Indianapolis Journal, Indianapolis, Marion County, 10 January 1886 — Page 4

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THE SUNDAY JOURNAL, bt jxo c. yaw t goif. (WASHINGTON OFFICE-513 Fourteenth St. P. S. Heath. Correspondent. SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 1886. TWELVE PAGES. BATES OF SUBSCRIPTION, 4TKRMM INVARIABLY IN ADVA VCX—POSTAOK PREPAID BY TUX PUBLISHERS. THE DAILY JOURNAL One yAr, by mail r $12.00 One year, by mail, including Sunday 14.00 Six months, by mail 6.00 Six months, by mail, including Sunday 7.00 /Throe months, by maiL 3.00 /Three months, by mail, including Sunday..... 3.50 jOa*month, by mail 1.00 >Ona month, by mail, including Sunday 1.20 Per week, by carrier (in Indianapolis). 25 THE SUNDAY JOURNAL. Per eopy 5 cents One year, by mail $2.00 THE INDIANA STATE JOURNAL. (WEEKLY EDITION.) One year SI.OO Lees than one year and over three months, 10c per ynonth. No subscription taken for less than three yearly subscriptions at sl, and retain 10 per cent, for their wor k. Address JNO. C. NEW & SON, Publishers The Journal, Indianapolis, Ind. Telephone Calls. Bnsiaeas Office 238 | Editorial Rooms 242 Tilt Sunday Journal has the largest and JLest circulation of any Sunday paper in Indiana. Price five cents. The Weekly Journal. The Weekly Journal comprises twelve pages of carefully selected reading matter, and has no guperior as a paper for the farmer. It contains ■3l the current news up to the date of issue, and • vast quantity of the best literature of the time. The sermons of Dr. DeWitt C. Talmage are reglarly printed in the Weekly Journal. The Weekly Journal is furnished at the low price of $1 per year. \

SEASONABLE SUGGESTIONS. On days like yesterday and to-day, when blizzards freeze solid everything between subteliars and the nearest fixed stars, it is the part of wisdom to take advantage of every possible artifice to mitigate the boreal cold and prevent the very life-blood from congealing. The crudest way to do this, and one that irould suggest itself to even a savage, is to arrange for an abnormal combustion of carbon, both in the shape of food taken into the stomach and of coal piled high on the grate or rattled down from the hopper of a base-burner. But these devices, however agreeable they jnay be, are expensive. We do not refer to the necessity of eating, for that must be accepted as essential to the preservation of life as well as comfort. A well-fed stomach is a magazine of reserve heat and energy to its fortunate possessor, and it is useless to argue against the time-honored custom. If one can afford to feed himself generously on 'wholesome food, be i3 prepared to face an arcjdtic temperature with somewhat of fortitude, iif not actual exultation at the idea of buffetling it. The axiom that a man should be well fed admits of no discussion. It is to be regretted that many find it impossible to be properly, not to say bountifully, fed. Turning to the combustion of fuel in an open grate or any external arrangement, >it appears at once that the most should T>e done to economize in the use of wood or ,pofd. With habitations open to the cold as .are modern bouses, it is necessary that an .artificial source of heat must be provided in weather like this. By a deplorable contrariety of fate, the home most in need of a generous dfire has least of means to provide ono. Hence stlie pressing necessity of making every ounce !©f fuel count. A certain amount of carbon, Tinder anything like favorable conditions, will impart a certain amount of heat. But the amount of coal or wood that would render the rich man’s cozy sitting-room comfortable, because of close-fitting windows and doors and walls impervious to wind and snow, would leave a poor man’s kitchen as frigid as a glacier. Under such conditions the man of limited means is wise who seeks to render his hearth-stone as secure against the prying winds -as he may. It should be understood that a nickel's worth ci tacks and a few old papers, with Which the world is fairly littered, may be made to save much fuel and add to the comfort of all concerned. By battening the windows and doors with strips of paper or listing a large per cent, of the cold can be kept out, fmd every cubic foot of external air that can he kept out is just that much less to heat. Nor are the windows and doors the only places through which the arctic air of midwiuter makes entrance. Sometimes there is space between the floor and base board through which air as cold as an icicle steadily streams. Let this be stopped; and the cracks in the Poor and walls—let all be looked after. This done, a marked rise in temperature will be noticed in a very short time, the family comfort will be increased, and the coal bill greatly diminished. There’s many a house with young and delicate inmates that could be made infinitely more comfortable with 10 cents’ worth of material and a half hour’s work. In households whore clothing is scanty aud fuel scarce these matters should be carefully and promptly attended to. A hint in this connection can be dropped 4or the benefit of such people, men and women, who are .obliged to stand in a cold or exposed place, as in a market stall, a news or ©atidy stand. When a fire is impossible, one £an be made very comfortable by keeping the Bfeet warm, and this can be done at an insignificant outlay by taking a shovelful of live oals and lightly burying them in a crock or Jron pot, across which a narrow board or strip *f metal can be laid for the feet to rest on.

