Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-07-22
GLEANINGS AND GOSSIP.

| Twenty five years ago there We're
20o0 miles of railroad track in Canada
| and now there are $4,000.
| Norway is now holding 4 fisheries
| and motor boat exposition at Trondh-
jem. 1t will last through next month.
| The Russian army has some trained
| falcons which can be used to carry dis
patches. They are said to have four
times the speed of carrier pigeons.
Everyone in New Zealand has to take
| weekly half-holdy, whether they
! want it or not. Recently some walters
| in hotel at Auckland didn't do it and
| the government fined the hotel propri
etor.
Harrison Parkman took the first al
| falfa to Kansas. He lived at Emporia
and was in Chill at one time, where he
saw it growing. He brought some seed
| to this country and planted it on his
| farm and raised a good crop. Even
| then it was slow in meeting with pop
ular favor.
| \ strange story comes from one of
| the Balkan states, where commercial
morality is still in its infancy. At
recent banquet given at the house OF
| the prime minister distinguished dip
| lomat complained to his host that the
| minister Of justice next to whom he
| was sitting, had taken his watch. The
| prime minister said, | will get it back
| for you" Sure enough, toward the end
| of the evening the watch was returned
| to its owner And what did he say
asked the guest. "Sh-h! He does not
| know / have got it back" said the
| prime minister Record.
\. c. Ballouet of Wheeling. w. Va,
recently lost four fingers that We're
badly mashed in an ice-cream freezer.
The surgeons told him they could graft
new ones on if he could find the fingers.
He put a want ad in the papers for
| fingers ard received offers from p men,
| each of whom offered to sell him fin
ger for $500. The collection was exam
lned by the surgeons and four We're Sc
lected that are almost a match for
those lost by Ballouet. These Will be
removed from the hands of the owners
and each man will get $500, or $1,000 for
the lot. The surgeons are confident
they can graft them on BallouetS hand,
and that in a few weeks he will come
out of the hospital with 4 hand praC-
tically as good as ever.
How many people know that the
clouds have definite forms, says Arthur
w. Clayden of the Royal Albert Memo
rial coll, &c. Exeter, Eng, in an artiVle
on Clouds" in Harper's magazine. The
short curling wisps that lie in punches.
or long parallels, extremely beautiful,
but delicate, are called cirrus clouds.
Alto cloGds are denser, and dim the
sun or hide it. brilliant and solid clouds
| that are never iridesccnt, but are the
most splendid of all in the sky when
sunset colors fall upon them Mackerel
| sky is familiar kind of cloud, and ac-
| tually does prcsage unsettled weather.
| The towering vaporing white pyramids
| those that we watch oftenest as they
| cross the Sky. are known as cumulus.
| Thunder clouds TO the obScrvant eye
| look like anvils at the crest, and when
they sink down into fiat tops the storm
| is over.
There are 200 Indians in the 37th. Be-
ing a rural corps the Haldimands are
weak in strength and considerably
more than half of them are red men.
| second or third wear men almost with
out exception. At the time of the Tor
onto inspection. in 1901, the %ith had
| but seven companies. or his own IN
itative, Capt. Johnson, an Indian him
self, came forward and organized a
| company Of red men from the Six Ma
| tions. To-day he is captain of as keen
| 4 body of recruits as there is IN the
whole camp. His son is lieutenant
| in the same company. Lieut.. Smith.
| who was one Of the two natives of
| North America who went to the coro-
nation from the 3ith is an officer of the
| Sd company He is full-blo0ded Mo-
| hawk. All these servants of the King
are well-Set officers of military bearing
| and clean-cut, expressive features
| Toronto Globe.
The London Globe recently published
| an article on The worlds oldest tree"
which was reprinted in several Ameri-
car papers. The writer said that the
granddaddy of all present trees was To
| be found on the isle of Cos. on the
| coast of Asia Minor, was estimated to
be considerable more than 300 years
old. and had a circumference of 32l2
| feet. In letter to the Tribune. Iva
L. Lee. head of the publicity depart
| ment of the Pennsylvania railroad. dis
| putes the Globes statements 1T is
| evident" says Mr.. Lee, that the writ
er of this note was not familiar with
the big trees Of California. large
number of which are probably more
than $500 years old, and it is certain
that the oldest and largest of them
namely. the Grizzly giant in the Mar
isopa grove. near Yosemite parks
upward of 5000 years old. Calculations
to this effect have been made by emil
nent scientists and there is probably
no doubt Ct their earnestness. Not only
is this great rree and many of its COM
panions CT such great age, but it
shows no tendency towards decay. The
trunk of this tree is more than 100 feet
in circumference New York Tribune.