Evening Star Newspaper, December 23, 1893, Page 17

———————______ THE EVENING STAR. PUBLISHED DAILY EXCEPT SUNDAY. THE ST4R BUILDINGS, The ‘Broniag Star’ Newspaper: Omapa 18 per ‘y, S. H. KAUFFMANN, Pres't ga New York Office, 88 Potter Building, SuSE Sais eae Bt He Twonth. Copies ‘at the coun- 2 cents cach. fy mailaaywiere in the United Canada—postuge prepaid—50 cents per fates or _ - Salaivien TURDAY OUINTUPLE SHEET STAR $1.00 per year: foreign $8.00. A BET HLEHEM FAMILY. BETHLEHEM TODAY. A Visit to Christ's Birthplace and Its Curious Surroundings. A PRACTICAL VIEW OF PALESTINE. AVisit to the Stable Where Christ Was Born. CHRISTMAS IN BETHLEHEM. eee Abner re Written for The Evening Star. N THIS DAY,A DAY just before Christ- mas, I want you to take a trip with me ~ to the birthplace of S Christ. I visited it a few years ago, and the notes of my pen- cil and my camera Me before me. The * lehem Madonna looks up at me from my table as I write, and photographs of Beth- lehem shepherds in their sheepskin coats, registered by my camera only a year or so ago, make me think of those famous shep- herds who first saw the star the night be- fore Christ came. They watch their flocks on the same plains today, and in coming to Bethlehem from Jerusalem 1 drove right over the flelds upon which they lay and saw the star. The Judea of Today. Palestine is much the same now as it was mineteen hundred years ago. The greatness of its history has magnified its size, and it is hard to appreciate how smatieitis. You could lose it in one of the counties of Texas, ‘You could ride across it in a few hours on @ railroad train, and today a second-class ticket from Joppa to Jerusalem costs you only a dollar. Between the seacoast and the mountains lie the rich lands of the Phil- istines. They are the famed plains of Sha- ron, and they are twenty miles wide and sixty miles long. The mountains of Judea would be lost in the Alleghanies or the ing country. Outside the walls of Jerusa- | tem you find many new houses. They have grown up since the building of the railroad and the Holy City has had a suburban real estate boom. These houses are of lime- | stone. They have no gardens about them and the white walls and the white dusty as they glare in the winter sun are painful to the eye. About the gate you find camels with dark faced Bedouins upon them. They have guns with them and they scowl at you as you pass by. Here are ragged farmers on donkeys with their black and white blankets hanging from_ their necks down over their bodies and half cov- ering the animals they ride. Now you go by Russian pilgrims, who are on their way into Jerusalem to worship at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and here pass turbanned Mohammedans, who scowl at you. There are plenty of beggars. A bare fcoted Turk with a crate on his back yells A Bethlehem Beauty out Bachsheesh and behind him stand the ‘Turkish soldiers with guns in their hands and with swords at their sides. It is a motley crowd and you are glad when you have made your way through it and out in the countr} Among the Shepherds, My trip to Bethlehem was made in the { olive groves, whose leaves shone like frost- ed silver under the bright sun of Palestine, ‘ed were covered with grass as green as that of ola Ireland. These were the plains on which the shepherds lay when they saw the | Star, and there the shepherds graze their sheep today. I saw perhaps a dozen beard- ed men in sheepskin coats who were watch- ing thei> flocks on these Judean hills, and their eyes were kind, and their faces full of character. In one place I saw a family of four, a hus- band and wife and two children,’ which might. have represented the Holy Family, with the addition of John the Eaptist. One child sat in -the mother’s arms, squatted cross-legged on the ground, while the father lay on his elbow and looked cu- A 19th Century Madonna. Rockies, and the Mount of Olives is so small that you can go out of Jerusalem, walk past the Garden of Gethsemane and be at its top in an hour. Standing here you can look clear across Palestine. On a bright day you can see ‘the thin, silvery Jordan tied as a string to the great tin pan of the! Dead sea on your left, and the vast, spark-! ling Mediterranean away over the plains of Sharon on the right. King David made a great fuss about his all-day’s trip from Jeru- salem to the Jordan, but the distance is enly fourteen mile: Journey not © than six miles. The people dealt fp big figures. They looked upon everything concerning themselves or their people through the right end of the opera glass, | reir imagery is truly oriental. The | probability is that Judea never had a very | large population, and it is very doubtful | whether Jerusaiem was a large city in com-! json with the great capitals of today. It Row contains just about 40,000 souls, and the walls aru’ it inelose Jess than a half section of land. You could crowd the whole city on a gvod-sized farm, and Bethlehem covers hardiy more than a garden patch. A Look at Jerusalem. Both towns tie in the hills of Judea, and they will show you in Jerusalem just where Herod lived when he got excited about the coming of Christ and m«ssacred the inno- cents. I walked over the same floor upon which Pontius Pitate stood when he gave up the Lord to be crucified. The wails of Jerusalem are thirty-eight