Evening Star Newspaper, October 7, 1893, Page 7

THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, D. C, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1893—-SIXTEEN PAGES. TAKEN IN GOTHAM. Snap Shots of Some of the Celebrities of New York. —-—— DANA AND BIS DAILY WORK, Characteristics of the Three Boys Left by Jay Gould. LAMONT AND HIS LUCE. Correspondence of The Evening Star. NEW YORK, October 6, 1993. T IS A REFRESH- ing sight to see Charles A. Dana as he swings along Park Row. Seventy years have not bent his j form nor impaired his gait He is as straight as a young man of twenty. His shoulders are mas- sive. He puts his y foot down squarely, with the certainty of youth. Only in his face is there indica- tion of age. His eyes are sunken, his cheeks are wrinkled, his beard and hair are gray, and when he reads he looks through two pair of spectacles. The best equipped of all the great journalists of the day, he 4s one of the most painstaking and hardest worked man in his arduous profession. He Soes to his office very early and remains at his desk reading and writing until about 4 o'clock. All his time is given up to his Rewspaper. He reads all the proofs of arti- eles other than ordinary news matters and arranges for many of the special features of his paper. He is a hard man for a vis- itor to see unless his business be of tm- Portance. The men who work with him of him in a most affectionate wa: jose who know him only through tl ublic prints, and by the bilious articles which he is supposed to write, have no Just conception of the real man. He is Said to be kindly, courteous, agreeable, ap- Preciative and helpful. He has certainly Made mre enemies than friends in his Journey through life, and yet even his ene- mies willingly pay tribute to his great abil- ities as a scholar. Mr. Dana lives like a Sybarite. He knows more about pictures and books than any half dozen men you could mention. He believes in good cooking, and he has a cellar full of the best wines. | He is not rated as a wealthy man, yet his Rewspaper has paid enormous profits. Of late years he has been seen a good deal in public, at political gatherings and such, and Row and then at a great banquet. But he does mot seem to care for public applause. He is the happiest when dipping his pen in vitriol. But whatever his faults may be, he is certainly the finest specimen of well pre- served manhood that could be found in New York im a day's walled saw him in an elevated train yesterday poring over a Rew book of travel He was dressed in a looking sack suit, and the jewelry visible was a silver ring on the smail finger of his left hand. “The Geuld Keys” at Short Range. It would be hard to imagine three men more dissimilar in their looks than the Gould boys; I say “Gould boys” because that is the way they are spoken ‘of, affec- tionately or otherwise, around town these days. It was just dusk the other evening when they all got into an elevated train at & down-town station. elbowed their way to ts, sat down together and were soon lost in the folds of the evening papers. George Gould is stout, but he would command more a@ttention than either of his brothers. He was dressed plainly in black garments from head to foot. Edward Gould, or, as he was known when his father was alive, “Bad Boy ie," wore a suit of some dark mixture that may possibly have cost $25. His linen Was not over fresh, his beard was straggly, his shes looked as though he had been walking through New Jersey mud; in fact, he was anything but attractive In appear- ance. The younger brother, Howard, was the best dressed of the trio. His clothing was expensive, fashionably cut and well fitting. He wore more jewelry than either of his brothers and seemed to take more Personal interest in himself. These three Femarkable young men read all the way up town, without attracting any attention. They read their papers, made no comments, and when their station was reached, they arose and walked out together in Indian file. ‘They looked less prosperous than many a clerk on $20 a week salary. Jay Gould has been dead long enough mow for the New York public to have ac- George Go eurately estimated the true worth of these Young men. The verdict is in thefr favor. Georse Gould is fulfilling all the expecta- tions that his father may have entertained for him. He is not a great man, but he is | alert, far-seeing, shrewd in driving bar- gains, and if he does not add largely to the Gould fortune you may rest assured he se none of it. When his father was alive Edward Gould was known as a “Wall Street Plunger.” It was said that he made & great deal of money with limited cepital. So far Howard Goult has cut little swath in financial affairs. but he is being trained under the conservative eyes of his brothe-s, and he will give a good account of himself im due time. One thing in favor of these young men is that they are all home bodies. They are never seen around town ith the roysterers, and they have never cut any figure in the gaieties of the Tenderloin district. George and Edward seem to be desperately in love with their wives, and are often seen at the theater with them, or driving in the park. They live in style be- fitting thetr wealth. and care little for what Mrs. Grundy may say about them. Nor have they ahy idea that they must walk With their heads aloft in the procession in Vanity Fair. If they ever enter society, Whatever that may be, in New York, it will be after society has made the first over- tures. Lamont May Run for Governor. “There goes the luckiest man in New York.” Such was the remark I heard on lower Broadway the other day. I turned to note who the fortunate man was. He had just stepped from a cab, and was hurrying into & large office building. in which there is a mest of raflway Interests. He walked with ep of a man who was sure of his posi- téon, and knew what he was about. As he | cate much lifted his derby hat to wipe his forehead bald. is never too busy to always cheerful. If you may rely upon it. has brought him fame, and fortune as well, for he is a millionaire, and an officer in a great many corporations that pay large dividends. ‘When he runs over from Wash- ington to New York he does not hide him- Daniel S. Lamont. self. He is glad to see and talk with the reporters, but he is not apt ta communi- information to them. He is fond of the theater and domestic life, and it is doubtful if he finds much pleasure outside of politics. There is a quiver full of young Lamonts, who are no longer chil- dren, and these have kept Mrs. Lamont from appearing as much in society as some other women. So her husband holds aloof as well. The New York politicians are all eager to be on good terms with him. He understands the political situation thor- oughly, and