rJiWy Fight L.
$ With Paintlegs f
i i
By JACKSON Bma0
I MUNDAY. g
B 9
ata09teeceaai
I Bpont thirty years in the South
west as cowboy and ranchman. My
family were people of consequence in
Kentucky, but they had lost every
thing in 1837 by the failure of the
Slate bankB and the ensuing panic
And that la how I happened, when a
lad cl nineteen, to go with Waugh to
kit ranch at Zapatco Springs and be
gin life as a line-rtder.
I knew nothing of ranching except
from report and was, in the parlance
o( the time, a "green hand from the
States." When 1 alighted at Waugh 'a,
my only possession likely to be useful
In my new calling waa a lariat of
braided hogskln, which I had pur
chased at a store on the distant
Brazos,
I did not make friends quickly
With the men, I did not gather a
penny's worth of information in a
week ot time. I found it galling as
well as mystifying to huve my ques
tions curtly answered in a borrowed
and foreign vernacular: SI, na, poco
tlempo or qulen sabe.
Waugh's departure quickly fol
lowed our arrival he had two large
ranches, on which were both horses
and cattle and no one seemed au
thorized to furnish me with horse,
addle or information. And so 1
lounged idly or practiced with my
lariat upon an accommodating hound
pup which followed me about.
So matters ran for a week or more,
much to my disgust, and then came
a change, sharp, decisive and wel
come. There was a gathering of men
and horses and a hurry ot prepara
tion one morning. An indifferent
cow-pony, an old saddle with worn
cinches, and a bridle to match were
given to me, and I was ordered to
"throw on leather" with the rest.
There was to be a horse rodeo or
roundup at the big stone corrals on
Clam Creek flats, and we jog-trotted
Shirty miles between breakfast and
high noon. I rode with Curly Jack,
an Alabama boy, who was obliging
Enough to talk, and I learned much
about the new business ot ranching.
At Clam Creek we met another
"outfit" of men, our "cook wagon"
came up, and we planned our cam
paign for the following day.
I found myself with Curly Jack
again, and we two swung oft to the
left ot the scattering army to "ride
out" the arroyos, or gullies, of a hog
back or ridge which lay between
Clam Creek and Zapatco Springs. We
were to drive all the horses we should
find to the stone corrals, some ten
miles above our Btarting-polnt.
Curly Jack and I had ridden over
perhaps half the route assigned to up,
and had a small bunch ot horses go
ing in our front, when a band ot fifty
or more, led by a white pony with
black stockings, burst from an arroyo
and sped away in our front.
"That's Paintlogs and his band,"
aid Jack. "I 'low he'll jump the
manada In about an hour."
Then my companion explained that
Paintlegs was a. fleet seven-year-old
mustang, which had escaped the
branding-iron, and that neither hand
nor rope had ever been laid upon
him. Paintlegs was fleet as a jack
rabbit, elusive as a heel-fly and as
"ugly" as a tigercat-.
No rodeo could tangle PaiuUegs in
Its coils, and he had learned Va leave
his band to hang about the stone cor
rals, always keeping at a safe dis
tance, until his herd, or some portion
of It, was again turned out to him.
By nightfall most ot the horses
within a radius of fifteen miles or so
had been gathered and penned at
the big, round stone corrals, where
colts were to be branded and fresh
horses subdued by professional mustang-breakers.
With the work of branding and
breaking in my time of trial had
come. Like most Kentucky boys, I
was fond of horses, and was account
ed a good horseman, where the term
means something. But I must con
fess that after watching the work of
the mustang-breakers, when my turn
came to ride a "broken" pony I
mounted the blindfolded and trem
bling brute with a large respect for
Its fighting ability.
The pony, a rangy buckskin, had
been ridden once by a breaker, and
waa turned over to me for my use.
Ot course I was "pitched" off time
and again, and finally the breaker
had to take my pony in hand again.
It was my first experience of the
tricks of the genuine "bucker." I
retired to my blankets the butt of
the camp, sore of body and of heart.
