THE LONDONJGHETTO Two Impressions Which the Observ er Receive! on Visit There. Tireless Energy of the Jena Roth Old • nil YOUIIK —The HCIIKUMI* I>e votlon Which Milken Iy a Lnrite I'url of Life. In the great London ghetto, each year growing larger, the observer is perpet- j ualiy asking himself which of his two j Impressions is the chief. His first lm- j pression is of the extraordi- | nary energy of the Jew. It continues from morning until j night; the loafer is as conspicuously I absent in the Yiddish quarter as once ho was conspicuously present in these j Btreets of East London; and the energy | lasts from childhood unto age—old and young seem ever occupied. By this we i do not mean that the Jew is always at \ work. In the long array of restaurants I which Lave sprung up to meet his for- j eign habit of taking his meals abroad, J he spends a larger part of his time than j does the English worker of the same j class in any such places; a larger time, Indeed, than any hut the more leisured j classes in England. But in his restau- | rants he is still busy, volubly arguing, j busily writing, sometimes dictating to ; the professional letter-writer; and even i when playing dominoes, still doing it ; with an air of concentrated business. It is the same with the children as j with their elders. The Yiddish child, ! when the board school lessons are done, promptly goes to the Talmud j Torah school, where, with unaltered j energy, he attacks the rhythmic verses j whose learning gives him at least one j more language than the English child with whom ho will one day be a com- | petitor, and that a language which is a kind of Volapuk, a passport, a free masonry, among the most pushing of races. Here, in the Talmud Torah school, the Jewish child learns the be- ! ginning of that ritual which, however diminished in its effects by his after career, must remain a lasting influence j in the life of the great number of Jews, j And that leads us to the second im- J pression which is created in the mind of the observer in Yiddish East Lon- ; don, which is the large share that re ligion plays in the lives of the alien immigrants. Heine once wrote of the different ways in which various peo- 1 pies regard liberty. One might in the j same way think of the differing regards that people have for religions; and j think of the religion of the Jew as a COMFORTING A MOURNING MOTHER IN A SYNAGOGUE. tiling wftich through centuries he has did for and suffered for, enduring i j ons and stripes and many fears. The synagogue is not closed as our churches are on a weekday to those who would commune apart in meditation and prayer. It is always open; a per petual token that religion is not 11 weekly exercise, but daily bread. It opens at five o'clock in the morning One poor Jew told the writer that for many weeks, when he was out of work and homeless, he used to wait for the synagogue to open at early morning, so that he might slip in and stay there for a few hours. But go as early as you will, there in the dingy pews, with the faint light struggling through the din gier panes, Jews will be bending and swaying in prayer. "Lord, I love the habitation of Thy House, and the place where Thy glory dwelleth." These are the words with which each Jew enters the synagogue; and if in the dark syn agogue the words, "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, thy dwelling places, O Israel," have no material appropri ateness, their spiritual fitness in the mouths of the reverent worshippers who utter them is apparent. There is a wonderful fervor in the service; not the hysterical fervor of the Salvationist, or of that weird sect known a generation ago in England as the Ranters, but the fervor of emotion deeply felt and half suppressed. In one of M. Renouard's drawings he has de picted a woman in mourning. There was something so poignant in her grief that one almost expected to hear the congregation break into tears and la mentations; to see them rending their clothes and pouring ashes on their heads. There are not, as we have said, many ceremonial occasions in the Jewish ser vice. On some feast days, the Scrolls of the Law are taken from the Ark, and are carried by the priesthood round the synagogue, all the people leaning for ward to touch them, and to hold up their children so that they may bo blessed by the sacred writings. But in all that goes on within the synagogue there is a solemnity and sincerity which confers a splendid impressive ness; and perhaps not the least of the factors of its attribute lies in the d®- rueanor of the congregation. COREA PROGRESSING Foreign Traders Seeking Acquaint* ance