The morning news., 1892-01-12
NATURAL FRUIT FLANoRS.
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

AlA ~ SepoS hCAuNAoph OllCo III buo WOItO 10
that of London. says the Pittsburg DispGtch.
1t is located in the general postof1ce building.
ana is not accessible to the general public. IL
contains more than {, 900 operators and lis bat
terles are supplied by plant of 81, 900 cells, or
enough to make three solid glass rows of cell q
from The capitol to the white house This of
fee does more business than any office in the
United States. Il dispatches its business much
quicker and more quietly than our offices
do, and its main operating room
| is not half so noisy as the main Office
OF the Western Union company In New York.
| OF tue 5000 operators about 1000 are women.
They have room TO themselves and they do
their work with American Morse instruments
with registers and paper reels. In 70 other
parts of the office all sorts of Instruments are
used, and the Hughes printing instruments are
| the most popular. In the big telegraph oper-
ating room of Paris 1000 operators are at work.
Nearly one-half Of these are women. The day
| operators work only seven hours, whils the
night operators work ten hours, but they get
| bigger pay than those who work during the
| day.
DURING the last few weeks the discussion as
to abundance of hair being evidence of strength
has again come up, some arguing that there
was nothing novel in Samson's strength being
in his hair and others that as a rule the strong
est men are least blessed with an abundant hair
covering, says the st. Louis GLOBE Democrat.
There are necessarily exceptions to all rules,
but most feats Of strength of modern times
have luXuriant hair. There are five or six
hOIlbu now LTaVeIDR WIN dime museum
shows lifting enormous weights with their
| hands or teeth, and performing other extraor
dina reats OF strength, and nearly all Of them
| have magnificent heads of hair. Among
prlZe-hgnterS the same rule applies, and
although athletes generally keep their hair cut
very close to the head, they usually have O very
thsck growth OF hair, and are seldom bald. An
cient history is delved into great deal in the
discussion, but the fact remains that the
strongest men Of to-day have in almost every
instance not only heavy heads of hair but also
quite substantial growth on the chest and
arms. 1t may be that excessive bodily vigor
that the hair itself Is an evidence of strength,
but which ever may be the cause and the effect
the combination exists as very general rule.
TIE war furnishes a crop OF romances that
never seems to be all harvested. Congressman
Oates Of Alabama, with his Sc years and only
one arm, has romantic story that surrounds
tne loss or the other arm, During the war he
served in the confederate army, and 1t was be-
fore Richmond that he received the wounds
that necesslt sltated the amputation of the right
arm. At this time 1t was that Oates was
obliged to lay off on sick leave while ne recov-
cred from his injuries. He was received into
the house of a southern family and nursed by
the eldest daughter During the fever she at
tended him, and when he pulled through Oates
felt that his life had not only been saved by her
but his future happiness was in her hands
The young officer told his story, but this
young nurse did not favor his suit,
whether because she thought it was
pressed simply from gratitude or whether
she did not return his affection il not told
Oates was still too weak TO return to his COM
mand, and between fretting over his rejected
suit and at the delay in his return to the front
was in most unhappy mood. One day when
more respondent than ever the mother looked
tam, you just wait for so-and-so," pointing to
the baby in the cradle she was rocking. ''You
can have her by-and-oy." The captain laughed
The baby began to grow to girlhood and Oates
Sr,+. rod ,ra a;
of marriag geable age he reminded her mother of
her old promise made over the baby's cradle
There was no opposition TO the match and he
couple are unusually happy. This accounts for
the difference in age, at which many people
have wondered. Mrs. Oates is a pretty woman
with southern grace and hospitality and devoted
to her husband.
AT PRESENT lively interest is being taken In
the discussion of the fastest possible trotter
scientists, horsemen and others venturng all
sorts of wild opinions on the subject. This re-
minds me that the same subject was I'D during
the summer of 1883, when many of the leading
mathematicians of the country plotted
"curves" and advanced theories in a vain effort
to determine how fast horses will ultimately trot
ana when this maximum Will be reached. One
of the most learned of the articles was by Prof
F. E. Nipher Of this state. which appeared
in the July, 1893, number of the american
Niphers conclusions, the speed to which the
American trotter will constantly approximate.
but never reach, is one mile In 90 seconds,
or 1889. He also concludes that the time OF the
| trotting horse will be reduced to within one
second Of this figure in 800 years after the year
1860. that is to say in the year of our Lord 1920
But 1t must be remembered that our great Mis-
souri, scientist was too aStute to claim absolute
certainly for his figures. He even admits that
| the maximum speed may possibly be as great
as 100 seconds. In the course of ten years or
in 1888, he says in his article the limit can be
| definitely fixed. He also remarked that he was
ha viz
| speed Of trot ing and of running horses will
| differ only by rev seconds. in an article fol
| lowing the quoted from above, Mr.. Nipher
stated that he had made q new calculation
based on mathematical rather than on graph
! ical methods. The maximum time thus OBJ
tanned was 81 instead of 93''. The probable
error of this deduction, according to the profess
sors opinion, is not over a.. From the results
thus obtained it is not likely that the running
horse will be able to surpass the trotter at the
end of the year 200. 1t is a curious specua-
ton. to say the least, to even guess that by an
artificial gait the trotting horse win finally be
able Co make better time than one of his species
who travels as nature intended he should.
UNDoUBTEDLY, says an exchange, the potato
was introduced into Europe from the western
hemisphere. History has it that Christopher
Columbus was the first European who ever
tasted potato 1t is doubtful II he ever en-
ioyed eating our favorite tuber. At all events
the vegetable that he ate at Cuba in 1892 and
brought home to Genoa was the sweet potato.
The first potato grown east Of the Atlantic ocean
was planted by ClaudiuS in the botanical gar
dens OF Vienna in 1888. AS is well
known Sir Walter Raleigh found the potato in
Virginia, and took specimens back to England
The original home Of the popular tuber is Chile
1t was brought north by the Spaniards. OF its
early history this is about all that is known.
For many years a great prejudice existed
against the potato in England. 1t was
looked upon as being poisonous and un-
wholesome. This perhaps is not to be
wondered at as it was commonly eaten raw.
the method OF cooking 1t not being known
Gradually its usefulness as a palatable
vegetable became known. During the seven-
teenth century it was quite rarity in England.
committee OF the Royal Society urged in
1862 that all the fellows who possessed land
should plant potatoes and persuade their
friends to do the same, in order to alleviate the
distress that would accompany q scarcity of
food" In 1873 the first field of potatoes was
planted in the lowlands of Scotland Its culti-
vation in India, Bengal, the Dutch East Indies.
CHINA and Australia is of comparative recent
origin. AS soon as the people Of Ireland knew
how TO cook the potato 1t quickly became the
one leading vegetable OF the land Its
cheapness OF cultivation, large yields and nutri-
tive qualities made it become immensely popu-
ular and as it was the chief article of food it ere
long obtained its name-Irish potato. 1t is not
only OF value as food plant. The Irish were
the first to discover that whisky could bs made
from it. Starch is made from it. Starch Is
made from it for the laundry and for the man
facture Of farina. The dried pulp from which