Evening Star Newspaper, December 10, 1892, Page 9

—— = = > a iy THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY, * 10, 1892—-SIXTEEN PAGES. bule or ante-room. It was formerly a store, ns the entrance hail. It is about re, and it ie walled and car- 1d red, and over the door op- e, #0 that you see it as soon to the room, is draped the red, a blue of the American flag. This hall seat: along its sides and there are kTeat mirvors vet into ite wails upon tables, be- | low which are brushes and combs, and it ishere that the lackess and maids wait for their mis trees when the ag entertained abo' and where you stop while your cards are present- ed. Passing under the American flag by abronze statue of wa Indian maiden you go by winding stairs of white ouk to the second story, which Whisky tm forms the living aud entertaining part of the Au Ameri house. You go between marble columns at the head of it and enter another hall im which « ul Cag greets you and en the walls of ch you see the red, white and blue. Through vou coms into the parlors. There are two eae and they are so connected to the brary, the sitting room and the dining room b tw AMERICA IN) BERLIN. has onk BERLIN THE MI OR. Minister Phelps and Prince Biamarck—How Blamarck Wrest A Honor of the United States Beasin 1892. WILLIAM) that you can stand im the corner of the room at re sige ad have nearly one hundred feet of nelps | *®Fy | parlor stretching away from you at either side. re in e President Morton has one hundred and y feet of purlors in his celebrated Wash- sngion, but Minister Phelps bas here huudred feet of connecting rooms, making ight large parlors, all magnificeatly fur- 1 These rooms are separated from one doors, before which po which barmonize with the walls, oom is furnished in a ditferent spe eit ce of the dark, somber hues ee the Germans, Mre, Phelps hay pare to send up everything and has arranged ¢ to our for- furniture so that tt ts homelike rather than st eign minions, It wap) Every room has its individuality and even the bh him that the Seman treaty wae mate, | stoves have been made to harmonize with the hie teas heen very huegely tn@ucs wot, | fuFuiture aud the walls. Wane Seis Gam deh Sade Gerace. THE 2A881VE DUTCH BTOVES, h the emperor which no a before, Caprivi as be was to The stoves of house like this are one of ite prettiest features, They are of tho massive Dateh order, made of porcelain, and as beauti- fully colored and shaped as though they were *e ves take the place of them have shelves on Which are et pictures and brie-n-b he stove in the parlor be twelve feet high. It ie of «rich dark polished green, while that the yellow room, at the corner, is of a cream | 1 sky blue, touched up with gold. Mr. Phelps tells me that these stoves keep the house | very comfortable aud that they do very well in place of «furnace. ‘The floors of the Louse are ws, Nased aud they are of fine woods, and upon | incident | teu lie rare old rugs,which Mz. Phelps bought | 4t Constantinople some years ago. From the | arlor dado, about five feet high, runs around the room, and. this, with a shelf at the top, forme a resting place for photographs and piscques and the chances ornaments for a dinaer table rather than hi tug mawehui es. These end many Fhsmarck wnlist charming lie thousand and urios which Mr. Phelps has | gathered from diferent parte of the world. | 3 © many fine pictures. There } «copy from that of the British Museum, | which represe the trying of Charles 1, and in ) which Joaa Phe one of Mr. Phelps’ auces- | tore, was the clerk.” He is @ stiff-iooking old terian seated before a desk in the midst of the court reom, and William Walter Phelps says he ig proud of him because he bad the nerve to write his own name boldly at the cud of each page of the record of the trial, while Bust of the other men counested with it were | afraid of (uture cousequencea. Near this there | ures of the Emperor of Germany aud | the empress, and beside them photographs of President and Mrs, Harrison. ‘There ure taany © ors, and One which 4 noted was by the most famous water-color painter of the World, Mr. Vhelps pointed out to me and toid me facetiously that 1t was almost good enough Ww be a chrowo. THE LEGATION. The American legation in Berlin is quite as well appointed as Minister Phelps’ home. Its ‘bf Slices are on Kroncn strasse, just off Freidrichs ed. | strumse tn the business center of the city. Most { - of the foreagn countries own their own legation + | butldings here, but the United States rents its quarters. Mr. Pheipe’ landlord, however, ts an American institution, and ‘the bui ing in which it is located belongs to the table Life Insurance Company. I had | for balf an hour before I could | the oiices of our legation ut St.*Peters- and there it no sign on the door ways nor does the American flag float from the lega- | to his tion windows ns it does here. ‘The secretary of | Bis legation, Mr. Wurtz, is a Philadelphian who has + was been abroad for years and who seems to care dar-| more for advancing his own social interests | fs- | thaw those of Americans who visit Russie, The | r ' | legation in Berlin has a sign on the ground floor © " 2 and it is American in every sense of the word. Kiara Walter Pb Phelps’ b | Ascending to the second floor you find Ferliu b its of Bismarck, |= half dozen large rooms, ail ‘of which | and at wh Biemarck gave |mre well furnished and upon the te F at some | walle of which hang portraits of h of the great Americans. Mr. Phelps’ own office is oat twenty feet square and his des | jost infront of two black marble tending one of | which are the busts of George Washington and at which the | Frederick the Great. Between these two, one present, and | the greatest of American and the other’ the Mr. Phelps gave a fare- ¢ Herbert American mismon Nearly all the Euro- minister whe has sce with these men, | WM. HAYDEN EDWARDS. “tof German generals, Mr. Phelps sits 4 4 works, and here you find him at al- st any time in the'day. ‘There is no red tape 4 is more then | about the office and