Evening Star Newspaper, February 10, 1894, Page 15

: THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1894-TWENTY PAGES. “THE OWLS.” AMONG THE SILENT Social Life at the Deaf Mute Col- lege, THE STODENTS HAVE A HAPPY TIME, For There is a Deal of Quiet Fun. CREMATION OF MECHANICS Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. OCIAL LIFE AT A college for the deaf and dumb—it must be @ very slow kind of lifer’ is often ex- claimed by people who know nothing whatever of the place and its inhabitants. Then those who do know. hasten to as- sure them that they have spent some of the most pleasant times of their life among the students of the college, and that they have as many ways of entertaining themselves and their friends, more fortu- nate than they, as the students of any college. To many this institution is known as Kendall Green—and as one looks around at the beautiful grounds, and the lawns and the trees of the most beautiful emerald this country knows, they agree that the place is fitly named. It seems like a little settlement in itself; and, socially, they are so strong that they need not go outside to look for more entertainment and social in- tercourse; but as they are not selfish and try to make it pleasant for visitors from outside, others have a chance to know that theirs is not a still life by any means. Most of the faculty reside on the grounds in spacious houses built for their occu- pancy. Very few of the faculty are deaf, and se they live in two worlds, the one of signs and the one we know. A great many of the students are able to speak fairly, so if one from the hearing world has their alphabet well learned, very little difficulty is experienced. Many, it is true, carry on conversation by means of a tablet and pencil, but, as I heard someone say, “It is as much a shame for one who moves in this cirele to neglect learning their sign alphabet, at least, as it is for one to live among or associate with people and not strive to know something of their lan- guage.” The deaf, as a rule, are apt to “make faces” at the same time they make signs— to emphasize, as it were, what they are saying. It is something that is criticised so severely that eventually, even if their speech is not loosened or their hearing im- proved, they can at least be graceful in speech among their own kind. One even- ing 1 had the pleasure of attending a meet- ing of “The Lit,” or to be more explicit, a society of students formed with the object to improve themselves in literature, oratory and debate. Outsiders are seldom admitted to these meetings, but I was especially for- tunaie in being invited by the president of emaiion of Mechanies. of @ young man who was not to- y deaf and who could speak almost with- hesitation. He acted as interpreter out and kept his guests informed as to the pro- end the criticisms which were pass- the critic after the program was concluded. When the critic was in the midst cf his task an explosion of laughter and a young man who had 1 a debate on “The opening vrid’s fair on Sanday,” looked very e the Knight of the Rueful Coun- makes such awful faces,” r, “and he does; he has been critic! e and time again, but it Seems to do littie good.” That evening one young man re- Cited an o1 nal peem, and it was the first ought home so clear to me, of poetry of motion. pleasure to watch him, and pts as to whether one could rized so. i of the first term the juniors fun at the expense of their of mechanics. They cremate were invited to their exercises in . one time, and the note of invi- ible, we should wear vould appreciate our we seemed in sympathy sm At the e ¥ th tion as this last an- mt caused the girls who were in- I haven't a black gown to imed one gizl. * replied her girl friend, ar it.” will be invited to a college a coliege widow,” ironically the destitute girl, But she man- fix up a costume. During the pro- friend tried all his persuasive pow- uce her to take off her coat, teil- vuld not feel the good of it But she would not Never!” ing like this: A. D. MDC loria mundi!” bsequies. r f mour: of ceremonies er. torch bearers and pail bearers. % furnished gratis by the usher If you wish to wee The w mourners did weep x It was enough to cause onions to The oration was the great family sinaliy came from Tee was heartrend- who delivered it is a born a cr shed their si of 3 s Mechanicsvilie ing. The student actor, and his face was so solemn, as he The ¢ jould own at least one} knows when she will | let waist beneath the | after she took such | enacted his part, that ft had the effect of making the audience almost hysterical. After the program in the lyceum was con- cluded, the mourners repaired to the college campus with the coffin, while the guests watched from the windows their antics, as eS’ danced and pranced and yelled around @ huge bonfire, which threw fantastic shadows on the college walls and almost made one forget the silver moon, which shed its rays over the college ground that night. Damb Players. | The students have a theatrical organiza- j tion under the name of the Saturday | Night Club. About three times during the | Year they invite their friends from outside | to witness these plays. Their manage- ; Ment, as a rule, is excellent, and shows great painstaking. In these plays (as in all exercises to which outsiders are invited) some one famillar with the sign language and able to speak is on hand to