Evening Star Newspaper, August 17, 1889, Page 10

‘Written for Tux Evavie Stan. TOWN AIRS AND GRACES. Something About the Early Fall Fash- ions in Draperies and Gowns. DRESSES DESIGNED MONTHS IN ADVANCE—MATE- RIALS THAT WILL Last POR & Lipetiue—tvor- VIDUAL CONCEITS IN FURXISHING#—XEW coM- BISATIONS IN BLACK AND PINK FOR AUTUMX. The first scarlet is on the swamp maples and the summer toilets show sigus of wear, tokens that the season is on its last waning quarter. ‘The town modistes are at work langaidly on dresses for their regular customers who leave orders six months ahead and are content to have their elegant conservative materials—Hen- Fietta cloths at 3a yard and crapes at €6— wait eleyen months or so before they see them home, Life is a routine of ease and provision for such people, who lay out plans three and five years ahead, and have such « contract with fate that things fall out muchas they have ordered. One lady of family and fortune in New York who went into society seldom kept thirty black dresses of sober, good material hanging in her wardrobe, only six of which | agp were ever put on in the year. Neverthe- ess each season she had them rigorously al- tered to suit the mode and put them by, to be saving of them, as her ancestresses were when ocades or stuffs were BOUGHT FOR A LIFETIME, What comfort we might have now if clothes ‘and house linen'were made up to last for ten Years. There are fine old chintzes and India silks up in the attic of this house which were made when the recamier style was originally in vogue, with full, short waists cut on the Dias and siender gigot sleeves, and there is as mueh wear in the fabric now as in half on the counters today. Isn't it better to pay a dollar & yard for print, as women did fifty years ago, and have some good of it, than to make up six cheap dresses for the wear of one? I know ‘an artistic lady given to studious pursuits who Seriously plans for herself to have fine, firm, unbleached cottons and linens — colors—indigo blues, light and dark, old reds = a pr cae emg aeoreed up in pretty an ing styles, no! bevaiered Baan angus mt Sat” Fors Woman no longer young the idea is not unsuit- able, and, inspired by thorough taste, her toil would always wear a distinction, only it takes woman of figure and breeding to carry out in- dividuality like this. YOUR OWN DESIGNER. Speaking of special styles, the artistic thing Row is to design your own patterns for draper- ies or dress and have them printed as well as embroidered for you. A very pretty set of curtains for a country house where somethin, was desired that would wash and wear was 0! the best unbleached sheeting, a yard and s half wide at 25 cents or less, which went to an artist furnishers to be stamped in various floral pat- terns—wild clematis in greenish-white blossoms and dull leaves, in old pink single roses or blue Succory stars of that soft lgvely hue which makes beautiful the waysides now in all New England. The blocks are cut by hand and dyed in fast colors without finish, and on the meilow ground the quaint pleasing designs have an excellent air of use and charm. The French houses choose the finest quality of cotton sailcloth for printing in hydrangea and and hawthorn patterns fot chateau in ere- tonne. FRESH FURNITURE COVERS. Some artist writer tells of castles above the Tweed where boudoirs are furnished in white brocade satin and velvet, renewed each year to suit some grand dame; but equal refinementand more 1s conveyed by the linen coverings kept fresh by constant washin, The sofa cushions in linen damask are so deliciously cool on # hot day; soft linen curtains smelling of dried roses have an elegance the white velvets never know. You can't get it with the pounds of potpourri you buy, which has @ culinary smell like mince pie—it is so strong of spices. No one out of five hundred bas the gift of making potpourri as it should be—with the scent of flowers try spice box. The new English perfume is white clover. The breath of meads and honey scent breathed with oe windows in along, cool summer room furnished in white matting and bamboo, with turquoise linen curtains and cushions, it harmonizes be- nignly. Such a room tobe in keeping re- quires the fashionable cut crystal globes for roses; the clear glass lily vases and tall silver lamps, with primrose, saffron or turquoise silk shelea. THE MOST ELEGANT SUITES for country houses are white mahogany, a clear wood like hickory with a rich creamy tint, made in the simplest lines, with a bevel of high polish or a bead of carving in slight re- lief and the finest effect. There is a reaction from the bold renaissance —- which edu- cated modern eyes yw very tired of in a few seasons, and the richest suites are in studied lainness and perfect finish. Que of the artistic Boston shops, whose name isa tee of fine workmanship and absolute taste, will sell you Deautifully-Anished snites in choice wood— something out of the common in material and design—from $44 to $80, which my dear New York (dear sometimes in a double sense, I re- t to say) would not sell for less than #75 to 125—mac hine- a at that. A coef pretty style for ornament ieces—upright pianos, ra instance—has incised or sunk cai Ls in polished panel, with the effect of rich engraving. Cherry wood in its light, natural color, highly polished, is quite as much admired as mahogany, and it is our northern mahogany for all intents and purposes, PHOTOGRAPHS IN SCREENS, Some pretty individual conceits in furnish. ings are noted. What to do with photographs is often a question and the last way of disposal is mounting them in the upper panels of a fold- ing screen, where they are fitted in silk, plush, or cretonue flat borders, with isinglass ‘slipped over the picture in lieu of glass, Below isa ten-inch space of polished wood with shallow railed shelt to hold china, and drawn silk of eretonne below. An octagon tea table has large cabinet photos arranged below the bor- der with wood frames and isinglass face, which is much