Evening Star Newspaper, September 21, 1895, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1895-TWENTY PAGES. ~ MOSES’. Mr. Alex. Milne, now with us, will take plecsure in cerving bis many friends ard acquaintances in our Furniture and Decorating Depart- ments. Bed Room Furniture —here in plenty now—reinforc- ed by new invoices this morn- ing. You won't find such a stock anywhere in the south. Every sort of Bed Room Suite, Dresser, Cheval Glass—and so on through the list of chamber needables. You won’t dislike either prices or variety. A Solid Oak BED ROOM SUITE, with carved top and beveled plate mirror, well con- structed, excellent drawer Work—s $16 suite for........ $11.50 , A White Maple BED ROOM SUITE, with iarge beveled plate mirror, carved top, neat brass trimmings—a $32 suite DOF 2.2... seeess o . A Solid Oak BED ROOM SUITE, with 18 by 40-inch beveled plate cheval mirror in ‘bureau, a polished suite, with peahg lied eine > 9 ALA Special Sale Of Broken Lots And “Drop Patterns” In Upholsteries And Draperies. 1 lot of Tapestry Squares, suftable for seats and backs of chairs, at less than % real value—25e., 50c., Te., $1, $1.25. Yard. Wai $21.00 Now. 7 yards of 50-inch Cot- ton Tupestry + $1.25 $0.50 275 yards Cotton and Weol Tapestry, 5 colors... $2.00 $1.00 150 yards of 50-inch Wool Tepestry, 5 colors... $4.00 $2.55 100) yards of SO-irch Wool Tapestry, 5 colors... $5.00 $2.50 Cretonnes. 100 yards of 32-inch Cre- tornes, & patterns........ 85¢., 50e. and 75ec. Se. 75 yards of €0-inch Cre- tonnes, 2 patterns........ $1.50 BSc. 50 yerds of 50-inch Cre- tones, 2 patterns. + $275 Te. Table Covers. 15 6-4 Table Covers. $1.00 0c. 25 $4 Table Covers. $3.00 $2.00 Sash Curtain Goods. 7 yards 30-inch Oriental Lace “ 0c. 40. 7 yards 35- beur Mvsiin.. 25e. China Silks. 30 yards 42-inch Figured Sik (4 colcrs).........--- $1.00 Gc. 230 yards 36-inch Fig- vred Silkaline Ie. Be. Jap. Bead Portieres. Single Jap. Portleres.... $1.75 $1.10 it Ty 9 Novelty” Wall Paper. oe Richest Wall Paper Decorations of this sea- son's output. Proper kinds and colorings for any desired effect—blue rooms, Japanese rooins, Louls XVI parlors and new chamber tints, like delph blue, &c. Lovely Dresden effects, also ‘Tapestry Paper for dining rooms. Estimates npon sequest. McC. Farr & Co., 115 G St. selS-16d (Late of Leuis Deiter.) ICE, COAL, WOOD. “Home Ice Co.""—E. M. Willis, Propr. Tel. 489. Depot. 1814 and 14th st.’ wharves. KENNEREC RIVER ICE—Reti lesale and fn ear-load lots, at lowest market rates. Satisfaction aranteed. Best grades Coal and Wood for mily trade. a. 7. W. ee ee ee ee ee KER SONS, 204 10TH ST. N.W., CAl Felts, Fire Brick and Clay, Asbestos, ‘and three- t Prints. Broshes, Lime, Cement, two ply Roofing Material. sel FOR SPECIAL INSTRUCTION. ‘Where Students and Others May Find Competent Teachers. The hot weather that !s now discourag- ing Washingtonians will not last always, and the work of educating the young will soon begin again. Parents coming back to the city who desire to find the best place for the training of their children, as well as elders who desire to complete their own education, should read the advertising col- umns of The Star, which contain many im- portant announcements from well-known teachers and instructors. As an aid to this search for information, The Star gives to- day a few notes of these Institutions, which may be an index that will lighten the bur- den of choosing among so many excellent schools. Mr. Henry Stopsack, teacher of the plano, has lately returned from a four years’ course of study in Europe and will give les- sons hereafter at his studio, 617 Pennsylva- nia avenue southeast. His European ex- perience will doubtless be of great value to his pupils, who will thus reap the benefit of his work abroad. The nineteenth year of the Capitol Hill Kindergarten, located at 22 3d street south- east, will begin Monday, October 7, when that excellent Institution will be reopened for the reception of pupils. Cecella F. Boyden 1s principal, and her good work is well krown throughout Washington. The studio of E. A. Lovy, the well-known teacher of the violin, and instructor in the theory of music, ts located at 433 I street northwest, and is now open for the eason. Prof. Lovy is a graduate of the Imperial Conservatory of Music at Prague. A knowledge of the French language is almost essential to tourists and lovers of good literature in these days, and students of that language wili be glad to know that Prof. Gaston Rivot of Paris has recom- menced his work of giving lessons in that study at his school, 1015 L street north- west. — Thorough instruction in banjo playing, now such a fad in society, is guaranteed by Prof. Stephen B. Clements, whose studio is at No. 1016 H street. He is a skilled erformer and knows how to impart his nowledge to others. e Eclectic Institute at 1342 Vermont avenue has reopened for the season. It has attained a prominent place tn the front Tank as an educational school for young women, under the capable management of Miss Mary Davenport Chenowith, and ig annually increasing in popularity. There ts no accomplishment more nec- essary In this age than music, and there is no better place to recelve instruction in that art than the studio so ably conducted by Mrs. C. V. Stewart at 230 N street northwest. The Young Men’s Christian Association has evening educational classes for young men at their rooms in the Lenman build- ing on New York avenue near 15th street, beginning on the 30th instant. Unusual fa- cilities are offered for a thorough business education at reasonable rates. i Mr. David C. Bangs deservedly holds a high reputation in this city as a teacher of elocution. He has made a special study of the subject, and has the happy faculty of imparting his knowledge to others. His studio ts at 39 9th street southeast, but on Monday and Thursday afternoons he gives lessons at 1309 H street northwest. a Struck by Lightning. During the heavy storm that prevailed ‘Thursday night the scale house of the Clearfield Fire Brick Company's mine at Bigler, Pa., was struck by Nghtning, kill- ing Boyd Hummel, a miner, and stunning three others—Charies Gearhart, Ralph Rad- ffer and George Smeal. Lightning also struck John W. Wrigley'’s house. near Clearfield, but the flames were extinguished before