rqiTJg'gqgycpii-jt- "W- J . THE PITTSBURG DISPATCH PAGES 17 TO 20. . f. PITTSBURG-, SUNDAY, MARCH 2, 1890. 1 .THIRD PART. UNCLE m GIRLS, A Thousand of Them in the Treasury Department. THE SALARIES THEY GET. Danger From Poison and Disease in Counting Greenbacks. HOW CUPID FARES WITH CLEUKS D zii rs mil COBHESPOXSEXCX OF THE DISPATCH. "Washington, March 1. LUMP and pretty are they I mean the 5,000 of the brightest women of the United States who are employed in the great Government departments at "Wash ington. They come from all parts of the country, and they are of all ages, from sweet 1G to gray-haired 75. Some of them are as lovely as Helen of Troy. Tbey do all sorts of work and get all sorts of salaries. They form an army in themselves, and they are among the most curious of Uncle Sam's daughters. Lots of them are widows. Hundreds of them are old maids and several thousand are sweet, juicy, marriageable girls with pretty faces, good hearts and a high grade of culture and education. Many of them have had Governors and Generals for fathers, not a few are the widows of noted soldiers and statesmen, and all are far above the average of their sex the United States over. Many of them have traveled widely, and the great majority are so aris tocratic that a caterpillar could crawl under the high insteps of their bare little feet without tickling the flesh. X'uhy one-third of this army are under command or the Secretary of the Treasury. One thousand of them march their little leet evcrv morning up the great stone steps of that mighty sarcophagus known as the United States Treasury, and in its prison like walls they remain upon duty lrom this hour until 4. They do all sorts of work and they receive all kinds of salaries. The highest pneed of them get 51,800 a year.and there are three ladies who receive this ialary. One is Miss J. M. Scavey, ofTen ncssee,and another is Mis? M. Vat Vranken, ol New York, maideus who came here in the sixties, and m ho are so efficient in the management of internal revenue matters that their salaries have been increased over thote of most of the men of the bureau. The third $1,SC0 clerk is Miss Ada Tanner, the daughter of the Corporal, who acts as confi dential clerk of the Treasury. She came into office when her father went out, and her appointment dates from last November. Only five women in the Treasurv get S1.G00 a year, 31 receive 51,400 and 128 "get 5100 a month. Ninety-one receive 51,000 a vear and 3C6 receive 5900. Among the 1,000 odd who receive less than this are those who get the pay of laborers and messengers and others running down to the charwomen, who re ceive $20 a month for sweenini? and scrubbing. PAYING OCT BRISK NEW BILLS. One o the most interesting sights of the Treasury Department is the paying out of these moneys, which always occurs at the last of the month. From all parts of the building the men and women troop to the disbursing offices and they receive their cash in crisp new bills, which rustle like a 54 black silk when they pass through the counter's hands. I stood the other day and watched them get their money. Through a grated window showed the bright blue eyes and the heavy blond mustache of Mr. Hub Smith, the noted author of the song known as "Listen to my Tale of "Woe," and it was he who, acting at this time for Secretary "Windom, was paying out the cash to the girls. He smiled as he did so and they smiled aa they took the bills and the signs -were just the opposite of those of the sad tale of Johnny Jones and his sister Sue. Do these girls earn their salaries? Tnev do. For most nnsitinns thpv- nqVa better clerks than the men. They waste less time chewing tobacco and they do not spend an hour or so over the morning paper. They are splendid copyists and they can count money faster than a man can think. The money counters of the Treasury are numberd by the hundreds and these pretty girls go through thousands upon thousands every day and count millions a month while working on salaries of 575. OP COURSE THEY COVET IT. I asked one of them yesterday if she did not covet the money she counted. She re plied she did and that her feelings while she worked were much like those of tin. r boy who presses his nose against the candy window and gloats upon the sweets within and thinks what he would do if he had them. These girls are adepts as counterfeit detectors. Their fingers get so sensitive that they can tell a counterfeit if it touches them and if they pass a counterfeit the amount of the bill is taken out of their salaries. It is thesame thing if they make a siistake and their position is a very critical one. The bills from the national banks lrom all over the country are sent here lor redemption. These bills come in packages of 100 and they are counted by the bauks which send them. If there is any mistake in the pack age the girl who counts it reports it to the chief and the bank lrom which the bills come must stand the loss. There is a paper strap around each set of bills and upon this is the amount of the package and the name of the bank from which it comes. A few weeks ago one of these young lady counters, a bright blond girl of 19 was engaged upon a lot of some one hundred dollar notes SUE X.OST ME HUKBEED. She had laid the,straps on the desk beside her ns she counted each package, and, after verifying the account, had swept them all juwunisicuHKet. as she was rapidly counting one package she found that it con tained but 99 notes. She looked for the strap containing the memorandum giving the name of the bank from which it came, and was horrified to find that it had dropped from the table and into the basket. She re membered the name of the bank, but there was no way in which she could prove that she was right. The bank was notified, but Its cashier refused to acknowledge the mis take, and the girl had to pay 5100. I note that these girls never wet their fingers in their mouths as they count the bills. Each has a sponge beside her, and she gets her moisture from this. There is