Evening Star Newspaper, January 5, 1895, Page 19

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1895-TWENTY PAGES. 18 ae CHINESE JAPAN'S GREAT ACTUR egies A Talk With the Elwin Booth of the Island Empire. BEHIND THE SENGS IN A THEATER A Graphic Description of the Last Big Earthquake. JAPANESE CHARITY Carpenter.) JUST RE- ceived two very curi- ous sketches from Corea They are made by a Japanese artist, and they illu: trate the barbarities which the C ed im their tre ment of the Japanese prisoners. One of | them shows how Li t. ‘Yakenouchl, | who was captured by the Chinese when in cWarge of an advance guard of twelve Japanese, was barbarously tortured. He was first dragged through the town by @ string which was run through his nose. His hands were tied behind him, and a Chinaman held nim back by a rope, which he jerked occasio in order to in- tensify the pain of the string through his nose, whic was pulled by another China- who walked front. Soldiers with and spears went along, and criers the heads of the Japanese pri- vates, whch had been cut off. After he hal passed through the town of Pin- yang his ears were cut off, and he was again led through the streets. At the third trip his nose had disappeared, and what became of him after that no one knows. The dead were horribly mutilated by the Chinese, and the tions of the Japanese @t Port Arthur were almost forced by the horrible treatment which both their living t- man, flags carried Donjuro, the win Booth of Japan. and their dead received from the Chinese soldiers and mob. When they entered Port Arthur thi found the mutilated forms of their brothers lining the streets. Archways of Japanese heads, with the Noses and ears missing, had been built r the streets, and the horrors of the atment received by the Japanese spies Nanking were repeated again and again Port Arthur. It must be remembered that this was the culmination of work which has been on since the beginning of this war, and it Is @ question whether American troops under the same circumstances would have acted much better. Up to the time of the Port Arthur massacre, the Japanese had treated the Chinese with the greatest kindness. They Chinese prisoners as a rule preferred to stay with them rather than to go back to their own troops and be starved and ill- treated. The Red Cross Society of Japan had up to this time acted with fully as much charity and mercy as it has ever done in the wars of Europe. It is a won- derfuily live erganization. its head, and the empress has done all she could to aid in its work, ard, as far as I could see during my stay in Japan, it re- ceived better support from the people there than our Red Cross does here. I saw one by the Chinese curious instance of the charity of the Jap- | in regard to it It was in| anese people connection with Donjuro, the famous Japanese actor, who is as celebrated there as Henry Irving ts in England. He ts the Edwin Booth of Japan, and he owns the biggest theater of the empire. It is known as the Kabukiza Theater, and it will seat 3,000 people. It has a stock company, I venture, a3 large as that of any theater in New York, and its nightly receipts often run into the thousands of doliars. Well, this man Donjuro donated the receipts of his theater for one entire week for the benefit of the Red Cross Hospital, and all of his actors threw In their services. They played from 10 in the morning until about W o'clock at night, and the house was 1 not looted the people, and the | The emperor is | i packed. & had a box in the second gallery, which cost me seven dollars, and there Were at least five thousand dollars in the house the day I attended. Suppose one of our greatest actors should donate the serv- ices of himself and his troupe to the Red Cross for a week, and you get some idea of what these actors did. Japan's Biggest Theater. It takes a hig house to seat 3,000 people. We have only one or two theaters that large in the United States, and we have like that of Donjuro’s. It has no d the people sit on the floor in quare pens about four feet wide. usually a little box of charcoal tn the middle of each pen for the lighting of their pipes, and there is no objection to smoking. There is an immense pit and two galieries, and the walls in the summer are nd it is mere like an open-air con- i than a theater. The stageis made shape of an immense wheel, which fs by man power at the change of the scenes, and which moves one set of actors behind the scenes and brings another be- fore you. The supes come on during the play to fix the clothes of the actors. They are dressed in black, and you are not sup- pesed to see them. Right through one side of the house there is a board walk of the height of the stage, about five feet wide, which forms a part of the stage, and some of the actors will step off and come down on this walk above the audience and play their parts there. The acting ts different Rone from ours, but it is wonderfully strong in gome re ts. There are no better fencers In the world, and these people have a won- rfl power of facial expression, The Jap- anese appreciate good acting. They roar with | ter cver the comedies, and a strong piece of tragic acting brings shouts of lause, and the people tear off parts ef the'r clothing and throw them onto t age, expecting to redeem them with pres- ents of money at the end of the play. There are no ticket offices, and you get our tickets at the tea houses nearby. dies bring their fine clothes to the tea houses sometimes and put tpem on there before they go in, and many Order lunches sent in to them and eat during the acting. The plays begin In the morning and last CARRYING JAPANESE HEADS. until night. The shoes are all left outside in the nail, and on going in you pass by three or four thousand wooden clogs which are m i with checks. The Japanese wo- men go bareheaded, and hence they have hot the trouble about theater hats that we have