The morning news., 1897-02-19
ITEMS OF INTI

AT the point where the Misl ~
flows out of Lake Itasca it is opp iiveI
wide and eighteen inches deepNen teet
The total length of railway
for passenger traffic in the Unif opeH
dom at the end of the year was II, Hlns-
OF double line and STA miles of sinseliires
In consequence of satisfactory u
obtained from experiments conductS
a, somewhat extensive scale Brazpn
planters are convinced that tea canp
prontably grown in Brazil. NJ
The increased use of tobacco in Frant
is indicated by the increased revenue D
the tobacco monopoly, which last yeah
paid the government 393 100000 francs or
IZ'OOO,OO more than in 1895.
The Jardin des Plantes at Paris
mourns the death of it's favorite female
hirpopotamus at the early age of 43. a
present to France in 1865 from HaivIn
tasha. brother of the KhediVe of EgyD:
The island of Porto Rico is more pop
ular than Cuba, quite as rich and produc-
tive and almost as disaffected The Span-
lsh government has been Obliged to in
crease ITS forces there for fear of an out
break.
-Apoplexy has increased in England in
a very remarkable degree since 1850. In
the sixteen years ending with 1866 there
-
lnha6ltants. Last year the ratio was 577
per 100000.
Lighted cigarettes were distributed the
other day among a lot of monkeys at the
zoo, in Paris, by some mischievous urch-
ms. The animals puffed away at the
weed IN evident enjoyment until the ad-
vent OF the Keeper, who put a stop to it,
Mixed assemblages of men and women
are forbidden by the social code of China.
and under no circumstances must a Chi
neSe husband and wife appear together in
public. 1t would ruin a mans reputation
70 be seen riding in the same carriage
with his wife.
Perhaps the most splendidly decorated
church in England is that of Whitney
Court, Worcestershire. It is entirely con-
structed of white marble, the pews are
chastely carved, and the pulpit is of gen
ulne Carrara marble, richly paneled with
precious stones.
Perhaps the most remarkable art ex-
hibit in the world is that of the lunatics
in the Ville-Evrard asylum in Paris. Most
OF the patients in the asylum have been
painters or designers, and the physicians
IN charge inaugurated a salon of their
WorkS. The effect on the minds of the
patents Is said to be excellent.
The Vienna correspondent of the Lon
don Standard writes that according to the
the Austrian capital contains 10000 per-
sons who live in lodgings of one room, with
ne kitchen. In Budapest 10000 persons
ing sometimes eight or ten occupants for
one cellar.
-Pearls-that is. the true pearls-have
been steadily rising in value for years.
They will never be cheap again unless new
banks are discovered, and in the old fields
tne oysters are never permitted to grow
old enough to make the pearls of any size.
1t Is within the range of possibility that
pearls Will be the costliest of ornaments
Enormous sums have been given for
pearls even in ancient times. Cleopatra
would not have swallowed a pearl if it
had not been the most valuable of her
Jewels. The highest known cost of a sin
gle pearl is said to have been paid by
Tavernier at Catifa in Arabia. 1t was
oval, spotless, two inches long, and it's
price was 10000 pounds.
Remarkable deaths, caused by strange
accidents or misadVenture are almost in
in the pages of history Thus
Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, was slain by a
tile hurled at him by a woman as he en-
tered a captured town in triumph. Ana
creon was choked to death by a grape
stone; while Thogrul Ill, the last Sui
tan of the Seljukian dynasty, came to end
in the act of reciting a. battle piece. Tho
grul was about to attack the Sultan of
kharisma. He began to repeat the lines
of Ferdusi: with a single blow from
i a
into the midst of my enemies; and so We
hement were the efforts of my arm that,
without quitting the saddle-boW, / made
the earth revolve, like a windmill - I'm
fortunately for Thogrul he suited the ac
tion to the word with such effect that his
mace broke his horses legs, and while he
lay on the ground one of the enemy rushed
upon and killed him.
The curious fate of an Indian who had
travelled too much is quantity told by
I'll ~
patch. Wi-jun-jon was an Assinaboine
chief who visited Washington. When he
returned to his people he began to tell
them about the sights he had seen. He
described the patent Office and the models
of the machinery. He pictured the ascent
of a balloon, a review of troops, the bat
thIeships, Les the bis, big guns, the steamboats,.
to tell. At first his people listened in
great wonderment Then they began to
doubt, and il was not long before they
openly called Wi-jun-jon a liar. But the
travelled Indian continued to talk, and the
more he talked the greater the contempt
of his fellows. They denounced him as
a lying medicine" and finally one fellow
made up his mind that it would be a bene-
mt to the community to stop Wi-jun-j joins
tongue somehow or another. How to do
common bullet would accomplish the re-
suit desired So one day he stole the
handle of an iron pot, took it into the
woods and beat it straight and round so
that it would go into his gun. Returning
he crept up behind the romancer Wi-iun7
jon and fired the awful missile into his
brain.
During the siege of Paris, 1901, pig
cons were used for carrying news into
the city, says the Pail Mall Gazette. The
pigeons were conveyed outside in bal
looms and collected together at Tours and
after the messages had been fastened to
the bird il was taken as far north as pos
sible and released. Out of 1863 birds des-
patched only seVenty-three reached Paris
and. as several birds accomplished the
journey two or three times only fffy-
seven different pigeons proved trust
worthy messengers The dispatches wore
preT ared by micro-photograph and were
al lirst printed on thin paper, but il was
too heavy, and collodin was used instead
Tie tiny leaves. each of which contained
$4,000 words, were rolled I'm quill. which
was tied lengthways under the tail feath-
erS. The birds usually carried 10000 mes
sasec each on a single journey. so minute
vt1e the dispatches. One bird dstin-
gu'shed itself by carrying eighteen sheet
10000 messages. The weight was
AZ out l5A grains; and pigeons can carry
q loau of 100 grains without impedimeut
On reaching Paris the pigeons were I'M
irC1iately forwarded to the head tclc-
graph office, and the sheets of messages
were enlarged by photography and copied
on tc large sheet of colodion whiah
was then cut up into pieces and distrib-
jted among the clerks.
The entire behavior Of roofs is ioa,,