Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-07-13

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. It is
a weird chant, cries of lamentation
being mingled with circumstances ad.
dressed to the departed for leaving
his friends and relatives.
By irrigation 25,00O,OOO 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 a 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 Laplanders is 6O.7 inches; of
Bushmen, g; of Chinese, "a; of French
men, 65; of Russians, 65.4: of Germans.
&C.,; of Danes, &C.,: of Irishmen. 81:
of Englishmen, Scotchmen and Swedes.
GA: of American Indians. 6S.2; 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 a
portion of it ,sows it with several kinds
: Of seeds and superintends the ceremony
while the princes and nine courtiers
perform the same act in honor of the
god of agriculture. The empress at
the same time gives her ladies lesson
in silk culture.
The ocean contains several fish which
clOthe or adOrn themselves, the most
conspicuous of them being the anten-
narius, a 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 it's 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
dnged a beautiful ultramarine, which
shades into a deep violet in the far
theSt recesseS of the cavern.
Flame from magneSia powder is to
be tested in lighthouse experiments at
New Haven, where the visual range
of seventy miles may be obtained if
necessary. Neither oil, gas or cleo
tricity has proved satisfactory to the
lighthouse board; but the new process,
which is Of German invention, is ex-
pected to solve the problem.
/ One singular property of all animal
bodies is that of maintaining within
i themselves an equable temperature.
The blood of the Arctic explorer re-
mains at a normal temperature though
curry, and in India, where the tempera-
: ture of the air is lis to 12O above
zero, the temperature of the blood is
still SO degrees Fahrenheit.
| Shakespeare's cane, very much like
a walking stick of today, and his jug
of cream-colored earthenware were
sold in London recently for $500. A
little carved wooden panel, 9 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 tailleSs cats of the Isle Of Man
have always been a puzzle. Where did
they come from? They are cut off
quite short liz the tail, but otherwise
are much as other cats. The Spanish
Armada is supposed to have left them
when the D0n's vessels were wrecked
in the Irish sea. But there is a breed
of tai1less cats in Japan. Gould the
! Spaniards have got them IN Mikado
land?
A recent mineral find is about to be
developed in the Chickasaw Indian
reservation, south of Guthrie, Okla.
| homa. Immense beds of asphaltum
rivaIing these of the island of Trinidad.
have been found near the Arbuckle
mountains. The quality is the very
best, and the quantity sufficient TO pave
the streets of every city in the west
and not show any dinfEution of the
supply.
I There is in Spain river called Tinto
which has very extraordinary qualities
Its waters, which are as yellow as the
topaz, harden the sand and petrify il
in most surprising manner. If a
stone falls into the river and rests
upon another they both become per
fectly united and congratulated in a
year. 1t Twithers all the plants on its
I banks as we'll as the roots of trees
which 1T dyes of the same hue as It's
water No fish live in it's stream.
+, The nmstletoe, which has so long
/ been shipped every year IN such large
quantities from France TO England,
will be more difficult to find next
winter. That which was sent across
! the channel came almost exclusively
from the orchards Of Normandy, where
! it flourished on the apple trees. The
government has decided that all the
mistletoe must be cut off the apple
trees at once, on the ground that ii
sucks the sap of the trees and impOy-
erishes them
| After the death Of General Packen-
/ ham. at the battle of New Orleans,