Evening Star Newspaper, August 5, 1893, Page 11

-THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, D. ©. SATURDAY. AUGUST 5, 1893—SIXTEEN PAGES. WHERE TO EAT. Plenty of Places to Be Found at the World’s Fair. THE FOREIGN RESTAURANTS. Big Prices and Autocratic Waiters Who Must Be Tipped. THE TREATMENT OF VISITORS. Pa ee Correspondence of The Evening Star. Chicago, August 3, 1893. taurant In old Vienna in the Midway Plais- ance at the world’s fair. Characters: Two young men and a big, perspiring waiter. ‘The young man who is ordering the din- ner says: “Is one portion of soup enough for two?” “Oh, mo, no, not enough,” says the waiter. “Very weil, then.” says the young man, “bring us two consomme, one beef and—* But,” interrupts the waiter, “I cannot bring you one beef. Dey do not cook him whole.” The waiter evidently thinks the two Young men contemplated a sort of barba- He is finally enlightened on the char- of the dish desired and the dinner is set cut on a table under the sky. Near by is playing a famous Vienna from one waltz into another and “ith the, new Cleveland 4 There are thousands of other people takin dinner. Unless you are. wel you annot hear the music on account of the going on. After the dinner is over Sig, perepiring waiter brings it. Tt con: ter con- sists of Tnnumersble Items, and added up amounts to a very neat little sum. “Too much, too much,” says one of the ung men. oo. Row says the waiter. “It is right al- ways. ‘ou Americans vone people. You like de dollars on de Inside of de Poqith this sage remark upon the nation im their ears the Americans pay and leave. A Cup of Chocolate. ‘There are altogether 100 restaurants in the world’s fair grounds and they embrace every conceivable nationality. It seems to be an almost universal custom for the for- eigners when they open any sort of an ex- Abit to have a cafe attached to it where their visitors can obtain food and drink. At Hagenbeck’s menagerie there Is a res- taurant; when the captive balloon was alive it’ made its ascensions from a park which was nothing more nor less than a Deer mm; Next to the Persian theater is a Persian cafe; a part of the Chinese joss house is an eating house: in the Java fe there is @ pavilion where you can t Java coffee; there is a restaurant in a sn6 a Vienna, and the nm e “are given over to eating and drinking. ‘There is a Polish restaurant, one from Germany, one from Paris, one from Sweden, one from England. The res- taurants that are not distinctively fore! are counted by the score. There is tl marine cafe, where there are only fish, lob- sters and other things of that kind ‘sold; isthe New. Dngland clam. bake, you can get all that broad term the German Village. has come to mean; there is the Philadel- hia cafe, where the food that the Quaker eity is supposed to excel in may be bought; there ts the old New England homestead, where they serve what they call a “farm- er’s dinner;” and there is a big catering company that does not pretend to make &@ speciality of anything fn particular, but Where no less than 3,00 people are employ= the ‘meals vary in their lence. At one place you May get something good and at another Place something bad. You may stroll into the mos re in the grounds der the impression that you are going to get a cheap lunch or dinner. but your mistake. ‘The tr that some of the places ask reasonable sums for the food they give and others ask e Sums, but the che: aurants have not yet materialized at the world’s fair. Nobody has a right to say that the expen- Sive places are truly extortionate. You are not obliged to go to them. You can go to the lunch counters where prices are not high, and if you get In an expensive place Zoe, can, simply, leave it as soon as you We looked at the bill of fare. Sharp Foreigners. But the steepest prices of all are those charged by the foreign restaurants. Never again can anybody say that Americans, and Yankees in particular, are the most ing m rom a ing It to their own. ‘The foreigners at the world’s fair can give them all points They put geste: walters at mitted to t without a the fair is i that they become ex accountants. That fae are’ such anybody who has had ex- rience with them knows. After you ave enjoyed 2 meal by ‘of one of these 5 1 call for your bill, he jets dowa all that you bave had and adds the column up in a twinkling. When he shows you the sum total you are struck dum! and at once you suggest that mistake has been made in addition. He shrugs his shoulders and suggests that is possible, but you look over that big col- umn and add it up again only to the infallibility of the waiter. ‘Taken generally these waiters in the for- Testaurants are terrible and inexor- able. ‘They wait upon you when it suits them; they will be polite or not acco: to their humor. They can give the Am etn a's’ Suite er Soprtmngy s o @ con! thorough independence of character. times one of these autocrats, being in & Brothers in Beer. thoroughly good humor, and believing he will surely receive a reward for his con- @escension in the shape of an unusually large fee, will choose to treat you with the most distinguished consideration. Then he bows and flourishes with much o! ness, and, bringing you the bill kindiy suggests what dishes are ly good. These dishes are ust ones, but you are ‘There is no use in o} will get beaten every time, and. besides that, he has the power to give you some- thing to eat or not, and unless you wish to starve you must speak kindly to your waiter. There are several restaurants at the fair where everything is German. The waiters, some of them, struggle through some En- Ffusting to the languae o¢ ther tatheriant, rusting e language of the father! Furthermore, the bill of fare is made out in and offers a very interesting study of hieroglyphics to those who can not read that language. The unsophisticated visitor is rather helpless, until some chari- table person offers to interpret. It is cer- tainly very much like Europe. In most of these restaurants there is a band of music, for the foreigner seems not alone to bé unable to have a show without a cafe at- tached to it, but also, having a cafe, he can fare, emually, = t em. sa walter. You From Damascus. not eat in it unless there is some music to euliven his repast. The music, it might be supposed, would subdue the waiters, but it is not always so, for in the German restau- rants late at night when the band pI the “Watch on the Rhine” not only do the guests set up an accompanying howl, but the waiters do so, too. It is an. edifyin sight to see a big, fat German walter, wit a ‘tray of eatables before him, shouting away for his country while he performs his duties. ‘Wages and Tipping. In all the confusion and rush and rattle of a crowded restaurant, it 1s usually sur- prising to see how the waiters keep thetr self-possession. If one is waiting on you, and, while he is gone, you are waiting on him and you want a knife or a fork or any- thing of that kind it seldom avails you any- thing to ask another waiter to hand it to you. He will not refuse, of course, but he will