Evening star., 1901-07-13
THINGS
HEARD
and SEEN -

| over the city. room ought to be set
aside for the pension office lunch tables"
| < x x
| Always obey orders. but never volun-
| teer,' said General Fitzhugh Lee to a Star
| reporter recently. 'fs the rule with army
| officers. and it is good one. as 1 know to
! my cost In my early career in the army,
when L was young and foolish. nearly lost
my life by volunteering to round up a band
OF Indians in the southwest when there was
no occasion for my action at all. To make
long story short We met the Indians in a
strongly entrenched position and had all
we could do to rout them out. In the midst
OF the fight, which was extremely lively
While 1t lasted, arrow passed clean
through my body, and it almost a
miracle that it did not kill me- AS it was
nearly died in the rough ride back to camp
and l had to stay in the hospital a long
time. Since then l have found that sol
der can get all the fighting he wants by
simply obeying orders.'
x * X *
One of the exhibit cases in the National
Museum before which many persons pause
Is that which contains glass models of the
great diamonds of the world. The largest
in the collection is the counterfeit present.
ment of the Orloff, which shines in the
scepter of the Russian Car. 1t is cut in
rose form and the ba Sc is fiat. Its weight
| is 1919 carats, and one of the stories told
| about the great stone is that 1t was stolen
by European soldier from the eye of an
Indian idol. Another is that It was the
| property of Madir. Shah of Persia, and
| that after the murder of that ruler the dia-
mond passed into possession of a Dutch
merchant, by whom it was sold at Amster-
| dam. In the collection there are copies in
! glass of the Regent Pitt diamond. which
| Mr Pitt. when governor of Madras III l102
! bought for sloo,o00; the Grand Duke. which
| at different times was the property Of
| Charles the Bold and the Grand Duke of
| Tuscany; the Koh-I-Noor, which was worn
| five thousand years ago by Karna; the
| Sancy, the Shah, the Pole Star, the Mas
| sac, the Pasha and the Hope.
= = x
The old oaken bucket that hangs in
| the we'll is all right as far as sentiment
and picturesqueness is concerned" remark
! ed a welldigger to a Star reporter, but
| the fewer open wells there are the better
! it is for the people. l don't care how
! carefully they are looked after the open
| wells are a danger, for stuff will get into
! them that should not. l have spent the
| greater part of my life in digging and
| cleaning out wells, and have pretty thor
| ough knowledge of most wells in the sur
| rounding sections of Maryland and Vir-
| sinia. l am sure that ihe open well is a
I nuisance and the cause of much disease.
| Even the most particular people are con-
| tent to have their wells cleaned out once
a year. though the great majority allow
| them to run along for three to four years
without being cleaned out. Only last week
l cleaned out a well that was guaranteed
| to be clean by the man who sold the place,
| and found, among other things, three
/ frogs. two horseshoes, half dozen bones
OF different kinds. girls felt hat of a
| style of three years ago, a lot of WIRE a
milk can and some iron hoops and a lot
g f,.T.. 6 ..,I
more refuse, but | don't recall it al pres
cnt. This, remember, came from guaran-
teed clean well. Scarcely a day has passed
in thirty years that l have not had inds-
putable evidence of the fact that an open
well is d source of danger
= = ::
Talk about people who suffer in hot
weather" said a railroad man, mo one out
OF the business knows what the baggage
men so through in these hot days. l do
| not refer particularly to the baggage men
on the trains. although they have their
| trials, but to the fellows in the city who
| collect and deliver the luggae of the sum
| mer tourists Sit your doorstep some
evening and if it is prominent street you
vii: see half dozen more baggage wag-
ems piled high with trunks, hurrying to the
depot or making deliveries. Every one of
the trunks in tn load will be the biggest
owner can devise
1T is the belonging of a woman and is
| loaded to the top with clothing to suit the
| changing seasons. or perhaps the clothing
| of the family, with due allowance of
heavy books always. Now. when a man
| handles eighty or hundred of such trunks
| III day. carrying them down one to three
flights of stairs. or up, as the case may be,
| hoisting them into the wagon and lifting
| them out again at the station, he has done
] a good days work.
| 1T is a notable fact that the baggage
| handlers are short lived. They seldom hold
! out at their work beyond six or eight years.
| when they are compelled TO change their
| Vocations. The old traveller and the merci-
| full man invariably makes ii a rule to tip
! these faithful servitors. who, in fact de-
| serve the bonus more than any other class,
! in my opinion. 1t might make a great deal
| of difference to you whether your trunk
| missed connection with your train, and it
! DE- pends on the energy and watchfulness of
| these men to get over their prescribed
| route and strike the station in time You
| cannot devote small tip to a more
! worthy cause or more profitable to
| yourself in the long run than 10 the man
| who calls for and delivers your trunk"
| Buckner-"A doctors life is hard one;
| should think you'd hate it awfulIy''
| DR.. Floyd-"Oh. l don't know. IT has it's