Evening Star Newspaper, September 23, 1893, Page 14

THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, -D. C. SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 23. 1893—SIXTEEN PAGES. OFF FOR SWITZERL AND. A CHEAP EXCURSION. A Trip to Lucerne and Return With the Untraveled Parisians. CROWDED INTO CLOSE QUARTERS “Typical French Traveling Com- panions and Their Ways. WOURISTS’ SUMMER GARDEN. ie Qerrespondence of The Erening Star. LUCERNE, August 28, 18%. HERE ARE SOME European sights that even Parisians must see. This most un- traveled people of the world usually content themselves with sitting in their capttal, at the gates of their six great railway stations, and watching the na- tions come into their parlor, as the spider does the fly. Thus the world pass before them n- passing through the world. When Parisian, and especially the little Pa- forsakes, even for ten days, his spe- brew of cafe au lait, the delights of streets and the literary treasures of the Petit Journal, it must be for some thing. The smaller the Parisian tde he is of the petite bourgeoisie, the you may be of the intrinsic trip—which he takes, perhaps, im his whole life. With the Eurape open to him he seldom of it in the course of his ex- an, American cheap tourist of ithe. He does see Switzerland, ‘The comic opera scenery of this Most coquettish of countries appeals to Bim. Nature is so perfect that she can- Rot seem but to be artificial The fresh colors of mountains, sky, lake bosoms and foltage, the greens, the blues, the pinks, the Black shadows of fir trees shot across by @arts of the purest white sunlight, the ative costumes of the natives and the wistmas candy character of the archi- Yecture combine to persuade him that Somebody—presumably a _Frenchman— Made it all as an annex to Paris. — if HEE ; i & re & a & ver My ‘Accordingly the Parisian goes to Switzer- @ frugal mind. The raflway companies as- sions are wonderfully cheap. From Paris fo Lake Lucerne and back for exactly $8 as been the bottom mark of cheapness @uring the present summer. These excur- Sions, instituted by the railway company of the east, have been numerous and weil ized. The Star writer, quite against preconceived plans and ‘rooted gene! Principles, found himself three days ago @t the ticket office of the Gare de I’ Est in he tinted lakes again, the Rishi, the cafe—waiter girls with their blonde their silver chains, their sleeveless Velvet bodices and white starched Buffed up linen—ail this for 40 francs! The regulations seemed easy, enough, and tn point of fact they were. The ex- must be ready at the railway tion at midnight. They are to be pack: eight or nine in a compartment. They Gravel all night, being sidetracked now end Mhen for more important traffic. They ar- Five at Basie in Switzerland at 6 p.m. the Mext day (slow travel). They may not get Of at Basle, but must continue on to Lu- Sere (this to insure only bona fide excur- Sionists). After Lucerne, however, the ex- fursionists are allowed to choose their own and stops on the return; except, they are forbidden all express trains, second, they must be back in Paris by it of the tenth day. Otherwise they the full rate from Lucerne (47 francs, n- Im the Car. Buide book, issued in the interests trips, advised the voyageurs to ‘at the station a full hour in advance of he midnight start, in order to secure good on the train. Small need of this ad- At 10 p.m. the excursion train was ed with Parisians—which packed with very pushing people. coupe which had been comfortable with travelers, one at each corner, became cramped with nine. We, in had three ladies, all wearing nice and trreproachable costumes de voy- RES one concealing a dog in the folds of coat and another a black kitten in an estensible lunch basket. There was an old t @ young husband, a lively school | Sey and a cure. Valises and packages were everywhere. A rails — out pillows for the ni: t how il _you find room to use a pillow? Midnight. The locomotive, which has coughing and groaning for a fuli ho if to protest against @ load of twelve Bars each with five compartments, holding Wand. Even when on pleasure bent he has| aist him. Some of the ten days’ excur-| ed | in all a full 500 people, begins to move us, rolling out of the station. A shout of exul- tation starts up from the carriages, the flute-like notes of ladies mingling with the grunting satisfaction of the men and yelps [of smuggled lap dogs bound for the Lake of Lucerne. ‘There is the underground | Tailway, the moonlight casting odd shadows | from the decorative profiles of interminable Yows of apartment houses, the open fields, There is the regular cha-cha-cha of the lo- comotive, the regular clink-clink, clin clink of @arriage wheels, the snore of the old gentleman, the scratching and un twisting of the sahoolboy, the sighs of the three ladies, and the mgnt begins. 1 a m. It becomes certain that no one ‘will be able to sleep. 1:30 a. m. It ts torture to be packed so tight together. If you move your legs you Will strike those of the lady facing you. The schoolboy continues to scratch him- self. Outside the brown moon is sinking in the fields. We are making a good fourteen miles an hour. 3:45 a. m. Halt, at the city of Troyes. Everybody gets out. In the big waiting ball they have great tureens of hot boull- Jon, iifty centimes a portion, and black coffee, the same price. Every one takes | Soup and coffee. \Return of confidence. The train jogs on. The Star correspondent tells one of the Pagisians that the limited ex- Press between New York and Chicago car- ries @ barber shop, a bath room and a typ< yriter girl all in full operation, night and oy. Nobody ae it, He tells the Par- 0 is dangerous because of the hostile Indian tribes constantly on the warpath This statement is accepted. Gens eral ionversation concerning the habits of pl ve nations, in which the priest does not take part. 4a. m. The petit jour, the “little day, the twilight of daybreak, that pretty wor Fhich rivals in expressiveness the German “a bendroth”—“evening-red”—for sunset. oftlne: oe Toute you see the bare outlines companies of slender trees, gracéful Lombardy poplars and gracious spreading elms, with fancifully sprawling hedges, changing, filing, defiling, combining in cur- fous patterns as the train moves on. before the morning light. There is a golden-red sunrise to the right, and to the left in a valley with high hills beyond, the pale green fields Me, half white in patches with the mountain morning frost. We are in the highlands and valleys of the department of the Aube—“The Worst department in France”—the old French gentleman says, —weak in agriculture, but beautiful in ecenery. | | When the Sun Appears. 