The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-06-17

In cases where nature Intends
that insects shall feed on flowers
at night, the flowers they select
are all of a white color.
The Suez Canal is lightweight
miles long, and reduces the dis
lance from England to India al
most four thousand miles for ships.
In every mile of railway there
are seven feet and four inches
that are not covered by the rails
the space left between them for
expansion.
Handkerchiefs were made fash
ionable by the Empress Josephine
who had bad teeth, and held a
handkerchief before her mouth
when she laughed.
During the reign of Elizabeth,
English dudes wore shoes three
feet long, the toe pointed and fas-
tened up to the garter with golden
chains, to which little bells were
attached.
The really great American tree
Of today is the big tree at Tule,
Mexico, in the state of Oaxaca.
That tree, cypress, still in full
vigor and active growth, is 154
feet in circumference.
By using electric lights at night
on beds of lettuce, radishes, spin
ach and similar vegetables, they
are brought to maturity much
faster than when this artificial
stimulant is not employed.
The largest bell in France has
been hung in the belfry Of the
Church of the Sacred Heart in
Paris. It weighs twenty eight
tons, can be heard at distance OF
twenty-five miles, and its vibration
lasts six minutes.
A strange custom is followed by
Mexican farmers. They use oxen
of one color in the morning, and
another color in the afternoon.
They do not know why, but they
know that it must be the proper
thing to do, because their fore
fathers did it.
A leading English entomologist
states that 'new species of insects
are being described at the rate of
about six thousand per annum."
On thinking of the thousands of
species already described, and the
multitudes Of individuals belong
ing to each species, one gets a
lively sense of the immensely of
the insect population of the earth.
1t appears that several species
of bats migrate southwark in win
ter and northward in summer,
after the manner of birds. Some
bats which are found during the
warm months as far north as
Maine and the Adirondack noun
tains, start for the South in the
autumn and spend the winter in
South Carolina and Georgia, re-
turning with the sun at the be-
ginning of the next summer sea-
son.
Among the crown jewels Of
England, which are kept securely
locked in a great iron chest in the
Tower of London, is the celebrated
coronation spoon" It is of pure
gold, richly set with gems, and
dates back to the time of Edward
the Confessor, 1866. It is used
to receive the "consecrated oil, :"
so indispensable at coronations.
This same relic is sometimes
called the royal amounting spoon"
Whenever japanese newspa-
per publishes something unfavor-
able to the government it is sup
pressed, and the editor is sent to
prison. But every newspaper has
what the japanese call a dummy
editor" and it is his sole duty to
go to Jail every time the paper is
suppressed for offending the Mi
kado. Then the real editor changes
the name of the paper, and keeps
on publishing it. Dummy editors
spend most of their time in prison.
To the poisonous gases escaping
from defective or badly-con-
structed drainage pipes have been
traced diptheria, typhoid fever
and other deadly diseases; but the
pooct uC,o1 offactc IF thic ras moi