Pittsburg dispatch. (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, May 12, 1889, SECOND PART, Page 9, Image 9

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    WK
,R
'35 jf
THE.
PITTSBIRG DISPAT
-& .
-
HGISSifO 16.
SECOND PIRLT
"W"
-lJf-
r !
ft-.
WOMEN OF BPEMAR
Beauty and Business Among the Ad
Tanced Women of the Orient.
WIYES CARET THE FAMILY PURSE.
A Burmese Belle and Her Peculiar Dress
and Big Cigars.
DESCBJPH05 OF A BUEMEBB DIHNEB,
fCOBEiSFOKBESCI OF IH DISFATCK.1
Bangoon, Bttb-
Kah, March 18.
The women of Bur
mah are the most ad
vanced women of the
East The Japanese
wife is addressed as
slave by her hus
band and she never
appears to help him
entertain his guests.
The Korean madame
never appears on the
streets except after
dark, and the small
footed Chinese girl is
the slave of her
mother-in-law. She has no rights that
her husband is hound to respect, and he can
sell her when he is tired of her. The
Siamese girl, though a step higher injthe
order of human rights, has to support the
family, and she is, according to law, the
property of the king. The Malay woman is
secluded in the harem of her husband, and
the millions of women of India, Egypt and
Turkey are never seen upon the streets.
The Burmese girls are the brightest char
acters of the country and their gay silks,
bright eyes and graceful figures fill every
place with color and beauty. They mix
with the men and they have equal rights in
property end social standing with their hus
bands. During the first years of the mar
riage the man must live with and help sup
port his mother-in-law, and he is by no
means the master of the house. The woman
holds the purse. She is the business man of
the family and though at times it is said
-that wife-beating tales place in Burmah,
such instances are few and far between. JC
heard of one to-day in which a man enraged
by a shrewish wife attempted to strike her.
A crowd gathered around and she taunted
him, saying "Beat mel beat mel 1" The
man raised his stick and brought it down
sgain and again within an inch of the
jroman's back, but did not dare to strike
aer.
Good Bmlueas Women.
The business ot Burmah is managed by
he women as much as is the business of
Burmese Lady.
France. The city of Rangoon has about
140,000 people, and it is the center of trade
of lower Burmah. Much of the native bus
iness is done in immense bazaars, covering
many acres. These bazaars are roofed with
heavy wood or iron to keep out the sun. and
some of them cover several blocks. Their
interiors are divided up into streets, which
cut one another at right angles. These
streets are walled with cases of goods of all
kinds, which rise from the back of a ledge
five feet wide and as high as a chair seat.
Upon these ledges the bazaar's sellers sit
with their goods piled around and behind
them, and in these bazaars the Burmese
women compete with merchants from all
over the East. They are as sharp at a bar
gain as the Parsee merchants and the tur
baned Mohammedans who have stalls ad
jacent to them, and the Burmese manufac
tures of all kinds are sold by them. 'Without
education in arithmetic and without know
ing how to read and write, they can count
profit and loss like so many lightning cal
culators. I bought some silk ot one of them
to-day. The price first asked was three
times what I finally gave, and the girl who
sold me made, I doubt not, 25 per cent
profit. .
A Burmese Beanty.
She was a typical Burmese beauty and
she sat with her legs crossed fiat on the
straw mat of her booth with shelves of silks
behind her and with gay-colored clothes on
the floor all around her. In her mouth was
a Burmese cigar at least a foot long and a
fall inch in thickness. She offered me a
whiff when I looked at her goods, but upon
my refasing she handed the cigar over to
her sister and attended to business. Pulling
down one piece of bright silk after another,
she spread them out on the mat before me
and chatted and langhed while she sold.
Girls mature here at 13 and 11 and this
bazaar daisy was perhaps 16 years old. She
was as straight as a post and, as plump as a
-partridge, and her rich Burmese dress was
well fitted to show out her beauties." The
Burmese women are clad in two garments.
One of these is a jacket of silk or cotton
which reaches to the hips and the other is
thetamehn. This is a wide strip of bright
silk about five feet square, which is wrapped
around the waist and the limbs and fastened
with a twist at the front. It has the effect
of a tight American pullback without the
bustle, put on without underskirts. The
opening of the skirt is at the front, but the
women walk with a throwing out of the
bare heels, which prevents the folds opening
to an immodest degree.
A Gar Coalnme.
The wealthier ladies wear these dresses so
long that they trail upon the ground. The
colors are those of the rainbow and the most
delicate or yellows, of pinks and of blues
are used. My fair merchant wore a skirt of
bright green and gold, and her silk vest was
a rich cream yellow. She had several
strands ot pearls about her olive-brown neck
and her ears had great buttons in them of
clusters ot diamonds, each as large as cuff
buttons. She had bracelets on her arms
and there was a gold ring on one of her
toes, and in her hair was a bunch of bricht
artificial flowers. She was, I judge, five
feet hich. Hr eves were larse. solt and
. brown, and ahnra these weredaintilv-arehtr?
tout noi neavy brows, out oaa a weaun or I
!"" "';. duck nair raiicu up m a pyra- I
tajik L s 'is-mrMxm . j. .-?. I
ill
23
midal crown on the very top of her head and
this was fastened by a silver comb which
rested ou the scalp at the base of the pyra
mid. She was a fair type of a thousand
pretty Burmese girls, whom I have seen here
during the past week, and her costume was
that of the country.
A'TWaee Maiden' Dress.
The fashions do not change in Burmah and
it ought not to take a Burmese lady long to
make her toilet. The tamenn i s worn ny an
classes and in all parts of Burmah. The
village girls and the women of Mandalay do
not use the silk vest, and in its stead they
have a strip of cloth which is wound tightly
around the bust under the arms, leaving the
neck and shoulders bare in much the same
way as the women ot Siam. There is a scarf
which is sometimes thrown over one shoul
der, and this falling under the other arm is
caught and is so arranged that it can, cover
both shoulder if the girl should desire it.
