EHSH -t- PA6ES 9 TO IB. T "t- r - . SUM'S YOUNG KING. x. 1-m. 1 1 i i - A Yisit to the Magnificent House of This Absolute Monarch and, HIS ONE HUNDRED PRETTY WIYES. v Life in the Harem and the Inmates1 Dress and Amusements. SAYAGE SACEED WHITE ELEPHAXTS lEOSS&SFOXDESd OF TBI DISFATCH.1 BAIT GEO K, Siaji, March 10. I bare just re turned Trom a visit to the palaces of the King of Siam. I have gone by the golden elephants at the portals, have walked past the black soldiers at the gate and have stood upon tih e Brass IdiL throne of his royal majesty himself. I have penetrated the re ception rooms and the various audience chambers, have taken a look at tlje bushes and trees of gold and silver, which are sent to him from his provinces, have almost handled the royal jewels, and have, with my practical American eyes, looked at the cartloads of bric-'a-brac gathered from the four corners of the earfh. I have visited the stables of his white elephants, have given the ugly beasts a taste of heathen grass, have trod with my patent leathers the floors of the holiest temples, and have with unwinking eyes looked at the grandeur of the little emerald idol. My letters from Washington gave me access to the foreign minister, and one of the English-speaking nobles con nected isith the State Department, a bright, copper-colored, black-mustached young fellow in a dress half Siamese and half European, acted as my guide. He showed me the outside of the great buildings ot the harem, but I have failed to meet any one of His Majesty's 100 wives, and His Eoyal Highness himself had left the capital for a six weeks' trip into the interior of his realm three days before my arrival. I have been Supreme Sing of Siam. so fortunate, however."as to meet many men connected with his court, who are well posted upon him and his kingdom. The talks with these and with old residents of the country have given me almost as good a knowledge of his personality as though I had met him myself, and, as I write this letter, his last photograph taken by the court photographer lies on the table before me. A Handsome King. It represents a bright-eyed, slender young man of 36, dressed in the gorgeous uniform of Siamese royalty. Small in stature, his head is crowned with a golden Vyramid of jewels, rising in circular tiers, diminishing as they go upward until they'end in a long, pencil-like point, which extends nearly two feet above the forehead of its kingly owner. His body is clad in gorgeous coat and vest, heavily embroidered in gold and jewels, and in place of pantaloons he ha he rich brocaded 6urong of the Siamese about his loins and waist. It comes down below his knees at the front and it looks here not un like a pair of fancy knickerbockers. Below these a pair of shapely calves in white silk stockings are thrust into jeweled-covered, heelless slippers, pointed like the shoe of the Turk, and the whole makes a costume brilliant and grand. His majesty sits on a foreign arm chair and his sword lies on a table at bis side. He is a pleasant-looking feljow and his olive brown face is plump and un wrinkled. He has beautiful liquid black eyes, a broad, high and rather full forehead and short, straight, black hair. Under his rather short and half-flat nose there is a silky black mustache, and below this the lips are rather thick, and the chin plump and well rounded. His hands and feet are well, made, and he is, all told, as good a specimen of Siamese beauty as I have seen. He is the ninth son of OIaha,Mongkut, the last King of Siam, and he was picked out of a family of 81 children to be placed upon the Siamese throne. He has 34 half brothers, and 49 half-sisters, and he liked one of his half-sisters so well that he mar ried her and made her his Queen. A Real Nice Position. Looking at him it is hard to imagine that he is the sacred ruler of from 6.000,000 to .10,000,000 of people and it is hard for an American prince to appreciate his absolute power and his holy dignity. The people of the country are his slaves. He has the right to call them into his service either with or without pay and all men -in Siam are forced to give him either the whole or a part of their services during the y.ear. His word can throw a msn into chains or put iim to deatb; can deprive him of his prop erty or rob him of his daughter. All the women of Siam are supposed to belong to the King and no one is forbidden to him except his mother. He is supposed to take one of his sisters as his Queen, and the nobles of the country offer him their daugh ters by the scores. His court is one of intrigue and plotting, and the nobles are glad to have their daughters in the harem, 'n that they may thus the better attain the King's friendship and powerful offices. He taxes the people as he pleases and these taxes are so heavy that at times some men have to sell their wives and children as slaves to enable them to pay him. Still his. vaults are full of treasure. Siam has no national debt and he has an income of more than $10,000,000 a year. He can spend tens of thousands of dollars in cremating a dead wife or in establishing a petty navy, which would be of no more good than so many boy's toy boats against the war ships of the great nations. A l'rogrcusiye Monarch. Still this King of Siam is the most pro- Ipreiiivethe country has ever had. He is afar.In advance ot his people and he is doing -AE? deal to civiliie then. Before his 5a f second coronation -in 1873 all natives who approached the King had to do so on all fours. They had to raise their hands in adoration to him and bump their heads on the mats before him. This King did away with all this and he has introduced the American hand-shake into his reception of foreigners. He gives receptions to -foreigners and he speaks the English tongne, though he never does this when noted foreign visitors have an audience with him. He considers it beneath his dignity at such times to speak in anyother language than the Siamese and he has an inter preter who translates the English words into Siamese and the Siamese woras into English. He has brought the telegraph and the telephone into Bangkok, has estab lished a streetcar line and lights his harem with the electric light. Just at present he is considering the subject of railways, and he has given 5100,000 to have a survey made of a railway which shall run from BangKok out into his kingaom and shall connect with juanaaiay ana ijurmah. The engineers started out to survey this railroad