Evening Star Newspaper, December 23, 1893, Page 19

THE DAY IN FRANCE How Christmas is Celebrated in Pro- vincial Towns. Tr 18 THE FEAST OF THE FAMILY. The Many Curious and Pretty Cus- toms That Prevail. SINGING THE NOEL’S SONG. Myecial Correspondence of The Evening Star. PARIS, Dec. 10, 1893. O GET THE TRUE flavor of the old French Christmas ‘you must go out into Provincial towns, up ip the Burgundian hilis or among the fisher folk of Brit- tany. There ail the world still keeps the eve and the day and the night as well, ex- cept, perhaps, the school master, who represents the gov- @nment and “free thought,” and so stays at home. The Santa Claus comes nowhere in France on Christmas day. It has always Deen on the 6th of December, the feast of St. Nicholas, from whom we get Santa Claus by direct descent, through Holland and the Dutch of New York. In French private schools St. Nicholus is still some- times brought out in person instead of com- ing down the chimney—long bearded, wrap- rx like a bishop, with a crook in his to give each of the chiidren their praise or blame for past behavior. But in eral the French St. Nicholas is less dif- it from our own Santa Claus than are the quaint Christmas usages which still where the modern spirit has not swept them away. Christmas eve is itself a fast day—the last of the season of advent. But when Bightfall comes the strictness is relaxed and grown foiks and little ones are served with Christmas cakes and sweetmeats. This is the time for the wonders in sugar candy which delight the hearts of childre: When all has been comfortably stowed away, the children are hustied off to a pretense of sieep—as if any one could sleep between an 8 o'clock supper of sweets and the reveillon or breakfast which Is to come after the mid- might mass at 2 o'clock in the morning. In the center and south of France, the houses must all be darkened during this first watch of the night; for another, per haps the most ancient, popular ceremony o the feast is to take place betwéen 11 an midnight. It represents the mystic hou when all Bethlehem was asleep, until th CHRISTMAS TREE RAFFLE IN THE CHATEAU. gels came down and stirred with their Enristmas songs the shepherds who watched their flocks by night. The singers that wake the French villagers are not angels, ‘Dut they play their part well. Their visits help to prepare a Christmas feast for the poor. The Song of the Noel. First—this is in the poetic land of Pro- wence—there come three knocks at the door. It is the cue of the master of the house to all out severely from within: “Who is there?” Three louder knocks are given in reply. Then the goodman within must strike hard with his fist upon th shout more harshly than before: “Who goes there at such an hour?” And then, with three more knocks, begins the song of the Noel on the very threshold of the door. It {4s a song to the Virgin for hospitality, in memory of the first Christmas night when she #4 Joseph knocked in vain for shelter in Bethlehem. The door is thrown wide open and the Singers rush into the great kitchen where, fm the chimney place, the Christmas log | is brightiy burning. All this is essentially the same as the Christmas waits and the | inherited in merry England from Te misle ages and made so familiar to us by the sketches of Washington Irving. The singers finish their song and then re- eelve the offerirgs. Each one goes up to the mistress of the house and holds out a basket with the simple words: “In the mame of the Virgin.” To one she gives muts and raisins, to another apples and ard sometimes a whole fowl, replying to each as she does so—‘For the love of Jesus.” Then the singers go away to other houses to do it all over again. Different bands of young men thus divide up the of the well-to-do townspeople; and thus the poor, too, share in the good cheer of Christmas. No one knows the origin of these curious Christmas songs. Longfellow has transla! ed one of those from Burgundy, which says of itself: Nuns in frigid cells, At this holy tide, Bor want of something else At Christmas songs their hands have tried. It is said that some of these Noels date all the way Pack to the year 1000, when Latin words and ich were still mixed Mp together. Compagnons eamus, Faisons gaudeamus, Venit Dominus. Most of the songs, however, have been tly modernized, and in French schools boys and girls are waked oy can- table and | THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1893-TWENTY PAGES. tique sung in the passageway outside their dormitories. Such is the favorite one— Les anges dans nos montagnes— which has a good sounding refrain of Gloria in excelsis Deo. But the remote country keep to the old long-winded songs, which often contain the whole story of Christmas mixed up in the oddest way with the affairs of the village. One of these, from the town of Bourg, even interlards delicately a few advertisements of the providers of Christ- mas good things. As soon as Bourg had heard the news, The drum was beat, to plump in the pot Snipe and hare, capon and quail, ‘They were bought from Curnillon To make the reveillon. Gog brought three turkeys and a fine goose stuffed, And made a good ragout of a loin of veal; His wife made blood pudding—and bought from Monsieur Choin A great silver basin to put her presents in. And so the song goes on, bringing in the other dealers and the three inns of the town. The Lady From the Chateau and Peasants. In another Noel of