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KNOXVILLE, GEORGIA.
There bas not been eras single improve¬
ment in Russian railroads in the last
twenty-five years, and none are expected
for fifty years to come.
In an interview between Henry M.
Stanley and a newspaper correspondent,
the distinguished explorer said: “I
have been in Africa seventeen years, and
I have never met a man who would kill
me if I folded my hands.”
A recent traveler through the Chinese
province of Manchuala says that besides
having a reverence for animals the rustic
Manchus worship diseases, and particu¬
larly the small-pox, which is represented
under the form of a repulsive idol.
Although Robert Bonner, the aged
proprietor of the New York Ledger , has
owned the fastest horses in the country
and is ever on the alert for new acquisi¬
tions, it is said that he rarely goes to
witness a horse-race and never bets on
one. He never drives a horse on Sun¬
day and never permits one of his horses
to be "driven on that day.
When the United States Senate is do¬
ing business under what is known as the
five-minute rule President Ingalls limits
the time of the speakers not by his watch
but by an ancient sand-glass which has
been in use by the Senate for many
years. As soon as a Senator begins his
speech the glass is set and as soon as the
sand has all run out, in just five minutes
that is, down comes the President’s
gavel. _
When things go wrong iu China’s
agricultural districts the farmers resort
to prayers. The Chinese paper ShihPao
of recent date says: “On account of
there having been no rain or snow for so
long, the farmers of this district are feel¬
ing anxious; therefore it has been de¬
cided to pray for snow, for which pur¬
pose all the civil and military officials of
the city, from the highest to the lowest,
are to repair to Kuan-ti Temple in Tient¬
sin early every morning, and continue
their devotion and prayer until three
in the afternoon. This they are to do
for three days beginning with to-day,
and during this time they are also to ob¬
serve strict fasting, nor will they allow
the public slaughtering of any cattle. It
is certain that such sincerity and devo¬
tion on the part of the ruling class will
move the heart of heaven and fulfil the
expectations of the people.”
Spain has annexed the Sahara coas
between Capes Blanco and Bojador and
about 150 miles of the interior, thus in¬
troducing a wedge between the French
in Senegal and the western frontier of
Morocco, besides gaining an important
flank position upon the projected rail¬
way from Algeria to Senegal. The new
Spanish territory covers some 75,000
square miles. Italy has begun au active
campaign for the establishment of its
position in Africa, and Abyssinia is ap¬
parently prepared for a determined re¬
sistance. Several skirmishes between
Italian outposts and natives have already
occurred. That the campaign will end
in the success of Italy there can be little
doubt, although the difficulties which
will attend the undertaking are not to
be despisod, as is shown by the British
expedition against King Theodore. The
overthrow of that monarch involved an
expeditionary force of 10,000 men, which
the necessities of transport and supply
increased to double that number, and
the Italians must advance by a more dif¬
ficult route than the British and face a
1 united instead of a divided people.
The Pope’s income from Peter’s pence,
which since 1870 has been the only
source of revenue left to the Papacy,
amounts to $1,200,000 a year. On the
occasion of his recent jubilee the Peter’s
Pence presented to Pope Leo aggregated
$7,000,000.
A unique feature of the New York
evening Mail and Express, since its re¬
cent sale by Cyrus W. Field to Eliot F.
Shepard, son-in-law of the late William
H. Vanderbilt, is the daily appearance
of some verse from the Bible at the head
of its first editorial column.
The terrible Chatsworth (III.) disastei
has already cost the Toledo, Peoria and
Western Railroal more than three hun¬
dred thousand dollars in damages, and
there is another one hundred thousand
dollars yet to pay. A new culvert, by
which the accident would have been
avoided, would have cost four hundred
dollars.
California is proud of her re: ord foi
1887. Three hundred miles of new rail¬
road were laid, the assessed value of
property increased $132,000,000, the
wine and brandy product was large, 50,
000,000 pounds of canned goods and
33,000,000 of green fruits were shipped,
and there never was such a year for
tourists.
Our readers may be surprised to learn
that a railroad is running in rather close
proximity to the North Pole. The New
York Sun says of it: “Maps of Norway
and Sweden have for some time shown a
railroad starting at Lulea, almost on the
Arctic circle, running north in the gen¬
eral direction of the North pole, and
suddenly breaking off apparently in an
Arctic wilderness. The stock of this
most northern railroad in the world is
probably not quoted on any Exchange,
but it is said the road is doing a thriving
business, carrying iron ore from the rich
Gellivara mines, and, unlike our own
railroads, it has met no blizzards or
other influences hostile to schedule time
tables. The railroad hands are without
sunlight for several months in the year,
but the northern lights supply so excel¬
lent a substitute that street lamps are
rarely lighted in Lulea, and the snow
rarely averages more than a foot in depth.