interpret. Sometimes a great deal is left to the im- agination of the hearing part of the audi+ j epee; but if it is the version of a well- ; Known piay or book that is rendered all seems plain, if one is on the alert to watch the motions of the players. Big hats, so much condemned by the ordinary theater- goer, are especially out of piace on such occasions. The pantomimes presented by this club have been stars of their kind, and have caused old as well as young to wipe the tears of laughter from their eyes. The club has presented some heavy plays, like | Rip Van Winkie, the Courtship of Miles | Standish and Pygmalion and Galatea, but | the opinion of many ‘is that they excel in | comic productions, and would do well to adhere to the playing of such. Rip Van | Winkle seemed to be a dismal failure. The accessories and acting were good, but the | play was an example of “sweetness long | drawn out.” The college clock boomed out the hour of 11, and old Rip had not yet gone up the mountain, and, of course, had not taken that sleep of twenty years. I shave often wondered how long that play lasted, but when I speak of it to any of the students who were present they smile knowingly, but do not reveal anything. It was the nearest to the interludes, so fam- ous in the history of literature, that I have ever witnessed. Another way they entertain their outside friends is by their exhibitions, held in their magnificent gymnasium. On the night of the annual exhibition, held usually in Feb- ruary, contests are in order. At the con- clusion of the program the genial presi- dent, who is a boy with the boys, on such ms presents the prizes. Pygmalion and Galatea. ‘The gymnasium is situated in a charming green spot, a little apart from the main buildings and the homes of the faculty. On the lower floor of the building are the im- mense swimming pool and the bowling al- ley, on the upper floor are the main gym- nasium and the visitors’ gallery. The muscle developed in the “gym” shows itself when the hills around the college are covered with deep snow. It is then the young men and the young women enjoy the pleasure of coasting. We do not have coasting often here, but when we have it, we make good use of it. To the east of the coliege grounds is an estate known as Brentwood, and Brentwood presents a fine hill which is dearly beloved in times like this, and in years after for memories it brings of college coasting. As this hill overlooks the city of Washington and shows it lying like a cup in the circle of low hills which surround it, it is a beauti- ful sight to rest once in awhile from all the frolic and watch the thousands of dif- ferent colored lights that gleam beyond and then to take the mind a little back to the woods beyond where the wind is howl- ing like furies. Sometimes the college clock booms out 11 before the students and their friends can tear themselves away from the coasting. As a rule, the young ladies of the college are not allowed to be out at night, but on such an occasion as this they are chaper- ened by some of the teachers, and go in for fun like the boys. The fairer sex are greatly in the minori- ty at the college, as it was only lately that women were allowed to enter the high college here. These young women do not have as many ways of amusing them- selves as the men, but their pet society, called “The Owls,” seems to scout the idea that they never bother their minds about such trivial matters. Besides entertaining the outside world, the students have pleasure clubs among themselves. The close-clipped green lawns are the finest one could wish for tennis playing, and any evening in fall or spring the “tennis fiends” can be seen at work. The good roads in and around Washington have induced a bieycle club to be formed. Then they have their literary clubs, their secret societies—some of the latter, I imag- ine, are intended to take the conceit out of the freshmen, just as is done at other col- leges, only in a milder form. Their fine foot ball team also has succeeded very often with local and other teams. The college pos- sesses a fine field, and it would be & favor- ite place to hold a great many more match- es than it does, if it were not for the fact that it is forbidden to charge a fee for any- thing given on the grounds. > | During the Easter holidays a party starts from the college, with tents and camping Paraphernalia In huge wagons, and camps along the picturesque banks of the Upper Potomac. They say that they employ their time in eating, sleeping, washing and fish- ; ins. As it is scarcely mild enough at that season to discard heavy clothing, their | baths under bridges, where the water rushes cold and clear, must be in the line of herole treatment. | After the Easter holidays are over they | settle down to study again and look forward anxiously to preseatation day, so called be- cause the degrees are presented on that day, and to the seniors’ ball, which follows close on. On presentation day, as a rule, the grounds and buildings seem to gather all the sunshine and the green in the universe about them. It is seldom cloudy on that eventful day In early May, and the large and distinguished audience that flocks to the commencement ts more than charmed with the beauties of the place, A few nights later the seniors are tendered a ball by the undergraduates. The ball is usually held in the gymnasium, where the bright lights reflect