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KNOXVILLE JOURNAL.
KNOXVILLE. GEORGIA.
Poppy culture for opium is the fest
suggestion for Florida agriculture, and
it is figured that $1000 per acre may be
made by it._
As an evidence of the progress that
modern ideas are making in Japan, it is
stated that that country is now building
thirty-four new railroads, at a cost of
over $50,000,000, and it has huudreds
of miles of railroad already built.
The number of living persons who
have held the office of either Governor
or Lieute- ant-Governor of New York,
including the incumbents, is twelve, and
of the e t io, Hamilton Fish and David
B. Hill, have occupied both offices.
If the 00,000,000 codfish annually
taken off the Newfoundland coast were
left in the sea it is estimated that there
would be a yeary addition of 1.0,000,
000,000,000 of young codfish for future
treaty-wranglers to get muddled over.
The cathedral at U'm, on the Danube,
is the world’s finest and largest of the
Lutheran chuiches. It can seat 28,000
worshippers. The spire was never fin¬
ished, but the work of comp’etion has
been carried on so vigorously that the
capping stone of the magnificent spire
may be placed at the height of 534 eet
in 1889. The corner-stone of the min¬
ster was laid in 1377.
The trade in birds for women’s hats
was so enormous last year that a single
London dealer admitted that he sold
two millions of small birds of every kind
and color. At one auction in one week
there were sold 0000 birds of para iise,
5000 Impeyan pheasant 0 , 400,000 hum¬
ming birds, and other bird; from North
and South America, and 360,000 feath¬
ered skins from India.
A farmer near Chebanse, 111., having
an ox that did not obey orders, con¬
cluded that the animal was deaf, and
Lotight an ear trumpet, which worked
with great success. The animal had lost
its appetite, but with its return of hear¬
ing ate heartily. The ear trumpet is
fastened in place by wire3 around one
of the horns. This story, facetiously
observes the Atlanta Constitution, is from
a Western paper, and no ckromo goes
with it.
Probably the largest pension evei
awarded to a private soldier is the one
the government has just paid to John
Vice, who lives near Owingsville, Ivy.
He has been totally blind for a number
ef years, and his pension,$72 per month,
dates back to the first year of the war,
and amounts to $11,0)0. For ail this
time he lias been a street beggar with a
helpless family. This magnificent pen¬
sion is bey rad his wildest dream.
The King of the Belgians has given
the Sultan of Morocco a ra’lroad. It
has been laid in the park surrounding
the imperial palace at Mequine;:, and
was lately opened with some pomp. ‘ The
railway , has , been . purposely , laid , with ...
several sharp curves and steep gradients,
byway of showing the Moors the won
derful things that steam can do. The
to engine, tender, and guards van, the
roliiug-stoek consists, is elaborately dec
®rated,and upholstered in a style which
although ° somewhat, bizarre to the Euro
pean eye, was thought x to be suitable to
the taste of a Moorish sultan. Muley
Hassan did not dare to trust himself in
ble strange conveyance on the opening
-ddy, i. u„* but he made i some of ... his male , rela
tions and ministers take several trips
and recount their experiences, which
seemed to be thoroughly satisfactory.
CONDEMNED MONEY.
HANDLING TORN CURRENCY IN
A SUB-TREASURY.
Destroying S -oiled Bills with a Can¬
cellation Punch—The Summary
fate of D -te ted Counterfeits
—Skilful M mey Counters.
The United States is not on’y very
rich, but it is excced'ngly particular
about the condition and appearance of
its paper money, and whenever one of its
bills comes back into the hands of its
agents in a mutilated condition it is
seized upon at once, and a brand new
hill is substituted -in its place. This
method on the Government s part is the
cause of an inteiesting state of affairs at
the Sub-Treasury in Wall str et, New
York, where more cash is stored, and
and where the daily receipts and dis¬
bursements are lager than in any other
one building in the desks world.
