Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-02
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.


-Londoners write 81, ,511 letters day, re
quiring 80 gallons ofink.
Twenty acres of orange orchard sold at
Riverside last week for $4,000.
There are 800 newspapers published in
Fleet street, London, II Of which are dailies.
--Galsra, village in Peru, is the highest
inhabited place in the world. lis 15 6S5 feet
above the sea-
"A doll that writes letters on slate is
recent invention of q machinist in Nurem-
burg, Germany.
The peach was originally a very pois-
onous fruit, but by cultivation the poison
has disappeared.
About 4,500 species of wild bees are
known, and Of wasps LOO. Of which 17o and
10 respectively live in Britain.
The average wealth of every family Of
i've in Massachusetts, IS y, $40, but 1t is by no
means distributed in that way.
Mexico has a rock that serves as q
weather prophet Dy changing color with
every approaching change IN the weather.
People who live along the Nisqually
river, Ore, are compelled to pay 80 cents
ferriage for crossing stream no wider than
street.
The italian Government has taken
steps to restrict emigration by refusing to
allow minors to leave the country except
under certain conditions.
Out of 58 leading cities in the United
States only threehave a larger death rate
than New York. they being Charleston, Ho-
boken and New Orleans.
The biggest orange tree in America is
claimed to be in Terrebone, La. 1t is Is feet
in circumference and 40 feet high. The
yield this year is expected to reach 10000
oranges.
The lowest body of water on the globe
is the Caspian Sea; the level has been grad
ually lowering for centuries, and now it is 50
Ieet below the level Of its neighbor, the
Black Sea.
According to report the amount Of
smuggling in the neighborhood of sumas,
wash, on the Canadian boundary line, is
ssCupendous, and smuggling is leading IN
dustry there.
in London recently the happy father of
II cherubs was putting them to bed, and had
them all undressed and nicely tucked in
when his wife discovered that one of them
was neighbor's child.
The historical gray coat of Napoleon
l. which was stolen from museum, was
Ionnd recently by the police in the Quarter
du Temple in Paris. An old clothes dealer
mad given the thief shillings for it.
The shell of an oyster in its native
habitatfs always little open, and micros-
copic, waving hairs set up currents which
carry the food plants to its mouth, where
they are engulfed and afterward digested.
AN Investigator of the effect of perfumes
on animals in the Geological eSarden, dis
covered that most of the lions and leopards
were very fond OF lavender. They took q
piece of cotton saturated with it and held is
between their paws with great delight.
Hereafter every soldier on active serv-
ice in the British army will have card at
tached to his clothing bearing his name,
rank and regiment. This plan is to facilitate
Identification in case of death on the battle
HELD 1t has long been in vogue in the Ger
man army.
"A Mussulman having served his term
in prison is regarded almost as . saint, no
matter as to the crime for which he has been
condemned. For a MOhamedan to say he
has been confined in prison is to make a
claim upon the respect and admiration OF
his fellow believers.
"A unique carpet is being made for the
Church of LIE Coeur de Jesus, Montmartre,
in Paris, by some Partisan ladies. 1t will
cost $4,000, and the names of the workers
are to be embroidered around the border.
The center represents Montmartre, while
above are to be the arms OF the city of Paris.
The palaces of the rulers of the Old
World are built without regard to expenses.
The Empress of Austria's new palace as
Corfu has cost El96,OO0 The bill for the
seven rooms, which is the great feature OF
the house, amounted to $4,000.
I'm the Antarctic Ocean the ieebergs
that have been noticed from time to time
rose 400, $780, 100 and even I,OOO feet above the,
water, and were from three to five miles
long. Their enormous bulk may be in
ferred from the fact that the part under
water Is about seven times as large as that
above
The Fresno Erpositor thinks the Lower
California earthquake story is zone Of
Colonel Aliens best" and that it will ego
ringing down the ages with the pterodactyls,
the arizona wild man, the Banning glacier.
cavern, and lose itself in the Oregon man.
moth cave"
According to the official records of the
Royal Academy 24 pictures have been sold
for s1sOOO this season. OF course, this does
include the numerous pictures which were
soId oe1ore tney were sent 70 burlington
House. OF these 234, ~ sold for upward of
El00. Is for between $50 and E1O0, and the
remainder went for ESQ and under.
BY order of the German Emperor, the
Prussian Minister of the Interior has for
hidden parents to baptiZe their children
with political names of q certain character
or color. Young Germans may be christened
Wlbn nhuloS HUH buo DiDl0 OI pflHc6S, OF OF
"loyap' statesmen, generals and patriots.
This measure Is intended to prevent So
cialists from commemorating in their own
families prominent revolutionists. "Robes-
pierre has long been a very favorite name
for Socialist babies.
About "a years ago vessel called the
Sally, while coming up the Solway, was
wrecked opposite Carsethorn. CuriOusly
enough, within the last few days the mast
of the vessel has appeared above the sand,
and now there is u considerable portion of
the hull in sight. The reason assigned for
this is that the channel has shifted, as it tre-
Quently does in the Solway, and has caused
the vessel to silt up through the sand. It
will, of course, be u great danger to ship
ping in the district.
When Shetland was annexed to the
Scottish Crown the islands contained about
1000 Udallers, all Independents landowners,
who held their lands, they believed, from
"God and heaven only" were free of any
tax or duty whatever on the lands they in
closed; were, besides, independents rulers
and legislators, who met and acted with the
Jarl or Governor at the great annual Foude
Court on equal terms, and acknowledged no
authority except that of the King, and even
to him they every now and then reluctantly
submitted.
RHYNKTFD RHYMFTFTS