so well is he liked that it would not be surprising if he should be called from Washington to lead the democratic party as its gubernatorial candidate next year. The democratic politicians all talk that way now. Amelie Rives Chanler. Mrs. Amelie Rives Chanler and her hus- band are spending a month in New York city now, as they do every spring and fall. ‘The author of the “Quick or the Dead” has changed somewhat since she first burst upon the literary world, like some brilliant meteor. She knows more, too, than she did then. She has lived a number of years abroad and touched elbows with masters in the literary and artistic centers of the old world. She is no longer willowy and fragile, but has arrived at the matronly Period best described as pleasing plump- Ress. She has not many friends in New York city, but of these few she numbers no newspaper interviewer. She positively declines to see reporters. She is exclusive to the last degree. Her husband is a well put up man of about thirty-five years, dressed in stylish garments, and he suc- cessfully acts as a buffer between the re- porters and his wife. I saw Mrs. Chanler the other evening watching the perform- ance of the clever French pantomimists in “L’Enfant Prodigue.” She sat well back in her box, and no one would suspect her of being the much-discussed novelist. She fol- lowed the play with the deepest interest, and now and then applauded vigorously. i saw her again on the street the next day, blonde of hair, well developed of form, trip- ping along in a fashionable tailor-made gown with the glow of health In her face. I could not help noticing that her shoes were broad soled and low heeled and evi- dently made for comfort and walking. Her friends describe her as much interested in outdoor sports and fashionable clothing. She is said to have a wonderful assortment of Parisian gowns. Her husband goes with her everywhere, and is indeed as much her lover as he ever was. Money in Play Wri To No matter how hard people may say the times are there has been no lack of at- tendance at the theaters this fall. Indeed, they are all making money. Gzeat fortunes are made by New York theater managers every year. But there is no one who makes more money than Charles H. Hoyt. For he writes his own plays, rehearses his own company and plays in his own theater. Only one other man in New York may claim to do the same. This is Edward Harrigan. But Hazrigan has nothing like the income that Hoyt has. It was not over a dozen years ago that Hoyt was a reporter on a Hoston newspaper. Last year he made over $300.90 out of his various plays, and he shou!l make even more than this very large sum this year. Mr. Hoyt is a tireless worker, and is always on the look- out for characters to sketch. He 1s likely to soon become a millionaire, and his posi- tion in the theatrical world is one which any man might envy. Yet I am told that he cares more for politics than he does for the drama, and that he has a consuming ambition tq be governor of the state of New Hampshire. Jadge,Hilton’s Hard Fight. This heavily built man, of gray hair, gray mustache and feeble gait, is ex-Judge Hen- Ty Hilton, who somehow has the misfor- tune to be in the newspapers a little often- er than is pleasant to him. He has grown very old within the past half dozen years and it would seem at first glance that the millions of A. T. Stewart had not benefit- ed him in any way. Hilton's life has not been an enviabie one. Since Stewart's death he has had to fight for every inch of the way. At every turn he has been harassed by legal proceedings, and he is not free, even now, from scurrilous attacks of black- mailing men and women. A singular man in more respects than one is Hilton. It was part of my duty to be present in the surrogate’s court in New York when the fight over the will of the dead merchant was on. It was a pretty fight, too. Roscoe Conkling, as handsome as a Greek god, was there, and that silver- tongued infidel, Bob Ingersoll, with Joseph H. Choate,wits against wits, fairly a match for Conkling and Root, the latter most silent, but in some respects the keenest of them all. mor and logic broke over Hilton as waves break on Daunt’s Rock. The giants fought for days and weeks. Hilton stuck to his guns. He was never moved nor even lost his temper. After a terrific struggle the decision was in his favor and the millions of the greatest merchant prince in New York passed away from his own wife and kin forever. Since that day Hilton’s life has not been @ happy one. It is extremely doubtful if he has kept the Stewart millions intact. Many of his enterprises have failed abso- lutely, and ne goes about in a quiet way like a man who is not altogether pleased with the world. Hilton is now quite old, and in the nature of things cannot live much longer. Until he dies the secret about the hiding place of Stewart's body will re- main with him. He is the one man who could clear that awful mystery. would he could unfold a tale more startling than was ever told by a French romancist, One thing is certain, the public has not Jost interest In the famous body-snatching case, and the impression remains that the body is in the crypt in the cathedral at Garden City, on Long Island, that Stewart himself had ‘built. It was Judge Hilton who first announced that he would have no Hebrews at his hotel at Saratoga. For this he was severely han- died, and it, no doubt, cost him in the dry goods firm’ in which he ts interested many thousands of dollars. a stormy life, but his account will be closed shortly and then a greater Bookkeeper than I will square it. So be it. A Great Ecclesiastical Lawyer. Much has appeared in the press, within the past few years, dealing with Dr. Richazd Lalor Burtsell, who was counsel for Dr. McGlynn in his now famous case, and who won it for him at Rome. Yet lit- tle is known about Dr. Burtsell, the ablest ecclesiastical lawyer in this country, and who for many years held an important cure tn New York city, until the authorities be- came displeased because of his defense of McGlynn, and removed him to an obscure country parish. Dr. Burtsell is an interesting type of priest. He comes of good American stock, and his family in the past were non-Cath- olics. They were wealthy New York people. I saw Dr. Burtsell recently and he is @ type worth studying. Dr. McGlynn is self- assertive and aggressive. Dr. Burtsell is neither. He ts a pale-faced, gray-haired old man, bent from twenty years and more of work among the poor of New York, and mild and pleasant in manner. He will never discuss ecclesiastical matters ‘for publication, on the ground that such a course is always productive of unnecessary scandal. But nevertheless Dr. Burtsell has ‘The current of their wit and