A giance at the in the receiving
department will iind them piled with
bills, done up in tidy packages. Some
of them are new, crisp bills; oihers show
signs of circulation, while others st.ll
are in every possible state of ddapida
t on, the effect of wear and tear of mer¬
cantile life. Mutilated bills are those
that have been worn and torn and have
become d rty and greasy in passing
through many hands, where the e Iges
are whipped as ragged and frayed as a wind
liag; or torn and patched t 11
they look lixe a crazy quilt. Mutilated
cu rency leaches the Sub-tieasury in the
form and of depo-i.s mixed w th new notes,
occasionally even with counterfeits.
As the depo-i.s are counted the clerk
assorts the bills, ’lhose that a e good
find fit lor circulation are placed by
themselves and the muti ated pieces are
culled out and condemned. The great
ma,ority of the mutilated money con
sists of the smaller denominations of
bills, find though many tens and twen¬
ties them-elves numbered among
dred, the disreputable hundred, mass. The hun¬
five and eveu the
thousand-dollar notes are not infrequent¬
ly tound am ng their less aristocratic
associate;, though they seldom present
the ragged and ulthy appea anceot some
of the lesser denommarions. It is esti
pvued that nearly $3,000,600 per month.
„ i>30,000,000 per year, of mutilated
c rrency passes through the sub treasury
and is sent on to Washington for final
destruet on. New bills are substituted
for the old ones so writhdrawn from
circulation, so there is no loss to any
The most of this unsavory money
comes directly, or through the banks’,
from the reta l sections of the city, par¬
ticularly from the neighborhood of Ful¬
ton and Washington markets. All this
spoiled hands currency passes through the
of expert money cleiks, who count
and assort ttie bills at the rate of a hun¬
dred per minute. The good clean bills
are sent over to the paying teller for dis¬
bursement; the condemned bills, b 11s are put
in packages of 100 tied stou, ly
and then subjected to a punching pro¬
cess for cancellation. A machine s,milar
to a boiier-pl worked te punch, only much
smaller and by band, instead of
by steam, stands iu the rear o the re¬
ceiving bills department. The package of
is paced under this punch wfau.-h
cuts out a hole a quarter of an inc.i in
d ame er at one stroke through the 100
bills as smooth and c eau as a but.er tes¬
ter penetrates a fit kin of butter. The
punching, or cance lation, is through
the several signatures on the bil.s.
The rule at the Sub'treasury is that
any United States or Nation .1 Lank bill
will be re earned on presentation, no
matter how badly mutilated, provided
not more than one-tenth of the bill is
m ssing. Beyond that proportion the
bill cau be sent to the Treasury Lepart
nient at Washington, where it is re
deem d in o\vn proportion to the amount re
ma , lin „ d to Hfty per cent. of the
face of the note. If the loss is over half
of the note it w.U not be redeemed, tin
bus the owner can prove that the missing
nsay be recovered.
The floras iu the receiving depart
meilt , beside culling out the mutilated
^ the ,ls constant tha , t come look into out the for Treasury counterfe are ts. on
Moreover, if ihec’erk by any possibility
allows a counteifeit to pass him and be
received, he i- held personally responsi¬
bie and '? obl S ed to m,lke « ood th « con
sequent loss out of h s own Ld pocket, for
the Government has no profit loss ac
count. Its cash must balance every
night in good and lawful money. But
so quick are the several clerks in de¬
tecting spurious paper, that, though they
are counting bills at the rate of 100 a
minute, the momentary glance at the
bi.l as it pa ses under their eye is suffi¬
cient for them to select the between good from
the bad. On an average, 200
and : 00 counterfeit bil s a month are
brought into they the Sub-Treasury. deposits, Most
frequently come as while part of
and from the banks, very often
men come along and make inquiry rule, about
doubtful bills. The invariable on
discovering a bill to be die counterfeit, that is the to
stamp it with a steel cuts
word “counteifeit” in largo capital let¬
ters outof the bill. The word is stamped
two or three times across the face, which
so thoroughly miiltilates it that who it is use¬
less for ever after. No matter pre¬
sents the bill or to whom it belongs, the
insignia of its fiaudulent character is
cut into it ar.d its character so thorough¬
ly exposed that it can never again be
circu a’ed. After the bill has been
stamped, it is returned to its owner, and
frequently there ensues an e hibition of
anger and rage that is comical as well a3
pitiful, as the owner discovers for a fact
that his bid is worthless. But what
generally hurts him most is, that it has
been so cut and destroyed that he is un¬
able to pass it on any one else. — Cam
mcrciul Advertiser.
