Evening Star Newspaper, August 17, 1895, Page 17

‘THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1895-TWENTY PAGES. 17 PARIS BOULEVARD When the Dog Days Reign in the Gay City. GIVEN OVER T0 THE TOURISTS Sights and Sounds in the Throng of Pleasure Seekers. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. ARIS, August 5, 1895. HE PARIS BOULE- I vard—the one and only Paris boulevard —that semi-circle of broad and = shady streets, which, lined with tourist shops, cafes, hotels, the- aters, and all the outputs of Parisian chic, reflects so ac- curately the visitor's ideas of what Paris MN ought to be, takes 5- on a special physiog- nomy in the full dog days. The higher-class ‘Parisians, who do not patronize its cafes overmuch in these last days, the brilliant foreigners from every European country, who still brighten it In spring and autumn, are both absent, the first upon their villegiature or summer boarding, the second at the baths and sea and mountains of their lands. Those who remain in Paris do so, as they say, because of the puree. To be in the puree is exactly to be in the soup; positive, soupe, compara- tive, puree, superlative, panade — thick bread soup. There is a fourth degree, to be in the pomade or ointment, but when one gets so far as that he cannot take his girl of evenings to the boulevard and sit upon the cafe terraces to catch the breeze and watch the passing show. These are tha true Parisian dog days, from the Ist of August to the middle of September. The gay capital is overheated and smells ill, its streets are torn up, its trees are brown, its streets of residence are silent. The odor of the puree offends the nostrils of the very cafe waiters. The garcon who has served you, night in, night out, for months sinks his apprecia- tion of your worth at once in his contempt for those who cannot get away. “Whom have we here? Bah! de la puree!” It is true there are Parisians, and of a reborn cult, who pride themselves on never leaving Paris, who stay through the sum- mer long, clubmen and countesses and all that is refined and rich; but you must look for them out in the Bois, at the Cafe de Madrid or the sylvan Armenonville, where strains of music float upon the forest air, where drinks come high and suppers high- er, where it costs seven francs to take a cab and keep it all the evening. On the great boulevard it is a different assem- blage, and the waiters splash you with beery clouts to keep you humble. Inside the cafes there are but few people sitting, writing letters, reading papers, Playing cards or dominoes or solitary couples talking love in corners. But ovit- side, 2long the sidewalk, at the chairs and tables, which usurp-half of its width, and in the closest contact with the promenad- ers of the street the people sit, men, wo- men, children, old maids, girls with rouge upon their cheeks. Before each is some drink, to hold the table, coffee, liqueur, sirup, beer, sweet’ wine, milk, cider. The tourist element abounds, and you will hear the English tongue from every side; be- cavse this Ia the very season when the flood of trippers, English and American, invades the gay French capital. Dull for the Tourists. They find it just a trifle dull, the gay French capital. There is a concert theater on the first floor of the Eiffel tower. Along the Champs Elysees there is a species of summer-night-gayety, not too taking, in the celebrated cafes concerts of the Alcazar, the Horloge and the Ambassadeurs. The Jardin de Paris, with its Russian mountains in a boat, its giddy dancing under Chinese Janterns festooned in the branches. The Moulin Rouge is open, and the tourist will do well to be content with what he finds there. The sewers and the catacombs may be visited, the museums are not closed, and the great shops are displaying last spring's goods. At the hotel tables the fish is bad, at the opera the dancers are back numbers and the singers debutantes. The big, bril- Mant boulevard, listless and petulant as it is, remains the center of the life of Paris dog day nights. Summer excursion adver- tisements on temporary board walls mock one with their “Fifteen days in Switzer- land,” “Tour of the Norman coast and Brittany" and “The Casino of Dieppe; but one forgets them for the moment drinking beer along a street which is a show. No one drinks absinthe or Amer picon at night, thanks to the coursels of an all-wise Providence, which has ordained that they will sicken any but a flend when taken af- ter mea ‘They must be taken on an emp- ty stomach, as the doctor prescribed exer- cise for Sidney Smith. “But whose?” said Smith. If it be absinthe or Amer picon, let it not be yours or mine. This latter drink, which is more dangerous than absinthe to the population, inasmuch as it appears to be less violent while it is more stealthy, more insidious, has effects which are de- lightful but demoralizing. It comes in bot- tles, a blackish liquid, to be poured, with ice, into a goblet, say, a quarter of a gob- let full, and then filled up with water. Many people flavor it with coracao or lemon. syrup, but you do not see it on the boule- vard at night. They all drink beer who are not taking coffee, soft drinks or light wines, Beer at the Cafe Riche or Taverne Pous- set. “Garcon, two bocks!” They Drink Beer. ‘The Cafe Riche beer is the Hof-brau of Munich, while Pousset sells the darker and more bitter and slightly thicker Spaten. ‘The places are ten steps apart, in the most brilliant quarter, so it matters nothing which you patronize, so that you find a side- walk seat; while at some of the brightest and best brasseries a block below the drink is French or Relgian