THJB DfDIANAPOLIB JOUfiNAL, SUNDAY, JANtTAEY 10, 1886 TWELVE PAG-ES,

By this means, after a little experience in burying the coals, the feet can be kept warm all day from the gently-radi-ating heat. It is generally resorted to in many European cities, and there are places where live coals are for sale for this purpose, a handful sufficing for all day if properly handled. With the feet warm, the entire body is permeated by a healthful glow. This arrangement is much better than the employment of a hot brick or soapstone, because it is much more regular in its temperature. EVIL EQUINE INFLUENCE. There is something peculiar and mysterious in the influence exerted by the hoi’se on his human associates. Upon some men his companionship seems to have an elevating if not refining effect, while others he vulgarizes to a degree that is ruinous to all ambitious plans for advancement in life—these latter unfortunates being reduced to a stratum of society from which they have the greatest difficulty in escaping, and can only do so by shunning their former quadrupedal friends as if the plague hovered above their stalls. The late Mr. Vanderbilt was an instance of the first sort. As every one knows, the millionaire was extremely fond of fine horses. In indulging his fancy, which he did to an extent few can rival, there was no hint of any moral or social deterioration as a sequence. On the contrary, it was conceded that the great financier engaged in few pursuits so innocent or so productive of a healthful interest in life as this. It has never been intimated that any doors, even in the most exclusive circles, were closed to him on account of his taste in this direction. General Grant, too, is known to have been a lover of horses; but it is not believed that this fact militated against his standing in the world, in the estimation of crowned heads or of fastidious American citizens. Mr. Robert Bonner is an enthusiastic friend of horses; but it is not known that any young man or woman has refused to marry into his famiiy on that account; nor has any decline been observed in the moral tone of the thrilling Ledger serials since the development of the owner’s taste for thoroughbreds. Cases of the opposite sort are to be found on every hand. Mr. HulskampSchilling, who married Miss Morosini, was a coachman; much of his time was spent in the company of horses, and, though he seems to have none of what are commonly known as ‘•bad habits,” and his bride is suspected of having a true Italian predilection for macaroni and garlic, it is declared on all sides that she has degraded and disgraced herself by this alliance. Miss Unger, daughter of another wealthy family, has eloped with a horse-trainer and riding teacher and broken her father's heart. It is not asserted that the riding teacher is less intellectual or accomplished than the woman in the case, or that he is, for example, inferior in intelligence to one of the horse-loving Vanderbilts, but his association with the animals has been fraught with ill results, and he has become a despicable person. It is the horse that does it. Long ago the horse was pronouns'* * the most intelligent and noble of an .male and man’s best friend; but there is leason to believe the two latter characterizations were made without due comprehension of the nature of the beast The truth seems to be that be bears a grudge against any man who is not bis owner, and does wbat be can to ruin him. Does any one believe that had Mr. Hulskamp-Schilling been the proud possessor of, say, Maud S., that he would have been rated as so utterly vulgar and beneath the notice of the impulsive Italian Miss, even though he slept in the swift-footed mare’s stall? There is some reason to suspect that if the susceptible person who has run away with Miss Unger had indulged in the pastime of training his own horses, and, incidentally, in making himself agreeable to millionaires’ daughters by teaching them to ride on bis steeds he would not now be set down as a coarse villain. It is unaccountable, this malicious