Evening Star Newspaper, July 20, 1895, Page 16

16 IN A COUNTRY TOWN Where Some Parisians Go to Enjoy Bustic Life. NEITHER COUNTRY NOR SUBURBAN Customs of the Visitors and the Peasants Described. VOLTAIRE’S BIRTHPLACE ns Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. . SCEAUX, July 8, 1895. A LITTLE RAIL- road, with frequent trains, both slow and noisy, hauls the tour- ist in half an hour from Paris, the efful- gent capital of France, to Sezaux, a country town lost In @ corner of the land. The nolsy railroad, with its screeching trains, which lumber ever to and fro from Sceaux to Paris and then back to Sceaux, is typical of every- thing one sees in this community. Sceaux is neither country, suburban nor Parisian. It is too countryfied to be suburban and too tinctured with the life of Paris to be really rural. The Eiffel ‘ower, ten milss away, shoots its colored lights on Sceaux. There are two ways of living in such a convenient country town, so near <o Paris, yet so far away, in order to enjoy the shady walks and the fresh country air. One is to hunt a furnished room and cat one’s meals at the town cake shop, which Is aristo- cratic; the other is to find board in a pri- vate family, which is worthy and respec- table. To have a furnished room and eat around in town restaurants and wine shops marks one off at once as an offenier @gainst the social order. And so it comes to be the cake shop, with its good food and its prices on the level of those of the Boule- ward des Capucines, or else adieu to Sceaux; for you cannot find board in any’ private family, or, if you did, you would not like it. In Sceaux and the surrounding country Renting a Low Cellinged Room, | there are several establishments In which mere furnished rooms may be found. Along the shady road to Fontenay-the-Roses there is a peaceful tavern, ail shaded in its greenery, where blue-bloused carters stop to take a cheerful glass. Its disadvan- ‘tages are that the picturesque bloused car- fters take any quantity of absinthe in their cheerful glasses, and then their conversa- tion runs to politics and cursing foreigners. In this tavern you may have a room for sixty francs (twelve dollars) a month, in- eluding service, but without lights. Com- plete table board, i. e., one lunch and one dinner each day, including wine or beer, may be had for one hundred and fifty franes (thirty dollars). The morning break- fast (coffee, bread and butter) costs an ad- ditional sixty centimes a day. So one's board at the tavern of the shady road comes algo to a dollar and a half a day. In Sceaux itself half a dozen families let Tooms simply. But they are rooms for neisy artisans. One discouraged dress- maker has a three-windowed room, which she sometimes rents for $12 a month. A widow lady, the proprietor of a handsome villa, has occasionally accommodated peo- ple with good social references; but she asks $20 a month. Finally, three miles across the shady land, in the romantic valley of the Wolf, there is a hotel which will give complete board for 8 francs a Gay. The situation is as sweet as anything in Stanley Weyman, an old-fashioned hos- telry of heavy stone all ivy-bound, with stairways winding round the outside, and with heavy porticocs. It has a great gar- den under trees, with follage so thick that you may sit out in a thurder storm and scarcely feel the rain. The food is good to daintiness, and there is a Burgundian wine at a low price, with a real perfume. Two dozen tables sit out in the shady garden, A Wedding at the Mayors. Great porticoes, inclosed in glass, are built around the second floor. And there are mmer houses high up in the air, still aded, where you may eat and mayhap ut, madame, these rooms on the sec- ond floor, I like them better; why may we not have them?” “Oh, those three rooms are only to be let out by the day. I could not give them up to boarders.” “How? I do not understand.” “Oh, they are for the young people who come from Paris to take lunch and dinner out here in the coun- try. On Saturdays and Sundays we are very gay She laughed. “I would not rent those rooms for $0 a month apiece. I could not rent them.” Nor could we, after being so informed. The valley of the Wolf is a real pandemonium three days in every seven. So, to enjoy the country air and shady walks, one must live with the widow lady in the town and eat at the aristocratic cake shop. It isa cake shop but in name; for it does a fine catering business for the hun- dred families who live in their pretty vil- las. Sceaux is composed of villas, hid be- hind high walls of stone, ard shaded with great trees. Sceaux is half villa property and half a country town, of workingmen and artisans. The two classes are so well divided off that neither notices the other. ‘The only pleasure of the workingmen and artisans is drinking white wine, bitters, absinthe, beer and coffee. The only pleas- Farmer Boys. of the well-to-do folks of the villa is eat high lunches and complicated din- ners from the cake shops. it is a quiet town, situated ona hill. The Wh etreets crawl up frem the rallway oer as they may, zig-zagging helpless- iy between the high walls of the villas. Where is always shade, and in the center of THE EVENING STAR, the town a great park in the style of Ver- sailles spreads its well-clipped foliage over 4, wide space,. where there is always air. me may sit in this park and read the Paris papers, or sit-and muse upon the life one sees around him. Qn two sides of the park the bare, brpwn houses of the shopkeepers and working people rise, old, crooked streets, ge so with the houses crowded close together. Who live in them? Sceaux has a printing and lithographic establishment, which sup- plies work to 309 men and boys, Sceaux is a small center of shop-keeping, of supply and exchange, for a limited country circis. . In the Park. Sceaux feeds and hovses the peasant-pro- prietors and agricultural laborers of all the fields rcund about, bare flelds of truck patch cultivation for the Paris markets, where no farm houses rise. The culti- vators of these fields live in the town. The farmers’ boys, if one may call them such, play cards in the town wine shops nightly. The printers and lithographers sit with them, but there is no gayety, no song. They chat of politics. -Along the straggling streets the children walk decor- ously