Evening Star Newspaper, December 31, 1892, Page 7

Empire gown of heliotrope mirror velvet. The skirt is pretty ample. bodice are covered with « running design in metallicembroldery. Bodice partly veiled with lace. | | | Skirt, sleeves and FASHIONS DECREES. Smali Waists Will Not Go Out of Style Soon. MADE-OVER DRESSES. How Old Gowns Can Br Reconstructed The Short Watsted Gowns and Their Origin— Characteristics of Kepublic and Empire. Special Correspeniten: © Star New York. December 30, 1892. RETTY GOWNS MAY made for ali kinds ot wear by taking ideas nate ball toilets, Jenr home dress observe this f initial picture. Let it teach you, firet, that the women with smal! waists are not going to give up showing them all ofa sudden. They need not One m admit that fashion is aking = big, deep os 1 demanding more reom to breatae and move in, but a trim wrist and J hips are going to have their share admirers for long tims set. Besides, ‘annot throw sway all our old gowns and ‘lesely into the Luekiiy for gowns. a very few additions will put them quite in harmony with present demands. right puffs mn Carry the fu s shoulder now us far ax you ake: b: pe i the thing now. Make yourself look as if you had stuck each arm through a prize pumpkin or a double prize watermelon. Increase the broad effect by a ruiile of vthing that will £ The Frenint trom bres w styles. lie ou narrow in toward the w edge of the very popular © old irene is thus are | ap an old gown another thing th: into a new o that the op- Position to the empire encourages paniers, The | way to bring about paniers is to siart very just a ruitte or fall of jace at the bips, “wear ers the about the hips of is to be ruled to making a slave of Let us be explicit as to that Tt was drawn from a toilet velvet snd changeable at will show see, fashion Ke. instead of nitial sketch. dark green red Steilienne silk. Tes « The edge skirt ix surround two flounces, fastened on at the same time, one tarsing upward and the other down. The: are sewed fo ki ‘Lhe skirt i about It is composed of breadths on each «i te and two back I very much sloped at the top. parte that cutout at the t jo make th bins can bé used The fro bread: t» rounded bas a small dart on each wile. longer than a: afterward be made « wide breadth are a he skirt may alength. The tr and the back ones are cut the whole length of the train. In Jriming the different breadthe, which are lined with musi parts which t ground, only separately and heath these ser ras De tromed firs: the side ones h ere gathered in at the waist. skirt trimmed with two eadth has one dart, the back breadths The insi-te of the three flounces of a-quies of pleated w«bich fallin front pe of a jabot, as shown The plain ‘waist of dark ivet basa plastron behind and in front the chai it is of the same « terial of ready to faste olor as back form a we the waist belt. The taway where the plas- by @ronce iv the Lining. The velvet is folded on both sides, cording to the form of this plastron. The Draces are of lace like the fascaned af the back aod Ie belt. tron is edged witb three folds of lace, which P mpmat apie pleated floance. A folded belt on stroug lining ix fastened at the side. ‘The bands of velvet which rise from the belt at the back join on the plastron in front under- neath the braces, and thus forma simulated corselet. Halloon sleeves on tight!y fitting lin- | img ae gathered in by an elastic at the bottom and trimmed with « rosette or a bow of ribbon. 4, The second ball toilet ulustrated is made of cinder gray cactus cloth witha sunken figare. It is princess shape, and the bottom has a bor- der of flame-colored novelty velvet-borde-> | onench wide with gray ostrich ruching. The pointed front of red velvet is trimmed wi.u feathers and shows a plastron of gray. The | back is shirred at the shoulders and waist, and | there is a V of the velvet. A short jabot falls on oue side of the back. The upper portion of | the sleeves are of the clotk and the lower of | velvet. } SHORT-WAISTED GOWNS. | The fashion writers of the day are more reck- | less than exact in their quotations of “periods.” | Exersthing short-waisted is called empire. | Strictly speaking, the fashions of “the empire” | (A804) merely exaggerated those of the republic | in ite later fancies (1796-1804). The short- | waisted gown was not invented by Josephine | in the em) It was merely adapted by her. | | Her adaptation way the sack dress, with the | waist close up under the arms and the bosom | pushed up tothe chin. A criticiem of the time har it thus: “A fashion far from graceful, nda woman needs to be beantifal to look well in such a costume.” Gowns were inde- ly low for the street and at all times. cial flowers were an innovation and were much used on gowns and in the hair. Mme. de | Stael wrote “Corinne” about this time and the harp became the rage and floating scarfs more ever popular. But, after all, these things were hardly inveute! in the empire period and a . | to speak of a Josephine gown is’ more correct when the very short waists and | | very rts. for tte empire saw many a | fashion besides the short-wairteT one. Indeed, | in this period stays eame back. Most of the | gowns labeled ni empire are really revivals | from lrewes im the period of the | | French repa' 1 1804). “Bodices were | then «hort waisted, displaying a good deal of the bosom, unless it wee hidden by a gauze bandkercl. ef or long searf printed in colors or ded. In this early time of sted dresses the women had a dear n of innocence and nota bit of the em- | nodesty for all their low dresses. They | Wore straw bonnets and were the most demure | things in the world, if they wanted to be. | These were the B Brummel dresses ( Louis XVI, France: George IV, Eng] Then ax the time went on modesty became | more and more foreign to the short-waisted gown. Exaggerations alone bad vogue. Gowns | I were short waisted with iong tight sleeves or | rt over, or the arms were bare or covered | with long’ gloves. The rkirts trailed and all orts of headgear were in vogue. ‘The Creeks were borrowed from for head dresses wigs. tiaras and diamond crescents. | Svangles were inven much used on | dresses. Transparent materials came in vogue became mere “gunze-veiled this was more characteristic of | the republic than of the empire. As for pretty | modesty in short waists and long skirts and | scarfs, that is n yire at all. You may call | mel, if you like. | ing labeled y to the period follow- : ation (1815). Short- waisted gowns now tock on dignity; valuable