Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-20
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

The royal standard of Persia is black
smiths apron.
"A South jackson, Mich, cat eats ice
cream with a relish.
! I'm Sweden you can get competent
servant girl for E3 year.
! "A $500, 900 sale of whisky recently took
| place at Lexington, Ky.-the largest on
| record.
The damage to the cereal crops In
Canada by insects has been estimated at
sSsCOO.OOO.
In Bali. an island in the Indian Archi-
peiago east of Java, the burning of widows
| still goes on.
| Among Ontonagon's, Mich, 1000 in
habitants there Is not family named Smith,
Brown or Jones.
There is cat in Belfast, Me-, which,
during the green corn season, eats each day
| half dozen cooked ears.
In Corea sheets of paper pass for money;
one sheet brings one quart Of rice, or 20
| sheets piece OF hemp cloth.
There are still IA different places on
this globe where cannibalism Is practiced,
but the custom is gradually dying out.
of the $40, ,226 children of school age in
| Louisiana only 5000 attend the public
FCbOOiSB many OA OhOSC 81 ASA NNN w.
| month.
The exports of coal from Germany in
the first six months of this year amounted to
445i sos tons, as compared with 4 264 760 tons
in the corresponding period of 1890.
"A woman who fell into swollen creek,
near Lawtonville, Ga, was rescued, and the
first thing she said TO her preservers was;
"Do you know where can hire cook?"
There is a valuable floating wreck loose
on the Atlantic. 1t has a cargo Of mahogany
lumber and was Abandoned March 81. Since
then it has dri6ted 10 900 miles and was last
seen August 3.
A strange disease is carrying off cattle
| around Huntingdon and Trumbull, in Con-
necticut "The victims are taken down very
| suddenly and swell up, but the flesh does
| not change color"
This Cheyenne SIN says the electric
storm which accompanied MeIbourne's
showers killed two cows for c. P. Organ and
one for A. II. Hord. As Mr.. Organ was one
| of the chief promoters of the game be con-
| templates suing himself for damages. while
| Mr.. Hord Is laying for the rain doctor with
bill for s35.
| Since the discussion among the doctors
upon the value of music as an agent for con-
valescence, guild of st. Cecilia has been
| established in London, with the aim of
training musicians to soothe a patients
| nerves with music, unu0r tD6 QlreCtlOn- OF
the physicians. Every member must pos
| sess sweet, gentle voice and delicate exc
| cution. Miss Florence Nightingale is among
| the subscribers.
"A curious piece of earthenware was
fished up Saturday near Townsend's Inlet,
| in Cape May county, n. J. 1t is not known
| what 1t is, but Mexican traveller has ven
| tured the opinion that il is a Mexican water
| Jug. 1t weighs about 80 pounds and is feet
| 10 inches in height. Nothing like it has ever
been seen around where it was found. and
several scientists who have examined IL be-
lieve that it is centuries old
"A pumpkin party was given by an en-
terprising society woman at Manhattan,
Kan. the other evening. The rooms were
lighted by large lanterns made of pumpkins
and prizes were given to the guests who
made the closest estimate Of the number Of
seeds in certain pumpkin. The onlv thing
| lacking to make the entertainment COM
plete success was pumpkin pie, which was
| tabooed under the mistaken impression that
| pastry was not proper edible for an even
| ing gathering.
American naval officers are men Of
many clothes, and the official etiquette Of
dress aboard ship is appalling to q landsman.
| Every officer must have four or i've styles
| of hats and caps at least as many different
kinds OF coats, and even prescribed styles Of
| neckties in considerable variety. The Cap
/ tain ordinarily presoribes the uniform of
| the day, but when a flagship is within sig
| mailing distance Of another man-of-wsr the
| Admiral is the authority on clothes as on
other things.
About three years ago Michigan man
disappeared. and, soon afterwards, the body
Of a man who had been murdered was found
and identified as that OF the missing man.
His family buried it. Some time ago they
received letter from an Indiana hospital
for the insane, saying that the missing man
had been admitted to the institution. He
afd a7dT Toa af b
turned to his people His mind Is a blank
regarding his life up to the time he vas
taken to the hospital.
According to the st. Louis Globe Demo-
crat, the Indians of the Colorado desert have
wonderful way of foretelling the weather.
They not only prognosticate for few days,
but for six months and sometimes q year.
Last fall they told everybody that we should
have a cool summer and that the fruit would
be late. They were right. The fruit was
very late this summer. They declare that
next year will be an early summer and that
the fruit will ripen early. What they base
their predictions upon is unknown.
1t is well known that about %, 900 peo-
pie are killed every year in India by wild
beasts and reptiles, the larger number fall
ing victims to poisonous snakes. 1t was re-
Gently discovered that the injection of per-
manganate of potash was specific cure for
cobra poisoning. The Government discussed
the project of furnishing the natives with
hypodermic syringes and quantity Of per.
manganate of potash, but the scheme had
to be rejected because It was found that is
would entail an expense Of E12o000,0Oo.
The largest check ever given in this
country was that given Dy jay Gould to
Thomas Allen for the Iron Mountain Rail-
road He paid s., 100000 for it and handed
Allen a check for that amount upon his ac-
ceptance of the offer. Allen looked at the
paper that represented this vast amount and
said: '1sn't this a good deal of money for
one man TO have in one bank?" 81 don't
know" replied Gould. perhaps it is. Let
me have the Check Allen then handed the
check back to Gould, and he handed 1t over
to his Office boy, saying: "Here boy; take
this check to the bank and have the cashier
certify to it." And the boy went out and
did it,