The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-05
OUT OF THE ORDINARY.

| One-fourth of the land surface Of the
| globe is occupied b. English-speaking peo-
| 1t is said that since 1898 there have been
| forty bicycle deaths to every death from
| football.
Physicians declare that the most nutri-
tious article OF diet is butter, and bacon
| comes next.
Switzerlands agricultural products are
constitutes about 20 per cent. of what is
consumed in the country
The trustees of the Chicago Public LIZ
brary have now opened that institution on
Sunday from noon to p. M, to the circula-
ton of books, as well as to general reading
and reference.
In the jailyard of a Mexican prison the
warden has caused phonograph to be
placed which repeats TO the cOnvicts the
charges made against them in the voices OF
| their victims.
Prosperous times among the Western
| farmers are indicated by the fact that this
fail three hundred farmers sons are en-
| rolled among the students in the kansas
State University.
The pecan crop in Texas is over. 100000
bushels and the trees are not bare yet.
Texas is the only State which yields BUSH
ell of pecans to every inhabtant and fur
nishes an abundance for the hogs.
A Kansas City man who wanted to tele-
graph to a relative in Tasmania, Australia,
found that the rate was only $S.57 a word
(and every |ord counted) and concluded
to write ter instead Of sending cable
gram.
st. Louis has just placed 1900 handsome
enameled signs on over 600 miles of it's
streets. They were imported from Eng
land, and cost only 50 cents each delivered.
The native e, of inferior quality, costs
5S cents.
The Riv lie has it's rises, but those
that do n lief are not frequent. During
the last one thousand years there has been
only one sudden rise of the Nile, that of
1923, when thirty thousand people were
drowned
The city of Baltimore, with nearly half
OF the total population of the State or
Maryland, has less than one-fifth of the
membership OF the House of Delegates and
about one-ninth of the membership OF the
State Senate.
The town of Dornstetten in Wurtem-
berg, has its funds so well invested that
the inhabitants, instead of paying taxes, re-
ceive a bonus of $25 each annually besides
free fire wood and free use Of land for rails
ing vegetables.
Hansen, the engineer of the excursion
train that was wrecked near Copenhagen
last summer, having been held responsible
for the disaster has been sentenced to four
months imprisonment and to fine of A.
S75 crowns, or $12,O26.5O.
1t is something of a surprise to learn
that from Rome, the home of the arts, the
value of the cheese imported from that city
is only $1,000 less than the value of the
paintings-cheese being the second article
on the list of exports from Rome.
Since Queen Victoria assembled the throne
it has been reckoned that over five hundred
grants have been made to the charitable
donation of SIS, which her Majesty usually
bestowS mothers of living triplets who
are in poor or INDECENT circumstances.
A New Hampshire railway company is
struggling with the largest block of stone
ever quarried in Concord. It's dimensions
are 6, 10 and 20 feet, and it is estimated to
weigh $50 tons. 1t is to be used in a monu-
ment now in preparation for Washington
order.
Projectiles used by the United States
army for its great modern guns cost as fol-
lows: Solid shot. eght-inch, $50 50 each;
tWelve-inch mortar shells, weighing 500
pounds, STA each; twelve-nch mortar shells,
weighing LOCO pounds, $3.50 each.
Some expert declares that a sixty-minute
engagement between two big fleets of the
modern type would involve a cost of over
100000 And this estimate takes into view
only expenditure of ammunition and wear
and tear of guns-leaving out of considera-
ton damage to and loss of vessels.
Caldy island, at the entrance to Saermar-
then bay, Wales, containing $50 acres, has
county and other land taxes The island
was once the haunt of buccaneers and
pirates and was a harbor of refuge for
John Paul Jones, whose name is attached
to its little bay.
A dumb prisoner who can't read or write
is providing a delicate problem in law for
one of the London courts. He can plead
neither guilty nor not guilty. and is unable
to communicate with his solicitor, which is
one of his privileges. So the question is
raised whether a special act of Parliament
will be required.
1t is doubtful whether another county in
Maryland can equal Worcester in the size
of a family. Near Bridgeville lives a coll
ored family consisting of Aaron Quail his
wife and twentv-four children. When the
meals are served two tables are used, four
teen sitting at one table and twelve at ths
other to avoid the unlucky thirteen.
Down to as late as the middle ages, cats
were comparatively scarce in Europe, and
were SO highly priced that any person who
killed one was obliged to pay a fine. This
penalty sometimes was required to be paid
in the shape of pile of wheat big enough
to cover the slain animal when it was held
vertically by the tip of its tail, the nose
touching the ground.
Sam Knight an authority on bees, says:
IF singing insect ever lights on you
hold your breath until you can brush it
away. II you don't breathe the insect can't
sting. / wouldn't mind walking into the
biggest yellow jacket nest in the world. I
can hold my breath for a minute, and in
that time could Kill the most of them and
scare the others away"
A recommendation has gone before the
Presbyterian board to the effect that women
be forbidden the use of pulpitS for public
addresses to mixed audiences, and that 1t be
considered improper to give notices of such
meetings from the pulpit. Women, however,
are still to be permitted to give public tes-
tinony for the benefit and in the presence
of the privileged sex.
1t is proposed to have a golden anni-
versary celebration on Jan. 10, 1898 of the
discovery of gold in California. Since the
precious metal was found in 1S4S California,
has produced more than $500, ,00G of gold.
1t is intended to erect monument. The
monument is to be composed of as great a
variety of the mineral substances produced
in the State as is possible.