Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 February 1881 — BITS OF INFORMATION. [ARTICLE]

BITS OF INFORMATION.

The payment of postage originated in France in 1653. The Pacific ocean was discovered by Balboa, Sept. 5, 1513. The British Museum was first opened Jan. 15, 1759. Gas-eights were first used in New York city in 1823. Christianity was adopted as the religion of Rome 311 A. D. Fbom December, 1788, until March, 1789, the Delaware and Ohio rivers were both frozen and navigation suspended. In 1790 snow fell two feet deep in Ohio, and the river was so firmly frozen that mounted troops and artillery wagons rode across by the hundred. Cats are called “ pussy” by some people, but why they call them “pussy” instead of by their particular name is intimately and closely connected with the question why red apples grow on fjreenleafed trees. The word “ pussy” is the Tamil word for cat, and has been introduced into the language through folklore. Nearly all fairy stories about cats come io us through the Persian, which preserves the Tamil word. The first Mayor of New York was Thomas Willet, who was born in England in 1611. He came to Massachusetts when 18 years old, and in 1647 succeeded Miles Standish in the military command of Plymouth colony. When the English took New York from the Hollanders, in 1664, Capt "Willet was chosen Mayor of the city and administered the Government for two years, at the expiration of which he returned to New England, where he died. Pius IX. was the 263 d Pope. Of the whole number fifteen were French, thirteen Greeks, eight Syrians, six Germans, five Spaniards, two from Africa, two from Savoy, and two from Dalmatia. England, Portugal, Holland, Sweden and Crete gave one Pope each ; Italy 194. All Popes * since 1523 have been elected from the Italian Cardinals. Of the 263 Popes eight died within a month after their accession to the Pontifical throne, forty have lived only one year on the throne, twenty-two between one and two years, fifty-four between two and five years, fifty-seven from five to ten years, fifty-one from ten to fifteen years, eighteen from fifteen to twenty years, and nine have lived more than twenty years. The famous hanging gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzar to gratify his wife Amyitis, a native of Media, who longed for something in that country to remind her of her mountain home. These gardens consisted of an prtificial hill 400 feet on each side, rising by successive terraces to a height which overtopped the walls of the city. The terraces themselves were formed of a succession of piers, the tops of which were covered by flat stones sixteen feet long and four feet wide. Upon these were spread beds of matting, then a thick layer of bitumen, covered with sheets of lead. Upon this solid pavement earth was heaped, some of the piles being hollow, so as to afford depth for the roots of the largest trees. Water was drawn from the river to irrigate these gardens, which thus appeared like a hill covered with verdure.