The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-09-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

cies. OF these 81 are residents, q sum-
mer migrants, q occasional visitors
and Is rare Stragglers. The land birds
are few, including only residents and
5 that come in summer to breed. The
great aux once resorted to the island.
but the most interesting birds now are
probably the Northern wren, the great
Northern diver, and the Iceland falcon.
Singing birds are few. There are l6
species of ducks and geese and birds
of prey, but the rock ptarmigan is the
only game bird.
Special cable dispatch to the Inter
Ocean: A French ethnologist says
that in olden times, whenever two men
met they used to hold up their right
hands in front of them as d sign that
they had no intention Of attacking each
other. This mark Of confidence, how
ever, did not prove sufficient I'm all
cases, for a man may hold up his light
hand and yet, if he keeps it closed. may
have a weapon concealed in It, and
therefore it became the custom for the
two right hands to grasp each other,
as only thus could full assurance be
given that no weapon was concealed in
either of them. Formerly, therefore,
this gesture, now the token of loyalty
and friendship, was one of reciprocal
distrust.
What could be clearer or true than
the reasoning of a little child thrown
suddenly upon it's own resources? In
ST. Nicholas avenue during the sum
mer says the New York Press, a tiny
dainty Dresden china girl has been
seen in boys overalls playing in the
sand. Recently she got lost. A police
man found her somewhere near Mount
Morris Park, and on inuqiring where
she lived received this naive reply:
my name is Frances, and I live in
Santa Claus street. l should like to
go home at once, please. Age four.
Santa Claus street" puzzled the brain
of the officer, but sympathetic wo-
man happening along suggested that
St. Nicholas avenue might be meant,
whereupon Frances nodded assent and
was soon in her mammals arms.
Contrary to his usual custom,
the Shah of Persia, while in Paris,
arose early one morning, and a den
fist, who had examined his teeth the
day before, was in attendance with
his case of Instruments. His majes-
tvs toothache was not, however,
troubling him this morning, but he
asked the dentist to show him his
case of instruments, and he examined
them with the greatest curiosity. Then
he suggested that, as he was not hav-
ing his tooth extracted, the dentist
should illustrate his craft upon the
members of his suite, many of whom,
he said, suffered from bad teeth. Up
on this every Persian in the room, ex-
cept the Grand Vizier disappeared,
and his majesty, looking around with
a sickly smile, motioned the dentist
to leave.
Nathan Strauss, who for several
years has been providing Pasteurized
milk for the poor of New York city in
the summer months, announces that
next year he will have in operation a
new and larger laboratory, the de-
mands on his unique charity having
vastly increased. The milk is given
free to all who on examination are
found unable to pay, nominal charge
being made to others. DR.. j. Corwin
Mabey, who was delegated by the
health department to investigate the
results from the use of Pasteurized
milk and milk foods, said to-day that
he believed the low death rate among
children under 5 years of age in the
borough of Manhattan is directly at
tributed to the distribution of Pasteu-
rized milk from The stations maintained
by Mr.. Strauss.
Judge Finletter has Joined the
ranks of jurists who have put them
selves upon record as favoring severe
punishment for wife beaters, says the
Philadelphia Inquirer. James Groome
pleaded guilty to assault and battery
on his wife, Kate Groome. The latter
testified that it was common amuse-
ment for her husband, when under the
influence of liquor, to strike her. with
out either provocation or justification.
Despite this. however, the wife did not
seem disposed to be severe. Groome
pleaded drunkenness as an excuse, and
promised to do better in the future.
Judge Finletter imposed a sentence of
four months imprisonment, saying:
The punishment for wife beating new
er falls upon the criminal but upon his
wife and children. After fifty years
experience in this court / have never
known a case, however atrocious, that
the wife did not intervene. The Biblical
law of an eye for an eye and tooth for
a tooth suggests that the wife beater
should be punished in kind. He should
be beaten with many stripes"
-Elizabethtown, the county seat of
Essex, in the Adirondacks possesses a
comedy Jail, according to the Philadel-
phia Ledger and Times. 1t is small.
having windows secured by wooden
bars and a jailyard inclosed by a solid
fence of three-quarter inch boards
which healthy male could push over
with his shoulder. But the prisoners
rarely, if ever, attempt to escape. Some
good stories are told by Judge kellogg,
Judge Hand, and other residents. 1t is
a custom to allow the prisoners out on
parole, so that they may cut the grass
on neighbor:ng lawns, do garden work,
or repair roads for the village or coun-
ty. Recently one prisoner, who should
have returned at o'clock did not ap-
ply for admission until nearly an hour
later. The warden angrily demanded
to know the reason, and added: Don't
let this occur again or | will not allow
you to come in. / lock the door at 6
o'clock and won't open it in the future
for you" Another, accused of and
awaiting trial for manslaughter, over
stayed his parole and pleaded as an
excuse that as it was Saturday he
thought he would go and spend Sunday
with his wife, returning to the Jail on
Monday morning.
-Beri-beri, an obscure and deadly
malady, has long been known among
the natives of Burma, Ceylon, the west
coast of India, and the Malay perin-
sula, and number of cases have been
treated in the Rangoon hospital, saws
the London Mail. There they have come
under the observation of young scien-
list, Capt. f. F. Rost of the Indian