hu-| If he| His has been| to Rome, and he has almost always won. His knowledge of canon law is said to be remarkable, and so great is his repute among churchmen that the announcement that Dr. Burtsell has taken any particular case is almost sufficient in itself to about a compromise. He has aroused taking the ‘cases of Drieste against t taking the cases of pries but he has not been deterred from what he thought to be his duty in other cases. The McGlynn case was one most difficult to handle,owing to McGlynn’s disiike of any control being put upon his own utterances. But Dr. Burtsell was pa- tient, and the case was finally won. When the veteran priest was sent away from the parish that he had built up, aftez years of labor, he did not allow thi punishment to deter him from going ahead with his work, at which he has been so successful. He went on and brought the McGlynn matter to a successful issue, and in addition has argued and won half a dozen cases of considerabie consequence. Dr. Burtsell, as has been sald, came of a family of weclth and position. He had wealth in his own right when he entered the ministry, but spent it all upon his church and parish poor. Since his removal his old parishioners have made periodical pilgrimages to see their pastor. Of the very best type of priest ts this man, end one who reflects credit on his cloth everywhere, besides being one of the ablest men, in a quiet way, of his day. FOSTER COATES. - afl i THE ABSE! INDED MAN. The Many Troubles He Has a: Effort to Overcome Them. “While they are inventing new-fangled diseases or new-fangled names for old dis- eases,” remarked the absent-minded man as he hailed a passing car and then stood contemplatively on the curb while {t rolled Past, “I hope some clever fellow will tell me what mine {s. I am not afflicted with tuberculosis. None of the fin-de-siecle pro- toplasms have lodged in me. I have given a refuge to no patent bacillus. The con- volutions of my brain, as far as I know, are normal. There is nothing hereditary about me except a disposition to loaf. Yet I have a disease and I'd like to know what it is called.” The absent-minded man sighed as he looked up the street and saw his car bowl- Ing along a couple of blocks away. ‘Then e Ww @ cost! cigar from his pocket, handed it to his friend, duplicated it and Put the second one between his lips. Fo: rowing a match he struck its phosphoru! head on the sole of his shoe and waited patiently while it blazed into a lively flame. His eyes took on a dreamy expression a8 he puffed the smoke hard into his lungs and let it out in long thin cones. When he had secured a good light he took the weed from his lips, replaced it with the smouldering match and waved the fragrant Havana back and forth in the air two or three times as if to extinguish its light. He was just about to toss it into the gutter when his friend interposed an_ objection and reminded him of the match that he was puffing at vigorously. “Yes, that’s it,"" sighed the absent-minded man, “that’s just the very thing. I've been doing that sort of idiocy ever since I was born. I'm getting worse every day. That's the germ that I believe has developed in me. I think it is a new germ, for I have never seen any one quite so bad as I am. Why," he went on, looking sadly down into the glow of his cigar, which he had now thoroughly identified, “I shall have to keep a close watch on that cigar if I do not want to turn it deliberately end for end and put the fire into my mouth. I've done that often —so often, in fact, that I carry a little phial of balm to heal the burns I am constantly giving myself. I have consulted physicians and specialists, and I have pefd out big fees for tests as to my perfect sanity. 1 have submitted to the most humillating experiments for vision and other senses. But there don't seem to be any remedies, and I have given up the struggle. “I am convinced that this form of absent- mindness is a distinct disease. With me it takes the form of making me do the very thing I do not want t6 do. Have you ever heard of that before? Well, it 1s not so very common after all. You’ see, I set my. mind on a thing. I want to do it badly. I start to do it, and in some way the thought wave that {s supposed to sweep over my think tank gets mixed up, and before it hits the right place it has been reversed, So I do the very thing that T should not do. I suppose I might cure this tendency by starting to do the wrong thing and so end up by doing what is right. But per- haps it wouldn't work. I'm so contrarily built, anyhow. The absent-minded man paused to stoop over and pick up a twig that had fallen from a tree by the curb, and plunging his hand into his trousers pocket took out his knife and opened its sharpest blade. A few deft strokes soon shaved the slender bit of wood into a graceful wisp, and as the absent-minded man started once again to talk he dropped the knife into the gutter, and bending up the twig tucked {t into his pocket. His face was red, as he recovered his knife and transferred the two articles, saying: “It embarrasses me a lttle at times, but I'm getting used to It by ‘textes. I have a good deal of real trouble,thouzh.in iny work, for many times I have t. clip out pleces from newspapers and paste them on sheets. It is ten to one that I will put the paste on the wrong side. And then it Is more than an even chance that J will drop into the waste basket the very piece that I want, while I stick the remnant to my clean sheet.” Another car came into view, but the absent- minded man did not hail it. ‘He chanced to look at his boots and seeing that they needed blacking, he hailed a dusky polisher from across the street and jut his right foot on the block. The boy went to work vig- orously, and the absent-miuded man kept on talkin “I suppose that some day something dreadful will happen to me. It is horrible to contemplate, but I don't see how I can vert it. My mind ts always occupied with weightier matters than matches and knives and things, and I cannot afford to go about thinking that my right hand ts to do | So-and-so while my left 1 to go this-way- and-that. I am a slave to my brain. It rules me completely.” Taking his foot from the box the absent- minded man started to walk up the street, all unconscious that his ieft shoe was a dozen shades lighter than the other, and that he was a debtor to the youth who yielded the brushes. A word brought him to.a realization of the situation, and he sub- mitted to e tter half of roces saying: " = ng “I really ought to hire a man to around with me and pick up the things T drop and remind me of the things that I forget. He would find himself amply occu- Pied with collecting my overcoats and hats and umbrellas; but that is only a minor part of my