Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-04
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

But one thunderstorm has been wit
messed in Arizona during II years.
"A Maine boy of 8 years is said to be
able to repeat 40 chapters Of the Bible.
In New York last year 2,74s buildings
we're commenced and 1879 were finished.
| I'm Jerusalem the finest and, in fact, the
only hotel, is kept and owned by Philadel-
| phian.
| A mineral resembling iron ore has been
| found in Montana that takes fire on exposure
| to the air.
| Quill toothpicks came first of ali from
| France. Tie largest factory in the world is
| near Paris, where there is an annual product
| of 20, 100000 quills.
-Fathom is from the old Aryan root fat,
| to extend, and denotes the distance from tip
! to tip when the arms of an aVerage-sized
man are fully extended.
Hitherto the British bushel has been
| reckoned as 81 pounds of grain, but
change having been made in the standard
weight the bushel in future is to be defined
by so pounds.
The most northerly railroad in the
| world now building runs from Lulea, a small
| town on the Gulf of Bothnia to Eldegaar,
! within the Arctic circle. 1t will be ready for
use next summer.
"A muscular colored man in Arundel
county, Maryland. killed an infuriated bull
which attacked him by seizing the animal
| by the horns and throwing him with violence
su1nc1ent to break his neck.
"A lot of wild dogs infest Sherman
county, Kan, and make life burden to the
lnnaDltants. They are supposed 70 be
hounds returned to wild state. They run
together and attack both man and beast.
With the desire of giving her husband
true picture of herself a woman in Atchi-
son. Has, had her photograph takensas she
appeared at daily housework in her kitchen
dress, with a baby on one arm and broom
and dust-pan on the other.
"A thornless raspberry has been examined
by Prof. Britton, of New York CITY. 1t was
sent to him by Prof. MIllspaUgh, of the West
Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station.
1t grows luXuriantly in Randolph county,
w. Va, and bears fruit but no briars.
The New England States use Formosan
teas, the Middle States all kinds of Oolong
teas, green teas and a few Congos; the South,
principally green teas, and the Northwest
and Canada, Japan teas, which latter consti-
tute over one-half of the entire consump-
tiOn.
Various stories have been told of the
tails of the Nam Mans of Central Africa,
who have also been asserted to be canni-
balls. Their tails have been described as
smooth and as hairy, as peculiar to the
men, and as possessed by the men and women
both.
Among the many curious things in the
plant world there is none more curious than
the solanum gatatrum,a recent addition to q
California conservatory. The plant bears
hard-boiled eggs for fruit. At least the
fruit resembles a hard-boiled egg with the
shell taken oil, as nearly as a truly egg can
"A tavorite food fish in Japan is the tai
1t contains two bones, which the Japanese
call, from their shape, the hoe and sickle.
When eating the fish mother will tell her
and SICKLE" and the children use them as
playthings.
Poisoning by mussels is a well-known
fact. Such poisoning appears in chronic
form in Terra del Fuego, mussels being
abundant on the Shores and other kinds of
food rare, so that the natives eat large guam
titles of the former daily, both OF bad and Of
good quality.
-Spaniels. of which there are many
breeds, are supposed to have first come from
Spain, from which circumstance is derived
their distinctive name. Charles /. was
ardent admirer of small variety of this
animal, and from that arose the designation
of his pets known the world over as the
King Charles.
Chester Hall, ex-postmaster of Dan
ville Ind, beasts OF an educated cat. Ono
cold night recently the door bell rang and
when MIR. Hall answered the bell what
should walk in but the family cat Since
then whenever the cat wants TO enter the
house it rings the bell and continues the
ringing until admitted
-Firefies are utilized in Cuba and else
whore for ornaments, wherewith the gowns
and coiffures of ladies are adorned on festive
occasions. One can read by the light which
n few of these insects grve. One point that
may be urged in behalf OF these irehies is
fnaf fhnE- Kill n hal at
ter their favorite prey.
Amber is found in irregularly shaped
pieces, usually of small size, but in 1876
mass weighing IL pounds was found in Prus-
sia and a few years ago the. largest lump on
record, weighing % pounds, was discovered
on the shores OF the Baltic. A mass weigh
ing Is pounds was found in Lithuania, and is
now preserved in the royal cabinet ut
Berlin.
Along the Arctic coast men cut off the
hair on top of their heads, so that they look
like monks, the object being to avoid scar
ing the caribou by the fiutter of their locks.
The Esquimaux are fond OF eggs not yet
hatched, but about to be. They are much
addicted to liquor and tobacco, and it is a
common thing to a nursing infant with
a quid of tobacco in its mouth.
Three small-grained varieties of COM
mon wheat were cultivated by the first lake
dweilers of Switzerland. 1t was also culti-
waited by the people OF Italy anu hungary
in the time OF the Stone Age, and by the
Egyptians as long ago as 1853 years b. c.,
this latter fact being proved by grain of
wheat found imbedded in one OF the bricks
of the pyramids to which the above date
has been assigned
An interesting incident, showing at
how great a distance conversation can be
carried on, is related by Lieutenant Foster.
of the third Parry Arctic expedition, in
which he says he conversed with man
across the harbor of Port Bowers, a mile
and a quarter away, and it has also been
asserted on good authority that at Gibraltar
the human voice has been distinctly heard
ut a distance of ten miles.
In Singapore the bridegroom must Sc
cure his bride in a race, and this custom of
bride chasing is quite common throughout
Southern and Eastern Asia. In Singapore a
circular course is marked out half OF which
is traversed by the maiden-incumbered
only with waistband-ere the word is given
for the wouid-be possessor to go in pursuit,
in the hope of overtalling her before she has
thrice compassed the circle; that achieved,
she has no choice but to take the victor for
her lord.