Evening Star Newspaper, March 30, 1895, Page 16

16 a LITERARY PLUCK The Novelist Zola and Interesting Features of His Career. HAS HAD T0 CONTEND WITH OPPOSITION But He Has Persisted and Wona Great Success. SUBJECT OF CARICATURE Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. PARIS, March 12, 1895. HE STORY OF THE I real life of Emile Zoia is often lost sight of in the notor- iety with which he manages to accom- pany the publication of every new work of his pen. He ts great on novels in series — all “docu- mented,” as he sags. His troubles with “Gourdes” are scarcely over, and he already has the reporters interviewing him g@bout “Kome,” which he js shutting him- self up in his country house at Medan to write after beating the drum about his Preparatory visit, In which he did not see the pope. After that, he is to write “Paris,” and then—weil, the crtics say he has plan- fed enough series of novels to keep him going to his hundredth year. It ts certain that he is a man of hard work. He was born In Parts of a French mother and Italfan father, on the 2d of April, 1540, so that he is now fifty-five years old. His father was a distinguisa= ‘1 engiveer, who bullt at Aix, in the south of France, what is still called “Z ‘3 canal.” He died there in 1847, and the young Emile pursued his studies at the College of Aix until his cighteenth year. Th he came back with his roether te Paris, where a friend had procured him a free scholar- ship in the Lyc Saint-Louis. It was of ittle use, for when he came to pass his examination for the bachelor's degree he failed—in literature. There is little to do Im France without some Kind of a university certificate, and Zola was now without 2 penny of his own. He toon a vlace at $12 a month in the custom house docks. The work was to’ hard for him. He rext had to walk the strects of Faria, seeking vainly for work and eating whet: and where he could. It was then he composed some of the most powerful of his short stories, but as yet he had no one to publish them for him. in '861, on the reconimendation of a Hachette in to tle up parcels at $20 a month. Soon it was discovered that he was capable. of betier things and he was changed to the advertising de- partmen:. Hencefor- ward ha was able to earn a ‘lecent liv- ing, and his even- ings were his own. But three years of grinding poverty have their echo in nearly all that he has written since. He was soon promoted to an influential post in the publishing house. This brought him in contact with many of the literary celebrities of the day. Among the rest was Taine, who, later on, could not toler- ate thy name of Zola, and whose influence still keeps the novelist from the French Academy. Zola, however, has always pro- fessed to be a true disciple of Taine’s phil- @sophy. Toward the end of 18K% he offered @ short story for a children’s magazine pablished by the house. It was called “Sister of the Poor.” Mr. Hachette re- turned it, with.the severe words: “You are a revolte.”” The next year he succeeded in getting his stories published in the city; but the volume had no sale. In 1865 he began writing for the newspapers, and attracted considerable attention by his savage criti- cisms of contemporary art under the title ot “My Hatreds.” His first novel also ap- peared, and brought him in a little money. He now resolved to take his chances with Iiterature, and threw up his position, with all its good prospects, in the house of Hache' tte. Zola had gauged sy his talent rightly, at least, so far as the commercial value of his criticisms was concerned. At the % g end of a month the = newspaper editor gr Who had taken him up paid him $100. He =i thought it was all a dream. The time of the salon came, and his first article made @ sensation. It was a vigorous attack on the jury which ranks the paintings. After : the tenth article the excitement was so great that the editor ordered him to cut the series short. He had declared Mault, the realist-impression- fst, ta be an artist of the first class. In 1866 this was rank heresy. He now began 2 novel, appearing day by day in the paper. It seemod to interest no- body and was stopped after the fiest part. Another had the same ill luck. A third— Therese Raquir-—published m_ 1987, ad better, for it brought him $120 and the fortune (in France) of being denounced as “putrid literature.” About the same time Zola had several failures in attempting to Zeoln’s Drean write for the stage. In 1865 novel was stopped in a n= ed protests of the subs. it fell fl anuther by the when et the h hi: Rouge chiefly connected, and w by Balaac’s series of La Com. . The first volume—The Fort the Rougons--was interrupted by the war of 1870. When it finally came ont the : year it made little noi n appeared In 1872, drew do ing from the p: the monstrous central market. was not kird to the delinquent cleray. even the fifth appeared b ‘won anything like fame or Then, suddenly, he succeeded in setting fire to the powder. When “L’Assommoir” began appearing there was a universal ex- Plosion. The paper in which it was be- un