Evening Star Newspaper, February 17, 1894, Page 19

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1894-TWENTY PAGES. a9 FOR FESTIVE DAYS Pretty Gowns for Little Girls to Wear. ATTRACTIVE, BOT NOT HARD 70 MAKE Some of Them Would Be Suit- able Next Summer, OR AT A MICAREME PARTY Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. HEN THE GROWN folks have had their ball, it is great fun for the little people to give a party also. Of course, a new gown is to be desired, and it is now not too early to begin to plan. The first gown is for a girl of thirteen or fourteen, and is made of fine dotted swiss, worn over blue sateen. The full waist, which is cut square in the neck, hangs slightly over the insertion belt. The gown is made ail in one and is trimmed with thin lace insertion placed over a light blue rib- bon of the same width. The low-necked goke and belt are of this. A fall of white lace is gathered about the neck of the waist, being caught up at the shoulders with bows of blue ribbon. It is low neck and has no sl and can be worn with a guimpe if need be. Blue slippers and stockings end feather fan complete the dainty little lady’s Rather More Serviceable. For the girl whose mother prefers a thick- er and less elaborate dress, the second cut represents one that may be of service. It is of scarlet cashmere and is trimmed with white silk with scarlet figures on it. A full) ‘vest. drawn down to one side. as shown in the picture, is made of the silk, as are also the wide ruffies which border it and the gash, which comes from the edges of the vest and is tied in a bow behind. Over the silk ruffies shorter ones of lace are placed. ‘The ruche about the neck and wrists is also of lace. Slippers and stockings to match the child's gown give a pretty effect always and help to make even a plain costume look more elaborate. She also has a scarlet bow in her hair. Of White Chalite. ‘The third picturesque tot wears a cling- Ing gown of white challle. It has a short- waisted body and very long, full skirt. The jeeves have double puffs and reach just be- | low the elbow. An Eligabethan ruff finishes | off the neck. Th gosh, which encircles the waist and stands out Ina butterfly bow in the back, are made ®f white silk mull. In Dainty Apple Green. Number four wears a dress of apple green | trimmed with green and white silk and da~k | green velvet rosettes. The circular yoke, full sieeves and piece put on the foundation skirt are made of silk. The front breadth of the dress extends from the yoke down and Gives the dress the effect of being cut in ruff, and also the full | | the same way. apd Qunine Pretty. me piece. The back and sides of the body are cut and fitted separately, then sewed on the skirt, the front drapery being made all in one. The drapery is made in a large box pleat, which is pulled up from the top, showing the silk skirt beneath. Two rosettes are placed in front at the neck and two at the waist, both in front and back. ‘The quaint little frock next shown is of corn-color India silk. The body is tight- fitting and is cut in squares at the lower The sleeves are bell-shaped, being full at the bottom and not at the top. These can easily be cut without a pattern. A very large circle, with a hole in it cut a: ttle to one edge, then gathered about the outside edge, will give the desired effect. A bertha of lace and silk encircles the TREASURE IN DANGER Ee eS Perils Threatening the Safety of Uncle Sam's Money Coffers. PRECIOUS STUFF INVITING ROBBERY shoulders and is caught up with ribbons at the armholes. Rose-Colored Cashmere. A rose-colored gown of cashmere or silk next is shown. It has a full short-waisted | body, encircled by two twisted pieces of black velvet, finished off by two rosettes of | the same material, from which an old- fashioned handkerchief bag is suspended. A Square Low Neck. A lavender silk mull is the material of *he seventh little girl's dress. It is square low necked and has long full sleeves of the mull made without a lining. A wide tight-ftti girdle, cut in points at the top, is made of lavender satin, and satin ribbon, cut in two streamers, is tied in a large bow on the skirt. One end of the ribbon should be in- serted in the left underarm seam and the other end to the right of the opening in the back. The waist and skirt are full, and should be made over silk. A Simple White Frock. A simple little frock of fine white goods is next shown. It is low necked and short | sleeved and is simply made. ‘he full waist | is gathered to a belt, to which the skirt is also sewed. A wide ruffle, either of the ma- terial or lace, is gathered about the neck. A bright-colored waist ribbon and slippers and stockings to match are worn with this. A gown of this description will also look well for the coming summer, if worn with a guimpe. Blue and W The ninth gown is of light blue and white. It is of thin swiss, without dots. The square yoke is formed of alternated stripes of swiss and lace insertion. The body is tight, and has a chain of blue satin rosettes around the waist. A wide ruffle borders the yoke and is caught up at the corners with other rosettes. The sleeves are full and have satin ribbon of blue twisted about the wrists. Trimmed W: Velvet. Number ten, the last, has a frock of bright turquoise blue and is trimmed in velvet of the darkest shade of old goid. The waist is made very full at the low, pointed neck, and the gathering is brought down and made very full at the center of the lower edge of the waist. A pleated fold of the velvet borders the neck and ends in a rosette in back and front. Pine waist —— in leeves cut after the it tern described in the fifth Mustration go with this little gown and are edged with a lace frill. MARY ELLEN SIGSBEE. —— Level-Headed. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Come sing to me a song of love— My throbbing heart demands It; Not of the stars or worlds above, But as earth understands 1 Nay, sing not asx you used to sing, ing. With soft and boyish vot But with a maniy, noble ri To set my heart’ rejoicing. “Par better [ shy Remarked ite it out, youthful— his love, Would bi spring bonnet! “By Jove said Dawson, as he glanced over a copy of the Russian alphabet. “What a terrible thing it_must be to be deaf ard| in Russia! Think of having to make letters with your fingers!"—Harver's Old-Fashioned Treasury Vaults Not Secure Against Burglars. SEA-WATER AND TREE ROOTS Written for The Evening Star. © WONDER THAT the special commis- sion appointed by Congress has declar- ed that the old-fash- joned vauits and safes which now contain the cash capital of the nation ought to be replaced with new and improved con- trivances for protec: tion against robbery. Uncle Sam, though rather poor at pres- ent, has much treasure to take care of. | The reduced stock of gold in his coffers would make a good-sized lump if melted all together. To render this plain, consider first the fact that the entire gold product | of the United States during ihe year 1s would make a cube of that metal, solid and pure, measuring five feet on an edge. The “free gold” still remaining in the treas- ury would furnish two cubes of that size. This is actually the property of the govern- ment, which has in addition enough of the yellow stuff mortgaged by outstanding prom- ises to pay in gold to make two and a third more cubes of the same dimensions. A substantial protection for this gold is afforded by its great weight. Thieves could not get away with much of it without a dray. It has been reckoned that it would require forty men to carry enough of this precious metal to equal in value the dia- mond. A one-carat diamond weight-for- weight is four hundred and sixty times valuable as gold. It takes a big lump of the yellow stuff to be worth $1,000,000. Quite a number of other metals are many times as valuable as gold. Gallium, for example, is quoted in the market at $3,000 an ounce avoirdupois. Traces of it occur in some zinc ores, tons of which must be worked over in order to obtain a trifling quantity. Valuable Substances. Gallium is a very remarkable substance, by the way. At the ordinary summer temperature of 36 degrees Fahrenheit it becomes liquid, like mercury. The latter becomes solid at 39 degrees below zero. Most costly of all metals, save only gal- Mum, is germanium, which is quoted at $1,125 an ounce. Rhodium is worth $112.50 an ounce; ruthenium, $90 an ounce; iridium, $87.50 an ounce; osmium, $26 an ounce, and palladium, $24 an ounce. The last is about equal in value to gold. These metals are of no great commercial importance. Most of them are mere curiosities of the labora- tory, having been discovered originally by accident, incidentally to analyses of ores. It has been suggested that some of them might be coined, but the supply of them is too uncertain. That was the difficulty with platinum, which the Russian govern- ment minted in the first half of the pres- ent century. Iridium is utilized to some extent for making instruments of delicacy, which must have the property of not corroding. It is obtained from “iridosmine”—a natural alloy of iridium, osmium, rhodium, pla inum and ruthenium. This extraordinary mixture of rare metals is white. Much of it is found in washing for gold in the beach sands of Oregon. It resists the ac- tion of all single acids. Its only important use is for tipping gold pens. For this pur- pose the grains of it, which are flat like gold dust, are picked out with magnifying glasses. At the mints it makes a good deal of trouble, difficulty being found in separat- ing it from gold bullion. Reach Gold. The beach gold referred to occurs all the way from Point Mendocino in northern California to the mouth of the Umpogna river in Oregon. Along the ocean front there are cliffs which seem to be the re- mains of an ancient river deposit. They contain gold, and, where washed by the waves, the shore for miles actually glitters with speckles of the yellow metal. What appears today, however, is either washed away or deeply buried in the sand tomor- row. Accordingly all haste is made to car- ry the sands which are rich enough to some safe place inland to be washed. So chang- ing and shifting are the deposits that the washing of one day may be half a dozen miles from that of the previous twenty- four hours. The alarm now felt on account of the diminishing supply of gold would be done away with if some process could be in- vented for separating that metal econom- ically from sea water. All of the gold now possessed by mankind is a trifle compared with what is held in solution by the ocean. Every ton of sea water contains 4 cents in gold. This allows one cent for every fifty gallons. Anybody who will figure up the number of gallons in all the oceans of the earth will perceive that the store of wealth as yet undrawn upon is pzacti- cally unlimited. Attempts have been made to deposit gold from sea water by means of electricity, but the expense involved was too great. It is rather curious to consider that every cubic mile of ocean brine con- tains 151,000,000 tons of solid matte, com- posed of salts of magnesium, calcium, sodium, &c., and of a variety of other in- gredients. Gold and silver are endowed with such singularly useful properties that, if t could be obtained in sufficient abundar.ce. they would supplant ali other metals in the manufacture of household utens' ments and fittings of all kinds, and finite multitude of small articles now 1 of brass, copper, pewter, iron, «ec. It 50,880 pounds of pig iron to “qual in one pound of gold, or sixteen pounds o' silver, seventy-one pounds of nick ‘ pounds of tin and 6,360 The smallest gold coins ever minted y the quarter dollars of California, which can almost be blown away with » breath. A gold cent—representing the quantity of that metal in fifty gallons