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9
Items of Interest.
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Dawson county claims to bo the best irrigated
county in Nebraska.
It is estimated that 500,000,000 trees have been
planted as a direct result of Arbor day.
Six languages are spoken in the British isles
English, French, Irish, Gaelic, Manx and Welsh.
The state labor department of Minnesota says
that 14 per cent of the state's wage-earners are
women.
Ordinarily the buzzard appears to bo slow 'of
flight, but it is 'said to bo capable of flying 90
miles an hour.
Railroad building in Mexico is slow and costly
work, but Mexico is well to the front each year in
railroad construction.
The level of the Dead Sea has risen to a
marked degree. Low places formerly above the
sea level are now inundated.
France places a tax of 10 per cent on all
theatre tickets sold. The revenue is devoted to
the care of the indigent poor.
More fruit is raised in the United States than -in
any other country. This nation excels in the
raising of strawberries and grapes.
The Lombardy poplar is growing in favor
again, and arborculturists are planting it fre
quently. The first one in America was planted in
1785.
Fort Kearney, Neb., was abandoned nearly
thirty-five years ago, but army relics are plowed
up on the old parade ground nearly every day in
spring.
Mississippi takes the name of "Bayou state"
from the fact that it contains so many stretches'
of stagnant water backed up by the Mississippi
rivei.
Sir Thomas Lipton's challenger for the Amer'-'
lea cup, "Shamrock II.," was launched last week.
It is said to be the best racing yacht ever built in
Great Britain.
"The devil's club" is a peculiar plant that in
fests the forests of British Columbia, Its spikes
pierce the flesh and break off, remaining in the
wound to fester.
William Gordon Bennett, owner of the New
.York Herald, announces that if Sir Thomas Lip
ton wins the America, cup this year he will build
a challenger next year.
Queen Alexandria has a fad of collecting the
footgear of famous men and women. The gem of
her large collection is a pair of shoes once worn
by Mary Queen of Scots.
Two years ago Mrs. John Sands, jr., of Woos
ter, O., lost her wedding ring. A few days ago it
was found in the crop of a ch.cken she had sold
to a( local poultry dealer.
More French champagne is consumed in New
iTork City each year than is made in France. One
is compelled to wonder where the rest of the.
French champagne is made.
Argentina flax, from the South American
country of that name, is said to be the best and
most prolific known. North Dakota flax-raisers
are using it to the exclusion of all other kincs.
King Edward VII. contemplates dividing his
mother's collection of books among the libraries
of the United Kingdom. With that end in view
lie has commissioned an expert to catalogue tho
collection.
Thornton F. Marshall, who died In Kentucky
a few weeks ago, was a member of the Kentucky
iegislature that voted on the ordinance of seces
sion. Marshall's vote was cast in the negative and
was the deciding vote that kept Kentucky in the
union.
Thirty-five years ago the buffalo existed on
the prairies of the United States' by the million.
The Commoner.
'A few months ago a "buffalo census" was takon
and revealed that only 1,024 now exist. Of this
number G84 are In captivity and 340 in a wild
state.
The oldest ferry on the Missouri river is at
White Cloud, Kas. Other ferries were established
before it was, but have since been abandoned bd
cause of tho erection of bridges. The White Cloud
ferry is propelled by steam and has made its
owner, John Lynds, rich.
Senator Clark of Montana, while returning
from his Paris club one night recently, was beset
by three highwaymen who knocked him down and
proceeded to rob him. A passing cab-driver res
cued the senator, and since that time cabby
has been tho constant attendant upon the noted
Montana man.
Forty years ago Forest City, Mo., was on tho
Missouri river and was a great shipping point.
Immense warehouses wero" erected on tho river
bank and thousands of dollars invested in busi
ness depending on tho river trade. One night tho
river cut off a point and left Forest City seven
miles inland. . One of the old warehouses still
stands.
Such Insignificant things as rats will soon be
come the subject of international consideration.
Japan has declared war upon the rodents. The
Japenese hold that the rodents have no possible
excuse for existence, while at the same time they
are conveyances for the worBt of diseases. Japan,
therefore, proposes to call upon all the countries
of the world to co-operate with it in an organized
warfare upon rats. It is claimed that these ani
mals are particularly active in carrying the bu
bonic plague. Hence Japan's peculiar anxiety for
their destruction.
Vandals partially stripped the heroic statue of
former Vice President Hendricu In the capitol
yard at Indianapolis, evidently to sell the bronze as
junk. A largo bronze snield vJth laurel leaves, tho
heavy scales w-ch were held by a figure of justice,
and other metal parts are gone, and the vandals
also wrecked one of the large granite ornaments
in order to reach the bronze. It will be difficult to
restore the monument to its original condition.
The statue was made eleven years ago in Flor
ence, Italy, by the American sculptor, R. H. Parks,
and wlien made was one of tho largest statues of
bronze ever cast in one piece.