simply not_pay the least attention to your request. Two or three walters are hever allowed to share a victim among them. He belongs to the first walter in whose clutches he hapnens to fall. As for tipping a waiter, it is a custom al- most universal at the world’s fair. If you fail to add the little gratuity when you pay your bill it will be recalled to your atten- tion in some unmistakable way. Yet the waiter is careful about this matier and is apt to say no word to the country visitor who would be likely to resent any request for a tp. It is not so in the few places where there are women waiters. Generally they are American girls, and few men would dare to offer them a fee. But in the American restaurants fees are quite as much the rule as they are in the foreign Places. What does a world’s fair waiter make per week in fees? His salary is high. Some months ago there was a strike among the waiters, and it was discovered that they Were wetting from $15 to $17 a week, but they wanted $20. When to these res is added a stream of fees flowing in all day long, and it is remembered that thet get thelf meals for nothing. it can. easily seen that they receive avery fair compen- sation in return for their labor. What do the restaurants themselves make? They maintain that their expenses A Turkish Cafe. are so high and that they have to pay such a large percentage of their receipts to the exposition company that they are not mak- ing much money; but visitors may be per- mitted to doubt this They are crowded all the time, and their prices are high, so that it is reasonable to suppose that they are making money. ——__ Rest. Let her rest. The weary night Never brought her dreams ilke this. Let her sleep. The morning light Shall not wake her from her Dilss. Glad was she to end the fight. Death has conquered with a kiss. Tired eves need watch no more. Flagging feet, the race is ran. Hands that heavy burdens bore, Set them down; the day is done. Heart, be still—through anguish sore, Everlasting peace 1s won. ‘Mary MACLEOD. —_+e+—___ Liquidating His Bill, From Life. BUILDERS OF MOUNDS out! Major J. W. Powell’s Views About an Alleged Lost Race. OLD NOTIONS EXPLODED. The Mounds Were Made by Ameri- can Indians. FRAUDS IN ANTIQUITIES. = are thousands of them—each of which stands for a group of mounds. It used to be supposed that they were relics of an ai elent race which peopled this continent before the Indians. Twelve years ago Maj. J. W. Powell set a corps of experts at the business of investigating them. The re- sult of that inquiry has been a revolution im ideas. “The first thing done was to locate the mounds which were looked upon as relics of @ vanished population,” said Maj. Pow- ell yesterday. “It was a big task, for they are scattered all over the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Canadian border to the gulf. There are thousands of groups, anf the mounds are numbered by hundreds of thousands. ‘Next, the shapes of the mounds were Studied. It was found that their forms were of infinite variety. Many of them were shaped like various animals, and these have been termed ‘effigy’ mounds. “A great many of them were dug into, and all sorts of things were taken out of them. In about 10 per cent of them arti cles were found which were of white man manufacture—such as brass kettles, bead: knives and bayonets. It was evident that these mounds must have been built after the white man arrived in this country, They, at all events, were not the work of an anclent and vanished race. “A search Was made for testimony in all the books written by the old Me ee get Spanish, French, Dutch and English. They said that they found the Indians of North America living on top of mounds, burying their dead in mounds, and holding relig- ceremonies on mounds. They even furnished pictures of mounds, showing the Savages occupying them and using them for ceremonial purposes. Columbus, when he landed, found the Indians butiding and using motinds. “The truth is that the Indians have been building mounds right along from prehis- toric times until the present. They are con- structing them today, and for the same pur- Doses as anciently. i myself have seem two such mounds in process of bullding—one by the Piutes in Santa Clara county, Utah, and fhe other in the Pitt River valley,Cal..by the Wintum. They were both designed for cemeteries. Contents of Mo: Ie “Two classes of objects have been found in the mounds. The first class was composed of articles made by white men. The second class comprised articles which are in all Fespects exactly like those of modern I dian manufacture. What reason, then, is there for assuming that the mounds were built by @ lost people in remote antiquity? the contrary, there 1s every reason for believing that they were constructed by the ancesters of the Indlans of today. “The oft-repeated assertion that the arts of the mound buliders were superior to the arts of the Indians Js absolutely lacking in corroborative evidence. Among hundreds of thousands of articles found in the mounds the only ones not satisfactorily ac- counted for in the ways I have spoken of are a few ornaments of: sheet’ copper, which seem to exhibit an artistic knowl: edge far beyond that possessed by the mod- ora cborigines. ‘They have been dug up in various parts of the country. The Indians call them ‘thunder birds.’ They are cere. monial ornaments and are of various de- signs, representing eagles, women wearing helmets and carrying what look like scep- ters, etc. These objects have caused @ §teat deal of puzzling. To examine them tter I have had several of them mounted on glass and have studied them with ao powerful fier. I find that they were made by machinery. They were struck with es. NEW AND VERY curious map {s about to be published by the geological survey. It shows the works of the mound build- ers all over the east- em half of the United States. They must have been in- dustrious people, for the entire area is thickly sprinkled with red dote—there Made by Whites. “So much for the ‘thunder birds.’ Evi- dently they were made by white men for the Indians. As late as a century ago the whites manufactured great quantities of Stone knives and hammers for sale to the borigines. They turned them out by m: chinery, as they did shell money or wai pum, with which they inflated the currency of the red man. For the same market they Rroduced thousands of copper implements jot long ago a group of mounds was dug into near Chillicothe, Ohio, and hundreds of skeletons were found with copper masks. Very possibly these masks were made by the whites. However, the savages before Columbus came knew’ how to obtain copper by building a fire about a plece of rock con- taining the ore and pouring water on the hot stone, thus causing it to split in frag- ments and release the metal. The latter Was afterward heated and beaten out into ee “Just now I referred to the purposes for which these mounds were built. Some of them were domiciliary. People lived on top of them, because an elevation was advan- tageous for defense. On a small mound might stand a single house, or the earth- work might be large enough to afford a site for a whole town. Other mounds were for the burial of the dead. A dead man was interred in a tumulus, in a sitting posture. Another person dying, he was buried in the same mound, more material being add- ed. At every interment the mound was made bigger. Thus it went on from gener- ation to generation, and from century to century, until the structure of earth at tained enormous size. Manner of Burial. “Some of the Indians placed each body in @ little cyst, or box of stone. Others made the box of poles. In either case the object was to keep the corpse from contact with the earth, Just like the white man’s coffin. Yet others of the savages preferred to build scaffolds in trees and lay out the cadavers on them, permitting the flesh to waste away by the natural processes of decompo- sition. Subsequently they buried the bone: When they had twenty or fifty skeletons thus prepared they interred them all to- gether ina mound with a grand ceremony. me Indians, as the Dakota, have prac- ticed this method within recent years. Of course, the bones of the skeletons fell apart and they were placed in a heap at the bot- tom of the grave, with the skulls on to} ‘The individuals might be buried separatel; or there would be a pyramid of bones in single tomb. When the defunct was laid to rest in the flesh his personal property— bow, arrows, stone ax, &c.,—was put with the body. In the case of a woman, her pots and other domestic utensils were interred with her. “The greatest semblage of mounds in this country is the famous Cahokia group, opposite St. Louis, in Illinois. It can be seen from the railway approaching the city from the east. This group is most remark- able for the number and size of the mounds. The most extraordinary group of mounds in other respects is in Wisconsin. Great numbers of them repzesent various ani- mals, but mostly lizards and birds. At all events, they are supposed to resemble such creatures. Hundreds of them are on the bluffs overlooking the Mississipp! river, and there are hundreds more across the river, in Iowa. These are the ‘effigy’ mounds of which I spoke. Many similar ones are found in other parts of the country. ‘They ‘are supposed to be emblematic and to stand for the totems of different clans of Indians. The Bear clan built mounds in the shape of a bear, the Snake clan chose the form of a serpent, and so on. Usually these emblem- tic mounds were sites for council house: In which religious ceremonies were per- formed. The biggest and most celebrated Snake mound Is in Licking county, Ohio. Frauds in Relics. “In the investigation of aboriginal an- tiquities in this country, seienze has had to contend against all sorts of cheats. Frauds in Indian relics are without nui ber. Most common are the stone heads, 1 pol whic ple in the Ohio vall hess of manufacturing |. selling to private collectors and colleges all over the . Such objects are mad> by hard. The white ‘man is more industries than the savage and, using the same methods as were employed by the can turn them out ever so much faster," “About thirty years ago 2xcavationa were made in an immense mound at Grave Creek, Va. 2. covered with written chacicters. Support to the theory that the builders were a distinct race of comr tively high culture. The Inlians us picture-writing to express ideas, but the curtous tablet was dug. uD, i Se It_gave mound characters on the tablet were hieroglyphs; that is to say, arbitrary signs standing for words, which represent a superior aevelop- ment in written language. Flowever, it has been proved that this relic was a fraud “Some years later another hit lyphic tablet was dug up at Cincinnati. It was supposed to be an historical record. To say that it was a fraud would be too far. it ig certains not accepte as au- thentic. Alleged relics which have excited much greater attention were certain tablets cover with hieroglyphics, found in a mound near Davenport, lows, with some pipes carved le shape of elephants. The latter were apparently modeled after the mammoth which roamed over this con- tinent ages ago. If the pipes were genuine they would seem to prove that the men who made them had seen mammoths and were therefore very ancient. Archaeologists gen- erally reject them, together with the tab- lets, snouge there is still dispute on the subject. lence in support of their au- thenticity is derived from the so-called ‘elephant mound’ in Wisconsin. But it is @ question whether the resemblance of this mound to an elephant is more than imag- inary. Such tumuli are apt to be irregu- larly formed masses of earth, which afford an opportunity for imagination to exercise rT upon with some freedom. The Cardiff Giant. “By far the most famous of all frauds in antiquities was the Cardiff giant. On the farm of William Newell, at Cardiff, near Syracuse, in 1868, was dug up what was advertised as a petrified human being of figantic proportions. Workmen came across it while digging a well. People flocked from all parts of the country to see it, paying 50 cents apiece for the privilege. Geologists of the highest reputation examined it. They declared it to be not a petrifaction, but a sculptured statue. That it was extremely ficient they said there could be no doubt. Its back and side had been eroded in a man- ner which indicated that it must have lain buried for many centuries. P. T. Barnum Produced an imitation of it and exhibited the counterfeit as the original. ,At length exposure came. It was prov- ed that the giant had been carved out of @ block of gypsum twelve feet long, obtained from the “neighborhood of Fort Iowa. Two men named Hull and Mi purchased the block and transported it, as secretly as was practicable with such & bulky object, to Cardiff. This was accom- plished with t difficulty. The cleverest Part of the scheme was that the block was taken from the bed of a stream, where it had become water-worn through ages. The sculptor employed to carve out the form of the giant was instructed to leave the marks of erosion untouched in order that they might give the appearance of age. Hull served “asa model tor the re, which in due time was ‘planted’ on § ell’s farm, to be ew. afterward dug up. If Martin and Hull had not. committed” the imprudence of registering their own names at the hotel in Fort Dodge the beginnin, of a chain of evidence against them woul have been difficult to find, and they would have realized an enormous fortune. It is gupposed that, they did secure at least $100,000 from the cheat, whioh was for a long time a subject of excited controversy among scientific men. On the Lower Potomac. “Mounds of another sort mark the sites of ancient fishing villages along the lower Potomac. They are great beds of oyster shells. In early days those tribes of In- dians which lived near the sea depended largely for their food supply on oysters. ‘The shells in course of time formed vast accumulations. As the heaps new dwellings were built on them, and one finds by digging into them stratum after stratum