Evening Star Newspaper, October 13, 1894, Page 16

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1894—TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. AT THE VINTAC 7 . - SEASO yards of the ~oclets, in the \ French W: Scenes Lh USE OF PRi..isiv3 PRESSES) Genuine Grape Juice Used in Spar- ing Qua . ines. ABOUT AMERICAN WINES al Corresponde ar. DIC 1804 te d’Or. in the she districts, t were already Pp o<ng the graves iu tue last az st. Ths tumn they seareely yet in the last davs of s. ptember. Last year was the dry year of within the mem- of man the vded year of 184; and the inspectors sccwl at humble Pickers when they eat an extra bunch of grapes. The sky tsclovty. It has rained again. The sky ts bluish-lead, the hills are bluish-greea. And the blue blouses of the men and the blue skirts of the giris ‘combine with the blue-gray morning mists to form “a key of biue,” which would be Q Ready 2 to the del ington Symonds than for Work. te taste of the late Ad- to the unfortunate sant proprietors, who, nevert least feel blue. you wish to see the busiest picking, | You must go out misty early morn- | ing, almost at the break of day. The pick- ing ordinarily commer with 4. isht, | isnt, | the vintagers thered at sunri lightest and most believed rt always that the duce the | Thus they urth more grapes | pid wine. ld a fi to Jui Later in the day, the sun comes out, as It alw n if but for an hour, St fs impos nt some of the detached gray ally fer- menting, which freqverdy suffices to give a slight of color to the must of grapes intended for hich class champagne. When have to be transported in | H E VINEYARKD. paese This {s a question which ft will take a wiser head than mine to worry out. My best idea is that one should take the two | tegether, moderately | otfvity. ! * autu ad lies ‘vesh and damp c -planted poplar | ntry. A quaint, gray chureh tower dominates the vineclad slopes. All slong the read fs bust) and excitement. the ordinarily quiet iittle villages the writy of the inhabitants are afoot. The | girls, both big and little, basket on arm, | Keep threading their way ‘through the rows | ot vines haif way up the pills, while the men sre on the road between the vineyards and the village, or are working in the press house. Carts ‘piled th baskets, or At Work. d with peas trom a distance, on their way to the vineyards, jostle trucks and drays lagen with b:and-1ew wine casks. Now and then you sce nurrying by the fine wagons of some big wine fouse, to clinch their final bargein with some peasant proprietor; but it is nut here as in the real champagne district. he «reat establish- ments of the champague of cominerce, of Relms, Epernay, Ay, Mareuil, Avize, Rilly and so on, ess ‘their own vineyards. ‘There everything gues vy 235cem and true business methods. boring large vine own grapes and I the juices to tie great establishments, and thus are able to uid back fur the best prices. But the grea. multitude of small cultivators of all the true champagne dis- trict (which every one, of course, knows is. not here in Burgundy) invariably sell the grap themselves, and not the pressed juice, to the giant moncpollsts who have their names upon the botties, some of whom r ck are corporations, seme }: and others miilfonaire p. companies bs, keeping the old names wiich de their brands famous. There it is the swift, strict, cor- rect routine of a great fact ere, outside of Dijon, it is the happy-go-lucky, but still get-there ways of peasants, where the center is the family. Ilere, asm the rest of France, the owner of even astiagle acre of vines will crush his own grapes bimself. It is a pretty slght to see It done in families. In the Wine Press. > father, mother, grandfather, grand- . the big b Ittle boys, big girls, girls keep moving to and fro, in the early morning light, ts pick a whole plece of their + little ard, They detach the grapes with scissors or hooked knives—such grapes as have “i the phylioxera, the Gae mule, one’ sin- will drag the mildew, hail and win mule, one melan: and the tubs unts to th. The fami ck to the farm house silently. Where are the sweet | songs of the vintage? A the litte aughters of the farm: Ing with fa- pull of their shoes and ‘stockings, eet, pin up their amy into the tubs up between their te he larger thet eater joll » pickers (ht ad at 6) to 4, lodging and drink ras ina district Ii is a time of + Accoun » while year; tragespeo- ple have a run of custom; hakers und boot- s well as cafe and restauran: pro- present a joyous front, ncourag- ing the others. Halt the population is ot on the sweet new must, but bsinihe ané red rum, n it must be “It is not Juice for champagne they are squeezing in the village press house. For the most part, ot course, It is the great Burgundian still wine, red and wh But the mind of run t an Americen must naturally champagne, even in a still wine dis- Grapes. distance to th s house, jolting along the road on th» backs of mules ard exposed to an autumnal um, the juice (however gently tt may be squeezed) ts often of a positively purple tint, and ts consequently unfit for the champagne of commerce. ‘The Red Champagnes. This does not mean, of course, that there are no red champagnes Although spark- ling white wines are made to a conside extent in Burgundy, notably at f Nuits and here in Dijon, the proudest cham pagnes of the district are, ratur the red wines, which have made It always famous. In the middie ages the wines of Burgundy passed as presents from one r personage to another, just as orders a decorations are exchanged between them nowadays. And the favored millionaire stock brokers and Panamists of Paris, the noble, the ariste atic and even royal wine guzzicrs of Enghind, Germany, Austria and every «ther Europear siate, who buy up eve.sthing worth buying, you might almost each year, Know well the more obscur: of ‘thin’ section sparkling theugh, as a rule, hi than the subtle and delicate-flavered wines win of the Marne, stil exbtbit (beth in the red and the white varteties) a d-gree of refine- ment which those familiar only with the sommoner kinds of ch: form gn idea of. Of th there are Chambertin, Ki @eot of the highest order. You see that, in one breath, I am aitempt- ing to tell you all | krow. I ought to add that it is not difficult to know things down in this wine district. Every one talks wine, every one tastes wine. And every one con- cetves himself to be a judge of wine, at pagnhe can scarcely red champagnes t Vou least for the time being. But which is the | ler and more potent | trict; evi this s ed, mixe pagne and, to teil the truth, there are ample of the tle’ white wines of on being shipped to be manipulat- and dociored in the big cham- establishments, to be shipped in a ¥ years to America, America which be- Hieveth ail things, hopeth all things and thinketh no evil. The Local Coloring. At least it is real grape juice here in the sweet vineyards. Whether for fancy red and pink champagnes, the sparkling Ro- Manee destined to sparkie down the red and pink throat of the Prince of Wales; whether for “victorious Burgundy,” so smooth and strong, to make new blood for good Franz Joseph; whether for “still wines at $10 a bottle” (dealers' brands) for Ward McAilis- ter; whether to fortify the thin and acid Zo: EE tt he ‘The Norwegian Liked It. wines of the north to make “champagne of comme it is the same among the hon- est vintagers. It ts pure juice. So, there- j fore, when you drink your Furgundy in American hotels and restaurants, whether at $1 a bottle or $10, think of the pink feet of the little Mari Antotnettes, Luctes, Berthes and Lizettes; think of the patient mule that drags the cart; think of the vil- lage wine press and the blue-tloused peas- ants and the merry songs they do not sing; think of the ancient church, the long lines of splendid trees along the smooth white roads, the village wine shops, and the pick- ers sleeping in the barn et night; think of intrigues and smothered laughter, kisses in the dark and lusty girls who have tramped twenty miles to earn their 60 cents a day, with food and lodging all included. Theve ts anotner picture. Wine is not made in a day. ree has its claims. Business is business. You ask a peasant what wine is, and he will answer: “The juice of the grape.” But if you ask the Freneh chemists, they will teli you from their experience that the only true definition is this: “Wine is the product of the fermentation of the juice of fresh grapes.” After twenty centuries of renown, French wine has come to be too often only a wine made from raisins, from figs, irom glucose, | doctored with alcohols made from rice and stain and potatoes, and coming on the mar- ket, masked and painted like @ play actor, all having the regulation titles and ali equally false. ‘Treated Commercially. Here in the region of vineyards, this | pleasant wine, which fulfills the true defi- v'tion, has only from eight to ten degrees of alcohol, and would be liked everywhere bid farewell to it, for you will never see it again. It will be taken from the cellar to the nearest railway station and then make its way to the centers of the red wine trade, where it will be treated commer- clally. These are Cette, in the south (for the wines of the Pyrenee: Bordeaux, Dijon, here in Burgundy; Chalons on the Marne for champagne, and Bercy, in Parts, for what Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson calls its “red ink.” Even in the years when the phylloxera was exercising its ravages, and there were no more vineyards to give grapes for the wine, you could stili have your Bordeaux and your Burgundy: of the year at every meal. It was a mystery, only in part made up of alcohol and raisins. Here ts the real secret of the years marked after high-class wines on restaurant cards—if you believe them. Such and such a year was good, and such and such year was bad. It does not altogether go by seniority, as some folks think. All the wholesale wine dealers, whether VAGRANT JNDIANS A Tribe That Has Aroused the In- terest of Scientists, ARE WILD, BUT NO? BLOODTHIRSTY They Have Shown Some Disposi- tion to Accept Civilization. they perform their operations in Dijon or} TRIBAL SUPERSTITIONS in Cette, in Bordeaux or in Bercy, hold the same opinion. They cannot get on without Spanish wine. At Bordeaux they call it the “wine doctor.” Others say it is the watchkey of wine, namely, that which “winds {t up." It gives courage to the fainthearted “‘clairet,”” It corrects ac! and eniivens flatness. What 1s wine? Not at ali the sherry and Malaga. It is the blue-red, astringent and heady wine which tastes of the tron in the sand hills where it grew. It is a wine of Africa rather than of Europe. It is the “table wine” of Spain, and travelers are knocked out by its potency. In hotels they will give it to you free, in big carafes, Whoop! Bang! No wonder Spain seems Leautiful. Use of Spanish Wines. Sranish wine owns the qualities which al- low it to tv nize over the tural wine of France to the alcohol which tt con- tains. When these vineyard owners send up their miid grape juice to the wholesale dealer, he tells *hem: “Your wine is not drinkable. We must fortify it with Span- ish wine.” The wine owner would lave the right to answer: “Your reason for in- sisting on doctoring our wine, such as na- ture has given it to us, with the wine of Spain, is because it helps on your trade combinations. You can have Spanish wines brought you to Paris by water for half the price which our wines cost you by rail. ‘Then our wines cannot be watered, while two barrels of Spanish wine can easily be made into three for the use of Parisians and people across the seas. Do you expect us to compete successfully with rain wa- ter?” It is not the merchants alone who are re- sponsible for this mantpulation of the nat- ural French wine. The citified drinkers of wine all over the world have learned to tke a strong dose of alcohol in their wines, even though the wine should be trade froin stewed raisins and the alcohol be no more than German potato brandy. ‘There 1s a Norweigian who for forty years has ordered two barrels of wine yearly from the same houxe in Bordeaux. One year some «iccident had happened to the wines, and a manufactured brand was sent to him. It pleased him, and he insisted ever after on having the same wine. It was only necessary for the merchant to keep nota All He Wants, of the recipe, and each year it was fur- nished to his demand. This keeping of reci- pes, which is a perfectly proper proced- ure in the case of non-vintase wines like sherry and malaga, is, of cu an_abom- iration in the c: of any wine of France, excepting always champagne So let us turn to our own California wines, which are cheap, pleasant, and some! most pure. In 1sv, Karl Bae- deker, at Leipsic publisher of Eu- ropean guide books, put forth a splensid and painstaking nd Book for T: elers in the United States.” In his general hints he this sentence: “Wine is gen- generally poor or dear and often both, in the United States. it is much to be’ re- gretted that the native vintages seldom ap- pear on the wine lists, and pean tray- elers wiil do good srvice by making a point ot demanding California wines :nd express- ing: surprise when they cannot be furaisie ed." RULING HEILIG, Written for ‘The Evening Star. Waiting, Wher the twilight of Hfe's sorrow ateth at of day, life is siowly dying, Might Lath passed away, my darling, ' tn a reg! ms for evermore? Or doth lifetime, ke the daylight, Slowly fade to twilight gloom, And doth ne er again the suashine en waiting, oh, For some wort or six ut the weary keep coming, And no token comes to me, Ido! Joy and pleasure All the wi > isto me a of pala, When from tt thou hast been taken, Never to appear agatu. ach day groweth far more dreary, thy mem’ries closer cling, world’s gay sife and laughter All the deeper, flercer sting. And methinks CU follow, dearest, Where theu hast already led, w I'm dying with the living, living with the dead, —C. NORMA 200 Unsound Teeth. From Nature. The belief that unsound teeth belong only to a highly civilized state of life seems to be a prevalent one. But J. Howard Mum- mery informs us that a very different con- clusion was reached by his father more than twenty years ago, after an inquiry extending over more than a decade. Over 2,000 skulls were examined, including all the available collections in Great Britain. Among thirty-six skulls of ancient Egyp- Uans there were fifteen with carious teeth; amon; thirty-six Anglo-Saxon skulls, twelve; among 146 skulls of Romano- Britons, forty-one, and among forty-four miscellaneous skulls of anctent Britons, nine. Several other collections gave like re- sults. Examining skulls of savage races, 27.7 per cent of Tasmanians were found to have dental cartes, 20.45 per cent of native Austrailans; 24.25 per cent of the natives of East Africa, and 27.98 per cent of the natives of West Africa. —- How He Fooled Her. From the Buffalo Express. A little man with a bald head and an in- offensive blue eye drifted into a Main street saloon and threw a half dollar on the bar. “Gimme a schooner of beer,” he said. ‘The schooner was given him. Just as he was about to drink it a big man came in and “Hello, Shorty, who’s buying?” T am,” replied Shorty, with dignity. “You,” scoffed the big man, “why, you never had a cent in your li Your wife gets your wages.” “That's all right,” said Shorty, “mebbe she does, but I've got money today. ‘Ho you ret it?” Well,” replied Shorty, “I don’t know as I mind tellin’. I had a couple of bad teeth an’ she gimme enough to get ‘em pulled.” “Didn't vou get "em pulled?” “Sure; but I worked her for 50 cents for €as, an’ this is the fifty. See?’ -oo—___ The Proof. From the Detroit Tribune. He watched her bitterly while she ate the double porterhouse steak, with the usual side dishes. “You have no heart,” he observed quietly, but with terrible earnestness. “Sir,” she her “sn i, exclaimed, itp curling re- ie Ghrugged his shoulders, “Look,” he Making a rough estimate of what she had lowance of room that he must be HOWARD. | many miles except » oe Written for The Evening Star. HE CHIEF OF THE bureau of ethnology has sent two scouts into Arizona to look over the homes of the Papago Indians, with a view to investigat- ing their condition and their race char- acteristics, With all its interesting work among the Navajos and the Moquis and the Pueblos, the bu- reau has never inves- tigated the condition of the Papagoes, though they are the most vagrant of American Indians, with many tribal pecu- Uarities, which entitle them to considera- uon. In about two months these couriers of the bureau will return and a plan of campaign will be mapped out. It will be a Year probably before the agents of the bu- reau are ready to make a satisfactory re- port. ; The Papago Indians live in southern Arizona. Often they make foraging expe- ditions into Mexico; and, in fact, in the sense of settled habitation, they cannot be sal. to live anywhere. They are the most nomadic of ail the Indian tribes at present. Something has been written about them from time to time by travelers, and the agents of tne Indian office have made re- ports on their condition. But beyond the reports of these agents the government has no official information about the condition of the tribe, The agents’ reports are nec- essarily ragged. Indian agente are not sent to Arizona to write ethnological es- says. The Papagoes were once a tribe ‘of from 4,000 to 7,000. The exact number fs not known. The population of the tribe from a remote period can only be estimated. And the Indian office {s not better of today in the matter of knowledge of the tribe's ex- tent. The census agent would be at an ut- ter loss to come to a@ correct conclusion about the Papegocs. They are scattered over so wide a range of territory that it is Goubtful {f even one of their own number could form a clear idea how many there now are In the tribe. For many years, and until a short time ago, they were carried on the Indian reports, estimated at 6,000. une of the recent reporis gave an estimate of ”). No onc knows whether the old estimate or the new one 4s correct, Only a few hundred of the Indians live cn reserva tions and have a settlement. The others roam at large. Not on a Reservation, The Papagoes are wild in the sense that they are uncivilized, but not in the sense that they are bloodthirsty. They are a very pec cefui people, and many of them as- ist their Indian neightofs in harvesting their grain. They take their pay in sup- plies, which they lay up for the winier sea~ son. But In ihe summer they live chiefly on the fruit of the cactus plant and wild erries, It Is a wonder how they live at I. Some of those who iead a roving life own a few horses ard eattle. but the en- lire number of cattle’ owned, by e who net on reservations is onl: and the number of domestic fous is 1,150, Yet the Papago Indians receive no rations from the gevernment. ‘They are actually self-supporting, csking nothing of the gov- ernment and receiving very ttle. There are only 5,4) Indians in Arizona who re- ceive rations from the government to Who do not. in the report of Indian industries made up by the Indian bureau there ts a big blank opposite the names of the Indians yho are not ou the Papago reseryation. So far as the official reports show, they do ro labor. Yet they are capable of doing their full share of work, as the experiment with a few who are gathered together on @ government reservation shows. There are from 300 to 500 Indlans gathered on two reservations, one near Tucson and one near ila Bend, on the Southern Pactiic railroad. These communities are not models of thelr kind. In fact, they are described as having each about thirty miserable, squalid adobe houses, with not a drop of water within hat 1s caught in pools during the uncertain Arizona ralny season, and In a short time this water becomes thick and vile, because the pools are the common resort of the Indians, the cattle and the swine. The pools soon dry and then the Indians roam into the mountains in pursuit of water. What the Papagocs need most is irrigation to make their bar- ven land fertile, for that land now wili not furnish subsistence for a coyote or a gopher. Partially Civilized, But the farmer in charge of the San Xavier reservation, which was set aside for these Indians by orders of President Grant just twenty years ago, says that the Papago is, “with but few exceptions, an honest, industrious, peaceable and self-supporting Indtan, whose principal occupation is the cultivation of the land, on which he rats3s for the greater part wheat, barley and cora; but he also gives his attention more or less to the raising of horses and cattle, and piles a steady trade in wood, which commodity he hauits to and sells in the city of Tuc- son.” All of the Indians on this reservation wear citizens’ dress. About three-fourths of the Indians on the reservation are Cath- olics and attend mass regularly every two weeks. They have had their children bap- tized, and they bring in their dead neatly prepared for burial in decent coffins to the church, whence the body is taken to the cemetery and buried under a wooden cross. The women of the reservation busy them. selves with pottery, particularly the earthen water jugs known among the Mexicans as “ollas.” “There was a great demand for these “‘ollas” at one time, because, like the water jugs of India, they were porous and they kept their contents cool. But now there are ice factories in Tucson and the Solia is no longer in general demand. There is no such thing as divorce in the little colony, and the women of the — goes are noted among the white people for their virtue. In addition to thely other occupations, the reservation Pay now have a trade in German carp, which were introduced with the assistance of the fish commission, and which now supply fodd as well as an article of commerce. 4 d There are few casea of crime reported from the Papago reservation. And, in fact, in all things the reservation Papagoes have shown themselves to be capable of taking on a fair degree of tivitfzation. The wild ness of their tribal brothers is all the more surprising. It would certainly not seem to be the fault of the I ‘ms that they remain in outer darkness. e trouble seems to be that even the land negr Gila Bend, on which some of the Indians have done a great deal of improvement, ts not properly to assist them in irrigating their lands, Live Like Auimals, dians know absolutely nothing. The bureau of ethnology will probably find in these ruins as much as in the living Indians food for investigation. ‘The customs of these Indians are decidedly Mexican. They live chiefly on Mexican tor- tillas (thin cakes) and a coarse brown meal, which they call panola, both of which are made from wheat. They have also beef, beans, melons, pumpkins, coffee and sugar, with which, a few at a time, they vary the monotony of the simpler foods. Some of them have houses, cook their food on Ameri- can stoves and eat off tables. But these are only 5 per cent of the population. It is not uncolmon to see a family living like wild animals. They live in kettle-shaped houses, which they call “kees.” These houses have no chimneys or windows, and the only flooring is cowhide. The door is about three or four feet high. The kee is from ten to twenty feet in diameter, and the frame is made of a tough timber or brush, the larger ends of which are placed in the ground, férming a circle the size of a house. The tops of the brush are bent to the center, where they are bound and woven together. When the weaving is finished the exterior is plastered with mud. During nine months of the year it is not necessary to have a fire in these houses. When the winter comes the Indian breaks a small hole in the top of his kee and builds a fire in the mid- dle of the floor, permitting the smoke to es- cape above. Ig winter the houses are stead- {ly occupied. In the sumemr season the In- dians more frequently sleep in the open air. ‘The air is so dry and pure that there ts lit tle danger of taking cold. Many of the Wealthy white people who live in Arizona sleep on their porches during the summer. Cling to Their Customs. In spite of the conversion of many of them to forms of religion, almost all of the In- dlans have a belief that while an Indian is in his grave he must be provided with food and drink to help him on his journey to the Place where he is to walt for the beginning of another existence. They usually put food and water and possibly some clothing in the grave. But this custom is beginning to die out. Many of the Indians believe in the su- bernaturai and ere quite sure that they ha seen ghosts, In times when the Indians had no tools they buried their dead in such shallow places that it was necessary to pile brush and stones on the graves to keep off the coyotes. Many continue this practice, and all of the Papago Indians on the reser- vation who are not Catholics bury their dead in a sitting posture. The superintendent of Indian schools, writing some years ago of the condition of the vagrant Papagoes, who are about to be irvestigated, said: “Uitimately, the govern- ment will be compelled to gather these I dians together, give them a place to dwell and in some ‘way secure water, without which industry is unavatling and living is impossible In this country.” The present investigation, as it cails general attention to the condition of the Indians, may be the first step in the direction of finding a per- manent home for them. —-—- SHARP OLD NEWSWOMAN. Says She Knows Honest People Way Across the Street. From the New York Herald. One of the smartest and shrewdest bust- ness women in New York, able to push her trade at a minimum; of effort, 1s the old newswoman at the corner of 424 strect and 7th avenue, the junction of Broadway and 7th avenue, and the thriving stand {s sit- uated at the 7th avenue corner, It ts a bleak, unprotected corner, and the old woman, finding It too exposed, has taken her stool under the shelter of an op- rosite Broadway store. This ts far enough off not to know where to look for her, if needs be, and affords an apparently good opportunity for dishonest persons to cheat, yet the old woman never loses a cent. She has learved from her distant niche to size People up pretty well, and 1s on hand pretty promptly if she suspects unfair play, A lady last Sunday wanted to buy a paper, but had nothing Jess than 25 cents. Looking up and down and wround about, and seeing nobody ia charge of the stand, she decided, after some moments’ waiting. that she would have to let the paper go. As she turned away without it she heard a Joud call from the cubbyhole niche at the opposite corner, and could sce the old wo- man bidding her in pantomime to take the Paper along.-Jn pantomime also she re- plied, indicating that she couldn’t, as she hadn't got the money. Then the oid woman hobbled forward in haste and beran to give the conscientic Jady a good, sound rating. “Ain't you foolish,” she said, “and both- ersome to bring me over here when s might Just as well take that paper alon, “But L had no change,” said the lady. “Well, what of that? Couldn't you leave it the next Ume you were passing?" “Put I'm a stra 4 should you trust me to do any such thing? That's all right. I know why. Don't you think I can tell honest folk from over there? I know tae other kind, too, right quick, Next time pick up your paper, and Pay whenever you come past again. Don't drag me or here for nothing. It's enough, with my rheumatism, to scramble over here after the cheats. ——__-+e- — HOW TO TREAT YOUR MAID. Follow These Rules {f You Expect Good Service. From the Kansas City Times, Give her as good wages as you can, pay her regularly or give her reasons why she should wait. Do not expect her to be a mind reader, but tell her just what you want done. Give her as pleasant a room as possible, and let her have time to keep it in order, Do not talk as if your own way was the only right way to do things. Never allow the children to treat her with disrespect or make her unnecessary work. Never reprimand her before children or strangers. Always say “good morning” and “good night.” Always say “please” and “thank you” when you ask her to do anything for you, and insist on the children doing the same. A command given tn an abrupt, disa- greeable tone will often make her angry or unhappy. It you like her tell her so sometimes If she is cross or irritable, be patient with her. She may be suffering acutely, mentally or physically. Above all things do not scold, blame or find fault with her any more than you can possibly help. Nothing will discour- age her so much. She needs encourage- ment a thousand times more than she does discouragement. To sum up, be as kind, patient, sympa- thetic, reasonable, considerate and respect- ful to her as you would wish other women to be to your own daughter if she is ever obliged to do housework for a living. a An Absent-Mi From Temple Bar. Canon Bowles, among other eccentricities, was absent-minded. On one occasion he gave a Bible to a young woman in the village, and wrote in the fly leaf: “From the authcr.” He had been in the habit of giv- ing copies of his poems with this tuserip- tion. Once, when riding down from Erem- hill, he got off his pony at the top of the hill to lead it down, but failed to put bis arm through the rcin, and so left it there. At the bottom of the hill he offered the turnpike man a penny; when reminded that he had no horse with him, he declared that while thinking of something eise some scoundrel must have slipped the rein off his arm and stolen his pony. He walked on to Chippenham, and had out the town crier to publish the supposepd theft far and wide. Meanwhile, he hired a post chaise to go home, when lo, behold! at the top of the hill there was found the faithful pony quietly grazing by the wayside. Moore mentions that one day at Bowood Bowles told the story of an African traveler who said that on the voyage out a por- poise had been caught, and on opening it the fect body of a black man was found. Bowles gravely defended the state- ment against the incredulous laughier of his friends. At last he recollected that he meant a shark—not a porpoise. led Man. — ————— PUBLIC BUILDINGS How the Supervising Architect's Preparation of the Plans and Super- intendence of the Work. | —_——_o— SUPPLYING ESTIMATES Written for The Evening Stur. HE OFFICE OF svU- pervising architect of the treasury fs va- cant Applications for the appointment are pouring in upon Mr. Carlisle, It is in his gift. The place is well worth having, the salary attached importance that the incumbent should be a man of unimpeach- able honesty, inasmuch as intense opportun- ities for profitable fraud are open to him, incidentally to the letting of contracts, etc. The architect’s shop of the treasury has already put up and finished 273 public butld- ings In various parts of the country, from Alaska to Florida and from Maine to Cali- fornia. Sixty more are now in process of construction or alteration. Thirty-eight have been ordered by Congress, but are not yet begun. In this last category is a great and beautiful structure for the housing of government offices in San Francisco, plans for which have already been made, This makes a total of 371 buildings which are, or soon will be, under the control of the super- vising architect. The supervising architect has entire charge of these buildings. Each one of them is under the cdre of a custodian, who sends reports at regular intervals to Wash- ington respecting the condition of the struc- ture. Whatever repairs are needed he at- tends to, but he cannot have a broken pane of glass mended without obtaining an order from the Treasury Department. If he wants a new broom, he must go through the same formality. A strict construction of law would oblige Secretary Carlisle to indorse every such requisition, but, for the sake of convenience, the supervising archi- tect signs the orders when the payment in- volved does not exceed $100. Of course, the total bill for repairs runs to a great many thousands of dollars in the course of a year. They Furnish Estimates. The