Pittsburg dispatch. (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, June 21, 1891, Page 4, Image 4

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THE PITTSBURG DISPATCH, SUNDAY,- JUNE 21, 189L
flje Bippxaj.
ESTABLISHED FEBRUARY
ista
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PITTSBURG. SUNDAY, JUNK 21, 1891.
THE riltST HALP HOLIDAY.
The half holiday on Saturdays during
the hot months is sensible. Between June
and September the fag end of the business
week rull become vastly more cheerful by
the few hours of earKe rest which the
new law vouchsafes, twaploycrs an ill be
glad enough to concww the half holiday
as soon as an approximation of unanimity
can be established among them. There
are some branches of business which of
necessity must continue; but in many,
particularly in the larger commercial
establishments and the banking institu
tions, there has long been no stronger in
ducement than mere habit for keeping the
doors open until G o'clock.
The half holiday comes to Pittsburg
with a legal sanction at a time when it can
be made really enjoyable by the new
facilities for getting quickly to the beau
tiful suburbs and to the many delightful
places in the picturesque country round
about There was a time when for want
of just such means of travel a few hours
more or less of holiday would have been of
small "benefit hereabouts. This was when
the roky horsecars and insufficient rail
road trains were the only means of egress
from the hot and crowded city. Now a
trip on the breezy cable or electric lines is
in itself a treat, and our beautified sub
urbs and spacious parks are a source of de
light attainable for a few cents.
This new opportunity for enjoyment
will breed additional means. When recrea
tion is demanded by a large number of
people simultaneously released from the
cares of business, the chance to cater
profitably to ihe new requirement will
quickly be seized in various directions. In
place of being dreary and disagreeable as
in the old times, the Saturday half holi
days of the summer will henceforth be
come a season of excursions by road and
rn-cr, of games, festivals and many other
forms of popular entertainment
CONVERTS TO THE DOCTRINE.
Next to long experience of the bene
ficial working of the protective system at
home, tiie recent attitude of foreign coun
tries should go farthest to satisfy our peo
ple of the benefits of that system. It did
not require deep penetration to see that
foreign denunciation of the McKinley bill
last fall sprang wholly from the fears of
foreigners that their trade would be hurt,
and not at all from any delicate considera
tion for the American pocketbook, which,
in a spirit of bluff, thej loudly proclaimed
would be the loser by a high tariff on their
products. How little sincerity was at the
bottom of British laudations of free trade
and tariff for revenue only was indicated,
for instance, not long ago by the incident
that the famous Cobden Cluu, the very
oracle of free trade, had experienced sucli
a decline of popular support tliathis year
it was unable to follow its custom of an ex-p-nsivc
annual dinner.
"t was sad enough that, because of the
insiponsivenesof their fellow-couptry-Lii'ii
in the matter of fat subscriptions and
hank-offerings, the Cobdenites should go
hungry. But wc fear that sackcloth and
ashes will now be their portion, quick upon
the heels of fasting, since no less a person
iuan Lord Salisbury himself has been hob
nobbing this week with a Protective
League of Englishmen and seems actually
at their solicitation about to go m for a
very elaborate system of protection to in
clude tiie whole British Empire.
A COMPROMISE SENTENCE.
The compromise verdict as often illus
trated by doubtful juries, by which people
Lave been found guilty of 6gres of crime
which in the nature of the case were im
possible, has been fully discussed in the
press. A new development, evidently
from the same foundation, appears in New
Jersey in thi. shape of a compromise sen
tence. This is the final result in a rather cele
brated case, in which a young woman of
wealth and social position was convicted
of shopiifting. From the newspaper re
ports of the evidence we should say there
was considerable doubt of 'her guilt, in
which case she ought not to have
been convicted. But being convicted
her punishment by a fine of
5100 is a non-sequitur, of which
the explanation most creditable
to the judge is that he was doubtful of
her guilt and did not wish to subject her
to the misery of imprisonment If the
judge did not make up his sentence from
the same motive as that which produce's
compromise verdicts from juries, he was
guilty of modifying his sentenoe to favor
the social position of the accused. A fine
of 5100 is no punishment for shoplifting
where the defendant is well-off, and it is
notorious that, women of the poorer class
would have been sent to prison.
But even if this sentence was Inspired
by the inconsistent mercy of a compro-
mlse verdict, It was an illogical one which
should he impossible to a judge on the
bench. If the prisoner was not proved
guilty beyond a reasonable doubt the
court should have set aside tho verdict or
withheld sentence. If the proof showed
her guilt the sentence was inadequate. In
short, the judge seems to have succeeded
in taking an action which by any theory
proves itself to be untenable.
SUB-TREASURIES AND EXCHANGES.
A Mississippian, who is opposed to the
sub-treasury scheme, points out that it
will give speculators additional chances to
buy up and control the staple products to
be stored in those warehouses. Under the
terms of the sub-treasury propesition $100,
000 in money would carry $500,000 worth
of grain or cotton at 2 percent interest for
the loaned money; and it would take but
560,000,000 to control the entire crop of a
staple worth 5300,000,000.
This is very true; and it is a fact to.
which the agricultural interests urging
that scheme should give due considera
tion. But as illustrating tho heinousness
of the proposition as compared with
the system at present in vogue,
the farmers might retort with an
inquiry as 'to how much margin it re
quires for speculators to carry grain, or
cotton, or stocks, or oil at present If the
ordinary practices on the speculative ex
changes do not belie the custom of ihe
banks they can get their deals carried on
considerably less margin than the 20 per
cent contemplated by the Farmers' Alli
ance proposition. The only gain specu
lators would get by the sub-treasury sys
tem would be a lower rate of interest: and
as the speculator is notoriously regardless
of a little matter like the interest rate it is
doubtful if he could put up a 20 per cent
margin to speculate on staples with the
sub-treasuries when they can speculate on
the exchanges at 10 per cent margin.
Of course the sub-treasury scheme is a
wild idea, whose greatest -vice is that -it
proposes to have the Government under
take a business that belongs properly to
private enterprise. But in order that their
arguments may be conclusive, the 'oppo
nents of the proposition should not en
large with quite so much fervor on the in
iquity of features, which are surpassed
every day among the banks and exchanges
of the leading cities.
THEY CAN BE IMPROVED.
One of the comments on the Governor's
veto of the w harf bill, by a supporter of
that measure, is that it will "continue the
disgraceful state of wharves and landings."
This is a decided non sequitur, and should
not be allowed to pass without contradic
tion. It is indisputable, of course, that some
portions of the wharves have been made
unsightly as stone vards and scrap-piles in
past years. But that is a matter entirely
within the control of the city administra
tion. The city has full power to clear.the
landings of all the rubbish which has dis
figured them; to pave the landings to low
water mark; to put down walks and plant
trees on the upper side of the
levee; and in other ways improve
them and at the same time reserve
them for transportation purposes, that
with river and canal improvement, will
rise to the first importance in our city's
business. These things lie within official
power, and it will be a more unquestiona
ble exercise of that function than to leave
them for boiler yards or stone piles.
