The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-11-05
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The wOodpecker is an excellent carpen-
ter. The hole he bores in a tree is as ex-
pair OF cOmpaSseS.
The cuckoo does not build nest. but
deposits its solitary esq in the nest of
cared for by the deluded hosts.
Lord Lorne, the least important" of
the queen 5 SOns-In-laW, is making his way
as a regular writer for LonuOn journals,
good local government beng one Of his
SpeCialtleS.
The location of the earthly paradise, or
Garden or Edens is stn a mauer OF dis
pLte among OrIentalIStS and Scriptural
scholars OF the highest reputation, says
the 81. Louis Republic. some have en-
deaNOred TO locate it by the fruits and
mineral productions named III the biblical
descriptions as they appear in the second
chapter OF Genesis; Others by the rivers
mentioned in verses Il TO II of the above
mentioned chapter. The weight OF investi-
SaLlon ana tradition incline to an agree
ment that the ugris and the Euphrates
OF nodern geography are the third and
fourth rivers mentioned in the biblical
description Of the garden. Those. who
agree so far differ widely as to what
rivers should now be regarded as the an
Gent PISon and Gihon The BuddhistiC
scholars. although they reject our Bible
N the greater part, incline TO the opinion
that the Plson Is the sacred Ganges, and
mat the Gihon is none other than the
Nile. AS to the last it is altogether prob
able that they are correct on that point
because the biblical account plainly says
Ethiopia" Some investigators affirm that
Eden was a spot of comparatively small
area located on the table lands of what
rs now Armenia. from which rises the
Ilgris and the Euphrates. A few scholars
of distinction argue that the Adamic Par
adlse was located in Africa, in the vicinity
or the Mountains of the Moon Still an
other school of Orientalists locate the cell
ebrated garden in the vicinity of the an
Gent city of Babylon. You will. notice,
however, that none of these theorists
have been able to get the four rivers
mentioned in the biblical account prop
erly located; neither have they found
place where one great river separate
into four heads" This being the case it is
| hardly necessary to add that the exact
locauon OF Eden is a mystery that will
| probably never. be solved
Our English swan says the Gentlemen's
Magazine, has long become a private
! possession, and one that in old times was
| Prior of Spalding or the Abbot of Peters
! borough, rivaled noble Earls, Hunting
| don or Leicester or Essex, in the goodly
| hocks which they maintained upon the
| And in the west they were preserved with
| the same jealous care. Richard Ill just
| before his reign closed at the battles Of
| Bosworth, directed commission Ito al
! maners Shireffes, eschetours, baillieffes
! constables, sWannederdes, and al having
! the Rule Of freshe RIVERS and waters in
! Somersetshire, especially in the freshe
! waters or RIVERS of Merkmore, Cotmore,
| etc, that the king hath given al Swannes
!
| the Marques Dorset and Sir Giles Daw-
| beney move in the HINGES handles by rea-
| son of their forfaietures, to my lord prive
| scale. The swan marks scratched upon
! the bills, by which wealthy owners dis
! tngushed their birds, form a study almost
! as curious as that of heraldry. Several
| manuscript volumes. from the fourteenth
| century down to the seventeenth, are
| preserved in the British museum, record
! ing the marks of the various owners Of
| all ranks. up to the king and queen. The
| swan with two neCks, which may be seen
! now and again on the sign of a riverside
| hosiery, is probably the swan with two
| necks, the special mark of the Nitners'
! Company. The swans of the Duke Of
| Suffolk were marked sometimes with one
! nick OF crescent form, sometimes with
/ five parallel lines set in a square. like
! gridron; while the Duke of Clareuces
! had two parallel lines, and the Duke of
/ Norfolk s had certain devices like keys.
! The kings swans We're distinguished
! sometimes by a rudely drawn crown. as
! the proper mark of royalty, sometimes by
pair OF swords for the Duchy of Ian
! caster.
Peas and beans are very important
plants in folk-lo4e g, and there are many SUI
| perSutiOns connected with them, says
| the Pittsburg Dispatch. Peas were tavo-
! rite instruments for diVinatlOn. A pea
! pod with nine peas was equal to a wish
| bone when placed above the door. In
! Northumberland it is accounted gener-
| ally lucky to find nine peas in pod, or
| kid. In Mecklenburg, Germany, 1t is be-
'ieVed that peas must be SOWn early on
! W buneSudy or lnNSU2N, or the DlrQS Will
| carry them of. II they are fed to hens
J it is said the fowls will lay well. They
/ must not, however, be eaten during the
! Christmas holidays, nor until after the
| twelfth day. Beans were mysterious in
| antiquity. Pliny says they contain the
souls of the dead. The Romans used
/ them in religious ceremonies. They were
/ used in Greece as ballots, and Pythagoras
/ desired his disciples not to love beans"
/ that is, not to interfere with politics.
/ you are no politician. Ovid prescribes
! beans to expel evil spirits. Rise at mid
night and go barefooted, swapping your
| fingers as a preventive against ghosts,
! wash your hands in spring water. and
! put nine black beans in your mouth and
! walk out strewing the beans behind you,
/ saying as each one Is cast, With these
! beans l ransom myself and nine spirits
| of ancestors Turn and gather the beans,
| wash again, enter your house, and clash
! cymbals or house pans, and entreat the
! spirits to quit your home. Repeat nine
/ times the words, AVaunt We, ancestral
( manesn This will insure the absence
! OF spirits for year. There is a popular
notion in England that lunacy is particu-
larly prevalent during the flourshing of
the bean plant. In England, too, it is i'll
/ luck to grow parsley "A parsley field
viii bring man to his saddle and a wo-
man TO her grave Another saying cur
rent in Surrey is: Where parsley's grown
in the garden, there will be death before
! the years out gardener at South
ampton not long ago refused to sow
! parsley seed, and a Devonshire woman
attributed the loss of one of her children
to the transplGntng of a parsley bed Ii
is also known as the devils plant, and
he is said to control its growth
Russia possesses $4,000 mobiles. without
counting the 100000 whose titles are NOT
hereditary, says the Leisure Hour. Among
the Russian nobility there are many Of
foreign origin. The Russian social code
recognizes four categories or estates $50
slOvia), that is to say. mobiles, priests
town jewellers and peasants. The Character
of their employment distinguishes these
classes from one another. Each is he
pendent on the car for all its privileges
and the emperor has absolute power to
change the condition OF his subjects from
a high TO a low estate. None of these
classes possesses either a historical
political or a social Individuality The
Russian aristOcracy is deprived Of poIfti
cal importance, and 1t cannot boast Of
such chivalrOus qualities as distinellisb
the French mobiles For the present II
lacks sufficient good sense or education 10
play any part in public life Russian
aristocrats all desire to be considered ms
dlrect descendants Of the Boyars, merely
because II Is pleasant to be such and
thus get'a position of social superioritv
Their ambition goes no higher The Boy
ars, like the fudal western landowners
are the descendants Of the men, who. Of
o'd, composed the Russian princes arnV
! j ne members OF the Russian q ris ioora ~,