in the long twilight after school hours The women sit at home. Young girls sit with,their mothers. A strict censoriousness keeps Hfe subdued and in its well-worn grooves; the very cafes have their fine-marked grades of so- cial worthiness. In none of them are ever seen the villa people, neither sons nor fathers. In the shady, breezy park young girls of high respectability sit on the benches of a morning with their mothers, Young men of the same grade of respecta- bility pass by and eye them furtively, but do not stop to chat, even though they have danced with the girls last evening. Tri- fling ts discovraged, and girls are “valued” by _-heir mothers. Twice a week this rigor is relaxed. The balls of Sceaux, so celebrated thirty years ago, exist still. The great park is a relic of the old chateau grounds, and it has a fine pavilion, circus-tented, with a con- crete floor. Here twice a week the ball of Sceaux takes place. People no longer come from Paris, but to the town it is a custom, a tradition, and for the young folks their one and only gayety. The mothers sit around the circle of the circus tent. Each mother has a chair beside her, on which chait her daughter sits when she is not engaged in dancirg. The orchestra strikes up the quadrille, the lanciers, the gavotte, the farandole, or, now and then, a waltz. The young men approach the mothers, each in his social sphere, whose circumscription is too com- cated for a foreigner tq grasp. “Madame, permit me to dance?” A graceful bow, with a look of mingled respect and admiration for the daughter. She lends her daughter to the young man for a dance, and when the music stops he brings the daughter back in the same good repair in which he had received her. When the French revolution broke out Sceaux was only a small village, lying near the great chateau of the same name. Here the celebrated Duchesse de Maine, wife of a son of Louis XIV, had held a brilliant literary court, of which the southern poet, Florian, was a chief figure. Florian was buried in the Sceaux churchyard, where he sleeps peacefully. On the road to Chatenay*the woods and fields alternate. Up the sleepy main street of the town of Chatenay the traveler wan- ders seeking a cafe. The cafe has a billiard table, all the daily and the weekly papers, a zinc bar to stand at or a shaded terrace outside where one may sit resting. The traveler may ask for milk, or coffee, cider, wine or absinthe. In any case, he will be served with equal willingness. The brave workingmen and farmers: lads who curse at foreigners are not now in the cafe, and the proprietor is sympathetic. “Where is the birthplace of Voltaire?” The cafe proprietor will take you to it. It is a mean house, two stories and a half high, of yellow-washed stone, rambling, irregular and bulging at the sides. It is on a little open square and just behind the parish church. Across the square there is @ building which long years ago served as a kind of clerical high school. Voltaire at- tended it as a young boy. One day the cure, who was the school teacher, hunting for a composition subject. could think of nothing new or interesting to assign the boys to write on. It was a fine afternoon, and doors and windows all were open. A wandering donkey, the prop- erty of a wandering tinker, strolled up to a window, looked in on the school, and lifted up his voice.- He was chased away, with shouts and laughter. Then the cure said: “Write on this visit—the coming of the idle donkey and his hostile reception by the in- dustrious students.” Some boys wrote fifty lines, some two hundred. Voltaire only wrote a line, a mere quotation from the Gospel of Saint John: “In propria venit et sui eum non receperunt;” ‘He came to his own and@ his own received him not.” STERLING HEILIG. oe CATS AND DIPHTHERIA. Evidence That the Animals May Spread the Infection. From the British Medical Journal. ‘The cat {s acquiring a bad reputation in Brighton. Dr. Newsholme, in his recently issued quarterly report, devotes a separate section to a description of an outbreak of suspicious illness among cats in a particu- lar district of the town, and to a warning against keeping cats which are suffering from certain enumerated symptoms. Dr. Newsholme’s attention was called to cats by the fact that in the neighborhood be- tween Elm Grove and Southover sfreet—a part of Brighton inhabited almost solely by the laboring classes—there had been notl- fled a group of cases of diphtheria in the course of a single fortnight, which pointed distinetly to the operation of some local cause. The patients comprised both children and adults. They did not attend any particu: lar school; there was no community of milk supply; personal infection from case to case could not be traced, and no sani- tary defects were found in the affected hhouses. But in each instance there was a history that the household cat had been ill, and in several families the child who was specially fond of the cat was the sole victim of diphtheria. The illness of the af- fected cats had not been carefully ob- served, but it included one or more of the following symptoms: A bad cough,difficulty in swallowing, discharge from the nose, and marked emaciation. In some of the houses the cat had simply been observed to be wasting, and in several instances the head of the household voiunteered the surmise that “the cat had been poisoned.” In one house, the center of the affecied neighborhood, nine live cats were found, and the neighbors stated that in the pre- vious week 4 dead cat lay in the yard at- tached to this house, with discharge ooz- ing from its nostrils. In another house a mild case of diphtheria was attributed to the smell arising from the cat, which had died in a garden adjoining the house. Four ef the emaciated cats referred to above were secured, and necropsy, including a bacteriological examination, was made, but with entirely negative results. The illness of the cats in question dated from at least @ month before the opportunity for ex- amining them arose, so that the negative result is not surprising. It will be remembered that Dr. Klein, in his investigation into cat diphtheria, found that the diphtheria infection produced in the cat an acute lung inflammation, the kidneys becoming degenerated in the man- ner known in man as the “large white kid- ney.” The