disposition of the horse to debase the nature and destroy the reputation of those who associate with him but are not bis owners, while on the man who has purchased him and spends even more time in his society than'any other, he exercises what the world is pleased to regard as a subduing and softening influence. The owner of Jay-Eye-See or of a forty-dollar ‘ ‘family” nag may devote himself to his property without risk of contamination; but let him engage in the same occupation when another man holds the bill of sale in his pocket and his standing in society is lost. The horse which employs its malign arts to injure the character and reputation of an innocent and worthy citizen, on purely mercenary grounds, is no longer worthy to be called a noble animal; he should be shunned by all poor and ambitious young men. The clergymen of Portland, Me. , to the number of twenty-four and embracing all denominations, have begun a war on skating rinks, and have formally petitioned the mayor and City Council to revoke all licenses held by the proprietors of such places of amusement. The petitioners recite that there is unmistakable evidence of iniquity and immorality resulting from the existence of the rinks, that their influence is most depraving and demoralizing, besides being injurious to health, and a public nuisance. The skating rink, at worst, has been a means rather than an active cause of eviL In many instances doubtless, it has proved a convenient rendezvous, and it is not improbable that flirtations and worse have originated there and gone on to their natural results, according to the character of those involved. It may be, however, that the rink has simply focused these evils and brought

upon itself odium as the originator of much of what would have been developed elsewhere, and had no rinks ever been constructed. There is a great deal of wickedness inherent in the human make-up, and a large per cent of it will find expression. The rink may or may not be a propagator of evil. The objection to the hot indignation of these clergymen is that it is striking a fellow when he is down. The skating rink question is solving itself. HAND-MADE POETRY., Still Stranded. O for a quill, to blow up my purse! O for a break in expenses until The outflow shall cease and the tide shall reverse, That I may And in it a coin or a bilL Thy purpose fulfill, My resources nurse, Nor treat me so iIL I would not complain, nor will I rehearse The horrors of holidays lingering still; But in truth my finances could hardly he worse— O for a quill! Paste nraL Do not kill the dog, my brother; Though he’s bitten you, I see;— Let him go, perhaps another *D like to journey to Paree. Misfit Music. Ho sailed unto a foreign land, His words no ear could understand; He touched the viol-chord and 10l Was heard the language all hearts know. —Wm. B. Grilling, in Current. He sailed unto another land, Where music none could understand; He struck a minor chord and dim, And fifteen bullets lodged in him. A Rondeau. When all is done, and all in all Is measured up; and Fame is won, And glory gilds the funeral pall, When man his long, last race has runt When at the setting of Life's sun, In deeper shade the earth grows small. And midst a million worlds is one; When weary fingers listless fall, And Fate has snapped the thread she spun, Will sweet Oblivion bury all, Or Heaven reveal, when all is done? —L. D. H. MINOR MENTION. The National Divorce Reform League (collected, daring the past year, SI,OOO with which to prosecute its warfare, S6OO of this amount going to the secretary of tho organization. It seems to be difficult to find philanthropists ready to enter into this path of reform with that great degree of enthusiasm which is accompanied with cash. The trouble is, perhaps, that the go<?d people who are happily married take comparatively little interest in the matrimonial difficulties of the rest of the population, while those who chafe under the yoke are naturally indisposed to tighten their bonds by aiding in the proposed reform.

