Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-28
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

Buckles were first made in 1850.
The Shah of Persia has a tobacco pipe
worth s400, ,OC0.
KEY West, Fla, has great-grand-
mother who is not yet 40 years old.
in the United States there are about
16, 900 900 cows, one for every four persons.
Flower farming for the manufacture Of
perfume is being carried on in Australia
in the year 1885 tulip bulb was sold
for 50, 200 in Holland. 1t weighed zoo grains:
The manufactures of cigarettes has in
creased in 13 years from 23s 900 900 to ,s77 OOO
600.
"A copy of the first edition of the "Vicar
of WakefieIdn was sold a short time ago for
The maintenance of the Sultan's harem
is said to cost Turkey 3OOOo.OOO gold rubles
yearly.
The st. Louis Chief of Police requires
the 1000 Chinese in that city to be photo
graphed. ..
A Young man aged 81 years married his
aunt, who was 45 years old, at Dayton, o.,
few days ago.
Maine supplies most of the Christmas
trees In New YORK City, and exports many
to South America
An ordinary day coach weighs about
$4,000 pounds; Pullman sleepers weigh
about Is. 900 pounds.
"A field of wheat is reported to have
f1oated down the Missouri river past At
Gibson, Kan.- recently.
Miss Nina Cromwell, of Detroit, is the
owner of q bible which is said to have been
the property of Oliver Cromwell.
Wooden railroads were built in Eng
A,-of,, ~,
the first iron railroad was laid in America in
1927.
-Lace-making was first done by Barbara
Uttman about 1850, though the invention is
claimed for an earlier date by France and
Italy.
Brass pins were first made by the
Saracens in Spain in A. d. 800; were brought
to England by Catharine of Arragon, wife Of
Henry VIII.
The first electric light was the inven-
ton of Static & Petrie, in 1916, but scores OF
men have since made Improvements and
adapted it to popular use.
Indian newspapers tell of school
teacher in Lackharabad who was attacked
by lion and kept the animal at bay with q
common broom until assistance arrived.
California, Mo-, young ladies have or
ganized cooking club, and the young men.
in retaliation, have established an eating
club. Reciprocity has been determined on
"A Canadian customs officer distinguished
himself few days ago by assessing 3 Buff
falo Sunday school picnic party 50 go on Ice
cream which they took over into Canada as
part of their lunch.
The water clock was known in Rome
B. c. l5S. Dial clocks were first put up in
A. d. 9l3: striking clocks were Saracenic,
about sol; pendulum clocks were invented
in 164l; repeating clocks in 1876.
The costliest paintings of modern times
have proven to be Meissonier's "ls14" and
Millet's "The Angelus." NJ. Chauchard gave
$50 600 francs (sl7O OOO) for "18l4' and 10000
francs ts15O,OOO) for "The AngeIus."
The first handkerchiefs on the British
islands were made in Paisley Scotland, 1743;
were made popular on the Continent by the
Empress Josephine, who had bad teeth, and
held her handkerchief before her mouth
when she laughed.
There is rock in Mexico which fore
tells the weather. In fair weather it wears
a neutral tint, and when it is about to rain
1t turns to a dingy red Its temperature in
creases, and it appears as If it were being
heated by an internal fire.
One of the features of the Fourth of
July parade at Trinidad, Col, wasa Chinese
that town, attired in resplendent oriental
costumes and playing on fearful and won
derful instruments OF sound
neutrality-suspicious. is the medical
term for color blindness, and statistics
show that men are much more chromatop-
seudoptically inclined than women man
invariably succumbs to hopeless chromatop-
seudoptitude when he tries to match . rib
bon. 7--S .r 's+ 5-.s t-a1tIzSSl
Envelopes were first used in France in
the time of Louis XIV. In the Egerton col
lection of manuscripts at the British Mu-
scum there is an envelope, something like
those of the present day, which contains a
letter written by Madame Pompadour in
1850.
Miss Ella Ewing, of Scotland county
Mo-, is coy damsel of IS summers who
measures 8 feet inches in height and is
still growing. She is said to be retiring in
disposition, but exhibits quite an amount Of
exuberant girlishness among her intimate
friends.
An advertisement for man to fill the
position of hansman has been published in
the Vienna Official Gazette. The salary offered
is 500 per annum, with $50 for lodgings and
500 1or two assistants. Candidates must
give certificates of ability, experience and
good character.
The most costly book in the world is
declared to be Hebrew Bible, now in the
Vatican. In the year 1872 it is said that Pope
Jules II. refused to sell this Hebrew Bible
for its weight in gold. which would amount
to sIO3, ,OOO This is the greatest price ever
offered for q book.
An enterprising English firm desires to
put boardings along the banks of the Suez
Canal and lease these accommodations for
advertising purp- ses. They have an idea
that a considerab BILE revenue can be derived
from this novel source The Egyptian Gov
ernment is now considering the proposi-
ton.
The beautiful enamsled cup of Charles
vi. of France has been acquired by the Brit
ish museum at the expense, not only of the
nation, but of several subscribers, who gen.
erously made up the necessary sum for tho
purchase The cup was presented by James
L of England to the constable of the CASTLE
in 1910