On the next morning, after the
herders had penned the stock, a
"gentle" horse was given me to ride.
The animal was pronounced "not a
pitcher, but a plum runner from way
back."
And he ran with me, an exhilarat
ing dash straight up Clam Creek
lope toward the mesa. I let him
go that kind ot riding suited my
tyle exactly. When near the mesa
level, however, the treacherous rascal
Vaulted skyward and came down
pon his head and forefeet in a light
ning stop.
1 was thrown ?o violently that my
bridle rein was wrenched, broken
from my hold. I got to my feet un
hurt, but had the chagrin of seeing
my pony scamper away to freedom
" with saddle and bridle attached. It
, -would take two line-riders a half
day, perhaps a whole day, to round
the animal up and bring him in.
I was disgraced la the eyes of all
those splendid horsemen.
The misery of it blurred my eyes
with tears. I stood looking after my
pony and dreading to go back to the
rodeo. Then I was aroused by a
shrill, angry snort upon my left. I
turned to find Paintlegs, the wild
mustang, threatening me with
stamping hoofs and snapping Jaws.
This beast had been continuously
circling the rodeo,' showing himself
a dozen times in the day as he
trotted upon the mesa slopes calling
to his band. He feared the rope of
the range rider and kept at a safe
distance, but here was a man afoot,
a strange, detached creature, and I
was quickly made to feel that the
mustang's fear of me was not great
enough to save me from attack. The
vicious brute, beating the ground
with his hoofs, squealing with anger
and clacking his jaws like a mad
boar, was already advancing. -
Back he came, swift as a returning
boomerang. . He wheeled so short, to
stop his downhill rush, that he
stood, for an Instant, like an eques
trian statue, erect upon his hind feet.
His charge was again quick and furi
ous. I leaped and again narrowly
escaped a crushing blow.
Then I made a rapid dash down
the mesa slope, wheeling as I again
heard the clatter of his hoofs behind.
This time he was going like the
wind. I struck at his head with my
noose and leaped aside at the same
moment. His speed was too great to
permit him to deliver the side stroke,
but I felt the coils of my riata go
whirling out of my left hand. I
clung to the rope mechanically and
turned to see Paintlegs rearing with
my noose in his teeth.
Quite by accident he had caught
the poorly flung loop in his wide-open
jaws, and not feeling its light strain
in his mad excitement, he wheeled
upon his hind legs as before. Catch
ing the rope with both hands, I gave
a mighty backward pull at the cru
cial instant while he was rearing
high, and the valiant Paintlegs meas
ured his full length upon the mes-qult-grass.
Frantic with pain, Paintlegs struck
at the rope with both forefeet, and
became entangled as he thrashed
about. Enraged and frightened, he
pitched and plunged, drawing his
nose and forefeet into coils which I
could tighten at will. Then in a mad
leap, he threw himself with his head
twisted under his shoulders, in a way
that would have broken the nock of
an ordinary horse.
As he lay panting and helpless, the
cheers of the cow-men came up to
me from the corrals. They had been
watching my fight.
I advanced boldly, for indeed I
was no longer afraid, and placed my
self astride the fallen mustang. I
leaned over, uncoiled the rope from
one foreleg and loosened the coils
upon the other. Paintlegs, with me
on his back, struggled in a dazed way
to his feet. With legs gripping his
thin flanks, while the half-stunned
pony stood quivering and snorting,
I leaned forward, grasped the riata
behind his jaw and drew the re
maining colls off his leg.
Still Paintlegs stood, painfully
musing, his nerve-centers shaken by
the wrench to his neck. And the
noise of cow-men came up to me in a
series of hilnrlous whoops which set
my nerves tingling with the Joy of
capture.
As mucli in response to them as
with intent to start Paintlegs, I sank
my spurs into the mustang's flanks,
lashed him with the end of the riata,
and yelled like a Comanche. Then
Paintlegs gave a great leap and went
faster and faster toward Clam Creek.
Our flight was meteoric. I think we
must have gone a mile in less than
two minutes, and as we passed the
rodeo, I saw its stone fences lined
with the men who had mounted and
were swinging their sombreros in a
furor of cowboy excitement.
