Evening Star Newspaper, November 2, 1895, Page 16

16 THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1895-TWENTY PAGES, DIPLOMAS FOR GIRLS a Civil Service Examinations Required by the French Government. FAILURE MEANS NO EMPLOYMENT Running the Gauntlet of Students in the Latin Quarter. ————- HARD QUESTIONS TO ANSWER —_-—__—_ fipecial Correspondence of The Evening Star. PARIS, October 15, 1895. I: FRANCE THEY pass government ex- aminations un peu pour tout, in order to be sailor, soldier, priest, painter, musi- cian, horse doctor, vernment clerk,tel- graph operator, po- veman—in a word, in der to be anything { dignity. Some day ey will be passing >vernment examina- 2 jons to become shoe- makers and grocers. It is the civil service system carried to the extreme. ‘These state examinations are also passed by girls. Does a young French girl require the most simple of clerkships she must have her brevet, her diploma from ment. In all state employments the thing is required absolutely, and these state em- ployments embrace a large field of feminine activity. In France there are no sta| the central machine in Paris attends to everything. What this means—to take the example of public instruction—may be real- ized if you Imagined every little scnvolmarm in the United States appointed, paid, visited and controlled directly from’ Washingion. The telegraph lines of all France, a large proportion of the railways and the whole of The Gauntlet of Students. flie tobacco, match and gunpowder monopo- lies are in the nands of the government. ‘These, in addition to the post office depari- ment, afford multitudinous employment :or females. All require the brevet elementaire even from the most elementary beginners, and the great majority demand that much more formidable document, the dreaded Lre- vet superieur. Following the fficial exam- ple always, all the non-state railway com- panies, all the great corporations, all the im- portant employers of girl clerks, typewriters, bookkeepers, copyists and whit not in the mazes of French routine, ask for the brevet. ‘To Ke a Railroad Clerk. Example: I know of a girl who three years ago was employed in one of the freight ac- count departments of the P. L. M. (Paris- Lyon-Midi—the trunk line from Paris to Marseilles). She received 80 cents a day for copying, comparing and p!geon-holing pa- pers put into her hands by superior clerks. In order to obtain this employment she had gained her brevet elementaire. But that was not enough. In order to keep the employ- ment (anc incidentally be in the line of pro- motion, for this is the first principle of all French corporation clerkships) she must, within a given time (two years), optain the second brevet! That is, being out of school and working for her living, she must study sUll at home of nights as if she were in school and ultimately go up for examination at one of those peculiar seances called “ex- amens de I'Hotel de ville,” which form so picturesque a feature of the Latin quarter pees mid-July Assia all the students are Way upon vacation, and then again in mid- October, when the quarter hums. ae The students, godless, hairy savages, with flowing neckties of gay hues and baggy pan- taloons, mayhap of velveteen (!), are not hke “college men” at home. They collect In some thousands round the old Lobau barracks by the river during the weeks of these uma- teurish girls’ examinations, to make faces at the poor young things and frighten them as they go in and out accompanied by their mothers. To come back to the little clerk ber Lye to pass 2 please the P. LL. M. She led to pass and so lost her employment with the P. L. M. It discouraged mere Another Class. There is still another class of Paris girls who come to these examinations, which—? beg leave to repeat—are not of school rou- tine, but something quite apart. These are girls educated in the countless private and religious schools of the great capital. In France the social lines are tightly drawn by politics, and are mixed up with religion. A religious family will not send its daugh- ters to p of the “atheistical’ government public social aspirations. nor will a family which has is even the case This Beg Pardon: with sons, and many a ung man mars his futu: stizmatizes himself as “unre- pubtican,” by chooging (or allowing his par- ents to choose for him) not to enter a state lycee. The government, in return, says, “That is all right; do as you please. But, for your sons and daughters, we will no’ recognize the diplomas of private schools.” In order to enter the university, the son must pass a state examination! And in order to please her religious or private school teachers, many a girl of soctal prom- irence has stepped down to the Place Saint- Ceryais to be registered for the Hotel de Ville examinations. Waiting for the Examination. There are three hundred gathered, wait- ing to go In. Three hundred girls, accom- panied by three hundred mothers. “Have you your pencils? and your rubbers? and your handkerchiefs? “Yes, mamma. Oh, mamma! I have for- gotten my handkerchief. Lend me yours.’ here, my infant.” “Stephanie—your chocolate?” “I have it, mamma.” ‘ake care to be cool!" “Be tranquil, mamma. And the brigand Latin quarter students, standing round to mock and complimen:, mew with affected voices: “Yes, mama! ‘The Elementary Examination. The examinations for the brevet elemen- taire are divided into three series (if there were no subdivisions they would not be French). The first series “comprehends’’ four writ- ten exercises, A dictation for spelling. A page of handwriting. An_ exercise in French composition and a problem in arith- metic, requiring a “reasoned-out” solution. The second series includes two subd visions. A crayon sketch of any “usual Failed. object,” which the examiners may choose to set up, and the execution, under the por eerance of appointed ladies, of needie- work. ‘The third series comprises five oral trials. he explanation of the meaning of a given together with i Mental ari Piece of prose or verse, construction and grammar. metic and the metric system, elementary French history and geography, with map drawing on a blackboard. Very elementary questions and exereises of solfexe. El mentary psysical and natural science. Chances of Failure. In order to have been permitted to stand examination in the second series, the fair aspirant must have obtained an average 50 per cent result in the first series. And so on for the third series. And so, as morning after morning passes the light brigade must suffer fearful loss. They know it, and they tremble in suspense. In vain mamma coaxes Marie at the noon sortie, in vain she takes her to the res- taurant to offer her the dishes that she loves best in her happier hours. Marie does not care, she is not hungry, she has grave thoughts, she forgets to eat, looks vaguely out of the window at the people passing. “Come, child _But Marie is desolee. “Oh, mamma, you Know, I begin to be- lieve I was wrong. I ought to have divided 200 meters 60 into parts in proportion as 3 ts to 2 in order to arrive at the dimen- sions of the rectangle—" “Yes, yes, we will see. Eat your pear. “And I ought to have had the surface of the property equal 96 ares, centaires, 6864—' yes, yes. Eat your pear!” nd then the grocer had 4,000 francs of income—” Girls are very much the same all over the world, but teachers vary. The methods of these French examiners would exasper- ate an American girl, no longer a child, but over sixteen years of age (as required by French law to be eligible to those compe- titions) or even married. These well-grown girls are treated as though they were little. It ls the “interpretation of the meaning of a given piece of prose or verse.” Page 224, mademoiselle—-Commence And then is heard a trembling muring that beautiful chestnut Man and the Paralytic. “Heaven! Mademoiselle, what have you just been reading aloud to us? Now, read it again to us, not with that warbling in- tonation, 1 implore you. Stop, stop! Mad- emolselle, are you singing? If you are sing- ing, you are singing badly; and if you are simply reading, why do you sing The examiners are not bad hearted, but only teasing. Often a bright face and intel- ligent manners will save a girl who ought not to pass at all, at all. In the examena for the elementary bre- vet the examiners (considering the tender years of those who stand before them) do not resort to that form of amusement which they permit themselves in dealing with the more mature aspirants for the brevet superieur, “catch question: or celles d’examen, as they say in the French schools. Such as: “At the door of a church where the beg- gars stand there is always an old woman and a blind man or a cripple. A lady sent her son with 52 frances, saying ‘If you find the old woman and the blind man you will give three-fourths of the money to the blind man and one-fourth to the old wo- man; if you find the old woman and the cripple, you will give three-fourths of the money to the old woman and one-fourth to the cripple." The boy found all three beg- gars at the church door at the same time. How should he act with the 52 francs in o1 der to realize the intentions of his mother The correct answer is: “He ought to re- turn te his mother, state the fact and ask for further instructions.” A Higher Grade. The brevet superieur is a much more am- biticus diploma to try for. The program is vast, and it is seldom that one succeeds at the first trial. It is, therefore, all the more showy when obtained, and even for posi- ticns for which it is not absolutely required it is a strong recommendation—such as to be a cashier in one of the Duval restau- rants, or a telephone girl, or governess in a private family. The examination program consists of two series, each being naturally subdivided. First series—(1) A composition comprising two questions, (a) one in arithmetic, and (b) one on physical or natural sciences. Four hours are accorded. (2) A French composi- tion, literary or moral. Three hours. (3) A crayon design after a model in relief. Three hours. (4) A composition in a mod- ern language (with dictionary), the lan- guages being at choice German, English, Spenish Italian or Arabic. Second series—(1) Questions on morals and education. (2) The French language. (3) Memorable epochs, great names and es- sential facts of the history of France and of Europe, principally of modern times, l.e., since the year 1453. (4) Complete geography of France, with accurate map drawing. (5) Complete arithmetic, with its application to practical operations and bookkeeping. (6) General notions of physics, chemistry and natural history. (7) Oral translation (at sight) of an easy text In one of the modern languages. This second group of examina- tions being oral, fifteen minutes only is al- lowed to each. It will be noticed how well developed jis the literary side of all this. The one written “composition” in arithmetic must be reasoned out in proper language, as if it were the account of an