Evening Star Newspaper, August 2, 1890, Page 10

IN HAWAII, AND WIIY. The Tiring Search For Rest That is Restful, DEPRESSING SIGHT-SEEING. —— Mope fer the Finabbergasted—Pac' Hales of Eden—The Bicesed Land Where Nothing Happens—Drifting Toward Paradive on an Even Keel—Our Fellow Dritters, —_—.—— Hownoxviv, Hawaran Istanps, April, 1390. E4itorial Correspondence of Tar EVENt<o Stan. N THE WORDS of Mr. Flannigan of Texa “What are we bere for! Speaking for one I am looking for a quarter of the globe where the tired-out, brain-fagged, erve-exhausted health seeker can find rest that —— is restful. Some place —= where there is nodreary <== depressing round of sight-seeing to go = through; where you are not eternally sweating your way up some dome, or monument, or tower; or are going down into some gloomy and malarial holes-in-the-ground— sewers, crypts, catacombs or other chambers of horrors; or are doubled down backward like a razor to inspect some smoke-grimed, pictorial oid-master-nightmare of the infernal regions, on the ceilmg; or dou- bled forward like a jack- knife to note some crumbling mosaic, or miraculous footprints, or martyr blood spots, on the ground, or to count the bones of scores of thousands of martyr virgins: o¢ are shufiling painfully over miles and DOUBLED BACKWARD. miles and miles of slippery floors in art gal- leries, staring at hundreds hundreds of bloody martyrs in oi! and stong@a@. Lawrences broiling and squirming on gridirons, St. Sebus- = punctnred and pin- om Cd ~\ cushioned with arrows; il BS. slugger-Duilt saints and sinners by Michael An- gelo, glorifying or ago- {nizing, in every form of muscular contortion. S) | Toone thus flabbergast- 7... “ed, tuckered ont, broken 4 down and teetotally done =. w by this sort of reeu- 4) perative trip what a vis- TE Non of hope and healing SSSR, is presented in the glow- <==" ing pictues of tha pocts of a visit to the Sand- wich Islands! Those “Summer isles of Eden lying in dark purple spheres of sea;” those islands, “green with the sweet carth’s southern youth and azure with her southern sky:” those islands in the voyage to which you “drift toward paradise on an . even keel,” those “Islands of the Blessed,” where nothing hap- pens; where you needn't admire anything unless you want to; where yoncan loaf and vaga- bondize in a state of torpid gor- geousness, in @ climate balmy and flower scented like that of Eden; where there are no changes in the temperature; no, weather; consequently no weather barean and nobody to noxy vrrorr. ask if it is hot enough or cold enough for yo no thunder storms and no lightning-rod me: no archwological or architectural bores; no Dones of virgins; no bony virgins (with a mission for the subjugation of man); no virgins that are not plump, sweet- voiced and amiable; no grimy old masters, or mediocre, middle-aged masters, or pert, impres- <~ sionist young masters. ™ Where you are deliv- wom, cred from Michael An- D> eteank oh bin ean, WAWANAN vinotx. and from Spagnclotta and all bis horrors. HOW TO GET To TAWAM. There is no “Baedecker™ or any other guide book to the Hawaiian, or “Sandwich” Islands, and the tourist has some difficulty in getting the requisite information how to visit them to the best advantage. They are reached by the SPreckels’ line of steamers. Most of these steamers ply between San Francisco and Australia. touching at Honolulu each way, but some of them run only between San Francisco and “The Islands,” as the Ha- waiian group is designated for short at "Frisco. Round-trip tickets good for three mouths cost $125 and the trip from San Francisco to Hono- Tula (2,100 miles) is made in about seven daya, ‘Tho steamers, while not up to the mark of the Atlantic racers, are quite comfortable and are admirably officered. The fare is profuse and quite a» good as on the average Atlantic Steamer. Coffee is served to the passengers at 6.30 am., breakfast at 8:30, lunch at 12:30 p.m., dinner at 5:0, and tea at 8 p.m. ‘The steamers are provided with electric lights and bells, it ing the state rooms. As the money om of the islands is the same as in the states and our coin and currency, down to our nickels, is everywhere in use there, it 1s not requisite to provide for any exchauge of money. No passport is required excopt the permit to land at Honolulu, for visitors who intend to stay some time in the islands. For this #2 is charged by the Hawaiian govern- ment and the tax is applied toward the support of the “Queen's Hospital,” an excellent institu- tion, for the benefit of which all visitors are glad to make this small contribution. OUR FELLOW DRIFTERS. One's fellow passengers on this trip are of a More interesting sort than those usually en- countered on the Atlantic voyage. There are many Australians and New Zealanders return- ing from a visit to the old country, for this is the shortest and quickest route between England and her Pacific colonies These colonists are usually people of intelligence and their talk about colonial affairs is of in- terest. They ail bave exalted ideas of the great future in store for the colonies, They expect to have a contederation of the colonies made in less than five years and their brag as to what that confederation will become in the Hub-of-the-Universe line in fifty years com- pletely silences the two or three able-bodied Chicago hora-blowers om board. Some of ‘them aro iu favor of « republic, and oue says that if Prince Victor should prove to be impli- Geed in the great London scandal he will never reign over the colonies, Quite generally they are protectionists aud they deciare that DOUBLED FORWARD. EE —_—— > THE EVENING 8TAR: WASHINGTON, PD. C., SATURDAY, one great object of the confederation will be to secure s protective tariff from the out- side world, with free trade within its boundaries on the plan of the United States. Amidst all this chorus of colonial brag there is a good deal of lively sparring between the Australians and New Zealanders, of the style prevailing between Chicago and St. Louis. Australia is depicted on one side as a parched-up, dusty, treeless, homeless waste, and New Zealand on tho other as a played-out country that has reached its maximum growth and is on the de- SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE. ‘The nagging between the rival cities of Syd- ney and Melbourne is also curionsly like that we have heard between St. Louis and C! Sydney claims that her natural position, her superior harbor, her vast resources of coal and iron and her great extent of fertile back coun- try must make her the great commercial con- ter of Australia. She meers at Melbourne as only @ “boom city,” trading on borrowed English capital, and having a little artificial prosperity through the English money put in circulation there by searing the late world's fair, Melbourne, on the other hand, derides the pretensions of Sydney to supremacy or even equality; says she ix hunkerish, old fogyish, that Sydney got left on tho world’s fair, and ever will got thore” on anything. Mel- bourne brags that sho 1s one of the best- built, moet go-ahead cities in the world and is just naturally bound to be the capital of Aus- tralia, THE SEVEN WHALER CAPTAINS. Seven whaler captains who have wintered in Massachusetts and are now on their way to join their ships at Honolulu for a cruise in the Arctic seas, form another interesting group on our steamor. Their headquarters is the smoking room and they always have an au- dience that overflows the room and crowds about tho doors and windows to listen to their curious yarns of perilous adventures in pursuit of whales, or when caught in the Arctic ice. Their narratives, told in homely, graphic phrase, of the great disaster when some years agoa whaling ficet of thir- teen vessels was caught in the ice, most of the vessels destroyed and the survivors escaped almost by miracle. would. if written out, make the fortune of any publisher. These woather-beaten old salts have no patience with the new-fangled notions of petroleum and the electric light that have helped gas to ruin the sperm oil trade. Now the price of whale oil is #0 low that the sperm, or oil whale of the south- ern wators is only huated “between seasons"— that is, in the winter—and in the summer the whaling fleets go up to the Arctic in purauit of the right whale and the bow-headed whale, which produce whalebone. No adequate substitute for whalebone has been discovered for use in dressmaking, and the price of whalebone is constantly on the in- crease, Asone of the old captains put it, the women must have whalebone, and that was why there are any whalers afloat today. ‘The uver- age value of @ right whale in bone and oil is about $10,000. The sperm whate, which only yields oil, 18 of minor value, but occasionally a big thing is realized on catching one of them containing a quantity of ambergris—a secretion peculiar to this whale and which is very costly. One instance is told in which ambergris to the value of @180,000 was obtained from a single whale, “DRIFTING TOWARD PARADISE ON EVEN KEEL.” We left San Francisco at 4 p.m., March 8, Whatever might be reatized in the way of para- dise at the end of our trip, it was evident be- fore we got out of the harbor that we were not to reach it on an even keel. The swell, going over the bar, was high onough to send the ma- jority of the passengers to their staterooms, and for the most of the seven days of the passage the weather was quite as rough and stormy as on the average Atiuntic voyage. We cacaped, however, the raw, disagreeable winds that make a rough Atlantic trip so unpleasaut. We had only a few hours fog inall the trip, and the captain said that this was his first experionce g near the islands, Owing probably to the weather we did not see all that the pocts promised. The exquisite nautilus did not float past us with its gauzy sail set, neither did “tho woird anomone lay its pale sensitive potalson the tips of the waves and pant in ecstacy.” Noth- ing of the sort happened. There wero no dol- phins whatever. The mystic albatross was on hand continuously, but, pootry aside, he is only # coarse overgrown gull who hovers around the vessel in graceful poise. ready to pounce on any garbage thrown overboard. There were many flocks or schools of flying fish. From their diminutive sizoand the length of time they were on the wing we at first took them to be some sort of small birds. They are from eight inches toa footin length and are very good eating, the sailors say. The steamer track to the islands isn rather lonesome one. We met only one sail all the way to Honolulu. The Pacific, with its immense sizo—9,000 miles from north to south and 10,000 miles broad—is comparatively an untravelod waste. Most of the sailing vessels for the Sandwich Islands also take 4 more northern course than thatof the steamers, in order to get the advantage of the trade winds. Though with our unusually congenial set of passen- gers tho time passed quickly, wo were glad to welcome the hazy outlines of the promised jand on the seventh day. ‘The first view of the isiands is disappointing. There were no signs of the enchantments that goto make them the Islands of the Blessed. They looked rather fitted for the abode of the fellows that aren't blessed. Ranges of grim, barren, volcanie mountains, red, yellow, ash colored, met the eye. DIAMOND BEAD. ‘It was only after turning the bold promontory of Diamond Head that the tree-embowered city of Honolulu appeared like a veritable oasis in the devert. Near us was the whitest of surf breaking over the coral reefs, and, beyond. the trees. Back of this tho city lay half hidden in ite greenery, extending in its ‘‘weet end” sub- narrow, Our pilot had a long row ou to the steamer and did it very lei- surely, as the natives do everything, and when he got aboard he took the steamer upto tho city with like deliberation. So it was long after dark when we landed. The custom house examination was only nomi and ina few minutes we were in one of comfortable one-horse, three-passenger car- riages (25 cents per passenger) of the city on the way to the Royal Hotel. As we drove rapidly over smoothly paved strects brilliantly illuminated IDEALS FOR: SUMMER. Fads and Fancies in Finishings and Furnishings. TRUE HARMONY DESIRED. with olectric lights and bordered with gardens | Ferm amd Coler—How to Fit Out Your and grounds filled with tropical trees and| Mlewse After Ie tw B t—Suggevtions plants of