The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-15
ITEMS oF INTEREST.

| ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Ramona, the original heroine Of the novel
bearing that name by Helen Hunt Jackson. is
/ statuesque brunette who sells insect powder
in the towns along the Southern Pacific rail-
road.
Salem Mass, was bad place for witches
in the good old time. and now It seems as
though Salem, o., had inherited with its name
some OF its uncanny character. A trial was
heId IN the Methodist church there the other
! day which resulted in the expulsion from the
/ church of several people who maintained that
enc w llllam Culp, memGer Of the church,
IN goOd standing. was wizard, and had be-
! Wltched them. They had their information
from Dr., Hof, witch doctor at Alliance,
| o., who told them that the sudden death Of
some OF their horses. the black milk that
| their cows gave, and sundry other inexplica-
Die mlsfortuneS that befel them, were the re-
SUITS OF the unholy Vaccinations of this same
CuIp' ana that they would be beWltched as
long as Culp lived. The defendants did not
/ appear Tor trial. but the evidence submitted
/ showed conclusiVely that they believed in
cup ghostly powers, and the ecclesiastical
court expelled them from the church. Their
counsel took appeal to the conference.
Japanese lacquer is a ready made product
OF nature, being prepared from the sap of the
lacquer tree, which, when hardened is of
mirror-ltlS smoothness. unaffected by either
acids or hot water. says the New York Even
| ing sun II Is OF great durability, never
| splitting or cracking. The industrial import
ance OF lac luer work is far above its art
value In Japan, where it is employed for an
! lnnnlte variety of uses, even for such ouIeets
| as acid tanks, ship keels and photogra pnic
! tables, not to speak Of the objects OF dOmes-
| TIC use. ne unique superiority of japanese
! lacquer work is due not only to the special
| merit OF the material, but also to the care and
| SKIN shown 6v the japanese in the munipula-
ulatlon OF the material. The art lacquer
| work OF Japan is essentially individual 1t
| Is not merely brio a-brac There is as wide
| distinction between the ordinary lacquer
| tray or caOlnet OF commerce and the exquisite
| lacS by the great Japanese artists as between
street placard and a canvas OF Raphael.
Each OF the great masters Of lacquer created
style OF his own and founded a school, of
winch the traditions were kept alive by his
| successors for centuries.
In course of time " said George E. Rein
hardt OF Brooklyn, who Is in the west on cleo
trical business, to a Globe Democrat man,
| there VIII be less fatalities from electric
shoces than now The everyday passenger,
VINO steps on an electric wire that is charged
is certain to suffer severely, and is not at all
unlikely TO be killed, especially ii his shoes
are rendered good conductors by being wet.
II Hnemen were as susceptible to electric
SHOCKS as inexperienced people the mortality
among them would be terrible. It's certain
| however, tnat after time man who works
among electric wires gets used to shocks and
can stand as much as would kill some peoDle
l never knew how it was that lecturers and
demonstrators could live after receiving
house full of people, until happened to be in
a large power station a month ago. The men
nave orders not to do certain class of clean
ing until the dynamOs have closed down oW-
ing 10 the great danger. After while they
get careless. and frequently anticipate the
closing down whistle. On the occasion l re-
fer 10, the man who had done this slipped and
raining across Two exposed wires received a
shock which instantly stifened him out. and
gave him the appearance OF a dead man The
current was shut OF and the limp body laid
pnueh nr No aAo I -l-,
were anticipated by his fellow-Workmen He
came TO IN half an hour, and, although he
Malhed very unsteadilv, learned on inquiry
tnat ne was at MS post IN good time the fol-
lowing morning. If he had been a novice he
would not have lived till the current was cut
or"
There visited New York recently an ennis
sarY from the state department, whose mis-
sion was the investigation OF what is diplo-
matlcaIly known as leak The dispatches
received by the government are as Is well
known, sent in cipher. This cipher is guarded
with secrecy meant to be awful but il was
suspected that some unauthorized person had
obtained clew to it. This suspicion was suf-
hclent to start rigid Investigation and the
trail led to New York. All facts bearing on
theSe matters are carefully hidden, and the
upShot OF the New York visitors trip was
that there did exist a suspicion. but no Ger.
tatnty When he got back 10 Washington
there was change in one Of the. codes. So
quietly was the business MANAGED that not a
soul in the state department. with three ex
ceptlons, knew what was afoCt This incident.
related by the Washington Pos,
ment is with the codes. One of them is STYLED
the 'sphynx"-it is so guarded The slight
est reason to believe that code clel k NAV be
responsible for leak results in his suspen-
sion. However, our government has been far
more successful than some foreign ones in
protecting its cyphers. The sphinx" was
devised by New Yorker now in the state
department, and is as susceptible to changes
as the ombination lock Of a safe. Hundreds
OF messages have been sent in 1t, and IL has
nevor leaked. The Hawaiian correspondence
with Willis Is carried on entirely in this
cipher, and IL Is never employed except upon
urgent occasions. while those intrinsic with
the mysteries OF 1t must be absolutely above
suspicion: yet even should there be a leak
the altera ton Of KEY letter would destroy
every clew to an outsider The Brazilian cor
rcspondence is Uot written in this mysterious
code Indeed, 1t is doubtful il the admins
tration would consent to its use on an extern
sive scale, as the most expert in It's rnysteries
must spend an hour or so In the decipherinp
OF single paragraph.
The rule Of the road in old England has al
ways been Keep TO the left. SAYS the Ro.
chester Democrat. in New England. almost
as soon as 1t was settled the rule of the road
came to be Keep to the right" which is now
the universal practice IN this country. TIE
change could hardly have been merely arbi.
trary. English colonists would not have taken
the trouble to break themselves of the haDit
That had become instructive except for some
EOOu reason. AS TO what that reason was
there recently has been considerable news.
paper discussion without any particular val
liable outcome That it is to be found in
the new environment seems apparent. ] hat
IL was the difference between old England's
roads and New England's roads is likely
driver in order TO have the free use of his
right arm must sit to the right
| He has his right fore hub under his
eye, while he cannot see his left fore huh
and, therefore can drive more safely if Oh.
| jects with which his wheels must not collide
and which must be passed closely are kent on
his right, on the broad, level ,and crowded
| highways Of old England these 90. g is were
most frequently the wheels of the other We
hicles going in the opposite directions. To
keep the contiguous and opposed hubs under
his eve the driver naturally kept to the left.
ON the narrow woodDaths of New England
the objects were the Stumps, trees. rocks and
holes on either SIDE. A man might drive for
miles on one Of those roads without meeting
other vehicles. He did not have to take
them into consideration. In ord er to avoid
the distractions on one side of the narrow
road he must drive constantly close to the
instructions on the other side He would
naturally drive close to the side that he could
most readily see-the ii sht In
the rare event OF meeting another vehicle he
must pull of the narrow road altogether The
reason for keeping to to the right would now
be stronger than ever. He would not he
likely to follow the old rule phil across the
road and plunge his unseen left hubs into nm
known dangers. That is the most probahIe
explanation of the American RUE OF tbe road