THIRD PART.
1
SECRETSOFTHE SKY,
John A. Brashear's Wonderful
Instruments for Pry
ing Into Them.
HOW LENSES AEE MADE.
.Delicate Apparatus That Measures the
Millionth of an Inch.
-THE PEOFESSOR'S EAELY WORK.
Tffo Tears' Effort on a Twelve-Inch Glass
Destroyed in a Moment
HIS WOKLD-WIDE FA3EE FOR ACCURACY
tWEHTEX rOB THE DISrATCH.
HXKTEEN years
.ago, with fear and
trembling, I exe
cuted jone of my first
assignments in news
paper reporting. It
was to give an ac-
I count of the observa
tions of "the South-
side astronomer"
on some important
i--! event among wie
l".MITtMMM.lSll UlfUllS. ..
''knocked at the door
of his unpretentious
dwelling on Mt
Oliver, fully expect
ing to be ficed by a
second Galileo of
profound and stern
But there appeared in
scientific mien.
stead a pleasant-voiced woman.
"Oh, my husband is not home from the
mill yet," she said in reply to my inquiry.
"Will you step in and wait for him?"
The mill! My ideas of a Galileo were
somewhat modified and I was more at ease.
Aud, presently, when the "astronomer"
came in, clad in the ordinary garb of a me
chanic, and carrving a dinner bucket, I
began to think I "had made some mistake.
No, I had not, and in a very few moments I
had lost the odor of lubricating oil in the
interest of what the man was telling me.
2fever Courted rubllclty.
John A. Brashear was of a remarkably re-
tii jng nature He told me then enthusias
tically all about his observations the night
before from the roof of his house, but
blushed painfully when I turned the con
versation upon " himself. When we were
through,, he fairly begged me to not print
his name with the matter.
Three days ago I once more sat with John
A. Brashear. I found him still the modest,
reserved man that he used to be when he
was unknown to fame. In the13 years that
have passed all Pittsburg knows his career.
Where Big Spectroscopes Are Madc
They know the story of how his nights,
after weary toil in tne iron mills of the
Southside, were spent in astronomical ob
servations on Jit. Oliver; how his desire to
let others know something of the beauties
of the heavens led him to write modest con
tributions for the daily papers; how the
newspapers after awhile got to dubbing
him "the Southside astronomer" how
Prof. S. P. Langley suddenlv discovered the
genius of Mr. Brashear in the construction
of telescopes; how the celebrated Henry
Draper befriended him; how a couple of re
quests came to him from famous astronomers
to make them telescopes; how he tried to do
this at nights while still master mechanic in
the iron mills, the double strain upon his
constitution finally breaking him down; his
long sickness, and'the physicians' ultimatum
in the end that Brashear must give up
either
The Telescopes or the Mills ;
how he gave up the steady income of month
ly wages and afterward scarcely earned a
living at the tedious work of grinding op
tical glasses; how William Thaw, in the
interests of science, gave the plucky me
chanic such assistance as placed him five
i cars ahead, and how that charitable mil
lionaire, dying, left a special bequest, still
in the interests of science, practically en
dowing the labors of Mr. Brashear; how
the telescope maker sought the scientific
atmosphere of Observatory Hill, in Alle
gheny, built a wonderful workshop there,
fromVhich have gone out rare and delicate
astronomical instruments to all parts of the
world.
Yet, this week, it was with great difficulty
still that I could get Mr. Brashear to talk
about himself. Willingly enough he de
scribed to me the process by which his
workmen make object-glasses now. I
happened to casually make the remark that
with these improved processes it seemed to
me a very long time was required to make
the lenses for a single telescope from two to
six months.
"Yes, it is a long time to work upon one
telescope," echoed Mr. Brashear, thought
fully, "but I have known it to take a great
deal longer.
The Astronomer's First Telescope.
"Well do I remember the first telescope
I ever had. My education was limited to
the village schools of Brownsville, and a
commercial college in Pittsburg, that
when I went to work as a mechanic in the
iron mills of the Southside I was illy
equipped for the practical study of astrono
my. I loved to study the st3rs, but I found
I needed a telescope to push my
researches. I was unable to buy one of the
size I wanted, so I concluded to try and
make one mj self. This was 10 years ago.
I was engaged at the mill all day, and at
night I labored often tantil morning hours
devising my instrument, which I intended
to make for o4 inches aperture. To grind
the glass I needed tools, so I first had to
make the tools. To polish the glass and
make the tube to mount it, I had to hare
steam power. I therefore built myself the
engine necessary to carry on the work.
"My kind wile assisted me. Every even
ing when I got home from work she would
hav steam raised in the engine, so that I
need lose no time. In this way wc per
severed, and, sir, it took me three years to
complete my telescope. Good while,
wasn't if
Hid to Have a Larger One.
"This telescope answered for a while,"
continued Mr. Brashear, "but soon I found
that for my increasing thirst for knowledge
bout the stars I would need a larger one
o I resolved to attempt a larger initru.
MO-
$w
fflrTKO!
felSV
hib
iWM A . -jJP
BJloBlIH '
if-!P
ment I determined to make it a reflecting
telescope. There was remarkably little
literature on the construction of telescopes,
and what few scientists I communicated
with evidently had no time to help me. So
I went at it myself again. I worked at
nights for two years on a 12-inch object
glass, and suddenly one night broke it into
fragments while trying to silverit The
toil of two years a as destroyed in a mo
ment "
Mr. Brashear paused. With my notebook
on my knee, I was busy penciling out some
of the previous memorandum about pro
cesses, and, without looking up, I remarked
thoughtlessly:
"I guess you don't like to remember that
moment, do you, Mr. Brashear?"
