The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-02
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


up his owner and says in plaintive
tone, John" Mr.. McFadden, who is a
hickman, says that when the remark
able cat calls him in the middle of the
night the name is said so plain that
he at once tumbles out of bed to an.
swer the summons, as he is sure that
it is call for hack. The cat inva-
riably calls him when a carriage is
wanted at night.
The United States Ordnance Board
has been carrying ON a series of ex-
periments to determine the part which
nltroglycerine plays in the corrosion
produced in guns fired with smokeless
powder, and to discover If possible a
desirable smokeless powder with a
small proportion of nitroglycerine as an
ingredient. 1t is reported that the au-
thorities have succeeded in producing
a smokeless powder for the army that
contains only rs per cent. of nitro
glycerine, and an explosive for the
navy that does not contain any. Cor
dite, 1t is known, contains So per cent
OF this explosive. A four inch gun fred
with the new powder 636 times and a
four-inch gun fired Gel times, failed to
show any appreciative corrosion when
tested with fine micrometer.
1t seems incredible that the sales
of stamped paper by the Postoffice
Department should have increased
close to 90 per cent. in seven years, but
the statistics of the Department show
this to be fact. Population has not
increased more than Is per cent in
that time. The average expenditure of
every man, woman and child in the
United States for postage stamps was
not quite $1.04 in 1894, and it was near
ly $1,35 in the fiscal year just closed.
This does not include the receipts
from periodicals, and alleged periodi-
calls, sent from the offices of publica-
ton. Postage is so cheap that it is
hard to believe that seven years ago
people were economizing in letter
writing, but it is easy to believe that
with the revival of business there has
been a great increase in commercial
correspondence.
"A dispatch from Boston, Mass,
says: One of the new battleships of
the United States navy will be fitted
with the largest forged anchor that
has ever been built in the world The
anchor weighs 1880 pounds and was
completed at the Charlestown Navy
Yard Saturday The anchor, from it's
crown to the end of the shank, is Ia
feet inches long, and it's width from
pee to pee is 9 feet inches. Its length
over all is Is feet inches. The stock
is II feet inches long, and its diane
ter is 1916 inches. The palms, or
flukes, as they are ordinarily called,
are feet tx inches wide, and the cast
iron ball at the end of the shank is
II PIC inches in diameter. The an
Choir will be provided with 25s-inch
cable, and to break it a strain of $780,,
900 pounds will be necessary according
to official test. There are anchors as
heavy as the one just completed, but
they are of cast iron and cannot stand
the strain of the forged ones. This
anchor is worth about $500.
In narrating the frontier expert
ences of THE First White Baby Born
in the Northwest" in the Ladies' Home
Journal for August, w. S. Harwood
| tells of a queer experience that befel
the family in the first year after set
Ting on a farm far removed from the
settlements. THE winter had been I'M
usually long and severe, and their store
| of provisions ran low 1t was a long
! distance to the nearest base of supplies
| and communication with the outside
world had been cut off. Indians in the
neighborhood one night broke into the
| granary where the wheat was stored
| and stole quantity. In doing this A
| large amount of broken glass became
mixed with the wheat which the In
| dams left, SO for many days, amidst
much merry story telling and many u
| joke and laugh, in spite of the serious
situation, the family gathered about
! large table in their living room and
| spent the short winter days picking
over the wheat, kernel by kernel. IN
order to free it from the pieces of glass,
for this wheat stood between them and
| starvation, and none of it's precious
kernels must be lost Their stock of
| flour had long since wasted away, as
had most of their food supplies, SO they
| boiled and ate the wheat without
grinding. Relief reached them just in
time to prevent a sad ending to the ex-
| perience.'
A London fog. says the London
| Chronicle, is an expensive visitation.
day of it, counting the day at eight
hours, is estimated to cost anything
| from 100000 to e100 900 in hard cash
No small proportion of this goes to the
gas and electric light companies, which
have to supply about a third more
| power than usual. But there are also
the railways. For signaling is expen-
sive. At Chaplain Junction alone ESQ
has been spent by a single railway
company during a days fog in extra
! pay to the plate layers. When the red
/
a hundred years the plate layers be-
| come fog signalers. and for this they
are paid a shilling a day in addition
| to their regular wages, and 4d per hour
| overtime, provided the overtime does
| not run into second shilling. For sig
| mails, like a cuckoo are more frequent
| ly heard than seen, and, like a num-
| Der of things, such as babies, cats and
| crickets, make an amount of noise al
| together out of proportion to their
size. The largest of those in use is
| scarcely bigger than a crown piece,
and is a quarter of an inch in depth.
| The little tin box contains a teaspoon
| full of gunpowder and three PERCUSSION
| caps, and is fitted on to the rail by a
! red ribbon. 1t comes from Birmingham
mostly, and costs exactly a penny
apiece. A hundred and fifty thousand
| or so are purchased by big railway
| company in the year. and there are
not many left over at the end of 1t.
Many wild birds are accorded a
certain amount of protection by law in
| Great Britain, and the crusade against
the use of feathers for millinery pur-
poses has had some weight, but the
! Humanitarian League wishes to draw
! the cords still tighter. The league has
prepared a bill, to be shortly introduce
ed in Parliament, which will make it
a Enable offense for any person to wear
or sell an article of dress attached to
which is 1.-The plumage, skin or body
of any bird named in the schedule. -