beer or beer of Stras- burg, over-mild, sweet, tasteless, sad to take and difficult to be digested. Having got your glass of beer no waiter will disturb you at your sidewalk table all the evening. Past you come filing, like a Pleasing nightmare, all the parading tinsel of Paris in the dog days. The calls of the Street peddlers give a music for their marching. They are like Wagner's leit-mo- tivs. And when they break in on reverie it is to warn, to promise, to explain to the half-dreaming mind the meaning of it all and tell you what the soul of Paris has within itself today. “The Libre Parole! French!” “The Salute of Felix Faure!” “The Engiish and the South African Gold Mines!" The first Is an Anti-Semite blatherskite newspaper, with a new scare editorial each day, The peopie buy it, as they do Roche- fort's Intransigeant, because of its spiendid vituperation. The second ts a wooden effi- gy of the excessively popular new president, which on a string being pulled takes off its hat and bows benigniy. The third is a pamphlet against London stock ‘jobbers in particular and the British nation in general. it finds a ready sale because so many little capitalists have put their savings in these doubtful shares. A tired man passes carrying in his arms two little lacquered center tables, which he indicates to those who sit and drink, and whispers confidentially their price. A Sharp Dodge. A mysterious young man, with pockets bulging, thrusts a French book tied round tight with string into your lap, and whis- pers swiftly and peremptorily, “Quick, three francs!" while looking nervously around. The tourist hides it guiltily be- neath his coat, and pays the money. It would be nice to see his face when he gets back to his hotel, and locks his door, unties the string, and tinds—a shopworn and un- popular novel from the trade sales, noth- ing worse. The Boulevard smells like a monkey house. Let us Americans claim credit for what we have and are. As a rule, we are clean, We have bath tubs at home, and are a means of introducing bath tubs abroad. Here in this mighty throng of un- washed pleasure seekers there are over- powering whiffs of personality. Many women wear their cloaks, and some men have their light-weight cvercoats, be- cause the stuffy climate, damp and sticky, springs a breeze upon the sweltering crowd along toward 10 o'clock at night. Everywhere and always calling, always pushing, always sweating, are thé sellers of toys, tricks, sheet music, pamphlets and all manner of novelties. They cry out in the drollest voices to amuse the public of the cafes and attract their notice. ‘A deep bass voice: “En voulez-vouz des z-homards?” And twenty voices answer him, from all directions, voices male and female, of the men and women at the cafe tables, of the cabmen, of the street girls, of the tourists even: “Oh, les sales betes!” It is the latest scie, or “chestnut,” which has run through France like wildfire, and has just attained the dignity of editorial notice in the Figaro. “Do you like lobsters?” “Oh, the nasty things!” “They have hair on their fee’ It means nothing. It has no allusion, un- less you have a great imagination. It is not witty. Yet it is on every lip, and will raise shouts of laughter in no matter what assembly. Street fakirs sell cardboard lobsters which men pin on their hats, Ntue Berlin wool lobsters which women pin to their corsages, mechanical lobsters that wriggle, trick lobsters that squirt perfume or pinch the uninitiated fingers. STERLING HEILIG. ——_+0+ A Dog's Heroic Faithfulnes: From the Philadelphia Press. A Baltimore and Ohio train brought to Wheeling, W. Va., the mangled body of James Settle, a sixteen-year- old. boy, who had been Killed by the train at Point Mills. The boy spent last night wita a party of friends in the wools and got but little sleep. When he came home this morning he drove the cows to pasture, accompanied by a big shepherd dog. He was drowsy, and on the way back sat down on the track to rest, the dog lying beside hom. Engineer Henry McBirney says that when the train reunded the curve beyond the Point Mills cut he saw the boy lying full length along the rail. The dog, knowing the danger, had seized his coat collar and was tugging with all his might, having his feet planted just outside the rail, t! ing to pull his master’s body off the track. The train was so near that it could not be stopped, but the air was put on and the speed checked, while the whistle was tooted. The boy was partially awakened by the dog's efforts and began beating the faithful brute with his fist, but the dog held on and put forth all his power to save his master. As the engine drew nearer McBir- mey and the fireman shut their eyes to hide the death scene from their view. When the train was stopped and run back both the boy and his constant companion were found horribly mangled. A Stand of. From Harper’s Bazar. ‘My dear sir,” he wrote to the editor, “may I esk why you printed my sonnet among your humorous items? It was not humorous. I demand some sort of repara- tion.” “My dear sir,” replied the editor, “we regret the error and will make reparation. Send us a comic poem and we will print it in the obituary column. This will make the average right.” ——_+e+___. Suburban Life. France for the From Trath. Manhattanite—“Honestly, now, don’t you find it a nuisance walking to and from the station in muddy weather?” Suburbanite—“Yes, just about as much of a nuisance as you must find it walking up and down stairs, to and from your flat on the twentieth story, when the elevator is out of order.” “If you want to be big, Tommy, and have nice, long whiskers, you must eat your soup!” ve eaten it, grandma!”