Evening Star Newspaper, September 12, 1883, Page 2

CITY AND DISTRICT. A Growl About Our Scheola ‘Fo the Editor of Tax EVExine Stan: My habitual respect for your views did not Jead me to accept certain articles of yours to the effect that Washington ts “an educational center” to which the youth of different parts of the country are hastening for instruction. Perhaps you did not put it quite so strongly. £ haven't the papers at hand to verify, but it sounded like what I have said. Conceding the obligation of local laudation resting upon every Journal, I think you went too far. Washington is slowly collecting the material for a great uni- Yersity which will come one of these fine days, but she is not now and will not be, for 8 long time, “an educational center.” If names make universities and col- leges, we have four of the 354 existing in the United States; if it takes five millions of endow- ment to make a university and three a college, a8 some very sensible men hold, we haven't any institution at Washington of higher grade than academy. While the respective endowments of Harvard, Yale. Johns Hopkins. Cornell and Le- high run up into millions, the joint moneyed re- sources of the four institutions at Washington are so Meager,—so much on the wrong side of half a million that I am ashamed to mention the figure. How can a exe be made without dis- tinguished professors, costly apparatus and larze Hbraries? and how can these be had without Money. and a good deal of it? The worthy men who conduct our ned institutions do the best they can with their limited means, but they cannot compete with the endowed coileges of the country. The young Washingtonians who are at college are, the great majority of them, way from home; they are at Harvard, Yale, orneli, Princeton, Lehigh, Amherst and Johns Hopkins. The thing for our newspapers to do isto stop bragging and get some of our rich men to do what Johns Hopkins did in Balti- More—endow one college handsome! Our common schools have money enough. Congress lavishes a half million a year on them. They have tine ouildings, well ventilated and Commodious rooms, elegant desks and seats. All their advantazes are offered without Money and without price. If they were good nearly all the children would _be in n. Are they? There are over fifty thousand children of school age. Of these, about twenty-four thousand are not in the free commen schoo nock off fourteen thous- and as indiiferent, transient. or at daily labor, and going to no school, ten thousand remain as the patrons of sectarian and private schoois. As no seet excommunicates a parent for patrun- ising Uie free schouls, and none is rich enough to keep schools without charging a tuition fee Of at least ¥5 a quarter, it is plain that there in this District parents willing to pay an agure- gate sum of about two hundred thousand dol- lars to escape trom the free schools! This is a protest of weight. If any one chooses to throw out all eases in which the religious element may exist, let him deduct thousand children for the number sent to sectarian schools, including the paro- ehial, and there will still remain five thousand prot . averaging £20 each, against the man- Sgement of the free schools. Out of this num- ber comes the support of the numerous private Pay schools which flourish in this city. If the free schools are as ood as it is claimed, why are So mauy parents—and these not the least anx- fous to secure good education for their chil- dren—willing to put up their money to send them to private schools? Why are the private pay schools able to advertise in a!l the dailies, fii column atter cotumn? Why are such rowing stronger from year to year, ding want of capital and good ility to grade? It is y who is able to master the entire arithmetic in one year is not kept at ft seven long and dreary yea faculties collapse at the ver nt of the book; because a girl who can | to draw well in three years is not kept drawing perpendicular dimes ior one year, oblique lines to the right for the second, oblique lines to the left for the third so on for the e coming out ut ede of drawing than ma: school in three 1 because a chibi is not Placed with an abl er one year, an incom- tent one the next, without chance oi escape yy transfer. but compelled to run the ronnd of the machine from grade to grade: because men are employed toteach mathenratics, and because of many other things I have no s e to men- tion. ‘or these re iS schools, ¢! et the machinery of city know that the, Rot _Sfbools. thmenne Best educated men had the ad- —“*Yaiiazes0i the robust individuality cultivated in the private and country schools. If the schoo! authorities would study the sit- uation they mizht make great improvement in the common schools. Apparently they are not ware that there is any dissatisfaction; they will a “let things slide” until Congress puts heavy hand on them as Cromwell did on the Rump SUBSCRIBER. ——___-o-—_____ Pulling Good Workmen Down to the Level of the Poorest. ‘To the Editor of Tar Evextxo Stan: In Tur Star of Saturday I read what C. P. ‘Huntington says about workmen. I think he is Fight and he talks like a workman who has “Deen ‘there tinsel." He says: “But now the best workmen in the mechanical trades are kept Practically on a level with the poorest.” That is 80, as a good many of us know where we work. This is the way it works: In my trade our so- ciety admits any one who has fooled around the tools in different shops for a year or two doing odd jobs of reuch work. We can rate them at less wages it they demand it; but these are the kind that don't want it. Only the old or crip- Pled will ask to be rated below the regular wages. There are plenty of these men at work now in busy times who can't do afull day's work, and then they have to be kept on the commonest jobs and be looked aiter and watched to prevent them from spoiling material, and yet they must be paid the same wazes as a man who can finish up the best work in al! branches and does not Fequire any one to look after him. Is it any Wonder that good workmen are dissatisfied with this arrangement? Good men have to carry these haif-baked workmen and sus- tain the society, for if you take the good workmen out of the ‘society these Men could not hol it together a month, When dutl times come these poor mechanics are the first to work tor what they can get, and thus hefp to cut down the wages of good men. Good mechanics can always get work when there is any to do, and most employers are willing to pay good wages to good men, but it is unfair to good workmen, as well as the employer, to put poor haif-learned workmen on the same level. A good mechanic has no ambition to improve bim- self orlearn to do extra good work when he is paid no more thanone who does not earn much more than half he does. It men were paid what they are worth in the market. just as we pay for other things, mechanics would learn to do better work, cet better wages and help to keep up a of pay. The present svstem ts wand, sooner or later, to cut away the founda- tions of our trade organizations unless some- ‘thing is done to correct the present evils. A Workman. We? schools en years of the school ith no more knowl- be gained at an art Parliament. What Hedress HM: ‘To the Editor of Tux Evestxa Star: If the action of the Police Court in the case