Evening Star Newspaper, April 25, 1891, Page 7

‘THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, D, C, SATURDAY, ‘APRIL 25,1601_SIXTEEN PAGES. THE LAST MAN AND WOMAN, A Graphic Story of the Extinetion of the Human Race. PERATE BATTLE OF SCIENCE WITH THE F CROWDED To THE EQUATOR BY THE YNQUERING ICE—A VOYAGE ABOVE A DYING PLANET AND SOME SINGULAR MEETINGS. RVITAPLE. mtemporary Review. L he earth had been inhabited for about lion years, and its vital history into six progressive periods. . oF formation of the first ia, zoophytes, echinoderm- cana, molluses—a world of the deaf amb and almost blind), had taken not less ion years to go throngh its differ- The primary age (fish, insects, +t senses, separate senses, rudimen- ests of horse tails and of tree pied more than six million (saurians, reptiles, d of eveadace) in mplish its work, required two hundred thousand years. The » (mammifers, monkeys, stpertor «. flowers, fruits and seasons) had lasted m years. The primitive human ¢ of national divisions, of barbar- militariem had filled abont three ¥-tro m: fivide retinal ay long succession of centuries the wn older and the enn had become the beginning of tie ages the ter- was entirely covered by the f the ocean. Upheavals caused first s. then vast continents. to emerge: the £ evaporation diminished in extent: <phere was saturated with less vapor ot so well preserve the heat re- the sun; so thata gradual de- ‘© was brought about. an age three-quarters of mained high. But from cen- the level of the e sereen of atm only an insuflicient pro- 1 radiation. There re- -long decrease in tem- A spreading of the ice. . covered only the hich tain the polar — regi but br invaded ths temperate ro- ly lowered the line of per- the enn, the source of all iating perpetually, with- n the center of cold, the earth to live. Of t blnish white, saturated drogen. during the geo- h witneswed the ap- it gradually lost acauire the col atly warmer, of glittering gold its real color during the first 1 thousand years vellower and even vdrogen. oxidizing izing itself. This slow transporta- phere, the increase of its spots, nof its protuberant eruptions, 8 correlative decrease in the at of these varions canses the ature had, from century to lower. The geographical as- * had metamorphosed itself. veral times taken the place of nd vice versa, and the extent of the <iderably diminished and been less than a quarter of what it was at of humanity. The seasons which in in the tertiary age had perpetuated s through the centuries, but with a intensity for the summer heat. Cli- sibly approached each other near T: the glacial zones (boreal and aus- exotably forced back the temperate the place of the ancient torrid zone. = and equatorial regions alone able: the rest was frozen. a whi rrestrial whiteness, to ed forms of exquisite beauty and no longer worked materially. A network of electricity vered the globe, producing at will all that 1. It was then a unified race, tirely different from the rade and heterogene- tized the first neriod ubtless the absolute equality dreamed of by poets had not been attained, and there were perior and inferior beings, seekers and erent. aetive and inactive men, but there ‘sere no more scandalous unfortunates nor irre- ineiable miserie About the the Ix in the center of equal liant city of Snntown. wh reveral times raised aga was more than a bundred thousa: the spots where Paris, London. Rome. nd New York had stood were buried beneath the ice. The capital of this aristocratic repub ined the last t ons civiliza .000 after Jeans Christ aman civilization shon al Africa. i e had limits of a Inxurious and Leaving far b bildish amusemer Babs ntof Paris it had thrown it ang linto the most exquisite refinements of and enjoyment. and the results of achievements of 8c! eral centaries, life to. their . perfames, ath the veiled shadows pas e¥eten Id no longer Test and about ti and more excitin: the woods and 4 more prairies, had rashly to the ine en, the to an nnexpected & passional rel no ot Wives no lon; lent. Besi 2 the duties of mother- e time been able in the upper social ress the neces! t was seen that the women of the lower the dea dl so long be and they reij jenlor of @eir unbl '¥ when a law was p: of the re blie we an who woul. tood the irr that had bet ithat the en- ! be given to birth to a child ble extent len the last in- 4 not have long del: 1 soil being hencefor. ingits children. But they selves with the thought @ ingenious proceeding it me possible to put off the fatal pe- sin time; and who knows, they said. if ute may not improve and the sun smile ortunate planet. regrets, sorrows, re- spair—all were now been. if not dried up at niered irremediably special congress of the last sur- = of the Mod ademy pro- satisfactory result. They disputed each member being accused by his tof having lent himself to the spread- that inaane fashion; they nearly came to As the issue of the meeting the presi- f the academy and the chief of the pro- tors were even compelled to quench their ager by a duel wi words, and more in pl ons without result, f that race, young cr ranks of society, © with his mother, already advanced in ® rare survivor of the mothers, and ore the assembled representatives recalled the mprovidence of the governors, stigmatized blic immorality, pointed out to them the eral folly which the human race was the aded that the last constructed mare in the government work- 1 be put at his disposal. He engaged tition over the whole of the bh still remained habitable tosee whether any human groups still ex- 1 on any spot. The proposition was received with enthusi- sm. a real aerial flotilla was constructed and all the stron n and ‘lems n. Alss! the entire earth had disppeared be- neath snow and ice. Everywhere the desert, everywhere solitude, everywhere silence. Snow lowed snow, hoar frost followed hoar frost. An immense shroud covered the continent and ‘heseas. Sometimes « solitary peal rose above the frozen ocean; sometimes a dismantled ruin “spire, « tower, marked the site of a vanished still covered by water and the | tury a portion of the rain water | slowly lost the calo- | of human | mecentury to century humanity had at- | Vienna | ot} city. Even tombs and longer to be perecived; ruine destroyed. Everywhere nothi . ice, si avs followed days, and every night rod disk of the sun set behind the white plain, which slowly, at each twilight, took the ot 3 of death. half the members of the expedition of hunger and cold, when the flotilia | thought they saw from their airy heights an immense ruined city near an unfrozen river. They steered toward the unknown city and thought themselves dreaming, when they dis- covered on the banks of the river a group of men walking. A cry of happiness and wonder | sounded from every breast, and in an instant | all the skiffs were tied up by the river banks. Chey were received as unexpected saviors by men who had long believed themselves to be the only survivors of terrestial humanity, looking on with despair at the last days of the world. At the headof the group stood an old man enveloped in reindeer skins. Of com- manding stature, his hollow black eyes shaded by bushy white eyebrows. with a long beard as white ax snow, and his skull ag yellow as an- tique ivory—it was felt that his was oue of those energetic characters who have endured all the trials of life without yielding, but whose ve bidden farewell toevery hope. How- ever, his countenance lit up with joy at the ar- rival of the newcomers. His sons and their companions threw themselves into the arms of the aerial travelers. They made large fires and seated themselves | ata modest meal, composed principally of fish | which had just been caught. The newcomers | informed their hosts that they were about the t survivors of equatorial Africa: that they came from the eclebrated metropolis now dé- serted. and they asked if their aerial route had not deceived them—if they had not left the equator and if they had landed at the mouth of the Amazon, as their caleulations indicated. “My friends,” replied the old man, *‘the ancient Amazon river, whose waters still flow | over the circle of the equator, no longer rolls | between its shores the impetuous floods which, if we believe tradition, caused it formerly to be veyards were no mselves were | compared to a sea.’ At the period, long since vanished, when the empire of Brazil, the | Argentine Republic and Colombia flourished in South America; when North America was divided into confederated states; when France, England, Germany, and Russia struggled for aapremacy in European politica, the Atlantic ocean extended, as we see on the maps, from the rains of New York to those of Havre, and from Pernambuco to Dakar—ruins which are now forever buried beneath the ice. The great continent of the West Indies was, it ap- pears, cut up into innumerable small islands, scattered over an immense tea. The oceans were far vaster and decper than today, the | rains frequent, the rivers inexhaustible, ice and snow never showed themselves in our country, and the rays of a beneticent sun ferti- lized the earth in its youth, giving birth to flowers and fruits, nests and love. “But now ail is over with the planet and all the works which have illustrated its history. earth revolves more slowly on its axis, the shave become longer, the moon is more distant and the sun bas become colder. ‘The ‘tion of the astronomers is fulfilled. ‘The of the oceans which the solar heat caused to evaporate in the atmosphere, and which gave birth to the clonds, the rains, the springs, the brooks and the rivers, have from century to century been partially absorbed by the deep rocks; the air has become drier and | drier, and ceased to be a protecting cover for the preservation of the heat received; the nocturnal and even diurnal evaporation has caused all the heat borrowed from the sun to radiate into space, and the cold of the poles comes gradually nearer and nearer the tropical and equatorial zones. “The summits of the mountains had already been long frozen because above them the at- mosphere was too dry and too rarefied to pre- serve the heat; but life extablished itself in the plains and valleys along the streams which traversed the surface of the globe. ‘The limits of vegetation, and, at the same time, the condi- | tious favorable to life, insensibly descended. ‘The last zone of terrestrial life has been the zone of the equatorial plains along the thermic equator, which traverses on one side South America. where we are, and on the other, Cen- tal Africa, whence you came. “When Europe had disappeared beneath the invading glaciers coming from the north pole, from Siveria, from Lapland, from the Alps, from the Caucasus, from the Pyrenees, being finally reduced to ‘the shores of the Mediver- ranean, centuries had already elapsed since civilization had abandoned it to shine in America, along which continent it gradually | descended. In consequence of a etrange social organization all the states of Europe had per- ished in their own blood; had mutually opened each other's veins. Some governments had | convinced millions of citizens that the greatest happiness, the supreme honor and the highest glory consisted in wearing uniforms of all colors and killing each other to the sound of music. They believed that until the day when the Chinese invasion came and ted, them like a band of schoolboys. “The annals of modern umes report that ently expeditions nad been sent through ice to tind the ruins of Paris, of London, of Berlin, of Vienna, of St. Petersburg, and that they had principally found forts, barracks, ar- senals, arias avd ammunition on nearly all the territories. It was doubtless a primitive race hardly differing from the animal races. “This opinion is, moreover, confirmed by the books of ancient history preserved in the | libraries, showing a state of rude barbarism in | the customs of these populations. We tind, |among other things, a long list of curious |tortures. Criminals ‘were murdered with the sword, with poison, or with a re- markable choice of varied weapons. Then they cut up the bodies into small pieces. So- ciety in turn killed the cri in various s. Here their heads were cut off by means of axes, swords, and guillotines; there they were strangled or hange:l; further on they were impated or drowned. On certain days of revo- | lution in the midst of the capitals of this pr | tended civilization the victors were seen to place | the vanquished quietly along the walls and | soot them down by the hundred. Historians te that at a period not far removed the most civilized nations kep: executioners who were exercised in crushing the limbs, quartering, taking off the skin, burning with red-hot irons, | pulling out the eyes and the tongue, breaking | mbs and torturing in every manner the m they generally ended by burn- ing in the publie squares on holidays. ‘The commentators are right in saying that these “tors of our species did not yet deserve the of mer. Lin, “If the end of the worl] had taken place at this period the destruction of the race would not have been a great loss. But this anciens race made way for ours, and we too must risk of cold. Sterile nature no | r produces anything. For many centuries past there has been no more wheat or vines. Fe centuries there have been no mors or flocks. We are now reduced to the added the old man, “the table e the guests, for there are no uew-born babes am ouly men here, those that you see, the last child of the other sex, my poor little Speranza, not | having «urvived her birth.” 1 claration produced on all the mem- bers of expedition the effect of an electric shock. The fall of athunderbolt in the midst the assembly would not have brought about a greater confusion. Es *eried the chief of the flotilla. e is no longer a single woman among gus: there are actually | | MN ‘ot_a single one,” answered one of the “We had just come,” added the young chief, “in search of female companions with whom we could associate. Our country is still wealthy, and had we found but one single wife all the riches of our country would have been hers.” “You have also no women?’ Yue travelers exchanged a glance and re- mained silent. mm. Some time before these events happened in Africa and in America, the Island of Ceylon, now attached to the southern point ef Asia through the diminution of the seas, found itself to be the last refuge of the human race in Asia, and there in this former earthly paradise not far from the equator, at the foot of Adam's Peak, twelve women remained the sole heir- esses of the last unextinguished families. The male sex had completely disappeared. Por a long time the number of girls been far above that of boys--a condition of thin, which corresponded, besides, with the cesses obtained by women and their increasing authority in politics and in the universal direc- tion of business. They had gradually substi- tuted themselves for the effeminate and ener- vated men as deputies, lawyers, physiciansand, in general, in the greater number of social pro- fessions, in commerce and industry, arts and tare, pure and ap) ‘sciences. The education of the boys had been more and more neglected, aud finally there were no longer even competent gardeners or ulturists to | be found among the men. the women lid not do directly with their own hands | of ‘the organic forces of the globe had also manifested itself here bya slow diminu- tion of the births, by a weakening of the aver- age life, and 4 and by a so: as in former times, a large number of children. Asin our day, in some countries more than boys were born on the average. tendency increased from generation to tion, and toward the end of the mained, for Asia as for the other globe, there were at the period | to ali that personified it. But the fatal day | Asiatics. Their despai | ity, it would be preferable to remain in C | Bi | thirty persons, had undergone during their ab- | thick mists. ‘The only means o' speak only three living families, and by an un- fortunate el the two boys having died in infancy, twelve beings of the feminine sex were left alone to represent the present and the future. The youngest, little Eva, was child of three ears Of age; her mother had reached forty. jo last survivor of the fathers had died of aneurism of the heart on the day of his wed- ding. The interest which attaches itself to thi and which seems to be the cause of life had di- minished with the decrease of population and of business and with the more and more immi- nent threat of definite end. Formerly im- mense and populous, the city had disappeared beneath a poor but invading vegetation: all those ancient dwellings were empty, deserted, ruined, partly hidden beneath the moss and weeds, and the traces of the ancient bou- levards and principal strocts were hardly visible to the eye. As humanity had retired so nature resumed her rights; t plants, larches, pines, some snow birds and more recently penguinf and bears had arrived near the ancient city. The last building which remained standing was the public library, in [hich the purely literary works had nearly all been abantoned to the insects and in’ which were to be found only the scientific treatises written on the supreme question of the end of the world and the historical annals of the de- parted centuries, humanity not having con- sented to its own extinction and having clung had come. The world must end. ‘The decline of human forces had brought about the decline of the inventions and usages which seemed but lately the most indispenxa- ble. They had wearied of all, even of hope. The electric motor had fallen into disuse. There was no more traveling after the inva- sion of the ice. No attempt had even been made to repair the interrupted telegraphic communications. Only a few centuries before all the inhabitants of the globe, in whatever portion they may have dwelt, had constant in- tercourse with each other, as though they had inhabited the same country, conversing and hearing each ather, whatever may have been the distance that separated them, and there was but one nation and one single language for all the globe. But now isolation and sepa- ration had returned as in the primitive ages; the three groups remaining in the world no longer knew each other: of Ceylon, although cot il spirit of ment of curiosity, all energy and all vitality. Henceforth, deprived of all desire of pleasing, of all idea of rivalry and of all coquetry, they formed among themselves but one family of sisters, associated in acommon misfortune, and they had all adopted a somber mourning costume, a sort of black and misshapen relig- lous garment. But this little population itself had rapidly diminished. Fifteen years had snfiiced to re- duce it by more than half. At the moment when the evenis narrated above took place there re- mained but the youngest of the Ceylonese,then eighteen years of age, with four of her com- panions. 1. We have left our aerial expedition in tho midst of the stupefaction caused by the avowal of the Americans. No more women in America, The same situation, or almost the same, in Africa. Europe buried beneath the snows, Asia forgotten for more than a century, and doubtless sharing the same fate as Europe. There was nothing left for the travelers but to return to their own country, and that was de- ceded on the very next day. ‘They visited the ruins of the American me- tropolis, the glories of which had been cele- brated by the historians and which now lay forgotten. For one instant they thought of uniting in one group the two wrecks of male humanity and of ail leaving together for Sun- town, but on the one hand these men wished only to sleep forever in the tombs of their an- cestors, and ou the other hand the travelers, who had carefully concealed the existence of women in their own country, did not insist on this brotherly project. They resumed their way through the air, deciding, however, as they had come by the cast, to follow the same direction along the equator on their return, in order to see whether, by some unforeseen cir- cumstance, they might not discover some other last living tribe. ‘Thus it was that after having crossed the im- meuse Pacific ocean, and having stopped over all the points that em above its surface, even atthe moment when they had noticed that the eternal winter announced by scientists extended over the lands of Siam, of Java, of Sumatra and of Malacca, entirely deserted, they noticed in Ceylon a region less invaded than the others by the ice and snow, and stationing themselves for some time above a ruined city they discovered a small group of women in mourning. In one instant, and before they had had time to recover from their surprise, the celestial travelers were at their feet. At other periods, when the right of might governed humanity, these last five daughters of Eve would have been rudely seized and carried away at ful! speed through the air toward the African city, perhaps not without a struggle, for the number of the men was superior to that of the women. But for along time they had ceased to exert their strength; sentiment, reason, intelligence, freedom of choice, always decided. They told the object of their explorations, and had no difficulty in convincing the fair r, which had seemed eternal, disappeared like a mist: their brows were cleared, their ips smiled, and « few hours after the arrival of the aeronauts the five nuns in mourning had given way to the most elegant of women. ‘They even discussed the advantages of a re- turn to Suntown, and it seemed that from the point of view of peace, happiness and tranquil- ylon, the oid provision stores were well-nigh ex- hausted, the fields and gardens were wanting, the ice was near; while in Africa the fatal mo- ment