C0URT1HG IH MEXICO.
The GhiTalrous Lover Has to
Put TJp With a Good Deal
Before He Wins.
WATCHIM FOE THE (HBL
TVears His Heels Into His Ankles
Pacing Beneath Her Window.
HE PAIS THE WEDDKG EXPENSES.
The Cooking Is All Done Over Charcoal and
Eangcs Are Unknown.
MOBILITY OF THE SISTER REPUBLIC
rcOBRrsroMimcK or tus dist atchj
UADALAJARA, MEXICO,
Aug. 18. Guadalajara is
the Athens-of Mexico. It
is the art center of the
Kepublic, and though it is
little known in the United
States the city contains
100,000 inhabitants, and it
has one of the finest thea
ters on the American con
tinent It is one ot the
oldest cities of Mexico,
and up untilayearortwo
ago it was several nun
dred miles away from a railroad. It is a
city of wealth and culture. It has the finest
looking men and the prettiest girls of our
sister Kepublic, and there isno better place
than here for the study of the senorita in
all her caprices and all her beauty.
The women of Eastern Mexico have round,
plump faces. Their noses are inclined to
thickness, and their complexions are often
sallow. The girls here have features of the
Greek east, and even in the markets and
among the peddlers about the plaza you
find laces that might have served as models
for Praxitiles. Their hair is usually of
raven blackness, and it grows so luxuri
antly that the average girl has locks which
reach below her waist
HOW THEY CARE TOR THEIR HAIR.
The Mexican woman is very particular
booui ner nair. one wasnes it several times
a week and goes from the public bath with
it streaming down her shoulders and over
her back. You will see women with their
hair hanging in this way in any Mexican
city, and the custom is as common among
the rich as the poor. The eyes of the
Guadalajara girls are large, dark, liquid
aud full of souL They are frank and hon
est, but by no means bold, and the maidens
have all the modesty and coyness for which
the Mexican girls are noted.
Mexican girls have none of the freedom
of our American maidens. Until within a
year or so the daughter of a Mexican gen
tleman never thought of going out on the
street alone, and yon see few girls riding or
walking without their mothers, their aunts
or some ugly old woman in a black shawl
who acts as chaperone or duenna. The for
eign residents of Mexico City have taught
more freedom, but the girls still stick to
their duennas and none of them are allowed
to receive gentlemen callers. Thev are
backward in the presence of men, and they
have neither unknown correspondents nor
uuaruing scuooi mirations, xne gins are
brought up at home and a favorite pet name
for them is chickens.
amusing- srsxEii of nicknames.
Young girls are calledrollitas or little
chickens and old girls are latniUarily called
pollas or growji chickens. It is needless to
say that the Mexican dude as a rule pre
fers the pollitas. The men have their nick
names as well as the girls, and the- are
known as gallos or palhuos, and this,
strange to say, is a Mexican expression
meaning young or old roosters. This, how
ever, is not so much different from our own
custom, for do e not contemptuously apply
tbe name "old rooster" to the men we
think but little of, and is not on: of our
most endearing terms for girls thai of the
duck?
The senorita matures much earlier than
her American sister. She is as old at 13 as
our girls are at 18, and the law provides
that she may be married as 11. At 25 she
begins to verge on old-maidenhood and at
30 she is passee. Mexican women age very
rapidly, wives are old and fat at 35, and I
see but few women with gray hair. Mexi
can marriages are often arranged by the
wMv
A Beauty of Mexico.
parents, and a Mexican courtship is hollow
mockery as far as the young man is con
cerned. WATCHING HIS LOVE'S "WINDOW.
His love has to be a case of love at first
Bight, and when he sees the girl whom he
wishes to marrv he lets her know his love
by putting on his best go-to-meeting Sun
day leather breeches, with a line ot silver
buttons dowu their legs, his 50 felt hat,
with a rim as big as a butter bowl, and his
swell coat and takes his stand in front of the
maiden's window. Here for hours he'looks
and sighs, varying his position by now and
then strutting up and down the'sidewalk,
never letting his eyes turn away from the
window. He does this for day after day and
night after night until the family take
notice of his devotion and inquire into his
bank account and his character.
If they approve of the match the maiden
appears at the window, and as love grows
hot, she comes out and fans herself on the
tecond story balcony. This, however, is
never before the young man has been tan
talized by a w eek or so of walking up and
down before her window and lie has to con
tinue this walking often for months before
he gets inside the house. This walking and
poing and sighing is known here by the
phrase, "playing the bear," and this bear
act has to be done by every beau.
HARD LINES FOE THE XiOVER.
The worst of tho matter is the lost time
that a fellow has to spend before he can
know definitely whether he is going to
make any impression whatever. Once be
gun it has to ds kept up day after day,
whether it rains or shines, and a beau who
would be scared out by a thunder storm
would be sure to lose his sweetheart As
the acquaintance goes on the beau may
bring his guitar, or if he is not a musician
Pit
Wit
he may hire a band. The girl, if she falls in
lore, mar drop him a rose or so, or she may
smile upon mm, or nnauy, when he has
worn his heels into his ancles, he may be
invited to call.
This indicates that the familv like him.
They like him so well that they stay in tho ' them into tight, little shoes, with heels in
room during all his calls, and if he invites middle of the sole, after the most approved
the girl to go any place with him he has to Paris fashion. These shoes make the Mex
take her sisters, her cousins and her aunts ' ican walk a mincing one, and the result is
with him. If he still perseveres he is Riven
a chance to see the girl alone for an hour or
so, and ho knows that this means that it ii
time for him to propose. If he does pro
pose the girl tells him that ho must ask
mamma or papa, and upon doing this he
finds that their conditions are decidedly
practical ones.
IT'S AN EXPENSIVE BUSINESS.
