The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-09-30
OF GENERAL INTEREST.

| II he nall machine was luVcQCeQ IN
FITS. At the present day it is estimated
that 1000, 900, 900 nails are annually
made by machinery in Great Britain
alone and from fourth to half of
this number in the United States.
AT Belfast the Alexandria craving
or dry dock, completed in 1889, has a
floor length of eight hundred feet,
while from outer sail to back of wall
the distance is eight hundred and fifty
feet The inside width at the top is
ninety-two feet and the bottom fifty
| feet. This dock can be divided into
three separate docks or used as one
large dock.
An old rural custom still prevails In
the western part of France during the
bordering the highway sheaf of 81 ain
| is left standing, to which all the peas
ants of the village contribute, and
| which is called ''the strangers sheaf,"
as it is the property of the first home
less wayfarer who may choose to carry
it away and profit by its price.
1t is said that female cod fish will
lay $4,000, 900 eggs during a single sea-
Son. Piscatorial authorities say that
were it not for the work of the natural
! enemies of fish they would fill all the
availab BILE space in the seas, rivers and
oceans. During the spawning season
the eggs are sometimes SO thick on the
banks that they form huge masses and
are frequently seen by passing vessels
at a great distance from the shore.
The rarest American coin is the dol
lar of 1904 There are believed to be
not more than ten in existence. AS
much as 81, 500 has been offered and re-
fused for an 1904 dollar. Many expla-
nations have been given of the scarcity
of this coinage. One is that in the year
1905 a China-bound vessel was lost con-
tanning almost the entire mintage of
1904. AS curio the dollar of 1904
stands first among United States coins.
The customary morning salutation
at all seasons in old Marblehead is,
''How is the fish," In the past rainy
summer the answer, after a look down
the street, has generally been, ''Oh, her
tail is going round and round" This
is the towns way of speaking of The
weather vane on the Congregational
church. the infallible oracle which de-
termines whether boats shall put out
to sea and leisurely landsmen go
a-riding.
An average waltz takes dancer
over about three-quarters of a mile;
square dance makes him cover half
mile A girl with a well-filled pro-
gramme travels thus in one evening:
Twelve waltZes, nine miles: four other
dances at half-mile apiece, which is
hardly a fairly big estimate, two miles
more, the intermission stroll and the
trips to the dressing-room to renovate
her gown and complexion, half mile;
grand total, eleven and one-half miles.
The Welsh in the United States
claim that they are in number as many
as their countrymen in Wales, and they
also claim that one of their ancestors
forestalled Columbus in the discovery
of America by two hundred and seven
ty-two years. They base their asser-
tions on historical traditions and the
manuscripts of old Welsh bards on the
one hand, and on the prevalence of
Welsh in many of the languages of the
Indians, both of South and North
America on the other.
The red and fallow deer which
formerly roamed through the English
forests had a habit of scraping up the
earth with their fore feet to the depth
of several inches, sometimes even of
half yard. The stranger passing
through these woods was frequently
exposed to the danger of tumbling into
one of the hollows, when he might be
said truly to be sin a scrape" The
college students of Cambridge, in their
little perplexities, picked up and APP
piled the phrase to other perplexing
matters which had brought a man NOR
ally into a fix.
Our double eagle of $50 is equal to
90 patakas of Abyssinia, so kwans of
Anam, "a forms of Arabia. 20 pesos of
Argentine. about a florins of Austria,
about 103 francs of France. SO miiries
of Brazil, , condors of Chile. So rigs
dalers of Denmark. 400 piaters of
Egypt, "a of Great Britain. 103 drach-
mas of Greece. 81 marks of GERMANY. Is
rupees of India, los lire of Italy, 20
vens of Japan. 80 scudi of Malta, los lei
of Roumania. 50 guilders of the Neither
lands. % rubles of Russia, S tomurns of
Persia, PSI piasters OF Servia, 81 ticols
of Siam, los pese.as of Spain, 200
gwush of Tripoli. : tillas of Turkestan,
81 patacons of Uruguay and IS pesos of |
Venezuela.
A Queer Character.
Abel Haywood. ex-Inayor of Man /
chester. England. who died the other !
day. was second Hampden in his re- /!
sistance 20 what he deemed tyranny. !
His obstinate attempt to sell news
papers without the government stamp. |
which he regarded as tax upon in |
formation. cost him term OF impris- |
onment and good deal OF money. but |
killed the stamp law. he was great |
aarairer of Oliver Cromwell, and pre- /
seuted two statues OF the Protector to |
the city, one of them being erected !
near the principal RAILWAY station and
the other IN the town ia. |