The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-26

in London ther are, according to
the latest directory, 1,5O0 families by
the name of Smith, $50 by the name
of Jones, 700 Brown families and $50
Robinson families.
There are still districts in Italy
where the peasants live on chestnuts
and acorns, and in the agricultural re-
gions of the North the diet is almost
exclusively cornmeal, without meat.
Two Republican members of the
present House of Representatives were
delegates to the Republican National
Convention of 1864, which put in nomi-
nation the Lincoln and Johnson ticket.
The driving of the last spike on the
Northern Pacific Railroad, at Gold
| Creek, Mont. in 1888, is to be made
the subject of a painting to overlook
the grand staircase in Montana's new
State House.
Quail are booming so scarce in Eu-
rope that France and Germany have
! Joined in prohibiting the killing of the
birds. and even the transport of dead
quail across their respective territories.
Snuff is coming into fashion again,
says the London Daily Chronicle, with
the early Victorian fashions. Snuff
taking increases the size of the nose
| and keeps it in a state of perpetual
irritation.
Australia has, proportionately, more
churches than any other country, the
number being cob, or 30 churches to
every 100000 people. England has 144
churches to every 100000; Russia only
! 55 to the same number.
"A piece of virgin gold Weighing S2.1S
ounces troy was put in the melting pot
of the United States assay office at
Helena, Mont. negotiations for its
| preservation in nugget form having
failed because of the impossibility of
an exact assay.
In Hayti a new species of tobacco
has been produced by cross fertiliza-
ton, which grows from five to seven
feet in hight, bearing a leaf twenty-five
| inches long by fifteen in width. Three
or even four cuttings can be made from
one plant between November and
March.
Artificial clay. according to Ger
man papers. is receiving increased at
| tention abroad. The ceramic novelty
| which is used for the manufacture of
artificial stone, tiles, cutters, etc, is
| composed of sand, chalk, cement, liquid
glue and petroleum. The substances
! are mixed in certain quantities, and
a claylille mass results, which can be
formed at pleasure and acquires an
excellent degree of hardness by being
/ subjected to heat.
In order that a patent may be
obtained in France the three follows
! ing conditions are necessary: That
the invention be absolutely new; that
| 1t be not contrary to public order or
security, good morals or the laws of
| the country. An invention is not con-
sidered new when previous to the date
of fling of the application it has re-
ceived sufficient publicity in France
or abroad to render it easy of imita-
tion.
In 1889 the Royal Society of Great
Britain for the Prevention of Cruelty
! to Children was organized. The So
ciety now shows about 1900 stations
1t has investigated 2e2,601 complaints
of cruelty, affecting 6S31S2 children,
of which it found 245,S06 to be true,
affecting 3S1 ,274 offenders. SO aroused
| have the people of Great Britain be-
| come at these astonishing discoveries,
that they voluntarily contributed to
the work of the society during the
past year more than $29O,000.
The fiction of the mysterious load
stone mountain which drew the nails
out of ships that approached near
! enough has a certain foundation in
fact, only the fact has suffered by
expansion. On the coast of Norway
near Joedern, there is a sand dune
of nearly three quarters of mile in
| length. The sand is mixed with parti-
cles of loadstone, and when ship
comes in the vicinity the compass be-
| comes Irregular and the vessel is en-
| tangled in kind of whirlpool and
thrown ashore.
-Judson Clayton, proprietor of the
Lady Washington Inn at Huntington
Valley, Pa, has small marble statue
of Gen. George Washington on the
| lawn adjoining his house that requires
constant barbering to keep it from
| raising a beard and mustache. Period
| ically a growth of moss makes its ap-
pearance on the upper lip, chin and
cheeks of the stone figure, and if left
untouched for any length of time it
develops into close cropped beard and
mustache, giving to the image of the
Father of His Country an extremely
| 0anulneu appearance. IL the illOSS 10
not interfered with it will grow to a
point resembling the approved cut that
BARRIERS give to the boards of men OF
fashion. Every few months the action
of the weather causes the face of the
marble statue to become coated with the
velvety moss, and a shave is in order.
The freak whiskers have made the
statue quite a curiosity in the vicin-
ity
A river of ink is formed fn Algeria
by the union of two streams, the water
of one being impregnated with iron,
and the other, which drains a great
swamp. with gallic acid. This combi-
nation of iron and acid forms pure
ink. SAYS the New York Commercial
Advertiser. All the rivers Of Africa
have several remarkable peculiarties.
They seek the ocean that is farthest
awav from their course. Their course
is alwavs broken by falls and their
mouths are stopped by numerous sand
banks. In Siberia, rivers flow over ice.
old and solid as rock. A tributary of
the Lena river has underneath the soil
which forms the bed of the river bed
of pure ice over nine feet thick.
| freak Of nature is the lost river in
| Kentucky. 1t is known as the Hidden
| river. because no one knows it's origin,
| and e vanishes into cave leading
no one knows where. 1t flows with
out a ripple, and is of a pale blush
| coior cpaalsfnq .of color the Chinese