The morning news., 1894-08-30
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


Evidence of the fact that the American peo
pie have a fOndness for sweets" is found in
the statement from the treasury department
that the total consumption Of sugar in the
| United states for the fiscal year ending June
I 30, 1894. was 45432)9 500 pounds.
The Oldest Catholic church in New England
! is at Damarlscotta Mills, Me, and was built
more than 100 years ago. 1t is stin occupied
/ Tor religious services one Sunday in ca b
I month. The interior is said to be decorated
and furnished like drawingrOom.
1t is generally supposed that the designa
tion Of the streets in Washington by numbers
and letters makes perfectly clear in what
part OF the city any given address an be
found. Yet the Baltimore Suns CORR 5 lond.
ent claims that Washington is beginning tC
be as badly on as London in respect OF dupli
cate street names. He saws that Washington
has hve King streets or places eight Madison
streets or alleys, seven thoroug ghfares named
after Grant. six after Lincoln, six after q k
son, six after Washington. i've after Pierce
and many duplicates of small streets named
after residents Of local note. besides six Pros
poets, eight Pleasant thoroughfareS and six
T. streets or alleys and about 100 duplicates
OF other names fair or foul.
A weather plant or vegetable barome.
ter" is just now being made the subject Of a
scientific investigation by both the Vienna
Bureau OF Horticulture and the British Board
or Agriculture, says the ST. Louis Reput lie
IN common parlance 1t Is known as "Pater-
noSter Cheese in Great Britain and as Der
Weightet Ulmch" by the Austrians It is
SAID TO Indicate METEOROLOGICAL changes by
the rise and fall Of its leaves and shoots its
forecasts todicial or otherwise) covering a
peFlOu OF from forty y-etght hours tot three
days thus beating anything ever attempted
DY our To- al Missouri forecastsrs acting in
conjunction with the United states signal
service. This vegetable barometer the
scientific name of which is AbrdS peregrinus.
is said to be absolutely lnfaliiOle. The a0rus
Is species OF legumInous plant, said to be
quite common in India, Turkey and other
warm countries. II 1t can stand the climate
II Is altogether probable that 1t will be intro
duced into this country.
The Mexican women are smaller than an
average American woman, and are usually
very pretty, says the Pittsburg Dispatch.
1helr eyes are their Distinguishing feature.
Ihey are extremely expressive. 1t is under
stoou mere That they can taIk with them. By
an almost imperceptiple alteration of the
muscles above and below their orbs Of vision
the expression OF their faces undergoes a
complete change. Their features are small
and regular their skin Opaque so that a rush
OF the blood to the face does not change the
complex1on-thati is to say they do not blush
but whether or not this popularity NAV be
attributed to qualities in the cuticle, or to
lack OF artificial means adapted to cleanli-
ness Is debatable. In form and motion ma
ture. on her behalf, has added grace to sym
merry, but limited her perfections in this re-
gard to but a few years. She natures at the
age of 13 or il. is seen at her best at from l6
to H. at 20 she begins 10 fade, and at %
or "A she Is old. The word old means much
to her
The Annales d'Hygiene Publique recently
published an interesting article on the loss
Of life caused by the wars in which France
has teen engaged in the last century. At the
beginning of the revolution the standing
army numbered about 10000 men. In the
course of the year 1898 the footing was in
creased to l,3S0,G0) of whom about l,2J0,O0O
marched off to the various battlehelds. In
l19o there was hardly one third of this legion
alive. Ten years later that is after the wars
IN Belgium, along the Rhine, in Egypt and
the Nendee, there were again 677. .5SS soldiers
in the French army. In the period between
LEGO and 1878 the wars Of the consulate and
the empire cost the country. according to
liners, 2OOO.00U men, and according to Charles
Richet, 3U00. 900 The years of the restoration
ana OF the July government were compare
lively peaceful for France. Under the Second
empire, France had again heavy losses by the
Crlmean war, the Italian campaign the cam
palgns IN China and Mexico, and, finally IN
the tranco-Prussian war of 1S10'7I In the
Oriental campaign of 1854 to 1853 81, ,6l5 of the
3OgCOl soldiers who took part in 1t were
buried in foreign LANDS, The Italian cam
paign cost the country lO2OO men and / (0l
of the 5000 sent to China in 1860 never re-
turned. There are no trustworthy reports as
TO the losses in Mexico, but in the Franco
PruSStan war, 1894 900 Erenchmen were killed
and l43, 600 wounded.
~ 10 lOI B6uSIaIly known UQdJ the french
still retain two little pieces of German soil
one in Alsace itself and the other in Baden
sa,-S the Pitts burg Dispatch The monument
which Napoleon erected in 1900 IN honor OF
Gen: Deslax, who fell at Mar ngo stands in a
small garden near the bridge of hoats over
the Rhine at Kehl. Desiax had defended the
bridge with great bravery against the Aus
trlanS. The mOnumt 1t and garden were de-
clared by the peace of Frankfort to be
French property, and they so remain until
this DAY. TIL eleven years ago this little
piece OF French soil regularly had a French
seteran as sentinel, who lived in a little house
IN The well-kept grounds but at that time
Lne German government offered to take
cnaFge OF this piece of France. and the
@ @oleI was accepted by the French govern
ment The place is now prettlly Land ont
and is guarded by d sentinel from the oaTri
son at StraSDurg The 2ropertv of the French
republic in the duchy OF Baden lies in the
parish of Achern, which has station on the
Baden street railway. II is the sits of the
Turenne monument, granite oLelIol- with a
medallion and inscription. The land on -rhich
the monument stands has been French prun-
erty since 1878 till the present day. and it is
still guarded by French military pensioner,
who lives upon the spot. At the beginning of
tranco-German war in 1870 party of Baden
nre-eaters proposed to reclaim this small
piece of land but the Baden government,
with chivalrous international loyal y, put a
stop to the attempt
SOLITARY confinement in a dungeon cell has
always been considered as the severest of
the corrective measures resorted TO in penal
institutions, but it has been improved upon -
remarked Abner V. Chadwick of Hartford
Conn, to the New York Advertiser. Public
sentiment became so strong several years
ago in the state of Illinois against the dark
cell that the legislature took hand and
abolished the institution. Some means Of
subduing the refractory spirit of convicts
who would not work was necessary, and as
whipping was abolished the warden at Joliet
prison evolved the most refined and effective
form Cf torture yet discovered. The dungeon
was supplanted by what is known as the
white cells. They are located in a de-
ia he'd building in portion of the
inclosure far distant from the work
shop. The walls of the cells are Of
great thickness, the silence of the tomb
prevails. They are lighted from above, but
no glimpse of the sky can be obtained, and
the walls floor and ceiling are painted a glar-
ing white. Even the narrow board, the only
piece of furniture IN the narrow cell, upon
which the prisoner is permitted TO sleep out
side of working hours. is painted white Dur
ing the hours when the other convicts are at
work the man in the solitary is handcuffed to
the door Of his cell his hands being chained
at an easy and natural elevation. There is
not speck OF color to relieve the steady
glowing white with which he is surrounded
The effect is terrible when taken in connec
tion with the deathlike silence, Within an
hour the brain Of the prisoner begins to
swirl, and he becomes deathly sick. Few men
have ever Ueen able to stand the white cell
with its maddenlng, monotonons. unrelieved
glare for single dav. before they begin to