Evening Star Newspaper, January 6, 1894, Page 14

14 RUSSIAN THISTLE A Weed That Costs Us Four Mil- lion a Year. I? 18 COMING THIS WAY. A Bill Before Congress to Exter- minate It. A BIG SPECIMEN HERE. BOX FIVE FEET square and over three high was carried irto the room of the Sen- ate committee on agriculture yesterday, and, Senator Hans- brough presiding, the cover was quickly knocked up and off therefrom. A big brush heap was the apparent contents of the mysterious in- ‘wardness of the Sen- @tor’s box. Appearances, however, are de- eeitful everywhere in general and arosod the Senate end of the Capitol in particular. ‘The box did not contain a brush heap, but the ugliest, meanest, wickedest weed this country has ever known or can know—the Russian thistle. Unknown a Few Years Ago. & few years ago it was unknown in this country, and only travelers in the trans- Ural regions of southeastern Russia had ver seem it. But it is now in full posses- siofl of many a good farm in the Dakotas and is rapidly spreading its domain toward every point of the compass, with the twin states as its center and starting point. Mr. L. H. Dewey, assistant botanist in the Agri- cultural Department, returned a few days ago from a thorough-going tour of the northwest, where the Russian thistle is Prevalent, and brought with him the big specimen that is now the cynosure of all eyes in Senator Hansbrough’s committee room. This plant is probably full grown, for it 1s five feet in diameter, fully three feet high, and weighs twenty-four pounds. is the result of one season’s growth from single seed, the plant being an annual. root is comparatively small, being about half an inch in diameter and six to twelve inches long. That part of the plant ‘which is above ground forms a dense, bushy mass full of branches. When it is young and green it looks very harmless and its woft, fuzzy, tender and juicy little leaves @cattered abundantly all over its myriads of stems look not only edible, but fairly tempt- ‘mg from a bovine point of view. i] ° How it Grows and Grows. . When the long hot summer days of the gubarctie summer have, however, brought Mr. Russian Thistle to maturity, and the Juicy little leaves drop off, and the prickly stems harden and toughen in the dry air and the plant keeps on growing bigger and bigger and choking out every other growing thing near it, then it is that the farmer Yecognizes in this newcomer a terrible foe. At every half inch on the stems of the this- tle there is a sharp spine about half an inch long, which grows harder and sharper as time passes. The Dakota farmers find it impossible to plow their fields when once the thistle has taken possession of it. The feet of the horses are cut raw in a single day's work, and at the end of a week are a festering mass of raw flesh. It is only by having leather boots made and worn on their plow teams that they can do their fall work. The poorer farmers wrap rags around the ankles of their horses, and so protect them. Hopeless to Plow. Yet, to plow fields that have once become the prey of the Russian thistle is a hopeless and usually a fruitless thing to do. Plow- img only puts in the ground millions of seeds to germinate another season and ruin the wheat, barley or rye that may be sow- ed. Where each prickly spine in the ma- ture plant joins the stem there is a little greenish black kernel with a winged blos- g#om on it. The thing looks like a micro- scopic shuttlecock. This is the seed. A careful estimate computes the number in Senator Hansbrough’s specimen at the Capi- tol _to be 200,000. In the fall the tough, weil-braced plant breaks loose from its root and gets out on a journey of propaga- tion. The small feathery tumble weed of the west is not a circumstance to the Rus- aian thistle. The latter carries more can- vas and is a far more ambitious craft. It thirsts ever for empire. Before the furious November winds over the level, unobstruct- ing prairies, the Russian thistle conquers gpace at the pace of a Nancy Hanks; the little green-black devil's seed grinning and sifting out nimbly upon the wasting earth as the mother weed rolls and tosses on her tempestuous course. When at length a fence is encountered the rolling mass stops. Another and yet another, and _ countless mumbers come following on to lodge behind 4 until a dense mass piles up as high as the top wire, and then the on-coming hosts roll over the dead bodies of their fellows below and the procession of plagues con- tinues. Increasing Danger From Fire. When, as often happens, the »rairies are swept by fires the Russian thistle ¢iversi- fies its evil career by adding ten-fold to the fury of the fire. A blazing, burning bush, speeding before the wind, will spread the flames to grain stacks, barns and ‘iouses more swiftly and surely than did Sam- gon's foxes in the grain fields and vine- yards of the Philistines. In this way many miles of good wire fence are destrvyed an- ually. But it is as a weed that the thistle is Maost dreaded. It is tenacious cf iife ani Gisputes successfully with every other growing thing for the grow it ness to Wax great upon. It drives every living herb out of its way, and as it multiplies more rapidly than any other contemporary fe holds fast all it once gains. Wheat is injured 20 per cent by it the second season after it appears. After that the farner hardly dares sow his fields lest his loay should be total. Barley and rye tare almost as badly as wheat. Oats and millet hove an even chance against it if they are well pet in on good ground. Where thistle a got into a grain field it makes life a burden for the threshers. They can hardly get gloves tough enough to withstand the sharp cuts from the thistle @pines. Flax is usually a total failure when the thistle once appears in it. It was in seed imported from Russia by some jennonites in Bon Homme county. S. D., fwenty years ago, that the weed was first $rought to this country. By some it is said that these Mennonite Russians sowed the plant fer purposes of forage. But this is wholly gratuitous conjecture. Nobody re. rds the plant as suitable for forage, al- ough sheep will eat it in the spring when ® is juicy and tender, and as it is an an- gual, hard