R9 jqFr xWT&.'ryT , "K's A 2 THE PETTSBURG . DISPATCH, SUNDAY. NOVEMBER 23, 1890. i 'ir CURIOUS CREATURES Fantastic Being3 That in the Days of Mythology Peopled the Earth and Sea and Air. THE TAILED MEN OF AGES GONE. Kaleidoscope of Monstrosities in the Zoolojy of Fancy and the History of the Impossible. TALUE OF THE HORX OF A UXICORN. Th XiLtietcraWith the DetSly Ttil sad Othsr Sight! Sesn by Old Traders. I WRITTEN rOBTUK DISrATCH. ! "And jour young wen shall see visions and your old men stall dream dreams." This scriptural paraphrase might have been chosen with admirable fitness as a motto by all that tribe of chroniclers, stretching from Pliny to Sir John Mandevilie, who ven tured into the tangled thickets of zoology. For surely the monstrosities they saw, the sirens who sane to them, could only have been seen or heard with the eye or the ear of J imagination. Somewhere in his "Fireside Travels" Mr. Lowell has paid a tribute to the vovagcrs who have touched the hem of the Goddess of Mystery's robe, and he insists that weshould be cratelul to them for the wonders which live in their descriptions. Grateful we cer tainly are, for it is a preciou privilege to be able to return from the commonplace of everv-dav life to the enchanted land of no where and there mingle with harpy and Our Common Ancrslor. cyclops, basilisk and sea serpent, unicorn and "mermaid, the "Su" and the "Chi majra." To retire to a fanciful world is not possi ble for all of us, however, as the older and voluminous "authorities" are extremely hard to find. It has remained for a modern writer to gather the thousand and one fabu lous relations into compact form and present them to us with such elucidation as to ren der them casilv intelligible. This writer is Mr. John Asfuon, and his "Curious Crea tures in Zoolosj " is a work which it is a pleasure to welcome into the literary fold. In it that enchanted land to which we have referred is realized with such circumstance and minute attention to detail as to render ic thoroughly habitable, and to it we can, as wc have said, retire from the material cares of the world. We will be greeted, too, bv beings of our own race as well as by the grotesque figures of a purely hypothetical planet. Tue master of ceremonies is no less a per sonage than he who appears among our il lustrations as an "Ouran Ontaiu," our com mon ancestor. Johannes Zaun, of the sev enteenth centurv, is the literarvgodlatberof this being. He does not say jnst when the 'Ouran Outain" flourished, out we can " .r?$X S," . r v. -f1S4 '. If f&l V-!9 i. :nt 3A- '&& mcG vnt, -n j-"Vw -3J Tti Mantichora. . assume that it is pretty far back. Mortimer Collins touches upon the question ot geneal ogy here with delightful humor. There was an ape in the davs that were earlier; Centuries passed, and his hair became curlier; Centuries mote gae a thumb to bis wrisi Then he was a man, and a positivist. It is asserted by Darwin that the men, for so wr may call them, of that prehistoric period were gified with tails. He is con firmed in this view by the records of many writers wlio say, indeed, that in Borneo and Java not only the men, but the women also, wore the pretty decoration. Peter Martyr describes one race whose tails were so stiff like those of fishes or crocodiles that all their benches had holes in them through which the objectionable extremity was thrust whenever the nearer sat down to rest. Hut, as Mr. Ashton says, the tailed man, the "Ouran Ontain," is cast completely in the shade when we go even deeper into the records of zoology. There is the cyclop whose fanged mouth was placed between lus shoulders, whose one eye gleamed from a commanding position at the very top of what was supposed to be his head, who had wings resembliog a pair of cast-ofl goloshes, whose solitary foot was turned sidewavs, and who lived, according to 11 in v, in the very center of the earth, in Italy and Sicily. Then there is the Gryphon, whose nose is sometimes planted in the middle of his chest, the elephant-headed man, the man of Ethiopia, who has onlv one foot, and that amiable familv of the Island of Dodyn, of w Inch Maudeville says that "the father eat eth the son, and the son the father, the hus band his wfe, the wyfe her husb-iud." Another learful creature whose outward form resembles in some particulars that of a human being is the mantichora, whose comelv appearance is faithfullv reproduced r?N. The Ancient Jthmocerot. in one of our illustrations. We arc inclined to believe, in fact, that the mantichora sur vives, as to his head at any rate, to this day. "Who has not seen just such a countenance on the street? The mantichora, unlike the tailed men of whom wc have spoken, had an extremely flexible tail of great length. The quilly ball at the end of this tail was the creature's chief weapon of defense. "With its tail," sas Topsell, the old Elizabethan writer, "it woundeth the hunt ers, wlietherthev come before itorbeuinde it, and, presently, when the quills are cast Jortn, new ones grow up in their roome, wherewithal it overcometh all the hunters; and, although India be full of divers raven-' ing beastct, ct none of them are stiled with a title of Andropopbagi, that is to say, men eaters; except onley this Mantichora." Hali-sister to the mantichora is the lamia, that seroent woman whom Keats celebrated so finely in his poem. Topsell, in his Vs-ftS;- -7fcS&i sa SS9-. -- -XiJE.?' ? "Bestiary," tells the story of the lamia with much the same machinery as that which was used by Keats, but Topsell, being a plain man, is little disposed to linger over such moonshine as the tale of the young man of Corinith, the beautiful wandering woman, and the cynical philosopher. "To leave, therefore, these fables," he says, with great dignity, "and coiue to the true description of the lamia. The hinder parts of the beast are like unto a goate, his forelegs like a beare's, his upper parts to a woman, the body scaled all over like a dragon, as some have affirmed 'by the ob servation of their bodies, when Probur, the Emperor, brought them iorth unto publike spectacle; also it is reported of them that they devoure their own young ones, and therefore they derive their name lamia, of Lamiando; and thus much for this beast." A less terrible combination of man and animal was the centaur, a creature so old tliat the first record we have of him is As syrian. The centaur is, perhaps, one of the most attractive of mythological beings. In sculpture he was a favorite subject of the Greeks, and those imaginary portraits of him, whieh survive from the Athenian wreck, show that he was always conceived as a model of muscular development. The torso was noble, and in the whole body there The Jiegulatton Harpy. was always splendid energy and grace. Even in our own time the centaur is a famil iar character. Maurice de Guerin, the French poet, devoted a long and beautiful work to him. The centaur, in fact, like the fawn, the nymph, the satyr, and many other mythological