Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 May 1899 — QUEER STORIES [ARTICLE]

QUEER STORIES

When the planet Mars is nearest the earth it is 34000,000 miles away. The California woodpecker will carry an acorn thirty miles to store in its nest. In Russia servants kiss their mistress’ hands both as morning and evening greetings. The longest canal in the world is in Russia. It extends from St. Petersburg to the frontier of China, and measures nearly 4,500 miles. In Pern it was once the custom for domestic servants to have two of their upper front teeth extracted. Their absence indicated their servitude. The drill of -the Roman soldier was exceedingly severe. It comprised not only the use of weapons, bnt running, jumping, eiimblng, wrestling, swimming, both naked and in full armor. The largest hornet’s nest that has ever been taken undamaged was more than a yard in circumference and one foot four Inches in length. It was found suspended from a roof of a house on the Earl of Clarendon’s estate, and weighed barely three pounds. It was said to contain 780 insects. The deepst lake in the world, so far as known, Is Lake Baikal, In Siberia. While nine thousand square miles in area, or nearly as large aa Lake Erie, it is four thousand feet to 4,500 feet deep, so that It contains nearly as much water as Lake Superior. Its surface is 1,350 feet above sea level, and ttsjmttom nearly 2,900 feet below it