The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-11
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

| there and made them impossible, either for
I men or animals. The thistles of this plot
! are said to be the only ones in Arizona,
and the people urge that they be exter-
minated before they become a pest every
where in the territory.
The old story that the dervishes pos
sessed swords and coats of mail dating
| back to the crusades is confirmed, says
! the Illustrated London News, by the cap
ture of some of these interes ting relics
| atter the recent engagement on the Me.
| ~he history of the armor and weapons
used originally in Palestine, and found
again after 700 years in the Soudan, would
make a brea thess chapter of romance
| History plays the romantic drama On
scale that the most daring melodramatic
| playwright may envy; for who, even on
| the stage, would have ventured to make
| the officer of a British expedition in the
! Soudan encounter Arab warriors clad in
the mail of Richard Occur de Lions
knights?
An Englishman now in Washington
tells the Washington Post that
bicycling is even more preva-
| lent in that country than in this.
ITO get possession of the coveted wheel"
he says, "our young women have been
\ know TO make uncommon sacrifices. The
| daughter of clergyman, a very intelligent
and popular young girl quite a belle in
| a highly respectable set, hired out as
waiting maid in part of the city remote
from her home and, by saving her small
! earnings, managed to buy a machine. By
the merest accident her identity was dis
! covered and the story was made public,
! but the young lady did not lose caste by
| the expose and her friends complimented
her on her pluck"
Talking of BARRIERS very naturally
| n Ind he int Of
mustaches, says a writer in ST. Nicholas;
for what boy is there who does not look
eagerly forward to the proud time when
he can raise moustache? The wearing
| of muStacheS is such universal custom
| that we might suppose it never had a
special meaning or beginning; but the
| fact is, that it did have beginning sew
! eral hundred years ago, and served a very
| important purpose for while. You will
| remember that for several centuries the
| Moors had possession of Spain, but were
/ finally conquered or driven out by the
| Christians. The Moors were believers in
| Mohammedanism, and having made many
converts, it was not always an easy mat
| ter to tell a Mohammedan from Chris
tian; and as there were constant con-
| fiicts between the people of the two re-
ligions, the Christians decided to adopt
some sign by which they could be dis
| tinguished from the unueiievers. So they
let the hair grow on the upper lip and on
the chin, in order to produce as nearly
| as possible. the form of a cross, and in
that way they were able to recognize one
another at all times, and flock together
in times Of danger.
Once upon time, says ST. Nicholas,
there were two old men who sat in the
market early every morning and sold ap-
piles. Each one had thirty apples, and
| e 111 - a.
In that way the first old man got Is cents
! for his basket of apples, while the second
old man received 10 cents; so that together
they made % cents each day. But one
day the old apple-man who sold three for
a cent was too sick to go to the market,
| and he asked his neighbor to take his APP
pies and sell them for him. This the other
old man very kindly consented to do, and
| when he got to the market with the two
| baskets of apples, he said to himself II
win put all the apples into one basket
| for it will be easier than picking them out
| of two baskets" So he put the sixty ap-
| pies into one basket, and he said to him
self, Now if 1 sell two apples for one
! cent, and my old friend sells three for one
| cent, that is the same thing as selling five
| apples for two cents. Therefore l will
sell five for two cents" When he had sold
the sixty apples he found he had only
"a cents, which was right because there
are twenty-four. But if the other old man
had been there and each one had sold
his apples separately, they would have re-
ceived % cents. Now, how is that ex-
planned?
Lying limp and Shiny on a fishmonger's
slab, or dry and sandy in the Dutch fish
wives baskets, the turbot, is perhaps the
least interesting of fish, says the London
Spectator. When swimming in an artificial
sea or lying on the sandy bottom it is the
most attractive of all of the denizens of
this mock ocean, and whether at rest or
in motion has an air of vigilance, vivacity
and intelligence greater than that of any
of the normally shaped fish This is in
part due to its habits and in part to the
expression of the fiat fish's eye. This
which is sunk and invisible in the dead
fish, is raised on a kind of turret in the
living turbot, or sole, and set there In
half-revolving apparatus, working almost
as independently as the ball and socket"
eyes of the chameleon. There is this differ
ence, however, in the eye of the lizard
and of the fish-the iris of the chameleon
is mere pinhole at the top of the eye
ball. which is thus absolutely without ex-
preston The turbots or butts" eyes are
black and gold, and intensely bright, with
none of the fixed, staring stupid appear
ance OF ordinary fishes eyes, 1t lies upon
the sand and jerks its eyes independently
into position, to survey any part of the
ground surface and the water above or
that on either side at any angle If it had
light rays to project from it's eyes instead
of to receive, the effect would be precisely
that made by the sudden shifting of the
jointed apparatus which casts the electric
light from war ship at any angle on to
sea, sky or horizon. The turbots, though
ready, graceful swimmers moving in
wave-like undulations across the water
or dashing off like a flash when so dis
posed, usually lie perfectly still upon the
bottom. They do not like the dabs and
founders cover themselves with sand. for
they mimic the color of the ground with
such absolute fidelity that except for the
shining eye 1t is almost impossible to dis
tinguish them. 1t would appear that vo-
lition plays some part in this subtle con-
formity to environment, for one turbot
which is blind has changed to a tint too
light and not at all in harmony with that
of the sand.