The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


black slowly before an approaching rain.
while in fine weather 1t is notified with
spots of white.
1t may be that fishes don't know one
another individually, but they know their
own kind. says the New York sun Six
weeks ago there was placed in the great
pool at the aquarium single herring
weighing about a quarter of a pound, an
| odd FISH that came in with some other
stock. One day last week another little
herring was placed In the pool. The great
pool is 50 feet In diameter, but it was
only a few minutes before the two little
behring's had found each other and were
swimming around the pool in company.
Half a dozen crevalie were placed in the
big pool one morning recently, and in the
afternoon of the same day two or three
more. Ten minutes later they were all
scooting around the pool together
"A Paris correspondence writes: The
Gobelins are engaged on tapestry for the
Empress Alexandra which they expect to
finish by May l, 1900. 1t represents the
original painting of Marie Antoinette and
her children that hangs at the Elysee. The
painter was Nine. Vigee Lebrun. The
young empress was greatly struck by its
beauty and thought it deeply interesting.
NJ. Faure made a note Of This, and asked
the fine arts minister to consult with the
directors of the Gobelins as to the best
means to secure a good copy Three of
the best artist weavers We're set to work
last February. They work alternately so
as TO be busy only two days in the week.
and thus keep their eyes fresh. They
are now at the figures. The dyeng and
sorting of the woods was a tedious and
troublesome work.
The Yerkes telescope the most power
| full one ever constructed, reveals nothing
| new concerning the moon, says the Phil
adelphia Ledger. 1t only brings out in
better detail the innumerable craters
| creVasses, hills and ravines which go to
make up the rugged surface of the planet
| but no trace of vegetation or of water
| and, consequently, no signs of life. This
| is what astronomers long ago decided to
| be the condition of the moon, and every
| additional discovery there only confirms
| the conclusion. 1t has been supposed that.
| as the moon always turns the same side
| to the earth there might be forests and
| streams and living beings on the side that
| is turned away from US: but no indication
! of an atmosphere can be discovered, and
! ii is inconceivable that an atmosphere can
/ exist on only one side of the moon. If
| there were one, it must encircle the satel-
| lite and since it does not, there can be
| no atmosphere, and, therefore, no water,
| no vegetation and no life The moon is
| a dead WOrld-a type, the astronomers
/
| our own world must become in the course
! of time, though not until long after the
| present generation has ceased to take an
| interest in its affairs.
| 1t is reported that a Union Pacifis en-
gineer has a fashion of making unique
pocket pieces for his friends. He runs a
| passenger engine west, and when oilng
| previous to a run he drops a nickel scent
| piece into the brass oil cup on the cross
| head of the piston rod. His run is 800
| miles. When he reaches his destination
| he unscrews the top of the oil cup and
| takes a nickel out. 1t has been meta
| morphosed into a curious little button,
! with an evenly-turned rim, within which
| on one side is the counteFsunk head of
Liberty, Invested of her stars, and on
| the other side, the 'V'' and wreath. Tbs
edge of the coin is as perfect as if it had
been pounded on an anvil by an expert
| silversmith. The perfection of this is
| due to the even vibration the coin has
| been subjected to. The motion of the
| piston is horizontal and it travels forty
eight inches back and forth, with every
| revolution of the wheels. The interior
| of the oil cup is round and the edges of
| the nickel, as It travels back and forth
in the oil, striking the sides of the cup,
are turned over and pounded into perfect
| roundness. Sometimes a nickel is left
in the oil cup during the round trip, or
GOO miles. When taken out 1t is a nicke.
bullet; perfect polished sphere.
All the ships of the transatlantic lines
are coaled by practically the same crude
method says Casters Magazine. Barges
| of about $50 tons capacity are brought
alongside of the ship, booms are rugged,
and, by tackle controlled by donkey en-.
CINE, steel buckets are lowered to the
barge, filed by four men, and hoisted to
a projecting platform, where two men
dump the bucket and shovel the coal into
the portfolio. 1t is then taken by other
men and slowed away In the ships bunk
ers. Five and a half of these buckeI
| loads equal ton, and tally by count of
the buckets is the only record to show
how much coal has been taken aboard In
coaling the steamship St Paul forty-eight
men are employed inside the ship The
average amount of coal bunkered Is 300
tons; the time required to unload ana
stow is about forty hours, and the total
average cost of the work is 1000 Efforts
to reduce this expense has been produc
tive of many ingenious mechanical de-
vices, and the inquiry is often raised, why
are not these used generally? In a mod
ern ship fuel must be stored wherever
/ room can be found that is not required
or available for other purposes. Coal can
not be received on board faster than IL
can be stored away in the bunkers which
in the case of a modern liner is at the
rate of about one and one-half tons per
man per hour, so that devices t.. deliver
II at rate of from so to 500 tons per
hour are useless. More primitive meth
DDS prevail in ports of less Importance
than those at either end of the Atlantic
lines. In the West Indies coaling is al
most exclusively done by negro women,
who pour in a ceaseless stream over the
gang planks, each carrying about 100
pounds of coal in a basket poised on her
head. In Mediterranean ports the work
is done in similar and primitive manner.
but by men.
The cowboys on r. B. Mosely's
ranch, north of the north fork of the
Cheyenne river. South Dakota are speed
ing after their masters herds on bicycles.
"Cattlemen,' says an account "have al
ways considered Mosey a crank and
dreamer of dreams, but they conceded tina,
he had outdone himself when he resolved
to furnish a part of his herdsmen with
bicycles, instead of the tough bronchos.
so characteristic Of the COW country
Mosely, to do him justice, never said the
| experiment would DrOVe e1eoese