number of public buildings now going up is unusually large. Great ones are being built at Detroit, Buffalo, Omaha, Mil- waukee, Kansas City, St. Paul and Alle- gheny. During the last year the expendi- tures of the office were over $4,000,000, In- cluding the purchase of sites. In the office of the supervising architect are employed forty-five draughtsmen, many of whom have been practicing architects, Some of these are specialists in steel and iron construction, heating, ventilation and elevators. All of the tracing is done by wo- men, for whom this is a new kind of work. They do it as well as men can. There are forty-nine women in this bureau of the treasury, but most of them do only copying and other clerical duty. The most important duty of the average Congressman is to obtain an appropriation for a public building in the town where he resides, Nothing is likely to help him so much politically -with his constituents. From the supervising architect he first gets fn estimate of the cost of the building. “his is made in a rough way by reckoning the number of cubic feet in the structure. It ht to cost from 2 to 40 cents a cubic according to the style of architecture stimate must include heating appara tus, elevators, fixturs —everything, in sho except furniture. Sometimes the en ing member gets ahead of Uncle curing an appropriation which does not rly © the expenditure required. The asement and one story perhaps are con- cluded, and the next Congress ts obliged to Put up more cash to finish the building. Having got his estimate, the member In- troduces a bill providing for the erection « the buildtag, ‘This is referred to the com- mittee on public buildings and grounds, which reports on it in Gue time. If it pass. es, it goes to the Senate, in ordinary cour and eventually to the President. It may be incorporated ¢s a paragraph in a general #ppropriation bill. ‘The bill authorizes the pure of a site and the erection of the structure within a specified time. Securing Building Sites, The Secretary of the Treasury appoints @ commission to report on a suitabie site, A letter is sent to the postmaster in the city concerned, instructing him to adver- great. It is of prime) Tt looks exactly Hke the original drawing. Te Superintend Retidings. On a sort of piazza behind the lUttle house described may be seen on any fine day many huge ‘frames covered with glass. ‘These are rotied about on wheels and may be adjusted at any angle so as to expose thelr faces to the @irect rays of the sun. In them are drawings in pre duction, after the manner above referred to. Ss vgraphic work is arge wi the ca Members of Congress have Photographs of thetr public butidiags made at cost price. One Representative not long azo purchased in this way 3,000 pictures the build which he had secured own ci e he distributed amo constituents. It was a first-rate p advertisement. In the same studio was f Mr. Cleveland, which by th t the s he has ever n. He sat for ng the early of his first admin- m is beeun as the construction of a public a supe uN building pointed to intondent ports is ap- to rsee it Supervising architect on the same th sto | the butldiny if the structure jis a large one the superintendent ts pro- | vided with a foreman and a clerk. The of- | fice has now on its pay rolls 134 euperin- | tendents, foremen and clerke, When the building fs finished the superintendent re- ports the fact.and an agent ts sent by the | supervising architect to inspect it. Th are seven inspectors of buildings and Inspector of heating. The inspector having ceported tne bull4- ne to It being $4,500. On| ing as finished the tuperintendent and his other , the | assistants are discharged from service pedir Hang, are | The building is then turned over to a cus todian, who is always one of the govern- ment officials, having an office in the build ing. Usually tt ts the postmaste he custodian gets no extra pay for this work When the « of the supervising archi- tech was first created his business was only to build custom houses. Now it puts up mints, assay oifices, jails and Warehouses. The building for ap. r may not embrace in addit custom house and federal Bills have been introduced in Co provide a post office tow United States. It is argued that the adop- tion of such a plan would save rents, lessen the number of robberies of post offices and furnish employment to many honest citi- zens. There 1s @ model shop attached to the office of the supervising architect, in which models are made by skilled sculptors for the ornamental work of public buildings. Some criticism bas been occasioned by the fact thar many of the workmen are Ital- fans. The reason for this is simply that Italians are more clever at the craft than native-born Americans, The sample divi- sion of the office has charge of all speci- mens of stone, brick and other building ma- terials offered by contractors as samples of what they are prepared to furnish. —_—. SOUTH SEA LEGENDS OF FIRE. ress to building for every of 3.0% of more inhabitants In the A Whale a im Air Dragon Each Be~ Meved to Have Originated Fiame. The South Sea Islanders tell a curious story of the origin of fire. If they are to be believed, says the St. Louis Republic, they came in possession of that useful ele- ment in the following manner: A reat whale was once washed ashore upon one of their islands during the