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THE PITTSBURG DISPATCH.
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SECOND PART.
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PAGES 9 T0 16.
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A'LAHD OF POYERTI.
How the Masses Live and Woik Under
r
the Burning Sua of India.
Wages at fifti cents a week.
The Most Beautiful Tomb la the World and
Its Eoya! Builder.
BiDLN'G WITH SACKED HIKDOO OXEU
rcoBEsroKrsc or thx oisrATca.i
AGKA, March 30.
Poverty 1 poverty 1 pov
erty 1 I find written all
over India. Its charac
ters shine out in the
shrunken legs and flat
stomachs of the people.
The blazing sun paints
the -word on the huts of
every village, and the
sqnalid want, which
fills every part of the
cities I have seen, is so
plain that he who runs
may read. The condi
tion of the East Indian
people is fa.r worse than
that of the Chinese,
fat and the Japanese
Two Cents a Day.
The Koreans are
Wealthy in comparison with the people
around me. The Malays, the Siamese and
the Burmese have plenty to eat and leisure
for loafing. These people work from morn
until night and go to bed hungry. They are
not more than half clothed.
The masses wear two strips of thin cotton
cloth, and of the 233,000,000 of people in
India four out of five go barefooted. Jnst
belcw here about the city of Patna is the
great opium producing district of India,
and I am told by one of the leading opium
officers of the Government that the people
ot this region invariably feed their children
small quantities of opium daily,in order that
they may by this means ward off the cold
and reduce 'their appetites. There are in
the province of Bengal alone more people
than in the whole United States. The ma
jority ot these are larmers and their hold
ings are one-half acre to the person. The
most densely populated of our United
States arc Rhode Island and Massachusetts,
whose small territories and large cities give
them respectively 254 and 221 people per
square mile.
A square mile is equal to four farms of
160 acres each, and the average of the whole
"United States is six people to each such
farm. There are in Bengal 320 people to
each cultivated 160 acres or two people per
acre. Our States have largely a city popu
lation, and wherever we have a large aver
age per square mile a great part of tbe pop
ulation live in cities and make their living
off manufacturing and trade. Here the
people live almost altogether by (arming
and. if you will put 320 people on the richest
quarter section you can find in America and
expect them to make their living by raising
ordinary crops you get the condition of this
part of 'India. Even with our cities Ohio
has only 20 people to the quarter section.
Oregon has a little over two, Nebraska has
two, Kentucky ten, Kansas three and Penn
sylvania, teeming with mines and manufac-
..turets, has not quite 25.
inhk
RteS ypS'Tlnc In Ilulo Mud Unit.
Ptaking of the town population of India
.onlyMi. man in 20 lives in a town of
over 20,000 inhabitants. The other 19 per-f-tans
live In-villages and these little collec
" tions of mud huts are scattered all over the
country. No one lives on the land he cul
tivates, and the farms are without fences
And are in large tracts divided up into lit
tle fields, the extent of which can be seen
by the low irrigating walls and by the dif
ference in the colors of crops. These vil
lages are built entirely of mud. The huts
are from 6 to 15 feet square. Their roofs are
thatched with straw or with thin brick tiles
and there are no chimneys.
The babies in many cases wear no cloth
ing, and the dress of the remainder of the
family of five could be made out of three
ordinary sheets. The smoke gets out of the
hut as best it can, and there is absolutely
nothing cheering about the house. The
floor is of mud, and the walls are un plas
tered. The family have no chairs, and they
squat on the ground at their meals. The bed
is either the floor or a network of Qpes
stretched on a frame of wood with legs
which raise it two feet from the floor. It is
usually about four feet long and three feet
wide, and the man who sleeps upon it must
either hang his legs over the end or lie
donbled up.
During the daytime the beds are stood
out of doors, because there is no room for
An Indian Cab.
them in the hut, and some of the family us
ually sleep under the overhanging roof In
front of the door. Going through Benares
in tbe earlv morning I saw perhaps COO peo
ple thus sleeping in front of as many huts.
They had no bedclothes under them and
none over them. Women and men were ly-
y ing with their knees up to their chins
wrapped in tbe tame cotton garments they
had worn during the davtime. Others were
crawling from their beefs and stooping over
the smoldering coals which their wives
had just lighted. Squalor was everywhere
and dirt was king.
We at Fifty Cents Per Week.
Wages are terribly low and millions of
men Inlndia live, marry and raise children
on an income of 50 cents a weelc This is
a good income for a family, and women
work in the fields for 3 cents a day. and
many servants get little more than a dollar
a month. The embroidery of India is
noted the world over, and there is as much
skill in the making of patterns and doing
this work on cloth with gold and silver
thread as there is in the art work of tbe
Western world. A good embroiderer gets
from 2 to S3 a month, and men working on
die railroads In minor positions get about
the same.
An American or German would starve on
such an allowance, but the Indians who
get this much grow tat. Among the
workingmeu of the world they have
reduced themselves to the least number
of wants. They pay no millinery bills
and they never have a tailor. They need
neither needles nor thread and it is against
their religion to drink. The Hindoo eats
no meat nor anv animal fat and he lives
upon the cheapest of rice and millet. These
with vegetables and milk make up his diet,
and at a rule he has not enough to fill his
stomach. Whenever the crops fail there is
a famine, for he has not enough income to
enable him to save, and about ten years ago
the English government spent $55,000,000
in relieving the wants of tbe people.
In some parti of India, such ai Allah,
bid, which I visited last week, the popula.
tiou is eo dense that it does not increase
sflMilHsMfsHHHsW -jfr-"-te ,,,1 ,,1, llfll1 a-Jzii .- &-s,. x vs. , ; .,v---v .- - - ,x i '
from year to year. In 20 years in this dis
trict there was only an annual increase of
six persons in every 10.000, -and at the pres
ent time the increase is not much greater.
The people are so underfed that disease and
death keep down the natural increase which
goes on over the rest of the world, and you
see them apparently starving before your
eyes.