Trees.
To many men a tree is known only in
its commercial point of view; it is so
many feet of uncut timber, or so many
pecks of nuts; but the man who lives
close to nature learns to know it diil’er
emlv.
“Von oak,” writes the German Lichte,
“which g ows beside my farm house,
was planted an acorn two centuries have ago
by my anee tor. I he generations
been born and died beneath it. As I
up into its protecting shadow, or hear its
so emn whisper, can I doubt that its
life has some mysterious connection with
that of nty fam ly, and that, in it dumb
way, it shares our joys and our sorrows:”
The hunters and in the
palachian mountains speak of trees pre¬
cisely as they do of human beings; this
one is “good-humored and friendly;”
that, “cantankerous and surly.” The
black balsam, they aver, knows a dark
secret, and grows only bare, solitary
peaks, "as if it had a murder to think
of,” while the pecan-tree is fond of
young peo le, and will not thrive near
a house in which there is no child. Blind¬
folded or in the darkest night these
mountaineers can recognize the different
kind of trees by their “voices,” as they
call the ru-t.ing of the'r boughs. They
have a store of singular facts to prove
the unaccountable loves and hatred be¬
tween different trees, the world-old
anti; a'.hy known to all woodsmen be¬
tween the oak and the pine, for exam¬
ple, or that between the ash nudhickory.
Besides the giant trees of California,
theie are certain famous patriarchs in ti e
forests of the Sou.h which are regarded
with universal reverence and affection.
Two cedars in the Aantehela meut a'ns
are est mated to he mo.e than a thou¬
sand years old, and a live oak o i the
Gulf coast is bel eved by some persons
to antedate the Christian era.
It is probable that the most magnificent
trees on th s continent are a group of
magnolias in the Attakap.is, Louisiana. of
The Comte de P--, a i tench lover
trees, madea hearing of ihese Louisiana ma e tic growths,
journey to to see them.
The old Sw.ss horticulturist who had
them in charge thus described his visit:
took “Me him had through never seen the a woods, magnolia. hat he I
shou d not see these giants until he was
close upon them. They stand like kings
upon a high hill, each one perfect in
shape, crowned w th crimson flowers,
draped with moss from head to stirred foot,
The sun shone on them, the wind
the moss 1 ke silvery veils. When he
saw them, he die .v his breath and stopped
short. Then he went upand put his arms
about the trunk of one, and the tears
rolled down his cheeks, and I—I loved
him like a brother!”— Youth's Companion,
The World’s OdI Feltons.
On December 31, tSS", winch is the
latest date to which statist! s were made
up. there were 54 ,s..O Odd f ellows in
good standing in the lodges of the I <>.
0. F. in the world, or, rather, under the
. urisdict'on of the Sovereign Grand
I oiige. This does not include wh it is
known ns the i* anehester i nity Odd
1 ellows of Eng and. — Broo'.lyn Eagle.
Lebanon means the white mountain,
the name being suggested by the preva¬
lence of snow, as is the case with the New
Hampshire range.
