Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-19
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

| OOhlOUO OUNOC1tOh1LVAfOs
-One-half of the people born die before
the age 16.
"A 15-mile journey is an average days
| work for horse.
I'm Victoria the publicans make about
l70 per cent profit.
Greater London now contains, it is sup
posed, 5,s7700o souls.
The tongue of the giraffe is nearly
footand-a-half long.
The oldest inhabited town in the world
is said to be Damascus.
"A full moon reflects one three thou
sandth part of the suns light
1t was 80 years ago that the first drink
ing fountain was opened in London.
The profits of the London water COM
panies last year amounted to 81, 100000.
"A ton of tomatoes as they come from
the field, it is estimated, will fill from 400 to
$40 cans.
"A hundred laying hens produce in egg
shell about Isl pounds Of chalk or limestone
annually.
The ponies of Manipur are celebrated,
and it Is claimed that It was in Manipur that
hockey or polo was invented.
Great Britain has ,421 ,389 horses-that
is four horses per cultivated acre. England
alone has Loo, ,o4l; Scotland, 1s9,2Ol.
The Crown Prince of Greece has
chapel and altar for use upon the field when
he happens to be engaged in warlike opera
tions.
The most valuable dinner service in the
world belongs to Queen Victoria, and oceu-
| pies two rooms at Buckingham Palace, over
| which two men watch continually.
"A queer custom which prevails at no
| other court than that of Great Britain, is the
| solemn announcement at the beginning OF
| each course of the Queens dinners Of the
| name Of the cook who has prepared the
dishes served.
The lowest body of water on the globe
| is the Caspian Sea. Its level has been grad
ual1y lowering for centuries and now it is IS
feet below the level Of its neighbor, the
Black Sea.
The chatelaine which Mrs Kendall wore
in the first act of "The squire?T recently was
of pathetic interest. On 1t are five merry
sounding little silver bells, each one en-
graved with the name ofo of her children.
"A steamer which arrived in London
| from Auckland recently, brought a cargo
consisting of 40 COO sheep and 1000 beeyes, all
dressed and frozen. This is the largest
single cargo of dressed meat that has ever
| been brought to England.
"A grain of pure musk will scent room
| for 20 years. and at the end of that time will
| not show 1t has diminished in the least. A
| grain of carmine or half a grain of aniline
will tinge hogshead of wnter so that a
| strong microscope will detect coloring mat
| ter in every drop.
1t is mistake TO suppose the weatheris
colder the farther north one goes The
\ northern pole of greatest cold is only about
| 800 miles northeast of Yakutsk, Siberia
| where the mean annual temperature is lit
| tie lower than in the highest ATTITUDES
reached by Mares and Greely, LOCO miles
| farther north.
"A most useful electrical street sign has
| come into use. A light brass framework 10
fitted with opaque glass bearing the signs de-
sired, the name of firm, a railway station or
q theater, as the case may be. These tablets
are visible by day as we'll as by night, and as
the obstruction to light is inappreciable, they
are becoming as popular as they are effective.
"A novel case was tried at Keyser, W.
Va, last week. D. J. Moran deprived his
daughter Maggie of her jewelry and fine
| clothing owing to an alleged report that she
was about to elope with a drummer. The
| daughter being 81 years Of age sued her par
ents for $780, The verdict was given in favor
| of the plaintiff for $3.50, or the return Of the
| jewelry and clothing.
"A machine which furnishes hot water
Paris. Nine quarts are delivered for five
| centimes. A coil of copper wire inside the
| machine is connected with street main,
and is heated by gas-burners. Housekeepers
use the water for making tea washing and
other purposes. A similar machine supplies
q glass of hot wine for the same sum-
1t is said there are only two words in
the English language which contain all the
vowels in their order. They are 'abstemi-
| ousr and Hfacetious." The following have
] them in irregular order: Authoritative, dis
| advantageous, encouraging, efficaeious, in
| stantaneous, importunate, mendacious, ne
| farious, precarious, pertinacfous, sacrileg-
| ious simultaneous, tenacious, unintentional,
| unequivocal and vexatious.
I'm the first volume of the "Wars of
Frederick the Great just published in Ger
many, there is the following will, written by
Frederick during the first Silesian war in
l741: II am only King so long as am free.
If they kill me wish my body to be burnt
in Roman fashion and my ashes to be in
closed in an urn at Rheinsberg. In this case
Knobelsdorf (his architect) shall constructs
a monument for me like that Of Horace at
Tusculum."
"A couple living about five miles east Of
st. Joseph Mo-, brought their infant to town
the other day to be shaved. 1t was born
with a growth Of hair on its face which grew
so rapidly that at the age of months it was
Is inches in length. This so distressed the
mother that 1t was decided to have the OBJ
jectionable coat of hirsute removed, which
was skilfully done by tonsorial artist at
st. Joseph. The baby stood the ordeal sur
prisingly well.
A single blast at the Government rock
quarry at Apple Creek ILL.,, in addition to
turning up several barge loads of stone,
killed 800 pounds of catfish confined in a
water box located 100 yards from the explo-
sion, besides dotting the bosom of the river
with dead fish killed instantly by the tre-
mendous conclusion of the explosion. An
other singular fact is that not a fish of any
description has since been caught in the
neighborhood, which heretofore has abound
ed with the f1nny tribe.
The most muni6cent restorer of Wind
sor Castle was George ", whose architects
was to him what William of Wykeham had
been to Edward III; yet George the Magnih-
cent rarely lived in the Castle ITSELF bis
favorite residence and the place where he
died being an uninteresting but most costly
example OF rusticity, called The Cottage. Il
"a since the accession of Her Majesty that
windsor has resumed even more than its
pristine state and magntficence, and within
little more than generation.
CONGRESS OF WITS.