Evening Star Newspaper, September 15, 1894, Page 15

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1894—EIGHTEEN PAGES. -_—<— A SIDE GATE TO THE PALACE. THE KING OF COREA An Audience With His Majesty in the Royal Palace. CARPENTERS EXPERIENCES IN SEOUL How the American Minister Was Presented at Court. A WORD ABOUT THE QUEEN (Copyrighted, 1894, by Frank G. Carpenter.) ‘Written for The Evening Star. NE OF THE MOST interesting men in ‘the world today is the King of Corea. ‘The war between Japan and China is being fought over him, and the future of Asia is involved in the struggle. The king is the absolute ruler of — 12,000,000 people. The land of Corea belongs prac- tically to him, and Mhe development of its immense natural re- sources in gold and coal, which is sure to occur after the war is over, may make him one of the richest kings in the world. T had an audience with him six years ago, and I met him in one of his palaces in Seoul just before the outbreak of the present re- bellion. He received me with the highest of honors, and I am, I believe, the only strict~ 4y private American who has ever gone through the imperial door of the great gate which leads into his palace city. The king's palaces cover nearly one thou- sand acres. They lie at the foot of a ragged gray mountain and a thick wall of stone as high as a two-story house runs around them. This wall is entered by a half dozen great gates, at which, day and night, sol- diers are stationed to see that only the prop- er people go in. Each gate has its own fank, and there are special entrances for servants and low nobles. The great central gate is reserved for the highest. It has three doors, and the middle one of them is kept for royalty alone, and only kings and princes are supposed to go through it. I see that the papers state that Gen. Clarence Greathouse, the king’s foreign adviser, is the only American who ever entered ‘the palace city through this door. This is not qtue. The same honor was accorded last May to Minister Sill, Dr. H. N. Allen, and also to me. Through the Back Door. This is how it happened. The Corean officials, who put on great airs, have been trying to lessen the rank of foreigners in the eyes of the people. They have made a back entrance to the palace for them, and they proposed to Imaugurate this by thus letting in our new minister, Mr. Sill, who had arrived in Corea during my stay. Min- ister Sill, however, refused to accept their Proposition. He said he represented the President of the United States, and that our President was as big as any king on the globe. If there was a gate for kin: he thought he ought to go through it, a he sent word to the department that he would ex appointed to this ot admitted there turn to his legation. This mes- the faces of the king's officials turn from the color of Jersey cream to skimmed milk. They saw that there would be trouble and they referred the matter to the kirg. Now, his majesty has more brains than all of his ministers. He is packed full of common sense, and ke at The King’s Center Door. once became very angry. He not only said that the minister should go through the chief gate, servants in order that he might ride there in state. me from my st int told I wanted to me that he weuld give m special audience hat of the minister over. 1 show you how we marched view, but he was t him and he said but he sent his own chair and) 1 don’t know that he remembered } i | city on our way to the kin One procession ef soliiers and servants wa at least one hundred feet long, and we s borne by big-hatted coolies. | The king's chair shone like gold in its brass trimmi and {t had mahogany panels. My ¢ s covered with navy blue silk, and Allen rode in a gor- geous sedan of green. We had a couple of Corean nobles to go with us as interpreters, and these were gorgeously dressed. The minister, Pr. Alien and myself had on plug hats, boiled shirts and sw The servants who came from the palace were dressed in white gowns, belted in at the waist, with sashes of green. The sol- diers wore blue coats and plum-colored pants, and out of the back of their black tur hats were tassels of the brightest ver- milion, each of which was as big as a fy brush. Oh, it was gay! Appronehing the Palace. Tn this way we went down the Pennsyl- vania avenue of Seoul. Our kescs ran in front and howled out to the common people to get ont of the way for the great men who came. Men and women were crowded up to the walls. Bullock carts were driven down the side streets with a rush. The people who smoked took their pipes out of their mouths and held them behind them. Women with green coats over their heads scampered into their houses, and the eyes of all were so stretehed out at the sight that they lost their almond shape and be- came circular in wonder. It was so till we reached the gate of the palaée. Here our A Police Offcial. soldiers put down the chairs, and, accom- ed by our pompous Corean interprete nD we walked toward the gate. the platform we were met by one of the high officials of the king, clad in a gorgeous green gown, with a stork of white silk em- broidered on a background of gold a foot Midway on He had a similar square of embroidery upon his back, and as I locked at him it struck me that with a good revolver a man could kill both of these embroidered birds at the same time. He had about his waist a hoop of what seemed to be shell or horn, studded with precious stones, and he was accompanied by servants, who held up his arms and sort of lifted him along the way. This was not because he could not walk, but it bet- ter showed his rank and style. He bowed low. We bowed, and after a short interval