A Paro Piece of Architecture.
This condition or India has been the same
for ages. The people seem to have always
been poor and the fabulous wealth of India
has always been in the. hands of a few. The
English have their powerful grip on it now
and their palaces and luxurious residences
dot the face of the country. They squeeze
out ot the land just about the same amounts
that the mogul kings did in times gone by,
and here at Agra are the ruins which show
how India was ground down in the past.
Here is the Taj Mahal, the most beauti
ful and the purest piece of architecture ever
designed or built by man, which was erected
in the seventeenth "century by one of the
mogul kings as a tomb for his wife.
It lies on the banks of the great Jumna
river. Built upon a mosaic platform ot sura
of black and white marble, covering fully
two acres, it rises a beautiful tower upward
for 114 feet. Here it ends in turrets and
from its center springs a great babble-like,
dome of white marble, inside of which a
four-story house of 50 feet front could be
lost, but which is so regularly out ihat it
might have been the work of a Grecian
sculptor, and the proportions of which are
such that it seems in perfect harmony with
the great octagonal tower below.
The whole is a mass of fine stones and
white marble so inlaid and carved that it is
more like a jewel of mosaic than an archi
tectural structure. Its doors are lace work
of the purest white marble. In its interior
there is enough ot this marble lace to fence
in a city block. The whole structuie is a
marvel of workmanship, and Bishop Heber
has well described, it
in saying that its
THE TAJ
artists "designed like Titans and finished
like jewelers. It would be as easy to tell
how the birds sing and the lilacs smell as to
describe the Taj."
An Immense Expenditure of Labor.
I have visited it again and again and I
feel with the Russian artist who said. "The
Taj is like a lovely woman. Abuse her as
you please, but the moment you come into
her presence too submit to ber fascination."
The tomb is almost as perfect to-day as it
was when it was built. It took 20,000 men
17 years to build it The average life of
isan, in. India is a. fraction over 30 years.
Estimating this life'tt Gi, years instead of
30 tbe work upon the Taj embiaecs just 10,
000 lives. These 20,000 workmen 'got only
their food for their labors. An allowance
of corn was given to them and their over
seers cheated them in the delivery of it. It
was the same with the other grand' struc
tures of the time.
Within a mile of the Taj, in very good
preservation, there now stands an immense
fort, the walls of which are 70 feet high and
of red sandstone, carved so beautifully that
they would honor any Fifth avenue resi
dence, enclosed in a space equal to four
farms or oil) acres each. This fort was
bnilt by the Emperor Akbar. and its interior
is tiled with grand palaces, in which the
ladies of the harem reveled in cloth of gold
add shone in priceless diamonds. The Taj
cost about $15,000,000, which in the purchas
ing power oi the time of Queen Elizabeth in
India must have been worth at leaat ten
times as much as it is to-day. The fort cost
countless millions more. Its palaces had
interiors walled with diamonds and emer
alds, and the Kinc who bnilt the Taj had a
peacock throne which blazed with rubies,
sapphires and emeralds at the back, in the
form of a peacock's tail, and with stones so
set that they resembled the natural colors of
the bird's feathers.
This thmne alone represents a value of
over $32000.000, and his land revenues
amounted to $100,000,000 a year. The kings
of his time took one-third of the produce of
the land, and the total revenues of the
lather of this man were $250,000,000 per
annum. The extravagancies of these times
are unrivaled in history, but it was only
tbe kings who were rich. The people were
as poor then as they are to-day, and the
curse of poverty seems to have ever hung
over the Indian peasant.
Hindoo Bosks and Bankers.
This condition of affairs exists in South
ern as well as in Korthern India, and I
fonnd at Singapore and in Burnish emi
grants from Madras who looked qnite as
thin and who had come there to better their
wares. Many of these were Klines. Lean.
black men, half naked, with long hair bang-
ing down upon their snouiaers-ineyao toe
work of Ceylon and of many of tbe islands
of the Indian Ocean. They are bright and
A Kling Man.
hardy, and are among the most picturesque
people of India. The most of them act as
coolies, but there is one caste which devotes
itself entirely to the lending of money, and
this caste, by banking, has crown rich. t.
members are known as chitties, and tutvA
U.. .U! . 1 JH . .in ' .J1
lucr uiuucj icuuiug esuousnments in
every town of Southern India.
They control the capital of BnrnwK.nfl
one street of Bangoon is lined ifrith their
banks. An Indian bank is far different
from the money-lending establishment in
th,B. .?,?ited States- Take & low narrow,
cell-like rboa 6 feet high and about X00
feet long, and put in the7 center pf this 25
young men as black as the ace of spades.
Let eaefi bare his head ihaved. Let none1
of thesa wear more that a white cotton cloth
about the loins. Hake them squat upon
the dirt floor, and In front of each put a flat
table a foot and a half high, upon which
lies a ledger, the pages of which are filled
with Indian characters. Behind each of
these naked figures put a chest about the
size of the average trunk with a heavy lock
upon it and let all be working away as
though their lives depended upon their cal
culations. On the outs!deNof the door, under a sort
of portico, the chief of the bank sits count
ing out silver coins to a farmer who has
come to borrow. He counts very rapidly
and lets each-coin strike another as it falls
into his hand. By the sound he tells
whether they are good or not. He exacts
big rates of interest, and five per cent a
month is nothing to him if be can get it
The whale rice crop of Burmah is owned
by these chitties before it is harvested and
they own millions of valuable property in
the east They live most abstemiously,
and it is their bnsiness to accumulate
money. They bring up their sons to follow
their business, and they area caste of money
lenders. The wives of these chitties are
gorgeous in jewelry and though they wear
no clothing except the two strips of cotton,
someof their earrings are so heavy that
that they pull down the ears, and not a lew
wear nose rings four inches in diameter.
The Sacred White Bullock.