of Giascock vs. Autom, reported in last evening’s 874k, is to be sustained, it develops a startling condition of our laws. Here it was clearly proved that a man who was employed to make ice cream had been suspected by his employer of selling the cream out the back way, and mak- ing no returns of the money and was actually caught ‘in @ trap.” doing exactly whi. his employer suspected him ‘of doing, and vet the assistant district attorney suys that this is not larceny, and Judge Mills dismisses the case. Now, if this is law.or if this is the way the laws are enforced in the Police Court, what is to prevent any em- ploye who is entrusted with the goods or money of his employer, if he isso disposed. from ap- priating the same to his own use? Under ie ruling an employer is completely at the mercy of dishonest employes. September 11th. Mercuant. —— Street Car Dangers. ‘To the Faitor of Tar Evexrxe Stan: In view of the fact that one child was killed by @ street car a year or more since near the corner of 9th and P streets, and another very Fecently narrowly escaped a horrible death at the same place, having been knocked down and passed over by another car, would it not be well to sound the alarm in the ears of the managers of the various street railways and request them to instruct their drivers to keep 8 g00d, t-forward “lookout.” with both open, so that tney may be able to stop thelr carsin time to save life. should one of the numerous little ones be happening to stand Ddefore them on the track? : AN Anxtovs Parexr. oe Pere Hyacinthe leaves Parts for America on eptember 27 on a lecture tour. ntil his mental | Concerning the Carolina Bail. To the Editor of Tae Evestxo 87am: A communication from “G, T. 4.” in last Satur- ays Stax, evidently from a gentleman interested in the uniformity of the nomenclature of our birds, ts so full of positive error,gnd tainted with superstition, that a correction of some of hisstate- ments will not be out of order. The so-called “Ortolan” ts the Carolina Rall (Parzana Carolina), known also by the names of Common Rall and Sora, the latter being the general term applied throughout Maryland and Virginia. It is tho most abundant and famillar of our marsh birds during the —_ migrations, and the most ruthlessly hunted by the sportsman. Habitually skulking and hid- ing rather than seeking safety in open flight is a characteristic of the bird that has prevented its observation even fn localities where it occurs in considerable numbers. Its habitat includes the whole of temperate North America, but it_is far more abundant In the Atlantic than In the Pacific States. The dird is not web-fooied, but 1s pro- vided with very long toes, which enable it to tread the mazes of the marshes without sinking In the soft mud or vegetation. It travels through the tall reeds with surprising swiftness at low tide and at high tide, when tne marshes are submerged, clin:rs to the reeds. Notwithstana- ing the absence of webbed feet itswims with ease, and never hesitates to navigate iu that manaer from one clump of reeds to another when occasion requires rather than take wing. The wings are Suort and rounded, and the flight appears so feeble that many sportsmen persist In doubting its abil- ity to perform extensive migrations, nevertheless such fs the fact, as they often board vessels at sea between the southern states and the West India Islands, where many of them pass the winter. Although not truly gregarious,tt is far from “a soll- tary bird,” as 1s evidenced by their sudden and plenuful ‘arrival and departure. In the mtgra- Mons favorable winds are taken advantage of. ‘They breed In most of the northern states and British America, Lying four or five ezgs of dark drab color, with brownish spots, In a nest rudely constructed of coarse grasses, ‘The youn fre covered with a blackish down, and, like the quail, are active as soon as out of the shell. *G. ‘a. A.” says, “From whence they come or where they go after the first heavy frost 13 a mystery that future ornithologists will have to rise and explain.” ‘This is a remnant of the absurd superstitions that prevailed in the minds of the colored people before the war, and even now Many can be found on the banks of the Potomac or Patuxent rivers firm in the bellef that the Ralls hibernate {n the mud of the marshes or turn into frogs. Wilson records an old man who claimed to have captured a specimen in which the {ranstormation was but half accomplished, and tt lived three days—but Wilson didn’t beileve the Story. The real fact of the case 1s that the Rail performs its migrations only at night, waich 13 the cage with most migrants, and conse- quently {ts arrival and departure are sel- dom observed. Moreover the nature of its feed- ing grounds and haunts precludes the posstbillty cf its being detected as readily as land birds. Hence many theories have been invented to ac- count for thelr seemingly inexplicable advent. ‘The same writer has also somewhat mixed up the common names of the Reed Bird, (Delichonyx Ori- zycorous.) In the northern states this bird is the uk, in the middle states the Reed Bird, in the soutaern states the Rice Bird, and in the West India Islands the Butter Bird. W. FR ee Are the Reed Bird and Ortolan the Same Bird? ‘To the Editor of Tae Eventne Stan: Wasurncron, D. C., Sept. 8, 1883. Will your correspondent, “G.T.A,” give some of his authorities, to sustain his assertion that the “Reed bird” and “Ortolan” are the same bird? In Coues’ “Birds of the Northwest,p.178,” is found the following heading: ‘Dolichonyx oryzicorus, Bobolink; Reed bird; Rice bird.” And on paze 538 is found “Porzana Carolina, Carolina rail; Sora; ‘Ortolan.’” On the last mentioned page the nameof Prof: Baird iscited as the authority for the technical name, given as belonzing to’ the “Ortolan,” and this name, Dr. Coues adds, is adopted by “all late U 8. writers.” It looks very much as if “G. T. A.” were the only audlority who considers the Reed bird and Ortolan to be identical; but the nearest way to a solution of the question is to ask Prof. Ridgway or Dr. Coues to sive the answer. i . SMITH. ae Seasonable. School has begun again to-day: Good-bye to sweet Vacation: ‘Those weeks of children’s merry play, Of texchers’ recreate -n. Oyen again are Iearning’s halls For various grates and classes: Each tron tongue from belfry calls, “come in, you lads and lasses.” Teachers resune their tasks again, “To train the tender thought:” A task too oft’ with mental pain, And dire vexation fraught. For boyg, you know, they will be boys, And girls can giddy be: And whisper, play and make a nolse, Before the dread trustee, ‘Yes, school begins to-day, and I Feel rest in store for me: My romping, nolsy pets, good-bye, From nine o'clock *till three. Sept. 10, Mea EAB. ——+e-—____— Dr. Gallauae?’s Romance. From the New York Sun. No truer and nobler philanthropist or more honest and zealous worker for the cause of suf- fering humanity has ever lived than the late Dr. Gallaudet. He was the pioneer in this country in the establishnient of a systematic language forthe deafand dumb, and to him should be awarded the grateful praises due. The proposed tribute to his memory of a bronze statue of himself to be erected in Wash- ington, and to be exhibited on the centennial anniversary of his birth in December, 1887, must give great