lustrous foliage glistening in the light, and with flowers everywhore, beautiful in color and exquisite in flavor, with the music of song and guitar afloat in the air, and with the gleam of white dresses among the aforesaid trees and shrubberies, suggesting all sorts of possibilities of angelic presences;—with all this in view it really weemod that our promised paradise had materialized. HAWAIIAN HOTEL. Our course ended in a semi-circular drive of Value—Some Tasteful Furnishings and How to Arrange Them. 2 eS AE ‘Written for Tax Evexrno Stan. ASHIONS in the colorsof houses, outside well as in, vary yearly, though such, change ofttimes is anything but good taste or artistic. A house is something permanent, and its form and hue should be studied to please Iastingly. Every one to his taste is a risky and expensive rule unless the taste is right, simple and true in the first choosing. The art which paints German toy villages must preside over the Long Branch and Jersey cottages this year, for they glare in amber and terra cotta—the ground story red, the upper one amber or a brilliant pumpkin yellow with brown trimmings, enhanced by vivid green Venetian shades, and groen mat- tings drawn as roofs and enclosures for out door balconies. The discord of the three colors among the cool shades of grasa andclus- tering boughs is fitly closed by ranks of scarlet and pink geraniums on the lawn—scarlet and pink at which a sensitive eyo shrinks. A HOUSE ONE NEVER TIRES OF. If you wish to have the new summer cottage through more beautiful trees, foliage and flew- | OF the old one remodeled approve itself year ers to the front of the charmingly situated | “fter year to the artistic eye, as letters patent hotel ‘Then we waited (in the hall) while tho | of the owner's good senso nnd cultivated taste, single night clerk on duty aliotted rooms and then showed us to them, apologizing for hav- ing no waiters to attend to us, because 1t was | wears longer than any col choose a dark, strong color and paint it ali over alike, Dark red, the old Venetian red, with a little umber or iampblack to deepen it, lor in the painter's Saturday night and Saturday is a holiday in | list and has all the good qualities, being warm, Honolulu religiously observed by everybody. NC EDEN WITHOUT DRAWBACKS. While thus waiting, beautiful night, there were sundry exclam: tions of “How delightful!” “Perfectly lovely! &c. But what is this black cloud circling about onrheads? Can it be? Yos; (slap! slap!) it is—moaquitos! What, mosquitos in Para- dise? mentioned mosquitos, It may as well bo ad- mitted here as elsewhere that while Hawaii kingdom is mora or less of an Eden there is no earthly paradise without some drawbacks, and | motry o} P ks of those islands is mos- | Proportion of its gables an one of the drawb: quitos and « good many of them; and they have them overy day of the three hundred and sixty-five. relays . of — mosauitos, and day mosquitos; the day mosqui- tos of a gray variety being considered more poisonous than the night mosquitos. 80 night mosquitos looking ont upon the | gray autumn d substantial and giving richness to tho land- scape, harmonizing with tho greens of summer, and having a comfortable glow of tone in the lays, Deep brofize green is another artist's color for houses, a green too somber not to be distinct from the foliage about it, yet blonding with thom, A red-brown is good and a russet or deep brownish yellow; these the list suffices to choose from, But fol- low one law that a wooden house needs no Strange that none of the poets ever | ttimmings, either in gingerbread art work or in color, which lessen its apparent size and real dignity. Ornamental work cheapens a wooden house or cottage, which should depend on the sym- its lines, the slopo of its roof, the rches for its at- tractiveness, The best architects are discard- ing the steep gables and twisted roofs of the Queen Anne style and the ridiculous pepper- And, moreover, there are | box towers copied from the French chateau. The Lorillards and Miss Catharine Wolfe and the Astors have led in taste among people of woalth in this country, and their Newport houses, on which hundreds of thousands were laid out, are simplicity itself beside the quirks in the three hundred and sixty-five days and | and board filigree of the Jersey houses costi 50 ing nights of the year one has to fight soven hun- dred and thirty different relays of mosquitos. | ‘There ara other drawbacks in this paradise in | cotta the shape of scorpions and centipedes, but the | Wolfe, and $8,000 or $10,000 and under. There is hardly a lovelier country house in merica than Mr. Louis Lorillard’s Ne’ t “Vinland,” designed and built for there is not a stroke of ornamental bite of neither is fatal. There arc no snakes, | Work outside the friendly, ample, becomingly however, and one can explore the most tangled | 8Touped walls, jungle of this luxuriant tropical vegetation without risk of anything worse than an insect bite. The mosquitos, moreover, are mainly troublesome on the leeward side of the islands. OPEN BALCONIES, The gay touches, the relief to your wide gables, aro the square or broad-railed bal- conies without roof, which are preferred in ‘There are few on the windward side and none | ‘M4 latest studies to the deep-hooded porch at an elovation above four thousand feet. | their Honolulu is surrounded by lagoons, stagnant fish ponds, rice fields and taro plantations, both flooded with water, and theso wet districts seom to supply a natural breeding place for mosquitos, The white residents burn a kind of insect powdor to keep the mosquitos away, but the nativea do not soem to mind them. It may be said that.while the mosquitos are a great nuisance from their numbers, they are not as big or such aggressive biters as our Now Jersey varicty. Like the natives they take life easy and don't care about working very hard for a living. C.B.N. A MAD RIDE, How the Passengers on a Wild Engine Were Saved by an Oiled Track. From the St. Louis Globe- Democrat, “Talk about fast time,” said a railroad man on the Missouri Pacific train the other day to his companion, “but I have never heard of a trip that would beat one I made myself some years ago, nor of any