I had gathered in my rope and
now, by a hard, outward pull upon
the mustang's jaw and swelling
tongue, I not only kept a firm seat,
but drew Paintlegs off a straight
course and, avoiding the creek,
swung him round in a wide ellipse.
Again we passed the corrals and the
shouting cow-men.
All the mustang's energies were
concentrated in that burst of crazy
running. In an incredibly brief
space of time, we had swung round
the corrals in a two-mile circuit ac
companied by cries of Jubilant en
couragement. On we sped, my arms
aching with fatigue from the steady
pull. Foam flew from the mustang's
jaws, and his white flanks dripped
rain down my legs. Three times we
raced round that wide course, and
then, when I was ready to drop from
my seat from sheer exhaustion, two
pony riders swung into line, one upon
either hand, in my front.
Each whirled a riata. I under
stood their purpose and leaned far
back to give them room. I held to
Palntleg's mane, and threw my own
rope loosely across his neck. The
cow-men's swift ponies were now
able to keep the pace, and the riders
dropped their nooBes over Paintlegs'
head and hauled steadily at his neck.
Soon his leaps grew feebler and
Blower, slackened to a series ct weak
lunges, and I leaped from his back
clear of danger.
Thus was Paintlegs captured and
my standing fixed at Waugh's. Most
generously the wild riders applauded
the exploit, and Paintlegs was taken
in hand by a "professional," to be
thoroughly broken to my use.
Oddly enough, the mustang never
was a "pitcher," but became a sober
and honest cow-pony whose extra
ordinary fleetness was a matter of
pride at Waugh's until, three years
after his breaking, he was captured
in an Apache night rush upon one of
our camps. Youth's Companion.
will
NEW EXPERIENCE FOR A LION.
Capt Hennebert, of the Belgian
army, who has long been In the Afri
can service, amused a lecture audi
ence a few weeks ago with a story
about a young black woman he saw
last year on the shore of Lake Tan
ganyika, Rt one of the missions of
the White Fathers.
"I must tell you first," said the
Captain to his audience, "that at
those Catholic mission stations the
black women fire Invariably clad in
a cotton gown extending from their
shoulders to their feet. This young
woman went out Into the forest to
pick up dead limbs for firewood.
"She tied up her bundle of fag
gots, balanced it on her head and
was trudging home along the nar
row path when just as she turned a
sharp corner around an enormous
rock she saw a large Hon In the
path, and they were instantly face
to face in uncomfortably close quar
ters. "The girl stopped so short that her
bundle ot wood fell to the ground
behind her. The sudden apparition
caused the lion to settle back almost
on his hind quarters. He was get
ting into the attitude for a spring,
but his surprise was so great that
very likely he did not know exactly
what he was going to do.
"Quick a flash it occurred to the
woman thai if she turned to flee she
would probably be killed at once;
and simultaneously she did the thing
that saved her life.
She gave one pull at a cord and
her gown was loose and open from
top to bottom. She whipped it off
her shoulders, swung it through the
air, and the cloth came down like
a mop over the face of the Hon.
"This was an entirely new experi
ence for the animal. He was blind
ed, baffled, dumbfounded. He
sprang out of the path, and fled like
a rabbit.
"No one knows Just how It hap
pened, but he carried the gown with
him. A bit of it may have twisted
around his neck or perhaps some of
It got into his mouth; at any rate,
the Hon and the gown disappeared
together Into the buBh, and the young
woman was not anxious to hunt for
her garment.
"Some astonishment was created
by the reappearance of the girl in
the village with her bundle of wood
on her head, but In the attire of the
mothers ot the previous generation,
which was nothing at all. Bits of
the gown were later picked off the
bushes for some distance from the
place of this curious meeting, and
the larger part of it was finally found
In one piece, but so full of holeB that
It was beyond patching.
"The girl was the village heroine,
very proud of her sudden fame and
quite certain also that she had no
desire whatever to meet another
lion." New York Sun.
