Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-07
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.


The product of gold in the United
States the last Is years has aggregated the
enormous omount Of s572 100000.
The annual product of salt throughout
the world is estimated at 1900 600 tons, the
larger share coming from English works
Probably the rarest stamp in existence
has just been sold in London for ESQ. 1t is
an American five-cent stamp issued at Brat
tleboro Vt, in 1910.
Louisville hes had the only free barber
shop in ths United States. 1t has just been
closed, not for want of patronage, but be-
cause it was too popular.
"A stamp collector in Boston, the pos
SCISSOR of collection of Il, ,545 stamps, wishes
to marry lady who is the. possesor OF the
blue penny stamp of Mauritius, issued in
1s47.
"A fad of the moment among some fad
affecting young women is to chew a flower,
or, to put it more elegantly, to wear one be-
tween. the lips. This, it may be added, is
purely house fashion.
During a shower last week lightning
struck and killed five cows standing under
tree on a farm owned by George T. Under
hill. near Hibernia, n. 7. Strange to state
the tree was not touched
1t now appears that the Georgia water
melon crop, at an average yield, will be
about 10, 500 cars, with the possibility that
good season may swell it to 12,OO0 Water
melons will be cheap and plenty.
John London Macadam, the inventor of
the road that bears his name, labored for
years to perfect his ideas. and, although the
English Parliament voted him $50, 900, it
hardly covered his outlay. "His monument
is the roads of England"
"A snake met its death through love of
the beautiful in York wall paper store the
other day. 1t came out to look at the spring
patterns of paper and jacob r. Clinedinst,
the owner of the store, with the assistance
of several others, killed 1t.
Reid Marshall shot quite a large bird
on Glade Run, near Dayton, last Friday. 1t
measured six and one-haf feet from tip to
tip of wings and four and one-half feet from
point of bill to toes. Some say the bird was
blue heron, others say it was q crane.
DIR. oliver Wendell Holmes believes
that body and mind are both affected by the
character of food consumed. can exclu-
siyely pork diet gives a brfstly character to
the beard and hair and too much food
from the sea gives the shine and motions of
a fish.
"A woman appeared at College Point,
L. l., a few days ago with a beautiful collec-
ton of birds which she called Australian
warblers. She sold them rapidly at 81 each.
The birds turned out to be common English
sparrows, with their feathers artistically
painted
"A unique carpet is being made for the
Church f LIE Ceur de Jesus, Montmartre,
| in Paris, by some Partisan ladies. 1t will
cost f4, 900, and the names of the workers are
to be embroidered around the border. The
center represents Montmartre and above
are to be the arms of the city of Paris.
The street railways of Paris are under
the Government control and the rules for
| haip enid 0nlxy
| passengers are allowed to stand on the back
| platform, and they must pay the same fare
as the frst-class passengers inside, viz, 8
| cents, while those on the roof of the car ride
at half rates.
"Wednesday was fruitful in the unveil-
| ing of monuments. The Grant monument
was presented to Galena; the Southern La
dies Monument Association gave a monu-
ment to the Confederate dead at Jackson,
Miss, and Mr.. Leland Stanford enriched
California with statue of Father Junipus
Sierra, the pioneer missionary of the coast.
Harry G. Higginson and Gardner Van
Nostrand, of the Orange Lake club, New
burg, went to Black pond, Ulster county. on
q fishing expedition, and when they returned
home they had three milk cans containing
| ~ black bass, the total weight of which was
| l34 pohnds. Seven of the bass weighed 35
pounds, an average of five pounds each.
The prune crop of Southern California
| will be failure this year. The recent damp
| weather has affected the crop so severely
| that it is all dropping from the trees. On
| ten acres at Pomona; from which % tons
were gathered last year, there will not be
! over 1,000 pounds this season. The same
state of affairs prevails wherever prunes are
grown throughout Southern California.
Mfr. 7. s. Welsh, of North Codorus
township, has a crab apple tree which,
planted in 1876, now measures 35 inches in
oir ND ia aat hioh Ttr,
branches extend II feet on all sides and bear
every second year. He has also a sweet ap-
pie tree that is about Is years old and bears
| every year regularly. One year the eastern
side bears and the next year the western
| side bears.
To publish ones own books has been
thought to be very foolish and unremun-
erative plan-especially by publishers. It
was supposed to be an exceedingly imprac-
tical thing for Mr.. Ruskin to bring out edi-
tions of his works; yet it appears that his
profits are growing every year, and that
from one book alone-the new edition of his
Modern Painters"-the profits will not be
less that So, 900.
The queen and the nine-spot may still
be regarded as the lucky cards in the deck
A Chicago woman was recently told by three
different fortune-tellers after they had
looked at the queen and the nine-spot that
a fortune awaited her. She was poor but
incredulous and the fourth palm was crossed
the top and the story was repeated. She is
now enjoying half interest in fortune of
$4,000.
I'm compliance with the orders of the
County Board of Health, the IS undertakers
In Hudson county, N. j., have provided
themselves with new "weepers'' to be used
in cases of death from smallpox, measles,
spotted fever, yellow fever, diphtheria and
scarlet fever The "weeper'' is q piece of
purple ribbon Is inches long and 2 inches
wide, and is to be hung on the door. An un-
dertaker who refuses or neglects to use the
purple ribbon when it is required makes
himself liable to penalty.
Recently at Judson, in Alachua county,
Fla, d. I. Trammel and others, while out
hunting, came across two hogs freshly
killed, the carcasses bearing evidence of the
fact that some animal had been devouring
the hogs. The hunters called their dogs and
mt them on the trail. In a little while
large panther was treed. He was shot four
times before falling. The hunters skinned
him and cut Off one fore paw which which
measured about 5 by inches. The animal
was about feet in length. 1t is the first
panther seen in that locality for 10 or Il
years.