Dr. V. C. Vaughan, dean of tho medical de
partment of Ann Arbor university, appeared be
fore the state board of health and acknowledged
that the student, Charles B. Hare, had the bu
bonic plague. He said the disease would not spread,
as all precautions had been taKen. Preventive
doses of serum were even injected into the doc
tors attending the patient. Dr. Vaughan says that
Hare contracted the disease by an accident such
as occurred In the laboratory in Vienna in 1898,
when two doctors lost the'r lives by handling t-i-bonic
plague bacilli. In the Michigan case the
curative serum was used promptly, and the pa
tient has nearly recovered.
H. T. Bosman of Hong Kong, who Is visiting
In this country, has a scheme to at once civilize
China and dispose of the problem of indemnity to
be paid to the 'powers. Mr. Bosman's scheme is
this: Let the powers agree upon the amount of
indemnity to be paid, and then contract among
themselves and with the Pekin government that
the entire sum, say $200,000,000, shall be used for
building railroads and for other internal improve
ments in China, under the joint control of the
powers, to be operated by them until the full
amount of the investment Is returned and until
China is In a position to become, by purchase, tho
sole owner of the Improvements.
Rev. Dr. Harcourt of Baltimore delivered an
address at tho commencement exercises of tho
school of medicine In that city, and among other
things said: "Young men, in advising you about
your future work I urge you to be careful about
allowing clergymen In tho sIcTcroom. They are
great cause of alarm, tip-toeing about with a lit
tle black book under their arm and whispering to
tho sick or dying person: 'Are you ready?' The
sickbed is not a place for tho transformation in the
lifo of the individual. It is character that tells
hero and hereafter, and not the little puff of prayer
at tho last few moments, which goes up when a
minister is called to prepare a man 'for death. So,
while you may think that I am speaking radically,
remember that there are so many who
put off the preparation for death to the end. So, I
say, keep the ministers out of the sickroom; the
bedside is not their place."
One of the subjects discussed at a recent meet
ing of clergymen hold in New .ork city, called to
consider tho growing passion of society women for
gambling, was tho fact that there are so few
children in the homes of the rich and so many in
tho tenements. The ministers deplore the fact
thav. there are so few young people in their con
gregations and so few children in the Sunday
schools. Reports from twelve prominent churches
attended by families of wealth and fashion showed
a total membership of 9,G61, vith but 1,500 chil
dren on the rolls of the Sunday sch-ois. It was
reported that only sixty-one children attended the
Sunday school of a church which has 1,000 mem
bers. The homes of the rich are practically child
less. In the mile of palaces on Fifth avenue, be
tween Fifty-seventh and Seventy-second streets,
there are only fifteen children under twelve years
of age. The avorage is about one child to three
of those costly and beautiful homes.
The following from London is of interest:
The Spectator discusses "The Continent and Am
erica," taking as a text a portion of an Interview
with' Admiral Count Canevaro at Toulon, which
the Spectator believes has not attracted the at
tention it deserves. Admiral Canevaro, after de
claring that the Triple, and Dual' Alliances had
given Europe thirty years of peace, said: "This
fact will, perhaps, lead European" nations to con
sider tho possibility and necessity of uniting
against America, Africa and Asia, . the future
of civilization will require them to do so." The
Spectator does not consider this the rash out
burst of the "nan in the street," for Admiral
Canevaro has been Italian minister of foreign af
fairs. "His utterance," the paper says, "corre
sponds exactly with that of Count Golochowski
(Austro-Hungarian foreign minister) and with all
the recent trend of affairs. The annoyance of the
continent with America, which is very deep, is
based upon three reasons, the first being the dread,
or rather the conviction, that competition with
America is nearly impossible, her wealth and
energy being too great. Both are employed, the
continent thinks, to monopolize trade and so to
control in the end all the wealth of the world, an
idea not without advocates even among our
selves." The Spectator mentions the giant trusts
and protection, and refers to the Americans as
"not scrupling to commence quick and severe re
prisal if European governments fence them off
with tariffs." The article goes on: "The second
reason is that America is sadly in the way in
Asia. The whole action of the Washington gov
ernment in the Chinese muddlo points to the con
clusion that, although the Americans took tho
Philippines, they are not willing to see any tut
iiative powers in control of the richest countries
of ABia. The third reason is America's attitude
in South America. She will neither take it nor
let anybody else. The total Tesult is a bitter dis
like of America, mixed with dread. Our object is
only to awaken the Americans from an Illusion,
to induce them to increase their fleet, and to per
suade them to Jhink steadily out what they are
doing. They may rely upon It that the continent
will lose nothing by want of planning, and that,
when the alliance against America of which Ad
miral Canevaro talks is' transmuted into facts, it
will "be full grown' and full arme'Q."
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