Evening Star Newspaper, October 24, 1891, Page 11

—_— THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON. D.C. SATURDAY, ee — ee THE TALMAGE TA though he vs robert yy extemy times baltingly. were well worded, and“there was no more delightful talker im private. I re- member a night I spent with him in St. Louis, Gen. Sherman was not well enough to attend my lecture, but he sent me a note asking me to come to is house after I was through. I did so and we spent a long evening together. “During this time he gave me ideasof the war I aver hedbefoce, dle went orer the whole of it, criticising this man a1 and giving me much unwritten history. He uitered thi which, had they been given to an unscrapulous person, would have farnished big newspaj Sensations and would bave brought high prices in the literary newspaper markets. He was a most lovable man in his family relations and he had a gentle side to his character which was very charming.” THE WORLD GHOWING RFTTER “Dr. Talmage,” suid I, “don’t you think the world grows worse as it grows older?” “No,” repligd the preacher, “I do not. 1 think the world is growing better instead of growing worse, and I am in all things rather an optimist than a pessimist I often hear the mechanical inventions, the reap- ers, the mowers, the electric wires, the steam engine, &o., spoken: cf as the great wonders of modern times. ‘The greatest marvel to me of modern times ir the true Christian spirit which grows more from day today. Our greatest wonders are cur good men and good women. In the ages of the past there was one great philanthropist in half adozen centuries, and for the next ten or twenty generations be was the wonder of history. ‘Ihe people placed a hato around his head ‘and they worshiped him and wondered at him. Now we have a great philanthropist in every town and a dozen in every city. It took five hundred years to produce a George Peabody, Z BERNACLE. T. DE WITT TALMAGE. Interview With the Noted Preacher and Something About His Work. IN HIS HOME IN BROOKLYN. His Den in the Attic—How He Dictates and | How He Talks—Talmage as « Lecturer—His Ideas of Money Making and Preaching— Free Thought and Christianity. Naw Yorx, October 21, 1891. HE PaSTOR OF THE biggest church in the United States! ‘A preacher whose ser- mons are read every week in fifteen million families! An author whose books sell by the hundreds of thousands! A lecturer who is now offered $150,000 for a se- ries of talks! Anintellectual worker the gray matter of whose brain can produce from $500 to $1,000 « day the year round! This is the Rey T. De Witt Talmage, who stands before the people of the United States in as mony different lights as there are varia- tions of the human mind. To many he is sin- cere, godly and genuine. To othershe appears false, sacreligious and a humbag. If the for- wonderful apostle; if the latter he ie certainly most successful humbug, and in cither case he is by far the most interesting character in the American ulpit today. 1 called upon him at his home in Brooklyn the other day three ours of interesting conversation with hi Iwent with him over his great tabernacle and chatted with him upon many subjects, | DID NOT ATTEMPT TO BUY Mr. CALVARY. | and Peter Cooper would have been an impo: | bility in any other age than oure. That mai work is the wonder of modern times. His |institution has mothered a thousand other | institutions, From hisexample have sprung hundreds of free libraries, hospitals and schools, and the work of charity grows in an ever-in- creasing ratio as the times go on. OUR WoxDERFUL Wow “Look at the men and women of today!” Dr. Talmage went on. “There has never been such A gencration. Take our women! A few years ago soft flesh, a slender waist, a polite languor, 8 do-nothing air were the elements of the so- called beautiful woma: i themselves on being strong. The roses of health bloom in their cheeks. They stand firm upon their feet and swing thetr urins from the shoulder. ‘They have strong frames and healthy, well-trained minds. They are the apostles of physical culture and every town has its woman's gymnasium. It is the same with our young men. We are developing a stronger raceandabetterrace. Thisis true mentally and physically, The old saying that there is no royal road to learning is a thing of the past. action of its climate what our farmers spend great sums for to revivify their lands. The climate of Palestine is changing, the rainfall is increasing and at no distant dato the land will blossom like the rose. “How about Calvary and that story that you attempted to buy it of the Turks?” “There is no truth in that,” replied Dr. Tal- mage. ‘The very idea would have been absurd. ‘The Mohammetans will not sell their lands to foreigners, and there is a Mohammetan ceme- tery on the edge of the spot where Christ was crucified, and you eee it would have been im- powsible for me to have purchased it had 1 wished to do #@. As to that spot being the place of the ertcifixion, however, I have not the slightest doubt.” MONEY MAKING AND THE PULPIT. “Dr. Talmage,” said I, “you've been called money-making preacher. Do you think the making of money is incompatible with your profession? i “If the making of money were the chief end ” ‘bildren have such a road, and it is an as- of the profession, I would say ves,” replied Dr. | OuF < Talmage. “Andit it were nol entirely subor- | RUAlt pavement compared with the rough oe dinate and apart from it, I wonld also say yes. But when the making of ‘money comes entirely | “ ‘ from work that does not conflict with the duties | © school. Now they ery if they can’t go. I of the pulpit, and that in fact aids on the work | ea 100 children oye Soean parlors commie oe protenston. I would say no. During, SY | ecches oo high that our. feet Gangled ox ee a re ete my peeaebink =BE AY | Le abate tee Bias. Yi. tok wen! uct church the eupreme end of my wor! ave | : never made a dollar at the expense of my con- | spered: and the rule was one of terror rather srepetionsl bers, and Ihave never tried ¥0 | Seysopaned with prayer. ‘The teacher prayed. mals meaay fer Mensy aenke. | Thecppersent: |) Tn inaie wile hisfogece wren eile Renee in weak Nave Nate Senced Spe he) [css week