The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-04
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Physicians often meet with people
who are carrying around imaginary all
ments and who really believe themselves
as badly afflicted as they assert, says me
Hartford Times. Some curious cases
have been noted A lady had been con-
fined to her bed for many months with an
illness which wholly deprived her OF the
use of her lower limbs. The doctor VINO
attended her failed to discover the ma
ture of the affection, which might ordi-
narily have been attributable to several
causes. Examination, however, reveal
ed nothing calculated to throw a light on
the matter, and the medical practitioner,
after patient and exhaustive analysis and
attention, came to the conclusion that the
illness was imaginary. Although ne dlS-
creetly kept this opinion to himself PROOF
was eventually forthcoming as TO the
accuracy of his view. Being lifted in the
sheets out of her bed one day, while the
mattress was rearranged, the lady sur
prised her attendants by suddenly jump
ing from the couch on which she had
been temporarily placed, with a loud OK
preston of alarm. 1t was discovered that
she had been laid upon needle cushion
inadvertently left on the sofa, and that
the sharp points of several needles had
pressed violently into her back. The
contretemps revealed the fact that she
could stand easily.
Queen Victoria is fond of keeping up
and reviving old customs, and now ana
then comes a special day in her calen-
dar like Halloween, says an exchange.
At Balmoral the witch is burned at Hal
owe en-. The queen going out to drive to-
ward the Balloch Bine is met on her re-
turn by a crowd of servants, keepers, gill
lies and children, each bearing torch
made of splints of fir tied together. They
escort the queen to the door, and then
they march round and round the castle,
the flare of their torches Illuminating wall
and turret and tower. The foundation OF
a bonfire has been previously laid a little
west of the castle, with old barrels or any
other dry fuel, and presently, as the
march continues, cart is seen approach
ing from the stables at the east. drawn
by half dozen men with blackened faces
and clad in outre garments. In the cart
sits the witch, a hideOus manikin. The
people apply their torches to the combus-
tibles and when the bonfire has got well
alight, her ladyship" is thrown on amid
applause, shouts and cheers, the queen
looking on from door or window, laugh
ing and heartily enjoying the wild fantaS-
tic scene. Then follows dancing of reefs
around the bonfire, the witch meanwhile
wasting into ashes and oblivion. The
bonfire flares. shoulders and burns low.
The queen withdraws, and the torch bear
ers go down to the hall at the stable and
finish off the festivities with a dance
Some years since says a writer IN
Forest and Stream, with five coTcpan-
ions, | was still-hunting deer in Arkln-
sas. On the morning we were 20 break
camp shouldered my Winchester to
take farewell tramp over the grounds
we had hunted for two weeks. l mad
walked about one and a half miles ana
was standing near the end of a prairie.
Behind me was very briery slough.
had been standing several minutes when
I heard three successive noises that were
much louder and coarser than the whistle
or snort of any deer / had previously
heard. At first 1 thought it some other
animal. but presently he was in SighT.
and when within about 200 yards of me
he ran into a flock of turkeys. lie would
single out one and chase it away then
another. until he had chased off nine or
ten. likely all of the flock, when he re-
following and came on, part of the fhne
trotting and part of the time walking,
but all the time travelling as If he were
tracking something. When within eighty
yards of me he came on my track and
stopped turning half around, giving me
a fine shot. He was only a three-point
buck. and rather small for three-ponter,
but he seemed to be on the warpath.
judging by the way he chased the tur-
keys, and he seemed to care very little
for me. Now, / have frequently heard
heard them snort from the same cause.
but this deer made altogether a louder
and different noise from either.
1t is often said that one swallow does
not make summer 1t can also be
truthfully asserted that one swallow cam
not cause a shipwreck, but what a multi
tude of swallows may do in this line Is
another thing. These birds came near
on the rocks of the Spanish coast near
Malaga. A Russian steamer, hailing from
Odessa, has for some time been engaged
in the Mediterranean trade. principally
carrying passengers between Leghorn and
Malaga. On one of the recent trips it Ell
countered an adventure which will never
be forgotten by either crew or the pas
sengers. The passage had been a stormy
one, but the day of the occurrence was UNI
usually fine Though rather heavy sea
was running most of the passengers were
on deck Suddenly the lookout called /:
Hurricane cloud leeward." At once
there was great CONSERVATION aboard,
and a number of people sought safety be-
low. The captain, however. after glanc-
ing at the barometer, gave it as his opin-
ion that it was no hurricane cloud. The
black mass that they saw lowering near
the horizon. was. he thought a particIi-
larly dense volume of smoke from some
steamer. But the solution of the mystery
came much sooner than they had ex-
pected. The threatening mass grew larS-
er and larger, and soon was seen to bear
down in the direction of the vessel with
terrific speed. Everybody, both crew anu
passengers, became frightened at the
mysterious cloud, which seemed to move
with great rapidity Notwithstanding that
a perfect calm prevailed. Then came the
solution. The vast cloud that they had
seen was composed of swallows. The fore
ners, a small detachment of some 10000,
swooped down OH the deck, to the beWil-
derment of the people on board These
were soon followed, not by thousands
but by hundreds of thousands. The birds
literally overwhelmed the vessel. The
man at the wheel lost his bearings, and
the widest disorder prevailed. The birds
poured into every available opening
hatehways, windows and everywhere
sails and clustered about the rigging.
Even the smokestack was so filled up at
one time that the fires were nearly extin-
guished. The most amazing part of the
whole thing was that the birds did not
evince any disposition to leave To
highten the confusion the steamer had got
out of it's course and ran ashore. How
ever, on account of going very slow, no
material damage was DONE though the
passengers we're badly frightened. When
the crew had recovered from their amaze
ment they began to clear the deck and the
vessel in general of these unexpected and
not at all welcome guests The captain
ordered the men to use shovels and what
ever else they could to throw the birds
overheard. After getting fairly in shape
the vessel proceeded on it's voyage. hav-
on account of this singular experience
The captain could not offer any theory as
to where this vast army of swallows
came from. All he said was that the birds
evidently were exhausted from a long
flight during the storm of the previous
day, and sought rest on his vessel.
4