The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-12

anything, for those were verses, whereby
he acquitted himself of any debt How,
Verses2' answered I, are your tayernkeep-
! ers here so curious in rhymes?'
Sonnets Used as Current Coin.
1t is the current coin of the country
said ne, and our score amounts to a
slanza of six lines, which you saw me
| pay. We need not live here much within
bounds. sonnet will pay for seven or
eight days banqueting; have four about
me now, with two epigrams two odes. and
| an elegy.' All! says l, would to heaven
! that verse would pass for payment in our
| country; many an honest poet that now
| dies for hunger would then easily satisfy
| his creditors
Il asked him if the same lines would
! pass always provided they were trans
| cribed anew. He answered in the mega
tive. For an author said he. carries
MS compositions as soon as finished to the
mint, and the Kings sworn poets prove,
| stamp and tax them according TO the value
| of each piece; so that a sonnet does not al
ways pass for a sonnet; and if man dies
for want he must certainly be a blockhead
for people of true wit always know how
to live well here. l was in raptures at the
judicious policy of the place.
TickIed to Sleep.
The earth travellers odd experiences
bed time eve went to our chambers. A
man presented himself at the top of the
staircase, who, having regarded me atten-
lively, led me TO closet, the floor of which
was covered al least three feet deep with
orange flowers, and my demon to another
strewed with pinks and jassamne. He
removed the admiration which he saw this
magnifcence excited in me, by telling me
those were the common beds of the place.
When I was stretched at my rest, l per-
ceived, by the giimmerng of thirty glow
worms shut up in crystal-for they have
no sort of candles in this country, the
three or four young boys who had I'M
dressed me at supper, one of which tickled
my sides, another my arms, and third
my feet with a thousands other little
tricks. which soon rocked me to sleep.
In this world of the moon all the in
habitants walked on four feet instead of
two, and they were more than ten times
the size of the earth traveller, so that they
threw him easily over their shoulders and
carried him about. He was regarded at
first as one of the lower animals, and they
shut him up in a cege together with an
other earth wanderer, a Spaniard whom
they had mistaken, he says, naively for
monkey, because they happen TO dress
their monkeys in the Spanish fashion"
| 7nese moon men talked by the use OF mu-
| Sic either singing or playing on the lutte,
so that they conveyed their ideas exact
| " by musical notes, also acting out their
motions by curious movements of the
| body.
The queen of the moon and the entire
court began a fierce discussion as TO what
kind of an animal the earth traveller was
| -whet her monkey or a bird. "As l had
| but two feet" he says. they chose to
rank me under the species of bird, and the
queens bird-cateher took charge of me,
! teaching me, among many other things,
| to whistle" In this predicament he re-
NAMED in the care of the bird-catcher for
some time, until he learned to talk the
language of the country, and then there
| ensued a long discussion as to whether ne
| could have any claim to being man.
| Following this controversy the traveller
| becomes involved in a number OF comph-
Gated philosophical discussions with the
| wise men of the moon, in the course OF
| which CyranO takes pains to use MS pes.
wit in ridicuKng the doctrines OF some OF
the wise men of his time. For quaint rea-
soninc and curious conclusions these sal
/ lies are tnimitable One of them deals
/ with the theory of the universe
Movable and Sedentary Houses
Residents Of the moon have, according
| TO this author, a most convenient way OF
| keeping cool in summer. He divides their
| buildings into two classes-moVable ana
| sedentarv They are composed, ne
saws. "of very light wood, and at the
| building of them the architect places -FOUR
strong wheels under the foundations of the
walls Six pairs of bellows are placed with
| their noses horizontal to the wings OF the
upper story, 50 that when a town is to be
removed. which is always done as s-le sea-
sons change, several large sails are I'M
folded before the nose of the bellows
which being set at work, discharge the
wind so very strongly upon them, that the
houses are set in motion, and by the vio-
lence of the gust, which drives them for
ward they are enabled to travel upward of
100 leagues in eight days.
Those which are sedentary are built
much in the manner of a tower, except
that they are composed of wood, large
screw passing from the garnet all through
to the cellar. Now, the earth under the
building is dug up, and a pit left open
| equal in depth to the hight of the house,
! so that when the air becomes cold or in
cement the whole house is, by means of
! this screw on which it turns, let down into
| this sort of cellar. where il remains Sc
| cure from the rigor of the season until
the gentle spring invites it again upward,
| and il rises by the instrument which as
| sisted its descent"
CyranO Talks of Big Noses.
! In the course of theebook Cyrano jests
| mortal He endows all the residents Of
! the moon with huge noses like his own,
| and he makes them instruments for tell
| ing the time. Their teeth" he saws
form a dial so very just that TO show the
hour they need only open their lips and
the shadow of their nose failing on the
! teeth points it out exactly"
This is the reason" he continues, ''of
your seeing everybody in this country with
such large noses. When a child is born
il is carried TO the seminary, where, at the
end of one year, assemble certain judges
to try the length of his nose If II does
not answer certain measure, which is
| carefully preserved by the Syndic, he is
| judged to be short nosed, and delivered
over to certain persons who imprison him
| for life" Then Cyrano goes on 90 defend
large noses. But know" he says, THAT
this custom was not established till after
having experienced. through thirty years.
that a large nose is a sure sign of cour-
tesy, affability, generosity, liberaiity and
r-f Il