The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-03-24
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The Austrian marriage laws are
very severe. They prohibit marriages
between Christians and Jews and be-
tween Christians and infidels. A mar
riage between a Protestant woman
and a man who said he had no par
ticular creed has just been annulleo
by the Supreme Court.
in his Handbook on Modern ia
pan" Ernest w. Clements says: ION
the seventh day of the first month If
a male swallows seven and a female
fourteen red beans they will be free
from sickness all their lives; if one
bathes at the hour of the dog on the
tenth day his teeth will become hard.
A child begotten in the fathers forty
third year is supposed to be possessed
of the devil When such a child is
about one month old it is therefore ex-
posed for about three hours in some
sacred place. Some member of the
family then goes to get it, and bringing
it to the parents, says: This is a child
whom l have found and whom you had
better take and bring up" Thus hav-
ing fooled the devil the parents receive
their own child back.
DIR. David Blaustein Of the Educa-
tional Alliance League sought to test
the Americanism of a class of young
Hebrew boys recently by asking them
If they thought it would ever be pos
sible to have a Kishineff massacre in
New York. There was q unanimous
mol" to the question. One boy said
massacre could never occur in New
York because every one reads the
newspapers, and 1t would, therefore,
be impossible to circulate false ru-
mors about the Jews which might
lead to massacre Another boy gave
as his reason that the Jews vote IN
this country, and the politicians would
not permit massacre, for fear he
wouldn't vote for them" Still an
other reason was that 1--WE have rela-
tives among the Gentiles."
japanese and Korean showmen, in
addition to their skill as 1ugglers and
acrobats, display a truly marvellous
skill in teaching animals tricks, says
the Philadelphia Record. They not
only exhibit educated bears, spaniels,
monkeys and goats, but also trained
birds and, what is the more astonish-
ing of all, trick fish. One of the most
curious examples of patient training is
an exhibit by an old Korean boatman
of a dozen drilled tortoises. Directed
by his songs and a small metal drum,
they march in line, execute various
evolutions, and conclude by climbing
upon low table, the larger one form
ing of their own accord, a bridge for.
the smaller, to which the feat would
otherwise be impossible. When they
have all mounted they dispose them
selves in three or four piles like so
many plates.
In some parts of Europe an ONE
lette made from the eggs of the long
cared owl is believed to be an enec-
tive cure for drunkenness. In Ger
many the raven is supposed to be able
to procure a magic stone that gives
invisibility to the wearer. 1t is APP
parently not a simple matter to OBJ
tain, for in the first place, after dis
covering the nest, you must satisfy
yourself that the old birds are at
least over a century old. Then you
climb to the nest, and must either take
out an egg, boil it hard and replace
it, or if there she uld be young, you
must kill a male nestling-it must be
a male-and replace it also. After
this the spot must be most carefully
marked, for the parent bird, If he is
old enough, will return with the magic
stone, which will render the nest in
visible, and it is apparently from the
spot where you judge the nest ought
to be that you must pluck the prize.
1t is not yet recorded, says the West
minister Gazette, that anyone has met
with success.
Experiments have been carried out
in England with a new dust-laying
prepare ton known as westrumite, to
overcome the raising of heavy clouds
of dust by automobiles. The prepara-
4. ~ IT, 80 CaFs-
man, Herr van Westrum, is a mixture
of oil, capable of dilution to any de-
sired extent, and distributed over the
road surface by means of an ordinary
water cart. After the evaporation of
the water the westrumite remains as
a moist surface or film upon the road,
and absolutely prevents clouds of dust
arising. Some interesting demonstra-
tions with this preparation were CIV
en-. The road surfaces were sprinkled
early in the morning after three days
without rain and with a good deal of
sun, and in the afternoon three cars,
a 22-horsepower Daimler, and seven
and a 10-horsepower Panhard, respec-
lively, were run over a sprinkled por-
ton at top speed, and did not raise
any dust, whereas in running over the
untreated portions of the roadway
heavy, thick clouds of dust were Great
ed by the automobiles.
"A London beauty doctor. who makes
the feet a special study, says he does
not condemn his clients to wear ugly
boots with dreadful square toes, and
a fiat-footed look about them, be-
cause these are neither beautiful nor
desirable. He does, however, insist
that very high heels shall be given up
for to them the maximum ills suffer-
ed by the human foot are due. Many
reasons have been given for the pref
erence shown by women generally for
high heels, says the Philadelphia In
quirer. One is that the practice adds
hight to the body; another that 1t
adds gracefulness to the carriage. To
the latter one might take exception.
for it may do so as long as the wearer
stands still, but when she moves about
it imparts what can be best described
as webbing motion, which is the
reverse of graceful The foot in length
should be the length of the ulna. a
bone in the forearm, which extends
from protuberance in the outer por
tion of the wrist to the elbow. OF
course, the ulna is no longer in tan
people, and to be graceful the foot
should be also. Many people may be
surprised that the foot should be as
long as the forearm, and might be in
clined to dispute the fact unless proved
by demonstration. But so it is in the
perfectly formed woman
The tendency to spontaneous COM
bustion Of coal when stored in bulk-in
masses Of say, 1000 tons or Whereabouts