Probably tho Spaniards are think
ing just now that those ''American
pig 9" must be of the wild boar vari?
ety. ________
Massachusetts claims to have move
different kiuds of native trees than
has any kingdom of Europe. The
number exceeds fifty, among them be
ing nine large oaks.
It is rej from Spain that our
navy olnceis don't wear socks. This
may account to the Spanish mind for
the barbarous ferocity with which
they keep at the work of knocking the
socks ofl the Spanish navy.
A larg of the literature of tho
world is becoming unintelligible to
this generation through lack of ability
to understand quotations from the
Bible, asserts the Christian Herald.
Allusions to sayings and events which
our fathers would have understood at
a glance now signify nothing to many
readers.
The Illinois Central Railroad has
beaten its record, having delivered
1,000,000 bales of cotton at New
Orleans during the current season of
eight months beginning September 1,
1897. The one million and first bale
was presented by Stuyvesant Fish,
President of the railroad, to Colonel
11. G. Hester, Secretary of the New
Orleans Cotton Exchange, and it is to
be disposed of for the benefit of the
poor of the Crescent City.
"The talk about European inter
vention in the Cuban affair and a Con
tinental league against the United
States has a hollow sound," declares
the New York Tribune, "when Amer
ican control of food supplies is dem
onstrated so completely. America
stands in no dread of a European con
cert in defense of the worm-eaten
Spanish throne, when by withholding
food supplies she could menace every
Continental State except Russia with
bread riots aud starvation; nor is it
necessary for Americaus to be impor
tunate in their wooing for an Anglo-
Saxon alliance. England not only
speaks the same language and reads
Shakespeare, but it also lives on
American wheat. Self-interest rather
than sentiment is the true basis of an
Anglo-American alliance; in future
bread is more important than blood
relationship."
It has been repeatedly stated in the
past few months that the ships of
nations at war could not pass through
the Suez Canal. That was the com
mon belief, and many poople who
prided themselves on the accuracy of
their general information have been
not less confused than surprised to
find, on looking the matter up, that
they were entirely mistaken. The
canal is as free—except for the little
detail of tolls—to the navies of every
nation and at all times as are the
waters of the open sea itself, and this
has been the case ever since 1888.
Early in that year England, Fiance
and Turkey agreed on a convention
making the canal a neutral highway,
and a few months later all the powers
gave their acquiescence. The instru
ment explicitly permits the transpor
tation of war nfaterial and ships of war
Uirougli the canal, whether peace pre
vails or not, and only prohibits overt
rets of hostility between or within
three miles of the termini.
The bat ships of modern times are
a necessity to any great nation which
intends to maintain its l ights aud pro
tect,ito interests, believes the Atlanta
Journal, but their cost is heavy. An
outlay of something like §3,000,000 is
required to construct and equip a ship
which would take high lank in any
modern navy. After such a ship is
complete the expense of maintaining
it is very heavy. This item for each
of our big battleships is now about
§ISOO a day even when they do no fir.
ing. The daily expenses of our navy
are now over §50,000 a day. The total
annual expenses of a first-class battle
ship are estimated at*§s-47,000,divided
as follows:
Pay of officers, crew and murines .5-320,000
Rations 48,000
Equipment • . 12,003
Navigation charges. ;. 0,000
Ordnance IS,OOO
Construction and repairs 13,000
fcteara engineering 32.000
General supplies. 14,000
Medicine, surgery, secretary's of
fice and Incidental expenses 78,000
The cost of ammunition used Mur
ing an engagement is immense, but it
is of course impossible to estimate
this in calculating the expense of a
navy. ± Repair to warships, cruisers
and other craft even in time of peace
is large, but after every engagement
it is necessarily immense, even for tho
victor. War on a modern basis is a
terrific absorber of money, and thera
never was a time when the importance
of money as a factor in war was any
thing like as great as it is now.
THE DANCER OF BEAUTY. |
I never read the papers without feeling so
contenv
That both my eyes are twisted and ray (
nose Is slightly bent;
I'm glad my mouth is out of line and that (
my teeth are few.
