Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-30
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

We are all wrong as to dates. The
Chinese reckon this to be year 7,sl0S4L
There are 4S7 schools in Irkutsk, Sibe-
100000. ''''' - o-'' 'ai''
An inventive genius in Brooklyn has
| patented an apparatus for automatically
making tea or coffee.
Massachusetts has more free circulating
and reference libraries than any other
| State. 1t leads the list with 176 free libra
ries and II reference libraries.
| -Gladwin county, Mich, boasts of hav-
ing the largest frame barn in the world. 1t is
struction 100000 feet of lumber were used.
Juniper berries used in the preparation
ofjuniper oil are now imported from Hum
gary and Italy, though the juniper bush Is
| distributed all over Norway and could be
| made to yield quite a little revenue.
Thousands of bushels of peaches and
| apples are going to waste and being fed to
the hogs along the Snake river fruit belt,
| Oregon, and all because the fruit raisers are
not prepared to take care of the crop as it
| comes on.
1t has been roughly estimated that the
cost of making over the lawns of Central
| Park in accordance with the Olcott system
| of grass culture would be 81, 900 per acre and
| that the whole acreage could be done in 10
VI ~ years.
MIR. Nathan Harris, of Rich Valley,
| Va, has daughter 10 years old who is only
feet 10 inches in height and weighs just
| 4o14 pounds. She is well proportioned and
intelligent and her hair sweeps the floor
| when she stands erect.
"A singular case came to light recently
Of an old-time contract in Saco, Me. A lessee
of farm of a Saco man was to give him
half the proceeds. At the end OF the year
| the mans wife down and brnuCht rO
cats as the Saco mans share.
One of the popular superstitions of the
negro of antebellum days was that If
honeysuckle had forced its way through the
chinks of the cabin and was growing fnsides
as it often did, it was sure indication that
they had not led upright lives.
"A stout Indian woman, whose weight is
over 800 pounds, fell through a wooden side
walk in Bath, Me. "The injury to the walk
so annoyed the Street Commissioner thathe
told the woman that hereafter she must
walk in the middle of the street."
The British debt is so large that if it
were divided into Ell notes they would COM
pletely cover the State of Ohio three times
over. II paid in penny pieces, and each
cent piled one above the other, it would
make seven columns of that coin reaching
to the moon.
1t is said that fully $4,000 deaths oc-
CURED in one of the recent epidemics of
smallpox in Guatemala, but notwithstand-
ing this frightful mortality and the fire.
quency of smallpox scourges, the Govern
ment has taken no pains to introduceany
scheme of vaccination, and the State is with
out any vaccination laws at all.
1t has been noticed that gray squirrels
are very scarce in the woods near Middle
town, n. Y, although the nut crop is plenti-
full. Last year, when the nut crop was a
failure, the squirrels were very numerous
early in the season. As the squirrels are
great travellers, it is believed that when
scarce they continue on for a larger abun-
dance of food.
"A 68-foot whale, consigned to DIR
Angelo Heilpin of the Academy of Natural
Sciences, arrived in Philadelphia Tuesday
last. 1t was shipped in sections. The huge
creature was stranded fecently near Ocean
the work of stripping the bones of flesh and
dividing the frame. The bones will be
bleached and strung together and set up In
the museum OF the academy.
"A South Paris woman, Mrs. Chandler
Swift, lost and found pin in a queer way
the other day. She was feeding her chickens
and caught one OF them, and while talking
to it it pecked her initial pin from her throat
and swallowed, it. Her husband came up,
cut the chickens throat and extricated the
pin. He then closed the wound by taking q
few stitches. The chicken is now alive and
scratching-and so is the pin.
Canary birds are good deal troubled
by mosquitoes. The toes of the bird are
amply provided with small veins, and as
the membrane between the toes is extremely
thin an observant mosquito may see his IA
Sfqd gGT5te tt ud circulating in PLAN sight
the trouble poisoning from mosquito bite.
He said the thing was not uncommon.
Few people know the significance of the
figures in playing cards. In olden times
hearts represented "choirmen," or ecclesi-
astics, and the early cards of that suit have
a cape, which in form resembled heart.
The spade was originally pikehead, typify-
ing the nobility of the soldiery. The arti-
sans were represented by stone tile, now
known as a diamond. Farmers were repre-
Sented by trefoil, or clover leaf, now called
a clubs The four kings were originally
David, Alexander, Cesar and Charlemagne,
representing the four great monarchies.
Pallas, representing birth, fortitude, piety
and wisdom. The knave5 were either
knights OF servants to knights.
Just off wagon road, leading to Sonora,
Mexico, stands an immense mesquite tree,
which attracts attention on account of its
size. It is q prominent landmark, and it has
many tragic memories. The trees near by
are twisted, crooked and stunted, but the
mesquite is straight and has regular, mass
i've branches, and a trunk thicker than that
of any other tree in the Colorado Valley. 1t
Is known as the dead mans tree by the
Mexicans who hurry past it. Years ago the
cattle raisers had to take advantage Of the
strength of the lower branches of the tree
to rid themselves of many cattle thieves.
The last cattle thief that was hanged there,
about II years ago, was one Sanchez, q
mighty tough customer.
The Sultan of Morocco has been empty
ing the walls of his wrath upon the BENZ
M'Tir tribe who had declined to pay tribute.