Huntsville gazette., 1890-03-15
or GENERAL INTEREST.

The most costly book in the world
is Bible in Hebrew. An offer Of its
weight in gold was once made, andrft
was ascertained that this offer amounted
to S102, 900, which was refused, and the
volume is still in the library of the Vati-
can.
AT Auburn, Cal., woman was
watching her hens which were scratch
ing in the garden, when she saw them
unearth bright object and try their
bills upon it. She took itinto the house
and it proved to be q chunk OF gold
worth fifty-seven dollars.
"A Brooklyn lawyer invited some
clients who called upon him out to lunch.
When they got their bill for legal SER
vices they found four dollars added to 1T
for the meal, but they took good care
not to pay it and the over-shrewd dis
ciple of Blackstone has not, up to the
present, sued.
The civil-service examiners have
some queer experiences. An applicant
for appointment on the police force OF
one of the cities, in filing in the replies
to questions about his habits, wrote
fast. Another frankly wrote that he
took considerable liquor, and when
asked if physician prescribed it, said:
mo, prescribed it for myself"
"A freak in the way of handwriting
has just come under notice. A little girl
of four years writes with her left hand,
and writes her words backward, as they
are reflected in mirror from ordinary
writing. Her friends have to read them
by means of looking glass. The child
was taught writing with sister, but
would do things in her own way, with
the result that she writes fuently IN
this fantastic style.
The suggestion has been offered
that plates and dishes used on board
ship should be fitted with iron bottoms,
so that by means of -electro-magnets
placed beneath the table they might be
kept in place during the rolling Of the
vessel. The idea is said to have been
taken from the tricks of certain ocean
gamblers who use dice SO loaded with
iron upon one face that they will always
fall in one direction on a table furnished
with concealed magnets.
A queer ordinance was passed by the
McConnelsville (O.) Council recently.
The substance of the ordinance was
to provide for building high fence
around a certain saloon in town
known as the "Blue Goose" which ap-
pellation is suggested by the peculiarly
bright color of it's front. The fence will
be placed there SO as prohibit entrance
+ha
which faces the public square, the most
prominent portion of the city.
What is called the musical or
whistling tree is found in the West In
dia Islands, in Nubia and the Soudan-
1t has peculiar shaped leaf, and pods
with a split or open edge. The wind
passing through these gives out a sound,
which gives the tree its name. In Bar
BADGES there is valley filled with these
trees, and when the trade winds blow
across the island constant moaning,
deep-toned whistle is heard, which, in
the still hours Of the night, has a very
weird and unpleasant effect.
"A poor Brahmin at Monghyr, North
west Bengal, possessed an amulet which
had been in his family for generations,
and, as he was almost starving, he took
it to goldsmith for sale. The goldsmith
broke it up to test the metal, and found
in the hollow center a scrap of paper
covered with minute writing. This be-
ing deciphered by learned pundit, the
Brahmin learned that by the shrine Of
Pr Shah Nepal is we'll dating back to
Mohammedan times, and at certain
distance from the well are hidden four
teen lakhs of rupees. The Brahmin OBJ
tanned Government sanction to excavate
the ground
The prize medal for absent-minded-
ness during lectures must be awarded to
a German professor named Johannes
Amer, who recently died in Vienna.
One of his pupils has list of his remark
able sayings, among them the follow
ing: Julius Caesar, disguised as
slave, swan naked across the Tiber."
alexander the Great was born in the
absence of his parents" ''The Swiss
are a mountainous nation, but in Scot
land the climate does not begin till Oc-
tober." ''Hogs were invented in Asia
Minor" ''Thus arose a general war on
page a." Covered with countless
wounds Caesar fell dead near the statue
of Pompey; with one hand he drew his
toga over his face, while with the other