The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-20
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

in the little town of Thorley, Eng
land, the duke of Bedford has estab-
lished model public house. 1t is a
large. airy attractive building, a reg
ular workingman's club. Beer is not
prohibited, but only a very good quail
ity is sold. Instead of being leased 1t
is put in the hands of a manager at a
fixed salary with certain commissions
He received a handsome commission
on everything he sells except beer, so
that it is to his interest to induce his
customers when they require stimu-
lants to take food and mineral waters
instead Of beer.
In looking through any old parish
register in England one discovers al
a certain period a large number of
burial entries, in which it is mentioned
that the deceased was buried in WOOL
en-. There was passed in 1878 an act
requiring, on pain of fine of SIS, that
an affidavit should be made within
eight days after a death, before a JUS
tice of the peace or minister of re-
ligion, that the deceased was buried
only in wool. It's object was the en-
couragement of a native industry by
the lesseniag of the importation of
linen from beyond the seas.
Skins of frogs are used occasionally
In bookbinding; not in general book
binding, but in the fantastic, "preci-
Gus" sort-used, in a word, as chicken
skin was used in fan making in the
time of Carlo Van Loo. Frogs skin
makes a very fine and soft leather and
in dyeing it will take the most deci-
cate colors. Hence 1t is inlaid, in cir
Giles and stars for centerpieces, into
the calf or the crushed levant Of
sumptuous book covers, and it makes
a very striking and beautiful decora-
ton. noted English binder has
achieved some of his best effects by the
judicious employment of frogs skin as
a decorative agent.
The idea that a letter placed in a
suitable receptacle could be conveyed
by electricity at q rate well-nigh COM
parable to that of an express train,
| seems to have struck an Italian exper-
imenter, Piscicelli by name. The near
| est approach to the system is that of
'telepherage," but here the rate of
| progression is, of course, relatively
slow. In the case of the Piscicelli sys-
tenn it is intended that the letters
should be conveyed in boxes composed
of aluminium along wires arranged on
the overhead system analogous to that
seen in the tramways of many towns.
Experiments are to be made with the
system between Rome and Naples.
"A Paris cable to the Herald says:
Among numerous types of flying ma
chimes now under construction in
France that of M Frederick L'Hoste
is now attracting much attention. His
air ship is completed, and moves with
huge wings, very birdlike, and is made
entirely of aluminium. 1t is of torpedo
form, and seven metres long. The
first experiments will take place over
the water. The motor works by means
of q piston. There are five brace Of
wings, three metres long and fifty GEN.
timetres broad, which rise and fall al
ternately. The machine differs from
anything hither used. Its total weight
is $50 kilogrammes. 1t is to be on
view at the St. Louis Exposition.
One of the minor, but picturesque,
results in New York Of the coal strike
is the disappearance from Circulation"
of large numbers of beer kegs and
packing cases, says the New York
Times. Heretofore the brewers have
not found it necessary to take any
special precautions to insure the re-
turn of the empty kegs after the sa-
loonkeepers have disposed of their con-
tents, but since the present scarcity
of fuel has arisen the temptation to
keep the kegs and break them up to
make fires is said to be too strong to
be always resisted. Beer kegs make
good fires. They are built of oak, md
are coated inside with pitch to make
them alright, and when split up and
used for fuel they will roast a turkey
or warm a hot water radiator with the
best anthracite that ever came frolh
a mine. To prevent this convenient
but somewhat irregular use being
made of the kegs, brewers in this and
other cities are preparing to take ex-
ira precautions to insure the return OF
their property.
A widow living in one of the big
tenement houses on the East Side has
discovered a novel substitute for coal,
says the New York Times. She is
employed by a large button firm to
sew celluloid and composition buttons
on cards. Large bags full of buttons,
as they come from the factories-some
perfect, some broken or having flaws
in the finish-are sent to her home. In
discarding some of the imperfect speci-
mems a few days ago she threw them
upon the fire. The proportion of cellu-
lo1d contained in them was sufficient
to cause the buttons to ignite, but was
not large enough to cause an explo-
sion. More buttons were thrown on
the fire, and when all of the coal in
the crate had been consumed there re-
manned from the heated buttons a glow
sufficient to boil a kettle of water. This
was not entirely extinguished when
the woman prepared to make the fire
on the following morning. Since then
the experiment has been tried with
larger numbers of the imperfect but
tons, thousands of which were stored
in bedroom, and fire which lasted
all day has been obtained.
"A bridge which will have the long
est span in the world is being con-
structed over the st. Lawrence river
about six and one-half miles south of
Quebec, says the Pittsburg Gazette.
The great st. Lawrence flows between
high, rocky cliffs at this point, and
varies from 1900 to $500 feet in width.
according to the tide. The water is
about $50 feet deep in the channel and
flows by at a swift rate. The channel
will be crossed with a suspended span
and two cantilever arms, making the
unsupported structure 1900 feet long.
which is by far the longest span in the
world. The length of anchor arms on
each side of the main span will be 500
feet, with one approach span of 22O
feet at each end between anchor piers
and terminal abutments The length
of the structure. including abutments.
Will be $500 feet. The bridge will have
two railway tracks, a single electric
motor track, and a highway for We
hiCleS The danfb nf the e,,.x.o.