condition of the household cat is worthy of inquiry in all such local out- breaks as the one briefly described by Dr. Newsholme, and it may be well to remem- ber that if the cat can be secured for ana- tomical examination, even in the ucute stage of the disease, there will probably be no exudation in the throat, but only marked pneumonia, and possibly also renal inflammation. The public warning given in Brighton as to cats has had the desired effect, the small outbreak having come to an abrupt termination with the destruction of suspected cats, and of manv_ others Whose career has been shortened in con- sequence of the publicity given to the facts | of the case. - FOR DEBILITATED MEN, Horsford’s Acid Phosphate. Dr. J. B. Alexander, Charlotte, N. C., says: ‘It is not only pleasant to the taste, but ranks among the Lest of nerve: tonics for debilitated men,”* A SHAKER MEETING Pauline Pry Attends a Sabbath Ser- vice in the Community. DAILY LIFE OF A PECULIAR PEOPLE A Round of Duties in the House and the Shop. THEY ARE NEVER IDLE ——— Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. CARPE PORPOISE, Me., July 17, 1895. O IMPRESSED WAS I by the interior fea- tures of Shakerism— the order, simplicity, straightforwardne ss and spirituality of ‘the life, as evidenced in the personality and words of Elder Vance, an interview with whom was given in my letter of last week, on the 9c- casion of my visit to the Shaker commu- nity at Alfred, I must confess to losing all interest in the external features, and I went away without so much as asking Elder Vance to show me about the village. However, this interest in the esbence of Shakerism so grew upon me that I had to go back to get more of it, and two days later I went again to Alfred, having writ- ten*to ask Elder Vance to let me witness their religious services on Sunday, which have been closed to the public in conse- quence of having been turned into a spec- tacle by the vulgar minded, who formerly made the Shaker village the objective point of Sunday excursions. This rule against outsiders is known to be so strictly en- forced, I got off the cars at Alfred with small hope of accomplishing much more thar getting on again. Instead of this, however, I found Elder Vance waiting with an old-fashioned chaise to take me right into the bosom of the Shaker family. This hospitality was due to the earnestness I had manifested in seeking to know the spiritual side of Shakerism. Two days’ ex- perience of the practical side has left me wondering, as I said at the start, if I have not seen as much of the millennium as will ever come on earth. For one thing, the dress of the sisters, as the Shaker women are called, has by its unchanging style and simple serviceable- ness reduced the whole problem of dress to an absurdity. It made my tailor-built, organ-back, hair-cloth-sodden clothes seem truly a device of the snake that introduced Eve to all the other evils that affilct wo- men. This Shaker dress is of a uniform cut, and approximately uniform color. The work-dress is dark blue, and the “best” dress light brown, or, for the young ones, white. The Waist is plain and sewn on the skirt, which is pleated all around and of ankle length. The neck is dressed with a white linen collar having a cape attach- ment, and outside of this is a ‘kerchief, pinned at the waist. At all times, except during meeting, an apron is worn. The hair is combed straight back from the fore- head and wrapped around the head under @ small cap of stiffly starched white net, further stiffened by wires. Out of doors, the queer straw bonnet, with its cape of muslin—the shaker—is worn. The Servant Girl Problem Settled. Then the Shaker housekeeping, that is undisturbed by any servant question: Oh! I wish you could smell it. With your eyes shut and led into a Shaker house, you would know you were in a new world of some sort just by the freshness and sweet- ness of the air there. I was given a room that was fragrant with the scent of pine woods. The white walls, white matting, and high white beds, the queer old-fash- foned chairs and tables, and positively funny Httle stove on spider legs, made by the immaculate care manifest in all a fairly holy place to rest in. The elder af- ter seeing me into the keeping of the sls- ters had left me with them until the next morning. I did not know their names, and no men- tlon was made of mine. Yet such free- masonry of sex and spirit prevailed that instantly these strange-garbed, sweet-faced women seemed in truth my sisters. I ate my supper alone, after one of the sisters had provided all my wants. The table was set with coarse, beautifully laundered linen. The china was plain white, and rome of the spoons tin. I had for supper corned beef hash, strawberries, cream, milk and tea to drink, cake, two kinds of pie, and the most delicious bread I ever tasted in my life. No curiosity as to who I was or why I had come seemed to exist in the minds of the sisters. It was as if fe was without beginning and without end, and without any possible interruption for them. I was both as much and 4s little as the rest of the world to them—a world that with its turbulency and temptations was so remote here. I went to sleep that night feeling 4s-if, with wishing to, I could fly—just so angelic and infectious was the spirit of the lace. Pirhe sister told me that the rising bell for the community would ring at 4:30 in the morning. In winter it {s rung at 6. The sisters are divided into three groups, assigned in turns of two weeks’ duration to special work. Thus one group for two weeks does the kitchen work, and then rests from this four weeks, meanwhile tak- ing a turn at milking, the laundry, or some other feature of housework. The in- tervals of housework are occupied with sewing and with weaving the straw and fashioning from it dainty baskets and boxes that cre cold by the Shakers at sea- shore and mountain resorts during the summer. I was awakened in the morning, not by the rising bell, but by the “ding-dong” of a chorus of cow bells passing outside. Go- ing to the window I saw a procession of thirty cows, driven by a couple of boys, who, with thelr long hair, great broad- brimmed straw hats and home-made coats and trousers, presented such an odd ap- pearance. My maternal vanity realized with a pang what unreasonable but actual