The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-11-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

an extraordinary affection for canaries,
and at Osborne there is quite an aviary
full of them. Many of these little birds
are also kept in the apartments used by
herself and her children.
The most wretched man on earth
is said to be monarch--Norodom,
King of Cambodia. He has gorgeous
palace, furnished according to the most
expensive ideas, but he adheres to the
customs of his ancestors. and sleeps
on an ancient carpet in a kind of shed
that has not been cleaned since the
creation. He is a miserable victim to
hypochondria, and all day long he
heaves long signs OF utter wretched-
ness. This monarch is a short, fat
person with one eye.
-"Ouida," as Mile. de la Rance pre-
fers to call herself, is now an elderly
lady, but she still affects the white
muslin frocks and pale blue ribbons of
a bygone era. She is the autocratic
queen of a large circle of admirers at
Florence, where she has an ideal home
and an extraordinary collection of
dogs. for whom she has a passion.
"Ouida" does not like England or Eng
fish life and food, and not infrequent-
ly at London dinner tables has asked
for cold roast beef and beer, that being
the level on which she places English
cookery.
One reason for Frances failure in
consul at Rouen, is that the soldier
has determined the position and char
acter of her colonies. In Africa, for
instance, she colonized with military
expeditions; England, on the other
hand, with merchants, who have fixed
upon the most fertile points with
traders instinct. In the fight for COM
mercial supremacy traders are better
than soldiers. Again, the specialties of
French manufacture--silks, ribbons,
gloves and articles de Paris-are not
what a colonial people desire, and on
inability to minister to the more vul-
gar needs of the multitude has allowed
other nations to enter these markets.
The model lodging house which was
opened in Milan, Italy, last June has
proved a great success. 1t is patron
lied, not by manual laborers, but by
clerks and shop assistants. Rooms rent
for 6712 cents a week. Every lodger
must be in his room before midnight
and be out again before 8 o'clock in
the morning. Bathrooms are open day
and night, a full bath costing only
cents and shower bath cents. Lodg-
ers may buy food outside and cook it
themselves in the hotel kitchens, or
they may buy their supplies at the
lowest possible price from the hotel
storerooms. IIodgers are also furnished
with facilities for doing their own
washing. The building is five stories
in hight, with roof garden on the
top. The building contains $50 rooms.
all of the same dimensions, feet 10
inches by z feet 6 inches.
Lord Roberts had a curious expert
ence when lighting as subaltern in
the suppression of the Indian mutiny.
Roberts and a fellow officer named
Watson were out riding, when Roberts
greyhound started an antelope and the
next moment hound and horses were in
not pursuit. Suddenly, as if out of the
earth, rose at some distance a band of
| Sepoy troopers riding toward them.
| Checking and turning their painting
steeds, the two young officers retraced
| their steps, quite convinced of the ut
| ter hopelessness of now outstripping
their foes. CHANGING back, they saw
| the troop actually open out to ride
them down, and bidding one another
what they deemed would be a last
! good-by they were about to part COM
pany when a final look over the Shout
der revealed the astonishing fact that
the troop had utterly vanished 1t was
a mirage.
"A retired surgeon of the Indian SER
vice has a novel receipt for the cure of
dyspepsia, and one few people will care
to try, says M. A. p. He relates that
he had been a victim of dyspepsia for
years, when he landed in India Short
| ly after his arrival in the East he was
| travelling by night in a closed bullock
coach, as is the practice in the Madras
Presidency, with pairs of bullocks
posted every five miles, when-fortu-
nately it was the last stage of the Jour-
ney-the animals bolted down a steep
embankment, the pole broke and the
coach went over and over. He says:
My youth and supple limbs no doubt
| saved me from serious injury, but the
shock and shaking completely cured
! all Indigestion, and / have ever since
blessed that pair of bulls 1t is now
over thirty years. and l have since that
day never had to give a thought to
what l may or may not eat and drink,
and never lose an opportunity of rec
ommending to the faculty the Shock
and shaking treatment for dyspepsia
and indigestion"
-Aoused by the verdict in the famous
Sheffield bridge work" suits, under
| which the dentists of the United States
may be called on to pay $40, 900, 900 or
more, says the New York Herald, some
of the dentists organizations have
| started a movement looking to obtain
ing an amendment of the patent laws
with view to their protection. DIR.
| Lucius I. Sheffields heirs recently OBJ
tained a verdict in a test case in the
United States Court, which apparently
concludes fourteen years of litigation.
in which the dental profession almost
| unanimously has contested the right
of DIR. Sheffield to collect royalties on
bridge work. under a patent he held.
| Further attack is to be made on the
patent in question, and it is to be based
| first on the same contention as that
on which the dentists are 70 seek legis-
| lation. The dentists mean to present
their case to Congress through two of
| their bodies. They say there should be
no restriction on the use of methods for
the curing of human ills. 1t is their
belief that they should be free to use
for the benefit of humanity every agen-
cy that they can, allowing the patent
laws, however, to apply to any appli-
ance or apparatus which they can OBJ
tain ready made.
The first instance on record of a
patent log catching fish in mid-ocean
has been brought to the attention of
the United States Fisheries Commits
sion by Capt. Eagleton of the Knott
Line steamer Trojan Prince. Not only
| is the DeculiaritV of fha % nt,ra "a