performance. What bothers me most is the perverseness which compels me into the wrong road.” |_ The right car again came along, the boy | was hastily paid,and the absent-minded man and his friend hurried out to board the con. veyance. It was one of these vehicles that have no track, but which run at will over the broad pavement. The passenger is his own conductor. “Let me pay the fare,” said the absent- minded man, as they entered. His friend acquiesced and the other took a bright new |haif dollar from his pocket, holding it in his hand while he sat and talked about the | necessity for rapid transit. Presently the | driver's bell rang sharply, and the absent- minded man spring up and dropped the coin into the little box in front. His friend reminded him that the fare was only 10 cents. “Oh, I beg your pardon,” exclaimed the absent-minded man. “I really forgot.” ‘Then he smiled blandly, put his hand deep down into his pocket once more and fished up a dime, which he deposited in the box as he said: “I think if I went around with you much more I should be cured. I am really much better already.” — Making Up to the Broom. From the New York Sun. “In a big up-town restaurant that does a | large trade at popular prices,” said a man, “one may see as he goes out a whisk broom held in a wire clasp that is secured about | breast high to the inner side of the door |frame. The first time I saw that broom it jalmost made me smile. It seemed curious to see that small, quiet, minor convenience of life there in that big busy place and just inside a door opening upon bustling Broad- way. I saw one day a regular customer, who had just paid his check at the cashier's desk, pull the broom from its clasp as he walked out and whisk a fleck of dust from the lapel of his coat, and then put the broom back into its clasp again. That served as a sort of introduction to the broom, und when I went out after I had finished my dinner I brushed a esneck of dust from my own coat with it. The more intimate acquaintance with the broom has produced a friendly feeling for it, and I feel also that by the use of it I have been in @ measure inducted into the fellowship of the restaurant.” ae ee Risky. From the Chicago Tribune. Sallow Passenger—Don’t you think there | is always some (puff) risk in riding (puff) in smoking car. Red-faced Passenger—I do, sir. There is no telling (phew!) when the man sitting next to you may light a cigarette. His OLD NEWSPAPERS. The Great Number Stored Away in the Capitol Crypt. ARRANGED IN CERCNCLOGICAL CRDER. A Talk With Mr. Van Ness, Their Custodian. —_ THE COMPLETED HERE 18 A PECUL- jar notion extant among certain folks that a newspaper lives but a day; that it flourishes like a green bay tree for twenty- four hours, or less, and then is relegated to the odium of waste baskets and bundle wrappings. But that 1s a libel on the pro- duct of the press. While individual spec- imens of the great family of journals may wander off into -strange flelds and reflect no credit upon their ancestry, the paper itself lives on to good old age, beyond the limits of human existence, in fact. Nearly twenty thousand proofs of this fact are contained in the mysterious vaults that range about under the surface of the earth beneath the graceful dome of the Cap- {tol. Huge piles of dull yellow books rear to the arched cellings and seem to support the magniticent pile overhead. Indeed, these volumes, in a certain sense, represent one of the great props of the na- tion, and therefore of its chief forum. Here are ‘the newspaper files of Congress; thous- ands upon thousands of proofs that news- Papers are not ephemeral. They extend away back, not only into the dusk of the catacombs that honeycomb the cellar of the building, but into the dim beginnings of the republic, when newsletters were giving way to newspapers, when mouth-to-mouth gossip was being discounted by printed facts, and when the printer was growing to be a pow- er in the land. Some of these old files are interesting, and the collection forms, in a rather expansive and bulky form, a splendid history of the United States. ‘Two Old Washington Papers. The habit of keeping files was contracted by the Senate in its early days, when jour- nals first began to print reports of legis- lative proceedings. The government became a subscriber for the National Intelligencer, a daily paper printed in the city of Wesh- ington. This historic sheet was started in the year 1800, and continued for many years to be the only paper in the country that gave quick reports of congressional doings. ‘This was in the days before the telegrap! FILES. and the newspapers published away from here were dependent for their legislative news upon this paper. In 185 the Union was established and continued for eleven years. - Files of these two old papers, with some others of the north and south, were care- fully kept in the Senate, and were the source of constant information for both Senators and Representatives, who depended upon them in many cases far more confi- dently than upon the Globe. About eight years ago these files, which had been moved from place to place, and were in danger of being destroyed were transferred by resolu- tion of Congress, to the care of the lbrarian of Congress, who had them placed with the files that he had been keeping and stored away under the crypt. Over eleven hundred volumes were transferred. Just to the north of the curious circular chamber under the rotunda floor a small door leads to the east. A tap upon It gives @ quaint echo that telis of dusty depths be- yond. In a moment there is a rustling of Papers and the door is opened. A man past the meridian of life, rather portly, with strong gray mustache and imperial, and Keen eyes covered by spectacles, appears. He ts in working garb. An apron of tough material covers him from soiling and his cuffs are turned back. A word ts passed and the custodian of the files, Mr. Van Ness, ushers the way into his den. Mr. Van Ness’ Den, A filckering gas jet affords the only f!lu- mination. There {s confusion, confusion, confusion everywhere near the door. Beyond this gives place instantly to order and sys- tem. But the confusion itself is orderly, for the trained fingers of the custodian can pick their way to any desired paper or object at a moment's notice. A large table is covered with pamphlets and pa- pers. A great clothes basket stands on top filled to overflowing with the latest issues of the press. A copy of The Star peeps over the rim. “That ts my morning mail,” remarks Mr. Van Ness, as he lays his hand affectionate- ly upon the mass of reading matter. “It is a rather poor morning, too. Sometimes there are two baskets. I take these papers as soon as I can each day and sort them out. You may see