lighter and less likely to break than lass, Orarow may be set on the wall like s with flat wood framing and beveled glass over each, which helps the tile effect. Choicer fancy pictures are set in long plain wide view for instance in the middle and panels of cabinet size-at each end. The fancy for grouping small pictures in one frame is old fashioned and in good effect, for related scenes WF bane have an spas ae interest which adds to their sentiment and value, COMBINATIONS IN BLACK AND PINK, Intimations of early styles the coming fall offer new combinations in color, black and pink, the serviceable old pink, to be as fashion- able asthe green and black last spring, iron gray and lemon,especially in autumn harmony, with peach and ecru for gorgeous toilets of sunny September matinees, when color is so vivid and grateful. For fine dress, indoors or out, white,brown and gold will be “the princess own.” For instance, gowns of light brown qash- mere or wool canvas, with fronts of white laine lightly embroidered in gold and brown, bonnet of white laine crown,straw-lace front and fancy brown ribbon. Striped black silk will take the place of moire for dresses and panels, rich cord stripes and satin stripes coming especially for the latter. Rush hats and fancy colored straws which look as if woven with dried grass, dyed green or red, are most stylish for late summer, and tbe choice for ey | Ibeg to add is uot “grass, poppies and field flowers,” but gar- lands of ivy, seedling | yer hedge berries or gauze scarfs the lor of ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, I can’t look over the burying ground of let- ters on my table to find tne name of the young lady who writes to know the duty of a maid of honor at a wedding. But, assuch queries de- mand early answer, she has nothing to do but to walk into church before the bride, and alone, just far enough ahead not to interfere with her effect, stand at her left at the altar and hold rt pei juet when the ring is put on. At the close of ceremony she follows the & u| ! zt H Hit f i ini i f i f & E f i 7 I li i z a if Fi i i fH TO LOSE AND GAIN WEIGHT, 8. M, H.—To reduce an obese waist take a dose of cream of tarter and jalap, which the druggist will prepare, once a week for a month, avoid bread and potatoes, and limit your diet to hard hea crackers, fruit, beef and green vege- bat -five” is anxious to know how one can bathe often without losing weight, as she has lost ds in two weeks by a daily bath. Per! os having 0 litle flesh is the best thing for her. I can't advise without knowing more of the case, present weight, length of bath and temperature, with other particulars of health. MOTH PATCHES can only be removed in obstinate cases by & long course of liver treatment and dieting. Purgatives are less effective than mild and steady remedies, of which taraxacum is fore- most, either in the concentrated extract or in decoction of the plant and root. Moth patches are the sign facial of liver complaint, for which the old remedy (and —) is taraxacum. Dr. James Wilson in the Medical Chirurgical Review says: “The more the dandelion is used the more certain proofs it will afford of its grea» virtues," and one will not find an experienced physician of any school who does not esteem tnis remedy, which, by the way, is more used in English medicine than here. The plant may be used root and leaves, & double handful boiled in a quart of water till reduced to a pint, of which a teacupful twice a day between meals is a dose, Sick headache and “bilious spelis” are the attendants of moth patches, induced by the same derange- ment of the system. SICK HEADACHE. I never had sick headache more than twice in my lite—experimentally asit were, just enough to know what it was like—and it appears to me the most useless way of spending one’s time that can be mentioned, @ way some women go through life, taking to bed every third week with a season of sick headache, is one of the mysteries of nature, and it makes things so pleasant for their families. At the first languid warning of such a “spell” vigorous action should be taken with warm lemonade, a dose of salts in hot water and hot footbath to start the skin to its duties, aided by a bot bath with hot water and soft soap. A good old regulating pill to follow is made from extract of butternut, 30 grains; powdered jalap, 20 grains; castile soap, 10 grains, Make fifteen pills of this and take three or four asa dose. Butternut is one of the safest purgatives known and was much used by army physicians in the late war and the revolution. The charcoal and pepsin losenges taken daily will keep the digestion good if other habits are correct. Treat the moth patches by rubbing at night with elder- flower ointment, which has 20 grains sulphate of zinc added to the ounce. Do not let the ointment touch the healthy skin. In the morn- ing wash it off with castile soap and warm water and bathe the spot six times a ‘day with the juice of a large lemon in half a teacup of soft water boiled. There are lotions to prevent the return of the discolorations which are commended by the facnity, but it is really cruel todelude people with such recipes as those which a friend sends from a family paper. Sumcey Dare, -———- eee AN INNOCENT MISTAKE. But Its Results Were Tragic andWrecked a Happy Family. From the Louisville Commercial. “That's « pretty, home-like little place, isn't it?” asked a fellow-passenger of the writer on an incoming Lexington train a few evenings ago, The “little place” referred to was a cot- tage home not many miles this side of Lexing- ton, half mile back from the railroad, and seen from the train window with all its pretty envi- ronments did look like a refuge for happiness in a refined state of purity, where some loving couple, free from the perplexities and sins of the world, might finda pure taste of heaven. “Well,” continued the speaker, as the train flew by other scenes just as pretty, “there is a TRAGICALLY SAD STORY connected with that placa about which but