The Hope pioneer., 1899-06-08
CURRENT TOPICS.

Oy several western railroads,
"A NEW cotton factory to cost $780,.
600 is to be erected at Wilmington.
N. C.
IHE vast estate left by Leland STAN
ford is managed in all details bv his
widow.
IN ten years the production of steam
engines in Germany has more than
doubled.
SENATOR HANNA, though he has no
technical knowledge of music, is very
fond of it.
GEN. B. F. TRACY was a schoolmate
OF John d. Rockefeller at the Oswego.
N. Y, academy.
UNTIL the reign of Henry VIII. Eng
lsh sovereigns, as we'll as their sub.
9ects, ate with their fingers.
MORE than 100 Mandatory poems have
been sent to Lord Kitchener since his
great victory at Omdurman.
zen. FRED FUNSTON has declined =
fdattering offer for lecture tour upon
his return from the Philippines
LADY SOMERSET is laboring to induce
London and other English cities to en-
ploy matrons in police stations.
IHE tax on coffee amounts in France
70 ABOUT IA cents pound, while in
England it is only cents pound.
MORE women than men go blind in
Sweden, Norway and Iceland; more
men than women in the rest of Eu-
rope.
In the first four weeks after the OPEN
ing OF the electric railway at Cairo it is
said that no less than so persons were
killed.
AS to the length of life of fish it is
said that the ordinary carp, if not in
terfered with, would live about 500
years.
HALF the ships in the world are
British. The best of them can be
converted into ships of war in 48
hours.
In every school in Paris there is a
restaurant where free meals are served
to the children who are too poor to
pay for them.
GEN. WESLEY MERRITT brought back
with him from the Pacific large pat-
rot which had been the property of a
Spanish sailor
THE finding of an extraordinary largo
opal is reported from Winton. Queens
land. The value of the opal is between
$25, 900 and $4,000.
IHE average number of horses killed
in Spanish bull fights every year ex-
ceeds 5000. while from 1000 to 1900
bulls are sacrificed.
TIE czar has inherited his fathers
love of mushrooms. He enjoys moth
ing SO much as a dish of these dainties
prepared by his consort.
PRUSSIA began absorbing railroads
in 1876. In eightyears she owned 5000
miles. Now nearly 10000 miles are
under control of the state.
THINGS have changed in the Fiji is
lands. There are 10000 native Sun
day-school scholars there now contrib
uting to the missionary box.
The recent census of cyclists in
France. which has been made for the
purpose of taxation, shows that there
are 303,64 owners of wheels.
FRANCE is far and away ahead of all
other countries in the production of
auto cars. One factory in Paris en-
ployes 1000 hands, another 500.
AT Youngstown, O.. continuing
scarcity of labor in many of the great
iron mills is noted, and particularly for
the operation of pudding furnaces.
ONE of the hottest spots on the globe
is the region around the Dead sea.
The sea is said to lose at least /, OO0, 900
tons OF water day by evaporation.
LAW recently passed in Norway
.,l-oc rtr1c IN o1;
unless they can show certificates Of
skill in cooking, knitting and spinning.
RECORDS for high speed in express
train service have been made on.
French railroads lately, showing an
average of 54.5 miles per hour, includ-
ing stops.
The greatest pilgrimages to the
Holy Land are undertal1ed by the Rus
slams. 1t is estimated, that between
10000 and 10000 Russians visit Pales-
tine every year.
MARK TWAIN is greatly distressed by
the death of favorite cat, which he
has owned for many years. and which
always lay on his writing table while
the author was at work.
A STORY is going the rounds of the
western papers to the effect that
justice of the peace in Kansas recently
presided at the 'hearing" Of the corpse
of a man who had been found drown
ed, with revolver on his person and
$50 dollars in his pocket. The justice
fined the corpse $50 for carrying con-
cealed deadly weapon and took the
money.
JOHN Fl. WELLBoRN, of the Agricul-
tural College of Mississippi, has in
vented a novel device for cleaning
slate or blackboard. It consists of
cylinder which may be filed with
water and corked. A sponge fitted in
a groove at one side may thus be kept
constantly moist. On the other side is
fastened dryer.
The queen Of Portugal, who is some
thing of medical student and takes
grand interest in the hospitals of her
country, is great enemy to tight lac
ing, and has always preached to the
ladies of her court against this evil
habit. Tight lacing in Portugal, ow-
ing to the efforts of the queen, is said
to be now Oh the decrease.
A TRIAL test of compressed air mo-
tors is being made on Chicago street
railways, and if satisfactory and
practicable they will be used on night
cars.
The Case In a Nutshell.
Alabastine is permanent coating
for walls and ceilings, designed to take
the place of kalsomines and wall pa
per. Alabastine sets with the wall. 1t
is practically stone cement. as hard