Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-05
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

There are said to be over 30, 600 Ameri-
can visitors now in Mexico.
An Atchison street car has been painted
black for funeral purposes.
-Feathery snowfakes as large as silver
dollars fell in New York the other day.
Texas is to have "the biggest soap fact
ory in the sorld." with capital of SIS, OO0O0O.
There are within the present city limits
of Milwaukee $4,000 lots which are unoccupied.
The very unusual sight of two blind
men fighting on the public street was seen In
New York recently.
"A philologist estimates that the coinage
of new words goes on the rate of 100 annually
in the English language.
Two acres Of land adjacent to the Lon.
don Houses of Parliament have been advertised
for sale at fl, 700, QUO sterling.
There is living in Centerville, KY, 9
blacksmith who has just learned his correct
name, though he is over so years old.
An Atchison woman recently refused
the present of a handsome set of books because
they did not match the color Of her front room
furniture.
"A Douglas county, Kan, farmer was
compelled to use four horses the other day 70
haul 20 bushels of corn to Lawrence, but he got
81 bushel for it.
AS guess at the census taken yester-
day, the Registrar General estimates that the
population of the United Kingdom is about
100000 of souls.
The day after the last of the whaling
fleet had departed from San Francisco large
school of whales appeared in the bay and
"cavorted'' audaciouslY.
The Commissioners of the District Of
Columbia have been asked to recall all permits
issued to Italian organ grinders. as it is alleged
that the music may cause trouble.
"A needle, after a devious eI experience of 80
years in the body Of Springfield, Mo-, woman,
came out through her side the other day. The
needle had lost its temper and was as pliaDle as
piece of wire.
"A veritable curiosity has been captured
in Africa 1t is elephant. larger than the
late lamented Jumbo, pea-green in color, trunk
less, and has tusks that branch out something
like the horns of deer. 1t is in possession of q
native King, who will not part with it.
"A Salina, Kan, family is eating fresh,
ripe tomatoes from a vine which was taken
into the house last fall and carefully nurtured
during the winter. At the prevailing price Of
coal in Kansas the tomatoes are supposed to
represent value of about 81 apiece
Largely because of the electric light,
the average time of transit through the Sues
Canal goes on diminishing steadily from year to
year. Last year it was "A hours minutes,
whereas in 1889 it was % hours 50 minutes; in
1883, IL hours Is minutes; in 1887, 30 hours 50
minutes and in 1855 not less than 80 hours.
"A dog belonging to resident of Cordell,
Ga, got his head wedged in a hollow tree one
day while chasing rabbit and, failing to re-
lease himself, remained in that position for IL
days without food or drink, when the master
found him and got him out. He was alive, but
it is not known what became of the rabbit.
"A physician who died in Philadelphia
on Wednesday. aged Y, was a very eccentric
Citizen so much SO that he regularly paid his
board at high-priced hotel but very rarely
lived there. Although himself doctor. he
would never allow a doctor to be called in
when he was i'll and would not take medicine
OF his own.
"A man in Vermont who neglected his
wife finds himself confronted by petition
signed by over 100 of the best known women in
the town and addressed to the Court asking
for his dismissal from the office Of County
Clerk. This kind of female suffrage made him
sick, and the judges have postponed action
until he gets well.
Tapping telegraph pole to get maple
sap is rather uninviting occupation. but a
certain gentleman did that Identical thing last
Thursday the New Hartford road, near
Winstead, Conn. The pole stands in line
with maple trees, and when he came to the tree
and started for the next tree. Happening to
look up after he had passed on he went back
and recovered his pail, but failed to plug up
the hole.
"A collector of relics at Tampa, Fla,
has received a halberd head which was lately
unearthed at Memphis. There can be no doubt
of the origin of this interesting relic. The
form, with the battle ak on one side, the hook
opposite and the spike termination, mark it as
a relic of the fifteenth century. Three hun
dred and fifty years ago 1t was placed IN the
grave with the remains of the bold cavalier
who bore it, and he was unquestionably one of
De Soto's men. Rust has sadly defaced this
reminder of an age long passed. but enough re-
mans to identify it with the first white man
who ever walked where Tampa stands.
One of the San Francisco Custom House
inspectors on the Oceanic dock discovered two
suspicious looking cylinders near the entrance
yesterday afternoon which bore the appear
ance of internal machines. They were con-
nected together by wires, and were filed with
a greenish liquid. After rejecting on the ter
rible consequences that would happen in case
they were exploded, he deftly poised them on
the point of his cane and threw them into the
slip. A moment afterward telegraph lineman
made his appearance, evidently on the lookout
for something which eluded his vision. On
making inquiry he learned OF the inspectors
thundsrous execrations. The supposed in
fernal machines were nothing more or less
than the innocent jars of an electric battery.
In the proceedings of the Royal Geo.
graphical Society for January, 1891, 1T is esti-
mated that the population of the world in 1890
was l. 4S7 600, 900, representing an average Of 81
to the square mile. and increase of per
cent during the decade. OF the continents,
Asia has the largest population, $50. .0O00 900. and
the lowest percentage of increase per cent.
Australia has the smallest population, 473O,O 900.
aud tie smallest average per square mile, Ia,
but the highest rate of increase during the de-
cade 80 per cent. Europe Is the most thickly
settled continent. with a population of $50, ZOO
OO0 which is l01 to the square mile. The Dopu-
lation of North America Is estimated at 80, go
900. which is average of II to the square
mile and represents an increase OF 20 per cent
during the past decade.
Our Saxon forefathers had many
methods of rebuking liars and boosters, and
three object lessons in reproof have come down
in proyerb to our time. One was the presenta-
ton of a cake TO a confirmed prevaricator,
whence the proverb, He takes the cake" At
feasts a large wooden knife was sometimes
provided by the host, to be presented to the
most outrageous boaster of the company. and
by him to be etained until he found braggart
more intolerable than himself The third was
the presentation of a milestone to n man noted
for his lack of regard for the truth, as hint
that he would need to sharpen his invention IL
he intended to continue in the business. A
,landerer was sometimes set in the pillory with
! milestone hnng about his neck, the whet-
stones Of three centuries ago being provided
with hole and by means of a cord were hung
from the belts of butchers and other persons
Ca r1rr IN zo rhor1