One meets many women, however, who do
not use this scarf, and the ordinary dress of
the interior village belle is about as decol
lete as that of our fashionable society ladies.
The village girls wear as bright colors as do
the ladies of the better classes, but their
tamehns are of cotton. They are in plaid
patterns and are fastened with a simple knot
atthe.waist '
Enormous Ear Pings.
All Burmese women wear ear plugs.
These are as costly as the purse of the
woman can purchase and they are like no
ear-rings you will find in America. The
Burmese Lover.
lobes of their ears have holes in them, each
of which is from a half inch to an inch and
a half in. diameter, and I have seen such
holes through which a man's thumb could
be thrust and not bruise the skin. In some
cases women carry these big Burmese cigars
in their ears and I saw a woman's ear yes
terday in which there were gold rings
which would have made good-sized napkin
rings. It seems incredible that the flesh
can stretch as it does, but some of the
poorer women's ears are so enlarged by this
process that the string of flesh which hangs
down in the place of the lobe is almost as
large around as the ear itself. The high
ste lady has a hole in her ear about as big
around as her index finger, and the ear
plugs, which are about half an inch long,
are often tipped with clusters of diamonds.
They are sometimes of gold, and in the cases
of less well-to-do people are pings of solid
amber. The poorest women wear plugs of
glass of bright green or yellow. The gold
rings are often hoops of gold of about the
same shape and size of an open-ended thim
ble." Clears and Iiove-SfaUog-.
Speaking of cigars, I bought two to-day
of a woman in the bazaar. They arc each a
foot long, and one looks for all the world
like a -poorly-developed ear of corn with the
husk on. They are very mild and have
little tobacco in them, being made of owher
leaves in connection with the tobacco All
of the Burmese people smoke men, women
and children. I have not yet seen any ba
bies leave the breast for a whiff of a cigar
ette, as the books on Burmah state thev do,
but I see many 3 and 4-year-old children
smoking, and the Burmese maiden learns to
smoke as soon as she can walk. All of the
girls are adepts in rolling cheroots, and in
Burmese conrting the girl gives her lover
cheroots rolled with her own hands,
and the two lake, I doubt not,
whiffs about in the smoking of them. 1$ is
common to pass the cigai from one friend
to another, and in a group of three girls,
whom r watched having their fortunes told
under the shadow of the great golden pa
goda, I saw that one cigar did for the trio.
The Burmese do-not court in the day time.
Love-making goes on dnring the evening,
and the lover never calls until the old folks
have gone to bed. He always brings a
friend with him, and the maiden dresses
herself in her best, and paints and powders
for the occasion. Elopements are common,
and the lovers are so romantic that they un
dertake them many times when there is no
opposition ou the part of the parents. After
remaining away for several weeks they come
back and ask lor lorgiveness, and the mar
riage is then often celebrated, though not
before.
A Simple Ceremony.
The Burmese marriage is a very simple
affair, Jt consists ordinarily of eating
rice together in the presence of friends and
Surmese Village Belle.
of saying that the two propose to live to
gether as man and wife. The matches are
sometimes made by the parents and some
times by professional matchmakers. The
mpst common method, however, is by the
young people fixing the arrangement for
themselves and carrying on their billine and
"cobing the same as we do at home. The
.Burmese groom lurnlslies the wedding
breakfast and he carries it to the house of
the bride. After the marriage rice is thrown
after the couple as they go to the bridal
chamber and they are expected to pass seven
days in seclusion, though this is not com
mon. The newly married pair live with
the bride's parents for several years at least,
and in-case that one of these parents dies
the other becomes an inmate of the family
for lifetime. It is presumptuous for a
young: man to set up housekeeping immedi
ately after marriage and he is supposed to
work for a certain time for his wife.
Marriage Lamb
Polygamy is permitted fa Barman and
KingThebaw had 63 wives. Most of, the
Burmese, however, have bat one wife at a
time and to have more Uio respectable.
The favorite time for mfryfeg is April
ana aay,aaa boh mjmjwbsm are ssr
PsoSml
yi-? lliiBigBHBrrrsisssnM j"
F
ried before they are 3$. As to property
rights the woman's money is kept apart
from that of the man's, and she has an
equal right with her husband in the prop
erty earned during married life. In case of
a divorce she gets oaok all of the money she
brought into the family and half of the
earnings. She has a right to her own earn
ings and the laws of divorce are more in
favor of her than her husband. She can
get a divorce if her husband is poor and
unable to support her, or if he is idle and
lazy. If he is always ailing or if he becomes
a cripple after marriage she may be di
vorced, and on the other nana the man may
get a divorce for three reasons. The first
is if his wife has no sons. The second is if
she does not love bim, and the third is if
she persists in going where he forbids her.
In addition to this divorces are permissible
by mutual agreement. They are not com
mon, however, nor reputable, and It is a
Burmese saying that a divorced woman
needs small wooing. Another Burmese say
ing is that:
"Monks are beautiful when they are lean,
four-fooled -animals when they are fat, men
whenthey are learned, and "women when
they are married."
Woman' nights.
Burmese women are treated well in the
family and they are the equals of the men
in family affairs. They have -their say in
all business matters, and the only place in
which their inferiorityis noticeable is in re
ligion. The Burmese are Buddhists, and a
Buddhist woman has no chance to go to
heaven, save by her soul at death passing
into the body of a man. If she is wonder
fully pious during this life such a transmi
gration may take place, and I note that the
chief worshipers at the pagodas here are
women. Bnddhist teachers put women much
lower in the scale of morality than man,
and they maintain that the sins of one
woman are equal to the sins of 3,000 of the
worst men that ever lived. There are about
200.000,000 Buddhist women in the world,
and none of these have any other hope of
immortality than this. Nevertheless I am
told that the Burmese women are more
honest than the men and that their business
promises are more to be trusted. They are
not educated, as a rule, and it is only lately
that there have been schools in Burmah for
women.