We have no doubt that the desire of the
Department of Public Works to improve
this part of the city will be carried out in
some such way. There is no doubt that
the wharves can be made very much more
attractive than they are at present without
interfering with the purpose of their exist
ence. AGREEMENT BETWEEN EXTREMES.
The Iowa Prohibitionists in their plat
form declared in favor of the abolition of
the internal revenue system, because, in
their opinion, it sanctions the liquor traffic
by national recognition. The New York
Sun, which has little else in common with
the Prohibitionists, endorses the same abo
lition because the liquor is one of the
"odious war taxes."
Thus do extremes meet The great mass
of the people will have little sympathy
with the proposition for either reason. To
the Prohibitionists, the majority of the
public would say that so long as the liquor
traffic is not abolished the Government
might as well raise revenue from taxing
that indulgence, and that if its aboli
tion ever comes the internal reve
nue system will offer no obstacle
to it To those who consider the internal
revenue tax "an odious -war tax" the pub
lic will find it easy to answer that the
origin of anything in the war constitutes
no impeachment of it The national bank
system, the legal tender currency and the
taxation of luxuries by an internal rev
enue system all have been proved by ex
perience to be gifts from the war era that
are decidedly useful. The fact that they
w ere born in the necessity of that period
does .not in the least degree mitigate their
usefulness.
The mass oi the public arc fully able to
recognize that the internal revenue tax on
liquors is the least burdensome in propor
tion to its revenue of all forms of taxation.
The party that shapes its policy on the
abolition of that tax on what is a luxury
or an extravagance will make a bad
.mistake.
THE MEANS OF WEALTH.
An account has recently been published
of Pedro Blanco, the great African slave
trader, who, as his biographer states,
"chose to embark in a disreputable busi
ness because he saw in it the prospect of
a great fortune." He secured the fortune,
and when the governments of the world
made his enterprise hazardous and unre
munerative he retired to Cuba, where he
enjoyed an old age full of opulence and
honor.
This is very justly recognized in this
country as a remarkable instance of the
governing rule: "Get money, honestly if
you can; but get money," as well as the
general fact that when the money Is ac
cumulated society in one part of the world
or another will easily forgive the method
in which it was obtained. Disreputable is
not the only word in which to describe
the source of Blanco's wealth. Anglo
Saxon society finds no difficulty in per
ceiving that it was amassed by a system
of force and robbery. Yet if we confine
our moralizing too exclusively to the viola
tions of public and commercial morals
illustrated in the case of a successful
slave-trader, we shall be fulfilling Butler's
sarcasm in "compounding the sins we are
inclined to by damning those we have no
mind to."
The rule of gaining wealth by auy means
that promise success, and the social readi
ness to accept the wealth and forget its
source, are rife in more lines of effort than
the African slave trade. We find no diffi
culty in seeing that to deprive men by
force of the right to themselves and their
own labor is dishonest; but when we come
to fortunes which consist in taking awav
the results of men's labor by cunning or
chicanery, we find it convenient to ignore J
the dishonesty which created some of the
money kings of the day. If a great for
tune is built up out of secret favors In
transportation on the public highways of
the nation; or in the manipulation of stock
properties on the exchanges; or from for
bidding competition or producing artifi
cial scarcity in the great staples, the same
wrong in kind though to a less degree is
committed as in the case of the slave
trader's fortune. The acts are less 'vio
lent, and then: effect is more gradual
Men are not taken away by force and car
ried in chain gangs to the markets for hu
manity; but their labor or property is by
the force of monopoly or the jugglery of
the stock market, or by other kindred
methods, transferred from those to whom
it belongs by natural or "legal rights to the
successful prosecutors of the ultimatejaw
of getting wealth by fair means or fouL
This will continue to be the case until
society becomes enlightened enough to see
that there is no honor in wealth Itself; but
that whatever is creditable in it depends
on its having been obtained by respecting
the law which must lie. at the foundation
of all honest commerce, namely, that both
parties to any transaction shall be gainers
by it J
EUROPE'S PERILS MULTIPLIED.
Europe is sitting on a volcano Dr.
Albert Shaw, the eminent publicist thinks,
and he demonstrates very clearly the
grounds for his opinion in another part of
this paper. The national enmities of the
old world have been no secret for the last
two decades, but the recovery of France
since her humiliating reverses in 1871 has
not been so generally realized. It is upon
this factor in the problem that Dr. Shaw
lays stress. France has settled into
her Republican clothes with a
more contented .air of late, and
her people seem to have found a
common ground for union in the resolve
to regain Alsace and Lorraine. A com
parison of the French and German forces
available in case of war compels the con
clusion that the next war between them
will not be the one-sided affair that it was
in 1870-71. Lord Salisbury's analysis of
the situation is not too pessimistic. The
trouble in Europe is deep-grounded, and
likely to involve all the great powers in
war at any time. The recent revelation
of England's silent partnership in the
so-called Dreibund only complicates
the outlook, and adds to the
possible excuses for war that any nation
may seize. From afar America may ob
serve the perilous path of Europe with
something like philosophic calm, but at
the same time the far reaching evils which
must result from a gigantic struggle such
as the next European war promises to be
are so plainly to be seen that the preser
vation of peace should be as devoutly de
sired here as across the Atlantic.
The news that the temperature took a
drop of thirty-three degrees in the Eastern
cities on Wednesday Is calculated to arouse
feelings of enmity. In this locality the rain
has rained every day, but the area of low
temperature Is still conspicuous by its ab
sence. 'The average man can draw but one moral
from all this talk about tho Morzbachcr hy
pothecation that too large a sbaro of life
insurance premiums goes for salaries and
commissions," remarks the New Yoik Adver
tiser. True, and tho average man could have
drawn the same moral from the State insur
ance reports some time ago If he had been
looking for it, Also, he might havo made
the same discoveryabout the flro insurance
business without a very hard hunt.
A conference to settle a strike should
not bo conducted with a determination that
it shall settlo nothing. Somo of the parties
to tho dispute. In tho building trades seem
to regard their conference in that Irrecon
cilable light.
The fact that, under the unlimited powers
which Balmaceda has assumed, "to call
Chile a republic is a travesty on tho name,"
is correctly stated by tho Philadelphia Press.
Then Is it not worse than foolishness for a
nation which believes itself to knowwhat a
republican government is to put under the
ban as "insurgents" tho Congressional party
in Chile which is defending the right of rep
resentative government.
Bellamy is asserted to have made
$37,000 by "Looking Backward," but the
average man should not take that as an ex
ample. Those who look forward will do
better for themselves than by looking the
other nay.
A new crusade agaipst the bearing rein
on horses has been started in England. A
bearing rein that makes tho horse hold his
head in an unnatural position is cruel and
foolish, but when that fact leads the reform
ers to propose to do away with the bearing
rein altogether, they go to an extreme in the
other direction. Properly used tho bearing
rein ha3 distiuct uses, of which every prac
tical horseman is aware.
Two of the fifteen-ton cannon which
started from Providence forSandy Hook got
as far as the bottom of the Providenco river.
The first test with these cannon n ill be a test
of tho G overmen tai abilities at a fishing job.
