'&
B"
THE
?--.-
sv
y y . f r
j "PAGES 9 TO 16. jr.
;: SECOHD PART.
i l
CHINESE CRUELTIES.
The Courts, Prisons and Punish
ments of the Celestial Land.
EYEN "WITNESSES ARE TORTURED.
'Graphic Description of the Horrible Slicing
Process.
HOW CHINESE JUDGES MAEE FOETUHES
COKRESrOSDEXCE OF Till DISPATCH.1
Curios, CniiTA, February 2. Hor
rible! horrible!! horrible!!! are the cruelties
of Chinese
justice I I
grew sick
while watch
in; the tor
ture of a wit
ness at the
courts here
in Canton to
day, and I
had to leave
the place for
fearl should
faint away.
The man was
brought into
the court in
a basket. His
arms were
chained be-
hind him.
His feet were
manacled so
In the SlocLs, that the
heavy iron had cut through the skin,
and there was a chain also about his
neck. He had refused to testily, and had
been tortured before until he was now pale
and sick. He was thrown from the basket
onto the floor in front of a tall Mandarin
judge, dressed in a long silk gown and wear
ing a round black cap with a button on the
crown.
The irons were taken off and the man was
forced into a kneeling posture on the stone
floor. He plead that he was sick, that he
knew nothing, and he begged they would
not punish him farther. The judge said a
word and three burly Chinamen grasped
him. They carried him tg the side of the
court, where a bench about four feet long
and a foot wide was lying. They put this
bench on end against a pillar, and, then
taking the prisoner, forced him down upon
his knees before it so that the board of the
.bench rested against his back and between
A CniXESE
his shoulders. He was barefooted. They
pulled his wide pantaloons up to bis thighs,
and, bending up his legs, tied his big toes to
the top legs of the bench so that the bare
skin of his knees rested on the stones
The bench extended some distance above
the back of his head and near the end a hole
had been bored about an inch in diameter.
Through this his cue was pulled, forcing his
head tight against the board and stretching
his neck so that the cords stood out like
whips. His arms were twisted behind the
bench, stretched backward and upward and
held there by strings ti I to the thumbs. A
heavy, sharp chain with iron links about
two inches wide was then brought and put
Sringlna in Ote Prisoner.
under his bare knees. He was to be kept
with his whole weight resting on this chain
and held up by his thumbs, his big toes and
his me until he confessed. The torture was
terrible. His eyes almoststarted from their
sockets, his face twitched and his moaning
made me sick.
More Horror.
Among the other tortures I witnessed was
the pounding a man's cheek with a leather
clapper until the blood oozed from his
mouth. This clapper was made of two
pieces of leather of the thickness and twice
the width of a harness tug, fastened to a
third piece of leather as a handle. The
whole affair was not more than a foot long,
but it is more brutal than though it was
made of iron. It is used largely in the pun
ishment of women and it not infrequently
breaks the jaws and knocks out the teeth.
Thisprisoner was suspected of being en
gaged in smuggling opium and he denied
being guilty. He was whipped thus on the
jaws and then bambooed. This bamboo
was split down the middle like a tuning
fork. It whUilcd as it flew through the air
and it clapped the skin with the noise of a
pistol snot. The bare-armed jailer counted
each "blow. The long-cued, silk-gowned,
sore-eyed judge looked complacently on,
andl saw no signs of pity in the stolid faces
of the crowd.
A Chinese Conrt Room.
Let me give you a picture of this Chineso
court room. It is one of many in Canton
and the largest. "We passed through room
alter room and aisle after aisle of low, nar
row buildings to get to it. There was a
court in front of it and around this in nar
row cells sat the clerks and employes of the
judge. The room was open at the front,
paved with stone, and it had only a table
and a chair or two. Thero are no lawyers
in China and the judge has unlimited
power, prvvideiThe does not transgress the
code.
, Chipa has a code of Jaws hundreds of
years old, of which a new edition is pub-
f '.d eTcl7 five years, and in which the
e T4 x n
JlVCl'V I 1"1
JJW
If jj U
f& M
penalties ior the minntest crimes are regu
lated. It is fuller of more horrible sen
tences than the Newgate calendar, and the
judges of China have more power in the
examining of witnesses than the most brutal
of tyrants. There is no jury and the court
room is as bare as a barn. Just behind
where I stood were a number of the imple-
I ments of torture ready for use and all
uiowia me zuarKS oi wear auu icai. t
One, which my guide said was very bad,
was made of a bar of wood six feet long sup
ported by two upright wooden pillars. The
prisoner was made to kneel under this with
the back of his neck touching the bar and
his arms stretched out along it 'These are
tied by cords to the bar and as he kneels
with liis bare knees upon the chain such as
I saw a few moments later, for the obdurate
witness a third bar is placed across the legs
back of the knees and two men stand upon
it, thus forcing the flesh into the chains.
The ankles are sometimes crushed by a
similar bar placed across them.
Cruel Inrrniton.
1 believe that the Chinese heart is natur
ally cruel, and in looking over the Peking
Gazette I'see that the tortures of the middle
ages are common here, and -that now and
then a judge astonishes even the Chinamen
themselves by the refinement of his punish
ments. Instances are given where the
fingers are wrapped in oiled rags and burnt,
and one magistrate, some time ago, fastened
two criminals to boards by nails driven
through their palms.
