Evening Star Newspaper, December 9, 1893, Page 19

THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON. D. ©. SATURDAY. DECEMBER 9. 1893—TWENTY PAGES. 19 A PENNY-WISE POLICY {s Shown in Caring for the Hall of Congress. vAD AIR POR THE LEGISLATORS. They Are Threatened by Hygienic Defects on All Sides. SOME MEMORIES OF THE PAST Written for The Evening Star. R. SPEAKER,” shouted Martin N. Johnson of North Da- ‘kota in the House of | Representatives at 2 p. m. on August 30 last, “this box is built, a box within a box, in such a way that it is utterly im- possible to open a window oz door so as| fo get azz direct from | ry \\ te outside. The air | ! Ny ¥ AY is pumped up through | these brass gratings in the floor. Through-| out the Fifty-second Congress I often won-| dered whether the sweepings and the drop-| pings of pieces of paper and of cigar| stumps were ever cleaned out of these! ducts. On the first day of this Congress it | was gratifying to find a new carpet on the | floor. There was also some varnish on the | wcod and polish on the brass gratings of | this white sepulcher. But, Mr. Speaker, I/ found right there in front of your desk in the open area under the grating in the floor the same appearance of litter, of cigar stumps, of paper an. of dirt and rubbish that had been swept and kicked down for years into these places through which the air must come tha: we have to breathe; and I thovght that I would not keep live stock on my farm in such an unhealthy atmos- phere as we are bound to breathe when we sit here. On September broke forth thus: “All that the gentleman from North Da- kota said the other day about the filthy | condition of the ventilators In this House, and much more, is true, and has a good deal to do with the vile, bad air in this hall. It is the first hall I have ever seen where it is arranged that the fresh air and ventila- tion should come to us through a spittoon. That is about what these ventilators amount to under the present practice of the House. These ventilators are incubating machines for bacteria. They are incubators for catarrh, consumption and other dis- eases. Only yesterday a member of this House toid me that he had been out of health ever since he came here, ard as- serted that he would net be a candidate for re-election if he was obliged to sit in this vile atmosphere. We ought to have some arrangement for closing the top of these ventilators, so that they would not | be incubating machines to propagate dis-| ease. The ventilators to which these gentlemen refer are simply br: gratings beneath the desks of the members. They run down the main aisle, around the Speaker's desk, and the wel! in f of it, where the mem- 2 Elijah Adams Morse bers congregate when exciting scenes occur. They were put there to funnel pure air from the Capito! grounds into the hall the House in summer and to give warm in winter. This air is fanned through w air shaft Into the ducts. There are eig rows of desks grouped semi-circle around the triple-Lovked tion : . The rows of seats ‘There are nine aisies 5 The brass gratings also Fun beneath the desks from aisle to atste. There are metal cuspidors at each desk, but they are not used as often as the grat- ings are used. It is frequently easier for a member to drop a tobacco quid through the grating than to use a cuspidor. The latter gets jammed between the chairs and kicked out of reach under the desks, and is fre- quently upset upon the grating. It requires some exertion to bend down and place a cuspidor where it will be handy. Old pens. nut shells, bits of tin foil, butts of cigars, strips of paper, tobacco quids, dust and ut:t of every kind can be seen through the grat- Ings. Much of it sifts through them when the hall is swept. The air beneath the grat- imgs is so foul that Dr. Sowers of Wasiing- ton says that, if a good, healthy cat was placed at one end of this crescent-shaped fuct, it would drop dead before it could reach the grating beneath the main atsle of the House. Yet this is the atmosphere breathed by the members. No Report. ‘The House has always had a committee on ventilation and acoustics. For the last ten years it has never made a report con- cerning ventilatiog If old members are to| be believed, this system of ventilation nas prevailedssince 1: Nothing has been done to remedy the defect. In the Senate the system Is different. ‘The air comes through a vertical grating inserted in the step beneath each row of desks. It cannot be used as a depository for tobacco quids. The real secret of the | bad ventilation in the House seems to be PB Any proposition to change it at the expense of several thous- | and doilars would, undoubtedly, arouse the | economists. se Representatives seem to | ai pleasure in tying their own hands reducing tne number of their own efhplc 3 and injuring their own health while vot- img Tull $ tor the Senators. 1 : now at occupied by the are in parterre. tween these desks. rsimoniousne: { ats wh the num- | KS and it has not cut sit on is greater the gilt had, a!though | n ever be | nding the | n th panel- ‘The one of 1 luable. i t i | > palpating of W: ler] painter ner in a blacksmith shop ne Aaron f 2 stor es of his he He headet boy making reoal the « e bla th be He good for ne He could get ent of him. He spent his time in making charcoal sketches. which the smith thought was orthless. Burr askel the boy Reve stions and was much impressed with He zave him his and told him if he ever came to to call ane see him. Some months ward. while Furr was entertaining several gentlemen at dinner at his hous> in New he heard a great site. He was told that there was a footed bor out there making trouble. 