great danger of disease in handling bank notes, and no one can tell as to whether the last holder has had smallpox or the measles. The notes themselves are green and the green comes from arsenic used in coloring. A sponge alter a day's use turns black with the arsenic which comes from the bills, and some thin-skinned maidens contract sores on the arms and wrists from this couuting. The sponges are changed every day. but if the s kin it the least scratched and the arsenic ot the note happens to get under the flesh a sore is very likely tn appear a day or two afterward. The position is by no means a sinecure, and it is mv experience that these Government clerks "have to work mighty bard for every cent they get, PBETTY GIRLS WHO MAKE MOXEr. and Printing, where all the money of the United States is made. Notwithstanding the greatest precautions this department is one of the most unhealthy in the Govern ment. The coloring matter used in tobacco stamps and in the making of greenbacks and silver certificates taints the air with its poisonous fumes. It is necessary to keep the temperature or the big money mill at a high degree in order to have the printing properly done, and these girls work as bard as auy of the factory girls of England. The majoritv of them are the poorest paid of our Government clerks, and they are more like laborers than bookkeepers. Hundreds of girls stand all dav lone passing sheets to the printers. In the printing of bank notes from an engraved plate, only one sheet can be printed at a time, and the plate has to be re-inked for every impression. The printer gets 55 a day or more, and his assistant in the shape of one of these girls is paid SI 25 a dav. She stands beside him and hands him the sheets, and she does this for nine or ten hours at a stretch. BOTH SEXES WORKING TOGETHER But do both sexes work together in the same office? Of course they do. American girls can take care of themselves any place, and these maidens are by no means "spring chickens." Not many of them are on the marry, though every "now and then we hear of one dropping on the payrolls witn a gooa husband. The late Attorney General Brewster got a wife in this Treasury Depart ment. She was the daughter ot an ex-bec-retary of the Treasury, and she was one of the prettiest women that "Washington has ever known. Brewster saw her as he went through the department one day on some legal business long before he was Attorney General, and ho said to a friend: "What a pretty womaal" She overheard and replied in a stage whisper: "What an ugly manl" and Brewster, you know, waa ugly enough to stop a clock. His face had been burnt all out of shape when he was a baby by his fall ing into the fire or by his attempting to save his little Bister from burning. Both stories are told, and I don't know which is Alateng Jkfonry. correct. At any rate he overheard the re mark of the pretty Treasury-clerk. He met her the same night at a reception, and she found Mr. Brewster as entertaining as he was ugly. After a few months he proposed to her and she accepted him and got a first class husband. WHEN CLERK MARRIES CLERK. Stephen A. Douglas married a depart ment clerk and many of the ladies of the departments go into the best of Washington society. It is an unwritten law in some of the departments that a husband and his wife shall not be on the pay-rolls at the same time and when two department clerks marry one is expected to leave. Postmaster General Vilas, however, objected to this theory and a nnmbcr of the Cabinet officers now allow their clerks to marry if they choose. One of the prettiest girls in the Pension Office was married the other day to a very accomplished young clerk who worked beside her. Their field ot work, however, was changed in order that no re mark might be caused by the marriage and they now have good positions in New York. Not a few clerks are married secretly and their names appear on the payroll of the department as single after they have been married. It is a great deal easier to live in Washington on $2,000 a year than ?1,000 a year and Cupid gets along much better when both husband and wife can keep their salaries. Tl.TB.rTSa AMONG CLERKS. There is of course considerable flirting among the clerks. If you put one woman with three men anywhere in the world she must be an extraordinary female if she does not throw coauettish dances at at least one of the three, and the men are not human if they do not look at her. I happen to know, however, that three-fourths of these Treas ury girls could be married if they wished husbands. They get good salaries, and as one of them said to me the other day: "We have so much experience with men here that we are afraid to trust them. We are like Diogenes with hie lantern. "We can't find the honest man. "When a woman gets 5100 a month she doesn't care to divide this amount with a husband, and I can tell vou I propose to stick to my salary as long as "I can." There is no bettsr way for a female clerk to lose her position than by falling in love. This big Treasury building covers nearly two acres and there are little nooks and for watching them scrub, and they get their 5240 a year for the business. A number of the girls waste paper and it takes qnite a regiment to attend to this business. AH of the old envelopes, wrappers and 'scraps of paper which accumulate during the day are saved and are shoveled down into THE 'WASTE PAPER BOOM. This room looks like a great country cellar. Its walls are white-washed and one half of the room is divided into three great bins, which are filled with three kinds of paper. The girls are carefully watched, and they sometimes find important docu ments, and instances have been known ot money coming down to this room. One of the most exciting times in the department occurred some time ago from a man dropping a bond into his boot. He had corns, and his desk being in an alcove, he had taken off his boot while he was counting some 51,000 bonds. At the close of his count be was horrified to