of diplomatic taffy giving he led the way up to the central gate of the palace and motioned the minister to walk through the main entrance. He then went through on of the side gates, and our interpreters 40! Allen and myself were walking with the minister. Said the doc- tor, “He seems to imtend that I shall go through the main gate, too.” ‘Well, doc- tor,” said I, “I think I will stick ‘to the party, and though I have no official rank, I'll see how it feels to walk the path that has only been trodden by the feet of kings.” I had not forgotten that I was an Ameri- can prince. And so we three representa- tives of the royalty of the United States marched through this teraple-like entrance. The act in itself seems little in America, but it was a great thing in Corea, and everywhere I went after that it was men- tioned in connection with my introductions to other Coreans The Gorgeous Prime Minister. In our march throvgh the city of the king this gorgeous prime minister stalked along in frent of vs, leading us through great courts till we came to another gate, through the center arch of which we passed. Then we went on through other courts walled with palaces, past servants clad in brown and red, and by officials wearing all sorts of hats and gowns. ‘There were soldiers everywhere, and Gatling guns stood near some of the entrances. We passed through Street after street, walled with the buildings in which live this king and his servants, until we ceme to a great gate, the side door of which alone was open. The central door was closed. The secretary of the home of- fice stepped through the side gate and ex- pected us to follow. We had gotten used, however, to the arch of honor, and we stopped and waited for the main gate to be opened. The secretary thereupon changed his mind. He came back and was prac- tically lifted by his servants to the top of a hill where there was a new gate, and he led us through this. This brought ‘us Into the vestibule built for the foreigners. It was a magnificent cerridor, so long that you could not see the end as you stood at the top and looked down it. 1t was lighted at the top and 6n both sides by beautiful lattices of white paper. The woodwork was papere@ with this werderful Corean paper, which is as smooth as ivory and as strong as leather. The floor was covered with matting as fine as the web of a Panama hat, and so thick that our feet sunk as softly into it as they would have done had it been Brussels car- pet. This corridor had many landings. We descended from one to another by easy steps, and after a walk of perhaps a quar- ter of a mile, we came out of it into an open hall which looked out upcn the gardens of the king, and gave a view of the new palace in the distance. The Audience Chamber. This rcom was furnished in foreign style, and the highest officials of the king and a number of great nobles of the court were Sathered within it. Each noble had his ser- vant with him. ‘Tall, broad-shouldered men, clad in brown gowns and gorgeous hats, steod about as guards. These are known as the brown-coated kescs. ‘They are the bodyguard of the king, and, like the famed soldiers of Peter the Great, have been picked out for their height and strength. Nearly every one of them fs over six feet, and their long gowns make them look like giants. In addition to these, there were servants in red caps, serv- arts in caps of purple and servants with gorgeous headdressings of blue. The offi- cials were clad in their court dresses, and the head of each shcwed a top-knot shining through its fine Corean cap of horse hair, which, with its great wings flapping out at the sides, forms the oflicial headdress. These wings are oval in shape and they stand out like ears, denoting that their owners are ever listening for the commands of the King. The gowns of these officials were of the finest made very full. They fell to their feet and nearly covered the great official cloth boots, which made each man look as though he had the gcut and was nursing his feet for the oc- ca: were of dark green, em- 1 on the breast and back, end_ containing white storks or tigers, ac- cording as the man belonged to the civil or the military rank. man had a stiff, roop-like belt about him, which was fas- tened in some way to his dress, and sur- rovnded his body just below the ‘Tkese hoops were So large that th abeut six inches out from the dres are emblems of rank, and you can position ef the man by the character of the gold, jewels or precious stones with which these hoops are decorated. Some of them were made of a great number of small squares fastened together by joints, and not a few of these squares were of the purest gold. Otners were of silver, and others square upon his breast. jow-tail coats. | were of gre2n jade, amber and other pre- s stones. Each of these officials wore a »ton of woven horse hair about four inches wide about his head, and this ribbon 3°. wes fastened on by a little round buttoy abcut the size of the back of a collar but- ton, which rested just behind the ear. These buttons also denote raak. Some were of gold, some amber and others of other pre- cicus materials. In the Royal Presence. These men were all very dignified. We were introduced all around by the cabinet tinister who conducted us into the room, ane¢ we then sat down to a long table upon which were plates filled with assorted cuvases about the size of macaroons. At each man’s seat there were champagne glasses, and the servants opened a half dozen or so of cold bottles while we chatted and waited. The American minister had his presentation first. He spent about half an hour with his majesty, and then one of the