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18
-THE POOROFBERLIN.
;;j&ueer Facts About the Cellar
Life of a Large City Full
of Tenements.
ONE HTODBED THOUSAND
People
Lire Below Ground, and Even
Seem to Flourish There.
A CONTINUOUS EISE Iff BENTS.
There Is One Douse in Which Onr 1,500
Persons Begularlj Sleep.
PUBLIC KITCHENS AND CHEAP 1IE1LS
rCOBBXSrOKDECE Or THX SISrXTCB.
BERZ.nr, Nov. 19. Berlin is a city of
fiats, and the people here are crowded al
most as much as the Chinese are in San
Francisco. There are tens of thousands
Trho live in cellars, and of the 2,000,000 peo
ple living within the city limits only about
0,000 have more than seven rooms. Of
this vast population there are less than
B,000 who have a whole home to them-,
selves, and there are more than 500,000 who
have only one room in their tenements
which can be heated. The people swarm,
and they become more crowded every
year.
You see no little houses here. The cottage
ystem is practically unknown, and the rich
end the poor are crowded together in the
came building. The difference lies in the
location and the character of the room.
ur MEYEB'S HOF.
The buildings are usually of five or sir
stories. In the basement you will find
cobblers, butchers and grocerymen, while
back around the courts every imaginable
trade goes on and families live in narrow
quarters and work at something or other to
make a livelihood. On the first floor, if the
street is a business one, there will be first
class stores, restaurants or beer halls, and
above these you may find a German Colonel
or a General, or a rich business man.
j """ -The Poor in Every Block.
On the same floor in the back rooms will
be cheaper quarters, and as you near the top
of the house the character of the tenants
falls and their numbers increase. There is
a difference in rate according to different
parts of the city, but there are cheap tene
ments everywhere and you find the poor in
A Toy Merchant.
every block. I visited the other dav a
single house which contained 400 families
and in which lived more than 1,500 people.
It was a building of about 100 feet front,
running back, perhaps, for 200 feet and
built around fire great courts. There was
no yard connected with it except these
dirty courts paved with cobblestones, and
in these hollow-eyed children swarmed and
old men and women sat against the walls
trying to catch the sun. The building con
sisted of six stories and it .was entered by a
passageway in the middle. At the door of
this as I came in I saw two yonng women
standing with babies at their breasts, and
the children playing in the rear were of all
ages and sizes.
As I looked at them and the people about
them it struck me that the building was
typical of the world. Every variety of life
was going on among them. On one side I
saw two women laughing. In another part
a young girl and an old man -were trying to
teach a baby to walk, and as I stood there
an undertaker came through with a little
coffin, containing a baby under his arm and
with its weeping mother following behind
as its sole mourner. This building is known
as "Meyer's Hof," and it 'is one ot the
largest tenement houses in Berlin.
Bents Are Continually Bisln.
Bents are, I am told, continually rising
In Berlin, and the smaller the income the
bigger the proportion of rent The most of
the laboring people like to live near their
-work, and a large majority of the people
engaged in the different industries here live
uithin 20 minutes of their places of em
ployment. The most of them pay more
than one-fourth of their income lor rent
and landlords find it pays to build big
houses and crowd them rather than erect
small ones. The people here' get so little
that they cannot thine ot bonding homes
for themselves, and they expect to nay rent
from their birth till their death. The
rolice regulations require that the rooms
shall be of a certain size, and within the
last few years the new houses have been
doing better as to their cellar lodgings.
The older parts of the city, however,
have many rooms which are not at all sani
tary, and it is astonishing how many people
Jive here underground. There are more
than a hundred thousand men, women and
children who are living in cellars in Berlin
io-day, and a number of these tare rooms
in their cellar tenements which cannot be
heated. It must be remen n that the
surface of Berlin is flat eH ' U as to
drainage is very littie. T ' r is that
tfiese unheattd cells? w k- sod
xfoW
'ffw
r
ai they are in theieart o tho city they are
very unhealthfui.
live in One Boom and Take Boarders.
Think of it?
Here are 1.500 people sleeping every
night on an area of less than one-half acre
of ground. Soma of the rooms contain
more than one family and not a few of the
poorest of the renters take roomers. I
visited some of the tenements. -They
seemed to be clean, but they were very
small and there were a couple of beds in
nearly every room. There were about 100.
families living around each court and these
courts were not as large as the average city
back yard. At the entrance to each court
there were billboards like those you find in
large office buildings in America, upon
which were registered the names of the
tenants and the numbers of their rooms.
Upon the ground floor there were llttlo
stores ana I dropped into a barber shop at
the corner of one of the courts and chatted
with the barber. His room was about 5
feet wide by 6 feet deep, and he had a sign
on the outside of it stating that his prices
for shaving were 6 pfennigs or a little
more than a cent, and he cat hair for about
double this.ratc He told me that he had
often 100 customers a day and that he had
double this number on Saturdays. He sold
matches and cigars and madewigs as well
as barbered, and he said that his rent for
this room was 52 50 a month and that he
slept here at night.
Business In the Cellars.
It is wonderful how much business is
done in cellars in Berlin. About one-third
of the immense manufacturing of Germany
is done in the shape of house industry,
that is by people taking their work from
factories to their own homes or making
some product of their own in them. A
greatmany of these cellar rooms form the
working places of the people by day and
their sleeping places by night Many of
them are so made that a draft cannot be
sent through them, and when it is remem
bered that some of them are six feet below
the sidewalk it will be easily seen that they
are not fit for the residences of human be
ings. I have visited quite a'number of the
cities of Germany and I find that this flat
system prevails in all the large towns.
Hamburg, which has been so badly hurt
by the cholera, isawhited sepulcher. It
has beautiful buildings, but the streets are
so narrow that you could hardly drive a
wagon load of hay through them, and there
are thousands of cellar tenements. There
are a number of houses there which have
hundreds of families in them.and the same is
true of Leipsic and Dresden. More than tmlf
the peoole in Leipsic pay less than 5100 a
year for rent, and these people live in quar
ters where they cannot have more than two
heated rooms.