3T= had him brought to the table. The boy Trove? to he the sketcher In charcoal. At first Horr aid not recognize him. but when the Ind identified himself. Rurr fed and clothe? him. He @i1 more than this. He sent him to Roniamin Woeet, where he ae- eloned a taste for painting and eventually hecame almost as famous as his master. Other Famous Paintings. ‘There are two paintincs by Rierstadt in the panels flanking the Speaker's desk. One represents the settlement of Monterey, California: the other the landing of Hen- drick Hudson near Peekskill, N. Y. Be- yond the latter there is a pain by Bru- depicts Cornwallis visiting Gen. Yorktown and asking for Cornwallis is surrounded by t coats. Gen. Spinola, in Yongress, always | uen Hessians, and aver- frequently counted mt and not voting so York on days of 1 i these gev that pr to secu 2 quorum. There is one va- nel in the wall. It is in the south- ne fill this fate may have g far more unique in store for the rises that the panels Hal! of ¥ atives. If one could fore- ast the future and describe the last speech } that will ever be heard in the same hall noise in the hall | Some are wood cuts with wooden frames, and look as if they had done service in Jersey bar rooms fifty years ago. To fill the panels with uniform paintings of the ers, would cost so much that the eco- nomists would stand aghast. Indeed, their gorge arises when they reflect that once every two years the House is newly car- peted. The wall of the chamber beneath the galleries is <— and the frescoes and carv- ings need attention. The leather sofas in the back of the hall and in the cloak room shine with age and use, and the chairs are patched and crip- pled. As the member from North Dakota remarked, the chamber itself is simply a “box within a box.” The only light re- ceived comes through a glass ceiling. This ceiling has the coats of arms of many states In colors. None of the states admit- ted in the last ten years are represented. A Case of Shabby Genteel. ‘When a person enters the variety theaters ia the Bowery or elsewhere he always finds chairs with leather cushions and easy backs. When diplomats, clergymen, ladies, workingmen and others visit the galleries of the House of Representatives they sit upon hard, uncushioned benches with straight backs, showing a woeful lack of paint and comfort. Yet there is gorgeous- ness in the hall. A great golden eagle pro- jects from the reporters’ gallery behind the Speaker, with a dusty American flag in his talons. Then there is a gilded magnificence and a mirrored vista in the Speaker's lob- by behind the chamber. His desk is ideal and regal, being made of the purest Italian marbie. At its foot sit the stenographers of the House. Above them in the first marble tier are the reading and tally clerks. Surmounting all sits the Speaker in an easy | chair armed with an ivory gavel. There are also frescoes in the lobby that might well grace the home of a Vanderbilt or Astor. Yet even this gorgeousness shows a lack of care and attention. The golden eagle has lost his freshness and looks as though he had received the siftings of an ash heap. If alive, he would dash direct for the Potomac in search of a bath. The frescoes nead retouching, and the tiled floor in the retiring room ought to be overhauled. Many of the expensive colored tiles are cracked and broken and should be replaced. The bronze private stairways, marvels of workmanship years ago, are badly muti- lated. ie much for the condition of the hall of the House of Representatiy.s. Observant visitors might overlook what has been de- scribed. Their attention is attracted to the members, and very few inspect the hall. The first object to attract their atten- tion outside of the Representatives is the mace of the sergeant-at-arms. It always eccupies a malachite pedestal at the right of the Speaker when the House is in ses- sion. As soon as the Kepresentatives go into the committee of the whole the mace is withdrawn from the pedestal. This in- strument is a curiosity. The pages call it “the Speaker's goo: It is a Roman fasces surmounted silver ball not by quite as large as the crown of a derby hat. A silver eagle is perched upon the ball. When members are turbulent, and refuse te come to order on the call of the Speaker, the sergeant-at-arms seizes the mace with both hands and carries it among the wrangling groups. They recognize the ymbol of autaority, and silently resume their seats. No one has ever defied the sergeant-at-arms when bearing the mace. Even in the most turbulent scenes in the Fifty-first Congress, Speaker Reed could always bring the House to order by direct- ing the sergeant-at-arms to carry the mace among the membe' This mace was made during Monroe's administration, and has been in service nearly seventy-five years. A Cheese-Paring Policy. conemy in the House is hardly a synonym for cleanliness. It would be easy at a little extra expense to keep the hall bright, healthy and clean. It is now swept and kept in order by the barbers, the cloak- room and other servitors. These men are always in attendance upon the sessions. If the House remains in continuous session for days and nights, the barbers, cloak room attendanis, boot blacks and others | are kept at work. When the House ad- journs, however, these attendants, unlike the mem! annot go directly to their beds. They are turned into the hall with brooms and mops, and are set to work to ar away the litter. They must wash the cuspidors, dust the chairs and desks, and do “h routine work. And all this for $600 a year. The Senate has special employes to keep their chamber clean. In their wing of the rything is neat and in order, | the strengest contrast to the wing occupied by the Hous The first speech made in the hall of the House came from