Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-19
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

| CUhlUUS CUNDENOdllOIsC.
Dancing is taught in many of the public
| schools in Scotland.
Guinea pigs allowed to roam freely In Q
! hen-house will keep away rats.
Eight ounces Of cork are sufficient to
support man of ordinary size in water.
About $1,000 women are employed a
telegraph operators in the United States.
An adult laboring man wastes five
ounces of muscle in the course of his daily
labor.
The Sultan of Turkey possesses some Of
the most luxuriant and costly baths in the
world.
When bees do not go out as usual, but
keep in or about their hives, rain may be eK-
pected.
In the Bank of England at least 60 folio
volumes or ledgers are filed with writing
daily in keeping the accounts.
1t was Queen AnnevRichard Us
Queen Anne-who in troduced trailing gowns
into England nearly 500 years ago.
Before the year 1775 only two stumps
were used in cricket instead Of three, to
which number they were increased in that
year.
The German and Austrian Alpine So
C1obY mas 6ToCEou Flu bdfONho Ia VIC iLOdAb'
aims where students can board at reduced
rates.
The mortality among cattle at sea, re-
sulting from cruelty, want OF water, &C., was
formerly stated at 16 per cent, while at the
present time it is per cent.
There are Is national banks in New
York City which have deposits exceeding
Sl5, 600 900 each, the largest amount being
$33, ,O0O, 900, in the National Park.
AT Liege about 10000 persons are en-
ployed in the manufacture of arms. During
recent years 1t is said that the productions
OF Liege have diminished in prestige.
Young ladies of Germany have SUPER
stition that If they bury drop of their
blood under a rosebush It will ever after in
sure the experimenter pair of rosy cheeks.
"A rapidly revolving brush which gets
its motive power through flexible tube at
tached to a small electric motor has been
found to operate practically in the grooming
of horses.
The Fiji Islanders believe that if man
dies unmarried his soul isdoomed to wander
about through the endless ages of eternity
in an intermediate region between heaven
and hades.
-Crematory experts say that it is impossi-
Bile to cremate set of false teeth. Four
thousand degrees of heat have been turned
onto the artificial grinde 3 without affecting
them in the least.
In the Oriental department Of the
British Museum, tablet has been de-
ciphered as containing an offer of marriage
made by q Pharaoh to daughter of tho
King of Babylon about 1880 B. c.
Without including the recently estab-
lished training colleges, there are now in
England and Wales Al institutions at which
candidates for the elementary school pro-
fession are trained and boarded
Chemical analyses of the soil Of differ
ent localities show that they all have q
slight trace of alcohol in their constituents
parts, due, perhaps, to cases of spontaneous
fermentation of vegetable matter.
The largest masonry dam in the world
has lately been completed in India, in con-
nection with the new water works for the
city of Bombay. 1t is about two miles in
length; 11s feet high and 100 feet thick at its
greatest depth
The Dismal Swamp in Virginia, one of
the largest of the swampy tracts in Amer
lea, is one of the most promising areas for
reclamation. 1t contains fully 1.5Oo square
miles, and is at present OF little value, e1-
cept for supply OF timber.
The first Lighthouse built on the Amer
ican continent was at st. Augustine, Fla.
Its chief use was as a lookout, whence the
approaching from Spain or get notice of the
coming of foes in time to run away.
No devout Russian will ever neglect
the religious service on Sundays and holy
days; the attendance in the churches, there
fore is always good. There are no organs In
the churches, but well trained chorus, the
voices of which are most impressive.
Ordinarily travel of 100 feet per min
ute is considered fair speed for pistons Of
pumps. For feeding boilers it should not
exceed so feet per minute. In fire pumps,
where the largest quantity of water Is re-
quired, the speed exceeds 2OOfeet per minute.
-Hokkien girls are taken to the Straits
Settlements and sold as domestic servants,
while japanese and Annamese females are
After being utilized in household duties for
q certain time they are sold for "what they
will fetch"
AT the Remington Oval on August 1
and over 10000 people paid admission
money at the many turnstiles TO witness the
cricket match between Motifs and Surrey.
These figures are far in advance OF any
previously recorded in connection with Q
cricket match
For practical purposes the Mediter-
ranean may be accepted as being what it is
popularity supposed to be, a tideless sea, but
1t is not so in reality. In many places there
is distinct rise and fall, though this Is mora
to lunar attraction.
There is a man in Java who makes q
good living as prophet. He has been paid
ESQ year for the last Is years for not pre-
dieting a tiGal wave which will sweep clear
over the island" The credulous natives be-
lieve that he has the power to attracta wave
that will overwhelm the country.
In the days of Queen Elizabeth it was
customary to strew green rushes on the un-
carpeted floor of the actors retiring-room in
theaters-hence the term green-room. Sub
sequently it was usual to decorate the walls
with green paper, and sometimes the rushes
gave way to q carpet of green baize.
Fossil remains of the huge animals that
inhabited the plains of Eastern Oregon hun
dreds of years ago are found in the placer
mines above Prairie City, A huge tooth
several inches across the crown was picked
up a few days ago, while early in the sum-
mer the immense skull of some anctees
species of animal was found near the, Same
place.
"A novel way of choosing partners at
ball has become the rage in some OF the
Western towns of the Un tied States. Alta
party sheet is stretched across the room,
the ladies stand behind it and advance their
feet few inches beyond the sheet Each