Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-14
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

New York is now the largest mahogany
market in the world.
"A bridegroom at Monroe, Ga, being
without money, gave the Justice a little rabbit
dog which he had with him.
"A law suit between two Ulster county,
New York, men over two old horses valued at
81 each. has already cost $500.
"A salmon caught on the Pacific coast
had an iron spike seven inches long, with
half-inch head, in its stomach.
-Rilla Kittredge, of Belfast, Me-, has
written one of ex-President Cieyeland's mes
sages, containing 1900 words, on postal card.
Australia has just made to projected
railroad grant of 100000 acres. or 1000
acres mile, The grant to the Pacific railroads
in this country amounted to about 8, 400 acres q
mile.
"A. G. Whitman, an aged residentofFort
Fairfield, Me-, came home the other day after
short absence and found his wife. woman
OF %, dead and frozen, with bundle of fagots
in her hand.
"A busy doctor in Scranton, Pa, sent in
certificate of death to the health officer, and
inadvertently placed his name in the space for
cause of DEATH" This is what might be called
accidental e1aetness.
Captain Samuel Staplins, of Stonington,
Conn, found pearl in round clam for which
he has received an offer Of SIS All bivalves
now taken in that neighborhood have to pass .
close scrutiny for precious gems.
in San Francisco last week man and
his wife lost their minds through the excessive
use of morphine and cocaine, and were sent to
. hospital for the insane. Oftentimes the hus-
bands cocaine bill amounted to So per day.
This is how the kangaroo got its name:
Captain Cook first discovered the animal in
Australia. When he inquired its name Of a
native the latter replied, Kangaroo" which,
in the Australian language, is Il don't know"
The school banking system was intro
duced in the public schools of Long Island City,
l. l., about thLee years ago. and already the
pupils in the nine schools have So 9l IS to their
credit. Last weeks deposits amounted to
500 Al.
M. Fouque, a French metallurgist, claims
to have re-discoYered the art of making the
famous Pompeii blue. His process is based on
mixture of silicate, copper. and chalk, and he
says that he can produce any quantity Of it at
moderate cost.
The Empress of Austria carries trav-
cling basket fitted up so that she is able to
make soup on the cars. 1t has silver saucepans
with gold handles ana the Empress declares
that she can make in it better broth than any
chef can concoct.
AN Athens, Ca, young man paid
father S5 for the privilege Of counting his
daughter. He married another girl and de-
manded back the S5 The old man Offset the bill
with an account of 1rewood and kerosene oil
The matter was compromised
"A Staten Island man counts his coffin
among his household effects. He spent two
weeks constructing it, and he now uses it as a
sort Of wardrobe, keeping it in the entry close
to an Old-fashiOned clock thatlUoks good deal
like companion burial casket.
Two English servants, Ann Warde and
Eliza Wylde, went to Salvation Army meet
ing on a Sunday evening, oVerstayed the time
when they should have been home and for fear
of scolding, tied themselves together with a
woolen scarf and drowned themselves in
canal.
Russian statesmen, from Count Tolstoi
down, are aiding in the organization of socie-
ties for the prevention and suppression of in
ebrity. Total abstinence, except from light
cider and kvass, an acid drink with little alco-
hol, is the rule they seek to establish for too
hard drinkers.
The use of corrugated iron for dwelling
houses is now recommended, it being urged
that they would be much cheaper than houses
of brick or stone. Being lined with wood,
they wonld necessarily be warm in winter, and,
to have them cool in summer, the plan OF the
well-known Indian bungalo is suggested.
One of the questions put to the school
children Of Cambridge, Mass, the other day
was: what is a skeleton?" Among the an
swers were these: when anybody dies the
flesh dries up to the bones and makes skele-
tom" "a skeleton is bones in the museums"
"When you die the doctor can make skeleton
of y0u,' when you grow into q skeleton you
are sent to Harvard College to practice on"
AT the trial of Richard Jones, a South
Carolina murderer, it was found that several
members of the jury which had been selected
to decide the case were in the habit Of joining
the prisoner in jail after the closing of court
and playing poker with him. They asserted
that the fact of their engaging in the game in
no way prejudiced them either for OF against
the prisoner, but the Judge ruled otherwise
and they were discharged.
How sponges bore into limestone or
shells is as yet an unsolved problem. Mr.. Mas
sonof has investigated new species of clone
which tunnels oyster and mussel shells, and he
believes that the boring of the canals and gall
leries IS performed solely by the soft parts Of
longation of the body of the sponge into the
shell appears to be accomplished by the
secretion of a corroding liquid, probably an
acid.
The Army and Nary Journal prints
letter from a naval officer, who suggests that
the ancients who knew the value Of oiling
troubled waters, learned this method from OBJ
serving the sea birds. All fsh-eating birds,
cape pigeons, petrels, and the like, eject oil
from the mouth when captured. In the South
Atlantic and South Pacific the writer had wit
messed sea birds floating in spaces OF compare
lively quiet water when the sea around was
rough. The unusual smoothness of the water
was evidently due to considerable quantities
of oil deposited by the birds.