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SECOND PART.
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feblM BABY BRIDES.
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How Children Become mvesinine
Land of tlie Hindoos.
1STRAKGE MAKEIAGE CUSTOMS
Among a People Where Lore and Courtship
Are Absolutely Unknown.
WIDOWHOOD WOESB THAN SLATERI
lCOBEXSrOXDXKCB Or THE DISrATCH.1
BOMBAY, IN
DIA, June 7, 1889.
The wedding season
in India is now at
its height. I have
seen wedding pro
cessionsby the dozen
in eveW town that I
hare visited, and I
have had a fair
chance to note some
ot the peculiarities
of Hindoo mar
riages. India has
the youngest brides
and grooms in the
world. The grooms
I have seen have in
no case been over
15, and some of the
brides were, appar
ently only just
I weaned. By the
Hindoo law a wom
an should be mar
ried before she
reaches the age of 12. Most girls are be
trothed before they are 6, and in a wedding
procession at A era I saw a little bride
groom of perhaps 10 years gorgeously
&m i
lri ri'Vrv
f' I' ' ' "
OEIlfDIKO CORN.
dressed in cloth of gold and with heavy
gold bracelets on his wrists and ankles, sit
ting in a wedding chair with a little baby
girl of not over 2, who lay asleep at the
other end of the chair while the procession
moved onward. Her sleep was heavy, and
she had probably been drugged with opium.
This was a marriage of two wealthy fam
ilies, ..and the wedding procession was very
grand. At the head of it were two camels
' with irappings of gold ridden by bare
legged 'men in red and gold turbans, and
wearing clothes of gold cloth. Behind
them came an elephant with gorgeous trap
pings, and 12 Arabian horses followed.
These horses bad gold bracelets about their
fore legs just above the knee, and there were
great silver bells running from the saddle
along the back to the crupper. The saddles
were of silver cloth, the stirrups were of
silver, and the bridle was decorated with
gold. Between these hors-Ji came the wed
ding chair, and this was a sort of a litter
perhaps six feet square containing a bed
with cushions and pillows and over it was
stretched a canopy ot rtd and gold. With
in it was the bridal couple and the proces
sion was accompanied by a band which
played during the march "We Won't Go
Home Till Morning." It was a native
band, but it had probably had an English
instructor, and this tune served as the wed
ding march. .
Weddings Among tbe Poor.
At Benares I saw a wedding procession
of the poorer classes and I had the pleasure
of an introduction to the groom. He was a
sullen boy of 15, who looked as though he
by no means enjoyed the occasion. He
had a cap of red cloth with long strings of
flowers hanging from its rim to his neck and
with tawdry red clothes upon his body. He
was riding a white pony, which had gaudy
trappings, and walking with him was a
crowd of bare-footed, bare-legged, turbaned
men and boys, one of whom led the horse.
These were his relatives. Just back of
them, and apparently having no connection
with the pony-riding groom, was a party of
men carrying what looked like a store box
hut up on all sides and covered with red
cloth. A cheap cashmere shawl was thrown
over its top and I was told that the bride
was inside. I asked her age and was told
that she had lived j ust eight years. Behind
her came a number of women carrying her
dowry upon their heads.
One party bore the bride's bed. It was a
rack or frame work of wood about 4 feet
long and 3 feet wide, with 4 rude feet raising
it 18 inches from tbe ground, and instead of
wire springs there was a net work of clothes
lines rope stretched within the framework.
Another woman had a tray on her head
containing the cooking utensils, consisting
of three or four iron pots and a rice jar,
and the whole outfit would have been dear
at $1 50. I talked with the father of the
groom. He told me the bride would come
and stay two days with her motheMn-law
and then go back home until she was 10
years of age, when she would come to live
with her husband and be married for good.
In the case of baby marriages the child is
often brought up by her own parents, and
she only comes to her mother-in-law's house
when she has gotten old enough to learn
housekeeping, which is at tbe age of 10 or
11 years. In some cases, however, she goes
at once to the house of her mother-in-law
and is brought up by her, often being made
to do the drudgery of the house ana abso
lutely subject to her husband's mother.
A Hindoo Weddlos Feoit.
I was invited to a wedding feast at Agra,
and the polite Hindoo who so honored me
told me upon parting that my presence had
'glorified ihe occasion." There were 500
Hindoos present and the entertainment con
sisted of Jfautch dancing and acting. The
Nautch girls, attired in gorgeous clothes,
went through the most surprising of con
tortions to the music of two drums, which
were played with tbe hands, and a curious
'Hluaoo fiddle. These Nautch girls are the
brteiag girls of India. Thev are remark
able for their plump, round figures and for i
tBejwoaucriui case sua grace wnicn iney
A throw,, into the movements of their bodies.
1 Alarfepartof the dancing consists in the
afovment of the frame without lifting the
feet from tbe ground. They are the same
as the dances of the girls of Egypt and of
the African negioes, and seem to be a part
oforientaUife. They are .paid high prices
- and some ofjthe best dancing girls of India
get as high M $26 a sight
' The celebration which I attended was in a
' teat built outride the house for the occasion.
X
A carpet covered the ground and the flick
ering lights shown over a collection oi curi
ous figures, which would make another for
tune lor Barnum. I looked in vain for the
bride, and whether she was a baby or not I
do not know. The groom was not more
than 6. He was a bright little fellow in a
red velvet coat, and he brought me a bunch
of flowers and eome cardamum seeds, which
are given to the guests upon such occasions.
Professional Dfalch-Mnlier.
Indian marriages are managed entirely
by the parents. Courtship is unknown in
India, and the parties married often remain
for years without knowing each other. The
negotiations are often carried on by means
of a match-maker, as in China, and India
has its professional match-makers, both
women and men. For arranging a middle
class wedding a match-maker gets from $10
to $15, and in the marriages of the rich he
receives twice this amount. The boy in the
arrangement has no more to say than the
girl, though after the marriage is consum
mated and he becomes the deiacto husband
of the girl, the advantage is altogether on
his side.
