The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-03-16
MYSTERIES OF A DAY
STRANGE AND CURIOUS THINGS
TAKING PLACE ABOUT US.
"A Satisfied KinR-WonderfmI Grain Stories
-~SwindlinR Fnrmers-t:ood Young Nun
Married to n Slave. Etc, Etc.

"Parsifal" the song of a nightingale
plays a part in the story. This is usu-
ally produced by q skillful flute player
behind the scenes. "'This will not do"
said the exacting royal critic; eve
ought to lave n real nightingale" Herr
o Perfall promised to do what he
could toward engaging n nightingale as
one of the company. There is a man
who sings in the public places in Munich
who has a rare capacity for initiating
the songs of different birds. He was
diligently schooled, and conveyed to the
Kings's isolated theatre. His Majesty
believed that he was listening to u real
nightingale at the next performance of
"Parsifal," and sent q most flattering
letter of thanks to the director. 1t is
fortunate that the King is not so expert
and critical q naturalist as he is an art
1st, otherwise he would have inquired
how Herr Won Pcrfall contrivcd to per
suade that nightingale to sing so vigor-
ously in the end of October, when all
other nightingalcs arc dumb.
In an address before the LiverDool
Geological Society, by Prof. Rcadc, on
"The D~cnudation of the Two Americas. "
he shows that $50, 600, 900 tons of mat
ter, in solution, arc annually poured
into the Gulf Of Mexico by the Missis-
sippi River, and this, it is estimated.
would reduce the time for the dcnuda-
ton Of one foot of land over the whole
basin-which time has hitherto been
calculated solely from the matter in sus-
pension-from one foot in G, 900 years to
one foot in 4,500 years. Similar calcu-
lations applied to the La Plata. the
Amazons and the St. Lawrence show
that an average of 100 tons to the square
mile. per annum, are removed FROM the
Nxwhole American continent. This. it is
Stated, agrees with result previously
arrived at by Prof. Rcadc in respect to
Europe, from which it is inferred that
Che whole of the land draining into the
e Atlantic from America. Africa, Europe,
and Asia contributes matter in solution
which. if reduced to rock at two tons to
\ the cubic yard, would equal one cubic
, mile every six years.
II most recent estimate hat has
been made 10y the French engineers in
} regard to the proposed African inland
I sea is that the undertaking could he
consummatcd in the maximum period of
live years, at a cost of about $50. 600, 900
/ 1T being sufficient to cut, in the allu-
vial part of the region travcrsed,' a canal
averaging some so to 100 feet in width.
/ which would be further widencd bv the
action of the current. It appears that
the estuary Of the Owed Mcllah, which
IS to be the beginning of the canal lead
ing to the place to be inundated, offers
a port, covered at high water, of adc-
quate breadth, which might easily be
~eXcavated, and would form a port shell
tered by nature from all the winds from
northeast to south, passing by the west;
lfthe winds from northeast to south, pass
ing by the east. would not be DANGEROUS
to the brcakwatcrs. The navigation of
h canal, it is also said. will offer no
difficulty, as the canal will form almost
q straight line. The proposed inland
sea would be fifteen times as large as the
\ Lake of Geneva.
FOR several months men representing
themselves as agents for n seed company
have been travelling through Pcnnsyl-
vania selling a peculiar kind of oats at
$40 a bushel. They asserted that the
gram was Bohemian oats, and that they
grew without hulls. They bound their
! company in Ohio to sell for the farmers
twice as many bushels of the crop raised
!. from the seed as the farmers had pur-
chased at $40 a bushcl, retaining 20 per
cent. commission for their trouble.
Many farmers report having bought
from ten to twenty bushels, some pay
ing as much rs 5000 in cash, and others
giving their notes payable at the First
National Bank of Williamsport. The
notes have been discounted and the ras-
Gals have departed. It is reported that
their %swindling operations will reach
$40, 600 in Lycoming county. There is
no such company at Napoleon, Ohio,
where the men said their house was.
ELIZA Bowen, n white woman, who
died in Galcsburg, Ill.,, was the wife of
a negro. They lived in a rude, small
shanty, upholstered and uncomfortable.
This she had built with money she had
begged. Lately she complained of ill
treatment at the hands of her black hus-
band. This woman was before the re-
bellion the wife of Colonel Hanks, at
one time an officer in the British army.
and aftcrward Il resident of Kentucky.
There he became possessed of a large
plantation and many slaves, the man
Bowen among them. During the war
he died, and his estate passed to the
creditors. His wife he put in charge of
Bowen, whom he instructed to care for
her. The marriage occurred several
years afterward. She has been frequent
ly heard to contrast the l~uxuries she for
merly enjoyed with her miserable sur
! %roundings here.
ENGLISH naval constructors are inves-
tigating the jarrah wood, of western
Australia, which is said to resist COM
| pletely the attacks of the teredo and
!; other animal pests to which timbcrs
planted in salt water are exposed. This
is said to be due to is containing a
highly %astringent' acid, something like
= Hoonin nntl I>..l -