The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1896-07-02
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bells In a house In Switzerland was
traced to a spider whose web had con-
nected two wires.
Fashions in dogs change as often as
anv other fad. This year dacshunds
and poodles seem to have the call. ana
pugs are relegated to obscur1ty.
Light acts upon the brain. and those
who sleep with their blinds up VIII
find that. In summer time, when so few
hours are really dark, their sleep is not
refreshing.
The county clerk Of Fresno, Cal, is
in a quandary. A will written III
Chinese has been filed with him for rec
ord and he doesn't know how to copy
it into his book.
1t is estimated that the average NE
insurance In Cape Colony is about s1z'
per head, a very remarkable showing
and indicative of activity among IN
Surance men.
The railroads of Mexico are, with
one exception, of American make, ana
/ the engineers, train and station ofnclais
are nearly all Americans. The -)ads
are all well managed.
! The Russian Government Is expected
to introduce the Gregorian calendar III
1900. This may be done suddenly or
by emitting the Goth of February In
the first twelve leap years.
The Mexican police attend closely TO
their duties and are very polite. AT
night each policeman carries lantern
and his lantern is set out on the SIDE
walk opposite wherever he may be.
A city ordinance in New York limits
the number of hand organs to 1,5Oo
The result has been to crowd Brook
! lvn full of perambulating music boxes,
to the great annoyance of the people.
The quantity Of bananas shipped
from West Indian and adjacent ports
into the United States now amounts to
! 100000 or 100000 punches an
nually, valued at considerably over
S2O,OO0,OO0.
A "cafe chantant and May day revel,
I
Weimar opened the proceedings" was
the method by which money was raised
for a children's hospital in London
lately.
der construction in Japan, and the Lon
! don Times says there are signs that
/ American engineering and material will
be preferred to English hereafter by
the japanese.
1t is understood that the government
Of New Zealand will introduce meas
ure for the exclusion Of consumptive
! persons on the same lines as that deal
/ ing with smallpox, making masters
Of ships liable.
Mr.. Gladstone's political life, as rep
resented in the pages Of Punch, is soon
to be published In London. He had
been nine years in Parliament before
Punch appeared. The first picture Of
him are by Richard Doyle and John
Leech.
There has been a great falling OF in
the use of shoe buttons. The manu-
facture was formerly very profitable,
but owing to cutting Of prices, the dis
use Of the button shoe by men, and, to
some extent, by women, the profits
have been leSsened.
Buttons are the jewelry of China.
The manufacture was originally intro
duced into Canton by foreigners, but II
has been allowed to pass almost en-
tirely into native hands, and last year
over 100000 pounds Of brass buttons
were actually exported by the Can
tOneSe.
The value Of some preservative pro-
cess for the protection Of telegraph
poles imbedded in the ground is best
appreciated when it is known that the
telegraph poles of Europe alone are
estimated to have cost $50,OOO,OOO and
that the sum of $1,0OO,OOO year is ex-
pended for renewals.
A German naval captain has invent
ed a new lifebuoy. 1t consists Of a
large cork ring, capable Of floating
three persons, and provided with a
kind Of net, which affords a support to
the feet. It's principal feature, how
ever, is that it is fitted with an electric
light and a small supply Of provisions
The new Uganda postage stamp
ought to ''fetch" the philatelists. One
of the assistant commissioners has es-
tablished sort Of native post and pre-
pared a series Of typewriter postage
stamps When used they are crossed
with a pen and ink mark instead of
aing defaced in the ordinary manner
The Canadian press is enthusiastic
In its support of the petition to FL. R. Fl
the Prince of Wales for the restoration
of the One Hundredth Royal Canadians
to Canada. All over the country the
question is being taken up with the
greatest keenness, and the petition
forms have been distributed broad.
cast over the dominion.
Professor Carl Barus recently com
municated to the National Academy of
Sciences a plan for the measurement
Of the velocity of wind by computation
from the pitch Of the note caused by
the wind passing over a wire of given
size at given temperature. By plac.
ing several wires at angles to one an.
other the direction may be approx.
mately determined.
Outside the walls of Jerusalem is a
lepers' hospital tended by deaconesses
from the German religious houses
Year after year these heroic women
without pretentiousness, without any
trumpeting Of their work, almost un.
known to the world, have waited upon
lepers, while themselves literally dying
by inches. Their courage has only