Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-14
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

Detroit doctors are quarreling over their
ability to kill diphtheria germs.
The blueberry shipments from Black
River Falls, Wis. have exceeded 5000 bushels.
Mrs. Jacob Yerick, of jackson, Mich,
has sunfower 16 feet high and still growing.
The total annual home consumption of
opium in China was lately reckoned to be about
4,SOO,OOO pounds.
"A Is pound pumpkin has grown in a
pear tree in ex-Sherif Moore's garden at Mays
Landing. N. j.
The Heligolanders rarely lock their
doors, but when they do they leave the key
where it can be reached by any one seeking adj
mission.
Mr.. Therion, fruit raiser at Pomona,
Atlantic county. N. J., picked $500 quarts of
berries from 20-acre field this season. His
net profit was $1,000.
"A Jackson, Mich, shoe dealer is trying
to buy pair of shoes belonging to a Georgia
negro. The feathers are No. Is and weigh
pounds and 5 ounces.
"A turbot weighing % pounds was once
found to contain roe of pounds ounces in
weight, the eggs of which amounted, as Frank
Buckland ascertained, to no less than IA 3ll, ZOO
The centennial celebration and rededi-
cation of the organ in Hams Church, at Wer-
nersville, Berks county, Pa. took place the
other day. The organ has been in use 100 years.
After 40 years of work in the employ Of
c York, Me-, mandatory, the corporation has
rewarded the faithful services of Fannie
Hutchins BY placing her in an old ladies' home.
1t has been computed that &c, 900, 900 or
1900, 900 babies are born in the world each
year. The rate of production is therefore about
20 per minute. or rather more than one for
every beat Of the clock.
"A Flint Mich, barber has two razors
which have been in the family since 17O5, and
been handed down through four generations,
and have shaved everything from pilgrim
fathers whiskers down.
-"Justifable burglary" was the verdict
brought in by a Justice of the Peace in Sumner
county Kan, in a case in which the defendants
were two boys who broke into an icehouse on
the warmest day Of the recent hot spell
I'm New York the law against cigarette
smoking goes into effect September l. Minors
under 16 caught puffing the vile things will be
fined " and imprisoned for one day. Some
people think good whipping should be thrown
The following notice has been posted
by citizen on the main street at Athena, Ore.:
ITO my neighbors: If my spring chickens are
disturbing your garden kill them and eat them.
Don't pile them out In the alley to become a
nuisance"
"A Boston boatman, who received 80
cent piece as a reward for saving four men
from drowning, has had the coin engraved:
Reward of Merit-For Reseuing Four Men
from Drowning: 1215 Cents a Piece" He will
wear the coin as medal.
"A Henderson county (Ky.) widow
whose husband died short time ago leaving
debts amounting to $4,000, which had never
hoap
ruptcy law, mortgaged her farm for the amount
and then paid of the deots.
AT Key West a day or two ago, as a
Cuban with a goat-cart was going up Duval
street the cart broke down. The Cuban went
into yard and, cutting off aportion of the FIRE
alarm wire, proce eded to repair his cart, after
which he went on his way rejoicing.
The Blissfeld, Mich, postmaster has
issued formal notice that he won't lick
stamps for any body and that hereafter letters
go. He says the letters will be held for postage
even if a IS bill is pinned to every one.
Mr.. Manderville Virgins, of New
Brighton. Staten Island, suggests drowning as
humane form of capital punishment. He
says he came near being drowned not long ago
himself. He went far enoush to discover that
death by that method would be painless.
Among the passengers OF the Iron
Mountain train which left ST. Louis for Texas
the other day was the family of Hans Brink
ma n, from. Bremen, Germany. It consisted Of
hi mself, wife and II children. all Of whom are
gi lis. ranging in age from months to IL years.
The inhabitants of Heligoland have
strange custom on New Years Eve. They
then perambulate the streets with broken pots
and pans, which they place before their friends
doors. and the man who has the largest heap
before his cottage IS considered the most popu-
lar.
"A youngster fell from the Michigan
Central train, making 40 miles an hour near
Albion, Mich,, and when the trainload of hor-
rified passengers was backed to where it was
expected to find the mangled remains, the baby
sat laughing and playing in the sand OF the en-
bankment
, Careful observations and comparisons
made by scientific Americans prove that the
hottest region on the earth is on the SOUTH
western coast of Persia. where Persia borders
the gulf of the same name. The thermometer
never falls below 1902 at night and frequently
runs up to 1889 in the afternoon,
-Flounders replenish the ocean at a very
rapid rate. In a season one founder produces
many millions of eggs, scattering them broad
cast through the water. The sole produces
1,0OOO 900 eggs, plaice not less than 100000,
while large turbot has been credited with the
deposition of II, 100000 or l20O0.OOO eggs.
The Heligolander's Sunday begins at 8
o'clock P. M. on Saturday. when the church
bell is rolled, and ends on Sunday at the same
hour Formerly no vessel could leave port be-
tween these hours. Marriage cancels every
other engagement. so that there can be no
breach of promise brought against man when
once he is married.
Tobacco sellers inCincinnati are troubled
Just now by the visitation Of a tiny brown
pug that seems to be confirmed chewer
of the weed. The bug is about the
size of a seed of fax and is almost the color Of
tobacco. 1t bores its way into cigars and eats
large holes IN the filler, while it also burrows
through packages of smoking tobacco.
From Samos the discovery of statue Of
Apollo Is announced. 1t is of archaic style,
The arms hanging down close to the body, the
hands closed, and the feet. as ir were, in mo-
-iop the left foot being little in advance of
he riobt. On one of the thighs is a dedicatory
of two lines. Unfortunately the
head is wanting.
"A trial has been made at Civita Vecchia
Of the nautical ball invented by Signor Balsa-
mello IL is feet in diameter and can hold
four persons When closed it sinks, and is
steered and propelled under water by rudder
and screw 1t has windows and grapplers, and
will be useful for fishing mp objects, and can
be used for destructive purposes in time Of
war.
SHORT LAUGHS.