The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-24
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

recent statistics published by the govern
ment at Berne. OF them. $4,000 are incOr-
porated IN the active service and $4,000
KEPT on the rolls 10 be called upon only
N case Of an extraordinary emergency OF
course. the regular army does not reach
30 formidable q figure. but this represents
in the field whenever her independence or
the neutrality Of her territory should be
menaeed BY any one Of the European pow
els- { Is known that the Swiss militia IS
equal to regular and standing army.
One Of the most curious facts with re-
gard 10 snakes IS that their eyes are never
closed says an exchange. Sleeping or
waking, alive or dead, they are always
wide-eyed. If we take a dead snake and
examine u closely We shall soon find the
reason-there are no eyelids. The eye IS
protected only by strong scale, which
forms part of the epidermal envelope,
ana Is cast OF in d piece with that every
time the reptile mOults. The eye plate IS
as clear and transparent as glass, and al
lows the most perfect vision. while at the
same tme (as any close observer Of the
habits Of the snake can easily discovery 1t
is so hard and tough as perfectly to pro-
tect the delicate organ within from the
Ihorns and twigs among which, in flight
from enemies. or in pursuit of prey, the
reptile so often hurriedly glides.
"A Partisan journal has recently been
discussing the subject of how women
walk. 1t accords the palm to French wo-
men, naturally, and says that English wo-
men do not Walk-they travel Their limbs
appear TO be moved by the engine of q
steamer and their feet are as big as ais
Atlantlc liner The German woman &
heavy, and the earth trembles beneath
her tread the Spanish woman Frances,
the American woman resembles the PEN
dulum Of the clock, the Italian skips, the
Russian skates, the Dutch woman rolls.
and the Belgians tramp. No woman IN
the world walks as well as the old-fasn-
Toned negroes, who were used to carry
ing pals Of water on their heads, ana
moved with such a smooth, gliding gair
that not a drop was spilled. The carry
ing OF things on the head Is said to be
the best known method of acquiring
fine walk. The New Orleans Picayune con
Guides that there is no use, however, III
going TO the trouble of acquiring a
graceful walk now, whe nthe bicycle is
becoming so much a means of lOCOmO-
ton that it is being prophesied that walk
ing VIII soon be a lost art.
Recently a remarkable record has
been established by a German paper man
ufacturing house, says the New York
Press. An experiment was made 10 see
how long il would take to convert a
tree INTO a bundle of newspapers The
result proved that il could be done in
little over two hours. AL work in the
factory was stopped and the employees
held themselves ready 10 work with rail
road speed. The mill owner and a party
Of friends proceeded to clump Of trees
outside the factory and selected a tree
for the experiment. 1t was cut down and
run on a little wagon into the factory.
There it was rapidly barked and sawn into
short lengths. These were pounded into
a mass and the fibers removed. After
ward it was turned into the big pulp
machine and made into a woody paste.
The subsequent operations We're rushed
along and the pulp was in the drying
watts in little over an hour after the
telling of the tree BY means of artificial
heat the thin layers of wood pulp were
hardened into paper and taken to print
ing machine, brought there for the pur
pose. Exactly two hours and twenty-five
minutes afterward the men were reading
the newspapers under the shade of the
sister tree to the one which had been
cut down. The operation was witnessed
and duly certified by a notary pubic, and
furnishes one Of the most remarkable rec
ords of the mechanical facilities OF the
present day
"A rim of land inclosing a fresh water
lake in the middle of the Pacific ocean is
a novelty in the way of islands, says the
Pittsburg Dispatch. There may not be
more than one such in the great ocean,
and, at any rate, that type of island is
extremely rare. This strange spot is Niu-
afou, which is quite apart from other
ocean lands. 1t lies midway between the
Fiji and Samoa groups, and is under the
government of the Tonga group, though
it is POO miles from these islands. 1t has
recently been visited by Lieut.. SomerVllle
of the British navy. Some time or other
a VOlVanic vent opened a the bottom of
the ocean, and the lava that poured out
ly OVertopped the sea. A great volcanic
mountain mad been formed, and the part
of it that came into view above the waste
OF waters was, OF course, an island. As
time went on this volcano was the scene
of one of those tremendous explosions
| that sometimes tear noun aims to pieces
1t was such a cataclysm that blew off the
| upper 5000 feet of Krakatoa some years
! ago. The explosion of Niuafou had re-
markable result. The interior of the era
| ter was blown out to considerable depth,
! leaving only the narrow rim, in this case
| a nearly perfect rinG, around the deep
| central cavity Such is the island of to-
| day. A thousand Tongans live in the five
| villages that lie along the outer slope of
| that crater wall. The drainage from the
| inner slope has partly filed the cavity,
| forming a lake whose waters though
| slightly alkaline, are drinkable. From the
! TOP OF the crater rim one looks down
| upon the peaceful lake within, with its
! three little islands and the curiously-
| shaped peninsula jutting out into IL; and
outside the rim is the ever-restless ocean.
On June 4, 1916, in that northwestern
| portion of Lancashire which is entirely
| separated by Westmoreland and the sea
| from the main part of the former county.
/ one of those fatal accidents occurred TO
| Wnlch few districts of England are LA
| BILE, says the Pittsburg Dispatch An in
| let of Morecambe Bay. in the Irish sea
| separates Ulverstone on the west of this
| firth from Fiookburg on the east. and
! between them lie UlVerstone Sands, which
! then could be crossed on foot, on horse
/ lam VI III d NuCeltu venice, DIV only
| narrow road, part of which had to be
| forded. especially # the tide was in. About
| 10 O'Clock in the evening a company Of
nine persons was crossing these sands
! TO Flookburg, on their return from the
| Ulverstone fair, and, after fording the
! channel, they missed their way and fell
| into hole that is known as the BLACK
| Scar" The horse and cart and passengers
| went down and never rose again. A sim
lar accident occurred there on May 30
1871 A party of eight young men had
| been attending the Lancashire hirings
| which term signifies a fair or market
where young men and young women as
| semble at certain seasons of the year to
! be interviewed and hired by those who
| require labore~s and servants for farming
! purposes. On this occasion these unfortu.
! nate young people were returning in
! cart by night from one of these hirings
] ana IN crossing UlverstOne Sands were
drowned. But perilous as the passage has
| proved, engineering science has sur
mounted such an obstacle. In that very
| year, 1891, the Furness railway was car
| ried over the Morecambe Sands, which
! include the Ulverstone ones and those
| IN the inlet further east, thereby estab-
| fishing easy and rapid communication be-
| tween Carnforth and Barrow-in- Furness.