Evening Star Newspaper, October 3, 1891, Page 11

THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, D.C. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1891—SIXTEEN PAGES. 5 PER, U) CT Tomealeee A PEST OF HUMANITY. The Epidemic of Fleas Which Has Attacked Washington, HABITS OF PULEX IRRITANS. A Scientist's Opinion of the Jumping Biters and the Best Means of Getting Rid of Them— Where They Most Do Congregate—How the Fleas Multiply—Ineffectual Schemes. F MODERN SCIENCE HAD ONLY DE- I Voted iteelf to studying the flea with a little of that assiduity displayed by the flea in his or hor physiological researches there would not be in Washington today a thousand speckled rem- nants of profane humanity intent on destroy- ing every available specimen of that agile and Prolific torment known to entomologists as pulex irritans. There are some entomologists who bare tried to pince themselves en rapport, as it were, with the situation, but these are very rate. The average student of bugology gloats tirelessly over the form of an insect which never troubled civilization and goes into un- controllable raptures when in possession of a cockroach that died when Rameses was running ananti-straw brick yard with slave labor, but he never troubles himself about that nervously acrobatic product which will, unless the remedy is speedily applicd, feast luxuriously upon those distinguishe? divines who compose the Methodist ecumenical conference. O. Howard of the Agricultural Department loves astrange bug with all the warmth of his enthusiastic nature, but he is not narrow-minded and does not regard th flea as beneath his notice, so he consequently ECIMEN. Rostesses, interesting information about those dancing dervishes of the insect world. This is somewhat strange, for nearly all the flea litera- tare in circulation now is from fifty to reventy- | five years old, and inthe period that has elapsed since ‘the Inst standard work on this moving subject appeared the character and | phymcal nature of the flea have undergone many of those changes necessarily consequent | upon new associations and climatie eccentri- | cities. | CAUSE OF THE FLEA ErIDEMIC. “The extraordinary abundance of fleas,” said | Prof. Howard to a Stan reporter, “is, I have no | bt, due to the extremely wet weather which as been such @ marked feature in the meteor- ology of 1891. You may recollect that in 1889 there was also anexcess of moisture and an jus of fiers. There can be no question t fleas develop more rapidly when there idity and heat than at times when the weather is dry and cool, and to this fact we must look for any reasonable explaration as to the invasion most of us have suffered from. Fleas lay their eggs in the dust in floor cracks, and.if that dust happens to be damp and worn, the larve become tleas with surprising rapidit, Each female flea lays from fifteen to twen eggs, and in about three weeks these ones, or the active principle in each, goes through the intermediate stages to full fleahood. No’ pose a couple of ordinarily active fleas le and female—should start to raise a family in the house your family vacated when it was time to go ‘to the seashore or the mountains. ‘The processes would not be interrapted by sweeping or other household disturbances of a hygieme nature, and in three weeks a score of fail-grown fleas would be practicing ‘standing | broad’ jumps on your carpet or matting. The | next brood would be as large proportionately, | and when the third generation came around it | | Now, | NDER AND PROFILE VIEWS. clothes they drop off to the floor. The females eed to lay a few eggs and then, that solemn | duty having been performed, they follow the males in a hunt for the owner of the deserted Garments. It ia not absolutely necessary for reproduction of the flea species that adult fleas should have any food at all, but the chances are that the number of those who go hungry is exceedingly small; I would 0 judge | because of the complaints we have received from flea-bitten mortality. When the insects | do feed they always select a warm-blooded ani- | mal to operate upon. The irritation which fol- | lows the bite is testimony to the effect that the | secretion of the salivary glands is poisonous; to what extent we do not know, but I think we may know more in a little while, for we are go- | ing to pay some attention to the flea and its savage ition. So far as my experience goes the best local application is diluted am- monia, | j HOW TO RID A HOUSE OF TIIEM. “How can you rid a flea-infested house of the pests? Oh, there aro lots of recipes. My ad- | vice is to throw the house open from top to | bottom. Get a big atomizer—a bellows built for such work—and spray every inch of the floors with benzine; use it on the rage and carpets thoroughly. Then tet the frosh air Go0D FEEDER. have a chance. Do not allow any other light than daylight in the house for several hours after the spraying is over, for the benzine is peculiarly and dangerously intlammable after cing atomized. ‘The odor may remain tor some little time, but the fleas are gone. They will not literally have taken their departure, but they will be dead; likewise the larve. And the eggs? Well, they will be spoiled sufficiently to admit of their use as tributes to Jas. Owen O'Connor's tragic abilities. ANOTHER REWEDY. “Some people cannot use the benzine—tho odor makes them sick—so to these I would recommend the use of the Culifornia-grown ‘buhach;” it is fresh. Foreign powders lose much of their vitality during an ocean voy- | age. A sufficiency of bubach, properly puffed | around, will discourage any combination of fleas. The powder will not kill immediately— the insects may be from twelve to fifteen hours | dying—but it generally gets there. Give the | strongest flea one whiff of buhach and he is a tim of “that tired feeling:’ he is quite willing to be awept out with the powder. Yes; I think we will make a specialty of fleas before | next summer. If we do we will give to the i | | ublic a volume that cannot fail to be in- nitely more popular than the famous ‘horse cent of the | book.” Not more than five | human ra sonal inte VARIOUS SCHEMES. While the flea plague was at its height—and ‘there be those who insist that it has not yet subsided—numerous remedies were suggested, orally and through the public press. Some of these remedies were all right under certain circumstances, but they could not be made universal in their application. One ingenious mortal who may or may not have had an inter- est in booming somebody's fly paper said that piece of beef laid in the center of a sticky fly paper would attract nine-tenths of the fleas on the premises; that is the beef would do the at- ‘THE UPWARD LEAP AND POSITION OF LEG AFTER THE Leap. tracting while the mucilage managed the rest. Several sufferors tried the scheme and a few of the crowd reported results. In no instance on would be numerous enough and vicious enough to disturb the equanimity of 2 Job. “Wouid be « good thing to destroy the eggs? Certainly! If the eggs were smashed there could not possibly be any fleas. Did you ever see a fiea egg? No? Well, so that you may be able to recognize one should you tind one in your boudoir let me say that a flea egg ix | about one forty-fifth of an inch-long, oval-!