Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, August 09, 1901, Image 2

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Bellefonte, Pa., August 9, 1901.
TO A LUST LOVE.
I cannot look upon thy grave,
Though there the rose is sweet
Better to hear the long wave wash
These wastes about my feet !
Shall I take comfort?
A spirit though afar,
With a deep hush about thee, like
The stillness round a star ?
Oh! thou art cold! In that high sphere
Thou art athing apart,
Losing in saner happiness
This madness of the heart.
Dost thou live
And yet, at times, thou still shalt feel
A passing breath, a pain ;
Disturbed, as though a door in Heaven
Had opened and closed again. .
And thou shalt shiver, while the hymns,
The solemn hymus, shall cease;
A moment half remember me ;
Then turn away to peace.
But oh! forevermore thy look,
Thy laugh, thy charm, thy tone,
Thy sweet and wayward earthliness,
Dear, trivial things, are gone.
Therefore I look not on thy grave,
Though there the rose is sweet ;
But rather hear the lond wave wash,
These wastes about my feet.
—Stephen Phillips.
THE LADY BURGLAR.
It happened that the talk at the club had
turned that night to the recent marvelous
successes of the Lady Burglar. My neigh-
bor, Mr. Ayres, who had been the latest
and heaviest sufferer, was telling the vari-
ous details, including the discovery of the
two strange hair pins that had first suggest-
ed to Binks, the clever detective, that the
daring house breaker was a woman. The
novelty of this had given the case no end
of notoriety, which somehow had not at all
lessened my anxiety about the safety of my
own things. -
I remember that my head was quite fall
of the matter as I unlocked my front door,
and that was the reason I was just a bit
taken aback when I found that there was
no light in the hall. However, that had
bappened before when I came in late; and
so I was hanging up my coat without troub-
ling my head further about the matter,
when suddenly I was thrown upon the
alert by an unmistakable noise from: the
floor below. Standing stock still, with
every nerve strained to the tension point, I
heard the distinct sound of a light Per
passing over the kitchen floor. Quick as
thought Itook a loaded six shooter from
the hat stand drawer, and felt my way soft-
ly down the basement stairs.
In frout the hall was quite dark, but
turning to the back, I saw a streak of yel-
low light falling through the half open door
of the kitchen. Tipping gently to this
door, my gaze at once swept the entire
room, and in spite of my own half formed
expectations I could hardly restrain an ex-
clamation of surprise. Full in the light of
the low turned gas jet there was standing a
pleasant featured young woman, respecta-
bly dressed, who was just then in the act of
lifting a china teacup to her lips. She
wore a hat, large and rather ornate, but her
wrap been thrown aside, and was now
resting on the wash tubs, half concealing a
stout leather telescope bag, which I readily
recognized as one of my own, in which the
servants packed away at night the silver
pieces that were in daily use. Her cool-
ness was really wonderful. I stepped quiet-
ly into the kitchen and put my back against
the door. ‘‘What are you doing here ?’’ I
asked very fiercely.
As the sound of my voice the Lady Burg-
lar started violently, so that the cup fell
from her hand and shattered into fragments
on the slate hearth stone. But in a trice
she had gotten herself in hand once more,
and was turning toward me steadily with
a smile on her agreeable face. ‘‘Good-
ness! you scared me!” she said, cooly.
‘You see—the kettle was boilin’ and I
couldn’t resist stoppin’ for a sip o° tea.
And now I've gone and wasted the whole
cup.”” And she regarded the lost potable
with rueful regret.
I wondered vaguely what her game was.
‘Oh, you did, did yon?” I said, with bit-
ter sarcasm. And then, nothing better hap-
pening to occur to me at the moment, I
sneered again. ‘Oh, you just stopped for
a sip of tea, did you ?”’
“I just love it,’’ she murmured, conver-
sationally entirely missing the irony of my
remark. ‘‘And this is English breakfast,
my favorite.”” And saying this, she snd-
denly seized the broom, which was restin
in plain view against the wall, and fell to
sweeping up the bits of broken teacup.
*‘Really you are most considerate,” I be-
gan irritably, for it annoyed me beyond
words to see this common thief at work up-
on my kitchen floor ; ‘‘but under the cir-
cumstances I—"’
*‘Oh, that’s all right,”’ she interrupted,
cheerfully. ‘‘I can’t bear to leave a mess.
Of course,”’ she continued, looking at me
mischievously out of the corner of her eye
—*‘of course I wouldn’t ’a’ dropped it if
you hadn’t come in so unexpected, but—?’
‘‘You forget yourself,”’ I rebuked her
sharply; and then I added, still more sharp-
ly. ‘‘How did you get in here ?”’
