Evening Star Newspaper, April 13, 1895, Page 17

CHINA'S GREAT CITY Experiences of an American ‘in the Interior City of Hankow. SOME OF THE-QUEER STREET SCENES A Dinner in a Native Restaurantand the Odd Viands. ‘HOW THE CHINESE SMOKE ——— (Copyrighted, 1895, by Frank G. Carpenter.) HE CLOSE OF THE present war may bring about an era of travel and explor- ation in China. As it is, many great cities of the empire have ngver been visited by foreigners. There are certain provinces, containing more peo- ple than the whole United States, in which it has always Deen unsafe to travel, and there are hundreds of curious tribes and clans which are practically unknown tu the people of the western world. Take, for instance, the Hakkas. ‘ How many Americans have heard of them? The ordi- nary Chinese cannot understand them, and still they live here and there all over China and have villages and customs of their own. They do, not bind the feet. They wear broad-brimmed hats instead of caps and the children wear rings of silver around their necks. There are clans in China who do nothing but beg, and there are other clans who are thieves from gene- ration to generation. Who has ever writ- ten up the porcelain districts of China, and how little information we have about the provinces bordering on Burmah and Thib- wt? Numerous descriptioas ef Chinese Ries have been published, but these are usually from travelers who have. been carried rapidly through Shanghai and Can- ton. They will tell you that all Chinese cities are the same. Whereas, the fact is, the Chinese towns diffes as much as our American cities, and every great center I have visited I have found full of strange things, which I saw nowhere else. A Walk Through Hankow. Take a walk with me, for instance, through the great city of Hankow. It con- tains a million people. It is as big as Chi- cego. It is surrounded by a wall as high as a three-story house, and so wide that three railroad trains could run side dy side vpon it without touching. Inside these walls there is a mass of narrow streets, lined with one, two and three-storied houses. Cutting through these there are lenes and cross streets, and most of the streets are six feet wide. The lanes are often not more than two feet wide, and both streets and alleys are covered with the vilest of slime, and you pick your way through .a mas$ of indescribable filth as you go through them. The widest of the streets are the great business thorough- fares, walled with stores and shops, and which are packed with a mass of Chinese humanity from sunrise until dark. This mass surges this way and that. It is worse than a jam at a county fair, and laborers, ‘carrying all kinds of wares, push their way through it. The narrower streets are little more than alleys walled with houses, comprising factories, dwell- ing and business establishments. The en- trarces to many of these are merely Ifeles in the wails. Others have wide doors lead- ing into courts, and others introduce you intg the shops of mechanics, where you see half-naked coolies doing the thousand and one things of a busy Chinese city. Walk- ing through these lanes, the foreigner seems to be taking his life in his hands. The streets are so narrow that you can sterd in the middle and press the opposite walls with your hands. Two men can hardly pass, and you instinctively squeeze yourself in your efforts to tighten your skin and keep out of the collisions which appear imminent at. every curve. Here comes a coolie, bare-backed and bare-leg- ged. He is one of the thousand slop car- "Fortune Teller. riers of the town. A bar six feet long rests upon his shoulder, and from the ends of this hang two great buckets, each holding four gallons of the vilest of slop. He comes toward you on a swinging trot, and the buckets screw up and down, and the slop splashes to and fro, as he passes you. You put your smelling bottle to your nose, draw your knees close together and hug the wall, to let him go by. Behind him come two scowling Chinamen carrying hides. They have a half ton of raw skins swung in the center of a pole, which rests upon their shoulders, and they grunt and grunt in a harmony of woe, as they rush toward you. Other laborers behind follow with other loads, and you note that every couple has its own peculiar grunt or sound. Some cry “O-ah, O-ah; E-he, E-he, O-ho. O-ho, E-he.” The men on the wharves have their own grunt, and even men working alone make spasmodic noises of the most horrible kinds to help them in their work. The Song of the Wheelbarrow. But behind these laborers comes another machine, which has a screech of its own. It ts the Hankow wheelbarrow, with a half ton of freight strapped to its side. “It almost scrapes the walls, and you would be ground up by it were there not an open @ocerway in which you could step. These wheelbarrows are all made so as to screech out their song of toil, and their larynx is a piece of bamboo, whi is purposely fitted in, so that it pre: ainst the wheel of the barrow. These barrows are unlike any other you see in China, and they are pe- culiar to the province of Hupeh. By the time you have jumped out of the way,of one of them you find yourself rushing into something else. There are dirty Chinese hogs, black and ugly, splattered with mud, and there are yellow dogs, covered with mange and fleas. The hogs try to run be- tween your legs. The dogs snap at you, and while they will let the Chinese go by without barking they can recognize a for- eigner three blocks away, and they will howl until he is out of sight. I cannot describe the filth of a Chinese city. Peking is worse than a barnyard, and the vilest cow yard in America is cleaner than the mud through which you wade in walking through Hankow. You have to keep your eyes on your feet, and there is no bone factory in the United States which surpasses the smell arising from the streets on a wet day. Here and there along