The last ukase of the Bussian Govern
ment that everyone must attend church is a
now development of absolutism. But it ex
empts police officers and political prisoners,
and as the population of Russia is being rap
idly divided up between those two classes
there i ill not bo any necessity for enlarging
the churches on account of the enforced
piety.
It is sad to learn that thePresidental
chances of Governor Isaac P. Gray, of In
diana, have been hopelessly ruined at this
early stage. The Ne w York Sun has printed
his portrait.
Naturally France will take advantage
of tho opportunity to interfere against Hip
polyte in Haiti The trouble with the United
States is that the ruler whloh it favored in
opposition to tho French influence has
proved himself so utterly Unfit to be a ruler,
even of a black republic, that we cannot for
cry shame antagonize tho French Inteifeu
enco. All of the Kansas orators are expected
to speak in Ohio this year. Does this include
Ingalls? Theio is an impression that'ln
galls spoke in Ohio last year as well as in
Pennsylvania.
rniLADELPHiA is now excited over the
question where its new Washington, statue
is to be located. What with the disappear
ance of "public "funds nnd the heat engen
dered over location of statues and the build
ing of elevated roads, tho old teproach that
the Quaker City is a place devoid of seiisa.
tions seems to be losing its force.
Deacon Kichard Smith announces his
retirement fiom Journalism, and a mild
intcicst is felt on the point whether he
would be a persona grata to the Chinese
Empirfc.
A Russian recently arrived in this
country is to be sent back on the ground of
insanity for having expressed a desiro to
help the President run the Government.
This looks like a Hasty Judgment. The new
acquisition to citizenship only seems to be
inspired by tho motive that actuates the
vast maj ority of our politicians.
The Governor's veto,pen passed merci
fully over the Newsboys' Home appropria
tion, and tho little street merchants it ill, as
a result, have a very eommodious budding.
A stern parent in Adrian, Mich., for
bade his daughter's wedding a day or two
before H was to have taken place because he
had. discovered that tho expectant groom
did not pay his debts. If that harsh rule be
made general what will become of the vested
interest of marrying heiresses;
Since the Bering Sea difficulty could
not be settled by the closed sea argument, it
was very wise to modify that resort by turn
ing it Into a closed season.
The Barrillas Government denies that it
has sold Guatemala to tbe United States.
The denial may be taken as a mntter of
course, bnt the people of the' United States
can, with perfect einceritVj deny any inten
tion or desire of purchasing Guatemala if
they con help doing it.
"WITH CB0WNS AND WITHOUT.
Bud yard KlPLrxQ is a guest of friends
in New York. The reports of his illness were
somewhat exaggerated.
It ft said that the tragedian Irving will
spend his summer holidays in the United
States as the guest of Angustin Daly.
It is reported that Queen Victoria has of
fered to make Lady Macdonald a peeress, in
recognition of her husband's distinguished
services to the empire.
Two of the students to win commence
ment honors in American colleges this year
aro natives of Japan Nariakl Zozaki, at
Harvard, and Maysaosht Takaki, at the
Syracuse University.
General John Pope, TJ. S. A., accom
panied by his family, en route from St.
Louis to the East, was compelled to stop
over nt Toledo by illness. He hopes that a
day's rest will ennble him to proceed.
Mlle. Jeanne Ma-?, who has won a
triumph this season in tho pantomime
"L'Enfant Prodigue," at the Prince of Wales
Theater,' is the choicest attraction Just now
for private entertainments. Enterprising
hostesses are continually seeking her serv
ices. Lord Salisbury, stout and indolent
as he may now seem, has bean a hard
worker, and in 1S52, wlen he was Robort
Cecil, visited the Bondlgo and Ballarat gold
fields, where he lived in a tent, did his own
washing and cooking, and dug and gathered
nugects.
Feau von Bismarck is a most charm
ing and attractive hostess in her quiet homo
and looks after the. comfort of her guests
with almost motherly solicitude. Her hus
band's devotion to her is most touching, and
she Is the confidante of all his cares, both pri
vate and "official.
Prince Bismarck, who in younger days
was accustomed to write autograph letters,
has now given up doing s altogether. When
he docs correspond with persons who havo
paid him some attention, either in the form
of a letter ora present, which he is constant
ly receiving from some admirer, he now
only signs his epistlo himself, but in order to
make up for it not being autograpUcally
written he incloses his photograph.
INCREASE IN PAUPEBISM.
Startling Figures Quoted by a 'New York
Charitable Society's Superintendent
New York Telegram.
"Mora than $3,000,000 was expended for
charitable purposes in New York last yeaf,"
said the superintendent of a charitable or
ganization yesterday. "New fields are con
stant!' opening up, till it seems as though at
least two-thirds of the entire population of
tho city is being supported by charity. In
the various Institutions that dispense char
ity more than 603,000 persons found relief of
various kinds. There are homes and refuges,
piotcctorics and asylums, lodging houses
and shelters by the score, and the dispen
se lies and hospitals scattered about the city
aro maintained at a great cost to charity, in
order to provide medical and surgical aid to
tho poor,
"I am sure there Is no other city in tho
world as charitable as New York, find still
all our institutions are running over and the
cry for moro alms is increasing in volume
daily In 1600 there were In poorhouses and
almshouses, as indoor paupers, in New York
State, 1 to every 150 of the native population
and to every 25 of the foreign population.
The local Commissioners of Charities and
Correction are now hard at worluon preven
tive, curative and eHminating-"measures.
The trreat disparity In tho ratio of foreiom-
born convicts, paupers and insane in the
foreign population of New York compared
with the rati of the same classes coming
from its fiative-born population cannot, of
course, be satisfactorily accounted for as the
result of a voluntary and healthy immigra
tion." SATES HIS LIFE.
Why a Battered Brass Button Is Worn for a
Watch Charm.
Memphis Appeal-Avalanche.
Colonel A. D. Gwynne, of Memphis, car
ries a charm that has a history closely inter
woven with his own, for it is n relic of the
battle of Shlloh, and brings to mind a time
when the gallant Colonel might have yielded
up his life in tho cause of his country but for
the same button.
It was an old brass button of tho Federal
pattern, for at the time the battle of Shlloh
was fought tho confederates did not possess
a button peculiar to their own uniforms.
Colonel Gwynne keeps it brightly burnished
and its overy indeutution N as plain as on
the day it was turned out of the factory. In
the pride of its youth it was puffed out, that
is, it was globular in form In the middle, but
as it appears now the conceit has been taken
out of it by the ball that struck it and flat
tened it.
At the head of tho Twenty-sixth Alabama
Kegiment of cavalry Colonel Gwynne took a
foremost part in the battle of Shlloh, and it
was in the thickest of the right that, when
leaning over in a charge a ball tore through
the front of his cap, grazed past his nose,
and struck the first button on his coat,
glancing thence to his right arm, which was
shattered, so that for somo time he was laid
up for repairs. But he never forgot the but
ton that saved his life, and ever since it has
hung from his watch chain, slightly dis
figured, but therefore tho more honorod.
NOT AT ALL UNSYMPATHETIC.
She Was Glad of Her Mother's Headache,
but There Were Reasons.
New York World.