Besancon, not so com- mercial this time, the first stanza has the Messiah lying on his bed of straw. All the people come to see and adore. First, the cure,with a sermon, is to make him a hand- some compliment; for the priest has the learning. Then the mayor, puffing and sweati: brings his best wine with cold roast meat and good bread. Mi: Sophia (from the chateau) comes next with a beau- tiful bed quilt to cover the little feet, ce tant joli poupon.” Afterwards the vil- lage sempsiress presents herself to make for the great Saint Joseph a fine coat and vest and a pair of breeches. Meanwhile the young giris, Vhite and Are to sing by ‘osy, fresh and pretty, he child to sleep with a lulla- In ayet another of these noels the birds come to offer their services. The swallow says modestly she is something of a mason to build the child a house. The turkey nobly offers himself to be cooked. And the srow, for fear his unlucky voice should be ard, hops forward with a nut in his beak a present. But a whole book could be nade of all these sonvs and the quaint airs » which they are sung. The Eariy Mass. At last the bell rings for the midnight STS mass and all the people—families and fam- flies together, old and middle aged, youths and maidens, boys end girls and babes— troop through the winding unlighted streets of the village toward church. Everyone re- joices when the snow is on the ground and the moon shines bright; for prophecies are made according to the Christmas weather. In the north a green Christmas is not wel- come; it brings a white Easter, and—some add mournfully—a fat churchyard. Inside the church the first thing to be seen, before the mass begins, is the creche or imitation Bethlehem, where the child lies in the manger, with the ox and ass behind and Joseph and Mary at the side. This is usually placed in a side chapel if the church French Peasants in the Gothic Church has one. In the poorer churches it may be built up With great simplicity on a box in the corner. But it is always adorned with the best the place affords, with evergreens, which are the cheap flowers of the country poor, and with many glittering lights. In remote places one hardly knows whether to |laugh or cry, so grotesque is the effort to bring before the eyes the first Christmas. The Bethlehems which are seen in the Roman Catholic churches in America are more artistic and have the air of conscious culture about them; but here everything is rude and simple, created by the hearts of a simple people, and inherited from the sim- plicity of past ages. Often there is a display of numerous little besides the principal actors in the event. The shepherds will look like French Peasants and the wise men like Turks, and sometimes the wax figure of the child Jesus, which has been bought separately, is much larger than any of the grown people in the group. There is always a tinsel star fast- ened up where it will shine in the light; and sometimes china angels swing from the roof, hung by threads in midair. In one mountain town of Italy I saw an elaborate representation, ten feet long, where the journeys of the various personages were brought out in actual motion. The wise men came ina sailboat over a patch of blue sea; the shepherds came down from the hills, where a tiny water wheel was made to turn round and round. And a hermit was ringing a church bell in honor of the child born in the stable just across the way. In general, all these native creations mix and mingle the customs and ideas of the country with what is known of the birth of Christ. He is actually born in Provence or up in some Alpine village. A Breakfast of Ceremony. After the church service is over everyone hurries home to the reveillon or Christmas breakfast that follows. This is made as distinct as possible from all the other feasting of the year. In the humble vil- lages at the foot of the Alps the table is Ughtedfor once by a real candle bought for this express purpose; the rest of the year the family is content with the fire light or the uncertain glare of the fat pine splin- ters. The housewife, before setting out for Holiday Fan. the mass, has carefully heaped the hot em- bers in the fireplace round the pot of soup which she has made with her choicest skill. This is now brought out smoking hot, to warm bodies and hearts after the walk in the chill night air. In the south it is a soup of meat mixed with fancifully-shaped mor- sels of pastry. In Burgundy and Brittany it is the homely cabbage soup. But, first of all, the head of the house fills @ great glass with wine, and, drinking to the health of all the family, present and ab- sent, passes the one glass round,from which all dfink in turn. This is the keynote of the true French Christmas—that which still lin- gers in country places. As with us, it is the feast of the family; and children and grandchildren, long since grown up and wandering afar, make great sacrifices to come home for that one feast of the year. Something of this remains even in wicked Paris, where another usage is still in vigor- ous life. At the reveillon—whether held at home lovingly, or riotously in the gaudy restaurant—there is eaten an untold quan- tity of boudin, the black blood-pudding made up like sausages and grilled. In the south it is the geese that are massacred for the Christmas stomach. ‘Tongues and hearts are loosened as the re- veillon goes on. In Brittany the old women tell over again the tradition of the spirits that