5:10 a. m. The sun appears full above the hills. It has been very cold. Everybody has been coughing. Everybody ts sore and tired. The sun should set things right. 6 a m. Chaumont and a stop. Coffee again, with milk this time. 7 s. m. Culmont-Chalindrey. More cafe au lait, the national morning food of the French, who take enormous quantities of it, with no meat and little bread. 9 a. m. Vesoul, another uninteresting stop, another debauch of coffee and hot milk, with dyspeptic looking cold chicken if you wish to buy it at an exorbitant price, which no one does. At 10:4 we are at Bel- fort, one of the heaviest of modern fortified places. At 11:25 we are at Delle, the last town of France on the Swiss frontier. Here the first real meal of the day {s taken, cold meat, hot biscuits, fruit and sour, cheap wine of the environs. 11:20 a. m. Por-entruy, the first Swiss stop. The customs examination amounts to & mere asking of questions: ‘Have you any- thing to declare?” Nobody has anything to declare. At the pretty railway station a full half | dozen generously developed Swiss girls, in fetching costume, stand bravely up behind the fortifications of their refreshment buf- j fet, dispensing milk, beer and cakes to | travelers and meeting with’a certain moun- | tain hardiness the devouring glances of | Frenchmen, who, like the ancient Athen- fans, are ever desirous of securing some | new thing. ‘The pleasing experience of free tobacco and free matches is here met with. | In France it is the government tobagco and matches or nothing; in Switzerland the | traveleP feels the protecting influence of | | { | In the Tourists’ Summer Garden. Having crossed the frontier the scenery | changes, the atmosphere, the local sights | and the very faces of the people, as if by magic. The valleys seem greener. They | are irrigated artificially by a complicated ‘stem of tiny canals. Everything is neat. The great brown outlines of the very unin. teresting east of France give place to mou! tains higher and valleys deeper, but sce ery 30 cire these very moun- tains that all appears upon a smailer scale. The distin; ng features of this first, firclad hills; sec- evs, so beautifully green f they had been painted paint; third, chalets, or decora~ s,of all shades and tints, cream- red, blue, pink, so fanciful in ‘ed and balconied outlines ke those toy carvings for . those dolls’ houses or which tourists bring back aracteristic element of 1 adding wonderfully e ever presence of run- in streams glittering in m the land of William e pines, the fresh air, the restful colors of the ye chaste glory of the eternal virginity of ible that the black-handed a lan ‘and unpolluted, proclaim the tourists’ sum- mer garden. Our tourists cramped, knee to knee, sore in their muscles, unable to change positions, nevertheless find their souls uplifted with the glory of it all. Cries of satisfaction come floating on the air. Ladies gurgle their delight inarticulately and even the uneasy schoolboy stops scratching the white face, blue-veined, pa- thetic-eyed yet roguish pauvre potache and murmurs: “Ah, c’est beau! Ah, petite mere, c'est merveilleux!”" And so it is, ani continues to be on a continual steady cp grade. Valleys,streains, shadows, colors, snow white roads wnding in the far-off xreen, silver water shining in the far-off purple. "Ly the roadway there are girls washing clothes, yirls making hay, oxen pull carts, cabbage fieids sining with @ metallic greentun Llus contrast with the red roofs of chalets; stender church ‘steeples, actually painted pink, contrast with the faint apple-sreen of apple or- chards, which the sun shines on—pink ard apple-green, like an aesthetic bonnet. These colors of the valleys are so far Lelow, end yet they shine-so clear, and mingle #0, that you would think them said on by aceign, the work of a cunaing painter—or, beter still, the triumph of a dress-maker or a milliner, 2 p. m.—Delemont, a little village in a plain, surrounded by high hills. A stop of twenty minutes. In the street by the sta- tion there is a \Vuin-haus,where thin Jager- beer appears with pretzels, and the first German signs and words. In the station yard a dozen nen behind a \emporary un- Painted wooden bar hand out beer from half a dozen kegs—in the regulation Ger- man-American picture style. And this amid dove-colored crags wreuthed im au- tumn-tinted leaves. 3:40 p. m.—Basle. New cars. Everybody changes. Some who have c:rmer seats by the windows are now forced inw middle seats, but the Swiss railway carriages, CC 4 oS more commodtous than the French, with only four compartments to the car, each opening into tne other m something ike an American plan, make this last misfer- tune of a cheap iduropean excursion less unbearable. Hitherto, though the valleys have been deep and the hills seem mountains, there has been none of the great scenery of the Alps. Now we are in a highland plain, bounded by low hills far away. Where are the pink and white mountains, crowned with snow? the schoolboy asks.’ We have seen beautiful things, but not the glaciers of the advertising posters; and the only snow- feature of our travel hitherto has the kitten-like, snow-capped blonde Swiss girl, the angel of the railway buffet. Speaking “French and German and often Itallan, too, disquieting travelers with her beauty, as inaccessible as the Alps, as slip- pery as the glaciers and as placid as the mountain lakes, whose steady blue her eyes resemble. 4:20 p.m. The scenery improves. Tunnels, great valleys, steep slopes, black fir forests near at hand. Immense views, with ranges of mountains sometimes four deep, shading off their colors from black to faintest pink. The water in the shaded streams becomes a deep and deadly green. 