gaily onthe highly waxed floors and the flowers and the buff and blue—the college colors—with which the hall is decorated. What memories cling around those college balls! The music is ex. cellent, the programs tasty, the partners charming; then that lovely walk through | the green grounds over to the main build- ing, where the supper is served in the stu- dents’ dining room at midnight. Do the students dance? Of course they do, and well, too. Many of them have attended dancing schools in the city and have profited by it. They say that they can feel the music by vibration and that is how they keep time. * After the excitement of presentation day and the ball is over they give a farewell Picnic; then a little more study ts in order. At last they pack their trunks and scatter to their homes, in all parts of the United States, from Maine to nia, some to return next year and resume their studies, others to work their way in the world. Then, only then, is Kendall Green deserted and devoid of life. CATHERINE FRANCES CAVANAGH. prstentasae Apeaaenty TREMORS OF THE EARTH. Some Great Quakes Which Have Felt in the United States. “There have been three great earth- quakes in the United States during the present century,” said Prof. Gilbert, the geologist, to a writer for The Star. “One that was very remarkable occurred in 1S11 and 1812 near the head of the delta of the Mississippi. It embraced a number of se- vere shocks at short intervals during sev- eral months. In fact, the disturbance last- ed for about two years. The ground was moved in visible waves, by which the trees of the forests were rocked and in some cases uprooted, their branches being so en- tangled that it was impossible to separate them. “Great cracks in the earth yawned and closed again at each shock, while from the fissures mud was thrown into the air so violently as to lodge in the branches of trees. Some lakes were drained by the es- cape of their water into the chasms which were opened, while others were created by the sinking of the land. e great sunken area thus produced was 80 miles long by 35 miles broad. In California. “The other two big quakes to which I re- fer occurred so lately as to be remembered by the present generation. One of them happened in the Inyo valley of California. It was caused by a renewed movement on what we geologists would call a great fault- plane at the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada mountains. In that part of the world there is extensive ‘faulting’ in the structure of the mountain ranges, each range consisting of one or more huge blocks of rock bounded by faults and lifted above its neighbors. A fault is made by the sink- ing of one mass of rock in such a manner as to change the relation of its elevation to that of a mass adjoining. “The creation of such faults is often in- cidental to earthquakes. A renewed move- ment along the great fault line of the Inyo valley, in 1872, produced a tremendous seis- mic disturbance. The shocks continued for fourteen months. Great fissures were form- ed along the base of the mountain range tor a distance of forty miles, the land west of the fault rising and east of it falling several feet. A fence was parted for a dis- tance of fourteen feet in one spot. Owens river was temporarily swallowed ap, and numerous other phenomena excited the as- tonishment and alarm of observers. The Charleston Earthquake. “The memory of the Charleston earth- quake of 1886 is yet vivid. The focus of the disturbance was about fifteen miles west of the city. Numerous big cracks opened in the earth of the surrounding country, Water and mud were thrown up, and railway tracks were dislocated and buckled. The first great shock lasted for about a minute, others following with gradually decreasing violence. At the end of four weeks they ceased to be destructive. but tremors were felt occasionally for sev- eral months. Twenty-seven people were killed outright. What the Seismograph Shows. “The invention of the delicate recording instrument called the ‘selsmograph’ has revealed the fact that earthquakes are far more numerous and frequent than used to be imagined. In some parts of the world feeble shocks occur almost daily. Probably there is no part of the earth where they cannot be detected at short intervals. One of the most remarkable quakes of this century took place in Chile in 1823. On that occasion several hundred miles of the coast were lifted a number of feet. It has been reckoned that enough rock was thus ele- vated to make a mountain the size of Mount Etni “The Charieston earthquake was felt dis- tinctly at a distance of #00 miles. A com: parison of time showed that the shock traveled at the rate of 17,000 feet a second. ‘The fissures in the earth’s crust, which are among the most terrifying of seismic phe- nomena, must be of great depth sometimes, though nobody has ever tried to fathom them. They have been known to swallow rivers for days without being filled up. Se- vere shocks are commonly accompanied by sounds like explosions near or distant. Quakes under the si produce waves on the surface like those created by a pebble thrown into a pool, and sometimes such waves rush up on the land, doing a great deal of damage. “There has been much dispute as to the causes of earthquakes. They are often as- sociated with volcanic phenomena. When the lava of a volcano contains much water, the latter is converted into