And if I had a "wealth of hair" I don't ]
know what I'd do.
A "tiny foot" or "lily hand" would fill me I
with dismay,
And if I had a slender waist I'd sicken in a '
day;
For I have noticed from tho first, as .
strange ns it may seem,
Tho giri who gets the worst of it is '
"lovely as a dream."
I THE HEART OF SAVAGERY. jjj
§£ <?>
A TRAGEDY OF BEACHCOMBERS IN THE FAR Ff>
AWAY SOUTH SEA.
EARL Ushers are a
mysterious lot aud
the South Sea is
full of obscure
tragedies. Recent
eveuts iu the Phil-
I ~TPpCr*i_ J attention to them
anew. Tragedy
■' was often the end
of adventure, and then, too, none but
the most venturesome or the most
abandoned of white men sought to
live among the wild islanders in the
days, not so far remote, when the
missionary had not yet introduced his
stucco churches and taught the na
tives the price of an axe or a handful
of ship biscuit. This tale of
one of the forgotten tragedies is
drawn from an official document on
which forty years of slumbering in a
forgotten pigeonhole has served to
dim the writing aud to dull the im
print of the lion aud the unieorn with
which a British Consul made the pa
per official. To write an account of a
murder on sixteen sheets of Govern
ment blue stationery, to attach a seal
with the royal arms—that may pass
sometimes as just the same as aveng
ing it.
Suvarrow is as lonely a group of
desolation as it is possible to find in
that scantily traveled region of the
South Seas which lies to tli eastward
of Samoa and before reaching such
populous centres as Tahiti and Raro
tonga. Other islands have the pic
turesque features of towering moun
tains, verdure clad to their summit
crags, the grace of waving cocoanut
palms fringing every beach with giaut
leaves. Suvarrow is but a ring of
sand banks skirting a lagoon filled
with coral groves; the only trees, the
6tunted pandanus, set on a group of
prop-like roots. Other islands have
their peopling of brown-skinned folk,
possibly treacherous, and always to
be treated ns inferiors by that lovely
creature, the beachcomber of these
seas, yet human iu their desire for
gaudy toys and the tinned goods on
which the white man feeds. Suvarrow
is marked on the charts as uninhab
ited and, therefore, is not a port of
call ior the vagrant whaler in his
search for sperm, the trader or the
blackbirder. Yet now and again little
island colonies may bo found on the
bare sands of the atoll, for in the la
goon grow the pearl oyster and the
beche-de-mer, which Chinamen eat,
and on the sands great turtles (tome
to lay their eggs by night. Hence
beachcombers mysteriously wander
ing beyond the confines of civilization
at odd times camp on the bare islets
in search of the wealth of tortoise
shell, pearl shell and trepang the sea
affords. This is the story of one such
colony on the desolate atoll of Su
rarrow, a tale whose events were com
plete in 1858, but have never yet been I
made known beyond the combers of j
South Sea beaches.
Iu the early months of 1857 Thomas
Charlton, of Martha's Vineyard, a'run
away hand from a Nantucket whaler,
was living 011 the island of Manahiki.
When he was fishing one day in a
canoe outside the coral reef a sudden
squall carried him aud his party of
islanders out of sight of land and left
them adrift and undirected upon the
ocean. South Sea tradition is a mass
of tales of such involuntary voyagiug.
With such help as a sailor could get
from dead reckoning and a knowledge
of the set ot the trade winds, Charlton
managed to bring his canoe to Suvar
row aud there established his colony
of gentle Manahikians. In addition
to his wife Snmaria, Charlton, of Tamu,
as he was called in the liquid speech
of the islands, numbered in the census
of his settlement on the sands eight
souls. Here aud his wife Ivokorariki
(a Pnumotu woman from the far east
ern island awayto windward ofTahiti,
and, as the event proved, a shrewd
and conscienceless woman), Kaitai
and his wife, and the single men
Ngere, Taarnu, Voitia, Otea, and
Vaimnu. With true Polynesian apathy,
these people made the best tlicy could
of a bad affair, built them houses near
a source of water, and took up the
thread of life where it had been broken
by the squall at Manahiki, scores of
leagues away. There was food 011 the
island and water—that is enough for a
colony of folk whole needs are simple.
