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PAGES 9 TO 16. "T
SECOND PART. . ""
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PITTSBURG, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1890.
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LAYING HfE LI,
The Largest !n the World
Brings Natural Gas Into the
City of Pittsburg.
TONS OF MATERIAL USED
And it Was All Made by Our Own
Manufacturers and Workmen.
QUICKEST TIME ON RECORD MADE
In Constructing This Wonderful Feeder for
Onr Fires.'
PIPE THAT LOOES LIKE STEAM BOILERS
nraiTTEN ros the eisim.tcb.3
&&&r
EE those funny boilers, with
the crook in their back." Such
was the remark of a pretty
out-of-town visitor to the Ex
position as she stood at the
foot of Second avenue. And
the "boilers" she was looking at were noth
ing more nor less than the riveted 36-inch
pipe which is to bring the plenitude of
natural gas from Bellevernon to this city
this winter. The "crooked backed" ones
are known to the men on the line as
"bends."
Doubtless a great many persons passing
Biter & Conley's boiler works have seen
joints of this 56-inch pipe, straight and
crooked, and set them down, mentally, as
boilers of some kind. They are as big as
the old-fashioned two-flue boilers and a good
bit stronger. Each joint of pipe comprises
three pieces of steel, boiler plate thickness,
riveted together with perfectly tight joints,
and riveted along the back in the most ap
proved style of the boiler maker's art. At
each cad is a cast-iron flange attached with
an air-tight lead joint and perforated with
bolt holes in the same manner as a "union
joint" for ordinary screw pipe. The bends
are made by setting a joint so the sheet at
one end is inclined from the line of the
other two at an angle of 2J degrees. Oc
casionally a bend is put in the middle.
PBOGEESS IN PIPE 1AYING.
A few years ago the laying of 36-inch
pipe v. as looked upon as a doubtful venture.
A few years earlier 20-inch pipe was consid
ered very big and the memory of the writer
wanders in a mistv way to the time when
tne laying or tbe hrst Jong b-incn oil pipe.
line was ceieDr.uea as an acnievement oi no
mean order. Still larger -.pipe may hfiJaid
in the .inure, though its weight and tbe in
convenience of handling is against it. How
ever, the 3C-inch cast-iron pipe laid last
year weighed a bo at four times as lunch per
foot as the steel pipe laid this J ear, and
larger pipe could Oe handled if necessity
should require it.
By the lirst ol October gas will be flowing
through this enormous pipe to this city. It
will then be a great luel aqueduct supply
ing thousands of homes and hundreds ot
storeE and lactories. The pipe has been
thoroughly tested as it has been laid and
when the big 3G-inch pipe is wedded to the
two 16-inch lines at the top of Tepe farm
hi!I, which event will happen within a lew
d.ijs, now, the volatile fluid can be turned
on at Bellevernon and rushed through to
this city. A good many are interested in
this result besides the company owning the
pipe line and the people who have laid it,
lor great dependence must be put in this
new main for the winter's supply of fuel.
LAYING THE LINE.
The laying of this big pipe line Is quite
an interesting thing in itselt, independently
ot the interest attaching to it lrom other
jN
p 7 m iff ai
THE SCOTT FARM TRESTLE.
points of view. The Dispatch man vis-1
lted the scene of the work out near where
the 16 inch lines are to be joined to the big
one. When he got off the train he saw a
large load oi the big tubes which had just
arrived the night before. By means ol a
derrick and crane they were raised, swnng
out and lauded on the wagons which were to
haul them out where tbe gancs of workmen
were putting tbe pipe together. One piece
o pipe was a wagon load, and that was
enough lor a good, strong team to struggle
up the hill with through the tough mud.
More could not have been taken.
The unloading was a novel process. When
the pipe had been hauled to the place where
it was needed the team was unhitched,
driven around to the side of the wagon and
attached to a chain, which was next thrown
around the joint of pipe. When the team
started over went the wagon, pipe and all,
upsetting the wagon, being the only prac
tical way to unburden it. An instantane
ous photograph was taken or tne wagon just
as it was going over, and it will give the
reader a good idea of the procedure.
LAYING THE PIPE.
Some, wonderful records have been made
bv the" pipe gang, Mr. E. C. Mayhem' in
ch rge, as much as 950 feet of pipe having
be -n, laid in a day. The pipe is dragged
around in position br a good team of horses
anil then rolled to the trench. A portable
deirick ti placed over it, lines attached and
wound on the windlass until the pipe
swings clear. It can then be lowered and
put in position, being held there until the
bolts are started and the whole joint secure
ly blocked tip. Tne derrick ia then moved
to the next place, while the joint just made
is packed and bolted up. In this way the
men may be working on three joints, in va
rious stages, at tne same time.
The joints are packed with two asbestos
gaskets. The cast iron flange at one end
has a bead on it and one gasket is just out
side of this, the other inside, a workman
being always inside the pipe to attend to
this. The gaskets wnen put in have a
diameter of over one inch. The bolts are
set up to compress them to a thickness of
three-eighths of an inch. When the pas
pressure is on it compresses the gasket the
other way, so the higher the pressure the
tighter it makes the joint to resist it.
A BIO DITCH.