Women holds the lowest rank in India.
According to her religion she can only find
salvation through her husband, and if she
is not born again as a man she will have to
go through eight million transmigrations.
A man can do no wrong to his wife and she
is practically his slave. She draws the
water, carries all the burdens and makes
the fuel for the family, All over India you
see women carrying pots of water on their
heads and the contrast between tbe bracelets
on their arms, both below and above the
elbow, the anklets on their bare feet and
tbe great gold or silver ornaments in their
eare, and their menial occupation, is
striking.
I see women carrying water on their
heads with babies not more than a few days
old in their arms, and I saw yesterday a
woman who had, bv actual count, 36
brass bracelets upon each of her forearms, a
big plate of silver on her biceps, heavy
brass anklets about her legs snd two silver
rings on each one of her ten toes.
Women Weigh led Down With Jewelry.
Speaking of jewelry, there are no women
in tl e world so fond of jewelry as those of
India. In the museum of the rajah of Jey
pore I was shown a collection of 1,600 differ
ent styles of Indian jewelry, and through
every province I have traveled I find the
women dress differently. Among the hills
of India and on the slopes of the Himalayas
a woman sometimes wears as high as 60
pounds of jewelrv. This is often of brass
out not infrequently of silver and gold.
I saw one woman in a turban who had a
nose ring as big around as the top of a gob
let fastened by a gold chain to a hole in her
ear. She had gold earrings with gold chains
attached to them, so made that they covered
the ear. and around her neck were strands
of corals, of silver beads and silver coins. A
freat silver chain hung from the bottom of
er earrings down to her waist and she had
bracelets and anklets and rings on toes and
fingers. There are here in Bombay 3 000
jewelers, and at Delhi the great business of.
the people is the making ot gold and silver
ornaments.
The Hard Lot of Child Widow.
Pundita Eamabai, the high caste Hindoo
woman who has hpon rAicSnn fj.
America for the establishment of a college
for the child widows of India, has just re
turned home. She is now at Poona, a de-
Dandng Girl.
lightful spot in the hills about 100 miles
from Bombay, and she will soon begin the
construction of her institntion. The Hin
doo wife is in a paradise compared to the
Hindoo widow. The condition of the wife
is had enough. As tbe slave of her hus
band she eats after he is through, and she
takes what is left. She has no education to
speak of and her only hope of salvation is
in him. She stands while he sits in the
household, and she can not, if she lives in
the interior, go to the Ganges and bathe
in the sacred water. The Hindoo woman
worships her husband and the husband re
turns the. worship by doing as little as
possible for his wife.
There are 6,000,000 widows in India, and
as the majority of the marriages take place
under 10, the greater part of these women
became widows as children. A Hindoo
widow can never marry again, even if her
husband dies before the ceremony of mar
riage. If she is betrothed she is condemned
to widowhood for the rest of her life. As a
widow she must give up all the pleasures of
this world. She must never wear any jew
elry, never sleep on a bed, and for the rest
of her life she becomes the slave of her
mother-in-law's family. She eats by her
self and cooks her own food. The moment
her husband dies her ornaments are torn
from her. She is clad in the poorest of
clothing, and at the funeral she is kept out
of the main body ot the mourners, and she
is looked upon as though she had the
plague.
Most of the Hindoos cremate their dead
by a river, and it used to be the custom for
widows to throw themselves alive on the
funeral pyres of their husbands and allow
themselves to be burned to death. This was
a sure passport to heaven, and it would ex
ist to-day were it not that the English have
prohibited it. At Benares I saw a half
dozen .monuments, rode pieces of stone 18
inches high and a foot square, which had
been put up in honor of women who had so
killed themselves.
Cruelly Peraecnted Women.
In the northwest provinces of India, where
the holiest of the Hindoos live, "the treat
ment of tbe widows is even worse than that
described in the above statements. Here
the woman is often dragged along with her
husband's corpse ,to the -cremation. -Shell
pushed Into the water and made to stand
there while the body is burning. She comes
THE PITTSBURG DISPATCH.
home in her wet clothes and she dare not
change them. It matters not if she be sick
or whether the weather be warm or cold.
She sleeps in these clothes for 13 days and
she is persecuted by all. I found here at
Bombay a statement of one of tbe Hindoo
widows from this part of India. It was
translated by an English lady and appeared
in an Indian newspaper. The following is
an extract from it:
"Thousands of us die, but more live. I
saw a woman die, one of my own cousins.
She had been ill before her husband's death.
When he died she was too weak and ill to
be dragged to the river. She was in a burn
ing fever. Her mother-in-law called a
water carrier and had four large skins of
water poured over her as she laid on the
ground, where she had been thrown from
er bed when her husband died. The chill
of death came upon her and in eight hours
she breathed her last. Everyone praised
her and said she died for the love of her
husband.
"I knew another woman who did not love
her husband, for all their friends knew they
quarreled so much they could not live to
gether. The husband died, and when the
news was brought the widow threw herself
from the roof and died. She could not bare
the thought of the degradation that must
ollow. She was praised by all.
flie only difference for us since the English
have prevented us from burning ourselves
upon onr husband's funeral pyres is that
we then die qnickly, if cruelly, but no, we
die all our lives in lingering pain. We are
aghast at the number of widows how is
it that there are so many? It is because
every man who died leaves one and often,
more, and though thousands die more live
on."
A Fnraeo marriage.
Notwithstanding all this there is, I doubt
not, some love among the Hindoos, and
there may be some happy homes. As far as
I ran see, much home life is impossible.