They were destined to live not long
alone. Captain Sam Sustenance was
sailing those seas in his topsail
schooner Dart. Captain Sustenance
might not be classed among the elect.
He was not a good man, even accord- I
ing to the standard of these waters, j
where the only good thing afloat was
the "society's brig," said society be- !
ing the London Missionary Society,
which has pioneered the South Pacific
since Cook's voyages of discovery. |
But Sustenance was such a mau as j
best suited the early times of sea I
trading, enough of n mere merchant- [
man to satisfy the curiosity of the in
frequent naval vessels cruising among I
The papers never tell about a woman being
shot,
Or mangled by a trolley ear, or married to
a sot,
Or forced, at point of pistol, her last fifty
cents to lose,
But that her eyes are "limpid" and her
boots are number twos.
So I can live in sweet content, without the
slightest fear
That trouble or calamity will ever hover
near—
And I see my misfit face it's some
relief to kuow
That I'll outlive the beauties by a hundred
years or so!
—Brooklyn Life.
the islands for the sake of the moral
effect, enough of a buccaneer to have
dollars to jingle on the Circular Quay
81 Sydney before a grand carouse in
the Currency Lass public house. From
end to end of the Pacific Sam Suste
nance w as known by the name of Uru-
Uru, which the islanders hacl given
him. At Penrhyn Island on August
1, 1857, he engaged an English beach
comber, Joe Bird, to superintend the
party of native pearl divers whom he
shipped at the same time. There were
eighteen men nud several women in
the party. The Penrhyn folk are
widely different from the gentle and
timorous Manahikians. Sour and
gloomy at all times, they are capable
of nourishing n|grievnnce aud of hid
ing their time in n plot to wipe it out.
Two days later Uru-Uru stopped at
Mauahiki long enough to take on board
7000 eocoanuts for the food of his
divers, and on August 13 he anchored
at Suvarrow.
According to beachcomber's law of
might is right, Sustenance and Joe
Bird with a fighting crew nt their back,
with a score of fierce Fenrhyn Island
ers, were able to decree that Tamu and
his handful of mild Manahikians should
confine themselves to one islet and
leave the rest of the atoll .to the pearl
divers. Still more company was com
ing. Within a month or six woeks the
schooner Tickler, Thomas F. Martin,
master, visited Suvarrow and landed
Jules Tirel, a Frenchman, who was
known to the islanders as Jules Faraui,
or French Jules. In October of the
same year Sustenance revisited his
pearling station and found little shell
as yet collected. It is likely that he
gave forcible expression to his disap
pointment, but be that as it may, the
main feature is that the three beach
combers were then there with the two
native settlements of Manahikians and
Penrhyn people and that all was well.
In April, 1858, the brig Charlotte
couched at Suvarrow and two of the
Manahiki boys, Otea and Vaimau,
went on her to Samoa. Neither on
the voyage nor at Apia did they men
tion any white men ns having been
with them on Suvarrow, and the mas
ter of tho Charlotte knew nothing of
the former notions uf Sustenance.
That trader again visited Suvarrow
011 June 15, ten months after estab
lishing his diving station and eight
months after his last visit. As he
stood up for the passage through the
coral reef first one ami then a second
canoe filled with Penryhu Islanders
hoarded the Dart with many expres
sions of pleasure that they once-more
saw their friend Uru-Uru, for the three
beachcombers had long ago taken their
boat and sailed away westward to Sam
oa. Knowing the wild roving fever
which drives the beachcomber hither
and yon, back and forth through the
South Seas, aud their recklessness of
the chances of voyaging, Sustenance
saw nothing unusual in the thought of
three men setting out iu a small boat
for an ocean voyage of hundreds of
miles. His two mates suggested the
possibility of foul play, but he pooh
hoohed their suspicions. At any rate
the Peurhyu Islanders told a consis
tent story.