Compelling men to kneel on pounded
glass is noted, and this kneeling on chains
with links a shaip as knives is common.
"Williams tells of a magistrate who put a
man into a coffin and kept him there until
he was suffocated, and he gives the instance
of a Judge who used beds of iron, boiling
water and redhot spikes in his cruelties. At
Shanghai I was shown a wooden cage be
tween five and six feet high, just high
enough to inclose the body of a man. It was
made of four posts with a thick board set
into the top.
This board was made of two pieces so ar
ranged that it could be taken Out and a
man's neck be inclosed in the hole in "its
center. At the bottom it had cross bars
several inches above the ground and the
top was so graduated .that the man inclosed
within it must stand' upon Ms tcei. His
hands were tied, and this lo.-tuie is terrible;
In some instances men are left to starve to
death in such cages, and this cage had con
tained a-prisoner only a few days before. It
had a piece of straw matting stretched over
the top ot it, whicti the wife of the last crim
inal had put there to protect his bare head
from the raysol the sun.
Infernal Cases.
At the Shanghai prison I saw cages which
looked as though they might have been pens
for the carrying of hogs to a county fair.
These were so low that a man could not sit
up in them, and it is in these that criminals
are often carried to execution. These had
been used the day before for the caging of
criminals, and I took a look at the prisoners
COURT.
who had been taken from them to the jail.
I wanted to so through this prison but I was
told that if I did I would probablv have my
clothes torn from me by the prisoners, as
they were a bad lot and had killed their
jailer afew days before. I looked through
a hole in the door and saw the most brutal
faces I have as yet seen in China. Themen
were chained to the wall like wild beasts
1 and some of them had chains abont their
necks as well as their feet.
Each prison has its dead house connected
with it, and deaths from semi-starvation and
torture are not uncommon. The jailers
make a large part of their salary by squeez
ing, and money will do as mnch and more
for the criminal in China than it will in
America. Judges sometimes pay $30,000
and $10, 000 for their appointment', and he
is a poor money maker who does not get
rich during his term. The Tantoi of Shang
hai gets a salary of about 1,000 and his
office is estimated to be worth more than
$100,000 a year.
The Commissioner of the Customs at
Tiestsin nominally receives a salary of about
the same size, but'l am told that "he makes
about $200,000 a year, and his profits all
come from bribes or squeezes. This system
of squeezing goes through the whole course
of Chinese officialdom and the jailers exact
money from the relatives of the criminals.
Thcy have the right to sell the food to the
criminals and "they make them pay high
prices. If they cannot pay they must in
many cases go without. The criminals cook
for themselves in the jail and they are al
lowed about 2 cents a day for fnel. They
have an allowance by the law of rice, but
A Chinese Thief.
the jailor gives them this or not as he
pleases.
The Execution Ground.
Three coolies carried me in a chair from
the court in Canton to the execution ground
and I had a chat with the executioner. He
was a nasty, dirty, blood-thirsty looking
fellow, with hair an inch long standing out
like bristles over the front of his head and
about his cue. He had not been busy for
several days, and he took delight in ex
plaining to me the uses of the heavy sword
and the scientific cuts which he made with
it. This sword was about four feet long. It
has a blade as sharp as a razor ana it is
about a quarter of an inch thick at the back
and more than two inches wide. He used
both hands in swinging it about, and he
told me that my neck would be an easv one
to slice off, but that he would not like to
have to cut up my thin frame by the slicing
process.
This execution ground of Canton is used
as a crockery factory, and the making of
pots goes on when "executions are not in
progress. It is a narrow court between two
high walls, on the banks of the Canton
river, and the heads are cut off in the open
air. Upon my asking what was done with
the lipids of the criminals, he told me,
through my interpreter, that they were often
thrown into jars of quicklime, and thaf he
would take one out and show me for the sum
of 10 cents. In the interest of your paper I
subscribed this amount, and he pulled out a
half-eaten -skull by the pigtail, and showed
its ghastly ugliness to me. There were about
a dozen of these earthen jars at the back of
this execution ground. They were of the
size of a 20-gallon 'keg, and were covered
with paper. They were full of heads, and
probably represented a year's executions.
As soon as the head is taken off it is car
ried up to the magistrate or officer in charge
and shown, and it is often exposed ina cage
or on a pole as a warning to others. The
cages in which the heads are put are of the
size of little, bird cages, and when the heads'
aretied to trees or poles they hang down by
the cue.
Slicing (o Death.
At the back of this execution ground
stood half U dozen wooden crosses. If you
will take a piece of telegraph pole eight feet
long and set a similar pole five feet long
into it at right angles two feet from the top
you will have the Chinese cross. It Is upon
these crosses that the criminals are bound
when thev are to underzo the punishment
ofLingChior slicing to death, which is
the sentence for all who murder a brother, a
parent, a teacher, a husband or an uncle.
The criminal is stripped and his feet are
raised upon a brick or a stone. His cue is
tied up to the cross and his arms are
stretched out upon its arms. A British
naval officer, whom I met at Hong Kong,
described an execution of this kind which
he witnessed a few weeks ago.
