Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-29
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

1t is said that of 10,757 farms in Utah
9,724 are made fertile by irrigation.
Missouri is the most populous State
| west of the Mississippi and is nearly as Dig
as all of New England.
| A sensible dog at Auburn, Me-, regu-
| larly disappears in the country en- July and
doesn't come back until dog days are over.
| "A watchful Chicago dog ''treed"
burglar on pile of trunks in the store-room
| and kept him there until the man of the
house arrived on the scene.
| George C. Curry has arrived at VAN
couver from Alaska in a dugout canoe, and
| it is said he is the only white man who ever
J made that journey in such a craft.
"A pair of carriage lamps have been
made for Major Mckinley without that
| gentleman's knowledge by factory in
| Bridgeport Conn, from American tin-plate.
Joan of Arc is soon to be canonized.
| Caprara, procurator of the faith, has col
| lected all the necessary documents, and ST.
Joan will soon be entered upon the list Of
holy, eanonized ones.
"A Burlington woman refused to con-
tribute to the fund for the support of her
pastor because he sometimes practices law
while engaged in the ministry. She holds
that no man can be a good Christian and
practice law.
"A SeQuOld Tree mas Deen IOu0u III NAuS
River Canon, in the Nevada mountain range
whose original diameter exceeded 40 feet,
but has been reduced by fire to 80 feet. This
is larger than any of the gigantic trees dis
covered in California by seven feet
An English naturalist has discovered
proofs that the bedbug was quite common in
the armies of the world at least 120 years be-
fore the Christian era, and that he was ever
q sea rover, as the fleets of that day had their
iTnb atO with tbiS bread of N al
providers.
Death has made havoc among the
general officers of all grades that served in
the Confederate armies. OF the total num-
ber-98Lonly 1S4 are now living. Gustave
P. T. Beauregard is the only general surviv-
ing, and Edmund Kirby Smith the only
general with temporary rank.
A monkey in New York got a bottle of
whisky the other day, and after swallowing
the contents, proceeded to rip things up
generally and even went so far as to decline
to hand over the pennies that were given to
him for his boss organ grinder, preferring to
squander them all on himself.
The official literary statistics of Turkey
show that during the year 1890 only $40 books
were published in Constantinople. Of this
number l97 were in the Turkish language,
mostly novels and theatrical pieces; 10 in
the Armenian tongue, principally religious
contents; Sc in Arabic on Jurisprudence,
| philology and religious dogmatism, and the
restwere in other languages of Europe.
For several years the California Chinese
| engaged in the fruit business in small way,
but this season they have gone into the
larger districts and have proved a decided
thorn in the side of the white dealers. Their
presence of buyers instead of laDorers has
! aroused the bitterest opposition from the
whites, who declare that the Chinese will
| ruin the reputation Of the California fruit
| trade.
Nathaniel Witherell, who died at Glens
Falls, N. Y, always regarded himself as a
living oddity. He was the thirteenth child
and the seventh son of his parents and the
Youngest child in the family Mrs. W1ther-
ell, who still survives her husband, occupies
the same relative position in her fathers
child and the seventh daughter of her
parents.
The United States census reports only
| ITO paupers in Louisiana. There is no suff-
| cient pauper law in the State-there was no
provision whatever made for paupers even
| In New Orleans until the Shakespeare aims
house was constructed a few years ago and
| it is unable to hold half of those entitled to
| admission-and in only a few parishes is
| any provision made for their care and MAIN
tenance.
THE Poetess of Tarrytown," Miss
Minna Irving by name, has brought suit
1Or 80, UOO damages against q next uOOF nelSH-
Dor for literary losses of hers by being kept
awake nights and irritated during the day
by the bowling of dogs Miss irving re-
quires certain degree of quiet and solitude
in order to turn forth her poems, and when
these are denied her she regards her loss as
decided pecuniary one
Lord Wolseley tells of curious relic in
the possession of the wife of the American
Consul at Madeira. 1t is only simple paper
knife, but it would be difficult to find any
thing more interesting than it, On one side
is written: 81 broke this. D. ID. Porter" On
the reverse is inscribed: 81 mended it, W
T. Sherman" The owner met these two
great Americans at Gibraltar, and remem-
bers them with great pleasure.
"A stray horse >entered a Brooklyn
candy store the other day to the great hor-
ror of the proprietor, picked up some candy
and held it out to the young woman clerk.
While she was wondering whether the ami
NAL wanted the candy wrapped up and sent
home or not, the horses owner came in and
explained that the petted beast wanted
some one to hold the candy while he ate it.
he was used to being fed from the hand, and
thought he could eat i'll no other way.
"A gentleman in Waterbury, Conn, had
two canaries, and to protect them from cats
he kept them in heavy wire cage, hung in
the second story of rear room. A grape
vine twined around the window of the room.
Entering the room the other morning the
gentleman found o blacksnal1e over five feet
long in the cage, making the most desperate
efforts to escape. 1t had swallowed one of
the birds, which had caused it to swell so
much that it could not slide out between the
wires through which it had entered. The
snake had crawled up the grapevine 20 feet.
1t is not an unheard of thing for a man to
delegate to his wife the care of his wardrobe
and the task of keeping the run of his social
engagements, but who ever heard of a man
who had to be sent to his meals? In Bruins
wick, Me-, there is such man. His wife was
away and he was to take his meals at a
restaurant. The first day of her absence, he
paid no attention to the supper hour, but
kept right on working until it was time to
close his place of business, when he went
home and retired, without getting any sup
per. The next morning he left the house
early and going to the shop began his work,
never thin king of his breakfast until nearly
IL o'clock.