A Pittsburg paper ventures the opinion that "if it were the rule for stores and shops to olose at C o’clock in the evening, instead of at 9 or 10, just as muoh business would be done, while there would be an appreciable economy in tho expenses, as gas bills would be greatly reduced.” It is by such strivings after civilization as this on the part of other cities that Indianapolis people realize how far their own town is removed from barbarism. Six o'clock has been the closing hour for all the better class of stores and shops in Indianapolis for many years; and so well established is the custom that a social revolution would be required to change it Those newspapers—there are a good many of them—which are afflicted with the idea that the general public yearns for information concerning Slugger Sullivan are now giving much valuable space to the "classic statue’s” denial that he knocked down an eight-year-old Philadelphia newsboy. Isn’t it about time that the exploits of the drunken brute were left to be chronicled in the briefest form by the police reporter, and placed without headlines in that part of the paper where only the eyes of those personally interested are likely to see them? The paths of the princes, Henry and Alexander, of Battenberg, are diverging further and further every day. While the latter is demanding and obtaining concessions from the Emperor of all the Rnssias, the husband of Beatrice is being tyranized over by his mother-in-law in a way which will cause many manly hearts to throb in sympathy for him. Because he had a fall recently while "following the hounds” the Queen has vetoed any more bunting, except under such restrictions as will practically stop it altogether. Because a cashier gathers together all the available assets of a bank and disappears with them between two days it does not necessarily follow that he loses confidence in banks, whatever other people may do. When a defaulting employe of a Vermont firm was overtaken by the sheriff, the other day, he led that officer, after some vigorous persuasion on his part, to a sand bank, in which he had carefully deposited the funds for future reference. It's a cold wind that doesn't blow good to some one. The wintry blasts have suggested to the authorities at Washington the advisability of relieving the soldiers who have been guarding Garfield’s tomb for four years, in the cemetery on Lake Erie’s bleak shore. The hearts of the lonely sentries have been warmed, accordingly, by information from Adjutant-general Drum that they would be ordered back to their regiment on tho Ist of next June. The man who can look an English sparrow in the face such a day as this and not feel sorry for the plucky and uncomplaining little fellow isn’t fit to live iu the same town with the sparrow. The sparrow is a fighter by instinct, but as plucky as he is pugnacious, and faces the rigors of winter as courageously as the best of us. Slurs on the sparrow should be shelved until spriag. During the year 1835 Indianapolis had 2.000 births and 16,000 deaths.—Hancock Democrat. It is just such errors as this that often travel fastest and longest defy correction. The average death rate in Indianapolis is abont thirty per week, or 1,560 per annum, a very satisfactory showing for a city of its size. On such a day as this methinks it was that Gray wrote the lines: Chill penury repressed their noble rage And froze the genial ourrent of the souL This was just the kind of morning to do that kind of business for the fellow with the temerity to leave a red-hot stove. After a previous encounter, ia which bad words and disagreeable personal allusions were the only weapons, two government officials of Atlanta met upon the street, the one armed with an umbrella, the other with a rolling-pin, and vindicated their respective "honors” by whack-

ing each other vigorously. That noble institution, the Code, has, it will thus be seen, amended its rules so as to include what were once regarded as exclusively feminine implements of warfare. A Chicago man claims to hare invented a system of spelling by which spelling-books may be done away with. He must have stolen the idea from the Tribune of that city, which has spelled without regard to books and dictionaries for these many weary years. There are different ways of looking at things. A few days ago we read that a Cleveland man had attempted to throw a red-hot stove at his wife. It seemed horrible then. A sudden fall of the mercury makes it a delicate attention. The Louisville Courier-Journal wants somebody to cross over to the Indiana side end take a picture of the eity between 4 and 5 P. M. At that time the natives are too busy painting the town to think of painting a picture of it. This is a cold day for the ungodly of Cincinnati "Rev.” Sam Jones and Sam Small begin their ministrations there this morning. The Kentucky Legislature adjourned yesterday because of the cold. It is needless to state where it adjourned to. ABOUT PEOPLE AND THINGS. Ouida’s English publishers give her $7,000 for every book she writes. It was John C. Calhoun who said that "only two men were created equal, apd one of them was a woman.” "Saturday Symphs” ie what they call anew series of high-class orchestra concerts lately started in London. Who says the Chinaman can not be Americanized? A Celestial has just brought a suit for divorce in Arizona. 'Tis He who made the heart alone Decisively can try ns; He knows each chord, its various tone, Each spring, its various bias. , Senator Beok, it is said, can repeat "The Lady of the Lake’’ from memory, knows Burns by heart, and thinks there are no novels equal to those of Walter Scott At Oakland, Cal., lives Mrs. C. A. Bryant, now aged, once a belle, whom George IY once kissed, and to whom Napoleon 111 is said to have offered his heart, hand and- empire. The death is announced of Mr. Baillie, of Redcastle, Scotland, who was to have acted as Benjamin Disraeli’s second had there been a duel between that statesman and Daniel O'Connell. It is stated that Governor Hill had applications from no less than 11,000 persons for places on his military staff. It is surprising to note the number of men who want to be soldiers in time of peace. A modern wit defines the difference between men and women: "A man gives forty cents for a twenty-five-cent thing he wants, and a woman gives twenty-five cents for a forty-cent thing she does not want” Dr. Hamilton Griffin has told a Philadelphia interviewer that his mint is about to suspend coinage—in other words, that Mary Anderson will retire from tho stage the two ensuing seasons, for rest and travel. Os the Duke of Seville, who has lately made himself offensively conspicuous in Spain, it is said that he once went to a ball without any cravat. The reason was that just before dressing he had dismissed his valet for insolence, and did not know how to tie a cravat himself.