5:3 p.m. Great™ ranges of mountains come into view. The snow! We pass a great blue lake and then another. At last we are in Lucerne, with first a red haze on the town and then the quick, deep fail. ing twilight and the evening covering all except the city lights and the Chinese lan- |MONEY IN THE MAILS Points About the Plan for a Postal Currency. WHY COUNTRY PEOPLE WANT What the Post Office Department Offers as a Substitute. STRAY CASH‘ RESTORED. Written for ‘The Evening Star. EOPLE IN RURAL districts all over the United States desire @ postal fractional currency, such as is being advocated in Congress,for the sake, of making small re: mittances by mail. Supplied with cash in that shape they could deal conventently at city shops, thus get- ting better opportun- ities for choice and lower prices than are found at village stores. Even now dry goods establishments in the great towns respond to requests for samples from remote agricultural regions, forwarding goods in return for money or- deys. To such an extent does this system prevail that the New York post office pays out $50,000 a day on money orders, while recelving only $4,000 per diem for those se- curities. It is the same way with all other &reat centers of population. Country people constantly have occasion to transmit fractional sums by mail. Post- age stamps are only sometimes accepted for money; postal notes are not safe nor readily negotiable, and coins are apt to be lost. Accordingly, it is proposed that the government shall issue scrip in denomina- tions of 5, 10, 35, 50 and 75 cents, to be kept for sale and to be redeemable at all post offices. Naturally, the shopkeepers in cities strongly favor the plan, which would facili- tate their sales. On the other hand, pro- vinclal dealers generally oppose it, know- ing that it would work great damage to their trade. ‘The problem of conveying money by post has never been solved by Uncle Sam to his own entire satisfaction. Considerable sums go astray in the mails every week. Every year from $30,000 to $40,000 in actual cash miscarries in letters and reaches the ead letter office, not to mention hundreds of thousands of checks and drafts. Of loose silver and gold found in mail pouches about $300 a month is turned in. Most of that stuff comes from New York, Cincinnatt, Chicago and Cleveland. It 1s’ delivered -at the headquarters of the railway mall serv- ice in those cities by mail clerks, who pick it up on the various routes running into the centers mentioned. The pouches are taken on board by mail trains running at full speed, which, by means of hooks, snatch the letter bags off cranes at the sta- tions passed. Often the shock breaks pack- ages containing money and the latter falls out. It is put into oficial envelopes and forwarded to the department at Washing- ton. Coin Lost by Postmasters. Postmasters send the money which they receive for stamps and money orders to the nearest government depository. Some of it is usually in coin, and frequently it gets jocked out in the mail pouches. Of course, statements respecting such losses are im- mediately sent to Washington. The dead letter office hnds the cas’ over to the Greater precautions against stealing are taken now than formerly in the dead lette= office, because there have been a gvod many thefts. In one instance a girl was the gullty party. During the last thirty years, since women were first employed by the govern- ment, only two of dishonesty in petti- coats have been recorded. The other one was that of the female clerk in the treasu- ry who earned money at the rate of $10,000 to $15,000 a year for a while by practicing a Patchwork system of her own invention for .| making tén banknotes out of nine. Gen. rt pinner asserted that the reason why wo- men did not steal was not because they were too good, but because they lacked the requisite nerve. Probably he was mistaken. At all events, their temptations are greater their salaries being smaller. Their oppor- tunities are unexcelled, inasmuch as they do all the counting of cash. How to Send Cash in Letters. If a bill must be sent in a letter the saf- est plan is to roll it tightly into the shape of a lamplighter and lay it in the fold of the sheet inclosed. Arranged in that fash- fon, the fact that it is money cannot well be distinguished by the “feel.” A thread, with a knot at the end, will not be so likely to fetch a tell-tale fragment of the fiber Paper when drawn by means of a needle through the envelope, and the, smell of it will be less perceptible. So peculiar is the effluvium belonging to bank or treasury notes that experts at the bureau of engrav- ing say that they can distinguish them when sealed in envelopes by the nose every time. A thief once showed to government detec- tives, who had caught him, that he could Pick out from a pile of 400 letters every one of seven which contained paper cash blind- folded, merely by scent. All post office buildings, by the way, are provided with beep-holes, through which clerks may be watched while at work. Out of 15,000,000 registered missives and packages transmit- ted annually through the United States mails less than 300 are stolen by dishonest postal officials, During the last Congress five bilis for the “establishment of a postal fractional cur- rency were offered. None of them passed. All of them were declared unsatisfactory by the Post Office Department, which regards the plan as open to many objections. To begin with, several thousand small post offices are burglarized every year. If they kept sums in postal currency on hand an additional incentive to robbery would be furnished. The postmasters would have to give larger bonds, and they would hardly be able to do so. In 45,000 offices the business transacted is so small that the compensation ts less than $200 per annum; in 30,000 the pay does not exceed $100, and there are a great many in which the remuneration of the postmaster is not over $10. If the currency was made pur- chasable and redeemiabl> only at money order offices the purpose in view would be defeated to a great extent. The matter of expense must be consid- ered. The fractional notes would have to be printed on the best bank note jwper, with first-rate engraving, and they would cost $3 per 1,000. Estimating the issue for the first year at 12,000,000 pleces of postal currency, the expenditure thus involved Would. be $36,000. Commissions to _post- masters on sales would amount to $90,000. There would have to be an agency for dis- tributing the notes, just as there is for Postage sta: and for its support not iess than $5,000 per annum would have to be ppropriated. Counting the pay for an extra clerical force in Washington, sta- tlonery, &c., the entire cost of the business would be at least $120,000 for the year, or 2 Der cent of the face value of the notes, Supposing that they averaged 60 cents. Other Objections to the Plai It ‘s more than probable: that the frac- tional notes would be counterfeited, and Tural postmasters could not be expected to detect clever imitations executed by skilled engravers. The currency would drive the subsidiary coins out of circulation to a large extent. Its establishment would mul- tiply the present money order accounts three-fold. Money in that shape would be transmitted by mail with no security unless sent in registered letters. In fact, It would be no safer in the post than treasury or bank notes. Finally, the Post Office De- Partment asks, if a fractional currency is chief taspector of the depar.oent, who in- Vestigates the claims and reimburses the rs. Some of the methods adopted for tran: mitting cash by post are extraordinary. Only the other