creatures, is recognized as a legitimate imaginative "property," of which ovcry poet is at liberty to make free use. There is one condition, however, in which the centaur will not be accepted, and that is without his forelegs. Deprived of these supports, he is a groveling, miserable beast, of po beauty whatever. Of him one old poet says: The Onocentaur is a monstrous beast; Supposed half a man, and half an Asse, That never shuts his ej es in quiet rest. Till he bis foe's deare life hath round encom past Such wero the centaurcs in their tyrannie. That hv'd by Humane flesh and villainie. A four-footed beast that has always seemed fabulous is the unicorn. Pausing to notice its likeness to the rhinoceros, of which we give an illustration, we mar re marc that proofs of the authenticity of this animal have existed. Does not Paul Hentz ner. a writer of Elizabeth's time, declare that at Windsor he was shown, among other things, the horn of an unicorn of above eight snans aud a half in length i. e., about six and a half feet valued at about $150, 000? A "very great unicorn's home," The Flying Dragon. which was paid as tribute to the King of France in 1553. was valued at what would amount in our day to over 500,000. Uni corns, it would be observed, were luxuries, and yet they were not difficult to capture. Thus Topsell: "It is sayrt that Unicornes. above all othsr creatures, doe reverence Virgines and young Maides, and that many times at the sizhtof them they grow tame, and come aud sleepe beside them, for there is in their nature a certame savor, wherewithal the TJnicornes are allured and delichted; for which occasion the Indian and Ethiopian hunters use this stratagem to take the beast: They take a goodly, strong and beautiful young man, whom they dresse in the apparell of a woman, besetting him with divers odoriferous flowers and spices. The man so adorned they set in the Mouu taines or Woods, where tha TJnicorne hunteth, so as the wind may came the savor to the beast, and in. the meane season the other hunters hide themselves; the TJni corne deceaved with the outward shape of a woman, and sweetc smells, cometh to the young man withou . feare, and so sufTereth Lis head to bee cotered and wrapped within his large sleeves, never stirring, but lying still and asleepe, as in bis most acceptable repose. Then when the hunters, by the signs of the young man, perceave him fast and secure, they come Uppon him, and, by lorce, cutoff his home, and send him away alive." So far we have dealt with the old deni zens of the earth. Leaving terra firma and jT7ie Merman and Hit Wife. venturing either into the air above or the waters under the earth, we still are sur rounded by curipus creatures. In the air especially 'the name of the monsters is legion, for wings are the easiest of all things to attach to one's visions. The augels furnish a good precedent for the creation of the human bird, but that the celestial attitude could not be lightly assumed is evidenced by the fact that the harpies, the chief bird women, were notoriously wicked. Shake speare, in his "Pericles'" causes Cleon to say: Thou'rt like the harpy. Which to betray, Uost, with thino angel's face, beize with thine caples talons. The siren was an improvement upon the harpy in physical structure, being an angel from the waist up, but she was no more to be trusted than the less beautiful bird. Her silvery voire, her exquisite form and grace, were used -only to lure seamen to their de struction. The air gives us also the phoenix, the martlet or footless bird, the two-headed goose, the four-footed duck, the griffin and the halcyon. All these "Jowls" were fear fully and wonderfully made, and all were once familiar objects to travelers in the un known countries. The dragon, as the form in which Satan is popularly supposed to be most at home, is naturally a frightful beast to the old writers. Our illustration shows the way in which His Satanic Majesty ap peared to the famous Aldrovandus centu ries ago. As will be readily seen, Aldro vandus did not stint the evil one in scales when he put him on paper. In approaching the sea it is dangerous to doubt. The sea serpent has been seen, be lated sailors have flirted with bewitching mermaids, and colossal crabs, beside which Eider Haggard's dwindle visibly, have beeu captured. The Greeks worshiped a mermaid in Astarte and later on they evolved their goddess into another, Venus Aphrodite, who was the type Qf the perfect woman. a Aphrodite was always attended by women, and, of course, by mermaids. The pair embracing each other so affection ately in our illustration might easily have taken part in one of the triumphs of the loam-born goddess. To enumerate any further the stranpe creatures who have been believed, at one time or another, by credulous men, to have i existed on earth, in the air or in the sea, would require, as Mr. Ashton has demou- J!, Hi Tlie Hairy dirt. strated, a pretty large book. "Within the limits of a newspaper article only a few of the monstrous creations can be described. But enough has been said to prove that we live in a world which has seen some pasiing strange things. ' t WlLKIE WELLERMAN. STANLEY AND THE SIOUX. How the Explorer Once Helped Disrobe a Mummy of an Indian Maiden It Was Itlsky Business, for a Scalping Might Have Resulted Indian Burials. In a recent interview the incident of Henry M. Stanley's part in disrobing the mummified body of an Indian maiden in 1867 while with the Indian Peace Commis sioners was given so briefly and hurriedly as to put the matter, perhaps, in a disadvan tageous light, says a writer in the St Louis Post-Dtspafcft. It is well known that the various bands of the Sioux tribe followed the custom of disposing of their dead by placing them on scaffolds and in the branches of trees when available, to prevent them being devoured by dogs and the coyotes or prairie wolves, the hyenas of the Western plains. The first we saw of this method of burial was at Fort Laramie. Chaplain Wright Kindly furnished Stanley and the writer with a comfortable room and one day he piloted us two or three miles above the fort to Deer Creek, an affluent of the Laramie river where, in a large grove of cottonwoods, he pointed out some 10 or 12 skeletons of In dians, grafted, as it were, on the trees. The bodies were wrapped in blankets and buffalo robes and deposited in a sort of trough made of poles, the ends of which were fastened to limbs at a height of about 12 feet from the ground. Mr. Wright pointed out the wrap pings of a Chief's daughter that had been re posing for many years undisturbed in a large Cottonwood tree, and we began our archaeological explorations. The chaplain returned to the fort alter reminding us that our scalps would not be safe should a stray Indian happen along, as tbey beld it as the highest desecration to disturb their dead. The Indian maiden was found wrapped in a bundle of cerements composed of the skin of an antelope, a plaid shawl, several