The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1900-12-15
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DECEMBER 10. 1901
FACTS IN A FEW LINES.

TO smoke.
Common laborers In Spain get from
80 to 40 cents per day in the larger
towns and from 20 to 30 cents In the
rural districts.
An Egyptian contemporary says: our
whole island is now girdled with golf
courses. All the world is no longer
stage, but golf links
The British museum authors cata-
logue is now completed after 20 years
labor and has cost 100000. 1t con-
slsts Of 400 volumes and 10 supple
ments.
The eruption Of Vesuvius is gradual
" increasing in intensity. and the au-
thorities are taking the usual precau-
lions TO prevent imprudent tourists
from approaching too near the crater
An Australian volunteer is carrying
a bullet IN his brain. imeedded too
deeply to allow Of extraction, and he
declares that but for the knowledge of
the fact he never felt better in his life.
In England during the past few
years. it is claimed, 140.320 farm Ia
borers have been displaced by ma
chinery. while the making of the lat
ter, 1t Is asserted, required only the
labor of 1900 men for one year.
Kerschdorf. near Heidelberg. has a
lively 91-year-old blacksmith and
churchwarden who recently climbed
to the top of the church steeple and
tied new rope to the bell after the
younger men In the village had refused
to risk themselves.
Comfort powders are beautiful little
stanzas or verses of courage and good
cheer. written on small papers and roll
ed up like powdered medicines. One Is
to be unrolled read and enjoyed each
morning. Each one is a mystery until
its turn comes. And the surprise Is
part Of the pleasure.
The Hambledon cricket legend,
which makes Englands national game
take it's rise In the little Surrey vii
lage scarcely more than 100 years ago.
has long since been exploded. The
game was played by the vikings and is
certainly Identical also with the club
ball" of the fourteenth century.
Switzerland has not until now been
noted as a center for steel production.
though her engineers have long held a
high position in the mechanical world.
Recently. however, a company has
been formed to work the great deposits
III the Bernese Overland, where there
are many million tons Of ore available
averaging 30 per cent of iron.
About all that a Chinese gentleman
wants to practice the profession Of
medicine is to declare himself doctor
and go to work curing or killing people.
as the case may be, at the rate of about
2 cents per visit. II patient persists
In dying in spite of the drugs and IN
carnations presented by his Celestial
physician. It is no fault Of the doctor.
South Carolina negroes have started
a new industry by the hand picking Of
phosphate rock. During the summer
they anchor boats on the COosaw riv-
er. which is from II to % feet deep,
and dive for the fertilizing rock. some
times bringing up fragment weighing
100 pounds The phosphate from the
river bed is the mostvaluabie known.
People in Honolulu indulge in a bev-
erage known as "swipes." 1t is the ma
tive beer of Hawaii and is a dangerous
connection. The principal articles used
In its manufacture are sugar, corn,
pineapple root and Chinese ginger,
bran, Irish potatoes and sliced pineap-
pies. 1t Is fermented after standing
four or five days. and then it Is ready
for use.
Beds are comparatively scarce in
Russia, and many well to do houses
are still unprovided with them. Peas
ants sleep on the tops Of their ovens,
middle class people and servants roll
themselves up in sheepskins and lay
down near stoves. soldiers rest upon
wooden cots without bedding, and 1t Is
only within the last few years that
students in schools have been allowed
beds.
Berlin last year for the first time
registered over 100000 strangers who
had visited the city. Vienna, which
formerly had more visitors than Ber-
lin. counted only a few over 100000
in 1899 and was surpassed by Munich
with 100000. Dresden had over half
a million visitors. Hamburg, Leipsic
and Zurich each about 100000 and
Stuttgart, Basel and Dusseldorf each
over a quarter of a million.
Passengers on far western railroads
are being advised TO carry guns with
them and not to slumber at night.
There is no telling when lone holder
I'D" may begin operations in sleeping
car. If one good. wide awake man
with his wits, accompanied by first
| class six shooter about him should as
sert himself. the highwayman would
not be apt to leave the train unless he
went feet first on stretcher.
What might have proved very ser-
Gus accident on the Grand Rapids and
| Indiana railroad was averted by the
smallest incident during recent heavy
storm at Big Rapids. Mich. A freight
car was blown from the side track
upon the main line, but while 1t was
being pushed forward by the wind the
switch light was also turned so that
the red light was visible. The operator
discovered 1t just at the proper mo-
ment.
Devotees Of golf are found of refer
| ring to It rs 'the ancient and royal
game" 1t Is probably more royal and
certainly more ancient than most of
them have any idea of. At all events
a pictured tablet was recently unearth-
ed at Carchemish, the old capital of
the Hlttites, whereon are depicted men
and women engaged In a pastime
which, II not exactly golf as played at
present, Is something extraordinarily
like It.