The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The Russians are preparing for the
Paris Exposition of 1900 a map of France
in stone which will be a remarkable speci-
men of the lapidarys skill. 1t will show
each separate district in jasper, while the
sea will be represented by lapis lazuli,
marked by precious stones.
Manufacturers of structural iron say
that within a short time all the more cost
ly private houses at least in the cities,
will abandon wood except for the most
trivial use and will make use of structural
iron for the framework and the beams
that support the flooring.
The Simplon tunnel which is now be-
ing bored, and which will he the second
connecting link between Switzerland and
Italy is to be the largest tunnel in the
world. Its length will be twenty kilome-
tiers or 12.4 miles. The ST. Gothard tun-
mel has a length of fifteen kilometers and
the Mount Gents tunnel, between France
and Italy, is thirteen kilometers long.
Previous to 1873 the gold product of
Colorado exceeded the silver product In
that year silver reached s.. 1856 O14and gold
dropped to 81 SS5, 24S, it having run from
81 SEQ 600 to SO, 500 000 in the previous years.
Silver steadily advanced until 1892 when
it touched high-water mark at $230S2. 500.
In 1895 it had receded to $11, $50, 232, and
since that time has been gaining slightly,
the valuation for 1899 being $14,65O 274. 1t
was at the 1895 post that gold passed sill
yer. it having jumped from $9549,731 in
1894 to $13 $50 954 in 1865. 100000 more than
the silver output for that year. Since
then gold has been taking big jumps
$15OOO,O0O to $19,5oO,O 900, S235O0,OOO and up to
$S5 OS1. SIC in 1899.
Norman w. Stearns of Dorchester
Mass, has presented at the war depart
ment for payment a curious claim against
the government. He is the holder of a
promissory note drawn in favor of his
grandfather, Eli Stearns. on Aug. /.
1871, as reimbursement for 1857, which the
latter advanced for the requirements of
some sick soldiers in Boston, The note
reads: Said sum shall be paid on the
first day of December ensuing, 1881 and
if not then the same shall bear interest of
6 per cent. per annum until paid" Stearns
claims that payment was deferred on the
date specified and that the interest on the
document now amounts to over $13. O00
The government is investigating the mat
ter
A Lewiston girl who has never tast-
ed the weed and who dislikes the smell of
a much-smoked pipe, has one of the most
remarkable collections of tobacco pipes
in the state says the Kennebec (Me)
Journal. She began to collect them when
she was a little girl, and has kept up the
fad, till now she has a wonderful variety
of them. And what is more she has sent
them around the world for great men to
smoke. She has one that was smoked by
Bismarck, one by the Prince of Wales,
and her pipes, which are all new when
l-she buys them, have been smoked by
many great men in America. When her
friends gather al her house she brings
Hfnfh at. mir to
them to strangers. She fears notoriety,
but really her collection is remarkable
An English vicar has made the fol-
lowing announcement: The churchyard
where interments have recently taken
place now resembles a French cemetery.
Glass shades on graves are un-English
the custom is borrowed from the CONT
nent The vicar is therefore Obliged in
the best interests of the parish and the
churchyard, to state that he cannot al
low the churchyard to be further dis
figured by the introduction of any more
glass shades, and hopes that the many
who have placed them over their rela-
tives' graves without full knowledge of
what they were doing will kindly remove
them. The vicar has legal power to re-
move all glass shades which were placed
in the churchyard without his consent
and would prefer the people to remove
them of their own free will"
"A bill has been introduced in the
Maryland legislature for the re-establish-
ment of the boundary line between Mary
land and Pennsylvania, commonly called
Mason and Dixon's Line. The bill, which
appropriates 5000, requests the superin-
tendent Of the United States Coast and
Geodetic Survey to provide for the ac-
curate re-establishment of the line and to
remark the same with monuments
When the line was originally run in 1767
by two English astronomers, Charles Ma
son and jeremiah Dixon, it cost more
than $4,000. After years of bad feeling
and bloodshed oven the boundary and a
fruitless effort to settle it in London,
Penn and Lord Baltimore employed the
men named to run the line At every
fifth mile of the line of about two hun
dred miles a stone was planted, bearing
upon one face the arms of Thomas and
William Penn and on the side toward
Maryland the arms OF Lord Baltimore
The intermediate miles were marked
with stones bearing M and p. on the
sides facing each state Some few of
these old milestones are standing. but
many are gone. In Washington county.
Md, a farmer has Two OF them in use
as doorsteps Near Hiehhelds, on the
Western Maryland Railroad, stands an
other.