pat terns of colored calico prints, and over all was bound a buffalo robe, tied with thongs of bull's hide. The face was not unpleasant, though the skin and flesh were shrunken to the bone, presenting the appearance of an Egyptian mummy, the dry climate pro ducing an embalming effect. The wrappings were restored to the condition in which tbey were found, and Stanley brought away a ring from one of the toes, and myself a nice ly worked figure with porcupine quills on the bnflalo robe, which soon after was cast away in disgust. So that, our curiosity be ing appeased, it did not amount to a case of body-snatching. THE HEW HONEY IDEA, One of the Latest Fads Noticed at the Metropolis. New York Times. "Can you give me ?20O in new money?" inquired a young man at the teller's window in one of the big banks down town a few days ago. "Mr. wants it for his wife." "Certainly," replied the teller, recogniz ing in the applicant the confidential clerk of one of the bank's heaviest depositors. The money was handed out in clean, crisp tens and fives that had never been in circulation. After the young man had gone, the teller re marked to the writer: "That new-moneyfad is on the increase, Just as soon as a man begins to feel a little tonv he gets the notion that no member of bio family ought to handle the soiled and crumpled currencv in general circulation. When the madam goes a-shopping she mast have her purse filled with brand new bills. Many persons explain their mania for new money on the theory that there is contagion in the much-handled bills. Tbev seek to keep disease away from their family circle by excluding, to as full an extent as possible, all money that has been in circulation. They keep a supply of new bills of various denominations constantly on hand, and the ladies of the household feel that they are thus well protected against contagion." Most of the new money is procured directly from the banks, but there are fre quent individual applications at the sub Treasury for new bills and new coin. When the sub-Treasury has an abundance of small denomination bills on hand such applications are unhesitatingly complied with. A MAGICAL WAND. It Will he Electrical, and Aid the Tamers of Wild Beasts. In the future, according to the New York Telegram, wild beast tamers, lion kings, serpent queens, and the like, instead of hav ing to assert their authority by means of the whip of pliant steel, will carry a light wand with an insulating crip for the hand, connected by a flexible wire with a battery of which the power can be varied according to the necessities of the case. If the lion or tiger becomes surly and refuses to go through his tricks, or threatens to bite a samnle out of his "tamer," a touch of the magic wand will give hinr a shock that will rouse him up, or scare him into submission, as the performer wishes. An experiment in this new department of applied science is said to have been successfully made in this instance. HE OVEBDH) IT. Superfluous Politeness Manifested by Hindoo Servant. Simply appalling is the politeness of the Hindoo. One recently wrote to his em ployer: Most Exalted Sir It is with the most habitually devout eiDressions of my sensitive respect that I approach the clemency of your masterful position with the self-dispraising ut terance of my esteem, and the also forgotten-by-myself assurance that in my own mind I shall be freed from the assumption that I am asUDg unpardonable donations if I assert that I desire a short respite from my exertions; in deed, a fortnight holiday, as 1 am suffering from three boils, as per margin. I have the honorable delight of subscribing myself your exalted reverence's servitor. JZAKBOI. PANJAMJAUR. How the San Itose. ril tell yon how the sun rose A ribbon at a time. The steeples swam in amethyst, The news like sanirrels ran. Tbe hills untied their bonnets, The bobolinks begun. Then I said softly to myself, That must havo been the unl" But how he set. I know not There seemed a purple stile Where little yellow boys and girls Were climbing all tbe while Till where they reached the other side A dominie In gray Put gently up the evening bars And led the flock awav. Emily XHckinton. HORSES OF ENGLAND; A Chat With the Dnko of Beaufort, the 'Famous Sportsman. AMERICA LOSING IN ENDURANCE. Tha Finest Animals Bred From Horses and Arabians. Cart MERITS OF TURF AND SAND BUNKING CCOBBISFQIXDEXCS Ot TBI DISPATCH. IiOKDOjr, Ifovember 13. The Duke of Beaufort is the most eminent sportsman of the world. This head of a great house pushed himself back from the breakfast table this racrning, and talked of the past and present of high-class sports with a vim and interest of which he only is capable. He has turned CG, and is yet young in head and heart. Tiie bones of a pheasant before him, to say nothing of the other good things provided for our morning meal, told the story of an appetite which means good health. All ihe surroundings were fitted for repose and a chat upon any phase of human life agieeable. A good breakfast at midday, with all the conditions of interesting association, both traditional and practical, makes life warm in all its hinges and yanks the fur off the cat of indigestion, melancholy and all other menaces a human being makes to the world when he is not very fit to enjoy what there is in it. A BAC.'E OP STRONG MEN. There is so much of interest in tbe quiet symposium with the Duke oi Beaufort I have so much enjoyed this November morn ing that is worthy of being written, that I am not going lo do more here than say that while approaching the three-score-and-ten mark, this remarkable man still rides with the hounds and is as fine: a specimen of physical manhood as can be found any where who has approached the half century point. The name of Beaufort represents ten generations of strong men who, while deal ing in the Highest phases ot intellectual and social life, have followed the better sports of the field with great success, making the name synononaous with the greatest achieve ments of the turf and the best history of field sports that the annals of old England, a nation of sportsmen, has for record. Tbe house oi Beaufort has been founded many years. The Dukedom was created 280 years ago, and the beautiful and fertile es tates are among the most interesting in England. There may be more elaborate and expensive hitmes than Badminton, of which I shall write later, but none more charming and restful; none surrounded with more unique conditions that typify the higher phases ot home life as represented by the nobility. THE BADMINTON LIBRARY. ' The Duke of Beaufort has a wide person ality beyond the household name. He has long been one of the masters ot the tur', a recognized authority on the breeding of race horses and aLl manner of out-door sports, and his splendid works upon these subjects, known as the Badminton Library, dedicated to the Prince of Wales, are the accepted words of authority upon all matters of which they treat, and there is