‘*The basement door wasn’t locked,’’ she
answered readily. ‘‘And so I got in easy
enough, I hope I didn’t make any noise
comin’ across the hall.”
‘‘Naturally,” I rejoined, caustically, ‘I
didn’t suppose that your: object was to kick
up a rumpus and wake the whole house.’’
And then, as I was absently wondering
what I should do with the woman now that
I had really got her, I saw her suddenly
edge to the back door, and softly shoot
back the lower bolt. *‘‘Don’t do that,” I
said so menacingly that she straightened
up at once.
“I was only making sure if everything
was shut up,’’ she said, in a tone of well-
feigned remoustrance. .
I regarded her with a grim triumphant
smile. ‘‘You may rest easy, I assure you.
Everything is. There is not the spook of a
chance of your getting out of this room.’’
She met this speech with a: masterly
change of tactics which I could not help
but admire. ‘I don’t want to get out,”
was hersprightly though somewhat menda-
cious reply. “I think I can trust myself
with you.”
Now Iam nota man to be hoodwinked
by a smile or so and a brace of pretty
speeches. So I looked at her out of a stern
eye, and said : ‘‘Let me advise yon—don’t
he too sure. Your confidence in me is
touching, and it affects me deeply, but for
all that I am and will continue to be a hard
hearted man.” And as Shough to give
point to my words, it chanced that my eye
fell just then upon the stout telescope
“What have you got in that bag ?”’ I ask-
ed in a terrible voize.
‘“The silver,”’ she said indifferently, as
one would speak of an every day affair.
I slid the leather case toward mc over
the tubs and slipped the catch. Yes, they
were mine fast enough; every spoon and
fork and knife and gimerack in the lot
marked with my wife’s initials. ‘‘Where
did you get hold of this?’ I demanded.
Forsome reason that I could not then
understand she hesitated a moment. ‘Why
I found it right there where you saw it,”’
she answered at last. ‘‘You see, it was all
fixed to take upstairs.’’ 2
‘You were going to take it were yon ?”’
‘‘Oh, yes,” she answered, quickly.
““Trust me for not overlookin’ a thing like
that.”’
This direct confession of guilt was no
doubt a point gained; but there was some-
thing that smote into my heart in the mat-
ter-of-fact way in which she had made it.
Couldn’t I, perhaps say something that
would make her a little ashamed ? There
was a newspaper on the tubs, and opening
it out wide to protect my evening clothes,
sat upon it. ‘‘Is there any more tea ?’’ I
said, by way of opening the conversation.
She brought it to my perch on the tubs
with a look of suppressed amusement. *‘I
never thought to he takin’ tea under such
circumstances,’’ she blurted out.
I stared down at her in amazement as I
drained off my cup. ‘‘How long have you
been in this business ?’’ I demanded.
‘Oh, I don’t know exactly. Three or
four years maybe. I used to work in a
factory.”
“Why did you give that up ?”’ I asked,
with pity in my eyes.
‘‘Why, yousee, I tried this now and then
at odd times, and I liked it so much better.
So I thought I'd go in for it regular.”’
‘You like this very much, then?’
‘Oh, I just love it,”’ she answered, rap-
turously. ‘I dote on it. I'm improvin’
too. I want to get to he oner the best in
the business.”
Poor little girl ! I put down my cup and
slid from the tubs; and, in doing this, in
some confounded way I brushed against the
bagtul of silver, which toppled over and
fell to the floor with a terrible clatter. It
was this great noise that was directly re-
sponsible for the long coolness between me
and my,wife which she carried to such an
extreme,and which,as all the world knows,
was so near to driving her back to her
mother’s home.
The Lady Burglar moved to pick the tele-
scope up, but I checked her. ‘‘Never mind
that,’’ I said, impatiently. ‘“‘Look at me.
I want to say something to you. You un-
derstand that I cannot let you go, because 1
must consider my duty toward my neigh-
bors. I give my word, though, that I will
use my influence to get you off with a light
sentence, but with one condition. When
you get out of prison, which I hope will be
within three or four years, I want you to
promise me that yon will stop this sort of
thing for good and all. What do you
say ?
What she did say was a trifle amazing,
even from the Lady Burglar. ‘‘Prison !’’
she rejoined with capitally
‘‘I am not going to prison !”’
‘Oh yes, you are,’’ I answered, and de-
spite my boasted hardness of heart, I was
feeling tremendously sorry for her. But I
merely added, ‘‘Get that idea firmly fixed
in your head.”