steam and pro- duces explosions which jar the ground for miles. The explosion of the great mine at Hell Gate, in New York, occasioned trem- blings of the earth which were observed 175 miles away.” en WHY WILLIE WAS SO FAT. The Doctor Fo a Remedy for the Trouble Right Away. “People have been telling me for a long while that my boy Willie was getting too fat,” said Mrs. Peyton to a friend of hers yesterday. “I paid no special attention to such remarks, because foolish persons have a way of telling you that you are getting fatter or thinner. They seem to enjoy in- dulging in that sort of personalities. “But, one morning last week, when Willie sat down to breakfast, I was suddenly struck with the fact that he was certainly becoming fatter. One does not observe changes that take place in members of one’s own family. If they are altering in any respect they do it so gradually that one does not take notice. But Willie was unquestionably growing fat. “As he was engaged in consuming a plate of buckwheat cakes I gazed upon him crit- ieally and found myself becoming alarmed. He seemed fo swell visibly before my eyes. His very cheeks were puffed out to such an abnormal extent as to make his mouth leok like a mere pucker. That, however, did not interfere apparently with his con- sumption of the buckwheats. At length I said: Willie, I am afraid you eat entirely too much!" “‘Why, mamma?’ he asked. “‘Because you are getting too fat. I feel so worried about it that I am going to take you to see the doctor this very merning.” “I took him to see the doctor, and ex- plained to him my alarm. My grandfather, I told him, had died of apoplexy, which, as I understood, was a complaint that was likely to attack stout people. Was there not, I inquired, some anti-fat medicine which would make Willie thinner? “The doctor looked Willie over carefully, punched him in the cheeks and in the stomach with his forefinger, looked at his tongue, and asked him how he felt. Willie explained that he did not feel particularly well. I said that I supposed it might be indigestion from eating so many buckwheat cakes. “‘No, madam,’ said the doctor. not indigestion; it is the mumps. him this medicine for three da: keep him in the house, and this appearance of fat- ness which has alarmed you will depart.’ ‘It is — ee We Draw the Line. From Life. Oh, we sigh to taste some coffee like our mothers used to make, And we yearn to get a slice of bread like that they used to bake; But it may be we're ungrateful, yet we're sure we do not care To feel once more a slipper like our mothers used to wear. w it Boots Itt From Life. (A BURDEN OF PAPER Question of How to Dispose of Old Money Orders. CANNOT AFFORD 0 DESTROY THEM Some Odd Swindles Perpetrated by Postmasters. pes eS ees POST OFFICE SUPPLIES Written for The Evening Star. HAT IS UNCLE Sam going to do with all the old money or- ders? They have been accumulating on his hands for nearly thirty years, and not one of them has he ever destroyed. More than two Dillion dol- lars’ worth of them in value originally represented are now stored away in the various buildings be- longing to the Post Office Department at Washington, occupying thousands of cubic feet of precious space. To hold them all would require several ordinary-sized houses, and still they continue to pile up. It is the Same way with many million dollars’ worth of postal notes. Inasmuch as they are vouchers for money paid out, it would hard- ly do to burn them. The government, in relation to the money order system, acts as @ sort of trust company. Citizens place their cash in its hands, .and the canceled orders are evidence of the fulfillment of the trust. Besides, things are constantly happening which render it necessary to refer to the back-number orders. A man writes to the department, saying: “I am the adminis- trator of the estate of John Jones. Among his private papers I huve found certain money orders, dated some years bick. Please send duplicates, in order that I may cash them.” Now, it frequently happens that the orders discovered in such ways are from ten to twenty years old. By turn- ing to the files it can be ascertained in a moment whether these securities have been redeemed or not. . Or perhaps William Smith will write:“Two years ago James Robinson of Podunk sent me a money order for $W. I did not re- celve it. Kindly furnish me with a dupli- cate.” The order referred to is looked up and found in the files canceled, bearing William Smith's signature to the receipt. Smith, on being informed of this fact, de- clares the signature a forgery. A post of- fice detective is then put on the case and investigates it. May be he decides that Smith's claim is good; but since the money order system was founded in 1885 there have not been more than 200 cases of for- gery of this description. When a money order is missing, a dupli- cate can always be obtained. Three hun- dred such duplicates are issued by the de- partment at Washington every day, on an average. The originals disappear in all sorts of curious ways. Farmers, through mistake, frequently keep them as receipts, instead of forwarding them through the malls. After awhile the unsophisticated agriculturist is dunned for payment by the keeper of a store in a neighboring town. “Why,” he says, “I sent you the money by post some time ago, and here is the re- ceipt in my pocket.” With that he exhibits the money order. But it