Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-08-07
Odd Items of Interest

Grass widow" is not necessarily a
slang term. II appears in the mar
| riage register of Halstead, Essex, Eng
| land, as early as 1854. 1t is said to be
| a corruption OF grace widow" and
dates from the days when divorces
were granted only by the authority of
| the church. The woman who was SO
empowered to separate from her hus-
band was commonly called a grace
| widow, and from this the expression
gradually gained it's present meaning
aud spelling.
"A Philadelphia who was formerly a.
resident of a town in the north of
Pennsylvania recently revisited his old
home. What has become of the Hoov-
er family" he asked an old friend.
oh" answered the latter. TON Hoov
er did very well. Got to be an actor
out west. Bill the other brother. is
something of an artist in New York.
and Mary, the sister, is doing literary
work. But John never amounted to
much. 1t took all he could lay his
hands on to support the others"
Four railroads, according to "Thc
Black Diamond the official organ of
the coal trade, have just closed con-
tracts for approximately five hundred
thousand tons of coal for use during
the entire year. In and of itself this is
probably not important, because the
coal would have been used whether
purchased on contract or in the open
market. The significance attaching to
the transaction is that the railroads
had been holding off their purchases on
the eve of what promises to be a rising
market.
Nobody ever dies in Tombstone un-
less they bring t within" or fall into
a Standardization vertical shaft or
buy an automobile or sass" their mo-
ther-in-law or try to thaw out powder
or mistake cyanide of potassium for
sugar or start Oft Il county scat reinov-
al racket. Some lie OF old age, some
old partners of Daniel Bnune, but none
has ever been known to die from phys
ical Irregularities contracted in Tomb
stone, aside from the above mentioned
causes, and occasionally an abnormal
tightness about thes throat, superin-
duced by coil of manila rope, or from
a .i5-Tombstone (Ariz.) Epitaph.
Zone of tile simplest things to repre-
sent on the stage, ,nc would thing. Is
daylight" says an Italian named For
tuny in the Theatre Zeitung, land still
it's acc ,mplishment has always baffled
stage managers. Our daylight does
not come from one, point. but from all
directions, nd rhis light as fir "a the
sky, is what has not vet been pro-
duced. The difficulties, however, have
L. a 4 IT,
new ROYAL opera house at Berlin the
stage daylight Of my invention win be
seen when that house is completed. The
effect is produced by electric light. mir
rows, prisms and silk cloths of various
colors, through which the light is made
to Strearn."
When the new twenty-dollar gold
piece was issued in 1907, critic of the
design on the coins asked: WHO ever
saw an eagle in flight with its legs
trailing behind it?" This touches upon
question that has often been debated,
but DIR. G.. W. Townsend thinks that
the designer was right and the critic
wrong. All birds of prey. he says. hab-
itually carry their legs behind in flight,
except when about to strike their quar-
ry. Water birds also fly with their legs
extended behind, and pheasants. grouse
aud other Sallinaceous birds do the
same thing as soon as they are welt
under way. But the pesseres or perch
ing birds. such as English blackbirds.
sparrows, robins. ravens, rocks. crows
and swallows, when in flight carry
their legs drawn up in front. The hab-
1t Of humming birds is uncertain, al
though some have been photographed.
carrying their legs in front.
Copper and wire sheets are now pro-
duced direct from crude metal by one
process.