QOOOOCCOCOOCOOCOCOOOOCOOOQ 1 WITHIN THEJOEB LINES. § Q The Burghers in Camp and on Q § the Field of Battle. § TOUCHING BELIG IOUS CEBEMONIES. 8 coooooocooooocoooggocooooo "TV "T OTHING has been more ox \ traoidinary in connection [ x with the South African war " than the lack of news that baa come from the Boer side. Of the foreigners within the Boer ranks, the most picturesque and one of the ablest is Count de VilSebois- Mareuil, who won fame in the Foreign Legion, French Army, and who, it is said, threw np his commission and joined the Boers because he was not given the rank of Brigadier-General, which he felt he deserved. But it appears that it was not per sonal ambition but genuine sympathy * > A TYPICAL BOER LAAOER, FORMED OF THE WAGONS, HASTILY IN V RENOHED, WITH THE STOKUS AND ANIMALS INSIDE. for the Boer cause that influenced him. Not only is Colonel Villebois- Maretiil a brilliant soldier, but a dis tinguished writer as well, and here with are presented extracts from a letter contributed by him to La Liberte, of Paris. It gives much that is new concerning the Boers, from whose side little has been published. „ Colonel Villebois-Mareuil writes: "If you consider both men and thiugs, here is a curisus mixture of very anoiont and modern methods. "BLINDFOLDED:" AN ENGLISH OFFICER CARRYING A MESSAGE TO TIIE BOERS. The conceutration of troops was car ried out by railway with the greatest ease and without a hitch, us with trained troops. "Land transport is assured by those massive, canvas-covered wagons,drawn by sixteen pairs of oxen. Filled with blankets and provisions f>r the long est journey, they formed the only vehicle before the railway was con structed. To-day they are on all the Natal routes, and on the banks of (he swollen rivers when it is impossible to discover a ford. "In camp is a commissariat officer who serves out provisions with a liberality to which our commissariat officers have not accustomed me. The meat is admirable. Bread for the army is baked in Olencoe by a Frenchman named St. Croix, some of it in the ovens left there by the British. If bread should run out there is Boer biscuit, which is softer, more palatable and far better than ours. "The Government still keeps the men supplied with tea, coffee, rice, potatoes and condiments; it is your universal provider, this Government —your tailor, outfitter, saddler, shoe maker, and all without the slightest JornF.nr .WlT SAT^BBEA^^^ (The General IH seated In tlie centre. The young roan on the right, with hat turned tp at the side, ts his flbn, and the man tu front of him is General Joubert's chaplain.) fuss, without the bother of filling up forms. All you want is a voucher from the field cornet, who is respon sible to bis own conscience for the reasonableness of the orders hn sisrps. "With its marabout tents, its kitchen in the open air, its Irish stews, the Boer laager would give the illusion of an Algerian oampbutfor the enormous wagons, drawn up in line or in square; the multiplicity of animals and the silence and calm of the men. "Guard duty is taken in turns by successive groups all night long. The tent of the general, the major or the field cornet serves as a club for auy one who likes. The life of the chiefs is for me a mystery of physical and in tellectual endurance in the midst ot this continuous invasion. "There are no punishments, no rec ompenses, no altercations nor coercive measures, everything being done free ly at stated hours as a duty. Though there is no restraint, there is never a reprehensible act. "The laagers have a commissariat department that works with admirably regularity in spite of the extreme strain that is put upon it. "But after all the laagers are chiefly interesting /or the spirit that animates them. An atmosphere of deep relig ious feeling pervades the camp, which commits everything to God—the fate of the Transvaal, the defense of its liberties, and the rights of its people against the aggressor. If you compli ment a general he replies: 'God has permitted it.' The Boer, whose secret aspirations are thus encouraged, lifts eyes of faith to heaven. The pastors are among the men, living their life, present at their death, simple, like the others, although treated with special respect. "Any man who has seen the Boers, night after night, gathered in groups, some on horseback, othors 011 foot, punctual in all weathers, taking up their nightly stations, is constrained to bow before the superior power which can transform lives so free as theirs and mould them to the needs of war like discipline. "The rain is often heavy, night falls, but they press stoically forward with out noticing it, and until the hour of dawn, crouching among the rocks along a slope, bogged in the mire or drenched in the flooded fields, they will keep vigil or sleep under the southern