grazing might kill it out. But here is little prospect that the northwest- qn farmers will increase their flocks for he purpose of combating the Russian this- le They are too uncertain about the sup- THE. EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 1894-TWENTY PAGES ply of subsistance during the rest of the year when the thistle is no longer succulent and other fodder crops are not to be had. Besides, the price of wool offers no compen- sating incentive and mutton is only dead sheep when your flock is fifteen hundred miles from market. Its Present Extent. ‘That the thistle is spreading, is indeed coming rapidly eastward, there can be no doubt. It first appeared in Bon Homme county, South Dakota, and from there spread northward along the Jim river, for a long time seeming to be unable to cross that stream and advance eastward. At last, like the Yankee who crossed the Con- necticut river by walking up to 113 source, where he cculd step across, the thistle leaped over the Jim several hundred miles to the north of Bon Homme county. It also went on to the west along the Chicago and Northwestern railroad to Pierre, on the Missouri. With the building of various railroads the weed traveled north and west as far as the Northern Pacific and to Bis- | It is now at the where the fertile marck on the Missouri. international boundary, Red River valley ceases to be Amezican and | becomes the domain of the old lady across the Atlantic. Indeed, this big weed of Sen- ator Hansbrough’s came from Lamoure in| North Dakota, not a hundred miles from the Manitoba line. The Agricultural De- partment sent out a month ago inquiries to correspondents in every county In North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Iowa, Montana, Wyoming and Ne- braska. Over 300 replies have come, show- ing its widely and rapidly extending march | of destruction. It is already in St. Paul and Minneapolis, where it first appeared in the stockyards, and is spreading all over the suburban streets to disfigure them into its hateful presence. At Hudson, across the Missisissippi and the St. Croix rivers, it is to be seen. It is even found south as far as Eau Claire. It has got as far as Arbor Lodze, Secretary Morton’s home in Nebraska, on its journey to Texas. Out in Wyoming it is now common, and Denver chronicles its unwelcome arrival there unter the shadow of Pike’s Peak. Northwestern Iowa knows what it is, and the eastern and southern parts of that state expect it *o visit her next year. Like the English sparrow. it enjoys railroad travel, and as that little foreigner hopped from New York to Utah im ten years it is not unlikely that this other foreign visitor may get over the country quite as fast. What It Costs Us Yearly. It is estimated that the Russian pest has now spread over 48,000 square miles of ter- ritory, and that the borders of this zrea are constantly increasing at the rate of ten to fifteen miles a year. There are over a million acres of wheat land embraced in this western thistledom, and careful esti- mates at the Agricultural Department iast year placed the loss at $2,000,000 from this weed alone. This past year it has caused a loss in that region, it is calculated, ex- ceeding $4,500,000. At this geometrical ratis it is easy to conjecture what is going to happen in a very few years. The danger is so appalling that the states and Congress have been asked to provide relief and pro- tection. Senator Hansbrough has introduc- ed a bill providing a scheme of warfare to exterminate the thistle by digging it up Le- fore it goes to seed. This seems to be the only way to fight it. It goes to seed about August 15. If it is plowed before shat time it is likely to die without hope of posterity. To plow it under later than that date is fatuous indulgence in an idle vagary. It will take hard work to exterminate the pest. If raked with a horse rake or mowed or cut with a reaper some seed will surely be left to perpetuate the curse. Kurwing will not effect a complete eradication. Cul- tivating corn, potatoes and other root crops serves to wipe them out, but corn will not grow in North Dakota and potatoes are grown only for local supply, which Coes not require over 1 per cent of the arable land. The Russian thistle has got to be smit- ten, hip and thigh, in its green and tender age,by a sharp hoe in the hands of a quick- motioned, leather-backed $1.50-a-day man. The Hanbrough bill will, if passed, prob- ably provide that the government shall pay the $1.50 to competent, responsible men, who will contract to keep the thistle down over a certain extent of territory. This means that the weed must be kept out of the roadsides, railroad rights of way and all commons or waste land. That this almost superhuman task can be accom- plished seems wholly too much to expect. In Russia the steppes of the southeast are wholly abandoned to the thistle or, Tartan weed as they call it, for it is not at all a thistle, but a species of saltwort, its scien- tifile name being Salsola Kall Trogus. The whole wheat region north of Odessa _ is gradually succumbing to this weed. The stretch of country from the Caspian sea northward to Oringen, a distance of 600 miles, is wholly given over and abandoned to it. The Russian government agreed a few years ago to lend its ald to corpora- tions that undertook to dig a canal up along the Ural valley, and finally backed eut because of the prevalence of the Tar- tan weed, which made it likely that the lands that were to be reached by the canal would not be worth having and could not be tilled when brought into communica- tion with the rest of the civilized world. cat — A MUSCULAR PARSON. He Was the Wrong Sort to Have a Swindle Played Upon Him. From the Jeweler's Weekly. A curious case was discussed in an ng- lsh court recently. It involved a question whether intentional deception was practiced in labeling a watch and chain as “Gold watch and chain.” ‘The obvious meaning of the wording, and one to which no exception can be taken, was that both the articles were of gold. A clergyman passing the store im the window of which they were displayed saw the sign: “Gold watch and chain, price £1 11s 6a" (about $7.50). Considering the