The Portland daily press., 1892-01-21
PERSONAL AND PECULIAR.

Nine. Blouet, Max O'Rell's wife, who
has recently come before the public as a
writer, is an Englishwoman and daugh-
ter of ship owner of Devonshire. She
is the translator of all her husband S
books.
Dr.. Oecarelli, the pope's medical adj
visor, says that Leo XII, notwithstand-
ing the burden of his SO years, is really
wonderfully strong, and has enjoyed
better health during the last year than
for some time previously. He also says
that the pope is not subject to fainting
fits.
Professor Bell has sent the human
voice through distance of two miles by
means of a ray of light reflected from the
sun by means of a little mirror. No way
has yet been discovered for turning this
discovery to practical use.
The dinner service made for Prince
Henry of Prussia's yacht, is white and
gold porcelain enamelled in heraldic
colors with cornet and the letter H.,
the Order of the Garter, nautical en-
blem, a motto, and something else. The
glass service to go with it has the same
ornamentation.
The Duchess of Abercorn, the Count
ess of Aberdeen, Lady Vantage, Lady
Senne and Mrs. Priestley are the English
women expected to serve on the Princess
Christians committee for the exhibition
Of women's contributions to the Worlds
Fair. Princess Christian takes a great
interest in the matter, and is prepared to
to give much of her time and attention to
the business of the committee.
The demand for the new silver coin is
so great that orders have been sent to
the Philadelphia mint to put all availa-
BILE force on the work. Orders for the
new coin have been received from all
over the country, and Director Leach
says if they can get the coin more than
$1,000, 900 of it will be placed in circula-
ton this month. 1t is his intention to
supply all national bank repositories
with the new coin as fast as he can Sc
cure it from the mint.
Sir Ernest Lyon, the young English
diplomat, who died in Belgrade recently,
lost his life, it is said as the result of a
wager. Being an excellent rider, the
young man made a bet with several
friends that he could reach the station
Ripani. about twelve miles from Bel
grade, sooner on horseback than train
leaving the city at the same time. Sir
Ernest lost the bet and his life, having
been thrown from his horse.
Pundita Ramabai's home for high-caste
Hindoo widows. at Poona, is now occn-
pied by twenty-six widows, from nine to
twenty-five yerrs of age, of whom some
lost their husbands before they were
seven years old. Besides these, there
are thirteen others-deserted wives. I'M
married girls, and married young girls
who attend as scholars. The home is
working very satisfactorily, and it is
hoped that institutions of the same ma
ture may eventually be set on foot in
several large towns, such as Calcutta,
Madras and Lahore.
Count Tolstoi has been ordered by fine
Russian government to stop his charit-
able activity. 1t is said that he is living
in Moscow under direct supervision of
the police. The correspondent of No
vosti of ST. Petersburg, Bladimir Mikh-
nevitch, who had been sent to investi-
gate the conditions of the people in the
furnishing districts, was also recalled to
the metropolis early in December. Since
the central committee with the Care
witch at the head was appointed no re-
ports about the starving peasants are
allowed to appear in the Russian papers,
and the charities not under the official
control of that committee were peremp-
torily suspended. An intimate friend
and co-worker of Count Tolstoi, Ivan
Ivanovitch Rayevskiy, suddenly died
when the new orders were enforced
The Russian papers say that the infu-
enza "broke him down. but the Liber-
al party, as a writer of the New York
Sun is informed by private correspond
ence, suspects that his death resulted
from other causes, perhaps fear OF sud-
den disappointment.