The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1900-10-30
EsDAY.... OCTOBER 30. 1900
EACTS IN A FEW LINES.

the egg, pcihS puiouS' ""9"t' ~" "'N''
rapidly.
There is a blacksmith in Gardiner,
Me. who has not lost a days work
from sickness since he began his ap-
premiership, nearly third of cen
fury ago.
There are not half as many Amcri-
cans in Cuba as there were one year
ago. The mails from the United States
are 30 per cent lighter and are drop
ping off daily
Rotary flight can be given to an ar
row like that of a rifle bullet 10y using
feathers of one wing for the same set
of arrows. the curve Of the wing giving
the rotary motion.
A railway operator at Louisiana, Mo,
recently received a present of dozen
young chickens from an old woman TO
whom he had been courteous while she
was waiting for Il train.
A humorous friend of the Prince of
Wales recently gave him silver steth-
oscope as a present, the point lying in
the not generally known fact that his
royal highness has been given diplO-
mas as a physician and surgeon.
At the time Of the Roman occupation
Of Britain five distinct species OF dogs
were there. most of which can with
certainty be Identified with those Of
the present day. There were the house
dog. the greyhound, the bulldog, the
terrier and the slowhound.
Before the outbreak Of the war with
Spain freight vessels were lying idle in
many seaport at home and abroad.
Demands incident to hostilitles in
South Africa and the far east have
been so active that now not enough
vessels are afloat to do the business Of
the world.
An optimistic English physician says
that modern life is easier. safer and
smoother than life 100 years ago; that
young people are healthier, stronger
and better grown than their great
grandparents and that the complaints
of increasing neurouc tendencies are
wholly unfounded.
The 500 Russian, ROumanian, Servi-
an, Bulgarian. Georgian and Armenian
students of the University Of Genoa
have a restaurant of their own, where
they can have a substantial dinner at
a low price. Each member of the as
ISOLATION is obliged in turn to help the
cook who prepares the food.
The British government has sup
pressed the district messenger cOmpa-
MES and transferred the business done
by them to the postofilce on the ground
that the companies are encroachiDg
on the prerOgatives Of the state, which
claims a monopoly Of the conveyance
of messages by letter and By wire.
1t is usual among the Chinese TO de-
posit their possessions Of value when
not IN use in pawnbroker establish
ments. The people also store there IN
summer their winter clothing, on which
money is often lent. To have dealings
with a pawnshop is in no way consid-
cred derogatory to a Chinese gentle
mans dignity.
1t is said that many French medical
men are abandoning the use of tobacco
owing largely TO the government mo-
nopoly of that commodity. According
to the physicians the cigars of the RE
gle" those made at the government
factories) are so uniformly bad and the
tax on all other brands IS so prOhibitye
that the only sensible thing to do Is not
to smoke at all.
Ptomaines are the product Of putre-
faction. They are alike developed in
the putrefaction Of vegetable and ami
NAL matter All ptomaines are not
poisonous. and indeed investigation has
demonstrated that the greater number
are not. but science has not been able
to distinguish between the deadly and
the harmless until somebody has eaten
the wrong kind.
A peach grower near Georgetown,
Del, protected his trees from the depre-
dations Of fruit thieves last summer
by conspicuously displaying this legend
on signs nailed to the fence surround
ing his orchard: "Cautionl This fence
is surrounded by a live electric wire"
The wire could be seen on top Of the
fence, strung on glass insulators, and
no one attempted to NEEDLE with it.
New Brunswick has large areas Of
fine soil, but until recently farming
was neglected for numbering and ship
building. Now more attention Is be-
ing paid to it. and the establishment Of
creameries and cheese factories Is rap
idly making the province a dairying
country. Both cheese and butter are
now exported to the United Kingdom,
and this Is a trade which is certain to
grow.
To discourage those curious individ-
uals who persist In lingering the vari-
GUS portions Of the mechanism Of his
"auto" when he leaves 1t standing by
the curb a Boston motorist has rugged
up a galvanic battery which he has at
tached to the various levers: When he
leaves his vehicle, be turns on the
current, and when he returns it is need
less to say that he finds everything
Just as he left It.
Municipal authorities Of Riegelsburg,
near Saarbruck, Alsace, propose to es-
tablish an automobile service between
the town and the center Of st. jean
Saarbruck, a distance of six miles, and
have advertised for offers of eight
place vehicles. These are to be hired
at first for six months and may be pur-
chased If found suitable. At Chariot
tenburg. near Berlin, an electric omni-
bus is now In circulation which can
transport II persons, eight in the inte-
rior and nine on top.