The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1883-12-26
SELECT SIFTINGS.

Damascus has been Il city for 1896
years.
Patents granted for title of nobility
were first made in 1874, by Edward Ill.
Within eleven days after Il dog gained
access to Il Kansas corral Of 1900 sheep,
over 300 died of hy%drophobia.
4 deer was killed in Twigg county
| Ga, BY a railroad hand, who hit it with
ii shovel as it Was running by him.
The ebony tree grows to be fifteen feet
in circumference. The outer wood is
pure white. the heart only being perfectly
black.
The "Confcdcratc rose is Il singular
flower grown by Joseph G. Bailey. Of New
Orleans. 1t is white in the morning, but
red at night. 1t grows in large lunches.
Eirhtv thousand children in the North
| of England form the "Dickcy Bird soclc-
ty." They are pledged to protect birds
never to destroy Il nest, and to feed BIRDS
in winter.
Among the missiles shot from cannon
in carly times were bolts. which were
mentioned as early as 14l3. In l4lo
Henry Y. ordered his clerk of the ord
nance to get 1000 shot made at the Maid
stone quarric>.
English Judges were formerly accus-
toned to rcbukc any gentleman OF the
bar. who casually said William the Con-
oucror. instead of William L., on the
ground that William succeeded to the
throne by compact.
Dclos IIotchkisS, of Marion, Conn.,.
owns in orchard in which stands prob
ably the most remarkable apple tree in
the world. In the first place. it is nearly
200 years Old; it is sixty feet high: the
diameter of the tree top is 1O4 feet, and
the circumference of the trunk, three
feet from the ground, is fifteen and one.
half feet. One of the pccullarltlcS OF
this venerable tree is that it is IAN alter
nate bcarcr"-five limbs bearing fruit one
wear. and four the next; but, strange to
say, it showed its patriotism on the Cen
tcnnial year by bearing fruit on all its
branches, the first time it ever did so.
The Prussian fashion of bcstowing
honorary colonclcics began through tho
tailor of Frederick the Great, who, find
ing that his royal master owed him more
than he was likely to pay, obtained an
audience of the king, and called his at
tcntion to the numbers of foreign potcn-
tatcs who visited his court. These per
sonagcs, he represented. would doubtless
be much gratiticd if Frederick would
create them generals and colonies IN ms
%rcdoubtable army; Il uniform would be
necessary, and if the king would let him
have the order he would ut once ANGEL
the bill. Frederick consented, and
hence, after some ::ears, King: AlphonSo,
lillian colonel, is hooted in Paris.
The PARTICLES, "a' and "ap,' are
authorizations of Latin propositions mean
ing of" and sat" or "from.' Gen
orally. when connected with names, they
refer to the town or place where one was
born. or the family estate. In the case,
for example. of Thomas Kempis, author
of that famous work entitled Imitation
of Christ" which has been translated
into more languages than any other book,
a the Bible, the "a" denotes "from.'
His family name was Thomas Hammcrkcn.
lie was born in 1879 or 1890, in the town
of Kcmpen, near Cologne. He was edu-
Gated first at Davcntcr, then at Zwollc,
and in the convent of St. Agnes. After
the custom of the times ut these schools,
he was known as "Thomas from Kemp
en-" and, finally, as happened in many
other such cases, the school-namc pushed
,.;1n tbn family name