The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1898-04-28
Facts Worth Knowing.

and One-half inches in circumference
weighing nearly sixty tons, has just
been made for use in district subway
in Glasgow, Scotland. 1t is said to be
the biggest rope ever made for haulage
purposes.
A novel flower has been found at the
isthmus of Tehuantepec. 1t has fac
ulty of changing colors during the day.
In the morning it is white, when the
sun is at it's zenith it is red and at
night it is blue. Only at noon does it
give out any perfume.
The origin of chess, the most purely
intellectual of all games of skill, has
been much disputed. This much may
be considered as certain; that, under
the Sanskrit name Of, ChaturangO, a
game essentially the same as modern
chess, was played in Hindustan nearly
5000 years ago.
OF siXty-seven queens of France,
only thirteen have died without leav-
ing their histories a record of misery.
Eleven were divorced, two executed,
nine died young, seven were widowed,
three cruelty treated, three were exiled.
The poisoned and broken hearted
made up the rest.
Virginia has often been called the
Mother of Presidents, owing to the
fact that seven of the Presidents of the
United States have been born in this
state. Virginia has also been called
the Mother of States from her age, be-
ing the first of the original thirteen
states settled, colony having been
located at jamestown in 1907.
Rome built roads and bridges to last.
The new bridge across the Danube be-
tween Turn SEVERN, in ROumania, and
KladOva, in Servia, will be built on
the pillars of the old bridge at the
same place erected by Emperor Trajan,
the Romanian engineers having found
that the old Roman work will stand
the strain after eighteen hundred
years. a statue of Trajan will be put
up in the middle of the bridge.
AT Adria, in the Italian province of
Rovigna, eighteen miles from the
Adriatic sea, two ancient vessels have
been found, which from the thickness
of the planks, must have been used in
seafaring. Vases, bones and other OBJ
jects were found in them. The nails
used were Of iron, with broad heads.
One vessel is thirty-four feet long and
fifteen feet beam. In classical times
Adria was seaport, but the Adratic
has steadily receded.
Pennsylvania has often been nick
named Keystone. 1t came about in
a curious fashion. On the vote re-
garding the acceptance or rejection of
the Declaration of Independence six
colonies had recorded their vote in the
affir native and six against when John
Morton, casting his vote representing
Pennsylvania in favor of the measure,
secured a majority of the colonies and
thereby its adoption; thus Pennsyl-
yania's vote became the keystone to
the arch of liberty.
The toad does not take dead or mo-
tionless food. Only living and moving
insects, centipedeS, ETC., are devoured,
while worms or other larvae disturbed
by their hopping are safe so long as
they remain curled up; but as soon as
they move they are captured. The
toad's tongue, its only organ for seiz-
ing food, is soft, extensie, attached in
front but free behind, and is covered
with a glutinous substance that ad-
heres firmly to the food seized. So
rapid is the motion of this weapon that
careful watch is necessary to see the
animal feed
There is hardly season OF the year
or an hour of the day or night when
birds are not migrating, but most OF it
is done in the spring and fall. Our
summer visitors begin to arrive in Feb
ruary and by June 8, they are practi-
cally all here. About the middle of
July they begin to go away, and some
swallows leave as early as July 5. The
birds that migrate at night are the
smaller ones, that have limited powers
of flight and many enemies. The larger
ones go by day. They can fly at such
heights that they have nothing to fear.
At a recent meeting of the Philo-
sophical Society in Washington, Mr..