Evening Star Newspaper, November 23, 1895, Page 16

16 ‘THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1895—TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. GOLD IN ALASKA Territory Which John Bull is Said to Covet. TT IS.RICH IN THE PRECIOUS MINERAL Specimens Brought Back by the Experts Sent by Congress. DEPOSITS OF COAL ated, 1805, by Frank G. Carpenter.) S HALL JOHN PULL « gobble our gold? This is one of the questions which will probably come before the next Congress in the discussion of the Alaskan bound- ary line. The English are scheming to get holdoftherich placer deposits on the Yukon river. They al- £0 want to move for- ward the southeast- ern boundary of Alaska, so that the prec!ous quartz mines about Jtineau will be in British territory. If they succeed, we will lose the best gold territory of Alaska—a territory which is now producing nearly a million dollars a year, and which may produce tens of millions in the future. The best of our Yukon mines are within about twenty-five miles of the boundary of Alaska and Rritish Columbia. The Cana: say that if properly run it would inclide them. By the treaty of England with Russia in 1825 Alas- ka began at the Portland canal, about 54 degrees 40 minutes, and ran northward to the main boundary of Alaska proper, along a line which was to be about thirty miles back from the coast. The wording of the treaty is such that there is no doubt but that the main coast line was meant. Now England wants to make this thirty miles begin with the outsite shores of the numerous large islands running along the coast, and not the coast proper. For enty years she has made her maps according to the old under- standing, but now that the gold mines are coal mines, while C. W. Purington, Dr. Recker’s assistant. is also a gold expert. During my talk with Dr. Becker he showed me a umber of photographs of the differ- ent mining regions. He was very conserva- tive as to the profits of Alaskan mining, but said that the output of Alaska will be at least $1,200,000 this year. Alaska’s Golden Sands. Dr. Becker tells me that gold weshing is going on along the shcres of some of the is- lends of Alaska, and that there is gold in the sands along the shores of the Pacific running north along the coast. There is a great deal of gold washed up daily on the beaches of tl land of Kadiak. A large number of miners are engaged in the business, and they often make big profits. He tells me thut mines have been recently opéned on Ad- miralty Island which have good prospects, and that the Unga mines on a little island further westward are now turning out $30,000 a month. These Unga mines are the property of the Alaskan Commercial Company. They are quartz mines, having a reck much like that of the Bodie mine of California. The ledge is more than thirty feet wide, and the ore runs from $8 to $9 per ton. The Gold Mines of the Yukon. The gold mines of the Yukon were not visited by Dr.Becker’s expedition. It is a trip of morethan2,000 miles to them,going around by the Yukon river, and it takes more than a year to get there and back and make any kind of an investigation. There are little steamboats which go up the river, carrying Fundreds of tons of freight to the miners. They make their trips only twice a year, and if one misses the boat he has to wait until the next year or come over the moun- tains to Sitka. The miners build fires on the grayel in the winter, and when the dirt is thawed they carry it up the banks out of the way of the freshets and wash it out during the summer. The work is very laborious, but so far it has paid very well. Fifteen Yukon miners, who came back with the geological survey party in September last, had more than $100,000 worth of gold with them, which they had taker out this year, and there are undoubtedly millions lying in the béds of the rivers. So far no quartz mining has heen done. Dr. Dall says that a_man must have a capital of at least $500 to start out from Sitka to mine gold on the Yu- kon. He ought to take a year's supplies with him, and he must be prepared for a climete of such a nature that in the winter the thermometer falls to sixty degrees be- low zero, while in the summer it rises as high as 100 degrees above that point. There are insects of all kinds during the sum- mer, and the mosquitoes of Alaska are wors2 than those of New Jersey. The min. ers live in log cabins, and their accommo- dations are of the rud>st possible nature. Alaska's Coal Mines. A large number of coal mines were vis- ited by this geological survey party, and THE YUKON GOLD MINERS. found she wants to change