Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-20
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.


-The..Jeannette drifted through the Aro-
] tic Ocean al the rate of two miles day.
-Russia's oldest inhabitant is 124. His
name is Nitchinorenko, and he lives at Bel
! gorod.
/ According to expert figures, the perma-
nent tramp population of the United States
numbers G0,0OO.
-Leavenworth is trying to restore the
missing linz wNich connects that town with
the county of Platte
DR. A. NJ. Salmon, of Cambridge, Eng
land. born in the spring of 1890, is looked
upon us the oldest surgeon in Europe.
-Ellensburg, Wash, is elated over the
discovery of gold in that city. 1t is said
that nuggets as large as thimbles are being
found.
"A Puyallup brave is known as Yuhr
Nawt lnnyt, which is pronounced very
much like one of the prevailing slang
phrases.
Texas has Fat Mans Association, the
initiation fee of which is 1 cent pound.
Men who weigh less than rs pounds are in
ehgiole to membership.
A woman who solicited aims at an ele-
waited railroad station in New York Thurs
day night received s37 10 in three hours. The
lact was Drought out in a police court
clusion that there is more money to be made
in horticulture than in any other branch Of
farming and are rapidly turning their grain
fields into orchards.
Robert T. Barker, of New Bedford,
Mass. read the Bible through for the first
time in 1880 Since that date he has read it
SO times. 1t usually takes him two months
to read IL from beginning to end.
The Oldest newspaper in the world is
the Peking Gazette, a pamphlet III inches
long by inches broad. consisting of about
20 pages, bound in a yellow cover, in which
form it has existed for 1900 years.
There is curiosity near Cordele, Ga,
in the shape of pine tree. 1t begins from
the ground as two separate and well-devel-
oped trees, and continues so for a distance
OF IA feet, when they join and go upward as
one.
-Slabtown, Kan, the scene of many in
teresting even 5, is about to pass out of ex-
istence. The station house is being removed
to the new site, about half a mile to the
north. One by one the landmarks of early
days are disappearing.
Notwithstanding the assertion that
there is no animal life in Death Valley. the
Government surveying party has found 30
varieties of mammals and 60 varieties of
reptiles, specimens of which have been for
warded to Washington.
"A Louisianian at Birds Mill has gone
into the business of raising alligators. He
has purchased land on both sides of a small
neck of water and will fence it in. He has n
number OF men engaged in catching small
alligntors and gathering eggs.
1t has been found impossible TO keen
ostriches alive in the London Zoo" Their
omnivorous throats discriminate aoainsa
nothing. and poisonous coppers which mis-
chievous people feed them are as eagerly
devoured as any other delicacy.
1t is whole days task for two men to
fell mahogany tree. On account of the
spurs which project from the base of the
trunk O scaffold has to be erected and the
tree cut of above the spurs, leaving thus a
stump Of the very best wood from 10 to Is
feet high.
The Chinese are getting hold of large
quantities of fruit in Tulare county, Cal,
and are becoming quite factor in the ship
ping trade. One great objection to this Is
that the Chinese. not realizing that they are
cutting their own throats thereby, persist
in sending inferior fruit to market.
The Belgian military authorities have
discovered that various songs used In the
army are not quite proper, and several poets
and composers have been applied to to sup
ply the army with some unObjectionable
songs IN French and Flemish to take their
places.
1t is narrated that New England
preacher of the olden time was paralyzed
during sermon by discovering HIS rude Off
spring in the gallery pelting the hearers in
the pews below with peanuts. But while
the good man was preparing frown of re-
proof the young hopeful cried out: HYou
tend to your preaching, daddy; I'll keep 'em
awake"
"A wonderful flower has been discovered
on the Isthmus of Tehauntepec Its chief
peculiarity is the habit of changing its
colors during the day. In the morning it Is
white, when the sun is at its zenith it Is red,
and at night IL is blue. The red, white and
blue flower grows on a tree about the size of
Il guava tree and only at noon does IL give
out any perfume.
The annual coffee crop of the world is
estimated at over II, 900 600, 900 pounds, worth
at first hands $1S5.OOO 900. This enormous
quantity is grown in islands between the
parallels of 800 north and 800 south latitude,
mainly in British India and the neighbor-
ing islands, in Liberia and other parts of
Africa, in the West Indies. Mexico, Central
America and Brazil. The domestic con-
sumption of the United States amounts to
sol, 1872, 100 pounds, which is valued here at
$72, 10000, and of which 80 per cent comes
from countries geographically belonging to
this continent
The Salvation Army has been in exist
ence just Is years. 1t had its origin in a
sensational way IN the English town Of
W Whitby, in the rough coal mining district of
Yorkshire, where General Booth, at that
time Rev. William Booth was doing humble
mission work. England was then in arms,
expecting to jump into the Russo-Turkish
war. 1t occurred to Booth that he mighE
attract a crowd by issuing a declaration of
war himself, so he prepared one forthwith,
sprinkled it plentifully with halle,ujahs
and posted 1900 copies of it about town
The device tickled the British sense of
humor, there was Il ''redhot, rousine meet
ing" to quote General Booth, "the penitent
fell down IN heaps, and the salvation ARMY
sprang into lIfe tull grown.
Some of the farmers of the Eifel, the
district that lies between the frontier of Bel
gium and the Rhine, adopt a novel plan for
soaring the birds from the wheat. A num-
ber of poles are set up in the corndeIds and
a wire is conducted from one to another,
Just like the telegraph posts that you see
alongside the railway. From the top of each
post there hangs bell which is connected
with the wire. Now, in the valley brook
runs along, with a current strong enough to
turn small water wheel, to which the wire
is fastened. AS the wheel goes around it
Jerks the wire and so the bells in the differ
ant fields are set a tinkling. The bells thus
run mysteriously frighten the birds from the
rrain, and even excite the wonder of men
ind women until they discover the secret
This simple cOntrivance is found to serve its
purpose very well.