day a letter addressed to Ireland was opened in the dead letter office. ‘The red wax seal was an unusually large one, and the clerk took a notion to break it in two. If he had not done so, he would not have found the $2.50 gold plece which was hidden beneath the wax, on the outside of the envelope. Evidently this was done by some person cognizant of the British law which forbids the sending of money by mail. Most European countries enforce the same legal restriction, the object of it being to avoid placing temptation in the way of Fostal officials. On one occasion a letter sent all the way from Minnesota to Rome reached the eter- nal city, but the authorities there, instead of delivering it, returned it to the dead terns of merry boating parties on the lake. ‘The tourists have finished their probation. Henceforth they are no longer excurston- ists, penned like cattle in a special train. They rub off their cheapness in rubbing elbows with rich summer residents. In the whirl of luxury and expense of one of the most sought-after continental summering places they lose their consciousness of be- ing there set down like emigrants at an almost nominal price per head. STERLING HEILIG. —+_.__ The Old Man’s Boy. In Sleepy Hollow graveyant, when the long day ‘was done, T sadly fused above the dust that once was Emer- And where caressing zephyrs the clustered greenery wave I stoof in chastened reverie at Hawthorne's quiet grave. On this green hill, ‘neath gun and stars, will sleep ‘age to age The Dreamer in his dreamless sleep, the Mystic and the Sage; The best, the crown of all her years, our western world can show, The fullest flowtrage of our time, is buried here below. ‘They sleep: nor heed the winter storm, nor feel the summer breeze; They sleep, but the strong words they spake are blown o'er all tre seas. I turned away where bending grass o'er humbler burial waves, And then beheld a gray old man who walked ‘among the graves. “Great men are buried here,” I said. He wiped a falling tear. “Great meu.” he sighed, “I know, but, then, my boy is buried here. God gave them strength and length of days till allethelr work was done- ¥ boy, We buried here before his work ‘The Dreamer and the Mystic—I left them to their grave, the grave Their: home 1s in the thoughts of men in nations wide apart, ‘The toy ‘nds’ love. a warm as thelr in bis old father's heart. —Sam Walter Fass. jake re He Was Mi From Life. Scene: Railway Station. Time: 1 p.m. Beautiful Blonde (to ticket agent)—“What time, please, does the next train leave for Woodchuck ‘Junction ” Ticket Agent—"1:06." Anxious Man (just behind beautiful blonde)—"“Excuse me, madam—" Beautiful Blonde (haughtily)—"T believe 1 got here first, sir.” Antious Man—“But—" Ticket Agent—“One to Woodchuck?” Beautiful Blonde—"Oh, mercy, no. L want to go to Perryville. Now they told me that the train— | Ticket Agent—“That’s right. Change at Woodchuck. One to Perryville?” Anxious Man—“Madam, I believe—* Beautiful Blonde—“But they told me if the train was late I might not be able to make connection. The rallroad companies are so dreadfully independent, you know. And then, my mother told me— ‘Ticket Agent—“That's ail right. Train its. One way WAnxious Man—“Pardon me, but—" Beautiful Blonde—(still ignoring him)— “What is the fare, please. Ticket Agent " dmpatiently)—“$2.90, Do uu want @ ticket or not *xnxious Man—"Say—" Beautiful Blonde-'Will I have to .wait long at—what’s the name? Oh, dear, I'm so dreadfully forgetful. Oh, yes. Wood- chuck Junction?” ‘Ticket Agent—“Forty minutes. (The gong sounds). Come, hurry up.” Bewutiful Blonde—‘‘Mercy, yes. him % and gets change and t dear, I haven't a moment to lose.’ (Hands et). Oh, (Rushes Where to?” ‘m not going anywhere.” Ticket Agent—“Then what do you want?" Anxious Man (wearily) — “Nothing. 1 thought perhaps that woman wanted this umbrella she left in the horse car.” eee Our Country Cou From the Chicago Inter-Ocean. Josiah—“Say, Mandy, do you suppose we could get a time table here on the train?” Mandy—“Great sakes! Yes; what do you ‘factory system must forever leave It free letter office at Washington, having dis- covered that it contained $20) In gold. This sum was In $10 pieces, which were fitted into holes punched out of a card, the latter being then wrapped tn folds of cloth and inclosed in a large envelope. A new regula- tion permits the sending of metal money, as well as jewelry and gems, by mail to Germany, at letter rates. «In the ‘United States money {s concealed in all sorts of parcels sent by the post, es- pecially at the Christmas season. The fin- gers of gloves gre favorite hiding-places for cash thus transmitted, and likewise are candy boxes. Coins are frequently mailed? in newspapers, which are folded both ways to prevent them from ping out. Let- ters are often wrapped up in the same fash- fon, to save postage. Handling Lost Money. Each one of the clerks who handle dead letters at the department here has a pass book for cash. When he opens a missive that has money tn it, he writes the amount and his own name on the envelope. At the same time he enters in his pass-book the address of the letter and the sum of money it contained. At the end of the day all the money letters which have come into his hands are turned over, together with the Pass book, to the chief of the opening di- vision, who locks them up in a safe. Next morning the chief takes all the pass books and money letters handed him by the clerks the night before, and turns them over to a woman, who goes through the letters and books, verifying the ad- dresses and contents. If a mistake has been made, she goes at once to the man whose book is wrong, and has the error corrected. No slip can get beyond her. ‘The woman clerk finally gives all the mon- ey and letters into the hands of the chief of the money division, who receipts for them to her. That division is fenced off from the rest of the office by an iron grat- ing, and the head of it is under very large bonds. He divides the cash and letters among his clerks, each one of whom receipts to him for so many letters containing so much cash. Every possible effort is then made to find the owners of this stray wealth. No at- tempt is made to discover the addre: the presumption being that all means to that end have already been tried. The let- ters have only become “dead” after being advertised, which was the last resort in that direction. What the clerks try to do !s to get at the senders. There would be no difficulty if people would only put their full names and addresses inside of their letters; but most persons do not make a habit of taking this simple precaution. So in each case a circular 1s mailed sto the postmaster