The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-24
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

7 UNtNNEtu 20 "a lfltnu OF MS VIM went 10 NllH
telephone for the purpose Of acqusinting the
! central exchange at q distant city that storm
I was approaching and the instrument would
. not be available unsil Il was over. The mo-
ment he put his ear 10 the telephone "A fash
I occurred, and he received a blow OF such Sc
I verify that he was sent across the small
/ chamber against the opposite wall Other
] WlSe-bcyOnd the temporary, but very rude
! shock, which he described as a severe box
! on the ear'-he was unhurt. In this respect
! he was more fortunate than an artilleryman,
/ who while using the telephone in the field
during some recent military maneuyers, was
| struck dead by powerful current Of electric
1ty which passed over the telephone.
A Kansas man, who was recently on train
which was robbed, haswritten a letter to the
| management of the Missouri Kansas and
| Texas railroad. suggesting means of putting
| a stop to such outrages. He says that the
| robbers are badly organized, and are always
| apprehenSive of the results of their work to
| themselves. those guarding the passenger
cars continually calling to the others to hurry
! up the business. Says he: If your company
/ VIII run 2i-inch strip of boiler iron around
| the bodies just below the window OF your cars,
/ put four or i've WlncheSterS in each car, just
| above the windows, in glass covered boxes,
| Just as you do axes and saws marked For
| emergencies, post up notices in each car Of
| ferlng reward, in advance, Of say 500 or $500
| apiece for fresh dead train robbers l think
you will see the meekness and apathy of the
ordinary tO-be-robbed passenger disappear,
! and the American public will take care not
only of itself, but of any stray robber caught
In the act along the line of the Missouri.
| Kansas and Texas"
If an ordinary business man was asked to
state how much Is ,OOO 100 and one Dozen
says the Great Divine, of Denver, he would
likely reply, without hesitation, LIP. He
| might without violating the laws of the coun-
| try, put the figures at 1085 or 1888. A dozen
| is commonly supposed to be twelve single
things. bakers dozen is thirteen. Adozen
OF cotton yarn Is just one hank composed
| of twelve cuts" A dozen fish In some local
| tiles is twenty-six. and dozen of pottery IN
| the wholesale trade may mean two or it may
| mean fifty pieces, not depending on the actual
number OF pieces, but on the size, weight,
| etc, Of the Jugs, bowls plates etc. A prin-
| ter's | 900 is only 800, but il takes /, 200
slaves to make 900 in some sizes that are
trades the terms dozen" hundred" and
| thousand 90 not bear their literal English
meaning, but technical one peculiar to
| each trade, as In stone work, lath, shingles
and cotton yarns This technical perversion
OF plain English extends to most of our
weights and measures. Thus gallon may
| be 23l cubic inches of IL may be 265. In the
| school arithmetics four quarts make gallon,
eight gallons make bushel; but in practice
it takes forty quarts to make bushel of
| corn, beans, etc. This is because only the
| liquid measure quart cup (231 cubic inches to
the GALLON is in use, while the dry measure
gallon contains 265 cubic inches.
We never see everything that is about us,
and no two Of us ever see precisely the same
things, says a writer in the Youths Compan-
Ion. Each sees what his previous training
and his habit of mind have prepared him to
| see. When Mr.. Hudson was in Patagonia he
| fell in with gambler, who told him that
| always after the first few rounds of the game
| he knew some OF the cards as they were dealt;
! he recognized them by q difference so slight
| that another man could not detect it even
| when it was pointed out to him. Mr. Hudson
ls an ornitholOgist. and he says that this same
preternaturally sharp-eyed man was greatly
surprised when he was told that half a dozen
| kinds OF SparrOws were feeding and singing
about the house He had never seen
size. color, shape and actions they
we're all alike, and they all sang and twitered
alike, so far as he had ever noticed. Native
Patagonians, like other savage peoples, have
very keen eyes for certain things. things
which their mode of life have made 1t indis-
pensable that they should notice. In other
words, they are specialists, and, as matter
of course, they excel in their own particular
line. But 1t does not follow that they have
better eyes than are possessed by men Of CIV
iliZed countries Set one of them to find a
reversed So in the middle of printed page
says Mr.. Hudson, and the tears would run
down his brown checks, and he would give up
the search with aching eyeballs But the
proofreader can find the reversed letter in a
few moments, and never strain his eyes in the
least.
Arizona is plentifully sprinkled with the
ruins Of strange habitations. Most of them
are constructed Of concrete or adobe, and the
mystery about them is the identity Of the
| people who designed them. How they could
| be built is not q matter of conjecture, as the
materials are close at hand. But there is one
ruin, although still in good state of preser-
walton, which, according to the San Francis
co Call, is mystery, no matter in what light
it is considered. 1t is in the Huachuoa noun
| tainS, not far from the military reservation,
| in a nOrtheaSterly direction. Nothing is
| known of its origin. and the wonderful part is
| the material of which 1t is constructed. 1t is
about 200 miles from the ocean and surround
ed on all sides by hills of sand and rocks COW
cred with cacti There is no water for miles
except the excuses for rivers that run during
| the rainy season. There is not even the sug-
gestion of water, and yet the house is
| built of seashells laid in a sort of cement
| Where the shells were obtained is a mystery
that may never be solved. 1t does not seem
| possible that the builder of the house would
| carry the material over hundreds of miles of
! desert when there we're plenty of rocks near
| by that would answer the purpose Just as
| we'll even though they were not so unique
The house is built in the shape of the straw
huts of the Papago Indians and is about the
| same size There is room inside for five or
| six persons, but at present nobody occupies
it, except, perhaps, some prospector who uses
| II for temporary shelter in cold weather.
| There are dozen varieties OF shells to be
| found in the walls, and one over the doors is
/ ing will nevoc be known, but there is little
doubt that it is as old as the oldest in the ter
ritory.
We are now informed, says the Toledo
Blade, that the lift" or elevator" the
apparatus which takes us from the ground
floor to the top of the house in few seconds
| Is not modern invention, says a Brussels
| paper. An ingenious contrivance of similar
nature was constructed in the middle of the
seventeenth century in Paris by a man
| named Nelayer, who called his invention a
| flying chair Velayers lift was not merely a
| toy; it became very fashionable with rich
| people on account of its utility. 1t was simply
| chair attached to a rope, which was passed
| over pulley-or something which did duty
| for one-and had weight at its other end to
| counterbalance the chair and the occupant
| It continued in fashion until a mishap oc-
| Cured to the kings daughter at Versailles
On one occasion the machinery failed
| to work when she was half way
up and there she stuck for three
| good hours before she could be rescued
| by her servants, who had to break
| away the wall to release her. Flying
| chairs were not much used at court after
| ward. Some years later M Thornier who
! dahbled in mechanics in his leisure time
| made similar chair which he worked from
! the balcony outside the window He thus es-
capped the danger of being shut up in the
| shaft as the kings daughter was. NJ Thorn
| Ter kept his arrangement secret and had many
| laugh at the expense of his friends who
came to visit him. When they left him he
| would make some excuse for not going down
| stairs with them, but when they reached the
| court yard they were amazed TO find hun
| standing there awaiting them. To their
! questions he would return jesting replies and
! then himself in his chair and ro ~, CT,