Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1882 — BITS OF INFORMATION. [ARTICLE]

BITS OF INFORMATION.

The greatest length of the United States from east to west is estimated at 3,000 miles; its greatest breadth from north to south, 1,700 miles, containing an estimated area of 3,250,000 square miles. New fashions for ladies were set in the last century by dressing dolls in theprevailing mode and distributing them over Europe. The custom is believed to date from Venice, where the Government rigorously regulated dress by means of a doll set up as a pattern. The elevation of the great lakes above mean tide at New York—compiled from latest data—(Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 inclusive) gives: . Feet. Mean level of Lake 0ntari0...... 246.61 Mean level ot Lake Eries 72 94 Mean level of Detroit river7s 500 Mean level of Lake Huronsßl.2B Mean level of Lake Michigan.sßl.2B Mean level of pike Superior .... .60L78 The Sandwich islands alphabet has 12 letters; the Burmese, 19; Italian, 20 ; Bengalese, 21; Hebrew, Syrian, Chaldee and Samaritan, 22 each; Greek, 24; Latin, 25 ; German, Dutch and English, 26 each; Spanish and Sclavonic, 27 each; Arabic, 28; Persian and Coptic, 32; Georgian, 35; Armenina,3B; Russian, 41; Muscovite, 43; Sanscrit ar.d Japanese, 50; Ethiopic and Tartarian, 202 each. The term Blue Hen, applied to the State of Delaware, originated with Oapt Caldwell, an officer of the First Delaware regiment in the time of the Revolution ; he was very fond of game cocks, but maintained that no cock was truly game unless its mother was a blue hen. As he was very popular his regiment was often referred to as the “ Blue Hens,” and the name was afterward transferred to the State and its inhabitants. A blizzard is the Northwestern name for a gale of wind filled with snow and icy particles as fine as rice powder, with a temperature 10 to 20 degrees below zero. A genuine blizzard is so fierce that you can neither fa®e it nor distinguish objects ten feet away from you. Tn Dakota and Minnesota during the prevalence of a blizzard farmers only venture out of their houses with girdle ropes around their bodies to enable them to find their way back. There has never been a genuine blizzard in Michigan. Salt is a symbol of fidelity. A man who has partaken of salt with you is bound to you by the laws of hospitality. Bread and salt eaten at the confirmation of a treaty signifies that all parties are bound to keep the treaty. Salt is also an emblem of desolation. In ancient times conquered c-ties were always sown with salt. In Scotland and Ireland it was formerly considered to represent the incorruptible spirit and was always laid above the heart of a corpse. It was also the custom, when all the household of a nobleman dined together, to place a large salt cellar in the middle of the table, as a boundary of distinction between the family and the menials. Coats-of-arms were used to distinguish the different chiefs or lords and their followers in battle and abroad, before the common people had learned to read. They were necessary as the uniforms and badges are now to distinguish the various regiments and state officers. The figures of lions, dragons, eagles and other creatures, the rose, ffly and palm, could be recognized when embroidered on the surcoat or garment worn above the armor to protect it from tarnishing, and soldiers could know at a glance when they met to what Duke or Prince they belonged. At first only sovereigns used those distinctions ; afterward all families of noble birth chose badges and figured shields, every design on which was a sign of some trait of which they were proud—their loyalty, courage or ambition. Or the figures recalled some notable event in the fortunes of the family, as the spider, which Robert Bruce watched mending its web in the cave, while he was hiding from his enemies, was placed in the royal arms after he became King of Scotland.