took alarm and declined to print it her. A review conducted by young Catulle Mondes concluded it, and when it game out in book form it ran up to its hundredth edition. It was the very real THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, MARCH 380, 1895-TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. photography of a drunken "Ss Ife in all its filth and crime, and yet pa- thetic humanity. Even the jargon.of.the pees workmen had been made a study In self. With this began the fame or notoriety, unbroken until now, of this most indus- trious author. His success is considered by many to be an instance of literary [Gade Mie FRANCOIS: cae Zola at the Door of the Academy. speculation {n human dirt. By others it is attributed to the conscientious labors of a scientific mind. It is probable, as in most extreme opinions, that the truth lies be- tween the two. At any rate, the long series now held its suecess up to the twen- tieth and closing volume—‘“Doctor Pascal” —of two and a half years ago. Of late years Zola has. persistently pre- sented himself for every election to the French Academy, and been as persistently refused. By the comparatively purer tone of his recent books it has been supposed that he was striving to acquire the dignity necessary for entrance among the forty “Zolw Wilt You Accept My Arm?” immortals. Caricature has- represented, lifted in an eestasy (in his shirt sleeves), while angels write his “Dream.” Caricature has not been kind to him. It has put him astride a pig for his Pegasus; it has made him a scavenger with his lan- tern; it has set him in every sorry plight before the academy. But no one has — at the grim perseverance of the In private life Zola is a simple bourgeois, happily married and never trying after fashionable society. He leaves all that, as he does his books, to Paul Bourget. But ke has known how to make money with his pen, and he knows also how to keep it. And the literary men are his friends. STERLING HEILIG. eo ISSUE OF COPYRIGHTS. iness in Them is Booming—Future of the Library ef Congress. In spite of the prclonged business de- pression, the copyright business {s steadily increasing,” said Mr. Spofford, the librarian of Congress, to a Star writer yesterday. “Its growth is not so much in Kterature proper, represented in bocks, as in the mul- tiplication of musical compositions and works ef illustrative art. The development in this Girection is due largely to the in- crease of the area of copyright by the law of 1891, which made proprietorship in such works irternational. Great numbers of ap- plications fox copyrights are now pouring in upon us from abroad. Many German mu- sical compositions are securing copyrights here as well as in Europe. “The revenue obtained from Uncle Sam's copyright business largely exceeds the ex- penses involved. Our receipts are rising rapidly, every dollar thus obtained being paid Into the treasury. During the last year we granted 62,000 copyrights, against 29,000 ten years ago. There is .n immense development of publishing activity. One observes that from year to year the num- ber of books issued on historical and bio- graphical subjects is steadily growing. There is almost no branch of literary ac- tivity thet is not exhibiting a progressive tendency. A heavy increase is noticed in works of fiction. On the other hand, the cheap paper libraries, so popular a few years ago, are dying out and have well nigh disappeared. Their place has been taken by better printed books at low prices. I femark also a very considerable growth of copyrighting for syndicate newspaper articles. “The Library of Congress, while very strong in some respects, and possessing the finest collection of Americana in the world, must acknowledge notable deficiencies. These are most obvious in books in foreign languages and in miror English literature— that fs to say, works by British writers of the third and fourth grades. A_ national library ought to be inclusive and not ex- clusive—in other words, it should not be merely an assemblage of standard authors. In general science and literature there are great gaps to be filleg. But it nay reason- ably be expected that Congress, when the heavy expenditures on the new library building- have ceased, will appropriate money with sufficient liberality to make the collection worthy in al respects of this great nation. “I do not mean that Congress will fur- nish big sums for the purpose, but that the [| regular appropriations will be considerably increased. At present we have only $11,500 per annum for the purchese of books. This is not nearly enough. The British Museum receives $70,000 a year from parliament, $59,000 of which is for tuying books. We shall Mmerease our library symmetrically and gradually. What is most needed is to acquire everything which this country has produced in the way of science and Iitera- ture. The pelicy of buying great collec- 3 in blocks is not a gcod one. ‘Only the cther day an offer was made to us of the library of Charles Louis Bona- parte—a superb collection made by tts orig- and very sum was é A bill has been before Congress providing for the purchase of the library of Hubert H. Ban- croft of San Francisco, containing some- what less than 100,000 volumes. The price demanded is $200,000. It is an accumula- tion of twenty-five years, made incidentally to the compilation of a menumental work on the Pacific coast and Spanish America. One objection to purchasing coilections is that many of the books thus obtained are dupficates.” She—“What does it mean when @ mart threatens to commit suicide because you re- fuse him?” The Widower—“Tt means that he prefers the refrigerator to the frying pan.’’"