English-speaking officials came into this room and told me that the king was ready to see me. Taking off my hat and my eye- glasses, I walked with this man through long passageways, walled with stone, by red-capped, red-gowned servants, and past soldiers in gorgeous uniforms, to the gate of a large courtyard. As we neared this my interpreter, who was a high official noble, bent his head over, and his face looked like that of a man in pain at a fu- neral. As we entered the court he bent half double, and as I looked across it, I saw that there was a large’ open hall facing us. This hall had a massive roof of heavy tiles, and at the front of it there were a number of big rourd pillars painted red. There were three entrances to it, reached by granite ateps guarded by stone dogs, and the floor +was, I judge, about six feet from the ground. Within the hall, in front of a Corean screen, the king, with two eunuchs on cach of him holding up his arms. ut him were a number of officials, who bent over half double and dared not look at him for reverence. All of these officials had these gorgeous storks or tigers on their breasts, and they looked at me out of the tails of their eyes as I came up. My interpreter got down on his knees as he got to the steps. He crawl- ed along the floor to the front of the king and bumped his head upon the carpet. He then bent himself over half double and re- mained in this position during the whole of the interview, whispering in tones of awe his majesty’s senterces to me and my questions to him. The king was dressed in a gown of crimson silk, cut high at the neck, and embroidered with gold medallions as big around as a tea plate. There was one of these medallions on each of his shoulders, and ure covered cach side of the gown at about where the fifth rib is supposed to be located. This gown reached to his feet. It was gorgeous beyond descript! and it Harmonized with his _cream-colo! com- plexion. The sleeves of the gown were very full, and oft of them a pair of delicate, shapely hands came from time to time, and clasped each other nervously. On one of ‘his fingers I noted a magnificent diamond ring, and it seemed to me as though the great solitaire must cut his fingers, as he clasped and unclasped his hands, now fold- ing them together, and now pulling one finger after the other, as though he would crack the joints. About his waist he had a belly-band embroidered with jewels, and his feet were clad in heavy official boots. His head was covered with a navy blue cap of horse hair net as high as a silk hat. This came well down upon his forehead. It had no brim, and there were no wings at the back, as on the caps of the officials. He shook his own hands at me in Chinese fashion as I came up. I bowed, and I looked him straight in the eye while we talked together. I was not more than five feet away from him, and there was a little table between us. Above us shone the in- candescert lo! of the Edison electric Nght, and there was an European carpet on the floor. A Cream Colored Monarch. The audience was largely given up to the passing of compliments, and it lasted, I judge, about twenty minutes. During it I had a good opportunity to study the king, and I photographed, as it were, his form and features upon my brain. He is about five feet six inches in height. He is rather well built, but not heavy. He has beautiful bright black almond eyes, a complexion the color of rich Jersey cream, and teeth as white as the tusks of an African elephant. His face is full, and it shines with intelli- gence. He has a thin mustache, and a few hairs of black whiskers. He smiled frequently, and now and then he laughed melodiously. He seemed to have a stone of about the size of a boy’s lucky stone in his mouth while he talked, and this from time to time got between his teeth while he listened. When he spoke it sunk back into his mouth, taking the place of an old maid's plumper, or the tobacco quid of one of our Congressmen. 1 don't know why he uses this ‘stone, and I am not altogether sure that it was a stone. It seemed too hard for wax, and medical chewing gum has not yet been introduced into Corea. The King of Corea is now forty-two years eid, and he is in good physical condition. He ts one of the ablest rulers Corea has ever had, and there is no harder-worked monarch on the face of the globe. His troubles today come from his offi- clals. He been so bound round by them that he did not know the condition of his people, and he has been hedged in as was the Mikado of Japan a generation ago. You cannot imagine the pomp of this king. No one can go in front of him. He never moves about the palaces without there are eunuchs at his side to hold up his arms, and the officials must get down on all fours and bump their heads cn the floor whenever he comes into their presence. He spends his King and Crown Prince. nights in working, and he sleeps in the daytim: He goes to bed at 8 o'clock every morning, and no one dare wake him. About his rooms guards are stationed, and all the conversation that is carried on near him must be in a whisper. He usually remains in bed until half-past 5 in the afternoon, ard in quiet times he begi:s his work in the palace when the watch ‘ires are lighted on the mountains about Seoul. These no- tify him that all is well throughout the country, er the reverse. These signal fires I will describe in another letter. They take the place of the telegraph, and from hill to hill all over the kingdom the character of the fire flashes dispatches describing the condition of the people. It is the telegraph system of the midd'e ages, and has been in daily use in Corea till the Japanese took