jewels, wide bright-colored sashes, delicate fans d embroidered reticules were much worn. | Plaid dresses came in and you see now what has | | | | { | RESTORATION. gested our sudden jump of late into plaids, ough as vet we have not adapted them to the | short-waisted gowns. Large chip hats had the | edges cut into squares, green was much in| | vogue and so were clonks with double collars. Iver was woven into stuffs; feather trimming ad fur irimming were the rage, sleeves were | | puffed and trimmed with rows of ruching. You | eee the Restoration is well represented in our | fashions at present, and many of its character- istics have been classed under “Empire.” while | many more have not been classed at ali, which only goes to show that one lovely woman has epitomized several periods in herself, and just because Josephine is represented in short Waisted gowns, all short-waisted gowns forever | moresre Empire. But if you do not want to | go mto just her kind of short-waisted gowns | you will find lots of other kinds in the periods | covered by the term Empire—the short-waisted ; dresses, for instance, that are short-skirted, | | too, trimmed with wreaths of flowers of ribbon | | spirally wound about the skirt, a wreath of | | flowers or ribbon about the head. You may | wear bodices short waisted, but not under the | | arms, and very full skirts and swell little short | waisted coats in Thermidor style. You may do | | your hair high or low and quite loose, | as it ts picturesque. soe Standing Room Only. jude = a | novel devices planned by the 3,000 women in- | ventors | should be given to the claim made the other | the management of the world’s fair, who ex- | | illustrate the development of the sewing ma- | 1856, which wiped out all of the records and a | that showing the development of the steam en- | PATENTS FORTHE PAI How Yankee Ideas Are to Be Illus-| trated at the World’s Fair. - THE HISTORY OF INVENTION. The Exhibtt Betug Packed for Shipment— Series Showing the Development of Sewing Machines, Steam Engines, Textile Ma- chinery, Printing Presses, Guns and Hav- | vesting Machines—How the Models Were | Prepared. ern Written fof The Evening sti OR MONTHS PAST| the patent office bas been busy with the preparation of its world’s fair exhibit, which will be the most remarkable display of | the kind ever attempted. | Eleven thousand dollars | have been expended solely in the cleaning | and repairing of old { models which are to partly compose the col- lection shown. They have formed the basis of the arrangement, the gaps in their order being filled by constructing reproductions of missing | types of mechanical devices, ancient and other- wine, and also by borrowing. Thus has been made up a complete assemblage of objecte, the purpose of which will be to illustrate the history of invention. The ladies are not to be left out of this affair. They obtained from Congress at ite last session authorization to demand from the Secretary of the Interior all model of women's inventions in postession of the patent office. It is their intention to compose from these an exhibit which shall fitly demonstrate the remarkable faculty of original contrivance possessed by the female mind. About the only muchines they Will have to hoy will be two sewing machines nd a bottling machine. but their lack in this respect will be more than compensated for by the multitude of improvements in the way of corsets and bustles, nursery, toilet and cooking accessories, which chiefly compose the list of whose ¢ names are’ recorded by Unele Sam. In this connection due attention day by one of the ladies connected with pressed a belief that nearly all known inven- tions were actually due to women, who had suggested the ideas to their husbands and brothers, SERIES OF DISPLAYS. ‘The display of the patent office will be a1 ranged in series. For example, one series will | chine from its beginning. The very earliest one is lost, having been d stroyed by the fire of great many models in the patent office. Accord- ingly, the first contrivance shown in this class will be the second one patented in the United States, in 1842, by J. J. Greenough. It carried the cioth along automaticaliy, having «needle with a hole in the middle which passed back and forth through the fabricsomewhat after the man- ner of an old-fashioned needle. Next in order comes the first practical sewing machine, pat- ented 1 1846 by Elias Howe. Its needie’ had the eye in the point and was operated with two threads from spools. Ona card attached to it isa scrap of poetry, in which the machine is made to say: snperbuman, Sand herves of steel. needlewortan, ‘and not to feel. More than 100 sewing machines will be exhib- ited in this series.marking every step in the im- provement and development of the mechanical wonder. DEVELOPMENT OF THE STEAM ENGINE. One of tho most interesting series will be At the beginning of this class will be a reproduction of the famous Hero steam engine, which was exhibited in 150 B-C.,at the Sera- peum, Alexandria. Though hardly more than | a toy, it perfectly illustrated the principle of the modern steam engine, having a boiler that generated steam, which caused a hollow metal ball to revolve. “The steam, passing from the boiler into the ball, which was ‘suspended be- | tween two pivots, exeaped from the bail by two | le spouts turning opposite ways im sich a manner as to occasion a rotary motion. In the sais group will be exhibited all the types of a, THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTO: From these the growth of the art will be fol- lowed down to the modetn magazine breech- loading rie, automatic guns which discharge themselves, ench shat retting off the next cart- ridge, and the Hotchkiss revelsing cannon. which throws acontinueus hail of six-pound bullets from the rail of n ship, An oddity is the Lyman accelerating gun, which has little chambers all along the tube.’ ‘ihese are filled with powder and are discharged as the pro- jectile is leaving the wenpon, giving the latter additiona! impetus. TYPEWRITING MACHINES. Another interesting group illustrates the modeland the record respecting it were de- stroved by the fire of 1896, so begins with the second the invention of C. Thurbe ty siumple, its operation is extremely slow. ‘The type keys are arranged around the periph- ery of a horizontal wheel, by revolving which each key is brought to the same point and jabbed downward through a tube upon a nar- row ribbon of paper which passes over a smaller vertical wheel beneath. The result looks likea modern “ticker” telegraph meesage, but it would take a long time to write a few words. imens of recent typewriters have been sup- plied by the typewriter companies. Together With these ie shown the fret and only real writing machine. It is a moat elaborate con- which represents in 1842. | trivance, holding a peneil against a fixed sheet of paper in such a manner that the operator is able to make the pencil write on the paper by moving a set of handies. The process is ever 20 | much more difficult than writing with a pencil held in the fin this pecul eral use. AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY. One of the most important classes comprises reapers, binders and other harvesting machines, Allthe models of these in possession of the patent office up to 1877 were destroyed by the fire of that year. Accordingly, there were no model rs, and that is probably why ir device bas never come into gen- from 1877 to 1880, after which latter date the patent office nolonger demanded models from inventors. In order to illustrate completely j the progress of invention in this line many models have been constructed to represent early types, and manufacturers have been appealed to for reproductions in miniature of recent patterns. The McCormick Company of Chicago is preparing seven models showing their harvesting appliances. The growth of each sort will be shown by itself. For example, the development of the threshing machine els of fail machines worked by hand, and finally by a sraall copy of the modern machine s the wheat or oats, lets the grain fall through screens and throws away the straw. ELECTRICAL INVENTION: ‘The series illustrating the growth of electri- cal invention will be one of the most remark- | able. Telegraphic instruments will be shown, from a copy of the original Morse machi down to the gold and stock telegraphic printing apparatus and the autographic telegraph, by which a person can write in hisown bandwriting ata distance of 1,000 miles. Mr. Bell will supply telephones ehowing the growth of that device from the primitive tele- phone of i876 to the newest improved pat- tern. Edison will contribute models of his phonograph in the various stages of its devel- opmént, beginning with a theet of tinfoil wrapped about a boxwood cylinder and wind- ing up with the perfected talking and musical phonograph-graphophone. Electric motors will be ineluded in this group from the Daven- port motor of 1837 down to the very Intest motors, which will be represented by models from the manufacturers, ‘THE PROGRESS OF BRICK-MAKING will be shown in like manner, from the primi- tive method of filling molds and emptying them by hand tothe modern machine, by the aid of which a single man is able to tarn out hundreds of thousands of bricks in a day. One of the most important industries of this country is the mannfacture of boots and shoes. will be a full set of models of machines em- ployed from enrly times for this purpose. For- tunately these were not destroyed by the fire of 1870. ENORMOUS LATOR. The labor of organizing this exhibit of the patent office has been enormous. To begin with all the models on hand were carefully gone over and assorted. Naturally, most of them were in a condition of greater or less dilapida- tion, Twenty-five skilled men have beon at work on them for months, repairing them and cleaning their metal parts until they look if they were brand new. The series which \ey afforded were very incomplote, and the aps were filled by building fresh models and fy applying to manufacturers and inventors, Many of the latter were dead, adding dif- ficulties to the In this way and by Patient effort the series wero made, complete, and the models are now being boxed for shipment to Chicago, When dis- played at the exposition each of them will bave nn explanatory card attached D. C. SATURD growth of typewriting machines. The earliest | that the series | Thongh ; of this kind for the exhibit save those sent in | from the simple flail will be exhibited by mod- | AY. WAR TIME CHRISTMAS: | thera retigionsty. The Christmas one was | ve time to arrange everything for { at night. AN the Indies and little | | gitle wore wreatues of holiy and mistletoe, and How the Festival Was Kept on a North Carolina Plantation. > AT A CONFEDERATE POST. When the Eoys Were Home From the Front on Furlongh—Poor but Jolly—Crnde M. tertals—Everything Home Made—A Christ- mas Party. ae pore pe ST | ees Written for The Evening Star. OFTEN THINK TRAT eversthing of interest in my life happened when I wasa little child during the war. It may be that in the quiet of the monotonous years since then the excite- ment, activity and con- stant change of those stirring times assume an undue importance and every-day life is stupid by contrast, or itis becanse then we were young? Certain it is Xmas “never comes again” as it did when we were children, so let me tell you of one of our war time Xmastides, a merry one it was, too, upon a plantation way up among the North Carolina mountains at a confederate post. Our house stood on the top of a high hill overlook- ing the Catawba river, which rolled at the foot, with buts wagon track between precipice and | stream, while further along on a narrow strip of ground, just wide enongh to hold them, stood the government buildings. ‘They were the shops and extra offices of a factory which | had once occupied the edge of the little meadow nearest the river, but which was now only a charred ruin, aa it had been burned just before the site had been selected for a medical labora- tory, distillery and manufactory of such hos- pital necessities as were possible with the materials at hand. THE BIO NOUSE ON THE MILL. | My father was the surgeon in charge and we lived in the “big house” on the hill, The floors ! ‘There | to it, eo that one who runs may read what the | | collection signifies, It is expected to be one of | the most interesting features of the fair and | locomotives from Stephenson's “Kocket" toa gold-plated model of the newest Baldwin com- pound engine, contributed by the Baldwin | Machines for combing and carding wool are in- | primitive hand tools and coming down to the | knitting machines are similarly displayed, and | tian and Roman looms, which were hardly more | books and documents, such being the only #0 long | idea of the propeller was something in in Philadelphia. Some of the models le locomotives are very odd and gro- tesque. “The collection will be helped out by models from the