The city has good building regulations, it
is true, but the people manage to get around
them, and this is so in nearly every Ger
man city. Part of the Leipsic regulations
are that every living room Shall have at
least one window open to the airland that
the cellar rooms must be at least nine feet
high. But the houses are crowded and the
poorer the quarters the more people you
find in them.
Weil-Dressed on Low Wages.
Nearly all the vegetable stores of Berlin
are in cellars, and there are numerous fish
stores, especially those which sell dried
fish, below ground. I am surprised to see
what well-dressed people come out of these
cellars and how well the people dress on
the low wages they receive. The average
wages of common laborers throughout Ger
many range from 51 50 to 54 a week and
the mass of working men here, both skilled
and unskilled, do not get more than from
25 cents to 51 a dav.
"When one-fourth of this is paid for house
rent and the food of the family purchased
there is little left, and it is a wonder to me
how the people buy any clothes at all. I am
told, however, that many of the people
have several trades and that they do work
at home outside of their hours ot labor and
all the members of a poor man's family Ho
something to increase the family income.
There is a law against children being em
ployed in the factories, and they have here
a compulsory system ot education, .but
these are evaded to a considerable extent
and children are hardly able to walk before
they do something. Little girls are taught
to sew almost as soon as they can handle
the needle, and good sewing girls who make
button holes here consider themselves well
paid when they make from 53 to 54 a
month. 'Girls who sew upon shirts get
about these same wages, and the greater
part of such sewing girls work at home.
Bevealed by a Microscope.
Speaking of the Berlin street sights
there is no place in the world where the
people work so hard for a penny and where
both women and men give you so much for
A Berlin Kmsboy.
o little. At every .corner von find men
.with red caps who are Ifuown as dienstman
and who will carry a letter, or a parcel to
almost any part of Berlin for six cents and
yon pass in every block women loaded
down with great two-bushels baskets of
meat and vegetables which they are carry
ing home from the market for abont the
same rate. There are flower peddlers every
where And there is the old fellow -with toys
who sells turkeysand monkeys made of wood
and painted in ridiculous colors.
"While visiting .the stock exchange the
other day I dropped into a beer hall for
lunch and was getting away with a great
mug of beer between my bites of cheese and
rye bread when one of these fakirs came up
beside me and laid down on the table a
microscope. As he did so, he asked me if
I did -not want to see what kind ot cheese I
had been eating. I held "It tip to the
light snd I ew in it through the
microscope a doien, hundred-leg bugs ss big
M the largest potato bag, ma one of which
THE
i
had horrible horns and great teeth. He"
laaghed as I shuddered and pushed the
cheese back and then offered to sell me the
microscope for 12 cents, but I was disgusted
at having my meal spoiled and refused.
FeankG. Cabpenteb.
A FAMOUS CALIFOENIA DATE.
It
Was at One Time a Lion's Den and
Afterward a Bobber's Stronghold.
This is a tale of mountain lions, great
caves, and bold banditti It was told at
the Palmer 'by Harry Graves, of-Los An
geles, to a Chicago Inter Ocean reporter.
On the north side of Table Monntaiu,"
said he, "and near its top, is an opening in
the lava that has since its early day been
known as the 'lion den.' It was so named
from the fact that for years it was the lair
of a band of ferocious California lions that,
when the country was largely devoted to
shSep raising, made mighty depredations
upon the flocks and caused the owners
much annoyance and loss. When pursued
the animals would seek refuge iu this den,
and no hunter would dare to enter it. The
ground about the entrance was covered
with bones and remnants of sheep and other
animals. "With the increase of population
the lions have gradually disappeared, al
though as late as last spring two ot tne
animals were seen to enter the cave.
"No man has ever penetrated this cave to
its fullest depth. The mouth is about 4 or
5 feet high and 3 feet wide, and the open
ing descends with-a sharp decline for about
200 feet. Further than this, it has never
been explored. Now, however, a party of
young men have made arrangements to ex
plore it, and if possible penetrate to its
bottom. ihat it is of great depth is cer
tain, for one can stand at the opening and
heave great stones down the declivity, and
the sound will gradually die away in the
distance. The young men have procured
several hundred feet of rope, torches and
la Iders, and will thoroughly explore the
cavern.
"The recesses of this same Table Moun
tain were at one time the base of operations
of the famous highwayman, Joaquin
Murietta, and his band of followers. From
there they would swoop down on the
miners, and then, laden with gold dmt, re
treat to the mountain. Search as they
might the officers could never locate them.
It has been supposed by many that it was
in this cave that the bandit secreted him
self." AHOTHBB W0KAN ABCTIC EXPLORES.
Hiss Elizabeth Taylor Made a Very Inter,
estlng Trip From Winnipeg-.
Travel in the far North has hitherto been
attempted only by men, but the year 1692
has witnessed the breaking up of this mo
nopoly. Mrs. Peary accompanied her husband
to a point further north than any; white
woman has ever before penetrated, and
early last summer Miss Elizabeth Taylor
started from "Winnipeg for the McKenzie
river delta, and from this expedition the
has just returned. Miss Taylor is by nature
a traveler and by education an artist, and is
greatly interested iu natural history. She
started on her trip alone, and made it alone
successful to the end. She is the first woman
explorer that has ever ventured into the
polar regions on her own account, and
wirh an amount of pluck and steadfastness
that would have done credit to a strong man
she has carried out h'er programme and
completed her round trip to the far north
ern forts of the Hudson's Bay Company,
savs Forest and Stream.
Of the results of her trip we can as yet
know only in a general way. This much
may be said, however: Her sketch-book is
foil ot dra-vings, which are not only ot
great historical andvtODOgraphical interest,
but also ot a very high order of artistic
merit. In spite of great disadvantages and
continual suffering from coarse food, in
cessant attacks or insects, ill-health, sleep
lessness, induced by-the perpetual daylight)
she has averaged over a drawing per day.