often happens that the payee, learning that cash awaits him at the post othce, applies for a dupli- cate. Rallway postal clerks sometimes steal letters and find money orders in them. To get rid of them, they burn them. Then the ewners ask fur duplicates. Counterfeiting Orders. In the history of the money order sys- tem only two insiances of the counterfeit- ing of these securities have been recorded. ‘The first and more remarkable case was in 1873. John N. Young, who had been employ- ed in the money order division of the Chi- cago post office, thought that he had dis- covered a way to get rich easily. His scheme, being without precedent, might have been fairly sucessful, if he had work- ed it skillfully; but he carried it out very clumsily indeed. For $0 he hired a drunken printer to set up type for an imitation of the regular money order biank. This was not difticult, inasmuch as the kind of blank used by the department has always been severely simple. However, the type setting ‘was so badiy done as to call uttention al- most immediately to the fraud. Nevertheiess, the swindler managed to obtain cash for a number of his orders. They were for $50 each—the maximum al- lowed at that time. All of them bore the stamp of Oshkosh, Wis. They were to be paid to fictitious names in Indianapolis, Springfield (1il.) and other cities. Young managed to steal a number of official en- velopes and “advice blanks” to help out his game, but he had none of the regular post office stamps, and so was obliged to employ pe caegd se stamps for mailing his letters of advice to postmasters. This was calculated to excite attention. The rogue applied for the money at the different post offices under the fictitious names which he had empolyed. He would have been caught in Cincinnati, but the postmaster, who had been warned in ad- vance from Washington, stupidly let him get away when he presented his bogus or- ders, telling him to call again. Of course he did not_come back. Finally he was caught in Florida. On his way north he jumped from the train, but was subse- quently recaptured and eventually landed in the penitentiary. The docket of papers embracing the history of this case at the Post Office Department here includes a let- ter from his wife, which is one of the most pathetic bits of writing imaginable. She is so evidently a lady, though united in mar- riage to this scoundrel, whom she has tried her best to make something out of. Her jd is hopeless, but she still clings to im. To Beat the System, Among the 65,000 postmasters in the United States are a good many dishonest ones, of course. Such men are continually trying to beat the money order system. As a rule, each one imagines that he has hit upon a new trick which is not likely to be discovered. Perhaps the most common swindle attempted is to falsify the accounts. For example, a postmaster will sell an or- der for $3. In his memorandum of the transaction, included in the reckoning which he sends to the department at Wash- ington, he sets down the amount as $6. This leaves him $90 ahead, and some time may elapse before the falsification is dis- covered. However, it is sure to be found out when the original order for $96 is com- pared with the item of $6 put down in his account, and he is called on immediately to rectify the discrepancy. Postmasters frequently get into trouble over their money order accounts without any dishonest intention. Most of them are poor men and are apt to be pecuniarily strap- ped at times. For instance, the functionary in control of the mails at Snoopstown, Ohio, who keeps a country store, owes a bill of $500 for goods to a concern in New York city. The firm in question having failed to get its money by dunning letters threatens to swoop down upon the delin- quent with a suit at law. The situation being desperate the debtor quiets his im- patient creditor by simply forwarding a money order for the amount due. This plan, though productive of temporary re- pose, is rather hazardous. The post office inspector may happen fn at any time, and, if the deficit has not been made up, trouble follows. The most clever and successful scheme for cheating the money order system was prac. iced in 1887 by a postmaster in Idaho. He ook his book of blank money orders, and. having chosen a fictitious name,drew orders under that name in favor of various banks in adjacent states and territories. His ad- vices corresponding to these orders were signed with his real name as postmaster. en he wrote a letter to each bank, signed with the false name, saying that he had drawn orders in their favor because he had expected to be traveling through their towns and to be able to collect the cash thus deposited. Would the banks be kind enough to collect the money and remit it by registered letter to a certain post office (mentioning a post office not far trom his own, which received all of its registered mail through his own office). The pian, down to the last detail, was car- ried out with artistic completen To make it perfect, he appended in each case to the fictitious letter his own certificate postmaster that the bogus person was the genuine remitter. The ‘8, not suspect- ing anything wrong, collected the money and forwarded it to the address given.. As the letters passed through his post office, the postmaster gobbled them, making the fraud complete and apparently leaving no trace of the transaction. Of