‘‘But I haven’t done anything to go to
prison for,”’ she responded, still keeping up
her air of incredulity. ‘‘Besides’’—this in
a swift burst of confidence—*‘you wounldn’t
send me to prison if I had.’”’ And she look-
ed up into my eyes with the most cajoling
smile in the world.
‘ber best card that she was play-
ing, you see, and I knew it very well—but
—duee take it!—there was something
about her as she said this that .made my
heart go out to her. I think too, that she
expected it, which is something on my side,
though of this I cannot of course be sare.’
But what would you ? A man whose blood
‘is warm within him cannot sit eternally
like his grandsire cut in alabaster. Let me
say simply that at that moment I interrupt-
ed the Lady Burglar with a slight and
easily executed manceavre.
I do not know just how I would have fol-
lowed up such a very unusual departure.
It was the first burglar 1 had ever kissed,
and I am quite ignorant as to what is the
usnal thing among housebreakers at times
like these. As it fell out, however, I had
no occasion to puzzle my brains about the
matter, for at that moment the door was
sharply pushed open, and my wife clad in
a light blue peignoir and carrying a candle
which flickered over her pale face, stood
suddenly before me.
Yon would fancy that her first thought
would have been to find out who the
strange woman was, and by what chance
she was at that moment in our kitchen;but
to my surprise she took not the slightest
notice of her. Her sole feeling seemed to
be one of the angriest indignation. ‘‘John !”’
g | she exclaimed hoarsely, with blazing eyes,
‘“‘what is the meaning of this scene ?’’
I dropped the burglarious hand which I
had until that moment absent-mindedly re-
tained. Her violence rather took me
aback.
‘‘If you refer-to. this last tableau,” I re-
marked carelessly, ‘‘I assure you that it is
wholly without significance. For the rest,
the presence of this young woman, togeth-
er with the proximity of that’’—and I
pointed to the bag on the floor—*‘‘shounld
make the situation obvious to the most or-
dinary intelligence.”’ I said this in a way
that made it sound rather well, and I fore-
saw that it would bring home to my wife
pretty clearly that she was not taking the
right attitude towards a husband who had
just landed the pioneer crackswoman of the
and. But in some way it failed of its prop-
ler effect.
“Come,”’ she said with scorn, ‘““those are
fine words, but they do not relieve you from
the necessity of an explanation.”
I could not have believed that pique over
a chance bif of alien osculation on my part
could have so muddled my wife's wits.
“Must I then tell youn,”’ Isaid coldly,
with a sweep of the hand toward the young
woman, who all the while was standing si-
lent at the far end of the table—‘‘must 1
then tell you in so many words that I have
been so fortunate as to capture the Lady
Burglar ?”’ J
“Burglar I” said my wife, in a choking
voice that made me wheel sharply. ‘‘Burg-
lar! Are you crazy ? or am 19”
This was unendurable. ‘‘Since you put
me to it,’” Ireplied, with chilling courtesy,
“I must say that your last suggestion seems
to furnish the best explanation of your ec-
centric conduct. But you shall hear. Young
woman,’’ I said, facing her and speaking in
a low, icy voice, ‘as you hope to receive
mercy from me, I charge you now to tell
this lady who you are.”’ And the Lady
Burglar, as before, was ready with an an-
swer, though it was not to my wife that it
came as information. ‘Iam the cook,’
she said, briefly, and put her face into her
hands,
And there was a silence in the kitchen, a
hastly silence with the three dimensions
or I could not for the life of me think of
anything worth saying. I should have lik-
done surprise.
ed toremark, in an off hand way, that I
had known it all along, hut I was not
quite sure of myself, and, besides, there
was that in my wife's face as I looked at
her out of the tail of my eye that made this
quite out of the question. Characteristie-
ally, she thrust upon my shoulders the en-
tire responsibility of the situation. Neith-
er was there any belp to be got from the
young woman. She bad turned her back,
but from a slight twitching of the shounl-
ders I gathered that something amused her.
If there was to be any conversation, evi-
dently the initiative was to come from me.
‘If that pot isn’t empty,” I said at last,
taking a step in her direction, ‘‘pour some
tea for Mrs. Vau Brunt, will you?’—By
Henry Sydnor Harrison, in Harper's Maga-
zine,
Wonderfal Helen Keller.
The Blind and Deaf Girt Whose Teachers Be-
lieve She May Blossom Into an Author of the
First Rank.
Helen Keller’s teachers object to the use
of the words “‘marvel’’ or ‘‘prodigy’’ with
their disagreeable suggestions of unnatu-
ralness in connection with her. She is not
even a genius they maintain, but ‘simply
a bright and lovely girl, unmarred by self-
consciousness orany taint of evil.”
Yet popular opinions insist otherwise.