of the remains of generations long dead The debris often covers hundreds of aci and in it are discovered flint weapons, 1 Pigments of many kinds, objects. of‘ pre- istoric art, and fragments of the very vessels in which some of the oysters were cooked. “In ‘the beds, which sometimes are twelve feet in depth, the shella from the top to the bottom of the mass are excel- lently preserved. This fact shows that the bivalves were opened not by breaking the shells but by cooking. It ts believed that most of them were opened by heating stones and placing the mollusks on them, covering the whole with molst sea weed Inland tribes used to come down to the coast yerlodically centuries before Colum- | bus landed to bake and eat oysters and clams. Their method of cookery was imi- tated by the whites and ts perpetuated in the modern clam bake. “The shell-heap villages were fishing sta. tions. From them the dried meats of ters were furnished by tradinj tribes of the interior. “All of the oyster- Producing region hereabout belonged to the Algonquins, who formed the most numer- ous and extensive confederation of savages that has ever existed. So long as the In- dians lived in this region they occupied such oyster-fishing sites. They still have at least one settlement of the kind on the Potomac, “To sum up, there is not an atom of evidence that any race of people occupted this country before the Indians, Whence the latter ‘came is a mystery. Tho Many theories have been formed the pro} lem js no nearer solition than at the be- ginning. It has been suggested that they came across the Pacific from Polynesia in boats: that they drifted over from Japan; that they crossed from Asia by Way of the Aleutian Islands. But no other theory has been so widely accepted as that the Indians are descended from the lost tribes of Israel, though there is absolutely no ground for such a notion. Rene Bache. “Father Winter.” From the London Globe. The chamber has lost an original char- acter in the person of M. de Gaste, deputy for Brest. He was a simple, honest fellow, and enjoyed the esteem not only of his col- leagues of the left, but also of his adver- saries on the right. He made himself cele- brated by his everlasting fur coat, which he wore in all seasons and which earned for him the name of “Pere Hiver.” He was Ukewise irreverently called “L’Homme- Chien," on account of his shaggy hair and whiskers which he allowed to grow in wild confusion and made him look like a skye terrier. His umbrella, his hat, and par- ticularly the cut of his clothes also ren- dered him famous. His colleagues smiled, but liked him none the less for his eccen- tricities. He had one great day in the chamber, when as doyen d’age in the place of M. Pierre Blanc, who was unwell, he presided over the first sitting of the ‘ses- ston. On that occasion he delivered a Speech in which he embraced every polli cal question under the sun, and might ha’ gone on occupying the house till doomed ad he not found it suddenly empty. He was most assiduous, arriving the first and leaving the last. He was born in 1811, and was originally a civil engineer of the first class. Unlike most of his republican. col- leagues he was a stanch Catholic. Ev day, as regular as clock work, he woul mount the tribune and bring forward some unexpected motion which, much to his sorrow, invariably ‘shelved. Once however, his motion was passed, and no- body was more surprised than himeelf. Of latter years he took to female emancipa- tion and attended the meetings of the strong-minded sisterhood, to which two of his daughters belong. At home in his na- tive Brittany he was beloved by all for his generosity and the pleasure he took in doing service to his fellow-countrymen, His curious figure will long be remem- bered. ———+e-—____ Dancing for Husbands. From the Pendleton East Oregonian. Several Pendletonians went on Wednes- day to the Indian celebration above the government school. They found a huge oblong wigwam, probably seventy-five feet in length. In the interior was gathered a motley throng, and around the center mats and skins were arranged for the spectators to squat upon. Soon a dance began to the sound of weird and inharmonious music from the Siwash “band.” It seemed to be a sort of love dance. It was the part of young squaws who wanted husbands to go for- ward within the circle and perform the arious queer movements which constitute Indian dancing. If the appearance of any of them struck a brave favorably he would join her, thus indicating his desire to be- come her husband. Several of the dusky damsels received no such advances, and seemed much wounded in pride and feel- ings. A Hero. From Puck. > a De Long Beach—“Hoffy, I shall marwy Misa -*> Wockingham, after all. Yesterday I saved her life. Itwas most exciting. I was on the besch, she was in the watah. A big wave knocked her ovah, the undahtow gwabbed her. She was be- ing carwied out to sea, There was only one | thing to do, I—” E Hoffman Howes—‘Wushed to her weseue.” De Long Beach (proudly)—No; I seweamed for help.” 1 RATS, MICE AND BUGS Vermin Give the Government a Great Deal of Annoyance, RODENTS IN THE WHITE HOUSE. They Swarm in the Pension Office —Fires Caused by Mice. PACKAGES GOBBLED BY RATS. ERMIN MAKE much trouble for the government at Wash- ington. Until _re- cently the White House has been in- fested by myriads of rate. ‘They were cleaned out at the be- ginning of the Har- rison administration by an expert with ferrets. He carefully stopped up all of the holes except one, in- to which he intro- duced the ferrets. The rodents fled out of their labyrinthine underground passages: through the only exit left open, at which trained Scotch terriers stood waiting to grab and kill them with a shake aplece. The ferrets do most important service by seek- ing out the nests of young rats and eating their brains, of which they are extremely fond. On the occasion referred to the wooden floors in the basement of the Exe- cutive Mansion were taken up and concrete was laid down instead. This was done mainly for the purpose of keeping out such four-footed foes in the future. The mice in the building are few, by reason of the efficiency of a black and white cat that Strayed in and settled down in the kitchen four years ago. When Grant became President for the first time the rats were so aggressive that Mrs. Grant demanded the removal of the stable, which then adjoined the building on the east. But the destruction of the stable did not ‘remove the rodent pests. In fact, they were so bold that one of them trij up the fat colored cook as she walked across the kitchen, and she killed it by. sit- ting down upon it. The animals made a network of tunnels under the brick pave- ments ahd in the walls. They were not con- tent with ordinary food, but preferred the remnants of state Sees par tceety chicken croquettes and pate de fois gras. Crump, steward of the White House under Hayes, swore that a banquet committee of the older rats used to examine his books each night for the purpose of finding out What would be served for dinner