Evening Star Newspaper, March 16, 1895, Page 14

14 \ THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, MARCH 16, .895-TWENTY-FOUR PAGES, PARIS MUSIC HALL They Have Practically Crowded the Theaters to the Wall. WHY POPULAR WITH THE MASSES Some of the Stage Types’ That Catch the Public Taste. EAT, DRIN K AND LISTEN Spectal Correspondence of The Evening Star. PARIS, February 25, 1595. AF E-CHANTANT, el] cafe-concert, spec- S. tacle-varie, variety entertainment, music hall, it is the same. ‘The harmony of these entertainments with the present disposi- tion of the world can- not be doubted. In London the ‘alls are all in all; and the pictorial press shows little more than a succession of Dollies, Cissies, Nellies and edu- cated cats. “A Chat With the Serpentine Dog Dancer,” “Tootsie Fleym Talks of “Are Yvette Guilbert’s Songs Totties, In America at least cne family magazine has shown interest in this new form of art, which is to the legitimate theater what Aubrey Beardsley’s drawings are to the work of’ the serious painter, and what Yel- low Asters and Green Carnations are to literature; and the serious weeklies are not lacking in the photographs of stars of song and dance, which not so long ago were only to be found in illustrated week- lies printed on pink paper. There is a movement all along the line. What shall we think of it? In Paris the crisis is the most acute. For a long time there has been a struggle between the theater and the cafe-concert. For a long time the public hesitated be- tween these two manifestations of national genius. But the victory is pronounced; today the theater is begging quarter, and the cafe-concert reigns the full mistress of the masses. There are two opinions of this change, which is of more importance to the world than many an international treaty or scientific discovery. On the one hand it is said that-the Managers of the Paris theaters have brought their trouble on themselves. They have shown disregard for the public con- verience and safety. Their prices are ex- orbitant and their methods of ticket selling are tricky. Their auditoriums are dirty and badly ventilated, the seats are crowd- ed too closely together, the waits between the acts are out of all proportion to hu- ren patience, no money is spent on scenery, old pieces are continually re- mounted, and the forced tipping of the box openers, together with the crying of oranges, candies and evening papers during the entr’actes disgust the public. All is different in the gusic halls, they say. The people flock to them because they find them bright, clean and gay. There are large and handsome promenades, where you may move about and study human nature in its various grades and qualities. In a music hall you may smoke, drink, spit, scratch, chat, flirt. If one number of the program fails to please, another may be better. The music hall is cheap, free, gay, convivial. You may enter a music hall at 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock, it makes no diifer- ence, you have not lost an act, as-in a theater. You do not need to dress. And, above all, the entertainment is light, varied, quick in movement, tuneful, induc- ing pleasing reverie. On the other hand, the Paris critics say “evanuerunt in cogitationibus suis,” the people have become vain in their imagina- tions and their foolish heart is darkened. A theatrical piece, so simple, so infantile that you could imagine nothing more easy to understand, requires, nevertheless, on the part of the spectator an amount of at- tention and memory above the capacity of the Paris public of 1895. Any true theatri- cal piece, no matter how informal, has, nevertheless, in it something resembling an exposition or plot, and something also hint- ing of a denouement. But in order to look forward to this denouement, and even half understand it, the spectator must remem- ber the incidents from the beginning. It is something even to remember the names of the personages. Why did the heroine de- stroy the letter? Why did the jealous hus- band put new paint on the garden bench? Why has the villain changed his name and clothes? It is too hard to remember; and then the waits between the acts are long, which helps them to forget. The variety entertainment of the music halls, on the contrary, offers to the public something ab- solutely in conformity with its tastes, its intelligence and its artistic aspirations, There is no effort to make, there are no names to remember, no incidents to forget, no exposition, no dénouement. For three hours there come and go, upon a stage with one set scene, men, women, boys, girls, goats, rabbits, pigs, female impersonators, monkeys and what rot. The public melts in aMmiration, it understands everything. To begin at the beginning. In Paris a music hall or cafe-concert has come to be a sort of theater, where you smoke cigar- ettes and eat brandied cherries while listen- ing to pretty ladies who sing ugly songs. To judge by the names which these estab- lishments bear they must he places of de- light. There is the Eden, the Alhambra, the Paradise of Mahomet, the Olympia, the Elysee, the Alcazar and the Waihalla. In- deed, history seems almost to justify such titles. The ancient Greeks and Romans had singing girls and singing men to as- sist them in digesting their coffee after dinner. The establishments are well named; and the names, taken as a whole, indicate with clearness the varied character of their delights. The Folies-Bergere refers to the follies of shepherdesses, the Casino de Paris indicates its club-like character, the Scala shows the high class of its music and the Cloerie des Lilas means the Lilac Garden. The proprietors of these establishments must be men of courage, to spend money lavishly on decoratiot they must have proper ideas of singing, animal training, gymnastics, prestidigitation—and liquor sell- ing. In thia latter it is important to sell the smallest quantity of the most inferior drink at the highest price. Among the singers and reciters on the stage the males ure sandwiched regularly with the females. Therp are some twenty types of each, which s@dom vary. W yle of singing man or woman case of Kam-Hill and . all Paris is stirred to its Kam-Hill, now defunct as a star, an‘la chanteur monidain. He wore black satin knee breeches, black silk