Helen’s story is well known. Though
blind and deaf she has by use of the raised
Braille type and the finger language ad-
vanced to as high a rank of scholarship as
is possible for a girl of herage, while many
of those in full possession of their faculties
were unable to pass the Radcliffe College
SHalination (identical with that of: Harv-
ard. i
A professor in one of the leading uni-
versities of the country once dryly re-
marked that ‘‘his experience as an educa-
tor has taught him the profoundest respect
for the capacity of the human mind to re-
sist the introduction of knowledge.”’ Peo-
ple know this is so, and this young girl’s |
enthusiasm for books and studies under so
great a handicap of affliction appeals to
them.
And now comes a report from Radcliffe,
the woman’s annex to Harvard which she
entered exactly two years ago, that in ad-
dition to her other gifts ‘‘there is probably
hidden within her an author of the first
rank.’ Helen’s command of language
has always astounded all who have been
able to communicate with her by the ‘‘si-
lent speech. Probably it is because she
hears no slang, no slipshod expressions of
the hurried world, conversing only with
cultivated men and women and reading
only the best literature. It was through
books that she first touched with life and
humanity. No candidate in either Harv-
ard or Radcliffe was ever higher in En-
glish than she. It would not be strange,
therefore, if a few years more should see
her name added to the increasing list of
young women authors. Who knows that
she may not write the nexs historical nov-
el?
Helen’s own story of how the light of the |;
outside world firs flashed on her is inter-
esting. Five letters made her a living be-
ing. She had been taken by her teacher
to the pumphouse to feel the cool, re-
freshing stream as it spouted forth, and
while she was enjoying the sensation the
word ‘‘water’’ was spelled in her hand in
the finger language they bad been trying
to teach her. ‘‘That word,’”’ says Helen,
‘‘started my soul. It revealed to me the
idea that everything had a name. Until
that day my mind bad been like a darken-
ed chamber.”’
Jamaica.
The Blue Mountains, says the Westmin-
ister Review, range along its centre, with
caps lost in the clouds, shoulders mantled
with forest trees of huge dimensions, while
shrabs of Jamaican individuality skirt the
feet. Pasture land is verdant with guinea
grass, growing wild, and to the height of
five or six fees, rich, sustaining food for
the cattle. Oh, what a panorama of end-
less variety—an absence of dullness. As if
to set off more impressively the fertility,
the luxuriance, the abundance, one comes
now and again upon a prairie with clumps
of pampas grasses, and sparse growth of
underwood. ‘This ie no disappointment to
the visitor, but rather a relief to the trop-
ical extravagnce. Plunge again into the
rich glades of esotic vegetation, follow the
streams dancing and glinting in the sun-
light, and hiding away intodeep ravines—
on through groves gorgeous with the gold-
en fruit ofthe sun—and orchards of pine-
apples, avocado, pears, cinnamen apples,
guavas and gardens of bananas and vines
—past forests of cedars, of silk cotton trees
ebony, rosewood, mahogany, melon trees,
the beautiful palmetto, with its gray, shin-
ing bark and dark glossy leaves. See the
acres of feathery bamboo, plantations of
white blossomed coffee plants, which if not
pruned would tower fourteen or sixteen
feet high,and hide from our view the fields
of sugar cane, extensive tobacco planta-
tions, gay with their rose-colored flowers;
clumps of elegant palms, palms of every
variety and form fan palms, screw palms,
macaw, cocoanut palm palmetto royal,
palma christi, whence comes castor oil,
and many other varieties. If you are diz-
zy with so much wealth of vegetation turn
for rest toward the sea, hide on the ragged
rocks and peep down the deep, precipita-
tions and narrow defiles; there are plenty
of gloomy sunless caverns, where you may
cool your eyes and see phantoms and
ghosts. Whose bones are these lying in
crevices and dark corners of the caves?
They tell me these are the bones of the
poor aborigines who fled here from the
tyranny of their Spanish oppressors. The
Spanish ruled 160 years, and hy that time
had just about managed to exterminate
the last of the Caribs. Ya
Largest Chain Ever Made,
The Lebanon chain works have received
a contract for what will be the largest jeo
chain ever attempted in this country, if
not in the world. The chain consists of
660 fathoms of 3 3-16 inch diameter iron
stud link cable the former being construct-
ed in shots of 15 and 30 fathoms each,
which are connected with 8 6-16 shackels
and swivels. Each line of this chain will
measure approximately 19} inches in
length and about 11% inches in width, and
will weigh about 100 pounds to the foot.