Host of the pipe will be under ground. A
trench averaging five feet deep by five feet
wide is dug, up hill, down hill and across
the level. There are a few exceptions to
this rnle. A lew ravines have been trestled
where the curve in the bottom was too sharp,
and where the pipe crosses the outcropping
of the bier Pittsburc coal vein it has been
left on top of the ground. This has been
done to prevent the possibility of leakage
from the main into the coal of the highly
inflammable gas, the chemical composition
of which is so nearly the same as the deadly
"fire damp" of the mines.
In fact natural gas has been found in con
siderable quantity in the Pittsburg coal.
Where the coal lies deep, as it does in the
southern part of Washington countv, in
Greene county and in some parts of West
Virginia, a flow of gas lrom it is common to
nearly all the wells drilled for either oil or
tras. And in one case, the Gibson &
Giles well at Old Hundred, Wetzel county.
s " l
UNLOADING
W. Va., drilled in 1886, gas was found in
valuable quantity ia the Pittsburg coal.
The well has since supplied fuel and light
for tbe lew houses of the village, a planing
mill and flour mill, and more has been
wasted than has been utilized.
ALMOST EQUALS RAILROAD BUILDING.
The ditching has been under the direction
of Cal McCarthy, and is almost equal to the
grading of a railroad. Of course there have
been no very deep cuts or high fills, trestles
answering the purpose of the latter. One
of tnese crossing a ravine on the Scott farm
is shown in our illustration. The pipe lay-
SNgl
Vtr tfE, 'Sz
Lowering to Position.
ing is almost eaual to the rail lavincr of a
railroad, and requires many tons of ma
terial, oust oeiore crossing tne Scott larm
trestle the pipe comes over a very sharp,
steep, small hill. The curves are very short
in places. The two-and-a-half degree bends
of the steel pipe do not meet the require
ments, and, as in all such cases, cast iron
bends are used. These are but two feet thick
and beveled to give the two-and-a-half de
gree angle. By using a number of these to
gether a pretty short curve can be secured.
All the work is inspected as it is done by
Mr. Dennis McBride, for the Philadelphia
Company. The inspector is with the pipe
layers all the lime to see that the work is
up to the standard of requirements. This
will avoid any delay in accepting the con
tract or making use of the line.
testing the pipe.
A mile or two behind the pipe-laying
'gang is another gang of inspectors and
, calkers. When a section of pipe is laid a
cap is put on tbe end, and the gas turned in
lrom this city. The inspectors then go over
the pipe very carefully, searching ior any
little breaks there may be. When any are
found they are properly calked, alter which
the trench is filled in. Most of the filling in
jis done with scoop shovels and horse power.
'Enough dirt is first thrown in to tamp about
the pipe, and tbe rest is dumped in with
the big .scoops. The writer walked oyer
more than a mile of the uncovered pipe
where the inspectors and calkers bad not
been yet, and lound no leak at all, not even
a small one, proving the big pipe to be
economical at least.
Expansion is provided for by inserting an
expansion joint for about each 350 feet of
distance. This joint is constructed with a
steel flange m the middle. The two sides of
tbe flange are riveted together at the pe
: V"sC3
--"2rf r
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riphery, but diverge Y-shaped to the point
where they are riveted to the pipe. Expan
sion of the pipe shoves the flanges toward
each other at the base, and contraction
draws them apart without affecting the air
tight joint at the rim.
MAGNITUDE OF THE WOBK.
The contractors on this work, Mr. Thomas
A. Gillespie, formerly superintendent for the
Philadelphia Company, and Mr. B. G. Gil
lespie made the plans for the pipe, and have
had it made in tnis city by James McNeil &
Bro. and Biter & Conley. It has
taken 4,200 tons of material for this
line alone and it has all been made in Pitts
burg. The ore was smelted here, the plates
rolled here and they have been turned into
ipe here, adding quite an item to the in
ustries of the city. Most of the cost has
gone into labor, 'of course, an important
item being the riretting of the seams and
joints. There, is 7.000 ieet of the 36 inch
pipe. Ol course there is a riveted seam the
entire length and the joints are equivalent
to a seam over 20,000 ftet long.
The cast iron pipe was made at Cincin
nati. It was very much heavier than the
steel pipe, and had to be handled in shorter
pieces. Including the cast iron flanges the
steel pipe averages about 140 pounds to the
foot The cast iron pipe averages about
four times as much.
AT THE OTHEB END.
Beside the 67,000 feet of 36-inch pipe, the
Bellevernon line contains 100,000 feet of 16
inch pipe, part ot the way single and part
ot the way double. The gas is conducted
from the wells to the 16-inch mains through
6-inch and 8-iuch wrought iron screw pipe.
The Messrs. Gillespie, beside laving this
line this summer, have taken up 70 miles of
16-inch pipe which bad been used between
this city and Murraysville and Grapeville.
Of this they relaid the 100,000; feet from
THE PIPE.
Bellevernon to the top of Tepe hill. The
16-inch pipe was completed first, being
nearly done before the rainy weather set in,
which has caused delay in finishing the
line.