the next day. As early as President Johnson's time the vermin had become very numerous in the mansion. This was unfortunate, be- cause there were persons at that time resident in the executive establishment to whom the presence of rats, real or imagi- nary, was particularly objectionable. Sub- betaine.” oe in tte ee tN oe public and grounds Tepeatedly. tore. u the floors and rebuflt the sewers, but with. out effect. In the Pension Office. The pension office is the chosen haunt of rats. Swarms of them adopted the building as their home whiie it was as yet in pro- cess of construction. At present the walls are alive with them, and the floors are full of their holes. They feed on the remnants of oe ngee datly lunches eaten in the building. Su scraps commonly find their way to the waste paper room, which serves the rodents as a breeding place. The watch- men tried at one time to reduce their num- bers by shooting them with air guns, but those weapons were rot very effective. At night @ rustling is often heard among the contents of the big waste baskets, which happen to be down stairs on their way to the dumping place. Then the guards pick up the suspected basket softly and carry it to the fountain in the middle of the great court. By shaking the receptacle they oblige Mr. Rat to jump into the water. If he succeeds in swiming out, they dispatch him with their clubs. On one occasion a woman clerk nsion office attempted to “shoo” ym beneath her desk by whisking her skirts at it. A moment later she gave ut- terance to @ series of alarming shrieks and Dagan. to jump up and down. The animal hi run up inside of her dress and found a ine on her hip, where she felt it with her hand from the outside lke a pud- ding. Presently it flopped out and made its escape, but the victim has never boasted since then that she does not share the weakness of her sex in respect to the do- mestic rodent. In the same building spar- rows are almost as great a nuisance as the Dredatory. quadrupeds described, “They make their nests hundreds among the timbers beneath the lofty roof. Every day the scrub women have to make a task of meens up their droppings. In summer Pigeons fly in through the open windows and raise families on the premises. Some of these are “homers,” lost on journeys with messages. Damage in the Post Office. Rats used to do a great deal of damage at the Post Office Department. They ate quantities of money orders and postal notes, as well as blank books. Much dam- age was done by them to “ ny ackages in the store room for such goods. The dead letter office would notify a person that a Parcel addressed to him was held for lack of sufficient po: In a case of this sort it often happen that. by the time the stage was received, the contents of the yundle were gobbled up. This was embar- rassing and calculat: to make trouble. So, two years ago, a rat catcher was em- ployed. le brought ferrets and cleared out the butlding. Incidentally, he astonished a oMicials by eo all around the structure, a distance of four blocks, mak- ing his way beneath the flooring of the sub- basement where there was no space to wriggle through save such as had been left in putting down the sewer and gas pipes. This ferret-like proceeding very destruc- tive to health, on account of the bad air and SR eee encountered. Three hundred and cats are larly kept on the rolls of the Post Office partment, to prevent rats from eating the contents of mail They are distributed among fifty post offices, each postmaster being al lowed from $8 to $40 for their subsistence, Im Other Departments, Formerly rats were very bad at the patent office, but they were driven out with fer- rets. They used to chew up a great many valuable papers, making their nests amon; the stacks of patent records, covering hal! @ million inventions, which occupy many thousand cubic feet in the basement. The few rodents which still remain are kept down in numbers by nearly a score of cats. The latter are mostiy the offspring of home- less pussies which strayed into the building. They are regularly fed, and no change of administration turns them out, notwith- standing the fact that they are not protect- ed by the civil service law. The Pied Piper who does this kind of work says that he never knew a ferret to be badly hurt in a conflict with rats, except in one instance. The latter are usually too panic-stricken to defend themselves. Once in a while it occurs that one of these hunting animals sucks the blood of a rat and goes to sicep below ground. On waking it forgets whic! way it came in and is lost. A ferret lost in this manner at the Post Office Depart- ment turned up two or three days later in the a office, on the other side of the street, Rats are very numerous in the War, State and Navy building. They swarm in the subbasement, particularly in the waste-pa- room. Children who go to this room for The ‘purpose of obtaining. foreign postage stamps from State Department envelopes are often frightentd by the scampering the: hear. All sorts of traps have been tried. ‘The most successful is the kind that has a tipping cover, which lets Mr. Rat fall in when he steeps on it. A contrivance of this description sometimes catches fifteen or twenty rats in a single night. It is better ‘than the traps that kill, because the latter goon acquire an odor which frightens the rodents away. Sometimes they die among the coils of ‘the heating apparatus cn make a lot of trouble. Cats are of no use for the reason that they quickly die, per- haps for want of air in the subbasement. Out of dozens that have been introduced only one is now alive. Mice have caused two fires in the War Department by nib- bling matches. The second one occured in the Secretary's office three years ago. It burned up some papers on his desk. Tuck- ily, 1t was discovered by a watchman who saw the light over the transom. A Ranch Mei The treasury has not been able to get rid of the rats which infest its building. Fer- rets were tried a year ago with only partial success. Some of the floors were torn up, and what appeared to be the principal breeding place was discovered in the waste- Paper room. A good many nests were de- stroyed. Fortunately, the little pests can- not get at the paper money to gnaw it, be- cause it is shut up in safes. At the Senate end of the tol there are very few rats. ‘This seems odd, inasmuch as there are a tt many in the subbasement of the Ffouse wing, Only a year ago they ‘caused @ fire in the folding room by nibbling matches. They are fond of eating the paste off the wrappers of public documents also. The government printing office, which was badly troubled with rats a few years ago, the a rat| has been wholly deserted by them for some time past. Is this not to be considered ominous, in view of the fearful from fire which is deemed to threaten 1,500 hu- man lives daily in that unfit structure? Some of the printers are more inclined to attribute the desertion to Bob—a cat—which was rendered a mascot through having its tail chopped off short by the knife of pa- ber-cutting machine. Imported