Evening Star Newspaper, November 1, 1890, Page 8

DICKENS INGRATITUDE How He Was Entertained While ia This Country. A SUPPER GIVEN TO “BOZ.” of the Great ‘ower’s Sub- Courtesy He Re= ceived—Other Distinguished Men. ~~ ‘Written for Tae Evenixe Stam, AM REMINDED of a very agreeable supper given to Charles Dickens when, in 1842, he visited Washington by my old friend, Col. James G. Berret. It were, indeed, a fault to have forgotton it, but in the forty-eight years which have dropped into the ocean of eternity since that memor- able night it had faded from my memory; but, like an old painting, obscured by time and dust, it has been restored and all its colors bright- ened by the recollection of it which remained so clear in the mind of Col. Berret, and whose description of Boulanger brought back 80 vividly the night when, with the colonel, who presided, we entertained the immortal “Boz.” Boulanger had removed from the avenue to ths houses he occupied so long near the War De- partment, and to get to the supper room we had to traverse along passageway lighted by tallow candles, which only served to make “darkness visible,” but when we ascended to the supper room there was amplo light and warmth, and such a supper as only Boulanger could prepare. Dickens enjoyed it andthe whole surroundings immensely and was seemingly at home with the few gentlemen, about sixteen, Col. Berret says. who had prof- fered him this hospitality. Among them were Alexander Dimitry, Mr. Kingman, Mr. John Agg, Randolph Coyle, I think Mr. Carlisie and Others whose names the abras of the wheel of time in all these years has erased from our memory. We had all read and admired Dick- ens, as who had not.and he found himself among congenial spirits and expressed himself as very much pleased at the attention, so de- void of form and ceremony. I think we saw im at bis best and certaimly we were charmed with him. When his ‘American Notes” m ungracious return for the hospi- tality heaped upon him. The toadyism which was displayed 1n New York and cisewhere had Bo following here. The entertainments given him were by sincere admirers, and, as in the case of this supp Col. Berret, Mr. Kingman and Mr. Agg waited on him and tendered him their enter- tainment without pretension and he accepted it in like manner. He expressed hi: Af grati- fied when we calied to say good-bye, and only when bis book appeared did we feel called on to resent his abuse of the kind hospitality which was s0 complimentary to his gonius and testitied so sincerely the admiration for him and his works which pervaded the whole coun- try. is description of Washington, while faithfully portrayed, as by a photograph, was colored by a prejudice which rendered it very Unpleasant, I remember, at the time. NEW YORK TOADYISM TURNED 118 HEAD. He reached here on the 9th of March, 1842. I do not find in the columns of the Nahonal In- telligencer that any demonstration other than that due to a distinguished author was paid him, but the lavish display and toadyism which New York bestowed upon him turned his bead. The New York Evening Post ap- pealed in vain for protection of him against the very element which is responsible for the foolish elevation that led him to speak as he did of America and his enter- tamers. Evidently Mr. Bryant himseif issues this note of warning in the Evrnng Post of January 24, 1542: did think We there was common sense enough in the coun- or Boz try to secure him a little pe but itseems there isnot. The manis doomed. This foolish adulation was born, however, of hospitable itentions and should have been respected insiead of being ridiculed and bur- lesqued. We, however, ace only interested in what he said of our city, and however unpleus- ant there is a good deal of truth in it. “Here is Washington fresh in my mind and my eye. ‘Take the worst portion of ti Roads and Pentonville, or the strag; nd com: Presenting the oddities, but especially small shops and dweilings oceapied by—in Pen- tonville (but not in Washingtou)—furniture brokers, keepers of poor eatiug houses and fanciers of birds. Burn the whole down; buiid | it up again in wood and plaster; widen hitle; throw in partof St. John's wood; put green blinds outside of all private houses. with a red curtainand a white one in every window; | plough upall the roads; plant a good deal of course turf in every place where it ought uot to be; erect three handsome buildings in stone and marble anywhere. but the more entirely out of ybody's way the better; callone the Post one the Patent office and one the Treas- ury; make it scorching hot in the morning and freezing cold in the afternoon, with an oc sional tornado of wind and dust; have a bric field, without the bricks, in all central places where a street may naturally be expected, this is Washington. * * It has sometimes been called the city of magnificent distances. but it might with greater propriety be termed the city of maguificent intentions, hehe “Iw ik to the frout window (Fuller's Hotel then, now Willard’s), and look across the road upon a long straggling row of houses, o1 story high, and terminating nearly opposi but a iittle to the lett, ina melancholy piec waste ground with Like a smail piece of country taken to drinking | and has quite lost itself. Standing anyhow and ail wrong upon the open space, like something Meteoric that had failen down from the moon, is an odd, lopsided, one-eyed kind of wooden building that looks like a cburch, with a flag- staff as long as itself sticking out of a steeple, | something larger than a tea chest,” the old Franklin engine house, * * © “The three most obtrusive houses near at hand are the three nest, On one—a shop that never has anything in the window, and never has the door open—is printed in large characters, “Ihe City Lunch,’ kept by John Hand. At another which looks like a back way to somewhere ¢ but is an independent building im itself. oysters are procuruble in every style. At the third, which is a very, very little tailor shop, pants are fixed to order, Or im other words, pantaioons are made to measure, And that is our street in Wash- ington.” NOT A VERY FLATTERING PICTURE, but photographic, taken, however, through an ungrateful camera, and developed by preju- of frouzy grass, which looks =e a, THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, D. c. SATURDAY. 