ride the northern light at the hour of the midnight mass. The fairies of the woods and the waters, the Korrigans with their hammers who have given a theme to one of the successful ballets of the Paris Opera, the dragons that guard hidden treasures and the blue flames that dance over graves, sorcerers d devils and souls condemned, all come sweeping across be moorland at that witching hour. You could see them, if you were impious enough to stay from mass Under the Same Umbrella, for the purpose; but they would surely sweep you away with them in their train. In Normandy this Is the time taken by the poor to come knocking at the door of the feasters, Aguignette, Aguignon, Coupez-moi un p’ tit cagnot Si vous n’volez pas I'cope! Donnez-moi I’pain tout entier. (A little gift, a Christmas gift—cut me just a little pies if you wish not to divide it, then give me the loaf entire.) In the south they come in bands of three or four, with a demand of gifts for the “compagnons.” If no light shines on them from the house and the door remains clos- ed, they go away. But the least gleam of the Christmas lights will keep them sing- ing for the whole two dozen stanzas of their song; and thea they will begin it all over again until the door is flung open and the Christmas weicome is given. At last children and grown folks are off to bed for as much sleep as is possible after such a night. In the north fond mothers rise early to put by each pillow of their children one of those cakes of curious shape, varying from a knight on horseback to an elephant, without which the day would not begin properly. In Marseilles every family has provided itself with a little Bethlehem of its own, which will be exhibited and adorned and kept surrounded with lights until Twelfth Night or Epiphany. For a week before Christmas, along the broad Cours Belzunce, the fair of the “little saints” has been going on. These are plas- ter-of-paris images, painted gaily, with which to adorn the pasteboard stable of Bethlehem. The wise men always have a black slave; there is a gipsy with a cat; there are peasants and monks of every color; Napoleon is present in his gray coat, A Little Tea Party. and of late years gaily uniformed French soldiers have been added, all standing eg the manger where the Christ child is It in Children’s Day. Christmas day itself is given over to the little children, It is the day of their ents, toys and sweet things, just as Year is the day of the grown people. When night comes on again the little lads who are | Coast towns of Normandy with lighted j torches and colored lanterns, singing half mournfully at the top of their voices, “Noel is going away! Good-bye, Noel!” In richer families, of late years, the cus- tom of the Christmas tree has been adopted. More and more each year at this season Paris is deserted for the country chateau, where all the generations of the family— children and parents and grandparents— unite to keep the feast together. It is on Christmas night (the 25th) and not on the eve (24th) that the wonderful tree, bedecked and gaily lighted, is exposed to view. To give excitement to the crowd of little cous- ins, the presents are raffled off, yet so cun- ningly that cach one is satisfied. The speak- ing dolls and soldiers are not more wonder- ful than with us; for they come to France, as to America, from German manufactu- who supply the Christmas toys now just as Germany gave the Christmas tree in the beginning. It was Italy that began the Bethlehems with the Bambino; and, so the French say, it was the English who set the example of Christmas eating. Since the fatal Franco-Prussian war of 1870—the winter which saw Paris besieged and gave it a year without a Christmas— there has been one Christmas tree full of sad interest. It Is a great evergreen, cut each December in Alsace, near Mulhouse, j and brought on to Paris. Round the roots the Alsatian earth is carefully kept: for this is the tree of the exiles who would not not yet wearied out march through the sea-/} beloved provinces from France and gave them to the new German empire. The tree is set up in one of the largest halls of the city, and it is covered with wax tapers and flowers and sweets and toys. Then, on the morning of Christmas day, the children of Alsace and Lorraine, to the number of 4,000, gather together to receive their gifts and sing the old songs once more, and to remember, alas, that Christmas has not al- Ways brought peace to men. It is the one cloud in the sky that darkens the French Christmas now for more than twenty years. But Uttle by little the homely Christmas ways are disappearing everywhere in France. As in England under the Puritan sway of Cromwell, the people under the re- public lament that good old Christmas is dying, nearly gone. It came back again in England, however, and it has ended by con- quering the children of the Puritans in America. In Paris, it is true, the churches are still crowded at the midnight mass of Christmas eve; but there is room in the churches for only a small part of the in- habitants of the great city, even if they cared to enter in. Outside the churches a loud hue and cry is still kept up for the Christmas feasting; but a great deal of this has the same relation to the religious and family festivities which the black mass and the witches’ Sabbath had in the days of magic. The Christmas of the Chat Noir and the Moulin Rouge and of the cabinets particullers in the great boulevard