no character of sport calculated to develop the physical condi tions of manor woman that is not thorough ly considered in them. Popular with all classes this perfect type of an English gentle man of the old school sjjts iu judgment upon many things, and enjoys the broad respect of both the high ana the low wherever he is known. . It was just before race day when, after a good repast, we were looking at a splendid held of horses sweeping along the down to start in a stake event that he spoceofa great many things of interest in the busy world; but the drift was toward horses and their achievements. ENDURANCE IN AMERICA. "American race horses are developing marvelous speed, but I think it must be done at the: expense of endurance," he said. "Breeders may not see the effects of it jnst now so much, but the more they breed upon favorite strains ot blood, the more they will fiud the necessity of introducing new ones to keep up the standard. "We have had the same experience in England, when tbe families of racers grew entirely too close, and had to be crossed with grosser material to bring back the animal to perfection for racing purposes. "But it is a remarkable fact, and one that cannot be denied, that where there were great achievements on the turf, either here or in the United States, the blood can be traced back to the Glencoe, Muley Moloch, the great Stockwell, Bataplan, Bay Mid dleton, King Tom and three or four others, the foundation being such strains as Touch stone and Orlando, represented now by nearly all the great horses on the turf or in the stud. Pocahontas was tbe greatest dam I ever heard of or knew. She bred 11 colts, including Stockwell, and every one of them achieved fame. Sbe'is one of the few mares I ever knew in my long experience on tbe turf that seemed certain to produce some thing strong on the breeding farm, wbere caprices are as numerous as stars in the heavens." "How is that?" BREEDING IS A LOTTERY. "For the reason that breeding, like run ning horses, is a lottery. The condition of the weather when tbe "foal is got and the temper aud condition of the dam during the months before the foal is dropped all play an important part in the power and useful ness of a horse on the turf. We are at a great disadvantage in this country on ac count of the weather, which may have a very important bearing upon tbe future of a colt bred hy a great sire from a great dam. In the United States they have the advan tage of us in climate, and ought to breed valuable animals with much more certainty than in this foggy atmosphere, wbere we are liable to have cold, wet wrather during the foaling season. "Stallions are quite as capricious as dams and the fact that one is a great rnnner can not be taken as an assurance that he will breed prize runners. Since 1810, out of the 80 stallions winning the Derby, only 20 of of them have shown themselves of any par ticular value in the stud, and many times a stallion doing nothing remarkable on the turf bad proven himself exceedingly valu able in getting good racers. Yet, despite all this uncertainty, the brood of horses for al most every class goes on improving, and the race horses of years ago would play a very insignificant part in the demands of the present day." "Is the English thoroughbred a perfect animal?" THE THOROUGHBRED ANIMAL. "In raclug nomenclature, there is really no such thing as the thoroughbred, but the cross of the Arabian with the coarse English cart horse that was really a thoroughbred, has been aocepted as the thoroughbred ani mal. But the Darley Arabian, bought out of a dust cart in Paris, and brought to England and crossed with the heavy and healthy mares used in our primitive days, has undoubtedly produced the finest running horses the world has ever known. If they are allowed to retrograde a little at any time, they-are very soon brought back to a good standard by the introduction of new strains in ,the old families. I think just now we need a little more endurance. We have plenty of speed, but more stamina would bring us nearer to perfection." "Do you like the short races of to-day as compared with the long dash and four-mile heats years ago?" "I certainly do. I thiuk it gives more zest to the sport and much better speed. Iu fact, the character of horses which were run long distances many years ago was entirely differ ent from the racers we have to-day. My hunters, large and powerful animals, are the class of horses which were used to ran four mire beats." "Is racing here going backward or im proving?" TOO. MUCH RACING NOTT. "There is entirely too much of it. After, the season begins racing goes on in some part of England almost continuously. The result is we do not get the best possible results out of the horses. We should have only a few prominent meetings during the year, and every energy should be bent toward getting the very best conditions of the turf. So many meetings mean the introduction of in ferior horses into mostof them that they'may or may not be run npon their merits. A tew freat meetings and a few tine courses would e far better for the turf than these many in ferior ones. "I went to the first Derby in 1840, and have seen, with some rare exceptions, every one from that day to this. There is much sameness in all these contests, and there are othei meetings which I prefer to Derby day. I had quite a novel experience going down there this year. It was, to be my fifty fifth or sixth journey to the famous racecourse and I did not like the uncertainty of eithsr getting down or back in the crowded trains. So I concluded that I would ride down on horseback. I had a splendid mount, and thought to make a pleasant day of the jour ney by circling around through Bichmond Park, whieh made the distance longer, hut gave me a delightful route. FORTY-FOUR MILES IN SADDLE. "But as I had pleasant companions I did not mind. We reached the course in good time, saw the wonderful crowd and the race. We then started homeward, and I pulled rein at my house in London early in the evening, having covered 44 miles on horse back, after having had a pleasant day in celebrating my half century experiences with tbe Derby, even if I was drenched to the skin by a brisk shower which overtook us on our way home." "What was the most exciting event you, ever saw at the Derby?" "The horse that wins is -usually so sure a winner that there is no chance for great ex citement, which usually comes only with close finishes. Do you know that since the establishment of tbe Derby, in 1782, there has been run only two dead heats? One was in 1828, between Cadland and the Colonel. The other was in 1834, between Harvester and St. Gatian, now one of the greatest stallions in England. The race was a very exciting one, and the finish set the crowd crazy. Harvester was a hot favorite, and immense sums of money were laid upon him to win. Such a thing as bis being defeated was not seriously considered, and until St. Gatian went to work at him within a short