On lauding, Sustenance metjthe Pau
motu woman, Ivokorariki, wife of the
Manahikian Here. Her story was to
the effect that in February the three
beachcombers had pain ted the boat and
made a new sail. They had taken the
small cask filled with drinking water
and a large supply of dried eggs of the
sea fowl which swarm on the islands,
together with a variety of food in the
shape of fre3h and baked cocoauuts.
The boat had been leaky, butwastigbt
after the new painting. They had
sailed away to tho west and before
sundown were out of sight. As they
had left their wives behind, she was
sure that they intended to take ship
iu Samoa and go to their own lands
beyond the horizon. They had taken
all their trade goods except one holt
of printed goods which they had
divided among tho Penrhyn divers.
For a savage this woman seems to
I linve had a genius for lying. The
I other people ngreed with her account,
and the island, when carefully
searched, yielded no indication in tho
way of goods or stores that the woman
had told other than tho truth. For
the following fortnight the Manahi
kians and the Penrhyns were on the
Dart on the homeward voyage back to
Penrhyn, and not n word or a sign
gave reason to suspect that tho story
was false.
Some weeks later Sustenance
! touched in the course of .trade at Rak
j ahanga, aud there again encountered
the.womau Ivokorariki. She asked at
once if he had heard of Joe and Tamu.
Apparently much concerned when she
! heard that they had not reached
Samoa, she asked in what direction
Pitknpuka bore, and when the ship
master pointed down to the west, she
j seemed much relieved, and suggested
that the beachcombers had probably
I reached that island.
ret in her original Btory and in this
renewed interest in the voyage of the
beachcombers Kokorariki was but
playing a leading part in n tissue
of fabrication which was sufficiently
good to deceive Sustenance, and it
may be said that it is by no means
easy to pull the wool over the eyes of
a South Sea trader.
The three beachcombers had been
murdered on Suvarrowin the presence
of this woman and every other person
on the island, and Kokorariki herself
had planned the consistent story
which had cleared them all from sus
picion. The story came out by the
confession of the wife of Tamu, that
is, Tom Charlton, the American, which
she made to Tairi, the native mission
ary teacher on Raknhanga.
For some time after the last visit
which Sustenance made at Suvarrow
the people busied themselves about
their several occupations. Tamu and
his Manuhikians fished and cured the
beche-de-mer, Joe and the Fenrhyn
Islanders worked at the beds of pearl
shell, and Jules seems to have diver
sified his chief occupation of doing
nothing by spells of watchihg the
others at work. He was well liked
by the islanders. So was Charlton.
But Joe Bird acted as the superior be
ing is so apt to do when living among
the islanders. A common threat when
any of his divers proved refractory
was that he would cut them in two
and would eat their livers, and when
one is a cannibal such a threat does
not seem as improbnble as it might ap
pear in other conditions of life. Often
he deprived his divers of their rations
and water when their take of shell
was not np to the amount he fixed for
a day's task. The divers plotted to
tako their revenge upon him, and saw
clearly that they must make away
with the other white men at the same
time.
The opportunity came early one
morning. Joe Bird missed some co
coanuts from bis pit. He went first
to Tom Carlton's and questioned the
Mannhikians as to the theft. This
was no more than a matter of form,
for no one would ever suspect a
Mnnnhikian of theft. Receiving their
denial in good part Joe took his gun
and sword and strolled over to the
quarters of his divers. The various
people on the island were engaged in
various concerns. Kokorariki was
cooking a bird for breakfast. Here's
wife was attending her sick husband
at lomilomi, the effective South Sea
massage; the other Mannhikians had
just started out after bec.he-de-mer.