| cylindrical in shape and white in color. “Does the flea hatch directly from the egg? No. The first product is a worm-like grub ebout six-hundredths of aa inch in length. Each grub is composed of thirteen distin segments —here is a picture of one—and has — “Whiskers,” suggested the reporter, looking | at the capillary adornments of the grab in the engraving. ACTIVE GReRs. ‘The professor explained that hairs were not | necessarily whiskers, and then went on to state that the grubs were very active, twisting about in all directions. When fall grown the worm ‘was abont one-eighth of an inch long. Before it outgrew the “grub” stage, however, it spun & hittie cocoon, ‘Iter it underwent te it such a formi- of mankind and animals. casionatly a tlea would graduate, &s 18 were, withous the aid of the cocoon, but | such cases were rarc. VARIETIES OF THE PEST. i “How many varieties of flea are there?” | repeated the professor. “There are a great many species: The human fica, the dog flea, | the eat fler, the chi flea. the mouse tes, ‘the bat tlea and the «quirrel tlea, to say nothing | Of those fleas wiieh find shelter and subsistence | en the bodies of wild animais. MEAD OF CAT FLEA. “Most of the feas I have seen this summer ‘Were either cat or dog fleas, and while their Batural habitat is not the human form I must eay that they adapted themselves to the changed Giet and conditions without any evident em- ‘ut or discomfort. HEAD OF DOG FLEA. “These cat and dog fleas are notes large as | The woman others of their relatives, but they are large | “im surroundings and shivered. enough for all practical purposes. The largest | “alone Tasid "he British species will be found on that noiseless | “Yen,” she murmured. little animal, the mole, but these fleas are| A faint light in through the great smaller than the flea which dorives its support | windows in fron’ with dust, i from the Australian porcupine. “Where are we?” she whispered and shivered WHY THEY INFEST BED ROOMS. ‘as the bat dashed into her hair. “Why are fleas always more aumaerous in bed | “Listen,” he replied hoarsely, “we are in Tooms than elsewhere? Now you do not really | Te know that that is so because you are, as a rule, | wetter protected when in the lower rooms and | cannot, therefore, tell whether there are many + fleas oa your gurments or not, but even if it is . fe it ean easily be explained. You have been | Picking up tleas ail Jay long aad when you dis-| robe at night the fleas mir you. | been ruecesstul it could on! | column record did any one catch more than two fleas and ture of these was explained by | showing that the fleas were following the bare- footed experimenter across the floor when they landed on the gum-smeared sheet. In another case a hot-tempered Pennsylvania avenue merchant was so interested that he arose during the night to examine the paper. While moving in the direction of a gas jet he stepped | on the trap and im response to a vigorous kick for freedom pound of raw steak smeared itself allover a cheval mirror, and, after up- setting a bottle of cologne, slid into an vpen drawer on top of a clean dress shirt. Nota flea was damaged, but when the dingusted man’s wife had scraped the paper off the dis- | gusted man’s foot she had to go over his anat- omy with a whisk broom before he was flealess enough to return to bed. Even had the beef and fly paper combination iy be used to’a lim- ited extent. Many a chorus girl in the theaters would have given a week's salary for a chance to scratch one out of seven or eight itching places beneath the tights she wore. What would beefand fly paper avail under such cir- cumstances’ . Asarule men did wot suffer so much from the plague as did the women. When one of the “irritans” family lit on a man’s spinal just below his shoulder blades the afificted one could scrub his back against the | nearest door frame or awning post without losing any great quantity of social prestige, but there was no such relief for the woman, She had to walk right slong, smiling here and there, while a newly fledged flea was endeavor - | ing to insert his proboscis and force-pump just | where he could not be reached withont cantor: tions that woul girl. Do you sup; listen calmly toa tion? J2 be worth $100. week to any pore that young Indy would f and fly paper proposi- a DESOLATION. A Spot More Deserted Than the Dismal Swamp of Virginia, From the Detroit Pree Press. “At last we are alone!’ It was the man who spoke. ‘The women trembled and lifted her eyes to his face. They were beautiful eyes, but they were tremuious eyes; eyes which look out froma heart which is irresolute, fearful. He stamped with his heavy foot upon the floor of the room. The echoes brought back in their invisible arms the sound and let it Fipple out again until it struek the walle once more and fell into the vast void of silence. A bat, disturbed by the unusual activity, darted from corner and blindly dashed in eccentric convolutions about the dusty build- Great r of cobwebs hung down from the ceiling. and across the corner of the room dead flies swung lightly in the hammocks the spiders had fastened there. ‘The dust rose in listless clouds from the shock of the neary ‘ond sank again, overcome by its own inertia. does not advertise. Boston Girl (with enthusiasm)—“Whatis your tion of been, Mr. "t samira nm, Mr. Cahokia? Isn't he grand, St. Louis ¥ oung Man (taken at some disnd- Vantage, bat in good shape )— *‘He' | Corket’ Miss Howfastee “wees nee -ctowe mere of the fact that you are not in your | pitching for wow!’ —Chicago Tribune, WOMEN OF THE SOUTH Points About the Sexin Our New Sister Republics. SOME CURIOUS DUDES. ‘The Lives of South Ameryican Women—Their Ways, Their Dress, Their Amusements, Their Religion and Their Beauty—Love ‘Making and Marriage—Control by Priests. Written for The Evening Star. HE LIVES OF WOMEN IN SOUTH AMER- ican countries are about as different from those of their sex in the United Statesas can well be imagined. To begin with a girl has no liberty at all until she is married. She cannot 0 out unless accompanied by a responsible Telative or by an attendant. If she goes shop- ping in the family carriage, the goods are brought out by clerks to the sidewalk and exhibited to her for choosing. Every morning she goes to church, followed by a female servant, who carries « small prayer rag. This latter is very necessary, inasmuch es she must kneel for worship on ® stone floor, which is usually damp as well as cold. Even after she has become ‘* wife her movements are hardly loss watched and restricted, the theory among these people being that a woman is under no circumstances to be trusted alone. It must be said, however, that in the Argentine, which is a progr nation, things are very different in this ard. There ladies, single or otherwise, have much more freedom. Whereas in the other republics they grow up in ignorance, save for a few ac- complishments, such as music and embroidery, and the country of which it is ey are well educated, being taught by governcsses up to the age of eleven or twelve, when they are sent to Europe to be “finished.” Thousands of them are dis- tched every year for this purpose to Paris, ‘deaux, Marseilles and other cities in France where there are great boarding schools, ‘THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEX. Those who have visited South Atherica assert that the women of Bueno’ Ayres, Montevideo and Santiago are incomparably the most beau- tiful in the world. ‘The well educated among them speak French and English as well as Spanish, and are fine musicians. [hey follow the Intest. Parisian fashions, and the gowns of those who are well-to-do aro all brought over from France. There are no better dressed women anywhere than are to be found all over South America. All their outfitting is im- Ported from abroad, even to the silk stockings which are considered among the necessaries of the toilet. No such market exists elsewhere for elaborate and costly underciothing. Al- though the women have very small fect, they wear the highest-heeied French shocs to make them seem more tiny. ‘They lace also, and the use of paints for the complexion is unfortu- nately “prevalent. Their beauty is touched with the darkness of the Moor, and, ulas! it fades early. At fifteen years they are of mar- have lost their good looks nearly alw: From that time on they grow fat in x mother way. Jewelry, and plenty of it, is always a pas jon with them. A voluptuous style of loveli- ness is most in demand, and blondes are reatly admired on account of their rarity. For some reason unexplained the Yankee schoolmistresses who have charge of most of the schools in the Argentine are, as a rule, of light hair and complexion, and it is said that the number of offers of niarriage they have is Well-nigh fabulous. Strange to say, a majority of them exhibit no inciination to wed the Spanish dons, apparently preferring their in- dependence ‘and the €160 which their labor commands monthly. LOVE MAKING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. Love making in South America must all be done in the presence of the girl's family. At all events, in the absence of an immediaté rela- tive adueuna or attendant must always be on hand to do the proper. If « young woman were left aione with a man for as much as two utes her reputation would be gone. When an goes to call he never asks for the lad; it wouid be considered a mortal insult, euggest= ing an assignation. So what he does is to send his card to papa, und if the latter is not at home he leaves "his compliments for tie Indy | and retires. Papa, if at home, invites the vie- itor to take a glass of wine and calls in his wife or daughter. A few years ago the United States minister to Venezuela wax an eccentric old gentleman from South Carolina, odd in his ways and even grotesque in his manners. A oung loafer about the legation wrote a tter to a newspaper ridiculing his pom- posity. upon which the oid fellow. isened s ukase to the American colony com- manding that none of its member: should any more receive socially the offending youth. Nevertheless, a lady of Yankee birth, whose husband was a Venezuelan, invited the young man to dinner. The minister at once went to eee her for the purpose of protesting. She got angry, but the wrath of her spouse at this infraction of etiquette knew no bounds. He sought the minister with a shotgun and would have killed him on sight had it not been for the interference ot a good-natured Irish- American named Patrick MeGarry, who culled himself Sonor Patricio Magarrie. The offend- ing diplomat was obliged to make the most elaborate apologies, which the Spaniard printed in fali, together with ull the correspondence on the subject, not only in the newspapers, but on large posters, pasted up on every dead wail in the city, adding some very pointed comments on the liberties of behavior permitted in the United States. . MARRIAGE ARRANGEMENTS, All the love making must be carried on through a third person. Ifa youth desires to marry he does not speak of it to the girl whom he wishes for a wife, but to his own father. The latter, if he approves, gocs to the father of the young Indy and the two discuss the matter together. Ench tells the other what he will do for the young folks and between them acontract is drawn up respecting settlements and all such things. The intending bride- groom is not permitted to vee his fiancee alone for a moment before the wedding. As soon as that event has taken there a wed- ding breakfast.and usually without the formal- ity of « preliminary tour the couple settles down to living either in an establishment of their own or more.often in the house of the ronts of the bride or the groom. me drawback about marriage in South Ameri is that = in taking =n girl to wife it is apt to be considered « matter of course that the young man marries her whole family also. He bas no occasion for surprise or diegruntlement, if, tggether with his bride, fifteen or twenty peSple come to share his household and domestic comforts, in- cluding all her available relatives and their servants. These Latins are a very clannish race and a father is apt to be willing to adopt a raft of sisters and cousins and aunts, not to mention a mother-in-law, rather than have his son or daughter leave the family roof. It is due to the strength of family attachments among them that hotels in South Amorica are only for strangers from afar; the natives always find hospitable entertainment among their kindred. 