7— - gencer tters: “Dickens is certainly off his tal at present in Amer- ica, and his ‘notes’ are equally abused im En; nd he failed in hiscopyright errand, Perhaps he will have concluded by this time hehbad better have stayed at hon.” In another letter of Mr. Willis’ he speaks of the first time he met Dickens, aud he says: “While walking down the strand in London he was hailed bya friend, a publisher, whose name has escaped me, who said he was going to have a view of the old Bailey prison and court and invited him to go, and on their way the gentleman said he was to take a young reporter there who desired to write an article on it, and when they stopped at the office for the reporter his friend invited Mr. Willis to go upstairs, which he did, and was introduced to Dickens.” Mr. Willis says he was not “overly clean” and was without a shirt collar, and alto- gether not very presentable. He ‘was, sa: Mr. W., the most cringing and obsequeious creature to the publisher, and when, some days later. the article which Dickens had prepared was sent him he said to himself, the man who could write like that need not cringe to any publisher. On Dickens’ return in 1853 he dis- covered there was enough self-respect in the American people to spurn, assoogation with him. They went to hear him read, he made money, but the doors of the best house: New York and elsewhere were closed to him, The abandonment of his wile, who had shared his poverty and obscurity, was another reason for rejecting any association with him. He felt it keenly, and when he returned to this city hi friends sought invitations for him to more than one reception, which were refused, THE IRISH GENTLEMAN. In the most striking contrast and exhibiting the difference between a gentleman and a snob, I recall Tyrone Power's adieu to America, The National Intelligencer, which published it, spoke of “its beauty and simpie eloquence having rarely been surpassed, The many hearts he left here filled with the hope of his return, aud the home whose fireside he was expecting to gladden an all-wise Providence, im its mysterious dispensation, permitted him never to brighten by his presence. Peace to his manes,” Adieu, Columbiat Thave marked thee well, Nor yet forever do I leave thee now; And many thoughts of thee my boson ell And th iz reeoll ms load my brow; For | have roamed through thy eternal woods, Have dreamed in fair St’ Lawrence's regal isle; Have breasted Mississippi's hundred flo: And wooed om Alleghanies’ top aurora’s wak- ing smile. And now we part, the ship fs flying fast, Her pathway decked by wreaths of’ whit’ning joam, ali her swelling sails that bend the mast that fluttering voints to hom ‘hat tender word let me retra id each letter carry o'er the sea Each cherished wish and every well-known face To banish thoughts of those from whow I flee. Yet shame I not to bear an o’or-full heart, Nor blush to turn behind my tearful eyes; ‘Tis from no stranger coust | now must pai ‘Tis to no strangers left i yield these sighs Welcome and home are min tl Whose sons | leave, whose shores /. me, And cold must be mine eyes and heart and hand When, fair Columbia, they turn cold on thee. de fast trom POWERS TRAGIC DEATH. He was lost on the ill-fated President and with him one of the greatest pulpit orators of that day—the Rev. George A. Cookman. There are some left who can recall Mr. Power. He was a very handsome and accomplished man, and one whose presence was sought so eageriy in society that when he was fulfilline gagement here the hour earlier, to to keep the numerous social engagements which poured in upon him. His position in society was un- questioned here or abroad, and his greatness on the stage was universally acknowiedged. Only a day or two ago, talking with an old friend, he spoke of Power's Sir PatrickO’l'eenepo in “The irish Ambassador.” He was the Sir Patrick, for both were gentlemen, and since his day no Irish comedian has filled that role. John Brougham came next to him, and his Sir Lu- cius O'Trigger was almost a companion pic- Sir Lucius and Sir Patrick were gentle- men, on and off the stage—Irish gentlemen— of their period, not the stage Irishmen of to- day, minus the stuffed club. The handsomest Sir Lucius Lever saw, however, was Jack ge, as he appeared in that character at the in fancy ball, with his handsome face and arming intcnation of the brogue, the per- nation was perfect. Returning to poor Power a thousand delightful memories crowd upon me. His Paudeen O° rty, Corporal | O'Conner, of which Mr, Jefferson gives a capi- picture in his charming reminiscences, are een in my memory though years have passed ce he said good-bye to us here, leaving au aching void which has never been filled, A REMINISCENCE OF SAMUEL LOVER. Another Irish gentleman comes up from the storehouse of memory while writin of Tyrone Power—Samuel Lover.I wonder if there are auy among my readers who met him while here? I had that pleasure and at a social board n sing his own sougs, as the fon. Kic Vaux heard Tom Moore in London, Mr. Lover found a most cordial welcome, and, like Moore, he was surprised and delighted to find his songs were suug in every house where music had ahome. He was an of the most ple: ing manners and just the man you would have supposed could have written “Molly Carew,” that matchless parior song, full of pathos and bumor, and “Widow McCrea” and ‘Molly Bawn” and “What Would You Do, Love?” Ail these he sung and heard sung. He complained of an Irish comedian, Collins, who was taken from a low drinking place in Dublin because of very excellent voice and who added a verse or ‘0 to “Widow McCrea” to catch the ears and tastes of “the gronudlings” by their indelicate allusions, Mr. Lover's appreciation of Am ica and its people heightens the contrast be- tween gentlemen and the other visitor, JAMES SHERIDAN KNOWLES. T hope some of the readers of Tu Star will recall the visit to Washington ot James Sheri- dan Knowles; his visit was before that of Dickens, .It must have been somewhere about 1539. He was entertained at Boulanger’s, then opposite the National Hotei, by the representa- tives of the press—Mr. Kingman, Mr. Mr. Stansbury, Mr. Seaton, Mr. Rind others. He played an engagement here, at the National; it must have been under the May. wood management, and I remember seeing him as Julian St. Pierre in his own play of “The Wife;a Tale of Mantua,” Going over the files of the National Intell:- fap especially while Mr. Willis contributed his charming letters, he speaks of the events of that period and the actors in thom eo fa- iliarly that memories of them crowd upon me | in i He wi Picayune and Alb At that time I could have found Pike any day and every day with dear old Bill Porter ( tall sou) and Boss Richards at the Spirst of the Times’ office, on Barclay street,op- Astor, where the brichtest spirits of dice and @ fault-iinding disposition, Let me interpose a suggeston: that Shepherd was at that time only seven years old, aud it was not antil seventeen years there- | after, when mayor, did James G. Berret make the first move for its improvement by obtain- ing through Gov. Albert Man of the District commitice of the Senate, a0 assessment of the goverument property— but of that, more anon. I remember when a faandiced eye could see our loved city just as bickens did, but with ull its fauits it was a dear vid home of some of the best people on God's footstoa,. Pardon this outburst, While Dickens was at Niagara he wrote to the Nat.onal D dated May 11, 1542, re- mot an address to the American people urging the passage by Con- @reseof an international law of copyright, signed by Edward Lytton Campbell, Alfred Tennyson, T. suthor of “Iou”), Thomas Hood, Leigh Huat, Henry Hallem, sydney Smith, H. H. Milman (author of “Evadne”), John Forster and Barry Cornwall. He sentalso a letter from Thomas Cariyle, very characteristic, dated “Templand (for London), March 26. 