Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-29
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

The entire coast line of the globe Is
l36, 900 miles.
in Wisconsin there are II postofices
kept in saloons.
The clock tower of the Houses of Par
lament is 320 feet high.
"A North Carolina woman only learned
to write after she had passed the age Of 81.
"A late fad among womankind is gold
band ring for the thumb Of the left hand. It
is of Grecian origin.
The largest fresh water lake in Europe
Is Lake Ladoga, which covers an area Of
nearly 1000 square miles.
1t is seriously proposed to purify the
Thames by importing a school of crocodiles
to act as river scavengers.
"A torger in Los Angeles, Cal, was de-
tected by means of small ink spots that were
spattered over his shirt bosom.
The hardest known wood is said to be
cocus wood. 1t turns the edge of an az, how.
ever well tempered, SO 1t is claimed.
Wax came into use for candles In the
twelfth century, and wax candles were es-
teemed luxury in 1900, being but little
used.
"A subscription of s32 81 from each in.
habitant of the United States would wipe
in the country.
Appliances connected with a marine
railroad in EIizabetnport. N. j., render it
possible to haul 2,500-ton vessel out of
water in nine minutes.
1t is said that the art of printing took
It's origin from some rude impression taken
(for the amusement of children) from let
tiers carved on the bark of q beech tree.
Mark Kenniston, of Phillips, Me-, had
the smallest bear probably ever seen by
man, and he has been mounted artistically.
1t is six inches from tip to tip, and is three
inches in height.
The completion of the Savannah, Amer
icus and Montgomery Railway, a Georgia
enterprise, adds another to the interesting
list of railroad nicknames. The line is al
ready known as the sam" road.
From very ancient times to the present
day the Chinese have observed the strictest
ceremony with regard to the paying of Wis.
its. The cards which they use for this pur.
pose are very large, and usually of bright
red color.
Mile. Paulina, a native of Queens
land, Holland, is said to be the smallest hui
man being in the world. She is nearly is
years of age, her height is Is inches and her
weight pounds. Unlike most of tho
"midgets," she is remarkably pretty and
accomplished, speaking four languages
uuently.
Berlin is to have shortly a crematory
erected at the city's cost in the Fried
richsruh Cemetery, where bodies of the poor
ical Investigation at clinics and hospitals
will be reduced to ashes. The bodies from
the anatomists' tables alone number about
LOCO annually.
I'm Derbyshire and Wiltshire the bees
are told of q wedding, and favor is at
tached to each hive. One of the oldest su-
perstitious, referring to hiving off or swarm
ing, runs thus: "a swarm of bees in May Is
worth q load of hay; swarm of bees in
June is worth n silver spoon: but If they
swarm in July you had better let them fly"
The natives of Gibraltar, and also the
Moors, across the Strait, have tradition
that.somewhere on the rock there exists
cavern whence q subterranean passage leads
under the strait to the mountains on the
other side. The existence of the passage,
they say. is known to the monkeys. who reg
ularly use it in passing from one continent
to the other.
Canary birds fed on Cayenne pepper
change color and pass from yei-
low to rod. Cayenne pepper, in addition to
O tinctorial substance, contains an irritating
principle and an oily matter. When these
two latter principles are extracted through
maceration in alcohol the pepper loses its
colorfDg property upon the plumage of the
of maceration the coloring action reaopears.
Some of the North American Indians
will cat rattlesnakes roasted, but their great
dish is boiled and roasted dog, without the
of skinning or otherwise cleaning,
and they regard the intestines as the choicest
part of the buffalo or steer The Pariahs of
have still stronger stomachs, for
they contend with the dogs, vultures and
kites for putrid carrion.
ar 81 o,n -
by Kennebec newspaper: Cater
pillars were discovered last week by Broth
er-in-law McFadden; robbins. in focks. by
Jack Fardy, and singly by Charles Fogg;
crows by Brother Carpenter; spirits fru-
menti by James Patrick: scven-inch trout
by the editor; pussy willows by the school
girls, and new spruce gum by the school
marlns-"
"A traveller in Africa relates that he saw
a meeting of two negro chiefs. who embraced
each other and pulled their middle fingers
until they snapped, each trying to vie with
the other in the loudness OF the sound; and
\ French traveller mentions his meeting
with tribe in New Guinea whose mode OF
3alutation was to stand before him with
leaves on their heads as symbol of friend
ship and peace. This mode certainly seems
most significant as well as most pic
.uresque.
-Four years ago Miss Lena Woodard,
living on Thorn creek, Wash, sowed the
seed from one head of barley. She harvested
The crop with pair OF shears and sowed the
amount received the next year; again har-
vesting it with her shears. The third crop
ler father cut with a grass scythe, getting
enough barley from this crop to sow 40acres
ast spring, which averaged 40 bushels to the
lcre when threshed, making total
1ield of 600 bushels from one head of barley
n four years.
I'm the strange little country of Holland
he three principal cities are Amsterdam, I
Rotterdam and The Hague. These cities
re u peculiar medley of canals and streets,
rees and masts, bridges and boats. Amid
heir apparent disorder there Is more or less
II symmetry. Amsterdam is semi-circle,
rotterdam an equilateral triangle and The
Hague a square. The difference between
he three cities socially has been aptly put:
AT Rotterdam fortunes are made, at Ain-
terdam they are consolidated. at The
Iague they are spent"
PICKINGS FROM PUCK