Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1893-07-15
DRIFTWOOD.
Interesting Facts Cleaned from Many
Sources


rabbit-proof fencing have lately been
erected.
During the reign Of Henry VIII H.
400 persons were legally executed in
England, the larger portion Of whom
were guilty of no offense worse than
misdemeanor In one year 300 starv-
ing beggars We're hanged for asking
aims.
Rats in tens of thousands infested
the Mercantile club building In st.
Louis. All the efforts to rid the house
Of the rodents proved unsatisfactory,
so Rle building had to be torn down.
A rat-proof structure will take its place.
A curious Superstition prevails in
Norway. When people are in quest of
drowned body they row to and fro
with a rooster in The boat, fully expect
ing that the bird Will crow when the
beat reaches the spot where the corpse
lies.
Mother Goose" who is probably
more familiar to children than any
other parsonage in story books, was a
real person Mrs. Goose, for that was
her real name, lived with a family
named Fleet who kept a little store
in Pudding lane, Boston.
The coronack, or mourning for the
dead, is still heard in many parts Of
Scotland as well as in Ireland 1t Is
a weird chant, cries Of lamentation
being mingled with circumstances adj
dressed to the departed for leaving
his friends and relatives.
BY irrigation 25,0O0,OO0 acres are
made fruitful in India alone, In Egypt
there are about 100000 acres and in
Europe about 100000. The United
State have just begun the work of i'm
proving waste area and have already
about 100000 acres of irrigated lands.
big Ben" the clock in the house of
parliament in London, is said TO be
the largest clock in the world. The
timepiece is % feet across, the min
utes on the dial are n foot apart, the
numerals are two feet long, and the
minute hand with the counterbalance
is Is feet in length.
According to Topinard, the average
height OF Iaplanders is COZ inches; Of
Bushmel. 81: OF Chinese, "a; of French
men, 65; OF Russians, 65.4; of Germans,
662; OF Danes, &C.,; of Irishmen, 81;
Of EngIishmen, Scotchmen and Swedes,
GA; of American Indians, $50; OF
Patagonians, 703.
Russia has still many old and cur
ious marriage customs. One is for the
bride and bridegroom TO race madly
down the aisle as soon as the process
sion enters the church, because Of the
belief that whoever places a first foot
on the cloth in front Of the altar will
be master in the household.
Every spring the emperor Of China
goes to 'the emperor's field" plOws n
portion of it ,sows it with several kinds
of seeds and superintends the ceremony
while the princes and nine courtiers
perform tn. same act in honor of the
god of agriculture. The empress at
the same time gives her ladies a lesson
In silk culture
The ocean contains several fish which
clothe or adorn themselves, the most
conspicuous of them being the anten-
narius, small fish frequenting the
Saragossa sea, which literally clothes
itself with seaweed, fastening the
pieces together with sticky, gelatinOus
strings. and then holding the garment
on with its fore fins.
The Blue grotto, on the island of
Capri. in the Bay of Naples is abso-
lutely unrivaled for the vivid splendor
Of its colors. Owing to the peculiar
nature of the refractiOn of the sunlight
on its waters, wall, roof and sea are
Hinged a beautiful ultramarine, which
shades into a deep violet in the far
thest recesses of the cavern.
Flame from magnesia powder is 10
be tested in lighthouse experiments at
New Haven, where the visual range
OF seventy miles may be obtained il
necessary. Neither oil, gas or cleo
tricity has proved satisfactory to the
lighthouse board; but the new process,
which is of German invention, is eN-
pected to solve the problem.
One singular property of all animal
bodies Is that OF maintaining within
themselves an equable temperature.
The blood of the Arcdc explorer re
mains ut a normal temperature though
he breathes air that win freeze mer-
curry, and in India, where the temporal
ture of the air is 115 to 100 above
zero, the temperature Of the blood is
still 9S degrees Fahrenheit.
Shakespeare's cane, very much like
walking stick Of today, and his jug
Of cream-colored earthenware were
sold in London recently for S7O0. A
little carved wooden panel, Q by Z
inches sold for $1,000, and a prayer
book. formerly the property Of Queen
Elizabeth. bound in gold and enamel,
sold for $4,000 All these We're part Of
the famous Field collection,
The ailless cats of the Isle Of Man
have always Jeen a puzzle. Where did
they come from? They are cut off
quite short In the tail but otherwise
are much rs other cats The Spanish
Armada is supposed TO have left them
when the Don's vessels were wrecked
in the Irish sea. But there is q breed