Evening Star Newspaper, August 1, 1891, Page 8

2 THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, D.C, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 1891—SIXTEEN PAGES. A SIAMESE TWIN ENGINE. RAILROADS IN MEXICO 250,000,000 of American Capital Invested. STEEL AND EBONY TIES. ‘Two Thousand Miles of New Road Under Con- strection—Mexican Kallroad Butlding—A Rond That Cost 100,000 2 Mile—Wagee of Engineers, Conductors, &c. pect! Correspondence of The Frening St Mexico Crrr, July 24, 1 HE UNITED STATES has about €250,000,000 worth of capital in Mex- fean railroads. We prac- tically control the rail- way systems of the the country and our| only competitor is Eng- | land, whose investments | gmount to little more | than one-fourth as much | as ours. These rail- ways arealready paying | and Mexico promises to | be one of the most pro- | Stable railway countries of the future. A great | tailroad development is going on in the coun- try, and about 2.000 miles of new roads are now ler construction. The country has now ever 5.000 miles of road in active operation, and during my stay here I have traveled over roads which have been opened only afew weeks and I have penetrated country into which the fron horse seemed to plough its way through the wilderness. In going over the Inter- Oceanic railroad, which is a narrow guage running from here to Vera ¢ through a rich agrieulta Yast areas of rich but These lands were at the 0 the same climate as that the best coffee- owing districts of Mexico, and the road will Seveiop many new coffee estates. At this writ- fog 3¢ ie caly completed for a little over 200 wiles, running from Mexico to the great town | | tilled land. titude and in in city | the railways I did not tind one who wus dissat- ef Puebla end thence on to the mountain city | * ways I di \ of Jalapa, but within a month it will be opened |intied. They al! appeared to like the climate, for traitic clear to Vera Cruz.and within ashort | the people and their work, and not a few of time it will have a line completed from Mexico | them had married Mexican girls, or better, had Ooty west to the P: Tis managers | brought American wives to Mexico. tell » ready large. It | nh narrow guage eys- | There ix no doubt ‘Vera Cruz. At is managed by Mexicans, bu orned by English capital. The M @ro railroad. which Grant proposed ; taken up and is being fast d down into th of Oaxaca to Tehus another The Mexico Central at ‘work laying @ route from the of Guadalajara to the pect to take a trip within a fe ‘Aguas Calientes right across the eastern part of | Bexico to Tampico. This road bas just got to running or dit promises to be one @f the great railroads of the future. Then merican capital is building « road from Mon- to Tampico and Mormon capital is build- fog another road down through Chihuahua | New Mexico, and this will also tap the je _and the great mining regions of the | ‘West. During the past two yeara twe cessions for new roads or for t eld roads have been granted ever more awake to the advar @cmmunication. Last year more than passengers patronized the Rear.y ® million tons of goods were carried in the freight cars. RAPID RAILROAD DEVELOPMENT. This railroad development of Mexico really began about the time of the panic of 1473, when the old English line, which rans from | ‘Vera Cruz up the mountains to Mexico ¢ was completed. It bad been building, off on, for fifteem years, and the gor Belped it al ith 212,000,000 and subsidies. It was one of the most expensive roads ever built, and it cost about £30,000,000 to construct | ‘the 300 miles which constitute the main line | and two short branches. Indians objected to it, and all its material " ico at Aguas Calientes, and from there on the had to be brought from England, and | ride for hundreds of miles to Mexico is through ia order to pacify people the | perpetual green. Some of the grades of the building was begun at both endsand more than aif the ties and rails had to be carried up the Mountains and on to Mexico City. It cost $5 @rail to briny from Vera Cruz to the eapital, and this was for the benefit of the feamsters. This same provision was adopted in the building of the Mexican Central 3 that great trunk line which now runs from Ei Paso over 200 mules south Se Hexen City. The it tobe begun at boil ends, and the material used from the Mexico City end was shipped to Vera Cruz and at high | freight rates sent across this Mexican road to the capital. It shipped its rails and its iron | from Pngland. but its rolling stock came from | ‘tthe United States. The old Mexican road 1s| entirely Englisn, though the chief director and | resident, Mr. Thomas Brauniff, was| rh om Staten Island of Scotch-Irish Parente, The road is 8 broad wage, ia spl constructed. It has | lendidly Pallasted and well e steepest grades ga record, and in going from the cout to) Mexico City it rises 5,000 feet. It had for a| time = monopoly, and it char, it Its fi ‘were at the start @76, and when the freight was carried by y trains the rates were & ‘ long time it charged over l0cents_ mile for passenger fares, and it now charges | more than 5. It is ew at €40,000,000 ‘and I understand that it pays dividends on this italization. TIES OF STEL AND EBONY. and mahogany. The ‘Objection to the ebouy ties is that it is #0 hard to drive the spikes into them, and it is al- " Most impossible to get them out when they Want to change the rails. The steel ties are not $0 expensive as it would seem. They cost from ‘90 cents to $1, Mexican, when laid down here; and this ‘is from 70 to 80 cents Americans | They are hollow at | Cruz road. of the pally by j Pai South-| miles to Mexico City. It has two branches, been one of which reaches ont to Tampico, on the gulf, and the other will extend to the Pacific. md this | Jt is'a broad guage, is well ballasted and has with | American cars and through carriages from its | New York and Chicago to the city of Mexico. It fs connected with the Atchison, Topeka and | Santa Fe railway, and is one of the great trunk ment | lin habitants a millio The peons and the | Chihuaht route are very Uresqueness of the Vera Cruz line, which is one of the most picturesque railways in the world. | le of iron, bait these do not seem to work as well as the’ altogether steel ties. The Mexican Central, which has a fine road bed, uses wooden ties, and the same is the case with the Mexican National or American narrow gauge through line. king of the Mexican Cen- tral ties reminds mo of what one of the engi- neers of the road told meas to Mexican con- tracts. Said he: “The average haciendado oF farmer of Mexico has curious ideas of profit and work. Along the line of the Mexican Central there was a man who owned astrip of forest which was filled with ood tie timber. I asked him if he could furnish me 5,000 ties and what they would cost me. He replied that he could and he would let me have the 5,000 for 50 cents apiece. “But suppose I want 60,000," said I. ‘Oh, then,’ the Mexican, ‘I will have to charge you nd Icouldn’t let you have them for less than 75 cents apiece.’ ‘And if I want « hun- dred thousand?" I went on. ‘Well,’ said the | surprised farmer, ‘a hundred thousand would be a great deal of trouble, and I couldn't think of undertaking such a job's that for less than €1.50 apiece.” RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION IX MEXICO. ‘The above is one of the peculiarities of rail- way construction in Mexico. The roads have to be built by peons, and it costs about as much to construct them. notwithstanding the cheap labor, as it does in America. I have talked with ‘a great many men engaged in railroad business and they jell me that the Mexican will not do one-fourth the amount that the Ameri. can workinan does, and only the muscle work isdone by the Mexicans. Indians who work on the road get from fifty cents to seventy-five cents a day, und this is more than the average wages paid them otherwheres. The railroads have, in fact, increased the prices of labor along the ‘lines of the railroad, but they do not work much betier for an increase of salary. One contractor who offered them double wages extra work tells me they did very well for st two weeks, and then they laid off until they ate up their surplus. There are some | Mexican brakeman employed on the railroads, but asa rule the men who are engaged in run- the ning the Mexican trains are Americans, with a few Englishmen on the old line from Vera Cruz to Mexico. The wages of Americans on the Mexican roads are fairly good. Passenger conductors on the Mexican Central get §163 a month, and I think they get month every year. Engineers are pi y kilometer or’ the distance traveled, and they make from two hundred totwohundredand fifty dollars a mo: On the Inter-Oceanic narrow salaries of $150 a month, nger conductors are 200 on the Vera ans engaged on Among the Am THE MEXICAN CENTRAL RAILROAD. The biggest railway system in Mexico is that Mexican Central. It is owned princi- Boston capitalists, and runs from El along the backbone of Mexico for 1,225 The road is now on comin, throng] peying more and more tome of the feattracuecn|LOST IN THE MAILS. good enough to receive honorable mention. So the affair has been handed over to the engrav- ing forceof the Philadelphia mint, which will a ride on it from Mexico City to Celaya produce the dies required according to such foi moet plotarteque reglons ofthe Bisaises epee mou: winds in aad | Queer Foundlings Left for Mr, Wan-| “fie designs tor Uncle Sam's coins hitherto out through the beantifal valley of have been produced at the money-making es- Mexico, passing great of amaker to Take Care Of. tablishment in Philadelphia, where the dies Chapultepec as it lenves the capital and for all the mints are turned out. Anticipat- Seating out Lol 2 , labes snd inte the monn- inga ee Pet ular ong the — = i cS mi distan’ mountains - graver lo his utmost to render the five com yousbruptly end you plough your CURIOUS THINGS IN LETTERS. | fimeo pictures called foc as unexceptional as way ne it into them. You + wide gorges, es! lly speaking. must be wind along rocky defiles with rushing streams & substitute of some kind representing liberty Rattlesnakes, Gila Monsters, Tarantulas and | for the Quaker city schoolmarm on the dollar, Other Things Unpleasant —A Relic of Mur- | thé reverse of which requires a bettey type of cena dam's | Td than the present buzzard. Also’ the un- cutting the earth below you. You shoot out of the rough hills into smaller hills covered with green and a second valley gives on Pictures that make you think of Italy. You go by @ rose-colored church which was built hundre of years ago upon a hill, and down in a valley below it, you see a village that makes you think of the Austrian Tyrol. You w! rough the village. Bare-heuded women with frowsy- headed babies on their backs stare at you. Little girls clad only in blankets wave their hands ‘anda peon porter who is carrying a great bundle on his back scowls at the train as we dash through. You notice that this part of the country is well cultivated. The valleys are patchworks of cropsand the little old-fashioned towns seemed to be filled with workers. What queer towns they are, and how curious the houses. They are more like huts than hemes, and their low ridge roofs of boards are tied on with ropesand kept steady with great rocks laced ‘here and there upon them.” There few windows and no chimneys, the doors tow and the people asarule are dre: cotton, Now you go up the mountain. The road winds about in horse shoe curves and loops and an hour later you are looking down thou- nds of feet upon village = have just passed through. You stop at Toluca, one of the cleanest, prettiest little cities in Mexico, and then go on through a rich farming coun- try till you come to Jaya. The road from here to San Luis Potosi is less interesting, but at this city you find a great future trading cen- ter of the republic, and you goon northward to Monterey, which isa Mexican town i mountains now much boomed by Americans, and a day later you find yourself in Texas and on your way to New York. Eve have passed over in Mexico I ha built and well managed. ‘The cara run slower than ours do, but the roads are well ballasted and the sleeping cars and passenger coaches sre good. All the roads have second and third- class carriages, and the last are patroni Mexicans only. ‘They are of th the ordinary passenger coach, save that they have long, uncushioned benches running through them just under the windows, and an- other long bench with two seats and one back rung lengthwise through the center of the car from one end to the other. All of the men wear big hate and all of the women and girls have shawls of cotton or silk about their heads. ‘They are by all odds the most picturesque travelers you see in Mexico and the only trav- elere who represent the Mexican people. Fraxx G. Canrexter. cee HOW TO CAKE FOK A MAN’S CLOTHES. A Few Simple Rules That are Worth Telling Over. From the New York Sun. “It is not a very difficult task to take care of one’s clothes,” said @ man who, though he hae but moderate means, always appears well