Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-17
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

!
The freshman class of the Detroit Medi-
cal College has q member who is IS years
old.
Out of 2,700 Congregational ministers
in England and Wales, at least 1000 are abb
stainers; of 36l students go are aostalners.
The interest on the Suez Canal shares,
which a year ago was returned at s24l, ,ss5,
has this year fallen to f222, III, a decline OF
fl9,S24.
"A resident of Hamilton, ILL.,, has Pc
titioned the City Council for the abatemens
OF nuisance in the shape OF dwarf jackass
that is stabbed a few feet from his door.
During the UNCONVENTIONAL year just
ended 306 members of the Society OF Friends
in Great Britain and Ireland died. The
average death was q little over 81 years
"A pet dog, which takes the air on the
streets dressed in dark cloth stockings or
gaiters reaching above the knees, and hav.
ing leather soles, is attracting attention in
Paris
There has just died in Poland once
celebrated beauty, who refused the hand Of
Napoleon I'LL She was the Princess Helene
Sagonsko, and died unmarried at the age
of 81 =.
In 1889 there were in Russia 312 match
manufactures, with an aggregate produc-
~ per cent manufactured phosphorous
matches.
"A Georgian discovered that a chicken
snake had taken three of his young chicks.
HE killed the snake, recovered the chicks,
placed them under the hen, and now they
DID fair to make good broilers in time"
Platte county, Mo-, reports a wonder in
the l5-year-old daughter of W. d. House, Q
farmer, who can read letters without break
NO. ia R<~<@I 49,
pages
A black bass Qarge-mouthed) was
recently caught near Waldo Fla, which
weighed q pounds. This tops the record by
81 pounds, as bass weighing 23Z pounds
was taken some years ago from Florida
lake.
The Egyptologists are continually max
ing fresh acquisitions of knowledge. A val
liable find of skeletons belonging to the
This is the earliest known data of Egyptian
remains.
The swellest New York hotels require
their elevator boys to wear dress suits. To
be thus clothed before o'clock is the mark
of serv1tude. No gentleman wears q dress
suit before that hour, SO consequently, dur
ing the day at least, the elevator boy is no
gentleman.
The Belgian Minister of War has Just
decided that in future every soldier will be
furnished with small bone disc, bearing
the name, birthplace and regimentaI num-
Der of the holder, so that in the event OF
him being killed or tnj ured on the field OF
battle Identification will be easy and rapid.
"A gentlemanly burglar by the name of
Keine Katzenellenbazen has been captured
by the police in New York while improving
the shining hour and his own opportunities
at the expense of others. The officers threw
n nj ms
and hoisted the remainder Of it out of fve-
story window.
The fire loss last year was S138, ,691 929.
This is more than the cost of the building in
New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chi
cago last year. Add the SS4 525, 1S4 paid by
the insurance companies, also tax and loss
70 the community, and the expense OF the
insurance companies, and the total gone up
in and by smoke is considerably larger than
the sum yearly put up in building.
Frau Probstl, who enjoyed the distinc-
ton of being the heaviest woman in Europe,
has just died at Traubring, in Bavaria, at the
age of Al. At her death she weighed over
count of her enormous weight it was inn
possible to carry her coffin from the first
story of the house in which she lived. Con-
sequently boards were put down the stair
case, over which the coffin was slid.
There are ,153 Americans residing in
the Chinese treaty ports. There are Il in
Annoy, IS in Canton, 81 in Chefoo. n in Chink-
lang, 81 in Foochow, 40 in Hankow, u IN
Newchang, ls6 in Ningpoo, 400 in Shanghai
and lS5 in Tiemtsin. OF thse sos are mission
aries, % tailors, % diplomats and Consuls, q
merchants, % in the Chinese customs SER
vice. miners, mining engineers, machin-
ists professors, chemist. The remainder
not classified.
"A new kind of porcelain made from as
bestos has been brought before the Academic
des Sciences. Paris, by NJ Garros- He grinds
the asbestos to a fire powder and frees it
from oxide Of iron by sulphuric or hydro
chloric acid, then makes it into paste,
molds it, dries 1t slowly, and finally bakes it
for II or Is hours at temperature of 1900
degrees c. 1t is very TRANSLUCENT, and has
been used successfully as hitter and sterll-
iZer.
"A reform which removes one of the
most shocking practices OF the Dark Ages
has just been brought through circular
sent to all the Governors in Finland, de-
claring the auction of paupers and lunatics
to be illegal. Up till now parishes have not
had asylums and workhouses for the sick
and aged; but everyone who has from one
reason or other had to live on the parish has
once in every year been sold at auction, and
given to the bidder who has offered the low
est tender.
The lower orders of Irish are as q rule
rather hypochondriacal, and they are fond
of trying peculiar remed1eS 1or their all
ments. A favorite poultice for wounds is q
paraffn candle scraped and some cabbage,
all boiled together. A simple but rather un-
pleasant remedy Tor a cut leg was recon-
mended to an old nian-ir was to sit with his
leg in bog hole all night This he tried
with perfect success. His leg got quite we'll;
hut as he died of bronchitis a few days
afterward, he did not long enjoy his ''Derfecs
cure"
The salary of the British Ambassador
at Paris Lord Dufferin) is $4,000; at Con-
stantinople $4,000: at st. Petersburg, s7,sOO;
Mt Rome, $1,000; Sir A. B. Paget, at Vienna,
has $4,000; Sir Z. B. Malet. at Berlin, $3.50;
Sir + G. Ford, at Madrid $500; Sir Horace
Rumbold at The Hague, f4. LOCO: Sir George
Petre, at Lisbon, E3,75O; Sir Henry Drum
mond Wolff at bucharest, $3.50; Sir E. J.
Monson, at Athens, S35O0, Sir T. r. Plunkett,
ut Stockholm, f3.4O0: Lord Vivian, at Brus-
sells f3 go: Mr.. st. John, at Belgrade, E2,050;
Mr. scott at Berne, e., ,450; while at Munich
Mr. Drummond has f1, 200, and Mr. Strachey,
at Dresden, ESQ.,
SMALL HUMOROSITIEs.