Tom, with pistol and sword, hurried
after Joe Bird and after him came
Jules Farani with a sword. Arrived
at the houses of the divers Joe chargd
their head man, Tangiora, with steal
ing the cocoanuts and fired the gun
over his head. Then he grappled
with Tangiora and called to Tom for
help. Tom ran up and got hold of
Tangiora's hand and snapped his pis
tol at him. It missed fire and he re
capped it, taking the fresh cap from
a little chamber in the bntt of the
weapon. As he aimed a second time
a savage named Maori caught him* by
the hand, whereupon Tom .knocked
him down by a blow in the eye. But
as he fell Maori caught Tom by the
feet and threw him with the assist
ance of Tangiora, and these two then
disarmed him and tied his hands and
feet. Meanwhile a savage named
Rapahua seized Joe Bird and threw
him down, and with the help of Tang
ioro lashed his hands. Farani had
no firearms, but he came on a run
with his sword at Matahu. The lat
ter with the aid of Popokia and Na
toto, tied the Frenchman up like his
mates. The three beachcombers were
then thrown into their boat and word
was sent to four other Fenrhyns
who were fishing on the other side to
come and row the boat.
Tom's wife Sumaria, came running
to Here's liouse shouting, "O nga
ropa, O nga ropa, good people, they
nre killing the white men for they are
taking them away in the boat." Tom's
wife, ICokorariki, and Kaitai's wife,
all hastened to the boat. Here Su
maria and Ivaitai's wife had already
cast oft' the lashings from Tom's
wrists and ankles, when Bapa
lma aimed a gnn nt the women and
forced them to desist. Tom, appar
ently thinking that they were to be
set on one of the islets across the
lagoon, then bade Kaitai's wife to call
the Manahikians to launch his boat.
This the I'enrhyns prevented with
gnus and swords, and, the four row
ers by this time having come across,
they pulled the boat out into the la
goon. Tom was seated on the gun
wale and the other two were lying
under the thwarts. Joe Bird begged
his captors for mercy and offered all
he had if only his life might be
spared.
But Tom bade him not to be a child,
for it was now too late, and he himself
had brought this fate upon himself
and his companions. At the deepest
part of the lagoon tho I'enrhyns hove
Joo Bird overboard first, and he sank
right to the bottom. Tom was the
next to go, and he, too, went down
like a stone. But the Frenchman rose
alongside the boat, and Powhatu cut
his head open with a sword. Then the
Frenchman sank to join his mates in
the quiet depths of the lagoon.
Now that the deed was done the
shrewdness and facile invention of the
Faumotu woman, Kokorariki, stood
the party in good stead. Left to their
own simple devices they would have
shaved out the goods of the murdered
white men, and their detection would
have been certain. She it wasiwlio
set the scene and concocted the story
so well as to deceive Captain Sus
tenance. She had the boat burned
and the metal work sunk in the la
goon, and the property of the white
men was in like manner destroyed, all
bnt the single bolt of cheup cloth dis
tributed to the divers. That was a
stroke of genuine art. It would be
such a natural thing for Joe Bird to
do if he were sailing away that it car
ried proof in itself. The money was
almost all in her possession, but she
had a long series of unwritten ac
counts by which it was ma dp to seera
the wages of the Pencliyn Islanders
acquired by her in the Way of trade.
With these confessions set out in
full the original document ends. A
careful search of the records shows no
indication that any attempt was made
to punish the murderers. Three men
had died in the early morning in the
lagoon of a little visited atoll in the
wild South Seas, but they were only
beachcombers, and their loss was not
grievously felt by the world of civili
zation they had voluntarily cast off in
order to plunge into the heart of sav
agery, a wild, a sudden, a cruel heart.
How such a murder was regarded
by a man who was living the same life
and was exposed to the same chances
is naively shown in the concluding
words of the deposition of Captain
Sustennnee: "There did not appear
to have been any serious quarrel,
neither should I judge the natives to
have been much excited. I should in
fer that it must have been talked of
long before and probably accelerated
by the gun unhappily discharged over
instead of into the head of Taugiroa."
—New York Snn.
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL,
The steam engine is covered by
8237 patents.
One-quarter of all the people born
die before six years, and one-half be
fore they ore sixteen.
Microbes are so minute that 250,-
000,000 can be comfortably accommo
dated on a penny postage stamp.
There are three times as many
muscles in the tail of the cat as there
are in the human hands and wrists.
The expenses for the electric un
derground road now being built in
London have so far amounted to §B,-
000,000.
