The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-21
CURIOUS FACTS.

An American woman who has spent much
time in China writes in the Atlantic Monthly
Of the peculiar customs Of borrowing which
obtain among the Chinese.
AT the first large dinner party to which l
was invited she says, l went as a BRIDE
found myself eating with my own brand new
knives, forks and spoons. 1 stared at them
very hard; there could be no mistake for [
could see the fresh monographs
L was dreadfully distressed, but did not
dare to say anything. When l reached home
told my husband. rather tremblingly, for
was quite sure they had been stolen. To my
amazement he only laughed, and said
'Oh, you will get used to that soon. and
when you have too many guests you will find
that, instead of asking you to get more sup
plies, the butler will just borrow your neigh
bors and always make up the deficiency"
And so it proved. l can we'll remember
once, when my husband had asked eight
guests in to dinner only half an hour before
the usual time lone for each Of the delicious
first spring snipe he had shot, that there ap-
peared, later, splendid roast leg of mutton
as one of our courses.
Now l knew we had no mutton, for earlier
In the day the cook had been bewailing the
non-arrival Of the Shanghai steamer by
winch 1t always came. Turning to the gen
tieinah on my left, L asked: did your
shanghai TODAY
Yes; why?"
looked down to the other end of the table,
where my husband was carving the unex-
pected treasure-trove with very evident en-
joyment.
We'll. ours did rot" said l. land vet -,
He caught sight of the mutton "Ohp' he
laughed. Il suppose that is mine. No doubt
yours will come tomorrow, and probably he
much better; so 1 shall be the gamer this
time, and enjoy it all the more"
Prof. Bernard describes in the Popular Sci
ence News. his experiments with ants while
skeletonlz1ng some of his specimens His
method of procedure is to kill his specimen
bind it with wire in the position In which
be wishes the skeleton to remain and then
place 1T near a group of ant hills. The vora-
cious ants will quickly eat every shred of
meat from the bones.
Inc operation requires careful watching.
lest the chronological dissectors should not
De content with simply devouring the flesh.
out should attack the cartilage that holds
the bones together. At precisely the right
moment the professor removes the specimen
from the neighborhood Of the ant hills. and
applies preservative and hardening chem
tcal to the cartilage.
Last winter a Moscow club gave an amateur
performance of comedy by Count Tolstoi,
who had promised to be present at the last
rehearsal. policeman was stationed at the
door OF the club house with the orders to
admit no one but the count Presently. a
peasant dressed in sheepskin came along.
passed the policeman unceremoniously, and
proceeded up the steps. He was told to halt.
but paid no attention to the command This
was too much for the policeman, who ran
after him, seized him by the collar, and
landed him in heap on the snow Then
the count told him who he was, and the DO
hceman, with apologies, allowed him to enter.
1t so happened that in the comedy that was
to be performed, a peasant is shown to the
door by his master. The part of the master
was not played to the satisfaction of the
count. II know what I am talking about, I"
he said, "for I have just been thrown down
stairs myself"
The Bulgarians have erected 800 monu-
ments in commemoration Of events in the
Russo-Turkish war, and are now sending to
the car an album containing illustrations Of
all Of them.