in the town from which the missive {s post- marked, asking him to hunt up the individ- ual to whom the money belongs. He is obliged by law to do everything in his power to find that person. When discovered, the latter 1s informed that his cash is held for him by the Post Office Department, and he gets it back by signing a receipt. Miuety Per Cent Restored. How earnestly and thoroughly this work 1s performed may be judged from the fact that of all the money that flows into the dead letter office more than 9 per cent is eventually restored to the owners. Letters for which owners cannot be found are held for three months. Then the cash is sepa- rated from them and they are filed inde: nitely, the money going into the treasu to the credit of the Post Office Department. At any time within the next four years the owners can recover the amounts belonging to them by proving property; after that a special act of Congress is required. Up to date Congress has passed no bill to cover such a case. Twelve hundred letters without a word on the outside of the envelopes reach the dead letter office every month. It is. cer- tainly a remarkable fact that these are among the most precious missives lost in the matis, containing the most valuable inclosures. As a rule they are from bus | ness men in big cities. It is supposed that | in many cases the senders are interrupted when about to address them. The boy comes in, sweeps them off the office desk carries them away to the post office or I ter box, and drops them in without notic- ing that the envelopes are blank. Not long ago an envelope containing $1,000, without address or written inclosure, came in among the dead letters. The sum was in bank notes. The Chicago man to whom it belonged got it back after much trouble !n proving ownership. Probably the experience ‘spose they're runnin’ dinin’ cars for?” has cured him of that sort of carelessness for the rest of his life. and beds. (ranted, why should not the treasury issue As @ substitute for the plan described the Post Office Department offers a recom- Mendation. If the redemption of stamps with money at post offices be authorized there is a postal currency y-made. They might ‘be redeemed at a Seduction equal to the commission ‘allowed to post- masters on sales of stamps. In the united ingdom postage stamps are redeemed. privilege 1s limited to stamps in strips. Single stamps are not redeemed, lest peo- ple should steal them from letters for the Purpose of exchanging them for money. The stamps offered for redemption must not be sofled or torn, and they are taken only at a discount of 21-2 per cent. Great Britain issues postal notes from 1 shilling to twenty shillings, the difference in no case being less than 6 pence, but they are made to answer for remittances of inter- mediate sums by attaching stamps to them, which are redeemed with the notes. The same system might be adopted in this country, though it would add to the temptation to steal letters. This, in the opinion of the Post Office Department, is the best solution of the problem thus far offered. Postage stamps can be got every- where. Being unsuitable for currency they could not circulate far. RENE BACHE. ——_—_-or One by One His Geese Sank, From the Lumpkin Independent. Six or eight years ago Bob Vorus started @ goose farm on his mill pond. He knew the value of feathers, and thought the peo- ple would appreciate the opportunity of ob- taining them near home for making pillows His big mili pond was such a tine place for them to swim and live and raise in. So he got up five or six hundred pairs of geese, and put them on his pond. They were in their glory, and the water was dot- ted with the white and blue of their plum- age from morning till night as they grace- fully glided over the placid expanse of the pond. Their nests were built in the rushes along its sides, and their melodious voices reverberated along its banks from end to end. But they did not increase according to, Bob's notion—their numbers were diminish- ing perceptibly. A dead one could be seen occasionally drifting along the edge of the bordering rushes. At first Bob thought it might be minks, otters, skunks, possums, or what not that were destroying them, but soon found out that it was alligators, for he actually saw one day one of the ugly rep- tiles catch a goose and pull it under the water. Partly eaten geese would sometimes be found. In the course of a few months Bob had the same big pond of water, but not a single goose. Bob hates an alligator, and he and his ten boys have been occupying the dull summer months ih killing them. They bring into town,two or three every week for the chil- dren’ to get frightened at. Last Monday they “brought up the biggest one yet. It measured mine feet and a half in length, and weighed somewhat under 40) pounds. It as forty-seven years old by the rings on ts tall, and had already begun to stow away pine knots for the winte-’s supply. His appetite seemed not to be confined to geese and light wood knots, for an autopsy discovered in his capacious cold-storage res- ervoir a pair of brogans and a pipe. — oes Local Pride Hurt. From the Detroit Free Press. ‘A pickpocket was before a Chicago police judge for relieving a visitor to the fair of $100 or more. “Guilty or not guilty?" inquired the court. ‘The prisoner looked surprised. “I took the money, your honor,” he sald, “put I don’t like your way of asking me if I aid.” ‘Sir?’ stammered the astonished judge. “I beg your pard your honor,” con- tinued the prisoner, “ain't we running the fair for the money that’s tn it?” “Wer” exclaimed the still astonished judge. “Who do you mean ty we?" “All of us, your honor. I’m a Chicagoan.” em rebtisbene Ss “Now you wuderstand me, and I want no kicking from you."”” FRENCH FRIENDSHIP Displayed in the Early Days of the * ‘Infant Republic. FRANCO-AMERICAN SOUVENIRS. An Exhibit at the Fair of Relics of Washington and Lafayette. UNDER STRICT GUARD. HE EVENING Star has already giv- en an account cf those scattered me- morials of thé revo- lution which are to be found at the world’s fair. They 4j @re chiefly in the government bulid- ing, the various state buildings and the educational exhibits, ‘There is one collected Tevolutionary 1s- play, however, that deserves separate no- tice. It is found in the French govern- ment’s building, and is known officially as the historical exhibition of Franco-Ameri- can souvenirs of the war of independence. The relics are so precious, the room in which they are shown is so beautiful, that the public cannot safely be admitted except in small detachments. As a consequence there is always a crowd waiting. Here is @ translation of the announcement of the