course, the — was sure ep aye vio ally at Washington. it, in the meanwhile, he secured about $20,000 and fled to Canada. He was extradited on a charge of technical forgery and got five years in the penitenti- ary. A Solid Bank. Actors, and particularly circus people, utilize the money order system as & bank- ing and 3afe-deposit concern. While travel- ing about the country, for example, a player will buy one of these securities for $100, drawn on New York, makiag himseif~ the payee. Thus he puts away the sam in a place where nobody else can possibly get it. Before the year is out he muy draw the money and buy aaother postal order with it and so on, in this way keeping the cuth se- cure for an inde‘ini Jf he should get on a spree he vaunot be robbed. He may lose the orler, bur it is easy to precure a duplicate, The whole of a great brick builditrg back of the Post Oitice Deparsment here !s de- voted to the keeping of money créer ac- counts. A vastly elaborate s;atem of checks is employed, so that no mistake can fail to be detected. Errors in the reckonings sent in by postmasters are so frequent that cor- rect statements may be said to be excep- tional. Eventually the original securities are filed away in the order of their consecu- tive numbers, so that any among all the millions of them that ai cumulated can be referred to at a moment's notice. In addition to the domestic business, accounts are kept for money orders exchanged with thirty-two other countries. New York is the clearing house tor the international money orders, and it is there that balances are settled with foreign nations on this ac- count by drafts. Six Tons a Day. All the suppites required by the 2,000 Post offices in this country are furnished from Washington. Thes2 post o'licés re- quire six tons of staiisnery every working day. They consume 25,10) pounds of jute wrapping twine every week. tvine comes in balla, and, according to contract, each ball has tour ‘nches of string sticking out of its iniddle, Thus empioyes are in- duced to start unwrapping from that end. IN WINTER'S CHILL Formerly they were as apt as not 10 begin with the wrong extremity, winding up with a tangle, so that a quarter of each ball on an average was wasted. The 65,000 post offices use up 100 reams of manila paper blanks every day. One of these is put on the outside of every pack- age of letters sent out from post offices, bearing the name of the sending post of- fice, the date, &c. Half a million lead pen- ells are consumed annually in Uncle Sam's posta! service, as well as 7,200 quarts of wsciiage 1,500 quarts of ink, 10,000 pounds of rub! bands and 12,000 gross of pens. The pens alone cost $5,000 every twelve- month. For making postmarks 28,000 ink pads and 30,000 pounds of stamping ink per annum are required. Six million cards are used every year for register letter receipts. Weighing scales for mail are an expense to the government of $9,000 every year, 200 a week being nceded to those which are worn out, broken, or burned up with post offices. An Interesting Theft. A good many registered letters have been stolen lately by train robbers. Those enter- prising bandits usually go straight for the registered pouch when they tackle the mail car. One of the most interesting thefts of such valuable postal matter occurred in Texas a few years ago. The pouch was robbed again and again between a certain small town and an army post 125 miles dis- tant. The distance was traversed by ten stage coaches, each of which did a portion of the.way. The difficulty was to find out at what stage of the journey the robbery was committed. One puzzling element of the oe ae ae =~ ion pouch always reached its destination lock appar- ently intact. as ‘Two post office detectives were put on the case. They suspected one Hank Smith, be- cause he was the only driver who ed to be on duty on every one of the occasions when the pouch was robbed. They shad- owed him and found that he was accus- tomed, when off duty, to spend his time at a town across the Mexican border, dissipa- ting wildly and spending as much as $150 a night in galety. His stage route lay across a lava desert, utterly desolate and unin- habited. Search disclosed a lot of torn let- ters and envelopes by the roadside, together with some broken locks. When Smii was arrested, three or four new locks of the same kind were found in his pocket, He had stolen the locks, and his method had been to smash the lock of the mail pouches, snapping a fresh one on after robbing the bag. He got three years in prison. For the reason that a good many lost keys get around after a while, all of the locks of Uncle Sam’s mail bags are once in eight years. Mr. Wanamaker made over 250,000 locks, merely to render them different. The work cost 6 3-4 cents for each lock. As fast as mail sacks wear out they are forwarded to Washington. Here more than 100 women are constantly engaged in mending them. Edch bag ts inspected by a man who is the only person in the United States with whom the decision les as to when a mail sack is worn out and shall be used no longer. The last touch to each mended sack is put by a blind woman, who puts a drawing string through it. Sacks that are past mending are utilized for patch- es. In the same building are made all of the little money bags in which postmasters send coin through the mails. Imitating Stamps. Uncle Sam’s postage stamps are not counterfeited. The