Mrs. Marshall Field, of Chicago, gave a party in honor of her sevonteen-year-old son’s birthday. It was a Mikado ball, and the decorations alone cost SIO,OOO, or more than ten times as much as it costs to costume some of the Mikado companies now prancing around the country. A Philadelphia newspaper man says that even the vilest elements of our great cities are controlled to a certain extent by the fear of death. Ninety-nine out of a hundred believe in God, heaven and hell. But for this belief they would be infinitely worse and more dangerous thau they are. A woman in Bohemia was lately sentenced to imprisonment for ten days for forgery because she changed her physician’s prescription calling for 1.10 gramme of morphine so that it read 6.20 grammes. It is said that no similar case has ever appeared on the court records of the United States or England. The writer of the sharp criticism of Secretary Bayard in the North American Review is said to be William H. Hurlburt, formerly the editor of the World. The name signed to the article, Arthur Richmond, is a nom deplume. Mr.Hurlburt wanted to go as minister to Italy, but did not get the appointment The food of Burmese peasants includes almost all kind? of reptiles, the grub of a ball-rolling beetle, a kind of ant which constructs nests of leaves in tree-tops (eaten in curries), and hill rats. The last-named exist in such hordes that their consumption is almost a necessity to prevent the rats jeating the Burmese. Mr. West, the British minister, is a Roman Catholio, and attends St. Matthew’s Church, in Washington. In manner he is a strong contrast to his predecessor, Sir E. Thornton, having a strong inclination toward French habits and customs. He has established a warm friendship with the members of the French embassy. In a marriage register in the Church of St. James, Bury St. Edmunds, says an English journal, the following curious notice appears: “1832, Nov. 5. Christopher Newsam, Charity Morrell. Charity Morrell being entirely without arms, the ring was placed upon the fourth toe of the left foot, and she wrote her name in the register with her right foot.” A battalion of warlike Jews in the army of Prince Alexander, of Bulgaria, has had a special mark of attention bestowed upon it With his own hands the Prince pinned on the breast of the commander the gold medal for valor, and he warmly praised at Pirot the remnant of the legion. The battalion, originally five hundred strong, lost one-fourth its number before Slivnitza, and in the other battles eighty-five meu fell. The entire population of Berlin is, in round numbers, 1,200,000. Os these nearly 220,000 are exempt frera taxation, their annual income being less than the legal maximum, $lO5. Neany 270,000 have incomes ranging between that figure and $165. Incomes between $25,000 and $50,000 are credited to 108 individuals, eighteen persons have incomes op to $75,000, five up to SIOO,OOO, nine up to $135,000, and four persons onlj exceed this sum. Boston Herald: A New Haven medioal examiner says that on an average he has ten cases a year of babies starved to death. He had one last week of a child dying suddenly. Investigation showed it had been fed on a patent food, and the doctor says it died of starvation. It is the ignorance of the parents, he says,‘which is at the bottom of the trouble. That particular Kind of ignorance seems to prevail rather more extensively among the well-to-do than the poorer classes. A newspaper item is in circulation stating that the old friends of Mr. John Roach had taken little notice of his misfortune and shown little Sympathy for him. The item specifies particularly that Mr. Roach had never heard from Mr. Blaine since the day he was compelled to suspend. When this statement was brought to Mr Roach’s attention he declared it to t>e without foundation. “Mr. Blaine,” said he, “was the first person I heard from immediately after my misfortune happened. Outside of my own family I have no warmer friend than Mr. Blaine." A specialist in throat troubles was called to treat a Boston lady who manifested so mueh interest in his surgical instruments that he ex-

plained their uses to her. ,< This laryngoscope," said he, “is fitted with small mirrors and an electric light; the interior of your throat will be seen by me as clearly as the exterior; you would be surprised to know how far down we ean see with an instrument of this kind." The operation over, the lady appeared somewhat agitated. “Poor girl,” said her sister, who was present; it must have been very painfuL" “Oh, no, not that," whispered the Boston lady; “bnt just as he fixed his instrument into place I remembered that I had a whole in my stocking.” Some evidently nervous Englishman writes the following startling statement to the St. James’s Gazette, under the nom de plume of “Ominous:" “I do not know whether it has been noticed by any of your readers that when Parliament meets there will be exactly 666 members of the House of Commons to be sworn in. I think lam also correct in saying that this ominous number has turned up at least three or four times during the late elections, either in the numbers polled or in the majority obtained by one candidate over another. Ingenious minds have endeavored to show that the letters composing the late Prime Minister’s name make up the fatal number. Whatever opinion may be entertained of these attempts, I challenge anybody to contradict my statement as to the ‘number 1 ot the new Houso, and I think it mast be obvious also that it has ‘the mark of the beast' upon it — that is to say, of the three acre oow!" EPITAPH ON AN ASH MAN. \ No more on the road Strong barrels he smashes, Death dumped the last load, And here lie his ashes. —Boxbury Advocate. W———j QUERIES AND ANSWERS, [All proper questions of general Interest will be admitted to this column, and answered, if possible. If the answers cannot be given the questions will be printed to invite replies from the outside. The column is for the mutual pleasure and profit of our readers.] NATIONAL BANK NOTE. To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal* Please state whether or not the national bank note is a legal tender. Reader. It is not. THE ERIE CANAL. To the Editor of the Indiananolis Journal: How long is the Erie canal! Josiah. Cite. Three hundred and sixty-three miles. SHRAPNEL. To the Editor of the Indiananolis Journal: Why are shells of shrapnel so called! b. City. After their inventor, General Shrapnel THE ARSENAL CANNON. To the Editor ot the Indianapolis Journal: For the benefit of all concerned. I beg leave to correct your answer regarding the arsenal canod. It is fired at 6a. m. and at suuset. U. S. Arsenal, City. j. t. j. CHINESE CANDLES. To the Editor of tlio Indianapolis Journal: Os what are Chinese candles made! s. & City. Os the berries of the candleberry myrtle, which are fragrant and yield a bright light. the ouster massacre. To the Editor of tho Indianapolis Journal: Did any of Custer’s soldiers escape the massacre! D. A. H. Paxton, Ind. None who were actually with him at the time of the massacre. NEBUCHADNEZZKIi. To tho Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: Here’s a queer thing from Notes and Queries, July 21, 1877: In Russian the compound word Ne Boch ad-ne-Tsar signifies “There is no God but the Czar." Marie Lamb. City. SILKWORM CULTURE. To the Editor of the Indianapolis Joarnal: Where ean information as to the culture of silkworms be found! A Reader. Greensburg, Ind. Address the Agricultural Bureau at Washington, D. C. TATTOO. To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: What is the derivation of the word tattoo? Brazil, Ind. m. e. r. The word comes from the Dutoh word “taptoo,” signifiying the time when taps or drinkingshops are closed. SECURITY MINING AND MILLING 00. To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: Is there a company in Boston called the Security Mining and Milling Cos.! What is a share worth! Is it safe to invest! G. w. n. Arney, Ind. We know nothing about It A BOOK OP GAMES, To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: Can you inform me where I can get a book of games, such as would aocompany a social for young folks? C. L. Stubbs. Spicbland. At the Bowen-Merrill Company’s or Catheart & Cleland's book store, this city. THE PROPHET OF SAN FRANCISCO, To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: Is the title Prophet of San Francisco proper as applied to Henry George! w. Vincennes. It has been applied to him by the Duke of Argyll, we believe. There is nothing improper about it. UNITED STATES BONDS. To the Editor of tne Indianapolis Journal: To settle a dispute, will you please inform us whether the United States bonds have to be paid in gold coin alone or caa they be paid in gold and silver coin! Please answer through the columns of the Daily Journal. D. K. Smith. Veedkrsburo, Ind. They are payable in ooin, THE MICROSCOPE. To the Editor of ths Indianapolis Journal: When was the microscope iu vented, and where? Anderson, Ind. x. l. Invented, at nearly the same time, in 1621, in Italy and Holland. Those with double glasses were made at the period when the law of refraction was discovered, 1624, the honor of which invention is awarded to Torricelli and DrebeL QUEEN ELIZABETH’S POCKET-PISTOL. To the Editor of tho Indianapolis Journal: What was Queen Elizabeth's pocket pistol? Munoir, Ind. Schoolboy. In Dover Castle is a brass cannon called by that name, which was presented to Elizabeth by the States of Holland. The piece is twenty-four feet long, and has on it a Dutch motto which has been poetically translated: “Charge me well and sponge me clean, I’ll throw a ball to Calais Green." OCHILTREE. To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: Please state politics and age of Tom Ochiltree, x. s, o. Columbus. He is the first native Texan ever elected to the Congress of the United States, and is a Republican. He represented the Seventh Texas district in the Forty-eighth Congress. He was born in 1837. FRENCH SPOLIATION CLAIMS. To the Editor of the Indlanauolis Journal; (1.) What was the nature of the French spoliation bill passed by the last Congress! (2.) Has the United States any moneyed interest in the construction of the Panama canal! Pbrrysvillb, Ind. George W. Dbaland. (L) The time for docketing claims is limited by tho act to a year from the 20th January, inst. Write to your congressman for a copy of thebilL (2) No. NEAR SIDE OF A HORSE. To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: What is the “near side” of a horse and why is it so called! Maggie. City. The leftside is called the “near" side, and the right the “off" side. The terms come to us from the time when the driven of hones to Vehicles walked bj their side. In order that his right

hand might be ready iu case of need the driver walked on the left side of the horses. The ‘‘near" side was therefore that whioh was nearest him, and the “off” side that furthest o!L IMPROVED TURKEYS. To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: Where can I purchase improved turkeys? Farrabebs, Ind. L. D. Martin. Among the noted turkey-breeders are Wn. H. Wood, Stilesville, Ind,; T. M, Reveal, Clermont* Ind.; J. W. Busby, Shelbyville, Ind.; L, C. Talbot, Urbana, O.; W. HL Van Doran, Burlington, IIL SQUIRE HAWKINB’S STORY. To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: Where can I find “Squire Hawkins’s Story,* by J W. Rilny? Also, his “When the Frost is on the Pumpkin?” G. Himes. Ligonibr, Ind. “The Frost is on the Pumpkin” is in Riley's “Ole Swimmin’Hole an”Leven Other Poems.* “Squire Hawkins’s Story” was published in the Journal years ago. It has never been nut into a book. NAVVY. To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: What are navvies, and why are they so called? Inquires. Knightstown. The name navvy is a contraction of the word navigator, and is now applied to persons employed as laborers on railroads and other heavy work. It originated when such persons were engaged in digging navigable canals, and the name, now misapplied, is still retained. ditches. To tho Editor of tho Indianapolis Journal: The farms of A and B join; A’s farm is on the north and B's on the south. There is a drain running through both farms north and south. A has a farm he wants to drain. B ditches within ten rods of A’a fence and says if A wants an outlet he will have to dig the ten rods and put layer tile in bis (B’s) ditch. Will A have to go to that trouble or will B have to Dut iu the proper-sized tile! Will B have to dig up to the fence? jr. w. l. Cleveland, Ind. We cannot answer; consult an attorney. selah. • To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: 1. What is the meaning of the word “Selah!* 2. What is the came of the planet nearest the son? Ida Heckathorn. Jamestown, Ind. L It is from “Salah,” Hebrew, signifying to be silent, to repose. As used in the Scriptures its meaning is doubts uL By some it is supposed to signify a pause or silence in the musical performance of the song (it occurs chiefly in the Pealms); by others it is thought to indicate special attention ‘a the subject 2. Vulcan. THE TRESIDENT OF FRANCE, ETC. the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: (1.) Who is President of France? (2.) Who is our Chief-justice, what are his politics, and who are his associates? (3.) Who is Governor-gen-eral of Canada! (4.) Are there any negroes high in position in the United States At presend Lizton, Ind. Oscar G. Weddle. (1.) Jules Grevy. (2.) Chief-justice Waite* Republican; associates, Justices Miller, Field, Bradley, Harlan, Woods, Matthews, Gray, Blatchford. (3.) Lord Lansdowne. (4.) Only two; Frederick Douglass, Register of Deeds for the District of Columbia, and M. A. Hopkins, minister to Liberia.