bar- gain uncommonly cheap, he opened over- tures for a purchase. Before, however, put- ting upon it the final clinch he demanded a written guarantee that the quality of both watch and chain was exactly as repre- sented. Thrust into an ugly position, the dealer was forced to confess that the sign’s phrase- ology was deceptive—the chain was not gold. The admission in this instance was frank. ‘The indignant clergyman made some strong- ly pertinent remarks. Angered at being en- trapped and remonstrated with the store- keeper threatened to eject his inquisitor. But he made a sad error in enraging the clerical customer, who, it appears, had passed the university with flying colors as a finished athlete. “Look here,” said the old gymnast, “1 don’t want tg take advantage of you, but if you lay a finger on me I will ‘trim’ you round the shop. You may take some par- sons to be old women, but you are in the wrong box this tim Further the would-be-efector did not ven- ture. A policeman was summoned and the dealer arrested. The magistrate fined him, after which he coursed his way home, a sad- der and much wiser man. eee A Woman and a Horse Car. From the Philadelphia Times. There is one thing a woman never seems to understand about a street car, and that is that it is run on schedule time, or at least there is a pretense at it, and that just so many minutes are figured out for @ stop at each crossing. This fact seems never to enter her head. If she chances to be with a party of friends on the street corner, she signals the car with her um- brella, at the same time continuing her conversation. “Lovely dress, Clara. Oh, just a dream! I know you will like it,”” and so on. The car has stopped, but she does not seem to be aware of the fact. She is say- ing: “Well, now, come and see me; don't for- get. You promised to, and you know you owe me a call.” Hurry up, lady, please.” ow, don’t forget to come and see me.” lease hurry if you want to get on this car, lady.” “Be sure to come. I'm home Tuesdays, you know.” ‘The conductor is swearing to himself by this time, under his breath, of cours, but none the less fervently. He pulls out his watch and consults the time, but the would-be passenger does not observe the movement. “Well, good-bye! Now, pay me that visit. Home Tuesdays, know. Well, I must go. Here's the ca And with an air that she and not the car has been waiting all the time, the fair lady steps up to the vehicle and inquires of the conductor: “Does this car go down 19th street?” “No'm, this car goes all the way out. “Then I don’t want to get on; I am going down 19th street.” The conductor reaches up and »ulls the bell rope with great vigor, that being the only way he can demonstrate his feelings. This is a funny world. co2—___—_ No Help for Him. From the Harlem Life. “So the poor fellow is doomed to an early death.” “How do you make that out?” “Didn't you say he lived by his witsT’ don't forget to you Yar aus 2s Senne an THE ATHLETIC CLUBS What Young Men Who Cultivate Muscle Are Doing. ARRANGING FOR EXHIBITIONS | The Basket Ball League Not Yet Formed. |THE LADIES IN THE GYM During the holidays the evenings of the gaiety of all kinds. There were concerts, exhibitions, dances, theatricals and the like, one after another, as the week was | spent in song and revel. Everybody had a | good time and plenty of it. Now, however, work of a more serious | nature is going on in the arena. All are hard at work getting in form for “he win- | ter events, and the pick of them are buck- ling down to steady practice, in view of | the several approaching exhibitions to take | place. These exhibitions, which wiil be on | the boards in course of a month now in | most cases, will be the events of the year | 80 far as indoor sport is concerne}, aud everything is being done by each club to | excel the doings of all others, as well as its | own efforts in the past. The exhibition of the Columbia Athletic Club will take place in the National Theater February J, at | Which time Prof. Crossley expects to have | every act worked up to perfection. The | teams are already practically selected, and are doing splendid work. The Youn: en's | Christian Association will give their ath- letic exhibition in the gymnasium on Jan- uary 24, and will have some new and at- tractive features to show their friends. The date for the winter exhibition at Car- roll Institute has not yet been set, hui Frof. Joyce expects that the performaace will be | on hand in about a month, if possible. Basket Ball. The basket ball league in the District is still only talked of. It was thous the various clubs would get together and | organize a league some time this week, but the start has not been made yet. The game is being played quite extensively, however, at the Young Men’s Christian Association, the Carroll Institute and the Columbia Athletic Club, and as :he only way to make anything of the game its for the clubs to meet one another, it ‘s iikely that a league will be organized shortly. The Young Men's Christian Association of this city have already received a ~nallenge from the Young Men’‘s Christian Associa- tion of Baltimore to play a matca came, and have accepted. The game is being played every evening at the gymnasium, | but as the abilities of the players are not very well known yet, no regular team has been formed so far. The C. A. C. The officers of the Columbia Athletic Club have had considemble pressure brought to bear upon them to institute a regular se- ties of professional boxing exhibitions, and such @ thing will perhaps be arranged for. The club has several interesting affairs set for dates near at hand. Tonight there will be an athletic and musical smoker given at the club house in the nature of the usual Saturday evening entertainments, and next Saturday they will give a parlor mu- sicale. On January 18 there will be a re- ception of the ladies, followed by a dance. On the 20th a smoking concert will take Place, while an athletic exhibition is set for the 27th of the month. The regular annual meeting will be held next Wednes- day evening, when a large number of the members will be present. Joe Bateman has recently been appointed as sparring in- } structor at the