A TEACHER BY ACCIDENT.
Stephen A. Douglas, who Is now
chiefly remembered as the rival of
Abraham Lincoln, was, when the
rivals met In joint debate fifty years
ago, the centre of a national Interest.
He was born in Vermont, but after
removing to New York, and before
finishing his academic course, he
started for the West, His money was
not sufficient for the needs of his
journey, and he reached Jacksonville,
111., with only fifty cents. At Win
chester, ten miles away, writes Prof.
Allen Johnson i: his biography of
Douglae, a school-teacher was need
ed, and hearing of this, the youth set
forth on foot for Winchester.
Accident, happily turned to his
profit, served to Introduce him to the
townspeople of Winchester. The
morning after his arrival he found a
crowd in the public square, and
learned that an auction eale of per
sonal effects was about to take place.
Every one was eager for the sale to
begin. But a clerk to keep record
of the sales and. to draw the notes
was wanting.
The eye of the administrator fell
upon Douglass. "He then spelled his
name with the double s." Something
In the. youth's appearance gave as
surance that he could "cipher." The
Impatient bystanders " 'lowed that he
might do," so he was given a trial.
Douglas provel equal to the task,
and in two days was in possession of
flvo dollars for his work.
Through the good-will of the vil
lage storekeeper, who alsc hailed
from Vermont, Douglas was present
ed to several citizens who wished to
Bee a school opened in town, and he
Boon had a subscription list of forty
scholars, each of whom paid three
dollars for three months' tuition. He
found lodgings under the roof ot this
same friendly compatriot, the village
Storekeeper, who gave him the use
of a small room adjoining the store
room. Here Douglas spent his even
ings, devoting some hours to his law
books and perhaps more to comfort
able chats with his host and talkative
neighbors round the stove.
For diversion he had the weekly
meetings ot the Lyceum, Thlch had
just been formed. He owed much to
this institution, for the debates and
discissions gave him a chance to con
vert the traditional leadership, which
fell to him as village schoolmaster.
Into a real leadership ot talent and
ready wit.
Even while he was teaching school,
Douglas found time to practice law
In a mbdest way before the Justices
of the peace, and when the flrBt ol
March came he closed the school
house door on his career as a peda
gogue. He at once repaired to Jack
sonville and presented himself before
a Justice of the Supreme Court for
license to practice law. He was duly
admitted, although he then lacked a
month of twenty-one years of age. "
THRILLING TRIP IN A BALLOON.
Thrilling adventures with the wind
and water are added to the stories of
the international balloonists In their
race flight from Chicago to estab
lish a new long-distance record. The
Canadian balloon King Edward, con
taining John Bennett as pilot, and
Gerald Gregory, fifteen years old,
dropped into Lake Michigan twice.
Like the Ville de Dieppe, the
French balloon, in which Capt. A. E.
Mueller and George Schoenech nearly
lost their lives when it was ten miles
out from the Illinois shore, the King
Edward sank into the water and sub
merged the two occupants to their
shoulders. They were nearly in mid
rake when the balloon took itu first
dip.
"We had Just lost sight of the sky
rocket display in Chicago when we
suddenly felt ourselves sinking into
the lake with a fearful drop," said
Gregory, who returned with the bal
loon, which finally landed near Port
Huron, Mich.
"We .had our heads down In the
bottom of the basket arranging
things for the night, and when we
looked up again we were not more
than 100 feet from the water. We
immediately tossed over nearly all
our ballast, but we could not stop
the car from striking the water. It
caused a great splash and we were
in the lake up to our waists.
"Two of the sacks of Band were
washed off, and we managed to get
up again after being in the water
about five or ten minutes. We had
our life preservers on. Then we
ascended to a height of about 1000
feet, and went along at a fast pace.
We could not see the water below.
Suddenly we felt ourselves dropping
again.
"This time the descent was more
rapid, and as we had thrown all ex
cept two bags of the ballast over
board we were at a loss what to do.
We shot down into the lake as If
we were diving into it.
