- IS' "SHE PITTSFOBG- DISPATCH, SUNDAY; OCTOBER 13, " 188& Vf .fV V-'- - iNt R&tr , I E i 4 THE DEADNOYELIST. Hall Caine Gives His Personal Recol lections of Wilkie Collins. A TICTIM OP THE OPIUM HABIT. How He Obtained the Title for His Kovel, The Woman in White. .HIS OPINION OF BOOK EETIEWEES WKii ira ros the dispatch.! "Wilkie Collins was a name to conjure with -when I was a boy at school, and the great book that first made it famous was .published before I was born; but I did sot make acquaintance with the man himself until about two years ago. Short as that time is, and little as it promises of personal knowledge, I can truly say that it repre sents a period of great intimacy and famil iarity. I did not know "Wilkie Collins long, but I knew him well. I do not remember who it was that intro duced me to "Wilkie Collini.or for what rea son we first met, but I recall the occasion of it well enough. He had written saying that I would be welcome to call upon him, but must be prepared to find him in the turmoil of a domestic change of some sort. "Never- Willie Collins. thelcss I am still possessed of a table, bottle of brandy, a couple of glasses and a box of ci gars, and will be happv to share them with the author of So-and-so, "he wrote, ay nearly as I can remember. I found him in the heart of London, for he was then living in Gloucester place The house was large and rather dingy, one of the mansions of 100 years ago. when the masons of London were laying the foundations of the gloomiest buildings in Christendom, and also of the most protracted bouts of hypochondriasis. The air of gloom was as much within as without the house in Gloucester place. The walls were paneled, the stairs were of stone, and the hall was cold, and the whole house seemed cheerless. Much of this effect must have been due to the dwelling itself, for when at a later date Collins removed to "Wimpole street his house was very bright and homelike. The door had been answered by a manservant, whose nervousness, hesi tancy and diffidence told a long story in ad vance of the habits ot close retirement ob served by the man I had come to see. Per haps it cannot so confidently be affirmed ot Collins' house as one might have said of the house of Dante fJosetti, that it reflected the mind of the man who lived in it, for many of the quaint things that made it curious and the beautiful things that made it pleas ant had come to him from his father, the painter. THE AUTHOR'S AFPEAEAXCE. "Wilkie Collins was firs pointed out to me by the poet Bosetti as we were passing -. through Eegent's Park. "That's "Wilkie Collins," said Bosetti, and I looked and sw a small, elderly man, gray-haired and gray-bearded, large-eyed and lion-headed, roa-d shouldered and stooping heavily. Thai was my first glimpse ot Collins, and swift asit must have been, it left its vivid impression, so that when he came into the room to me five years afterward at Glouces ter Place, I remembered in a moment that I had seen him before. But he had grown leebler in that interval, paler of face and more flabby of body. I think I cannot bet ter describe tht effect of his face fox those who have not seen it, but have seen the face of Garibaldi, than to say that the norelist's face resembled the patriot's, with the difference of having less power and more vividness. The only Eerious point at which this description would be at fault would be in roped of the eyes, which were large and protruded, and had the vague and dreamy look that is some- times seen in the eyes of the blind. Perhaps I would come nearer to giving the right im pression if I were to add (what I hesitate to say), that the expression of Collins' eyes at this time was exactly that of a man to whom chloroform has just before been adminis tered. Collins' eyes fixed my attention in stantly, and he saw that it was so. Perhaps he suspected that I read their strange look by the light of my late experience, perhaps he was loth to trust me then, as he trusted me later, but before we had been talking to gether lone he interrupted the conversation and said something like this: "I see that you can't keep your eyes off my eyes, and I ought to say that I've got the gout in them, and that it is trying to blind ue." I was much troubled that I had brought down this remark by the unconscious rude ness of a too constant gaze into the eyes that fascinated me by the story they seemed to tell of daily ha'bit and lifelong suffering. But I made no attempt to excuse it, and ac cepting Collins' reference to the gout as a sufficient explanation, I banished the matter from my mind. It came up again some months afterward, and it came up once more at the end, and then I remembered with a painful vividness what my feeling had been at first meeting Wilkie Collins face to face. A GOOD TALKER. I found him a good and animated talker, never very spontaneous, but always precise and right ,uot blundering and tripping, as I have heard brilliant talkers blunder and trip, bat also no: passionate and overwhelm ing and irresistible. His voice was fairly lull and of even quality, without shrill notes in it, and without thrilling depths, a good Toice, not at all a great one. In manner he was quiet, a little nervous, and not prone to much gesture. He sat while he talked, with his head halt down, and his eyes usually on the table; but he looked into your face from time to time, and then his gaze was steady and encouraging, and you never felt for a moment that his eye was upon you. In deed, without being the most "magnetic" of men, he was a man to set you at your ease, to get the best out of you( to send you away with a comfortable leeling toward yourself, and yet a man with a proper sense of personal "dignity. You never knew it for dignity, and that was ex actly where its strength lay. Xou left him with the feeling that "Wilkie Collins was worthy ot "The Moonstone," and that "The Moonstone" was not a better product than "Wilkie Collins. Those who have seen much of distinguished people will know what I mean by that, lor the chilling of en thusiasm that may come upon the first meeting with someone who has been known and revered for years is one ot the hero worshiper's commonest experiences. Wilkie Collins certainly did not disap point expectations, and neither did he trans cend them. Tne same large grasp of fact and command of detail which you find in the novels you found in the man. If his conversation was not large, if his outlook on life was not wide, if his horizon was not far away, neither were they little and narrow and near. His insight was sure, his mem ory unfailing, and his invention equal. In n word, to meet him on fair terms and on his own subjects, was to know, without having read his books, that he was a full man, pow erful by nature, and thoroughly .equipped all round by education and acquaintance " Iff" A Vr as r Mm ., nitmni nf ri st meeting we talked on many "i' ' ', I' '," !"'