As I came out of the Taj Mahal to-day I
took a' ride on an Indian oab. It was drawn
by two "Kreat white bullocks with humps
over their shoulders, each of which was six
.inches high. The driver sat in front, his
legs resting upon the tongue of the cart, and
behind him, in a sulky-like affair made of
bamboo and covered with red cloth, I took
my seat cross-legged. These carts are used
throughout India and they are single and
double. They are rudely put together with
ropes and when completed they consist of a
structure made of fishing rods and clothes
lines swung upou wheels with a seat resting
high above them and so made that thev are
J as easy as any spring vehicle you will find
MAHAL.
in America. My driver wore nothing but
a waist cloth and turban and he took me a
mile for 2 cents. He twisted the tails of the
bullocks to make them go and I noted that
the horns ot his bulls were covered with gold
paper.
These bullocks are the sacred beasts of
India and they form in connection with the
water buffalo the beasts of burden of the
country. They plow the land and haul the
carts, and at Benares I visited a temple
where there were at least 100 of them in stalls
around a court yard and men and women
were feeding them with flowers and praying
before them as tbey did so. They are the
most beautiful thing I have yet seen in cat
tle, With smooth, dove-colored skins they
have all the delicate outlines of tbe Jersey
cow added to a majesty of action and a
grandeur of size, which makes them nobly
beautiful.
They have ears twice as long as our cows
and they walk as though they contaiqed,
JH IUQ lUUlilUB UUUVU9 OU(JJU3C, MUC U
be noblest human spirits of the past In
contrast wiin mem ine water Dunaio be
comes uglier than ever. It is uglier than
tbe hippopotamus and is a cow with wide,
flat, curving horns, a neck which comes
stralght'ant from the shoulders, a belly
which is bloated and ill-shapen and a thin,
straggling, black hair, which looks more
like the bristles of a hog than the hair of a
cow. They delight in wallowing in the
dirt, and they seem to have more ot the pig
nature than the cow nature. Like the sa
cred cows they are milked and worked and
the butter of both is a white, cheesey-like
mixture, which has none of the flavor of the
Jersey cream article.
Fbank G. Cabpenteb.
THE IAIN PACTS.
How the Wheels of Justice Were Clogged
In n Kansas Town.
Time. . -
A Kansas press correspondent, in carry
ing out the instructions to briefly confine
himself to important items, sent in the fol
lowing: "On the afternoon of the 10th inst, some
cowardly poltroon stole three ropes from
our citizens' 'tree of justice."
"The tree stands on tbe river bank two
miles from town, and was selected by our
people, some years ago, on account of its
three strong limbs at suitable height, and
the handy river facilities for the disposal
of the remains.
'The crime must have been committed
sometime dnring the afternoon, for the
three ropes weie in use at 2 p. li., and
when two of them were again needed at 8
p. 21., they were missing.
"The wheels of justice were clogged for
nearly an hour or until more ropes could be
procured from town.
"A reward has been offered for the catch
ing of the thief, and the catcher will be'
permitted to occupy the place of honor at
the citizens' end of the halter.
"There are suspicions that the thieying
was the work of White Caps, as the two
men in the citizens' hands at the time were
from the ranks of that order.
"The scales of the blind-folded goddess are
never allowed to get rusty in this section,
and our people are justly indignant when
ever any galoot interferes with their work
ings." The next day the following was de
spatched:
"The mystery is solved, and the ropes
have been returned in good shape. They
were not stolen, as was supposed, but were
borrowed by some highly respectable set
tlers, six miles up the river, whose pressing
need of them tally excused the taking.
Perfect harmony is restored, and the best
of feeling prevails.
"P. S. There is' a grand opening lor a
few more rope-makers jn this section."
CHASING A CAMERA.
A PhotoBTnpber Pursued by a Pennsylvania
Ballrond Locomotive.
Philadelphia Kecort. i
)he work of the Pennsylvania Bailroad
in placing obstructions in the path of the
proposed Belt Line Bailroad at tbe Old
Navy Yard has been observed by the Belt
Line Company through the agency of a pho
tographer and his camera for several days.
Yesterday the Pennsylvania men awoke to
his presence and whenever the photographer
got his camera in position to take a shot at
tbe workmen a Pennsylvania Bailroad engi
neer and freight car were sboyed directly
in front of tbe camera to destroy the view.
All day the engine and car were chasing
the photographer, but bis camera was much
more agile than the locomotive.
PITTSBURG, SUNDAY, ' MAT 26, 1889.
INKER CQDRT LIFE.
Mrs. Alexander Tells of the English
Royalty as it iB To-day.
THE DAILY HABITS OF THE QUEEN
Proper Dress and Etiguette for a Presenta
tion at Court
GEEAT BEITJUfl'3 SlIADI NOBIWTY.
fCOBKESrONPENCJI OF THSDISr-iTCHJ
London, May 15. The country eousin
making's short stay m London city esteems
himself lucky it his visit coincides with the
spring (unction of a drawing room. He
can stand in Pall Mall or St. James' Park
and see the carriages, freighted with "fair
women" and ft lew "wave men," the fair
faces and jeweled neeks of the former rising
above tbe clouds of tulle and lace or tbe
billqws of brocade which fill the space
round them as they pass slowly, with many
a halt, toward Buckingham Palace. For
one of the most marked changes in these
latter days of the Viotorian era is the re
ception by Her Majesty of the nobility and
gentry in Buckingham instead ot St James'
Palace, where the Prince of Wales, repre
senting his mother, holds the levees.
Granted good weather (a large grant, we
acknowledge, in our early spring) it is a
fine sight, though less elaborately grand
than it used to be 40 years ago, when the
display of large family coaches, with be
wigged coachmen, powdered footmen,
voluminous hammer cloths (as the orna
mented cloth covers of the driving seats are
called), and richly caparisoned horses, out
numbered the unpretending broughams and
hired conveyances. Now the number of
presentees have doubled or probably quad
rupled, and the humbler vehicles prepon
derate. CONSERVATIVE LAMENTATIONS.
