The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-09
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


Historians are now trying to prove
that the little village of Yaleta, Tex, is
the Oldest settlement in the United States.
"A single spider web. though much
hundred hlaments of infnitesimal fine
ness.
Explorers say that there are places in
the Congo river where il is so wide that
each other.
The skin of the black fox of Kamcha,-
ka is the most expensive fur known. Sin
gle skins have been known to sell for
more than $1,000.
There is rocking stone in Sullivan
county, N Y, which is estimated 10
weigh forty tons, and which is SO evenly
balanced that the strength of one finger
Is sufhcient to set 1t in motion.
Ten years ago, the logs in Wisconsin
ran TOUR or nVe to 1000 feet of lumber
Now, twelve, fifteen and even twenty logs
are required to furnish as much. In five
years the decrease in diameter of the pine
trees cut Tor lumber has been s. per cent
1t has been found impossible to pre-
serve the famous Morgan cell in the old
Canandaigua IN. " jail. During the past
week many MasOns have visited the ruins
ana carried away chips from the stones
OF the cell The iron door is to be pre-
pie Of Canandaigua.
One of the curiosities of the cable code
method of sending information is shown
IN a recent message announcing the loss
whole
sage was conveyed in three words of
scott cable code: 'SmOuldered, hurrah,
halleluJan! 'Smouldered' stands for
the snip has been destroyed by fire.
nuIrah, Tor crew saved by boats" and
halleluJah," for "all hands saVed-in-
form wives and sweethearts.'
The homes of few of the worlds
great men," says the New York World,
nave been as carefully preserved as
Goethe's at Weimar. Nothing has been
disturbed, and in his sleeping room, where
ne died, the same spread covers the bed,
ana his drinking cup, sponge and wash
baslh are in the same position in which
ne LETT them. The old man who once in
the poets lifetime repaired his coach, still
tention."
The only man in the world, perhaps,
tnaI ever drove a horse wearing shoes
made from metal which but few weeks
DeIore had been on the moon, is Frank
Morris OF Worthington, w. Va. A few
years ago a small aerolite composed of
pure iron, fell near Mr. Morris homestead.
lie obtained possession of it and had
portion of it made into shoes for his fav-
orlte horse. These moon stones are usu-
ally highly priced, and seldom used for
such base purposes.
The longest swim on record as hav-
ing been made by a human being in the
rough sea, without any swimming or life
saving apparatus whatever, was one of
ll12 miles by Samuel Brock, a Yarmouth,
Eng, fisherman, on Oct IA, 1885, The YES
sci upon which he sailed was wrecked at
what is known as Breeders Rock. Know
ing the direction to shore, Brock struck
out manfully and finally reached il i'm
seven hours, the distance being a fraction
over l71s miles, as given above.
Five days on fire, a race around the
Horn to Fort Stanley, sunk to the scum
pers In order to drown a fire and 1000 tons
of smouldering coal thrown into the bay
before all danger was past, is the record
Brunei from Newcastle, N. s. w, to Val
paraiso. When he reached San Francisco,
Capt Frampton, of the Brunei, found a
letter from the underwriters containing
Sl,0JO to be divided among the crew and
officers for their gallant work in fighting
the fire when all hope seemed gone.
The town crier of Nantucket, old
Billy Clark, is really one of the attrac-
tons Of the place, and is looked upon by
visitors as a link joining the present and
the past, says the Boston Traveller. 1t is
ms duty to cry, not only advertise
he obtains when the steamer arrives from
the mainland. His idea of his own impor-
lance is large, and If any one should sug-
sest to him that he give up his duties
and permit more modern ideas to prevail,
he would look upon IL as an insult, not
only to his dignity, but to the dignity of
the whole island.
The remark was made on seeing the
crew of the Valkyrie at work rigging the
cup chaser that the men were ringers as
well as sailors, says the New York Tri-
bune. That these men were adopts at
more than one occupation is not at all
surprising to those who know the WAYS of
men at sea. The versatility of the man
who has been educated on a sailing YES
sci viii bear inves tigat,on. He has not
only to be a sailor and a rigger, but is
sonething q carpenter a sailmaker, a
COOK, tailor, a barber and a blacksmith
and mas a speaking acquaintance with sew
eral other trades. a thorough bred sailor
can, in fact, turn his hand to almost any-
thing that comes up, and do it is as well
as, if not a little better than the ayera ge
and he would find himself in pickle lots
OF times If it were not for that same YER
Satillty.
Sir James Boyle, the great Irish nat
uralist, always commended that ants had
language Of their own, by which they
mace known their wants and fears to
others of their kind. One day he encoun-
tered a colony that were evidently NOV
ing to new quarters. All appeared in the
very best of spirits, and whenever two
met the naturalist noticed that they put
their heads together as though chatting
very earnestly. To settle the matter in
his own mind as to whether they were
really talking or not, he killed one of them
to observe the effect it would have on the
others. The eye-witnesses of the murder
.hastened to the rear and halted every one
of the advancing column by laying their
antennae together. The column instant
ly separated to the right and to the left
none of the marchers afterward passing
Wltnln less than six feet of their dead COM
panion, though the remains of the insect
were directly in the beaten path.
One of the most extraordinary speci-
mems OF the nSn FAMILY is the Nam hal
gnan," or Great General of the South
Sea-" an animal of the whale species
which has it's home in the Indian Ocean
A full-grown Nam is upwards of IS feet
in length, pure black in color, and has eyes
as large as a saucer. Besides the above
characteristic features, which may be said
to be whale-like, with the exception of the
eyes, the Nam with two immense tusks
which resemble those of the elephant both
in size and color and two queer wing-like
membranes extending along it's sides from
the side fins almost to the tail. The old
mans" have a curious habit of marshall
ing their kind to do battle with the whales
and the sharks, and old mariners say that
they maneuver with so much intelligence
and sagacity that they are known to all
the islanders by names which signify
Winged Generals" Winged Warriors,
or Winged Chiefs of the Seas" The ma
tional museum at Berlin has a fine mount
ed specimen of this queer warlike fish.
There is a whole school of European
scientists who, according to the ST. Louis
Republic, believe that this world will
come to an end as far as mankind are
concerned, at about the year 1000 A d. by
the human race degenerating until they
finally disappear from the face of the
globe. French, English and German sta
tisticians of this school have been study
ing the military and other record for
Of bair