The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-12-27
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

- NN1f1NSALfANlA hAlLhOAD CONDGCTOH las
classified the commuters who come to the city
on the morning trains. Those who take the
train between and are workers; those be
tween and are 'clerkers"; those between 8
and are ''shirkers, while those between and
people OF leisure as well as "nnashers."
very important work, entitled This Best
Dressed Man." has appeared in London, 10
which the subject Of clothes is discussed with
a gravity and elevation of tone that would
nave done credit to the great Prof Teufelsd-
rockh himself, the founder of the philosophy
OF clothes The author asserts that the frock
sui holds its own at the end of all coats " and
ACIDS impressively: mo English gentleman,
animated by deep attachment to our institu-
lions, would for a moment hesitate to cast
aside the ruder coat and put upon him the ee-
CANT frock Of the town, where principle is At
stake, Isn't that grand: But the really i'm
portant point which the essayist brings for
ward is that real gentlemen" need Eve suits
OF clothes TO constitute them gentlemen, 1t
seems that literary men are by all ODDS the
worst dressed" according to this authority.
and, judged by his test, very few OF them could
De rated as gentlemen.
The tricks of the marvellous performing
elephants exhibited in London q few years ago
seem fairly eclipssd by the feats OF the
elephants at the Belle Vue Gardens, Manches-
Ter, or which, by way Of an example of the in
telhgence OF brutes, George Fremantle of
Higher Ardwick has sent an account 10 the
SDectdtor When penny is given to one of
THESE animals it puts the coin into the slot Of q
box, where. as IL falls, 10 releases a bscuil
which the elephant takes with evident salts
faction. Some of the visitors occasionally give
the animals O halfpeDny, and as experience
mas taught them that this @ in is of no value
Tor the purpose OF obtaining biscuits it is gen
orally thrown CONTEMPORARY back to the
gNer. more marvellous fact, however ia TO
come One day visitor gave the baby elephant
number OF haifpennies in succession, each of
which was thrown at him again as soon as re-
ceived. TIE visitor then gave the animal two
hslfpennies at the same time. The animals de-
meanor Immediately changed. For more than
five minutes he held the coins in his trunk rub
bling them together now rocking from side to
side, and presently seeming to be pondering
deeply while perfectly still. At last he dropped
the two halfpence In the box together, with the
result that their combined weight gave him the
desired BISCUIT, at which he galnbled about in a
manner which exhibited extravagant delight
As yet IL appears that the baby elephant has
not learned to hold one hafpeuny in reserve I'M
I'll be gets another I'm other words /" saws Mr.
Fremantle ''he has not learned to count"
AN English paper quotes from q writer in the
Japan Mail who appears to have special knowl
edge OF the well known Chinese custom of COM
pressing the feet of female children of the bet
ter classes in China. He hopes that few of his
readers have been so unfortunate as to see the
naked foot OF an orthodox Chinese lady But
many have looked at photographs Of this ter
ribly-twisted and distorted member, and the
sight must have suggested thoughts OF barbar.
GUS suffering inflicted on a particularly sensi-
tive part of the human body. Year by wear
hundreds of thousands Of little girls through
out the wide empire OF China are subjected TO a
ruthless process which brushes the bones and
wreDches the sinews OF their tender feet until
at last revolving deformity is produced and
the foot, crumpled into shocking mon
stroslty, becomes almost valueless as a
means of locomotion. The wretched girl
energies from her period of feverish torture a
mutilated cripple, condemned to hObble through
life on feet which preserve no semblaucs Of
natures beautiful mechanism, having become
as hideous as they are useless. At intervals
the missionary cries out, the traveller writes
and the charitable agitate; but the poor little
children never benefit. For them there remains
always the same ruthless bending OF bones the
same agonizing application Of tight ligatures,
the same long months OF bitter pain and IN
availinR tears. Perhaps, he suggests, it is to
this singular contrast between general refine
ment and cultivation of the Chinese, on the one
hand, and this callous cruelty, on the other,
that we must attribute the periodical appear
ance OF apologists for the appalling custom
Some people say that, though the foot is ulti-
mately deformed, though the woman is indeed
condemned to be little better than a cripple
yet the process is not so very painful after all
The bones are soft. they say, in early youth:
the sirews supple. Twisting, crushing and
wrenc linR are operations that may be per-
formed without much suffering on baby feet.
whereas adults would be maddened by the
torture. To this the writer replies: "Let no
one talk of the yielding character OF young
bones or the pliabty OF baby sinews We have
listened with our own ears to the cries of a
little girl undergoing tine torturing process. 4
Such agonzinR walls never before fell on our
ears. They we're the shrieks of a child abso-
lutely wild with suffering When the ligatures
were loosened and the shocking succession OF
breathless screams ended in long-drawn walls
Of exhaustion and misery. the listener turned
almost sick with horror and aympathy. Yet a
mother was the deliberate torJurer of the poor
baby, and a father csllously listened to its
heartbroken cries. Think that this fiendish
barbarty is being practiced daily and hourly
throughout the length and breadth Of a land
containing 800 ,000,0 600 inhabitants. Not alone
are the tender bodies of the poor little girls
ruthlessly rscked and tortured, but the purest
sentiment OF humanity, the love of parents for
their children, is perpetually outraged Such
unnatural cruelty could be tolerated only ia the
presence of the worst kind of Generalization.
How much can survive OF the moral beauty OF
the paternal relation when fathers and mothers
in Difference to a mere freak of fashion, con-
sent to Inhict on their daughters. day by day,
torture that well nigh maddens the baby brain
and wrings shrieks of excruciating agony from
the little lips2 This is one OF those facts that
make US marvel when we hear a great destiny
predicted for the chinese nation