Our pleasure over an existing foot may be
perfectly Just and natural and yotexpressed
in such an unfortunate manner as to prove
rather shocking. A mother and daughter
,were traveling togethor, and tho latter be
enmo very anxious to remain one .more day
in a certain place.
"Well, dear," said her mother, reluctantly,
"if my head feels as badly to-morrow morn
ingas it docs to-day I really think we shall
have to say." ,
Morning came, and the daughter's first
question was, "Mamma, how is your head?"
"Still rather light," was the reply.
"Oh, how nice! Then wotan stay!"
Had it been a more serious matter It Is
hardly to be supposed that tho young woman
would have thought first of herself, but she
know from experience that such attacks
brought no severe suffering to her mother.
MOTJLDEBS OF THOUGHT.
A Fable in Which Silence Plays a Very
Prominent Fart.
New York Sun.
"I think the advantage rests with me,"
said the inkstand, drawing tho amiable dls
puto to a close. "My part contributes to
give permanence to tho products of human
thought." "And I," returned the tobacco
jar," am quite content wiiu my own. In
which tho finer fancies and higher flights of I
ttf.ST&5.S55wB"ir msPlran-"
The demijohn said nothing.
Jir'er iiauuit, ne lay low.
Only tbe Good Die Young,
Chicago Herald
Threo or four suicides a day Is a record
that would excite no particular notice in
St, Louis, but in. Chicago it is passing strange.
Disappointment in love and the loss of posi
tion aro the reasons assigned for Wednes
day's self-destructions. In a city so full of
proty girls and good Jobs there must be
something wrong with a man who prefers
cold lead, blue Bteel or"plzen"tp a sojourn
amid the delights of tho World's Fair.
Need For Compulsory Education.
Kennebec Journal, .
There aro over 5.000,0 uf children of
school ugo In the United States to-day, whose
principal education is that furnished by tho
ecliools of vice and crime in the stroets. It
(s a serious and alarming question a to what
shall be done to lessen the danger that this
8,000,000 Of Illiterates will graduate "as crim
inals.
MURRAY'S MUSINGS.
The Decline of the Gifted Opera Singer
Courage of a Bevy of Girls American
and English Tourist Bits of New York
Life.N
tFBOJI A STAFr COBRESrOTOENT.
New York, June 20. There Is ij phase of
metropolitan life that appeals very strongly
to human sympathy. It, Is the struggle or
once popular and more or less gifted public
singers, who have by reason of failing
voice and beauty beon dropped into the 10
centmusenms, low concert halls and beer
gardens to eke out a precarious livelihood.
The singer who Jfea a declining voice is like
the artist with falling sight," said a mana
ger. "It is-the most'painful thing a manager
has to do; this brutal condemnation of foot
light unfortunates." '
But how about the singers themselves?
Did you ever figure up tho full meaning of
voice failure to a talented oporatic singer!
It is not merely tho loss of means of a liveli
hoodit is the retirement from the dearly
beloved public eye. It Is a sort of personal
public disgrace. It Is to fall from the stars
into tho mud, and to bo horribly conscious
during tho entire descent If the .blow fell
at once, as it sometimes does come, tho men
tal suffering wonldperhaps abe cnte, but it
would soon be over. "It is this terrible,
lagging, dragging, from day to day," says a
singer; "sometimes better, sometimes worse;
sometimes full of hope, sometimes over
whelmed with despair. It Is dreadful! Yon
can't realize what It is to feet the stage grad
ually slipping from under yon to leel the
public contempt. There are singers here in
New York in cverv museum, concert hall,
beer garden and Bowery dive, who havo
been loading people in the best opera com-
Sanics In their day and who have thus been
ying by Inches, as it were slipping u little
lower every day."
Philosophy of a Pnsh-Cart Man.
A swartht push-cart merchant, near the
Battery, stood one afternoon frowning upon
the straggling procession of Italians coming
up from the Barge Ofllce. Now and then one
of tho new comers 'topped to haggle pver
the price of an apple or a banana. "Too
mtich Italian here now," the push-cart mer
chant murmured. "Twenty years ago busi
ness was good. Now every Italian come to
day got cart to-morrow." He waved his
hand deprecatingly toward the Barge Office.
As he did so a stunted llttlo son of Naples,
with a pack on his back as bigasaoass
drum, took a short cut, and In doing so
planted a heavy hob-nailed shoe squarely on
tho only bnnion of the vender.
I half expected to see a stiletto whipped
out and planted in tho Neapolitan's retreat
ing hack. The man's anguish was written
in evory lineament. Ho sat down on the
curb and took his foot in his hand without
even a cuss word. Then ho looked at, me,
and, glancing at the open street, almost
sobbed: "The world wasn't big enough for
him to walk on he must come all way from
Italy to tread on me!"
English Snobs In America.
The English colony in Now York is largely
made up of young men of cultured, leisurely
habits, with champagne appetites and beer
incomes. They aro for the mostpartyounger
sons of good education and no calling orpro
fesslon. In almost every case inquiry elicits
the fact that they are pensioners on home
bounty. They are living on limited allow
ances Just enough to encourage respecta
bility such allowances being appaiently
doled out with the view to sustaining life
without leaving margin enough for dissipation-
or a return ticket. In fact, in many
instances the allowance is made conditional
on remaining abroad. If they should violate
this condition it is work or starve. Under
the circumstances it would seem that a con
tinental life would be preferable, in view of
its cheapness; but these youngfellows prefer
America.
"Americans are kinder to Englishmen,"
said one of these young men, "than the Con
tinental Europe. Wo havo worked that sec
tion of tho earth a trifle threadbare. Thoy
don't like us. When it comes to India, Aus
tralia, Canada or any of tho. English colonial
possessions, we prefer the United States. It
costs more to live hero, but tho life is worth
living. Society receives us whether welmve
money or not. In London I'd be an oflloo
drudgoand bo limited to boarding house
society. Here, a v, ell educated, agreeable
English gentleman is well thought of, and
can dine at the expense of somebody else a
good deal of the time."
Americans Great Everywhere but Here.
Speakino of Englishmen in New York sug
gests the recent plaint of a very well-tQ-do '
Britisher of thafemale sox now in this 6lty.
"You know, tnlre are now no distinctive
resorts for English people abroad," said she.
"Wo used to go to Scotland.'trat the rich
Americans overran the country and gobbled
up every available estate. Then we tried
Brighton, but, bloss you, the hotel people
there now won't look at an Englishman
where he conflicts with an American. They
next drove us out of every fashionable re
sort on tho Continent, lastly tho Riviera, our
esnecial stronehold. We have nnlnnrar thn
exclusive social sway anywhere outside of
England. It used to be that the Swiss and
German watering place hotels were run
chiefly in the interests of the English trav
eler. Now the American has it all his own
way. There are now more Americans living
in villas about Florence, Como, Rome, Dres
den, Lucerne and the German Spas than
Englishmen. Even Paris is getting to be
dominated by your countrymen. Now, I
put it to you what are wo going to dot"
"Como to America," said I.
Here, at least, the American is "small pota
toes and few in a hill." Here anglomania
rages worse than tho plouro-pneumonla.