Over these changes the old style of Conser
vative laments, chiefly because change of
any kind is objectionable in his eyes, but
also, no doubt, because of a dim conscious
ness that this continuous enlargement of the
iourt oounas mar oe asm to the ominons
swelling of that immortal and ambitious
frog which was the precursor of its final
"bust up." Howev.er this may be, a certain
interest hangs round ''the Court," nb'iph in
England is a kind of inner core of the na
tional existence, and which at the present
time is slowly expanding and varying
sympathetically with the gradual mutations
of social life.
For London, it must be admitted, "the
Court" has virtually ceased to exist. The
hospitalities of Mnrlborough House, though
all the pleosanter for their spontaneity and
semi-private character, are not state func
tions, nor do ihey bear the solemn seal of
official admission to the sovereign's circle.
The separation of real "Court life" lrom
the outer fringe of drawing rooms, levees,
state balls, and concerts always existed,
though in a much less degree 40 or 50 years
ago. Then tba right to be presented was
more limited, and (hose admitted to the
royal presence were possibly more acquaint
ed with the sovereign; now. when great
scientists give new realms to tbekingdom of
knowledge, great inventors fresh power to
human activity, when great discoverers
bring tbe unknown within the reach of
human ken, great financiers and organizers
increase the sum pf human wealth, a new
nobility arises, which, if they care to de
mand it, npt only bare ft right to appear be
fore the royereigoi but honor ..Jhe circle
wnicn-aqmis mem. ,
INSIDE THE SACRED PBEODTCTS.
Below these crowd the ranks of swiftly
successiul mammon seekers, who burn to
stamp theif shoddy with the sacred seal of
acceptance at Court. For all these there are
lew opportunities in London for such patent
aggrandizement The Queen lives retired
in the semi-seclusion naturally most accept
able to her, since the terrible bereavement
which lelt her perhaps the loneliest woman
in the wprld.
Tbe inner life of the court has in it little
to tempt a Sybarite simplicity, dutifulness,
conscientious performance ot work are its
characteristics. Vain and giddy girls, frisky
young matrons, and dangerous gallants
would find its atmosphere oppressive and
uncongenial. Sobriety and thoughtlulness
are in the air; perhaps a slight degree of
monotony or tinge of tristesse may make
bolder and lighter spirits sigh for fresh fields
and a wider range, but none can quarrel
with its mental tone or the routine which
prevails.
At 9 Her Majestv breakfasts alone, unless
some of her children, grandchildren or per
sonal friends are staying in the Palace, and
she is rarely without tbem. In summer, at
usDorne, tvinasor or .Balmoral, this meal is
generally served out of doors in some alcove,
tent or summer-house. After the Queen
either drives in a small pony carriage, ac
companied by one of the princesses, or she
walks, attended by a lady-in-waiting or
maid-of-honor, with whom she converses
with frjendly ease, and followed by two
Highland servants and some favorite dogs.
BOYAMT EATING.
Luncheon is served at 2, the convives
being Her Majesty's family or royal guests.
Until this hour, from her short after-breakfast
exercise, the Queen is diligently occu
pied with ofbpial correspondence and busi
ness of various kinds. Long training has
made her a politician ot no mean ability
and breadth of view, her natural common
sense forming an admirable basis for such a
superstructure. It assists, too, in enabling
her to choose her friends well and wisely,
though tbe Court surroundings are not cal
culated to help royal personages in forming
a just judgment pf character. Human
nature puts, on a somewhat too angelic
guise, where everything may be won by
amiaDiiiiy ana nothing by the reverse.
In the mornings the maids-of-honor
(there are pine in all) jn waiting for the
time are with the princesses, reading or
practising on the piano, singing or playing
lawn-tennis with them, as any young ladies,
cuuipauiuas logeiner, might, ine laay-in-waiting
accompanies the Queen in her
afternoon drives and visits, which are most
frequently to the poor and to the humble
workers, often to simple gentry or any one
iu trouble. Afterward the lady reads alond
to Her Majesty in her private sitting-room.
The royal dinner hour is 830, and that
meal is shared by those of th roval family
then residing with the Queenly distin
guished visitors, and some of the household
in rotation yiz.. lords and ladies-in-waiting,
maids-of-bonor, equerries and grooms-in-waiting
this latter official holding a
considerably lower position than the
equerry, though to the nninstructed it
sounds like a distinction without a differ
ence. BTEICTLT BUSINESS.
The Queen is a woman of itrfot Viniin.
habits and steady application; tbe amount
of correspondence she gets through is enor
mous. In the private portion of this cor
respondence Her Majesty is assisted by her
jjuvttio aecremry, a laay.in.waiting, ana a
maid-of-honor, especially by tbe Dowager
Marchioness of Ely, one of the ladies who
is a valued friend. When the Court is at
Windsor the members 6f the household in
attendance are : One lady-jn-waitlng (these
ladies are always peeresses), two maids-of-honor,
a lord-in-waiting, two equerries, one
groom-ip-waitlng, also the keener of the
privy purse, the private secretary, assistants
In both departments and "the master or the
household. The attendance is tbe same at
Osborne and Balmoral, with the exception
of the lord-in-waitiug.
To attend to Her Majesty's toilet and
wardrobe there are fiye maids viz., three
leafl anit f wa ji.J..L. mi
women, xne
I
senior dresser, who has been many years
with Her Majesty is specially charged with
the task ot. conveying orders to different
tradespeople jewelers, drapers, dressmak
ers, etc,; one dresser and one wardrobe wo
man are in constant attendance on tbe
Queen, taking alternate days.
Dress is a matter in which, even in her
young day?, Her Majesty does not appear to
have taken much interest At present ber
perpetual mourning allows of no crude color
combinations. Some of us elders have a
Pleasant, if vague, reoollectjon of Victoria
Begina a good many years ago, Bay 40 or 43,
in a yerr simple and becoming bonnet tied
beneath the cnln, a wreath of wild roses un
der the brim framing a sweet, kindly young
face. Ah me! sorrow and experience have
writ their cruel marka on hers and ours
since then.
