Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-07
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

| Teachers salaries in the United States
annually amount to more than s6e,Ooo,ooo.
Paris requires every vehicle traversing
its streets at nlxht, II only wheelbarrow,
TO carry lighted lamp.
The temple of Hom-mon-ji, at Ikegami,
begun in l2%, and finished in 1907, is one OF
the most famous religious structures In
Japan.
+ On an island in the Missouri river near
Miami there is a peach orchard of 200 trees
I OF 1ne budded fruit. The yield this year
| will be 1000 bushels or two and q half bush
els to the tree.
"A German capitalist has offered re-
ward OF SIS QOO to any astronomer who can
satisfactorily prove to him that the sun, the
moon or any one of the stars Is inhabited or
That it contains any solid matter whatever.
1t is curious little fact, and one worth
remembering, that on the same day, April
-, 1916, that William Shakespeare died In
England, Miguel Cervantes. the celebrated
| Spain.
"A vast ''banyan" tree covering between
SIX and seven acres has been discovered on
the tiny Lord Howe Island, 800 miles from
rort Macquarie, In Australia. IL is sur
in India.
1t is known that wasps' nests often
take hre, supposed to be caused by the
chemical action of the wax upon the paper
material OF the nest ITSELF This NAV ac-
count for many mysterious fires In barns
and outbuildings
The national Japanese gambling game
is harra or flower" The cards are ls OBJ
long slips of pasteboard, divided into II
series, each representing a month. Six
ysrS Win four cards EACH play sort OF
I
Inc Kitty gets 10 per cent of the pool.
The ornithologist of the Death Valley
(Cal) expedition has secured many rare
| specimens OF mammals, some of which are
almost unknown. At Pigeon Spring some
~ specimens of very rare mouse were
TAKEN. Or this peculiar species but one
sPeclmen, taken about so years ago, Is said
The McCloud River Pioneer SAYS, Pebble
echool District, in that section. comprising
territory large enough for State like Rhode
island, received but $5l IS from semi annual
Slate apportonmeHt and S6 IS for librarr v
Iunu The only way to get more is to
raise more children, as the apportionment Is
made on that basis.
news OF arOmantic marriage comes from
Georgia Ten years ago the couple, then
only boy and girl, were married but their
IoIkS separated them, the bride being sent
aMay. Iney didn't correspond and neither
aiterWafd married. Some time ago the groom
| advertised for his wife. The saw the notice.
answered 1t, and both have now again been
IN rried
1t is said that between the island of
Madagascar and the coast of India there ara
5000 islands, only 6 o of which are inhabited.
On any OF these islands a man can live and
support his family in princely LUXURY with
out working more than 25 days in the wear.
ialo he
not work at all, as nature provides the food
ana no clothes are required
PROF Lewis Swift, of the Warner OBJ
servatory, calls attention to q phenomenon
soon to occur, which, he says, has never been
seen by any human eye: During the morn
ing hours of September 4, Wolff7s periodical
tomSs Inm, WILL VIII pass directly over that we'll
Is considered by astronomers OF great i'm
portance, aside from its never having been
before witnessed"
The golondrina, which Is a sure cure for
the bite Of the rattlesnake scorpion, taran-
tula, black spider, or any other poisonous
insects, is not the same as the mock orange,
or wild pOInegranate. GoIondrina is a small
moss-ltke plant, while the mock orange Is a
running vine similar to the watermelon. 1t
will not cure the bite of the rattiesnake, but
IL IS one OF the most useful medicinal plants
on the Pacific coast.
AN interesting geological phenomenon is
noticed in the district of Iziunl, In Khdrkov,
Russia. In consequence of the heat this
summer the ground broke open in many
places and deep bitches formed at the bot
tom of which subterranean water appeared
biologists who examined the ground think
same source wSicb Tasef cones IRON the
salt iakes OF the neighboFhood.
-Dennysville, Me-. has among its histori.
cal relics 5 hOuSa that onpo ah no-z
dict Arnold, in which Is q secret panel lead
ing to a hole in the wall where the people of
Ea5tport secreted their valuabIes during the
British occupation in 1874 There are also
two swords which were used during the
revolution by General Benjamin Lincoln,
the original owner OF the town, one OF them
having been presented to him by General
Washington.
The agent general for the Cape of Good
Hope is officially informed that the results
of the recent census, expressed in thou.
sands, are as follows: European, or white,
81, 900; aboriginal (blacks). s4s 900: all other
census of 1875, TO 900 exclusive of the
Transkei districts, the population of which
in 1874 was 10000, and which now numbers
10000 Europeans and 10000 nstives); in
crease, $4,000
"A Philadelphia correspondent confirms
the statement about distant sounds focused
ago the late Admiral Goldsborough told
him that when he was a subordinate officer
he heard the late Commodore Levy who
was executive officer of the United States
ship -, tell his captain one Sunday morn.
ing that he was sure they were on Rio
Janeiro, because he heard the sounds OF the
church bells. AS they must have been
nearly 100 miles from the harbor the Can
tain sarcastically asked Levy whether he
could not "see the rose brushes in front Of
the houses" to which Levy quickly respond
ed: 81 cannot see the roses, sir, but I can
feel their thorns."
The inventor Of the game of chess, on
being promised by the King, whom he nrst
taught the game, that he should have any
reward he might ask for, tneekly replied
that he would be content IL the King would
give him one kernel of wheat on the first
square, two on the second, four on the third,
eight on the fourth and 80 on, doubling up
to the sixty-fourth square. The King gladly
lcceded to this seemingly modest request.
and ordered his attendants to bring in the
wheat, which they began to do; but, to the
of the monarch, IL was found
that there was not wheat enough In the
whole dominion to pay or the crafty in
ventor. 1t would require 9,627, ,26s, 7s6 93i,775-
1853 kernels, equivalent to S0,0N, ,oa7, as