in America. A Call on Japan's Greatest Actor. I attended the theater m company with Mr. S. H. Tokioka, who is connected with the household department of the palace, and with him made a call upon the famous Denjuro. It was between the acts that we made ovr way down under the stage, and through wheel after wheel until we me into the dressing room. In some of these there were actors half naked taking their siestas. In others they were making up for the t act, and we had gone through about twenty, I judge, when we ‘ame into a little den looking out on a beautiful garden. It was a room about «welve feet square, and was carpeted with mats. The walls were filled with closets, and there were swords and different ccs- on Donjuro as the Pirate. tumes lying about. In the middle of the room, lying on his elbow on the floor, was a long, thin, sallow-faced man, with as re- fined features as I have ever seen. He had bright eyes, a very high forehead, large ears, almond eyes and a very long face. His dress was the soul of simplicity. It censisted of a blue cotton kimono, which was open almost to the waist, and was about as near nothing as possible. This was the great actor Donjuro. He rose to his knees as we entered and bowed grace- fully in Japanese style. We got down on our knees and bowed our heads to the floor, and then sat on the floor and chatted for a time about Japanese art and acting. Mr. ©. D. Weldon, the well-known American urtist, was with me, and he and Donjuro had quite a discussion over art topics, and the great actor was surprised to find how well the art of Japan has become known to our famous artists and especially to Mr. Weldon, who is perhaps the best posted foreigner on the art of Japan in the world today. Donjuro is an artist as well as an acter, and he makes me think of Joe Jef- Yerson in his many accomplishments. He is a man of the highest culture. He stands well in Japanese literature, and he writes noctry. He made some remarks as to the lifference between the Japanese and the American stage, declaring in favor of the former, and he said that he was really sor- cy that he could not accept the generous offer which he had to come to America and act at Chicago during the world’s fair. He afterward sent me his photograph, writing his autograph below it, and I found that there was just as much demand for the pictures of actors in Japan as in Amer- ca, and that the people had their favorites. Behind the nes With a Japanese Comedian. Leaving Donjuro I made a call on Shinzo San, who is one of Donjuro’s favorite pu- pils, and who is, perhaps, the brightest of the younger Japanese comedians. He veceived us in his dressing room. He had <0 go on the sage within a few moments, and he made up for his part while he chatted. His gown was pulled down to his waist, and he was absolutely naked as to the upper part of his body. He squatted on his knees before a little glass on the floor, painting and patching and turning simself from a modern Japanese gentle- men into a bridegroom of the olden time. He had his servarts to help him, but he did the most of the work himself in the most artistic way, painting his arms and nig eyes and his neck, and patching up nis head so that he looked like an old Daimio. He finally put on a gorgeous suit | of light blue silk, and stood before us as he hero of the dual marriage, or, as it might be called, of the play which is xnown in Japan as “The Knight of the One Pantalocn.” As he stood there I happened In a Japanese Theater. remark that I wished that I could have a picture of him. Whereupon he replied: ‘Why don’t you take it? There is my camera.” I looked, and I saw one of the inest of modern cameras, with tripod and all conveniences. He directed his servant to put it up for us, and Mr. Weldon took the picture while he posed. As the button was pressed the call for the act came, and he left the room for the stage. We took out the plate holder and went back to our seats. It was not a minute after the pic- ‘ure was taken before we reached them, and the house was in roars of laughter. Shinzo was playing one of his great parts, and 3,000 people were doubling themselves up in’ ecstacy over his acting. Hew It Feels to Be Blown Up. It was indirectly in connection with this theater that I had my first experience with a Japanese earthquake. The great earthquake at Tokyo cccurred about two lays later, and I came within a stone's threw of being killed in it, while I was getting the photograph of Donjuro, of which I spoks. I had long wanted to be in an earthquake, just to see how it went, you know. My longing is satisfied, and [ laugh at earthquakes no longer. Japan is the land of earthquakes. The country has at least five hundred shocks every year, and there have been years when the shocks have reached as high as three thousand. The m of these shocks are very light, and I laughed at the terror which the pecple showed at the least vibration, and could not understand it. This big earth- quake, however, opened my eyes. It ruin- ad thousands of houses and killed many people. It was one of the greatest earth- quakes that Tokyo has ever had. It caused great fires. It cracked the earth, and it came near ruining the American legation. This is a lerge frame structure, and it is surrounded by a big brick wall. In the same com- pound is the house of the secretary of the legation, Mr. Herod. The earthquake threw over the chimneys. It moved the walls so that they left their places and bent over as though they would topple. It cracked the plastering all over the house, and it sent the china and the bric- a-brac flying. It was the same in Mr. Herod’s house, and m all of the foreign buildings of the city. I went through the houses of parliament. They were filled with mortar and debris, and there was a hole through the roof big enough for an elephant to have passed down through without touching the edges of the hole. The great club