a few days ago and it may be that a decade hence we will be able to travel all over this coun try by rail. He has established a custom house and a very polite, dark-skinned o: ficial met me on my arrival in Bangkok and askedme if my trunks contained any con traband goods. I replied they did not and he then wanted to know if I was bringing any diamonds into the country, or if I had any packages of dynamite about my clothes. I again replied no and he chalk-marked my baggage without looking into it. Siamese Justice. This King of Siam is a Buddhist, and he was for some time a Buddhist priest, as is the custom with all men in Siam. Every-"" one is expected at some time to enter the priesthood, and this royal monarch witn his millions of treasures, his scores of wives and his ten millions a year, once shaved his head and nominally gave up his crown and his harem to wear a -yellow cotton scarf about his waist and eo to fastincr and unty ing. He is a liberal Buddhist now, and he gives, I am told, all facilities to the mission aries and treats them well. One of the missionaries is at the head of the. royal school here, and the King has given some thing to the mission fund. Siam has now an embassy at certain of the mnrt nf "Europe.and I think the Minister to London nas also the United States in his jurisdic tion. There is a Siamese Consul in New York, and here at Bangkok his Majesty has his Foreign Department, his Interior De partment and his Royal Mint. A new court of justice hps just been built and the white ot its exterior is probably more pure than will be the proceedings with in. As far as I can learn the native Siamese courts are founded more on the caprice of the judges than upon the law. There is no jury, and tortures similar to those of China are practiced to make witnesses testify. One is the twisting of bamboo withes tighter and tighter abont the head until the prisoner confesses, and another is the whipping with the bamboo of the man stretched out at full length, and his skin pulled taut by men at his head, and heels. The prisons of Siam are horrible dungeons, some of them hang ing over the water, and the forcing of con victs to work in heavy chains is so common that you meet them constantly on the street, and this not alone of men but of women as wellv A Pretty Pagan Qneen. His Majesty's name is perhaps the longest of any monarch in the world. It contains 67 letters, and he is called Chulalangkorn for short. He has ten different names in addi tion to this, and the full names of the royal family, would, I doubt not, fill a column of. this newspaper. The Queen is not far from 20 years of age; she rules the harem, and she I is a very pretty Siamese girl. Her" complex ion is a light brown, and her oily black hair, about, two inches long, stands straight up and is combed backward from a fair open forehead. She has beautiful eyes, wears diamond earrings and a diamond pendant at her neck, and her fingers are covered with precious stones. She smokes cigarettes, as does also the Kins, and she chews th fcptl nut making her teeth as black as jet, and- ucriiiBHics out. xne Siamese say that any dog can have white teeth, but that it is only those who are rich enough to afford the betel nut who can have black ones. Black teeth are a sign of beauty here, and all the ladies oCthe harem chew and smoke. I visited yesterday the storehouse of the purveyor to-ihe King. It is an English establishment, but its business is to sell the Siamese Gentleman and Lady. palace and the harem all the articles they need. It has hundreds of balls and play things, which are brought from Europe lor the royal babjes, and the clerk tells me that there is not a fancy French plaything or amusement of any sort that is not sold to the palace.- I was shown about a hundred dozen little china spittoons about the size of a shaving mug. These were beautifully decorated, and some of the pictures were by native Siamese artists sent to England to be painted upon them. I bought one decorat ed with a picture "by a Siamese Prince, and I was told that these spittoons are used by the ladies of the harem to spit in while chewing this disgusting preparation of the spongy betel nut mixed with rose-tinted lime and finecut tobacco. , Life to the Harem. I talked with tie dressmaker as to the fashions affected by the King's wives, and was told that the ladies of the harem prefer Siamese dress and that their "favorite cos tume is the suro'ne or waist cloth, to which they add a loose jacket trimmed with Swiss embroidery and covered with bo ws of ribbon set on in rows. Commonly they wear neither shoes nor stockings, and the chief leg deco ration is an .anklet of gold. They have some foreign costumes, which they put on when the court photographer takes their portraits, but their common attire is more that of jewelry and bracelets than of silks or of satins. These ladies of the harem are the most noble ladles of Siam. The last Kin; had wives from China and India, and he was anxious to add a well-bred English girl to his gallery of beauties. He had, it is said, chances to secure one or two French maidens, but he had had so much trouble with the French that he declined to receive hem. Once in the herein, it is impossible for a woman to get out, and in the case of flirta tions the offending woman is in danger ot being put to death. Many of the girls gam bit and some of them do fine embroidery ana lancy work. Some become jewelers and others mke articles and sneak them out of the palace to be sold. The women are not kept ia separate palacevind each does not - mm II5K have an establishment of her own as in Ja pan. .After the age of 24, if they have had no children, the older women become the waiting-maids of the younger, and the stock is . replenished continually. The present King shows no inclination to come down to the American one wife principle, and dur ing his present visit to the interior he has taken a couple of score of his favorite women along with him. The Amazons have, I amJ toia, Deen none away with at the palace. The last King had them, but though I looked through the best of pebbleV glasses for them during my visit to the palace I saw not one. The Roml Palace. The palace of the King at Bangkok was built only a few years ago. It looks much like one bf the great palaces of Europe. It has several stories, and under the bright rays of this Siamese sun, it appears to be made of marble. A closer inspection shows that the marble is