of sea er would weigh only one-fourth of a gramme. The United States produce three-quarters of a cubic inch of silver every second in the year. pounds of Gravel Riches. The total yield of the gold-bearing gravels of California up to date may be represent- ed by a cube of pure gold fourteen feet on an edge. That is to say, the whole of it could be put into a room of moderate size. Such vast stores of wealth were revealed by the first scratchings of the ground in that part of the world that financiers tear- ed lest the metal would depreciate in value, Sir Roderick Murchison was the first to call attention to the fact that the riches of the gravels must soon be exhausted, and so it turned out. The first comers found little to do but to help themselves to the gold which nature had stored up. years these hoards were drawn out, though even to this day the old-time prospector cannot be persuaded to believe the fuct. All cannot be gone; he will not hear that | s said. He still is confident that somewhere @ great treasure of golden nuggets is re- served for his especial benefit. There are springs in California which even now bring up gold and deposit it. In Texas copper ores are found in the form of trees, containing gold. The ex- periment has been tried of watering plants with a weak solution of gold, precipitated by organic matter in the soil around the plants, indicating the origin of the thin plates of gold which are some- times discovered among grass roots. In the gold mines of Brazil the people believe that gold grows as from seed, and on that account every few years the lings” of the old mines are worked over. Great quantities of gold in West Africa are Lur- fed with savage chiefs, and it has been suggested that the business of resurrec- tion in that country, if undertaken sys- tematically, might prove highly remunera- tive. Amount of Gold Used. The consumption of gold in the arts and Jn a few | which was | in dentistry throughout the world is esti- / mated at from 365,(00,000 to $80,000,000 a year. For those purposes about $22,000,000 | worth of this metal was used in the United States during 1893, It has been reckoned | that within ten years this country will em- ploy the whole of its gold product of $33,- 000,000 annually for trinkets, gilding and! teeth, the increase in that direction being at the rate of $1,000,000 per annum. The consumption of silver in the arts 3 esti- mated at about half that of gold. Of late the use of gold leaf for furniture and in- terior decoration has come greatly into fashion. The gold thus utilized is a total loss, One gold dollar makes 100 leaves of gold leaf of commercial size—3 by 3 inches. Steel for Coins. It has been suggested that a first-rate material for small coins would be steel. ‘They would be almost indestructible, and a trifling alloy of nickel would prevent them from rusting. Such minor pieces are mere tokers, and their intrinsic value is of no consequence, All sorts of odd metals have been minted by various nations. Tin coins were issued by Roman emperors. Tin farthings were struck by Charles II, a stud of copper being inserted in the middle of each piece to render counterfeiting more difficult. This substance would make ex- cellent cents, being white, free from corro- | sion and of higher value than copper. But it is rendered impossible by its softness and tendency to bend and break. Money issued by James II was composed of a mixture of old guns, broken bells, waste copper, sec- |ond-hand kitchen utensils and other re- fuse. The circulation of a rott2a currency is the last resort of monarchs in trouble. In fact, kings have been the sreat counter- felters of the world. Coin Protection: The French government employs a device | for the protection of its coinage which Uncle Sam would do well to imitate. It |ccnsists in a raisel lettering around the edge of the piece of money. On the edge | of a S-frane piece are the words, “Dieu | | protege la France’—God protects France | To reproduce this is quite beyond the coun- | terfeiter’s art. A similar inscription on the | edge of our gold coins would have ren- dered impossible the dodge recently tried with suecess by swindlers in this country of clipping doubie eagles by reducing their diameter and re-reeding them with a ma- | chine. Money changers, bankers, bullion dealers and goldsmiths’ make a’ practice of exporting, hoardirg, melting and mak- irg into jewelry and gold leaf the new and full-weight gold coin which come from the mints. The light-weight pieces they pass on into circulation, Thus it is said that | “bad money drives out good money.” Queer Currency, There is no more interesting subject of study than currency. People do not real- ize how difficult it would be to get along without it. Some years ago Mlle. Zelie of the Theatre Lyrique at Paris, on a pro- fessional tour around the world, gave a cor cert at the Society Islands, in the South Pacific. It was arranged that in payment for an air from “Norma” and three or four other selections she was to get one-third of the receipts. Her share consisted of 3 pigs, 23 turkeys, 44 chickens, 5,000 cocoanuts and considerable quantities of bananas, lemons and oranges. The live stock and’ produce would have represented a value of about 4,000 francs in the markets of her native city, but it was hardly practicable to dis- pose of the former off-hand and the latter | had to be fed to the pigs and poultry. A | Joint stock company, known as the African | Barter Company, limited, now existing in London, carries on a great business on | the west coast of Africa entirely by bar- | tering European manufactures for palm cil, gold dust, ivory, coffee, gum and other raw products. Eggs have been in circulation in lieu of money in the Alpine villages of Switzcr- |land. Nails have been similarly employed | in Scotland, dried codfish in Newfoundland, | whales’ teeth in the Fiji Islands, mats of rice