Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-09
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

year old.
Oxford has won 25 and Cambridge q
boat races.
The world consumes 1000, 900 of steel
pens daily.
On board ship the day is divided into
seven watches"
The oldest English public school is
Winchester, founded in 1887.
Ten million dollars worth of German
toys are sold in England yearly.
AN American doctor reports case of a
woman, IL years of age, who sheds her bones.
The ordnance survey of England took
So years to make, and was completed in 1850
1t is said that 127, 900, 900 boots and
shoes are yearly manufactured in the United
Kingdom.
The fastest ship afioat is the CITY Of
Pekin owed by the Pacific Mail COMPANY.
She cost s., 900, ,000
In 1885 tame elephant could be bought
In India for s225; now their prices range
from $3.50 to "a 600. s'
Fruit that drops on to your ground from
the branches of your neighbor's trees over.
hanging your land is yours.
In spite of the introduction of machin.
lace, there are ar least 100000 workers in
the various European countries.
rabbits, which were unknown in Avr.
Shire prior to HI, are now a perfect nufs-
ance to the farmers in some districts
Delivery wagons, the motive power of
which is electricity, are the newest vehicIes
in London. green grocer had the first
The American, Italian, French and
German exhibitions cost nearly 81 5O0OOo
and were visited by over 6.OO0 900 OF people
Burglary insurance is the latest novelty
IN the insurance business. 1t is being made
feature of by company which covers the
general accident insurance
Paris doctors are considerably exercised
over some fatal cases of an epidemic
tnou@ht to have been caused by birds
Drought from South America.
"A Philadelphia funeral team did ser.
wee at wedding few days ago. and the
Sozins S;.is orlver allowed the horse to carry the
Driual couple into cemetery.
"A Camden, n. J., lady deposited be-
purse containing $257 in lamp-post letter
box Wednesday instead of the letter II was
restored TO her by Postmaster Browning.
The Navajo Indians are very sunersti-
tioas- Not one will ever enter a house In
which death has BEEN and the wide don,oir
OF this tribe IS full of nuts abandoned for
ever. 4OA
-Ihe average number of letters written
per mead OF the population is: England and
Wales, 40: Scotland, 30 Ireland. 49, United
states: Il; France, 10; Germany, u: and
Italy, 7. 'NN
len years ago capable authorities esti-
mated the Gaelic speakers of Scotland to
number 100000, but the census returns for
this year show that only 23I6J2 profess to
'have the Gaelic"
I'm the event of war Russia eould Show
an army of 100000 men. besides Cossacks. E
FRANCE, on war footing, an army of 2SaO.-
Ooo; Germany an army of 2,3JiCOO under
twelve years service
When The Cameron Hiehlanderz
marched out of Edinburgh the other dav.
after a tour years residence, over go young
married women were left behind. the wives
OF men married without leave"
"A curious fact has been noted in Ireland
from the recent census. While the number
of Christians. including all denominations
has decreased during the past ten years. the
number OF Jews has increased 2s1 per cent.
The earliest known lens is one of rock
crystal unearshed by Layard at Nineveh.
This lens, the age of which is measured by
thousands OF years, now lies in the British
Museum, as bright and as clear as it was the
day 1t left the makers hands.
The Hindu places clock in his show
what the hour is, but because a clock is a
foreign curiosity. Instead, therefore of
ntenting himself with one good clock, he
will perhaps have dozen in one room.
"A balance of cents claimed by the
New York Customs collectors and disputed
by an importer, was collected last week un.
der threat of placing the claim in the Dis
trict Attorneys hands. The importer paid
it by means of certified check for the
amount.
In Japan, when an author is ready to
put his ideas on paper, he shuts himself in
his study and begins painting at the back of
all the pages of his new book He uses
paper of yellowish tint, marked with per-
pendicular and horizontal blue lines. A
beautifully ornamented ebony plate holds
his ink and several bamboo brushes, which
serve as pens.
The origin of menageries dates from the
most remote antiquity. Their existence
may be traced even in the obscure tradf-
tions of the fabulous ages, when the con-
tests of the barbarian leader with his fellow
men were relieved by the exploits in the
chase scarcely less adventurous, and when
the monster-queller was held in equal esti.
nation with the warrior chief.
The Puritan fathers, who settled in
America, were greatly addicted to smoking;
indeed, the practice became so common that
even these Strait-laced observers of time and
seasons actually smoked IN church. This
custom soon caused very considerable an
nnyance. as the religious exercises were
greatly disturbed by the clinking of steels
and fints and the clouds of smoke in
church.
Black is the almost universal mourning
color in Europe, but there are a few excep-
tions. For instance, in Russia black is
never used for covering Collins the cloth be-
ing of n pink shade when the deceased is
child or young person, a crimson color for
women and brown for widows. Italians do
not use black cloth, white being used in the
case of child and purple velvet in the case
Of adults.
"A Russian athlete, NJ. Vaiowski, hav-
ing made bet that he would cover the dis
lance between Bordeaux alc Angouleme.
there and back, on foot, 4 total distance of
l45 miles. in "a hours, started on recent
Sunday morning. He returned on the fol-
lowing Monday morning, having accom-
plished the double journey in 40 minutes less
.han the stipulated time, thus winning the
wager of 1000 francs.
In Hungary and Brittany the young
iris assemble on certain fese days,
Wearing red petticoats with white or
-ellow borders round them. The num-
,er of borders denotes the portion
he father is will ing to give his daughter.
Each white band, representing silver, de-
lotes 100 francs per annum, and each yellow
and denotes gold, betokening 1000 francs