The Savannah morning news., 1904-08-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

tion of the company in fifteen minutes.
The baya. or weaver bird. of India
has the curious habit of fastening fire.
flies to it's nest with moist clay. on
| dark night such a nest shines with
the brilliance of a small electric lamp
England mas an association which
promotes the singing of larks. Captive
birds are trained by being taken into
| the fields in cages, where they pick Up
the notes of the birds around them.
1t is said that the earrings worn
| by Italian women show what section
of Italy the woman comes from. In
the north the earrings are all short, and
| as one goes further south it is noticed
that the rings become larger and
| longer.
The Stockholm court has pronounce
ed the Arctic explorer Andree to be
dead in law. the legal term of disap-
| pearance having just expired. Andree
| left Spitzbergen on July II, 1897, with
| two companions, in a balloon. with
the object of reaching the North Pole.
War is once more being waged in
England on ivy and on elder bushes
| near cathed1tals and other fine build
ings. The ivy is accused of being a
destructive boa constructor weed"
while the elder is condemned because
its roots have habit of forcing them
| selves into masonry chinks.
The record for climbing Pixies
Peak was made recently by H. H.
Robinson of Colorado Springs, Col. The
mountain is 14,147 feet above sea level,
| and the former record was made in
three hours and five minutes. Mr. Rob
inson made the ascent in two hours
and fifty-six minutes. He wore a
heavy pair of shoes, carried an um-
brella, and the last mile walked in two
inches of snow.
The custom of building churches on
bridges was common a hundred years
and more ago. Several of these quaint
old buildings are still left in Europe.
| The chapel of Our Lady still stands
| OH the bridge which spans the Don at
| Rotterdam. The little chapel was built
in the fifteenth century and was re-
stored about a hundred years ago. For
| several years, however. it has been
used as tobacco shop.
The London Medical Press thus is
sues call for heroes: The top hat is
ugly, unhygienic and embarrassing. Its
sole claim to support is the appear
| ance of respectability it gives. If only
| few medical baronets would drive
| to their consultations in Panamas and
cloth caps they would break the tyran-
| ny of habit over health and comeliness,
| and at the same time earn the indy
ing gratitude Of their humber con-
| freres."
An ordinary echo is a curious thing,
| but according to the statements of a
| Frenchman at a watering-place in the
| Pyrenees, one echo on the Franco
Prussian frontier is far from ordinary.
las soon as you have spoken" said
| the Frenchman, who had secured an
audience Of wide-eyed tourists, you
hear distinctly the voice leap from
rock to rock, from precipice to preci-
pice, and as soon as it has passed the
| frontier it assumes the Spanish
| tongue"
"A young Russian Jew was obliged
| to go to the war in Manchuria. At
| first his father got letters from him
| regularly, but presently they ceased.
| One day the father was called to the
police headquarters, where he was told
| there was a telegram regarding his son,
| but that he would have to pay 20 ru-
money. and it took him some time to
| collect it from his friends. When he
finally opened the telegram he found
it contained the announcement of his
sons death.
"A curious means of moving boats
is employed on the river Elbe. A chain
200 miles long lies at the bottom of
the stream, which is too swift to nav
| iQafA in the TJCupI Tho fo a -
$50 feet long and provided with 200
horsepower steam engines, which turn
drum fastened on the deck. The
chain comes in over the bow, passes
along on rollers to the drum, around
which 1t is wound three times. The
chain is then carried to the stern,
where it drops back into the water.
1t is the longest chain in the world.
Probably the highest sum ever paid
for a sermon goes each year to a
lucky German preacher, who receives
$4,000 for his effort. In 1890 a wealthy
French baron named Fayart, who
lived in Elberfeld, died and bequeathed
his money to the Protestant Church
there on the condition that it should
be invested and the interest given an
nually to some clergyman, chosen
haphazard from those holding the poor
est livings in the sec, on condition
that he preach short sermon
extolling the good deeds of the dead
baron.
Germany yields the first place in
beer production to the United States.
According to the statistics of the Ger
man Brewers Association, their
product in 1908 declined to 1887, 615, 900
gallons, or 182,0S5.230 gallons less than
the output of the United States. The
falling off is attributed to several
causes, among which were cold, wet
summer which did not provoke the
usual consuming thirst, the spread of
temperance reform principles among
the middle classes, and principally the
fact that during the prosperous indus
trial DEVELOPMENT of the last ten
years the families of worlxingmen have
become accustomed to more and better
food, clothing and general comfort, so
that when hard times and shortened
labor decrease the earnings OF the
bread winner he is obliged to econo-
mize in his beer as we'll as in the
meat bill and other expenses Of the
family. There are, moreover, several
large factories and machine shops
where the afternoon beer pause"
has been abandoned, and where il any
drink is served tea or coffee has been
substituted.
Under the direction of this govern
ment, says a dispatch to a contempora.-
ry, more than $1,000, 900 is to be ex-
pended in improving and beautifying
the city of Manila. Final arrange
ments for the expenditure of this