with the Hermit Nation. America'a Part In Revolntlonlslnii (be Quulut, Antique Methods of the Eniylre l'rraaril ou All Side* by Conflicting Interest*. Corea, once happily a hermit nation, practically out of the world, ever since attaining to the dignity of an independ ent state and the publicity attendant upon the change, has had her hands full of responsibility. And being new to the business, the responsibility has proved irksome, perplexing, and is proving so now. Would-be acquaint ances from far-off lands continually knocking at her doors asking that her ports be opened to grant King Com merce, whilst equally troublesome neighbors forbid her acceding to the request. The problem of the present moment is this —the United States re spectfully request that the city of Wiji on the Yalu river be opened for free trade. The Russians oppose the open ing. From a political point of view Co rea's position is most unfortunate; there is Russia, colossal, energetic on one side; China, with her ancient claims, pressing close; and nearby Ja pan whose history and traditions are so closely linked with her own. Then FIRST RAILROAD ENGINE INICOREA. there are the energetic foreigners, in terested in the resources of her 8.1,000 square miles. Poor Corea! And yet what would she be in this day and age if foreign enterprise were to let her alone, had let her alone? Missionary, trader and engineer have worked their influences, and Corea to-day has Christian churches and schools, has hospitals, dispensaries, newspapers, railways, iron bridges, electric lights and street railways. Mr. William El liot Griffis, in his book "America in the East," thus lauds the part our own countrymen have taken in modernizing Corea: "The first railway from Che mulpo to Seoul, with its iron bridges and modern equipments, and the first electric lights and street railways in Seoul, the exploitation and develop ment of the mines, have been begun and carried out by Americans. The renovation of the capital city from the similitude of a pigsty to one of the brightest and cleanest cities in the east is the work of native officers who had experience in Washington." Of course it was the war of 1894-5 that made preparation for the nation's progress, and in these subsequent years the progress has been almost revolu tionary. In and about Seoul is an elec tric railway 18 miles in length; a rail way that is now very popular with the natives, although at first they disap proved of the innovation to such an ex tent they tore up the tracks and de stroyed buildings. The railway from the seaport Chemulpo to the capital Seoul, a distance of 20 miles, is in suc cessful operation. A Japanese syndicate is building a road between Fusan, on the southeast coast, to Seoul, a road that is to be 287 112 \ jjji jjj | ifj jilt INDEPENDENCE ARCH, COREA, ERECTED 1898. miles in length, have 40 stations and 20,500 feet of bridges. As Corea is mountainous the road will have to fol low river valleys and mountain gaps where possible and provision has been made for 31 tunnels, one of them a mile long. The first section is already open to travel. The Seoul-Wiji rail way (under the auspices of the Corean j government, with French engineers and French material) was designed to tap the coal and gold mining regions, but though there has already occurred the official opening of the section from Seoul to Sangdo, owing to a lack of Co rean funds the road has been tempor arily abandoned. A system of waterworks in Seoul has been begun by the American com pany that furnishes light for the city. The telephone is in use in Seoul, and lines are being extended to Chemulpo. Telegrams may be sent in Corea in certain specified foreign languages, in the Corean, Chinese and Japanese tongues. The postal system, a highly satisfactory one, is under French direc tion. CHRISTOPHER WEBS'-ER. CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1903. OF LITERARY INTEREST. An attempt Is being made to have Dr. Sigurd Ibsen, son of the Norwegian, come to this country next year and lec ture on his father's plays. Alfred Deakin, prime minister of the Australian commonwealth, is an insati able devourer of novels, and never en ters the legislative chamber without one or two. He settles down comfortably Into a corner of the treasury bench and reads away when business Is dull. An intimate friend of the poet set him self to find out the rules of Tennyson's "Versification, and collected from his poems an immense n ,,T "her of laws and examples. "Look here, "» friend, "what wonderful laws you uw.rve!" "It's all true," replied the poet; "I do observe them, but I never knew