"It made me feel very green at first,"
said he, "but after it was begun I could not
keep my eyes off it. i have had the ex
perience over again three times in my
dreams, and I would not want to 'see it
again. I had the best guide in. Canton, and
we saw the execution from the roof of one
of the buildings beside the execution
ground. There were two criminals, and it
WW1
Chinese Torture.
took about 30 minutes to cut each of them
to -pieces. The first cuts sliced off the
cheeks and the second the evebrows. After
these a man held a fan before the faces of
the prisoners, and all we could see of them
was the blood running down upon their
bodies. The next cut was of the flesh be
tween the hand and the elbow, and the
arteries were fiist bound above the places
cut so that the man would not bleed to
death before the ceremony was completed.
Then the shoulders were cut off. Then the
flesh of the thighs and after this the calves
of the legs. The seventeenth and eighteenth
cuts removed the hands, and the last cut
took the head from the body.
"In both cases themen did not faint awav.
The pain was too terrible. They could not
crjr out, as they were gagged, and their
writhings were horrible. The last cut killed
them.'
Other Mild Method..
I might fill another column with the sto-
r?P T l" heard of Chinesunishraetrts4
and crime. The bamboo, which grows to
the height of SO feet . and upward, gets its
entire growth in a few weekV I have heard
of prisoners being tied over plants and of
these growing through them. For certain
offenses prisoners are buried up to their
necks, and those who go by them are ex
pected to add a clod to the pile. They do
not, 1 am told, hesitate to do this, and this
Chinese civilization, founded upon Buddh
ism, Confucianism and so-called literary
culture, is productive of such men and such
scenes. Do you wonder that there is room
for missionaries?
I don't. Fbank G. Cabpexieb.
THE AET OP MESIOEI.
Ability to Recall Faces Not n Gangs of a
Man's Mental Cnpitclijr.
Certain questions of public interest ex
hibit a tendency to establish a regular peri
odic orbit in the process of their discussion.
Among these is the problem of memory, and
the methods of its cultivation. The savage
or semi-civilized man has not very great tax
upon memory. His arts are simple, and
the store of facts which he has to dispose of
come well within the limits of his intel
lectual powers. But as soon as schools are
organized, then a novel and unaccustomed
task is put upon men. They are called
upon to remember not only the facts with
which they have been made familiar by
practical experience in an experimental
way, but also to retain a host of mere state
ments concerning which they have no prac
tical experience whatsoever. In demanding
this new form of memory, we go apart from
the natural method of acquiring informa
tion, and it is no reason for surprise that we
find information acquired in this unnatural
way to be of a very flectingcharacter.
One of the great difficulties in our school
system arises from the existing diversitv in
the method nnd capacity for remembering
which are found in different minds. There
is a disposition on the part of schoolmasters
to assume that the measure of memory is a
fit gauge as to the intellectual powers of the
student. A boy or girl who can acquire
lessons and repeat their statements in a
clear manner is commonly assumed to be
abler than another who fails in this power.
The studies of Mr. Francis Galton on visual
ized memory, as well as numerous inquiries
into the measure in which distinguished
men have the power of remembering a great
store of facts, clearly indicate that simple
memory is the most imperfect gauge as to
the mental capacity of people. Some per
sons, even those of but moderate intellectual
powers, have a capacity for visualizing mat
ters retained in the memory in such a way
that they can readily be called to mind in a
clear fashion. Other persons, .including
many who are of great natural power, are
entirely destitute of this'accomplishment.
THE SHAD IN SEASON.
Poetical Version of the .Unking; of That De
licious Fisb.
Sew York nerald.t
The fish was delicious, and the two epic
ures relished it to the fullest extent, but he
of the pessimistic turn remarked:
"Shad nlways suggests to me the idea that
nature was in a hurry when she got to that
part of her work, took a lot of excellent
material and just pinned it together.-"
"Ah!" said the optimist, "you can't have
seen the poetical version of the matter." Then
he recited:
"When the angels made shad
The devil was mad,
For it seemed such a feast oi delight;
So, to ruin the scheme.
He jumped into the stream
And stuck.ro the bones out of spite.
"When the strawberry red
First illumined Its bod
The angels looked down, and were clad.
Bnt the devil, 'tis said, '
Fairly ponnded bis hqad,
For he'd used all his bones on the shad."
Ik relieving muscular and nervous, dis
eases, Salvation Oil can not be over-esti-
mntori - r
J
.
PITTSBURG, gTJNDAT,
NYE TO WMAMAKER.
He Orders a Kew Snit and Accident
allr Refers to a Postoffice.
HIS KIND EEGARDS TO HARRISON.
One Self-Hade American Writes Fully and
i'rankly to Another,
GEOYEE CLEVELAND AS A" HUMOEIST
rWBITTOf FOB TUB DISPATCH. 1
St. Patbick's Day, in the )
Gbay of Early Mobitino.
General John 'Winimaker, Washington, D. C:
7 Dear Sie I called at your general store
in Philadelphia while in your city, in order
to speak to you
as between man
and man with
regard to a new
snit of ready
made clothing
which I con
tent plated
going into this
spring at an
early date. I
was shocked
and chagrined
to learn that you were not at home, but in
Washington, D. C. Hence I write to you
in regard to the matter, instead of dealing
with one of your clerks down at the store.
I ordered a suit, if you will remember,
some yeais ago, when I was postmaster at
Laramie City, Wyo. I was in the depart
ment there for some time and gave good sat
isfaction. People write me that they have,
never experienced such an era of prosperity
since the town was laid out as they did when
I was at the helm of the postoffice there.
QUITE A SUIT.