half so exciting. I formerly lived at Garrett, Ind, the terminus of the central division of the Chicago division of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. I had little to do and made the railroad yards my loafing headquarters, At that time the ‘Billy-O’ had an arrangement with the Wabash to transfer all New York freight at Auburn Junction, nine miles distant, to the eust of us. This was done by the old switch engine. the 642, which made two trips to the junction daily. Well, one day climbed aboard a box- car when the engine left with a few cars of merchandise to transfer. ‘There were six of usin the party—four yardmen, another follow and myself. We hada joliy time going down; made the transfer, and were to come back ‘light,’ that is with nothing but the ongine. We had all crowded on the ten- der; the signal was given, and Gent Potter, the engineer, w himself forward, pulled at the throttle valve and the engine jumped forward as if shot from a catapult. We did not think much of this atthe time, as Gent was a fine engineer and handled the engine to suit his fancy. We went tearing over the railroad cross- ings and frogs ina manner that was frightful, ‘The tender rocked as if on hinges. Something must be wrong, we thought, as Gent was plac- ing our lives in jeopardy, Climbing over the coal we found the cab full of stoam and Gent aud the fireman hanging at the side of the engine. for God's clear out and the engine ix running wil “To jump would have been nt death, As one of the boys said afterward, the tele- graph poles looked like a fine tooth comb. The mile posts flew by with unseemly rapidity. ‘The yard foreman med that a mile was covered in thirty-eight seconds, and not one would doubt his word. St. Joe was iu sight, Would the track be clear? Only three miics to Gurrett, with its net-work of tracks, switches and spurs! The steam gauge registered 9) pounds, ‘There were no hopes of the engine dying out in five or six minutes. With pres- ence of mind the foreman dashed off a few words: “Engine wild. Telegraph Garrett to clear This he dropped as we passed St. Joe, and the operator, clear to comprehend the situ- ation, sent it to the dispateher on the east end, without a ‘call.’ as we leurned afterward, Thera was Garrett in sight, with its tall chimueys belching forth smoke; there were the yards filled with freight cars and engines. As we got p, boys,’ said they. ‘jamp, sake! he throttle-valve is | oper closer we conid see men hurrying hither ands} booms ie thither, The other yerd engine wassishing madly to the west end of the yard. ‘The main track was clear, We passed tho depot like « puraned victim. Pale faces watched us in our | inad flight, We passed the railroud shops and hundreds came ronning to see the canse of the commotion. The engine was in a quiver. the bell was ringing wildly with each sway of the engine; the escaping steam whistled as if demented, and fires binzed from the hot boxes. ‘Then we saw something that made us think we were doomed. ‘The switch to the coal chute was open, and the long ascent could ouly end in our destruction, We looked again, saw meu working on the track, and then wo kuew wo were saved. What were they doing? Why, bless my soul, friend, those fellows wero ‘oiling the track up the chute. slid up about 100 feet and then the old 642 stood still and the wheels flew around; sparks came from beneath them from an emery wheel. Gradually the engine slid down, the wheels still in the forward motion, and thus the engine died out, We all suffered @ severe shock to our nervous system, but had it not been for the presence of mind ‘master mechanic, who ordered the oil on the chute track, I might not have been “And how fast did you ig “Well, the first six miles wore made in i fi A i § i i i ! i ; i 4 £ and verandas. For people make homes of country places and live later in them ‘ear by year, not making them merely a foot- ‘old for the torrid weather when the sun is dreaded. Tho open balcony allows the sun when it is grateful, is shaded by the pull of a cord, and is much airier than the deep-roofed porch when the sun is off and all delight in the afternoon shadow. The broad-striped awnings—and these need to be brond, bold and effectiv» in color— are made in the Venetian way, without sides, and are much pleasanter to sit under and to take care of. For screening these outdoor sit- ting rooms when the life of the summer goes on chiefly all sorts of nativo mattings are in use—thin-split. bamboo, willow, fine rattan, green rush and ma- nfia or segs in Spanish dyes, besides the new Venetians, whose thin green slats quiver delightfully in the coolness. Verandas have their own suits of furniture, in paim and rat- tan, cushioned with Madagascar matting, fine as any jute fabric, with gay barbaric stripes of crimson and tea-colored rush, ‘The uneasy rat- tan tables with basket topsare sensibly re- placed by wood tops with rattan fram id the heavy round basket frames for sofa and chairs give way to something lighter in looks. One does not want a basket chafr for summer to suggest a footman every time there is need of moving it. SUGGESTIONS AS TO FURNITURE. The best lounges are those of rattan, with closely woven seat, costing from @10 to ¢18, and so light they can be carried all over the house, A pair of these, any number of small rockers and easy chairs, a large rattan table for newspapers and tea, with several of the low Arabic tables, elbow high, as one sits in the lowest of low chairs or lolls on the Japanese bed mats, furnish a veranda prettily. Beside these wicker screens and rice curtains partition off corners for writing or dozing and big East Indian seats of woven rush, coarse as work in corn husks, look well with the huge green pots of palm or acacia, which add to the coolness when kept well sprinkled, as they ought to be. Of course veranda boxes all around full of flowers are the final decoration, but pray let us have something in them beside the usual as- sortment of German ivy, blue lobelia and nas- turtiuma, Tey the effect of hardy white jes- samine, with starry, sweet scented flowers, and the delicate, Inxurious mansandya, like a min- iature ivy in leaf. blooming endlessly in rose, white and purple