Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-08-04
Odd Items Of Interest

newspapers IN various parts OF the
country are taking up the question Of
telephone courtesy, the Courier-Jour-
nal, of Louisville, making the assertion
| that "only the innately courteous OBJ
| serve telephone manners; the rest of
the world lapses into something like
primitive savageness when it uses the
latest resources of civilization"
An observing Englishman, on his
first visit to New York city, says that
our women are the most awkward in
their walk of any he has seen In the
| worlds great capitals. He says that
| there is no grace in their stride and
| hurry and that they can learn some
thing to their advantage by observing
the gait of women of London, and, bet
| ter yet, of Berlin and Paris.
For ships to pass around Gibraltar.
Engiand's and the worlds greatest for
| tress, without being observed even at
night is practical impossibility, ow-
ing to the great battery Of searchlights
| arranged along the bottom of the rock.
A ship running either in or out runs in
to one of the fixed beams of light and
| is revealed. A moving beam of light
| then follows her, says Popular Me-
chanies, until the lookout officers are
satisfied as to her intentions.
Oysters fattened in bad water are
specially dangerous. practically all
oysters are diseased in summer. PRO
fessor Bardet. Colon bacillus is prob
ably common if not normal inhabi
tant of oysters. Eat all she'll fish fresh
out of the shell in summer. Take no
| mans word but see and smell for
1 mi not we.
ters in summer. Beware Of cheap
| oysters, gaping shells and that black
ring on the inner side Of the shell
| caused by decomposition York
Press.
At the Potsdam observatory, Mr.. o.
Hecker, after several years study with
horizontal and vertical pendulums, an
nounces the existence of periodic move
| ments in the mass of the earth. orig
| mating like the ocean tides in the
differential attractions of the sun and
moon, and following similar laws. The
average change of level produced is
said to be about eight inches 1t is not
certain that this can have any per-
ceptible effect on the occurrence OF
earthquake phenomena.
A story is told of Frenchman who
was very anxious to see an American
business man at his home. The first
morning when he called at the house
the maid replied, to his query, THE
| master is not down yet" meaning
downstairs. The following morning he
called again, and was met with THE
master is not up yet" meaning that he
had not yet arisen from his bed. The
Frenchman looked at her with doubtful
eye, paused for few seconds and said
"Eet ees veery deef-cult. but eef re
| mademoiselle will tell me when re mas
ter will be neither up nor down. but in
re middle, zen l will call Eat time.'-
National Magazine.
Arthur Wing Pinero, whose name
figures among the recipients of
knighthood in the honors list, relates
with much amusement how a mis-
take" won him his first engagement as
an actor in London. In the early days
Of his career he played a small part in
Wilkie Collins's drama, 1.-The Woman
in White" when it was performed in
Liverpool. The novelist was present at
the first performance and was greatly
impressed by the acting of a leading
member of the company. Anxious to
secure him for the production of one of
his plays that was about to appear in
London, Wilkie Collins drew the Lon
don managers attention to his name on
the playful. At least that is what he
thought he had done when he recon-
mended for immediate engagement A.
W. Pinero.
Three principal gauges of line are used
or the various railways in the common
wealth of Australia. The most common
gauge, 81. feet, is used on about seven
thousand miles of line, scattered over five
of the states. The 5 feet and inch gauge
| is second in Importance, and the feet
8h inch gauge, used only in New South
Wales, third, with 3.472 miles of line
| There are also 80 miles of 21s feet gauge
and of miles of 2 feet gauge Strandari-
cation has been proposed, but no action
| has been taken.
| Separate schools for tubucular children
may be established in Philadelphia In the
near future. The new school code spe-
officially prescribes that children suffering
from tuberculosis can not be admitted
| into the public schools and at the same
| time provides for the compulsory atten-
dance of all children between the ages OF
six and sixteen years. 1t is the opinion
of the educational officials that the only
| solution of the problem is to set aside
special schools for the use of the tuber-
cular pupils.-The Medical Journal.
| The chemist who will extract the bleach
| ing principle from the common jimson
weed and place it within the reach of
| family and laundry use has fortune in
store 1t is a well-known fact that there
| is no better way of bleaching the family
| linen during washing than by putting a
few leaves of jimson into the boiler. but
there is an objection to this practice. as
a very unpleasant odor is the result
This can be removed however, by plac-
| ing the clothes in cold water and boiling
them, or by repeated rinsing. but all this
| is troublesome, and therefore many who
know the value of the leaves do not use
| them.-Eternal Progress.
| Tommies mother was member of the
Society for the Promotion of the Gospel
and the boy was careful financier. In
| Tommie's little book he entered each
week the amount of his allowance. and
| Lii,