There was no immediate answer, and
glanojng up quickly, I saw an intense
quiver on the mechanic-astronomer's lips,
which did what the story should have done
touched my heart.
"Ah, no, ' resumed Mr. Brashear the
next moment. 'It was the most bitter mo
ment in my life. It took me 24 hours to get
over it But, sir, once over it, I went to
work with renewed vigor, and so desperate
was I that in one year I had completed
another glass one year! mark you." "
Largest Spectroscope in the World.
Just now Mr. Brashear is making the
largest spectroscope in the world. A bushel
basket would cover the whole instrument,
and yet with the assistance of five or six
workmen he has been engaged upon it al
ready four months, and it will take two
more months to complete it The enormous
telescope in the Lick Observatory of Cali
fornia is fitted with a spectroscope that was
also made by Mr. Brashear. TJj to its time
it was the largest and most perfect spectro
scope in the world, but it is now to be sur
passed by the instrument on the tables of
Mr. Brashear's wonderful little workshop
f
I
: 9
TESTING TELESCOPES IK THE YABD.
up on Observatory HilL
This spectroscope is for Prof. Charles A.
Young, the celebrated astronomer of Prince
ton Observatory. A spectroscope is used
with the telescope to determine the com
position of celestial bodies; for the determi
nation of the motion of stars in the line of
sight, and for the solution of many other
interesting problems in "the new astrono
my," as Prof. & P. Xangley calls it It is
one of the most modern of astronomical in
struments, its use only having been known
for about 30 years past The spectroscope
for Prof. Young will have every conceiva
ble attachment for work of precision in
photographic and visual observations.
A Spectroscope for Photographing.
During the present year Mr. Brashear's
mechanical genius was enlisted in an en
tirely new field of astronomical work. Mr.
George E. Hale, of Chicago, conceived the
idea of making a photographic study of the
solar flames. He needed a peouliarly-built
spectroscope for the purpose, and experi
mented for some time to that end. At last,
sending his designs to Mr. Brashear, he got
that gentleman interested. The Allegheny
man worked upon it for many months, and
at last constructed a spectroscope of an ex
ceedingly delicate nature, with which Mr.
Hale has already been able to obtain good
photographs of the spectrum of solar flames.
It is a discovery of great importance to
scientists.
But Mr. Brashear has about solved an
other problem of importance. The disks of
glass for telescopic lenses cannot be obtained
in this country. They are only made in
France and Germany. Their manufacture
requires a very regular as well as intense
heat In his study of the subject he found
that the natural gas while it would supply
the intensity was not sufficiently uniform in
its pressure among Pittsburg glass factories.
DEVOTED TO SCIENCE, NOT DOM.ABS.
George A Macbeth, the Southside glass
manufacturer, assisted Mr. Brashear in his
experiments, and the outcome is that Mr.
Macbeth has agreed to build au optical glass
factory in the natural gas belt in Indiana,
which is noted for its regularity of pressure,
and Mr. Brashear has contracted with Feil,
the noted telescope maker of Paris, to come
here and take charge of the factory.
The Mathematics of the Glass.
Thesedisks for telescopic lenses as they
are received from Europe are in their rough
state. For instance, if Mr. Brashear is
building a telescope of anything over 12
inches aperture it requires frpm two to six
monnis to nnisn me lenses themselves. The
work is most delicate. With each disk the
European manufacturer has sent a prism
ujauc Hum vuc iucuiiuai uufc oi glass irom
which, was cast the disk. This prism is
studied with the spectrometer in order to
learn the optical properties of the two
glasses, flint and crown. The curves of the
disk intended for the objective are then
computed from this prism. The mathe
matics involved in such a study as this arel
oi sucn a aimcuit cnaracter that lew men in
a generation are competent to work them
out. In this part of the work Dr. Charles
S. Hastings, of Yale University, is associ
ated with Mr. Brashear, and his knowledge
of mathematical dioptrics is known all over
the world.
The grinding on the disk in the workshop
at Allegheny follows the calculations and
this is continued with rough iron tools un
til the approximate mathematical compnta J
THE PITTSBURG
'ions are fulfilled; the final grinding is done
with accurately prepared glass tools, work
ing with emery of tne finest possible wash
ings. The'curves of the lenses have to be
measured from time to time with a
delicate instrument called the "sphero
meter." It wiR measure to-the one one-hundred-thousandth
part of an inch, and in
the hands of an expert workman it often
measures much smaller fractions than this.
Delicate Work or Polishing.
The polishing of the disk is the next step.
It is a beautiful process, the polishers be
ing made of pitch.and the polishing powder
used is per-oxide of iron. For this work
Mr. Brashear has devised some curious ma
chinery, to be seen in no other part .of the
country. During this polishing process the
polishing machine has ' to be carefully
watched. The change of the fifty-thousandth
part of an inch upon the curves of
the lens would seriously affect the as
tronomical performance of a large glass.
Such a small quantity as that even is
large when the glass is to be tested subse
quently by Foucault's method. Mr.