interesting fact in the candidate’s experience. The physical and natural sciences require a deal of in- formation, but it is just as important that the candidate should be able to set down Marie, eat your pear now, my her information in an orderly and appetiz- ing essay. The literary examination demands. no technical literary knowledge, but it calls for what the French term un grand fond personnel, and it is exactly this—the per- sonality, the judgment and the reasonable- ness of the candidate—for which the exam- iners search. In the modern foreign language examina- tion the examiners are very lenient. But the trial in la langue Francaise is exhaus- tive. In France everything connected with France {fs sacred. The trial consists in an explained reading from any of a listed series of French authors, published by the minister of public instruction every three years, together with questions of literary history, limited to the principal authors of the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. All this, of course, is oral examination. What all this can have to do with a young lady whose desire it is to continue adding up figures in the general freight ac- ecunt department of the Paris, Lyons and Midi Railroad Company doth not immed- lately appear. Yet she was side-tracked on account of literature. This teaches us that the French are a nation quite apart, and that they have their own ways of doing things. € STERLING HEILIG. A GREAT NERVE TONIC, Horsford’s Acid Phosphate. DR. I. HARRIS HALL, State Lunatle Asrlun, ‘It is undoubtedly a M PLOUGH TO SENATE Senator Cullom’s Experience Teach- ing School at $18 Per Month. HE WAS INTIMATE WITH LINCOLN His Position as a Presidential Can- didate i.lustrated by a Story. ae Se ISSUE OF THE CAMPAIGN —— (Copyrighted, 1895, by Frank G. Carpenter.) HAD A LONG chat the other night with Shelby M. Cullom, United States Senator from Illinois. He is one of the most interesting talker among our public neu. Plain and sim- le in Fis ways, there re no frills nor fur- clows about either imself or his con- versation. He calls many of the atuributes which were so noi- ed in Abraham Lincoln. He grew up under the shadow of Lincoln, and his likeness to the mertyred President has been often re- marked. No one would call Cullom hand- some. His frame is big, bony and angular. His figure is straight, with shoulders so square that the arms seem to fall from them at right angles, the whole acting as a clothes frame for his Prince Albert coat. His gestures are not graceful, and his-face in repose is re. When he talks, how- ever, a smile creeps out of the corners of his eyes, the lines of his features soften, and you forget everything else in the im- pression of horest strength and good fel- lowship which show out of them. You soon discover that Cullom has lots of per- sonal ma m, and that, with it all, b is full of brains, and at the same sessed of a remarkable dezree practical common sense. There men in the United States who close to the people and who appreciate their wants so well. There are few who have had as remarkable a career and have not been spoiled by it; and few Senators whese lives would be more inspiring ex- amples to the boys of the United States. Senator Cul "s Boyhood. During my visit with Senator Cullom I drew him on to talk about his boyhood. He told me that his family was Scotch-Irish, and that his ancestors came from Mary- land to Kentucky. It was there that Cul- lom was born, and when he was a baby of nine months, chewing his little fists, which were not so angular then, with his tooth- less gums, and squalling at times, I ven- ture, in more piercing tones than those he now uses in the United States Senate, the family moved to Mlinois. They rode out and in through the stumps in canyas-cov- ered wagons, and Baby Cullom, wrapped in a feather bed, was rccked by the folting of the wheels. Father Cullem settled with- In about fifteen miles of Peoria, taking up 500 acres, and chopping a farm out of the forests. Baby Cullom crept over the log floor and toddled about the clearings year by year, until he became old enough to go to school. His first le: Were studied in a log school house, and working on the farm and studying at school made up his boyhood life. After he had finished his schooling at the country schools, young Cullom concluded that he wanted a better education. His father was hardly able to send him to col- lege, and Shelby had to look out for him- self. How he succeeded I will tell in his cwn words. Said he: “I was about seventeen years old at this time. I thought I ought to be better edu- cated, ard I looked about to see how I could make some money to pay my way through the academies, I saw an opening in a country school near where I lived. I applied for It and got it. My wages at the start were $18 a month, and I must have done pretty well, for at the end of the sec- ond month they raised me to $20, and I re- ceived this for the remainder of the year. I boarded with the scholars, and save nearly every cent of my munificent salary.” A Plowboy Senator. “A whole year’s salary wouldn’t amount to much, Senator, at $20 a month,” said I. “Was this the only way you had to make money?” i “No; I made something after school was over by plowing. I got $1.25 an acre for it. I borrowed five yokes of oxen of my father, and went to breaking up land for the neigh- bors. We plowed a furrow about eighteen inches wide and hitched from four to five yckes of oxen to the plow. We fastened the plow to wheels