The Washington times., 1906-06-28
ABOUT PEOPLE AND PLACES.

Mr.. Mollard Of Paris, not satisfied
with the usual grating adopted b. fiori-
culturists. has started to transform veg
etables- II is said he has succeeded in
turning a radish into a potato
May Island. Great Britain, now pos
sesses q foghorn which can be heard
eighteen miles away. Several similar
ones are to be installed in neighboring
lighthouses 10 safeguard the ships en-
terins the Firth OF Forth.
On the ground that il would prOfane
the historical spot where William Tell
performed his most heroic deeds, the
Swiss Federal Council has refused per
mission 10 a hotel keeper to construct
funicular railway starting from the
Tell Plateau"
Edgar Saltus, after what his publish
ers call "a long engagement in the
vaudeville Of journalism" has returned
to the legitimate drama of fiction with
a new novel entitled vanity Square.
Recently, being asked what books had
helped him most. Mr.. Saltus. with true
Bernard Shaw mOdesty. replied; My
own
one result of wagrer's celebrity was
that ii made Beyreuth famous. The great
composer once said that Before the
time of my trilogy the place was so
little known by the German postoffice
that letters addressed 10 Beyreuth were
constantly sent TO Beyrout, in Syria.
Siegfried and the dragon Fafner have
altered all that. Correspondence for
Beyrout now often comes here"'
The first million-dollar life insurance
policy ever written was bought by
George w Vanderbilt in 1897 He was
thirty-five years old at the time and
agreed to pay $4,000, year for twenty
years. According to the Worlds Work
years ago, he would have paid in by
this time 100000. which, at 4 per cent
compounded interest. would have
amounted TO nearly SI.100.00O
a nf
Cape Town: "Stuurman. an old bush
man who lives on the top of a hill at
Stuurman's huts. IN tie Prieska district
Of the Cape Colony, claims TO be the
oldest man in the world He is said 10
be l46 years old and his wife-his second
over 100 It is known for certain that
old man and that his son is more than
ninety years old
In a LentCn sermon at Boston. Bishop
Lawrence lamented the lack of candi-
dates for the ministry. out OF 81 900 COM
municantS in Massachusetts. he said.
the church had furnished only twenty
five candidates in ti-c last ten years He
thought parents Ia 'gely to blame. The
bishop also regretted that of the large
amount of money now going to higher
education so little is given for the en-
dowment of theological schools.
Behazin. the eX-king of Dahomey
who is now ward of the French gov
ernment. is about sixty years of age.
with the blackest of faces. and a short
white beard. He smokes forty strong
cigars a day At a Paris hotel he re-
fused to eat off plates or drink from
glasses which had been served before
His four wives treated him with har-
barrie homa ge. kneeling before him. kiss
ing his hand. and. when he rode or
walked abroad. holding an umbrella
over the royal head.
Prof Cerebotani. a FreEchman, Is said
TO have perfected an apparatus which
will transmit by wire all the peculiari-
ties OF a mans handwriting or drawing
away. or write a legal document or
draw a picture. Only one wire is need
ed and the machinery is quite simple
There is clock movement controlling
wire. and one rod makes a circular
movement. while another makes direct
perpendicular and horizontal strokes.