The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-26
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

nave seen sea serpent OF the coast which
had pair of hands projecting from it's body
near the head, and in one hand carried
DOCK and the other a newspaper.
Mason City, Ia. has a blind girl printer,
who learned the boxes in one day. and on the
third day Of her apprenticeship was able to
set stlckful OF type in fifty minutes. hat
was three months ago; now she can keep up
with any compositor IN the office.
Shoemakers' lasts are now turned out by
machinery and in great quantities. The
most skillful shoenakers purchase lasts in
an unfinished state at low prices and finish
them to suit individual customers The fin
ished lasts wholesale now for what seems a
tribe, compared with prices when lasts we're
made only by hand.
Out Of the 100000, 900 of the earth's inhab-
itants the Emperor of China holds sway
over 105,C0)O00 the Queen OF England rules
or protects $4,000 COZ: the Gar OF Russia
Is dictator to 100000; France, in the re-
public, dependencies and spheres of influ-
ence. has 10.OO00OJ sub ects: the Emperor of
Germany, 55,O000O0; the sultan of turkey
1000 OJJ the Emperor of Japan. 40 600 600
and the King OF Spain, -, 0,090-two- thirds
OF the population of the globe under the gov
eminent OF i've rulers.
In one of the big down town buildings
there is a restaurant whose walls and ceiling
are composed entirely of mirrors. says the
New York Sun, The effect is startlin to the
the street or Railways The curtains prevent
MS seeing anything except the ceiling and
upper walls. In these, however, he can see
mlrrored all that the room contains Of
course everything appears inverted and it is
astonishing enough to see a man eating his
soup with his head down and his feet in the
ar Inc sight Is sufficiently novel to attract
crowds at times.
Prof Alexander Graham Bell is spending
these months at his summer place in Nova
Scotia puU9opd in eria If
which Will, no doubt, have important and per-
haIS sensational results says the Chicago
record. His outdoor work is devoted TO ex-
perlmentS in aerial navigation in connec-
tion with Prof Langley. OF the Smithsonian
institution while in his laboratory he is en-
deaVorlng to demonstrate problem to which
he has given great deal of thought and in
which he thoroughly believes 1t is to har-
ness electricity to light, as it has been har-
messed to sound. so that D eople may be able to
see great distance, Just as the telegraph en-
ableS them to write and the teller phone enables
them to speak at a great distance Prof.
Bell firmly believes that il will be DOS
slble some day to see from Washington to
New YORK as easily as one can convey the
sound OF the voice that distance He insists
that the fact has already been demonstrated
anc That 1t only remains to construct the ap-
pdratuS necessary to bring the possibilities of
the discovery into actual and practical use.
This is exceedingly dihicuit-much more diff
hcult than the construction of the telegraph
instrument or the telephone for the reason
that the vibrations Of light are SO much more
rapid than the vibrations of sound. But
Prof. Bell is confident that he will soon be
able TO discover new diaphram sufficiently
sensitive to receive the vibrations of light
and produce the effect necessary to convey
the impressions to the human vision.
Shakespeare makes use of no fewer than
twenty species of British wild animals, says
The Quarterly Review. Ofthese. the badger.
the otter and the water rat arr orce each
employed by name merely as terms OF abuse;
the pOl3cat and hedgehog are also terms of
abuse, but are so far described" as to be
calledresp ectively sinking" and "thorny'';
the dormOuse and ferret are each used once
as adiectives for sleepy" and "herce"; the
shreW gives its name 10 play, but is never
mentioned as an animal: the mole is men
toned twice as being blind; the wildcat once
as sleeping by day" the coney as 'stru g
Cling in the net and dwelling where she is
kindled;' the sqirrel as the res coach
maker and as having already boarded that
year nuts on May day. The rat and the
mouse being only the M. domesticus) re-
Quired no observation" by the poet So that
the above represents the total of Shake
sreare natural history with regard to all but
SIX OF his British Quadrupeds. he poets
only original" references TO the weasel are
plumbers. The bat is mentioned three
times as an actual animal-once wrongly
as migrant, like the swallow, pursuing
summer; once, fanclfullY, as the 'rere-
mouse out Of whose ''leathern' wings l.
tanias elves made Dheir coats: and once
ninety, ere the bat has down his clustered
flight as hiking the hour of Duncan muir
der. The fox Of course affords endless on.
portunities for metaphor and smile, and
Shakespeares description oil it. as the fox of
fable and tradition could not be surpassed.
Not being a beast of the chase, it meets
with no sympathy from the LOet Though
innocent. let him die in that he Is a
fox, by nature proved an enemy to the
flock and again, "A fox when one has
cauRh her, should sure to the slaughter"
while his natural history of the animal is con
hned to folklore, saws and proverbs such as
The fox barks not when he would steal "
When the fox hath once got in his head he'll
soon find means to make his boiy follow"
10 wake wolf is as bad as to smell fox"
There Is not even single epithet in all mis-
references to the fox that assures Us that
Shakespeare ever noticed one at large.
fish inquisitive or in a temper is undoubt.
cdly an absurd idea at first sight; but the alb
surdity lessons on reflection, says the Ma.
tional Review All animals of whose ways
we have intimate knowledge reveal the emo
tons which the fisherman denies to hsh. For |
example, children, lamDs. Young tigers
young lions. young monkeys kittens and
puppy dogs rush at things which attract their |
eyes, and that without thought OF eating |
them; and II they are thwarted or injured IN
the contact they are apt to rush at them /
again in irritation IT, then. we. take il for |
granted that fish are incapable OF curiosity i
and irritation, we are assuming that the |
minds of fish are fundamentally different |
from those OF all living creatures with |
whose natures we are familiar. That when |
one thinks OF it, would be an assurn ntion so |
great as TO tie impossible OF acceptance until |
1t had Teen justified Uy the clearest reason /
ing. No reasoning whatsoever can he offered |
In It's favor, ana some can be offered against |
ii. We have no authority for believing that |
the mental characteristics of fish are differ |
ent from those OF animals generally. We are |
used to believing this; but the usage is unin-
teligent. II probably springs from the sepa. !
ration Of sympathies which comes from our
living in an element other than that OF the
salmon and the trout. If we were amphih. |
ious, we should have a clearer insight into
their ways. and perhaps lind that both fun
ana Indignation lurk, at times under the
saturnine aspect of their visages AS il is
some Of us who have been in The nc
cideutal neighSorhood Of a shark have
had cause to realize that, even as "a hun.
CRY man is an angry man" a hungry
fish. when annoyed in pursuit Of his meal is
angry. too, and not unwilling to risk his skin
in vindication of his appetite and his wrath
Besides. all fishermen. to their sorrow. know
that there are times when salmon and trout |
rise brlskly but not IN earnest" MANY an
eXasperatng hour have all OF US spent with
fish who give our flies frequent poke or a
frequent nlbbe at the tails of them and es
cape untouched" Many time also have
we found them rising the fly. not with their
mou. rs, but with their tails. seeking to lick
them under the SUI ace and to drown them
to all appearance in the spirit in which a cat
plays with mouse. i he analogy between
fish and other creatures in the matter of curI.
osity and gambollng goes even further IL
young of tigers and cats, and dogs and other
pT far a ' a agN- .1~fa 81