bells, «nap dragons in their yolyets, richer in coloring than any flower grown, saving the salpiglossia, streaked in its jewelry—tlowers which bloom into the frost and seem anxious to crowd as much brilliance as possible into their lives, Give them liquid fertilizer at the roots twice a week, soaking the soil well, and turn the sprinkler on the foliage three aud four times a day, when the sun is off, in hot weather. Florists have to sprinkle their plants aimost hourly on hot days to keep them fresh and thriving. : PROPER CARE OF FLOWER VASES, ‘The plants in hot urns and vases and window boxes in town appeal tos gardcner’s instinct as one sees them wilting and struggling for life. Out of devotion to plants I take the opportu- nity of telling restaurateurs and hotel ee that to make their outdoor vases anything but agriet of flower-growing, flower-knowing per- sons in surnmer the soil should be stirred wogkly among the plants, chemical fertilizer given, that comes in 10-cent boxes, which last a sea- son, and soil and roots covered an inch deep with cocoa fiber, florist's moss or fine cut grass, which keeps the vase from drying out in the hot sun and keeps the roots moist and cool. Given plenty of strong liquid to feed the plants, water gencrously on the leaves and muich on the roots, window and terrace plants will surprise one with their freshness and Inxu- riance m torrid weather. The fashion of placing growing plants in halls and drawing ry wise one; that they literally cool the y transpiration from their leaves is too well known in scionce to need more than mention. But no palm or eoft wood plant ghould be left ina room more than a month without giving ita rest and refreshment out- doors or ina green house. The soil bad air from the honse or grows sour for lack of sun and pure air, whence arises the idea of the unhealthiness of plants in rooma, WHERE FANCY HAS ROOM FOR PLAY. Indoors the furnishing » summer or country house gives play to picturesque fancy. ‘the new and intelligent design for interiors procures perfect airiness by large arched transoms in ivreed wood, not only the varied Jupunese iret, but the flower patterns, in which rose, lotos and peony are sketchily carved and the and cut away or the outlines cut through. pe portieres are the Chi. nese bead ‘ilized version of curtains. Thick colored wool or silk i netted strand doorway. is attempted ‘AUGUST 2, 1890-SIXTEEN PAGES. aS are Fag RS them in siry blending with the tone of the paper, It was an artist's finest fancy, worthy any of the famous French decorators. It was not economical—costing sixty cents a the pattern repeated twice in a single row—but it was cheap loWbliness. One cannot approve cartridge paper for sanitary reasons, as it absorbs damp and odors distressingly, but there is a dull enamel which in these slight frescoes would be ‘ing. To go with such paper the Fronch cretonne tad borders or the Englioh dicslgy with pals an or lish dimity pink or blue stripes, is the idoal curtain, as either can be Inundered as often as desired with ease. Pretty summer | new this sea- son, are of clear washing net with straight tambour tendrils and dots, like thread lace, and these are made up with frills of lace to correspond, very light and refined, while in- expensive. 6 choice patterns of India silks for drapery come in silk ‘duishod cottons, like soft ‘onet, and to my thinking more desirable wn the silk for use. Although it goes by the name of washing silk, it is intended to be washed as lit- tle as possible, and it never improves in the process—while the silky cottons woven of choice staple, mixed with some glossy vegeta- ble fibers vory possibly have all the beauty of the costlier fabric save its luster, with good washing qualities. Tho favorite patterns—the |, magnolia, azaliaand chrysanthemum, with a dozen others—are found in the silk cot- tons in cream, straw, pale blue, gobelin, old Pink, old rose (quite a different affair) and ple green, this season's color, the flower natural tints, as if laid on in water color. But the prettiest novelty is the Fronch cot- ton for curtains, a fine satin , that docs not lose ite freshness by washing like satin. but with its clear white or cream ground, and roses and lilacs in cluster, defies sun and sery- ice to mar its freshness lastingly. The «lk cottons are twenty-eight to forty cents yard; the French cotton, substantial as chintz, is twenty-five centa. This an artist would choose for the windows of his cottage, or for sleep- ing rooms anywhere. For the cheapest of all draperies take the English soft muslins, printed in small, interlacing ‘all over” patterns, in blue gray, tea green or old buff and pale brown, with anarrow border, which goes well with = bed room ware, rush bottomed chairs and toilet tables with swing glasses, ANTIQUE FURNITURE THAT 18 OUT OF 8TTLE. It is in devout thankfulness one records that furniture in ‘“‘antique” oak and butternut is out of fashion, as it always was out of grace; for it pretended to be something it was not, and the grimo of centuries, none too desirable if real, was copicd in soot and grease well rubbed in. Woods in the natural color are preferred, for the light and cheerful interior prevails over the formal gloomy one, which gives eye doctors and nerve specialists so much to do. Another present style deserves reprehension, which carves beautiful light wood into semblance of bamboo and basket work. ‘The window draperies, the easy chairs and bed hangings are of the same chintz or silk. A room 8o furnished has an individuality which those fitted in the usual way rarely attain. As arule, if the paint and woodwork of a room dark the furniture ought to be at least in the darker colors for the interior, chestnut Arabian brown or sienna, with upholsterios in meliow tones, apricot, primrose-buff, almond or citron, tea rose or deep poppy yellow, softer than gold. CONCERNING FLOORS, For floors in summer houses or sleoping rooms at any season carpets are discarded wholly as well as heavy portieres, jute, turcoman or chenille to velvet. The closeness they give to rooms, their power of absorbing smells and giving them out again, are intolerable to per- sons of susceptible senses, The floor in brown paint and