. subjects. I remember that X wanted infor mation on the copyright law, for the plot of one of my novels had been taken by some dramatic thief, and I had a mind to fight him. Collins was very full, very precise, and very emphatic on that subject, having paid bitterly for his special knowledge over two of his own stories, "The Woman in "White" ana "The New Magdalen." He was quite sure that I had not a lee to stand on, though, of course, he joined his wail with mine against the iniquitous law that recog niied a copyright in words and none in ideas. XS ADMIBEB OE DUMAS. Then he talked of French writers, and he said something that I cannot remember of how he met with Victor Hugo whose plays, no less than his novels, he admired. But the elder Dumas among French novelists was clearly the god of his idolatry, and "The Three Musketeers" was his ideal of a great story. He had been many times in the way of meeting Duuas, but had never done so. Then he talked of Scott, whom he valued beyond words of appraisement, think ing "The Bride of Xammermoor" the great est of all prose tragedies. Something he said, too, of Dickens, but only in the charac ter of a near and dear friend, with a per ceptible sinking of the soft voice and melt ing of the gentle eyes. Charles Beade was also mentioned in relation of the memoir that had then been newly published, and the impression left with "me was that the rougher side of Beade'scharacter had never been seen by Collins except as the whole world saw it'in the squabbles of the news papers. He was always kindly of nature, always alert of mind, always enthusiastic of spirit. His letters were as full of pith as his con versation. Nothing came out in these letters more frequently than the boyish delight in his work. It was not done easily, but with great and oftengrievous labor labor of con ception, of construction, and of repeated writinr and rewriting and yet he held to it, clung to it, and when torn from it by sickness returned to it in health with the fiercest eagerness of the literary aspirant. If ever was authorship less of a trade to any author, though he was a competent business man, and knew how to make the most of his market. To write stories was a passion to him, and he was as much a slave to it when he was beginning the story which he left un finished at his death as he had been 25 years earlier, before fame had come to him, or fortune seemed within his grasp. I had good reason to know how much his work took out of him, for I saw him repeatedly while he was writing "The Legacy of Cain" and "Blind Love." Alter the first of these he seemed utterly prostrated and incapable of ven the least bodily exertion. I then prayed of him to take rest, and he laughed and said, "Physician, heal thyself." "When I saw him again soon afterward he was deep in "Blind Love." I remonstrated, and he asked how it was with me. Unluckily I fell an easy prey to his retort, so we laughed together at the dunderheadedness we shared in common. Then, as l remember, he tola me of another friend a very unliterary one as I gathered who had remonstrated in an other fashion (and vastly more effectively) the day before. On healing that Collins had begun a new story on the head of one that had nearly killed him, this discerning soul had said, ""Wilkie, you're a clever fel low, a very clever fellow, though you try to deceive people. But I know what's wrong with you you're mad." HIS STOCK OP STORIES. "Wilkie had many good stories, and he told them well and in a manner altogether his own. "Wilkie's style was quiet, but em phatic, precise, and perhaps slow, the points cumulative in their effect and most carefully led up to, and ending always in complete success. The pistol never missed fire when Wilkie pulled the trigger. His memory was strong, and his store of good things was very plentiful. Some of bis stories concerned bis own novels and their readers, and I recall one of them that relates to the "Woman in "White." Immediately after the production of that book, when all England was admiring the arch villainy of the Fat Fosco, the author received a letter (which still exists) from a lady who has since figured very largely in public view. She congratulated him upon the success with somewhat icy cheer, and then said, "But, Mr. Collins, the great fail ure of your book is your villain. Excuse me if I say you really do not know a villain. Tour Count Fosco is at least a very poor one, and when next you want a character of that description I trust you will not disdain to come to me. I know a villain, and have one in my eye at this moment, that would far eclipse anything I have ever read of in books don't think I am drawing upon my imagination. The man is alive and con stantly under my gaze. In fact he is my own husband!" These were the lady's words as nearly as I can remember them. , Shall I say who she was? She was the wife ot the'late Lord Lytton. And this mention of the "Woman in "White" reminds me of a story which I may or may not have heard fiom "Wilkie's own lips, but seems nevertheless veracious. After the story had been written (or partly written, for "Wilkie told me one day that down to "BJind Love" he had never been more than five instalments ahead of his printers) and the time had come to begin its serial publication, a title had not yet been fonna. A story could not be pub lished without a title, but neither the author nor his friends could hit on one that seemed suitable. Dickens had been appealed to, and had failed. So had Forster, who was prolific in good titles. "Wilkie was in de spair. The day was approaching when the story must begin in "All the Year Bound." So one day the novelist took himself off to Broadstairs, determined not to return until a title had been found. He walked for hours along the cliff between Kingsgate and what is called Bleak House; he smoked a case of cigars, and all to no purpose; then, vexed and much wora by the racking of his brains, he threw himself on the grass as the sun went down. He was lying facing the North Foreland Lighthouse, and half in bitter jest, half unconsciously, he began to apostrophise it thus: "You are ugly and stiff and awkward you know you are; as stiff and as weird as my white woman white woman woman in white the title, by Jove!" It was done; a title had been hit upon, and the author went back to London de lighted. Dickens was much pleased with the name, and the story began its career. Such is said to have been the origin of one of the finest titles any novel ever had at least the story sounds much like one of "Wilkie Collins'. SO FAITH IN EETIEWEES. He wrote the book, and was quite ex hausted at the end of it So he made ar rangements for its publication in the library form, and went away for a long holiday in a place at some distance (I think he said at sea in a yacht), where letters could not reach him. "When he returned home be found his desk piled mountains high with letters from correspondents, and newspapers containing reviews. Also he found his mother (he was still living under the parental roof) in great distress over the severity with