The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-04

ly creditable to a mechanical contriv-
ance invented by Capt Scott, of the
English navy, called "dotter, by
which a small paper target drawn to
a scale is caused to move in front of
a gun with a combined vertical and
horizontal movement. While the tar
get is in motion the gun pointer en-
deavors to train the gun so as to keep.
the cross wires of his telescope on the
target. Whenever the cross wires are,
ION" an electric connection causes
pencil to make dot on the target, the
dot representing a real shot on real
target at 900 yards. Thus the men are
accustomed to train the guns under
the disturbing conditions of ship in
a seaway.
The life of the Scotch boy, Donald
Smith, now Baron Stratheona and Mt.
ROYAL, would read more like romance
if it were not so studded with I'M,
probabilities. People like their ro-
mances to be possible; it is only from
reality that will be endured the
touches of extravaganza when turns
standard fiction into fairy tales. says
the Cosmopolitan. Young Donald
Smith, dreaming in his Scotch village
bE the stirring adventures of a fur
trading uncle in the wilds of North
America, and afterward becoming fur
trader himself, first as clerk Oh the
Hudson bay company in the bleakest
corner of it's vast territory, "pitiless
Labrador then climbing, after years
of hardship and fidelity, to be chief
factor of the company and resident
governor in America, and finally in
his old age governor of the home COM
pany in London, high commissioner
for Canada and a peer of the realm
that is romance.
William Kemp. an English comic
actor who fiourished during the last
years of Queen Elizabeth, and who
belonged to the same company as
Shakespeare, and created" Dogberry,
danced from London to Norwich, a
distance of ia miles. He was accom-
panied by a servant, an umpire and
man with a tabor and pipe. Crowds
hindered his start on Feb. IL, 1900, and
many met him at every place. Several
tried to dance with him, but none could
rival his pace; the most successful
were women. Although delayed by
snowstorn, he did it in nine days, and
on the way accepted a challenge or
two, each time coming off best, except
when a Chelmsford maiden of IA dane
ed till he was ready to lie down." On
his return he wrote an account of it,
with whom he had made wagers that
if they did not pay up he would pub
lish their names. The Mine Daies'
Wonder as the title runs, is a merry,
readable pamphlet. Among other GU
rious information in it is the statement
that the customary way to deal with
pickpockets at the theater in those
days was to tie them to a post.
The Kurische Half is a lagoon, or
back water. of the Baltic. in East
about fifty miles, south from Mcneil
1t is separated from the sea by mar
row sandy ridge. 1t is easily frozen
over in the winter. Then the SNUG
glers fix runners on to their boats and
sail on the ice. Russian duties on
spirits and silk are high, and these
are the articles which the smugglers
are fondest of trading over the from
tier. The Prussian revenue, or excise
men, are very keen in the pursuit Of
these smugglers, and have supplied
themselves with boats that are faster
on the ice than those of the smug-
glers. The latter, when they find
themselves pursued, put out long hooks
and propel the vessels like punt. But
the excise boat, if once fairly within
sight of the smuggling craft, usually
runs it down in the end. In vain do
the smugglers throw overheard their
cargo to tighten the boat, and. per-
chance, to tempt the excisemen with
booty. They are inevitably caught up
with, and then a fight ensues with
boathooks. Sometimes the smugglers
at bay are more than a match for their
hunters, and get away after killing or
disabling some of their pursuers. Yet
the smuggling traffic flourishes in spite
of the wideawake excisemen.
BY argument of an ancient proverb
there are always on this earth at the
same time two human beings who re-
semb1e each other in all respects, and
an English oculist points out that this
is certainty true in case of rulers An
old beggar who lives in Whitechapel
bears, according to him, a startling
resemblance to King Edward, so start
ling, indeed, that If the beggar were
dressed in royal raiment he could not
be distinguished from the real King
The British ruler, however, is not the
only one who has a double The Car
and the Prince of Wales are wonder
fully like each other Indeed, more
than one photographer in Europe in
variably sells photograph of the
Prince to anyone who asks for a pho
tograph of the Gar M. Bertolani, a
photographer of Salerno, was the
double of the late King Humbert of
Italy, and so proud of the resemblance
was he that he spent much of his spare
time studying the attitudes and ges-
lures of his sovereign. For his labor
he was well rewarded, since the SOL
diers, mistaking him for the King. fire.
quently salUted him. Herr AdoIph
Hirschfeld, the double of Emperor Will
liam of Germany, is by no means proud
OF the resemblance, and feels very un-
comfortable when anyone mistakes him
for the Kaiser. for he fears that the
latter VIII froWn on him sooner or
later, and will request him to leave
Germany. M. Bernede, a wealthy
gentleman of Lyons, is the living i'm
age of King Oscar of Sweden.
Charles F. Holder, the naturalist. de-
scribing a pet pelican which he for
merly owned in Florida, says: 81 can
not recall that the pelican ever refus-
ed food. After the most impossible
feeding it had the same asthnnatic cry
for more. 1t was only after many
months that 1 made the startling dis
covery that the pelican can never be
satisfied" He thus describes the fish
ing exploits of these birds: I'm feed
ing they generally flew twenty to thir-
ty feet above the water with rapid
motion of the powerful wings, holding
the head slightly upon one side that
they might observe the schools of sar-
dimes. When the latter were sighted
they would plunge blindly downward.
opening the mouth widely Just before
they reached the water endaa a..