stockings, a low-cut white vest and a scarlet evening dress coat. He affected the manners of a heavy swell, mouthing his words with distinct- ness and deliberation. ‘“Helas! que c'est depths. was called a “select si done em—betant, Quand on tombe dans la M—elasse!” &c., which is equivalent to “Whoop! it is rough, it is t—ough, when hing one falls into the s—oup!” He sang of the joys and sorrows of club life and of high society. The great public took him for something real. It was whispered that he was a man of the world who had sud- denly lost his fortune through a defalca- tion and was thus reduced to singing for a diving. The people found his manners charming, and young men began to imitate his oddities of accent. The real “great world” caught interest, through curiosity. In upper circles he was retained for a time as a strange pet, so exaggerated, so pretentious. At last Jules Lemaitre, ‘the critic, wrote one line in the Journal des Debats: “Kam-Hill is simply insupport- able.” And the bubble was pricked. Even as to the real star, Yvette Guilbert her- self, she has been told a hundred times in print, and knows it well herself, that she may never hope to be an actress. To be an actress requires years of schooling. An actress must be capable of doing many things, A variety entertainment star need only do one thing. And all the artistes of these entertain- ments are not stars. When I look back on it, on my experience of the Paris cafe-con- cert stage, I wonder how I could have sat through ail those thousand and one dreary nights! The “types” come on, go off. The men. There Is first the comic drunk- ard, always fat, red, with a yellow wig and a story about’ his mother-in-law. There is the comic peasant “tout dret d’nout’ village, don don don, pour youere la cap!- tale.” Of course he has a basket of eggs and a green umbrella, striped pants, ~fur hat, fancy vest and a buff coat. So long as his umbrella is green it makes no differ- ence what he sings. It is oftenest a ram- bling tale of his misfortunes in the capital, where he mistakes a chalet of public con- venience for a theater box office, and is astonished at the cheapness of the seats. “I could not see, but I could hear.” Then there is the “impas- sable,” a severe and cynical poet, in eye-P 9 .\" glasses and black \* evening clothes, re- citing the stupidities of humanity and the general decadence of all things. He is a pessimist, who has for his contract the “agitated comic.” This youth is tay, pan, pan, pan! Zun, \ zun,zun! Boum,boum, _ \ boum. That is the NN chorus. Cannot you hear the words of his song? Neither can any one else. The or- chestra is braying, the cymbals are crash- ing, the big drum is booming. The agitat- ed one (smooth face, hair combed like a cafe waiter, natty cutaway coat, with velvet collar and wrist tips, low-cut vest, pink shirt) is hopping from one side of the stage to another, his high hat on the end of his cane. With the comic soldier of the Paris cafes- concerts we are even farther yet away. ‘To all Frenchmen the thing is real. Almost every citizen of the republic has served or will have to serve his military term in ac- tual garrison. All the humors and pathos of the life is understood. Every one knows the slang. Just now the music halls are making great capital of two comparatively raw conscripts, each a man of note and each bound to the dirty service and stiff discipline of the barracks as though he were a common country clod. Oh, let us pass the vibrating tenor, squirming of purple lips and milk and roses, and the storming patriotic baritone (“But do not touch la Frrrance..ce!”), the “original-eccentric-comic-danseur,”the male soprano, the infant phenomenon, the hu- man nightingale and his brother, the pe- tomane, whose specialty you would not be- lieve possible though I shouid tell it to you. There are only the “realists” who remain, a somber, genre, criminal, tough or merely wretched, with Aristide Bruant for their great exemplar. Gay, sad, lugubrious, joy- ous, lamentable, joking or merely snivel- ing, their day is already past. On the side of the ladies it is more agree- able. Beside the grand star, Yyette Guil- bert, and all the little stars who imitate her modest skirts, immodest songs and long black gloves there are a dozen agree- able types. Two are fat. The “fine dis- euse,” or dainty reciter, has grown fat with dignity, and instead of ballooning arotind the stage stands still and speaks her songs often with all the sweetness of voice and prettiness of diction for which Sarah Bernhardt is famed. It is a sing- song which would seem outrageously af- fected In English. There is none of this about the other fat one. “ grocer, oh, hay! oh, hay dresses like a fat woman of the dime museum style, making the most of her luxurious- ness, with a great laughing face above a low-cut bodice, flaming red. There was once another style of fat dame, whose opu- lence was chastely veiled in’ white; the patriotic singer, bearing the flag of the re- public. But she has not been seen for some time, now. The “gommeus are famillar Valti was such. An outrageously big hat, magnificent coiffure, ® collar of pearls, a waist - band, tights and strings of jet or ribbons instead of skirts, eyeglasses mounted on a golden stick, an iyory wand tippdd with flowers and ribtons. She \\ has great eyes, a \ flower of a face, a \\\ cherry of a mouth \ 4 and a figure “faite au moule.” It matters little what she sings. It is her business to exploit her beauty and be appetizing in the French sense. Not so the transformation artiste, who is in succession Spanish, English, Ty- rolean and Russian. She must have a song in each language, although the Austrian “yodeling” is preferably done in French because of a national pique. “‘Alza, ole, aoh yes, tra la lay-ee-tou! and Boje tsara Kranki' * ” And the “Oriental” maiden with the danse du ventre between the stan- zas, the odalisque, the pearl of the seraglio, she must also sing a foreign language, “Gnan, gnan, gnan, Sultan, Gnan, gnan, gnan, Turban, Gnan, gnan, gnan, Oh, maman! * * ” None work so hard as the “epileptic sing- er” who kicks, jumps, squirms and bends, and withal must be pretty as well as tire- less. ‘The best of this genre is surely Vio- letta, lately of the Trianon, and who has been heard in America. In her early youth she