Wa Upes mabe prayed ‘ant he Tags 4 is eyes on the school to see that the scholars reserved » decent reverence and, attention, When he saw one of us doing otherwise, he dropped his hand. suspended is prayer and come down and thrashed tho offender and then went back and finished the prayer. We had no music but the crying of the children when whipped. We had no drawing and our studies were of the most arbitrary kind, forced out of us in the most arbitrary way.” FREE THOUGHT AND CHRISTIANITY, “How about religion and free thought, doc- | tor,” said I. “The churches seem to be grow- ing more liberal every year. Infidelity is grow- ing in all religions the world over and the tendency seems to be the breaking down of all faith.” children had to be whipped to make them go “You are right in saying that tho charches are becoming more liberal,” replied Dr. Tal- mage. “We are getting closer and closer to- | gether every year, and religion is becoming more and more a religion of sympathy and kindness. We have thousands of real Chris tians now who hardly know they are Christians. ‘DR. T. DE WITT TALMAGE. “T have accepted them because in doing so I DR. TALMAGE’s HOUSE. } Dr. Talmage lives in a big four-story brown- | stone house on the corner of South Oxford and | Calvert streets, Brooklyn. It is in a good neigbborbood, and the house is perhaps the finest in the block. Passing up broad brown- stone steps, you enter a wide hall, the door of which is porcelain tiled in blue and yellow. A Diack walnut staircase leads from the right of this ball to the second story, and at the left, Just opposite this. isthe entrance to the parlor. is parlor is about twenty-five feet long, and there is another smaiter parlor separated from it by folding doors at the back. Jt contains a any curiosities as a museum. Beautiful pic- tures hang apon the walls and an old master in oils representing Christ casting out devils Bangs just at the left of the entrance. The floors are overed with Turkish and Persian Pugs, which Dr. Talmage picked up at Damascus at the time he made the tour through the Holy | Land, and there are swords from Cairo, tabies ! from Constantinople, rare basts from Italy and articles of vertu and curios from all parts of the world. The rest of the house corresponds with the parlors, and every article in itseemsto have a history. TALMAGR IX EIS DEX. It is in this parlor that Dr. Talmage receives his visitors. He is besieged with callers, and | though he receives almost every one he has to guard his privacy. His workshop is at the top Of the house. it is a big room, furnished in the ¢ manner and packed full of books. There are books on the tables, in the cases and on the r. Magazines are scattered here and there and the tables which take up different parts of “the room are littered with manuscripts, news- peper clippings and papers. Nota half’ dozen men get into this den during the year. Dr. Talmage restricts ite occupants to bimeelf and hie private secretary. The servants are not } | whom such business is done for me. They cannot be called inteliectual Christians, and the purely intellectual Christian, the Christian of reason rather than faith, 18 of little account in the world anyhow. He is an iceberg aud he isof good neither to himself nor to any one else. You speak of the growing inf delity among the believers of other religions the world over. The tendency of man when believe that Iam at the same time able to do good. Irefuse hundreds of offers for literary work and lectures because I have not the time to give to them, and if, as is often so, my prices for such things are called high they are forced upon no one and they are fixed in general, not by me, but by bureaus and agents through r If I would ld, I believe, have such engagements he gives uw the God of his fathers is for con net me $1, lay the yer through, }® time to Reliove in no God whatever, and I have now lying on my study table an offer}@2d it is only after a time that he comes around to study and believe in an- other religion. I believe that any reli- gion is better'than no religion, and I believe that the Christian religion is destined to con- quer the world. People are surprised that the church does not advance more rapidly. The; forget that the worl: has just beeu discover Our hemisphere is but a few hundreds of years old, and Columbus only discovered its shell. Asia and Africa have been practically unknown, to us until pow, and they are still toa great ex- tent undiscovered. It he same wi world in other respects asin its geogr one. We are just beginning to know it and ite possibilities. “Modern inventions are coming in to help us, and we are now ready for the first time to begin to work in earnest. ‘A STORY OF GLADSTONE AND LORD NAPIER. “You say the world is growing worse,” Dr. Talmage went on. “I tell you, the world is better than you think. There are spots of true Christian feeling and spirit animating the darkest parts of our darkest continents. I re- member an incident that happened not long ago when I was visiting the great English states- man, Mr. Glastone. We were at Hawarden. It was just after his cightieth birthday, and we wero out in his big park running together along the road. Gladstone called it a prome- nade, but he kept me on the trot to keep up with him, and he asked questions just as fast as he walked. He kept throwing sticks for his dog to run after and bring back to him, and he would jerk out all sorts of questions. '‘Do you see that fine sycamore there?’ he would say. ‘1 venture to may that you did not see any- thing like that in the Holy Land, did you?" At last the conversation drifted into this very subject of which you are asking, and Gladstone made the same remark that f have made toyou, and illustrated it with this story. Said he: ‘On this very spot where we are now walking Lord Napier walked with shortly after his return from Africa, and as he walked he told me the story of a soldier who had bad his leg broken in one of the skirmishes and who wus being carried back with the army toward home. “As we went on,” seid Lord Na- of $150,000 for a series of lectures. _I never leeture for less than €500 or 1,000 a night, and the latter is my regular price for the larger cities.” HE TALKS OF HIS Wonk. “Flow do you do such an amount of work, doctor? Please tell me something of your weekly labors.” “My weeks vary so that I can hardly do that,” was the reply. “I am engaged nearly every day to speak, lecture or preach some- where. I'm editor of the Christian Herald and write three columns a week for it. I write article a week for the Observer and every month I prepare anarticlefor,the Ladies’ Home Journal, entitled, My Study Lamp.” ‘Then I have my Friday-night talks, my regular vermon. my calls and my mail, which comes from ail parts of the world.” ‘TALMAOE'S BED ROOM. “How do you get your rest?” “[save time in every way possible. I nse stenographers in my work and dictate readily and rapity. I find my chief rest in a change of work, and the conversation at adinner party, for instance, gives me new life and vigor. i remember the New England dinner when Menry Grady made his great speech. [sat be- tween him and Gen. Sherman, and the talk of itted toclean it, and at long intervals only P'irs: Talmege sllowed in with ber dust brask. ere are no fancy booksin this library and the newest copies are torn and mutilated. In using quotation Dr. Talmage tears out the para- Fieve fo sich he revere and pastes them into Manuscripts to save the time of copying them. He does the greater part of his work by qictation. He dictates readily, and some of his best writings are taken down by an amanuensis at the rate of 150 words per minute. It was in the pariors that Doctor Talmage Feceived me, and I noted that the step with which he entered was firm and springy. He will be sixty years old in January next, but his hair is still brown, his dark, rosy face shows ‘that bis blood is full of iron, and he says be can eat his three square meals every day and enjoy them. His talk with me was full of bright sayings. It was perfectly unconventional ead simple. “It covered) a grect vatiety of sub- Jects and I only give a taste of its substance. PALESTINE AND THE Jews. Referring to the Jewish troubles in Russia I eked Dr. Talmage if he did not think that the Hebrews would eventually drift back to Pales- ting. He replied: | : “I don't think thé prosperous. or Europe ought to go back to Palestine. The Jand offers no field for their undoubted ability, snd they would be surrounded by discomfort and The future of Palestine, it seems to me, is not destined to come from the It is « field for the work of ail nations and I be- Hieve that all the ‘Unite in ite improvement. The lands between Jerusalem and the valley of the Jordan are as Darren as the plains of Colorado, snd in i eountry where only the sparsest of 4s seen on the hillsides and where the crop is made up of rocks. ‘fnese hilis, however, show evidences that the land was once @ garden. The Bills are terraced and you see signs of them Baving been carefully cultivated in past ages. I believe it will become a garden again. These weeks, which lie spon the ‘Gills — pla:ns of Sharon, where the Phillistines are lime stone. "This stone is disintegrating and becoming skeletonized. The lime ing into the soil and Palestine is getting by the / DRAWING R » “his leg got Tie ber he got into the ship. His only pt M. ‘and I saw thathe would | 1879 DR. TALMAGE’ 00 that night was one of the pleasantest of my life. It was aa effervescence elitir to my tired brain and I arose from the table won- derfally refreshed.” chance rte. ings | the divine, “the striving 24, 1891-SIXTEEN PAGES. this woman was a Christian or not I do not know,” added Dr. “or where she al her Christianity I do not know. I onl; now that her spirit was Christian one an. ant hone there brightly amid the darkest of ATTRACTIVE HOMES. White and Gold House Decorations Still Quite Popular. A SAMPLE BED ROOM. TALMAGE ON SENSATIONAL PREACHING. “Dr. Talmage, you have been accused of be- ing a sensational preacher. Do you believe in sensational preaching?” “If you call sensational ing,” ter striking effects ‘merely to astonish the people or to ‘create a gus, Hla wrong. But it sensational presching sensation arising from the presen! Its Effective and of truth, itisrighk ‘truth ie always surprie. Suetd stangeinente— ing, and saat reached it ought not to fail] ¥elewand Whitein Embroidery Now Much to create a sensation. The opponents of such preaching are often men who are as heavy in their remarks ass load of bricks. They are too lazy or too dull to rise out of the common- place and they often vogetate or die of the dry rot. You ask as to pul; it Oratory today. I’be- lieve that our preachersare improving in power an the world goes on. Our saminaries turn ont better men every year, and they will this furnish the best crop of young men in history.” ‘THE BROOKLYN TABERNACLE. Leaving the house we then walked aronnd the block to the Brooklyn Tabernacle. It is the biggest church in the United States and is one of the finest churches in the world Ite tower of red brick and stone rises 160 feet from the ground and its four corners have columns which remind you of the beauties of the Kutab Minar. Its entrances are of stone richly carved and it covers more than half an acre of ground. Standing in the galleries the scone below makes you think of the Coliveum at Rome, and the great organ which stands site you is one of the largest ever made. {t four banks of keys, 100 stops and appliances, and its pipes number 4,500, Dr. Talmagestands on a platform with no desk or pulpit in frout of him, and he addresses here an audience of 7,000 souls every Sunday. The church was al- most completed while Dr. Talmage was in the Holy Land. It was started after be left New York on that tour, and its cost has been up to this time $425,000. It is the third church which Dr. Talmage bas built in Brooklyn and it is a monument worthy of his genias. nk G. CamPEnTEn. | ——____+e+ —__—__ CHINESE DISCONTENT. Secret Combinations Against the Emperor and the Europeans, A correspondent of the Paris Figaro gives an interesting. and, in some respects, new view of the causes of the riots in China. Figaro with- holds the name of this correspondent, but sa: that he is a person who lived in China ina high official position, which gave him unusual op- portunity for knowing the truth. He says “The government established by the con- quering Mantchourians has been patiently tol- erated by the Chinese for six centuries, because this government was kindly and did not antagonize the interests of the conquered people. Since the middle of the present century the Chinese have been brought into closer contact with the Europeans, and the result has been that many changes have taken place in the reigning power. There have been levies of troops at the suggestion of Europeans, a navy has been organized, a diplomatic corpshas been established, ard’ indemnities have been paid to foreig robbed or assassinated by Chinese, who avow thesame distaste for our civilization which theirs arouses in us. To cover these new expenses China raised about 40,000,000, of which $3,250,000 went abroad. ‘his raising of money has increased the taxes imposed by the general government, and al- though these taxes have as yet amounted to led_among 400, 000,000 people, they ‘have yet exeited the live- Kiest hatred in the Chinese, who see themselves threatened with loss of their deares and with an inundation of Ew ‘This hatred has stirred the ancient unfriendli- ness of the Chinese people to the dynasty which conquered them. “Nothing could be more mistaken than the prevalent idea that China hag been unchanged through the centuries. Asa matter of fact, the few last centuries it has been revolution- ized from top to bottom, as, for instance, in respect to the ownership of property, which is now individual where formerly collective. “Secret societies have ® hold in China of which the strength of European secret socie- ties can give noidea. Since 1848 these socie- ties, of which the most powerful is the Cao- Lao-Hoce, have been trying to compromise the imperial government with the Europeans in order that it may be overturned, and that China may then go back to her ancient tra- dition of shutting out all barbarians. “The government, compelled to give head to popular sentiments, and, at the same time to give satisfaction to the loud clamorings of the uropeans, has resorted to deception. It has ing, in maintaining itself against inter- nd external threats, a diplomacy which has become proverbial for subtlety and prevari- cation. “The most stringent commands, issued with view to securing the safety of foreiguers, have been of no avail beyond that territory which is under the direct eye of the mandarins. And it not unfrequently happens that the mandarins themselves are in the closest sympathy with the secret societies which are working to the overthrow of the imperial government. ‘The government is remarkably weak in ability to raise money from the people and dares not avow it. Our greatest mistake in the last Tonquin expedition was in demanding $20,000,000 of China. It is possible to treat with China on almost any question except money. “In the face of the facts our only means of getting satisfaction for the recent massacres in the valley of the T ing aside the question of ind ourselves ready to sustain the ernment both’ with arms and with money. ‘This had to be done after the war of 1859, and had it been done beforehand the same results woud have been got without war, and at the samo time the Chinese government would have been strengthened instead of enfeebled. It is this very enfcebling which marks the birth of the present troubles. “Hf we take the opposite course and work against @ imperial government, we wil Basten ite dowulsll and’ Sad cameivesia the Presence of a rebellion which no power can stem. There are in China 6,000 Europeans, and western nations have a trade of 000,~ 000 with the Chinese. To go abont the busi- ness of settling things in a harsh way will over- turn all that has been done. ‘The Chinese have courage, soberness and | contemptfor death. To become formidable soldiers it is only necessary for them to make common cause against the hated foreigners. It is our duty to give them no reason for this and to show the government that its interest is our interest. In this way we haps pro- long the life of this dynasty until the new bute rents of ideas shail have changed the character of the country.” pres ES Sorcery. Avitch has flown acrons the flelds And waved her hand above the trees, ‘While all the blossoms droop, and die, Aud mouro the soft, south breeze. For late last eve the summer sta! ‘The leaves still danced in aaingy sheen, And pretty, climbing, fuffy vines ‘Draped ail the rocks with green Today on every spreading branch Brown, yellow, crimaon lead the dance, And o'er the rocks and bowiders gray ‘Strange Jeap and prance. ‘The evergreens were twined about ‘With Ivy's cool, dark spray; Today, like Name, it winds the trees ‘With scarlet streamers, gay. And swift against my cheek I feel ‘The autumn breezes play; A chilly touch, too well it knell ‘The summer's brief delay. ‘Tue fairies called tne south wind home, ‘The witeh, with magic f Has traced her colors bold and free ‘On each frail leaf and vine; HH He this time we came to a rade tent, in which an ‘walls, So. ond TALMAGE OX GEN. W. 7. SHERMAX. old African woman lived. I besought her te wy The conversation here took shoot into eyed ‘work- Sherman. Suid he: to do 80, and “I noted your interview with John Sherman she would not ofa week or songo. Y. looked up at ‘The world does not ki ‘don’t want hl tte ave Site forage Ad tues Sherman are is man they should be. Thad a close ae —ane himandI have many letters the sky—‘I bluffness and rugged good nature blinded We left to his extraordinary literary ability. His letters ‘Weether and is draped with lavender Used—A Neat Design for a Chair Pillow—A Rainbow Basar for a Fair, ———_ ‘Written for The Evening Star. HERE COME TIMES WHEN EVEN THE most attractive homes look far from that, and one such season is the eutumn, while the usual preparations for winter are going on and @ mild upheaval is in progress. A vague un- easiness fills the housekeeper’s mind while things are in the unsettled state pertaining to this time and a longing for the period when all will be in order and readiness for the long winter strain to be put upon all household furnishings and belongings. There is always so much replenishing to be done that it makes @ busy season for those who