Tint Rainbow as a Weather Prophet^ ■1
As a widespread. weather prophet Abundance the rainbow’s
fame is of proof
of this is given bv its name. It is the
rainbow in English, Italian, Gorman,
Picardy, Gaelic, Breton and in the Tod a
dialect of India. Germans also ca 1 it
“weather sign,” and it is also “water
bow” in Gaelic and Finnish, and “cloud
bow’ in Arabian. It is believed in Nor¬
mandy that rain will come in nine days
after the appearance of a laiuhow. The. ,
weather proverbs concerning the rain¬
bow are more or le-s widely known.
Many are simple variations of the fol¬
lowing:
Rainbow at night, shepherds' do'ight;
Rainbow at morning, shepherds have warm
mg.
Or, as the old English work ha3 it:
the rainbow in the mo'nin’
Giesthe shepherd warn.n’
To gar his girt ewat on h.s back;
The rainbow at night
Is the shepherd's delight, does ho lack.
For then no girt ewat
The nautical version is also wel®
known:
Rainbow at night, sailors’ delight; take .
Rainbow in the morning, sailo.s warn¬
ing.
The French form of the proverb has it;:
Rainbow in the morning,
Little man take toy way;
Rainbow at eve,
Little man, do not leave.
In a curio s collection of weather
signs collected by the signal bureau
there is much recorded concerning the
ra nbow as a meteorological indicator in
this country. It is widely belie ei that,
it is a sign ihat the rain wi.l come:
If there is a rainbow at eve,
It will rain and leave.
A morning rainbow is usually indica¬
tive of more ruin, or of short, h avy rains;
a nijht bow, of coming fair weather.
Two or three bows are thought to fore¬
shadow pleasant weather presently, but
settled bad weather in a few days. If the
bow break up all once it is a sign that
severe weather will .ollow, and that rain
will follow after a drought or fair
weather after wet. When the green eolor
is prom nent rain and cool weather will
follow, but wind and rain will oecur
after a rainbow in which predominates.
Aiainbowin day clear: the air signifies. the next
wi.l be
A rainbow at morn.put your hook in the corn,.
A rainbow at eve,put pour head in the sheave..
When seen in the distance, the rain¬
bow means fair weather; when near at
hand in the mountains, had weather for
crops. When it does not touch water
clear weather will follow. A morning,
bow indicates rain, a noon bow sight
and heavy rain, and an e.ening bow fair
weather. An easterly bow indicates clear
weather the next day: one in the west
means more rain the same day. A rain¬
bow in spring hours. precedes fair weather for
forty-two
Th ■ appearance of the rainbow over a
certain lake in Russia foretells drought to
the fisherman, and they fear to go on the
water because it produces a whirlwind
or water spout, which will overl.ow the;
boats. — Cluiajo Herald.
Central American Governments.
Primarily, there are but two countries;
—Brazil and Guiana—in South and Gen
’ tral America which can be said to have
i j settled one—Brit political institutions, sh Guiana—where and there the i*
but
Engl sh language is spoken. All the;
States of Cent al America, Colombia,
Rquador, Venezuela. Bob via. Peru and.
Uruguay are iu a chronic sta'e of revolu
tion, and the Argentine 1 epublic is but
! ]ht e better. In every one of these noun
| tries, including Brail, hoc ety is in a.
very unsettled state and the laws cannot
be raid to afford any protection against
usurpation and violence. them which There is not the a.
republic among they merits of
name, for are not governments
law. but offici'a’s. Iu the Argentine lie
public, the police emissary is a veritable
despot, who generally does just as he
pie .ses. It is a common thing for men
to be thrown into prison fur months, and.
e en years, without warrant or trial;
and it is almost an unknown occurrence
for a poor man to appeal against their
exactions and arbitrary acts. -In Brazil,
the police irresistible.— delegates are de quite as despotic
and Mo Janeiro Aews,
No Rest.
The men who observed “Ain’t it cold?” dis¬
appear; oblivion shot;
They r«into till the
And we’re safe, we suppose, summer
is here
From those who cry “Ha. ain’t it hot?”
We rest, do you think? Oh, no, we are wild;
He’s here who remarks: "By jove, ain’t it
mild I”
—Boston Courier,