stucco, and the golden elephants, each about half life-sire, which guard the entrance, change as you come near them from massive gold to Iron gilded. Wide stairways lead by marble steps through these into a great vestibule, the ceiling of which is about 4f feet highland the walls of which are hung with old Siamese armor. At the right of this is the King's audience hall. His throne is a bed, and. he lies on his arm or sits Siamese fashion, a la Turk, while he receives his royal council and discusses the matters of his kingdom. The ministers and nnfclrti nit on leather cushioned benches, and the por traits of Siamese heroes, in oil, by Euro pean artists, look down upon them from the walla.. JustTaackof the King there is a portrait nf n ctiavad-haoArl ..maVa.! mouthed, pale-faced, half-nakei Buddhist priest It is the high priesfbf the king dom, and thus the proceedings go on under the very shadow of Buddha himself. The priests, by the way, claim that the royal family are lineal descendants of Buddha. A Grand Reception Chnmber. On the other side of the vestibule is a grand reception room fully as wide and nearly as long as the East Boom of the WhUe House at Washington. This is paved with'marble mosaic and its high ceiling, twice as high as that of the East Boom, is gorgeously decorated with carvings of gold. Brilliant chandeliers hang down from it and about the walls are oil paintings of the royal family, and the only woman's face among them is that of the present Queen, whose sweet face looks down besidi those of the King's brothers and has the best light and the place of honor of, thejiwhole room. The furniture of this room is European and the treasures of Europe have been ran sacked to fill it. There are rare vases from Dresden, filligree work from Yenice and ricnly carved gold from . Siam. Through this room and on into a third grand reception room we went with the Siamese noble. Here the King received, the day before he left, the Austrian Prince, whom I have met during my stay and who has been sent here as Minister to China, Japan and Siam. This room is full ot beautiful things. Two ot the largest elephant's tusks, wonderfully carved, stand beside the mantel, and an album on alittle stand at the back of the room has a medallion portrait of the King painted on porcelain and set in the richest of diamonds. The corners of the room con tain large cabinets filled with curious works in-gold from card cases up to betel boxes, and I noticed a Una portrait of Frederick, the late Emperor of Germany, among the many oil paintings on the wall. A Golden Grove. The audience chamber, or rather the throne room of the king,- is a grand hall with a ceilinz made of many colored niivpa of glass and producing the same effect as the glass wall which Tiffany built between the vestibule and the long corridor of our White House. The light shining through this makes it look as though it was made of jewels and the room is lighted from the top. This ceiling is, I judge. 60 feet from the uoor. xi is vanned ana tne wans oelow are frescoed in gold. Three immense glass chandeliers like those of the East Boom ot -the Whits House hang down from this ceil ing and these were made for the palace of the Emperor of Austria, but were bought by the King of Siam. The floor is of marble mosaic and the King sits on a great chair on a rostrum at the back. Five steps lead to it and beside him are the kingly umbrellas and over him a nine-story, pagoda like crow,n of white and gold. Around the room there are gold trees and 'gold bushes, and the leaves of these are of pure gold, while their trunks are heavily plated. There were perhaps a dozen of these on each side of the room and they ranged from the size of a Christmas, tree down to that of a small currant bush." These are the offerings of the rulers of the various provinces under the King. They make these presents of gold trees every'year and some of them are worth fortunes. Not a few were of silver and the silver trees were placed on one side of the room, while those of gold were placed on the other. The Sacred White Elephant. Siam is known as the land of the white elephant The elephant is the imperial animal of the country and you see his pict ure upon all of the flags. The old coins of the realm have an elephant upon one side of' them and the white elephant is here sacred. He is supposed to be the embodied spirit of some king or hero, and the people formerly worshipped him'and they do so to some ex tent now. Before going to see the palace I had read a glowing description of the white elephant of Siam. I expected to see his tusks bound with gold, to find golden chains about his neck and a superb velvet coat of purple', fringed with scarlet and gold, over his snow white body. What I did find was four wild-eyed, scraggy looking elephants with long, tusks and with skins not much whiter than those yon see in the American circus. The only white part about them was their long flapping ears, wnicn seemea to ne amictea with the leprosy. The remainder ol their skins had the w'hiteness only of disease, and I was told, as a rule, the white elephants of Siam are mad elephants. These beasts were in dirty stables and they were chained by the feet to great wooden posts. They had dirty keepers and there was no sign of royalty about them. Their keepers fed them some grass while we were present and they per' formed some ordinary circus tricks for' us. The glory" of the white elephant, has in all probability departed, and the elephants of the interior of Siam are made to work quite as hard as their brothers all over the world. One of the punishments of Siam is the making convicts cut the grass for these royal elephants. One of them killed his keeper the other day,, and this same holy beast made a snap at me with his trunk when I entered histahle. Fban k G. Cabpenteb. ' IEELAND'S EMBLE'&L . . The Shamrock a Plant Not Unlike the , American Clover. Scottish. American. Clover in Ireland is always regarded .as 'distinct from the shamrock plant. Nor is this a distinction without a difference. Clover, as commonly understood, has a pale shading on the front of the leaf; and on this lignt coiorea section there, is a growth of short hair like protuberances. The genuine shamrock.on the other hand, is a rich dark green, like a maiden hair fern. Possibly it is a variety of clover; it is certainly not produced from ordinary clover seeds, and grows more like a weed than a classified grass. Clover