The question of dollars and cents enters
into it and the young fellow has to pay all
the bills. He buys her wedding outfit and
wararoDe, gives ner aresses ana jewels.
She does the selecting and sends the bill-to
him. If the young man is very much in
love he may "give his bride carte blanche
butifheisat all a practical man he will
fix a limit beyond which the bills must not'
go. The groom is expected to furnish the
home, if the voung couple go into an
establishment of their own and if not he is
expected to go into his wife's family and
live with them.
After a man has gone through the bear
UUB1UC33, 11U9 ttUSlCU 11IB BUUS13X1CG IH laKlIl
his future wife's relatives to parties, ami j
has gone through the inane custom of visit-
ing her in the presence of her family he '
finds that he still has something to do be- i
fore he can get married. Divorce is less
common in Mexico than with us and there
is little chance for a fraudulent wedding.
Two months before the wedding an an
nouncement of it must be registered at the
cathedral and the priest must register it in
the civil court Outside the court door the
names of the couple must be put upon a
bulletin and Kept there for 20 days
preceding the wedding and there has to be
a wedding before the priest and then one
before the judge.
AMEEK1ANS MAKnr THREE TIMES.
At this last ceremony there must be six
witnesses, and one ot these must be the
priest who performed the church ceremony.
I found a number of Americans who had
married Mexican girls, and an American
has to go throuch a third wedding in addi
tion to the above two. This is in connec
tion with the American Consul and at the
close of it he is tied to his wife as fast as
two countries and a church can make him.
At some of the Mexican marriages a silver
cord with two loops is fastened around the
neck of the.bride and groom and the groom
gives the bride money as a sign that she is
to have her hand in the family pocket
book. As soon as tho wedding is over the
couple go to the best photograph gallery
in the city and have their pictures taken in
their wedding finery. I have taken a good
many pictures in Mexico, and I have to
visit the galleries to have my developing
done. I hnd the cases filled with pictures
of girls in wedding veils with uneasy men
standing beside them, and I was for a long
time at a loss to know the cause of the
custom. After leaving the photographer's,
the bride and groom return home to the
house of the bride's mother or to the estab
lishment of the groom. There is no bridal
tour, and the young people settle down at
once to married life.
THE TABLES TURNED AT IjAST.
It is not till now, howeverf that the man
has any sort of an ownership of the girl.
While he is courting her she did just as she
pleased. During the interval between the
civil ceremony and the church ceremony
which lasted perhaps a week she remained
at her home and he remained at his and
though he was her legal husband he did not
e en dare visit her. There is little home
life in Mexico. There is' no word in the
language which expresses our idea of home.
The Mexican house has no fireside nor base
burner stove around which the familv eath-
ers and the people lack that home charac
teristic which is such an important clement
among the Anglo-Saxons and the Germans.
They are more like the French and the Ital
ians than us and the Mexican morality is
said to be considerablv looser than ours.
Among the lower classes it is notorious
that marriages are on aud off at the will of
the contracting parties and among the
higher classes, while marriages stick, there is
a fair proportion of both sexes who have
their sweethearts outside of their own fami
lies. Girls are so eeoluded before marriage
that they do not learn how to take care of
themselves and after marriage they do as
they please. Of course the majority of
women are good in Mexiro as they are the
wojrld over; but their ideas of life and vir
tue' are more those of a French girl than
like ours. Americans who have Mexican
wives tell me that they make good help
meets. They are economical and very fond
of their children. The most of them smoke
after marriage, though they have not been
permitted to do so in publio before ano
they take care of their houses in the true
Mexican way.
THE QUEER JESXICASr ETIQUETTE.
Mexican social customs are much differ
ent from ours. At every railroad station 1
have stopped I have seen grown men rush
into each other's arms and press their cheeks
while they hug most frantically and pat
each other on the shoulder. I see women
embracing and rubbing their cheeks one
against the other. They throw kisses at
one another as they part and they have a
way of putting their torcfingers and thumb
to their lips and throning a whole handful
of kisfes at once, which is very pretty when
the lips are like ripe cherries and the girls
are young.
"When vou call upon a Mexican familv
the lady does not rise to receive you and
the strangers here make the first calls. The
people you call upon drop their work
the moment you come in and they are
full of polite expressions. They always re
fer to their house as yours, and an invitation
I got yesterday requested me to come to see
a Mexican at my house, on some street, the
name of which! never heard before. The
Mexicans give few dinner parties aud teas
and luncheons are usually confined to the
family. Every woman of the better classes,
however, wants to have her box at the
opera and her carriage and vou can sea nil
Mexico City every afternoon driving on the
1'aseo. You know that half of the carriages
are not paid for, but yon enjoy the sight'all
the same.
NOT VESr GOOD HOUSEKEEPERS.
The Mexican woman is fond of dress, but
she does not waste much time on her morn
ing toilet After a breakfast of a cup of
chocolate and a roll she puts on a Mother
Hubbard and a pair of slippers and loafs
about until dinner or the second breakfast,
which comes at noon. I don't think, as a
rule, that she is the best housekeeper in the
world, and she is by uo means averse to
paint and powder. I see dark faces covered
with Hour in every crowd I enter, and
thero are many red cheeks made so by
other means than those of nature. It used
to be that only the mantilla was used as a
head dress. This is a 6carf of white or black
lace and it is used as a head-dress and a
shawl combined. You see thousands of
them in Mexico City, and they are still the
common head dress here, but at the capital
Paris fashions are coming in, and ugly
Paris bonnets and hats are taking its place.
These Mexican girls wear their hair low
on the forehead, and I am told that the
"bang" came from Mexico. They dress it
up iu a sort of a Greek knot on the back of
Making Bread.
mtMmmi
rwiT?