French commission relative to this display: “In accepting, before any other nation, the invitation to participate in the interna- tional exhibition at Chicago, France but affirmed oncg more her traditional friend- ship for the United States. “With the idea of recalling the memories of the glorious times when this friendship sprang into being upon the battlefields of the war of independence, the government of the republic has wished to consecrate the hall of honor of {ts national pavilion to the memory of the heroes of that war—Wash- ington and Lafayette.” ‘The room alluded to is large and pleasant. French windows open down to the floor, and from them one can see the lake. ‘The decorations are copied from those in the ambassadors’ room in the patace of Ver- sailles, where Louis XVI received, on March 20, 1778, Silas Deane, Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, the first ministers sent by the United States abroad. The. room is hung with magnificent historical tapestries. In one corner are several pieces of ‘urnt- ture from Lafayette’s library at his chateau of Lagrange. Everybody who has real American history wili remember this famed country seat. It was the place where Americans seventy years ago always re- sorted when they went to France. Some of them had letters to Lafayette and others went without any. All were kindly recetved by the simple nobleman. In this house there were many souvenirs of Washington, and it is some of these that are shown at the fair by the French government, as weil as those that were left to Lafayette by Washington in his will. There are others that Lafayette received when he made his great tour of America in 18%. ‘Washington Souvenirs From France. First among them is the gold ring given to Lafayette by the owner of Mount Ver- non, Mr. Custis, In 18% It contains a lock of the brown hair of Wasnington trter= twined with the white hair of his wife. There are several busts of Washtagton, the most important of which is probably the large bronze one given to Lafayette by Houdon, the sculptor who executed it. It will be remembered that it was Houdon who made the famous pedestrian statue of Washington that now stanJs in the state house at Richmond. He received the com- mission for the work from the Virginia leg- islature, and, coming to America, repaired to Mount Vernon, where he studied his sub- fect thoroughly. ‘Jefferson, wh» was minis- ter to France at the time, pronounced him the greatest sculptor «live. The statue, when it was finished, was declared by the friends of Washington co be excellent. To no one was it more pleasing than to Lafay- ette, who said it was a perfect reproduc- tion of Washington's person. ‘The bust here, which Houdon subsequently gave Lafayette, gives the same interpretation of Washing: ton as appears in the Richmond statue. The friendship between Washiagton and Lafayette extended to all of Washington's relations, and they came finally to venerate him as a father. Among che relics shown from the library at ‘.agrange is a fine plece of tapestry, upon the reverse of which {s the inscription, “Worked by Mrs. Mertha Washington at the age of 7). Presented ‘by her grandchild, Eleanor Parsee Lewis, to her beloved and honored father, Geni. La- fayette, at Woodlawn, August 31, 1825." Secure under giass’ is tre decoration of the Order of the Cincinnat! which Lafay- ette wore. It recalls the strange fight that was made against that poor, harmless so- clety, now almost forgotten,’ but occasion- ally brought before the public by the fact that it is holding an annual banquet. It is doubtful if the society, even when it had the most members, ever did anything more important than to dine, but there was no decoration at the court of France more proudly worn than this one which pro- clatmed that the wearer had fought in the revolution, ‘There is a letter from Washington to La- fayette exhibited. [t is a strange docu- ment, as it is obviously not jn the pen- manship of Washington, yet is fully signed and is treated as an original. It is dated June 3, 174, at New York, and is. warmly affectionate. There was hardly another of his correspondents for whom he signed himself as he did here, h_ sentiments of the sincerest affection.” In another case are the big pistols that Washington carried througa the revolutionary war. They were a legacy to Lafayette by Wash- ington’s will and they bear the inscription: “Washington to Lafayette. Legacy.” Up to the death of Lafayette they used to be in the brary at Lagrange. One may Pause a moment and try to think of a sin- gle instance during the revolution when these pistols were discharged, but he will think in vain. Washington drew his sword a number of times, and on one occasion he {s reported to have struck some cowardly soldiers with the flat side of it, but there is no record of his using his pistols. They were, however, as much a part of his per- sonal belongings as his saddle itself and he never mounted his horse without them, Portraits of Washington. Another relic from Lagrange is the full- length portrait of Washington, painted un- doubtedly by Trumbull, which represents him standing with his hand resting on a cannon. In the background a page holds his horse and the stars and stripes of the United States are floating beside the fleur- de-lis of France. It is Washington in the full vigor of manhood that is depicted here. ‘There 1s another one which is a good copy of the famous Gilbert Stewart portrait. ‘The relics of Lafayette’s own life have most of them remained among his descend- ants, and it is they who have loaned them, through their government, to the world’s fair for a few months. They comprise a number of manuscripts an@ charts of bat- tles of the revolution and swords and other things. ‘The most tmportant of the swords is the one given to Lafayette by the Amer. ican Congress in 177. It was made in France and several of the actions of the war are represented on it. Franklin trans mitted it to the marquis with one of these perfect letters which the old philosopher Knew so well how to write, and Lafavece responded in graceful sentences of appre. ciation. The two: letters call to mind two magnificent old-fashioned bows, each gar. tleman holding his hand upon ‘his hesre and bending his body with grand dignity. There ts, also, a fine portrait of the mar. quis during the revolution. He stands upon a slight hillock, holding a chart in ome hand while the other rests upon his hip. It is the likeness of a mere boy, but a noble. looking, manly boy. Another painting shows a gathering of the French and American generals at Yorktown. It was painted by James Peale, presumably in 1785." = Coming to the relics of Lafayette’s fa- mous tour of America in 1824, the first e is the letter of President Monroe, convesing to him the invitation to pay the v A curious cane bears the inscription: “Pre- sented to Gen. La Fayette by a full-blooded Yankee as a token of respect for services “I was } >. gwine ter tell him dat Jennie done do ail dat business fo’ me.”