The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-24
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

y
sent a fun account of 1t to one of the daily
newspapers. and for this he received pay
ment in the usual way. But he tried his
plan once too often. The editor got sus-
picious and gave information to the po-
lice, who soon found how this amateur re-
porter was able to beat all rivals in the
way of early information.
Memoirs of a Soudanese soldier. Ali
Efrendi Gifoon, dictated in Arabic to Capt.
Percy Machell, says the Cornhil Maya
zine, and by him presented in English
dress, give strange glimpses into cannibal
life in the Soudan: The Fertit tribe used
in their ewn country to eat each other
freely, and when a man was SO i'll as to
render the chance of his recovery i'm
probable, he was bought in advance by
the highest bidder. The Fertit had no
graves, and there is no werd for grave
yard in their language" A gruesome
story is told Of Fertit recruit who, after
being long without human food, broke
out, seized a child from its mothers arms,
wrung its neck, and commenced his re-
past" As punishment he was sent back
to his own country. A somewhat Ara
bian night" like story is added of kite
Selling on a sleeps liver in the basket
of a chiefs servant, and dropping in its
place another kind of liver, which, cook
ed and eaten and found by the chief to
be most delightful, was discovered to be
a chld's liver. Thenceforward the chief
had a child killed every day, and dined
off it's liver. Ultimately the "aggrieved
parents objected, and the chief was
killed.
The cradle, familiar through centuries,
is giving way to the crib, and cribs of iron
and brass are taking the place Of wooden
cribs, says a writer in the New York
A 10 pGtq bljSn.-
ment cradles were not kept at all; it sold
only cribs. At other places the sale of
cribs greatly exceeded that of cradles. of
the cradles now sold, only the cheapest
are made to rock on rockers in the Did
fashioned way; by far the greater nun
Der swing between standards. There are
now made, however, cradles that rock on
platform rockers, like those of the modern
platform rocking chair. Various reasons
are assigned for the substitution of the
crib for the cradles The crib takes up
less room and is less in the way than
the cradle, with it's rockers. 1t is better
for the child, and it makes less work
for the mother, accustomed to crib the
child is put to sleep there with much less
care and labor. The modern baby car
riage, vastly more comfortable and con-
venient than the old-time baby carriage,
has in some degree taken the place of
the cradle. Taking them altogether, there
dIe Still SOU many tIdu1eSs Dul the uuIIl-
Der sold as compared with the number
of cribs is very small. Nowadays the
child is laid in it's crib; the cradle, time
honored and with memories clustering
around it, is disappearing.
The latest important addition to the
British navy is the Caesar, which has
just been launched. It's principal dimen-
sions, says the Philadelphia Record, are:
1zokv II; ,Iav- 60
extreme breadth, 70 feet; mean draught
Of water, q feet 6 inches; displacement
when fully equipped, about 1900 tons.
She will be fitted with twin screws, each
driven by an Independent set of vertical
triple expansion engines, capable of work.
ing up to a total of 1900 horsepower
for the two sets of engines With this
horsepower a speed of about eighteen
knots will be realized. Provision is made
for slowing $3.50 tons. Her
protective armor varies in thick
ness from six inches to fourteen inches 1t
consists of steel carburized by the Har-
vey process. Two masts will be fitted
with lighting tops, and carrying3-pounder,
quick-f1ring guns. Eighteen boats will
be carried, including four steamboats,.
Three of these latter, fitted for discharg-
ing 14-inch Withheld torpedoes, will be
capable of acting independently of the
ship for torpedo attack. The
main armament will consist of
four Pinch breech-loading guns, twelve
6-inch quick-fring guns and sixteen r.
FOUNDER 12-hundred-weight, quick-fring
guns. The armament will be completed
by twelve 3-pounder quick-firing guns in
the fighting tops of the masts, two r.
FOUNDER S-hundred- weight quick-fring
boat and field guns, and eight 45-calibre
Maxim guns. Twenty-Five torpedoes will
be carried, which can be fired from four
1bv,oo fa1ha two ri
aft, and one above water tube at the
stern. Upon completion the Caesar will
be commissioned with a complement of
75S officers and men.
Vast treasures and rare opportunities
of loot await the future conqueror of
Siam, says the Nouvelle Revue. The
royal city, in which is to be found the
palace of the King of Siam, reminds the
European visitor of conventional fairy
land, or tho world of the Arabian
Nights" Everything that in Europe is
made of glass or china is there made of
solid gold. The very pagoda in which
the royal family worship, and which is
situated in the gardens of the palace,
is made of marble studded with gems
and the precious metals. A statuette Of
Buddha cut out of an emerald of fam
tactic size, said to have once belonged
to the Laotians. is in the temple, and is
surrounded by bushes of gold and silver.
inclosing gold statues six feet high, each
statue being closed in silk garments stud
ded with gems. No stranger has ever pen
etrated into the kings own private apart
ments, but, according to the natives, they
are decorated in an ever. more splendid
fashion than are the pagoda and the pub
lie or state rooms. The present King of
Siam, Chula-Long- Korn, is an exception
ally enlightened humanitarian-that is to
say. he has practically abolished torture.
and the ordinary criminal is beheaded
instead Of being slowly tortured to death
as was once customary. The Siamese
are a lively people. and greatly enjoy
playing games and taking part in popu-
lar feres. On certain great occasions n
sort of regatta takes place, in which the
whole population, headed by the king AMI
his children, take part. NJ Mury declares
that at the present time Great Britain
may be said to absorb all the commerce
between Siam and the outer world. ami
for the hundredth time in the Nouvelle
Revue the reader is urged to take up his
staff and help to make France a great
colonial nation.
Awarded