shellac polish, when hardwood can- not be laid, is infinitely preferable for bed rooms, with aneat matat the bedside small enough tobe shaken and sometimes washed. Matting is neat, only one is sure then of living with half the season's dust under foot, and I profer the floor, which can be wiped with a lamp mop daily easier than you can sweep matting once a week. For sitting rooms the Japanese rugs in shades of indigo from light to dai color on pale ‘ay or cream grounds, are beautifully cool looking, with draperies of the Japanese crape cotton which comes for win- as white grounds with indigo patte: maple leaf, bamboo or hydrangea. White matting on white wood foor in shellac finish with these rugs and draperies have a Nankin China chee very harmonious, light, subdued and cool. The crape cottons are among the most artistic and lasting draperies. The panel brackets mentioned a few weeks ago are only made by private designers and cost $12. The panel back is perhaps 20x28 inches, with irregular little shelves on its face, with slight railings to secure bric-a-brac, a safeguard no bracket should be without. Numbers of these have been finished for col- lege rooms and painted in the college colors, the Harvard brackets being deep red, the Yale blue enamel, with large flower decoration be- tween the shelves, bows aud velvet, as you please, though in better taste without. Sumerx Dang. oo WHAT IS KEPT IN STOCK. The Country Grocery ‘‘Store” Regarded as a Rural Museum. OW SURPRISINGLY one country gro- cery “store” resembles another, It is jas if they all were intentionally mod- joled after a given pattern. Dry goods, chiefly calicoes, for rural dames and damsels, always occupy the shelves on the left; crockery, tin ware and barreled goods in the rear; miscellancous foods and other articles on the shelves to the right, and nagr the door a glass-covered case full of “notions” of all sorts, The variety of wants supplied by such a “store” is simply marvelous, A representa- tive of Tux Stan happened into one the other day at a village down the river, and, while ne- gotiating for some paper and envelopes, pen, ink and postage stamps, amused himself with taking note of some of the things offerod for sale, The “notion” case alone was a small museum. Among other articles in it wero tooth brushes, cologne, carpenters’ pencils, back hair combs, thimbles, sleeve buttons, watch keys, bay rum, spectacles, shirt studs, rubber nipples for babies’ bottles, crochet needles, pocket mirrors, scissors and violin strings. Also in the same case were banjo strings. fishing tackle, knives, babies’ rubber rings, jew’s-harps,mouth organs, tooth powders, viclin rosin, ginger cakes, prize packages containing candy and jewelry, tin horns and a few yards of lace ON THE SHELVES HIND wore shirts, collars and cuffs and neckties; also straw and other hats, many boxos full of shoes, blacking and brushes. Beyond the sheives full of calicoes were crockery, brass ware, tin ware. twine for making seines, lamp shades and chim- neys, glaes ware, canvas for sails, lamps, coffee grinders, carpenters’ tools, molasses, vinegar and liquors, padlocks, popcorn, boxes of roasted peanuts, paints and oils, toothpicks and ice skates, Around on the other side were patent medicines, chewing tobacco, cigars, powder and shot, wash tubs and boards, soap, bluing, school crayons, slates and books. All sorts of ed goods, preserves and pickles were in ; also snuces, confectionery, clocks, castor oil, honey, congh drops, mustard plasters, st ‘ous plasters, glue, nails, rope and pills, Phere was even # supply of ready-made cloth- ing, likewise salt meats and rat poison. This will give a slight notion of the stock of a typical country grocery. Such an establish- ment must have everything that anybody can by any possibility want and much of the stuff it deals im lies on the shelves for years before the right customer comes along, ——o2-____ Vegetable Intelligence, From the Boston Transcript. An illustration of apparent intelligence in plants is the behavior of the Egyptian lotus in this climate. In the warmer countries, where it is at home, the roots of the lotas spread laterally close to the surface, In this country the plant learned, after a single year’s expe- Q F i ri i Ei ah Fe ff | fi i ii Written for Tus Evewie Stan A SPEEDY MESSENGER A Common-Sense View of Light and Its Properties. NATURAL PHILOSOPHY PROBLEMS MADR East— HOW LIGHT TRAVELS—SOME EVERY-DAY COmPAR- TOONS—THE PRISM AND WHAT IT DOES—THE eTaRs, AVE you an idea of what the spoed of 186,000 miles a second means? Can your imagination. able though it may foe, grasp the idea, without confusion’ Hardly! The hnman mind, keen and perceptive, breaks from control at the concep- tion of so tremendous a velocity. But the uni- verse has a messenger so speedy that he could almost ontfoot thought itself. That mes- senger is light, and he isso swift and subtle that scientists adore him as the king tale- bearer of the universe. Let us try and conceive what it means when We compare the velocity of light with those velocities we know something of and are accustomed to deal with. Our limited express = fravol with an svornge speed of 40 miles hour. Ore at inary 6 line around the earfie the equator ne sented by a steel railroad and that we start one of our “limited express” trains trom a point, giving it a of 40 miles an hour, with a right of way around the circumference of our globe, free of stops, for any purpose whatever. In 600 hours it should be at the starting point, having made its journey of 24,000 miles in that period, or 95 dava. Suppose, now, we could give to our train the velocity of ligne It would make the same journey in the ninetieth part of » second! ther rapid travel, is it not? What one of us cam divide a second of time into ninety Barts and realize one of those minute livisions mentally? AROUND THE EARTH WITH THE SPEED OF LIONT. If we could send a messenger from the earth to the sun, and could impart to him a velocity equaling that of light, he would make the journey in about eight minutes, and that means that he would travel about 93.000,000 miles in that brief eight minutes. But if he made his trip on our limited express going 40 miles an hour he would