Possession of the land, a few months ago. The Crown Prince. Leaving the king, I was next introduced to the crown prince, who is now just about twenty-one years cf age, and who fs treated with as much veneration by the people as the king himself. I met him in another audience hall, first backing out from the king, and going down the side steps of granite which I had mounted. I do not think that the crown prince {s as able a man as his father. Still, my interview with him was short, and he seemed to be coached all the time by the giant eunuchs who stood beside him and he! up his arms. My inter- preter had to double himself up between us while we talked, and there was quite as much pomp in the present presentation. During the audience I heard a low laugh. which seemed to come from behind a screen at one side of the room. I imagine this was uttered by the queen or one of her maids of honor. She often views, I am told, such matters through a peep-hole, and, thouzh it would be entirely contrary to official etiquette for her to be seen by a man other than the king, it fs said that she knows all that is going on in the palace, and that there is no prominent audience given which she does not thus inspect. She is said to be a most able woman. Her family is the strongest In Corea, and her influence in all governmental matters has been very great. OF STERN STUFF +++ ___ Senora Sara Tells of the Pioneer Days in-Kansas, — eh * THE MEETING OF ‘THE OLD SEPYLERS The Men and Women Who Con- quered the:Wilderness. MAKERS OF HISTORY Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. HAMBURG, Kan., Sept2mber 12, 1894. N OLD FRIEND OF A mother’s has in- vited me to visit her at her home in Kan- in time for the Old s Settlers’ annual paeee meeting, which is to Te Bjcmel. be held. at her house next week. Mrs. sas, and to get there Granger says I may 3 bring a whole regi- ment if we will put = up with such accom- modations as she can offer. I shall look for you to get here in time to accept the invitation so kindly ex- tended. The girls ate wild to have a taste of ranch life in Kansas.” It was this letter from Elaine that hast- ened my return from the visit to Mrs, Lane on the boarding train, and, after a day with the girls in Santa Fe, where they had been having a glorious time, we left Nora's mother entirely recovered in health, ai came to this town, where we are “located” for a week. I use the word locate ad- visedly. Everybody “locates” here. These friends of Elaine located here twenty-one years ago. We located here four days ago. In that time we have had a simoon, a si- rocco, a cyclone and a cloudburst. In fact, the mercury has tried to do almost every- thing but crawl out at the bottom of the tube. I have heard much of Kansas weather and Kansas climate, and do not object to a sample of them, but would be quite well satisfied if they were presented in a less in- tense manner. “It makes ’me tired,” said Rose, as she turned wearily away from gazing upon the landscape. ‘There is too much of it. Liv- ing here all th> time would be like trying to Play doll house in Representative hall.” “I like it,” Nora remarked, as we went back to the surrey. “I feel as though I never could get my lungs full enough of this splendid air—” “How about the day we got here?” sug- gested Dorothy. “There was surely air enough going and to spare when the wood shed caromed over the barn and the feath- off the chickens.”’ ers were nearly blow! “You just wait ti you hear sume of the old fellows who came here in 1873 tell sto- ries about the Bigh winds of the early years, before the ‘trees began to grow, and old Boreas had fit sweep across these plains,” said Mrs.’ Granger, with a jolly laugh, as she picked up the lines and chir- ruped to her blooded ‘torses, which sent us spinning down the hard road toward the Granger ranch. “We must be getting back, too, for the hour fs set for 11, and they wili all be on time.” é Suggested by the Luncheon. At 11 o’clock the guests began to arrive. They all brought big baskets filled to over- flowing, and it was amusing to hear the women recall the stress of those early days as they unpacked them. “I brought a pot of this choke cherry marmalade, just to recall that picnic out on the Walnut. You remember {t, Mrs, Gran- ger? We found those low bushes full of fruit of some kind that the children had eaten until they were stained the color of grape jam. We thought they would all be poisoned, and when we found that they were not we picked some and were so de- lighted to find them milder than grape jam, and requiring less sugar.” ‘This haunch of venison cost me nearly its weight in gold,” said a second, as she took out a quarter of roasted deer meat. “I tried my best to get antelope, but I don’t suppose there is a live antelope out- side of a private park this side of Denver. I sent to my cousin in Pueblo for this.” “And to think that twenty-one years ago the antelope would come right up and feed with our calves,” said Mrs. Granger as she bustled around setting the long tables in the dining room. “I wanted to get some buffalo meat,” said another, “but I might as well talk of fishing for whale in the Arkansas.” “Oh, that reminds me,” said another ma- tron, and she flew out to her carriage, re- turning with @ tall bundle, which being undone brought to view a bouquet of wild sunflowers in a curious-looking vase with claw feet of silver. “You all remember what a splendid watermelon patch we had on sod that first summer?” ‘@n the claim south of the river?” asked Mrs, Granger. “Yes. Pa thought we could raise more over there thun on the railroad land, and we had to live on it anyhow to hold it. Well, just