Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-14
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

ALI over Mexico, except near the United
States border, prices of coal range from SO to
SIS per ton.
"A modern improvement" is to drop
the in the authorizations a. N. and p. m as
for example, II a. and 4;3O p.
With the assistance of his dog, Chauncey
Snyder, of Woodstock, N. Y. killed wild
cat weighing "a pounds the other day.
While the United States has but II per
cent of its area covered by forests, the Empire
of Germany has 26 per cent Of its entiIe area
SO covered.
1t took ten men and boys to handle
drove of 2OO turkeys that Butcher Amos Mace
drove through the town of Chalfont, Bucks
county, Pa-, few days ago.
The most expensive drug is physostig-
m mine, ne, two ounces of which would cost nearly
szOOO,OOO 1t is preparation from the calabar
bean and is Of use In eye diseases
According to a decree of the Archbishop
OF Santiago all bridemaids in Chilli must dress
In black: White gloves and wells are per-
mltted then, but no colors are allowed.
OF twin daughters born to Mrs. Taylor,
Of Helena, KY, the other day, one of the
babies is said to have entered the world
already provided with a full set of teeth
The house that was occupied by JefFer-
son Davis in Richmond as the Executive Man.
10 a memorial society as a museum for war
relics.
Rev. j. c. Price. of Salisbury, N. c.,
AYERS that Of the 10000 negro preachers in the
South not more than One-hfIh, or 1000 of
them, have had any preparation for their
work.
Joseph Wetzell, IL years old, of Hart
mansville, w. Va, being attacked by a tire
mendous'' catamount the other day. shot the
DpasL inSra IL
Is now quite hero in the community.
The little cod OF the polar seas, although
a pigmy compared with the true cod of the
Grand Banks and Georges, stands to the
EsQuimaux in as important a relation as its
bigger relative to the people of New England.
of the 50 vessels constituting the Arctic
whaling fleet as it existed at the beginning of
the season, 43 have arrived at San Francisco.
The total catch for The season amounts 10 IL $50
barrels OF oil and IA, 800 pounds of bone,
-Riehardson mentions the polar cod, or
coal fish, as the principal nourishment of the
sea fowl which frequent the Arctic regions in
summer, its habit of swimming at the top of
the water making it extremely easy of
capture.
From bushel of corn the distiller gets
four gallons of whisky which will retail at SIG.
The Government gets So TO- the farmer gets 40
cents. the railroad gets ST. the manufacturer
gets drunk.
In Paris, when a funeral is passing,
persons in view of the procession remove their
hats and remain uncovered until it passes, and
in London. Berlin Vienna, Rome and other inn
portant cities funerals are treated with
respectful consideration.
Little kerosene lamps, made to fit in or
binary silver candlesticks, are in demand for
rich mems tables. They displacing candles
because they give more light. don't set fire to
the fancy shades, don't smoke or burn out
quickly-and because they are the fashion.
To fell large mahogany tree is one
days task for two men. On account of the wide
spurs which project from the trunk at its base,
scaffolds have to be erected and the tree cuf off
above the spurs which leave a stump from 10
to 15 feet high-a waste of the very best wood.
The length of the polar cod is said to
reach a maximum of IA inches; the average
length. however, is about one foot, and the
weight less than half pound The fish, ac-
cording to Richardson, spawns on SCI weeds
along the shores in February and under the
ice.
-Four young men of Piscataquis, Me-,
while skating on Harrison Point at Sebec last
week, noticed pickerel swimming about and at
once secured an ak. "Striking the ice stunned
the fish. and when a hole was cut through it
was easy to secure a large number. They car
lied nome % OF the nneSt specimens.
-Guttapercha derives its name from the
Malayan words gueta, gum, and pertcha,
cloth. and was introduced to the civilized world
in 1912 by DR.. Montgomery. Scotch surgeon.
The nrst specimens were taken TO London from
Singapore by Jose Almeida, and the properties
of the gum were announced by Hancock,
Wheatstone and Faraday.
Foreign agents are buying large num-
bers of male finches in Voronezh and neighbor-
ing provinces and sending them to London.
They pay as much as % kopecks apiece. The
hunting for these birds has become quite an
industry in those Governments. No less than
10000 finches were shipped from Russia during
the months of August and September.
When a woodcock 'twitters'' he squeals,
pipes, squeaks, rather than whistles. The sound
made in swift flight by the wings of this and
other species-many Of our ducks for example
is perhaps more appropriately termed whistle.
Frank. Forester makes the same distinction.
He speaks of the woodcock's flight after the
leaves are off the underbrush-of its darting
away 'on 4 vigorous and whistling piniOn. with
sharp-piping alarm note, swift rifle bullet"
Certain worms similar to the tubife1
multiply by producing new parts. There is one
form, known by the quaint name of Nais,
which will develop in the midst of its own body
a second head, and just in front of the new head
a second tail. Thus there come to be- as it
were, two worms Joined together; the front one
has the old mead ana new tail, the hind one a
new head and the old tail. BY and by the CON-
panons separate, and the parent body is thus
transformed into TWO complete animals.
"A woodcock, which was recently kept
few days in captivity by Gurdon Trumbul of
Hartford, Conn.,, ate, by aotCal measurement
about half pin: of earth worms during each
day ga hours); the worms being measured
without any dirt, of course; each one picked
up by ITSELF shaken clean. and dropped into
the measure. A few white grubs'' of different
sizes wero also supplied; he ate the little ones
but refused the larger. None of the angle
worms. however. seemed too large for him.
An exhibition Of novel kind is planned
in st. Petersburg. The geographical and eth
biographical societies of st. Petersburg aud
Moscow the art academies and the historical
museums, have for the last ten years collected
women's needle work from all parts OF the
Cars empire in Europe. Asia and Africa. Now
thev have several thOusandI samples of that
work which represent the patience abilities
and taste of the women of various regions and
tribes To this will be added the historical or
namentation of garments both male and fe-
male as well as pictures of the various peoples
and LANDS from which the needle work was col
lected.
on TUE rTnrrD