little has ever been published, and the true in- wardnuss of which but few know. Five years ago it was the home of as happy a pair of moderately wealthy youn, ople as could be > Toey bal poeta wealth, a found in the state. name as well known and untarnished as that of any of the old families in this section, anda little daughter in whom was centered their com- bined love. They ought to have been, and I belive were, as happy as any couple in the state. One afternoon the wife received a letter postmarked ata little town in Indiana, near where she had lived when she came to Ken- tacky on a visit and met the man she afterward loved and wed. She laughingly told her hus- band, but with evident em! ‘assment, that she “HAD A SECRET’ and would have to go to Louisville. He at that time knew but httle about his wife’s Indiana kinspeople, whom he had only seen at the time of their wedding and on two or three visits he had made at her home during the brief engage- ment which followed their meeting in Ken- tucky. He never wondered at his wife's con- duct that day at the start, and assisted her off tothe train next morning, half jestingly de- manding the author of the letter which called her away. She never told him, however, and his parting words were a caution not to miss the evening train, as he and ‘baby’ would be uneasy and lonely, “The woman had made the first mistake of her life in not telling her husband the truth. She was on her way to meet a scapegrace of a brother, who had -yritten pleading for an inter- view and for a little money, for which he dared not go home, SHE REACHED LOUISVILLE, went tothe Galt house, near the depot, regis- tered, and sent for the brother, who came, and with whom she talked long enough to miss her train. The telegram she sent reached the sta- tion we just passed, for some reason, later than the train she should have been on, and the minute the latter passed the young husband's anxiety was converted into something like jealous fright, He took the next train for uisville, reached there after dark, and at the clerk's desk inthe Galt found that his wife was in room ——. ‘Have a boy show me up,’ said he, registering the same name further down the page; ‘slie is my wife,’ and then he looked strangely at the clerk, who, with a pecu- liar smile, had said: “She has a visitor now—a gentleman who called early in the day.’ “Well, to make a short story of it, he beat in the door, and with feelings he himself did not understand burst into the room BIS FACE LIVID WITH RA and acry of ‘What does this mean? The young wife, who was even then deprecating to her brother the mistake which was keeping her away from home, read hor husband's face and all that he thought and was horrified in re- turn. Too indignant to immediately explain, she stood staring at him with what ro thought Was a guilty look, until, crazed by he knew not what, be struck her down, turned to the brother, who had escaped to the hall and down stairs, leaving his oe ag sister to explain to her misguided husband. The followed too late to fiud him, and, telling the clerk in a strange voice that his wife would remain all night and that he wouldn't, left the hotel, “He spent the night walking the streets and watching the hotel entrance for the man he fully intended to a How the young wife spent that night will never be known. She must have been mad, when next morning she returned home and, packing a few of her belongings, seized her child and was leaving her never to return. It was at the head of the stairs in blind rage, post banister and two hours later it was dead. The half-crazed husbsnd reached his home’ five minutes after the accident and it was over their that they came to understand She erfie mlstabe DIFFERENCE 15 TRAVEL BY RAIL IN EUROFE FROX THAT IN THIS COUNTRY—THE OLD WORLD NOT ‘UP TO THE MODERN LUXURIES WHICH AMERI- CANS EXNJOY—THE PEOPLE SEEM SATISFIED. Loxpor, August 8. An acre’or two of space in the Paris exposi- tion is given up toa show of rolling stock of passenger coaches, freight vans and locomotives. Following the example of Ameri- can railroads the railway managers of England and the continent have been for some years in- troducing novelties in the way of comforts for travelers. Parlor, dining and sleeping coaches are exhibited at the exposition which repre- sent the furthest advance made along the line laid down by the Pullmans and Wagners in America, Some of the coaches shown by the great English and French lines are nearly as long as an American Pullman, but they are low and narrow. Something like a vestibuled car is made by inclosing the platforms. The fondness of the European for compartments exerts its influence upon the design of the in- terior of the coaches, which are usually par- titioned off into small sections, Comfort is added in the way of sumptuous upholstery and luxurious easy chairs. Sleeping tompartments are provided with beds which are made up into easy lounges by day. There is no American parlor car shown in the exposition. This, I am informed, is due to the height and size of these cars, which made it impossible to take them through the tunnels on any of the lines approaching Paris. The only conspicuous ex- hibit of American railway material is a section of a freight car sent by the Pennsylvania rail- way company. One occasionally sees an Ameri- can parlor car on an ‘san grey railway, placed there especially to appeal to the patronage of the stream of American tourists constantly passing over the great lines, The English- man fimsclt patronizes the old-fashioned coach. There has been no marked change for years in the design of the ordinary rail- way carriage in England or on the continent. Short coaches on four wheels with three com- partments are the rule. DIVIDING PASSENGERS INTO CLASSES. There are three classes in England—first, second and third—which are distinguished mainly by the difference in the character and comforts of the upholstery of the seats and the number of passengers permitted in a compart- ment. Often the