"The water came Into the basket,
and we were forced to climb into
the netting above. We tossed out
everything we had, Including pro
visions, and rose again.
"Before we went up we were
bouncing along over the waves,
driven by the wind, and I thought
we never were going to get up into
the air again. When we finally did
go up we went fast. Mr. Bennett
said we went up 6000 feet in six
minutes.
"WTe had no sand, and when wo
came in sight ot Lake Huron early
in the morning we decided not to
risk the chance of crossing it, as the
distance was 150 miles. So, al
though we were up at an altitude of
5000 feet, we came down gently. I
landed about ten miles from a farm
where I am going to spend my vaca
tion." BOYS BATTLE WITH SNAKE.
Dan Russell, of Brownsville, and
Wren Tyus, residing west of town,
went fishing Thursday in Big Hatchla
River near Van Buren, nine milea
from here. As they stepped into the
boat they noticed a big moccasin
snake crossing the stream. They
agreed to follow and kill It.
They had hardly left the side of
the river when the moccasin discov
ered their design and. came back,
meeting them in midstream, show
ing fight by his upright position.
Russell struck the snake with an oar
and sent him under the water. He
came up more vicious than ever. He
struck savagely at the boat and its
occupants and made a dash for the
inside of the boat.
In their efforts to keep the snake
out the boys overturned the boat and
both were In the water with the
mad snake. They diVed and came
up directly opposite the reptile. A
second dive was made and the snake
followed Tyus and bit him In tha
thigh. He came up calling for help.
Russell managed to get him to the
bank and examined his wound,
which was fast swelling. He car
ried him to his home near by and
there medical assistance was ren
dered. He Is very sick, but the at
tending physician thinks he will
recover. Brownsville Correspond
ence Nashville American.
ELEPHANT SAVES A BOY.
Clarence Macomber, of Worcester,
Mass., with 2000 other spectators,
watched the swimming antics ot ele
phants of W. W. Powers, of New
York, in Lake Quinsigamond. The
Macomber lad was standing on the
taffrail when he lost bis balance and
tumbled into ninety feet of water.
Jennie, the largest of the ele
phants, seemed to divine his danger
and as he was sinking for the third
time caught him by the arm with her
trunk and thrashed toward shore,
holding him up in the air, until a
policeman lifted him safely to the
Coat.
Beech Lumber.
Beech lumber has the lowest mar
ket value ot any American wood.
Lumbermen pay $4 a thousand feet
as against $35 for oak. It is used
in the mines for ties, posts, stringers
and rails in buildings for studding,
rafters and JolBts, and should be used
at home, reserving more valuable
trees for Important use and tor sale.
Arboriculture,
How the Japs Learned to Shoot.
That the Japanese know how to
shoot has been made apparent to all
nations, but it would puzzle most peo
ple to say who gave them their first
lesson in the use of firearms. It
might possibly be supposed that they
borrowed the art, as they have bor
rowed other things, from their Chi
nese neighbors, who were certainly
acquainted with the virtues of villain
ous saltpetre long before gunpowder
was introduced into Europe. But it
was no Chinese musketry instructor
whq taught the Jap to handle a gun.
The lesson came from a Portuguese
traveler and Boldler ot fortune, one
of the companions of the renowned
Fernand Mendez Pinto, who tells the
story. Pinto had been called the
prince ot liars, but the libel Is quite
without justification. He was an ac
complished traveler. Among other
things, he went to Lhassa, and took
down a sermon preached by the Dalai
Lama; but that is another story. His
adventures In Japan were not the
least Interesting part of his experi
ences. He tells us that when sailing
the Eastern seas he and his comrades
were wrecked and left stranded on a
desert Island. There they were picked
up by a Chinese pirate. From his
craft, after a series ot mishaps, they
landed on the island ot Tanlxuma,
which may be Identified with Tanega
Shlma, Just to the south ot the south
ernmost of the four great islands of
Japan. Here they were well re
ceived by the governor, who asked
many questions about Portugal,
"whereunto," says Pinto, "we ren
dered him such answers as might
rather fit his humor than agree with
the truth."