Come to America, unhappy, outlawed, de
throned people of an effeto civilization, and
come with confidence and cash especially
cash. Here you'll find a newer growth In
New York to fall down and worship you.
How a Man's Mind Works.
Peculiak humanity runs in streaks. On
certain days you will notice a surprising
number of tall people. Sometimes its cross
eyed people. On other occasions the notice
ably short persons havo their innings. Then
ono day somebody equally; observant will
say, "What a remarkable array of the crip
pled, tho lame, the maimed, the dwarfed, tho
generally deformed there aro out to-day!"
And while you aro commenting on it an
other comes along, and then another and
another until the idea makes you thirsty.
Being thirsty you think of a cooling draught
of beer. The beer line of thought from that
starting point leads to a dlsousslon of the
races, and perhaps to going out to the track.
Y'ou can afterward thus traco the loss of
your money and at the same time have a
practical illustration of cause and effect.
Slaving to the Barbers.
' Min are often more fussv and particular
about insignificant things than women.
There aro thousands of men in New York
who go miles out of their way to get shaved.
I know men who come down on the Elevated,
andwho get off at some Intermediate point
to patronize .a favorite barber shop. They
have done so for years. The array of private
cups in any shop illustrates the strength of
this shaving habit. When a busy business
man will sit half an nourin one of these
shops and fumble the flash papers while he
waits for his particular tonsorlal artist to be
at liberty. It strengthens the conviction that
he is weaker than a woman.
The man who doesn't learn to shave him
self while his beard is young is laying up a
life of slavery to public harbors. In the
course of an ordinarily long lifetime he will
spend about throe years of days eight hours
each sitting nrounda barbershop and a year
or two more going and coming.
A Crooked Stair Is a Death Trap.
"Thkre are not more than four theaters in
New York with reasonably sufficient pro
vision against fatal accident by reason of
Are," said a maniibout-town. "Even th'cso,
if a Are should break out when they wore
crowded, havo means of rapid and safe exit
wholly inadequate to the emergency. Ah
fnr the others, well, a Are durinir a norfonn.
nnce would result In tho trampling to death
and the burning alive of scores of unfortq-
nato patrons. In my opinion a crooked
stulrwuy from an auditorium Is a death trap.
It has so proven in evory case of panic- The
law should lequlro direct and broad means
of egress from tho orchestra1 floor of every
place of amusement, nnd from the balcony
and gallery floors ample independent out
side exits.
"We are a characteristically reckless peo
ple where human llfo is concerned The
owners of big theaters naturally want to
save expenditure of money and it costs a
good deal lor ground in New York, espe
cially on Broadway. Some day, however,
there wilfbe a Vienna calamity right here
and then those who are not roasted alive,
will cry, 'I told you sol' In suoh n lament
able event tho whole amusement business
would suffer financially ten times over the
cost of tho necessary precautions to pre
vent it,"
Women's Courage in the Aggregate.
WostExin the singular are proverbially
modest in tbeit contact with male strangers
and tho boarding school miss promptly
lowersh'er eyes and Bennies away upon
chance meeting with a young man. But put
a dozen or V) of these young damsels in a
bunch ana tne aggregate
courage and
"cheek" of the lot will rout the most self
possessed man that ever lived. The other day
a couple of gentlemen, not overly -modest
when it comes to the opposite sex, wero
walking in the soft spring sunshine In
Featherbed lane. Why "Featherbed'Ms not
at once apparent: but it is a lovelv Irrceular
I country road skirting Mt. Hope beyond tbe
f magnificent Washington bridge over the
"'"'"'p "uu is, njwmi, u. pretty sirctcn ior
tho amateur pedestrian. It appears to have
so struck a "walking party" of young ladles
of the Lexington Avenue Normafschoot
They wero rather rather pretty young ladies
with the glow of healthful exercise on their
oheeks and fnn beaming from their mis
chievous eyes. There wero at least 20 of
them. Our young gentlemen were disposed
to "fight shy," but a stone wall on one side
and a thicket on tho other precluded escape.
The girls made this discovery at the same
time. "Why, there's aman!"shontedhalf a dozen
feminine voices.
"Two of 'em!" cried the chorus.
"I'll take the short one!" exclaimed ahrace
of beauties in n breath.
"The long one is rather pretty; don't you
think so?" inquired a big,' black-eyed girl,
her head on one sido.
To say our young mVn blushed and won
dered how long Featherbed lane was, la put
ting it mildly. And how the spirited girls
jangnea ana snoutea! Some or them actually
so down on the grassy slopo and wept. But
the running Are of comment, which now In
cluded the male wearing apparel, was kept
up as long as the young fellows were within
hearing, which was as short as possible.
A Bit of Street Lire.
A uaoged little nrchin with one leg and a
very active crutch sells newspapers at tho
Broadway and Thirty-third street corners.
His incisive style of doing business may be
gathered from a good many sources. The
other da v he accosted a man who vas con
sulting his timepiece with, "I say, mister, a
man who carries a gold watch ought to be
able to pny a paper." Tne man didn't buy,
all the same. Then the lad hopped over the
crossing and stopped a couple of fellows
who w ero goine into a saloon. They couldn't
walk over the little cripple Just because he
was dirty and impudent. He sang out loud
enough for even-body in the vicinity to
hear: "Better take a paper, sir only 1 cent
do ypr more good than a glass o' beer!"
They both laughed and took both. The
boy then went into a dairy place, and hop
ping np to the counter with his head on one
side like a robin, piped: "Would yer mind
opcnln' an account wid mo, mister, fur 3
cents o' milk?" The account was opened, to
be profitably closed, let us hope.at the great,
day.
Suggestions for Conventions.
This is an era of conventions. Perhaps a
united convention of the men who run half
a block and np 40 feet of stairway to catch
an elevated train, the women who sweep
Broadway with their trailing skirts, tho
loafers who occupy the sidewalk in front of
the Coleman House, tne umbrella eye
gougers, the people w ho hail you with "Is it
hot enough for you?" the between-the-acts
fiends and the thousand and one other com
mon nuisances, would be an Interesting pub
lic gathering at this season of the year. The
first named might bo President protcm by
virtue of his peculiarly seasonable form of.
idiocy. t
The Repairing of Jewelry.
Ome of the comparatively unknown
branches of business in the metropolis is the
repairer of jowelry. He has a retired and
unpretentious shop somewhere near the re
tall centers. He may employ from two to a
dezen skilled workmen and do an extensive
trade, but he is not known to his customers
and has no dealing with them, for the retail
Jeweler Is tho middle man who takes in the
work, sends it to the rejjairer's shop, and,
when it is returned and delivered to the
owner, scoops in a profit on the transaction.
There is such a shop adjoining me, and tho
shy, bright-eyed young miss who acts as a
sort of hank messenger is kept pretty much
on the go among the Jewelry stores receiv
ing and delivering tho precious parcels. She
carries these in a modest little bag securely
fastened to her person. Sometimes It holds
small trinkets, rings, chains, lockets, watches
sometimes diamond settings and other
valuable ornaments. These have been or
are to bo cleaned, repaired or polished. The
man or woman who leaves such articles at ,
the store to be thns treated probably thinks
the work Is done right there. Sometimes it
Is generally it is not. ,
Bapid Transit In New York.
