The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-19
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

-Ihe healthiest place in the world ap-
pears to be a little hamlet in France
named Aumone. There are only forty in
habitants, twenty-three of whom are so
years of age, and one is over 100.
The number of smacks employed IN
deep-sea fishing in the North sea is over
5000 They fish in fleets of $50 vessels Over
1000 men are employed in this fishery
alone, and they remain at sea never less
than two months at a time.
All animals when taken for a sea voy-
age become tanner. Monkeys suffer great
ly from NAL de mer. Fowls and geese
soon become thin, and cocks generally
cease to grow. Birds, too, are affected by
the sea, and never sing during voyage.
"A French contemporary has announc-
ed the inception of yet another flying ma
chine. The new machine, which is in the
course of construction, is the invention of
M Richet, professor in the faculty of
medicine of Paris. 1t is designed to i'm
ttate all the movements of a bird, it will
be % metres in length, and its wings will
have surface of about 60 meters. The
body of the machine, strictly so called
will be comparatively, small and light; all
the pieces, made of aluminium, will be hol-
low, and the air will circulate drought
them freely. The wings are 10 be respon-
sible only for the floating of the machine;
the actual propulsion will depend upon
propellers, and the motive power will be
supplied by steam. M. Richet is appar-
emily working independently of the latest
conclusions in the science of flying. His
conclusions seem to be identical with those
which Mr.. L. Hargrave arrived at in
England in 1898, and therefore altogether
adverse to those of Hiram S. Maxim.
"A little rubber doll with whistle in
it's stomach was all that saved the resi-
dence of Frank Steubing, who lives at
No. 1913 Quincy street, from being ram
sacked by thieves at an early hour yes
terday morning, says the Louisville Post
of a recent issue. Yesterday morning
Mrs. Steubhng came to town and bought
the little India rubber hero and took it
home for her 3-year-old child. The little
girl played with the article all day long,
and that night when she retired the doll
was left lying upon the floor. At about
2 o'clock in the morning Mrs. Steublings
son Jacob, who was sleeping in the room
where the doll was lying, was abruptly
awakened by loud whistle. He jumped
up and saw negro glide hastily out of
the room. He had awakened Mr.. Steub-
ling by stepping upon the whistle in the
dolls stomach. The thief was followed
to the back yard, and then chased over
the commons for several squares, but
finally outwitted his pursuers. Had Mr..
Steubling not been awakened the thief
would have carried away all the valua-
bles in the house. He had already pack
ed a basket with table silverware and had
it near the door.
st. Louisans now coming back from
abroad report having witnessed a curious
sight on several of their journeys up and
down the Rhine, says the st. Louis Re-
public. Down the middle of the stream,
they say came a queerlookng monster.
Large inflated wings seemed to keep it
above the water. In it's hands it held an
open book and the face of man with
a heavy moustache bent over the book
The current carried the queerly shaped
mass along, and soon the passengers of
the boat were informed that F. w. Kuhl,
German civil engineer, with an invent
i've turn of mind, was giving an exhibl,
ton of the feasibility of his new safety
cloak, which makes death by drowning
impossible. The construction of the cloak
is, of course, the inventors mystery. Out
wardly it does not differ in any way from
an ordinary overcoat lined with a double
layer of rubber. 1t is very light, and the
materiel with which it is filed is of a
kind which makes sinking in water
impossible. 1t takes but two minutes to
slip it on, fill it with air, and have it thus
ready for use. Any shipwrecked person
can easily spend from sixteen to twenty
days swimming along in the water if
provided with the pants and shoes be-
longing to the new garment and the nee
essary provisions for bodily sustenance
The cloak alone, however, is sufficient to
keep a person several days comfortably
on the surface of the water.
Mere figures convey little idea of the
vast magnitude of the passenger traffic
within the boundaries Of the METROPOLIS.
says the London Telegraph. The London
General Omnibus Company alone carried
during the first six months of the present
year no fewer than 100000 passengers.
of more than double the entire population
OF Great Britain and Ireland. Mr.. Aid
Pound told the shareholders that this
period had been of greater all-round pros
perity than any of its predecessors Fine
weather, good traffic, healthy horses and
cheap provender formed a rare combina-
ton of fortunate circumstances. The re-
cedpts for half year amounted to f498 534
and the expenses to $433,015, giving a profit
of f65339. The company had DUNG the
same period run 1908 omnibuses. which
Travelled IL 6SS,O00 miles, and carried nearly
l0VOOU0O more passengers than in the cor
responding period of 1895. The receipts
had increased by nearly 1000, while the
expenses had augmented only f23,O00 At
tention was called to the growing lack of
conductors to keep a sharp lookout for
travellers, and the chairman admitted this
and said the neglect apparently dated
from the time their servants became part
owners, or preference shareholders as
they were called. One proprietor inquir-
ed what the board was doing with regard
to horseless omnibuses, to which the chair
man replied with much caution that they
were watching them very closely, but at
present they were not moving dn the mat
ter.
The anti-Masonic congress, which has
just been held at Trent, proved a fizzle. in
spite of the papal and clerical influence
behind it, says the New York Post. Three
fourths of the persons in attendance were
priests, the illustrious laymen who were
expected being conspicuous chiefly by
their absence. The intellectual calibre of
the assembly may be inferred from the
fact that the book of the woman calling
herself Diana Vaughan was the subject
OF serious discussion. She was described
as an Englishwoman of gentle birth. be-
longing to a family in which the worshin
OF Satan has been hereditary for centu-
rles. In her book she declares that at an
early age she was initiated into Freema-