the lips of Sunset Cox. | It was his maiden speech, delivered on De- cember 16, 1857. With other members of the House he marched out of the old shad- owy chamber into the new hail. Mr. Cox describes it thus “The scene is intense and of rare dramatic quality. Around sit the members upon richly covered oaken cheirs. Already ar- rayed upon either side are the sections in mutual animosity. The republicans take the left of the Speaker and the democrats the right. James L. Orr of South Caro- lina, a full roseate-faced gentleman of large build and ringing metallic voice, is | in the chair. James C. Allen of Mlinols sits below him in the clerk’s seat. Rev. Mr. Carruthers offers an appropriate and inspiring prayer. A solemn hush succeeds the invocation. After scme legislative rou- | tine the members retire to the open space in the rear to await the drawing of seats. A page with bandaged eyes makes the | award. One by one the members are seat- | ed. Then, by the courtesy of the chairman | of the printing committee, Mr. Smith of | Tennessee, 2 young member from Ohio is allowed to take the floor. He addresses the Speaker with timidity and modesty amid many interrupticns by Humphrey, Marshall, Thomas S. Bocock, Judge Hughes, George W. Jones and Gen. Quitman, each of whon bristles with points of order against | the speaker. But that young member is soon observed by a quiet House. Many / listen to him, perhaps to judge of the acous- | tie qualities of the hall, and some because | pf the nature of the debate. And then, | after a few minutes, all become excited. Again and n the shrill tones of Speaker | Ort heard above the uproar. He ex-| claims, ‘This is a motion to print extra | copies of the President’s message. Debate | on the subject is therefore in order, upon | which the gentleman from Ohio has the | floor.” Cox's theme was the Lecompton constitu- ti The House was in great commotion, al the first opening of the chamber was signalized by as bitter ate as Was ever heard in the years following. uch was the first ch heard in the it would excite far me The Tables Turned; Or the Pug Dog’s Expected Revenge. From Truth. te fes be adorned with the r akers of the House in Years gone hose already on hand are used would make a motley col- le tion. re painted in ofl and richly framed. Others are crayon photographs. ‘ side of the upright. job. The hardly hold them in my fingers long enough ISHE DID IT HERSELF. Se Marian Blake’s Home-Made Book- case Was a Success. A PIECE OF LITERARY FURNITURE, A Bright Talk About Simple, Inex- pensive Book Shelves, A HOME-MADE AFFAIR. Par ee eh Written for The Evening Star. T IS WONDERFUL how soon a young girl wants her own book shelves. There is nothing her friends give her so often as books. Christmas and New Year, to say nothing of birthdays and visiting uncles and aunts, are con- stantly coming and as they recede leave behind their contri- bution of books. When I was fourteen I had, I know, over sixty volumes. None of them, perhaps, were werth putting in a handsome book case. Very few were worthy of thought as the nucleus of a library. But they were books, and I had been taught to reverence any- thing with two covers, a title page and “Finis.” I have every one of them yet. They have their own shelf in one corner of a large library of which they were the cherished beginning. When my sixteenth birthday came there came with it what I had long desired—a full set of Scott. My sixty books had grown to over 200, for I had bought many that I specially wanted with money earned or saved from my weekly allowance. Gift books are seldom what you would buy yourself. Generally they are what the giver wants. But all the same they are books. Well, my little library was simply over- flowing when the twenty-five volumes of Scott came. Stands and tables and brack- ets refused longer to hold them. I rose in my perplexity and declared I should have a book case. How to get it was the second thought. I had a little money, but a little is not erough to buy a book case. I had a busy father who could have made one. But his time would have made it the costliest sort of furniture. I had a brother who might—possibly—have made me Some shelves. Like all boys, he was “too promising.” I waited two months for him and then determined to go at it my- self. Just where my ideas came from I can't | tell to a dot. It all came as our good pro- fessor of rhetoric used to say about ideas for our compositions: ‘Just set your pan out over night and catch what you can—it may be dew, or rain, or hail, or toads. You'll surely catch something if you wait.” One day i saw a boy notching two sticks together for a kite. That suggested the way I put my shelves together. It saved my making a frame and proved so simple that now I have five such book cases, all made like the first. I decided first how deep I wanted my sheives. I looked over my big- gest books and found the widest octavo was but nches. I made my shelves nine inches deep. I iet the question of length wait until | went to the planing mill to get my lumber. in the Planing Mill. It is surprising what you can have made for you at a planing mill. 1 went to the biggest and busiest one in Washington, and when I braved the noise and sawdust to hunt up the foreman, I found a very nice old man, who did everything he possibly could for me. He told me I could get black walnut at 10 cents a square foot and poplar or “white woods” for three. The difference was considerable, and when he obligingly added that the poplar grew, if oiled, very dark with age, i decided in its favo: The next thing was to find out how long and thick the shelves were to be. Both di- mensions depended on each other. Short shelves could be made of half-inch