require something like two hundred and sixty years to make his journey. It is easily seon, therefore, that scientists in dealing with the velocity of light fool with a problem of no mean proportions, and it appears truly wonderful to the unscientific how it is at all ible to measure such enormous velocities. Notwithstanding the extreme deli- cacy required in the operations used to determine the velocity of light, the various efforts have ended in fairly accordant resulte— the accepted value (186.828 miles per second) boing that obtained by our own Professor Newcomb from a sories of delicate observa- tions at Washington city in the years 1830-42. It may be interesting. even to the unscientific, to know something of the first discovery that light transmission was not absolutely instanta- neous. In the year 1675 Ol Romer observed that the eclipses of Jupiter's sateliites always occurred later, by some minutes, when the earth was on the far side of her orbit, with respect to Jupiter. Later Delambre undertook the determination of this problem, with a resulting value of 493 seconds for the passage of light over one-half the distance across the earth’s orbit, Glasenapp, a Russian astrono mer, afterward raised this amount to 501 weconds—about eight minutes. DISTANCE OF THE STARS. In the measurement of the distance of some of the nearer fixed stars by means of their annual parallax the results, if expressed in miles—our favorite unit of distance—are so enormous that the mind does not conceive with clearness the immensity of that distance. Convenience, therefore, prom) the adoption of the term “light unit.” T expressed by the period, in years, required for light to pass from the star tothe earth. The nearest known fixed star is Alpha Centauri, the brightest star in the constellation Centaur. Supposo this star wore blotted out of existence January 1, 1890. It would still be visible to us on January 1, 1894, and would not cease to sparkle until May of that year. Ite distance is four and one- third, as measured by the light unit, or in other words it takes light traveling 186,000 miles a second four and one-third years to travel from that star tothe earth, and that means a distance in miles of over 25,000,000,000. WHAT LIGHT 18. It would bes trifle unsafe to declare just what light is. We roalize it in all sorts of con- ditions, tone or shade and intensity. It can reasonably be stated that light and sound are identical in that both are transmitted in waves to our senses—light, of course, far exceeding sound in velocity of transmission, We also know of light that the waves of light differ in length, for if aray of it be sent through a prism of glass, which has the property of bend- ing it away from its course, we find it displayed asastrip of colors, each particular portion representing different wave jengths, ‘lace a slit before that prism of glass and we have a simple spectroscope or “light ana. lyzer. purpose of scientific researches of great delicacy the spectroscope is usually of these glass prisms, The little three-cornered piece of giass, then, has become the greatest servant of science. Let us go a little out of the way and sce what can be done with a ray of sunlight and the glass We admit this messenger from the sun through the little slit of our light analyzer. It passes through our glass prism without hin- ance to speak of; but whatachange! That ray of light is no longer the ray that crowded through the slit of the instrament. What we now see is a beautiful strip of variegated light, commencing with a deep red, running into orange, F seg green, blue and ending in violet! Our prism has separated our ray of light into its component colors. Then white light is more than white light. It is really a combination of lights of these various colors, But if we notice carefully we see more than this. We see this band of colors, which scien- tists call the “spectrum,” crossed by dark lines, vertical to the length of this band of color, and varying in length and thickness. What do these dark lines, which ave really va- cant in that band, mean? This: That those dark lines are, in reality, the images of that little slit, which fail to paint themselves in that band of colors because something has stepped in and cut out that particular part of the white light which ought to fall im the spectrum, where the dark line occurs. Science has discovered that these lines on vacant spaces moan that the vapors of certain sub- stances have produced these “absorption lines” —for such name is given them—and that they exist in the atmosphere of the sun. It is also known that, generally speaking, the same va- pors, raised to high temperatures in lnboratory experiments, are able to produce lines agrecing with the dark lines in position, but bright in- stoad of dark. These vapors are then made to rove that they can absorb the same kind of light which, under the e temperature, they can emit. Here, then, is a clue to the consti- tution of the universe. A careful mapping of the lines, which exist in the spectrum by bun- dreds, enables the astronomer to take the light of the far-away star, analyze its rays, and, by comparison, safely state to the world the con- ditions of its existence. WHAT SCIENCE SAYS.. Should the reader exhibit surprise whon as- tronomers say that this or that star was reced- ing from the solar system at a rate of thirty miles per second, or that another star was ap- jing at a greater rate, he could not be Blamed for his doubte, Apparently this is av- suming too much. To measure the velocity of light is delicate enough, indeed, but to boldly tare that stars are approaching or receding is, unquestionably, insanity! But science docs gay eo in cases and is rignt within reasouable ee a Let us return to the little H “lines” in colored band. These lines af- ford us not the sorting out the constituent elements of a star, but also the 5 t 3 He Hf i i i L 4 : i ii lh i | fz it science since the pe came to his md. The astro-paychical branch of astronomy is the most important branch of that science, These? luminous vibrations that come to us with locity tell the stories, which jalitleo would have AmKUMINg SY 8tem-doxtror- ing enthusiast.” With th period of the