The Opelousas courier., 1898-11-05
NOTES AND COMMENTS

NOTES AND COMMENTS
A gun with an American behind It 4
q peacemaker and a mapmaker.
Australia welcomes our neare
neighborhood in the acquisition 0,
Hawaii.
General Niles personally conducted
excursion to Porto Rico was one OF
the greatest successes in Its line eye
undertaken.
The Mayor of Atlanta, Ca, has con
tacted for twenty-five Star-Spanglei
Banners, which are to be raised owe,
the public schoolhouses Of the city.
Thirty-fve duels have taken place
oyer various phases of the Dreyfus
case. But France has lost little elst
than q few drops of blood from the
encounters.
The Hawaiian alphabet has but
twelve letters, and now we've got tt
go to work and teach them fourteen
more. That's III Of the drawbacks
we encounter by taking them in.
There seems to be a surplus OF
Smiths In Michigan; at least the Con.
gressional nominations of that State
would Indicate such to be the case
Four-ifths of the nominees are named
Smith.
When it is considered that the Unit.
ed States furnished Great Britain last
year with 61S,0O0 head of live cattle
and $4,000 sheep, it is not surprising
that England should be warmly in ia.
vor of the Anglo-American alliance.
The list Of those who volunteered to
drive Spain out of Cuba is a long one,
but 1t won't be a circumstance to the
number Of those who will apply for
reinstatement in the army Of com
merce under the new bankruptcy act.
Investigation into the condition of
the poor In Aachen, Germany, showed
that Of 900 families with three or more
persons, 4O2 had only one room per
family, though two families consisted
of II persons, 8 of 10, 6 of 8, 80 Of s,
81 Of Z, SO Of 6, e of s.
! Admiral Cerverh Is most certainly
not without q keen sense Of humor.
At a recent dinner party a naval OFF,
GERS wife asked him: What were you
most struck with in the handling of
fha A morioop rbfpS2 ~, Without bo,tA,
ton the Admiral replied in good Eng
lish: I'VE were all most struck by the
eight-inch Shells"
The opal production Of Queensland,
Australia, is becoming very important.
More than 100000 worth of rough
stones were exported last year. In
the western districts of the colony the
opal deposits are very considerable.
The Queensland opal is of brilliant
quality, and experts pronounce 1t to
be equal to the best Hungarian vari-
cites.
The hospitality shown to the boys in
blue In Charleston, s. c., while they
We're temporarily in camp there. has
brought to its Mayor and it's people a
shower Of grateful letters from faith
ers and mothers, wifes, brothers, and
sisters, in the North and the West
since the troops sailed for Porto Rico.
The boys had written home enthusiast
tic accounts of the warm welcome that
had been given to them in the South
ern city.
Ten thousand "old settlers Of Chi
cago attended a picnic a few days ago.
A Chicago old settler is one who set
tied in the Lake City prior to 1875.
Gold medals value $50 were given to
the oldest German settler, the oldest
Germ an woman settler, the Oldest set
tier hot German, the oldest German
settler who has been longest in the
United Staoes Army or Navy, the old
est settler not German who has been
longest in the United States Army or
Navy, the oldest German married
couple, and the oldest married couple
not German.
The last issue Of the "Foglio dor
dine" the official journal of the Italian
Navy, contains the following order:
ION battleRhips, as a general rule, the
use of wood will be abolished. The
authorities will endeavor to carry out
this principle at M on w%arships now
In course Of construction, and the
same will be done gradually on the
others whenever the opportunity pre-
sents itself, attention being paid to the
detailed Instructions which will be is
sued by circular" This is said to be
the first effect of the report of the
Americas naval experts after the de-
struction Of Admiral Cervera's squad
ron by the American feet.
Some interesting statistics are gath
cred from the records of the recruit
ing-statson at Baltimore, Md. The
most startling showing was in relation
to the height Of the recruits. The
volunteers as a rule were members Of
State military organizations, and, ex-
cept in the matter of height, were u.s.
ually above the average. The record
shows that fully nine per cent. of the
applicants were less than the average
height, five feet and eight inches, and
six per cent. were below the minimum
height, five feet and four inches. At
this station about thirty-four per cent.
OF the applicants mustered into
the service. The reflections were in
most cases due to causes other than
disease. 1t is said by the recruiting
officer OF the station that the eolored