about the time that the water- melons got big enough so that I thought I could have a watermelon party—there wasn’t but six women in the county then, you know—we heard an awful thundering noise one night, ard pa he jumped up, thinking that the cattle had stampeded, and ran out toward the corral,but,bless you, he didn’t stay but a minute, when he came shouting to me to bring his Winchester quick! A big herd of buffalo had come down on us, and they had torn up and stamped into the ground every stalk of our twenty acres of sod corn and all the gar- den sass and watermelons as well. They were just tearing up the earth when pa went out, and he couldn’t see much, but he shot into the thickest of them and stampeded them in great shape. When morning came we found that he had wound- ed one so that it couldn’t get away, and we killed it. It had awful big horns for a buffalo, and this vase is made from one of them. Dora had {t polished and set in sil- ver when she went to Paris to study paint- ing last year. Ain't it pretty?” A Life of Hardships. “I brought some dried apple mince pies,” said one plump little woman. “It isn’t hardly the season for them, but I thought it would be a reminder of how we had to maneuver for a change of diet in those days.” And so they chatted of this and that, speaking of the trials of those pioneer years as though they had been a pleasant experience. I askpd gne of the ladies, who spoke with @ refined air and was unmis- takably a womaw of) culture, if she had found the life very Nard. “So hard,” she’ said quickly, “that I would almost rather Bee my daughter dead before me than know that she must go through the same trials and privations. I do not regret them for myself. I was not gentle or patient in the old days, and my pride revolted against the poverty and privations of pioneer life. It was largely the fault of my rearing. I had well-to-do parents, who objectéd to anything that savored of a careér for girls, and when I married a poor man, 1 was ill-equipped for the struggle for bread which ensued when we came to Kansas to take the ‘soldier's claim’ that he had earned by service in the war of the rebellion. We often went hungry and cold, and when a season came that we were able to get stock, and would seem to be getting a starl, the severe winter would catch us with not enough feed, and we would be forced to see the cat- tle die for lack of sustenance and shelter, It was dreadful. Under the chastening of those years I trust that I have grown more submissive, but I could not wish my worst enemy a life like that.” iS “You always took things too hard,” re- marked a cheery, white-haired old’ lady. “I like to think of those years. It was hard, of course, but we were all In the ybody was poor, and we interest in one another. There were no backbitings, no scandals, no classes. We rejoiced with the good fortune of one neighbor, and wept when death claimed the meanest among us. If we had nothing but soda crackers and molasses we had our guest, the missionary minister, say grace over it, and if we had the good fortune to get a catch of fish or a haunch of venison or quarter of buffalo, we shared it with the same pleasure. We were not selfish then—and I think sometimes that after all those were happier days, because we were bound so closely one to another for protection, and so dependent upon one anotner for society, that we had no time or inclination for factional quarrels in the church, or in politics or society. It is not so now, and I find myself actually sighing for the congeniality of those days.” Pioneer Women. “Tell us something more about the women,” said Dorothy, who had been re- markably quiet. “Most of the women here are young. They must have been children twenty-one years ago. Have any of them had careers?” “Not in the sense that you use the term,” replied Elenor. “But no woman who came to this country when it was new, infested with Indian marauders, overrun by buffa- joes, cowboys and cattle, has had an easy life as girl or woman. My parents came in a ‘prairie schooner.’ There were half a dozen families joined us before we got far into Kansas, and so we were company for each other. But the lorg hot days when cur wagon train wound wearily over the bare, brown prairies made many of us ill, and I sickened in my mother’s arms. She has often told me how she hugged me to her heart and almost cursed God because it seemed as though I must die and there was no help near. So recently she had lost my sister, and then came financial misfortune, added to the ill <onned hg 4 ee vigor had been sap yy hard service o eth frontier in the war. Taking it alto- gether she felt as though she could bear no more. I was sparei, but many others died. See that lady who is arranging cups and saucers on the sideboard? She was one of the caravan. Her father was a pioneer in Indiana and afterward rose to high official position. “She was a belle, educated an1 petted at home as well us in society. She chose to inarry a poor man and to follow him west in a wagon. He came months before her. When we got a little west of Newton, in this state, her baby, then only three months old, grew ill, but she would not stop, for we were within a hundred miles of her husvand, who had not seen his son, and she thought that. all would be well if she could only reach him. Fifty miles east of here the by died. vomthey. could not bring it on, and there was no town between; so one evening when the sun was setting they wrapped the little pilgrim in its white cradle blanket and buried it beside the trail. My father marked the grave, and a few months later they came and got the body, and it lies out yon- der on the hill in ‘God's Acre.’ It was their only child, and no other has come to them. Her hair grew as white within a year as you see it now, and she has the tendereet heart for children; she is a noted philanthropist. ‘The Preacher's Family. “That young matron who is carving chick- en was the first school teacher in the coum ty. Her school room was an old dance hall; her desk the bar. She had to defend her little charges from all kinds of dangers. Their play ground was the old trail which ran in front of the school room door, and between drunken cowboys, herds of Texas cattle, prairie fires end Mizzards she had no sinecure earning her $30 a menth. She has her reward row, hewev for several of her older pupils have achieved honors worth any man’s striving for. She is her- self winning her way in the literary field. She isn’t here, but this is the picture of our first preacher’s daughter. She ts bean- tiful, you see. There was a big family of them, and the struggles they did have! I have heard them tell about his wife mak- ing him trousers out of ingrain carpet when his own gave out during the grass- hopper year, and he actually preached in those giddy things. “The church was the old dance hall in which school was kept on week days, when it was not wanted for court or something of that kind. The preacher's family had often only cragkers and molasses to eat, ard during the first two winters, like every- body else, burned ‘cow chips’ to keep them warm. One of the boys died from exposure, and a little baby had not enough vitall to live. But the family came through, su- perior to such disadvantages. One of the boys is a bright, progressive physician. A daughter has a voice of marvelous proper- ties and is abroad studying voice culture. Another has been honored with the chair of English literature in a California college, while this one, after five years in Paris ard other Ew art centers, is now one of the brightest young artists in the west.”” “Dinner,” called Mrs. Granger, and thir- ty-eight old settlers, their children and grandchildren came trooping in to a din- ner that was simply perfect in point of quality and service. They laughed, and with many a jest made light of the years they were commemorating, and chaffed Mrs. Granger on the superiority of the silver to the tin ple pans and tin cups which she used to place before them, and then, when at the end they all stood for an instant in silence and with bowed heads, in memory of those who have “proved up ang taken out their final papers,” I felt that the tie which binds these old settlers must be a strong one indeed. These men and women live in very deed. They make history. Their lives are some- times called narrow and sordid, but a life can be neither that is spent in subduing nature and conquering self. SENORA SARA. — A Difference. From Puck. “Haven't the democrats a working major- ity in the Senate?” “No; only a talking majority. sian comes A Timely Warning. From Life. “I say, my good man, just show me the way to Mr. Bunker's ranch. Fer calling yer back, but them chaps is mighty perticular, and don’t like to be patronized. I thought I'd just warn ye.” THE LAKE CURRENTS Interesting Observations Under the Direction of Prof. Harrington, THE PROBABLE PATH OF WRECKS Various Influences Aftecting the Movement of the Water. THE PRACTICAL VALUE Written for The Evening Star. C: IEF HARRING- ton of the weather bureau has just re- turned from his ex- tended trip to the great lakes, and an- nounces to the scien- tific world that the first chapter of his studies in these re- gions has been brought to a close. Since the early part of July, accompanied by Mr. Norman B. Conger, the bureau's inspector in charge of these experiments, Prof. Harrington has been cruising on each of the five lakes in a small fishing vessel. The main purpose of his trip was to personally complete the first observations in relation to tne lake currents. The northwestern part of Lake Superior, which, up to the time of his trip, was the only territory untouched by Mr. Conger, was the principal point of the last observations. Overcoats were in vogue throughout the whole journey, although it was made during July and August, the tem- perature being so low at different times that snow fell very heavily in the central part of Lake Superior during last month. The progress of the party was somewhat im- peded by the great forest fires of Minne- Sota, the smoke from which made it impos- sible on certain days to move their boat even in the middle of the lake. The importance of these experiments, which were designed principally to deter- mine the currents of the great iukes, is not appreciated by one who does not realize that the amount of freight tonnage carried annually to and from Detroit, on the water, is greater than that going through the port of Liverpool, which has always been con- sidered to be the freight Mecca of the world. While the weather bureau was engaged in the preparation of a wreck chart, two years ago, for the great lakes, it was noted that the floating timbers had a tendency to cluster in certain parts of the surface, sug- gesting the existence of unknown currents, which might play a considerable part in fe. It was due to this observation that the experiments in current location originated. It was thought by the ollicials of the Agricultural Department at that thie that government money could not be more judiciously appropriated than to on these ot ations, which mignt locate in the lakes the probable paths taken by . wrecked vessels. Furthermore, cases in the courts of admiralty were continually re- ferring to the drifts in the great iakes, while, in the criminal