Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-06
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

The metal vanadium is quoted at S11 ,265
pound.
Fresno styles itself "the Chicago of
California.
Rosewood costs about $3.50 per 1000
feet board measure.
London theaters issue something like
| $1,000 free passes every year.
The paid-up capital of all the railroads
| in Great Britain amounts to about $500
O0o0JO.
The entire railway mileage Of Great
| Britain is now 20073 miles, or less than one
eighth of that of the United States.
The King of Siam is attended by body
| guard composed exclusively of 4GOJ of the
| prettiest young women in his realm.
| The Temple of Hom-mon-ii, at Ikega-
min, begun in 1882 and finished in 1907, is one
of the most famous religious structures in
| Japan
More than $4,000, 900 feet of lumber
| will be used in the construction of the huge
building for Manufactures and Liberal Arts
at the Chicago Exposition.
| "A Highland Park, Tenn, minister has
| been hauled over the Goals by his conSreIa-
| tion for painting fence on Sunday. His
| defense is that he thought it was Saturday.
| -Four counties in Illinois-Douglas,
Moultrie, Coles and Edgar-supply a large
proportion of the worlds stock of broom
corn-namely, about 1900 tons, valued at
| 81, 100000.
| DIR. Pinel, of Paris, has found that hyp-
motto patients obey the phonograph as
readily as they do living speaker. He,
therefore, discards the whole theory Of ami
| NAL magnetism.
| "A Chicago merchant is said to have
obtained a number of specimens of the Ana
| mese loof (probably the largest gold coin in
! circulation, rated at $220 each,) tor preSenta-
tion to his friends as curios.
Several years ago suit was begun by
| young man named Eisenlord for an estate in
New York worth 100000. The casa has
| finally been decided in his favor, but be-
| tween So, 900 and q, coo is all that is left.
-"Convent hair" is an article well known
to the trade and highly priced. When
young woman takes the veil in the Roman
| Catholic Church, her hair is cut of and the
| treSseS are sold for the benefit OF the con-
vent.
There are more women workers in the
United Kingdom, Great Britain and Ire
| land, in proportion to the population, than
| i'll any other country in the world. Twelve
| per cent of the working classes there are
| women.
| The State Board of Trade is authority for
the statement that California shipped East
during the year 1890 49s, ,344, T52 pounds of veg,
etables alone. This includes potatoes, onions
| peas, beans, etc. This is 2.492 car loads Of
| ten tons each. The vegetable trade has only
| just commenced
For nearly 800 years straw plating has
been a leading industry in the hamlets OF
| Bedfordshire, England, and vicinity. Al
| though the industry is much less extensive
than it was, there are still over 10000 per-
| sons engaged in it. They are chiefly old men,
| women and children.
The hugest articles in the culinary line
are to be found in the kitchen of the Bon
| Marche in Paris. Among the articles emil
| merated are "kettles" the smallest holding
IS quarts and the largest 375. Even the fry
| ing pans are so large as to be able to cook
| 300 outlets in each, and to fry 30 pounds of
| potatoes.
The Portland Oregonian says: A regi-
ment of turkey buzzards, numbering hun
dreds, was seen the other morning between
| Pendleton and the Agency. These ill-fa-
/ vored birds were never seen before in that
| locality, and their presence in such large
\ numbers is puZZling those who witnessed
\ the spectacle.
| "A Chicago business firms manager the
! other day exhibited to a Government official
| a canvas sack, filed with counterfeit bills
| bad dollars, 5)-cent pieces, quarters and
| dimes. There were several thousand pieces
! in the lot, and the bogus money weighed
1 IIOiu OlBhG " IOlI pOuhNlo. AhC Lhulhl1Oi
| stated that the coin was the result of years
| of accumulation.
"A certain Georgia Judge is so strict
| about the observance of good order, decorum
| and the personal appearance of those in at
| tendance at his court that few venture to Of
| fend. One juryman last week, on his way to
| court, had got half a mile before he remem-
| bered that he had not CO ubed his hair. The
/ juryman at once returned home and COM
| pleted his toilet.
| The people along the Columbia river
| were greatly surprised the other day when
four whales crossed the bar and swan away
| up the stream. They were big fellows, and
disported themselves in lively manner,
| owning the river for the time being, as the
| steamboats, were very careful to give them
] all the sea room they wanted. After having
| all the fun and making all the excitement
| they desired, the whales swan back to sea
| again.
| An Indian, in North Dakota, who re-
| Gently received large sum of money, de-
| termined to put on a style befitting his
| changed condition of life, With this idea ne
| invested $500 or 800 OF his money in q hearse,
| which some livery stable keeper made him
| believe was lust the thing iOr q family car
| riage With pair of big-bellied ponies to
/ draw it, he is perfectly happy driving about
| perched on the seat and his squaw and pap
| oOses squatting inside.
| AN underground lake has been discov-
| cred three miles from GeneSSe, Idaho. 1t
was found by well digger. At a depth of l6
! feet clear pure lake water ran out over the
| surface for time, then settled back to the
| earth's level. The most curious part of it,
| saws the Boise Statesman is that fish were
| brought to the surface on the overflow.
| "They have peculiar appearance and are
| sightfess indicating that they are under
| ground fish. The spring has attracted much
attention and many farmers in the Vicin-
| ity fear that their farms will drop into the
| lake"
The telephone has been put to many
uses but it has remained for the Chicago
telephone to reunite a family after 4 sepa-
ration of % years. While carelesSly looking
over q telephone directory late at night one
day last week, Miss Helen Wheeler happened
to run across the name of W. W. Wheeler.
That being the name of brother whom she
had neither seen nor heard of for many
years, she determined to call upon the tele-
phone as soon as the first opportunity pre-
sented itself. The next day she rang up'5094,
and, after asking several questions found to
her utter surprise, that she was really talk
ing to her brother, who had been lost sight
of by the family for over 25 years. The tele-
phone has been unjustly cursed by many
impatient business men, but there will be
one family in the world that will always
think kindly of it.