Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-19
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

"A German professor says all who eat
water.cress consume at the same time q full
assortment Of minute insects.
Mrs. Maggie Ellis, a mulatto of Chat
| tanooga, Tenn, has given birth to the smallest
child on record 1t weighs 81 ounces.
"A tennis shoe, bracelet. restaurant, a
| carpet a tooth powder and polish for silver
have been named after Stanley's bride
"A carpet used in room of the Mint
after being in wear some years. was burned the
other day in pans, and yielded s., 500 worth Of
gold.
"A census taker at Danbury, Conn.,, en-
| countered the wife of an Irish hod-carrier, who
tried to conceal her husbands humble occupa-
tion by stating that he was an "ascender and
| descender."
| Elizabeth Comstock, an aged Quaker
| preacher living at Union Springs, N. Y, has
| ly twice that many sick persons in and out Of
| poor houses, on battlefields etc.
Just as the collection plate was about
to be passed around at recent religious services
| at church at Darlington, Hartford county,
| there was o clap of thunder. and 1t is stated
| that the congregation left the building in
hurry.
"A man named Tinsley, living in To-
ronto. claims to be lO7 years old. He is hale
|
but never since, but has been in the habit of
taxing little liquor. He has worn spectaeles
| for eight years.
BY far the most expensive coffee brought
| to this market comes from Blue Mountain,
| Jamaica, says the New York Sun. The whole
| product Of the region is small and only few
/ thousand bags reach New York. 1t is usually
| bought by Delmonico at very high figure.
At the same time the Delmonlco coffee does
not contribute to the restaurants reputation.
| Quite as good coffee is served az half a dozen
less famous places.
The color used to denote mourning has
often been changed and even to-day countries
differ widely. In Rome males wore black for
| mourning, while the women indicated their
grief by wearing white garments: In Turkey,
| at the present day, the mourning hue Is violet;
| In China, white; in Egypt, yellow; in Ethiopia.
| brown; in London and America, black. The
| mourning color in Spain was white until
| changed by the laws of 1498.
| Hebrew Libraries abound on the east
side of New York. The books are printed in
the Hebrew text for the most part, but the
language is often a curious mixture of several
| central European languages The books are
| nearly all substantially bound. They are
| usually long IN proportion to their width. and
many OF them have manIfestly been long in
| stock. At these libraries as at Others the
| chief demand is for light literature.
There is a wonderful well down near
Del Norte. The force of the water brings up
from the depths an occasional lump Of native
silver or gold nugget. Local scientists claim
that at a great depth and under enormous
pressure the water is washing away ledge Of
| rock, whose softer parts go into solution and
give the water its mineral qualities, but whose
/ gold and silver, not being dissolved, are
brought to the surface in metallic state.
E. B. Campbell, Jr., D. L. Deane and A.
B. Carnett, Of Williamsport. have returned
from surveying expedition on the headwaters
of Young Woman's creek. While making
| their way through the timber they suddenly
| found themselves in a den of rattlesnakes.
Seizing clubs and stones they pitched in, and
| in short time killed 2l of the reptiles.
Before they got out of the woods they killed
more snakes. The largest measured feet in
| length and the smallest feet.
MIR. Ackom. living in Van Vert coun-
| ty, o., brought queer freak to town. Mr..
Ackom is breeder of thoroughbred Poland
China hogs. In a litter Of pigs. farrowed Sat-
| urday, was one which very nearly resembled
| an elephant. 1t had enormous ears, a long
| trunk and one tusk. It was the color of an
elephant and its feet turned up in a peculiar
way. The trunk started from the forehead,
| and extended out and down over the mouth
It is one of those peculiar freaks which occa-
sionally occur in the animal world.
"A daring feat in photography was per-
formed last week by George H. Baily of Bos-
ton. He succeeded in getting fine neg gatiVe
of a blast of a ledge near SaTin Hill one Of
the largest on record, in which $50 poun ds OF
dynamite were used. He did 1t at the risk Of
being crushed by some huge rock and moved
himself and camera out of the way just .
boulder several tons in weight was about to
land dangerously near him. The pict ure
taken Just as the dust and stones had reached
their highest elevation, and is inter esting as
1t is rare.
The camera that does the work for tho
rogues' gallery is concealed. The prisoner
hangs his head, and refuses to look up
when asked to do SO or shuts his eyes and dis
torts his face. The photographer makes feint
with the camera in sight, takes out the plate
and exclaims, "Oh, pshawl That is spoiledr' or
words to that effect, and walks hurriedly out of
the room. The prisoner raises his head at once
and looks pleasant. He has outwitted the
gets in its fne work. and the rogue is still more
surprised and pleased at being told that he
can go.
of all roosting places imaginable, the
hands of q clock would seem the last place q
bird would seek. But. nevertheless, feath-
cred warbler of some description took up quar-
ters for the night on the hour hand of the
Lima, O., town clock, and was as cosy as ''bug
in a rug."~ 1t was first noticed about 1880
o'clock. and, as the hands would soon pass, an
interested crowd looked on. anxious to know
what the bird would do. Well, that bird knew
its business, and when the minute hand drove
up in front of it demurely hoped aboard. and,
taking seat on the extreme end, rode safely
by. The danger over, it resumed the former
position on the hour hand.
"A horde of noisy spGrrows has chosen
for a roost tree in the yard of a citizen of
Orange, N. j. For several evenings he has
been experimenting with sparrow dsturber,
which is at least partial success. He has tied
stout cords tn neariy avery limb of the tree and
gathered the ends at his window. When the
sparrows settle down for the night he goes to
the window and jerks the string The spar
rows become 'raCtled" and dit away in the
dark Another citizen of Orange has q fine
growth of ivy on the side of his house, and the
sparrows have been inhabiting 1t throughout
the year until recently. He has driven them
away by gong into the attic and sitting Scotch
snuff and cayenne pepper down through the
vine.