restau- rants belong rather to some wild nicht of carnival. STERLING HEILIG. —$$—$—_— ——_—__+. Written for The Evening Star. AN EVENING CONVERSATION, What Occurred at a Little Gathering Where All Were “Delighted.” The other night, in company with two of my girl friends, I called upon Miss Smith, with whom we found two or three other girls. While we were laughing and talk- ing Mr. James and Mr. Mack, two young men of the dudish order, were ushered in. After general introductions the gentlemen Tetired to the extreme opposite side of the room and gazed around for several minutes upon the pictures, the flowers and the girls, who giggled incessantly. Finally the girl whom we were visiting whispered in a coaxing tone to her friend beside her on the sofa, “Won't you play on the piano?” “No, I can’t; but Flossie will if you will ask her.” “Flossie, play something,” Miss Smith said. “TI can’t,” replied that young lady, shrug- ging her shoulders in the most approved fashion. “Indeed you can, for I have heard you. Please!” There was a general chorus of voices: “Please.” oe indeed! you play beautifully; you ‘now you can,” urged another young lady, whose frequent reiteration of this remake led one to believe that it was her stock ex- pression. 5 I can’t play. Let some one else,” and Flossie acted the part of a spoiled chiid Who was being asked to show off some “cute” acquirement. She liked to be coax- ed, because it brought her and her accom- plishment before the company in a promi- =. way. f “Please sing something,” said Mr. with a bashful glance at Flossie. “Do! urged Mr. Mack, who always em- phased his friend’s small remarks. Flossie became very shy and “just wasn’t going to do it.” One could see that such attention pleased her very much. She pcm to Maud and said, “You play, ‘aud. “I would if I could,” replied Maud. “Oh, yes, you can; go on!” Rae pte Beets said, and by this ime the enish manner of Fiossi transferred itself to her. pes “I think you might, Maudie, don’t you know how nicely you used to play when— but I won't tell,” another girl sald in a knowing, mysterious way. Maudie blushed and said, “I think you are awful mean. I will never tell you any- thing more,” and she looked really angry. The rest of the girls giggled and looked silly, After a long, embarrassing silence some one ventured to remark that Mr. soe cr “No, I never sing,” drawled that young gentleman, ee Mr. Mack, who had the air of a gentle- man who would next be asked, sat in smil- ing anticipation. His hopes were not blasted. “Mr. Mack, please sing something,” said Miss Smith, persuasively. “Go on and sing, Frankie,” urged his companion. “Sing, ‘Do You Know I’m So Shy.’ At this all of the company joined Mr. James in a giggle, and poor Mr. Mack was very much distressed and blushed to the roots of his red hair, outvying the pink necktie he wore. “I can’t sing,” he stammered, yet he felt well pleased with himself and proud that the company knew that he could sing and that he had sung before. Again the chorus of voices coaxed the little dude to sing, though if his yoice were in proportion to his physique it was very small. “Try!” “Do! was heard on “Please!” every side. “Go on, Mack, and sing something!” But Mack looked more like taking “something” to strengthen him. “If Mack sings I will.” The attention, to Mr. Mack's relief, was turned to his friend James. “Will you sing too, Flossie and Maud?” Miss Smith asked. “Yes, we'll sing,” the girls answered; but their laugh was not inspiring of confidence. “I'll sing if Miss Maud will play,” James said, “though I’m awfully out of practice; you know going to 2 dance every night does a fellow up.” The company was quite unbelieving that Mr. James should “go to a dance every night.” Some time was spent in unsuccessful ef- forts to get Miss Maud to the piano. Then Flossie reluctantly consented to accompany Mr. James, but hardly had she struck three chords before she rose and said rather pet- tishly, “I can’t play.” Some one else was asked, but she “couldn't play without her music.” “Maudie, you please play,” said a quiet girl, who had said nothing during the en- tire evening. can't.” h, indeed! you play beautifully, you know you can,” for about the hundredth time said another girl. Further conversation of this character went on until 11 o'clock. Parting at the door the young men and girls expressed themselves as “charmed,” “delighted,” “en- tranced,” and declared one and all that they had never spent a more enjoyable evening. But in their hearts they thought one another the most stupid pecrle as James, ———. MORAL SUASION FAILED. And Only the Mastiff Was Happy After the Brawl. From the St. Louis Republic. “Betcher my dog kin lick yer dog,” said Sammy Fulton, twelve years old, to Man- dell Klegman, sixty-seven years old, who lives at 1018 North 11th street. “My dog is not a fighting dog,” responded the old man amiably. “It is very wrong for people to allow dogs to fight, anyway.” “Looks like he might put up a good Scrap,” commented the urchin, who was more interested in the dog’s fighting ability than in the great moral principle involved. During the conversation which was tak- ing place between their masters the two dogs stood looking at each other and growl- ing fiercely. Sammy's canine companion was a bow-legged brindle bulldog, while the dog that the old gentleman was leading was a mastiff. The old man started up the street, but the boy followed. When the old man went into