Her sketches are only a small part of the
results achieved by this indefatigable girl
Greely. Her diary is as full as her sketch
book, "and her notes on the different aspects
of nature are full and ot great value. They
are, moreover, admirably corroborated and
amplified by some hundreds of photographs
taken by herself.
In addition to all this MlssTaylor has
made a considerable collection ot natnral
history specimens, and when her results are
in shape for publication an unusally inter
esting contribution to our list of works on
the great lone land will have been made.
LOSE ABOUT THE BEAED.
The
Mohammedans Have Preserved
Hair of the Prophet" s Whiskers.
Illustrated Magazine. '
The ancient Hebrews considered It
the
greatest insult that could be offered to a
man to plack his beard, which may aceonnt
in part for the wonderful state of preserva
tion that tradition has conuected with- the
beard of the Old "World male.
It was a notion of the Mohammedans
that, though Noah reached his 1,000th birth
day, nq hair of his blessed beard fell off or
became white; but the Mohammedans had
no more authority for that than for their
belief that the devil has but one solitary
long hair for a beard. ft was, as some say,
in order to distinguish Themselves from the
ancient Israelites that the followers of Mo
hammed cropped the beardjbut Mohammed,
as we know, sanctioned the dyeing ot the
beard, and preferred a cane color, because
that was the traditional hue of Abraham's
beard.
More than that, have we not the common
Mohammedan oath, "By the beatd of the
Prophet," as well as the supplication, "By
your beard, or the life ot your beard?"
And then look at the veneration paid in
Asia to even a single hair of "the beard of
Mohammed. This precious relic is en
shrined in a monument erected especially
for it in 1135, 500 years after the Prophet's
death. Where It liad reposed during the
long interval is as great a mystery as that
conuected with tbe holy coat ofTreves.
Bat at any rate, there it is now a precious
'heir"-loom kept in a box of gold and crys
tal, in which small holes have been bored
tor the purpose of admitting water to float
the blessed hair, which is done at an annual
festival when the faithful from all parts
gathered together.
ONE OF HAXTSE'S FBKAXS.
An Imprint on a Babe's Hands la
the
Picture of Her Bead Sister.
Philadelphia Times. 1
A very strange freak of nature iu-eported
from Boseburg, S. C. It is a three-weeks-old
baby, whose right hand bears the im
print of a human face. The face occupies
the entire palm, aud is as clearly outlined
as though painted on porcelain. It is the
countenance of a little child about 3 years
old lying asleep, with the eyelashes drawn
in fine dark lines on the full cheeks. The
mouth seems to be slightly parted, and the
lips are delicately tinted.
"The"baby whose hand contains this singu
lar portraiture is the child of Clarke Os
borne, a merchant of Boseburg, and Mrs.
Osborne declares that the face in the in.
i ant's palm is that of a little girl she lost
about three months ago. Belatfves and in
timate friends profess to be able to see a
strong resemblance to the dead child.
When the baby was first put into its
mother's arms she looked at the hands, snd
with a load cry fainted away, but on com
ing to herself exhibited the little creature's
hands to the attendants, who saw at onee
the strange likeness to the dead and gone
sister.
Mrs. Osborne was at first much frightened
over the singular circumstance, but st last
became convinced that the strange portrait
was sent to comfort her. The image on the
palm was clearer the first tew days, of the
'baby's life than now, and it is thought to be
gradually isaisg sway.
1 I
PITTSBURG DISPATCH.
WHAT IS THE BIBLE?
Bert George Hodges Regards It Not as
a Book; bat as a Library.
HISTORY, PBOI'HECr AND P0ETET.
Some of the Mistakes That Hay Be Lftde In
Beading Therein.
IT IB-THE SDRT1TAL OP THE FITTEST
.' nntrrTES roa TUB DISPATCH.
There are a great many possible answers
tolhe question- "What is the Bible?" The
question Is not a very long one; there are
only four words in it. But the answers .are
so long add so many that it would take four
large volumes io contain them; yes, even
four pretty good-sized libraries. I ask you
to think of only one of the many answers to
this question. Concerning the profound
subject of revelation and inspiration I have
at present nothing to say. Concerning even
the interesting subject of Biblical criticism,
which Dr.'Smith and Dr. Briggs have of
late come into peril for discussing, I have
nothing to say. The one answer to which I
desire to call attention is this: The Bible
is a library.
Now, the word "Bible " means book; and
the Bible is a book in one sense in the book
sellers' sense. In the literary sense the
Bible is -a library. It is a library inclosed
between two covers, but a library for all
that. Suppose you were to take from off
your shelves 66 books and get a binder to
put them all into vone; they would be 66
books all the same. The two covers would
make no difference.
The Time of Preparation.
Between thn first knd last books in this
librarv, the Bible, there passed an interval
of more than 1,500 rears. That is a space
as long as from the days of Sing Alfred to
the days of Queen Victoria. Select now,
out of English literature, 66 voldmes be
ginning with the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle "
by way of history, including portions of the
poetrv of Chaucer, Bacon and Shakespeare,
and closing by way of prophecy or preach
ing, with 'the sermons of .Frederics Bob
ertson and Phillips Brooks. Bind these all
into one volume and you will have a col
lection ot writings corresponding in one
sense to the Bible. The books of this
scripture library were -written by very
different writers; one bv a great Statesman;
another by a .great General; another by a
great King; another by"1 a poor man who
earned his money by herding cattle; still
another by a poor man who earned his
money by catching fish; some by priests;
some by preachers; one by a' skeptic; many
bv writers whose names are altogether un
known. Tbe books were written in many
different places one in the far Bast be
side the Biver Cbebar; another in the "West
beside the Biver Tiber; many in the little
Province of Palestine; others in the classio
lands of Greece and Borne.
The books were written at many different
times-'an Interval, as I said, of more than
1,500 years between the first and "the last of
them. That is a long space. That is time
for great changes of opinion. That is time
enough for men to grow a great deal, 'to
learn a great deal.
Written in Different Manners.
