Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1910-01-22
Lumlnous Muahroomn.

Luminous Mushrooms.
A traveller In Australia found a very
lnrge mushroom weighing five pounds.
He took It to the house in which he
was for the time being residing and
hung II up to dry in the sitting room
Entering after dark. he was amazed to
see a beautiful soft light emanating
from the fungus. 1t continued to give
out light for many nights. gradually
decreasing until 1t was wholly dry
Many kinds Of fungi have this peculi-
arity. Humboldt describes some he
saw in the mines. The glow In rotten
wood is caused by its containing the
threads Of light giving fungi
0razed In the Fog.
It is not usual for a ship on the high
seas to elect to cast anchor on the deck
OF a passing steamer, but that is what
four masted schooner did once in the
Atlantic. The two vessels grazed in
the fog. and the Gated port anchor
Of the schooner caught In the steam
er's deck 'by a fuke." II fastened to
an engineers stateroom In such a man.
ner as TO bar his exit but fortunately
the chain parted just as the room was
being ripped into fragments. The
schooner followed the steamer to its
destination to recover her anchor.
A Welcome Visitor.
Prospectors in Alaska who spend the
long winters up there sometimes are
incredibly lonely, says the Saturday
Evening Post. A man named Hart
ford was left in charge Of a mine one
winter. He was all alone and at the
end of the third month was signing for
eompanionshlp One morning he left
his cabin to get some wood and met
an enormous black bear that reared on
its hind legs and stretched out its
front paws as If to hug the miner.
Good morning, bear" said the min
er, holding out his hand. "I'm darned
] glad to see you"
The Cocoa Bean.
The cocoa Is a native Of Venezuela.
1t Is a pod bean the size Of the flrst
Joint OF the finger. six or eight OF
these beans to the pod. The wet beans
are shelled from the pods and then
fermented in heaps for six days until
cured. During this ferment heat is de-
veloped that will cook an egg. so they
say. The cocoa bush begins bearing at
ave years. grows into tree thirty
feet high, and. like the olive. the older
the tree the better. The beans hang
from the trunk and the under side Of
the limbs, sticking out on stems.
! The Arctic Summer.
The arctic summer is brief, but for
weeks together there Is nothing to dis.
tingulsh day aud night. Once at Dvor-
mix two naturalists had left their ship
at different hours. When later they
met one said, Good morning" the
other, Good evening" Both agreed
that the hour was {. but while one
traveller held that 1t was I tomorrow
morning the other maintained that 1t
was Z o'clock last night On returning
to the ship they settled that II was
last night, so they dined and went to
bed again.
The Actors Share.
A musical comedy or comic opera OF
the FIRST class averages a cast OF about
seventy-flve people. while suppose
about seventeen Is the average num-
Der for a dramatic company, A prlma
donna who Is not star gets from 500
TO $3.50 a week, the principal come
dian from $3.50 to $500 week, the
tenor from $40 to $500 aud the bass
about the same. The minor characters
range from $40 to 500 week. while
show girls get $50 aud $50 and chorus
people from SIS to $25. the average
salary being about $iS.-Everybody's
Magazine.
Elsctionserins and Drink.
Liquor formed very serious item Of
old time election expenses In England.
For an election dinner In Forfarshlre
In 1880 the Hon. s. wortley paid: Gin
ger beer. 6s.; brandy, eos; champagne.
f2O; claret, E2l; gin, 20s,; ale. les;
brandy tOddy. 60; gin tOddy, fl; din
ner, "a los; madeira, eli los; total.
f69 2s. From July q to Sept. 10 his
bin from the same landlord amounted
to fs0S Is. 10d. every item with the
exception Of that ca los. for dinner
and q Is. Cd. for suppers being for
liquor.--London Chronicle.
Anyway, he WASN'T.
"own up. now. Who's the head Of