The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-30
ITEMS of INTEREST.

greater just after or just before war
than at any other time, says an exchange.
During the civil war the number of mar
riages in this country fell off from % per
1000 of population to II per 1000. and
Immediately after the civil war was end
ed, in 1865. the number rose to 2 per 1000
declining in 1863 to p.
How hard the Cubans are working to
learn English appears from this adver-
tisement in a Havana paper: .'Thiss is
without doubt one of the Factories Of
first-class and Of the most universal cred
il. and we affirm that no other has
this credit with more merits, by the good
mes inteihgency and care employed in the
prepare ton and perfectionment of his
productions"
A French journal is authority for the
statement that the best record for speed
by an automobile is he'd by the Jeantaud
electric vehicle. which has gone a kilo-
metre is s.. Is seconds, or a mike in IS sec
onds approximately The best perform
ance for petroleum motorcycle is kill
ometre in 57.35 seconds, and for petro-
leum carriage, one minute and three sec
onds, or in the neighborhod of a mile in
minute and half.
Three game cocks were brought back
from Porto Rico by Admiral Sampson for
his boys and placed at the Sampson home
at Glen Ridge N. J. They had records as
fighters. and some care was taken to keep
them from attacking and hurting a little
American bantam which strutted around
the place. These precautions failed yes
terday, however, and the bantam killed
two of the Spanish chickens one after the
other, and the third roasted so high that
it took the admirals sea glass to find him.
The japanese town of Jeukchan was
recently discovered to be in an unsanitary
condition, consequent upon which fire.
quent epidemics occurred. The japanese
officials selected a spot in the neighbor
hood that could be well drained. Streets
and public places were laid out upon it.
Buildings were erected, and the entire in
habitants of the city of Jeukchan, num-
bering 10000, We're removed to the new
site. AS the buildings We're slight wooden
structures, the scheme was practicable.
-Handkerchiefs worth ten times their
weight in gold were under appraisement
at the United States public stores in New
York recently. The articles came from
St. Gall. Switzerland. They are very del
icate and are beautifully embroidered.
Single handkerchiefs were appraised at 60
francs or $12 apiece, to which must be
added the 50 per cent. ad valorem duty,
raising the cost to $40. When the job.
ber's and retailers profits are added TO
this the linen will be worth fully ten
times its weight in gold.
There was a country wedding out in
Ford county Kansas, one day last week
which was attended by 300 guests and the
following spread was placed before them:
One large beef had been slaughtered and
cooked, three hogs had been roasted, sew
cnty-tive pies and fifty cakes had been
baked fifteen gallons of canned peas had
been prepared, ten gallons of pickles were
set before the happy thrang and thirty
chickens were cooked, and, besides, there
was bread ham and vegetables in proper
ton.
The submarine cable which was recent
ly shipped to the Philippines, to be used by
the United States army signal corps in
| connecting by telegraph the six principal
Islands of the group, is noteworthy as it
as the first deep-sea cable constructed by
an American factory. The decision to lay
this cable was reached after a successful
experience in laying and operating cables
in Cuba, and the specifications of the gov
eminent called for unusually severe tests.
which were more than satisfied by the
manufacturers The cable, which is
built up of various insulating and protect
ing materials, is finally covered by two
layers of tarred jute, which was. curl
! ously enough, grown in The Philippine Is
lands, and by The time it has reached its
| destination will have more than circum-
| navigated the globe.
Young ladies who are beginning to
practice on the piano win be glad to learn
OF new device which a Massachusetts
music teacher has just patented for their
| benefit. Mr. Frederick L. Crane. the nat
| entee realizes that the small size of their
| hands and the consequent short space
which they are able to cover on the kew
| board is often a serious disadvantage to
ambitious pupils. Accordingly he has pro
vided this instrument by means of which
! small hands may be properly stretched.
After the fingers have been firmly fxad
in the blocks attached to the screw thew
may be stretched apart to any desired dis
lance and left in that position until they
get used TO it. The instrument is some
what unpleasantly suggestive of the
thumbscTew of the inquisition, but in the
| interests of art it is expected that pupils
will be delighted to suffer in silence
Flexible films have recently been en-
! nloyed in spectroscopic photography with
considerable success, and are particularly
valuable when used with large concave
gratings, whose focal planes are somewhat
curved Sir Norman Lockyer, using a
Rowland grating, with 10000 lines to the
inch ruled on its surface, and having a
radius of 2lA feet, has recently made a
number of photographs 80 inches In
length, comparing the arc spectrum of iron
! with the spectrum of the sun Ii is be-
lieved that the use of films will facilitate
| the making of photographs at the next
| solar eclipse, as the ease with which thew
may be shifted will enable the operators
70 make an increased number of exposures
in the all too short time available Even
| after careful practice and Experimenting
I by two expert photo-astronomers it was
only possible to secure ten photograpbs
of the chrOmosphere at the beginning and
end of totally at the last eclipse, and i'm
| proved apparatus is now being designed
which, by the use of films, will greatly in
| crease the number of exposures and offer
| more data for researches in this DEPART
ment of astronomy.
| 1t IS announced that a company Is he