The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-03
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

woods known. Weighing S3.1s pounds 10
the cubic foot
An Engl.shman gives this advice 10
tourists in interior China: "As you trav-
el in the interior stop at the missionary
stations and you need not fear outstay-
ing your welcome provided YOU can be-
nave yourself and do not paint the town"
A Persian regiment on the march is
a strange spectacle Every three soldiers
have a donkey. for there is neither bag
gage tram nor c9mmissarlat- On this
donkey is placed the worldly wealth Of
It's proprietOrs and their muskets. Occa-
s-onally the yelled wife OF a soldier be
strides the beast.
There are no streams in Yucatan
which flow above the ground. but the
whole peninsula is one vast table of coral
rock, and beneath il are immense sheets
Of fresh water, with regular. though i'll
dehned, tides and currents, says the Chi
cage lnter-Ocean. Along the coasts these
subterranean waters are quite near the
surface, but in the interior where the cal
careous layer is Of great thickness, the
waters are low down. At intervals they
peak into caVerns formed by earthquakes
Dy pressure of their own force or BY the
infltration of surface water into the nat
urdl SIOttOeS OF the coral rock, and Wher-
ever the water can be reached. whether
through artificial pits or by the operations
OF nature, the place is called cenOte.
l. mere are d great many Of them scattered
al over Aucatan, and those near Merida
are utilized as public bath houses. afford
ing most refreshing resorts Centuries
ago the Indians marked the courses of
the subterranean rivers by heaps of
stones, and always built their cities close
by the water caves, as their ruins show;
anu ~ IS interest ng TO note TO this day
all the civilized centers of Yucatan have
arisen around these natural reservoirs.
"A black cat which persisted in riding
on train oil Of the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad April q, and which, notwith-
standing that IL was thrown from the
tram at Wilmington and Baltimore
climbed on again and made its way 10
washington, was again seen at Camden
slduon Friday, on the return trip 10 its
o1h. mar II was the same cat was
Xouched for by Special officer Harry
NlnSate OF Camden station, who saw It
oQth times. The Wanderer arrived from
washington on the Royal Blue train
winch pulled into Camden at 12:4O D. m
1t was quietly sitting on the truck Of one
tentlon of Conductor Wellman to the cat
ana the conductor drove il from the
truck; Word was passed around the sta
Jlon that 'the cat had come back" and
many persons watched its movements
Dut the cat was TOO sly for the onlook-
ers, and made bee line down the plat
form and along the wall of the Belt tun-
Hel, where IL sat and licked its paws I'M
III the train pulled out. Then it followed
me train TO the entrance Of the tunnel,
where Il leaped on one of the cars, and
resumed its journey.
The sect known in the eleventh cen
fury as Hesychasts and later the Omphal-
opsychics of Mount Athos. claimed TO
nave, and doubtless did have, the same
experience, says Popular Sciene Monthly
froI. Preyer, in note TO his "Hypno-
tlsmus,' has given an interesting account
OF them. Their method was to drop the
chin upon the breast, fix the eyes upon
the navel and wait for the light to burst
upon them. A great ecclesiastical contro-
Nefsy arose over these practices. The
language which George Fox and the ear
~ QuakerS use of the elmer light seems
20 point TO the s>me thing. One of my
graduate students. while under ether
mad a similar experience, which makes
an an e&eeIleni commentary upon Plounus'
Statement that the soul IS pure light"
y took form was a body of light in an
abyss of ethereal gray; in form I was, as
memory reprOduces size, IS inches nv & a
rounded disk; l was not looking al nv
self, but i knew and saw myself" Such
experiences would seem, from my own in
qulrles, TO be far from uncommon, and |
would be grateful to any of my readers
who can give me more cases. Among the
monks and nuns of the medieval church
ecstduc states We're common. The con-
slant fasting and loss of sleep to which
many OF these saints condemned them
serves are known upon Independent evil
ions and prolonged meditation upon a
given topic determined celibacy of the
monastic life and the practice of self
torture Were further conditions of the
greatest Importance. Enforced ceibacy
frequently gives rise to reflex neuroses
ana self-torture is in many neurotic in
dlYlduals direct stimulus to the very
passions which the celibate most desires
TO repreSS. II is not surprising, therefore
mat the religion ecstasies of the ascetic
frequently assume highly erratic form,
although expressed in the most chaste
language, and alternate with apparitions
or the devil in the forms of ihcubi and
succubae.
The Oldest bell of which we have re-
cord is the To, struck with a wooden
clapper and mentioned in the Chinese
sacred books. 1t was used by govern
ment criers to clear the roads at funerals
ana to announce the spring months The
eastern Christians in the time of MahOno-
ct called the faithful together for worship
with wooden clappers, the prophet haV-
ing instituted this custom prior to the
muezzln, who calls MOhammedans to
prayer nowadays. When the Saracens
took Jerusalem the emperor would not
enter the city until all the Christian bells
mad been smashed or melted down When
the Turks took Cyprus they likewise melt
ed the bells. The earliest Christian bells
We're twelve of great weight, obtained by
emperor Michael from the doge of Ven
Ice. In China bells were used as musical
lnsttIqIIn ll together with drums at i'm
peFaI banquets, minor sacrifices and Of
ncial ceremonies. The fabulous emperor.
HWang-Ti, was said to have made twelve
musical month bells. According to the
ancient custom of Amiens the bells of
that commune were rung in SAGE of fire or
to call the people together, and when in
deprived of its bells by some feudal lord
or king it meant forfeiture of the right
OF calling a town meeting. The functions
or the ChlneSe bell master were laid out
in writing: He was obliged TO perform
on suspended bells, small and large, and
on the drum; There were small bells
IlXed 10 the Chinese sacrificial knife no
indicate to wOrshipers that the butcher
priest priest who was out Of sight, was per
Indian seas used to ring bells at night
TO scare away big fishes. The use of bells
on board ship is of immense antiquity
storm demons of the sea as well as the
fsh. The belief that the ringing of church
bells Gains storms and tempests is uni
Versal in Christian countries From an
early Christian date bells were blessed
with holy water, and Charlemagne issued
an edict forbidding this ceremony. 1t
was also thought that bit of the he'll
rope from a church where a child was
baptized, carried about by a grown man,
would preserve him from lightning IN
IaDan thew have a han whinh q ,-,s,.. :.