Evening Star Newspaper, August 31, 1895, Page 14

14 THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 1895-TWENTY PAGES. VISIT TO NORTHFIELD A Bound of Summer Conventions Devoted to Bible Study. MR. MOCDY THE ANIMATING SPIRIT Characteristic Scenes Where Chris- tian Workers .Love to Gather. : INTERESTING STUDENTS Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. NORTHFIELD, Mass., August 29, 1895. T HE GREAT CON- ferences of the year 1895 are over at Northfield. They be- gan with the young men's conference on June 29, followed by the conference for young ladies, and on . August 3, the confer- =; ence of Christian { Workers, The latter is the crowning occa- sion of the year, At each the most prac- tical and helpful speakers possible to be found are obtained, but for the last, the object seems to be, not to get some one or more who will instruct the audiences in methods of Christian work, a3 those who will teach the deeper spiritual truths of the Bible, leaving these truths to work out their own expression in manner and method, according to the condition and cir- cumstances of the individual. The large meetings are held in the au- ditorium, used last year for the first time. This room holds 2,500 people. It is filled to overflowing on the two Sabbaths of the reat convention, and often people are seated on the grass outside, where they can hear perfectly well, as the windows are large and reach to the floor,and are thrown The Auditeriam. @ide open at every service. Mr. Moody.selects the speaker for this convention, and indeed, for all, with the greatest care. For several years past Mr. Myer, the successor of Newman Hall in London, has been the principal speaker. Most Christian people have read books, and know what a wealth of spiritual thought they contain, and all thought Mr. Moody could never ‘get another man to quite reach the same spiritual plane. This year we were equally edified and de- lighted. The Rev. Mr. Murray, a Scotch- man, for thirty years a missionary in South Africa, and Prebendary Webb-Pep- loe, have proved equal to all that could be expected. ’ Mr. Murray has had a very successful missionary experience of over thirty years, establishing in South Africa, at Capetown, a school for girls after the pattern of Mt. Holyoke. It has educated nearly all of the teachers in that region, and many of the daughters of the wealthy Boers, who must otherwise go from home to be educated. This mission’ is of the Dutch Reformed Church. Mr. Murray has written much, and his books are well known in the re- ligious world. What is 2 Prebendary. Prebendary Webb-Peploe of the estab- lished Church of England is from St. Paul's Church. His title set every one to hunting for a dictionary—learned divines and all. A prebendary is one who receives his sti- pend for preaching. A canon is more of an executive or functional office. Webb- Peploe certainly deserves his title, for he is one of the most ready, exact, logical preachers“that these conventions haye ever had, and this is high praise, for the best of every denomination have been here. These two men began their work together at the great Keswick convention in July, where have been held for twenty-one years in that beautiful rural English town con- ventions like this one at Northtield, and where there are over 5,000 persons in at- ter dance. They ceme directly from that to this,. Mr. Moody having a special train to bring them from New York to be at the first meeting here. They are the complement of each other, Webb-Peploe, a profound Bible scholar, giving perhaps more expository and practical truth and in a more popular manner, holding his audience for an hour in wrapt attention, Mr. Murray dealing with the deepest spiritual thought. You might almost think he belonged to the Mystics, only_that he is comprehensible and helpful. These two men spoke every day, for ten days, and now Webb-Peploe speaks every morning in the church, con- tinuing his wonderful expositions, Besides these two men were woven in Many other noted speakers. Cn missionary day, Dr. Arthur Parson in charge, there ‘were twenty-three missionaries on the plat- form, of every denomination and from every part of the world. They vere each given five minutes. How could one tel! the experience of a lifetime in five m: ? It one had never had faith in miss: before he would, after listening to the testimony of that morning. These conventions are not the places for rest or indulgence in your liking for short services. Mr. Moody seems never to sleep. At one of the meetings he said: “When I ‘was going about this morning I saw a good many people walking at 6 o'clock, so I thought, if you would like, I will meet you and we will have a prayer meeting every trorning at 6:30." Let me give’ you cne day. Mr. Moody's Prayer service at 6:30, conference and Prayer service at 9 o'clock, sermon by Webb-Peploe at 10, followed by a sesmon by Mr. Murray at 11. This makes a fairly full morning for a hot August day. In the afternoon, addresses at 3 o'clock, at 5, a question service on Round Ti at Ta meeting on Round Top, which Moody usually addresses, and at 8 a service in the auditorium, with one or more speakers. The beauty of it all is you feel you cannot afford to miss a single service. On Round Top. Round Top deserves especial mention. It is what its name suggests—a beautifully founded hilltop, half way between “Grend- ma” Moody’s house and the auditorium. @ view {rem it up the Conn river to the een mountains beyond end of the moun- is back of Northfield ts superb. it has been used for prayer meetings for Ci It 1s here that Mr. Moody wished te the body of Dr. A. G. Gudon, who had so often preached from it, and who had form such a benediction and blessing to all former conventions; and it is here that very one hopes Mr. Mocdy may be laid to rest when his work is done. To see a meeting on Round Top is worth a visit to Northfield. The people sitting on the grass or stand- ing bereath the shade of the few trees on its side, and in the center Mr. Moody, with uncovered head, present