has been seen masquerading as shamrock for. sale at Coyent Garden; but the man or woman who wore a spray of clover in the streets of an Irish town on the, 17th qf. March would be an object of popu-i yi PITTSBUKG, "SIICTDAT, HIE HAILS WITH JOT An Invitation From an Alpine Club to-Climb Mountains and TO SEARCH FOR THE NORTH POLE. Fate of a Man Who Tried to Jump a lawn ins Chasm asli Yawned. WHAT'S THE MATTEfi Wife TESUTITS? TOITIS FOB TETB DISPATCH. " I HAVE the honor to hereby ac knowledge the re ceipt of the follow ing communica tion: Obegon Ampins Club, Pobtxand, Oee., Starch 15, 1SS9. Edgar "W. Nye: Deab Sib I havo the honor to inform you that at a regular meeting of the Oregon Alpine Clnb, held Toes day eyening,March 12. you was unanimously elected an honorary member. Very respectfully, W. B. STEEL, Cor. Sec It is almost superfluous for me to say that I accept with pleasure the honorary mem bership thus conferred by an aspiring and deserving organization upon one of our most phenomenal literary deposits. The objects of the club, as I gather from the-constitution and bylaws inclosed with the notification are, first to utilize the large smooth mountains of Washington and Oregon for climbing pnrposes. Also to monkey with the flora and fauna of that region. I have accepted with ill concealed joy that I am, and may continue through life to be, an honorary member, therefore, of the Oregon Alpine Club. I shall also take occasion at an early date to-accompany the -club, by means of a horse and wagon, to the summit ot mount iiooa or .Mount xacoma. Later on I hope to become so robust that I can walk. THE X.UXUBT OP TBAVEJJ. Once I could walk a great deal. At one time I went by this means quite a distance, taking views of water-tanks and side-tracks along my route, using great care to get off the track as the trains went by. In this way I saved enough in one summer to en able me to make the same trip on the follow ing summer But in later years wealth has engendered a love of ease and a slight tendency toward luxurious dishonesty and repose of manner, which at first would con vey the idea of refinement. I now hail with much joy this opportunity to climb a few of our most desirable moun tains. Which one shall we tackle first? How are your glaciers this spring? Have you got a good iforseless glacier with re mains in it? Haw did the flora and fauna stand the winter, and will ther be qn hand this season when we get ready to go? I notice also by the preamble which juts out a few inches from -the consti tution that one of the objects for which Hye Taking Views on a Side Track. the club was organized, was to "make known to the world that, as a center for vis itors to radiate from, J?ortland possesses un surpassed advantages." I will cheerfully join you in this especially. Certainly, I have never radiated from a city which gave better satisfaction than Portland has. If I did not believe that, I would not thus pub licly EQstate, over my own brief, but wide spread signature. Portland, as a visitor's radiator is, and must ever remain unsur passed. A 'WOBTHY ASPIBATIOIT. You also aim to make the club a high authority on mountains' and their habits, mountains in their home lives, half hours with mountains, mouAains as bedfellows, together with suggestions as to what to do for their cold feet and throbbing brows, so cial habits of the mountain and its hesita tion in calling upon Mohammed, although the mountain was there first, mountains as parents, mountains as forefathers, moun tains as mouse breeders, etc., etc., ad finitum, as the papers put it. All these objects coincide with my views, and though I see that the club has taken the precaution to give me no vote whatever on these matters, I cannot be prevented from' entering heart and soul into this glorious work. As soon as the weather is suitable you will see me start up Mount Hood with an Alpenstock and a theatrical trunk con taining all that one need possibly want, and want to possibly need, on such a trip. I have already purchased an Alpenstock in Omaha. If belonged to the estate of a man who climbed the golden stair, via the Mat terhorn, three years ago. The Alpen stock has quite a lot of notches already cut in it, which give? Tne a good start. He was never recovered, it is said. He tried to jump across a yawning chasm just as it was in the act of yawning and so lacked about nine teit of crettinc across. The following September this Alpenstock was found by the yerge of the yawning chasm. Several hundred feet below a yul-1 ture was seen eating the lining from an old pocketbook. Still farther down a venture some champis "hunter, with a rope tied around his waist, discovered the marks of a man's front teeth on the trees, as he evi dently blazed his way along down while passing hutriedly in a perpendicular direc tion toward the bottom. Farther down, he discovered a broken pelvis and the main spring of a Waterbury watch, which had crawled out of the case, and entirely filled the bottom of the chasm to a height ot 9 feet. The man himself was'dead. ' AIT'IMPOBTAKT QUESTION. One thing I wanted to ask about the club was tlfis: Do honorary members bring their dinners, or willlsome- way be provided whereby they will not have to do so? I can bring some things to eat with me, if desired, but would prefer to do otherwise if not put ting you out. We Jive well at home, and yet one tires oi tne same iooa year in and year out. Whatever you decide on in that way will be satisfactory to me. Food should be, foe such a trip, nutritions, well pionicu tuu . ficuo. i k. .a uimuu uu. lb ill the hind part of my wagon, along with my Alpenstock, if thought oest. I would.be glad to meet personally the geologist, the mineralogist, the ethnologist, the ornithologist, the ichthyologist, the bot anist, the microseppist, the entomologist and tho conchologist of the club. When not too busy-1 would be glad tojiid them sot far as u3a 14, J889. possible in their researches. I shall take with .me on .those trips a large scrap book, containing press notices and autumn leaves. I can read from this tome to the club the kind things said of me by the American press, wherein it has been staged that I have called, or that I was seen, on onr streets, and other encomiums which I can read to the clnb as you pause to wip'e the perspira tion from the'brow of the mountain or while I tie a nosebag over my.horse's head and sock a few much-needed oats into him. Then the book can be afterward