The work was begun in the first days of
May. and its completion before the first of
October breaks all previous records of large
pipe-laying, the total time being less than
live months, including time lost on account
of bad weather. Some of the ditching was
difficult, blasting being frequently neces
sary. On wet days "de Italia man," on ac
count of his well-known fear of water, could
not be induced to go out doors. And in
these latter days these sons of sunny Borne
have been deserting the work for good and
all rather than have wet feet.
A. B. Ceum.
UNCLE SAM IS PABTICULAB.
Three-fourths of tbe Men Who Try to Get
-' Into Sis-Arm) U ejected.
Most people have an idea that it is the
easiest thing in the world to get into the
Begular Army as a private. But the stand
ard for admission to the army has been
raised so high that probably three-fourths oi
the men who apply for enlistment are turned
away. There are thirty-one recruiting sta
tions. Captain Gibson, of the Washington
station, in speaking of the class of men that
apply for enlistment said in the Washing
ton Herald: ..
"We have men of all grades, qualities,'
nationalities and conditions who wish to
enter the army. The only requirements are
that a man shall be of sufficient age, must
meet certain physical requirements, must be
able to read and write and of good moral
character. You would be surprised to know
the number ot men who fail to come up to
the physical standard. Of course there are
certain physical disqualifications which em
phatically stamp the man as unfit, deformity
of any kind, for instance. There are, how
ever, a great many men who come here hav
ing a defect in their vision or in their
organs of hearing. As for nationalities, we
enlist everything, I think, except a China
man. A Chinaman would be made fun of
by his fellow-soldiers, and the result would
be to unfit him entirely for the lite. They
say that in France a man is disqualified for
extreme ugliness. The requirement of good
looks, however, does not obtain over here.
"A man to enter the army must be ever
16 years old and under 35. Between the
azes of 16 and 21 he must have the consent
of his parents for bis enlistment He must
weigh over 125 and less than 190; 160 loi
the cavalry. His height must be at least 5
feet 4 inches; his chest measurement 32
inches, increasing 2 inches upon expansion.
Last month (August) we had 50 applicants.
There were just 12 who came up to the re
quirements." "At what particular season do you find
more men anxious to enlist?"
"During the months of July and August
there are more than any other. I do not
know any reason for this. Possibly they
get tired of hard manual labor at their usual
traae during the hot season, and think it
would be much nicer at a military post 'in
the far West.
"It is against the regulations to recruit a
man who is married. In the first place, it
would be impossible for a man to keep a
wife on the pay the soldier receives. This,
even in tne case of a re-culisted soldier, fre
quently makes them miserable and unfit for
attention to duty. Again, it is very difficult
to keep a married man at his post, and not
inlrequently he becomes discouraged with
the seeming impossibility of being happy
as a soldier with a wile and he deserts. This
wonld be much more the case with a man
who had just enlisted, so we never take
them. We cannot refuse to take a man re
enlisting because he is married."
SIGNS OF OLDEN TLME3.
They WoreXeccssni-y Then but Disappeared
With Educntionul Progress.
Boston Advertiser. 1
It seems no risk to assert that in our State
there are not 10 men born within the Com
monwealth, of Hew England parents, who
cannot read and write. I haye heard it
suggested that the curious signs above the
doorways ol taverns and shops, which. were
so common 200 years ago, were really aids
to those who were unable to read. The
"Green Dragon," tne "Blue Liou," the
"White Horse" and the "Bunch of Grapes"
over the doors of the.colonial inns of Boston
rendered them easily identified, whereas a
sign-board would have been unintelligible
to the mass of the people. In like manner
shopkeepers were wont to mark their door
ways, donbtless for a similar reason.
A relic of this custom is seen occasionally
even to-day, conspicuons examples being
a gilded ostrich above a milliner's door, a
fcid above a glover's, and a spinning wheel
above the door of a linen shop. But the
real significance of these signs has passed
away, and the signs themselves have disap
peared before the advances of the schoolmaster.
CANOEING IN MAINE.
Howard Fielding Sends Oat a Wail
' From tbe fine Solitudes.
THE ABJECT SLAVE OF A LAZY MAN
Joy in Bowing and Sweating by Day and
Hunting Water hy Night.
ONE TE0DT LEFT ON A GREEN BOUGH
nvBrrrzNyon the dispatch.
There is poetry in a birch canoe. Every
body says so and it must be true. I know,
in fact, that five seconds after I first stepped
into a canoe tbe poetry aloresaid was all
that was left in it Probably poetry has
been associated with a canoe so long that it
knows enough to sit down and keep still. I
didn't and that was the reason why I was
not "in it." The man who told me to step
into the canoe had an instantaneous photo
graphic apparatus with him and he took a
beautiful view of my feet, whioh I present
to the reader. The picture represents me
in the act of looking for something solid in
two fathoms of water. I did not find it
because somebody fished me out, but I did
find a large quantity of caution which I
have since used whenever it has become
necessary for me to get into a birch.
It was only my first, lesson, and was de
signed to prepare me for a delightful excur
sion into the interior of the Pine Tree State.
This little pleasure trip was proposed to me
while I was spending a few weeks at a sum
mer resort on the Maine coast. When my
friend asked me if I would not like to see
the Maine wilderness I said: "What's the
matter with the place we're in now?" He
replied that this wasn't solitude; he could
show me a place where they didn't have
even a graveyard. But in my innocence I
accepted bis invitation, partly because he
promised me some good fishing.
