The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-02-11

| 1Or foreign HllleTS W COLue. MILL pAO
ducts and machinery will form the bulk
Of the show. Congress has passed law
exempting from duty foreign machinery
brought to the United States for the
exhibition.
There is n point in the geography of
the United States that is not generally
known, and that is Driftwood Point.
Driftwood Point is part of little piece
of land owned by these United States
that is peculiarly situated. This piece
of land is the only portion of this coun-
try except Alaska that is north of the
forty-ninth parallel. 1t is impossible to
reach it by land without going through
British territory. 1t is part of Pembina
county, Minnesota, and it borders on
the northwest shore of the Lake of the
Woods. It is about twenty-five miles
north of the forty-ninth parallel, and IS
by that distance the most northern point
of the United States except Alaska.
The expense of trip around the world
is calculated by the Raila0ay Age, on the
basis of 1870 days, as S849 for first-class
and S6O8 for second-class accommoda-
tions. Under the first head are included
these entries: New York to San Fran
cisco, 1929; sleeping-car, 1922; meals on
the road, SlS San Francisco to Sydney,
500; expenses in Sydney, $40; Sydney
to Melbourne. S35: expenses in Mel
bourne, $40: Melbourne to Adelaide,
SIS; expenses in Adelaide, $40; AIDE.
laide to London, in sailing ship, $225;
England to New York, S75. 1t is ad-
mitted, however, that a little extra
money will not come amiss. No allow
ance is made for expenses in England.
Cotton seed oil factories are springing
up over the South and are doing good
business" says the Detroit Free Press.
livery 45O-pound bale of cotton yields
about halt a ton of seed, which is sold
to the factories for about SO. Every
part of the seed is now utilized, and SO
with the late increase in the price Of oil
and oil cake, things are looking prosper
Gus in the South. The seed is Tinted and
hulled first and the lint sold to white
paper manufacturers, and perhaps some
it appears in the paper upon which
this is printed. The hulls are used for
fuel and for fertilizing. The oil is
pressed out anc the oil cake sold TO Euro
pean stock raisers. Thus every part Of
the cotton seed is utilized"
Mr.. Edgar Gi!kes, one of the con-
structors of the Tay bridge, has given
his theory of the cause of the awful dis
aster. He holds that " the present evil
dence indicates that some other force
than the tempest acting with 1t de-
stroyed the girders," and he believes
that that other force was the momentum
of the train. Mr.. Gilkes finds that the
force of the wind rs actually registered
at Dundee was sufficient to overturn the
train and that the guard rails could not
prevent this. and further, that if the
upper part of the carriages were thus
brought in contact with the leeward
girders the damage they would cause
would so fur destroy the unity of the
fabric that the same wind would cast it
all down together.
Such severe winter as that under
which the populations Of Silesia, East
and West Prussia, and the Duchy OF
Posen have been suffering for more than
a month past has not been experienced
in northeastern Europe since the year
1912. 1t has come like doom upon the
poor people after IN almost tota failure
Of the potato crop. upon which the peas
antry of these sterile regions mainly de-
pend for their winter sustenance. We
read of parents all but naked in wretched
empty rooms, forlorn of fire, the corpses
of their children, victims oftyphus, lying
uncovered on the floor, with no means
left to obtain the rudest coffin for the
dead, or the coarsest morsel of food for
the living; and of women, driven to
despair, lying down deliberately in the
snow to die, in order to put an end to
| their intolerable misery.
Jeanie is Scotch lassie who last year
came from Dunbeld to be governess with
Pittsburg family whose sick child she
had nurscd in Scotland. When they
urged her coming she refused, and after
some persuasion gave as . reason that
she was engaged to be married to young
Stewart, who couldn't come with her
because he had to care for bedridden
sister. But he urged her to accept the
offer telling her he would join her in
the dispatch Of the destruction of the
began sobbing and exclaimed It's
The list of trainmen's names next day
was published and Stewards name was
among them. And thus the tragedy on
the waters of the Scotch Firth brought
! agony to bright and hopeful young
! heart 1000 miles away.
A Panama letter says that under the
contract between De Lesseps and Bona
parte Wyse, from whom De Lesseps took
over his arrangement with the Colom-
bian government, Lesseps is to have two
years more to organize q company for
constructing the canal Of Chagres. The
capital of the company is limited to
S80.OO0,00O. Wyse is to receive S2O0,0
on the formation of the company, and
S8O0,OGO more one month after half the
capital is subscribed, and is also to have
| Sl,OOO,000 more in stock. In case of
| the death Of Lesseps his son is to succeed
to all his rights and privileges. Minis
ter Dichman, Of Colombia, in letters to
the state department relative to the De
Lesseps project for canal. discourages
any connection Herewith by the United
States, and says. "In all respects, ex-
cept the money, it will bea French COM
pany. and if completed commerce would
be subject to such laws regulating it as
might bring the United States in conflict
with France"
The Egyptian obelisk soon to be
brought to New York, was taken from
Heliopolis to Alexandria, Egypt, in the
reign of Libelus. The name "Cleo-
patra's Needle" by which it has been
known for more than n thousand years,
was given by mistake. rs it dates CEN
turies back from Cleopatra. even 10 the
time of Thothmes ILL.,, the greatest of
Egyptian princes of the eig ghteenth dy-
nasty, who reigned about fifteen centur-
les Before Christ. The monolith, there
fore, was standing in the time of Moses,
and was. perhaps, seen by him. The
hieroglyphics of the south and east faces
are considerably injured either by the
action of the sun or by the fine particles
of sana driven against them by the
wind. The western column of hiero-
glyphics is remarkably well preserved,
but all are damaged at the bottom by
the piling of stones against the obelisk.