the construction of the treaty and move out the line so that it would cut us out of our best harbors and the wonderful gold territory which we have begun to develop. How valuable these gold fields are .we are just beginning to learn. During the past week I have talked with a number of men who have just returned from Alaska. I have gone over the maps with the members of the expedition of gold experts sent by Congress to investigate the mines of the ter- Tito: nd have looked over the collection of specimens which they have just brought back. ‘There is no doubt that the Alaskan mines are very valuable. Between ISS) and 1890 the whole gold yield of Alaska was less than $5,060,000. Now the territory is turning out more than $1,200,000 a year, and there is a single mine near Juneau, which has already produced more than 000,000 worth of gold. The owners of this mine have refused, it Is said, 00,000 for their claim. The gold in it seems to be practically inexhaustible, and the mine is now turning out more than $500,000 a year. There are other gold mines on Douglas Island, one of which is paying very well. ‘There is also valuable gold territory on the main coast. The whole strip of land, which will be cut off if John Bull has his will, is undoubtedly more or less mixed with gold. Juneau is a mining town at the mouth of Gold creek. It now contains about 2,000 people, made up of miners and traders. Now and then mines are discovered in curl- ous ways. Not long ago a laborer took a cross-cut saw with him and went up into the mountains to cut wood at so much a day. He had not gone more than a mile before he tumbled over a log and, as it were, sawed out a_ for- tune. When he fell he threw the saw and tried to save himself. Upon rising and ge- ing to where the saw had fallen he “ound that the earth was torn up and a streak of white quartz showed out through the black dirt. He stooped to examine it, and found It full of yellow specks. These specks were gold. He followed the streak up the moun- tain for several hundred feet, and upon it staked a claim which brought him a fortune. We know practically nothing about this gold territory of Alaska, but the indications are that there Is gold all along the coast, up to and far beyond Sitka. Alaska is about one-sixth the size of the whole United States, and only a small part of it has been prospected. During the past summer Congress sent three experts from the geo- logical survey to investigate the gold mines and coal fields of the southern and western part of the territory. These men have been in Alaska all summer. They traveled more than 1,500 miles in a little tugboat, in and about the shores of the various islands, They visited most of the mines now in question with the British, and made a tour of Cook’s inlet, where there are valuable placer mines. They have inspected the new mines of the Island of Kadiak, and have found good gold mines being worked as far west as the Island of Unga. lying at least 1,000 miles beyond Sitka. They returned in September, bringing back a great quantity of specimens of gold and coal-bearing rocks. These specimens are now in the de- partment of the geological survey. There fe one large room which 1s filled with tables Icaded with chunks of Alaskan gold quartz. ‘There is a specialist who has for weeks been grinding chips from these rock mens into leaves, each of which is thinner than a sheet of the finest writing paper, so thin, in fact,-that it 1s entirely transparent. These leayes are put between plates of glass and subjected to a microscopic ex- amination, by means of which their con- stituents and value can be known. Until the rocks are analyzed, the report of the pedition will not be ready for Congress. The work, however, !s going on rapidly, and by the first of the year we will receive our first accurate knowledge of many of the Alaskan mines, The members of the expedition are scientific gold and coal ex- perts. Dr. George F. Becker, the chief, 1s the man who investigated the gold fields of the south for Congress last year. Prof. William H. Dall, another member, has spent wears in Alaska, and he ig an expert as to Dr. Becker tells me that there are big veins of coal along Cook’s inlet and along Katch- enak bay. In the latter place the bluffs rise 800 feet straight up from the water, and the coal crops out of them, so that it could be easily transferred from the mines to the ships. It is a lignite coal, about five-eighths as good as the Cardiff coal. It is believed that it could be taken to San Francisco 2nd sold there for $6 a ton at a profit. There is a possible market for