The suit was, a plain business suit, dow1
ered with a wild and wealthy profusion of
pockets, many of which I did not at that
time really need. It was a cutaway coat
with horn buttons and long princess trous
ers of the same, held in place by means of
elastic .suspenders in pigeon-breast shades,
with heliotrope buttons on them.
I wore this suit through my entire adminis
tration, also through the places where it
came most in contact with foreign sub;
stances. I now apply o you once more for
a suit that shall be durable and plain, and
yet fix the eye of a stranger at once and
compel him to say, "There is a thorough
gentleman. There is a man worthy of any
office within the gift of the Federal Govern
ment." So if you will be kind enough to send me
some samples of your goods, with rules lor
self measurement, also stating at the same
time what, if anything, has been done about
the postoffice at New York, you will do me
a favor and at the same time you will not
do yonrself any harm. That is one thing
that I like about me. Nobody ever did me
Sill AJ?, Postmaster.
a favor that he didn't do well out of it be
fore he got through. Have you had any
talk vet with the President about the N. Y.
P. O."?
My home now is not far from the post
office in New York and T pay taxes there.
"Writing these pieces does not take all my
time and so I had thought that wc might
help each other perhaps, if yon feel that
way about it. I could help .you to intro
duce your goods among our best people in
New York,-with whom I am very thick.
TAFrY PEOMISED.
I could also say pleasant things about you
in the press, and while I would hate to have
you think that I would prostitute iny won
derful talents by swapping kind words for a
postoffice, it would surely do you no harm
to add my large influence among the-more
refined people of New York, to your own
wide acquaintance, and I am sure that I
can help you to build up a nice tradewith
our best people in New York, many of
whom are already dissatisfied with prices
here.
I would want a plain business suit that
would also look well for Sundays. I gener
ally fix up for Sundays, and sp'end the day
in self-communion and silent admiration of
my past life. I was a poor boy, Mr. Wana
niaker, with large olive green freckles on
the back of my neck. I have fought my
way up through a wilderness of stumbling
blocks, setbacks and drawbacks, Mr. "Wana
xnaker, until to-day you see me beloved and
admired by one and all, vet modest and un
assuming as a little dewdrop on the petal of
a pumpkin blossom. r
Both of us know what it is, General, to
thump along through an adverse and sin
curbed world. I admit that I have made
mistakes, but not as a postmaster. I have
stepped aside Severa times from what is
called the correct thine in Philadelphia,
and may possibly do so again, but not of- .
ficially. I have done things that I am sorry
for, but my whole nature seems to demand
excitement, and I would frequently
sit up till nearly 11 o'clock, frol
icking ' and having fun with people ,
who enjoyed having lun, and who reveled in
my sunny smile. But that was after office
hours, Mr. "Wanamaker. After I had hung
the cauceline btamp on a nail, after I had
checked up the M. O. B., and put mucilage
on the secpnd-hand stamps, I would issue
forth and give the evening up to the keenest
enjoyment, sometimes at the beanbag tour
ment, or anon at the free reading room,
where I would sometimes meet other people.
But all that is passed now.
A GOOD MEMOEY.
A dark shade of goods with an invisible
checkjn the pocket of the vest, would suit
me very well. I wear a tail coat and a very
long lithe pant. In postoffice work I dress
plainly but neatly, liemembcr me to the
administration, and say that while unusual
ly busy this season, I have not allowed pros
perity to crowd the administration out of my
memory.
I was auite eorrv not to htivo sppn'vnn.
when las.t I was in Philadelphia, for I know
tnat wevouTd have pleased each other. I
am a frank) open-faced, self-made man who
forgot to order sufficient hair while putting
up the job. lam easy to get acquainted
with and hard to shake off. You can 'always
have fun with me if you go at it right,
John, and yet there are few men who can
knockHhe tar'outof a general deliverV'win-
j T
MARCH 31, 1889.
dow equal to me. T do not allow business
cares to weigh on me too heavily. My
grocer is generally a more thoughtful and
chastened looking man than I am, and yet
I can distribute more lower case mail in an
hour than anybodyyou ever saw.
I would also want two pairs of seal
brown socks with eight day clocks of some
contrasting color. Doubtless the President
may have some one in his mind lor the New
York postoffice, some one -who will shine
more in society, perhaps, 'some one who will
please the eye" more for the moment; but
what we want for that position is a pure,
good man, who loves the old flag and who
wants to see a good postoffice in New York,
where a man can go and present a money
order without being indicted by a grand
jury before ha can get away.
' ONE SAD MISTAKE.
I believe, General, that a man who leads
agood Christian life, ought not to be jumped
ou and hooted and trod into the earth just
because he has presented a money order at
the New York office for payment. "We are
all liable to make mistakes. I presented a
money order once at the New York office,
thinking the office would be as eager to pay
an order as it was to sell me one, but I was
young then and had seen very little of the
world. Anybody'could fool me with a kind
word then. Now I have remittances sent to
tne by freight inside a joint of gas pipe and
I don't have to wait so long.
My hired man, who mows the lawn and
salts the hens at my chalet-by-the-sea, will
also want a suit of clothes as the weather
gets warmer. I wish you would figure on a
suit for him a suit that will look better
than it really is, and cost very little, will
do. The cost may he a mere bagatelle.