Brashear sets the object glass up before a
large plain mirror having no error greater
than the two-hundred-thousandth part of an
inch. The light of an artificial star is then
allowed to fall upon the objective, pass
through it and be reflected back by the per
fect mirror behind it As the cone of rays
comes back to a focus it is cut off by a knile
edge, when every little imperfection in the
curves or other existing errors are instantly
brought into view. So delicate is this test
that errors as small as the five-hundred-thousandth
part of an inch may be detected.
After the glass has been brought by re
peated workings to an accurate curve, it is
then necessary to center it; that is to say,
the edge, or circumference, must be of
absolutely equal thickness in very part, so
that the light, when passing through the
glass from a star, shall all fall on the same
focal plane.
Irregularities In Density.
Many difficulties surround the construc
tion of nn object glass. It must be perfect
in the fullest sense of that "word. Unless it
stands two severe tests all the optician's
work upon it would be lost The first of
these is to examine the glass by an Iceland
spar prism and tourmaline. If
tuere is any unequal density in a
glass this instrument will at once de
tect it, and if improperly annealed it will
show it bya remarkable series of irregular
figures, both black and whits, which con4
demn the glass at once.
The next test is to examine the glass for
impurities. To accomplish this a screen is
placed over a lamp, and a hole cut in the
screen. The light from this hole is passed
first through a condensing lense and then
through the glass intended for the objective.
It will instantly bring out any imperfec
tions existing in the glass, and if praible
these imperfections are ground out
Another serious drawback to all optical
work is changes in the temperature. Tests
to ascertain imperfections in the glasses
cannot be conducted in an ordinary apart
ment, or out of doors, for the reason that
the weather is so variable.
An Underground Apartment
must be used entirely, As built under Mr.
"Rmsllpiir'n nlinn tliio .otto .tallA. a .
rounded by an airspace of 18 inches, andv
wb icuiperaiure mere nas Deen Known to
change but three degrees in a whole month.
It is also absolutely necessary that no
tremor interfere with the experiments, or at
least that it be reduced to the minimum;
therefore every part of the testing apparatus
is isolated from the building, and so perfect
ere the conditions that the makers know
more about the objective glass, down In that
dungeon than they ever can know in the
outside world.
This may cause the reader to wonder how
these glasses are protected from the ordinary
changes of the weather when they are in
transit from the manufacturer's shop to the
astronomer's observatory. In shipping large
object glasses Mr. Brashear always mounts
them in steel cells, because steel is very
nearly the same in its expansion and con
traction as glass. Great care is taken in the
shipping. The glasses thus mounted are
packed in some springy substance. When
the object glass for ,the great telescope in
Lick Observatory was carried across the con
tinent from New England to California, it
was known that it would pass through every
Kgradation of climes. An entire freight car
was engaged for the single disk of glass, and
it was suspenueu in tue center oi tne car.
It, made the journey in safety. When all
else is done tne object glass is studied with
a spectroscope so as to understand its color
correction.
Half an hour after leaving Mr. Brashear's
shop I took intense delight in standing
down at the Fort Wayne Eailroad
crossing on Federal street and drinking
in the dimensions of a modoc loco
motive. It was exhilarating, and served
to expand my ideas of size alter lingering
most of the afternoon among devices which
could measure the two-millionth part of an
inch. L. E. Stofiel.
TrrranrTTIRK packed and shinned.
SU BAUaH&KEEHAXi&WfttoBi
PrrTSBXJKG, SUKDAY, MAY 81, 1891
HEYEL OF -REPTILES.
Death Valley Alive With Wriggling
Things When Night Falls.
SCORPIONS BATTLE TARANTULAS,
While lizards and Serpents and Horned
Toads Seek Their Prey.
WONDERFUL FORMS OF ANIMAL LIFE
WJtl'HJUf FOE TDK DISPATCH.
The Government expedition to Death
Valley is bringing forth its first fruits.
Large consignments of dead creatures illus
trating what it has thus far accomplished in
the study of the life of that amazing region
have reached the Department of Agricult
ure at Washington. The collections thus
far sent there include 2,3G8 mammals, be
side numerous birds, reptiles, insects and
other specimens. It is desired by the scien
tific authorities in charge to find out just
what animal and vegetable life is able to pre
serve existence under conditions so ex
traordinarily unfavorable as are found in
this desert of horror, the like of which is
not found anywhere else in the world.
Of plants there is scarce anything to be
discovered beside cactij which only repre
sent a sort of vegetable half life, and
clumps of chapparal that 'are gray instead
of green. One sort of cactus that grows to
be five or six feet in height, with extended
branches, is called the "Dead Man," be
cause each stalk in the night
Looks Like a Corpse
by the wayside. In rare spots where the
water has gathered may be seen a singular
fleshy bush without leaves and with thick
green stems. Such vegetation as there is is
rank and spiny, its gray or dull olive hues
harmonizing with the parched and barren
aspects of the great alkali crust, extending
north and south between two precipitous
walls of mountains, the Amargosa and Pan
amint ranges. It is beyond human powers
of description to picture the wholly unnatu
ral scene to be beheld here the vast
stretches of white plain variegated with
black lava, the alluring mirages, the strange
appearance of the towering hills outlined
.like the backbones of monstrous beasts
'against the yellow sky, the total absence, of
trees, the dearth of animal life, and the in
tense heat, from which there is no escape.
Here and there, too, are pebble beds miles
in extent, made up of agate, moss-agate,
chalcedony, jasper and obsidian.
This astonishing design, however, is by
no means so devoid of life as its aspect by
daylight would lead the observer to imag
ine. As soon as night falls it is all aswarm
with creatures of various sorts.