stuff, said the foreman; long ones should be seven- eighths of an inch thick at least. If thinner they would sag. I concluded that my shelves should be five feet long, nine inches wide and three-fourths of an inch thick. And L gav an order for six boards of those dimensions. “Wait here, miss,” said the foreman, “and see if we get ‘em right.” He stepped to his desk, wrote ont the order and gave it to one of the men. in a few minutes I saw a big yellow board going through a planing machine and add- | ing to the throbbing concert of sounds from the machine. In less time than I take in telling it my boards were planed and sawed out. looked them over through his glistening spectacles, “smooth ‘em down a little.” John shouldered my boands and went to a machine that had a revolving disc about two feet in diameter, and on the under face of this disc was a sheet of sandpaper. A big door could be laid on the table and this re- volving disc swung over it a minute or two until it was polished as sracoth as hours of hand rubbing could make it. All my boards were treated to a touch of the sandpaper disc and came forth as smooth satin and quite as pretty in their soft yellow surface. That afternoon they were laid on our porch up home and I began my carpenter work at once. Putting Together the Shelves. I borrowed a rule, a small brass-backed saw, a try-square and a half-inch chisel from father. An old kitchen chair served as work bench. First, I set out two of the boards for uprights. Putting the other four on top of each other so that all the edges were together, I measured nine inches from each end and drew a line across the edges of all four boards, using the square to make the mark true. Then I measured three-quarters of an inch in from these two lines, and drew another line across all four edges. Then I took each board separately and measuring In from the edge four and one- half inches I continued the four marks on the edge to the center of the shelf. When all this measuring and marking was done, I was ready to do some sawing. I possessed more than the ordinary gump- tion of girls, and knew how to saw to a mark. There are two things I think every girl ought to learn just as soon as she can —to drive a nail and saw to a mark. It is simply marvelous what a variety of things she can accomplish if she masters these two operations. The independehce she feels in the presence of her brothers and other girls’ brothers cannot be described. I sawed along each of those marks, tak- ing care to be on the inside of them, so as to leave a notch or “gain.” as carpenters call them, just three-fourths of an inch wide and four and a half inches deep. That done, I laid the two boards I had selected for uprights one over the other, I had decided to have a space of twelve inches between the two lower shelves and ten Inches between the three upper ons. This gave one book space of twelve inches and three of ten inches. The topmost shelf had nothing to limit its space but the celling. So I sawed five “gains” In each of the uprights, each gain being three-fourths of an inch wide and four and one-half inches deep. All of these gains I chiseled out neatly and as squarely as possible with the half-inch chisel, the soft poplar. cutting easily without need of ‘a mallet. With a bit of sandpaper I rubbed off the ragged edges left on the under side of each “gain” by the saw teeth. Now I was ready to put my book case to- gether. I laid the uprights down on their edges with the gains upward. Then I push- ed the shelves one after another into place, tne, gains cut in them fitting snugly into the gains cut in the uprights. What a feel- ing of conquest and pride I had when they went together and I found they fitted tight! The job was now so nearly done that I could boast of it if I wanted to. But I didn't. I was afraid the ends left where I |had sawed the gains might crack off. I| put on my hat and went down street to buy something to remedy that weakness. I got sixteen small brass hinges with the tiny | screws that went with them. These I serewed on the under side of each shelf where they could not be seen and on each It was a long, hard screws were so small I could Now, John,” said the old foreman, as be! to Lad them started. They often went crooked. And the ten-inch space between the upper shelves did not give room enough for easy work with the screwdriver. It was the first time I ever undertook such a hard job and I was awfully tired of it in short time. But after jabbing my fingers and thumbs a good many times and maki my arms and back ache till they were num! 1 turned the last of the sixty-four screws in those sixteen little brass hinges as tight as I could and called my book case done, as far as the carpenter work was concerned. ishing Touches. The next thing was to oil it. A quart of boiled linseed oil was more than enough for two coats. I put it on with a cotton rag, and when it was dry rubbed it thor- oughly all over with a piece of haircloth from an old sofa. This took all the lint off and left the shelves smooth and hard. The color was at first a rich olive. It is now a dark greenish-brown. not unlike the color of lignum vitae. Where did I put my book case? Up on the wall, and in this way. When I made my trip down street for the hinges I bought four big iron hooks. “ti By tapping on the wall father found for me where there was a stud or solid timber jin the framing. Thirty-two inches away ) Was another. Into these he screwed my | big hooks at each corner of a big quadri- jlateral. Then we set the book case up on these four hooks and marked where the | | hooks came. I then bored holes through | the top and bottom shelves at each of these four points and set the book case back on the