Upper Broadway presents a wierd scene
these summer nights. The flare of torches,
the chink, chink, ohinkof the drill, and the
swinging lanterns above the workmen in,
the trenches greet returning amusement
seekers. This labor goes on all nigiit and
continues all day, tho day being punctuated
"by dull reverberations of the dynamiters
that make tbe contiguous buildings tremble.
All this Js the forerunner of Colonel Dan
Lamont's cable railway. In the lower city
other nieht workmen are slnkintr test holes
fin anticipation of the rapid transit tnnnol.
mere is always a mtie xnoc oi more or less
belated people gathered about these busy
fellows fn the pits. They pause for a mo
ment and then trudge along homeward.
Everything else but the streets Is shut up.
Broadway is open all night.
Cham.es Theodore Murray.
TAftTtrKTi THBEE SISTERS.
The Keeord Made by Ex-Governor
Clal-
borne 1". Jackson, of Missouri.
St. Louis Republic!
Everybody remembers Claiborne F. Jack
son, who was the Governor of Missouri
when ths war began. He was an admirable
man and a great favorito among the fair sex.
His first wife was a Miss Sappington. His
second wife was a Miss Sappington, sister of
his first wife. His third wife was also a Miss
Sappington, sister of his first and second
Wife. When he came the third time to ask
old Colonel Sappington lor his daughter the
Colonel said:
"Jackson, you've been here threo times
now, and I haven't anything left but the old
woman. I suppose you will come for her
next, but I give you due notice that she Is
my own private property and you can't have
her."
Governor Jaokson laughed Immoderately
at the Colonel's joke, but he never had occa
sion to make a fourth call upon the Sapping
ton farm;
DEATHS HEBE AND ELSEWHEEE.
Br. Sara C. Seward.
Dr. Sara C, Seward, a well-known woman
medical missionary, a niece of ex-Secretary Sew
ard and a sister of tbe Rev. S. S. Seward, died sud
denly June 16, at Allahabad, India, where she had
been working among the women for the past 17
years. Miss Seward was born at Florida, N. Y.,
in 1833. In 1870 Sir WilUam Muir, then Governor
of the Northwestern Provinces of. India, sug
gested to tne Zenana Mlsslonarv Society that appli
cation be made to the American Medical College
for women doctors, as the Zenaua women preferred
death to having their ills cured by a male physician.
The society accepted the suggestion, and applica
tion was inautj lu lijb i iiiinueinma voucre. -jne
appointment was tendered to Miss beward and she
accepted It. For several y
the orders of the British Ci
'cars she was dubject to
overnmeni, diiioi lale
years sne naa Deen wonting under tne rrcsbytcrlan
Board of Foreign Missions of thU country.
David Settle Beid.
David Settle Beid, who was prominent in
pnbUc affairs away back in the time bf President
Polk, died Friday at Beldsvllle, N. C. He was
sent to the State Legislature from 1835 to 1842. when
he was promoted to the National Legislature,
being elected to Congress as a Democrat for two
consecutive terms. He was the Democratic candi
date for Governor of North Carolina lnl8W. but
was defeated, succeeding, however. !u a tnbsequcut
contest and serving as Governor of Ills State from
IBM to 1S55. He then served four years In the
United States Senate. He was a delegate to the
Peace Convention that met In Washington In Feb
ruary. 1861, and, after serving In the Confederate
Congress, retlrtd.from acthellfe.
Daniel Minnick.
Daniel Minnick died at Bedford, Friday
night. In his 89th year. He was the first person
who ever performed in pubUe on the swinging
trapeze. He followed the show business for over 50
years. He was for many years a chum of Dan Rice,
and was onaofthe originators of the first show that
exhibited under a canvas.
Obituary Notes.
Jesus Jimexez. the Mexican General, Is dead.
Thomas B. Byrnes, a well-known Democratic
fnlltlcUu, died yesterday morning at Evausvillo,
ad.
Joll.f F, TEJirLKTOS died in Union county. Ind.,
Friday, aged 8. He was one of the best-known
larmers in the Stale.
RDEL P.. Cowles, President or C. Cowles & Co. 's
carriage hardware manufacturing company, of
New llaveu, died Thursday, aged 62 years.
Rev. Patrick Dctft, a member or the Society
or Jesns. Is dead of heart disease at the Frederick
Noltlsts In Maryland. Hewairborn in Philadel
phia in 1818.
Majou J. R. McEliiaxey, President of the First
National Hank of Springfield, Mo and one of the
liesl-Vniiwu citizens or that State, died at Spring
Held Frid.iy morning.
William Torhey, one of tho projectors of the
'Rarltannhd Delaware Bay Railroad, died at Man
chester, N. J:. Monday, aged m jears. Hla wife
(lied a J car sign nt the age oi 93.
llE.vnv billRK, git., a promncnt citizen of Balti
more, died Thursday night of congestion or the
brain, superinduced by old age. He wai nearly 87
years old. He was born In the neighbor liootrof Lan
caster, Ta.
SiSTEn Richabd. a teacher In the convent or St,
Michael's Church. Baltimore, died of consumption
Thursday. She was ,23 years old. and a daughter of
Plicnaeijviiacrfflyixictr tor, one naq oeen m UB
convent only assort lime.
TALK OF THE TOWN.
Going West in the Old Days Not a Very
Pleasant Growth With the Country A
Pedagogue Tortured Short Tales of
'the Day.
"You talk about roughing it in the West
flowadayg; why, it'3 all cldcr-down and
molasses compared to what it was twenty-fl ve
years ago," said E. L. Baring, a Minnesota
farmer to me yesterday. "Just to illustrate
what I mean let me tell you a story, by no
means an extraordinary one, of llfo in Colo
rado In the sixties. A few years ago I was
in the Gunnison Valley, and a man named
Richardson, who kept a drugstore there,
drove mo one day to Mt. Carbon, where
I wanted to see anthracite and bitu
minous coal which, strange to say,
Is found on opposite sides of the
same mountain. I noticed rror, Kicn-i
ardson, as ho was called, had neither
eyelashes nor eyebrows, which gavo his faco
a most peculiar expression, and as delicately
as I could I finally got around to the cause
of this deformity. The story he told lasted
all through our drive of half a day.
"Richardson, it appeared, left his farm In
n jscunsui onginaiiy ne naa como irom mo
East to try what the'alr of Colorado would
do for his wife, who was ailing, and arrived
in Denver early in the sixties. He had very
poor luck in Denver, nnd his pile had
dwindled to almost nothing, when an
acquaintance, a ranch owner, told him he
was going to raise a company of cavalry and
fight for the old flag, and that if Richardson
liked he could under certain easy conditions
run nm lancn till ne reiurnea. nicnaruson
prospered for a year or so on the ranch, but
one day a horseman galloped up to the door
shouting: 'The Indians are coming! Fly for
your lives!' Richardson lost no time, bnt
lied with his wife and child to Denver. Tho
Indians burned the house, and ran off all the
stock, and it hen Riohardson returned with a
posse a day or two later he found nothing
but smoking embers. .
