Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-27
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

There are at the present time no less
than six members of the English House OF
Commons who have passed 80 years.
Charles Bolmer, of st. Louis, has vio-
lin made in 1880 His father bought it for So,
and Mr Bolmer has refused to sell 1t for s0'OOV.
Mrs. Thomas Pelton, of Washington,
Me-, is such an enthusiastic fsherwoman that;
although in her 10th year, she landed IIo
speckled trout this season herself.
The seals that frequent the Maine coast
are easily tanned. The mate of a coasting
schooner has one that follows him like dog
ana is allowed TO take a bath in the sea when
ever he likes, with no fear of his escaping.
"A Vinalhaven (Me.) boy couldn't be
induced to go to the dentist and have five ugly
teeth pulled until somebody thought of offer
ing him a baseball Then he fairly Jumped for
the dentists shop and went through the opera
tion without gas.
The Chicago commercial travellers, 4, 900
in number. have agreed to take $500, 600 worth
of stock of the Chicago Columbus Exposition
Company. and to attempt to sell some of the
STOCK OF the company to every customer that
they meet on their travels.
The decision of the Supreme Court of
Iowa that liquors sent to that State cannot be
confiscated in their original packages has had
great effect upon the liquor traffic Travel.
Ing agents OF enterprising Chicago hq1Or
houses ply up and down the State in all direc-
tions taking orders for their merchandise.
An afternoon meeting at Ocean Grove
the other day was addressed by Mrs. Lydia
Sexton, Of Kansas, an old lady in her 9lst year,
who has been preacher in the Church of the
United Brethren for a score of years. She ia
very sprightly, and talked and gesticulated
with great earnestness. She wore brown
satin and cashmere dress, with a white hand
kerchief in front of the waist Her figure is
as straight as young girls She spoke with
outnotes and without evident fatigue.
Miss West, pretty Toledo girl who is
spending the summer at Put-in-Bay, frequently
takes long trips into the surrounding country
in search of charming things for her pencil.
While strolling through the woods she heard a
hiss, and turning in the direction of the sound.
saw huge rattlesnake in battle array. Unlike
the average human being. she did not ny but
graphing stick, she killed the angry reptile
with well directed blow. The snake measured
feet and had 13 rattles, and was fully inches
In circumference.
Above Augusta, Ca, on the Carolina
side of the river. there now lives an old man
who is half crazed by the earthquake. He pos
1t1vely refuses to live in a house, and has never
entered one since he fed from his tottering
home three years ago. At Sand Bar Ferry a
young colored mans hair turned perfectly
white from, black on the night of the earth
quake. 1t is still white. At station on the
Carolina road cow that went through the
quake shook all the time until her death, "a year
ago. For nearly two years the animal constant
ly trembled and piteously moaned.
Mr.. j. D. Stocker, of Atlanta, has pie
ano that was made in Baltimore $50 years ago.
1t is upheld by only two legs, one at each end,
but these legs branch at the floor into claws,
which are of brass and handsomely beaten out.
The woodwork of the plano is of mahogany,
trimmed with ebony, and the tuning board is
in front OF the case. There are four pedals.
which come from small pipe organ-one soft,
nraI n1h nr1n Nrfr. HaII
in unison and one that plays a banjo accom-
paniment while the performer plays 1t Is SIX
oetayes and is still a very valuable and hand
some piece of furniture. With this relic of the
past, Mrs. Stocker has the music played and
sung by her ancestors in the long ago.
"A correspondent of Phillips (Me.)
paper tells of a recent encounter which took
place between skunk and a sitting hen. The
contest was brief, but the hen came out into
the yard, at its close, in an expeditions manner
that was very noticeable. Both her eyes were
closed; she tried to scream fire and murder,
which to scream. She stood on one foot and
scratched her head with the other while her
countenance showed the most surprise ever
seen on hens face. Next she bolted for the
road and lay down to rest herself in the dust,
and lastly ran into some alders, where she re-
mained over night. This hen has never ut
the event came off; but any one can readily
tell when she is around. Her desire to raise a
family has passed away.
Slate has been found very effective in,
various kinds of ornamental work, but Dover
(Me) genius is furnishing new illustrations of
its possibilities in this line. He has lust CON-
pleted clock set in an deliberately ornamented
case q inches wide, q inches high and inches
deep, all except the movement of which is
made of slate. The face is slate lined with red :
satin. The hands and figures are also of the
same material oyerlaid with gold leaf. AT the
moment Of striking and at the end of every
half hour musical attachment is set in mo-
tion and plays lively air. Upon the front or
opening is represented an alcove or arched
recess, in which Father Time may be seen re-
clining, with his scythe and glass in hand. In
the rail and forming part OF it, near the top on
the right and left, are angelic figures, while the
whole is surmounted by harp. The front
corners of the base show two human forms,
and in the rear are two deer. Birds rest upon
the rail or fence at the front.
Thomas Hull, Jr.. the 15-year-old son
of Thomas Hull, of Vinegar Hill, six miles
from Galena, ILL.,. is one of the most remark
able fasters on record. One year agolast April
the boy was taken very ill with spinal menin-
gitls By careful medical treatment his life
was saved. but he was left paralytic by tie
disease. So complete was the paralysis that
even the tongue was unable to perform its
functions, every muscle of his body being para
yzed. It was thought at the time that he could
exist but a short time in such a helpless con-
dtion, but as time wears on he appears to grow
but very little weaker and death is apparently
far off. But the strangest part of it is that life
should be maintained so long on the food to
which he has been restricted. The muscles of
The tongue and throat being paralyzed, it is inn
possible for him to swallow, and every ounce of
food which he has received these 16 months
has been conveyed to the gullct by means of
quill. In this manner small allowances of
milk, whisky, cruel and juices of fruits have
haen Administered him dailv