which the book had been handled in the press. "Well," he said,"let us see." So he read the reviews first. They were nearly all as bad as it is in the way of our kind of critics to make them I have seen a few and can vouch for the judgment. Then he read the letters, and they brimmed over with eulogy. "Now," thought "Wilkie, "this teaches me a lesson. These letters are nearly all from total strangers, and may be said to represent in some measure the general public These reviews are by pro fessional writers, some of them my friends. Either the public is right and the press wrong, or the press is right and the public is wrong. Time will tell. If the public turns out to be right, I will never trust the press again." Thus he waited for the final verdict of time, and it seemed to come confidently enough, and the end ot it was that Collins lost nearly all faith in review articles, and even went the length of grievously under stating their effect on public opinion. I can say with certainty, that during my knowl edge of him he was all but totally indiffer ent (except in the cases of important arti cles like Mr. Quitter's) to what the news papers said about his works. He was more sensitive when thev dis- ;c.us4 hj &tbU&iapd obaranter-r&sjJtfe was almost 'that of a 'hermiL During' the last two or three years he went out very little rarely or never to the theater, and only once or twice to a dinner. .He saw a few triends at his house at Wimpole street, Mr. Holman Hunt, Mr. Piggott Mr. Watt, Mr. Chatto, Mr. Tales, Mr. Qailter, Mr. Besant (I think), and his doctor and old friend, Mr. Beard, was constantly by his side. With all the surroundings o'f an in valid, he had quite a morbid terror of being written about as a dying man. "My heart is not affected," he would say, "and there is nothing amiss with me but what they call stomachic nervousness or something like it." All the same he was a dying man dur ing the whole period of my acqaintance with him, and this brings me very near to Willesden Junction on my journey to Lon don, as well as to the last point in my garru lous talk about Wilkie Collins. A LATJDAirUSI DEINKEE. One day toward the beginning of 1888, I called upon him at Wimpole street in great excitement about a difference which I bad iust had with a collaborates over a question of art in the drama. I wished him to adjudicate in the dispute, and he cordially undertook to do so. "State the difficulty." he said, and I stated it with much lulness. He stopped me again and again repeated, questioned and com mented. Two hours went by like ten min utes. We were sitting in Wilkie's work shop, with proofs of his current work every where about us. The point was a knotty one, and a very serious issue seemed in volved in it. Wilkie was much worried. 'My brain is not very clear," he said once or twice, taking a turn across the room. Presently, and as if by a sudden impulse, he opened a cabinet and took out a wine glass, and what seemed to be a bottle of medicine, and was labelled with the name of a well known London chemist. "I'm going to show you one of the secrets of my prison house," he said with a smile. Then he poured from the bottle a full wine glass of a fin aid resembling port wine in color. "Do you see that?" he asked: "It's laudanum." Straightway he drank it off. I was all but dumfounded. "Good heaven, Wilkie Collins," I said, "how lone have you taken that drug?" "Twenty years," he answered. "More than once a day?" "Ob, yes, much more. Don't be alarmed. Bemember that De Quincy used to drink laudanum out of a jug." Then he told me a story.too long to repeat, of how a man servant os his own had killed himselt by taking less than half of one of Hs doses. "Why do you take it?" I asked. '"To stimulate the brain and steady the nerves." "And you think it does that?" "Undoubtedly," and laughing a little at my consternation he turned back to the dif ficult subject I had come to discuss. "I'll see it clearer now. Let us begin again," he said. "Wait," I said, "you say, my dear fel low, that the habit of taking laudanum stimulates your brain and steadies your nerves. Has it the same effect on other people?" "It had on Bulwer Lytton," answered Collins, "he told me so himself." "Well, then, Wilkie Collins," I said, "you know how much I suffer from brain and nervous exhaustion. Do you advise me to use this drug?" He paused, changed color slightly, and then said quietly, "No." It was the old story, and perhaps I would not go back on it, with all its melancholy side lights of self-deception, and great suf fering, borne in persistent self-blindness, but that I see in to-day's World that Ed mund Yates fa much older and more re sponsible friend of Collins') has openly dis cussed it. THE END OP A BRILLIANT MAN. I think 'the last time I saw Collins I lunched with him at Wimpole street. He was in great spirits, and very full of "Beminiscences" that be intended to write. He talked of all bis old friends with anima tion, the friends of his youth, "airgone, the old familiar faces;" and there was less than usual of the dull undertone of sadness that had so often before conveyed the idea of a man who knew that he had strutted too long on his little stage. That was nearly always the sad feeling left after a day spent with 'Wilkie Collins. But on this occasion his spirits were high and almost boyish; he enjoyed his wine and some old brandy that came after it, and a couple of delicious little cigars of a new brand, which he loudly recommended. The more serious questions of literature and morality were all ban ished, yarn followed yarn, and one wild story he told with great glee of some crack brain who thought he would checkmate the "universal provider" by ordering a white elephant. 1 can only remember a single sad note in his conversation and it was ominous. He was talking of Dickens, and I think he said that he had been engaged to visit at Gad's Hill on the very day that Pickens died. A (ev days later Wilkie wrote inviting me to lunch, but naming no particular dayT I was to go what day I liked, only remem bering to send a telegram two or three hours in advance of me. So one Sunday morn ing early in July (I think) of thisyear I am ill at these numbers I wrote him a letter telling him that I meant to visit him the following day, and asking him for a telegram saying if the day wonld do. In stead of "Wilkie's telegram there came a message from his affectionate adopted daughter, Mrs. Bartley, saying that on the previous morning our poor dear Wilkie had been struck down with paralysis. The two months that followed were an anxious time for those of us who loved him, and it seems like doing some violence to sacred things to set down one's feelings here. He is gone now, the good, staunch soul. He may have had his weaknesses. I know of very few. He may have had his sins. I never heard tell ot any. He was loyal and brave, and sweet and unselfish. He had none of the vices of the literary character, envy and malice and unchflrit.ibleness. In the cruel struggle