these shelves and big pigeon holes behind you. Well, each one is for a certain paper. Some of the boxes, you notice, are filled. ‘The files in those are nearly ready to be sent to the government bindery to be put between covers. Some of the papers bind up at two months and others at four. “Then every two months,” he went on, fumbling through a drawer in the table, “they send me their current files from the Senate which I have to collate very care- fully. I take them from their temporary binders and go through them particularly to see what numbers are missing. Then I write to. the publication offices of the pa- pers and try to supply the deficiencies. ‘When the volumes are as complete as I can make them they go to the binder.” A splendid black and white cat just then awoke from her nap among the strewn papers under the table and stretched her- self with a delightful feline yawn. “Is that your assistant?” was asked. His One Assistant. “Yes, pussie is all the hclp I have. She does good work in keeping the rats and mice down. They would be pretty bad here if it were not for her, and I might lose some valuable old volumes on account of their meddlesome teeth. She, somehow or other, got lost about a month ago and was shut up in one of the rooms down stairs here for nearly a week. She was as poor as a rail when I found her, but she is beginning to pick up a little now,” and the custodian patted the cat's head fondly. “You can see from this list the number of papers we get here,” as he handed out a carcfully kept book that contained the names of upwards of a hundred of the best journals published in the country. It showed the date of subscription and the date of sending the volumes to the binder, as well as that of its return. “The Senate takes thirty-one papers now in addition to these. It keeps me pretty busy attending to them all. Let us walk through the vaults and you can see what a quantity of ma- terial we have here." Mr. Van Ness carefully locked the door and led the way from the region of chaos to that of order. The yellow backs loomed up on either hand, leaving only narrow aisles between the shelves. The rows went off in dim vistas of journalism. The cus- todian pointed here and there to the pets is collection. oC ethere is a complete file of the Savannah Republican,” he said, pointing to a lot of long thin books on a top shelf, their backs tattered a little. “That paper contains a vast amount of stuff about the south in the days when the war spirit was growing. And here is the Baltimore Sun, beginning with that little fellow that looks like an account book. It has grown some since then, for that was early in the century. Here is un interesting file. It is the Phila- delphia Packet, which was begun in 1771, and was afterwards called the North Americ That file is complete. Then here are some old Tennessee papers from way back. Swyou see, I keep these right here at my hand, where I can watch them closel: But my most precious volumes, the cor plete file of the Intelligencer, I keep down- stairs, clear out of sight. Few folks know where the case Is. These vaults up here,” pointing down two or three narrow, pass- ages that ramified from the center aisle, ‘contain only a few of the volumes on hand.” He led the way off to the left into a cur- fous room which, with shelves filled to overflowing, was about twenty feet high and two broad by twenty long. It was a mere slit, packed full of news of another day. “The Catacombs of the Capitol. ‘Then the custodian and his visitor went down a flight of steep stairs into the cata- combs of the Capitol. A pecullar odor was in the air, a dry, choking smell of leather. Here and there gas jets gave a feeble gleam, sometimes flickering from around corners in the shelving and showing faint spots of light in the distance. But there were no long vistas, for the vaults are curved, following the general outline of the dome. ‘The gropers were then under the main portico of the building. “If you should follow that Ly said Mr. Van Ness, “you would ‘yourself, if- you ever could be located, somewhere near the place where you take the steps outside to go down to Pennsylvania avenue. I seldom go around there, for the air is not as good as it might be. But I know the way perfectly, and can put my hand on any volume in this vault.” ‘The books were arranged in alphabetical order of states, beginning with the earliest newspaper of ‘Alabama, published in 1819. A few steps took the two around in a circle, which completed the list of states and brought forth the names of the European capitals. “For we have some very complete files of foreign papers,” said the custodian. “We have the London Times from its beginning, from before it was the Times, in fact. Then here are files of the Manchester Guardian and here is a set of Galignani’s Messenger. We recelve @ great many files from the State Department that furnish us with many valuable additions. Here is a com- plete file up to a short time ago of Le Con- stitutionel, a Spanish Paper. And here are the magazines, both of this country and Europe Here is about the best collection of the Gentlemen's Magazine in the country, “Now, you have seen the files that are referred to the most. Off down there.” in- dicating the mysterious passage that led to the other side of the Capitol, “are the old fellows that are in duplicate upstairs in the library. The Intelligencer is there in a special case. Here,” showing the way into Perfectly dark vault about four feet wide, id turning off to the left at the lower end, Te copies of every map that has ever been copyrighted in this country. The gem of this collection is not very well known. It consists of all the maps that were used during the various wars in which this coun- try has been engaged. The maps were is- sued by the War Department and turned back after they were needed no longer, and then turned over to us for preservation. ‘There are some curious relics down there. added the custodian, tantalizingly, as he turned back out of the dark. “Are you troubled much with dampness?” One Spot That Must Be Watched. “There is only one spot that I have to watch,” was the answer, “and that is down there where the vault wall is on the out- side and projects beyond the walls of the Portico foundation. I have to take the vol- umes down once in awhile and shift them round and let the air in. Other than that there is no danger of mold. Occasionally ‘& bug gets in and begins to gnaw the backs of the books, but I soon find him. Alto- gether I have had very good fortune with the volumes and they are in excellent shape.” “Are the files used often?” “Oh, yes! Yesterday there were two members of Congress down here looking at some old papers; there they are now. I haven't put them back yet, for