The morning news., 1894-07-27
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Mrs. John Drew VIII not travel next season.
Her short tour last year was undertaken in
the interest of Sydney Drew. her son, and, it
is said she lost considerable money in the
venture.
One of the most curious statistical records
that has been compiled this century is that
by DR.. Salzmann OF Essling Wurtemburg, on
the average duration of life among physl-
clans He found, on going over the ancient
records OF the kingdom, that in the sixteenth
century the average duration OF life among
that class was but 60 years; in the seven
teenth century. ass: in the eighteenth, 1913,
and at the present time they reach the favor
able average of 567. 1t appears from the
Iootnotes TO the above that this very great
increase in longevity is due to the disap-
pearance OF the black pest, the Introduction
OF vaccination and the great dlmlnUtion IN
the number Of typhus epidemics, three
classes OF diseases which formerly dechmated
the medical practitioners.
There is a contractor in Washington. Levi
Maish, who is waiting for the war depart
ment to pay him IS 000 which he earned very
easily II appe Irs that for long time past
Fort Meyer has teen short of water and
hnallv the department made contract with
MalSh to bore an aTtesian well. The well was
10 row 100 gallons minute of good water,
anu the price was to be 5000 10 his own
ana every body : surprise Malsh struck tre-
mendous flow OF water at depth OF eighty
feet. Its temperature is t0'. and il is thought
TO come from the vein OF some of the Virginia
not springs. The water is said to be very
pure and good, and yet the contractor has not
got the money, the department apparently
earned: S1CO a foot for an artesian well Is a
good price.
Perhaps the most remarkable death from
fear that has ever been placed on record was
that Of the Dutch painter, Pentman, who
lived in the seventeenth century. One day
he entered the anatomical room of a cele-
DfaTR1 Dutch pCllpJn lUfaDt1On
sketching some skulls and skeletons for
picture he was about to paint. He had been
out the night before, and. becoming drowsy,
fell asleep among the CHASTITY specimens, ne
was awakened by a lold noise, and upon
opening his eyes beheld the skulls dancing
upon the shelves and the skeletons suspended
from the ceiling, clashirg their bones in
most threatening manner. In it Of horror,
he threw himself out at the window. but did
not receive the slightest injury from that
source. A few moments later he was in
formed that an earthquake had caused the
COmmotlOn in the dead house, but the eX-
PLANTATION did not quiet his nerves. A few
! hours later he took to his bed and died within
three days OF nervous tremors brought on by
the fright.
Book stealing is said to be practced to such
an extent in New York as to make serious In
| roads into the dealers profits. There is one
man there. however. who has adopted very
successfully device for guarding himself
against losses in this way. In his ledger there
is an account opened with the Last thief,
and whenever a book is mis- sing, it is duly
! charged o this &C, cunt. Then when thief
is caught in the act OF taking a book, he Is
! confronted with this account. and required TO
pay for all the books missing and all the sets
| broken since the last settlement o. the ac-
| count. under pain of being handed over TO an
| OHicer. If The rascal has the money or can
| get 1t. he commonly pays up. glad TO get off
| by any means. II he does not, or cannot, he
! is handed over to the police, and the account
| left to te settled by the next thief that is
caught. 1t is said that this book sellers
methods are so well known to the thieves
now that he rarely loses book. he Crimi
nails have no mind to pay for others steal.
lngs.
In rare old copy OF The Travels Of Sir
John Vaudeville" edition of l597, says a
writer in the St. Louis Republic, I ind the
| following concerning the wonderful people
which he met with in the distant parts Of the
earth, especially in the various islands viii.
! he calls ''yleS y; ''* +. In another yle are
men that have no heads and their mouth is
| between their shoulders and in We same yle
are men with thyr mouth behind on tAyr
| shoulders. And vet in another yle are
| foule men that have the lippes about
! the mouth SO create that when they
sleepe in the some they cover thyr
| face with thyr lippe. And in another Vie are
! wilde men withe cares hanging on tnyr shoCl-
| ders. And in the same Vie men with hanging
| cares and feet like an hors and they runns
| taste and they take wild beasteS and eat
! them. And in another country are men that
! 90 on thyr handles and feete lyke beastes and
! are all rouge. and will leape upon trees like
| cats and apes, and others in the same vie 90
! upon their knees marvaylOsly and have upon
! every tote VII Toes"
| This curious story is from the Critic: "A
| popular American author was asked some
| time ago to write a biographical sketch OF his
| uncle "a man of some professional reputation
! in his day., and to furnish portrait to ac-
| company 1t. lie had no difficulty in prepar-
! pairing the sketch but the portrait bothered
! him. for his relative had been dead for wears
| and only one likeness OF him IA daguerreo
! type) existed and in this the face was so
scratched and blurred as to be unrecognizahle
| But my friend Is a man of resource. Going DIV
| night to the family burrying ground on the
! old homestead, he opened his uncle S grave
raised without trouble the Id of the coffin
| and with the aid of magnesium lamu sue
| Ceeded in taking photograph of the face be-
| fore it crumbed away under exposure to tn a
| air. pOsite photograph was then made
| from this poschumouS portrait and the old
! dlguer eotype TN winch the clothing wa
clearly shown, and likeness was produced
Whlch was recognized at glance by a nonoge-
marian friend of the subject This hiograph-
| lCal sketch, llluStl ated with this rather grew
some picture, has since appeared in popu-
| lar magazine. But the story OF the portrait
has not hitherto been told.
Thomas Stevens of New York. who gained
fame as bicyclist explorer through the re-
motest parts of the Old world. seems to have
! picked up something there besides photo
| graphs and experience. lie was very much
SlruCk with the exploits of the faktrs and
| Yogi OF Ind a ana called mis- camera to his
! alu IN solving the mystery of their marvellous
! dolngs. The faklTs he says. are mere imit9-
| tors and trust to hypnotism and sleight of
| hand to perform their tricks but with the
| Yogi OF whom there are very few even in
India itself, 1t IS not so. lie asserts that thew
possess some extraordinary power over ma.
ture, and the featS which they perform are
real This he proves by exhibiting the
pictures taken by his camera which can
not be trlcked like the human eve His
picture snow man suspended in II o
air with no support, a mango grown from ;,
seed to- full grown plant bearing fruit in less
than ten minutes and many other as marvel
Gus things. Mr.. stevens asserts that not onlv
did he see these things, but that he learned
the secret of their performance. He is a Voc
hlmSeH ana can turn dead stuck of WOOD
into squlrmng serpent at will and do All
such extraordinary things, and he promises
TO tell the world how it is done so that All
who are htted, as only few are TO do them
can equal or excel the Indian Yogi them
selves. II what Mr.. Stevens saws be trle he
has succeeded where many bright men have
failed. Hermann, the great Observation-Disclosures
confeSseS that he has spent hours vyatrbinr,
the Yogi perform their tricks. and trvinig tS
learn how it was done, but that il was bev9nS
him. 'oHu
Most persons Of an observing turn of mind
are aware of the fact that there are several
species of insects that will continue to live
without seeming inconvenience for soma
time after decapitation, says the St. Lopis