The Portland daily press., 1893-10-04
PERSONAL AND PECULIAR.

CT. Thomas, now so years old, is the
only man who has ever seen the inscrip-
ton on the head feathers of the Statue
Of Liberty on the dome of the Capitol.
When the statue was placed in position
Mr.. Thomas was superintendent of con-
struction. of the DOME. When the scat
folding had been partly removed he stood
on the top of the statue and with steel
die stamped the inscription. 1t reads:
"a. Lincoln, President of the United
States; B. B. French, Commissioner of
Public Buildings; Charles F. Thomas,
Superintendent of Construction of the
new DOME"
A story is afoat that Nat Herreshoff
has withdrawn from the famous firm of
yacht builders and will hereafter do
business on his own account. He is said
to have done most of the designing
which brought the firm it's reputation,
but to have received small part of the
profits. Among the boats of his design
are the Gloriana, Wasp, Ell Chico,
Navahoe, Colonia and Vigilant.
MrG.W. Childs of Philadelphia, who
is now in Chicago, predicts for that city
the greatest era of prosperity and growth
in 1894 that it has known, and Chica-
goans are SO delighted that they would
be willing to pay for Mr.. ~Child's main
tenance for the rest of his life.
Ex-Speaker Thomas B. Reed has
accepted an invitation to deliver
three speeches in Ohio for
Governor Mckinley this month.
The first speech will be deliv-
cred at Cincinnati on the 18th. The other
two speeches will probably be delivered
at Columbus and Toledo.
Mr.. Burnham, director of works at the
Worlds Fair, has plan for disposing of
the buildings after the Fair is closed.
He proposes to touch torch to them
after they have been Quilted and allow
them to burn. He thinks that most of
the staff and woodwork would be de-
stroyed, and that the iron Orders and
arches would mot be injured. 10 afford
a revenue Mr.. Burnham proposes to burn
one building a night and charge so cents
entrance fee to the grounds.
The Maharajah of Mysore has decided
i possible, to put an end to marriages
between children, or rather infants, in
his kingdom. He issued an edict recent
ly forbidding girls under eight years and
boys under fourteen to marry. In the
future no man aged so will no more dare
wed girl under "A. The edict has aroused
much opposition in Mysore, but the ruler
is said to be an energetic man and capa-
BILE of executing regulations which he is
pleased to promulgate.
John D. Rockefeller, the Standard Oil
mult-millionaire, is to purchase at Tar
rytown, NY. about 500 acres for $3.50,
600. He will build mansion which
will cost over 81, 600. The grounds
are beautifully situated. Mr.. Rockefeller
was particularly DESTROYS of securing
just the property selected, for the reason
that it almost adjoins lockwood. the
country place of his brother William
The latter has in all 814 acres, for which
$500, 900 was paid The residence just
finished by him is of stone and cost
about $1,000, 900. The improvement of
the grounds cost over 100000.
The Boston editor of Whittier's cores
pondence has been provided with copies
of the poets letters, which are owned in
Hartford, that will throw an interesting
light on the views held by the New Eng
Ian Quaker sixty years ago. These let
tiers were written to Mrs. L. Fl Sigourney,
and are now in the possession of the Con-
necticut State Librarian. One of the
letters refers to novel which Mr.. Whit
tier intended to write. Another, which
had not been placed at the disposal of
biographers until the present time, will
create sensation. The letter distinctly
shows that Whittier was not in favor of
preserving the Union by force during
the South Carolina notification period