club. ‘The Carrol! stitute. The junior class at the Carroll Institute is undoubtedly the most successful of it: sort in the city. It is the largest in mem. bership, and the only one in which the lit. tle fellows get much attention. It contain: members not more than eight or ten years old, who enjoy the class exercises to the uttermost and are doing themselves a great deal of good without knowing it. The pro- gress and outcome of the ladies’ classes at the Institute is watched with keen interest. There are now fourteen members in the class, which meets Tuesdays and Thurs- days. Prof. Joyce thinks they are coming on so well that visitors will soon be admit- ted to the classes. It will be remembered that Catholics or non-Catholics, without distinction, constitute the class. The bil- Hard and pool tournament of the Institute will commence on January 8. The Bowling Le ie. The Bowling League, after resting dur- ing the holidays, began play again last ‘Tuesday at the Young Men's Catholic Club, and at the close of the rolling the Colum- bia Athletic Club and the Carroll Institute were tied for first place in the race. The officers of the Young Men's Catholic Club for the next six months are: J. J. Brennan, president; E. P. Schwartz, vice president; J. T. Trapp, treasurer; John C. Sullivan, recording secretary; W. T. Sullt- van, corresponding secretary; J. C. Stack, financial secretary; P. G. Rowan, sergeant- at-arms, and A. J. Schwartz, librarian. The Y. M. C. A. ‘The athletic exhibition given at the Young Men’s Christian Association on New Year afternoon was very good, although it was an extempore affair, no particular practice having been carried on beforehand. Mr. Walter Pelham, the English monologist and character mimic, entertained the members of the association last night in his pleasant and humorous way, and a fair sum was realized for the benefit of the gymnasium fund. The Washington Club. All the persons in that locality turned out to the entertainment given on New Year night by the Washington Athletic Club, and the proceeds will go a long way toward helping out the finances of this young and enterprising organization. The parlors of the building have been fitted up delightfully, and the interior work on the floors above is almost completed. The gym- nasium classes are increasing in numbers ly. ee The Ortent Club, The regular business meeting of the Orient Athletic Club of Capitol Hill will tuke place next Monday night, at which time the officers for the ensuing year will be elected. A great deal of interest is manifested in the coming elections,and they will have an unusually lively time of it, as there are a number of candidates in {t to win. —_———— A Big Pile of Codfish. From the Lewiston Journal. Imagine 4,500 quintals, or 504,000 pounds, or 352 tons, or 113 cords of salted cod and pollock, ‘all neatly piled up in one building, and you will have before you the largest stock 6f fish in the city of Portland at the present time. It has all been brought from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland since the 10th of October. There 1s one pile of four- teen tons of specially selected codfish. ‘they were big fellows when taken from the water, and weighed then from 40 to sv pounds each. Now they weigh from 25 to 35 pounds apiece. When they have been stripped of the skin, carefully boned, trim- med into slices of faultless flesh like so much clean clear bread or cheese, packed in boxes marked “boneless fish,” they will weigh but from 12 to 15 pounds apiece. Such is the shrinkage of an SU- pound codfish into the perfect food product. In the trimming process, about 20 pounds of “scrap” are removed to every 100 pounds of the boneless slices. This {3, of course, good food tissue, though it looks decidedly like “leavings.” It ts sold for about 8 cents a pound. Country fish peddlers buy it, sometimes in 10) and 150-pound lots, end sell it to farmers and villagers to make into hash, for about 10 cents a pound. ‘The skins are packed in barrels and sent away to Gloucester, Mass.. where they are made into glue. They bring about a cent and a half a pound. The bones sell for $2 or $3 a ton, and are hauled over to Cape Elizabeth to be utilized as a fertilizer for cabbages. ——__+e-- From Puck. Wool think foot ball is getting to be just as bad as prize-fighting.” Van Pelt—“How much did you lose on| Fitz gamer” an’ the last athletic clubs in the city were spent in | that | Written for The Evening Star. «JAPANESE DANCERS. The Curious Posings of the Geisha Girls—French Dancers. To the foreigner in Japan the dancing of the geisha girls is at first a disappointment. Dancing without “steps” seems no dancing at all. It ought to be known simply as indeed, it might justifiably be called “hand posing.” One ts invited to a theater—in Nagasaki, for instance, to see the dancing. A heavy- eyed, squabby maiden, swathed in narrow, trailing, wadded skirts, waddles on to the stage; she stretches out her arms and turns her hands palm-side out; she kneels and puts her hands together; she treats the audience to several variations of this nature. which suggest the old game ‘Bean porridge hot, bean porridge cold’—played solitaire. Presently a wooden horse, life size, 1s rolled on the stage, the little stage that {seems hardly big enough to accommodate a kitten. The geisha circumambulates this somewhat inadequate representation of a noble animal, giving it tender pats about the face and on the haunches, her long, stiff hands always thrust into prominent positions. All this is intended to illustrate a popular legend and does so, apparently, with great vividness to the Japanese mind, as the native applause is boisterously en- thusiastic. The Washerwom: Another dance is called “The Washer- woman.” In this dance (7) even the pos- ing is inconspicuous. The geisha holds in each hand by one end a scarf of soft white | silk two or three yards long and about a foot wide. These scarfs are flung through the air in different directions and in vary- ing waves and curves. The dexterity dis- played is marvellous and the effect of flut- tering whiteness swooping through the air about the dancer is grace itself. A Brownie Dance. A Japanese dance that might