The books were written in many different
manners. "We are familiar, all of us, with
the great division between them, putting
them into two parts, corresponding to the
two great divisions of history the birth of
Christ at the center, some before Him, some
after Him called the two Testaments. The
word testament means a covenant, and the
word covenant' expresses a relation a re
lation with God.-- Some-ot these books were
written in the Old days, when 'men were
under a certain relation with God, others
in the later days, wherein men are brought
into a closer relation with God through the
revelation and ministry of Jesus Christ, His
Son.. Beside these great divisions -are
many subdivisions. The Old Testament,
for example, falls into three distinct parts.
It is made up of three distinct kinds of
writings history, poetry and propnecy.
The record begins with history.
After a recounting of the Hebrew story of
creation and of the great catastrophe of the
deluge, the national history begins with an
account of the emigration of the great fore
father Abraham, of his settlement in
Canaan, of the going down of his family
into Ea'ypt The .story of their- bondage
there is told, and of their deliverance out of
it under the leadership of Moses. It is
recordedliow they wandered in the wilder
ness until they came to the borders of the
land of promise. This is the contents of the
first five books of the Old Testament. Then
follows the Book of Joshna, describing
their conquest ot theXand of Canaan, and,
in the latter part, the dooms-day book of
Hebrew literature, a description of the dis
tribution of the land among the chie.'s of
the cqnquering tribes. The Book of Judges
follows, recounting tne day; ot anarchy,
which -very naturally set in.
From History to Poetry.
In the Books of Samuel and Sings and
Chroniele, we have an account of the rise
of the monarchy; Saul, its first king; David,
the,second, Solomon, the third; then after
Solomon the great civil war, causing a sep
aration of the kingdom into two parts; at
last the coming down of the great powers of
the Eaty carrying away first the northern
portion and 'then the southern into cap
tivity. '
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah recount
the return ot these exiled Hebrews into
their own land again.
Then follows poetry. And this poetry is
just as genuine poetry as the other is his
tory. Hebrew history is just as much his
tory as Macaulay's "History ot England."
Hebrew poetry is just as much poetry as
Milton's "Paradise Lost." It is not in
rhyme, it is not in meter, but it is in a form
which was just'as poetical to the Hebrews
as tnese melodious torms are poetical to us.
The poetry begins with the Book of Job, a
great drama, just as truly dramatic in its
feeling and lorm as the plays ot Shakes
peare, the drama of human destiny, the
Hebrew answer to the great problem
which has perplexed man From the begin
ning, the problem of the meaning of pain.
Next the Book of Psalms, the great hymn
book of the Hebrew people, and this in
five volumes. When you read the "Psalms,
and come to one which ends with a particu
larly jubilant burst of alleluias, as at the
end ot the 41st snd the end of the 72d, you
may know that youtre at the last of one of
these five volumes. Some of these psalms
were written by David, some by others
whose names we know; many by persons
wholly unknown. After all, what differ
ence does it make about the knowing of the
author's name? What difference does it
make whether the plays of Shakespeare
were written by Shakespeare or by Bacon?
The settling of that question one way or
another, or tbe leaving of it unsettled, has
no effect whatever upon the value of these
plays. The Book of -Proverbs is didactic
poetry. Eccleslastes is the soliloquy of a
sceptic. Canticles is a love story in the
shape of a cantata.
Prophecy and Prediction.
Prophecy follows poetry. Prophecy is
taken to-cay in s very limited sense to
mean prediction. Prophecy does .some
times mean fore-telling. Bat more often
in tbe Holy Bcriptures it means for-tell-ing;
a prophet is a man who speaks for
God. Or forth-telling; the prophet is the
man who utters forth "the, truth that burns
in his heart. Prophecy, accordingly, is
preaching. ,
The last 16 hooks of the Old Testament
are books of sermons. Four of them,
Isaiah. Jeremiah, Ezekiel snd Daniel, we
call the major prophets, 6; the greater,
simply because these books are longer.
The others we call the minor prophets.
The prophets were the Hebrew preachers,
who uttered such strong, true, helpful ser
mons that" people could jipt forget them.
Such was the .Impression thajr ,they made
that they lingered for centuries' If the"
Many .of the nee. After tali diverse
SUNDAY, DECEMBER
manner Is the Old Testament constructed
history and ppetry and prophecy. History
is the account of what men have done,
poetry the record of what men have
thought, prophecy the teaching ot what
men ought to do and ought to think.
', The Survival of the Fittest.
We come to the New Testament and here
Is the same diversity of manner. Tbe New
Testament begins with history. Here are
four biographies of the founder of the
Church. Here is an account of the first be
ginning of the Church. Here are letters
written by eminent men St Paul, St.
Peter, St. Jaines.and St. John some of
them to churches, some to individuals, some
to the Christian Chnrch at large. Here at
the end is that single book.'part poetry,
part prophecy, the Book of the Bevelation
of St. John.
Now, how came these 66 books to be com
bined into tnis library? How came they to
come down to us to-day just these books
and no others? 'How do ;we come to have
them? The answer is a very simply one.
The whole secret is tbe familiar phrase,
"survival of the fittest" These books have
lasted, just as the great classics have lasted
in all literature. There were hundreds of
poets in the days of Milton, bnt we remem
ber Milton. There were scores of biogra
phies of Christ. St. Luke at 'the beginning1
of the gospel tells ns that many bad taken
in hand to set forth a recital of what the
Lord had done and said; hut four of them
all have survived, because these four were
best. Thus has this library, the Bible,
come to us.
The Bible is a librarv. Bat what is the
use of emphasizing this fact ? What is the
practical meaning of it ? Why, this first of
au: xnis Knowledge ot tne character oi tne
Bible is a defense against ignorant criticism
of it. The Bible being a library, being
composed of different books, written by
different men, in different places, and at
different times, and after different manners,
stands each book by itself. Each book
must be criticised by itself; each book
stands or falls alone. Suppose that it were
possible to prove that four books of the Old
Testament were utterly false from the be
ginning, what effect would that have upon
our estimate ot the gospel of St. John ? It
would have just as much "To do with the
gospel of St. John as a discovery of a mis
take in tbe Anglo-Saxon chronicles would
have to do with the sermons of Frederick
Bobertson, and no more.
