The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-13

Indian names are nearly as difficult as
the Russian. One of the ex-Carlisle school
girls is named Emily Perdesophy-
DR.. William r. Harper, president OF the
University of Chicago, has accepted the
tender Of the dictatorship of universal edu-
catiOnal congresses at the coming world S
fair i'm st. Louis.
T. Wister Brown, of Philadelphia, has
presented to Haverford College nearly 1000
clay tablets, or Babylonian books, many of
which were in existence 5000 years before
the coming of Christ. All of the tablets
bear inscriptions in the Assyrian language.
The dragon fly is the natural enemy of
the mosquito. The Department of Agricul-
ture has discovered that the English spar
row, among it's other offensive traits,
is fond of young dragon flies, called
"nymphs." When these emerge from the
water and come out with wings the spar
rows catch them by the thousand and de-
stroy them. This, il is believed, results
in greater prevalence of mosquitoes.
Senator Daniel, of Virginia, lives in very
modest style in Washington. and has for
thirty years spent nearly all of his money
in paying off debts incurred by a relative
in the panic of 1873 The senator was not
at all bound by law to assume the fnan-
cial burden, but did so Of his own free
will. and also pays the interest on the
debts
President Roosevelts lavish entertain
ment at the White House is commented
on by many of the members of Congress,
says the New York World. A man was
here this week who had two lunches and
dinner there at the Presidents earnest re-
quest. Lucky chap" said an envious rep
resentative. He came here on a railroad
pass and he's got a meal ticket at the
White House."
There is a little story about Prince Ed
ward Of Wales in the British Weekly. He
said the other day to lady who was visit
ing the royal children in their nursery, do
you think that great-grandmamma is quite
happy in heaven?" Yes, dear" replied the
lady; don't you think so?'' We'll, 1 am
not quite sure. answered he. You see, she
will have to walk behind the angels there,
and here she always walked in front"
When a mile is mentioned a distance of
$3.50 feet is meant by Americans. but there
are seventeen different kinds of miles in
the world. The Swiss, for instance, have
a mile that is 27439 feet in length. more
than five times as long as our mile. The
Austrians travel PISS feet before they
score a mile and the Swedes go p, O23 feet
for mile, or four and One-siXth of our
miles The Persian standard for a mile
is four and one-half times the length of
ours. The German mile is also longer, COW
ering 24.3lS feet.
Cecil Rhodes was greatly amused some
time ago when he was coming home from
the Cape on a Castle liner. While passing
Cherbourg several vessels of the French
Channel squadron were drawn up in line
TO salute the ex-Empress EUgenie's yacht.
The Frenchmen who were spread out on
the yards OF their vessels shouted ''Vive
lImperatriCet" The Castle liners captain,
wishing TO show his respect to the EN-
press, got his men ready To salute. but in
the short time at his disposal he could not
school his crew TO repeat the French
words. Tell them 10 say Beef lemons
and cheese" suggested Rhodes, playfully,
and 10 his utter amaZement the yacht was
greeted with deafening vel OF Beef,
lemons and cheeser" which entirely
drowned the voices of the French sailors
The ex-Empress is stated to have eN-
pressed great pleasure at the compliment
afterward.