Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-12-23
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

doh, u quiz pen such as you can buy
10Y penny. This particular one, how
ever, brought 1850 pence, or G19 los.
1t had belonged to Charles Dickens.
ana is said to be that which was used
at the last when he was writing Ed
win brood"
The Siberian Jews have lately been sub
jected to severe repression. The authori-
ties suddenly discovered, says the Jewish
Chronicle, that the Jews had no right to
travel from one town to another. but were
bound to remain in their present places Of
residence. For this reason, too, they ex-
PEELED from the larger educational CEN
tiers all provincial Jewish children, thus
depriving them of all possibility Of edu-
eating themselves.
Investigations of the recent royal
commission on coal supplies have
shown that the present inefficient con-
sumption of coal in Great Britain leads
to waste of from 100000 to 6C,00O-
600 tons per annum, and is also respon-
sible for the greater proportion Of
smoke and dust from which they suffer.
Thirty per cent. of the total British
consumption OF coal might be saved by
employing the best known methods for
such purpose.
Are women less honest than men,
This palpating question has become
one of the great subjects Of discussion
in Paris, thanks to ia symposium in
La Revue.
Since 1877 there has been only one
year in which the German national
debt has not been increased. 1t is now,
according to recent official statements,
| 81 Oh 600, 900, or little more than the
French indemnity.
Norway has d total WaterpOWer Of
| $1,000, 900 horsepower, Sweden 10000, 000-
horsepower and Finland 1000 0G0-horse-
| power. The plants of these countries
| now in use or building have a total
capacity of $50, 1000 horsepower.
Every now and then some one tries
to write national anthem for Can
| ada, but, in the opinion of the Victoria
Colonist, every effort is failure. The
Colonist adds: Canada is not old
enough to have evolved a national an
them. The sentiment of the people has
not clustered around any particular
person, event or idea. When the aver
| age rhymster sits down to write a
Canadian song he tries to include
! everything IN It, from the herring feet
| of Nova Scotia to the miners of the
| klondke. BY and by, something may
happen, or we may do something as a
| people, or some one may think of
something that Will catch the popular
idea
While many plants close their petals
or fold their leaves as darkness ap-
| proaches, the testimony of most scicn-
| lists is to the effect that none ceases
| to grow. A series of experiments was
recently made in the East with quick
growing plants, such as asparagus let
ture radishes and the like, with a view
| Of ascertaining whether the growth
| continues at night with as great rapid
! ity as during the day. The result de-
| terlnned chat, while the growth is con-
| tinual with most plants, it is by no
means SO rapid during the dark hours
as during the light. There are, how
ever, many exceptions to this rot a
| few plants being nocturnal and grows
| ing more and faster during the night
than in the daytime These, however,
are usually tropical and their habitat
! is commonly in dense forests. where
| even during llit udS llliic nv 1iNtts
amount OF light is able to penetrate.
! According to the best general estl-
mate there has been cut and utilized III
| a very wasteful manner about 30 per
cent of our ConiterOuS or pine forests.
About Is per cent. more mas been
wasted. leaving about 80 per cent. OF
| the total original supply for future use
and waste.
John Brown was executed at Har-
| pers Ferry on Dc. ,, 1859. 1t was short
| w after IL O'Clock in the morning. Two
| thousand soldiers were ranged around
! the scaffold when he was brought iron,
mis- prison house and placed in d wagon
| which was to convey him to the scene
| of execution.
There is at present an interesting
exhibit in No tank at the brlsh,oii
| Aquarium. saws the London Globe. II
is something like a dogtish, only nuch
larger, while in the matter OF sneer
ugliness it stands unrivaled. Its teen
nical name is the topper shark. II IS
six feet long, and weighs from 50 7"
90 pounds. while its mouth looks large
enough to take an elephant single
! handed.
Mrs. Taft years ago began collecting
| silver cups i'll lieu Of fragile crySta
| glasses from which water usually Is
| served She las now d dozen or two
cups, and in the family circle she uses
| them constantly They are all Of UNI
! form size but of different designs, and
have been purchased in many foreign
countries At the breakfast table each
member of the family has his own cup
| appropriately engraved.
China is becoming thoroughly Yam
keeiZed The people there have gont
daft over recently introduced Ameri-
| can sewing machines and ice cream
| freezers. In the cities; the streets are
blocked with men, women and children
crcWding around the vendors, who
make the ice cream. as they sell it.
| Operators on the sewing machine in
south China are paid s. month for
| working nire hours a Gay, seven days
| in the week.
The aeroplanc has created one of the
most delectab BILE and healthy states of
mind the world has vet known. causing
an excitement all to the good. for il
has suddenly yanked the old fogy