same coach will have a first, @ second and a third-class compartment. The first-class compartment may be provided with easy chairs, but usually it has one long seat on euch side of the comparment, softly cushiontd and intended. for four passengers. In the second and third-class compartments the seat of the same length 1s expected to accommodate five passengers. The second-class compart- ment is a little less elegant and the cusiions a little less soft than those in the first class. The third-class compartment on many lines is provided only with uncusbioned benches, but some of the great railways, in competition for third-class patronage, have fitted those com- partments with cushions, which render them scarcely less comfortable than the second class. On the German lines a fourth class is added, which consists of compartments bare of all benches or adornment. ‘Lheir interiors are as uninviting as freight cars, In such coaches, which are attached only to the slow way trains, poor peasaats take their short journeys, standing up like cattle. In England the great mass of travelers go second or third class. Merchants, lawyers and respectable men and women of all callings travel third or second class at about one-baif or two-thirds of the cost of first-class travel, leaving the first-class coaches to the nobility, swells, persons of wealth who love show and American tourists. The rights of travelers are recognized and jealously maintained by the persons them- selves, In each compartment is generally posted a placard stating how many passengers the compartment is intended for. In a third- class coach, where the seat is intended for five, if @ sixth person crowds in you will instantly see one of the crowded five thrust his head out of the window and yell for the guard. When the guara comes the protesting passenger com- lains that there are six passengers on the seat. The guard then has to provide a place else- where for the superflous passenger, even if another carriage has to be added to the train. The Englishman never allows himself to be crowded, On the other hand, the rights of the railway company are protected by law and heavy penalties are imposed upon persons who attempt to defraud a company by riding ina coach of higher class than that called for by their tickets, THE LONDON “UNDERGROUND.” The same style of coach and the same divi- n of compartments into classes is found on the underground railways of London. There are upward of 750 miles of railway inside the metropolitan district of London traversing the great city in every direction through tunnels and trenc One can findan underground railway station within five minutes’ walk of any point in the center of London, The stations are dark and smoky. The light of the sun never reaches these railways, and the drivers, stokers, and other railway employes live con- stantly in a foggy gloom. The journeys taken by passengers over these lines are usually short, varying from five to twenty minutes in length; hence the uncushioned third-class com- artments are patronized largely by all classes. the sleek city merchant, the coatless artisan, the uniformed messenger boy, and the house- wife on a shopping tour will touch elbows on the same hard seat, The fares charged aver- age about a penny a mile third class. A man icket at the station in order to gain ¢ to the railway. His ticket is never examined but taken up bya gateman at the station where he wishes to leave. He cannot get out upon the streets of London without a ticket. Once having a penay ticket he can ride on the underground all day long provided he finally leaves it by the station for which his ticket was purchased, Sueh an undertaking, however, would soon lose its interest, for in the course of an hour’s journey one would get well begrimed and be well nigh asphyxiated by the smoke and gases of the tunnels. The speed of the English railway trains is much talked about. It is seldom, however, that a train is run faster then many of the ex- press trains between the great cities of the eastern states are run, One of the quickest runs made recently in England is that by the special train which bore Messrs. F. B. McGuire and ©. C. Glover, the representatives of the Corcoran art gallery at the Secretan sale, from Chester to London at the rate of 64 miles an hour. The newspapers have already exploited that run. JOBN BULL AND HIS LUGGAGE, An effort has been made to introduce the American baggage-check system on one of the principal English lines, but it has about been abandoned, as it clashes with all the traditions and habits of the Englishman who travels, It is difficult to separate the Englishman from his luggage. He takes most of it into his com- partment with him and dis; of it in the tacks which are placed for the purpose above the heads of passengers. Sometimes he will have several valises or portmanteaus, besides innumerable packages, canes and umbrellas done up in shawl straps, He enters therailway station, followed by ® procession of porters staggering under the burden of his personal effects packed up in the form of hand luggage. The English woman with her brother this desire to sit in the midst of her baggage as she travels. If she is going on ‘visit she will fill a com at with ber bun boxes id valises, re are |i vans, however,’ attavhed to each train, and trunks are in these. At the station where a nger pl ites a stating ite destination, On arriving at the end of his journey the traveler goes to the luggage van or to the of lug- gage thrown out upon the station form and ” his trunk. When, as there area Every gatekeeper stationed at always stands at a salute when the train holding the short round stave about flag is wrapped as though it were a Most cag Goeller state — Pm every train represen’ majesty =p It is the emperor's train and saluted. No one can secure employment on the footy Bs he has in the army. The ipline of the army is carried into the railway management. A Ger- man who was my companion in the compart- ment of a