The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


and weighs probably two tons The whole
is under a huge glass case, access to it
being gained by a sliding panel. This
scale is so perfectly adjusted that it can
be made to weigh a grain of dust, or 400
pounds of gold. A postage stamp placed
on one of the two weighing ledgers will
move the index six inches. If the weight
placed upon the scale is beyond the ca
pacity an electric bell is set to ringing,
the machine, almost with human voice,
declining to execute a task of which it
is incapable.
There is absolutely no proof whatever
that any person has ever seen a Banshee,
the most noted spirit of Irish folklore
yet we have portraits Of both the friend,
ly and unfriendly Banshee. The former
kind is represented as being a young and
beautiful female. The face IS spirituelle
with hair, eyes and complexion ranging
from the blonde to the brunette types. She
floats in the air, raising her voice softly
and melodiously TO the sad refrain that
gives warning of the death that is to oc-
cur. The unfriendly Banshees are as re-
pulsive as the other kind are attractive
1t is still a woman, but old, wrinkled and
wicked, with all evidence of beauty, good
feeling and kindness gone from her face.
We give these few particulars so that
any of our readers may know Banshee
when they see it.
The human biped has developed a
drink" out of some queer beverages.
Some peoples have used sugar cane, 9TH
ers olives and beets, and even some kinds
of grasses, herbs and flowers. In early
times strong drinks were made from the
saps of spruce trees, fir trees, birch trees
and ash trees; even the willow, poplar,
sycamore and walnut have yielded pleas
ant drinks. The Japanese obtain intoxi-
eating beverages from plums, also from
the flowers of the motherwort and peach.
The Chinese produce an alcoholic stimu-
liant from mutton, while the Apaches of
Southern Arizona make a whisky from
the sap of a small species of cactus.
wine is also made from the banana, which
is made by pressing the fruit through
sieve, after which it is made into cakes,
dried in the sun and dissolved in water
when wanted for use.
The rate of insanity is very low in
Bokhara. There is a very good reason
for this condition of things, though the
method of cure scarcely makes it plain.
When a man begins to show Stiffness a
Mullah or Ishan, as he is called, is
brought to the man, who reads over the
patient for a week or two prayers from
the Koran. If this proves unavailiug the
patient is taken to the Ishans house,
where he is picketed to post in the yard,
like horse. and Kept on a low diet for
couple of months. AS a further step,
he is beaten while the prayers are going
on. and if the poor creature shows evil
dences of pain, it is regarded as a favora-
Bile sign. He remains chained until con-
sidered quite incurabe then the parents
are obliged to lock him up. If he has
no parents he is turned out and allowed
to run loose till some one takes compass
sion on him. It is said a: ravng mailman
has never been known in Bokhara.
Copies of the Gutenberg Bible are val
liable adjuncts to a library. Brayton Ives
paid Hamilton Cole $1,000 for his copy
some years ago, which, while it is not the
highest price paid for one of these Bibles,
is probably as much, if not more, that it
will ever command again. The only other
| copy in America, now in the Lenox Ii
brary, was purchased in 1S47 for $500 It's
| duplicate from the Munich library sold
at Augsburg in 1858, for 1886 forms The
| Bishop of Casbels copy sold at auction
! in London in 1858, for f595, and twenty
nine years afterward went into Lord
| Crawford s library at a price of e. $50
| The Perkins copy on vellum, sold at auc-
| ton in London in 1873 for $780, and the
| one on paper for &, $50 Lord HopetOwn's
| copy. which was found among a lot of
rubbish when the library was prepared
| for sale in 1882 fetched an even $1,000.
| The highest price the book ever command
| being sold at auction in 1884, fetched 1890.
The ease with which fire may be
| started and the apparently inexplicable
| causes which may produce one are both
| emphasized by a happening in an uptown
| house last week. says the New York Post.
! The mistress of the house was seated in
| the extension parlor in the afternoon alone
| and perfectly quiet, when without warn
ing hanging bookshelf broke
from its fastenings and slipped
| to the floor On it's way it
struck a small table standing beneath
| it and knocked over a box of matches, ig-
| hitting two or three of them. These llew
| off, one touching the light gauze scarf
which had hung from the table, which
| fell blazing against the curtain near by.
| The frightened screams of the mistress
| brought a servant, and it took energetic
measures on the part of the two women
| to extinguish the rapidly spreading fire.
| Had the room been untenanted, as it had
| been all the morning and would have been
| again fifteen minutes later, it would have
| been a case of fire department succor TO
have saved the house.
| One of the most striking Incidents in
| connection with the departure of Prince
| George of Greece for Crete occurred just
/ as the torpedo boat on which he had en-
| barked had commenced to slowly steam
/
| teh latter, as far as the eye could see,
| was simply black with people, all of them
| cheering their favorite and shouting wish
| es of good luck in the popular and pa
| triotic enterprise which he was taking i'm
| hand. Prince George is not saint. nor
| yet very religious man, and he is alb
| solutely free from all affectation and pose.
| Yet some chord seemed to strike him as
| he stood there alone at the stern of his
| small craft, and, suddenly barring his
| head, he made, with a sweeping gesture,
| three times in succession, the sign of the
| cross in the customary Greek fashion.
! There was an instant hush as If by en-
| chantment. Every man, woman and child
| of that mighty crowd followed his exam
| pie in making the sign of their faith. and
then the cheering burst forth with renew
| ed and with a hundred fold increased en-
| thusiasm. and intensity as the boat slowly
| made her way out to sea.
1t is probably not generally known
that when butter was first known the an
| clients buttered their bodies instead of
their bread. II is related by Plutarch
that while a Spartan lady was visiting