Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-11
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

There are 300, 900 commercial travellers
in the United States.
The value of the oysters consumed In
London yearly is about s3 100000.
"A summer school for female students il
to be established in the Eiffel tower.
"A Lebanon county (Pa. farmer has
calf weeks old that is only IA inches high
and weighs but IS pounds.
Edward Mcdonald, of Allentown, Pa,
owns, or did own, dog which weighed but
lour ounces when it was months old.
"A merchant Of Yazoo City, Miss, has
young turtle with two distinct heads and
necks. 1t is covered by one shell and has
only one set of legs.
"A Brooklyn girl who was supposed to
have died of a broken heart, was found, on
post mortem examination, to have been q
victim OF stomach trouble. s...
The last census returns showed 5000
coachmen and grooms, sc, 900 male domestic
servants indoors and !, ,230 900 female domes-,
tic servants, or 1,359. 900 in all.
The schooner Edna and Emma arrived
from the Bahamas in Baltimore this week
with HC00 dozen pineapples the largest
cargo ever brought to that port.
Seals sleep upon land; they also do so
floating upon their backs in the sea. This
habit they mostly indulge In when the
weather is fine and the sea calm.
I'm Burmah it is rather a suspicious
thing to give money for charitable object.
1t is supposed to mean that the donor has
been very wicked, and is desirous to make
amends.
1t is not uncommon in northumberland
for a farmer to allow any of his laborers who
wish for it the keep of a COW as part pay.
ment of wages, greatly to the benefit of their
families.
The Oldest pair of matched horses in
Connecticut belong to Eli wakelee, of An
sonia They are 81 and 80 years old, and havi
been owned and used by him almost daily
for II years.
The directory for 1892 of the Ancient
Order of Foresters shows the Society to havr
over 100000 members and owning funds val-
ued at over s25 0o0 900. The average number
of sick on the books is % 03O
1T is said that some of the Venetians-
those who have never been to the mainland
have never seen a horse in all their lives.
A Snowman once brought one to fair and
called it monster, and the factory hands
paid Is cents each to see the marvellous -.
1T is now admitted that the inherent
hue Of water is blue. Even distilled water
has been proved to be almost exactly OF the
same tint as solution of Prussian blue.
This Is corroborated by the fact that the
purer the water is in nature the bluer is its
hue.
"A French savant likens the uuickness
of volition in an animal to the telegraph.
When q whale Is harpooned, he says, the
nerve telegraphs to the creatures brain,
"Harpoon in tail;' upon which the brain
telegraphs back, "Jerk tail and upset
boat"
The Chinese are ahead of the world in
the preparation OF roast pork for the table.
ffarf boa nft tl,a if Ia
in the smoke of various aromatic herbs,
which gives it delicious flavor and robs it
of the porky taste which is offensive to some
palateS.
Bargain day at the large shops in Har-
lem, especially on One-hundred- and-twenty-
fifth street, brings a band OF flower mer-
chants, who set up stands on the sidewalk
and sell overblown roses to the bargain
seekers at about half market rates for fresh
flowers.
This country was known 500 or 100
years before Christopher the Navigator was
born. Chinese Buddhist monks are known
to have settled in Mexico in the fifth century
of our era, and st. Brendan, the Irishman,
visited some identified spot on our continent
about 100 years later.
The length of the ancient cubit, so
often referred to in sacred and other writ
ings of early date, varied according to the
race Strictly. it was the distance from the
elbow to the tip of the middle finger Recent
Investigation proves that the Roman cubit
was 1S.47 inches in length. 't .+''
"A new storage battery is being en-
ployed on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad
for use in connection with electric lighting
of its cars. Twenty-four bells placed
under each car, and they supply eight 16-
candle power lamps on the round trip from
Cincinnati to Washington.
The umbrella is, undoubtedly, of high
antiquity, appearing in various forms upon
the sculptured monuments of Egypt, Assy-
ria Greece and Rome and in hot countries
it has been used since the dawn of history as
n sunshade-a use signified by its name de-
rived from the Latin umbra, shade.
One of the vegetable curiosities of Gen.
tral Park is q maple tree standing just west
Of the west side tennis lawn. The tree Is
fully five feet in diameter at the base, but
instead of rising one trunk 1t splits into
II distinct trees, Of which Is are alive, and
several are at least ten inches in diameter.
AN English firm has invented an in
genious device for turning on the currents
for electric lamps at certain hour An
ordinary clock is so adjusted that at the de-
sired moment a spring is released permit
ting a pair of pivoted cOntacSt to fall into
cups, thus completing the circuit.
-Parisians may soon be able to sit out
side their cafes on the boulevards and drink
heir absinthe blended with water straight
rom a Swiss lake. This is quite on the
"a rds, since Swiss engineer has submitted
i plan for supplying Paris with pure water
rom the Lake of Neufchatel at cost Of
100. .OOO, goo.
In Melbourne no Sunday papers are
permitted, no hotels are allowed to open
their bar doors from midnight on Saturday
,ntil Monday morning, and anyone driving
,ast ~ place of wor snip at n faster pace than
walk while service is in progress is liable
nan on 6Rtv. .3ai
1t is unlucky to try on your bridal
lress before the bridal day; to see your
uture husband on the day of the marriage
lntil the ceremony. Unluckv to marry out
,f your own position-that is, lady to
marry a servant or vice versa; unequal mar
.iages bring ungrateiul children. To bring
lowering Hawthorn into house denotes
cath i'll u family. go.
STARTERS FOR SMILES.
nE;.. Ero What On extraordinary month