sky, offering their lives in continual sacrifice to their country. "No man who has seen them in bat tle, their eyes ever on the alert, their deadly magazines rifles in their hands, quick to change their position or to strengthen a weak point, inflexible, and yet at the same time generous, stopping their tire as soon as it has BOER HYMN SERVICE IN THE LAAGER. produced its effect, refusing to pursue after the enemy has been put to flight —no man who sees them such perfect masters of their strength can fail to understand that they are a people apart, these extraordinary Boers— sure of their eye as of their nerve, of their resolution as of their endur ance." George Lynch, artist of the Illus trated London News in Natal, who was taken prisoner by the Boers, describes a hymn service in the Boer laager be- hind Lombard's Kop, from which the Tranßvnal "Long Tom" daily bom bards Ladysmith, as followsi "About fifteen men, mostly about thirty or fort.v Tears, were crowrled into the tent, which was excessively hot. Two candles were stuck in bottles placed on Ainpty cases; the men squatted around, two or three reading from the same bymnbook. They had,laid their pipes besides them and their rifles were stacked about the tentpole. They sang well in lnsty, clear voices free from any nasal twuug. The effect was strikingly picturesque, the strongly marked, earnest faces iu the caudle light thrown out against the dark back ground ot the shadows behind. Simi lar scenes were to be witnessed at each laager every eveniug, sometimes in three or four tents at the same time." A letter from Sir George White to General Schalk Burger was taken by Lieutenaut Orlebar, of the Nineteenth Hussars, during the siege of Lady smith. He was accompanied by an orderly with a white flag, and when he reaohed the Boer outposts he was blindfolded and conducted to the General, the orderly being left be hind in charge of the picket. His eyes were not uncovered again until he was inside the General's tent, which was sumptuously furnished, there even being a big bed in it. When General Burger's answer was ready, the Lieutenant was again blindfolded and conducted back to the outposts. There are ruffians on both sides, BOEKS HOLDINO A W'KIAT, SERVICE OVER BRITISH SLAIN. (The correspondent of the Dally Telegraph with General French's column at Nnuuw poort writes with regard to the Imrlul of the unforlunatft Suffolk men: "Our bury ing pnrty seut out was receive J liy the iiuers sympathetically. They rotulered assistance also to our men. Over the grave they sang a hymn, and pome of the leaders made Impressive speeches, ex pressing abhorrence of the war. regret liug the heavy losses on both sides, and declaring the hope that the war would soon be ended.") but on the whole the war seeuis to have been conducted as huinauely as war can. British and Boer doctors and clergymen have combined to do all that science aud. religion can to soften the hardships and mitigate the horrors of battle. A Dutchman gives an interesting account of a visit he recently paid to the Boer camp. He made a short stay at the tent of General Joubert, who at the time was engaged with his secretary and the telegraph wires, while close at hand and under the same canvas his sturdy spouse waß placidly peeling potatoes as if no fatal issues were hanging in the balance. The rites of hospitality were observed by the Commandant General ordering the native wench Eva, who has ac companied him and his good spouse through many a fierce campaign, to bring the national beverage, coffee. Joliu Clilnninau a Workman. "When he is paid by time, the Chi naman does not wo*k more than he can help. When he is on piecework, however, his affection for the almighty dollar, developed in his race to the highest degree, makes it his tendency to scauip his work, aud very ingenious indeed can be his dvvices in this di rection. Bunning a machine tool would seem, therefore, to be the work wherein he would be most effective, but even then ho wants a smart shop foreman,-not of his own race, to see that tools are rnnning at an effective spoed and cutters held up to their work. What can certainly be said at present is that it takes more of him to do an equal amount of work in a given time as compared with the Eu ropean. It took eleven coolies to carry the luggage of a representative of Engineering from a hotel to a rail way station, where ono man and a handcart would have sufficed. This overplus of labor and infinitesimal coinage is responsible also for the ter rible amount of theft of small loose parts, or even fixed parts, of the loose or fixed plant on the railways.