feet high. They Would reach to the top of a four-story house, run around Jerusalem cut- | ne shape of a diamond. Out- the steep hills run down on every side and across the vaileys formed by these you see other hills, and the whole country is*,roliing. The big diamond in- side the wall is filled with a mass of box- shaped limestome houses, built one on top of the other and crowded into streets which cut each other at all sorts of angles. The roofs of the houses are flat. There are no chimneys and no windows. Many ef their rooms look like vaulted caves, floored. alled and ceiled with stone, and those which open on the street are of this character. The streets have no side- walks and the shops are merely holes in the wall. The streets are very winding. and in going through them you think of the catacombs and appear to be going through long vaulted caves. The} town is so densely populated that one room | often constitutes a house for a family and these narrow eets are packed with peo- | Ple of all descriptions. They are so nar-| Tow that no carriage can enter Jerusalem, and in going to Bethlehem I had to walk | from my hotel through the city and out of David's gate before I could get a convey- | ance. “A Sabbath Day's Journey.” The ride from Jerusalem to Bethlehem @an be made in less than an hour. It is/ of the most Interesting journeys of the {head they cover wi riously at me as I drove by. The faces of all were fine, and you will see nowhere more striking features than those of these natives of Palestine. It is out in the country districts of Pales- tine that you realize that you are in the lands of the Scriptures. I saw a dozen old men du-ing the journey whose patriarchal faces and long white beards >eminded me of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and an old tur- baned Syrian wearing a long beard who rode behind me ona donkey made me wonder if he was not a second Balaam, and why his long-eared beast did not open its mouth and speak. Away off at the buck 1 was shown the site of the town of Mizpah, where the prophet anointed Saul as king when he was out hunting his fathe>’s asses, and the inn into which Christ turned to break bread when he conversed incognito with two of his apostles was shown to me. The site is now occupied by a Greek wine shop, with a billiard table as an accompaniment, and it is within a few miles of the spot where “David with his little stone the great Go- ; Hath sle 1 passed this place in going to Bethlehem. and I tind that there are plenty of stones there still, and a lusty, bare-head- ed Syrian youth was playing among them, though I did not note that he had the sling jot his mighty ancestor. It was not far from this point that [ rode through the identical land which was owned by Boaz, ; the richest farmer of his day, when he fell in love with Ruth, and disgusted his neigh- bors by marrying out of his sphere. The Girls of Bethlehem, I don’t wonder that Boaz fell in love with and the Sabbath day's} Ruth. The Bethlehem girls are among the | n the Holy City to Bethlehem is | beauties of the east and you will find more pretty girls in the hills of Judea than in the same amount of territory anywhere else the world over. A shipload of these Bethlehem maidens if they could be trans- ported to the great northwest would cap- ture the bonanza farmers of the Dakotas just as Ruth captured this great land own- er. Boaz, and when they camé back to Washington as Senators" they would be the belles of the capital. These Bethle- hem maidens are fair skinned and bright Shepherds. eyed. They have straight, well-rounded forms, which they clothe in long dresses of white linen so beautifully embroidered in silk that a single gown requires many months’ of work. This dregs is much like an American woman's night gown without the frills and laces. It falls from the neck to the feet and is open at the front in a narrow slit as far down as a modest de- colette dress. Over this gowa they wear sleeveless cloaks of dark red stripes and the th a long shawl of linen embroidered with silk. Each girl wears her dower on her person in the shape of a neck- lace of coins and the forehead of each maid- en is decorated with a crown of coins, some World, and it is through a most interest- of which are silver and others gold. do not hide their faces like the Monanne: spring. The hills were then dotted with | and the plains through which the road pass- | 4 another | ———oooo——————————_ Part 3. Che £ ening, Star. Pages 17-20. WASHINGTON, D. C., SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1893-TWENTY PAGES. TO ADVERTISERS. ‘Advertisers are urgently re- Quested to hand in advertisements the day prior to publication, in order that insertion may be as- sured. Want advertisements will be received up to noon of the day ©f publication, precedence being given to those first received. dan women and their features are clean cut and refined. I have seen fair samples of the pretty girls of most of the countri es of the world and the Bethlehem girls are the equals of any. They are as intelligent as they are pretty, and I found that those whom I traded with usually got the best of the bargain. There is little poverty in Bethlehem, and the girls whom I met were well dressed, for the orient, and they seem- ed well-to-do. As you near Bethlehem you find the hills grow more