The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-15
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

legacy writes our Paris correspon-
dent. To all of them is ventured the
same answer; the will is being con-
tested before the courts, and the tall
gentleman will have plenty of time to
keep on growing before the case is
settled. The Pierrecourt heirs have
already begun suit to have the giant
couple clause in the counts will set
aside, averripg that the testator was
not of sound mind when he stipulated
that method of improving the breed OF
Frenchmen. In the meantime the doc
uments in the case are filed at the
mayors office, and are accommodating
amazingly. They comprise written APP
plications enough to create the i'm
preston that there are not more than
handful of citizens in the whole
country less than seven feet high.
That Egypt and France held inter
course as early as 1000 B. c., is proved
by the marked resemblance of inscrip-
tons found in the two countries. The
excavations of Prof. Flinders Petrie
have brought to light evidence of an
extremely ancient movement between
the land of the Pharaohs and the
countries bordering on the Mediter-
lanean. This communication, like all
other great inVasionS of history, had
its origin in an effort at trade extern
sion. The great wars of the eighteenth
Egyptian dynasty were provoked by
surrounding nations jealous of Egypts
growing wealth and power. In retalia-
ton Egypt carried the campaign into
Asia and Europe, and, judging from the
inscriptions mentioned, must have
pushed as far west as France. Prof.
Petrie has in his possession series
of figures found in Malta and neolithic
remains from Brassenpuoy in France
which are beyond chance of doubt the
work of Egyptians. They establish in
tercourse long before the period which
is generally recognized as the begin
ming of the history of the countries of
Europe.
The treasures of the old Irish
kings, which are about to be removed
from the British Museum to the Ma
| tional Museum, Dublin, are, like most
! Celtic work, extremely quaint, as well
| as handsome, says an exchange. They
understood the gentle art of personal
decoration, those fierce warriors. and
many of their headdresses and girdles
| preserved in the Irish Museum are
really magnificent. In the particular
| collection just mentioned there is a
! gold collar in repousse work, also an
other golden collar much resembling
| those one sees in the pictures of Vik-
are called, form part of this collection,
but perhaps the greatest curiosity of
all is the counterfeit presentment-in
gold-of an ancient Irish boat, or Cur
rach," as the Celtic name is, in which
are little benches for the rowers ana
a hole for the mast. Another of these
objects of art is a wonderful bowl with
four rings for attaching chains to
evidently part of a lamp Leinster
! House, Dublin, formerly the town res
| idence of the Dukes of Leinster, is now
the treasure house of ancient Irish art
and some of the royal crowns or dia-
dems preserved there are very beauti
ful-many of them being not unlike the
| Russian national crescent shaped
dress we are accustomed to see in pic
lures of the Tsartza and ladies of the
| court. When the Duchess of Cornwall
and York was married the present Civ
en- to her by Lady Aberdeen was a
| lovely white poplin evening cloak, held
together by copy of an old Celtic
fibula, made of gold thickly studded
with diamonds and the cloak and clasp
made a beautiful and most unique
gift.
Josiah Flynt, whose stories of "The
Powers that Prey" recently caused SO
much commotion in police circles in
| New York, says this of the meaning
| Ol the WOTu graft. IN regard 10 the
word graft, which is used freely in the
text desire to state that it is a gem
eric slang term for all kinds of theft
and illegal practices generally. In some
| cases it also covers transactions which
are within the letter of the written
| law, but wholly outside the law cover
ing equitable treatment of ones neigh
Dor. 1t is used mainly by tramps,
| thieves and thef-catchers, but it is not
1, Ill 4rI@ i
| A CRATER is one who makes his liv-
ing, and sometimes his fortune, by
grating He may be a political boss,
a Mayor, a chief of police a warden
of penitentiary a municipal contrac-
tor, member of the town Council, q
representative in the Legislature, q
judge in the courts, and the upper
world may know him in his official ca
pacity, but if the under world has had
occasion to approach him for purposes
of graft and found him corrupt he is
Immediately classified as an 'un-
mugged's grafter-one whose photo
graph is not in the rogues' gallery, but
| ought to be. The professional thief is
the mugged' CRATER; his photograph
and Bertillon measurements are known
and recorded. The world of graft is
wherever known and unknown thieves,
e-givers, and bribe- takers congra-
| Sdle' III the OnlIeQ states II IS t0un q
mainly in the large cities, but its
| boundaries take in small country seats
and even villages. A correct map of it
is impossible, because in a great many
places it is represented by an unknown
rather than by a known inhabitant, by
a dishonest official or an unscrupulous
and wary politician rather than by a
confessed thief, and the geographer is
helpless until he can collect the facts,
which may never come to light"
THE increased consumption of tea
is one of the interesting phases of
modern commercial life in the South -
said a drummer to the New Orleans
Times Democrat. land you would be
surprised at the vast change which
has taken place in this respect. The
fact is that during the last few years
the changes in the tea business have
| amounted to a revolution. | have lust
returned from a trip on the road. and
| touched some of the more remote
places in Texas and Mississippi, and
| while | have been out before in the
same territory, / was surprised at the
increased number of tea drinkers. I'm
| to few years ago in the more remote
sections of the country, tea was used
| almost exclusively in the sick room
| Tea had to be bought in the country
| from the druggist. The man who dealt
| in general merchandise rarely thought
| OF selling tea, unless he had a medicine
counter in his store. Tea was some
thing nntcky, something to be given
to the convalescng patient along with
crackers, taSteleSS broth and things