hooks. There it stayed for years. I ‘don't know what the weight of books on it |was. It must have been a good deal, but |the hooks held their load firmi The t of my bookcase was trifling. | Here are the items: | To 22 1-2 feet poplar at 8 cts. | To planing and sand papering same | To 16 brass hinges and screws To 1 pt. linseed oil To four iron hook: item of labor I | charge up to profit and loss, though I can’t |see where the loss comes in. I never did anything that gave me greater pleasure in doing, and I never did anything that brought greater satisfaction in the praise that was bestowed on me and my “job.” That was eighteen years ago. I have that same book case, and I confess 1 better than the four others just like it in my home. My choicest it, including my Scott. My husband al- ways points to it with pride, and a certain with a wonderful red in his cheeks and a magical blue in his eyes, has the promise of taking“mamma’s first book case” | to college with him some of these days. MARIAN BLAKE. coe — Utliizing Waste Paper. From the Westminster Review, | At the instigation of Chief Constable Hen- |derson a scheme has been set on foot by the | Edinburgh Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor for collecting waste Paper from the householders and having it | sorted by the deserving poor of the city, thus giving work to a number of the un- employed. The scheme also provides rem- edies for three abuses—a great waste of material, a serious deterioration in the danger and dirt caused by paper blowimg about the streets. Canvas bags, stamped | “For the Poor, A. I. C. P.,” are sent to householders on an initial payment of three pence. Full bags are lifted upon informa- | tion being sent to the office at the King’s Stables road or the constable on beat re- celving notice. An empty bag is substituted free qf charge. The paper thus collected is conveyed to the factory in King’s Stables road, where, in a well ventilated apartment jon the top floor, over thirty women and girls are employed in sorting it. The assortments are: White waste paper, jcolored waste paper, newspapers, jletters, buff paper, brown and gray paper and “hash.” When it is mentioned that “hash,” the paper of lowest marketable value, can be collected and sorted without , it will readily be seen that the scheme s highly profitable. The scheme has now | been in operation for about a fortnight,and |the amount of paper coming in has been | steadily on the increase, and there is every prospect of it still increasing. Household- ers, warehousemen and shopkeepers unite |in the cry for “bags,” the demand being so great that the staff employed cannot over- | take it, and many citizens have to walt for | weeks before being supplied. About twen- | ty-five bags. each containing half a hundred | weight. arrive daily, and on an average os: | fully two tons are sorted. The city ts di- | | vided into six districts, and a man employed by the association accompanies a vehicle loaned by the cleaning department to col- lect the filled bags. ee A Boy's Trick. | From Fite should cheerfully | love it) books are on | value of the city refuse and the annoyance, | books, | MOTHER’S LOVE. The Influence It Has Had Upon Famous Men. NOBLE INSTANCES OF SELF-DENIAL By Women That Their Talented Sons Might Succeed. A SLAVERY NOT DEGRADING. ——->__. Written for The Evening Star. AM A PERFECT slave,” asserted a woman with ‘aspira- tions’ in a recent woman’s journal. “Marriage and moth- erhood manacle a woman and make her as much a slave as though she be- longed body and soul to a cruel master. Indeed, than clamor- ous children and the average husband there could be no crueler masters.” A mother with a soul so sordid as that must be made out of very poor clay, and it is from blood such as pulses through her veins that criminals are bred. No poet son ever sang of a woman like that— “Over my heart in the days that have flown No love like a mother’s love ever has shone. No other worship abides and endures Faithful, unselfish and patient like yours.” Somebody has said, ‘Woman is first and foremost a mother, and not all the learning of classic halls can ever divorce her from this her natural sphere.” Men, in the hur- ry and push of life’s restless energy, ipiget to be gentle and kind and compassionate, but they never forget the teachings of a good mother, however little they put them into practice, and the memory of a man’s mother goes with him to the grave. He may drink deep of pleasure and satiate himself with the loves of other women, the crown of the immortals may rest upon his brow, but when the shadows begin to lengthen behind him he wearies of it all and longs to sit by his mother’s knee, to feel her hand upon his head, her kiss upon his cheek; to be folded just once again in her loving arms’ tender embrace to go to sleep like a little child. But the mother who styles the clinging arms of her chil- | dren s‘manacles” can scarcely hope to have | her memory revered and honored if, may- jhap, those children rise to heights in fame’s temple. There must always be a | question whether the children of mothers so narrow minded and so little endowed with womanly tenderness can rise very high. No matter what the quali in- | herited from nobler scions of the parent vine the childhood passed in the home dom- | mated by such a mother would but sorrily j at one for ennobling duties. The children | of a “perfect slave” are sure to show in some measure their relation to serfs. Mothers of Great Men, The great men who have been “mother reared” are so numerous that the lesson taught by their lives ought to be a kind of inspiration to the mothers who grow de- spondent and inclined to repine when the little cares come so fast to