Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1898-01-27

commerce of Middle Franconla' the
most important hop district OF Ger
many, shows that American hops are
gradually driving the German product
from the British market.
In mitigating the Indian famine the
British Government has expended on
its own account or as disburser OF
loans and charitable contributions
more than $1O.OOO.OO0. What Q vast
difference in the amount of misery In
India this sum must have made!
The London Globe says that clever
photographer has "doctored" snap
shot of an informal royal family group
taken at Darmstadt. and produced a
new and ostensibly ofiicial picture. rep
resenting the Kaiser and the Car with
their arms affectionately entwined. In
Berlin they buy it by the gross; In st.
Petersburg 1t has been forbidden by
law. One capitals meat is another
capitals poison.
DR.. Nansen appears to be booming
the Arctic regions as a great health re-
sort According to his testimony, the
atmosphere of the frozen zone Is abso-
lutely free from all disease germs, and
no such things as bacilli or microbes
can survive there. 1t will have to be
allowed that this is handsome recon-
mendation, though, as a Boston con-
temporary points out, It is somewhat
hampered by the danger of freezing to
death.
"The Stanford (Ky.) Journal says:
"The unusual sight of a thirty-five-
year-old man going to school can be
seen any day at the public school here.
1t Is Ed Hubbard, who year or so
ago decided to make preacher of him
self, and, having no education, he is
taking every opportunity to Secure it.
He is a good scholar, Professor Grubbs
tells us, but 1t occasionally becomes
necessary to keep him in to make him
work a little harder. He plays with
the boys at recess, and seems to relish
football and other games as much as
his playmates, the majority of whom
are score or more years younger"
The dream of the deviser of long felt
wants in the bicycle business has at
last been realized. 1t is by the sue
cessful completion of an automatic BIZ
cycle pump which will fill bicycle
tire to the required degree of hardness
by the simple pulling of lever after
connecting the hose to the tire and
dropping a penny in thte slot. The
remarkable thing about this invention
is, that the air is compressed into the
tire by the action of the lever moved
by the hand Of the rider. The great
power necessary to effect the result Is
secured by an arrangement Of mechani-
cal appliances entirely new to the con-
struction of pumps. The pump is al
ways ready to work and when placed
in front of the road houses and inns
along the boulevards and bicycle paths
save riders an immense amount of in
convenience and discomfort. 1t is ex-
pected also that the machine will be
used universally for pumping carriage
tires.
The London Globe says that num-
Der of comments will appear In the
skies during the year 1898. THE Pons
Winnecke comet should open the list
by appearing in April, after an absence
of about five and one-half years. In
May the celebrated Encke comet is due.
This comet has period Of only three
and one-fourth years, and it's frequent
appearance has been the means of as
tronomers discovering a great deal
about comets and their wanderings
through space. In June we should
have two of these cosmical visitors
Swift's and Wolfe's comets-the form
er after an absence of six years and the
latter a trifie longer. Temples comet
completes the visitors list by arriving
in September. These comets are all
regular visitors, whose periods are so
well known that their arrivals may be
timed almost to the hour. Others, no
doubt, will arrive, but they will doubt
less be casuals, OF whose antecedents
nothing is known, and most of them
such small fry as to catch the attention
of only the most assiduous observers"
While the code duello, in Its sangu-
mary character, is rapidly becoming
obsolete in the United States, it APP
pears to be still in high favor on the
other side of the Atlantic. In Ger
many some 1000 engagements are
yearly fought on the field of honor with
sanguinary results. Most of these en-
gagements take place in the neighbor-
hood Of college towns. Within the
space of twenty-four hours as many as
twenty duels have occurred in the
neighborhood Of Jena. Next to Ger
any in allegiance to the code duello,
comes France. There are some loo
duels fought annually In France, the
participants being mainly officers in
the French army. Italy comes next to
France, with some 272 duels annually.
During the past ten years Italy has
furnished 2,750 duels. Austria, Rus
sia, Spain and Great Britain rank next
in the order named. In Great Britain
the code has become almost as obsolete
as in the United States. Most of the
duels fought on the European contin-
ent are fought with the sword, though
pistols and knives are used occasion
ally.
Some young men of Irving, a suburb
of Chicago, have formed an anti-mar-
riage association. The member who
marries must pay $25 and give a ban
quet to the members. To visit a girl