—Life, SKIES IN APRIL Positions of Stars of the First and Second Magnitude. THE BRILLIANT SIRIUS AND COMPANIONS Computations as to the Distances of Heavenly Bodies. TRIP AMONG THE PLANETS Written for The Evening Star. = F THE TWENTY Z stars of the first 4. magnitude six are 3 never visible from our point of view in the northern hemi- sphere. Of the re- maining fourteen, which we may sec at one time or another, eleven will be above the horizon at 9 . o’clock this evening. We cannot spend our - half hour better than in taking a survey of these stars in ths light of recent investigation. Sidereal astronomy is at work upon two principal problems; first, what are the stars and in what respects do they differ one from another? a problem attacked by means of the spectroscope, and, second, what are their distances from us? Sirius, as the brightest of the stars, has naturally figured prominently in these investigations. This star will be found tomorrow night low in the southwest, and will be readily identified from its superior brilliancy, esti- mated at about five times that of an average first-magnitude star. In the class- ification of the stars according to the char- acter of their light, Sirius is a typical star of the first class—a class which embraces about one-half of all the stars. The “Sirlan” stars shine with a bluish-white sight, and ure held to be the hottest of the celestial bodies. Their “spectra” indicate the presence in their atmosphere of hydro- gen in great quantity, with only slight traces of the vapors of the metals. They are probably in an earlier stage of world- life then the yellow stars, which form the second class, and which are nearly equally numerous. The spectra of the stars of this elass, of which our sun is the most con- spicuous member, are crossed by hundreds of dark lines—in the case of the sun these lines are reckoned by the thousand—which indicate that their atmospheres are charged with the comparatively cool vapors cf the metals and the metalloids, while the hydrogen ilnes are not especially prominent. It is probable that the Sirlan stars are far less massive bodies in proportion to their splendor than are those of the re- maining classes. The discovery that Sirius has a companion and is a “binary star,” made by Mr. Alvan Clark, in 1862, afforded the means of determining the star's mass —that is, the amount of matter which it contains—and it appears that while Sirius surpasses the sun seventy times in bril- Nancy, it has no more than three times the sun’s weight. Capella, in the northwest at about two- fifths of the distance from the horizon to the zenith, comes next on our list in the order of brilliancy. Capella is a yellow star, belonging to the second, or solar, class. Professor Vogel has recently stated incidentally that a photograph of a small section of the spectrum of this star, taken by him in his work of determining the motions of stars “in the line of sight,” showed no less than 250 lines—a fact which should give the reader some idea, both of the number of the lines of the spectrum of a bright star and of the nicety to which stellar photography has been brought. Arcturus, in the east at about the same altitude as Capella, stands on the scale of | Wagnitudes adopted at the Naval Ob- scrvatory 'n this city one-tenth of a mag- nitude lower than Capella, although the more common estimate makes it he brightest star of the northern hemisphere. This is also a solar star. Vega, or Alpha Lyrae, now just rising in the northeast, is ranked on this scale as the equal of Arcturus. Vega and Rigel, the more southerly of the bright stars in Orion, are both Sirian stars. Procyon, the Little Dog, stands sixth on our list. It will be found directly above Sirtus, with which and Betelgeuse, in the right shoulder of Orion, it forms a large equilateral triangle. Procyon is especially interesting from the fact that a certain Above the hortzon periodical irregularity in its “proper mo- tion” can be accounted for on the supposi- tion that it has a dark satellite revolving around it. A sirflar movement of Sirius had been observed and had been explained in the same way ten years before the com- panion star was actually seen, and, al- though the closest search has failed to dis- cover a companion of Procyon, astronomers have no doubt that one exists. Of Reddish Cotor. Betelgeuse, in Orion, and Allebaran, in Taurus, now just above the horizon a little north of west, are both of a decidedly red- dish color and belong to a third class. They are, perhaps, suns which are verging on ex- tinction as luminaries, or it may be that, as Mr. J. Norman Leckyer thinks, they are simply condensing clouds of meteors and have not yet reached the condition of their greatest splendor. At any rate, they are undoubtedly worlds quite unlike our lumin- ary. Aldebaran is catalogued as of the ex- act first magnitude. Betelgeuse is a trifle brighter. Spica, the Wheat Ear, in the constellation Virgo, is a Sirian star a little below the mean first magnitude. It is now in the southeast at an altitude rather lower than Arcturus. Regulus, in Leo, comes next. This star is now nearly on the meridian at 9 p. m., and can easily be identified from its position in the handle of the well-known “Sickle.” Last on the list is Poltux, the more south- erly of the Twins—the conspieuous pair of stars midway between Capella and Regulus. Pollux is a first-magnitude star only by courtesy, having been admitted to this class for no better reason apparently than to complete a list of ten first-magnitude stars for the northern hemisphere. It was formerly supposed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that the brightest stars were the nearest to us. This would be the case, of course, were they all of about the same actual size and of the same intrinsic splendor. In 1888 Dr. Elkin, using the heliometer of the Yale College observatory, took meas- urements for the purpose of determining the distances of the ten first-magnitude stars of the northern hemisphere, and, not to give results in a form too technical to be readily understood, he reached the conclu- sion that the average distance of these stars is not less than thirty-six and a half “light- years,” that is to say, light, which travels at the rate of 186,000 miles a second, reach- ing us from the sun in eight and a quarter minutes, requires more than a third of a century to flash its way across the space which separates us from a point at the mean distance of the ten brighter stars of the northern hemisphere. Some Stay Distances. The nearest of these stars, according to Dr. Elkin, is Procyon, its distance being 12.3 light-years. Altair, one of the ten not vistble tomorrow night, comes next, at a distance of 16.4 Nght-years. Next is Alde- baran, at 28 light-years. Capella and Regu- lus are at very nearly the mean distance of 36 light-years. In ihe cases of the remain- ing five the quantity to be measured prov- ed so minute that little confidence could be placed in the results obtained, farther than to regard them as fixing the minimum for the*distances of these stars. Thus, sixty- seven years was considered to be the least distance which could be assigned to Arc- turus, with the probability that its actual distance is much greater than this. Miss Agnes Clerke, hose “‘System of the Stars” these figfreg. have been fn’ part taken, thus col deg fier summary of the results of Dr, Elkin’s investigation: “As to Vegu there is sijlt some doubt. * * * But that Betelgei Alpha, Cygni and Arcturus are plunged in the depth of space unfathomable by any method yet brought into use, may be admitted without hesita- ticn. The exceedi Femoteness of Arc- turus especially engbles us to recognize in it, perhaps, the miost stupendous sun within our imperfect cognizance.” The diagram ‘shows the positioas of all of the pianets~on-the ist of the month. Four of them, Neptune, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, are above the horizon at 9 p.m. Venus has but just set at that hour. Uranus will rise before 10 o'clock. Mercury is to the west of the sun and is, therefore, 2 morning star. It may now be seen, urder favorable conditions, low in the east, Just before sunrise, but it is drawing in toward the sun and will scon be too near the sun to be visible. Saturn is ncw in a position to be an ob- ject of great interest to the possessor cf a telescope. Its opposition to the sun, when it will cross the meridian at midnight, will occur on the 24th of the month. Jupiter has lost perceptibly in brilliancy in the last two months, but he still out- shines Sirfus and 4s still in a good position for observing with a telescope. Venus has now fairly supplanted Jupiter in attractiveness as an evening star. Dur- ing the two months in which she has been visible in the west she has steadily increas- ed in brilliancy, and although she will not be at her greatest brilliancy until the 14th of August, she fs already a successful rival Of the more lordly planet. —_——.___ QUEER BIRD NESTS. Strange Materials Which They Em- ploy for House Building Purposes. Hidden away in an obscure corner of the Smithsonian Institution is an exhibit that is truly fascinating. It is designed to show, a Star writer was informed, the various methods of house building practiced by birds. While the materials they employ for the purpose are wonderfully varied, it is not less interesting to observe the con- trivances used for concealment. For exam- ple, a little feathered creature common in the neighborhood of this city, called the grat catcher, covers its nest with lichens. it always selects a lichen-covered tree, so that the artificial structure looks like a part of the branch to which it is attached. Humming birds use lichens in a similar fashion, and so does the familiar wood pewee. ; In the collection described are several nests of the caciques, or yellow tails. These birds, the largest species of which are akout the size of a crow, are found all the way from Mexico to tropical South Ameri- ca. Some of their nests are as much as four feet in length, being woven out of vegetuble fibers in the shape of pendant purses, with openings at the top. The purses are so strongly made that it is very difficult to tear them open. They are hung usually upon solitary trees, away from the forest. Sometimes fifty or seventy-five of them will be seen hanging from the bough of a single dead tree, which from a dis- tarice looks as if it bore fruit. When prac- ticable, the birds« select trees on which there are hornets’ nests, because monkeys, which are their enemies, aré afraid of hornets. Another very,,oddj nest is that of the water ouzel—a bird of slate gray tint, nearly as big as a robin, with a short tail. It is found along the rocky streams of the western United States, and as far north as Alaska. The nest {s built at the water's edge, at the bottom of a little waterfall, so that the water may splash constantly upon it. It often measures as much as two feet im diameter, approaching the ‘spherical in shape. The interior portion of the mass is ecmposed of Igpves and grasses mostly, while the outsftle if covered with living moss. The moss is kept green by the water splashed upon it. Rather a striking contrast to the forego- ing is afforded by the nest-of the tern. This bird merely scrapes“away the pebbles and shells on the beach above high-water mark so as to make a slight/depression. There it lays its eggs, which are speckled and of such a tint as to be almgst indistinguisha- ble from their surroundings. The newly- hatched yeung are simtiarly tinted for pro- tective purposes. In the Smithsonian col- lection are several nests of the elder duck. The manner in which this interesting water fowl lines its nest with feathers plucked from its own breast isa familiar story. Among the most curious of the nests in this exhibit are those of orieles. One, built by a Baltimore oriole, 1# composed e: tirely of strips of cloth, while another is made of ordinary grocer’s twine. These birds will eagerly appropriate any such suitabie materia! for house building. They are very fond of colored yarns. The orchard orfole, found all over the eastern United States, makes its nest always of fine green grasses. It takes nothing but green grass, so that by sttbsequent drying the nest comes to be of a straw color and does not decay. Other birds commonly make use of dead grass, more or less. The fish hawk builds a new nest over the old one year after year, thus accumulating in the course of time a huge heap of ma- terial. For this purpose it collects an as- tonishing variety of things. In one fish hawk’s nest om Plum Island, N. Y., Dr. Charles F. Allen found barrel staves, a bootjack, net floats, seaweeds, a rake, a feather duster, part of an oar, a blacking brush, a rag doll, a toy schooner, a broom, tin cans, a ptece of board, with a fishing line and hook attached, a door mat, corn stalks, masses of sod that had been turned up by the plow, ribs of sheep and cattle, and on top of all the bleached skulls of sheep—these last evidently intended for ornament. a FREAK OF NATURE. The Navel Orange and How It Came to This Country. There have been more navel oranges in the Washington market this winter than ever before. The fruit is doubtless gain- ing In popularity, the flavor being excep- tionally fine, though the skin is much thick- er than that of the Indian river orange. Inasmuch as all sorts of theories are in circulation as to the origin of the variety, a few words of accurate information on the subject may not be amiss, To begin with, the first navel orange was doubtless a freak or “sport,” as horticul- turists say. To make such a fruit by arti- fice would be impossible. It is abnormal even in the bud. The navel shows in the bud as early as the latter can be examined under the microscope. It may even be traced back to the flower, which is double— though that word does not express the idea very well, each blossom having a secondary blossom within it. In the developed fruit the navel is itself a secondary orange, in some specimens having a distinct skin sur- rounding it. ‘This two-story orange is no novelty. A book on horticulture, published in 1642, gives a picture of the navel orange and ealis it “pomum Adami foetum.” This is the earliest reference known. The blos- soms rarely haye any pollen, and the fruit is usually, though not always, seedless. The variety is reproduced by budding. Where it originated is not known with certainty, but it was probably in Southern Asia. Thence it was brought to the region of the Mediterranean and eventually diffused over the world. A ladyjwho had traveled in Brazil told Mr. Sa@j-ders, chief gardener of the Department of Agriculture, about the orange, which she had seen in that eountry. Acting om! this information, Mr. Saunders told @ Star reporter that he sent to Bahia and seeured a dozen young bud- ded trees. These reached the United States in 1870, being the first navel orange trees known here. From these trees others were propagated. One of the first’bateh thus obtained is now in the orange house of the Department of Agriculture. In 1873 two of the tre! sent to Mrs. L. C. Tibhets of Ri Cal. At the same time others were sent to Florida. But those planted in California fruited more quickly and were the first to attract attention. It scon hecame evident that the climate of that state was better suited to the cultivation of this variety. In Florida it is not sufficiently productive— i.e, does not bear freely enough to be profitable. Nevertheless. the finest navel oranges come from Flerida, though they are not so handsome as those from Cali- fornia. ACID PHOSPHATE. HORSFORD’S Makes Delicious Lemonade. .- A teaspoonful added to a glass of hot or cold wafer and sweetened to the taste will be found refreshing and invigoratin - JOHN NEWTON WILLIAMS. Eminent Inventor of the Williams Typewriter Owes Strength and Health to Paine's Celery Compound. The old-time visiotary Inventor has given place to the practical, hard-working professional inventor of today. The wuccessfut inventor must now be a business man as well as 2 man of mechanical ideas. , The high tension of the nervous system, often Kept up for months and months, makes tremen- dous drafts on th heaith of those busy brain workers. Many succumb to nervous prostration when they seem just cn the point of surmounting every difficulty. Of all the countless recent nsefal inventions none has passed through s0 many or so rapid a course of Improvements as the typewriter. Today the latest perfected machine is undoubtedly the Williams typewriter, which represents a vast amount of cumulative invention. John Newton Williams, its Inventor, was born in 1845, in Brooklyn, . He spent his early manhood on the western frontier. Subsequently he settled"in Kentucky, where he became known a8 one of the most successful stock breeders in the state. But it ts as an inventor that he has won his national repatation. Several most useful and im- portant inventions were made by him before he produced the Willlams typewriter, a machine that probably excele all others in the most important features. Mr. Williams, speaking of the labor expended in bringing the machine that bears his name to its present” perfection, say “Some four years ago, when engaged in expert- mental work on the Williams’, I was putting in about 16 hours per day of hard work and worry, and came near breaking down. Although very par- ticular and regular in my habits and careful about eating, my stomach troubled me. It_was dificult to eat, and more difficult to digest and assimilate f HY) BYZS stimalated my appetite and aided digestion. two bottles and was much benefited. > later 1 was troubled with ner- ess and indigestion, and took Paine’s compound with great benefit. My wife, after long illness Summer, and severe nervous prostration, and some trouble ‘from indigestion, con- cluded to try Faine’s celery compound, a few weeks ago, and she is row taking it with steady im- provement. Several of my friends have taken: ft on my recommendation, nid are now practical -be- Hevers in its great restorative powers. I have found the celery ecmpound @ tonic and restorative that I could lean upon with confidence in time of trouble." Paine's celery compound makes well! a spring remedy it is ‘insurpassed. * ~ A VETERAN ACTOR. Probable Retirement of C. W. Coul- dock to the Forrest Home. From the Chicago Post. “I don’t believe that Charles W. Coul- dock ts to go to the Forrest Home for some time, although he has retired from the stage,” said J. H. McVicker, when seen at his home on Michigan avenue. “T received a letter from him from New York about two weeks ago and he told me that it had been a hard winter with him. He has often said that friends have advised him to mske application to the Forrest Home, so that when a vacancy occurred he might be eligible for a place there. There are many applications on file, and it is hard to get in there, so I presume that he has taken the first step necessary. He told me in his tast letter thet his friends were to give him a benefit this spring, when Joseph Jefferson, his life- long friend, returns from his southern trip. “Mr. Couldock is about eighty years of age end was here lest summer with my stock company. He took the part of the aged minister, Joshua Sawyer, in “New Blocd.” I have known him ever since he came to this country from England with Charlotte Cushman in 1849. He ranked very high, taking such parts as Louts XI, Richelieu, Hamlet and the whole Ene of legitimate characters until his age pre- vented him from carrying out such strong parts. There is no doubt that when he wishes to go to the Forrest Home he will be received cordially.” ©. W. Couldock was born in London April 1815. He first appeared at Sadler's Wells in 1836, where he played “Othello.” After that he supported John Vandenhoft at Bath and in 18% he became leading man at the Theater Royal at Edinburgh. He came to America h Charlotte Cush- man in 4849 and for several years was lead- ing man at the Walnut Street Theater, Philadelphia. In 1858 he joined Laura Keene’s Olympic Theater Company and afterward took the leading parts in “The Willow Copse,” “The Chimney Corner,” &c. In 1889 he began at the Madison Square Theater in the part of Dunstan Kirke in “Hazel Kirke” and has played the part over 1,900 times. A benefit was given Mr. Couldock at the Star Theater, New York, in 1837, which netted $4,400. oe —___— Written for The Evening Star. All Foots’ Day Eve Dream. 1 I dreamed last night that all the world were wise— ‘The old and young, rich, poor, and high and low; ‘And, as I well knew that ft was not 80 But yesterday, I, wakenfng, rubbed my eyes, Much marveling, lost in pleasure and surprise; Yet hailed the sign as true, and cried, “Ho, bot At last, at Iast, all fools are dead, I troy ‘And a new Golden Age on earth will rise. But dreams, 'tis knows, by contraries do go; Their seeming truths are naught Wut specious les; ‘And, ere the day an hour did older grow, My heart, instead of joy, was filled with sighs, For all the world were not yet wise—no, no!— Just the reverse, I ventured to surmise. bia For in myself I felt no wisdom nev, But the same leaven of folly as of old; ‘And, from the vast sheets by the press outrotied, I found the world ignoble aims In view Keep as before, by motives mean controlled; Saw the vain phantoms that they still pursue, Teading to crime, to mfsery, and rue, Giving their worship to the calf of gold. ‘That the majority are fools is true, I thought, while knaves still posts of bonor hold, And honest legislators are so few; While faith, and hope, and charity grow cold; While: outside show does inner worth outdo, ‘And lies outuumber truths ten thousand fold. —W. L. SHOEMAKER. —————— His Reform. From Life. “John, dear, we must take up some kind of reform this year. Now, if E take up dress reform, what will you take?’ “Chloroform.” A PECULIAR FAD. Prof. Grider Has Made a Valuable Col- lection of Powder Horns. Who ever heard of collecting powder horns? This peculiar fad was originated and de- veloped, a Star writer learned, by a gen- tleman who, as may be supposed, still has @ monopoly of it. His name is Professor Rufus Grider, and he teaches drawing in the public schools of Canajoharfe. All of his leisure time and spare money are de- voted to this pursuit. Ordinary, every-day powder herns do not excite his attention, however. His collec- tion is Imited to those of historical inter- est, chiefly in connection with the war of the revolution. Usually such horns are held ac relics in families; but tf he cannot secure the original, Professor Grider will travel any distance to make a sketch of it. Up to date he has secured sketches of 350 specimens It:might be imagined that one powder horn was pretty much like another, but this is very far from being the case, par- tteularly_where historical horns are con- cerned. In old times these articles were much prized for any associations they might have, and much care was frequently bestowed in beautifying them. Many of them were elaborately carved with differ- ent sorts of devices, including representa- tions of battle scenes, patriotic emblems and even portraits of conspicuous per- sonages. In each of his 350 sketches Professor Grider not only gives a picture of the powder horn, with its carvings and in- scription, but adds an appropriate design in water colors. For example, the likeness of a horn used at Ticonderoga is accom- panied by a little painting of Ticonderoga as it looks today. Some of the inscriptions referred to are very odd, indeed—quaint bits of doggerel verse, etc. In short, the collection possesses no small interest from the historical point of view. A short time ago Professor Grider lent the collection to the National Museum. In some way thirty of the pictures were mis- Jald. In fact, it was believed that they Were lost, and the owner was well nigh = ar ag meg they turned up YY or two ego, and it is probable that by this time the professor has been Peel daed again by the news of their re- a es Clab Hospitality. From Puck. Hobson (at club reception)—“Say, who ts that man over there? He’s been standing around with his hands in his pockets all = evening, and not a soul has noticed im. Dobson—“T guess he must be a guest the club.” of —_—_+2+___ As Far as He Had Got. * From Life. “Do you thiuk that marriage is a failure, Mr. Askin?” said Miss Elder to a young mar whom she Knew to be engaged. “I haven't got that far yet,” was the frank reply, “but I’m pretty well convinced that courtship is bankruptcy.” ~ From Life. <= Feeling that revenge, and—— he is inconsiderately crowded by his neighvors, Slowson seeks Gives his seat to a lady.