The Way to Bead It
Knowledge of the Bible as a library will
also affect our reading of it A great many
people go to tbe Bible as they go to no
other library in the world Imagine a man
going to his book shelves every morning
and taking a book at random this morning
this, another morning that, reading a page
and putting it back again, and you have
the wav in which a great many people read
the Bible. One morning a chapter written
ages ago for a nation of slaves, another
morning a chapter written in the full light
of the Christian revelation,and all esteemed
as being upon the same religious level, he-
cause the .Bible is thought of as a book.
Why, there was a time when men believed
that every letter of the Bible was equally
sacred, no matter where it was, a theory
which would lead us to account those
dreary lists of names in the Book of Chron
icles asv equally important and valuable
with the last words of our Lord before His
passion, as recounted in the gospel of St
John.
The Bible is a collection of different
books, and it must be read, it we would
read it intelligently, book by book, reading
each volume through as we would read any
other volume. The Bible is the most
interesting book, the most interesting
selection of books in the world. But if is
no wonder that many people fail to find the
interest of it, because they read it un
intelligently. Bead in this library, the
Bible, just as you wonld read in any other
library, the books that suit you best, the
books which you find to be most helptul to
you. I would not advise anybody to read
the whole Bible, but I would "advise every
body to read at least these parts of the
Bible: The gospels for the great example,
the. last chapters especially of the Epistles
of St. Paul, fortheirpractical help in every
day Christian llvingr-and a great manv of
tbe Psalms, as the utterance t of religious
devotion. . Besides these, 6ut of this great
religious library, select whatever helps you
most But read the volumes book by book
each volume by itself.
Geokge H0DOE3.
THE WIDOWS OF INDIA.
After Their Husbands' Death They Are
Subjected to Much Worriment
Tooth's Companion.
Among the many sad things connected
with the lives of women in India, nothing
is more pitiable than the state of the poor
little widows. . child-wife, only 6 or 7
years old, is regarded by her husband's
family as the cause, more or less direct, of
his death. She is treated at best with dis
like, and often with great harshness and
severity. Therefore the death of a young
wife before her husband is the cause of
great rejoicing among her friends that she
has thns escaped widowhood.
Thev are convinced that the cods have
favored her, and that she has been advanced
a degree in the great series of births snd
deaths through which every Hindu passes
on bis way to final perfection. The prayer
of every little girl before marriage and of
every little girl aud woman after marriage
is that she may never become a widow.
( The preservation of a husband's health is
a matter ot the greatest importance, and on
a certain day ot the year a special religious
ceremony is observed with this end in view.
It is emphatically the "Women's Day,"
and occurs about the middle of January,
"when the sun is believed to turn northward.
Offerings are made at tbe temples, money
is given to the priests, pilgrimages are
undertaken, fastings undergone, and vows
performed for the preservation of a hus
band's health snd life. When he is ill, the
wife removes her jewels, puts on coarse
clothing, and devotes herself to prayer and
austerities. If he dies, her woe begins.
FBAHCE'S GEEAT CANAL 8YSTEX
It Is Practically Free From vTollj
and
Covers Tally 8,000 Miles.
St Lools Globe Democrat.!
Interior navigation has long held a promi
nent place in the traffic of France and it is
not surprising to learn, that the length of
navigable waterways in that country is
8,000 miles, of which 650 miles are returned
as tidal, 2,100 miles navigable without
worts,2,2S0 canalized rivers and 3,000 miles
canals.
The State looks out for all hut 7 per cent
of this network, which is therefore practic
al! v free from tolls.- Thissvstem of inland
navigation has cost about "300,000,000 for
construction and purchase and $25,000,000
for concessions. The annual cost of main
tenance is about $2,600,000, or (325 a mile,
which, covers au expenditures whatsoever.
The number of vessels employed on the
waterway is between 15,000 and 16,000;
abont 26 per cent have a capacity ot 300
tons or more, while more than halt have a
capacity exceeding 100 tons. Moreover,
abont 2,000 foreign boats use the French
canals each year.
The motive power is now almost furn
ishel "by draft 'animals, although a few
steam tugs are used on the Seine, tbe Oise
and some, other rivers and stenm cargo boats
are occasionally met Cable towing and
tow locomotives are also used in a few
places. The average cost of moving a ton
of freight one mile is stated to be .Odic on
rivers and 25 per cent less on canals.
Features of Antipodean Papers.
An English contemporary complains
Antipodean "newspapers are almost unin
telligible to the Englishf reader on account
of their strange system of nomenclature."
Queensland is known as "Bananaland."
Tbe inhabitant of New Zealand is a "Maori
lander;" ot Victoria, s "Gumsucker;" of
New South- Wales, a "Cornstalk." and of
.South Australia, a vuroweater." 'nlsJast
is ciiarlv opprobrious. So, too, ii lrVande- 1
jnpnlan" for a Tssmanian. J
4 , 1892.
MET ONE EMERGENCY.
Fielding Brews Coffee and Trouble in
His Home at the Samo Time.
HE GOT A WINTER OVERCOAT
By Faying Himself the Servant's Wages
Uhree Months Ahead.
THE STILE OP FEMININE CEITICISM
nnUTTXJT TOB TOT DISPATCH.!
The average man is never so surprised as
when he snddeuly discovers that something
he has been told from his youth up by
parents, teachers, pastors, newspapers,
funny men, cartoonists and other high
authorities is true. To 'take the very com
monest illustrations, do you, gentle reader,
really believe that an ice man's scales will
rise and testify against him at the last day;
or that a Jersey mosquito can bito a man's
wooden leg so hard that it will itch ? But
the day may come when these things will
besroade clear to you. I was once equally
incredulous myself. I did not believe that
there was anything in tbase stories of the
trouble which comes to'a man when he tries
to show his wife how to cook. Ninety-nine
out of a hundred men who will read these
lines do not believe it Fate is waiting till
they are ripe, and then she will shake the
tree, and they will fall, as I did.