, AHEAD OF JONAH.
No w, I am too unlucky to be of any account
as a fisherman. It is right there that I lead
Jonah about one lap, for he could make tbe
fish bite, and I can't. But my friend said it
didn't make any difference about that he
would take me to streams where luck
couldn't shut a man out. I said that .that
was the sort of stream I had been waiting
for, and so we prepared to go.
There was to be three in the party. A
brother of my friend was the third. He was
a callow youth, and we called bim the Kid.
My friend is called Sam. He is a man I
have always looked up to, because he is dis
tinctly my superior in the very point
wherein I most excel. Belore I met him I
looked upon myself as the laziest man alive,
Looking for Something Solid.
but he has compelled me to modify tbat
judgment. He is aware of his great gift of
perpetual leisure, and anects to regard it as
an infirmity.
"I don't want the Kid to grow up like
me," said he, "and on this trip I shall en
deavor to cultivate habits of industry in
him."
Then he tipped me the peculiar,, tired
wink for which he is famous, and afterward
he sighed. Doubtless he was thinking of
the work which be had laid out for the
Kid.
AN ABTIST IN HIS WAT.
Sam is a skillful canoeist. He can sit in
the bottom of her and give the other fellows
no end of good points about paddling. That
was the way he taught me to sit in the
steerman's place and keep ber head up to
her course. He threw more energy into
this matter of my instruction than I bav6
ever known him to devote to any other
cause, but I think it was a good investment
Otherwise he might have had to paddle now
and then, during our trip. As it was, I
toiled in the stern, the Kid in the bow,
while Sam sat amidships and looked out
that our nice, soft blankets didn't blow
overboard.
We paddled across a slice of Pe
nobscot Bay and up the river which
bears the same name, and
after we had worked up the bay nine miles
or so, and had made a beginning on the
river, the Kid and I showed signs of ex
haustion. Sam said he wished tbat he
could relieve one of us, but itwould be dan
gerous to change places out there in the
stream. If we would hang on a little while
longer we should come to a nice place for
making the shift. So the Kid and I toiled
on, and Sam lay back on the blankets and
told us how to do it. Tbe nice place for
making the shift, Sam said, was just around
"W.'
Bam Gave Vs Directions.
the next point. When we finally worked
around it Sam thought it must be the next
one. When we rounded the seventh, the
Kid and I made a combined kick.
SAM WAS TIBED.
"Well, boys," Sam said, "the wind and
tide are both against us, and it's beginning
to get dark. Suppose we run ashore and
camp."
We did so, and Sam told the Kid and I
how to pull the canoe up above high water
mark. Then he said if we would get some
wood, and the matches, he wonld light the
fire while we went to look lor water. .Look
ing tor water in an unknown land after
dark is one of the funniest things in the
world. It is especially funny in Maine
where no piece of land is smooth and there
is always a rock with corners on it ready to
meet you if you fall. The Kid and I started
off across a field, and almost immediately
fell into the dry bed of a stream. Then .we
crawled up the opposite bank, and gqt into
a thicket. On tbe other side of it was a
rock fence which was very hard, on the op
posite side, where we struck. We took a
fresh start which, after much tribulation,
brought us. to a farm house.
v a7- vc
-Sr
Vt A GUN AND A 8PKING.
Everybody had gone to bed, forit was
almost 9 o'clock, a very late hour in that
part oi the country, bat we succeeded in
arousing tbe sturdy farmer, who pushed the
muzzle of an old army musket out of the
window, and remarked that it was "a
blank of a time to disturb the slumbers of a
Christian." He consented, however, to
give us directions lor finding the spring
down in the meadow, and the spring water
made very creditable coffee after we bad
found our way back to the shore, waked up
Sam and rebuilt the fire, which had gone
out during our absence.
I find that the delights of this excursion
into the heart of nature so crowd upon me
that I am using up all my space without
getting ahead any. I always thought that
I should like this roughing it. Mr. Mur
ray and others had prepared me for the
pleasures of canoeing by their descriptions
of the gectly gliding birch, though I think
they didn't lay stress enongb upon the
value of the exercise (wbich can be got out
of such a trip If a man is strong enough to
live through it.
AIT EXPEBT AT CABBYING.
The river is dammed at Orlacd. This
necessitates a "carry." Sam showed the
J. 2. -
atfjjjy M
Bam Bunted Out the Path.
Kid and I how to put the canoe on our
shoulders, and then he went ahead and
picked out the best path. Then he watched
the canoe so tbat nobody would steal it
while tbe Kid and I went back for the bag
gage. A little iurther up the stream is
dammed again. This time Sam showed us
bow to tie all tbe baggage over our should
ers so that only one trip would be necessary.
I remember particularly the ingenious way
in which he suspended three pairs of long
legged boots and a frying pan around my
neck by a string. This method was so in
genious that wheneverl meditated a halt all
six of the boots kicked me simultaneously
and goaded me on, while the string wore a
deep furrow into my sunburned neck.
The stream we were ascending, called the
Karramoosook, leads into Alamoosook
pond, a beautilul sheet of water entirely
surrounded by sawmills, all ot which are
financial failures. Sam said that there
were several good places to fish in the pond.
and we visited them all. They were good
places if all you want is a chance to sit in
the sun and bake tbe back of your neck,
which is about what fishing has always
amounted to with me.
