The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-03-16
MiSCELLANE OUS.

Handsome Is as Handsome Does"
Surely, these are the golden days of
literature! See how poets dress now
adaysw "True-but fine feathers do
not make fine bards Puck
odd as Can Curious dater
said Hawkins, looking at 1898 on his
newspaper. whats curious about
it?" 1888 is an odd number" ex-
planned Hawkins. Truth.
Little Nellie had been quiet for
good while. whats the matter?"
"Unhappy?" "Yes'm." "Why?" Il
tan't fink of any question to ask"
well, what fish yarn have you
now?" You know Picketts brooke
Yes do. Forty-pounder, suppose
and threw it back" Nope. Fished
there for eight steady hours and never
got a bite. "-Harper's Bazaar.
OF the entire human race, 500, O00,-
900 are we'll clothed-that is, they wear
garments of some kind that will cover
nakedness; $50, OOO 900 habitually go
naked, and 700, 900, 900 only cover the
middle parts Of the body; 5000, 900
live in houses; 700, 600, 900 in huts and
caves; the remaining $50, 600, 900 virtual
ly having no place to lay their heads
New York buys more lace than any
other city in the world, and there are
said to be scores of New York ladies
whose collections of lace vary in value
from $40, 900 to $50, 900. The Vanderbilts
possess laces which rival the Prussian
and Austrian crown laces and are val
ued at $500, 900. The late Mrs Astor
had lace dress that cost 5000, and
another was recently sold to an Ameri-
can lady for SIS, 900.
Where Broadway New York; leases
are expiring this year rents have been
markedly advanced. This is especially
true of the retail district, and every
available square inch of space between
Fourteenth and Thirtieth streets is more
valuable. Even roofs on Broadway so
situated that they are available for ad-
vertising bring in large sums A single
advertiser pays for the use of Broad
way roof near Twenty-third street &c.
900 year.
-Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday,"
1t is Shrove Tuesday, the last week day
on which meat can be eaten before Lent
begins. 1t is the end of the carnival in
places where the carnival is celebrated,
and on it the principal public events of
the carnival take place. So the Mardi
Gras season is Shrove tide; Shrove. be-
cause Shrove Tuesday was the day on
which the faithful made confession and
were shriven before Lent began.
Some of the finest oaks in the
United States have their roots struck
deep into the soil of Delaware. A Span
ish oak, eight feet in diameter at the
base, was cut down near Georgetown,
Sussex county, few days since, and
from this giant was squared a stick of
timber sixty feet long and two feet
square from end to end. To cut, hew
and haul this great stick cost sal.
Fourteen mules and yoke of oxen
were required to haul it to the railroad
at Georgetown.
The name "bit" for the eighth of a
dollar is of southern origin and is little
known to the north. 1t is sometimes
said that it started from the practice of
cutting a quarter into two equal bits or
pieces to make change. But there was
Spanish silver coin of l2I2 cents for
merly circulating in this country, called
in New England ''ninepence," in New
York shilling" in Pennsylvania,
Maryland and Virginia "elevenpence"
or levy" while further south it was
called bit"
queen Margarita's collection of
laces for exhibition at the worlds fair
will come through the Italian legation
at Washington, accompanied by the
queens own guard. The collection in
cludes laces more than ,, 600 years old.
One treasure is coverlet under which
all the princes of Savoy were born.
Others are bridal wells of Burano which
are to be inclosed in heavy plate glass
cases, guarded by gate of modern
Venetian iron work.
Connected with the United States
lighthouse equipment are 254 fog sig
nails, S72 day beacons, 60 whistling
buoys, IS bell-buoys and 4,l43 other
buoys. OF these last there are several
kinds, the principal ones being known
as spar, whistling, nun, can and bell
buoys The spar-buoys are generally
made of wood, the others of iron.
There are also a number OF bells and
whistles used as fog signals to indicate
the proximity of land.
Ono of the queerest railroads on
this continent is the Salisbury and
Harvey, in New Brunswick. 1t is but
twenty miles long, and although it con-
meets with the lntercolonial road. an
admirably constructed line, it is con-
fessedly unsafe. \ printed notice hung
up in the cars cautions passengers that
it is well to get out and walk on reach
ing certain bridge, and it was long
the custom to push the cars over this
crazy structure before the mighty en-
CINE was trusted upon its rotten timbers
Doing Anything.-A sharp boy
struck n jefferson avenue merchant
the other morning for job. so you
want to be an Office boy, eh?" queried
the merchant good naturedly. Yes,
sir What can You do?" Anything -
That's the same old answer" said the
merchant DO you expect To get paid
for doing anything?' You bet do, :
snapped the boy. You don't expect
me to do anything without pay, do you;
| Tbaf'S what tho other r,,ap