a store he tied his ‘ dog to a post. Sammy tied his dog up, too, and went over to become acquainted with the mastiff. He was such a big fellow that Sammy, who wanted to find out how hard he could pull, untied him. The mastiff’s anger toward the ugly bulldog was fully aroused and he started for the bulldog at a terrific gait, dragging Sammy after him. Sammy’s dog tried to get away, but his master had tied him fast, and with cgnine fortitude he awaited the enemy, For a few minutes the passers-by stop} to look at the two dogs and a boy rolling in the mud. The old gentleman hastened out of the store to get his dog, but he could not sepa- rate him from the writhing mass. Sammy finally pulled the mastiff away. Part of the bulldog was left, but he resembled an aged poodle and did not look like a dog in the prime of life, which he had been before the fight. Sammy was 50 greatly enraged at the result of the combat that he picked up a chunk of coal and threw it at the mastiff, but he hit the man and knocked him down. Frightened at what he had done he has- tened away, and when a policeman started out to look for him he could not be found. The patrol wagon was called and the old man taken to the dispensary. The physi- cian said that the wound was not serious. ‘Two hours afterward Sammy slipped back and liberated his dog and carefully carried him home. Sammy and his dog will not be looking for trouble for some time to come, and the old gentleman will nurse a painful scalp wound as a reminder of his endeavor to convince a boy that it was wrong for ' submit to the decision of war that took their dogs to fight. RICHES HAVE WING Shrinkage in Big Fortunes During the Year. MEN WHO DO NOT KNOW THEIR WEALTH But Not Always as Rich as They Are Considered. THE ASTORFAMILY’S MILLIONS Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. NEW YORK, December 22, 185. HERE ARE MORE paper millionaires in - New York than any- where else in the world,” said a Wall street banker to me the other afternoon as I sat in his private office just after the close of the stock ex- change. “Queer,” he went on, “how men and women get a reputation for wealth that they do not de- serve. They make a few thousands, set up @ fine establishment and immediately are rated as worth from one hundred thousand to a quarter of a million dollars. 1n five years they are reputed to be millionaires and in five years more their wealth is esti- mated from five to ten millions of dollars. It is all humbug. I tell you few of the rich men and women in New York are worth half what they are reputed to be.” Such good authorities as Jay Gould and J. D. and Wm. Rockefeller are on record as saying that after men actually become mil- Monaires they cannot tell the extent of their own fortunes. Did Not Know His Wealth. “It is my opinion that after a man has accumulated $1,000,000 he does not know his own wealth if he is engaged in any business in which there may be a shrinkage of values.” Thus spoke Jay Gould on one occasion when a congressional investigating commit- tee was trying to find out what his wealth was and if his methods were fair. John D. Rockefeller, who was a witness before the same committee, said that he did not know how wealthy he was. “I have seen myself quoted in the news- papers,” said the Standard Oil magnate, “as worth anywhere from $10,000,000 to $30,000,000. Now, what I own, I own, but I can’t begin to give any estimate above $10,000,000, although of course that is not the extent of my wealth.” During the money panic of a few months ago the uncertainty of the wealth of our richest men was clearly proved. Those rich men whose wealth lay ir bonds and stocks securities and speculative enterprises generally found it to diminish at a wonder- ful rate, immeasurably faster than it had been accumulated. Bonds and stocks fell in value so rapidly that some very rich men whose money was all invested in these things found themselves poorer by millions in a few weeks so far as the face holdings were concerned. Those who got frightened and unloaded their holdings found them- selves poorer in fact as well as on paper. Those who were willing and able to hold on found themselves at the end of the panic in about the same position as they were before it began—most of them were not vither richer or poorer, on paper. The Astors’ wealth is in a more solid and satisfactory shape than is that of any other family in this country, since it con- stantly increases. The Vanderbilts follow the Astors. After these come the Rhine- landers, also of New York; the Goelets, Russell Sage, the Goulds, John W. Mackay, and a score, perhaps more, all more or less wealthy. But nearly all of these men are consid- ered to be richer by many millions than they really are, while scores of modest millionaires are overlooked entirely. A very conservative calculator asserted in my hearing the other day that in New York city alone there were more than 1,200 mill- ionaires as against 10,000 street beggars. Wéalth of Astors and Vanderbilts. A careful estimate of the wealth of the Astors puts it at $200,000,000, and this makes the family the richest in the United States. What is more, the wealth of the Astors is in such shape that it can- not but increase, for the reason that it is gilt-edged New York city real estate, some of which has within the past ten years in- creased in value several hundred per cent, and is still appreciating. The policy of the Astors has always been