BAD lUCK WITH THE BOD.
Frotn Alamoosook. we paddled up Dead
river till we came to another sawmill
owned by a man named Jones. He won it
in a lottery thatishe won the money
whfche'habledTilm to purchase it
"I tell ye, boys," said Jones, in speaking
to us of this acquisition, "I ongbt to have
Btuck to the lottery. The chances there
ain't mnre'n a million to one agin' ye, but
this sawmill business in Maine is a sure
thing."
Then we branched off and talked about
fishing, and Jones said that right in front
of the mill a man could catch "all the black
bass he wanted." We fished there for a day
and a half, and decided that Mr. Jones' idea
of the wants of humanity must be exceed
ingly moderate.
After tbat we went to look for a trout
stream. Sam knew just where it was. He
had caught more than he could carry away
thereon the occasion of that famous trip six
years belore. We lollowed him over a hill
side where there bad not been a stream
since tbe glacial epoch, and eventually
found our way back to the mill, so tired
that tbe Kid went to sleeD on tbe saw-car
riage while the machinery was in motion,
and would have been made into slabs if
something had not broken down justin time
to save him.
THE PIBSX TBOUT.
The next day we paddled four miles up
the stream, at Jones' instigation, and dis
covered the brook for which Sam had been
searching in another part of tbe county. It
was here tbat I caught my first and only
trout. If anybody doubts that I canpht him
he has only to visit the spot and he will find
the fish hanging on a tree.
I was standing on two stones in tbe mid
dle of the brook when the trout took hold.
I "struck" for all I was worth; both feet
slipped off the stones, and as I sat down
violently in a deep hole just behind me I
caught a glimpse of tbe trout, and my rod
alighting gracefully on a branch which pro
jected over the merry, babbling stream.
They are there yet, so tar as I know.
As for me, I am at present drving my
clothing in a log cabin a mile from Jones'
mill and forty from civilization. I learn
that Jones is going to drive over to some
town where there is a postoffice, so this letter
may get out of the woods. I shall remain
here tilt I have invented a way to make
Sam do his share of tbe work on the way
down the river. The difficulty of the task
leads me to believe that I may be here when
the snow, flies. Howabd Fielding.
, DBESS1HG A MBD0K BELIE.
Four Hundred Dollars a Tonr Would be a
Very cant AHownnco.
Mill Mantlllnl In Fall Mall Budget.!
I have had conversations with several
dressmakers about the cost of dressing.
Eighty pounds a year, they told me, was the
lowest sum a society girl 'could keep up ap
pearances on. A hundred pounds is the av
erage allowance. No extravagances would
be forthcoming out of that sum. In the
season tbe demand on clothes is excessive.
Expensive dressesibr all sorts of occasions
have to be provided. Park gowns and
gowns for garden parties nd races are every
bit as fine as those worn in the evening.
A.Kirl wants four or five distinct sorts of
dresses to be equal to all occasions. Half a
dozen day dresses and half a dozen evening
is a moderate stock to lav in for the summer.
I am afraid tbat a girl with only 80 a year
to dress on would have to do with less frocks
than this. Older women with a limited
dress allowance affect black a good deal. It
is mighty convenient and very becoming.
JUST A THnXE BBI8K.
A Scene In tlie Home of tbe Cyclone and
the. Tornado Oot la Xtnnias.
XewYorfc World.
County Treasurer (to tourist) No. sirl
We do not have cyclones In this part of
Kansas. Sometimes the wind ia a trifle
brisk, but I
Bipl Slam! Crash! Smash! Thud!
Treasurer (emerging from the big safe,
Jen miles away and ten minutes later) Yes,
as I was saying, sometimes the wind blows
pretty brisk. It Why, hello! Thar's
tbat stranger impaled on tbat broken syca
more limb up tharl That's too bad! Kinder
reckoned on selling him a" couple o' lots.
fflW&MjjOP
n$&& SH S
BEAUTIES IN PRISON.
All Kinds of Feathered Creatures in
an Oakland Aviary.
TEIDMPflS OF A BIRD FAKCIER.
A Brood of Bin? Neck Pheasants Baised
Through the Hails.
THE DOMESTICATION OF THE QUAIL
rwBrrrss job the dispatch.
Acitizen of Oakland who has a mania for
birds, and particularly for the domestication
and breeding of pheasants, invited a DIS
PATCH reporter recently to his domicile,
and opened up a hitherto unknown world.
My friend calls himself a bird crank, and
says he came honestly by the name, having
inherited the passion for taming birds in
the Island of Barbadoes, where he was born,
and where the feathered tribes reach their
perfection. His ancestry located on this
island many generations ago.
Alter chasing fortune over half the world
this gentleman landed a few years ago in
Pittsburg, and has made for himself a home
close to Schenley Park. Nature took its
course, and among the very first things he
provided lor was an aviary. With a wife
in entire sympathy with the bird mania,
my friend, whose modesty forbids mention
of bis name, finds a continual delight in
familiarizing himself with' the habits of the
feathered tribe. He makes the wants and
habits of birds a study, and there are lew
higher up on;this subject in the city.