The Baptist missionaries are doing a great
deal in this direction, and I visited a fe
male seminary here which contained about
100 girls. They were very bright looking
girls, too, and the President of the school
told me that many of them could speak
three languages and that they were fully as
bright as the average American girl.
During my stay an English spelling match
was gotten up for my entertainment, and a
class of SO girls were spelled down. They
were all clad in the Burmese costumes and
bare-footed, bare-headed, and with these
tight dresses about their limbs they stood
and spelled" the words almost as rapidly as
the teacher could utter them. They had a
queer pronunciation and accent, but they
did remarkably well, and two of the girls
remained on the floor for a full half-hour,
going almost through the spelling book in
that time. As the girls missed they one by
one went back to their seats, some laughing
and some pouting. But the two who re
mained to the last tired out their teacher,
and as she said "enough" they walked off
proudly kicking out their bare heels as they
lirted them from the floor in this approved
Burmese fashion, which serves to keep the
dress closed in front.
Easy Housekeeping;.
The Burmese woman has few of the
troubles and pleasures of a New England
housewife. AH of her cooking is done out
of doors at this time of year, and her range
never gets out of order. She builds her fire
on the ground, and her cooking utensils
consist of two or tkree;carthfrn pot& xnese
and -a far of water with a eoeoanut ladle
made up the kitchen furniture, and our"
Burmese housewife is sot troubled with
table-spreading nor dishwashing. She is
never worried about her flour nor her bak
ing powder. The Bnnnese use neither
knives nor forks. Their staple food is rice
and a huge platter of this is cooked for the
family and placed upon the floor. In addi
tion there is a bowl of curry, a kind of a
soup, gravy-like mixture, which is seasoned
witb fish and pepper, and which is very hot.
The family squat around the rice dish and
each has his own little bowl for curry and
a larger one for rice. Everyone helps him
self, putting his fingers into the rice platter
and taking as much as he can squeeze up in
his hands. The food is conveyed from the
bowl to the mouth with the hand, and at the
close of the meal everyone is expected to
wash his own dishes. No drinking is done
dnring the meal, and at the end each goes to
the water jar and rinses out his mouth. I
have seen many families jit meals, and in
no case have I seen the chopsticks or knives
and forks. The Burmese dinner is thus a
perpetual picnic.
Urine in Tents, n
Living, as they do, the Burmese can not
have much of heme life. The houses of the
great majority are more lice tents than any
thing else. They are made of pjaited bam
boo walls thatched with palm leaves, which
are pinned to rafters of bamboo the size of
fishing poles. The most of the houses are ot
one story, and this is built upon piles so
high above the ground that you can walk
nnder the floor without stooping. Under
the house the live stock of the family js
kept and there is sometimes a work room
inside this lower foundation. The house
has no furniture in an American sense; the
family sleep upon mats and they keep their
heads off the floor by resting them upon
bamboo pillows. Still they are wonderfully
civiiiicu uuuBiucriug tucir 3urruuuuings.
They are the kindest and most manly people
I have met since leaving Japan, and their
women are bright, intelligent, and in the
cases of the younger ones, beautiful.
Feank G. Caepenteb.
LOTS OF CnOOKED HOSES.
Hardly Anybody's Nasal Appendage Exactly
Strnleut and Becular.
Lewiiton Journal. 3
I have been .making a study of noses late
ly, and really it's astonishing to find how
large a proportion of the noses are twisted
to one side or the other. Try to find the
median line of a person's face by tracing it
from the'tip of his nose and. see how you
come out! Many people who imagine that
their noses are perfectly straight would find
by a close inspection that those appendages
gee or haw a little perhaps to their amuse
ment and maybe to their chagrin.
A Portland dentist tells a story to the
point. Says he: "After I had fitted a set of
false teeth to a lady, she exclaimed, 'Whyl
you haven't got the middle of the set in the
middle of my face!'
"I looked again and told her I thought I
had.
" 'But just look at my nose!' said she.
'The middle of the set certainly is not in
line with the middle of my nose.'
" 'That may be,' said I, Tint your
nose
" 'Do you mean to tell me that my nose
ain't straizbl?'
' 'Ithink that you will find that such is
the case.'
" 'How much is your bill? I'll pay it
and you can keep your old teeth!'
"She paid the bill, threw down the set
and flounced out, as angry as an angry
woman could be. She went home, her
friends fold her how foolish she was, she
laid awake all n!ght,ind the next day came
back, apologized and had her work fin-
lsnea."
A Model MoMftiernrlBg- Tovra.
In the-town of Bmbroofc. Ireland, where
John G. Jliehardeea employs 3,000 people
lathe bkihh fee tare of Irish lilea, bo liqnor
rhas"been soMVferviO.'yeawJ'and as a result
.there jsntaer pelieeB3B,-, pmoa, pawa-
b ear pauper m ie tows.
EgTgSBTm& STTETDAY, MA,X 12, 1889,
WHY BO HEN DRINK?
Resnlis of Scientific Queries as to the
Causes of Inebriety.
DRUNKENNESS CALLED A DISEASE,
Frequently Hereditary, and Only to bo
Gored by Heroic Treatment
FEMALE INEBRIATES IK HIGH LIFE
rwaiTOX POB THI DISrATCH.1
"Why do men get drunk? A number of
learned Englishmen, who have formed
themselves into a "Society for the Study of
Inebriety," might possibly throw some light
on this interesting question if anybody
could. 3ut they don't They apparently
accept the existence of the evils of drunken
ness as a fact and devote themselves mainly
to inquiring how said evils may best be
remedied.
I have one of their pamphlets before me.
The reading it contains is very different
from most of the labored reports and essays
put out by scientific bodies, inasmuch as it
is neither dull nor dry, but curiously inter
esting as a whole. "Does Inebriety Con
duce to Longevity?" is the subject of an ad
dress delivered by the President of
the society. It appears that cer
tain persons, presumably interested
in the manufacture -or sale of
intoxicants, have issued cards, printed in
various Ianguages,and circulated them very
freely in Great Britain and elsewhere.