The cables are required by the Eastern
Shipbuilding Company, of New London,
Conn., for the two large steel steamers
which the company is building for the
Great Northern Steamship company and
Northern Pacific Railroad. These steam-
ers will be the largest freight 'carrying
steamers ever built, and are designed for
the foreign trade. br
Country Doctor (catechising)—‘‘Now
little boy, what must we all do in order to
enter heaven?’ Boy ‘‘Die.” “Quite right;
but what must we do before we die?’
‘Get ill and send for you,”’— Glasgow Even-
ing Times.
Inspected By an Inspector.
Just the Man the Montana Postmaster Had Been Look-
ing For.
Omaba was headquarters for this entire’
district a few years ago. The chief inspec-
tor there was informed that a postmaster
in Montana was not sending in reports of
his office receipts, etc. Repeated letters
and warnings bad no effect ; the postmaster
was silent.
At length the indignant chief detailed In-
spector ‘Furay to proceed to Montana and
investigate the strange silence. After a
long and tedious ride by rail and stage,
Furay arrived at the provoking postoffice.
There were two dwellings in the town, and
but two men. One of the small houses was
stocked with a few dry goods, groceries and
general merchandise. Furay entered and
saw a lone, lank individual on top of a
counter. Furay asked where the postoffice
was.
“Right hyar,’” said the tall man, puffing
his cob pipe.
‘Who is the postmaster ?’’ asked Furay.
‘I be,’ was the indifferent response.
‘‘Is there any mail here for me? My name
is Fuaray.”
‘Luk yonder fer y’rself,”’ responded the
postmaster, with another puff at his pipe,
and he pointed to a box at the other end of
the counter. The inspector did so, and
then asked if the postal business was al-
ways conducted in such a manner.
‘Why, suttingly,’’ said the lank smoker.
The inspector then announced himself and
proceeded in vigorous terms to state the
law regarding the handling of mail, and
the absurdity of allowing people to pick out
their own letters.
‘What you goin’ to do about it ?’’ que-
ried the postmaster, calmly.
The inspector stated sharply that if nec-
essary he could revoke the postmaster’s
commission at once, ete.
‘Could yer take this hyar office away
from me immediately ?’’ asked the postmas-
ter in surprise.
‘Of course I counld,’’ replied the inspec-
tor tartly. ‘‘If you had read the regula-
tions you’d know that.”
“Wal,” said the postmaster, straighten-
ing up suddenly. and placing his hands on
his hip pockets in a suggestive way—‘‘wal,
I'll jes’ give vou ten minutes to take it
away then. Yer the feller I’ve heen await-
in’ fersix years. Now, I kin git rid of this
hyar durned postoffice, an’ I'll do it. Take
it away, Mr. Inspector, if ye value health
an’ happiness. Aftersix years I'll gitshut
of this offis. Hoo-ray! Now be quick !”
Arguments were futile. Furay took it
away, and, as the only other man in the
town profanely declined the honor of being
postmaster, the inspector discontinued the
office, which accommodated but eight peo-
ple.— Denver Post.
Vesuvius Getting Ready.
New Eruption of the Volcano Expected to Take
Place.
Professor Matteucci, the distinguished
Italian scientist and careful student of Mt.
Vesuvius’ vagaries, predicts that a new
eruption will take place in a short time,
and from various indications he feels satis-
fied it will he no slight oue.
He has considered it well to utter a time-
ly warning, as experience has shown that
Vesuvius, when it vents its wrath unex-
pectedly. does a great deal of damage to
persons and property in the vicinity.
Professor Matteucci is an alarmist, but
bases his predictions on the fact, which he
has noticed, that various new fissures are
now forming near the summit of the mount-
ain, and this, in his opinion, is an un-
questionable proof that masses of lava and
other matters soon will be again belched
forth.
His close study of the volcano during
the recent eruption confirms him in his
opinions.
Day after day he continued his investiga-
tions, often at the peril of his life, and as a
result the account of his work, which he
has just forwarded to the French Academy
of Science, contains more facts about Vesu-
vius than were ever known before.
He noted the daily changes that took
place in the crater during the eruption, and
he even measured the height which was
attained by the great mass of igneous
matter after the mountain bad vomited
forth.
The largest of these masses ascended to a
height of 537 metres, and when it fell it oc-
Gupied a space of 12 cubic metres, and was
found to weigh 30,000 kilograms.
It traveled through the air at the rate of
80 metres a second, and it is estimated that
a force equivalent to 600,000 horse power
must have been required to send it on its
skyward career.
This enormous mass fell dangerously near
the professor. This was not the only occa-
sion, however, on which he almost lost his
life, and his friends are still wondering how
be managed to escape the constant shower
of the fier rocks that threatened him dur-
ing the entire eraption.
At one time it was rumored that he had
heen killed, but bappily this proved to be
false, and now many are congratulating
him, not only on his good fortune in pass-
ing through so many perils unscathed, but
also on the skill and forethonght which
have enabled him to ascertain the time
when the next eruption may he expected.
Not the Girl for Him,
The father was quite anxious for his son
to marry, and on every occasion he was’
picking out what he thought was a suitable
girl. One night at a dinner the old gentle-
man sat next to a very attractive young
woman, and on his way home he was lond
in her praises.
“My boy,’ he said’’ ‘‘she’s the very girl
for you.
‘Not much,’” replied the boy, with pe-
culiar emphasis. :
‘‘But I say she is,’’ persisted papa.
‘And I say not,’ insisted the son.’’
The father became testy on the sub-
t.
‘‘You’re hard to please. You don’t ex-
pect a woman to be perfect, do you ?”’
“No.”
‘Then why isn’t this one just the girl
for you ?”’
‘‘Because,’’ replied the young man, with
an effort, ‘‘she’s for some other féllow.
She told me so last night.— Telegraph.
Respited Until Father Comes.
Condemned Man Awaits Blessing of Parent Crossing
the Sea.
. Because a gray haired father is on his
way to this country to give his son his dy-
ing blessing, Governor Stone on Wednes-
day granted a respite to Vassel Nicholaw,
alias Vaso Lekic, who killed one of his fel-
low workmen in Westmoreland county.
Nicholaw was to have been hanged Au-
gust 8, and the respite postpones the date
to September 26. e governor’s action
was taken at the request of the Russian
charge d’affairs in Washington.
—— Subcribe for the WATCHMAN.
Chinese Wives on a Picnic.
Outing for Them, Unveiled, Arranged by the Sunshine
Society.
Probably never before have so many Chi-
nese women, unveiled and unattended by
their hushands, been on view in New York
as were seen Friday on the Staten Is-
land ferryboat Robert W. Garrett, making
their way to St. George, S. I., and then by
rail to Westerly, six miles inland, where a
shady grove and tempting sweetmeats
awaited them. The International Sunshine
Society, which has 100,000 members
throughout the world, and the iniatiation
dues to which consist only of good deeds
and a little kindness here and there, had
particularly interested itself in the condi-
tion of the pagan wives of many of the
Christian Chinese merchants there
That morning about twenty five of these
little mothers, accompanied by full forty
of their children, and led by some of the
Sunshine officers, left Chinatown, and were
taken down the bay to Westerly. The
Staten Island ferry house was their rendez-
vous, and they made it ring, indeed, with
chatter. The only man in the party was
the Rev. Houi Kin, a Christian convert and
Presbyterian minister, who is known in
Chinatown as the ‘‘worldly man,’ and is
consulted more by his countrymen and
countrywomen than any other Christian.
Houi Kin was there by virtue of his be-
ing a Christian and no longer one of them.
This, strange to say, made it allowable for
these Chinese women to appear in his
presence unveiled. Ordinarily, they are
never looked upon by any Chinese except
their husbands under the Confucian code
of conduct, it being considered highly im-
proper, if not immoral, fora woman to re-
veal her features to any except her liege
and master. So when they go out.in
Chinatown, which is seldom, it is at night
and closely veiled. For this outing
the men-folk were not asked nor wanted
by the Sunshine women, who managed the
affair, Chinese tradition, making it im-
proper for both sexes to mix. These Chi-
nese wives were in their gayest colored
silk tunies, their faces bright and happy.
There was regret that Swaying Lily was
not there. This was the name given to the
only Chinese woman in New York with
dwarfed feet—feet so small that she can-'
not walk upon them, and is able to move
only with the aid of two women attend-
ants. Though she wanted to take this
outing she thought a picnic no place for
one who could not walk, and the ferry line
no place for one with feet too small for
swimming. So she stayed at home witha
countrywoman who has not been out in
the daytime for thirty years, lest a man
should see her face.
‘‘What would these pretty Easterners
do should a Chinese man appear and put
them to confusion ?’’
‘Oh, they would quickly pull veils from
the little bags most of them carry, place
them over their faces, and become silent
and demure,’’ was the answer.
“Well, what about the men standing
about here on the boat ?”’
‘Oh, they are not men. in their eyes—
just ‘Christian dogs,’”’ said a woman who
was holding a little Chinese baby while its
mother went to'the bow of the'boat to look
at the big ships anchored near Tompkins-
ville.
How to Use Sour Milk.
