The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-03
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

dihiht AOf instance, the IamaS of Pata-
gonia and certain gazelles of the far East.
says an exchange A number of snakes.
lizards and other reptiles live in places
devoid of water. A bat Of Western Amer
lea inhabits waterless plains In part of
LoZere, France, there are herds of cows
and goats which hardly ever drink, and
yet produce the milk Tor Roquefort cheese.
An English court has just decided a
peculiar case which must be of as much
interest TO the travelling public of America
as 70 the people of the mother country
where the railway seat grabber seems 10
DC as much in evidence as here. A tray
eler, having occasion to leave the car at
a way station for a few moments, left his
umbrella on the seat until his return. An
other passenger took the seat and refused
10 Vacate until forcbly elected Counter
SUITS were brought, and the case was de-
clded in favor of the original occupant
the presiding judge holding that he had a
rlght OF eject the intruder by the use Of
reasonable force, if necessary.
"A Berlin newspaper says that the or
ders of decoration borne by the Emperor
OF Germany are worth over 1000, 600 marks
Ia little over $3.50 ,000). His principal and
most valuable decorations are the insignia
OF the Black Eagle, the Order of St
John, of the Garter and of the Toison
d'Or. In all he has over 200 crosses, stars
badges and other insignia 1t is said that
ne takes them with him on all his jour
neys and voyages, his hunting expedi-
lions excepted. The Golfer containing the
decorations is in the constant care of an
officer of the court, who accompanies the
Kaiser everywhere. On returning to Der.
I'm the Golfer is locked up with the crown
jewels an the treasury.
All things considered, says the Pitts
burg Dispatch, the answer to what is the
best example of buying a pig in a poke
would seem to be the marriage of Henry
VIII to Anne of Cloves. This maria &c
was really brought about by Cromwell for
what he believed to be reasons of state
He wanted to bring England and the
Netherlands-then the two chief Protest
ant poWers-intO closer union, and there
is little doubt but that he deliberately de-
celVed Henry as to the alleged personal
charms of his proposed consort He mar
ried her by proxy without having seen
her-surely the shortest and suresU meth
Cd of buying a pig In a poke" When he
saw her he was so disguised that he com
pletely lost his self possession, which was
something for him to do His disappoint-
ment may be estimated from his own de-
scrption of her-'a Flanders mare''-and
the divorce which followed proved now
completely he repented him of his bar
gain.
OF all the curious starts in life of
which self-made men are apt to boast the
most extraordinary one is that which fur
nished the basis for business from which
a stationer in this city derives a comfort
able income, says the Philadelphia Record.
He does not tell The story himself, but it
comes from an old acquaintance whose We
racity is beyond question. The successful
business man Of to-day was once a coFlec-
tor for mercantile house, and made as
high as thirty or forty calls per day on de-
linQuent customers. He always borrowed
lead pencil from each one and never re-
turned it unless asked to do so. OF course,
no suspicion attached TO him, for forget
fulness in regard to lead pencils is 'recog-
nized as a human failing. One of every
three he secured was long enough to pass
muster as new pencil, and after he col
lected LOGO in this way ne secured a con-
tract for furnishing lead pencils to coun-
try school. One of the advantages of his
bid was that he offered to supply pencils
already sharpened. He now maintains a
commodious stationery store, and his con-
tract department flourishes.
Julius Caesar was assassinated when
he had almost completed the task of con-
solidating the administration and dominion
of the Roman Empire, and his death
opened the way to that despotism and cor
ruption which ultimately undid his work
says Pearson's Weekly. Henry of Ma
Varre was killed when he had almost heal
ed the differences between Catholic and
Protestant which subsequently rent not
only France, but Europe, and William the
Silent also fell when he was on the point
of uniting the Netherland provinces into
a compact barrier against the encroach-
ments of Spain. In English history, Lord
Give died at the moment when he was
the one man who could have saved the
American colonies and kept the Anglo
Saxon race united but there is the case
of Mirabeau. He was literally the enc
man in France who could have averted
the horrors of the revolution, saved and
reformed the monarchy, and so spared
Europe the murderous career of Napoleon
and all the devastation it brought. If he
had lived ten, or even five, years longer
the history, not only OF France, but of
Europe and the world, would have been
different. 1t is, in fact, sufficient to say
that he would have made both Robespier-
re and Napoleon impossible
The singular custom of leaving rags
and other worthless objects at wells has
not entirely fallen into disuse, says Co
dey's Magazine. A traveller in Persia
found a tree with rags tied to its branches.
They had been left there by the inhabi-
tree hung with rags was found by another
traveller in Africa. Crooked pins, old
clothes, pebbles, shells, rusty nails, small
coins, and even bundles of heath were con-
sidered appropriate thank-offerings at
shrines in earlier days. for it was believ-
ed that the saints and apostles did not
care for articles of value. Such was The
superstitious alteration of fountains that
it was forbidden by the sixteenth of the
canons issued in $780, in the reign of King
Edgar, and il was condemned by The can
ons of st. Anselm. 1t was also interdict-
ed by laws passed in the reign of King
Canute Since the reformation the prac-
tice has not been prevalent, except in Ire
land, where many old wells consecrated
to saints and martyrs are yet made places
of pilgrimage There is scarcely a parish
throughout the land that has not its own
holy well, where, despite practical admo-
milton, the faithful and the faithless come
to pray for physical or mental relief. and
leave behind them a scrap or rag as an
Offering.