Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-05-29
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


Sanitary Convention, DIR, Charles Smart con-
tends that only spring water issuing from an
unsullled soil is destitute of morbifc quail
ties.
THIRTY YEARS AGO a man who wore hair
on his upper lip was considered either a lu.
matte or foreigner, and the boys would run
after him IN the streets as after a mounte-
bank.
THREE of the Lords Justices of England
have decided that love letters belong to then
writers, who, in case of arrangement, may
demand them back. They cannot be publish
ed without the writer's consent, nor other
wise disposed of contrary to the wishes of the
authors.
A ONCE PROMINENT POLITICIAN of South
Bend. Ind, who has dropped into obscurity OF
late. Is said to be living unnoticed, unhonored.
and alone In tumble down cottage in Napier
| street. He occupies one room in the lower
part OF the house, and his horse another room
| adjoining.
A WELL KNOWN GENTLEMAN about Boston
who is something of stranger to Adams ale.
was lately handed glass of water and asked
to say what 1t was. He took 1t, turned it
| round, looked through it, smelt it, tasted it..
Al last he said, well, it looks like gin, but
| there's no taste to it,"
PROF. NEWTON, at the conclusion of a series
of lectures on Greek and Roman antiquities.
| buried in the cellars of the British Museum
He stated that they had remained there ever
since 1852, ''defaced and begrimed with dirt
utterly useless to anybody, Tor in their present
| position they cannot be seen unless by the
! light of lantern"
NOTWITHSTANDING NJ. Rouisseau's adverse
reportupon the prospects of the Panama ca
nal. the French Government will, 1t is re-
ported, authorize M. de Lesseps' lot
terry scheme for raising SIP 100000. The
| eaGerness with which the last government
loan was taken shows that there is an i'm
mense amount of cash still in the French
stocking awaiting investment.
TIKI COURSES at a Chinese dinner are pc
culiar. The meal begins with a smoke, then
thick, mucilaginous but de iciously tasting
soup with sea sluggs, mushrooms and pige-
! on eggs floating on it is served. After this
| comes courses OF fish, pheasants. wild ducks
all cooked to be very greasy. Dried pumpkin
seeds are sort of Chinese olives, an dried
! watermelon seeds are considered in the ma
! ture Of bonbons.
THE latest victory in the long drawn match
between the gun and the armor-p plate has
been scored in favor of armor. At Spezzia
German chilled steel armor- plate, feet
| inches in thickness, weighing 100 tons, was
fixed agunst the face of the cliff and battered
with chilled shot from the 100 ton gun.
| thunderbolt, weighing almost exactly a ton,
was hurled against the face of the plate by
the explosion of ~ cwt. of powder. without
| producing more than a slight indentation and
some trihlng cracks. Three shots failed 10
make any serious immersion on the plate,
which has thus come off victor in the strug
| gle. 1t would seem that no shot yet invented
| Will go through feet of chilled steel.
AN INHABITANT OF LONDON consumes in a
year % times as much fish as an inhabtant of
Berlin, and though the stores of the North
Sea are open to the German metropolis, Paris
with her 2,20l, 900 inhabitants consumes more
fish than the whole of Germany with a popu-
latiOn of 100000. Berlin requires yearly
l.625 million pounds of food, including 100
lion pounds of fresh meat. million pounds
of birds of all sorts, ~ million pounds Of
game. II million litres of milk, 30 million
pounds of butter million pounds of cheese,
10 million pounds OF eggs, 81 million pounds of
fruit, , million pounds of oranges, 81 million
pounds of fresh fish, Z million pounds of
smoked fish, and million pounds Of picked
fish.
A LONDON DREssMAKER carrying on an ex-
tensIve business, was in the habit of receIv-
ing from her country customers by post checks
in payment of her accounts. She wrote to a
lady living in Suffolk a peremptory letter re-
| questlng check for the amount OF her &C
! count, f AZ which had been some time due.
An open check payable to order was sent by
| post, but was stolen in course OF Transmission
and was paid by the Suffolk lady's bankers on
a fraudulent Endorsement. The dressmaker
sued her for the amount. and 1t was left to
| Baron HuddestOn, sitting without a jury, to
| decide on whom the loss should fall, the facts
as stated not being dispute He decided in
favor of the defendant, as having done what
| she was asked to do, but considering the i'm
| pOrtance of the case, none precisely similar to
! which seems to have been reported, he stayed
execution to allow the plaintiff to appeal.
| THE CABLE DISPATCHES announcing the re-
| cent massacres of whit in Africa have not
mentioned the assassin alton of NJ. Barral and
his party, who were sent by France three
months ago to promote friendly a1d CONNER
cIal relations with ShOa, the rich country
south of Abyssina. They were killed while
on the way by SOmall natives. These same
treacherous MOhammedans also are the muir
derers of Missionary HOughton and his wife.
who settled year ago in the edge of their
country. AT no period of African eXplora-
tion hitherto have so many fatalities of this
sort been reported within so short time. All
but one OF them occurred within or near the
borders of SOmaliland. This most eastern
part of Africa still shares with the western
Sahara the bad fame of being the only regions
of the dark continent in which white enter
prises have wholly failed to get foothold.
SATURDAYS HEAT proved tiresome to the IA
elephants from Barnums, in Central park, n,
Y, and the first thing they did Sunday morn
ing was to plaster themselves all over with a
thick LAYER of dirt. Keeper Schneider WAS
dspleased, and at once went to work to pIt
them in proper condition to receive SUNDAY
visitors. He got a big hose and squirted about
q ton OF water over edcn elephant. They re-
ceived this good humoredly, and until Mr..
Schneider went to breakfast they quietly kept
up their peculiar see saw motion, that re-
sembes an Irish courtesy. Then they plas-
tered themselves all over with Schneider's
mud, and by the time Mr.. Schneider returned
the sun had dried The mud. and they were
frightfu objects. Mr.. Schneider got ont the
hose again and washed the mud all of. hut in
| less than 10 minutes they had wallow wed again,
and looked at Schneider encouragingly, as II
to say. Come, now, get out that hose once
more" Mr.. Schneider concluded that ele-
plants liked TO have water squirted over them
on hot days.
THE OLD GOLD WAGON, in which for years
the money taken at the New York Custom
House has been conveyed to the SUBJ Treasury,
block away, has been superseded by a new
and stronger vehicle. The new wagon was
burt expressly by order of Collector Hedden,
after consultation with Assistant Treasurer
Canda, that it might be rolled directly into
the sub-Treasury and the contents removed
in sight Of the government officials. The Col
lectnr told the Assistant Treasurer that fro ~
reports W hich had reached him he feared that
highwaymen were waiting for a favorable
opportunity to attack the wagon and attempt
TO steal the contents. sometimes more than
500 900 da y carried in the wagon 10 is
locket before u leaves the Custom House, and
is not unlOcked until after il reaches the sub
Treasury. Wednesday Treasury detective