The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-02
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

-Ihere is a mule working in the mines
near Blossburg, Ala, that ought 70 travel
with circus. For ten years he has been
pulling six cars to the top without a muir
muir, but if a seventh is put on he can't
be made TO bulge He always rides down
IN the empty train. Not long ago as he
was half way up, train of empty cars a
the top got loose and threatened destruc-
ton, but he simply jumped on the first
as il approached and coasted merrily 70
the bottom with the whole train
The Napoleonic campaign lasted six
teen years; the war of 1872 more than
three years; the war of Greek independ-
ence seven years; the Crimean war two
years; the Italian war more than one
year; the civil war more than four years:
the Franco-Prussian and Russo-Turkish
wars each about one year. What is
known as the seven weeks war between
Prussia and Austria, lasted, in fact, sew
en- months. The war just closed will be
recorded as the shortest war of the cen
tury. -
When the Brahmln cleans his teeth.
writes Able Dubois, in "Hindoo Manners"
he must use a small twig cut from one of
number of certain trees and before he
cuts it he must make his act known TO
the gods Of the woods. He must not in
must abtsain on the 9Th, the Sth the 9Th,
the l4tn, the 18th, and the last day of the
moon, on the days of new and full moon,
on the Tuesday in every week, on the day
of the constellation under which he was
born, on the day of the week and on the
day of the month which correspond With
those of his birth, at an eclipse, at the
conjunction of the planets az the equi-
noXes, and other unlucky epochs, and also
on the anniversary of the death of his
father or mother. Any one who cleans his
teeth with his bit of stick on any of the
above mentioned days will have hell as his
portion
In the recent exploration of Cojan,
THE Mysterious City of Honduras.
many ancient tombs were opened. The
location of these was strange and unex-
pected-beneath the pavement of court
yards and under the foundations of
houses. They consist of small chambers
of very excellent masonry, rooted some
times by means of slabs of stone resting
on the top of the vertical walls. In these
tombs one, and sometimes two, inter-
mems have been made. The bodies have
been laid at full length upon the floor;
the cements had long since moulded
away, and the skeletons themselves were
in a crumbling condition, and gave little
knowledge of the physical characteristics
of the people. But one fact of SURPRISING
interest came to light concerning their
private lives-namely, the custom of
adjoining their front teeth with gems in
laid in the enamel and by filling. AL
though not all of the sets found have been
treated this way, there are enough to
show that the practice was general, at
least among the upper classes.
1t is matter of common experience
that a razor left for awhile unused be-
comes blunt. A writer in Chambers
Journal says that rust caused by the
moisture in the atmosphere is quite
enough to account for this. Shearers for
instance, who have to use particularly
sharp instruments, never set their shears
till just before using. What is not so gen
orally known is that a razor which will
not cut will become sharper sometimes by
being left aside for some time. The only
explanation of this is that the electrical
properties of the metal in the edge be-
come changed. A wire edge" is COM
monty put on a tool by amateurs. The
Steel turns and folds back on itself 1t is
owing 10 the edge being made too long
and thin, or the metal being too soft
The only cure for wire edge is to break
off the bent portion and grind and set
again. "A knife that cuts butter when
IL is hot" (and under no other circum-
stances we sometimes meet with. We
have been going into the reason of things,
and the reason of this is easily explained.
Heat expands metal, and in proportion to
the amount of metal which is heated.
There is more metal in the breadth of a
blade than in its thickness, and the form
er, therefore, is expanded immensely more
than the latter In other words the
wedge-hke shape is heightened and the
tool becomes sharp"
Gold threa tened to become as common
as silver in the days of Solomon, says
the Chicago Inter-Ocean. In one year
100000, in eight years $4,000 900 were
won. Some men at Golden Point made as
much as 400 each day. Another excep-
tionally luck party unearthed thirty-four
pounds of gold in one day. No wonder
thai such lucky pockets were termed "iew-
elers' shops! Occasionally a nugget
worth 10000 was unearthed. The result
of this sudden influx of wealth, almost
without labor, and with risks which are
infnitesimal as compared to Klondike,
was the temporary decentralization of the
population. Melbourne, in the hight of
the gold fever, has been described by one
who knew it well as "a fevered delrious,
drunken pandemonium. The lucky ones
and there were thousands of them
squandered their riches in the most reck-
less fashion. The game of ninepins, we
are told, was played with bottles of cham
payne, for which he who broke least had
to pay; dozen of the same costly wine
were emptied into tubs and drunk from
tin pannikins, spirits and beer being adj
ded to give body to the beverage; one
man, in imitation of Caligula, shoed his
horse with gold; sandwiches made of
banknotes were devoured; silver wrapped
up in banknotes was thrown to popular
actresses instead of howers-in fact mon
ey was so plentiful that the reckless dig
gers could not knock it down" fast
enough. Such were some of the charac-
teristics of Victoria's hot youth.
The state of transition of the bicycle
trade is not confined TO this country, says
the st. Louis Globe Democrat. A London
correspondent who has been examining
the English cyclist share lists says that
out of the 1872 cycle companies iabulated
about 100 are recorded as having no buy
eCS, which means, as regards thesgfeat ma
joriky, that their shares are practically
worthless The shares of most of the COM
Danies are of the nominal value of POS or