National Museum. TEXTILE MACHINERY, All the models ia the group illustrating the development of testilemachineryhave been sup- plied by the patent office unaided by contribu- | tions. Thore required for representing the | earliest types of implements for spinning have | been specially constricted for the purpose. The | series begins with the primitive distaff! and spindle, accompanied by the Indian spinning wheel, which is xlmost prehisto xt comes a copy on a small scale of Hargreaves’ spinning | jenny, which the first contrivance | capable of spinning several threads at the same | time, being in fact the original type of modern spinning machines. It will be remembered that James Hargreaves, | himself a spinner by trade, wax peree-4 cuted by his fellow workmen on account of his | invention, because they imagined that it would destroy their industry. inasmuch as it could perform the labor of many men. The ingeni- | ous mechanic was driven from his native town, and his machines were broken to pieces by the mob. Lord Byron spoke in parliament in be- half of the workingmen’s side of this question. The introduction of the Arkwright roller-spin- ning machine was opposed on the same grounds with equal bitterness. Following these early devices will be shown the modern ring-spin- ning machines and the spinning mules which spin 200 gossamer-like threads at once, the breaking of a single thread stopping’ the mechamiem, owing to e delicacy. | Some of these models are made up of more than | 3.000 parts. They have all been taken apart, cleaned und put together in working order. eluded in the same group, beginning with the most complete modern patterns. Weaving and looms also, beginning with the ancient Egyp- than frames for holding threads, being not ma- teriaily different from the looms used today in Persia and Asia Minor for making oriental rugs. THE ABT OF FRINTIXG. Great inventions have commonly been re- ceived with the same sort of opposition that Hargreaves and Arkwright met with. The dis- covery of printing was regarded asa lamentable catastrophe by the scribes of the thirteenth century, who made their living by copying method of multiplying literature known up to thatday. The series illustrating the progress of the art of printing will include the actual Guttenberg press and the original Franklin press, followed by » completo series of presses down to the patterns in use today. The Hoe Company is making the exhibit a working model, to cost $5,000, of the latest perfecting press, which folds, pastes and does everything short of delivering the papers to subscribers. It is unfortunate that a model is not obtain- able of the steamboat which Denys Papin jaunched on the river Seine in the seventeenth century, anticipating Fulton's discovery. The fail to be impressed with the wonderful and in- spiring thought that the creative human intel- ligence is in truth a spark of diyini —_ cox NING MEN'S DRESS. Facts and Philosophic Observations That Instruct and Enterain. From the Clothier and Furnisher. ‘The winter fashions for men are only ultra in their forms, and it is an evidence of the keen perception that governs the launching of the various topcoats and undercoats that their greater length ix the one dominant touch which is markedly manifest. The counterbalancing g care to ward off, in any and every man- er. embellishment of detail from the vogue, and absolutely keep in subjugation the slightest decoration, even in stitching, does much to Jessen the accentuation which these garments would tuke on therewith, and thus afford the conservatives a chance for cavil. The voturies of fashiondom’s shrine recog- nize the sufficiency as an innovation of the va- in construction that cannot fail to add-ce the admiration of all well-dressing men. As an in- stance of this adept quelling of all garnishment upon the new single-breasted, long-tailed frock there is not a button visible’ on the coat—it being fly-frout to the waist line and having crow’s feet at the junction of the taile with the waist line at the back and the usual buttons absent from the coat sleeve. ‘The long-tailed frock generally adopted by the American gentleman ehas none of the eed eaturic length of the pronounced English gar- ment. Its below the knee and the native pro- totype has more snap to it than the English model. ‘There was atime when all-linen shirts were generally worn by the rich men of the town, and there are a numberof the old guard and many of the younger mién of the town that pay 80 much as $12each or $144 per dozen for their ail-fine-white-linen shirts, These are with and without collars aud cuffs. The loundry- men do not get a chance at them. Some old- fashioned retainer hatidies them tenderly and gets the home like dull finish on the starched shirt front. It is « curious fact that the man middle age that will pay willingly the high price for all-linen shirts will seck to strike an Rese ccs his catlay by Boing into some dry store a purel an assortment of 50-cent neck scarfs. v The premiership of self-tied effects and the diasemination of how to wear the scarfpin has helped the jewelry makers, for every well-to-do man, out of the greater regard which the quietudo of the clothing has engendered for the zest which the'bit of wwckwear coloring im- parts, has been Jed to an ownership of more of these baubles in decoration, which have a just right in their proper time ‘and place, and have become the most important piece of mas- culine jewelry in every day garb. Some of the swells are wearing spats again. ‘ While they cannot be sanctioned pon the score bargemen smashed the little craft to pieces, | of utilitarianiom, it may not be ga that in considering that it would dat their busi- | suitable colors and worn at proper times they ness, However, the exhibit will include the | impart a touch of individuality fo the wears griginal model of the first screw. propeller that poet drove a vessel across t! tlantic, invente ry Ericsson in 1848. It is a double propeller, hav- ‘The Deadly Banave Skin. tag two scroms on tho sane shaft. ‘The primary of @ windmill, and in fact the modern screw for ships ia nothing more nor leas than a modifica- {Hon of the windmill edepted to. water. types of propeliers date will be thown as E of the apparatus for steering by machine. GUN MAKIXG. Tho series showing the progress of gun mak- ing will begin with the Chinese wooden cannon, nobody who views it with a thoughtful eye can | Lome-mnde straw or ora. aliuck one, f frerer | rious new shapes, involving as they