We had never had any trouble with cooks,
and I had filed the servant girl stories away
in the pigeon-hole marked "lies." But our
eirl went out to view the Columbus parade.
and she was so impressed by the record of
the great discoverer that she immediately
discovered a new place to work and did not
tell us anything about it
Bow He Secured an Overcoat
Then Mande assumed the responsibility
of the cuisine, and I paid myself the serv
ant's wages for three months in advance
and bought a winter overcoat with it I
did no other work in tbe culinary depart
ment dnring the first week of our girl's ab
sence: but on the following Tuesday morn
ing I made the coffee. It seemed a very
simple matter. Coffee is among the most
surely fleeting and ephemeral ot onr
earthly joys. I could not suppose that a
pot of' it wonld become immortal in our
family just because I made it But I am
now certain that it will never die.
We were to hare Sam at our house Mon
dav nicrht He had come to the city to at
tend au important business meeting, so he
told his wife. He was right The meeting be
tween "Judge" Lynch and Billy the Kid
was strictly business. Thev did riot ham-
mer each other three hours-for fun. '
Sam is a good Judge ot coffee and several
other drinks, and I knew that a cup ot the
amber fluid, if made by a competent person,
would be especially grateful to his palate on
the morning after the important business
meeting. So I arose early and built a fire
in tbe range. Half an hour after Lbuilt an
other, because the fire had gone out Then
I prepared the coffee. I had made barrels
ofcoffee in my day, but never before within
the confines of civilization. I had brewed
it over driftwood fire3 on half the islands
off the Maine coast 'Hot and strong I made
it in those days, so that a single cup,
drank standing, would draw .the salt
water out of the linings of my rubber boots,
So I Arose Early and Built a Fire,
and the steam from the spout ot the coffee
pot would wrestle with the sea fog aud
"down" it I could not feel quite at home
in a kitchen, bnt yet it was with considera
ble confidence that I measnred out the usual
dose, and broke an egg into it for richness.
The Feminine Style of Criticism.
Maude had appeared upon the scene by
this time, aud she began to criticise me in
that feminine fashion which never does the
victim any gocd, but leaves vast oppor
tunities for "I told you sol" afterward. On
such an occasion woman does not wish to
convince. It would break her heart if one
followed her advice. She would much bet
ter he should go his own way and tail, and
never hear the last of it
'I wouldn't put that egg in," Mande had
said, "it will taste."
Then I hesitated, and she, for fear I
wouldn't do it and would make good coffee
after all. had hastily added: "Ob, put it
in if you want to. Here's another one;
we've plenty of eggs.but" and now the egg
was irretrievably in "remember tnat x 101a
you not to do it"
The coffee did not cook very fast There's
a difference between a stove lid over a
feeble, struggling coal fire and the blazing
hearth of a cord of driftwood. My theory
ofcoffee ib that it should come to a boil in
a hurry, out this remained calm and threat
ened to simmer for au hour. However, I
opened all the draughts, and then called
Sam.
"Give it to him, Billy; bit him on the
poiut ot the jaw," he was muttering in his
sleep. "Hello, Howdy; is it time to get
up?"
I told him that it was,and added that some
real old-lashioned coffee was awaiting bim.
Presently we three were seated at the
breakfast table and ready to taste any stim
ulating deebction.
"Howdy made this himself," said Maude,
as she lifted the coffeepot "It is different
from mine." '
Different From All Others.
Yes, it was very different from hers; it
was not like an y that I had ever seen be
fore; but I was the architect of it and
didn't propose to go back on it When
Maude started to-pour it she found that the
spout was plugged with about four ounces
ot'egg, cooked to the consistency of dried
mucilage. I took the coffee pot into the
kitchen and removed this obstruction with
the thing which we use t() clean lamp chim
neys. Toasted it also while I was out.there
and was tempted to throw the whole'busl
ness out of tbe window and call it an acci
dent, bnt my pride withheld me. Sam was
sure to like it for politeness' sake, and then
I should have the laugh on Maude.
"This" Is fbi sort of coffeer""saIdl, re
turning, "that puts new life into a man
alter he has lain for hours In a swamp
waiting for ducks'that have an engagement
in 0me other ptrtpf the codntry'
ff'l V rjl U
I fW SJi Im A YV&Xt
To Dive for the Gm.
"Tiyra3f
Sam and Maude tasted it
'Xou remember tne coffee we hadon
ing when you dropped. Vour shotgun, over
board and we had to dive for it in ten feet
of ice water. That's the sort of experience
that teaches a man how io make coffee.
I've never been-satisfied with the mild, pale
product of civilization since then."
"I told you not to put an egg in It," said
Maude.
"Nonsense,." I rejoined cheerfully; "that
gives it flavor. Of course," I continued,
tnrning to Sam, "we don't get quite so good
a qnality ot coffee here. When a .fellow
goes out into the wilderness he depends
npon his coffee, and the storekeeper who
sells it to him realizes his responsibility;.
He knows that if he puts up an inferior ar
ticle, the hunter will return with a double
barreled gun full of duck shot and reason
with him. Tou can't shoot a groceryman
here in Brooklyn without exciting Re
mark." "1 knew the tee would taste." said
Maude.
Slaking a Good Bluff.
"Tou don't know good coffee when yon
get it my dear," said L 'Till up Sam's
cup and give me another. This is a treat
we don't get every dar."
"I told Howdy not to put in a.whole
egg." said,Maude, "but he would do it"
"This has the real strength," said L
"tou remember the coffee I made at the
head ot Dead river?"
"I made it that time," said Sam, "and
Johnny Brooks got the wood."
This savored of treason, but I could not
believe that Sam would go hack, on me and
make his. old friend's whole married life
wretched for the sake of a little coffee.
"If you hadn't put that egg in" Maude
began.
"That gives it body and color," said I,
stirring the muddy fluid. "I'll take another
cup, my dear. 1 seldom drink more than
two, but this reminds me of old times.