There are now forty-five match fao
tories in Japan, employing an average
of nearly 9000 operatives a day. Their
exports last year reached a value of 81,-
706,012.
No parental care ever falls to the
lot of a single member of the insect
tribe. In general, the eggs of an in
sect are destined to be hatched long
after the parents are dead, so that
most insects nro born orphans.
In Bussia eleven laboratories are
engaged in the manufacture of diph
theria serum, in which the entire peo
ple place great confidence, and not
without reason, as in 44,631 regis
tered cases in which the serum was
used the death rate was but fourteen
per cent, against thirty-four per cent,
of the 6507 cases in which it was not
employed.
It has been suggested that as ice a!
only twelve degrees below freezing
has a specific insulation of over one
thousand megohms, it might be possi
ble to have hollow conductors which
could be placed in a trench filled with
water and used to carry brine for pur
poses of ice making and refrigeration.
The frozen wnter would act as the in
sulator, and calculations have been
made showing that the arrangement is
feasible on a commercial scale.
The consensus of opinion regarding
the origin of the migration of birds is
that it began during the glacial period.
The earth being then covered at
either end with a cap of ice, all life
was confined to a belt in the centre;
but tli3 ice receded a little at certain
seasons, leaving an uninhabited space
that afforded the quiet and seclusion
that all the higher animals seek dur
iug'tho breeding period. The birds
went there accordingly to rear their
young, and, as the ice receded fur
ther and further, they migrated fur
ther and further.
Uuggiun Itluejnckcta Eat Tallow Candler
"To most people," says the Hong
Kong (Chiua)J Telegraph, "a tallow
candle appears more in the way of a
necessity than a luxury, but the Rus
sian bluejnckets who are enjoying
shore leave just now from the Rossis
and the Admiral Nakimoff appear to find
in assimilating candles of Chinese
make as much gusto as an English
child would have in eating a sugar
stick. The other day a party of stal
wart Muscovite bluejackets were to be
seen going along Queen's Rond, nnd
the avidity with which they polished
off joss caudles was n sight for the
gods. Some of the men, who were
evidently petty officers, elected to dine
off candles as thick nn one's arm—
regular No. 1 joss pidgin arrange
ments—am. streams of grease trickled
from the corners of each man's mouth."
A Large Family.
In the Basler Jura, on the slopes of
Mount Terrible, is a small village
called Montavon. The government of
the place is conducted by a President,
Vice-President, three Councilors or
Aldermen, Communal Steward, Com
munal Clerk and Communal Sergeant.
The President's name is Joseph Mon
tavon ; the Vice-President, Victor Mon
tavon; the Steward, George Monta
von; the Clerk, Joseph Montavon; the
Sergennt, Karl Montavon, and the
three Councilors, reter, Julius and
Ernst Montavon. This curious cir
cumstance arises from the fact that
everybody in the place bears the name
of JJontavon. It is the name of a fam
ily so lnrge that it has been vested
with town rights by the Swiss govern
ment.
New Treatment For ltysin-psin.
A new treatment for dyspepsia is a
Japanese fish diet, in which the chief
articles of food are fish, rice, eggs
and oysters. The dishes are said to
be numberless. One is a baked pud
ding, made of flakes of fish, boiled
rice, eggs and seasoning. Another is
a raw fish salad; a third, raw fish
pickled; a fourth, is the me#'- of fish
pounded iuto a paste with butter,
vinegar, salt, White nnd cayen e pep
pers. All are said be appetizing
and nutritious to a high decree.
Bow. Under tlie Chin.
It ia a conservative estimate to say
tliat two-thirds of the feminine world
wears a bow under its chin. A dash
ing little French bow, made in two
loops—no ends appearing—of taffeta,
or chiffon, or tulle, that is accordion
plaited, is especially stylish.
Shamrocks the Vogue In Paris.
"Three little leaves of Irish green
united on one stem," incased in a crys
tal locket are the latest fad in trifles
which go to make up the budget of
fashion in Paris. In the shop win
dows these trinkets are labeled, "In
dian," but the description is only in
name. Most of the jewelry in vogue
is still fashioned after beetles, scor
pions and birds.