1t is a peremptory rule that a marriage must always be announced a long time in advance. A short engagement would be considered scandalous. On the night before the weddi it is customary for the bride to go to a chur. dedicated to Saint Mercedes, there to receive the sucramont, after confessing und being ab- solved from her sins. It is best that she should go thither in her bridal dross, which is blessed by the priests and sprinkled with holy water. A pretty eustoun often followed tsfor the young woman's gitl friends to sprinkle the bridal with roses. Invariably the is solemnized in tho evening and usually itis followed with dancing, singing, wine drinking and an uproariots time generally. ST. MERCRDRS DAY. The St. Mercedes referred to is the patroness of maidens, and on her day each year all the girls assemble in chureh to receive the sncra- ment. On this occasion they write their wishes on pieces of paper, inclose them in envelopes and drop them into a box provided in the sacred editice for that Tingeable age and before they are thirty they | whispers: “Isn't she a beauty?” “Here's the queen of the walk!” murmareathird. Perhaps ‘ou suppose that the women are offended at be- ing thus sddressod "by thess mashere, Ir i a for en: ‘greatly. — in fact, the pe FR ae they rer have a chance to listen to. Ladies from other r cottutriee do not aed much. Not very long ago tho scrawny daughter of a Yan- kee sh Was BO Outraged in her feelings at being spoken to in this admiring way by a fashionable i in Buenos Ayres that she Promptly one of his eyes out with her parasol. SPANISH MORALS. Notwithstanding the strictnoss with which ‘women in South America are guarded it does not appear thet their morals are exceptionally high, although asa rule they make good wives and mothers. The function of the duenna is rather to protect the reputation than to pre- servo the chastity of the mistress. A very different view is taken of wrong-doing between the sexes in theeo Latin countries from that which prevails here. It is always held in such cases that the man is not at fault, but that the female culprit is wholly guilty. since he would not have sinned without her assent. A Spaniard will kill his wife, perhaps, if he discovers that she is unfaithful, and tho act is usually con- sidered justifiable; but ho may at the same time remain on entircly friendly terms with her lover. In Uhili women who have sinned and repented wear a garb of penitence of white cachemire, with white shawl over the hend and covering the face. This costume is called the “manda” or vow. One sees such penitents not infrequently in churehes. where the white- robed figures come in and kneel silently, look- ing very pictarosque. Yomen do all the religion in Sonth America, Of the men it may fairly be said that they believe in nothing. If they had their way the riests would ail be driven out of the country, ut the latter are too atrong for them, backe: hey are by petticoat faith and influence. Nevertheless the control of the priesthood in these republics, which was formerly well: absolute, has been to a great extent done away with. ‘Ecuador still remai pinetically colony of the pope's. Both it and Bolivia are ruled wholly from the Vatican and the clergy ing, governing and making the ve the Roman Catholic are excluded from the country, and a legal_enact- ment forbids the importation of any book with- out the sanction of the Society of Jesus, Not long ago any Chilian lady who chose to marry a Protestant was obliged to subscribe €200 to an asylum for fallen women, as if she partook of their disgrace. ‘Twenty-five dollars being charged for a marriage—n very large sum for a or man tosave—the lower classes have usually meed with any ceremony, contenting themselves with the condition of concubinage. It is reckoned today that 75 per cent of the children born in Ecuador are illegitimate. ‘THE WEALTHY ARE OF IDLE HABITS. South American women of tho upper class are,as a rule, of idle habits. When notat church, where they spend a large part of their time, they gossip, read French novels, fan themselves and eat candy. ‘They are great con- sumers of confectionery. Very little exercise of any sort do they toke. A family of three persons will ordinarily have « dozen or more servants, while a household of moderate size may keep as many as forty @r fifty domestics. Each one has something in particular to do and will not do anything else. One sets the table, but another must clear away the dishes, while a third is expected to wash the things You hire a servant, and the latter brings his or her entire family asa matter of course. On the other hand, wages are very low, and_ the hire- lings ent little. Two cents a day will supply one with enough fried bananas and cakes of ground corn, called tortillas, to live upon. For such domestic service the native Indians are employed. In Brazil, however, it is the negroes who do the work, while in the Argentine Italians and other foreigners are employed in and about the household. In Buenos Ayres every family that can afford the luxury keeps aFrench cook. A curious custom ii these countries is for all the servants to be present at most formal dinners, perhaps to the number of score or more, all dressed in their best bib d tucker and looking on merely for the pur- pose of enjoying the fun and listening to the conversation, MILLIONAIRES PLENTY. In South America one is struck with the fact that pretty nearly everybody seems to have plenty of money to spend. The very beggar who asks one fo> alms upon the highway rides horseback, wears a top hat and carries a silk umbreila.’ When two mendicants meet the exchange the most elaborate sulutatione. one saying to the other, “Senor, my posses- sions are ull ut your disposal.” "Chey merely beg for a living because they are too lazy to gather for themselves the necessaries whic! ature sapplies for the plucking. It is a coun- try of millionaires, who are as plentiful in Rio and Montevideo ‘as blackberries on ab ‘Lhroughout the Argentine are scattered great baronial estates, owned by rich planters and breeders of horses and cattle. A typical one is the Estancia Tay-tay, fifty miles from Buenos Ayres. The distance is nine leagues from the entrance to the estate to the family mansion, and it takes all day to ride across the property, which ineludes 200,000 acres. ‘The owner is an American named ‘Pierson, who acquired the whole business together with the hand of an Argentine lady. In Brazil the wealthy men are mostly coffee planters, but all the large fortunes in that country have come originally from ‘slaves, being handed down from prietors of ‘or deulers in such human chattels. South America is undoubtedly tho place which just now affords the most inviting prospects for energetic young men who are Auxious to make fortunes. Of all the republics the Argentine offers the best opportunities in this way. Two things are absolutely requisite, however—some capital and a knowledge of the language. It is ustonishing how few people there are in the United States who know any Spanish. ‘The bureau of the American repub- lics not long ago had the greatest dificulty in securing tho ‘services of - few men. who could-read and write in that tongne. In the Argentine there are millions of a occupied, the climate is delightful, there are no cold winters and :attle wijl live without housing all the year around. If commerce be preferred to raising beaste a few thousand dollars judiciously invested in Yankee products, which are wanted down there, quickly multiply themselves. Only a short time ago an enterprising Philadelphtan thought of taking @ cargo of ordinary kitchen cook