happiness and satistaction to the numberless unfortunates who have been, either directly or indirectly, assisted by his far-seeing and far-reaching benevolence. "It is a well- known fact among the comparatively few iuter- ested that his wife was the first educated deaf mute in the United States. A touching romance is connected with their early life. Many years ago the young philanthropist chanced to meet a lovely girl just budding into womanhood. as good and true and unselfish in ail her nature as she was beautiful and attractive in person. An atmosphere of sadness and re- serve surrounded her, for, alas! she could neither speak nor hear. Only her dark eyes were elo- quent with unuttered language, and her hands with gestures, original, ingenious, and unmis- takavle. The sad, pathetic look on her sweet young face, and her modest, shrinking mien, which seemed to teil thestory of hermisfortune, appealed in the most powerful way to the gener- ous nature and the tenderest sensibilities of the young man, and he fell deeply in love with her. Spoken words surely were not needed to tell this mute young girl the nature of her lover's feelings toward her, for love has a language and symbols of its own. But, in return, she loved him too well to sacrifice him, and still considered the objection of her infirmity to be an insuperable one. So, without hope of any change in herself, she shook her head mourn- fully, but decidedly, when he repeatedly urged the gift of her hand in marriage. Thus baffled in the most ardent longings of his heart. Dr. Gallaudet, with high resolve, soon set sail for Europe, and while there had himeelf thoroughly educated in all the mysteries of the sign language. On his return home he quickly sought out the now happy and ambitious girl, and began systematically to teach her the alphabet, how to spell and read and write, and the established signs as well. She was an apt scholar, and rapidly mastered the novel r plexities of this new system of education. ler heart was filled with love, devotion, and grati- tude toward the persistent lover. who, notwith- standing her infirmity, had chosen her before all the world, and would no longer be denied. She finally consented to be his wife, and before long they were married. Soon after they jointly established the first in- stitution for the education of deat mutes in this country. Mrs. Gallaudet long sur, ived her hus- band. and until her deat! few years ago, was a most genial, interestin: diovable old lady, always ready to converse in her pecaliarly grace- ful and winning manner, and making herself weil understood to even the most obtuse. Their mantle has fallen upon their son, the present Kev. Dr. Gallaudet. who, with his noble inheritance of love for his fellows, has never fal- tered in the difficult path so long trod by his illustrious parents. _ S3.BL. ————_e-____ The Electric Light and Blondes. From the Electrical Journal. Nobody appears to haye noticed one effect of the electric light—it is going tomake brunettes | Te#?ed fashionable again. The white gisre is,in a color sense, death to the blonde. The pinkest of them take on little shadows under the eyes, and parple tints come into their lips, and their cheeks get ashen. I am speaking now of a natural The effect upon the artificial bleacher Is simply cadaverous. But the brn- nette sparkles under it ikethe evening star. What a dreadful state of existence the dear enamelled will lead when they can neither out at day or nicht! I suppose you know that hot sua heats the face-ef the cnametied women, and gets so hot as to blister the neath, which would also, m as wel a" egyptian syle, agus. it shuts them in at night beenamelled through In aad put into a surcoph- | DAKOTA AND ITS NEW CAPITAL. A Rosy Picture—Wonderfal Climate— Cold buat Salubrious—Good Crops, Not- withstanding the Drouth-How to Get Land—Big Boom for Bismarck. Obrrespondence of Te EvEnrna Stan. Bremarck, Daxora, Sept. 4th. This season has established beyond conjecture the adaptability of thesoil and climate of Dakota for agricultural pursuits, and especially for the cereals. An unprecedented drouth prevailed throughout the Territory, except in a few favored localities, but the yield of wheat will average fifteen and oats forty bushels to the acre notwithstanding, while rye, barley, etc., will produce in corresponding plenitude. Such a harvest as this even would gladden the eye and rejoice the heart of an eastern farmerunder the most prosperous conditions, and the No. 1 hard wheat of Dakota is universally acknowl- edged to be of finer quality and makes better flour than any other, and accordingly brings the highest market price. A total failure of crops is unknown. Tii¥‘is due to the quality of the soil, formed by the rich alluvial deposits of cen- turies, of a gréht’dépth, and with a sub-strata of clay, affording Tequisite nourishment and retaining a larte amount of moisture during the entire h.| fins, although the surface may be baked by-dh'tinrelenting sun, the farmer may, by plowing’d food depth, insure the essen- tial moisture whteh the clouds refuse, and pre- vent the premature “sere and yellow” that marks the time of drouth. There are also copious dews resulting from the Pacific breezes, which, coming surcharged with vapor from the warm Japan current, are condensed by contact with the cool surface of the earth. Vegetables and all kinds of garden truck, even to the lus- cious strawberry, althouzh not indigenous, are cultivated with rare success, COLD BUT NOT RIGOROUS. It were useless to disguise the fact that it is very cold, but the climate is less rigorous than inthe same latitude further east. This is at- tributed to the warm westerly winds referred to. While a linen duster is not sufficient raiment for winter, neither is it necessary for comfort that one be clothed like an Esquimanx, but the same apparel worn in Chicago or Boston would be ample protection. Owing to the dry nature of the atmosphere in winter, when the mountain peaks of Montana serve as condensers to liber- ate the humidity of the winds before reaching us, the cold is not piercing, and albeit the mer- cury in the thermometer may have retreated to the bulb we are not the less vigorous and happy. The temperature indicated by a thermometer therefore conveys but a vague idea of the degree of sensible cold. I merely wish to correct an impression that some may have received from the weather bureau reports assigning to us a —40 climate; we do not. assome suppose, freeze up in autumn, hibernate during winter and thaw out in spring. Its elevation aboye sea level relieves the country of all miasmatic in- fluences, and malarial diseases resulting from the noxions effluvia respirated in low swampy districts are not a prime cause of mortality. The climate has in many instances proved a radicai cure to persons afflicted with lung disorders. Despite the fact that the wind is proverbially variable and “bloweth where it listeth,” it must be acknowledged that this seemingly capricious element is subject to natural laws, and the ab- sence of destructive eyclones in the past impels the belief that our tuture record will be equally favorable. The rolling prairie does not confine the atmosphere, and the character of the wind is wentle and steady, a strong yet harmless blow being the worst known feature. A DIVISION