Evening Star Newspaper, April 13, 1895, Page 13

—=——SSS SSS a ea! '$: - % we - : —— EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1895-TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. : 2 PARISIAN FLATS Moving Day Robbed of Its Terrors in , the Gay Capital. THE SIMPLICITY OF HOUSEREGPING The Scale of Rents and tne Au- thority of Landlords. SOME “PECULIAR, CUSTOMS Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. PARIS, March 25, 1895. N PARIS APRIL 15th is the “terme.” Those who continue on in their apart- ments pay their rent. The others move. In Paris April 15th is the moving day. You move, not from one house to another, but from one apart- ment to another. Perhaps the Englisk have a greater preju- dice against this sys- tem of living in flats than we Americans feel. And yet, outside of-one or two great cities, the apartment method has no place in American life. Outside of Paris we look on it as stuffy. As to this, it is a question of where you wilf have the stuffiness—in your homes or in your streets. The mag- nificence of Parisian streets is almost en- tirely due to the flat system; and the ap- Parent meanness of American cities is due to our separate houses. There is conveni- ence,reasonableness and architecural grand- eur in the Parisian idea. One result is that when moving day ap- proaches there is not so much to do as if you lived in your own private house, which is a real rubbish accumulator. The floors are regularly laid in marquetry, goog pol- ished oak. Thee is, it must be sald, stone t below, to give you rheumatism are also stone, and rheumatism is or ceme Mice Room for Johnny. the general state of Paris reside the beautiful, slippery floor is always there, and it would he a shame to hide it with a carpet. Number one, there is no carpet cleaning. Rugs are beaten daily out the windows of the courts. Wien you move in Paris there are no stoves to handle. ‘The joke of the man and the stovepipe never appears in the illus- trated papers. For that matter none of the worries of housecleaning afford matter for the comic man. There is not much clean- ing to a doll’s house. You do not handle stoves, because there are no stoves to handle. Parisians heat their rooms with open grates. The kitchens have stationary evens. Ovens? They are iron machines built in one corner of the kitchen, fixtures, taking a deal of room. ‘They are something like what we call a kitchen range, except- ing that the only hot water they furnish is in a trifling oval cup—the bain marie. There is also a large space given to char- coal burning, in skallow compartments, some ranges having four or five of them. The roasting oven is small. But there is not need for a large one, the French sys- tem of cutting up meat being so different from our own, In such smaller pieces. In- deed, in a vest number of small-sized mid- dle-class families the use. of this range is almost abandoned, the gas stove being all fn all. The gas compares find It to their profit to furnish these gas stoves to con- sumers free. Burn our gas and we will lend you a stave. The stove is large enough to hold two pots on top, with a “roasting” space beneath, the gas flame being above the roast or steak, and not below it. The gas companies also make a practice of fit- ting in (at cost price) gas heating for your whole range. Many pecple take advantage of this, because the gas is no dearer than coke or soft coal would be, and because all dirt and the particular nuisance of car- rying ashes from, say, the fourth floor to the cellar every mcrning, is thus avoided. As to other dirt and rubbish, which accu- mulates naturally in the cellars of private houses, there is none of it fn Paris, for the reason’ that the cellar space available to each tenant of an apartment house is too small and the sanitary arrangements of the police are too exacting. Cellar space (cave) is for the storing of coal, wood and wine. When you move in Paris you are sure that your new apartment will be clean and fresh before you enter it. To be a landlord is a profession in itself in the gay capital. To own an apartment house is to be rich. The owner collects his own rents in person. The 14th of April, July, October and Jan- & The Superb Stairway. wary he hands to his trusty concierge (jani- tor) the receipts fcr the various tenants. On the 15th the concierge ‘‘mounts” the re- ceipts before noon. The money must be aid her instantly. On the evening of the Toth the proprietor visits his concierge and “touches” his income. He is In close knowl- edge of the state of each apartment. The concierge tells him the state in which the old tenants have left it. It is the concierge who does the cleaning up. The pfoprietor visits the empty apartment, examines it carefully, to see if there is not some slight improvement to make which will warrant his raising the rent. And so before you move in you may be sure that the place is clean and freshened up. The long lease (th six and nine years) habitual with the Parisians make it a custom for the pro- prictor to renovate, paper and paint the apartment according to the taste of the new occupant. The actual moving is the simplest thing in the world. You pay a company to do it for you. In Paris you always pay a com- pany. When you die and are buried your pay a company to haul you to the (the company Is the Pompes funebres official monopoly). You buy your tobacco of a company—the Regle of the gov- ernment. You auction off your houséhold furniture through a company—the govern- mMment-inspected appraisers of the Hotel Drouot. When you drink German beer, it {6 a company from whom you buy it—the so-called Pousset corporation. So, when