all Americans are welcome Mr and Mr. Phelps in his treatment of them shows he ix an American to the backbone. There ave something like 2,000 Americans in Germany dit iseufe to say that he has rtained | ueariv evory one cf the large Ber ‘olony. | In addition to bis diplomatic services in other | deal through his; the Aumer- in Ber- pork by having them served on | sown dinner table to his gueste, to hi brother diplomats and to the German officials bad with the admitting or probibit- | e introduction of these products, FOR ELDERLY WOMEN Their Dress Should Harmonize With Gray Hair and Wrinkles. GOOD TASTE IN OLD AGE. It is Just as Kesential as in Youth—The Mis- take of Trying to Look Young—Dtscard Hate After Middle Age-A Hopeful Look and Correct Carriage. HY IN THE WORLD,” eaid the elderly matron | to Tux Sran woman, | “don't some of you peo- ple who write for the newspapers now and then get up a fashion article applicable to us who are in the sere and yellow leaf.” “Now, don’t contra dict mo,” she went on, as ‘Ce Stan woman began ademur, “Iknow whereof I speak, for since the idea occurred to me Ihave taken particular pains to examine newspapers from all parts of the country, and while they fairly teom with advico as to the dressing of misses, young women and even in- fants, there is no more reference to people of my age than if we did not exist, One would really infer, were one’s reading limited to fash- ion articles, that old Ponce de Leon had, not- withstanding history, actually discovered that fountein of youth, and that all femininity had quatfed of it. “Of course,” she explained, “it ix just possi- ble that it is a piece of gallantry on the part of the editors, this not permitting anything in their columns that would even intimate that womankind could by any possibility grow old, and while if that is the case it is very nice of them, it nevertheless remains a solemn fact that we do grow old, and if a few more sug- gestions were given tis as to how to garb that stage of existence becomingly old age would! be robbed of half its horrors. Not that I personally am given to repininy over the march of time,” she continued, “for reulize that all ages have their advantages, Do you remember what Bry + "Why waop that tine h The siter age of teauhoe Asidly shania 1 wee ¢ Uitsh of mnorning gone.” * ‘4m woman looked at her this lady, who despite her years is well known aa one of the handsomest women in Washington, abe thought that in this particular instance there was indeed no cause for repining, ince many @ younger sister might well envy the beauty which un unsonred maturit ad bestowed —a beauty, too, which it was impossible for youth to mimic, just as full-blown June cannot rival October's fading glory, however envious it may be of it, A SYMPHONY IN SILVER, Her shining white hair was parted madonnn- wise and waved away from her temples, From the nape of her neck it was then caught up to the top of her head in # carefully careless French twist and secured by a handsome tor- towe-shell comb. Beneath this simple but be- coming coiffure a pair of soft dark eyes looked out, whose serene and benevolent expression characterized ax well the rest of her face. Her gown, instead of being the conventional elderly black, was a creamy gray, at which Tue Sran woman as she noted the harmony with ite wearer's white hair could think of nothing but a symphony in silver. While the writer matron was savin: Yes, indeed, it is a mercy that most of us ac- quire some ideas about dress before reaching middle age, for if we depended upon fashion for guidance where would we be? she replied in anewor to a flattering comment of Tu Sram woman, “youare misaken. Ihave not the advantage of other women in personal points, but I simply make more of what I do possess than many ma have some peculiar views of my gard to harmony in dress, the carrying out of which, Iam certain, is beneficial to my looks, however they might work on others.” KEEPING PACE WITH YEARS. “Would you mind teiling me what they are?” “Certainly not,” replied the elderly matron. “To begin with, when I found myself grow- ing old,I did not relax my efforts toward adorn- ment, as some women do, faleely concluding that ‘because they can no longer be youthfully pretty it follows, as a matter of course, that they cannot appear well after a middle-aged or | elderly mode. ‘The year, when it gets along to September, might, with us much sense, be dis- couraged, because it no longer looks like April And right here is a good time for me to tell what I think about mothers’ sacrificing every- bing in the fom of wearing apps hters. It is wrong, all wri i aatron,with some emphasis, “The sacrifice, | if at all, should be on the other side. Youthful | looks will bear it, middle-aged and elde ple need all those softening effe juxurious accessories of dr er did it for my daughters nor would I advise others to do it for theirs. “And when I suy that when @ woman finds herself old she ehouldn’t reiax her efforts toward adornment, please don’t misunderstand | me as meaning by that that she should at- | tempt to look well along the «ame lines that eli has pursued while in the twenties. Merey, no She would simply be defeating her own pur- oses, for nothing makes an old woman look so righifuliy old as to attempt to get herself u aiter the model of the vounger generation, wit bangs and hats and such things so impertinent to old age. us reflected the elderly OVER SIXTY WITH BANGS, “ButI see plenty of ladies over sixty with ‘remarked Tue Star woman, said the elderly | n they would look so much sweeter, and the lincs in their edif they would simply and wave or crimp ita little on | I, myself, see plenty of beautiful | old indies who have cheated themselves of one | of the most charining points of age by banging | their hair like echool girls. CONTINUED CARE OF TIE MAIR. WE MINISTER'S DUTIES. nt some time at the American lega- ving my stay at Berhn, and the oat duties which an American minister has to | vr and ®) perform I tind very interesting. There are ti same house |x