The Savannah morning news., 1901-06-13
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

ocaetus," is a common sight to all voy-
ayers in tropical and subtropical seas.
Their usual length is from 10 to IL inches,
though one IS inches long has recently
been described. They are enabled to ex-
ecute flying leaps by means of the great
development of their forward or pectoral
fms. During the fight the fins are kept
quietly distended without any motion.
Their fight is rapid, greatly exceeding
that of a ship going 10 miles an hour.
Lake Copais, the largest sheet of wa
ter in Greece, and one of the natural fea-
lures of that country has recently been
nearly all drained off by an English COM
pany and its former bed is now being
cultivated with gratifying results, the
soil being very fertile and well suited for
cotton, melons, cblza, beets and other
vegetables The lake formerly covered
about 90 square miles at low water in the
center of Boeotia, and near it was one
of the ancient oracles of Apollo
Water boils az a tempera ture of 213 de-
grees, but having been brought to that
temperature, it cannot be made any hot
ter. The reason of this is not generally
understood, and yet it is quite simple.
Boiling is only another name for steam
making, the agitation and bubbling be-
ing caused by the escape of the steam
into which the heat has converted the
particles of water. 1t is the escape of
the steam that prevents the water from
getting any hotter than PIP degrees, for it
takes heat away with it, thus keeping the
temperature from rising.
An active crusade against the wear
ing of ladies' corsets is being carried on
at Budapest The Hungarian Minister
for Public Instruction has issued an en-
ergetic order against their use, forbidding
all girl pupils attending the public and
private day schools in Hungary to wear
them. Herr Won Wlassics declares in his
order that the corset prevents the full de-
velopment of the bodily organs and stunts
the growth He desires a uniform blouse
to be adopted in its stead. This order has
been sympathetically received in educa-
tional circles, but regret is expressed that
the female teachers have not been includ-
ed in it, as it is thought their examples
may be prejudicial to their pupils.
News from Samoa shows that the
Germans are greatly wrought up over
the advance of Page Pago at the expense
of ADla. The action of the Oceanic
Steamship Company in stopping at Pago
Pago instead of Apia angered the Ger
mans, and August Kunst, the millionaire
planter who bought Robert Louis Stew
enson's home, Vallima, has now put on
a steamship line between Apia and Hon
olulu. 1t is understood he will extend
the line to New Zealand. The growth
of Page Page has been rapid in the last
six months. as all the natives who can
leave Apia have gone to the American
settlement, where the laws and regula-
tons are much more liberal than those
of the German colony.
The Kennebec (Me) Journal says:
What carpenters used one hundred
years ago in place of sheathing paper
while erecting the better class of build
ings was recently shown in Saco while
the carpenters were overhauling the Cut
ia house on the high bluff overlooking
Factory Island wharVes. At the south
west side it was found best to pull off
some of the clapboards. What appeared
to be loose pieces of birch bark was
found underneath. 1t was at first thought
one or two pieces had been put in by
chance. But on investigation the car
penters saw that the carpenters who
built the house in 1882 had laid sheets
of birch bark on the sheathing to close
over the cracks. These sheets were held
by small handmade nails of wrought iron
Over this were laid handmade clapboards
of pumpkin pine"
M. Pierre Roche, the Paris sculptor
and ceramist, has ventured upon fresh
field of artistic enterprise by supplying
lady Automobiles, in place of the odious
goggles, with a device that will make the
fair jehus of the autocars look like Pal
las Athene flying through the air or Ar
temus speeding to the chase. The new idea
substitutes a mask for the goggles. Two
of y is ~
Salon. The faces are beautiful, with,
perhaps a slightly too tragic touch for
modern "chauffeuses." There is no COM
pulsion, however for the ladies to look
like Greek goddesses if they prefer some
other character. They need only submit
suggestions for masks with less intense"
expressions to the artist. Eventually
every lady will have her own "masque de
route as NJ. Roche calls it, purchasing
of course, the copyright of the design,
80 that no rival motorist may appear
similarly disguised.
The audiences in Russian theaters are
strictly forbidden to applaud says the
Cleveland Plain Dealer The audiences
in the theaters OF Japan are not per-
mitted to applaud until they receive the
cue from the stage, on the prompting OF
the manager. The first nighters in the
luedleIS Ol dICteill rome were nlQcn
more punctillious in the matter of ap-
plause than modern audiences are. Wnen
the Roman theater-goers were fairly well
satisfied with a play they applauded by
swapping with the thumb and middle fin
ger. If they wanted the actors to UNI
derstand that they were really satisfied
with the performance, they clapped
loudly by beating the left fingers on the
right A more hearty token of approval
was given by striking the fiat palms of
the hands against each other. At the two
imperial theaters in Vienna, the Opera
and the Burg, applause is not allowed
until the conclusion of an act, and en-
cores are strictly prohibited
Twelve hundred dollars seems to be
an extravagant sum to pay for canary
says a dispatch from Chicago. but Louis
NJ Hedges, of 80 Warren avenue, does not
think so, as he considers that a bird suf-
ficiently patriotic to whistle Yankee
Doodle continuously and without losing
a note is worth even more. Mr.. Hedges
has just purchased a 2-year-old canary,
known as Mississippi Dick, from an old
shoemaker named O'Brien, in st. Joseph,
Mo. This bird has been astonishing his
Warren avenue neighbors for the last few
days with its rendition of the national
air. 1t appears that OBrien while sitting
at his bench varied his peg driving by
whistling Yankee Doodle while the can
airy sat perched in its cage directly over