it." — Ruskin. Alfred Tennyson Dickens, the eldest surviving sou of Charles Dickens, has strongly protested against the published reports of his father's ill feeling toward Thackeray. He recalls the fact that his father was the chief mourner at Thack eray's funeral in Kensal Green and also wrote a biographical sketch which "did full justice to the genius and merits of the author of 'Vanity Fair' and 'Pen dennis.' " Mr. Dickens adds that many a time he has heard his father speak in the most glowing terms of Thackeray's wonderful versatility. A familiar figure in Torontr is Gold win Smith. Every fine day e takes his carriage drive, and one 112 es a shrunken old man, as thin as hf tall, silent and grave of demeanor, preoccupied, it would seem, with his own thoughts. "One might make the mistake of supposing," said an observer, "that the aged citizen —he has celebrated his eightieth birth day—was a dyspeptic pessimist, that life had lost its charm for him and that time had forgotten him in its merciless march toward a future that is never overtaken. Such is one picture of the old professor—a mental snap shot taken from a curbstone." A MATTER OF YEARS. The average age of senators is 59 years; eight are le<-<* than 45. Prof. Marcius , illson, of Vineland, N. J., author of a successful school series and many other works, was 90 years old recently, and is believed to be the oldest American author still able to do literary work. He was unable to attend a birth day reception in his honor tendered by a historical society, excusing himself on the ground that he was hard at work on a new book, and was aiso perfecting a patent which would surprise his friends. Ex-Gov. Horace Boies, of lowa, is now living in retirement, and shows no in clination to figure again in public af fairs. He is living on his large farm near Eldora, la., where the former popular idol of the lowa democracy lives in ease and comfort the life of a farmer. His farm consists of 1,500 acres and is in a fine state of cultivation. He has aged rapidly since the death of his son. A valuation of |500,000 has been placed on his farm. "My life has been strangely ruled by the number nine," Pius X. is quoted as saying previous to being chosen pope. "Nine years I was a school boyatßiese; j nine years a student at Padua; nine J years a curate at Tombolo; nine years a < priest at Sal/.ano; nine years a canon at | Treviso; nine years a bishop at Mantua; ■ now for nine years I have been cardinal- \ patriarch at Venice. If I become pope j —as long as God wiUfl; perhaps another i nine years." IN TEE WORLD OF LEARNING. MUe. de Flaudre ha 3 been given the degree of doctor of science by the fac ulty of sciences of Paris, with honorable 1 mention. Kuno Fischer, the eminent historian ! of philosophy, has at last been obliged | to givs up his professorship in Heidel j berg. He is in his eightieth year and ' has been at Heidelberg since 1872. President Eliot thinks late lunches are ; ruining the stomachs of the students, so he has ordered the proprietor of an all night restaurant located on college prop erty to vacate the premises, j Dr. Albert D. Mead, proftssor of com parative anatomy at Brown university, has returned to the United States after a thorough inspection of all the im portant laboratories and experiment i stations in Europe. Prof. Edward Wheeler Scripture, the j psychologist, director of the psycho logical laboratory of Yale university, has arrived in Munich, with the object of conducting experiments on the hu ! man voice by means of the gramaphone. I The Carnegie institute is furnishing the I funds. Glen Harrison, ag <1 I.'!, is teaching a , country school in the Ozark mountains j near Gainesville, Mo., and probably is | the youngest pedagogue in the country. He has 29 pupils, several of them con | siderably bigger than he, but he has I whipped one or two of them and is now j treated with the respect due an edu- I cator. FRESH FROM FRANCE. France has, within six months, paid i in subsidies for new ships $35,600,000. M. Gaub, the French chemist, says that if the hair crop could all be shorn from the women of France for one year, it could be made to produce 1,022,000 pounds of iron. The total production of sugar in France in 1901-2 amounted to 1,051,930 tons, of which 320,742 tons were exempt from duty, as the official estimates had fallen that far short of the actual re turns. Lucie Felix-Faure, the daughter of a former president of France, who late ly married George Goyan, is a distin guished woman of letters. She has studied the philosophy, literature and theology of many countries. PEOPLE OF MANY LANDS. During