thousand and oue things outeide of diplo- mat. and the only differ- | matic uegotiatious to be attended to, and Mr. | be ‘urnishing of the! Phelps bas his hands full. Every’ now an the wealibie who can af- and you find Vheips wanted theu be has to marry an American couple, and during his stay be performed the marriage |ervice of Miss Bowler of Cincinnati to Mr. Joha Livingston of New York. Ee acted not mg ago as godfather to the baby of the ountess Pappenheim, and every now and then e has to settle the cases of American citi- zeus who were bornin Germany, bus who left for America without taking proper leave of the my. He has to go to all sorts of exhibitions nd charity fairs. and he has entertained to greater or lets exteut every prominent Amer: | can who comes to Berlin. He watches the in- | terests of American companies in Germauy and | the 1ueurance companies aud the Standard Oil Company get considerable attention from him. He tends to the little things as well as the big ones and be gets permit from Chancellor Ca- privi for Buffalo Bull to take his suow through | the empire, and be iscsiled upon to maxe |wpeeches at all sorts of gatherings, from a | presentation to the emperor to « Thanksgiving | mecting of the American riflemen in Berli | When the Empress Augusta died he made | eulogy upon her before the Young Men's Chri tan Association, aud not long ago he delivered | aspeech before the medical congress when it met bere | The consulate to Beriin is almost as important | asthe legation. We do an immense business | with Germany, and the greater part of that which comes through Berlin must pase through | the American consulate, Some of the busiest it in «| offices of this city are those of our consul ge keg high | Fal, aude corps of clerks is kept at work here hen con-| Maing out invoices and attending to the mat- cted bis corner | “fe Which come before our consular officers, that were in st, he consul general, William Hayden Edwards. at the tenants eral stores on the ground floor. rek give up thetr leases | mae aaderais the same w es _ mbove shone | knows all about the city. =a i ned out | forty-five years of age, and be is one of the few pe «He then | Americans in our diplomatic service who bave if and turned | been able to bold their positions for a long time fe | Sud not become Europeanized. ‘Fraxk G. Canrexten. — aa Aacther Record Broken. A local cotton compress at Waco, Texas, He then sen’ « ere were He He and @ prac business American. He is a means and of social position, bis wife he daughter of a Dutch noble. ie Me INTER: Thureday compressed 1,340 bales in nine Instead of tramping to the third floor before | hours and five minutes, against the Gal- You get to the door of his home you enter now | veston record of 1,282 bales inten houra This from ibe street and vou come into a big veeti- | beats the world’s compressing record | mo suggest that gray or white bair will repay \ | “Ob, yes, is one of the old officials of the consular service CO™Ing to any one, He is, I judge, about | “And while we are on (he subject of hair, let brushing and good care as much as will a de butant’s youthful locks. Why, I can make my hair look like moiten silver by a few dass’ sys- | tomatic brushing, such as i# recommended by | the column for younger women’s tres And | the least excuse in the world r that we eve, except Jize that their hair, instead of being old | like themeel N AND BATS. “Hat Hats are not meant for us. elderly women seem somehow to have lost all the dignity that they may once have possessed in their owners’ younger days, and m consequence ill comport with this later period of life when, if ever, it becomes us to be dignified. No, indeed! After & certain undefined line iu middle age all women should adopt bonnets. “You see. I am conservative, but in some other directions 1 am just as strongly radical. For instance, Lam quite a convert to the mod- ern ideas on the subject of wearing black, al- though I do not ag-ee with the extremists. who hold that no over sixteen ehonid wear black: that it brings out the shades and lines in face and is anything bat the universally ming color that it i# popularly deemed to be. Black is too convenient for all occasions and ‘oo generally adopted as the conyentional dress of middle and old-age to be discarded, but Ido think that there fs no necessity for ‘wearing it incessantly and without intermission, xs is usually the case,and thatit might be varied with great advantage to the wearer by using gray or white in house dresses. ORAY AND WHITE. gray or white can be made be- replied the elderly 1aatron in answer toa question raised by Tue Sram woman, “for there is the creamy gray for us of dark complexions and the blue gray for the lighter-toned sisterhood, and the same distinc: tion can be made in the selection of whites creamy white or dead white, according as one decides which is the more becoming: and nothing harmonizes so nicely with our time- | Llesched locks as gray or white. They make to delicate a frame that people sometimes are deluded into thinking that the picture it in- eludes is pretty, too.” sos eoneha ie pasion: teapano herd in it was no ‘istantene bot the ‘elderly’ matron Ueprecetory emile, was saying? SSS ‘THE MATTER OF VEILS. “Another becoming addition to white hsir and an old face, when attired for going out, is a little thin white veil. It has a softening effect on the harsh outlines of age,just as Indian sum- mer's blue veil of haze. softens presce and loaf less nature, making you feel while it lasts almost as if November were as pretty as May. FLOWERS. “One more unorthodox idea of mine," she went on, “is that people of my age, if they choose, should wear flowers, not, perhaps, the huge corsage bouquets that decorate our daugh- ters, but a single long-stermmed rose or any other blossom that takes one’s fancy. Why shouldn't we,indeed? Since flowers are spring- ing at our feet, at whatever time of life we ma} be, is there an: swhy we shouldn't plue! one as we go aloxg and show our appreciation of its flowery existence