The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-13
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

/ elusive property OF any particular cOun-
| uy- Inc rule OF International law Is that
I every country bordering on the sea has
I the exclusive sovereignty over such sea
] 10 the extent Of three miles from its
within three miles Of some other coun-
tries.
Sixty years ago an Austrian cook
finding herself dull in the kitchen. sang
and danced in there for her own amuse-
| ment The cooks mistress, having sur
! prlsed ner during the impromptu dance,
! she was requested to dance and sing
/ in the presence Of Joseph Neruda, who
/ took notes Of the performance. The polka
| passed into Prague, then to Miena, and
] plenty Of animated music was soon writ
| ten But the real polka mania did not
| Dreak out IN PaIls TIL the year loe4, when
| II was danced with great success by a Sc
| lect few at the Sale Valentino, in the
| premises which IN time were occupied
/ by the New Circus. Crowds used 70 as
! semble round the dancers to admire the
| Inherent pretty figures Of the true polka,
/ which was then acquired with difficulty,
I and was not the simple close and rush
/ ing dance at present known by that name
| 50 popular was the polka in Paris that
nearly half a century ago the dancinS
| masters had for clients ladies and gentle
| men OF all classes, and even judges. law
| yers and doctors did not disdain to take
| lessons in what was then considered as
| one Of the greatest requirements for a
| ball room dancer.
] "A ClOch winch IL Is CAdlmeut VIII run
/ for a century, or at least fifty years. with
out attention. has been designed by a grad
| uate of Trinity College, and is now located
| in the physical laboratory at that place.
| The clock is run entirely by electro-mag-
nets, which are actuated by current from
| an earth battery. The pendulum, which
/ is constructed after the usual pattern,
| with a wooden shaft and heavy cylindri-
| cal weight for a bob, is suspended as usual,
| and runs the clock by the force of gray
/ ity. At each swing Of the pendulum
current is sent around a pair of electro
magnets, first in one direction and at the
4 other end of the swing in the opposite d1-
/ reCtiOn. thus giving the pendulum pull
| in alternate directions. If these pulls are
| sufficiently strong to overcome the loss
by friction of the moving parts OF the
| clock 1t will continue to Vibrate as long
| as current is supplied. The earth battery,
| which Is built in the ground near the build
| ing where the clock is set up, consists of
| several old boiler crate bars as one cleo
| trode, and several bushels of coke as the
| other. The battery will last it is claim
| ed, for an indefinite period, and should run
the clock fifty or one hundred years.
The dog. the bear and the monkey
| eat the greatest variety of food. The
| dog is so thoroughly the companion of
! man that. while he has preferences, he will
| eat almost anything that his master eats,
| and therefore may be said to be as ON
| nivOrous as man. on a level with the
| dog, and possibly surprising him in this
| regard, the bear subsists on a very va
| ried diet The ursidal, or bear tribe, APP
| pears to be capable of sustaining exist
| ence upon purely animal or purely Vege-
| table diet, or to be carniverous or vegeta-
! rian at will. They will cOntentedly feed
| and thrive on fruit, honey nuts, snatls,
! roots, and other similar articles of diet,
| and rarely attack the higher animals ex-
| cept when driven by privation. The griz-
| Fly bear and the Polar bear are great
| flesh eaters, but in summer the former
| feeds largely on acorns, and the latter
| eats grass greedily. Their teeth, like
| those of human beings, are suitable for a
| mixed diet. They have the sharp cutting
| or pointed tooth of the carnivOra. Rev.
! J. G. Wood shows that monkeys feed Oh
| animal and vegetable food; the animal
! portion being chiefly composed of various
| insects, eggs, birds and cOckroaches.
! The vegetable diet ranges through most
! of the edible fruits.
Owing TO the breakup of feudalism
| and the conversion of large tracts Of ara
! BILE land into pasturages, England was in
| Tested with large numbers of idle people
| in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
! and very stringent laws were passed 10 re
| press them. In the 22nd year of Henry the
| Eighth it was enacted that people who
were taken in begging should be tied to a
| cart and beaten with whips till the blood
| came, and this whipping was to be repeat
/ ed until they put their bodies to labor.
| If they added fortune telling and quack
| medicine to their idleness, they were liable
| not only to be scourged, but TO have both
| ears cut off. Undergraduates of the univer-
| stiles of Oxford and Cambridge might beg
| If they were authorized under the seal of
| the chancellor or vice-chancellor, other
| wise they were to be whipped Even these
| severe penalties were found to be ineffec-
tive, for, only five years later, a law was
passed which provided that "the sturdy
| vagabond" who by the previous act was
punishable with mutilation of the ear,
! should if found the third time offending,
suffer pains and execution Of DEATH
| a felon and an enemy of the common
| wealth" This law proved Intellectual
| through over-severity, and in the follow
| ing reign it was enacted that persistence
| ing and perpetual slavery; but this obnox-
| 1Ous law was soon after repealed, and mill
| der punishments were adopted. A still
| more rational policy gradually came into
| vogue, and in the famous Poor laws OF
Elzabeth, the parish authorities We're
| and no penalties appear to have been con-
| sidered necessary.
The inaccessibility of the rookeries
frequently involve seal hunters in dan
| ger, says writer in the New York
| Press. The seals are shot from a pro-
montory. Then the hunter is lowered on
| a rope by his comrades 100 or 200 feet to
| the slippery waVe-washed rocks below.
| where the dead seal lies. He quickly
! SKINS the animal. small boat from the
| snip rides outside the surf line ready to
| carry the hides away. A small line is
Heated ashore to the hunter, who ties the
NOES TO 1t one by one, and the boat is
| loaded, the hunter is drawn to the top of
! the cliff, and another rookery is sought
| for more game. The surf about these
| deep sea Islands is varv biot ond i ii 49,
of the obstacles of the seal hunter The
long stiff hairs from the SEALS muzzle are
| highly priced by Cinnamon, and large
quantities are exported to China The
| Chinese mount these hairs with gold for
use as toothpicks and earspoons. other
parts of the animals are dried and ship
| ped to China for use by the native doc
tors, who claim that they effect marve-
| lous cures with the medicine made from
| these parts. The sea lions are rather cute
| IN tnelr way. Ihey enjoy great deal of
| sea fowl occasionally. When the guils are
| flying overhead a lion will dive and swim
| some distance under water from the pofnt
where he disappeared. He approaches
| the surface carefully, allowing merely the
| tip of his black nose to show above the
surface: BY giving his body a rotary mo-
| ton this nose zip makes circles on the
| ocean and, to the eye OF the flying gull
| resembles a waterbug at play With a
| swish the deceived gull rushes down from
| its station above like a BAH from a eun
! The lion sinks d few inches and as the
! gull hits the water with tremendous i'm
| petus the jaws close merc1lessly on the sea
! fowl and It is hauled below the surface