far livelihood that de pends on fame he injured no man. He lived his own life, and was beloved Ay his own people. A great tree has fallen in the for est, and left a wide clearing, Where was the profession of letters at Wilkie Collins' graveside to-dav? I saw very little of it. Art, the drama and jour nalism were adequately represented; but three or four men of letters were all (so far as I could judge) who stood for the craft that the distinguished dead practiced. Was this as it should have been? Would it have occurred if Collins had died 20 years ajo? True indeed it is that the friend of Dickens, of Beade and of Lytton had out lived his generation. The nice of novelists is large enough, yet two only of Wilkie Collins' brother novelists followed him to his grave. But the great pnblic were there to see the last of him. He had cheered many of their heavier hours, purified life for them, sweetened and ennobled it And to-day they did not lorzet their debt Hall Caine. The Hurler Sons. AFTER HEINE. My soul to-night is a-weary. Haunted, I know not wby, By dreams of a strange wild legend Oft told in the days gone by. , Cool fall the airs of evening, Tranquilly glides the Bhine, Mirroring bank and summit Tinted In red sunshine. High on a rock is sitting A maiden so wondrous fair, Badiant in garments golden, Combing her golden hair; Combing with comb all golden, And singing a wistful song, A melody faint but resistless. So tender, so sad, so strong. It reaches a youthful boatman, Entrancing his heart so warm; Nor rock, cliff, nor water heeds he He sees but one radiant form! Alas! alas! young boatman, Too well do we know thy doom No wonder the Lurley singing Has left my soul In gloom. E. Hoth in Philadelphia Timet. One of New York's most fashionable Fifth avenue modistes completes her toilettes bv. Jliirnll''tJaeketrjiAtLiiivin' 1 achet Powder. I GUARDING THE SOLE. Where Leather for Shoes Comes From and How it is Prepared. HOW RUSSIA LEATHER IS MADE. Importing Hides From South American and Mexican Ranches. LEATHEE WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD IWBITTZN FOB THE D1SPATCII.3 Since the day that Adam and Eve ex changed fig leaves for fu-s the human ani mal has had a habit of clothing himself in the integument stripped from his dumb brothers. How, when, or where hides were first converted into leather no wise man ever pretends to know. Doubtless the process was evolved, not invented. Leather certainly antedates the earliest records, and no savage tribe, however low in the scale, has yet been found ignorant of some way to dress skins. Our American In dians, in especial, are pastmasters of the art. Bude as are their processes, deer, bear or buffalo robes dressed by them are far ahead of those that white men supply, while the buckskin of their mocasins, leggins, and so on, is a positive luxury lb the touch, so soft and pliant is it. Neat cattle furnish bides for more ihan half the world's leather. Next to them come goats, and after them the East Indian buffalo and the sheep. Horse hides are in considerable in amount and of low value. Pigskin used for saddles is in limited de mand and supply. Dogskin and ratskin for gloves are mere items of account, not at all equal to the kangaroo skin, which has quite superseded some grades of calf, while deer hides famish glove leather, as well as that for a variety of other needs. In 1886 New York imported from all sources about $7,500,000 worth of leather. In 1889 the amount fell to a little over $6,000,000. The home supply of hides is far below the demand, spite of all the cattle upon our 10,000 western hills.not to mention the plains of Texas or the ranches of New Mexico. Mexico herself sends us many hides, both ot steer and goat Indeed, she ranks next to South America, from whence comes two-thirds of pur importatiqns. For a dozen years past hides have been admitted duty free, to the great and manifest better ment of the whole leather industry. FOBTUNES IN LEATHEB. The, heaviest, consequently the best, ox hides' come from Buenos Ayres. They weigh over 20 pounds each, and fetch 16 cents per pound. Big fortunej have come out of making "flint" hides that is, pur chasing the hides from the plainsmen, soak ing them for weeks in saturated salt water. then dyeing and selling them. The advance in price is nominal, but each hide takes up ten pounds or so of salt, and this yields a big profit, besides cost and carriage. New Orleans is the main seat of the business in North America, as it is also the great in terior entrepot for hides of all sorts. The 20-poundtox hides all go to sole leather. Cow skins and those from young cattle fur nish the kipskin of commerce, and the hides of animals a year old or under all the sev eral dozen varieties of calfskin. For cheap work, both kip and calf are often split that is divided by machinery into two sheets, each by courtesy called leather. It will wear lor a day or maybe a week, but it is about the most unsatisfactory investment the bargain-seekers can make. The first thing is to cut the hides in two. Then they are soaked in limewater four days, milled for six hours to free them from loosened hair, then Washed clean and left for four days to sweat. After that comes the acid bath, lasting five to ten days, and next the tan vats, six in number, filled with ooze of varying strength, in which the hides remain from five to 60 days. Once the process stretched over a year. Modern in vention has reduced it one-half. It is claimed that the new electric process will make good leather in a month's time; but so far that remains to be demonstrated, at least, on a commercial scale. Oak bark, hemlock bark and the now. dered leaves of sumao are the things that supply tannin. The bark is coarsely ground and steeped in fresh water to make ooze for the vats. A very late invention is a mill for grinding oak wood, as well as bark, into a sort of coarse meal, which, it is claimed, makes a double quantity of the very best ooze, at less than half cost PBOCESSES OF TANNING. Once through the vats, the hides are washed again, scraped anew on the flesh side, curried with tanner's oil, whose source is those cod livers that are not fresh enough for medicine; then steam-dried, pressed be twixt hot rollers, and send to market the "sides of sole leather" that everybody knows. The bulk of it is hemlock tanned. That bark is cheaper and gives a harder finish, which is thought to stand rough usage best. Oak leather fetches always a cent or two more in the pound, and is invariably used for fine footwear, as well as wheneverleather ot peculiar strength and toughness is re quisite. There are many big houses in New York City, which deal in nothing but cut soles. They buy leather in quantity, cut it by machinery in the most approved patterns, and can supply shoe men with exactly what they want, at a great savingof time, expense and material. A curious feature cf the leather trade is that while Philadelphia and Boston have each more shoe manufactories New York leads both