by wearing {t?” ‘Tue Stan woman then noticed the elderly matron’s flower. It was a half-blown bride rose and shaded off prettily from the silver gown. “Bat after all,” she continued, reflectivel | following a slight pause, “I don't know but it |® pardonable offense, this omitting elderly women from the fashion articles, since,when all is said and done, it is through ‘the eye we are | taught the correct thing in costuming, rather | than through the ear. One can seo the truths of this exemplified when making comparison of the dress of city and country women. The city woman's garb, even if of the simplost ma- | terials, ix more apt to have that indefinable quality called “style” about it than the richest | array of her rural sister, and not because news- | Papers with fushion articles and entire mag- &zines devoted to fashion do not penetrate the countr: but because there are no street | pageants and theaters wherein to read the pre- vailing mode. If a city and country woman of ‘the same station in life were to change places with each other, you would find after the ex- iration of a ycar that the ex-city woman had fost something of the “air” that formerly cher- acterized her, which her country cousin, now an urban dweller, had gnined Justin the propor- tion that the other hud missed it. You see this illustrated every day in people who having once lived in the city become country dwellers, and vice versa. “It’s quite a study, isn’t it?” snid the elderly matron to Tux Stan woman, “this costuming oneself properly. Sometimes I have thought it would be a time saver, to say the least, to be started out in life, like'a bird, with one harmo- nious suit for all the year roand. But if dress- ing is troublesome we can always have the con- solation that we have plenty of company in our rplexity, which misery, you know, is said to ove, since the world is Hever dons clothing it- self. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. More of Them Needed by the Gen- eral Government. THE MUNICIPAL OFFICES Should Be in ® Distinct Building Especially Provided for the District Government— Some of the Kented Buildings and Their Insecure Condition at Present. ——_>—___ HE DISTRICT COM- missioners have clam- ored long and loud for ‘a new municipal build- ing of greater size and some pretensions to architectural beauty. Other District Commis- sioners preceding them | have done the same thing, and that is all the | ha effect there has been | upon “Congress, of is y ie — 9 likely to be, for @hat | matter. Heads of departments in the general government want a building devoted exclusively to the keeping of records and have been want- ing for some years. They haven't received the accommodation yet, but possibly will econ, ply, and perhaps only, because a record build- ing has now become an absolute necessity. A vew government printing office was asked for long ago, and Congress has finally managed to have @ committee inquire as to the avai ability of three or four tracts of land as the | new site. That may be selected and work begun on the new structure by the end of this century sometime, when the Congressional Library build- ing and new city post office are nearly com- leted. But if the same old dilatory tactics a1 followed in providing a record building Uncle Sam will find himself one of these days in the position of either having to destroy one-half of archives or moving them into the strect for want of space. It was only when the present Congressional Library became so packed with books and the like that a casual visitor to Mr. Spofford’s headquarters could barely munage to turn around in the place that a substantial move was made to provide the much-required building now in process of construction. It was only when rats began to hold high Jinks in the old post office on Louisiana avenue, and the constantly growing work in crowded quarters made a day or so necessury for a lettor mailed at an avenue box to reach ite destination on Capitol Hill, that more commodions facil- ities and u prospective new office were directed by the national legislators. In neither care was human life endangered through the over- crowding, but that very thing is now occurring through the want of a record building in at least three structures rented by the govern- ment for two of the departments, to say noth- ing of the inconvenience entailed in one or two others, THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE AVENUE. The various gentlemen who have advocated schemes from time to time for locating public buildings on the south side of the avenue might find that of giving departmental upper storie: relief a very prolific one. Of course the library building could not have well been located else- where than on the site occupied. But the city post office was a beginning, and there is plenty more room foranew municipal building as well as a piece of architecture given up to the safe keeping of any records of which the go ernment bas a surplus. The Postmaster Gen- eral, at any rate, will be compelled to do something very salutary on his own account if no remedy to the crowding is soon offered, and the chiefs of the censns and ordnance bureaus are in a similar predicament. Mr. Wanamaker can probably help his department by occupying the upper stories of the post office on G street, but the othors cannot and must wait for devel. opments of a favorable character. Gen. Meigs saw the future necd of record building as far back as the time when the pen- sion office was constructed under his super- vision, He recommended such a departure in several of bis annual reports, but the solons on the hill couldn’t see matters in that light and everybody knows the record building is a thing of stolid beauty yet unknowa, The Com- missioners were several times on the point of recommending the same in their agnual report, but concluded it might hurt the chances of the District's getting a new municipal cara- vansary end refrained. Ergo, as aforesaid, ho law of the land forbids the District building inspector taking an oficial look