A Terrible Journey.
"A secoxd time Richardson started in
again in Denver," continued Mr. Baring,
"and with a little monoy he had saved from,
the wreck of his ranching experience,
bought 'some oxen and went to freighting.
In the course of business he entered into a
contract with the Government, through
a commissariat officer In Denver, to
haul a quantity of flour from Denver
to the military station at Uncompoghre,
some 200 miles away, in Ouray county. After
he had signed the contract, obligating him
self for all he was worth to fulfill It, the
teamsters ho hired refused to go with him.
He could induce nobody to take their places;
so he started alone In midwinter tomako
the Journey with twenty ox-teams. Tho ex
perience that followed, Richardson said,
tried him more savagely than all his life in
the West put together. After he started the
weather got colder and colder; the snow
drifts got deeper, and the lnckless oxen wero
continually stalling. Finally starvation or
death from cold stared him in the face, and
In despair he took as much coffee, hard
tack and bacon as he could carry and left
the oxen behind. Twenty-flve miles he
walked, afraid to rest a moment, lest he
should fall asleep, never to wake again, in
the snow.
Tried by Fire.
"The he happened upon a little cave
filled with brush where he thought it safe
to rest," continued Mr. Baring. "He kin
dled a fire to make some coffee, and as he
was about it he fell asleep, exhausted. He
awoke to find himself amid flames; tho
brush had kindled from the Are; and his
clothes were on Are. His whiskers, eye
brows and eyelashes were all consumed be
fore he escaped. He was near Uncompoghre
by this time and he reached the post at last,
but with his feet frozen and delirousfrom
suffering. The fever that followed almost'
killed him, and he lost all the nails of hU
Angers and toes. "When he had recovered he
exchanged tbe oxen, which the soldiers of
the post had found where he bad left them,
for some Texan steers, and with them ha
started back to Denver. The keen-scented
speedy Texan steers saved his life on this
Journey. Thoy gave him timely warning of
the approach ofa party of Indians, so that
though fired at by the treacherous redskins,
be escaped. He met an ambulance contain
ing an army officer and his wife and a far
rier of tbe regiment shortly afterward, and
auvucu lueui mi kiau umix. wmi uim ana I
thus avoid an Indian ambush. Thov !
laughed at his advice, and were found, days
after, scalped and mutilated by the savages..
Blohardson went on and arrived in Denver
without further adventure. His wife had
given him np for dead. ,
"After that the story of bis life ran through
smoother chapters and he prospered, so that
to-day I dare say people point to him and
say: 'Y'ou see that man came out West an
grew up with tho country it's the only
way. ' But It was a hard way, you'll admit."
Too Faithful Imitation.
The boys in a rural school In this county
got into the habit of rushing Into tho room
in a boisterous, unBeemly fashion, to the
great annoyance of tbe teacher, who was of
a highly nervous temperament. Finally ono
morning when the boys had been, exasper
atingly noisy on their entrance tbe teacher
rapped for silence and read them a lecture
on manners. To Impress them the more ho
offered to show tnem how a decent boy
should corce into school, and walked from
the door to his desk in slow, solemn style aa
a sample. This would have had better
effect had not the teacher had a club-foot,
which he dragged after him with consider
able awkwardness. But still nobody laughed
when the teacher concluded by desiring
them to enter school as he bad the next
day.
Tho boys were unusually punctual next
morning; not one was late. They gathered
before the school door, and after the teacher
had entered, went in in a body. The flrst
boy was the most unruly boy in school, tho
leader in all mischief. The others followed
in single file, and in this order they marched
around the room, every boy dragging his
left foot exactly as theipcdagoguc wa3 wont
to do. Tho imitation was too faithful. The
object of it decided it was not flattery.
A DECISIVE AKSWEB.
The Man Could Not Talk, but "Was Able to
Make Signs.
Detroit Free Press.
"It seems to be a clear case against the
prisoner. If tbe Court understands the evi
dence, this gentleman asked tbe defendant a
civil question and he, without replying, at
once knocked him down and proceeded to
trample on hiin nnd kick him in the most
brutal manner. Has counsel for the defense
anything to say to tho contrary?"
"Permit me to explain, Your Honor. I ad
mit that until the lacts are fully understood
the presumption Is certainly against xay
client. But I wish to call Your Honor's at
tention to tbe fact that tno prisoner, while
hearing distinctly and understanding all
that Is said to him, cannot speak a word."
"Admitting that, what has it to do with the
assaultt"
"Everything, Your Honor. The accuser
came to the defendant and asked him 'What
do you think wo ought to do to tho Italian
Mafia in this country.' My client, unable to
spenk yet anxious to obligo the accuser
with his opinion on so serious a question,
proceeded to demonstrate to him in a man
ner at once convinclug and effectual what he
thought ought to be dono in tho premises.
It has been a great surprise to us. Your
Honor, that exceptions should havo been
taken to an answer thof was as convincing
as it was striking."
A M0DEBN FABLE.
Tho Dream That Makes Two Visits in One
Night and the Result. '
New York Sun.
A dream of Oriental sumptuosity, who lay
reclined on a bank of vapor Idly eyeing the
advance of dawn, consented to accompany a
iprito on nn early glide. By way of prank,
tho dream appeared to a sewing girl and to
an heiress and then prepaied with his com
panion to observe how each would tako his
islt. While the one, excited by tho splen
dor of her vision, behold her surroundings
glorified and sang nil day at her work, the
other was opprcssod by sploen at thoughts
ofa magnificence which made her own an
pointings appear both menger aud mean.
Even as a Illy painted is a fable which pro
claims no other moral than that tho compen
sations of poverty are all a dream.
A Wail From the West
Kansas City Times.
Mr. Porter, of the Census Bureau, has put
both of his feet in it in his attempt to fine a
Missouri man $100 for failing to tell the
census enumerator that Ills farm-was mort
gaged. Tho Missonrlin writes n caustic
letter to the grout failure stating that he
does not own a farm, nnd, of course, cannot
have a mortgage upon it. He further in
forms the superintendent that the Census
Bureau is a failure and that he, the superin
tendent, is a four-legged animal with long,
waving ears.
CURIOUS CONDENSATIONS.
Diamonds of the purest transparency
have been found In British Guiana. ,
The Bible has now been translated into
66 of the languages and dialects of Africa.
There is a clergyman in Xew Mexico
who goes by the name of Key. Innocent
Wolf.
A, large firm in Germany has sent to a
dealer in San Diego, CaU for 6 0CO cactus
plants of many varioties.
A letter carrier at Wheeling, V. Va.,
successfully delivered a letter to a man with
the name of George Schwifferwitzerenonther
helm. Charles Kcal, colored, living seven
miles west of Gainesville, Fla., buried his
twenty-second child Thursday. He has Ave
still living.
A. new claimant for honors as a faster is
an Indiana rattlesnake, which "has gone
without food for 13 months." It is confined
in inoDepauw university museum.
There are two Major "William McKin
leys in Ohio. The one is the Republican
nominee for Governor and the other is a
Democratic saloonkeeper in Mansfield.
