The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-09-20
or GENERAL INTEREST.

The product Of a single pair OF
spaTows, il each pair should have
twenty-four young in year and all
live, would in ten wears number a75,-
716,9s3,69s birds. The bird patches five
or six broods in a year, and produces
from four to six young in a brood.
Sixty years ago Joseph elliott was
a working jeweler in Birmingham.
One day he accidentally split one Of
his fine steel tools, and, being suddenly
required to sign receipt. and not find
ing pen handy, he used the split tool
as substitute. This happy incident
led to the idea of making pens of
metal.
The notion that the Sahara is alto
gether barren and worthless waste
Is wide of the truth. In 1892 there
were 100000 sheep in the Algerian
Sahara alone, besides 1000, 900 goats
and 260, 600 camels. On the cases there
are l,5O0, 900 date palms, giving dates
worth $4,000, 900 year. So even the
desert is worth keeping under control.
Light, single railroads on which
large wheelbarrows run are beginning
to be used on French farms, The rails
are fastened to small iron cross pieces,
the ends joined by fish plates, and can
be easily put in place and removed.
The trucks can be drawn by horses or
men and are balanced by heavy
crowbar, held by the man who pushes
them.
In 1894 only nine deaths occurred
out of a population of Il, 900 persons
who tenanted Pentonville prison, Lon
don. As of these nine deaths probably
not one was due to the prison environ
ment, it Is thus seen that the modern
prison is really the type of the healthy
home. Life there proceeds with reg
ularity as regards food, exercise, rest
and other conditions of health which
cannot be initiated outside of prison
walls.
In room over Benson's saloon, in
Bessemer, Ala, recently John Under
wood, a miner, had a falling out with
Mary Pratt, with whom he was drink
ing. During the course of the quarrel
Underwood pulled pistol and shot
the woman square in the mouth at
short range and then fed, thinking
she was dead. When the woman was
raised from the floor few minutes
afterward she calmly spit the pistol
ball out of her mouth. Beyond the
loss of few front teeth, which the
ball struck in passing, she was not
much hurt.
According to Troy fisherman the
latest triumph of yankee inventive
genius is an India rubber fshworm. 1t
is said to be remarkably good imita-
ton of the common earthworm, is in
destructible and in actual use proves
as alluring to the fishes as the genuine
article. The old fishermen will be
quick to see its advantages. One can
equip himself for days sport without
digging over whole garden in search
for bait. A handful of India rubber
worms will last him through the sea-
son, and there will be no necessity for
pulling up the line every few minutes
to see if the small-fry nibblers have
left the hook bare.
Pure fresh cold water is one of tho
most valuable disinfectants, inasmuch
as it is powerful absorbent. Every
sick room should have large vessel of
clear water, frequently renewed,
placed near the bed, or even beneath
it. This not only absorbs much of the
hurtful vapor, but by its evaporation it
softens and tempers the atmosphere,
doing away with the dryness which is
so trying and depressing to an invalid,
or even To nersons in health. for that
matter 1t has frequently been shown,
by actual experiment, that troubled
sleep and threatened insomnia, are
corrected by so simple thing as plac-
ing an open bowl of water near the sui.
ferer's head.