The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-02
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Miss Harriet Ethel Wilson, daughtef
of the late A. B. Wilson, millionaire sew
| ing machine manufacturer, has applied
for admission as a pauper at the Water
| bury Comm almshouse. Wilson was
known wherever sewing machines were
| used through his partnership in the
| Wheeler & Wilson company. He amass-
! ed an immense fortune, and built a beau
| ufui residence on the crown of a bluff
overlooking Waterbury. He was very
eccentric in his ways, and his fortune
gradually slipped away. AT his death it
was found that it was all gone.
Last year the progress of railway en-
terprise in Japan was phenomenal Since
the pioneer railway was constructed be-
! tween Toxic and Yokohama, a distance of
| eighteen miles, in 1872, the system has been
| extended at an average rate of 100 miles
| a year, SO that at the end of March, 1897
which concluded the twenty-ninth fiscal
| year. the total mileage had reached 2,446.
| At one leap, however, during 1897 no less
than $50 miles approximately were added
| to the total, thus bringing it up to 5000
| miles in round numbers. Other lines are
under construction or are projected, so
| that there will be no abatement in the
| Japanese railway development for some
time to come.
High prices are paid for butterflies,
and some private collections. such as that
of Hon. w. Rothschild at Tring, Herts,
| England, are said to be worth $500, 000
| more or less. Some New Guinea butter
| flies have fetched $3.50 apiece. One of the
| Rothschilds is said to have paid 81, 600
| for a papilio, now quite common. The de-
mand for rare specimens has led to dis
honesty. The insects are dyed or else
| wings from one species are fastened to
| the bodies of other species.
The mother-in-law of BUD Doyle of
Bernie Mo, was taken sick last fall:
| Doyle bought her medicines, among which
| were four half-pints of whisky. Not long
| ago the mother-in-law and the son-in-law
| disagreed, and she demanded to know
how much he had spent for her during
her sickness, laying special stress upon
| the cost of the whisky Doyle told her.
and she paid him for it, No sooner had
| she done SO, however, than she told him
| she had a case against him for illegally
selling whisky, and forthwith dispatched
| an affidavit to the district attorney, with
| the result that Doyle was placed under
arrest Upon the establishment of the
above facts, however, Doyle was acquit-
ted.
What must be, judging from the print
ed descriptions a most remarkable speci-
men of painting on glass has just been
| placed in the Emanuel Baptist Church at
| Camden, n. j., says the New York Times
] 1t is a window designed to perpetuate
| the memory of a gunners mate who lost
his life in the Maine explosion On ii is
portrayed the great battleship and in the
| bow, beside an anchor, stands the sailor
| man in whose honor this work of art
was constructed. 1t is said that the por-
| trait is excellent from which the deduc-
| ton must be made that the laws of pro-
| portion were severely strained by the ar
fist For the Maine was a somewhat mag
| nitudinous vessel and when reduced to
come within the limits of a church win
| dow the figures of her crew would nor
be large enough to give much scope for
accuracy. In many old pictures of ships
| the captain or some important passenger
! towers half as high as the mast, but such
naivetes are a bit out of date at present.
However a Philadelphia paper says that
this window is "the finest piece of work
in the stained-glass line within a radius
| of many miles," so it is rather absurd TO
criticise what one has never seen. The
| gunner's mate deserved a memorial, that
| is certain, and the promptness which has
| been shown in giving him the honor is
most commendable What if his effigy isn't
in accord with certain rules?
In time leap year will go out of
existence entirely" explained an almanac
| computer to a Washington Star reporter,
| but, as 1t will not occur for over 800
4 years, we haven't much personal interest
| in the event. In the ordinary course of
| events 1900 would be leap year. but it will
| get left in the calculation. In other
| words, while it does occur it does not
| occur, simply because it is not in the
| agreement that it shall occur. The story
| is long one, but 1t can be briefly told.
| so that the average person can under
| stand 1t without much difficulty In 1882
| in the arrangement of the Julian calen-
| dar, ten days were dropped so as to get
| things running on the then new but the
| present basis of calculating time. So as
| to keep things running right, it was de-
| termined that year ending a century
| should not be bissextile except every
| fourth century. Thus there was no leap
| year in 1700, 1900, nor 1900 1t is. or at least
| was, rather rough on the ladies who have
special advantages in leap year, for it is
the only year that it is proper for them
| to propose themselves in marriage. but it
| has always been so in matters affecting
womankind, men always finding reasons
Tor restricting their privileges. The ladies
| get left again in 1900, but though there
| Will not be many of those who see 1900
| who will see 1000, the latter year. ending
a fourth century, will be a leap year. In
inns way, three days are retrenched In
four centuries, and the remaining seven
days will be made up in a little over 500
| years. After that calendar years will be
like solar years and future errors in the
calculation of time will occur no more
The loss of leap years will in thousands
OF years affect the seasons, but 1 suppose
| the mathematicians of the centuries hence
Will be so flip in handling figures and cal
culatlons that they will have no difficulty
In Keeping things going correctly"
| The only experience the United States
army has ever had in tropical warfare was
in Florida, from 1885 to 1S42-the seven
years. war with the Seminole Indians, saws
the Chicago Record. While the con1i-
tons there were much more Favorable
than they are in Cuba, the mortality from
disease was enormous in comparison TO the
number of men employed The records
snow that there were altogether r 4Oo
troops engaged during the seven wears,
| hghtlng, against total of about 3 ono In
dams, of whom 1884 were men. 1.357 N,o-
men and 1913 children. The war was oar
ried on in manner very similar to thar
| between the Spaniards and the Cuhans