The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-10-27
NOTES AND QUERIES.
Concise Answers to the Interesting Ques.
tiOns of Curious People.

QueSllOH'- WAS lHeTe not Il Dattle
in the last century, in which the troops
politely called on each other to fire
first? Did not Napoleon have a pub
Usher shot?
Answer: !. There is a tradition to
the effect that at the battle of Fonte-
noy, in France, the English officers
took off their hats to their French enc
mics arrayed in line of battle before
them. Two French officers rode forward
and also took off their hats, returning
the salute. Thereupon Lord Charles
Hay exclaimed, Gentlemen of the
French guard, fire." and then the an
sWer of Count d'AuterOche came: Fire
yourselves, gentlemen of England. We
never fire first" The English troops
were under the Duke of Cumberland,
and the French troops under Marshal
Sake. The latter was at the time
suffering from an acute attack of drop
sy, and when exhausted from riding on
horseback, had to be drawn in an osier
carriage. The French won the bat
tie at the last moment. 2. Scott, the
novelist, told this story at a banquet
of litterati, in proposing a toast to
Napoleon, because the latter had once
shot a publisher, the incarnate and
ideal foe of writer's, according to tradi-
ton. John Philip Palm, a Bavarian is
said to have suffered from Bonapartes
anger. He issued from his press at
Nurenburg, pamphlet, Germany in
Her Greatest Degradation" in 1906, just
after the French had occupied the prin-
cipality. He attacked the troops, their
management, and assailed the emperor
particularly. His shafts at the Cor
sican took the form of supposed dia-
logue between Bonaparte and Echo"
in which the ending words in each SEN
tence of the emperor formed a phrase
damaging to him. Napoleon ordained
him ARRESTED and confined at Anspach.
Later he was courtmartialed and shot
Question:: In olden times, when Bar
NUNS hotel was hourishing, | read
frequently after Christmas that they
had served watermelon for desert. How
were the melons kept so long?
Answer: Some years ago a man in
New Jersey vanished some watermel-
ons, and, he claims, kept them in good
condition until Christmas. He put one
or two coats of Varnish on them, of
course, letting each one get dry before
putting on another. He kept them in
a cool place, but took care not to let
them get frozen. 1t is said however
by others who have tried this plan that
a slight taste of the varnish was dis
covered, which was due, of course, to
the liquid making its way through the
rind. But the New Jersey man said
his melons were as fresh at Christmas
as in August, and that he did not de-
tect any taste of the VarnSh 1t is
more than likely that the cold-storage
warehouses, which can easily regulate
the temperature so as to keep it at a
proper degree above the freezing point
could keep the melons fresh, Just as
it was claimed could be done with them
in Barnum's cool cellar. Many country
men secure for themselves the same
advantages of Barnum's cold storage
by placing the melons carefully in the
barn covering them with fodder and
leaving them undisturbed. 1t Is not an
unusual treat.
Question:: Who was Robert Brown
ing's Lost Leader" and who the Fair
Rosamond" of'Tennyson?
Answer: Goethe and Southey have
been made conspicuous by various per-
sons as the supposed original of this
poem of Browning's, because each dur
ing his lifetime had made radical
changes in his views on government,
and therefore, fitted the part. But the
poet, as his private correspondence
shows, had Wordsworth in mind at the
time he wrote the poem, but he says
in this letter, written some years after
the publication of the poem, that the
character was merely suggestive, and
that no attempt was made at a por-
trait. Jane Clifford was the Fair
in hn nf ~, l.,
Women" She was the daughter Of
Lord Clifford, and the favorite of Henry
II. of England. He kept her conceal
ed in a mythical labyrinth near Wood
stock, but all to no purpose, for she
is said to have been poisoned by Queen
Eleanor in HI. The story has been
told frequently in prose and poetry
Samuel Davis published an historical
poem about her melancholic fate in 1894
Swinburne wrote a drama entitled
"Rosamond," Addison an opera, Scott
refers to the story in his two novels,
THE Talisman" and Woodstock,
and many ballads touching the same
subject have achieved place largely
on account of the pretty story.
Question: Can you give the proper
tion of clear days in England and the
United States?
Answer: Not exactly as you state it:
but DR.. Cronk, of the State Weather
bureau, finds that in June. 1894. Bal
timore had twice the sunshine of Lon
don, and in addition to London, only
two other stations in England report
ed a greater number of hours of sun
shine than two hundred. In the United
States, moreover, only three stations
had more sunshine in that month than
Baltimore. The least sunshine at the
record stations was given at Eastport,
Me-, and Portland, Ore. During May,
1894, the record of sunshine hours re-
corded at the stations is as follows:
Baltimore, 2S5.5; Washington, 259.2;
London, 1885. During June of this year
it was: Baltimore, 354.S; Washington,
1888: st. Louis, 402S; Santa Fe, 3S4.2;
Tucson, 3645; Eastport, 145.1; Portland,
Ore, 1888; London, England, 1908;
Guersey, 209.2; Jersey, 20l.5.
Question: Inform me whether base
ball is brain work or art
Answer; 1t is largely Drawn, and
comparatively little brain, except in
the exercise of judgment on the part
of the players, with exception of the
pitcher. He has to do head work"
largely; that is, exercise more than or
binary skill in the performance of his
work, as in delivering deceptive balls
to the latter. Base ball is, however, a
scientific game, and, as such, requires
oaparalIu mara brain Than tha oHyar-