this coal at a future half-way station. between Vancouver and Japan on the Aleutian Is- lands. At present each of the great trans- Pacific steamers has io carry 2,000 tons of coal for each voyage. With such a station they could save 1,000 tons of freight each way in going to and from Asia. Uncle Sam’s Newest Territory. During this expedition the geolog'cal sur- vey party visited and took pictures of the new Bogoslov Island. This is the last pos- session that Uncle Sam has acquired. It rose out of the sea after we bought the territory from Russia, and as it was the lirect gift of God, there is no possibility of the English laying claim to it. It is a voleanie island, scme parts of which are still steaming, ard which are so hot that they would roast any human being who touched them. Birds fall into the crevices of the rocks and are cooked, and Dr. Becker and his party ate eggs which they boiled over the steam coming out of the ground. FRANK G. CARPENTER. ge ELECTRIC LIGHT POST. A Specimen That a United States Con- . sul Says is Admired. In a report to the State Department Robt. J. Kirk, the consul at Copenhagen, gives an account, accompanied by a photograph, of an electric lamp post, which fs in use in that city. He says: “The general use of electricity as a means of illumination in our great cities must, in time, demand some other kind of support for the electric lamp than the unsighily wooden posts now se common. Especially is this need felt on cur handsome <:horough- fares, such, for instance, as the avenues in Weshirgton. Here in Copenhaz- ~ tion has been already taken up and solved, and there is now in practical use on Kon- gens Nytorv (Kings New Market), the principal public square of the city, a post for the electric Jamp which is at on useful as well as or- namental. “The lamp post is cast hollow, the wires enter from the ground and leave the post as shown in the pho- tograph, and the lamp is held in position by a weight resting on a spiral coil. The lamp is drawn down when required by catching the ring suspended from the lamp with a hook at the end of a light pole, with which the workman is provided. The wires can be carried into the iamp in any other way desired,but to reach the lamp through the hollow post is considered here the most practical.’ ——S Won Easy Fame. From the Atchison Globe. There is a man in Topeka who Is famous. He never did anything heroic; was not a member of the legislature; never wrote a book; is not a millionaire, but is poor and not brilliant. On the contrary, he is a sec- tion hand, and rather inclined to be worth- less; but he wrote a few lines to a patent medicine company once, saying its remedy had cured him. Now his name fs in every paper in the country, and he is referred to as a brainy and prominent citizen of Topeka. ++ Resulted Fatally. From the New York Herald, Shorter Grubb—“I wish yer would help me, ma’am. Me ole pal died yesterday, ane Mrs. Easy Frutt—What killed him?” Shorter Grubb—“He tried to eat turkey without cranberry sauce.” —\_-o+_____ A Bargain. From the Grocery World. ‘The Senior Partner—“Shall we advertise this baking powder as 100 per cent pure?” The Junior Partner—Naw. Make it 98. The women will think it is a bargain then," GOES A-SLUMMING Or, Rather, Pauline Pry Knows Some One That Did. A STORY OF INSANITARY LIVING Startling Array of Facts for the Consideration of Women. SOME LOCAL CONDITIONS — Written for The Evening Star. AVE YOU DISCOV- ered that women and microbes are related in an especial man- ner—t hat microbes and their surround- ings offer woman a field of incomparably more glorious possi- bilities than poetry, art, music, politics or matrimony? Through a hard struggle I have been forced to realize this myself; negatively at first. As a housekeeper, re- sponsible for the heaith and happiness of five persons, I was- placed face to face with vital problems, for the correct solu- tion of which I had neither academic knowledge nor experience to guide me. Yet I had sufficient general information to goad me with the consciousness that in the pale face and diminished vitality of any one under my care were involved principles of right living, which somehow my best efforts were failing to compass. So long as I remained in ignorance of these principles and neglected to apply them in my hoyse- hold provisions, so long I virtually ¢on- nived at slow murder, moral degeneration and spendthrift economy in my house, for without conditions of health established there is no power in maternal love nor In religion to ‘maintain any feature of good government in the domestic sphere. Sanitary