These circulars purport to give a table fur
nished by a committee of the British Medi
cal Association, appointed to investigate the
relations of disease and alcohol, from which
it appears that the average age of total ab
stainers at death was 61 years; that of decid
edly intemperate men, 62; freo drinkers, 57;
careless drinkers, 69, and habitually tem
perate, 62. So the President raises his very
novel query, and in effect answers it by the
words, "Not much."
A MA1T OF SIBAW DEMOLISHED.
It is true, he says, that such figures were
set forth.bnt it is not true that they warrant
any deduction in favor of the superior
longevity of drinkers, or that the British
Medical Association gave utterance to any
such absurd or unfounded conclusion. He
points out that the reports were limited and
defective, that the data were collected in a
loose manner, that of the deaths returned
only 2.8 per cent of all were those of ab
stainers, and that the statictics were value
less as a basis for general conclusions.
The explanation of this apparent greater
shortness of life among the teetotalers' is
very simple. The general habit of drinking
has come down from remote antiquity,
while the abstinence movement is bnt some
50 years or so old. The great majority of
our converts to teetotalism have been young
persons, so that the average age of living
abstainers must lor some time to come be
much less than the average age of drinkers
of all degrees. Such is the simple explana
tion of this latest "Mare's nest of Bacchus.
This explanation is corroborated by two
other tables constructed by Tt, Owen and
his committee. "When deaths under 30
years of age were excluded, the average age
of the abstainers was about four years more
than that ot the decidedly Intemperate.
When all deaths under 40 years were ex
cluded, the average age of the teetotaler was
one year greater than that of the free drink
en, and taoie than" 11 wr years" greater than
that of the intemperate.
TEMPEBANCE AKD WjITO ItEE.
A conclusiveproof of the superior longev
ity of abstainers over drinkers who are not
drunkards, is afforded by the retnrns of the
United Kingdom and 'General Provident
Institution. The statistics are spread over
22 years, and embrace only the,lives of ab
stainers and moderate drinkers, drunkards
being excluded. In the temperance section
the number of expected deaths during the
22 years was 3,937; the number of actual
deaths was 2,796. In the general section
there were 6,114 expected deaths and 5,984
actual deaths.
These figures show only 71 per cent mor
tality of the expectancy, "a saving ot 29 lives
in every 100 among the abstainers, while
among the non-abstainers there was a mor
tality of 98 per sent, or a saving of but two
lives in every 100.
The investigation committee, instead of
arriving at the startling and absurd conclu
sion imputed to them, actually decided and
stated in their report their full belief in the
following propositions:
That habitual indulgence in alcoholic
liquors beyond the most moderate amounts
has a distincttendency to shorten life, the av
erage shortening being roughly proportional
to the degree of indulgence. That in the pro
duction of cirrhosis and gout, alcoholic ex
cess plays the very marked part which it
has long been recognized as doing. That
total abstinence and habitual temperance
augment considerably the chance of death
from old age or natural decav. So does true
science even witness to the superior heolth
fulness of abstinence. The-more the effects
of alcoholic intoxicants are inquired into,
the stronger confirmation there will be of
the truth of the foundation principle of the
great temperance and prohibition move
ments, that intoxicating narcotics are dan
gerous articles, noxious to health and life,
in all quantities which are followed by any
appreciable' effec t.
KTEBBrETr A DISEASE.
In the same document is printed a paper
by Mrs. L'Oste, an associate member of the
society, who has been engaged in the study
and cure of inebriety for 27 years, and who
is now connected with a home devoted to
the cure of female inebriates lrom the cul
tured classes. Her belief is that nothing
but the absolute and immediate discontinu
ance of the use of stimulants in any form
will effectually cure the drunkard. The
former practice of weaning patients by de
greesa sort of "tapering oft;" whereby the
patient's supply of liquor was reduced grad
uallyshe says reminds her of a man who,
while drowning his superfluous kittens.used
to take them out of the water at intervals to
breathe, beitg finder the impression that
iachlresh immersion rendered dying easier!
She is now convinced that the system was
wrong; it simply prolonged the pain, fos
tered the craving for alcohol and lengthened
the time required to thoroughly purify the
system from all traces of it Mrs. L'Oste
gives, as the result of her experience and
obrervation, the following statements:
"I am entirely of opinion that inebriety
is a disease, often hereditary, the germs of
which may sometimes be noticed even in
children, frequently shown by their Inordi
nate thirst and their craving for hot condi
ments with their food, and highly" spiced
dishes. I have seen this in several instances
in the children of ladies under my care.
One little girl of 10 1 discovered to be in
the habit or taking pepper out of the cas
tors and eating it by the spoonful. This
tendency, all who have studied the question
must know, is it constant trait in the adult
inebriate. When the disease was not inher
ited, I have found that the majority of cases
Were caused by the nervous debility result
ing from feminine disorders.
XHEIB JTATtJEE CHANGED BY DKINK.
"While under influence of the disease, the
sufferers are not responsible lor their actions,
their whole natures and characters undergo
a complete metamorphosis, the most high
principled and scrupulously truthful will
stoop to such depth of deceit and degrada
tion, as at other times they would shudder
to think of. The craving for stimulants
becomes so intense that they are faeapable
of resisting it whea at liberty, and at .'this
jstagewill hesitate at nothing, ewt see-
lants. The consequenw of the continued in
dulgence in"alcahol or drugs, is the gradual
weakening of neTve power, both mental and
physical, until at last the poison takes full
effect and brings about in some cases partial
and in others total paralysis,- beside many
other grave diseases, such as diabetes,
weakened heart, congested liver, etc."