at such structures as are built and owned by the government, but he has jurisdiction in those cases wherein a building is leased by Uncle Sam for aterm of years and then turned to departmental or other uses. These latter Capt. Entwisle has inspected on various occasions and in several instances of minor accidents from overcrowding department officials were ordered to remedy matters ton degree of safety asfar as in their power. AStan man secured some data about overloading in other buildings not under Capt, Entwisle’s limit of investiga- tion and bere is the joint result: BUILDINGS IN BAD SHAPE. Probably no two buildings either owned or rented by the government are in worse shape HOW TO PREPARE FOR OLD AGE. “There is a good deal in preparing for » comely age while one is still young," said the elderiy matron, returning to her first thought. “Ob, do tell me how!” suid Tux Stax woman. “T’d so like to practice it.”” “Well, the first thing you must do, thei Plied her instructor, “is nover tolosehope, for a jopeful look is a youthful look, even if it is on aseventy-year-old face, while’ in the counte- nance of a cross and disappointed ebild you can see a look of incipient age. ‘The reason of this is that « pleasant expression brings the curves into the face, while an unpleasant look Intro- duces the straight lines and shadows. So be hopeful, and in that way you will not only look well, but yon will boeo mach more comfortable for yourself ang others to. get along with. If it did any good to worry, why, then, of course, there would be some serise in the process, but it doesn’t, and it only makes. one feel bad, look worse and effects nothing.” “To look hopeful,” repeated Tue Star Woman, making a mental memorandum of it. “Anything ele?” TO STAND STRAIGHT. “Yer, to stand straight,” said the elderly matron, “for nature didn't intend us to do otherwise, and when we go contrary to her de- signs the result is always bad. Why, to may nothing of the infirm look that round shoul- ders—one of the features of an incorfect car- riuge—give, carying one's head craned forward mukes one look old, for it spoils the line of the throat and chin.” “To look hopeful and to stand straight,” said Tur Star woman reflectively as she rose. “To be hopeful,” corrected the elderly matron, “for then you'll necessarily look hope- ful." And Tue Star woman decided, as she betook herself to the office, that at the ‘first gray hair she would let her ‘bangs grow so that by the time her locks were quite frosty they would be ina fit condition to part and wave off her tem- ples. She resolved, too, when that delightful period was come, to have a gray dress and wear axolitary bride rose thereon, to also dona white veil and a bonnet, and then, as thoughts of the elderly matron’s manifold’ beauties and virtues crowded npon her thick aud fast, part ofa sonnet of Wendell Garrison came to mind, which runs: re- : ot wither her whom not gray hatre Nor furrowed cheeks have made the thrall of Time; For Spring lies hiditon ander Winter's rine, jolets know the victory is theirs, and serene yut complaint! roen, h to the weak and couraie to the faint— ‘Thy bleaching looks, thy wribkie ‘9 but been Fresh beads upon the rosary of a saint!” Color In the Streets, From the Lon@on Graphite. A suggestion bas been made by an ingenious writer which deserves the sympathetic atten- tion of all who are interested in the personal appearance of the metropolis. Though lucid intervals of sunshine occur im which “the ancient Strand” takes ona glory such us that | from the cause mentioned than those used by described by Mr. Henley in his “London Volun-| the Post Office Department, near the main tarivs,” we have now reached a season in which | headquarters itself. The two’ referred to are the prevalent aspect of our streets is one of | the big brick oftice masa on the northwest cor. well-nigh unrelieved gloom. So long as the | ner of 8th and E streets and the Busch building, weather is dry a certain amount of variety is | diagonaily across the thoroughfare, next door infused into what one may call the streetscape | to Concordia Hall. Both are beld in use under by the hate and dresses of our womankind. | a lease, and for ordinary purposes would answer But when the rain comes down and ladies stay | every requirement. But that is where the dif. indoors almost the only cheerful objects to | ficulty arises. Tho needs of the money order meet the eye are what Homer would have called | division of the department have 60 far out- the ruddy-cheeked omnibuses and pillar posts. | grown ail ordinary bounds in the last few years, “Why,” asked the writer, ‘cannot this idea be | until now the condition of affairs ensuing ia elaborated in the cause of art and cheerful- | gomething really serious for the clerks who ness?” = And he goes on to plead | work on the floors beneath tons and tons of old eloquently in favor of the introduction of | records, documents and archives of every sort 4 ¥ mackintoshes”—scarlet, orange, tky- | that have finally received official disposition » emerald-green and purple—xnd brightly | and gone in storage with previous accumulations tinted umbrelles. The idea certainly dese: of thokind. There aro millions of canceled atrial, At prevent, with that utter absence of | money ordets und postal notes alone, besides the all sense of proportion which characterizes the | double quantities of other matter, which have ions of civiliged humanity in regard to| become too 1uch for various divisions to store dregs, we don our gayest garb when the sun is | in their own individual sanctums and had to brightest and reserve our most sober habili-| be placed in the only available space on the ments for days when the sky is overcast aud | upper floors of the two buildings the sun invisible. In other words, we epter | Tho basements and lower floors were crammed into « vain competition with the all-sufticing | full with records long ago and now the only radiance of nature, and strive to accentuate | solution of the problem must come from out. her gloomiest