The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


The most remarkable work In Australia is
the overland telegraph from Port Darwin 70
the south Of the continent. which was com
pleted in 1872. Almost the whole 1000 miles
Of its length was through an unInhabited
| country-much OF II a waterless desert. The
wooden poles were prepared at the nearest
available places, but some had TO be carried
$50 miles. while the iron poles were taken an
average distance OF 400 miles by land. over
900 tons OF material had to be carried into
the interior, and the total cost was RS70.0OO.
costly ring. unguarded by police or other
special protection, hangs suspended to
silken cord round the neck Of statue Of the
Maid OF Almadena, the patron saint OF Madrid
IN one OF the muchfrequented parks OF the
Spanish capital, says the Philadelphia
Record. tits set with valuable diamonds and
pearls, but, Notwithstanding, there is not the
| least danger Of its being stolen. The greatest
thief IN Spain would sooner steal the plate
from his own mothers coffin than to even so
much as touch the uncanny relic. Its history
is curious and interesting being equal to any
thing related innmediaeval folklore 1t was
made in accordance with a special order from
the late Alfonso XII, who gave it to his
cousin, the beautiful Mercedes on the day OF
their Detrothal. She wore II constantly dur
ing her short married life Upon her death
the king presented it to his grandmother,
| Queen Christina. She died soon after &C
cepting 1t, and the king then passed the
deadly little jeweled band Of gold to his sis
ter Infanta de Pillar, who died within
month after Again the accursed circlet
started on its deadly rounds, next finding
place upon the finger of Christina, the
daughter of the Duke de MOntpensier; in less
than 100 days she, too. was dead, Alfonso
then put the cursed jewel in his own casket
Of precious relics and lived less than a year
after so doing. Is it any wonder that such
harbinger of death can safely hang on
statue in an unguarded square?
The war department, says Harpers
Weekly, has lately come in for some rather
candid comment in connection with the Ia
mented death Of Lieutenant Powhatan
Clarke, AS an odicer of brains, energy and
| enthusiasm. and one, moreover who had won
| the United States medal of honor for special
| gallantry in action against Apache Indians.
| Lieutenant Clarke was allowed to avail him
| self of an opportunity to serve year in the
German army. He joined the eleventh HuS-
! sarS at Dusseldorf, worked hard, learned all
| he could OF German military methods, and
made regular reports of the results of his OBJ
| servatOns TO the Adjutant Generals office in
Washington. When he came home he made
| every effort to have his reports published,
| but was denied that satisfaction, partly be-
| cause he could not convince the authorities
! that his recommendations were of value,
| partly because it was averred that
! in his report he had CRITICISED the service"
| Finally he began to communicate his views
| in newspaper articles published in the New
| York Herald, but was warned that a contin-
uanCe in that method would expose him to
trial by court martial If the assertions of
his eulogists are well founded, his death,
with all his music in him." will bring relief
in quarters where his energy was a source of
discomfort, and his military knowledge some
thing OF menace to ease and quiet life. 1t
would be rash to assert, without knowing
what was in his reports, that It was a mistake
not to publish them, but the story of his ex-
periences, as 1t has lately been told, recalls
the impassioned declaration made a month
or two ago by Mr.. Frederic Remington, about
the military fogies in Washington bureaus
who strangle live soldiers with red tape.
Tobacco consists of the leaves and stalk of
plant charged with an aroma purifying,
sustaining exhilarating and fragrant to the
| human being, says the London Gentlemans
Magazine. Like the aroma of a rose. this
aroma should be inhaled in the form of cool
vapor by the human nose. The chewer. like
the Cab-hOrse, eats the leaves and stalk. He
| uses the tobacco at the right temperature,
| but in the wrong form, and puts il into the
| wrong place. The snutfer reduces the leaved
| stalk to powder, and puts 1t into his nose.
| He uses the tobacco at the right temperature
and puts it into the right place, but converts
| ii into a wrong form. The cigar smoker gets
| the tobacco into the right form, but puts it
| at a wrong temperature into a wrong place.
| The cigarette smoker blends the filthy rags
| and other materials out of which paper is
| made with the tobacco. The pipe smoker
| puts his tobacco into receptacle which is
| used for an indefinite time, is very difficult to
clean, and tends to produce cancer of the
! tongue and lips Moreover, in all
[ forms of smoking the tobacco becomes
saturated with the smokers breath.
| This seems to be almost poisonous. 1t
| is this which causes the lower half of
| smoked cigar, II left on table for a few
| hours, to become indescribably rank. It is
this which makes the smoke of tobacco in
| foul pipe noX1ouS, and the smoke of tobacco
not pressed down to the bottom of a clean
| bowl nauseous, even to the smoker himself.
| Nature protests against the abuse of her boun-
| ty, She tweaks the inCipient snuffers nose.
| She weakens the cigar Smokers heart, and
| sometimes threatens him with paralysis.
| She 1nf1tcts cancer of the lips and tongue upon
| the pipe smoker. What is the lesson She is
| trying to teach? What Is the right mode of
| using her delightful gift? Obviously TO reduce
| it to vapor to cool the vapoT, and to apply the
pure cold .vapor to the nose, For this end
! combination of the hOOkah and Rimmel's
| OdoriZer is all that is needed. If you stand on
| the grating of snuff mandatory how deli
| cious is the odorl Such would be the con
| tents OF tobacco Scent-bottle, equally ex-
| hilarating to both sexes, a disinfectant, a re-
| storative, and perfume in one.
There has recently appeared in this vicini-
ty, says a Carthage CAIiss.) correspondent of
the Philadelphia Times, a most peculiar
growth known as the devil plant" which is
so deadly as to render all insect life and vege-
tation in its neighborhood lifeless. 1t is most
innocent in appearance, being of tender
| green. clinging close to the earth and shrink
| eled with small red blossoms, cup-shaped and
| holding in their hearts single drop of moist
ure. 1t is in this singular dew, which the sun
| mas no power 10 ulSpei. JlaJ tne plants most
| blighting influenced said to lie. Bees by the
| hundreds have been found dead in the bios
| SONS. Indeed, the hives of the ueighborhood
| are nearly depopulated by the noxious flow
| ers. A gentleman who is noted as a botanist
! in these parts tasted this dew and
! declared that 1t was of a sickening
| sweetness, without odor. and viscid like liuuid
! gum. 1t was allowed to dwell on his tongue
! which soon began to burn him so as to raise
i blister, and the member swelled up and be-
| came diScOlOred and exceedingly painful
| The bees have not been the only sufferers by
| this growth, but every insect approaching it
| seems to become paralyzed and after a beat
| or two Of the wings above this creeping upas
! drops dying among its cruel leaves. Cattle
| which have eaten of it die in few hours in
| the greatest agony with a sort of exaggerated
| tetanus, the skin drawn tense and the ewes
| protruding from the head. All ordinary rem
| edies fail to restore one in these attacks
| Vegetation also seems to shun the devil
| plant and whole tracts of meadow are
| now lying scorched and dead from the IN
| sidious approach Of this unknown growth.
| Under the microscope the leaves exhibit in
! Vulnerable little mouths, or suckers of such
| tenacity as to sting the hand on which the
| leaf is laid, leaving dull, red mark like the
| wound of a scorpion. The people of the vi
| cinity say this plant is the forerunner of dis
| aster 1t having made previous Appearances
| just before the outbreak of
| the war and on each occasion of
| the coming of yellow fever An effort has
! been made to burn it out, but protected nv
| its singular dew, this has failed The dead
| bodies of cattle which have died of eating in