There is usually a superabundance of
sour milk at this season of the year, and it
is well to be provided with a variety of re-
ceipts in which it may be used. The fol-
lowing receipts have all heen tried and
have proved satisfactory, and the result has
been a decided addition to the table with
very little expense.
BREAD CAKES.
Take one pint of bread and soak it in
sour milk until soft. Rub through a col-
ander, add a little more sour milk. To
one quart of this, add two eggs well-beat-
en, a little salt, three quarters of a tea-
spoonful of saleratus, and flour enough to
made a batter a little thicker than for the
ordinary pancakes. Bake on a hot grid-
dle.
GRAHAM GEMS.
One pint of sour milk, with one even
teaspoonful of saleratus, stirred into it,
one tablespoonful of brown sugar, one
tablespoonfal of melted butter and about
one quart of grabam flour or enough to
make a thick batter.
CORN GEMS.
One egg, two cups of sour milk, one and
one half cups of Indian meal, one and a
half cups of flour, two teaspoonfuls of lard
and butter mixed, one teaspoonful of soda
and a little salt. Bake in hot gem pans or
in a loaf. In the latter case omit one
tablespoonful of the shortening.
SPIDER CAKE.
Mix together one third of a cup of flour
and one and two-thirds of a cup of Indian
meal. Add two eggs, one cup of sour milk
one small teaspoonful of saleratus, one cup
of sweet milk, quarter of a cup of sugar
and a little salt. When mixed have ready
a hot spider with butter half the size of an
egg melted. Then pour in the above and
add another cup of sour milk without stir-
ring. Bake 25 minutes.
GINGER BREAD.
Half a cup of butter and one cup of lard
creamed together with two cups of brown
sugar. Add two cups of New Orleans mo-
lasses, one cup of sour milk, with-one even
teaspoonful of saleratusstirred into it until
it froths, the yolks of four eggs, two table-
spoonsful of ginger, half saltspoonfnl of
alspice, cloves, one teaspoonful of cinna-
mon, 8ix cups of flour and the well-beaten
whites of four eggs. Bake in two large
loaves. Very fine.
To Exorcise Ants.
Insect Powder and Bisulphide of Carbon Efficacious.
For the several species of ants that fre-
quent pantries and other places in the
house nothing is more effective than pyre-
thrum, known also as buhach and insect
powder. As the killing property of this
material is a volatile oil the supply should
be kept in an air-tight box and frequently
dusted along the runaways and in places
frequented by these insects. For colonies
of ants in lawns and sidewalks get a
small quantity of bisulphide of carbon a
very volatile, Toul-smelling liquid as clear
as water, with fumes heavier than air, and
pour into the runaways. If the entrance
into the nest is large, says Good Housekeep-
ing, saturate a small piece of cotton and
thrust it into the hole and close the open-
ing. Have no lights of any kind, not even
a cigar or pipe around, when using the bi-
sulphide of carbon, as its fumes are explo-
sive. The fumes are deadly poison to ani-
mal life, but a reasonable amount can be
inhaled without injury to persons.
——“What’s the difference between a
widow and a grass widow anyhow ?
‘‘Well, a widow is a woman who has
buried her husband ; a grass widow is one
who has simply mislaid him.”
The Battleship Maine.
She Was Launched on Saturday—Bigger, Stronger,
Faster than Her Namesake She is Expected by the
Country to be.
The battleship Maine, designed to be
bigger, stronger and faster than her name-
sake, whose shapeless mass still lies in the
harbor of Havana, was launched in Phila-
delphia Saturday from the yards of the
William Cramp Ship company. The war-
ship’s initial dip into the waters of the
Delaware river was a success in every way.
One of the largest crowds that have ever
seen a warship leave the ways at Cramp’s
yards was on hand, and much patriotism
was displayed as the ship left her cradle.
Residents of Kensington, the industrial
section, where the ship yard is located,
took a holiday and attended the launch.
Thousands of persons from other parts of
the city were on hand, and as the yard was
thrown open to the public every vantage
point swarmed with spectators. The
weather was beautiful. There was just
enough breeze from the river to temper the
warm rays of the sun. Although the
number of distinguished guests was not so
large as usual, there was a good attend-
ance of naval and civilian officials.
President McKinley, Secretary of the
Navy Long, Admiral Dewey, Captain Sigs-
by and many others who received invita-
tions were unable to attend. It was the
intention to have some of the survivors of
the Maine witness the launch but none were
present. :
The honor of naming the ship was given
to Miss Mary Preble Anderson, of Port-
land, Me., a descendant of the Preble fam-
ily that has added fame to the naval hon-
ors cf the country. Next to the ship itself
Miss Anderson was the centre of interest.
