Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-30
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

The latest Maine church fair wrinkle Ii
serving ice cream on a shingle.
The raising of ostriehes has been begun
in New Zealand with considerable success.
Forsyth county, Ga, claims prodigy
in 4year-old child-Micajah Bagwell-who
can read any piece of music at sight. The
! little fellow often leads the music In the
country singing school
Russia is beginning to find out that
owing to official rascality her defenses are
not SO impregnable as she supposed. Some
of her famed fortresses are so carelesslY
built that gale could level them
-"Bourgoo" is Kentucky dish that is
always prepared in the open air. The ingre-
dients are red pepper pods, potatoes, toma-
toes and corn in the vegetable line SteWed
with prairie chickens and soft shell crabs.
Van Buren county, Mich, has relig-
ions sect known as the Saints" They held
big meeting recently and 10, 600 people were
present. The saints claim to have to q
marvellous degree the power of healing the
sick.
"A recent survey has established the
number of glaciers in the Alps at 1,155, Of
which 249 have length of more than ~
miles, The French Alps contain 144 glaciers:
those of Italy 49, Switzerland, All, and Aus
tria, 402.
4'OAbh w 4uc+y DOdSbS OI u
smart woman, Mrs. Benjamin Jackson who
recently walked three miles to do a washing,
carrying in her arms q baby only II DAYS old
and wheeling little girl not quite years
old, in carriage.
1t is reported that nugget of gold in
one mass weighing IS pounds has recently
been found in the newly explored gold dis
trict in British Guiana and has been sent to
England as specimen Of the auriferous de-
postts In that country.
Near Astoria, Ore, are large areas Of
dyked tide land. This land is richer the
more it is stirred. 1t is made up of the
washfngs of the hills and the deposits of the
ocean for centuries, and when plOwed and
exposed to sunlight it yields enormously.
There are no poisonous or venamous
plants or reptiles in any part of Ciatsop
county, Ore, and one can tread the path or
deepest jungle OF the vegetable growth
without the slightest fear of being bitten or
poisoned by anything animal or vegetable.
"A young negro boy living near Pine
Island, La, has killed over 400 rattlesnakes
since March, using no weapon except q
couple of sharp sticks. He was bitten some
years ago by one of the reptiles, and has
ever since carried on crusade against
them.
The latest fad invented by the novelty
man is the masculine fam" 1t is one of the
open and shut up affairs, and on either sur
face is a scene from sporting life. The
proper way to carry the sporting fam is to
permit it to hang by chain fastened to the
suspendei
The Belfast, Me-, Age tells of an old
gentleman in that city who rowed al over
Swan Lake, trolling, one afternoon, without
| getting a bite as he thought, only to find,
| when he came ashore and reeled up, that q
| large trout was on his hook, dead-"prOba-
bly, died of disgust"
Upward of go species of East Indian
plants, mostly of the fern family, with u
| goodly sprinkling of grasses and creeping
vines, are luminous, and it is said that the
sides of the mountains in the vicinity Of
Syree are nightly illuminated by the pale,
white light which they emit.
-Japan's Emperor has decreed that every
man who provokes q duel or accepts a chal-
lenge shall pay heavy fine and serve from
six months to two years in the galleys. The
taunting of a man for his refusal to fight
when challenged will be regarded as SANDER
and will be so treated by the courts
"A drunken tramp was placed in the
cooler at Salem, Ore, on Friday whose
| person was found collection of London
| and Chinese drafts He has either the plum
der of q prince or a mail robber. Among
the papers is Wells Fargo money order for
s22 As, and a eco draft on Hong Kong.
&C. R. Hammond, who has gained such
notoriety in the Cleveland street scandal of
London, addressed letter to County Com
missioner Gasch at Seattle, recently, asking
and also stating that his son was ILL., 1t is
understood that his wish will be granted
"A prominent lumberman of Seattle says
that timber in the Northwest Is hardly con-
sidered merchantable, if il goes under % 600
feet to the acre, while it is a very common
occurrence to find timber that will go 100000
feet to the acre. He recounts a recent sale
of a 40-acre tract of timber that went 800 900
feet to the acre.
Peach and plum trees in Hancock, Ga,
are dying from the ravages of small beetle,
termed the scolytus. Though not more than
half as large as an average sized grain of
wheat, these beetles are more destructive of
fruit trees than any others, and as vet no
preventive of their ravages has been discov- &.
cred. When they attack tree it is doomed,
and the only thing to be done is to cut it
down and burn it, They attack the tree in
myriads.
One of the new Maine pulp towns has
grown so much faster than its schoolhouse
that 95 children are packed into a room 1sx23
feet. Luckily, says an exchange, the teacher
is q little bit of woman! The scholars haul
her to school in the morning in old-fash-
ioned leather trunk mounted on four trucks
and she's the pet of the town. A veritable
Cinderella, it seems, who has no pedagogical
use for her slipper.
"A shrewd manufacturer IN Warren,
Me-, mas nCGeu up CluDFOOm lOT bH6 Deneug
of his employees, where they may spend
their evenings apart from vicious tempta-
tions. They have pooltable, newspapers,
magazines and games, but neither liquor nor
profanity is tolerated Good company, good
amusements, good manners and good liIerI-
ture thus get in their good work in forming
q good class of operatives-and they're the
ones that pay.
Robert Jefferson, a negro, is suing the
Richmond and Danville Railroad for $4,000
in the city court at Atlanta, Ga jefferson
claims that in 1880 he bought first-class
ticket to Lula, thence on the Northeastern
line to Athens. He says just after passing
Norcross two ruffians, with pistols, came up
to him and punched. poked and dragged him
about the car until the train reached Gaines
vile. He says the conductor OF the train
not attempt to help him. Jefferson says the
bad treatment caused him to scream in his
sleep for several nights, and he was other
wise injured, besides having his feelings
hurt and his being mortified, for which he
asks for SO 900 personal damages.