1542. ns be - “In an ancient book, revered I should hope @a both sides of the ocean, it was thousauds Of years ago written down in the most decisive end expiicit manuer thou shalt not steal—that thou | Sonate to a different ‘nation’ and cau'st steal without being certainly hanged for it, gives thee no permission to steal. Thou shalt not in anywise steal at all. So it is written down for aations and for men in the lew book ofthe Maker of the Universe. * © When Mr. Robert Roy McGregor lived in the district of Menteith, on the liighiand border, two cen- turies ago, he, for his part, found it more con- Yenient tw supply himseif with beef by stealing atalive from tue adjoiming glens than by bay- ing it killed in the Sterling butch market. ‘That was Mr. Roy's plan, aud so it applies to- day wm some cases. NO COPYRIGHT BILL YET PASSED. These appeals were uuheeded, and until this day no international eopyright law has been enacted. On Dickens’ return to England rumors reached hore that Le was to follow the example of the Trollopes, Basil Hall and others, as a more profitable market could be found for that sort of book. The triends who had so kindly treated him, however, repelled such an idea, but when his book appeared the revulsion was almost universal, Mr. N. P. Willis was at thot time the New Verk corresjoudeut of the National Intelli- Alexander R. | Brown, then chair- | i, Pike, Fitzgreen, N. P. Willis, Gen. Morris, Heary Wil- | liam Herbert (Frank Forrester), Tom ‘Thorpo (“Tom Qwen, the Bee Hunter”), and surely, | ouce a month, Jim Oakes (“Acorn”) came on | from Boston, and John Brougham, Harry Grat- tan and “Lord George Gordon,” a character of | day, and (‘Corinthian Tom”), Tom Bat- | teile, the Wallachs and Forrest, then a young man, aud the Placides (Tom and Harry), I | conid extend the list, for memory brightens at the mention of each name, and of them all Gen. Pike and myself alone remain, Mr. Willis in one of his letters speaks of | Placide playing “Grandfather Whitelead” as it had never before been played, He said ho had taken the paim from Farren, who was the original. I must beg to enter a caviat in favor of Charley Burke, the half brother of Joseph Jefferson. He pla it in the little theater over Joe Shillington's book store, fitted up by little Englishman named Kilmiste, That per- formance remains in my memory as the great- est piece of acting Lever saw. ‘The child-like jim plicity and the deep pathos he awakened was painful in its realism as the poor old man was driven from home. I can only recall one more piece of acting that compares with it in tender pathos—Kistori’s “Marie Antoinette,” WHAT AN ACTOR CHARLEY BURKE Was, and his wife, who was, 1 think, a Miss Booth, was an admirable actress. Her talent took in the whole range of the drama. She could play Mrs. Haller in “The Stranger” and Nan in “The Good-for-Nothing. M Willis mentions among the actors of that day first of all the love.y Mra, Brougham and Brougham, Mr. and Mrs. Timm. Mrs. Timm subsequently fitted up Hughes’ Warehouse,” on 6th street next the St. James, now a hotel, theater, and there Mrs. Charles Burke and Mrs. Malinda Jones,the mother of Avonia Jones, who married Gustavus Brooke, played. In one of his letters Mr. Willis speaks of an igegemeut Forrest played with Josephine Clifton at the Bowery, opening in ‘Tne Patri- cian’s Daughter,” a heavy drama in blank verse and in modern costumes, Leary, the hatter under the Astoi brought out his fall ayte somewhat conical in shape, and the wits dubbed it “Boss Richard's boot,” and when Forrest aj jared «arrayed in broadcloth and this bat Me. illis says an audible smile ‘vaded the thea- ter and doomed “The Daughter” ta Four, Hundred, za U sulk ante-datee bias quarter of «century, 5 Mr. Willis tolls us, too, of th struggles of the early days of the opera, of Palmer's quain announcement of his opening, and spesks of Castillan and Calvé, the prima donni of that day, and the mention he makes of Malibran recalls what an old friend, now dead and gone, told me of his boyish days, when he was sent to play with “‘a little girl at_ the Bowery Thea- ter,” who was in after life Malibran. His unclo was in business near the theater and the manager asked him to let “Eddy” come and play with a little girl, who was lonesome, with no one but her father, who wasn't very gentle, as the world knew afterward, and my old friend, E. W. Burr, was the playmate of the great Malibran, Mr. Burr in after life was nearer to Mr. Forrest than probably any friend he had and intended preparing a memoir of him, but sudden death prevented his ful- filling what he regarded as a duty. Joux F. Corte, cee renee oy OXON HILL MANOR HOUSE, A Star Reporter’s Visit tothe Former Scenes of Plenty and Gaiety. ‘Afew miles south of Washington on the Maryland bluffs, opposite Alexandria and over- looking the Potomac from Georgetown to Mar- shall Hall, stands the deserted Oxon Hill manor house, About it are vénerable forest trees and beneath their protecting bougis are the quiet marble-topped homes of the generations of its owners, Here a pleasure party for whom &® Stan reporter acted as chaperone spent a rocent afternoon plucking chestnuts in the woods and chasing each his favorite hantom, For more thanacentury tho old jouse has stood there, a land mark for all the country around, and in the receding years was the home of hospitality, the trysting ee of of Maryland youth and the happening grou! events weird and romautic. There Washis is known to have greeted friends .for the carly Addisons, the first and most distinguished pro- Prietors of the place, were on intimate terms with the Father of His Country, whose tomb may now almost be seen from the manor door. ‘The house was built of imported brick and its exterior 1s still well preserved, though mice and rats, lured by the traditions of their fathers aud the odors of the centuries that aro goue, have long made it their home and cut through its walls little corridors suited to the supreme pleasure of their rodentship, As sounds have echoes, 80 odors seem to have a sort of second self or perhaps are again called into being by the return of the breezes that bore them away. At least the old banquet hall is toan imaginative nose redolent with a thou- sand dainty dishes, whose creation is now a long-lost art, and the myriad-roomed base- ment, within whose dingy walls the cooking was conducted by dingter domestics, seems still to tell the story of sputtering pans, steam- ing ket well-browned batter cakes and breakfasts xmoking hot. The wide central cor- ridor, with its broad-guage stairway, is in keep- ing with the architecture of a century ago. In many places are little niches and narrow pas- sageways where servants might wait the bid- ding of their master, and in the interior at one end of the house is a narrow flight of stairs from cellar to attic for servants’ use, Everywhere was seen evidence of a splondor long passed away, and the memory is doubly exhilarnt as from the scenes of ancient leis- ure and delights the visitor looks out over the Virginia hills almost to the famous battlefields of Bull Run and Manassas. The wondrous changes of a half century are vividly pictured, ashe beholds on one side the landmarks of feudalism and on the other the birthmarks of freedom, The old plantation was afterward owned for