Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-20
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

There are in Vienna ct present six COM
panies who make a business Of hiring oat
steam boilers to small manufacturers.
"A florist at Lancaster, Pa, has 80 i'm
proved the dandelion that he has produced
specimens 20 inches in diameter.
The London and Northwestern Rail-
road has put dining car upon enc Of its trains.
and the whole English nation Is open-mouthed
with wonder at the progress ranroaolng ~
making in Great Britain.
Man is the universal animal. tits esti-
mated that there Is I.25O. 100000 of him on the
globe. The sheep rank next with 800 OOO, 900,
9OOOO0OOO cattle 100000. 900 hogs 1.-THE four.
footed Variety, and 60,00o,OOO horses continue
the list.
The professional molssses ta.ter fre-
quently has 20 or 80 samples to experiment.
upon. taking care to swallow as little as pos.
sible. It is said that only man with q sweet
tooth and o clear head can bear mp under the
strain of the occupation.
The extremely cold weather proved Of
unique service to North Dakota jailer, who,
being unable to quiet his prisoners Of an even
ing, extinguished the fires and opened all the
windows. After shivering for a while the men
ceased singing and shouting, vhereuDon their
quarters were again made comfortable.
Nearly every westbound train on the
Chicago, Milwaukee and st. Paul railroad car
ries from hve to dozen emigrant cars filed
with emigrants for Dakota, amajority Of whom
are Germans. The Dakota towns are rapidly
filling up with strangers. and the liveliest kind
OF boom Is looked for during the coming sum-
mer. .
John Mcguire, New Haven lad, was
caught by the hand in q belt, and, although
carried around on the rapidly moving shafting
about 700 times, received only injuries from
which he Is certain to recover. At each revo-
luton his body struck the ceiling and floor.
His shoes were torn from his feet, and nearly
every inch OF clothing stripped from his body.
"A Pacific coast paper reports that the
blowing up of a rock in the harbor of Nanaimo
was attended by remarkable sight. At the
moment the explosion occurred an immense
shoal Of herring was passing over the place,
and thousands of them were thrown high in
the air. For several minutes afterward the
water was OF silver color from the immense
number Of fish which foated on the water to
the depth OF foot or more, stunned or killed
by the shock.
During last week one Of the collectors
for firm in Columbus Ga, was made the vic
tim of a very daring and curious counterfeit
bill A payment of so was made to the col
lector in paper money. A day or two later,
upon close inspection, It was found to be s.
bill. The ''V's' on the back were almost COM
pletely rubbed out. The face of the bin was
marked so in the usual corners. These marks
had been cut out of some old Confederate bill
and gummed on 50 neatly and cleverly to the
the 50 bill as almost to be beyond detection.
Investigation of fire ruins show that
porous terra Gotta bricks and blocks best resist
fire, water and frost, next to these in the order
of ire-resisting qualities being the various con-
cretes. or some of them, and burned clay work.
In the best building work now done, the iron
part is encased in porous terra Gotta, tile or
brick work, in roof, floor and tile construction;
the hollow tiles are faced with yitrous tile,
slate, or any good weatherproof coating or
with single thickness of brick. Encased in
fireproof materials, iron and steel framework
is claimed to give the best results.
DIR. Ksyser has succeeded in obtaining
photograph of the aurora borealis from the
summit of Mount Rigi, in Switzerland. This
is an interesting fact, it having hitherto been
regarded as impossible to photograph the
aurora for want Of plate sufficiently sensitive
to be impressed by its rays. Gunther, in. his
well-knOwn physical geography, declares it to
be utterly Impossible to photograph the aurora.
the most carefully prepared plate remaining
neutral when exposed to the auroras rays. DIR.
Kayser resorted to special precautions and en-
plOyed colored dry plate-the azalin trocken-
platte.
"A Schley county, Ga. farmer has cat that
has developed the same interest in clothespins
that an ordinary cat takes in mouse catching,
and she parades with her captures with just as
much pride. She has ever devoted herself to
collecting lost clothespins and not few pins
that were not lost Strange to say, she never
touched the pins belonging to her owner, but
is death on clothesp1ns which belong to the
neighbors. In the past three months she has
brought home over "a dozen clothespins, and
inquiry shows that the cat keeps her eye on
the place where the pins are kept. One neigh
Dor kept basketfui of pins ON a tin roof. and
the cat had to pass over two or three roofs to
get them. but she succeeded in taking three
dozen from the basket before she was discov-
cred.
M. Hair, of Buena Vista, Ca, has in
his possession a genuine mad stone of very
large size, which was given him by his father
many years ago. The stone was brought from
North Carolina in 1884 by the senior Hair, and
has been in the family long time. 1t Is about
three-fourths of an inch thick. ia inches wide
and ~ inches long, slightly oYal-shaped, is OF
light gray color and about as heavy as an ordi-
nary stone. Mr.. Hair SAYS he did not, until
several days ago, think of this as mad stone,
thinking that they were something very differ
ent, but after reading descriptions of mad
stones, that they were taken from the stomachs
of deer as his was, he began to value his heir
loom very much he said his father used 1t
for carrying away wens, warts, and in divers
other family Affections.
In 1880 some young ladies in Berlin,
Germany. founded a club, the members OF
which pledged themselves not to marry, under
pain of fine Of 200 marks. At first the club
was great success; it started with % members,
and soon increased its number to 81. Suddenly,
however, an epidemic of marrying broke out
in the club; and this year, at the general meet.
ing, there was only one solitary member left,
who found herself called upon TO dispose Of 2S,.
900 marks, the amount remaining of the fines
that had been paid This, by the official ad-
vice of the perjured ex-members, the general
meeting resolved to, divide into equal portions,
one to be given to the Berlin hospitals, the
other to be settled on the last member. Il
seems pity that the following advertisement,
which has Just appeared in Frankfort paper,
cannot be brought before this members notice.
1t reads as follows:-''A poor devil wishes to
make the acquaintance of rich angel, with
view to matrimony, in the hope of making for
himself a little heaven on earth"