Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-30
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

I'm Siberia silk is sold in frozen state.
The docks OF London cover over 600
| acres
The earth is the greatest distance from
the sun on the morning of July6
"A Maine boy of 8 years is said to be
able to reDea. 40 chapters of the Bible.
| There arc now 1874 newspapers pub
| lished in the United States, of which l7J9
| are dailies.
] Embossed books for the use of the
blind persons have been prepared in more
than $50 languages and dialects.
"A Gardiner, Me-, clergyman has
adopted the plan of letting his congregation
| pick out the texts for his sermons.
The new high school of Japan is unique.
| ''High" in this case refers not to the degree
of education, but to the social status of its
| students.
"A little vase of Sevres ware, once pre-
sented by French King to Tippoo sahib,
was sold in London not long ago for 81 EOS.
1t is only eight inches high.
There is an old superstition to the effect
that If you catch the first wild bee Of the
year and keep it in your purse, you will
never want for money in abundance.
The cultivation of the sunfower is con-
sidered to be very profitable IN Russia. An
acre yields on an average l,s50 pounds, max
ing an income for the farmer OF $40 an acre.
The sea is infinitely more productive
than the land 1t Is estimated that an acre
of good fishing will yield more food in a
week than an acre of the best land will yield
in year.
ID. Martin, of Sangerville, Me-, has an
interesting curiosity, consisting of limbs Of
the beech and maple crossed, the maple,
rrlri do fa nI
the beech.
The Red Sea is for the most part blue
1t gets it name from the fact that portions
of it are covered by minute animalcula
which dye the surface of the water red
where they float.
"A large aerolite fell about three miles
northeast of Palermo, Cal, recently. 1t was
green in color. 1t left a long train of fire in
its wake and its striking the Garth was ac-
companted by an explosion.
An ingenious female has hit upon the
idea of a 'dress album in which tiny cut
tings of every gown belonging to its owner
are to be chronologically arranged, under
the dates on which they were purchased.
Observations made to determine the
longitude of Montreal showed that the time
necessary to transmit an electric current
across the ocean and back again was trifle
over one second, the distance covered being
5000 miles. .
One of the grandest sights in the shape
of a raiIroac train that ever steamed out of
Philadelphia left the Philadelphia and Read
ing station Tuesday en- route to Chicago via
the Wabash Railroad. The train consisted
of 20 new, bright engines.
-Macricystis, sea weed of the South
Pacific, often grows to be 90 TO 80 inches in
diameter and ], 500 to 9, 900 feet in length In
no case do any of these have roots. in the
nrn hair rich, INof, =.
sorbed from the water by all parts alike.
"A prisoner fleeing from tine Jail in Ozark
(Mo.) had two supposedly ferocious bulldogs
set on his trail; one dog was too fat to climb
over fence and lost time and the race in
hunting hole; and the other dog ran along
side the prisoner and went to playing with
him.
The flute is very old in its origin, but
the flute of to-day is different from that Of
the ancients. 1t has been improved upon
from time to time. and the old people would
probably fail to recognize it now. The flage-
olet, which is somewhat similar, is credited
to Juvigny about 1881
The first trumpet was sea shell, and
was used by very old nations. Trumpets
were well known in the days when Homer
lived, and y Hebrew feast of trumpets is
spoken of in the Bible nearly 100 r C.
Alexander the Great is said to have used a
speaking trumpet 335 B. c.
The Chinese have a varied menu for
their table but Celestial banquets find but
little favor with Europeans although Chi
nese cooking is n fine art in its way. As n
nation they scorn all tradition and the Chi
nese chef reseesz n"thips that walks, creeps,
flies, breathes or vegetables.
The white ant constructs habitations
many yards in height, which are so firmly
ana solidly built that the buffaloes were
hIo 70, \, nd thorr
atories; they are made of particles of wood
Joined by gummy substance, and are able
to resist even the force of hurricane.
-Creusot, France, has the most gigantic
iron chimney that has as yet been con-
structed in the world. It is runnelshaped,
big end down, % feet in diameter at the
bottom and at the top. 1t is exactly 279
feet and inches high, the total weight, ex-
elusive of the masonry foundation, being 50
tons.
The largest pyramid in Egypt is only
146 yards high. that is, about 80 times the
average height of man: whereas, the nests OF
the termites are 1000 times the height OF the
insects which construct them. Their habfta-
tions are thus II times higher than the
largest specimen Of architecture raised by
human hands.
"A speculative Scotch gentleman wanted
to dispose of some bees. So as to attract pur-
chasers he printed the following placard:
Extensive sale of live stock, comprising no
less than 40 900 head, with an unlimited
right of pasturage." The ingenious trick
succeeded to admiration, for his stock
brought high prices
The dolphin is credited with speed of
considerably over 20 miles an hour. For
short distances the salmon can outstrip
every other fish, accomplishing its 25 miles
an hour with ease. The Spanish mackerel is
one of the fastest OF food fishes, and outs
the water like the yacht. Predatory fishes
are generally the fastest swimmers.
According to the Greek theory of crea-
ton (which seems strangely at variance
with their refined ideas), Zeno. in a spirit of
cruel jest, ordered Vulcan to make a woman
out of clay, and afterward induced the
whole host of gods and gotdesses 20 invest
the clay image with all their worst qualities.
After this had all been done TO Zeno's lik-
ing the breath of life was breathed into the
statue, and caprlcIous woman started in her
cratic career.
IDYLLIC HUMORESQUES