Gistress 1 would suffer to see my own Lit- tle Lord Fauntleroy denied his smart worldly dress for the kingdom of heaven's take. Vorily it is small strings that bind us to the world, but they are strong. They Confess Their Sins. After breakfast the elder of the two aisters, whom I had learned to call Lu- cinda—the Shakers address everybody by the given name, abolishing titles—Lucinda told me Elder John was waiting for me. “Elder John” I found to be Elder Vance, who introduced me to a small-sized young woman, saying, ‘This is Eldress Fanny.” Eldress Fanny stands for the mother of the femily, as Eider John does for the father. She regulates the sisters in matters of the day, oversees the work and appor- tions to each according to her needs. She also is the confessor and spiritual adviser of the sisters. The institution of confession is the same among the Shakers that it is in the Catholic Church, except that the women confess to a woman and the men to a man. Eldress Fanny has lived in the communi- ty since she was four years old, having been left motherless and put there to board at that age. She is therefore utterly with- out experience in the world. As I spent the morning with her measuring in free converse my knowledge of the world against her ignorance of it I felt like some sort of ugly black beetle against a pane of glass. Locking from the point of view of the world beyond or of the world he- hind, thus our natures measured—mine a definite black obstruction to the light and hers a clear transparent medium for beetles to fasten on and look through for whatever is outside. All through the morning in the sweetest possible communion with El- dress Fanny—indeed, all through my stay among the Shakers—I was confused to determine whether I had been dreaming all my life and had just come into the reality of living or whether from the reali- ee I was having a brief respite and holy ream, A Shaker Meeting. In the afternoon I went with Lucinda to meeting. The meeting was held in a large, low-ceilinged roomsin the second story of the dwelling house. The community at SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1895—TWENTY PAGES. arated by a quarter-of a mile. The “second family,” as the more remote one 4s called, wag assenbled. At one end of the long, rather dark room, with its highly polished floor, gat a row of girls and women, in their quaint dress} their exquisite faces every one angelic im expression and of un- usual physical attraetiveness. At the oppo- site end were several boys, three middle- aged men and one very old man. The Shaker brethren in! their attire do mortify the flesh to a greatér degree than the wo- tren, being to an éye that would overlook the seer-like ‘calm ‘of their faces comical, with their long hatr‘and home-made tailor- ing. Each face, however, showed in difter- ent degrees that glorious consciousness Elder John had expressed of triumph over @ carnal nature. A bell sounded, and with a swish of skirts I got the impression’ of moving wings and spirits entering, so swiftly’ and somehow mysteriously members of the first family eppeared, and, sixty in all, they ranged in two bodies, men one and women the other, opposite each other, and began to sing. My imagination is lively, and the conditions were such as to warrant exaggeration of ee lurking suggestion of the supernat- ral But in truth it seemed to me the voices of these strange people possessed a spirit- ual quality—high, free, vehement motion toward God that made their singing seem the very essence of angelic worship. Following the first sorg Elder John, in a voice whose depth of gentleness seems to contain the whole range of human sym- pathy, divinely harmonizing human ills with godly cures, spoke of their life, ex- hérting each to adhere to its purpose, and instantly he was done a clear voice broke dnto song and the whole body joined, mov- ing the while in a circle about the room, waving their hands, their bodies having the appearance of volatility. Elder John told me afterward that the principle of these movements while they sing is that their knowledge of how intimate is the asso- ¢lation of body and spirit in man informs them that a stolid body in worship acts Mike an insulating medium in the way of currents of inspiration induced by lifting up their hearts to God. Therefore, they have these various principal exercises of worship which stand in the same relation to a spiritual idea that Delsarte move- ments have to an idea of the beautiful in expression. The prayer concluding the mecting was begun in silence kneeling, un- til some one moved by enthusiasm burst into song. The Various Activities. The rema'nder of the day I spent in quiet enjoyment of the rare life into which I had been projected—enjoyment that in blissfulness and uneventfulness bordered on the ecstatic. The next morning I assisted Harriet, the sister who had done the cooking for me, in clearing away the breakfast dishes and working in the kitchen, the like of which I have never before known. I realized what George Eliot may have had in mind when she said that to her mind there was more of home in an orderly kitchen than is Possible to be made in any other room of a house. When the breakfast dishes were finished I went with Eldress Fanny through the work shop, in which the brethren do car- pentering, tl.en out to the dairy, where, as if arranged for a stege spectacle, so little reference to pcssible utility did their won- derful order and neatness suggest, were the buckets for milking on the shady porch outside, and within a shining gasoline en- gine that operates a mechanism for separat- ing cream and does the churning. From here we went to the laundry. This had every convenience for the. work to be found in a city laundry, thug reducing the burden to the minimum. Upstairs was a room for drying clothes in bad weather, and the latest devices for jronjrg were to be found ih the troning room. {f private households were arrenged with the regerd for making weman's work systematic and easy that is everywhere manifest by the Shakers many “werld’s women” would speedily solve the servant question as have the Shakers—serve thémsélves. It was 9 o'clock when I was in the laun- dry, and at this early hour the sisters had their week's washing for sixty persons finished, and were beginning to iron. The Shaker