a scene that lifts the soul at once to the blue-vaulted heay- ng above. When the benediction is pro- Nounced the long line winds its way down the hill toward the auditorium. }, The house in which Mr. Moody was born $s still the family homestead. His mother, randma Moody, is in though past her Ninetleth birthday. There is & jittle octa- addition to the house, which has win- lows upon al) al but one, for her espe- yas room, From jt a can gee lcody'# hou: pe All o: S* school bi cludin, auditoriu: e y! visitor’ Who really c O pes z pan i de je sutograph oO; er. Bip" oaig “Secantlgt 'p geanel ota tis meetings, as the crowd confuses me, but it is a case where the mountain comes to Ma- homet. I have all of the papers and am able to read them without glasses. When Rev. Prebendary h. W. Webb-Peploe. I was about forty and had so much care with my children, my eyesight failed and I were glasses, but I have my second sight now.” She has the same brown, full eye as her illustrious son, and is at her extreme age a very handsome woman. Her hair is snowy white, but abundant, parted in the middie of the forehead and brushed plainly back. A white kerchief crossed on her breast only makes a pretty setting to the face, almost as smooth as a girl's. When a visitor not long ago said to her, “I should think you wculd be very proud of your son,” she replied, ‘‘Which one?” The mother love would not let her put to one side the other three boys, who stayed by the plough and wrought their lives in the work God gave them. Those sons with two daughters were reared by her, though a widow early in life. She probably gave more of her own character to her son Dwight than to any other of her children, and one can easily see in looking at this beautiful motherly woman where he got fae grand physique and quick mind. ‘The Center of It All. Of course, Mr. Moody is the mainspring of everything here. His wish is law. “What would Northfleld be without Moody?” is frequently asked. One holds one’s breath and says, “what will it be when he is gone?” Not a detail of these great conventions escape his eye. In his stable there is always a horse harnessed, sometimes two or three, ready to send on special errands, and the horses he drives are as big in proportion as himself. They are strong enough for the work he gives them, but they, as well as every one about him, must work. He says he has no use for a boy at Mt. Hermon who can't sleep in a hayloft and eat soup with a two-tined fork if necessary. ‘To get ready for these gatherings is no small task. Fifteen hundred people must be accommodated in a town of a few hun- dred inhabitants. A hotel built for the accommodation of visitors cannot hold a third of those who come. The school rooms are all turned into dormitories and filled with cots. The household work Is done by the pupils of the school, most of whom are glad of the summer's occupation, as they are usually poor. Nearly every one takes boarders during the convention, and the church wagon, which is an institution, by the way, goes back and forth during the conventions to take the people to and from the meetings. A charge of 5 cents Is col- lected cn week days, but nothing on Sun- days. Mr. Moody is a strong Sabbatarian. Dur- ing the four weeks’ convention in Wash- ington, two years ago, he never rode on Sunday. He walked to all services from his hotel to Convention Hail. On one of the Sundays a fearful blizzard raged, but he walked all the same, much to the anx- fety of his friends, who know from his physician that any unusual strain is dan- gerous. A little boy of six who had spent a sum- mer or two here was found playing with his horses an‘ carts one Sunday after his return home. When he was expostulated with, he replied: “Why, mamma, I'm just playing ‘church wagon;’ you don’t think Yd drive my horses for anything else, do you, after I've been to Northfield?” Chil- dren, as well as grown people, get the old “New England conscience” on many other questicns besides the one of Sabbath ob- servance after hearing the soul-stirriny truths preached here. Student’ Volunteer Movement. Mr. Moody never tells of his work or him- self, excepting to occasionally use an incl- dent for an illustration of his subject; but if you are so fortunate as to linger after some of the smaller meetings with Mr. Sankey, he will tell you incidents and ex- periences that are most thrilling and touching. He told the writer of the first inception of the students’ volunteer movement. He and Mr. Moody had been to a meeting of the Young: Men’s Christian Association Lear Atlanta. They were on: the train going home, when the president of the as- sociation said to Mr. Moody: “If I bring five young men to Northfield will you teach them the Bible for ten days?” Mr. Moody replied: “Yes. Bring fifty. I can teach fifty as well as five.” “When?” ‘Next week,” replied Mr. Moody. The yourg man left the train at the next station. He wrote fur young men to the different Young Men's Christian Assocta- tions, and a large number came. Without any intention on the part of the leaders, the meetings took a missionary turn, and before they were over one hundred volun- teers for missionary “work had pledz2d themselves. This was taken up by Young Men’s Christian Associations and in the various colleges, and thus what is now known as the students’ volunteer move- ment was born. < It is now world-wide in its influence. Evon Japan has its organization, and a world’s conference of student volunteers is to be held in London the Ist of January. In nine years every college that is in any sense Round Top. organized on a Christian basis has been enrolled. At these conventions the spir- {tual uplift is wonderful. One has a new sense of the power of the truth In che Bible, and feels that it is simply the Word of God—a fact you had perhaps never fully taken in before. and whose power is incal- evlable when taken in its purity and sim- plicity. The whole atmosphere of the place is dif- ferent from any other. A paper box with a slit ‘n it is placed on a table at the