News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 30, 1915

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— The corner stone of the National McKinley Birthplace was laid at Niles, Ohio, last month, with elaborate ceremonies. Many noted men were in attendance, and addresses were made by Governor Willis of Ohio, Myron T. Herrick, former ambassador to France, and Congressman L. C. Dyer, of St. Louis. President Wilson sent a representative, and indicated his intention of being present at the dedication when the building is completed.

— A unique art sale took place in New York last week when a painting dating back to the eleventh dynasty in Egypt was sold. It is said to be the oldest painting on canvas in the world, and illustrates life in Egypt when Thebes was its metropolis. The canvas brought $1,700. It was part of the Rustafjael Egyptian collection. The picture is done in mineral paints on unbleached linen, and is eighteen by thirteen inches. It was found in a mound of débris in the ruins of the Mentu-hotep temple, Der-el-Bahri, in 1905.

— The shortage of freight cars in the Western part of the United States has revealed that the bulk of the freight-carrying vehicles of the United States are loaded with goods for export and are switched on sidings in the East, waiting for ocean carriers to take their loads. There is a shortage of boats, and those running are making enormous profits. The Lackawanna has 6,000 freight cars stored on its sidings as far west as Scranton, Pa., and it has instructed its agents throughout the country to accept no more freight for export. Some of the cars have been held for eighty days. A like condition exists on other roads.

— Theodor Leschetitzky, the most famous teacher of the piano since Liszt, died in Dresden last week, at the age of eighty-five. Most of his life was spent in Vienna, where he made his début in 1845, but for several years he taught piano in the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and recently he had been living in a village near Dresden. Nearly all the leading pianists of our day, it is said, learned from him either directly or indirectly, and he was the principal master of Paderewski. Although not successful as a composer, except for a few drawing-room pieces and an opera which enjoyed some popularity in Germany, he stood alone as a teacher of the piano. Pupils came to him from all parts of the world, and in such numbers that it became necessary for him to assign part of his work to “preparatory teachers” or assistants. Still, he himself tried to recognize as far as possible the peculiar talent of each of his advanced pupils, and to develop each one's special gifts.

— Lady Eglantine, the $100,000 prize hen, went to New York recently from Philadelphia, in a Pullman section specially reserved for her. A guard in uniform traveled with her to administer to her wants. Lady Eglantine holds the world's record as an egg layer. During the last year she has laid 314 eggs in 365 days. On arrival she was taken to her suite in the Hotel Imperial. She was taken to New York for exhibition purposes.

— Discovery of the cause of and the cure for pellagra has been formally announced by the Public Health Service. The announcement follows the recent publication of a report by Surgeon Joseph Goldberger on a year of experiments in cooperation with Southern State health officials, demonstrating the correctness of the theory that a one-sided diet lacking in proteins would cause the disease, and that a well-balanced diet would cure it.

— Ten thousand persons were left homeless and without shelter, and fully 300 buildings were destroyed December 9, when fire swept across sixty of the eighty acres of Hopewell, Va., doing a property damage estimated at more than $1,000,000. There was no loss of life, and only a few minor accidents. Seven militia companies from Richmond arrived on the scene the following day, and martial law was proclaimed. Plans are going forward for the immediate rebuilding of the town.