PRESENTATION ETIQUETTE,
If admitted to the Qneen informally, the
psge-in.waiting simply announces the
visitor's name thus: "Mr. . , your
Majesty," on which she bows slightly and
continues to stand or sit, generally the for
mer; then she begins tbe conversation. The
initiative in this is always left to Her
Majesty. It is not etiquette to open a sub
ject with her, only to reply to her remarks.
The Oneen terminates the interview bv
another slight inclination, and usually by a
gracious smue. xne visitor retires, oaciwng
and bowing until be reaches the door, for
no one must turn his or her back on our
sovereign lady.
One of the trials to which the Court
ladies-are subject is caused by tbe passion
Her Majesty has for walking and driving
in the coldest weather. Few of tbem ore as
hardy and as indifferent to ease as theic
royal mistress, and to be dragged out for an
airing when a bitter northeaster is driving
a shower ot snow across, the hills at Bal
moral, or to pace the grounds t Osborne
under a drenching rainfall, is not the most
agreeable mode of taking exercise.
To the philosopher or republican the array
of Court functionaries, holders of obsolete
offices, may seem somewhat ridiculous, if
not pitiable, and not far removed from the
dignitaries who wait on tbe potentates ot
pantomime or, burlesque, and even we,
shaekled as we are by the irons of time
stiffened routine, can scarce help a smile as
we glance at the list of the royal household,
and read tbe titles of some of the appoint
ments. "The bargemaster"and the "keeper
of the swans" possibly may have their uses,
but to the uneducated ear the item "pages
of tbe baqk stair" has an ugly sound; one
can hardly imagine these youths with clean
hands.
HIOH-SOUNDINO TITI.ES.
The master of the ceremonies may be a ne
cessity, but when he is apparently topped by
a marshal ot the ceremonies, tbe mind fails
to take in the magnitude of the office, nor
are one s ideas rendered clearer when we
find that the "master" is a general, a bar
onet and a K. G. B., while the "marshal"
(which sonnds so much bigger), is only an
Hon. Mr. . Then pomes the "heredita
ry grand almoner," who is a high-class peer;
the "master of the buckhounds;" the "hered
itary grand falconer" fa duke), and, most
mysterious or them all, the groom ot the
robes!" What are his duties? Is be to
"rub down" Her Majesty's gowns? If so,
let us pray he may not follow suit with the
currycomb!
The influence of the Court on English so
cial life is at present almost niL But be
fore the Prince Consort's death, the Queen
looked sharply into the character and stand
ing of those presented to her, and was suc
cessful in keeping the circle around ber as
irreproachable as mere mortal society can
well be. Indeed, few Londoners doubt that
had our sovereign lady kept her place at
the head of social affairs, we should proba
bly have been spared some of tbe scandals
iu high life, reports of which have from
time to time rendered the daily papers more
curious than edifying.
The fair, gentle Princess of Wales was
tjo young and inexperienced wben the r e
tiremept'of her royal mother-in-law obliged
her to taKe up the social scepter, to exercise
uiuuu suiuurny, sue cumu oaty icacu oy
example, and this she has done well. In
truth, tbe Court is muoh more influenced by
the country than the country by the Court.
THE ENGLISH NOBILITY.
The tendency of the royal personages is
decidedly in favor of dropping the more
medisval items of their following, and re
stricting themselves to the less cumber
some style of the great nobles. There is
even a whisper that the time-honored office
of master of the buckhonnds, with his satel
lite huntsmen and whippers-in, is to be
abolished before many months are over.
From the Court to the nobility is scarce a
step, though in no other European country
is tbe life or tbe nobles so independent of
royalty. They like to show respect to the
sovereign, as does every class of Her
Majesty's subjects, but tbey denot care for
the ceremonials of a Court, which can add
little or nothing to their inherited or ac
quired rank and splendor.
The question, is England's nobility what
it should be, considering its great ad
vantages? naturally suggests itself in con
nection with this topic. A counter-question
might well be put, is any man or class of
men what they should be?
PBETTT GOOD CITIZENS.
Without boasting, I think it may be as
serted that in no other country is tbe nobili
ty as a class so verile, useful and abreast of
their times, chiefly because its ranks are so
constantly recruited by new blood from be
low. All that is best among our legal, mil
itary, naval and commercial men pass into
the upper house and invigorate the peers
with their fresh intellectual force.
Still no one can look upon or around the
present condition ot things and doubt that
the beginning of the end has come; old in
stitutions, old ideas are passing away; they
have done their work, and, however well
that work may have been done, tbey, like
most other things, will reach at last a stage
where, ceasing to be useful, they become
mischievous.
Let us waive all special pleading, bow
ever, and speak frankly. Of the reckless,
extravagant, dissolnte members of the peer
age we have heard more than enough; but
how about the quiet, home-staying, con
scientious peers, who honestly do their duty
by their tenantry, their families, and that
portion of beloved mother-earth which it has
been their happy lot to possess? "Oh, no;
we never mention them, their names are
never heard!" Yet the majority of the
peers are men of this stamp, not disturbed
perhaps by the possession ot extraordinary
mental abilities, tbut gentlemen of decent
lives and honorable natures. Their wives
and daughters, although they enjoy "the
season" in town, can yet feel with and for
their poorer neighbors; their schools and
charities are a boon to young and old, and
the "great house" Is more often than not a
small center of civilization.
Let us not, therefore, be ungrateful; let us
bury our old benefactors as decently as we
can. Tradition has had its uses, and almost
as many "ages" as man. It has Its helpless
babyhood, when inarticulate bards sing an
impenect rhyme, giving a scanty account of
some local event, warlike or otherwise; this
is appropriated and developed (if it suits
themjby the priests, and so nursed into boy
hood; then statesmen find it useful to create
some national cry; sentimentalists take it
up, perhaps to point a moral; the leading
warrior, half or whole believing, uses it to
incite his followers against the loe; then it
becomes the sacred tradition ot the race:
finally it passes into tbe lean and slippered
pantaloon stage of nominal belief, and dies
of old age when new discoveries, new ideas,
new needs have breathed its sentence of
death. Mes. Aleiandeb.