Science Club. For two years I struggled under the bur- den of a conscience overshadowed by mi- crobes, bitterly realizing the scriptural as- sertion “If one’s light be turned to darkne how great shall that darkness be.” Finally I fell in with Mrs. Ellen H. Richards, pro- fessor of chemistry in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, into whose pa- thetic ear and scientific mind I poured my tale of woe, with the result that she guided me to the salvation afforded by an institu- tion which she helped originate, that de- signed to rescue from the depths of despair and lead in paths of peace just such un- happy housewives as I exemplified—this is the Sanitary Science Club of the Associa- tion of Collegiate Alumnae, which was or- ganized in November, ISN%, for the study of home sanitation, and during the years of its actiy:ty has perfected a simple, concise and comprehensive scheme for imparting a knowledge of sanitary science to wonien. That this science is the especial province of women a moment's attention to the mai- ter will show you. Importance of Sanitary Houses. Sanitary law, to attain its end, depends first of all upon sanitary homes, and with- out these secured no amount of legislation, no muricipal provisions that refer to other matters, can do more than check to a lim- ‘ted degree the devclopment of definite dis- ease, which is secondarily to be considered in estimating the health conditions of community. There is first, the most wide- spread, the most InsiGuously evil conse- quence of unsanitary homes, general lan- guor, @: ustion, which is any disease in potentiality, and is furthermore a source of immorality and positive loss to the com- mercial interests of a country. Nordan, in his generally read “Degeneration,” has shown us the why and wherefor of what every thinking person has experienced or observed of the relation betweea aiminish- ed physical vigor and vice, 1 in his re- cent report on housing the laboring people Commissioner Wright has furnished fig- ures of what unsanitary living costs in time and money by reducing the working capacity of a_ people. ‘Sir James Paget, the distimenished Eng- lish physician, says statistics show that the whole population of England between fif- teen and sixty-five years old in each y r work 20,000,000 weeks less than they might if It were not for sickness. Wsilmating | those for the domestic, Industrial aud agri- | cultural classes as numbering 7,500,011), he puts their loss at £11,000,000 ($55,531,500) an nually. ‘No one who lives among the poor | can doubt,’ says he, ‘that a very large pro- portion of the sickness and loss of work which one sees might have teen prevented.’ He reckons this preventable proportion at one-fourth. One entirely preventable dis- ease—typhoid fever—causes, he calculates an annual loss of 230,000 weeks of work te those wha survive it. The royal commis- sion on the housing of the working classes —18%5—speaking of the housing of the poor in the low parts of London, say that the statistics of annual disease consequent upon unsanitary living would not convey the whole truth as to the loss to health oc- casioned by it to the laboring classes. “Some years ago the London board in- stituted inquiries to see what was the amount of labor lost in the year, not by ill- ness, but by sheer inability to work. It was found that upon the lowest average every workingman or working woman lost about twenty days in the year from simple ex- haustion.” A Despotic Health Bonrd. ‘That the home Is the center of health and the fount from which disease radiates is recognized by state and municipal pro- vision for health less generally in this coun try than in those older civilizations of Eu- rope, along the lines of whose development we more and more closely follow. New York city, which is conceded. to have the most effective sanitary system of any in this country, most particularly provides for the promotion of sanitary homes. The health department has such uniimited power in the exercise of this function that it is said the Sultan of Turkey at one time contemplated sending an expert to this country to learn from the New York health department the most recent discoveries in the extension of a despotic rule. Any member of the board of health may enter upon, examine and survey ull grounds, buildings, apartments, £c., and inspect their safety and sanitary conditioa, making plans, drawings and descriptions. For the purpose of carrying out the pro- visions of the sanitary «ode forty-five po- licemen are detailed to inspect a list of sub- jects that, in addition to