depot, with a pile of sermons, and a sign, reading, “One for 15 cents, two for 25. Take one and put your money in the box beside it.” Such faith in the honesty of man canaot be found outside of Northfield. aa eS The Genenals and the Cats. From the Westminster Budget. Mr. Edward Geflowski, the sculptor, tells a curious story in “The Home News” con- cerning some of our generals and cats. When ir India recently, he stsyed at the residency at Bangalore, with Sir James Gordon, when Sir Frederick Roberts paid him a vis't, and he had confirmation of a rem:rk once made to him by Lady George Hamilton. “It is a strange thing,” she said. “that tae three greatest generals, Welling- ton, Napoleon and Roberts, never could be at home in a house where there was a cat.” ‘The truth of this in Sir Frederick Roberts’ case was seen in the fact that Sir James Gordon sent his cats—he had two or three— out of the house while Sir Frederick was his guest. . soe Humors of the Schoolroom. From the Boston Transcript. Here are some sample questions and an- swers from a certain New England school: Teacher {after a lesson in physiology on the names and structure of the teeth)— “Now, John, name the teeth. John (hesitatingly)—“The teeth—the teeth —are the cupids, the bi-cupids and the morals.” Teacher—“What fs the opposite of or- thodox?” Boy—“Paradox.* ee cons Rabeid of tos a ccraalanalig, and SEPTEMBER HEAVENS Brilliant Constellations and Where They May Be Found. THE MOON'S TOTAL ECLIPSE It Will Be Visible Throughout the United States on Tuesday. ABOUT THE PLANETS sd T 9 O'CLOCK TO- Azz night we shall find directly overhead the Swan, better known as the Northern Cross. On its west is the Lyre, marked by the bright star Vega. Still lower in the west, midway be- tween the horizon and the zenith, is Hercules, not marked f by any bright stars, but interesting because astronomers believe that somewhere within its borders lies the “apex of the sun’s way”—the point toward which the sun, with its large family of planets, comets and meteors, is moving: in space. Near the horizon, between west and nerthwest, is Arcturus, a star which rivals Vega in brillizncy and which, owing to the fact that the nicest observations at present possible have failed to obtain any certain indication of its distance, astronomers are coming to look upon as, perhaps, the most stupendous sun “within our imperfect cog- nizance.” Unquestionably it surpasses enor- mously in bulk even Sirius, which is it- self many times larger than the sun. Between Arcturus and the constellation Hercules lies the Northern Crown, a near- ly complete oval figure formed by five or six stars, of which the brightest, Alphacca, “the Pearl of the Crown,” is of the second megnitude. South of the Swan are the Dolphin—a lit- tle group of small stars rather larger and more diffuse than the Pleiades—and to the right of this the Eagle, marked by the star Altair, of the first magnitude. Low in the southwest is the Scorpion, at The Position of the Planets, the center of which is the ruddy firstgmag- nitude star Antares, “the Scorpion’s Heart.” Between the Scorpion and Hercules is Cphiuchus, the Serpent Holder. The ‘ead of Ophiuchus, marked by a star of the second magnitude, about three-fifths of the distance from Antares to Vega, is close beside that of Hercules, also marked by a star of the second magnitude, which, how- ever, is variable in its brilliancy. Fomalhaut, the principal star in the Southern Fish, may be seen in the south- east, a little higher than Antares: In’ ridheavens in the east is the great Square of Pegasus, a large quadrangle of second-magnitude stars—a figure so strik- ing that no one can fail to identify it. ‘Three of these stars only belong to the old constellation Pegasus. That of the low-r left-hand corner of the square marks the head of Andromeda. Tis star is the first in a line of four, of about the same bril- liancy and at about the same distance apart, which curves downward toward the left. ‘The first three in this Hne belong to Andromeda; the fourth, on the extreme left, belongs to Perseus. Above Perseus is the ‘W-shaped constellation Cassiopela, or “the hair.” & Cons Great Dipper will be found tomor- row night, right side up, between north and northwest. The region between this and the star Vega is occupied by the Dragon. The tip of the Dragon's tall is directly above the “pointers” in the Dip- per. From this point the constellation curves upward, first to the left, then to the right, thén to the left, like a reversed letter S, and terminates in a head con- spicuously marked by a trapezium of stars, of which two, “the flaming eyes,” are of the second magnitude. The Pole Star is found by running a line through the “pointers” and continuing it upward to a distance about eqhal to the extreme length of the Dipper. It is at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor), the bowl of which is now seen to the left of this star. The two brighter stars in this bowl, corresponding to the “pointers” in the Great Dipper, are known as the Guardians of the Pole. For- merly they were nearer to the true pole of the heavens than now—or, more strictly speaking, the pole was negrer to them, for it is the pole, not the stars, that has shift- ed—and they seem to have served as a compass for the ancient Greek and Phoe- nician sailors. The most striking feature of the heavens on a clear September evening is the Milky Way. At 9 o'clock at the beginning of the month’ it stretches in a direction from southwest to northeast, directly overhead. Photographs of sections of this region of the night sky have become so generally accessible that. the reader may be pre- sumed to have a fairly good idea of its ap- pearance when surveyed with a large tele- scope. But though the photograph may represent correctly the number of its stars and their various degrees of splendor, no one can get from any picture or from any description of the Milky Way the impres- sion forced upon him by a survey of the object itself. To realize that every one of the tiny