largely in sales of raw material and of the finished goods. Kipskin goes through much the same process only less so. Being thinner, it re quires less time and care. More chemicals too, are used in tanning it, and when fin ished, much of it is blacked ready for the boot or shoemaker. As much of the best sole leather goes to the maker of leather belting, so the hnest of kip falls to the har ness and saddle makers, who also use a good bit of fine russet calf. Nearly all of the finest calfskin is im ported from France. It is and will likely remain the favorite for men's shoes, though kangaroo leather, runs it closely. Indeed so popular has that become that Australian governments which began by offering boun ties for kangaroo scalps have now decreed a close'season six months long, each year, to prevent the extermination of the qneer ani mal. Its skin comes hither via London and Calcutta, and furnishes a leather pleasant enough to the toot, but liable to stretch all out of shape, if wet, and not very carefully dried. .' KID AND GOATSKIN. Goatskins, whence come kid and morocco leather, are sent to us from Southern Eu rope, Mexico and South America. The very bert are shipped from Brazil or Cura coa. Formerly they were tinned with sumac; now the alum process is mainly used. Each of the big factories, however, has its own formula, and guards it jealously as the corner stone of success. It is known, though, that after tanning the skins are beaten in a bath of yolk ot egg also that albumen is largely used in some stages. Glazed kid not so long ago under ban of fashion, is now the height ot style. "Pebble" surfaces are produced by machinery, and are given only to the heavier grades ot stuff. Sheep skin, as befits its varied uses, comes from pretty well everywhere. It is the foundation of the parchments that license men to practice on the bodies or the pockets of their fellow-men, no less than of the "chamois" that the street fakir flourishes imploringly in your face. It served, too, for "morocco" linings, for insoles, for welts, Iiipings, what not In fact, its uses are egion. It, too, is tanned with alum. Coun try housewives who own flocks and kill their own mutton maybe interested to know that they may tan themselves handsome rugs by covering the flesh side of a fresh skin, thickly with powdered alum and salt in equal quantity, letting it lie three then trim, scrape off all loose flesh, aays, wash fhrnllfH - twn - nii endt .lrti 'and- iiulliMVif n a "trail to dry. Let it remain a week, then take down and beat over a beam until pliant, , A VALUABLE SECBET. All the lighter 'skins are nsed to make the so-called "Russia leather." There are manu factories of it galore, but only one turns out goods with 'true Buisian smell, which comes from dressing the leather at the finish with empyreumater oil of birch, which this house alone imports at an enormous coat from Rus sia. It is said that the secret of the odor was so guarded by the Bussians that for years and years our tanners got no clew to it de spite their best endeavors. Then our Mini ster to Bussia was a practical man, and iu course of his official life found it easy to penetrate the secret More, he spent some time in the factories there watching the manner of using it; came home with a head full of knowledge, and from it quickly realized a fortune. , The dyeing of leather is In itself an art Its followers pay strict heed to the caprices of fashion. What colors she di esses in, silks or ribbons, they straightway begin to dye for and rarely dye in vain. What with fans, belts, bags, bands, even bonnets, fair woman manages to make way with a good deal more than her shoe leather. For awhile she so pinned her faith and fancy to alligator skin that the saurian was in dan ger of extermination. American iBvention, however, came to the rescue. Machinery was devised to give plain calf or sheep the coveted diamond markings, which, together with the marked abatement of the usage, as sures us that plenty of the big reptiles will be left for seed. ' All the more so. that it 'has been shown his hide is not waterproof when tanned, as was once a cardinal article of the shoemaker's faith. COSTLY LEATEEB. Patent leather is made by covering fine, lightweight calfskin with the varnish that gives it its peculiar gloss. Sweet oil is used to keep the leather soft, and is the only thing that should be applied to it when in wear. It may be well to add that while mud or water does but little harm to a good article, sudden attenuations of heat and cold will invariably crack and ruin it About the costliest as well as the most peculiar leather in the world is that known as "piano leather." It is made solely from the skin of a small deer peculiar to one dis trict of Germany, and its manufacture has for ages been handed down from father to son in a single family in the district It costs nearly its own weight in gold. Efforts are now being made to naturalize the ani mal furnishing the skin in a part of Michi gan very similar to its native habitat Should they succeed there is a chance that we may rob the old world of another of its peculiar institutions. "There is nothing like leather," says the proverb, and truly. Absolute human neces sities rank about thuswise: Salt, iron, leather. The aluminum age may dethrone iron, but salt will always be needed to save the world's bodies, and leather no less to give comfort to its soles. M. C. WlLIilAMS. A CHEAP DISINFECTANT. Frankincense Will Drive Pests and Odors From the Home. Kev. Father Shea, in Globe-Iemocrat,l One of the most pleasant and one of the cheapest things to use about the house as a deodorizer is frankincense the same used at the altar to typify the sweet savor of as cending prayers in the nostrils ot our Father. Nothing will so effectually drive away the damp, heavy odor that prevails so largely in darkened rooms. The penetra ting of its fumes is remarkable. When I search in the sacristry closets for the holy vestments after an absence from the parish, lean determine whether frankincense has been properly used, as the tell-tale perfume will 'get into the minutest corners. It pre serves clothing, too, from the ravages of insects. I never observed closely, but I have often been told that the mosquito.will travel from it in haste and stay there. I cannot recollect being met by one of those pests in a Catholic Church. A great deal of mystery surrounds this simple drug, however, a3 many people imagine the Cath olic clergy have" a patent on it. The fact is. it is a simple compound of gum arabrdand cheap spices, and most any druggist will give a pocketful foradime. Still others think the Church proscribes it, but this is error, as the Church cares not how much a man uses so he obtains it honestly. I would re commend a little, burned daily in the house of every Christian. ASLEEP IN A C0ALBIN. The Qneer Bed Chosen by a Pretty Chicago Somnambulist. Cblcaco Herald.l Over en the Westside is a very handsome young lady who is afflicted with somnam bulism. When she