find one missing, and this was some hours after he had been engaged in making up his tally. He went in his slippers to the chief of his bureau and .an nounced the loss. The whole Treasury was in an uproar, aud this waste paper room was worked lrom one end to the other to see if the 51,000 bond had not fallen into the waste paper basket and been carried out. So it went on for the rest of the afternoon until the clerk, preparing to leave the de partment, thrnst his richt foot into the long leg of his boot and found the rustling 51,000 bond at the bottom. He was the happiest man in "Washington for the next ten minutes, for had he not found the security he would have been responsible for its loss. WASHERWOMEN OF THE TREASURY. It takes 500 towels a day to supply the Treasury Department, and last month in the neighborhood of 15,000 towels vero used. A great part of the Treasury work is dirty work and every room has a new towel every day. The washing of these towels is done by women who are paid 30 cents a dozen and who are charged with every towel tbey take away. If any are lost they have to pay for them, and Uncle Sam watches the corners mighty close in all of his busi ness. Is the Treasury Department a good place for women? In some ways it is, in otb.rs it is not. The wages are better than women get anywhere else in the country. The hours are shorter and the labor is honorable. No woman who respects herself will be insulted in the Treasury Department. Reports are scat tered over the country as to the morality of public officials. It is charged that some of these great buildings are sinks of iniquity and that the women who work in them are not of good character. There was never a greater mistake. The most of the Treasury girls are as good as your sisters, your wives and your mothers. They are as pure and as high-minded, and they would resent an in sulting act or look as much as the chastest Diana of the land. If tbey receive impro prieties it is their own fault and no woman who wishes to be honest need fear to take a place in the money mill of our own Uncle Sam. Miss Grundy, Jr. EICI1ES IK OLD HATS. THE EIDE TO BOGOTA, Four Days on Mule Back Among thd Cloud-Capped Mountains. DHFINISHED KAILR0AD PROJECTS, Piano3 Carried Overland at a Cost of One Thousand Dollars Each. COLOMBIA'S AGEICDLTURAL EXPORTS fCORHESrOJfDEXCE OF THE DISPATCH Bogota, Colombia, January 29. HE city of Honda, though nearly 800 miles above the mouth of the Mag dalena, and the present terminns of the steamboat routes, is by no means at the "head" of that river's navigable waters. The grow ing town, which has acquired con sequence only on account of the river trade, is beauti fully situated, sur rounded byrngged monntains, and at the junction of two great streams, for here the Rio Gauli comes rushing down to join the Magdalena on its long journey to the sea. Honda has a few very old buildings of early Spanish origin, whose euormously thick walls were built with especial view to withstanding the earthquakes that arc frequent in this locality; but, in spite of their solidity, most of the old houses were long ago shaken into ruins. To my mind, the most interesting thing 'If w llUJfll1 ?"! 8isiNircum mll'ljl' . IS & 111 ft A New Yorker Who Finds a Ilnblt of tbo Jobbers Very Profitable. New York Evening Snn.1 No one would ever imagine that there could be any caste in the old hat business, but there is a man in this city engaged in that humble calling who would be disposed to knock you down if you named him in the same day with the peripatetic vagabonds who go about buying up old hats. This man is an artist in his profession. He has his regular customers, and they are confined exclusively to the hat jobbers. When au out-of-town customer visits the city to buy goods the first thing the jobber does is to remark that the hat he is wearing is a little shabby. "Just a little dusty," the customer will probably remark, remembering that he had put ou a new hat when he left home. But the jobber, knowing that a little per sonal attention is always profitable, will not be convinced. He takes the man's hat, throws it under the counter, and presents him with one of the best he has in stock. These old bats soon accumulate in the busy season, running up to as many as a dozen a day. In the majority of cases' they are prac tically as good as new. It has been re marked, however, that customers from Con necticut, New Jersey and Philadelphia, knowing that they are sure to get a fine new hat free of charge, always put on their most dilapidated headgear when they are leaving home. How our friend ever "caught on" will never be known. A quarter apiece is the orthodox price he pays, and he makes a round of the jobbing houses every day. At home his trade as a hatter serves him in good stead. The bats are supplied with a new sweatband and lining, and many of them find their way into the smaller hat stores, where they are sold as brand new. And our friend has a big bank account. g v 6 Slessed be the Ponkey. They Get Crisp New Bills. It i the same in the Bureau of Engraviug corners where a man might whisper a sweet nothing in a lady's ear if it were not for a messenger who is holding down a chair out side of some big official's door and who is not infrequently ready to report anything out of the way. THE GIRLS OP THE ATTIC. Some of the queerest work of the Treas ury Department is done in the attic and in the basement. I stood for ten minntes yes terday and watched abont BO women sewing on carpets in the top loft of the Treasury. The carpet was stretched on frames lite carpenters' saw horses, and the girls were having a kind of qnilting bee in joining the widths together. All the carpets of the Government are sewed here, end if a Custom House at Cleveland or New York wants a carpet it sends a diagram of its' room to the Secretary of the Treasurv and the carpet is here made and shipped. These giddy girls do the sewing for a consideration. The char women of the Treasurv take charge of the building after