moods. Rather, in the interest | side sources. Undoubtedly the collection ywill of happiness and mirth, should we endeavor to | grow larger still, instead of smaller, and if no counteract the depressing influence of fog and | outlet is provided the next best thing to do un- damp by a lavish display of bright and ex- | der the circumstances will be to build a bonfire hilarating color, Armed with an emerald- | and feed it on archives for a week or so. green mackintosh—painted in luminous A little more than a year ago the clerks in for use at night—a man would radiate cheerful- | fhe larger rented building were startled hess even in the midst of “London particu- | one afternoon by the crash of plaster overhead, far.”” followed by a shower of bricks. Fortunately nobody was injured, but the next day Building Inspector Entwisle was called in to diagnose the case. He soon concluded that the accident happened through the tremendous weight on floors above the second, and directed that the brick arches, which wers broken out, be walled up solidly to prevent any future happenings of the kind. ‘This the tment authorities caused to be done, and it was really all that could be done, for there was no facility at hand by which it became possible to lighten of their ‘ht the upper floors, as Capt. Entwisle also recommended. Since then no other accidents have occurred, however, and matters are in statu quo as far as the District officials are con- cerned, although at the time of the break down at 8th and E the inspector was also req to investigate the safety of the Busch building, and subsequently reported that the overloading of its floors might have the same result any day, even if not an absolute collapse. Meanwhile there has been opportunity for nearly fifteen months’ accumulations canceled money orders and documents to be piled up in the two buildings additionally, and, in the of Reuben Jay, “Whatair ye a’ goin’ to about it?” THE CENSUS OFFICE BUILDING, At the census office the building inspector thinks even greater danger is threatened, and he considers it the poorest of the government 7 ———+e+—_____ Republicans Supported Ribet. The majority in the French chamber of deputies that on Thursday voted confidence in the government after listening to the minis- terial declaration consisted exclusively of re- publicans., ‘The minority included the Boulang- ists and some of the members of the party of the right and the extreme left refrained from voting. ———_—__+e+-___ Scarcity of Coal in the Northwest. + Reports of suffering from a scarcity of coal comes from all parts of South Dakota, northern Nebraska and western Iowa as a result of the blizzard that I know you wish me wouldn't be six months word to that fool of a been granted up to date, and, of course, each holder of a document, granting his or her par- ticular right to exclusiveness for a stipulated number of years, needs to have rm — spread upon the files inp: pe. Thou- sands upon thousands of pate ae help along the general jam entailed by the papers themselves, andthe endno man can foresee. The patent office fire in 1877 thinned matters out some- what and reduced the burden of archives con: siderably, but this is a case where “there are @ few left,” and a great mans more than a few besides, although the stringent regulations adopted some time ago with reference to patent mo ‘els have lessened the strain more or less on that score. The maps, plats, plans, records of grants and the thousand and one other kinds of | documents in the land office have already pra tically confined the glerks to a very limited epace in this section of the building, while the care that needs to be taken of all records bearing upon the woes of “Poor Lo,” and the rations, &c., which the Great Father issues to the red brother every two weeks only add to the general crowding. Secretary Noble is usually a very patient man, but he might be pardoned for displaying atritle of the opposite article at the epace econ omy which he must practice in the depart- ment, with his hundreds of assistants. In fact, there isn't room of any consequence left now except about the hallways and corridors, and in come quarters.it has already been necessary to call those into wsemi-storage uso At the same time the department is substantial enough in its construction to undergo some more over- crowding of floors without endangering the lives of the employes, and on that score at leant the Interior pe brethren of the c maker's standard. THE UP-TOWN DEPARTMENTS, Tho Trensury Department and the State and Navy portions of the latest of Uncle Sam ditions to his stock of public buildings are not as badly hampered for «pace as might be sup- posed after enumerating the mess at the In- terior and Post Oifice departments. But the section presided over by Secretary Elkins is in service under Mr. Wana- the latter state;and for the same reason. Under nces the transaction of ex- g hb ordinary circums' ecutive matters in the record and pension di vision at the Ford's Theater building and muc of the surgeon general's business down at museum would relieve the pressure were it nj for the ordnance end of the War Department. The quartermaster's, adjutant’s and judge ad- Vocate’s records are not so bat that ¢ department has so far managed to handie them without extraordinary exertion. But the ord- nance bureau is as much cramped, if not more so, than any under the entire government. Its complete museum had to be dismombered some time ago, although that is practically nothing compared to the difficulties encountered through the non-accessibility of plans and files, which are among the most aluable papers in the department. There is absolutely no room for any of these to be kept close at band in the building proper, and the whole list, relating to improved gune, arma- ment generally and fortifications, ix stared in a smail structure next the Winder’ building and tothe rear of an old stable, where they are likely to be destroyed by fire at any time. Un- uestionably, they could not be replaced in that event.’ Whenever it is necessary to con- sult these files the burcau officials are compelled to rummage around the old storehouse for the | document required, and much valuable time is frequently lost, the danger of having the col lection destroyed by fire being, however, the principal thing to be feared. Last on the list comes the need of the District itself.” There is a fire-proof vault at the Com- missioners’ stamping ground, where the most important city documents are preserved. But this place, which isthe only available part of the building and is located on the floor beneath the building inepector’s office, has long been packed to overflowing, and now the receiver of taxes and his confreres, the assessors, must} take chances against dire with their most im- portant official papers. The records of the en- gBineer department, the water and gas di- Visions, the building records and a dozen other concerns are in the same category, but until Congress steps into the breach in some way the rule will be “every division for itself and dovil take the hindmost. The Best Story, From Harper's Bazar. We were discussing the wonderfully short the im which a very long dream may be dreamed by @ dreamer whove dreamery is in good order and geared up for fast work. The city editor had worked off the ancient Egyptian chestnut of the philosopher who acci- dentally tipped over a small water bottle just as he dropped asleep and after dreaming a forty- cight-column-nonpariel dream awoke to find the water not yet all run out. I bad told my famous story of the man who was overcome by slumber just as the clock was striking midnight, dr-amed a long, complicated dream that it took him half of the next day to tell his junior clerk, who couldn't get away, and awoke to hear the last three of the twolve strokes. Cooper had sat silently listening; but now he braced up manfully, and with a look of desper- ate resolve he began: “Thad aneven more wonderful experience than those you have been relating, gentlemen, myself. I bad been out interviewing strikers, and when I got into the office and handed in my last bit of copy I was dead beat out; I came over here ty my corner and dropped into this chair and was asleep before I struck the cush- ion, Istraightway began to dream. I lived a whole lifetime, from w little babe to old ag Every step of my education, every difficult i fon, Was reviewed in detail, even to intricate geometrical probiems. I fell in love, courted and married three different girls, committed a murder, lived through every incident of a long triul and served a sentence of twenty years, every day of which was distinct and jull of mintite incidents of prison life; sailed on a three years’ voyage around the world, and in the last month of the last year was wrecked on a desert island, captured by cannibals, nearly crushed by a boaconstrietor, rescued by the Russians, only to be sentenced to Siberia, from which I escaped aad wandered through the arctic regions for months; did splendid work as @ reporter on a morning newspaper for eeveral years, and the city editor was just about to inake me his assistant, when I suddenly awoke Some one placed a pin in that chair, and I had dreamed that entire dream between the mo- ment when I started to sit down and when I struck that pin.” And the ei coats in beaten silence, and went home to 2) ORES His Well-Trained Coachman, From the Troy Times. We had his private carriage and a coachman. He was more accustomed to all-night hacks than private carriages and more familiar with the ways of talkative cabbies than well-bred coachmen, but he had made money and his wife wanted a carriage, sohe got one. Furthermore he decided to use the carriage occasionally him- self, and 80 one night ordered it out to take him to the club. He was rather impressed with the appearance of the turnout as it drew up in front of the house, although he thought a few more buttons on the livery might give it a more striking ap- pearance. “Take me to the Bon-Ton Club,” he said to the statue-like figure on the driver's seat, Now, that statue-like figure, being well- trained coachman, made no res} In fact, ‘there was not even an inclination of the head to indicate that the command had been heard. It was repeated, but still without any appar- ent effect. he climbed over the wheel and caught the as- tonished coachman by the collar, “Look here!” be exclaimed, “I'm boss of this concern and I want it understood that when I speak some one has got to jump lively. If you're going to get your head so ‘that z fe me because I've put you in a ith tin buttons on it, we'll part com- Bab Satertena 257 She BowToo je have the call on their | ty editor and I arose, put on our | A CHINES | E BAND. | The Instruments Which Make Music ; for the Celestials, ———_—--—_ | WHAT THEY ARE LIKE. Sa Tous, but Very Notsy—How They Are Played and What They Cost—The Home of the Cymbals—Interpreting Passion and Sentiment. eerie Written for The Eventne Star. HEN Music, heavenly aid, Was Foune, yet th early Gireace | | anything as inharmoni- sas a Chinese band or she would have cried, } as did Orisino food of love, playon Give me excess of tt, that V4 tortettine The appetite may sicken and die" a sad sacrifice, but be- ng the impending tragedy. A Chines band is limited as to number. In his respect ithas perhaps a little the best of the average American band. The Chinese | band consists of ten pieces only, but it | up in volume and vigor what it lacks in | tity and quality. Each member of a Chinese band is a soloist. | The particular instrament upon which he labors | is the only one he knows anything about. Me is educated from a child to play it, and be: Plays it likean adept, with utter disregard of the time and tune of the other metabers of the | band. Each one of the ten players has the | score before him—that is, hie own parti | part of it—and each one rendera tt accor is individual interpretation. neither be described nor imagined dent of the “Inferno” might possibly have some conception of it, but it is doubtfal The “outfit” fora Chinese