distance ot the finish, it was supposed tbat he had the race practically to himself if he stood sound, which was doubtful. A -WONDERFUL FINISH. "But as Mr. Hammond's horse began to gain on him at every stride after bis jockey began riding him, it became- plain to every one that there was to be a punishing finish. Both were very game horses, and not far from home St. Gatian had worked him self up inch by inch until he was head and bead with the favorite. Both Jockeys were riding like demons and the many thousand people who were looking on became half frantic with the excitement of the contest. So intense had been the interest, that when the horses finished probably not a dozen people besides the judges knew the actnal result of the race. The relief from tbe strain of the finish was so grateful tbe crowd accepted the verdict with composure. In this in stance the stakes were divided instead of being run off, as in 1828. "That was the most exciting Derby day I ever saw, and it is fair to presume that very few people, young or old, who were there, will ever look upon another like it. As it was 56 years from the first dead heat for this famous event to the second, it is fair to presume that it will be many yearsfrom 1884 before another tie is recorded between the great horses who will contest for future honors." SOME FAMOUS SIRES. "Do you like tbe running on the tnrf or on a soft track as in America?" PREFERS THE TURF. "There is nothing like the turf. A horse has some chance to get a foothold. Running in the soft sand an animal is bound to slip more or less and to lose entirely that firm ness of touch that he has on the turf. Then again the ground retards horses with a long stride. I see also that tbe new straight conrse is being adopted as far as possible in tbe United States. This is quite right, as the increased speed of the horses this season has demonstrated." "Isn't there great uncertainty in the speed of horses one day with another?" "Certainly. It depends entirely upon an animal's condition and spirit at the moment how well he will run, and a horse which may make a poor show to-day may win a great race to-morrow or next week. You not only have to have the best horse, but you must have him in the best of condition when he starts. The turf, like the dtama, will take care of itselfl It is the noblest of sports when condMted in the spirit of im proving the breed of horses, and testing the results for speed and endurance." Frank A. Burr. ABOUT H0THEES-IN-LAW. The Ways Different Nationalities Treat the Same Subject. Perhaps the most singular instance of the way in which different people regard the same thing, says Spare Moments, is the manner in whieh mothers-in-law are treated in various parts of the earth. In France they are esteemed; in Britain tbey are the undeserved theme of much cheap wit and some very material antipathy. Among many Indian tribes it is in the highest de gree improper for a mother-in-law to speak to her daughter's husband. If she finds it necessary to communicate with him, it is etiquette that she should turn her back, and address him through the medium of a third person. Others carry this conventionality so far as to prevent the fatber-in-law from holding any conversation with his son-in-law, and among the wild Kalmucks a woman would be suffused with crimson were she asked to speak to her husband's father, or to sit down in his august presence. cats wise nr their way. They Put Their Heads Together and Suc ceed In Catching- the Hat. A good cat story, illustrating the sagacity of the felines, is told in the Bangor Whig by a gentleman who saw the occurrence. A cat saw a large rat run out from under a stable and seek shelter in a woodpile. Tommy followed his ratship and tried to reach him, but could not do so. Finding that his efforts were in vain, Tommy scratched his head and hit upon an idea. Leaving tbe woodpile, he went off a short distance, informed another cat of what was up, and the two went back to tbe woodpile. Tommy No. 1 stationed Tommy yp. 2 at the place where tbe rat had entered the wood pile, while he climbed upon the wood and began scratching. This frightened the rat and out he ran into tbe chops of Tommy No. 2, who had been expecting such au oc currence. A Horse Bicycle. A unique machine was exhibited at the horse show in New York last week. It is known as the horse bicycle, and the inventor' claims much for it in the way of greater speed for trotting horses. ;, v HOW CROFTERS LIVE. Outside Employments That Add to the Income of the Croft. SHALL LANDH0LDINGS THE ROLE. Acres That Might Peed the Ilnngry Pre served for Sportsmen. THERE'S HOPE, BDT IT IS FAE AWAY rCOItBtSPONDKNCE OT THE DISPATCH.' LekWICK, Shetland, November 8. Whatever may' be tbe average tourist's impressions from passing' glimpses ot crofters' communities, crolters' homes and crofters themselves, I believe one who passes some time among them, cannot turn from them to his own world of brightness and progress without a gennine sense of saduess for their permanent, hopeless condition. It is unquestionably true that the "Crofter's act" of 188G" was a just and beneficent measure. "Fair rents" have been almost universally fixed; arrears impossible of liquidation have been either wholly canceled or largely reduced; and personal freedom as a man, subject and voter has been es tablished. The Crofters' Commission has already righted countless wrongs to which the crofter had been subjected for nearly a century and a hall; and it may be truthfully said that all has been done lor this Highland groundling that ever can be done under the present land system of Great Britain. Indi vidual owners are so few, such vast tracts, especially in the north and west of Scot land, have been permanently transformed into game preserves, such insignificant and inadequate holdings are iu the crofters" possession under the new order of things, and communities of these people are so few, and those so meager in numbers, that better ment to these Highlanders as a class seems impossible. THEIR LOVE OP IIOME. As stated in a previous article, the process of thinning them out of, or their actual ex tirpation from, tremendous areas bad been so thorough by the owners of Highland es tates, that few crofters were left to receive benefits. Tbe teuacity with which, despite all sacrifice and terror, these few clung to their mountain homes, i a wonderful tribute to love of home-land, which, in a hardy race like the Highland crofters, could have been turned to infinitely better acconnt by Scot land, and even Scottish landlords, than could the rentals from sportsmen tenants. This sentiment is so strong and deep a'one to-day among Scottish people of all sections that there is a noticeable growing and stub born demand for "land division," "land re form," and even in some quarters for "nationalization of the land." Many intelligent crofters seem confident that some form of legislation will some time give them adequately large