Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-08
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

The 117th birthday of Bridget Doody, of
Mineral Point, Wis. according to a certified
copy of the baptism record of the old lady OBJ
tanned from Catholic church in her native
town of Knockmahon-in-Struba County
Waterford, Ireland, occurred April ), she
having been born in l7I2.
The consideration for which Bombay
Hook, near Wilmington, Del, was transferred
by its original owner, an Indian chief, was two
barrels of rum. two shotguns and four handfus
Of powder. The land is worth now about $780,
600 Qnite appropriately. the sign manual Of
the Indian chief was goose.
Surrogate O'Neil, of Jersey City, re-
ceived SO bank note as fee. on the edge Of
which was written in India ink: Anybody
ha ling this in his or her pocket will never be
busted. Hang onto it as long as you can, for it
Is the last OF my S5.OOO I'm busted. This is
DeIter IN your pocket than 500 on running
horse"
"A century ago the law of Maine obliged
husband to pay all the debts of his bride IN
case she brought him any property. As outer
clothing was legal property which could be
taken for debt, an unfortunate couple who
were deeply in love resorted to the experiment
OF marrying while the bride was clad only in her
night clothes.
There is ; yellow-hairedt tailless cat that
haunts the White House corridors. They call
1t Dan, and many regard it as the Presidents
follow General Garfield wherever he went, out
OF gratitude for bone that the President once
threw nim when he was on theVerge Of starva-
tion in the street.
-Barnum's snake charme4, Madame
Junata, celebrated Sunday by performing an
interesting dental operation on two of her pet
boa constructors. She extracted a couple Of
liberated fangs from each snake. 1t was
quickly done. She grasped the snake by the
head with her left hand, inserted pencil be-
tween its jaws to keep them distended, and
with PAIR of tweezers yanked out the decayed
fangs. 1t didn't worry the snakes bit.
Sunday last was the annual "Show
Yee" or memorial day, among the Chinese.
Pilgrimages were made to the various ceme-
teries by devout Cinnamon, who carried deliea-
cies, including roast pig, boiled chicken. rice
and other refreshments, TO the deceased
friends The refreshments were laid upon the
graves, joss paper burnt. and some ceremonies
OF a memorial nature performed Then the
food was taken home again and subsequently
eaten by the mourners.
An amusing story comes from Japan of
a native doctor who had so far assimIlated his
practice to European methods that an Englisl:
resident, being i'll, sent for him in the absence
OF the only European doctor of the district
The Englishman having deliberately described
his symptoms, the Jap doctor in his turn made
long and very vague statement, from which
mite. But come. DOCTOR" exclaimed the pa
tient at last, naturally anxious to know the na-
ture Of his complaint, you have not told me
what it is?i "Ahl you ask what it isP' returned
the native medico, in what he intended to be
his best European manner, "wel1 will tell
you, sar, it Is shillngsp'
"A man by the name of Klinkingbeard
says he was once hunting in the Virginia noun
tains. He got lost, travelled around all day
until, tired out, he sat down on log to rest.
After sitting there awhile he thought the log
moved and jumped up and examined. He
found to his unspeakable amaZement that it
was large snake. He ran off about so yards
and fired at it, but the ball glanced of without
hurting the snake. The monstrous reptile
raised Its head up about so feet, but Mr. K1ink-
ingbeard soon had another load in his gun, and
this time he aimed at the smooth place around
its neck where there seemed to be no scales.
This made the snake awfully sick and it spewed
up canoe and nine Indians.
"A Brooklyn Coroner, while examining
some papers, unearthed receipt for valuables
that were found on the person of a man who
dropped dead near the bridge. Among the
things acknowledged by 1t were almost s., 600 in
currency, several large books, some jewelTy
and papers. The widow of the man was known,
and the officer, to save her the trouble of going
to his office, sent the effects to her residence.
There were score of articles in all, and they
made pretty bulky bundle. When the mes
senger delivered them to the widow she care
fully went over each. Upon concluding her
examination. instead of thanking the messen-
pair of scissors Where are they?"
The lost man-of-war Trenton, which
was wrecked at Samoa, was always considered
to be an unIucky vessel by the sailors who
sailed in her. The first attempt to launch her
was December 30, 1875, but after two hours
work the effort was abandoned. Soon after
being launched she was put into dock and
coppered and when she was taken out she was
found to leak so badly that she had to be re-
dOcked. 1t was then found that two or three
holes near the sternpOst had been carelessly or
maliciouslv bored and. left without plugging.
A few weeks later large piece OF the ma:
chinery fell from the crane when being hoisted
on board, and caused considerable damage as
it went plunging through the decks to the
bottom of the vessel.
The consumption of peanuts is 3, 200, 900
bushels a season, and the highest production
is but 700, 600 bushels more All these peanuts
are raised in Virginia, North Carolina and
Tennessee but the Tennessee production is
comparatively small. During the peanut har-
vest the people, the picaninnies, the dogs, pigs
and nearly everything that eats gets fat in the
land of the peanut. Peanuts are planted at
corn planting time; each kernel produces a
running vine like crab grass, and each root de-
velops about 20pods- When ripe the plow is run
through the loamy soil, on dry day, Just be-
fore frost, The nuts are dried and shocked up
like corn to keep dry before housing. When
marketed they go to a cleaner, where they are
put through steam power machines and
polished, after which they are graded accord
ing to size and variety.
The oldest bank notes are the "fying
money" or convenient money" first issued in
China, 2697 B. G. Originally these notes were
issued by the treasury but experience dictated
a change to the banks under Government in
spection and control. A writer in a provincial
paper says that the early Chinese ''greenbacks''
were IN all essentials similar to the modern
bank notes, bearing the name of the bank. date
of ISSUE the number of the note, the signature
of the official issuing it, indications of its value
in figures in works. and in the pictorial repre-
sentation in coins or heaps of coins equal in
amount to its face vafue, and notice of the
pains and penalties of counterfeiting. Over
and above all was laconic exhortation of in
dustry and thrift-"Produce all you can; spend
with economy" The notes were printed in
blue ink on paper made from the fibre of the
mulberry tree. One issued in 1889 B. c., is still
carefully preserved in the Asiatic Museum at
st. Petersburg.