Atmosphere. In the dwelling houge the sitting room of the sisters is alsg their work shop. Here were great machines for straw weaving, and working tables, but the evidence of shop. was so softened by touches of beauty and over all that indescribable air of sweet- ness, purity and simplicity which ts the Shaker atmosphere, that the thought of labor became a temptation to the indolent. A Shaker fs never {dle. I saw the girl just come from washing as soon as they sat down to rest were at once occupied with knitting. Yet with all the evidence of ceaseless industry apparent there was absolutely no suggestion of slavishness or of bondage of any sort. It was all the vcluntary labor of love—love of God that accords the Creator His property in all His creatures, and holds their activities and opportunities in time accountable to Him. ‘hen I said good-bye to the sisters it was like leaving my own kindred, so broad is their spirit to include every good love of one's life in their sphere. I was driven to the station by one of the brethren, called Henry, whose face, like Elder John’s, is radiant with that “peace of mind which passeth all understanding.” “Well,” said Henry, “do you think you have learned what Shakerism is now?” “Oh, yes,” I answered, with the pride and assurance of a peacock. “I know it thor- oughly, and it accords with all my theo- rh es. “Yea,” replied Henry, “but theories con- tain small wisdom. To know the doctrine yeu must live the life.” ‘To which I was bound to agree, and with my beautiful three-eyed feathers dragging in the dust I left the Shakers a greatly humbled sort of PAULINE PRY. —_—.__. The Vulgarities of Wealth. From the Critic. I wonder if there was ever a time when the money value of everything was so much regarded as it is today, or a people that thought so much of it as we Americans do. ‘The English have been called a nation of shopkeepers, but you do not find the price of everything coupled with every mention of it in the English as you do in the Amer- ican papers. One never sees a simple an- nouncement of the fact that Mr. Smith pro- poses building a house somewhere; it Is always a “million-dollar house” or a “$50,- 00 cottage.” This 1s rot merely in the building trade journals, but.in the news columns or “society” department of the general newspaper. It will be but a little while before our, “society” news will be dressed up in this faehion: “Mr. Jones, the Chicago multi-millionaire, was married yesterday, at high noon, to Miss Johnson, the noted New York heiress. It is understood that the Rev. Dr. Brown, who officiated, received a $5,000 fee; éach of the ushers wore a $250 pin, the gift of the bridegroom, whose farewell bachelor din- ner is said to have cost him a small for- tune. After the reception which followed the ceremony, the happy pair, having em- braced the happy parents, took the 3 p.m. train for Washington and the south, where they will probably phy a visit at the $1,- 090,000 country seat recently opened by the bride's cousin in. Kentucky. Mr. Jones’ $250,000 steam yacht has been put in com- mission for the summer, and a trip to Nor- way is among the probabilities before the owner returns to\the management of his enormous business. The union of the Jones and Johnson families effected yesterday is, from a monetary point of view, one of the most notable that have occurred this sea- son.”” e 98 I have said it will not be long before this will be the regular formula for notices of the weddings of the rich; but it is practi- cally the formula*today. ‘The readers of a New York daily ‘of ‘the highest standing ‘were informed, off the’occasion of a recent wedding, that bride's trousseau is said to have cost $40, that-“‘a conservative estimate” of the value of the presents she recetved was $700,000, and that “the wed- ding probably cost about $1,000,000.” Apropos of this same wedding, the pastor of a Presbyterian church in this city has been forced to ask the press to cease cir- culating ridiculously exaggerated state- ments regarding his wealth—statements that tend, as he truly declares, to bring re- ligion itself into disrepute. "When Gen. Sherman died, one of his eulogists remarked that at his fireside speculations were never heard as to the wealth of this, that or the other millionaire. It was a compliment that could not be pafd to many. But then, Sherman was a soldier, rot a saddler. She Was There When It Fell. From the Yonkers Statesman. Out of the gloom surrounding the porch across the street, the other evening, we heard a dull thud as of falling bodies. “Hang that hammock!” we heard a mas- culine voice exclaim. “Hang it yourself!” was the quick reply Alfred is divided into two families, sep: |in a feminine voice. NEED OF CLERKS The Inadequate Assistance Provided for the Librarian of Congress. COMPARED WITH OTHER LIBRARIES A Chat With Mr. Spofford About the Great Collection. THE NEW BUILDING “If I were asked who is the busiest man I ever knew and the man who accomplish- ed the most, I should say it was Mr. A. R. Spofford, the librarian of Congress. Some men make a great show of being busy, but somehow they do not seem to make headway in proportion. Mr. Spofford ig not one of those. He does something all the time.” The speaker was a man who is familiar with Washington affairs and a frequent visitor at the Mbrary, To any one who goes often to that home of literature and books the truth of what he said will be fairly evident, There is no library in the world with anything like the number of volumes which has anything like such a small working force. To add to the labors connected with it, the.registering of copy- rights is also a part of the duties of the librarian, and it is hard to realize what an immense amount of work that responsi- bility entails unless one has had some per- sonal reasons for investigating the matter. * The recent question raised by the officials of the treasury over the delay on the part of the libraWan in transmitting the pay accounts of his department and the dis- cussion over the general system and man- agement of the library is likely to bring forth good fruit, and the chances are. that at the coming session of Congress some suitable provision will be made for -the needs of the library which will give addi- tional clerical help as well as a.more com- plete organization than it