many years by the Berry family, but has now passed into non-resident and unlineal hands, It is still tilied in a barbarous and lazy sort of way by the desceadants of the same humn- ble people who once wrought without reward. THE VAULT IN THE BLUFF. In the side of the bluff and overlooking the Potomac isa vault, the iron door of which is secured with a heavy stone. Not at all super- stitious Tux Srar reporter and party rolled the stone away and passed in, On either side of the entrance is a marble from the ground, on which one of the proprie- torsof the place ordained that himself and spouse should repose, peacetul, as they had ived, through all future ages, He went first asleep himself and friends placed him on his marble couch to rest. Perhaps the better half revised her plans when he was gone and her ashes may now be mingling with those of a second choice, for she never joined her liege d his bones keep bachelcr’s hall The wooden parts of the casket hav ed and the clothing been destroyed, leav- ing only askeleton in the ashes on the'sheif, When, a few years ago, it was first disturbed after long neglect, a serpent had made its home in the dome of thonght and where once were man eyes it peered forth darting its tongue hui atthe intruder, Among were found some diamond ornaments, but even such reward could not induce the colored peo- ple thereabouts to enter the lonely chamber of the dead. ‘They believe it haunted. And THEREBY MANGS A LITTLE story. Sunk deep in the sand and mud at high- ashe it is seid, water mark near Fox's landing, opposite Alex. | andria,and on this old estate is a stone post marking the boundary line of the District of Columbia, and bearing the inscription, “Ju: diction of the U. 8., 1792" One night in 1463, as the story was told to Tun Stan reporter, when Lee's army was moving about the capital into upper Maryland, and planuing a blow that night to dissdlve the Union, a little boat was moored to this granite land park, which after the recession to Virginia became the corner of the District, The single passenger who landed moved at @ rapid pac hke one acquainted with his surroundings, up the old wagon road that led into the hills and jeaving the main road over Oxon run toward Washington, puslied on into the interior of Prince George's couuty in the direction of Sur- rattsville. He was a Maryland boy who had eariy thrown himself into the confederate cause and was now homeward bound on a furlough. ‘The country about Washington was scoured by Union troops and tho lite of a confederate emissary was worth but little. He was suspected and had to keep in hiding through the day, for he didn't care to be lassoed into glory by the govern- ment, Butat night he sallied forth to greet the girl he left behind hin In making his way back toward the river it is aid he slept a day in the vacant marble shelf in the vault by the old manor house. He was seen to depart at night and the plaice has been haunted ever ut the soldier boy returned and there was alittle gathering wt the manor house in which his best girl took a promin ‘Their home is still in southern } ‘h the ex-con! rate is hauatin, now, he has been courting “The Girl hind Me” ever since. nothing Left Be- G He occupied the rocking chair, ‘The sofa she. ‘The light upon the mantel burned With cheerful glow: The lover was not one who turned ‘The lamp down low. He sat and mused; with furtive glance the maiden eyed Tho silent, bashful youth askance ‘And sofily sighed. At length she spoke, while to her brow ‘the color flew; “I'd feel relieved if | were now As big as you.” “You would not look so sweet,” said he; “But tell me why You'd feel relieved if you could be As big as 1.” sho made reply; . insist On kissing me. I'm sure that Could not resist.” —Yarmouthport Item, ‘ ——--. -eee How Sharper tian a Serpent’s Tooth Froin Life, se Major Doublethumb (a tonight; do you ight; do you Horatio—Look here, hurt your feelings at all, interfere with biowed if I won't put stand you on the mantelpiece: ‘Look at bonnet heaven! He ‘It's rat ie _— the house, ” slab a foot or more | Use! joratio, you're to stay at home hear?” tuat indy, Charon, Ban's hoy | Sopotsted, high, that's a fact"—Bosion A SOUTHERN SEAPORT. The Harbor of Mollendo and Its Dis- advantages. TOURING IN SOUTH AMERICA. A Harbor That Extends to Cape Horn— f Passengers in the “Tub”—A Tale of « Confessional—Ghosts-of Former Enterprises. —_——. From Tw Stan's Traveling Commissioner. Ory tHe Coast or Perv, Sept. 12 OSSIBLY the worst harbor on the whole Nycoust of South America is Mollendo, the Fone port of southern Peru, where wild Gy) Waves are always dashing against arocky " promontory and an open roadstead gives no sort of protection from wind or weather. An old sen captain aptly described it when he said: “The harbor of Mollendo is entered as soon as the ship turns Cape Horn.” Islay, » few miles farther down, used to be the port and avery much better one than this, but by some wire pulling in the Peruvian congress on the part of those interested hereabonts the railroad terminus was made at Mollendo (pro- nounced Mole-yen-do) and of course the pert | must meot it, | Losses of cargo are not uncommon here and Sometimes of human life. Often veesels can- not land passengers at ali, but aré compelled to carry them on to the noxt port above or below, jeaving them to make their way back to Mol- | lendo at a more convenient senson. Not in- ; frequently what is callec the “tub” is brought into requisition by which to hoist people from the steamer’s dock into the small boat waiting low when the billows are too boistercus to risk going down over the side by the ladder as j Neual, or in which to haul them up over the | cliff when arrived near Mollendo if the surf will not permit approach to the stairs that lead to the top of the rocky promontory. OVERBOARD IN THE TUB, The “tub” 18 really a barrel with a tiny seat inside of it and asection of one side out out about half way down. This rude contrivance 4s suspended securely from a crane which hoists it high in air, spins it round and round and | finally dumpé it down on the spot desired or as near thereto as it happens to hit. Generally two persons get in at once, a woman or child occupying the seat and a man standing in front with his back to the opening, he clinging for dear life to the ropes and she clinging to him. At first sight it looks fearful to see people swung out in that manner over a raging sea, knowing that the smallest accident would | mean inevitable death, and the stronest man | trembles in his boots as his turn approaches, But it is really safer and infinitely wo ve pre- | ferred, as have learned from various moist experiences, to braving a drenching in the | stormy surf, or the danger of making a misstep at the slippery stairs or ladder, which must be | seized and mounted the very ‘instant the frail | boat is tossed high up on the breast of a billow, | not to mention the peril of being dashed to pieces against it or of being sucked under the great steamer as she tugs and straius at her anchor, IMMENSE TANKS, There is not much to be seen in Mollendo. ‘Lhe principal objects of interest are the great tanks that supply the place with fresh