The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-12-11
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Sir 4. WATKINS, the railway magnate, saws
the most costly piece of railway line in the
world is that between the Mansion house and
ALLOCATE stations in London, which required the
expenditure OK close upon l0,000, 900 q mile.
SAYS st. Louis business man In the Globe
Democrat of that city: 81 spent last winter in
Monterey, where bull-fghting is the principal
Sunday diversion. The bull. ring is in the center
OF the city, and is controlled by the priest who
off1ciates at the cathedral hard by From the
tower OF the cathedral he watches the sport.
Every Sunday afternoon and evening during
the winter season the bull ring is thronged. for
your Mexican is progressive and now combats
Taurus by electric lights. The sport is uni
formly good; for, according to the law of the
city, the managers of the show are mulcted in
the sum Of $50 for every bull they introduce
into the ring that refuses to fight Very few
| fines are imposed, for the Mexican bull that
won't fight is almost a rsra avis. Most Of the
| bulls are from Durango. They are rather small,
have dash of Durham in them, are fierce as
| hungry tigers and have horns like Texas steer.
They are chiefly red, or red and white, and will
whip any 4-footed animal of their weight that
walks the earth"
AN English correspondent Of the Boston
Rer0ld has found in Dictionary of the Isle
| Of Wight Dialect" a number of words which
| English writers usually class American pro-
vincialisms. Among them are cute and
''piert." found also in one of George Eliot's
son or necessity; "chippsr." darn " as a mild
oath; fall" for autumn; "galluses," "heft,"
hunk Jaw, ;, meaning to scold; 'jiffey,"
| done; thick, for intimate; ''gumption, tan"
| meaning to thrash; spells" OF weathe, put to
rights, etc. The subject is a most interesting
| one, and deserves more attention from philolo-
gsts than it has thus far received The com
piler Of the dictionary in question says that
many OF the provincial isms in the Isle of Wight
are identical with those current in the adjoining
counties of Hampshire, Willis and Dorset, once
forming part of the Saxon kingdom of Wes-
| sex, and that the basis OF the dialect of this
region is purely Anglo Saxon.
THE Boston T. Gnscript notes the fact that the
| word silence" is enjoying big boom among
| the poets. "One eau scarcely pick up a poem
| on any topic nowadays" il says, ''withour
stumbling over the word silence or silent DC
casonally it is silentio, which is much like call
| ing hash rechauffe-it tastes the same. All of
the poets who have written on Tennyson and
Whittier and the other great ones gone have
fairly reveled IN the fashionable poetic word;
| 1t came naturally and easily. But when one
poet makes old silence settle back upon the
sea, it seems q grain too much. Yet on the
whole, this prevalence of the word silence is
such relief from the famil ar rhymes of
breeze and trees heart and part that it
] seems pleasant by comparison It is a hard
word to find rhyme for, so it
is usually put at the beginning
of a line. Walt Whitman, who could make
| milk wagon rhyme with Hubbard squash, could
have given silence good chance at the end of
line. to rhyme with, say, politics IL was a
Boston poet, by the way, who made pterodactyl
"ANA S~S@~sSAA'
ONE of the most interesting relics Of the late
civil war, says the Chicago Herald is a piece
| OF white toweling that was used as a flag of
| truce when the confederate army surrendered
10 Gen. Grant at Appomattox. It is owned in
this city by Gen. E. W. Whitaker, who was a
member OF Gen. Clusters staff and who re-
ceived 1t from Capt Sims Of Longstreet's staff
| on the morning Of April Q, 1865 Gen. Whita-
ker has treasured it during all these years He
was induced to part with portion of il several
l IN
old commander, the late Gen Custer
Mrs. Custer afterward gave the frag-
| the small piece of the toweling appears
| the following statement sworn to by Gen.
Whitaker before a notary public: This is a
piece of the cloth cut from the Identical flag
| Of truce which was used under orders of Gen,
| r. E. Lee to ask cessation of hostilities of
the federal army at O'Clock a. M, April g.
| nag OF truce. a large white towel, was in the
1 hands OF Capt. Sims of Longstreet's staff
when he met Clusters cavalry charge 1t was
used by me in the confederate lines at the re-
quest or Gems. Longstreet and Gordon Co an
nounce the surrender Of Lee to the infantry
line OF battle and also the cavalry"
SHORTLY after the battle in which the French
soldiers in Africa finally gave the Dahomeyans
| to rout, says the New York Press & coupe OF
accommodating Frenchmen, turning down a BY
| path leading to the high road suddenly saw the
| CLEAN OF the barrel of q rife. One of them
hastily put up hts carbine and was about TO fire
| when his comrade exclamation caused him to
| take a second glance at the object What thew
| saw was enough to make a toughened saw.
| age shudder. 1t was the sentry Of DEATH A
| CHASTITY grinning skeleton, impaled on a sharp
ened pole with it's feet skewered
and with its gun fastened
| in hideous mockery to give the effect of a chal~
| longing outpost, greeted the sight of tue hor-
rifed soldiers From the make Of the rife IL
was easily surmised that this victim was one of
| the French prisoners that had fallen into
| King Behanzin's clutches. very striking ex-
ample of King Behanzns shrewdness is related
| by some Catholic missionaries who went to Da-
honey and persuaded the king to remove and
| destroy a number Of his fetiches. The mission
aries, thinking their labors ended were aboua
| to depart The king was disappointed and
spoke TO them: II have listened to your speeches
| and demolished my fetiches. You have given
me nothing In return. Before you leave now
command that you bring out and show me your
| own god, of whom you relate such wonders.
| that may set up his image IN the place Of NV
| lost fetiches." What could they doy It was
| out of the question to convert the king 10 their
belief in an invisible god, but at the same time
| they were forcibly impressed with the i'm
portance Of satisfying his demand. as their per
sonal safety was in peril should they refuse So
| they managed to obtain some more or less di.
| lapdated images or the Virgin and of the saints
and these are now holding the place of honor
among the miscellaneous collection of fetiches
| in the kings circle OF dIvinities