now possesses. The integrity of the Mbrarian’s accounts has never been questioned in the slightest, but the discussion has served to again give prominence to the tremendous strain under which the librarian labors. The attention of Congress has frequently been directed to the lack of proper facilities for attending to the rapidly expanding business of the Con- gressional Library, but no attention has been paid to Mr. Spofford’s entreaties, and he has, therefore, been compelled to con- tinue in the performance of an amount and variety of labor that should be distributed among taree or four men. A Large Force Needed. ‘The engineers of the War Department who have had charge of the construction of the new library building have expressed the opinion that it will be ready for occu- pancy during the early part of 1897. As they have made a pretty close estimate of the earlier stages of its erection, there is good reason to think that they are not so very far off in their guess as to the time of its completion. Mr. Spofford is a mem- ber of the commission having in charge the construction of the handsome home for the Library of Congress, and from the moment of its first-inception he has taken an ac- tive interest in the work. It goes without saying that in a. build- ing the size of the new library a clerical force of the present size would be entirely inadequate. Mr. Spofford said to a Star re- porter yesterday that he had.not yet given that question the attention it deserved, but that in a general way it was safe to say that a force five times as great would not be a bit too large. With the completion of the new Library building a number of important questions will have to be settled with reference to the disposition of the books in the main library as well as in the law library, which now has its home in the lower part of the Capitol. Speaking on this subject, Libra- rian Spofford said: “At the last session of Congress this gen- eral subject was talked over at some length, but no definite conclusion was reached. My own suggestion, which, of ccurse, carries with it no weight beyond what comes from my long experience in the library, is to leave in the main or central library in the Capitol a good legis- lative working brary of about 70,000 vol- umes for the use of Congress alone. This would be of the greatest assistance to Senators and Representatives, and the reom would be an excellent working place for members who are engaged in compiling materials for speeches or reports—a con- venience that is not at their disposal now except in the case of those who are for- unate enough to be chairmen of commit- fees, Place for the Archives. The central library building could easily accommodate 70,000 volumes, and this would leave the two wings to be used in any way that Congress might see fit. There is, of course, great need for more committee rooms, and the wings would make room for about twenty, ten for the Senate and ten for the House. Or they could be arranged to store the valuable archives of Congress, which are now ac- commodated in a very unsatisfactory man- ner, and in rooms that are lined with wood, and consequently anything but fireproof. If they were placed in these two wings they could be arranged In proper order on these iron shelves, and in such a way that it would be possible to get, at a moment's notice, any manuscript document of Con- gres back to the time of Henry Clay, a thing that is almost impossible at present. “The general public should not be allowed into this library then, and the room would not be used all the time, as it is now, by people who go tramping through for the purpose of getting a view of the city from the west portico. In addition to having all the legislative works of reference, this library should have a copy of every work by the standard American and English authors. This would be made possible by our copyright system, which secures du- plicate volumes of every work that is registered. c. “As to the expediency of-removing the law library or keeping it here. that is a matter for Congress to determine, ard would depend largely on the convenience of ‘Congress and the Supreme Court. The ultimate plan of having a separate build- ing for the Supreme Court on the square opposite the new Library building would probably have its effect in determining the best place for the law lbrary, but I doubt whether it will ever be moved so long as the Supreme Court is housed in the Capitol. Bureau of Copyright. is “With reference to the matter of the re- organization of the library force, when we go into the new building, or even before, I can only repeat the suggestion I have al- ready made for the appointment of a sepa- rate bureau of copyright, with a bonded officer at its head, who would have charge of the matter of records and certfficates. This work, which now devolves upon our force, is one of immense detail. A year ago Congress gave us additional help to bring up the arrears of copyright work, so that now certificates are only two weeks behind instead of several months. But even that addition is not sufficient, as one can see when he considers the vast amount of in- dexing work that must be done. This is largely a voluntary work on my part, as it is my ambition to have a triple index, by authors, by subjects and by publishers. “There will be a pesitive and pressing need for an increase of the clerical force when we go into the new bullding. The very size of the building will make it necessary, for, while the books are to be stacked as near as possible to the central reading rocm, there must still be plenty of room left for additions to the various sub- jects, and the employes of the library will have more ground to cover in getting the volumns that are asked for, even with all the modern facilities for dispatch in han- @ling them. The constant growth of the Hbrary also requires an addition to the clerical force. I would have a graded sys- tem of appointment and promotion, based on experience and ability. Every clerk should pass some sort of a civil service ex- amination before he is taken on the rolls. In other words, I mean that tools ought always to be placed in the hands of men who are best able to use them, As it is, I never mike an appointment outright, but only on probation, and retention in office depends upon ability, although opposed to force. Compared With Other Libraries. “The present clerical force of the brary numbers twenty-nine, with ten engaged on special work. When that is compared with the forces in other large libraries of the world it is easy to see how grossly in- adequate it is. The library of the British Museum has a force of 120, although Its quarters are nothing like as large as our new building, and it has no copyright work. Turthermote, it has no ‘circulation department’ Nke ours, for neither queen, lord nor commoner can take a book out of that library. The Boston Public Library, which also has no copyright business, and has 500,000 volumes, as against our 700,000, has a clerical force of over one hundred “It is a fact that the copyright business occupies fully one-half of the attention of our library foree. Its correspondence is greater even than that of the !nterior De- partment, and the librarian must sign all certificates, supervise all correspondence and make decisions as to the interpreta- tions of the law, so as to kgep them uni- |. form. He must also read an encrmous number of catalogues of book sales, and mark them for the assistants, so that a search can be made to ascertain the needs of the brary. In this way we are able to get books much cheaper than we could through the regular dealers. In addition he has charge of the immense correspond- ence of the library proper, the international exchange of books, the revision of the work of cataloguing and the supervision and oversight of the work of all the as- sistants.” = As to Evening Openings. Speaking of the matter of keeping the library open of evenings, Mr. Spofford said: “I have always been in favor of keeping a public Mbrary open in a public manner. By that I mean it should be open during the evening, if not on Sunday, in order that people who are busy during the day may get the benefit of the library. The question of keeping open on Sunday is a vexed question, and one that I do not care to go into. I would be in favor of keeping the library open, when it gets into its new building, up to about 10 o’clock in the even- ing. This is a matter, however, for Con- gress to settle, and is outside of the juris diction of the librarian. “The hours at present are from 9 to 4, just as in the other departments of the government, with the exception that when Congress is in session it is open until dark. There is no provision for lighting the li- brary. Some time ago I recommended that the library be kept open in the evening, but the joint committee on the Ubrary, after consulting with the architect of the Capitol, as to the cost of putting in the necessary equipments for lighting, decided adversely on my recommendation. “The hour for closing a public library in the evening is a matter of expediency and to be fixed upon as a result of experience. I would recommend keeping the library open for the use of readers continuously from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m., at first. The new building ts somewhat distant from the cen- ter of population in this city, and it might be that it would not be generally used after 9 o'clock. If it was found that very few people used if after that hour it might be as well to make 9 the hour of closing. That would all be settled in time, however. In case the library should be kept open it would, of course, mean extra work for the employes and would necessitate an addi- tion to the force. “In view of all these facts,” sald Mr. Spofford, in conclusion, “it would seem as though I was not asking too much in recommending an increase in the cierical force and the appointment of a special bu- reau of copyrights.” —————— Serge Coats and Duck Trousers for Summer Wear. From Clothier and Furnisher. In the prevailing torrid weather the fash- fonable quarters of our large cities are de- Populated. Every one -who is in a position to do so has taken up his abode among the mountains or the seashore. Those whose business requires their daily presence in the city journey to and fro morning and evening. This season the fancy of the well- dreseed man, be he young or old, has turn- ed to thoughts of serge coats and duck trousers, and you can rely upon it, he has a stock of these light-weight garments on hand. Illustration No. -1 represents the latest style of a serge coat, with duck trousers, and ‘s a true picture of what is being worn by the ultra-fashionable. For other than seaside wear, although it would not be criminal to be so clothed at a watering place, the mede is faithfully de- picted in the accompanying sack suit, No. 2. In the country, in mountainous sections, and even in the city, this suit is much mM evidence. ‘ The style in straw hats thig season is a very pretty conception. It has a high crown, and the band is of medium width. Narrow bands and those of large propor- tions are not the thing. Colored bands are popular, ———_+e+___ Aesculapinn Love. From the St. James Gazette. Oh bid me not, Amanda, as atudent of the Lancet, fo meet you en the moon has tit eep- rue th garth Muth Rola —-* The evening raditionally fitting, but K Wore eae about bronchitis, or at fos ag eats col And though we love cach oth te loved before us, sirpicere itn We need no outward token of unalterable bliss: Leave that to thove less prudent; the authorities ure us, That very often microbes are transmitted by = Nor must you rush toward me to express your satis- faction; It’s true that fate has severed us for many a Weary day; But still excitement, as you know, accelerates the action Of pulse and heart in really quite a prejudicial ye T'll see you, then, at midday (please make sure the rooin is heated To GO degrees or G1 degrees); we'll talk about the past, And how ‘otr various ailments by our doctors have been treated. When, by the way, Amanda, were you vaccinated st And so we'll meet tomorrow; I will sing your favor- = ite eee apie ‘or vocal exercises greatly benefit the lung, And, having lonched discreetly off an hygiene salad, ‘We'll gaze into each other's eyes and on each other’s tongue! 7 o+—____ A Born Diplomat. From Puck. Charley was caught napping on the porch of the summer resort. A pair of soft little hands covered his eyes, and a sweet voice commanded: “Guess who it is.” Nothing very dreadful for Charley in this, you think; but, thea, you don’t know that Charley was engaged to two girls, and, for the life of him, couldn't decide which voice it was, which made a very embarrassing situation for Charley. A wrong guess vould lead to complications awful to think of. But a happy thought inspired Charley, and he announce4: “It’s the dearest, eweet- est little girl in all the world.” “Oh, you lovely boy!” gurgled the satis- fied one, as she removed her hands. And now Charley thinks of applying for a foreign ministry, feeling that his talents would be wasted in any other than a diplo- matic field. oe A Little Boston Girl. From the Hudson Register. The little girls of Boston are reported to te overeducated. The story goes that a child was asked in a street car her age, with a view to half fare for children, whereupon the premature little damsel murmured, “If you don’t object, conductor, I'll prefer to pay full fare and keep my own statistics.” pi frequent and unnecessary changes, as they militate againat the valde of any’ working NI ALL B ABY DIE? 2 . Cholera Infantum Now Menaces Homes. Mothers Warned to Look Sharp to Child’s Food Diet Wrong When Infant Cries Continually. Children of Physicians Fed on Lactated Food. Delicate, Sickly Ones Thrive Wonderfully on It. ‘The hot weather puts a pressing question te every mother—a question that demands an imimedi- ate answer. It ts impossible to postpone looking the Problem of infantfeeding fully in ry ace. “Has every precaution been taken to keep baby well dur- ing the summer? Is the baby running any risk from cholera infantum? People have begun to learn that medicines for infants are more sparingly used in physicians’ faml- Ues than in any others, and that the well-educated physician, when the mother's milk, for any reason, 4s not sufficient, brings up his own children on lac- tated food. There are no healthier or plumper bables than those fed on lactated food. Fewer cases of summer diarrhoea and cholera infantum ozcur in homes where this superb nutriment 1s employed than in others. The most carefully, iotelligently guarded children are those fed on lactated food. Every in- fant who is not thriving, has poor color or shows small gains in weight and size should be given this perfect infant food. It is relished by young chil- dren, and there is no difficulty in inducing them to take it n quantities sufficient to insure their growth and bealthy condition. During the exhaustive hot days of summer, while teething and during the weaning period lactated food stands its best test as an ideal infant food for all trying occasious. When for any reason the mother cannot nurse the child, or when her milk 1s insufficient or poor . in quality, the best trained nurses use Inctated food at once. It 1s known to invariably make firm flesh, a clear skin, bright eyes and to strengthen the body so that diarrhoea, cholera infantum and ex- hausting summer sickness 4o not easily gain a foot ing. And a great blessing St ts to countless bumble homes that for 25 cents a mother ean buy a pack- age that contains enough to make 10 pints of pure cooked food. : ee A WIFE'S OBEDIENCE. About the Word Obey in the Marriage Service. = Rev. E. J. Hardy, in the London Queen. Much is said, both wise and otherwise, in reference to the obedience which a wife vows to yield to her husband. Brides boast that they have eVaded the word “obey” and substituted “go gay, some other of similar sound. After her wedding a lady of this kind remarked to the Rev. F. D. Maurice, who had performed the ceremony, “Now, Mr. Maurice, I call you to witness that I entertain no intention of obeying.” Maurice answered with his sad, sweet smile: “Ah, madam, you little know the blessedness of obedience.” Of course, no one worthy of attention be- lieves that it is a wife’s duty to obey when her husband wishes her to act contrary to the dictates of conscience. As little is she expected to conform to a standard of obedi- ence and service such as was laid down in a con@ersation overheard between two children who were playing on the sands together: Small boy to little girl—“Do you wish to be my wife?” Little girl (after re- filection)—“‘Yes.” Small boy—“Then pull off my boots.” On a great many points, however, con? cerning the pecuniary or other interests of the family, the husband will usually be the wiser, and may most properly be treated as the senior partner in the firm. A woman may like to have her own way, but she has little respect for the husband who gives in to her in everything. The ideal wife claims the liberty of being herself and managing her house, but she never refuses loyalty to an affection which supports and protects her. Despotism and obedience are indeed terms that have no meaning in a matri- monial alliance of the right sort. The word “obey” had not as great terrors for our queen when she was going to be married as it has for the “new woman” among her subjects. When arranging about the service the archbishop of Canter- bury asked her majesty whether it would be desirable to omit the word “obey,” and she answered, “I wish to be married as a woman, not as a queen.” Some of her majesty’s subjects are not as subject as she was in this respect. They do desire to ex- ercise sovereignty over their husbands, and do not prefer to relgr! through service. At a negro wedding, when the clergyman read the words, “love, honor and obey,” the bridegroom interrupted him and said: “Read that again, sah, read it once mo’, so’s de lady kjn katch de full solemnity 0! de meaning. I'se nm married befo’.” Another man who had been married be- fore three or four times (it does not mat- ter which, except to himself), said: “My first wife cured me of romance, my second taught me humility and my third made me a philosopher.” None of these wives could have caught the full solemnity of the vows they took when they were being married. ‘The vexed question of conjugal obedience was settled by Spurgeon fn a characteristic way. In an address at the marriage of the daughter of a friend, he spoke thus to the bride about her future lor “Let him be the head, and do you be the neck, and turn him which way you please.” ——__——-+ e+. So Different in the Morning. From the Hudson Register. “Isn't it strange,” soliloquized Crimson- beak, “that champagne tastes so good al night and so bad the next morning?” seo An Adventure With His Lion-Hunting Bicycle. From Life.