the clerk's have gone away, and for an hour or so they turn the department inside out. They wash the windows. , They scrub the lloori And they polish np the knobs Of the big front doors. They are under the charire of n hon.1 ). woman, who receives a good round salary A SHABBY DDKD. One Cannot Tel! a Jinn's Wealth by Ills Com'ii Appenrnncc. New Orleans Times Democrat. This story comes from the "Peak Conn tree." The great cavern at Castleton, En gland, attracts a large nnmber of tourists every year, and now and then notabilities visit the place. A visitor somewhat shab bily dressed presented himself before the guide, an official employed by the Duke of Devonshire, and asked what it would cost to see the sights. , "Seven shillings," was the man's reply; "It seems a lot of money, said the Iit quirer. But the guide, with a glance at the man's garments, deigned no answer. The visitor, however, resolved to go in. Emerging into the light of day again, he entered his name tn the visitors' book, and said: "There'3 7 shillings for your master and something for yourself." The "something" was a sovereign. The guide, staggered by the magnitude of the gratuity, hastily scanned the visitors' book, and round the signature of a well-known millionaire duke. He looked the surprise he felt. "You didn't expect that, did yon?" drolly asked the duke. "No. Your Grace. I did not." said the guide, honestly. "And you thought, now, I was scarcely good for the 7 shillings?" persisted the duke. The thought, from the guide's frank ad mission, certainly had crossed his mind. "Well," said His Grace, smilingly, "never in fnture judge a tnan by the coat he wears." about the place is the remains of an an tique bridge, built by-the conquerors in the year 1C01. Its quaint arches are yet entire, ?nd the stone walls show niches, now dis mantled, where saints and crosses used to stand commanding the worship of all way farers, telling mutely how those stern cru saders built for all time, and never forgot the outward tokens of religion in the midst of their greed for gnld-The Hagdalena is navigable lor small vessels many miles above Honda, through nearly all THE RICH STATE OP TOLIMA, which, being level with the stream, is one of the best agricultural sectionsof the republic. Until within the last few years, Tolima sup plied the greater portion of Colombia's ex port agricultural trade. Lately, however, thetwo Atlantic States have been more ex tensively cultivated, and these, being so con veniently situated for foreign trade, beside possessing remarkable fertility of soil, and the further advantage of being intersected by several considerable streams, have sud denly begun to yield at least two-thirds of me entire export produce. The Cauca river, which runs through this region, is itself navigable for light-draught steamers as far as Cali, a place about 75 miles northeast of .Buenaventura, the Pacific seaport. The Cauca valley is best described as a level upland, 5,300 feet above the sea, a series of uncultivated meadow lands over grown with tall, rank grasses. Though especially adapted to cattle raising, the land produces cotton, coffee, corn, cocoa, rice, tobacco, sugar cane, potatoes, nnd most fruits of the tropic and temperate zones, the banana, especially, growing wild in greatest abundance. The population of this valley is reckoned at about 435,000, and its aver age temperature is 77 Fahrenheit. An other magnificent river is the Atrato, whose valley presents a similar aspect to that of the upper Magdalena. RAILROADS TO BOGOTA. Bogota de Santa Fe, the capital of Co lombia, is only 70 miles from Hond3, but the journey thereto being straight over the main cordillera of the Andes, is very tedious and difficult, and can only bo ac- cumpusnea on norse ot muieback. From time to time during the last quarter of a century, American companies have at tempted the construction of a railroad be tween these two points. About 30 miles of springless coach like a dice in a box or to go sailing over them on the deck of a mnle. In either ease the trip Necessitates four of the longest and hardest days that are likely to fall to the lot of an ordinary human being in the course of his life. THE TRIP ON HULEBACK. Because of the certainty of obtaining good mules for the through trip at Honda, and the uncertainty of all things at Agriabarga, we decided, whether wisely or not remains to be seen, to go the entire distance in the saddle. The ladies of our party secured rid ing habits of dust-colored alpaca, buck-skih gloves reaching nearly to the elbow, and wide-brimmed hats of Panama crass, tied tightly under the chin a la "poke?' .Eight here permit me to whisper a secret to ladies onlv. When making saddle jour neys in any of these mountain regions, it is well to be guided in the matter of dress by the advice of the natives, who, traveling al ways in this fashion, certainly ought to know what they are talking about. A lady, "to the manner born," never burdens her self with too much riding skirt, but makes it scant as possible, and only about four inches longer than an ordinary walking dress, and she dons a pair of very wide, full trousers, of the same material as her habit, gathered Turkish fashion, close around the tops of her shoes. Clattering out of still sleeping Honda aooui j o clocK one balmy morning (Tor the seasons are reversed down here, you know, and midsummer comes in January), our roid wound for some distance nuder a com plete arch of papaws, mangoes and figtrees, whoso interlacing branches obscured the sky, and rendered yet darker the silent hour between night and'dawn. Bat when the stars were lost in the sea of crimson aud gold that presages the rising of the tropic sun, Dame Nature suddenly shook off her comatose condition, the flowers lifted their dewy heads, birds began to twitter, smoke to curl from housetops, and the hum of human activity was heard. Presently the road became alive with Indians trudging to market under heavy loads, barefooted women in short calico skirts and