water, fed from the eighty-five-mile-long iron pipe that starts from the neighborhood of Arequipa, 7,000 feet above sea level, These tanks are large enough to contain sufficient water to last for several days should any accideut occur to | the aqueduct, and the latter is capable of dis- | charging no less than 430,000 gallons an every | twenty-four hours. There are two hotels, | between which it difficult to decide | their rival demerits, both being bad | beyond compare and ludicrously expensive. | A long line of steamship and railway offices e | tends around two sides of the dusty plaza, in | Whose center is a small spot of green and a pretty fountain, There are some pleasant- | looking cottages, occupied by the employes and their families, besides the usual quota of Jos pobres living im huts; aisoa great number of saloons in proportion to the scanty popula- tion, dirt unlimited and fleas and flies whose | hames are legion. Yet this is the fashionable | Watering place of southern Peru, crowded dar- | ing a certain season of the year with the creme | de la creme in search of heuith aud pleasure, MOLLENDO'S BIG CHURCH. One morning I climbed a steep hill, ankle- deep in dust, every grain holding its active flea, to inspect Mollendo’s big church, Another example of how “distince loucs enchantment | to the view.” The planks that compose iis wooden sides are not overlappmg as clapboards | are put on at the north and the whole is roofed | with corrugated tin; no lata, no plaster, merely anempty shell, but very extensive; painte 1 white outside and with two pretentious towers, also made of wood, which add greatly to ita | Imposing appearance when viewed from afar. | Inside were miles of paper roses twined | around the pillars, festooned in wreaths upon the wails aud suspended from the bare rafters, the relics, probavly, of festivities that marked the recent “Mouth of Mary,” and among tho usual gaudy images were many manta-wearing women on their knees, each awaiting her turn ut the confessional window. THE CONFESSIONAL, Speaking of the confessional reminds me of the revelation of a Catholic friend in Peru, “I know not how the truth may be; I ted the tale as "twas told to ine. As everybody knows, the altar of penitence is a smail wooden box placed in some dark cor- ner of the church, with a chair inside for the | holy father and a curtain in front hiding him | from view, while he can with ease overlook the congregation. At one side of the box is a tittle | window, covered with perforated tin or wire | netting, through which he may hear all the | whispered contidences of those knveling out- | side and may converse with the penitent, if she | listens attentively, without being overheard by | anybody else, Beneath the window is a wooden | stool about six inches high,called the “tablilla,” | over which each woman throws the bit of car- pet or square of fur which she always carries to cuurch, and in a kneeling attitude, with her lips close to the father’s ear on the other side of the aperture, discloses the inmost secrets of her heart, I doubt if so many devout females could bo found in any other country. In all parts of South America, no matter how inclement the weather, every one of the numerons churches visited by scores of women every day in the year, who consider it their most blessed privi- lege to perform devotions before breakfast. At §0 o'clock im the morning, rain or shine, the beils ring out their invitations to early mass,and never in vain, Confessions, as a rule, are not made until after mass and it often hap- »peus tuat the number of penitents anxious to in a hearing is so great that the tablilla becomes a miniature ticld of battle. For this the dear creatures go prepared and accept their wounds as part of the penance for the Lord’s sake. Should the priest desire to favor some particular indy in tho kneeling crowd, because of her wealth or delicate health or any other reason, by bockoning her to come at once to the tablilla ahead of others who had ceeded im forcing their way to the front, it would be a mistaken act of kindness on his part, if so intended, for the envious sisterhood would immediately commence warfare on the cae thus favored by sly kicks, scratches, inches, even hair-puiling and pricks with pins, i tl holy conflict. no quarter is given and no consideration shown for one an- other; and the bruises and scratches received afford matter of conversation for the day in the different circles of society, according to the number who have taken part in the pious con- tention. The priest cannot be ignorant of what is going on; butit is said that the more arduous the struggle and numerous the com- batants the greater is his inward satisfaction, jencing religious fervor of the beatas and his own popularity among them. THE RAILROAD HoUsE, which through the courtesy of the company was placed at our disposal during the few days we were obliged to wait in Mollendo for the southward-guing steamer, is neat frame cot- tage, inclosing a central garden and sur- rounded by blossoming trees and shrubs. It occupies a charming site on an eminence overlooking the little plaza and command- ing-a senii-circular ex of “ocean biue, while from its rose-wreathed verandas and flowery patio tho melancholy music of the breakers sounds forever in ono's ears, Thi tty casa, however, which for several years been inhabited only by # middle-aged man servant, hag a history strange assad. It was built by Mr, John Thorndyke, the railroad man . from Boston, when at the height of his powor fonts want 0 lin these parts, and was designed for bis own Tm nee: . In the great ing room 4 sideboards and elegant table service; the lente. room to verandas, ‘thing lessly clean as on board a man-of-war, for the old servant who has been in charge so many years still looks confidentiy for the re- turn of “Don Juan,” as he affectionately calls his former master. The latter, who always took this man with him during the days when he lorded it upand down tke road, having been long ago ousted by some changes of railway management, has not been near Mollendo for sight years, nor is he likely tocome again. Yet everything is kept up as if he were mo- mentarily expected. The flower beds are bean- tifuily cared for, the windows polished every day and every inch of veranda and uncarpeted floor scrubbed white as snow. Meanwhile the carpets have faded and moths have riddied the ermson hangings and Father Time bas been whitening the hair of the ancient servitor, but has been unable to abate his devotion by one jot or tittle, HENRY MEIGGS. Nights in this deserted casa, with the watch- ful lunatic roving about and the roar of the restless ocean sounding in one’s ears, are rather gruesome. Ghosts of abortive schemes and dead ambitions seem prowling around the premises, lurking in the empty rooms and iding behind the moth-eaten ings. On the parlor wails are pictures of the Meiggs brothers, once the railroad kings of Peru, both now de: Of Henry Meiggs. the older and more famous brother, everybody has heard. for Bret Harte has written about him, Mark ‘Twain has used him for a text, and for years be Was part of the history of this country. Less than