Scene for Dante to Picture.
Countless lizards come out of their bur
rows to look for insect prey; snakes wriggle
across the alkali crust; horned toads creep
about, and scorpions and tarantulas of enor
mous size sharpen their claws for combat
Bats, mice and squirrels trot about in active
pursuit of game, and wildcats and coyotes
forsake their lairs on the mountain sides
and roam over the plain in pursuit of all
sorts of smaller mammals. It is a nocturnal
population, simply because the heat is so
.great as to forbid going out in the daytime.
The Death Valley expedition has not at
tempted to encamp upon the degert itself
for the sake of securing specimens. It has
been obliged to content itself with pitching
tents about the edge, at the foot of the
mountains, making brief expeditions across
the torrid plain, setting traps, and return;,
ing as'quickly as possible. By this method
the traps could be emptied and set again
without much loss of time. -Time is of con
sequence in Death Valley, where a man re
quires two gallons of water daily to keep
him from dying of thirst, and even thus is a
sufferer.
Traps Used by the Scientists.
Little traps of very simple and most ad
mirable pattern are employed for catching
the small mammals. Two or three dozen of
them can be conveniently carried in the
pockets of one's coat, and the game can
enter from any side. Each one is hardly
more than a wire spring, ingeniously con
trived, so that the quadrupal victim is not
obliged to enter a hole, sees no danger, ard
does not dream of peril until he is caughi.
Cornmeal is used for bait, and is found
most fetching.
For the large mammals the gun must be
brought into requisition, while the reptiles,
usually slow of movement! are readily
gathered in. Of the birds there are very
few in the neighborhood of Death Valley,
though the raven, that funereal fowl, is
very plentiful in the woods that skirt its
edge, crying with mournful notes for the
many travelers whose dried corpses are
scattered over the burning leveL
As quickly as possible after they are
caught the animals trapped and shot are
skinned by the explorers, all of whom are
skilled taxidermists. No great pains are
taken with the stuffing. A lump, of
Raw Cotton Supplies the Vitals,
and the tail is extended by a wire, thrust
through . its length. Arsenio is sprinkled
all over' the inside for preservative pur
poses, and the specimen is stretched with
four pins on a board to dry. As soon as
they nave thus been made ready the pre
served creatures are forwarded to the De
partment of Agricuiture at Washington.
Supply wagons travel constantly between
the expedition end the nearest outposts of
civilization to get provisions and convey
mails.
A' great many individuals of each species
found have to he killed and forwarded, be
cause individuals here and there differ, and
it is necessary to determine where these
individual differences end and new species
begin. For example, one kind of rat may
have ears of various sizes and different
lengths; but it is requisite to find out the
line which separates this animal from
another species.
Thus far the animals sent to the Depart
ment are merelv such as have been found in
Death Valley, because the expedition has
been availing itself of the cool weather in
that region. Now it has retreated to the
mountain slopes, and it will not be possible
to conduct any further investigations on the
torrid plain until late next autumn.
A Squirrel Who Hustles at Night ' .
Nearly all the creatures found in the val
ley aro nocturnal in their habits. Among
them are three species of ground squirrels,
which live in burrows and feed at night
upon roots, leaves and seeds of plants. One
of them often climbs the stalks for the pur
pose of getting at the seeds. At other times,
it stands on its hind feet' clasps the stems
with its fore paws and bites off the seed
pods, distending its cheek-pouches enor
mously with the food. One fellow shot by
Dr. Morrison, chief of the expedition, had
39 unbrokeA seed-pods in his pouches.
Another most interesting animal that in
habits Death Valley is the "kangaroo rat,"
which makes its way about by jumping. It
has long and powertul hind legs aud a sur
prisingly Jong tail, Jts coloring varies
from light gray to dark brown, according to
whether it frequents the alkali or the lava,
nature intending to protect it from capture
by the likeness of its hue to its surround
ings. The kangaroo rat lives in burrows, as
does likewise a smaller kind that is com
monly called the "kangaroo mouse." But
neither is in any true sense a mouse or a
rat; they belong to families quite different,
Bats the Digger Indians Eat
Nevertheless there are plenty of real rats
in Death. Valley, as the expedition has
found. One kind that lives in the chap
parol, with bare tails and exquisite soft fur,
is the staple food of the Digger Indians who
dwell In the mountain thereabout. The
latter catch the mammals with dogs, frighten
ing them out of their aMti, whieh are mdo
DISPATCH. T J
III in, ' I . 1 " . - .... . H
like those of squirrels, of great size, in the
bushes or bunches of cactus.
With respect to the kangaroo rats, one
extraordinary point should be mentioned re
lating to a certain development of their
skulls, which bulge out at the sides in a sur
prising way. In fact no such bulges as these,
which contain.the hearing apparatus, are to
be found in any other known animals.
One of the most curious sorts of rodent
common in Death Vallev Is-ihe "scorpion
mouse," which lives almosfwholly upon
scorpions. By the "instinct," which means
experience inherited through generations, it
has learned which end of its prey to tackle.
Another creature in the same region that
likes scorpions also is the "chapparal cock,"
which gobbles them by thousands, and is not
less fond of centipedes, tarantulas, lizards
and homed toads. The last named are too
big to swallow at a gulp, and so the fowls
tear them to pieces before devouring them.
A Mouse Women Might Admire.