ragged. Their sides are covered with stones, and you see that they were terraced into gardens in the days of the past. About a mile from Bethlehem I Reacnel. It is a little square building, about the size of a smoke house, covered with a white dome, and it is situated in the midst of a Mohammedan cemetery. It is wor- and its walls are covered with the names of travelers. A little further on you find David's well, and then go round a corner and come in sight of Bethlehem: Where Christ Was Born. I asked for the stable in which Christ lay in the manger. I felt sure of finding {t, for in Palestine every spot is marked, and, though it is now nearly 2,000 years since the events of Christ's life took place, the guides of Judea can show you every spot which His fingers touched and mark out every foot of land upon which His feet stood. 1 was told that it was at the west- ern side of the town, and I found a great church built over it. Just opposite this church there was a saloon, and my tur- baned driver spent his time in this while I visited the church. It is a great stone structure, ragged and old, with centuries of hard usage. It was built, it is said, 1,500 years ago by the Emperor Constan- Une, Its roof was once covered with lead, but the Turks stripped this off and made it into bullets when they captured it, and killed Christians with the product. The church has again passed into the hands of Christians, and the services were going on as I entered. I stopped for a moment and Watched the Greek priests, who, in long black gowns, were chanting their service, while boys in bright-colored dresses swung incense lamps to and fro, There were, Perhaps, 200 men and women standing at worship within the great hall, and the ceremonies were very impressive. Leaving this hall, I was taken down {nto the crypt of the church ard thence to the stable where it is said Christ was born. I went down a winding staircase carrying a candle and at last found myself in a great cave about twelve feet wide and forty feet long, the ceiling of which was about ten feet high. This cave-like room was floored with marble. Thirty-two lamps burn day and night within it, and it has an altar at one end, under which is a silver star set into the marble pavement, where you find an inscription in Latin stating that on this spot the Virgin Mary gave birth to Christ. I was not surprised to find the stable a cave. I saw many such in Palestine, and @ great part of the animals of the country today are stabled in caves. This stable, however, has been changed by the decora- tions of the church, and it is impossible to realize the real scene of Christ's birth while in it. I looked at the manger. It is made of marble, and it is sald to be the identical manger in which he rested. This is, of course, doubtful, as is also the well at the other side of the crypt, where the holy water is said to have burst forth at this time for the use of the holy family, I looked down into this well. It is said that the star that guided the Magi fell into it and that it still shines down there in the water, but that it is only visible to the eye of the purest virgin, : There are a number af ther chapels about the stable, each of ‘ich has its - ditions, but the incense, the marble and stopped for a while before the tomb of | shiped by Musselmen, Jews and Christians, | ‘MISSY'S CHRISTMAS WISH. WRITTEN FOR THE EVENING STAR BY OLIVE RISLEY SEWARD. — ne This is a true story. It happened in a Washington family of brothers and sisters. Missy was a student in the High School, where her brother John was a cadet; Ruth ind Ned, Hugo and Dorothy were sprinkled through the various grades of the Frank- lin, Martin closing the ranks the pri- mary. It happened Christmas eve. Missy and John were going to the houses of their dearest friends to give Christmas gifts and greetings face to face. They had made this merry-go-round every year since they tod- dled beside their father. Now they were old enough to go by themselves alone. The clear, white night seemed full of Christmas trees as they trudged across the park and clearer and whiter than any other starlight when they passed again into the broad avenue, so broad that walking on the bright side, where the star beams lay, the other side was shrouded in dark shadows. Missy had prepared a gift for each and all in the four houses they were going to, a gift that each and all would declare the thing they wanted most, for Missy has that loving nature that makes her know how to make others happy and how to be happy herself, though not always quite content, perhaps. There were now four baskets, packed high as much she and her brother could carry. ‘More than they ought to,” John grumbled good naturedly, but when Missy saw the peace-breathing Christmas stars and heard the bells ring merrily through the still Christmas air her heart gathered into a great fullness and she sighed “I can give so little, while I wish @ good gift to every one I love, and I love every one and every creature, too,” and she fell to thinking of the place even dumb creatures had that first Christmas mid- night, so long ago; of the sheep on the plain, of the cattle in the stable, at that blessed wayside inn, and began to hum, cradle the John joining: Low lies His heads with te ieckts Sf hata Missy knew well what gifts to provide others, but never gave a hint of what she wished herself; ‘‘so provoking,” Ruth said. “Tell your Christmas wish,” her brothers and sisters had begged, all gathered in their mother’s room after school. “Tell your wish;” but Missy shook her curly head. “No, you must guess it,” and they guessed and guessed, “‘a gold buckle;” “fan,” “skates,” something in a box,” even “candy” Dorothy thought it might be, but, “No,” said Missy, “you're all cold; my wish is not for ornaments, nor clothes, nor any- thing to eat.” “Well, give us a hint, that’s only fair,” said Ned. “My wish,” then said Missy, “is for some- thing that must come, without asking or buying. “Then,” said Dos, with an air of convic- tion, “it is a live baby, I kriow.”’ “Or else a horse,” put in Hi ‘ugo, with equal solemnity. ia “It's tiélther, though one of you is a little S\N WSS Y Ss \ Q SSS ae Stone, tail awag, and tongue a lolling, as pleased as Punch and proud as Judy, to have outdone them in cunning. ‘This was perplexing, especially as the creature showed no disposition to take himself out of their pathway. “Go home, good dog, go home, your master will be miserable,” plead Missy, but Mr. Dog was not miserable. After circling round, his eyes eager and bright, his ears pulsing vp and down with pleasure, he gamboled away again, Gut of sight and hearing. And Now, the goal of the evening was reached, that bright, sweet home, out nearly ! to the Boundary. Our two went in, took off ‘their wraps, and had tea, for here a serious work was to be done. The decoration of five Christmas trees, for ever so many children, whose parents Missy and John had promised to help. They entered a large, square room, al- ready dedicated to the Christmas celebra- tion, carpeted in mossy green, except in the center, where there was a bank of snow, beautiful, warm snow, that wouldn’t melt and in the midst a spreading Christmas tree. In each corner were other warm, dry snowbanks and other sparkling fir trees, while in the spaces on the floor and around the room Christmas things of every sort were heaped and strewn in perfect stacks and stores—toys, games and trinkets,’ pic- tures, books, balloons—everything that can be thought of in shape of children’s fun, including loads of oranges, sugar plums. ginger snaps and lollipops—in fact, Santa Claus must have stopped there first, one might think, and left samples of everything in his store, including a statue of himself, so like that it needs no description, and copies of the reindeer like those jn the. Smithsonian Museum, and a white sleigh, | made of staff, big enough to carry a load | of children and toys, that whirred around on a cable track, with a bell and a bang. But I cannot tell the story this year if I describe everything in that room. It is enough to say that Missy and John toiled with their friends until the place was turned Into a complete Santa Claus’ para- dise. And now, the last taper and spangle fixed to the gay trees, the last festoon fastened and bundle tied, Missy began to think they might go home. Time, indeed; Christmas eve was ended, and Christmas day dawned over the world again. Missy and John knew this as soon as they breathed the keen, icy air and saw the frosty radiance of the waning stars, | flushed by those rosy shafts soon to become | the full, glorious sunshine of the one new day—the joy-crowned summit of the year. Missy and John, too, though now relieved of his heavy burden, fell to lagging; their | pace seemed to suit a third member of their company, who had come shivering from under the door step, and now crept humbiy and unseen behind them all the way home. Missy’s hands were snug and warm in her muff, when John unlatched the door of their own house, and she was about en- tering when the cold touch of the night before nestled against her wrist and the white dog lay down at her feet. She stoop- ed to look at him, when he lifted his head wistfully and licked her hand. It was all hubbub within, for the chil- dren were up and dressed, and it js a well known fact that seven full stockings, how- | ever funny their contents, are no joke in any family. In the midst of the excite- ment the dog stole in, made his way to Missy’s side and looked up into her face. His eyes were brown and sweet as choco- Jate drops, and said plainly as words, “You're my Missy and I’m your dog. Then rose a clamor of questions. “Whose dog?” “Where did he come from?” The dog was a silver setter, white as spun snow, with soft, long ears; his coat like crimpled satin; his tail a very plume. The collar, though bearing no name, proved that he had had owners, perhaps friends, but a! welt across his slender back showed where the lash had cut him the night before. He was now quite spent with hunger, pain and the gaudy church decorations about them |take you far away from the reality and | make you think rather of the marble sta- | bles in which the Roman Emperor Cali- | gula kept his golden-shod horses rather | than the donkey and camel stable in which Christ was born. How Christ's Birthplace Really Look- ed. Yrom the real stables of the Bethlehem of today one can better learn just how the stable of Christ appeared. 1 visited one after leaving the bedizzened and over-decor- ated sanctuary under the church. ‘The stable is a cave, the floor of which is of rough | stone. 