Fans Are Larger.
Fashionable fans are growing in size.
The very small Empire fans, popular
for so long, are being ousted by a
breeze-creator that has at loast a few
degrees of usefulness. Ostrich feather
fans, particularly those of a natural
color, are ngain at the top of style.
Every woman who has had one packed
away in a moth-proof box for four or
five years had better bring it out and
air it, for she will surely need it.
Those made of black, white or pale
gray feathers are also being much used.
No fan, of gauze and tinsel, is so grace
ful and alluring as one made of a mass
of waving plumes. The preference is
for the open and shut fan.
Simpler fans of gauze, silk, satin or
net are also larger and create more
wind than those of last season. They
are decorated with lace, embroidery
and painting and have handsome sticks
of pearl, silver, gold or wood.—New
York Sun.
Venezuelan Women.
Miss Louise Stevens lectured the
other day before the Professional Wo
man's League of New York on "Ven
ezuelan Women." The Mail and Ex
press reports the following:
"A few days ago I happened to bo
in the house of a Cuban family, when
a young lady entered who was so mar
velously beautiful as to attract atten
tion in any place. She had eyes of a
limpid black, with arching brows
above, raven hair, features so regular
that a Phidias might desire to model
them, and the figure and carriage of a
young Hebe. She spoke Spanish up
on entering, but changed to perfect
English in deference to the presence
of an American, with the innate po
liteness common to her race. When
I was told that she was a Venezuelan
I knew the secret of her enchanting
grace.
"'The complexion of Venezuelan
women might be called fair brunette,
though throughout their own country
the women powder their faces so as
to give almost the appearanoe of a
white mnsk. It is an old custom, a
part of the regalia of full dress; a lady
will carry her powder box in her
pocket to the opera or dance, and
think nothing of turning to one side
and applying another layer over her
face in the full view of the assembly.
The effei* of this profussion of pow
der when the perspiration trickles
down is far from pleasing, forming as
it doesj little ridges of paste in the
corners of the nose.
"I presume that one of the reasons
for this custom is the pleasing sensa
tian of coolness it imparts, and while
Venezuela is by no means a hot coun
try, yet the gentle exercise of danoing
in a land where it is always summer is
somewhat heating. However, one
cannot but wish that 'they would not
so disfigure themselves.
"The marvelous beauty of the young
women quickly fades. Either they
grow enormously fat, losing their clear
complexion, with a swarthy hue and
many moth patches, which no amount
of white powder will cover, or they
become very thin, and their faces have
the appearance of a baked apple.
They keep their luxuriant brown or
black tresses, however, until a very
advanced age; but though they lo3e
the freshness of youth, they are not
unattractive, their simple friendly
manners and their kindly interest in
one counting for much. *
"Venezuelan women are pre-emi
.nently mothers. They seem to keep
their interest and sympathy with their
children, and do not grow hard or
crabbed."
GoHßip.
Mrs. Micah Dyer, Jr., of Boston,
has been chosen President of the
Woman's Charity Club of that city for
the tenth consecutive year.
The Princess of Wales has a tea
service of sixty pieces, and each piece
is decorated with a different photo
graph which she took herself while in
Scotland.
The Woman's Club, of Evanston,
111., has raised near $12,000 for the
Charity Hospital of that place, and a
now hospital building will soon be
opened free from debt.
A monument designed by the Prin
cess Louise has just been placed over
the grave of Mrs. Mary Ann Thurston,
who nursed all the children of Queen
Victoria from 1845 to 18G7.
These three American women have
recently written and published novels
in England: Mrs. Atherton, Amelie
Rives, under whioh name she still
writes, and Kate Douglas Wiggin.
The Countess of Wisberg, wife of
Prince Oscar of Sweden, is in London,
taking a course of training as a nurse,
in order to help her husband in mis
sionary _ work he has undertaken in
Africa.
Acting as guide, chaperon and shop
ping expert is the present occupation
of at loast one lady in Boston, who is
following a line of business for women
which has become quite popular in
London.