was a circus performer, and today her legs are as strong as the tail of a kanga- roo. No pose is too difficult for her, no leap too sudden. It would be impossible to catalogue the pretty girls of the Paris music halls. They are all chic, painstaking, graceful, spirited, and each has been taught her songs, one by one, by competent masters. Each night each gesture is the same. There Is none of the painful folly, loose movements and unadulterated silliness familiar to the American stage. We have the prettie: women in the world, yet who can name an artiste among them outside of European- trained grand opera singers? In Paris ‘he traditional gestures are so binding that there is sometimes complaint of monotony. But, as even in a cafe-concert there may not be alw singers and singers only, even in duets, the management presents from time to time jugglers and ventrilo- quists, little girls who play the French horn. ‘There are equilibrists, dressed like Venetian nobles and straddling between two chair backs, entire families of acrobats who stand on each other's heads and blink their brilliant eyes; there are bicyclists and monocyciists, riding up steps and down steps; American marksmen shooting eggs from their wives’ heads; English clowns, who speak French and French clowns who speak English, and monkeys who ride on borseback, dogs that turn handsprings, parrots who turn somersaults and ponies who sing “Home, Sweet Home.” In this line America furnishes, together with Eng- land, the greatest proportion of clowns and knock-abouts, and Italy, England and Amer- ica the greatest proportion of acrobats. What could you want more? You sit at ease and take it in. You smoke and absorb drink. In the stage boxes it is champagne and orangeade or special “fine champagne” cognac, depending on the sex and age; in the orchestra chairs the au- dience seems to prefer brandied cherries, or it is kirsch or kummel; in the parquét it is the bock which is the favorite, a glass of common French beer; in the stalles they seem to prefer hot milk or grenadines; the habitues of the couloir prefer absinthe; while scattering favorites everywhere are grogks Americains. But the humbler: peo- ple in the gallery prefer cassis a l'eau, glasses of red wine or cups of coffee. STERLING HEILIG. —_— A JAPANESE SPEECH. How the Little Man Struggles With Anglo-Saxon. Julian Ralph in Previdence Journal. The Japanese are very interesting. We have them at all the dinners and ciub lee- tures nowadays. The best kind can be got at Yale or Harvard. It is not that they like to talk more than other Japanese, but they know better how to talk, and so you get more af them. Have you heard a Japanese gentleman speak since the war in the east got going well? If the printer will be very careful how he sets it up I will report some actual sentences from the speeches these gentlemen make to us wher- ever we go. “I will tella you what Zapan willer de- mand. Se will demand independence af-er Colea. Se will demand cession of Port Arzur, order to have position bose side Colea and plevent interferlence flom China and Lussia. Se will demand Formosa. Zat compretes ze wrong chain of island wheech forms empire Zapan. Se will demand open- ing of more seaports in China. Zese de- mands, I do not zink, weel be found faurt with by anybody. It is a bitter thing for China. Se must abandon her allogance and be leasonabie. If se is not yet leady, Zapan is plepared to stlike a harder broe (blow). “Ze Jar of Lussia wish to leach Passtific ocean wiz his lailload. Ze jar would’er rike to build railroad in Colea or down Manchuria. It is rucky thing for ze worl’ zat Lussia’s lailload is not yet leady. It is rucky thing Zapan Is all leady on ground and can plevent ze gleed of ze Jar of Lus- sia. I do not sink Lussia will want to fight. If Lussia want to fight, Zapan is not afiaid. Peeper talk about Eulopean combination, If Eulopeans can’t combine in Eulope, don’t sink zey will combine in Passific ocean. . “Engrish say ‘highest benetits of siver- ization forrov in ze load of Blitish com- merce.’ Zapan have suffersd forty years from zis Blitish plinciple. Now Zapan is tired. Se will demand Port Arzur to keep back Lussia, Se will demand Formosa to keep back Gleat Blitain. Zen se will stand bittween upper and nether mill stone and zey will not glind or make more glist. Za- pan has no ambition to be considered war- like. Se wants peace. Se wants now to bickome a learned peeper and to cultivate arts and tlade. It is rucky se holds bal- ance of power in Passific ocean. Zat is to be seat of gleatest tlade. Once it was Meatiterlanean. Zen it was Atrantic. Now it sall be Passific ocean, and Zapan will be on one side wiz Unite’ States on other side. Togethel we sall dominate ze east and bickome velly gleat. Zat is all Zapan de- mands, and no one can object.” ———+e+ LAST RAID OF THE WAR. Rebellion Within the Lines of Unton Regiment Against Paper Collurs. From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Col. J. C. Rathbone of Kansas in the late war was in command of the old West Vir- ginia eleventh Union volunteers, which was kept on duty continuously. in tho mountain country comprehended by Roane, Wirt, Jackson and Ritchie counties, in that state, and it was a hazardous, bush- whacking sort of warfare, that gave none a chance to make a record, but it was war just the same, and much more risky than fighting out in the open. 2 We hunted rebels just as we did rabbits and squirrels, and they hunted us the same way. It was a war of assassination and rapine. Sometimes I had 2,000 men under my command, and again they would draw men away from me to adjacent commands till I would have only 500. ‘One of my companies I iost permanently. It was a fine, rugged body of men, eighty odd strong, every man a marksman, and most of them “sang” men and deer hunt- ers. They got farther and farther away, until they got brigaded finally with a lot of Jerseymen and New Yorkers in Sher- man’s army. They were in the Atlanta campaign and in the march to the sea, and they saw Joe Johnson hand over his sword. When the grand review came off at Washington in 1805 they were there. The order went out the night before that every man in the great army should be supplied with a paper collar and a pair of white cotton gloves for this last and grandest dress