straw in Angola, salt in Abyssinia, beeswax in Sumatra, red feathers in the isles of the Pacific, tea in Tartary and iron hoes in Madagascar. A century ago to- bacco was made legal tender in Virginia. When women were imported into that colony for wives for the settlers 100 pounds of tobacco per head was charged for them, the price being subsequently raised to | pounds. RENE BACHE. poe Ta | ‘ A DESPERATE OFFER jam Who Despnired of Gaining a Support for His Family. | From the Detrott Free Press. i A most extraordinary incident, indicative, no doubt, of the desperate state of mind to | which many have been reduced by the pre- vailing hard times, oceurred at Emergency Hospital yesterday. A man about forty- ‘five years of age called at the hospital and | asked to see the superintendent or physician in charge. When that functionary was called and inquired the stranger's business | the man said: | “My name is Albert Stoner. I am a painter by trade and have a family depend- (ent on-me at Flint. I have been out of | work for a long time, though I have sought | it constantly and done anything and every- | thing that was offered me, which was very little. My family are now reduced to very | straitened circumstances, and I want to seil |you my body for $25 for dissecting pur- | Roses.” | The doctor was astonished at the novelty | of the proposition and said, facetiously,that | the hospital might have to wait a good le before the goods were delivered, “Not at all,” replied Mr. Stoner. “Just as soon as I find that the money has reached my family I will commit suicide and leave an order that my body be given to you.” If the doctor had been astonished before. he was much more so at the last remark of Mr. Stoner, and began to suspect that he was dealing with a lunatic. But, though he applied the usual tests in the long conver- sation which followed, he was unable to | detect the slightest aberration of mind, ex- | cept that Mr. Stoner had brooded so long ‘over his Inability to provide his family with the necessities of life that he had become desperate and had even lost sight of the fact that he was asking the doctor to be- come a murderer or murderer's accomplice. ———__+e2-_ Watching Her From the Boston ¢ (By aM | By. n this gum log to watch Kerline | sun is tollin’ up the weeds down in » does now an’ then a yell ton d be use she is to pass this very awl up, wecds, an’ si creep an’ watch Ker- Kerline, so fur, don't “preciate my raids upon ‘er She tints’ I'm far too careless *hout the futer of | She thinks the’ way T set abont I'l never take a | | Bue Thuve started tn fur her, an’ gosh! TM never | Althong Inv jods's rather lax, my thoughts are oa | An’ Tl catch ‘er, ton, some @sy sn eho gece strattin’ by. | A man who goes to trappin’ game has got ter wateh | Y he trees, he must be upon the en to his ter watel yell, an’ weeds may dance, the sun | crawl] up the sky, FN set right here on this gum log, an’ watch Ker- | line go by. | A man can set upon the bank an’ wateh the fishes lot 0° silver specks around bout the Tt seems, someti . they'll never bi an’ one gits out o” hb ‘t | But one, will nibble by an’ by if he will only | wait. | It's Jes that way in ketchin’ girls—be patient, cun- nin’, sly you w floatin’ ee | The bait ts lov | ook one in some day as she goes | 1 hopefulness, an’ now an’ then a 3 | An’ thongh ‘she shies away at first, her heart was made to yield, An’ when she you work for her with faith | that will not d | She'll think izness better, soon, than workin « |. Dap. 20 yell on, pop up, weeds, an’ sun, charge | | up ‘the sk | I'M set right here on this gum log an’ watch Ker- line go b JAMES NOEL JOHNSON, oe Outlay Bigger Than Income. | From Puck. Teddy Splurgeleigh—“What do they mean | by an intome tax?” | Billy Patterson—“A certain percentag. | that every man will have to pay upon the | m he receives during the year.” |. Teddy Splurgeleigh—“Great Scott! It’s lucky the percentage isn’t on what he spends, or it would come heavy on hi.n.” see Young Housewife—“‘Any liver today, Bones?" Mr. Yes, madam.” H. I'll take ten pounds; but please see that it 1s not the torpid kind, | | which the doctors say is the cause of so} much disease. —Boston Home Journal. | hibite | the rational capital as it existed at the | | For instance, hurriedly erected as the ma- |haste and excitement of impending danger, | OLD FORTIFICATIONS| Those That are Decaying Round About Washington. THE CAPITAL TODAY DEFENSELESS An Army Officer's View That the Former System SHOULD BE PRESERVED —_—— + N ARMY OFFICER commenting recently | on the decaying con- dition of the old de- fenses around Wash- ington recalled a saying of the great Napoleon, both inter- esting and appropri- ate,which might have | been profitably heed- | ed thirty-four years ago,and which should not be unheeded even now. It was while | Napoleon was in retirement, with ample | time and leisure to meditate over the causes which led to his meteoric rise and | fall, that he proclaimed as a general mili- tary principle the absolute necessity of | fortifying naticral capitals. He even de- jclared that 3,000 artillerymen and 30,000 rational guard men could defend any duly fortified city against an attacking army of 300,000 men, and went so far as to ad- mit that had Vienna, Berlin and Madrid been fortified the countries of which they are the capitals would have been preserved from the fatal results of his campaign of 1806 and i8U8; and that had Paris been properly fortified in 1814 his own empire would have been saved from overthrow. While, of course, the theories or reflec- tions of Napoleon in exile are not caicu- lated to stir up any excitement in these days of American progress, the thought nevertheless suggests itself that as war strategy changes but little in even a hundred years, a glance at our own na- tional defenses might be interesting. Washington Today Defenselens. As a matter of