railway carriage in which I was traveling over the state railway of Baden, when I remarked upon the fidelity and cere- mony with which every Cape yr saluted our train, told mee story which he it ex- tremely funny. It was about a railroad em- ploye who was sick and thought he ought to go eve day to see a doctor who lived in a neighboring village. The doctor at last told him it was unnecessary for him to come and see him so often, and peepee that as the train on which the doctor to travel on the railway daily ad the it where the man was BtA- tioned the latter should thrust his tongue out so the doctor could examine it as he passed. The man exhibited his tongue to the doctor in this way for several days, when his peculiar action was reported by the railway emplo; on the train. He was put under arrest for showing disrespect to the royal train by sticking out his tongue at it, and had to suffer an imprisonment of several weeks before he suc- ceeded in satisfying the authorities of the inno- cent motive of his act, HAUNTED BY THE GUARD. The German railway guard rides in a little covered seat on top and at one end of the car. He has a startling way of thrusting his head into the window of your compartment when the train is traveling at the rate of 40 miles an hour and you expect no visitors. Sometimes you will see a military cap rise up to the lower edge of the window, followed immediately by @ pair of keen, vigilant eyes which will gaze at you an instant and then disappear. You can- not help feeling that you are under espionage, and any word of yours hostile to the German government spoken in what you suppose to be the privacy of @ railway com ent may subject you to'an examination by German offi- cials, The military discipline of railway em- ployes results in well-managed a A gateman or a switchman who is responsible for the slightest mishap has no more mercy shown him than a sentinel who is found asleep at his post. There is considerable ado over the arrival and departure of trains from a station, When the train slows gba enter the stutiona man runs in front of the locomotive, calling out to lagen to look ont for the train and keeps up is shouting until the train comes toa a It is said to be a rare thing that any one | killed or injured by being run over by a rail- way train in Germany. en a train is about to depart au official at the station blows a little whistle with his mouth. A subordinate pulls a rope which rings a bell hanging in the station. To this the locomotive driver responds by a shrill toot on his whistle. Then there is a pause, some shouting by railway employes on the platform, a scurrying by the guards as they close and lock the doors of the carriages and the man at the bell rope clatters his bell again. Then the train begins to move. As tt docs so the bells in a little tower beside the track begin tochime prettily. These bells are rung auto- matically by the moving of the train and con- tinue to ring until the train is well under way. There is no bell on the locomotive. If there was the driver might forget to ring it, but these automatic bells never forget, —— eee . Responsibility for Insanity. From the Sanitary Era. Avwriter in the Albany Law Journal justly says: “A drunken intent is just as guilty asa sober intent. We believe that when a man commits murder under the influence of strong drink, especially as the result of a long course of dissipation, even though he be crazy from drink at the time, the best thing for society is to put an end to his dangerous life.” To this may be added a like judgment on the man whose crime is the result of frenzied passions indulged and exercised until practically uncon- trollable; and to both judgments the common sense and moral instincts of all sound minds oo hearty consent, But the fine hysical eorizing of alienist doctors, biased by one- sided be hereatyangy hit poremnincs = erously encour: the ‘poy n= Gecnsen tor murderous lives, The truth in nutshell is that murderous-impulses which a man hice nach cultivates e| me or physical incitement, are in themselves mor- ally murder, at all their stages, and lack noth- ing but the successful blow to become murder, whether at the moment there be any clear conscious intention or not. The act really dates back to its voluntary antece The only insanity that 18 irresponsible is ‘a failure of faculty resulting from some other cause than self-incitement to a criminal condition. There is such a thing asa criminal condition, which, whether transient or chronic, gives a ¢riminal character to action, “eee. Expert Testimony, From the Boston Transcript. Lawyer—‘You have studied this case thor- oughly, Dr. Lancet?” Physician—“Yes; I have made all possible inquiries in regard to the life of the deceased, his habits, &c,, and particularly as to hig Tast illness, and not content with that, I havemade @ post mortem examination of his remains, Yes, sir; I flatter myself that Iam thoroughly competent to gi an opinion in the case.” Lawyer—‘‘I have no doubt of it. I sent for you to en, your services as an expert at the trial. PY give you your retainer now, if you lease. P Physician—Thank you, I shall be on hand. " (He goes out, but retarnsa moment later.