wide straw hats, sitting astride of mules, each beast gener ally carrying two persons; and donkeys and black and white bullocks so heavily laden as to be literally COVERED PROM STORIES OF GEANT. Ex-Postmaster General Creswell on His Cabinet Relations. AN OCEAN LINE LOST TO AMERICA. Eoscoe Conkllng's Nominating Speechat the Chicago Convention. A TEESE THAT AE0DSED ME KATI0N THE EFFICACY OP PfiATER. A Lad'a Fnllh Somcirunt Shaken br a Fail ure to Get Well Promptly. Buffalo Courier. The intant son of a pious North street father, in whose family prayers are always said morning and evening, was taken ill, and the physician administered medicine. On being put to bed the little fellow was ad vised by his Christian mother to pray that his health be restored. So kneeling at his crib his little lips lisped: "God bless papa, God bless mamma, God bless everybody, God bless the doctor and the med'ein' to make me well. Amen." Next morning the poor little chap was worse, and he alarmed his fond parents by symptoms of skepticism as to the efficacy of prayer. He was admonished that perhaps the Lord wasn't quite ready to answer his prayer, and to try again. So kneeling the second night he prayed thus: "God bless papa, God bless mamma, God bless every body, God bless the doctor, and I hope to God the med'ein' will work to-night Amen." The boy cot well. tNii ijf JL Stop by the Way. track have actually been laid; but those in charge of the work have again and again been compelled to abandon it, because of frequent revolutions and the ini possibilityof securing laborers. Thenatives will not work, aud the company cannot afford to pay wages enough to induce im migration. But notwithstanding all these disadvantages, the enterprise has not been abandoned, and having received sub stantial encouragement from the Co lombian Government in the shape of land grants, and a "concession," it will doubtless be finished some time, Mcan wbile, on its own account, the Government has projected a railway from Bogota to Honda, and has also given a liberal conces sion for the construction of another line leading into the Cauca valley, where are supposed to exist the richest gold mines in all the world, the same from whence came those hundreds of millions that were sent to Spain in the days of the viceroys. A stage line has recently been established between Honda and Agriabarga, thus short ening the saddle jonrney,by 30 miles; but it is a mooted question which is hardest to be rattled across the mountains shut up in a j STEM TO STERN with piles of cinchcona bark, bags of gold or silver ore from the mines, or loads of mer chandise of various sorts. The principal towns of Colombia, scattered along the fertile valleys lying between the spurs of the Andes, are distant from the Magdalena from CO to 100 miles; and to them all goods must be forwarded over the rugged moun tain pathways. Merchandise is distributed into bales of 125 pounds each, allowing two bales or 250 pounds to a donkey load. The system o I transit applies only to articles of comparatively light weight, making it ut terly impossible to forward across country to those places where they are most needed such heavy objects ns agricultural imple ments, mming machinery, fire engines, wagons, or indeed anything else weighing more than half a ton. Yet we are told that in Bogota every well-to-do family has its piano, which had to be brought piecemeal over the Sierras at the cost of $1,000 per piano for its transportation nlonel They have street cars, too, in Colom bia's capital, which were also toted in sec tions over the mountains, as were the rails and ties, on the backs of mules and hnman beasts of burden. Soon the road grew rough and stony, like the bed of a rocky river, winding over hills which in some places ascended almost per pendicularly and in othprs offer so narrow a pathway that our little beasts, ambling one behind another, can hardly find a footing. Heaven bless the donkey, said I. "Whatever his fanlts, he is sure-footed and faithful, and nas oorne many a traveler in safety over perilous paths where a horse would refuse to go. GOING HIGHER ASD HIGHER. As we ascended, ever higher and higher, the air grew cooler, and at 4,000 feet above Honda the temperature was delightful. Winding around the steep sides "of the sierras, we caught glimpses of a most won derful panorama in the Magdalena Valley, which, far below, looked like a gigantic chess-board, squared off by hedge-rows in closing cultivated fields, the pale yellow-ish-green of sugar-cane patches interspersed with the dark, glossy foliage of coffee groves, and palm-thatched huts for neons. all environed by distant heights whose tops were lost in the clouds. The highest point hereabouts is known as Alto Del Raizal, marked by a little white honso set against a gigantic heap of red-gray sandstone. The view from this place was even more glori ous. Descending thence to Las Tibayes was the most difficult task we encountered, over a road strewn with loose flowers, so steep and slippery that we momentarily ex pected to be pitched over the heads ot our mules down among the precipices. The rest of the way was a rapid down hill, a regular toboggan slide, 4,000 feet long, into the green aud lovely valley of Villeta. To this day I am not able to de cide which is most to be dreaded, going up the face of a hill, fly fashion, in momentary peril of slipping over the donkey's tail; or going downward, at an augle ot 50 deg.