location, cellars, yards, front areas, waste pipes and soil pipes, includes such particulars as the fol- lowing General inspection—Cellars; stairs and bal- usters throughout the house; walls ard ceilings of halls and rooms throughout the house; floors of rooms and halls through- out the house; slop sinks, whether trapped and ventilated; wash basins, whetner trap- ped and trap ventilated; bath tubs, whether trapped and trap ventilated; Croton suppiy pipes; roof; wash roof; skylights; leaders; eaves gutters; chimneys; fire escapes; water closets, whether trapped amd trap ventilated; privy vaults; school sinks. privy houses cesspools; urinals, whether properly tMushe4; clothes poles; fences; hydrants in yard; air- shafts. Ash receptacles—Whether sufficient; in sanitary condition; whether kept wathin stoop line. Refusal to conform to sanitary regulations is punishable by a fine of $250, the miatmum penalty being $20. The New York board of health directly takes cognizance of the relation of wo- men to microbes, and employs a special corps of fifty physicians during the sum- mer, whoss duty it is to visit from house to house, for the purpose of not only giving medical advice ani treatment, but also educating the mothers, as they are cap- able of receiviag knowledge concerning the laws of sanitation. Edueate the Individual. Elsewhere, notably in England, the work of educating on sanitary questions is car- ried on by sanitary aid societies. France avd Belgium do more and teach the ele- ments of household hygiene in the public schocls. In these countries also are pub- lic bodies organtzed on a commercial basis fgr furthering the interests of health in the home—thase are similar to the building and loan agsciations of our country, ex- cept fer wide differsnce that the former exercise a paternal function, guiding and advising their patrons in the erection of homes according to hygienic principles. The disadvantage under which sanitary ald societies work in being unable to es- tablish any direct change in the environ- ment as a Pénit of the knowledge and ap- preciation of the laws of health they may seminate, and the unnatural order, the lack of harmony which results from such philanthropic endeavor as lifts the poor into improved sanitary condition without having established that permanent rela- ticn to a better environment which is pro- duced solely by the individual himself being the cause o& {his advancement—these diffl- culties, and seemingly the whole problem of developing. the sanitary conditions of the peor, have been solved by a woman in London, Miss Octavia Hill. An English Woman's View. Miss Hill conceived the idea of making the landlord a teacher of sanitation to his tenants and of rewarding promptness and regularity in the payment of rent with better facilities for decent and healthy liv- ing. The last report of the commission of labor devotes an entire chapter to Miss Hill's method of combining business and reform. criminal clisses cannot be dealt with by any existing scclety or any building ¢or- poration, because the difficulty with thase people is not financial, but moral. ‘They must be trained, and the only way to dea) with such people is to make goodness. prof- itable. It is not a question of class, but of character. Tt is a question of personal in- fluence, and the landlord, or his representa- tive, is the one who alone can wield i Ruskin stood sponsor in the comm=rcia! world for Miss Hill's idea, and provided the capital with which she bought three houses and made a start. It was not long befire her business had extended to incluie the management of 5,000 houses. On such prop- erty as she assumes the agency of she pays the landlord 5 per cent, and all that 1s left after paying taxes and insurance goes to rep: nd improvements. She has under her direction forty or fifty helpers, all wo- men. Her plan of operation is on acanir- irg a tenant he is made to understand th he has got to improve or leave. By an clab- orate system of detailed work she stimu- lates and helps all effort at improvement, and, being earned, promptly supplies the means for its realization. In taking a hou: where there are arrears the plan is to take those tenants who pay promptly and fhform them that they will have a bonus of so much per week so long as they pay regu- larly; then those behind are told that they will have the same bonus if they pay re: ularly, and that the bonus fs to go in liqui- dation of their arrearages. Repairs are made gradually, so that as little inconven ence as possible may be caused, and an arrangement is made with every tenant not in arrears to