} Oh, I forgot to ask you which side I was 6n, whether I am to prove that the man was poisoned or died from natural causes, Poisor Oh, yes; you can rely upon me,” The Way to Say It. ‘The tenderfoot way down in Maine Speaks of the fre out in Spokane. And nearer the slope of the Alleghany, They say, “Bad news this, rom Bpokzay.” But out in Wyoming the native man “That a wr dow! ag Says, “That was a scorcher a in Spokan.' Life in a Flat. Wife (covered with mortification om reading a letter just received). “Oh, Egbert, I am so chagrined! I shall sink through the floor! I shall sink through the floor!” “Brutal husband, “I wouldn't think of it my dear. You will land exactly on Mrs, Smith’s dinner table, and be more than you are now. ——+e+-_—_____ Cloudburst in South Carolina. The area affected by a cloudburst in South Carolina yesterday is not more than about 5 Camden branch of the South are washed away. have been drowned might Columbus on his continent-hunting trip! Such @ book lies on a desk in the building on 10th street near F, known to fame as the old Ford's theater, where President Lincoln was assassinated a quarter of a century ago. It is not an antique nor a relic, but it isa veritable curiosity nevertheless. It dates from justa few years before the memorable event that gave the building ite doleful reputation, and contains, in almost obliterate inscriptions, the records of cases treated in one of the field pitals established all over the scene of strife and bloodshed in the great conflict of the states. In short it is a hospital record a little over twenty-five years ok i, beering the names unfortanates who succumbed to the evil influences of swamps and bad water or fell beneath the singing minie ball or the howling cannon shot, CEASELESS HANDLING. But it has aged terribly, and looks at least a couple of centuries old, with ite torn binding, frayed edges and discolored and tattered leaves, This demolition has been caused by the almost ceaseless handling it has received ever since the government began to give pensions to the wounded survivors of the Union forces in the rebellion, the ceaseless thumbing it has been given as its have been searched again and again for data in the casesof men who claimed cortain facts which the government wanted to substantiate by means of the records kept at the time and on the spot. But this is allover now, and the old book is at rest, its fragile texture in the last stages of a disease that has happily been warded off by a prudent hand, All of its valuable information has been stolen from it, but with good intent, and now is contained on thousands of cards scattered through hundred of file boxes, and this is how it came to be done. HOW CLAIMS ARE SUBSTANTIATED. The United States pension office has been in constant communication with, the office of the surgeon general of the army ever since the first —— claim was filed asking for the records of men treated in the hospitals during the war, these facta being requisite in order to adjudge whether or not a claimant is entitled toa pension under the |: For instance he claims that he was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga and thinks that he is entitled to & pension on that account. If the records of ‘the surgeon general's office show that such a man was treated in a certain hospital on a date s00n after that battle for a wound as he describes, there cannot be much doubt that his claim is valid, other things being proved. Hence it is that for every allegation by a claimant the pension office must have informa- tion from the hospital records and this ac- counts for the enormous mail that every morn- ing has flowed between the offices for years. BY HOSPITALS, NOT REGIMENTS. When a “‘call” came from the pension office, giving the vame, regiment and company of a man, it was formerly an utter impossibility for the surgeon general to tell anything about him except in isolated cases, for the hospital records went not by regiments but by the cases as they were brought in for treatment. If a man knew where he was treated well and good, the records of that particular hospital were found and a long, tedious search through the thousands of entries was made, beginning at the first until perchance his name was en- countered, The process had all of the elements of “hunting for a needle in a haystack,” and frequently resulted in a failure find any- thing. It might be that the record could be found in a few minutes, but that was an exception, and as a le hours were taken to discover the slightest information about aman, There is no wonder, then, that with the vast influx of questions, and the neces- sarily slow method of answering the sluice gates became cleeges, and the unanswered claims became piled up higher and higher, ac- cumulating until the ordinary period ‘that elapsed between the time the pension office made the call and the surgeon general's office sent a reply was about four months, often run- ning as high as eight, ten or twelve months, but never lower than one in extra-special cases. As astriking contest 4t ought to be stated here, a little ahead of time, it today call from the pension office is sent back answered ‘the next day to its receipt, and often contains So tees Caasgn aye information as be- Of course this handling of the records by men searching for names and facts soon had its effect upon the perishable stuff of which the books were made, and as the years went by end the press of claims grew greater, there was im- minent danger of these invaluable books being utterly destroyed, So that, after much hesita- tion, for there is no record as good as an original, the books were copied as time mitted, and as the copies wore away they too were transcribed into new volumes, THE TWO DANGERS, So that here were two evils, one from the great hindrance to the public business owing to the ac- cumulation of unanswered calls and the other from the danger of the Sinppeneance of the original records, which wo be an unteld loss, So unfortunate was the situation that Secret Endicott, in his annual re; for 1887, attention to the fact that work of the records and division of the Sur- geon General’s office—which has the above- mentioned work in hand—had so far fallen in arrears that 9,511 unanswered calls for infor- mation relative to pension and other claims bad accumulated in the office on December 13, 1886. Prior to that date a large number of cases were subjected to a delay of two and one- half — three months, and often for a longer rie Petia state of affairs had been brought about by a combination of causes, the most import- ant of which were defective methods of work, laxity of discipline, indifference and lack of interest on the part of some of the clerks, m of whom were inattentive to duty, in- efficient, physically or ment disabled, or otherwise