OF DAKOTA NOT DESIRABLE. The Territory is one of the largest political divisions of the Union, and comprises so vast an area that a partition of it has been agitated; but the interests of all sections are so alike, and their sympathies so closely interwoven, that it is extremely doubtful if such an end will be ac- complished, as the project has become a political machination. HOW TO GET PUBLIC LAN A few suggestions relative to the manner of procuring public lands may be acceptable. There are three popular methods by which 160 acres can be obtained from the government: By ac- tual settlement thereon for fi ears; by a six months’ preliminary residence and a pre-emp- tion or purchase of the land at 22.50 per acre; and, thirdly, under the timber culture act, which requires eight years to acquire title. Certain specified improvements have to be made in each but they have never been considered bur- densome, and the land is exempt from taxation until the title vests In the settler. The pre-emp- tion privilege must be used before homestead- ing if one desires t ‘ail himselt of all three and secure 480 acres. Such a bonanza farm as this can be taken by any one of either sex who has attd@i&ed the age of twenty-one or is the head of afamily. These lands are being settled upon very rapidly, and it behooves any one who may entertain the desire to assist Uncle Sam in the disposal of the public domain not to defer the selection. The earlier a choice is made the bet- ter, for the obvious reason that the most desir- able sections will be occupied first. Another way to obtain cheap lands and buy one of the most safe and profitable investments, known in the northwest, is by purchase from the Northern Pacific railroad company at from $4 to 5 per acre. I mentionthis for the special benefit of those who are so circumstanced as to find it impracticable to changeresidence. As the land has a permanent as well as a specula- tive value, and six years are allowed in which to B, for it, the prospectsof realizing handsome- ly before that period induces many to lay out money inthis way. I do not propose one of Col.Sellers’ chimerical schemes to buy up the whole country because there are ‘‘miilions in it,” but merely a good in- vestment for any one, whether of affluence or small means. A rebate of $1 for every acre plowed within two years is allowed, and land thus prepared for seeding is readily ‘rented for 34 to 85 per acre, so that yon can by the exer- cise of a little management make your farm pay for itself in one or two years. SOME SUGGESTIONS TO SETTLERS. To avoid subjecting large families to the ex- posure or winter, or even the inconveniences and hardships inseparably incident to immigra- tion, I recommend that the head or some repre- sentative first visit the country for the purpose of locating the land and insuring comfort by the erection of a suitable habitation. Nearly all railroads offer reduced rates to such persons, 80 that the expense woula be very small. From April Ist to November Ist is the best time for an inspection of the country, because the roads are then in gvod condition, the weather most favor- able and the facilities for traveling superior in every respect. A few months would suffice to make the requisite preparations for the recep- tion of the family. A word of advice in regard to THE REMOVAL OF PERSONAL PROPERTY. Stock, as arule, cost more in the west, and it would pay to transport them. No superfluous article of household furniture should be re- tained, as it would be an incumbrance and only serve to increase the traveling expenses. This matter must be left principally to the Judgment of the immigrant, who, if possible, shouid as- certain how to provide for his wants most eco- nomically. It would properly be a subject for stady at the time of prospecting. Where a number of persons in the same neighborhood are disposed to migrate it would be well to organize acolony. This plan offers many advantages, besides n reduction of rall- road fare. It tends to form @ settlement or town, supply more readily the individual wants and increase the common profits. A “shack” is the ordinary dwelling for a pio- neer. It is constructed of hewn logs, with the crevices filled with mud and roofed with sod (an idea, I believe, conceived in Babylon, where those who were trained properly will remember every house of importance had its elevated gar- den). A canvas lining makes a neat interior, and altogether the building is comfortable and cheery. Wood grows in abundance along the numerous streams, and the settler is permitted by the government to cut whatever is necessart for his own use for fuel and building material. To no case is one very remote from some belt of timber, although the country is not character- ized by dense forests. T’rairie land, however, es the advantage over timbezéd tracts in requiring less labor to prepare for crops. In- stead of the enormous expenditure of time and labor in clearing stumps, excellent harvests are from the sod, which ts merely, tarned over the first plowing. The expense of fertiliz- ing never reduces the profits of the western far- mer; the cost of tilling and harvesting is the only item that he enters on the debit account after the first year when his implements are paid for reserved. There are few vo- cations more independent, remunerative and healthfol than farming. The grasshop, or Rocky Mountain locusts, state the ‘country, but rearit dhol hope to count reatrict Ops REAL SURE-ENOUGH ANTELOPES. Deer and antelope are very plentiful, and the settler can secure sufficient meat by huating to satisfy his wants. “These are real antelopes; not such as the jal party hve been presidenti: shooting. There is also an abundance of prairie = chicken, ge¢ bag ducks, besides smalier birds, with which he replenish his larder. Verily, It Is the spor an's paradise. Large of ‘fignite coal have been discov- ered in vartous of the Territory, and such as have ‘been worked have prodtoed afael which has been tound, by thorough to be most satisfactory for factory and family use. A cheap fuel is thus insured many genera- tions, the mining of which will prove a profite- ble enterprise. No one ts surprised if, in mak- ing an ordinary efcavation, he unearths mam- moth fossils, coaly species of the ingenuity of extinct nations, gold, or even an antideluvian joke. We dre always on the alert for whatever is marvelots; but I mention this in cpnfidence, as we do not want the whole country dug up. Burleigh county deserves especial mentian as having wrested from the competing counties of Dakota and Minnesota, ata grand fair, the first rize—a silk banner appropriately inscribed— for the best display of agricultural pursuits. Thie fact has obtained for it the name of the banner county. BISMARCK THE HUB OF CREATION. Of Bismarck, its county seat, and the embry- anic capital of the Territory, I wish to say a few words. There is no city in the west that pos- sesses brighter prospects. Surrounded on all sides by a rich farming country, and situated on the banks of the Big Muddy, where it is spanned with @ million-and-a-half dollar bridge by the greatest trans-continental railroad of the unl- verse with two more lines projected toward the city trom the south and east, and one from it to the north, Bismarck will command the com- merce of a vast country. It is the center of a iand district larger than the state of New York, and must eventually have large mills and facto- ries to supply such an extensive tributary. The state buildings have been located here, and It is estimated will cost half a million dollars, to be erected without cost to the Territory. Work has already commenced on _ this edifice, and a force of five hundred men or more will be employed continudlly, working at night by electric light. 