dressed, “‘and it pays to do it. It is better to have a number of suite and to wear them off and on than to wear one suit continuously un- til you are ready to lay it aside for another. ee —— = ae THIRD CLAS: PASSENGERS, 1. It tay of the world. lion peop! ont four mil fe, wenty cities along its ‘route, the ji of which would ’ aggregate Cutting across the great desert of itstrikes into the garden of Mex- a population of and there a1 teep. but it has not the pict- This Vera Cruz line has some grades so steep that a sort of a Siamese-twin engine has been constructed to mount them, and this engine has two heads and two boilers in the center, with two sets of driving machinery to make it With it the train climbs 2,500 feet upward in twelve miles and over 4,000 fect in twenty- five miles, and you go from the tropics to the temperate zone in the ascent. The branches of the Mexican Central promise be very profitable. The scenery of the new ranch surpasses in wildness and pic- mess that of the Denver and Rio Grande, and it is said there is no road on the American continent that will compare with it. It will be the same with the road running from Irapuato to the Pacific, some of the gorges of ich are said to be 3,000 feet deep, and the If you have say four suits, and change every day or two, they will retain their shape and freshness through a given period better than four suits each worn steadily during a quarter of that period. When clothes are worn con- stantly the creases in the coat sleeves and the bunches at_the knees of the trousers become pronounced and confirmed, and they cannot be pressed out so that they will stay out. If clothes are hung w) proper! after wearing, their own weight and the elasticity of the cloth help to preserve their shape. “Aman should never hang up his coat by the loop made for that purpose if he can avoid it: if hung in that way it will sooner or later sag out of shape. It is almost impossible to fold a coat so smoothly and loosely that it will certain to do so if it should be left for a few days, especially in damp weather. ‘There is just one proper thing to lo with a coat when it is not in use and that is to hang it up carefully on a coat hanger. ‘My house is small and I have only one room to myself and that room has no closet. I keep most of my clothes in a wardrobe. I puta walk- ing stick in the middle row of hooks sere into the under side of the shelf, and I hang the hooks of the coat hangers on the walking When I hang up acoat 1am of course that it and the coats on each side of i smooth. The coats hang pretty close together, but they are in an even row and some part of each is visible. I don’t have to pull them about to find the coat I want and my coats are not so numerous but that I can identify each one at a glance. “Of course the best thing to do with trous- ers is to hang them on a hanger, but the next best thing is to fold them and lay them at full length. They must be folded true and smooth, so that the creases will come exactly right. I haven't room for the proper care of coats and trousers, too, so I ag 7 ‘on the bot- tom of the wardrobe. ‘The edges of each pair are in view and selection is easy. If take any pair below the top I have to hift off those above and then put them back. This isa slight in- convenience, but itis far better to take that walls of these gorges are perpendicular. A short strip of the Tampico road cost $10,000,000 for construction, ‘the Pacific branch prom- ises to be equally expensive. MEXICAN COAL ROADS. Bo far Mexico has been greatly retarded by ‘the lack of coal. The country has had to im- port all the coal used in manufacturing, and coal has ranged in price from $13 to €26 a ton. A great deal of that now used comes from In- dian Territory, but the international road, which runs from Eagle Pass on the fexan fron- tier to Torreon, where it connects with the Mexican Central, opens up quite an extensi id, and Iam told that la: coal fields have been discovered near the Tampico land. ‘The Mexican Southern will open up both coal and there are bright prospects end iron — that Mexico will soon be able to do a great part of her own manufacturing. The immense area of new country and new resources opened up by these roads cannot be appreciated. lexican Southern will tap some of the Tichest mining regions of the country and it will pass through agricultural lands are now worth but afew cents an acre, but which will soon be extremely valuable. ‘The same is true with this Mormon road, which, though not under the Mormon church, is operated and being built by capitalists who are Mormons, and at the head of whom is Mr. Young, the son of the prophet, Brigham Young. “This road will go through the Sierra Madre mountains and will tap some of the richest mining coun- leys and will probably be populated by the more enterprising of Utah. 1 is” sid’ “hat the ‘forston colonies in afford to carry the shape of butter for 200 miles in wagons and sell jompetition with the butter and pota- fete whipped from the United States by rail. of the world. It will open up rich val- | { trouble than to hang your trousers up by the straps, which should never be done.” ——___—_oe____ He Thought Only of His Family. From the Chicago Tribune. ‘The road was uneven end there were numer- ous sharp curves, and as the train was running at a high rate of speed it was anything but comfortable for the passengers. Sometimes it actually seemed as though all the wheels on one side of the Pullman were off the rail at once. This didn't serve to at ease, but it see to bad effect on a little old fellow near the middle of the car. grew more and more nervous with every jerk of the car, and finally called the porter to him. 5s? reach a place where I can a low soon will we erp ceetee ks wok tea cont - jut ten minutes, was reply. “a eel. any of the mgers have @ particularly il my stock id at ju can get." “"G¥ou deu't seein to bave much confidence in the rosd,” said the man in the vext vest, win haa ‘read the dlapatch over ‘ family. four i exclaimed the stranger. has your family got to do with it?” “Everything, my everything,” ex- ‘the little man, “and LF ws were any- Bing ot « fnanctor you'd seo 1 ve gette this road and how the little ian’ | Par) ‘New Coins—Private Mints. RESUMABLY THE INGENIOUS YOUTH who was caught the other day in the act of robbing dead letters at the Post Office Depart- ment here was of the opinion that such » particularly hazardous employment as hi ought to hive some extra perquisites attached toit. Isit tobe expected that an ordinary clerk, without special