stoves to Buenos Ayres. ‘They went off like hot cakes and he made a fortune by the venture. RIGID LINES OF CASTE. Although merebants in South Ameri high in the social scale, trade, in the keoping is looked down upon. | Nowhere world are the lines of caste drawn more sho in rigi ‘A new comer must be provided with unexceptionable letters in order to necure en- trance into soeiety in any of the cities. In Rio two great balls are given each year by sub- scription. They are very exclusive and are at- tended by from 2,000 to 3,000 of the people who are most unequivocally in’ the swim. Supper is served ali the evening at buffets in rooms Joining those used for dancing, and the guests go in and are helped to what they want in the way of wine or edibles atany titno they wish. In Buenos Ayres the two great balls of each season are given by the Progresso Club. AS on the festlve occasions described in Rio, the Argentine ladies mostly wear Worth gowns specially ordered from Paris. No refresh- ments are served. These are the only enter- tainments of importance given in"South Amer- ica. Perhaps this is fortunate for the chape- rons, whose feeling of responsibility for their charges at such times must be very acute. The maiden who is waltzing must be watched lest perchance she is being too tightly held and if a Young comple should disappear for a moment ehind a curtain the officiating dragon must be ready to pounce upon them without a min- ute's delay. — — of South ag eae ~ the finest in the w An opera house is at present going up in Rio which will be the most gorgeous =s complete, in existence, | In that country Pay more money to actors an haingers. than managers. iu. the United States can afford to give, consequently they secure talent for their play houses such as we do not is is yoncan oy. ‘Astor the rely ze ee hike ever, See om hoe Nee Sones sre, Sgking pores oro now bin ntodtend i Komen, iy romney ely cy ie Aemtinn ou te penie marly Relatives and friends meet at the house of the recently defunct and com tary resolutions describi: the virtues, &c.. of the deceased. ‘The death notices are every in welling is turn With ite ace to the wall, il all the fu- nerals are farmed ont. One man has a contract to bury all the people who die in Rio. There are six classes of burials from which a choice can be made. For 1,800 you can havea funeral of the first class, which is very swell indeed, with » goid and ‘silver chariot, fancy casket and all sorts of gorgeousness. The cheapest burial costs only $5. For that sum the corpse is put intoa bor, hung beneatn an axle beneath two wheels, conveyed in that way tothe cemetery and dumped out of the box into hole without so much asa pra: : of the family gather in the house for a feast and drink the health of tho new born. At the baptism, which takes place in church, it 1s ex- ted that small coins shall be thrown by dsful to the peopie ontside. The guests are expected to bring. presents, such as orna- ments for the child, toys and rattles of silver and gold. Among the men of South America morals are Usually very loose indeed. Often a gentleman who basa family of his own will support other establishments without concealment, and the fact will not be considered seriously to his dis- credit. Often, even in good society, ladies of reputation will not hesitate to be -on intimate terme with women who are in fact kept mis- tresses, Offenses against virtue by women are readily condoned and forgotten asarule. It may be said of the men of this Latin race that they have little respect for the gentler sex or for female chastity. They spend most of their leisure time ut their clubs. Gambling is with @ passion. It is 8 vice that stimulates languid southern temperament. phen scien “WAVE ONE WITH MET This Phrase te Heard Less and Less, Year After Year. ‘From the Cincinnati Commercial Garette. There is loss dissipating among the men at watoring places than is generally supposed. in fact it may broadly be asserted that there is less dissipation among American men than there wasin the past, and furthermore, it grows less and less year by year. All the work of the temperance fanatics and prohibition cranks who would revolutionize humanity by legal enactment is as nothing compared with the influence of growing eelf- Fespect, education and better breeding. No éne but the professional pessimist or the demagogue fails to recognize the fact and it comes about through a higher average of gen- tility im the better sense of that ill-treated word. As long asmen are men they will eat and drink and have fun, but there aro gradations in the process, from the bummer who falls in the gutter, or the savage who fills himself with firewater and raw dog, to the gentleman who, ina cafe, takos a drink in good fellowship with some friends, or in his club or his home eats his dinner and comforts himself with a glass or two of wine in pleasant companionship. Intoxication becomes more and more dis- graceful. Among the better classes of men the visiting of public saloons and the standing up drinking at bars is falling more and more into disrepute. Another strong influence to this end is that tho drinking habit, even in moderation, counts so sharply against a man in the business affairs of life. “Is he a drinking nan?” is one of the first and main questio Nn with whom any bi jation is proposed: hea drinking man?” “is he a married 2” are the two questions always asked by any business man or firm concerning @ pro- posed employe or associate. ‘This no doubt tends to hold many a man to paths of sobriety who perhaps has not enough self-respect todo so. They can't indulge be- cause in a business sense they ‘can’t ufford re In old times drunkenness was not considered disreputable umong the “gentry.” The great man was the “four-bottle man” and the hero of the occasion at a drinking bout “uuder the table.” All this has not entirely disappeared— not by any meane—fgr habits and human na- tare do not change inaday. But there cer- tainly bas been a marked alteration for the better. Tne man who in an assembly of gea- tlemen at dinner or elsowhere gets drunk makes himself obnoxious. He is not applauded; he ts not even pitied. He is condemned and his company fought shy of thereafter. In other respects men’s habits are improving fhe country gets older and rieher and time is had for travel and cultivation of amenities. — ‘Temperance Laws in Germai From the London Times. The Reichsanzeiger publishes the text of a bill for the repression of drunkenness, which will be laid before the reichstag on its meeting in November next. Even ina state 60 essentially police ridden as Germany the megsure is a drastic one, much more so than any corre- sponding legislation in England. The bill is accompanied by along and exhaustive expose des motifs, containing such statistics as the government believe justifies ite introduction. he