The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-03-09
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

THE GREATEST engineering project Of the age
Is about TO be submitted to the British House OF
Commons with the Endorsement Of eminent En-
glish and French engineers, says the Phila-
delphia Ledger. 1t is a project to bridge the
straits Of Dover with q cantilever bridge carry
ing two tracks. The bridge is to be 200 feet
above the sea in the clear The cost is estim ated
at Sl63, ESQ. 900, and the period for construction
seven years. While there Is little doubt from
an engineers standpoint that such bridge
might be built the risks from violent storms,
attending its construction and use, would be
very great. There will be arrayed against the
project the iusular sentiment Of Britons gen
orally, and the reluctance of capitslsts TO make
an investment In great undertaking that Is
even less promising Of returns than the Panama
canal.
Mr. SARGENT, the electrical engineer of the
worlds fair, has completed his scheme for
lighting the main basin on fete nights during
the exposition. Thousands OF incandescent
lights of different colors are to be used. One
row will extend Just above the waters edge all
| around the basin, and another row will reflect
deeper into the water from a few feet higher up
Still higher on the loggias Of all the buildings
that surround the basin will be other rows Of
lights with here and there handsome design.
Rows oflights will also reach around the colon
nads story of the administration building
which stands at the head Of the basin. while the
lower part OF the building Will be kept dark. At
the base of each tier Of the MacMonnies foun-
| tain will be another row of lights, over which
the water will fall from the basin above. There
are also 10 De various seArcn-nRntS TO help out
the effect. One of these will be placed in the
meZZonine floor of the administration building
to play on the MacMonnies fountain. Another
on the electricity building will throw its light
on the statue OF the republic at the east end Of
| the basin, and still others will be employed to
help out at other places The effect of all these
| many-hued lights rejecting in the water will
doubtless be dazzling and beautiful.
| A PROPOSAL to make London a glass-roofed
city is the subject of long letter addressed to
| us by j. Newton Mappin, says the London Daily
NelOs. Interesting as il is, we have no space
be popular with the umbrellamakers, resembles
one in Mr.. Bellamy's Looking Backward" Mr.
Mappin, however, does not treat the subject as
part OF scheme for future Utopia, but as one
TO be carried to practical and successful issue.
| He says: THE covering OF Cheapsde, Poultry,
Queen Victoria street. Regent street, Bond
appear Quixotic suggestion-but other. at
have been laancned "G successful Scn'% and
| the world has not ceased to revolve on
the great British public, or to that section who
| are in the habit Of travelling the main arteries
| of London, from point of comfort alone,
| should be sufficient to warrant trial. Most
| people prefer brightness ami beauty to dirt and
| discomfort. Nothing to my mind can have a
miserable and tawdry appearance thanra lead
| ing London thoroughfore on q wet day, when
| poor, dripping humanity descends to the depths
! of dependency, and every object, animate and
| Inanimate, has washed-out appearance. A
| change from the condition OF things would be
| delightful to all people concerned-those who
would reside under glass, 80 TO speak, and those
| who would use the thoroughfare for business
| purposes. The former would, of course, be
called upon to bear the expense of improve
ment. II l say the outlay they would incur
| would be returned to them In q few years,
| owing TO the increased flow of business to their
| doors-And to the leSsened expenditure uuo1
1 paint and cleaning-I should be under the mark
| Our wood and asphalt streets would be dry,
perfectly safe In all weathers, and tho lease OF
he doubled or treoled. II Ene rain water were
not preserved for domestic use it could be use
| fully applied in flushing the sewers with clean
| water instead OF liquid mud. The health of the
inhabitants would be greatly benefited by
| breathing dry atmosphere instead of q damp,
humid one. Our clothes, boots, hats and gen,
eral comfort would not suffer as they do now. -"
| THE railway postal clerks have a UNIQUE
method for learning the routes on which post.
| offices are located. Take, for example, the
| state of Pennsylvania, In which there are over
| 5000 of1ces. According TO the Philadelphia
Record the prospective mail distributor buys a
| quantity OF blank cards-about the size OF the
ordinary visiting Garland on each of these he
! writes the name Of an office. On the back of
the card he writes the name Of the route by
which the office Is served with it's mail TAX
| ing in hand pack of these cArds-say from
so to l00-he goes over them one after an
other studiously. looking at the back each time
and getting the name and route clearly ascot
ated in his mind The second time he goes
| through the pack he finds that he knows the
| half of the routes by reading the name of the
Office. Il is a dull student who, upon going over
| pack of cards a dozen times, does not know
them thoroughly. The method is 80 simple and
| such an aid to memorizing that It Is adopted by
all railway mail clerks. By it clerks have been
| known TO memorize a state like Pennsylvania
| inside OF two months. On all large routes
| clerks work but half time, the other half being
| devoted to jest and study. The mail clerk at
homo, continually reminded Of coming exalni-
nations, carries his cards wherever he goes.
| coming them over at every opportunity One
| demonstrative clerk on the New York and Pitts.
| burg railway postofflco is famed for
having learned the state OF Ohio in four DAYS.
! AS he shuffied over his cards he walked from
! garnet to cellar and vice versa, from dawn until
| the shades of twilight fell On the fourth day
| he went to the examiners office and separated
! Ohio without an error. 1t Is related that the
! wife OF postal clerk adopted the card method
| for increasing her vocabulary in French on
| one side OF the cards she wrote the French
! word and on the other the English equivalent
| to be learned. Another lady, hearing of this
! used the same system successfully for learning
| mythology, placing the word MARS" for in
! stance, on one side Of the card and "war" on
| the other The method has so many advantages
| over the old and tedious way OF learning from
the pages Of a book that IL might he utilize /
| with advantage by teachers lin search OF new
| methods Of imparting instruction.