his hunt in Styria Emperor Fran.z Josef killed his two thousandth chamois. Robert Caterson, of New York, recent ly purchased the far-famed granite mountain, of Texas. Wu Ting-Fang, formerly Chinese minister to this country, has been ap pointed vice president of the newly cre ated department of commerce In his home government. It will be his prov ince specially to look after the foreign commerce of China. Dr. Hans Meyer, the famous German explorer, passed through New York city the other day on his way home from Ecuador, where he spent all last sum mer studying the glaciers and ice fields of the high Cordilleras. It was Dr. Meyer who reached the top of Killiman jaro, the highest mountain of Africa, after about 20 vain attempts had been made by others. Lord Milner, at present British high commissioner for South Africa, began life as a newspaper man, his first work being done for the Pall Mall Gazette. His writings attracted the attention of Lord Goschen, who procured for the young journalist a good post under the government of Egypt. Ever since that time he has been in the public service, and now occupies one of the most re sponsible positions under the crown. The office of colonial secretary was pressed upon him by Mr. Balfour, but he preferred to remain in South Africa. Peter Maher, the Irish pugilist, was knocked out in one round in Philadel phia, while fighting to secure naturaliza tion papers. He failed to answer the questions properly. For instance, on be ing asked: "How is the president elect ed?" he answered: "By a great major ity." "Do you know anything about the constitution?" "It's great." said the Irish champion, enthusiastically. "Never felt better in my life. Me constitution is all right. I'm trained to the min ute. The declaration of independence? Something to do with the time we licked the English, ain't it?" The com missioner turned him down and Maher departed sadly, saying to a friend: "That was the hardest fight of me life, and sure I lost." IN THE LIME-LIGHT. Joseph Jefferson caught a trespasser fishing in his well-stocked lake on his Louisiana farm, the other day. The ven erable actor went up to him and called his attention to the fact that he was fishing in a private preserve, in violation of the law. The stranger smiled, sadly. "You are mistaken, sir," he replied. "I'm not catching your fish; I'm feeding them. I haven't landed one, and my bait's nearly all gone." It is exactly half a century since Sir Henry Irving took his first real lesson in elocution in a class held in the city of London. He was described at that time by a fellow pupil as "a tall, good looking boy of about 15, dressed in a black jacket suit, with a deep Eton col lar, and conspicuous with a mass of raven-black hair and the brightest pair of eyes I have ever seen. When he gave his first recitation he took us by storm, and we knew that a new star had risen." Charles Frohman, the theatrical man ager, regretfully concludes that his ap pearance lacks distinction in some way. He bases this opinion on a recent experi ence at the door of the Broadway theater. "I was passing in on my way to a rehear sal." he says, "when a young man, evi dently one of the justly hated ticket scalpers, touched my elbow and offered me a dollar. 'Say,' he mumbled, 'do me a little favor, will you? Go up to the box office and buy me two 50-cent seats for to-night.' I should not have felt in sulted," concluded Mr. Frohman, "were it not that I aspire to look like a man who might safely engage a box or at least an orchestra chair without exciting suspicion." BRICK MADE IN THE U. S. Of vitrified brick, in 1902, there were 617,192 thousand, valued at $5,744,530, or $9.31 per thousand. The quantity of front brick produced in the country amounts to 458.391 thou sand, valued at $5,318,008, or $11.60 per thousand. Enameled brick, the entire product of which in 1902 was valued at $471,163, was made only in California. Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania A little over 40 per cent, of the total value of clay products i« in common brick. The production of brick of that class in 1902 amounted to 8,475.067 thou sand brick, having a value of $48,885,869. They brought an average price of $5.77 per thousaud. The value of fancy or ornamental brick amounts to $806,453, of fire brick, to $11,970,511; of stove lining, to $630,- 924; of drain tile, to $3,506,787; of sewer pipe, to $7,174,892; of ornamental terra cotta, to $3,526,906; of fire proofing, to $3,175,593, and of tile to $3,622,863. MARTIAL STRAINS. The 16-inch gun has proved so satis factory in every way that the question of using calibers