Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1891-10-22
NOTES AND COMMENTS.

was so badly frightened by his expe-
rience that his hair turned white.
MASSACHUSETTS is said to have as many
public libraries as all the other States
put together, $5,000,000 having been
given by private individuals to the sixty
memorial buildings which have been
erected.
| IT is estimated that the treasure lying
| idle in India in the shape of boards or
ornaments amount to 1850, 100000. A
competent authority calculates that in
Amritsar City alone there are jewels to
the value of e2, 100000 sterling.
THE amount of space given in the Lon
don papers to the discussion of drunken
ness and its cure is extraordinary. Hun
dreds and hundreds of letters are being
printed. The most distinguished men,
lawyers, doctors and clergymen, all mix
up in the controversy.
From the latest statistics and very
careful estimates the railway mileage of
the world at present is said to be divided
as follows: United States, 166, ,525; Can
ada, 14,000; Mexico, 4,900; Central
America, 2,100; South America, 16, 900;
Europe, 141 600; Asia, 10000; Africa,
5000; Australia, $4,000. Total, $685.
425.
A NOVEL point in life insurance is
about to be passed on by the United
States in st. Louis. Mrs. Mary f. Vail
was insured in the New York Life Insur-
ance Company for $1,000, the policy
reading that the money is to be paid to
her children, or their executors, ad-
ministrators or assigns" The insurance
company claims that as Mrs. Vail dieG
without leaving any children the policy
lapses, and her executors have accord
ingly brought suit.
The phrase, "worth it's weight in
gold' no longer expresses the idea which
it was intended to convey. For there are
at least twenty substances worth more
than gold. Berylium, for instance, is
worth about ten times its weight in pure
gold and venadium is five times as costly
as the precious metal. Iridium, also, is
more than twice as costly as gold. The
books used to say that platinum was
the only metal more valuable than gold,
but it now costs about the same.
PALoUsE CITY, Wash, has curfew
| poii1 lhobitutcu ny CliJ WHICH,
is rung at o'clock every night, and
every boy and girl under the age of 16
years is thereby warned to scurry home.
Ii any such are caught in the streets
when the tolling of the bell has ceased,
without q permit from their parents,
they are promptly arrested and fine re-
suits. One or two Montana towns have
similar regulations, and some newspapers
are recommending the idea for general
adoption.
The last Indian census shows that in
the past ten years the natural growth of
lndia's population has been 27 800, 600.
The population now numbers 2S6,000,-
900. One can hardly appreciate what
these figures mean except by comparison.
India contains more people than all
Europe exclusive of Russia. Its provin-
ces are as populous as great European
States. Bengal contains a population
larger than that of the United States and
all British North America, and fully one
fifth of the entire human race lives upon
this little peninsula jutting out from the
coast of Asia into the Indian Ocean.
THE Boston Cultivator AYERS that the
recent long spell of dry, hot weather that
a"I o"ia dn III az 'uo "os. lnutoa'1s
$40 "in'ot % 'nan 'nls 'ouri.iy m,: nus haa
ditions vary considerably by local causes,
more especially in the region south of the
Great Lakes. Here fall drought is al
ways interrupted by rains as early as the
fore part of October. These make the
weather cooler for the time. but thew
moderate the severity of the following
winter. Rains indicate the breakinp-uo
of warm currents of air from the south
which, when thew reach the polar regions.
are chilled. and return in the first cold
blasts from the North in early winter.
WITH the growth OF the navy there
peghs TO De difhcuity IN ofhcerlng the
new ships. When one OF the white ships
was recently IN need OF junior watch
ohcer, half dozen ensigns were sug-
gested for the place, but the Navy De-
partment, on looking the young men
over io9na that tor various reasons not
one OF them was available Tor the duty.
sary that officers with n their tours Of sea
duty two-t thirds finished sbonld be sent
to distant stations nol;cv uspaIIv
avoided bv tbe denartmept since Il no
cessitotes the exnense of n Iong return
iournev bv merchant Steamer
lHE Lancet, IN commenting ON the
case OF woman who Killed her two
chldren whiie IN state OF melancholia
supposed 10 nave oeeh superinduced Dy