Mrs. L'Oste states that the length of time
required for a complete cure varies between
six months and two years, according to the
age, temperament and physical health of
the patient, whetherthe disease is heredi
tary, the number of years attacks of in
ebriety have continued and the nature and
the amounts of the stimulants taken. A
cure is rarely effected in six months. The.
lady continues:
"I have found the percentage of cures to
be about 30 per cent These were not, how
ever, as is so often the case, mere tempo
rary cures, but the patient were to my
knowledge absolute teetotallers for years,
and manv of them are still known by me to
be so. Others have of course, been lost
sight of as years went by; but I have every
reason to hope that after keeping well so
long, thev have not relapsed.''
Mrs. L'Oste does not believe in the use
of morphia or other 'narcotics or sedatives
as remedial agents in cases where stimu
lants are suddenly stopped. Experience
proves conclusively to her mind, that, as a
rule, when the effect of the drug has passed,
the weakness, often engendered, renders the
craving for stimulants greater. A sojourn
in a genuine institution for the cure of the
disease where there is no possibility of
either of these drugs being obtained, is, in
her opinion, the only chance of permanent
cure. E. M. E.
HaRI-KAEI IN JAPAN
Tub Ancient and Barbarous Cnstora No
Longer In Vosue.
London Qlobe.J
The ancient Japanese custom of Hari
Kari, or Happy Despatch, has received its
death blow. For centuries ifhas been usual
for any exalted Japanese dignitary who may
have mortally offended his sovereign to re
ceive a polite official intimation to the, effect
that his suicide will be pleasing to the
authorities, and until recently it has been
the unvarying practice for the offender
to acquiesce resignedly, and, after summon
ing his relatives aronnd him, to formally
disembowel himself in their presence. If
the culprit happened to be of exceptionally
high rank, the sovereign would, as a mark
of honor, send him a jeweled sword, with
which to operate upon himself. But all
these things are now of the past; Not long
ago the Mikado was grievously hurt by the
words and conduct of a high court official.
The man was an old and very valued servant
of the Crown; but his crime was unpardon
able. Kext day, therefore, an officer brought
him the fatal sword, a magnificent weapon,
with a blade inlaid with gold and a handle
encrusted with diamonds, together with a
sympathetic intimation that his early death
would be regarded as a benefit to the em
pire in general and to the Mikado in partic
ular. The culprit received the sword with
all proper respect, but, as soon as the emis
sary had departed, the wily Japanese in
whose mind European habits of thought
have evidently taken firmer root walked
down to the quiy, went on board a mail
steamer that was bound for Havre, and
upon reaching Paris incontinently sold his
sword of honor for 6,000.
We never met with a better illustration
of the eminently practical nature of the.
Japanese character. It is exceedingly un
likely that the Mikado will ever again trust
one of his subjects to execute himself. Still
less will His Majesty be inclined to favor
exalted criminals with jeweled swords of
honor. Tho'offices of a Lord High Execu
tioner will probably be called into requisi
tion instead) and wicked noblcswjll, for the
future; be saved the trouble and anxiety of
having to be their own, butchers.
WOHEtf WITH DECEITFUL WATS.
How They Fall the Weol Over the Eyes of
Their Fond Hnsbnnds.
Brooklyn Eagle.
"Some of the funniest and even strangest
things that ever take place anywhere occur
in the lobby or a theater," said Mr. Walter
Sinn recently. "It will p'ay you as a news
paper man to hang around here for a while,"
he continued, "and keep your ears and
your eyes open." I followed his advice,
and the first thing I heard persuaded
me that some married men pay much
too heavily for their theatrical amusements.
Two ladies walked up to the window where
Treasurer Bichardson presides with ability
and patience. One of the ladies asked for
two 75-cent seats. She was shown the box
office sheet, and the location of two good
seats not yet sold. She said the seats would
do very well and began to look for the
money for them. Her companion said
"Wait a minute, mister. Say, Mary, why
don't you buy two 460-cent tickets? He
won't know the difference, and we can have
some icecream."
The proposition was promptly agreed to.
On the evening of the same day, just as the
audience was leaving the theater a man, his
wife, and a lady friend stopped, and the
last mentioned lady stepped up to Manager
Sinn and warmly, thanked him for some
kindness which she seemed to think he
he had done her. All of -the three persons
were entire strangers to him,
The following day he got an explanation.
The lady had gone through her husband's
pockets and treated him to an evening at
the theater, where she could never get him
to take her. She prarticcd a little deceit
upon him by getting her friend to tell him
that she (the friend) had received the tick
ets as complimentaries from- the manage
ment of the Park. The profuse thanks to
Mr. Sinn were only a finale to the clever lit
tle deceit
A 1IYELY BEAR CHASE.
Bruin Is Panned From West Virginia
ThrouRU Maryland to Pennsylvania.
A bear hunt, which extended over three
States, ended at Cbambcrsburg, this State,
on Sunday. On last Friday a big 200
pound black bear was driven out of the
mountains of West Virginia by a party
of hnntcrs and swam the Potomac
river. Bruin made his first ap
pearance at Williamsport, Md., on Satur
day morning, and terrified the'town, several
dozen hunters" and packs of hounds going
alter him without success. Ho then crossed
the Mason and Dixon line into Pennsyl
vania, and made his next appearance near
Green Castle. There another big hunting
party was organized, but the animal escaped
the men and dogs.
On Sunday morning Bruin was seen near
several small towns in Eranklin county.
Pennsylvania, and the whole neighborhood
turned out to hunt him. Late in the after
noon he was Been near Quincy, eight miles
from CHambersburg, making his way up
the North Mountains. A big crowd ot men
and dogs started after him. The dogs treed
the bear,and he was finally dispatched after
showing fight
EASI TO TELL A DIAMOND.
A Simple Method of Dlitlnsmlhlng the
Gennino From 'the Fale.
St. Lonli Globe-Democrat. -
"It doesn't require an expert," said Dr.
De Menil, 'to tell whether a diamond is
gennine or not The test is very simple,
and can be made in any,place, and in 'a
moment All you nerd is a piece of paper
and a lead pencil. With the latter make a
small dot on the paper, then look at it
through the diamond. , ..