IHE
tbe head and sometimes let it hang in long
braids down their back. They are very
proud of their hair, but they are especially
proud of their hands and feet They have
beautiful hands, soft, plump and finely
I formed, bnt thev ruin their feet by putting
' yu nna out lew good waiters among tnem.
HOUSEKEEPING IN MEXICO.
Housekeeping is carried, on ere in a
much different style than with us. It is
necessary to have about three times as many
servants and the servants are as particular
about the work which they do as if they
belonged to the wastes of India. Your cook
will never make the bed nor will the
chamber maid go into the kitchen. If you
can get her to wait upon the table you will
do well, and your cook would leave you
if asked to do the washing. The
cooking is all done with charcoal and the
kitchen has a little ledge of brioks built
into the wall with a number of holes sunk
into the side of it and with others meeting
these let into its top.
The holes at'the top are for the fire and
the side holes furnish the draught and form
a receptacle for the ashe. You light your
A Peon Beauty.
charcoal at the top and fan away at tho
front and thus keep the coals bnrning.
There is not a bit of iron about the stove
and the cooking utensils are of clay. In
this city of 100,000 people I don't suppose
there is a single iron cooking stove and I
doubt whether there is an iron pot, pan or
skillet. "Water is boiled, soups are made,,
meats are fried, and in fact a first-class
dinner is gotten up on charcoal by means of
pans of red clay of the color of bricks, and
these pots and pans range in size from n
butter plate to a dishpan and from an egg
cup to an aDple-butter kettle.
COOKING RANGES ARE UNKNOWN.
Many of the stoves have half a dozen
openings, and in these half dozen charcoal
fires will be burning. It is possible to cook
only on the fire, and there has to be a fire
for each dish. The Iturbide Hotel, which
is the biggest hotel in Mexico, does all its
cooking this way, and such a thing as our
big cooking ranges would be a curiosity.
The Mexican cook usually has a great
number of friends, She keeps her family
with her in the kitchen, and a man can rely
upon keeping a sort of an Aztec boardi.ug
house when he enters into his contract with
his cook. The other rooms of the house are
quite as queer as the kitchen. The houses
are, you know, all built around a court,
which serves as a stable for the horse and
the place for keeping the carriage, or which
mar be a beautiful garden. There are often
galleries running around this court, upon
which the second-story rooms open, and in
some houses you will find a fountain play
ing in it
inside the big booms.
The
rooms ara all frescoed instead ot
tianered. and theirfloors are all of tiles or
bricks instead of boards. If they are of
brick the brick is painted, and you will find
hut little carpet upon them onlya a strip in
front of the bed perhaps, or running along
in front of a eofa. Xou would be interested
in the dining room, which has a floor of the
same kind, and in the eorner of which is a
washstand which you may use in the place
of your finger bowls at the close of your
meals. At your brcactast you will do well
if you have a table cloth, and you will find
that it consists of little more than chocolate
and bread.
Your dinner will be soup and half a dozen
boiled dishes, beans and desert, and you will
be expected to eat the beans whether you
take anything else or not After dinner you
will smoke a cigarette with the family, and
after supper, if you follow the example of
the family, you will go to bed. You will
find your bed as hard as a board, and you
will look in vain for spring mattresses. You
will go to bed with a candle, and theohances
are that you will be tronbled with fleas.
"With all this you will nevertheless sleep
like a top, and you will find so many pleas
ant things mixed up with these little incon
veniences that you will say that Mexican
life is after all as pleasant as any in the
world.
LOVE AMONG THB,AZTECS.
The common people, the peons or the
peasants of Mexico, have customs of their
own. and as far as I can see thev have as
strong a love for eadh other as any people in
the world. I meet many a young man and
woman everywhere I go walking along hand
Doing the Bear Act.
in hand or with the arm of the man thrown
around the waist of the woman and the two
looking into each other's eyes as lovingly as
ever Jtomeo gazed at Juliet. Some of the In
dian girls are very pretty, and their fine
Aztec features shine like the face of the
Madonna out of their blue rebosas which
they drape so picturesquely around their
heads and shoulders. They do not care
much for dress, but their costume, consist
ing of this shawl, chemise and a skirt,
though very plain, is by no means unbe
coming, and they form one of the most at
tracts e features of the population.
The women are said to be very true to the
men, and though marriage is often too ex
pensive a luxury for them to indulge in,
they live together as true to one another as
though they had been tied by the church
and court Both man and woman work to
support the family, and here as in America
the woman often does the most of the work.
She literally makes the bread of the family,
and a great part of her life, is taken up in
bending over a stone and rolling or grinding
tortillas. Oat of Indian corn soaked in
lime water she makes the mush fop the corn
cakes of the family and her life is certainly
one of hardship, though it seems to be ona
of love. Frank G. Carpenter.
Feet without corns are pearls of high
price. Daisy Corn Cure is positive and per
nianent in its effect 15 cents; all druggists
PITTSBURG DISPATCH,
FRANCE IN THE EAST.
She Is Making Cochin China
Richest Land of the Orient.
the
TOWNS GROW LIKE MUSHROOMS.
Modern Improvements That Would Shame
Pittsburg by Contrast
SAD BT0ET OP HUEDEEEES" FIELD
"tcOBRrsroiTOEJtcB or the oisrATcn.1
Saigon,, July 20. Travelers in the far
East who pass Cochin-China without stop
ping there a few days do not know that the
French Bepublio is rapidly building up one
of the richest colonies in this part of the
globe. The city of Saigon affords good evi
dence of what is going on. Twenty-five
years ago it was a miasmatio and almost
deadly marsh, with a few wretched huts
and hovels scattered here and there among
its pools. To-day it is a fine young city,
well arranged and laid out with parks
and .boulevards sufficient to accommo
date "a population of 300,000 souls. Nine
tenths of it is well drained and sewered; it
has an inexhaustible supply of pnre sweet
water; and all building within the fire
limits are substantial and almost fireproof
structures. The roads are as level and
smooth as a floor; the sidewalks almost
worthy of Paris and the publio buildings
handsomer than those of Singapore and
Hongkong. Like these two cities it is. no
longer unhealthful; sanitary engineering,
scientific drainage, efficient street cleaning
and thorough disinfection whenever and
wherever necessary have reduced the death
and disease rate to abont the normal of
Marseilles and Naples.
growths that are marvelous.
