The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-21
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

said by the Young Peoples Weekly
to be the Oldest school house in this
country. 1t is very promitive in all
its appointments, but the teacher,
Miss Celia ]. Miller, who is only six
teen years old, has enlisted the help
of the big boys" to make some i'm
provements.
in Germany electricity, among 9TH
er curious results. has rehabilitated the
discarded windmill. At Neresheim, a
windmill supplies power for thirty-six
incandescent lamps that light a large
paint factory. Another in Schleswig
Holstein keeps up a steady current of
thirty volts. At Dusseldorf a wind
mill winds up d heavy weight, of which
the descent works powerful dynamo,
Metallic calcium now costs about
$4,000 a pound. But new process OF
reducing it from chloride OF lime has
bene discovered by a Belgium chemist
which will bring the cost down TO per-
haps 81 a pound. The metal is soft as
butter and rapidly oxidizes into lime
if left in the open air. 1t is therefore
of no use for construction perpuses,
but is a valuable agent in certain
chemical processes.
Everybody ought to know that the
very best thing they can do is to eat
apples just before retiring for the
night, says the Family Doctor.
No harm can come even to a
delicate system by the eating of ripe
and juicy apples before going to bed.
The apple is excellent brain food, be-
cause it has more phosphoric acid in
easily digested shape than any other
fruit. 1t excites the action of the liver,
promotes sound and healthy sleep, and
thoroughly disinfects the mouth. This
is not all; the apple prevents indiges-
ton and throat diseases.
The French Minister of Public
Works has just forbidden the culture
of all fruits or vegetables destined to
be eaten raw in ground which has been
watered with water drawn from sew
ers or likely to be contaminated by
drains. This decision is based on the
results of recent experiences, which
prove that tuberculosis bacilli, which
lose their virulence at the end of three
months in river water, conserve it for
ten months in sewer water; that bacilli
that have been in the ground are still
harmful at the end of three months,
and that, poured into the ground on
which fruit and vegetables are Guilt
waited, they contaminate the products
themselves.
1t may be doubted if people have
ever sufficiently reflected upon their
indebtedness to the monastic orders in
the matter of connecting drinks, says
the Paris Gaulois. Chartreuse liqueur
carries it's origin In it's title; so, more
or less, does that other liqueur, Bene-
dictine, but of all the thousands who
annually Quaff champagne and pro-
nounce it good, how many could tell
that it is the invention of an old Ben
edictine monk, who 200 years ago, had
the idea of blending all the different
grapes of the champagne district in Or
der to secure the highest delicacy and
body. The result was what all the
world now knows as champagne. OF
this beneficent soul it is related that
when old and blind he could still dis
tinguish between grapes of different
vineyards by the touch.
Following quite closely on the con-
struction of the seven-masted steel
schooner, says the Boston Herald, it is
announced that a steel six-masted
schooner will be built at Quincy. This,
it is to be hoped, is the beginning of
practically new industry on this
coast-the building of steel sailing YES
sells for the coasting trade. The great
llldJOIlty VI COdStll6 5CIOOUtIS,
practically all in fact, are wooden YES
sells. The question arose when our
wooden six-masters were launched
whether the limit OF wooden vessels
was not thus reached. With ships as
long as the proposed six-master, al
most $40 feet on deck, steel is a much
better material for construction than
wood. Steel makes a lighter vessel,
as well as a stronger one, and that
means larger cargo-carrying capac-
ity on the same dimensions. AS the
size increases in these vessels, 1t is ex-
pected that the economy of operation
will increase also, for more tons can
be carried. Citizens of this country
have monopoly of our coasting trade
AMI if these steel coasting schooners
prove good dividend payers they will
doubtless rapidly increase in number
thus taking the place of the larger
wooden schooners, in which the rate
of deterioration must be much greater
than with steel ships.
BY far the most interesting bird
emblem of a modern state is that of
the Republic of Guatemala, says the
New York Tribune. 1t has been adopt
ed as the national crest for so long
that (partly through the taste for
stamp collecting) the existence of one
the bird creation has been made far
more widely known than it otherwise
would have been. There is a race of
birds called trogons, most OF which
have very fine feathers and remarka-
BILE coloring. They are found in India
and the Malays, but are most numer
Gus in Central and Souehrn America.
1t was from their plumage that the
Mexicans made their famous mosaics
of feather work. From the tail feath-
ers they made the lustrous green he'll
NETS of theiA kings and mobiles. The
most gorgeous of all was the long
tailed or respondent trogon, which was
kept as sacred or royal bird in the
palace of Montezuma, or in one of the
two houses which formed the royal
menageries. Adequate description of
the bird is almost impossible. 1t has
rounded plume on the head, cascades
of feathers falling over the tail a yard
long, and most elegant contour The
color of the whole of the upper sur
face and plumes is most respondent
golden green, that of the breast and
under parts crimson or scarlet Such
is the national emblem of Guatemala.
The stickler for punctillo is always
a nuisance, and in the matter of the
proposed duel between Partisan and
Neapolitan fencing masters he threat
ems to spoil what the Irish fire-eattng
squire in the old farce termed "as
pretty challenge as ever was
penned." Taking their stand on a re-
cent French arbitration on the point
| the French seconds declare that. as
their principals are the offending par
ties, it is for the Italians to come TO
| them. Thew offer hnwavar fo on a. o, -