The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-07-08
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

metric as the regal system Oh EtIsidhu.
The matter which they sent out is inter-
esting and may be had for the asking.
The Paris fire department has adopt
ed automobile fire engines and hook
and ladder trucks and they are notably
superior to the old apparatus. The en-
gines are run by storage batteries and
can cover a distance of S5 miles. The
electricity is used not only to propel the
engine but to work the pumps also.
There is no delay getting up steam and
one charge of the accumulators will keep
the pumps going hours.
-Egg-shells may be used to advantage
in starting delicate plants for transplant
ing The half shells are filed with earth
and set in box also containing dampened
earth. A hole is made in the point of the
shell to allow drainage. A single seed is
then planted in each shell, which is easily
broken when transporting is done, with
out the slightest disturbance of roots
This use of egg-shells is the discovery of
a French gardener, who claims that they
are vastly superior to the little pots gen.
orally used for the purpose by florists
IA curious feature about this evolution
in methods of hunting, says the Pail Mall
Gazette, was the hesitation with which
gunpowder was taken up by the great no
bles. Not only did it take quite century
to familiarize hunters with it, but the
evidence that has come down to us shows
that the humble classes were the first to
use it for shooting game. Macmillan, ard
ent sportsman that he was, tells us him
self that he could shoot farther and with
greater accuracy with his crossbow than
his keeper could with the fire tube. To
prove this he tells US the well-known
story of certain chamois standing at a
distance of 200 fathoms, which after be-
ing pronounced as too far off by his
henchman, who was armed with one of
the first sporting firearms mentioned in
print, comes tumbling down, pierced at
the first attempt, by the Emperor's bolt,
From other sources we learn of strict
measures being adopted to prevent poach-
ers and wood loafers" using firearms,
and this at period when princes still
used the cumbrous crossbow and spear.
1t was only in the last quarter of the
sixteenth century that firearms had GUST
ed other weapons for certain forms of
the chase, the deer battue being among
the latter.
The Swedish explorer Sven Hedin has
discovered a very curious lake in Thibet,
says the Revue Scientiique, which he de-
sheet of water hitherto unknown-a new
Dead Sea-almost as interesting as that
of Palestine. 1t is one of the strangest
sheets of water that have ever seen. II
is of enormous extent, but not very deep.
To sail on it you have to walk through it
on foot for kilometer lover half mle)
from the edge, to reach the boat; then
the boat must be dragged another kilo-
meter, so that a distance of two klo-
meters must be traversed from the shore
before the boat with its equipment can
be really fioated. But the most curious
and most remarkable feature of this in
land sea is the incredible quantity of
salt that it contains. The bottom is a
compact mass of salt, on whose rough
surface 1t is very disagreeable to walk.
as one must do to reach the boat The
boat itself, our oars, our cloths, were all
as white as chalk, and when drops of
the water fell on the ground they left
globules behind them as If they were sap
from a candle. 1t is not remarkable that
this sea and its neighborhood are as
sterile as the Dead Sea of Palestine -
Translation for the Literary Digest.
Few people have any conception of The
growth and present magnitude of that in
stitution known as the Salvation Army
Its steady progress from small begin
nings and under great difficulties may be
said to have been one of the wonders of
the nineteenth century There has been
wonderful change in sentiment in re-
gard to the movement. Twenty years
ago the mobbing of it's members was an
everyday occurrence; at present we hear
little of that kind of thing. All creeds
have come to realize that it has been a
potent factor in the spiritual uplifting of
that lower stratum of humanity, the
great unwashed," which both priest and
pastor have found ii hard to reach. Some
interesting figures of the movement were
given the other evening in London by
Gen. Booth. The General said that the
army was at present represented "in for
ty-seven counties, and had papers circu-
lating in thirty different languages; they
had 1900 societies, with 1900 officers and
40,GO0 lay officers, 600 social institutions,
with LOO officers; they sheltered 1900
outcasts everey day; they had given away
millions of breakfasts and sheltered 1,5OO
criminals" In Great Britain the army
has established no less than thirteen
farm colonies, seventy-two workshops and
a labor bureau which gives employment
to $500 persons These figures in them
selves speak volumes for the movement.
Mail carriers on rural free delivery
routes have hitherto been permitted by
the postal department to take commissions
from people living along the lines they
traverse to make purchases in cities,
towns or villages through which they may
pass. The carrier, as a rule, drives a
horse and buggy or wagon, and is thus
able to carry his purchase back to his
patrons. The arrangement has proved a
great convenience 40 people living In the
remoter districts along the route, and the
postman has been able to exc out his
small salary. Everything has worked
smoothly up to the present; in fact the
ways may be said to have been creased,
but the fact has been brought home to
the department that the thing has been
a number of districts in the West and in
Pennsylvania, where prohibition is in
vogue the carriers have been in the habit
of buying liquor in the next county and
taking il back with them. This practice
the temperance people think is altogether
out of line with the carriers duties, and
the Postmaster General agrees with them.
The department has had no rule against
transactions of this sort, but in future
they will have TO be stopped, and the tip
piers will have to look elsewhere than to
the postman for their liquor. This rule
will be strictly enforced by the depart
ment, and any contravention will cost
the mail carrier his job.
Compared with the freight business
the passenger traffic presents few com
plicauons The greater simplifying fac