Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-05-02
=. DISTANT DOiNGS.

IN France experiments are being made with cork car springs.
 THE Royal Academy in London has def- nitely decided not to open its doors on Sum- days.
 A FRENCH soldier at Gran, Algeria, has just been condemned to death for striking a superior officer with quid of tobacco.
 A RUSSIAN joint stock company is build ing an immense Loat theater to float up and down the Volga river. Performances are to be given at every large town.
 A CURIOUS old custom is still in vogue in the old Yorkshire town of Ripon. At that place the curfew horn is blown every night at nine o'clock by man in uniform.
 SHEEP for one penny each seems ridicu- lous Yet, owing to the drought of the last six months in Australia, 5000 sheep were recently sold in Melbourne at that price.
 THE King of Sweden, on his sixtieth birth day, offered prize to be contested for by all the geometricians of the world. Poin- carre, a member of the French Academy of Sciences, won it.
 A NEW religious sect has been formed in the town of Zwickan, Germany, the members of which call themselves sFree Brethren in Christ" They reject infant baptism, and believe in an early reappearance of Christ on the earth. -
 THE electricians of the Paris exposition have, it is said devised method by which the waters from the hidden fountains will be illuminated by electric light, with the re- suit of producing very elaborate and ar tistic effects in color.
 CEYLoN people are interested in a rivalry as to who shall find the highest palm tree. An English railroad builder named Cantren made the first record at no feet, but MT. Patron-Cray has just shown a palm IF feet high, and takes the medal.
 A BISMARCK museum is to be established on Unter den Linden, not far from the Ho- henzolern museum. The Iron Chancellor will himself contribute some historical treasures, and an appeal will be made to the public for gifts of keepsalSes and mementoes of him.
 THE lance, which once played an important part in warfare, is likely to find general re- adoption in several European armies It Is picturesque, and could doubtless be made effective in the hands of cavalry, but 1t is scarcely probable that it will supersede the weapons which have been so long in use for hand to hand conflicts.
 ACCORDING to financial contemporary the Russian Government has accepted the prop, ositlon made by company recently formed In St. Petersburg for the construction of acana to connect the Black Sea with the Sea o1 Azof. The canal will be one hundred and eleven versts long and will afford passage to steamers drawing not more than nineteen feet.
 THE Chinese frequently place little meta idols within the shells of molluscs, remov ing them several years afterwards covered with substance resembling pearl; they also lay strings of small pearls, separated by knots, inside the shells, and, on taking them out, after a lapse of some years, ob | tain large and costly pearls.
 AN American girl who was presented al the Queens drawing groom recently was SC | embarrassed that she made quite a faux pas She wholly ignored the Queen until after she had saluted the Princess of Wales, wher | she suddenly turned around and astonisheC her Majesty by saying: "Oh, I beg you, pardon, madam" grabbed her royal hand kissed it, and then hurried along the line The Queen, who is a terrible sticller about matters of etiquette, at first looked angry then, catching sight of the amused smile of the Princess of Wales, she burst into pleasant laugh and sent the discomfited de butante away with a few kindly words.