you move, you employ a company of “‘de- menageurs,” members of the Chambre Syndicale des Entrepreneurs de Demenage- ments et ‘Transports, of course. For a mod- est apartment of one salon, three rooms, one dining room, one kitchen and EE ante-salon, it Sill be about twenty dol- rs, everything included, to any part of Paris. This comprises all the cost, except that there will be eight workmen to do the lifting, and the company stipulates that you must pay each six francs: “drink money,” which makes about ten dollars more. When people do their own moving it is with a push-cart. The great thing is to find an apartment to move into. All are so dear. Parisian land- lerds are just beginuing to learn that the A Guestion of Furniture. exposition of 1889 is over. At the present moment there is a so-called “krach of the loyer,” or bust-up in rent rates. It is one of the signs of the times that “I'Illustra- tion,” the highest-class pletorial weekly, begun to publish pages and pages of uae Penents to let.” Heretofore Parisian landlords were like doctcrs—too dignified to advertise. The practice was to nail up a modest “shingle,” “apartment to let,” “grand apartment to let,’} “little apartment to rent,” “apartment for'young man,” and so on. ‘Even now the practical way to g0 house-hunting is to first select your quar- ter of the city and then walk along its streets, reading these signs. You know whether you want a large or small apart- ment; a large apartment will have five bed rooms, a small one, one, two or some- times three. That is the point of departure. Across the street there is a sign—‘“petit appartement a louer, fraichement decore, ome de glaces.” It is a little apartment to rent, newly painted and papered, and or- ramented with mirrors, which are fixtures. You enter the great doorway of the apart- ment house, knock at the concierge’s little door, open it without being told, and say, “Your little apartment, madame, how much ts.it, how many pleces, what floor, and’does it give on the ccurt?” She replies in ‘a breath: ‘Twelve hundred francs, salon,bed room, dining room, kitchen, water closet and one setvants’ room above, on the fifth two hundred francs, including your contri- bution to the stair carpet.” “hank you; good-day.” “Il n’y a pas de quoi.” Or, if you wish to see it, you go up with her and peer about. I once knew an American in Paris who had for a time very little money to spend. One of his chief amusements in the daytime was to price and inspect apart- ments. There is a surprising uniformity in rents. Apartments on the uninteresting and char- acterless Avenue Wagram appear to be held as high as apartments on the chic Avenue Kleber, directly opposite the pal- ace of the Queen of Spain. Perhaps I have received this impression because I always look from the sta.dpoint of the fourth or fifth floor, and small flats, suitable to a young man who would marry if he had the money. Such an apartment will have two bed rooms, a dining room, a parlor, a kitchen and some closets. You can scarce- ly get it on a clean, airy street for less than 2,000 francs a year. In the very center of the city, on old streets like the Rue Saint Georges, you would have higher ceilings and more space than the modern architects are willing to give, and, above all, more light; but this must be offset against draughts, anti,uated kitchens, damaged woodwork, lack of bath and bad sanitary arrangements- The cheapest apartment I have ever seen, and one into which I hope soon to move, is a fifth floor on the beautiful Boulevard Male- sherbes, a few doors below the splendid open space around the Church of Saint Augustin. All is new, clean and airy. It is a step to the Madeleine, and it is also only a step to the Avenue of the Champs Elysees. Its price is 1,600 francs, including taxes, and it has a so-called dining room (or ante-salon) about eighteen feet by eight, a bed room ten feet square, a safon, say, fifteen feet square, and an antiquated kitchen which might serve as a trunk room. It has a balcony, with an iron rail- ing an ree windows cn the Boulevard Malesherbes. _ Sixteen hundred francs a year is about $6.50 a week. Of course, fur- niture is not included. The present occupant is a college pro- Inspecting the Dining Roem. fessor on a vacation. His furniture con- sists of two trunks, a box of books, an iron camp bed, a washstand, a rug, two tables and some chairs. I think of buying it when I move in. 1 inspected this stock of furniture in the presence of the professor himself. The concierge walked me upstairs, calmly un- locked the gentleman’s front door and marched me through the rooms without so much as “By your leave.” It is a peculiar Parisian custom. During the last three months of your lease, whether you be rich or poor, great or small, you may be sure to have your privacy thus interrupted, if not daily, at least weekly, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The impecu- nious American who amused himself in- specting apartments found one of his great- est delights in deranging afternoon calls about the hour of 3 p.m., and catching gen- tlemen and ladies in their dressing robes at 10:30 a.m. He could never decide which pleased him best. But he was bitter against the world. In plain words, three months before the expiration of your lease your landlord puts out the sign saying that he has an apartment to rent. The people begin to come. The concierge cannot tell serious people from triflers. She admits them all. Often, if she have a spite against the out- going family, she will take peculiar delight in showing every room to every one, even opening closets and showing how well the water runs in the bath room. No matter how rich an apartment you occupy, you cannot avoid this annoyance. The law is on the side of the proprietor. You may insist that visitors shall wipe their feet carefully be- And some visitors have such hard nerve that they will keep their hats on all the time. ‘When you speak of the splendor of Paris apartment houses, you mean the better class, on the wider, newer streets. There may be bargains at La Villette, Passy, Belleville and tre Faubourg Saint-Antoine. The artists’ quarters around the Mont- Parnasse railroad station and on the Rue Vaugirard are cheaper, and 80 francs will go far. But instead of magnificence there is squalor. The great mass of American art students live in dirt, and some pretend to find it picturesque. That may be Paris, just as Mazas prison 1s Paris, and the wine ghop food may be Parisian, just as the Sainte-Pelagie bean soup is Parisian, but it is not the glittering Paris of one’s dreams. There are streets in the gay capi- tal almost as sordid as Ridge avenue, Philadelphia. ‘The true magnificence within the reach of middle-class people, not too rich, is found in the newly built-up quarter, especially the streets and avenues around the Troc- adero. The Avenue Henri Martin, in par- ticular, has rows and rows of brand-new buildings, which are simply wonderful for price and beauty. On the great. stairway all is marbie. It is like the stairway of a palace. Tapestries hang on the way. The “ascenseur” or “lift” (elevator) is of the American pattern, that moves quickly. The apartments have every convenience, even including bath rooms, floored with marble and lined with tiles. Great mirrors are everywhere. I know of such an apart- ment on the fifth floor on the Avenue Henri Martin. It comprises an entrance hall that is like a room, a salon, a dining room, three bed rooms and a little one, and two serv- ants’ rooms in the attic. It has five win- fore tramping your carpets. That is all.” Tao on two different streets, and (being just below the attic) it has an 9} Sgnapentel airway to the roof, a portion o! railed one for the summer nights. The price of this model apartment, which is large, not small, is 3,200 francs a year, which is about $50 a month. It is at pres- ae occupied by the American consul gen- eral. When you move in Paris you go through two formalities. Before entering the new apartment you pay three months’ rent in advance. The next thing is to insure your furniture against the risk of fire, not only your own furniture, but the furniture of the tenants immediately above and below you. But this is nothing. You not only insure your neighbors’ furniture, as well as your own, but you also insure your land- lord’s property, the house itself; that is, that portion of it which you occupy. A French fire insurance policy is, therefore, three-sided. Suppose you value your fur- niture at 23,000 francs ($4,600). In “La Fon- clere,” one of the largest companies, this will cost you eighteen francs annually ($3.60). The expert who accepted this valua- tion of the furniture (for it is an actual ease) decided that 36,000 francs was insur- arce enough on the apartment itself (for the benefit of the landlord), so that this sum was added in, with its annual pre- mium of eleven francs, in the proper column. Thirdly, there is 20,000 francs in- surance for the neighbors, which costs only four francs annually, the rates varying in each case, The total is 79,000 francs in- surance, with thirty-two francs premiums to pay annually. The reason for the insurance of your neighbors’ furniture and your landlord’s interest in hjs own real estate is to prevent the parties claiming damages from you in case of a fire originating in your apart- ment. But it is to be noted that while you pay insurance on your neighbors’ furniture, they are also paying insurance on your own. Suppose you inhabit the third floor. You insure the people on the second and fourth floors, the second floor insures you ard the first floor, the fourth floor insures you and the fifth floor, and the fifth in- sures the fourth and sixth, if there be one. The house is plastered with insurances. Two parties profit all around, the landlord and the insurance companies. The latter bave even made it a rule that the proper Discussing the Cost. amount of total insurance on an apartment is a sum equivalent to fifteen times the an- nual rent. If the insurance taken out be a less sum “the assured becomes his own in- surer.for the proportion existing between the nominal amount of the policy and fif- teen times the annual rent,” no matter what the actual damages may have been. It is all a lottery taking a new apartment in Paris. The concierge, your landlord and the neighbors are the three elements of chance, or, rather, danger. It is under- stood that the concierge is the janitor, hav- ing surveillance of the street entrance and the house in general. Her power, delegated to her by the landlord, is great indeed. much so that it has been decided she is not responsible either in damages or criminally for opening and reading the tenants’ let- ters, which the postman hands her every merning. But this was a mere defect of the law, and is to be rectified. An actual case, occurring in ‘my own experience, is mcre to the point. During the late winter the water pipes were freezing everywhere. One morning the concierge paid visits to each tenant, telling them to shut the water off. It was an American family on the third floor, and the mistress of the apart- ment being slightly deaf understood that the concierge was scolding: She ordered her out of the apartment. The tonclerge commenced a proces verbal against her, which is not yet finished. A proces verbal is a lawsult. ‘The tenants on the floors above and below you may also make themselves disagreea- ble. During the late rigorous winter a very sweet young American girl, having her hands and feet chilblained in her bed, de- sired her father to have put up a stove in her room, in order to save her life. It was done, it “drew” beautifully, and everyone was pleased. Only the tenants on the floor beneath objected. A letter came from the proprietor of the house: “You are hereby given notice to take out the stove from your daughter’s bed room, as the smoke from it, ascending the chimney, descends again the chimney of the tenants of the floor beneath you, causing them great dis- tress and danger.” This was pure imagi- nation and malice. But, rather than be in- volved in an unequal struggle of a proces, where the Frenchman always wins and the foreigner always loses, the stove was taken out, the coke fire was started up again in the open grate, and the poor child could think of nothing better than to take a Persian cat (as big as a dog) to bed with her each night, for extra warmth. STERLING HEILIG. PEACH TREE DISEASES. A Simple Expedient Which is Said to Be Effective. From Meehan’s Monthly. Some years ago a gentleman residing near Cincinnati created a sensation by what he regarded a new method of keeping peach trees healthy. All that he did was to pile up earth al-out the trees, the mound reaching up to the-branches. It took sev- eral cart loads of earth to make these mounds, and the little orchard had the ap- pearance of bushes growing out of the top ef the cone ef earth. Every one used to look on and laugh at the thought of bury- ing up the trunk of a tree in order to make it healthy: but there were the trees, and undoubtedly models of health. Those who saw simply stated their belief that it was only a coincidence, and that the trees would probably have been as healthy with- out the mound of earth as with it. Since, it has cone to he weil recognized that many of the diseases of plants, not merely of the peach tree, but of other trees, are caused oy the mycelium of a minute fungus attacking the roots, it is not at all unlikely that this mound of earth operated beneficially, by preventing the grov-th of the fungus which preys on the roots of trees. It 1s now well under- stood that al! plants cf a low order of vegetation, which we krow as fungi, will only grow under a peculiar combination of circumstances. Among cther things they nust be very near th2 surface of the earth, and if buried to the depth they would be under 3. meund, it is unlikely that fungi would find a satisfactory home. Seme will say vight here’ that they thought burying up the trunks of trees and covering the surface roots with earth was destructive to health; but the burying by itself is not the reason trees die when’ earth fs piled over them to a considerable depth, but from the fact that the young, growing rocts do not get air. These young, growing roots are almest all at the ex- tremities, 2nd the mound of carth around the trunk would not in the slightest de- gree injure these outer roots. Whenever a valued tree is somewhat buried, it is cue- tomary to leave a space around the trunk, perhaps buildirg a dry wall, in order to keep the earth from getting near the trun! but this is not that the earth is injurious, but to give a chance fcr water to flow freely down into the soil, and the flow of water always leads to a flow of air follow- ing the water. These remarks are suggest- ed by an article in an agricultural papel stating that the apple borer and the peac borer have been kept out of the trunks of trees by making a mound of earth around the trunks. ——_—_—_-e+. The Tall Mountaineer. From the Atlanta Constitution. A hanging was once averted in Hall county, this state, in a thrilling and unex- pected manner. A man was murdered for his money, it was thought. He disappeared, and after a long search only a skeleton was found. There were circumstances pointing to another man as the perpetrator of the awful deed. ‘The clue was taken up and one by ene the links in the chain of con- victing evidence were discovered. He was placed on trial, convicted and sentenced. The day for the hanging came. People by thousands came to see a human being swung off into eternity. The black cap was placed over the victim’s face and in five minutes the tragedy would have been over. Just then a tall mountaineer, who had been attracted to the hanging along with the crowd, stepped upon the scaffold and a brief colloquy between him and the sheriff ensued. The tall mountaineer was the man who had disappeared and whose death was about to be avenged by the law. EARLY © INFORMATION In Regard to Supreme Court Deci- sions Eagerly Sought. OPINIONS ARE GENERALLY ANTICIPATED Precautions Adopted to Protect the Secresy of. the Court. EFFECT ON THE MARKET Written for The Evening Star. GREAT DEAL OF \ Age: has passed \\ in the last two weeks on the publication, a long time in advance, of the announcement of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the income tax case of positive statements purporting to contain the substance of what the decisjon of the court would be. It is an extraordinary fact that there seems to be always a leak when there is an important decision to be rendered. There is hardly one case of importance before the court in recent years that has not been forecast in some way. When the question is merely whether the court will Gecide in the affirmative or the negative a certain question some one might make a good guess and s0 appear to anticipate the court’s action without knowing posi- tively what it was to be. But in many cases, not alone the general nature of the cdurt’s decision has been a matter of common rumor, but all of the details of the court’s division, in case the decision was not reached unanimously, have been given to the public two or three days be- fore the*formal announcement of the mat- ter. This does rfot axpéar at ‘first sight a very important matter. It seems to in- volve merely the dignity of the court. That dignity is infringed, of course; when the court’s action is anticipated by the news- papers or by rumor. But more important matters are at stake. The decision of the court in a particular case will affect the stock market very seriously. This has oc- curred very often. It is sometimes im- portant that stock operators should know at the earliest minute what the court’s decision is. A man who can obtain in advance of his fellow-operators on the stock exchange the facts about the de- cision can make a great deal of money. The stock market is affected in the same vay by news coming from the Treasury Department in financial crises, by the ac- tion of Congress on tariff or financial mat- ters. The grain market is affected by the crop report of the Agricultural Depart- ment. Informatian for Speculators, Stock operators therefore keep special representatives af. Washington, whose only business is to advise them in advance, if possible, of decistons of the Secretary. of the Treasury, of the committees of Con- gress, of Congress‘ itself, of the Supreme Court or of any other body or person whose act is likely to ke a change in the val- ues of securities. ‘The financial bulletins published in New York eity keep special correspondents ufder salary in Washing- ton to advise them:at the earliest moment on matters of iniportancé to the financial world. Very often the reports sent by these corresponderts are of no more yalue than the reports, sent to. the daily news- papers and published in the regular Wash- ington dispatches.’ They are speculation as to the possivilities in a particular case. But very often these correspondents are able to state positively that the decision of the Supreme Court in a certain case is for or against a certain interest, as the case may be, and often they are able to state with certainty what the Secretary of the Treasury intends to do. It will be re- called that just before Secretary Carlisle made one of his bond issues a statement that he had determined to isue bonds was made and the exact amount ‘of the pro- posed issue was named. This statement Secretary Carlisle denied in an authorized interview only forty-eight hours before he issued his call for th@ bonds. The news- papers and the public relied to a great ex- tent on the denial of the Secretary of the Treasury. The stock operators relied on the statement of the financial bulletins, and they were right. A Divided Responsibility. It can be demonstrated with very little research that every decision of the Su- preme Court of recent years which bas in- volved matters of importance and which has been awaited with eager interest by the public has reached the public at least twenty-four hours before the “decision day” of the Supreme Court. The most re- cent occurrences of this anticipation of the court’s decisions are the publication of the recent patent decision affecting the integ- rity cf the Bell telephone monopoly, which came out on the Saturday prior to the de- cision day; the opinion in the California water-froent cases, which was known in California before it was announced in Washington; and the opinion in the “trust” case, which was public property a long time before the court announced it. The original Beli telephone decision, about which there was so much excitement a few years ago, was common talk long before the Supreme Court met and made it public formally. ‘There are a good many ways in which.th2 Supreme Court decisions could leak. In the first place, any one of the justices could let fall, by chance or by design, an intimation of the nature of the court's conclusions. United States Senators have been,known to make public the secrets of the executive session of the Senate, and Supreme Court justices are presumably no less fallible. Then the private secretaries of the justices are very apt to know what the decisions of the court are, for, though they are not present at the consultation of the court when a decision is reached, they often as- sist in preparing the manuscript of the de- cision to be read in the court room. Then the ccurt printer has a certain share of responsibility for the preservation of the court’s secrets; for the decisions, before they are read, are sent to the printer and put in type. Proofs of the decision are struck off at the printing office for distri- bution to the justices, and one of these proofs might be mislaid very easily. Final- ly, some of the employes of the court know what the decision‘{s in any important casc. So the duty of préservimg so important a secret is pretty well distributed, and it is not at all surprising thati(there is a weak spot somewhere, and that the decision in substance gets to, the public before the time for its publication. How Decijiions Are Made. It would be almost impossible to put more safeguards around the decisions. The vote on a case is taken fn secrecy in the conference room in the fasement of the Capitol. The discussion of a case always starts with the jiinior jugtice, and gradu- ally all of the justices come into the dis- cussion, and at times the;debate is pretty lively. When argument has been exhaust- ed, a vote is taken. The vote, too, starts with the junior justice — presumably, be- cause of the fear that the new justice would be influenced by the opinion of the older justices if they voted before him. The chief justice is the last to vote. If the decision of the court is unanimous (and in the majority of cases, it is), the chief jus- tice assigns one of the justices to write the deci: Each of the justices has his spe- cialty. Most of the decision work is done by the younger justices. hen a decision is not unanimous, one of the justices is assigned to write the epinion of the court, which fs the opinion of the majority, of course; and if the mi- nority desires to go on record in detalf, some one is assigned to write the views of the minority. The justice who has the opinion to write goes to his home and preg pares it there. Meantime, the record of the vote taken in the consultation room is made in a beok, which has a lock. It 1s kkncwn as the “locked docket.” No one but the justices has access to this book. No oné is present at the consultation of the / Justices, not even the clerk of the court or the marshal. Precautions Adopted. When the justice to whom the decision has been assigned has written out the tiews of the court, as he conceives them, he sends the manuscript to the court printer to be put in type. This copy is given out to a special force of men, who ‘are under oath to divulge nothing which passes through their hands officially. The ratter is set up, and proofs are sent under seal to the members of the court. Only nine proofs are taken—one for each justice. Each justice takes his proof and examines it critically. He revises it, striking out what displeases him, perhaps writing something to take its place. The eight re- vised proofs are sent by the eight justices to their colleague who prepared the opinion. He takes these papers and revises his decision in accordance with the suggestions of the other members of the court. Then he brings the revised proof to another con- sultation of the court and reads it aloud. It is still open to objections, for two mem- bers of the court may have made dia- metrically opposite suggestions concerning the wording of a particular paragraph. An agreement is reached in the consultation room, if necessary, by vote. Ther the proof is returned to the court printer and the necessary changes are made. ‘The original manuscript of a decision is re- turned to the justice. Very impcrtant de- cieions are preserved in the court records scemetimes as historical curiosities. Some years ago an effort was made to collect decisions by all of the justices, and that collection is complete in all but one par- ticular. No manuscript of Chief Justice Marshall could be found. Originally the manuscripts of the opinions were handed to the court reporter, and the decisions were not filed until he published Fis notes. Later the decisions were copied into huge volumes, which are still a part of the ccurt records. Now the printed ecpies of the decisions are placed on file. Cfficially the employes of the court are not supposed to know anything about the Gecisions until they are rendered. Probably théy know less than a good many other people, and it is not at all likely that the lesk lies there. It is much more probable that some one of the justices takes a friend into his confidence, or that some ene in the household of one of the justices is not faithful. One of the greatest scan- dals Washington has known was the sale of a decision of the court a good many years ago by a man who had married the dav ghter of one of the justices. The specu- lators who bought the decision made a great deal of money, but they forgot to pay the dishonest son-in-law, and he never received the price of his perfidy. GEORGE GRANTHAM BAIN. — FEASTING AMONG SAVAGES. Description of a Banquet Among the Indians of British Colambia. “I had the pleasure of being invited on one occasion to attend a banquet in British Columbia,” said Dr, Franz Boas to a Star writer. “It was a purely aboriginal enter- tainment. The feast was given by a native chief, and there was no lack of style about it, according to the usages of the natives. “The piece de resistance was a seal boiled whole in a great wooden kettle, into which red-hot stones were put. When it was judge@ to be sufficiently done, it was taken out, and the skin was removed with the adhering blubber ina spiral strip. The guests gat in a circle, the host taking hold of one end of the strip, while the latter, being of considerable length, was extended ccmpletely around the circle, so that each person held a part of it. The host then made a long speech, mainly devoted to self-glorification, in which he spoke of the magnificence of the feast he was about to give, of his own high rank and renown, &c. At the conclusion of his address everybody proceeded to attack with his teeth the part of the strip of blubber which he held. “The second course consisted of flat cakes made of dried berries. These were put into a kettle, soaked in water and mixed with rancid fish oil. Every one having been helped to the mixture, the host took a great ladle of horn, filled it with the soup from the kettle and directed a messenger to carry the ladle and contents to a chief, whose name he called out at the same time ima loud voice. This compliment was a great honor, and the recipient was expected to empty the ladle, which held a couple of quarts, at a draught. “On such an occasion a Poralisnent of the kind may be extended to several of the guests in succession. A ladle of the sort I describe is made of the great horn of the mountain sheep, which is heated and shaped in a mold. There are never more than two courses, and there. is always more or jess singing incidental to the re- past. These Indians also eat cakes of dried seaweeds, which are boiled so as to make @ glutinous soup, with.an admixture of oil. They put fish oil into everything. They keep the oil @ bottles of a remarkable kind, which are nothing more nor- less than the hollow stems of the giant kelp. The siems of these ocean plants, forty feet or mcre, perhaps, in length, are filled with oil and coiled like so much rope. They serve admirably for the purpose, holding a great quantity. “These Indians also gather immense quentities of clams and cockles, drying the meats and threading them on strings of cedar bark. Their forks are made by tying together half a dozen seal ribs so as to leave spaces between. Thus a curved fork about eight inches long and six inches wide is made. Their tecth serve the pur- poses of knives. Their dishes are of wood. A favorite shape for them fs that of a canoe, the person who receives a canoe- shaped plate of meat or whatnot being con- sidered to have received a canoe load of fcod—merely in a figurative and compli- mentary sense, of course.” ———_s__ FRUIT WITHOUT SEEDS. Gardeners Trying to Do Away With Prickles and Appendicitis. “Appendicitis may not be so fashionable a disease a few years hence as it is now,” said Assistant Pomologist Taylor to a Star writer. “Gardeners are trying their best to get rid of seeds in fruits. Already we have the navel orange, which is nearly always seedless. Some varieties of ap- ples have been produced that have almost no seeds. They are abnormalities. Some- times they are called ‘bloomless,’ because the blossoms have no petals, and in some cases lack stamens. The core is very small, and commonly there is a hollow at the end opposite the stem. These seedless apples are generally poor in flavor, being grown merely as curiosities. “Raisin producers in California are try- ing to obtain seedless grapes for raisins. The object in view is to get size and seed- lessness in the same fruit. You are famil- iar with the seedless grapes of Corinth, which are commonly known as ‘currants.’ The Sultana raisins of southeastern Eu- repe are likewise seedless grapes. Both of these varieties are now cultivated in Cali- fornia, but they are small. A prominent grower in Fresno county is working in this direction with the Muscat of Alexandria, which is a leading raisin grape in Cali- fornia. He selects cuttings from those vines which produce less than the normal number of seeds. Continuing this process from year to year, he hopes to reduce the grapes to absolute seedlessness eventually. It is believed that the seedlessness of the Corinth and Sultana grapes was obtained by similar means. “The banana is seedless, and has been so for ceuturies, though nobody knows why. It is propagated by suckers, and possibly it had no seeds when it was first found in the wild state. The banana is a modified ber- ry. Cutting the fruit down through the mid- die, you will sometimes see a few little brown spots, which are rudimentary seeds. Occasionally the banana does actually pro- duce seeds. The pineapple is nearly seed- less, being propagated likewise from suck- ers and from slips. The egg-plant, which is a fruit botanically speaking, is occasion- ally seedless. This plant is able to produce developed fruit, whether the blossoms are fertilized or not. “Horticulturists are endeavoring at the seme time to rid fruit plants of thorns. Some oranges and lemons are very thorny— for example, the high-priced King orange, which is the best of the mandarins. It is rarely seen in this market. The first trees were brought to the United States from Cochin China. In Florida its thorniness has been diminished by selecting buds from branches with the fewest thorns. Thorns are objectionable because they puncture the oranges or lemons when the branches are blown about by the wind. “Efforts are being made to get rid of the thorns on raspberry and blackberry plants, simply for convenience in picking the fruit. The thorns are intended by nature to pro- tect the plants from animals. Cultivators select those plants which by chance happen to be thernless or comparatively so.” RAILROADS. PENNSYL) ‘ANIA RAILHO. STATION ‘coinee ‘OF SRT BA fect 12:01 A.M. March 10.30 paras Se sae Pallman Sleeping, 'D and ¢ a scage, Lis. Es Louie, Goveland “ind “Holede,” Bullet Parlor 1050 xe FAST LINE.—Potiman Boffet Parr Car tc Harrisb a, sburg, ‘Parior and D urge. 8.40 P.M. CHICAGO AND ST. LOUIS EXPRESS. Pullman Buffet Parlor eS to aie a x oe and Di rs, to Bi cinuath, “Louigilie ae .M. EXPRESS. —! man Car’ to Chicago and to Glevelant. ‘i to rf he SOUTHWESTERN EXPRESS.—Pullman Sleeping apd Dining Cars to St. Louls rrisburg to, Cinclnnatl. PACIFI XPRESS. Sleeping arg. for’ Kane, Canandaigua, Rochester and jagara Falls daily, except fo Bins “gay, ee For Willignasport daily, EA & for Williamspor Meters Buffalo Falls daily, et t Saturday, with ity eiepe Suspension Bi 10.10 Pai, xfer Exie, Canandaigua, Rochester, But- fale fe a Niagara Fully dally, Sleeping Car Wash- 4.00 Pa “COON —— mS on” dau, ork Car New York and the ising Ge ante ety 9.00, 10.09 wi ot. ont i aaa 12,15, §.18, £3, "80, y an ‘Sm Sun: (Dining or = Balisoce aaa 7.20-7.50, 9.06, 10.00, ae ae BEGG am Sat o ited), 4. , 7.10, 10.00, " 5 and 11.35 P.M. On San: Ty as 9.00, 9.05, me are ee ES , 6.05, 6.40, 7.10," 00, For eee Gn Line, 7.20 A.M. and 4.36 P.M. daily, ex 22 Aacepol 7.20, 9.00 and 11.50 A.M., and 4.20 HS. roeRt Sunday. Sundays, auante Coast_ Line. a sonville and St. pee ig ks 1U.. week days. bes at 3.00 8 at aay, ails ane aod ae. lanta, S40'BAAl daily: Seiceimot ouiy, 10.97 AAA Accor He, dati, and ccom mn: tic ¥ * STE, 6.05, 6.43, a Alexandria: for 20.15, £0.25 A.M., "1.00," 2.15, 3, .” 7.20," 9.10, 8.00, 9.10, 9.10 Sod’ 11.08 Pst” of Su 6. AM, 2.15, £30, 7.00, 7.00, a, ‘Ticket offices, no t cortier of Peuusyivaula venue, and at the te B streets, where orders can be left for ing of bsggage to destination from botels and 8. M. PREVOST, 3. R. WOOD, General Passenger Agent. ser. mh18 BOUTHERN RAILWAY. (Piedmont Air Line, Schedule in effect March “t, 1895. 5 All trains arrive and leave at cwuieen 8 A.M.—Da eee noes a at Lyncl with the. Nort yeti Tallon B nee Slee a Ss carries Pullman Buffel rs New and Washington to St. aulting at Cbar- Jotte with Pullman Sccper for Augusta; algo Pull- ° in Sleeper New York to Montgomery, with con- nection for New Orleans; ‘connects at Atlanta. with Pullman Sleeper for iirmingbam, Ala., Memphis, Tenn., and Ka Cit; Tor Charlottesville and through ss A ———_ , daily except Sunda: uN NEW YORK AND FLORIDA LIMITED. Pullman Sleepers Ni ington to Augusta and St. St Auustine and ‘Pullman ‘Double Drawing Room Cony Car New York to St, Augustine, Dini lotte to St. Aucustine, first-class ‘day one ustine without change. VASHINGTON AND SOUTH. LIMIT composed of = EST! ED, poumer tibuled Sleepers and Dining Cars, Pull- ‘ nu Bleeeh ‘New York to Asheville and Hot Serine. N. C., via Salisbury, New York to Mem- is via Birmingham and New York to te Fi Orleans te weighs Monteomery: Dining Car eensboro teome TRAINS ON WASHING: IN AND OHIO = {oI leave dal ted = 10 AY M. daily, 4:32 ee andays iy for Herne Returning, arrive at Washinton 8:34 AM. and 3:00 P.M. daily from Round iM, and 7:06 AM. ri, exept Sunday, from Herndon ou! Throt —— rains from the South arrive at Wat A.M., 9:45 A.M., 3:46 P.M. and 9:36 P.’ Manassas Division, 10:52 A.M. daily, except yy, and 10:52 A.M. daily from Charlottesv! Tickets, Sleeping Car reservation and ipformat! ion furnished at oftices, 511 and 1300 Pennsylvania oe. — and at Pennsylvania Railroad Passenger tion. W. H. GREEN, General ae (Eastern System). W.'A. TURK. Gencral Passenger Agent, mhi8) “1 8. BROWN. Gen. Agt. Pass. Dept. CHESATEAKE AND OHIO RAILWAY. Schedule in effect March 4, 1 Trains leave daily from tation (B. and P), 6th and B sts. h the grandest scenery in America, with ri the handsomest and most complete solid train serv- fog. great feotn Washington. 2:25 P.M. Dal “Cincinnatl and, St Youle I. ILY. Special""—Solid Vestibuled, newly Equipped, tric-lighted, Steam-heated’ Train. Pullman's fest . sleeping cars Washington to Cincinnatl, Indianay Us and St. Louls without ge. , Dining from Washington. Arrive Cincinnati, §:00 a.m.; Indiana ag 8 es Chicago, 5:30 St. Lou! 5 Bn ia: DAILY.—The famous “F. F. V. Lt ited.” A” solid vestibuled train, with dining car and Pullman Sleepers for Cincinnati, Lexington and Louisville, without change. Pullman Sleeper Wash- ington to Virginia Hot Springs, without change, Teck dare. Giservation car from, a Arrives Cincinnati, 5.50 p.m.; Lexingt ville, 9:35 p.m. indianapolis. T1:20: pas 7:30 and 'St- Louis, 6:58 ion depot for all point TODT RAL EXCEPT SUNDAY.—For Old Point Comfort faint” ‘alts Only rail line. 3 [0% Charlottesville, wo, Staunton and Pal Virginia points, daily; for Richmond, daily, ex- cepts an locations and tickets at company’s of- tices. "Gis and 1431 Penusylvania avenue. H. W. FULLER, mht General Passenger Agent. BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. chedule in effect Jan. 6, 1895. Leave —— frum station ‘corner of New we and C si For Chicago a tha’ street. catenee, ‘Vestibuled Limited trains 11:25 a.t., vie insmod Zotagaele, Vest im an 9 For Pittsburg and Gieve express daily’ 11:25 ind 8:35 p. ror ‘Vexington Fond Staunton, 11:25 a. nm. For Winchester and way stations, ge ao For Luray, Natural Bridge, Roanok —— pm, dai gre’ cs cae New Orleans, 11:: im, daily, sleeping cars through. @ Por Larar, 3:30" any FS 37:10, 21:30 (8:00 451 Tioutes), © 45-minutes) a.m., _x12.00, 12:05, 00 45-minutes), utes), xo "9:30 2. m2) jinates) "g:23, 4 35:00, 59:00, 10:00, For Hagerstown, ci ya _. For Boyd and way Delta | ‘a1:05 p.m. > For Gai a and = peste 6:00, |B: ab:35, 27:05, bd: 2 epee oe and was ints, b9:00, 50 a.m., bi:15 p.m. = Trains a stoning at Bae aii SLUSLINE SOR” NeW YORE AND PHILADELPHIA, trains Muminated with Pintsch Nght. ror Philadelphia, rae York, Boston and the dase, 8:00 (10:00 a.m. eA DI —< a a Dining Cat), 3:00 6:00 Dining Car), faceping Car pen at 30 ocleck. nday's, Dining Car), ing So, Ex a S00 Dining Can), 8:00 "a 3 ae for passengers wae be jor Cars - all way 4 we Renate 2a Sundays, 4 ee Except x Express trains. Baggage for and checked from hotels and y on orders ‘York avenue and sth stra reetyan ‘and at depot.” New CHAS. 0. SCULL, Gen. Pass. Agt. BR. B. CAMPBELL. Gen ‘Manager. DENTISTRY. Nothing Experimental About our method of painless treatment for ailing teeth. It is entirely scieutific—per- fectly harmless and has proved eminently euccessful whenever used. The advice and attention of a skilled practiclan assured every patron, Extracting without pain, 50 cents. DR. GRAHAM, 307 7th st. . mbil-144 a FREES DENTAL INFIRMARY, Om Ine — 2ou 2 & ohne care Set et anes a p.m. No o Extracting free. ., here Is A Point gown grade of quality and price where anaes tpeeos ae en ‘Our claims of utd rest on superlative service and not on wice—but the association Cer enables us to t fees which private practitioners cannot af- p= the best grade of work. TFread’ our ad, om local page. Potter Drug & Chemical Corp., in best t U. S. Dental Association, $a30-tf COR. 7TH AND D STS. N.W. Sole Proprietors, STEAM CARPET CLEANING Boston, U.S.A. |*® eet ce --Cacets, elsaned in the | Works: fos and 4710 Baws Te mb2-tt M. NEWat’