Tho progiesa of Saigon is wonderful
enough, but that of the new cities in the in
terior Cho-Loong and Mytho, borders on
the marvelous. These when the French
conquered the country were Bmall agri
cultural villages; they ore now busy manu
facturing cities, the former possessing a
population of nearly 200,000 and the latter
one almost if not quite as large. The policy
of the administration strongly favors immi
gration. The result is a steady stream of
Anamites, Siamese, Burmese and Chinese
from Yun-nan and Ton-Quin by land and
Macao.Hongkong and Canton by water. The
two new cities are essentially Mongolian in
the nationality of their citizens, but they
are French to the core in their neatness,
cleanliness and municipal excellence.
Busy is no word for them. Baw materials
come in from every direction and manu
factured goods pour out. The railroads and
the Saigon river carry tens of thousands of
tons of freight annually. The trip from
Cape St James to Mytho is one to be long
remembered. A few hills guard like senti
nels the river, which in some past age was a
far larger stream than it is to day. On the
South and on either side of the river be
yond the hills is a vast delta, whose rich
and prolifio soil can support millions, and
which ere many years have elapsed will be
one of the granaries of the world.
WONDERS OP SAIGON RIVER.
At present it is almost virgin soil. A
dense jungle covers large portions of its
surface where lurk tigers, leopards, croco
diles and huge serpents. The Saigon river
was undoubtedly planned upon the prin
ciple of a snake. It winds in and out, as
if hopelessly lost In each mile of length
it faces every point of the compass. It is a
stream of surprises. At one point it seems
a mile wide while at another you can almost
toss a biscuit to either bank. But it is deep
and strong. According to the tide is its
velocity, now quiet as a mountain lake and
two hours afterwards rushing tumultuosly
past like a mill race.
The city of Saigon is a pleasant spectacle
from the decks ot the steamer. The publio
buildings, neat and effective, the houses of
the people and the roads embowered in
trees and greenery, the streets in rich, red
day in vivid contrast with the universal
and intense green of vegetable life; the
eitizens of different races In gayly colored
costumes; the activity of trade and com
merce; the soldiery and constabulary in
bright uniforms, all combine to make a
brilliant, beautiful and interesting picture.
AN rNTERMTNABLB GRAVEYARD.
From Saigon the best route is by rail.
You can go on foot, horseback, in ox cart or
by native boats on the river branches. The
country between Saigon and Mytho is the
same delta formation as below the city, but
the ground is higher and dryer. It is a
great plain broken by pools, marshes and
water courses. When it is cultivated, it
yields fruit and vegetables in the greatest
profusion. Onlya twentieth, however, is
under the plow. At some past period it
must have had a swarming population.
Sometimes for miles the locomotive thun
ders through an interminable graveyard.
Sometimes it rushes past ruins and hills
where once stood great Cambodian or pre
Cambodian cities.
"Who inhabited these places is unknown.
The architecture of what is left seems a
mean between the Assyrian and the Hin
doo. Sometimes it is strikingly Egyptian
in character. There are tombs which are
perfect decapitated Sphinxes. The sim
ilarity goes so far as to have a tablet on the
stone'breast or in the paws of the fabulous
animal on which are indecipherable inscrip
tions. Some characters have been identi
fied a Chinese and still others as Sanscrit,
showing thatcenturies ago there mnst have
been a heavy commerce between this land
and its colossal neighbors to the East and
West
STORY OT A TRENCH SZLXJNG.
Near Cho-long In ancient cemetery which
the Anamites call "Murderer's Field." Here
during the French conquest the last army of
the native monarch, 4U,uuu young men, the
flower of the land, encountered a French
force of a quarter of their number. The
former were armed with warclubs, maces,
spears and bows and arrows; the latter with
rifles, revolvers and cannon. The French
"on account of their necessities took no
prisoners." At the first charge the poor
Anamites were routed with terrible
slaughter. They threw down their arms
and took to flight Then began a carnage
whose history has never been written. The
victors flanked, shot down and bayonetted
the half-naked fugitives, and followed the
survivors to again flank, shoot and kilt
"When darkness ended the day, a few
hundred worn out and wounded wretches
hiding in the swamps were all that was left
of tho proud army that started out iu the
morning. The dead were so many that they
could not be buried and in their decay
started a pestilence which swept off over
100,000 souls. ' Since then there has never
been made any resistance to the invader
and ever since has the Anamites adopted
the Chinese phrase and called their con
querors foreign devils, but always with
bated breath. The French record is very
meager. It says that the Anamites at
tacked their troops and were repulsed with
very heavy losses. It also notices an epi
demio the same month in the neighborhood
of the battle field which caused a large
number of deaths.
TREATMENT Or BRIGANDS.
In matters of this sort the French do no
half-way work. They have taken as, their
pattern the British system in Northwestern
India and improved upon it. Last month
two parties of brigands, one Anamite 40
strong and one Chinese 8 strong, were re
ported as pillaging some out-of-the-way vil
lages in the interior. The marauders had
probably counted on 'the fact that there
were no Europeans in the district, that the
community was poor and insignificant and
that the nearest troops were two hundred
miles away. But they reckoned without
their host Soldiers were sent from various
garrisons as as to encirole the malefactors
and within three weeks had accomplished
their work. The report of their proeeed-
ines as published is a model of brevity.
