6 ' CASTLES OF SPAIN. TMEY HAVE BEEN RUTHLESSLY AP PROPRIATED BY THE CHURCH. Ste Has NO Such Historic Family Bcal <lCM a* are In England, or al Can be BMD Along ibe Uerinan Batiks oi tiie Bhlne. 'As very few Americans will travel In Spain this summer it Is possible that one great benefit the country will de rive from the present war is that the average American will read more about Spain than ever he cared to know before. And some of these in teresting things which we may have to learn in case It is necessary to proceed far a war Indemnity, will be all about the famous castles of Spain. We have all heard some time or other about the castles of Spain, not those fortified strongholds which be long to the Moors, but castles which the poets have raised in song and story. Even our own Longfellow has made them the subject of his charming rhapsody: How much of my young heart O Spain Went out to thee in days of yore! What dreams romantic filled my brain And summoned back to life again The Paladins of Charlemagne The Cld CampeadorT But softer Andaluslan skies Dispelled the darkness and the gloom There Cadiz by the seaside lies And Seville's orange orchards rise Making the land a paradise ,V" Of beauty and of bloom. *" •'? And there the Alhambra still recalls Aladdlns palace of delight; Allah 11 Allah through its halls Whispers the fountain as it falls ? The Dalro darts beneath the walls * The bills with snow are white. Castles of Spain not built of stone But of white summer clouds and blown Into this little mist of rhyme. Such palaces of luxury every mind at some time or other has built in im agination beside bright lakes and pleasant places— A fantastic Alhambra-llke villa With terrace and fountain and lawn; A balcony where one's Manilla May be smoked when the dinner cloth's drawn. Ught wines on one's table to sparkle— New books every day by the train Which we'll read under trees patri archal That are grouped round our castle In Spain. "I am the owner of great estates," wrote the late George W. Curtis, ex pressing in prose the same pardonable admiration of these <.astles "not built of stone"—"Many of them lie in the West, but the greater part are In Spain. It is a country famously ro mantic, and my castles are all of per fect proportions and appropriately set in the most picturesque situations." Spanish castlc3, with few exceptions, are thus the standing jokes oC the poets and ot fiction writers. The truth is that while Spain has some real castles, she has no such his toric family residences as are in Eng land, or as can bo seen along the Ger man banks of the Rhine. Spain's cas tles have been appropriated by the church, with about the same ruthless disregard as the Abbeys were after the :onfiscatlons in England by Henry VIII converted into palatial dwellings by the British nobility. The most majes tic of these genuine castles is the Chateau De Billegorde whore according to Frolssart's Chronicles the Counts of Folx used to live in great splendor, get ting up at noon and supping at mid night When the Count left his cham ber to go to table before him were borne through its gloomy halls twelve lighted torches by twelve attendants, each attendant holding his lighted torch while the Count dined, knights and squires sitting admiringly around, it is situated on the edge of a steep ravine surrounded by a triple wall, and '.pproached by a narrow driveway. It ised to be a place of Immense strength but is now a monastery for the monks sf Navarre. The Giraide has also been converted into a cathedral, the tower of which provided the architectural model of Madison Square Garden tower, of New York. It ranks with Giotto's famous Camanllla in Florence, and is the most perfect example of a true tower of Islam In Europe. It rises in square form to a height of 150 feet and was built In 1196, but was renovated by the Christians and crowned with a graceful figure called "La Fe" (The Faith), which turns with the wind and which looks over the fertile valley of the Guadal qulver, and over scenes made famous by tbe memories of Pedro the Cruel. The next Is the famous castle of Burgos. It WQB In the castle of Burgos that the Cld was born, whose ex ploits In peace and war make up so mnch of the legendary history of Spain. It is now the Puerta dl Santa Maria, or Church of St. Mary. From the center of a quadrangular court rlanked on each side with stately min arets there rise two Immense spires which eloquently tell that this once