—Life. rendered America in her struggles for in- dependence.” Another relic is inscribed: “Presented by the young ladies of Mrs. Brown's seminary, Norfolk, 8B 2, 184. This gift demonstrates our joy, the in- scription is on our hearts to General La- fayette.” Others bear inscriptions from states and cities, beside private institutions. The variety of the gifts is remarkable. They range from snuff boxes to volumes of laws, and from walking sticks to cata- logues of public Ubraries. It would be an endless task to enumerate all of them. Relics of Franklin. Just as Lafayette was an American as well as a Frenchman, so was Benjamin Franklin a Frenchman as well as an American, and this room that shows the friendship between the two countries con- tains a few valuable Franklin relics. There is @ copy of Houdon’s bust of him, the original of which has a place of honor in the museum of the Louvre, and the cane that he usually carried, which was given fo Lafayette when he came over in 184. The best of the relics, however, are prob- ably the medals struck 'in honor of Franklin in Paris and used as current coin of the Tpalm. They show his bust and an inscrip- : “Eriperit coelo fulmen sceptrum tyrannis. ag ——~oo-___ ‘& RUN ON A GROCERY. Queer Outcome of a Panic at a Shingle Mill in » Little Washingten Town. From the Puget Sound Lumberman. ‘There was a “run” up at the litte town of Hamilton, Wash., :ast month, that ought to find its way into Uterature gevoted to queer things. Now, the ordinary “run” is generally con- fined to banks, and is associated with @ Jong line of frantic people and a bank presi- dent with pallid feetures, agitated nerves, and a forced smile. The “run” in question was on a grocery store belonging to the Washington Red Cedar Shingle Company. A “run” on a grocery store is about the funnicst thing— for the proprietor—that can happen. ‘The filer of the mill on the morning of the “run,” to use a local phrase, “yumped his yob,” and wanted his cash before pay dsy, contrary to the rules and regulations made or owners, making up their minds to discourage this habit of their men leav- ing them in a lurch, re‘used to pay the dis- consolate filer until pay day. The filer thereupon filed an attachment on the shingles of the company, and this caused the “run.” Without looking into the situation local treditors and mill hands commenced a “run” cn the company’s gro- cery store, with the object of taking out their wages and debts in tard, dried spples, syrup, tobacco, chow-chow, bacon, and oth- er necessaries of life. The clerk, who had been dozing behind counter, jumped four feet in the air the door opened and a half dozen brawny, wild-eyed sbiazie weavers appear- ed. Bringing up rear was a crowd of laborers, all clamoring Zor groceries. Soon it became apparent that the clerk could not tie up the packages fast enough, and he told the crowd to help chemselves, while he checked up the goods. When Manager Boardinan returned in the evening from the woods, whither he had gone after a supply of love, the clerk wes lying exhausted across @¥ empty pickie barrel, and the store had the appearance of the last act of a c¥cione. When the clerk recovered he infovmed Boardman of the “ruu,” and Boardman laughed long and loud. While he was surveying the wreck in game a drummer for a Seattle grocery house, and mildly inquired if anything was wanted. Boardman ‘ooked queerly at the drummer, laughed, and pomted to the empty shelves, 2 The drummer knew his business, and that night he carried the largest order of the month to Seattle. Before morning ‘Board- man had discharged all iiens, and the mill was started up as usual. ——__-+e-_____ Empty Stomachs the Safer in Battle. From the St. Louis Glove-Dewocrat. Surgeon Gen. Sternberg of the army and Dr. A. C. Bernays of St. Louis had flocked together and were discussing gunshot wounds in the lower part of the body. Dr. Bernays greatiy interested Surgeon Gen. Sternberg by @ proposition he laid down that when a man is shot in the abdomen shortly after eating a hearty meal the dan- ger is much greater. “A case of that kin’ should be operated upon in every instance,” said Dr. Bernays. “if the bowels are empty, or nearly so, the same wound may be treated without operation.” “Applying that theory to soldiers?” re- marked the surgeon general tentatively. “I would say they ought to do their fight- ing before breakfast,” put in the specialist. See. Very Good, Considering. From Good News. Mother—“You must have had lots of good things to eat at Auntie Suburb’s.” Little Ethel—“Yes'm, everything was nice. She hadn't any vegetables, ‘cept wot she raised herself in her own garden, but they was most as good as those we get in the market.” ates The Fate of the Hungry Mule. From Truth, 1. “Well, that’s what I call mean—putting that corn just out of a fellow’s reach! 2. “I can’t get through here. try below.” Guess rn 3. “Jerusalem! I'm jammed in fence and all.” 5. “Ah, i have it! I'll just jump in the water; (his thing will “I have been in the business just a week, and I find it quite otherwise. To begin with, I have to Gure @ lot of hazing from the other women. They séem to look upon me much @8 a new pupil at school is regarded, ways the same way with every newcomer, I am informed. annoy me and lay traps for me. They tell me all sorts of absurd tliings, so an to cause me to make mistakes. At the last re- hearsal one of them asked me to hold u big book for her. To do so interfered with my making certain gestures, and 1 got sco.ted for it, which was exactly what my now | friend had counted on. When we xot through she asked me where the book waa, I bad put it down and I went to look for it, It was not where I had placed ti, and I spent nearly an hour hunting for it with much anxiety. At the end of that time the owner toid me that she had it in her dress- ing room all the while. it was only a Lage game—harmless, perhaps, but calculated to distress a stranger. “The other night one of the ladies of the chorus was very friendly with me. She said that she would like to go home me, and I readily assented. As we went gut from the stage entrance of the cheater I saw @ cab standing at the curb. Two men in evening dress jumped out, and my companion introduced me to them. It im- mediately appeared that they were there by appointment with my friend, who had agreed to bring along another girl to make @ Square party. It was a trick and a trap. I find that it is necessary to be very cure- ful in such ways if one means to one’s reputation. At the same time it would ver do to pose 4s a prig or a prude. The middle course is rather difficult to eteer, “I have discovered Unat the social lines of the theater are exceedingly rigid. They de- pend not on birth or beauty, but on the dis- tribution of parts. If a chorus girl gets anything to say Mm @ play, though it be only @ single sentence, she assumes a supe>ior air, looking down upon her Perhaps she will not speak to them at all under such circumstances, but will refer to her dearest friend and chum of a week be- fore with the contemptuous words: ‘Oh, is only an extra.’ When I have go quainted I shall doubtless find some gicls in the chorus, but those with whom have come into contact thus far have no’ been agreeable. It would never occur to one of them to give me @ useful hint. I was a man who said to me quietly at re- hearsal the other day: “Take care not to put your hand to your face on the stage, or you will get scolded for it.” “There ave jealousies in the chorus, as well as amcng the princip2l women singers. Girls who have @ ‘pul w.th the manager are put in conspicuous places, though they may be ugly and big elso. Big women, you know, look awkward in the chorus, and for reason they are not wanted ussally. y only appear well in the costumes of tpages, taking male paris. Of couse, it would be somewhat otherwise if a woman were very handsome and finely developed, as well as large. She would be likely to have a few words to say; but thet would be different, you see, because she would cease to be one of the mere musical lay figures of the chorus. At the first dress’ re- hearsal any girl who is found to have bad legs is bounced right off. When T was ene waged I did not have to undergo am: : tomical inspection. The manager Sitod'at the rear of the theater while Z sang from the stage, to judge of my voice. “I had not been with the company two ays before 1 was in trouble with the ward- robe mistress. Apparently she is a person- age with «reat power. sne is also a ter- ., FoF some, Teasia she took & apite inst me, and she does no’ any portunity to express Kt in words. Her op- portunities fur annoying are almost unlim- ited. For instance, she refuses to put the necessary hooks and ¢yes and buttons on my garments, ane she will not permit me to put them on. That makes my dressing very ditacuit, 1 found 4 very hard at first to get my fights on properly. They would gather in wrinxies at ta whales; gat it is merely a knack. I have got pretty well used to appearing in tem airesdy, 1 do not xe to see my back glass. I rather dreadeu an attack tight, but I have escaped audience looks dark and unreal the stage. “I paid % for my box of et ceteras ror my make-up. The being expensive, vhich I left open. 1 she ‘ac- nice 5 to the giris. particular aBout our hands, which must We ere obliged to be very jook white and pretty, with nails weil manicured. It they get sunburned they must be painted. “In no school are rules more strict than on the stage. To laugh at the comedian's jokes costs a fine of $2 fot each offense. If any a dividual makes punishment for all. girls get SiS or $0 a week while on road, because their expenses are but they do not receive much more half that when playing for a season city. All costs for carrying trunks are frayed by the management. We are ob- ing cars. Consequently we do not indulge in the luxury except on long night jour- neys. It is better to sit up for three or four hours and make up for lost sleep on reaching the place of destination. On our arrival in a town, a list of boarding houses, with prices and so forth, is handed to each one of us, #0 that we may take our choice. “There is certainly a great fascination about the stage. last season. But when the company left that city @ week later she could not recon- cile herself to staying behind, so she maid good-bye to her new husband and started out again. Most chorus girls have very ttle ambition, and do not expect to rise from the rank: But i mesa wo be a prime donna some day.” THE DINNER KETTLE. Some Interesting Facts Concerning a Useful Article. ‘The dinner kettle in ,common use forty years ago was « tall, straight-sided, round tin pail, into which was set a tin dish about half as deep and slightly faring, so that it Projected a little above the edge. The cover fitted into this dish, and upon the top of the cover was a circle tin, like @ short section of a cylinder, upon which a tin cup was carried. The cup, inverted, telescoped down over the holder. This dinne> kettle is still | sold, but there are now a dozen varieties in the market. What is known @s the Providence dinner kettle is substantially like the kettle above described, except that it has no cup upon the cover, and it is made sometimes with an additional part.a shallow pan or tray for pie o> other food. ‘Tue ladies’ dinner kettle is identical with the Providence kettle con- taining the tray, except t has a tin handle, most dinner kettles having a wire bail with @ wooden hold in the center. These two kettles are sold principally in the east. ‘One style of round dinner kettle has upon its outside a holder for knife and fork. ‘There is a round kettle about half the height of the o-dinary kettle, which is known as a breakfast pail. ‘There is a kettle called the western dinner kettle, which is used by railroad men in the west, and is sold also in the east. This kettle is oblong in shape, straight-sided, and with square corners. It has inside movable tray, and carried inside also is a fiat square-co-nered canteen or flask for coffee. A cup is carried on @ holder upon the cover. ‘A kettle used largely by railroad men in the east, and known as the Central ratiroad dinner kettle, is oblong, with rounded cor- ners. The cover has a bottom to it, form- ing a reservoir for coffee; the cup is carried on top, but inside a socket instead of shut- ting down over it; the kettle has a shallow, square movable pan inside ‘What is called the “Nestable” dinner ket= tle 1s composed of three oblong slightly flar- }ing tin trays which, when in use, stand over another and on ‘top of a coffee holder. ‘When set up this kettle is six and a quarter inches high, eight inches long and four and three-quarter inches wide; when nested to- gether its height is about two inches. a ™ Best Friend. From the Ottawa Free Presa, The dog is man’s best and most faithful friend—when he is a fellow's own dog, but there ia nothing #0 unfriendly as the neigh- bor’s cross dog, nor is there anything less admirable than the howling cur that makes yelpings. night hideous with his