parade of the war. There were only twenty-two of the eighty odd left—the others had fallen in’action. They were commanded by their surviving second lieutenant. The order for collars and gloves went against the grain. It was said that the Heutenant was the only man in the outfit that had ever worn a biled shirt. Linsey-woolsey store flannels and corduroy had been their accustomed body- wear. They rebelled to a man against the paper collars and the woman’s glove finery, and the same night—about the blackest time before the day—the little band broke camp and struck out toward Rockville on the way across country to their mountain homes in Clay, Roane and Kanawha coun- ties. ‘The war was over, anyhow, they argued, and why should they stay in camp and let a lot of fool generals make them ridiculous by making them march with paper collars on? They foraged as they went, and for the last time raided the poor country that had been so often ravaged by the men of Lee and Jackson, McClellan and Meade, and Hooker and Burnside. This was as heroic a progress as the famed retreat of the 10,000 in history, and the little band got home safe and sound and in time to plant corn. When the Blair disability pen- sion law was passed some of these old veterans tried to get pensions, and then they found out to their astonishment that they had been branded by a little Jersey brigadier as deserters. When Gen. Nathan Goff was in Congress he tried to pass a bill setting the men right. I never heard how it turned out. I have been away from that country now, located in Kansas with my three sons, some eight years. A Strange Duel. From the Amusing Journal. An extraordinary duel has taken place in Brussels between two young men. They were enamored of the same young lady, who, after considerable hesitation, made her choice. The unsuccessful suitor chal- lenged his rival to a duel and proposed that each should be armed with a piece of rope, and that they should thrash each other as long as they could hold out. The challenge was accepted. The ‘ight, how- | ever, had not been long in progress when he police came up and stopped it. Both ‘duelists” were covered with blood. The challenger had the worst of the encounter, his face being a mass of bruises. Paradoxie: From the Argonaut. The response of a certain Frenchman to a handsome woman who complained that she had discovered three gray hairs in her head was paradoxical, but pretty. ‘““Mad- am,” he said, “so long as they can be counted they don’t count!” IS AZGEANT RAM The New Ship:Katahdin a Novelty F # in the Navy. WILL SHORTLY MAKE HER TRIAL TRIP The Sole Weapon of Offense is fe “the Ram. SWIMS LIKE A TURTLE Written for The Evening Star. WARSHIP OF AN entirely new pattern ‘will soon be added to Uncle Sam's navy. She is named the Katahdin, and her trial trip will be “ made within a few weeks. In many re- spects she is remark- able; but chiefly be- cause. she depends for offensive action entirely upon her ram. She carries no guns worth mentioning, her armament con- sisting of. only four little rap{d-fire can- non mounted on deck—mere pea-shooters— the purpose of whith is to keep off torpedo boats. The véssel is much like a fish, with a convex back of steel. She swims so low in the water that the edges of the curved deck are benéath the surface, and when engaged in’ baftie “she can sink lower yet by_swallowing. 100 ton3 of water. The effectiveness of this ship in a naval engagement will depend wholly upon the judgment of ong man. She is:nothing more nor less than”a gigantic automobile pro- jectile. When, she takes the offensive, there will be nothing for anybody to do save the commanding officer. He will stand in the conning tower, which is a cylindrical box of st¢el, sixteen inches thick, and will rush.upon the enemy, con- trolling the movements of the vessel by electric signals to the engine room. All hands will take shelter and await the re- sult of the action, in which they can have no personal part or influence. The four but less fast thah the average armored cruiser. . Laird Clowes pas taken the trouble to gather together all available data con- cerning actual cases of ramming. The cases thus assembled number seventy-four, having occurred at various dates between 1861 and 1879. They involve the destruc: tion of ffteen ships, but the conclusion in- dicated seems to be that the danger to the rammer was quite equal to that of the rammed. During our own civil war the Albemarle, an improvised confederate ram, with two guns, was attacked by eight Union vessels, which had particular orders to ram her. One of her guns was dis- abled early in the encounter, and she fcught the whole action with the other gun. Though repeatedly rammed by the eight vessels, she won a decisive victory without losing a man. On the other side “many were killed, wounded and scalded. What the Record Shows. It must be recognized that these cases were of wooden ships, and the problem as applied to modern steel vessels of war is considerably different. In accident the ram has proved itself only too effective, as wit- ness the destruction of the Vanguard by the Iron Duke, the Grosser Kurfurst by the Koenig Wilhelm, the Victoria by the Cam- perdown, the Amazon by the Osprey, and the Devastation by the Ajax. At the bat- tle of Memphis, June 6, 1862, the confeder- ate vessels Beauregard and Price rammed cne another, and the latter had to be run ashore. At the battle of Mobile, August 5, 1864, the Lackawanna nearly sank her con- sort, -the Hartford, Farragut’s flagship. And soon afterward the Ossipee could not help ramming the Tennessee, after the latter had surrendered. A few years ago H. M. S. Bellerophon, by a mere touch of her ram, sank a steamer ‘off the east coast of the United States. Two years ago the United States cruiser San Francisco found a waterlogged hulk floating in the gulf stream. It was all that was left of a lumber-laden schooner called the Drisko, which had been for some time afloat, and a danger to navigation. The cargo had become so swelled and jammed that torpedoes failed to break up, the floating mass. So the captain of the ship backed off and then ran at full speed upon the hulk, cutting it fairly in two. The after part, which still held together, was shattered with a few shells. The experi- ment was probably not without danger to