OCR Text |
Show fiwi Old Wedding "inB-In "inB-In th accompanying pictur. W " Here 1. " r "BuD" Vr1" to take note of for promottoa: The passenger, "h approached r fara,aaid: "I bav. paid H." The conductor con-ductor remonstrated politely. "1 your pardon, but you did not pay t U me " be .aid, "and I am 1 eharga i tble ear.". The pa.senger replied, drawing himself well up: "Do I took like a n who would beat a .tree railroad out ef eenta?" "He. elr, you do not. when I m the eondaetor. Kone t your aort baa over beatea a yet" The I eenta waa promptly prodacd. New York Preea. shown the wedding rings of Hartln Lather and his wife. The- former bear the letter M. L. D-, which tanda for "Martlnua Luther Doctor," and the latter has the letter C. V. B., which are the initial of Catharine Von Bora, his wife's name.' Moreover, More-over, on his ring are the worde "Waa Gott u tamen Beget,"' and on her "Sol kein Menscta acheiden," which, being translated, meaua: "Whom God hath Joined together let no man put asunder." Each ring is a circle ot I plain gold in which is set a email diamond. dia-mond. r niiTlnir the latter part of . the six- teenth century the rings were in the possession of Augustus the Strong of Saxony, and aoout the year 1700 he bequeathed them to Duke Rudolph Augustus Au-gustus of Brunswick, who In turn presented pre-sented them to the library of the University Uni-versity at Helmstedt. - The Hermits of Thessaly. Remote in the northwestern corner of Thessaly are some of the strangest . , wnrM Th are monasteriKB ui m " known as the Meteora CloiaUra, aad they are built on rugged and well-nigh inaccessible rocks. A visitor who desires de-sires to inspect one of them cannot reach it by means of stairs cut in the -rockrbut.must get Into a net, to which a atrong rope is attached, and let himself him-self be hauled to the top in thia man- eTrue hermits are those who inhabit these cloisters. In the rocks are hewn , many small cells, which were used I Murine the middle ages by hermits. each of whom lived entirely apart from the others, and, though most of these 1 cells are now only inhabited by birds and bats, a few, it is said, are still used by the most ascetic monks. i Tourists in Greece seldom fail to visit at least one of the Meteora Cloia-1 ters, and those who do so admit that it is one of the most curious sights in that picturesque country. Invention Not a Success. In one of the city squares of Athens, 1 th onlv double- US,, sianun, - barreled cannon ever made. Itwas. designed by a resident of Athens for use in the Confederate service, the I idea being to discharge a projectile from each barrel simultaneously. The cannon is made of cast iron and was molded at one of the local foundries. The Idea of the inventor was to connect con-nect the balls by a chain several feet in length, the ends of the chain being fastened into each by staples. Chain hot was ortcn used in naval battles to carry away the rigging of an enemy. 1 It was discharged once after being I bum, but one barrel for some reason did not 1'go off." . The force of the 1 i t thi nthor barrel tore the chain from the ball, "which remained, and gave a curved motion to the projectile. pro-jectile. . As a result of this accident it was considered too dangerous to adopt for use and was stored away. - . , ' - Odd- Pottery. In Portugal may be seen some very queer pottery. One article represent, two oxen plowing, and another a lordly Hon wlth -a most extraordinary taiL Clay figures of this kind are very popular in Portugal, especially in the rural districts, and are regarded with much admiration by the peasantry, ,-A ,-A few noted' ethnologists have r- cently been devoting much time to the study of Portuguese folklore, and they claim that these pieces of pottery.- as well as certain amulets . which are used for medicinal purposes have been of considerable service to themn this respect. The Portuguese, they point out.-eling most conservatively to the habits and customs of their ancestors, and as a result in. many parts of the country may be found to-day the same kind of vessels and otfier articles that were In use centuries ago. Naturally a rich ' find of this kind is of great assistance W those who are studying the coun-frv's coun-frv's mvtbs and legends. It Is said that efforts have been made to introduce clay lions with natural tails, but wholly without re-suit. |