Show A QUADRI CENTENARIAN story of a tortoise whose age wae probably nearly years A living creature that has trod the earth however sluggishly since the days ot the spanish armada Is an object 0 no common degree ot interest such a creature has just passed away peacefully in london in the person ot drake a venerable tortoise of the zoological gardens supposed to be nearly four hundred years old mr V forbin who contributes a short drake the london tortoise possibly years old obituary with portrait to paris la na ture and which was translated tor the literary digest notes that it la quite proper to be somewhat indell bite on the subject 0 drake exact age he says there is nothing to prove intoci In taci that the that gave up the ghost the other day had attained so abnormal an age all that we may say certainly on this dell cater subject Is as follows the tortoise was captured in the galapagos islands toward the end ol 01 the eighteenth century at this tim the scanty inhabitants ot this wild archipelago regarded him as a bacen te relying on a date cut into his shell with a knife which though half effaced appeared to begin with a 16 from this it was interred that he had been first captured in the sev entee nth century by some ot the hardy english or french pirates who were then disputing the passage ot the spanish galleons between mexico and the philippines and who made the galapagos their rendezvous one of these filibusters in a vein of pleas antry or perhaps to furnish data tor the benefit of future naturalists may have cut on the prisoner a back the date of his capture and then set him at liberty perhaps be even added his name which has been obliterated by the growth of the shell from this vague date undoubtedly comes the name of the tortoise drake from the famous ahlet ol 01 the buccaneers sir francis drake the illustrious and sanguinary sea rover of the new world the tortoise was not brought to angland till 85 years ago after sev oral changes of ownership he finally found comfortable quarters tor his old age in an enclosure of the garden at regent s park CLOTHES PIN just the right shape to hold the clothes firmly the old style clothes pin has been in use for a long time and has proven 60 satisfactory that change would seem undesirable nevertheless an improvement has been madi by two north carolina inventors as will read lly be seen by referring to the allus ration these clothes pin are made of galvanized iron to prevent rusting and injury to the clothes and are bent to form double jaws these jaws provide a strong clamp clothes secerel se curel to the line without possibility of tearing or injuring them the old style clothes pins have a ten dency to spring away from the line unless they are forced very hard against the line which often tears garments of fine texture it will be obvious that there Is no danger of this happening blui the clothes pin shown here machinery to roll glass an invention tor drawing molten glass out of the furnaces and rolling it mechanically has been sold to a syndicate of plate glass manufacturers for the inventor Is a del gian mr fourcault and the pur chasers of his patent rights are ger man french belgian and bohemian manufacturers only high priced man ual labor has been able to do the work heretofore lse magnesia rub malssia on soiled spots and dainty light colored goods put plenty on both sides and when wanted toi use again bruah well and the will be gone good record according to an official report there has been only one case of corporal punishment in the prisons ot ireland for 13 years popular british names out of every girls and boys in england and wales 6 are called and william 1 |