"Surprised both bands of brigands. Cap
tured and shot ten in the market-place.
t
SUETPAT, AUGUST 3,
Best killed in the melee. Four soldiers
wounded and ona killed."
No matter how begun and maintalned,the
new regime is bringing forth good fruit
Everywhere are the signs of industry, thrift
and prosperity. In the larger cities the
new buildings ot brick and stone are sup
planting the old ones of bamboo and mats.
Miles of street are paved, sewered, guttered
and curbed as well as any in Paris and
London. In the suburbs are kilns, where
brick, tiles arid terra cotta are being baked
or lime and -cement are being burned; quar
ries, where the rock is being shaped for
building, paving or ornamental purposes;
foundries and forges where smiths are ever
busy; and tanneries where hides are con
verted into the cheap spongy leather so dear
to Chinese and Japanese.
A PECULIAR MO NGOLIAN CUSTOM.
No high civilization is ever imposed upon
a lower but what a struggle results. In
Anam and Tonquin it takes the form of on
attempt to suppress traffic in girls and
women which is peculiar to the Mongolian
races. Girls are valuable property from
the moment of birth. They are not sold as
slaves but are "adopted for a .considera
tion." The parents, by either blood or
adoption have the legal right to let out
their daughters at a certain monthly rent
or to sell them for a round sum. The girl
does not lose respectability by the opera
tion in the least; but on the contrary is
highly esteemed as one who is aiding in the
support of her" parents or in their accumu
lation of wealth.
The custom is popular and time-honored.
Its importance, may be measured from the
fact that the average wages of a man are 25
cents a day aud that of a girl according, to
her beauty and accomplishments bring
from ?15 to 560 per month and her board
thrown in or if sold outright from 5200 to
53,500. Thus far the French have confined
their efforts to the punishment of brokers
and middlemen. At first they bastinadoed
and fined these miscreants, then they added
icrms oi imprisonment ana tnis year tney
have made it capital offense and have
already beheaded two guilty parties. The
only perceptible effect has been to make the
traffic, mora secret and slow, but not'to
diminish its proportions.
"WAGES Off 25 CENTS A DAY.
The working people seemed contented,
and prosperous. Their wants are few indeed.
Bents are very low. about 50 cents a month
an adult; the Itss clothing, the greater the
comfort and the simpler the diet, the better
for health. "Wages are good; considering
the actual cost of living they are very good.
Unskilled laborers average 25 cents per
diem and skilled abont twice as mueh. This
is about donble what they are in China and
serves to explain the constantstream of
emmicrrants from the Emnire.
The French rule with a rod of iron,but rule
with an even-handed justice, which has won
the hearts of their subjects. They show a
far deeper interest in the welfare of their
wards than do the English in Hongkong or
the Dutch in Sumatra.
The caste Bystem which prevails in the
two cities mentioned, .making a Mongol or
a Malay a social outcast is almost unknown
in the French colony. They believe that
their subjects' interests are identical
with their own and act accordingly. Under
their benign rule, it is easy to see that
Cochin-China is destined to have a great
future and that Saigon ere long will be an
Eastern metropolis as rich and influential
as Singapore, Hongkong or Yokohama.
Fales-Bedloe.
TEE TAX ON BACHELOES.
Eato Field Thinks the Plan Is a Good and
Equitable One.
The 'Wyoming Legislature has passed a
law taxing bachelors $2-a year, says Kate
Field in her Washington. "Whether the faot
that women vote there has anything to do
with this new departure I don't know, but
why isn't it a just tax? Society says to
woman, "It's your business to be married
as soon after you have made your debut as
possible. Otherwise you'll be called on old
maid, than which there can be no epithet
more odious. But you can't choose a hus
band. That would be most unwomanly.
You must wait to be asked."
The result is that the average woman
takes what offers not what she wants
rather than risk her chances on the future;
and men stalk about literally the lords of
creation. "Well, if these lords don't choose
to take npon themselves the responsibilities
of matrimony, why should not they pay a
penalty? Just so long as women are
taunted for living in single blessedness, just
so long ought unmarried men to be taxed.
This tax should begin at the ago of 30, and
be doubled every five years, unless a
bachelor proves that he has been
crossed in love, or is true to some
sainted Maria, whose memory is dearer to
him than tho smiles of sirens still alive.
Poverty, perhaps, may be an extenuation of
the offense; in this case it wonld be well to
make the bachelors work out this tax in
some way nseful to the State, while the
victims of blighted affection could be
utilized inxmaritj; organizations.
The more I think the matter oyer the
more righteous I think the tax. If rigidly
enforced, it might relieve the embargo on
women. When the sexes stand, on equal
f rounds, it will be in order to tax both
achelors and old'maids.
THE HOLY COAT OF'TBEVES.
It Had to Be Given a Coat of Bubber and
Silk to Preserve It.
The date set for the exhibition of the Sa
cred Coat of Treves is August 20. It is an
event of greatjnterest to Boman Catholics,
owing to its infrequent oeourrence. In
ancient times the coat was exposed to the
public gaze, but as it showed unmistakable
signs of decay, owing to its excessive age, it
was covered with a coating of rnbber and
silk and put carefully away lest it should be
entirely lost to tbe church. The ooat is a
bell-shaped garment of fine texture, woven
entirely in one piece. It is said that authen
tic records prove the garment to bo the
seamless coat worn by our Savior. It was
brought to Treves by Helen, the mother of
(Jonstantine tno lireat, wmiener son was re
siding there as Governor of the western
portion of the Boman Empire. The faith
ful claim that many startling miracles have
been wrought during former expositions ot
the garment
Treves was founded by. the Emperor
Augustus, and is the oldest oity in Germany.