house of Tokyo had a porte- cechere of stone, and within this a coach- man was sitting with his horses at the time of the shock. The structure went down, and the horses were killed. At the first evidence of the shock the driver tried to whip the horses onward, but they were paralyzed with terror and refused to mov At the Imperial Hotel, where I was stop- ping, the heavy chimneys came flying down through the roof, and one of them fell into the dining room just after it had been vacated. ‘Ihe Earthquake and the Palaces. ‘The shocks came at about five minutes past two in the afternoon. I had an ap- pointment with Mr. Tokioka, of his ma- jesty’s imperial household department, and I had gone inside the palace grounds, and was in this building at the time. It was an old-fashioned European buildir.g built of stone and brick, and badly constructed. Mr. Tokioka and myself were talking to- gether on the second floor, and he was giving me the photograph of Donjuro,which he had gotten for me, when there was a rumble like thunder and the walls began to move. The air was thick and stifling, and I could feel the floor rise and fall. At the same time, the halls were filled with hundreds of running clerks, and Mr. Tokio- ka sprang to his feet, and said, “It is an earthquake. Let us run.” And we ran. We went down two steps at a time, and just got outside when nearly the half of the building went down. Many were in- jured, and one man was killed. Stones Were thrown hundreds of feet away from the building. Outside the shock contin- ued. The ground rose and fell. Men rid- ing in jinrikishas were thrown over, and when I called the same afternoon at Count Ito's, who has a large foreign residence not very far from the American legation, I found that his house had been badly in- jured, and that his wife was terribly pros- trated by it. The Old Inhabitants Don’t Like T I found in discussing the earthquake that those who had been longest in Japan fear- ed the earthquakes the most. The f of one man connected with the legation, who had been there for many years, be- came as white as chalk when the shock occurred, and some of the older Japanese were prostrated with terror. Those who know what an earthquake is appreciate its terrible possibilities, and during the remainder of my stay in Japan I trembled whenever a man walked across a floor over me, thinking that there was going to be another earihquake, and wondering whether | was to be swallowed up in it. This earthquake affected the railroads. It twisted the rails here and there, and peo- ple on the trains said that it sounded as though two trains had come into collision. It ruimed one large tea factory containing many girls, who were killed in the debris. It a curious earthquake in that there were cnly two or three shocks, and in that it was cenfined almost to the vicinity of Tokyo. Many of the earthquakes hav from nineteen to twenty shocks following each other, and there is always more than one shock. This earthquake caused sev- eral big tires, and there is never an earth- quake in Japan which does not result in more or less conflagration. The houses are, you know, nearly all of wood, and coal oil is now used very largely for lighting. Lamps are thrown over, and the burning oil rens through the buildings. Thousands of houses are destroyed, and the damage by fire is often as great as that by earth- quakes. Talks About Earthquakes. I met during my stay in Japan the great- est earthquake authority on the globe. This is Prof. John Milne of the Imperial College of Engineering at Tokyo. He has made a great study of earthquakes, and has invented machines which show just Crushed in an Earthquake. how the earth moves at such times, and as to its effect upon all sorts of structures. According to him, it makes a great differ- ence as to how the buildings are built, and the Japanese are now resting some of their foundations on rollers and iron shot so that they will move as though they were placed en the ball-bearings of a bicycle, when an earthquake occurs. He suggests that the chimneys should be made cf sheet iron in- stead of bricks, and people living in earth- quake countries should have heavy tables under which they can crawl in case of a shock. They should have earthquake lamps, and in some parts of South America he says the people have earthquake coats which are stocked with provisions, and which lie beside their beds, and in which they can skip out into the open air with some kind of protection at the slightest warning. The ordinary Japanese house is of wood, and instead of having laths and plaster, it is lined inside and out with a wattle-work of bamboo, and this is plaster- ed over with mud. It is more like a basket than a house, and it is much safer than brick and stone. Earthquake Horrors. Still, the damage that is done by earth- quakes in Japan is terrible. All through Japanese history you find records of vil- lages teing swallowed up, and of thousands of men being killed. I have a list of Jap- anese earthquakes before me. Almost the whole of the city of Tokyo was destroyed between two and three centuries ago, and at this time it is said that 200,000 people lost their lives. At other times mountains fell and lakes took their places. The last great earthquake that Tokyo had was in 1855. There were eighty shocks felt within a month, and the city was one blaze of fire. One hundred and four thousand peo- ple are said to have perished, and 14,000 houses were reduced to matchwood. The earthquake in which I was was by no means so serious. Still, it was not to be sneered at, and my own Japanese servant came to me in great trouble, saying that his house had gone down, and that his wife and boy had been injured. The Big Earthquake at Gifu. One of the biggest earthquakes that Japan has ever had occurred about three years ago. I had a number of friends who were in it, and-it was horrible beyond de- scription. Thousands of