and set it for the proper depth. I walked outside and yelled at the team. It is not an easy matter to drive oxen, I can tell you, and a great deal of the lung power which I have today was, 1 venture, developed the The Senator vs. Trilbs. “By the way,’ the Senator continued, with a twinkle in his eye, “a rather queer thing happened in connection with that plowing. You know they talked a little of me for President four years ago, and some of my old friends in Ilinois thought I had a chance for the White House. One of these was a farmer for whom I had broken land In my boyhood. He wrote to me, re- calling the circumstance. He said he had a print of my bare foot, which I had made at that time, in a clayey strip on his land. He said he had cut it out and kept it, and that he was going to frame it as the foot of a President.” “He must have been one of the grand- fathers of Du Maurier’s Billie, and history is only repeating itself in the craze over the foot of Trilby,” said I, as I looked at the good, comfortable understanding of Mr. Cullom. ‘And did you plow in your bare feet, Senator?” “Yes; I suppose so,” replied Mr. Cullom. “We did a great deal of farm work in our bare feet in early days. It was more com- fortable than working with shoes, though now und then one was liable to raise a stone bruise or snag off a toe nail against a root.” Schoolboy Struggles. “Where di: you go to school, Senator,” I asked. “It was at a seminary at Mount Morris, in northern Mlinois,” replied Senator Cul- lem. “There was a big Methodist institu- tion there at that time, and it was consid- ered a very good school. I studied Latin and Greek and other things, but before I got through I fell sick. This was within three months of the close of my term. I thought I was going to die, and I wanted to go home. They persuaded me to stay, however, and give the valedictory.” “Then, I suppose, you were at the head of your class, Senator?” “Yes,” replied Mr. Cullom, “I managed to keep pretty close to the top.” “Wat did you do next?” “I came home,” was the reply. “No one thought I would live. I was as lean as a rail and pale as a sheet of white paper. I had an ambition to be a lawyer when I started to the seminary, but my sickness led me to give this up and go back to the farm. Ten days after I got home I was in the harvest field. I soon grew better, and by fall I had re of land from my fat! it In crops. As winter came on, I grew restless. I told my father he could have his land again, and that I was going to Springfield to study dar” Abraham Lincoln's Boy Friend. “You studied there[{with Abraham Lin- coln, did you not?” “No,” replied Senator Cullom, “I did not study in the office of Lincoln. A great deal of his work was Mn the circuit, and he spent but little time in his office. I had known him since I was a boy of eleven, and he was already my ideal hero. When I went to Springfield {asked him if I had not better study law with him, but he ad- vised me to go into office of a lawyer who would be station! He gave me lots of good points, however, and I was closely associated with him from that time on.” “How did you like the law?’ I asked. “I liked it very well,” replied the Sena- tor, “and I would not object to practicing now. I did not get to be a lawyer with- out considerable trouble. A few months after I took up the study I began to get sick again. I had an attack of typhoid fever, and hung for some time between life and death. The doctors told me that the only thing that could save me was to buy a pony ard ride in the open air. I then went back home and tried the pony cure. But it was no good. I had no object in my rides, and I could not gain strength. Baying Hogs on Commission. “This was the situation when I went to Peoria one day. It was then, as it is now, quite a hog market. I met one of the cap- italists, and he asked me if I would like to buy hogs for them. He offered to pay me ten cents a hog, the farmers to keep the hogs until they were wanted,’ and to be paid the market prices prevailing at the time of delivery. I accepted the proposi- tion and started out to buy. During the next few months I bought thousands of hogs. 1 galloped from cne farm to another, buying all the swine within sight, and I contracted for all the hogs in two or three counties. At the close of my season I found that I had cleared $500, and also that I had entirely regained my health. I took the money and went back to Springfield. I resumed my studies and was soon admitted to the bar.” How did you get into politics, Senator?” Every lawyer in those days was, to a certain extent, a politician,” replied Sena- tor Cullom. “The law is, as a rule, one of the stepping stones to politics. I got into politics because I tried to use politics as a stepping stone tc the law. I was practicing in Springfield, you know, and I thought f I became a member of the legislature that tlis would give me acquaintances all over a quarter section + and was putting the state, and would help my law business. The result was that I became a candidate and was elected. I was re-elected. then made speaker of the house, and after that scent to Congress. Later on I was elected governor for six years, and then sent to the United States Senate. There you have it all in a nutshell.” Lincoln as a Story Teller. “How about Lincoln, Senator? Was he really such a great story teller as iv claimed?” “Yes,” was the reply. “But he did not tell stories for the sake of telling stories. His stories came out in the shape of