holdings. An idea is certainly gaining ground that at least sportsmen will go out, and sheep rais ing return. Sentiment is not wholly re sponsible for this. The first experiment by the great Highland land holders, after'the barbarous clearances of the Highlanders, was in sheep raising. This was successful, and in consequence the clearances were largely condoned by a most important class in Scotland; men who assist in making and unmaking Parliaments. These were the lowland farmers. INFLUENCE OF LOTVXAND FARMERS. Since the British sportsmen got possession of the northern and western glens, High land sheep have become practically extinct. Therefore what the Highland estate owners have gained by game, the lowland farmers have immeasurably more than lost. The latter have no pity for tbe crofter on his own account, but they know in a direct, hard-headed way that he and his collie dog are the best shepherds in the world. So these and some other pressing economic forces are gradually blending the "crofter question" and the "land question" in Scot land, and providing an economic question which may at last reach that form of legis lation which will break down the now in visible yet inflexible walls of these great Highland estates, and cause the repeopling of their grand mountain sides and glens. But that can hardly come to the grave, sad eyes of the crofter who now lives. And it is this man whose condition, environment and home life I have set out to describe. Whether he live3 in the same cabin where his forefathers lived before him, or is one who has been "removed" from the old home to some new and worthless patch of ground for the larger liberty of deer, he is never the fiossesaor, as tenant, of more than 30 acres of and, wbil6 nine-tenths of the entire class do not occupy more thau five. In some in stances he has an "outrun" or "common grazing" with others, where from 20 to 30 sheep and two or three cows may be grazed, and when this is so, he is considered very well off. SOIL AT HIS DISPOSAL. To find him in this condition is the rarest exception, and ordinarily his miserable patch of soil, of from, say, two to six acres, scarcely affords bim the barest means of livelihood. For this tiny croft he pays au average rental of 6 under tbe new "fair rent" system, and under the old "rack rent" regime he tried to pay, but never paid, from 10 to 15 and 20. With the certain un certainties of Highland climate in mind, no one can for a moment believe it possible for the crofter to pay even the reduced rent and sustain himself and family from the results of his labor upon the soil alone. I believe it would be a truthful assertion that the croft in no single instance ever sustained the crofter. It will not sustaiu him under tbe "fair rent" system of to day. The landlord now gets nearly the utmost limit of what the soil itself can produce. The salvation of the crofter can only be at tained by providing him with larger crofts, so that the labor ol himself and family may be concentrated wheie most profitable re sults can obtain; or rentals for tbe beggarly patch he is forced to exist upon must be re duced to almost a nominal sum. A pros perous peasantry is impossible where the energies of the family are dissipated in a half dozen different vocations to simply pay rent that a thatch may be kept over the heads of the very old and very young of the family. HOW HE MANAGES TO LITE. Briefly, tbat is the condition ot the crof ter, and it is all that is, or ever has been, the matter with him. To merely exist he has been forced into becoming fisher, kelp gatherer, poacher; anything to live. His wife becomes fisher, "gutter" or dresser of herrings at the sea side, mussle-gatberer(I or does any tortuous labor possible to add pound or shilling to the store for meeting the inexorable demand of tbe rent. The daughters are forced from home into service, and their altered condition and needs de prive them of both their love of the High land home and the power to bestow more than a pittance upon its keeping. The sons become gillies to Highland sportsmen with a few weeks of demoralizing luxury and ten mouths of idleness and unrest; or better, though still bad, are crowded to the towns to lurther impoverish labor there; or perhaps in the end, best, reach Canada or the Stated, where, for years the little saved beyond a bare living'finds its way back to the crofter father and eventually to the landlord lor rent. As a rule the oldest son marries and re mains at home. He sddomibas the inclina tion or the means to "hive off" and set np homekeeping on another croft, and besides it is the inflexible policy of Highland land lords to restrict, rather than increase, croft holdings. This leads to a subdivision of tbe already inadequate home-croft and two fam ilies, instead of one, repeat an intensified struggle for existence, increasing the evil, and giving warrant, for tbe ever-recurring landlord cry ol "congested crofter districts," while millions of acres of land, idle save for its use to sportsmen, are sweeping away fnto almost impenetrable wildernesses ftround them. SORROWS OF THE CLEARANCES. In all the crofter settlements established at the different occasions of "clearances." there is little of interest aave the nnyarying desolation of environment and every-day life. This class of crofters are the most smileless, voiceless people that live. Fring ing the entire northeastern, northern and northwestern coasts of Scotland may be found hamlets of this class. There is not the sonnd of mirth, the tone content, or the look of hope to be heard or seen in one. The land is barren, the seacoast is grew some and dreary, the habitations arc wretched, fishing is precarious and the entire life of these people is n ceaseless, sunless effort to live. It is only in the glens, on the mountain sides, within tbe straths, clustered in tbe upland comes or hollows, or here and there nestled by the side of mountain lochs and rivers, where the "removals" and "clear ances," like some wild mountain tempest, swept over the old Highlanders without annihilating all their homes, that the crofter of old, the crofter of song and story and tourists' tales, may yet be found. He is grave and silent in bis loneliness; but about this child'of the mist lingers nearly all that remains of Highland tradition, folk-lore and pictnresqueness of environment. The single, lonely, isolated croft is too dreary for win someness. But you will now and then come upon an old "clachan" where three or four, or perhaps half a dozen, crofts nestle in a corrie together, are huddled under the friendly protection of some precipitous crasr, are grouped like brown Gipsy tents beneath tbe strong arms of primeval trees; and here life and customs are in many respects very primitive indeed. STORY OF A TVORD. The "auld clachan," aside from so uni versity being the hamlet home of the crofter, is worthy of attention on its own account. The word is occasionally a mis nomer among Scottish people