It is a picturesque and historic old town.
The railroads have made preparations for
immense crowds. Protestants take almost as
much interest as Catholics.
A HOSPITAL FOB SOILS.
St. Juouls Tfas a Place Where Their Broken
Heads and limbs Are Fired Up.
Bt. Louis Post-DIspatcbO
There is a new hospital in St. Louis this
time for tiny people, people, who, good as
they are, will meet with accidents in spits
of care. One young lady has discovered the
secret of mending dolls perfectly and has
opened a hospital for broken dolls in con
junction with a prominent French hair
dresser and face artist, who devotes his
time to repairing the creases of time and
in finding remedies for the blemishes on
beauty, whilst the doll surgeon devotes
herseff .to putting dextrously together
broken heads, arms, hands and limbs of the
bisque and waxen beauties, who have met
with accidents and are suffering the results.
Already the hospital is full of the wound
ed beauties and they come ont as bright as
new dollars from the newly discovered
treatment. Now that dolls have real hair
instead of flaxen wool, the hair-dressers
make it a regular thing to keep dolls' hair
in order each week as assiduously as they
do hair on real heads.
Becent Electrical Decisions.
The courts in deciding that the incandes
cent lamp bolongs to Edison and the storage
batteries to the Brush Company have lifted
two clouds which have been hanging over
the electrical world for a long time past
Many projects will now go forward, but
cheap prices will not come until a lot of
omnibus electrical patents have run out
shEES
'"Tspwfpippfa
1891
A FREAK- STATESMAN.
Remarkable Specimen "Who Broke
Into Congress From Tennessee.
HIS NAME WAS JAMES MULLINS.
"When He Spoke Everybody Stopped Work
aud Got Beady to Laugh.
SAMPLES OP HIS STILE" OP 0EAT0ET
CWjunxM ros tub dispatch,
No more remarkable specimen of the pos
sibilities under a high protective tariff has
ever been seen in the House of Bepresenta
tives than was James Hullins, and it -would
be interesting to know the exact circum
stances, conditions and environment that
combined to produce such a character.
All that I know of his urevions history is
what is told of him in the brief notice in
the Congressional dictionary. He was
born in Bedford county, Tenn., in 1807;
received a limited education; worked on
his father's farm during his minority, then
became a mill-wright; in 1831 was made a
militia Colonel, was Sheriff of his county
for several years was compelled, on ac
count of his devotion to the Union, to flee
within the Federal lines for safety: became
a staff officer; participated in tbe battle of
Murfreesboro; was a delegate to the Nash
ville Convention in 1856; was elected to the
State Legislature the same year; was
Speaker of that body, and then elected a
single term to Congress.
HIS SPEECH tVAS 'WONDERFUIi.
Mullins hailed from East Tennessee, and
the wonder was that sort of a constituency
must it have been that sent sueh a Repre
sentative to Congress? His district was
hard by that represented by Horace Jtay
nard, a. man of undoubted ability, with a
dreamy, meditative manner, and the look
and stoicism of an Indian. But it is not of
him but of Mullins, bless his simple old
heart, that I desire now to write. Mullins
was a living proof that the Davy Crockett
style of oratory was not altogether either a
burlesque or an exaggeration. Mullins was
a fiery, impetuous character whose words,
in the excitement of Congressional debate,
tnmbled out of his mouth without any ap
parent coherence or connection, and in the
most astonishing defiance of all the
rules which grammarians ever in
vented to regulate the speaking of the
King's English; to the intense delight of
his auditors, who at times almost forgot to
laugh at the grotesqueness of the speaker
in their wonder at the performance. He
occupied a seat immediately in the front of
the Speaker, and when he got on his feet
and commenced one of his astonishing oratorical-performances,
and his arms began to
fly about like a couple of flails in a winter
threshing, and his body to twist and distort
into all sorts of shapes under the excitement
of the occasion, members got close about
him and fairly yelled with delight; for his
etyle was so unique, so utterly unlike any
thing in the heavens above or the earth be
neath., that it would scarcely have been any
violation of the second commandment of the
decalogue to have fallen down and wor
shiped it
HB USED A BIG BANDANNA.
It is impossible to do justice to it by any
words at my command. What he was
driving at, or on what side of the question,
or what question he was discussing, 'or
whether any question at all, wsuld nave
puzzled any man to determine; but
Mullins spoke on all the same. It didn't
make the slightest difference to him, and
when he had concluded he dropped in his
seat wholly exhausted, and wiped his noble
brow with a prodigious red bandanna hand
kerchief, with the air of supreme satisfac
tion which always characterizes a man who
thinks "he has gone-and done it"
But it is too bad to ridicule Mullins. He
was a good old sonl and meant all well
enough if he ever knew what he did mean,
aud if he did, he was the only mas in the
House who did. I hope ha still lives some
where among his native mountains and
spends his declining days in fighting his
battles oyer again, telllne to his admiring
constituents what he did for the glory of
vuo umiuii buu me guuu ui me people m
fighting bloodless battles on the floor of the
National Congress.
But Mullin s own speeches will oonvey a
better idea of Mullins than any words of
mine, tnougn tne speeenes ot the members
as they come from the hands of the report
ers, and after they have "licked them into
shape," do not by any means do justice to
the speech itself as delivered. On a bill to
provide for the appointment of a marshal
for the District of Columbia, Mullins said:
BREAD AND BUTTER TOUTICS.
Mr. Speaker, Ave minutes is a very short
time in which to moot the array of gentle
men who have pitched into our bread and
butter. Now, Mr. Speaker, I rise merely lor
the purpose of saying that of all tbe parties
that ever existed on the continent of Amer
ica, the party represented by gentlemen on
the other side has, God knows, the least
apology for accusing any other party of be-
inff a oreau ana Duller party, trny, it Has
been regarded in any other light, and we see
an axemnlincation of its instincts in tbe man
nerin whioh Its members lick at tbe "pillar
of salt" up hero at the other end of the ave
nue not Lot's wife, but the great I Am.