50,000 will also be expended in a penitentiary and $80,000 in a school house, both of which are now in process of construction. In addition to these public improvements numerous and costly private resi- dences and business blocks are being erected, and many more are merely in contemplation, owing to the scarcity of labor and building material, of which it is impossible to supply the demand. Two large brick yards are in active operation, and a third is to be established at once. It would be too long a task to enumerate the various indicia of prosperity or the many sources of profit, and the valuable time of the reader that I have already consumed precludes a further trespass, or at most more than a general statement. To capital and labor alike Bismarck holds out splendid inducements. From the facts I have already stated mechanics and laborers can form their own estimate of the degree of success that would attend their loca- tion here. As to capitalists, we like their winning ways, and for their disinterested accom- modations we pay 13 per cent. and are willing to exhibit a commendable reciprocity by point- ing out investments that discount loans. We invite them, in all brotherly affection, to visit us, if only for their health, and we are confident in the seductiveness of our country to retain them for our mutual welfare and Bee A Scrap of Railroad History. Gath, in the Philadelphia Times. Iwas sitting in a group of Maryland gentle- men at Sardtoga, when one of them spoke up to me, sayifig: “There Is a fact you have no Treported—that the business of the Baltimore and Potomac railroad grew last year a hundred and fourteen per jcent.” The gentleman may have said athundred and forty per cent, but I am not surd. My attention was then directed to Judge Brooke as the person who had passed the original bill for the Baltimore and Potomac, This quiet old gentleman said: ‘I was the Pres- ident of the Maryland Senate at the time Mc- Clellan dispersed or arrested us. I w: rested myself, hdweyer, and [ attribute it per- haps to a little act!of courtesy. Our Governor, Hicks, was‘a Unfon man and the legislature did not incline to’him much. He came to the State House and nobody spoke to him. I called one of the aksistants and said. e the Governor of Maryland a seat within the bar here.’ The Governor seemed to appreciate the compliment, as it was pretty cold weather for him alt round, and when they arrested the legis- lature I was overlooked.” Said I to Governor Bowie: “Did you offerthe Baltimore and Potbmac Railroad to the Balti- more and Ohio:Company?” . “I did. I took it to Mr. Garrett and explained itand he said in his suave way: ‘Very well, Mr. Bowie, you build the railroad and we will operate it for you.’ ‘Well, if that is all, Mr. Garrett,’ said I, ‘I think if I can build the rail- road I can also operate it.’ SoI left him and iny attention was called to the fact that the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was having an exasperating battle with the Baltimore and Ohio about the western passengers, might see some value in this charter. The charter had been originally obtained bya man named Walker, who perhaps designed to peddle it around. 1 wanted, for the benefit of my neighbors and my- self who had lands that had descended to us, to get railroad communication. We were too poor to build the read, so I went to Philadelphia to call on Mr. Edgar Thomson. We had to cool our heels a good long while before we got to see him, and when we did see him he said: ‘Why, the Pennsylvania Railroad can donothing inthe State of Maryland with the Legislature and Governor owned in general by the Baltimore and Ohio Company. We should be at perpetual disad- vantage.’ However, he mained @ date some- what distant forus to come back. At that date we went there, and this time we found Mr. Thomas A. Scott. He looked at the seheme and took usin to Thomson. Mr. Thomson said: ‘If there was a Governor of Maryiand friendly to this railroad, it might be worth our while to look at it seriously. But we cannot pretend to fight an inimical Governor and an inimical Mayor of Baltimore.’ Thereupon an old friend of mine who was present spoke up and said: ‘Why, there's Bowie himself, who is a formidable can- didate for Governor of Maryland.’ Mr. Thom- son remarked that it a Governor should be se- lected friendly to the enterprise it would be time enough after that to look into it. Now,” said Governor Bowie, “I got no assistance whatever in my campaign from that railroad company, but i saw a chance for my neighbors an my old section to get railroad facilities, and I said to my friends: ‘This nomination is worth fighting for now.’ I was nominated and elected, and the Mayor ot Baltimore was.equally friendly to the new enterprise. Then the Pennsylvania came in and built the road.” “Did the Baltiore and Ohio company cis- turb them much?” “Yes, ina forcible feeble way. The charter ‘was for a railroad from Baltimore city, or rather from the Northern Central railroad to the Po- tomac river, with permission to build branches east and west. The Baltimore and Ohio com- pany wanted us todefine before the courts the nature of those branches, and insisted that one of them must not be to Washington. Said I: “There are only two towns of the least conse- quence on that ling—Annapolis and Washing- ton—and if we can’t have branches to either ot those, whaf is the sense ot the road? So the road was bullt dufing my term of office, and there it stands and’ is carrying the passengers who are no longer embarrassed at Baltimore by losing their;baggage and being thrown out by adverse trains merely that the Baltimore and Ohio railroad -shali carry all the passengers from the west to Washington and will not allow facilities to any to come east over the Pennsyl- vania lines.” Wf +e. —____ A Morticultural Delusion. From the Palf Mall Gézette. There is q widespread belief that Holland is the only country whicn produces first-rate bulbs. So far as hyacinths and tulips are concerned, this is true.: There seems to be something in the Dutch sbit or climate eminently favorable to their develdpment’ But the popular belief is that not only hyacinths and tulips, but all the commoner bulbs, such as crocus, narcissus, snowdrop and the like, ought also to come from Holland. This belief is so deeply rooted that our gardeners are forced to humor it, and, as a million bulbs to Holland for Daturalization, and ck ue a eaeoen =e once. At this time of the ear, by the way, the pradent window & lays in his took, of cinths. The idea that eh Lord ‘May Tie i ills ue E Fi ANIONG THE HOT SPRINGS, “ . ders of the ¥: Onc of the Wonders of oltowsene tures Hes Sulphur Sathe- Correspondence New York Times. Maumorm Hor Srarxas, Yellowstone National Park, August 25.