A fJew York Girl's Precocity.
JlewTorkBun.'i
la this city there is a little girl of 8 whose
mind is already agitated over the question
of female suffrage, and who holds that
women ought to manage the Government
Perhaps she might modify her yiewa if her
father were to give her a sev doll and a
pound of taffy.
A FAMOUS SWINDLER.
Story of the Life of Charles Price,
Who Was Successively
BSEWEB,PBEACflEB ANP FOBGEB.
Hoir He Bepeatedlj Cheated the Bank of
.England and Gained a Kame
AS THE GREATEST K0UUJE IS THE 1AKD
COBBXSrOYPKXC Or THXPISFATCS.1
LONDON,
May 12. A
day or two ago
as I was turn
ing over the
books, old and
new, jn a dark
UflrAoE541(j
ian WUlLMUtMA,
ki- Jui. rfHn JhiuuLi
little shop in
Holywell
Lane, I came across a small book, or a large
pamphlet, whichever you may please to call
it, the leayes of which were yellow with
age and the corners no longer in existence.
Upon the; tiile page was printed in old-fashioned
type the following;
the life anp adventures
: qt '
CHARLES PRICE, ALIAS OLD PATCH, :
; Roorrz, Swindljck and Fopqee,
. .
I bought the book; for tbe small sum of
twopence and took it home. It proved to
be very entertaining, though the picture it
gave of immorality in London a century
ago was appalling. The author signed
merely his initials, as if he had been loth to
lend his name to such a chronicle of crime.
The illustrations are copper plate engrav
ings of a rough order, and a few of them are
reproduced here. At one time all this great
city rang with the fame of Old Patch. He
was a master thief. The burglar or confi
dence man pf to-day has not half the skill
of this great Charles Price. It would take
JHtgutted at Priest Unci.
too mucbspoce to detail all his rogueries,
which began as soon as he left the nursery,
hut let Us take bim in the year 1765, when
at 33 he has just succeeded in swindling
Samuel Foote, the famous actor, wit and
dramatist, out of many thousands of pounds
by inveigling him into partnership in a
brewery. All bis life previous had been
spent in swindling schemes.
A SMOOTH.-TONGUED HTPOCpiTE.
A-fterhU first noble attempt at brewing,
for a considerable time Mr, Price was com
pelled to paid his days in strict privacy, He
lodged entirely at coffee houses and shifted
his quarters so frequently and with suoh
skill that his most intimate friends knew
nothing of his address not even the land
lord whose bill for boarding and lodging
was too often unpaid, Patch being too great
an artist to allow his talents to grow rusty
for want of use even in private life. His re
sources, in fact, were inexhaustible, and he
never acquitted himself with greater skill
than as a Methodist preacher at Chelsea.
There, under the name of Parked by dint
of an oily tongue, insinuating address and
frequent use of scriptural phraseology, he
wormed himself into the confidence of an
elderly maiden lady of highly evangelical
principles and a goodly fortune in the
funds.
A few mobths sufficed to rob this un
happy and credulous old female of half her
fortune, to trifle with her affections under A
promise of marriage, and to make her the
laughing stock of a pious congregation.
Meanwhile, Price went on his way tri
umphant to achieve new victories. It was
in the year 1766-7 that somewhere and tome
how in the great city he made acquaintance
Charlet Price in Hit Usual Dress.
with a certain Mrs. Daulton, a lady of un
known antecedents, some personal charms
and no small amount of that special apti
tude for high art, in which Mr. Price so
greatly excelled. Whether bound to him
by any other tie or not, she was certainly
his confederate and factotum at first, and at
last his slave and dupe. They began busi
ness iu a wary fashion, with the following
advertisement:
PLUCKING PIGEONS,
To Gentlemen of Character, fortune and
Honor:
Who wish to engage for life with a lady pos
sessing the above qualities in an eminent de
gree. Her person. In point of elegance, glrea
precedence to pone. Mind and manners highly
cultivated; temper serene, mild and affable;
age not exceeding 22. Any gentleman who,
etc., eta, may address to A. Z., Bedford-bead,
Southampton street. Strand; and if tbeirmorals
and situation in life are approved mark tbatj
they will then be waited on by a person who
will arrange an interview.
For awhile this ingeniously simple little
scheme seemed a failure; hut A. Z. knew
what he was about, went on advertising.and,
as usual, reaped a goodly harvest Pigeons
by the dozen came to be plucked, aad
plucked they were in the simplest fawon,
which left them no remedy hut to retire
s ""
from the field in silence. To every applicant
there was but one answer and one mode of
treatment. Before any intervlew'eould be
arranged, or any business discussed, Mr.
Price appeared as gentleman usher. His
fee was 5 or lOgnineas, according to circum
stances. That paid, a preliminary conversa
tion ensued, and in Jess than ten minutes
the hapless pigeon was given to understand
that he was "too old," or "too young," too
badly endowed, or above all too deficient
iu morals to be admitted into the presence
of the charming but unseen lady.
The usher expressed his unutterable re
gret at such an unlooked-for catastrophe,
and with a gracious bow consigned his
victim to a strapping footman, who eon
ducted him to tbe outer door. He bad
paid his guineas voluntarily to take part in
a certain game, bnt before he could make a
single move found himself checkmated and
politely dismissed in the street Clearly,
there was no remedy.
FIXATING NUHEBOUS BOLES.
Among tbe many victims, however, were
two who resented this treatment a Mr.