renumeration, shall ex- pose himself to the dangers incident to the opening of the multitudinous and mysteriou: packages that are left as metaphorical found. lings upon the figurative door steps of Post- master General Wanamaker? Lest these peril be deemed imaginary, it may be appropriate to refer to seventeen snakes that arrived together on one occasion in @ “corpse parcel’ of the sort described, although they were all very much alive, especiallya rattler eight feet in length and one of the biggest ever captured, that rattled its nine rattles and showed its gentleman who undid the So. great was his embarrassment — thai he failed at the moment to keep accurate coun of the reptilian consignment, and three week: later the entire office was set ina stir by unexpected appearance from beneath his de a three-foot adder speckled in yellowand black. arithmetical variety are discouraged in govern- ment offices, this particular serpent is now en: joying a perennial spree in a bottle of alcohol on a shelf in the Post Office Department. DANGEROUS THINGS IN THE MAILS. ment in “dead letter” packages. Live centi monsters contribute to this lost freight. Small alligators from Florida not infrequently turn received not long ago was « human ear, in- less reft from her head by a hostile warrior, anda grinning skull, which a Philadelphia because letter physician refused to recei rates were charged upon it. A muil bag sit witu a knife bears an interest- At 2 p.m. on the afternoon of July 23, 1885, a mail carrier named F. M. Peter- attacked by Apache Indians while on is regular ronte to Lochiel, Ariz., to Critten- den, in the same territory. ‘The savages, after shooting and cutting him. in pieces, elit open iL the ing history. fon Ww: the leather sacks he carried and tore letters to bits in search of money, finally ing behind them the bag i victim's blood. One of the most curious packages that have reached the dead letter office is one addressed toa lady in Springfield, Ohio, who has never It was a small six-barreled revol- hamber loaded, and set at the full cock. The wonder is that it did not go off when the parcel was opened. An old relic of been found. ver, with every interest iaa letter signed by Charles Guiteau, the murderer of Garfield, and inclosing @ lock It is addressed to a king her to con- Another curi- crucifix in a glass box of his own precious hai lady who never received it tribute $1,000 for his defense. osity lost in the mail is that was the outside the words, No brief. able strange thin, hands of the deat itmarked “Vicksburg” and bore on its brown paj “Vicksburg is tak en.” quantities of firecrackers and’ torpedoes, sort of kitchen utensils, carpenters’ too! horns, tambourines, banjos, harmonicon gold-headed canes, and even “spirit photo- graphs,” in which the persons pictured appear with all sorts of spooks rendered in dim tones by the same negatives at so much a ghost. XUGGETS OF VIRGIN GOLD. Many of the objects accumulated come under the ‘‘unmailable” head, being of glass or ‘pointed instrumerits,” which might damage the mails. Bottles or surgical tools are not carried by Uncle Sam unless inclosed in wood or tin, One hundred dollars’ worth of nug- gets of virgin gold in a box came in awhile ago and are awaiting a claimant. Likewise a aam- aged plug hat which had no address and a gro- tesque doll about the size of a baby, which seems to have becn forwarded with derisiv motives to a young lady of New York, resident on 5th avenue, who was about to be married to arival of the sender. She declined to receive it. There are some gloves from the steamship Oregon which were 114 days under wate Tr, though they seem to be fairly respectable now and might be worn at a stretch. Some wedding cake is exhibited in the museum that is fifty years old. A book is kept at the department of photo- graphs which were sent by mail from camps luring the war. The soldier boys commonly had their pictures taken for sending home, to show the folks how they looked in the field. Many of the likenesses thus dispatched mis- carried, and even now. the. Post Office Depart. ment keeps thousands of them in albums, ready to be claimed by relatives moved from the album of the recipient is ina that it occupied. It medals that were sent home age and the signature it Idiers durin; s the war. Dozens of them are at present re- charge, wait- tained under Gen. Wanamake: ing for their owners. There are star fish, too, petrified frogs, stuffed gophers, Toltec di years service of only sent through the mails. own manufacture, shown in the museum, served for all such accounts during that period. MAILS CARRIED BY Dogs, United States, the letter sacks over the wintry snows. ‘A considerable fraction of the dead letter under the head of “unfit,” which mail com means immoral. Naughty photographs, su; Cabged medical advertisements and trash fully culled out and laid aside by th Bho a make it their business to transmit this lost correspondence to the senders or the intended recipients. ‘Some of these young ladies are wonderfully le, one of them an evidently came from She could not make it out at first 7 Mier at ile simply: “‘Whnbeldonyourite?” After a while on i reading it clever at such tasks. mesma) handled a communication rivate nature the other day rmany. and took {t home to puzzle over. she found out what 1+ meant by Pif letter addressed to “Senta Claus, Pari, . a doll's ” It was marked France,” from Cleveland, Ohio, read: Sante Claus, bring me a sled, a ¥: fangsto the unaffected dismay of the young bundle. the of Owing to the fact that adders of other than the Snakes, however, are but a few among the many dangerous thinge that reach the depart- pedes and tarantulas, horned toads and gila up. Among other gruesome objects similuriy closed ina letter perchance by some radian who had made it his trophy; also the scalp of an Indian woman with long black hair, doubt- question, which even now shows the dark stains made by the er Wrapper simply list could summarize the innumer- s that have fallen into the letter office at Washington. There are opium pipes and packages of refined opium, bottled specimens of different kinds of mineral formations thrown up by the Carleston, earthquake, boxes of cartridges, percussion caps. false teeth, corn-husking gloves, every imaginable When one of the portraits is properly identified it is re- ed on the paper space the same way with corps ols, ind_all sorts of other absur- very curious that Benjamin Franklin, the first Postmaster General of the United States, made record during eleven able packages One