DECISIVE BATTLES. To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: What does Creasy give as the fifteen decisive battles of tbe nor Id? r. Brazil, Ind. The following are the battles described by Prof. Creasy in his “Fifteen Decisive Battles at the World:” Marathon, B. C. 490; Syracuse, B, C. 413; Arbela, Oct. 1, B. C. 331; Metaurus, B. B. 207; Teutoburg, A. D. 9; Chalons, A. D. 451; Tours, Oct 10, A. D. 732; Hastings, Oct 14, A. D. 1066; Orleans, April 29, A. D. 1429; Spanish Armada, July, 1588; Blenheim, Aug. 13, A. D. 1704; Pal tows, July 8, A. D. 1709; Saratoga, Oct 17, A. D. 1777; Valmy, Sept 20, A. D. 1792; Waterloo, June 18, A. D. 1815. SIGHING SONS OF SORROW. To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: J. V. M. Daily, of Brookfield, makes inquiry as to the authorship, and where it can be found, of the song beginning, “Hail, ye sighing sons of sorrow.” The author was the Rev. Dr. Muhlenburgh, formerly an esteemed divine of Lancaster, Pa., and more especially noted as being the author of that noble hymn beginning, “I would not live alway, I ask not to stay." It was first published in the Saturday Evening Post, of Philadelphia, in either 1839 or 1840, and was soon after incorporated in several hymn books of that and later dates. Among other books, I have it in the “Social Harp," the “Cumberland Presbyterian Hymn-book” and the “Christian Psalmist” All of the song is published in the two first. Wm. Wooster. Montezuma, Ind. LEGAL PRINTING. To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal: Will you please publish your understanding of the law in advertising legal notices. What are the law and practice as understood in Marion county? Does the county clerk control partial and final settlement reports, applications to sell real estate, notices to non-residents, etc., or are these controlled by the administrator. Greenoastlb, Ind. Attorney* The county clerk has not the control of nonresident notices, nor of any other legal notice* The practice in this county is for the olerk to give the adve ug to the attorneys, and let them place 1' 're they choose. Otherwise the clerk cor >ke an arrangement with the newspaper p .fier he chose to favor, and make a percentage on the advertising so placed. The Liquor Saloon In Kentucky. Louisville Commercial. The Indianapolis Joarnal advising the people of Indiana to adopt the Kentucky temperance idea affords just cause for wonder. It is unusual enough for the press of the North to admit that any good can come out of this section, but when the conventional reflection upon Kentucky as the birthplace of intemperance is replaced by such advice as the Journal gives, there is especial reason for asking why such a change. Kentuckians have understood all the while that the great bulk of their whisky production was absorbed by other States boasting of superior virtue* not omitting lowa and Kansas, which temperance orators and writers have held up as worthy examples for our unfortunate people. From the recent tone of the press of the school to which the Journal belongs it might have been inferred that the influence of Kentucky was tho great obstacle against which the reformers had to contend. However much that State may have been misrepresented, we are pleased to recognize the first indication of justice on the part of our neighbors, and they are heartily welcome, not only to the Kentucky temperance idea, but to what the practice and the spirit of our people may tesch them of the treatment of immorality and crime iu general. At the basis of the Kentucky character are independence and common sense. Conservative our people may be, making few changes in then institutions and little show of publio enterprise; but when an evil develops itself the Kentucky idea of getting at its root is apt to be practical and effective. Kentucky is not ready to tolerate the fanaticism of prohibition, which denies to the citizen the right of free agency, and seeks to force upon one man another* idea of morality. But if any community is agreed, in the main, upon the suppression ot saloons* the laws permit the enforcement of the looal sentiment. General manhood suffrage had its first embodiment in Kentucky’s Constitution, and the right to freedom of opinion has been in our government ever since. This is the basis of the “local option” laws under which, daring twelve yesrs, there has been a steady development of sentiment against the evils of au unrestrained liquor traffic. ■ ——l^ mom General Wallace’s Friends Dazzled, St. Louis Post-Bispstch. Gen. Lew Wellses has been honored by the Sultan with the imperial decoration of the Medjidle. His friends don’t know yet whether to call him henceforth “Colonel Medjidle," 01 “Major Mad j idle," or simply “Old Medjo.”