The Byron, Me., girls have caught the
gold-digging fever, and tho heroine of the
town is a yonng woman who was mined $1
worth of the real stuff from Smith Brook. -
There is a three-armed deaf and dumb
rfreak in a 'Wisconsin dime mnsenm who, can
huk so iasc on ner nngers tnat there isn't a
stenographer in the State who can report
her verbatim.
A Parsons Kan., cat not only soured on
the household, in. which it was raised, but
after It ran away actually went back and
stole the mouse trap which the family had
substituted for the ungrateful tabby.
A couple living within one mile of
Llthonia, Fla., have been married 40 yeTs,
and the husband affirms that he has never
kissed his wife. Neither has she ever kissed
him. They are tho parents or U children.
A picture belonging to an Audrain
county (Mo.) farmer, which disappeared
during the recent cyclone, was found over
in Pike county the other day, a distance of
50 miles from the residence of the owner. It
represented the death of Ananias.
Borers of the city artesian well at Fort
"Worth, Tex, are of the,oplnion that the drill
will soon penetrate a huge volume of hoilin"
water, as the temperature increases witS
every few feet they go down, and at last
accounts was 121, at a depth of 2,900 feet.
It has been calculated lately that the
electromotive force ofa bolt of lightning is
about 3,500,000 volts, the current about 14,000,
000 amperes, and the time to be about 1-20 000
part ofa second. In such a bolt there is an
energy of 2,430,000,000 watts, or 3,234,163 horse
power.
Kichard Carney, of Cocoanut Grove,
Dade county, Fla., had anarrow escape from
death. A panther attacked him in the
woods. Mr. Carney drove him off, but not
without some damage to himself: his cheek
was lacerated, arm scratched and his cloth
ing literally torn from his body in shreds.
A girl in Kitsap county, "Wash., who
was chased home, a distance of half a mile, by
a big black bear, rushed Into the house like a
whirlwind 'and fell exhausted on the floor.
She did not go into hysterics, but suggested
to her father, as soon as she regained her
breath, that he "might as well take his gun
and look for that bear instead of standing
there asking fool questions."
Andrew Jenkins (colored), of Parker
Tille, Ga., captured a live rattlesnake the
.other day. The snake was about five feet
long, and was Just finishing the Job of swal
lowing a full grown squirrel when captured.
He was kept until Thursday night and
viewed by several as a curiosity, but they
neglected to draw his fangs, and on the night
mentioned It committed suicide bybitinjr
itself.
An ingenius apparatus has been intro
duced to prevent the wheels of electric and
other street cars from slipping. It-consists
of a revolving brush connected with the for
ward axleby a belt. As the axle revolves it
sets the brushes In motion, clearing a path
for the wheels. There is also operated in
connection with tho device a box which al
lows the escape of a sufficient amount of
sand or salt without tbe slightest waste.
London was slow to accept the electric
light, but is now making up for lost time.
At the general meeting of the. Metropolitan
Company, the chairman reported that with'
in ayear the number of the lamps supplied
by them had increased from 6,000 to
60,000. As to their system of underground
mains, he said that the length of the conduit
at present laid was 40 miles, and into these
conduits there had been laid 90 miles of"
mains, and not one fault or leakage bad oc
curred. Prince Conti had the odd trick of bark
ing exactly like a little yapping lap dog, and
not infrequently barked at a lady instead of
answering her. Once he was seized with a
desire to perform this strange antic while in
tbe throneroom of Louis XIY, but knowing
how furiously le grand monarque wonld
have resented such an infringement of his
royal dignity, Conti hurried to an open win
dow and, leaning out, pressed his handker
chief over his mouth and barked softly to
his heart's content.
At La Villa, Fix, two hens in the yard
of Robert Miller got to fighting, and went for
each other like game cocks. A cow in the
yard went up to the hens and separated them
with her horns. They soon after renewed
the combat and again were separated by the
cow, but only for a short time. She tried to
hook them apart again, but failed. She then
turned and began to kick at tbe hens, but
this did not separate or stop them from fight
ing. The cow thei caught one under ner
nose and rolled it about od the ground until
she broke one wing. This ended the battle,
as the other hen took refuge in flight.
On Friday last Joseph Morton found a
bottle floating in the Coosa river near Klr
ton's landing, 35 miles below Rome, Ga. On
the face of a card in tho bottle was this in
scription, printed in heavy black script,
"L. H. Fitts, contractor, Augusta, Go."
Written in pencil on the lower edge of the
card was the address: "U3S Greene street."
Mr. Morton became interested when he read
this and his wonder grew when he turned
the card over and perused tho following In
scription, written with a lead pencil In a
delicate hand: "If found, please write my
wife, Mrs! Fitts, of Augusta, and tell her I
leaped from a bridge at Rome, Ga., with sui
cidal intent." Nothlngmorocouldbe learned
about Fitts.
DEDICATED TO SMILES.
"Oh, I'm a great favorite with little
Mandlc, " said Uncle George. "She's very exclu
sive with her affections. Just listen. Maudle dear,
who does oo love?"
"Everybody," said Maudle. Barptrs'' Roar.
Bjones Our baby said his first word to
day. Mrs. Do Gush came in, and the minute she
saw him, exclaimed, "What a perfect image of his
papal"
BJInki-What did the baby say?
Bjones Chestnut. Harpers'' Bazar.
Young Lady Tourist (to Mountain Guide)
Do you make a good living at your business?
Guide Yes, miss. Why shouldn't I?
Young Lady I fancied you might Had it uphill
work. Harpers' Bazar.
Farmer Firkin (to Small Boy) If ye
don't come right down out o' that tree. I'll let go
o' the dog's collar.
SmaUBoy Iluhl .A dog can't climb a tree!
Farmer Firkin No; but I kin, an' he klneauat
finder it. Pue.
Tourist (in Kentucky) I beg pardon, sfljj
but what Is your name?
Citizen John Smith.
Tourist Well, Colonel Smith, I
Citizen Hold on! I'm not a Cokmel. I lust
moved In here from the North last week. Puck.
If cleanliness, as "Wesley said, is next
To godliness, 'tis safe to say
The airnre Is. very large that lies betwixt
Our streets and godliness to-day.
Sew York Press.
Annie (seeing George slip on a banana
peel and slide under a fruit 9tand George doesn't
look so much llftc a dude now, dues he?
Bessie No. He has more of a subdued appear
ance at the present moment. Toledo Blade.
"What do ydu expect to prove by all
these witnesses," sharply inquired the Judge.
"We expect, your Honor," replied tbe attorney,
' 'to Impeach tbe testimony of the prosecuting wit
ness." "What's the use, "replied the Judge. "Didn't
he tell you be was running a big American tin plate
factory?" CAidPO Trl'iunr.
Wool "What makes Mrs. Hicks watch
ber liuthiiid so closely?
Van Pelt A few lilghU since she started to grieve
for her first husband and Hlcka sympathized with
her. .Vew York Herald.
''Oh, he is a model husband now. She
does not even let him drink an occasional glass of
wine."
"That Is what I call downright mean. He never
would haye proposed to her had he not been under (
tae loauence or wine," inaumapoiis Journcu,
$
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