The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1873-01-22
NEWS OF THE DAP.

"A railroad across the Australian continent
is proposed.
California claims to make better blankets
than any other State in ths Union.
The Emperor Francis Joseph, of Austria,
Ands pleasure In collecting skulls OF remarka-
BILE criminals.
-seyenty.five members of the Ecumenlcal
Council have died since 1t was opened 10
Rome, In December, 1869.
The Queen of Denmark Is rebukiog e1-
trsvagance by appearing in public In calico
dresses.
The divorces granted in San Francisco
last wear were In The proportion of ten per
cent. to the number OF families In the city.
The military escort at the Inauguration OF
President Grant Ia to be brilliant display.
There will be present In Washington several
of the smartest volunteer regiments from the
Eastern cities, four companies OF regulars, q
battalion of marines, and the whole OF tne
cadets from West Point.
The Oldest man In the world has at length
been discovered. His name Is lose Marttno
Continho, q resident of Cape Frlo, In the
province of Bio Janeiro, Brazil, who was born
on the 10th OF May, 1894, and is therefore
nearly one hundred and seventy-nine years
oldI 1t is said that he has forty-two children
by ak wives, and can count one hundred
and twenty-three grand children, eighty
six great grandchildren, twenty-three great
great-grandchildren and twenty children OF
the last.
The way In which Kaiser Wilhelm con-
structs military railway Is thus described
A railway to one OF the fortresses OF the
newly-acqulred province Of Alsace was want
ed, To build 1t, 1t was necessary 10 OBTAIN
the right of way through the property OF cer-
ta,n French residents fred with the orthodox
hatred Of everything Teutonlc. Accordingly,
polite messages were dispatched to explain
the case, and asking If they would sell. With
perfect unanimIty they declined. Thereupon
a German force entered the province, took
possession of the necessary property, and the
oholeric Alsaiians now have the satisfaction
of knowing that the only result OF their pa.
triotism has been toisave the Prussian treas
ury several hundred thousand lhalers.
The London Court Journal says (whether
In truth or irony We know not) certain srlsto-
cratic ladies' of the West End of London, who
are devotees Of Rituallsm, have found for
themselves new employment, which has the
recommendation Of being healthtul In Its In
duence. They cannot brook the Idea OF their
sacred edi6ce being cleansed out by the hands
OF hirellng menials, and they have formed
themselves into q society called 1.-THE
Phoebes,n the members of which are solemnly
pledged to do this work Of cleaning the
church? Ladies' of the hlghestrank take their
tnrn polishing the tiled floors, black'leading
the sloye, sweeping out the pews and beating
the hassocks, Furnishing the brass candle
stlckaand other paraphernalia of Rltuallsm.
Some OF the ladies complain that the work is
harder than they expected; and 1t Is not
thought that their devotion will sustain them
long In their self-imposed labors.
=-A correspondent writes that on the Ash of
last month Milan was visited by a peculiar
phenomenon, much TO the terror of the lower
classes, The rain was falling In torrents IRON
heavy black clouds, when suddenly the heav-
ems appeared to open, and the sunlight poured
through In food OF color, Illuminating the
unde. edges OF clouds with tints as strange as
brilliant. The whole atmosphere was tlnged
with the yellow glow fer the space Of min
ute, when it changed into green and blue;
then the rent in the clouds disappeared, and
the sombre sky of the early morning was as
impenetrable as ever. the heavy rainfall
during the phenomenon added to the slngu-
larity of the appearance. The astronomer
Schiapparelli, We are told, attributes the diff
ferent phenomena OF wind aud weather to the
contact Of the atmospheric equatorial current
with the polar current, from whose point Of
contact OF the extremes OF heat and cold an
unusual amount OF electricity and condensa-
ton of watery vapor Is developed. The peas
ants who sell vegetables on the Piazza del
Yerziere, convinced that the end OF the world
had come, ran screaming up and down, tear
ing their hair; others fell on their knees, pray
Ing and beating their breasts, while others
ran shrieking to their miserable novels to en-
brace their little ones.
The crew OF the Rhine, sailing vessel of
over 1000 tons, which has just arrived In Lon
don, tell q thrilling tale ofa new peril In the
shape OF an immense waterspout which
mensced them when 1900 miles out, and the
way 1t was disposed Of suggests new use tor
eheet-iron thunder. Not long before the
dreas phenomenon appeared to them the sea