bill consists of twenty-three clanses. The first clause detines the position of « class of licensed dealers somewhat similar to the Hicensed grocers in England. Such dealers may not sell spirits in less uantities than half a litre. Succeeding clauses deal with the retail dealere. It is pro- posed thet, so far as possible, these dealers shall be under obligation to rupply food ne well as spirituous refreshment, and, further, that they shall not be permitted to seil liquor before Sorclock in the morning. ‘They shall farther. more do all in their power to hinder the abuse of spirituous liqnors. By clause 9 no spirit dealer shall be permitted ‘to sell spirits to any person below the age of sixteen years. They are forbidden to sell liquor to any visibly drunken person or to any person who within three years has been punished as a confirmed drankard. The spirit dealer is bound to see that dranken persons are conducted to their dwellings or handed over to the cure of the folice. “He is further forbidden to supply i iquor on credit. One of the most drastic clauses of the bill is that which lays down that people who, on account of their drunken habits, are unable to manage their affairs, or who by their conduct threaten to bring their families into want or to endanger the eafcty of others, may be placed under a guardian, and this person, with the consent of court, may Bisce his ward in an asylum for inebriates. Even in eases where the guardian does not exercise his rights in this respect the court may intervene and order Lis committal to such an asylum. The ining clauses are taken up with the specifi- sation of the punishments to be inflicted for a breach of the foregoing clauses. ‘This bill is not the first of the kind which has been laid before the reichstag. In 1851 a bill for the repression of drunkenness was intro- duced, but failed to survive the committee stage.’ The present bill is largely modeled on that of 1881. It has received the earnest con- sideration of the emperor, and will undoubtedly in the reichstug have the support of the gov- ernment. The radical party, however, deciare that the present legislation is amply sufficient tocombat the tendency to drunkenness, and sanounce their intention of opposing the new ——_—_+eo —___ ‘The Tompernment of Genius. From the London Globe. An eminent litterateur, who, like, other jour- nalista, seems in the season of the big goose- berry—the season, too, described Ky a leading publisher as the dullest on record—to suffer from lack of matter for his monthly gossi; has raised, apropos of Mrs, Ireland’s new book, the old question of the celibacy of writing men. He says to the matrimonially minded in, “Don't marry a man of genius.” 80 and on much the same grounds bas the anthor of “Virginibus Puorisque” spoken. To quote tice of letiers is him, pract hurassing to the mind; and after an hour or two's work all the more human portion of the —-~ extinct; he will bully, backbite and But the @iffer. A day or two agol was to one of the most eminent and busiest Tasked him what most enjoyable. at work,” be hesitation. nervous without a moment's it not make ans) “And does table’ tes world afte, Mareyyeee font Ceey overt world of me, ‘ROW you go Away every without offering to kiss me.” moraing s soon ou Gov cnx Meant dae galt te uaa JUPITER AND THE MOON. A Few Facts in Regard to the Present As- tronomical Exhibition. DIFFERENCE IN DIAMETER BETWEEN THE Two PLANETS—VARIATIONS IN HEAT AND LIGHT AND THEIR RESPECTIVE DISTANCES FROM THE SUX— ILLUSIONS AS TO THE MOON'S DAILY REVOLU- Troxs. HE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS BASED Upon the theory that a little knowledge (of astronomy) is not a dangerous but ® safe and profitable thing. Every one—even the doge—has seen the grand celestial exhibit afforded nightly during the past few weeks, and it is gratifying to know a portion of it will be “on the bills” for a con- siderable time longer. It is a pity, however, that the show has been and always will be free, ‘the | Since theaverage human appreciates that least which costs him nothing. The present aspiring rival of the moon in brightness is Jupiter, the “giant” among the eight planets, and which is nightly visible in the cast. He is celled in Brillianey by Venus alone and greatly ontranks Sirius, the most brilliant of all the millions of fixed stars, The earth's distance from the sun is 92,500,~ 009 miles, and she tray- erses her orbit in a year, but Jupiter's average distance from the sun 483,000,000 miles aud he requires nearly twelve y‘ to complete his enormous circuit. The eter of our “hig little” globe is some 8,000 miles, but Jupiter proudiy boasts of a diameter nearly eleven times greater, to wit, 86,500 miles. ‘The accompanying figure exhibits the relative magnitude of Jupiter and the other planets as Well us oar moon. The earth revolves on its axis once in twenty-four hours, but Jupiter, despite his great size, turns on his axis once in every nine hours and fifty-five minutes —a speed ter than is attained by any other planet. is surface ares is 119 and the bulk 1,300 times that of the earth. or more than ail the other | Flanets taken together. |. The solar light and heat on Jupiter are only pore yay ute g as intense as om the earth, yetitis thought to be hot by reasen of con. densation of its mass. Untike onr poorearth Jnpi- tor is well attended. having four lange mtellites SF moons, discovered by Gaitleo in January. 1610. Their distances rafige from 262. | 169,000 miles, and the largest has a Of 3,600 miles and the amaiiest 2,000. } bree of by moons are bright and the fourth dark. | With an opera glags one may readily «dis | tinguish them diligently traveling around the mighty orb, in periods ranging from forty hours to sixteen and two-thirds days. whata grand spectacle it would be for behold one dark and three bright n | around us at so enormous a speed. ‘ ception ataless distanco in space than our own satellite. But we may cousole ourselves ae GQ Faris Onint O~ Moons oreit C-—LZartra & - AToon Moos Piet around the Earth and Sun | that our planet is after all not so badly off, for Mereury and Venus have no satellites and far- | off Neptune but one, albeit dim Uranas boasts | four anc bright-ringed Saturn eight. | We will be ns & neither poverty nor riches—in the matter of mere number of moons, and stoutiy maintain (until better informed) that our i right ing St IN THE RAILROAD CAR, Things That Influence Bachelors to Remain Single. RAILROAD SELFISUNESS—THE WOMAN WHO HAD TWO TICKETS—COMING HOME BY EUNDREDS— WHEN A JOURNEY 18 DISAGRERABLE—BABIES AS TRAVELERS. 66] CONGRATULATE YOU,” BAID A writer for Tux Stam to a young man whom he met on the strect Inst week. “Congratulate me? How?” “I hear you are engaged.” ‘No, I'm not.” Why, that’s strange. Somebody told me you had owned the soft impeachment.” “That's just the trouble,” said he. “I don't consider it a soft impeachment. Shall I tell | You about ii? Well, I vory nearly was engaged, but I went away afew days ago, and coming back met a number of families returning to Washington from their summer country resi- dences. 