The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-06
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


gas. which will be turned on by spe-
cial apparatus.
Only two-thirds of the area of the
lot can be covered in Stockholm, ex-
cept on street corners, where three
fourths is allowed. The remainder of
the lot must be reserved for courts,
for light and ventilation. All CHM
ney flues must be twelve or fifteen
inches, and must be swept once a
month from October to April by Off
cial chimney sweepers.
A valuable and interesting relic
has recently been discovered in the
ruins of an old house near Goshen, N.
Y. While digging in the ruins cop
per plate, probably hidden there more
than a hundred years ago, was found,
bearing the legend: sc. Washington.
Made by Rollison. Sculpt, and 1. Reid.
New York, 1888" 1t is a remarkably
fine piece of work and is in excellent
condition.
"A Newark IN. j. woman has a coll
lection of 1900 pitchers, no two of
which are alike. They are of every
shape and color under the sun. and
have been picked up in all the odd
hooks and corners of the world. One
of them was obtained at the little store
that Dickens immortalized as the old
curiosity shop" The whole 1900 are on
exhibition in the rooms of the New
Jersey Historical Society.
Hall Caine, the novelist, states
that he is largely indebted for his lit
eraTy success to the Bible. II think"
he says, that I know my Bible as
few literary men know it. There is
no book in the world like it, and the
finest novels ever written fall far short
in interest of any one of the stories
it tells. Whatever strong situations l
have in my books are not of my crea-
ton, But are taken from the Bible.
in one of the back streets of Nice
is barn tenanted by nearly forty os-
triches. They have been taken over
from this country and are all alive and
sometimes kicking. An attempt is to
be made this season to start an ostrich
farm on the Riviera. Ostrich breeding
has been so successful in California,
where the climatic conditions are near
ly identical with those in the south of
France, that it is expected to prosper
on the Riviera in an equal degree.
The London house which Thack-
cray built for himself, and now known
as Palace green, Kensington, was
put up for sale recently by the son of
the auctioneer who sold it-for the first
time-thir y-seven years ago. 1t is
red brick mansion, screened from the
road, and the lease which has forty
one years to run, is held direct from
the crown. Many, people thought that
Thackeray, when he decided to build
his own house in it's own grounds, was
too efx ofv, II
But events have shown that the specu-
lation was a sound one, for the other
day the house was sold for $4,000.
The age of the great stone monu-
ments at Stonehenge had been a stand
ing mystery until the great monolith
fell and was set up again a month or
so ago. Then, while excavations were
being made about it's base for the con-
crete bedding, many stone implements
were found with evidence upon them of
use for cutting and squaring the
stones. Now, if bronze had been known
at the time of the building of Stone
henge, the builders certainly would
not have used stone. When did Britain
make acquaintance with bronze? The
earliest suggested date is 1000 B. c.
But the Phoenicians knew of the min
eral wealth of Britain between 1900 and
1900 B. c., and if the Britons knew the
use of tin it is obvious that they must
have emerged from the stone age
Hence it is inferred that Stonehenge is
about 3,400 years old at least, instead of
being, as some aver, of post-Roman
origin.
The heads of the great departments
in the customs service are society
men, and they insist, says the London
Express, that promotions shall be made
mostly in the case of those who in
addition to being capable men have
! the society manner" Take the case
of the customs and the postoffice. In
those departments there are many men
who have an excellent grasp of the
business to be done, who are excellent
scholars and have deeply cultured
! minds but who haven't cultivated a
! polished manner. They are either too
! brusque, taciturn, or garrulous, and,
| above all, they are not likely to move
| in the same set as their superiors
| Among the higher staffs much dissat-
! isfaction is felt that youngsters should
be promoted over the heads of men
| who have as many years seniority as
| the youngsters have years of exist
| ence. In the postoffice, customs. war
| office, treasury, and indeed in any pub
| lie department, the great thing to be
| aimed at is manner" first and ability
! afterwards. The two combined lead
| TO big things.
In old times prisoners were some
times confined in cells that gave them
no room either to stand upright or to
lie at full length. A more distressing
experience, though happily it did not
| last long, befell an old plainsman vino
tells the story in the Los Angeles
Times. On a nipping zero day in Feb
ruaIy he started from a Montana
ranch in search of buffalo. Il must
have gone 80 miles at least before
sighting my game, four COW buffaloes
and one bull I got them all, and then,
| giving my horse his head, / undertook
| to skin the buffaloes, but it was new
work for me and slow. 1t begun to
get dark by the time I had finished
the job, and when | looked around
there was no horse in sight. con-
cluded then that would have to walk
back to the ranch: but ! disliked to
leave the hides. and it was cloudy. and
never a star to show me my course.
After studying over the matter for a
| while, laid two of the hides down fat
together, hairy side up, stretched my
self at one edge and began to roll
up careful TO leave an airhole at the
top Tor breathing purposes. The hides
were so limp that they conformed well
to the shape of my body, and the com
Portable feeling of being warm soon put
me to sleep. When / awoke and tried
TO stretch and turn over found il was
impossible, l tried to move my arms