Ninety-nine hundredths of the people live
in mud huts or in two or three rooms, the
walls of which are unplastered and unpa
pered, where it is dark almost .in the day
time, and where at night the only light is a
poor lamp ora wickbnrning in a tumblerof
oil. The furniture is of the rudest descrip
tion, and the rooms are so small that the
beds are put outside the house during the
dajtime. Still in such houses women spend
their whole lives, going out only when it is
necessary te draw water. Now and Ihen in
the country you see the women of the lowest
castes at work, but high-caste women never.
The women do the grinding of tbe corn for
the family, and corn is 'ground here just as
it was in the days of the Scriptures.
Among the hfgb-caste Hindoos a senti
ment is now growing up against infant mar
riages and there is one society, the members
of which will not marry their girls before
Their fourteenth year. It must be remem
bered, however, that the Hindoo women do
not by any means make up the total female
population of India. India has more Mo
hammedans than Turkey, and the 353,000,000
of people who make up this Indian popula
tion are of many classes and religions. The
Parsees who are so noted as merchants are
Persian fire worshipers, and they do sot
marry their children under 12.
I attended a Parsee marriage last night in
which the bride and groom were respect
ively 12 and 13. The two were sitting in a
Parsee temple with their hands joined to
gether. They had been sitting in this posi
tion for two hours when I entered. The
Parsees do not lead secluded lives. Their
women dress gayly nnd go aboutrwhere thev
please. This girl was beautifully dressed,
and the groom had on a high hat which
looked for all the world like a stovepipe
hat with the rim cut off. but which was of
red silk literally covered with pearls and
diamonds. As we entered the room richly
dressed boys rushed up to us and put into
our hands bouquets of orange flowers and
roses, while servants sprayed over us, from
silver bottles two feet long, a shower of rose
water. After watching the ceremony for
sometime we rose to depart, and were then
given each two cocoanuts and little tranches
of betel for chewing as wedding presents,
and I noted that such presents were given
to all the guests.
FEANK G. CABPENTEB.
TBE WORLD'S TOBACCO HELD.
It Is Increasing More Rapidly Than That of
Either Wheat or Cora.
Iionlirllle Courler-Journal.1
The world's annual output of tobacco is
increasing; perhaps more rapidly than that
of either wheat or corn.
Kentucky is the greatest factor In the to
bacco market, and her product steadily
grows. That of Virginia does likewise, and
several of the Northern States are cultivat
ing it successfully. Cuba has long been
famous for her cigar wrappers,'and in many
parts of the island the planters are aban
doning sugar and turning their attention to
tobacco, finding the latter much more profi
table Even Germany is endeavoring to
raise it.
But the greatest efforts to extend the culti
vation of tobacco are being made in the
East Indies. Both the soil and the climate
of the great islands near the Asiatic coast
are admirably adapted to the weed, and it
has long been successfully grown there, but
not until recently have attempts been made
to produce it on such a large scale. Both
the Dutch and the English are heavily in
terested, and the industry is not conducted
.by small farmers as here in Kentucky, but
by great companies on immense planta
tions, working a thousand or more coolies
and Malays.
The most prosperous of the companies are
located in Batavia and Sumatra, and their
tobacco is frequently shipped to American
markets. The last issue of the London
.Financial News qnotes the stock of five of
these corporations as follows: 360, 451. 836
429, and 610. They have advanced about
90 points each in the last three months' and
are among the most highly prized shares
on the London Exchange.
A Pointer for Sports,
Hme.l
First Gamin Say, I'll bet you a nickel
I've got more money in my pockets than you
have.
Second Gamin Go yer once.
After money is put up.
First Gamin How much money have you
got in taj pocket? ,
Tiro-Fore.
Jadga.3 '
C; "Did you get that box of cigars I sent
yon?" inquired his .fiance.
"Yes, dear."
"And how do you like them?"
"The box was very nice, indeedt"he said,
softly.
A Hill Woman.
PITTSBTJKG, STOTDAT, JTJME 30, .1889.
THEPUEITMFOURTE
How the Birthday of Our Nation Was
Observed by Oar Grandfathers
DT NEW ENGLAND 50 YEARS AGO.
A Time of Universal Rejoicing, Weddings
and Wedding Sermons.
THE OLD-TIME MARRIAGE C0YENANT.
rWBITOJTTOB THE DISPATCH.
Next Thursday, July 4, will be the one
hundred and thirteenth anniversary of the
adoption of that Declaration of Independ
ence which dissolved all connection between
this country and Great Britain, and made
the former a free and independent nation.
Wben there spread throughout the 13 col
onies the great news that on the Fourth of
July, 1776, the Continental Congress, sitting
at Philadelphia, had adopted snch a decla
ration, it was everywhere received with
demonstrations of delight. News traveled
very slowly in those.days, so that the peo
ple of many places did not observe their
first Fourth of July until long after that
day had passed, but they celebrated it none
the less enthusiastically on that account
with an elaborateness, universality and
heartiness to which our more modern ob
servance of the day has long been a
stranger.
For several years past there has been a
great deal of talk, at each approaching re
currence of our nation's birthday, of rc-vlving-the
old-fashioned celebrations of the
occasion and thereby cultivating a spirit of
patriotism among the people. Iu view of
this, all that pertains to old-time observ
ances of the "Glorious Fourth" in
THE DATS OF OUE GBANDFATHESS
and great-grandfathers acquires a special
interest. So many of the most important
events of the Bevolutionary War and of the
causal occurrences which gave rise to it
transpired in New England that for many
years after John Adams wrote his famous
letter prophesying the manner in which In
dependence Day would be celebrated, the
fulfillment of that prophecy was perhaps
more marked upon New England soil than
in any other part of our country.