1t was about 9 o'clock in the evening. Thé weather was hot and the railroad car wa: crowded. The cOnnubial trials that I saw on that car were too many for me, so I just backed out in time from my engagement, and behold I am still w free man. I know I have lost a good deal, but at the sme time I think I have escaped a good deal more.” WHEN A JOURNEY IS DISAOREEABLE. This young man is selfish, there is no doubt, but it cannot be denied that a journey under- taken with three or four tired, crying children, a canary bird, a globe with gold fish in it, a flower ‘pot, a velocipede, a lunch basket, a dozen or so umbrellas, several sacks, a. nurse or two, six newspaper bundies without handles, » pussy cat in a basket, beside a score or more of lesser articles—it cannot be denied that a bachelor seeing a party of this kind on a ilroad car congratulates himeelf upon his condition and doesn’t relish being con- gratulated upon a prospective change of his condition. RAILROAD SELFISHNESS, The railroad car is a great place for manifestations of selfishness anyhow. First of all there are those individuals who persist in occupying an entire seat no matter how crowded the car may be. They stretch _them- selves and spread themselves and will continue todo so whilea woman stands up. Nothing will make these wretches move except a severe threat from the conductor. Even then they | grumble and growl. Sometimes they put asnt- | chel alongside of them and sometimes they serenely inform a passenger who is about to take the vacant seat that it 1s engaged, thereby showing that they are not only capable of great meanness, but of perjury as well. “Won't'you please move up?” said a gentle- man on his way home to Washington to one of these individuals the other day. “No!” growled the man. “You can take some other seat. “But I want this one.” * “Well, you can't have it.” The Washingtonian didn't take another seat, nor did he cail the conductor, but being rather quick of temper he seized the selfish man who wanted to bully him by the coat collar and jerked him into the aisle. “Now,” he said, “go und find another seat yourself or I'll throw you off the platform,” and be looked quite capable of doing it. A WOMAN WHO SPREAD. Everybody in the car expected a lively set-to, but a mean man isapt to be @ cowardly one, and this fellow slunk away into another car. But when it is a woman that keeps a whole seat to herself it is a dificult thing to do anything with her. “The writer saw an instance of this recently. e was portly, not to say rotu: and ee er aryl pee of nature Joma} more room than the usual man, but she was perfectly able to com erself within « .reasonable aren, if she chose to do so. On the contrary she preferred to spread. She kept her seat until there were two people in other seat in the car and several men standing up. When the train was pretty near Washing- ton another portly woman boarded it. took a rapid glance over the field and made directly for the only vacant The men in the,car looked on, for there was now going to be an interesting encounter between Greek and Greek. The portly female who had just got on smiled upon the portly woman who spread over the seat. < guess I'll sit veg said grew “ youwon'tdo any such « thing,” said the other. J ¢ “I won't, won't I? You'll see if I won't,” and down she sat balf on the seat and half on the other woman's lap. at a lively * ing” match was about to cnsue scomed ‘more. than One ., and | ape ae offered to gp cgped in original oceupant of thought her more solidly bai versary. Nevertheless, as new comer was on top. i ai it Ff iat i were alii would be in his clement traveling: for, it will be remembered, he waa Nery fond of talking with strangers, wisely ro | flecting that if they knew more than he they would impart useful information to him, and that if he knew more than they he could teach | them. An ordinary passenger conch offers a | fine field for this xpecivs of intercourse. There you will always find the individual who insisis upon talking and the individual who insists upon maintaining silence. There are the two men who form an intimate acquaintance &. few hours, exchange cards and never meet again.’ There is the young man who is bent on “making a math, and sometimes gets kicked for his pains. ‘There is the other young man who helps a female in ais- | tress without any sinister i nd thereby, perhaps, meets ‘There 1s the “traveling man,” whe knows everything, hns | been everywhere, brags, boasts and in reality jdoeen’t know anything. There is the modest | man, who will not talk at first, but who after- ward developes into a well-informed and agree |able companion. There is the Englishman, who has rags, bags, hat boxes and sticks all | clustered about him, and there is the country- | man, who travels hundreds of miles without 60 | much as the smallest gripsack to keep him com- | pany. There is the man ina Scotch cap who ps all day long and the colored clergyman in a tall silk hat who can'teleep even it he wante to. There is the baby that cries—oh, what a | horriblo endless wail—and there is the young | child that plays in the passageway and | friends with all good-natured passengers. In | short, every type of humanity cun be seen in a railroad car. , THE HOME Comma. Just now the trains that come into Washing- winter homes. It was secing them that made jarticle renounce ali thoughts of matrimo: | hot infant in his arms for an hour or ti | would not be pleasant to most men, but is ai bie to the man to whom the child longs? He reully seems to enjoy it, and hy fans away the flies, and maybe @ lula’ softly below his breath. It ix hard, though, to have to do for a little while what his wif> docs all the time. If there are three small children and no nurse she has two on her lap and he has one. If his child cries he hands it over to its mother at onee. If they want water she gets | Up and brings it. Ali the time he reftects that | he is a most exemplary husband, while she never thinks she is doing any more than is her simple duty. When they arrive in town he shes off to his office and loaves her to decide | how to dinner ready without a cook, how to get a house to rights and hunt for a cook and housemaid at the same ti It is agreat thing to be a man, a great thing to be a bach- elor and to travel’ without cares, and not bad to be a married man to shift all the domes- tic cares upon your wife’s shoulders; best of all itisa good thing to be abl to. growl, There @re some married men who shirk the trouble of transporting « family home altogether, and even go away from the city in order that ‘they aay escape