-ees, with every muscle braced to prevent sliding over his ears. Since no beast conld possibly go astray on a trail so narrow that we bumped the wall of rock on one side, and stones, loosened by his feet on the brink of the other, dropped without a sound into an abyss so deep that tall trees growing at the bottom looked like mere twigs, I abandoned all responsibility, closed my eyes to the fearful view, and clung for dear life to the pommel. DARED SOT TOUCH A LEAP. Bains had swollen the Rio Negro so the only bridge was carried away and we hud to ford it. , The ground rises steadily from the river's brink, ever higher and higher; at one place called "EI Salitre" leading up some steep steps like a flight of stairs cut in the face of the mountain, which onr animals unwill ingly climbed. As if to recompense the tiaveler for that trial, the way wound next under some overhanging rocks covered with icrns, mosses, pinK begonias and orchids, overtopped with long-armed oats and droop ing palms. But, like every other earthly paradise, the trail of the serpent was in it, nnd the guides forbade us, at the peril of Onr lives, to touch a leaf or a flower. At last, thank heaven! Alto del Roble was reached, one of the highest accessible points in the Andean chain, some 12.000 leet above sea level, which, the guides solemnly assured us, was "the very end of uphill." A cart road, lrom Bogota, comes out nearly to the Alto; and, though horribly bad, with" deep gullies washed out by flood's that pour down the mountain sides, we were rejo'ced to exchange the wild paths ot "the land of the sky," for an unpicturcsque, barley-bordered highway. FINISHED IN A COACH. Having learned that, by telegraphing to Bogota, a coach would come out from that city and convey us thitherward, we were glad to pay for the 25 miles or more which our guides and mules were not to go, and lie in bed nursing onr bruises during the following 24 hours. It was by no meaiiy a brilliant paity that was finally packed into the clumsy vehicle yclept a diligeucia, and was bumped over the holders, big and little (every joit bding martyrdom), that strew the road to Colom bia's capital. Jnst at sunset we passed the swampy flat3 that environ Santa Fe de Bogota, black with wild duck this time of year; when by a sharp turn in the road, we suddenly beheld the Cathedral towers, housetops, and tall eucalyptus trees of the old city, all gilded in the evening light. The vesper bells were ringing as we clattered into town; but the two overshadowing hills, whose summits are crowned by churches, each a kind of Cal vary, up which penitentes go on their knees during holy week, looked gloomy and for bidding, with' black clouds hanging above them, as if bearing a frown for the weary wuuuerers, insteaa oi a welcome. Fannie B. Ward, tWBIITEN FOB TUB SISFATCn.1 I met ex-Postmaster General Creswell in the National Metropolitan Bank in Wash ington yesterday. He is one of the finest looking men in the Capital City. Tall, broad-shouldered and white-whiskered, his clear bine eyes look out from under a broad, high forehead and his tread is as firm and his step as active as it was when he was a member of the United States Senate in 18G5. The last time I saw him was at Mount Mc Gregor, where he had gone to attend Grant's funeral. He was an intimate friend of Grant and he was one of the General's most ardent admirers. After a few moments our conversation turned upon Grant and he said: "Grant was the greatest General I have ever known and of all the great men of my acquaintance I consider bim the greatest. Ho was great as a statesman when you judge him by the soldier-statesman standard and some of his acts and sayings as Presi dent are quoted to-day. He was a great writer and there are few works that will compare in simplicity and beauty with his memoirs. His state papers were equally well written and he wrote all his messages with bis own hand, excepting those parts which he got from his Cabinet officers. In preparing the paragraphs relating to the Postoffice and other departments he would give directions to his Cabinet to condense their reports and wonld insert such conden sation in his messages." ADVISING -WTTH HIS CABINET. "Did he advise much with his Cabinet?" I asked. "Yes. He had his own opinion and his own policy, but he advised with his Cabinet on all matters relating to the various depart ments over which they were placed. I was at the head ot the Postoffice Department and I found him always ready to change, his views whenever sufficient reasons could be given him for a change. He was qnick to take advantage of the moment and decided upon matters usually as they came before hiji. "f peaking of his readiness in writing his messages and his quickness of decision, a remarkable instance occurred at the time of the opening of the Franco-Prussian war. It was the last night of the congressional ses sion, and President Grant, with his Cabinet, was at the Capitol signing bills when the news came. Now, the great German steam ship line feared that its ships would be cap tured by the French and that it would not be able to carry on its Toyages from Ger many to America. Its owners made a prop osition to change the line to an American line, to have it carry the American flag and to take onr mails from America to the Con tinent. Under the American flag it wonld be safe from seizure by France, and it would give us one of the greatest steamship lines of the world. AN ACCEPTANCE EECOMMENDED. "This offer from the line came to President Grant at the Capitol. The subject was pro posed to his Cabinet, and, turning to me, he asked what I thought of the proposition lrom a postal standpoint. I told him, and he asked me to put my views in writing. He then turned to Hamilton Fish nnd asked him to write oat his views on the subject from a diplomatic standpoint. "We both did so, and we both favored the taking of the line. General Grant took the two- state ments and rapidly wrote an introduction and a conclusion to them. He then sent this into the Senate as a message. 