fact, although we have no less authority than that of the famous Meutenant general of the southern con- federacy (Early) for the statement that in 1864 Washington, duly garrisoned and alert, was well nigh impregnable against any at- tacking army, Washington today is as de- fenseless as in 1814, when the British walked without hindrance into our midst to burn and pillage public archieves, or as in 1861, when our streets, after the dis- astrous battle of Bull Run, were filled by teeing federal soldiers, who, if not followed within the city by the confederates, was due to the fact that the soutnern army was as badly demoralized in victory as the Union men had been in defeat. There were hundred defenseless approaches then as now, forming natural doorways to the capi- tal. Indeed, there was not a fortification or earthwork then, north, east or west of Washington, and those that were subse- quently erected, have, in the past twenty- eight years, been allowed to go to rack and ruin, apparently without any thought of past necessity or future exigency. Nobody in particular, perhaps, can weil be held responsible for Unis, inasmuch as the opin- jon seems to prevail that the policy of maintaining the field works of the iast war is unnecessary in times of peace. At this period but two army garrisons are maintained in the immediate vicimty of Washington, beth of them being nothing more than mere military barracks, one for the accommodation of tour troops ef cav- alry at Fort Myer on the Virginia shore of the Potomac and the other for five batter- jes of artillery on the water front of the | city. There are, however, sixty-eight moid- j erg mounds exiending circularly thirty- | seven miles around Washington, each one of which, though fast decaying, marks the spot where some fort or battery was lo- cated, and altogether belonging vo that gen- eral system of exterior defenses which was evolved from conditions and practical ex- perience that would seem to entitle it to more serious consideration at all umes. The war of the rebeliioa, it is argued, was one of greater Magnituae on land than this gov- ernment is ever likely to engage in again. We had a powerful enemy ot our own aind, making for our national capital, which, much to our embarrassment, was situated on the border line of the strongest southern State, whose territory was to be the chief theater of the war. very inch of tne ground in and about Washington was as well known to southern leaders as to north- ern defenders. fh> situation was of Vital importance, demanding the quickest con- ception and swiltest execution of Lie most effective system of detense which any capi- tal in the world ever stood in need of. Even in the very beginning of the war reserved forces on tne Union side were hastily amas- | sed to withstand threatened invasion of a} victorious southern army, and in May, 1861, | a small force of United States troops cross- | ed the Potomac and began the erection of offensive works. These works were neces- sarily weak, being designed al first to pro- tect the debouches tv the Long bridge and Aqueduct, and to secure a foothold on the Virginia side, preparatory to the occupation | of permanent fortiged points on surround- ing beights. Necessari © works were | hurriedly throv regard to any preconceived pian of defeases, and like ail isolated field works, even with the best ar-| rangement for flanking, could not be re- lied wpor against a: ult. Au Engineer Commission, It was soon found, therefore, that the danger had not been met and yet the mili- were handicapped by the which, in appropriating | $150,000 yment for the hasty works | alr ed, specifically prohibited y part of the mor : fed to any | new work. Congress, hke many people in | the north, believed then that the war was | to be of too short duration to require en- ged defense: the capital of the na- tion. But the eng of che army show- ed the importance iditionat KS need- | ed even in a short war to defend the na- | pital. Malitary leaders argued tnat | ngton should fali into the hands of small southern army it might be | held long enough at least to win for the confederacy recognition by leading foreign | governments, the moral effect of which no man could tell. It was, indeed, a time of Vital emergency, when ‘the iron hand and } strong will of Secretary Stanton were need- | ed. the autumn of IS62, despite the pro- | Y act cf Congress against the erec- tion of any new fortifications around Wash- | ington, Secretary Stanton appointed a com- } mission of such eminent military men as Gens, Totten, Meigs, Barry, Barnard and | Cullum to report upon the’ completion of the forts and sufficiency of the general ex- | terior defenses of the city. That commis- sion was the author of the defense line of close of the war, and for which the Union | cause had Secretary Stanton and his mili- | tary advisers alone to thank. It was a system, according to an eminent | military writer, wherein, when completed, “the works either reciprocally flanked each other, or at least the approaches to any one} or to any part of the line were well swept | by artillery or musketry fire from other parts.” ‘The system, of course, lacked those features which are to be found in estab- lished permanent fortifications elsewhere. | i jority of the fortifications were, in the | there was a lack of co-ordination of plans and symmetry of designs, which, in the latter years of the war, necessitated addi- tional work to make the earlier forts con- | form to the general plan recommended by | the engineer board. At last, however, after | nearly four years of anxious toil, and the xpenditure of over a million dollars, there was evolved from the experimental and temporary system of Isolated works a| plan which, in the language of Gen. Bar- nard, was described to be “a connected system of fortification, by which ever: point at intervais of SW to 1,000 yards w ocexpied by an