1t has a number of chambers, which open into a sort of a court, and in these chambers are donkeys, camels and horses. ‘They eat out of stone boxes, and in front of | them on the floor men and women lie sieep- | ing on the stones. ‘There ts no bed clothing, | except their blankets, and they squat upon the stones when they eat their meals. A ragged, dirty Bedouin has charge of the whole, and his rates are about five cents a | day per animal. ‘The manger of Christ was probably one of these hollowed-out stone | boxes, and the Virgin Mary, in all proba- bility, slept upon the stones, or the straw, Within one of these stables I’ saw a Bedouin woman with a sleeping bapy on her knee, She had just been feeding her enild and one breast peeped out between the folds of her | coarse rough gown. Her head was bound | with a gaily colored shawl. There were rings on her fingers, bracelets upon her fair round arm, and a gold ring in her nose. Her face was, however, as sweet as that of any Madonna I have ever seen upon canvas, and her baby, just out of its swaddiing clothes, looked as pure and innocent as the most famous representation of Christ. It was a scene for a painter. Christmas in Bethlehem. Christmas is always a great day in Bethle- hem, and the coming Christmas will be cele- brated in its usual splendor. Thousaais of people go from Jerusalem, and while you are reading this letter, the priests are pre- paring for the service of Christmas night. There will be sermons in the churches, be- ginning at 10 o'clock, and then in a proces- sion the priests and the monks will march down the winding stairs into the crypt and visit the grotto of the nativity. They wil carry with them a waxen image of a Iittle child, which they will place in the manger, and as they do so they will chant the story of the nativity. This child will be dressed in the finest of lace and it -vill rest in the manger on rose-colored cushions of silk embrotdered with gold. During the service the patriarch of Jerusalem will go through the ceremony of taking up and laying cown the child to correspond with the words of the chant, and the service will last for sev- eral hours. On Christmas night all Bethle- hem watches, and the day is one of joy and feasting. Bethlehem CvVetians than any other town in the orieat, and its people are proud of the fact that Christ was born within their walls. FRANK G. CARPENTER. eee In Training. From Truth. Barrie—“Curry hit me for a V today." Strang—“He tried to hit me, but 1 man- aged to parry the blow.” bit warm, and now I must go to my Latin.” “I dare you to shout your wish to Santa Claus, up the chimney, Missy, like we all aid,” said roguish Martin, the pet of the Franklin primary. “Well, scamper away, and I will,” an- swered his sister, and as they trooped out, Missy, left alone, in the cosy Washington chimney corner, did truly tell her wish to Santa Claus. And now Christmas eve was come, and Missy’s own wish was forgotten in loving thoughts for others. She and John turned | off the avenue in a quiet street, where lived three little friends, and were hurrying through the gateway to pull the bell and shout, “Merry Christmas to all,” when suddenly a quaking throb at Missy's heart and a sob in her throat stopped the greet- ing. The children had heard the sharp swish of a lash, the thud of a kick and a dog’s cry of pain. How discordantly the cruel sounds tore through the starlight stillness. Some figures cowered darkly against the opposite wall. “Worse than brutes,” muttered John, urging his sister forward. They left the ‘basket and went their way. ‘Poor fellow, good dog,” Missy whispered, wiping a tear from her cheek. Repassing the gateway into the street Missy fancied the soft pattering sound of little padded toes on the icy pavement, and presently felt a warm breath, then a cold something, against her wrist, and there was a dog, trotting confidingly by her side. “Get out,” cried John, firmly. ‘Now, ; Missy, we can’t stop to speak to every stray dog and cat we meet tonight,” he added, with a brother’s authority. “He's only saying ‘How do you do?’ an- swered Missy, meekly, quite used to such admonitions from John. The stray dog passed “to heel” at the word, and was lost in the frosty darkness. Two muffied figures also hurried out of sight, blowing a low, shrill whistle. cold, and Missy remembered how patiently hy e had waited for her through the long, frosty hours, while she and John decorated the Christmas tree. When the whole family gathered later to receive their serious gifts Missy led in her new friend, gay und smiling now, after a| good breakfast and a warm snooze. “What have we here?” asked the paren’ “Missy's Christmas wish,” shouted roguish Martin. “She told Santa Claus to send her a lost dog, and her wish has come true.” “Martin, Martin, how do you know? I was all alone,” said his astonished sister. “I heard you ask him through the latrobe register,” Martin chuckled. But how did Santa Cla know, unless he, too, hangs round the latrobe register cold winter days in Washington? soo OF BOOM TOWNS. Promoters and Investors Invite Fail- are by Disregarding Ordinary Busi- ness Rules. There is a logical sequence in the rise and fall of a “boom” town which, while inter- esting to watch from an entirely disinter- ested standpoint, has brought disaster to many a would-be speculator who laid down his money, earned and saved