powerful stronghold has ceased to be of military Importance, though It still continues to be an object of deep vene ration to the Spaniards. The strong works of a formidable fortress, of which trenches and the ruined and blackened walls remain intact, tell that the home of the Cld and of Don Sancho was no ordinary place. It Is stated as a miraculous instance of divine Inter position, that when the castle of Bur gos was blown up by the French, on Ua occasion of the evacuation of Spain, these spires, with their seem ingly fragile towers remained unin jured to greet the eyes of the supersti tious Spaniard., in all Integrity as the shock passed by. while two hundred Frenchmen wer burled under the ruins. As a combination of castle and VI 11 is one or tne mot re markable structures In the world; and It shows more completely than would a volume ot writing, how thoroughly the Church has reared Its Influence up on the ruins ot the once proud Empire of Philip II and of Charles V. There are other great castles like the Puerto del Pol at Toledo, the Alhambra and the Castle of Simancas, In which latter was preserved for centuries the archives of Castile. The palatial resi dence which the Duke de Montpensler's grand and soaring wonder of utilita rian architecture, with something of a fancy that it was never and that It has stood there since the morning of the world. It has the lightness and the strength, the absence of ornament, and essential beauty, the vastness and the perfection of a world of nature. As family still retain, also overlooks the slopes of the city of Seville, In which place was born the bull fight. Then there Is the castle of La Qrampa, situ ated In a wrinkle of the Oandarrama Mountains, which Philip V erected up on a crag when he came from his exile In France to tne Spanish throne. Thlt Is literally the castle In the air and Is more inaccessible than even the Chateau de Bellegorde. It has been the Spanish eminence house of all the Bourbon Kings. When the sun Is calcining the plains ot Castile, and the streets of Madrid are white with a hot light of midsummer this castle In the clouds Is as cool and shadowy as a northwestern breeze after passing over a valley of drifted snow. Viewed from the little squalid hamlet of Segovia be low, the castle high above looks like a gull's nest on the edge of a soaring cliff. "You raise your eyes," writes Am bassador John Hay In his "Castlllan Days," "from the market place, with its sickening, swarthy crowd to this tradition has eaten Into the very life of Spain, and tainted the judgment of its people, the peasantry of the hamlet would hoot anyone who attributed any mortal paternity to this castle In the air or the aqueduct by which It is ap proached. Yet both belong to the gi gantic works of the Emperor Trajan. The people call the aqueduct the Devil's bridge and the castle itself the "Devil's Nest," and from it has arisen the saying,—"Build castles In the air," which is only another form of the folly ascribed to those who look for "Castles in Spain." Spain had castles, but she now has churches. Hence the bon mot. In A Sulphur Mine, "There are but few who admire the collection of beautiful sulphur crystals in the National Museum," remarked the gentleman who collected them from the famed sulphur mines in Sici ly "who have any idea In relation to the same except their beauty. I don't think,"' he said, "there is another spot on earth where such abominable treat ment, such fiendish cruelty, is Inflicted on the laborer as in the sulphur mines of Sicily. They are paid barely enough to provide themselves with a scant supply of the coarsest, cheapest food, and a good portion of the time they are in a state of chronic starvation. The work is of the hardest and most ex hausting character. Very few of the mines have hoisting apparatus, and the sulphur ore (sulphur and lime stone combined) is brought up from the depths below on the backs of men and boys. Long, sloping, narrow tun nels lead from the surface down to the sulphur beds 200 to 600 feet or more below. Miners dig the stuff out and it is carried up In stout sacks or flat baskets. Many of the laborers, espe cially the boys, work naked. On their backs they wear a piece of matting, or something of the sort, held by a string around the neck. This is to protect the flesh from being torn from their bones by the jaggtd corners of the ore they carry. No one can Imagine a more heartrending sight than to see the creatures