buildings went down, and thousands of people were killed. The railroad was twisted as though it had been made of sticks of half-melted taffy. Great factories were thrown to the ground. Some of the most famous potteries of the country were destroyed. Temples were burned. The embankments cf rivers fell in, and about 200 Buddhist temples were reduced to ruins. This occurred near the great city of Nagoya, and it affected build- ings in Kobe. One man whom I know was the French teacher in a school in Nagoya. His house fell down, and his wife and him- self had to flee in their night clothes.. They lost everything, and in this earthquake 250,000 people were rendered homeless, and a vast amount of property was destroyed. The horrors of the earthquake cannot be described. People were cut all to pieces by the ruins. The earth half swallowed some. Great cracks and fissures existed every- where, and the earth was seamed and wrinkled and torn. ‘RANK G. CARPENTER. Molilified. From the Indianapolis Journal. “Oh, Jaggs,” protested Mrs. Lushforth, “I did so hope you would come home sober tonight.” “Glad I didn't,” thickly responded Mr, Lushforth. “It 1s worth the effort of gettin’ tanked any time to be able to see ‘zgoodlookin’ woman ’zyou are double.” ‘@| hammer of that, THEY ARE SPRINTERS Swift-Footed Indians Who Can Catch Task Rabbits. see Sey A BLOOUTHIRST. TRIBE OF SAVAGES Thee Professor McGee's Visit to Red Men Livitig in Sonora. ARE FOND OF CARRION —— ee Written for The Evening Star. HE KILLING OF | two Americans by if the Seri Indians of Y Sonora last spring has given occasion for recent diplomatic correspondence _be- tween the United States and Mex yp It will be remember- ed that the victims belonged to an ex- ploring expedition headed by a newspa- per man named Rob- ‘The latter and one of his three com- panions were murdered. The deed had no other motive than pure fiendishness. Small as is the tribe of the Seris—they number only about 250 souls—these savages are the most bloodthirsty in North Americ a long time they have terrorized Sono: but the Mexican government seems power less to control them. ‘The tribe was visited recently by an ex- pedition from the bureau of ethnology, which has just returned: to Washington with some very interesting information. Prof. W. J. McGee, who led the par id yesterday: : “It is understood that the Seris are can- nibals—at all events, that they eat every white man they ean slay. Th and treacherous beyond description. ward the white man their attitude is ex- actly the same as that of the white man toward a rattlesnake—they kill him as a matter of course, unless restrained by fear, Never do they fight in open warfare, but always lie in ambush. They are copper- colored Ishmaelites. It is their custom to murder everybody, white, red or Mexican (L employ the terms commonly used in that country) who ventures to enter the te tory they call their own. Can Outrun Jack Rabbits. “tn many respects the Seris are the most interesting tribe of savages in North Amer- ica. They are decidedly more primitive in their ways than other Indians, having scarcely any arts worth mentioning. Ir fact, they have not yet advanced as fa. as the stone age. The only stone implement in commen use, gjmong them is a rude erial, which they em- iy to make a fragile and peculiar kind of pottery. When one of the squaws wishgs to make a meal of mes- quite beans she has, no utensil for the pur- pose. She looks’ about until she finds a rock with an U}per surface convenienty hollow, and on thig she places the beans, pounding them with an ordinary stone. “The Seris liveon the Island of Tiburon, in the Gulf of Céiifornia. They also claim 000 square miles’ of the mainland in Sonora. ‘Their dwéilings are the rudest imaginable. A“thance rock commonly serves for one wall of the habitation;stones inson. plcy for beating. are piled up so'’aS to make a small in- elesure, and thé shell of a single great turtle does for a ‘foof. ‘The house {s al- 3 not intended but chiefly to and women ways open on oné-Side and as a shelter from storms, keep off the sti’ The men wear a single #artent, like a petticoa made of ‘pelican ‘skin; the children ar naked. Not’ far from: Tiluror, which about thirty ‘miles long by fifteen m wide, there 1s a smaller tsland where pel: cans roost in vast numbers. The Seris go at night and with sticks knock over as is they requir ng, the Seris are most are of great stature, the men averaging nearly six feet in height, with splendid chests. But the most noticeable point about them is their legs, which are very slender and sinewy, re- sembling the legs of the deer. Since the first coming of the Spaniards they have been known to other tribes as the runners. It is said that they can run from to 200 miles a day, not pausing for rest. Now, I suppose you are aware that the jack rab- bit is considered a very fleet animal. Yet these Indians are accustomed to catch jack rabbits by outrunning them. Similar to the Coyote Method. “For this purpose three men or boys go together. If the rabbit ran straight away from its pursver, it could not be taken; but its instinct is to make its flight by zig- zags. The hunters arrange themsclves at short distances apart. As quickly as one of them starts a rabbit, a second Indian runs as fast as he can along a line parallel with the course taken by the animal. Pres- ently the rabbit sees the second Indian and dashes cff at a tangent. By this time the third hunter has come up and gives the quarry another turn. After the third or fourth zigzag the rabbit is surrounded, and the huniers quickly close in upon him and grab him. “It is an cdd fact that this method of catching jack-rabbits is precisely the same as inat adopted by coyotes, which work similarly by threes. By this strategy these wild dogs capture the rabbits, though the latter are more fleet by far. I believe that no other human beings approach the Se- ris in