the - business streets or in the sitle streets. just off of the most thronged parts of the city, you will pass great vats splashed ‘with the vilest of dir! These are public water close: They are owned by private par- ties, who grow rich by selling the sewerage to the farmers. How the Chinese Do Business. But let us get into the business parts of the cities and take a look at the stores. ‘There are*tens of thousands of them and they are packed together like the booths of a fair. They are all opened to the streets, and the most of them are filled with cus- tomers. They are walled with shelves, and twelve feet square makes a big store. Some of them have floors of cement, some are boards and others no floors but dirt. The signboards hang up ard down the stores instead of across the top as with us. These signs are so many that they almost fill the streets. They nearly gover the fronts of some of the shops, and the drug stores advertise their patent medicines by THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1895-TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. 17 such signboards. These signs are pushed this way and that by the crowds which continually move through them. What a curious crowd it is. Jump up on this stone and take a look up and down the street. A river of Chinese humanity is flowing both ways. below you, mixing in and out in an ever-changing stream of blues,whites, reds and browns. There are coolizs by the hundreds carrying great burdens. There are coolies harnessed to big wheelbarrows, which would load down a wagon; coolies carrying barrels of oil, boxes of tea, loads of brick, buckets of ducks, and in short, everything under the Chinese sun. There are men rushing along with the big chairs of mandarins and with the little chairs of women. There are dirty boys by the hun- dreds, who have greasy pigtails hanging down their dirty backs, and who look at you and yell out “baby kidnaper” or “for- eign devil” as soon as your back. is turned. There are women who seem-to almost fall as they hobble along on their - mutilated feet. Thero are old Chinamen in big spec- tacles, and young Chinamen in silk gowns. ‘There are dandies and dudes, scholars and servants, merchants and mechanics, each in his own dress, pushing and shaving his ‘way through the mass..There are queer Chinamen from the country with great straw hats turned up at the-sides, who gawk along like a farmer boy during his first visit to New York, and there are dilet- tante blase Chinese gentiemen, who move slowly along and keep up tneir dignity as best they can tn this curious, ever-changing river of Chinese humanity. Queer Chinese Trades. Keep your place upon the stone and note the queer things that are going on ali around you; the street is narrow, but it is made narrower by tha peddlers and squat- ters.. It seems to be free for all, and the shkcemaker, with a box like that of a black- smith, sits and sews away in the street half soling the shoes of his customers while they wait. He uses tacks, the heads of which are as big as a nickel, to hold the sole, and instead of leather he puts on soles of cloth. Further on there is a_ fortune teller, with a lot of forms and cards about him. His finger nails are a foot in length, and he can tell you your past and your fu- ture by the stars. What is that veil of black hanging against the opposite wall. There is a man Rats and Ducks. in a blue gown standing beside it. He has a box of money near him and his cus- tomers are many. He is selling something. It looks like horse hair, and those who leave c&rry away long strands, which he takes off from nails which have been driv- en into the white wall. It may be he is selling fly brushes. Let us get closer. No, they are not fly brushes, they are long switches of human hair, which the Chinese buy to braid into their cues. There is a great trade in hair, and cart- loads of it are brought from Corea every year, and the peddlers a false hair carry on a regular business. bought a cue my- self in Hankow. It cost me 25 cents, and my Chinese servant bought two cues at the same time. I carried my cue for some weeks, and when I changed my servant it disappeared, and I have no doubt but that my boy Chang is now wedring it. In a Chinese Restaurant. As we go on with our. walk we find hun- dreds of curious stores, and we see every- where evidences that the Chinese appetite is Gargantuan, and that the mighty Chi- ese stomach takes much to fill it. There are stores, which sell nothing but fowl and dried ducks. Geese and chickens hang from lites stretched across the front of the store, so that they make a veil shutting it off from the sidewalk. There are butcher shops where pork and mutton are offered for sale, and there are little booths, in which there are great vats of water filled with live fish. We stop and watch the fish peddler serve a poor customer. A small- footed woman dressed in a long, blue cot- ton gown, wants a pound of fish, and the peddiler- pulls a large squirming fish out of the water and lays it on the counter. He takes a long knife, which is as sharp as a razor, and cuts a slice out of its quivering side. The blood flows, and he throws the remains of the now haif-live fish into the water, hoping that it may live until another customer comes along to buy the balance. Here is a Chinese restaurant. Let us go in and get a bite to stay our stomachs, which have been turned over and over by the dis- gusting sights of our trip. It-consists of a dozen rooms, separated by screens of carved Chinese fretwork, on the back of which white paper is pasted. Each room is filled with teak-ws tables, which look like ebony, and whi are about four feet square. There are chairs beside them, and we take our seats, while the frouzy servant brings in cups of tea, with the saucers turned over their tops to keep in the aroma. We take off the saucers and tilt them s0 they act as strainers for the cups, just touching the tea and keeping the leaves back as we drink. We are next served with @ soup, filled with little bits of pork,~and then with the stew, which is thick with cubes of chicken, about the size of a dice. Gate of Haukow. We pick these out with clean wooden chop- sticks and eat the soup With a spoon. I take out my pencil and begin to sketch. A crowd gathers about me, and the Chinese waiter, whose picture I have taken looks sheepish and mad. I ask as to the prices, end find that I am paying twenty-one cagh, or about ¥ cent per dish. I.can get a-pipe of tobacco for three cash, or one-sixth of a cent, and a good handful of water melon seeds for fourteen cash. I am surprised to see how many people eat such seeds. They tire the peanuts of China, and they are served at every theater between the acts. All classes eat them, and nearly every Chinaman has them somewhere about his clothes. There are tea saloons in every Chinese street, and you can get your cup of tea and your water melon seeds any- where. There are restaurants of all classes, from those which sell dog’s and cat’s flesh, and which you find in the slums to others, where you can pay $5 and up- ward for a good dinner. The Chinese are good cooks, and 1 had a number of fairly gcod meals in the common restaurants. The chief viands were boiled chicken and rice, roast pork and roast duck, and if any tender dogs, cats or.rats were palmed off upon me, I did not know it. 5 The Land of the Doughnet. I looked in vain for any signs of baking, and the Chinese have no such. thing as baked bread. They boil their dough, and you can get bolled biscuits: almost any- where. They are great on frying dough in grease, and north China may be called the land of the doughnut. It is the general opirion that the Chinese live almost en- tirely upon rice. This is a great mistake.’ Rice is expensive everywhere, and the peo- ple of the north are too poor to eat it. They use millet seed and sorghum seed, which are ground up like we grind wheat. Rice is the bread of south China, and pork is the chief meat all over the empire. The average Chinese hog is the dirtiest animal in the world. It gets its living off of the foul refuse of the city’s streets, and the biggest of the Chinese cities permit the pigs to run’ wild- wit them: There are different grades of pork \n China, as there are in America, and the finest kind of pork comes from an island south of Hong Kong. ‘The pigs here are fed upon chestnuts. They are shipped to all parts of China, and they bring high prices. The better class of Chi- nese will not touch rats, and dogs are usually eaten by the well-to-do Chinese only as medicine. Sucking pigs form a part of each big feast, but they are brought on the table cut up into little cubes, sd that they can be eaten with chopsticks. The Chinese are fond of some kinds of worms, and there is a greenish-brown worm, which comes from the rice field, which brings high prices in the markets. ‘They eat silk worm grubs, and in some s parts of the empire the poorer people eat snakes. In Amoy and Swatow snakes are Bold for food and they are used to make soup. They are quite expensive, and a good-sized snake of the right variety will bring_ seventy-five cents. I found the The average laborer rod buys his lunch where he works if-he belongs to the cities, and wherever there is a band of workmen you find from one to-a dozen iunch peddlers. It is | the same as to smoking. On nearly every corner you find a table with a lot of pipes upon it, and a man standing beside it read: to rent them out forca fraction of a cent smoke. The pipes are made of copper, and they are a soit of a water pipe, with which you draw the smoke through the water be- fore it comes‘into your mouth. The bowls hold about a thimbleful of tobacco, and the pipe has to be lighted-about every two min- utes. Of late years the Chinese of the sea- ports have taken to smoking cigarettes, and you find great quantities of American cigarettes consumed in Shanghai and Can- ton. i Slime and Filth. In my walks through the Chinese cities the things that impressed me most were the things that I did not see. I looked in vain for street lamps. There was no sign of sewerage, and the public buildings were more like stables than anything else. The only fire preventives were wells which had been dug here and there, and which were kept full in order to use in case of conflagrations, and great clay jars which were placed on the roofs of some of the houses. I was told that the houses were numbered, and at the corners I saw char- acters which gave a description or census of the families of the neighborhood. Most of the streets of the cities which I visited outside of Peking were paved with stone, which had been worn smooth by the bare and shod feet of a thousand generations of human beings. Outside of the hogs and the dogs, you see few animals in one of tiiese big towns. There are no carts and no carriages. The men ride through the streets in chairs, and the merchandise is carried by men or pushed and dragged through the city in wheelbarrows. There are no statues and ro public squares, ex- cept, perhaps, where a place may have been left fo: a market. There are no tele- graph lines and no tall buildings. The roofs are of heavy black tiles, and most of the city houses are built of blue brick with a foundation of stone. I saw no signs of cel- lars, though under some of the streets there are drains and some have gutters. Both drains and gutters are usually stopped up, and they form the breeding places for dis- ease and. bad smells. The filth of a Chinese city is, in fact, be- yond description. Peking is worse than a barnyard, and the vilest cow yard in America ts cleaner than the mud through which you wade in walking through Hankow. You have to keep your eyes on your feet, and there is no bone fac- tory’ in the United States which sur- passes the smell arising from the streews on a wet day. Here and there along the business streets or in the side streets, just off of the raost thronged parts of the city, you will pass great vats splashed with the vilest of dirt. These are public water closets. They are owned by private parties, who grow rich by seHing the sewerage to the farmers. You go on and on through scenes like those I have described until you can stand it no longer, and give your guide directions to hurry you back to your hotel. FRANK G. CARPENTER. — FLOWERS AND THE VOICE. Curious Effect of Perfumes on Singers —The Violet the Worst. From the British Medical Journal. Miss May Yohe has confided to an inter- viewer the interesting fact that she cannot bear to have flowers near her when sing- ing, as their perfume utterly destroys htr voice. The lady added that she could not account for this “curious fact.” The effect of flowers on the voice has recently ex- cited a good deal of attention in France, and Dr. Joal of Mont Dore has published an elaborate paper on the subject. He relates @ number of cases which have come under his own observation in which thickness, huskiness and even complete loss of voice are always caused by penetrating odors. In some persons ft is only the perfume of particular flowers that produces this effect; in others the odor of incense or musk, or the smells' of the kitchen, tanyard or smithy act in the same way. ‘The bad effect of flowers on the voice is so well known among singers that M. Faure, Mme. Krause and other eminent teachers caution their pupils against hav- ing’ them in their dressing rooms, and a jealous prima donna has been known to se- cure herself against the possible triumph of a rival by treacherously presenting her with a magnificent bouquet just before she went on the stage. Testimony to the evil effects of flowers on the voice is borne by Mme. Christine Nilsson and other famous singers, and by laryngologists lke Dr. Fauvel and Dr. Gouguenheim of Paris. The flower which has the worst reputa- tion in this respect is the violet, but there is no evidence that it is really more harm- ful to the voice than other sweet-smelling flowers, such as the*rose, the mignonette, the heliotrope, the lily of the valley, the gardenia, the llac and the tube rose. The explanation of this ccrious idiosyncrasy is probably to be found in a special sensitive- ness of the elfactory mucous membrane to the action, mechanical or chemical, of cer- tain odorous particles. The mechanism is, roughly speaking, congestion of the mucous membrane of the turbinate bodies, which, it will be remembered, is largely erectile, followed by reflex vasomotor disturbance of the vocal apparatus. Dr. Joal says that the effect manifests itself not only in conges- tion of the nose, nosopharynx and larynx, but in paresis of the constrictor, muscles of the glottis and spasms of the bronchial tubes. The respiratory capacity, as tested by the spirometer, is notably reduced, and the voice not only loses brilliancy and vol- ume, but part of its compass, and the singer is much more easily fatigued than in his natural state. The moral seems to be ®hat singers who are the subjects of this particular infirmity must banish not only flowers, but all strong perfumes from their environment if they wish their voices to be at their best; in particular, they must be careful not to ac- cept bouquets from injudicious admirers or rival artists. : 100. Edward Everctt’s Classical Joke. From the Worcester Gazette. It was itter one of the late Mr. Vaux's political speches in Boston, but on the same evening, that there was wafted into a certain Boston newspaper office a bit of paper bearing only the words, in a neat handwriting well known in that office: Vaux, et preterea nihil. It was a twisting of the Latin word vox, of course. The phrase means “A voice and rothing more.” The lines can still be found in the trifle column of the files of the Daily Advertiser, and the handwriting of the copy, if it existed, would be found to bear a strong resemblance to that of the late Edward Everett. Mr. Everett had a lively sense of humor, which would never be guessed from his orations. ee The Kodak Can Lie. From the Strand Magazine. The amateur photographer who is also an angler is well aware that his camcra will back him up when boasting of his piscatorial prowess. One photo I saw rep- resented a huge fish, the length of which appeared to equal that of a two-foot rule, which was also shown. In reality the “take” was a little dace of carp, and while being photographed it had been held very close to the lens. The rule, of course, was taken some distance away. ARTIFICIAL LIQUOR Counterfeit Beverages Made by the ' Government for Odd Purposes. HOW 10 DETECT, FRAUDULENT DRINKS The Materials Used in Imitating the Genuine Article. ET ci 38 -.D\ON ——s—— ° HOW E Written for The Evening Star. . QUART BOTTLE of rum stood yester- day on the desk of Prof. Wiley, chemist of the Department of Agriculture. It was “not the real article, but a counterfeit. “Nevertheless, nobody gould- have distin- guished it by taste ‘or smell from the genuine stuff. . This bottleful of “f quor represented a new idea—a fresh departure that is being taken by the government, which proposes to investigate fraudulent distilled bever- ages. With this end in view, Uncle Sam's experts are now manufacturing imitations of rum, whisky, gin and brandy, similar to those commonly sold, Samples are sent to members of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists all over the country for analysis. The purpose is to ascertain whether the false ingredients can be de- tected, and, if so, how. If sure means for distinguishing such frauds can be found chemists will be able-to testify against them in the courts, and eventually they may be driven out of the market. The manufacture of essences for flayoring counterfeit liquors is a\very extensive in- dustry in this country. “These essences are nearly all ethers of organic acids—that is to Bay, acids derived the oxidation of various alcohols. There’are many kinds of alcohols. For example, the “wood spirits,” obtained by. the distifldtion of wood, are called “methyl alcohol.”’, By the fermenta- tion of potatoes is got “amyl alcohol,” oth- erwise known as fusel oil. The fermenta- tion of sugar yields “ethyl alcohol,” which is the common alcohol of commerce. Gly- cerine is a species of alcohol. Incidentally, ft is worth mentioning that only some of the alcohols possess intoxicating properties. Work of the Chemist. Raw whisky fresh from the still contains many kinds of alcohols, together with va- tious essential olls. These aléohels during the process of ripening become oxidized and form ethers and acids, which are flavoring matters. One of the most important of these-is valerianic acid—a compound which the chemist finds no difficalty in reproduc- ing in the laboratory by artificial means. In the same way he is able to reproduce all of the other ethers and-acids wnich occur naturally in whisky; er rumor gin. ‘These artiticial psoductsJare put up in bottles and sold uhder the name of es- sences. - In nearly cevery: Big city in the United States great, planjg have been es- tablished for the purpose of manufacturing such flavoring corhpbundé!! In fact, the business is conducted'on such a scale that one might reasonablyswonder whether any real liquors of honest makes were on the market. The bottled, essences are sold to people who call themselves “rectifiers,” and the latter use them’in the’stmple processes required for turning: out*‘offhand *unlim- ited quantities of spirituous beverages of all sorts. The following ;facts as to the methods employed are likely to be inter- esting to anybody who takes an occasional “nip” over a bar or.is fond of a glass of toddy at home: Whether it is brandy, whisky, gin or rum that is to be made, the ba: is always the same—namely, cologne spirits. Cologne spirits are refined “high wines,” High wines ave coarse spifits produced from grain by strong fer: tation amd distill- ing. They contain much. fusel oil and other objectionable crudities. After being refined by passing them through charceal and by other processes, they are called cologne spirits. Cologne spirits are neu in fla- vor, being practically tasteless, afd thus they readily absorb whatever ftavors ma) be introduced. The cotopt of the indust of manufacturing countérfeit liquors may be judged from the fact that nearly one- half of the -productien .6f spirits in this country is in the shape of high wines and cologne spirits. n ¢ Use of Essences. Cologne sprits are nearly pure alcohdl. To make whisky the manufacturer first re- duces them to the requisite stréngth by adding 40 or 50 percent of water. He puts in a few ounces of the proper essence for each barrelful, supplemented with a little burnt sugar for coloring, and lo! the result is a barrel of “pure rye” or “pure Bourbon” whisky, any number of years old, according to the choice of label. For brandy, rum or gin the process is the same; it is only the kind of essence that varies. The coloring matter employed is always burnt sugar, which is bottled in liquid form and sold by the manufacturer of essences: By this simple means the innocent consumer is fur- nished with brandy that never saw a grape, rum derived from corn instead of molasses and gin in the production of which the juniper berry has borne no part. On Professor Wiley’s desk yesterday were a number of bottles containing the essences described. They were variously labeled “Bourbon Whisky,” “Rye Whis- ky,” “Cognac Brandy,’ each Brandy,” “Apple Brandy,” Holland Gin,” “Jamaica Rum,” “Blackberry Brandy,” ete. Each label bore directions for the manufacture of the article indicated. For bourbon whis- ky the user was to add to one barrel of cologne spirits an ounce of the essence, with one pint of sirup and two ounces of the coloring. Or the same barrel of co- logne spirits might be transformed into Holland gin by adding four ounces of the proper essence and one quart of sirup. This liquor being white no coloring is re- quired. Supposing Jamaica rum to be pre- ferred, it is necessary to add eight ounces of the appropriate essence, one pint of sirup and five ounces of the coloring. Like processes were applicable to all of the other kinds of liquors, save in the case of blackberry brandy, the recipe for which was more elaborate. To make blackberry brandy, take fourteen gallons of diluted cologne spirits, four ounces of essence, six gallons of cherry juice, four gallons of sirup, four gallons of sweet cider, fifteen gallons of hot water, one pint of coloring and four ounces of tartaric acid. : How They Are Made. The manufacturers of these artificial flavoring compounds, also, put up great quantities of what they ¢all “punch es- sence,” for use by barkeepers. Somé of the recipes are quite interesting. For “ glish punch essence” take one gallon of artificial rum, two ounces of citric acid, three ounces of essence of orange or lemon; two ounces of tincture of vanilla, three drachms of tincture of cinnamon and four pints of alcohol, adding one gallon of spirits. For milk punch add to the above eight pints of milk when ready for use. It is further stated that by combining sherry and various other wines with arti- ficial rum or articial cognag, flavoring with lemon, orange, cinnamon, ete., and add- ing tea or different extracts, a great num- ber of appetizing punches may be pre- pared, which, “well iced, may be served at the soda water counter with carbonated water.” This, of course, applies particu- larly to temperance towns. To muke ginger ale, take fifteen ounces of ground ginger root, six ounces of sliced and cut orange peel, two ounces of nut- meg, six drachms of vanilla beans, two ounces of cinnamon, fifteen grains of cap- sicum—presumably the same kind that is used for porous plasters—and of ordinary commercial alcohol “sufficient.’’ To distinguish counterfeit distilled liquors with sufficient certainty to swear to their character in court is very difficult, even for the best-equipped expert. This is so be- cause they are precisely-the same chemi- cally. as the veritable articles which they imitate. As has been said, the flavoring compounds are identical in their nature with the ethers and acids naturally pro- duced. The object of the present work, which has only just been taken up, is to enable chemists all over the country to acquire a better knowledge as to.means for detecting such frauds. With this erid. in view they will study samples of the ar- tificial Hquors produced in the govern- tment laboratory. For some years past the Department of Agriculture has been en- in investigating fermented bever- ages, including ales, beers and wines. In the case of beer the most common cheat is the substitution of glucose or hominy grits for malt. Artificial Wines. Wines are sophisticated chiefly by fortify- ing them with alcohol derived from grain. The law permits the fortification of wines up to 25 per cent of alcohol, but it is re- quired that the alcohol shall be obtained from grapes. Wines wholly artificial are made by taking cologne spirits and re- ducing them to 10 or 20 per cent of alco- hol by adding water, then putting in the requisite few ounces of flavoring essences and coloring. The coloring employed is usually cochineal or aniline red. But no artificial wines worth mentioning are made in the United States, simply because those produced by nature are so cheap. Good claret can be bought in California for 25 cents a gallon. If the grape owners could get that price right along they would be glad. Grapes are sold now in that state for $8 to $10 a ton. In fact, prices are so low that thousands of acres of vineyards in California have been ploughed up within the last three or four years and turned to better-paying uses. Nearly all wities are blended. They go from the vineyards to the wine houses, where the blends are made “for what are known as standard brands. There is no objection to this. Quite the contrary, in fact, inasmuch as the consumer could not otherwise get the same sort of wine twice running, for the reason that the flavors and other characteristics of the products of different vineyards vary. The demand for “brut” wines is very limited any way. A “brut” wine is one that is obtained from a single vineyard and has no blend. Some champagnes are “brut,” but they are hard to get. It is not easy to find in one locality an area, with ali the climatic and other conditions suitable for grape-growing,which is large enough to supply the market with a brand peculiar to itself. Thus it comes about that practically all of the standard wines both in this country and abroad are blended. Notwithstanding the fad for the “import- ed” article, champagnes are now made in this country which are quite as good in all respects as those of European make. It is commonly stated that American cham- pagnes are apt to be artificially carbonated. This is of no importance, if true. Chem- ically speaking it amounts to the same thing as natural carbonation. The only material difference is that artificially car- bonated wine loses its life more quickly when poured into a glass. If the carbona-, tion is natural, though the wine may have stood long enough to look dead, a shake of the glass will cause fresh bubbles to ap- pear. The gas seems to exist in a different combination from that of the artificial gas, but even the chemists do not understand In what the difference les. Champagnes are usually fortified to some extent, some of them containing as much as 20 per cent of alcohol. RENE BACHE, —————cee_+ __— * The Provider's Rights. From the Philadelphia Record. - Joy was injected into the hearts of those unhappy husbands who are compelled te submit to the autocratic wills of their wives and eat unchallenged any dish placed before them by a decision rendered by Magistrate Hughes in a case ke had be- fore him on Wednesday. A wife had se- cured the arrest of her husband upon the charge of assault and battery. When the case was brought before the magistrate the woman was told to tell her story. She declared that her husband had been drink- ing sea ey, had a quarrel, and he had er. replied, “I had frizzled beef for supper, and he said he wanted beefsteak, and I’ toid him he would haye to eat what was before him.” “Does your husband work every day?” asked the judge. ‘‘Yes, sir,” she an- swered. “Does he furnish the money to provide for his family?” The woman again replied in the affirmative. “The case js dis- missed,” exclaimed the judge. ‘‘You should have provided him with beefsteak.” The woman stood for a moment astonished at the decision before turning towafd the ‘door. “Yes, and his money paid for that warrant, too,” she spitefully exclaimed as she passed out. A Vigorous Centenarian. From the London Daily News. A Norwegian “Illustrated” gives the por- trait of a countrywoman, Kirsti, Eyleif’s daughter, 106 years of age, resident at the Scgnefiord. At the age of 102 Kirsti, after a stay of several years with her son in another valley, returned to her birthplace at Sognefiord, and walked a considerable part of the distance. At the age of 104 she went to a provincial exhibition with spinning works and won a prize, Her eyesight is still remarkably strong. In 1894 the old woman was obliged to take to ted for influenza, but recovered easily. SS Another Tradition Obsolete. From the Westminster Gazette. : Yesterday a new departure was witnessed without any protest in the ceremonial ob- servances of: the house of commons. The Right Hon. Robert Spencer, as controller of the royal household, in full levee cos- tume, was the bearer of a message from the throne. Having delivered the message, Mr. Spencer advanced up the floor of the heuse and disappeared behind the speaker’s chair. It has been the invariable practice on such occasions for the controller, on handing the message to the speaker, to retire down the floor of the house, stepping backward, facing the chair, and bowing at intervals. From Life. The Mother—‘Yes, our: baby weighedtwelve pounds when it was born.” The retired butcher (deeply interested)—“Without the bones?’’—Life. THE BABY WOULDN'T CRY. Edison Secured the Phonographic Record of His First Born’s Woe. From the New York Herald. Here is a story they tell over the tea- cups in Orange, N. J., where Edison lives: ‘The phonograph came to the Edison labo- ratory and the first baby to the Edgson home about the seme time, and when tke baby was old enough fo say ‘‘Goo-goo" and pull the great inventor’s hair in a ‘most disrespectful manner, the phono- graph was near enough perfection to cap- ture the baby talk for preservation among the family archives. So Mr. Edison filled up several rolls with these pretty inarticu- lations and laid them carefully away. But this was not sufficient. The most picturesque thing about the baby’s utter- ances was ‘ts crying, and the record of this its fond father determined to secure. How it would entertain him in his old age, he thought, to start the phonograph a-go- ing and hear again the baby wails of his first born. é So one afternoon Mr. Edison tore himself from his work and climbed the big hill leading to his house. He went in a great hurry, for he is a man who grudges every working moment from his labor. A work- man followed at his heels, carrying the only phonograph that at that time had been sufficiently completed to accomplish really good resuits. 7 Reaching home and the nursery, Mr. Edi- son started the phonograph and brought the baby in front of it. But the baby didn’t cry. Mr. Edison tumbled the youngster about and rumpled its hair, and did all sorts of things, but still the baby didn’t ery. Then he made dreadful faces, but the baby thought they were very funny and crowed joy>usly. So back to the labora- tory went Mr. Edison in a very unpleasant frame of mind, for the baby’s untimely good humor had cost him an hour of work. ‘The phonograph was also taken back. But he did not give it up. The next af- ternoon he went home again, and the pho- nograph with him. But if the baby was good natured the day before, this time it was absolutely cherubic. There was noth- ing at all that its father could do that did not make the baby laugh. Even the pho- nograph itself, with its. tiny, whirring wheels, the baby thought was meant for its special entertainment, and gurgled joy- ously. So back to work the inventor went again, with a temper positively ruffled. The next day and the next he tried it, but all to no purpose. The baby would not cry, even when waked suddenly from sleep. But to baffle Edison is only to inflame his determination, which, by the way, is one of the secrets of his success. So at length, after much thought, he made a mighty re- solve. It tcok a vast amount of determi- nation on his part to screw himself up to the point, of .committing the awful deed, but he succeeded at last, and one morning, when he knew his wife was down town, he went. quietly home with the phonograph and stole-into the nursery, where the baby greeted him with customary glee. Starting the machine, Mr. Edison ordered the nurse to leave the room. Then he took the baby on his knee and bared its chubby Aittle leg. He took the tender flesh be- tween his thumb and finger, clenched his teeth, shut his eyes tight and made ready to—yes, actually to pinch the baby’s leg. But just at that fateful moment the nurse peeped through the door, and per- ceiving the horrid plot fiounced in and res- cued the baby in the_nick of time. Mr. Edison breathed a mighty sigh of re- lief as he gathered up the phonograph and went back to the laboratory. He then gave up the project of phonographing the baby's crying. . But not long afterward he accomplished his purpose after all, and quite unexpect- edly, too. As soon as the baby was old enough to “take notice,” its doting mother took it down to the laboratory one sunny day, and when the big machinery was started a-roaring, the baby screwed up its face, opened its mouth and emitted a series of woeful screams tht made Mr. Edison leap to his feet. “Stop the machinery and start.the pho- nograph!” he shouted, and the record of his baby’s crying was then and there ac- complished. e+ WHERE IS DAISY GREGORY? A Father's Pathetic Senrch for a Daughter Stolen for Ransom. From the St. Paul Daily Globe. Remarkable persistency and fatherly af- fection are displayed in the search of Ajlan R. Gregory for his daughter, who disappear- ed mysteriously from her home near Val- lejo, Cal., about ten years ago. Mr. Gres- ory is now in St. Paul at the home of fiends on University averue. His daugh- ter was fourteen years old when she dis- appeared, and it was supposed that she was carried off by bandits or stage robbers,who infested the neighborhood of Vallejo at that time. Presumably she was kidnaped for ransom, as Gregory was a wealthy cat- tleman and abundantly able to pay a large sum for ber return. A week after her disappearance Gregory received a communication saying the girl would be returned to him on payment of $8,000. The letter appointed a place of meet- ing, and expressly stipulated that he was to appear alone. ‘Thinking to. circumvent the outlaws arid ‘secure: the girl without payment of the heavy ransom demanded, Gregory approached the meeting point at- tended by a score of cowboys and cattle- men of the neighborhood. They waited in the deep shadows for an hour, but no mys- terious messenger appeared. The vicinity was then thoroughly searched, but not a trace of any one could be found. From that time forth Mr. G *s search has been constant, and likewise fruitless. Once, two years ago, he secured trace of her in Boston, but lost the trail eventually, and ‘was as much at sea as ever. He has spent thousands of. dollars in his wanderings about the country, but is no, nearer a solu- tion of the mystery than he was the night the child was stolen away. The girl was fourteen years of age when kidnaped, and, if alive, is now a woman grown. Her name was Daisy Maria Gregory, and her father fondly recalls her as the prettiest young girl in all California. Gregory, though but fifty-three years of age, has the appearance of a man of eighty. He looks careworn and haggard, and his hair is almost snowy white, all caused by the agony he has suffered during the ten years of his loneliness. Se His Three Reasons. ° From the Boston Herald. “Take something to drink?” friend. “No, thank you. “No! Why not?” =~ “In the first place,” said the party in question, “because I am secretary to a temperance society that is to meet today, and I mvst be consistent. In the second place, this is the anniversary of my -fath- er’s death, and out of respect to his mem- ory I have promised never to drink on this day. And, in the third place, I have just said- his taken something.” , tes. Remarkable. - From Life. Mrs. Twickenham (to Mrs, Longlane on twenty-fifth wedding anniversary).— “What a young looking man your husband is! I was just telling him that it didn’t -| seem possible that he had lived with you for twenty-five years.” ie STARTLD G FACT. Sixteen Per Cent of Life Insurance Applicants Rejected om Account of Disensed Kidneys. Dr. Lambert, the general medical director of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, New York, reported to have sek We reject sixteen per cént of the applications for insurance, and I have saved the entire expeuse of this medical departinent by the rejection of applicants who had diseased kid- neys, and who died within two years after I re- Jected them.” ‘This appalling statement should have the atten- tion of our cjtizens. ‘There is no reason today why people should allow kidney disease, te get such a hold on them. Nature sends her warning in the slight pain in the poor circulation of the blood, Sediment in the urine. When any of these ‘symp- toms appear Dr. David Kennedy's Favorite Remedy shonid-be taken im small doses at once, and thus drive the poison out of the. llood and restore the kidneys to healthy action. To our knowledge this is the only medicine that surely cures this almost universal complaint. ‘We note the recovery of Mr. Oscar Lambert of Jerico, Mo., whose case has been talked of in the papers the world over. Quoting from his letter to the Press, Mr. Lambert says: “I neglected the first symptoms until I found myself in bed with a complicated disease of the kidneys. No mortal ever suffered more and lived. My physician falled to help me. T then used Dr. David Kennedy's Fa- vorlte Remedy. It relieyed my kidneys almost im- mediately, and in a few weeks I was clear of all pain and eptirely cured. Favorite Remedy has had more free advertising in the columns of the daily papers than anything we know of, from the fact that it docs os \—cures disease. PORTURED THIRTY YEARS His Sufferings Ended After Using Munyon’s Rheumatism Cure. “Mr. George Smith of Tacony, Pa., says: “I suf- fered from rheumatism for 30 years, and bad so amany. severe attacks that some of my joints were twisted out of sbape. At times I suffered terrible pain, and. although I tried many remedies, 4 never obtained any permanent relief until I procured Mun- yon’s Rheumatism Cure. The action of this rem- edy was wonderfully quick, and, although I have only taken a small quantity, I consider myself per- manently cured.”* Munyon’s Rheumatism Cure is guaranteed to cure rheumatism in any part of the body. Acute or muscular rheumatism cured in from one to five days. It never falls to cure sharp, shooting pains in the arms, legs, sides, back or breast, or serences in any part of the body, in from one to three hours. It is guaranteed to promptly care lamencss, stiff and swollen joints, stiff back and all pains in the hips and loins, Chronic rheumatism, sciatica, lum- bago or pain in the back are speedily cured. Munyon’s Homoeopathic Home Remedy Company of Philadelphia put up specifics for nearly every disease, which are sold by all druggists, mostly for 25 cents a bottle. a absolutely free of all charge. The be sent tu any address on receipt of Easter Novelties. For the next 3 will offer Solid ae Se a fer Sterling Violet Holder, 20c, 14-K. Side Combs, $1.54 And b of other novelties too numerous ty mention, and which be seen appre- wi must to be ciated. We have a te live of Belt Bur Shell Hair Gombe ‘Card. Cases ant "pocketoootee “These are our Easter specialties. Tea Spoons, $6 doz. “Liberty” Gilt Clocks, $4.50 S. DESIO, © 1012 F St, ; Plate and Window Glass ‘THERE ARE OTHERS, BUT WE ARE THE ONLY HOUSE IN THE CITY TO CARRY A STOCK Plate Glass. We Have It, not on paper, but in our warthouse, 1809 and 1811 E street. Call and let us show it to you and fill your orders. New York prices. Quick delivery. | Francis Miller, 307 othSt. N.W. mb16-1m YOUR FAT Can. Be Reduced. Washington Physicians In- dorse Dr. Edison’s Obes- ity Pills and Fruit Salt. re i‘ AE jedi antitieiscatel ver LORING & CO., 42 West 224 st., Depa ise .. 42 West : 74. New York. Chicago, Department Ni Ne 116 State street. jesse” aM Me Latest and Best, The C. P. Importers make them. §a7-42d5m ocho a Pretty, Dainty Spring Shoes —— «A a the cleverest and Dest ideas of shoe designer and maker. ONE OF THE PRETTIEST, AND HAND- SOMEST STOCKS OF SP’RING SHOES WE HAVE EVER OFFERED. Our Bargain Tables are always full of —_—— choice. pickings. in odds and ends. Oxfords—A fine lot, $1.35 to $2.50. —— _THESE PRICES REP! THEIR ACTUAL WORTH. There are ail sorts and a wealth of 23 OF styles for a choice. The prices enumerated serve as an index to the prices ruling throughout our entire stock. Shoe House, Geo. W- Rich, g19 F St.