toiling up the long, steep slopes in the mine With their enormous loads. Every step they take wrings a groan from their tor tured frames. Most pitiful to me was the sight of the poor, bent, broken and emaciated old men, mere battered wrecks; and the young lads of 10 and 12 years, who have just begun this life of cruel toil. The Emperor of Japan. Mutsu Hito, Emperor of Japan, came to the throne when he was a boy under sixteen. He was the first Mikado to appear in person at a State Council, and presented himself in national cos tume before the nobles and dalmlos to take the oath to become actual ruler of his people, and to foster learning and art in his empire. He wore his hair brushed up on the top and hidden in a head-drees fastened with bands, with two black top-knots protruding outwards from it; white and red gar ments, long polished shoes, and a chain of State. After the ceremoney he jour neyed from Kioto to Tokio, the new capital, in a gold-lacquered norimon, or closed litter, borne by relays of coolies on their uplifted palms—a method of travelling reserved exclu sively for Royalty, as ordinary people had to be carried in litters on the shoulders of the bearers. Problem of Lsw. "He sent me a million kisses," as sorted the plaintiff in the breach of promise case. "Did you count them?" asked the counsel for the defendant. "Count them!" exclaimed the plain tiff. "Of course not." "Your lordehlp," cried the counsel for the defendant earnestly, "I object to the admission of this testimony as being indefinite and unreliable. In these days of automatic counting ma chines it is preposterous for any girl to come into a court of law " But it is needless to go on. The hu miliation of the thoughtless girl who had failed to keep pace with the tlmea was, of course, complete. THE COLUMBIAN, BLOOMSBURG. PA. A HORROR OF .■ HAPSBURGB. How the Kalreit ut Anetrla'e Women Did Penance In a Dungeon. The bouse of Hapsburg seems to be as peculiarly unfortunate now as It was once successful In those Intrigues whereby the Counts of Hapsburg be came the Dukes and later the Emper ors of Austria. It was by murder, treason, treach ery and perfidy of every known kind, that the Dukes of Austria took on the title of kings, and Anally became the Inheritors and the representatives of the Roman Empire. And in this rec ord the women of the Hapsburg fam ily played a romantic part and not un frequently that of a Jezebel or a Messa lina. We need not go further back than the time of Maria Theresa. Her character as a Queen-Empress 1b well known, but her character as a mother is not, yet It was Indicated from the following cruel Incident. Her daugh ters were as unfortunate as they were fair, And that they were fair to the point of enchantment goes without saying. Burke has left on record in immortal words the Impressions which one glance at the divine face of Maria Antoinette left upon his mind. But more fair and more beautiful still wap Maria Antoinette's sister, the Arch Duchess Maria Josephs. The Emper or Idolized her and the imperious Em press-Queen herself who had little time or Inclination for lavishing car esses upon tho six fair daughters which she had borne to Francis of Lorraine, regarded Maria Josepha with a sweet and peculiar Indulgence. At sixteen this ill-fated princess was a girl of ravishing beauty, with hair of golden auburn, with the face of a Psyche, with a sinewy form, a peculiar, even angelic sweetness of disposition and exqu:slte manners. Just as she had turned her sixteenth year the Emperor Francis died, and while she was en gaged to Ferdinand 11. of Naples. The engagement was one that brought pride and Joy to Maria-Ther esa's heart. It was an alliance which extended the Influence of the Haps burgs in that southerly direction which has been the perpetual dream of the house. The marriage treaty was signed and the betrothal of this be witching bride took place August 8, 1767. The Court of the Hapsburgs put aside the mourning that it had as sumed because of the Emperor's death. The Empress herself was radiant with smiles. Fetes and balls and a series of the most brilliant entertainments followed in rapid succession, in which the Empress widow herself freely par ticipated. But suddenly the Arch festivities. Day by day that face, the duchess In whose honor all these fetes were held began to grow sad and mel ancholy. She was the one person who shrank from the gayety of the court beauty of which had formerly lighted up the