—Life. HEARTY RECEPTION Echoes of the Meeting of the Geo- graphical Congress, SCIENCE AND SOCIAL FESTIVITIES Arctic and Antarctic Adventure and Travels in Africa. THE AMERICAN DELEGATES Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. LONDON, August 7, 1895. Attendance at the meetings of the sixth international geographical congress and the numerous social functions pertaining thereto left very little time last week for letters home. First of all, a word as to the congress, now a thing of the past. Of course, you knew, probably the very same day that we did, that our efforts to have the next, or seventh, congress meet in Washington failed, and that it will meet in Berlin in 1899, and after that, no doubt, in Vienna. All things considered, this re- sult is by no means surprising, inasmuch as it has never met in these two great and easily accessible cities, and more especially in view of the fact that Germany, more than any other nation, has taken the lead in the new geography, and German geog- raphers are in a large numerical preponder- ance even at the present congress, here in London; that Is, real geographers by pro- fession, and not merely by courtesy and for the time being. Our invitation, nevertheless, attracted a great deal of attention, interest and sup- port, and it has paved the way for success in the future, at a time, too, when we shall doubtless be far better able to receiye and entertain this distinguished body than we are at present. In fact, our Washington delegates, if the truth were known, were not a little nervous about the possibility of holding a meeting in Washington in August or September (when it ought to be held, to suit the convenience of European geog- raphers) with any chance of its being such @ grand success as in any European capital. ‘The large expense involved is another con- sideration: It is said that $30,000 has been spent on it here, and there are many bills still unpaid. The attendance has been about 1,500, in all, but not balf that number have attended any one meeting, except, perhaps, the first and last. As you must know, a large part of the great building of the Imperial Institute was devoted to the congress, and the geographical exhibition held in connection with it, and the daily forenoon meetings were held in a large hall, capable of seating, perhaps, 500. The after- noon section meetings were held in smailer halls, several of these meetings proceeding at once. Received by the Duke of York, The first evening (July 26) was devoted to the reception of the delegates by the Duke of York, and the welcoming address by the president, Mr. Clements R. Markham. To an American it seemed something of an anachronism for the young Duke of York, a midshipman only a few years ago, to be presiding at such a gathering, and he evi- dently was somewhat il] at ease at being exalted over so many of the foremost scientific men of the day. But he carried himself with considerable self-possession, and read his address as though he under- stood it and appreciated the situation. Our delegates were presented to his royal high- ness by the American ambassador, Mr. Bayard, but owing to a stupid mistake by some one our lady delegates were shut out at first, though subsequently, through the efforts of Gen. Greely, given a special pres- entation out in the garden, while his royal highness was seated In his pavilion, ‘far from the madding crowd,” listening to Strauss’ orchestra, It is worthy of notice here that these three ladies, Miss Scidmore, Miss Rell and Miss Hayden, were the only lady delegates, though I believe one was subsequently ap- pointed by the Teachers’ Guild of London, and we deserve credit for a new departure in this respect—an example that will doubt- less be foilowed in future congresses. To reply to Mr. Markham’s eloquent address of welcome, Judge Daily of New York was Selected, as the senior president of any geographical society represented, and his remarks, made with the ease of long prac- tice, and with his usual force and ability were received with marked favor by the large audience. An unfortunate and ex- asperating contretemps occurred in the midst of his address, owing to the fact that Lhe orchestra, playing in the garden, but quite out of earshot ordinarily, struck up.“God, Save the Queen,” with tremen- dous energy, wholly drowning his voice for a time. His royal highness evidently felt as though he would like to sink through the floor with mortification that his royal grardmother should thus be tarust at us with such terrific energy and at such an inauspicious moment. Big Balloon to the Pole. Probably the most interesting days of the congress were those devoted to arctic and antarctic research, and to Africa, and of the first, Herr Andree of Sweden, who proposes to visit the north pole by balloon, attracted the most interest and comment. He had a reaty answer for every criti- cism, and created a strong impression that he is going to make a great success of it. In the discussion on Africa, Mr. Stanley went almost too far in his cynical criti- eism of scientific geography, and one could not but feel that he was trying to hit back and revenge some scientific criticism that he had suffered. Keen interest was felt in Slatin Pasha’s account of his long impris- onment by the Mahdi in the Soudan, and final release by an intrepid British officer, the account involving, as it did, the story of Gordon’s heroism and cruel death. As to the outcome of the congress, it is perhaps too early to speak, although it is generally believed to have been one of the most successful ever held. But, as Presi- dent