in years of hard work, with the hope of being able to make enough in one or two transactions to give him a competence for life. The secret of the failure of “boom” tow according to the Engineering Magazine, lies in the fact that the promoters and investors dis- counted the future while deliberately clos- ing their eyes to the present. They disre- gard the most common rules of business with a persistence and blind obstinacy truly ma-:velous. Never stopping to reason, they plunged into a sea strewn with half-covered reefs of financial ruin and allowed the wind of excitement and enthusiasm to blow them about at will, and when they finally struck a rock and were wrecked they blamed not RISE AND FA Missy and John had much to do, and now stopped before @ great house, where only | one boy lived, but he was a dear fellow, and his gifts lightened the load perceptibly. It was nearing midnight, a weird time for chil- dren to be abroad, on Christmas eve. They | | went up 19th street, and when nearing | Dupont Circle a shimmering white figure | | shot past them into the open park. A dog) | again, now jumping madly in the apparent | | Joy of new gained liberty; he made our two | the center of his caressing circles, returning | | again and again as they crossed the park. “Where can he have come from?’ asked Missy, with concern. John noticed that the dog had a collar, and said he must belong near by. “Go home,” he added, with stern! emphasis, and the white dog made off obediently. Their next stopping place was at a very small house in a dark narrow alley. The biggest basket went in here and stopped. There was now but one place left, and their shortest way led through the dark | | alley. Who should appear as if to guide | them near the end but the white dog, more ! ‘ composed than in the park, but sweeping | | his tail confidently still. “This will never | ; do,” sald John, “he must be made to go home.” The dog bounded blithely forward, and “now's our chance to lose him,” sald John. “Dash across this vacant lot and through the alley on the other side.” Off | j they darted, thinking themselves rid of | to meet their hopes, forgetting that the | usual in business enterprises. A movement | | from college?” themselves, their gz-eed or their blind im- petuosity, but the town, its overestimated resources and everything else which failed facts were before them all the time. It is safe to assert that ninety per cent of the towns “boomed” in the southern states, which are now failures, would now be in a healthy and prosperous condition had they been started and carried on in the manner | for the better started some time ago, but it | has been slow, very quiet and very earnest. ‘This movement is general and is the pre- cursor of a substantial industrial growth which will soon be beyond the reach of “booms” or any other undue inflation of | has values. The lesson of the “boom” will never be lost to those who were engaged in it, but no amount of preaching will pre- vent the repetition elsewhere of this state of affairs. There are still many persons who believe themselves wiser than all the rest of mankind, and when a “boom” starts in some part of the country, as will proba- bly be the case within the next one or two years, there will be found plenty to go into it with money and hopes, to come out only with experience and debts. ————--+00 “Well, Uncle Silas, your boy is home | throughout the autumn wit |A CHRISTMAS TREE For Little Ruth and Esther at the White House. "TWILL BE A HAPPY DAY FOR THEM. How the President's Family Have Made Their Preparations. OLD SANTA AND HIS PACK. Written for The Evening Star. HRISTMAS Is APT to be very much the | same sort of an occa- sion at the White House as at any oth- er home in the coun- try. But if, as dur- ing the present and the preceding admin- istrations, there are children in the house- hold, there is rather more of an event made of the holiday there than at a home where there is not such a restraint upon its members. This will be Baby Ruth's first Christmas in the White House, and her first within the range of understanding. Last year she was too little to appreciate why her world was so full of goodies, and this season her eyes are opening to the vast resources of Santa Claus and his treasure bag. Of course there is a venerable saint on duty in the white mansion behind the great fence on Pennsylvania avenue, and | be has a large contract to fill the stock- ings there. Presents have been purchased both in Washington and New York by various members of the household with a suppressed eagerness that shows that the Cleveland family intend to make this first Christmas of the administration a day long to be remembered. The presence of the little baby will lend an additional charm to the festivities. She, of course, is not within the range that her elder sister has secured in her aim of life, and will, this year, be somewhat of an un- conscious factor in the proceedings. But she will not be forgotten, for it is under- ‘stood that @ tiny baby sock has been se- lected to be hung at the foot of little Es- ther’s cradle, where she will find, with the aid of her grown friends, the next morn- | ing, Some pretty little gifts that she will | Know in future years as those of her “first Tismus.” When the Clevelands were in the White House before, and there were