incompetent. A belief seemed to pop the whole office that no improvement the old tar pen was either desirable or pos- sible, and any change made in it must Bec ily be for the worse. To such an ex- tent was this carried that the two principal ible for this division were of f ‘ ee fase: every man treated in hospital, wherever lo- cated, at any time during or since the war. INSTEAD OF GROPING IX A MUSTY BOOK for hoursin an uncertain search for an unknown quantity aclerk steps to the ease containing the records of the right regiment, and, pulling out a file box, finds his slips in less than a minute, transcribes the iaformation on a blank, and lo! that which before wus a tortuous course of red tape extending over many months is all accomplished in less than five minutes in twice as satisfactory a manner, COMPARING AND CHECKING. There are now about 5,000,000 of the 7,000,000 entries copied from the books to the cards, and Dr. Ainsworth hopes to have the remaining 2,- 000,000 completed by the last of December. This work has been done since May, 1887, and has been accomplished without any increase of force, As the current work of answering calls was overtaken spare men were put upon the work of copying. A beautiful system of com- | paring and checjing was devised, under which mistakes were made impossible, and the work was rushed ahead until today there are sixty- five men engaged in answering calls in place of the 250 who were formerly in that line, and the remaining 185 are copying from the oid books. ° THE WORK OF COPYING is carefully performed on printed blanks made of the very finest quality of linen paper, that approaches parchment in toughness and dura- bility. The blanks are printed out as fully as posible in order to save writing, this being lone on presses on the lower floor of the build- ing. After being copied the cards are com- | pared by another set of men in another part of the building. The comparer does not know in the morning whose work he is to bandle that duy, and is therefore unabie to form any com- bination with the copyist whereby fraudulent records couid be inserted on extra cards in or- der to secure pensions for friends. | OTHER CHECKS make this operation still more impossible. All errors of copying are rectified by making an entirely new slip, as erasures or corrections are prohibited, This is to prevent corrections of the records. If a card should even be discov- ered with a scratch or extra mark on it there is prima facie evidence that it has been tam- | pered with. Each card is signed by the copyist and is stamped in consecutive order by a num- bering machine procured from the bureau of engraving and printing, A record is kept of the numbers falling to certain volumes, and also of the numbers stamped on each da; ‘This, together with the date stamp that goc with the number, is almost an unavoidable ob- stacle to the insertion of fraudulent records, ANSWERING A CALL. When a call comes from the pension office— taere are from 200 to 600 received every morn- ing—it is given to a “searcher,” who dives into the file boxes and hauls out the slips re- lating to the man tn question. There may be only one, more likely two or three, and some- times halt a dozen, according as the man was very sick or only a casual case, It not infre- quently happens that there are records of a man’s almost constant | egend in hospital on the #lightest pretext. These were known dur- ing the war as HOSPITAL BUMMERS, who sought that means to avoid the harder life and rougher fare of field work. A card is on exhibition in the office showing the case of a man whose name is borne on the records of various hospitals 161 times, All this informa- tian is on one card, consolidated from the 161 en- tries in many volumes. Once provided with the sli enabled to write out his re; fy to the pension office in a few minutes. {fa man claims a treatment in hospitel of which there is no record on the cards the case is sent down to the new medical museum building—where the old books are now stored—and a search is there made in order to give the claimant the benefit of all doubts, although there is a moral ee that the further search will be fruit- less, In the file boxes the slips are ranged in alphabetic order between certain letter groups in such a system that it is perfectly easy to find a card in less than a minute, and yet there are five million cards on all sides, EXTENDING TOE WORK. This work will be extended to the old records of the adjutant general's affice, in themselves fully as valuable as those of the hospitals, for they contain the muster rolls of each regiment and company, all returns of troops, all records of leaves, furloughs, discharges, musters out, dismissals, and in fact ev. detail of the sol- dier’s life during that perilous period. They are in the form of large sheets that have been folded and unfolded until they are practically in shreds. The work of card-indexing them will be a great service and will be started just as soon as the current work of that office is shoved up even. When this is accomplished any cail on the War department for iuforpia- tion contained in the old records can be an- swered inside of twenty-four hours, while the crumbling leaves of the faithful volumes are sleeping in fire-proof walls, ——»—__ Not Altogether a Question of Money. From the Indisnapolis News. As for a location for the world’s fair, New York unquestionably has advantages, natural and artificial, thet no city in the country can boast, and had it the city spirit and pride of country which Chicago has there would be no question as to where that fair ought to be held. But there is e question and a grave one, There is a feeling that if New York gets the world’s fair she won't pay her part for it; tha® she will take the profit and let the country stand the loss, And this leads to the feeling that New York values this as it values Grant's tomb—some- thing to exploit berself with, and further noth- ing, all the fine feeling that they represent go- ing