Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-24
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

New Zealand has 62 large creAmeIle~
-CaunibaIism is still praeticed in IA
places in the world.
Since 1860 Michigan has produced 6O,-
GA 464 barrels OF salt.
There are 45O industries in New Orleans
in which women labor.
The leaf of the banana is usually SIX
feet long by two feet wide.
The Electoral College of every State in
the Union meets January9-
The new Union station in. st. Louis will
cover 32 trains and cost s5,5OOOOO.
Rum is made from the refuse OF sugar.
The best comes from the West Indies.
I'm 1886 there were 81 ,210,0O spindles
in operation in Europe, America ana Asia.
New York City's annual production Of
manufactured articles is valued at 100000,
Somebody has discovered that pigeons
have been used as mail carriers for about
200 years.
-Snowshoe races have become popular in
Vienna and there is talk of erecting tobog-
gan slide.
In manufacturing occupations the aver
life of soap boilers is the highest and that
of grindstOne makers the lowest.
Both Greek and Roman ladies painted
their faces, for white using white lead, for
red the juice of an unknown herb.
AN lncandeseent lamp with three inde-
pendent carbon tilaments connected with
the same terminals is q new invention.
While boring a well near. Millersburg,
Ind, a four-foot vein or good coal, it is re-
ported, was struck, at q depth OF 70 feet.
"A triple wedding in which father and
his two daughters will figure will take place
on Christmas day, at Jeffersonville, Ind
"A portrait of Grover Cleveland, taken
oy Felix Moscheles seven years ago, is ON
exhibition in the Stacey Gallery, in Old
Bond street, London.
The costliest cigars ever exported from
Havana were quantity made expressly for
the Prince of Wales and valued at 81 81
apiece at the factory.
"A deaf and dumb book canvasser sold
76 books within four days recently in three
small New Hampshire towns, with commits
sions amounting to $50.
The profits of the Paris postofi, :, which
last year amounted to SlO,OOOOOO, have
moved the postoffice clerks tn consider what
steps they should take for getting their
salaries raised.
Much interest has been aroused in
at the palace of the Duke of ,Albe of a series
of letters written by Columbus relating to
his first discoveries.
The famous thoroughfare of Berlin,
Unter den Linden, is the best lighted street
in the world. 1t is illuminated by three lines
of electric arc lamps, which are separated
by two lines Of lime trees.
The common snail is said to have $50
rows of stout serrated teeth. The whole
palate contains about $1,000 teeth, it is
claimed, while iull grown slug has over
26,OOO OF these silicious spikes.
Pope Leo Kill owns pearl left to
him by his predecessor on the throne Of
St. Peter, which is worth 900 and the
chain of 81 pearls owned nv the Empress
Frederick is estimated at s35OoO.
The picture of General Boulanger on
horseback reviewing the French army, the
work OF Debat-Ponsan, has been recently
placed on exhibition in a number of cities in
Holland and Belgium, with bad results.
H. H. Drew and Miss Alice Crews
were married the other at Carrollton, Ga,
by Squire Tillman. The couple came to the
Squire while he was in a sawmill, and he
married them on a pile Of sawdust.
The famous Oaks plantation in South
Carolina has been sold for the phospate de-
posits on it, The plantation played a con-
and Marion and his men were often en-
camped there.
St Chad's Church clock, at Shrews-
bury, which was made last cen tury, has a
longer pendulum than any other clock in
Great Britain. Its pendulum is % feet long,
and the ball fees inches IN circumference
and 200 pounds in weight.
When there is a sale of the Marl-
borough orchids the news is thought inn
portant enough to cable over here. The
reason is that there are no less than 5000
specimens of the late Dukes favorite
flower, doubtless the biggest orchid squad
in existence.
BY means of extra sensitive photo
graphic plates, sunk in the Mediterranean on
one of the calmest days in the year, an
Italian scientist has demonstrated that tho
almost vertical rays or the midday sun in
midsummer do not penetrate beyond a depth
of 1J0 fathOms.
"A special committee of the Massachu-
sets Legislature seems to have established
the fact that Boston is the tramp's favOrito
citv, the easiest of all American cities to
work" This is q distinction that Boston
may enjoy without being hampered by
jealousy on the part of her sister cities.
Electric light baths are among the latest
inventions. The necessary parts of such
bath are a cabinet which will inclose the
entire body except the head, and 5Oelectrio
lamps OF l6-eandie DOW er or ITO volts ar
ranged about the body in groups, with
separate switch for each group. The light
is thrown on a section at n time, making the
patient frisky and browning the skin like an
ocean bath.
SMYRNA, Turkey, has an active circle Of
Kings Daughters engaged in the practical
charitable work for VIII 'eh the or der is
noted. By sewing, embroidering scrubbing
floors, blackening shoes, or any work for
which money would be paid, they have dis
tributeG rice and coal among the poor Wis
tied the sick, educated children, provided
medicines paid rents and done other SIM
liar acts of charity.
Genuine amber is becoming scarcer
every year, md it will not be long before a
real amber cigar hoIderaor pipe stem will bo
a rarity and a luxury. The true amber is =
fossil gum, which was produced in large
Quantities by trees, having restnOus sap
which flowed down the trunks and gathered
IN masses at the roots. 1t is found IN the
ground of marshes and other places where
forests flOurished i'll former times, nd IS
also secured by dredging.
"A St Ciairsville man tells the follow
ing snake story: William Brown found an
artificial egg floating in the river, and 10
being a good imitation OF hens eSg he
cut his initials on It and used it for nest
egg. Last June his mother went to the nest
and found a blaeksnake in possession. In a
few days the egg az missing. One day last
week Lon Augustine killed large black
snake, and noticing n lump on 1t stepped ON
it and out came the artificial egg with wv"