seemed perhaps many yeers off. From the first interview, Omegar and Eva had expe- rienced the effects of mutual attraction, and had understood each other as though they had met again after along separation. Omegar had a deep affection for his mother, and would be proud to present his companion to her. A | fortnight after their arrival, the explorers, rich in their discovery, embarked on their aerial flotilla and set sail for Suntown. The resur. rection of humanity was assured. What a triumph and what rejoicing on their return! But what was their disappointment, on arriy- ing above the antique city, to sce none of their feliow citizens come forward to receive them: to find the public square, where they were in the habit of meeting, silent and deserted; to have before their eyes naught save a sort of desolate cemetery. Descending from their aerial boats they first rushed with their com- panions to the government palace. A frightful spectacle offered itself to their gaze. Their relatives, their friends, lay around, dead or dying. The population of the city, reduced after the departure of the travelers to about sence of a few months a snow cyclone, which had destroyed the last vegetable growth and part of the habitable dwellings. “he small remnant had chosen as a refuge the spacious and stronger rooms of the fy but an epi demic, a sort of typhus, had ed first the weaker constituti and had afterward stricken. the others. The ength of the bravest had finally given way and the first care of the travelers was to assist their unhappy fellow citizens. Unfortunately the cold increased daily, a iter wind blew unceasingly. and the pale rays of the sun conld not even penctrate the preserving a little heat was by keeping up fires and ting off almost every communication with the outdoor air; but the’bravest, the most courage- ous, lost all hope. Atevery new death they counted each other. From fifteen they de- scended in a few weeks to ten, then to five; and at last Omegar and Eva, remained alone, seeing without delusion the fate.which awaited them, and well knowing that no other spring would ever bloom on earth. However, after a long succession of disas- trous days the sun showed itself in a clear spot between the clouds, the wind ceased, the blue sky reappeared. ‘The young couple then rove in an aerial boat to judge of the last invasions and the ‘now, and perceived that the whole city was buried, and that it was only toward the north that the country had been a little spared. Carrying away with them all the provisions they could find, they decided to follow the di- rection of the ed districts and see if some oasis could not be found in the ‘midst of immense fields of ice. v. In consequence of the nature of the soil, and because of the scarcity of rains, of snow and of clouds in that region, the great African dovert that extends south of the Sabara had remained one of the least cold zones of the globe, and a warm current blowing from that desert on Nubia and Arabia, to return to the equator by Ceylon, had for a long time left t of Egypt irce from the invasion of ice and snow. Following the indicated direction the last hu- man couple hovered above the regions form- the Nile, henceforth frozen. the great pyramid, ruined, but ‘This first monument of humanity, this testi- mon; to the antiquity of etyilization, was tilt stan geometric stability 1 wan perbape the only’ human ‘idea that had iteend. Created by Cheops to eter- rived Bat the wind of the tempest was blowing again. Afine powdery snow was spreading over the aceblagh tent § “Let us stop here and rest,” said Eva, “since we are condemned to death; and, besides, who has not been? I wish to die in peace in thine own arms.”” y and seated themsclves, contemplating the en less space covered with powderv snow. ‘The young woman crouched feverishly, hold- ing her husl d in her arm, trying to le with her energy against the invasion of cold that penetrated her. He had drawn her to his heart and warmed her with his kisses. But the wind and the tempest had resumed their Smee fine snow beat in clouds around e P: E “My beloved,” he resumed, “we are the last jitants of the earth, the Inst sur- vivors of so many generations. What re- mains of all the giories, of all the coun of all the works of the human mind; of the sciences, of all the arts, of all the inven- tions? ‘The’ entire globe is at this moment ‘a tomb covered with snow.” . “have heard of the bean- igned over the hearts of kings and shone like admirable stars in the history of humanity. Love, beauty, all mustend. Ilove you, andIdie. Oh! how I would have loved that dear treasure. the one who will never 1i But no, we must not die, must we? «aw Come, Iam no longer cold. Let uw tk. Her feet, already frozen and benumbed, had become inert. She tried to rise and fell back. ane.) teem to be sleepy,” she said. “Oh, let us ‘And throwing her arms around Omegar she essed her lips to his. ‘The young man lifted er beautiful form and laid her on his knees. She was already asleep. “Love you,” he said again. ‘Sleep, I shall watch over you.” ‘Then his fixed gaze, shining with a lastlight, lost itself in a search ‘for the unknown in the desolate gray sky and in the silent and erdlews plain. No sound came to trouble the death of nature; the snow wind alone moaned around the pyramid and seemed to wish to awaken the old Pharoah sleeping in its depths for so many million years. Suddenly the noise of footsteps and moans was heard, lost in the distance. Was it some letharj akening in the interior of the mon- ument? Was it a heavy bird thrown by the tempest against the dismantled steps? Was it some polar bear come with the snow? The noise ceased. A joyful ery sounded, and with one bound a dog, broken by fatigue, jumped on the sleeping couple. It was Omegur's dog that had looked for him, followed him (how?) and found him in spite of the distance, the solitude and the snow. He called his master and mistress, licked their face and hagds and covered them with his body to warm them. But they did not awake. And the snow continued to fall in a fine pow- der on to the entire surface of the earth. And the earth continued to turn on its axis night and day and to float through the im- mensity of space. And the sun continned to shine, but with a reddish and barren light. But long afterward it became entirely extinguished and the dark terrestrial cemetery continued to revolve the night around the enormous invisible black And the stars continued to scintillate in the ity of the heavens. infinite universe continued to exist with its billions of suns and its billions of liv- ing or extinct planets. And in all the worlds peopled with the joys of life love continued to bloom beneath the smiling glance of the Eternal. CAsILLE FLAMMARION. a ee eee SLOVENLY AMERICAN‘ Some Observations Upon the Habits of the Male Portion of Our Population. From the Cosmopolitan. ‘The American, and I allude only to the male, is lamentably untidy—TI hesitate to say unclean, but I do not hesitate to assert, and to assert it vehemently, that" the first clause is true of our men of all classes, stations, vocations and de- grees of wealth. Its evidences parade them- selves in our palaces, where a lack of means cannot exculpate. In fact, cleanliness, neat ness and money have nothing whatever to do with each other. - Animals cau teach men important lessons in self-respect. An American Indy residing in London a part of each year, when asked snddenly what expecial superiority she found in the British over her own people, replied naively, “Oh, their men are #0 clean!’ ‘The thrust was as unconscious as it was unstndied. It were well for our men to accept it as such. Take one of our morning trains and ferries carrying an average Ameri- can crowd to the city of a morning. Here we have a fairly representative variety of types and of classes, and a sorry enough spectacle it is which presonts itself to our view even at this carly hour. Spotted clothes, unbrushed shoul- ders, frowsy hair and frayed shirt cuffs are not uncommon. When this herd returns at5 o'clock after the struggle of the day we will draw the veil. If I meet» man in the late afternoon with uncertain finger nails, depressed collar and soiled cravat, and he ‘laboriously explains to me that he takes bis cold-water bath every morning at6 and a sea dip upon his return to his country home before his late dinner, I re- fuse to be impressed. His assurances carry no conviction, even though I do not for an instan: doubt their veracity. Ido not care to be in. | formed that he was clean early and | will be clean again anon. His present aspect is none the less revolting. I desire to be clean now, while I am in the way with | him, and not poison my day with his present | forlorn appearance... . ‘The average American. He shutiies with bis feet. His head is sunk and held low between- his shoul- ders. His arms are carried like the grocer boy's, busy in his conscientious delivery | of the brown paper parcel. If he bow to you he will either give youn grin and an imperceptible nod, or shove his head gear back and forthton hik head without dignit Nothing less impressive and dist be imagined than an American's has been a good dea! of righteous wrath cover- ing the ill-concealed pin pricks of a foolish jealousy in the tirades of our countrymen against the American woman's predilection for foreign lovers and husbands Pray remember, guishe lute. There my indignant gentlemen, that —_femi- nine creatures are always allured by externals. The male bird found it out long ago, if you did not. Nor have I always discovered it certain assurance of mental brillianey and moral rectitude that the poor body should be neglected. This, however, is the prevalent opinion, and it seems hard to persuade our countrymen that it is an error. +... Itmay be said that our women, on the whole, are extremely clean in their persons, their ¢lothes and their houses. ‘They are even dainty. Probably no establishments are more scrupulously well kept, and this under that peculiar restriction as to a proper number ot domestics, which remains a tradition even in our upper classes, and which so greatly increases the dificultics of housekeeping. ‘This isa digression. If the American woman be a martinet in the ordering of her home and so careful in matter of her costume, is it nota lack of respect for her fastidiousness that her husband, father and brother should, as_ they must do, so constantly shock her delicacy? ‘There is a much-abused creature going about in our streets and drawing rooms, hooted, jeered at, made the laughing stock of the club and the seapegoat of the theater, a harmless, mild creature enough as toretaliation—possibly because he is Po aaron | self-satisfied—the dude. Now the dude has done for us a great deal more than we deserve, for all the abuse that is heaped on his good humored defense lessness. ‘The dude has helped to institute out- of-door life among ws, which is excellent, and over and beyond this the dude keeps himself clean. All honor therefore to the dude, say L A Mere Matter of Form, Mr. Co iy. Mra. Bellows—“How do you keep your hus- ees Mrs. Fellows—“I make him believe that he is | it was a novelty to me it may be to othe-s li | th Se — Eee ATTRACTIVE HOMES. Some Timely Practical Suggestions For Odd Interior Decorations. A NEAT AND CHEAP PORTIERE It Can Be Easily Made and Will Prove Very Effective — Combination Work Bag and Apron—Handsome Glove and Handkerchief Boxes—A New Form in China, —_———_—_ ‘Written for The Evening Star. IHERE SOMETIMES COMES IN ALL PUR- suits a condition that answers to the “hit or miss” stripe of a rag carpet. No connected thought or action seems feasible for the time being, but straps may be often made just as effective if properly combined, for so the whole beauty (?) of the rag fabric depends largely on the proper admixture of the odda and ends—the “hit or miss.” These serve the better to bring into relief the more deliberately planned parts of the work, while acting as respite from the fatigue of carrying out gfe more set forms of the design of the whole large work. So this week I will give a perhaps di- verse collection of facts or fancies, instead of following a more connected plan. And speaking of rag carpets reminds me that such an article can still be bought and in small rugs or made into square rugs of good size, with fringe sewed across the ends, it has been used with good effect as summer rugs for coun- try houses and sea-shore cottages. With judi- cious blending of colors in the arrangement of stripes or in the entire “hit or miss” style this is by no means to be sneered at for use, as I have said. AN IDFA FOR A PORTIERR. An ides for a portiere has just occurred to me and I will mention jt merely as an idea, but as Ihave heard “every fine work of art was in the making a brave experiment,” so this, car- Tied out, may be worthy of the trial. A coarse serge or other goods of similar texture should b& the foundation and the tone may be light or dark according to individual fancy. If light color is desired. possibly some of the inex- ensive and loosely woven cheviot might be ken which are so much in use this spring for gowns. SERGE WITH TASSEL FRINGE. Foran example, however, we will take serge ofa gray green, and for the ornamentation a tassel fringo must be used. The fringe may be either wool or cotton, but must be of the style which has graduated lengths of cord, to which the tassels are attached, the cord varying from half an ineh to two inclies and the tassels being short, tufty ones, which add xbout an inch more to the depth. ‘The fringe is to be cut into short lengths, say four inches,and then to be applied to the curtain in up-and-iown rows, giving the effect of stripes. There must be a regularity and regard for distance or the right effect will be lost. For the sage-green curtain a fringe having pink of a duil cast, ecru and green, with “a little yellow, if possible, would be a good combination for the tassels, this to be cut in short lengths, as said. ‘Then beginning with the upper right hand corner, some five inches from the edge and three inches from the top. This should be sewed down to the curtain, the gimp heading to being set on the curtain perpend the tassels fall over one anothe when edging the sides of a curtain. Directly under this bit of fringe another should be sewed in the same way, leaving a space bet ween them of eight inches, I should say at random, as this is merely a thonght as yet. HOW TO PLACE THE SECOND STRIPE. In this