puts her pretty head upon the pillow at night she does not know what may befall her before she awakes in the morning, and she worries a great deal over this strange affliction. Her people watch her as closely as possible, butjhe ob jects to any regular espionage during her sleeping hours. One night not long ago she went to bed at the usual hour. Along about 1 A. M. her sister, who slept in an adjoining room, awoke and went to see if the girl was all right Her bed was empty and her door was open. The house was aroused and a search lor "La Somnambula" was begun. She was found but where? Curled up in a little ball on the coal in the cellar coal bin sleeping soundly. She was aroused quietly and went hack to her bed, where sue slept well until morning. In her dreams she must have imagined that the coal cost more than a good bed, and she was about right A Bee' Idle Moment. Lewlston Journal. History is full of instances in which a small and insignificant bit of vitality has accomplished great results, from the day that the mouse let out the lion down to the present time. Another case was added to the list, in the town of Harmony the other day. An idle bee came along and for want of better business stung a man's horse. When the remnants of that team were gathered up.behold there were 12 baskeisful. That little bee had wrecked a big batcher wagon. Dress l'arnde at the Fort. Judge. She Lieutenant Gray, for what purpose is that little square box back of your belt? Lieutenant Gray Oh, it is to carry blank cartridges and powder, don't you know. She (wbo has seen the Lieutenant leading the german) I thought it was to hold a powder rag. Autumn Prairies. Wide, shadow-dimpled amber leas Stretch far away before the door; The grasses, rolled By autumn's breeze, Recall the tales that seers of yore Wrote of deep-waved Hesperian seas Of molten gold. The clonds that in a foamy train Creep slowly through an opal sky Through darkling blots Upon the plain Like fabled Blessed Isles tbey lie Amid the sunsliine-flooded main, In shadowed spots. Wild purple asters swing and sway Dark beacon banners, tall and grave; The golden rod. Like yellow spray. Upholds Its head with bearing brave, And wind-flowers show their suits of gray Above the sod. Where yonder prairies fade to mist, There hangs a line of blushing baze; Tbe smoky hills Are splendor-kissed By iair October's gleaming rays. The meadow larks in glee persist To sound their trills. Tls joy upon tho spreading mead: Yetin those .plains of saffron light. In bird-tones clear, In flower and weed, In bending skies so strangely bright, C. M. Bargerin 'jDttroU JVe Prm. CLAEA BELLE'S CHAT. New York's Beantifnl and Haughty Soda Water Cashiers Who TERRORIZE THE DIjPFIDEHT MAIL Young Society Women's Craze for Locks of BilTer Gray. r HAIR THAI WILL BRING $800 A P0OND tCOBBESFOXDXXCZ Or TITE DISPATCH. New York, October 12. WENTZ years ago when you wanted to see the "lady cash ier" you'bad to go to Europe. That Is written on the au thority of a middle' aged man. My re collection runs not so far back. Our girls were very nice and exclusive then. But, as that singu larly observing Bo man author acutely remarked, "times change," and here we are, before the experiment is fairly of age, so to speak, with as manv lady cashiers as there are in the city of Paris, At least I think there are as many; for although there is not a wine shop or cafe in the French capital which is unsupplied with one of th&e highly interesting objects of decoration and use, still the Parisian public continues to exist without soda water, while the enormousness of this business with us, a lady cashier going to each fountain, swells the domestic aggre gation of lady cashiers to incalculable pro portions. The finest soda water fountains and the finest soda water lady cashiers in New York are grouped within a comparatively small area about the City Hall square. There are wonderful places in the shopping district up town, of course, but in point of size and magnificence the downtown fountains are unparalleled, and THE LADY 0ASHIEB3 who handle their enormous revenues are un speakably more distinguished than the best specimens that Sixth avenue and upper Broadway afford. I sat half an honr on a settee yesterday and studied one of the specimens. I use the word "distinguished" advisedly, as the lawyers say of a hard name when they want "to rub" it in. Nearly all lady cashiers are beautiful, but when it comes to language, bearing, facial expression and all that, there are lady cashiers and lady cash iers. The City Hall Square lady cashiers I may use the somewhat clumsy term for tbe Eurpvse of lucid differentiation have auteur, a London accent, and manicured finger nails. They are duchesses,every one, in all that is concerned with outward form. I do not think that they are really English. They are so remarkably pretty, but their breeding has been accomplished upon tbe most unmistakable and to-ploftiest English lines. It is qnite terrible for a diffident man to be obliged to. pass in the price of a glass of soda water to them as they sit so wonderfully and awiuuy in their splendid wickerwork cages. It seems so bold, so vulgarly intrusive and offensive to lav a nickel down upon the glass plate before them and shove the mean little thing in npon their loveliness and privacy. I sus pect that many a poor devil has given up his soda water drinking through sheer lack ot courage to face the terrors of this sort of thing. ' PROUD AND PEEBLESS. Do you know, oh diffident male reader, precisely the sensation? Have you not felt the panic stealing over you as you have stood before the soda-water lady cashier and' handed in your 5 cent piece? To see her be hind her vase of deep red roses, cilmly read ing a novel printed in large text jn a broad, pure margin; to behold her attention dis tracted by the base click of your paltry coin; to suffer the slow contemptuous sweep of her eyes from her book to your money, and the somewhat spatulous digit behind it; to hear the deliberate music of her bangle as she wearily lifts her hand; to see her own rosy, taper, perfectly cared-for finger de scend wearily and fearfully upon the money, as though it had the smallpox, and send it with a auick. sharp flip, jingling into the drawer, and then to observe her renew her novel without even so mucn as -a giance at your interesting face do you know any thing, oh diffident reader, that has ever sent you down further and with a colder and more hopeless humiliation info your boots? and you scrubbing your mustacne witn lev erish zeal all the while in order that when tbe proud and peerless creature looked you over she might discover no froth upon itl SHE DIDN'T BELIEVE IT. "I'm sorry, madam, but it is impossible." "Are you sure?" "It is absolutely out of the question, madam." A slender, rather fresh-faced young matron had left her carriage in front of a Fourteenth ' street establishment where time's ravages upon the beauty of the female face are repaired with neatness and celerity