court became more gloomy and depressed. From the air of sadness it Finally Maria-Theresa seemed to take offense at her daughter's despon dency. She did not press the Arch duchess to her heart nor look into her once fair but now lifeless eyes the sweet and kindly smile of a mother. But on the contrary, the royal mother ordered the Archduchess to repair alone to the vault in which her dead father lay, and there kneeling by his coffin to pray for the repose of his soul. The Archduchess regarded this as the last and most dreadful blow. She entreated her mother to save her such an ordeal. Maria-Theresa, how ever, was little moved to pity and as little used to brook opposition In any thing; and least of all would she tol erate It in a matter where she ap peared to have a mysterious personal interest. She, therefore, refused to listen to her daughter's pleading and insisted upon her orders being obeyed to the letter. The Archduchess was not ignorant of the motive which ac tuated her mother but she dared not disobey. "I am going down to my tomb," whispered the Archduchess in the ear of one of her maids of honor, as she proceeded to carry out the injunction laid upon her. The Archduchess now descended unattended and alone into the vault, where shortly before the re mains of one of the princesses of the House of Hapsburg, Maria Josephine, wife of the King of Saxony, bad been Interred beside that of Francis of Lorraine. The Queen of Saxony had died of smallpox.' To send the Arch duchess to pray In such a place was virtually to pass sentence of death up on her. Accordingly upon the day fol lowing the Archduchess herself took 111 of smallpox. Maria-Theresa order ed masses to be celebrated In all the churches of Vienna for the recovery of the Archduchess. But as the coffin that contained the remains of the Queen of Saxony bad been pried par tially open there was no chance for Josepha to escape the catching and terrible disease. She died upon the very day fixed for herself and King Ferdinand to leave Vienna for Naples. There was weeping at the Court of Vienna in consequence but the eyes of the empress-queen were dry. No motherly instinct of grief overcame the fierce fires of Jealousy that blazed In her queenly heart. Maria-Theresa never gave the slightest proof of re morse, and after the court of the Haps burgs had solemnly gone Into mourn ing for the young Penelope whom the head of the House of Hapsburg had placed in the path of death, Maria- Theresa secured the Neapolitan al liance for her next daughter, the Arch duchess Caroline. Not a breath of sus picion was aroused. Not a murmur of protest arose. Not one cringing cour tier dared to give utterance to the stified feelings which he entertained. But one sad and stricken soul sigh ed and sobbed in the secrecy of her chamber a'mid all the sins and revelry of that putrescent Court. One break ing heart was ready to burst. It was that of the faithful maid of honor into I whoso ear the Archduchess had whls- I pered, "I am going down to my tomb." A PICTURESQUE LANGUAGE. System of Searchlight Signals by Which Great Warships Talk. The most picturesque language In the world is the system of searchlight sig nals by which the great warships con verse with each other at night. The letters may bo said to be written with great pencils of light, with the black sky as a parchment. The accompany ing Illustration reproduces a short sentence spelled out In this unique way. The searchlight signals are by far the moßt successful night signals in the world. The great beams of light streaming across the sky may be read ily recognized at a distance of ten miles or more, and a message may be trans mitted at this distance with very slight chance of error. To the uninitiated the language written in this curious fashion wonld appear to be a rather remarkable exhibition of flreworks and nothing more. A very little knowl edge will enable one to catch their meaning. The alphabet of these magic searchlights Is merely an adaptation of the so-called wig-wag system which has been In use for centuries and is spoken universally. The system of searchlight signals Is exceedingly Blmple and may he learned very readily. The original wig-wag system Is transmitted with flags or with lanterns by night, and the var ious signals are made by waving the flag or light. The man who signals to trains merely follows a system which Is an adaptation of the wig-wag system. In the original wig-wag sys tem there