business would not pay. A few years ago there was a big dealer in New York who manufactured imitations of foreign stamps on a large scale. He sold millions of them, advertising enormousty, and even going so far as to invent a certain foreign stamp, in order that it might be sold as a great rarity. But the law against obtaining money on false pretenses has been applied to the suppression of that sort of swindle. As high as $1,000 has been paid for a sin- gle postage stamp. ‘The gredtest collection in the world is owned by the multi-million- aire, Ferrary, and is worth $50u.0uU—that 1s to say, {t would bring that amount at auc- tion tomorrow. The collection of Baron Rothschild has been appraised at #20U,vUU. These and one other in possession of an English millionaire ramed Tapeling are the three great collections of the world. it cannot be said that money spent in this way is unproductive, inasmuch as stamps are continually increasing in value. Hare stamps have doubled in value in the last elght years. ‘here are gt present about 1,000 stamp merchants in the United States, doing business on a capital of all the way from $100 to $100,000, The Russian postage stamps are the most beautiful in the world, being printed in water colors, but they will not wash. ‘Ihe stamp of Victoria for £10 sterling is the highest denomination employed for postal service. It 1s used to carry gold dust. Some of the Australian stamps have round holes punched through them. This means that the letters they were attached to were mailed by convicts. Heligoland is the only country that prints the denominations on its stamps in two languages—English and Ger- man. Cashmere prints its stamps in water colors from ivory. When wet the tints run badly. RENS BACHE, rier ‘When They Are Failures. From Puck. Mrs. Strongmynd (clinching an argument) —So, you see, some marriages are merely business partnerships! Mr. Wratts—Yes; that kind generally go into the hands of a divorce court judge as receiver. coe Romana Pu From Life. The Season of Flowers in This City Still Holds Sway. CHRYSANTEEAOMS, PINKS AND VIOLETS On the Street Corners and in the Brilliant Reception Rooms. A WASHINGTON CUSTOM One of the features of Washington that strikes the winter visitor as being as char- acteristic in its way as the Capitol or the monument is the quantity of fowers,which January or February though it be, are visible on all hands. They monopolize big spaces in the markets, where they are surrounded by admiring femininity, greatly to the chagrin, no doubt, of the blossoms’ homely neighbors, the deserving vegetables, and the worthy capons, who are thus de- prived, in a measure, of the full attention otherwise given them. They are vended on the streets, while bouquets of them, procured from one or the other of these sources, adorn the outer sills of most of the windows,whither they have been placed to preserve their freshness in the winter air of the capital city, which is oftener ecol than cold. Two causes have conspired’to produce the particular paradox here seen of flowers and winter, the first of which is the numer- ous green houses that have sprung up all about in answer to the immense demand for flowers by official society—a custom for which the White House is said to have been in the beginning responsible, since equipped as it is with its own large private conservatories, end having in addition the entire sweet contents of the govern- ment hot houses at its beck and call, the first ladies of the land, for many reigns back, have been abie to set shining ex- amples of prodigality in floral adornment, so that now it is by no means uncommon for the flower dollars. The other reason for the profusion of wers seen 43 the temperature of the cold season, which, if not genial, is at least kind enough in the main not to frost- bite the blossoms’ delicate petals, even when fully exposed to it. ‘They Open the Senson. As a result, Washington, in the time of its leafiess trees, deserted parks and occa- sional snows, has a distinct flower period, which is inaugurated in November with great pomp and circumstance by the annual arrival of the chrysanthemum, bushels of which then wander up and down the streets in quest of purchasers, propelled in their peregrinations by small colored boys, whose unflowerlike faces form admirable foils for their wares. As chrysanthemums ebb, the glowing, spicy tide of carnation pinks begin to set in, for if any one imagines that winter here has not its distinct blossomy as well as summer, and that di! it species of flowers do not now succeed each other, even as in the longer summer days of the year lilacs follow arbu' roses Mlacs and pond lilies succeed them all, let him note the fair jon a few weeks and he will be of his error. Not that no other flower is seen in the reigning blossom’s company, for high-priced roses, waxy yacinths and golden daffo- dils are all here; but they are in the mi- nority, and seem indeed only as garnishes to the floral piece de resistance t is at the time being served up. The third and last season is violet time, when great trays of these flowers carried in the arms, or upborne.on the heads of their sales-people, are scattered at close intervals along the desert of pevement, like so many ——. oases, giving joy to the sight and scent to weary are everywhere in fact—at the doors of theaters on matinee days, around the hotel entrances, at the street