and was discussing a certain matter warmly with the clerk. in charge. "But it would become me so much, don't you see?" "Unquestionably it would, but it cannot be done." "Are you sure of that? I saw Mrs. Brown yesterday with the loveliest gray hair I ever saw and she ain't a day older than lam." "She wore a wig." "I don't believe it." "But it is true, nevertheless," replied the clerk, "and I know it, because we made it here." ,, After the young matron had left the shop the clerk turned to the writer with a sigh of relief aud observed: "That is the tenth so far this week." "Tenth what?" I asked. HIKACLE SEEKEBS. "Tenth miracle seekers. You have no idea of the craze there is for gray hair.' Young women, especially those with fresh complexions, are absolutely wild about it 'It gives to a face that is not striking a cer tain effect that must be seen to be appre ciated. I don't wonder that tbe women all envy the owner of a fine head of gray hair. But graying the hair is beyond the hair dresser's art We can make hair yellow as gold, red as copper, black us a ravens wing and as brown as the coat of a deer in win ter, but gray is out of our power We can often maKe wigs of gray which would defy detection. You remember the late Matthew Arnold's visit to America? When he was in Washington be said, with his accustomed candor, that he had met there the hand somest woman in the world. She was the wife of ex-Senator Joseph A. MacDonald, , of Indiana. Mrs. MacDonald is a slender woman with flashing dark gray eyes, a com plexion of peaches and cream, and has a wonderful head of"whitish gray hair. She would be an ordinary looking woman were it not for her hair." "Is there no way of graying the hair by artificial means?" "Yes, but the artifice is transparent Women can use powder sprinkled over tbe hair after it is arranged, but unless they have black or very dark brown bair the effect is bad. The man who can invent some other method has a fortune within his grasp." WHAT HAIB 13 WOBTH. He opened a few boxes that he toobdown from a shelf. Tbey were filled with tresses of various colors and of various lengths. "Here is a fine head of yellow," he said. "It is worth 510. Here is one of brown that I will sell for half that sum. But for one pound ol gray or white' hair I will pay $800, There is not one woman out of a thousand j& L J llBji who fea a pound of hair oh her head. Wosaea who hare half a pound are extreme ly rare, and moat women only have from three to five ounce. That is not half enough for a witr Look at these." Here the wig-maker displayed a lot of bunches varying in bulk and length, and of all (imaginable tints save white or gray.There were bunches of brown, yellow, black and red. They were worth from 8 to $10 each, and represented the entire market valne of a woman's head of hair. Such a lot only brnnzht to the owner a bare dollar or perhaps less. , "No, added the wig-makerin conclusion, j. wouia not aavise a yount.omau to cut off her hair and sell it unless she happens-to have either gray or white hair. An ordi nary head of hair will not bring as much as will par for a plain switch, and as for a' wig, it willnot pay for the making of it" Claea Belle. CLASS-K00M fJLFNDEES. Amusing-Things fipokea and Written by a Maine Teacher's Paplls. LewUton JonrnLl I once saw a book entitled "English as She is Taught" Some of the ridiculous blundersjl read there led me to collect a few mistakes of my own pupils. I have not had time to gather many gems, but I think some of them are rare ones. Writ ten examinations bring ont what a pupil knows and what he doesn't know also. Grammar has yielded some of the choicest specimens. One boy says' a "principle is a verbal adjective." That boy was a satirist without knowing it An exercise in the grammar called for a sentence containing Greece for a subject "Greece runs," was the very original sen ence brought in. "An intransitive verb is one that denotes an action tormenting an object. The other referred' to in this case was probably the teacher. A pupil one day proudly remarked that an "artillery" verb was one used to assist in conjugating another verb. The teacher could not help asking him Were not the verb he used to shoot his lessons with. "Write a sentence containing the word is." This request, one Friday afternoon, 1 movea a tune gin with a spotted face to write, "My aunt Isabella has anan." "A verb is modified by an adverb," wrote another little dame. Some very rare fruit dropped from the history branch or the educational tree. "At the battle of Monte Cristo General Sloth commanded the Mexicans and Gener al Lincoln commanded the Americans." One genius, was inspired to proclaim that the four Presidental candidates for 1860 were "Lincoln. Dudley and Belle." An other declared that they were "Henry Clay, Franklin Pierce, Daniel Webster and Magior Anderson." The largest, seaport in Mexica is Sarah Cruz. "The principal products of the United States are tobacco, oranges and Indiana." In physiology we are told that the "blood flows through the body in tubs, "and that the "heart is a peer-shaped body situated exact ly iu the middle of tbe chist" The cuticle is the inside of the outside," says one embryo anatomist MRS. PARTINGTON AND IKB. B. P. Shillaber Regretfully Acknowledges Tnat the. Old Lady Is Dead. When the name of Mrs. Partington was mentioned B. P. Shillaber, of Boston, the author of, that famous lady's sayings, stated to a Detroit Free Prttt correspond ent: "The old lady has gone tocher grave. I have written a book about her, but hare de cided not to publish it, because nowadays the publisher' wants all the profits. It was quite by. accident that the old lady became famous at first It was in 1847 that my Mrs. ' Partington was born. One night we had some news about breadstuffs from New En gland and I printed the comment that 'Mrs. Partington could continue to pay SO cent for a half dollar's worth of flour, the same as ever. It went the rounds of the coun try." "How did you happen to write about Ike?" "Ike was the universal human boy." an swered Mr. Shillaber, as his mind looked backward lovingly: "They have always seemed like real people to me. A friend of mine in Tennessee was at an eating house and heard a discussion between two men about Mrs. Partington, one saying that she was a reat woman, tne otner maintaining. tnat it was a man, till tbe lint party rose up, and, striking the table with his hand, shouted; 'I know she is a woman for I have seen her!' " "HIT BI A HOG. The Captain Thinks It a Shell and 588 Men Laugh at Him. !ew York Sun.'S When -we were advancing at the battle of Chantilly to take our position in battle line, the Captain of my company look occasion to show off a bit in the presence of several general officers. Instead of being in his place according to regulations, he stepped out in front of the company and kept wav ing his sword towards the rebels, exhorting us, as we loved the dear old flag, to stand firm and die like brave men. Pretty soon, as -we were approaching