TBEASUBES IN HIS AVIABT.
In bis large and commodious aviary is a
collection selected with much care and pains.
The birds of North America, or those that
reach these latitudes, are represented by
grosbeaks, orioles, ground thrush, robin, cat
bird, redbird, American cuckoo, bluebirds,
bobolinks, tanninger, nonpariel, etc. The
finch family is represented by goldfinch,
bullfinch, chaffinch, bishop finch, zebra
finch, silver beak finch, blackhead nuns and
strawberry finch, the smallest of all reed
birds, etc. The English song birds are well
represented by the starling, lark, linnet,
thrush and canary. The foreign birds are
also represented by six varieties of paro
quets from different conutries, Pekin night
ingales, Java sparrows, cardinals, troupials,
etc.
But this enthusiast's special bobby is the
domestication and breeding of game or wild
birds. Of the pheasant family there are
three distinct varieties, and the golden
pheasant stands first ih the list Tbe pre
dominant colors of the golden-pheasant are
scarlet and, as its name indicateS,gold.
The crest is of pure gold and rests on a man
tle of scarlet, striped with black. The
breast is entirely scarlet. The tail is 2
feet in length. My friend is partial to one
particular golden pheasant in bis aviary,
and it certainly is a bird of rarest beauty.
A description of its charms is out ot the
question. Eden certainly had nothing
more beautiful among its feathered popula
tion. The silver pheasant has a crest of
blue and black and a back of silver.
HATCHING EGGS BY MAIX.
The Mongolian or Chinese ring neck
pheasants were introduced into Oregon
about 13 years ago, and a stringent law was
passed by the Legislature of that State for
their protection. They are very wild, and,
when caught, will often kill themselves in
their efforts to escape, but such trifles did
not discourage hiy friend. He imported the
eggs from Oregon and set them, but the
transportation bad destroyed tbagerm of the
eggs. Even this did nbt baffle bim. He
had the eggs set in Oregon and raised them
on food and instructions sent by mail from
Pittsburg. He has been rewarded with a
pair of young ones, the first that has ever
reached here, and be hopes to breed from
them next spring.
-Many authorities claim tbat the quail
cannot be raised in captivity.but this theory
is exploded by my Oakland Iriend. A week
ago a number of theyoungquailsof his avi
ary managed to get outside of their prison.
On his arrival borne he went forth to cap
ture the wanderers, and had no trouble in so
doing. At his call they gathered about
him even more promptly than domestic
fowls will, and in a few minutes they were
safely housed. Within a few days a new
brood of qnails has been hatched out to the
number of 10, making 18 in the aviary.
SONGSTERS IX PLENTY.
As to canaries and mocking birds, every
variety known is to be found upstairs and
downstairs and in the lady's chamber.
Home and grounds are entirely given up to
the denizens of the air. On last Sunday a
catbird was attracted to the neighborhood
of the aviary, and a few mlnntes after his
conversation with the other birds was beard
by tbe lady of the house he was trapped and
made to join the family for domestication.
To entertain tbis interesting collection
there is a clown in tbe shape of a pet crow,
which was presented to my friend by an
other bird crank in Obio. He answers to
the name of Jim, and roams about the place
at will, full of all kinds of tricks. He is a
terror to all the chickens but one, an
orphan chicken, raised by hand from the
shell. Over this orphan chicken Master
Jim has extended his patronage. He fol
lows him around and offers him food after
he himselt has supplied the demands of
nature. Jim was guilty ot murdering a
chicken this week, and his mistress gave
him a good switching. Ever since he beats
a masterly retreat at the first sight of a
stick or switch in the lady's band.
J. H. Young.
THE QUEEN'S BET.
How Victoria's Name Helped the Census
Takers in Far Off India.
Apropos of the coming census, a cotem
porary is reminded of an old story which
went the round of the last census period.
During the taking of the census in India in
1881, in a district in the Central Provinces,
some of the tribes took fright and ran away.
The district officer finally indnced their
head men to listen to explanations. Be
lying on the fact that wagers of various
kinds figure extensively in Indian folklore,
he solemnly assured them that the Queen of
England and tbe Empress of Bussia, having
quarreled as to which ruled over tbe most
subjects, had laid a big bet on tbe point
He went on to explain tbat the censns was
being taken in order to settle the bet, and
he warned his hearers in a spirited perora
tion that if they stayed in the jungle and re
fused to be counted, the Queen would lose
her money, and they would be disgraced for
ever, as nimak-haram, or traitors to their
salt The story served its purpose, and the
tribes came in.
SEW FIBD IH POMPEIL
aiognlflcent Five-tsry Hcnie Fall of the
Finest of Frescoes.
PU Mall Budget.
A house of five stories (leaning against, a
rising ground) has jnst been excavated in
Pompeii, in which important frescoes are
still in good state of preservation. In the
principal room is a representation of
Beilerophon a youth holding the) winged
Pezasas with one hand, while with the
other he receives the orders of Proetus, who
is seated on a richly decorated throne. The
lower part of Jhe home is divided into bath
rooms. The paintings in the frigidarinra
are specially well preserved a nymph hid
ing on a sea-horse, and a frieze w'ith comic
scenes of pigmies fighting birds and croco
diles in Egypt r -,
?t
iwnrrrrir ron tbb DisrATcn.1
Imray had achieved tbe impossible.