railway transfer and they are irresistible in their invitations to be bought is evidenced by the fact that surely must have either lost or left their pocket books at home. As It is Japan. This unvarying succession of certain flowers, winter after winter, quite reminds one of the Japanese year, which is divided into six flower seasons—the time of the blossoming of the camellia, the flowering of the plum, the cherry, the wisteria, the lotus and lastly the chrysanthemum— epochs to which they refer as commonly as do we to spring, summer, autumn and winter. Just now the season that everybody loves best—violet time—is here again, and it is discoverable upon reflection that this uni- versal admiration for the violet has weil- grounded reasons for its existence, for the fragrant little flower is attractive in three distinct wi it revives a picturesque past, since it is the flower of Napoleon; it prophe- cles a happy future, for every pedestrian who buys a bunch knows that the next blossom vended og the streets will be the dainty arbutus of the Virginia woods, and in consequence can already see in his mind's eye the crocus, amethyst and gold the brown mold of the parks, and the forsythia bushes glowing beside them like bunches of sunshine; while its perfume renders it intrinsically attrac- tive, fragrance being to a flower what a beautiful character is to a person, and the violet along with the little inconspicuous mignonette being hence better loved, and more extensively cultivated than many of its showy, scentless sisters, like the tulips. Even the stony hearted Napoleon had one tender spot, that this sweet little double blue flower, which alike with him was a native of Corsica, had found and kept; and the stern, unflinching nature that could unhesitatingly sacrifice regiments of his own men, if the need came, as when in reply to a messen; who said: “4 a . C e cannot combine with Gen. Junot because of the dreadful fire of the Austrian battery,” responded: “Let him carry the battery.” “But, sire, every iment that ap- proaches the heavy artillery is sacrificed. Sire, what orders?” “Forward, forward. This man would soften at the sight of a violet. “They make me think of home,” he sald one day when as yet only a young officer of the French army he bought a bunch from’a passing flower girl. The Message of the Violet. “Stay! I have an idea,” replied Barras, one of the leaders of the revolutionists, with whom he was at the moment confer- ring. “Go to the salon of Madame Tallien, and if I succeed for you, she shall send you a violet.” It was at the stormy epoch in French history, when the liberal party was threat- ened with overthrow, and a leader of their troops was needed. It had been proposed that Napoleon, who, although not unknown to military fame, was only twenty-five years old, should assume that important post. The elder statesmen had shaken their grizzled heads and said: “What! has it come to this, that France's destiny lies in the hands of a youth of five and twenty?” “I am perfectly aware of the difficulties in the path,” returned the young man, in answer to their demurs, and to the presi- dent of the convention's question, as to whether he could restore peace and order, “but,” proudly, “I am accustomed to suc- ceed. One thing, though, I must insist upon, and that is that I am not to be em- barrassed by orders, I must have supreme command.” And bowing low to the Peo- ple’s representatives, the little pale man. but five feet two in stature, with gray brown eyes, and hair combed low on his forehead, like a woman's, left the room. Following Barras’ suggestion, he ty. Alone he paced the long room. It w seven; then half past: then eight. Finally the tall clock in the hall chimed nine. At its last stroke a servant entered the room with a note. “For Gen. Bonaparte.” He opened it, and out fell the tiny violet, weighted with its great message. History from thence tells how the choice of the convention was never regretted; how a few months later when it was in ses- sion In the Tuileries, the national guard, thirty thousand strong, was routed and dispersed by a terrible cannonade directed by the young artillery officer; of his conse- quent elevation to the command of the a i Li ® EE Ha es F i | fe i i Ag u pr : H | iy ii i 5 § i | 3 g E i F | i | [ ill j it i H HH §3 i Fe li 5 4 5 e ALA 8 i i] i I i | & g i E I ai i i i | gardens, till the the lavishness and ! & i i 32 3 i E : 3 : f Deep Sea Fish Face a known to Other Living Tt is only reasonable go suppose ability to sustain an enormous only be acquired by animals after genera- tions of gredual migrations from shallow waters.says a writer in the Popular Science Monthly. Those forms that are brought up by the from the of are usually Ki y_killed and distorted oy crmous and rapid diminution of in their journey to the » ‘tremel, that Hl their cif wity very specific gra Up to a certain limit the muscles of bodies teract the to From Life. “Father,” asked little Tommy ed his father’s knee, “aid you th * geplted the won, no, = replied and man “Yes, sir, they are rough; but that very roughness, by stimulatiag the skin, la renders 2 ll try @ suit.” 1 5. Willie—“Aunty, what do the man who hunts up the taxes?” it —“Taxidermist, uv cou Deca‘ae he everybody.”—Cleveland ‘Dealer. eee ME Zou wie aot po to tre, Flatbred’s ‘at home’?” “No. I prefer to call when I’m not so sure of finding hep in.”—Brooklya Life,