Have some more, old boy. Don't be back
ward." "Howdy," aid Sam, with that solemn
deliberation which marks his most impor
tant utterances, "your coffee tastes like an
underdone ham omelet with gravy on it"
"There!" said Maude, "I told you not to
put that egg into it"
So 1 was alone, and my old friend bad
turned against me; bat I was not to he "de
feated so easily. I railed at them. I told
tnem that they had no appreciation of a
good (liing. I accused Sam of falsely sid
ing with a lady through a stupid and mis
taken notion of chivalry.
"No," said Maude," it's that egg. I told
you"
Bather Too Enthusiastic
I would not let her proceed. I called for
another cup ofcoffee': and so we finished the
(breakfast somehow, and Sam and I went to
town. But the coffee began, to take hold of
me. It is always very trying to my nerves
when taken in excess. I remembered too
late that I Had just put the same amount
into the coffeepot that was considered a
full dose for six hardy hunters, and that I
had drank it almost all alone. My hand
shook so by 11 o'clock I couldn't put a
cigar into my mouth without risk of poking
it into my eye. We went over to the races
in order to complete Sam's business in the
city, and I was as nervous as if I had been
losing mv own money instead of Sam's.
That night as I lay staring up to the dim
obscurity of the ceiling, counting a thou
sand or trying to remember an old dream,
or using some other of the hundred tricks
which are said to bring sleep, and never do
it, I heard a murmuring beside me, and a
drowsy voice said: "It was that egg.
Howdy, I told you-"
Hotvabd FlELDnra
THS MIXED BAC OF IHDIA.
The Inclinations of .the People Ars More
European Than Native.
Eurasia has no boundaries. It lies, a
varying social.iact, all over India, thick in
the great cities, thickest in Calcutta, where
the .conditions of climatetand bread-win-.ning
are most suitable; where,, moreover,
Eurasian charities are most numerous.
Wherever Europeans have come and gone,
these people have sprung up in weedy testi
mony of them these people who do not go,
who have received somewhat in the feeble
inheritance of their blood that makes it
possible tor them to live and die in India,
says Sara Duncan in Popular Science.
Nothing will ever exterminate Eurasia;
it clings to the sun and the soil, and is'
marvelously propagative within its own
borders. There is no remote chance of its
ever being reabsorbed by either of its
original elements; the prejudices of both
Europeans and natives are tar too vigorous
to permit of much inter-marriage with a jat
ot people who are neither one nor the
other. Occasionally an up-country planter,
predestined to a remote and "jungly" ex
istence, comes down to Calcutta and draws
his bride from the upper circles of Eurasia
this" not so. often now as tormerlv. Occa
sionally, too, a young shopman -with the red
of Scotland fresh on his cheeks is carried
off by his landlady's daughter, while Tommy
Atkins falls a comparatively easy prey. 1
The sight ot a native with a halt-caste
wife is ranch rarer, for there Eurasian as
well as native antipathy comes into opera
tion. The whole conscloui inclination of
Eurasian life, in habits, tastes, religion
and most of all in .ambition, is toward the
European and away from the native stand
ards. A MAP OF ABIZ0HA.
AU the Prehistoric Vlows From the Valleys
to Be Seen at the Fair.
New York Evening Post
In connection with the Arizona exhibit a
the World's Fair, a work of unusual magni
tude aud interest has just been arranged for
in Phccuix bv the construction of the larg
est relief map ever made to show accurately
aud in detail all prehistoric views of the
valleys of the Salt and Gila rivers.
The map will give a bird's1 eye view of
nearly.1,000 square miles, which, it is esti
mated, once supported an ancient popula
tion of 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 souls, and
whose passing into oblivion without leav
ing a tradition as to whence they came and
why they disappeared constitutes one of the
greatest mysteries of the human race. ProC
F. W. Putnam of .Harvard College is direbt
inz the work, and when completed, the map
will show, in addition to remains of cities
whose population is estimated to have at
one time exceeded 100,030 souls old canals
and reservoirs with water flowing through
them as in the days of their original con
atrdction. The great antiquity ot the views to be
shown is demonstrated by the fact that in
many coses the canals are covered with lava
and volcanic ashes ot a very remarkable
eruption, while the best engineering skill of
Europe and America has been unable to
find any defect in their construction. The
old canals in many Instances cover thousands
of acres that tne present irrigators cannot
reach. .
Taking; Care of Chinese Papers.
Along the upper border of Chinese news
papers, where we usually find the title and
date, is written the exhortation, "Please
respect written paper; tbe merit is bound
less," an exhortation which is generally
heeded, for the papers are carefully filed in
shop aud office, and are read and re-read
until they fall to nieces. Then a man from
the society that takes written paper for.its
special care comes and takes away tbe well
thumbed printed rags and tatters to be rev
erently burnt in a crematorium attacbd to
the Wen-Mo-Mjan the Literary and Mili
tary Tern pie-
Viewing; the Fall of Jerusalem,
A scientific write? says that if people on
the star Sirius have telescopes' powerful
enough to distinguish objects on this planet
and are looking at it ncVthey are witness
ing the destruction oi Vrusaleni, which
took place over 1,800 years azo. Of cqurie,
the reason of this ia that the light which the
world reflects, traveling, as it does, at the
rate of 186,000 miles ier second, wonld take
over 18 centuries 'to mcb, the neareft fixed
IHK,
. .SQUR GRAPES, MAYBE.
1-
Cabinet Officers Say They Were Go
ing to Resign Anyhow.
OFFICE HOLDING DOES KOT PAT
.According to Tho3e Who Are In a Position
to Speak Positively.
THE ONE PEATUEE MOST USPLEASAKI
rcOKBKSrOSDXXCX Or TUB DMPATCff.l
WASrnNGTOjr, Dec. 2. Secretary Tracy
lives in a modest three-story house, one of a
row on the north side of K street, near
Fourteenth street. It is furnished hand
somely but not luxuriously. The Secretary
at first hesitated to express an opinion
about the desirability of office holding.
