The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-01-27
OF GENERAL INTEREST.

oing and other desserts. It comes
uown from time of simple manners,
when sauce was applied by dipping each
persons portion of food into a common
vessel containing the dip"
Maryland biscuits are seldom or
never seen in New York, and are not
oiten made anywhere north of Della
ware. They look like porcelain door
KNOBS, but IRE moro edible. To be
JUST right they should be of certain
size, say two-thirds that of the door
knob, and it is the fatal defect of the
northern counterfeit that tits always too
small.
"A little girl of Los Angeles, while
visiting the ostrich farm with her faith.
CIR the other day, had her thumb bitten
OH by one of the bears kept confined
there. The father dared not let go tho
child to get help or q weapon, but beat
tho brute over the jaw with his fist un.
TIL his knuckle bones were barred before
bruin would release his hold on the
rchild's hand
There is n constant and reasonably
rapid increase in the amount of bust,
ness done in the Unified States, as mir
rored in the weekly reports of the
various 2clearing louses. The total
clcarings for the list week in Septem,
Der were S1.374,67b191 against 1,2OO,-
le3, 204 the preceding week and 81, 1885,
o,5G7 the corresponding week last
year.-Portland Oregonian.
"A Tulare candy seller agreed the
lother evening to sell stranger "all
the candy he could eat'' for ten cents.
10 the amazement and CONSERVATION
of the dealer, the man ate three pounds
of candy and then stopped, not because
he had enough. but because the dealer
would not let him take drink of water
and go on again. The candy fiend's
throat was SO sticky he could no longer
swallow
There may be money in autographs,
ana then again there may not. The
late Edward II. LefIingwell, of New
Haven, Conn, left an autograph collec-
ton, which many judges pronounced
the finest in the world. 1t contained
the signatures of nearly twenty thou
sand noted people. Nevertheless, it
was modestly put down in the inven-
tory of the estate as worth SIC. 900, and
the family would have boon willing to
accept even less Not long ago it was
sent to Boston to be sold. and to the
surprise of everybody it brought $751;
2O0.07.
In regard to the much discussed
question as to the rapidity with which
IA locomotive can run, says the Electric
al Review, some interesting official fig
ures have been given by Mr. Stretton,
au eminent English engineer, showing
briefly that the highest speed over nc
curately taken was with n Bristol e.
Exeter broad gauge engine having nine
foot wheels, and which was. as long
ago rs 1853, officially timed at n speed
of just over eighty miles an hour for
short distance, this occurring in the
case of falling gradient and with a
light road.
"A lunatic was arrested n day or
two ago in New York who believed
himself to be n walking telephone AS
he walked along he occasionally placed
one of his coat tails to his mouth and
shouted some question, and then would
hold the other coat tail to his ear to
listen for an answer. Dclusions of
this kind are not without precedent.
n man in Connecticut some years ago
Imagined that he was glass bottle,
and that If he fell he would break into
pieces He did fall, however, at one
time, and then. finding that he did not
break. concluded that he was only a
tumbler.
The bank of England, which is the
great depository of bullion in the
realm, holds at ordinary times in its
vaults Sl25. 600. 600. The bank of Ger
many holds 5000, 900, 900 of bullion in
gold and silver. The bank of France
usually holds S475, 600, 600. The United
States holds in the treasury and in the
various national banks somewhere
about 500. 600, 600 in gold and silver.
The increasing wealth of the various
nations is somewhat remarkable. Dur
ing the last ten years the bank of
France has more than doubled its re-
serves. The bank of Germany in 1851
held about $40. 600, OO0-Drake's Mag
azine.
"A delightfully."- dainty kind of farm
ing, more elegantly aesthetic than grow
ing lilies in Bermuda and almost
as profitable as raising checks and
bank notes. is that of Mr.. Timothy
Hopkins. of Menlo Park, Cal. In
grove of giant oaks. Mr.. Hopkins has a
fve-acre patch of violets of the rarest
and most beautiful varieties-double
whites double blues, sky blue and one
variety which is blue with faint dot
of red on one of the petals. The violets
are planted in rows two feet apart, and
under the cool shade and in the leaf mold
soil they attain perfection. For six
months year tho grower ships an av-
erage of fifty punches of violets daily
to San Francisco. and the returns are
not far from the same number Of dol
lars.