used lor squatting ferns and other fauna so that we may carry them home with us and think about them next winter. I see that under the provisions of Section 2, of Article V of page 7, 6"f the revised statutes of jour association, under the title of membership, that "no person shall be come an active member, after the organiza tion 'is complete, who has not climbed at least one snow mountain to its summit,'' NYE -WIM, PBOCEED SLOWLY. This harsh ruling will for some time yet prevent me from becoming an active mem ber, though if you could relax this rule'so as to let in a man who had been gently toyed with by a cyclone and lifted by that agency to where he could look over into Ga briel's watermelon patch, I might get in at an early date. I would like to climb some of your more obdurate mountains, however, in the near future and take my share of the suffering. Some day I would also like to join an Arctic expedition and do some more suffering in the higher latitudes. I think I wou'.d suc ceed there first rate, as I am used to sub sisting on my friends when very, very hun gry. My idea would be to join the club, first as an honorary member, then gradually be coming an active member, walking" long distances and climbing haystacks by means of my Alpenstock, until I became very ath letic and strong; then climb a tall frapped mountain,freezing both ears till they swelled up on my return like a pair of baked apples, then I would go abroad in search of the coy and prudish North Pole. Finding the Pole. X would ent mv nnmA in the hark, eat a few com- Attending ,a Mountain Peak. rades, and with these, picked men concealed about my person, I would return, full of in formation and blubber, to lecture on the Solid North. I am naturally of a roving disposition, and dearly love to seek out new dangers which I can defy by mail. Ton also have an extinct volcano near you which I would be glad to pry into, and see what it is that causes the nausea which in variably seems to accompany this phenome non. Some scientist ought to go down into the crater of an extinct. volcano and see why it is that lava always seems to lie so heavy on4he stomach of Vesuvius', for instance.. bome thins: I ivotua oe a good man, and perhaps I would, I could get a very1 good petition asking me to do so, but I hate to go down into the bowels of the earth, not know ing how I will be received. I am brave, but at the same time keenly sensitive. I would hate to find after it was too late that my presence rather exaggerated the nausea which seems to be the curse of a volcano's very existence.', HE THANKS THE CLUB. Addressing the Oregon Alpine Club through its Corresponding Secretary, I wish ttjus publicly, in all candor and sincerity, to thank the club for the honorary member-' ship thus so worthily conferred, asking only . the ireenom oi some oi your most praise worthy mountains, with the right to climb them at such time as I may elect, hut not before that time. In that way I shall be honored and shall endeavor to avoid, so far as possible, in any way disgracing your or ganization farther than to accompany you by means of a livery team mostly, on your ascents. Socially, you will find me a great acquisi tion. I am full of small talk and science, literature, art, political economy, .travel and the common school branches. I can be earnest or playful, as the mood changes, like sunlight chasing the summer shadows across the glorious mead. I can provoke the listener to merriment with my pathos or jerk loose the scalding tear by means of my sunny humor. So that in selecting me your club has made no mistake. When is thai first annual dinner of the club? If you will let me know, I will put my Alpenstock in a shawl Btrap and come on. Remember me to the conchologist, and tell the entomologist that I have found something at a "Teaoreggs?" Hotel which would interest him, I' know. It looks like an early dwarf terrapin and smells .like a case of fermented oblivion. So no more at present Ironryour true friend, Bill Nye. BNAKE AND SPABE0W. A Courag-eoni Little Bird Captures nd Carrie ATf ay a Reptile. Springfield (O.) KepnMlc.l ' A curious incident was witnessed Saturday in the "High street entrance of the Lagonda House. There are massive pillars in front, capped by designs in scroll workl In this scroll work the house sparrows build their pests by. dozens, and multiply faster than a calculating machine. Saturday a sparrow flew up to its nest above the east -pillar, proudly bearing in its beak an eight-inch snake it had captured somewhere. It was a tough tussle for the blrd to land the little reptile, for the snake was auuut as neavy as tne sparrow, xne lasn: was finally accomplished, however, and about half of the snake's lensrth rotten into the nest The Test of the body hungout and writhed and twisted angrily.' Just then a larger spairow perceived the snake for the first time and swooped down upon it, caught itskilitullyjust back of the head and. flew away with it. Tlje entire drama was watched by many spectators with deep Interest. A FIGUBE PUZZLE. A Moit Amntinc and Mystifying Use of Ar ithmetical Number. Philadelphia Times.: - Following is a very curious puzzle. Try it, all of you: y Open a book at random and select a word within the first ten lines, and within the tenth word from the end of the line. Mark the wor,d. Now double the number of the page and multiply the sum bv five. Then add 20. Then add the number of the line you have selected. Then add 5. Multiply the sum by 10. ' Add the number of the word jn the line. From this.sum subtract 250 and the remain der will indicate in the unit column the number of the word; in the ten column the number of the line, and the remaining figures the an'mfcer of the page. APRIL EAST AND WEST. V A Tale of a. Century Ago. WBlXTEir POB THE DISPATCH BY EIW.AIU EVEBKTT HA3CJ3. SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS. The story opens in old Salem 100 yeariSigo with an account of a sleighride party and dance to which the heroine, Sarah Parris, is es corted by Harry Curwen, who was somewhat of a spoiled darling. Sarah, who is an orphan living with her uncle and aunt, determines to join a party of settlers going to Ohio. When the news becomes known Harry Curen offers his heart and hand to Sarah, but is told that he must first show that he has been of some ser vice to his country. CHAPTER IH. A SHIP OF IHE PBATBTB. In a thousand discussions, renewed morn ing, evening and night, about the