Markham very truly said in his fare- yell address, one of the most important ob- jects is to facilitate acquaintance and dis- cussion, the results of which, though diffi- cult to define, are all-important in ad- vancing the science. The Social Features. It would be impossible, in the limits of a letter like this, to do justice to the efforts made to render the occasion pleasant so- cially; in fact, it is a question whether this feature is not made too important; so much so as to dwarf the real objects of the meeting. Of the elaborate receptions those especially noteworthy, in order of date, were the evening reception at Mr. Curzon's, where Americans were especially interested in the charming hostess; the afternoon receptions at Baroness Burdett- Coutts’ beautiful estate, Holiy Lodge, and at Lord Northbrook’s palatial residence, on Hamilton place, Piccadilly; and Mr. Mark~- ham’s evening reception at the close of the congress. In addition to these, an afternoon at Kew, and an evening at the botanic gar- dens, together with many smaller but none the less enjoyable entertainments, made up a very busy, pleasant, and necessarily tire- some week, and the hope that the president expressed in his address of welcome, name- ly, that we should form pleasant associa- tions and remember our visit with pleas- ure, has most certainly been fully realized. Delegates From This City. Of the Washington delegates, four, at least, return on the New York, the 10th instant, Mr. Rockhill, Gen. Greely, Miss Hayden and the writer, and as this letter goes by the Majestic today, it will reach you just as we are “half seas over,” in one sense, at least. Judge Daly, whom I saw yesterday at Oxford (where a party of thirty or more was very handsomely en- tertained by the authoriti sity), is going to the continent, to visit St. Petersburg, Moscow and Novgorod, before returning in October. Mr. Whittemore has Teturned to Wiesbaden, and will go home cn the Teutonic, with Mrs. Whittemore and Miss Wilcox toward the end of Sep- tember. Miss Scidmore, who has been most inde- fatigable in attendance at the congress, and at the various social entertainments, with energy apparently ungmpaired by her trip around the world, wili return on the Lahn of the Norddeutscher Lioyd Septem- ber 28. Rev. Dr. Greene, Dr. and Mrs. Bulkeley and Mr. Barry Bulkeley, Prof. S. J. Brown, U. S. N., Prof. and Mrs. Wm. Libbey, jr., of Princeton; Mr. H. G. Bryant of Philadelphia, Hon. T. E. Burton of Cleveland, Mrs. E. 8. Brinton and Mr. H. P. Holt in town—or were a day or two ago—but there are so many Americans over here,that a list of their names would doubtless fill columns. Even one of the prima dgpnas at the Italian opera, recently playing at Covent Garden, js an American, Miss Pauline Joran, who has been dividing the henors with Calve and Melba, and who, With her youth, beau- ty and talent, may surpass them both. Did time allow I would like to speak of my voyage out here from. Montreal to Que- bec, which I can stroni recommend for the sake of a day historic Quebec, a sall down the broad §t. Lawrence, a glimpse of rocky, foggy, Belle Isle, in its lovely majesty, and the refreshing sight of a lot of icebergs on.a July day. But midnight has long since passed us, on its westward rush across the Atlantic, and the date has changed here, though not yet for several hours will it be August 7 in Wash- ington, so I can truly say that the today of Europe is but the yesterday of our great republic, EVERETT HAYDEN. THE MERCHANT NAVY. Uncle Sam to He Asked to Furnish Guns for Ocean Greyhounda. Congress at its next session, it is ex- pected, will furnish the $500,000 asked by the Secretary of ‘he Navy for buying guns for the auxiliary cruisers. Of course, this sum will only go part way toward pro- viding armaments for the merchant ves- sels which Uncle §am ‘proposes to employ in the event of war. Mr. Herbert has said that at least forty-one of the ships subsidized under the postal contract ousht to be armed with as little delay as possible. To accomplish this would require 15S four- inch guns, 159 five-inch guns and six six- irch guns. All these would be of the rapid-fire kind. To them would have to be added 377 six-pounders, three-pounders and ene-pounders. Should there be war, more than two score of the swift steel and ircn steamships which now peacefully ply the waters of the J lantic and Pacific under the United States flag would be transformed into terrifying destroyers of commerce within a few weeks’ time. Once afloat in the:r new guise they would quickly wipe the trade of a hostile nation off the seas. Obviously, they could tackle armored vessels of war, but from the latter they would not have much fear under ordinary circumstances, inasmuch as they could run away. Being so swift, they could harry the ocean like tremendous birds of prey, while nothing short of steel- walled ships would be able to withstand the showers of explesive projectiles dis- charged from their rapid-fire guns. The fearful effectiveness of these rapid- fire guns astonished the naval experts who witnessed the battle of the Yalu and other sea fights of the war between China and Japan. The projectiles literally riddled the opposing ships, strewing the decks with dead and dying, cutting everything to pieces, and setting fire to the woudwork. Metamoerphosed into auxiliary cruisers each of the four great steamships of the American line—the New York, the St. Louis, the St. Paul and the Paris—would carry ten five-Inch guns. Each gun of this kind is supposed to throw twenty-eight shelis ‘a minute; in action, giving time for aim- ing at a moving target, it would discharge