVer. This oc-
ours when not breath OF air is stirring. No
negro in Columbia county can be induced to
pass the so-called haunted spot alone at night.
Prominent gentlemen say they have noticed
the phenomenon, but no explanation of it has
ever been volunteered.
Probably the queerest character that has
been received in the asylum at Milledgeville,
Ga, recently, is young fellow brought from
Walker county. The subject of his derange-
ment is spelling, and it is said he went crazy
during the spelling bee craze several years ago.
He uses the same letters for spelling any word
given him. and invariably pronounces the re-
suit of his babbling "asafetida." When given
word to spell he throws open one corner of
his mouth and yells at the top of his voice:
"B-a ba, va va, ga ga, ia ia, d-i d. asafetda"
He can be seen most any time about the yard
spelling for the amusement OF the crowd who
generally award him a chew of tobacco for his
effort.
There is an old man working on the
farm of a gentleman living in Augusta, Ca, by
the name of Stearns who sees all sorts of su-
pernatural things. He is a Bostonian and has
not been successful on Southern FARMS He
claims to commune with spirits, and holdsmany
midnight conferences with them in the lonely
swamps on the farm which he works. He is
dreaded by the negroes of the neighborhood.
His gesticulations and CALCULATIONS at times,
when spirits appear to him, are weird and un-
earthly, and fear of their recurrence causes
people to shun him. He addresses his negro
farm hands as Mr.. and Mrs and miss, and is
thoroughly hated by them. The farm which he
works is about six miles from Augusta.
The relative hardness of woods is calcu
lated by the hickory, which is the toughest.
Estimating that at 100, we get for pignut hick.
ory, sc; white oak, 81; white ash. n; dogwood,
"A; scrub oak, 73; white hazel Y; apple tree 70;
red oak. 6g white beech, IS; black walnur, s.;
black birch. 81: yellow and black oak go; hard
maple, So; white elm, 5S; red cedar, So; cherry,
55; yellow pine, 81; chestnut, 81; yellow poplar,
81; butternut and white birch, 4S; and white
pine, S. According to this formula, woods
possessing degree of hardness equal to only
about 40 per cent, or less than that of hickory,
should not be classed as hard woods. Such
woods are, however. limited in quantity, and
are not of sufficient importance to Justify a
classification, and the trade will continue to
construe hard wood to mean everything except
white pine.
Some parties down South had been fish I
ing and brought in some very fine trout, some
of which fell into the hands of certain doc
tor. Upon cleaning and dissecting them he
found upon the inside lining of the swimming
bladder the perfect picture of tree displayed
in crimson hue, as perfect ard as distinctly as
the most delicate and skilled hand of the artist
painter could delineate. To find thus upon the
fine and delicate body of a fish a beautiful
picture of the different trees of the forest is
something new and an advanced step in natural
history. In this case there was post mortem
made upon two fish. In one was found the
picture of pine tree, with trunk and branches
remarkably distinct. In the other, a
pie tree was seen as satisfactory as could be de-
sired. Naturalists say that the imprint thus
appearing is made from the shade of the tree
reflected in the water in which the fish con-
stantly remain. If the fish lives in lake over
which the boughs of the maple extend, then we
find in the fish the picture of the maple, and so
of any other tree and in every other instance,
This is true only of the trout, and found in no
other fish.