Could you arrange it so that the cost would
be a mere bagatelle? "
I have been elected also to an office, at
one time, by tho people themselves. I say
this to show you that I am well thought of
by my neighbors. My election was rather
a surprise to some. It showed that even
then, young and poor as'I was, I was a
shrewd politician and well calculated to
succeed. "We combined three elements in
such a way as to bring out not only the full
strength "ot the party, but also to draw some
from the other party. These three elements
consisted of:
First 'Enemies of the other man.
Second Bivals who wanted to see him
pnt under the sod.
m Third Creditors who saw no way of get
ting their pay unless I was elected.
"With these elements we succeeded with
out the aid of money in pnrifying the bal
lot and electing a good man.
A PEBT,INEiTT QUEEY.
Do you publish a catalogue and price list
of your general store in Philadelphia? "We
trade- now with New York honses almost ex
clusively, but I am told that your prices are
reasonable and your goods all right, also
that we can get anything in your place from
a tooth brush to a straw ride. Mr. Mac
"Veagh told me that you were a general
dealer in glass, putty, lingerie, road
scrapers, perfumery, hard and soft coal, cut
flowers, live stock, neckwear, real estate,
gum drops, guano, teething rings, hides and
pelts, raoxie, seamless burial caskets, marsh
mallows, curled hair mattresses, health
fdod, fence nails, golden syrup, saddles,
soda water and tar roofing. Also that, at
your mammoth store, undertaking, embalm
ing and ice.cream in all their branches could
be participated in.
1 wish you could send me a catalogue and
price list and also keep it as quiet as possi
ble, fori would not wish to be discovered
by heavy New 'York dealers in the act of
buying ray groceries in Philadelphia. More
especially would this be the case should I
accept' the portfolio of the New York post
office, a position to which I have' given no
thought whate'ver. hoping the President
would settle on some more available, but
YlPrnilTl Tana w.rtWl.'w mnn - .
L-2lnywy, -wiH-you-do-ms -tiieTavoFTtf"
Keep mis letter out ot the hands of the
press, for should it get into' the' pnhlic
prints I would never hear'the last of it.
Mr. Cleveland has kindly offered to give me
anything within the gift of the Govern
ment, but I fear he is chaffing me. "What
do you think?
AM. WELt AT HOME.
"We are all quite well nt home, barring
slight restlessness among our hens at night,
caused by the presence of an unknown per
son in the barn, who is liable some day to
go home with his pancreas wrapped up in
an old-fpshioned magazine. Seeding has al
ready begun here, and farmers are feeling
jubilant. The streams are released from
their icy fetters nnd go laughing and frol
l'cking adown the grassy meads. Spring
lambs are beginning to do the hillsides, and
horseradish made from Swedish turnips and
capsicum tine, is to be had.
V W .
. La Fajetle Musser in Sis Special Train.
La Favette Musser was on onr streets
Friday, looking hearty. Lafe rode down
from Forty-second street to City Hall on the
Elevated train, accompanied by a new hive
of bees, which he desired to turn in on sub
scription at Newspaper Bow. He had a
special car all the way down. Call again,
Lafe.
STEBEOPTICOIT ADVEBTISISG.
However, General. I have allowed myself
to wander a little. Excuse this long letter
and excuse my delay in writing, too, for I
just could not do it before and do it as I
wanted to. Can I do anything for you in
an advertising way? I travel a great deal
and meet thebest people everywhere. Next
year I shall use a stcreopticon on the stage,
I think, and could work in a little friendly
notice on one of these slides if you thought
best. Could also speak of ray clothes in
public and say I got them at your place. So
goodby, !Bn.T. Nye.
Dictated letter.
P. S. "Would iJay Gould be accepted by
the Government as one of my bondsmen tn
case I should take the N. Y. P. O. Port
folio? He is a great friend aud constant
reader of mine. B. N.
'Nother P. S. In speaking to General
Harrison about this matter you might say
that I was the first man to suggest his name
for the Presidency. This is not so, but any
thing I can do for you in a similar wav I
will cheerfullv do. B. N.
Mite the Stars.
Minneapolis Tribune.
"Miss Clara," he murmured fondly, "can
you tell me why your eyes are like the
stars?"
"No. "Why are they?"
"Because they shine so brightly."
"Ah! thanks. But you are like the stars,
too, Mr. Dally."
"Why, may I ask?"
"Because yon stay until daybreak." And
shortly afterward his footsteps could have
been beard as they pattered along the board
walk. Spite.
ewYorkSniul
MUs Mezzo I -hear the" soprano at St.
Basil's Church has lost her baby.
ItjvalfcSoprano Is ,tbat so?i' She imust
3 II v
f.wL Si
I XffflfrwrsV 8 II
THE AGE OF WOMEN.
Mrs. Frank Eeslie Discusses When a
lady Ceases to be Young.
AS I0DTH CANNOT BE RETAINED,
Their True Endeavors Should he to Grow
Mature Gracefully.
CHAEJIS OP I0DNG AND OLD C0MPAEED
rWEITIEX FOn TOE DISPATCII.J
AYS the proverb: "A
woman is asbld as she
looks and a man is as
young as he feels,"
but like many other
widely-accepted "glit
tering generalities," it
will not 'walk 'on all
fours. For Oven a girl
of IS may have an old
look and a woman of
50 may have a young
look, and a super
sensitive person, especially if she lives in
the rush and whirl of a city life, will look
years younger or older in a few hours, ac
cording to her environment. It is one of
the oddest things in this queer world, this
importance attached to the question of age.