Among the people of that section
the Fourth of July, or "Independence
Day," as it was generally called, took the
place of other holidays which stern Puri
tanism severely frowned upon, and a large
degree of the general jollification of Christ
mas and New Years, not being wholly
absorbed by the great New England holi
day of Thanksgiving, was mingled with the
Satriotio fervor aroused by Independence
lay snd found vent in 'various social
festivities, both of a public and private
character, on the last named occasion. In
deed, many projected wedding parties and
other social gatherings and events were
postponed till Independence Day, which,
being a general holiday, would cause them
to be better attended and to thus pass off
with greater eclat.
THE OLD-TIME YANKEE CELEBRATION.
Fifty years ago there was not a town in
the New England States, nor indeed from
Maine to the extreme Western limit of our
country, in which the Fourth of July was
not celebrated with civic and military
parades, with brass bands playing our na
tional airs, with patriotic orations and with
public reading of the Declaration of Inde
pendence. Tbrougbout.New England the
last name ceremony war frequently per
formed in the Churches by the ministers,
who oten conducted religious services for
their flock, and preached to them a patriotio
sermon.
It is related of the Rev. Mr. Milton, a
very popular but eccentric clergyman who
ministered to the Congregational Church of
Newhuryport, Mass., within whose walls
lie the remains of the famous evan
gelist preacher, George Whitfield,
that when he stood up to make
the "long prayer" at one of these Indepen
dence Day services he simply said: "O,
Lord, deliver us from sham patriots, amen."
Perhaps, in these days, there is even more
urgent need of such a Fourth of July peti
tion than there was at the time it was
uttered.
The accounts of some of the social festivi
ties of Independence. Day in New England
a century ago are very quaint and amusing
reading now. I have in my possession the
diary of the Bev. Samuel Deane, an an
cestor of mine who, more than a century
ago, was for many years pastor of the Con
gregational Church of the First Parish in
Portland, Maine. This diary, which has
been handed down In my family from gen
eration to generation, and which I shall al
ways preserve as the most precious of heir
looms, covers a period of 20 years from 1770,
and comprises several bulgy manuscript
volumes. As a mirror of the
LITE AND MANNEBS OF THAT PEBIOD.
It is quite as entertaining and valuable
as is the famous diary of Mr. Pepys in its
relation to the time of Charles II. I have
been repeatedly urged to give this diary to
the public in its entirety, aud it isnot im
possible that I may some time do so. For
the present I shall content myself with a
few extracts from it pertaining to Indepen
dence Day in old-time New England and
some other facts derived from it in connec
tion therewith. On July 4, 1778, my rev
erend ancestor writes as follows:
To-day, being Independence Say, there as
sembled at my honse more than 100 of the fair
sex. married and single ladies, most of whom
were skilled in the important art of spinning.
An emulous industry was never more apparent
tban in this beautiful assembly. The majority
of fair hands gave motion to not less tban CO
wheels. Many were occupied in preparing ma
terials besides those who attended to tbe enter
tainment of the rest, provision for which was
mostly presented by the guests themselves, or
sent in by other generous promoters of the ex
hibition, as were also the materials for the
work.
Near the close of the day my good wife was
presented by the company with 236 soven
knotted skeins of excellent cotton and linen
vani, tar work of the day, excepting about a
dozen skeins brought in ready span. Some had
spun six and many not less than live skeins
apiece. To conclude and crown the day, a nu
merous band of the best singers attended this
evening and performed an agreeable variety of
excellent pieces Iff psalmody.
As already hinted, marriages were fre
quently solemnized on Independence Day.
In Mr. Deane's diary I read that on July 4,
1770, soon after his ordination to the minis
try; he performed bis first marriage cere
mony, the names of the contracting parties
being John Physick and Mary Prescott.
He goes on to state that he was to preach the
"wedding sermon" on the following Sab
bath, taking as his text, at the request of the
bride, "Mary hath chosen that good part."
This custom of having a discourse called
THE VEDDIXa SEBHOJT
preached on the Sabbath succeeding the
wedding by the minister who had solemn
ized it, lrom a text of Scripture selected by
the bride, was a universal custom at-that
time throughout New England, and con
tinued so for many years. When Abby
Smith, daughter of Parson Smith, married
'Bqulre John Adams, whom her father
disliked and would not invite home
to dinner, she chose for tbe text of her
wedding sermon, "John came neither eat
ing bread nor drinking wine, and ye say he
hath a devil." Parson Smith, as in honor
bound, swallowed his discontent as best he
could and preached his daughters marriage
sermon from the text she had selected.
That high-tpirlted damsel not only had the
honor of seeing her husband become Presi
dent of the United States, bnt of giving
birth.to a son who, followed in his fathers
footsteps. " '
In giving an account.vof that Fourth of
July wedding, the first solemnized by him,'
my reverend ancestor gives the following
transcript of the marriage covenant which
he used then and throughout the remainder
of his life, and whictr,indeed, was then in gen
eral use among the Congregational minis
ters of New England. In those days no
one on American soil had ever questioned
the sanctity or advisability of marriage, or
had" ever considered the possibility of its
proving a failure.
OLD STYLE MABB1AGE COVENANT.
In reading this covenant one is forcibly
struck with the delicate distinction made be
tween tne man ana tne woman in tneir sep
arate vows, and also with the peculiar
solemnity attached, by the phrasing of the
fourth paragraph, to the promises made. I
copy it verbatim, punctuation, capital let
ters and all : '
Yon, John and Mary, who now present your
selves Candidates for the Covenant of God and
of your Marriage before him, in Token of your
Consenting Affections and United Hearts,
please td give your hands to one another.
John, the person whom you now take by the
hand you receive to be your married Wite; yon
Eromise to love her, to honor her, to support
er, and in all things to treat her as you are
now, or shall hereafter be convinced is by tbe
Laws of Christ made your Duty. A tender
Husband, with unspotted Fidelity till death
shall separate you.