to buy real estate on the lines along which New York city is | now extending and hold it for a rise, rarely selling, however, but building and renting instead. Tae resulc is that the Astor prop- erties are in valuable lands, in brick, iron, stone and mortar instead of in fluctuating stocks and bonds the fixed value of which is always uncertain, As a family the Vanderbiits stand next to the Astors in the matter of wealth, and | their riches must be considered in the ag- gregate and in common, since their indi- vidual fortunes are pooled, so to speak. You will often see Cornelius Vanderbilt, the present head of the house, quoted as being worth $200,000,000. Of course he is not worth any such amount. Cornelius has most of the Vanderbilt millions, but those who know say that he is personally not worth above $80,000,000, if as much. It must be remembered that the late Will- jam H. Vanderbilt had a iarge family to divide his millions among and so the shares in the end were not so large as some people thought them. Besides there is a disposition on the part of the calculators who love big figures to give the Vanderbilts credit for owning outright their great railroad system, when, as a matter of fact, thousands of stockholders share in the ownership. The Rhinelander Money. Another family that owns great wealth is the Rhinelander family, whose early members settled in New York more than a century ago. The founder of this family owned in his day a farm that ran along the Hudson river in what is now the heart of New York. It extended from the Hudson to near Sth avenue. and the ground on which the original Rhinelanders formerly grew turnips is now worth hundreds of dollars a square yard in certain localities. The Rhine- landers, like the Astors, have as a rule sought to increase their landed property and have sold inferior land in order to buy better. In other words, as New York has grown they have sold property downtown in the great city where tenements are push- ing out the old residents and are buying in new districts after the manner of the As- tors. There is no exaggeration in saying that the holdings of this family in New York now amount in value to $100,000,000. The present Goelet family of New York is another that holds the wealth in common, and, like the Rhinelanders, they owe it who invested their money in New York real estate and left clauses in their wills ordering that their landed possessions be held intact as far as possible. The resuit is that the Goelet farms in New York, now in the most desirable neighborhood of New York, are rated to represent $75,000,000, The Gould Estate. ‘The wealth of the Gould family has al- ways been overestimated, just as the wealth of Jay Gould himself was in his day. This wealth is at times estimated at as much as $200,000,000 and more. Gould was never worth anything like such a sum nor is the combined wealth of the family more than half that sum. Jay Gould’s wealth, while he was alive, was always overestimated, as he wished it to be for pur- poses of his own, at times. He was worth much less than $100,000,000 when he died, some judges say less than $72,000,000, al- though it was im such a shape that no one could rightly tell just how much it aggre- gated. It is doubtful if it has grown much since Gould’s death. So much for the wealthy families. The wealthiest single individual in this country is no doubt John D. Rockefeller, the Standard Oil magnate, and strangely enough his wealth is usually underesti- mated. Very good judges who know Mr. Rockefeller and his numerous enterprises say that he is worth no less than $125,000,- 000. His brother, Wm. D. Rockefeller, is not so rich, but he is worth some $75,U0U,- 000, which is enough for him to live upon very comfortably. Rich in Cash. Russell Sage, the famous side partner of to their hard-headed German ancestors | Jay Gould, is another man whose weal! thought to be less than it really is. has more money perhaps within call any other man in this country, for the ple reason that his wealth is mostly in ual money rather than stocks, bonds real estate. He is a money broker pure and simple, the pawn broker of Wall street, who waxes fat by loaning money to speculators, upon gilt-edge security and at a big interest. These are all short call loans, and so the money is constantly go- ing and coming in Sage’s offices. The re- sult is that he can command more money at short notice than any other financier, simply by calling in his loans that are out. This is why Russell Sage is now considered to be worth at least $75,000,000 in cash. Henry Hilton, who inherited most of the wealth of the great merchant, A. T. Stew- of his The best authorities put it at $40,000,000. Some time before his death Mr. Saat gore, the value of his estate as $60,000,000. r. Hilton has most of this estate with the exception of the wife's por- tion, the money id to legatees and the funds which built the cathedral in which A. T. Stewart's bones are 5 to be resting since their alleged the gang that stole them many years ago. The revenue of the great Stewart estate has constantly added to the original sum bequeathed to Judge Hilton, though to be sure he has been put to heavy expense in defending the will of his friend and bene- tor. _ A Very Wealthy Woman. A woman whose wealth has long been the subject of discussion is Hetty Green, a fa- mons character in her way. She inherited wealth and has steadily added to it by shrewd investments. She