'In it he advised the taking ot the line, and had Con gress acted upon his ad-rice the American flag to-day would float over some of the finest ships of the world, and the interests of American trade wonld have been furthered by this," "Do you still think, General, that the United States wonld have been benefited by the re-election of President Grant?" "I do. General Grant was a man of steady growth. He was a careful observer and the effect of his foreign tour and his intercourse with the great statesman of the world and his knowledge gained from his observation of the governments of other conntries wonld have made him an invaluable President. Had he been nominated, he would surely have been elected and he wonld have done more to bring the South and North together than any other man could possibly have done. This was his great desire in his think ing of a possible re-election." CONKXING'S CONVENTION SPEECH. I here referred to the Chicago Convention which nominated Garfield and to the won derful perseverance of the noted 306, of whom Postmaster General Creswell was one. Referring to the speech Conkling made on this occasion, Postmaster General Creswell said: "Boscoe Conkling was a great n.an, bnthe lacked the adaptability of a politician. That speech at Chicago was a great one, bnt it had lines in it here and there that offended the Sherman and Blaine men where it should have conciliated them. It was, however, Conkling, and Conkling was not a diplomat. I believe that he might have been President had it not been for his prond nature, which .would nut permit him to bend. He had the chance in Cincinnati when Hayes was nom nated, bnt he did not take it. It ef erring to his Chicago speech, you remember the opening. After the great assembly had be come quiet, in clear tones he recited that verse of poetry which took the convention by storm, and following which there was an .applause lasting for nearly a quarter ol an hour. He said: You ask me whence my candidate, The answer, it shall be; Ho comes from Appomatox And its famous apple tree IT AROUSEDTHE COUNTRY. "How they did cheer and how the Sher man men and the Blaine men hissed. The words went around the country by tele graph, and created a responsive thrill in every Grant-Ioviag heart. It was one of the great introductions to great historic speeches, and I have never seen its original published, uonsling got this verse lrom WEITTEN POE THE DISPATCH BY ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS, Author of "Gates Ajar," "Beyond the Gates," Eta, AND THE REV. HERBERT D. "WARD. Continued From Last Sunday. CHAPTER XV. BAEUCH SEES THE HEALED MAIDEN. In the village of Bethany gossip w; agog. The extraordinary rumor of the healing of Ariella had scarcely been set in motion before it was overtaken by another of a startling character. Upon the day following the wonder, the neighbors flocked to the honse of Malacbi, and demanded to see the proof of the case. But the maiden remained invisible. The house was inhospitably closed. No visitor was allowed entrance. No excuses were offered. Silent and sullenly, the locked door replied to all advances. The people grew restless at this treatment and became clamorous, raising a cry without: "Malacbi hindereth the maiden! He de nieth the deed, aud refnseth the proofs thereof. Shame en himt Shame on the Pharisee!" Malacbi, who loved to stand well with his neighbors, and at all events, if he did not. objected to being told of it, presented him- the public tremor over his invalid neighbor; and Mary, his sister, was always a home" keeping, quiet woman. Martha made sev eral efforts to approach the facts in the mys terious case; but, being adroitly baffled by Malachi,8oon abandoned the subject, for tha more satisfactory interests of preparing sweetmeats of dates and figs for the winter supply of her family. Rachel and Barucb, alone, of the neighbors of Ariella, persisted in their attempts to obtain a personal inter view with her. But these were as persist ently foiled. Baruch was in a state of pitiful agitation. As days swelled into days, and Ariella re mained invisible, his misery became so acute that his mother's sympathy with Ariella wavered in sheer sorrow over her own flesh and blood; and she added to her son's distress by bewaihngtbe hour in which she had consented to the execution of the miracle within her gates. Baruch's position, take it altogether, was n hard one, and grow ing worse, when the news reached the blind man that public opinion had taken a decided turn. Malachi was flatly accused of imprisoning his daughter that the recovery should not be verified of the people, and the claims of self promptly at this turn of aflairs. He I the Nazarene emphasized by bo merciful and Pw lliifcSI! if i a wlllf m ii ,-.- s-yV-""" J- 2' ';'"trv;r::r ?SglSSggSg BAP.UCH FINDS THE NAZAP.ENE. Tom Murphy some months before the con vention. He and Murphy were out riding and Murphy told him he would like to read him over a poem or two which he had written. This verse was in one of the fioems, and Conkling as he beard it said t was a good thing, and stored it away in his brain for future use. Like all great speakers he was continually studying for the future, and 'Idonbt wbether'he ever prepared a better sentence in advance for an extempore speech than this." Frank G. Carpenter. H1M.NS Al WEDDIXGS. America Is Tlirentcnrd With n Stolanciioly Ensllsh Custom. Boston Herald.j That very English enstom of singing hymns at weddings has crossed the ocean at last. Brides in London wouldn't consider their matrimonial chains properly riveted unless the parish choir sung: "The Volte That Breathed O'er Edeu," ns they march up the aisle. Now, if the voice is to be in troduced nt our church weddings, it be hooves musical directors with fashionable associations to get up their quartet choirs in suitable wedding hymns, aud substitute j English, bat that Is all. opened the door and stood' without it, a scowling man, too evidently on the defensive for his smooth words to be received with easy admission. "Alas, my neighbors, and alas, my friendsl" said Malachi; "condolewitb mefor the calamity that has overtaken mv house. The damsel, my daughter, whom the pre tender has so basely wronged by false hopes and injurious excitement which might even prove tatal to so sick a person, has no miracle to offer you. No healing hath been wrought upon her. As she was she is nnd remains. Aiiella cannot lift her head from her couch. I have reasoned with her to come forth and show herself to her neighbors, nnd offer