The evening times., 1898-10-06
NOTES OF THE DAY.

1t is said that the japanese publish
three times as many books per year as
the Italians.
Indian laborers make long days. The
hours in the jute mills of Calcutta are
from 4:30 in the morning to in the
evening. seven days in the week.
In Central Peru the usual freight car
rier is the llama. He can carry about 100
pounds for load, and if more is put on
his back he balkS-on his knees. He re-
mains kneeling until the load is light
ened.
The expenses of Great Britain are now
about $5G0000.O 900 yearly. or nearly 81.
900 per minute. but every tick of the
clock represents an influx of little over
SO into the treasury. thus leaving an an
nual surplus of about S20,000.0GO.
Edison says that women have more
quickness and insight about machinery
than men have and in carrying out the
details of his electrical inventions ne en-
ploys them wherever practicable. He has
more than two hundred women on his
pay roll.
Not long ago the queen of the Neither
lands received by parcel post a herring.
With the fish was note which explain
ed that ii was the first herring of the
seasons catch, and was the gift of
Dutch fisherman. Her majesty promptly
had it cooked, and atae 1t.
There are two towns in Kansas which
have not an idle man or boy, or an un-
occupied house, a dog. Whether there
is any connection between these three
omissions is not certain. The two towns
are Lost Spring and Romano, and each
has a population of about 200.
The rapid substitutions of electric trac-
for amin alH h.. irf11g n
from the fact that since 1891 the number
of horses employed in the street railway
service has declined 170275. nearly 80 per
cent. The total length of the lines in the
United States equals 16.0S9.S7 miles
The largest cannon in the world was
taken by the British when they conquer
ed India. II is nearly 200 years old, and
was cast for chief named Chuleby KOo-
my Khan of Ahmednagar. The inside of
the gun IS fitted up with seats. and is
favorite place for British officers to go
for quiet MONDAY smoke.
There are about 5000, 600 bicycles in Ger
many, a fact which appears marvellous.
when II is learned that each rider must pay
a tax OF fifty cents when he receives a
number for his machine and a book.
which he is obliged TO carry about with
him wherever he goes The book con-
tains an exhaustive description Of his
person.
The cosmopolitan character of the Brit
ish empire is shown in the crew of the
British steamer Wennington Hail. now al
New York. They are all Orientals. The
officers and the engineer are Engiishmeu.
but all the other men on board, forty-one
in number are either Mohammedans or
Buddhists. An officer of the steamer says
that one white sailor is worth two Las
cars but cost twice q : much.
Gov Brady, of Alaska has been on
tour through the PribiIof Islands. part
OF the Aleutian group He says of them
and of the other Aleutians: They are
destined to become the home of countless
herds of cattle and sheep. Some OF the
islands have not a stick of timber on
them. but are covered ali over with q lux
| uriant growth of grass. affording the
finest kind of pasture land for cattle and
stock"
The Westminster Gazette tells this little
story: The vicar of GorlestOn, England.
in Il recent sermon, stated that ne believe
in a future life for animals. and that /
would far rather meet them in heaven
than he would some human beings of his
acquaintance. This doctrine proved too
strong for his congregation. most of
whom rose and left the church. TheosO-
phists would hardly find a promising field
in Gorleston.
There have been many travellers of
royal or aristocratic birth who have in
sisted on carrying their own beds with
them. even on a short journey. But not
all of them have so good an excuse as the
Grand Duke Paul of Russia. He is 50
tall that it is impossible for him to sleep
with comfort in an ordinary bed. and ha
therefore takes with him a bed made eS-
| pecially for him. II is made in such a
way that it can be packed in small
| trunk.
One of the oldest letter boxes in the
| world is situated at Cape Horn The cape
/ is a mass of rock rising abruptly from
| the sea and forming small island. on
| one of the lodges of this rock is a covered
| barrel. which is the international letter
| box of region more than 500 miles from
| anything that resembles civilization. II
| is the custom of captains passing round
the Horn to send a boat ashore al this
| point in the direction OF the vessel and
| drop in whatever it is desired shall go in
| the other direction.
| In the early days of locomotives each
| had a name, like the ships and steamers
| of today. The. officials of the railroads
were annoyed by the pressure brought
| to bear on them in favor of this that and
| the other name that they concluded to
number the engines instead. IL is said
! that the officials of the Navy Department
are qualified to sympathize with these old
| time railroad men. During the late war
! Secretary Long was probably pestered
more with people who wanted vessels
named in honor of somebody or something
| than he was with all the other questions
| which came before him put together
There is one city in the world which
has hicypl2 and n~0ba hlX- will
never be troubled with one An enter
| prisipg Chicago manufacturer wrote to
| the United States consul NJ Alden, on
| the Red Sea, asking what were the
, chances there for the introduction of the
| wheel. Fie was told that the roads are
| hilly and quilted; it is always too hot to
| ride in the DAYTIME: the natives are all
| too poor 70 own wheels: there are not
more than twenty-five bicycles in the
] four towns of Alden. Little Alden. Steam
| er Point and Shaik Othman: there is no
| demand for any more; there is no de
mand for repairs.
1t is said that the highest stories in
| Chinese hotels are most expensive be-
| cause the breeziest. There NAV possibly
| 5e another reason for this difference in
| expense. The Chinese are said to re-
| card it as the proper thing for the serv-
| ant TO occupy the first floor. while the
master lives on the floor above so that
! his servant will not be Oiterally) above
| him. This idea was carried ont by a
| Chinese professor who once lived at
| Cambridge. Mass. with the result that
| the professor and his family were OBJ
| lige1 to occupy the attic room in their
| horse while the servants reveJed in all
| the daintiness and richness of the rooms
| on he first and second floors