much damage had been done. Quickens The Appetite Makes the : Weak Strong. YER’S TheUnlyGold Medal Sarsaparilla Has Cured Others And Will Cure You. SURE Mrs. TEETH children teething: ‘pel THOSE UNHAPPY PERSONS WHO SUFFER from nervousness and dyspepsia should use Car- ter’s Little Nerve Pills, which are made ex- $3 ‘dyspeptic , suffer- ressly for sleepless, uervous, Ere. Price, 25 conte. DR SIEGERI'S ANGOSTURA BITTERS 18 kvown all over the world as the great regulator of the digestive organs. AFFAIRS IN GEORGETOWN Interest in the Coming Opening of the High School. Other Local Notes of General Interest From Across Rock Creek Bridge. There will be 250 students at the Western High School this year. The close of the last term showed but a roll membership of 193. The session of ‘95 and ‘96 will mark many advances in high school work. The corps of teachers will be larger than here- tofore, and new and special studies will be added to last year’s list. French history will be taken up earnestly and regularly, and special rooms will be devoted to clay modeiing. During the vacation months the number of rooms has been added to, with incidental conveniences. Janitor Duvall has tried himself in making the building bright and clean. The floors are spotless and the desks and other furniture guiltless of dust. ‘This year, for the first time, the school will have its own paper. It will be known as “The Western,” and published semi- monthly. Mr. Robert Leetch will edit it and Mr. Ed. A. Duckett will attend to the business affairs of the publication. “The Western” will do much toward gen- erating and sustaining interest and en- thuciasm in high school work here. Mr. Latch, who will graduate at the close of this term, promises to make an able head. Though the boys have not assembled for- mally yet, they come daily about the build- ing to talk of coming events. Specula- tion is already rife as to the appointment of company officers. Every clique has its favorite, and the interest will increase as the time draws near. Appolntments will be made by a committee composed of Major Ross, a member of the school fac- ulty and Mr. Reichderfer. The “Kamptown Social Klub,” the min- strel organization attached to the school, which did creditable work last year, will improve upon itself this season. There are funds in hand whlch will be added to and used in the projected new high school building to fit up a gymnasium with. ‘There {s considerable disappointment over the failure to secure a new building by this term, but there Js confidence expressed in the successful outcome of the next ef- forts of the trustees. Miss Wescott will enter upon her sixth year of principalship on Monday. She is not only possessed of marked executive ability, but is a great favorite with all her students. Bold Robbery. Wikinson’s confectionery,at 3206 O street, was robbed night before last. Entrance was effected through an open transom. The robber scoured the house, room by reom. His daring act paid him $40 in money, secured from a pocketbook. The drawer was rifled also of small change. Then the midnight visitor picked up a hand ratchel and filled it with tohacco. cigars, cigarettes, and other such small gcods. An exit was made through the front dcor, it being unbolted from the inside. Just after midnight a man with a satchel was seen in the vicinity of the aqueduct. He had a suspicious “galt” on him, and offcial attention was attracted. The fel- low was gone after for at least an expla- nation of his hurry. He was evidently averse, though, to an interview, and moved off with locomotive velocity. ‘The satchel being a hindrance, he let {t drop. It proved to be filled with the goods from Wilkin- sen’s. The man escaped, and the $40 went with him. There is no clue to his identity. Detective Burrows 1s on the case. Died Suddenly. Julia Pursall, a colored woman who for yeurs conducied a small hairdressing and wig establishment on M street, under the neme of “Mme.” Pursall, died suddenly last pight in the old penitentiary building below the canal in a room where religious serv- ices have of late bcer conducted under the direction of the “Rev.” Mr. Gaines. Mrs. Pursall was seventy-five years of age. None of her relatives are known here. For many years “Mme.” Pursall lived exclu- sively to herself. She considered herself atcve the colored race. She had education ard a haughty bearing. For the past two or three years, though, she was compelled to walve her prejudice and live among her people. She died while alone in the old church room. -—__>__ WHAT MEN WEAR. The Vast Improvement Made in the Character of Ready-Made Clothes. The majority of men would probably pooh-pooh the {dea that their sex was as particular and finicky in matters of fashion as their lovelier sisters, but such an at- tempt to scornfully dismiss the question would not affect its truth in the smallest degree. Just at this time the majority of masculine minds are secretly considering the subject of fall and winter clothes. A Star representative happened to meet Mr. Isador Saks of Saks & Co. today, and esked him what there was to communicate on the subject he knows so much about. “Ready-made clothing nowadays is one of the fins arts,” sald Mr. Saks. “Scienze and sense are the partners to its perfec- tion. There’s a surprise fa store for the man who thinks that satisfaction can only come from a custom tailor. We are mak- ing converts every day. It is perseverance and enterprise that has pushed it to {ts present climax. Ambition to excel—and the courage to execute. The tailor doesn’t have things all his own way now. He has to share the product of the best looms with us. We can afford to employ the best tai- ent and pay the highest price for skill and brains, because where custom tailors make one suit we make five hundred. A hun- dred peunds isn’t much of a lift for a hun- dred men. The cost of the best isn’t much divided among the great number of gar- ments we manufacture. “Ten years ago if a man could rake and scrape enough money together to have his clothes made to order, he was wise in do- ing it,” continued Mr. Saks. “’Tisn’t 80 today, and folks are finding it out. A de- cade ago, you could tell a ready-made suit as far as you could see it. It was ill-fit- ting and crudely made. Today it would puzzle an expert to tell