The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST

stitute of London Mr.. Pinches of the
British Museum, said that some old re-
cords recently discovered in the ruins of
Nneveh told the Biblical story of the fall
of man, representing the tree of life as
vine and the tree of knowledge as a
cedar.
A rare find in the shape of a moas
egg has been made in a mining district
in Central Ohio. There was a fail of
earth in dredging claim, and presently
the huge egg was seen floating uninjured
in the water. The discovery is the more
interesting from the fact that this is the
second perfect moa's egg that has ever
been found. The only other perfect speci-
men was unearthed by man while dig
ging in the alluvial soil at the Kaikoura
mountains in the early SOS. This egg,
which was nine inches in length and seven
inches in breadth, was taken to England
and sold for 100 guineas. Some idea of
the size of these eggs may be CLEANED
from the fact that mans hat makes an
excellent egg cup for them.
Some years ago, says the Christian En-
deavor World, the inhabitants of a coun-
try town We're rendered very uneasy by the
appearance of strange signs on the bot
tom OF their loaVes of bread. One would
DSdi d CIOSSs dIOlHeI a 1dlAl WOius Nlliio
a third would be embelished by a skull
and cross bones. AT last one was delivered
bearing this inscription: Died Sept. b."
The recipient took to her bed, believing 1t
to be warning of her demise OH that date.
A doctor was called in, who Immediately
set to work to find a solution of the mys-
terry. He soon succeeded. A cemetery near
by had been recently leveled, and some
old stones piled away in a corner, whose
Inscriptions seemed obliterated. One of
the church officials Ga baker, cast covet-
Gus eyes on these, and appropriated them
to line his oven, thinking the stones most
suitable, but here and there some marks
remained, and when the soft dough was
put in the oven became stamped in the
bread.
One would think that any householder
in a great and busting city would have
appreciated the necessity of having the
rooms used for the daily needs of his fam
lily, together with those used for receiv-
ing guests-and in this way for the ele'
gancies of life-tolerably well removed
from the main door or entrance, says a
writer in Harper's Magazine. The resi-
dent of London enters his house by means
of a porch or doorstep raised but little
above the sidewalk; his drawing rooms
are in the story above. New York has
not felt the need of this arrangement I'M
til our own time, and it may be said
that the other close-built and crowded
cities of the country have not been much
in advance of it. AS the town grew into
a city the New Yorker raised above the
level of the street, but raised his front
door also Gotham is responsible for the
anomaly of the high-stoop house and has
chung to it for seventy years. 1t never
existed in any previous epoch, and lid
not exist fifty years ago in any other city
of the known world; but when New York
the Wealthiest and largest city on the con-
tinent, adopted this abnormal type as it's
own, other cities. even strongly indi-
vidual and strongly differentiated Bos-
ton, took il over, and made their houses
to correspond very closely to the New
York prototype. There have, indeed, been
a few English basement houses during the
last three-quarters of century, and about
1870 the French basement type was intro
duced; but these systems of plan had so
little success that they would hardly be
worthy of mention except In a thorough
historical study of house planning in
America.
People who handle the yard stick have
but little idea of the years of study and
experiments that were necessary to secure
the standard yard measure" observed an
otilcial OF the coast survey to a Washing
ton Star reporter. Bird, a famous sci
enlist, made the first standard yard in
l76O, but the English government did not
legalize 1t until 1924. Ten years afterward,
when the House of Parliament in London
was destroyed by fire, the standard ward
was lost, and England was again without
standard yard of length. Sheepsbanks
next made a standard yard measure
which the English government adopted.
and, so that it could not be again DESTROY
ed by fire, four authorized copies were
made of it. One of these was deposited in
the royal mint, another in the ROYAL So
ciety, another in the observatory at Green
wich and the fourth was imbedded in the
walls of the new House of Parliament.
The standard yard measures which are
owned by the government are copies of the.
original, one of which is owned by the
coast survey. The United States naval OBJ
servatory has one also. The delicacy Of
Its construction may be gathered by the
fact that change of temperature of one
hundredth of a degree Fahrenheit has been
found to produce a sensible effect on the
length of the bar. The copies of the stan
dard are made of bronze for the reason
that bronze Is less affected by temperature
than any distinct or single metal. The
cost of the construction Of the original
of Bird and his assistants for nearly six
years. Sheepsbanks was eleven years in
producing the accurate copies which he
made from Birds original measurements. -
The most popular and most an
Gent of bonbons are sugar plums.
| pastilles and burnt almonds. but
how many persons know their his
tory? Sugar plums date from Ro-
man times for the Romans were the first
to think of covering almonds with LAYERS
OF sugar. The inventor was a certain Ju-
Illus Dragatus, noted confectioner. who
belonged to the illustrious patrician fam
lily of Fabius. He made this great discov-
cry, which has wrought so much damage
to our teeth for twenty centuries. in the
year III B. c., according to the New York
Herald. These bonbons, called dragati
after their inventor (dragees In FRENCH.
remained the exclusive privilege of the
family of Fabius. But at the birth or the
marriage of one of that family a great
distribution of dragati took place as n
sign of rejoicing. This custom is stiu oh
served bV m9pV Of the rOhiiit1y - rr,,.a-..