about eighteen shells a minute, Each of these shells weighs fifty pounds, being made of steel and filled with powder. ‘The money wanted by the navy for arm- ing the mercantile vessels is for the pur- chase of certain equipments in addition to the guns themselves. None of the sub- sidized ships have at present mounts for guns; that is to say, carriages and tracks. European powers whigh grant subsidies (o steamship companies ;for like purposes have all the arms apd equipments ready for them, the mounts, ahells and ammuni- tion being stowed away in store houses, ready to be put upon the vessels at a few hours’ notice. Some of the Atlantic liners that come into the port of New York, sail- ing under foreign flags, actually carry parts of their mounts and other equip- ments for war in their, holes as ballast. In case of a declaration of hostilities, on their return to Europe they could get the mounts ready, and be prepared (0 take aboard the guns and ammunition as soon as they reached the other side, a Red Ribbons for Mosquitoes, From the Philad=Iphia Record. An enterprising young man, who is part owner in a ovat house down the river, claims to have discovered something that will be of inestimable value to suffering mankind if experience proves Its worth. The inhabitants of this down-the-river boat house were nearly torn to pieces by mos- quitoes every time they attempted to sleep in the house at night. Screens seemed to be of no avail, and it looked at one time as if the house would have to be aban- doned. Finally, an old lady, who lived in the neighborhood, told them that she had not been troubled by mosquitoes for several years. Her remedy was astonishingly sim- ple. She discarded all screens, and threw the windows wide open at night. Across the open space of the window she stretched a plece of red ribbon about two inches wide. “A mosquito,” sai “cannot be induced to pass that ribbon. Why it is so1 do not know, but I know the natives of India take this means of baflling the viciovs mosquitoes. It works to perfection here also.” The young man followed instruc- tions, and now declares that there has not been a mosquito in the boat house eince the ribbon was stretched across the doors and windows. The Wizard Dolls and the Bad Boys. From Fliegende Blatter. THE PROPER STUDY OF MANKIND IS WOMAN, BY W. J. LAMPTON. Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. said I, with puissant positiveness, to my friend Bascom. “No, sir, I shall not accompany you into the haunts of the un- married woman.” “But my dear Marstcn,”’ argued Bascom, “you ought to go. Of course, you are a bachelor of fifty——” “Touch lightly on that point, please,” said I. 5 “As the years have,” he continued with a complimentary genuflexion. “But, as I was going on to say, the fact that you are fifty is in your favor, for you are now, to all intents and purposes, seasoned timber, and are that much more valuable.” “To whom, pray?” “To the world; to society.” “But I tell you I hate society.” “Why, my dear boy?” “Because society is merely a corporation of associated individuals in which women hold the majority of the stock, and I have no use for women.” “That is ungallant in the extreme.” “And equally honest.” “Oh,” he laughed, “‘one doesn’t have to ve so honest as all that in such matters.” “That's why I am unfitted for the place. I'm too honest.” “Society might make a fad of you as a novelty. “And again, my dear Bascom, it mightn’t.” “However, whether it does or not, I want you to get out of the rut of bachelordom and go with me.” “You are very kind.” “For a verity, old man, Will you go?” “As I said the beginning, I now re~- peat: ‘No, sir.’ * “You don’t even know where I want you te Ko."" “No, and I don’t want to learn. It's somewhere where there are women, and I tell you I want none of them. I have been a bachelor for fifty years and I'm getting used to it.”” “It's like any other bad habit one ac- quires; he isn’t sensible of his misery.” Bascom had been married for several years, and I had his frequent assurance that his entire married life was nothing more nor less than a path of silver sun- shine through a golden garden of roses. It was a charming metaphor, but it fell upon unappreciative ears, for I knew that Bascom had written poetry in his youth, and, in addition to that, he was married, and I knew what all married men had to say to bachelors of matrimony as they had found it. It was simply sugar spread upon an uncertain condition in order to catch such unwary flies as might be attracted thereby. “Where ignorance {s bliss, my boy,” I smiled, serenely, “it's folly to acquire an education “Pshaw,” he replied, in a dissenting voice, “that sentiment is a relic of the early ages.” “So_is marriage,” I ventured. “Adam and Eve began it, and you can’t go much further back in the record than that, I fancy.” I was getting the better of him in th2 argument, just as I always had done when I argued this subject with a married man, and he began to show signs of retreating. “Well, well,” he said, “have it your own way. I'm sure I can stand it if you can, but say you will join me over Sunday at my own home. I've told my wife about you, and she ts so anxious to see you that she commissioned me to invite you out for Sunday.” Bachelor or no bachelor, I could not af- ford to be a boor, and to slight such an in- vitation as this was inexcusable. So I be- gan to hedge a bit. “My dear Bascom.” I said, apologetically. “why didn’t you tell me you wanted mie to to your own house?” “Well, it hadn't just occurred to me, I guess,"’ and he laughed. “Of course,” I went on, “it is quite a dif- ferent thing to go there than to go—” “Then you'll go?” he interrupted, with such an interest that I became suspicious. “Are there any of the gay and giddy throng about?” I asked. “Summer girls and such?" he replied. “Mostly.” “Then I'll be frank with you and say there is not one on the place.” “Under the circumstances, then, I’ll go.” “Good for you, old ma he exclaimed, clapping me on the back. “I'll go and will come up “Does that mean you will also drop a hint to have a few girls on hand? Because if it does, I shall back out at once. It Is to be a family affair entirely.” “That's all right. I give you my assur- ance that only the members of our family vill be there.” Then he went out of my office to send his dispatch. Bascom was a business friend of mine of about thirty, with a strong commercial in- stinct, and as I was an old hand, I felt an interest in him when he first appeared in the street, and in various ways helped him to better his condition, ard I had never given him a tip that he had not got out of it all there was in sight, and in some in- stances he got more than even my expe- rienced eye saw in them. He was square, though, in all things, and a good fellow be- sides, so that there was little wonder that we should have grown to be friends. It was about 4 o'clock Saturday after- noon when he reached his home in the country, three hours earlier than his usual time of arrival, as he had taken me out at that hour so we might have a little loafing spell before dinner, and as the day was unusually fine in the country, and as it had not been pleasant in the heated town, I was glad enough that he had been so thoughtful. It was delightful under tke big trees of his door-yard—he objected to calling it a lawn—and when he brought out a couple of great, juicy mint juleps, and we sat there browsing upon them, I don’t think I ever felt more at peace with all the world than I did at that very moment. Later, Mrs. Bascdm, a dainty little wo- man with three as pretty children as chil- dren can be pretty to a bachelor of my proclivities, joined us, and with her came her sister, Mrs. Hilman, a matronly wo- man of thirty-five, to whom I was formal- ly_presented. I confess to an cdmiration of Mrs. Hil- man as soon as I saw her, not that Mrs. Bescom wasn’t admirable, but that her sister was older and more substantial to my mind. In fact, Mrs. Hilman was of that pleasing rotundity of person which seems to appeal to an unromantic man of fifty, while Mrs. Bascom was rather spir- ituelle, and reminded one more of angels than of good housekeepers. In addition to her other attractions, Mrs. Hilman was of the laughing, jolly kind of women, who seem to carry a surplus of sunshine with them for general distribution, and I always had a kind of a sneaking fondness for that kind of a woman. At 7 o'clock we had a delightful dinner, and then a pleasant family gathering on the piazza, with a fine view of the water out by the sky line, and of the little village down on the shore with its dancing lights underneath the stars. Both of the ladies seemed to be determined to make a good impression on me, rot so much for their own sakes as for the sake of their entire sex, for Bascom had told them that I did not hold woman in the highest esteem, ex- cept theoretically, and in that regard L thought she wa: unequaled. I went to bed early, as is the custom in the country, and though I was in good sleeping trim and my conscience was in perfect order, somehow, I lay awake think- ing what a lonesome sort of life a bache- lor's was, and how much cozier and pleas- iter a woman could make a man’s life, even if she hadn’t more than half the chance. After a long time I slept, and I dreamed dreams in which there were summer girls and other disturbing elements, and when I awoke in the morning in response to Bas- com’s knock, I was my old self again and laughed at the very idea of a woman as a life companion. During Sunday I had several very inter- esting talks with Mrs, Hilman, and by night again I was worse than I was the night before, and began wondering why it was that some men were so much luckier than others, and also whether there was reuch chance of Mr. Hilman departing this life and being laid to rest with his fathers. I knew of a number of pleasant church yards where I thought Mr. Hilman might be accommodated with quarters, indefinite- ly, and J felt that I, could attend his funer- al with much pleasure, though, as a rule, I abhorred funerals. Of course, I was discreetly silent on this point in my talks with Mrs. Hilman, but man has a right to think what he pleases, — exercised that right to its fullest ex- “ “Well, old man,” said Bascom, as we took the train for town Monday morning, “I hope you enjoyed yourself.” “J never had a pleasanter outing in my fe,” I answered, with such sincerity that he actually blushed, “and you have my in all their amplitude.” “I'm glad you liked it, for more reasons than one,” and he smiled rather cutely. “Oh, yes; I know,” I said, with a laugh. “You think that after my experience of the last forty-eight hours my views on the woman question will undergo a radical change.’ He nodded and smiled at my profundity of observance. “"Fess up, now, Marston,” he said, “haven't your views changed Somewhat by what you have lived in for even so short a time?” “Well,” I replied, picking my way care- fully, “I am willing to say that as far as your household is concerned, the prospect is more pleasing than I thought it could ‘And would you say the Hilman house- held were ary less pleasing than mine?” This with a nudge and a chuckle that I thought quite uncalled for in view of the fact that Mrs. Hilman was a married wo- man and I had no right to express undue admiration for her or her household, and which made the blood rush up into my face. “Of course that must be included,” I said, trying to laugh off my embarrassment. “And still,” I continued, “that is only two, and there are millions which one wouldn't care to praise.” “What are they to you?” he retorted. “You are not hunting for the millions, but the one.” “Apparently, I’m not hunting the one with a great degree of success.” “But you should, now that you have had proof positive that the life is not as black as !t is painted.” x. “It’s very easy for you to talk,” I con- tended, warmly. “You have called a lucky tirn and so has Hilman. But you have exhausted the supply. Now if I could get such a woman as Mrs.” But I stopped shcrt, for I was about to make a discrim- ination which was hardly complimentary to my host, and I dicn’t want to do that. 0 on,” he urged, good naturedly. “I dcn’t care if you do say Mrs. Hilman. Any- bedy could see that you had a leaning that way. Even my wife noticed it,and she wasn’t at all envious of her sister.” Very well,” I submitted, “say Mrs. Hil- man. If I could find such a woman as Mrs. Hilman, I am not at all sure that my mind would not undergo a change, and that I could not be persuaded to throw off a few of the trammels of bachelor- hhcod.” Bascom let off a guffaw that not only startled me, but it shocked me as well, for I thought I had said something I should not have said. I asked, “What's the matter, much alarmed. “That's it,” he continued to laugh. “What's the matter with Mrs. Hilman?’” I was more disturbed than ever at this queer inquiry. “What do you mean?” I asked, taking him by the collar. “Why, old fellow, if Mrs. Hilman is your ideal and you think you could be happy with that kind of a woman, why don't you avail yourself of your opportunities and take Mrs. Hilman?” “Wha—wha—wha—why—why—” I stam- mered, utterly upset. “Oh, there isn’t any Mr. Hilman, if that’s what you are trying to say. He has been in the quiet church yard for lo these many years, and Mrs. Hilman has been living with us for the last twelvemonth, and I am positive that she is heart whole and fancy free, and what is more to the point, she is just a little bit tired of Nving with us, see?” Possibly I saw and possibly I didn’t, Whether I did or not, I spent the next Sunday with Bascom, and incidentally with Mrs. Bascom and Mrs. Hilman. The* next Sunday I spent principally with Mrs. Hilman. And the next. And there are others. —_—__— He Dida’t Dare Drown. From th: San Franelsco Post. A fat, midale-aged woman, with a voice between a grunt and a groan, sat on a bench at Fiedmont, with her twelve-year- o:d boy, and watcheé the bathers splashing erd spluttering around the iank. The heat was sweltering, and the boy begged and pleaded to be allowed to go into the water. He promised to pull all the weeds out of the garden, to carry in wood for a week without being told and _to wipe the dishes every night. “No; I’m afraid you'll drownd,” declared the cautious mother, but there were evidences of indecision in her Voice. If she had said, “Shut up; you shan't,” the boy would have known his fate was sealed. “I'll whéel the baby every morning,” he added, by way of a further bribe. The’ fat woman mopped her perspiring face, looked at the crowd, and enapped: el, g9. on; but if you drownd you can’t blame mc.” ‘The boy_was soon splashing and paddling around. He had assured his mother t he could’swim a little, and she eyed narrowly to flnd out If he had been lying. The boy had got out into deep y-ater, When his head went under. His mother thought it was merely one of the boy's tricks, and Kept her seat. He came up all right, but lcoking frightened,floundered a momen: and went down again. He was under a little longer, and bubbles came up where his head ought to be. Up he bobbed again, eshing and trying to cry for help. He was just sinking for the third time, when his mother sprang to the edge of the tank, and, shaking her fist at the boy, screamed: “You, Simon Peter Bates. Don't you dare drownd, or I'll skin you alive.” The boy saw the fist and heard the threat, and, with his face contorted with fear, kicked out desperately and kept afloat un- tl some of the bathers lifted him out. The terrible threat saved his life. He didn’t dare drown. ——+e+____ Sources of Great French Fortunes, From the London Truth. Mme. Boucicaut was first a laundress, and the daughter-in-law of a laundress, who married a hatter at Montaigne, in Normandy. She was engaged in the laun- dering department at the Petit St. Thomas Mart, and found her opportunity in lot sales of damaged silks and odds and ends of machine-made lace. She used at night to make up what she bought at these sales into cravats, jackets and children’s frocks, according to patterns she studied at the Petit St. Thomas. On her way in the morning to her work she sold them in a market. She did so well that she had soon to get help, and then took a poky shop in the Rue du Bac, where the west entrance to the Bon Marche now stands. The rule was cheapness. Nobody was ever taken in. In the tentative struggles she and ier husband Jearned business without heavy risk. She could not be called an old wo- man when she died. After giving away nearly three millio: sterling in acts cf justice, friendship and benevolence, she tee a fortune valued at over seven mil- ions. . man?” RESTLESS CHILDREN Feverish Nights and Days Devoid of Appetive, Diet Must Be at Once Changed When Children Do Not Thrive, Lactated Food Checks All Wasting Disor- ders of Hot Weather. An infant should be abed and asleep, as the fowls are, by sundown, at least. During the long niglit’s sound slumber the tiny limbs wax stronger and growth is by far the most active. A rich, substantial, but not burdensome diet, a sturdy digestion and quict sleep complete the cycle of a day's bealthy activity for a er0we ing child. MARY C. REYNOLDS. The prime factor in maintaining this steaay growth and in escaping debilitating summer diseases to which children are so apt, 48 lactated food—« food that does not disagree with the delicate stomach, that is eaten with zest and appetite, that is absolutely insured against contamination, and amply capable of furnishing strength and a solid inerease in fles and blood. Lactated food is made with the express inten- tion of forming a perfect substitute for heulthy mother's milk. Its basis is sugur of milk; with it el the cutritive parts of wheat, barley and oats, producing a pure food which meets every, requirement of the growing child. An infant likes it. Fretful, peevish bables grow strong, ruddy and healthy on it. It has the unusual virtue of induc- ing delicate babies to take an abundance of nour- Ashment when other foods disagree with them, and when retarded growth, feebieness and intestinal irritation threaten the’ poorly fed child. 2t 4g Ignorance on tie part of nurses and parents that fs to blame for the summer disonlers,diarrhoea, and cholera infantum. Children must eat well, di- gest well and be protected from impurities in thelr food to grow rapidly, and to escape sickness, In the homes of a vast number of physicians and well informed parents, lactated food Is the sole diet for the little ones, not only in summer but all the year round. It tsa perfect infant food, as testi- fied by thousands of happy mothers. If gives all tho rajidly growing tissues a chance to be fed and completely nourished. Mrs. E. E. Reynolds of Fair Haven, Vt., says: “Our litte Mary is a perfect picture of health, having used ‘lactated food since she Was two She lias always been perfectly well, and we think that this is largely due to her use of lactated food.”” A baby’s whole duty is to Keep strong and well, The parents’ duty js to give the infant the best food in the world—and that is lactated food, All sts supply it. A Chicago Fish Story. ~* From the Chicago Times-Herald. “The most remarkable thing I ever saw done by a fish,” said Will Mussey, “did not happen on any far-away lake, but right here in Chicago. It was during the rail- road exposition, held many years ago in the old interstate exposition building on the lake front. Many of the railway com- panies had fine exhibits of fish taken from lakes and streams on the lines of their re- spective roads. A Wisconsin road had a splendid exhibit of black bass and gray- lings and the large tank containing them was always surrounded by crowds of fish- ermen. I was standing there one after- noon watching a huge bass and wishing that I had him at the end of a good line in some good water, when I noticed a gray- ling who seemed disposed to be gay. He circled around the big bass a couple of times and then nipped him. He was prob- ably just In fun, but could see that the bass did not like it The big fellow had been asleep, and perhaps he awoke with a bad taste in his mouth. He made no move toward the grayli who became embold- ened at this, and, after hovering around the black fellow for a moment made an- other dive at him. Like a flash the bass turned to one side and with a snap grabbed the grayling by the back fin. His eyes shone with rage. He was the personification of anger and _ ferocity. There was a swirl of water, and when it was over the grayling was quivering in his death agonies. The bass drew back a few feet and opened his jaws. Never un- til then did I realize the possibilities of the jaws of a black bass. He seemed all mouth, and he made a running jump at the gray- ling and caught him head tirst. Now the grayling, while not so heavy as the bass, was fully as long. I did not think that the bars was going to attempt to swal- low the grayling. It would be like me try- ing to swallow Jake Schaefer. But that was what he did, and, what is more, he succeeded. He worked him down slowly, lying quietly in one corner of the tank, while thousands vainly tried to get near. He started this banquet at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. At 10 o'clock at night the gray- ling was half way down. There was but little change the next morning, and it was four days before that bass could’ close his jaws over the tail of that grayling. There are 20,000 people in Chicago who can vouch for every word of this.” ———+e+___ Fox and Collie Hunt Rabbits. From the Pall Mall Gazette. While angling in a secluded glen the writer some days ago witnessed a curious combination of poaching and natural his- tory. The facts are as follows: A hill shepherd, in destroying a litter of foxes, took it into his head to rear one as a pet. He did so, and the animal has not only he- come very tame, but is a most useful ally, It and a collie hunting together, kill rab- bits to a miracle. They work very much in the same way as two lurchers. The col- Ne goes out and hunts the rabbits xumong the fern and heather of the braes, or the tushes and long grasses of the stacks, while Reynard all the time sneaks about the holes and picks them up as they come in. They understand their respective parts perfectly. The collie seems to know that it is not his business to kill, and the fox is never under the slightest temptation to bolt out and give chase. =——— Possibly. “I thought you were going to have a wheel?” SSS “So I was, but I’ve decided to wait until next year and get it with a pound of tea."s