cour:s of the towns and cities along shore, the question was ever ai as to where certain bodies found by sailors had drifted from, or as to what might be their destinations. These conditions were what brought about the be- ginning of the great work whick Chief Harrington has just concladed. The field of investigation was absoi iy bare, sim- ilar experiments never having beea made cn any of our inland bodies of water before. The Bottle Test. The location of these currents was de- termined by bottles simflar to those often used in experiments on ocean currents. Hundreds of these were given to the va- rious vessel owners on all of the lakes for distribution, two years ago, in order that their courses might be well defined by the time the final observations were made this summer. Many were given out last sea- son, while still a greater number have been employed this year for the final charts. Some were found at different points on shore within a few days after their dis- tribution, while others were not heard from for months, in many cases not at all. The bottles especially made for. this purpose were about seven inches Jong, blown of brown glass, containing the name of the bureau, molded in the side, and resembling an ordinary round medicine bottle in shape. Inside each bottle, rolied closely against the side that it might be seen through the glass, was placed a franked envelope, ad- dressed to the weather bureau, contain- ing a blank partly filled out by the captain of the vessel who had thrown it overboard, and who had made a memorandum of the exact time and portion of the lake at which it_was sent on its course. This blank further requested the finder to notify the bureau at once as to the ex- act place and time of its recovery. These requests, It appears, were generaily com- plied with, especially by the fishermen and lighthouse men along the various coasts. On the northern shore of Lake Superior, however, some difficulty was experienced with the Indians, who, in their disappoint- ment at not finding the usual contents of a dark brown bottle, had broken every one which washed upon their shore. In thi Y, each bottle being numbered, the piace of distribution and the place of finding were both determined, and, since the general direction of the water was known beforehand, a curved line, con- necting the two points, gave the drift as accurately as it could be found. The observations which were made for the location of these currents, and their analysis, wili be valuable to any navigator of fresh water, since the same conditions exist in all inland bodies hich have a surface inlet and outlet. Professor Har- rington says that the general direction to be taken by any body floating under these conditions has been found to depend di- rectly upon four forces, viz: First, body currents, or the motion of the whole mass toward its outlet; second, surface currents, due to the prevailing winds; third, the re- turn currents, caused by a narrowness of the outlet, and fourth, surf motion, due to the breaking of waves on the coast. These ferces must be combined in pro- portion to their respective influences on certain parts of the water, and their re- sultant will give the general direction un- der normal circumstances, Influence of the Wind. The lakes being formed by a natural drain from. all the low central region of the country, are consequently slow in their body flow toward their outlets. This mo- tion is regular throughout the year and is thought to affect all of the water in the five basins. The surface currents, which are caused by the winds, have been suca favorable subjects fur observation that the theories of those who believe the ocean currents to be due toa drifting of water during a constant breeze, and a return to level during a calm, appear all the more probable. The bureau's records have been searched and the results of observations made at all the lake stations since 1871 have been used to establish, in cach of these places, a table showing the relative frequency of wind blowing each month, expressed in percentages. For instance, at one station it was found that the winds of the same general divection, exceeding all others, were from the southwest, while in another they were from an entirely dif- ferent point. These monthly tables were combined in one computation, which showed that in the whole lake regions, during these twenty- three years, there were more winds from the southwest than from any other direc- tion, those from the west and northwest respectively, coming next in order of im portance. East winds were found to bi the least. Thus the general direction the surface currents, as caused by prevailing breezes, are generally toward the east, and in the cases of those lakes lying nearly east and west it is found that there is a surface current almost identical with the body current, tion of directions is caused in lying across the path of the surface currents will of course there is a change of wind, but may gener- ally be depended upon to tend toward the east in the lakes flowing that way. Baro- metric changes may also affect the general motion of the surface; for instance, if there were a density of atmosphere over the soutbern portion of Lake Michigan, a those lakes wind. The vary, when The Various Currents. the takes of the Alps and in other bodies of water throughout the world. The return currents are more noticeable in the three westernmost inlets and outlets at their opposite extrem- ities. Return currents are noticeable in all bodies of water whose outlets are not suf- ciently large to carry off the whole mass it reaches the end of its drift. As far as surf motion is