The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-09-06
Expensive Whims.

i
course Of erection in Constantinople
in order to let ship from the dock.
yard pass through at once"
When this message was delivered
into the hands Of the contractor re-
sponsible for the construction Of the
bridge he was thunderstruck, says
London AnsTe- He had been
working on the bridge day and night,
and when the orders for it's opening
from the sultan it was noa half fin
ished.
He approached the minister Of ma
rine aud finance and said it was i'm
possible to obey his majesty's COM
mand, as he would have to pull every
thing down, and it would take months
to replace the aosffoiding and pile
driving machines.
''It cannot be helped" replied the
minister. "If the sultan says the
bridge must be opened it must be
done, or We shall lose our places, if
not our heads"
So the bridge was opened, and the
ship came out Of the dockyard at
cost of over 100000. 1t afterward
transpired that the sultan had found
his infant son crying bitterly in the
harem because he could not see the
flag hoisted on his particular ship
from the nursery windows.
To humor the ohild's caprice the
sultan ordered the bridge to be open
ed at once and large iropclad to be
brought out Of the dockyard and
moored in front of Dolmabagtchen
This no doubt pleased the boy, but it
caused enormous inconvenience to the
people of Constantinople to say moth
ing of the waste Of money which had
indirectly come out of their pockets.
The State Of Massachusetts, lost
$3,O0O,O0O because q man living i,
Boston left his window open over
night. He was silk grower, and in
the hope Of producing a new brand
of silk he experimental with some
gypsy months that had been sent to
him from France.
he left the moths under a glass
shade by an open window one night,
and next morning they had all dis.
appeared. The shade had been over
turned and the draft blew the moths q
into the street.
! Eighteen months later Massachu-
setts was ewarming with gypsy moths
and they ate the leaves off every tree
and bush for miles around. The dam
age done in two years by the insect
totaled SO. 900, 900, and the State au-
thorities spent another $3.50, 900 Try
ing to exterminate the pests.
| One of the worst famines ever
known in lower Egypt was caused
oy couple of John Bulls gunboats.
The vessels went up into the marshes
beyond Khartum, to capture slave
traders.
| The slavers, who had made up
their minds not to be caught easily,
made bold bid for freedom by cut.
ting channels through the mass Of
vegetation which lined the main
stream Of the Nile.
The majority of them escaped in
this way, but the channels they cut
in their anxiety to get away brought
ruin and famine to lower Egypt.
The current carried the masses Of
loose vegetation down the river, and
80 completely blocked it that the Nile
food failed.
United States Senator George l..
Turner, Of Washington, lost his for
tune and poverty stared him in the
face. Turner was lawyer. and one
day q party of miners, vel: known
known to him, who had struck lode
up in British Amerioa, near Vic.
toria, came into his Office and asked
him to make out some papers for
them. /, il:
| We cant pay you cash for your
services, Mr.. Turner said one Of the
party, after their business had been
transacted, Shut we will give you.
some stock and cell it square. =
At first Turner refused to take the
stock, as his clients were old friends
Of his and he preferred to do the work
for nothing, but on being pressed he.
took the certificates aud tucked them
away in his safe. .t3 S.: 5s::
Two years later Senator Turner was
o millionaire through these mining
shares, and the mine that brought him
the money and made the fortune Of
his friends is the famous Le Roi. one
Of the richest in the wsst. < Il.