Mary, the person whom you now hold by the
hand you accept to he your" married Husband,
you promise to love him, to honor him, to sub
mit to him and In all things to treat him as
yon are now, or shall hereafter be convinced,
is, by the Laws of Christ made your Duty. An
affectionate Wife, pith Inviolable loyalty till
death shall separate you.
This solemn covenant you make, and in this
sacred oath bind your soul in tbe presence of
the Qreat God, and before these witnesses.
I then declare yon to be Husband and Wife
resularly married, according to tbe Laws of
God and man. Therefore what God hath thus
joined together let no man put asunder.
F. H. W.
WESTERN STEAMBOAT B0UTES.
The Prospect! for Passenger Trafflo on the
Hirer Far From Discouraging.
The Century.
It is perfectly true that the Western
steamboat interest has been seriously im
paired by competition with the railroads,
and that the number of fast boats has great
ly decreasad. For the position of steam
boat property in the past was peculiar..
Large numbers of the boats were owned by
the captains or their families, and in case of
hard times or a cut-rate war with the rail
roads the boatB could be seized for debt and
the traffic stopped. The competing railroad,
on the other hand, might be equally in debt,
but in the hands of a receiver it went on do
ing business while the poor boat owner was
tied up with his boat.
This is the common and the darker view
taken of the steamboat interest on our great
rivers. To offset this is the fact that the
Jarger rivers are now well lighted, and more
l?u.. .JJ.J mL 1112
uguba urc uuucu every year, mo xmuiuus
spent on the rivers have wonderfully im
proved navigation, and there are lower
wrecks than ever beiore. The slack water
navigation, as on the Kanawha and the Mo
nongahela, has greatly extended the season
in which boats can run, and has thus ex
tended the earning time of every boat on
these waters. The ownership of tbe boats
has also changed, and iu place of single
'tramp' steamers there are now regular in
corporated companies owning large fleets of
boats and having abundant capital. These
companies are enabled to furnish better,
cheaper and more regular service, with less
danger oi ruinous competition with the rail
roads. Formerly the steamboat service
was extravagant and costly in manage
ment,' while rates were high and
profits large. The companies now conduct
their business with more economy, and seek
to attract business by regular departures
and arrivals more comfortable boats and bet
ter table and stateroom service. The lines
now more nearly approach the Eastern lines,
both in equipment and management, ana
while tbe ola racing captains, who threw
their freight into the furnaces rather than be
beaten by a rival boat, are passing away, the
new men are real captains ot safe and com
fortable boats. The romantic days have gone
from the river forever, but the travel is
safer, and, in a way, more civilized. The
last of the famous racing machines, the
Natchez, was wrecked only a few months
ago. The competition with the railroads has
demanded a wholly different class of boats,
and the tourists will compel abetter passen
ger service on all the lines in the 'future.
SUPERSTITIONS OP THE HINDOOS.
If Diet by Any Evil Portent they Setnrn
Home and Commence the Day Afresh.
Science.)
The Hindoos ire early risers. In the
warm season extending from April to Oc
toberthey sleep either upon the housetop
or in the courtyard, or in the verandah, if
rain should be threatening, and are usually'
up at 5 o'clock or earlier in the morning.
In the cold weather, when they sleep with
in doors, they rise later, but they are out
before 7. Bising in the morning while but
half awake, the Hindoo repeats the name of
Bama several times. Happening Ur yawn
he immediately fillips his thumb and mid
dle finger, though he does not know why.
He prepares for his morning toilet. He
plucks a twig from the bitter Neem tree,
breaks off a span length of it, crushes one,
end between his teeth, and extemporizes a
tooth-brush. He next draws up water from
the, well in the yard with an Iron bucket,
and prepares to wash his hands and lace.
"This is quickly done; he then throws on an
extra garment, the thickness and texture
depending on the season and weather, lights
hishooka. takes a few pulls with his euphoni
ous hubble-bubble, and is ready to go out.
With a passing "Bama, Bama." to friend
or acquaintance,and a neighborly gossip by
the way, he repairs to his place of business.
While going he will seduously avoid those
signs and sounds which may augur ill for
the day. Should one sneeze, or should he
hear the cawing of a crow, or the cry of a
kite, or should he meet an oilman, or one
blind or lame, or see a cat cross his path,
he would be greatly distressed as to the
day before him. On the other hand, if a
fox crosses his path, if he hears a gong or
shell summoning him to worship, or if he
meets a Bran-nan with his head uncovered,
he would rejoice, bailing it as auspicious.
Some are so superstitious that if any evil
portent occurs ok the way they would return
home, have a smoke, or chew a betel leaf,
and proceed afresh.
A NEW TIPE SETTER
.Description of a Mechanical Compositor That
HaiiTJeen Patented in England.
The London Olobt describing a- new type
setting machine says; As the operator
works the keys the line of print is formed
beiore him, so that corrections may be made
at once. At each impress of his finger a
sheet of brass with its proper letter in the
Center slips into its place, and at the same
time exposes a character on the edge -visible
to the worker. Then as soon as the line is
completed, it is seized and automatically
"justified." Then it is carried to a little fur
nace to be stereotyped,the line being finally
thrust out on a ledge after heing cast. The
types are then automatically distributed. It
seems slow to read, but is not so in reality,
as the processes proceed simultaneously, the
type-setter's work on the keys being scarcely
interrupted.- Of course one wants to see
such an invention at work for a length of
-time in a printing office beiore pronouncing
a hnai opinion upon it, as no test is quite
so good as that of practical work, and it
has not yet been introduced into the office
of any English paper; but if what the in
ventor tells me of Its speed be correct, and
if it can be made, as he says, for something
between 150 and 200, there is no doubt
ot its being a very useful as well as a won
derful invention,
SABATOflA'S SCENES.
