Mower County transcript., 1890-11-19
FOREIGN GOSSIP.

FOREIGN GOSSIP.
The roller-skating mania has again
broken out in London.
-~Heligoland has national debt OF
El0: the revenue Is between eS, 600 and
GO, 900. IL
The latest returns arc said to show
that "a, 900 out of the $1,000 men in the
English home army are under twenty
one years Of age.
In the epidemic Of cholera by which
Japan had lost 9, ass people up to Sep
tember 7carbolic acid rose in price from
$40 to $50 per 100 pounds
Life in the little German village Of
Strobeck, In the Hartz mountains, is
almost entirely given up to chess play
ing. Even the children In the schools
are proficient In the ancient and royal
game.
The blasting out OF the Iron
Gate" the great rocky pass Of the DAN
ube, is now in progress. This work has
been contemplated since Trajan's time.
but no one has had the courage to un-
dertake it
The mortality in Austria in 1889
was much less than In any one OF the
ten previous years The total number
Of cases OF death was GAG, 7S7, being So.
7s6 fewer than in 1885, and only q. % to
the thousand. On tho other hand. the
births numbered s9s, $50, or s, 44s more
than in 1SSa-N. Y. Sun.
The wire rope used in the tunnel At
Glasgow, Scotland, Is the largest and
longest wire in the world. 1twas made
At Cardiff, Wales, in 1855, and Is 2, 400
fathoms in length, or about two miles
and los yards 1t weighs twenty-one
and one-half tons, and has nearly l0o.-
600 fathoms of wire in its makeup
Tho hottest day of the year in New
Zealand usually comes at Christmas
The day is great occasion for picnics
in the coolest hooks OF the woods The
only recollection of the Christmas din
ner of Western nations is the plum
pudding, which Is religiously eaten, but
to the accompanimento OF cold lemonade
instead Of coffee and wine
A Japanese missionary writes:
''There has been much distress among
the poor during months past and prices
have been and are so high that the
times are hard for all. 1t is hard time
to carry on schools but we have been
spared famine. Crops are looking
fairly we'll and prospects are brighter.
Prices are very high and exchange very
low"
Some Spaniards, who tried awhile
ago to set up in business in the island
of Fernando Po, got the cart very much
before the horse. They decided that
the manufacture Of sugar-cane rum
would be very profitable industry, SO
they imported steam engine from
Spain at large cost got all ready to
crush cane, and then turned their at
tention to starting a plantation. DR..
Baumann, the African traveller, who
has returned from Fernando Po, says
the steam engine is now rusty and use
less and there is nothing for it to do,
for its owners have discovered, very
much to their chagrin, that sugar cane
does not thrive on the island
The practice of cremation in place
OF ordinary burial is making steady
progress in Paris, in spite of the opposi-
tion to it which exists in certain quar-
ters. At the new crematorium OF the
cemetery 'Pere-la-chaise" furnace
is in operation which will reduce
body to ashes in less than an
hour, at cost of about thirty
cents for fuel Since the establish
ment of this system in the French
capital twelve hundred unclaimed bodies
of persons who have died in hospital
have been thus disposed OF, besides the
todies of three hundred Of the well-to-
do classes, whose wishes have been
thus complied with.-Popular Science
Monthly.
A strange story comes from Bjelina,
in Bosnia. A rumor is current among
the peasants of the district that Baron
Albert Rothschild has been sentenced
to death, and that his execution will
shortly take place unless he succeeds
in finding substitute prepared to suf-
fer death on the scaffold for consider
alton Of 1000, 900 forms The authori-
ties at Bjelina have for several weeks
past been pestered by applicants pre-
pared to have their heads cut off for the
benefit OF the Austrian CresuS Itap-
pears, however, that the applicants
have formed syndicate, among whom
the million was to be divided, and that
lots were to be drawn for the victim.
The authorities have experienced some
! difficulty in attempting TO convince the
| candidates for death that the rumor is
| without foundation.
DUTCH FUNERAL CUSTOMS.
Curious Forms and Ceremonies il Vogue
in Early New York.
Funerals in the early days were
never held in the church. The attend.
| ance was usually SO large that ON the
morning IF fha funeral chairs wera car.