Miscellaneous.

Lake County Press, Issue 2461, 16 January 1913, Page 7

Miscellaneous.

Four adjoining municipalities in the French district of Dijon each have one of four brothers as Mayor.

A Moscow dentist claims to be able to supply false tenth that will "grow" into the mouth as firmly as natural ones.

Travelling post offices have proved a great success in Canada, where they go round from farm to farm, prepared to sell stamps, register letters, or issue postal and money orders.

Nicola Cappelli, of Pitigliano, Italy, left directions in his will that a litre of wine should be poured over his coffin, and two hectolitres distributed to those who attended his funeral. He requested his friends to dance round his. tomb.

A recent invention is the bulletless gun. It shoots a gas which temporarily blinds and chokes the victim. The gun. which resembles a double-action revolver, holds five cartridges. The weapon lias been adopted for use in the United States Secret Service.

For some time in Vienna street savings banks have been in vogue with ' considerable success. These savings banks are an adaption of the penny-in- j the-slot machine. Anyone passing wish-; ing to deposit a small sum drops his i money into the slot. Instead of receiving bon-bons or chocolate in return,; he gets a ticket for the coin deposited. | The tickets are later honoured on rcpresontation at a Government Depart-; ment. Encouraged by the success of; the Vienna experiment the peop'o of ■ Paris are to introduce the same system into their streets. CATHERINC BRAZIL NUTS. Gathering Brazil nuts appears to be a dangerous occupation. The ordinary Brazil nut is formed and develops te\\ maturity inside a very hard, rounded, woody shell. Within this are tightly | packed the nuts to the number of twenty or morc, : hermetically sealed, it might be said, in a strong, weighty capsul. The tree, though not more than three or four fret in diameter, attains an immense height. When the nut season arrives the heavy capsules will fall from their lofty altitudes at the shaking of the branch by the breeze. These capsules are as hard as iron, and difficult to saw with the sharpest instrument, and their weight equal to a mediaeval cannon ball. Gathering is dono when the air is still. A PRINCESS WAITRESS. It has remained for Princess Maria Alexandrovna Garatzina, whose family is included among the largest landowners in Russia, to put Tolstoi's teaching to the practical test by giving up her j wealth and earning her living by her ! own hands. Tho princess, who is twenty-three years of age, recently left her parents' house and became a servant. Her first "place" was that of kitchenmaid in an hotel. She had to rise at four o'clock in tho morning and clean a hundred pairs of boots daily. She next became a waitress, but the life was too strenuous for and she fell ill. On recovering she became a saleswoman in a large shop. The experience she parsed through at this calling, however, did not please her, and she found another situation as waitress. Tho princess is quito content with her lot. She declares that she is happier than when she lived in the family palace doing nothing. She intends to earn her own living during her lifetime, and hopes to die a working woman. CLUBS WITH QUAINT NAMES. Tho titlo "Cave of the Golden Calf bestowed on London's first Cabaret Theatre Club, which opened its doors j recently, recalls other curiously-named clubs, which have flourished in this: country at different times. For instance, there was tho "Calves' Head Club," founded in "ridicule of ( the memory of Charles I." \ "The Everlasting" was a purely social club, with a membership of 100 souls.

"The Little Club" was a distinctly original institution. It was intended for those not sft high. The door was made high enough to admit a man sft. and i\o more.

11 There wer« many others, cccoatric in i name and tradition, which flourished i duraig tho eight onth century, such as ■ "The Groat Botuo Cub," the ".To No Sais Quoi Club," "Tho Sons ui the ' Thames," and tho ''No Pay, No Liquor : Club," whoso members on the first i night of joining wore obliged to pay an i entrance fee of ono shilling and wear » , hat shaped like a quart pot. A NATURAL SUNDIAL. What is suid to be the largest sundial in tho world is formed by nature in tho .-Hgcan Sea. It is a vsritabl* clock, tho hand of which is formed by the shadow of a promontory which rise* three thousand feet above tho water. .Near by are a number, of small island* and these are touched, ono ai'i'T anoi ther, by the pointed shadow Thes« j islands are of equal distances apart, and are touched by the shadow hand exactlv on tho hour. It may be added that sundials ate said to be v iy incorrect timekeepers, but tho deference between a sundial and Greenwich time . never exceeds sixteen minutes and a half.

LOVE AND A PHOTOCRAPH. A Bucharest newspaper publishes a remarkable story of a romance in the life of the young Bulgarian Crown Princo Boris, who, it is said, fell in love with Princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the Roumanian Crown Prince—though he never met her—upon seeing a photograph of her when , tho Queen of Houmania paid a visit I to tho Bulgarian Court last year. Immediately upon coming of age Pri'ieb Boris :s said to have informed his father, King Ferdinand, of his passion, and said that ho must marry Elizabethan or remain single all his life.

I His father had no objection to the match : but on being approached on the subject, King Charles of Houmanra j vetoed it for political reasons. King Ferdinand, however, on a rei Austrian Emperor to use his influence j with King C> arles, and this has been I so successful that an official announceI ment of the engagement of the young couple is expected shortly. cent visit to Vienna, persuaded tfe*-. I QUEER SCHOOLS. There is in St. Petersburg an institution wherein young men are trained for service as police. The course of instruction provided is supplemented to the teaching afforded by the municipal authorities. Special study is given b,y pupils to the tools of various kinds employed by professional thieves. There is a class devoted solely to the study of forgery, with particular reference to the falsifying of signatures and vises on passports, a most important consideration in the performance of the duties of a Russian policeman. A school for croupiers is conducted at Monte Carlo. During the summer months, in the club-room of the Tir aux Pigeons and the Sallo d'Escrime, in the Casino building, aspirants for the office of croupier learn the operations of gaming tables. Each pupil must from time to time, while other* are impersonating players and making their respective wagers, conduct the game and learn how instantly to calculate and to pay out the winning stakes. Generally, it is said, there are about sixty or seventy pupils in this school, and a six mon:hs' course is deemed cuffici'.'nt to turn out finished croupiers. Brussels has a school for the instruetion of grave-diggers. This gruesome institution was founded by the directors of the Ever." Cemetery. All candidates for appointment as sextons throughout Belgium must pass an examination at 'his school before they can obtain employment, as grave-dig-gers.