Without warning, for no conceivable rco
tive.'fn his youth and at tbe threshold of his
career he bad chosen to disappear from the
world which is to say, the little Indian
station where be lived.
Upon a day he was alive, well, happyand
in great evidence at his club, among the
billiard tables. TJponamorning be was not,
and no manner of search could make sure
where he might be. He bad stepped out of
his place; be bad not appeared at his office
at the proper time, and his dog cart was not
noon the public roads. For these reasons
because he was halnpering in a microscopic
al degree the administration of the Indian
Empire the Indian Empire paused for one
microscopical moment to make inquiry into
the fate of Imray. Ponds were dragged,
wells were plumbed, telegrams were dis
patched down the lines of railways and to
the nearest seaport town 1,200 miles away;
but Imray was not at tne end of tbe drag
ropes or telegrams. He was gone and his
place knew him no more. Then tbe work of
the great Indian Empire swept forward, be
cause it conld not be delayed, and Imray
from being a man became a mystery such
a thing as men talk over at their tables in
the club for a month and then forget utterly.
His guns. Horses and carts were sold to the
highest bidder. His superior officer wrote
an absnrd letter to bis mother, saying tbat
Imray had unaccountably disappeared and
his bungalow stood empty on the road.
After three or four months of the scorch
ing hot weather had gone by my iriend
Strickland, of tbe police, saw fit to rent tbe
bungalow lrom the native landlord. This
was before he was engaged to Miss Yougbal,
JJ4l
I3IBAY 13
and while he was pursuing hi3 investiga
tions into native life. His own life was
sufficiently peculiar, and men complained
of his manners and customs. There was al
ways food in his house, but there were no
regular times for meals. He ate, standing
up and walking about, whatever he might
find in the sideboard, and this is not good
for the inside of human beings. His do
mestic equipment was limited to six rifles,
three shotguns, five saddles and a collection
of stiff jointed mabseerrods, bigger and
stronger tban the largest salmon rods.
These thines occupied one-halt of his bun
galow, and tbe other half was given up to
Strickland and his dog Tietjens an enor
mous Bampnr slut who sang when she was
ordered and devoured daily the rations of
two men. She spoke to Strickland
in a language of her own, and whenever
in ber walks abroad she saw things calculated
to destroy the peace of Her Majesty, tbe
Queen-Empress, she returned to her
master and gave him information.
Strickland would take steps at once,
and the end of his labors was trouble
and fine and imprisonment for other people.
xne natives oeneved tliat Tietjens was a
familiar spirit, and treated her with the
great reverence that is born of bate and fear.
One room in tbe bungalow was set apart for
her especial use. She owned a bedstead a
blanket and a drinking trough, and if any
one came into Strickland's room at night her
custom was to knock down the invader and
then give tongue until some one came with a
light Strickland owes bis life to her. When
he was on the frontier in search of the local
murderer, who came in the, gray dawn to
send Strickland much further than the An
daman Islands, Tietjens caught bim as he
was crawling into Strickland's tent with a
dagger between his teeth, and alter bis in
iquity was established in the eyes of the law
he was banged. From tbat date Tietjens
wore a collar of rough silver, and employed
a monogram on her nicht blanket, and tbe
blanket was of double woven Kashmir
cloth, for she was a delicate dog.
Under no circumstances wonld she be
separated from Strickland, and when he
was ill with fever she made great trouble
for the doctors, because she did not kuow
bow to help her master and would not allow
another creature to attempt aid. Macar
naght, of tbe Indian medical service, beat
her over her head with a gun butt before
she could understand tbat she must give
room for those who could give quinine.
A short time after Strickland had taken
Imray's bungalow my business took me
through that station, and naturally, the
club auarters being lull, I quartered myself
upoirctrickland. It was a desirable bunga
low, eight roomed, and heavily thatched
against any chance of leakage from rain.
Under the pitch of a roof ran a ceiling
cloth, which looked just as nice as a white
washed ceiling. The landlord had re
painted it when Strickland took the bunga
low, and unless you knew how Indian
bungalows were built you would never have
suspected that above tbe cloth lay tbe dark,
three-cornered cavern of tbe roof, where
tbe beams and the under side of the thatch
harbored all manner of rats, bats, auts and
other things.
Tietjens met me in the veranda with a bay
like the boom of the bells of St Paul's.
and put her paws on my shoulders and said
she was- glad to see rue. Strickland bad
contrived to put together that sort of meal
which he called lunch, and immediately
after it was finished went out about his
business. I was left alone with Tietjens
and n.y own affairs. The heat of the sum
mer had broken up and given place to the
warm damp of tHe rains. There was no
motion in the heated air, but the rain fell
like bayonet rods on the earth, and flung up
a blue mitt where it splashed baek again.
The bamboos and the ' custard appres, the
poinsettias and tbe mango trees in thegarden
stood still while the warm water lasbed
through them, and the frogs began to sing
among tbe aloe hedges.- A little before the
light failednnd whss the rain waa at its
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worst, I sat in the back veranda and heard.!
the water roar from the eaves and scratched1
mvsplf hpMTiKpT ven pnvprpd wltK ta fMiw
called prickly heat Tietjeus came out with
me ana put ner neaa in my lap and was very -sorrowful,
so Igave ner biscuits when tea was
ready, and I took tea in the back veranda
on account of tbe little coolness I found
there. The rooms of the house were dark
behind me. I could smell Strickland's sad
dlery and the oil on his guns, and I had not
the least desire to sit among these things.
