The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-08-24
OF GENERAL INTEREST.

The Standard Oil Co. has secured
the contract for furnishing oil for fuel
for the worlds fair 1t is thought that
| at least 225. 900 barrels, of AZ gallons
each, will be required. and this is to be
furnished during the year 1898, for 7a5<
cents a barrel, delivered at jackson
park
Snakes climb by means Of ribs and
the scales on the abdomen, to which
each rib is attached by set of short
muscles These scales grasp the sur
face over which the snake passes, some
species being able to climb trees with
great facility. On a perfectly smooth
surface serpent cannot move
The Americans are said to be the
best buyers of diamonds IN the world,
and insist upon having the finest stones
and the most perfect cutting. Russia,s
fancy is for the large yellow diamonds,
and China has recently become large
buyer, owing to the fact that the en-
press has broken the custom there
which prohibited women from wearing
diamonds
In the government building at the
worlds fair will be exhibited an origin
al standard surveyors chain, author
lied by act of congress, May ls, 1877,
for executing surveys OF government
lands The chain was made by Ben
jamin Rittenhouse, of Philadelphia. in
1877, and is still in the same hard
wood box IN which it was sent out by
the manufacturer.
"A curious and beautiful superstition
prevails among the Armenians that.
when anyone is seriously i'll, the sick
room is filed with angels who are sent
TO watch over the patient For this
reason the room is beautifully draped
and furnished with flowers, sweets,
dried fruits and cakes, and each visitor,
on entering, strikes chord on a mu-
steal instrument which hangs at the
head Of the sick-bed.
The Calling gun is now worked by
an electric motor in the American navy.
The motor is attached to the breech of
the gun Hitherto a couple of men
were required to serve the gun, one to
train the piece and drop the shot, the
other TO work the firing crank; but now
one man is sufficient BY touching
switch he can train and operate the
gun at will, 50 as to fire either single
shot, or at the rate of 1900 a minute.
-American girls. in search of foreign
titles, must now look TO their laurels,
for the Australian beauties are begin
ming to attract the attention OF titled
Englishmen. Miss Maud Wilson. whose
engagement to the earl Of Huntingdon
has Leen recently announced, is said to
be the first Australian girl woced and
won by an Englishman of title in En-
gland. though other colonial marriages
and engagements have occurred in Aus
tralia.
Nine men had to hold a patient with
ropes the other day while dose of med
icine was administered The dose con-
sisted of three pills. each the size of
cricket ball, and the patient was the
Caliph. in Central park,
New York. The medicine comprised
2,940 grains of aloes and 40 drops of
croton oil, combined with linseed oil
anu AIlSCI. lIlC tBtAAS HC1C 1OICCu
down Caliph's throat with policemans
club. The patient speedily recovered.
Mr.. Nicholy Jensen, of Washing
ton, has patented a simple device that
greatly facilitates the accurate setting
of watches. It consists in lever
which, when pulled out, stops the sec
ond hand at the sixty point After
this the other hands are set, and when
the secondhand of the regulator
reaches the sixty point lever on the
watch being set is pushed in This re-
leases the secondhand and the other
two the same moment The three
hands thus march in step.
The bluejay is the most persistent
practical joker in the feathered king
dom. He will conceal himself in a
clunp of leaves near the spot where
small birds are accustomed to gather,
and when they are enjoying themselves
in their own fashion will suddenly
frighten them almost to death by
out like hawk Of course
they scatter in every direction, and
when they do so the mischievous rascal
gives vent to a cackle that sounds very
much like laugh. If he confined his
pranks to such jokes as this, however,
he would not be such bad neighbor to
birds smaller than himself. but when
he amuses himself by breaking the eggs
in their nests and tearing the young to
pieces with his bill he becomes pesti-
lent nuisance, and they often combine
their forces TO drive him out of the
neighborhood