prevalence of a terrible hurricane. The monster became en- tangled in a grove of tallow trees (a species of evergreen whose branches easily ignite), and, while gnashing his teeth in his im- potent rage, struck off a spark which light- ed the grove and consumed both trees and whaic. Fires which are sald to have been perpetuated eince the day of the “great whale fire” may yet be seen burning in many parts of the island. Another fire legend, believed in by the irhabitants of the islands to the north of the ones in which the “great whale fire” is preserved, is to the effect that @ great air dragon (probably lightning) breathed upon @ tallow tree and set its branches on tire. From the coals left from this fire they learned of its great value, and have ever since used the element for domesiic pur- poses and in their religious ceremonies. They also have a tradition that the tme will come when the dragon will return for the fire, and that no man will be able to withstand him and save the sacred spark except he be a person born with pink eyes, fair skin and white hair. For thts reason the birth of an albino is aways hailed as @ good omen, and his or her person guarded with jealous care, so as to preserve life to its utmost limit. Marionette mentions see- ing a “fire god” or “fire guard” (albino) while on his visit to the islands, who was believed to be at least 1 years cld, and who had always been provided for by the tribe. Reffinesque, who made myths and les the opinion ¢ fe uth Sea Island da study for years, Is of at the return of the dragon his fire is symbolic of death and the ght of the spirit. From Tl Carlino, One of the two, by way of advertising himselt, cuts his hair in the most faultiess manner, according to the latest fashion plate; the other, on the contrary, cuts his tn the most clumsy way imaginable. The first customer who entered his shop did not fail to take him to task about tt. “How in the world, being yourself a barber, do you have your hair s0 badly cut?” “Why, sir, the reason Is simple enough. I cannot possibly cut my hair myself, but am obliged to have recourse to my col- tise In the local papers that the government desires to purchase a lot of a certgin size for the erection of a building. The commis- sion examines the lots offered and recom- mends one a3 the most desirable. Quite a squabble is apt to arise over the choice, which necessarily affects many business in- terests. Rival real estate owners and agents contend for the sale, and influential citizens take a hand in the struggle for the location. Naturally property in the neighborhood of the public building gains value, and on that account a site is occasionally ‘given to the government outright. On the other hand, it sometimes happens that Uncle Sam is obliged to exercise the right of eminent domain, suing in the courts for the condem- nation ef property and buying it at an ap- pralsement. Property owners have been known to try bribery in such ceses, However, the com- mission having reported, the supervising architect makes a recommendation to the Secretary of the Treasury. The latter, if it seems good to him, authorizes the purchase of the site selected. The title having been investigated, tests are made to ascertain the character of the ground with reference to the foundation of the structure. Rough plans are then drawn and submitted to the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of the Interior and the Postmaster General. ‘They represent the three departments whose offices are to be housed in the building. Incidentally, a copy of the plans ts sent to the local posimaster for criticism. He may discover that this or that alteration will render the structure better adapted for the purposes in view. Plans for Contractors, Next, the working drawings are taken in hand at the office in Washington. If the building is not to cost more than $50,00) or $60,000, the whole of the construction is given out to one contractor, except only the heating apparatus. But, in case it is to be a larger structure, it is split up into two or more contracts—say, one for the base- ment and arca walls, a second for the iperstructure, a third for the interior fin- ish and a fourth for the heating. In former times it was the custom to let out the work to many contractors, perhaps fifteen or twenty, one doing the brickwork, another the stonework, and so on. But this method ave rise to dispute and multiplied the num- ber of drawings required. “In the rear of the Treasury Department in Washington is a little wooden building, where all the copying of drawings for the supervising architect is done. Numerous bidders for contracts have to be supplied with plans, &c., on which to base their estimates. To reproduce them in multiple by hand would be very costly and laborious, So photography is employed for the purpose. Architects generally multiply their draw- ings by the blue-print process. They take wept eos make a tracing from it, e league over the way, and he ts such @ duffer!” “And I suppose you cut his in turn?” “Of course. And you can judge for y self whether he oughtn’t to be satisfie ——_—_ 02 —___ One Use for the New Law. From the Chicago Record. Marie—"Do you really feel that you could support a wife? jeorge (proudly)—“Here are my income tax receipts, Marie (flinging herself into his arms)— “Take me, dearest eee Why He Reformed. From Life.