the members said they might need them later in the Island to look at a paper of a cer- tain date four years ago. to see about a ete. in his state. He had it in five min- Mr. Van Ness led the way up into the fresher air of the higher vault and. spoke bout the vandalism of people who cut the T’d like to catch them at it,” he said, an- grily. “I shouldn't stop to ask hat the law is on the subject, but I'd deal with them very summarily. Once in a while gome one clips a bit down here, but as a Tule most of the cutting is done upstairs. I have only lost one paper that was sent for a relic, doubtless. I have tried my best to,replace it, but without success, “They are very prompt with my work at the printing office and make a point of getting the papers back here on time. They have to, for occasionally a Senator wants @ paper and he wants it right off, as a rule, ve to tell him that it is at the bindery, and then there ts trouble down on North Capitol street. So them hurried up. a ae Hin Little Annex. “You think you have seen all my books, but you have not. Come across the cor- ridor and see our little anne: and the way was led to a little bit of a room that has been built among the pillars of the crypt, where the papers of the new west are stored. “Our policy has been to take two papers from each large piace, one of each party, but out in the west we have to take three, now that the populists are given to publish- ing their views on thing: “Here is a curio,” said Mr. Van Ness, lay- ing his hand fondly on a pile of three port- fotlos labeled “fhe National Anti-slavery Standard.” That is one of the most unique files of the lot, for it contains a vast amount of information’ about the first anti-slavery movements. It was published in New York frem 1841 to 1870. This is the only file in the world that {s at all complete. There are a few copies missing from the first six. vol- umes and the last two, so we have not had them bound regularly. Then here is a record of other days than those of war and strife—a record of New York's political con- ventions and of fashionable doings. It 1s the Daily Saratogan complete, and ts very often referred to, for it contains complete records of the proceedings of the state con- venti sighed the custodian, “I dread the day when we are to move ali these vol- umes, nineteen or twenty thousand of them, into the new building. I don’t know what sort of a room I am to have for my books, but T hope it will be better lighted than this. T have nothing but gas here, and it is trying on my eyes. But the moving won't come for two or three years yet, and you krow what the Bible says: ‘Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." And with that the custodian bowed adieu and went back to his den, his cat and his morning mail, as yet unsorted. ae Presence of Mind. From Puck. Dauber—"Say! I'll make a fine picture of you, if you will sit for me— “Ahem! Your front face is a lttle too big for the paper; just turn one side.— “Ah! your profile is perfect. till I tell you.— Don’t move “Now you can tura around.” UPPER MARYLAND. Gath” Tells of a Pleasant Experi- ence on the Canal. THE HcCOMAS FAMILY BOCK LODGE. A Camp House Where There Great Enjoyment. OLD FORT FREDERICE. Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. CHERRY RUN, Md., October 6, 1888. FEW DAYS PAST I had a pleasant ex- perience on the canal with the McComas family. Judge Lewis McComas was home Hagerstown and with his father was vro- ceeding to visit much of the remaining part of the family at the Big Pool, a mile from : the Cherry Run con- ro clusion of the West- Jong with ern Maryland railroad. I went al : them, and in forty-five minutes from Ha. gerstown was dropped down by a mountain lake, a feeder or bowl of the canal, about eighteen miles west of Hagerstown. : Instead of a pool, a sluggish pond, I foun: clear, deep, almost stormy water, about two ‘miles long, the bowl of mountain springs, and the canal, with its old an lofty embankments, bordered it on one side only and furnished communication to all other points on the river, from Cumberland to Georgetown and the Chesapeake, by means of an ark that I saw at the McCo- mas camp house, to whic! ey att their horse and go up and down the locks where the bass are running he best or the deer and wild turkeys are most reported. Woodmont club house of Washington folks is twenty or thirty miles farther on. ‘Tne camp house is a whitewusned struct- ure of up and down boards stripped and unplastered, situated above the edge of a cove from the pool and fronted with a nar- Tow porch with awnings, from which to the shelving roof of the boat house and the wharf and boats is but a stair. A living and eating room, ended by a cook stove and galley kitchen, gives access to a corridor bordered by two or three camp chambers on each side, about nine feet square, in each two single camp beds divided by @ window. In the loft sleep the domestics; the refrigerator is on the front porch and Mr. Fred McComas, the judge's ex-law partner, opens it many times a day to drop a pathetic regard upon the rail birds, coot ducks, wood duck, bass, &c., he has destroyed in the fondness of sight, smell and taste. A big ice house near by pays the expenses of the dozen acres of ground, as a Hagerstowner cuts the Big Pool into crystals every winter and stores it here for his customers and pays rent, or royalty, with freezing politeness. ‘We rigged out a skiff with a reefed sail ing |in the first twenty minutes and went scud- ding in @ squally mountain breeze that came in puffs over water which was eight fathoms deep, across which the bargemen’s horns on the canal sounded like the ghostly bugles of the vagrant town burners, who crossed at McCoy’s ferry just below. Old Fort Frederick. To my wonder and delight I was in a few moments set down before old Fort Freder- ick, 138 years old, a ruin I had beheld from the year 187, but had never trodden nearer to it than the B, and O. railroad across the river. Fort Frederick, built rapidly under an In- dian scare at Annapolis, before Baltimore was weaned, In the late autumn of 175, stood at the summit of a gentle slope, across the foreground a green cornfield, and 300 to 400 yards away. The river then drop- ped off from the fields into its cascades, poo's and rapids among the woods. The old fort of gray and brown stones, masoned in lime, looker irrelevant and vn- employed, like Noah's ark, as it lay across the background of three cornered nutty hills, its river gate a yawning and un- Unteled opening, and one rude embrasure half way down the side walls, where a can- non in the war opened on rebels tearing up railway tracks a mile away. “Come on!” said the paternal McComas, leading his two lawyer sons, Judge Lewis and Nimrod Fred. ‘We