Finally he said: "It is altogether a ques
tion ot a man's willingness to make person
al sacrifices to his country. The salary of
Cabinet officer 18,000 a year is beggar
ly. A poor man cannot afford to accept a
Cabinet position. Of course, there is great
honor connected with the place. But thera
Is great loss. The cost of living In Wash
ington is very great Do you know that
story about the Cabinet officer who wanted
to rent a house in Washington? No?
Well, as the story goes, he went to see the
house, and the lady who was showing it to
him told him that the rent would be 6,000
a year. He pondered for a moment
'I assnre you, Mr. Secretary, that it is not
unreasonable," she said. 'Oh, I do not
question that,' he replied. 1 wasn't think
ing of that I was just thinking what I
would do with the other 52,000 "
"You were one of tbe seven Cabinet offi
cers who intended to resign?"
He Intended to Resign.
"Were there seven?" said the Secretary.
"Who was the eighth? I have not made
any canvass of the Cabinet It does not
make much difference, though, since the
election. Yes, I intended to resign. I
could not afford to stay here for eight years.
It is not so much my expenses here as the
loss of bqsmess in my profession."
"You are going back, to the law?"
"Yes, I shall return to Tract ice. That la
as definite a plan as I have made." .
"And the story that President Harrison
was going into partnership with you"
"Was made ddt of whole cloth," said tho
Secretary. "I have always known that the
President would return to Indianapolis to
practice law.".
"Can you give me an idea what it costs a
Cabinet officer to live here?"
"It has co't me a great deal more than
515,000 a year," 6aid the Secretary, "and
since the burning of my house I have lived
very quietly. We did not go out for a yeir,
and alter that I knew that my stay here
would be short and we did not attempt any
thing. The expenses ot a household though
are not everything. A Cabinet officer is
expected to contribute to all sorts of things
politics, charity there are continual de
mands on his purse. No, I could not have
stayed here after 3faren 4 even if the Presi
dent had been re-elected."
The Most Unpleasant Feature.
I found Secretary Busk seated at his
desk In the Agricultural Department
When I asked it office holding paid, he
said: "You will find it pretty hard to get
satisfactory answers to that question, I
fear. You see there are a great many
ibiugs to be said on both sides, for and
against, and people are liable to get these
two turned around. One of the unpleasant
things, for instance, about a Cabinet life is
that the salary is incommensurate with the
unavoidable expenses, and a man has to
draw a little too heavily on his other re
sources, whieh.is all very well when these
resources are pretty good, but rather vexa
tious when they are but moderate. Bnt in
deed," and the Secretary thoughtfully
stroked his beard, "the most unpleasant
feature to me of holding high office like
this is the necessity of telling people you
can't give them places. The pressure tor
appointment is constant, and I am often
obliged to say, in cases, too, where I Know
the applicant can do the work, and that ha
or she is in want, perhaps with no bread in
the house? that I havo no place to give. We
have 150 employes in the seed department,
mostly women, whose work is not skilled
and whose places do not come within the
civil service rules. They work during a
part of the year only, and draw a per diem
pay. The applications are most numerous
lor these p'aces, and I have had as many as
100 in a single day.
"The attractive feature of this depart
ment was the fact that there was something
new to he done here. Under the Commis-
sionership, this office had gotten into a rut
Indeed I was inclined to doubt whether it
would be possible for me to lift it out of
the rut and for that reason I hesitated about
accepting the place; but I finally made up
my mind that I could accomplish some
thing, and so I came here. I have had, on
the whole, gratifying success, though there
are still some things which I shonld like to
finish up and I have other tbmgi in view
which I should like to get started and'put
on'a good footing before I leave. Of course
I came here with the advantage of many
years experience in public life no small
advantage, I can tell you.
Still a Great Seal or Work
"As I said, while I have tbe gratification
of feeling that I have been able to accom
plish something while in this office, some
thing insuring tangible results to the class
this department represents, there is much
to be done yet and there is a broad field
here for a man who takes my place, pro
vided he be the right man in tbe right place
and that his heart be in his work."
Postmaster General Wanamaker has been
busy with his annual report for two weeks
and he has been denied to all visitors. So
has Secretary Elkins. But their views on
the subject of office holding are well known.
Mr. Wanamaker made up his mind soma
time ago that he would return to Philadel
phia to resume the supervision of his enor
mous business there as soon as he could do
so. Be would have resigned some time ago
if he had .not been under fire from the par
tisan press, and it he had not a strong inter
est in pushing the plans for a postal tele
graph, for a house-collection and for other
improvements in the postal service which
he has laid belore Congress from time to
time. Mr. Elkins has bad the honor of
serving in tbe Cabinet, and he wants to free
himself from the restrictions of official life
and get back to his borne life and his busi
ness interests in West Virginia.
George Gbaxthah Bah.
A VALUABLE HIHD0O GOD.
A Bieh Englishman Owns It and
Paid
Enormous Sum for It
Philadelphia Press.)
The famous Hidoo god Lingam is now
owned by an English gentleman of culture,
who paid a sum equal to 513,000 for it at an
auction sale of East India relics in 1888.
This sacred image stands but 12 inches
high, but small as it is, it is well worth It$
weight In first water diamonds.
The base of the figure is of pure ham
mered gold, and around it are set nine gems
a diamond, ruby, sapphire, chrysoteryl,
cat's eye, coral, pearl, hyaclnthine, garnet,
emerald and moonstone. The apex of tha
figure, which is in the shape of a pyramid,
is encircled with a plinth set with small but
very fine diamonds.
The pinnacle of the pyramid is a topaa
one and-ten-sixteenths of an inch in length
and nine-sixteenths of an inch in depth, this
in shape of a horseshoe, the center being a
cat's eye of exceeding brilliancy.
When tha "Bad Shah," last king- of
Delhi, was captured and exiled; to the And
amun islands, bis queen secreted thjs idol
and it was never seen again until recent re
search brought it to light, whereupon it waj
taken to London and disposed of tV Mr,
jfvpeneer, aa abo?? relt?A " ' ,
1