world’s history science appeals to a poople in- terested and willing to be convinced. The world now hails with enthusiasm eac covery. The country where mon were de Fided for assorting that spots belonged to the body of the sun instead of being mere clouds in ite atmoxphere now supports one of the * ablest of observatories. Science keeps prompt- ing knowledge and knowledge strives to improve iteelf that it may annist by greater intelectual comprehension the ro- vealments of science. That mysterions enbtle vibration of the “luminous ether” is the will- i fcience the speedy but truth rot the messenger from «pace astro: omer, day and night ftly and sil through «pace, the gla the watehtul eve of th bow-tinted spectrum risms, and appears to observer ax the “raim-) with here and there a missing ray, telling a story of sone larger and grander than our own—each may be with its own system of planets; adding evidences to support the law of the universe that holds ail things together; pointing out the unbounded resources of the great creative power and plac- ing our puny earthly habitation as bub an ‘atom in the great output of nature. Wiisam Epwaap Woon, SUSPICION ALLAYVED, A Festive Drummer Makes Himself Solid at the Domestic Fireside. From the 8t. Paul Hera, The worst case of suspicion and jealonsy in the northwest has just been cured, the pa’ < being the wife of a well-known traveling man. She had noticed that her husband never brought his grip home with him, but always left it at the store when he came in froma trip, and in her jealousy she imagined it to be filled with love letters, appointmonts of m ings with fair onos, Ac, A few days since, while her husband was on a trip through Dakota, she went down to the store, and ap- proaching the porter, said: “John, you like to make a dollar honestly when you can, don't you? “Oh, yes'm.” “You know where my husband keeps his grip, don’t you’ “Yes'm; throws it down in a corner of the Office and leaves it there,” “Well, look here, John, He will be in on the Northern Pacific train tomorrow morning and if, atthe first oj . You slip his grip out of the house and ng tome I'll give youadollar, You cau wring it back again in half an hour.” The porter consented and two days later pro- sented himself at the drummer's jence with the grip in his hand. He explained that he had uot before had an opportunity to carry it away, and giving him a seat in the parlor the Woman carried the prize to the bed room, and with wet teeth and pale face opened it. The first thing she cncountered was a well-worn | pocket Bible, thurabed and showing the marks | of much handling. Yhen she dug out « soiled shirt, some unchaste socks, comb, hair brush, and then she found a letter folded within an envelope. This she opened eagerly and read as follows Fr P., Sept. 1, 188, Mr. William ——. aes z ear Sir—Your monthly the support of th: (ible fund) a6 a © you ¥ please hard. stony look hor search, from her f ; &@ bottle of po neath it all im th sealed, stamped and dressed to “Miss Georgie G Minn.” The superscription was in her husband's Well-known handwriting, and again the stony look came into her eyes. Ih, the wretch!” she cried in her anguish, Y suspicions are too well founded! Georgie Oh, this is too much, too much!” and she gave way to « flood of tears. When she had calmed herself she tore the letter open and read as foliows BT. Pac, Mine,, Beptomber 10. Miss Gray—Your ne “cine Mme te meet you im Rice Park Saturday evening war banded web) alive trict messet In reply permet aie tommy thut 300 h x not be aware that I } tion, and I found a seat m the crowd. reets errs ery Line I come trom a trip. Wintaam — Then she inid down on the bed and sobbed for a while, and then closed the grip, took it to the porter and asked him to return it to the store and say nothing of what had occurred, Av he entered the store the drummer stepped from behind a pile of goods and asked “Did she go through it, John “Guess 80, She took it into another room an’ was gone half an hour before she brought it back.” “How did she act?” “Well, she was smilin’ awfully, but teary all around th: She gimme anothe dollar an’ said this would bea happy world if ali men were like her husband.” “That's business, John. Here's the V I Promwed you, and now ict’s go across the street and take something. When you come back dump that stuff and put my things back in the grip, for 1 go out tomorrow morning. Til never forget you, Joln, for putting me on to this,” and they slipped out and disappeared behind the green shade of a convenicut saloon. od - see The Ways of Justice. From the New York Sun. While at the post office in an Ohio village I heard the report that a murderer bad been captured, and so I followed the crowd to the lockup to learn more about it, Thore I found 8 prisoner whose every appearance proved tho professional tramp. He was about forty years of age, very cool, and he greeted the cha murder with alangh. Th a short time by taken before a justice of the peace for examina One look at the justice satistied mo that be realized the awful gravity of the situation and felt the foundation stone of the Uuited States resting on his broad back, “Prisoner,” he began, “don't trifle with this court, for it won't be allowed.” “Who's going to trifle?” was the ans “Don't you do it, sir—don't you do then, do you want to confess? “To what?” “Cold-blooded murder!” “In Cleveland.” “When?” ~Last night at 8 o'clock.” How far is it te Cleveland, “That's so, judge,” said a farmer in the crowd. “He came along at 9 o'clock last night and I jet him in there.” “You are sure?” “Positive.” “And you won't confess?” he asked of the prisoner. “How ean I--being as I have done noth- “Very well; such obstinacy deserves pusish- ment and J sentence you to the county jul for ninety days.” “What for?” “Do prov@to you that justice never loops, sir—never. You may think sho do, but she don’t—she don't, sir, You have been overtaken ‘at last, sir—at last, sir, and the constable will take charge of tho prisoner, and court is ad — A Bit of Romance. From the Baltimore Suu. Chief Engineer James A. Hamilton of the British steamer Castlegate relates a bit of romance about his wife and himself which i petite 3 itt Beck . . a