the difference be- tween a merchant tailor’s $50 effort and a sult picked out of our stock at half that price. A few years ago, too, variety was limited to a few patterns that the tailors had discarded. Today w2've a dozen times as many styles to show made up, as the biggest tailor has in the piece. And they are contemporaneous weaves and patterns. “Of course all ready-made clothing isn't alike. There is the cheap that you'd bet- ter let alone just the same as there are tailors whose work is a mortification to the title. Naturally the perfection to which we have orought ready-made clothes fur- eee us with the text for a talk like this.” JAPAN AND CHINA The Situation in the East and the Ontlook for the Future, APTITUDE OF RUSS{A AND ENGLAND Observations Made on a Recent Trip by a Journalist Traveler. AMERICA AND THE ORIENT ——__+—___. Mr. Crosby 5S. Noyes and Mr. J. W. ‘Thompson, who have been in Japan this summer, have returned to Washington much benefited by their trip. A Star reporter obtained from Mr. Noyes the followirg particulars concerning the situation in Japan and China: Mr. Noyes, this is your third trip to Japan? = Yes. I visited Japan first in the autumn of 1891, on a round-the-world trip. Last year I revisited it in the spring and this year in the summer, so I have had the op- portunity of seeing it in various seasons. What is the best season to visit Japan? Probably the ideal time is in October and November, when the skies are always clear and the temperature delightful for travel and sight-seeing. But Japan is charming in the spring, when the vegetation is at its freshest green, and the whole country 1s having a sort of flower festival. The Jap- nese are great lovers of flowers, and every season has its celebration of the various flowers as they blossom successively in turn, as the plum and cherry in the spring, the iris and lotus in the summer, the chrys- anthemum, maple, etc., in the fall, and so on. But the blossoming period of the mag- nificent double-blossom cherry, almost as large as our rose, is the great festival time of the year. The Japarese simmer also has charms with its rich vegetation and brilliant, gorgeous flowers, the lotus, iris, etc., but the moist heat of the rainy season is apt to be oppressive in July and August and indisposes one to mcve about much. The temperature during our stay in Japan this year was not above 80, but the extreme humidity of the air makes the weather more oppressive than a temperature of 90 in America. One can always, however, get up in a few hours from the cities to some of the charming mountain resorts, where the temperature is quite cool enough. As my present visit to Japan was mainly to get the benefit of the long sea voyage across the Pacific, I didn't need to hustle about sight-seeing when the weather was unfavorable. Japan After the War. _ Did you find any change in Japan from the war? Not so much a change as a development of another ph:se of the many-sided Japan- ese character. The Japanese ure a bundle of contradictions. See them in countless swarms working in the rice swamps up to their Waists in mud and water, or in the tea fields or the mulberry fields, one would think them a dull. patient lot of drudges, with no thought above the level of the soil they cultivate. See them again in their myriad little family workshops, where with the simplest of tools they turn out the most exquisite products in the way of silk fabrics, lacquer work, bronzes, and other metal work, wood and ivory carving, porcelains, shell work, &c., and note the variety and taste of their designs, their exquisite sense of color, their passionate love of flowers and everything beautiful or sublime in nature; their gentle, pleasing manners; thelr ove of children and the beautiful devotion of children to parents and the young for the old; their laughing acceptance of every mishap with the philosophical saying “It can't be helped.” In view of all these things the visitor who sees this side of their life is inclined to look upon the Japanese as a gentle, re- fined, artistic, peace-loving people, rather disposed to shirk a serious view of life or any rough conflicts. Aflame With the War Spirit. Now, after an interval of less than a year, I find them transformed into a nation of warriors, fighters from head to toe, with Spartan endurance, and the country ablaze with military enthusiasm, Every man, wo- man and child in Japan seems fired with the war spirit. They have war dramas at the theaters; and dioramas, panoramas, peep-shows, &c., without number in every quarter represent the battles on sea and iand. The newspapers abound with war pictures, and the book shops display no end of caricatures, some of them very clever, illustrative of the bravery of the Japanese soldiers and the cowardice of the Chinese. The soldiers returning from the wars are made much of, whether they come in regiments or singly, and when they -have been ovated in the mass they are celebrated singly. A jinricksha man who went to the wars was received on his re- turn by his fellows and escorted through the streets of Yokohama by a mile-long procession of his fellows, with music and banners and a general hurrah. A bath room boy at the Grand Hotel, Yokohama, who was shot through the head, but miraculously escaped death, had a like demonstration in his honor; after which he returned quietly to his work at the hotel. Every day there is a like procession by some fraternity in honor of a soldier com- rade, and the different wards or districts of the cities also celebrate the return of soldier fellow-citizens, as does every vil- lage and hamlet. Nursing a Sick War Horse. On our way from Yokohama to Kioto we were continually being slde-tracked to give the right of way to the returning soldiers. At one station we met a train containing a cavalry regiment with their horses. A sick horse had been unloaded from the train and the whole village seemed to be occu- pied trying to revive the crippled animal by offers of tempting bits of food, wisps of green grass, etc., and, these failing to give him strength to walk, they set about va- rious devices to transport him to better quarters, and finally they rigged up a sort of sling and carried him off bodily upon their shoulders. The Japanese horses, it should be added, are funny little