My own servant came to me in the twilight,
the muslin of bis clothes clinging tightly to
bis drenched body, and told me that a gen
tleman had called and wished to sea
someone. Very much against my will, and
because of the darkness of the rooms, I went
into the naked drawing room, telling my
man to bring the lights. There might or
might not have been a caller in the room
it seemed to me that I saw a figure by one of
the windows, but when the lights came there
was nothing save the spikes ot the rain
without, and the smell ot the drinking earth
lu my nostrils. I explained to my man
that he wa3 no wiser than he ought to be,
and went back to tbe verauda to talk to
Tietjens. She had gone ont into the wet
and I could hardly coax her back to me
even with biscuits with sugar on top.
Strickland rode back, dripping wet, jnst
belore dinner, and the first thing he said
was: '$
"Has anyone called?" '
I explained, with apologies, thatjmy-
servant had called me into tbe drawing
room on a false alarm; or that some loafer
had tried to call on Strickland, and, think-
ing better of it, had fled after giving his 4
name. Strickland ordered dinner, withont '
comment, and since it was a real dinner,
with a white tablecloth attached, we sat
down.
At 9 o'clock Strickland wanted to go to -vial
-' "tv -ZS J-iu-mk
HEBE, HE SAID.
bed, and I was tired too. Tietjens, who had
been lying underneath the table, rose np
and went into the least exposed veranda as
soon as her master moved to his own room,
which was next to the stately chamber set
apart lor Tietjens. If a mere wile had
wished to sleep out of doors in that pelting
rain it would not have mattered, bat Tietjens
was a dog, and therefore the better animal.'
I IookW at Strickland, expecting to see nim
flog her with a whip. He smiled queerly as
a man wonld smile alter telling some hideous
domestic traced y. "She has done this ever
since I moved in here," he said. "Let he
go."
The dog was Strickland's dog, so I said
nothing, but I felt all tbat Strickland felt
in being made light of. Tietjens encamped
outside my bedroom window, and storm
alter storm came up, thundered on tbs
thatch and died away. The lightning spat
tered the sky as a thrown egc spatters a
barn door, but tbe light was pale blue, not
yellow, and looking tbrough my split bam
boo blinds I could see tbe great dog stand
ing, not sleeping.in the veranda, the hackles
alift on ber back and her feet planted as
tensely as the drawn wire rope of a sus
pension bridge. In the very short pauses of
the thunder I tried to sleep, but it seemed
someone wanted me very badly. He, who
ever he was, was trying to call me by name,
but his voice was no more than a husky
whisper. Then the thunder ceased and
Tietjens went into the garden and howled at
the low moon. Somebody tried to open my
door, and walked about and through the
house and stood breathing heavily in tbe
verandas, and just when I was lallintr
asleep I fancied that I heard a wild ham
mering and clamoring above my bead or on
the door.
I ran into Strickland's room and asked
him whether be was ill and had been call
ing for me. He was lying on his bed half
dressed with a pipe in his mouth. "I
thought you'd come," he said. "Have I
been walking around the house at all?"
I expliined tbat he bad been in the din
ing room and the smoking room and two or
three other places, and he Iauzhed and told
me to go back to bed. I went back to bed
and slept till the morning, bnt in all my
dreams. I was sure I was doing some one an
injustice in not attending to his wants.
What those wants were I could not tell, but
a fluttering, whispering, bolt fumbling,
lurking, loitering, some one was reproach
ing me ior my slackness, and tbroueh all
the dreams I heard the howling of Tietjens
in the garden and the threshing of tbe rain.
I was in that house for two days, and
Strickland went to his office daily, leaving
me alone for eight or ten hours a day with
Tietjens for my only companion. As long
as the full lizht lasted I was comfortable,
and so was Tietjens, but in the twilight sbe
and I moved into tbe back veranda and cud
dled each other fof company. We were
alone in tbe house, but lor all that it wai
mnch too fully occupied by a tenant with
whom I had no desire to interfere. I never
saw bim, but I could see tbe curtains be
tween tbe rooms quivering where he had
just passed througn;I coulu hear the chairs
creaking as the bamboos sprung under a
weight that had just quitted it; and I conld
feel, when I went to get a book from the
dining room that somebody was waiting in
the shadows of the front veranda till I
should have gone away. Tietjens made the
twilight more interesting by flaring into
tbe darkened rooms with every hair erect
and following the motions of something" that
I could not see. Sbe never entered the
room, but her eyes moved, and that was
quite sufficient Only When my servant
came to trim tbe lamps and make all light
and habitable she would come in with ma
and spend her time sitting on her haunches,
watchinc an invisible extra man as ha
movedjObout behind my shoulder. Dog are!r
cheeriul companions.
I explained to Strickland, gently as might'.
oe, mat x would go over to tne dub and find
ior myself quarters tnere. X admired 'bis
Hospitality, wm pleated vita am gtu a
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