—Visitors to the Yellowstone region who enter the park from the north are introduced to the Mammoth Hot Springs as the first of the great wonders of the reservation set apart by the government for the enjoyment and instruction of the whole people not only of this country, but for the people of any other country ‘who may choose to come here. Havingreached the Yellowstone company's hotel, antes springs are only a stepaway. A longstepitturns ae Sia one walks toward them, as they loom weirdly up before the house In many white and gray and brown terraces ee ies some of them steaming like well-fi1 engines. The green trees and stretches of bunch grass below and above them set these strange springs off to striking advantage, marking the outlines of their curiously shaped bowls very distinctly. Following the beaten road, one soon comes to soil in which the black loam and the white alka- line deposits are intermingled. Climb higher, over the ruins of bowls long ago dry, and under toot, there is glaring white, almost impalp- able dust. Aside from the path there Is no dust, but a hard crust of mineral substance, can be best likened to a well-packed coasting field. The dust in the road, where the calcare- ous deposit has been ground fine by carriage wheels and the feet of ponies, may blow into the eyes to make them tingle sharply, but one soon becomes used to it. When the plateau next to the highest is reached the visitor is attracted by a column of rising steam to a large pool of irregular shape, with coral-like edges tinged with sulphur ani iron, in the center of which the turquois-blue water is seen boiling vigorously, with an angry hiss and seethe. The depth of the pool can only be conjectured. Dip in your fingers and you find it to be hot. You are prevented from examining it too supe by the clouds of hot steam that are hurled into your tace. But you can get close enough to observe the exquisite gvays and yellows and blues and greens of the water, colors and tints which have hitherto de- fied the efforts of painters who have endeavored to reproduce them. There are many of the hot springs, bubbling and boiling with differing violence, but all surrounded by deposits tinged with orange where they are yet moist, and bleached to snowy White where they have been long ex- posed to the sunlight. Taste the water, and it is found to be strongly impregnated with sul- phur, for which you have been prepared by the odor brought to you upon the clouds of steam. There are no geysers here, and the scientists say that they cannot be found where silica is ab- sent from the waters as it is here, while sulphur is absent trom geysers, where the allicais known to abound. Three square miles of surface are covered by the calcareous deposits of these strange fountains, a part of which area is the wide plain on which the Yellowstone hotel is built. Steam is seen in the early morning curl- ing from fissures hitherto unobserved. If you put your ear down to these openings stranze gurglings and rumblings like the movements of @ cavernous engine are heard, and putts of scalding hot air will frequently be forced out. The springs along the hillside in the course of time have thrown up calcareous deposits almost as fragile to the touch as chalk, basins of varying width and depth, arranged in scalloped forms, in places taking’ shapes that resemble the convolutions of the human brain, and again the fanciful tracing of the home of the coral insect. The readiness with which the deposits from the springs adhere to substances | and objects thrown into them has become well known. and as you go from one pool to another you see far down in the blue waters, that are as -clear as crystal, pine cones, bottles, horse-shoes, sunches of flowers, bits of wood, suspended to poles let down by visitors, who will stop to reclaim ihein after an exposure of a day or two, when they will be found covered with a thin white coating. Up and down the hill, to the right and left, are seen springs and evidences of former springs now dry and crumbling at the edges under the tramp of tourists. who clamber all over them to getat bright sulphur specimens. One of the upper springs is so large and its flow of hot | Water is so tempered by a greater inflow of cold water to furnish a pleasant bathing place— the spot, by the way, at which the English “dudes” “were in jest’ compelied to throw up their hands and submit to be robbed in broad daylight. While almost everybody is interested in the springs and no one fails to visit them, ex- amine the boiling pools, the overflow across the brow of the hill, epuipt rocks, the Cleopatra spring, the caves an soon become tiresome to contemplate, as they glare in the eyes of the hotel people. From the plane, at the top of which the Yellowstone hotel is built, the land falls to the east steeply, meet- ing the opposite slope of the rugged sheepeater cliffs at the rapid Gardiner river. Persons who go to the bottom of the hill and walk along the edges of the winding stream find small hot springs bubbling and steaming close to the colder waters of the Gardiner river. Trout are plentiful in the river, and respond quickly to the invitation of the ler who tempts them with a blue fly or a grasshopper. Some of the gentlemen of the parey who had been studying the guide-books, and who were dis; to doubt some of the stories told in them, got out their rods the very afternoon they arrived here, and having selected promising pi near hot springs, cast their flies. Mr. George M. She} herd, of Chicago, who was one of the skeptical ‘ones, soon hooked a “speckled meas fe With- out detaching it from his line swung his rod so as to drop the straggling fish plump into the hissing hot water ofthe sulphur spring. He held it there for a moment or two, and then, having been satisfied that it was possible to catch and cook a fish without moving from the point selected to make the catch, he put his cooked trout into one of the tomato cans, with which the Rocky Moun- tains appear to be thickly sprinkled,and returned to the hotel to show it to an interested throng. The same proof of the assertion made by the yeracious guide-book has since been several times repeated. At the first glance the Mammoth Hot Springs are interesting. The visitor who climbs to the top of them is excited to wonder at their ex- tent, their curious formation, the depth and color of their pools, and the wide extent of the desolation which they have caused. After a few days, however. they become wearisome. The glaring white of their sides, streaked with dirty gray and tawny yellow, oppress the eye. ‘The caverns, having been once exp'ored. lose their attractiveness, and only the most zealous students care to toil through the dust that ust be passed to reach them, and which clings tena- ciously to garments and boots in spite of vigor- ous brushings. It seems almost a pity, too, that the site for the hotel should have been se- lected so close to them. It is convenient to be able to lead the hot sulphur water in Pipes to the hotel and supply it for baths, which are but a stepfrom the door. But in getting upon a calca- Teous plateau 15 acres in extent, the builders have set up tifir house behind a high grassy mound, at the top of which lives the government superintendent of the park, a mound so high ‘as to cut off the view to the southwest. and inclose only a few uninteresting pine trees, a few pits marking the location of extinct geysers, a