They all go like the rat to the cheese and
nibble at him, so voracious aro they for
bread and butter. And they have got their
bread and butter at the expense of the peo
ple of this country until now their cakes,
like those of Ephraim. are one side raw and
the other burnt And I am sorry to say
there is more blood in this matter than but
ter. Wo will have $2 a day and roast beef.
friend Stevens; and it shall be none of your
poor beef; not a bit of it; and It shall not be
beef which is dried on tho hoef. Let them
not complain about bread and butter, and
say that we are going abont smelling into
holes for bread and butter. God knows, of
all offensive holes there ever were in the
world, this "conservative" holo is the worst
Anybody can smell it without a nose.
On the contested election case of Smith
versus Brown Mullins said:
A PATRIOTIC EFPOBT.
I repeat, we have to deal with a question
lying at the very foundation of a govern
ment whose people are as the stars ot a Arm
ament (some of them, I grievo to say, wan
dering stars) and whose march of empire is
carrying the nation westward as a burning
meteor frem. tho arch of the sky a peoplo
who havo been under tbe benign influence
of God,' who holds this country in his oternal
fist of rjower. and who has been Tileased to
let us nee from the empire of despots and
come forth into a land which I Drobounce to
be the New Jerusalem come down from God (
out of heaven. Could 1 bo permitted to lift,
you up by my voice, one or two thousand
yeacs from to-day. you would tell me
whether 1 have spoken rashly or not ; other
wise thero is no entering wedge to break the
gloom of darkness that held spellbound the
empties of earth for six thousand years and
to bring on a mlllenlum. What was moro
glorious in tbe events of time than the birth
of the American Government t Coming
forth like tbe sun in the morning, and chain
ing tbe empires of tho world to the whorls of
the car, she broke through the gloom in 1776,
and sbo setup her standard in the darkness
and said: "Come and look at this brazen
serpent which we raise." But enough of that
What did the fathers say about it! Tho first
thing they dcclaied stands as a frontispiece;
meets you at the threshold of the Govern
ment. What did they declare toyouT For
God's sake do not say we are oil tbe track
unless you look at the sign board of tbe con
stitution. So npt talk to us abont doing
whatls unconstitutional; you have never
kept Inside of that instrument. I ask the
sword of J ustice to be still in Its sheath while
I discuss this matter.
This speech recalls the famous reply of
the Kentucky lawyer to his legal opponent
In a criminal case who had spoken for a
couple of hours in the most irrelevant man
ner. "Gentlemen of the jury, my opponent
has roamed with Bomulus, and socked with
Socrates, and ripped with Euripides, but
what has it all to do with the case now try
ing before you?" Clinton Lloyd.
Copyright 1891, by the author.
Not Dead Yet
In an article on mausoleums published
'last Sunday the statement was inadvertent
ly made that the handsome granite mauso
leum erected by Mr. J. P. Ober in the Alle
gheny Cemetery, at a cost of $15,000, was
occupied by the remains of that worthy
gentleman. It is needless to say to the
many people who know him that he is still
very much alive.
3J'T&!FJr ?TV
A STORY OF THE AMERICAN STAGE.
WRITTEN FOB THE-DISPATCH
:e:m::m:.a "st. SHiEKi3D.35r.
ZB5T
CHAPTER L
CAIXED AT TEN.
The theater was cold. A theater usually
is cold on Monday morning. During the time
between the going out of Saturday night's
fires and the tardy heating of Monday the
dampness creeps out of the caverns under
the stage, and a grim mist gathers from the
flies and settles dankly toward the place
where the footlights onght to be. There is
no cold like the shivery, ill-smelling cold
of an unheated theater. It struck Mar
guerite with discomfort directly she got
past the carefully guarded heat of the door
keeper's little den. He had gruffly chal
lenged her entrance and growled: "Yes, its
the Benton Square Theater. "What's your
business?" He seemed suspicious. A stage
doorkeeper always suspects one who asks
information.
"I'm a member of Mr. Kildare's company.
StW&
YOU STAT HERE AND
His manager, Mr. Dash, directed me to
come here this morning for rehearsal at 10.
May may I go in?"
She felt her life a gift from him as she
went by. Asking the direction to the stage
had been out of the question. She fol
lowed on chance the damp-smelly passage
before her until it opened into a big room.
Here sets of scenery were banked and
various properties hung. A doorway on
the opposite side gave a dusky glimpse of a
segment of the footlight curve, and of a
cotton cloth draped box. Marguerite was
not above curiosity in a property room.
There seemed no one about, so she took a
look at some greasy tin armor and thought
what a great life stage life is. The cold,
however, was cruel in a still penetrating
way. It was draughty and more cruel on
the stage itselC The front of the house,
like the boxes, was draped with white dust
oovers, and from the windows in the gallery
streaks of pale gray light slanted into un
expected corners. The dust afloat in these
streaks of light was thick and fuzzy, and
one felt choky at the fancy of breathing air
ST
TTie Greats Tin Armor.
so laden. The stage bared of setting
seemed much larger than the auditorium,
and the slant of the boards was almost
dizzily apparent
Over by one of the boxes was a big roll of
carpet Jighted by a brilliant patch of sun
light, the base of a slanting golden column
which was flung,Jacob'slauder-like, through
the dusty air from a far up window in the
flies. Marguerite instinctively made for
this patch, though it proved small comfort
against the penetrating curse of the place's
rh!11. Tt was not her first neeD behind the
,., hut the dismal horror of tho ereat
1. VUI
bare hole weighed upon Jier. There is
nothing picturesque about either the deser
tion or the contusion of a stage. The one
is forbidding and the other is an ugly chaos.