Perhaps the most beautiful mouse in ex
istence, is found in Death Valley and i
known as thej 'grasshopper mouse." It is a
lovely animal, fawn-colored in the back, with
a snowy belly and sides, a short tail and
pretty little ears. Other mammals are
"pocket mice," with pouches outside their
throats to stow provisions in, gophers,
weasels, shrews and a newly discovered
species Of lavender-gray fox with long ears.
A wonderfully big species of coyote has
been found in the valley. One funny thing
about this kind of animal is that it is
enormously fond of watermelons, but it has
to starve .for them in the locality.
Only 50 miles west of Death Valley, which
is ISO feet below the sea-level, Mt. Whitney,
the highest mountain in North America,
uplifts its mighty peak, covered with per
petual snow, three miles into the air. Thus,
within aay's journey of each other, the
lowest and the highest points on this conti
nent are'found. Dr. Merriam wrote the
other day that he had breakfasted on 20 feet
of snow and was composing his letter to
Secretary Busk, at 4 T. ir., in an altitude of
rather less than nothing and a temperature
of 110 Fahrenheit in the shade.
Mt Whitney a Tough Customer.
The expedition would be very glad to as
cend Mt Whitney, but the task is likely to
be an impracticable one. Abov there are
depths of snow which are continually pre
cipitating themselves in avalanches' on the
lower slopes, and the dissolving ice has re
duced the ground to the condition of a hope
less morass, through which travel is alto
gether impracticable. There is no path up
the mountain by which even a mule could
journey.
In the region described is to be found a
most astonishing opportunity for the obser
vation of a traveler, inasmuch as within 60
miles he can pass through all the life-zones
of the earth, from the hottest tropic to the
frozen Arctic, and view not only the vege
tation but the beasts and bir.ds of the various
climes traversed. It seems very strange to
find upon the summits of Mt Whitney, the
San Francisco mountain and other peaks
scattered over the warmer parts of the
earth, small colonies of veritable Arctic life,
both vegetable and animal. But this is ex
plained when it is realized that during a
period immediately preceding the present,
and known as the "glacial age," the entire
northern part of
The World Was Burled in Ice,
the icecap, which in places was several
thousand feet in thickness, extending south
ward as far as Philadelphia and below Chi
cago. When this vast cosmio glacier re
ceded, many Arctic plants and creatures
were stranded in lofty mountains, where at
sufficiently lofty altitudes the temperature
never became too high "for the continuance
of their existence. For an example, the
San Francisco mountain in Arizona is an ex
tinct volcano, inhabited by plants and
animals which could not possibly have
reached it since the glacial period. Though
an isolated peak rising out of a vast and
buroing-desert,-its snowy top is a veritable
Arctic colony. Bene Bache.
THOUGHT HE'S -STBTJCK OTX.
Joke on a New Jersey Nabob Who Drove a
Well in His Back Yard.
New York 'World.
A New York business man who lives in
Elizabeth, N. J., started last fall to sink an
artesian well an his premises, and thought
that, for the sak3 of exercise, he would do
the job himself. Accordingly every night,
after returning home from the city, he would
repair to his yard with a big sledge and.
there pound vigorously on the iron pipe for
half an hour, screwing on section after sec
tion as the work progressed, and putting on
a pump occasionally tq see if he had struck
water.
A few weeks after a neighbor whose yard
adjoins the well-borer's premises was sur
prised to notice a heap of earth among his
plants, and he noticed that every time his
neighbor in the next yard would strike a
blow with his sledge on the pipe he was
driving the pile of dust was visibly agitated-Procuring
a spade he dug down into the
heap of earth, and the spade soon struck a
metallic substance which, when uncovered,
was found to be the end of an iron pipe with
the pointed boring tool attached that is used
in driving a well. The point of the pipe
had evidently encountered a rock, sheered
off in another direction, and finally, as the
driving progressed, it came out in the .ad
joining yard. The man who made this dis
covery took a friend into his confidence, and
together they made up their minda to have
some sport with the well-driver.
They unscrewed the pointed cap on the
end ot the pipe, and procuring a gallon of
kerosene poured it into the hollow tube.
The well digger attached his little pump
that evening, as usual, to ascertain if he
had struck water, and to his Astonishment
found he had struck oil. He could scarcely
believe it at first and the conspirators, who
had been watching his movements through a
knothole in the board fence, poured in an
other gallon, which fully convinced their
dupe that he had a bonanza.
He rushed into the house and acquainted
his family with the joyful news. The fol
lowing evening the conspirators saw him
come home from New York with three well
dressed men, apparently brokers. He took
them into his yard and, rigging up his
pump, proceeded to show them his remark
able discovery of an oil well in Elizabeth.
The pair who put up the joke on him at
once poured in an extra gallon, and as the
oil in its passage through the pipe became
discolored it strongly resembled petroleum.
The strangers smelled the stuff, and, after
examining closely, became satisfied that it
was the genuine article and informed the
owner of the well that hi3 fortune was made.
When the succeeding night they saw their
victim bringing more men from New York'
to inspect his big find they thought the
joke had gone nearly far enough. The man
who suggested the joke pot his mouth to
the end of the pipe and shouted through the
hollow tube: "You're a lot of blankety
blank fools!" The sound of a voice pro
ceeding,xas it were, from the bowels of the
earth, startled the group around the well so
much that they stood rooted to the spot in
terror for a couple of moments. When they
recovered from their fright they looked at
each other in amazement until the shrieks
of merriment proceeding from the next yard
convinced them that they werfe the victims,
of a hoax.