proba bilities and the possibilities of Sarah Parris journey, the conversation turned most often to what sort of woman Mrs. Titcomb was most likely to be. To this un decided problem Aunt Huldah and Mrs. General Thomas and the girls returned two or three times a day, while the preparations went forward. "But, Aunt Huldah," said the laughing Sarah, as she laid out in the sun a pile of clothing which she was marking, "yondid not wonder half so much what sort of man the mate of Bobert's ship was to be. Now Bobert was to be under the mate for three years, but I shall only be under Mrs. Titcomb for three months or Madam Tit comb; perhaps she is Madam Titcomb," the girl added, with a mock courtesy. "You will not be under her a minute and a half," replied her admiring aunt, with a fond look upon the girl, which meant, "you were never under anybody in your life, and are not apt to be. But I tell you, it is one thing to sleep at one end of a ship " "In a comfortable forecastle," laughed the girl. -" "To sleep in one end of the ship, whether it is. comfortable or uncomfortable," thus persisted Aunt Huldah, "and to know that the mate is sleeping at the other end. Now that is one thing. Half the time you da not see your first mate, and half the time you forget there is any. Bnt jour Mrs. Titcomb you see her every minute, and like enough hear her, when you get up and when you lie down, as the Scripture says, when you go out and when yon come in." "And von will hear her." groaned elegant Mrs. General Thomas, "with her 'I be' and 'I vum,' and Be ye goin' to. do this, Sa rey? and 'Be ye goin' to do that?' " All of them laughed, hut the irrepressi ble Sarah laughed most of all. Mrs. Titcomb should not be abused in advance, she said. She did not doubt that she was a Frenoh lady, a maid of honor of Marie Antoinette. She knew all (the ways of court. Probably Mr. Titcomb had carried a load bf codfish" to Versailles and sold it, and Miss Adele had fallen in love with him and eloped with him. "She shall teach me French, dear Aunt Huldah, and I will teach her pure Yankee, with the true Essex county aocent." Such rattle as this gave a special inter est to the fatal moment at Anoover. when r the eleeaafeLtortege which accompanied 'Sarah Parris birher first stage from Salem arrived there. General Thomas took the girl in his own chaise, Other carriages fol- lowed, in which were the various boxes, bags and other luggage which, as was hoped, Mr. and Mrs. 'Titcomb would re ceive in their wagon. More than one of the girls who had danced in the Valentine's Day party had come to say good-bye. And as they stood by the side door of the great stage house" In Andover, and Sarah bade one and another good-bye, it was clear that they would have made of themselves a very pretty colony if only they would ' all perse vere to the newhume. , At last Silas Oilman came running on to announce that the wagons were in sight. And sure enough, a train of four or five canvas-topped "ships of the prairie," as they were afterward called, filed by on the main road below them. One of these de tached itself from the caravan and came, slowly up the hill. Two spirited boys, each on horseback, rode up in advance. They swung them selves off their horses, and, a little shyly, approached the curious group who stood on the piazza. These were Moses Titcomb and his younger brother Cephas, with whom, as the year went on, Sarah Parris had much to do. The elder boy introduced himself to General Thomas, who stood a little in ad vance, and explained that it was his father's wtrgon which was coming up the hill. A minute more and General Thomas was as sisting Mrs. Titcomb to alight, with the- same courtesy, as saran could not out ob serve, even in that critical moment, witb which he would have given his hand to the Queen of France, who was at that moment the idol of all Young America. And then, a little confused, good Mrs. Titcomb turned and looked around among the bevy of girls to see which was to be her partner for the next three months. For there had been quite as much discus sion in the Titcomb camp as there had been in that of the house of Parris. Sarah stepped forward, and the sensible, good natnred, shy, motherly woman took the girl to her arms at once. She looked at her with admiration, and then, as if she broke the bonds of her native reserve, kissed her eag erly. "My dear girl," she said, "I shall not be afraid of vou a minute now." And they both laughed heartily, and the critical introduction was over. Aunt uuiaan came forward, and shook hands heartily with Mrs. Titcomb, and with her husband, who had now appeared from the heads of his horses. Then began the negotiations as to where Sarah's baskets and boxes could be swung and packed away this one beneath an axletfee which had been reserved for it, that one from a crossbar in the top of the wagon, this and that parcel under the feet of Miriam and of Polly, and so on, and so on. Clearly enough Sarah had a friend at court in Mrs. Titcomb, and she would not hear no, not of a pin being left behind. Sarah had in her mind divided her luggage, as skillful travelers will, into themustbe and tha may-bev sections; but with good Mother Titcomb everything was must-be. And she said that if they left behind them the bag of beans for the horses, everything of Sarah's should go till he last inch ot the journey. This was a good beginning, and. it was a oeginmns waicn was not too orignt a dawn for the 90 days, which followed. Beaders of this degenerate age, if they are east of the Allegbenies, have, I am afraid, never Been a "ship of the prairie." If they have the good lnck to live west of the Mis souri river, they know what was the vessel in which our pretty heroine was embarked. It was a strongly built wagon, not very dif ferent from any other large four-wheeled car in its "hull," but attracting the notice of all eyesTiy its long, broad, white canvas cover, which was indeed a tent stretched on large ash hoops, fastened to the sides of the wagon. The country butcher's wagon of our day is a miniature emigrant's wagon, but that the top should swell out on each side, and project over the driver's seat in front, and far back beyond the rear of the cart it self. It will easily be seen that such pro jections gave additional shelter from the sun and irom the rain. Under the seats of this roomy wagon every sort of store was crowded. There must be something- from day to day for the horses who drew the ma- f