themselves, as applied to any ancient or picturesque ham let of a half score or so quaint old houses. Clachan has a more ancient and honorable signification. It is a pure Gaelic word meaning "a circle of stones." The clachan was the fane or place of worship of tbe pagan Caledonians. When Christianity Whs introduced the missionaries from Iona very wisely planted the cross within the sacred clachan. Iu time little chapels, and finally churches, followed. Honses crew up around these, and then the tiny church place or hamlet itself took the name of the spot where the old pagan rites were once celebrated. It is interesting, too, to note how exactly identical is the Gaelic of tbe crofter High lander of to-day with that of his heathen ancestors of 1,600 or 2,000 years ago. In stead of asking his neighbor in Gaelic, "Are you going to church to-day?" he will ask, "Are you going to the stones?" (Am bheil thu'dol do'n clachan)? The quaintest bits of primitive architecture in Scotland are to be found in these quaint old nests. The pagan clachan is gone; the chapels and churches for they were of the sort iconoclast Cromwell did not like were lodg ago razed to the ground. But if you have the archxological instinct you can find bits of crosses, cinerary urns and sacrificial stones built into house-walls, just as you will find at Bowness-on-Solway. Boman altars and first-century Boman inscriptions ignobly set in pig-stys and byres. A vitri fied fort will oiten be discovered near at hand. THE MISFORTUNES THAT COME. There is a little romance about tbe crofter's every-day arid home life. His sub sistence gained from the croft is always pre carious; and were it not tbat his wants are few, he could not live at all. His principal crops are oats and potatoes; but the variable nature of the climate renders asteadyreturn donbiful. Often the oats fail to ripen. Again, when they matnre, the little crop is frequently destroyed by rain. Potatoes of late years occasionally blight or rot. When both the oats and potatoes fail, actual famine comes. By the greatest vigilance enough grass may be cured for the long winter supply for the few animals; but there is always peat to be had for the one bright spot in all the crofter's life, the great, open fireplace of his cabin. After the cows are milked in the morning, the younger children, accompanied by the collie dog, set. out to herd them, for the crofts are seldom enclosed. Old coats or jackets are thrown over their shoulders, and they listlessly move about like a bevy of automatic scare-crows, keeping the cattle or sheep within bounds the whole day long. It is customary where are only one or two beasts to "tether" them with chain or rope. The horse or "sheltie," if the crofter have one, is also "hobbled." Sometimes ball a dozen sheep will be tethered by day and put into tbe sheep-cot at night. Such croft sheep are universally called "pets." A FAMOUS CASE. The world has heard of the famous "pet lamb case" between tbe great American deer-stalker, W. L. Winans, who controls a highland game preserve of over 250,000 acres, and the shoemaker of Kintail. The shoemaker's only lamb strayed from the highway, trespassed on the great man's acres, was pounced upon and slaughtered by a gamekeeper, and finally caused an action at law tbat agitated tbe whole of Great Britain and became tbe subject of many an eloquent outburst in and out of the House of Commons. Z. The crofter's home is often a sod hnt with a sod thatcb. More frequently it consists of four low walls of apparently uncemented stones, with a thatch of straw, or fir branches and straw, held in its place by stones, anchored from the eaves by straw ropes. The structure usually incloses bnt one room. There is a low, wide door, per haps a window or two, but in some cases only a "boal," or square aperture for admit ting light 'and air, will be found. A bunk answers for a bed for the old folks. The children are disposed of m tbe loft. In the old davs tbe "ceilidh" (pronounced "kailey") or gossiping party, occupied tbe long winter evenings. It lingers still where ' the clergy's sharp eyes do not too often come; and in it are whisperingly preserved all the old tales of clan and tartan, witch and war lock, and the sweeter folk-lore of this tender hearted, long-suffering, hosmtable, hopeless people. Edgar L. Wakeman. CHUBCH ADOBHMENT. Opinion of an English Bishop Upon Its Uses and Limits. Newcastle, EnglanO. Chronicle. The Bishop ot Carlisle is an evident be liever in beanty serving a contributory pur pose in public worship. Speaking at Head lngley, Leeds, his lordship relerred to church architecture, and remarked that every Tealiv good, complete, well-ordered and well-finished church did in a measure and degree testify to the reality of religion. It might be a question what should be the limits of ornament and beautiful accessories of actnal service, but the dignity, grandeur and temple-like character ot a church muni, he said, bo maintained. This idea of the beautiful in worship has been pleasingly manliest in recent years. It is taking pos session of bodies that at one time resisted its innovation. The Sea of Sunset. This is tho land the sunset waslies, -t, These are the banks of the Yellow Seas Where it rose, or whither it rushes. These are the Western mystery. Night after night her purple traffic btrews the landinxlwith opal bales; Merchantmen poise upon horizons, DiD, and vanish with fairy sails. Vmily Diekinxon. It Is Strange. Detroit Free Press. Birchnll was guilty of murder. There is not the slightest doubt ot the fact. How be could have sat down and written out a de liberate lie in the shadow of his own grave is a sentiment so strange to human nature that it is witnessed only at long intervals, aud can be understood only by saying that such men were born lor wild beasts. A Tenaclons Clutch Is tbat of dyspepsia. Few remedies do more than palliate this oDstlnate complaint, 'try Hostetter's Stomach Bitters, hooever, and you will find that It Is conquerable, along- with Its symptoms, heartburn, flatulence, nervous ness, and loss of flesh and vigor. Biliousness and constitution frequently accompany lr. These, besides malarial, rheumatic and kidney complaints, are also subdual)! with, tho BUUrs THE PASTEUR CDRE. A Great Medical Discovery That Koch Proposes to Eclipse. TALKS WITH DRS. 110TT AKD GIBIER The Inoculation of Babbits bj Which thi Yirns is Secured. MDR0PH0B1A IS TUB IUAG15ATI05 -The great expectations aroused by J)r. Koch's new cure for consumption giva special pertinence at this time to a sum mary of tbe results secured by the Pasteur method of curing hydrophobia in tha United States. When Dr. Brown-Sequard announced that he bad discovered what might prove the elixir of life, doctors all over this conntry got out their syringes and began jabbing injections of veal tea into anybody who would permit it. Bnt the Pasteur treatment for hydro phobia by injection is a slow and scientific cure, beyond the reach of empirics