Frightened to Death by Thunder.
During a terrific thunderstorm.at Atlantic.
City recently Mrs. Mary Carroll, a colored
woman, 35 years pld, was frightened to
death. She-was fonnd after the storm on
the porch df Beyer's Hotel. Dr. Eugene
Beed said death was due to fright
The Tad of Heresy.
New York Herald.
They are going to try Dr, Briggs for
heresy on account of the Eden episode. He
insists that Adam and Ere ate a banana,
and.thaHba fall was dot to their erel
ness with the peeling.
BEAUTIES- OF INDIA
Held Captive in Poems 'of Marble at
the Zenana of the Nizam.
MS. POTTEB EECITES FOE THEM
And Describes How the Magnificent
Creatures Appreciate It
THE HANDSOME PEEfCE AND HIS "WIFE
The Nizam of Hyderabad is the richest in
dependent prince of India; his dominions are
larger than France
and have double the
population. Mrs.
James Brown Potter
has.taken a peculiar
interest in the beau
tiful inmates of the
Zenana of this pow
erful prince, and on
his invitation she
recently appeared
before them. Ex
tracts from letters
Mrt. Tamet Brown Potter, written by her to
her friends in New York, and published in
the Herald, of that city, give the following
description of her visit:
On the right as we entered the inner
court and covering an area, I should say, as
large as the Fifth Avenue Hotel, , is the
zenana or harem, which had when I saw it
400 inmates and was also the residence of
the Nizam's wife. Naturally enough I ap
preciated the honor that this great prince
did me when he asked if I would recite in
the courtyard of the zenana, in the presence
of himself and his wife, and near enough to
the women for me to hear the rustle of their
robes and to see now and then, through the
meshes of the fairy-like marble screens, the
flash and flutter of their great, soft eyes.
Bare Beauty of the Interior.
The zenana has a little courtyard of
its own, around which on four sides rise
galleries of marble supported by columns of
what appeared to me to be mosaic. In the
center of the court a great fountain threw
a jet of perfume water to the height of at
least 40 feet Above the court was open to
the sky: below the mosaic pavement, of ex
ceedingly ingenious patterns of colors as
glittering and bewildering in their bright
ness and contrasts as the kaleidoscope itself,
was dotted here and there by divans and
cushions and shaded by palms, a large num
ber of which appeared to be growing here.
The marble screens, behind which the
beauties took shelter from my eyes, had
delicate meshes which seemed almost plia
ble and as light as a feather, so minute were
the designs of their tracery and so delicate
their outlines. Each of these screens alone
represented the labor of years, I am told,
bat after all what does that amount to in a
country where even the skilled labcr of a
marble worker commands not much more
than 5 cents a dayl The high class Moslem
women are never allowed to be seen. They
lead the most desperately dull lives. If
their faces are only once even seen by men
outside of their own blood relations, they
are, according to the Koran and the customs
of their country, disgraced forever. I have
seen these beautiful creatures covered with
lovely jewels, loaded with wealth, decked
in the most magnificent scarfs and silks, in
all the great zenanas of India, but can they
be happy? . ,
Poems In Marble and Xlesh.
Ascendim? the- marble stairway on-tfie
right, after entering the zenana, we reached.
the nrst balcony, on whicn were the private
rooms o(the princess. From these we pro
ceeded to the gallery above by another curi
ously carved stairway. A hundred women,
most of them young, and all that I saw at
least beautiful according to the Indian
ideas, which highly esteem avoirdupois
have apartments on this balcony. I went
no higher, but I understood a hundred more
were quartered on the balconies above. The
hopeless isolation of these lovely creatures
for whom nature has done so much and man
so little impressed me painfully as I sauntered
from one apartment to the other under ex
quisite doorways of marble, through cur
tains whose fabric was so delicate that any
one of them might almost have been drawn
through a finger ring; over mosaics whose
patterns and finish would aTone have at
tracted crowds of the curious in our coun
try, and watched them as they lazily ronsed
themselves to & sitting position on their
cushions ana with a taint flush of curiosity
and interest in their dusky cheeks and ox
like eyes seemed almost about to make the
effort to inquire who I was and what I
wanted.
I asked what they ate, and was told rice
and sweetmeats, rice and sweetmeats, noth
ing but rice and sweetmeats. They had
sherbet, to drink when theywere thirsty
and their cushions to sleep upon when they
were sleepy. Food, drink, slumber, the de
sire for fine apparel and .glittering jewels,
which were undoubtedly theirs these
seemed the sum and limit of their wants.
The Nizam Is ah Apollo.'
The Nizam himself has a most impressive
physique. I should say he was one of the
handsomest human beings I ever met tall,
athletic, yet spare of frame, deep-chested
and long-armed, grave almost to sternness,
yet as courteous as a cavalier of the olden
times. The Nizam was awaiting me when I
returned to -the courtyard. Messengers were
dispatched through the galleries of the
zenana to inform the inmates that in ten
minutes I would recite for them.
By and by a soft flutter of silky garments
was heard on all sides, and I became con
scious of being the target for hundreds of
bright eyes which peeped at me over the
marble balustrades and through the inter
stices of the queer stone lattices. A carpet
was spread upon the mosaic, or rather, a
rusj about ten feet square, and standing on
this, facing the Nizam, who followed all my
movements with grave interest, I began by
reciting what do you think? "The Pride of
Battery B." Of course, they didn't under
stand it, but I felt irresistibly Impelled to
get in touch with them, so to speak, by de
grees. When I finished there was a painful
pause and then a little rnstllng of gowns
again and subdued murmurs on all sides.