homes that | Seem too small to shelter them all. And the lesson, if read aright, will show that | after all motherhood is woman's highest mission, and that peverty and privations | often serve to bring out ihe sterling qual- j ities that would else lie dormant. The weakly or wayward child of today, with proper culture, may be fame's favorite to- morrow. The boy that came to that floor- less, cheerless cabin in the Kentucky for- | est brought new cares to a life already | bare of the commonest conveniences, but | Lincoin’s mother did not murmur, though | she was distinctly above her mean sur- roundings. It was at her knee that Lin- coln learned to read and write in the little breaks that the hard-working woman could make between her tasks. If ever a woman | was a slave Nancy Hanks Lincoln was one, but she never gave utterance to such a thougnt if she ever harbored it. She was happy in the love of her children, and bat- tled bravely with the hardships of pioneer | life until death came, and gently as she had lived she went out into the unknown, leaving behind her the homely, awkward little lad, who mourned her death in his silent, repressed way, never resting until |long ‘months after he got an itinerent preacher to say above the snow-heaped mound the words that at last consecrated the earth in which his mother slept. “God | bless my mother,” he said one day after he had reached the highest point of all ‘his greatness. “All 1 am or ¢an be I | owe to hei St. Augustine loved his mother with a love | that was a passion, and she had for him the jlove “that suffered all things, endured all | things and prayed without ceasin, and for this sl devotion she was richly re- warded. She saw the infidel son of a pagan father conve-ted to the Christian faith and ordained a great bishop. Napoleon, who seems to have opened his heart to but two passions, Napoleon, and | after Napoleon, France, in his hard way paid tribute to his mother. He was a wili- ful, wayward child, given over to floods, selfish, sullen and easily angered. He said | of his belligerent temper: “But I had need to be on the alert; our mother would have reproved my warlike humer; she weuld not have put up with my caprices. Her tender- ness was joined with severity. She punished and rewarded all alike.” That he believed that motherhood was woman's highest honor and noblest duty he often evidenced. A brilliant woman longing for a compliment from the then emperor asked him. who was the greatest woman in France. ‘That wo- man who becomes the mother of the most sons to make soldiers for France,” was his quick response. Wesley's Mother. One worran who is a standing rebuke to the mothers of today was Mrs. Wesley, the mother of the great reformer. Nineteen children were cradled in her arms, and lived to call her mother. She was a woman of remarkable intelligence and fervent piety, and directed herself mainly to the matter of inculcating in her children relig- ious principles which took deep root. Hay- ing a quiver full of them, she had well es- tablished ideas how to rear children, and wrote them in a book. “In the esteem of the world they pass for kind and indulgent, whom I call parents, who permit their children to get habits which they know must afterward be broken.” Hence her nineteen were reared by rote and rule. The mother of Robert Louis Stevenson has been his sternest critic and his warmest admirer. She reared him strictly, and has implicit faith in him. She loves to have the world talk about him and believes firmly in advertising. ‘Talk about him,” she says to the critics. “I care not what you say so you are but discussing him.” Carlyle’s Love. Carlyle’s mother might have been termea one of the faving” mothers, but no one would have been more surprised than her- self had the suggestion been made to her. She could read and it was at her knee that Carlyle learned his letters. She was deep- ly pious and all her son’s early training was to fit him for the church. She was a stern preceptor, but a tender counsellor, Whatever his ungracious treatment of others, the best of him was always turned to his dear old mother, who labored with exquisite painstaking to keep in touch with her son. He said of her in “My mother, with perhaps deeper piety in more senses than my father, had also more apart. My tongue and heart played freely with her.” It is pleasant to think that in | the heart of this coruscating diamond there | was one spark of human fire. The mother of Martin Luther was a lov- ing though sternly impartial woman, who believed that sparing the rod spoiled the child, but she was after all a good mother | and left a deep impression upon the ‘heart of her son. Her memory was dear to him, and he spoke and wrote of her tenderiy. Ruskin’s mother had great influence upon | the character and education of her son, and he pays her well-deserved tribute in “Prae- terita.” Goethe and His Mother. A German poet who once met Goethe's mother, said, “Now do I understand how ' Goethe has become the man he is,” his journal, ! 