illus- trations of his thought, or to enforce his arguments. He liked to talk, and during his life at Springfield there was a drug store, which still stands there, to which Lincoln used to come nearly every night to talk. There was a crowd who came there to listen to him, and many an argument wes sprung merely for the sake of getting Lincoln to talking. He would brighten up as he began to talk, and I used to some- times think that he tol stories to get away from his thoughts and himself. When he was alone he would often drop into habits of deep meditation, would seem to te gloomy ard it was almost impossible at such times to arouse. him.” “I have heard that he was moody and blue, and that he hovered at times on the verge of insanity. Is that so “He may ha-e been moody at times,” re- plied Senator Cullom, “hut his head was extraordinarily clear. T used to think, when I saw him sitting and apparently brooding over something that he was possibly turn- ing over the great questions concerning the matters which he had to settle in after life, and that the responsibilities which he was to have were already before him. He was, you know, a philosopher, and his great mind and soul were different from those ot common men.” Lincoln and Reltgion. “Was Abraham Lincoln a religious man?’ I asked. “In one sense he was, and in another, not,” replied Senator Cullom. ‘As to a be- lief in a future state and a God, I think he was. He had a religious side to his nature, and I have seen evidences that he had made a deep study of the Bible. ‘As 40 being a doctrinal Christian—a be- liever in certain creeds and churches—he was not. As to his study of such matters, I remember an incident. The Universalist and Campbellite preachers of Springfield were holding a joint debate upon certain doctriny Well, one night, when they were discussing whether there was a hell, Abra- ham Lincoln attended. He and I sat to- gether, and when the two preachers had firished their discussion, we walked out I remember Lincoln was disgusted with the discussion. He swung himself out of his seat as they stated the debate was closed, and said to me: ‘They have scarcely touch- ed the question.’ He had evidently been thinking upon the subject, and had it all figured out in his mind.” “J have a book, Senator, entitled, ‘Was Abraham Lincoln a Spiritualist,’ and try- ing to prove that he was so.” “fT do not think that he was,” replied Senator Cullom. “What were the elements of his strength?” “Abraham Lincoln,” replied Senator Cul- lom, “had a great sympathy with the peo- ple. He was a man of the people. He could feel for them and with them. He had great common sense and great execu- tive ability.” Lincoln ax a Politician. “Was he a shrewd politician?” “Yes; he was a good judge of men and knew how to move them.” “Was he ambitious?” yery much so,” was the reply. “But he was so wrapped up in the great ques- tions with which he had to deal that it Is hard to tell where his ambitions ended and his convictions began. He was far-seeing. I remember the campaign with Douglas. I was init with Lincoln, and when the re- turns came in, though Lincoln had the popular vote, a legislature had been chosen which would elect Douglas. I met Lincoln coming home just after the news had been received. I said: ‘Well, Mr. Lincoln, we are beaten.’ “Yes,” he replied, ‘we are beaten.’ ““T am very sorry,’ said I, and at this old Abe put his hand on my shoulger, and, looking down at me with a smile, replied: ‘Oh, my boy, don’t worry; it will all come right in the end.’ “I remembered his confident tone after- ward, and I believe he saw even then that his defeat would make him President of the United States. “J got my first desire to:go to Washington to Congress through Lincoln,” Mr. Cullom went on. “It was the night before he left Springfield to go to his inauguration. I was at this time speaker of the Ilinols house, and as I entered his parlor I said: “Mr. President, I want to come to Wash- ington if possible before you leave.” “Lincoln's eyes laughed as I used the words ‘Mr. President,’ and he replied, em- phasizing his form of address: ‘Mr. Speaker, I hope you will.” A “I then began to scheme to get to Wash- ington and was soon elected a member of Congress.” The Issues of the Campaign. At this point the conversation turned to politics, and during it I asked Senator Cul- lom to give me a short statement as to the issues of the next campaign. Senator Cullom replied: “The issues are not many, but they are very important. The republican party will espouse protection, sound money and true Americanism, advo- cating a strong foreign policy on the basis of America as against the world.” “Can the republican party succeed on such a platform?” “Yes,” replied Senator Cullom; I think there is no doubt of it.” He Talks of the Presidency. “Senator Cullom,” said I, “how would you like to be President of the United States?” The Senator thought a moment, and re- plied: “I would like it very much. I don’t be- Neve it would be a very hard office to fill. The President should choose good men to help him. If he selects his cabinet and sub- ordinates properly these will bring the au- thorities, the situation and the information that he needs properly before him, and good coins sense ig enough to determine the rest.” penne qualities should a President ve 2 “He should be a man of the people. He should be a patriotic American, should be Posseseed of common sense, and be a man who knows how to select men and handle men.” “I hear your name mentioned in many quarters for the position,” said I, “as a candidate for the republican party.” “Yes,” replied Senator Cullom. “I have been talked of in times past, and I believe there is some talk about me now. To tell the truth, I am tired of the talk, and I have illustrated my situation by comparing it with that of a boy who went to school with me at Mount Morris. This boy I will call Sam. He is a prominent man row, and I dare not mention his name. Well, Sam could not for the life of him learn Latin, and he was kept in the same Latin book from one term to another. At last his teacher, in despair, said to him: “‘Sammy, why don’t you study and get cut of this? Aren’t you ashamed to re- main right here in the same place week after week?’ “Sam talked through his nose. His con- versation was a continuous whine, and in reply he whined out: ‘Yes, I am, and I would study if I had a new book, but I am tired of this. It’s the same old thing over and over again, and if it’s not to go any farther, I want to stop it.’ “And that,” concluded the Senator, with @ laugh, “is my position as to the talk about me for the presidency FRANK G. CARPENTER. —_———_—_ CURTAIN CALLS, In Some Theaters They Go by Fixed Rules of Etiquette. From the Boston Herald. There hangs in the green room of the Berliner Theater the following: ‘Members of the company will bear in mind the fol- lowing directions for curtain calls: ‘First call, Herr Barnay alone. “Second call, Herr Barnay and Frau A. (the leading woman.) “Third call, Herr Barnay and the entire company. The members of the company will take care to leave Herr Barnay alone in the center of the stage during the call, taking positions at some distance on each side. It is said in Berlin that no matter what the exigencies of the play, what the posi- tion or the value of the scene, this order is enforced rigidly. This etiquette of curtain calls has its rules in this country, but they vary somewhat with various companies, and with various plays. As a rule the first call is taken on the picture at the fall of the curtain, and the second by all the people in the picture, standing in a line, the leading people, of course, in the center, and in some cases the subordinate actors standing up stage. A third call is taken by the star of an or- ganizaticn alune, and any others as the star may dictate, while in a stock company the leading man and woman, if they are both in the picture, share the call; if not, it is taken by whichever one was in it. There are organizations where the star takes it all, there are joint combinations where the two people share it, and where, no matter what the will of the public, neither will retire. Many English actors have tried to do away with the curtain call as incongraous. No one made a greaier effort in that direc- tion than did E. S. Willard, who used to alter his picture at each call of the cur- tain, but rarely came out of his part to bow conventionally to the house. But it must be owned that the result of his method was not sufficiently good to inspire others to follow his example. He believed that there was something ridiculous in stepping out of the play to respond to the congratu- lations of the audience. To get round that he used to make a series of pictures for curtain calls, but the result was almost disastrous. There are certain questions of taste to be considered always in such matters. For example, watch Henry Irving and Ellen Terry take a call on the church scene in “Faust.” It would be incongruous to see Faust and Margaret taking a call side by side, so they always keep to the opposite sides of the stage, with the shrine of the Virgin Mary between them. In the same way in “Lou! <1," when Irving always shares the call at the end of the third act with the actor playing Nemours, they al- ways come on at the opposite sides of the Stage, but not together, each following the other, alternating, as it were, on the scene, no matter how many calls there are. e+ THE CARCASS OF A HORSE. Hairecleth, Boots, Gloves, Combs ond Useful Acids Made From It. From the New York World. Horses that have served useful and hon- orable careers of two or thirty years are fit only for the chemical process. When the retired animal is first dragged in it is re- lieved of its hair by a shaving process. The tail and mane are especially valuable, ard from these is made the haircloth of commerce. The short hair taken from the hide is used for stuffing cushions and horse ecllars, and thus the dead’ are made to minister to the comfort of the living. The hide of the horse is quite valuable aid the leather known as cordovan is made from the skin over the rump. This leather is used in the manufacture of high-class hurting and wading boots, as it can be made impervious to water. The other leather is soft and is used mostly for slip- pers and heavy driving gloves. The hoofs of the animal are removed and after being boiled to extract the ofl from them the herny substance is shipped to the manu- fuctories of combs and what are known as Mikado goods. Next the careass is placed in a cylinder and cooked by steam at a pressure of three atmospheres. This separates the flesh from the bones. The leg bones are very hard and white, and are used-for handles of pocket and table cutlery. The ribs and head are burned to make bone-black after they have been treated for the glue that is in them. In this calcining of these bones the vapors arising are condensed and form the chief source of carbonate of ammonia, which ccnstitutes