few stumps, and a field now destitute of other vegetation than sage brash. It may be suscepti- ee of ae If it is the Improvement mpany o1 produce a cover of tor it and make it to blossom as the rose. Until that is done the foreground of the view from the tront piazza will be thing but one to admire or rest the eye. -yond the hill, at the right, and the edge of the sterile plateau in front, a full view is had down the Gardiner River Canon for more than four miles. A by the lofty heads ot Thomp- son’s Peak and Mount Stevens. To come to Mammoth Hot Springs and not go further into the National Park is to have seen only a small part of the beauty of the res- ervation. Yet some of the tourists on arriving here hesitate to go further, to undertake long journeys on horseback or in wagon over roads that are sometimes good, but oftentimes difficult and even erous. Hay- ing reached the Hot Springs hotel it is neces- sary. in order to see the Norris Geyser Basin, the Geyser Basin and the Lower Gey- one—the ser: ie tlie most wonderful Great Tats an Ganee atti eae Iowa Falls and the Gardiner Falls and Canon, to i presenting an area many acres in extent, that | other sights, the springs | JOHN JACOB asTom’s GIFT. Deeds His*Eatire Estate to His graded ened an Annuity of Onc Hundreé@ Thousand Dollars, He Re- From the New York World. It was announced in legal circles yesterday that Mr. John Jacob Astor had deeded all his property to his only son, William Waldorf Astor, now United States minister to Rome. The news created a profonnd sensation, and old lawyers declared that it was only another move- ment by the Astors not to permit the value of their immense estate to be publicly known. John Jacob Astor is now an old man, and al- though in apparent good health, the question of wills, deeds, heirs and surrogate courts must occur to him. The story, as reported. is that Mr. Astor has deeded away his property, but that the deeds will not be recorded until after his death. His son William W. Astor receives everything, subject, however, to a pension of $100,000 per annum, payable to his father daring his life. By this means of transferring the es- tate two objects are said to be accomplished— first, that the estate will not be divided among different heirs, and secondly, that no litigation over a will can ever come into a court by which the value of the estate would be discovered. There are unquestionably other branches of the family which, if a will leaving all to the son were made, might enter a coutest. It has always been the idea of Mr. John Jacob Astor's life pract ically to entail his property and to have the estate remain intact from gen- eration to generation.as in England. The ptes- ent John Jacob Astor's tather died about eight years ago. bequeathing his property to John Jacob and William Astor and to his grand daughter, the late Mrs. John W. Chan T elder William B. Astor also left an idiot son, for whom ample provision was made, and also’ for this son’s guardian. The idiot child grew to manhood and died several years after his father's death. At that time the estate was worth about $30,000,000 or 340,000,000. It was then mainly unproductive. John Jacob Astor received the largest part of the estate, including the Astor house, which was deeded to him for @1. The golden principle of the Atjor family was never to build until forced todo so, and when a build- ing was put up it was intended to last for years. The estate grew more valuable each year, and solid houses were butlt upon the land, until to- day the value is really unknown. Most of the property lies between 38d street and 50th street, from 8th to 3d avenues. Murray Hill lies in the heart of the family possessions. Blocks and blocks of houses here belong to John Jacob Astor, all of which he has deeded to his son. The value of John Jacob Astor's estate is es- timated at from between $60,000,000 and $70,000,000, and Wiliam B's. estate at some- thing less. The present Mr. Astor's idea is for his son to follow the same course he has, and so on through generations. THE ASTOR FAMILY. The Astor family is beyond question the leader in New York society. The two brothers, John Jacob and William B. Astor, lead very quiet lives. Mr. William B.’s family go out more in society. Mr. John Jacob Astor's only child is William W., who is now with his wife and two children at Rome. He had three daughters. The eldest, Mrs. Van Alen, died two years ago at Newport. A very sad story is in connec- tion with this lady’s death. itis said that she married Mr. Van Alen at her father's request, and died of heart disease. Mrs. Coleman Crayton is the second daughter, and Miss Carrie Astor, who made her debut into society a year ago, is the third daughter. This family has vast estates also, and land is sold about as often as Mr. John Jacob Astor sells his property. Mr. William W. Astor, to whom John Jacob Astur has deeded his estate, is a bright literary man. He was elected to the assembly in his district; but was defeated by Koswell B. Flower in his contest for Congress. He is spoken of as a pleasant, agreeable man, loving tis books and his pictures, but more than these his wife, Miss Mamie Paul, the celebrated Philadeiptia beauty, whom hi ried some four years azo. Mr. or edited a magazine some time ago, which was supported by the Beefsteak club, the members of which contributed to the magazine. His father gave him a house around the corner from his own on 33d street and 5th avenue about the time of his marriage. It will be re- membered that much talk was created at the time of the Vanderbilt ball by the acceptance of an invita¥on to attend by Mra. W. B. Astor. It was thought at the time that by this accept- ance the breach between the Astors and Van- derbilts had been healed. It was not, however, and the struggle still goes on for the leadersiup or society. The younger members of the Van- derbilt family will soon enter the contest equipped not only with wealth but culture, and the two families will undoubtedly be on a par. é Mr. John Jacob Astor is a well-built old gen- tleman, with snow-white whiskers, and of striking appearance. He enters his office in west 26th street with a brisk and with anod and smile tor every one. He isa oareful and enced landlord. His houses are kept in the of repair, and the rent market is virtaally in his hands. There was some talk some time ago of the Astors going into mercantile pur- suits, but a view of tne real estate office in west 26th street instinctively impresses one with the belief that the Astors will remain real estate ‘P- | owners. HE HEAD OF THE FAMILY. John Jacob Astor is a very religious old gen- tleman. Every Sunday he may be seen at Trini- ity church, where he is a vestryman. At theap- pointed time he arises trom his seat and passes around the collection plate. Some queer sto- ries are told about him. One is to the effect that on meeting a washerwoman loaded down with her clothes-basket, he assisted her to the ae and dropped a $20 gold piece into her Ket. ‘fhe Astor estate continues to grow in value, as it must. every year. Choice pieces of prop- erty down town have become, by the deed _re- ferred to, the property of William W. Astor, such as the building and land at No. 539 Broad- way, used by Rogers, Peet & Co., the clothiers; the building formerly occupied by the t