way go on until the bottom of the portiere is reached; then begin another such stripe at a suitable distanes from the first, with the bits of fringe coming where the spaces did in the first stripe. The distance apart would have to be determined by experiment, though a good way would be to hang the por- tiere and then put the stripes of fringe where the folds of the curtain would bring them on the outside. ‘The sewing down of the pieces of fringe could be by first basting with cotton and then loosely buttonholing with heavy wool or flax floss, or using any showy stitch in preference ‘to this. The stitches on ‘the wrong side of the goods could be covered by coarse stitches in the same wool or flax, or the fringe might be applied to that side by taking the stitches lightly, #0 they would noi be ap- parent on the right side. The effect is intended to be as oriental as possible aud does not seem toimply much labor. If one likes a valance may be turned over after the stripes are com- jeted and a fringe added on the lower edge. the selvedge may be left on the sides of the pottiere; or it may be trimmed with « gimp e the heading of the fringe, the bottom to be hemmed, of course. COMBINED WORK BAG AND APRON. Ihave lately seen awork bag and apron combined which was the best adapted to its purpose of any I ever happened to tind, and as wise. A yard und a half of India silk compo: ombination affair in the instance I epea of. This has a black ground with blue bachelor's buttons and leaves scattered over it, the design and coloring being very pretty. At one end of the silk it is doubled over for two-and-a-half inches and hemmed, and three-quarters of an inch above the hema black rivvon is run in, which is left with long ends to tie around the waist; on this the silk can be pushed up so as to make a rutiled top to the apron or it can be drawn out so that the silk lies dlat and straight. ‘The other end of the silk is turned up for half a yard on the right side and sewed together at tle sides, making a bag of that depth. A deep hem and shirr are put on the top of this bag quite regardless of the apron top compris- ing’ the third half yard of the silk, that is, a double ruttic and casing are taken up in the silk, and ribbons are ran iu which draw it up into x big bag, and which are tied together so as to form loops to hung it on the arm for work. ‘The apron top tucks nght in likewise, leaving just a bag in effect, but when the bag Is opened, the top pulled out and the fullness pushed on to the ribbon an apron with big pocket turned u; on the right side appears, which is very converi- eut, and when one is through working the work is put into the deep pocket, the apron top is turned over and is tucked, ribbon and all, into the same pocket, and the ribbons to the pocket drawn up, when nothing buta plain and com- modious bag appears. HOW TO HANG SMALL PrcruRES. A novel way of hanging small pictures on the wail is to have the lower right-hand corner of the upper picture overlap the upper left-hand corner of the next lower, and so on for a8 many asone wishes tohang togetuer. Threc, however, look better than more with this arrangement. ‘This way could be reversed, of course, and the slant could be toward the left and downward, as well as to the right; the space and adjoining objects are to be considered naturally. A NEW FORM IN CHINA. Anew form in china is ready for amateur decorators, and that is a little china jar and plate, in shape much like a ¢racker jar, but which is intended to inclose the glass of jelly or pot of jam, when, for instance, it is intended, may be, for the lunch of only oné person, and so only a small quantity will be eaten at a time. If turned out into a dish whatever may be left is soon dried and spoiled and it cannot be very well put back in the jar, and so this little china outer jar has been devised, which makes a pretty appearence on a lunch table or tray. It 3s also a boon to china decorators, who are al- ways looking for novelties on which to show Written for The Evening Star. REDFERN'’S YACHTING COSTUMES, How to Be Comiortable and Look Well on the Water. There is such great competition of late years in all lines of business, and especially among the purveyors of women’s apparel, that design- ers cannot have regard to the time of year or to climatic conditions, but are forced, in order to keep pace with their rivals, to be always Tushing the seasons and bringing out materi- als, styles and models far in advance of the timo when they can be used. Thus one finds the first fall noveltics displayed .in the hot, humid days of mid-August, when even to look at weighty woolen stuffs makes one gasp. And while we are still arrayed in China silks and thin challies and go about armed with fan and Parasol we are invited to call and select our sealskins and other furs. And, going to the other extreme, while still loaded down with these same furs and the thickest of winter rai- meut the shoppers suddenly, @ day or two after Christmas, find themselves confronted with ginghams and batistes, which it will be five ‘ood months before they can think of wearing. n acconnt of these idiosyncrasiox of the trade modistes and milliners are also obliged to issue their new modes far ahead of the time when they will be seazonable, and so it is that here, at the end of April, Redfern is already ing the yachting costumes which will figure al the regattas in July and August. In this sketch the usnal_ monotony of white and blue has been varied by giving usa beige- colored serge 5 ith jacket bodice worn over a vest, and sleeves of the same color, striped with blue, pink and wood brown. The Tevers and cuffs are of brown serge and the sash is of soft brown surah. The hat is a low- crowned straw sailor, with brown velvet bows and long streamers at the back. Yachting is very pleasant and very healthy and all that, but one can have too much of a good thing and after a month of tossing about on see-sawing waves may feel inclined to give up the indie. rubber ball business and think a stroll on land a joy and privilege. The second sketch represents another pretty yachting dress of light blue Isle of Wight serge, Rediern’s favorite material for this purpose and is made with collar, cuffs and folded girdle of indigo blue. The waist, which is @ trifle draped across the chest, is fastened on the left side with giit buttons on shoulder and belt. THE CULPRIT CONFESSED. The Potency of an Unhatched Egg That Was Lald by a Ten-Toed Hen. From the Phiiadelphia Times. For some time the people of Langhorne have been annoyed by midnight raids on their hen houses. Prominent among the suffering citi- zensis Mr. Howard Harvey, who, being an en- thu: fancier of choice poultry, was” much provoked one morning last week by finding that thirty-five of his highly priced “ten-toed” chickens had mysteriously disappeared during the night. His suspicions centered upon an African with the Hibernian name of James O'Brien, who was arrested and taken before Justice Tomlinson. Jim indignantly denied all knowledge of the crime and was about to be discharged for lack of evidence, all that ex- ted, being that of an egg, had been found in the cellar of his home. At this point a gentleman arose and address- ing the court, suggested