no little ones on the domestic horizon, they celebrated the holiday quietly, and with but the usual exchange of presents, which we-e beautiful and costly. But now all is changed, and this year there have been mysterious whis- peririgs when the babies were around, and solemn conferences when they were out of sight and sound, and one of the rooms in the upper part of the house has been guard- ed from Ruth's prying eyes as jealously as Blue Beard once protected his gory cham- ber. The odor of fresh pine boughs and the glitter of tinsel have been observed by those favored guests who have been ad- mitted to these more sacred precinc! the house, and there has Deen much ~ Fj mind one of Christmas in the average American home. But all these have not been spoken about, for the President ani Mrs. Cleveland do not like to have the affairs of their family printed at length, and so the fact that there is to be a glori- ous tree on the day of days has been known only to a few. Dolls that would make a child wild with delight, dolls that open and shut their eyes, dolls that talk In that pe- cullar patois that dolls have, dolls that will do for any day, and doljs that must be saved for state occasions—ah, such dolls as have been smuggled into. the house be- tween Ruth's winks! And sweetmeats by the pound, and other goodies in profusion, and toys upon to: until the stores seem to have been fairly emptied of their treas- ures. A Happy Day. It will be a glorious day, long to be re- membered by the quaint Mttle miss who enjoys such jolly romps in the lawn back of the mansion, and with whose face the gcod folks of Washington are beginning to be familiar as she is driven about with her maid. For the elders it will be mich such a day as they used to spend in the White House before. There have been some very handsome presents purchased dy Mrs. Cleveland herself, and she has sent away for others by good friends who have had the chance to visit New York during the morth of December. Mrs. @ number of commissions when she went over the last time. The President, too, has had several costly gifts purchased for his wife, but as he never House except upon state occasions, or to pass to the train or to his country seat, he has had no opportunity to do any per- sonal shopping. This could hardly be ex- pected of the Chief Magistrate, who has been one of the busiest men of the country th the gravest matters of state. So he has done his pur- chasing by proxy, and there are some pretty surprises tucked away here and there in his own hiding places, The White House Christmas shopping has always to be done with the greatest care and circumspection, for Washington is full of gossiping people whose ears are primed to cal the first whiff of intelligence from the Executive Mansion. Mrs. Cleveland does not venture out in her victoria alone very often, but usually has some one with her as she goes to the shops. During the former administration, when she was the mistress of the White House, she was ac. companied by her mother, but nowaday: she has not been favored by tha’ Ly" company. Mrs. Lamont, for whem she Pa: great fondness, is often with her. She Shops in New York. Yet even so accompanied, there is always @ crowd whenever she appears, for she is well known by the Washingtonians, and it is with difficulty that she avoids becoming the center of a throng. This is the reason, largely, for the fact that most of the shop- ping is done in New York. There, owing to the vast crowds that assemble in the shops at Christmas time, Mrs. Cleveland can pass almost unnoticed, and she far pre- fers this to being stared at and followed by women eager to see the cut of her gown, or to notice the style of her bonnet, or by men who are glad of the chance to tell some one | else what a splendid woman she is. This year, on account of the arrival of Es- ther, Mrs. Cleveland has been unable to get way from the city. Her purchases, as has been mentioned, were made through friends. In Washington the White House goods form the basis of much chat in even the high social circles, and often the fact of what Mr. Cleveland or Mr. Harrison has it for his wife's present is known abroad be- fore the President himself has realized what been done. There is no lordly magnificence about these White House gifts for Christmas. The Clevelands are net wealthy, and their ex- are made to accord to their means. The President invests his savings from his salary and has an eye out for that inevitable day when there will be nothing in the po- litical future for his acceptance. So there is nothing assumed in this family that is not really a fact, and the Christmas pres- ents are just what would be bought and given were Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland not the official occupants of the mansion. Some of the presents that were given by Gen. Harri- Why “Worse luck? ‘their persistent follower, and when safe tn | New Hampshire avenue again, when, lo and | behold! there he was waiting on the “He's larned so much he can’t plough up nothin’ but my feelin’s, nor harrer nothin’ curb- but my soul.”