The first thing we ask about a proposed ac
quaintance is: "What age is he or she?
The commonest form of social gossip is the
telling in confidence of the age of some lady
who is older than she appears. The one
item mentioned in a burial notice is the age
of the deceased, and a very frequent remark
when a death is announced is, I wonder if
they will printMier age!
Another curious point is that dislike or
malice always exaggerates the age of its ob
ject, and kindly or charitable feeling al
ways minimizes it. It is evident, then, that
we all desire for ourselves and our friends
the reputation of youth, and that there is
something disparaging and unattractive in
speaking of a person as old or even middle
aged. Arising from this instinct, no doubt,
we have the strncgle to appear young so
noticeable and so piteous not only in what
we call society, but in all classes of the com
munity. ISO LONGER FIFTEES-.
I sat mournfully by one day at a mil
liner's while she tried a bine satin and vel
vet sailor hat with long streamers on a lady
of abont 0 years old, whose weight must
certainly have reached 200, and whose great
red face suggested unlimited roast beef
and port wine. The lady bought the hat
and went away, and I mildly inquired of
the-milliner if she really thought it was, the
most suitable headgear she conld have
recommended. She smiled shrewdly and
said: "The only other thing she would
look at was a bebee bonnet, and that, she
concluded, was too old for her. She does
not realize that she is no longer 15."
That little incident made a deep im
pression on me, as throwing a broad light
upon one phase of feminine human nature.
The woman does not, or will not, "realize
that she is no longer 15," and struggles to
prevent other people from reaiizingit either.
Is it, then, so much better to be 15 thaa 50,
and why? ,
"Why'shouldone cling to sailor hats and
bebee bonnets instead of assuming the rich
and dignified headgear of middle lite? "Why
ia-Yonth the one ihintf in "lie nintrtrlpii nnd
follgllt !6r ugainst all odds? And how is it
.women, otherwise sensible, can yield to the
delusion that youthful dresslends'a youthful
appearance to middle age? Lookiifg about
me to see how these questions were answered
by the elder ladles of my acquaintance, I
was considerably puzzled to determine
which they were. Many of the girls and
women, whose ages I happened to know,
looked older in both form and figure than
others whom I suspected to be their seniors,
and again I found that many of my ac
quaintances varied so much from time to
time that I had to place them afresh at each
interview.
YOUTH'S CIIABMS.
But after all, what is the charm of youth?
Is it physical, simply? Of course, clear
eyes and skin, round, firm outlines, and a
certain freshness cf lips and cheek are very
lovely, but it is by no means all young girls,
especially in cities, who possess them. Is
it manners? There is nothing sweeter than
the half timid yet well trained manner of
an ingenuous girl, nothing prettier than her
naive deference to her elders and ready self
effacement, but still I must prefer for my
own part the gracious tact and quickness
that come only by experience, the ready ad
justment of any 'little social awkwardness,
the self poise that knows just what to say'
and do and leave undone, of the mature
man or woman. And surely it is not the
intellect and conversational powers of
youth to which we so lovingly cling. The
crude ideas, the impossible theories, the in
nocent conviction of originality while ut
tering the baldest truisms, the misplaced
credulity or the sweeping icouoclasm are
these the conditions of mental development
in which we would remain?
"What then? For, spite of alllmy wasted
words, spite of the reason one can bring to
bear upon the matter, the foolish fact re
mains, and no doubt will remain, that
youth is a possession to be clung to as long
as possible and teigned as much longer as
inavbe.
But since feigning is useless and long
possession is impossible, why will hot those
who no longer are young consent to beautily
and enrich middle age with its own at
tractions? Why do not those whohave out
grown the sailor hats invent and wear
charming bonnets carefully suited to the
new conditions? "Why does not Miss Chick
cease to babble childishly and study to
have something to say that will really
amuse or please or attract the men of her
own age, and so leave the boys alone?
"When shall we say of a friend: "Oh, she is
charming. You will like her ever so much,
for she is 50 years old, and has all the varied
means oi making herself agreeable that her
years naturally bring. She has seen so
much and read so much and thought so
much that it is a liberal education to know
her." Ah, when?
HOW TO GROW OLD.
Au contraire, 1 once asked an English
man if he did not think a certain lady of
about 30 years old very pretty.
"Pretty! "Why, she's as gray as a badger,"
replied he, reterrinfj: to the few threads of
silver that gave piquancy to her fresh,
bright face.
But the old man or woman who has bad
the tact and the wit to see the question in
its true light, and deal with it intelligently,
and who has grown old gracefully and wise
ly, is a treasure not enough to be valued by
those who enjoy it. For there is a ripened
sweetness in such a life, a calm acceptance
of those evils or sorrows against which we
younger ones struggle so wildly and so
hopelessly; a peace passing understanding,
that like an attar diffuses itself on every
side; experience, wisdom and judgment,
that only long years ending in quiet
thoughtfulness can give.
Jlave you such a mother or such a grand
mother? Make much of her, love her, tell
her that tou love her, cherish her at once
reverently and tenderly, let every day that
f tosses add to the store of happy memories
aid by for the time when her chair shall be
vacant, her dear, tremulous hand forever
still and her voice forever hushed. And
remember as your own years pile themselves
one upon another that they are building the
monument whereby in time to come those
who come after will remember you, and let
them not say as they inrn from it .rith a
pitying smile. She did not realize that she
was no longer 15.
mks.Fba!te: Leslie.
SB
re-LILYROGHOW
(A Legend of
-WRITTEN FOB
-
BrA.-rjRic03
' ' ' ' CHAETEK Till.
K THE MLTJPLTJCKED FB02f BOpiON.
It was a striking fnneral scene which fol
lowed this sudden and tragic close of old
Bochon's career; but we may not describe
if! here, more than to say that a motley
crowd of rough people came together to do
the lost solemn honors to their king. The
history; of bochon's exploits would read
like some buccaneer romance, indeed it
would be little less. Publicly his story is
pot so well known as La Fitte's, but in its
'details there is far more of the picturesque,
the daring and the desperate than can be
found in the Batrratarian pirate'sad ventures.
He was one of the few born leaders of men
and he was born to lead the wild, reckless
ruffians of the southern coast at a time
when that coast was a hive of outlaws,
whose swarm was composed of every grade
of criminals from rnnaway slaves to the
most desperate murderers and robbers. His
personalitv gave him easy command, and
the wealth at his disposal set him
as if on a throne in a part of our country
where at that time law was an unknown
factor in life. Tradition has preserved in
the Bay St. Louis region a quite legible
trace.of .the Bochon regime, and the de
scendants of the Garcins still dwell iu the
remote and even now lawless fastnesses of
Honey Island. As a matter of cdurse there
were many conspiracies against Bochon's
power, and Garcin's was, perhaps, the
strongest of these in both numbers and
character; but like all the rest it failed, as
we have seen. Fortunately for Orton, his
visit to the Bay St. Louis region was jost
at the culmination of Garcin's mutiny, and
owing to the lively imagination of Captain
Victor he had been taken for a Government
official in disguise whose mission was to cap
ture old Bochon. Under almost any other
circumstance the young man would have
come to grief soon after his arrival at
Bayou Gallere. As it was, we have seen
how apparently the merest turn of chance
bore him through alive. It is from a part
A SESTIMENTAL BATTLE.
of his journal and from a few letters writ
ten by him to his father that I have been
able to write the outline of this story.
No stretch of the imagination is required
to realize the situation in which Bochon's
death left Orton and Mile. Felicie. On one
hand there -was a certain sort of relief in
knowing that the huge, fiery-tempered,
rough and roaring old lord of the place was
no more; but on the other hand with Bochon
dead there was no protection against the
lawless men of the region.
Orton had contracted with Captain Victor
to return for him, but as we know, Victor
could never return, for, along with Zozo,
he lay at the bottom of the lake.
Through trusted servants of the honsehold
it soon became known that danger to
Bochon place was brewing in the neighbor
hood. Orton was quite powerful to reach
the. people who could have controlled the
movemenLand he was practically without
"mean's of defence; Having but a few men,
mostly negro slaves, to depend upon for as
sistance in any emergency.'
A thing happened (soon after Bochoh's
death) which almost drove Ortqn mad with
a sense of the dreadful danger it boded to
Felicie. ' He and Felicie were standing at
the window, a place which since their be
trothal had become very dear to them, and
for the moment bad quite forgotten the
threatening aspect of their surroundings.
They had been qnietly planning to set. sail
for New Orleans with the first favorable
breeze; bnt just now they were exchanging
those' light. jsweet phrases known to lovers
since the"beginning. By the merest chance
Orton's eye discovered a lurking form and a
leveled gun just in time to thrust Felicie
rudely aside. The bullet sang through the
window, cutting the space filled a second be
fore by the warm breast of the girl. It was
a narrow escape from certain death, for trie
aim of Lalie Garcin had been steady and
true. .
Up to this time it had been thought that
Bobo was the murderer of old Bochon, the
slave's sudden disappearance at the same
time leaning strength to the suspicion; but
it now flashed into Orton's mind with the
force of certainty that Lalie ha'd sworn ven
geance againstihe family. The expression
of her face' he' could never forget as she
glared at Felicie through the sight of that
deadly gun. It was a look of such intense
and flaming passion, of such dark and mer
ciless hatred, that it impressed him with the
suddenness and power of a blood-curdling
revelation.
From that moment there was not a' point,
of time, waking or sleepinz, that Orton
could rid himself of the dreadful vision of
that face with its burning eyes and set,
ashen features. He kept Felicie within
doors' and away from the windows; every
noise frightened him as though he ha'd
been the veriest coward in the world. He
ordered a watch to be kept on the woods,
bnt he felt the insecurity ot depending
upon negroes in such nn emergency.
Dreadful, indeed, became the isolation and
remoteness of Bay St Louis now. The
romance was all go'ne, and in its stead the
horrible reality of an utterly lawless region
was.assertinp itself. Even the songs of the
mocking blrdsringing out gailr Jrom the
perfumed shadows of the magnolia foliage,
had lost their charm, and the ceaseless roar
of the bay had a dreary, lonelv strain in it
suggestive of the great distance between
the solitary mansion and any, center of safe,
wholesome .human society. Never before
had Orion been made to realize the value of
great, cities and dense "populations; cer
tainly he never before had felt how
specious and vain is that romance
which clothes with a mist of nnrnle
and ,gold the life of those who prefer
Bay St. Louis.
