St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-12-20
Interesting Foreign Items.

lntShSothhS OiStSh At~bSs
The Car owns about ones seventh of
the whole world. According to the
latest publication touching the size of his
empire it includes S,644,1 100 square
miles an area exceeded only by that of
Great Britain. In the United States the
territory, including Alaska, but not in
GLIDING any land in the West Indies or in
the Philippines, aggregates 35S5,600
square miles. Russia has 11000,0 900
men able to bear arms. 1t can send L.
225,0O0 into the field in few days, and
100000 more soon after. The indus
trial progress of Russia is remarkable.
A handsome prize of no less than 100,-
900 francs will be given by the heirs of
the late A. Pollok, OF Washington, to
the inventor of the best apparatus for
the saving Of life in cases of maritime
disaster The competition will be de-
cided at the Paris Exhibition by a jury,
and the juror selected on behalf of the
government of the United States is Lieut..
w. S. Sims, Naval Attache at Paris The
10000 may be awarded to single indi-
vidual, but should several persons sub
nit inventions of equal value, the prize
may be divided.
The ice breaker Yermak, will return to
st. Petersburg and keep the navigation
open during the coming winter not only
between st. Petersburg and Cronstadt,
distance of twenty miles, but also as
far as Reval and Libau on the Baltic If
the Yermak succeeds in keeping the Gulf
OF Finland and the Baltic open to navi-
cation the shipping trade of st. Peters
burg will be greatly affected thereby.
Hitherto the shipping trade of the capt.
tai and Cronstadt has been impossible
for about six months every year. during
the winter certain amount OF trade is
carried on by rail to the Baltic ports,
which happen to be open to navigation.
A young man who lodges with Mrs.
Sanders, in Salisbury terrace, Long Lane,
Finchlcy, and who works at Peter
Kay's Nursery, at Church End, Finchley,
has just had a curious experience. He
placed in cupboard at the nursery an
egg he intended to take home. But he
forgot all about it. Three weeks after
wards he heard squeak, and opening
the cupboard discovered that the hot
water pipes which passed beneath it had
given it the virtues of an incubator with
theresult that the egg had been Matched.
He took the chicken home, and it is now
being kept in Mrs. Sanders kitchen in a
basket near the fire. Six days old yes
terday, the little creature is doing well"
Il London Globe.
New Bibles are now so cheap that old
ones have little or no marketable value /;
but the experience OF casual buyer may
lead to run on tattered copies of the
Scriptures in search of hidden treasure
not spiritual. but material. And the
fact that it cannot be discovered without
examining the volumes may lead to ulti-
mate profit, even though there may be
no mundane lucre between the boards.
According to the Church Of England
Pulpit" young fellow, named Richard
Ceilings, employed in Smthfield Market,
London, purchased, at an auction few
days ago, for IS 3d. an old leather trunk,
containing clothing, books, and tools.
Among the articles was venerable,
much-used family Bible. On Sunday
evening last, during the absence Of
Ceilings from home, his wife commenced
reading some of the chapters to her two
young daughters, and while turning over
the leaves she came upon several which
were pasted together. She Immediately
set to work to separate them with great
care, and when success crowned her eff
forts the good woman was intensely sur
prised to find, hidden between the
gummed pages, six f5 Bank of England
notes. They were enclosed in an enve
lope, were very frayed and dirty, and or
the back of one was written in ink the
following remarkable bequest: II have
worked very. very hard for this, and
having no relatives, leave thee. deal
reader, whatsoever shall be the owner o
this Holy Book, my lawful herr Lon
don Telegraph, Oct. IS.
The Congress of Ecuador, in com
pliance with the advice OF President AL
faro, has just passed law conhscatins
for the state all the property held by thu
great Roman Catholic orders, including
valuable mines, cocoa and sugar planta
tions.
The corporation of Glasgow, Scotland
about to substitute electricity for hors
power on the municipal tramways, hal
just placed exceedingly large contracts
TOR the entire work with American me
chanics and manufacturers, our unrival
ed facilities and capacities for this sort O
work making the competition of British
and continental rivals quite futile.
Lberian finances are said to be in I
healthy condition now for the first tim
in years owing to revenue derived from {
rubber industry concession granted tt
English capitalists. Germany ant
France look longingly at Liberian terri
tory and the United States wishes {
coaling station there. Great Britain ant
the United States are said to have com
mitted themselves, in measure, to
quasi protectorate over the West African
republic whose history is so tragicall
connected with the colonization scheme
of American haters of slavery.
"Some people," said the man with tn
large Adam 's-apple, seem just natural,
| ~. L. L.. ...I 81 l...l,