the base of néarly all ammo- nical salts. There is an animal oil yielded in the cooking process which is a deadly poison, and enters into the composition of many insecticides and vermifuges. The bones to make glue are dissolved in muriatic acid, which takes the phosphate of lime away; the soft element retaining the shape of the bone is dissolved in boiling ‘ater, cast into squares and dried on nets. The phosphate of lime, acted upon by sul- pkuric acid and calcined with carbon, pro- duces phosphorus for lucifer matches. The remaining flesh is distilled to obtain car- bonate of ammonfa. The resulting mass is pounded up with potash, and then mixed with old nails and iron of every description; the whole is calcined and yields little yel- low crystals—prussiate of potash, with which tissues are dyed a Prussian blue and iron transformed into steel. It also forms cyanide of potassium and prussic acid, the two most terrible poisons known in chemis- try. In the course of a lawsuit in St. Louis several years ago it was put in evidence that the River Rendering Company, which had the contract for the removal of dead animals from the city streets, made a clear profit of $24 on each horse carcass that they handled. ——— -+0-_____ Personal Color Selection. From the Chicago Chronicle. Every woman, whether she knows it or not, has a color or colors that are hers by right of suitability, and, however much her eye may be captivated by other tints, she should not be led astray by her fancy. Again, certain shades of a particular color are often as unbecoming to a woman’s complexion as others are the reverse. Thus, not only colors, but shades, have to be studied and understood if harmony in these and the becoming in dress are to be attained. Some women only get far enough on the road of good taste in dress to choose colors and materials that blend well or contrast better, but not far enough to take into consideration the more important question of whether the choice made is one that will conduce to their personal advan- tage. Like Mother Used to Bake. From the Cincinnati Enquirer. It wasn’t really her fault that the biscuits burned a little on the bottom, and he ought not to have ralsed so big a row about it. “JT suppose such a thing never happened in all your mother’s cooking?” she said, sar- castically. “Never,” he asseverated. “‘Oc- cssionally she used to get them so light that they would float up to the top of the oven and get scorched that way, but they never burned on the bottom.” Huyler's Pure, Delicious Cocoa and Chocolates are sold by all grocers. Asx for Huyler's and take no other, NEVER SUCH TESTIMONIALS. What the Mail Brings to the Paine’s Celery Compound People. What excuse Js there for not getting strong and well? Paine’s celery compound, the world’s great remedy for nervous weakness, can be obtained at avy druggist’s in any city or in any country town. One can get a heartfer, healthier appetite, purify the blood and increase its power of feeding the nerves and tissues by taking Paine's celery com- peund. It Is the greatest Invigorator in existence. vince yourself of the fact. Try it. ‘Testimonials for publication are taken quite at random by the present proprietors of this great remedy. ‘The letters are never “doctored.” ‘Titles are never placed before the names of un- titled people. Honest but obscure men ar2 never sald to be “honorables.” Every-day kind of men who have been made well by Paine’s celery com- pound are never paraded before the public as “The Great Mr. So-and. or “The Wonderfully Sue- ccssful Mr. This-and-That."” Cases of ordinary sickness are never claborated into hideous, im- possible diseases. When it heppens that the mail brings a heart- felt letter from such a man ag State Treasurer Colvin of New York, or Mr. Carlisle's private see- retary, or Edmund Russell, or Mayor McShane of Montreal, or Rev. Fr. Quellet, or Commodore How- Con- ell, or Mr. Gillam of Judge, or Ida Lewls, or ex Minister to Austria John M. Francis, or any other Widely Known man or woman who expressly wishes others to be bevefited by his or her experience, the Proprietors of Paine’s celery compound gladly give such unsolicited testimonials to the public press. Tout cne person's health is as valuable as an- otber's, and in publishing the testimoalals of peo: ple whom this great remedy has made well and strong, no particular emphasis is put upon such persons’ officinl standing. The world is made up of what Abraham Lincoln cclled “the plain people.”’ It is they whom Paine’ celery compound has most benefited. Here is a letter (verbatim) just recelved from Louise Pierce of Mel>tte, South Dakota: “I used Paine’s celery compound first for rheus matism, and fousd that it helped me very much. I have since used it fo> nervousness and kidney trouble, and have reveived very much benefit: from Its use, and consider it one of the best of remedies. Mr. A. Cady’s people use it and think they can hardly get along without it in the house. I know of several cthors that have used it that Iam not ac- quainted with, but one other lady, Mrs. Ondell, used it for nervousness, and it soade her well.”” There is the testimony of thousands, Paine's celery compound makes people wel THE GOOD-LOOKING MAN. He Tried to Make an Impression in a Street Car. From the New York World. He knew that he was good looking. He twisted up the waxed ends of his mustache and smiled on her. Then he shrugged his skculders and smiled again. He adjusted the ends of his cravat and gave her a side- lIcng glance. He said “Ahem!” He hung on a strap and smirked languishingly. There was room at the other end of the car, but he was interested in making a conquest of the young woman in the corner, and the young woman in the corner merely stared straight ahead, blankly. He wore large checked very English trousers, and there was a carnation in the buttonhole of his frock coat. His soft Fe- dora hat was creased with painful exact- ness. He was the handsomest man in the Broadway car, and he knew it. But she never looked at him. He jostled against her at the curves and nearly knocked her hat off reaching for the strap. He said, “Pray, excuse me,” elab- orately, but she was not to be lured from her abstraction. Then he began a sys- tematic course of fascinating tactics. He leaned over her and pressed her left foot gently. No response. Still more noticeably he pressed it. Then he walked over her right foot by way of attracting her atten- tion. She did not wink an eyelid, but if he had noted her from the point of vantage of the passenger opposite he might have seen a determination coming into the lines of her chin and a cold, calm deliberation into her unfaltering eyes. But he did not see it, he merely pressed her feet more tenderly and repeated, “Pray, excuse me!” with a killing glance. The young woman in the corner arose. She looked dangerously pleasant. “Pray, take my seat!” she said to him with alarming distinctness, so that every one in the car heard, and also those upon the platform. “Pray, take my seat!” (with emphasis upon the “pray”). As she swept to the center of the car two women op- posite beamed on her and three men arose with extraordinary politeness to offer her a seat. But the handsome man had bolted for the platform, and he swung off at the next stop, while the dangerously pleasant young woman sat down again, smiling a serene little smile. —__-e-+-____ His Opinion. From the Hudson Register. James: “Is Miss Snowball a graduate of Vassar? William: “‘She is. “I thought she was. I heard her ask if the muzzle of a gun was to prevent it going off. ——__—_+e- A Hasty Remark. From Tit-Bits. Mary and John sitting on the sofa. Mary—“Cease your flatteries, or I will put my hands over my ears.” John (wishing “Ah, your lovely t]ee In Chicago. From an Exchange. Ambitious Musician. in my grasp.” “How sv?” “You know Mendelssohn’s ‘Wedding March’ helped amazingly in making his fame?” “Well, what of it?” “1 am going to write a divorce march.” ERCURIAL - = POISON Is the result of the usual treatment of blood dis- orders. The system {s filled with Mercury and Potash remedies—rove to be dreaded than the isease—and in a short while is in a far worse condition than before. The common result “is RHEUMATISM for which 8. S. 8. 1s the most reliable cure. A few bottles will afford relief where all else has failed. I suffered from a severe attack of Mercurial Rheumatism, my arms and legs being swollen to twice their natural size, causing the most excruct- ‘I have fame at last ating pains. I spent hundreds of dollars without relief, but after taking a few bottles of 7 I improved rapidly and am now a well man, completey cured. i can heartily —recom- mend it to any one suffering from this inful disease. . F. DALEY, Brookiyn Elevated R.R. Our ‘Tr atise on Blood and Skin Diseases mailed free to any address. SWIFT SPECIFIC CO., Atlanta, Ga. WATER IS QUEER. It Will Expand When a Certain De- gree of Cold is Reached. From the St. Louls Republic. One of the most curious natural phe- nomena, and one which has never yet been explaired by the philcsophers, is that in reference to the expansion of freezing water. The case of water is a singular ex- ception to all natural laws of expansion by heat and contraction by cold, which apply in cases of all other known liquids. When water is freezing it contracts in bulk down to the point where the mercury reaches the reading of 39% degrees, or 714 degrees abov freezing, from which point it slowly ex- pands according to the intensity of cold. No other liquid is known to possess this remarkable property, except that certain metals expand slightly in passing from a solid to a liquid state. But if heat be ap- plied to water after it has cooled down to a temperature of 3% degrees (the point where it is ready to begin expanding,should @ greater degree of cold be applied) it will immediately expand by the universal law. But should we lower the temperature to 32 degrees it will expand by its own special law. Another curious point to be noticed here is this: That the amount of expansion is as great in water Icwered from 39% degrees down to 32 degrees as it is in water that has been heated so that the temperature runs up from 391g to 47 degrees, These points are certainly odd and curious and worthy of attention and experiment. World's Fair! HIGHEST AWARD. PER GRANUM The STANDARD and BEST prepared FOOD Prescribed by physicians. Rejied on in hospitals. Depended on by nurses. Indorsed by the press. Always wins hosts of friends wherever its supe- rior merits become known. It is the safest food for convalescents! Is pure and unsweetened and can be retained by the weakest stomach. Sold by DRUGGISTS EVERYWHERE! myl8-s Jobn Carle & Sons, New York. “Welltry — OM 20 pairs of $3.50shoes” if necessary, to satisfy you. You couldn’ be any more particular about the fit our famous True Comfort $3.50 shoe tham we are. [7Shoes made to order $5 up. FQ guaranteed. = 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 Wilson’s, 929 F St. 0029364