thirty years ago he was a partner of Ral- ston, the Caiifornia banker, and a close friend of Senator Sharon, Flood, Mackey, O'brien and the rest of the golden princes whose honors dated from the days of “49, Under some stress of temptation he committed forgeries in San Francisco, and when the crime was discovered, one day, he calmly rowed out into the bay, climbed upon the deck of aschooner, purchased her and sailed away in search of pastures new. He came to Pert, bringing with him much of his wealth and all his irresistible energy. These he applied to difficuities under Which this country, was strugeling and overcame tl He sent back money to California to re’ irse with good in- terest those who had suffered by his forgeries; but he never returned himself and finally died here, one of the richest and most influential men on the western coast, TEACHING TO BUILD RAILROADS, Saysarecont writer on this subject: “Little More than @ quarter of a coninry ago an un- known man, a fugitive from justice, arrived at the port of Callao and appeared among the Spaniards, much as Manco Capac, at once the Adam and the Christ of the Incas, appeared to the Indians 2,000 years before. As the myste- rious Capac taught those early people a knowl- edge of the agricultural and mechanical arts, this unknown man taught their successors to build railroads and today he stards as their ideal of Yankee enterprise and enginecring genius, He plunged the government of Peru into a debt that will never be paid, but laid the foundation for a system of internal de- velopment that will one day bring wealth to the great republic. From Ecuador to Pat: gonia, through Peru, Bolivia and Cuili, Moiggi enterprises extend; and the result is a series of railroads at right angles with the coast, con- necting tho interior of the country with the sea ports and giving to the mines in the moun- tains, the nitrate bed, estates and sugar haci- endas casy outlets to the ocean. Nearly every port on the western side of the continent has its little railway, from twenty to twenty-five miles long. Some of them reach into the heart of the Andes, and all are arteries of commerce, making profitable possessions that would other- wise be worthless,” FROM MOLLENDO TO VALPARAISO the coast for more than 1,000 miles isa pano- rama of desolation, a succession of bleak aud barren cliffs, unrelieved by a patch of green. Vn one hand the mighty Pacific sweeps its great swells almost around the world, as regu- lar and constant as the throbbing of the human pulse, while on the other rises the impene trable Andes, in a wall whose average height is 15,000 feet, some of the snow-topped peaks towering 22,000 feet above the sea. Between the ocean and the mountains is a strip of drif ing sand, varying in width from twenty to fifty miles, which no river irrigates and where rain never falls, All the water used by the people is taken from the ocean, that for mechanical purposes being used in its natural state, to the great detriment of the machinery, and that for food being condensed into steam and thus purged of itssalt. There is nota well nor spring in all that distance and drinking water is an article of merchandise, like milk or meat, costing consumers about seven cents per gallon. NORTHWARD FROM MOLLENDO, away up to Pisco, one is constantly within sight of the coast, and sometimes hugging it closely. The country still preserves its desert aspect, with the single interruption of a small but pro- ductive valley called ete, while the mountains of the western cordilicra fill the eastern horizon, and occasionally the snowy speaks of the great ceutral chain are visible. At Pisco a stream of? the same name comes rushing down to the sea through a valley liter- ally purple with grapes, Off this valley lie the high and rocky isiauds of Chincha, tamous for their guano deposits, which, for many years, were a suurce of great wealth to Peru, A DESOLATE COUNTRY. Beyond Pisco the bare and silent heights again trend down to the ocean—heights that can hardly be called mountains, as they are only tho broken ridges of a lofty desert pla- teait, undermined by the sea and corroded by ceaseless winds, One or two small rivers suc: ceed in piercing this elevated desert, but their | beds are mere canons, with no land’ on either side and no intervals of soil ft for cultivation, ‘The few towns aud villages staud back at the foot of the cordilieras, from sixty to one hun- dred miles inland, where streams, fed by the Andean snows, emerge from the mountains in perennial volume, to’ be speedily drunk up by the thirsty sands, Itshould be understood that while the prin- cipal chain of South American mountains, ex- tending from Patagonia to Panama, forming | the backbone of the hemisphere, connecting with the Sierra Madres of Mexico and farther north the Kockies, is named the Andes; the cordilleras are the lateraiand lower chains that gencraily run parallel to the great range. The word sierra, in Spanish signifying “saw teeth,” 18 used to desiguate the spurs or irregu- lar lines of mountains that stretch from the Andes proper to the cordilleras or that push out from the latter into the flat parama or desert. A FIRST IMPRESSION Acelebrated professor, who mado this same journey years ago, relates his first impression of these Andean heights as follows: “We look with unspeakable interest toward the great mountaiu billows before as, each suc- ceeding bilow higher and more mysterious; and woader what marvels of rocks and streams, what remaing of ancient human greatness, they cone and what will be our own sens: tions when, after days of travel and toil ax nights of cold and exposure, we shall be swal- lowed up in their unkown recesses. In one who had written and read much of Peru, and of its wise and powerful Inca rulers and with whom a journey to the centers of ancient civilization had been the dream of a lifetime, this standing at the portal of the Promised Land and this realization of a wish which be- fore had scarcely dared do more than to as- sume the outlines of hope, inspires solemn ! feelings of awe and respousibility: rather than those of eagerness and romance. Fannie B, Warp, A Boy’s Essay on Girls. From the Me:ropolitan Magazine, Girls is greet on making bleeve. She will make bleeve a dolis a live baby. She will make bleeve she is orfuil sweet on another girl or a feller, if they come to see her. and when they are gone she will say: “Horrid old thing.” Girls is olways fooling a feller. She can’t lick yer so she gets the best of yer that way. If yer don’t do what a girl teils yer, sie says yer hor- rid, I drather be horrid than be soit. If you do what a girl tells you, you will de all sorts of foolish things. Girls can be good in school every day if they feel like it, "I shuld think they wouid git tired and have to do sum thing wouse in a while; 1 know a feller does. Girls say fellers acts orfull, but when a girl gitsa going it she acts orfler than any feller duret. They don’t care for nothing. If @ girl wants a feller to carry her books ome. she ain't satisfied unless she gits the same feller the other girls want, whether she likes him or not. Girls is grate on ee erets, I mean _ telling ENGAGEMENT