Invited on shore by the Japanese
governor ot Tanega Shlma, the Por
tuguese employed themselves in fish
ing, hunting or visiting the temples
of these Gentiles, as Pinto calls them.
It happened that the governor, when
out riding, saw one of them Diego
Zeimoto shooting with an arquebus,
"wherein he was very expert." The
governor had never set eyes on a gun
before, and was so mightily taken
with this manner of shooting that he
desired to be informed ot the secret
of the powder, which he concluded
must be some source of sorcery.
Proud ot the sensation he had cre
ated, Diego "made three shoots" for
the governor's benefit, bringing down
a kite and two turtle doves. The
governor was so delighted that he
told Diego to get on his horse, and
so rode with him to the palace, ac
companied by a great crowd. Diego
gave his arquebus to the governor,
who declared that he valued It more
than all the treasures of China, and
then persuaded his guest to teach
him how to make gunpowder. Clev
er Japanese craftsmen were employed
to make guns of the same pattern;
and before Pinto and his companions
left the laland that is, within five or
six months six hundred muskets
had been turned out. The fame of
the new weapon was soon carried
across what we now call theVan Die
man Straits to the island of Klu-Kiu,
Pinto's kingdom ot Bungo. The king,
who was possibly no more than a
Daimlo ot high degree subject to the
ruler of all Japan, having heard of
the arrival of the Portuguese at
Tanega Shlma, .and of the wonders
of their discourse, wrote to the gov
ernor asking that they might be for
warded to his capital; "for I have
heard of a truth," he wrote, "that
these same men have entertained you
at large with all matters of the wide
universe, and have affirmed unto you
Harvesting the Wheat.
By AGNES C. LAUT.
But the wheat field la ripe and
harvest has come. It Is the apoth
eosis of the year. Insects pests and
fungous pests, hail and frost, the yel
low field has escaped them all, and
billows a sea of gold from sky-line to
sky-line beneath a midsummer sky
purpling to the haze of coming au
tumn. A multitude of little voices
fife and trill from the wayside
grasses. The drowsy hum ot the
reaper fills the air with a singing.
Out on the Pacific Coast wheat farms
they are cutting the wheat with huge
harvesters driven by engines drawn
by twenty or forty horses, machines
that cut a swath from sixteen to
forty feet wide, carry the wheat to a
moving thresher and throw it aside
on the field sacked and ready for
market where It lies In a rainless
season till it can be drawn to the
train. A hundred acres a day, these
huge machines will harvest and
thresh. Up in the Northwest on the
fields of No. 1 Hard, two and three
and four teams draw the self binders
that cut and bind the wheat to steam
threshers at work on the same field.
Down in Egypt they harvest by hand
Eickle, five men to the acre, at a cost
of a dollar; while in Russia and the
Argentina they are Just beglnlng to
learn tho use of the American self
binders. It you listen to the hum and the
click of the reaper, it grows on you
like magic. It is no longer a mere
song of the reaper. It is a chorus,
the full-throated chorus of the har
vest, the anthem of joy from the
food fields of the world. The Outing
Magazine.
World's Enormous Steam Tower.
A German statistician has calcu
lated that the steam power in present
use on this globe I equal to 120,
000,000 horse-power. The coal need
ed to supply this steam for a year
would make a freight train extend
ing ten times around the earth.
on their faith that there is another
world greater than ours, inhabited by,
black and tawny people."
The governor was unwilling to
part Diego Zeimoto until that marks
man had taught him to shoot as
straight as he could himself; but ha
sent Pinto and another Portuguese.
These two were rowed across tha
Straits, and, after a long Journey by,
land, came to "Fuchea," the capital,,
this doubtless being the Fukuoka of
our maps, on the northwest coast.