well be call- ed a Dance du Ventre was the prominent feature of a dinner party given by a Japa- nese of high official position to guests of Giplomatic importance. As soon as the men joined the ladies in table was removed,the folding doors thrown back, and an impromptu stage arranged. There were dancing girls, singing girls, and other performers, but the most marvelous sight was a “Brownie” that capered around the stage, contorting his face into the broadest of smiles, then suddenly chang- ing them to the tallest of frowns, It was a very big face set directly upon rather small legs and surmounted by a huge stove- pipe hat. The smile would extend to the ears, apparently, and at the same time all the features would broaden in a smash- ed manner. Again, in the twinkling of an eye, they would narrow into the longest and straightest countenance imaginable. Everybody was so much amused, and yet so baffled, our host was gratified, and ex- plained how one of the attaches of his le- gation personated the jolly little gnome. The Mystery Explained. . His body, from hips to armpits, was bared and painted to represent a face, while his arms were thrust upward into the high hat and concealed there with the real head and shoulders. If he crouched down the features of the imprisoned face flattened and broadened; if he stretched himself upright they lengthened. Of course no information was given in regard to the value of this attache in secret diplo- matic matters. As a laughable mystery he certainly was successful. The dancing girls of Japan are slow and uninteresting in their movements and not the embodiment of grace according to Eu- ropean views, but their exhibitions are never brutal or degrading. In France. They do not risk their lives and limbs for the amusement of the public, do certain French ballet girls. These Paris dancers belong to associations, receive large salaries and make long engagements, like great actors and actresses, and, like them, tour to New York sometimes, where they are paid little fortunes by the month. The Cotillion, It is pleasant to turn from the public ex- hibitions to the private dance of French festivities—the cotillon—and notice new ideas which are constantly cropping out for the winter. For favor figures there are necklaces made of ribbon, beads or bells, intended both for ladies and men—those drawing similar ones dancing together. These are a success be- cause they make amusement when they are placed around a manly neck. The “sur- prise” fans are interesting; they suddenly appear from the middle of a cocked hat, or a bouquet of roses, or a large cigar, or a bottle of champagne. The butterfly chase, in which the lady flutters the butterfly and the man attempts to catch it with his net, is graceful. Another pretty figure is the milkmaid joke, with its two pails containing the favors for ladies and men. ewe. SWEETHEARTS THEY WERE NOT. They Had Got Beyond the Spoony Age. From the Detroit Tribune. The venerable party with gold-bowed glasses was moved to rapturous soliloquy at the sight of the young pair sitting very close together upon the bench in the most secluded corner of the park. “Lovers, lightedly. The darkness was fast descending upon the world, but the venerable party could still see that the young people were gazing ardently into each other's eyes. “How beautiful”— The murmur of voices came to the vener- able party from the direction of the bench. “The interchange of loving thought by sympathetic, devoted hearts.” He peered over his gold-bowed glasses and smiled sweetly. “How I would like to hear what they are saying.” A tremulous little sigh escaped from the venerable party's lips. “It would carry me back to the days when T loved and was loved.” The gold-bowed glasses grew a bit misty. “It can do no harm.” Eagerly, yet cautiously, he advanced through the deepening gloom until he found himself behind a clump of bushes within a few feet of the young pair. “How lovely.” The venerable party could not forbear to whisper to himseif in the excess of his pleas- ure. “Kate”— The young man was talking.and his words were plainly audible. “By her first name,” the old fellow ec- statically remarked to himself. ‘The youth proceeded: “We never have”’— The venerable party leaned far forward in order not to lose a word. “Paid more than $3 a week for a cook and I'll see that girl in Hades before I'll raise her.”” “Married and keeping house.” . The glances of the youthful pair were as ardent as before and the subdued murmur of voices was borne as sweetly across the park, but the situation had lost its interest for the venerable party with gold-bowed glasses, chuckled the old fellow, de- The Trolley Car and the Stea: From the Worcester Gazette. This incident did not happen in Worces- ter. It occurred in the suburb of another city—possibly Boston. Boston will serve. Let it be called Boston. The electrics were running briskly on the highway’ and the wires were sizzling and zipping. The slow- molded, industrious steam roller was plod- ding along the same street, grinding away steadily at the macadam and forcing it into a solid roadbed. The duties of the roller carried it close to the car track, and the motorman coming up behind, rang his warning bell vigorously. The engineer on the steam roller pretended not to hear, and kept on calmly in his chosen pathway. ‘Then the motorman crowded his crank up to the last notch and went sailing gaily along as if he expected that the machine would immediately skip out of his way. A moment later there was a crash, and all the passengers inside the car went bumpiag over one another up to the front end. The front steps were broken, two or three panels were dashed in, and the car went off the rails. And the steam roller went right on calmly about its work just as if nothing had happened. Only the en- gineer turned round with a sardonic smile on his face and remarked: “S’pose you thought you was runnin’ into a buggy!” ~ Ea Dusty Rhodes—‘Where have you kept yourself all the morning?” Fitz William—“Been taking a drive in the park.” Dusty tecnaetld ‘W-hat aechew oan Will i—""Yep; met a Ww he drove me out."