It is gratifying to learn that the only
railroad of which the Arctic regions can
boast is successful, and that it is rapidly
being pushed across Lapland to the At¬
lantic coast of Norway, conclusively
proving that the polar regions have
caught the spirit of the age and are try¬
ing to keep up with the procession.”
A Blind Man's Remarkable Faculty.
Blind Bobby Maxwell, who for nearly
his whole lifetime had worked about
trains and car yards, was buried a few
days ago, from his home in Philadelphia.
“Bobby” was totally blind, and never
met with the slightest accident, his death
having been a natural one.
Maxwell was ill years of age, and was
first employed as a brakeman on the old
Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad.
About thirty-two years ago his sight be¬
came so bad that he was compelled to
give up that branch of railroading and
was put to work in the yard at Kensing¬
ton. In a short time he became totally
blind, but still kept on working. His
regular employment was sawing wood
for the engines, but he often employed
himself m assisting his wife, who was a
car cleaner. Maxwell had a happy fa¬
culty of stepping- from one train to an¬
other and in front and between moving
trains, depending entirely him. on his sense
of hearing to guide This perception
he had cultivated to a wonderful degree.
He could readily tell his friends by their
footsteps, and would step out of the way
of an approaching person as readily as if
he had been gifted with perfect sight.
—VlAladelphia Record.
At a station near the mouth of the
Seine a windmill is made to drive a dy¬
namo, the electricity produced being
stored in suitable batteries, and after¬
ward employed the for lighting beacons to
guide seamen.
FINGER RINGS.
ORIGIN AND HISTORY OP THESE
MYSTIC CIRCLES.
Curious Superstitions Connected
With Them in Ancient Days—
Rings of the “Elizabethan
Era—Engagemnt Rings.
New Ring-lore is a curious subject, says the
1 ork World , and leads one into all
sorts of historical highways and by-ways
searching for information, In former
times, according to an old writer, it was
esteemed highly improper for single or
unmarried persons to wear rings, “un¬
less they were judges, doctors or Sena
tors.” For all but these dignitaries
such an unwarranted ornament was con¬
sidered an evidence of “vanity and
piece pride,” of and was looked upon as a great
presumption on the part of the
wearer.
Another authority dwells upon the fact
of affianced persons being allowed this
honorable decoration, and cites it as an
evidence of the high honor in which the
estate of wedlock was then held, that
those about to enter it might be so
adorned. But while finger rings have
figured conspicuously in the political,
court and ecclesiastical history of all
times, it is their record as love tokens
and marriage emblems which lends the
greatest interest to these pretty or price¬
less (as the case may be) baubles of
mankind.
Traditions tells that the first of these
mystic circles was invented by Prome
theus and forged by Tubal Cain. An
Arabian legend relates how Kins: Solo
mon possessed a magic l ing that he once
tion the a time dropped inadvertently into
mediately sea, whereupon his wisdom im
abated, so that for forty days
he abstained from administering justice.
At the end of that time the missing jewel
was found in a fish and restored to the
monarch, who straightway became once
more exceeding wise, and continued so
until the end of his
The history of ring superstitions is
notably rich. In most cases, where they
were s upposed to possess especial signifi¬
cance and virtue, these qualities abided
in some particular stone, or symbol, or
inscription. fabricated But “charm rings” were
in various ways and of
different substances, which were believed
to establish their elbcacy. In Berkshire,
England, tion there was a popular supersti¬
that a ring made of a piece of com¬
munion silver was a sure cureforfits and
convulsions. The same diseases were
also cured by a ring formed of five silver
sixpences, collected from as many
bachelors, who must have been kept in
ignorance of the purpose, for which the
cont ribution was levied, else its efficacy
would be destroyed.
Rings fashioned from cofliti hinges
were looked upon as a specific for cramps.
And so on, through a long list of ills
and illusions, the ring has constantly
been put forward as a remedy or pre¬
ventative. The “jimmal ring” was
originally it: a love-token merely. Herrick
writes of
Thou sendest to me a true-love knot, but I
Returned a ring ot jimmals to imply
Thy love hacl one knot, mine a triple tye.
