The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-08-22
Items Of Interest.

That harmless South American animal,
the armadillo, when in danger, rolls itself
into ball and becomes very hard.
The Java squirrel flies from tree to tree
by a membrane stretched like a sail.
They are about eighteen inches long.
At Toronto, Canada, the newsboys
have temperance lodge. The first one
organized with eighteen active members.
The commitments for crimes in 1881
in Ireland were 1902, Of whom 262 were
capitally convicted md thirty-nine exc
cuted.
The wearing of rings is very ancient.
At one time it was prohibited in Rome
to all mechanics and men of mean con.
dition. .....
In Italy July is the month of bread;
August the month of wine. In the first
the Roman peasants reap; in the second
they gather the grapes.
Greece has 10l journals and periodi-
cal publications, which gives one for
each II, ,434 inhabitants. The number OF
political journals is eighty-two, OF which
thirty-si1 appear at Athens.
The worlds annual production OF
sugar aggregates 2, ,140, 600 tons of cane
sugar, 1890, 900 tons of beet-root sugar,
150. 900 tons of date sugar, 20, 900 tons
of maple sugar and 10000 tons Of sorg-
hum sugar.
The largest of the pyramids in Egypt
is 543 feet high and 693 feet on the sides.
Its base covers eleven acres, and many
of the stones are above thirty feet in
length. To construct it 100000 men
were employed.
A Massachusetts machinist has spent
fifteen years of his life getting up an
automaton which can plainly say: Chow
do you do?" he ought now to get up
another which will answer: "None OF
your business" !"
The ascendancy of Europe over the
other three-quarters of the world in
modern ages is attributable to the dis
covery of gunpowder, made by monk
about 1900. This is the only discovery
traceable to that class.
A public reader says that when he be.
gins to declaim the stirring piece COM
mencing: "Strike the Tyre" the effect
of the first sentence on some of his hear
ers can only be compared to what follows
the cry of slow BRIDGE" on a canal
boat. ........... ....r
Animals may think, but sometimes
they do not think very fast. A COW got
into @ garden, in Rome, N. Y, and it
her half an hour to make up her mind
where to go out. A man and dog were
flooding her mind with information all
the time, too. =. ... i..
A peculiar way of discharging printers
exists in Dayton (Ohio) offices: Each
compositor has nail to hang his coat
on. and when the foreman concludes to
dispense with the services Of one OF the
hands, he takes q hammer and drives
the nail in to the head.
At last,
Whs. lie is old,
And vanished are its dreams, ,.".
Will prospects bright or dark unfold
Will suave airs come with breath of buds and
balms .'.. ..--
And purple summers lift their fronded palms
In low horizons Of far seas Of gold?
Or mystery's voiceless night enfold
Us in its dubious arms,
And leave a cold
Blank past?
Within ten years, no less than 10, OO0,-
900 acres of of forest have been cut down
or burned over in the United States.
Much of the timber is used for fuel,
twenty-five cities being on record as
consuming from 5000 ceres to 10000
acres each. Fences use up much tim
ber, and railway sleepers require the
product of 10000 acres per annum.
The amount of pine and lumber timber
vet standing in the forests of the timber
States is estimated at 225, 600, QUO feet.
The. sum of $1A, 900, 900 is invested in
the timber industry, employing 2OO,O 600
men,