—Puck, Roller. the drawing room after dinner the dining | THE GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY Some Interesting Talks Upon the Forma- tion of the Atlantic Coast By Mr. McGhee and Major Powell— Superintendent Powell on the Study of Geography. The National Geographic Society held its annual business meeting for the election of | Officers last evening at the Builders’ Ex- change Hail, which was preceded by a “symposium” of short talks. Professor W. B. Powell, the superintendent of public schools, spoke for a short half hour on the subject of the teaching of geography. He said that in estimating the value of the schools of a city, he would first look into their capacity for giving children opportuni- tigs to obtain first ideas. These are first ob- tained of numbers, plants and animals, and other facts of the physical world, and far- ther up in the grades these initial thoughts are secured in physiology, chemistry, bi- | Ology, &c. The three most important fea- | tures of the teaching system are: First, the | Opportunity to gain ideas; second, the op- portunity to apply them; third, the oppor- | tunity to continue this process to advanced Stages of knowledge. In the study of geog- raphy it is not easy to give the children the chance they should have to obtain the first ideas that are so useful. It is possible to get plants and even animals into the school room, or to make experiments to show many of the natural phenomena, and pupils can be sent out to study minerals, but it requires skill to bring to their attention the elements that enable them to see the how and the why of geography. They must be taug @: that there is a reason for everything, | even in geography—reason for the location of cities, for the placing of first settle- ments, and for the great belts of human life. There must be logical and sequential teaching, so that there witl not be too much strain on the memories of the young folks. There are few things to be remem- bered arbitrarily, and this is demonstrated by logical instruction. Mr. Powell gave a happy illustration of some practical geographical lessons to be obtained from the works of the rain in the new ground out on the extension of Massa- chusetts avenue, where continents and val- leys and mountains are made by the tor- rents. There a child might obtain his first concept of the whole idea of geography as @ reasonable and logical study. He can | never get it from text-books alone. It can be done only by getting the start from the things themselves. Things, things, things, said Mr. Powell in conclusion, things are at the root of the whole system. Geological Formation. Mr. W. J. McGee was the next speaker. He had to talk very rapidly to compress into his half hour a vast fund of informa- tion about how the Atlantic coast in this | immediate vicinity has changed back and forth in the lapse of geological eras. He exhibited a number of interesting maps to | show the alterations that have taken place in the shape of the land. He first gave brief detinitions of running and still water to show their functions in the great process of geography making, and asked his hear- ers to consider altitude as merely a relative term. Then he asserted, backed by ample | science, that the present contour of the | coast and the relative positions of the rivers | and the cities and the seas are merely an accident of altitude, which brings about the difference between the “land” and the “sea- bottom.” In his first map, which showed the coast as it exists today, he had drawn a line marking the first decided bluff or ridge in | the land from the shore. It was at once ap- | parent that the cities of Philadelphia, Bal- | timore, Washington and Richmond were al- | most if not exactly tn coincidence with that | ine. ‘This Mr. McGee explained by showing how the earliest explorers, entering the riv- ers from their sea mouths, went as far up as they could in their boats, and at the head of navigation, where the abrupt bluff caus- ed a sudden ceasing of the tides, and where the conditions for successful colonization were the most abundant. Thus, at the Great Falls, the falls in the James river,and those in the Schuylkill, and at Trenton were started great centers of population. The Une of the bluffs, therefore, marks one of the most remarkable natural boundaries in the world. In the second map had been shown what existed when the land was 150 :eet lower, in relation to the sea, than it is now. Then all the region east of Washington was submerged, New Jersey was a how!l- ing wilderness of salt water and the fishes of the deep sea swam over the ampnithea- ter where Washington now stands. This map brought Mr. McGee to speak of the work that Is now progressing on the Jersey shore in the disappearance of the coast line. Every year thousands of dollars’ worth of property is destroyed. Villa sites are washed away, and the sea keeps cn creeping up on the land, to reclaim what it has lost in the past. The waters of Del- aware river and bay are widening yearly also. But these changes are going on s0 gradually and slowly that the geographers hardly notice them. The third map gave an entirely different lew of the situation. It showed the coast it existed in that merry day when the land was from 300 to 400 feet nigher than now. Washington was very far inland. ‘The shore line was about 100 miles east of the present coast. The great bays thot indent the shore were not in existeace, an in their place were large rivers, ably the Susquehanna, with many streams as tributaries. To demonstrate that this process ts al- ternating, Prof. McGee had prepared still another map, showing what existed even before this state of expansion, when the shore line was far in and sadly indented with bays and perfinsulas. He said that the land has risen and fallen more than once, and it has all contributed :v make it the beautiful place it now is. Prof. Powell's Talk. Prof. J. B. Powell, the director of the geographical survey, closed the wlking by a ten-minute chat in somewhat the same line as that of Mr. McGee. He said that when the land is rising in one of these undulations it will sometimes stop and seem to hesitate for a period. The Sus- quehanna river is a remarkable instance of this. It is one of the strangest rivers