and pro ductive of almost unerring results. One hears little now of the Brown-Sequard "elixir," the hasty injection of which led in a number of cases to death a year or two ago. But tbe following testimony of Br Paul Gibier and Dr. Valentine Mott, its leading and indeed only exponents in this country, to the complete success of the Pas teur cure for bydtjphobia by hypodermic injection, will he read with interest. A PERFECT success. Dr. Valentine Mott was the first medi cal man of standing to try the Pasteur method in the New World. Dr. Mtt has studied the Pasteur method for years before that date, and as far back as September, 188G, read a paper before the American Social Science Association, in which he de clared thatPastenr had given his cure yean of research "and it now shines forth trium phant in its success, a blessing to human ity." Dr. Mott, who has just returned from Europe, is still entirely convinced of the success of the Pasteur method in tha United States. "I myself," said he, "have inoculated 20 patients and lost none. A great many who applied to me for the treatment I soon found were not proper subjects for it. I discov ered beyond a doubt that the animal by which they were bitten was not rabid. How can the fears of such a one be quieted? By detailing the circumstances of their cases to them and assuring them of the impossibility of rabies supervening. Avery slight treat ment of their wounds, after this, readily satisfies them. Many cases of rabies are reported cured, however, which were not rabies at all, but pseudo-hydrophobia, tba result of an overwrought imagination. So great is the power of mind over body tbat death in certain cases results Irom this im aginary ailment. DIAGNOSING PSEUDO-HTDKOPHOBIA. "It is not easy to diagnose pseudo-hydrophobia. When death ensues rabies or pseudo-hydrophobia may be arrived at a3 tbe cause by inoculating dogs or rabbiti with germs from tbe brain and spinal cord of the deceased. If they become rabid, tbe disease was rabies in the man. And- vies versa, if they do not, the imagination haa claimed another victim. And an interest ing svmptom of psuedo-bydrophobia is the fact that the sufferer shows mucb more dread ot swallowing than does the actually rabid patient. "Why did I cease the practice of the Pas. teur treatment for rabies? Because I found my time engrossed by patients unable to pay for my services. I could not bear to turn them away, and I had cither to give up the whole subject or abandon my Drivafa practice. Naturally I quit the Pasteur treatment. J trust that Ir. Gibier may-not have to give it np. I heir some wealthy men will put the institute on a paying basis and only hope they may. Such an insti tute, free for all who may have been bitten by animals, should be established either by the State, the city, or individual subscrip tions." inE PASTEUR INSTITUTE. The "Pasteur Institute for the Preventive Treatment of Hydrophobia and the Study of Contagions Diseases," as it is calted by its founder, Dr. Gibier, was opened in New Jfork City, on February 18, 1890, and 610 persons bitten by dogs or cats have applied for treatment. In Dr. Paul Gibier's lab oratory are many test tubes, in which mi crobes are batching and developing. To the uninitiated eye the yellow fever microbe, the microbe of smallpox and the microbe of hydrophobia look alike. Bnt the photo graphs there exhibited of the brain of a healthy and a rabid man show at a glance the deadly foreign growth whose origin it still so mysterions. "The great necessity," says Dr. Gibier, "is to find out as soon as possible if the ani mal that inflicted the bite is rabid. Ttiis once determined, the treatment is perfectly clear. Most of my patients have been un able to pay for anything, and with them I am forced to be specially particular, for I insist on tbe patient's surroundings being scrupulously clean, especially m the mat ter of bed linen. Ana, as in order to insurs the fulfillment of these essential conditions, I prefer, if possible, to have tbe patient re main here in the institute. I have more than once, so crowded was the bouse, been obliged to give np my own bed." SECUKING THE VIECS. Since tbe introduction of the Pasteur method into the United States the experi ence of both Dr. Mott and Dr. Gibier shows a marked improvement in methods. '"Tha composition used as an injection," says Dr. Gibier, "was formerly productive of a great deal of pain to the patient. That now in use partakes of tbe nature of the serum of the blood, inflicts no pain, and in some cases is used of a strength ten times greater than formerly. A rabbit inoculated with the microbe of rabies dies within 15 or 2u days. The rabbit inoculated with virus from the first rabbit dies, and a third is inoculated. After tbe tenth rabbit has died, the duration of the disease begins to diminish. "After the sixtie'th deatb, this diminution ceases, and a dog inoculated with virus from tbe sixtieth dies quicker than from the first rabbit. The virus is then fit for use on man. An ordinary patient is inoculated in the side of the abdomen once a day for IS or 18 days. In virnlent cases inoculations are made four or five times a day for the first five or six days. In the matter of enre tba institute is a perfect success. I have never even had doubts about the relief ot bnt one patient, a little girl of tbis city, who sobbed and cried so violently when first brought to me tbat I feared she would die before sha could come again. She improved with each visit and is now entirely well. ' A FAILURE FINANCIALLY. "But financially the institute has not earned any money and I often feel like giving it up and returning to chemistry. There are prominent people here, however, who say they intend to put the institute on a paying basis. Tbis will necessitate tha purchase of a larger property and the lav ing out of a great deal of money. Of the G10 patients treated, in 480 cases it was demonstrated that the animals which at tacked them were not mad. Consequently the patients were sent back after having had their wounds attended, during the proper length of time, when it was necessary. Four hundred patients of this series were con sulted or treated gratis. "In 130 cases the anti-hydrophobic treat ment was applied, hydrophobia having been demonstrated by the veterinary exam ination of the animals which inflicted bites or by tbe inoculation in the laboratory and in many cases by '.he death of some'other persons or animals bitten by the same dogs. All these persons are to-day enjoying good health. In 80 cases the patients received the treatment free of charge. Misunderstood tho Question. Boston Ilenud. Policeman (to stranger late at night) Where are you bound, sir? Stranger I'm de bouncer at Tnffy'i oa di BflWIFf. ? . - rff - A M " . . - ..2tv?. - tf !... . . K ...i ..iL.t. .u J; -.... i&.!?X. '.'j IfflBSflE. oJMiabW . w:,aUij.V4. ' ifii'iin i ii iiJiSimlifiiMtTiillSalwl'riitiiitf
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