inclosed field fort, every | important approach or depression of groun! unseen from the forts swept by a battery | for field and the whole connected by | rifle trenc which were, in fact, lines of intantry parapet, furnishing employment | for two ranks of men, affording cov- ered communication along the line; while the roads were open wherever necessary, | ‘0 that troops and artillery could be moved | rapidly from one’ point of the immense periphery to another, or under cover from | Point to point along the line.” The System Should Be Perpetuated. And now whatever may be the theories of more modern soldiers in regard to the perfection and strength of the system of defenses it is argued by those who take practical and reasonable views of the mat- ter that any system resulting from ne- cessities and conditions of actual experi- ence in such a war as the rebellion is entitled to consideration, which should perpetuate it, at least in part. Even if only a few of the most important forts were garrisoned by a handful of men each, the general line might be preserved at the expense of a but small annual appropria- tion by Congress, making the old forts in peace times interesting historical monu- ments, which in time of war could be quickly reconverted into established points of defense, such a defense, indeed, as not cnly Napoleon, but most enlightened en- gineers since his time have declared to be necessary for the protection of the na- tional capital in war. The old forts might well be put to another practical use. They might be regarded as a chain of object lessons for our army officers to study, and in that way might be obviated a repetition of the mortification caused by Gen. Bar- tard’s criticism, that, “officers of the army, who had spent much of their lives in Wash ington and New York, found themseive more ignorant concerning the military feat- ures of the surrounding country (of Wash- ington) than they were of that part of Paris to which military aistory and its | fortifications had attracted some attention.” “There is a decided tendency, army officer first quoted above, “to go too much to England, France and Germany for our war lessons, unmindful of the fact that we have huge battlefields, and num- erous object studies at home. Why, I was in a large garrison once, where, with a single except every military essay read during the lyceum term related to the movements of foreign armies, absurdly ex- tending back to the days of Philip of Mace- don, and Caesar.” ‘ontinuing, he suggested that it might be well for the authorities to require that one lecture season at least throughout the entire army be devoted exclusively to the subject of our national capital defenses. ‘The suggestion would seem to be a good one, even if no other advantage resulted than compelling army officers of all crades to study that important question and give | to the War Department their most careful thoughts and suggestions on the subject. How Early W Repulsed. There are, he said, many people who be- lieve in letting the future take care of it- self, and many more who find no argument in the axiom, “In time of peace prevare for war.” But such as they would seem to > forget the fact that for the first two years of the war Washington’s defenses consisted of a few field works, which could not be dignified by the name of forts or even for-_ tifications, and it was not until ING4 that | the capital had anything like a fortified exterior. Fortunately, it was not until July, said the POINTERS FOR WOMEN Hints That Will Make a Honsekeeper’s Suggestions for the Care of Lamps— How Keep an Umbrella— Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. One of the handiest pieces of furniture about a kitchen table is a thick-lipped oyster shell. It makes a much nicer pot and skillet scraper than an “iron dish cloth.” The chain arrangements which are used for that purpose are all abominations. They set full of infinitesimal bits of cabbage, burned potatoes, bits of fried onion, broiled Steak and the like, afid only a bath of con- centrated lye and the application of scrub brush will clean them. An oyster shell can be kept as clean as a silver Spoon. -o: & Cae If you want to keep your stove in shining shape, rub it with an old newspaper. Just crush @ page or two up in a wad and rub the stove vigorously. It is best to do chis when the stove is warm, and you will be astonished to see how bright and clean this treatment will leave it. It will burnish nickel plate beautifully, and there is noth- ing better for polishing window glass than old soft newspapers. hie “gees The monument to the memory of King Henry the First of England ought to be 4 yard stick. His arm was just thirty-six inches long, and that is where the EB) and American yard got its standard of length, +s Oe Never poke a fire on top. The place to use a poker, especially when hard coal is used, is at the bottom of the grate, where the clinkers and ashes obstruct the free passage of air. . Lamp wicks are as contrary as human nature, and one that “sticks” is a nuisance caiculated to make a man swear or a Woman cry. If you will take “sticking wick out and pull out a thread next the bg it will often make it work beauti- ully. It usually sticks beca it is thread or two too wide. ore g 2 8 we When you come in out of the rain, don’t plump your nice silk umbrella, ferrule down into the umbreila stand, unless you want to ruin it. That lets the water and tiny specks of “grit” run down into the lining under the iron ring that secures the ribs, and it stays there, making the silk tender and rots it. Neither should you leave the umbrella open to dry, as that stretches the silk and makes it stiff, and it will soon split. Shake it well, then close it and stand it handle down, where the water will run off. Never set an umbrella or parasol away 1864, that Gen. Early got permission from tightly folded, it will split out just as soon Gen. Lee to perambulate through Maryland, again. Leave the folds to lie loosely. and after securing a thousand or more oe : fresh cavalry horses and levying a tax of Some people think that because coal oil $220,000 in gold on the little towns of Frede- lamps often give off an odor it is one of rick City and Hagerstown, came near stam- | the concomitants of that illuminator,’ peding the whole patriotic north by his | is not a fact. A lamp has to be as regu- sudden descent upon Washington at what ,larly and carefully cleaned as a furnace, was conceived to be its most vulnerable point. It is, of course, generally agreed now that neither Lee nor Early (who had let slip earlier opportunities of attacking Washington) had any real idea of captur- ing the capital at that time, the movement being intended only to draw off a part of | Grant's forces in Lee's front, in order to permit attack or force Grant himself to attack. Both Lee and Early were sur- | prised, and surprised in a double way, for Early, intentionally or otherwise, did come near capturing Washington. Indeed, there are positive statements that he would have | done so had not Grant sent the sixth co: and pert of the nineteenth to reinforce Washington, while at the same time main- taining defiant attitude toward Lee, and. much to the latter’s disappointment, re. fraining from attack. Inspiration From Lincoln, It is needless now to go into details of the withdrawal of Early’s army. There were, and are still, military men north and south who believed then, as now, that Early could have taken Washington the first evening of his arrival, when, as a matter of fact, the Union forces were caught nap- ping, but Early himself avserted the con- tral and gave as a reason the exhaustion of his command by reason of the intense heat, and the clouds of dust that nearly strangled his soldiers on the march. Ail that may have been the work of Divine Providence. But there was another in- cident connected with that episode, which seemed like a Divine intervention, and had ite great influence on the day. Abraham | Lincoln was himseif present at the main point of defense, to see the battle, he said, | but may be God had ordained his presence there for a purpose. Union soldiers saw him on the parapet of Fort Stevens, and those who did not see him knew he was | there, for the word was passed. So, when the federals, under Wheaton, sallied forth to drive back the enemy ahead, too near, and whose sharpshooters were picking off | men on the forts, Abraham Lincoln stil] waved his hat in sight, and his soldiers | fought like devils. In vain was President | Lincoln importuned to cease his exposure | to fire, until finally a man within three feet | of him was shot down; then, for the coun- | try’s sake, as he was urged, he retired. But the battle was then over, for Early’s main | force had al ly begun to withdraw, and | next morning's sun-over that field in front | of Fort Stevens shone only on the dead and | wounded left behind by Early. In his re- | port to Gen. Lee, Gen. Early, after discuss- _ ing the probable effects of his possible en- try into the city before the reinforcements arrived, declared that “Washington can | never be taken by our (confederate) troops, | unless when surprised without troops to defend it.” Early doubtiess knew what he | was saying. At all events, he could not be suspected of timidity, for he had already | proved himself the intrepid victor against the veteran forces of Wallace and Ricketts, | and had swung in a circle around the Union | capital, levying gold, capturing a thousand horses, and driving his opponents out of his | path. It was old Fort Stevens that had proved a wall to him, but, alas, so obliterat- ed is that old fortification now one’s eyes would hardly be attracted by it, and no one looking at it would dream that it had once been a bulwark of Washington. It was the only fort around the city ever under fire of the enemy, but it filled its purpose, and defied atta And Ml the forts around Washing- ton going fast to decay, some of them be- ing already leveled with the ground, while others are little more than fading hills. me of them, it is true, are on private prope ty sition existed to y 1 have been de- has been freely appropriated abel battlefields of the late 1 what field is more interesting and | t than thi ound the capital? It © of course, that in the next it will be all the more easy to construct defe on tines already known than it was in the late war. That is true, military men concede, but at best it would take months*at least to do what required work of four from 1861 to 1865, and what may pen during that period of aration would depend upon conditions | i circumstances no more readily contem- plated now than in 1S14, I Work Eusy } In time of war no defensive work can be as well done as in peace. In 1863 we had to employ thousands of civil workmen, and also avail ourselves of the labor of thous- ands of troops, but the forces were being | constantly changed, and, besides, it re- quired more courage to work with pick and shovel under fire than to shoulder a mus- | ket and fight in ranks. When Early threat- ened Washington 1,500 civil laborers gladly left the defense works to join in resistance | of attack, and more than once were they | crganized to tight, as they thought, for their lives. In conclusion, it has been suggested that it would be practicable to garrison addi- | mal posts around Washington even with | the present limited military force. There are United States troops now stationed in barracks in several cities whose claims for garrisons, if not obsolete, are not so great as Washington's, and now that the artillery and cavalry are located in this vicinity, one infantry regiment might well be stationed Leré, and so posted as to man and care for i] the posts and fortifications around Washington which it may be desired to preserve or establish, coe Husband—“You are naturally of an un- disposition, that’s all that’s the mat- | Wife—"That’s because you never saw before I met you.”—Boston Home Jour It must be owned, to the horror of th: other sex, that t ‘are many among then who can talk whole hours together u nothing. I have known a woman branch | oui into jong « ore dissertation cn | the edge of a pe t, and chide her se vant for breaking a china cup in all the | figures of rhetoric.—Aduison, | Sponge bath is an and if either gets clogged up there is no comfort to be had. Coal of] makes the best light for reading purposes by all ods. lamp should be emptied of ali the ofl once a@ week to cleanse the bowl of all ties. It should be carefully filled each for when the wick has to draw from great a depth the lamp is sure to The wick should be trimmed every ? ht ing and the burner carefully freed from bits Use only the best ofl. If of charred wick. these directions ai no trouble which you bathe.” and yellow and wrinkled, f Ammonia is fine for household cleansing, but it never was meant to be used on the flesh. Sal. soda, or washing soda, as it is sometimes cailed, is much nicer than ammonia, and is cheaper. Borax is better than either, but, of course, costs more. If you want to see how put a few drops on a cloth and rub a paint- ed door; it will take the paint off in aur instant. That ought to teach sensible wo- men that it will dry out and render the skin Hable to crack. . oe If you want to get old . 2 When you put cranberries or any whole tart berry of that kind on to cook, throw into the water a teaspoonful of baking soda. The instant the water bolls up once, drain all that water off and put en fresh cold water. You will find that this treat- ment will take out all the bitterness that sometimes lingers around such fruit. . oe One of the simplest ways of disinfecting a room is to pour a drachm or two of sul- phuric acid on a saucer of salt, set it in the middie of the room, the fumes do the dis- infecting. oo > If you keep sneezing and have sensations of chilliness it a fair sign of coming cold. | Sometimes it can be broken quite effectually by a hot lemonade. Get the lemon end sugar ready and set the water boiling. Then bathe the feet in hot water, or take a hot bath all over. Retire immediately and have brought to you the glass of lemon and sugar over which the boiling water has been Drink it down as hot as pos- sible. You won't have a symptom of cold in the morning. . + 6 6 8 Don't throw away the bits of Make them into a ball and keep in a the kitchen. String is always in ment and seldom at hand. . . 6. © 6 If you like toasted cheese here is a very nice way to prepare it. Cut two ounces of cheese into thin slices, or if you have some crumbs of dried stale cheese use that. Put it in a pan with a gill of milk and set on the stove to simmer until the cheese is dis- solved. Set off to cool a little, then add the yolk of one egg well beaten. Pour the mixture into a shallow tin and brown im the oven. ob Pee So few cooks or housekeepers seem to knoW that every article of food should be kept covered until it appears on the table. Milk and butter, for instance, should be kept in air-tight vessels and kept covered. They both take up every odor fying in the air, and are positively harmful to take into the stomach after standing uncovered for an hour or two, for not only odors, but the animaiculae that fill the air are attracted to miik and butter. Uncovered jelly is @ menace to family health. It is in gelatine jelly that expert bacteriologists imprisoa germs of disease to watch them propagate. ‘They seem to thrive better on that kind of food than on any other, yet in two-thirds of the pantries in the city will be found half-used dishes or glasses of jelly stand- ing uncovered, . The tobacco worm now vies with the chameleon in woman's favor; only the worm is dead. One formed of’ pearls, its ridges accentuated with green enamel, ta which are sunk Uny diamonds and that Las a green enamel head and feelers finely tip- ped, is about the thing. It ts hideous, and so are most of the women Who wear such freaks. Pile ere oS Don’t sieep in a warm room if you want to be free frorn headaches and have a good complexion. It is i very nice to get Into a nice warm bed, but before you do so be sure that the heat is turned off, and pull the window down at the top. A room is best ventilated by opening at the top of the window, because the hottest air ase You can’t have too much cold alr in your room unless there should be a Graft; Umm, of course, is not healthy. oe ‘There are women who keep their silver in woolen bags and wonder why it tar- nishes. It is supposed that the sulphur in the cloth causes the metal to blacken. mois bags are best for silver. ae Te ae If you want to keep the dust from sifting in on your pictures get strong maailla paper and paste over the backs. ss ©. © Sometimes when a baby is very fretful and nothing seems to quiet it you can lessen its watls by scratching its back. A baby is a good deal like a little pig or a puppy,and they love to be scratched. Loosen the baby's skirt bands and with the well-warmed hand gently rub its back, and finally its whole body. This works like a charm in most in- stances. When a baby has colic don't jclt and jar it. imagine how you would feel if you had the stomach ache and some great giant pranced you around in the air or over the knee. For delicate with the sligh be women who are exhausted exeruon an alcohol excellent stimulant. ae eg A new thing in household ec sewing machine rug. nomy is a it should be made of crash or something of that nature, and about six feet square. A worn sheet might > colored some neutral shade, and thus utilized, Set the ine near ‘the middie of ti the can keep all your snippings and eads on the rug and in the evening pick it up and shake off the litter without having to sweep and dust the whole room,