—Harper’s Bazaar. son to his wife were of the most domestic character, such as dainty bric-a-brac, hand- some furniture, beautiful gowns and small articles of a thousand and one sorts that are sure to be given at every Christmas however high or low the social station of Lamont carried | E goes out of the White | the giver. And then children are after all, and Ruth is just as easy as any other little girl of two years be, whether she lived in a two-story palace. ny house or a marble The Morning at Church. it is customary for the President and Bis wife to attend divine service on Christmas, and it is probable that this rule will be fol- lowed this year. Gen. Harrison walked to church nearly every. Sunday during his term of office, and on extra occasions he attend- ed with punctilious care, Mr. Cleveland does not go as regularly as his predecessor, but on these red-letter days, such as ‘Thanksgiving and Christmas, he makes one old church on 41-2 street, where Rev. Dr. Sunderland preaches. There were some jolly Chrisumas times during the Harrison administration, when there were three children, at times, on @uty as makers of merriment. Litue Benjamin, better known as “Baby Mckee,” was on all occasions the hero, with the lion’s share of ; the gifts. Then there were two sister, and Marthena Harrison, | child. When ali three were in the | once there were lively times. their laughter and, it must be sionally their wails, could be heard in more solemn parts of the house, affairs of tae nation were being 4t sometimes happened that Ben, @ good deal of a boy, with all his guished surroundings, would bresk at from his nurse and would get through | folding doors that private part of the house from the offices on the second floor, and then there would be a great chase. On Christmas the house was | given over to the children, and nothing was | allowed to interfere with their merry-mak- ing. i iif There were also some happy Gays in | Yule tide when Gen. Grant was in the White House. Nellie Grant was allowed @ great many childish privileges, and her Christmas times were always full of joy and happiness. The east room was often the scene of merry parties given by her, and children’s feet dance over the floor that were trodden the night before, it may be, by distinguished men, and beautiful women, officers and diplomats, leaders in state and society. | Smiles as Well as Cares. i | ¢ There are some bright spots in the tife of & public man, after all. The office of Presi- , dent is not a happy place; it has many, many responsibilities and frequent bitter disappointments. But the days come when there can just wogemey Arp smiles yy times as cares wrangles erate. and nowadays, when dear little girls in the that hides so much from vent of Christmas delight by the elders, | youngsters. For the k j 58 3 : i I : i i t $ : Big H 5 i g | i i that cannot | toes Sie testy | ridor that be more than ever before the sound of refrain: “And on earth peace, good will towaré men.” 08 MARK TWAIN TO MISS CLEVELANB, Together They Exercise a Pull on the Administration in Behalf of a Consul. From the Chicago Record. Mark Twain has a pull with the edminis- ernment. The removal and appointment Borel taba tad aS ule tsk Secretary an 4 them over to the White House dent's But unsigned and with the consul in question that his arrangements to stay at as Grover Cleveland was United States. The Secretary of Btate reason for the President's since leaked out that it was due | written by Mark Twain EB summer. visited the place where this tioned, and knew kim very he called at the consulate friend packing up his books shipment home. He had but had received notice might be named any day. a discussion of the tenure consular service, and when turned to his hotel he sat 4& a letter to Baby Ruth Cleveland on Ject. “i am a mugwump,” he said, “and not ask the President any favors. It be a violation of = ley Ragan mse reason why I shot not you | him that in all my travels throughout | World during the last twenty years I |made the acquaintance of great | consuls, good, bad and indifferent, and have never Known a bette? one than So and So, who has just received notice that his piace is wanted for some in } man, simply because he ts a oe | the other fellow is a democrat. Here followed a review of the record of the consul in question, a description of the peculiar qualifications which fitted him for | the place, and Mr. Twain's views as a mug- wurg concerning the manner in which As- sistant Secretary Quincy was on j the work of reform by turning out all the | republicans in the service and filling their places with democrats, regardless of their | efficiency or qualifications. In conclusion he asked Baby Ruth to use her influence with |her father to stop that sort of thing, and | particularly to prevent Mr. from be- ing slaughaered like the rest. The letter was posted, and in about three weeks there came a reply written on the stationery of the Executive Mansion, in which Miss Ruth Clevel z i i : & é [ fi ii a af Fe 68 i ge | rr pili ie 3 ¢ Piig Hii fi Bs i | say that she had communicated the con- tents of the letter to the President, who de- sired her to thank him for having brought the matter to his attention, and to assure him that the gentleman of whom he wrote would be allowed to remain in office as long |as he performed his duties as faithfully as | he had done in the past. — What He Objected te, Waiter (surprised)—“Why, this is lobster, sir; and a dish fit for a king!” Mr. Barnes (of Kansas)—“The silver dish is all right; it’s that pesky critter on it I'm kicking at.”