Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-27
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

"A bedtime luncheon OF lettuce lnnuces
sleep.
The first negro bank in Richmond was
opened few days ago.
"A clock in Battle Creek, Mich, has
been running for 100 years.
"A Deadwood rancher shot bear u
times before vital spot was reached
"A Florida woman was nearly poisoned
tn death recently by accidentally inhaling
f1ea powder, which she was scattering abouS
o room.
.--Corea has cave from which wintry
wind perpetually blows. The force Of the
wind Is such that strong man cannot stand
before IL.
--England's "great blizzard" which be-
gan on the night Of March last, Is to be
hSnorsd to the extent Of having volums
"A Georgia man in splitting wood one
day found hickory nut firmly embedded
in the heart Of the timber. How it cams
there Is mystery.
DIR. Hinckle, of Americas, Ga, has .
piece Of chinaware 7ss years old. The date,
ll09, is plainly stamped on the bottom, and
its only haw Is broken handle.
AN English head servant gave notice
that he would leave for being excluded from
and thus losing the dinners stories.
There Is a mineral spring in Corea, the
healing properties Of which are believed TO
be miraculous. No matter what disease
may amict the patient, dip In the waters
proves eficactous.
During the Russian scholastic season Of
1sst92 craniometric and anthropological OBJ
seryations VIII be made upon all the students
Of the institutions Of learning Of the st.
Petersburg court.
Special cars for lnyalids will be placed
on the railroad lines which run to st. Peters
burg. They viii be fitted out with easy
berths and surgical instruments that may
be required in cases Of accidents on the
road.
"A new sewing machine by Welshmau
has no shuttle or bobbin. The thread is sup
piled directly from two ordinary spools. and
sews through the assistance OF a rotary
looper. It Is vastly more simple than any
other sewing machine.
"A Hungarian woman, 81 years old, was
a. passenger in q canal boat that reached
Brooklyn from Kensington yesterday morn
ing. When the boat was made fast sne and
the boats commander, aged 66, went arm-in-
Neither could speak the others language, 50
the ceremony, like the courting, had to be
performed with the aid Of an interpreter.
The tomato is both fruit and a vege-
table. The common distinction between q
fruit and q vegetable is that the former may
be eaten raw, the latter cooked. But a better
DISTINCTION. .having fewer exceptions, is that
BILE Is not. Perhaps combination Of the
| two distinctions makes the best definitions
A fruit Is sweet and may be eaten raw; q
| vegetable is not sweet, and needs to be
| cooked
One evening, W. T. Reeves, manager Of
the Postal Telegraph Company, in Madison,
Fla, found that his wires did not work be-
between that point and Greensboro. In the
morning Mr, Reeves started out on an inf
vestigating tour. When within six miles OF
Greensboro he found two mammoth snakes
hanging across the wires in such manner
as 70 connect the currents of each The
snakes had been killed, tied together, and
hung out to bring rain, the work being done
by darkies in the neighborhood.
"A railway across the ocean viii be the
next enterprise for modern genius to un-
dertake. A French engineer some years ago
wrote paper in which he assumed that at o
depth of say 600 feet the water of the ocean
| is of such density that it will sustain any
object which can possibly be placed upon il,
and then proceeded to propose the construc-
/ tion of q railway across the Atlantic by sink.
ing a continuous line of iron tubes in which a,
double track could be laid for the running
| Of trains from continent to continent.
1t has been reserved for an antipodean
| spouse to plead that the marriage service
binds husband to provide for his wife only
till death do them part, and that he is conse-
sequently not compelled to defray her fu-
neral expenses. The legal lumfnaries Of
Australia, unluckily for him, were not dis
and now, as by law established, be has dis
covered that a husbands duties only cease
when the undertaken is paid, and that a
woman's rights" include funeral expenses.
Matching the stories of valuable and
IN
is the English one concerning miraculous
transaction in Sevres china. Early in the
past century gentleman presented rever-
end friend with two vases as wedding
present. These vases stood for more than 70
years on cabinet In Somersetshire rectOry,
without attracting any particular notice,
until q sale took place after their owners
death, at which they were bought for two
few weeks they resold for 500 guineas to a
Bond street dealer, who speedily disposed Of
them for 1000 guineas.
In olden times if person accused of a
crime refused to plead he was condemned to
the ]forte peine ct dure." He was stripped,
taken into dungeon, and laid on the floor,
with a sharp stone under his back On him
was laid q door, whereon were piled heavy
weights, as much as he could bear and more,
The first day three morsels of bad bread
were given TO him, the second day three
draughts of stagnant water, and so until he
died. If a prisoner was convicted. his es-
tates were confiseated; to prevent this con-
fiscation many prisoners suffered this pun
ishment. In this country a man, called to
plead to an Indictment of withcraft, stood
mute, and is said to have been pressed to
death at Salem, Mass, in 1892.
The facilities for marriage in Heligoland
have been greatly eurtailed since it has be-
come q German possession. Among other
conditions both parties must produce certif-
ioates of birth in order to prevent Jews be-
ing married there. All who are under Is
must produce legally attested written con-
sent Of parents, or If these are dead, a GER
tifcate of their death. Widows or widowers
children, prove that the property willed to
those children Is securely settled upon them.
The entire expense of marriage in the
island is about 200 marks. In spite of these
conditions, marriage in Heligoland is much
simpler and easier affair than in Germany.