is not worth the $45,000,000 or the $100,000,000 with which she is credited, but in Wall street she is rated as being worth $40,000,000. Her taxes indicate that she has in Chicago alone $12,000,000 worth of real estate, but the bulk of her wealth is invested in New York and other eastern cities. One never hears of the sons of August Belmont in the list of very rich men, and yet their wealth is much greater than many of the men who are so named. They stil) represent the Rothschilds in this country, and their wealth is not far below $50,000,000. Cc, P. Huntington and D. O. Mills, who are old ‘49ers, are overlooked by calculators generally, and when they are named are held to be richer than they really are. An estimate made by several men who know the weight of a million dollars indicates that Mr. Mills is worth near $40,000,000 and Mr. Huntington not much less. Levi P. Morton, ex-Vice President, is another man about whose wealth many con- tradictory stories are told. His wealth has been exaggerated grossly. Some persons have put it down at as much as $50,000,000 and $75,000,000. His friends say his wealth will not reach $20,000,000, and he is probably not worth more than $15,000,000. The men who married into the Vanderbilt family are all rich men in their own right but their connection with the Vanderbilts has led many persons to think them more wealthy than they are probably, because the fortunes left to the daughters are usu- ally added to those of their husbands. Of these sons-in-law of Vanderbilt, Wm. Sloane is worth $20,000,000, as estimated by good | F' authorities, independent of his wife. Dr. Seward Webb and H. McK. Twomb- ley,who also married Vanderbilts, are worth in the neighborhood of $10,000,000, inde- pendent of what Vanderbilt left to each of his daughters, Many men are constantly passing the million dollar mark, and so it has come about that a man who can only boast of one or two million is not looked up to to any great extent. The result has been a disposition to exaggerate on the part of | P-™. ‘paper calculations and the story of a increases the total every time it is told. As a matter of fact there are any number of men who are daily figuring in the news- papers as millionaires who would cheer- fully dispose of every hope they have of ever owning a million dollars for a couple of hundred thousand cash. They would not need urging at that. A Conservative Estimate. But to sum up: Here are the names of some very rich people and a conservative estimate of what they are really worth to- 80,000,000, The Goelet family 75,000,000 The Gould estate. 75,000,000 William Rockefeller. 75,000,000, Russell ee 75,000,000 50,000,000, D. Oo: ose 50,000,000, Henry M. Fiagle: 50,000,000 Leland Stanford estate. 50,000,000 Henry Hilton... 40,000,000, Mrs. Hetty Green 40,000,000 Cc. P, Huntington... 40,000,000 John H. Flagler. 85,000,000 Andrew Carnegi 35,000,000 John W. Mackay. 25,000,000, James Gordon Bennett. 20,000,000, Henry Hart... 20,000,000 Bugene Higgins. 20,000,000 William Sloane. 20,000,000 Levi P. Morton. 15,000,000 Joseph Pulitzer. 5,000,000 Joseph E. Brown of +12,000,000 Seward Webb. 10,000,000 William C. Whit 10,000,000 Austin Corbin. 10,000,000 10,000,000, 10,000,000 | 7,000,000, 5,000,000, 5,000,000 5,000,000, | Mrs. Paran Steven: . 4,000,000, | Thomas W. Paimer of Michigan 4,000,000, Oswald Ottendorfer. . 3,000,000 Jesse Seligman. 3,000,000 John D. Crimmin: - 3,000,000 James R. Keene. 2,000,000 Elbridge T. Gerr; 2,000,000, Henry Villard.. 2,000,000, | John Sherman of Ohio. - 2,000,000 Eugene Hale of Maine. 1,750,000 | William M. Stewart of Nevada.. 1,500,000, Randall L. Gibson of Louisiana 1,400,000 | John P. Jones of Nevada. 5 1,250,000 John R. McPherson of New Jersey .. 1,200,000 James R. Eustis of Louisiana. 1,000,000 And so I might go on. names of some very wealthy men and women are not in this list and none of those who jure worth only about $1,000,000 are mention- ed. ‘The figures here given are from a con- | servafive Wall street point of view and rep- resent rather below than above the fortunes of the persons named. Since the period of | depression began several billions of dollars have been wiped out and this vast sum came from the holders of securities whose market value fluctuates, or to put it more clearly there has been a falling off of at least 15 per cent in all fortunes where stocks, bonds, etc., are the main investments. ‘ER COATES. —— +06 DEEP-SEA DIVING. The Difficulty and Danger of Going Down to Great Depths, From the Westminster Review. The steamer Alfonso XII, having on board ten boxes of gold coin, each box worth £10,000, struck on a rock and sank at Grand Canary while on a voyage from Cadiz to Havana in 1886. It was ascertained that the specie was at a depth of 26 2-3 fathoms, 160 feet, and grave doubts were entertained of the possibility of any diver being able to withstand the tremendous pressure in- cidental to such a depth, viz, some sixty- seven pounds to every superficial square inch of his body. Experiments at this depth were made off Dartmouth, and two men, Lambert and Tessier, were found equal to | the perilous task. Also, dresses were at length made which would remain water- tight at so great a depth. An expedition was sent out by the Ma- ceive a reward of 5 per cent, or £500, on each box recovered. Lambert got up seven bexes and Tessier two. So terrible was the | pressure that neither man could stay below for more than a