that inasmuch as the complainant was the only person in the vi- cinity known to possess this peculiar breed of “‘ten-toed” chickens, 1t would be well to hold the prisoner for twenty-one days and place the eggs in the hands of some disinterested party who had a hen about to set and allow the chick to hatch, thus proving the guilt or innocence of O'Brien. ‘The justice thanked Mr. Joseph Gil- lam, for such was the gentleman's name, and announced that he would hold the prisoner in $100 for the specified twenty-one days. Bail was furnished and Jim departed, a crest- fallen and anxious darky. Early the next morning, almost before the chickens had com- menced their crowing, Jim sought the presence of Justice Tomlinson. ‘Mornin’. yer honor; T'se come to "fess.” ‘How's that?” asked the justice. ‘I done stole the chickens an’ I'se come to fess,” repeated Jim, in a scarcely audible tone. as! their display, their handiwork and like, when they give gifts, to have something unhack- neyed in form if possible. PRETIY HANDKERCHIEF AND GLOVE BOXES. Pretty handkerchief and glove boxes are made by covering pasteboard boxes whose covers have rims as deep as the boxes them- selves. The tops of the covers are slightly padded and sachet powder is put in. The orna- mental covers are pieces of hemstitched linen, large enough to reach over the sides and e: tirely conceal the box cover. broidered in wash silk in any color or design one prefers, a powdering of small pom r lowers being very pretty. When ready to put on the boxes thoy are nid over and, the cor- ners folded, so all the extra: is brought in there, leaving the top and sid vat Here was a surprise. Heretofore the justice had really believed the negro to be a wronged Coufoadon ike “thet, So Bi "Toniinsns Sen © 3 so Mr. that Jim was locked up. i —— “A problem that seriously vexes us depart- ment clerks,” said one of the fraternity to a Srar reporter, “is the matter of lunches. The tmenta, | No one ever gets tired ve cent department delivered for his use at 12 0% corked in a b “If you will ments clerks i fs i at eS, HE HAD BEEN TO PENSACOLA | How a Drummer Turned a Laugh on # Yel Jow Fever Quarantine Officer. From the New York Hera)d “Ibis dificult for a northerner to appreciate the terror that a rumor of yellow fever creates among the residents of the south,” said » commercial traveler recently. “The last time I was south,” he continued, “there were a few supposed cases of the dis- ease in Pensacola, Fla. It was several years ago. In order to protect their cities from visitation of the plague the cities of New Orleans and Mobile established a severe quar- antine against people coming from Pensacola. “I was leaving New Orleans with several com- mercial men, among whom was a great, big, jolly practical joke a typical commercial trav- § represented a Troy shirt and collar manufacturer. He was aman well on toward middle life. “As the Louisville and Nashville train drew nearer to Mobile and had the only ava: able connecting point with Pensacola, it was boarded by a quarantine officer. “He was a thoroughbred southerner, a ma: whom you would instinctively call ‘colonel whether you kuew he bore the customary southern title or not. “He went through the cara, questioning each Passenger upon where he had come from, and Particularly if he had been anywhere near Pen- Finally he reached the Trojan traveler. lave you been to Pensacola?” he said. The Trojan hesitated for a moment and then replied: ‘Yes, colonel. I won't lie about it. I have been to Pensacola.’ His companions looked at the man in amazement, the colonel Jumped about a foot in the air, while the other Passengers in the car started precipitately for the doors. “Do you know there is a quarantine against Place?’ continued the southerner. 8,” replied the other. Yell. you can't stop off at Mobile.” ‘But I must. I have business there.” “It makes no difference about your busi- Ress,’ continued the colonel, positively. ‘The Mobile board of health has passed resolutions quarantining against Pensacola and you ll have to continue on this train.” “‘T won't do any such thing,” said the drum- mer. ‘I'm going to get off at Mobile. I've got an engagement with Johunie Strauss, and I wouldn't miss seeing him for a good deal. He ex ts me.” ““Dll tell you what it is, my man,’ answered the quarantine officer, ‘there's a of gen- | tlemen on the armed with shot; if you do get off. * “But, colonel,” said the drummer, seeing that the joke had gone far enough, ‘it can’t be | as badas that. It's some little tume since I've 10 Pensacola. ~ “How long is it” queried the colonel, who had neglected to ask that all-important question. “Well,” replied the other, *I can't exactly recollect the day and month. ‘Perhaps yon can | assist ne. I was in the Union navy during the | war. We had a little affair at Pensacola and another one right out in Mobile bay. Do you recolleot the date of the Pensacola event?” If you do, that was the first, last and only time I} was ever at Pensacola. It's about twenty years | ago now, I think.’ ‘ “A great shont went up from every one in the car. The colonel laughed as loudly as the rest. ~*-Tll tell you what it is, boys,” he said, ‘the drinks are on me. I want you ail to join'me at the Battle House bar as soon us ever we reach Mobile.’ “Then turning to the Trojan he added: ‘Tl refresh your memory a little about those affairs at Pensacola and Mobile bay. I was there myself.” ———+e-— A GHASTLY NECKTIE, ilroad platform at Mobile | guns that will look after you Awful Experience of # Mining Prospector in a Colorado Landslide. From the Chicago News. “Yes, that may be an odd necktie, but it is not the queerest neckwear I have worn,” Henry B. Gillespie of Aspen, Colo., remarked to a servant at the Grand Pacific, as he was remov- ing a little Chicago real estate from his coun- tenance. “I once wore a corpse for a necktie. “It was in the afternoon of March 10, 1884, that I started up Aspen Mountain to visit a claim which I thonght was loceted upon my land. Should I find that my surmise was wrong I intended to purchase the owner's rights for $75,000 and accordingly I took my mining superintendent with me. It was snow- ing quite hard. The mine owners refused to allow me to ¥o down the shaft to make level ex- plorations, but consented to allow my superin- tendent to accompany them. I remained in the shaft house with a few laborers. At exactly 5:40 o'clock one of the miners asked me the time. I had just closed my watch, when crash! and we were hurled into a promiscuous mass of timbers. men, ore, snow and ice. We had been enveloped in a genuine Colo- rado landslide. I fell near a stack of ore bags corded several feet high. The roof timbers fell so as to aliow me about eight inches of lee- way. Around my neck, bent into a semi- le by the pressure of the terrible wall of ice and snow that was heaped above, was the life- less body of the miner who had ‘asked me for the time. Poor fellow, he found that time, all | time, was before him. " His head and shoulders | were crushed into a jelly, which the ever-sink- ing weight squeezed around my neck until the torn flesh penetrated my clothing. His lower extremities stirred a similar fate on the other side of my head. My breathing was very re-| stricted. "A few