specks shown on the photographic plate {s a star one must see it twinkle. And when, peering into this cloud of star dust, he refiects that even the minutest of these twinkling points of light may be and probably is a sun, shining so faintly as it does only because of ‘ts unthink- able remoteness, then and only then can he form some faint idea of what is meant by countless worlds and the immensity of the universe of suns. The Lunar Eclipse. On Tuesday there will be a total eclipse of the moon, visible throughout the United States. Its several phases are timed as follows, eastern standard time: Moon enters Penumbra. Tatal eclipse begins. Total eclipse ends... Moon leaves shadow. Moon leaves Penumbra. The diagram of the eclipse given here may require a little explanation. The large Lunar Eclipse. circle represents a section of the earth's shadow, at the distance of the moon. It is shown broken to represent the fact that during the eclipse, owing to the earth’s movement in its orbit, the shadow will be moving very slowly toward the east. ‘The circle A represents the moon a few minutes after it has dipped into the shad- ow and when the first phase of the eclipse proper can be fairly made out. It will be seen that the shadow will make its first appearance at the upper left-hand (eastern) limb of the moon. At B the moon is seen wholly eclipse@! near the center of the shadow, and at C it is just emerging from the shadow. The penumbral phases of an eclipse, al- though they aré timed in the almanac, are not visible. The first visible phase is the contact with the shadow, which will occur on this occasion at precisely 11 o'clock. None of the planets is now in a position to be of interest to casual observers. Their Positions tomorrow are shown in the an- nexed diagram, On the 23d of'September, at 2 a.m., Wash- ington mean time, the sun will enter Libra, and the tropical autumn will begin. CRIME IN ENGLAND. The Corrupting Influence of Cheap, Trashy Literature on the Young. From the St. James, Gazette. Mr. Hogan usefully drew the attention of the home secretary yesterday to the crim- inal literature question, though he asked for a little too much. He was quite right to irquire whether some effort might not be made te check the circulation of s0- called “literature” of “a grossly demoraliz- ing and corrupting character among the young.” But he went too far when he asked whether Sir M. White Ridiey did not see his way to “arm some responsible authority with supervising powers in this connection similar to those that had been exercised for many years to prevent the dissemination of unwholesome and objec- tlonable literature from the stage.” This, of course, would amount to a general cen- sorship of lterature. But the censorship is not wanted. The law already under- takes to deal with “obscene, blasphemous and sediticus” publications after their ap- Pearance. It does not require that all writing should be licensed in order to be sure that no obscenity, blasphemy or se- dition shall appear. The questions are whether this trashy, cheap “literature” of crime is not of a character to render those who publish it Hable to punishment al- ready, and if not, whether some practical steps canrot be taken to class it with the obscene, the blasphemous and the sedit!ous. We are sorry to learn that Sir M. White Ridley is no more hopeful of the possibility of doing anything effectual to stop what he justly calls “this unwonted evil” than Mr. H. Matthews was. The former unionist heme secretary was at least of the opinion that the “law as it stands is a tolerably effective weapon, and that, under the powers conferred by Lord Campbell's act, by the metropolitan police courts act, and by the vagrant act, ample powers were given, which, if effectively used, would prevent the circulation of immoral iltera- ture.” Mr. Matthews thought that these “ample powers” could not be made use of, because juries were not to be trusted. This was bad enough, but Sir M. White Ridley went further yesterday. He laid it Gown that the law is not “a tolerably effective weapon,” but is, on the contrary, pelpless against literature which is only immoral and “quasi-criminal.” “Under the existing law,” he said, ‘no means exist of stopping such publications uniess they be of an obsceae, blasphemous or sedi- tlous character.” These are terms of art which have been so defined as not to include mere immoral rubbish and pestilent scrib- bling about crime and bloodshed. As for this sort of thing, Sir M. White Ridley is of opinion that “the difficulties of legisla- ticn with respect to quasi-criminal litera- ture not coming within the above descrip- tions have been, I am sorry to say, in my judgment, rightly regarded as almost pro- bibitive.” Mr. Matthews, at least, thought that we could stop the nuisance if we would. Sir M. White Ridley finds himself ccnstrained to decide that, however much we may wish)to do 50, we cannot. It is, we trust, no presumption to decline to accept either of these fontradictory statements implicitly. Where two highly qualified gen- tlemen, both acting by the best advice, are found so mu¢h at variance, {t would seem that the rights of the case cannot be so very clear. Surely the way to arrive at certainty is ‘to bring the question to the test of experiment. ——_ +++ ___. THE UNTRAINED ENGLISHWOMAN. Why Such aLarge Number of Servants Ate dnucompetent. From the Quarterly Review. At present an Immense proportion of the women throughout London never have been trained in proper household work, and so are quite incbmpetent to supervise and to direct the daily, monthly, yeatly, cleansing of their rooms. Among the working class, the mothers, mostly, are brought up in general neglect of things required for per- sonal and family respect and comfort in their homes, and consequently are incapa- ble of teaching what they do not know or practice. Thus we find that most domestic servants are untrained and uninstructed, since both mistresses and mothers are themselves unqualified for detailed and ex- perienced direction. There are said to be in London many thousand servants out of place—a somewhat satisfactory announce- ment; to be out of place is, on the whole, the fittest place for them. Of the whole number probably not one in twenty is ex- perienced or instructed in her business, and but few are even willing to be taught to work efficiently. Not fit to be received In any decent house, they can but make the houses that they enter even filthier than before, while taking pay to make these houses clean; and, doing little more than dusting, without method or efficiency, each year their incapacity ap- pears to be increasing. Without manners and with little reverence even for them- selves; untrained, and ignorant, and dirty; fashionably dressed in the most sordid style; untrustworthy and incompetent, they eventually become the punishment of those who so unfortunately marry them, and are a chief cause of the loose, spendthrift hab- its of -our workingmen. These working people for the most part have no comfort in their homes; their meals are so ill- cooked and badly served that drink appears to be the only gustatory pleasure left for men; and thus the public house becomes the recognized relief and questionable so- lace of the working class. SE gg HE WAS EXPERIENCED. And His Wife Wished to Thank the Girl Who Broke Him In. From the Boston Traveler. What wonder that Harold Hustleton was proud and happy. Had he not won the heart and hand of the fairest and loveliest girl in the whole town? Harold could scarcely believe in his good luck, And as he sat by her side and watched the evening star glimmering faintly above the orange flush which marked where the sun had sunk behind the hills he felt moved to ask her the four- teenth question of the Lover's Catechism, 1. e., “How had it happened that she had chosen him out of all the men in her wide circle of acquaintances to be responsible for her future happiness?” “Surely she must have known better fel- lows than he was,” he urged; “richer and handsomer and more athletic. Why had she chosen him?” ‘ “Oh, Harold, you mugtn’t be too modest,” replied Ada, ,as she gently pushed back the hair from his forehead. “You have a great many traits which none of my other friends possess. Yoy,are so thoughtful of my wel- fare, so ten considerate, so obedient to my slightest wish. I think it was those things which, firgt won me to you, and I have never fegretted it; for, Harold, you are simply ideal lover. “Oh, my darlitig, you don’t know how glad I am to hear you say so,” he ex- claimed, as he drew her to him and kissed her tenderly, 4 “Yes, dear, antl some day you must let me meet her’and thank her for making you what you are,” continued Ada. “Meet whom? ;My mother?” asked Har- a. ; “No, Haro}d, not your mother,” she said, sweetly; “I ‘want to thank the girl who broke you in —__1_+e+—____ My Lady. From Life. The streets that were so dull and dark Are bright and fresh today; The air, once hot and dusty, Is sweet as new-mown hay. The. country has no beauty now, The city holds the crown; And this because My Lady Once more has come to town. —_—_+o+—__—_ i Ar Easy Way Out. From the Chicago Record. “What would you do if you were hounded and boned and dunned and threatened by a creditor, all for a little bill of $2.50?” “I would pay it.”” “Thank you, ‘olf man—thank you; I hadn’t thought of that!’ THE TALE OF A BURRO BY LEN OWEN. enna Written for The Evening Star. There is a burro for sale cheap out on the Conduit road. He is a much traveled burro if that adds any value to him, and he has stirred up more strife in his three months’ residence in Washington than a first term Congressman working for a rec- ord. He has established a lasting ven- detta down on the most fashionable part of H strect, he has broken the heart of one small white boy and the head of an- other small black one, and he has cost a wealthy and indulgent father more money than would keep a coach and a pair for six months. This state of affairs is ag- gravated by the fact that his cash value on his native heath would be not over six bits. In fact, there are a lot of his blood relations wandering around on the hillsides of Colorado, where he came from, who could be had for their catching, and not very hard to catch at that. “Cactus,” that is his name, made an un- obtrusive entry into Washington about three months ago, along with a car load of western ponies. There was not much call for the ponies in this part of the coun- try, the horse market being very much down, and there was absolutely no call for Cactus. In fact it is a sort of problem how he came to get into that stock car anyway. Probably Cactus himself was the responsible party. Like as not he just ob- truded himself, as he has a habit of doing, and got carried along for luck. However that may be, Bishop found him down in the horse bazar, wandering around in a democratic sort of way, talking poli- tics with the street car wrecks that were there waiting to be sold into fresh slavery. The fact is Bishop had not much more business at the bazar than Cactus, for though he is a born horse trader, which, by the way, is a pretty mean thing to say about a man, he had only $7, and a horse trader cannot make a very reckless play with only seven dollars, even among a load of broncho ponies with a stray burro thrown in for make-weight. But the western gentleman with a look of disgust and a greasy sombrero seemed willing to talk trade even to Bishop's small capital. Finding that in Bishop he was up against one of his own sort, he took a graceful parachute drop from his fancy prices, and after a good deal of bar- gaining, compromised on $6.75 out of Bish- op's $7, as the cash value of Cactus. With the remaining quarter the twain went out and had a drink, under the soothing in- fluence of which the western gentleman admitted that he had made a mistake in bringing Cactus east at all, and he also confided to Bishop that the $8.75 would just reimburse the proprietor of the sales stable for a fancy lap robe that Cactus had breakfasted off of that morning. Even so early after his advent into Washington, the omniverous character of Cactus’ apne- tite began to manifest itself. So, penniless for the time being, but with a burro to the good and followed by a string of children, like unto the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Bishop led his new acquisition home to his half town, half country es- tablishment out on the Conduit road. Mrs. Bishop nearly wrecked the row of milk crocks she was hanging up on the white- washed picket fence in the side yard when she saw her long and shiftless better half parading up the road with his long-eared, Mouse-colored pet toddling alongside him, casually thrusting his nose into his owner's side pocket occasionally on the. chance of something eatable. While Bishop was leaning restfully against the pump, explaining to his wife how he was sure to get rid of his purchase at an advance Cactus was taking stock of things in the back yard and thought he had fallen into the lap of luxury when he had eaten a tea towel and a half that was drying on the sunny side of the grape arbor and half a bucket of green cucumbers that Mrs. Bishop was preparing to pickle. For this—his first offense—he was ban- ished to the barn yard, where he talked free silver and free everything with the old buggy horse and instilled anarchistic notions into the two cows, so that they kicked over their buckets of milk that very evening. Cactus was a wild, western, long- haired iconoclast, and he ached for a scrap worse than Gov. Waite, of whose state he had been aforetime a resident. But Bishop was right; there was money to be made on him. His fame spread through all that part of the country inside of forty-eight hours, and the smail house on the Conduit road was besieged by yearn- ing youngsters, who craved a sight of the “little tlensy, wiensy mule, and, say, Mr. Bishop, can’t I just ride him once?” Bishop was judiciously accommodating in his ac- cession to these requests, and Cactus, who was really of fond and friendly disposition when fed and treated well, became the heart's. desire of half a dozen children. Finally the eldest hopeful of Maj. Mosher, up on the Foxhall road, teased his father into buying him for $25, said hopeful taking sole credit to himself in the transaction, as he had earned 75 cents of the money pick- ing huckleberries. A hopeful of Judge Blackstone of the city helped the Mosher hopeful to have fun riding Cactus around the gravel walks. When the youthful Blackstone started back to his own house, he coveted Cactus great- ly, and the judge, being a liberal-minded men whose wife had money, finally made a deal with the astute young Mosher, who foved Cactus, but loved money more, for $75. Young Mosher kissed Cactus at part- ing, and Cactus, in his affectionate way, took a large mouthful out .of the rim of his straw hat as a parting remembrance. In his brief residence east, Cactus had abundantly proved his ability to eat any- thing. He had been raised on cactus and sage brush, and such esculents as straw hats or rough-dried clothes were luxuries. His career in the palatial stables of Judge Blackstone back of the family man- sion near Lafayetts Square was meteoric in its brevity. At first he was given the liberty of the rear yard, but in the first afternoon he ate two beds of geraniums and a dozen expensive chrysanthemums that Mrs. Blackstone was rearing for the fall flower show. But worst of all, he spied some choice sprays of Microfella roses that were trailing over the low gar- den wall from the garden of old Mr. Gold- scales, tke millionaire horticulturist, who lived next door. Cactus did not care particularly about the flavor of Microfella buds at $1.50 apiece, but the thorns on them brought back to Liny memories of the prickly pears and Sranish bayonets of his native hillsides, and he ate all of them he could reach. That settled the relations of the Black- stone and Goldscales families. The entente cordiale was never restored, and the judge lest a $1,500 fee in an equity case the next week in consequence. That did not bother Cactus a trifle, but he did decidedly mind being shut up in the close stable, and when this was done he lifted up his yoice and brayed for two days without inter- mission, at the end of which time there were seven separate complaints lodged with the police by the neighbors. The judge was called into the Police Court and charged with maintaining a nuisance, and the case was nolle prossed by Judge Kim- ball’ only on condition that the cause of grievance, namely, Cactus, should be re- moved. The yo.nger Blackstone wept, but his father turned Cactus over to the care of the under stableman, who had a small house and stable of nis own down in South Washington, somewhere in the neighbor- hood of the James Creek canal. Two days thereafter Cactus was returned by the under stableman, with a bill for damages, which the judge perforce was obliged to settle. A neighbor's small boy had visited the under stableman’s small boy when Cactus was installed in his new quarters ard tried to find out how he was shod behind. Fortunately, he was not shod at all, or probably the small hoy would have gone to the cemetery instead of to the hespital. But that settled the city career of Cactus. Judge Blackstone returned him to Maj. Mosher®icr safe keeping, without even thinking to ask for a rebate on the original investment of $75, and the second day he got back he finished a round of gastronomic revelry by eating the week’s wash of the Mcsher family that had heen left out on the line over night. As may be inferred, this precipitated complications. It likewise set- tled his residence with the Mosher family, and the major advised the judge to board Cactus with Bishop, from whom he was originally purchased. Bishop undertook the responsibility, for @ consideration, but now that he has wres- tled with Cactus fcr a month, he says It the western gertleman with the greasy sombrero were in town he should certainly make arrangements with himsto have Cac- tus shipped back west and turned loose on the state of Colorado. This he admits would be a trifle hard om Colorado, but he thinks the state ought to be responsible for its own products. However, the western gent:cr-an {is not here, and now Cactus is for se‘s—qreap. Highest of all in Leavening Power.— Latest U.S. Gov't Report Real Baking Powder ABSOLUTELY PURE THE GRATEFUL RATTLER. This Intelligent Snake Repaid a Favor With Interest. From the San Francisco Call. Edgar B, Haymond, one of San Fran- cisco’s barristers, has been a close student of natural history, and has succeeded in gathering some very interesting informa- tion regarding the birds of the air, the beasts of the land, the fishes of the sea. Incidentally, he has been able to collect a few snake statistics. “I once knew a case,” sald Mr. Haymond to some ready listeners in the Occidental Hotel last night, “wherein a snake display- ed not only an unusual amount of affection, but a great deal of courage. It appears that some years ago a professor of natural history from an eastern university was sent to the southern part of Yucatan to investigate the snakes of that section. I might state that he was a very humane man and frequently displayed tt. One afternoon while walking over a desert, thinking of little but the time he would arrive at camp, be heard a peculiar rattling sound that seemed: to come from under a pile of rocks. He at once made an investigation and was rewarded by the discovery of a mastodon rattlesnake, which he was one the point of dispatching so as to put it out of its misery, as the rocks had so fallen that a portion of the snake’s body was badly mangled and torn. In the matter of taking the reptile’s life he hesitated, owing to the pathetic dnd pleading expression in the wounded creature’s eyes. It quite unnerved him to commit murder, so he rolled the rocks off and awaited results, which came in the shape of very pronounced gratitude. The delighted and thankful creature wrig- gled over to him and rubbed his leg with a grateful air that was bound to last. The professor was moved by this exhibition, and, having some cotton in his valise, he bound up the wounded part and left the snake as comfortable as possible. The next day he left Yucatan for Guatemala and was gone over five years. On his re- turn to Yucatan he again had occasion to pass over the desert, and, greatly to his surprise, encountered the same reptile a few miles from where the previous incident had occurred. The recognition was mutual and the joyful rattler coiled about his leg, licked his hand with a friendly tongue and showed marked and industrious appre- elation. When the professor took up his march again the snake followed him and even insisted upon getting in the wagon and becoming a regular occupant.” “Look here, Edgar, ain't you going a little too far with that yarn?” inquired a friend. “Not as far as the snake is going. To continue. He finally got back east and had for a traveling companion the snake, which was accorded special privileges in the shape of a glass case, from which he was allowed to wander at will. As a nat- ural consequence the professor and his dumb companion became the best of chums, and it was a common thing to see the naturalist walking out in the road with bis snake gliding along beside him. Well— now here comes the real point of the story —one night after the professor had retired and left the snake down stairs in the din-| ing room, he was suddenly awakened by the crash of glass, followed Uy the falling of a keavy body. He rose up in.his bed only to hear a groan and the crushing of bones. In a flash he bounded into his dressing gown and repaired to the room whence came the sounds of strife. “Imagine his horror on striking a light to see his pet snake coiled around a man’s bleeding body, which it had lashed to the stove and was hugging violently. On the floor were a burglar’s dark lantern and a kit of tools, while the snake, in order to display its presence of mind, had his tail out of the window” “What for?” inquired a listener in breath- less excitement. “Rattling for a policeman.” ———_+e+.. Again the Old Proprictor, From the Chicago Times-Herald. A young newspaper man working his way east from Denver tells me of some amus- ing incidents of his experience in a city which is one of Denver's rivals, The news- paper on which he worked was owned by an old fellow who had worked his way from poverty to proprietorship, and whose proprietorship of a newspaper was acquir- ed under a mortgage foreclosure. As soon as the old man got hold of the property he began to look around to find out where he could save a few dollars in the running expenses. Several weeks pass- ed before he ventured a suggestion. Said he: “Do you know that fellow in the little room upstairs—the fellow who works with @ pair of shears and a paste pot?” “Why, yes; that is Tompkins, the ex- change editoi said the manager. “Tompkins? Yes, that’s his name. Well, you want to keep your eye on him. In fact. if you take my advice you'll give him the grand bounce next pay day.” “Why? He is one of the best men on the force.”’ you believe it. I have been “Don’t watchin’ him unbeknownst for days, and i give you my word 'n honor he don’t do a blasted thing from sun to sun except sit there with his feet cocked up and read newspapers. Fire him! He is soldiering, an’ you can bet on it.” With great difficulty the manager made the irate proprietor understand that it was the business of the exchange editor to read newspapers, and that the more he read the better his work was likely to be. —+e In the Library, From Peck’s Sun, “What fool gave you a book on that card?” asked the library official. “Why, it was a mean looking fellow about—why, it was you.” That is as bad as what happened to Horace Greeley one day. He wrote a note to a friend, and when the boy delivered it the man looked at it and handed it back, saying, sotto voce, “I can’t read ‘the d—4d fool’s writing.” The boy took the note back to Greeley, who hastily opened it, and, not being able to read it, said: “Here, take this back and tell the d—dad fool I can’t read his writing.” “That's what he said,” remarked tle boy. “What!” aghast. = ad FRENCH LEGION OF HONOR. Some of the People Who Wear Its Ribbons and Medals, Paris Cor. of the New York Post. Before the revolution the monarchy had three orders of knighthood with which to reward merit. That of the Holy Ghost was exclusively for the nobility; that of St. Louis was for the officers of the army, and that of St. Michael for the bourgeoise, among which were counted all lawyers, Physicians, artists and financiers. No mere writars ever receivod a decoration. All these class distinctions were leveled by tho first republic, which substituted in their place the Arms of Honor. It was the time when every Frenchman might be called to serve in the war which the republic was waging against the rest of Europe. With the coming of Bcnaparte, the new idea was firally organized according to his own plan of making France a nation of soldiers. He professedly irstituted the teachings of the one national university after such a man- ner that the young students should feel no shock from passing from the discipline of the college to the drill of the barracks. The Legion of Honor was to keep alive the fel- lowship of citizens and soldiers. “The Le- gion of Honor,” he sald, “is the type of equality. It is to be the reward of civil virtues as well as of military services. Sol- diers who can neither read nor write will be proud to wear the same decorations as illustrious men of science; and the latter will attach so much the more price to this recompense of their labors because it will be the same as the reward of bravery.” Lafayette, whose mind was a curious mix- ture of the old and the new, refused to be made a grand officer of the new order. “It is ridiculous,” he said. Napoleon, however, had teen right in his estimate of the French love of exterior dis- tinctions. At the end of the empire he had given 25,000 decorations of the Legion of Honor to the army, and only 1,400 to civil life. Not one professor of the uni- versity in Paris had been decorated, and only seven counselors of the imperial courts of justice. No writer had been admitted’ unless he was already one of the forty, members of the French Academy. All this was in accordance with the relative import-" ance of the military element in the society. of the day. The Bourbons, on their return, re-established the old exclusive orders, and: deliberately cheapened the Legion of Honor by throwing its ribbons and crosses every= where. King Louis Philippe, in -his turn, suppressed the old crders; but, under pre- text that all able-bodied Frenchmen ha@ now some rank in the national guard, he managed to decorate with the Legion all the notable shopkeepers and business men’ of Paris. This was the triumph of the bourgeoise, of whom the pear-minded mon- arch boasted he was the king. Napoleow III, equally mindful of his own needs, cre- ated a military medal for the glorification’ of the soldiers he wished to honor, and used the Legion to build up the parvenue aristocracy of his empire. After the fall of the empire, in the heat’ of the strugrle against the Germans, par- Hament decreed that the Legion of Honor should be limited to the army. But the advent of peece and a settled republic soon changed al! this. In fact, the ministers seem never to have enough decorations for their favorites at hom2 ond the admirers of France abroad. They have extended the “academic palms’’—another ribbon dec- oration—beyond the university pale to law- yers who nave written a pamphlet and la- dies who keep a private insane asylum. Miss Betham Edwards, who has extolled the present national education in her de- scriptions uf province after province, is one of these “officers.” There is the Order of Agricultural Merit, which was lately be-. stowed on a captain of zouaves. Then there are any number of new medals and badges, colonial or otherwise commemorative. A first effect of these subordinate decorations has been to make the Legion of Honor aristocratic once again, though in a repub- lican sense. It is especially useful for the universal expositions. Napoleon, when cre- ating it, said: “This institution puts princes and drummers on an equality.” This is still true, says Henry Hoursaye, for “all the world nowadays has the Legion of Honor, except drummers—and princes.” A Misplaced Kiss. From the Philadelphia Record: ‘Two young men, who were neatly dupea by a good-looking girl at Mineral Springs Park not long ago, have decided that there is no fun in riding on a toboggan, any- how. They were not acquainted with each other, nor with-the young lady whose fore- sight proved such a source of embarrass- ment to them, but all three crowded to- gether on the front seat of a toboggan car, with the girl in the middle. The principal feature of this slide is a darksome tunnel, where many cooing couples surreptitiously engage in osculation, and where the sur- roundings are generally’ masculine arms. When this point was reached each young man resolved to kiss that girl. They did not time the operation correctly, however, and when the car emerged from the dark- ness the spectators sent up a mighty shout of laughter. The youths had been detected in the act of saluting each other, for the girl had divined their intentions and had leaned forward in the hope of producing just such a result. —+o+—____ An English Joke. From an Exchange. _ Mrs. F. (petulantly)—“You never kiss me now.” Mr. F.—“The idea of a woman of your age wanting to be kissed! One would think you were a girl of eighteen.” Mrs. F. (sharply)—“What do you know about girls of eighteen?” Mr. F. (with great presence of mind)— “Why, my dear, weren't you eighteen once yourself?” ———_-+e-+—_____ A Grand Opportunity. From Truth. Mrs. Snapshot (bursting into her hus band’s snuggery)—“‘Oh, Henry, come quick! Mamma is having a terrible fit!” Mr. Snapshot Gumping with alacrity)< "ll be there in a minute! Where in thun der is my camera?” Pareon—“Er—excuse me—which Is the bri — de unc“walch the bridegroom?”"—Jady,