litte book of his It is rather interesting to note the photo- graphic illustrations of the primitive manner in which mails are carricd even nowadays in northern Michigan, where the function of the post is undertaken by dogs. The latter in teams of six draw sledgos, carrying iB - trash of | jo, t sort is thus designated. All of it is care- young men in the opening room before the letiers or yes are sent upstairs to the young ladies, repossessing female seated upon a cotton Bule'te to te removed from te half dollar, quarter and dime. Plaster casts of the patterns evolved will be submitted for spororal to the director of the mint and the Secretary of the Treasury, and, as s00n as they have been pronounced satisfactory, dies will be made, and small change of new und lovely mold will thereafter jingle in the pockets of the people. No alteration is to be made in the gold coins, because they are really exquisite now and coul upon. It is realized that the money of a nation is expressive of its art culture. Therefore, lest posterity imagine the present generation to ave been barbarous, it is desirable that our silver pieces should be as handsome as may be. It was for fear lest posterity should suppose ustohave beon heathens that the motto'-In God we trust” was put on United States coins. The idea was originated by a Pennsylvania clergyman named Watkinson, who also sug- gested that, instead of a pagan goddess, the ob- Verse should bear an all-sceig eye, with a halo around it and a flag below. “*This’ will relieve us from the ignominy of hgathenism,” he said, the view of future anYiquarians.” Secre- tary of the Treasury 8. P. Chase took the prop- osition into serious consideration, finally #e- lecting “In God we trust” as the best form for the legend, which appeared first in 1864 on one-cent and two-cent pieces. COmXS ISSUED BY PRIVATE IXDIVIDUALS. The history of the issue of coins in thiscoun- try by private individuals and companies would make very interesting book. When gold was struck in North Carolina a man named Becht- ler started a mint of hich was abolished by law in 1849. Hulf eagles, quarter eagles and one-dollar pieces issued by him were largely circulated in the south and west. Al- though of honest gold they were about 235 per cent under value on an average. About the same time Templeton Reid coined gold in Georgia. He moved to California in 1649 and minted eagles and twenty-five-dollar pieces on « considerable scale. Many companies and re- fueries in California and elsewhere made a # of striking gold coins during the exme Ps Naturally there was a great temptation to make these coins under weight and of infe- rior fineness. The Mormons in Utab issued eagles, half eagles and double eagles, which bore on the obverse an eye, with the legend, here was more holi- Quantities of 25- nd 60-cent gol were likewise manufactured at San Francisco, the former containing only about 6 cents worth of the metal and the latter 12 cents worth. Eight years ago a lot of these were taken over to Germany and circulated there, which elicited a formal diplomatic protest from that government. The private minting business was finally put a stop to. Where a face is used on a piece of money it is always in profile, be- cause the cameo is morereadily struck with the die in that manner, and, if a full or three-quar- ter face was represented, the nose of the gen- tleman or lady would get damaged in circula- tion and produce a ridiculous effect. Alumi- num hus been suggested as a material for coins, but there are objections to it. It always has a greasy feel, due to the presence of a slight but Unavoidable film of oxide of aluminum over its surface. Besides, one fifth part of the earth's crust consists of it and, if a process for extract- ing it readily should be discovered, such cash might be reduced within a-few days to about the same value per weight as brickbats. ee eee Not Entirely Cured. From the Philadelphia Record. An entirely new parrot story is going the rounds and is being told at the expense of an up-town minister. The reverend gentleman having intimated some time ago toa friend that he would like to have a nice parrot, the friend procured one for him. Everything went along smoothly for a while until the bird be- came accustomed to his new home. Then the parrot's tongue became loosened and he began to swear most inably, much to the horror of the clerg: fe latter iminediately, sought his friend and told him of the bird’s grievous fault. The fr suggested as @ remedy that the clergyman swing the bird’s cage very rapidly through the air several i “That would settle him,” he said. ‘The next time the bird offended the minister did directed. Then setting the cage down again awaited the result. The parrot looked sur- prised fora minute, then said: “Whew—w— ‘hat a ——- —— breeze!” bird was sold for a nickel. ——~oe—____ Home-Made Ice Creams. From Harper's Bazar. It is just four years ago that we bought our ico cream freezer. and Iam safe in saying that no similar purchase has ever given so much satisfaction in the family as this. It has been way a good investment, for there is ely a week in the year that we do not use it, and I would be glad if I could influence other housewives to appreciate frozen deserts as highly as they deserve. ‘They are not nearly so troublesome to prepare as is popularly sup- posed, and, regarded from a hygienic stand- point alone, they are a great improvement upon many others which are common upon our tables. Ihave experimented with various rules for Frenc! creams and have found a combina- tion which gives excellent results and which hag the advantage at the same time of being ithin the means of almost every one. This is not a characteristic of many rules. I havé one, for instance, which calls for “four quarts of very rich cream, two vanilla beans,” and eggs and sugar in proportion. My rule is a simple one. Put one pint of milk in the double boiler with a piece of vanilla bean about one inch in length. Cream together the yolks of four eggs, half a cup of sugar and tworound- ing tablespoonfuls of flour until very light,and stir gradually into the milk when it reaches the boiling point. Allow this to cook about ten minutes, stirring frequently. Add a small acer of salt, and turn into # stone dish, beat- ing at intervals while it cools. This is to pre- vent it from forming into lumps. When cold. add one and a half pints of cream (or rich country milk) and half a cup of sugar. ‘This may be prepared early in the day and kept in the ice box. If a larger quntty is de- sired a quart of cream (or milk) and more sugar may be used instead of the above pro- portions, the foundation mixture being the same for both. Care must be taken in measur- ing the flour, as too much is sure to taste. The spoon must be rounding fall instead of heap- ing—about one ounce in all. sure and use the vanilla bean for flavor- ing, as it is quite impossible to make a good e cream with vanilla extract. All large gro- cery houses keep them, and I think it would be quite possible to have one or more sent by post to any place where th re not obtainable. They are long thin p which sell at 20 cents for one, and as only an inch piece is used each time they will not be found expensive. Before freezing remove the bit of pod, care- elf scraping all the seeds into the cus- tard. One of the features of French ice cream is the tiny black seeds scattered through it. Prepare the ice by pounding it fine ina conrse strong bag and use rock salt in the portion of three pints for a gallon freezer ecan in the center of the tub, with 6 is t it 8 1 the crank a few minutes, and firmly eadvedly peobes “If oieat at it irm! ly of used twonty minutos will serve to cream. the your bent, you bad better come and. get ‘tter. is $20 in it for Bob, letter. There is §: ie won't i. ld hardly be improved) ice is | 04g! ‘Written for The Evening Star. THE CURIOUS IN EPITAPHS. Some More Unique Specimens of Mortuary Literature Culled From Many Cemeteries. WOULD BE OF LITTLE USE TO SEEK for anything curious in the way of mortu- ary inscription within the precincts of a mod- ern city cemetery. Anything of this kind must be sought for in the resting placés of bygone generations, or in out-of-the-way spots where Modern civilization, so calied, has not re- duced pertaining to the customs and mode of thought of the people to the dead level of the commonplace. An artist or a poetiof crade ideas, and with no hampering fear of the proprieties or of prece- dent before his eyes,§ may, in perfect serious- ness and good faith, achieve results that, to the average beholder, are startling. Pecaliarities of person, of calling, mode of life and manner of death all find their record upon headboard, slatestone or marble. From their character it is evident that hands other than those of loving kindred have sometimes had to do with these i the im nt of the last A MINER'S TRIBUTE. one of the old California mining camps. One can imagine the comrade of the unintentional suicide wrestling with a dull jackknife, » board and a limited knowledge of language; whose weakness along of grammar was compensated for by an enrnest desire to do the right thing by his dead mate, and an equally strong desire thi there should be no misunderstanding as to th fact that the kind of pistol and not the aw: wardness of the man’ was to blame for his taking off. At tne end the moral sense asserts itself, und the rude artist adds what be recalls 45.0 Bible phrase as a sort of benediction: “In memory of Wicrlent deat neat tis spot 48 hundred ant Afty too. He was abob by his own prstil Tt wae uot one of the new kind mits cid fashioned brass Garret And of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Any one would recognize this es coming from the neighborhood of Gloucester: “He's done a catching cod And gone to mest Lis Ged.” Boston culture asserts itseif even in the line of elegic poetry, as witness the following upon the headstone of a deceased artiaan erected many years ago in one of the outlying towns of that city. Asa guess one would say that the services of the town schoolmaster bad been called in to prepare a fitting tribute to the de- funct glazier, for certainly no one elee would Luave been equal to so scintillating composition as +Precarious dealer: death, alas? Has suapt iu two life's brittle clase, Keun Was the di'mond on the ‘And well t y Are puity'd up in moter clay. Dating = century back and not far from Marblehead, Mass, the following ambiguous epitaph may be found: th this stone my wife doth Me, ow at rest and so am I.” md and been the author of the following atrocious epitaph upon the gravestone of = carpenter, which goes back to the ret years of the present century: *"No wonder he sawed For long he wae atn)all short life's space, ing man.” ON A DEAD Doctor. One recognizes in the lines following the bitter hostility of the old school practitioner againg. the disciples of Hahnemann, whioh evi- dently dates back to a time when a diploma was not a necessary part of a doctor's equipment: “Here lies at length, though length not long, Pills, wares through little towas, oF ills, For curing m - This dapper doctor was so small, So smail his suzar pills, ‘That aii bis patrons iooked aghast ‘To see his inonstrous bis. Deaths cut bi so sone.” Had the redoubtable Scotsman mentioned below lived half tafe to predict that be would, in some manner, William, and, with the rest of that famous body of giant grenadiers, have had his life made muserable by the never-endi drili and the rattan of that erazy old king. It can be found in all Edinborougk eliurch Fards, aud is as fol- lowe: om Mcrhersom He stu. 6 feet 2 withont bis shoe, “And hee we At Water.o0- The exacting demandsof rhythm and the bold way in which they can be met is well exempli- i the following, from a Manchester, Eng- land, churchyard: ‘Here lie the remains of Thomas Woodhen, ‘The wiost auiabie of Eusbanie and excelientof men. s:'B."Hlis nase was Wovdcocks cut it wowda't come in rhyige.”" An attempt to economize labor and space on the part of the marble cutter deprived Ann Martin, who #leeps in a little churchyard near Neweastle-on-Tyne, of half her legacy of praise by destroyiug entirely the sentiment of the bereaved husband's tribute. For “crown” the thrifty workman put the following: “She was 3s. unto her husband.” There is no mistaking the calling of the in- dividual over whose remains is recorded this Bu! be got upon a tare ‘er cuough to cusy.and swear, ‘And the fadians raised his hair In Colorado. ——_~-2- —__— He Had Looked at the Chimrey. From the Kochester Democrat and Chronicle. _ He was a sharper. You could see that in his eye as he strolled up Alexander street the other night just after tea time, and as he stopped in front of a house near the intersection of Gard- ner Park and, leaning against the fence, struck up a conversation with the gentleman who was sitting on the porch smoking and who was, unmistakably, the headwf the family could see it in every attitude and moveme: iow long since you've looked at your chim- he asked of the gentleman on the porch ina confidential manner. The person addressed was