pot-bellied ponies, so that it is not so difficult to shoul- der them in this fashion. All along the road were soldiers’ eating houses, built by the people of the country, and provided with food for the soldiers go- ing to the war and returning. Delegations of citizens were in attendance to see that the soldiers were properly attended to. Every arrangement for the comfort of the soldiers was carried out with beautiful pre- cison. Every village had its tasteful tri- umphal arch, composed of evergreens and flowers, in honor to the braves returning. These arches, made of evergreens and flowers, upon bamboo frames, are inex- pensive, but are so tasteful and appropriate in design that they make our clumsy costly “triumphal arches” look very cheap and commonplace by contrast. At Nagoya we found great preparations being made for the reception of the regi- ment of that great manufacturing city. There were triumphal arches and floral decorations and flags and banners all over the city. At Gifu, the adjoining city, we were side- tracked to allow the passage of the Nagoya soldiers. Gifu is Nkewise a large manu- facturing place, and is noted as being the center of the vast area affected by the great earthquake of 1891. This earthquake killed or wounded 25,000 people, and de- stroyed 100,000 houses, and when I visited Gifu at that time almost every house in the city was prostrate. Now it fs rebuilt with a better class of houses, and is more Prosperous than ever} The city was gay with decorations, there was a great crowd at the station to meet the Nagoya soldiers. The roadway was lined for a long distance with the children of the public schools. The high echéol boys were dressed in smart white uniforms. The lower grade schcols were in Japgix costume. When the train of soldiers gpived they were wel- comed by the assem re with cheers of our sort, and with @ ringing, staccato, Japanese hurrah, that sounds like some of our college yells. The school boys followed with patriotic national songs, which they delivered with vim, Pretty Japanese girls dressed in their gayest costumes carried tea to the soldiers in the cars. Fireworks were set off, though it was midday. And when the train moved off for Nagoya there ‘was a@ great uproar of applause, in which the Americans in our train took part, you may believe. Patriotic School Boys. All along the line it was the same thing, everywhere arches and decorations, flags, banners and fireworks, and everywhere neatly clad, bright-looking school boys ar- rayed in file to greet the soldiers; whereby every boy of them ts certain to be inspired with the military spirit. The military train- ing in the public schools here is much as with us. Every house, the most humble, has a flag or banner with the national colors —a bright red ball on a white ground. The red ball is indicative of the chief name of Japan—“the Empire of the Rising Sun.” This ts its old title, but it seems especially appropriate to it now, as the rising empire of today. The Wherefore of It. How do you account for this sudden de- velopment of the military spirit in Japan? Well, the Japanese have been a warlike race from their earliest history; a fact that seems to have been forgotten or never known by many people. They have been underrated by most modern writers, Pierre Lott, the French writer, characterizes them as a retion of frivolous monkeys, and even their most enthusiastic admirer, Sir Edwin Arnold, says (or said before their war with China) ‘he Japanese people have the na- ture rather of birds or butterflies than ordi- nary human beings.” Generally the books upen Japan find nothing worthy of consider- ation in the country but its temples, tea houses and bric-a-brac. Captain Brinkley, editor of the Japan Mail and one of the most intelligent and best informed authorities upon Japanese matters, says, in treating upon the subject, that “the Japanese were never a peace-loving people.” The briefest reference to Japanese history vonfirms this assertion. Feudalism in old Japan, with its figkting clans and elevation’ of the soldiers to the first position in the so- clal scale; its law of personal honor, where- by death was always.welcomed in prefer- ence to dishonor or discredit, has made Ja- pan a nation of soldierg, The Forty;Seven Ronins. The historical story that Is foremost in Japanese art, liter&tugd and the drama is that of “The Forty-seven Ronins,” who de- voted thelr lives toavenging the wrongs of thelr dead master, and who, when their task was accomplished, joyfully committed hari Kiri and were bufled by the side of their chieftain. THs burial ground is one of the sacred place$ of Yapan, and there is @ constant procesglon of pilgrims going there to worship. This {llustrates the na- tional appreciation of deeds of bravery and devotion to"duty at the*sacrifice of life. The old samauri df soldiers were not cnly the fighters but tha educated class, and oc- cupied the highest, position in the social scale.. Next in the)scale came the farmers, who were held highly as the food pro- ducers, and last came the merchants. In China the rule of rank has been the ‘xact reverse. There the merchants have held the first rank and the soldiers the low- est. So it comes naturally that the mer- chants of China rank higher for character and capacity than those of Japan, and that the soldiers of Japan are of so much higher quality than those of China. The Chinese soldiers had to be prodded to the front, and deserted at the first opportunity, while the Jgpanese sprang to the fignting Ine with almost fanatical zeal. The Future of China. What ts to be the future of China? ‘That is a conundrum. There are all sorts of opinions afloat in the east on that ques- tion. Some hold that China will collapse as a nation and be divided up among Euro- pean powers. Others believe that she will now realize that her salvation depends upon the adoption at once of a thorough and comprehensive system of reform and progress. Yung Wing, who was formerly of the Chinese legation in Washington and who returned to China on the same steamer that took us to Japan, has faith in a great future for China. He belleves that the Jerson of the war will be improved; that @ reform era will set in; progressive ideas adopted; railways built; public schools established; the country opened up to trade; the corruptions of official life abol- ished, etc. He says one great need of China is common schools. The present training is literary and ethical and not practical. China should adopt a public school sys- tem like that of America and should have a military training a feature of the schools. The military spirit 1s wanting in China because soldiers have been held in con- tempt there and rank in the lowest class of society. The Chinese have been edu- cated to abhor fighting and fighting men. The patriarchal system prevailing in China causes a want of public spirit, as the people have no Voice in affairs and say that everything in the way of re- sponsibility falls on the rulers. Yung Wing when in diplomatic service in Washington was noted, it will be re- membered, for his progressive ideas. He succeeded after many years’ labor in in- ducing the Chinese government to send 142 students to the United States for edu- cation. His more conservative successor, as commissioner of education, advised against education in America, as of no service, and the pupils were withdrawn after five years’ experiment. Th» refusal of Congress to admit Chinese students to West Point or Annapolis, though the Chinese government offered to pay their expenses, and while Japanese students were admitted, was an argument used against keepfmg Chinese students in the United States; where they were dis- criminated against. | Yung Wing says that the Chinese stu- dents that received this partial education in America have distinguished themselves in the naval service in the war with Japan, for bravery and ,intélligence, and have been raised to the $an¥ of lieutenants. The cause of the opposition to railroads in China, he says, is due first, to the super- stition that they will be disastrous to the country; second, to the fear that they will make the government unpopular in northern China by throwing many people out of employment; third, because the Chinese have not yet got the hang of rail- road exploiting, bonding, watering stock, ete. The Hopes of Yung Wing. He thinks, however, that the imperative need of railroads has been demonstrated so fully by the late war that the obstacles that have heretofore prevented their con- struction will be swept away. Yung Wing, who was displaced from the legation at Washington because of his pro- gressive ideas, is now appreciated in China, and he goes home at the invitation of some ef the prominent Chinese officials to give bis advice in regard to improvements in Chinese educational methods, transporta- tion facilities and other reforms proposed. He is sanguine in the belief that China is now thoroughly aroused from its long slumber and is certain to plant itself in the Position among the nations of the earth to which it is entitled by its immense popula- tion and vast area. Drawbacks to Chinese Reform. Yung Wing is an intelligent and well-in- formed observer, ard his opinions in regard to China are entitled to special weight, but I am not confident that there will be any speedy or thorough change for the better there. It will be a long process to educate the Chinese to progressive ideas through a public school system, and even to get the system adopted. It will be a formidable task, the work of time to build up a patriotic public spirit, to unite the nineteen discordant provinces of China into a common country, having any unity of feeling or patriotic national senti- ment. At present this loose aggregation of sections that we call China has no more unity than the warring states of South America. There is where the difference was between the Chinese and the Japanese in the late war. Everybody in Japan came to the support of the flag, and the stay-at- tomes vied with those at the front in mak- ing the war a success. Red Cross societies and relief associations were promptly es- tablished, and organizations of trades, pro- fersions, laboring men and every class of citizens were formed to raise money and supplies for the prosecution of the war. The Clog of Superstiti Then there will be the almost hopeless task of converting the Chinese from their almost incredible superstitions. Their su- Perstitions are not confined to the ignorant, but pervade all classes. The great vice- roy, Li Hung Chang, who ranks as the ablest and most intelligent and most pro- gressive of Chinese statesmen, 1s as su- Perstitious as the lowest coolle. When he was shot in Japan while negotiating the treaty he would not permit surgical treat- ment of the wound, but sent home and brought over a Chinese conjuror doctor to charm the bullet out of his head. The superstitions of Chinese medical practice forbid all surgical operations or post-mor- tem examinations, and their doctors know nothing, therefore, of physlolegy or anat- omy. On the viceroy’s trip over he was terribly frightened by the sight of some whales and thought it was an omen of danger to China, and when his great iron mill (at Wuchang) was opened he had sacrificial ceremonies performed before the various: workshops to protect them from the “Evil Influences.” The fear of the “Evil Influences” and the solicitude to ward off their malign operations is at the bottom of much of the conservative opposition to railroads and various forms of improve- ment. It sauses opposition to the erection of high buildings or tall structures of any kind as interfering with the flow of be- nign influences, styled the Feng-Shu., and causing the evil influences to stagnate in one locality. This caused great objection by the Cantonese to the erection of the tall spire of the Catholic cathedral in Canton, and by the Chinese in Victoria, Hong Kong, to the railway up the Peak. Russia Will Have a Big Finger in the le. It is not likely that there will be any formal partition of China, but the hungry European powers will all be making in- roads upon her. who has China under her thumb through lending her money, and will most certainly get the right of transit and the possession of a winter seaport as the terminus of the Trans-Siberian railroad. Foremost will be Russia, Russia will also very Mkely secure con- cessions for railroad building in Northern China, and then England will come in and demand like concessions in the way of a port in Northern China and for building railroads in Southern China; especially the much-coveted charter for a line from Hong Kong to Canton. France will also demand a slice of the pork, and other countries will not be bash- ful in putting in for a share. In return, the European powers will probably sustain the present dynasty of China in power; for they will all want, in their common inter- ests, to prevent China from falling into anarchy. America in the East. ‘What part is America to play in the future of Japan and Chira? It ought to take a very important part if our people and government would only wake up to the importance of extending our trade and influence in the East on the borders of the Pacific, which is our right- ful fleld of commerce. But so long as we pursue out present abject humiliating policy of crippling American interests in the Pa- cific, instead of helping them, as we have done notably in Hawaii and Samoa there is not much to be hoped for. About all the part we are likely to take in the Pacific is to play second fiddle to England as we have done at Hawall. I see that a London paper commenting upon the report that an American has been given the exclusive right to land a submarine cable at Honolulu says the other powers must interfere to prevent this monopoly by the United States, and demands that the British government should make “im- mediate representations on the subject at Washington.” Of course, our administration will hasten to apologize and to assure its great and good frier.d, John Bull, that it has never had the slightest intention of helping to extend American interests in any part of the world, least of all in Hawaii, which it recognizes as English territory. It Is to be hoped, however, that we shall make a stand somewhere, and that the de- mand of England that she shall have a dominating voice in the Nicaragua canal, even {f we build {t, will not be allowed to stop the construction of that work. A visit to Japan shows the immense importance of that canal to American commerce. For in- stance, Japan uses a large amount of Amer- ican cotton—$15,000,000 worth or more an- nually—but it is all or nearly all bought from English brokers and goes all the way round by the Suez canal to Yokohama; whereby America loses the profits of brokerage, transportation, insurance, &c. This is be- cause of the cheapness of the water haul as compared with mixed land and water trans- portation, and also because there is no trans- shipment required between New York and Yokohama via Suez. When the Nicaragua canal is built all this will be changed, and cotton will go through by that route from New York to Yokohama, without tranship- ment and in one third of the distance re- quired by the Suez route. This is only one illustration out of many of the benefits to this ccuntry that may be expected from the construction of the canal. It is humiliating that we have to cross the Pacific whether from San Francisco or Vancouver under the British flag. We ought to have a fleet of first-class Ameri- can stearers, aided by mail subsidies, as the British steamers are, to make the trip from San Francisco or Puget Sound to Yokohamu in ten days, and thus bring back to us the freight and passenger traffic that is now being diverted to the Canadian Pacific lire. We ough: to push on the construction of the Nicaragvan canal. We ought to promptly avail ourselves of our treaty privilege before it lapses of stablishing a naval station at Pearl Har- bor in Hawaii, and we ought to hold on to cur footing in Samoa and at every other point in the Pacific that will soon be needed to protect and extend the vast commerce that will spring up between America and the Asiatic Pacific if we improve our op- portunities. The Japanese Future. The Japanese certainly and with reason feel very sore over the manner in which they have been deprived of the fruits of the victory over China to which they were entitled by the interference of Russia, backed by Germany and France. The hot heads in Japan were loud in their demand for war at once with Russia, and all the rest of the world, and Count Ito, an ex- perienced and sagacious statesman, who negotiated the treaty and who appreciated the utter madness of a collision with these reat powers and who conceded their de- mands, has had to contend with a very bit- ter opposition. Had he not been firmly backed by the emperor, he would have been crtshed by the turbulent opposition. ‘The emperor, in the recent war, has dis- played a degree of statesmanship, good judgment and military capacity that has not only made him the idol of the people, but will cause him to be recognized as among the great rulers of the world. ‘The war party have been making great efforts to secure the downfall of the Ito ministry and will be likely to make a lively raid on it in the coming session of the Diet. They may succeed in dislodging Count Ito, but in that event, and should Count Okuma, who is the leader of the opposition, be called upon to head a new cabinet, it would ‘not mean a proclamation of war upon Rus- sia. Count Okuma might be willing to take advantage of the war fever to get into Power, but he is a very able and level- headed man, and he knows what folly it would be to challenge a conflict single- handed with Russia and her allies. The Great Danger for Japan. But there is undoubtedly an intense dis- position on the part of the Japanese to make Japan a strong military power, able to fight all the rest of creation if necessary. Here is where her great danger lies. Japan, though making great strides toward bus- iness prosperity, is not yet a rich people in Proportion to population, able to stand the heavy tax of a great war and sustain @ great armament. A large portion of her people are always on the verge of starva- tion, and the failure of the rice crop, or a grcat earthquake, or a visitation of cholera, always necessitates a demand upon the public purse for relief. The late war with China was so short and so comparatively inexpensive that the people did not get a realizing idea of what protracted wars and the maintenance of war armaments really cost. The example of Italy, who has bank- rupted herself by her ambition to figure amongst the great military powers of the world, is one to be studied by the Japanese. The best friends of Japan hope to see her abandon her jingo talk of “Asia for the Asiatics” or “Japan for the Japanese,” and apply her energies to a further exten- sion of the marvellous industrial progress she has been making for the past twenty years. At the rate her trade is increasing, and with her wonderful aptness for the intro- duction and development of new industries, at the same time that she is improving upen all her famous old art products, she will be rich enough in another twenty years to talk about another war. In the meantime she can go on building up a navy of good quality, but rot big enough to beat all the navies of the world. And it will be a great mistake if she un- dertakes to build up an army of a size to compete with the great armies of Europe. It would be a terrible misfortune to Japan if her busy millions of artisans and la- borers, who are sending their beautiful products to all parjs of the world, and en- riching their country thereby, should be converted into the drones and idlers of a great standing army. Americans in Japan. Americans stand well in Japan. The voluntery return by this country of our share of the Shimoneski indemnity (wrung from the Japanese by the different naval powers) has made us vey popular in Japan. And the many kindnesses shown by our naval officers to suffering Japanese soldiers has added to that good opinion. This is shown particulerly in the hospital- ities showered by the warm-hearted Jap- anese upon Lieut. Emory and other officers of the Petrel, who were present at some of the fighting and were able to be of great assistance to numbers of the sick, wounded and poorly clad soldiers both the Jap- anese and Chinese. It is pleasant to note that the heroes of this affair, Lieut. Emory and several of his handsome young officers —Macfarland, Mohun, Sargent, etc., are Washingtonians Minister Dun and Consul General McIvor bave earned the entire confidence of the Jap- anese by the tact and ability they have shown in the discharge of their duties dur- ing the war. Mr. Dennison, formerly of our Treasury Department, holds a prominent position in the Japanese State Department and is held in high esteem. Col. Cockerill, who has been supplying the New York Herald with the best political in- telligence sent out from Japan, and Mr. W. E. Curtis, who has given the Chicago Record the most thorough exposition of the wonderful industries of Japan that has yet been written, are decidedly at the front in public regard. a Mr. Ed. House, who is remembered in Washington as a bright newspaper man of years ago, 1s now living in Tokio and con- tinues to do good work in journalism and literature. Gen. George Williams of Washington, who is now in Japan and was formerly in the employ of the Japanese government, is immensely popular there, and if he does not succeed in getting the building of a lot of Japanese warships in American ship yards it will not be his fault. Dr. Eldridge, who went out to Japan with Gen. Capron, is now, a leading physician in Yokohama and holds a position in the Jap- anese Health Department. Dr. Hall, another American physician, is among the foremost in his profession in Yokohama. Mr. S. M. Bryan of Washington, who es- tablished the admirable postal system of Japan, is most pleasantly remembered there. The venerable and lovable Mrs. Scidmore, formerly of Washington, is now homed with her son George, who is vice consul at Yokohama. She occupies herself with kind- resses and courtesies to Americar visitors. Her brilliant daughter, the author of “Jin- ricksha Days,” the brightest book that has yet been written on Japan, has been on a round-the-world trip lately, and will per- haps write another entertaining book of travel. ‘The American social colony at Yokohama— the Mclvors, Scidmores, Eldridges, Morses, Middletons, Loomis, etc—is a pleasant one, and It helps vastly to make Japan agreeable to the American visitor. —__ -+____ AN INVESTIGATION. Nathan Glasgo Dies Under Suspi- cious Sireumstances, Coroner Hammett will probably be called upon to make an investigation into the death of a white man named Nathan Glas- gow, who died at the Washington Asylum Thursday afternoon under what seem to be suspicious circumstances. Glasgow was taken to the hospital Thursday afternoon, and in less than an hour after reaching there he died. A post-mortem examination by the doctors at the asylum showed that there was a puncture cf the bowels, but how it was made it was impossible to say. About the same time Policeman Henry of the fourth precinct reported to Sanitary Officer Frank that he had been informed that a man named Glasgow had been In- jured, but by whom or in what way he could not say. The case is surrounded with considerable mystery. The body was re- moved to Harvey's undertaking establish- ment today, and an autopsy will probably be held. = ——— The Northern German Methodist Episco- pal conference at St. Paul refuses to give won.en the right to sit as delegates. —$<—S—SF READY TO REOPEN The High Schools About to Enter on Another Useful Year. MANY IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES Program to Be Followed by the Numerous Pupils. ATTENDANCE WILLBELARGER —_+__ The opening of the High Schools next Monday will inaugurate another nine months’ courte of studious application on the part of the pupils which will be tem- pered, as formerly, by the numerous recre- ative features for which these institutions have become pleasantly noted. The forma- tien of the classes will be followed by the organization of those social and literary, clubs which have been so successful in the pest, and the more athletic of the stu- dents will welcome the cool weather, when spert on the gridiron will pe healthful and exhilarating. Naturally the chief interest of the High School boys, and it might be added of the girls also, is centered ubout the High School Cadet regiment, and the Prespects now are that it will consist of strong companies, this being particularly. the case at the Business High School. Ma- jor Burton Ross and Mr. L. H.Reichelderfer will begin holding examinations on tactics about October 1, and immediately thereaf- ter the regiment will be organized and placed under the command of temporary officers until the records of the candidates for the permanent places have been exam- ir.ed and the most efficient young men se- lected. The Eastern High School. The pupils