Wigmore, a man of fortune who hkd adver
tised for a wife, and a wealthy young
student from Oxford both of whom applied
to the Magistrates of Middlesex for a war
rapt against pur hero as a "rogue and a
swindler." Mr- Price was gazetted, in these
very terms, as being much "wanted" at a
certain court of justice. But. the whole
thing fell through, and Mr. P.. who at that
xtry time was renting three different sets of
lodgings in widely remote parts of London,
once more sank into the darkness of private
life. In tbe Wigmore drama, from which
our hero had reaped unusually heavy fees,
he had actually figured in thret distinct
characters; Gentleman usher, A. Z., the
advertiser, and an "elderly clergyman in
full canonicals," the reverend uncle of the
lady!
Out of this darkness he did not dare to
creep until 1759-60, when he once more
went back to his old trade as a brewer,
clerk to Mr. Staples, of Lincoln's Inn. So
enchanted was Staples with the skill, hon
esty and high morals of Price, that he rec
ommended him to Mr. W as a young
man of singular piety and many virtues,
which, indeed, he proved by going to church
regularly in the morning with Staples and
to the Tabernacle in the afternoon with the
rioh and worthy W. After six months of
this farce, haying obtained from his godly
patron a loan of 2,000 to carry out an im
provement in bitter ale, our excellent clerk
once more chose his opportunity and le
vanted with all the cash he could lay hands
on. Of the peaceful joys and virtuous
amusements of his private life, no record
remains, beyond the one trifling incident
that they were shared by Mrs. Poulteney,
whom he exhibited as "Tbe Famous Irish
Giantess" at a fashionable room in St
Tames.
THIS SERVED WELL FOB A TIHE,
and would no doubt have proved a greater
success, had he not suddenly been arrested
for debt. Mr. Price's mode of conducting
business, public or private, was marked by
a fatal habit ot never pajing ready money
to tradesmen, friend of foe. A score of
hungry creditors from all parts of the city
now rushed upon him with clamorous fury,
forced him in the Court of Bankruptcy and
tried to prove him a fraudulent trader. But
Price was more th- i a match for them, and
the five commissioners before whom he ap
peared, though Foote. the actor, gave evi
dence against him with bitter wit, and an
awful indictment of facts and figures. The
prisoner was released, and before he could
be again arrested had fled from his ungrate
ful country, and for the next eight years
devoted himself and his unwearied abilities
to the service of Holland, and especially to
the manufacture of the famous "Sehledam"
gin to be smuggled into England without
paying duty.
But Holland, like ungrateful England, at
last grew weary of this great genius, and in
1770 he was driven to take refuge once more
DUguiseinWhiehneKeaoUaUdHiM Forgeries
in his native city, where, for a time, he
figured as a lottery office keeper,' a writer of
pamphlets and attorney-at-Iaw, under the
fresh alias of William Parke. But evil
days were falling on him. Hii mtchfi.
genius was unrecogniied, and in May. 1774,
Lord Mansfield condemned him to be fined
i,ouu, and to remain in jail until the fine
was paid, for cheating the excise. How be
escaped from Kewgate history tells not, but
escape he did, and In 1780 was as hard at
work as ever in that final and fatal branch
of art which was to end in his ruin. Sud
denly, at the Bank of England, was pre
sented a 10 note, so perfect in engraving,
signatnre and water mark as to defy all
common scrutiny. But one secret mark,
known only to one special department at
the bank, was wanting, and the note was
stamped with the fatal word "forgery," the
punishment of which then was death.
Within a month many similar notes' were
found to be in circulation, but no trace of
the forger, who, for a time, defied detection.
Mr. Price
WOBKED WITH HI3 TTSUAIi SKILL
in the dark; made bis own paper, engraved
every plate and copied every signature. All
that could be discovered was that the notes,
whenever passed, were presented sometimes
by a boy, sometimes by an elderly woman
in black, sometimes by an aged gentleman
attended ny a lootman. lint, in every ease,
no sooner was the cash obtained than the re
cipient disappeared, and left no traee of his
whereabouts. And all this time, when the
whole city was raging with the news of
some fresh forgery, Price himself would sit
in a coffee house and calmly discuss the
whole affair.
In a single week he, under the alias of
.air. wuimott driving his own private car
riage with the help of a clever boy, con
trived to pass 60 10 notes at various
fashionable shops, and even had the audac
ity to call at a well-known bank and
get 14 50 notes changed for seven
of 100 without a grain of suspicion,
until they reached the Bant of England,
and were stamped as forgeries. Incredible
as it seems, for more than four years did onr
hero carry on this perilous and diScult
game, with a host of minor rogueries among
tradesmen and merchants, on which we can
not even touch, hjs chief disguise, all
through, being a black camlet cloak, a cler
ical bat, a wig, and his face painted to give
him the look of inhering from yellow
jaundice.
But in January, 1786, his career came to an
end; be was in the clutches of the law, and,
alter being examined Before Sir Sampson
Wright, Justiceof the Peace, was remanded
to Newgate. To the very last this incom
parable rogue was self-possessed, insolent
and loud in proclaiming bis innocence. But
on the night before his intended second ap
pearance In court ha hanged himself with a
window cord over the door of his cell, and
so cheated the gallows.
THE BEATJTT PRIZE'
Captured ly Miss Grace Wilson, a-"
TllnrtAn TinV.nt,l W Im - 1 r. n. U ? ''
XI1UUUO- JfSUHUUVC II UU 1 IU LTO
THE EEIGMNG BELLE OF GOTHJLK,
How
Her Cleverness Enabled Her to Win
Three Luncheons ona Wager.