—Lon don Globs. A HOUSE THAT IS UNIQUE. Tilt Peculiar Architecture of an Ok lit* hoiiiH Man's Dwelling. Charles Babcock, a Guthrie Alder man, is building the most remarkable house in Oklahoma. Babcock's house is three stories high and as round as a silver dollar just from the mint. The ODD HOCSP. AT GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA. upper stories are each smaller in di ameter than the one below. On top of the third story is a staff, crowned with a glittering ball. The lower floor is divided into three room?, each re sembling in shape a slice of pie. Along the wall of one room is a narrow stairway to the second story. One of Babcock's troubles is to get his furniture to fit. If his beds and tables and chairs and sofas were round he could arrange matters with less difficulty. Babcock will complete his house by bnilding a circular porch around it. His home is in West Guthrie and com mands a pretty view of the Cottonwood Valley. Babcock drew his own plans and is proud of his architectual pro duction. He said that he built the house just to have ono different from any other. A King;'* Boyhood. Ludwig 11. of BavariA, the unfor tunate emzy king, whose name is best known to Americans as that of the friend and patron of Bichard Wagner, had a stormy youth, which seemed to E& \ prophesy the mis fortunes of his i I later years. In her jftLi account of the ro- A 'iM'lJm niance of his life, _ Frances Gerard re jp Jw&Bl lates these c.barac teristic incidents: V J On one occasion A Prince Otto, his ' younger brother, LUDWIG 11. had made himself OF BAVARIA. an enormous snow br.ll, and cried out with pride to his brother: "Look, Ludwig, I have a snowball twice as big as your head!" At these words the crown "prince fell into a fury ami tore the ball from the child, who burst into tears. The child's tutor came upon the scene and asked what had happened. Otto sobbed out his story. "Oh, your highness," said the tutor, "I can't allow this. Priuoa Otto has a right to his own snow ball; you mustn't take it from him." Ludwig turned upon his tutor, his eyes glancing darts of indigna tion. "Do yon mean to tell me," he said, "that I, the crown priuce, have nc right to this snowball?" After all, it was only a snowball but later on the wise men of Bavarif shook tbeir heads and murmured. A pleasanter story is told of the priuce when, at eighteen, he received his allowance, iu coins fresh from the mint. The amount was what woult now be called a pittance. The first use made by the boy of his new wealth was togo to.the court jeweler ant order for his mother a locket whict he had heard her admire. The jewel er inquired whether he should seuc the account to the castle, as usual. "No," replied the crown prince, with an air of ineffable pride, "j have now my own allowance. Here is my purse. Take what you want.' ltuller'a FrSoinluhl i> For the Krugeri. It is recalled that General Sir Bed J vers Buller was, prior to the South African war, on terms of friendship with the Kruger family, and thai they were wont to exchange cards of good wishes every Christmas, their friend ship dating from twenty years ago, when Buller had a regiment of Boers under his command in the war against the Zulus. Judging a Do;. There are only a few men who are capable of awarding the prizes at the aunual bench shows because so few have made a study of the points about a dog which must be taken into con- THE TECHNICAL POINTS OP A DOO. sideration. The following diagram illustrates the features that competent judges examine in order to determine the blue-ribbon winner: A—Nagjil boue. H—Elbow. 15—Stop. MM—Pasterns, o—Occiput. I—Knee. D—lirlsket. J—Stifle Joint. E—Frill. K—Hpck. F—Top of shoulders. L—Feather. o—Forearm. SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY- It appears from British consulni reports that Morocco offers a consider able held for the engiueer. There are at present no roads, railways, tele graphs, canals nor harbors. Owing to the high price of copper, the imperial postal authorities of Ger many propose to replace it for tele phonic purposes with aluminum wire or iron wire coated with copper. A series of photographs taken al Dover, England, during a thunder storm have increased the public tim idity about electricity. ]t is found that wheu a lightning flash occurs there are simultaneous discharge* of bead or dotted lightning from electric arc lamps in the town. Professor Stokes says this is nature's wireless telegraphy. The flash of lightning influences the lamps by electric waves. He urges poople to keep away from lamp-posts in thunderstorms. The discovery of the remains of a mastodon near Newbnrgh, N. Y., last summer, recalls the fa t that the best preserved skeleton of one of these huge animals now to be found in out museums was also discovered in a marsh near Newburgh. That part oi the Hudson valley appears to have been a favorite haunt for these Ameri can elephauts. Inspection of the place where the latest discovery was made emphasizes the fact that beavers were coutemporaries of