Rodents. It seems rather odd that the three kinds of rats familiarly known as nuisances in this country—the black, the gray and the ship rat—are all immigrants imported from abroad. The gray, or mus Alexandrinus— 80 called because it came across the Medi- terranean from Alexandria in ox eo commonly known as the “roof rat,” for the Treason that in Europe it lives in’ thatched roofs of houses. In all respects save color it is almost exactly like the black rat, even to the remarkably long tail. The black rat is termed by the zoologists the mus rattus, while the brown rat has received the = nation of mus decumanus. The last nam which is the ship rat, or Norway rat, has almost driven the others off the face of this continent. It is nearly twice as big as they and much fiercer. Mice are simply rats of smaller size. The hor belo 7 th as as the rodents above mentio: Eas received the diminutive appellation of jus musculus. Brought from Burope, it has spi even more rapidly and widely than the English sparrow. The black and brown rats came from Asia originally. The black species is said to have entered Europe by way of Astrachan four centuries ago, the brown kind following later. The latter, cated the Norway rat, ie conlly 0 Persian rat. Not many years e_ comm. in this country was black, with a long tail, but this animal is rarely seen nowadays. Our own native American rats are not nearly related to any of these imported species. Those indigenous to this country belong to different genera altogether. Native Rats. Among the most iteresting of these are the wood rats of California, which build great mounds four or five feet high, com- posed of leaves and rubbish. Such a mound the dwelling of a single pair and their oung. The occupants are great thieves. They have a propensity for stealing what, ever comes in their way about the camps of prospectors or travelers, carrying off knives, crockery, &c., to their nests for laythings. In the deserts of the west are found species of mice which live on cor. ions, lizards and grasshoppers. The Death valley, expedition of the Department of riculture ti many of these curious fiiients, Sometimes they kill and eat ech other. They are the only essentially car- nivorous mice in existence. The so-called kangaroo rats of the western deserts are not true rats, but are related to the pouched gophers. They sit up like kan- garoos, using for props their tails, which are also employed to help them in jumping. The little harvest mice belong in the south. They make globular nests of on the ground. In the woods and fields all over this country are found the white- footed mice, which are the most common and the most widely distributed of all the native species. They run about on the snow in winter and are a great bother to trap] getting into the traps as quickly as they are set. They climb trees in the north, making their nests in cavities fort, or fifty feet above ground. In the soutl they build spherical nests in the bushes, and these are often mistaken for birds’ nests. Of the ten families of rats and mice indigenous to the United States five are in- cluded among the field mice. The latter have thick heads and short tails. They are very closely related to the lemmings. The muskrat is only a big water field mouse, modified for aquatic existence, with keeled tail to scull with. ‘There is a man in Boston who takes con. tracts to remove dead rats from houses al $5 each, whether five minutes or a week is required to accomplish the task. Asa rule, he does the job very quickly. He relies wholly on the keenness of his own sense of smell. On arriving at the premises which have been rendered temporarily uninhabit- able from such a cause he noses about, keeping an eye on lkely corners, as are be- neath fireplaces and in other warm spots which dying rod®nts would be likely to seek. Having thus located the trouble pret- ty closely, he bores a hole in the floor or wall with ‘an auger and sniffs at it. If it is a find it only remains to en! the open- ing and take out the corpse. The removal of the latter is very cheap at the price. Sometimes a landlord will lose a big slice of his rent money in expenses for taking up floors, &c., to get out decaying rats. terrier can be trained to great usefulness as an assistant in work of this sort. The Rats Tail. Zoologists say there are more muscles in @ rat's tail than in the human hand. This appendage, in fact, serves Mr. Rat as @ sort of hand, by means of which he is en- abled to crawl along narrow ledges and other difficult passages, using it to balance with or to gain a hold. It is prehensile, like the tails of some monkeys. By means of it the little beast can jump up heights otherwise aaa eer tat. spring. It is alleg a rmerly very plentiful in Ireland, have all been eaten up by rats, so that now there are none left. In Paris a great rat battue is made an important festive celebration once a year in the city sewers beneath the streets and pavements. The bite of a rat, by the way, is always dangerous, but that of a sewer rat is particularly so, because its teeth are apt to be poisoned with de- cayed garbage. People in Slam are said to keep rats for pets instead of cats. ‘There is an ancient superstition to the effect that in order to get rid of rats the best plan is to address a formal note to them requesting them to leave. It ts neces- Sary to tell them precisely by what route they are to go. Finally, the letter should be ‘well buttered and thrust into the rat The proper form is about as follows: “Messrs. Rats: You are respectfully asked to leave my house before noon on the first day of next month, Permit me to refer you to the barn of my friend, Mr. Y——, on the high road just a mile north of here. It is well stocked with grain, which will furnish you with food for the winter. Yours, &c.”" In a book published during the tenth cen- tury Dr. Newell, the folklorist, discovered a form of a similar letter, to be written to field mice in cases where they become an- noying. It read: “I adjure you, O mice, not to injure me. The field at such and such a lace, belonging to my neighbor so and 80, freely give you to dwell in, and you can eat whatever grows there.""’ This inscrip- tion had to be posted on a “natural stone” in the infested fleld. The Roach Nuisance. Another nuisance that afficts the govern- ment departments is roaches. The pen- sion office swarms with them. At night the watchmen catch big fat ones and keep them until morning in pasteboard boxes. ‘Then they feed them to the goldfishes in the fountain in the middle of the great court. The latter cobble them greedily, which fact suggests that possibly such vermin might be made use of by anglers for bait. The trapping of such bugs for that purpose may possibly be an industry of the future. The scientific library of the patent office is visited once in two years by an expert who destroys all the roaches by contract. The War, State and Navy building used to be overrun with roaches, but they have been nearly cleaned out by means of a peculiar bug powder, which they are very fond of eating. Having done so, they die and dry up. A little of the powder is put in a receptacle on each desk, and more of it is Scattered through papers that are filed. The document room of the House of Repre- sentatives is bothered a good deal with roaches. There are not a few of them also in the White House, so that the clerks there are obliged to put ther stamps In tin boxes to keep the creatures from eating the mucilage off the backs. Water Bugs. Most of the roaches referred to are of the kind known as water bugs or Croton bugs. They were originally imported from Germany and first excited attention at tho Hime when, the Jaying of the Croton water Pipes in New York gave opportunities for the distribution of their species. The native American cockroach is brown and attains a length of about one inch. It has been driven out to a great extent by the fierce black cockroach of southern Europe, which has been called the “ship cock- roach.” The latter has made its way all over the world, following the white man just as the Asiatic rats have done. Persian insect powder ts death to roaches if plentifully applied. This peculiar ble product was for many centuries ob- tained exclusively from Persia and Dalma- tia. Seeds brought from those countries on many occasions and planted in Europe al- ways failed to sprout. It was discovered eventually that the ingenious Persians and Dalmatians baked them before permitti them to be exported. Eventually a Unit. States consul succeeded in get! some unbaked seeds of the plant and sent them to the Department of Agriculture at Washington, by which they were distribut- ed over the United States. At present there is only one farm in this country Ehich grows this kind of crop for market. The latter looks very much like the com: mon field daisies. The flowers are separat- 4 whole from the stalks and are ground in a mill, being then passed through fine sieves. The blossoms contain a volatile oil, the fumes from which kill insects by suffocation. This “pyrethrum” powder, which can now be bought for forty cents @ pound, used to cost $16 a pound. It ts said to be an infallible remedy for tape- worm. Rene Bache. THE DIAMOND TRADE. Am Importer Te'ks About Its Tricks Amnoyances. From the New York Times. “A large number of the diamonds found in the trade,” said a member of one of the Jeading diamond firms of this city, “come from the Cape mines at the southern end of Africa. There are seven or eight of these mines, the largest being the Kimber- ly, which covers some twenty acres of land. In the last sixteen years these mines have yielded largely, many fine stones having been found. But the Kimberly stones—with the exception of the celebrated Peter Rhodes stone, which weighed 150 carats in the rough—are not always of the finest quality. Though large (they get them as high as 300 carats), many of them are only worth cutting into smaller stones, “India once did, but no longer does, enter into trade considerations as a great dia- mond producing country, The Brazilian @iamond, though small, is often of a finer quality than the African or Indian stone. In Brazil the diamond is usually found in the sandy beds of rivers, while the Cape stones are dug out at a depth of from 300 to 800 feet below the surface earth. The Bra- zillan stones are found in a kind of soft, Soapy muck called blue earth, Some are almost round, while others have eight sides. in weight they will average from two to ten carats, comparatively few stones above fifteen carats being found. This is in the Tough. Cutting reduces them nearly half their natural size. “The carat that I speak of is one peculiar to diamonds, rubies, sapphires and opais. A carat is a trifle over seven pennyweight Troy weight. “Most of the Cape stones are sent to Lon- don, where they are reshipped to Amster- Gam ang Antwerp, the great cutting cities. Diamonds are also cut as well in Maiden Lane as in Amsterdam. In cutting dia- monds there is a general rule that one- third of the stone should be above the gir- dle and two-thirds below it. This propor- tion is sometimes sacrificed in order to avoid imperfection in @ stone, such as black spots and feathers, and at ‘least one- half of the stones are more or less imper- fect. “Again, the size and shape of a stone in the rough will determine whether it shall be & gingle-cut, @ full-cut or @ rose-cut dia- mo “You may have noticed the many little Places or sides to a cut id. These are technically called facets. A single-cut dia- mond has elghteen facets and 9 full-cut Stone has fifty-eight facets, distributed above and beiow the girdle in the propor- tion I have just mentioned. A small stone will usually have only the single cut of eighteen sides. A full-cut diamond is called @ brilliant, and this term is incorrectly ap- piled sometimes to Parisian or paste dia- ond. The third or rose-cut is given to stones Which are too small and thin for either of the other cuts. Thi pele py le shape of the rose-cut hundred of them to make @ carat weight. They are very use- ful, however, in filling in corners, etc. Ethene the consideration T have noted, the diamond cutter is guided by his own discretion and taste in modeling a stone. The operation is simple enough. It is the old saying about ‘diamond cutting @iamond’ illustrated. The workman mere. ly rubs one rough diamond against the other. Then comes the polishing, which is done by holding the cut stone down against @ wheel which revolves at an extremely rapid rate. In applying the stone to the wheel the cutter must look out for flaws, or the diamond will be caught on some Tough point and be ruined in Jess than the tional sia. As to the time taken to cut and polish a stone, one cutter will work fast enough to keep hal: polishers busy, and © good polisher will Polish about twenty carats a week. ‘Regarding the color of diamonds,” con- tinued the speaker, “there is every = able tint, but the principal trade colors are the standerd white, the Sluish tint, the yellow and the brown. The white, while the most valuable, is not always the most brilliant. The bluish tint is a favorite and much sought after. The yellow stone is the most common, and there is a growing taste for dark brown, bright. yellow ce Ggnary, as it is called, and other natural “People not acquainted with the diamond market abroad cannot comprehend the difficulties and perplexities that harass a diamond buyer. He has to be constantly on the alert for sharp practices, for the Bersons holding the stock of ‘diamonds in jurope are among the shrewdest mer- cs to be found anywhere, and they not only work in collusion, but ‘play one cus- tomer st another to obtain hi prices. They are wonderfully given. to romancing, and their statements, like their goods, are only to be taken after investi- gation. “The diamond merchants abroad do not grade thelr goods, but, when a purchaser comes glong. a parcel com) 00d, bad and Indifferent stones is shown to'him, and he usually = to bid for the whole parcel e grading, pairing and selecting is done for the American market after the stones have reached our shore. “By this means a to buy many goods he allowed the privilege of selection. Some diamonds thus purchased are actuaily sold here at less than they cost abroad. “It is a conceded fact that the American consumers of precious stones are the most critical of any that merchants have to cater to, and European holders of diamonds appreciate this fact. In this country but three grades of diamonds are really mar- ketable, the first being rare and exceptional gems, the second first-water goods and the third must be above the average quality sold to Europeans. Fashion also ‘some- thing to do in enhancing the value of dia- monds, by proclaiming one day in favor of one particular style of cutting or of color, and again changing setting in’ the post of honor to those which had been Previously rejected. The experts of ten years ago woul sadly puzz! iv to make a selection of first-class diamonds for the American market. Indeed, the trade is a most difficult one to cater to— full of annoyances and hazards, and re- quiring special training and unflagging vigilance.’ GOVERNMENT EXHIBIT OF FARRIER ¥ An Interesting and Instroctive Display at the World's Fair. From the Rider and Driver. Probably the most interesting exhibit in the government building at the world’s Co- lumbia exposition—or, indeed, for that mat- ter, in the whole exposition at present—for horsemen, is that presided oyer by John Kiernan, chief farrier and instructor in horseshoeing, U. S. army, Jefferson bar- racks. ‘his is a complete exhibit—scientific, technical and practical—of the system of horseshoeing indorsed by the United States government. On that account it has at- tracted marked attention from foreigners, especially from the British commissioners and the correspondent of the London Field. But whatever credit the government may claim for this practical demonstration un- doubtedly belongs to Mr. Kiernan. Mr. Kiernan was the first, west of the Mississippi, to exhibit the anatomy of the horse. He was the first in America to ar- ticulate the skeleton of a mule—which sub- ject is included in the government exhibit. There is no other such “subject” in ex- istence anywhere. Mr. Kiernan has nine two of which alone exhib- eotnobe or St. Louis and Penns) Pennsylvania. Mr. Kiernan has just finished an import-_ ant work on ery, entitled “Hints on | Hlorseshoeing” (copyrighted). for the pub- | Heation of which arrangements, it may be | trusted, soon be completed. ‘The contents of this exhibit are, as in- | dicated, most varied. Besides the skeleton: alluded’ to there is a complete demonstra- tion of every portion of the anatomy of the horse of interest to ew yg gee of course, of the hoof and foot. he col- lection is, indeed, particularly rich. ‘The | exhibit is designel, next to the exhibition of the normal and abnormal anatomy, to | teach the right and proper methods of shoe- | ing, and » more particularly, to point | out for avoidance the wrong methods and | the ills arising therefrom. < The reason why young colts “break down” on the trotting or racing track may be here learned. The colt’s legs are there to show that the bones entering into the formation of each joint have what are call- ed epipheses—sort. cartilaginous ends, which may be illustrated best by recalling the white, gristly appearance on the ends of chickens bones. These epipheres are easily ble from the bones to which they are attached. Each has a center of ossification; they ossify, become bone from these centers and eventually beco dissolubly attached by complete ossifica- tion to the main bones. This, when it oc- curs, is the period cf adolescence. The heses are now called apopnyses. In i the horse the epipheses do not become apo- hyses till four years old—that is, the colt & not mature till that time; hence at once is seen the danger of exerting colts when too young. The joints are “green,” tender and liable to all the joint ills horseflesh is | heir. When any of these occur the colt | “breaks down" and the horseman won- | ders y? The United States army farrier uses noth- ing but the rasp; the knife ts exclured, x cept for surgical ‘purposes. A complete f rier'a Kit is shown, ‘everything Is adjus ble, and what is used when out wit | cavalry in the field. The Burden shoe is | the best, it has been demonstrated, for | cavalry or artillery horses. The frog is ever touched and hot fitting is not toler- at Burrs’ Bromo Lrrata cures sick headache, nev- Faigia and ir omoia where ali other broms fail. | ‘Three doses, 1. «> cs. The Clergyman’s Story. A PROMINENT MINISTER RELATES HIS REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE WITH THE GRIPPE. How He was Affected and How He was, (Cured. Am Article that Every One Should Read and Remember. (From the Philadelphia Rem.) 2549 Neff St., and is Pastor of the Eichenead ioe res 4-45 Tae saperieams ok Le ae nized as one of Philadelphia. He is an alumnus of Bucknell = , Pa., where be attained the de- gree of Master of Arts. With other Fare be cts and publishes The Richneed ond ist, a month! interests of the church. Hi practical side of life, both lishing, the i End whep saked to tell what ill it if if tli Hi =e lo my work as and I should have bees in be ss eek 's time the ea HH 4 & Soe irl H i i i sr | i i Pa i i HH tf 3 i | GROGAN'S. Among the many bitter complaints of @ull busteeae end scarcity of money Which has characterteed these Past three months we can truthfully eay thet eur Patronage has been (horowghiy eatiaractory 1m every way. Every one of these sultry summer Gaye hae found a line of people at our counter waiting to par “a little something” on their furniture. We are goin {0 tell you once more that your credit te ones Dere—any time—and for anvthinc you went. A Metle Payment once a week or once « month will #oom males you “sole owner and proprietor” of «house full of Dandeome, serviceable furniture. Our evedét prieg te our cash price—and there are no names to ston. There fs & Seven-piece Parlor Suite bere, upholstered im plush—and there's another upholstered in hair eloth— take your choice of either of them for 822. 50—cash or credit, These are but f1ce out of © whole floor full of parior furniture-Suites in Brocatelle—Wiiton Fee— ‘Tapestry, Gilt, ke. There's Bed Room suite here tn solid oak—bevel glass in bureau—an@ our price te #13 cash or credit. Our first foor is full of Bed Room Furniture—handaome asany youever saw anyichere— all prices, There'sany quantity of Brussels Carpat bere and owr price is 50 cents per yard. Inerain Car- pet, 35 cents per yard. Every yard of carpet bought of wets made and sid free of cost—mo chanze for waste in matching Srures. We sell a Forty-pown@ Hair Mattress for 87—Woven Wire Spring, €1.70— Six-foot Oak Extension Tsbie, $3.50, Refrimerstors, Mattings, Baby Carriawes and anything anybody ever used to ““housekeep” with is here—and it's yours fer a promiee to pay. GROGAN’S MAMMOTH GREDIT HOUSE, S10, 2, $23 7TH ST. NW, BET. H AND 1 STS. —Aimites. — Tea grown in thie country. Tue tret lot ‘ever oflered 1825 F st. GENTS SUITS SCOU AND Pki 5 best moan delivered. Telephone cai! ner 143-2.