The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-09
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

DR.. r. Baynes of Rockland, Me. is 90
yeas old. but has good teeth and eyesight,
uses neither liquors. tobacco. tea, nor coffee.
and sleeps in an iron chair for the sake Of its
magnetic value.
An ingenious Pittsburger has devls a
clothes wringer which is operated by cleo
tricity. 1t works automatically, and when
the last piece is squeezed out bell rings and
the washtuo is turned over and emptied.
American interest naturally attaches to the
japanese navy from the fact that her first
armed ship of modern design was an Ameri-
can vessel and her first admiral was an
American ofncer The vessel was the ram
Stonewall. which was captured from the con
federates while at Havana. and in 1865 was
sold to japan and taken to Yokohama by
way OF the Straits OF Magellan, in charge OF
Capt. Brown. U. :. n. The first japanese
admiral was Walter Grinnell who was ap-
pointed TO that once while an ensign IN the
United States navy stationed at Hiago.
That of the sea otter is of all furs the most
valuable, as high as 81 100 having been paid
for single skin. At the latest London fur
sale 81. go was paid, the lower price teing due
10 poorer quality, as the average advance in
price this year has been aOout 10 per cent.
This seems an extremely large sum TO pay
Tor skin not more .han two yards long by
three-quarters OF yard wide. Russians,
however. consider that 20 is not an extraor-
binary price to pay for a piece sufficiently
large to make a coat collar, for which the
skin OF the sea otter IS used, as it is supposed
TO have the property of preventing the breath
from freezing
Most Americans who travel in Europe be-
come indignant when they see women work
ing as farm hands. But Rabbi Joseph Kraus.
kopt OF Philadelphia, now in Germany. says:
Such farm work for women is neither de
grading nor too taxing. They have pledged
TO become helpmates to their husbands, and
they regard it their duty to lessen the labors
OF their fathers, and, being physically able to
40 thelr snare, they regard IL wrong to permit
the stronger sex to slave themselves to death
while they are idling their time away at
nome, Judging from their happy and healthy
looks they seem to Re none the worse for
taking their places alongside the men folk for
tne purpose OF honestly earning their bread.
Had we little more practical good sense and
less senttmentahty among our women at
| nome many woman S life might be happier
today, happier for being more useful, and
many mans life would be spared the neces-
Slty OF Shaving itself to death to indulge a
wires or daughters idleness and luXurles."
E, T. Simcox, in his Primitive Civilization.
says that the two occupations in China are
learning and agriculture The standard of
comfort for the laboring masses is fixed by
that OF the smallest cultiVatOrS, who form
the largest section of the population Pow
| erty never involves actual starvation, except
! IN times OF famine. 1t means having to eat
! PLAIN rice. The average man in China proba-
| Oily gets enough, Such as 1t IS, IN ordinary
! times. The farms are small from half an
! acre to four and half acres: the estimate is
| that one acre viii support twelve persons in
! abundance. Wages are very low. A recent
! Chinese writer states that the average earn
| lngs Of workmen are 20 cents a day, and that
! half of this is enough to support a family OF
| five. after Chinese fashion. The new DenaI
| code fixes the value Of labor impressed into
! the public service at Il cents a day. But
| these are minimum rates. In cities carpen-
! ters and masons get 80 cents a day without
| 1ood; servants, 81 a month without food;
| farm hands, $3.50 a year without food
! clerks and accountants $40 to $50 per month
! without food. A soldiers pay IS S. a month
| with board, but half of this Is paid in rice In
| some OF the cities common laborers will work
! for cents a day
Among the Arabs a curious custom
prevails at all weddings. After various
| ceremonies the bridegroom is led in the
! evening into large, dimly lighted room.
| Here, huddled on the floor on one side he
! finds the female relatives and friends of the
! bride, all OF the same hight and size all wear
! ing precisely similar clothing and closely
! yelled. One OF these is the bride, and it falls
! upon him to find out which it is. If he has
! been wise he has britel some of the specUa-
! tors to give him sign TO guide him, but If
| not he attempts TO seize the yelled figure
| whom he suspects to be his bride. If posi-.
! BILE she slips from his grasp and runs away
! with him in hot pursuit. An exciting chase
| follows, until hes succeeds in catching her.
| when he tears the veil from her face. If it
! turns out that he has chosen correctly and
I /
not. he must try again, after the captured
girl has had time to arrange her diSordered
dress and take her place once more among
her companions. Again he makes a selection
and, after another long chase, succeeds in
unwilling a second maiden, possibly only TO
hnd he has caught the same girl again
Many hours are consumed in this way and it
is often daylight before the unlucky bride
groom secures his bride.
The remarks in reference to Mr.. Justine
Days sarcastic allusion to the sanitary oath
will render of public interest the fact that the
form of oath when the witness is sworn in En-
glish courts of justice varies according to the
religion or the country of the witness. saws
the Westminster Gazette. Thus Christians
are sworn on the New Testament Jews on
the Old Testament. Mohammedans on the
Koran, and persons of other religions accord
ing to the form prescribed for that purpose
by the religion they profess. To take an eX-
IRENE instance, the following is given in one
reported case as the form OF swearing a
Chinese. On entering the witness 'tox the
witness Immediately knelt down, and, u china
saucer having been placed in his hand he
struck it against the brass rail in front of the
witness box ard broke it. The crler of
the court then by direction of the in
terpreter, administered the oath in these
words which were translated by the interpre-
ter into the Chinese language: You shall
tell the truth and the whole truth; the saucer
is cracked, and if you do not tell the truth
your soul will be cracked like the saucer -
1t is provided by statute passed so far back
as 1887 that oathS in courts of Justice NAV be
administered in such form and in such cere,
monies as the person taking them may de-
clare to be binding. No one, accordingly can
be compelled to kiss the book if he declares
another form of oath to be binding on his
conscience. In connection with the Chinese
oath story is told of the representative Of
the middle kingdom, who once appeared to
give evidence at Bow street. He was politely
consulted as to the method in which be would
prefer to be sworn. Oh, said he with a
breadth OF outlook not common in Sir John
Bridges court kill i'm cock break I'M
plate, smell i'm book, all samey!"
The division of the year into 9651l davs
comes TO us from the Egyptians, says Har-
pers Weekly So far as history reaches back
into the darkness of the early ages we are led
TO believe that the dusky brown people nv
the banks OF the Nile were the first to study
the motions OF the sun and stars, and make
them the measure OF time. And some recent
discoveries in Egypt by careful students
seem to show the way in which the early
in the solar year The great temples on the
Nile were built with a long entrance OF
columns leading from he river TO the interior
Shrlne-a kind Of tunnel: sometimes il was
lined with sphinXes or huge granite figures
Its mouth was turned toward certain part
or the heavens where the light OF the setting
sun could enter IL only once a year. 1t was
either at the summer sOlStiCe, when the sun
was tarthest IN the north. or at some
other periodic position of sun or star We
may Imagine the Egyptian astronomer
watching in the inner shrine for the opening
OF the new year. The long line of columns