The Irish standard., 1895-01-12
PASSED IN & VIE IL

II
"a Boston inventor hae q good means,
Of lessenina the death roll Of the electric.
and cable cars. He has placed revolving
brushes under the ear il sucha manner
that 8 person who happens 70 fell il
front of the oar will be swept from the,
track. A
| ~ s.,s s.. .s#.
| It is interesting to note that while the,
death rate among the children has been
perceptibly lessened that. among adults
has increased. Nineteenth century pro-
gress and research protects the life at
one end, only to overtax and snap it Off
suddenly at the other. j.
| -. /
A museum Of Journals at Aix-la.C Chap
ellie, Germany, founded in 1885 by NJ.
Oscar Forkenbeck, is said to contain al
ready $4,000 journals in all languages.
The founder devoted his whole fortune
for forty years to the acquisition of rare
and curious specimens, and to subscrir-
tions to journals in all parts of the globe.
He received and read every day con-,
siderable number OF papers in thirty
different languages. Having started
the museum with 10000 full collections,
be addressed circular letter to the;
press of the globe asking co operation in
his enterprise, and large number Of
journals and responded favorably.
* :#
The Chinese were very bitter against,
the telegraph at first, as it was reported
the foreigners cut out the tongues of
children and suspended them on the in
suiators to transmit the message from
pole to pole. Then again the wires dis
turbed the graves of the "Fingshin,' the
spirit of wind and water. The telegraph
instruments used are mostly Of London
make. The system Of telegraphlng in
Chinese is very simple. There are about
5000 characters in the Chinese language.
These are all numbered from one up, and
so printed in book form. It is, there
fore, only necessary to telegraph the
numbers. This system is used in the .
government dispatches.
This expression has long been in use
to describe hypccritical sorrow, or
pretense Of sorrow where no grief is felt.
Its origin has been referred to several
sources; one, believed in by the old
naturalists, was that the crocod le would
mourn and she'd tears as if in great agony
until a sympathetic traveller would
investigate the cause and get devoured
for his trouble. Manderville says: Gin
certain country long serpents called
crocodiles Stay men and then eat them
weeping" Spencer (Faerie Queen)
says ''The cruell craftle crocodile, which
in false gref hYding his harmful guile,
doth weep full sore and sheddeth tender
tears" a@
Tue spy system has grown rapidly in
Germany. Every man in business or art
is first of all soldier, and inevitably
constitutes himself a watcher, vedette.
J.
pionage one of the chief weapons of a.
military campaign. For years before the
war Of 1870 German spies were part and
parcel of every strong place in France. !;
They swarmed in the War Office, they /,
held places on the staff; they were part {:
of the Court of the Emperor. We're .
death the penalty of spying, Won Moltke'
himself would have stood small chance
had the fate OF war thrown him into
French hands twenty years ago. He:
traversed all the French frontier disgu g.
ed, and made with his owe hands maps
of the fortresses that he regarded "a.
likely to menace his operations.
Though the story has been refuted
over and over again, there is still vide
spread belief that there existed in the
Middle Agas female Pope. Pope Joan,
as she IS called, has given her name to q
game of cards which is mentioned il
Sherldan's "School Tor Scandal The
tradition with regard to the female z pc
has been traced back to the eleve 18th
century, but she is said to have lived
much earller, her pontihcate having tax"
en- place in the ninth century and having
lasted for more than two years. The
name she is alleged to have assumed 10
John VII. At The last meeting Of the
Academy of Inscriptions, in Paris NJ.
Muntz dealt another blow at the story,
which he characterizss as vulgar fable
invented in the Middle Ages. Never, he
declares, after careful study of the
question, has woman worn the tiara;
and, moreover, there was no interregum
at the period when the pretended John
VII. governed the Church.
Possibly it is because Japan is pet OF
the American public that she is so
frequently spoken of as "little Japan"