went through the rows of corn like the apostolic Sabbath breakers. As we went, the father of this fine family told how be had been at Jacksonville, Ill, when Stephen A. Douglas arrived in the state and got off a coach and asked if he could teach ‘school anywhere around thers. As this was in November, 1833, the parental Me- Comas saw through an atmosphere of sixty years, or half way back on the annals of old Fort Frederick. The McComases are Scotch Irish and one of that name shot Gen. ‘Ross as he marched on Baltimore and was in turn killed in 1814. Lawyer Fred, when put upon his ethno! , Said he was a descendant from Comus, who wore a mask when he went gunning, but I think the word may come from Comes, the original Norman Latin of “count” or “earl,” a Utle of local magistracy till the conqueror made it hereditary. We stood before Fort Frederick and look- ed off at the blue Virginia hillocks and knobs and at the soft line of Alleghanies, and we entered its undenoted enciente and paced the distance from wall to wall. near about two hundred and thirty feet. It had four bastions in the corners. where the garrison may have stayed while the pris- oners were cantoned along the curtains. It is said that stone barracks were once here. but now a frame hay barn is about all that can be seen. The walls, say sev- enteen feet high, inclose near an acre and a half of ground quite level. I saw no ditch. In fact, the place struck me as a sort of a refuge for vaerant frontiersmen, who could here get a drink and see a show for bringing in some lie about the Indians. The Original County Fair. It was, no doubt, the original county fair, with {ts gapers, side shows, county harlots and oft flogged militia. It was put in the narrow alley of Maryland so as to receive straggling and flying settlers, sut- lers and peitrymen and was a job which cost several thousand pounds, of the re- doubtable governor of the Calverts, Horatio Sharpe, who also gave name to the battle of Sharpsburg, or Antietam, and expected to make Sharpsburg a county seat. Sharpe was govérnor from 1753 to 1768, and commanded at Cumberland between Wash- ington’s and Praddock’s terms. As much row was made in the province over the cost of this fort as the good farm- ers now make when they pay their tolls, to evade mud and tophet, to the toll keeper and the preacher. I looked through the embrasure Gen. Kenly cpened in 1861 and thought how the wall, near four feet thick, had reverberated to the voice of Washington when he drilled its company of troops at the age of twen- ty-four, or long ere he met the Widow Cus- tis. ‘The original commander here, Dagworthy, was a Jerseyman. who lived in lower Del. aware and claimed to outrank Washington in the provincial line. I saw a tooth of Dagworthy exhumed on a shovel at Dags- borough church about the vear 1875, all of him that was found in his grave; and It re- minded me of Artemus Ward's description of another gentus. “who had but one tooth and yet this gifted man played on the bass drum.” A colored man, who had bought his own freedom, purchased this old Frederick fort three years before the civil war. The leg- islature first disposed of the property in 179, whose only important use was to keep British prisoners during a part of the rev- oluti Alexander Hamilton was not born when the fort was built, nor for a year after: nor Fulton for ten years. George the Third was fifteen years old and Franklin fifty. I suppose Franklin came here when he furnished Braddock wagons at fifteen shil- lings a day and security, “no driver to be required to fight.” To this day the Dutch farmers along the border look to money as their God, their country and their self- respect. It was so in the civil war and will be so in the next war. ‘The era of the Georges was the lowest point of Interest in English story. Those dreadfully common German princes dis- ennobled their age and race. Lowest of them all was George II, an extraordinary likeness of the boorish peasants planted in his time west of the Susquehanna. The Georgian proprietors of Maryland and Pennsylvania were equally common, and Franklin said of them, when this fort was elght years old: “Pennsylvania and Mary- land are the only two of the kind remain- ing, proprietary states, and both agitated by the same contentions between proprie- tary interest and power and popular Mb- erty.” As the evening light played around old from Washington at | v from her fieecy deshabille that the boy, William Herschel, the astronomer, going to id Hanover the fort was built, and instead of ite into a telescope to discov- er the Georgium Sidus, or Uranus, he might and tromboned here among the wild rustics who soften no more than the stones of the ragged region to the pipe of yheus. was this fort completed when Handel, the blind giant who taught Eng- land music, passed from his orchestra into that music of the spheres Isaac Newton had so vell solved. These, the authors of sense and civilization, left the lesson po- tent yet. that when politicians grow dirty and caftnot wash themselves clean there remains recreations away from the earth and harmonies that family and party vio- lence die unconscious of. Social Influence of the Canal. Nothing happened in Maryland after the Georgian age except the rise of Baltimore city and the extension of its railroad along the Potomac, coincident with the Potomac canal. The canal has had more social in- fluence on this thin state of mountain step- pes than the railroad. For a time the na- tional turnpike turned an orchestra of life through the cartilagenous caudal of the state similar to an exertion of the spinal marrow in @ dog's tail. ‘This failing, a live coal was put under the tail in the shape of the coal mines beyond Cumberland, which alone sustain the canal and mainly the rail- roa I feel prepared to defend the assertion that the brief history and tradition of most of the American “sovereign” states has been to the disadvantage of the knowledge and character of their people. The tight corset of old province lines cramps the growth of the procreant health, takes the breath of life away, dwarfs the affluent bosom and breaks down the youth and beauty of the inhabitant. Here is a state, Maryland, just wide enough to pass a turnpike through its boun- daries and not wide enough to pass a rail road or a {onal yet it can pass notions and keep off ideas in that limited belt which is @ puzzle of anatomy, lke the belt of the Siamese twins. A state having length with- out breadth or thickness is upper Maryland. butter, egg and chicken man, who on the road once a week and pays cash low as he can to them who already owe country store. if it is a disadvantage to most of older states to have been developed by schemes or corporations, the present age of