CROP. It Is Turning Out to Be a Big One This Fall. THE RING THAT BINDS. Clergymen’s Hearts Are Gladdened, for They Meap Benet Weading Fees—Hinty From an Engaged Ex- pert—The Teacup Fad. ————__ ‘Written for Tar Evexrxo Stan. YOUNG WASHINGTONIAN, who may be classified as one of those young men who is persistently on the point of getting married and yet never marries’ | made the confession recently that he had been engaged fourteen times and had been rejected twenty-eight times. He is at present out of an | engagement, but he hopes that this condition of affairs will not last long. He was asked if he had any formula for proposing, but he re- plied that he had not; that he always trusted to the inspiration of the moment and that each of his forty-two proposals had been made in a different way. He described his last rejection, saying that while the joke was on him, it was, nevertheless, too good to keop, The girl had a dog extravagantly fond of, named Tifti matters had progressed to such a stage that she could not mistake that genuine proposal | ¥as soon to be forthcoming, the three, the man, the girl and Tiflin, were alone one even- ing im her parlor. She was on the sofa and Tiffin wason the rng at her feet, hie head a.ainst her hand locking up at her with eyce that spoke the fondest attachment. Looking down upon the happy little brute and coming close up beside bis misiress, the young man whispered soft! deal of moral port from the girl to make « rvoung manaska rich old man for his Singhser. Foopls whe hove bean trowel oe liminary ordeals way fbat it is easy enough Daa with the mother. This is ensy to under. stand, for mammas are always maich-makers and wish their daughters to get married, and if you are a good man aud have no rival who i a better man sho will be apt to give her con- tentat once. Irate papas are always disagreeable things to deal with. They should be pacified ifit ix pos- sible; if not thoy mast be fouchi and conquercd, The days when the master of the house used to set his dog on the young mon who camo to see his daughter, and whom he dida’t hike, have passed out of date, except im the comie Papers or, perhaps, in the rural districts. Nowe adars he merely bows you politely out of the house and gives orders that you aro not to be admitted again. You can accept his decree or not. as you choose. If you don't give in he probably will, and if he doesn't rou can rum away and save the expense of a tig wedding, The best formula to use when you addeess the father is that given by Mr. Gilbert in one of his bailade: “ola 1 love your dsughter and your daughter tps me. This puts him ina hole, as it were, and ren- ders it dificult for him to make any reply ex- cept one of assent. WHAT A KNOCK-OUT BLOW’ Is, The Workings of the Force of a Blow Delivered on the Vital Parts. From the New York San. OW isa man knocked out?” is a ques. tion often asked, Good fighters know what portions of their anatomy they must defend in order to avoid being put to sleep, but few know the “i side” reasons why a blow on this or that Point will send man into the land of un- consciousness, It ism simple thing when you know it, like everything else, and to know it it isn’t necessary to go through the operation with your own person; in fact, an experience of that kind alone will give you no more ine formation than you have now. The cause and effect as explained by Dr. Philip E. Donlin, “Darling, I would like to be in Tiffin's place.” He hadn't finished the sentence before the wretched dog jumped nimbly into the lady's lap! Of course, she was mortally offended and never spoke to the man afterward, A GOOD ENGAGEMENT CROP, The peach crop was undoubtedly a failure this year, but the engagement crop is turning out to be arousing one, Early fall engage- ments came upon the market plentifully enough, but the late fali and early winter en- gagements are simpiy glutting the market. And here it may be remarked that engagements are really more like apples than peaches, rears there are plenty, other years there are hardly any and occasionally in engagement world began, have there been so ma are this season. A popular New York clergy- man recently bought a fine pair of horses with the marriage fees he had already received this fail and he counted up the engagements among his parishioners and came to the conclusion that he would be able to purchase a house and lot by the spring, when the weddings came off. TRE TEA-CUP FAD. A pretty fashion has recently come into vogue in New Engiand of presenting the girl, upon the announcement of her engagement, with a teacup. This isall very well, is she to do if the engagement is To return to her ex-fiance all his presents and letters is easy enough, but to return forty or fifty tea cups to as many different people must be extremely awkward. A girl would be apt to marry a manratherthan take this trouble; yet it has, nevertheless, been done. In Boston, where the fashion flourishes, a popular girl r ceived sixty-five cups of every variety and kind, Her engagement being’ subsequentiy | broken off she attempted to return them all to | the different people who had sent them, but having got them ali mixed she managed to | send to each person the piece of china that |some one elee had sent her. As she re- |turned the cups anonymously there was terrible confusion, for many of the people had sent cups to other engaged girls, and for the life of them they couldn't tell which engage- ment had been broken off, and several of them, having little love affairs of their own on hand and not recognizing the cups as their own, supposed that they were being congratulated. Itrequired a great deal of embarrassing e planation to set the matter straight, and another girl, breaking off her engi ent shortly afterward, took warning and kept every cup that had been sent her, and she had received no less than seventy-one. On the whole this new fashion is not one to be ©: couraged, and it is to be hoped that Washing- ton society will not adopt it, EASIER FOR THE GIRL TO BREAK OFF. All things considered it is very much easier for a girl to get out of an engagement than it is fora man. She may jilt you, and, while it is true that such conduct is not generally ap- proved of, comparatively speaking, she receives little blame, But if you jilt her! Whew! A ular hornet's nest is turned loose about your ‘The expert on engagements whose expe- nce has just been quoted says the best way to avoid thé consummation of an engagement is to neglect your fiance, or, as he vulgarly expressed it, You should make excuses to get away from her until she begins to see that the excuses are manufacturéd, | and then she has the satistaction of “giving you the sack.” It is tryp that you oceupy rather & disagreeable position under these cir- cumstances, but the affair soon blows over and your honor has not been called into question. Of course an engagement is a very curious thing and ought never to be undertaken upon forethought. The man, before he pops the uestion, ought tomake quiet inquiries as to the lady's temper at home, he ouzht to first find out what she knows about housekeepin, whether she sews on buttons with str thread and is expert at