in the world at the present time. From Harrisburg to the sea it is an anomaly, being shallow, wide, with many rocks jut- ting from tts bed, and yet very swift. “We caught that river,” said Prof. Powell, “just at the very nick of time in one of its little geological oscillations. Only 2 fay or so ago, speaking geologically, it was tilted up, and it has not had time to cut its way out again. It has scoured away ‘he sand from its valley and spread out over the surface, and the rocks are coming up, but it has had no chance to wear ther out, and we must give it an opportumty to — a decent, well-regulated river of it- self. Florida was considered for a few mo- ments, geologically, and it was explained how it is the result of an upheaval of a ridge from the bottom of the ocean, bear- ing on its back the very sand of the bed of the sea. In time some of this saud was swept off from the crest of the ridge to- ward the gulf and the ocean, and thus the peninsula broadened. The sands have piled up on the edges and are very porous, so that the waters falling on the central ridge do not flow clear to the sea, but sink through the sand and take unlerground channels, only to appear near the oc+an as enormous springs, some of them so large that a ship could turn in one of the Then new rivers are born of single springs. After these few stray facts about the m: chinery of this part of the world had been flung out like crumbs to the hunzry Prof. Powell was forced, by the lapse of time, to surrender his place on the platform, and the business meeting was started. Election of Officers. The annual meeting and election of offi cers followed. The report of the secretary, Mr. Cyrus Babb, showed that the present membership was 955, and that the increase had been very large. There had been six deaths during the year. The ea‘ablished death rate was about seventeen per thou- sand. President Gardiner G. Hubbard was unanimously re-elected, as was C. J. Rell for treasurer, Cyrus C. Babb for recording secretary and Miss E. R. Scidmore for cor- responding secretary. Vice presidents were chosen as follows: T. C. Mendenhall for the land section, George W. Melvitle for the sea section, A. W. Greely for the sec- tion on air, C. Hart Merriam for the sec- tion on life, W. B. Powell for the section on geographic art and Henry Gannett for the section on commercial geograp'y. Mar. cus Baker, H. F. Blount, G. K. Gilbert, John Hyde, W. J. McGee, F. H. Newell, Everett Hayden and Edwin Willits were chosen managers, NEW PUBLICATIONS. A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE. By J. R. Green, M. Mlustrated edition. Faited by Mrs. J. R. Green and Miss Kate Norgate. New Yo Harper & Brothers. Washington: Woodward & Lothrop. Three volumes of this most popular his- tory have been placed before the public and the fourth is now in course of prepara- tion. It is a remarkable work. “Short,” only when compared with the more preten- tious histories compiled by more ponderous writers, it is ample in its fullness of treat- ment on all the important subjects, and every phase that, to the general reader, would have semblance of interest. In this respect the history comes near to being unique, for Green alone seems to have pos- sessed the valuable faculty of distinguish- ing between topics that had charms only for the student, and those salient features of English character, the portrayal of which is relished by the average man and woman. The difficult task of thus dis- criminating has been ably carried to satis- factory conclusion by Mrs. Green and Miss Norgate, both of whom have demonstrated their fitness for administering upon the rich estate of information left by the dead historian. The text is materially assisted by a large number of first-class Mlustra- tions, worthy in every respect to be asso- ciated with the clever mental output of the text. THE WORLD'S PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. An illustrated and popular story of the World's First Parliament of Religions, eld in Chicago in connection with the Columbian Exposition of isua. Edited by the Rev. Join Henry Bar- rows, D.D., chairman of the General Committee on Keligious Congresses of the World's Congress Auxiliary. Two volumes. Chicago: The Parlia- ment Publishing Company The religious world and a great deal of the larger world that cannot fairly be termed religious is indebted to Dr. Barrows for the admirable manner in which he has preserved the proceedings of a remarkable gathering—in many respects the most ex- traordinary assemblage in the nineteenth century. From all lands of the earth came delegates. to the Congress, and they dis- cussed religious matters with unbroken har- mony throughout a lengthy series of meet- ings. In the volumes just given to the pub- lic will be found every one of the many addresses delivered, and a great deal of in- formation as to the individuals prominent in the proceedings. Photographs of dele- gates and a number of instructive illustra- tions add to the interest and value of the book. DED!ICATORY AND OPENING CEREMONIES OF THE WORLD'S OOLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. Memorial volume. Historical and_ descriptive. Authorized by bowrd of control. Edited under the direction of the joint committee on cere- mories of the World's Columbian Commission and the World's Columbian Exposition. With Mlustrations. Chicago: Stone, Kastler & Painter, Washington: R. A. Densmore, 628 G st. n.w. This is unquestionably the only world’s fair publication that is fully entftled to be called a souvenir of the greatest of exposi- | tions. It is the official volume and is there- fore as nearly complete as such a work could well be. Not merely an aggregation of White City photographs, nor a repetition of commonplace description, it will be valued more highly as time moves onward. The history of the stupendous enterprise, from inception to finale, is given with admirable clearness; the ceremonies attendant upon the opening and progress are detailed; the men who compelled success are not’ for- gotten. Profusely illustrated, printed in the highest style of typographic art, well bound, it is a book to be desired and