few minutes, and Lam- bert, for some time after his return, suf- fered from chronic paralysis of the bowels, by which he was in a certain respect re- duced to the helpless condition of a babe in the cradle. Probably a tightly sealed ket- tle, sent down empty to the same depth, would have been crushed flat. As it was, the divers only succeeded in finding nine boxes out of ten, £10,000 thus remaining be- jlow. A subsequent expedition went in search of this box, and the diver, efter being down for twenty minutes, was haul- ed up only to die. Nothing discouraged, a fresh expedition went out, with two divers from Germany. ‘The first of these was promptly hauled up half dead, only to be sent ashore to the hospital, raving mad; the other went down, but returned declaring that no bok vw: there. Whether he really got so far as the lazarette from which the nine boxes were taken is open to doubt. The pressure at such depths must be positively crushing. In the accounts of one of the deep sea dredging expeditions, it is mentioned that when the trawl was raised from a great depth the pressure proved to have been such as to crush together the wood of the trawl beam, so that thp knots started out of it. ; Doubtless the | Points, rine Insurance Company, the divers to re- | § 19 RAILROADS. PENNSYLVANIA RAILBOAD. ‘ER OF 6TH AND B STREETS. DECEMBER 3 at 11:05 A.M. PENNSYLVANIA .—Pullman ‘tnd Observation ‘Cars slersissary to Cannes, Cincinnati, ———— and Cleveland. pt 11:05 AS Fast LINE For Pittsburg, Parlor Cars to Pit i Ry teburg. 3:15 PM. CHICAGO sr. AND LOUIS EXPRESS. San "ee Gear Se and Harrisburg to ‘Goveiask, SOUTHWESTERN EXPRESS.—Pollmaa ;, Gals and Sleeping and Dining i Te e E 10:00, and For Pope's Creek Line, 7:20 A.M. and 4:36 P.M. daily, except . For Annapolis, 7:20, 9:00 anf 11:50 A.M. and 4:20 +X) F aedpenpienueclond For Richmond and the South, 4:00 and 10:7 a! 8:48 PM. daily. For only, 7:10 P.. ccommodntion 305 i A fl Cincit it . Louis ‘indianapolis, tiated Limited 8:30 : Tan. oat Le Knorvitle, dally; om ys For Larss 6:35, @ monies) a “300, a 4 :30, x9:30 a.m., x12:00, 45 minutes), 3:25, 4:31, sae 838 Express trains stopping at prin- 14:20, 15:30 p.m. NE FOR SEW YORK AND PAIL. For adeipbie, New | ¥ Roston the Bast, daily 3:35, $200 (10:00 a.m., ex. San. Car), 12:00 Dining Car), 3: 00 Dining Car), Sas (11:30 p. + open at 20:00 Bnffet Parlor Cars on atl day trains. For Atlantic City, 10:00 am. and 12:00 neon. Express traton, x ra! Bagcage called for and checked from botels residences by Union Transfer Goon ordere lett at ficket offices. 619 and 1851 Pa. ave., and at Depot. CHAS.” 0. SCULL R. B. CAMPBELL, 3 Gen. Gen. Pass. Agt. Manager. aS AN PE hE Ea CHESAPESKE AND OHIO RAILWAY. lule in effect November 19, 1893. station Trains i; as: Union ins leave deily from P). oth and Bate ‘ashington Cincinnati. Indian- without” change. car Arrives tt, 7: Cincinna’ a.m., and Chicago, 5: .M. ¥—The famons “PF. F. ¥, Lam. ited." A solid vestibuled train with dining car and Pullman. sh for Cincanati, Lex Louisville,” without ‘change: arriving st | pam :‘indianapati 11:20 pm Chengar TOD aie is, 11:20 p.m.; = Ty Louis, 7:45 a.m., Comnecting cy ‘onion Sepot for ts. Charlottesville, prince! pal Virginia points; daily, except Sanday, for Bich- Pullman locations and tickets at company's of} fces, 513 and 1421 eras ww nto General Passenger Agent. RICHMOND AND DANVILLE RAILROAD. SAMUEL SPENCER, F. W. HUIDEKOPER AND REUBEN RECEIVERS. Schedule in effect November 19, 1898. Al! trains arrive and leave at Pennsylvania Pas- | “peer Station, Wash: Mediate stat! Front Royal and Strasburg daily, » and Soumects at Leuchbarg with and Western Stations westward daily. 11:01, am ant Danville fest maft— south on Richmond and Danville system, | including Anniston and =, aiso Opelika, Columbus, Mon} , Mobile New Orleans. Pullman "Sleeper New’ York and Wi to Atlanta, ay it Danville, Va., with | Butter See iy Rartoston, 'S. C.. and at Greens ‘voro,” XN. with sleeper ugusta. 4:45 ~Daily for Charlottesville en@ tnter- ‘Meditate stations. 10:43 SOUTE- ‘en. and AND onto DIVIs- except Sunday, for intermediate stations. or 30 a.m., 2:45 p.m. dally from Gail, except ¥ ashing « for Round Hill, and 0:25 p.m. Herndon and a.m. Gaily from Ctarlott Tickets, Sleeping Car reservations an@ information furnished at offices, Sil and 1200 Ponnsylrante -. and at a am, Pennsylvania Rafl- From 7th st. “ferry whart.” Steamer Wakefield on MONDAYS, WEDNESDATS and SATURDAYS at 7 a.m. foF Nomini Va. and intermediate, landings. Returaing Days, HURSDAYS and SUN! 4 . Figs, Aromemith, on MONDAYS and WEDNESDAYS at 8:00 p.m. for Alexandria, Colo- nial Beach and all lower river landings; returning \leaves Kinsale TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS for | Leonard \,Coan and Yeoconiico; returning leaves Kinsale, ar riving at Washington SUNDAYS abont | Gee wchedule.) cw. RIDLEY! General Manager. NEW PALACE STEAMER HARRY RANDALL Leaves River View 7th street, Th at a.m. at Tuesday and Thursday at 7 Landing Pas WASHINGTON ASD Leave Washington wharf, 2 tt from foot of iy at =. ‘at Bortrems Monroe, 630 arrive at y cant day. Asrive at Sere at 7:30 om, where ral ‘connections are made for all points south and southwest, ‘orfolk daily at 6:10 p.m. Leave Fortress Munroe at T:lu p.m. Arrive at Washington at 620 Sm. Demin rt S18, 619, 1851 und 1421 Pea syivania ave, ard 615 ioth st. ow. (Ly Loleee line. ‘el ~pnope 750. 380. CALLATIAN, aplé-tt Gea. Bugt