"If you can see bat one dot you can de-
fiend upon it that the stone la genuine, but
f the mark is scattered or shows more than
.oae, you will be perfectly safe Jq refusing
.upajic. .ii in a nBCnMBj 05
.coereH TtrtMH turn,
NYE AND M'ALLISTER.
Bill Has an Interesting Interview
' With Ward McAllister and
IS TfiBATED WITH COLD DISDAIN.
He Gives the Crest Trust King a Few
Chunks of Wisdom.
THfi BLASE TOUHd.HAK AHD WOMAS
rwsrrrxx roa Ihe DispiTCH.t
ONEof the saddest
things- about the,
streets New York"
is the' blase young,
man. Hatdly old
enough to know how
to harness a horse or
milk a cow, even for
a picnic party, he is
already weary ot life.
He knew everything
when lie was little,
and has gradually ad
ded to It ever since.
He cannot sit through
The Blase Young Man. "Hamlet" because he
has heard it so often before. He saysBooth
Is failing. Hedon'tthinkthaWeffersonspeaks
so distinctly as he used to do. He is sorry
for everybody, and pities everybody, and
wishes he could split up his knowledge and
give the slivers of thought and experience
to the poor.
The blase yonng man never had any real
fun in his life. Even his attempts to be
real bad were disappointments. He will
criticise his harp when he gets it and get
his crown stretched before he will wear it
He will also speak of the dampness of the
cloud he is sitting on and make sarcastic re
marks because he cannot wear pockets
stitched on the outside of his robe or ny
about with a shawl strap full of canes,
The Blast Young Man Broposti.
knocking the brains out of other celestial
people or picking their eyes out and wear
ing them away on the ferrule of his um
brella. HE NEVBB LAUGHED.
The blase young man never laughed
heartily, even as a child. Nature disap
pointed him. The little lambkins wereun
tidy and the grass took the- polish off his
shoes. He criticized nearly- all forms of
vegetation. Throwing srdMsslng: -gown
hastily over his shoulders, whileWnitiBp-for
his clothes to be aired and, put on him, he
looked at the doctor on the first evening of
his appearance with a keen, searching
glance, as much as to say, "You have
ushered me into the world which I can al
ready see is being frightfully mismanaged."
He has no enthusiasm. He does not love
anyone, because he fears that he might give
way to a wild impulse and crush the crystal
of his watch by means of the sunny bead of
his soul's idol. He knowa bad things about
everybody, but heightens the effect by striv
ing, oh. so hard, to keep them quiet He
has tasted every joy in the whole world ex
cept the glad thrill of jumping off the East
river bridge, and he could get a general per
mit for that if he would only doit "
When he was 16 he proposed to a woman
39 years of age, but could not do so withont
first telling her that he had tasted of every
sweet in life and that he had been oh, so
tough and so naughty, and that he was
really a great big horrid rake in disguise.
"But you are innocent," he said; "you are
pure as a freshly laundried snowflake. You
are just bursting into womanhood ami I
cannot alas, I cannot fool thee- or beguile
thee as others might seek to do. I am a
very wicked man. My soul is steeped in
vice, but still I am noble. With all my ac
cursed life of lust to look back upon, I can
truly say that I have never forgotten to be a
fentleman. T am a great big, generous
earted but eunuied citizen. I have saw
everything, from the Fourth of July to the
Tooleries in France, Europe. I have saw
everything in New York, and Fargo,
Dakota. I have been abroad two weeks
and tasted every delight of foreign courts,
having paid fines in most all of them. And
now after all tnis. can yon not love me all
the better for it? Do you not .crave a blase
young man with scars on his character, but
yet noble and smart
SHE IS STILL THINEUTO.
She said she would think it over, and if
she decmea to love mm sne would send a
requisition for hip.
And so he is still waiting for her to come
and claim him, bnt rather hoping that she
will not
Then there is also the blase young woman
beside. She has seen everything. She al
lows you to tell her about something and
then she says she has seen it several times.
She has the chastened air of one whojias
lost several husbands, but is willing to go
through it again whenever heaven sees fit to
designate another one. one has a far-away
look like one who sees a swift-footed Welsh
rabbit scooting across the horizon.
When she was a little girl she used to
play a little, but not uproariously. She did
it according to plans and specifications fur
nished by the old books representing chil
dren in the act of romping and endeavoring
to be gay. She had a large amount of
wisdom at the time when she was born. She,
could forget enough in a few moments to
start a normal school. She was like the
blase young man and the bnmble bee, big
geswhen she was born.
We should be sorry for the blase people
wherever we meet them. They da not have
any fun. They are afraid to laugh at any
thing for fear that other people will think
they never heard it before. They lead a sad
life. When they get to heaven and their
neighbors look for them to be surprised, the
blase peopleof New York and Brooklyn
will say, as they look around at the sapphire
lampposts and the IB-carat curbstones, "Yes,
Mr. Talmage was telling me about, those
things eight or nine years ago."
INTERVIEWING M'ALLISTEB.
"And have you always been thus?" 1
asked of Mr. Ward McAllister the other
day, as I seated myself on his escritoire and
colleoted a carnation from the beautiful
little bouquet by his side.
'What do you mean by that?" he asked,
haughtily twisting his imperial and working
out the wax, which he then wiped on a pansy I
penwiper irom time to time.
"I mean to say, Mae," I replied, "that-I
would like to knowwhether this thing came,
on you when: you was a child, or whes) yo'u
began to notice whiskers bursting fort from
their lair?" $
"Do yoa mind telling me what you refer
to?" he again, asked, eoldly, taking a crest
from his hip peeket sad rubbing it with a
nail brseh.-f -' - ,
vi reer w Mmrseeeee4 usaiUBgMieertM
S I IMlSTlSWlH IHM I Mil If I IS II' -,'T-lll KJ1 -? jftLa.a
1 r
r nig ,
of American blooded trick jackasses to 400.
Did yon think of it yourself, or did some
newspaper man put the idea into your
headf"
"I owe nothing to the press, Mr. Ah
Mr. Ah "
"Nye is my name. N-y-e. Mr. Ah was
my partner. Mr. Ah ,Sin. of California,
formerly of Hong Song. My name is Nye.