larger than 12 inches need not be complicated by the question of practicability. The late Lieut. Goldschmidt was the oldest musical conductor in the German army. For 50 years he had been leader of the band of the King's grenadiers. His band played at Sedan. In 1898 he was pensioned. At the close of the Boer war 24,000 British soldiers sought employment as coachmen, grooms, porters, carmen, etc., and places were promptly found ID England for 18,000. Lately the numbei of unemployed former soldiers has in creased, owing to the present service cd three years with the colors instead o3 seven years as heretofore. VISIT TO LOURDES Annual Pilgrimage to This Little Village in Southern France. Hol>- SprluM Which liellitlous Fervor Credltn ulth Mirny MJmruloua (urta—Devout 111 valid* Fluok 'i'hilher. In this twentieth century we are apt to smile at the superstitutions which religious fervor may produce and fos ter. It seems almost incredible that there are thousands and thousands of poor invalids who believe that the wa ter from a certain holy spring will cure them of their complaints. There is something poetic and mediaeval about such unquestioning faith. The annual pilgrimage to Lourdes a case in point. Lourdes, in the Hautes Pyre nees, in the south of France, which was once a little unknown village, has now a European reputation, having gained it solely through the numbers of pil grims who visit the place annually. This town, which is beautifully situ ated in a valley opening towards snow clad mountains, 12 miles southwest of Tarbes, dates its prosperity from the year 1858. In that year a young peas ant girl, named Bernadette Soubirons, 112 > msL £'' - THE BASILICA OF NOTRE DAME. related that the Virgin had appeared to her. The apparition was repeated sev eral times, and at last a wonderful spring issued from a corner of the grot to where it had been seen. It was soon proclaimed that the spring possessed miraculous qualities, and it says much for the power of the Roman Catholic religion, that on the faith of Berna dette's story hundreds of thousands of persons have visited the cave annually; and a hospital and convents, hotels and houses, have been built to meet the wants of the pilgrims. The girl's vis ion was declared to be authentic by the Bishop of Tarbes, and the place attracted such a multitude of pilgrims that a railway was built to bring them to the town. In 1876 35 archbishops and bishops, presided over by the Archbishop of Paris and the Apostolic Nuncio, gave their seal to the story of Bernadette by assisting at the dedication of a handsome basilica, built in the thir teenth century style, which was erect ed over the cave. This was only a short time before Bernadette, who had become a nun, died in a convent. The many chapels and corridors below the church are lined with votive offerings. Generals leave their orders and brides their veils. The walls of the tipper church are also entirely covered with similar offerings. The first chapel on the left records the 18 appearances of the Virgin and the singular words which Bernadette described her to have spoken: "Goto the fountain, eat of the graa 1 ~«ide it. pray for mankind, tell the p. to build me a chapel; 1 am the Immaculate Conception." From the upper church paths lead through shrubberies to the grotto beneath, fac ing the river. Here the rock is covered with the crutches of cured cripples. On BEFORE THE GROTTO. the one side is the famous fountain, on the other a pulpit from which a priest directs the devotions of the pilgrims. Special trains bring countless invalids to Ivourdes, and the sight of so much human suffering gathered in one spot is deeply pathetic. There are numer ous bands of volunteers at the town who skilfully undertake the organiza tion of the throngs of pilgrims, most of whom are of the poorer class, *nd who have spent what is to them a large sum on the journey. The majority of the invalids, unfortunately, return as they came, but their faith is unshaken; they have not had sufficient faith they say. Apart from the religious excitement which has made Lourdes one of the most prosperous towns in the south of France, it is a picturesque and beauti ful place, with its old church and mod ernized. SPORTS AND ATHLETICS Alumni coaching has proved popular among colleges of the west of late and there has been a j tendency to thus replace the famll \. * ar type of leader. m Arthur Curtis, an mVWf, 112) i alumnus of the /y Wk J V y University of Wis -—• jt consin, and who coached the Bad y B er football squad the past season, 1 ' ' has a sreed to con- 'y tinue another year. V -/ Fogg, Juneau, Ab- Arthur