the | ugreeableness of the house is put to at it isn't creditable to them to de this. sig —_ He Was Against Boating. From the Detroit Free Press. A young fellow on Hastings street is a mem- ber of a boat club and his father is dead down on that sort of business. Yesterday he struck the old gentleman for £1 for duos. “What the mischief do you stay in @ boat club for?” he asked in no very good humor. “Why, father,” exclaimed the youngster, “it is a nice club and wo are going along tineiy. “Yes, but father, within a week past we have rowed in two races and won one of them.” “So I heard,” snapped the old man. “Ii first one inst the current inthe and Jou fowed ngninst the bank and stack there. t'g the kind of races you row in and you make me tired. Here's your §1 and I hope it will be the last one you ask me for. co A Paper-Money Parasite. From American Notes and Queries. A few years ago quite a sensation was created in Europe when a medical man (in St. Peters burg, I think) drew attention to the unseen dangers lurking in the mouthpieces of public telephones. ‘More recently @ Prussian doctor has found (60 « Trade” says) it seems wae noon ooeetet han ast A timid man, living alone in the outekirts of the city, has hit upon a novel device for scaring makes | ton are loaded with families returning to their | the young man quoted at the beginning of this | He shuddered at the prospect of carrying a | it} you agai: beat it halfs mile in two hours. The next one | | the solar aystem. (That the Romans gave her that name —perhaps because she te roguia:| “full”. and that hence come our English ter lunar and lunacy is well known |. Her dime is 2.100 miles and hence (ae the maser of jobes are proportional to the cubes of their pameters) she has but on rt nth of the magnitude of the earth. seventy-mul- liouth that-ef the ameter ie hile ber face area is about one-fourt the earth's (npon the pring ciple that the s sof globes v equates of their distances). voking thing that, from exce tace to the 2 only consolation left us is that abe is impartial and no flirt, exhibiting her beauty equally to all that return bor bright glances. She accomplishes this result by rotating on her own axis once a month im exactly the game time as Cceupicd by bee revolution around the earth. Her velocity averages 2.287 miles an hour or 3.300 fect per second, but as she accompanies the carth in the latter's cireuit around the sun which is at the rate of thirty times the above she has two motions and on the whe must be re garded ase fast traveler. ‘The accompanying cut shows her path relative to the earth and enn. How few even we educated perso: that, while eho to travel from west, in the snes from West to east. bis Gllusion is, of from west to iT night i time: and. as the inclination of her axts to the plane of her orbit is very slight, it follows that the sun shines nearly equally on ctive poles and that pere while the days af LADY WOLSRLE) Another Charmt American Lady at Home in England. The beautiful old demesne of Wolecley, sare writer in tue London Lady's Pictorial, liee faraway from the busy haunts of workday London, hidden behind its own thickly wooded lands in penceful Staffordshire, sheltered on one side by the sylvan fastness of Cannock ‘Chase, and still further evironed by the gently flowing. rippling, brown waters of the River Trent. Very few families, even in England's annals, how 0 ancient a pedigree or bonxt such an unbroken descent of land and title, reaching back consecutively for clove one Wousand years, Sir Charles Michael Wolseley, the ninth baro- et of the line, succeeded his father, the late only a lad of eight years old. . he was born a Catholic and was educated at Downside and Oxcott colleges, and at Christ Church, Oxford, Some years while in Rome, he met Mist Anite Murphy, the eldest daughter of Daniel Thomas Murphy, e6q.. of San Feanciseo, apon whom lis holiness the pope had iat. terred the title of mar- hi & slight acknowledgement of Mr. primes benefactions to Boman charities. The acquaintance led to friendship and speedily to an engagement and marriage— & marriage in every’ way = Mie Murphy was not only very pretty, extremely well educated, amiable and charming, but sie was also a devoted and practical Catholic, and | from the first regarded beautifal old historte Wolseley with an enthusiastic affection, second j only in degree to that of ite jegitimate and lineal possessor. pearance Lady Wolk is cg face, a trifle In personal Times slight’ and. tall with s mobile full of expression, though at sad or introspective. Her hair, which eight years ago was golden brown, is now quite Silver gray, and adds a carious piquancy to the youthral lines and curves of the face be- neath; her eyes are blue, earnest and some- | what lative. In manner she isa little reserved and shy, but very courteous; in con- versation direct’ and to the point, with an | undercurrent an excellent musician, not only on the forte, but on the dram. Lord Wi was who gave her the smart little regi- mental “tom-tom” that occupies the place of honor in ber boudoiry and be delights greatly in seeing and hearing his pretty kine Woman's performances thereon. One of the prettiest pictures I know of her represents her as a “drummer girl,” standing archly “to | order” under the great cedar trees, preparatory to beating the reveille. She is, moreover, @ Past mistress in the gentle craft of needlework, |an art but little practiced nowadays, ands most devoted mother to her two delightful | fair-huired baby boys, the oldest of whom, the | little son and heir, is ealied Edrie, in honor of Lis brave Saxon ancestor of that name. ~~ 000 Shakespeare's Knowledge of Insomnia, Paris Letter to Philadeiphia Telegraph. Touching upon the question of insomnia, Dr. Charcot, the great specialist, made a remark | Which was not only interesting in itself, but | which proved his thorough eequaintance with | the works of Engle Greatest dramatist. “It is curious to note,” he remarked, “how focl- ingly Shakespeare dwolis on the question of sleep, not only in the famous passage of ‘Muc- { beth.’ bexinutug “Macbeth hath “murdered in many other i cdot one thas s ccliebten of | the death of the great y the vast mental strain consequent on the production of his marvelous work, and in that case insomnia would certainly have formed. I resumed, one of the symptoms of his eondi> tion, “Great genius,” remarked “ie almost invariably the offshoot either mental or physical.” the case,” I responded, “ who lived to be past eight i sturdy asan oak.” “But you | that he came of « family of response. “His brother daughter isat this moment the ssylum for lunatios.” — * es He Learned Life's Lesson Marly. From the Irish Times. A little grand nephew of Prince Bismarck was. sitting on the prince's knee one day when he suddenly cried out: “Oh, uncie! I hope I shail’ be great man \ i