BT0EI ON A SINGES WHO WAS HUfiGEB
7COBXXS70XPEXCX OT TUX DIBrATCJT.l
New Yoek, May 25. The time of the
year has come for choosing a summer belle
from among the debutantes in that small
but pretentious section of society whom wa
watch so closely, ridicule so much, and
envy more or less. I believe I was first to
name last winter's winner of the beauty
prize, and my judgment-proved correct X
selected Miss Sallie Hargoos from the half
dozen possibles, because I saw that she was
fully as lovely as any. of the others, besides
having personal vivacity and family ad
vantages. She distanced all competitors,
and throughout the season of balls and
opera was the belle supreme. But she has
sailed away for Europe, and on Tuesday
next, unless her plan fails, she will be pre
sented to Queen Victoria at a forms! drawing-room
reception. That will be pretty
sure to start ber in for the London early
summer season as a new and entrancing;
representative of American femininity, and
she is well prepared to enjoy the distinction,
to the utmost After a high old wciabla
time in London she will go to Paris for a
.spell, and thence to several of the Euro
pean watering places. With a circumspect
chaperonage, a glorious wardrobe, and
a determination to become a celebrity, wa
are bound to hear from Sallie Hargous as a
conspicuous figure on the other side of ths
earth.
But I set out to identify the forthcoming;
queen of wealth and beauty. She .is Miss
Grace Wilson, sister of the Orme Wilson
who married Carrie Astor, and connected
also by a sister's marriage with the Goelets.
Thus it will be seen that she is greatly ad
vantaged by being placed between two of
our socially powerful families. Besides
that her own parents have considerable
money and plenty of good breeding.
BEATJTT THAT 13 FEEEECT.
GraCe is a blonde, and if she were only a
shop girl or factory operative her prettines
would attract attention. Of course, under
the very different circumstances, her good
looks become the very acme of loviness.
Good clothes and nice manners enhance ber
charms. I am not saying that she is not
beautiful, for she is, but simply that when
her beauty is backed by Astors and Goelets
it becomes flawless. Miss Wilson will be
gin her reign at Newport next month.
Tbe specialty of Miss Wilson is an engag
ing candor. She is notably tree from affec
tation of culture. She pooh-poohs the ar
tistic fads ot the day. Here is an illustra
tion: There was lately an exhibition atrtha
Union League Club of Chinese porcelains.
The foremost China maniacs lent their most
precious treasures to tbe show. Tbe cele
brated hawthorne pots owned by Charles A.
Sana, James A. Garland and Robert Hoe
were among the exhibits. To this ignorant
observer these pieces of earthenware looked
like old-fashioned oriental ginger jars,
worth less than the ginger root they had
nntainni: bat in connoi&senra thp TAnrA.
.seated the finest period of the-potttr'iSufju..
(Jhina, and were quite unsnscepuole ot du
plication, even in the land of their original
manufacture. These threa pots were con
sidered to be worth, on the average about
f 2,500 apiece.
IT TVOtrLDN'T SELL EOE A DOLLAS.
Mis3 Wilson was a visitor the show, and
with Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, stood
looking at the hawthornes. Mrs, Vander
bilt expatiated on their rarity and beauty.
Miss Wilson considered them neither hand
some nor valuable. Then a daughter of
Bobert- Hoe came along and joined in tba
discussion. Ol course she was a partisan of
potterv.
"I'll tell you what I'll do," Miss Wilson
said. "We will take your father's haw
thorne pot down to the Japanese store In
Broadwav. place it on their bargain counter
labeled $1 and watch it for an honr dnring"
the busiest part of the afternoon, when the
place is thronged with women of presumably
good taste. I will lay a wager ot luncheons
for us three that nobody offers to buy ths
tbing at $1, and you will find that hardly
anybody will devote a second glance to it"
The bet was mde, the terms were carried
out within a week and Miss Wilson won.
The hawthorne, considered by collectors to
be worth $2,500, did not seem like a bargain
at fl to the many who passed it slightingly
by.
One of the fantastic incidents of the elosa
of tbe last performance of opera at tho
Metropolitan is recalled by fashionable gos
sip. The opera was "The Bhelngold," and
its hero was Max Alvary, a very handsome
tenor, upon whom our maids and matrons
of the boxes had lavished admiration
throughout the season. It happened that
there had been a squabble in the company,
caused by professional jealousyand personal
bickering, and Alvary was not re-engaged
for next season. His partisans among tha
stockholders were wroth at this, but they
were outnumbered by those who sustained
the management. Well, this final enter
tainment was a matinee, and at its close)
there was
AN UNUSUAL GATHEELNO
of people at the stage door to await the de
parture of the singers. When Alvary
ecerged there Was a demonstration of ap
plause. The gathering was composed is
part of relatives and friends of the vocalists,
including tbe chorus, who commonly went
there to Join them; but this time a many as
a hundred persons from tbe boxes were
there to show their liking for Alvary, and
to emphasize their desire for his re-employment.
They clapped their hands and
waved their handkerchiefs in a decorous
degree of enthusiasm when the tenor cama
He bowid smilingly righVand left to this
aauiatioo, ana made his way lucra-ccir-
quering prince to his carriage. Just as he
was about to get into the vehicle two very
pretty young women, stylishly dressed, em
braced him with a show of impulsiveness
and kissed him. The next morning's ac
counts made mention of this occurrence,and
unthinking readers took it fur granted that
the kissers were what thev seemed belles
from Filth avenue. They were nothing of
tbe sort For a fact, they were members of
a comio opera chorus, acquaintances of
Alvary, and to aid in tbe ovation tiiey had
volunteered to enact the roles of wild ad
mirers. The truth has been divulged, be
cause in fashionable circles tiro daughter?
of wealthy and circumspect families werj
named as the ones who hugged and kisjf.d
Alvary. It was to clear them of ridicule
that a friend searched out the actual kissers.
. Claba Belli--.
A Reasonable Snpposltloa.
Canners' and Grocers' Gaiette.1
An old baebelor, who was P.sito iwit,
lived alone In a very uncomfortable
looking place, and his apartments were al
ways in great disorder.
"Why don't you get married?" said a
friend one day. "Then you would have
some One to fix up things here, and make it
look homelike." '
"The fact Is, I've never thought or it,"
said he, "bnt it doesn't look reasonable that
abetter half would make better quarters."
"-J
vliM
..... ir.- z