The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-02-23

tains the extraordinary number Of 1, O00,.
600 old corks, and occupied ten years
and seven months in building.
A curious purchase has recently been
| made for one of the Paris museums. II
is q confessional of old ElOrentine carv-
! ing. Besides the marvellous work on the
| panels it is surmounted by the head Of
the Savior, which, on touching spring,
disappears and gives place to diabolical
visage, with horns and tongues of fire,
well calculated to strike healthy terror
into the minds of penitents.
The cathedral church, built in Lubbock
in the years 1170-1314, has curious
clock. On the end of the hour hand is
little clock which keeps exact time with
the large one.
In Limerick cathedral, Ireland, may
be seen the following inscription on q
handsome tablet: "Hen,enti niori. Here
lieth Little Samuel Darlington, that great
Under Taker of Famous Gifts clock and
Chime Maker; he made his own Time go
early and Later, but now he is returned
to God his Creator. The 10Th of No
vember. Then he scest. And for His
Memory this is Pleast, By His Son Ben,
1898"
A lady in Hungary has the distaff used
by Marie Antoinette, in spinning, during
her imprisonment. 1t is of wood and
ivory, inlaid with silver. and still bears
the hemp left upon it by the Inflated
Queen on the eve of her execution.
In 1916 Lord Schworterbury gave
1885 francs for tooth of Isaac New
ton. which is now set in a ring and worn
by the eldest branch of that family.
Among the antique articles in posses
sion of Mr.. Sewell, of Maine, are set
of pewter plates bearing the seal of King
Richard and supposed to be more than
400 years old; also, one large silver
spoon, which represents all the money
received for building a saw and grist
mill-the payment having been made in
silver and then cast into the spoon.
At Stalvenfels-on-the-Rh Rhine there is
an ancient church reduced to ruins
lasted forty years.
In the South Kensington museum at
London is small watch about 100 years
old. representing an apple, the golden
case ornamented with grains of pearl.
There is curious clock in Japan.
This clock. in frame three feet high
and five long, representing a noon land
scape of great loneliness. In the fore
ground were plum aud cherry trees and
rich plants in full bloom, in the rear
hill gradual in ascent, from which fiowe d
a cascade admirably initiated in crysta |.
From this plant thread-like stream
glided along, encircling in its winding
rocks and tiny islands, but presently
losing itself in far-off stretch of WOO d.
land. In the sky turned golden sun,
indicating as it passed the striking hours.
which were all marked upon the frame
below, where slowly creeping tortoise
served as a hand. A bird of exquisite
plumage, resting by its wings, pro-
claimed the expiration of each. When
the song ceased mouse sprang from a
grotto near by, and, running over the
hill. hastily disappeared.
Haroun al Raschid, the principal hero
of the ARABIAN Nights Entertain
ments," sent to Charlemagne, in the
eighth century, . water clock, in the
dial of which a door opened at each hour,
and when at noon the twelve doors
were thrown open, as many knights on
horseback issued out, paraded round the
dial, and then, returning, shut them
selves in again.
Vaucanson. a. mechanical genius,
made an automaton fiute-player and
piper in 1888. which were the wonders
of their time. The flutist was figure
five feet high, standing on a pedestal,
within which were nine pairs of bellows.
worked by clock-work. The motion of
the fingers, lips and tongue were all
initiated by this figure, which by various
arrangements of valves, tubes, levers
and wheels, is said to have produced
music little inferior to the performance
of skilled flute-player. The piper was
constructed much on the same principle.
The bellows of his instrument required a
fifty-six pound weight to produce the
highest note. As the fatigue of playing
the pipes usually causes the performer,
when playing rapidly to slur over some
of the notes, the mimic piper, impervi-
Gus alike to WEAKNESS and shortness of
breath is accredited with having en-
celled a living one in the cleanneSs of
the notes.
Millardet, a Swiss mechanician, ex-
hibited in London in the last century a
female figure that played eighteen tunes
on the piano with all the motions of
natural life, the eyes following the
movements of the fingers on the keys,
the pressure of which produced the
noteS.-Iroy IN " Times,