The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-08-13
ABOUT PEOPLE ANp THINGS.

|
THE late Alexandra Dumas said that, having trav-
eled all over the world, he had brought back from
every country save England a recipe for a new dish
and a decoration; from England alone he obtained
neither decoration nor recipe.
Or the the Prince of Wales's three daughters the
Princess Victoria seems to possess the greatest sense
of authority. She is taller than her elder sister, Of
more decisive countenance, and has brighter eyes.
She is said TO resemble the Queen more than the other
children, and TO be more like her grandmother in
character as we'll
THE chivalrous syndic of Rome, the Duke of Tor
lonia, has discovered that Italy has been ungrateful
to her daughters. The municipality has received his
proposal with reclamation, and the busts Of Vittoria
Colonna and the mother Of the Gracchi are the FIRST Of
a feminine series which will challenge masculine SUI
premacy on the Pineian.
LORD CHESTERFIELD having on a certain occasion
respectfully demonstrated against an appointment
which George II wished to make, the King. enraged,
exclaimed; We'll, appoint te tefRl if you like AS
your Majesty pleases, replied Chesterfield; ,sand
shall the instrument be filed up in the usual way:
To our right trusty, well.beloved cousin and coun-
selorl'
EVEN apart from her future position as Queen Of
the Netherlands, the little Princess Wilhelmine of
Orange will be the richest woman in Europe. She in
herits the whole fortune of her halfbrother. the late
Prince of Orange, amounting altogether to nearly
100000, and she is also heir to the vast private
possessions Of her father, the present Kim Of the
Netherlands.
An army Of nearly 5000 officials at this time
watches over the order and safety of the capital Of the
German empire. This army is composed of 3,348
policemen of various branches and grades. sol night
watchmen, 766 fremen, 81 lanp-lighters, 647
functionaries of the street cleaning department, be-
sides 1Sl messengers and orderlies attached to the
special service of the municipal authorities, and 224
tax collectors.
AN animated controversy has been carried on for
| some time in the columns of a London paper as to
whether ~vultures discover their prey by means Of sight
or smell. No two writers seem to be able to agree
upon the point. Many curious instances of the mar.
veIous power Of the vulture for discovering carrion
are quoted. These birds have been known to travel
twenty miles after the carcass of a dead COW buried
under a heap of leaves, while after the battle in an
open desert the air is full Of them.
THE Los Angeles (Cal.) Herald prints the following
curious letter: Editor Herald: / have just read in
your local columns that ]. A. Reavis and Laura
Bridger were licensed to be married. Now, whilst J.
A. Reavis has my most unlimited consent to make
fool of himself, he has never had my consent, nor
never win have, to make an application for a marriage
license for himself and me. Ny impression is that
the next application to be made by Mr.. j. A. Reayis
ought to be a commission in lunacy to examine into
his mental condition. / am afraid that his g~reatpos.
session in Arizona and the heat Of that climate have
very much muddled whatever little brains he ever had.
Laura Bridger."
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE says: Our whole ex-
perience in India, where cholera is never wholly alb
sent, tends to proye-nay actually does prove-tnat
cholera is not communicable from person to person.
nm = I I.--.e H. o:alv - nof ctop tbo dtSaaSa nOrf|
quarantine, nor cordons, nor the like, These, indeed
may tend fatally to aggravate the disease directly and
indirectly. by turning away our attention from the
only measures which can stop it. The only preventive
is 20 put the earth, air, water and buildings into 9
healthy state by scavenging, limewashing. and every
Kind of sanitary work; and. if cholera does come, td
move the people from the places where disease mas
broken out, and then to cleanse"
ONE day last month a man in workingman's attire
knocked at the gate Of a prison in Lyons, and said t
the ianitor: Il am a Marseilles man; just tell me, i
| II +rue that the cholera never comes to Lyonsle POS
sibly.r said the ~ianitor, sbut what have / to do viii
thatq If this is all you came for get about your busl
ness Pardon me. l want to relieve my con
science And then he proceeded to explain that ne
had been condemned, in default of appearance, "a
eight months imprisonment, but, dreading above
everything the cholera, he wished to undergo his sent
ence in a town supposed to be exempt from its ravages
and hence came to Lyons. His papers were all il
order, and he was accommodated.
The Milling World says that George Westinghouse
before he invented and perfected his wellknown ar
brake, was regarded by anumber of his then acquaint
ances with something approaching pity, because Q
b;s alleged lack of s.gumption.n His air-brake was
suecess. and his friends began to think there wa
something in him after all. His automatic engin'
added TO his fame and bank balance, and he MOUNTED
higher in the esteem Of his former friends A few
weeks ago a valuable well of natural gas was struck 81
his PREMISES at Homewood, near Pittsburg. The wei
is 1880 feet deep, aud the. flow. Of gas is tremendous
the roar being almost deafening. and scarcely endure
BILE to the citizens of the neighborhood. Two othe
wells are being put down by Mr.. Westinghouse, ans
he estimates that his profit therefrom viii 500
amount to one thousand dollars a day.
CoRREspoNDENcE with Queen Victoria by letter.
one Of the Prime Minister'S regular and almost dali
duties. When there has been an important diyisio
or debate in Parliament, the members are hastenin
home tired, to bed, the PRIMER alone can take no res
until he has written to the Queen his official report 9
the proceedings. These letters are couched IN tn
third person. ''Mr. Gladstone presents his duty I
your Majesty, etc, . and her Majesty replies, usual
dictated to a secretary, also run in the third person
Though never discursiye, they are not more formt
acknowledgement but often enter succinetly into tn
question at issue. The Queen devctes several hour
every morning to the study Of state business, and he
time is no longer wasted now as it was during IN
first twenty-five years Of her reign by having to sig
all commissions for the army and navy. In 1857 q
act relieved her of this tedious task. She was IN th1
year still engaged in signing the commissions 81 q
year 1858.