do an eclat | | of this dwelling, as in all other southern coun- | try houses, were laid upon rafters raised some | height above the ground upon brick poste, 80 | that one could see under it as one came up the hilt on foot, and many a time on a winter even- ing I have seen tho light from the big wood fires shining through the darkness beneath in long streaks coming through the chinks of the floor, revenling perhaps a stray sheep or dog which had sought a quiet sleeping place remote from small boys of any color. Carpeta we had none, except one small square to lay in front of the fire in the room where it was at the moment most necded, for we were ina way refugees, even if father was the the commandant of the post. All his military family lived with us; I mean of course by that his staff, but in those days when a private might be, and often was the brother of a general, military and social rank were by no means always the same thing. PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS, ‘The first thing toward preparation for the great festival was the making of many beau! ful candles by my mother, and ont little fingers were utilized to plait the wicks for them, avery tedious business. I soon got tired of doing my share by hand three plait, for the work had to be done very tightly, that the wick might curl over when burning and rave snuffing. Bo I got the bobbins upon which we made our shoe strings and used four threads, with excellent re- | sults in the way of more time for play, in my caso Usually aynonymous with mischief. Then the church decorations were planued | and most of them made at our house, as we had especially fine holly and mistletoe on the place. We would ail sit in the big equare parlor in the evening before the great wood fire. Father cut the letters for the Scripture sentences to adorn the walls of the church, and the ladies covered them by sewing the holly leaves on one by one. The little ones broke the leaves from the boughs and handed them to the workers, and the young officers all helped. too. Some ‘were busy at father's table cutting the pasteboard for the letters, others made. garlands or broke the cedar, pine, holly and inurel into short pieces for the wreaths, and the darkeys came and went with the wood for the fires, stopping tolook on, or grin at the children as they passed in and out, make up a picture that hangs only on “‘memory’s walls” now. The morning of Xmas eve I went to town on horseback, My riding habit wea e queer one. Over my short dress I” hud -an old riding skirt belonging to my governess, a dingy brown in color, and a coat made of the same gray frieze the soldiers wore, bound with bright blue merino, the last bits of the best dress I had when we left Baltimore. My hat was either a which, as I possessed both, My escort was one of the young officers, and we carried the letters and the altar cloth, which had also been made atour house. ‘The cloth was the usual “fair linen cloth,” arranged as a frontal, edged with needles of the long-leafed pine, sewed on aach bunch separately to form a’ perfectly even fringe, and the monogram in the center was made like all the other letters, but the berries of the mistletoe, as white ‘nd iridescent as arls, were used instead of the red ones of the oily. FOR THE LITTLE oxrs. Meanwhile Santa Claus bad ‘not forgotten that there were little ones in the house on the hill, and such preparations as could be made in his line were well under way. Mamma had dipped yards of wick in brown wax and made slim candles for the tree, which was set ina corner of the parlor, the young officers had shelled and popped’ corn ‘till tI toasted, and it was strung in long strings and festoons, as were also r and the gaudy yellow paper made at the neighboring peper mili. Sorghum molasses bad succumbed to hours of patient boiling and consented at Inst to “pull” into taffy, while little cakes made with it for their sole sweetening, but cut into most engaging shapes, filled up “a long-felt want” in our little stomachs and many bate places on the tree. Father bad been able to buy ata rale some few books--second hand. of course—and these were handed around as Xmas gifts to the grown folks, but for mamma he bad a beantifal work table made of native woods, with inlaid chessboard top. the men turned of walnut and holly at the carpenter shop on the place. The wood, by the way, hadall been cut, dried and made up at home, and the beads of the knights and bishops were carved by hiv own banda with the kuife made by the head blacksmith at the forge on the flats below us, SIMPLE DECORATIONS. ‘The room was tastily festooned with garlands and overywhere they were looped was hung a sconce made of wood with holes for the candles, with three of mamma's best adamantine onesin it, Indeed, these candles figured largely in her Christmas giving, for thanks to father's chemi- cal knowledge she made as beautiful ones as I have ever seen, hard, white and shapely; no “dips” for us. ‘From the center of the ceiling hung the great work of art. It wasachande. lier formed of three hoops, each one smaller ‘than the one below it, held together by cords wreathed in green, as were the hoops also, till they were entirely covered, the whole pyramidal in shape and the candles = as close together an they could be all around the hoops, formi three tiers of lights, and it was very pretty es | lighted the roomn well. ‘There is always a babellof' cries on a planta- tion Christmas morning, the negroes, young and old, ‘‘catching” everybody “Crissmuss {the children adding their voices to the in, the “merry Christmas” of the older folks and the general distribution of little comforts tothe servants, There was not much to give this time, but the old men had their “dram from “Mars Doctor” and the young ones some “‘goods" from ‘the house,” while “Aunt Milly” spread herself as woll as she could with the ma- terials at hand upon the dinner. Aunt 31, 1892—SIXTEEN PAGES. | about, nnd ererrbody went to every one ot we danced to the best music in the world the i darkey fiddlers to be found ou every plantation | in thoce days, How they would eat ume with | their fect. and when the tane was “Come out the Wilderness” how they would shout the chorus to help along, and what a lotof “drams" | ther conid stand without winking. There are no dances like it now. How gar the girls were and how prett:. How well ail | the men Jooked in uniform and how they danced and made love! Trust a soldier for that. The very shortness of the farioagh makes them make