have homes and 9 corre- sponding relief when all is accomplished and the houses in order. WHITE AND GOLD DECORATIONS. ‘When the first fancy for white and gold deco- rations in rooms came about a guest room of a certain pretty house was beautiful in this style; although it is now several years since it was done, it still holds its own aud is such a pretty example of that particular combination that it may Tore de bea model where those colors are desired. The room is nearly square, with two windows, the outer walls being so thick that the low siils form window seats. The paper is pale buff cartridge with frieze in deeper tones and the wood work is white. A very Pretty white wood mantel is on oné siae wit facing and hearth of white tiles: brass andirons and their accompaniments set off the tiles, while @ white fur rug in front of the hearth makes a pretty finish there. Large, handsome old-fash- joned vases of white with much gold ornamen- tation are the most prominent objects on the mantel shelf, above which hangs a good-sized water color of yellow chrysanthemums in a FLAX GROWN FOR LINEN. There te No Reason Why Ite Cultivation Should Not Be Profitable in This Country. "TS" DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Is anxious to encourage the cultivation of flax in this country. Secretary Rusk is of the ‘opinion that the industry might be very proft- ably pursued by American farmers generally. Special Agent Charles Richards Dodge, who bas deen recently engaged in studying the subject, had some very interesting things to my about it yesterday in conversation with a writer for ‘Tue Stan. Said he: “Up to forty years ago or so flax was grown all over the United Staten. It wascultivated only ineemall way, to be sure, by farmers chiefly | for their own use, and was spun and woven by | some member of each household 1 saw this summer some good flax grown twenty years | ago bya farmer up smong the hills of New | Hampshire, and in rambling over one of these | abandoned farms that we hear so much about nowadays, in the same state, I found in the garret of the tumble-down farm house the rem- nant of one of these household looms. In some Paris of the United States a little household iinen is still made, and I am sure some could be found in the Virginias mede in this year of our Lord 1891.” “Why was this manufacture discontin wed?” WHY IT Was DiscoxTINvED. “Well, there are several reasons. The inven- tion of the cotton gin so cheapened cotton Production that this staple began to be substi- OIL AND NATURAL GAS, How itis That They Were Stored Away— Fuels of the Future WV HEX SATCRAL Gas was Finst discovered,” anid Prof. W. J. McGee ton Sram writer, “it was regarded asa thing mysterious and uncanny, if not positively din- bolical The spread of various diseases was attributed to it, its employment was declared impious and a belief widely prevailod that its extraction from the earth was a cause of earth- quakes. For a long time even science was very much puzzled about it and geologists could “ee ‘Chased and Shot by Indians as He Galloped Away for Keinforcements, Trtbune, “Ride?” said the colonel, “there's ‘mothing to the world can touch an Indian for siding. He ean ride on a pony's neck, on his side, on his fiank—he can ride under pony, for I have scon him do it many « time. “And now that we are on the subject of rid- ing T'll tell you abouta ride that « half-breed Indian made once. I never liked balf-breeds before that—any more than I like Indians. | however, the origin of rock gas and petroleum, Gon't like balf-breeds now, but I liked that sive no instruction on the eubject to prospect- | Gon't Uke ors, #bo sought blindly for the product. Now, as well as the laws by which they were accumu- lated, is #0 well understood that it is as easy to predict the success or failure of a prospect bore for oil or gas as to tell where an artesian well will or will not fetch water. “Owing to lack of knowledge on the subject the first oll wells in Pennsylvania were put down without adequate preparation, and the oil poured forth in such volumes as to. over- flow the Innd and the watera. In the reat Bussian field of Baka the flow of petro- um is so difficult te control that more than i if ite iz tuted, coming more and more into use, and the culture for home sptnning fell change from household manufacture to the central linen mill system made further inroads upon the culture. The war period had some- thing to do with itand tariff tinkering eome- thing more, for at the close of the war, when there was a very good beginning for a profita- the tari! der. We bave lost our position in flax mani are now it is hard to in it. “Ye rearea few milisin the but they are her manufecturing such coarse goods as crash apd other toweling or fax threads and fine eordage. At present these mills receive the bulk of their supply of the raw material from Canade and from Europe. The largest amount possibly comes from Russia, the Russian flax being similar to that produced in this country for manufacture forty or fifty Years ago. The best flas comes from Belgium the interesting town of Courtrai fold frame with very wide whito mat. Similar frames and mats are on other pictures in the room and look exceedingly pretty against the background of buff paper. 4 DAINTY BED AND FURNISHINGS. The bed is white, with brass trimmings, and has a square canopy, with the rod on the four sides at the top of brass, from which are sus- pended white dainty curtains on all sides by rasé tings. The bed iteelf has a dimity coun- terpane ands valance of the same is attached to the bedstead. A half-circular dressing table is draped to the floor with the dimity, while the oval mirror hung on the above is framed in gold. ‘The chairs are of wicker and canesent, painted white and touched up with gold, with loose cushions, most of them of yel- low and white India silk, fastened to the chairs with big rosette: of baby ribbon in yellow. The sash curtains are of white silk, with a ting yellow vine making stripes and ‘they reach from top to bottom of the windows, while in- side the deez sill or window seat hang white Turceman cur vith heavy tasicled fringe of the same ‘The’ flour is covered ‘with white matting, avd twe other white fur ruge besides the ons ut the hearth arein the room. No ether color but tke gold or yellow is introduced anywhere avd the effvct is very harmonious aud pleasing YELLOW AND WHITE IN EMBROIDERY. Yellow and white are still much in favor, and some pretty specimens of work in these colors are now on exhibition at the different places in town where embroidery is made a special The various fabrics with rough surface, like mail cloth and similar weaves, are used for these pieces I speak of. A pair of cur- tains of white silk with such a surface are embroidered with a wide and elaborate pattern in yellow. The design is of large flowers and leaves, the flowers being of white plush, worked down with the yellow silk, the leaves of a ver: long, pointed shape being entirely of embroid- ery.’ A bedspread is another large article dis- played. It is of white silk also, with what looks & good deal likes honey comb’ pattern in the silk, while an all-over design is embroidered in & light yellow silk, one shade only being used. This is® handsome thing. but when one con- siders the expensivenese of the material to work upon it is hardly effective enough when completed to make one feel satisfied to put so much work, as well as expense, upon it, when & spread which will look just about if not fully as pretty may be bonghtentire for less than the Silk to work upon. corte, leaving the labor out of the question. Embroidered bedspreads are something I do not quite admire or approve of, ‘on the score of so much work for a result which does not justify it. 4 PRETTY OBAIR RACK PIT.LOW. A pretty little chair back pillow ir also to be seen in white and yellow, whick is pretty and might easily be copied. Here the honeycoub canvas is used, with the pattern outlined in Jong and short stitch in white, and the whole background darned vertically in yellow, linen flosses instead of silk being used. A cord of yellow linen thread ie the finish all around with » row of small tassels across the bottom. Still another example of white and gold is shown ina large handsome sofa pillow, covered with white silk mail cloth and yellow silk em- broidery, a large design filling the entire cushion.’ Two rows of large crocheted silk rings are put around the edge and large yellow satin ribbon bows finish each corner. A RAINBOW BAZAR, A pretty idea for a fair which chimes in with tho season comes from one of the English pa- pers, the Queen. It 1s for a “rainbow bazar,” where the booths carry out the rainbow colors in their decorations, The flower booth is in the center, and those in charge are dressed in the colors of the flow- ers they sell, it being needless to say that pretty young girls should predominate among the vendors. A white booth, or stall, as the English say, covered with either wadding sprinkled with artifical snow or white drapery, whichever is preferred, the costumes being all of white with powdered hair. All the @ refreshments which this booth displays are white also—iced cakes, blane mange and cream, with chicken sand- wiches for a substantial. ‘The yellow stall bas yellow soft drapery with filt cages holding canaries bung from orange ughs with the fruit upon them. Greek cos- tumes in yellow are the dresses. re ments are sponge and other yellow cakes, Mandarin oranges, bananas, little pats of but- ter infancy baskets tied yellow ribbons and small bundles of cheese atraws, also tied with the ribbons. Next is the rose-colored booth with pink costumes, where confectionery fs sold. ‘Tarletan over paper cambric make the draperies, with pink roses or other flowers, tificial, used in clusters for holding it 8 possible. ‘The lavender stall ia novelty. ‘This is small cheese cloth, and violeteare sold here in boutonniers, bunches with lavender ribbons and ts tied Yih ribbons. Two lovely blondes should as here in lavender gowns. Josephine be a pretty fashion for them. Last comes the green booth. comumes, ‘palins and forts for ennetie eaighing cosas elias Weilee which is the center of the indus! creamy flax, which is retted ai stream known as the Lys, ite waters being something the color of crude petroleum, and its stench in the flax season Something’ to remember longer than the Courtrai cathedral chimes, Iassure you. The bulk of this flax goes to Ireland and much of | orga: the Irish linen is made from it, as the Irish flax is inferior to it and the flax industry declining. Dutch flax, Irish flax and some of the Belgian and German flax is retted in pools or reservoire dug in the ground, much of the Russian being retted on the ground by the dews and rain. ALL FLAX Has To BA RETTED. “Of course all flax has to be retted, that is, subjected to fermentation for a time, say from fivedaysto two weeks, to soften the gums which hold the fiber to the woody matter of the straw and which bold the filaments to gether. First the seed is planted, the soil hay- ing been brought almost to the condition of garden soil, and made very fertile. Then the veed is sown broadcast, all weeds kep* out, and when mature, and the slender siraw begins to tarn yellow and the seed expsules to turn brown, the plants are pulled ur by their roots, stacked in little bundles and cured, roots and all. ‘Then it is epread over » meadow, placed in pools or in a running stream as I have -ie- scribed, to undergo the rotting or retting’ process, at itis called | When just right it is leaning. Here the farmer's work onds. The straw is now run through «flax brake, or mammoth crimp- ing machine, the fluted rollers of which brevk the woody portion into short lengths without injuring the fiber. This broken straw is then ‘scutched,’ that is, subjected to beating blades, which whip outall the little fragments of wood, leaving the fiber long and clean. This is ‘dressed’ by being drawn over iron teeth or long steel needles set closely together, which comb out all the short and broken or tangled fiber, which is called ‘tow.’ ‘The second comb- ing is called ‘double dressing,’ acd the fiber i stage is very beautiful, almost resem- bling bumau hair, it is 60 soft and glossy. ‘The Courtrai flax would readily suggest blonde tresses. ried again, and is then ready for c FLAX GROWN FOR SEED. “I shonld have mentioned, perhaps, that in most countries tho flax straw is threshed soon after harvesting to save the seed, which is sold tothe oil mills. Overs million acresof flax are grown in this country for seed alone, the fiber being wasted. The fiber is coarse, however, because the seed is sown thinly, eo that the plants will brancb. The more seed sown tothe acre the finer the straw and the better the fiber. During the past year an effort has been made to prevent some of this waste by instructing farmers to grow small plants for both seed and fiber, looking toward the re-cs- tablishment of the flax industry in the north- it. we “There is somo flax from Wisconsin, Secre- tary Rusk’s state, which is almost as good as the Courtrai flax. It was grown bya Beigian flax farmer now s citizen of the United States. ‘There is some nice straw grown this season in and is known as Courtrai fiax, so named from | it fows from ‘once it has swept away all barriers and flowed heels. Hie took the for days in geysers as thick as a man's body 2 eo and 200 feet in height. Such geysers were couldn't the charged with sand, which buried neighboring and so made « kind houses and farms, the oil flowing seaward in saming his Joc, bus rivers many miles long. The pressure of rock ® rap for any kind of gas in our own fields isso enormour that for some time it was believed to be uncontrollable. reckless fellow. We In cases its roar when escapi ‘could Indian Lived who would be heard for miles, compelling the clos- man. He i if i ing of schools end atly deafe: a permanently ming the CAUSE CF THE PRESSURE. “Sclentific investigation has made known the : ble flax industry, was so adjusted on | ©*0#® of the tremendous pressure under which |® supply train wagon, you know, mere ake other fibers that it discriminated against home- | the gas and oil are confined. Every great field | fits. He bad about twenty infantry men with grown flax and many establishments went an-| in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana is an A of bim i is i enormous dome’ beneath the surface of the ground, filled in with porous sandstone or limestone. The natural gus of Indiana is such a dome, about fifty miles across, tormed by the bending out of shape of the strata incidentally to the contraction of the earth's crust. The coarse-grained limestone under it is charged with inflammabie fluda On top is neath it oul and under the oil salt water. ‘This dome rises in the middle of # great basin 500 4 miles in diameter. The rain water failing into | {°vut #7, { -y~ this basin is partly absorbed by the rocks, and re oe > as fron all lirections toward the conter, s iving Ras which are in the rocks toward the dome aud thus compressing it with | {el cams over the bleached plain cut enormous power. 7 <liock aria very neazly the same thing. 9s ee the marsh gas which is often seen bubbling | Pomme sad, their from the muddy bottoms of stagnant ponds. It, aud the oil likewise, were formed originally by the slow decomposition of woody or other Se ee aenaeet in the strata of the earth. The making of both is now in progress in all rocks containing partly decom; organic remains. The question is often asked, ‘Is natural gar yet forming?’ Undoubtedly, but so slowly that it goes but an intinitely small way toward supplying the consumption of the store now drawn upon. At the present rate of exhaustion it will not take Jong to use Up the supply in the great Cincinnati arch, which represents the accumulation of millions of years. He '¥ bung around like just out of range. Every time in motion down they came They were losing mules cursing mad. He couldn'tmake “Se there they stayed devils led @ terrible ° a z; 2 if E Fy $ i é Hk } F i { itt tH E t while Wall was ing to get the devils no fight im them. waiting. “in theafternoon ft men could not under the torturing out g ive iF f ; ! E E iE ‘one to come cre aaes oan ov ees = a come in and showers of rifle valis EXRADSTION oF carpox comrocspe. | You Sout aati “othe “All the compounds of carbon upon which | had rested like a the civilized worid chiefly depends at present | out came a circle for fuel must be exhausted within » few | biue swallows. centurice. ‘The anthracite of America will be | Widening, andetreled after Joe. Alli tl used up within a few decades, while the bitumi- | the white plain te’ nous coal beds formed in the earboniferous | him and cretaceous epochs will be dug out within | mustache as be 1,000 or 2.000 yeare. Happily, however, the | smailer and stock of bitumens in the rocks of the earth is; now and the practically unlimived and in them will be found | him and the train. ‘the fuels and illuminanty of the future. of white where the Indians “It is sell ‘0 be able to look forward with | after the half-breed, and confiden> to this promise of the future, inas- | Joe went out of sight much as the human race cannot get along with- | only # fine cloud of out something to burn that will produce heat, | it floated power and light. Man may be defined as the fuel-using animal. He buiids houses, but so do | nine hours. They shot the ant aud the wasp; the mouse, the squirrel | took off agash which he d the bee store up provisions against the in- | to his pony’s neck, when he clement searun; the oriole weaves cloth with | could hold on no longer, which to protect ite young; the tailor bird pre- carried the bo; pares thread and seams: the ant keeps re Was no slaves that it may be relieved of labor, feeds | trouble was. It was after kine for their milk and reaps the harvest; the | in twenty minutes a ca beaver cuts canals and dams rivers; the spider | ing northward. The neat lays snares; the aut lion sets traps for game; | the train could see their sabers certain monkeys use missiles in battie,and many | cuulight miles away. ‘They animals organize for offensive aud defensive | plain with the sound of light tn Purposes. Lut man alone utilizes fuel. Next | tirst cries the relicf heard from the train Wo food fuel is the most important subject of | cheers that came from bari thought of today, as in the days of shriveled lips for the hulf-breed Sos. ery and worship of fire. And by the way the| “The cavalry brushed the redekins off the natural gas vents were known to and were