of the Eastern Hign School exe pect to secure the honor of the lieutenant colonelcy, as there are about tea or twelve cadets who will return for the fourth-year class, The Eastern held it last year, and there were nothing like as many fourth- year cadets, i There has been an addition to the faculty, in the appointment of Miss May Dean as a teacher of mathematics, while Mr. Pfeiffer, who taught chemistry last year, will be succeeded by Mr. Suter. All examinations to remove conditions received last year will be held Monday morning, beginning at 9 o’clock, when the delinquents will be expected to be present, At the sarre time all the second, third and fourth pupils will report at the same rooms they occupied last year, to be assigned to their respective classes, dividgd into sec- tions and given a list of the books they will need, after which they will be dis- missed for the day. Pupils from the eighth grade sch: cls will assemble at 11 o’clock— girls in the first-floor study hall and boys in the stud: hall on the s:cond floor,where,.» after receivir.g study course bl and a list of the bocks they will require, they will be dismissed until Tuesday, Al! other applicants for admission and those whose rames are not on the certified lists for pro- motions will be required to apply at the office for directions. This general program will be followed at all the otter high schools. Changes at the Western. There have been substantial changes at the Curtis building on O street in West Washington, which is used for the Western High School. A large room on the first floor has been divided by a partition and made into two class rooms, while the same course has been followed with an apa! ment on the second floor. This was made necessary in order to accommodate the expected increase in the number of pupils. The physical laboratory has been moved down from the third to the second floor on account of the limited water pressure in Georgetown. Mr. Halling, who taught chemistry and botany last year, has acr cepted a commercial position in New York, ; and his place will be filled by a new teach er. Miss Martin, who taught ich the Central last year, will instruct eee pupils in that hence= ort The Central Loses Prof. Smith. At the Central High School there has been an important change, which was also unexpected. Prof. George Smith, formerly in charge of the English department at the Central, and who was expected to resume his duties this year, has been appointed an instructor in English at the Columbian University. There is general regret among the trustees at the loss of Prof. Smith, whose capabilities as a teacher have veen so thoroughly proven. Mme. Marie Pare! formerly the 'rench teacher at Cabel Institute, will fill the vacancy at Certral caused by Miss Martin's transfer to the Western. Many of the Central professors and teachers had summers full of :nci- dent. Dr. Wilhelm Bernhardt, head of the German department, published a Ger- man book, accompanied with English notes, entitled a “Visit to Charles Dickens.” Prof. Camille Fontaine? head of the French department, also published a couple of works on his language. Miss Helen M. Reynolds spent the sum- mer traveling in England and on the con- tinent and on her return voyage had e se- ries of exciting adventures in a storm which struck her ship. Miss Annie Mor- row Wilson also traveled in England and on the continent. Miss Eugenie Liebscauts will be delayed two or three weeks in re- suming her duties, and Miss Marie Siebel! will also be delayed because she canno' take passage from Europe in time, the homes coming steamers being crowded to thelr capacity with passengers who reserved ac- commodations some time ago. General and Thorough Improvemeats, There have been many changes in the building, and the improvements in the library add a greai deal to its conveniences and comfort. It is not expected that there will be any further complaint on account of insufficient heat, as there have been add- ed to the apparatus in the building a lunge number of improvements. Six heaters have been placed in the lower corridor for the boys end six radiators on the Gr floor, four in the corridor and one in eacl of two class rooms. The light in class rooms 8 and 9 has heen improved by paint- ing the wall a bright color. An office hag been fitted up for Miss Reynolds, the as- sistant principal in charge of the girls, on the girls’ floor. This has been secured by, partitioning off half of the cloak room. Colored High School Overcrowded. Principal Cardoza of the Colored High School expects that the attendance this year will increase 10 per cent over that of last, when the highest enroliment was 608. He believes the figures this year will reach 675. The Colored High School building at 1st and M streets is built to seat 444 pupils, and it was only is using all the available room last year that it was possible to ac commodate the greater number which at- tended. It is expected that the building ti year will be very much overcrowded, that an annex will be absolutely neces- sary. With the increase this year it is thought that it may be possible to form @ battalion of three companies at the Col- ored High School. The program for Mon- day at the Colored High School is the same as that at other schools. Mr. J. Frank Allan, a graduate of the class of 1883 and of the rormal department of Howard University in 1895, has been op- pointed librarian In place of Miss Theres@ Marshall, who has been transferred to @ primary school at her own request. ; —_—._—_ Picturesque Lecture. ‘ It was a picturesque group of college stue dents and professors that gathered beneath the spreading oaks on the lawn in front of Georgetown College yesterday afternoon. Y temporary platform, with a single chair up. on it, had been erected,and around this prime itive stage the university men found placegg some were standing, some were lying downy while others were reclining on the gr Rev. Frat 3B. Barnum, J., the wel known missionary and traveler, who is ra ing at the college, talked to those about hii in the most interesting style for more thi an hour and a half. He told of :1any of novel experiences he had had while preac! ing the gospel amid the frozen wilds of Alaska ard gave a running description these queer people and mauner of life they follow.