The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-03
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

the school board of Maryhin and Fossil
park, N. B., has given a most extraordin-
airy decision, viz, that mothers are not
parents! Some Episcopalian parents asked
that their children might be exempted
from learning the Presbyterian catechism.
The sapient board have granted the re-
quest in all cases where the father signed
the request, and refused it where only the
mother had asked the favor. The hand
that rocks the cradle evidently does not
rule the world IN the north.
The management of the recently com
pleted Lachine Rapids plant, on the st.
Lawrence, announces its intention of en-
tering the field of domestic heating in
competition with anthracite coal at IS per
ton, which is the price which obtains in
this district. The comparatively high coal
rate, combined with the low cost of ,4-e
electric power, as developed by this water
power plant, Will permit of its adoption
for cooking purposes, at least on the score
of economy. with all its acknowledged adj
vantages as an additional inducement
About $500 horsepower has been OBJ
tanned in this plant at cost of nearly
100000.
"A curious proposed railway, of which
a working model has been exhibited in
London, consists of a row of columns,
surmounted by a double string of rails on
which runs truck carrying a car or sa-
loon suspended from each side The novel
feature is the method of operating by a
kind of travelling or inclined plane. The
rails are raised at the starting point by by
draul1c rams working IN the supporting
columns, and as the double car sliding
down the incline reaches other points the
track beneath is raised in like manner,
forming successive inclines. The hy-
draulic rams act automatically on the ap-
proach of the car.
Ten thousand live Holsters formed the
queer cargo recently delivered from a
Spanish schooner to the order of firm
at Marseilles, according to the Shipping
World. The feeding of such numerous
living freight was got over by the simple
expedient of placing the crustaceans in
a compartment of the hold through which
sea water was allowed to flow, carrying
with 1t the necessary food supplies in the
form of the small fish and iRfusoria dear
to the crustacean palate. Whatever else
the cargo may have comprised, the lob
ster portion would, l should imagine be
exempt from any attempts at broaching-
fooling around with 10000 live Holsters
would be too serious an undertaking.
This is the time of year, says the New
York Sun, when there is the greatest de-
mand for mouse traps. AS cold weather
approaches the mice seek shelter in the
houses of men, and men buy traps to catch
them. There are various kinds of mouse
traps, including those that require no set
ting and that take mice alive, and those
that require to be set and that kill the
mice. In this last class are the familiar
~ foe
made square and some round, having holes
in the sides through which the mouse
thrusts its head to get at the bait fixed
on a hook within. Traps of this kind are
called chokers. Many kinds of mouse
traps are sold by the gross or dozen. The
wood chokers, varying in size, are sold
at wholesale at so much a dozen holes.
Taking all the kinds together, there are
made in this country and sold here mil
lions of mouse traps annually, and Amer
lean mouse traps in large numbers are
exported to many foreign countries.
The prophecy of Lord Kelvin that be-
fore many years the falls of Niagara may
be dried up, and the water which now
creates them be turned into power for
supplying tens of thousands of work
shops, has called attention to the actual
power supposed to be represented by the
falls to-day, says the Pittsburg Dispatch
This is put at 100000 horsepower. An
engineering expert has tried to give a
homely illustration of what this means
He says: Suppose that pumps are placed
below the falls for pumping the water up
again to It's former level. If a man ex-
erted a force Of about twenty pounds per
stroke, and worked at a fair rate for
eight hours a day. it would take about
ten times the total population of the
United States to pump the water back as
fast as it is flowing over the falls If
100000 of us were engaged in manual
labor, the maximum amount of work we
could do could be done ten times over by
the power now going to waste. All the
work of laborers, all our actual exertions
in digging, hammering, lifting, climbing
stairs, running sewing machines or rid
ing bicycles, probably does not represent
the one-hundredth part of this stupen-
dous power"
in England, as Is generally known
the government manages the telegraph
system in connection with the postal SER
vice, but that the latter is a paying in
Vestment is not popularity known, while
the former is not, and each year shows
steadily increasing deficit. The cause of
this is not far to seek, for as soon as
the government took over the system the
service was extended to many small towns
and a uniform rate over the whole system
established, which as 1t exists to-day. is
II cents for a minimum of u words, in
Guiding the address. This low rate has
resulted in the extensive use of the tele-
graph. Including press work, over 600, 600, :
600 words are dispatched in a year, or at
the rate of about 100000 a day. A single
Office, that in London, usually handles be-
tween 200 and 10000 individual mes
sages in a day. according to the season
of the year and the amount of business
done. This, too, is exclusive of press SER
vice. Great advances have been made in
the working of the system, and not being
burdened with a monopoly, all new inven-
tons and discoveries are Immediately
tried, while in this country it is practical
ly impossible to get a new device adopted.
One of the English triumphs is the use
of what is known as a "Wheatstone au-
tomato" which can trasmit 600 words per
minute when such a high rate is desir-
able, as is sometimes the case in press SER
vice on the occurrence of some great i'm
portant political speech.