Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-05
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

The Strand was once riverside towing
path.
Nearly all of the cities and towns Of
venzuela are now lighted by electricity.
The price of Nevada range cattle has in
creased 80 per cent in the past two years.
The oak and elm have figured in litera-
ture more frequently than any other Of the
native forest trees
Z An industrious hive of Andrew county,
Mo-, bees lately made record OF IL pounds
of honey in IL hours.
"A new extract of meat called "oxin is
now being made into tablets ip France.
They are said to be as digestive as raw meat
Saskatchewan has set apart S,648,O0o
acres of land for the maintenance OF public
schools, Assiniboia, 100000, and Alberta,
3, 200, 900.
In Eastern Oregon the coyote keeps up
the price of eggs and chickens, and many
counties pay a liberal bounty for his e1-
tinctfon.
To show the growth made in the indus
try of furnishing kindling wood, a single
factory in Pennsylvania turns out 100000
bundles month.
A lot of fodder was sold at Sharon, Ga,
last week that was gathered in 1859 by q
slave. It was bright and sound as on the
day it was put up
Those who have experimental claim
that the leaves of the new plant ranie, are
a satisfactory substitute for mulberry leaves
in feeding sflk-worms.
In Virginia there are Is, 0OO, 900 acres Of
arabic fand lying untitled. The greater part
of it is the property of large holders. who
get no income from it, and who do not
possess the capital needed for its cultivation.
There is at Baltimore. Ireland, fishing
school where boys receive instruction in all
such allied industries rs net-making, boat
building, cooperage and sail-making.
"A Battle Creek, Mich, lady after pick
ing out with a rare discrimination showing
great familiarity with scriptural edition. a
copy of an elegant bound bfble paid for it
and then selected four dime novels to take
home with it.
Most curious of the old-time SUPER
stitions was the custom of requiring lovers
to watch the corpse. 1t associated the hopes
of marriage with the silent vigil, was poetic
and has only disappeared from the oldest
towns within a generation. --
An ordinance has recently gone into
effect in Berlin which will give the right Of
way to carriages of physicians driving
through the crowded streets. In order to
distinguish doctors carriages from others
In the old colonial houses on the capes
the wood-tick was held to be death watch,
and on the decease of q member of the fam
lily in rural neighborhoods the nearest
relative went and told the bees, and some
times trimmed the straw hives under the
ounce, or peach, or apple trees with Grape.
The Vienna Congress of Analytical
Chemists appointed a committee to consider
whether sanitary control ought not to be ex-
tended to hair-dressers' shops and public
baths, and whether the daily disinfection of
tine brushes and combs used in shops and
public places ought not to be made obliga-
tory by legislation.
The famous trousseau shops of Paris are
tiny places devoted to a single sort of gar.
ment. In one nothing but handkerchiefs are
sold, in smother nothing Dut nightgowns.
Some of the smallest European shops ac-
commodate but one customer at a time, and
in many it is almost impossible to display
goods to advantage.
There is q. great discrepancy between
the figures in Porter's census of Wyoming
stock tatistics and the assessment rolls of
the State. The census gives the number Of
horses in the State as 5,lO9; the assessments
roll shows "a. .5lS The number Of range cat
tie is given by Porter as 24S 097;. the assess
ment roll shows 522 ,98S.
"A concession has been granted for the
building of railroad from Haifa to Dam
ascus, Syria. One of its termini will be under
the shadow of Carmel and the other by the
gates of Damascus. The whistle of its loco
the shores of Galilee, and its bridges will be
flung over the Kishon, the Jordan and the
Pharpar.
There Is dog in Philadelphia who ap-
pears to have great fondness for smoking,
He is frequently seen promenading South
Ninth street with corncob pipe in his
mouth, and, from all appearances, he seems
toenjoy himself immensely. He Is often fol-
lowed by two or three canine friends, who
apparently have an admiration for his ac-
complishment, for they gamDol about him
There is said to be family in Grayson,
KY. four children of which bear remarks,
BILE resemblance to snakes. "Their heads are
pointed at the crown, eyes small and beady
and located near the top. When excited or
angry they run their tongues out with great
rapidity, exactly like snake. Their skin IS
me esss IS
parents show nothing uncommon in appear
ance.
"A third of an inch gives us full size
in length of shoe; a sixth furnishes the in
termediate point between two sizes. the
saving of which is desirable, If practicable;
a small fraction of breadth goes good way
in securing comfort, and in gfrth of ball or
instep, an infinftesimal part of an inch is
sometimes an ell of freedom; a quarter Of an
inch is a good deal of letting down or efeyat-
ing at the heel and the difference Of a 18th
is readily perceptible at the sole.
The roster of circus travelling through
South America has "a performers, II musi-
clans, bill posters, IL canvasmen, S chande-
lier men, property men and 8 hostlerss
They have % horses and ponies, and
troupe of performing stations, dogs and
monkeys. Among the performers are more
skirt dancers and fancy dancers than tum-
blers, leapers and bareback riders together,
indicating the decided change in the attrac-
tions offered as compared with an old-time
circus.
The record of earthquake shocks kept
at the Smithsonian Institution in Washing
ton shows that there have been more of
them this year, thus far, than there were in
any previous year of recent times. There
have been numerous slight shocks in many
parts of this country, and there have been
Heavier shocks in South America, Asia,
Africa and the islands of the Pacific. When
the earthquake record OF the world for the
year 1891 is made mp at the end of December
it will be long and elaborate.
LIGHT LITTLE LAUGHS.