Women bicyclists in St. Petersburg
are ordered by the police to wear
bloomers or rational dress, as the
wind blows too capriciously in Rus
sia's capital for skirts to be worn with
decency.
Empress Augusta Victoria of Ger
many found 144 German servant girls
last year to whom she could give the
golden servants' cross for having lived
forty years with one family. Only
one was found in Berlin.
Miss Charlotte Y'onge's name is to
be given to three free scholarships for
girls, for which her admirers, headed
by the Princfess of Wales, are collect
ing money in England. Miss Yonge
is seventy-five years of age now, nnd
has written more than eighty books.
During the present session of the
English Parliament the debates have
been listened to by a large number of
women. The Duchess of Marlbor
ough, Mrs. Chamberlain and Mrs.
Curzon aro among those who have
been most frequently seen at the
House.
New York women are overjoyed
that the Pennsylvania University has
decided to open its doors to women,
and to offer undergraduate courses
equal to those now open to men. The
women think that many other colleges
will follow the university's example
before long.
In giving SIOO,OOO to the United
States Government to be used for ex
penses incident to the war, Miss
Helen Gould has endeavored to ren
der the most efficient kind of aid, say
ing that the money might be of more
service than the fitting out of a yacht
or a regiment.
The Emergency Hospital at Rome,
Ga., is said to be one of the grandest
works of its kind in this country.
Rich and poor alike are treated with
kindness and consideration, and the
head nurse is extremely popular
among the patients under her care and
that of the people of her city.
Parisian women are discarding birds
for animals as trimmings for their
hats. Small chinchillas, not unlike
rats in appearance, have become a fa
vorite form of adornment, and it has
been suggested that the new fad, if
carried so far as the wearing of birds,
may even extend to guinea pigs, kit
tens and puppies.
The Newest In Dress Goods.
The season's jacket will flare, with
large lapels, moire being the facing
generally used for this purpose.
The Tarn o' Shanter, with violets
and other flowers, will make popular
and pretty headdresses this season.
Persian mauve and pale almond or
tan color'are effectively combined on
new Paris evening gowns and tailor
costumes for special wear.
The usual decoration for gowns is
revers of lace edged with pleated satiu
ribbon. The belting is of ribbon, with
pretty little ends and loops.
Satin royal and very elegant quali
ties of peau de soie are handsomely
made up together in imported wed
ding toilets for the spring and early
summer.
A white chip flare, with three long
ostrich plumes of the same color, one
standing in the centre and the other
two falling gracefully on the brim,
forms a pretty hat for young women.
Jeweled buttons are much used on
some of the fancy coats and on the
more elaborate gowns. They are sel
dom used, however, to fasten the gar
ment, being better adapted to adorn
than to be useful.
The old-fashioned gray, so popular
with our great-grandmothers is once
more a leader in the fashions of the
day. This is true also of the old silk
poplins, and the gray, combined with
pink or blue and garnished with lace,
makes a lovely costume.
Sashes will be much worn, the styles
being varied and beautiful. The
Romau sash is again in vogue, and is
made up in all the attractive colors.
One particular style is the stripes and
crossbars in pink, green, [blue and
yellow, with a little black.
Caps for aged women are more elab
orate than ever. A dainty one is of
black Chautilly lace, accordion-plaited,
with a lavender bow on top. From
the back are two streamers formed of
rows of black beading, having a lav
ender ribbon run through them, and
edged with narrow lace.
Vests are more becoming to stout
figures than yokes, which fact will
ever keep them in vogue, but they are
not as new nor as stylish as yokes. A
narrow, flat vest gives length to the
waist if made to taper to a point. The
ever-popular full vest is now orna
mented with tiny cross tucks and fits
loosely, but does not bag in front.
Squares of blaok enamel, studded
with diamonds, in checker-board de
sign, are very handsome; flowers
painted on white china, with a border
of turquoise, gunmetai and enamel,
are hew, and a novel shape is like the
setting of a marquise ring, but very
small. Steel, cameo and moonstone
buttons are all handsome aud smart.