Curtis bott, Driver and Lerum, who have played on the team for two seasons, are being considered as assistants. It is regretted by those in favor of the alumni system that in most cases the change to this method is induced by the faimre of the big teams to succeed in the company in which they wish to travel. Prominont among the schools of the west is Illi nois, which will inaugurate a return to the system once inaugurated by George Huff. Huff was a Dartmouth man, pure and simple, but yet was strong with Il linois and in some respects regarded as an alumnus. He was succeeded by a long list of special coaches, who under the conditions at Illinois proved prac tical failures. They failed largely be cause of their youth ia the coaching line and because they either did not have the brain to develop under Illinois conditions or did not stick to the task as Stagg and Yost have done. Yost, however, had his preliminary ups and downs with other schools and learned many valuable lessons. Illinois coaches have never had that opportunity. It is thought that perhaps an alumnus would, as with the case of Curtis at Wisconsin, have the regard and confi dence of the school and be permitted to work out a system. It seems now very likely that the ex-center rush, Lowenthal, of Illinois, will be the man selected to inaugurate a return to the old-time style of coaching at Illinois. McCornack at Northwestern has a three-year contract. When he quits he hopes to see an alumni system of coaching established. Should he do so and have successful teams the next two years, it will be tne first winning school to quit one system and goto the other with its eyes open. And a severe task it will be for the poor alumnus who steps in at that critical time and a blow it will be to the school should the sys tem fail to make good at the jump-off. To "Larry" Lajoie, captain of the Cleveland American league team, be longs the real lion or of having been 112 the leading batter ; in the league dur ing the season of 1903, with an aver age of .355. "Duke" fif Farrell. the veter- , an catcher of the V if Boston team.heads -""Km the list with a per centage of .404. ac cording to the offi cial figures, but as Farrell played but WmH/flff// IT games, while La- w"" >' J jole appeared in Eirl Moore 12(5 contests the honors of the year goto the big Frenchman. After Lajoie comes the name of the unfortunate Delelianty of the Washing ton team, who lost his life in the Ni agara river. "Del" had played in 43 games, with an average of .338. "Nick" Altrosk. the pitcher who won the final game for the White Sox in the local post-season series, is fourth on the list, with a percentage of .333 and after him comes Crawford of Detroit, Dougherty of Boston, Hickman of Cleveland, Young of Boston and "Willie" Keeler of New York. Earl Moore of Cleve land, with 22 games won to seven lost, heads the list of pitchers with a per centage of .759. While Moore is the leader he has but two points the bet ter of "Cy" Young of Boston, who won 29 games and lost but nine, and Tom Hughes of Boston has a percentage ol .750, winning 21 games and losing sev en. Bernhanl of Cleveland, who led the pitchers last year, is in fourth place, with a percentage of .737. Fielder Jones of the Chicago White Sox leads the outfielders with an average of .988, making but four errors in 137 games, while "Billy" Sullivan of the same team is a close second to Jack Warner of New York among the catchers, with a percentage of .987. James J. Hogan. 'OS, of Tofrington, Conn., has been elected captain of the Yale eleven for next year. Hogan lias played tackle for three years on the Blue and prepared at Phillips Exeter academy. A decision of importance to bowlers and bowling clubs intending to partici pate in the national championship con tests of the American Bowling con gress at Cleveland, February 8-13, has been rendered by the executive com mittee. Under the Indianapolis plan of organization it was supposed that all entries would have to be affiliated with one of the local city organizations. This, however, is not the case. Any club or bowler is eligibje upon com pliance with the rules of the congress, 1 'it no club is entitled to any voice ia I"\e proceedings of the congress unless r Tiliated with one of the city associa tions. "Bobby" Walthour, for himself and his team mate, Munroe, won the recent s !x-day bicycle race in Madison Squaro ( arden. Forty yards separated Wal thour from Leander, who was second at ihe finish, being ten good yards ahead of Floyd Krebs, behind whom cam* Fisher, a/i indifferent fourth. j
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers