Evening Star Newspaper, September 29, 1894, Page 17

—_—_———==S_[[=[=_=_—_—5 CHINA’S APPIAN WAY A Ninety-Mile Ride Over the Great Plain, CHINESE METHODS OF TRANSPORTATION The Travel Between Two of the Greatest Cities. THE COUNTRY PEOPLE (Copyrighted, 1894, by Frank G. Carpenter.) Written for Tae Evening Star. HE MOST SERIOUS question which 1s troubling China to- day in her war with Japan ‘s that of transportaion.She has @ big population, but it is scattered over a country one-third larger than the whole United States. This vast extent of terri- 2 tory has only one xm railroad about two hundred miles long. ‘This runs through one of the most sparsely settled parts of it, extending from the city of Tlen-Tsin to the point where the great Chinese wall juts down into the sea at the head of the Gulf of Pechili. All of the traffic of the rest of the country is carried on in boats, carts and wheelbarrows, and China hes no means of transporting large masses of men or provisions to feed them. The roads are more like ditches cut through the fields than anything else. They are full of ruts, and in the rainy season they are turned into rivers. It is said that there are four thousand roads in the em- pire, but I venture to say that not one is Macadamized, and the great highway over which the caravans pass in going to Mon- golia is the bed of a rocky mountain tor- rent, and the brick tea which to the mount of thousands of tons ts carried into Russia and Thibet is taken over mountain Chinese Cart. paths so rough that only men can travel over them. All the information, dispatches and mails which go to the capital of China have to be carried over dirt roads, and be- fore the telegraph lines were put into Pek- ing important news was sent from all parts of the empire by messengers with relays $f horses. Such a messenger service exists in some parts of China today, and it is said that (Kublai Kahn had three hundred thousand jhorses which he used for this purpose and relay stations numbered ten thousand. of the provisions for the palace at Peking are brought by relays from Tien- sin and today the courier service between China and Thibet is by ponies. The cou- tiers travel night and day. Their clothes are sealed on them when they start and these seals cannot be broken until they fhave delivered their messages. It is said that they are lifted from one horse to anoth- er at the station and that they sometimes die on the way from fatigue. Boxes of Bullion. Nearly all the money transactions of (China are done in silver, and I saw boxes Of bullion packed into carts and shipped from one town to another. The bullion was led up in pine boxes, and such as I saw fone shipped out of Peking did not have soldiers to guard it. I was told at the ‘banks, however, that all money that was 't far into the interior had to pay a ssion to the bands of brigands and robbers. A certain sum was given to some one connected with these bands, and they furnished an escort to go je money. The robbers in China have a sort of trades- union, and there seems to be such honor mong Chinese thieves that other bands ‘will not molest caravans which have pald toll to the robbers. Some parts of China are full of brigands, and north of Corea there are all sorts of guerrillas. ‘The two greatest cities of North China are, you know, Peking and Tien-Tsin, and these are the most interesting points in the present struggle. If the Japanese could take them, the war would be practically settled, and the Chinese would change their rulers from Tartars to Japs. Both of these cities are not very far from the sea. Tien ‘Tein is about fifty miles back up the Peiho river, and Peking lies about eighty miles to the northward. Both cities are frozen up during the winter, and from December till ‘March ther ts no communication except by ude carts and ponies which go overland from Shanghai and Cheefoo. I made sev- eral trips this spring from Tien Tsin to Peking, and it will give you a good idea of the situation in China for me to describe the connections or trunk lines between these two mighty cities. Peking is, you know, the capital of the great Chinese empire. It contains between a million and a million and a half of people. It is where the ruler of five hundred million almond-eyed mortals lives, and it {s the greatest seat of govern- ment on the globe. Tien-Tsin is the home of Li Heng Charg. It is the New York of North China. It is the port where are Yanded all the goods which supply these hundreds of millions of the north and of jose which are carried from it far beyond e borders of the great wall into’ Man- churia, Mongolia ani the great province of Ii. Its inhabitants number more than a Mion, and upon its wharves goods are cked like hay, aggregating in value every year hundreds of millions of dollars. These two cities are about as far apart as are New York and Philadelphia, and the land between them fs as flat as the floor of a ball room. All of the supplies of the capi- tal, including those for the nobles and the court, come first to Tien-Tsin, and there is @ stream of goods flowing continually from one place to the other fully as large as that ‘which sses over the railroads between New York and Chicago. Through what hannels di it flow, and how long does ft take to go from one city to the other? I veled nearly two whole days and nights in king my journey by land, and the aver- trip by way of the Peitro river is from four to five days. These two cities have tt even a decent wagon road connecting em. The slow freight is a wheel barrow, and the fast express is a Mongolian pony or a Chinese cart. The Puilman car is a house boat on the Peiho river, but this lands you only at the city of Tung Chow, and you have to make the remainder of your jour- ney by donkey or cart. I have traveled both ways, and I ran a race in my house boat with the boat of Secretary John W. Foster down the Petho. We both had American flags floating from our mast- heads, and my flag reached Tien-Tsin first. The Peiho river winds about like a snake. It cuts in and out at places like the teeth of @ saw, and there are points where you can leave the boat, walk a half mile across the fields and take a nap before it gets around the bend to where you are. These house boats are for hire at Tien-Tsin and at Tung Chow, and it costs from ten to twenty dol- North China Farmer in Winter Dress. lars to make the trip to Peking. Each house boat has a lot of sailors and a cap- tain, and you carry your own cook and your own provisions. A Big Captain. My captain was over six feet in height. He was clad in wadded blue cotton, and his gown reached to his ankles. He lived in the back of the boat, and my quarters were in the middie. I slept at night under a Piece of matting, and my servant cooked my meals. When the wind was in the right direction we put up the sails, and when it died down the sailors pushed the boat along with poles which they dug into the bed of the river or fastened long ropes to it and dragged it along by walking on the banks. We did not know how long the voyage was going to take, and we considered ourselves happy in having made it in four days, The Chinese cart is a surer means of Iccomotion, but it is by no means so pleas- ant. The roads are full of ruts. The dust Sweeps over you In storms and your bones are racked with the jolting of the cart. I doubt whether there is a clumsier vehicle in the world, and certainly no other could stand such roads. The Chinese cart has two wheels, each as big as the front wheel of a buggy, and each has a weight about ten times as great. The wheels have mas- sive iron tires. Their spokes are as big around as a base ball club, and the wooden axles are as big as your arm where they come through the hub. The shafts are as large as telegraph poles, and they are fast- ened directly to the axle, and the body of the cart rests upon them without springs. The bed of one of these carts fs five feet long and four feet wide. You cannot stretch yourself out flat upon it without resting your feet upon the shafts. There is no seat connected with It, and you Ile or sit flat on the floor. A little box-like wall runs about the edge of the cart, and there is a blue canvas covering three feet high stretched over it. Sitting upright, your head almost the roof of this, and it would be impossible to put a seat of any kind within the vehicle. Each of these carts is drawn by either one or two mules, which are fastensd to the cart by a harness of rope and rawhide. When two mules are used they always work tandem, as the road is too narrow for a two-horse team. The driver sits cross-legged on the shafts, and directs the mules with a pair of rope lines and a long whip. Forty-Eight Hours in a Cart. It was in such an outfit that I went to Peking. I had two carts and four mules and the trip took me in the neighborhood of forty-eight hours. I paid eighteen dollars for my carts, and I had great trouble in getting them on account of the examina- tions which were going on in Peking. I had secured two at twelve dollars. While they were being brought to the hotel one of the mandarins saw them aad he forcibly seized Road Making in China. them for some student friends of his and I was left out in the cold. The next day I had my Chinese servant go out on the about ten miles beyond the city. He waited there till two good carts came along and then smuggled these into the hotel in a roundabout way, so that the mandarins could not see them. We started at 4 o’clock in the morning, and efter some tea and toast by the light of the candle I inspected my outfit. You will not see more villainous faces in any rogue’s gallery than those of my two muleteers, and as for the mules, Barnum’s woolly horse had a coat of silk compared to theirs. My bedding and eat- ables were put into one cart and my Chi- nese boy crawled in on top of them. I took the second and before daybreak we were ready to start. We drove for miles through the city of Tien-Tsin just at dawn, and had @ chance to ree how the poorest of these five hundred millicn people look when rous- ing themselves for another day of their everlasting hustle. Men in sheepskin coats more like animals than humans filled the streets. Already coolies were pushing bar- rows over the rough pavements, and other laborers were ing mighty loads on poles across their shoulders. In the suburbs we rode through long lines of hovels out of which disheveled Chinese men and women crawled and looked at us with blinking eyes. We passed the homes of thousands of squatters, and as we drove along the river we saw that {it was lined with little kennel-like sheds made of bamboo matting. Many of these were not larger than a dog house, and those of the size of a hogshead looked palatial beside them. Many were kalf cylinders of matting just about large enovgh to cover a cider barrel and long enough for their owners to crawl in and sleep. A screen of ragged blue cotton form- ed the front of these huts and all of the cooking of the owners had to be done out- side. It was cold and I shivered in my overcoat. I saw one family lighting a fire. They had no matches and were trying to ignite the wood with a flint. Another hut had a jinrikisha in front of it. This was the size of a baby carriage, and its top was @ foot above the roof of the house. In some places there were holes dug into the earth and matting placed over them. The walls of the city formed the back of many of these beggars’ homes, and others were built against the banks of the river. You beosalipe mera seectecs outside of every Chi- > but ther: ciple gh ‘e are few places where China. Tien-Tsin is as cold as Minneapolis, On the Great Plain. Passing these we went over the Petho river on a bridge of boats, and then drove through suburb after suburb, until we came out upon the great plain, and began our trip over the Chinese Appian Way. The Appiin Way! What a fraud! What a travesty on the name of roadl It was filled with ruts, and the dust was knee deep. Here and there stood a ragged road- maker, who pretended to keep the highway in order. He smoothed the dust down Into the ruts with a long-handled flat hoe, mak- ing it so that a cart could get a tumble without being aware of its danger. Thé road in many F geooer was so narrow that two carts could barely + and nowhere was it much wider than the average Ameri- can alley. It follows the telegraph lines, and in some places it has been built above the surrounding country. Here and thei a pretense was made of repairing it, an gangs of soldiers and half-naked coolies were at work carrying dirt in baskets and spreading it over the holes. There must have been thousands of these workmen, They probably got less than ten cents a day as wages. They worked under over- seers, and they sang as they worked. I was much interested in the way the road was pounded down. A round disc of metal or stone about three inches thick and as big around as a keg was raised by elght men by means of ropes, which were tied to holes in its edges. A ninth man sang a song as the gang worked, and at a certain note they would pull on their ropes, sling the disc high in the air above their heads, and let it fall with a thud. In other places the road was pounded down with mallets, and the stones were crushed by half-naked Chinamen, who raised heavy sledges high in the air and brought them down with a thump. I was surprised how fast the men worked and what great quan- tities of earth can be carried in baskets, They swarmed over the road like bees and each human ant added his mite to the pile. The road was made entirely of mud, = there was -< pretense of izing r any sort of a permanent structure. The roads gtow worse from year to year and they are by no means so fine today as they were three hundred years ago. A Long Procession. The ninety-mile ride from Peking to Tien- Tsin was through one continuous stream of carts, wagons, wheelbarrows and men. Many of the wheelbarrows had donkeys hitched in front of them and men pushing behind them and on some parts of the great Plain they actually use sails in order to help the wheelbarrows along. I got a pho- tograph of a scene of this kind and the stiff wind which was blowing materially aided this Chinese freight car on its way. There were hundreds of mandarins riding on donkeys. They were dressed in silk gowns of green, yellow and blue, and some of them sneered, turning up their yellow reses, and make faces such as are only possible to Chinese physiognomy. We passed many villages. The farmers of China do not live upon their farms. They have squalid houses bunched up together with fences of mud about them and there are no signs of comfort anywhere. The houses are of sun-dried brick, plastered with mud and roofed with long rows of reeds, which are tied in bundles and laid side by side on the rafters and then are plastered with mud These roofs reach about a foot beyond the walls of the houses and you have usually to duck your head if you wish to get under them, The huts of the poorer classes are often not more than fifteen feet square. There are no windows facing the street, and the only sign of life is a thin wreath of blue smoke that curls out of the mud chimney of the shape of a Carpenter's House Boat. gallon crock which stands on the roof. It would be very bad taste to look over the fence of a Chinaman’s house, but I was forced to see into some of the yards as I stood up in my cart when riding by. Dirt and squalor reigned supreme. There was no grass and no flowers. Gaily dressed boys and girls ran in and out of the gates. They wear clothes of the most horrible colors, and the brightest of green is the favorite. The ttle babies have their heads shaved in spots aid the girls and womea lather themselves with rouge and powder. They stick paper flowers in their hair, and they hobble about on their heels, turning their pitiful little feet upward and not toching their toes to the ground. All of the old women carry canes, and those who have the smallest feet have to be helped along by others. It makes you sick to look at the females, and I saw many little girls who made their way over the rough roads with their faces full of pain. Their feet seemed to be resting on live coals. There js no uglier costume in the world than that of these Peasant women of north China. The shirt-like gown which falls from the neck to the thighs shows no sign of the bust, and below this ugly wadded drawers of highiy colored cotton or silk fall to the ankles, where they are tied on just above the brilliantly clad, but horribly deformed, fect. The hair is combed straight back and put up in all sorts of ways. They look by ao means clean and, though I em among the most susceptible of n.en, I have yet to see the Chinese miakien whom 1 think I could love. FRENCH INVENTIVE CRANKS, What They Would Deo to Get Even With the Hated Germans. From the Court Journal. Some amusing particulars of the inven- tions that have been offered to the French war office since 1871 have recently been published in a French newspaper, the ma- jority of which are about equal to the Laputan scheme for ploughing fields, name- Jy, by sowing acorns in rows and then turning in pigs to root them up. One genius sought a patent for the training of squadrons of horseflies. These auxiliaries were to be fed exclusively on blood served up beneath the delicate epidermis of me- chanical figures clothed in the uniforms of members of the triple alliance, so that when political relations in Europe were strained the flies might be given daily a little of the juice of certain poisonous plants, and on actual declaration of war turned out in the path of the enemy. Another ingenious person proposed scheme for educating war dogs. In times of peace he would learn French dogs to bite lay Ogures wearing Prussian helmets, in order that on the outbreak of war the ken- nels of the whole country might be mob- ilized and let loose on the enemy. Then there are numerous proposals for bridging rivers by means of ropes attached to can- non balls, and a photographer suggests a novel kind of captive shell, which, breaking over the fortified position of an enemy, would disclose a small camera attached to a parachute. The enemy’s fortifications would be instantaneously photographed and the apparatus hauled back by the string, and the negatives developed at leisure. Two ideas are very inhuman. One is a scheme for sending large quantities of poisoned needles, as if in charity, to the enemy's generals, who would, of course, distribute them to their forces, 80 poison the unfortunate users; and the other to charge explosive bullets with pepper. Two objects are pursued by the inventor of the pepper; its discharge would blind the enemy, and the great demand for the con- diment in time of war would stimulate the trade of the French colonies and increase the revenue of the country. There are also many other equally absurd propositions, such as suggestions for making soup by ma- chinery, growing potatoes on barrack roofs in December, and killing whole army corps of Prussians by post—but they are far too numerous to be mentioned. ——-+e+____ Written for The Evening Star. Seat 30, Row V. He thought, perchance, it would enhance ‘His view to purchase in advance, And so he spent, with good intent, His money for a seat—and went. Fils coupon, numbered 30-V, Would surely seat him where he'd see ‘The play. But not Great Caesar's ghost! He finds himself behind the post! —B. L. McINTOSH. From Truth, Something for nothing—A suit of clothes for a dude. IN HISTORIC LAND The Peninsula of the James and Its Noted Past, A PILGRIMAGE FULL OF INTERES? The Ancient Ruins of Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown. THE REPUBLIO’S INFANCY Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. VERY ONE VISITS Mount Vernon as the most sacred shrine of America, but few seem aware that within short distance and easy reach from Washington there is @ group of places in close proximity which Were the scenes of many of the most im- Portant and signifi- cant events in Amer- fcan history. No- where else in all the land is so great and varied interest concentrated in so small a compass as is to be found in the little penin- sula inclosed by the waters of Chesapeake bay and the James and York rivers, In company with two friends, one July evening I went on board a Norfolk steamer at its pier in Washington, and after a bright moonlight sail down the upper Po- tomac, enjoyed from the deck of the vessel, a night of refreshing sleep in a commodious, neatly furnished state room, and, on deck again, an early morning view of the Chesa- Peake, dotted over with a great variety of versels hastenirg, each to its destination, toward all points of the compass, I landed at Old Point Comfort at 7 o'clock in the morning. The “Pocahontas,” from Norfolk, was in Sight, crossing Hampton Roads, and in a few moments we were on board the trim lit- tle craft and seated at the breakfast table heartily enjoying a delicious meal Here were served the best of bread, butter, coffee and tea, the richest milk, vegetables and fruits of the season, and the choicest fresh fish in which these waters abound. We crossed Hampton Roads, made a call at Newport News, had a glimpse at its great docks and piers and huge transatlantic steamers lying alongside, and steamed away up the beautiful river, which the In- dians called Powhatan, but the English, in honor of their king, named the James. A three hours’ sail, passing among other points of interest Homewood, an island of 3,200 acres, now a great stock and vegetable farm, and looking as green as a leek even in this dry season, from which we are told that our boat gets most of its supplies, and we land at old Jamestown, the capital of Virginia down to 1608, a period of ninety years. Landing of thé First Slaves. Here, in 1607, the firstEnglish settlement in this country was made, and It was to this spot that a Dutch ship; in 1620, brought from Africa the first twenty slaves, and thus laid the foundatfpn‘pf negro slavery in the United States. »How wonderful the streams that have flowed from these orig- inal fountains down” through the almost three centuries followings: Jamestown was the first capital of the Virginia colony, and 20 ears ago the pala- tial mansion of the woyal governors here overlooked the river): Mew vestiges of its past splendor remain,-ome of which is the ivy-covered ruin of )the old brick tower which formed the entramce to the church built on the site of the one in which Poca- hontas was baptized: Around this tower are a few scattered gravestones—some brok- en in pieces and others with words scarcely legible. The names qnd dates may still be deciphered upon a few. One bore the follow- “Here lyeth William Sherwood that was born in the parish of White Chappell near London—a Great Sinner waiting for a joyful During the lapse of centuries the river has encroached upon its banks, and it is thought that the sites of many houses have been gradually washed away. This theory seems correct, for at low tide traces of brick foundations may be seen near the shore; as, for instance, the remains of the massive brick walls of an old powder magazine. The only house now standing was at one time the residence of Gov. Berkeley. The walls alone belong to the original mansion, for fires during war times deprived it of most of its wood work, pillared porticoes and wings. Virginia’s Second Capital. The island on which Jamestown is now located contains 1,400 acres, and is owned by Col. Barney, formerly of Ohio, who in- tends to make a hotel of the old Berkeley mansion, to accommodate the increasing tide of visiting pilgrims. He has presented to the Ladies’ Historical Society of Virginia twenty acres of the island on which the first settlement was made and the old church tower now stands. Thi: has been inclosed and will be put in order and pre- served with care hereafter. dent resides here in a cottage built in the midst of the remains of a fort constructed during the late war, He furnishes to the visitor as @ souvenir a sprig of English ivy oe hers ruins of the —— yrodageetoe le vase, on which he sketched the old tower, a After the state house at Jamestown was burned an act the of government was removed from James- town to @ place called the Middle Planta- tion, and the name was changed to WIl- lMamsburg. At that time the middle plantation was considered more healthful than Jamestown, From Jamestown by a delightful ride of seven miles over a country road, through the old forests, profusely decorated with the Virginia creeper and the trumpet flower, with its gorgeous cluster of scarlet blos- soms, passing here and there a cleared space for a farm house or a negro cabin, the pil- grim reaches Williamsburg, the famous sec- ond capital of Virginia from 1698 to 1778, a period of eighty years, Williamsburg was once the center of the aristocracy, wealth, fashion and learning of the Old Dominion, and they left their now faded impressions upon the place, manners 4 characteristics of the inhabitants of the city. ‘The original plan of this second capital was in the form of a cipher made of the letters W and M, the initials of William and Mary. At present there 4s one main street, styled the Duke of cester street, more aristocratic in name in appearance. It is a broad and level @venue, three-quarters of a mile in length, 4 bordered on each side by rows of Old paper mulberry trees, whose trunks ate Wondrously gnarled and rugged. Along this! boulevard rumble heavy-wheeled ox carts, driven by the typi- cal negro of the south. ‘Oftentimes one ox is seen harnessed alohe between shafts. Patrick Henr}’a\Eloquence. At one end of this ayenue, amid venerable shade trees, Me the zuimed foundations of the old capitol, in witch’ the house of bur- gesses met, and where trick Henry made his famous revolutijnaty speech, ending with “If this be treason, make the most of it.” Within its halls -wete uttered the most fiery denunciations of-arbitrary government and oppression and the most ultra-demo- cratic theories were boldiy advocated. That so radical a democracy should have come out of so exclusive an aristocracy seems a a and reminds one of Sampson's rid- le. Facing this at the other end of the avenue is the College of William and Mary, fat vengrable institution from whose halis came Washington, Jefferson, Monroe, Mason, Ty- ler, Randolph, Marshall, Scott and many others who won national and world-wide fame as scholars, divines, lawyers, jurists, soldiers and statesmen, This unpretentious three-story brick building, with porti entrance, represents a higher institution of learning, in its inception the oldest in the United States, and which obtained its char- ter in 1603, At William and Mar an elect- ive course of study and courses of law and other lectures were first introduced. The venerable building ts located in a neighbor- shood which has been repeatedly the scene of military operations and has experienced many vicissitudes of fortune. In the co- lonial days it depended for its support upon @ penny a pound duty on tebacco and a small duty on furs and skins exported from Maryland and Virginia, and also a small duty on liquors imported. An Ancient Church. On the lawn fronting the college and sur rounded by lofty elms is a marble statue of the most popular royal governor, Lord Bote- tourt, It is said to be very lifelike and ts still a most pleasing work of art, although it has suffered from mutilation. The Duke of Gloucester street also boasts of the Bruton Parish Episcopal Church, or- ganized in 1632. This church is built of im- ported brick and is in the form of a cross. The gallery in and their used to still remains. It is reported that during the late war soldiers were quartered in the church, who made use of the organ pipes as receptacles for coffee and sugar. In this church the visitor is shown a plain marble font, which ts said to have been brought from the old church at Jamestown and to be the o1 from which Pocahontas was bap- tized; also three communion services—one presented to the church by Queen Anne, one presented by George III and the old James- town service. The Queen Anne service is in the form of a golden loving cup and the service of George III consists of a silver chalice, salver and tankard, each bearing the coat of arms of the royal donor. ‘The tablets along the aisles telling of the dead of 200 years ago, and the graveyard around, help to increase the reverence and In the mosses and lichens, point out the last rest- ing places of many of the founders and suc- ceeding generations of distinguished and well-known Virginia families, the Tuckers, Pages and others. Residences of Famous Men. A spacious court, named Palace Green, opening out from the main street, is the site of Lord Dunmore’s palace. A public School house now stands on the spot, and the American schoolmaster is now the royal governor’s successor, The Raleigh Tavern, with its celebrated Appollo room, where the leading patriots of Virginia held many secret caucuses and planned many schemes for the overthrow of royal rule in the colonies, and where the tall, lank, red-haired and freckle-faced stu- dent, Thomas Jefferson, led the infatuating Rebecca Burwell through the graceful min- uet, has yielded to the ravages of fire, and not a trace of it remains; but the old court house and ths octagonal magazine, known as the “Olid Powder Horn,” still stand as relics of the past. Many old houses are still standing, made notable by the former residence of famous men, the headquarters of Gen, Washington and the hospitalities extended to Gen. La- fayette on his last visit to this country. Williamsburg, although in name a city, and holding a charter from a king, 1s, in fact, a most delightful, quiet, dreamy coun- try village, where one goes to escape for a time from the hurrying, hustling, wearying cares and labors of our work-a-day time and rest in sweet communion with the great events and men whose spirits seem still to linger around their ancient haunts. We stop at the village inn—“The Holly Tree’—an old-fashioned hcstelry, two sto- ries high, with broad verandas for each story, and surrounded by shade trees. The rooms are large, have antique furniture, and open out upon the spacious verandas, where we sit at evening. Our host, Mr. Spencer, is a landlord, too, of the olden time, who “welcomes the coming and the parting guest.” Historic Yorktown. A pleasant ride of nine miles through forests of pine and oak brings the traveler to Yo-ktown. Here and there along the way are well-cared-for farms and smaller Patches of ground, owned and cultivated by negroes, who seem to be progressing. The road passes directly through Fort Ma- gruder, the scene of a desperate conflict during the late war, On a high bluff overlooking the York river, and directly opposite Gloucester Point, is historic Yorktown. The town con- sists of one main road, lined by houses, most of which are small, low and built of wood. The mansion of Gov. Nelson, where Cornwallis had his headquarters, and which was damaged by shot and shell fired dur- ing the siege by order of the sturdy old patriot governor himself, and the first cus- tom house ever built in America are the only noticeable brick buildings. The former, large and substantially built, stands a little back from the main street. The yard is inclosed by a thick box hedge. Just outside of the town may be seen the remains of the fortifications used in the Revolutionary war. These were in the form of a ire 5. Near the fortifications and at the edge of the bluff stands the new Monument erected by the United States government in 1881 in commemoration of the surrender of Cornwallis. On the top of the monument is the Goddess of Liberty, with outstretched arms, facing the field where the surrender took On one side of the pedestal is inscribed: “One Destiny, = has One Consti- The Scene of Two Wars. A short distance from the town ts Temple farm, sa called from the ruins of an old temple on the place. Here is the famous Moore house, where the commissioners met to arrange the terms of surrender of the British army. We were invited to enter, and were courteously entertained in the same room which the commissioners occu- pled. ‘Within a century destructive, horrid war twice drenched with the blood of men and laid waste this now so quiet and peaceful land, and I wonder if it will ever come again! amabarg, at our ton an exquisite parting , at our inn an exquisite at which the plished and presid of William and Mary was an invited @ ride on the excellent C. and O. road Old Point Comfort, the famous negro school and Soldiers’ Home; Norfolk and Portsmouth, with its navy yard, huge dry docks and modern war ves- sels; Virginia Beach, with its Princess Anne and refreshing Atlantic breezes and bathing beach; a night ride on the Potomac boat to eS and cone home again, happier wi or my le a ssi ELINOR LSON. ——ipeee Why Librettists Have Lost Heart. “Yes,” said the librettist to his friend of the Chicago Record, “I've written the lib- retto for that opera, and it’s a good one. Some of the lines I’m really proud of. ey’ve got point, and the rhymes just rly jingle. Just look at this stanza from one of the songs.” And he offered his friend the following verses to read: * There was a jolly, bachelor And, when died one a He willed his to some ‘Who once had said him “Nay.” And in his will he did ex ‘The best things of his life, He felt he owed to those who had Refused to be his wife. CHORUS. For a bachelor hilarious Has pleasures sweet and variousy His ways may be precarious, But he has lots of fan. He may show eccentricit; Or flirt with bold du) “a But he's bound to have felicity ‘So long as shines the sun. “And now,” said the librettist, “just come to the theater tonight and hear those verses sung. The lines, of course, gain in effect from the staging and muric and costumes.” And the friend listened for those verses at the theater, and this is what he heard: Whowunce seddum And inizwilly didex pla- ‘The bes-z-a-2-z-um life He felltyode t'thz who h-a-a-d Befusedobel zwife. F. b ia beckeryien -0-0-F & Yahw-sz-varyious zum. T'mmaysho eccentricity, Oflummpty ary iceity, Um-u-u-m-br-r-rliety ‘Solonguzsbuins the ———+e+—__—_ ‘Woman’s Onward March. From the Loutsville Courier-Journal. She 1s still advancing. At Fort Scott, Kan., a robber with a revolver commanded @ young woman. who was alone in a bus!- ness house, to open the safe, Instead of complying and then swooning in the ap- proved style, she calmly locked the safe and exclaimed: “Now, shoot!” The robber fied in terror. A stimulant THE. EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER, 99, 1894-TWENTY PAGES. A SUBMARINE BOA The Fanoy of Jules Verne Will Be Given Practical Shape. UNCLE SAMS EXPERTS AY WORK A Boat That Will Dive and Swim Like a Fish. BY STORAGE BATTERIES Written for The Evening Star. HE SUBMARINE boat which Uncle Such secrecy is maintained regarding the vessels of this kind which have been newly constructed abroad that up to date nothing very defi- nite has been made public about them. The submarine boat, as it actually swims today, is like a huge fish, 150 feet or more in length—ae fish with a single great eye for surveying the ocean all around, while the creature itself is under water, and with lungs capable of holding enormous quanti- ties of compressed air. The fish has fins—pectoral fins—on the sides not far from the nose. They are hort- zontal rudders, for driving. The tall is formed by two similar rudders, to help in they must take it along in sandwiches. The boat is built for business and not for pleasure. Cruises are very short, because at brief Sntervals the ont mest eee Se bave her storage batteries filled with elec- She can run under water for four- hour, before exhausting her wer, rin indicator shows the depth at which she is running. It is not desirable to travel far beneath the surface on account of the pressure of the water, which, at 300 or 400 feet down, would crush the boat; besides, there is no object in doing so. Seeing and Yet Not Seen. As for speed, ten knots an hour ts quite as fast as one could wish to travel under water. To go more rapidly would greatly increase the danger. It should be remem- bered that the fish moves in a liquid gloom 8 i arFe self with sand completely, each of which is on pro- everything, itself sur- & it | | | E : | HA § | E H fe ! @ couple of machirists and eight men. These twelve persons must breathe, and the air which they require is taken aboard like so much fuel. It is forced into metal- to the surface, All he has to do Is to open communication, by touching a button, be- tween the compressed air compartments and the water-filled compartments. The ex- panding air rushes into the latter, driving the water out. The vessel regains her buoyancy and rises. The French Boat. Nothing has been said yet as to the tre- mendous weapons with which the subma- rine boat is provided. From her nose pro- Ject two eighteen-inch torpedo tubes, one shot from which, accurately aimed, will de- stroy @ great ship. Struck by such a pro- jectile, which explodes on impact, the most Powerful armo! vessel ever built will sink at once. The proud battle ship—a float- ing mass of machinery that has cost five millions of dollars to construct—is trans- formed, in a moment, tnto an tron coffin, carrying officers and crew to the bottom. The mighty fish glides away, to come up presently to breathe and look around upon the scene of the destruction she has caused —herself at the same time invisible and safe from pursuit. No better subrrarine boat now exists than the Gustave Zede, property of the republic of France. It is a cigar-shaped cylindrical in section, 160 feet long, twelve feet in diameter, and weighing 230 tons. It has a battery for each horse-power—that ts to say, 720 batteries in all for motive power. To insulate so much electricity is difficult. Only the other day 100 of the Zede’s bat- teries blew up, causing a damage of per- haps $20,000. Experiments with the Zede in the Medi- terrarean have been highly successful. Con- ditions there are rather exceptionally favor- able, and so, for the sake of getting more points on the problem, a smaller boat on the same pattern, about half the sizeof the Zede, is now being built on the English chanrel at ies & It will be called the Morse, and is to finished in a few months. The water of the channel is mud- dy and choppy, and the bottom is rocky. The Holland Plan. Just what pattern of submarine boat Uncle Sam will select for his first attempt n this style of marine architecture been decided as yet. Probably the Holland ; i : i ie ii iii ig i i é é i i i i if i it Ei : 8 5 | f i i il f 4 : F i if He i F | g if atl i ii k a a ° i | ff RS i a } | | i d i Fi it i | | i a | ii e ti & B i : t i 4 i Z i i j i H if i i i if i TT £ ii He HY ? & 1 I! j Fi i i | i ! | l i F i : i 4 | | i. i a rH] i é i : i . | i i | i . | | ! i i 4 5 } Fi ; $ i gf i H ut al gece & | 8 put a decent man in it.” He stepped off the car ing it at once, and unable to the dude hastily stepped off after Pure Acream of tartar baking pow- der. Highest of all in leavening strength.—Latest United States Governmen Food Report. Royal Baking Powder Oo, 106 Wall St, ¥.%.