Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 March 1905 — FACTS IN FEW LINES [ARTICLE]

FACTS IN FEW LINES

The pauperism of England and Wales costs the whole population $2.38 a bead yearly. There are four times as many words in the English language as in the French. The longest article In the new section of the Oxford Dictionary Is on the verb “pass.” It takes up sixteen columns. The following advertisement is taken from an English paper: “Smart lad wanted for butchering. Apply 6 Spotland road.” It is stated that not one bride was over twenty-two years of ago in the 84G;590 marriages which took place in Japan last year. According to the St. James’ Gazette, it is now “smart” to be superstitious; hence English society would regret to see an English princess married to an Alfonso XIII. All Moslem races despise and hate the sound of bells, which, they say, causes the evil spirits to assemble together. In consequence bells are never used on Mohammedan mosques. Thieves have carried off from the church of Sauvetat, in the French department of Puy de Dome, a massive and artistic copper statue of the Virgin which is said to date from 1319. Last year Spain imported one-half of its coal from England. It is now proposed to form a union of the Spanish coal mines and by organizing the mining industry to cut off the English supply. A Danish engineer recently built a vessel after the lines of Noah's ark as laid down in the Bible. It made a craft of 300 tons. It made a trial trip near Copenhagen and proved a good sea boat.

Copper mining once flourished in Ireland, and between 1840 and 1843 the Ballymurtagh mine in Wicklow county produced (5,000 tons of copper pyrites a year. There is some prospecting still being done in Ireland. According to the annual report of the Volunteers of America, of whom Balllngton Booth is the leader, the congregations at the 25,000 services during the past year within the volunteer halls and buildings reached 1,060,955 persons.

It Is stated by the Peking Times that among the gifts presented to the empress of China on her birthday was a “beautiful diamond” from a high officer. It was examined by the empress’ experts and turned out to he a piece of cut glass.

Anglomania is still increasing In Paris. Formerly one used to hear of la belle, le Jeu de paume, la raquette, le ballon, etc. Today everybody says “nous faisous du sport, du rowing, du yachting, du football, du tennis, du golf,” etc. A Parisian lady claiming SIO,OOO damages from her landlord because the noise of the horses next door kept her awake produced as evidence a dressmaker’s certificate showing that owing to want of rest her waist had become two inches smaller. Recently a Bath (Me.) secret order initiated a candidate aged eighty years, lie joined for the social features and took his degrees with several other candidates. He says that he is going to try to get wliat fun there is going while lie lives. In the Bayonne (N. J.) court a hen was committed and this entry made upon the records: “Name, a Leghorn; age, doubful; nativity, Centerville; occupation. layer; offense, clucking; disposition. eventually to he fricasseed; found on person, feathers.” Under a new law in Virginia which allows representatives of a person killed to sue his slayer for damages the administrator of Hoge Crockett of Richmond has secured $3,000 from the estate of T. L. Sayers. Sayers killed Crockett and then disappeared. During a recent telegraphic breakdown messages from New York to Chicago were sent round by London, Gibraltar, Alexandria, Aden, Bombay, Madras, Hongkong, Guam and San Francisco. Answers were received in New York in less than an hour. There are a number of men and boys at Seekonk, R. 1., who make considerable money by trapping. They report animals plenty and prices good. Skunk skins bring on the average $1.50 each, mink $3 to $8 and muskrats about 20 cents each. One man caught fifty-four skunks in a single month. The longest telephone line in Germany is 742 miles in length and runs between Berlin and Paris. Then follow Berlin and Budapest, 612 miles; Berlin and Mernel, 593 miles; Berlin and Basel, 377 miles. The line between Berlin and Frankfort is the most used, 485 communications being transmitted lyScience now transforms radishes into potatoes. Showing a process of Pasteur, M. Moillard cultivates a young radish in a glass retort in concentrated glucose. The radish develops much starch and swells out, losing its pepperiness and acquiring the taste, consistency and nutritive properties of the potato. A ease of deliberate canine suicide is reported from Westbrook, Me. The dog was standing on the track as a train was approaching, and a young man who saw him did his utmost by calling and whistling to attract his attention, but the dog persisted In standing still, facing the coming train until struck by the engine and killed. Twenty-one years ago a peasant in the village of Jaennersdorf, near Ostpriegnitz, placed his son In a small building and after walling him in kept him there. Food was handed In through a small opening not many Inches in diameter, which was the only channel for light and air within. The peasant Is now aged ninety, bla wife elghty-slx and the son forty-six.