Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-14
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

| OUnlUUO OUNDEItChllVNOs
| Butter is sold by the yard at Cam
bridge, Eng.
| philadelphia claims the largest cold
storage warehouse in the United States.
| "A Connecticut man has gone into the
business OF proPagattng sewer rats; He sells
The interior of Labrador is said to be
| the largest unexplored area on the conti-
nent, and it has a waterfall with sheer de-
scent of 2,OOO feet.
In the animal market at Hamburg, in
Germany, giraffes sell at $1,000 pair, Chin
panzees go at $500 apiece, and select lots Of
Sumatra monkeys at 81, 600.
Physicians of this country are paid an
nually nearly 81, 500 600 for medical examina-
tions for life insurance companies. Three
companies pay over s2500O0 each.
"A Spanish milled dollur of 1913 was
found in the dirt under a house in West
Paris Me. The coin was in excellent condi-
ton, the design and lettering being very
clear.
-Moberly, Mo-, feels very much compli-
mented because a tramp returned to that
city the other day after an absence Of nearly
year to work out an unexpired term on the
rock pile.
There is an island near Menominee,
Mich, which is literally alive with worms
that swarm over everything, and another
one that is 50 infested with snakes that no
one will visit 1t.
-Berlin's Society for the Homeless last
year provided shelter for 100 900 men and 15-
900 women. In the II years of its existenc it
has furnished lodgings, food and medical
care to 100000 persons.
Gold coin is shipped abroad in fve-gal-
lon, iron bound oaken kegs. Each keg holds
ten bags and each bag contains 5000, so that
the value of a keg is 500 Gold from
the other side usually comes in boxes.
"A 3-year-old child died at Topeka,
Kan, the other day which had lived for II
months on raw eggs and milk. \ year ago
it ate some soft soap, and after that its
stomach would never retain anything but
the diet mentioned
"A Maltese cat that was born and has
lived most OF its life in a chicken coop out in
an Illinois town has developed n strange
habit OF sleeping on perch just as the
chickens do, standing on one leg, with his
head folded under one Of his forelegs.
"A Ukiah, CAL, man, the owner of a
three-story hophouse, recently conceived
the idea Of turning the building into q NAM
moth incubator for the Matching of chick
ems. He has given evidence Of his faith in
the practicability of the scheme by setting q
hatch of "a, 900 eggs.
An amateur photographer went 30
miles out in the country to take some choice
views, filed so plates and found when he
came to develop them at home that he hadn't
opened the shutter of his camera. He had
pressed the button, but for some reason 10
hadn't done the rest.
Mrs. Josie Armstrong died in Chicago
Friday afternoon at the age Of ITO years.
Mrs. Armstrong is said to be the colored
woman who nursed Abraham Lincoln's
wife and If Ia alIpOad har ,alo rrith
''little Abe" before the latter had learned
the art of splitting rails.
Two men of Jackson, Mich, bear odd
relations with each other, yet they are no
relation. Alderman James Mitchell and
Engineer James Mitchell are their names.
Their wives bear the same Christian names,
both have two boys and a girl that Dear the
same name and whose ages are the same.
Voting day in Japan presents some Curl
Gus sights. The voters have to don their
best garments and proceed to the voting
counter, there to ballot without any parley-
ing, rs soon after O'Clock as possible. After
casting their ballot they make a bow to the
assem- blage present, in which their head
nearly strikes the floor, and retire as silent
ly as they came.
One of the greatest, obstacles to the set
tlement of vast regions in Africa has been
the tsetse fly. Although harmless to man,
all civilized animals die from it's bite in two
or three days. y man OF Natal mas dlScoY-
cred a remedy for the poison in which he
has such confidence that he has contracted
to carry the Portuguese military stores
through the tabooed districts on bullocks.
The fees incidental to the obtaining
of the title of Baron in Germany
are said to figure up abouts 5000; that
of Count $4,000. Duke $4,000 and a
Prince $4,000. They say one of the
reasons why Bismarck didn't accept the
title of Duke of Lauenberg was on account
of the expense involved though it is doubt
full if he would have taken it had it been
brought TO him on q silver tray
The butchers block has undergone a re-
markable evolution. Not only are large and
perfect tree stumps of hard wood more and
more difficult to obtain, but even the best of
them crack and split most unaccountably
The modern first-class chopping block has
therefore become a square mass made up of
cubes of carefully selected wood bOlted and
then crOSs-b -bolted together, after being
arranged that the chopping upon them will
be done on top instead OF with or against
the grain. These blocks are verycostly, but
they last n long while.
"A new but dangerous manifestation Of
the genius of the Chinaman for effecting
economies has just been discovered in San
Francisco. On the tops of many OF the
buildings in the quarter occupied by the
Celes tials wooden kitchens have been con-
structed. They are made of rough boards,
and the chimneys in them extend scarcely
above the slab roofs. Here all kinds of cul-
mary and laundry operations are carried on
with a reckless disregard of the constant
danger from fire. The space between the
buildings on narrow alleys has been utilized
In the same way. On the timbers reaching
from one side to the other these ramshackle
have been constructed, some Of
them three stories high. Fires are blazing
in them constantly.