darning, and whether she has a proper sense of the value of mone 1i she is satisfactory in ail these particulars, | let him ask her to be his wife. Similarly, the young woman should send a discreet detecti to follow the young man who is courting he: jand report to her his private habits and the nuture of the places he fre- The investigation showing that "t drink cocktails before dinue or smoke cigarettes or play poker for a fiv dollar limit, she should accept him as soon as he proposes, What a beautiful union of ‘hearts | and housekeepings” tiis would be. Old men, who ran away and got married in their youth, or who entered into wedlock when they ha nothing a year, and whose married life has been notoriously happy, always give this ad- vice, which is so far valuabie that they never followed it themselves, There is no use in ad- vising people in matters of the heart. ‘These things go by feeling and impulse and we must take our chances of success or failure, TROUBLE OF HAVING TWO OR TUREE ENGAGE- MENTS. The man or girl who manages to keep en- gaged off and on all the time is aclever person, but the cleverest rascal of all is the individual who has two or three engagements ruuning on atthe same time. This thing is done, how- ever, but it is not recommended by those who have tried it as a safe thing todo, You are pretty certain to be found out in the end, and & terrible explosion is apt to be the result, Then again you may be shot down, which is annoying to say the least, and in the ‘old times you would have had to stand up in a duel or so, Which was always dangerous to one party or the other. At all events you will be the victim of social ostracism among the ladios, or if you aro @ woman the men willabuse you. One of the cleverest scoundrels that ever lived was a certain Pennsyivanian who had two households aud two wives, and neither ever sus- wome time after the villain died He was a dentist and his name was Stoneman and one week he spent with one wife in the town of A and the next week he spent with the other wife inthe town of bk. Each wife thought his alternate weeks were spent in business expedi- tious, He kept this double existence up for years and when Dr. Stoneman finally died the two wives a) to claim the property he had left. mn, for the first time, each one discovered the existence of the other. A fine law suit ensued, but, of course, the woman he married first was the only legal wife. This is the story of Dr. Stoneman's two wives. What a genius at double make o secret out of nothing at all an then tell it round to ail the other he went to when he left his sorrowing orful quiet, just as if it was sumthing dredful, | widows to mourn Girls olways at their 'y lessons better POOR YOUNG MAN AND RICH PAPA. than a feller, but if are going anywhere they are sure to git lost, If two fellers has a ee or obs bed ween sek se is all I know fite the ot = the ose that matter w! ic good for hot, If a girl don’t feel like doing can’t make ber, no matter whet orter or not. If she won't, will git out of it somehow. about girls this time. —+o.—_____ It is Lrmyeed thing to resist tem but it wi be money in your pocket if you Texas Siftings, ow oll, Benes. Cot 708 Sees en t's?” “Oh, Your aunt pve ry of Setar twas net homesick. Meat time at took such Fegende Bat A poor but honest man approaching a rich father to ask his consent to his marriage with impulse, but rather after due deliberation and | pected the existence of the other until | coroner's physician, who has made the study of shock one of rare interest, and who has de livered lectures on that and relative subjects before the Medico-Legal and other societies, are something like this There are two divisions of nerves that every man has concealed about his person, One is the cerebro-spinal and the other ia sympa thetic. The first named 1s called that of om imal iife, because it influences the physical ae tions of man. It finds its harbor along the spine and in the brain and influences one te make this, that or the other action, such are step forward or the lifting of ahand. It is the main division, because it directly compels the brain to act, and without the action of t brain there is no life worth talking about, The other is the ruler of the organs and blood vese sels and is known as the organic division, It has a close connection with the former division, through departments or “little br ” that may be said to nest along the spine, and, upon due encouragement, communicate with the | other, send the shock up along the spinal column and thus affect the brain. In the animai life division, sieepfulness, or coma, 18 produced by a blow on or about head. A “rap on the jaw” sends a shock to the brain which causes @ rattling and a jumble that, for the time being, or posibly perma- neutly, bring about lifelessness by concussion, ON THE POINT OF THE Jaw. The blow to produce that effect may be de livered on the jawbone, whether near the chin, under or behind the ear, or anywhere nour the base of the brain, THE BLOW BEHIND THE FAR. It doeen't require a Hercules to deliver it, either, 50 long as it fetches up in the rigtht spot. Neither are bare knuckles nor skin gloves essential. On the contrary, the man Wearing boxing gloves ean do the act more suc- cessfully, for the reason that when he jands b can cover a great urface of vulnerable e with the comparatively broad expanse that the mitten presents than with the natural uncov- ered hand. This is ensily shown by the record of John L, Sullivan, who went about the cous- try knocking people out in three or four rounds, soveral a week. in public exhibitions, where only the “pillo permitted by the # Before Sullivan op: career it was seldom that the putting of a man to sleep was heard of. This is doubtiess due to the fact that in former vears London prize- ring rules governed most battles, In these wrestling is permitted, and rounds are often quickly ended by a throw of one of the con- testants to the ground, before there is much opportunity for stend-off, square hitting, there is under Queensberry rules, under which John L, made his name. ON THE JUGULAR VEIN. Thero is also the blow on the neck or jugulag | vein that will bring about coma, This blow is delivered on the arteries of the neck and drives the biood up into the brain in «ch a way as to create a havoc equal to the effect of the com- munication by way of the jaw. It is more or less of a case of swamp. in which the | brain is overpowered by the fiood and jar and drops out of the performance of its normal functions. ‘THE HEART BLOW. In the organic division a blow over the heart Will do the same work. In this case the force that Innds on the body 1s carried in to the ‘heart, and instantancously is spread to the “little brains” alongside the spinal column, and thence to the br The result is the same in each case, The causes are intricate in their workings, but the facts, as above stated, will give 4 general idea of howe man is knocked out. ———— Puzzics in Kelationship. From the Des Moines Leader. Two Polk county widowers had a grown daughter and each took the ag agen ne his second wife. Through marriages i born to each, These children soc Polk county. What was the rele-