The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-09
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

There has be n lately found on the 18th
mus of Tehuantepec flower which rough
! ly does the ork of a clock. In the morn
/ ing it is white, at noon it is red and at
night blue, the changes of color being re-
markably regular
The Illinois Central railroad has de-
! cided to allow its employees TO buy the
stock of the road at par. and pay for it on
| monthly instruments of S.. Interest at 4
| per cent. is allowed on partial payments.
A number of the employees are availing
themselves of the privilege of becoming
| stockholders.
| Despite iunumerable explanations and
demonstrations, the question continues to
be asked whether 1899 or 1900 will be the
| closing year of the century, says the New
| York Tribune Reference to the rule by
| which the Gregorian calendar was estab-
| lished should be sufficient to settle the
matter. 1t states explicitly that the num-
Der In date is the number of the current
year. The nineteenth century, therefore,
will end with Dec. 81, 1900. and the TWEEN
tieth century will begin with Jan. l, 1901.
"A young woman writer, who recently
lost over a years time and a large share
of the savings of several years through
a severe case of nervous prostration, says
1 cause
was not overwork, but astigmatism 1t
was one of the most serious forms of the
disease, her physician said, that he had
seen. Il should have worn glasses when
l was a child" the young woman says.
All my nervous mannerisms, they say
now, have been due all my life to a ner-
Vous condition produced by my eyes"
Where was Methuselah during the del
uge?' This, says the Literary Digest. is
the question which DR.. Haisey L. Wood,
of this city, raises and to which he finds
no satisfactory answer. He argues: This
distinguished patriarch seems to have
been forgotten at the time, for no men
zion is made of him as one of the chosen
few to enter the ark; and, on the other
hand, we are told that every living Great
ure persisted without the ark, and every
man. Now, Methuselah lived nine hun
dred and sixty-nine years, and since he
had fully ten months of life left to him a t
| the beginning of the flood he could have
| completed his grand total of years no
| where else than inside the ark. AT Noah S
! birth, Methuselah had full six hundred
| years to live. In the six hundredth year
of Noah's life,' the windows of heaven
were opened and lin the selfsame day
entered Noah, and Shem and sons with
| them into the ark Noah was therefore
! 500 years old when the food began. Me-
| thuselah had still ten months to live ere
| his 969th year was complete. Where was
he? The dwelers in the ark did not issue
| from it for year and ten days after their
| entrance. Methuselah must have there
fore died during the interval, and presum-
| ably he was buried; but, strange TO say,
nothing is said of this singular circum-
stance"
Elephants are able to make their way
up and down mountains and through
country of steep cliffs, where mules would
not dare to venture, and even where men
| find passage difficult, says an exchange
| Their tracks nave been found upon the
| very SUBMITS of mountains over 7,OO0 teet
high In these Journeys an elephant is
| often connpelled to descend hills and noun
| tain sides which are almost precipieous.
! This is the way it is done: The elephants
| first maneuver is to kneel down close 10
! the declivity. One foreleg is then eau
| tiously passed over the edge and Short
! way down the slope, and if he finds there
| is no good spot for a firm foothold, he
| speedily forms one by stamping into the
! soil, if it is moist, or kicking out a foo--
| hold if it is dry. When he is sure of a
| good foothold the other foreleg is brought
! down in the same way. Then he per-
| forms the same work over again with his
| feet, bringing both forelegs little in aG-
vance for the first foothold. This leaves
good places all ready made for the hind
! feet. Now bracing himself up by ms
| huge strong forelegs, he draws his aind
| legs, first one and then the other, care
| fully over the edge, where they occupy
| the first places made by the forefeer.
| This is the way the huge animal pro-
| ceeds all the way down, ZigZag, kneeI-
| ing with is forefeet. Thus, the center o.
gravity is preserved, and the huge beast
prevented from topping over on his nose
The rival to the goose that laid the
golden eggs has been found. 1t is a hen
and a townbird to boot-for it roosts in
a little back yard in the Belleville quar-
| ter. One morning when the mistress of
| the fowl-run paid her matutinal visit to
| the nests she came across, to her intense
amazement a bundle of papers under one
| staid old hen. She could scarcely be-
| lieve her eyes at this strange find, espe
| cially when on examination it was found
to contain securities valued at $1,000. The
hen, too, seemed equally perplexed and
blinked stupidity at the metamorphosis.
| The bird felt sure it had laid eggs, and
| yet the papers disputed the fact. The
lady who found the fortune said not
word to her friends, but quietly converted
the bonds into ready money and changed
her mode Of life considerably. But this
sudden show of wealth aroused the sus-
| picions and jealousy of the neighbors who
had not been visited by windfall of UNI
expected riches. Rumors spread and the
police Were called upon to investigate the
matter. Then the story came out and a
romantic fabric, which had smacked of an
oriental fable, crumbled away to vulgar
robbery. The securities had been stolen
about eight years ago by some Individual
who had passed them on to a third per-
son. This latter, unable to get rid of
them in profitable manner had popped
them under the hen one night. The owner
of the innocent bird, together with sew
eral' other persons connected with the
case has been taken into custody-I.on
don Telegraph.
Young wild ducks are so light and
active, says the Spectator, that they seem
able to run on the surface of the water
1t is hardly credible that they can do so
as water boatman'' does, without
breaking the Surface film" but they GER
tainly can make a dash for a short dis
lance with their feet on the water. and
the whole of their body out of it. In
catching insects on the water they rival
the dexterty of young partridge on an
There ie