4 delightful courtesy.” ———————S——=—_—_—_—_—_—— splendid tribute to the gifted mother of a GOV. BINGHAM. thrice-gifted son, for Goethe was a poet, — novelist and scientist, and a polished court-| Democratic War-Horse of Vermont. Three Times He Was His Party’s jer as well. His mother was married young Standard Bearer. to a man whom she did not love. When, a year later, her son was born she seems to have lavished upon him all the warmth of her rich nature. “I and my Wolfong,” she said, “have always held fast to each other, because we were both young together.” One biographer has said of her,“Goethe’s mother was what we conceive as the proper parent for a poet. She was the delight of children, the favorite of poets and princes.” She was full of life and fond of people who had dis- tinct individuality. Goethe was largely edu- cated by his mother, and she tells herself how she impressed things upon his mind. “Air, fire, earth and water I represented to my boy under the forms of princesses, and to all natural phenomena I gave a mean- ing in which I believed almost more fer- vently than my little hearer. As we thought of paths which led from star to star, and that we should one day inhabit the stars, and thought of the great spirits we should meet there, I was eager for the hours of story telling as the child himself. And when I made a pause for the night, promis- ing to continue on the morrow, I was cer- tain that he would meantime think out the story for himself, and so often stimulated my imagination.” His mother’s character- istic methods of instructing him, allied to his inherited wealth of imagination, made him the most wonderful man of letters of his nation and age, and she was his friend when he was deserted by all others. Gen. Garfield's whole life was influenced and colored by the indomitable courage and energy of his hard-working, practical mother, who was yet tender and loving to the sturdy boys, who were, in their early years, dependent upon her labors. The labor she performed was of the hardest kind, and it was difficult to make both ends meet, but she managed it and an education for her children, and kept pace with them as they grew. There was no higher honor for the nation to bestow upon her gifted son when the assassins bullet did its cruel work and James A. Garfield lay dead. In that hour, when her gray head bent in sorrow above his coffin, no thought of the cares and wor- ries of that son’s youth flitted through her mind; she remembered only the loving de- votion and tender solicitude he had for her comfort in all his later years. Nobly, in- deed, did he requite her, though she asked nor expected a reward. Much of the success that has attended the career of Gen. Lew Wallace must be as- cribed to his mother, a woman of powerful intellect and great executive ability. The author of Ben Hur has found in this gifted woman sturdy support and the devotion of one to the other is most tender. Lord Brougham inherits from his talented mother many of his remarkable qualities, and he was devoted to her memory and fond of relating incidents of his mother’s influence over him. Byron’s mother was devotedly attached to him, though she can hardly be said to have been a model. She was much too pa: sionate and unevenly balanced, but it was from her that Byron inherited his poetic nature. Horace Greeley inherited from his mother all the qualities that made him great. He was a puny weanling und required the ten- derest care. His mother w a Trojan in physical and mental qualities and this very strength made her solicitous for her less hardy children. She was always a prime favorite with the young, and after an arduous day’s work in ‘he field or forest, for she was obliged to to the work of a man to support ner children, she would sit at her spinning ar! tell stories, sing songs and relate folk tore traditions a for her own and the neighbors’ chi‘dren. Victor Hugo was a devout mother lover. He, like Horace Greeley, was a delicate child whose earlier years caused his faith- ful mother much concern. He often referred to the fact that he ‘nherited from her the romantic nature and poetic sentiments which made his literary efforts famous. She was a tender mother, a wise teacher and a gentle counselor to her brilliant son. William Lloyd Garrison’s mother was a woman of high character, charming in per- son and eminent for piety, and her son had the deepest reverence for her. She had to support a large family by her own labors as a nurse, but gave her children every ad- vantage possible. It was at her knee, while learning his lessons, that her noble son im- bibed also those principles which led him to make the gallant an? winning fight for the abolition of slavery, than which no grander monument to a mother’s memory ever was erected. Mary Ball Washington. A whole great nation is just now interest- ed in another mother. A woman who gave to the country its first great military com- mander and its first President. Mary Rall Washington was not a brilliant woman, but she had mental endowments of a high order. She was eminently practical, had great ex- ecutive ability and remarkable tenacity of purpose, traits which were most prominent in her illustrious son. Left a widow with a large estate and six young children, she managed both with a skill that commands admiration to this day. She imparted to her children “the sure foundation of all moral excellence and implanted in their young hearts her own uncompromising love of truth and unswerving integrity.” Her son honored her above ail earthly friends. When she came to die at a ripe old age the simple inscription upon her tomb told the tale of her motherly devotion. “Mary, the mother of Washington.” As a mother her praises will be sung throughout all time. There are thousands of mothers whose names might rank with these on history's page. Mothers who, after travail in bitter pain, encountered material and financial discomforts and discouragements almost too heavy for human endurance, and whose abnegation of self amounts to slavery in the eyes of the frivolous self-loving woman. But it is a slavery that does not degrade. It is not the serfdom of the incapable, but the embodied unselfishness of the women who realize that the mother should ex- emplify in her person the highest human | type. It is true that mothers have hard battles to fight, and they must fight them alone, with marshaling troop, no bivouac