The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-04
ITEMS Of INTEREST.

Ter, by whom America is said to have
been named after the explorer Amerigo
Vespucci.
king Edward likes his notepaper
more square than oblong and very
simple in style. 1t is engraved with
Sandringham or Marlborough House in
raised letters, with a crown above the
address. His Majesty was very much
disturbed lately by report that reach
ed London to the effect that this same
sort of note paper was on sale in a
New York department store at sixteen
cents pound-seven pounds for dol
lar.
"A remarkable shell of a new type
has been introduced into the German
army, and is receiving the close at
tention of the British war office. By
the introduction of a cartridge COM
posed of amorphous phosphorus into
an ordinary charge of smokeless pow
der, thick, white smoke is emitted
when the shell bursts, thus showing
the gunners, even at the greatest dis
lance, how close the projectile has
gone to the enemys position. BY in
creasing the proportion of this chemi-
cal operation, which will not lessen the
bursting effect, it has been found pos
sible to deposit in front of an enemys
position a thick bank of white smoke,
which for many seconds will altogether
obliterate his view of the field.
The Electrical World tells of blind
young woman who is a successful tele-
phone operator. She is Miss Abbie
Downing, of Nation, III. She is TWEEN
ty-three years old, a graduate of the
Indianapolis School for the Blind, and
has become an expert switchboard OPP
orator. She locates a call on the board
by the sound of the drop" or falling
shutter, or if busy and the warning
click has not been heard, her HifHble
fingers travel over the board with
great rapidity, accurately reading it's
condition. In addition to handling the
calls, she also takes charge of the
toll station, and "by an accurate sys-
tenn of bookkeeping makes a record of
all toll charges. Her accomplishments
include all the usual domestic duties,
as well as music.
Gen. James Grant Wilson describes
in the December Century a dinner Civ
en- to Thackeray soon after his arrival
in New York, in 1852: "Soon after
Thackerays arrival in New York about
two-score friends and admirers among
the leading literary and social celebri-
ties of the city gave him a delightful
dinner at Delmonico's. Washington
Irving was invited to preside, but re-
Numbering his unfortunate fiasco at
the Dickens OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, as
chairman, he began well enough in
welcoming the distinguished guest of
the evening uttered a few sentences,
then broke down completely, dropping
back in his chair after announcing the
toast-he declined the invitation of the
committee, consisting of Bryant Davis,
Halleck, Jay, King and Verplank, un-
less speeches and reporters were abso-
lutely forbidden. According to the
recollection of George William Curtis.
the last survivor of the dinner party,
the conditions were faithfully observ-
ed, but it was the most extraordinary
| instance of American self command
| on record Irving's CHEEKY anecdote
and gayety, the songs and banter of
J the company, the happy chat and
! sparkling wit, took the place of elo-
| quence, and l recall no dinner more de-
! lightful.'
Much light on the way in which
myths are perpetuated, and in which
beliefs get along, even among intelli-
gent and educated people, without a
| single fact for basis, was cast by let
ter which we published on Sunday,
says the New York Times. The writer,
a civil engineer graduated from an
Eastern college, gave a truly amazing
account of how his incredulity in re
| gard to water finding" by means of
forked twigs was if not removed at
| least shaken by something that he once
saw little girl do out in Idaho. She
| took a forked twig-of willow, which
was utterly unorthodox-and held it in
the traditional manner while she walk
| Cd hOl1t in the SaRp br1Sb After "A
while the twig began. to bend over, and
did so with such force that it twisted
the girls forearm around" Later she
was blindfolded, went to the same spot,
and again pointed downward with her
twig That is all, except that the child S
father said he was going to dig for
water there, and that no other member
of his family possessed this power.
| Whether water existed at the spot in
Dictated the engineer did not wait to see
and yet he was much impressed, has
| remembered the incident for five years,
and very graVely asks: What caused
the twig to turn DOWN." He had not
so far as we can see from his nara
tive the slightest reason to doubt that
the cause was-the child. That explain
alton, of course, involves the child III
deception, but possibly enough it was
only SELF deception. AS for the blind
it is easier to believe that the twig was
tuI ned by muscular force than that ii
was affected by distant substance be-
tween which and it there is no known
attraction. The mystical has it's fas-
| cination for us all. but il is well to
exercise just a little discrimination in
the judgment of evidence, and so avoid
falling into absurdity-and the Society
for Psychical Research.
"A recent traveller in Eastern Ara
bia has revived little of the ancient
history of that part of the world, trac-
ing back for many centuries the cause
of bitter feeling between two tribes
that were at war for forty years their
relations being somewhat strained
says the New York Sun. The ex-
plorer found that in $50 A. D., the
sheikh of one of the tribes made a
foray on another tribe and as a ran
som for the booty and captives taker
he demanded and received a famous
horse named Dahis. The extraordinary
feetness of Dahis was the boast of his
new owner and it was not long before
a match was made to race him against
FeZara mare belonging to another
tribe and also noted for her fieetness
The wager was for 100 camels and the
length of the course was about ter
miles. AS the day fixed for the race
approached the horses were kept with
out water, the plan being that the
horse which first plunged its nose into
the water trough ten miles from the
starting point, should be declared the
winner The racers were 10 RIM rider.