Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-18
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.
Chicago has training school for fire.
men.
| A saw in Philadelphia mill makes its
mill through steel bars four inches thick.
Patsy Sears, of Howard county, Ind,
] aged los years. has been q church member q
hundred years.
in one of the great Paris hospitals, out
| OF SO patients who suffered from epilepsy go
were found to he the children of drunken
| parents.
Prof. A. C. Reese, of Carrollton, Ga, b,
has been teaching school 56years. He says
he has taught nearly 5000 pupils, and never
has had but two to die in school time
| Seeing runaway horse dragging lit
tie boy by the feet along the road, a nervy
Hastings. Neb.. girl took hasty aim with
thus saving the boys lie.
/ The floating fire engine, propelled by
steam, which has been lately Duilt for the
! service Of the Prefecture of the Port, made
a short trial trip in the Marmora recently.
1t steams Il to 13 miles an hour.
The meanest man lives at Mt. Vernon.
He went into his back yard during the cold
snap last month, soaked his hair with water
let IL freeze ana tnen DrOke 1t on, in order
to cheat the barber out of q hair cut
"A Virginia City, New, youth was re-
Gently detected in the act of shooting an ar.
row. with a cigarette attached, through Q
broken window in the rear of the jail, to
some boys who were imprisoned within.
1t is stated that Paris firm of glass
makers has produced some porous glass to
be used for window panes. The pores are
too fine to permit of draught, but cause q
pleasant and healthy ventilation in a room.
-Risso relates that on one occasion a
huge female ray was captured at sea, and
her ate followed the boat for three days.
and then died These "devil fshesn are
said by some to defend their young with
great courage.
7 Experiments on bee stings as an anti
dote for rheumatism have already been
noted. A correspondent has written to the
effect that he has virtually found the sting
of bees an antidote to very severe rheumatic
pains to which he was subject.
The army register for 1892 shows that
of the 1.5s9 officers of the line in active serv.
Ice there are hut 81 who were commissioned
officers prior to 1861, viz: Nineteen colonels,
II lieutenant cOlonels and four majors, the
last, of course, in the artillery.
The minimum age of employment on
the continent is generally u, or from 12 to a.
But then English children only work %
hours per week, while in France and Ger
many the hours ire S6 in Isaly and Hungar ry
"a, In Holland &c, and In Belgium T.
In Rome q few tourists still hire
balconies the Corso, whence to throw
flowers ut other tourists. while they them
selves are the targets of a mob of rufflnnlv
boys armed with decaved vegetables. This
is all that is left OF the Roman Carnival.
"A new industry has been invented by a
clever girl. She calls herself IN accountant
and auditor for large households. She finds
plenty of employment in looking after the
business of n few families OF largo expendi-
ture, whose heads havo not tasse for tile
work
John and Samuel Manning, twin BROTH
ers, living on the same farm near Reserve,
Ind, married twin sisters in 1881, both of
whom died in 1880 In 1891 the brothers be-
came acquainted with twin sisters named
Swope, and there was another double mar
riage. d..
In taking medicine, due regard was
formerly paid by the superstitious to the po-
sitions of the moon at the time--diferent
parts of the body. they supposed, being un-
der its influence according to the zodiacal' a
sign through which the planet happened to
be passing at the time.
In Paris, male domestic servants are en-
couraged to marry, as they are observed to
be more settled and attentive to their duty
riages are discouraged, as rendering servants
more attentive to their own families than to
those of their masters.
"A new building material, of uncertain
or gin, but called 'fossil coral.- is being
worked on n small island of the Bay of Suva,
Fiji 1t is so soft that it can be easily cut
into any desired FORM but soon hardens
when exposed to the air, and acquires the
characteristics of fire brick. r.
There exists in some parts of South
Dakota, Colorado and Texas o singular
variety of grass called the sleepy grass"
When In a fresh, green state, this plant Is
strongly charged with narcotic propensities,
so much so that horses and cattle grazing 1t
are thrown into profound sleep.
Envelopes are supposed to be quite
modern, but in the Birch manuscripts in the
British Museum No 4433-l05. there il let
ter from Martin Triewald TO Sir Hans Sloane,
dated Stockholm, April "a. 1855, inclosed in
an ordinary envelope, which is opened out
and mounted at the end of the letter.
Paper barrels are now being made in
England and find ready sale. The factory in
which they are made has an historic inter-
as Two Waters Mill. 1t was one of the first
paper mills erected in England, and was
started during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
There is now imported into this country
peculiar vegetable material from Oran, an
Algerian seaport, on the Mediterranean Sea.
The fiber of this substance possesses the
quality ofbeing so elastic that it can be used
as substitute for springs and the like in
tho manufacture Of furniture backs and
seats.
In the snowy regions of the Himalaya,
little smoking tunnels are made in the
frozen snow at one end of which Is placed
some tobacco. along with n piece of burning
charcoal, while to the other the Inoun tain
eers place their mouths, and, lying fat on
their stomachs, inhale the smoke or the
glowing weed.
"A well-to-do, well-fed London clergy
man recently preached to a congregation Of
poor peope in the slums and took for his
topic: How to Be Happy Though Hungry"
He eloqusntly reminded his hearers that
though they niqht be hungry In this world,
they would be filed In the next world, and,
therefore, dIscontent with their lot was
grievous sin. o. i..-
In Harlem, women who go to their store
with babies get them checked and do their
shopping in comfort If the baby is in
carriage a boy gives a check for it and
amuSes the youngster until its mother has
finished her shopping. If it is not in u car
riage 1t is amused in the same way inside
the store. The plan is working well for
both storekeeper5 and mothers.
PICKINGs FROM PUCK.
"Have cigawett, Cholly, Of fel'?"