The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-04-15
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The number Of foreign-born soldiers in the
| United States army during the civil war was.
according to Gen. Franz Sigel. who has made
the subject steady. about 800 000 OF these
1875 were Irishmen aud 176 767 were Germans.
The colored troops numbered 1S6 OH, Of whom
les, OOO served at one time.
GERTHA NJ. PRIOR OF Bristol, Me-, 21S years
old, knows the alphabet entire, what state.
| county and town she lives in. what the largest
city in Maine is, who is President Of the United
States can tell her name and how old she is,
and can count to twelve and spell nine words,
four of which contain four letters each.
BLACK is the almost universal mourning color
in Europe. but there are a few exceptions. For
instance, in Russia black is never used for Gov
e-ing collins the cloth being of pink shade
when the deceased is child or young person, a
crimson color for women and brown Tor wild
ows Italians do not use black cloth, white
being used in the case OF child and purple vel
vet in the case OF adults.
The smallest inhabited island in the world is
that on which the Eddystone light house stands
At low water it is thirty feet in diameter; at
high water the light house. WHOSE diameter at
the base is 2S4 feet completely covers it. 1t is
inhabited by three persons. 1t lies nine miles
Off the Cornish coast and fourteen miles south
west of Plymouth breakwater.
SUSPENSION BRIDGES which were built in the
time of the Han dynasty t202 B. G. to 300 A. D.
are still standing, striking examples of early
propriately styled flying bridges" by early
Chinese writers, are high and dangerous-look-
ing in the extreme. At the present day
bridge may still be seen in Shense which IL 400
feet long and is stretched over a chasm more
than 1000 feet deep.
Meg DoDaE's injunction, ITO roast a hare
first catch your hare,'' which has passed into a
proverb, was not the fruit of her caustic wit, as
seems generally supposed, but is a very neces-
sary clause Of her recipe for hare soup. Blood
fOFU1q n al RI Of hara ntiT0
II the animal is shot, the blood Is wasted, but
if caught in snare. then it is saved for use.
AS hor g eat only during the night, it is very
easy to catch these most prolific destroyers Of
crops in this way
PARIS promises to send US something new in
the way of barrel organ which may not be
appreciated. The organ grinder sets down his
instrument in front of the house he has In view.
He winds it up like clock after which it will
go by itself for an hour, while he adjourns for
refreshments to any public house over the way.
After the organ has played for a quarter OF an
hour or so the jewellers begin to find it a
nuisance. servant sent out to see what can
be done to stop 1t reads over the organ the fol
lowing notice: IF you wish this organ to stop,
put penny in the SLOT" The penny is dropped
in and the organ is silenced 1t resumes its
melody, however, at the end Of five minutes
and keeps it up until another penny is sQuan-
dered.
ROUMANIA mothers tie red ribbons around the
ankles of their children to preserve them from
harm. Ethiopian mothers tie small bits of
assafetida to the neck Of their offspring for
the same purpose. In old Ireland belt woven
! from woman's hair blonde and brunette in
! equal numbers) is placed about the child 3
waist to keep the "banshee" away. In Holland
| the new mother insures the future good fortune
, of her child by putting salt, garlic, bread,
| cheese and meat in it's cradle Welsh and En-
| glish mothers frequently put q knife in the
cradle of a newborn infant to ward off collie
| and other infantile diseases The Welsh
! mother adds the Of tho charm
! by occasionally throwing in the sugar
! tongs. In Lower Brittany the baby is put
| through regular gymnaatic exercise which
| winds up with the head being soaked in oil, this
| latter TO solder up the seams of the Uranium.
! Among the Vosgen peasants children born at a
new moon are supposed to have their tongues
better hung than others, while those born at the
| last quarter are supposed to have little or no
| powers of expression. daughter born near
| the waxing moon is suppos to be exit aordina-
| rtly precious. The Grecian mother In putting
her infant in the cradle. turns three times around
| before the fire, singing her favOrite lullaby,
this to ward of evil spirits, In several parts of
the United States to rock the empty cradle is an
| omen of baby's death; in Scotland the same
| performance is believed to insure the coming of
another occupant for it'll In Spain the newly ar
rived babe has its face brushed with pine
bough. In Turkey amulets of various kinks are
put on the baby's toes fingers, ankles wrists
and neck as soon as it comes into the world. IL
its father be priest, mud cakes stepped in milk
| are plastered on it's little forehead. In London
book is put under baby's pillow to insure apt
| ness in educational matters and money is put
in its bath as guarantee OF financial success.
In 1851, says the Philadelphia LEDGER, quoting
from the Book of Days" James Cleland an
| Irish gentleman. being curious to ascertain
whether the climate or soil of Ireland was nat
urally destructive to the serpent tribe pur-
chased half dozen of the common harmless
English snake (ndtrtG toTqttdtd) in Covent Car
den market in London. Bringing them to Ire
| land, he turned them out in his garden at Rath-
gael, in the county of Down. and in a week aft
erward one of them was killed at Milecross,
about three miles distant The persons into
whose hands the strange monster fell had not
the slightest suspicion that 1t was a snake, but
considering it a curious kind OF eel. they took it
to Dr.. j. L Drummond, a celebrated Irish nat
urallst, who at once pronounced the animal to
be reptile and not fish. The idea of ''rale
live sarpint" having been killed within
a short distance of the very
burial place of st. Patrick caused an extraor-
binary sensation of alarm among the country
people. The most absurd rumors were freely
circulated and credited. One far-seeing cler-
Ryman preached a sermon in which ne cited
this unfortunate snake as a token of the i'm
me 1iate commencement of the millennium,
while another saw in it type of the approach
of cholera morbus. Ola prophecies were raked
up. and all parties and sects for once united in
believing that the snake foreshadowed ''the be-
ginn ng of the end" though they very widely
differed as TO what that end was
to be. Some more practcal-mindcd per-
sons, however, subscribed a considerable
sum of money, which they offered in rewards
for the destruction of any other snakes that
might be found in the district and three more
of the snakes we're not long afterwari killed
within few miles of the garden where they
were liberated. The remaining two snakes
were never very clearly accounted for. The
writer, who resided in that part of the country
at the time, well remembers the wild rumors
among the more iliterate classes on the appear
ance OF those snakes and the bitter feelings of
angry indignation expressed by the educated
persons against the-yery fortunately then I'M
known-person who had dared to bring them to
IraIa