are but three signals made by waving the flag or light—to the right, to the left or In front of the sig nal man. The alphabet is arranged much the same as the Morse tele graphic alphabet by an arbitrary com bination of the two signals. In the wig-wag system the man sending the signal Is required to stand throughout In one position and wave the flag meanwhile. It will of course be seen that If he changes his position he Is likely to change the position of the flag and confuse the signals. Now, on a warship the vessel Itself must take a position Just the same as the signal man and remain at rest until the sig nals are finished. The ordinary wig wag signals are made by waving a flag, and the signals on a man-of-war are made merely by throwing or waving the brilliant beams of these search lights from side to side in the same way. The rules of one system of course apply to the other. In the wig wag system there is but one position, with three motions. The system re quires the ship to rest directly facing the station with which it is desired to communicate, with the light pointing directly upward in a vertical line. The first motion, which signifies No. 1, is made by waving the searchlight around to the right of the ship. The signal must embrace an arc of 90 degrees, starting with the vertical and return ing to it. The second motion, No. 2, Is made by moving the pencil of light in the same way, only to the left of the sender. To make the third signal, No. 3, the light Is moved from the verti cal position to the ground, or rather the waterline, directly in front of the sender and Instantly returning It to Its original vertical position. The various letters of the alphabet are made by grouping the first and second signals together. The letter *A is, for instance, made by repeating twice the second signal—thus, 22; the letter B is 2112, C is 121 and so on. Signal No. 3 Is repeated at the end of each word, abbreviation or conven tional signal. The signals transmit ted In this way will be readily recog nized by the captains of ships of all countries. This is the international code and is used in times of peace and In conversing with vessels of other countries. In time of war, however, each country arranges a secret code for use among its own fleet. This enables them, of course, to tell each other all sorts of secrets which the enemy can not possibly read. A Centenarian** Mode of Living. There is at present in Anzin. France, a centenarian, who enjoys such excel lent health that he does not despair of reaching the age of 127 years. M. Jean Baptiste Dubois—that is his name —pretends to know the art of keeping well, and his doctor agrees that his mode of living suits him ad mirably. When he rises every morn ing he smokes a pipe. This is followed by a dish of milk soup. He dines at midday, drinks two glasses of wine, and takes his coffee without sugar. At supper he drinks more wine, and fin ishes the evening en famille. His hob by is gardening, and he varies it by rocking his great-granddaughter In her cradle and singing nursery songs. Unfeeling. * "A certain drill sergeant, whose se verity had made him unpopular with his company, was putting a squad of recruits through the funeral exercise. Opening the ranks so as to admit the passage of the supposed cortege be tween them, the Instructor, byway of practical explanation, walked slowly down the lane formed by the two ranks, saying as he did so: "Now, I'm tho corpse, pay attention." Having reached the end of the party, he turned round, regarded them stead ily with a scrutinizing eye for a mo ment or two, then remarked; "Your "ande is right, and your 'eads Is right, but you 'aven't got chat look of regret you ought to 'ave." Desertions from the navy at times seems almost Inexplicable and can be accounted for only on the ground of i fascination. Asked In regard to it, a 1 captain of much experience once said: | "I really believe that if you freighted I a ship for heaven, and were obliged to I touch in at hell for wood and water, | half the boat's crew would desert." V "A PBRFBCT FOOD— as Wholesome aa It iB Delicious." St A WALTER BAKER & CO.'S Q I JTBREAKFAST COCOA! li rB " Hal stood tho test of more than too yeari' use among all yi B flpVxl m clisiea, and for purity and honest worth is unequalled. A I®! iSPft Coats less than ONE CENT a Cup. A \? E; !] Trade-Mark on Every Package. M WALTER BAKER & CO. LTD., Q X T*ot.M.,. Established 1780. DORCHESTER, MABB. A ALEXANDER