The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-27
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


could be organized elsewhere in the Unit
ed States, Milwaukee being the canary
bird breeding city of the country and hav-
ing an association of breeders and train
ers composed of Germans. Competition was
in the quality of the song, aud the judg-
ing was an interesting task. Each bird is
taken to a small ROOM The doors being
closed, and the judges sitting on different
sides of the table upon which the bird is
placed. Should the bird fail TO sing, no
prize is awarded. When it does sing how
ever there are twelve qualities of song
that receive markings, and four faults
The meLowness, spontaneity, range of
voice, the MARBLE, absence of abrupt
change from one side to another, and the
continuity are points that receive atten-
ton. When the bird peeps too much before
beginning to sing, when its music is shrill
or If there is a hitch in execution, discount
ing marks are placed against it.
"A tidal phenomenon occurred in the
river on Monday for which the wise wa
termen can give no explanation, says the
Chatham On. b Chronicle The young
flood rushed up the river like a tidal wave
or bore, with no easterly storm outside to
account for it's tremendous energy. A fish
erman who hauled in his nets before the
ebb was spent was astonished fifteen
minutes later, to see his stakes swaying
violently from side to- side under the in
tiuence of the flood. The fish came in
great masses borne along helplessly by
the rushing tide, and filled the nets and
burst them or carried them away. EX-
perienced men who OWNED a big catch OF
smelts as a result of the strong tidal cur
rent, hauled their nets up in a few Nmiu
utes after setting them, but few were SO
canny as this. Nets were split, torn and
in some cases carried away by the weight
of fish, and some of the stakes were lifted
i 4
carried off, nets and all. The tremen-
dous tidal energy did not last long enough
to make it an exceptionally high tide,
which adds to the mystery of the phenom-
enon. Some few fisherman made enor-
nous catches, but a great many suffered
severe losses.
The adoption of human infants by wild
and carnivorous quadrupeds says Lippin-
colts Magazine has obtained more or less
credence among the vulgar from the ear
liest ages; and while such to-day are for
the most part pooh-poohed as idle tales,
the skeptics have little idea of the evil
dence that has been offered in substantial
ton thereof. Half century ago the icon
ociast who would have dared question that
Romulus and Remus owed their nuturing
to a she-wolf would have been laughed to
scorn by most lovers of the classics. TWen-
ty-five years later the animal was substi-
named Lupa-a most inglorious conclusion,
derived solely from imagination To-day
the tendency to ignore all sentiment causes
such ideas to receive scant courtesy and,
when sentiment is introduced as evidence,
is met by the undeniabie statement that
the same miracle is accredited with pre-
serving the lives of many gods and heroes
of antiquity Consequently, if a single
case of a child being fostered and reared
by animals can be substantiated beyond
question, the result will be to rehabiitate
as hitory much literature that, solely on
this account, has been relegated to the
realm of fiction.
Some of the peculiar difficulties attend
ing present methods in vogue for sub-ma
rine working are claimed to be overcome
by Capt. Nelson's new diving apparatus.
In an account of this novel apparatus, CIV
en- in the Boston Herald, the shape is de-
scribed as being that of boiler, and made
in sections, so that it may be heightened
to depth of sixty faIhoms of water; the
lower section is of heavy boiler iron, to
Withstand the enormous pressure which
is felt at a great depth 1t is equipped with
movable arms and slides that can be work
ed at any angle and utilized to lift heavy
material from the bed of the ocean; there
is also an immense steel screw in the side
of the cylinders, which is used for break
ing headlights in sunken vessels. The div
ing apparatus is ballasted at the bottom
and can easily be lowered and raised, and
the air will be sufficient for three or four
men, who can operate from the diving tube
at the same time, remaining at work
without danger for hours A number of
headlights will supply light inside
as well as outside. and If night
work is required electric lights or
oil lamps will supply illumination
for the interior of the cylinder, also for re-
Election through the headlights, so that the
work of wrecking can be prosecuted. Com
munication between the men at work and
those above as by speaking tube or tele-
phone.
-Artesian wells sunk in the desert ap-
pear to find an abundant supply of water
without going very deep for it, and this
fact may in time put a new face on des-
ert conditions, involving important politi-
cal, climatic and economical consequences,
says the New York Tribune The English
have begun sinking them along the Ber-
ber-Suakim road, finding water there as
abundant as ii was in the regions near the
Nile when their first experimental wells
We're put down. Flowing under the Sa-
haren sands there may be water enough 70
fertilize GASES all over its sterile expanse
and rescue it in a measure from its his
toric barrenness and desolation. Some
years ago a French engineer proposed to
cut canal from the Mediterranean to the
lower desert levels, thus creating a new
inland sea, or, rather restoring an old
one; but for some reason the project was
abandoned. Local irrigation by means of
artesian borings is a more judicius expedI-
ent and, the English having pointed the
way in this direction, the French are quite
likely to follow 1t. only a narrow desert
belt separates their possessions in North
and Middle Africa. reaching from the Med
iterranean to the Niger, and it is quite
worth their while to fertlize IL and plant
it with palm groves and date orchards il
possible, at any rate TO provide water to
supply their present caravans and perhaps
their future locomotives.
Sir John Lubbock delivered a lecture on
''Ants" at the rooms of the Geological So
city, Hanover square, west. saws the
London Chronicle Sir Dyce Duck
worth presided. The lecture was under
the auspices of the Royal British Nurses
Association. Sir John described his method
OF observation. He had made the ants
which he kept for observation so comfort
able that they lived as nearly as possible
under their natural conditions He found
NuNa