We come from the De Nyes, who got some
foreign substance on their escutcheons in
tho time of Looey the L and so came to
this country. Still there is no royal blood
in our veins. We can say that, truly. We
have been a great family for hauteur and
.reserve, and we can truthfully say that no
dissolute monarch has ever been able to in-
(
Interviewing the King of tne Crest Trust.
traduce his scrofulous tendencies into our
family tree."
"Well, sir," said the great head of the
Crest Trust, "I do not care to know
especially what your history may be, or the
history of your tribe, sir. I am not" in
terested In: the matter. Moreover, I was
just going out, sir."
IEEATED. -WTTH DISDAIN.
"So was l'in a minute, if I am not de
taining you," I said, as I ran my arm play
fully through his and looked up into his
clear, cold eyes. "Just wait a little while
and I will go with you. We can stroll
along together anon. Do you not like anon?
As asocial word. X mean. Not as a busi
ness term, of course, but ns a kind of
snapper on the end of a social tete-a-tete.
'Ah, yes, very good. "Very good, indeed.
But I will not detain you."
"You an not detaining me, Mac. You
couldn't detain me if I wanted to go. But I
do not want to. My chores are all done. I
have copy enough on the hook to last a week.
I am out for the day, old man. I am out for
the day and we can have sport if you say the
word. We can frolic over the hillsides, as
the suspicion of migonette and goats come
athwart the reeling senses. I know where
the bock beer groweth rankest and the
'cavler sandwich' with cod liver oil and cat
fish roe into it doth most abound. Come
with me, Mr. McAllister, and let the tail
go with the hide, as one may say."
"You are a low, cawse person," said he
languidly, "and I say again that I will not
detain you."
"Why are you so morbid about this mat
ter of detention?" I queried. "You are not
detaining me. I am soaking my soul in
dolce farina, Mac I do not need to go back
to the office till Saturday, and, in fact, I do
not need to go there even then, for I have
an order in for the week's pay. Let us be
gay. Ward, if I may call you thus. Let u
be free from care. Yon can take your coat
off, if you feel better that way, while I am
here; You need not fold your red sole
leather gloves so as to make the fingers stick
out of your breast pocket like the hand of a
drowning man ordering five more beers, un
less you want to do so. Be yourself for a
day or twoMr.-MoAlUgtor,-jJ uuiae -with-me"
e
' ?HE Willi -HAVE NOME OF NXE.
"I thank you, sir, but Ihave other duties.
Your, tastes are gross and cawse. You are a
cawse man. You only carry one handker
chief at a time, instead of two. We carry
one in our hip pocket for using purposes,
and wear one in our outside pocket with
prongs on if, to please the eye. Yon think
of nothing but patient toil. You are cawse.
Your umbrella is gross and paunchy. I d
not like you. Go away."
Do you mean that?"
"Yes, pf cawse I do. I don't want to be
rude to you, but you offend me. You wear
a soft hat, and yoa hold it inyour hand like
a new bawn baiby. You try to conceal yaw
nanfls by sitting on them, and you are just
Hye Finds a Flshball In Mads Kitchen.
. awfully cawse. I never heard of you befaw
in me life. You are just as rude as can be.
and I will not detain vou."
"Thank you, sir,'5 now thoroughly in
censed, "I will go away. I see your method.
You draw me out in conversation, and then
after I have told you all I know, you say
you will not detain me. You say it several
times. Yon do not show me the album or
treat me courteously, and then, because I
am shy and rattled, you call me 'cawse.' I
would be ashamed to treat anybody that
way, Mr. McAllister. I would not treat
,my own wife that way. I come inhere in
a quiet,' off-hand way and try to make you
feel easy with me, and you take advantage
of it I put on a gay, debonair and naive
air in your house, which I really do not
feel at all. I do it so you will not feel that
you must entertain me. I do not intend to
stay to dinner, but just come here to have a
talk as between man and man, about one
thing and another, and you sit up there on
the edge of your chair,
LIKE A SNO-WMAN,
with a hoe-handle for a spinal column, and
expect me to be easy and graceful in my
manners. I cannot do it I am not used
to it Wherever I go I am courted and
feted and made much of. In all the gay
centres of young and joyous life, there you
will find me, with my little Ion mots and
repartee. Here, in the presence of a
Stoughton bottle, a bump on a log, a fly-up-the-creek,
Lcannot think of anything to
say.' So I appear at a disadvantage, and I
know It just as well as you do. I feel all
the time that you are weary. You throttle
a yawn every little while, just as jon begin
to show the amalgam filling in vour back
teeth. I felt somehow all the time that I
was possibly boring you, because I know
how it bores a feeble-minded person to fol
low the swift flight pf those who think
thoughts. I am sorry. I am pained to
know that L have annoyed you, Mr. Mc
Allister, for. yen look worn and haggard, as
if you might'have been out last evening and
perhaps overbrayed yourself."
I then passed rapidly ''from his sight, in
tending to go via the street door, but in the
frenzy of my wrath I went out the wrong
door, so tbiit X soon found myself in the
kitchen. So' I stole oat through the wood
shed, eatiag as I went a cold codfish ball,
which Mr. McAllister had m .doubt at
tested the eveiB before. ,'2u,rNxs.
A'GEEAirSILENTAKIT'
The Habits, Aims and Future of Qttl '
Mutes Told by Their Leaders.
EESULTS OP THEIR EDUCATIOI.;
They Are Eminently Fitted for Nearly
Every Profession.
QUICK TEMPERED BUT APFE0TI05AM'
iwamz-T yoa tits dispatch.1
In prder to fully realize and appreciate
the progress and prospects of deafmutes,it i
necessary to take a glance backward. la all
ages and in ail countries there have existed
a certain proportion of deaf and dumb per
sons; yet, only a century and a quarter has)
elapsed since any effort was made to educate
them. It is true there were a few spasmodis
attempts and isolated instances of partial
success, but not until the close of the
eighteenth century did the work assume a
character that demonstrated, not the possi
bility or the probability, but the unqualified
certainty of success, and a widespread recog
nition of its importance.