The Giddy Contest Between Love and
Mammon at the Springs.
PAIR MAIDS AND' POOR LOYERS.
Old and Wealthy Beans Who Capture All
the Prettiest Frizes.
i
OLD TIMES C0NTBABTED WITH THE NEW
connxsrosuxircx or tkb eispAtch.1
Sabatooa, June 27.
7 entering Saro
togo in tbe even
ing jou find it
with its old-time
halo on. You are
whizzed from the
station in one of its
gawky stages, and
swirled down the
spectacular vista
of Broadway to
whatever m a m
moth hotel you
may have chosen
to put up at. Ton can imagine very easily
that you are entering the Paris Exposition,
and that the giddiest part of France is
coming out to welcome you. The boulevard
sight of a heavy swell seated at a small
table in the open air, on the veranda of a
restaurant, taking his summer beverage with
slow equanimity under publio gaze, is not
uncommon this year at Saratoga. Can it be
that the American drinker is to emerge
from behind a screen and sit down boldly to
quaff his drinks, instead of gulping them?
It is a spangled and gauzy crowd fairly
blazing under the electrioity and the moon,
and the poet is taken even to a more intox
icating spot than wicked Paris, as he
views it, he is iu Cadiz where the roofs are
of gold, the skies a diamond-decked canopy
of purest sapphire, and the women
shadowy-eyed houris, made only for love
and caresses. The love and the caress of life
is the very earliest discovery made by the
Saratoga pilgrim. Nowhere could passion
find a wilder rioting place, The sir is so
filled with the fragrance of powers, the bell
notes of fountains, the swing of hand music,
thatcupid seems dodging behind every skirt
and aiming his darts over each gleaming
shoulder.
THE IDEAL AND THE BEAT
As I lolled back in a seedy old barouche,
and was taken through Broadway last
night, I was never more impressed by the
brilliant power that we Americans have for
"becoming pictorial and vast. The hotels
themselves, suggesting the coloseums of the
Bomans, were so overwhelming in their
radiant immensity, the dense crowds were
so luminous and unearthly, the musio came
in such volnmes from all sides, and the
high arching trees flashed so magnificently
up against the jeweled sky, that had I been
transported .to "Titania's wood my senses
would not have felt the mystical marvels of
wonderland more keenly than here among
the fairy palaces and theatrical effects of
my mortal brothers. And I saw a proof
that it is the wand of wealth and not ot a
fairy, that makes an old donkey-headed
man get the love, real or counterfeit, of the
nrettiestof poor girls. Here was a coarse
grained man of CO years grotesquely odd in
dress promenading with a neat, dainty girl
of less than half his age. His daughter I
thought her, bnt I found out that they were
on their bridal tour.
I was not robbed of my sparkling mood of
romance when I went through the parlors
of one of the hotels to the piazzas surround
ing the gardens, where an admirable or
chestra discoursed sweet music. A Spanish
tarantella was rippling from the crowd of
violins, the fountains dancing to the strains
and a multitude o.f people in splendid attire
stretched down the piazzas until lost in the
shadows beyond the lights. The lawns
were like emerald seas, and here and there
a girl in filmy white, standing afar off,
looked like Aphrodite shaking the spray
out of her hair. Within and without there
was a steady flash of women. I say "flash"
advisedly. When a woman gets to Sara
toga she appears to think she has reached
the orbit of "Venus, and she accordingly
exerts herself toperlorm her office of con
stant scintillation so that there can be no
mistake about her mission. She. takes off
.her jacket and her collar, hangs crescents
and stars around her tbroat, sticks others in
her hair, wafts a feather fan with a band
frosted with-gems, and then pulsates like a
great rose laden with shower-crystals. As you
meet her on the piazza, in the corridors,
crossing the great parlors she drives the
faintest possible suggestion of violet toward
you with her fan, sweeps her lashes side
way:, over her cheeks, at the same time
contributiug in your direction a fatal gleam
of the eyes, draws a long, quivering breath,
and glides on with the important swish of a
yacht in a free wind. I do not care where
you go in Saratoga, tbe feminine
magnificence of your surroundings will
have an important effect upon you. Even
at the sedate hotels on the hill, the very
ladies' maids have 'the rose of sentiment
stuck in their hair, and they cast more
glances over their shoulders tbanMheydo
straight before them. As for the three vast
hotels down in the center of the town, they
are a triad of paradises where stylish angels
are forever in a bewildering flutter vanish
ing new and again only to reappear in more
exquisite draperies than those which we
thought were unsurpassable..
Saratoga is the most popular resort for
A p jffL p Iff
I 4 LL-Ei)' ,
old bachelors of any in the country. I do
not know whether they come here for the
salutary influence of the waters that bubble
from the earth at all points, or to feed their
critical eyes upon the yonng and tender
women that bloom so bountifully" iu every
section of the city. But the fact remains
that the windows of the clnbs of several of
the big cities, especially those of New York,
are fairly transplanted to the piazzas of the
hotels here. There is a narrow bal
cony on the side of one house
where the old boys love to congregate
and talk of the horses and the women
that jingle by, and to adjourn with regular
frequency to the cool room below stairs,
where the fizz and the julep are manufac
tured with gratifying skill. If these men
go to one of the springs before breakfast,
and drink several glasses of the water for
the benefit of their livers, they fancy they
are entitled to pass the rest of day with as
happy stomachs as can be procured. There
fore, as you move about here, you are con
tinually coming in contact with the gentle
man who has been at the springs every
summer for the past IS years, and who as-
2 J
sures you that the waters are not nearly so
efficacious as they formerly were. Then he
will ask you down to the cool room below
stairs, and tell you of the halcyon days
when Morrissey kept the club house, when
the city was packed with Princes, Senators,
Oenerais, and heaven knows what ail, the
streets jammed with tallybo coaches, four-in-hand
drags, and Jim Fisk drove his
chariot down Broadway with 20 of the high
est looking women in the country on top.
HOT LIKE IT VSED TO BE.
"Now," he says, "everything is the Hil
ton family. When you. see a handsome
house it has been bought iu from one of the
old-timers by Judge Hilton. When an es
pecially elegant turnout goes along you can
Set one of the Hilton boys has the ribbons.
You might very well rechristen Saratoga
to-day and call it Hiltonville.
On the lawn in Hilton's park, with two
girls watching an Apollo at croquet.
Mildred (who was belle of the hop last
night "I don't like those new mallets, do
you, Kate?"
Kate (champion at croquet) "Ohl it
takes a light-headed thing to make a hit at
a ball, you kuow."
I have observed particularly since arriv
ing here a girl of about 20, who is always
being whirled along by the side of some
young fellow in a dog-cart, rustling over
the piazzas in a gown of delicious filminess,
dancing around the parlors and occupying
the most prominent place in the dining
room. She is especially beautiful, a fact
thoroughly appreciated by an army of ex
cited masculine followers, who tumble over
one another endeavoring to cafch her smiles
and her-iavors. She rules her court like a
true princess, and I can scarcely blame the
young men lor becoming infatuated with
her, for she is undoubtedly tbe sweetest
armful in a season of waltzing at the
Springs. Iwas talking with one of these
old bachelors'' on the piazza this forenoon
when she-floated by on thearnfof a young
man, looking more lovely; than words can
tell. It is a whim of fashion, by the way,
for Saratoga belles to take beaux arms by
daylight. She was laughing with the
melody of a Ante, and I declare that her
mouth, with its flashing teeth, was the most
alluring thing in the world.
"A fine creature," I remarked to my old
friend.
He glanced up at her receding form,
laughed quietly to himself and then said:
"Yes, she is-quite a belle. Do you ever
have your nails treated by manicures in
New York?"
To this seemingly irrelevant question I
replied in the negative.
"Oh, then probably you never met the
angel, observed my friend. "That's her
trade. The old gentleman down at the end
of the piazza, with the straight-brimmed
silk hat on, is her benefactor. Used to visit
his sister's house, I believe to operate on his
hands. He wants to marry -her. So does
the young fellow she is walking with. He
is clean gone on her to the point of confes
sion. The other day he said wildly to her,
'I love you, and -I shall never get over it
till you marry me.' And now, the more he
thinks of it, the more he wishes he hadn't
put it that way. But she will not marry
him, no matter how correctly he should ask
her, because he is poor. The old widower
is rich, and he will get her. But
THE LITTLE HANICUEE
is holding off for a spell of freedom, and she
rules the roost in a considerable circle here
at Saratoga. If she is as clever as I think
she is, she will make the biggest
catch of the season. Her old gentle
man was dropped out of the race the first day
they got here. But he is an easy-going old
fogy, and lets her run around as she chooses,
hoping she will come to him at last. There
is nothing like Saratoga, you see, for mys
tery that is as plain as the nose on your
face."
As the beautiful manicure swept past me
just now I heard her remark that she really
must hasten to Newport, where so many of
her friends were anxiously awaiting her.
Her-escort this time was the son of a very
wealthy New York man. He remonstrated
so vehemently with the lovely creature, and
looked so desolate when he heard her words,
that I feel positive, should she really- start
for Newport or Patagonia, he would not lose
sight of her. There is no doubt about this
young man. If the manicure wants him she
can have him; snd I think she wants him,
because polishing nails can't be au agree
able way of earning a living.
Baseball is rife here at Saratoga and very
fine folks go to see rather poor games by
neighborhood teams. But the girls are not
critical, and here- is a bit of actual di
alogue: Beginald isn't it a corking good game,
girls?
Girls (in chorui) Oh, just splendid, and
these are such great teams, too. It makes
it so exciting.
Belle (aside to Grace Was teams the
right word?
Grace (aside to Belle) I think so. Wait
till I read over his shoulder what teams
they are, anyhow. Kamkr.
The Idlest From the Diamond.
Tale Beeord.l
"Well said Wright Field," as he tookhk
over coat to the pawnbroker, "here goes for
three balls aud a bat."
& 3" &&
PAGES 9 TO 16.
AN IRISH EOI-HMl. :;
Scenes of Wildest Excitement at tbe"
.niiuiiuyuuuuiuy jteeu
AIL DMGER IS F0RG0TTE5," $W
While Hen and Animals Bush Madly oh la"
the Exciting Chase.
AN
ETENTFUL
DAI FOB HUNTSXEff
rwBrrrxir vqs tux nrsrATCH.1
Tumbling out of bed in the small hours
of morning plnnging into an ice-cold bath
according to the time-honored custom of fox
hunters; struggling frantically with tight
top-boots, and then hurrying down to aa
early breakfast; these are the preliminaries
of a day's hunting when the "meet" chances'
to be at a distance from one's domicile.
Everything is fuss and confusion at these
early-hunting breakfasts. Du Maurierhas
sketched one of them for Barper'tp but hs
fails to reproduce the bustle and ceaseless
activity ot tbe scene. His young Nimrodf
helping themselves to cold chicken at tha
sideboard look as though there were so
drive through thawing roads to Ballycur
keen Gorse, or Twitterley Cross before)
them. His jovial 'Squire is not apparently
agitated by any dread of being too late for
the meet, nor are his long-skirted, long
waisted maidens at all anxious in regard to
the straightness of their headgear.
