Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-01
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

Oh tne new Englsn projects.
Many of the explosions IN -four mills
have been traced to electricity generated BY
belts.
"A resident of Sheboyan recently caught
in millpond four-pound carp containing
sIlver-plated piccolo.
The days of the telephone girl are num-
bered. A new invention makes telephone con.
nections automatically.
The most unalterable of water colors
have been found 20 be yellow ochrs, terra
sienna. sepia and blues
An Ohio man who was recently offered
IS for his vote surprised the would-bs corrupt
ionist by falling in faint.
A GAINESVILLE, Wis, Alderman has
been fined s24 for permitting chicken fight In
front of his place Of business.
A young woman of II fell under the
steam wringer in a Paris laundry and passed
through with bus slight injury.
A young New Yorker has gone into the
business of 'devising catchy" titles tor arti-
cles and stories sent him in manuscript.
There are 200 women preachers in the
United States who have been ordained during
the latter part of the present progressive GEN.
tury.
The reader for O New York magazine
says that as a result of nine weeks reading he
accepted just % out Of LIT poems offered that
magazine for publication.
An extraordinarily large polar bear, the
fur of which is a bright pink color, has been
captured in Northern Siberia. The animal will
be sent as a present to the Gar.
I'm q Georgia court colored burglar
uttered profane exclamation wher the
Judges sentence of Is years was pronounced.
Immediately His Honor made it 20.
Last week q company of black-robed
monks, representing the old English Bens-
dictine community of st. Edmund's, Douai,
France. took their order back to England, after
its exile OF over three centuries.
"A man in Newark, N. J., bought a
clock. The family upstairs refused to buy ore,
as they could hear his strike. He set his clock
half an hour ahead of time, and they now sue
him for so doing and causing them to arise too
early.
Samuel Mackinder was. treed by
panther near Crescent City, Cal, a few days
ago. His cries for help were responded to by
man with rife, who shot and killed the
creature, which measured 8 feet inches in
length.
Stories of human beings with their
hearts on the wrong side have occasionally
made their appearance, but Cincinnati comes
to the front with one about man in that city
who has his brain placed wrong side foremost
In his head.
"A Presidential candidate whose name
ends in IN" who has a man with a name ending
with the same letter on the ticket with him for
Vice President always has won. There have
been over half dozen of these combinations,
and all have been successful
n-The latest statistics show that the sui
eide mania is spreading in Germany to such an
extent that even children take their lives.
During the six years ending with 1888 2s9
school children committed suicide. Many of
these suicides occurred in the elementary
schools, and were prompted by fear OF punish
ment.
According to the list usually given by
the Roman Catholic authorities, Leo XIII. is
the two hundred and sixty third on the roll OF
Popes. For many centuries past the Italians
have furnished nearly all the Popes. Ever
since the death In 1928 OF Adrian vi, who was
a native of the Netherlands. every occupant Of
the papal chair has been an Italian.
"A sick woman of Huntingdon county,
Indiana, expressed a strong craving for quail.
but her husband said it was unlawful TO kill
the birds. Shortly afterward visitors came and
while the invalid was expressing her intense
longing suddenly there was q sound OF some
thing in collision with the house, and, upon in
vestigating, SIX lifeless quail were found.
"A storekeeper at Glenmoore, Montgom-
cry country. Pa, recently had two dozen boxes
of axle-grease stolen from his place, and making
an investigation traced the theft to some Hun
garians employed in q neighboring quarry. He
visited their huts one day. and was shocked to
find a box OF his axle-grense on the table and
the Hungarians eating it on their bread In
place OF butter with great gusto.
"A wealthy and respected business man
Of Detroit, Mich, went to variety show the
other day for the first time in his life, and be-
came very much interested in the high kicking
nf fhar orf0 hor hon,
he astonished his wife by trying to initiate the
kicker; and in making effort to kick gas
Jet That was seven feet from the door, be dis
located his thigh and could not lower his leg.
The heaviest rail in use in America is
the 1l0pound rail of the Chignecio Ship Rail-
way, while the heaviest rail in use in the United
States is the 90-pound rail of the Philadelphia
and Reading. The latter is to be surpassed bya
new 95-pound rail which is being rolled for the
Boston and Albany The metal in the rail is dis
trbutod so that about AZ per cent is in the head,
10 per cent in the web and 80 per cent in the
dange.
One of the four electric companies in
Vienna also operates a system OF compressed
air, which is sent under considerable pressure
through pipes beneath the streets. branches be-
ng run into houses, where motors driven by the
lir actuate dynamos which supply the current
IF electricity for lighting the building. It is
Questionable whether this system of developing
)OWeT at q QlSLdQCo as economical as SQo Ql-
'ect system Of transmitting electricity.
An attempt made by some of the resi-
Tents of West Peabody Mass, to have the
own appropriate 81. 200 to defray the expense
If a one-horse hearse and suitable building
10 store the vehicle in has been killed by very
,mphatic vote of the citizens who reside in the
section of the town. During
he discussion it was stated that the tomb built
)y the town at West Peabody last year at an
expense of over s400 had been used chiefly,
ince it was finished, to keep potatoes in.
Probably the smallest salary paid in
he world is that paid to the village watchman
II SpringstIIle, in Hessen. The amount of his
Iaily income is pfennings, or less than l cent
n our money. This is the same amount that
vas paid TO the village watchman in the last
century. However, the fortunate man re-
elves an additional allowance of 80 cents
month for clothing, etc., and is entitled to free
,oard and lodging from the inhabitants of the
illage The present watchman is ~ years Of
&c.
The word "calico" has q queer origin.
iany centuries ago the first monarch Of the
rovince of Malabar gave to one of his chiefs.
s a reward for distinguished services, his
word and all the land within the limits of
ihlch a cock growing at certain temple could
q heard. From this circumstance the town
'hich grew up in the center of this territory
'as called Calicoda, or the cock of growing.
lace the first cotton goods were imported into
,ugland, bearing the name of calico,