Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-04
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

Captain Cook, the new doorkeeper Of
the Kentucky House, is feet high and weighs
$50 pounds.
| "A doll show for the benefit Of the new
hospital for women Is about to take place in
| London. There will be prizes for the best
dressed dolls in the different classes, and after
ward the dolls themselves will be sold for the
| good OF the cause.
The Sultan Abdul Hamid lives in as
constant fear of his life as the Gar Of Russia
does. When he goes to the mosque, which he
must by the law Of Mahomet do every Friday,
oody-g9ard OF lO,0 men, well paid and there
| lore loyal. surround him
"A periodical for the betrothed is now
published in Vienna 1t is published twice =
| month. Every announcement of betrothal or
marriage is inserted gratuitously, provided the
happy couple will buy their trousseau Of the
tradesmen advertising in the paper.
Young George Stokes was escorting
home Sarah Horton, his sweetheart, recently
at Pelsall, England, and was so busy entertain
ing her that neither one Of them heard the ex-
press train that came along Just as they were
crossing the track Both were killed.
The question: SIS there coal under
London% is extensively discussed. Geologists
say that the lay Of the strata there justifes the
belief that coal can be found at a practicable
depth, The development Of mines there
| mo IN NrEN Of
coal.
"A novel flower has been found at the
1stnmus of Tehuantepec. This floral chameleon
has faculty of changing its coIors during the
oay. In the morning it is white, when the sun
Is at its zenith 1t is red, and night it is blue
Inc req, white and blue flower grows on a tree
ABOUT the size Of the guava tree, and only at
noon ooes II give out any perfume.
An amateur trapper at Lebanon Center,
CaT1r1 l.
funniest looking animal ever seen in Connecti-
cut; nobody seems to know what he is or was
intended to be. The beast has the feet and tail
Of skunk, but the rest of him cannot be even
approximately classified. The most curious
thing Is that there is not a hair on him. He is
about as large as a skunk, and looks as if he
might be one that had been well scalded. He
is dead.
What issaid to be the most powerful
electric light in existence has recently been
putinto operation in lighthouse at Houst-
holm, on the dangerous coast Of Jutland. It
is of 2, 900 900 candle power mounted on a tower
about 200 feet high. and can be seen at dist
tance of 30 miles even in rainy weather. Be-
sides the light there are two great sirens, one
about $50 yards and the other about three miles
from the tower, which are sounded in fOggy
weather by electrical connection with the same
currents that supply the light
While out hunting, Colonel Standifer
and Billy Muller, of Dennison, Tex, came
across large dead tree, the stump Of which
was full to oVerhowing so to speak, with mice.
The Colonel and his companion pulled of
strips of the decayed outer growth Of the tree
ana every time strip was pulled, myriads OF
killed 1856 OF the mice, and Muller AIS. The
next day the tree was visited with two black
and-tan terriers, the bark was removed, and
the number Of mice killed is estimated at over
1000
The Royal Botanic Society has re-
ceived for its museum specimen of the double
cocoanut, known also as the coco de mer. For
hundreds Of years the origin of these nuts was
mystery, for they were never seen except
when they were washed up BY the sea. They
were supposed to have wonderful powers in
the way Of curing disease, and were the subject
Of other superstitions until the place where
they grew was at last discovered to be the
Seychelles, small group of islands in the
Indian Ocean. Formerly they were worth their
weight in gold, and they are rare now.
Mr.. Page, the father of the four girl
babies whose arrival created such an excite
ment here some time ago, was IN Texarkana,
Ark, the other day. The little ones are now
more than a month old. and are growing rap
idly. Page has received many letters of con-
dolence and congratulatiOn, some profering
financial assistance. A lady, said to be an old
maid living out West. writes that she has seen
the newspaper reports, and on proper proof
being made that it was an actual occurrence
she will send q check for $500. She wishes it
understood, however, that the gift is token
Of sympathy for the moEhor.
The keeper of the New York Central
Park menagerie is training an elephant to
carry people on its back. A howdah loaded
with eight children is to be placed on the
docile beast. The camels, dromedaries and
elephants that form part Of the resident staff
OF the Zoo" in Regents Park, London, are
made to earn some Of their bread by strollrng
wi nf inf oTfE nt far FfDfA
cents head. The dead Mr.. Jumbo must have
carried hundreds of tons of small Britons in
his time, and might be carrying them yet had
IL not been for the fact that his keepers feared
he would mutiny and kill a cargo or two.
"A Swede, Charles Peterson, had curl
Gus experience with bald eagle while going to
his work one morning near Woodstock, in
Windham county, Conn, recently. He was
trudging along the New Boston country road,
when he saw a big sleepy-looking bird perched
on branch Of an oak by the roadside. To Pc
terson the bird seemed as big as a condor. It
paid no attention whatever to the Swede, who
walked up to the tree and with a club knocked
It of the branch. which was low one. With
second blow the SWede killed the bird and took
! home, and neighbor, hunter, told HIM that
It was an American eagle. Its wings measured
feet and inches.
M. Th1Vrier, workingman, elected as
Juch to the present Chamber of Deputies In
France wears all the time in public the blouse,
which is the badge of laborer in that country.
". ThiVrier began work in the coal mines at
France, when II years old, and for
70 years remained in them, handling the pick.
Atterward he became vine grower and dealer
n wines. He is Socialist, but not Commun-
st, "for, having" as a French paper puts it,
acquired his capital by his own hard work. he
,annot easily understand how that capital
should belong TO all the world" Through all
lis career he has stuck to his workingman's
blouse, and it was largely upon the strength Of
hat peculiarity that he was elected Deputy.
lie Is said to be man of unusual intelligence
md good speaker. When he came to Paris to
axe his seat his blouse, which he wore not
nly at the Chamber, but at receptions and all
ther functions which he attended, made him