Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1895-10-04
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.


| called hand-ruffs.
An almoner was the purse carried by
| ladies at their belts.
| Russian railway trains rarely go as
| fast as twenty-five miles an hour.
| 1t is estimated that $1,000 elephants
| are killed yearly in Africa.
Hebrew merchants exported last year
nearly three-fourths of all the grain
| from Russia.
Life" sighed Sir George Cornwall
| Lewis, would be endurable if it were not
| for its pleasures
Deer shed their horns annually after
| their sixth year. The bone weighs from
| 20 to 20 pounds.
| The most common name for place in
| England is Newton. which occurs no
| fewer than 70 times.
Wilkes famous picture of the Abbots-
| Vile family has been bought for $4,000
| for the Scottish national gallery.
Khama and the other Bechuana chiefs
| intend, it is said, to include Scotland in
| their tour of inspection of Great Britain.
| The highest main road in England is
| that between Huddersfield and Stock
| port, which crosses Holme Moss at an
elevation of 1859 feet.
The greatest transmission Of power by
q wire rope is al SchaffhauSen; by means
| of it 600 horse power Is transmitted to
| distance of mile.
The flowers of the pumpkin are cooked
| and eaten by some of the tribes of the
American Indians, especially by the Az
| tees, by whom they were highly esteemed.
| The Westminster Gazette understands
| that no less a sum than 100000 has been
| spent upon the Forthcoming production
| of Romeo and Juliet" at the London Ly-
ceum.
| 1t is nearly fifteen years since the death
| of Thomas Carlyle, and December next
| is the anniversary of his Tooth birthday.
| 1t is proposed to celebrate the event
| Queen Sophia of Sweden is one of the
| most enthusiastic friends and promoters
of the Salvation Army, distinction
| which she shares with her niece, the
queen regent of Holland.
Naptha is being introduced as fuel on
| the Russian railways, and there Is every
| prospect of its becoming general. The
cost of altering each locomotive to suit
| the new requirement is $780,
Artificial flowers were invented by
nuns. In the Italian converts the affairs
and shrines were up to the end of the
eighteenth century decoratetd with arti-
| fetal flowers, laboriously put together,
| and made of paper and parchment.
A railway across Arabia, from Ismaila,
| on the Suez canal, to the head of the Per-
sian gulf, following as nearly as posi-
| BILE the 18th degree of latitude for nearly
| The engineering difficulties are not Sc
riouS.
Mr.. Robert Louis Stevenson's Vailima
letters, which will be published by
| Messrs. Methuen in October are expect
ed to throw much light on his literary
methods. They prove Stevenson to be
one of the most hard working and con-
scientious of literary men.
The champion climber of Snowdon is
the Rev. ]. E. Burrows of London, who
has made the ascent $50 times since 1873
Mr.. w. Brown of Gloucester follows him
with 100 ascents, and Mr.. I. Halliday of
London with seventy. The magistrates
have refused license to the hotel on the
top.
| Asses milk is retailed at shillngs per
quart. AS one might expect, the trade is
practically made by fashionable physi-
clans and trained nurses, who recon-
mend the milk in consumption cases, and
| for pulmonary complaints generally
| Therefore the winter season finds the
donkeys' dairy exceedingly busy.
Not far out of London lives dog that
is most capable fielder at cricket. When
| it's owner is at the wicket it stands rather
close but no sooner does the bat touch
| the ball than it seems to divine by sort
| of instinct exactly where the latter will
| fall, and reaches the spot almost as soon
as the ball does.
A British naval expert has compiled a
work on the advantages of petroleum as
a fuel for marine engines. He says that
as a steam generating power one ton of
oil is equal to more than two tons of best
steaming coal; that it is absolutely free
from smoke and ashes and that the fire
can be extinguished instantaneously.
Sheffield England manufacturers are
paying good deal of attention to an
amalgam of aluminium and bronze, which
is being placed on the market under the
name of gold steel" and is very success
full for cutlery not requiring keen edge,
such as forks, dessert knives, fish eaters,
etc. The new alloy possesses the dual ad-
vantage of durability and beauty.
In Glen Muck forest, Aberdeenshire,
record deer stalk was accomplished re-
Gently by Captain Maxse, Coldstream
Guards, who managed in one stalk to
bring down three magnificent stays, in
Guiding a royal an "eleven-ponter"
and "ten-pointer," each weighing over
sixteen stone after cleaning. The royal
was the heaviest, at sixteen stone nine
pounds, and is reported to be very fine
head.
George L. Harwell and a girl named
Bats were slaves together on Virginia
plantation thirty-five years ago. They
were engaged to be married. When the
war came the family was broken up and
the two were separated, neither knowing
where the other went. They never heard
of each other until few months ago,
when they met by chance in Ashland,
Wis. A week ago they were married
there.
The Duke Of Sutherland, in observance
of the good old Scottish custom, accord
ing to which every mans children, from
| the laird's downward, went to the parish
| school. has this year sent his two sons
| the Marquis of Stafford and Lord Alistair
Cover to the Golspie public Cor board)
school. Thus the marquis begins hts edu-
| cation among those who will one day be
| his tenants and workmen.
| A bottle message, which was found re-
Gently at Hirtshals, Denmark has Just
been received by the customs authorities
| at Lerwick. 1t reveals the fact that the
| bottle had drifted about in the North
Atlantic for period of two years. The
| message, which was written by a Shet-
| land passenger on board the Beaver liner
| Lake Ontario, was set adrift simply from
| curiosity to see where it would be found
WOMEN RUNNING THE CARS.
Society Girls Acted as Conductors and Made
| More Than $1,000.
Il l.