chine, and for those which were ridden by j the boys, for they might come to places where there would be neither grazing nor corn nor grain to be bought. For the rest, every essential which the experience of the earlier settlers had suggested, which would oe needed in the building up of the new home on the Muskingum, was packed away somewhere. , Of these stores Cephas Titcomb, the father, was the nominal steward, but in fact dear Mrs. Titcomb knew better than he did where this or that could be found, from a horseshoe round to a Bible, if there should be. a sudden demand. The wheels were quite high, and space was thus given under the wagon for slinging several boxes or trunks from the axletrees. Rifles and shot guns, with one or two pistols and Cephas Titcomb's old cavalry saber, hnng from hooks on the right and left, above the heads of the women as they sat in the wagon. At night, by simple enough processes, the body of the wagon became a bed. on which the "women folk" slept, arranging their places acpording to size or other convenience. For the men, they spread bearskins or wolfskins, having the shelter of the wagon to creep under if" the night should be rainy, or, as sometimes happened as they crossed the higher ridges, if the snow were falling. When morning came, the frying-pan and teakettle were lifted down from the hooks on which they hung, and tHe fire in the open air made by the earliest boy, was ready to prepare "the hot water for the invariable cup of tea and the coals for the invariable salt pork. If by good luck there were eggs, why, there were eggs, and Mrs. Titcomb and Sarah vied with each other in showing in how many ways eggs could be cooked. As they went onj indeed, their skill in using their scanty kitchen equipage, tinder the nindrances of open air life, became greater and irreater. They arranged with each other to take turns, J fILAJHP JJli",l-fi mi ;L3s2 cS) -. ZZA Ml j M Jl s r I - Z.s SABET TJLEK3 WITff tVASHlKOT03r. day in and out. as cooks for the day. and I the boys soon loyally ranged themselves under Sarah's banner, in a determination that her days should be not inferior to those directed By the world-renowned skill of their mother. Foragers before and behind would bring in a squirrel, or possibly a partridge, and once and again wild turkey. If these failed, there was the infallible salt pork, and on Sundays as they did not travel, with the regularity of the recurrence of the sacred seventh day, there was a pot of beans. For, however one place or another place in this world may be rated for its loyalty or disloyalty to that article of food, Essex county, which these travelers were leaving forever, will always be the central shrine of its most sacred worship. No, Emma, no, Lilly, this story canbot last forever, like a Chinese comedy, as you and I would like to have it. So that if you want to know where they washed their hands every morning, when they walked and when they rode, when the side-saddle was fitted for Sarah, or when she and the boys tramped on far in advance over muddy roadways, you must call up some spirit by the hands 'of a successful medium, or you must.burrojr in the old chest, where are left the diaries and letters of a generation now, forgotten. We must hurry on and bring' them to, their destiny; for I will confess to you here that tbev were not drowned as they I crossed the Hudson, they were not murdered P,.l .Taiftt.. thA.. 4fd nAt Ate. t ....1.1 f .uumo(.. tut; u.u uu. u.Q v. Branch ICVCr in Bethlehem, they were not poisoned at Allenstown, they were not caught under a Inowdrift and frozen to death on the crest of tne Alleghenies, and they did not die of despair when they came to the Westejn wa ters and found them too low for navigation. Here is just one little scrap from a letter of Sarah's to her Aunt Huldah, which you may read first, Emma, and then you may pass it over to Lilly, and that shall be all the detail of the long journey. Sarah Parris to Huldah Whitman. AI7 Dear Annt Huldah: I would write at the head of my letter, in the true epistolatory style where I am, if I only knew. But all I do know is that we have crossed what they call the water-shed, and are well on the western side of the famous Allegheny Mountains. And I know this that last night the boys were talking Dutch with the children of a Dutchman who lives at a place which is called Still ings. But what his name is, dear aunt, I do not know. So now you are as wise as I am. We have had a funny adventure with the Dutchman's dog, and I will tell you this first of all, though-it is not very im portant. He had this pretty little dog, which be was very tond of. 1 need not say that my boys, who are dear boys, were very fond of it, too. They plavfcd with it last night, and fed it, and made it lap milk. For you must know that we have as good milk as you have. Our two cows have not given out at all since we started. There was one night when they could not keep up with us, but excepting that we have had milk all the time. Well, this morning, I do not know how, somebody took the little dog and put him under the seat of the wagon, and there he went to sleep, and we did not find him until we bad gone a good many miles. Then Cephas had to ride all the way back with him, for fear they should think we had stolen him. Somehow Cephas missed the Dutchman's son, and he has just now brought us a, very funny letter, written in tfie worst English I ever did see, ex pressing his surprise at our ingratitude. But Cephas will be back soon to tell us that he has saved our reputation, though we have lost our little dog. Now, I will begin my story. All the way through the Bay people ran out to see us, and our wagon, which was such a strange thing to them; and in Connecticut, too, we we're quite famous; but after we came into Jersey, people did not mind us any more than you mind Parson Bentley's chaise. For there were, a great many wagons going forward, and we fell in with some almost every day for we go faster than roost f them do, having such good horses. Of course, we go faster than the oxen, and I .must confess also that we go faster than, those who have yokes of cows, as one man had whom we passed yesterday One day. I do the cooking, and one day my r dear Miriam does; for, do yon know, I have learned to call Mrs. Titcomb Miriam, and, we have not been afraid of each other sines that very first minuta when I left you at Andover. And, my dear Aunt Huldah, vou will be proud of your own