The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1899-03-17
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.


1t has been estimated that steamers
are 10 per cent. safer than sailing vessels.
1t was 800 years ago, in Florence.
that the first grand opera was produced.
Silk is considered unclean by the Mo-
hammedans, because it is the product Of
Il worm.
-Reggars are unknown in Melbourne
The poorest part of the city is the Chi
nese quarter.
The Chinese believe that women who
wear short hair will be transformed into
men in future world.
Australia is the only country in the
world where no native pipes and no
native smokers have been found.
"A kind of paper is made from sea
weed which is so transparent that it may
be used instead Of glass for windows
There is newspaper published in
rekin over 1000 years old. More than
1900 of its editors have been beheaded.
Through the actors benevolent fund,
started by Sir Henry Irving, 1000 people
were assisted i'll London during the last
year.
1t is an unexplai ned fact that glow
worms are much more brilliant just be-
fore an approaching storm than at any
other time.
Paris actresses wear paper lace,
which by night looks Us beautiful and
delicate as the best of real lace, while it
costs but il tritie.
The Chicago banks have recently
adopted the policy of charging 81 a
month to customers who keep a running
deposit account of not more than $500.
-MohammedanS are very superstitious
about killing any animal except for food.
This is one reason why the towns and
villages are so infested with dogs.
Anyone who calls n citizen of Sierra
Leone a 'nigger" violates the law of the
land and may have to face n suit for
damages assessed by IL colored jury.
Scented tea is very largely drunk in
China. This is made by mixing orange
blossoms with the tea, and letting it re-
main tightly shut up for twenty four
hours.
Rarely indeed is Il wealthy Turk seen
ut his wife's dinner table He usually
dimes in part of the house remote from
that occupied by his connubial partner or
partners.
Nearly all Russian leather is tanned
with birch bark. This gives it the pc
culiar pleasant odor which is 50 adj
mirel. and ut the same time protects it
from insects.
The turkey was first discovered in
America, and was brought to England in
the early part of the Sixteenth century.
Since then it has been acclimated in
nearly all parts of the world.
The Siamese believe that it requires
seven days for the human soul to Jour-
ney between earth and heaven, and there
fore pray increasingly for seven days at
ter the death of u friend or relative.
Confirmed drunkards are shamed into
reformation in many of the towns of the
Argentine Republic by being compelled to
sweep the streets for eight days each
time they may be arrested for intoxica-
ton.
The small boon voted to the Della
ware single-taxerS by the House. in the
passage of bill providing that land
value should be assessed separately from
improvements, has been denied by the
Senate.
The chamois is usually identified
with Switzerland, but the animal is less
common there than in any other country
which it inhabits. Austria is the real
home of the channels, where they are
most plentiful.
The Canadian government, in order
to have the movements of its artillery
,.,ndo quick and effective, has mounted
many cannon on sieds so that they NAV
be swiftly drawn over the snowy wastes
of the country
The term "tabby cat" is derived from
Atab, famous street in Bagdad, inhab-
lted by the manufacturers of silken stnff
called atibi, or taffety. This stuff is
woven with waved markings of watcre.l
silk resembling 'tabby" cats back.
Los Angeles draws its electricity
from turbulent mountain river ninety
miles away. The 10000 horsepower runs
street cars and machinery and supplies
the city with light and heat. There is
less loss OF energy than was expected.
Of
Russian cottage is the stove, which often
fills 4 third of the interior of the larg-
est room. During the day it is used for
cooking and for drying clothes, while at
night 1t forms the bed of the entire fam
lily.
"A shortage of the vanilla bean crop is
reported from Mexico, where the finest
lnallty OF this ttavoring product is grown
AS Il consequence the price of the best
beans at the source of supply has jumped
to figure nearly triple that quoted in
1894
Some of the Indians Of the United
states are among the richest farmers in
the world. The annual income of the
Usage tribe, for instance, consisting Of
only 1l20 persons, including children, is
2,O44. or $256.24 for each man, wom-
an and child
An officer of the Federal Steel COM
RdAS tic statement Cllt the re-
cent advance in wages Of employees en-
braces all the constituent concerns under
ITS control: The advance, according to
this authority, amounts to an average of
about 10 per cent
That plants when injured suffer from
fever is new discovery by British
ootanlst. rants suffer III a similar man
ner to animals under like conditions. The
rate of respiration increases and the tenn
perature rises, reaching maximum
within twenty-four hours.
Judge William Butler of Philadc|
phia. who has resigned from the bench OF
the United States district court, learned
the trade Of printer in the office of the
West Chester (PaJ Village Record
Among the other boys in the office at the
same time was Bayard Taylor.
-Mexico's new tariff, which will go
into effect on March /, raises the duty
on bicycles Of all kinds and their compo-
hent parts from 20 cents to 81 Der kilo-
gram. Children's tricycles without rub.
Der tires must pay 25 cents per kilo.
gram instead Of 20 cents, as now.
After much squabbling, the anti
smoke ordinance in Kansas CITY has
been sustained in court, and the defend,
ants III two test cases We're fined sol
each for having smoking chimneys. The
court held that careful firing of furnaces
is preventive Of the smoke nuisance.
ALI Paris theaters except the new
Opera Comique are full of feas, accord.
ing to Fruncisque Carey, the dramatic
critic, who ought to know. He suggests
that managers drive sheep into the audi.
torium before the performance to attract
the pests, a method that is said to have
some success in Spanish hotels.
"A glove manufacturer near Carlsbad.
in Germany, has invented process for
the manufacture of glazed leather for
gloves which can he washed without los.
ing it's color, and which will at the same
time remain plant and resist the action
Of heat and cold. The leather is sub.
mitted to tanning supplementary to the
chrome.
The outward signs OIL the houses
where someone has died in North Hol
land are original in the extreme. When
the dead person was Protestant Il long
black mantle, such as the .,ndertake1
wears when he goes to the grave, is hung
i'll the middle of the front door. In TIL.