have some improvements made in his apartments. Frequently he executes this himself on Saturday after- noon, thus himself becoming not only the cause but the author of his better state, his self-respect Increasing, not diminishing, with the benefits he receives. The Local Conditions. Miss Hili's system has been adopted with uniform success in many large cities in Europe, and to a lesser extent in this coun- try. In other cases ladies have med the management of the model buildings, and employed others to attend to the business of receiving rents. Another innovation re- sulting from Miss Hill's work has been the extended admission of women into the man- agement of housing companies. Several of the large dwellings compa: of Londe acknowledge that their suce and morall only began with the tion of rent collecting through lady unteers, 1) ¢ Under the provisions of the sanitary code of Washington the whole matter of home sanitation is left to individual enterprise. In legalizing the ordinance adopted by the board of health, Congress struck out the section that refers to conditions most im- mediately affecting the health and well ing of the family. lows: P ‘Section 9. That any dwelling house or building wherein people live or congregate or assemble, Which is deficient in ventil ton, drainage on other provision essential to health; which has a leaky roof, or is below grade, so as to render the walls thereof damp and the rooms unhealthy, or is di eayed or Mithy, and prem which are filthy and .aMensive, are hereby declared ‘The section reads as fol- nuisances and injurious to health, and any person who shall create or maintain such nuisance, and who shall fail, after due notice from this board, to abate the same, upon conviction, be fined not | nor more than fifty do! offense" Our Inglorious Alley This provision annuled, leaves the com- munity at large and the individuals most concerned without any municipal protection from menace to he ance or depravity in th duce. Sanitary inspector Ith which igno home may pro- have the power ry evils it cont to the exclusion of any officials to ight of the h ervene in hi Sanitary laws of the District, with a view to bringing their deficiencies to the tion of the coming Congress, in the i thus securing a better code. The absence from Washington of che numerous great tenement buildings that house large masses of the poor in other cities does not contain the assurance of consequent better health conditions, as is naturally concluded offhand. It is.the num- ber of inhabitants in a room, not the num- Ler in a house, that affect the death rate. Glasgow has a police regulation apportion- ing the inmates of tenements in a house according to the number of cubic feet con- tained, at the rate of 300 cubic feet per adult, or two children under eight years. This furnishes a basis for estimating the evil of overcrowding. I have visited 2 number of houses in the alleys of Wa ington where 100 cubie feet per adult is about the rate of space allowed. The Civic Center of Washington fs_or- genized to do a work similar to that done by sanitary aid societies elsewhere. I have the report of one woman of this organiza- tion covering but part uf a single day’s work done in inspecting some of the homes. of the submerged. It is calculated to rather lessen our pride in the glorious streets of Washington and fill us with humiliation for our inglorious alleys. What a Woman Saw. From No. —- to —. Row of two- story basement frame houses, six rooms each, including basement, 13 feet front, 24 feet deep. Basement almost entirely un- derground; no water; box privy in yard; houses in very* dilapidated condition. Back steps dangerous. Womart in No. — showed me where she had broken throvgh the floor in three places. broken off in many places. except one house, No. Plastering is Row occupied Rent, $10 per month. Small frame house, 15 feet four roams; no cellar; house old; no box priyy. Rent, $8 per month. Most of the men who live on this street are laborers earning $1.20 or $1 per day; no steady work; idle three or four months in the year. |, No. —. ,'Small brick house; four rooms; water in yard; box privy; house almost tumbling dewn; sewer in back yard; occu- pied by white family; husband sick for three years Rent, $12.50 per month. No. —. iOne-story frame house; three rooms. Rents. for $6 per month; ground slopes to the rear from the street; no water; boxiprivy; floors so rotten it is not safe to walk on them; indescribably filthy; in the twoiback: rooms are man, wife and seven children.! In the front room was a woman in bed sick, and a man who is a night watchman in bed asleep; two other beds in the room supplied accommodations for four others.' Rent, $. No. —. > Frame house, two-story and basement, sevefi rooms, including base- ment, which is: nearly all under ground. Four families in house. Rent of entire house, $18. Man, wife and five children live in basement. No, —. Frame house; six rooms; small yard, pocl of dirty water standing in it; no water; box privy; house extremely di- lapidated and people dirty; eleven in the heu basement below the level of the street; rent, $11 per month. No. —. Frame house; four rooms; rent, $8.50 per month; old house, very dilapidat- ed; front room used for mending shoes and sitting room; box privy; go two blocks for water. No, —-. Frame house; three rooms; rent, $7.50; box privy; go two blocks for water; woman takes in washing; is paid $1.50 per week for washing and ironing 149 pieces of family clothing; has a blind mother to care for; these people have lived here forty-one years, and their rent recently raised from $5 per month; no street improvements and no sewer. No. —. Frame house; nine rooms; pump ‘© sanitary conditions for the family | in yard; also a privy in very bad condition; nO sewer; occupied by two families; rent, $1. Need of Individual Effort. The section in which these investigations were made is comparatively a prosperous one. The property in this and similar dis- tricts exacts in all instances a rental so out of proportion to the capital invested that it is exactly twice as productive as a better class of property, and a landlord is therefore as little inclined to dispose of it as to improve it. This greed of capital is overcome in Eu- ropean countries by expropriation acts enabling the government to obtain slum property, which is then improved or de- stroyed, and on the vacant space a breath- ing ground and play ground is provided for the poor. . Not the government, however, nor, in- deed, any public body can do for better Sanitary conditions what the independent efforts of individual women may accom- plish. I recently heard Edward Atkinson put the matter in a nutshell. The New Woman who was present was speaking with pride and satisfaction of the wide- spread interest now. being manifest by woman's clubs in every branch of domestic science. “I don't believe in your organizations, said Mr. Atkinson. “Not all the woman's clubs in the world can do as much for the aetual advancement of domestic science as one woman may by patient and intelligent application to the immediate problems of her own home.” Occupation for the Evenings. In the matter of sanitation there is re- quired for effective work certain informa- tion with which women arp not born, neith- er do they, as a rule, acquire it at a girls’ seminary. This includes more or less tech- nical knowledge of location and surround- ings, drainage and plumbing, ventilation, heating, lighting, furnishing, clothing, food and drink, all of which involves a measure of chemistry and something of bacteriology with the rest. This sounds worse than it is—I know, for I am studying it, and I want to tell you that I think other women couldn't better employ their winter even- ings than studying the same thing. The Sanitary Science Club of Boston has com- piled a manual which contains the practical results of individual members working along independent lines of sanitary endea vor, and with this, or some other simple text book to start one, a woman will dis- ver a field for activity In her home that ll materially enlarge her sphere, increase her importance and extend her successes indefinitely. For when she has mastered the sanitary problems of her own home she will be able_to assist her neghbor at the me task. Indced, through her kindergar- ten course, she may induce some poorly housed woman to work with her, and thus from the beginning her advancement in sanitary sclence may count for the good of two homes instead of one; afterward I think I can get her into public office. 