The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-02
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

D =
/ department Of Aisne.
/ The pavement in front OF the William
| H. Vanderbilt residence in New York city
/ cost over $4,000. The single stone lying
/ directly in front Is the largest known
I paving stone, and cost, transportation and
I all, 1900
! The largest permanent store Of coined
I money in the world is in the imperial
I war treasury Of Germany, a portion saved
| for emergencies from the f3D.Gg0O00 paid
~ france aIter the Franco-Prusslan
| war, and locked up in the Julius tower
| OF the fortress Of Spandau. It amounts
| 10 the value of 100000
A correspondent in Rome writes this
to an American journal: Every day of
| the year queen Margherita Of Italy has
| dish of strawberries served TO her upon
/ gold plate Indeed, the king and queen
| always dine from golden dishes and the
/ king fayorite Wand Is arrichokes cook
I ca with uVers and combs of chickens
The preparation of peppermint is es-
pecially an American industry, says Nee
hans Monthly. The peppermint is cut
when in bloom. Ike hay dried placed in
close wooden watts and steamed The oil
cells burst and the oil passes upward
with the steam, which is condensed and
| conducted into a receiver, where the oil
rises and is dipped off. 1t takes about
SD pounds of dry peppermint to produce
! one pound of oil. An acre of land yields
from six 10 ten pounds of oil, often more
even as high as fifty pounds. New York
and Michigan produce the most.
-Meerschaum is extracted in much the
same way as coal. Near Eski-Shehir. in
Asia Minor. an important station on the
AnatOlian railway where rich deposits of
meerschaum are found, pits from twenty
hVe TO 100 feet deep are dug, and rs soon
as the vein is struck horizontal galleries,
some times of considerable length, are
made. The stone as extracted is called
| ham-tash trough bloeD, and is soft
enough to be easily cut with a knife 1t
IS white, with a yellowish tint and is COW
cred with red, clayey soil. The manip-
ulation required before il is ready for eX-
port is long and costly.
"A test is being made in New orleans
with an electric alarm signal and indi-
Gator for trolley lines says the New York
Post Ii is an ARRANGEMENT by which
car gives warning of its coming one block
ahead, by displaying a red signal and ring
ing bell on box at the corner of the
lntersectlng streets, and is designed to
| lessen the Liability of collision with other
vehicles. The signaling is effected by
means of double trolley strung along
side OF the regular wire. Upon the end
of the trolley is attached an extra wheel,
which is arranged to run on this auxiliary
trolley. This extra wire, beginning, as ii
does, a short distance from each corner,
connects with a little bell and a glass
box attached to the post on the next cor
ner. As soon as the auxiliary trolley hits
the wire, which, of course, is not charged,
| the current is conveyed from the regular
trolley to it. and from thence to the
corner, where the signal is given to We
| hiCles and pedestrians that q car is com
ing within a block.
"A glass tombstone stands in but one
place in the United States and that is in
the cemetery overlooking the city of Kit
tanning, Pa, says the New Orleans Plea
yune. 1t has but recently been set up
there over the grave of Mrs Elizabeth
Pepper of Ford City, by her son, Mat
Ha i inn
| has many natural and artificial beau
ties. 1t has been handsomely laid out,
with winding walks, stately trees and
ornamental monuments. Not one of the
piles of marble and granite attracts so
much attention as the piece Of polished
glass, with its clear inscription which
| stands on a gentle slope falling gently
from the hilltop. Go into any old grave
yard, where stones We're erected more than
| 100 years ago, and it will be found to be
| the exception where all the lettering on
| the monuments can be made out The
stone has crumbled and the outlines have
| been obliterated. No effect is produced BY
weather on glass. The Pepper monument
is made of plate glass one inch thick,
| foot and a half wide, and four feet high.
1t stands in mortise cut into a cube
| or sandstone. The top of the glass is
| arched. The lettering on ii is made by
the sand blast process, and is distinct.
Here is characteristic French story:
Some months ago Nine. Meta of
! Paris came into a respectable sum of
money. She took little heed for the NOR
! row, and was wont to declare that when
| her last penny came she would solve
| the dlticulty by taking her own life.
| With this end in view she purchased
| gorgeous funeral robe and highly orna-
! mented and padded coffin, which she
| placed in her bed room. She next SEM
| for the leader of the local town band
| and handed him over fair sum of money
| on condition that he should head her
! funeral procession, and she furthermore
| drew up programme of popular and
! joyous tunes 10 be played by his orchestra
| on that occasion. A few weeks ago when
only franc or two of her little fortune
! remained, the widow, determined on end
| ing all worldly troubles, bought some
| charcoal. shut herself up in her room and
| was found dead next morning. Punctll-
| ally obedient to orders the town band an
! peared at the hour of the funeral and sa-
| luted the corpse with gay hunting
| chorus. The funeral procession then nov
! ed off a [ quick pace, TO the accountant
! ment OF a lively march. Four times was
| the cortege pulled up en- route for the Gem
| etery and at the last halt the band broke
forth with the sprightliest dance music.
IKE strains accompanying the lowering of
| the coffin into the grave.
If you look back on the history of
human progress, you will find that none
of the great epoch-making inventions has
| ever been patented, says London Truth
| The man who lit the first fre-whether
| Prometheus or the party from whom he
stole the idea-did not get a patent for
first wheel-in every sense one of the
most revolutionary inventions in the his
| tory of man. The same thing may be
| said Of the invention of soap, candles.
! gunpowder, umbrellas and the mariner s
| compass; or, to come down to our own
day, of the steam engine and the electric
| telegraph Patents are mostly concerned
with small mechanical details and i'm
I provements-it may be in candles or UNI
| brelas or it may be in the applicat ion
of steam and electricity-and BY means
of these patents second-rate inventors
| but the great ideas and discoveries which
| underlie these details have been given TO
the world gratis There is a general no
tion that If you did not protect inven-
would cease to invent, and material prog
ress would come to a standstiu But
| history does not bear this out in the
! least. Men with great mechanical gifts
| do not exercise them solely with a view
to commercial profit, any more than
| astronomers search the heavens for new
| worlds with an eye to registering patents
| and floating companies on the results of