The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-02
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


/ ent issue OF postage stamps with a new series
] less ugly and more in keeping with the ma
ti0n IS artistic taste. 1t is hoped than the old.
The rsScut stamps date from the time when
I Leon say was minister 81 finance in the re-
publtc, and are his creation On3 q tbs couz,
mittee appointed 20 consider designs for the
new series is II. Arthur Marry who has
/ collection Of postage stamps second In com
/ pleteness only to the cars
/ Some interesting experiments in military
J cycling have just been made in Moscow, I'M
/ der the direction OF the commander Of the
/ forces OF the Moscow district. Small parties
: consisting Of an ofdcer and three or four men
/ in full marching order with rifles, etc, set
/ out simultaneously from Vladimir and Garo-
I slavl to Moscow and from Moscow TO Nladi-
! mir. The Vladimir route OF 1904 miles was
done with q full nights rest and frequent
! stoppaEes the best time Of these separate
/ journeys being "a hours, and the longest 422
/ hours OF which only 10 were spent In actual
riding, The YarOSlavl route Of 176bs miles
was done in A hours. Including two fun
| nights rest Of l6 hours and p hours actual
! riding. These experiments are to be fol
/ lowed by cycle races for the soldiers under
/ going obligatory training in cycling, and for
] amateur riders Of all ranks, money prizes
/ being offered for the men and medallOns for
! the officers who compete. In considering the
/ times given the state OF the roads in Russia
| must he taken into account, together with the
/ intense summer heat
Talking about intelligence of horses, - said
Manager Jarard of THE Midnight Alarm"
/ Company to a Washington Post writer 1.-The
two horses we use in the ire scene are above
! the average. They are of Kentucky stock
/ and have had practical experience in run
ming to fires, having been for several years in
| the New York fire department service. They
are known as Dick and Ned, are as gentle and
/ playful as kittens, but know their cue as well
as any of the actors in the cast Last summer
/ an incident occurred which shows how nearly
( human is their understanding We were
playing in DeS Moines To-, and just before
the close of the fourth act when the horses
were to rush to the engine, the sound Of the
alarm gong in neighboring engine house
was heard Dick started for his place, but
his attendant quickly grabbed and held him,
while Ned looked around and remained as
quiet as a statue. Before the alarm had
ceased the mimic alarm sounded and both an
imals rushed to their positions Both had
been In the regular service and but for the
momentary break by one they had sufficient
sagacity to determine their stage cue from a
bona tide alarm"
The queer places chosen by birds for build
ing their nests and rearing their young, says
the Pittsburg Commercial have caused com
ment in many of the natural histories In use,
but out OF them all, there is probably no more
remarkable instance of the misguided efforts
of the bird quoted than was exhibited in the
Western New York and Pennsylvania yards
here. A Western New York and Peunsylva-
MIA freight train came down from Olean Tues
day with load of empty cars, among them an
Allegheny Valley railroad car, No. 2979,
one OF the car inspectors was passing the car,
when he noticed sparrow hutterlng about
the drawhead. Its evident distress caused
him to examine the car closely, and in the
inside of the neck OF the drawhead he found
a small hole in the iron casing, and in this q
birds nest containing four eggs The nest
was so situated that the bird could only
reach 1t when the drawheGd was drawn 10 its
entire length and how the bird had man
aged to build Its neat and lay its eggs under
the conditions is still mystery. If the car
had been sidetracked az Olean long enough to
! n hr1ilh4Dn IND mr. 81
| have followed the train or been brought here
| with IL from Olean.
A wonderful piscatorial curiosity, long
since forgotten by all except those whose
| business IL is to keep record of such things
out of the ordinary In nature, science and art,
was caught In Cape Fear river, near Fort St.
Johnson, N. c., away back in the '40's, and
/ presented to Prof StlliTnan, one Of Americas
greatest naturalists, says the st. Louis Re
| public. This raFa pisces was nothing more
or less at could scarcely be more Of mon
| strosity) than double cat fish-two perfect
living Ash joined breast to breast, much In the
same manner that Chang and Eng were.
| When the professor made an incision pre-
paratory to removing the entrals OF the spe-
ciEnens so that they could be properly pre-
served, he found that there was no connec-
J ton whatever between the viscera of the two
fishes, but that the connecting integument
was hollow, so that flexible rubber tube
could be passed readily from the body of one
into that OF the other. Exactly in the middle
I OF THIS connecting lQtegQment al the point
| where the skin of the one left of and the
| other began, there was dark colored streak
| about the sixteenth OF an inch in width which
gave the queerly united pair the appearance
| OF having been eemented together AS one
| OF them had TO continually swim on his back
and gather his food in that position he was
| much smaller than the other-the natural re-
| suit Of his mode of living.
Science contains an interesting account of
the Tell-el-Amarna tablets, from the pen OF
| no IJor Of
| Kent These tablets, 800 in number, were
| discovered by a fellah woman in 1887 among
| the ruins Of the palace Of AmenophiS ",
| known as Khu-en-Aten, between MiSsieh and
| Assault, about $50 miles south of Cairo. They
| have been found TO contain political CORES
| pondence OF the very greatest interest dating
| from some 3,370 years back. Many are from
| Palestine, written by princes of the Amorites
! Phmniclans, PhtItSttnes, etc, the burden of
| almost all being: Send, pray thee, chariots
and men to Keep the city of the King my
Lord" Among the enemies against whom
| help is thus invoked are the Abiri, easily re-
| Cognized as the Hebrews. The date fixes that
OF the Bible Il. Kings, vi II as accurate
Many names occur which are familiar in
| scripture as, for example, Japhia, one of the
kings killed by Joshua Josh. K. 81; AdOnize-
dek, King Of Jerusalem ditto; and Jabin
! King OF Hazor Josh. XII. Very pathetic are
| the letters OF 2ibadda, the brave and warlike
/ King OF Gebel, whose entreaties for aida are
| observed to grow gradually less obsequious
| and more businesslike as his enemies pre-
| his wife and children, whom he was powerless
/ to protect. But the greatness of Egypt was
| waning under the nineteenth dynasty; enc
mics were pressing her at home, and the
| chariots and the horsemen went not forth.
The remains of the old capital of Siam
| Ayuthia, which was taken and destroyed by
| the Burmese in 100, are on the banks of the
| Menam, about 100 miles above Bangkok. says
/ the New York Tribune. Ayuthia which
| from the glowing description Of writer's of
| the seventeenth century, appears to
| have been one of the richest and most popu-
| lous cities in the farther India was founded
| in 1850 by prince who migrated from the
| north. Joest Schouter, q Dutchman who
| lived in Ayuthia for eight years just two cen
| turtles and half ago, wearied of telling the
| great wealth and commerce Of this ancient
| capital of Siam. He described the place as
| being laid out with several broad streets in
| tersected by numerous canals and possess
| ing hundreds OF large and splendid temples
| 1t measured eight or nine miles in clrcurnter-
| once exclusive Of suburbs, and was
| protected by thick stone wall
| which, IN the estimation OF
I the Dutchman, made It impregnable That
| this was not the case was proved in 1768
| when the Burmans after a two years siege
! took the town and destroyed it. Deluges OF
rain, followed by blazing heat. have reduced
once large and magnificent city to a dismal
| bowling waste. The view from a remaining
| tower is dreary enough Where once were
| canals crowded with shipping and streets