proof of the marvel which was reported to the village yesterdav. Bnt she ariseth not. She is helpless upon her bed. A condition hath set in, consequent upon the excessive agitation to which she has been subjected, which causes me the deepest anxiety. If she becomes dangerously ill, or if, indeed, her former helplessness increaseth, as I fear me it may do, I promise you this fellowshallbe arraigned for sorcery and evil charms." "How can that be," interrupted a cool voice from the crowd, "when it seems lie hath wrought no wonder upon the maiden?" The speaker was Amos, the proprietor of Gethsemane, a calm man acenstomed to weigh his words, and habitually undisturbed in his loyalty to the Nazarene." "At least," replied Malacbi in some em barrassment, "if it be not sorcery, then call it illegal interference with the sick. I stand not upon the name; it is the deed I do with stand. And the deed wrought upon my daughter is beyond the law. and an ignorant fellow hath exposed her to the consequence thereof. I demand punishment upon him, for the state of the damsel is worse than ever since he did meddle with her case." "Let us converse with the damsel," de manded Amos. "Let some women of the neighborhood be admitted to her." "If I would deal with Ariella myself," said Rachel, the mother of Baruch, "I was witness of the healing, and I would be wit ness of the relapse, if such it be in deed and truth. The honor of my own word is at stake in the matter. T do greatly petition that I may be admitted to the maiden." "That fou shall not, then!" cried Malachi' with a clench of the fist. "But for yon and your accursed son smitten of Cod at his birth, as-plainly he deserved, and she who bore him my daughter bad not been in this case more wretched than in her first estate." A mutter of rebuke arose from the group at this brutal speech. The instinct of tbo neighbors began to close about Rachel pro tectingly; as they did bodily gather in a little group around her, Rachel was greatly distressed. "At least, Malachi," she besought, "if I may not see the poor girl, permit me to ex change a word with Hagaar, her mother." But Malachi replied, sharply, that Hagaar, his wife, w.is in cloe attendance upon the urgent needs of Ariella, and could receive no person. With this he retreated, closing and barring the doors ot his house, as before. Excitement now ran high in the hamlet. Rumors of the event had reached Jerusalem and many sightseers and curious folk came out from the city and swelled the little gronp of residents interested in the affair. Lazarus, absorbed at that time in the excite ment of love and business, took no part in beautiful a cure. This view of the case did not seem to lessen, but rather to in crease, the unhappiness of Barucb. Between his vision of the old Ariella flung down from the heights or hope to tha old, sad, familiar face, and the new Ariella condemned, in the first thrill ot recovery, toa brutal, mock assumption of that fate, he had not mqch fo choose. Either was bad enough; cither at moments seemed worse than the other. "Worst of all was the cruel shock given, by the turn events had taken, to the touching faith of Baruch in the Nazarene. It was impossible to say what was tha effect of this shock. His mother observed him with a motherly impatience which vitiated her power to interpret his condition. The blind man, always possessed of the reti cence of his infirmity, sunk into a system atic silence and inner solitude, in which a sensitive nature may easily perish. He fre quented the environs of the house of Mala chi patiently; but for admittance he had ceased to hope or ask. Ariella remained invisible; nor did any reliable report of her condition reach the villagers, among whom cariosity and indignation were increasing steadily. One afternoon Barucb, being led by the lad with whom he was accustomed to go forth, disappeared altogether from Bethanv. He did not return at dnsk. Night fell and nothing was seen of him. At parting from his mother he had bade her feel no concern at his absence, nor expect him till she should see him. Rachel therefore awaited him with no more than the inevitable un easiness of a woman in such a position. Baruch occasionally took these notions and demanded his freedom, like a man with eyes. The woman, like the rest of her kind, had nothing to do but to bear it. Midnight came. Bnt Rachel sat alonel Morning followed noon dnsk again; bnt Baruch did not return. A second night's absence succeeded to the first. The third evening set in. Rachel was now thoronghly uncomfortable; her poor boy had sent her no sign or message. So long an absence he had never made from home in a fashion so unpro tected, it ocenrred to jKachel to seek the ad vice of the Nazarene, for it wa3 said by tha common people that he was never too weary or too busy or tod indifferent to give counsel to any person who did need and ask it; but she learned that he was absent from Jerusalem; some said this way, some that; he was in Tiberias, Capernaum, Jericho, this place or the other, no one knew, and everyone knew whfre; 'but he was not to be found. Meanwhile the situation at the house of Malacbi remained unaltered. Crowds gath ered daily before the doors, and cries and jeers arose from the people' whenever the big figure ol the Pharisee appeared in aiVht. ' Malachi had lost so much sleep by dint of jjuisjt ueujuuua iiiat iig come lortii ana ac count for the condition of his daughter, that he became at length overcome with drowsi ness and ill temper, and abandoning all at tempts to treat for decency's sake with the crowds, barred his doors and threw himself upon n rug before it to rst. The mnion of . bis household remained closely concealed; ' whether by choice orof necessity, who could sav? Upon the day following that upon which Baruch disappeared from Bethany, a stent but tired ass. ridden by a man and a boy, might have been seen tn the outskirts of TiDeriai, stopping to rest. The animal wai
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers