Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-28
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

| CUhLVUD CVNDLyOh11
| A GOOD camel will travel 100 miles Q
day for ten days.
"A silkworm's thread is one-thousandth
part of an inch thick.
London contains 2, 900 more doctors than
the whole of Ireland.
The total length of the Turkish railway
system is now about 7s2 miles.
| In China, slips of mulberry bark servo
as money in the interior towns. 49,
| 1t is computed that no less a sum than
$4,000 600 Is annually spent on Sunday
drinking alone in the United Kingdom.
"A Georgia shoemaker has made for
the use of q customer a pair of shoes with
soles IA inches long and 81 inches wide.
The temple of Hom-mon-ii, at Inke-
| gami, begun in 1882 and finished in 1905 fs
one of the most famous religious structures
| in Japan.
| "A New York man tried to get the
| Legislature OF his State to pass bill provid-
| ing for the death penalty for owners Of dogs
| whose bite caused death.
-Ofthe 30 women who are engaged in ac-
| tive newspaper work in the State of Mich
igan, five publish their own newspapers in.
dependent of any associate.
Ill Olutu tlueS, Wien every pdIL OI tQo
body had its price, the beard was valued at
2os.-a large sum for the tfme-while the
loss of leg was only estimated at 12s.
The city of Paris has 81, 655 trees in its
streets, and each tree represents a cost to
the city of us francs. This makes in round
numbersSS, 600 900 worth of trees in the streets.
Bees are believed by many to be good
weather guides, being sluggish and inactive
in the morning If the day is going to be wet,
and active and lively If it is going to turn
out bright and fine. .-...
"A late census of the city of Lima,
Peru, shows 1t to have population of lc3.956,
males; 1851 of the Inhabitants can read, and
81, ,995 can neither read nor write.
For long-distance swimming the shark
may be said to hold the record, as he can
Outstrip the swfftest ships, apparently with
out effort. swimming and playing around
them, and ever on the lookout for prey.
There are towns in England, and
suburbs, too, of the great cities, where cul-
tivated women have hardly any chance of
marriage at all, the men all going to dis
tance to make their fortunes If they can.
There are evidences on all sides that
the song birds imported from Germany have
taken root, as it were, in Oregon, and are
rapidly increasing in number There is
considerable number OF them about Oregon
City and Salem.
The Suez Canal, which, up to the date
OF its completion was the most stupendous
undertaking OF its kind in modern history,
extends from Port Said on the Mediterra-
mean to SueZ on the Red Sea, the whole
length of navigation being 50 geographical
miles.
"A curious and interesting exhibition
has been opened in Vienna on behalf of a
charity. 1t is a model on large scale of the
battle of Custozza. in which the Austrian
troops, commanded bv Field Marshal the
Arckduke Albrecht, defeated the Italians
in 1865
"A little while ago, in Yorkshire,
mother brought her male infant and asked
that he should be christened princess
Beatrice" This name the clergyman refused
to accept, but the proud mother would only
give way SO far as to substitute prince" for
princess"
The average American is the head of a
family of five persons, earning 81, coo year.
He pays $50 of this into the national treas
ury, $50 into State, county, city or town
treasures and, at a moderate estimate, $23
more for the indirect cost of methods Of
collection.
England has taken up with the whale
back idea of steamship construction. A con-
tract is reported from there for cargo
steamship on an entirely new principle.
She is to carry 9, 200 tons on draft of Is feet,
and will have a net register tonnage of only
LOO to ESQ tons.
japanese auctions are conducted upon
a plan which gives rise to none of the noise
and confusion which attend such sales in
Britain. Each bidder writes his name and
box. When the bidding is over the box is
opened by the auctioneer and the goods de-
clared the property of the highest bidder.
In 1911 sea woman was .aken alive
near the island OF Boro She was five feet
long. After surviving four days she died,
not having eaten anything Her head was
like that OF q woman, the eyes light blue
and the hair sea green. The upper parts OF
her body, were almost at white as woman's,
but the lower part was like the tail of
fish.
"A curious marriage custom is recorded
by DR.. Post as existing in Southern India
among some of the more primitive nom
Aryan tribes. This consists in wedding q
girl to plant, a tree, an animal, or even to
an inanimate object, the notion being that
any ill-luck which may follow an actual
marriage will be averted by union of this
kind.
In preaching against the sin of hirta-
tion the other day French priest grew
quite warm in charging the women of his
congregation with the offense. Suddenly he
took Off his skullcap, and pretending to
throw it said: I'll throw my. cap at the
woman in the congregation ducked her
head.
I'm every plaster of Paris statue which
an Italian carries through our streets for
sale there is one pound of water to every
four pounds of chalk. The air we breathe
contains five grains of water to each cubic
foot of bulk. The potatoes and turnips
which are boiled for our dinner have, when
in their raw state, the one 10 per cent and
the other 80 per cent of water.
-Chamaret, a small French township Of
about 600 inhabitants, has windfall which
will forever relieve the dwellers of that
happy spot OF the burden of taxation. On
the will OF an old miser being opened it was
found that he had bequeathed 100000, the
wh ole of his boarded wealth. to the COM
munity. This will bring in yearly revenue
of about 5000, sufficient, it is said, to defray
all the expenses OF the parish.
The only States that have large
salaries for their Governors are New Jersey,
New York and Pennsylvania, which give
their chief executives $4,000 annually. The
salary of $1,000 prevails in California and
Illinois. Seven States have salaries at =, 900;
four States pay little AS 2OOo VIZ: Deia-
ware, Maine, MICHIGAN and New Hampshire,
and two States, Oregon and vermont, pay
annually to each OF their Governors the
munificent sum of 81 $50.