for | plain and sent them scurrying in the direction ages veucrated by the fire-worshipers, whose | that the sun went. They pi Joe religion they inspired.” and got him on his feet again, but after got well he was the same lazy, good-for-nothing half breed that he had been before—absolut fit for nothing. And yet, don't you ‘know, really believe in spite of myself that I think better of all Lalf-breeds on account of that boy. Jost nilomen, will you drink to the bait: joe i] eit Hy 3 i ili 2 s i i & i f £ H i sé in} ig i ui i Bi a if z E if it 4 Hi § i bi E Lf bE i f H I id if E E t H i! rf ieee i k deter ‘Wrasslin’ With Bil. ‘M. Quad in the New York World. Thad been staying with = Tennessee moun- taineer for three or four days, while I waited for mail and to get my shoes repaired. and was invited to go with the family down toafarmers’ Picnic. Before leaving home the old man took his son Bill, who wasa young man of twenty, aside for a talk, and I noticed that Bill looked thoughtfal all the way down. There were about 100 families gathered at the grove, and it seemed to me asif 1 had never seen a more pleasant and good-natured ———+e+_—____ ‘Why the Briton Growls. Eurene Field in the Chicago News. The Pall Mail Budget complains that caught the fever at last, and have raised prices 0 high that Americans only are equal to them. r This condition of affairs arouses the indignation Connecticut. There is some from Mi and Minnesota—and this was grown in New | Towa Lunch was over and everybody was | of the average Englishman, who | Tengen f York, All well-grown straw, as you see, and capable of producing good fiber. "The depart: of tho wocttty ment sent out a quantity of import t - er long weal Amencan Spring for experiment, and when the resulte of ae ee oo eenee er yy j Seepesae ny 4 ouy hon. se experiments are all reported the informa- | Bill right away. ™] ealthy American zes the German, tion will be published. Of course some of the { |-But I'm no wrestler. the Frenchman or the ‘that his vulgarity straw will be cleaned ana the fiber carried | ,,"1 dun doun’ mean fur yous to take becomes offensive. It might be a wise thing, through to the manufactured fabric. A flax mill him, but to argefy. He won'tlisten to the circumstances, for id to quar in a very interesting place. I have been through | he’s sorter took to you, vainst the wealthy jan quar- allot oy rincipal Less in this. Lever ifporste re matter with Bill?” continent, we mean. The American mer and have secured many valuable sam : Britsh coustn for we munt bo able to tel the western farmere ac eee een Beate 0 gh pn Jumpin | PSS sees en sles Soboeeaek Gane who are trying to grow flax what kind of fiber ” laver instead jtuperation. will be in demand by the manufactures. eb noe ber beng cpdaimam prensa "_aNcrENT cuLtivariox. gits up a jumpin’ match he's ‘The Answered Prayer. ‘The cultivation of flaxseed in Europe and read hiseelf and jump nine feet, | “q asx thee not for fame,” he aaid, spinning and weaving by the most primitive the Hawkins boys yere and some “I would not wear that weighty crows, means of fine linen would seem to antodate| ‘em nr’ gwine to jump ten fect or bust, Thar's | Nor yet for riches would Yprag: |" history. As far back as tho stone age the in- | *!!_ the Dunbar ci ney iy Ree TE fy 1 ‘ne Pe “ = “em ar’ gwine to make it ten feet six or break habitants of Switzerland and of Lombardy. liv- | ;°%,"1. S™ mda: an, geet aon ing in huts and feeding upon roots and acorns, | “Well?” Tata seuea may Seiten Wopes ealaet were familiar in a crude way with this industry. | “Wall, do yo" reckon my Bill is gwine to| £ as sot for retate of these Iris in evidence also that before the appearance | stand that! No, ah? Whes be finds hiswif |" Upon some fair incoming te,— of the Aryans weet of the Ural mouitaine the | knocked out on the jampin’ biznes he's gwine ray for peace,” be eald. inns cultivated flax to ® considerable degree | to pul tole pat is and begin to bang, in the north of Europe. | Historical memoirs | and the next thing yo’ know yo'll think an- | 46 turned his head.—beside him soo prove that the ancient Hindoos and Egyptians | ether war has broke out! Gorn wrasse with | WhasncSe orca anes ia produced flax, the former for its soed, the lat- | him, kurnel, and wrassle fur all yer wuth, fur | “Prom but Mis dark ana mine hota en renee thar’ notes Seo mayme Seinen us an’ the rip- “Thy prayer ts heard,” he said. e Egyptian linen m ve roached a very | roariest old shootin’ scrape yo’ ever heard of" high degree of perfection, a8 Herodotus, in|" I found Bill just as he had taken off his coat ee ae cance name wD enumerating the presents made to the Em- | to jump. It was tough ‘wrasslin’™ to get him | jot Ry, il and slieleme face — peror Am of Athens of garments | away and induce him to give up his progrem, Aner h thee to eck this place? tade of tay a single thread of which coneisted | but he finally consented. On the way home he | I prayed lor peace,” he sau ner ing to Pliny, Taci- | said to me: ” or fas Rouriohed ee nanors, the cultivation | | “Kurnel, [reckon yo was right about that | “TAY prayer ‘ heard.” the angel eaid, of flax flourished in northern Italy, Gaul, Ger- | yere fussin’.” - et cnatlg ones clakeh eee om many and wit the aucient Finns, Gnd more ee-| "Yow I think on.” ‘That Death and Peace are ever one. pecially with the Celts carly settled in Ireland. |" dun looked at m; tier Tied | Tay i heard,” be said. ase du 7 pistol prayer yen Poetry and Ornithology. ‘Tennyson’ has long since been identified, on the authority of the poet himself, as neithgr the swallow nor the wheatear nor tho blue titmouse, as various readers have suggested, but simply the king- fisher. It has already been poiated out that phrase bears close resemblance F i BREE There was a great deal of interest felt among dentists some years ago when one of the royal mummies taken from the Egyptian catacombs was found té be fitted out with an upper set of artificial teeth. ‘The plate was of wood, carved to fit the roof of the mouth, and the are a bad lot, that’s a fact, and 2 i ri ll 4 i] H if i E i i wee 4 HE i g : Hi of brass, the natural shape of the imitated. It shows that Pharaohs felt the loss of his Hee