concerned, it has the least effect of all these forces upon the generai direction of currents, since a wave has ro power to @ body along with it urtil it has broken, which action seldom takes place until the roller has shore. The bottles have always been found re any- from four to ninety-six miles per day, according to conditions. Although the general flow of each of the lakes usually has the same gradual velocity, the speed is sometimes changed by the continuous blowing of winds in a certain Although been exciting the w ages, an examination tions off the coast showed them to be affected, except in case igan at Chicago and Michigan Michigan's southern end is so there Is a strong current the western side and the eastern. It is accumulation cf z a5 ii Lan i i if i SEF iss i i BBs ial ay g32 Fg it inclosure Post office the outelde of the barrel he Spicuous figures, open me.” The barrel floated around Isle Rcyal ana up into a little bay north, where it washed ashcre, was in a few days, and the letter mail wife, who immediately replied was better. During his trip on Lake ocurred one of the most remarkable in the history of that region. A steamer sdderly sunk in the east end of the lake, and, although soundings were constantly made for its recovery, still further to the posed the general drift underneath would Carry it, it was not found until two weeks, when it sudcenly appeared floating upward far to the northward. It seems that during the time this vessel was under water the action of the waves tore out its machinery, which dropped completely out, leaving the hull to float and be subjected to as$ $e FEB ghe® Hi if of the water. Jn this space of 2530 miles from Duluth to the Isle Royal the direction taken by wreckage had to be noted, and in- formation which had been collected in re- gard to the drift of ice in winter was also added, making the experiments complete. Some Temperature Experiments. Prof. Harrington gives his opinion that all theories which suspect a subterranean river inlet to the great lakes are confounded, as are those striving to prove that their im- Teense capacity is supplied by undiscovered connection with the dense region of smaller lakes adjacent to the northwest. The water which falls out of the St. Lawrence river, in his opinion, is collected from a long con- tinuous drain on the whole central portion of the country, which supply can best be imagined when it is appreciated that the region known as the lake basin is com- prised within an irregular circle, including all the lakes and having a diameter, from north to south, about twice as wide as the greatest length of the lake territory itself. The fact that Lake Superior’s water has the reputation of being the clearest on the globe ied the professor to make experiments whose results greatly exceeded his expecta- tions. A white ball only five inches in di- ameter, when sunk as deep as forty feet, could be distinctly seen through the water, with the naked eye, regardless of the dis- | turbed condition of the surface. A few ex- periments were made to determine the tem- | perature of Lake Superior, which was found | to be as low as forty degrees in midsum- mer. This coldness, which is even greatly exceeded in winter, is what makes it im- possible for any corpses lost overboard to be recovered, since putrefaction, causing animal matter to rise in water, does not set jin until the under currents have carried the body many hvndreds of miles. If a man were to fall overboard into Lake Supevior, jon the hottest day in summer, he would freeee to death after remaining in the water but ten minutes. These experiments with temperature were only preliminary to the next chapter of the weather bureau's study of the great lakes, which have already been begun by In- spector Conger. Still another chapter will be devoted to fogs, which are the cause of most of the wreckage in the lake regions, Canada, it is ascertained, has gotten wind | of the professor's recent studies, and is pre- | paring to make an independent series of ex- periments in lake currents. Although current bottles have been for some years used on the ocean, by many countries, they have served their purposes | with but little satisfaction, so the formal | report of the weather bureait, on this ques- | tion, will bring out the most complete study of currents ever made, in any body of wa- | ter, while the experiments in regard to the | exact causes of lake temperatures and fogs will be a revelation to the scientific world. J. E. W., Ip —— Cause of the Dark Days. From the New York Times. For days recently the sun looked like @ Japanese lantern hung in the sky, and in spite of clouds and haze many of us grow weary of ‘ooking for rain. There is no mystery about these dark days, for the for- | est fires fully account for them, Neverthe- al observations have been taken yut the country, and wise men are the dust collected from the alr, and hope i make some important discov- jeries. It will surprise you toknow how far | the smoke and haze may extend—“half way | across the ocean to Africa,” say's an author- ity who has scen it at that distance. In e of the knowledge of the vast fires burning all around us, the darkness has caused some uneasiness, if we may believe | the reports from some towns and villages. Those who are easily frightened should be told of the dark day in 1780, and of sturdy Abraham Davenport, who told the Con- necticut legislature, when it wanted to ad- journ, thinking the day of judgment had come, that even If it were so, it would be well to be found doing their duty, not shirk- ing from it. You should read’ Whittier's poem describing the scene. while a complica- |