At 10.25 a. m. Miss Anderson stepped up-
on the stand that has been erected at the
bow of the hull. She was escorted by
Henry W. Cramp, and was accompanied
by Governor Hill, his staff, her parents,
and several other members of the family.
Before she arrived the knocking away of
the blocks from under the great mass of
steel had begun, and all was ready when
the tide slackened. Then the shoe piece,
the last timber that held the ship, was
sawed in twain, and the vessel began to
move. Before she had receded a step Miss
Anderson, true to custom, struck the bow
of the Maine a blow with a bottle of cham-
pagne and formally named her.
As the vessel slid off the ways a great
shout went up and every steam craft in
the vicinity began the tooting of whistles.
The Maine, after she reached mid-stream,
was taken in tow by several tugs and
brought to the shore. After the launch
an informal luncheon was served in the
mold loft of the ship yard.
The Maine; which is a sister ship of the
Ohio, will be one of the most powerful
battleships afloat. Her dimensions are as
follows: Length between perpendicular
388 feet; length over all, 393 feet 10} in-
ches; extreme breadth, 72 feet; mean
draught, 12,300 tons, estimated displace-
ment at full load draught, 13,500 tons. As
to type, the new vessel is to be an improv-
ed Alabama, two knots, faster than that
battleship equipped with a more powerful
armament and hedged about with a greater
area of armour protection. In the con-
tract it is stipulated that she must on her
official trial maintain a speed of eighteen
knots for four consecutive hours.
Her armament will be of the greatest
power, consisting of four twelve-inch
breech-loading rifles, sixteen six-inch rapid
fire guns, mounted ‘in broadside, besides
many other guns of small calibre. Two
torpedo tubes are placed below the water
line. Krupp armor from eleven to seven
inches thick will protect the ship from the
heaviest guns. J
The engines are of the twin-screw, triple-
expansion inverted vertical type. The
twenty-four Niclausse boilers, which are
nearly completed, are expected to give 19,-
000 horse power. The vessel will have a
bunker capacity of 2,000 tons. This, at an
eight knot speed, will give her a steaming
radius of 8,350 knots—almost sufficient
for two round trips from New York to
Liverpool.
Congress authorized the construction of
the Maine on May 4th, 1898, and the con-
tract was signed October 1st of the same
year. Thirty months were given for the
construction of the ship, but delay caused
by the controversy over the question of
armor plate, however, made it impossible
to carry out this condition. The keel was
laid on February 15th, 1899, the anniver-
sary of the destruction of the first battle-
ship Maine in Havana harbor. She is
about 56 per cent completed, and it is ex-
pected will be ready for delivery in about
eighteen months or two years.
Bride Danced to Death.
Dies in the Arms of Her Husband After Dancing
With All Comers Accordiny to Hungarian Custom.
The young bride of John Brosewiz
danced herself to death at McKeysport last
week. The wedding celebration was
brought to a sudden end, and Friday the
bride of less than 48 hours was buried
in her wedding dress in St. Joseph’s ceme-
tery. The physicians say her death was
due to exbaustion and heart failure.
John Brozewiz had a sweetheart in Hun-
gary, and when he had saved enough mon-
ey he sent for her. She arrived Saturday
and the couple were married at once. The
usual celebration was started Sunday and
continued till the bride dropped dead
while dancing with her husband.
The young Liusband seems on the verge
of mental collapse. He was found clinging
to the dead body of his girl wife at their
home on Fourth street, and was almost
crazed with grief. The girl was pretty,
and it is said she did not refuse any who
asked her for a dance.
In keeping with the customs among
Hungarians, each man who danced with
the bride was in duty bound to deposit a
silver quarter on a plate placed in the mid-
dle of the floor. At the close of the cele-
bration it was found that the plate con-
tained 205 silver quarters, which is the
reason given that the voung bride danced
from the gayety of the wedding celebration
to the mysterious gloom of eternity.
———Mrs. Mary Austin Carroll, of Boston
whose’ father, Arthur W. Austin, was a
well known lawyer and who died on July
26, 1884, and left the income of the estate,
valued at about $400,000, to her for life,
and then to the University of Virginia, has
arranged that the income of the entire es-
tate, less $5000 reserved for herself,shall be
transferred to the University of Virginia,
after April 1st, 1902.
. Rough Diamonds.
In early times the diamond was worn
rough or polished only on its upper sur-
face. It was in this form that it was used
to decorate temples, goblets and crowns.
Such stones are still infinitely preferred to
any others by the natives of India.
——An. unsuccessful attempt was made
to wreck the Baltimore and Ohio express
train from Chicago to Baltimore near
Watertown, Ind., last}Friflay night.