fect away and resting upon my outstretched right arin was the mangled body of another victim. Three others perished in the shaft. “There I remained in thet silent, oppressive cell, with my ghastly necktie, until midnight, when a rescuing purty of 200 inhabitants of the mining camps of Roaring Forks cut me out of my icy prison. ‘The snow hud become ice; hence the small army of willing miners found plenty of work for their picks and spades. But if my situation was terrible, what was that of those imprisoned in the mines? They were not so cramped for room and oxygen, thougin. “Only four men buried in that aval.ache were rescued. Now, that is how 1 once wore a peculiar necktie.” ——_—0e —____ Are You Right or Left-Handed? Theories as to the origin and cause of right- handedness, says a writer in Scribner's, may be divided as follows: According to one class of theories it rests on an anatomical basis, and de- pends on a physical cause which exerts its in- fluence in every one of us. According to an- other class, man originally had no preference for either band, but became right-handed by conventional usages, which may or may not | have had their origin in some anatomical features. For any theory of the first class to be satis- factory it must jiret account for difference in sensation as well as in force or dexterity: wee- ondly, it must account for the occastional ap- pearance of left-handedness; and, thirdly, it mast not be inconsistent with the fact that most of those who hcve their organs trans- to Pay. | | An anecdote showing Lincoln's merciful ma- ture in a touching light, and related by Mr. L. E. Chittenden in his “Recollections of President Lincoln and his Administration,” from authentic | sources, is the one of the sleeping sentinel, | Wm. Scott, the Vermont boy, whose life Lin- | coln aaved after he had been condemned to be shot. Lincoln personally saw Scott, and talked with him along time. Scott would not talk to is comrades of the interview afterward until one night, when he had recsived a letter from home; he finally opened his heart to a friend im this wise: “The President was the kindest man Thad ever seen. I was scared at first, for I had never before talked with a great man. But Mr. Lin- coln was 80 casy with me, so gentle, that I soon forgot my fright. * * * fie stood up end he says to me: ‘My boy, stand up here and look me in the face. k boy,” he said, *y morrow. Iam going totrast youand send you back to your regiment. I have come up bere from Washington, where I have got a great deal to do, and what I want to know is how you are going to pay my bill.” There was a 1 in my throat. I could searcely «peak. But | got it crowded down and mai to say: “Thero is some way to pay you and 1 will find it after a little. There ix the bounty in the say- ings b I guoss we could borrow some | Money on a mortgage on the farm.’ I was eure the boys would help, so I thought we could make it up if it wasn't more than five or six | hundred dollars. | than five or six hw “But it ix a great deal more lred dollars,” be said. ‘Then but I was sure I would ~if I lived. “Then Mr. Lincoln put his hands on my shoulders and looked into my face as if he was sorry and said: “My boy, my bill is a very large Your friends cannot pay it, nor your nor your farm, nor all your comrades. iy one man ‘in all the world who can Pay itand his name is William Scott. If from this day William Scott docs bis duty, #0 that, if I was there when he comes che, can look me in the face as he does now and say I bave kept my promise and I have done my duty as@ soldier. then my debt will be paid. Will you make that promise and try to keep it?” 1 maid I would make the promise, and, with God's help, I would keep it. He went ‘away out of my-ight torever. I know I shall never see him again. but may God forget me if ever I forget his kind words or my promise. WHERE HIS There Was His Heart Also, and He Gave Proof of It, From the Chicago Tribune. One day Inst week a long, lean, solemn-look- ing man went into a Dearborn street eating house and took a seatat one of the tables. Have you any pork soup?” he asked. “Pork soupY” echoed the white-aproned young man. “No, sir. I never beard of pork toup. We have some excellent consomme, some very fine vegetable soup and some first class bouillon.” Bring pork and beans—mostly pork.” ‘All right, sir. otany butterine \—I think we have. ‘Bring me some brend and butterine.” 8, “Bring me some ham and eggs. Don't care much for the eggs. Liring plenty of am ‘Anything else?” want a good-sized chunk of pork. No gravy. All pork. Unders es, sir ‘That will do for a while.” The comestibles were brought and disposed of in short order. Anything else?” Yes. Toast inquired the waiter. any pork sausages?” “Bring me some pork sansages.” The mnsages were brought and devoured without loss of tin “Got any fried pie? — sir. This isn't exactly a fried-pie kind of eating “You can fry a pie to order, can't you?” ‘Yes, sir.” ‘Well, fry half an apple pie. Plenty of lard. Understand?” ‘Yes, sir. Anytifing else?" Got any doughnuts?” es. “Bring me a plate of doughnuts, Hot and j greasy. Understand?” In due time the fried pie and the hot dough- nutes made their appears: stood by until the last fragments of greasy pastry had vanished, and then ventured to al Ts that all, sir ‘No, Bring me another plate of dongh- nut “My friend,” said an elderly gentleman who for some time had been watching the hungry individual from the opposite side of the table with undiagwtised nisbment, “pardon me for asking. I am a physician. ‘Have you an abnormal appetite for pork, of are you eating this kind of a mealona wager?” ‘Neither,” answered the ean, solemn-looking man, breaking another doughnut. “I own a few shares stock ina packiug and provision It's down a few ——— - ‘Tennyson's Hatred of People, From the Chicaco Herald. Lord Tennyson has not what may be called an angelic disposition and he never shows this so much as when he comes in contuet with people from the outer world. A friend of mine, just back from England, passed an hour with the poeta fortnight ago, and he tells me that Tennyson's aversion to people is growing with his years. No man perhaps positively hates his fellow creatures so much as dows ‘the post laureate. | Just now he wants to go on a voyage in the Mediterranean, and for days his family have been to secury his passage ina vessel in he can jbe protected from fellow-passen- gers. “f will not go if I must mix with a thicellaneous mob of voyagers,” he told my friend. “People bore me beyond en- durance. I want to be left alone and they seem positively determined not to allow me my free- om. That's why I live here. A London town home would be perfect misery. Bah! Ide- test folks and I wish they would the feeling and leave me alone.” What a pleas- ant man Lord Tennyson must be to come into daily contact with one can judge from such » rentiment as that, which bas bech reported for me precisely as it was uttered. padinscnaciset-o wanes a There isy one infallible for taking Grease ont of a coat. Wear the coat; for don t the heart on the right, the liver on the ft, &c.—are right-handed. You see when you take the coat out also take out the grease?—dusion Transcript. FINE FEATHERS MAKE FINE BIRDS. From Munsey’s Weekly.