Later this became the ring of the
espousal and was intended to typify com¬
munity of interest, mutual forbearance,
endless devotion, and all the other at¬
tributes of the estate of matrimony in its
most ideal perfection. The orthography
changed with slightly also, and it was writ¬
ten a G. One of these gimmal rings,
supposed to belong to the time of Queen
Elizabeth, was found at Horsleydown, in
Surrey, England. It is preserved in the
British Museum collection, and it has
been described as follows:
hoops, “The ring is formed of twin, or double
which play within one another like
the links of a chain. Eeach hoop has
one of its sides flat, the other convex,
and each is twisted once around, and sur¬
mounted by a haud issuing from an em¬
bossed fancy-work wrist or sleeve, rising
somewhat above the circle and extend¬
ing in the same direction. The course of
the twist in each hoop is made to corre¬
spond with that of its counterpart, so
that on bringing together the fiat sur¬
faces of the hoops they immediately
unite in one palm ring. On that hand of
which the is uppermost is repre¬
sents a heart, into and as the hoops close the
hands slide contact. The whole
device thus represents a triple emblem of
love, fidelily and union—the whole be¬
ing of fine gold and weighing two pen¬
nyweights.” mairiage, according to the ancient
In
ritual, the husband began the ring busi¬
ness by placing it upon the bride’s thumb
and putting it successfully upon the next
two lingers, pronouncing for each one a.
person of the Trinity, until, with the
final “Amen,” the fourth finger was
reached, and there the wedding ring was
suffered to remain.
The Greek Church ritual directs that
the ring be placed upon the right hand.
Among by the Anglo-Saxons a ring blessed
the priest was given to a maid at her
betrothal, and she wore the same upon
her right hand until her marriage, when
it was removed by the bridegroom;.
again blessed by the priest and then
placed on the first finger of her left
hand.
There is au old belief dating 'back to
ancient Home that a small artery runs
from the third (or fourth counting the ■
thumb) finger of the woman’s left hand
directly to the heart. Modern anato¬
mists have exploded this sentimental
idea, but it formerly obtained the widest
credence, so much so that in cases of
sudden seizure, or “swound,” restora¬
tives were applied to this finger in the
belief that its direct communication
with the heart would convey the healing
influence more quickly to the seat of
life. Also old physicians mixed their -
potions and medicaments with this fin
ger because, as an old chronicle affirms,
“no venom can stick upon the outmost
part of it, but it will offend a man and
communicate itself to his heart.”'
Founded upon this belief was the custom
of wearing the wedding ring upon that -
finger. Other reasons have been assigned
for so doing, but this is, without doubt,
the primary one.
fashion of betrothal, or, as we
pnrase it nowadays, “engagement, ” rings
van ® s from time to time, and always de
or should do so, upon the purse •
°.^ ‘. t ie of* Where his taste there are lf 14 no be limita¬
10n3 13 < P er :
wlU lca d bl “ t0 ch °o se a diamond
Eohtai re > and , of the finest . he can afford,
a s “all , and pure stone being altogether
preferable to a big “rock” of doubtful
c ° l01 '- Some P refer a rJ n S set W1 th three
stone ?: generally a sappnire , set between ,
two diamonds Others select a ruby or
?" emerald, which _ signifies a promise of
ba PPiness. A few choose pearls, but
there is a prejudice against these jewels,
as they are supposed to typify tears.
They are also too perishable to become
emblems of love which, iu its first glow
at least v is always understood to he in¬
destructible. Their beauty is very pre¬
carious, being easily dimmed or “aged,””
as the lapidary phrases acid it, by contact
with impure air, while annihilates
them completely, like the famous one
which the fair Egyptian, “brilliant sor¬
ceress of the Nile,” dissolved and drank
to her imperial lover ages ago.
Only the
the same through all time. The endurance, Romans ■
made theirs of iron to express
and baser metals have been used for this
purpose from time to time since; but th«
ideal marriage token, exquisiteiy de¬
scribed by au early English poet, has
not and cannot be improved upon—it neither is
the ring of purest virgin gold,
too heavy nor yet too slender. It is
softly rounded over, so that there are no
sharp edges, thread and if you child suspend hearth¬ it by a
silken (as the on the
rug has done with her trinkets) and smite
it softly it will ring out an indescribably
sweet sound which no other metal gives
forth. If you haven’t heard this fairy¬
like music try-the experiment, and hav¬
ing once heard the true ring of the true
metal, you will and never forget realize its sweetness that
afterward, you will no
other token is so fitly symbolic of poise a true
heart’s devotion; while for the “
of the ring, no words are more appro¬
priate than Herrick’s lines already
alluded to:
And as this round
Is nowhere found
To flaw, or else to sever,
So let our love
As endless prove.
And pure as gold for ever.
The Morning that Star made is the smallest
steamer has ever the run be¬
tween England and the Cape. She was
designed by her owner, Captain R. Dun¬
can, of London, and was built at Leith.
She is twenty-six tons, yacht measure¬
ment, is of teak, copper-fastened, and is
classed perpendiculars, Al. Her length is fifty all fifty-six feet be¬
tween over
feet, with eleven feet two inches depth,
of hold.
There is no such officer as Mayor in
Washington. The government of the
Districtrif Columbia is in charge of three
Commissioners, one of whom is to be a
practical President. engineer. All are appointed by
the
Idleness is the burial of a living man.