The "King" was suffering at the time
from gout; but Pinto, according to
bis own version, cured htm. in a
month, by means ot "a certain wood
Infused in water." While the King
was laid up, the Portuguese traveler
enlightened him and the grandees of
the court on the subject of the uni
verse in general and the kingdom o
Portugal in particular, devoting his
leisure time to sport. He shot a
great store of turtles and quails with
his arquebus; and this new manner,
of shooting, he writes, seemed no less
marvellous to the inhabitants of thtsr
land than it had been to those of
Tanega Shlma.
But the first introduction of fire
arms Into the kingdom of Bungo
threatened at one time to have traglo
consequences for the Portuguese.
The King's son wanted to learn to
shoot, and begged Pinto to teach him.
Pinto did his best to put oft the young
prince; but one day, when the Portu
guese was asleep, the prince, seeing
the arquebus hanging on the wall,'
took It down, charged It about two
spans deep with powder, and then
stole off with his prize. Selecting an
orange tree as a mark, he aimed care
fully, and then fired, the result being
that the barrel burst, and the young
gentleman's right thumb was all but
blown off. Two Japanese boys who
came with him ran away, and raised
the cry that the prince had been shot
by the stranger's gun, and Pinto was
roused by an angry mob, who put
him in Irons, while the priests "ser
vants of the devil" he styles them--loudly
required that he should be tor
tured to death. Fortunately the
"King," carried in a chair, appeared
on the scene, and, on hearing Pinto's
explanations, ordered him to be set at
liberty. Pinto at the same time un
dertook to heal the prince's wound,
and, though no "chlrurglon," man
aged to do it in the space ot a month,
for which he received a fee of fifteen
hundred ducats. The Portuguese then
returned to Tanega Shima, whence
they sailed for Liampo, "which, is a
seaport of the kingdom ot China,
where at that time the Portugals
traded," Liampo being the modern
Nlng-po.
Some time later namely, In 1556
when Pinto was sent by the Portu
guese viceroy, Don Alfonso de Nor
onha, on a mission to the King ot
Bungo, he found that there were
about thirty thousand arquebuses In
the city of Fuchea alone. He was
also Informed by certain merchants
of good credit that in "the whole Isl
and of Jappon" there were above
three hundred thousand firearms,
and that the Japanese were exporting
them, by way of trade, to the Liu
Klu Islands. "There is not so small
an hamlet," Pinto writes, "but hath a
hundred at least; as for cities and
great towns, they have them by thou
sands, whereby one may perceive
what the inclination of this people
is, and how much they are naturally,
addicted to the wars, wherein they,
take more delight than any other na
tion that we know." St. James'
Gazette. ,
I Getting Into Monte Carlo
By ARTHUR HEWITT. i
I came to Monte Carlo at night; It
was as though some palace of a fairer
land had greeted me. Monaco's giant
rocks rose heavenward, their lighted
headlands blending with a starry, yet
ink-black, sky. You leave the train
behind there is an ascent of many
steps, marble Bteps, a stairway of
splendor adorned with bronzes. At
the top, through a garden of great
palms, you get the first glimpse of
the Casino, a building of gaudy splen
dor, somewhat subdued at night; and
your thoughts are of satisfaction and
pleasure. But musings like these
came to an abrupt end; the crowd
swept on the Casino, and the reality
was before me.
Now came the formality of obtain
ing from the authorities the admis
sion card. I experienced difficulty,
and it was only after proving my
Identity and professional standing
that the green card was handed to
me.
No one is wanted in the Casino
who Is a local resident; you have to
live far away and be an employer
rather than an employe; this rule
Is made to lessen the chance of tha
scandal often coincident with loss.
After traversing the splendid hall
ways the card was scrutinized, and
at last the doorkeepers, with pro-,
found obeisance, ushered me into the
gambling salon.
You ask me for impressions first
Impressions. Well, I will tell you
the neurotic perfumes ot this south
ern land, the noise as of raining gold,
the atmosphere or aura of the place,
unseen yet none the less forceful,
these impelled me to dive into my
pocket nnd test the goddess Fortuue.
The Bohemian Magazine.
The most active years of railway
construction in the United States
were in 18S2, when ;i,569 miles
were added to the operated rullronda,
and In 1SS7, when the Increase was
12,807.