Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-23
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS

In Zululand, women are architects and
builders.
The Oldest American theater is in
Savannah.
There are nearly 5000 pieces in
modern locomotive.
England possesses 1, 900, AS square miles
of African territory.
Apples were worth from 121zc to 2oc
each in the reign ofIHenry VII.
On an average the letters received for
the Emperor of Germany number 600 day.
There are nine telegraph lines in opera
tion in Siam, having total length OF l'So
miles.
! -Superstitious BARRIERS think that the
money earned by shaving dead men Is lucky
to gamble with.
1t is still possible to purchase land IN
New Zealand at los. the acre, or to rent an
acre at Cd. per annum.
There were $50, ,657 births and $50, ,353
deaths in the United Kingdom in the quar-
ter ending September 30.
The Fresno county (Cal. Jail is said TO
be invaded by spooks, who keep up no end
of q row and rapping at night
Phosphorus is now being made by cleo
tricity. The principal mandatory is in
Birmingham, where it is anticipated fully
AN Arizona farmer has tame rattle
snake to guard his premises instead OF
dog. The report does not say whether the
snake sleeps in the farmers boots.
An owl flew down one of the Circuit
Courtroom chimneys at Palmyra, Mo-, re-
Gently, perched himself in the unused pipe
hole and listened as if he had been admitted
to the bar.
The growth of the Argentine Republic
in the past 30 years has been remarkable.
According to recent statistics the popula-
ton of the Republic is now 100000, as
against J, ,35O, 600 in 1861
Slavery still exists in Portuguese India
A Brahmin, at Ka,loda, possesses a village Of
81 huts, where every soul is as truly his slave
and property as in the olden days; and re-
Gently Portuguese, travelling from Goa,spoke
| openly OF the slaves on his estate.
I'm Boktan they talk of band of Eng
lish crusaders who strayed away from their
leaders about 1l5O A. D., and settled in Kurd-
| istan. mingling their blood with the native
| stock, SO that it is dangerous for Britons to
| be too severe about the faults OF the hurds-
! There is a tract of land in Levy county,
! Fla, in which three holes have been dug 30
feet apart,and each excavation has laid bare
| parts of the skeleton of huge animal. Tho
| diggers take it for granted that the bones all
belong to the same creature, and are won
der1ng what sort of beast 1t was whose re-
| mains underlie the country.
The fruit growers of California have
had the shrewdness to develop their region
beyond most others Some 300 car loads OF
raisins of fine quality have been shipped
East this fall. In 50 counties oranges are
| orange trees with ], 600 600 in bearing. Be-
sides this, California has already 100000
| lemon trees.
| Queer antics, like those caused BY
laughing gas, are produced by dose of the
powdered seed of the laughing plant Under
the influence of this Arabian plant any per-
son can be made to laugh, dance, shout and
| otherwise act boisterou5ly. This condition
| lasts about half an hour. and is usually
! followed by . deep sleep. When the person
| awakes he has no recollection OF his con-
| duct.
| "A comptometer, the new machine for
| counting, has been received and set at work
in the Pension Department at Washington
1t was patented In 1888 and is manufactured
| by Chicago firm. The instrument looks
| like a mahogany box 8xl2 inches wide and
four or five deep. A key board occupies the
| upper side, and by tapping the keys the
| total appears in an indicator below.
/ -Bellboys at the frst-class hotels make
| more money than mechanics, while the earn
ings of many of them will far exceed those
of many professional men. The pay is small,
| seldom amounting to over $50 or SIS month
| and board, but the tips are what count.
There is one bellboy, or rather bellman, for
| nue. Hotel, who makes 5000 a month, in addi-
tion to which he gets his meals at the hotel.
| There is a monopoly of funerals in
| Paris. The idea which led to the establish
ment Of the great company which enjoys
| the privilege was that enough money might
be made out of the costly funerals to permit
Of a great many for little or nothing. The
| funerals are divided into ten classes. The
| first six only are remunerative: They vary
from 5000 francs to 100000 francs; The
! francs, and the tenth is free. There are
about S5 900 annual free interments.
| "A Canadian woman-and not 8 "pro-
| fessional faster" kept alive by medical art
| has lived 35 days without food. Matilda
| Grapin, So years of age, living near Montreal,
| lost her reason some time ago, and one dav
was missing from the place where she was
employed as a servant. Nothing was heard
of her until last Thursday. when farmer
working in the fields found her under tree.
She was nothing but Twin skeleton. For
35 days she had existed without food, her
only sustenance being water from q brook.
She may recover.
Diamonds, according to an experts
classification, have sex as well as other at
tributes not known to common folk. Here"
said jeweler, sis a specimen that will prove
to you that there is difference of sex in
gems. mat IS what Is called the female, q
multiplying diamond" He held the gem
under strong magnifying glass and pointed
to four or five smaller diamonds clustered
about one of the facets at the edge of the
table of the stone. "The male GEM" the
jeweler said, sis sharp pointed and never
gathers these embryo gems"
The number of locomotives in the United
State is about 30,0GO-one to every five miles
of railroad and Of cars Of all kinds /, lO9, 600
of which 1900 are passenger coaches. The
locomotives cost $3.50 600 OOO the cars $500, ,OO0-
0OO making the approximate cost OF the
rolling stock 81, 500 100000 Each year q
freight engine hauls $1,000 tons, and a pas
senger engine pulls GO, ,0J0 passengers. These
railways employ 725,0O0 persons, nearly all
men, who provide IL living for nearly 5000 900
people, or about one-twentieth of the whole
population.