the masto dous, and that beaver-dams were as perilous as qnicksauds for the massive beasts who ventured to set foot ii» them. Peasants of Tliuringia prevent rot aud other diseased conditious of win ter-seed potatoes by a simple method. Ihey lay the potatoes in a suunyplace, as fur apart Irom each other ns possi ble. The tubers are turned over night and morning until they become tbor oughly green, and are then placed iu the cellar for the winter. It is claimed that potatoes treated thus do not rot aud can withstand great cold without freezing. The effect of the treatment on early potatoes is to prevent theii sprouting in the cellar, aud so retain their full streugtb. In February the tubers are taken from tha cellar and put iutoa moderately warm room until planting time. This plah gives o strongly and quickly sprouting plant ing potato, aud iusures a tine yield oi healthy vegetables. It is proposed to build at Duluth, Minn., a suspended bridge over the ship canal. A bridge of this kind has recently been constructed to cross the Seine at Rouen, and the city engineet of Duluth has proposed a similai structure to bridge the ship cnnal oi that city, which would not interfere with the free passage of ships to and from the harbor. The plans provide for trussed girders carried on towers at a height of 152 feet clear above the water. These girders will be maiuly supported by cables, and will thus make a stiff suspension bridge, on which rails will be laid. On these trucks will be run, aud a car suspended at the level of the street. The ma chinery will be driven by electric mo tors., and the car or platform will carry both foot passengers and teams. The city power-house will supply the cur eut to drive the machinery. Snpi>lilrea That Aren't Hlue. "It is commonly believed that the mpphire is known only ns a gem of a •icli velvety blue iu color," observed »u experienced dealer in precious stones to the writer the other day. \s a matter of fact the sapphire occur? m various hues. In Ceylon, for in stance, where the finest specimens ol this gem are found, it ranges from the soft velvety blue to the peacock blue, graduated in the latter to an almost faultless white. It also occurs in whites, greens and yellows, the latter shade being known as the Oriental topaz, and the green the Oriental smerald. The white sapphires art afteu found clouded or streaked with blue so that many S) e Mineus are cut which are white when looked at trans versely, but having a lit of tine blue tint on the under point. Then there is the red sapphire, or Ceylon ruby. 'lt is valued as highly as the finest Burmese rubies. Those most highly prized are the red pigeon blood or rose-red color. Some very fine sap phires have been found in Montana during the past ten years. The American gems are light-blue, blue green, green and pink, but the deep blue and red stones, which are chiefly in demand as jewels, have so far never beeu discovered in any part of this country. Washington Star. Marvelouii Tex'lle Machine. "Perhaps the most remarkable thing I saw iu our line while abroad," re marked a buyer for a woolen house who lias recently returned from a '.rip through England, Germany and France, "was a machine that shrinks. presses aud finishes cloths simulta sponging process and does away en tirely with the necessity of flat press ing. It is the latest invention of the men who have carried the textile pro cesses the nearest to perfection of any people on the face of the globe, and seems to be the very last thing needed iu our line of manufacture. German inteutive faculty seems to be best shown in the textile line, and the peo ple who devote themselves to it are away ahead of even the experts of our own country, whose bent seems in tier directions. The new machines i o iu use in Germany, England aud ustrin, aud the work they were de \i«ed to do seems to be done with rare perfection. It means quite a saving iu the manufacture of the fine grades of cloth, but it will have no effect on prices that the consumer will feel thei benefit of." THE NEW NILE. Greatest Engineering Feat the World Han Ever Known. John Ward, F. H. A., writes as fol lows iu Aiuslee's Magazine: "Whcu the Nile reservoirs plauued by the great Willcocks were first madekuowu to the world, aiul it was fouud that he, although offering six or seven sites for his cyclopeau designs, really only highly recommended one, tLe construction of which would wipe out the island of Philiu, the loveliest spot on the Nile, there was a univeisal howl of opposition. This got to such a height that Sir W. Garstiu and hif engineers may have felt a grim kind of relief when they fouud that the French would allow ih'em no money from the Caisse to realize tlieir scheme.' for storiug the blessed water,and they had for a time to abandon the whole affair. So when, one tine