a thicket in an old field, a thumping big hog, which was in hiding and terrified half to death, charged full at the Captain, upset him in aheap,and made his escape through our ranks.' As we came up with the Captain who had turned on the broad of his back he called out; "Boys, I'm struck by a shell! Go right on and die with your faces to the foel" "Shell be durnedl" replied one of the men. "Ton were hit by a hogl Get up aud come on." Five hundred men caw the accident and had a laugh over it, and we suddenly got the commands. "Haiti Front! Kneel! Fire at will L" the cheers of the rebel skir mishers advancing in front of their battle line were answered by peals of laughter from our front es the hog-struek Captain limped In" the rear. Not on the Tented Field. Judge. Jones had been entertaining a few friends at dinner. Ordering coffee to be served in tbe library, he led tbe way to that apart ment Taking down a sword that was hanging on the wall and brandishing it with, much affectation of martial ardor, he said: "Never, gentlemen, shall I forget the day "when I drew this trusty blade for the first time." - "And where was that?" asked a curious guest. "Why, in a raffle." Blan's I.lfe Is Like the Lean Now dropping silent ceaseless, fleet, In open field, iabusy street, Thform, light driven to and fro, A carpet rustling under tread. Faint glowing still, their beauty fled. Till cmD and withered, broken, dead. Their eldry lieth low. . Lo, as the countless leaves that fade The countless race of men are made; Like leaves tbey spring to sudden birth upon lire's tree; a little day They grow, and come to rich array Or bright success, perchance: away They soon are borne to earth. Spring covers autumn strips the trees; So century after century sees Man's generations bloom and fade, Each leaf U flectine season knows; Though brave tbe splendor tbat it shows, Death's ct-illing blast remorseless blows; Withered in dust 'tis laid. Bat dieth man as dies the leaf r Cometh his seasons all too brief, To hopeless nothingness and dostT Nay, only ashes and the grave; "The spirit eniHees life shall have Through faltb ta Xe.wae eeaie to save," Saltti.ChriKta waan we trust v. 0iefO Interior. THE FIRESIDE SPfflSfl A Collection of EUdhM Kits fc Hg Craeftc, nrw ammuTueoHofufer vm (Wpanmmi to E. B. Chadboubw. LewUten, Maine, Copyright. 188S. brE.B.ChUboara. 769 ACBOSTIC ILLUSTBATXB. CLHl. -1.. Bead the. initials forward and flaals baek-- Tbi WfJflf ward, and find a name for tbe objeet at the wp ? j oi toe picture. 770 THE JLEDICLSE MAS ASD HB' LIQUIBS. Green earth the garb of day had desaed. The sun had risen the hill bevoad, A warrior clad in armor brigat To chase away the vanqaisfeed sight In mood for meditation ripe, I sat me down to ssoke say pipe. When, harkl a rat-tat at tbe door! A dapper geat stands on the Soot .- One of those itinerant Thnsa Who murder men by vsodiBg drugs. His wiles 'tis useless to descrtfea. My readers know the IoBg-aaJied trifciC,' xie, aiter many lsteriaaes. Permission asked to sbow hts zeeds no uau mree uquras oaoiee aaa rare To Deal the frame or baaieti ewe. "JJow, neighbor, spare your diatribe, You call me fiend -could I Imbihe This liquid here, yon may depend I'd prsve myself a faittif at f riead Tbe halter bere, wbo lives next deer., 4 This outer took when be was peer; li TTa's nfl 4 (m.t 1lMaAtl !.(.. You may this same in daytime mix, rr''-? If fond ot pyrotechnic trfeks: v?.' A fierce explosive then is sees, ,i ; - As strong as nitroglycerine. .- You see in third, tbongh seemiae ssaaH, The oae thtsg ueedf after us aH; No doubt you'U taint Jay claim aseard It makes tbe world is a werd," ' ' ' I bade him go I never joked With frauds like hiia bat as I tmeked, I thought there might be with a laugh A grata of truth In all his ete W.Wrtsef 771 HOTJSGLASS. 1. Acts of makingr simple. 2. Enmities. -S Capable of being consolidated, i. Riek delet ing. 6. Beckons. 0. Parties. 7. Topreseeate.' 8. An addition to a hease. 9. Part of the feet. rT)lN 1 13 Tandliu. m . MM...- rim 'i "- j - AfcH... w ntvB incsnstim. - . AicbiuiMuun. ia vuatesne. j'j Rare. Right, up. Wretofacdnoaa. Centra!. , w. twtv. unprowCTOBS canoinsioiL: down. Skepticism. Hncsn' ' 773 TRAHSPOBITiaS'. A miner in a western town l. - Against seven toughs was pitted; i: Ana knowing to seecarab et deaMlKW He would not be oatwttted. ' & : fm.. uaxa .. j m t. .- 3 Asa for revests bad striven! AtlarttfeeyforeebimtoaSgit, at mtnvr pmewtcw 40VCN." JK.O. niiaaiX W 773 THE CLOCKMAKKR'S TBeMBsCjT r03T A dockmaker set three pteeks tosjetheriatlAj."' noon. One of them lest two minutes a day,' oae , gained tr ramates a day, ab4 the third gjrined .'X-m fourteen minutes a day. What Msse dM.;. the' .- t three clocks indicate when they were togeiher ,'. again far the first timer J. H. FKuirsB, 774 rmrmrn-amr -? j Tli nnntM fflfi had Tlnrl T.nfr r He'd almost prove that white was Maeav1 wnen asxea to name bm lavonte newer, To symbolise Columbia's power. The staff of life asd labor's iev Is all the flour l'tnead- nrW." In polities a Desseerat, I asked him oaee haw ease tt titftt-j. His party is taetr tote defeat Were like tbesteeUags on his feet,' ... When Jack suggested, nothing loth, . Perhsua. beeania . "W.'Wrxse5f 775-DIAMOKD. 1. Alerter. 2. Parte a wheel, i To teaa.&M? 4. Kinds of tenures. 6, Numerates by nead.'tfft3 a. DelirerHl OH. 7. Tito-mtat TTftamit 9. Collection of boxes. (Trass.) la To &i cern. U. A letter. Feahx, 776 BEHEADMBKT. A sentence you will Had oomploto; Also, to Jadge ami; Behead, aad yoa perform a feat Which brings a watch aajfrh. Whole. 1 am active, 1 bestow; Beheaded. I defeod. yoa know. , B2TTSS SWSSfSV 777 OBLIQUE BSCXAXGLX. L A letter. 2. A. unit EV OtberwaK.feMTa cut with scissors or shears. 6. Qu4etv&fA workman employed in a steam Sear aji.V 7. A letter of news. S. The corona. 9. Not! either. 10. A Scriptural proper name. II. Left. (Aba.) 12. A letter. Sux. 778 CEHTBAL LETTEB CHANGES. Tbe first rolls. The second tolls. The third lows. The last sows. AilSWEBS. J. a 760 The prisoner took a word from each name In the following order; Grant rant; Hood, hod; Wilde, wile: Barns, barn; Twain, twin: Lever, leer; Sterne, stern; Scott, Scot; Whittler, wittier: Pope, pop; Keats,; eats; Aikin. akin; Dante, date; Gray, ray. Password; "God Save the King." 1. , TBI Blnnderbasa. 782 The man's son. 763 Angel-us. 764 Desperation. 7B5- R A D I S H A C C V S E T A O L, I A T H. K K A D L A N A T E E D I T E D 768 Fane, fan, fa, TOT Column. 788 A violin. i 8k: Rolled Gold Rings FriesdsMa KI9S-. By mail, tight cents Chased Sins-. By mail. Twenty cents! Bymslt....Jeiie Band Itlmr. By mall. Thirty cents Girl's King-. By mall. Sight cents tvxldinir King-. By mall. Fifteen eel or . ..v.- lnrtflbe1 tto warrant uimoDu'c "-.: w- i reUedawW. These rloa are waularw J 2? " ? fJ!?naiM in "i.?i!,2L?,riKS."ssHT. i w the goods. Postace f3! hut Htw utttmreA. Send slip OC AAlreM - - JSjTliI fcseewaft.! iv1 sH ymWW a- jaw P BBSVKin?, BV!SH ,.&. i -fe& y t "imFi 7?rNM - sssssH IS &.,