The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-08
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


city for twenty-five years past not
| drop OF rain having fallen ~ehere on that
! day since 1879 Five years ago" says
| the Chicago Post, "there were but six
| sunny days IN April. 1t rained every day
for a week preceding the 25th and for
week after. But the 18th was dry and
| cloudless."
The North German Lloyd Steamship
| Company has placed an order with the
| Vulcan Shpbuilding Company of Stettln
| for the construction of n giant ocean grey
| hound which ds expected to sclipse all
ocean steamers In speed and size. The
| new steamer is to be 752 feet long. there
| by exceeding In length by a feet the
| White Star Liner Oceanic, which is the
| largest steamer a1oat. The new steamer
| will have about 5000 greater horse power
| than the Deutschland Of the Holland
| American Line which has about 40,3D0
| horse power. The Deutschland is guar
| ap;eed to make twenty-three and one-half
| knots. The new North German Lloyd
Liner will make twenty-four TO twenty
| FIVE knots, it is expected. This viii en-
| able her to make the trip from Queens
| town to New York in four days twenty
| one hours, and the trip from Southampton
or Cherboug 10 New York in a little over
| five days. The steamer is to have twin
screws.
Boston has been treated to a millionaire
foot race. Harry P. Perry, New York
millionaire in his own right, won a $1,000
wager from Peter Gerry, son of Elbridge
T. Gerry, of New York. Both are Har-
| ward students. Perry bet that he could
run from the Hotel Touraipe to the corner
of Commonwealth and Massachusetts ave
nues, about three-fourths of a mile, in
| side of nine minutes. This wager was
made week ago and meantime without
the xnnvHrle5yeA of oil
culars were distributed among their class
mates and social friends in the aristocratic
section advertising Perry as a winged
wonder, and inviting all to turn out and
see him sprint. Perry started off, ac ,
companded by Gerry, the latter in an au-
tomobile, but before he had run three
minutes there were twenty automobiles,
eighteen carriages and thirty bicyclists
| following him. Their occupants and rid
ers were of the swell set and all cheered
him on. He covered the distance in eight
minutes and two seconds, and afterwards
was wined and dined
Andrew Phelps of Minnesota will start
| for Alaska next month 20 embark in a
novel scheme. He does not go to dig for
gold, but will brave the r.gors Of the
frigid climate as a breeder of fur-bearing
animals Several persons are now engag-
ed in the industry in the Arctic islands
| anu dKo Sdlu 10 De prOSpefluS. Inc men
| now engaged in the scheme" said Mr..
| Phelps, squat on one of the numerous
islands, generally in Prince William
sound, or lease it direct from the gov
eminent, and turn loose all the foxes they
can purchase AS the Islands are quite
bare and small and uninhab.ted by other
animals on which the foxes can prey for
food, the owners must supply them with
food all the year around. Unmarkatable
fish, blubber and offal, cornmeal and
grain are mixed and used for feeding.
The animals multiply rapidly I'M
der favorable conditions. and in a
few years the farmer ought to
be independent" Attempts have
been made to propagate the silver grey
fox, whose pelts are worth 800 and up
wards. Black foxes will bring upward
of 800. In some places the attempts have
been successful. The blue fox is the fav-
orite as it is the easiest handled The
skins bring from 500 at Prince William
sound to $40 in Liverpool, where the mar
ket is controlled.
A writer In a London paper says: TT
is really time that Parliament took the
matter of Sunday music in hand. The
County Council has very properly arrived
at modus vivendi; but there is no reas or
why such compromise as now exists
should be necessary. l suppose a god
deal of opposition to Sunday music In the
| past has been due to the general misap-
prehension of what is sacred music. The
distinction between II and secular musit
is generally drawn by those who canno
: distinguish one tune from another; by
: those who are, as Charles Lamb comics
sed he was, organically incapable of 9
tune To such as these, if you wrote G
march and called it the "Khakf' march
you would have perpetrated a piece of sec
ular music; but If you rechristened il
with a sacred title 1t would be considered
fit for reproduction on the harmonium o.
a Sunday afternoon These gentlemen or
ganically incapable of a tune, judge music
by the words TO which 1t has been set /
a song; or by the title If a composition o
absolute music-that is, music which Il
, not setting of poem, but stands alone
1t does not matter how sentimental o.
worldly music may be in its general char
acter, 1t Is sacred because 1t Is so la
beled. You may take poem about angles
or choir boys who have become angles 0ht
strangest metamorphoeig in the world, as
any one who knows choir boys viii tel
you) and set 1t to cheap and sentimental
music, and 10. you have written a sacret
song. But you may put all the most sol
emn and sincere feeling Of which you arr
capable into the slow movement OF a sym
phony, and unless you label 1t "Adagi
, religioso" you have written secular music
1t is a strang world, my masters"
II am always asked lot of questions
about the peerage," said A. L. Jameson
of London, according to the New Yorl
Tribune, whenever am in'Amertca. On,
, thing that seems especially to bother you
people Is that while House of Lords ex
lists nevertheless lords, earls and ever
marquises are to be found among th'
members of the House OF Commons. This
comes about from the so-called courtesy
titles borne by eldest sons and heirs Fol
example, take the case OF the Marquis Of
) Isorne, now ninth Duke OF Argyll, whs
, married the Princess Louise. He bore the
, title Of marquis during his fathers lf,
by courtesy. The peerage Is divided int,
dukes. marquises, earls, vscounts ant
banons, and the spiritual peerage int
archbishops and bishops The title duke
Is very old. Hannibal was called Duke o.
Carthage. The Doge of Venice was
duke duke is addressed as His Grac,