Evening Star Newspaper, July 29, 1893, Page 7

GETTING READY IN THE STATION. ON THE FAST MAIL. A Star Reporter’s Thousand-Mile Journey in a Postal Car. A FLYING POST OFFICE. Hard Work, With But Little Rest for the Crew. NOTES BY THE WAY. 4 THOUSAND-MILE trip in @ postal car of the railway mail service is attended with many novel and interesting sights and happenings, but to the average citi- zen reasonably fond of all the comforts of home a relation of them would propably be more appreciable than the actual ex- perience. So if you would like to take the trip in imagination with a Star reporter who made it in person just brace yourself for a good long spell of heat, dirt, dust, loss of sleep and kindred discomforts, and we will take a spin on the Florida fast mail and realize how hard is the postal clerk's life. The Florida fast mail route properly be- ging at Boston and ends at Havana, Cuba. It taps a large territory north of Washing- tom, by which it supplies a great area south vf the Potomac. The part of the route with which we shall have to do ts that lying be- ‘tween Washington city and Charleston, S. C., and the trip will be made on a car which is known as “the Washington and Charleston railway post office.” This is the Jongest run made by any crew in the railway mail service, and it is a heavy and busy one. The round trip made by the crew is lghting the horizon in the east and picking Dit the dome of the Capitol m black stlhou- ette against the clearing sky,when the New York ‘train rolls in. The postal car is switched into the depot alongside the New York train and coupled to the cars which aze to form the southern train. The work of transterring the northern mails to our car then proceeds. Sack after sack and pouch after pouch are thrown in and piled up in the end of the car and the clerks look with dismay upon the prospect before them of handling all that stuff. A stifling cloud of dust arises from the bags, enough to smother a fellow almost. The transfer completed, the train rolls out of the depot, and, as the sun breaks in full splendor above ‘the crest of Capitol Hill, the train plunges through the fog bank of mist that still hovers over the Long bridge and begins its long journey to Dixie land. Business is lively in the postal car now, for the stations come in quick success- fon and the mail must be handied quick]: From the New York train there came a pouch labeled Alexandria, and this, with the pouch of Alexandria mail made up at Washington, is placed in the doorway of the car to be dumped. A couple of pouches of mail for way stations in Virginia are taken aboard at Alexandria and this is dis- tributed at once. Catching the } Along the line are many small stations, where the train does not stop, but where mail is dispatched and received. As the train approaches one of these stations, Woodbridge, for instance, the clerk empties the pigeon hole labeled Woodbridge into a pouch and ties it up. As the train dashes through the station the pouch is thrown off, 1,090 miles, and the actual time spent in the | #84, with the iron mail catcher attached to ‘ar Is forty hours, Distributing Letters. We will enter the postal car at 2 o'clock 4m the morning, at an hour when your sys- tem reproaches you bitterly for coming out ef your comfortable bed at such a time to undertake a risky Journey which may tana Fou tn @ pine box or a heap of ashes under the wreck of a smashed and burning train, for you might as well know before you start that the postal car is the most dan- Berous place on the train, not excepting the engine. In every front-end collision or wreck the postal clerks suffer and their car 1s damaged most. In a collision the postal car 1s ground to pieces between the upper the side of the car, the clerk takes in the pouch that is hanging from a frame beside the track. As a Tule, the services of one are required to transact this local business, dispatching the mail at the stations and distributing that which is received. In the meantime other clerks are busying them- selves distributing the letter mail and others handling the papers and heavy artt- cles. Every man ts in a brown study, ap- parently, and is entirely absorbed in his work, for it demands his closest attention. ‘They do not heed the swing and roll of the train, the dust, smoke and cinders that pour through the car, but are taken =p with recalling the different routes whi they have memorized. Now we approach the crossing of the error is checked against the record of that | el Has it ever occurred to you how depend- ent business men, and everyone else in fact, are upon the accuracy and honesty of these Fallway mall clerks? Here are letters In this case coming from the north contain- ing money, checks, relating to important business atid family matters which are anx- fously awaited by of for Whom they are destined. An ‘error or an act of carelessness on the part of one of these men might delay those letters or cause their misdirection and work untold harm and embarrassment to the affairs of others. Yet it seldom happens. How of- ten, in your own case for instance, have your letters miscarried through the fault | of the post office? The work of these men | is entwined and interlaced with the most important business and social affairs of every person. The interests of the railway mail service and its workers is a personal matter to every man in the country. But while we are moralizing the t runs into Weldon, N.C., and the passengers pile out to dinner while the postal are busy with dispatching and recel the mail for the Seaboa railroad. After awhile they will have a Ii tle leisure and will get out their lunch baal A Southern Postmistress, ets and take what the southerners call a “snack.” From Weldon to Wilmington, half a day’s run, there will be something for somebody to do all the time, but It dovs not require the attention of the entire crew. There is considerable local business occa- sioned by the small stations along the way gna mail must be pouched for three cross e3. We are running through the water melon belt now and along toward the cool of the afternoon make a mercantile trans- action with a small and very ragged col- ored boy for a big watermelon pulled that morning with the dew on it, and which has been reposing in a cool place all day. ‘The consideration is only 10 cents and there is enough melon for each man to take @ Slice big enough to bury his face in it. That's the only way to eat watermelo any way; just sit down on a pile of ma! sacks and fairly grovel and root into the firm, julcy meat o lon, emerging re- freshed and full, with seeds sticking ‘in your eyebrows and the water dripping from ‘our face, verily, like unto the oll that ran wn Aaron’s beard, Wilmington is rather an tmportant rail- Way center and the mail transactions are heavy. When the train pulls out after sup the clerks have an hour or two of work on their hands. The boys have been on duty now for sixteen hours steadily and they begin to show it. With the doors and windows open to get air the smoke from the engine pours through the car in clouds. It is dusty and hot, along with a sickening motion sometimes and every one is longing for the end of the run. The men look heavy eyed and haggard and they don't work with that sw! which characterized their movements in partion, part of the day. Between this and midnight every man in turn man- ages to get a short nap, the mall bags, Then ail’hands turn to and Mind up the business of that part of the Tun. This car is to be left at Charleston and all the mail transferred to another car and crew. Every letter and paper is properly pouched and arranged in labeled stretched out on Chesapeake and Ohio railway line. There is mail for points along that line east and west of the Junction, and that ts pouched and dispatched, to be taken up by postal clerks on that line and distributed. Four or five big sacks taken on at this junction increase the work of our clerks. The boys are hustling now, for we are nearing Rich- mond, the distributing point of several rall- ways. As the train folis into the station the clerks wipe the grime and perspiration from their faces and regard with com- placency several blg sacks of mail stacked up in the doorway of the car, the result of their labors. A transfer agent at Richmond takes charge of the sacks and attends to the delivery of them to the different rail- way lines. Another big load of mail is taken on at Richmond, but the clerks le it bravely. Petersburg away, the crossing of the Norfolk and Western railroad, and there is mail from Richmond to offices east and west on this ine. When the train leaves Petersburg at 10 and nether mitistone of the iron tender and locomotive in front and the great weight of the long train béhind. The tender crushes im the front of the car and the baggage car Yelescopes the rear of it, and there you are. However, this ts not told you to frighten Jou out of che trip, but simply to show you constant and imminent danger which Surrounds the railway mail clerks. bony POUCHING THE MAIL. a.m. the clerks have been working for eight hours steadily. ‘Their labors have ‘been harder and more continuous than those of any government employe at a desk in Washington, and yet they have only com- jeted one-third of what is their day's work. ‘rom Petersburg down to Weldon, N.C. there is but one railway crossing and only @ small amount of local business, so that the clerks have opportunity to get into the Our postal car is lying on the side track along 6th street at the Baltimore and Poto- | mac depot. Come in and seat yourself on a | pile of empty bags and watch the subse- Quent proceedings. | Here is a big sixty-foot car, one end of | which is fitted up very much like the inter- | for of a snail post office: in fact, this is a | st office on wheels. There is a case ex-| ending around one end of the car studded with pigeon holes for the reception of let- ters distributed. Back of this, on either aide of the car, are rows of mail bags hang- ing to tron frames, which are to receive pa- pers and heavy mail of that ciass. Leath- er vouches of all sizes are stacked up on the foor, and into these will be put the let- ter mail’ when it is ready to be dispatched the The other end of the car Is Feserved for a storage space which will be gecupied with great stacks of mail bags be- fore long. Soon after 2 o'clock a big van from the eity post ce drives alongside the car and unloads the mail from Washington for ints in Virginia, North and South Caro- id Fi There are prob- ably fifteen sacks and po each one of which is laheie its contents. The five clerks In the po: who have been busy up to this time eating a hearty lune! which they brought with them, wil very little opportunity to feed b and midday—now turn to and. ta feb Defore them. The sacks destined for southernmost points are laid aside, to be reached in order, while the Virginia mail fe attacked first. ‘The letters for the vario: Ine are pigeon-holed. ed. Here the postal 3 towns along the id. the papers sack- ri brings his wits to work, and must be sharp. and ac- curate. "You know that from nearly every little railroad station the mail is carried bj contract to interior country post offices, maybe only a few miles from | the railro: or probably on a circuit that takes in a dozen o The al clerk must know at Blance without * exactly from what country post So ping to look into a beok ‘ton the mat! for the be dispatched as the loca- t offices in the y swing, il; the ler and the sack: @ with their contents, and this goes on until 4:15, when the coming day is a report made to the main office, and an around her little great bulk of the Georgia and Florida mail Which has been laid aside for more urgent Matters. The roadbed of the Atlantic Coast line from this point is in splendid condi- tion, the track smooth and straight, and the “car moves with but little perceptible motion. A Sitting in the open door of the postal car, now on the shady side, with the breeze made by the swiftly moving train acting like a great electric fan, it is pleasant Jost in Time enough for us, and we therefore feel all the more sympathy for the postal clerks. They | look tired and hot, don’t they, and wouldn't | would be sick of the very ‘er or paper by this time? See and how they stretch from one end of ‘the case to the other to distribute the letters. One of them 1s re- moving the contents of @ pigeon hole now to put the letters in a pouch for delivery at the next station. He tles the letters into & neat package and puts in a slip of paper | with his name on it. If tt fe found ‘upon opening that package that a letter for acme | interior country office has beeen put in it not belonging there, but which should have | been left at some station, the fact is noted, Thirst Quencher. sacks, so that the clerks on the next run can handle it conveniently. The sacks are emptied and placed again in position to Teceive matter on the up trip. When Charleston is reached at 2:3) a.m. the men Bile out of the car and go to their rooms to drop down on the bed and sleep for ten hours the sleep of the exhausted. They have worked for twenty-four hours, and in that time have handled 49,020 letters, 248 sacks of papers, 109 registered packages, 11 registered pouches and 6 registered case: ‘welve hours after arriving in Charleston this same crew report at the depot for ser- Vice on the return trip. They come to the gar two hours ahead of leaving time in or. er to distribute the mail originating at Charleston before the arrival of the con. Recting train bringing the mail from the south. The car is arranged in a different Way for the northbound trip, that is, every pouch and pigeon hole is relabelad. The tun to Washington is to be ten hours shorter, and very little local business is to be trans: acted. | Mail will be received and dispatch. ed at junctions, but there will be no way station distribution. he pouches and pigeon holes are labeled with the names of northern cities between Washington and Boston, and along the Hudson river, and others with the names of states in the west and northwest. One Section of the letter case Is devoted to New York city, and is arranged so that the mail, when it reaches that burgh, is already dis- tributed for the local carriers to. handle. Each branch station of the New York city Post office is represented by a different pig. ¢on hole, and a label describes the area fed by that office. The clerks, in distributing the letters, put them Into separate packe ages, 80 that when the mail arrives In New York city each package will go direct to its proper station without handling again. There is another pigeon hole for letters ad. dressed to banks and newspapers, and this mail will find its way to the addresses im- mediately upon arriving at the city. Mail for the western states wiil be ready pouch- ed upon the arrival of the train at the con- necting junction, and will be dispatched to be properly distributed on other railway post offices, Leaving Charleston at 4:12 o'clock p. m., the work of the men 1s practically complet- ed three hours later, and they can relay for rest, as half the crew can handle the in- termediate business, Fourteen hours’ ru brings the train to Washington the nex morning, and the clerks go home, having no work to do until four days later, when they make the same trip. Every man will have to put In @ certain ‘amount of time study- ing his route, for that 1s a portion of the postal clerk's business. He will want a promotion some day, and will undergo a civil service examin: in which his abil- ity to quickly remember the stations along his route will form the maln feature You will probably agree with the claim of these men that their work, professional work {t Is, almost, ts very poorly re ensed at salaries of $300 and $900 per y fou will think that an ordinary clerk in @ department at Washington, who works eight hours a day in safety’ and comfort, writing or copying, having hardly enough to keep him busy, and in the main perforin- ing a duty which seems of little practical value to the people at large, although It 1s, of course, receives $1,200, $1,400 per year. These men, doing a work which ts of vital interest to every man in the country, and intrusteg with the most sacred business re- sponsibiaties, laboring night and day under all manner of hardships and in constant, momentary danger of their Iives,draw a sal- ary which is begearly in its meagreness, They have appealed to Congress time and again, and they probably truthfully say that if Congress could take a run In a rai. way postal car and suffer a short spell with the clerks they might heed the cry of the oppressed. When vou step from the car on the re- turn to Washington and are asked {f you would like another trip of that kind, what will you say? “No, thank you; once {s enough for m ar. From Vorue Not—“What makes Grimes shaped so lke a corkscrew?" Dot—"His wife constant twisting him finger.” .THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, D. 0. SATURDAY, JULY 29, I893-SIXTEEN PAGES, A CITY LIBRARY. The Project of One Here Again Referred to. THE OLD FORD'S THEATER BUILDING An Eminently Proper One for Such a Purpose. AGITATE THE MATTER. ECURRING TO TH! city Mbrary I trust ‘The Evening Ster will continue to agitate that subject until tt becomes a reality, as it has been the first to suggest Ford's Theater for such a purpose. “If I re- member the proposi- tion of Mr. Wolcott, {t provided as a nu- cleus the department Ubraries and the dup- Neates from the Con- gressional Library, of which, I understand, there is a great accumulation. With such a beginning it would not take long to form what is needed here—an excellent Itbrary of reference, as well as of instruction and recreation. Mr. Crerar directs in,his will that the residue of his estate, after paying bequests to charities under the direction of the Presbyterian Church, and to some friends and relatives, the sum of $2,500,000 be set aside for the erection and mainten- ance of a public library in the city of Chi- cago. He directs in his will that in the selection of the books for the same the creation of a healthy moral and Christian sentiment be kept in view, and that nastiness and immorality be excluded. ‘This would exclude Zola and that tribe of recent erratic writers of our day, male and female. backs cant san story of the late Mra. John Bigelow’s in- terview with “Ouida.” Mrs. Bigelow, while in Florence, called on “Ouida,” who resides thera, And when her card was presented “Oulda” declined to see her, saying, loud enough for Mrs. Bigelow to hear her, ‘I am not at home—I hate Americans.” Mrs. Bigelow replied: “You ought not to hate u: for we are about the only people who our nasty books.” “Ouida” came forward Immediately ‘and’ apologized for her Tude- ness, and the interview was mutually agree- able. I met “Ouida in New York in 1964- 188% and was introduced to her by the Gen. Kilby Smith. As might be supposed, she is a charming conversationallst. Some of her books are a little “off color,” but she has written some beautiful things. “A Leaf in a Storm” and other short stories or sketches are unexceptionable and full of beauty. Mr. Crerar’s exclusion of other works that find ready sale is commendable. There would be time enough for expurga- tion when the library was well under way. Nothing Like Agitation. Let The Star only ald in the effort made by Mr, Wolcott and the Senate Mbrary com- mittee and at the coming regular session the brary will become an accomplished fact. Nothing like agitating a subject to secure a desired result. I met Mr. James Gordon Bennett in 1865, being introduced by the Chevalier Wykoff. There had been an old difference between the Nattonal In- telligencer and the Herald for years, but when, with the late Chauncey Snow, I be- came one of its proprietors, I did not in- tend to allow the old feud to disturb my relations with the Herald, and I was in- debted to the veteran of the press for some Very sound advice, and among other things he said: “When you undertake to do a thing don’t stop. Keep at {t—agitate it dafly—you are sure to accomplish it in the end. It took fifty-seven articles to kill Pierce, but I killed him.” There was for some cause a bitter feeling rainst Gen. Pierce with ir. Bennett, and he published columns of ibuse of President lerce, than whom a more perfect gentleman never filled the presidential chair. All this only to show that the agitation of a subject generally brings success in the end. That this city, the center of culture, with its Smithsonian Institution, untversities, colleges, and other institutions of learning, should be without a public brary 1s a re- roach from which we hope to be delivered Byrsuch friends of education and culture as Senators Wolcott, Vorhees and Mills of the brary committee of the Senate. We don’t expect, in our demand for a city Mbrary, to contend with the British Museum. nor the Lenox Ubrary for rare books, “costing mint of money." No “Psalmorum Codex, —whatever that is—printed in 147 at Mentz, by Faust & Schaeffer, and sold at Sir John Thorald’s sale in 188 for £4,960, nor @ Mazarine Bible costing £3,000. A modern “Decamerone of Boccaccio” will, if expur- ted, do for us, and not one print in enice in 1471, ana sold for £2,260. We don't want to rob’ the,Vatican of its Hebrew Bible, which, we are told, Pope Jultus IT refused to sell for 3 weight in gold, which would amount to £103,000, nor with Senator Brice for Groliers or hand-painted illustrations. We will be content with almost as small a beginning as the Itbrary founded at Ames, Ohio, in 1812, and known as the “Coonskin Library.” The fund which supplied the books ‘was obtained by the sale of coon- skins to the amount of $73, which was ex- pended in Boston for books, and brought in a sack on horseback to Ohio, and it 1s said: “This library, with so smali a commence- ment, exercised a very wide influence." Smali beginnings will, in time, produce large results. Harvard Wbrary has grown since the days of John Harvard, and his modest beauest of his own library of 16 volumes into one of the best In the coun- try, and contains over 300,000 volumes. ‘There are scattered all through Paris free municipal lending libraries. ‘here are, or Were some yeers ago, over fifty of them. They are adapted to the district where they are located. They all have reading rooms, and not oniy are books supplied, but music and drawings are loaned, and it Is of record that they are promptly’ returned unmuti- lated The benefits of a great pub- lic library cannot be overestimated. The benefit extends to all classes of society, and there is not a city tn the Union ‘where It is so sadly needed nor where it could accomplish so much good as in Washington. A Historic Residence. A few days ago I had occasiun to visit the residence of Mrs. Briggs (livia) and it recalled the long ago When I first remem- ber it @s the residence of Maj. Gamble of the marine corps. Can any one give us its history anterior to that time? It must have been built before the city of Washington had being. Since Mr. Gamble's day Maj. Nicholson resided there for soe years, and there the boyhood of Admiral “Nicholson and Maj. Augustus Nicholson was spent. Maj Gamble, if I remember righ was from Florida, and the Miss Gam! made famous by Chevalier Wyko<t's pursuit of her through Europe, as detatled with perfect frankness in her book, “My Court- ship and Its Consequences,” was a niece of his and inherited his fortune. What a remarkable man Henry Wykoff was. He was one of the most interesting men I ever met. His knowledge of men, und the al- most universal acquaintance here and abroad with the most distingushel people whom ke met on terms of almost intimacy and his influence at the head af affatcs,was something remarkable. He was on the mos! friendly terms with Louis Napoleon; had been his companion in Ais carly attempt, to sieze power and his influence, it was said, restrained Napoleon from interfering. in the late unpleasantness. I remember him when he made the tour of the country with Fanny Eusler, and from that time saw a good deal of him when In this count try, I could never understan1 his pursult of Miss Gamble even from his own xerount of it, it was all so unlike him. He didn't need her wealth, and I can hardly think 2 was in love with her, for at his aye “the hey-day in the blood is tame, it's hum= ble and waits upon the judgment.” It was so wanting in diplomacy, ani he was, if anything, a diplomat. T am indebted to Mr. Robert reall for a copy of a collection of play bills of the London theaters running hack to 131) and brought down to 18%. The names that have made the history of the London immortal are in thi: ed on most agr aha names familiar to us are recalled and int cidents in their early career chronicled, Mademolselle’ Celeste, who was xo well known here, ts billed for the “French Spy" in 1828 at the New Theater, ‘Tottenhein street, and I find in a play bill sent me ty an old theater goer of Brown’s Amphithen ter, ‘Thursday, March 4, nouncement of ‘the first. appearance 7 Jefferson (“Old Jeff” of course) and “the night of the second re-engazement of M'lles Celeste and Constance” (her sister. Celeste appears in the “Mountain Robbers” as Julletta, a dumb giri, and in “a grand display of French dancing” with her #is- ter Constance. There are “splendid feats of horsemanship, flying cord, oy Mr. Men- nich, grand entre and still vaulting by the company,” and whole to_conchide with the comedy of “Charles II in the Merry Monarch,” Capt. Copp, Mr. Jefferson. An Old Thea Brown's Amphitheater was on C street, south sffe near 4 1-2 street, where there is lead for some of “Ouida’s” and has been for years a livery stable. ‘Though @ circus, it was also a thester, aud @ very popular one, as I understand, for it Was belt iy"Uay be Trent be wild excitement created when = Tact of the Ganges” was produced “with real water,” the water coming ‘rom the spring in the square opposite, which for years supplied that neighborhood. The name of Celeste is very familiar over here, where she was always a Her daughter married a Baltimore banker. ‘The announcement, of the first appesr- ance on any stage of Miss Robertson, now Mrs. Kendall, who appeared here last winter, is made in this collection to which I have referred. In 1847 at the same thea- ter BE. L. Davenport and Buckstone and Mrs. Fitswilliam, Mrs. Mowett and_the famea Cooke as William in “Black Eyed Susan.” I doubt if he could, with all his fame, excel Davenport in ‘that charac- ter, What an admirable actor he was, Ned Davenport, I mean. He played every- Tot, Benedict Charles “Surface Capt jet, le 71 ay Hawksley, Witham, Othello ana” Charles DeMoor and particularly Sir Giles Over- Teach—in all and everything he played he excelled. Mrs. Mowett, who is announced at that theater, made great success in London. She was the first society belle who trod the boards, and she was suc- cessful from the start, She didn't an- Rounce, like recent “intruder” on the stage, that she adopted the profession to elevate it, nor had she the attraction of a divorce suit, but she won distinction here and abroad, and after some years married Mr. Ritchie of the Richmond Engutrer. At the same theater Gustavus V. Brooke, who married Avonia Jones, who made her debut here, is underlined’ to appear. He was wrecked in the London en route to Australia, He was an admirable actor. Some one asked Forrest if he had seen Gustayus Brooke in Othello. “No,” he said, “I did not see Brooke, I saw Othello.” The world, which knew s0 little of For- Test as he was and judged him so harshly, acusing him of jealousy and envy of other actors, will believe that he said he would walk ten miles in a snow storm to see Macready play Werner, and this after his disagreement with Macready. He was too great an actor to be jealous of any one, The bill for Monday, February 20, 1854, at the “Marylebone” was the “ n_of the Frozen Sea,” ‘Marie, a child, Miss Robertson.” ‘The writer says: “It was not easy, until this bill was adduced in evi- dence, to convince the Mrs. Kendal of a later ‘day that she had ever made this debut at all.” Mrs, Kendal received some kindly hints from ‘the American Journals that she was rather too matronly to as- sume successfully youthful parts. It ts very hard to convince some actresses that they are growing old, so few grow old gracefully, but persist in exhibiting their mature charms robed in youthful garbs, until some cruelly candid critic announces yy the bye, I heard a very good 18%, the an-| f the fact which an audience kindly over- looks for awhile, JOHN F. COYLE. —_.__—. THE AMERICAN GIRL, What an English Editor Thinks of Uncle Sam’s Pretty Daughters. From the London Telegraph. We shall never have @ thoroughly ar tistic series of studies of the American girl from English pens and pencils unt{l our countrymen recognize the fact that American girls differ physically and characteristically among _ themselves quite as widely, if not even more widely, than English girls do. In the Union multitudes of girls may be met with who are almost Germans or almost Irish in blood. Half Swedish, half Spanish South Americans, half Italian types of femininity are almost continually met with, and, in- THE NATIONAL GUARD A Large Detachment Will Journey to Sea Girt. FEATURES OF THE JERSEY PROGRAM, Third Battalion Went Into Camp Today at Marshall Hall. NOTES OF GENERAL INTEREST. FAR FROM IN- considerable prepor- tion of the local brigade is preparing to visit Sea Girt, N. J., where during the week ending August 9 there will be some of the kot- test ride-shooting that has taken place for years. How many teams will be present no one seems to know Sust - now, but the District of Columbia is going to be represente! in fine shape, for it will back a brigade team, ®@ team each from the first and second reg- iments, the engineer corps and the sixth battalion. In addition to these organiza- tions there will be several members of the guard who will go along for the purpose of participating in the individual matches and the giving of thetr moral support to the home teams. .How many will be in the detachment when it ieaves this city on the morning of Saturday, August 12, not clearly established yet, but it I though there might be from thirty-five to forty. Congressional parsimony has com. pelied an unduly rigid economy of the b @de fund and renders necessary some ac- tion on the part of the regimeats, for such extra men as are needed to complete the first, second and engineer teams can only be allowed transportation and three days’ subsistence. Hitherto they have received subsistence for the whole week, but now the allowance has been forced’ down to one practice day and the two days on which the regimental and battalion teams will shoot. As the extra men will, of course, ant to stay with the detachment from start to finish the extra expense (not Very much, anyhow) will fall pon the regiments. That same economy which has been referred t also makes necessary @ change in the matter of am- u or uc good of the teams there will be much less practice tnan has been common in the past and such a thing as practically unlimited shoulder-pounsdling will not be permitted in any of the teams. Individuals who belong to the detachment, but who have no team work, may Fhoot as much ag they please, but not at the ex- Pense of the brigade. To encourage their rifle-practice zeal they will be provided with twenty gratuitous rounds each day, but whatever they need beyond that fj deed, there are skillful students of Ameri- can character who deciare that the gen- uine American girl is only to be met with in New Bngland—that is to say, in the states of Maine, New Hamp Ver. mont, Massachusetts, Rhode ‘island and Connecticut. In those states the original English blood with scarcely any for- eso, strain in it, descended from the time the immigration of the Pilgrim fathers to our own days. They are the true “Yankees,” and yet unobservant writers are always ready to typify the New York, or the Poiladelphia, or the Baltimore, or the Virginia young lady as a “Yankee” girl. New York city is perhaps one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, and the French, the German and the ‘Irish types have ‘been freely mingled with the Anglo-Saxon ones, while some account must be taken of the Knickerbocker aris- toeracy—that ts to say, of the descend- ants of the old Dutch settlers. ithe expert in character wili at once be able to distinguish between a young lady from Manhattan and one who hails from Pennsylvania or Maryland, while journey- ing further west another ‘type of Ameri- can girlhood makes herself manifest in ure they must purchase at the regular price; something they would have to de for every round were they shooting on the home range. Old team men will be pleased to know that Capt. H. H. Parmenter, the second regiment's quartermaster, wili do quarter- master duty for the detachment. A Few Detail. ‘The competitions in which Washington- fans will be most interested are, of course, those in which their representativeswill take part. First among the matches is that for the Hilton trophy, once held by the District ‘ational Guard. ‘According to the rules it is open to teams of twelve from the follow- ing: First, the United States of America. A—The army of the United States, one team from the troops stationed within each of the three military divisions—Atiantic, ic and Missouri (three teams in all). B.—The United States navy (one team). C.—The National Guard or uniformed mili- tia of the several states and territories, in- cluding the District of Columbia (one from each state or territory). 2. Other countries. England, Ireland, Scotland and each of the provinces of Great Britain and all oth- er coun’ each from the fol- Ohio and Michigan, and so soon as the Rocky mountains ‘are crossed and th descent of the Pacific slope is begun ye! nother wholly independent type of the feminine American makes its Nor, finally, would the study of x can daughter of Eve be complete by even the minutest observation of the girls of the eastern, the middie and the western States. There remains the southern girl to be dealt with, and when we ‘approach that charming type of feminine humanity it will be found that the girls of Kentucky, those of the Carolinas and the belies of Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia diffe? among themselves quite as widely as does & Parisienne from a Provencale. On the whole, if the American girl 18 to be thor- oughly studied the European student should live long in the states or make many recurring visits thereto. The existing and most current types of the American female are elther stupidly conventional or wildly exaggerated, and in most cases are alto- gether misunderstood. “ ~~ 0 TABLE DECORATIONS. The Newest Development in Table Linen and Table Embellishments, From the New York Sun. ‘The sentiment of the old-time lavender- scented linen chest, with all its forms and observances, which in the old-fashioned, days was the poetry of every wife's house- keeping, has lost its meaning. But in its Place there is an increasing and whole- some Interest In the tablecloth, its duties, decorative qualities, and all its little ac- cessories, which are quite as significant factors in the modern matron’s life. The pattern of the table damask and the dec- oration of the dinner table are important questions in every well-regulated house- hold. The old monotony of simple little sprays and flowers has given way to modern conventionalized forms and flowers devised and arranged with an artistic knowledge, full of charming variety. In these progressive days the texture, occa- sion, and ‘association of a tablecloth must be considered in the design. The pattern may be simplicity itself, but a serious sub- Jeci must be shunned like the plague. ‘The latest development in modern appli- cation of decorative intelligence to linen fs the employment of skilled artists to create appropriate designs. One of the newest patterns ts named “Flora’s retinue.” Six different flowers are utillzed and blend- ed with graceful girlish figures in as many different designs. ‘The higher development of the tablecloth has happily banished the incongruous superfluity of the center- piece, whose many varieties were so long the pet fancy of the aesthetic hostess. And the silk and satin abominations, in all the glories of lace and embrotdery, which untl recently were the prominent feature of many elaborately decorated tea tables, have also been relegated among past follies. “Buttered toast and silk. cannot dwell together in dainty harmony,” says a witty writer. A tea cloth must, by the very conditions imposed on its’ mission in ilfe, be fine, delicate, and irreproachably clean.’ A mixture of linen and white sil woven together produces @ mingled sheen and daintiness of effect quite impossible in linen alone, and very perfect in texture. ———--_____ His Fela. the subscription price of your “Two dollars a year." Is it intended for any particular class of, renders? it is for those who have two dol- 7 ‘The Place for Information. From Puck Graco Endeent—‘Now, what do you know about me and my disposition after so short an acquaintance?” rtie New—“Oh, I pumped your dearest friend, Clara, yesterday, and she told me all lowing: A.—Thi regular army, B.—The militia. C.—The volunteers. D.—The navy of the country. Separate teams may be sent out when the organizations are sepa- rate. ‘The members of each team to be officers or enlisted men, and active members of the corps or organization which they rep- Tesent, and to appear in the authorized uniform (full dress or fatigue) thereot. ‘They shall be selected tn such manner a shall be prescribed by the military authori- tes of the country or state they represent, and shall, if required, be certified to by them as being their authorized representa- ves. Distances, 200, 5) and 60) yanis. Rounds, seven at each’ distance. Position, stand- ing at 200 yards; any at 500 and 6 yards. Weapons, any military rifle which has been lopted, authorized or issued as an official arm by any state or government. Ammu- nition, any. Entrance fee, $2 each man. Prize.—A trophy, presented by Mr. Henry Hilton of New York, to be shot for annu- ally, at Creedmoor or such other range as the National Rifle Association of America shall select, to be held during the year by the head of the corps or organization whose team may win it, to be returned to the N.R. A. at the expiration thereof; value, $3,000. Also a medal to each member of the winning team. Won in 1878 and 1879 by New York, 1889 by division of ‘souri, U. S. A., 1831 by New York, 188 by Pennsylvania, 18s by Micht- an, 1884 and 18% by division of Atiantic, - S. A. 1886, 1887, 1888 and 1889 by Massa chusetts, 1800" by District of Columbia, 1891 by New York, 182 by Pennsylvania. is match this year will be shot Friday, August 18. peeirs: Another Big Competition. Next in point of importance is the inter- state military match, which is open to one team from each state or territory in the United States, consisting. of twelve mem- bers of the regularly organized and uni. formed National Guard or militia of such state or territory, including the District ot Columbia, chosen’ in such manner as shall be prescribed by the military authorities thereof. Each team must be provided with ® certificate from the adjutant general of the state it represents, certifying that each of its number is a’ regular member of their uniformed militia, in good nding, and was such on the first day of June, 1803. They shall appear in the uniform of thelr corps. Distances, 200 and 6” yards. Posi- tion, ‘at 2 standing; at 600 yards, rone. Weapon, any military rifle which as been adopted, authorized or issued as an official arm by any state or government, Ammunition, any. In cases where the state has adopted no particular model (which must be certified to by thi adjutant general) the team will be allowed to use the rifle in use by the regular army of the United States, or by the uniformed militia of any other state. Rounds, ten at each distance. Entrance fee, $2 each man. Prize—To the team making the highest aggregate score, a large bronze “Soliicr of Marathon,” presented by the commander- in-chief, on behalf of the state of New York, to be shot for annually, and to be held during the year by the adjutant gen- eral of the state whose team may wit it; Value, $850. Also a medal to each member of the winning team Won in 1875 by. . 1878 by Con- necticut, 1877 by California, 1878 and 1s by Now York, 1880 by New Jersey, 1881 by New ork, 1882 by Pennsylvania, 1883 by Michi. jan, 1884 and 18% by Pennsylvania, 1886, Si. 148K and. 1869 by Massachusetts, 1800 by New York, 181 by New York, 1882 by Penn vivania. his match will also be disposed of on August 18. Now Held by the First Reziment, Prior to the before mentioned competi- tions, and especially interesting to Wash- ington because the first regiment team has been the victor for two successive years, is the regimental team match. ‘This is open to teams of six from the regimental, battalion and separate company organ zations of the National Guard of the fol- lowing New York, Pennsylvania, cut, Delaw: Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, Dist of Columbia and New Jersey. ‘The match will take pi. Wednesday and Thursday, August 1 iS; the known distance firing—ten shots at » yards and ten shots at 500 yards—on “inesday, the skirmishing—two runs of twenty rounds each—on Thursday. Each team Will consist of six men. Individual Matches. In the individual matches Washing- tonians will also take a hand or two. The Kuser match—namea for one of the best of Jersey's many good fellows—calls for seven ts at 500 yards; position prone, head toward target; rifle, any military; open to all comers. Entries, $1 each, or three for $2, 1f taken at one time; re-entries allowed. Prize, @ Maynard sporting ritie, with two barrels, one .22 and one .% caliber, pre- sented by Col. A. R. Kuser. Second ‘prize, S per cent of the entrance money. Third prize, 10 per cent of the entrance money. All prizes to be won on the aggregate of three scores, and ties in totals to be decided by the next best score or scores. Then there is the all-comers’ military and about you!” | Grace Endcent—‘And you still like me after having beard the worst?” match, which is open to everybody. Dis- tances, 200 and 600 yards; position. standing at 200; prone, with head ‘toward the target. at five shots at each distance Ep- iranee, fee, $l, or three tickets for #2, if the Wimbledon: E e Wim! ion cup match is also go! to be patronized quite Mberally by Ay j the local sharps. It is open to all citizens faites “Low pants. “Thivy ‘stots Weates, yi shots. Ws Shy rite within the rules; cleaning allowed. Position, any without artificial rest. En- trance fee, #2. "Priza the Wimbledon cup. Presented by the National Rifle Association of Great Britain to the National Rifle As- sociation of America, to be competed for on conditions to be decided upon by the Na- tonal Rifle Association of America, and to be held by the winner till the next fall meeting, when it will be shot for on the same conditions. Valve, 50), It was won in 1879 by C. H. Laird, now first Heutenant and inspector of ri proctiee for the sec- ond battalion. He will try to win it again. A few may enter the Scheutzen match, but that sprt of a competition is not popu- lar among military men; it ts for fine rifles, On the program is the Columbia trophy match. Ti trophy was @ goodw! ing from the D. C. N. G. to the Guard of New Jersey, and no gift more highly appreciated. Teams of six men from each Jersey regiment run four skir- mish runs each before the prize is won. It ts one of the most exciting competitions of the meeting. Going Under Canvas. ‘Today—when the third battalion went to ‘Marshall Hall—the encampment season was fairly opened. With the third went com- pany A, sixth battalion, On August 5 there will be an exodus, for that day will witness the departure of company A, sec- ond battalion, for Virginia Beach; com- pany B, second battalion, for Piney Point; company D, fourth battalion, for Sea Isle City, N. J. 254 companies C ont 5 engi: heer corps, for Harper's Ferry. it ba! tery A will be at Marshall Hall from Au- Gust 19 to 28, while companies B and D, sixth battalion, will at same time be under canvas at Harper's Ferry. The first battalion ts going to Atlantic City in Au- gust. Notes. All members of the guard who desire to go with the detachment to Sea Girt, but whose names are not on the brigade or regimental team lists, must notify i Geo. H. Harries, ins; general Se ite practice, not later than Tuesday evening, So that the necessary arrangements be seasonably concluded. Capt. Tomlinson’s team will fo as ft aid last year—pay all its own expenses. It is money well invested. Maj. Gilbert Thompson, commanding the engineer corps, was called out of town by the sudden death of his mother. For some time past twenty men—sur vivors in the brigade team competition— have occupied the range on ye and Thursdays. The four supernumeraries will cease to practice with team on Thure- day next. Several nominations for qummiesions, are awaiting the return and President Cleveland. acd utal sergeant major eut ef Com- missary Sergeant Moyer. Dr. M. F. Gallagher was favorably re- Ported on the board of surgeons. Dr. lagher will be Surgeon of the fourth bat ion as soon as the President returns from Buzzard’s Bay, The brigade board of examination will report on half a dosen candidates within the coming week. ———_ The Ubiquitous Microbe, From the 8t. Louis Globe-Demecrat. Dr. Manfredi has been announcing some disquieting facts concerning the omnipres- ence of fatal microbes. In the busy thor- oughfare of a crowded city he has found @ thousand million microbes to a gramme of dust, and in the dirtiest streets 6,000,000,000 per gramme. A large number of Gisease- producing microbes were found amongst these, the number of such morbific germs being directly proportional to the aggregate number of microves. Of forty-two cases in which be inoculated guinea pigs with Nea- Phil (the gern of Cousuinption) im three, Bao bacillus of pus in eight, the bacillus of teta- nus in two, the bacillus of malignant oedema in four, and other fatel bactili. A medical paper suggests that the streets of American cities should be tested for microbes, and ts confident that in of them ‘a harvest as rich in alarming statistics by the results of some investigations which have been carried on by Prof. Uffelman with respect to the carrying of by means of letters, postal cards, &c. He infected —— with = bacilli and it tt in the ordinary wey into a post in the course of twenty-four hours, the fetter was taken out and the bacilli were still living. ‘They were also found still hiving on postal cards twenty hours after infec- tion, but on coins they seemed to die with great rapidity. The reason for this differ- ence could not be discovered. On woolen and linen stuffs the bacilli enjoyed a par- ticularly long life. The busiest and most effective Infection carrier was found to be the common fly. A fly which had been infected by being put on a mass of cholera bactlil, was placed on a piece of beef. When’ the beet was examined soon after, it contained an enormous quentity of liv- ing bacteria. Prof. Uffelman deduces trom his experiments the oft-taught lesson that in time of epidemics, the most scrupulous cleanliness is the best safeguard. ———_+oo- A FLY CLIMBS A WALL. ‘The Way Newspaper “Space Writers” Get tm ‘Their Work. ‘The following, from the pen of M A. Jen= nings, is a capital illustration of how writers can fill space end make much ont of little, if they want to and are allowed: Once upon @ time there was a city of- itor who said to a green reporter who had brought In a piece of news to the newspa- ber office: “Write a column about i.” “But” said the reporter, “I havea't ma- “— enough for e column.” @ city editor looked up with « Mar expression in his eyes and ould, gravely: “When you have been tn the business as long as I have you can write « osjumn sbout @ fy crawling up « blank wall” The reporter turned that over in hiy sind for a week. Then he sat Gown and wrote: “A fy crawled up « blank wali” ‘Ten years later the reporter sat at desk with many biank sheets of paper fore him, and he wroté this story: tw iittle veined, trancperent shine would shy i to fem, _— flutter ‘hundreds ef cond, were the those dreds 6f millions of other fier He vs Ame Many lensed eves, the “unt e Same yellowish characterizes ail his kind Fe [ apparent cause 8 aid cea not oni es body half way around. Then his head with his fore feet thought. He walked slowly, and then Tubbing his hind Seer @ EMOot! Gown hi: bed his hind legs toge his fore and imperceptible water.” with Steet fare. He was par- about personal ‘appearance, for he made his simpli much Mperation and eharourtness = ra vas now eight inches above scoting. Immediately in front ‘ot hie not an eighth of an inch away from his tras a little white bowlder. Of the human eve it was not a but only a tiny bit oS te ‘but then te ! ii ifs f was as big as the fly's & great stone to him. bowlder in his form and 3 is eyes, and his trunk curled ly, which is fy's wey of a - pel : wee little brown r from the quite as a a Faber a nSaaras ite te'sh ects TY ~ 3 a 4 ‘sravel 20 amy rough plaster wells. en tt i 838 g i walked all the way the ceiling without nothis happened to wes a eee ear ope aes about In the air as though he were senting something. The fly started on walked » quer ter of an inch ana stopped. ‘The mam watching him smelled the wali at other pisces. s, fom fect away. At last, after he ad done this for four or uses, he made a discovery. He smelled i= 4 re that day mi ve ~ tered turpentine on the wall Files A Jersey Tragedy; or, From Puck. | | oft-recurring formerly turpentine, and ‘won't go near it #f they San ene By ah ieee fear he would run into the again and tated. Then he folded hi wv more closely to his body, ‘ie head gonk «little lower than be it. his legs—all Dut the suckers on his feet— relaxed, and he went to He would Sleep there till the odor of turpentine should have passed a) He had climbed up thirteen and « half inches, bad receded tn inch amt hed ‘made up a quarter of an inch of lost ground. He was therefore just and a quarter inches from the int and = feet ten and three-quarter ‘hes from his destination. Suppging that the fly should have as many &dventures during the rest of his journey as he hal already had, it would Epace to describe them ns hes Veen eo tur 5 a8 fevotes to him, ‘Then his behavior when he arrived at the ceiling, the as to why he wanted yz there at and why, cone “Fay he ay | ~ A . ins stead yi! would sure! halt column. ‘Why, that fy was . pace of any ne qi Fites have been known to sleep all winter, and this happened in October. Besides the tn agin fo Stet Uns apa Sat wa it the iy ts still th be tmporsi- ble to finish this story. If ‘man ever does come back and finds the fir, the fly wakes up and starts on tee ory may tes inished"ae ecrtat and story may pul later in book form. It must stop here the present. ‘The Influence of Dress Upon Humanity. From Godry’s Magazine, According to the moralists the love Gress has been and ts still quite as ful @ source of evil as the love of In fact feminine vanity, as the extravagance of feminine popularly considered to be moralists are correct in their Geduetions ‘s—and probably will ever reflected upon the matter at deny that woman's dress has a very considerable part in the of the human family. Primarily, of course, feminine responsible’ for extravagances of though with it is inextricably ini that innate love of beauty of form color which goes so far toward up the artistic temperament, and the woman of refined instincts in a remarkable degree. Love of adornment is a natural concomitant of healthy woman, and is found in Bve't | daughters everywhere, irrespective of tionality, age ‘or condition. Whether betrays Itself in the jauntily knotted kere chief and tawdry beads of the peasan® girl or in the diamond tiara and plames of the aristocratic court the characteristic is the same, and woman is woman still, all the world over. In itself the love of dress ts but phase of the love of art, and therein of that is most beautiful and worthy of ad- miration. Without it there could be no true social life, for this is, 4 nothing more than @ continual revolution of the wheel of fashion—and fashion in costume at that. Ever since the Tec- | ognition of clothes es « necessary a@junct of civilised fe, there, have been chain in fashioning—not, per quite as in their ae = times, but still frequent enough to form ho small proportion of woman's pleasure and occupation, ++ —— Very Ut, From Drake's Mararine Doctor (on shipboard, to invalid pessen- ger)—"You are pretty fll this morning, I'm afraid, Mr. Smith.” Invalid Passenger—“Awfully.” Doctor—"Well, here is one grain of ¢om- fort for you ae ® nval wsenger—“No use, docter; couldn't retain it « second”