little girl, for I really believe that I am almost as good a tentkeeper as you are a housekeeper. It is not for nothing that you have taegbt ma how to keep pots and kettles clean. Miriam is not ashamed of me at all, and I am not at all ashamed of my breakfasts or my din ners. We are not getting on as fast as Mr. Titcomb expected we should, but, as I say, we are getting on faster than -ftnost of them do, and, for my part, I like the life. I walk every day-three-quarters of the way; I have often, walked 15 miles. Then the boys are very eager that I shall ride, and some days I have ridden all the way. We have a Side saddle for me and for Miriam, but she rather pre fers what she calls the luxury of the wagon. We make a long halt in the middle of tho day, for the sun is beginning to be hat. and it is better for the beasts. This gives a chance for the cows to come up, and for ths boys to go on lor tneir snooting.. In fact, both my boys are away now; I hear every now and then the crack "of their guns, so I shall be quite ashamed of them if they do not bring us in a rabbit or two for supper. We have a good deal of time for our read ing, and it will quite surprise you to know how learned we are beginning to be. Do you know, dear aunt, that your dear Mr.Cowper can be quite as jolly, as he can be sorry? Miriam has brought with her a newspaper, in which there is the funniest song, or sort of ballad, rather, that you ever did see. It is about the adventures of a man who went out on a frolic with his wife, and never came near her from the minute they started from his house in London, because his horse ran away with him. She will give me a copy of it, and I will send it to you when we come to the Muskingum. When that will be, I will not . And here the reader must give up this little day-by-day gossip for, alas, the' long yellow page has given way herebymuch folding backwards and forwards, as differ ent loving descendants have read the story, and so we are not able to print the auto graph of Sarah Parris, in the nineteenth year of her age, as we should be glad to do. But a good geographer who chooses to plot on the map of Pennsylvania the route) which they were fallowing, from such hints as he can get from the diaries of other emi grants, and from this story about the Butch- " man, will see that they were nearly at their land journey's end. It was not many days after Sarah had written this letter before they came out on the Monongahela river the same which, in her grandfathers days, had been made famous when a certain George Washington covered the retreat of the troops of a certain General Braddock. Our friends, however, were not to march downto the bottom land on the aide of tha Monongahela, but were to build for them selves here an "ark of safety" which was to float them the rest of the way. Herefhere fore, a camp was made, while 3Ir. Titcomb, and one or two of the men who went with him, with some other pioneers from Old Newbury men, all of them, skillful in woodcraft, indeed, in ship build ing, should frame and build tho boat which took its name from Noah's, in which they were to complete their voyage. For the women and children, this fortnight in. July, spent under canvas inardelicious climate, was rest after the fatigue of travel ing, and rest with a sort of feeling that they were back in the shepherd life again. Our modern life knows no such harbors in the midst of our daily storms; but the men and women of a hundred years ago were nona the worse that they lay land-locked some times for two or three weeks at a time. CHAPTER IV. WASHLVOTOS' AT A BECEPTKHT. In the whole mass of letters there "is not one line from Sarah Parris to Harry Cur wen, nor one word written by him tocher. Bat on removing the faded goatskin cover which some prudent hand had sewed on the x Bible which the girl carried from Salem to the Muskingum there was found a little note billet, it was called in those days in which he asked her" to accept a farewell present.. The present was a basket fitted with knives and forks and spoons, which ha had carried more than once when they went on a picnic together. In all the little familiar tea parties which Salem sadly made by way of bidding good by to Miss Parris, Mr. Curwen never ap peared. "He had gone to New York, it wai said, and though Salem was apt to know the business of everybody in Salem, rather better than he knew himself, Salem did not known why he had gone. No letters came from him, or, if tbey 4id, the postmaster had not recognized the handwriting. So was it that, excepting for the picnic basket, and-forthat little billet which was acci dentally preserved, Sarah Parris had no goodby from Harry Curwen. A hundred years have lifted some mysteries, so that there is no reason why I should not tell both ot you, dear Lily and dear Emma, what Mr. Harry Curwen had done withhimself. First of all, he had written the little billet, and had sent off the basket, with the silver spoons and knives and forks, to the yonng lady. Second, he had gone to Boston, and had spent two or three days there, in eon. ference with his father's oldmilitary friends. He. had obtained from them letters of Intro- , duttion to General Knox, in New York. Then he took the stage to Providence, and from Providence, with a north-east wind, he took -the packet Lady Washington, and sailed for the City of New York. Three days after, he found himself at Francis' Hotel in that city. It was then the seat of government of the United States. , Harry Curwen dressed himself in his best, and called upon, his old friend, Colonel Timothy Pickering, to whom he told his plans. The Colonel advised him, as men of 40 sometimes will advise men of 20 that is, he advised him to change all his plans and go home. But by this advice Harry Cnrwin was not moved. He asked Colonel Picketing, also, to give an Introduction to General Knox, which h could not refuse. " Now, General Knox was at this time the "Secretary of War to the new-born nation. And so soon as Colonel Pickering had writ ten the note, to General Knox Harry Cur wen repaired. f The General was most kind. There Tuil f teen no need, he said, that our friend Harrv Luuuiu uuug uiui tellers. ArcQeriQ KUTt wsin's' son needed no introduction to him. ' He went back to old days when tha .young, man's-father was in college. 'Anct after tnose aajs, jay aear young raan, he weald I 111 M 1 i 4 4 4 e$Mm&t ,.. t -tsiTt -i . - k .
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