morning, Mr. John Aird, Sir Benjamin Baker, and their friends, unexpectedly called at the office of works in Caiio, and offered to make any amount of dams, canals and loc';s, wherever they pleased, for no present cash payment, iu accepting their wo"dertul otter the government cut down the level of the great reservoir by nearly one-half. Willcocks wanted to store up 120 feel of water, Sir Benjamin Baker was told to content himself with 20 metres (about 05 feet) of Nile storage. "And so the artists and the tourist? and the general opponents to the drowning of Philas were appeased, or at least sileacod, and the greatest en gineering work that the world liaa ever seen was quietly sta ted, an I within a year 20,000 men were em ployed at Assouan and at tli3 supple mental dam of Assiout. "When the dam is completed and at its higli level, fhihe will have its temple pylons, and a few of the higuei ruins standing out of the water, just to mark where its ancient beauties were; but all its lovel.ness, its ver dure, its palms, sovei al of its temples, its storied walls and its Nilometr., its colouades, its Boman quays, will dis appear beneath the waters. An island will ba lost, but a continent will te saved ! For my part, I would lathei they had made Willcocks' cycl >peau granite barrier of about 1">0 feet (where the wall crossed the Bab el Kebir;, and that the whole island had been sac riticed. The fragments left will only ser\e to reopen the sad affair in people's minds. However, we must make the best of it. Even with the G5 feet of water in the reservoir great advantages will be gained for Upper Egypt. If we lose I liil.e fur the tourist and the artist and the archaeo logist, we will gain millions of acres more for the fellah-en's agriculture, and the revenue from the irrigation it will afford will double the return of an nual income to the finances of the government—so much so that if the British were allowed a free hand, this increased revenue could be made in a short time to clear Egypt from debt. Trained Willi » Derrick. Ring horses are generally iriitated when the rider first stands upon their backs. Probably the action of the foot pulls the short hair; but the irritation ceases in a short time. Riders ure first trained to do their tricxs or. tue ground. When complete masters of themselves 011 the ground they are put upon the back of a horse havijg an even gait aud a reliable disposition. To the performer's belt, at the back, is attached a stout rope which ruus :o to the end of it strong arm or I.earn running out from a post set iu the cen tre of the ring. This arm is swung around by a helper, who keeps the loose eud of the rope in his hand iu order to regulate the slack anil pre vent the youug performe from hav ing a heavy fall should lie lose his footing. Again and agnin the rider is pulled up just in time to prevent him from falling under the hoofs of his horse. He is swung forward, dan gling from the arm of the der ick, un til he regains his balance and his foot ing upon the back of his horse. To describe in deiail how every feat and specialty is tangnt would require a volume, but on (.eneral principles it may be said that all tricks are first learned on the ground, or at a sa'e and minimum elevation. Then when the performer has attained ab-olute self-confidence aud is wholly without fear he is allowed to swing higher, until he finally reaches the height re quired iu the pub ie performance. Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post. The Hlensinjja of Civilization. The graceful, firm gait of the H*. vniiau people, but especially that of .he women, has been attributed to the laHit of going barefoot. Shoes have lever been used. Generally cheap itraw saudals ot' the Chineso were lsed in muddy weather. The example >f another neat race, the Japanese, las had its sway, aud clogs are also ised, keeping the feet out of the dirt. 41as! the graceful walk must go, for i'aukee shoes, witlk pointed toes and narrow soles aud heels, are seen on the feet and in the stores. When the women wiggle along the walk as do the tourists, they will no longer bo able to lift their white gowns from the sidewalks to avoid the water whitAjstands in the puddles after the sidewalks and stieets are watered by hose aud carts. —The Woman's Journal. A Meterological Surname, The Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod, moderator of the Church of Scotland, has a magnificent voice. An English man said to him one day, "Doctor, how do you pronounoe your name?" The doctor was somewhat taken aback, but answered with dignity and some force, "Think of a cloud, sir, a dark storm cloud." "Thank you, doctor, but you need not use the voice of thunder to carry out the illustratiou,"—Philadelphia Saturday Evening Tost.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers