Evening Star Newspaper, April 7, 1894, Page 14

44 MARY WASHINGTON| The Monument in Memory of the SATURDAY, THE EVENING STAR, APRIL %, 1894-TWENTY PAGES, Westmoreland county, Va.—a gentleman of | be near her mother, Kenmore was in the historic British stock, tracing his ancestry | suburbs. It is still in a fair state of pres- back six centuries in England. They were | ervation, and is one of the “show places’ married on March 6, 1730, he being a wid-|of Fredericksburg. In it, according to ower with three young sons. The Freder- | Mary Washington’ great-granddaughter, icksburg folks can tell you also all that is | Mrs. Ella Bassett Washington,Mary Wash- known about the birth of George Washing- | ington died on August 25, 1789, although ton, their oldest child, in Westmoreland | other authorities place the death scene in county, in 1732, of the life of the family at] the Mary Washington cottage. Not far Mother of the First President. HOW If BUILT WAS Former Unsuccessful Attempts to Do Her Honor. HER DOMESTIC LIFE Wakefield on the Potomac, of the fire that destroyed that little homestead, of the sub- sequent removal to Pine Grove, across the Rappahannock from Fredericksburg, of the death there of the father, Augustine, when George was but eleven years of age, and of the widow's brave, energetic, positive and methodical character and life with her chil- dren—three sons and a daughter—at the Ferry Farm, until her young eaglets scat- tered from the family nest. A Roman Matron. Prokably it is owing to the fact that Mary Ball Washington, the widowed moth- er, by the untimely death of her husband, had the sole resporsitility of training and ————>—__—_ Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. FREDERICKSBURG, Va., April 6, 1894. o—— XTENSIVE PREPA- rations are making already in Freder- {cksburg for the great event to take place here on the 10th of Alay, when tardy jus- tice will be done to the memory of Mary, the mother of Wash- ington, by dedicating a handsome monu- ment to her on the long-negiected spot where her body lies varied. The ceremonies are to be conduct- ed under the auspices of the National Mary Washington Memorial Assoctatibn, by @hom the marble shaft has been reared— the first instance in history, it‘is believed, of a monument to a woman ertcted exc! sively by women. Unmistakable evidences of a universal revival of sentiment and in- terest in the event are being received from all parts of the country. President Cleve- Jand and his cabinet, with their wives, ‘Vice President and Mrs. Stevenson, Chief Justice Fuller, Gov. O’Ferrail of Virginia and a host of other notables from all parts of the Union have accepted invitations to be present, including various chapters of the Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution. Senator Daniel of Virginia and Mr. Laurence Washington, a lineal descendant of Washington's mother, are booked as the orators of the day, and the United States Marine Band has been de- talled to come down from Washington and furnish music for the occasion. The dedi- cation ceremonies will be followed in the evening by a Masonic banquet and ball. The Monument. The monument is a beautiful obelisk of glain white marble, fifty feet high and eleven feet square at the base, bearing an inscription in embossed letters, simply, “Mary, the Mother of Washington.” It ‘Was executed in Buffalo, N. ¥., and was set in position on December 23 last. The whole fabric cost $11,000, raised entirely by the ladies of the National Mary Washing- ton Memorial Association, and the monu- ment is in itself creditable alike to the dis- tinguished woman whom it commemorates and to the patriotic American women who have honored themselves by thus honoring her. The association was formed only three years ago, and it may well be a subject of gratification with its members, and, indeed, Residence—¢redericksburg. with all Americans, that the heroine-mother of our first President should at length, one hundred and four years after her death, have a suitable token of respect raised above her unheeded grave, since the lack of such a fitting memorial has, until now, been a standing reproach to the whole Ration. Unsuccessful Attempts. The previous attempts to discharge an ebvious duty in this respect have been many, but all unsuccessful. Projects were agitated soon after Mrs. Washington's death to mark her burial place by a stone to be paid for by the government, but in the con- fusion attendant upon the organization of the new nation they were successively for- gotten, revived and forgotten again. In 1826 Mr. George Washington Parke Custis, ‘Washington's adopted son, issued a stirring appeal to the country, and wide interest in the matter was excited for a time, but it bore no fruit until 1533, when Hon. Silas E. Burrows of New York offered to bear the expenses of constructing a stately monu- ment. The design of this, however worth- ily conceived, was ridiculous from an artis- tie standpoint. Eight Grecian columns | ‘were set in embrazures upon a square ped- estal and over these were perched four) les. Above tapered an obelisk, sur- mounted by a bust of George Washington, and upon the bust was a fifth eagle with outstretched wings. ‘The cornerstone of this fantastic concep- tion was laid with great public pomp by President Andrew Jackson on May 7, 1833, im the presence of a vast crowd of citizens, strangers, militia and Masonic socleties. The romantic tale is told here that a lovely} southern girl, who had won the affection of Mr. Burrows, consented to marry him on condition that he build the monument as proposed, and that she jilted him before it ‘was done, whereupon he abandoned the en- terprise. The real fact, though, is that Mr. Burrows, meeting with financial losses, postponed the work until he should he able to continue it, and died before accomplishing his design. At all events, the structure, as it was left, crumbled with slow decay and gradually fell. Until last fall, however, por- tions of the pedestal, buttressed corners, monolith and recessed columns still remain on the ground in a ruined pile, weather- ‘worn, time-staine! and more or less mu- tilated by relic hunters, forming a melan- choly sight. When the new shaft of the National Mary Washington Memorial As- ®ociation was put up, severe in simplicity and beautiful in symmetry, and worthier the Roblest American matron, the ruin was de- molished, that it might no longer be an eyesore and a mover of sad reflections on the vanity and weakness of patriotic senti- ment in a republic. Epping Forest Birthplace. However remarkable the lack of informa- tion elsewhere respecting Mary Ball, wife of Augustine Washington and mother of George Washington, everybody in Fredericksburg knows all about her and glories in her his- tory. They know the year and place of her} birth—the year of grace, 1706, and the place! Epping Forest, down the Rappahannock, in | Lancaster county, Va., which, nearly two! centuries ago, wes the plantation home of her father, Col. Joseph Ball, son of “ol. | William Ball, a royalist Englishman of gen- tle lineage, who emigrated to America away back in 1657. They know, that as Mary “Kenmore,” Virginia. grew toward womanhood, she was own throughou that region as the “rose and as the “belle of the that, as a grown le, modest and lov- with hair itke flax, cheeks like peach ms and eyes of cloudless blue. The | maiden, she was ing, b tradition {s current among them, too, ex-| a of the fact that she rried her | usband in Engiand. that, hav ing been tak- en there by her brother Joseph, after the death of her widowed mother, resided with relatives in the village of Cookham, in Berkshire, when a gentleman's traveling | chariot was upset in front of the house and the gentleman himself brought in seriously | injured, and was nursed to recovery by her. He proved to be a fellow Virginian and Reighbor—Col. Augustine Washington of | Fielding Lewis, in order that his wife might | nd threw him a | Was lauded as the miracle of his age, as | prehe: | cepted with | Mount Vernon as V rearing her children, and particularly George, that people seldom hear or speak of Washington's father, and that even the name of his father is urknown to so many Americans otherwise well informed. But in this training and education the mother is acknowledged to have achieved her chief Sreatness and won her lasting renown. On this point there is no disagreement whatever among historians and biog- raphers. Respeoting her Washington him- self declared solemnly: “All that I am I owe to my mother.” Lafayette, after an interview with her, sai have seen the only Roman matron living at this day.” Count Rochambeau is reported to have ex- claimed after meeting her: “If such are the matrons of America, she may well boast of illustrious sons!" While the name and fame of Mary, the mother of Wash- ington, rightfully be- longs to the whole nation, this quaint old shipping town of Fredericksburg claims and holds it as a par- ticularly local herit- ase. Just over the Rappahannock from here lies the old Fer- ry farm or Pine Grove, where the her- oine-mother reared her three sons and dGaughter—the oldest by virtue of her | teaching and trans- | mitted force of char- acter, chosen the deliverer of his strug- gling country, crea- tor of the American republic, its most | glorious soldier and | its first President. Right here in the heart of the town, on stands the inter- Charles street, esting old wooden house which Mary Washington purchased for a residence, at the suggestion of her illustrious son, when the revolution broke out, and where she passed fourteen years at the close of her still beneficent life. It_is, perhaps, the most esteemed relic in Fredericksburg, which is full of Washington mementoes and other objects of more recent historical interest. As originally built, {t was of the cottage type, but later it was enlarged to its pres- ent proportions. It is of two stories in the center and one at the wings, with half- story attics lighted by dormer windows. There are four windows of uniform size on the first floor, and three on the central second story, over the portico entrance. On the side street there are also four windows of unequal size. In the detached building at the rear are the kitchen and servants’ dormitories. Behind this is a spacious back yard, which in her day Mary Washington kept beautiful with blooming dahlias, sunflowers, calycanthus, holly- hocks and other old-fashioned blossoms of our great-grandmothers’ time. Here, when the revolution was fully on, she received from her son, the commander-in-chief, dispatches from time to time by special couriers, giving tidings of the strife as it progressed. The Fredericksburg Residence. Here.also, when Yorktown had been won and the fate of the war decided triumphant- | ly for the colonies, and the allied French and American troops entered the town on their way to Philadelphia, she received her | son alone, who had made his way unat- from the Kenmore grounds is the hitherto reglected grave of the first President's mother, on a gentle knoll, crowned by some gray boulders, whither she often re- tired with her knitting or her Bible. On this sacred spot the new marble obe- lisk is placed, and hither, doubtless, to this saintly shrine of noble womanhood will countless bands of pilgrims repair for centuries to come—American sons and fathers, as well as mothers and daugh- ters—to pay deserved tribute to the mem- ory of her who produced and reared the founder of this nation. : JOHN D,. CREMER. — TO TEST SILK, A Few Simple Rules for the Inex- perienced Purchaser. From Harper's Bazar. To know good silk from bad is, the ex- pert tells us, among the few things that are easier done than said. But here are a few sample rules, derived from the knowl- edge of one of these same experts, that may help to save the inexperienced from the goodly outside which so often false- hood hath in silk. Especially black silk, the dear delight of the economist, the wildest extravagance of the spinster. As there is no other fabric so much the livery of genteel poverty, so also there is no other in which it is less safe to invest your money without due and proper care. The first, the greatest safe- guard is never to let yourself be beguiled into buying very cheap black silk, no mat- ter what pretext may be set forward to excuse the cheapness. Though it is barely possible that bankrupt sales may now and then furnish a genuine bargain in the fabric, the possibility is so very slender as to warrant the advice of going without if you cannot pay a fairish price. Costliness, though, is no guarantee of ex- cellence. A good plan is to buy an eighth yard and test it in the leisure of your home. It may seem a waste to those who need to count every penny, but will prove an excellent investment if it prevents a bad bargain. The first thing to do is to try and tear it, both lengthwise and cross- wise. That is, catch them with both hands about an inch apart, give a quick outward jerk and note the force necessary to break them. Then try to tear the silk along the lines that the threads came out of. If it parts so difficultly that there are puckers along the tear, it is proof that it will wear decently well. The supreme test of all, though, for either weighting or adulteration of fiber, is to burn a fragment of the stuff, and also some ravelings of it. 1f it is pure and properly dyed, it will take fire with difti- culty, even when held directly in flame. It will go out almost as soon as the flame is withdrawn, leaving ashes that are nearly jet black. On the other hand, weighted silk is al- most dangerously inflammable. It takes fire readliy, and once burning will smolder through the piece, leaving ashes that keep the shape of the cloth, and are of a ight yellowish-red color. If there is cotton mix- ed with the fiber, the smell of the smoke will betray it. The requisites of a thoroughly good silk are strength, smoothness, luster and rich- ness, without weight, no matter how thick the texture. Adulteration invariably causes a harsh feeling. In heavy weaves, such as brocade, it is particularly important to see that the foundation is of sound, firm silk, | as otherwise the fabric will not repay the cost of making. HELPS TO THE VOCALIST. The Knowing Eye, the Glad Smile and the Innocent Hand. From the New York Sun. It has been observed that all the pupils of a certain singing teacher in New York have, when singing, a bright, happy ex- pression of countenance, as thongh the art of vocaiizing was productive of the ereat- est delight. this vas so, replied: tended through the streets vocal with his Mame to the corner cottage, where she tremblingly awaited him, after an unavold- able absence of eight stormy years. On the next evening, November 11, 1781, she proud- | ly issued thence, hanging on her son’s arm, | and was conducted by him with loving pride | to the town hall, where, in public, as the | hero's mother, she presided over the peace | ball, given in honor of the great victory for | liberty—arrayed in black silk gown and | snowy kerchief and cap, and received with placid dignity the compliments of the home and foreign officers, holding delightful court Unfinished and Abandoned Monument. ntil 10 o'clock; when, making a sign to the kingly commander-in-chief, who was lead- | ing a Fredericksburg matron through a minuet, she called, archly, in her clear, sprightly voice: “Come, George, it is time | for old folks to be at hom | In the back yard of this same old cottage, | Working among her flowers and garden pots, Mary Washington received Lafayette, her | country’s friend and her son's brother-at- arms, who had come to bid her farewell. The chivalrous Frenchman was guided to the side gate by a little son of Betty Wash- | ington Lewis, her only living daughter, and | found her, all unprepared for his visit, en- | gaged in raking together dry weeds and | sticks into a heap for burning. As the no- bleman advanced, the startled hostess ropped her rake, but with admirable digni- ty and seif-possession she took hetween her bare palms the hand the visitor extended, | while he bared his lofty head and bowed | before her in deepest reverence. Epping Forest. “Ah! marquis!” said she, “you have come | to see an old woman! But come in; I can | make you welcome without changing my dress. I am glad to see you. I have of- ten heard George speak of | you. She ed him into the in- ner hall, conducted him into her “living room,” and after seating him, laid aside her straw hat and placed herself opposite to him. Erect as at eighteen, her eyes unfad- | ed, she listened with calm delight to the | Ppanezyrie upon her son poured forth by the | eloquent Frene! . in which her George greater than Caesar or Alexander, or Han- nibal, and more modest than Cincinnatus— | the one immortal hero whose fame would outlast time. Her characteristic and com- ve response was simply: “I am not surprised at what George has done; he was | always a good boy.” Fredericksburg tradition further relates With homely, Kindly humor, that Madam | Washington mixed with her own hands | for her distinguished guest a mint julep | and offered it with a plate of her own home-made cakes,” which he ac- ‘ul_courtesy, pronounc- ing tth delicious. Then, rising to take his leave. he begged her blessing ere he embarked for his native land. She looked up to heaven, folded her hands, and, in sweet, thrilling tones, prayed that God grant him safety, happiness, prosperity and peace. With tears the foreigner bent to kiss the withered hand, thanked her fervently and departed. ‘Returning to, ashington’s guest La- fayette reported, “I have seen the only | Roman matron living at thie day.” | Kenmore. Here, also, George Washington, at the | age of fifteen attended school at the same academy in which two subsequent Presi- dents, Madison and Monroe, were prepared for college—rowing himself across the river jand back from his mother’s plantation on the other side. Likewise, here in Freder- icksburg, a stone's throw distant from the Mary Washington cottage, is the old man- | sion known as Kenmore, the residence of | her daughter Betty. When built by Col. | | things are necessary: vb | music is used it should ‘be held light | though they feared it would vet | my | child of twelve years | ter we had been ov | slowly pacing the de “Our master teaches us that for the pro- duction of a full, bright, ringing tone, three ‘The knowing the glad smile and the innocent hand.’ “What in the world does he mean by that?” asked her questioner, “and what have they to do with your singing, any- how?” “TI shall tell you as well as 1 can. As re- gards the facial expression, the pupiis all imagine at first that it is taugnt with the idea of its visual effect upon an audience. That is by no means the cise, although it A young woman pupil, when asked why | WHEN COMPARED WITH COME ON THE LOWER SID! THE SKIES IN APRIL The Heavenly Bodies as They Now May Be Seen. FOLLOWING THE PATHWAY OF THE SUN The Constellations and the Planets in Their Order. HINTS TO STAR GAZERS Written for The Evening Star, - ACING THE SOUTH at about ¥ o'clock Sunday evening, or between 7 and & o'clock near the close of the month,we shall have directly in front of us a broad region of the heavens, ex- tending from the horizon nearly halt- way to the zenith, in which, unless the evening is exceed- ingly clear, not a solitary star will be visible to the naked eye. In this vacant region modern astron- omers, to complete the charting of the “heavens, have placed a constellation bear- ing the very significant name Antlia Pneu- matica, the air pump. The brightest star in this ghost of a constellation is a star of the fourth or fifth magnitude, at about the center of the region. On the right of the Air-pump is the constellation Argo; on its left is the Centaur. Both of these constel- lations, however, lie mainly within the re- gion of the south circumpolar stars, the ship Argo showing only Its spars and rig- ‘ging and the Centaur only his head and shoulders above our horizon. Above the Centaur, and at about one-third of the dis- tance from the horizon to the zenith, may be seen a very pretty sprinkling of faint stars, which form two small constellations— { is, of course, always more pleasant to see a singer with an agreeable expression than one with a distorted visage, However, an alert, intelligent eye seems to communi- cate its feeling somehow to the throat; one feels surer of the pitch, and the tone is altogether better. Try singing with such an expression, and again with a heavy, listless eye, and see the difference, “Now for the ‘glad smile.” It is such a smile as extends from the lips to the eyes, and, in fact, affects the whole face. Ly it the interior of the mouth, just back of the teeth, is rounded, the passage from the windpipe to the lips is made perfectly clear, and the sound emitted becomes bright, gladsome and ringing. Gh, that smile is a wonderful help, particularly for those noies above D in the staff."" “I understand that pretty well,” id the interlocutor, “but how ahout the ‘innucent nd?” That sounds like the nonsense.” “Not at all. The haads should be held clasped gently together; or tt a sheet of be- tween the fingers. This is important. Some singers have a habit of knotting their hands together, or clutchiag their music as Now the muscles which knot these fingers are away up in the arm, conuznous to the muscles of the chest, and not far from those of the throat. The strain upon them affects these other muscles, interferes with breathing and tires the throat. “Now, does it sound so much like non. sense? J tell you they are great things, ‘the knowing eye, the glad smile and the innocent hand;’ it wasn't until i nad learn- ed their value that I was allowed to sing in public, and to them do I attribute rauch of my succes: — A Genuine Hero. Frem the New York World. “Have you ever wondered just what you would do if, without a word of warning, you were placed in a situation where you had the choice of risking your own life suddenly presented to you?” asked Gadderly at the club the other night. Several members de- clared they had not. “I recall a vivid instance of the kind,” said Gadderly, as he order and braced himself back “at had often been a matter of speculation with me as to just what my action would be in a moment of extreme peril, and I am glad to say, gentlemes, that when the time did come I was not unequai to the occasion.” There was a subdued murmur of suppress- ed interest “Some time ago, he continued, “my | health was so poor that upon the advice of in physicians I engaged age schooner bound for florida. The had on board his little daughie PD a it was a particularly memorable oc for me, that being the first day 1 was strong enough to walk, when I heard a sudden splash, and looking up hastily I discovered that the little girl had fallen overboard. Gentlemen, you can imagine my feeling eral members nodded. fere was the opportunity of my life. e was a light breeze and the schooner moving lazily through the water. 1 rushed to the railing. For a brief instant 1 caught a glimpse of the terror-stricken face of my little companion, and tien she In that brief moment, gentlemen, I hav hesitation in saying that I lived And yet, I say it calmly and dispass ly, the determination to save that girl's life never once was shaken. The littie Before any one on deck knew what I was about I ‘ang to the railing and threw”— Excuse me a moment," interrupted his friend Gilback. “Old man, you know you can't swim. “I know it,” quietly replied Gadderly. “And you say,” persisted Gilback, “that pu were so weak that you could scarcely alk.” did,” responded Gadderly. “Then how could you throw yourself over- board and save that child's life?” triumph- joned Gilback. y dear fellow,” said Gadderly, misunderstood me entirely. that I jumped overboard. already done that.” “Then what did you do?” breathlessly tn- “you | T did not say | The captain had quired his audience. As I was about to remark when I was interrupte replied Gadderly, gracefully filling his glass, “I sprang to the railing life preserver.” that are well worth examining, particularly if one is using an opera glass. The cup ts the more westerly of the cwo. Its bowl is formed by a semicircle of five or six stars of the fourth and one of the third magni- tude, which opens toward the east. A short line of three third-magnitude stars on the |right forms its base. The Cup 1s a tittle ‘lop-sided, but otherwise is a very passable celestial goblet. | The Crow is not quite so “like” as the |Cup. Still, it can be distinguished easily by means of four stars of the third and one of ‘the fourth magnitude, forming a trapezium, (or irregular square, to the left of the Cra-_ |ter, The lower left-hand star” is in the Crow's feet; the others in his wings and, head. Both the Cup and the Crow stand on the back of Hydra, a constellation chiefly remarkable for its enormous length. The Hydra'’s head is marked by a short curved line of three stars—one of the third and two | of the fourth magnitude—at about two- fifths of the distance from Procyon to Reg- ulus. From this point its body may be traced (on a celestial chart, if not among the stars) sloping downward to the ieft, passing under the Cup and the Crow and terminating near the horizon in the south- (east. The brightest star in this constella- tion—Cor Hydrae, the Hydra's Heart—is dl- rectly above ihe vacant region of the Air- pump, midway between Procyon and the Cup. ‘Although of only the second magni- tude, owing to its lonely situation, it is very conspicuous, and will readily be iden- tified. In the Sun's Path. Let us turn now to the zodiacal constel- lations—those which lle along the line of the sun’s path. At 9 o'clock Sunday evening the western boundary of Taurus, the Bull, will rest upon the horizon midway between west and northwest. The striking features of this constellation, by means of which it may be recognized, are the bright star |Aldebaran and the Pleiades. The planet Jupiter is also now in this constellation. But both the planet and the star cluster. though still above the horizon, will be too low to be seen at ® o'clock. Adjoining Taurus on the east is the constellation Gemini, the twins, marked by two bright stars, Castor and Pollux. These stars may now be seen in the West, at about three- fifths of the distance from the horizon to the zenith. Observe that the sun's path \(the ecliptic), as laid own on the planis- ‘phere, passes south of Pollux at a distance about equal to the star's distance from its companion, Caste o bright stars are In the heads of the tv their feet are about midway between these stars and the head of Orion, who now reclines above the western horizon. The region of the feet of the twins is a fine opera glass field, pre- senting several pretty “streams” and other combinations of faint stars. Next In order, as we follow the sun’s path eastward, comes Cancer, the crab. This constellation contains no bright stars, but | there is situated in ft one of the prettiest | star clusters in the heavens, Praesepe, the manager, the position of which Is indteated on the planisphere by a small circle. To the naked eye it appear as a fleck of nebulous Night; an opera glass will show ft as a s cluster, while e a small telescope will make of it an object of exceeding beauty. The crab is als nus as the consteilation | in which Hershel discovered the planet Ura- nus. This planet revolves around the sun in a period of eighty-four years. Since its.dis- | covery, in 1781, it has performed one com- | plete revolution, and is a third of the wa around on a second, being now in the conste | lation Libra. Leo, the lion, comes next in order. The sickle, which forms the lion's | bushy head and shoulders, is known to many who are unacquainted with the ancient and } astronomical name of this constellation. | The bright star in the handle of the sickle is Regulus, sometimes called Cor Leonis, the lion’s heart This star les almost exactly in the sun's path. At the hour of our ob- servation it will be found nearly on the meridian—that is, almost exactly south—at about the same altitude as the twins. De- nebola, in the lion's tail, is of the second magnitude It is at the lower left-hand cor- ner of a noticeable quadrilateral of four | stars at some little distance to left, or east of Regulus. Beyond the Equator. Following the sun’s path across the equa- tor we enter the constellation Virgo, the virgin. This constellation offers little of in- Pleiades ¥ -) Jepuds® Taurus s THE PRINCIPAL STARS WHICH ARE ABUVE THE HORIZON APRIL 8 AT 9 P.M. THE HEAVENS, THIS CHART SHOULD RE SO HELD THAT THE MARGINAL LETTERS INDICATING THE DIRECTION IN WHICH THE OBSERVER FACES terest to the naked-eye observer, except its bright star, Spica, a star of the first magni- tude, which marks the wheat ear, held in the virgin’s left hand. Libra, the balance, which comes next, is marked by two stars of the second magnitude, one in each scale, which are now barely above the horizon and are too low to be visible. The sun will traverse (in a direction from west to east) that half of his path now above the horizon at 9 p. m., between the middle of May and the middle of November, reaching the point at which he crosses the celestial equator from north to south—the autumnal equinox— on the 22d of September. Between Leo and the Pole star is the monster constellation Ursa Major, better known as the Great Bear. It is now nearly overhead. The seven stars of the Dipper belong to this constellation, although they form but a small portion of it, as !t is delineated on a celestial chart. The Bear is one of the oldest of the constellations, and it is also one of the most puzzling. Scan this region as closely as you will, it is im- Possible to discover here any such figure as the chart presents to us. Not the least per- plexing circumstance connected with this constellation is that some of our North American Indians, who cannot be supposed to have received their astronomy from the old world, are said to have pointed out a bear among these stars, so that the evidence is fairly good that there is such an animal somewhere hereabouts. Perhaps we have sought for a too artistic figure. With a few hints as to the animal’s location, the reader may be trusted to solve this problem for himself. The handle of the Dipper forms the Bear's tail—a curious appendage for a bear, by the way; {ts bowl is in the hind part of his body. Beyond the bowl, on a line with its two upper stars, are two stars of the fourth magnitude, which form a sort of slender counter-handle. The outer of these is in the Bear's nose. Midway between the bowl and the Twins is a close pair of fourth magnitude stars, which are in his forepaws. Between the Dipper and Leo are two other similar pairs, nearly on a line with the first. These are in the Bear's hind paws. Fix these points well in mind, and complete the sketch from a study of the stars themselves, ‘The animal discovered will be a rather un- couth animal, but it will do for a constel- lation. The Dipper and Its Names, The seven stars of the Dipper are of the second magnitude, except the middle star, which is of the third. ‘they form a group ico striking not to have beea observed and pamed at a very early period. Th2 ancient Hindous called them the Seven Rishis, or } Seven Prophets. To the Remans they were known as the Septentriones, a name ex- ported Carisba, ater. | ton of the Carisbad Spraie! water, is always | For habitual constipatioa, couty ant Prouuces a healtuy color delson Co., Agents, N. ¥,,"" rheamatic attect! ore breakfast, about half This salt, which is pro.uced by the Be vure to obtain the zenuine arti on every bottle. Price, bottle $1. Cosmetics Do Not Beautify But Ofter Destroy a Healthy Complexion. Kate Field has made the remarkable statement that the normous sum of year by American women for cosmetics, face powders, washes fall kinds, most of which are made sablimate and other polsovous substances which, instead of beautifying the complexion, destroy even s healthy skin. A natural rosy and healthy complexion these cosinetics, but only thro eral, and nothing is better to sect xty-two million dollars are spent every Of oxide of zinc, corrosive cannot be had by the use of ouch che health of the body iu sen- ‘ure this resuit than the genuine im- alt, when taken early in the morning be- teaspoonful, dissolved in « tumblerful of i Spradei City of Carlsbad by the: ‘fective in all disorders of the stomach, metry hanes, i without equal. It clears the complexion and ‘hich has the siscnature of **Eisner & Men- large size. 81.50. tons it icle, LOTTERY DEVICES Sharpers Who Use the Mails for Purposes of Fraud, LOTTERY BUSINESS HAS FALLEN OFF The Stamp Collecting Mania and the Columbian Issue. COSTLY STAMP COLLECTIONS —_—o———— Written for The Evening Star. “FRAUD ORDER” will issue imme- diately from the Post Otfice Department against the so-called Louisiana State Lot- tery Company of New Orleans and Kansas City, directing post- masters to deliver no registered mail and to pay no money or- @ers to that concern. This is a “fake” en- terprise, which has flooded the country recently with advertis- ing literature. It sends out all such matter by express, so as to avold infringing the postal laws. To individuals picked out to serve as “agents” in various cities and towns it addresses the following ingenious and attractive communication, marked “confidentti “My Dear Sir: We want to do some bus!- ress in your locality, and have selected |you to represent us. We fully understand \why your people have almost stopped buy- ling lottery tickets; it is because there has | been no prize of value drawn in your neigh- borhood for years, and many have thus be- come discouraged, and have ceased to pa- tronize lotteries. There is but one way to revive the old-time interest and excitement, and that is for some one to draw a prize large enough in value to stimulate and in- |duce others to start buying tickets again. We give 2,000 more prizes than any other company in the world, and will guarantee that the sale of a few of our tickets will result In some one’s drawing a prize, as in |our company one number in every eighteen |wins. If some well-known man like your- self should draw $75,000, $20,000, $10,000, or even $5,000 in our lottery, it would be the means of selling thousands of our tickets in your part of the country. Now, we give |you the inclosed $% ticket free, hoping that it may win such a prize as the above, and fully believing that, should you draw anv of | plairel by Varro to mean the Seven Plow- the amounts mentioned, the increased sale | Oxen, The Romans also called them the of our tickets in your vicinity would more | Pole «nd Oxen. Among the Greeks this than pay us for the money thus expended. | group was known as the Plow and also as We inclose fifty one-dollar tickets, and we the Crater, or Cup, and Corvus, the Crow— | the Chariot. Its resemblance to a wagon Was noticed also by the ancient Germans, | Who called it the Karl’s Wagon, a name which appears in the early English Ltera- ture as Artaur’s or Charles’ Wain, al- thouga its popular name in England at the present time is the Plow. Two of the stars of the Dipper's bowl—those opposite the handle—lie nearly in a line wiia the Pole star, and are known as the Pointers. The distance of this star from the nearest Pointer is about equal to the Dippe:’s | length. It is of the second magnitude, and | with this index it can always easily be | found. | @he Pole star is at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper—known astronomic- ally as the Ursa Minor, or Smalier Bear— which, with this hint, may readily be found. The two stars in the Little Dipper which correspord to the Pointers in the Great Dipper are of the second smagnitude, and form a conspicuous pair, sometimes | called the Guardians of the Pole. Facing now the east, we may see, at about one- third of the distance from the horizon to the zenith, Arcturus, the Bear-keeper, usu- | ally accounted the brightest star in the northern hemisphere of the heayens. It lies on a continuation of the curve of the Dipper’s handie, a position which renders this star easy to find, when above the horizon, Midway between Arcturus and the er of the Pointer stars is a star of the second magnitude, the principal star in the Hu ng Dogs, which Cor Heart, given to it ia memory of Charles I of Engiand. Caroli is equidistant from Aretur Denebola, forming with them a lars angle, of which the base is si: longer than the other sides. Arctur Denebola and Spica form a second triangle,the sides of which are nearly equal. j The two (riangles united form a large fou sided figure, known as the Diamond of | Virgo. At the center of the upper of these | trianglés, directly south of Cor Caroli, is the constellation Coma Berenic: ere- hice’s Hair, a scattered group of faint sta which form an excellent opera-glass_ fiel Coma Lerenices is astronomicaily interest- ing from the remarkable richness of this region in nebulae. The Planets, Mercury will be a morning star through- out the month, and early risors will have a good opportunity of glimpsing it above the eastern horizon. It will reach its st western elongation—distance from the sun— on the 10th, Venus aisos now a morning star, adorning the eastern sky with nearly her greatest splendor. Mars is a moraing star, rising at about 1 a.m. It will be se eral months yet before this planet will be in a position to render it of especial in- terest either to naked-eye observers or to astronomers. Its opposition will cccur on the 20th of October. The four planets are all evening s above the horizon at 9 p.m shown on the two of them vi ible to the na d eye. Saturn will be in op- position to the sun on the lith, crossing the in the positions altho meridian on that day at midnight. it is near Spica, as shown on the planisphers but it may easily be distinguished from that star by its orange-yellow color, che star be- ing pearly white. > A Coup de Theatre. From Life. »bson made quite a hit when he made ance on the stage.” his part?” “The ghost in ‘Hamlet!’ He appeared five mirutes ahead of time, and the effect on Hamlet was very fine.’ ————— The Mortal Coil From T-uth. want you to sell every one of them if you can, as we want as many as possible in your town interested in our April drawing. Do not sell your $5 ticket. Keep that for yourself, and, if you will look out for our interests, we will look out for yours. We will send you prize lists of the drawing im- mediately after it takes place. Your com- mission will be 25 per cent. It being un- lawful to use the mail for lottery purposes, we caution you against sending ws any matter by mail, as all such mail goes to the dead letter office at Washington. Send money and all other communications by ex- press only. Do your best and leave the rest to us. Sincerely yours, : | “M. DAUPHIN, President.” A Well-Raited Hook. Observe how artfully the addressee is jled to imagine that, in return for his serv-/ “. | ices in selling tickets, the “company” will | so manipulate the drawing to throw him \a prize of $5,000 or perhaps $75,000, He can j afford to be indifferent as to the luck of his acquaintances, among whom he is expected to dispose of the fifty one-dollar securities. The latter are quite elaborately got up—printed, most «appropriately, in green, with a careful imitation of lathe engraving, d consecutively. Supplement: s say: “Employ all the sub: 3 use to advantage. Most of them will ied with cents on the dollar, iy, in sn towns, there is a foolish prejudice against lotteries, and agents do not care to be known as such. When this is the case, we suggest that the agent ‘get up a club,” in which each member would be interested in proportion to the money put in. If you should need more tickets than we have sent you, telegraph us for the additional number yon want, at our expense. Do not use the mails under any circumstances.” Now ail this is a swindle from beginning to end. T% begin with, there is no such person as M. Dauphin. That was the name of the sident of the real Louisiana Lottery Company, recently ejected from this country, and now doing business in | Hondu: He is dead. Secondly, this fake conce>n makes no drawings and | distributes no prizes. The sole object of its existence is to gather in dollars from per- sons who are so foolish as to purchase its tickets. The “agents” employed, whose cupidity Induces them to act as stool- pigeons, never receive the twenty-five per cent commission. The five-dollar tickets bestowed upon them as special bribes are worthless, of con-se. The Old Louisiana Company. Nevertheless, the extensive distribution of the tickets and lterature throughout the country proves that there is money in the Men of good reputation are got to serve as agents and collect the dollars from victims. The “lottery” has its headquarters at Kansas City, Kans. Frauds of a like description hav e given a good deal of trouble of late to the post- office authorities, They send out all their stuff by express, but a g-eat many letters are addr to them by mail. Such communications, so long as they are under seal, cannot be interfered with. ‘There is jno way to punish the swindlers so long as they refrain from violating the postal laws. The original Louisiana Lottery Company | still doing business all over the United | States, though its draw’ are made at Puerto Cortez, in Honé . It has an office at Port Tampa, Florida, from which a boat of its own runs to Puerto Cortez. All of its advertising literature is set up in type at Port Tampa, but the printing is jdone at Puerto Cortez, The printed stuff is brcught to Port Tapa, and forwardec thence by express to all parts of the coun- try. The tickets are sold through agents, who return the noney by express. No registered letters are @eliverable to the |company, and no money order wiil be sold by any postmaster payable to the concern. |The Canadian post office authorities have |recently adopted equivalent restrictions against the lottery. Its industry, as row conducted, is safe from irterference f-om the law, but the profits derived from it are only a small fraction of what they used to j be. The express system is expensive, and |moury cannot be sent in that way from every small town. A good many postmasters have got into | trouble about the Columbian stamps, ow- ing to the eagerness of the demand by col- lectors for those interesting issues. In a number of instances they have entered in- to arrangements with speculators who de- sired to procure cheap cancellations. For example: A dealer sends $100 worth of the stamps to a postmaster in a country town, | Saying: “Jf you wili cancel these I will allow you $50, and you can return the bal- ance in money to me.” Small postmasters in lieu of salary are paid for the stamps they cancel. Thus the postmaster gets $50 for his re, while the dealer obtains a Tebate on hi ‘tamps. Stamp Collectors Prefer Them. Collectors usually prefer unused stampa. Why, then, do they go to such trouble to have the Columbian issues canceled? Simply because the latter have already been much counterfeited abroad, and the cancel mark is a sort of guarantee of genuineness. As a guarantee {t is hardly first-rate, inasmuch as the counterfeiter can easily forge the cancellation, but one cannot expect people afflicted with the stamp mania to be quite rational. At all events, ordinary 2-cent lett i tamp: on them of ‘denominations from si" 4 the hands of the Post Office ent aig cmonge 2 exhausted, while alae ben e n distributed - ces of the country, siaicaghces mas Already they — for the 3. ‘or the $5 stamp, $4.50 for $8.50 for the $3, $2.30 for the $2 and $1: for the $1; 60 cents for the 50-cent 85 cents for the 30-cent and 18 cents for the 15-cent. These prices will go up very quickly, A dealer said yesterday that with- in a few months the 3, 6 and 8-cent | would cost from 25 +0 60 cents each, The it and 8-cent are getting scarce aiso. lators have bought No wonder that specu! up great quantities of the Columbian siemps and are holding them for a rise. Even now they are sending return postal cards to postmasters all over the United tates, asking how many of such and such denominations the addresses in each case The Scarcer Kinds. Now that the source of supply has well nigh dried up the dealers are making fran- tic exertions to corner the market for some of the scarcer issues. They could not know @ year ago that only 135,000 stamps in all of denominations running from $1 to $3 would be printed. A gamble in these high- priced securities would have been risky and would have requfred a great outlay. The big stamps have mostly gone abroad on packages of bonds and other valuable pa- pers sent from this country by bankers and brokers. Many of them are coming back now to meet the demand for them on this Side of the water. Naturally, the value of Columbian stamps was mucn enhanced by Air, Bisseil’s acuon in cutting down the to- tal number printed from three billions te two billions. ‘The question has been raised whether it Was Nol a mistake to print the high-priced issues, which, owing to their considerable face values, were likely to prove a templa- ton to counterfeiters. For many years no attempt has been made to criminally imi- tate the ordinary postage stamps of the United States, chiefly because it is not worth while. Most accurate fac similes of our newspaper and periodical stamps,which run up as high as $00, have been produced abroad for saie to collectors. The real ones are greatly prized for the reason that they are so hard to obtain, not being permitted to go out of the hands of the post office of- Kcials, Postmasters are not allowed to sell them, and the only way to get them is to Steal them. It is worth mentioning, by the Way, that Uncle Sam gave away 1,050 com- plete sets of the Columbian stamps—worth $16.26 a set, face value—to foreign govern- ments, One of the oddest freaks of the postage Stamp business is to be found in New York. An engraving firm in that city manufac- tures all of the stamps issued by Nicara- gua, Honduras, Salvador and Guatema! jit does not charge those governments a cent for the work or material, furnishing everything free. The only stipulations made are that a fresh series of stamps shall be printed for each year and that the en- eraving firm shall have all that are left over unused. The concern is at liberty to turn out as many stamps as it chooses over and above what are required, and thus it is enabled to sell unlimited quantities of them ‘to collectors. Each year there is a complete new set, and those of issues that are out of date. e., not of the current year—are mounted by thousands on cards of ten each and offered to collectors and dealers every- where. Of course, they are unused and per- fect, but they are sold for 50 cents a card, though the face value represented by the ten stamps amounts to $4 or $5. Rovs buy them mostly.older collectors regarding them as rather fishy. Valunble Stamp Collections. Tt is reckoned that $5,000,000 ts Invested In stamp collections in this country. The most valuable United States stamps are those of the earliest series, of 1847. There were only two, for 5 and 10 cents. The latter is worth $3. The original dies for these issues were destroyed by fire, but many years later copies of them were made and printed from. Next most costly are the stamps for 1899. The old departmental stamps are growing more valuable every year. The Department of State had a series of fifteen, which will now fetch per set. The eleven stamps of worth $35, set of ex- The most ent New worth $2.90, only a men being extant. This one w red by accident among a lot of pa- the Department of Justice are Twenty-five dollars will buy a ectutive stamps, five in number. precious American stamp is the Haven local. It pers belonging to a defunct Smithsonian professor. A confederate 5-cent stamp of Livingston, Ala. valued at $980, ators and Representa- res are collectors of stmps. John Sher. man has a valuable collection; s0, also, has Mr. Adee, second assistant secretary of state. Haron Faya, the Italian minister, has several volumes filled with stamps, which are appraised at $10,000. “ Togeth with his stamps and other curiosities, he keeps the skin of a snake that bit him while he was at New Orleans investigatin, lynching of his countrymen. The separ which was venomous, tackied him while he was hunting, not far from the city. He cauterized the wound by putting gunpowder into it and exploding it. Not a few goy- ernment employes at Washington collect stamps, particularly those whose official duties make it easy to secure such curios, It ts said that stamps are an excellent ine vestment; a good collection is sure to in. crease in’ value year by ye: The yellow special delivery soon go out of print, and on that account will be held at a premium. Eventually, no doubt, it will become very valuable, ", scheme has been offered to the Post Office Department for issuing stamps In sheets, so arranged that anybody can detach one. cent’s worth, two cents, three cents. or more, according to the sum wanted to carey a letter. The plan, however, is not regarde] with favor. It may be that a device will be adopted some day for dispensing with stamps on letters that are sent in quanti. ties. If this could be done, it would be a convenience to firms which mail thousands of letters every day. Just as stamps are now canceled by machines in the creat post offices, the letters might be put thro: some sort of hopper and paid for by the gross. RENE BACHE. —_-+_—_ | Not Lost. From Harper's Razar. | “Why, baby, what has become of the | pretty gold pin you had on? Have you lost jacrr i “No, mamma; I thwopped it of peppymint at Sunday thhool.’ stamp will for @ thtick