for naught, The most potent argument that New York could now offer on this subject of the world’s fair would be not merely the subscription of a citizens’ guarantee fund for several million of dollars but the announce- the searcher is opinion that for efficient and constant work it was necessary to have from two to ten thousand cases always on hand, “Repeated efforts by the Were | concourse of visitors shook the capitol with twenty body. save the re) candidates for ment of a million dollars raised as her offering to the Grant monument and the completion of Stations 10.308 m 110-30 am, T3500 Dome tor Lexington Local ee Peis _m, for 4,00, ine nutes) 4-45 ¥ | oe os Pen Psa Va Te between Wash; Stations ington Ob, 6-40. B30 & m, 12:10, 5-28. undays, 8:30am, 1-5, Wan week % 00 (43. man 4:05 (45. wilrontes),” 4.1 8:00, 10:05, 10°20 15, 8.30, 88, Lo 0, 145 (45 minutes) 45, 8:00, 10:05, 10 11,00 p.m. For trains leave Band 0 Wann fueton. #9209 8. and 4:30 pam Sundays 9:00am. 14 EY ma Lew week days 6.10 and 830 >) m = 40, 5:00 and ¥ Ov p. For Annapolis, 6:40 and and 6:50 p.m. On Sunda ‘Leave Annapolis, 6:40, 5. 6:15 p.m. Pundays, 8 For Stations on the #9 Wam., €L:15 pan 10:80 an. 14:30 and 14:35 p.m. id intermedsate points, *9-00e, Washington on Sunday 1s nous tm Metropshias Breucie Oto, 110-3Q am, 1300, TO 14 $530 p.m. yi y 1140 am. ap $3 r, —;' and NC ery LES Band 1:05 pan. ; from Pittsbury 7:10 an. 6:90pm. daily, + rom Bate DEW YORK A ND PHILADELPHIA DIVISION, For New \ork, Ire Newark and bi | 3. *4200, 18.00, 0:50 Bam trae, at B00 py » Pm, D.m, train does Dot s Liladed; ), gr Washingt MW, *2:30, 855, 6-00 *hiladelphia for W; lo TA, AG, 1 *12.00 nigh Trains leave tas. 2190 *730 p.m, For AUaitic City 4:00 and 9: 12:00 nooa m. sundays 4:00 a. m., aud 12-00 noo aud Ocean Grove 14-00, 18:00 a r *. uplam, for Warrenton, Char Atianta, parlo Sleepers Mont for Mabassag, 4:15 p. m.—Daily, except Sunday, Strasburg und intermediate stations. Dad via Layhchbury, Bristol and Chate Lima®l Vestibule Sleepers Washington te Mempiis, connecting thence for all Athausay pulls, also Wasliinwton to New Urlesus 9:40 P.m.—Western Express, daily for Mi Cuipeyer, Orange, Charlottesville, Staunton, Louis: vil nett, Pullman Vestibule train W. dunats with » Pullman sleeper fur Lowsvilie. ) therm bx eee daily for Lyncuburg, io ville, Charlotte, Columbis, stay Atlanta ri d Cautorma, New Orleans, via Al omery Siceper Wasting’ and Georgia Pacific d Montgomery. Pullman Birmingbem, Ala., via AUapte Liway Trains on Washington and Ohio division leave Wash &m. daily except Sunday we Kound Hill 11:90 a. leave Kound Hill 6:05 a Am. and 2253 p.m, Throws traing irom the South via Charlotte, Dam villeaud Lyuchburg arrive in Washington 6-5 am, and 7:13 p.m. ; via hast Tennessee, Bristol apa Lyben- bury at $.00 a.m. and 10:40 pau. id Olio route and Charlottesville wt 2:35 pu. £13 pam and 6:53 am. Strasburg local at #1 m. ‘Tickets, sleeping-car reservation and information furmaned, sid buscage Checked of cies tee Peum 1 cUUe, abd at Passenger Station, F r Reese Bas ea Sf rameter Station, Pouuay ivan JAS. L. TAYLOR, Gen. Pass, Agent. cAT PENNSYLVANIA ROUTE TO THE NORTH, WEST AND SOUTHWEST, DOUBLE TRACK. Sk LD SCENERY. STEEL MAUS ™ ICES Bal Leann, N LA NE SuTH, LSby, TRAINS LEAVE WASHINGTON, [OM STATION, ¥ COBNER OF 81X° AND Bb STREET! Uke LOKNE TH AND BSTKEETS, AS P For Pittsburg and the West, ¢ Limited Expre Pullman Vestibuled Cars at 1-50 an: daily Pak be, $:50 am. daily to Cinchuneti aud St. with Sloopiny Care from ‘Pittsburg te Ciuciunats, and Harrisburg to St. Louis: fe Chie Washington to Chicago’ and Bt, Lowe mone pat Harrisburs with through and Memplis. Paciic xpress, 10 bt Salty. for Pittsburg ‘and the West, wits fhrough ‘Sleeper to Pittsburg, aud Fitusbure t sudaigus and Kochester. daily; for Bam ara daily, exceut Saturday, 10-00 m., with Sleeping Car Washington to Rochester, For Williamsport, Lock Haven abd Eluire wt 0-508, m. daily, except Sunday. FOK PHILADELPHIA, NEW YORK AND T. 7:20, od. 00 and 11:40 «, 30:00 and 11:20 pan. On Sunday By oh. 40. a0 and 1d press, man Parlor Cars, #:40 a.m. dail: — Sunday, and 3:45 p.m. daily, with Dunia Car. a Fast Express daily. Express 2. daily. For Boston. without change, 2-5 For brooklyn, ¥.¥., ali th Jersey City with “boats 1 ing direct transter to 0 p.m. every dag, aah trains coumegt ah Sruvklyu Anbex, aford- Fulton "street, svoiding double te across New York city. For Gecau stu Fouts on Deaware Division, 2 p.m weak aye, For AuantieCity 9:00. 11:00 and 11-40 a m. week “Ralimore, 6.35 720, 8:10, 9:00, 9:40,9:50 wore, 6:35, 7:2 5 11-00, and 1140's. mo 32-05, 1.09, Sage Bodo, 9:10, 4:20, 4:40."6 200, 7:40, 10, 10-00, gua U1-20p. anday,, 8200, Bubs ca a. m.. a 7 8:10, 10:00, and m™. 22:05, 4 20ang p.m. daily, except Sunday, Sundays, 9 a ALEXANDKIA AND FREDERICKSBURG PA AD ALEXaNDua AND WADLUNGDOS the $100,000 to build the centennial arch; and to remember also that a world’s fair is not alto- gether a question of money but also a question of embodying and reflecting the patriotic spirit of the people who give it. ————+e+-_____ Bismarck Declared the Capital. In the North Dakota constitutional conven- tion yesterday Bismarck was made the capital of North Dakota aud the other public institu- tions are located as previously published. When the vote was announced the immense were thrown in the air, ladies handkerchi epplause. Hats waved their fans and jubilant iat nigh congratulatory kod beginning to pour in from povboyt yeep fag 199 A Profitable Industry. ‘From the Epoch, ner of 13th street and Peuusylvania aveune, and ‘St the station, where orders can be left for checking of tnayage to GesUnaton trom hotels and CHASE" pvaH, J. R. WOOD, CATsan MOO baa, LAKE GEORG: On'and after SL ‘Sbay, June 2%, express will run Daily, except. to and from the aw ‘Stauon of La vauta cluse connections feet SS ae an. Leave City Station at 8:60 + Pocenicia, i haw ii 2 {3 nee pm, ores ye an Hotel statiou and to Phwsnicis (for Mountain House), ADIRONDACKS, trains