The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-18
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

after $50 p m without a pass is fined s..
An observer of the customs and habits
Of the Supreme Court justices in Wash
ington has discovered that Associate JUS
tee Brown smokes stogies on the street
and that Associate Justice Harlan walks
frequently three miles from the capitol
TO his home.
The special expert sent abroad by the
agricultural department in search Of new
seeds and edible plants has brought back
an everlasting strawberry" It is said
to produce fruit for months on the same
plants and small patch will supply
family table whole season.
Much more interest is taken in practi-
cal astronomy in England than in Ameri-
ca. Astronomical classes are encouraged
by the use Of the telescopes like that one
on the East Heath, London, which is
rejecting telescope of a 1Olk-inch mirror.
The lectures are very instructive.
Sir Charles Nicholson, who has been
called the Grand Old Man of Australia,
has entered on his ninety-second year He
graduated from an Edinburgh medical col
lege IN 1892 and emigrated to Australia
two years later. He is now the sole sur
viVing member of the first Australian Par
lament.
In the southern portion of the small
village of Eliot, Me, there are living elev-
en- persons, eight of them men, who are
over 50 years of age, the Oldest being So.
Nearly all of them were born there, anu
several of them have never been fifty
miles from their birthplace in all their
long life.
Many of the women of India, and es-
pecially those of Cashmere, are beautiful.
In typical Hindoo beauty the skin is
just dark enough to give a rich, soft ap-
pearance to the complexion, the features
are regular, the eyes black and shaded by
long, silken lashes, the hands and feet
are small and elegantly formed.
In regard to automobiles, France leads
in gasoline vehicles and England in steam
vehicles. while America, as was TO be ex-
pected, is far in the lead in electrical con-
| veyances Of all kinds. Six different motive
powers are now actually employed in this
country-electricity steam, compressed
air, carbonic acid gas and alcohol.
One of the greatest troubles with the
pneumatic tire on heavy vehicles is not
caused by puncturing. which accounts for
only about per cent. of the trouble, but
results from the internal wear of the ibers
of the tire, due to the weight. Some til es
| which have been examined show the fib-
ers OF the material reduced to fine pow
der.
This year in Germany traction motors
we're used for the provisioning of columns.
| and although the roads through the Black
Fcresi were steep and in places bad. the
experiment was most successful. There
| were exceedingly few accidents, and the
n "torS effected a great saving in both
men and horses. 1t appears to be per-
fectly adapted TO a country traversed by
numerous roads.
The bridge at Hope Town, over which
Lord Methuen's column recently advanced,
is the most remarkable structure of the
kind in Cape Colony. Its total length is
no less than 1,400 feet The bridge at AL
iwal North is only SEQ feet long Hope
Town is notable as being the last town
on the Orange river. A few huts or scat
tered farmsteads are the only signs of hu-
man nabita ton along the great waterway
for 600 miles to the Atlantic
The Cape papers give full accounts of
the interesting incidents at Elandslaagte
on the eve of the battle. How Gen. Kock
received the miners with grilled chop or
chops in his left hand, which he gnawed
like dog, and huge slice of bread in his
right has already been told. At the Sing
| song" which the Beers gave at the station
the commandant called upon an English
man named Gauthorp, who had been
| DIONlSill uONtl dS d prisoner, TO preside al
the piano, which he did with the greatest
good humor, and sang They All Take
After Me- the Dutch and English all
joining in the chorus. Field Cornet Pien-
aar called for drinks all round and said.
This is a funny world. Here we are in
the midst of war-Englishmen and Dutch
men-and yet we are going 10 sing to-
gether."
Strange and pathetic is the story of a
|
large dog evidently of high degree amone,
his kind, was seen to take up his stand
by the lake. and after looking fixedly into
the water for a few moments, to plunge
in, deliberately keeping his head under
water. The man who had watched and
az mired him went to his rescue and in
spite of the struggles dragged him out of
drove him away from the water. About
ten minutes later the dog returned and
without the smallest hesitation again
threw himself into the lake Once more
the man, who was now thoroughly inter-
ested, succeeded in dragging the dog our.
and this time he drove him for some dis.
lance inland. He then returned to the
same spot to see what would happen.
Shortly afterward he heard a splash some
little way off, and saw a dark object In
the water. He put off a boat and rowed
TO the spot, but arrived too late. The dog
was drowned having determinedly kapt
his head under water An examination
was made, and the dog was found to have
been perfectly healthy. 1t was clearly a
case OF suicide. But what was the cause?
Hac cruel master or a tickle and I'm.
grateful mistress driven the Door dog 10
seek Death in the smiling sunlft waters
rather than to drag out an existence in
an unkind world? Animals so rarely com
rnit suicide that the fact that they eve.
do so is often doubted. Bur there seems
at any rate. no doubt, If this be reported
. fIlN hr her
of self-destruction as was ever accom-,
plished by man.
Scarcely another state in the Union has
as remarkable and Interesting a history as
Texas, says the ST. Louis Globe Derno-
erat. In one respect at least it occupies
UNIQUE position in the history of Amer
lean states Since dts discoxrar,- ei,. 7see