Three of the women daughters, as I
learned, of three of the Jf izam's most power
ful subjects and themselves princesses by
birth and bjood were permitted to sit on a
divan about ten feet tp my left, a marble
screen about four feet high having been put
between mo and them. Now was the time
when I had resolved to make my coup, if at
all. I did the mad scene from r'Romeo and
Juliet," and I know that my auditors had
noVerseen anything like It before that is,
the women at least for they say the Nizam
himself had seen everything and done
everything.
Melted by Juliet's Woe.
As I dragged myself across the carpet to
take the poison vial from the Angers of my
imaginary Borneo, simulating the mingled
love and agony of the dying Juliet as well as
I knew how, and better, I believe, than I
ever did elsewhere, I was at last assurod by
the sobs from tne galleries and by the pndU-
fulsed grief of the three princesses op my left
hat I had touched their hearts. The Nizam
himself showed no emotion except the grav
est interest His wife, whom l should be
tempted to call a sort of a dummy, played
with the rings on herflngers and didn't even
pretend to watch me. Bnt the women of the
zenana, whose only entertainments up to
then had been the dance of nautch girls or
the Jugglery of snake charmers, had at last
been aroused from their torpor.
I -did Ophelia then and you would hardly
believe it followed this with "'Ostler Joe."
I think "'Ostler Joe" -ns much the most af
fectionate weapon in my repertoire, Judg
ing from the sighs and tears with which it was
greeted.
Coffee and sweetmeats were served in the
Turkish fashion, for the Nizam In a Moham
medan monarch, and I was then courteously
escorted to my carriage. .Of all my Indian
experiences h Calcutta, Bombay, Madras
as y4BTrdTl sh41 chertah myvlsit to b
4m
'MMwzm
iP"
JHAPTEEI.
ME. GIEDLESTOirE'S TTRi-p.
In. the neighborhood-of Bishopsgate With
out, and only separated from that noisy
street by a narrow lane of lofty warehouses,
stands an old square. This square, which is
mostly composed of fine mansions, was once
the very center of fashion. Here was to be
found the ancestral home of more than one
aristocratic family; it was here that the
Countess of Devonshire some 200 years
ago lived and died. It was here, as we are
told by Stow, the best of old chroniclers,
that "Jasper Fisher, free of Goldsmiths,
late one of the six clerks of the Chauncerie,
and a justice of the peace," built for himself
a magnificent residence. He laid out his
grounds in regal style with pleasure
gardens and bowling alleys, for his guests to
wander in and listen to the songs of birds;
even "the Queen's Majesty Elizabeth did
lodge there." No wonder, then, that
crowds of the nobility and gentry came to
visit Jasper Fisher. His hospitality and
extravagance might almost be compared to
that of an Eastern potentate; a calif could
scarcely have been more ostentatious. But
"Fisher" so the story goes on "being a
man of no great calling, possessions or
wealth, and being indebted to many," was
unable for any length of time to keep np so
large and sumptuous an establishment He
retired once more, into private life; the
place gradually fell into wreck and ruin;
and so It came to be called "Fisher's
Folly."
One autumn evening; some years ago, a
young man entered the precincts of Fisher's
Folly and looked keenly about him. At
that time the place was the home of mer
chants, who Lad their counting houses on
HE GAZED 10NO
the ground floor. The man had the appear
ance of one who ha4 recently landed Irom a
long voyage: he wore a rough overcoat and
waterproof hat; and his fresh complexion
and bright eyes spoke eloquently of stiff
breezes on a briny sea. His face expressed
as he glanced about something more than
mere idle curiosity. "I thought I should
have remembered the old house," he mut
tered to himself; "but I was only a lad;
and one house was the same as
another in those days. I didn't know
then what I know now;" and he walked
round the square, peering up at the doors
and windows and down into the great areas,
dismal and deserted and faced by rusty iron
rails. Presently he stopped opposite a cor
ner house. It was the largest in the square;
it had two windows on each side of its mas
sive door, and five windows on the stories
above. In the roof was a low, smoking
chimney; and in the deepening gloom this
chimney, with a round garret window on
each side, had the appearanee of a shapeless
monster, as it seemed to the young man,
staring down over the, parapet when he
looked np.
As he was on the point of turning away,
though the front door of this man
sion stood invitingly open, a gleam
of light in the windows overhead at
tracted his attention. He stepped back
and .stood in the roadway with an eager
expression on his uplifted face. The light
moved Swiftly about, glimmered dimly in
the five windows, and presently became con
centrated in the one above the front door.
In the bow of this middle window, inside
the room, stood a large lamp unlighted.
This lamp, raised upon a pedestal, was
peculiar. It had the appearance of a
lantern suspended under a gilded dome, the
dome being supported by foliated pillars.
The whole ornament, as far as could be seen
at that distance, was a remarkable piece of
workmanship. And while the young man
stood there looking up, as If the lamp were
of exceptional interest to him, the figure of
a girfbecame apparent The girl, carrying
a taper in her hand, stopped before the
lamp. The lantern was soon lit; and the
brightness from it fell upon her face. It
was a' vision of beauty an exquisite ap
parition of loveliness, upon which the
lamp threw a pale subdued light; and
then an arm was stretched out, the curtain
drawn across the window, and the lamp and
lovely face had vanished.
