Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-23
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

"A sycamore tree near Newton, Conn.,, Is
saidto be IS feet high and 81 feet in diameter.
AN owl, shot near jackson, Ca, last
week, measured 5% feet from tip to tip of the
wings, and had a small steel trap on one of its
feet.
Between $50 and 200 hogsheads Of beer
are given away every week to the employees at
Bass brewery AZ Burton-on-Trent in the way Of
allowances"
-One ostrich farm at Port Augusta, South
Australia. contains 700 birds worth 500 each,
and the yield of feathers this year is expected
to be worth $1,000
An enormous flow of natural gas was
struck on Thursday at tSummerland, three miles
from Santa Barbara, Cal. The flow is estimated
at 3, 100000 feet per day.
AN 18-year-old youth at Cleveland went
to the circus and laughed so much that he has
been unable to stop laughing since. Doctors
say the show affected his brain.
Among the interesting events at the
White Mountains last week was the success
full attempt of German baron weighing 200
pounds to climb Mt Washington.
The Hartford [Ct. insurance companies
are at work on their calendars for 1891, and one
company has already placed a contract for the
printing and binding of 382, 600 copies
"A woman in Salem, n. j., "a years ago
lost two silver coins in a slit in the floor. Last
week, the floor being taken up for repairs, she
instituted search for the long-lost money and
"A Wichita woman predicts that the
world will wind up on the 10Th of November.
The public will have to wait just three months
to hnd out whether the prophets at Wichita are
as bad as the poets.
1t is probable that hereafter census
IT
solely as to number of population. age, sex and
distribution. The full census will continue 70
be taken at intervals of ten years.
Female slaves are still given to the
Sultan in old-time pomp. An exquisitely
beautiful girl Of 16, a Georgian, that his aunt
sent to him, was taken to the Yidiz Kiosk in a
gilt coach escorted by a troop of gigantic
eunuchs.
One Of the oldest settlers of Brewer is
dead in the person Of Simon Wise, colored
man. He was such an old settler that he used
to kee p smudge of chips burning all the time
In fro mt OF the house, ITO frighten of the
witches"
j. NJ. Gibbs, of Rochelle, has several
red pepper stalks OF last years growth. The
stalks bore pepper last year, and, owing to the
warm winter, were preserved. They bore all
through the winter and are still bearing. and il
nothing happens to them they will be bearing
this time nex5year.
Sir George Campbell was describing
himself the other night as a devoted guerilla
hanging on the rear of the government. He
pronounced the word, however, gorilla" and
ne is now known as the ape-like ancestor of our
race. Sir George Campbell will be known as
the devoted gorilla" as long as he sits in Parlia
ment.
Mr.. Thomson, gardener of the Duke of
Buccleuch, has the name in England OF being
the most skllful grower OF grapes in the world.
His prices uphold his reputation. a small two
pound bunch of grapes costing about 50 His
great rival is Phillip Ladds, who began busI-
ness by selling flowers in the streets, and now
has % acres under glass.
Cutting off the nose is o favorite act Of
vengeance to Inflict on an enemy or a faithless
wife in the Bombay district of India, and
simultaneously with the practice has grown
the art of making new noses to replace those
sliced away. The injured feature can be
mended by skillful artist so as to leave very
little trace of Disagreement.
1t is proposed to put the newspaper re-
porters of Brussels, Belgium, in uniform, and
a semi-military costume with handsome
frogged tunic is suggested as the proper thing.
The desirability of the uniform was first made
apparent at the Stanley reception, when they
were hustled about like ordinary mortals be-
cause their identity was not known.
A writer in the st. Louis Globe Demo
crat reports that he has solved the problem of
keeping pantaloons In shape. His plan is to
have a separate pair Of suspenders for each
pair of pants and hang the garment by the sup
p0rters on two pegs about as far apart as a
mans shoulders. Try this. he says, and you
will notice that the pants will never bag at the
knees.
There are some very-mueh disguised real
estate investors in Chicago. They are those
who bought land near jackson Park at fancy
prices, thinking it settled that the Worlds Far
would be located there. Some of them paid 500
to S400 per front foot for property that i've
months ago woul1 not have brought oue-sixth
of that, and unless the fair should, after all, go
to Jackson Park, not few of them will be
ruined.
A singular phenomenon is described in
a Scotch journal. A particular species Of will
low tree was in flower, and artae he'd TO these
blossoms, which resembled an old fashioned
bottle brush, were large number of the big
black humble bees" with which every school,
boy is familiar. They remained whole day
sipping the extract Of juice and then dropped
helplessly to the ground, hardly able to move,
and next morning were almost dead from ex-
posure. One was observed to climb a vertical
board of few inches and when near the top
to throw out his legs and fall backward after
the manner Of the ordinary inebriate.
Two denominations of the new Treasury
note were received the other day at the Sub
Treasury. They consisted of $1,000 and 500
notes, forming an aggregate of 100000 The
notes are palmer looking than those now in
circulation, but the work upon them is finely
executed. The 81 900 note is adorned with
well-executed medallion portrait Of General
Meade and the SlO0 note with similar likeness
of Admiral Farragut. The back OF the notes
is printed in green and has the denomination
plainly set forth in large figures across the en-
tire length and cannot be easily altered.
DIR. j. F. Snyder. Virginia, ILL.,,
archeologist. has just returned home from
county, ILL.,. where he opened an In
dian mound. The corpse was the tumulus Of
a chief. The corpse had been laid with the
head to the East. On tn. forehead of the de-
cayed skeleton was found a crescent-shaped
ornament of thin hammered copper. On the
breast had been placed large sheet of mica,
that no doubt had served as a mirror. On one
side of the skull was small pottery vase of
peculiar form. In one hand was a small stone
ak and in the other several arrow and spear
heads of flint, few bone avis and fragments
of large sea shell.