all the hay the hen in | the sunshine of eyes dearest--or mayhap near- | est to them. H ‘Then the music would pause and great trays | of egg fip would be handed round, with auch | @ as we could make under difficulties—a | total absence of engar for instance—and all | wonld partake of it with relish, though it was | made of our own home-made ‘brandy distilled from the persimmons which grew on, the | opposite hill, with & dash of rum made from | sorghum molasses. Then more dancing, till at last in the early hours of the new day the gay crowd leftin the big | wagons that brought them, and we heard them | finging as they drove down the hill, the voices getting fainter and fainter. A SEW YEAR PARTY. On New Year's eve I was allowed to go with the grown folks to another party, the last for | these furlough boys. It stormed #0 farionsly that most of us had to stay all night and my- self two days,as it was at a plantation some miles from ours. I can never forget some things that occurred on that memorable even- ing, especially the little girl who told me, truly, I fear, that I'‘‘danced like a lame cow,” at which remark I wept; or the bad little boy who wanted to tell each little girl something very privately behind the big door and when he got er there kissed her and made ‘her cry. It is| nge, but each of us in turn was “taken in and done for” by that very enterprising youth, and every one of us cried. How we all dgnced as the storm grew wilder and the rain beat in torrents on the windows. ‘Then the rest near daylight, when the Indies Iny down upstairs as best they could on the beds on the floor with a quilt any way for a few minutes’ sleep, leaving the men the lower floor. And then, after breakfast, the “boys” went away through the fast falling snow, into which the rain had changed, and the w. dren stood on the porches and said in some cases forthe last time. | no carpets in this house either, for the mother | had cut them up into blankets, one of which her “boy” carried away with him on his knap- sack that morning, and many another “boy” felt their comfort in camp that winter. Through the snow and bitter weather I rode home the next day, the roads were still too bad for wheels, and through the snow and bitter weather of many a succeeding sorrow I look back upon that old life as dead, asso many of those merrymakers are now. The bride was buried during the siege of Petersburg, when the voice of the priest was drowned by the roar of the eannon,and the hus- band died of fever on scorching Manasses. ———-—soe—— Written for The Evening Star. Swansea Lights. Swansea Lights are burning low Throngh winding sheets of whirling snow; Whitecap waves wash madly forth, Surging combers from the North; Black old ocean fumes and fights By the rocks round Swansea Lights. Swansea Lights! How dark the tale Of wintry night and howling gale! Sndden shipwreck, ail hands loat, Drowned men on the ledges tossed; Day disclosing fearful sights In the surf by Swansea Lights! Swansea Lights, despair and grief Have hovered o'er your angry reef! Sailor wives "mid tears and blood Seeking dear ones in the ood, Where ihe seagulls wing their nights Round the rocks of Swansea Lights. Swansea Lights! Poor mothers moan, ‘The widows and the orphans groan; ‘Salt tears fall for vanished lives In the ship that ne'er arrives; Longing, many @ fond heart For love lost ‘neath Swansea Lights. Swansea Lights, your lamps are bright When stars illume the tranquil night; Warm sea breezes fan your tower ‘Sort aa breath from maiden’s bower; Balmy summer crowns your heights, Smile the skies o'er Swansea Lightat Swansea Lights are all aglow Orer crested seas that ebb and flow, Welcome beacons to the souls ‘On the ship that homeward rolls, Warned afar from peril’s frights By the flare of Swansea Lights. Davi G | brought out Pinto Dan | know the inside of a church from a circus tent,” 'S NEW YEAR STORY, for The Fvening Star ct ATCH MEETIN'S IS some antique, but I takes it they air way up valgable instertoo shuns.” Pinto Dan spit re | flectively and threw bis left leg over the arm of | bis big leather chair, Cisplaying to good ad- vantage bis small | sbapely foot incased in a trim bigh-heeled boot which looked —lone- some without ite usual furnitore, a jangling silver «pur, Pinto Dan was just in from the range and was the guest for thoevening of same jovial fellows at the club. He bad a generous & big soul, conid sing a song or tell » and was rather a picturesque character onthe whole. They had been sampling “nose paint’ copiously at Pinto Dan's expense. was New Year's eve and som served that he was due in “watch meeting party,” PNTO DA Written, Exciusively Is | aage reflection. “What do you know about watch meetings, Dan? T'll wager this twenty that you wouldn't laughed Benton Leigh, flipping the gold piece in the air. “An’ I bots y: eu.go broke a whole lot if that | sizes your pile. When I'm in camp I toge up in war paint all proper an’ he'ps on the reg’lar Sunday round up long of a mother that air some sot ina religious way. Im way up on steerin’ the gospel ship, Iam. The gettin up an’ sittin’ down, an’ bowin' air some bard on my spine if I ain't seasoned none, but I minds me of this an’ rides my broncho, which bucks some vicious an’ gets limbered up a whole lot fore the home round up. Oh yes, my son. I ‘sabes church like a hen.” “But the wat meeti , Dan.” insisted Leigh. “There were no euch services held in that God-forsaken country. I know.” “Now that's where you falls down a beap. You air narrer contracted ‘our idees. You all's sabe that watch meetin” means congrega- sbuns an’ churches an’ sam singin’ an’ sermons an’ orgine an’ flapdoodle. sizes it up that the ol’ duffer with the serthe can wrap his garbar- dine round hie bones an’ slide into «pace just $ tasy when two folks watches as when there air twenty. Nobody ain't got no string tied to him nohow, an’ when he goes he goes a runnin’. As I mentions awhile back, they air shore some antique, but I cottons to ‘em a whole lot, long of one savin’ my life. ‘How was that, Dan?” asked one of the crowd the others began to draw closer, delighted that Pinto Dan’s tongue was unloosed at last, “Well, it were along back in tue eighties, pretty airly, an’ { were drivin’ stage from Pres. cott to Canon Diablo, Arizony. The trail laid along over the foot hills of the Frisco moun- tains, an’ then for "bout ten miles over the level meta straight acrossa measly ditch called Canon Padre, an, four miles east of that a sizable crack in the ground, 250 feet deep an’ 15 miles long, called Canon ‘Diablo. There warn't no trains a runnin’ across the bridge yet an’ my paseingere took the road at the station just east of the canon. There were just one place that either of the cations could be crossed with the stage "thout goin’ clear round where they ran out on level ground, an’ that were about » mile south of the station, “I ain't aimin’ to be no weather bureau, but TU allow it were ridin’ hard on jest sech a day as this here. It wete that cold Thad to build a storm door over my mouth with a comf'ter to keep it from turnin’ refrigerator, "thont no patent. I didn't have no passingers, which were a morcy, an’ I allows to get into the canon *bont on time when I leaves Angel's at noon. I finds, however, that ol’ Probs an’ me don't hit it off right some way, an’ knows in less than an hour that I ain't in it none whatever. “Never none of you rots been in a blizzard? No? Well, Taliowed as much, an’ I stacks it up yon ain't no need to want to get intermate with one. ‘Bout 1 o'clock I come a lopin’ long up the divide an’ meets Mr. Blizzard plum in the teeth. It shore made me tired. Twenty miles of buckin’ agin @ storm that stings like quills from a fretful parkerpine ain't no pleasure ty, it ain't, an’ makes me some petulent. Pease holdin’ tho strings over fou as com trary critters as ever had twine on em. ‘They didn't sense the trail no more than a tightrope, an’ the way they shied at every rock an’ clump of sage brush was sure abominable, <The day warn't nothin’ to brag on when T started, along of bein’ dark an’ gloomy an’ a spittin’ now some peevish, but I argies that I can make the canon too easy,an’ there was where I falls down some an’ walks on myse'f. “*Arizony ain't no Arcady park no time and I always fills my war bags with plenty of good red liker in ease of axident. So while not needin no water I were absolutely pmnin’ fer sassiety. I hates a Injan on general principles. I grades “em with bed bugs an’ graybacks an’, «peakin general, don't never want none of ‘em to come | heap. | fer power, b. AHAM ADEE. - see Reading Aloud. From Godey's Magazine. prowlin’ round my camp. But just thena moc- casin track pintin’ to a water bole would have The possession of the marvelous and intricate faculty of articulate speech seems no more | miracuious to the unthinking than do the | eternal varieties of eating, drinking and sleep- ‘ing. Yet the former is arbitrary and conven- tional, the invention of man-perhaps not confined to him, if Prof. Garner, of monkes- speech fame, is to be believed—while the latter are natural, absolute common, and the | non of existence. The office of speech—the celebrated French diplomat to the contrary notwithstanding —is to convey thought. How importaht, then, that this vehicle of thought transference, this common cartier of idens, this carriage laden with the most delicate and elusive of burthens, nothing less than the very essence of the soul perishable freight indeed. should be carefully watched and developed to its highest and best capacity. ‘The comparative ease with which the average individual may be taught to express the thoughts of himeelf or others in an intelligent, intelligible, even pleasing fashion, makes it seem almost criminal to neglect such o vast possible addition to the general good. Never- theless, the wiseacres who preside over the destinies of our common, high and collegiate schools, will probably continue to decide that cube-root differential calculus and the nom- enclature of rivera in Central Africa are more desirable accomplishments than the possession of asweet voice and the intelligence to use it properly. i E Ido not by any means desire to depreciate cultivation of the mind in any direction. In none of the arts, for reading is not only an art, but the noblest of them all, does gen- eral information, education and intelligence count for so much. ine qua, ————_+e+_____ New Method of Starting Street Cars. From the Chicago News-Record. The latest method of starting street cars in Denver issaid to result ina saving of at least 80 per cent over the cost of the ordinary nys- tem. The difficulty of maintaining schedule time with a large number of care is well recog- nized, and on many lines if the car be delayed by an accident for a of an hour or twenty minutes the whole line will be 0 de- moralized that schedule time will not be over- taken during the whole day. Inthe city of Dever there are seventy-four miles of elec- in any sense of the term. A little more than fifty years ago the employes of a large man- be i if 2 aril filled my gizzard with exultin’ thrills. Ol Prob was dead agin me, though. I knowed there warn't no teepee between Angel's an’ the canon, so I didn't waste no time lookin’ fernone. “Bont 3 o'clock I finds me lost. The coun- try looks like one big snowdrift an’ the mount- ains fades into the dead gray white of the sky. The wind plays foot bail with suow clods an thumps me in the face an’ the back, hunts for my eyes an’ drifts round me in the boot, It whoops an’ howls through the mountain pass an’ growls through the pines like grizzlies. Then the air gets thicker with the snow an’ sleet an‘'l finds I can't eee the bronchos. Then I knows fer shore that I have played the game down to tho turn an’ my last chip's gone over to the dealer. I feels some gloomy at first, but, after all, I regards dyin’ as improvin’, an’ thinkin’ that it air about drink time I imbibex an’ feels better. Asa friend of mine remarks once, ‘I holds we're more ahead on folks dyin’ than on folks livin’, ‘Then again, an’ takin’ it personal, even for the test an’ luckiest livin ain't what you call a big win. It'sa heap of trouble to live—coxts "bout all it comes Ain’t nuthin’ in dyin’ to shy at, neither. nacheral ‘nuf. It’s like the turn at the end of 4 deal——part of the game an’ bound to come." “While I air moralizin’ I feels that the bronchos has struck level ground. That meant that I were in the level plain a few miles west ward of Padre canon. I had give the brutes their heads, for [ stacks it up that brute instinct air shore ax good as blind ignerance. Sudden I comes up a bumpin’ an’ the bronchos stopped. T curses an’ coaxes, but they air some obdoorate. I climbs down an’ feelin’ round in the snow finds it air the railroad track. I allowed that I was found all safe, an’, mountin’ the box, im- bibes some more ‘an’ goes a-shoutin’ long the track. I _knowed I was safe on the trail til I struck Padre an’ then I allowed to skin down the gap to the croasin’. “Phe storm let up some about then an’ when Igot close to Padre I seen a tigger stumblin’ along on the ties, lookin’ plum wore out. [| shouts some vociferous an’ pulls up an’ gosh—all—fich—books! if it warn't Bill | iter, the telegraph operator at the the whitest man about that Fever ki “Ain't yoo down on your luck, bim as be chinbed up beside me, ¢ chansted ‘an’ pale “What in tarnation air you « trempia’ round for on # day like this!” ‘ “"The tank at Angelt was leaking snd ordered me ont this morning vo Br ite a when he gets bis breath “lve bee the tank there mince Smith got atch little to my income y 2 Lm but No. 4 was reported six hours laff, x0 Lconcluded to walk back. storming wher I started “T gave Bim 9 snifter an’ it warmed bim ape I were feelin’ « berent mysef ‘over the turn in the cards an along of bavia comp'ny. But the storm thickened ep agslg rome way the blamed brencbor missed the crossing.