band costiy considering the suffering it is calculated to pro- | duce. For the information of any one whose fi nese band the statement tx cheerfully made that if in the frenzy of desperation a stick of dyna | mite has been placed in competition with soul-murdering sounds it will only cost about £70 to reproduce and replace the whole celestial choir. SYA GALS Day The drum is the chief inetrumeat of t | It is const ture, cted of light, tough wood, and is bout the size and has much the appeatan a beer keg minus staves and hoo; top and bottom cowhide is tightly drawn ruifie of the cowhide is left about the top, the whole concern is giddily painte nese hieroglyph The drumsticks are big unwieldy affairs and produce a peculiar boom: ing noise, most annoying. This drum costs 12, The cymbals are handsome affairs of ham- mered brass, usually highly ornamented with etchings. They are much larger than those used by American bands and are warranted champion noise producers. They cost about $20 and would be much more pleasing speared to a parlor wall than in an orchestra. Their prmnei- pal mission in life is to emphasize with a vibrating clash those passages in the play where Chen Kee, the hero, collars Lu Ling, the “willian” and hisses “Liar!” or some other equally damaging addition to his patronymic. ‘They offset the hiss admirably. nated in China, and the best ones world come from China and Turkey. These two countries seem to hare a monopoly on the smanufaeture, as all atiempts to discover and imitate the ‘composition have failed. The cymbals are termed “military instraments of percussion,” and as the notes for cymbals are all placed’on the same line or space in rhythmical succession it would seem that most any kind of metal flattened into jelly tin shape would fili the bill. For some inscrutable reason, however, Chinese cymbals seem to have the call as tympanum tormentors, ymbals origi- nese band is the go One kind of gong isn't enough, so Chinese bands have two. The most | important is of handsomely ornament is ehaped like a tembourine. It n much noise as a fi and is much less musi- cal. Itcosts about $15. The other gong is concave in form and is of very thin brass. makes each particular nerve stand on edge in angry surprise. It is quoted #t §3 aud is dear at any price. 2 Fiopee H The “alarm” of the Chinese band, or “‘taps,”” as it is sometimes called, is pré-eminently Mongolian in ite conception. There is tiret a bamboo framework, consisting of three trian- on TAPS, PUCK’S SUGGESTION Jot has been cast in the neighborhood of a hi- | ~ | music every « use in the | The third instrument in importance in a Chi- | it | gives out queer tintinabulating sound that | like an inverted butter bowl. Over this is 7 drawn to ite ntmost tension acalfakin From one side of this cartons affair smal soap dish kind of provuberance of Vight wood about ten inches aquate, over which vcalfskin is tightly drawn. The big inetrament when struck with the long slender gives oat deep bass sounds and the one emits a kind of tapping tenor. | A CARO | | } t mallet. The handle is wot quite hap, and is fla at the lower ond, being an i vnd quite thin. There arc or part of the 1 two strings of nds are wound 1 by Indians and bas oat the “As wath one string’ £500 to hoop it out of bad, because it ie ute that is not utes in at- Impression pro- to that ex~ oss Banjo » isa curiosity. It looks stewpan, the dish part snakeskin dn celestial beat Linese band 1. It herds by roundsand ansorte ¥ to form a band for the almond-eyed can eanily get caf 2 music from the ten, fluity. | rice-eating son of tas at the bostness | end of each can easily drown out the sounds of aerack A anvil accompanisa eyed. brothers thrown in, Aud yet these { Buddha express in their 1 and sentiment ae lian mind. AY necturns that tell omental «kies of natur om the trees, aches, the deers * ix beard m autumnal woods f with f maple leaves, Nilveriy the moos aches the White of the lingering chrveanthe- ames till it glitters like snow, jewel like, weigh down the th blend with the towing river which semetimes mirrors blossoming branches till ripples seem to rise in tremul: flower waves.” A “revery”” br | and the al among their Nemesia of pa to paren T with the a both unpardem- able sins inason © hands red- d with innocen just defamed, criminal uplif ter compostti ss: The plac anon H ethays from the “prodigal” speaks Tam wont to dwell distance ithe « cloud * piled on h may be ms destined path, ne traveler's robe, me wander- tains, or tx, but at length thetr close, for I the village of winch I but whie Uhave by pes the sunset b n wild mo: pale; s convey to them, as | ours 1 ned forts and bat- ) tered of the wounded, eur Levulting cheers of the conquerors rn love am the matter of re- the *tringed im- agedy in the jangle of Yet, if there as truth im bination oF Jeach « veng: struments # | Can chestra is pug Jeane, Wonne = salvation Army. She Jol Van §; . the banker's daughter whe has joined the Salvation Army, was seen veo t morning, but she refosed point blank to ay of her reasons for taking this extra step. fate? Mr. Warner Van Norden, seemed feel the notoriety of the affair keeuly, “It is tha: my daughter bas joined the Salvation Arm: he said. “Our immediate friends and family have known ot this for several weeks, I seo ne reason why it should be discamed im public. It was my daughters fervent sire to become a momber of the army, we did not oppose her lives at home sand Weare ber full uniform only whem g her duties, 1 would rather not talk of this matter any more ‘Mise Van Norden lias now renounced all con- nection with Ler former church, In fact sbe dedicates herself entirely to the army and ite meetings. Miss Van Norden's duties #0 far, however, skelet A standing some three fect | have been confined entirely to the where ‘Affixed to the upper pointe of theve legs | meetings are bemg held. sets afluent speaker, is @ conical: affair of their light weod, aud Ler strong personality is amd to haves | great effect upou ber hearers. TO PERAMBULATING PARENTS.