The morning news., 1897-05-02
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

IS 10 Degln next month a period of trial
a Brest, will be the first three-screw IRON
clad battieship in the French navy. The
three-screw French cruiser Dupuy de
LONE did not prove success.
The Catholic Review tells how a tu-
NOR was recently cured by a religious prac-
tice known IN the Catholic church as de
votion to the holy face of Christ, and it
editor1aity suggests to its readers suffer-
ing from bodily ills to have recourse to the
same method of cure.
David J. Cumnins, one of the largest
peach-growers in Delaware, says that the
peach trees of Delaware were hurt very
little by the recent cold snap. 1.-The or
chards are full enough. and the fruit is
apparently extra fine. The peaches now
are pretty we'll out of danger in this sec
ton, and 1 expect satisfactory yield"
The new seal of the New York Uni
versity has the old motto, ITO endure and
to excel" Perstare ct Praestare) and a
representation of youths testing their en-
durance in a foot race and striving to ex-
eel in their efforts to reach the goal first
In the upper part of the seal, as a. sym
boi of the city, is seen the outstretched
arm of the Statue of Liberty.
Public school teachers in San Fran
cisco are required by recent state law
to join a pension association. Each will
pay 81 a month into the treasury, and will
be allowed to retire after thirty years SER
vice with an annuity of $500 a year Teach
ers disabled before they have served thir-
ty years will be allowed proportionate
annuity. The fund will also be augmented
by fine for absence on the part of
teacher. A reserve of $4,000 will be ac-
quired by retaining one-fourth of the re-
ceipts a the outset.
"A man named Gilbert and his sister,
from the west, are going to purchase
small farm near Newton, Mass. on the
products of which exclusively they expect
to live, says the New York Tribune. They
will raise their own food and make their
own clothing. They purpose to sell moth
ing and buy nothing. Mr. Gilbert was
employed as an architect on some of the
worlds fair buildings. He has suffered
from dyspepsia and nervousness, and at
tributes his illness to the tension of mod
ern life. His sister is a graduate of
high school, and has been persuaded by
her brother to join in the experiment.
The disposition In London to look with
coldness on American visitors this season
is referred to by a correspondent of the
Boston Transcript, who says that the pro-
prietors of some of the big hotels in the
west end. which are ordinarily more than
HdIl IlleQ AlLl Americans from May 10
October declare openly that no Americans
will be admitted until after the middle of
July. The proprietor of one hotel is thus
quoted: We don't want Americans to
come to us this season. We are refusing
all their applications. This is to be an Eng
lish celebration, and we are reserving all
our accommodation for our English pa
irons"
-Pharsala (Pharsales on the map; al
so Pharsalos and Phasalus on one or an
other of the best maps) had a population
of 2293 in 1882 says the Detroit Journal.
1t is on the extreme southern edge of the
eastern half of the Thessalian plain. The
country south of it is very rugged and
broken and it is said to offer great ad-
vantages for defense. The tobacco man
ufactures of Pharsala are of some i'm
portance. On a hight $50 feet above most
of the town are the ruins of the Acropolis
of the ancient city A river passes the
city on the north, and it was in the neigh
borhood of this river that the battle be-
tween Caesar and Pompey was fought.
"A cricket yarn which is having a fine
run in Australia refers to the use made
of cricket ball by some prisoners who
were allowed to exercise in the yard of
country gaol, says the Lon
don Firefly. Drives over the gaol wall
became so frequent that the prisoners did
little else but field and throw the ball
back again. AT last the governor became
suspicious and insisted on examining the
bali. 1t was of india-rubber and remark
ably light for its size The explanation
was that the inside was composed of to-
bacco. The halves of the ball screwed to-
gether neatly, and it is now said to be
one of the treasures of the gaol museum.
-Fifty-six years seem to be a fatal age
to people of genius and the great ones of
the earth, says the Inverness Courier
Among those who have died at that age
may be mentioned Dante the Italian poet
Hugh Capet, King of France Henry III,
King of England; Henry ", German en-
peror; Paganini, the violinist; Alexander
Pope, the poet; George Sale, the Oriental
list; Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome;
Frederick 1, King of Prussia Maria
Louisa, Empress of France; Robert Ste
phenson. the inventor of the locomtive;
the elder Pliny julius Caesar, Charles
Kingsley, Van Tromp, Dutch admiral;
Abraham Lincoln, Marryatt, the novelist;
Frederick II, German emperor. and a long
list of others.
Sheet lightning is said to be more fire.
quent in Madras than in any part of the
world, says Lloyd's Weekly. There 1t may
sometimes be seen every evening for
months together. 1t has been suggested
that the effect is due to the reflection of
distant lightning. but it has been ascer-
tanned that it consists of an actual dis
charge of electricity from cloud to cloud,
or between two portions of the same
cloud, and takes place in the upper por-
tion of low-lying clouds. The time of the
occurrence depends on when the sea
breeze sets in, the lightning taking place
about three hours later. An authority
states that the electrical condition of the
clouds may be accounted for by the fact
that the sea breeze is moist, while the
land breeze is dry and dusty.
One of the most striking sights that
takes the attention of the traveller in ia
pan is that OF the wooden sandals worn
by the S5,O00,00O of people, says the Bos-
ton Journal. These sandals have a sep
arate compartment for the great toe and
make clankng noise on the street. Straw
slippers are also worn, and traveller
starting out on a journey will strap a sup
ply OF them on his back. that he may put
on new pair when the old is worn out.
They cost but cent and a half a pair
They are rights and lefts and leave the