possessed. THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH; OR MAID, WIFE AND WIDOW. A matter-of-fact re merce. By Cuaces Reade. Mlustrated from drawings by William Martin Johnson. Two yolumes. New York: Harper Brothers. ‘Washington: Woodward & Lathrop. Artistic beyond an¥ book issued in a sea- son when the arts typographical and illus- trative have been conspicuously prominent in the making of some remarkably good books. The novel itself is too well known to need commendation, but too much could not easily be said of the manner in which it has been presented to the public in this edition. The combinations of type and en- graving are remarkably effective. Two superb volumes. HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE, 1893. New York: Harper & Brothers, Washington: Woodward & One of the best of periodicals for boys and girls. Nicely bound, it is an extremely de- sirable gift-book. MADEMOISELLE Funeral March MISS. To which is added “The f a Marionette,” “The Prodi- Sleeveless Errand” and “A y Heury Harland (Sidney Mi Culpa,” “As It was Yolk: Lovell, “Coryell & THE CURB OF HONOR. By M. Betham-E4- wards, author of “The White House by the Sea," “Kitty,” “Dr. Jacob," “Hal “Tue Rowance of a French The Anglo- New York Company. . EVERYBODY'S GUIDE TO MUSIC. With Mlus- trated chapters ou singing and cultivation of the voice; full and explicit helps to the plano aud organ; complete dictionary of terms. By. Josiah Booth. New York: & Brothers. Washington: Woodward & Lothrop. THE LARGER LIFE. By Henry Austin Adams, M. A. sometrne reetor of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Buffalo, N. ¥., and the Chureb of the Redeemer, New York City. New York: J. Selwin Tait & Sons. TRIUMPHANT DEMOCRACY. Sixty years’ march of the Fepublic Revised edition, based on the census of 1 By Andrew Carnegie. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Washington: Brentano's. A DARING EXPERIMENT AND OTHER STORIES. By Lillie Devereux Binke, author of “Woman' Place Today.” “*Fettered ‘for Life; or Lord and Master," ** " &e. New York: Lovell, Done into English from the Ortoli. By Joel Chandler Uncle Remmus."" Authorized ‘Scribner's Sons. French of Frederic Harris, author of A_ story. +, author of “Captain Polly, tl Farm,"* &c. Mlustrated. TRAVELS IN AMERICA 100 YEARS AGO. Being notes and reminiscerwes by Thomas Twining. One of Harper's Mack and white series. New York: Marper & Brothers. Washington: Wood- tBrop. ward & Lol THE COURT OF LOUIS XV._ By Imbert De Saint- Armand. Translated by Elizabeth Gilbert Mar- tin, With portraits. Yew York: Charles Scrib- ner’s Sons. Washinetcn: Brentano's. LETTERS OF TRAVEL. By Phillips Brooks. late bishop of Massachusctts, New York: E. P. Duttoa & Co. Washington: Wm. Ballantyne A MOTTO CHANGED. A novel. By Jean Ingelow. New York ar & Brothers. Washing:on: Woodward & Lothrop. ee ESSAYS IN IDLENESS. By ton: Houghton, Miffin Robert Beall. ELSIE AND OTHER POEMS. By Robert Beverly Hale, Boston: R. B. Hale & Co. THE CHRISTIAN YEAR KALENDAR, 1894 Ni York: The Church Kalendar Company. id LONGFELLOW CALENDAR FOR 1894. ing- ton: Wm. Ballantyne & Sons. — Written for The Evening Star. Hope. When the purple shades of evening Kiss the gloomy brow of night, While the countless stars in heaven Smile and tremble at the sight: When the moon far in the distance, Throws a misty veil o'er all, And the waves upon the seashore Sigh and murmur as they fall: Tender thoughts once more steal o'er me, Vanished memories of the past; Dreams that perished in the springtime, Far too beantiful to last. All alone upon the seashore In this well remembered scene. Steals again the vanished love dream Of the past, “that might have been.”* Love is dead and Ife is weary, Anguished thoughts o'erflow my soul; Rogeed ts the way and dreary That will lead me to the goal. Sleeps the earth beneath the heavens, Canopied by robes of night, ‘Twinkling through ber gauzy garments Softly gleam the stars of lgbt. Once again sweet dreams enfold me, Sad but tender thoughts arise, ‘Till the ashes of the dead past Float like Incense to the skies. Yet rosy through the clouds of sorrow, Reams a scintillating star, Over years of restless longing Shines the light of hope afar. ~—MARIE G. MOORE. =———————————— NEW_ PUBLICATIONS. STATES. PHILOSOPHY, STATES BOONOMT A AND FINANCES, iv one volume of 100 pages, b; Ignatius Batory of. Baltimore. tor s Agnes Repplicr. Bos- & Co. Washington: ERENTANO'S, 11th and Pa. ave. EPILEPSY. EPILEPSY. KPILEPSY, An account cf the only rational mode of treat- ‘Adéress ment. Pamphlet edition, 10c. Dr. WILL TAMSON, New London, Cons. @2i-im més,3m for sale at) 64-més,: |Anton Fischer, Save Money This Year. ‘We will belp you. Look at these money- saving items: FAMOUS CHRISTY BREAD KNIVES, Seizes in set, Worth 750. ....- seseseseee- B58 Stock Taking Sale of Stoves **Enterprise” Oil Cooking end Heating Stoves (with drum). Were @2.60. Now @S. “*Bunshine” Gas-heating Stoves Now $2.25. Covered Ash Sifters Now 6c. Each. Japanned Coal Hods Now 20c. Each. nn Galvanized Coal Hods Now 27c. Each. Barber & Ross, BUILDERS’ HARDWARE, CUTLERY, GAS FIX- TURES, MANTELA, (Cor. uth and G Sts. If You Are Married pets you need. We'll Furnish HAMMOTH GREDIT NOUSE, 819, 821, 823 7TH ST. N.W., BET. H AND I 873. 2 We close EVERY evening ot 7. Special January Sale of 78c. Corsets Worth $1 and $1.25 Only 78c. Pair. Whelan’s, 1003 Fst KIMON NICOLAIDES’ SARATOGA JAPANESE EMPORIUM. KURIOUS KURIOS —from old Japan and Chins, such as Rare Urns, Vases, Punch Bowls, Lac- quered Ware, Screens, etc., ete., dll thelr great costliness and beauty. But everything in Brie-a- Brac that would attract people of high taste fs here. You are in vited to come and go when you please. Buy when you feel like it. 1205 F st. Closing Out Everything At Cost Except “Diamonds,” Rings & Watches. Jacobs Bros., DIAMOND IMPORTFRS, 1229 Penna. Ave. ne Bunions Cured Without the use of @ knife by Prof. 3. 3. GEORG! & SOX, Chiropodists, yeriors 1115 Pa. ave. ow. Hours, 8 au. to € p.m. Sup- Aaya, 9 to 1. 430 Soiled Gowns Are Cleaned —equal to “new"’ HERE. By our matchlens pro. cess the = ng fabrics are to please most stidious without injury. Called for and 7 Keasonal — ad 34 Pa ave ak delivered. ble 906 G ST. X.