The Portland daily press., 1893-08-23
PERSONAL AND PECULIAR.

There is said to be one office at Wash
ington for which there is no competition.
1t is that of interpreter at the post office.
The incumbent must speak six Language
| es, and receives $500 year.
| The assertion recently made in an Eng
| lish periodical that Miss Braddon had
| realized $500, 600 from her novels was gen.
orally regarded as preposterous, but
Henry Labouchere says in London Truth
that he lis inclined to think that they
| have brought in good deal more than
| the sum stated" The continuous sale
of Miss Braddon's novels is almost un-
precedented in the records of British
| publishers.
Bishop Turner, president of the Afri-
| can Methodist Episcopal Missionary So
ETY., at the congress on Africa in Chicago
the other day, asserted that Adam and
Eve were negroes. He adduced facts in
geology and ethnology to prove his theory
that the human race is descended from
negroes, which he said was the result
of years of meditation and study.
|. The report of Auditor Alderman of
the Worlds Fair, shows that up to July
1st the expenses had been 1923, S67, 1852, of
which about S17,Ooo,0oO was paid for
construction, and nearly $5,000,000 for
operating expenses: The receipts had been
| $22, 972, 2SS, and the net liabilities were
| 81, $50, 1852 The blu ildings cost a little
more than S7,O00,OOO. The receipts from
| concessions have been about one-third
| as much as those from paid admissions
Prof. Holden says that the cavity rep
resented by the largest spot on the
sun is sufficient to take in the whole of
our planet without touching the Sides
Chief Doty, of the bureau of contag-
| ious diseases in New York, has had an
examination made of the fire escapes in
certain districts He reports that in
every instance they were found to be OBJ
| structed by boxes, tubs, plants in pots,
| household articles, beds, bedding or other
| articles. He appends list OF the places
| at which examinations were made
| which cover 149 numbers on twenty-five
| streets.
George Bingham, who went to Califor-
mia in 1910 in the celebrated sloop York
| town, and who was present at the rails
| ing of the historic bear flag at Monterey,
| which made California republic, is
almost rs years DID, and his hair and
| beard are as white as snow. Besides
assisting to raise the bear flag he is a
veteran of two fierce wars. He went all
| through the campaign against Mexico
was in no less than thirteen fierce en-
gagements, yet he was not even wounded.
He started in the war at Vera Cruz, and
remained until the last gun was fired.
When the war of the, ebellion, broke out,
| Bingham Joined the Second California
cavalry. In this he served until Lee sur
rendered. After going through all these
| stirring experiences without single
| wound, he caught his arm in an elevator
about year ago, and SO crushed 1T that
| amputatlon was neceSnSary.
| Queen Victoria has been affected by
the weather as in no former summer.
She has passed many hours trying to
| find in the summer house in Osborne
Park relief from the heat. Although ap-
parently she has suffered no decline of
| her general health, her physicians advise
that she should go to Balmoral for a
change of air as soon as possible.
DIR. Herman Ludwig Ferdinand Won
Helmholtz, the famous German eye
specialist and scientist, has arrived in this
| country and will attend the electr ical
congress in Chicago as the representative
| of the German government.
Robert Young, engineer in charge of
the ordnance department at Krupp's
works in Germany, is in this. country
to inspect the American iron and steel
industries. particularly those devoted to
| the manufacture of ordnance and armor
plates. He is the first of corps of 80
engineers which Krupp will send to this
| country on this errand.
= Mr.. William Dobson, the Pittsfeld
wooden manufacturer, sees signs of i'm
provement in the market. He says better
| times are coming speedily and has de-
cided not to shut down his MILL but to
run on shorter hours until things are a
little brighter, when he will start full
} blast again.