evidently a trifle ‘How long since I'vo looked at my he repeated in an inquiring tone, glancing at his wife, who was seated near by, and then at the stranger, as if to assure himself that he bad understood the que: aright. “Yes, sir,” said the questioner, smiling with the confidence of a man putting'a poser, “how Jong. is it ainee you looked af your chimney st? ‘Well, now, I don't just remember.” “T bet you don’t,” said the stranger triumph- antly; “but own up now, ain't it at least two years T dare say it is.” “Three years, mebbe?” “Perhaps. “Well, now, do you know that 75 per cent of all fires in private houses have in defective chimneys?” "I wasn’t aware that so great a—” “Of course you weren't. And probably you don't know that the soot that collects in a chim- ney contains the germs of cholera, rheumatism, typhoid fever, smallpox and ——* “Dear me,” said the lady, “John, perhaps we me, ought to have our chimneys looked at.” “I believe we had if ‘that this man has told us is true. He——” “Do I look like an untruthful man, madam?” said the stranger, taking off his hat and mak- ing a bow to the lady. “Indeed youdo not. And, John, I think you Ring ge ve Al Here, man, take quarter Sag ey gers a it the stranger interrupted him. “Never rind, old chap," ‘he said, as he started off the street. “I looked at your chimney as came up. Tra-la-la. around for me ie =| P. jen you have a fire. So 80 long.” flourished ‘sista aba glided mocdiy 0 ——— A Faring Song. O, tired little mariner, * Yeosnol Y ‘Unto the strand of Slumberland ‘The following comes from the graveyard of | the century or #0 earlier it is | e fallen into the hands of old Frederick | Hi ‘WON HI® BRIDE aT Last. Prank Stanselle Surrendered Her toa Rival Years Ago. When Prank Stanselle surrendered the woman he loved to another because he was poor and the parents of the girl frowned upon his suit he did not expect that after sitteen years they would meet to love again ander condi- tions more favorable to the fulfillment of their desires, says the New York World. Frank Stanselleand the woman he wooed, won and relinquished in Chili to many years ago are now in the city, and in October they will be married. Stanselle is forty-three years old now and bis bride « few years younger. Theirs was indeed a romance. Stanselle bas been a newspaper man, lecturer, publisher and theatrical manager. In 1874 he 8t. Lonis for Old Mexico, where his ven- tures were successful until be was induced to take a company of strolling plavers to South America, He was evon stranded in Santiago, There Stanselle made the acquaintance of INTER-PLANFT SIGNALING. A Woman's Prise of $20.00 for the Peron Who Shall Find » Way From the Chicago T) French mun bas Bequeathed 100,000 frunes to the Acedemy of Sete to be given asa prize to any oF o shall discover any means of communicating with anot Mars was sugg: most « venient heavenly body on which to make the experiment. ition may seem ridicalous, but re so than the idea of James k, the founder of the Lick Observatory, versed in starry Ie itis not any m Li ay of this project. earth from th H. G. Lansing of Bath, Eng., who was traveling widen tn to top ning ccletinenn up with his family. Lansing became interested in be cee nent vale bo euinat the young American and introduced him to his a? ws ee Wife and danghter. With the Intter Stanselie | ()S"" 0° un ae Pfomptiy fell in love. Mary Lansing accepted | Sater fe, im and an engagement of marriage re a lo the moon is 6 this by 2,000, th jase, and you en Lot the pan object mus more than an I have made the mc after the young people had overcome the objections which Mr. Lansing at first made to match. Btandelle, whose fortunes improved under the patronage of the rich Englishman, began to associate with the young men about town, telescope rth wide or thick to dot. to one of whom he introduced his aftianced. | 20%, 1 haves vm He was Don Alejandro Rodriga young | tows an boat Spaniard, whose father was, and still is, a | joy” must be periect, citrate nate. Rodrignez was twenty-four | “'S'/,P° object ot thick 0 bo Zeare old, bandsome and well bora. Not being | 005 from the earth on the nee, au sware of the engagement betwoen bis friend | D2.) make ie 200 fee Te eat would te and Mary Lansing he also succumbed to the ms g tllecgeedy ese charms of the young English girl, with whom Atypical he fell desperately in love. He loved with the 7 cearan Passion of his race, and at once offered himseif einen arm Semen to Mary's father. ‘The latter was pleased, and 2 a taaaie. thee after a stormy interview with bis gut be changed. ‘to be in estraight line, The ma@in the SECU K these pie ron tentions from her betrothed, be forbade the | /¥° m0 J : 74 Sree from bec ate tuaght conclude that there weve intelligent be- Stausclle, however, was not eo easily dis-| (060 00 watt aud ates ny yeme Posed of. The girl loved him and an elope- | PONE INK igual to the “oe ment was planned. At the last moment, how- red P » the attempt to deter ever, his sense of honor prevailing and realizing | Po“Powterous would 7 the sacrifice he, penniless, homeless wanderer, | U80 wiretier the sete we otul, telescope Bow im P ng for an intervis in the rg of te tg + S Presence of the woman he loved he renounced | "tt, Man ied ye yan then Manan the ail'claim to the Englishman's daughter and re- belion—the distance is in round numbers 35, leased the girl from her engagement. 000,000 of miles. It was not long after Stanselle’s sacrifice Take halt this distance and | that Alejandro wes formally eccopted cs the 0,000 as the nunaber of yards the | suitor for Mary Lansing’s band. In bis j size of anu object im Mare that could be seen that distance with the naked « ye. Divide this by 2,000, the power of the biggest you have 5,750, the size ot the Be rushed to his friend Stanseile, to whom he told the story of his love. Rodriguez was guiltless of intentional treachery and Stan- luest object plainly discernible at such @ selle, with tears in his voice that Alejandro | {0 eet plainly a did not understand, wished bim godspeed in peney thy Non telescope. Thus is equal te suit. an tank Stansell was best man at the wed- ing. Since he saw the woman he loved married to been “Au object -u the planet Mars could be per- ceived asa little jarger than « dot with the aid of tho largest refractor, and under the most favorable, in fact absol: ly perfect, a ie Stanselle bas rover, He mospheric and other condiuous, if wes Sve in 1800 oe ee ee ee eek Staten, 20 | mnie im diameter. Thee to when tho plant © Me Laide, mattied in Omaha, Neb., and took | nearest to us. On the other hand, at test time his bride to South Americs. Mra. Stanselle ce uothing on the eurth could be discerned from Mars, because the eurtu would be im line between the two and in the blaz sun's light. An ink Would have to wait in some other part ite orbit, the distance between the earth Would then be many times as 1 Perihelion, So it would be necessary to con- struct au object to be discernible on the ear from Mars, say twenty miles in dusmeter might be circular iu form. Uther stu not inferior in size would Lave tu be erec distances of not less than <s 1884. About a year Stanselle visited his mother in Leadville, Colt He remuned longer’ than be bad planned, and, combining business with pleasure, he endeavored to interest American capitalists in the large South American proper- ties he had acquired. He advertised in various newspapers, among them those of this city. Within the week after his advertisement ap- red Stanselle received a letter bearing the New York postmark. It. was from Donna Kodriguez. The donna did not wish to invest in South American Pp ty, but she did want to tell her old lover of w life Her husband each other. ‘Iheu, after these had re had been dead two years, having been taken | tor a time, their relative post taybt be ill with consumption in Paria, where the couple | changed. hes bodies, molec 0 be clearly had lived since their marriage. The announce- setgeren & ment was also made that Mr. Lansing had been dead many years, and that the widow was with- out encumbrance of und kind, her only child, girl, having died. Two nieces. of whose edu- cation she has charge, lived with her. Donna Rodriquez came to’ America because her mother wasan American woman, related to a well-known New York family. Stanselle at once replied to the letter—this was only a few weeks ago—and the old love was revived. There was a proposal of mar- | ringe, a quick acceptance and Stanselle came | east. arriving in this city on Tuesday, July 7. fe engaged rooms temporarily at i0th and Greenwich streets, where be met his old sweet: | heart, older by sixteen years than when he had relinquished her to his rival, but just as lovely in his eyes, which were those of @ lover oguin. And this is the story of their romence, which has ended so unexpectedly and so happily. Donna Rodriguez is living with relatives on West 105th street and her lover has taken lodg- ings near by. Some time in the first week in October they will be married and Stanselle will take his bride to Buenos Ayres. After settling up bis business there they will return to the nited States to settle in Washington. iguez is wealthy and Stanselle is rich. ——+e-—___ NOTHING CHINESE IN THIS. An Old-Time Examination fora Place on the Boston Police Force, From the Boston Globe. It wasa queer sort of civil service examina- tion that Edward H. Savage, who bas just been appointed chief probation officer for Suffolic county, was subjected to to test his qualification for a position on the Boston police force forty years ago. His name had been sent in with those of other candidates about a week before the time of the occurrence which is related below, but for a reason to him unknown noannouncement had been made of favorable or unfavorable action upon his application, He wasaloue gloomily brooding over the annoying delay one day about noon time in the dining room of his house on Prince street, hen there entered the crack member of the force, in sical power wes. ‘The visitor was Jauses Kimball and combination of nature and quired, their distance from eacu other, the necessity of changing their places to cate to @ aman in Dlars that these lun structure the result of inteilgent are not ral phenomena. The sum be queathed by the Frenci nun may be seen to Greatly inadequate. The Acad at Paris may for this reason refuse to accept the bequest. If the sum were otfered fo prize essay on some plan for accomplisay communication With a sister epbere it would be more reasonable. “In all the above computat: be forgotien that all the favorable, the aunosphere tive positions of tu conditions bappen it must not THE ESCOKTED GIRL, She isan Interesting Creature and You Like Mer Ways. From the Boston Home Journal. These are the days when the escorted girl i Prevalent. You can tell herataglance. The girl whose brothers are accustomed to take her about bas an air of good fellowship which is unmistakable, She isn't the escorted girl having ju but not having y rned for @ certainty that she is worth wills. Sie has the consciousness of suspecting that man ix her natural prey, but of not being certain that sue will get the chance to devour him. She enjoys the sen- sation of being “desired without the full knowledge thut the desire will grow by what it feeds on. She focls her power, but does not quite know how to use it. Sbe tries it, but with «slightly timid manner, She bas not yet gained confidence. There is usually an open attempt to please in ber manner, which draws marked attention to ber. It is while she is in this state that ehe gives away more of her real nature than she ever does li And it is while she is in this frame of mind that «be comes under the head of the girl i have beem noting lately and for lack of better tion have dubbed “the escorted girl There are women. I find, who never get be- was a about equal parts of good muscle. yond this stage. There are girls of suggestive Kimball and his wife boarded with Mr. and | Somituitioe ei lize. all “that they ‘Mrs. Savage, and the friendliest relations ex- Posusias Sar: pond co men pow ‘They never grow sure of their rights, never wear them with nuthority. This class of women is not uncommon. J recollect them in my youth. ‘One often made great efforts to be made a uainted with them and never ¥ farther. hey are often prettier than less attractive giris, but, lacking reality, pir ing to the imagination. "Femininity is bard to classify, however, and there is as much differ euce of opinion about it as about religion. ively asked Mi ‘im, ir. i Fe Rad ‘I hear a good deal about it,” answered Kim- ball, with a smile. “1 Tukey says the little squire reports you as a broken-down man. “Cine aquire wee a man on the force nai jpurr, who made tions ra . special investiga: ‘The marsbal sent me down to try you and T'm here to do it. I've come to test your fit- ness for the position.” Be Ay bave, og) ay remarked Savage. “Well, 'm fair has got along so far, for, to tell the truth, I'm sick and tired of wait- for Experienced farmer (who happens to be passe| tag tap wen Fou wank her to go jist give| her taila twist.”