Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1894-03-24
NOTES AND COMMENTS.

TIE Hartford Journal sagely re-
marks make the dullest man in the
world suspicious and he soon becomes
remarkably sharp"
POWERFUL and large as are the
greatest of modern United States war
ships, they IRE all of low stature COM
pared with the towering structures Of
sixty or seventy years ago. The U.
8. 8. Pennsylvania, built about 1928,
and supposed ut the time to be one
Of the largest war ships ever launched,
was 22O feet long and So feet broad.
She carried 22O guns, and lowered
aloft with five decks. Her compile
ment of men was 1,4OO.
MINING engineers in the fur West
complain that, even where the mines
have not all closed, there Is little or
nothing for men of their profession to
do. IL Is the constant opening Of
new work that provides employment
for the mining engineer, and there
are parts of the West where much
ore Is still coming from the mines,
but where the mining engineers are
either preparing to depart or waiting
idle and almost in despair for a re-
turn Of prosperity.
AMERICAN workingmen are more
lightly shod on the average than
those of Europe, and nothing excites
more scorn and establishment in this
country than the heavy boots and
shoes brought over by immigrants.
Shoes thickly studded with hob-nails
last perhaps three times as long as
the lighter footgear, but the Ameri-
can workingman would feel himself
clogged and hampered by such foot
weights. The immigrant quickly
learns that with such u handicap he
cannot compete with the spry Ameri.
can, and he adopts the footwear OF
the country perhaps before his heavy
imported boots are worn out.
ABOUT year ago the largest sand
stone monolith of which there Is any
record in the world was quarricd near
Ashland, Wis. The stone Is 115 feet
long. and was intended for exhibition
at the Worlds Fair, but the cost of
putting 1t there was found to be 80
great that the project was aban.
doned. 1t was proposed to set IL up
In park ut Chicago, but the neces-
sary funds could not be raised. Prep
arntions IRE now making to take IL to
Antwerp for the coming exposition.
A monster whaleback steamer Is be-
ing built ut Superior, Wis, to carry
II over, and the vessel herself will re-.
main at Antwerp rs ~ part Of the
Wisconsin exhibit there.
SAYS the Philadelphia Record /:
"The ordinary Oolong tea, costing GU
or 10 cents u pound, has capacity
of about 10 half-pint cups to the
pound, while the same amount OF
Ccylon, silver-tipped tea, costing S32,
will supply over 800 hulf-pint cups,
and In addition the beverage Is vastly
superior to that of common brands.
The intrinsic value Of imported teas
rarely exceeds that figure, but in cer-
tain instances, where the tea market
has been cornered, as high rs $17I
for a pound has been paid in London.
Society people have lately declared In
favor Of the expensive teas, and the
dainty 4 o'clock teas IRE no longer
the economical social events OF
yore."
COLD Of unprecedented severity
prevailed in central and southern
Russia during the first week Of thii
year. In some places the tempera.
ture fell to thirty.six degrees below
zero, the cold being intensified by
strong northcrly gales. Many peas.
ants died of cold, between fifty and
sixty so perishing in the southern
province. Five frozen corpses were
discovered in one morning In the out
skirts OF Simferopol, In the Crimea,
Wolves IRE descending on the villages
in large packs, committing great
ravagcs among cattle. The mair
roads were strewn with bodies o.
birds frozen to death in their flight
In many places the winter crops,
which had not been covered Will
snow, were ruined. At the same tim,
st. Petersburg was experiencing
weather Of autumnal mildness.
IT has long been the custom O
ships lying ut tho Brooklyn Nav,
Yard to discharge their powder n
precaution against accident, and tn,
regulations rs to entering man-of
wars powder magazine are of thu
most stringent character. It some
times happens that II single catastro
phe is responsible for extra precau
tons that become permanently i'm
bcddcd in naval regulations, ant
doubtless the destruction of the frig
ate Fulton Mt the Brooklyn Nav.
Yard slXty-siX years ago was respon
siblc for the stringcncy as TO dis
charging powder, The Fulton was
temporary receiving ship, and on
| day while the officers were at Dime
n gunner entered the magazine with
ont proper precautions. The result
was an explosion that blew up tn
ship and killed forty out of 100 per
sons on board.
The most noteworthy features o
the Mldwintcr Fair are by all odd
the county exhibits. They may not
seem as novel to Californians n
handsome vases and other manufac
tured articles, but II they are inspect
ed carefully, says the San Francisco
Chronicle, they will produce an i'm
preston Of profound surprise on TIN
minds of the best informed. No one
for In stance, could enter the Northern
Calf rnia counties building withou