The morning call., 1891-01-05
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Ben1amln Capen oil EasIport, Me-, lhOugn
in his Seventy-Seventh year, is able to out
skate any man, young or old, in the town.
An electric railway has recently been
opened in switzerland which ascends the
peak OF Rouchberg at an angle of 20 degrees.
The large landed prOpriet0rs in PoSeu, in
Germany, are said to be seriously alarmed
by the wholesale emigration of their labor
eTs to Brazil.
One of the LARGEST babies ever seen in
Florida is the son of Walter Sylvester, living
in Palatka. He is seven months old and
weighs 80 pounds.
Michigan farmers are raising their mort
cages this year by the extraordinary crops
of potatoes and the excellent prices they are
receiving for them.
The Government of Siam is vested in
duarchy. but practically it is monarchy.
There Is second or vice King, but the first
or senior King is the real ruler.
The Paris Gas Company is said to be the
first OF the important European gas COM
panies that shows visible decline distinctly
due TO the increase OF electric lighting.
There has been an enormous increase il
the value of land in Berlin. For piece of
property in the suburbs, which was sold for
$3.50 thirty years ago, Sl50,Oo0 is now de-
manded.
Chicago has annexed and absorbed until
one can go out and shoot wild turkeys in
side her city limits, and She has sufficient
pasture range to feed 10000 Texas steers all
summer.
1t is proposed using the Eiffel Tower to
exhibit the rotation of the earth by the Fon-
canlt method. The pendulum is a bronze
wire $50 feet long, with steel globe at the
end weighing 19S pounds
A scholarship of $500 is offered by the
Nassar Students Aid Society for student
who passes all the requirements for admis-
sion to the freshman class at the eXamina-
tion to be held in June, 1891.
The fund voluntarily contributed and be-
Queathed in the British Isles to the work of
foreign missions for 1889 was $4,000, coo, of
which more than half was given by the men,
bers of the Church of England.
A wealthy Canadian is travelling about the
country with a mission. That mission is to
save shoe leather 10 the world. He insists
that If everybody would cover three inches
more at every step the saving in boots and
shoes in America alone would be S27, 600, eco
per year.
In every tobacco factory at Key West
there Is a reader" Cubans aud Spaniards
cannot talk without gesticulation. In order
to keep them from talking and dropping
their work in order to use their hands,
person is hired to read aloud during work
ing hours.
One of the results of the late Pan-Ameri-
can Congress has been the establishment in
the State Dep irtment of Bureau of the
American Republics" whose principal OBJ
ject is the dissemination of useful informa-
ton concerning the commercial conditions
and advantages Of the several American re-
| publics.
The custom of throwing a slipper after a
! bride Is said to come down from ancient
| times. Long before the Christian era a de-
feated chief would take off his shoes and
| hand them to the victor to show that tho
| loser OF the shoes yielded up all authority
over his subjects. Therefore when the fam
| lily of bride throw slippers after her they
mean that they renounce all authority over
| her.
| An electric railway 1s6 miles long is about
| TO be opened in South america, connecting
| Buenos Ayres with Montevideo. This, how,
| ever, Is not surface road but an overland
| telpherage line" and its object Is TO carry
| letter-boxes between the two cities. IL
| crosses the mouth of the La Plata Wnere IL
| is nineteen miles wide, and two wires are
| supported by tower on eacn slde Oh the
| river nearly go feet high.
At an elegant private german given in q
| town near Boston, the other night, the men
went up to II slot machine, put in nickel,
| supplied by the hostess, and received forth
| with dainty roll of chocolate with the name
| of his partner on the wrapper. Now that
slot machines have made their debut into
society, we may expect to be introduced in
| one way and another to the various eccen-
| trlc members of the family.
Air-brakcs are not only coming into gen.
eral use on freight-tralns, but have even
bten introduced on street-cars in Chicago,
taking the place Of the old brake which
stops the car by winding chain around the
crank-rod. The world is certainly progress
ing when even for street-cars, rapid motors
thorough heating and lighting and the use
OF con tinuous air-brakes are not only pro
posed but actually in operation.
| Chrysanthemum dances arc all the rage
In England just now. At great ball in BIr-
mingham the other evening, Mrs. Herbert
Chamberlain was dressed as white chrys,,
anthemum in skirt of white silk, stiffened
and shaded to represent the petals OF ihe
flower; bodice of green silk to represent the
stem, with shaded velvet leaves faillng on
the white skirt and head-dress OF petals,
forming the heart Of the flower.