She looked at her watch, a big silver one,
by the way, that had been father's. Ten
'o'clocK. Rehearsal was called at 10, yet not
a soul beside herself had arrived. A panic
seized her. Possiblyit wasn't called at the
Benton Square at alL
At this point the sound of a slamming
door reassured her, and a merry: "Greetipg,
old crosspatchl In just the same old ugly
fit you were last time? Oh, my business is
all right, and you know me, too; and I'm
here lor rehearsaL Bye bye."
A moment later after a crescendo click of
heels, a trim figure poised itself in Mar
guerite's view, came briskly on the stage,
took a quick bird-like look from side to
side, shot a special glance at Marguerite,
and then began a brisk walk to and fro. If
this had been done deliberately to display a
stylish figure, a graceful carriage, and a
well poised gait, it could not have done so
more fully; but evidently the intention was
to ward oft the chill. After a turn or two
she came toward Marguerite, saying in a
crisp way:
"You seem to have the only bit of sun
shine and " .
Then sho dropped her umbrella and the
manuscript part she carried, and reaching
out both hands, cried; "Good gracious, it's
Daisyl"
"Fredal"
"However did you coma here? You dear
thing there! Don't look scared because I
hugged you. I'm glad to see you. Where
did you coma from? Ara you going to be
in the company? I pity you. I thought
you weren t going on the stage. You used
to say so at the school. Did you stick to
''-Hta !,.. ' im & si i.-V rr
s-. '
"Til rar w 5s.t sX-
jinfw
r 'vT I l zjm
lr-h m 'Mln I o23
v "'
1&
the old place the year after I left? What
part do you play? There, dear; I'm enough
to confuse anybody. No, thanks; that car
pet is pretty dirty. Besides its so cold here
you ought to keep moving. I'm in tha
company, you know. Oh, yes;" laughing
at Daisy's-perplexed glance around, 'thero
are more of us. The rest get in on the ten
minutes grace. As for, me, I still hold to
some of my amateur good habits, and I
come on the minute. Dear girl, tell ma
about yourself, do. OhI here tLey come or
at least one of them. Come here, Aify."
Alfy was engaged in olimbing up over tha
footlight gutter, and Alfy, when he got his
feet together and "came here" was a tall,
limber young fellow, smooth-shaven and
handsome-eyed.
"Don't yon know better than to come
through the front of the house?" criticised
Freda, "and a stranger hero to notice."
Turning to Daisy, she added, with a pretty
touch of formality: "Miss Granite, may I
present Mr. Alfred Commonwealth Par
lance?" KEEP QUIET IHERE!
Marguerite bowed.
"Take, off your hat to tho lady," Freda
continued, adding apologetically to 3Iar
guerite, "He's a member of the company,
and you will have to know him some time,
or I should not inflict vou now."
Mr. Parlance, who had touched his hat
easily, and whose facS had lighted into a
smile as only actor-folks' faces do lieht.pro-
l tested with an attractive assumption of em
barrassment, J1168 uranite, please don t let
Miss Sonaday prejudice you. I am really
rather nice."
"Isn't his name awful, thoueh?" depre
cated Freda, perhaps to cover 3targuerite'a
confusion. "Alfred Commonwealth Par
lance! Now you are started, just amusa
Miss Granite a while. I really need to run
over my partt," and with this Freda stooped
for the "part" she had dropped. Parlance
deftly anticipated her, at which she patted
his head while it was within reach, saying:
"Dear boy, it does keep its manners, though
it is an actor. Thanks."
People were gathering, the later ones, in
a rush. Freda brought over some of tha
men, introducing them with the same airy
grace she had shown "to Parlance, thus re
lieving Daisy, who had been confused and
alarmed at Freda's familiarity with the first
comer.
"Here he if I" was somebody's sudden ex
clamation. A hush fell over the players as the star
actor entered, attended on one side by Man.
ager Dash, and on the other by a pale, red
haired, and very slim girl. This girl
dropped back almost at once.called.a poodla
which was frisking at the star's heels, and
stood aside and alone, bowing timidly and
with a fleeting smile in recognition of salute
from some of the company.
The star, a tall, thick set, anxious look
ing man, "groomed" in a British way, and
bristling with affectation of English car
riage, strode heavily to a table at the foot
lights, laid his stick across it, and, with
hands behind him, stood with his back to
the people, and continued his talk with his
manager. His hands were thick and nerv
ous, his voice was of vibrant metallic qual
ity, and dictatorial in inflection. The man
ager's replies were inaudible but seemed
made with an intent to soothe. The chatter
of the people rose again softly, but was
checked by a swift, ill-tempered glanca
from the master. This glance included
Freda, who, having discovered a chair, was
taking it to the little red-haired girL Ob
serving this, Kildare called harshly:
"A chair for Miss Ellaine, one of yoa
gentlemen, here!"
There was a general guilty start on tha.
part of the men. Freda scowled and Miss
Ellaine entreated in a low, deprecating
Ttus Star Actor Entered.
voice, "Don't Bob, don't I I have one-
The star, who till now had apparently
forgotten all about tb,e little woman,
bustled to her side, made a great show of
pulling up her fur collar,, and in a gentla
undertone inquired as to her comfort Tha
company, meanwhile, looked on with ex
pressions of stolid indifference or contempt
uous satisfaction.
"HereVFreda, Bob," said Miss Ellaina
in a childish way to call attention to Freda,
who stood back scowling fiercely.
"Ah, my dear, how are you how ara
you? Beady for work!" Kildare, the star,
spoke effusively; adding, because Freds
only scowled harder, "How do yon think:
Bird is looking.' Better, eh? Her summer
has done her good."
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