BROTHERS & CO. DEALERS IN Cigars, Tobacco, Candies, Fruits and Nuts SOLE AGENTS FOR Henry Mail lard's Fine Candies. Fresh Every Week. GOODS SOLE AGENTS FOR F. F. Adams & Co's Fine Cut Chewing Tobacco Sole agents for the following brands of Cigars- Henry Glay, Londres, Normal, Indian Princess, Samson, Silver Asb Bloomsburg Pa. IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF CARPET, MATTING, or OIL CLOTH, YOU WILL FIND A NICE LINE AT W. M. BBOWIM 2nd Door above Court House. A large lot of Window Curtains in stock. This settles That's the it, I will have all , {MOTTI success a my clothes' man cannot fIADE TO 83®fe I 4 to® <***<* ORDERBY EDWARD E. STRAUSS & CO. America's Popular Tailors, Chicago. Some Hot Weather Don'ta, Don't worry and fret your husband with detailed accounts of all your petty domestic annoyances. He has cares enough of his own. Don't be lachrymose over trifles. Men hate tears. They'd rather be "jawed" than "cried at." Don't "nag" him about anything. Don't fret if he is a little careless about wiping his feet and hanging up his hat. Don't "blame round" if he does "muss things up." Don't scold if he occasionally brings a friend home to dinner, unless you want him to get into the habit of think ing that the club is better than home. Don't whine. A whining woman is a blot upon the fair face of creation. It is not easy to be hopeful and bright and cheery all the time, but don't whine. Don't make the evening meal taste less by telling how saucy the servant has been and how trying the children are. Don't waste your husband's money. Don't openly regret that you can not have things he is unable to buy for you. Don't talk about how much better dressed Mrs. Blank is than you are, and regret that your husband cannot make as much money as Mr. Blank does. Don't tell your husband that you wish he was like Mr. Jones or Mr. Smith. It will simply lower Jones and Smith in his" opinion, and perhaps make him wish that Smith or Jones had married you. / Don't talk about how much freer and how much better times you had before you were married than you are having now. Don't—above all things—let your husband get to thinking that he was happier and better off before he was married than he is now. * O A.STOHIA. Beam the _/J The Kind Vou Hare Always Buup " V T THAT'S JUST IT ! You can't always tell by the looks of a garment how it is going to WEAR. WHY NOT get the WEAR as well as the looks when you can have both at the same PRICE. $12.00 is the starting point of those % Edward E. Strauss & Co.'s Famous Custom Tailored Suits and Overcoats with an ironclad guarantee thrown in free. IT WILL PAY YOU yo examine this line, and leave your or der for one of these hand some garments. CALL ON L. GROSS, Bloomaburg, Pa. To Clean Straw Hats- A straw hat or bomiet may be made to look as fresh as new by wash ing with kerosene oil. When shop ping early in the morning, if one chances in the furniture department of a large establishment it will be found that it is this oil that is used abundantly to keep the handsome woods bright and shining, for they are literally washed with this fluid. The oil acts in the same way upon straw, softening and imparting gloss as well as cleaning in a more satisfac tory manner than benzine. The wash ing should be done away from all fire and lights. If the renovated hat is hung in the open air for a few days the odor will disappear, and with it any danger of igniting readily. Before using polish on carved woods a wash ing in kerosene will effectually remove the dust that has settled in "ungeta table" crevices and prepares for a beautiful shine." Impure blood is an enemy to health, and may lead to serious dis ease. Hood's Sarsaparilla conquers this enemy and averts danger. Take Care of Old Glory- An exchange says: "Our atten tion has been called to the careless disrespect shown to the flag by so many people who hang it from their windows or above their houses and leave it there night and day regardless of the weather." It says, "on ship board and military posts where the flag has a real significance it is raised at sunrise and lowered at sunset. It is never left out in the storm. Thus the starry banner is kept clean and bright and is always treated with res pect. ( It should receive the same treatment from every person." There is a good point in this and hence we publish it. OASTORIA. Bears the , The Kind You Have Always Brngft "rr ,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers