The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-16
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

which every member was elected when
he succeeded in life. 1t is interesting 10
remember that there was once a real
Fallure Club in Paris, and that every
member OF 1t subsequently succeeded. The
name OF the society was Club des Az
tours STILES" and the members of it used
10 ulne together at a restaurant once d
week and discuss the advisablity of re-
uring from literature and devoting their
energies to commercial enterprise instead.
Ihose members were Edmond de Con
court, Gustave Flaubert Tourgenieff, Al
Fhonse Daudet and Emile lola.
Table mats, on which to place hot
dishes, are no longer used, as the heavy
felt undercloth is intended to be sufi-
cient protection for the table; but many
housewives have found the top of their
handsomely polished tables defacea by
the marks made by the hot dishes. If a
sheet of asbestos paper is put under the
1et cloth the table will not be injured in
the least from this cause. At teas or
luncheons, when the polished table is
used with doyl!es instead of a cloth, as
bestos mats may be covered with prettily
embroidered doyles for the hot dishes.
One of these mats covered with a DOYLE,
which should be larger than the mat, is
much prettier to use than any teapot
stand that can be purchased.
The hum of the spinning wheel is stin
familiar sound in Block Island, a quaint
and interesting resort in summer and d
miniature world in winter, in which the
habits and customs are those of $50
years ago. The island, says the New York
Herald, is fifteen miles off the Rhode ISL
ana Snore, and almost directly south of
stormy Point Judith. The heads of thirty
Block Island families set sail in fishinS
boats the other day and pushed up the
Thames river to Oakdale, where they left
heaps of wool to be carded into rolls for
hand spinning. The rolls will be spun
and knitted into stockings and mittens
for the protection of the hardy islanders
against the bleak winter winds of the At
Iantic. There are times during the winter
when the wind sweeps across the tree
less land at a velocity of eighty-four miles
an hour, and women take their lives in
their hands when they venture out Of
doors. The isolation of the island is al
most complete. John Schof1eld estab-
lished the first woollen mill in Connecti-
cut, near Oakdale, where the carding was
done by power cards. In 1873 the Block Isl
anders began to send wool to the mill 10
be carded into rolls and genera ton after
generation have kept up the practice.
Formerly many bags of grain accompanied
the wool, and grist and woollen mills
were kept running day and night while
the fishermen and farmers employed them
selves in the quiet Connecticut village I'M
til the work was done.
My thoughts, when I was at the ruins
Of Silchester yesterday, says a writer in
the London Times, were that hundreds
of antiquarians all over the country would
nave given gold to any one who should
have told them of the great find" that
was there, and then to be safely brought
to land. A friend and myself strolled over
from Aldermaston to view the ruins and
as many of the finds as were still to be
seen. Mr.. Davis, F. S. A., at present
experimenting the operations, explained
to US how, when digging out an old well.
he made the lucky discovery of a tunnel
which conducted him to an ancient gate,
the existence of which had not been before
suspected. windlass had been fitted
up over well eighteen feet deep, and
men were digging out pailfuls of earth,
which were being diligently hauled up
For two weeks the work at this point had
been going on, and within the last week it
has been discovered that this was an old
Roman tub-well. The wood seemed
somewhat rotten, as might be expected
after 1900 years, so that the raising of
the tub caused the greatest anxiety. The
tub had been ingeniously fitted by Mr..
Davis with two wooden shelves running
all round it-one at the TOP and the other
at the bottom, which both served to pro-
tect 1t from any strain during the prep
aration for hosting it, and also relieved
the tub of its own weight during the pro-
cess of hosting. After one unsuccessful
attempt to bring it up, during which a
small portion of it was knocked of, it
was triumphantly raised to light in a com
ratively perfect state of preservation
We expect that the tub will shortly be on
view at the Reading museum, where there
already q haartffft1l of
chester relics.
The largest building ever moved in
this country was freight warehouse of
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, in Bal
tlmore, which was moved Sept. to II,
says the New York Journal The building
is 440 feet long, 100 feet wide and 60 feet
high. 1t is a wood and iron structure
and was moved to make room for a new
dock. The work consumed five and half
days. The building contained a great
quantity of freight, among which were
5000 cases of china and crockery but not
dish was cracked IN the moving. The
men were engaged five weeks making pre-
parations for the move. On top of the old
and the new foundations were placed the
sills on tracks upon which the building
was to run. These tracks numbered for
ty, each consisting Of two 6x12-inch tim
bers. On top of these were placed the
LOCO rollers, each piece of 5-inch pipe
feet in length. There were twenty-five
rollers to each of the forty tracks Be
tween the top of the rollers and the floor
beams Of the building were arranged more
of the 6X12-inch timbers. In all, 5000 of
the 6x12-inch timbers were used each
about 30 feet long. The 255 wooden pillars
which supported the warehouse were then
sawed away and the structure rested upon
the rollers. Along one side of the build
ing were placed forty fve-ton screw
jacks. They were braced against a rail
road track, an adjoining warehouse and
the tracks upon which the rollers ran.
TWO men stood at each jack. At a given
signal the men responded with military
precision, and each jack was given a
quarter of turn, moving the great build
Ing fraction of an inch Afterward the
progress averaged feet an hour for so
days. The structure arrived at its new
foundation without strained timber or
bolt The jacks We're again used in
raising the warehouse enough to allow
the removal Of the Jacks. after which If
was lowered to the new foundation. The
structure cost $4,000 ten years ago and n
cost $1,000 to make the removal
Awarded