redevelopment by railroads is a qualified improvement. Take Hagerstown, the new center of western Maryland, since Frederick city re- ceived the side tracking of a century! No train waits in Hagerstown for the Passengers by lights of the receding last car as it goes out of town affect the poor man or child by another road who would catch it like the shipwrecked one who sees a great steamer show to him her stern. Was there a who lived indeed and had no greater in- fluence than this? It is the business of all right government to expedite the traveler on his way. It the voice from Jericho and the good ftan calling to us. Why can we not these corporations behave like agencies of @ great nation? Because we were provinces once and are provincial yet. To blow up the flame of local spite and selfishness and give away great privileges which the people are too mean to keep is method and secret of state politics. national man we cannot have, as Hamilton took the repudiating states funded their larcenies and went ry local tnteres train robbing, Every interest, even can have its agent in Congress, but there is none for the whole. Original Settlers. Ue fhe with the crown, and sold into servitude in the colony, for their term of transporta- tion.” The total white population of Maryland was then but 160,000 “a in like manner George Washington's brother, Lawrence Washington, wrote to Mr. Hanbury of London in favor of coloniz- ing Virginia with Pennsylvania Dutch, say- ing: “We have increased in Virginia by slow degrees, except negroes and convicts.” George Calvert, King James’ secretary, wras the commencer of fa ig transportation, as appears . Neil's history of the Virginia company—Mr. Neill, the only efficient historian Maryiend bas had, who was one of Abraham secretaries. “Secretary Calvert, touching the trans- portation of men prest by his majesty, said that the king’s desire admitted no delaies, but forthwith to have fifty of the one hun- dred shipt with all speed. They could not go in less than four shipps, for fear, they being many together, may draw more (con- victs) into them, and so mutiny and carry away the shipps, which would stand the company in four thousand pounds.” The convict, landed in the new world, makes sure that he is not to be returned to prison, and hastens to the mountains. In time we behold a trans-mountain race of train robbers, bloody feud fighters and mansiayers. Here originated the Quantrells in western Maryland, a convict father, who counter- feited, gambled and stabbed, and progeny in Ohio, which escaped to ‘the plains of ‘Missouri, and there deliberately trained an army of pirates, among the youngest of whom were the James boys, “preacher's son: The train robber of today ts probably the consequent of the seventeenth century transportation of convicts to America. The mob of Botetourt rustics who attacked the jail at Roanoke but yesterday probably came from the assassin coventers and other felon classes which sprang from the ship to the mountains, and recked not the want of plow or hoe if they could whet a Jirk or Steal a blunderbuss, Here, as I stood by old Fort Frederick in the evening light, haunted by the darksome classes of the Georgian years, I heard a bugle played across the moon rays by a an again and again, with intervals as sweet. They seemed to say: “What ts man but his public works? What is here but the old, the organic state canal? Blow! insti« tutions! blot GATH. ——__-0+____ IT DIDWT WORK. The Woman Was Not Unfeeling, but She Didn’t Have Any Sentiment. From the Detroit Tribune. ” Several distinct varieties of soll clung to ‘his garments and eloquently proclaimed that he had lately walked through not less than three counties. The woman whom he met and accosted at the threshold of the lowly cottage had red raspberry stains on her apron. “Madam,” he said, “I trust you will find it in your heart to assist @ young way- farer.”” ‘The woman was silent, “Madam—" voice was tremulous and low. 1g, 1_Was once the happy head of a fam- fy. se had a beautiful wife. Ah, she—* ‘Tears were standing in the woman's eyes now. “was to my mind the sweetest and the best of wives. But the dream was rudely dispelled when—" The woman leaned forward and held her breath. “her father lost everything in a wheat pinch.” The woman gulped down a sob, entered the house and slammed the door. Fair Art Rooms. yh, what a glorious sky! Did you ever see a more perfect sunset?” He—“That’s not a sunset. It's sunrise on Broadwa: She—“How can you tell?” He—“By the three men in evening dress im the foreground.” ———_+o2—___ Her Fears Aroused. From the Chicago Tribune. Mrs. Flyabout—Weren’t you awfully afraid that Sunday night you had that little card party and it thundered and lightened ane Mrs. Gofrequent—Indeed, I was. I told the girls It wasn't good form and that some- body would be sure to hear of it. sss eeeee>S>S>= ss DING A PAVEMENT. Mrs. Snoozleby Tomkyns Has Hers Fixed With Ardiicial Stone. “Don't Say @ Word about the sidewalk, my dear.” said Mrs. Snooziedy ‘Tomkyns to her most intimate friend one mornin; this week. “I have suffered more on account of that pavement than you can well imagine. Last winter three of the Nags were so badly broken up that my husband ceciarea we must have them replaced. So in the spring he engaged some people to do the job. They & i butdl = tise ; fill i ae | Hi ni i | i f if i i iit H i E f i atti i ; i | i i E i i i is ii ge Hl i i é il et ig i Sek 4 e & i 5 t ir uf | E x 5 A — h iH i | i ; i ig 58 bi gE i i i Tt i i 5eF i agi Ey i) ‘ i fi i L ERREE ee H is i i i i | | it _ Ft i if i i if HF HH | i ef he i a fi i i 5 g uy i i k | i zF ? ne § i i i i ; peteese fgag fated sissies & "clock, time for the train to start. ° Tee man made two bounds and was out in the train shed. He saw his train stand- like a hundred-yard sprinter. it in time, climbed on, dropped into a seat and tried to get his breath, The train idn't start. aicWhat's the matter?” asked the man of the who sat in the next seat “Isn't this train for the east?” Yes,” was the reply. ‘Time for it to go, ain't it “Yes; but we've got to walt forty-five minutes for a connecting train from the west.” And the man thought of his hustle an@ said. with much emphasis: “Well, I'm darned!” —s0- A Happy Reltet. From the Detroit Free Press. ‘Mr. H— of Cass avenue was awakened from his early morning slumbers by a vig- orous shake from his wife. “Get up, Mr. H., quick! Burglars have been in the house and taken all the silver.” “All, did you say?” inquired Mr. H., with much interest. “Yes, everything hurry to the police.” “Are the souvenir spoons gone?” asked Mr. H., with bated breath. stolen, and you must “Yea, every one of them.” “Thank heaven,” and with this pious a@& juration Mr. H. resumed his slumbers.