Prior to the time when Christ spoke the
word "Ephphatha," we have but two au
thentic instances in which deaf mutes were
treated with any degree of toleration, via.J a
son of Croesus, King of Lydia, and Quintuss
Pedius, a relative of the Emperor Augustus.
The thousands who lived and died before
and after the advent of the Christian era
were subjects of oppression and cruelty,
were denied civil and religious privileges,
and, at a certain period, were popularly re
garded as objects of divine wrath, and as
such, fitted for slavery or death. Scholars
and philosophers alike agreed that it was
impossible to educate the deaf and dumb.
In this country the education of deaf mutes
was begun 71 years ago, with a class of four
pupils, in Hartford, Conn. At present
there are 69 schools and institutions for their
education in the United States, with an ag
gregate attendance of over 8,000. There are.
besides, fully 30,000 deaf mutes scattered
throughout the Union, who are either grad
uates of the different institutions or are too
young to attend.
TEACHING XEADES.
The graduates of deaf mute institutions,
as a general rule, engage in the trades which
they have been taught while pupils; lor the
institutions not only aim to give both a
mental and a manual education, the male
pupils being instructed in such trades as
cabinetmaking, woodcarving, carpentry,
shoemaking, tailoring and printing, as also
the occupations of gardening and farming;
while the females are taught plain sewing,
dressmaking and the correct methods of
performing the various domestio duties.
Both males and females are instructed in
the rudiments of drawing, and those who
manifest any talent are educated initio
higher branches of art Those who demon
strata an ability and a desire for higher edu
cation become students of the National Deaf
Afntft College at Washington, which is sup-
jiortedby the Government and is empowered
ty Congress to confer degrees.
it wouia De wen w explain uai mere are
two distinct conditions implied by the term
"deaf mutes.' Ten per cent of so-called
deaf mutes can speak, but cannot hear, bav
ins become deaf by sickness or accident
.after Jearning to tali. In-some- caserees
geaifal deaf mates have 'been- tatrght to
speak. The vast majority are deaf and
dumb.
Deaf mutes generally intermarry; and it
is only in very rare instances that a deaf
mute marries a hearing person. They live
happy and industrious lives, and are, with
few exceptions, good, law-abiding, intelli
gent and independent people, who claim,
the rights and privileges and accept the
duties and responsibilities of citizenship.
Their children are invariably bright, and,
very rarely inherit the affliction of the pa
rents. During the past 20 years much ad
vancement nas been maae. xnrougntne
medium of newspapers which publish intel
ligence concerning them, rapid strides ia
social and business progress nas cnaracter
ized them as a class, and at the same time
once mora demonstrated the power ot the
press.
EVEET PEOJTSSION BEPBE3EN1XD.
They have literary societies in most of the
cities of the United States, where the deaf
mutes mount the rostrum and hold forth ia
silent oratory and debate. Solutions of vital
questions of the day are usually essayed,
and the more intelligent, through the me
dium of their powerful and effective lan
guage of signs, keep the less advanced
posted on the topics of the day, develop and
improve their argumentative abilities, and
generate ideas that otherwise were destined
to lie dormant in the brain. Beside these
literary societies, there are annual or bien
nial State conventions, which take up and
discuss matters affecting the welfare of deaf
mutes. That the effect of these conventions
is salutary add far-reaching is acknowl
edged by those conversant with matters re
lating to the education and well being or
the deaf and dumb. There are to be found
deaf mutes in nearly every profession and
trade. Strange as it may seem, there are
deaf-mute ministers, lawyers, analytical
chemists, apothecaries; artists, sculptors,
teachers, editors, bankers clerks, book
keepers, etc. Many have risen to positions
of high emolument and honor, and did noi
want of space prevent, we would like to
give a few special instances.
It would be advantageous to deaf mutes
if the public possessed a more correct con
ception of the disabilities which deafness
imposes. There Is a tendency to exaggerate
the extent of the misfortune. A little reason
ing will show that there are few avocations
which a deaf mute cannot pursue with aa
much comparative success as one who caa,
hear. " E. A. Hodgson,
"Editor Dtafituti Journal.
FE0H A TEACHER'S STAKDE0IHT.
Deaf Mates Bo Ifot Receive Proper Coat!'
erntlon In Popular Estimation.
Viewing the subject from the standpoint
of a teacher, whose interest naturally centers
in the helps and hindrances which the deaf
experience in their efforts to acquire an edu
cation and the ability to improve their con
dition, the outlook for their future is cer
tainly very promising.
We have seen their education in this'
country rise from one school with four PH-.
pils in 1817 to 69 schools with 'some 8,008? ;
pupils at the present day, while the results
attained in the way of instruction is simply
marvelous, and have placed the American!
system far ahead of all others. -Lais combi
nation of circumstanees is traceable equally
to the zealous efforts and perseverance of the '
devoted men and women who have raised '
the profession of teaching the deaf to suca
a rank that It bas engaged the attentioa of
some of the brightest intellects of modem
times and to the liberality of our State
Legislatures,, which, in most instances, havs
amply provided for the deaf children withia
their respective borders. Even the Govern
ment at Washington maintains a college for
the deaf, which, by the attainments aad.
high positions held by its graduates, attests
the wisdom of affording the deaf facilities
for an extended education.
Our schools seek, after tho ho,t .i..u
results, special attention being given to the 4
inculcation of the Ideaof tf,,, ifoSIfS .! J
and our moral obligations, to the acquiring 1
of a correct knowledge of"the English, laa- J
Buc, which w meueat cnila is a forewa
toHgae; to teaching articuIatJoa .andjliaj
readlnghere practicable; andjitfc&eSl
quiaitioa'of a aiannal:tra"d.bSI.aniitWl
M