The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-12
ITEMS OF INTEREST 7.

TIE number Of cloisters and monks in Spain
have increased with astounding rapidity OF late
years. Spain now has q. ? monks, and 1900
nuns in 1880 cloisters and 1s9 orders In Bar
celona alone there are 1853 cl list rs for women.
In the asst fourteen years the number Of monks
IN spain has been sextupl1d, aud the number Of
nuns has been doubled.
Use Of the telephone which is very sug
gestive as pointiag to future possibilities is re-
ported IN an English paper. The parish clerk
IN Norfolk village. being prevented by rheu-
matte govt from attendins church. was pre-
s-nted by the manager or I, e local telephone
company with double telephone, which was
NIX d from the church TO the old mau's cottage
50 that be and 5 wife could follow all the s. V
ices The old man is quite unable TO hold any
tnl x, so the telephone Is arranged so as fl
a Salnst both his ears. He can hear anything il
the church quite cl arly. and if book is dropped
or II any one coughs the sound is as distinctly
heard as II he were n the building.
ONE of the most interesting specimens on
exhibition at the Smithsonian Zoo" in Wash
ington, is monkey-faced owl, born and bred
in the district jail. Truly he is a genuine Jail
bird. he first saw tie light of nj yht in the
caves OF tae big old building. but was arrested
Ior d sturbing che quiet of the establishment,
ana now ekeS out a miserable existence in
cage. HIS face is almost an exact counter part
OF monkey $50 much so, in fact, thatwer
the rest OF his body covered il would be diff
cult to distin 'uish the difference The bird has
a cage all to himself, and is the only one of i s
kIhd on ex nbltlon- He sits all day quiet aud
unolinklng; but at nj Sht, SO the reporter was
INFORMED, he has hi h old time, aud makes
the building resound with his piercing shrieks.
A MDDLE-AGED coLoRED MAN entered a Brook
Ign, n. Y, car the other evening with a basket
containing wine in his ha d. evidently sent to
make delivery. He seemed to have sampled
the liqu IT freely before starting 1t, for a re-
porter noticed he was in excellent humor. He
managed 70 get seat, and, when the conductor
came around to collect his fare, he nev-r both
cred about pockets or pocketbookS, but simply
paced his ha To one of his canacious ears and
drew forth the shining nickel. To say that con-
duetor and passengers were surprised puts it
mildly. The conductor, on recovering himself
fssmarked: Why do you carry your money
piled the son of Ham. and the passengers all
laughed at the new wrinkle in money p Iuches.
IL was observed that he also carried nickel in
the other ear.
In THE BEAUTIFUL and valuable collection of
cut and uncut American gems that were sent to
tte great Paris exposition are a number of
beautiful bood-red garnets which have curious
history. They came from Fort Defiance Ariz
a locaHty that has produced some of the finest
garnels m the world. here they are associated
WITH the olve-green perilot, witch also, when
Ine, clts into gems Toe peridot pebbles are
cameo oy the natives Jobs tears; ths garn is
are known as ,'rubies." An S. as w II as scor-
plons, abound in the r-ei n and their hills
formed of the earthly material excavatei in
digging thei' subterranean homes are numer-
GUS on the plains. The lnda1S-the NayaioeS-
ana the soldiers from the fort go t among
these hills, and upon their surface, mixed with
other and worthless pebbles, they find. of course
IN rougn state, scores of the gem stones-gar-
net ana perdot The jewels they gather and
sed at good pric s to collectors and jewelers.
Many THOUSANDS of dollars worth of gems have
thus reached the market
HAVING resolved to paint" book. for. as
all the world knows, the Japanese use a brush
and not pen, the author betakes him to his
work-room. 1t is a little room very lite
room. Six mats" is its Japanese measuf e.
ment, and mat is about SKA feet. It is full of
the soft, duh light which pulses from a square
white paper lantern the low, bright wooden
ceiling gives back pale brown CLEAN here and
there Inere is sill .ry CLINT in the frail paneled
halls, and in warm gray Swallowed recess a
gold buddah crosses his feet and stretches forth
DIS palms, smiling gently upon the lotus which
ne holds. In another recess stand the Gu
nous vessels OF iron and clay and bamboo for
Inc tea ceremony. The author sits on the flo r
IN flowing garment of brown silk lined with
piue, MS legs disposed comfortably under him
In front of him stands a lacquered tab e. about
foot nigh, and upon it his writing materials
which are as idylic as his snrroundings-his
paper Is deli ately tinted yellow, with blue lines
running up and down. His lkstand is a carved
ebony slab, with one end followed out for
water to rub his cupe of Indian ink in. and
hold the four or five daintly decorated BAN
, boo brushes which are his pens Naturally
he does not write his novel, he paints it, Be
| ginning at the end of the whole, at the # Of
every page an at the top of every line straight
| down between the two blue parallels his small
brown hand goes. with quick, del cate, dark
| touches. Although this novelist's copy"
| might EN- to a stranger to be daintiness itse +,
| yet he always has it duplicated by an artist
before sending it to the publishers. the success
of the book depending so largely upon its
artistic forthbringing. T ''artist'' to whom
| the copy" is now inirusted proceeds to repaint
| the long series of word pictures with pro.
fessonal dexterity which is something aston
| shing. 0