T3333 MSPATCU
BT -
THOMTSOK".
solitude and lawlessness to the sweet, tanlt
comforts of the highest civilization. It now
ofcnipfl TOnr strange to him that Felicia
could hesitate for a. moment to leave a placs
made; doublv dreadful;, still she did hesi
tate to take "a steprwhich,appeared to" be tb .
only safe one left for hen If the. deadly
enemy, whose shot was the constantly brood
ing terror of the household, had been a man,
Ortori Would have taken heroic measures at
once; but to his; chivalrous nature ths
thouiijjt of killing: a giri, even in self-tb-fense;was
revolting, and especially so whea
the girl was Xalie Garcin. Moreover, h
felt in a degree the justification, from her
point of view, of the desperate course sh
was taking. It was impossible, of course,
for a person like Lalie Garcln to philoso
phize; she could see only the facts as they
appeared, and to her the household at
Bochon place stood responsible for the deso
lation in which she now found herself.
The Bochon slaves began to disappear,
betaking themselves to freedom and tho
woods. There was no one now to follow
them with gun and blood-bounds scurry
ing after them and hurrying them through
marsh and swamp until they were caught,
flogged and brought back to intenser slav
ery. It .was but natural, indeed, that all
the negroes should feel in sympathy with,
Garcin; many of them-joined him on Honey
Island, where they became freebooters of
the most desperate kind. But Lalie Garcia,
making her home with a miserable od
crono (who a a fortune-teller aud charm
doctress dwelt in a cabin in the midst of,a
swamp on Bavou Galere), evaded her
father's authority and pursued the dark
purpose which had become the one thought
ot her life. The tradition of her killing;
Bochon and of the other acts in the tragedy
she evolvedls still the common property of
the French speaking negroes of all the Bay
St. Louis region.
Orton at length prevailed upon Felicie to
set out with him in a small sloop for New
Orleans. He found five faithful sailors to
man the craft, and preparations went for
ward rapidly, but with greatest secrecy, at
it was becoming more and more apparent
that sooner or later the destruction of
Bochon place would be accomplished by
Garcin and his coadjutors. Indeed, it had
come to Orton's ear, and he felt the force of
it, that Garcin now thought Orton's mis
sion, instead of being direct against Bochon,
had been for his own destruction, and tha
in fact the young artist had treacherously
connived at Bochon's murderous raid upon,
his premises. Such a condition of things
left Orton no alternative but flight, and
even this would be attended by extreme
dangers. Anything, however, was prefer
able to the awful suspense.-doubt and dread
that hung about the place; it was as if- aa
invisible and invulnerable foe were behind
every tuft of palmetto or veiled by every
festoon of Spanish moss in all the forest.
Felicie Bochon had been reared in the
midst of startling incidents and lawless pro
ceedings, but she had seen very little or tha
worst features of the life around her, nor
had she ever before felt the presence of real
danger to herself. At first she was dazed
and helpless under the effect of old Bochon's
shocking death, and even the attempt on
her own " life scarcely roused her to a full
realization, of her situation. It was not
until a second shot aimed at her had grazed
Orton's temple, as they were walking
through an open hall, that she became quita
willing to sail for New Orleans and leave
behind her forever the dreary, shady, bird
haunted and bloom-covered old home by the
bay.
They embarked at midnight, just as the
moon, a heavy silver crescent, had cut
through a bank, of scudding gray clouds.
Their little sloop already had her canvas
up, and, although the wind was not favora
ble, they hoped to make their way out of
the bay before daylight.
Bocking idly ou the water near bv lay
the little white sailboat which had attracted
Orion's attention on the day of his arrival. '
The yellow stern-board with its delicate
lily gleamed brightly under the moon'
rays. It was a beautiful vessel, graceful in
lines as a swan, riding the bubbling waves
with a lightness that loresaid the speed with
which it could sail. This boat had been
Felicie's own, and to her it was as dear as if
it had been endowed, with life and with the
power to'return her affection. As thesloop's
sail began to draw and the vessel to move
slowly away, the gfrl stretched forth bee
hands-over the gunwale as if to take the
little craft in her arms.
"My beautiful Lily," she murmured,
"and my dear old home!"
Orton had discovered before this that it
"ras the little sailboat and not Mlle-Bochon
that had real title to the name of The Lily,
of Bochon. In truth he had found out that
nearly everything that Victor had told him
was merest fiction woven out of the plenti- '
ful films of the Creole imagination.
The lovers stood upon deck watching Ihe
familtar landscape upon shore Tall slowly,
away from them. It would seem scarcely
reasonable that, at such a moment and un
der such a stress of circumstances, Mile.'
Bochon could regret leaving the place; but,
me reaaer musi not. lorget mat nonie, no
matter how isolated or how different from',
any other, has about it the endearing imag-
ination of sacredness. Felicie wept, despite,
the protestations and persuasions of the
faithful maid-servants beside her. '
"Come below, Felicie," whispered Orlon;c,
"you will be much in the way of the sailors
here, and they heed all the deck room they .
can get."
She and ber maids followed him down
into the cramped little hole called thet
caum, wncre mcair wiu siaie ana Close. 3
"We may have to fight for our liberty il
yet," he said, "and here Is the only place
bt safety for you. Garcin's boats and , '
schooner lie just around the tont north.
ward"; if they sight us we shall have a Chise .
for lire, x Know yon are brave, Felicie,.
tuereiorB you wm seep your seir-command.
vo not come on uecs, no matter wnat hap
pens. I cannotstay with yourl must heljlj
io man me vessel, ue conrageourlor roi
I
as
t
s.