The picture, to be realistic, should be
filled by young men furiously devouring
the viands fat, red-faced, red-coated
'Squires, with big watches in their hands,
warning everybody that nobody can possi
bly be in time; and merry damsels skipping
blithely from mirror iA mirror twisting at
veil here, fixing a hat there, and rearrang
ing their tresses in every direction. Then
there should be little Tom, in tbe corner of
the great Tudor window, with one eye on
the plate beiore him, and the other watch'
ing lor the advent of his gallant charger a
corpulent Shetland. With a glimpse of
waiting horses and dogcarts through the)
window aforesaid, tbe picturewould be com
plete. When breakfast is over
A EU3H IS MADE
for the hall door. Then there is mounting
of hacks, and leaping into traps, and a vast
amount of maneuvering as to who is to bo '
the driver of certain lovely Dianas to tha
"meet." At last, with a tornado of whip
cracking, and amid a storm of whirling;
wheels and flying gravel the whole caval
cade starts off, down the long avenue,
through the gray mists of morning. The
great gates are already open, and hoofs and
wheels crunch merrilyalong the broad whita
road: while the love-making carried on in.
the dog-carls is qnite nauseous to staid old
bachelors, as we trot behind on our easy
going covert hacks.
We pass a few market carts ou their way
to the county town, and jog by the quiet
railway station where some booted and
spurred passengers have just got offtber
morning train. These are officers from tha
county garrison come to enjoy our sport.
Presently at another 'Squire's gates we ara
joined by a partv bound, like ourselves, for
the "meet;" and on the road we pass strag
glers the doctor on his gray, a sporting
farmer or two, and not infrequently a sport
ing parson likewise all making for the
same destination, Kilballycuddihy village. ,
Soon, whirling round a gorse-covered hill
we sweep into Kilballycuddihy, horse and
foot. In Ireland the population ot villages
is in inverse ratio to the length of their
names, so Kilballycuddihy is but a sorry
hamlet. It contains, however, a street and
a "square," and in the square are grouped
the early arrivals, who form the nucleus of
a "meet." First of all, the hun tsman in his
red coat, sits on horseback amid the pack,
whose lithe dappled forms hover around
the flanks of his horse or stray farther off.
BENT OIT EXPLOKATI03-,
until brought back by the falling thongs of
the ever-watchfnl whippers-in. Some of tho
dogs are lying down, their long, red tongues
lolling out, panting, and looking up wist
fully at tbe face ot the huntsman. These)
are the old hounds who do not believe in
early exertion. Around the little party in
the center are sportsmen by the dozen soma
in red coats, many in black. A few car
riages have begun to drive up, and their
panels flash in the cold glare of the Decem
ber sun. We take our places, and awaittho
advent of the M. F. H. that despot of tha
chase. Presently he drives up in his spring
trap, and throwing off his great-coat, mounts
the horse which has been waiting for him.
It is the signal to make ready, and in a
jiffy we have exchanged our hacks and carts
for the fiery hunters, who have been blan
keted until now.
The master has a mysterious consultation
with the huntsman, and then the whi
crack and the whole concourse is in mo
tion. We reach the covert side in a few
minutes, and then there is another pause.
The dogs are sent iu among the gorse and
undergrowth. Cigars are lighted; brandy
flasks ore passed round. Flirtation begins
anew over sherry and sandwiches. For tha
moment Beynard is forgotten. But anon
we are made aware of his presence. There
sounds a "view halloo" from the second
whip, far away to windward, and the dogs
are seen scrambling in hot haste througn
the briars and over the covert fence. In
stantly all is confusion. The huntsman'!
horn brays loud and high across the field.
Cigars ore thrown away: flasks are hur
riedly stowed into saddlebags; horses
plunge and rear: maidens shriek, and red
coated 'Squires halloo one and all. "Stols
away I" "Gone away 1" "Who-oop I" they
yell, ana the whole heia nies neiter-sjceite
at the low fences which bar the way.
XS EXCITUtO MOMENT.
But somebody heads the fox on the hill
side, and he wheels about,and makes for tha
valley. We catch a fleeting glimpse of hisa
slanting down the hill to tbe pasture land
below, with the pack going like lightning,
seven fields behind. We, too, alter our
course. There is more kicking, more plung
ing; bat we are off at last,and the real sport
of the day begins, as we dash madly down,
the slope. Who cares for death-with tha
wind whistling in his ears and a stout Irish
horse beneath him? Who cares for death
when his lady-love looks on his prowess
tronVunder her long lashes, as she rides j
his side, as bravely as the best?
What reck, we of our fallen comrades? Ok
we go once more; for the hounds are now ia
full cry, and it is three miles to a covert.
Clatter, clatter down the stony hill; pop
over a brawling stream at the bottom, up a
slight rising ground, and then for the broad
valley I Ohl those great doubles, those dread
stone walls, those lofty hedges! When w
look at you in cold blood, we wonder at our
audacity in daring to leap such obstacles!
But in the fire aud ardor of the hunt we
think but little. Away across the big grass
fields starting the sleeping cattle with our
shouts and the music of the horn. By-and-by
there is no shouting!
By-and-by there are few left of the 60 who
started from the covert side! Some are
lying beneath the oaks in tbe park, others
are scraping the mud from their garments
by'the murmuring river. Some are chasing
their recreant steeds on the lonely hillside
some again are jolting homeward in eoua- '
try carts, their heads wrapped in handker
chiefs, their hearts plunged in sorrow. Wa
seek the nearest highroad, and jog gaily
homeward to a well earned dinner.
Peeeokese Qbbll. i
Inseparable. , ,
Jsdta.) "
Mr. Younghusband Lucille, the papew ;r.
say the bustle must go. 5 -
jars, xouagnusoaaa xes, uchvibs: otttn
-when the bustle gees tha woaaeu vm !sjo
DlkU U1B UlUUC.
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