The young man now went up the steps,
and found himself in a large hall, with a
broad oaken staircase beyond. Upon adoor
on one side of this" hall was written in white
letters upon a dark panel, r'Girdlestone,
Carter & Co." After a moment's hesitation
and a glance np the staircase as though an
other glimpse of the enchanting face were
Eossible, he opened this door and found
imself in a dingy old counting house,
where the clerks, five or six in number,
were seated on high stools, as if to get light,
when any came that way,from the barred and
dusty windows behind them. Theyalllooked
np when the visitor came in, like so many
AutoflKteoa, and then looked down again.
"TjJfcCwHr within ?"
" r vLk ' r i i' ! ii' h wmrmfc -hvka
j-,f WBSA J if I Iff r W -SI V ' I
A clerk came forward. 'What name?"
"John Westcott"
The clerk opened a door on which "was in
scribed "Mr. Girdlestone" in faded letters.
The room into which he stepped was in
darkness; but the clerk lighted two antique
candlesticks on the high mantel shelf. He
then placed a chair for John Westcott and
disappeared.
Westcott's expression of curiosity in
creased. The room had a mysterious and
neglected appearance: there were many
signs m its not. having been occupied
oi lata The desk was covered with dust,
and dusty cobwebs hung in the corners
of the walls and across the chinks in the
closed shutters, as though even the spiders
had forsaken the place. A few sheets of
paper lying upon the desk were as yellow
as old parchment; and the ink in a pewter
inkstand had evidently dried up long ago,
with the tip of a quill pen sticking there, as
if the hand that had dipped it had ended the
records of a life and haa vanished.
John Westcott sat down in the chair
probably Mr. Girdlestone's facing the old
desk. His eyes wandered searchingly into
the deep pigeon-holes and oyer the . brass
handled drawers, quaintly designed with tha
heads of satyrs. Suddenly he glanced up.
An antique picture the portrait of -an old
man faced him; it was hanging over
the mantel-shelf between the two candles;
and the eyes seemed to him to express
extraordinary cupidity. Westcott moved
from .the desk, lifted one of the- eandles
from the mantel-shelf, and, shading it with
his hand, examined the portrait with acute
interest. "Yes," said he, in an undertone,
"it is the face Iremember. There is a look
of insatiable greed in those searching eyes
in the hollow cheeks and wniikled mouth.
And what expressive hands! Why, yes,
they seem. to be grasping imaginary gold!"
While he still stood gazing at this paint
ing as if unable to take Ms eyes from it,
the door opened, and the clerk reV-nested
AT THE POETEAIT.
him to "step this way." The room which
he now entered had a cheerful appearance
It was well lighted, and a bright fire was
burning in the hearth. Upon the rug,
with his back-to the fire, stood a somewhat
careworn-looking man of about 45 or CO.
He stepped forward, however, with a pleas
ant smile on his face, and held out his hand
to the visitor,
"Well, John,' said he cordially, "so you
made up your mind at last to come to Eng
land. You have done well and I am de
lighted to see you. But what has happened?
I have been puzzling my brain ever since
your letter came to hand. 'John West
cott,' as I could not help saying to Marian,
'has got some surprise in store for us.
And Marian was somewhat of my opinion."
If a sign of embarrassment crossed West
cott's face as he drew a chair toward tha
hearth, it escaped Mr. Carter, for that gen
tleman had bent down to stir the fire into a
brighter blaze, as though to give a more
cheerful appearance to his welcome, and, at
the same time to hide the slight tone of re
proach in which he spoke. The merchant
was evidently one of those men who, when
having an nnpleasant duty to perform, are
glad to get it over as agreeably as possible.
The young visitor, after a quick glance
about the room, as. if reviving his memory
as he had done in the square and Mr. Gir
dlestone's office, quietly remarked: "So it
seems strange to you, Mr. Carter, that I
should care to revisit .my uncle's old
home?"
"Indeed, it does," replied Mr. Carter
frankly. "I had concluded long ago that
no possible motive could induce you to re
turn. Has there not been more .than one
strong reason during the last 15 years why
you should come back? But you have all
the while remained abroad." Beceiving.no
reply Mr. Carter went on. "Was there not
the prospect of a partnership?" said he.
"Did not Mr. Girdlestone, as we wrote and
told you, seem to set his heart upon having
a relation in the house? That did not bring
you home."
"I had chosen a profession," replied
Westcott "Even the certainty of inherit
ing a large fortune by working A the desk
could not tempt me to retire irom tne navy.
I had a passion for the sea."
"Well," said Mr. Carter, half apologetic-
ally, "perhaps I ought not, you will say,
express any opinion on the subject Your
refusal to come into the business
led to my proration. Mr. Girdlestone,
desparing of getting .you to join the firm,
made me a junior partner. But
was there not another reason, a far weightier
one, for a visit to England a year ago? And
still, John, you stopped away." Mr. Carter
looked, as well as spoke, reproachfully
now, )
"You mean," said Westcott, steadying
his voice, "at the time of my uncle's death." ,
"You received my letter?"
"Yes; at Madras. You told me that he
had left his property except your share in '
the business to your daughter Marian. It
is she, as I understand, who is now the ' ,
senior partner in the old house." '
L A' slight smile passed over the. meTtrtant'l :
1
1
V