song, No banner to gleam and wave! And O, these battles, they last so long— From babyhood to the grave.” But the mother who ts true to her woman- hood and who loves her children will find in the performance of her duty to them her richest reward. The world has always be- lieved and always will that ‘A mother is a mother still, The holiest thing alive. ees A Fight on a Speeding Locomotive. Paris Correspondent London Telegraph. Incompatibility of temper between an en- gine driver and a stoker has very nearly brought about a disastrous railway acci- dent. The two men had not been for some time on very friendly terms, and a violent quarrel broke out as they were conducting a train over a rather difficult line. High Wonderfal Energy of the Popular Leader. He Has Uned Pat Celery Compound Ten Years. It Has Been a Source of Great Strength to Him, Fon. William H. H. Bingham of Stowe bas been three thmes the democratic candidate for governor of Vermont. He bas twice been the democratic candidate for Congress from his district. He has held the office of president of the Ver- mont mutual fire insurance company for seven -» dated September 5, this year, be writes that for ten years he has been using Paine’s celery compound. To quote his exact words: “I have used Paine’ women in the country have recently written thelr Unsolicited testimonials of its eminent value. Thoa- sands of “the plain people” have testified to ite many wonderful cures. It is by far the greatest remedy of the age. It makes people wel HAY FEVER Catarrh ‘Safferers, OOR. 11TH AND F STS., WASHINGTON, D. @ 8e27-3m,cod “Glad News” To The RUPTURED. words were exchanged and then they came| __All_who are afficted with Rupture or to blows and a regular set-to ensued, in| ¢ Hernia” tm any form will be eo 4 spite of the confined space which they had] PERMANENT cure bas been established in for this test of their proficiency in the| this city. : noble art. For some time the battle raged,| galt {ireyi2, Stected by the method ger. while the train—abandoned to its own re-| Gasdiles is causing cnet seeth cnr Ge sources—sped onward with such velocity hernia ring, thus closing it tely and that the passengers, ignorant of the cause forever. It is no new e: . Hundreds ave been permanently ‘cured. Consultations and full ‘explanations gratis. Write for ‘book and lst of Dr. T. K. ae, WASHINGTON HERNIA IN PARLORS, 30 AND $2, MET Rorrs BLDG, 2 Office hours. 10:30 to 6 pm, Bé-,tu,th,3m of its sudden elevation to the dignity of an express, began to entertain serious mis- givings,while the country people, looking up from their labor in the fields and taking in the real situation at a glance, viewed its wiid career with feelings akin to consterna- tion. The train was rapidly approaching a station, at which another one would soon be due, and unless its progress were promptly checked a terrible collision was a moral certainty. Happily, just at the criti- cal moment, the engine driver and the stoker bethought themselves of the fearful catastrophe that was impending, and, con- cluding a truce, they set to work with the utmost energy to arrest the lightning of the train. They were just in time, for in another moment they would -have dashed headlong into the other train. The com- pany, of course, got wind of the affair and an investigation has been set on foot with- out delay. a Dr Carleton. S07 12TH ST. N.W. Over Gweney-ave Sener’ aapebanan, er t ity-tive y a 5 Practice Mmited to the treatment of gentlemen exclusively. THIRD YEAR AT ’RESENT ADDRESS. De, Cartsten trusts with the chill bem of Gayp lene. we Fou a G'-ase of a Special Nature? tion, jervous I. he A Dainty Form of C From the New York Times. iment. “Absolutely’ the most satisfactory com- + Erase, pliment which ever drifted my way,” said a Sweillingy, Urinary Sediment, woman last week, “I received toda: i Domtuoed Sens. “1 was hurrying through one of the blocks between Sth and 6th avenues, just below 23d street, when I saw approaching me a woman whom I thought I knew. I took [her to be an out-of-town friend, and my pleasure to meet her was the greater from | its rarity. I hurried forward, not waiting to fairly reach her before beginning my delighted greeting. The words froze on my | ips, however, as we actually met, for I | Saw that though the likeness was extraor- |dinary, even at close quarters, she was not the person for whom I had taken her. “Oh,” I said, with a smile of apology, ja beg your pardo: I thought you were a friend of mine.’ She smiled, too, and then [after a second of survey ‘and’ hesitation | Which subtly pointed the remark, said, with a graceful bow and a charming air of breed- ing: “Lywish I were, madam,’ and passed | on. “The whole thing took a breath to do, though !t has taken several to tell, and she was almost out of hearing before I could |rally and call ‘Thank you’ after her. I 'shall never see her again, of course, but I shall always remember her quick tact and ‘Spots, % Did you sow the wind? Have you reaped the whirlwind? Are you beginning to lose your grip? Do you realize tha you are beginning to old defore your time? Is life losing tts charms for you? Do you feel unfit for business or society? Cgorsit, Dr. Carleton, |Special experience is abe solftely necessary. He bas it, and be is positively the only, physician in Woeshington who limits bis practice to the treatment of gentlemen exclastvely. Setentific, SKILLFUL, SUCCESSFUL Treatment LUTZ & BRO, ntiquated methods and illiterate practitioners, Hours, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. ond 4 p.m. to 8 Get the Best. 407 Penn. ave., adjoining National tea, and don't forget that you cxmnot buy silk for the THE CONCORD HARNESS, Horse Biaukets aud Lay Itobes @t low pricwm,