celerity of movement. A favorite sport of the boys is lassoing dogs. Mon- grel curs are the gnly animals domesticated by these wild people. For amusement’s sake the boys take their dogs to a clear place and drive them in all directions. Then they capture the frightened animals by running and throwing lassos, which are made out of human hair. They have no difficulty in overtaking the dogs. “One day I saw a party of boys returning with their dogs after a bout at this sport. remarkable. They passed near a bush in which were three or four blackbirds. On spying the birds, they dashed toward the bush and tried to catch them with their hands. They did not succeed, though one of the birds only escaped with the loss of several feathers. Some women of the tribe were watching, and they actually jeered at the boys for their failure. The boys were so mortified that they did not go into the camp, but went off and sat by themselves in the shade of the greasewood bush. Now, what white man or boy would think of trying to catch blackbirds in such a way? What I saw ig it evident that non- success in an attempt of the kind was the exception and’ not the rule. I was informed also that the Seris often take birds in this fastidh. Question of an Escort. “My visit to the,Seris was rather acci- dental than otherwise. The object cf our expedition was ‘tb 4ook up the Papagoes, who occupy a régton of considerable ex- tent in southwest, Arizona and Sonora. ‘They are agricuttaral and pastoral people, but are very brave and do their fighting in the open. Dhelr territory approaches that of the Serfs.2I say ‘approaches’ be- cause the boundary between the two tribes is not easily determined with exactness, and in that arid country an uninhabitable zone is apt to separate two neighboring peoples. This zone may or may not be common property, to be roamed over by both tribes. “Finding myself about 300 miles to the southward of the United States boundary and in the neighborhood of the Seris, I de- cided to visit them. The Mexican author- {ties did not wish me to make the venture, considering it too risky. They suggested that I might secure the escort of a troop of soldiers, but I objected to this plan on the ground that the Indians would run away as quickly as the soldiers appeared, so tmat I would have no chance to study them. It was then proposed that I should take with me a dozen or fifteen soldiers in citizen's dress, but I wag officially inform- ed that three or four Papagoes would be equally serviceable. This tribute to the bravery of Mexican soldiers amused me considerably. By the way, the two sur- vivors of Robinson’s expedition found their way to Guaymas, and the story they told induced the Mexican authorities to send a strong force against the Seris. Part of the force had orders to go by water and attack the Island of Tiburon, while tho other part | was to proceed by land. Instructions were given to kill every man, woman and child in the tribe—for that is the Mexican way of doing things. But the soldiers finally returned with a report to the effect that they had not been able to find any of the Indians. Of course, the fact was that they did not try to find them, being too afraid of them. “So it came about that I went into the country of the Seris with a very small party, consisting, besides myself, of Mr. Dinwiddie of the bureau of ethnology, a young Mexican engineer named Alvemar- Leon, a white driver and one Papago inter- preter. We went to the rancho of a certain Senor Encinas, who is a very remarkable man, as may be judged from the fact that he has kept a stock farm in the territory of these bloodthirsty savages for many years. During that period he has maintain- ed himself in warfare against the Seris and has finally compelled there to cease hostil- ities against him. At present the old man is about eighty years of age and nearly blind from cataracts in both eyes, but he is feared and respected by the Indians, while life is made a terror by the latter tor all other rancheros in that part of Sonora. A Policy of Reprisal. “Senor Encinas was the pioneer in that region. He found good grazing countr in the territory claimed by the Seris, and so established his stock farm there. He brought priests with him to conyert the savages, and caught a couple of the lat- ter to educate as interpreters. The plan for civilizing the Indians proved a failure. They did not care to become Christians, and they Killed the senor’s stock. So, final- ly, the senor decided to adopt a new course of procedure. He summoned the Indians to a council, as many of them as would ceme, and informed them that from that time on he and his vaqueros would slay an Indian for every head of cattle that was killed. At the same time he sent away the priests and engaged an addi- tional number of vaqueros. “The Indians paid no attention to the warning. A few days later they killed several hcad of cattle. Without delay the senor and his men corralled and killed a onding number of the Seris. Then war. The savages made am but they had only bows and a vaqueros fought bravely with very ambush turned out dis- for the Indians. Finally, the ea great ambush, and there was tle which resulted in the killing of ty-five savages. That lesson proved suf- ficient, and the Indiars were glad to con- clude a permanent p , agreeing that no further depre tions against the senor or his property should be attempted. From beginning to end the fighting lasted for ten years. “After the killing of the two Americans their gun astrously bat last spring the Seris were very much afraid of reprisals. For a good while they did not dare to come to the ranch enor Encinas. At length one old wo- man came for the purpose of seeing if she weuld be killed. She was well treated and went away. Eventually confidence was re- stored, and, when I reached the stock farm, about sixty of the savages were visiting on the premises. eeded in conciliating them to some by giv ing them a lump of sugar apiece, and some of them consented to sit for their photographs. I paid 10 cents to each male sitter and ) cents to each woman. One man had a sick wife, and asked me to prescribe for her. I did so, but the senor told me that I had made a big mistake. Ir the woman got better, it was all right. But if she grew worse, or a storm should come up, or anything else out of the or- dinary happened, the Seris would leave in* a body and I would have no further oppor- tunity to study them. Fortunately the health of my patient improved. They Eat Carr “No cther people in North America have so few conceptions of civilization as the Seris. They have absolutely no agriculture. As well as I could ascertain, they never put a seed into the ground or cultivate a plant. They live almost wholly on fish, water fowl and such game as they kill on the mainland. The game includes large | deer, like our blacktails, an exquisitely | graceful species of dwarf deer, about the size of a three-months fawn, peccari wild turkeys, prairie dogs, rabbits anc quail. They take very large green turtles in the Gulf of Califcrnia. Mesquite beans they eat both cooked and r The mes- quite is a small, spreading tree, that bears seeds in pods. “These Indians are fond of carrion. It | makes no difference to them whether a horse has died a natural death a week or a month ago; they devour the flesh greed- ily. The feet of the animal they boil until those parts are tender enough to bite. The Seris are among the very dirtiest of sav- ages. Their habits in all respects are filthy. They seem to have almost no amusements, though the children play with very rude dolls. Before the whites came they used pieces of shell for cutting in- struments. I ought rot to forget to say that they are accustomed to catch deer by running and surrounding the animals. No traditions worth mentioning appear to exist among them. The most interesting ornament I saw worn by any of them was a necklace of human hair adorned with the rattles of rattlesnak: —— Why She Didn't Get M From the Pittsburg Dispatch. One rainy day recently a lady sat in an elevated car, with her umbrella leaning against the seat. As the train approached 42d street a tall, lank young man struggled among the standups for the door. In pass- ing his right foot caught the umbrella and carried away the ferrule end with a crash. The young man was very red and very much embarrassed, but he managed to stammer out a confused apology. The lady, instead of being annoyed at the accident, smiled sweetly and accepted the apology with such an air of grace as at once at- tracted the attention and admiration of the observant passengers. “By Jove!” exclaimed a man near the door to his next neighbor, “that woman's a queen! If that had been my wife she'd have whacked that gawk over the head!” “I never saw a woman have such com- plete control over her temper,” remarked another. “You'd have thought that idiot had done her a favor,” said the third. “She's an angel!” “No, she ain't,” gruffly put in a little man in the corner, who had overheard all this. “She's my wife, and she wanted me to buy her a new umbrella this morning, and now she knows I've got to do it! ——_—see From Life, Reginald—“‘Ah, my good man, will you give me a light?” a she “Why, cert! Come on up.” | was a great deal of this sort of thing on SALE OF SOUVENIRS They Are Offered to Visitors in the Public Buildings, IMAGES MADE FROM MONEY PULP How Mr. Reed Cleared Out the House Corridors. DEPARTMENT RESTAURANTS Written for The Evening Star. 3 HE DIRECTOR OF \ F the mint at Phila- \ Z& delphia recently stop- “wy j ped the sale in the mint building of “souvenir” coins, which were being of- fered to visitors by the guides. They were represented to the purchasers as having been struck on the presses of the mint and as_ being plated with gold. In fact, they were merely gilded, and they were struck on a pr which once be- longed to the mint, but which is now ow: ed by a man who bought it from the g0v- ern:nent when it had become almest value- less from age. There has been at all times a heavy trade in souvenirs about the public build- ings in this city, and there is hardly one of them in which there 1s not today some huckste stand where people can buy trinkets worth from to 50 cents to home with them. Th re in addition to the regular notion stores where these souvenirs are kept in large quantity. There is one on the s of the bureau of en- graving and printing. There have been souvenir scllers from time to time on the steps cf the treasury building, and there are souvenirs to be purchased now in the lobby at the building. main entrance to the tre: You can buy books and ima 3 In the National Museum souvenirs are sold. has been kept free from the souvenir seller, but the Capitol has not escaped. Much-of the glory of the small dealer has fled since the day of Speaker Reed, but there is still left a sou- venir dealer in the dome. Before Mr. Reed's time the Capitol simply swarmed with men and women who held special privileges for selling things. There a man at the door of the House who made a business of writing cards for these who wished to send in for a member but who had no pasteboard proxy to announce them. He charged a very modest fee to prospective office holders and other visitors who wanted to see “our Congressman.” Beyond this stand there was a long cigar 8 which did a heavy trade. 1 there was an old woman who had a little asket of apples by which she crouched all day. And t was a stand where copies the Congressional Record and of the] daily papers were on sale. All of these were at the very door of the hail of the House. In the corridors of the Capitol there were numberless others. Just off the main ro- tunda was “Aunt Clara,’” a queer old French woman, with her stand for the sale of notions and souvenirs of all kinds, Then in dark corners there were apple women and women who sold milk and cheap cakes. These were much patronized by the em- ployes of the House who were in search of a cheap luncheon, and they were not neg- lected entirely by the members of the House. Cleared Out by Mr. Reed. Many a man whose name is seen in the dispatches from Washington almost every day during the session of Congress made his luncheen of a glass of milk and a slice of pie bought at one of these little coun- ters. All of this huckstering was on the House side of the Capitol. Originally there the Senate side, and at one time there was even a “hole in the wall” where Senato} could buy their whisky. “Aunt Clar: originally held a privilege on the Senate side, obtained for her by Senator Sumner, who had known her when she was young and handsome and rich. But the Senate transferred “Aunt Clara” to the House wing and cleared its corridors of all the traflickers in souvenir When Mr. Reed became Speaker he made an order removing all of the traders. This created a great disturbance at the time, for the people who held the privileges had an idea that they had vested rights in them and they were not inclined to recog- nize the authority of the Speaker. Pro- tests were unavailing, however, and the corridors were cleared. Then as a con- venience to the employes of the House and to the members who did not care to spend much for their luncheon an order was is- sued by the Speaker requiring the restau- rant keeper on the House side to establish a pie counter where milk and other materials for a hasty and cheap luncheon could be had. But Mr. Reed's authority stopped at the basement of the House wing. He could not reach the woman who held the privilege in the dome, ard so the trade in souvenirs at that remote elevation still con- tinues. The Pulp of Paper Money. There is only one place where the govern- ment derives any profit from the sale of souvenirs. The bureau of engraving and printing sells each year many pounds of dried pulp to dealers to be turned into souvenirs. This pulp comes from mace- rated money. In the basement of the treas- ury building is a macerator, which turns into pulp all of the old notes sent in for redemption and ordered destroyed. To this macerator also are sent the scraps of paper which are shaved from the ends of notes when they go through the cutting machines, for it is a crime to have in your possessicn even a strip of the government's distinctive paper. The pulp which comes from the muacerator would be quite value- less for any other purpose, but it has a certain value as a material fer souvenirs. Half a dozen men buy this pulp, paying from one to twe cents a pound for it. They soften it with water, put it in a mold and press it into something which is supposed to look like the Washington monument or a head of George Washington, or some- thing that is equally interesting. One man bought last year 75,250 pounds of pulp, for which he paid $852, but this was not used in making souvenirs. There is a demand for this pulp from paper mukers, too, and last year the treasury sold 178,259 pounds and received for it $1,966.71. This gives no notion of the extent of the trade in these souvenirs. They are the most popular of the articles sold by the dealers and there is a particularly heavy sale for them on the steps of the bureau of engraving and prining. On each of the molds of pulp is pasted a bit of paper, stating that it is “estimated” that there are so many thousands of dollars’ worth of greenbacks represented in the mass. From the Cradle to the Grave. Of course any such estimate is valueless, for no one knows the denominations of the notes which are in a mass of pulp. The principal ingredients might be one-dollar bills or ten-thousand-dollar gold certificates. The macerator mzkes no distinction. There is a certain satisfaction to the rural visitor, though, in taking home with him what may have had a current value at one time of thousands or even millions of dollars, and the temptation to buy these souvenirs is especially strong just after a visit to the bureau, where millions are handled within sight and almost within touch of the visitor. The visitor cannot take away a sample note because the money must be issued at the treasury. There it receives the seal of the Treasury Department and there it is stored away for six months to “season.” But he can follow the note “from the cradle to the grave” by going to the Treasury Department for a note which hes never been in circulation and then buying oue of the pulp souvenirs. By the way, the governinent redeemed last year $880,851,730 worth of paper money, including national bank nctes. The na- tional bank notes are destroyed absolutely in a cutting machine. Put the total reve- nie received from the pulp representing these millions was less than $2,000, or FOR NERVOUS PROSTRATION, Hysteria, Brain Fag, Hypochondria, Nervous Dyspepsia, Melan- cholia, Locomotor Ataxia, Insomnia, Epilepsy and general systemic Weakness, TAKE CEREBRINE, FOR Functional and Organic Affections of the Spinal Cord, TAKE MEDULLINE. In Depression of Spirits and Melancholia, due to & weak state of the Generative System, Impo- tence, Atrophy of the Organs, Spermatorrhoea, &c., USE TESTINE, FOR Functional Weakness of the Heart, re sulting from general or local Nervous Debility; im Organic Disease, when the action of the Heart requires to be strengthened or rendered regulars Dropsy, Bright's Disease and Anaemia, TAKE CARDINE. In the latter condition Cardine acts with great certainty in increasing the quality of the red blood corpuscles. FOR Myxoedema, Goitre, Eczema and Obesity, TAKE THYROIDINE. Women FOR Congestion of the Ovaries, Chronic Inflam- mation of the Ovaries, imperfect development of the Ovaries, Nenralgia of the Ovaries, Amenorm hoca, Chlorosis, Hysteria, Neurasthenia and dur ing the Climactrie or change of life, TAKER OVARINE. Above are the indications for the use of THE . Animal Extracts, Prepared according to the formula of Dr. Wm. A. Hammond, In his laboratory at Washington, D. CG. The uniform dose of any of the Extracts is 5 drops (minims) two or three times daily. te immediate physiological effects produced are acceleration of the pulse with a feeling of fullness and distention in the head, exhilaration of spirits, increased urinary excretion, augmentation of the force of the Madder and peristaltic ac- intestines, inerease in muscu nee, increased power of vision im elderly people, and increased appetite ard digestive power. expulsive tion of th and endu PRICE (2 DR.) NOW ONE DOLLAR. FOR SALE BY ALL DRUGGISTS. THE COLUMBIA CHEMICAL €0., WASHINGTON, D. C. Send for book. al5-stt - —= hardly more than the cost of destroying them. The Department Restaurants. As I said, the sale of this pulp to souve- nir makers is the only source of revenue which the government has from the huck- stering which is carried on in the public departments. Even the restaurant keepers who occupy space in the government's buildings pay no rental, and in the case of the restaurants at the Capitol, the govern- ment furnishes mest of the material with which the institution is operated excapt the food. Furniture, ranges, fuel, are all supplied by the government. This matter is to be made the subject of inquiry by the Senate if Mr. Allea gets his resolution through that body The Senate restaurant is under the con- trol of the committee on rules, and the theory on which it is run is that when the guvernment supplies so much for nothing the prices charged for focd will be propor- tionately low. This is a food theory, but Mr. Allen thinks that it does not hold in practice, and he propos23 to learn whi There are restai rants in all of the depart- ments and in the National Museum, whose owners pay no rent to the gcvernment. These are established for the convenience of the employes of the government in the belief that if opportunity is offered to the clerks to purchaseea luncheon within the department buiidings they will be less likely to go outside und waste the govern- ment’s time. All of these restaurants are run on a cheap plan. They furnish the 10 and 15- cent luncheons which can be had at any one of a dozen places outside each of the department buildings. Their prices and the quality of their food are under super- vision, and they are likely to lose the pri ileges of catering at any time when th fail to give satisfactory service for a rea- sonable price. These restaurants are for the tse of the government employ: clusively. The restaurants at the Capitol, however, are for the use of the public; and while the prices paid by visitors are no higher than these paid by Senators, the Senator gets a larger portion for his money. Mount Vernon Souvenirs. One of the liveliest places for souvenirs in the neighborhood of Washington is Mount Verncn. Of course, ther2 are relics to be had at Arlington and at almost every other point of interest. It is just as well, perhaps, that there are things to be bought in these show places, for if there was not the visitors might take it on themselves to make relics, as they did in the case of the Washington monument, which has been chipped and hacked in a most un- comfortable way. : But the craze for souvenirs seems to find its greatest exemplification at the home of the father of his country. All the way down to Mount Vernon you have the souve- nir thrust on you. There are photographs and books to be bought, and there are plants to be had, and the ancient colored man who loiters about the tomb will sell you little baskets cut from peach pits. The crowning souvenir event is the taking of a photograph of the visitors in a group to sell to those of them who wish to buy. These souvenirs are all a source of reve- nue to the Regents’ Association, and they help to keep the house and grounds in or- der. The most popular souvenir of Mount’ Vernon, however, is not a source of reve- nue. The visitors who pick up gravel in front of George Washington's tomb to car- ry away with them are so many that the path in front of the tomb has to be re- newed at short intervals. GEORGE GRANTHAM BAIN, cacao eee THE STOUT LADY'S GAIT. A Young Woman Says Her Obese Sis- ters Move Lightly. “Did you ever notice,” sald a young woman of observation, “that no matter how heavy any of my obese sisters may grow to be they can always move lightly? The airiest dancer that I ever knew was a woman who weighed over 200 pounds, and the boys used to tell me that it was positively a comfort to waltz with her, for she seem2d to float about like a balloon. Of course, there are plenty of stout women who come down like a falling keg every time they stir a step, but that is because they hold their shoulders bowed back and their stomachs bowed out until they look in profile like a bow window. They have thrown themselves off their center of grav- ity and prance about with all the grace of a walking beam. “But the stout woman who knows how to hold herself, how to poise herself, I should rather say, can move as lightly as @ sylph, as everybody can testify who keeps his eyes and ears open. I repeat, too, that she can move much more lightly than a man of corresponding bulk can. I don’t know why it is, but it’s certainty so. I suppose that if a close series of experi- ments were made, something in the nature of comparative measurements, it would be found that in the woman's case there is a more equal distribution of avoirdupois than in the man’s case. I offer the suggestion to Dr. Sargent as opening up a new field of interesting inquiry —_—__+e+— “How's the Wenther.” From the Revell Nationnl. Gecrge Laboule possesses an energetic and obliging valet. Yesterday morning while he was opening the shutters of the bed room window his master inquired: “How's the weathe! “Ah, sir,” replied t with a baffied air; “I am very sorry, not see for the fog.” sagacious flunkey, I can-