The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-10
OUT OF THE ORDINARY.

In Ireland there are 1000 widows as
compared with $1,000 widowers.
A Venezuelan railway from Caracas to
Valencia, has eighty-six tunnels in fifty
five miles.
The idea of curing rheumatism in horses
by the means of brine baths is receiving the
support of veterinary surgeons.
Pennsylvania has a larger number of per-
sons of negro descent in its population than
any other of the Northern States.
Australia and New Zealand have 9O5Oo.OOO
sheep, which is just one and half times as
many as the whole of the United States
possesses.
The last census gave the value of poultry
| raised in the United States during the year
| 1899 as $136, S91, ST: of eggs produced in the
same year, $144 2S6, 15S.
The number of employees in the New York
municipal service has reached 1929, of
whom II, 900 are teachers and 10000 men,
bers of the police and fire departments.
| The internal commerce of the United
States last year has been estimated by. the
government statistician at 100000 00, 900.
| Fifty years ago 1t was only 81, 00OO0O.0oO.
Should present indications hold good it is
| said that the wheat crop of 1903 in this
country may break all records. 1t is esti-
mated that Kansas alone will harvest 10O.-
1900 bushels, Oklahoma 100000 and Ne
| braska 600O0,OO0.
The use of bicycles by the Chinese is in
creasing notably, and the possibilities Of the
market are limited only by the abilities of
| the Chinaman to purchase On account of
| their manner of dress they generally pre-
| fer wheels designed for ladies'.
An unexploded four-inch rife shell, sup
posed to be civil war relic, was drawn up
| through the suction pump Of a dredger Off
the coast of Florida the other day. 1t will be
presented to the Jacksonville Chapter Of
| the Daughters of the Confederacy.
| The Russian minister of war has just dis
covered that only one man in a thousand in
| the Russian army possesses handkerchief.
10 hac s,xvf tn1 love fnr 6nV IL
chiefs, which will be decorated with Rus
| sian flags and other patriotic devices.
| Bishop Coleman, of Delaware. has been
| telling audience that crime In the United
States has increased enormously since 1850
| In that year there was one criminal in every
| 3.442 of population In 1890. forty years later,
| the proportion had increased TO one in ev-
| cry 7l5.
sumo eight times as much sugar per capita
| as they did in the first quarter of the last
century, four times as much as the average
per capita during the decade ending with
| 1850 and twice as much as they did in any
year prior to 1870.
| A strange punishment is endured by Ar
| menian maidens when they have attained
/ their seventeenth year and are not engaged
/ to be married. They are forced to fast three
| days; then for twenty-four hours their food
/ Is salt fish, and they are not permitted to
| Quench their thirst.
| The census of 1901 reveals the sad fact
/ that more than half the total population of
| Ireland belongs to the nonproductive class.
| They are actually more numerous than the
professional. commercial, industrial agri-
| cultural and domestic classes together This
/ fact is the root of Ireland poverty.
| There is an ''Old Maids Insurance Com
/ pany In Denmark. Each member pays a
| the dangers of celbacy. In the event of her
| marriage before attaining to her fortieth
| birthday she is pledged by the statutes to
| forfeit her claim to the pension. which be-
Il ~xsx. 10. 1r,p Of hn Of A~fx
| The Gaelic version of Knox's Liturgy,
which was sold In London for $500. belonged
| to the Duke of Argyll. 1t was printed in
| Edinburgh by Robert Leprevik April. 1867.
/ duodecimo, and appears to be the copy re-
/ ferred to by Lowndes as being lin the pos
session of the Duke of Argyll 1t wants the
signature, but is otherwise perfect.
The largest pair of shoes ever manufac-
| tured for actual wear have just been for
| warded to their destination by a firm of
| shoemakers at Rockland, Mass. The size is
labeled ~" and they are nearly sixteen
inches long Four common shoe boxes were
| required for packing them-two. for each
| shoe The buyer is Harvey Murray, negro,
working in sawmiil at Tirrell, Ark.
| The Eskimos possessed the most remark
| able place of worship in the world. 1t was a
sealskin church. Forty sealskins were
| stretched over a light framework. and in
this tent. Is feet by IL feet, services were
| held every Sunday. But the church came to
an untimely end One hard winter the Eski-
| mos dogs, being half famished, dined on the
| sealskins, and only the frame was left. The
Eskimos have now erected dog-proof tab
| ernacle.
During the past five years the average
| consumption of alcoholic beverages in the
| United Kingdom 33 gallons per head of
the population; in France, 3d. I'm Germany
30: in America. IA. and in Canada. Z. The
| consumption in the United Kingdom last
| year was SO gallons, while the money spent
would clear off the national debt in sixteen
| years, besides allowing a pension of 5 shill-
| ings per week to every person over sixty
years OF age.
II is seldom that anything but mulberry
| leaves are employed to feed silkworms in
France. Very rarely the worms hatch be-
fore the mulberry leaves are out, and or
| such occasions they fed young rose
| leaves for few days. About 1900 acres OF
land in France are planted In mulberries
| 40.S10 pounds OF leaves necessary to pro-
| duce % pounds of cocoons. The production
of fresh cocoons. from one ounce of eggs In
France varies from As to lat pounds.