Morning journal and courier., 1883-12-25
Items of Interest.

Items of Interest
 fields certificate regarding the 745 deaths beyond the average reported in London last February.
 "Lady Jim," the Flutes "squnw man, died recently. Having refused to fight with his tribe at Pyramid Lake in 1860, he WAS condemned ever after to wear petticoats.
 Tennyson can take worthless sheet of worth $1O0. Rothschild can write still fewer words on similar sheet and make it worth $50, 900. This is capital.
 The total number of assertions from the British army in 1882 was 4, ,145, of whom 1,297 rejoined. In the household cavalry the assertions were in the 1000; in the foot guards, 15 in the cavalry of the line, 25 in the infantry of the line, 24.
 For the first time since the invention of printing, a German book has reached its 1,0o0th edition, each of them numbering 5000 copies, thus making in all 5000, GOO copies. It is primer by Haester, published by G. D. Baedecker of Essen, which first appeared in 1853, and reached its Tooth edi- tion in 1863
 writer of mathematical bent finds from the census that there are about 17,000 den- tists in the United States, who, he estimates, pack into the teeth of the American people ton of pure gold annually. Continuing his speculations, he predicts that in the twenty first century all the gold in the coun-
 
 King Theebaw's wife has born him Q daughter, not son, and the court of Man daly seems to be in pretty state of commo- tion. King Theebaw upbraids his Queen, and she upbraids the midwife and the astrol ogers, while the courtiers lament the loss Of the largesse that would have been presented if the unfortunate little girl had been boy
 The railroad track on the new bridge be- tween Minneapolis and St. Paul-the only stone bridge over the AIississippi-is sixty feet above the river total height above the foundation, 85 feet 6 inches. The bridge affords the best view of the Falls of St. An thony. It has 23 arches, and 16 of the spans are of 80 feet each. The structure cost about $600,00
 When the nephew of Pope Leo married, his father-in-law sent the Pope a silver Christ, Italian work of the sixteenth century. The Perisian artist Andre mounted it on an ebony cross with arabesques of gold, and placed the cross on crimson velvet which re- peated in outline the form of the cross Tho Pope was greatly pleased, and sent by his nephew thanks to the artist. It now ocoupias a r1aoa of bouor in bis moct y1rivaEa room, above his prie-dieu.
 The latest discovery on the Forum at Rome is, topographically, perhaps one of the most important yet made. It apparently consists so far of one side of the celebrated Atrium Vestee. The portion uncovered re- veals three large pedestals, i7s situ, at equal distances apart, and on them are long hon. orary inscriptions to three of the superiors of the Vestal Virgins, one of whom had ruled the order for twenty years. For the moment, however, there is some doubt as to whether these pedestals occupy sheir original positions.
 Among the Omaha Indians, Q child who has lost it's father or mother is considered an orphan. Its particular place is gone, and 1t passes into the 'gens "- If it is the father who dies. the mother loses all ma ternal rights. Each child, unless of very tender age, will be separated from the mother and will go into the family of some one of the fathers relatives. It may thereafter be claimed as his own child by the male head of the family to which ;t has been allotted. This separation of a widow from her chill dren is permanent. She usually marries again, and in that event is not burdened with her offspring by previous husbands.
 A contributor to London scientific paper writes "The poet has said 'The toad wears yet g precious jewel in its head. However beautiful it cannot surpass, in lustre and beauty of setting, the eye of the flea (PaEIeE Srit0nS). When viewed under q power of 200 or 300 diameters by reflected light, it presents a crystalline lens about 1-5O0 of an inch in diameter, surrounded by a dark brown or black rim, and sunk in Q depression of the rich chitinous covering of the head. If the light be judiciously applied, this combination of bright light in the lens with the middle tint of the surrounding yell = low skeleton of the head and the dark sup piled by the black rim-these being har = monized and blended by the shade and shadow of the depression and assisted by the harmonious curve which bounds its dor sal margin-presents 8 combination worthy the study of the trained eye of the artist. ' It is to be feared that even its lovely eye will scarcely reconcile the P,tLer iritGnS to those on whom it dines
 Prof. Youmans says that the study of dead languages has been the one preeminent and historic failure of the so-called liberal edu- cation. There is more hatred of it than of any ether kind of study-mathematic not excepted. He regards its failures as so mo- torious that he cannot attribute it to any de- facts in the methods of teaching it. He de- nies that any possible reform in the modes of studying the dead languages can alter their relations to modern thought. We have to regard their educational failure as 8 result of the progress of the human mind, and therefore as normal and inevitable thing" They hold their position against the advanc- Ing knowledge of the age through the power of tradition, through the blind vener- ation of things ancient because they repre- sent a coventional culture, and are conserved by old and wealthy institutions" There is, besides the Professor adds, 8 good deal of money in the classics which is not to be overlooked when we wish to account for the tenacity with which they are maintained.