The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-20
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

/ ports just presented TO parliament to pos
/ sess no less than 100000 books in its world
FAMED library. They are deposited or
/ length.
According to statistics just issued by this
British and Foreign Bible Society, there
are more than 20O, 10000 copies of the Bible
| N circulation in 80 different languages
| Al the beginning Of this century the Bible
was accessible 20 only One-fifth OF the
world population. while now it may
/ globe.
Gen de Saint-Afars. who is In command
OF one OF the great military districts in
france, enjoys the credit of having inau-
gurated plan which finds much favor in
tne German army, namely. that of permit
ing and even eucOura Eing the soldiers 10
sing when on the march, which until now
has been strictly forbidden. Not only this,
| but he has also arranged that every sol
uler VINO can play upon any OF the smaller
musical instruments. such as the clarionet,
mute, etc, shall be provided with an IN
suument at the cost or the state the gen
erals object being to keep up the spirits of
ms men and alleviate the hardships OF mil
itary service.
st. Ives. historic and many-gabled. has
Just been once more the scene of a very
queer custom. which has survived intact
from the stuart period. In 1915 an eccen-
trio doctor left by Will $500 invested in land,
the income of which was to be annually
distributed hv the rector OF the parish in
the form of Bibles to three boys and three
girls. The provisions of the will were that
the youngsters should cast dice for the BIZ
bles during divine service Up to the pres
ent reign the dice were ratified on the altar
itself. but that has now been discontinued
and they are merely thrown on small
table in the chancel of All Saints church,
whereupon the rector announces from the
pulpit the names of the winners.
In front of the imperial palace at Pc
| kin, says the Illustrated Zeitung, two mas
sive statues of lions of supernatural size.
made entirely of solid gold, have been
| standing since time immemorial. When
| the combined English and French armies
| advanced upon Pekin in 1850 the Chinese
| painted these statues gray, so that the
| Europeans took them for bronze and left
| them alone. When recently the japanese
| threatened an invasion of the sacred pre-
! cincts Of Chinas capital both lions were
| taken from their pcdestals and hurriedly
secreted. Now that peace again reigns
supreme in the fiowery kingdom. the en-
| peror has given Oders to return the lions
| upon their former places. The value of
these relies is simply inestimable.
Tho ermine is a queer animal-it is one
| thing in winter and another thing in sum-
mer, says the Cleveland World. That is a
strange statement, but II is true, for in
winter the animals fur is as white as snow
and 1t is called the ermine In summer its
fur turns reddish brown on the upper part
OF the body and light yellow on the lower
part. The animal is then known as the
stoat: This change is quite familiar 20 ma
| turalists but not to unscientific people, and
the ermine and the Stoat are therefore gen
orally regarded as distinct animals The
fur of the ermine is much valued and is
In great request At one time it was a
mark of royalty and the state robes of
judges and magistrates were lined with
1t Is an emblem of purity. The ermine is
so cunning in its ways that IL is almost as
difficult to catch as il is to "catch a Wea-
sci asleep" In fact. the only way to cap
ture IL is to mark it's course, from home
and then strew mud in its pathway. When
the dainty, fastidious little animal reaches
the point in its path where the mud is
strewn it will lie down and subject itself
to capture and death rather than smirch
one of its snow-white hairs.
The donkey, who rather undeserveily
has come 10 be considered one of the mat
uralS' of the animal world. was dedicat-
ed by the ancients to Bacchus, while the
ass of Silenus was raised to a place among
the stars, says the Gentleman's Magazine.
Apparently he was a. more intellectual per
sonage in early days than he is supposed
TO be at present. AmmOnianus, the gram
marian. possessed one who invariably at
! tended his masters lessons on poetry, and
would even leave the choicest luncheon of
thistles to do so. wicked as a red ass"
ran an old prOverb, which the Copts believ-
ed in so thoroughly that every year they
sacriticed an unhappy animal of the de-
tested color by hurting it headlong from
wall. In an old black-letter translation of
Albertus Magnus the donkey figures in the
following extraordinary receipt: Take an
Adders skyn, and Aurl pigmentum, and
greeRe pitch of Reupiriticum, and the wake
of ncwe Bees, and the fat or grease of an
AsSe, and breake them all. and put them
all in dull seething pot full of water and
make 1t to seeth al a glove fire, and after
let II wake cold, and make a taper and
every man that shall see light of il shall
SCENE headlesse." Burton in his Anatomy
of Melancholy" mentions as a valuable
armlet "a ring made of the hoofe of an
asses right foot carried about" A tract
written by a certain "A b." in 1895. enti-
tied The Noblenesse of the Asse." is eX-
ceedingly laudatory of that excellent ami
mai: He refuseth no burden. he goes
whittier he is sent without any contradic-
ton. He lifts not his foote against any
one; he bytes not; he is no fugitive nor ma
licious affected. He doth all things in good
sort, and to his liking that hath cause to
employ him. But what chiefly fills the
worthy author with admiration is the don
keys voice-hiS 'gOodly, sweet, and con-
tinual braying," which form "a melodious
and proportionate kind of musicke."
One of the biggest men who has ever
been employed about the white house was
the late Col Dinsmore, who acted SO long
as the watch dog of presidents, says F.
G. Carpenters syndicate letter He stood
at the door of the white house and kent
off the cranks. He was over six feet in
size. His arm was as big around as an
ordinary mans leg, but his bright blue
eye could tell crank a. a glance. While
he was in office he told me many stories
about his experiences with crazy DeODle
who wanted to get a the President He
would not let me use the matter at that
time, as he said he did not think ii right
for an employe to talk about his employ
ers NOW ne is dead and the men for
whom he worked have passed away, and
l see no harm in mentioning one or two
of them. One case which he spoke of was
that of man who thought he was
prophet. He told him that his name was
mentioned in the book or Revelations. and
that he made and unmade presidents He
said he controlled destiny and that Wash
ington, Jefferson, Jackson and Lincoln
were made by him. He wanted to get At
PRESIDENT Hayes, and when he was Oppos-
ed ne made many threats against the
President and had to be carried off to iaI
Nearly every day Dinsmore had to send
someone to the asylum or the police sta
ton, and ne often had men to claim +ba>
they were the president themselves and
try to take possession Of the white housN
only short time ago a man called wits
new religion to present to President Har
rlSon, and IN 1880 man in Woman's clothes
was discovered moving about among the
fashionable crowds here He was taken
10 the station house and seven noclxet
DOCKS We're found concealed about The No
mans garments which he wore. Dins11ova
TOOK to large extent the place of da
tectiVes at the white house During CleVe-
land last administration nearly all IF hic
receptions were attended by policemen in
cilzens clothes, and he had the SANE
pIace now held by Sergeant Decker.
Awarded