the warship. Not long after the Camper- down-Victoria disaster a British cruiser of 4,000 tons, named the Forth, was passing through the English channel on a foggy day when she struck an empty collier. It might have been supposed that she would cut through the collier as if it were a pat of butter. In fact, she did nothing of the kind, being so badly injured herself that she had to go into Plymouth for repairs. It should be said, however, that she had no ram, and did not hit the collier squarely. Conservative naval experts are inclined to place the ram third in rank of weapons available in battle at sea. Guns take the first place and torpedoes the second. The THE KATAHDIN. small guns’wiif bé-silent and trained fcre and aft, s©®&kssto afford no target. ‘The captain ts tis only fighter. His ves- sel is the ultimate development of the art of war bdy{ mackihe, in» which personal bravery and@ prowésé cut little or no figure. lt may easily be bmagined that the Katah- din while wmgaged-in attack would be the target fori!a storm of projectiles. But against these she fs well-nigh invulnerable, because thiy wouté glance off harmlessly from the vontexitaleck of steel. A shot might strike herJen a ricochet from the water at sach’an angle as to penetrate; ur a projectiks ‘redz from .a great distance might lait@upon ker steel back and pierce carough itpibut it t only by such a plung- ing shot'that the Katahdin could be wound- ed. Thus she could maneuver in the midst of a hostile Meetiwithout serious danger from the hexviest guns of her adversaries. Ain ‘Attheking Force. The .Katahdia is unique in our navy. She is an experiment. For the present no notion {s efitertained of building other vec- sels like her.” In the British navy there ts a ship of,gimilar typa called the Polyphe- mus. The Katahdin is. 259 feet long, has 2 displacement of 2,153 tons, and her best speed will be seventeen knots. ‘To ram her effectively would be very difficult, inas- much ag the submerged edge of her deck is like a knifeand fs strengthened with very thick armor, so that it would cut into an attacking craft. The picture here given 1s from the “Proceedings of the Society of Naval Architecture.” In order to con- ceive the power of the Katahdin’s ram,im- agine such a ship driven at speed against a floating antagonist. The force of the blow may be. figured out by. multiplying the mass into the. square of the velocit: Practice in ramming is obtained by Eu- ropean officers with twin-screw launches, which, with well-padded bows, rush at each other and fight as men do with soft gloves. Just now the efficacy of the ram in naval warfare is being very much discussed. It is certainly the most deadly of all weapons that can be used in a battle at sea, if the blow is fairly struck; for such a blow will send to the bottom or certainly disable the greatest ship of war. No armor can with- stand it. But,many authorities hold the opinion that the usefulness of the ram has been greatly overestimated.-If the contest between China and. Japan be left out of the question, there has been no important war since the introduction of modern. methods of building warships, and so students of the subject are obliged to rely upon theory in forming their conodusions. It may be imagined with what intense interest they are watching the fight that is going on in the east. » To begin with, to try to ram another vessel where there is plenty of sea room is almost hopeless, even supposing that the adversary is greatly inferior in point of speed. There is a familiar story of a fel- low who was explaining how he would ‘do up” an individual against whom he had a grudge. First, he-would punch him in the eye and then on the nose; next he would take his head under his arm, and, having thus got him into chancery, would punch the life out of him at leisure. In response to this description the question naturally wes: “What would the other man be doing all that time?” The same idea applies to ramming. . While the rammer is trying to ram the other vessel is-trying to get out of the way, and, perhaps, to ram the rammer. ‘To hit the moxing target is well-nigh Im- practicable. Some Perils of Ramming. Another , thing..to be. considered is that the rammer is exposed to the torpedoes of the ship upon which it is rushing. Those projectiles can be fired with a fair degree of accuracy at a distance of 600 yards, and the Nope St gneof them is most likely to send to the bottom a vessel of war that has cost 93{000,0009to build. Observe, for example, tHe Jof the Aquidaban, be- longing tothe’ Brazilian insurgents, which was sunk;pby a sifgle torpedo that tore a hole in her side big enough to drive a cart into. In touth, tarpedoes may be regarded as an entirely effidient protection against ramming. Furthetmore, the rammer is very apt te.be déngerously injured by the blow whiedx she lerself deals. While her steel beak,enters>the adversary below the armor belé;: her own bow is likely to be crushed im,,the steel deck of the foe cut- ting into it like askmife. Yet another point worth mentioning is that {t isamuch mere desirable to capture an enemyte shiprthan to destroy such a valuable piece.o® property. In a recent publication of the United States Naval In- stitute an,.English writer and authority, W. Laird Clowes, says: “One of the few things that would go toward reconciling Great Britain to the agonies of a naval war would be the occasional spectacle of a foreign battle ship brought into Spithead or Plymouth sound with the white ensign blowing out above the other flag. The sight would animate the whole empire. It is unwise to déstroy a foe when, peradven- ture, you can take him alive.” ‘A ‘conclusion, ,reached’is that it is rea- sonably. safe fo ram ah adversary only when she is disabled and has no torpedoes to fire. But under stich circumstances It is obviously better to cotmpel-her to sur- render by the combined influence of gun fire and thé terrible threat of the torpedo. It is urged that a fine ship of war is too valuable to be employed for ramming. A small vessel is as good as a big one for that purpose, and it has been suggested that perhaps it might be well to build a few small craft of no great cost for ram- ming. A prime quality in a vessel designed for ramming is speed, but the Katahdin can steam no faster than seventeen knots an hour. This fs faster than a battle ship, tcrpedo is more difficult to dodge than the rem, it Is nearly if not quite as destructive, and its use involves no risk to the user. It is interesting to consider the fact that ancient Roman ships, and at a later day, Venetian galleys, were construsted with rams. RENE BACHE. ———_-e2__ - THE ANXIOUS HOSTESS, The Socicty Young Man and His Love for Posing. From the Gentlewoman. Hostesses are beginning to complain with bitterness of the difficulty of finding men willing to dance. The complaint is, cf course, not a new one. For several sea- sons past men have shown an increasing disinclination to exert themselves in the giddy valse or in the rather grim quad- rile. The lancers have found them inert, and the polka has merely set them yawn- ing. Yet girls continue to “love the ball” as dearly as the young person in Mack- worth Pracd’s poem. What can be the reason? Probably the boredom of the men is to a considerable extent a mere affecta- tion. Young men are, as a rule, more self- conscious, more childishly affected, than young women. They are very nearly as vain, sometimes far more so, and a good deal more foolish. The consequence is that they are perpetually posing, and there are fashions in poses as there are fashions in everything else. At present it is the fash- ion to pose as a non-dancer. The whole thing is too much trouble for the gilded youth. He is worn to a thread with intel- iectual exertion. Dancing is a frivolity beneath his notice. He can gamble enthu- siastically enough. He can éat supper and swallow champagne until the marvel is that he stiil lives. He can get up early to go racing, and sit up late drinking in- numerable whiskies and sodas. He can run after popular actresses and ride in steeple- chases, but dancing is altogether beyond him—at present. But, depend upon it, the tide will turn and the fashion wili change. Dancing is not a pastime that will ever entirely die out. It has lasted too long in various forms, and the poses of siliy young men cannot kill it. They will never yawn it into the limbo of things forgotten, and, if they did, they would probably be the first to regret it. For bails have attractions for them, and they go to them, though often not to dance. They go to sup, and occa- sionally to flirt, for “sitting out” is a very popular pastime, and many people fill up their cards with the names of partners pledged to sit out with them and to do nothing else. In quiet nooks and corners of a pretty house you will always find young people ensconced, whether the band is playing a valse or whether it is not. ‘They are probably talking the merest non- sense, but what does that matter? They are enjoying themselves, and enjoyment is our main object in going to an enter- tainment. Only the cotillon lures them on to the parquet, for they are far too modern to wish to miss the chance of a pretty present. We are nothing nowadays if we are not greedy. We must have hot quails. We are no longer satisfied with a ribbon. or a cracker. We want feather fans and bracelets and diamond pins, and if we do not get them we grumble, and declare we “won't play any more.” Some day, per- haps, we shall return to simplicity. ‘Then the young men will dance every dance and the young maidens will appear in white muslins, with flowers in the hair. In the meantime the philosopher smiles and the anxious hostess is in despair. ——+e+-_____ Must Bow to Etiquette. From the Berliner Tageblatt. Mother—“Johnny, go down to the gro- cer’s and get a pound of black tea. ‘I haerd pa say he didn’t like Mother—“It makes no difference what johnny. This family is in mourning, now. Modified. From the Indianapolis Journal. Watts—“i id you try that hot-water cure for your cold?” Potts—“Yes. It is simply great, too. You see, I mixed it with a little whisky and lemon, and I never had anything slip down 80 easy.” Her Turn. From Life. 1 Miss Vivian (te editor who once declined one of her poems)—“Owing to an overstock of such articles already on hand, I am com- pelled to decline your offer, with thanks.” The Bleak and Cheerless Region Within the Antarctic Circle. INTENSE COLD AND GREAT ICEBERGS What is Known of This Little Ex- plored Section. THE PROPOSED EXPEDITION Written for The Evening Star. If Dr. Frederizk A. Cook, who proposes to start for the south pole in two small ling vessels, will take the trouble to read some accounts of the storms and diffi- culties which beset the navigators in that great southern ocean, he may change his plans, or at least modify them sufficiently to substitute a steamer, or one which can use steam when necessary. Curiously, while this generation has heard so much about arctic exploration that the north polar country is quite a familiar one to them, the antarctic regions are still as much an unknown part of the world as when referred to by the writers of the last century as a “Terra Australia Incognita.” The reports of terrific storms, enormous and dangerous icebergs, and im- penetrable. ice walls, given by the few who have ventured into the almost unknown regions of the far south, are appalling. An attempt to invade the South sea and the mysterious island at its center is now to be undertaken from the same point of land from which the very first exploring expedition moved southward, and by a mar with the same name as that of the one who first demonstrated that the southern ocean extended completely around the pole. The first expedition to the south polar regions was fitted out by the governor of Peru in 1567, who sent his nephew on a voyage of discovery from Cape Horn. The first man to discover that the Southern ocean was in fact the great body of wa- ter of the world, extending entirely around the south pole and having the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans as its arms, was Capt. Cook, who sailed from the Cape of Good Hope in 1773. The most successful explorer of this difficult region was Capt. Ross, who sailed from the southernmost point of Australia in 1810. ‘The Nenrest Point. So it will be seen that this mysterious and dangerous waste of waters has been invaded from the three points of land most nearly approaching It, the southern tips of Africa, Australia and South America. The southern point of South America extends nearest to the mysterious island, or conti- nent, which is supposed to occupy the cen- ter of this southern ocean. From Cape Horn, South America, to Graham’s Land, which is supposed to be on the mainland of the Antarctic ccntinent, the distance is but little over 600 miles due south. From the Cape of Good Hope, southern Africa, due south to Enderby’s Land, supposed to be on the Antarctic continent, the dis- tance is about 1,800 miles. From Australia (or Tasmania) due south to Adelie Land, also supposed to be a part of this ice-bound continent, is about 1,300 miles. The limits of the Antarctic continent, as this terra incognita is called, are supposed to be nearly toincident with the -Antarctic circle. At Graham's Land, just south of South America, it extends about two and one-half degre@s outside of the Antarctic circle. At Enderby’s Land, south of south- ern Africa, it is nearly on the circle. At Adelie Land, south of Australia, it extends outside of the circle a short distance. From what is known of its shores, however, they are extremely irregular. They are sur- rounded by lines of icebergs, which are very dangerous to vessels, though those who have invaded them successfully have found peaceful waters not burdened with ice within the circle which they draw around this land. Passing through these waters great bays or gulfs have been found whose shores are lined with a perpendicu- lar wall of ice hundreds of feet high and hundreds of miles long, absolutely prevent- ing access to the interior, which appears from the masthead to be a field of ice with- out vegetable or animal life save what may visit it by way of the sea or air. Various Voynges Made. As already indicated, the first attempt to explore this region was by Governor de Castro of Peru, in 1567, by sending his nephew, Alvaro Modana, to search for the “Terra Australis Incognita,” which was supposed to surround the south pole. An- other expedition was sent from Peru in 1606. The first discovery of the continent, however, was by Capt. Dirk Gerritz, who sailed from Rotterdam in a merchant ves- sel in 1599, and passing through the Straits of Magellan was carried by storms to about the point now known as Gra- ham’s Land, which is the nearest point to any of the other continents. ‘This discovery, however,was by accident, and it was not until 1773 that an organ- ized expedition set out, under that in- trepid English explorer, Capt. Cook, pass- ing from the Cape of Good Hope south- ward, crossing the Antarctic circle, and meeting with a fleet of icebergs, which sent him quickly in the direction of New Zealand. After resting there a time, he again turned southward, meeting another line of icebergs, which he described as looking like a range of high mountains. They so closely guarded the shore that he did not land. In 1820 the Russians sent an expedition, under Bellinghausen, which discovered nothing but a lot of icebergs and a couple of small islands. In 1830 an English firm sent vessels into the southern ocean to hunt for whales, and these, sighting land south of Africa, named it Enderby Land, after the owners of the vessels. The French government, in 1839, sent an expe- dition, under D'Urville, which discovered land south of Australia and called it Adelie A Wall of Ice. In 1839, however, the English govern- ment fitted out two old bomb ships, the Eretus and Terror, and sent them, under Capt. (Sir James) Ross, for a three years’ cruise. After wintering at Tasmania, off the Australian coast, they made a dash southward, crossing the Antarctic circle, passing through the chain of icebergs which surround the land, and passing into quiet waters sailed on southward, discov- ering land on’which was a range of moun- tains 10,000 feet high and two volcanoes, one in a state of eruption, which he nam- ed after his two vessels, the Erebus and Terror. The land, however, was faced with a perpendicular wall of ice from 150 to 200 feet high, without an opening or break, through which the ambitious ex- plorers could set foot on land. They sailed along this icy wall, mile after mile and day after day, until they had followed it no less than 450 miles, without finding a break which would permit them to land. This wall of ice seems to have been pro- duced by the freezing of the water and spray as the waves dashed against the coast and then against the wall itself, and was estimated by Capt. Ross to be 1,000 feet in thickness, and 200 feet high. Find- ing it impossible to land, Capt. Ross turn- ed northward, leaving the unknown land still almost as much of a mystery as though it had not been seen by him. From the mastheads, however, he looked over the icy wall, and saw that it was appar- ently a rocky, volcanic country, without the slightest appearance of vegetation of any kind, or signs of animal life, except that of penguins, which were very abund- ant. The land was most of it covered with ice, and in the deep valley were enormous rivers of ice slowly making their way to the ocean, Capt. Wilkes of the United States navy, who made an exploring expedition through many parts of the world from 1838 to 1842, also visited this same section and found this same impenetrable wall of ice. Since that time no efforts at exploration in that direction have been made, except a tour of an English vessel for scientific observa- tion and measurements, which was com- pelled to turn back on account of the ice- bergs, not even obtaining a sight of the antarctic continent. —— Could Buy the Be: From the Philadelphia Record. A Germantowa bride grew indignant when her grocer asked if she wanted any cracked wheat. She replied that she could buy the very best, ¥ Elec- Sa Steam-heate =o leept rs to Cincinnat! a Us _ St. Louls without % pining from Washington. Arrive Cincinnati, 8:00 a.m.; {udinnupolis, 11:40 a.m., and 5:30 p-m.j t. Louis, 11:10 PLM. DAILY. “FP. F. V. Lim- A solid vestibuled train, with dining est eae wl car and ‘Pullman Sleepers for Cincinnati, Lexington and Louisville, pathos. canes. Eetimen Sleaper inn ington to’ Virginia “Hot without change, Week days.” Observation cat froin Hinton, ‘Arrives 5.50 p.m.; Lexington, 6:00 p.m.; Louis nd is, 11:20 p.m; onis, 6:56 a.m.; connects ii ints. SUNDAY.—For Old Point Oniy rail line. ‘Express for Hie, 230" a, St. Union depot for all 10:57 A. KCI Comfort ‘and ‘Norfolk. 2:25 P.M. DA! Gordonsvil Charlottesville, Way1 , Staunton and princl- = Virginia points, dafly; for Richmond, daily, ex- ope Samay. Iman locations and tickets at company’s of- fices, 613 aud 1421 Pennsylvania c. - H. W. FULLER, mht General Passenger Agent. BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. Schecule in effect Jan. 6, 1805. Leave Washington from station ‘corner of New Jersey avenue and C street. For Chicago and Northwest, Vestibuled Limited trains 11:25 a.m., 8: For Cincinnati, 200 p.m. ‘St. Louis and Indianapolis, Vesti- buled Limited 3:30 p.m. Eapress 12:01 might. For Pittsburg and Cleveland, express daily 11:25 a.m. and 8:35 p.m, Lexington and Staunton, 11:25 a.m. For Winchester and way stations, 5:30 p.m. For Laray, Natural Bridge, Roaboke,- Kuorville, Chattanooga, Memphis, and’ New Orleans, 11:20 Pm. dally, sleeping cars through. 30 p.m. daily. Week days, x4:20, 5.00, 6:35, 00 45-minutes), $:38,' x9:30 (10:00 ++ 212.00, 12:05," 12:15, _x2:20 28, 4:31 (6:00 45-min- 235 -p. a @: 45-minutes), x9:30 a. xl A 12:05, 1:00, x2:20. (3:00. 49-minutes), 3:23, 4:31 oo tee 55:05, 6:30, x8:00, x0:00, 10:00, For ‘Annapous, 10 and 8:38 a.m., 12:15, 4:23 pm. Sundays, 8: m., pw. for Wrederick, b9:00, €11:25 un, b1:15, e4:30, For Hagerstown, 11:25 a.m., 05:30 and way points, 27:05 p.m. and way points, 6:00, 8:00 235, a7 05," bY:40, 4:33, 05:85, points, 9:00, ton Junction and way D116 p.m. Express, trains jons only, 4:30, c5:30 p.m. ROYAL BLUE LINE’ FOR W YORK AND {rains iuminated with Pintsch PHILADELPH| re Philadelphia, York, Boston and the Hawt, week days,” 00. a b Sunday only. ‘Datiy. trains. called for and checked from hotels and by Union Transfer Com on orders eft at ticket offices, G19 Pennsylvania avenue 0.¥., New York avenue and 15th street, and at depot. ©. SCULL, Gen. Baggage residences left at CHAS. 0. Pass. Agt. BR. B. CAMPBELL. Gen. Manager. PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. a effect 4500 pens, See) 0 aS. :00 p.m. 10:30AM. PENRSYLVANIA” LIMITED—Poll- man Sleeper, Dining, Smoking and Observation Hares to. Chicago, Cincinnati, Indian- ‘Lol, “Creveland’ and” Toleds. “Bale 10:30 AM. FAST LINE—Pullman Buffet Parlor Car to Harrisburg. Park $s ts Pitteberg. lor and Dining Cars, Har- 3:40 P.M. CHICAGO AND ST. LOUIS EXPRESS— seed P BE Pullman nd PAC Pi 230 A.M. for Kane, Cana Rochester and 1 A.M. for” Elmira and Renovo daily, ex- cept, Sunday. For Williamsport daily, 3:40 p.in. IO FAC for Williamsport, Rochester, Buffalo and Niagara Falls daily, except ; Sl Sleeping Car Washington ‘to Suspension Bi via 10:40 P.M. tor Rochester, and For Philadelphia, New ¥« gma ~ 4:00 See P.M. INGRESSIONAL LIMITED,” all lor Cars, with Di Car from Baltimore, for ew, Xork “dally, (for Pulindelphia week "days. Regular at 7:05" (Dining. Car), 7:20, 8:00 10g GaP, 9:00, 10:00 (Dining Car}, and’ 11 Car) a.m, 12: p.m. On’ Sunday, Ere Rog et delphia “onty Grae 200,10: og 1220, 8200, 9. a. 5, 2:01, 8: 40 (4: aa 205, 6:40, 7:10, 10:00, 10:40 and 11:35 acer Pope's Creek Line, 7:20 a.m. and 4:36 p.m. For Annapolis, 7:20, 9:00 and 22, 11,50, a.m. and a.m. and 4:20 i seis . “Florida Special” for Inck- sonvilie and St. Augustine, 40:48 poms week dass, Express for Richmond, Jacksonville and Tapa, 4:30 a. a Richmond and Atlanta, 8:40 only, 10:57 a.m. week modation for Quantico, 7:45 a.m. daily and 4:25 p.m. week days. if For Alexandria, 11:50 a.m. 8:02, 5 5, 10:10 and 11:39 at 4:30, 7:45, 9:45 a.m., 10:10 p.m. Teave Alexandria for W: 9:10, 10:15, 5:00, 5:30, 6:13, . at 6:43. 9:10, i 10 and 10:52 p.m, t corner of 13th street and Pennsylvania avenue, and at the station, 6th and B streets, where can be left for the check- baggage to destination from ing of hotels and lences.. S. M. PREVOST, J. R. Woop, = Manager. General Passenger Agent. SOUTHERN RAILWAY. (Piedmont Air Line. ° Schedule in effect Jaovary 1893. All trains airive and leave at Pennsylvania Passenger, Station. 8 AdM.—Dally—Local, for Danville, Connects at Manassas rasberg. 3 ‘Sunday, ana at Lynchburg with the Norfolk and Western 11:01 A.M.—Delly—The UNCTED STATES FAST AIL. carrica Pullman Batter Sleepers New Sok at M. and Washington to Jacksonville, Jotte with Pullman Pull ‘Memphis, Tenn., and Kansas City. 4:45 _P.M.—Dally for Coarlottesville and through train for Strat detly ct ee 10:05 P.M.—Dsils_NEW YORK AND FLORIDA SHORT . Sleepers New York and Ws to Augusta and St. Augustine and Pullm-a wing Room Con ‘Dra Car New Ycrk to St. Augustine, Dini: bury to St. Angustine, first-class Washington to St. Aucustine without change. 10:43 P.M.—Daily—WASHINGTON AND SOUTH- WESTERN VES CLED LIMITED, Pullman _Vestibuled VESTIBU Pullman Sleepers New Ye Ai Springs, N. C., via Salisbury, New York to M phis via Birmingham and New’ York to New Orleans via Atlanta and Montcomery. ing Ca: Greensboro’ to Montgomery. TRAINS ON WASHINGTO: partment inz Car Snlis- day coaches 42 AM.. 7:42 A.M, 2:25 P.M. and 8:30 P. ‘Manages Division. 10:28 A.M. daily, except av. and 10:23 A.M. daily from Charlottesville. ‘Tickets, Sleening Car reservation and information furnished at offices, 511 and 1200 Penneyivania ave- nee, and at Pennsylvania Railroad Sta- wv ‘H. GREGN. General Manager (Eastern ‘W._A. “TURK. General Passenger Agent. nid L. & BROWN, Gen. Agt. Pass. Dept. ~ DENTISTRY. _ Nothing Experimental About our method of painless treatment for afling teeth. It is entinely scientifi—per- fectly harmless and has proved eminently successful whenever used. The advice and attention of a skilled practician assured every patron, Extracting without pain, 60 cents. DR. GRAHAM, 307 7th st. DENTAL INFIRMARY, T0T 1 st. n.w. Open daily and 2 to 5 p.m. No charge exc used. Extracting free. There Is A Point On the cown grade of quality and price where cheapness to economy. Our claims of superiority rest on superlative service and mot om price—but the association system enables us to adopt fees which private practitioners cannot af- ferd for the best grade of work. Read our ad. on local page. pettmacting, 250.3 with Zon or gas, S0e.; aa: 1g, Te. : We. up; gold crowns, $7.50; best teeth, $8.00, U. S. Dental Association, Pia alec noi STEAM CARPET CLEANING AMMONIATED STEAM CLEANING Wor best mh11-144 | CARPET rks—Cacpets cleaned in the manner. Mattrorace, made to order. Office, 1720 Va. ave, Works, 1708 and 1710 E o.w. Tel: mr2-tf ‘M. NEWMYER, Manager, w