“an' when nigh than ever. Tuin't © grass days “ the wb Fer abont one of the elect, as my 1 all em. ‘When the dark come the storm let wpe whole lot, but that didn't be'p ts none We bad plain lost our bearin’s an” the face of the J earth was white with snow where we wi or where The bron: was tit an ome Iwas tough an jd we couldnt renced an wae a givin Tt shore di yald weatben it through ut hand weed lungs an wax most gone. IE got htt dewn inte the stage an give him the last of the liker, Then U crawled up again an’ tarned the br chos loose to take us where they would. I towed they'd spill us over the side of the cance in the dark, but it looked die 3 warn't makin’ no choice of tratla own lives and sticks, The bronchos was « ploddia’ slong over the mesa an’ for mies | had glimpsed nuthin’ but scrubby pinoa. cactus aa’ Spanish need! “I was gettin’ drowsy. I knowed"that meant death. Iminds me of my ol’ mother She don’t rightly know all my cussednes an’ banks ® good deal on me, long of me bein’ the Tallo Hhurt herawhole jot to have me brung home a stiff, Then I thinks about Rill an‘ his wife an’ girl. Half asleep I tumbles down an’ yanks the door of the stage open, Bill be starts up wild like an’ cusses at beim disturbed, but lord, [don't mind bis cama’ I knows be don’t mean it none, «oI pulls Mr, Bill out ax’ trote him after the stage long of me. When be can't go no longer an’ seema +a, am limberer some I puts him back an’ crewle up o@ my perch again. jod! how the hours dragged. (allowed wa must be mighty nigh the Mississipy i river Cs! the time we d been travelin’, but all around couldn't see nuthin’ but snow an’ biesk sky, an” me an’ Billan’ the bronchos the only hvis? thing in the landscape. *Tain't no use to travel no longer, I thinke to myse'f, so when the bronchos stops again £ lets ‘em stand,an’ in a minute! was mostaslenp. ~All of a sudden beaven bit me square in the face. Tneen a grent blaze of light an’ then @ sbinin’ trail comes right down to one an’ sare kind of soff like, “Walk in me.” 1 allowed ol” vabe had had the drop on me, so 1 throwed the game. lcrawied down an’ punched He growled an’ reckoned he'd stay right there, but when I tells him we've got to heaven be gots curious an’ him an" me starts vp the trail uncertain like on our pina. Just then the door to beaven opened an’ aangel stopped right im front of it. “I pulls Bill an’ we waite for tone what she wants of 1 sots. She acts some banghty and "pears not.to see us, Then the folds ber and sings: The God of life whose constant care ith blessings crowns each openiag year. I ain't aimin’ to be no Tyrolese warbler mye se'f, likewise I ain't no way-up critic, who lage out’ to do up every other warbler by writin’ ‘em down flats, but I'm right bere to say that that there was away up the sweetest musi that any sam singin’ seraph ever chanted, an’ the feller what disputes my word wants of range of shot w 1 allows Tam some hazy » I thinks to myse'f, ‘Mother she sings that when I ware kid an’ abe rides night herd on me cane I am ac tan don't want to herd by myse fin my be An’ then I see ber hair air brown again au’ no wrinkles te there, an’ the sume laugh in her blueeyes, All the time the voice goes on <n “ ‘Thy children longin to be An’ the rest of it about the happ: ‘Where years an’ death ain't & “Then 1 begins to get Tree the snow an’ cactus an’ {thinks to mywe'f, ol” ( i givin’ mighty cold welcome. Ail the tim? the sings On we soit as flowers a growin’ a as enow water ripples over the stones in -ammee, *"Oh long expected year! begin Dawn on this world of woe s Fe leave this wen! An’ sleep in death to rest with God.” “I get it all by heart. Mebbe so I don't hear keeps a thinkin an, I want to fremember. Just before the angel quite Billy be jurches agin me an’ says thick like Minme-my-dou-er «be sing» che! Glory to Goliah how T yells. 1 smn aholy second, an’ down that ehinin tra: the angel, ber yalier bair spreadin’ out like @ cloud an’ ber arms a flyin’ like wings. “Dan, cries the voice like a whip-poor- will’s-song, “Dan, ain't that you? Ain't you most froze? An’ where did you come from? “Hell,” L tells her, ax she flies inte my a an’ I don't lie none neither. “Me your dad has come straight from the jaws of bell inte heaven an’ now we're bi ‘She cried out frighte an’ he bein’ too far gone to an’ lugs him into the «' “We all pulls thro feck: the wind, such no more, 1 an’ kisses ber dad, Vic 1 piake hina ap on house. ho, but Bill gite « way the worst of it through losin’ « foot, beats my reckonin’ how we ever got there. Them blame fool bronchos followed Padre te where it runs Out on the level plaia an’ got across Canon Diablo the same way an’ then comes back up 16 the station, twenty around if it's a foot, an’ stops not th from the station house. An’ there we before the one house, which were the depot an’ tae graph office, an’ it were all of @ color with the night. Winter some tearful, when we gets thownd a little, “But [says it's all nonsense, she is too young to keep such late hours, an’ she goes to bed. “But sbout 11:90 whe creeps in an’ aske me to let her watch the half hour, ar’ so 1 gets up an’ fixes the fire and lights the lamps an’ she puts up the curtains an’ then sho * the Hor at sings an’ welcomes the live hid af ® New Year in out of the cold. We never Knowed but ber pa was safe at Atgela,” then she stopped short an” in ber bead, an’ Minnie #be slips a arm aroun’ my neck an’ aroun’ her dad's an’ says pend like: “I'm glad your both safe.” Ar’ I thi of ther. Here, you a Jamkes ue ry . What'll you take?” mages istnet Wonmmre Baus FOR A SWELL AFFAIR. ‘From the Philadelphia Times.