The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1909-12-23
FACTS IN FEW LINES

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Portuguese navy.
China has as many different dialects
as Europe has languages.
Italy will expeId $2O,OUOO0O to de,
velop its first naval base on the Adri
attic at Ancona.
There is about 70 per cent more gold
money in the world now than there
was ten years ago.
The government of Guatemala has
placed bronze bust of Robert Fulton
in one of the parks of the city of Qua
temala.
A complete library of Italian and
foreign newspapers from the earliest
times is to be instituted in Rome, and
more than 100000 collections have al
ready been secured.
A memorial to the late Lieutenant
General Corbin is to be placed in Cor
bin hall, as the officers club on Gov
ernors island is now known. 1t will be
a bronze bust to cost about $500
The wages of female employees in
the toy factories of Nuremberg are
about cents an hour The men make
twice as much. The working day is
nine and ope-half hours. on Satuadry
eight and. one-half.
When the postofice was first opened
at Kaifeng, China, the clerks had a
fight with some men who bought
stamps and refused to go away until
the stamps were licked and stuck On
their envelopes for them.
A custom which was In vogue more
than 100 years ago has been revived at
Motifs, England. A number of four
pound Ioaves of bread, each contain
ing coin. were distributed from a
tombstone to the rnnr of Selston par
ish.
There is a bridge over a brook at
East killingly, Conn.,. composed of but
one large stone and the supports. The
stone is fourteen feet long, seven feet
wide and fourteen inches thick 1t has
held up traffic for more than seventy
FIVE years.
1t is a matter of grave concern to
the missionaries and other permanent
residents of China to observe from
year to year the increasing cost of Ifv-
ing which. of course. includes every
item of household expense. Double
and treble the prices are asked that
were paid ten years ago.
The two chief scourges of Greece
are maiarial fever and tuberculosis.
An annual average of 1000 persons
die each year from the former. while
in epidemic years, due to excessive
rains, the number exceeds 5000, which
was the case in 1905. The population
of Greece is only 2,433, S06.
The city of Hobart, Tasmania, has
one of the finest harbors in the world.
and many of the people live, in suburbs
on the opposite side of the harbor,
which they are obliged to cross at
least twice day. The river Derwent,
which flows into this harbor, is nav
igable for small excursion boats for
thirty miles up the stream.
Sadie Fretchel of New York city
threw $50 in cash and diamond ring
worth $125 into the ash can. She
frantically telephoned to Street Com
missioner Edwards, and the driver for
that section of the city was ordered
to- sift all his ashes when he reached
the dump. Mrs. Fretchels property
was found and returned to her
Near Wamberg, Bohemia. the people
in twenty surrounding villages are
engaged In making handmade lace.
and 5000 families work at the cush-
ions every winter, the work beginning
as soon as cold weather sets in and
no further work can be done in the
fields. Boys and men work at the
lacemaking as well as women and
girls.
Complaint has been made to the Ips-
witch (Englandl guardians that in
mates of the workhouse infirmary
were washed as early as 3 o'clock in
the morning. and a member protested
against it, especially in the cases of
the older folk. The reply was made
that it would be impossible to begin
later unless more nurses were en-
ployed.
The English courts are taking action
to catch and send up rascally bird
dealers who for years have been sys-
tematically binding song birds, which
they put on the market under the pop
ular impression that blind birds sing
best. Such birds look and behave like
other birds and can find their water
and seed in their cages after recovery
from pain.
Captain John c. Bartlett Of Kenne-
bunk. Me-, has large silver watch
which he bought in a Chinese pawn
shop on the island of Sumatra in 1856.
The watch was made in London in
1926 especially for a Battak chief as
a reward for certain concessions grant
ed The figures are in Battak charac-
tiers instead of numerals. The watch
strikes the hours.
AS matter of curiosity it might be
mentioned that under the Danish flag
there are plying thirtytwo sailing yes
sells built before 1925. and of these
seven were built before 1900. One of
them. the schooner Vigilant was built
in Baltimore in the year 1870 and has