irst Na- tional bank, and the Oriole building in Wall street, Hundreds of tenement houses along 3d avenue also form part of the estate. Besides the city property of the Astors there are also immense tracts of land at Newport.and elegant cottages at the different watering places. ———+e-—____ A Denth-Roll of Eight "onths. The astrologists who selected 1888 as a good year for earthquakes, pestilence and accidents seem to have made a hit. During the eight because they have 7 months of the year considerably more than 143.000 lives have been lost in notable disasters, in that taking into account the yellow fever in the south. By simply following the big news ot the press dispatches the 1ollowing table of peo- ple killed is made up: Loss of the Cimbri Milwaukee hotel fire Poland circus fire. . Australia mine flooded Tehichipa (Cal.) railroad accident. Flat-boat disaster, N.C. Loss of City of Brussels. Mine explosion, Ill. . New York school panic. Braidwood mine disaster. Sunderland (Ei Tune floods From the New York Bun. After the death of Horace tended that his farm at () sold and the proceeds diy) daughters, Gabrielle and Ma, tho jg was the wife of Col. Nicholas smith Teason this was not done. a: died, more than a year a: unsold. Col. Smith, wh atter Mr. Greeley's death, ville, Ky., with his three c} was rented in part. Miss Gabrielle M. Greeley room friendly suit for th ordered to be sold. , The ti for yesterday noon in front of Main street, Chappaqua. The sists ofa little shed futting ont on the piazza which runs along the f feed store. Itis set with » bearing the numbers of th a person driving past can se without alighting. had At noon about twenty of the s * ers a ors, Who cha: 1 fete: red on the st a vat Mr. Gr : Toad « a farm, and iv tat as the - Greeley expended so nea Ke to convert it into goed g the auctioneer, Israel A te owns a pickle factory in th ‘ ‘ resident. He is a sins a com: jon and stil? gray moust 4 me up onthe trains 1 on after 1 alone tn a top Miss Greeley wat her sister, Her several m with her. 7 brightl ref 1 spoke tg don the hig three steps of the stoop and saix begin. A dozen urchins des stood near his feet. Mr. Ha legal description of the pr that the farm consis acres, orchard, 1 “What am Loftered for the pr Miss Greeley leaned out « buggy toward the auction clear, musical v« Ti Fie 2500 advance, $250, $100, £50, and te one made a sign. He di value of the farm, said it was coin, ap. and called ag, the bystanders by n hicher. but there ‘as NO response. Th & short reces, and again offered the pr “Iwill take $10 avlvai will bid $10,010. Won't you, Dr. - The doctor addres a spirit of hume kets in “Ten thousand deliars Ten thousand dollars tw ior. lars third time. r warning. 1" ile Gone, 000).”” Was glad, as she did not out of the family. She it just at present, but probably move there 1 ding put it in repairand . There are two houses on the farm, one near The latter the gate and the other on the hill. is unoccupied. ree —_______ Wednesday Whatnots The mosquito as a public but never gives satistaction. It is a grave question to our » Courtney could beat an quirer. “He bas shown thal sl Milton News. Young ladies will soon return from the sem Shore, and then their old bathing-suits will be worked over into rag-carpets, flat-irun ny and a bed for the dog.—Puck. Our colored brethren are holding » camp meeting not far away, and one of thes, holding forth from the text, “How old art th suid in his opening, “Brethren, this am a (aretha that mne2 be answered in the affirmutive.”= Christian at Work, To prevent hogs from dying, kill them. at least this is the latest formula adopted byaa exchange, which, speaking of some pigs that had been bitten by a mad dog. and become in- fected with the virus of hydrophobia, saye “The hogs die in twenty-four hours unles killed.”—Tezas Siftings. The Spanish have a proverb: “The man whe stumbles twice on the same stone is # fool” There may be something very profound in that, but we fall to see it. We can't see why om good stone, that will outlast a dozen lifetimes, isn't just as good tora ‘to do all hfs stumb- ling over as a great e: sive collection of mie cellaneous stones, 80 widely scattered that alot car _ couldn't keep track of half of them. The Spaniards are a well-ineaning people. bat you ae expect very much of a people whe Sp Hosay” with @ *J."—Burlington Hawk eye. Maternal reasoning: Old Mr. Ploggers, indig- nantly—“ Look here, Mrs. snags, this is twice that boy of yours has'thrown rocks ut we! Its about time you ought to know bow he is going on!” Mrs. Snags—*Yes, Mr. but you know, Mr. Ploggers, there other boys who throw rocks! It isn't my boy alone!"— Louisville Courier-Journal. The laziest man: mu are getting to be the | whether he can break the laziest mau in town,” said a member of the Aus- tin Press Club to a prominent y. Why don’t you rustle around and do work ing while?” “Haven't s ors lately, have ou?” replied the attorney Ararming hie eels on the sidew at's tn thems in regard to your case?” man in San Antonio work a7 J can't giv and I don't propose to « the short of Itt Teres A bad room to sleep i how Jong de these mosquitoes bite?” asked « at an At kansaw hotel asa colored geutirman entered with a pitcher of water; “1 lave been lying bere fighting ‘em for anhour. How jong do you wT pose they will keep up this busine “Well, t dunno, sah, "Cordin ter how manny dat it ‘The:: are ten thousand.” case, sah, t's ‘cordin’ to how hungry da hi a8 wolves.” “Den yer" iy ter hab trouble wid ‘em, sab.” “Why don't you put a bar over the bed?” *"Case nobody sleeps in dis room but one night. Wheos@ night man comes along we gives him dis t0™ Didn't nobody sleep in heah Jas’ nizit, an’ ds de reason da’s so hui ~ Ef yer'd happen? strike dis bed jes’ arter a fat man had been 13 yer'd hab an easy time, sab,”"—Arkansaw Trot up my dail That's the ings. ay, ‘sm ‘The Apple Crop. From the Boston Commercial Bulletin. ‘The apple situation is peculiar this year. & was the “off year” last season, and tlere™# the customary sight crop at prices rauzing {08 « $2.50to €4 per barrel. This year, “Wy rights,” asthe farmers say, there should be® large crop, such as they gather oftentimes, sale at $1 to €2 per barrel, and export thow of barrels at these prices. Reports from ery! all apple-growing sections give promise of very different state of affairs. It is too ps, to Ray that the apple crop ise {i it it will fall tar short of expectations. ‘rat, is the talk of all our leading dealers in this fe and numerous private advices were aut rt ot this view. These all poimt to fact that the crop is a scattered one here a failure. One New England farmer pater that he will have « large crop of 5” Moy His neighbors will not do as well a Different counties in the same state varying reports. On the same farm difference ts noticed in the beat! Generally speaking, trees in shelter’ 4 have done the best, and this weeny oso’ ba in June, and the crop is tarzely in pro the natural protection of orchards. bears cireumstances it is next to impossl mate the ‘As the harvest there is likely to be considerable chang? oo. situation. But it is safe to count 4 an ally small crop for an year. looks ald as if higher prices than of inst year be realized. A prominent that he will contract for choice ‘bos per barrel. Farmers cenutionsly ot