1 asked Health Oflicer Woodward this week if there's any Jaw against appointing women sanitary inspectors in Washington, and he could not find any. Then I asked him if he personally would approve of women in that office, and he assured me the right sort of woman would be invaluable. Thus there is no telling where the glory of woman will end, once she adopts the seni- tary policy of PAULINE PRY. ‘TICOATS. ——— LABORATE PE! Recent Designs, and Expecinily One, te Be Worn With a Ball Gown. Think of paying $50 for a petticoat, will you! Yet that is just what we are coming to—if this reign of extravagance continues, and we have the money, of course. Louis NIV didn't wear petticoais, but he was managed by a lot of beauUful women who did, and the rich ades woven in reg- ular art tints, handsome enough for dress nd dame, are now the popular for petticoats. ‘They are flounced lace, and festooned and caught up s of ribbon in contrast- with with big flat roseit ing color, and are quite pretty enough to be put in a glass case and placed on exhibi- tion. You Logueville and Queen Anne needn't think that the Duchess de had all the Wi . pretty petticoats, however, for there havé been eAtravagant women since then, and they know a thing or two about spending money on frivols. Just now the black Kk rt takes aerest in the oak-bound chest, and pale shut taffetas, glace silk, with exquisite brocaded roses and other blossoms, light satins—all silk, of course—- delicate Persian colors on soiid grounds. - all these are used for petticoats with lace flounces and furbelows that make them almost too lovely for a common mortal to wear, even though that mortal be a most beautiful woman. These skirts are worn on the streets, too. Here is the description of a veritable one that was recently imported for a bride's wear with a fine green crepon. It was a pale green silk, shot with silver, and wi trimmed with a flounce of ecru lace. Th’ lace was made very full for a quarter of a yard, and then a fan plaiting of dark green chiffon was let in, headed by a big bow of green ribbon. The width was five yards. By the way, that kind of petticoat wouldn't be bad to wear with a ball gown such as the writer saw recently. ‘The skirt was very flaring, cream corded silk shot with pale green. The ist of green shot silk was half covered with billows of pale green chiffon edged with silver and a great silver filigree rose caught it at the neck, smaller ones on each shoulder, and some elegant silver embroidered green velvet nade little patches on the front of the sodice and simulated pockets on the skirt. ee NOTES OF FASHIONS. Some of the Latest Hin to Wear. Short trains, not more than ten inches long, are seen on dressy gowns for infor- mal affairs. Tailor-made gowns are as much in vogue as ever, but they“clear the ground all around. It is extremely bad form to wear a gown on the street that has to be held up. Lines of soutache braid, velvet or cording trim most of the seams of the gowns. Quite a fancy rages for the “grand- mother’ skirts, which had no gores in them at all, but are as wide as the waist as at the foot, and that was i.wful wide— six and seven yards at the very least. The bodice is cut sharply pointed, and the skirt is gathered right on it. If you have a fine pair of hips, this skirt will be quite satis- factory, and if you have not it will look perfectly ridiculous. By contrast, it makes the waist appear more slender. Flaring Valois collars, richly beaded and embroidered, and of velvet and fur, are dis- tinguishing features of many of the capes and coats. Straight and high officers’ col- lars and turnover ones are sometimes seen on plain wraps intended for traveling and shopping. Printed velvets are the very latest fad in fabrics. They do not seem to “take’ here very well, though they have the approval |of the French coutourieres. Some of these velvets look like the old-fashioned Paisley , and a woman must have “pres- ence” to bear one off with any sort of style at all. Basques, pointed and round waists pre- vail, and the latter have by no means fost their hold on public favor. Basques are extremely short and full about the hips and back, and some of them have short About What skirts added. The separate waist is still in the full tide of its glory, and there is not much probability that it will be discarded this winter. SEEN BY A WOMAN Mrs. Shepherd Chats About Her Life in Batopilas. EIGHT DAYS FROM A RAILROAD How the Days Go With Foreigners and Natives. FORMS OF RECREATION —_.—__— F FAR-AWAY BA- topilas, on the west- Vy M),, lern slope of the Sierra Ay Madre mountains, in j the state of Chihua- by hua, Mexico, far from the centers of social ! life and civilization, 4 Mrs. Alexander R. \ Shepherd talks in a ‘ most interesting vein. i k" “There is no society " ¥ in Batopilas and the adjoining towns, in i the sense of the word as it is used here in Washington,” said Mrs. Shepherd. “There is no round of social duties te fatigve and occupy one’s time to the exclusion of all else. We are e'ght days from Chihuahua, the capital city of the state, which bears the same name, and the nearest railroad town of any consequence. To give you some idea of the Isolation of Batopilas, and our own home, it means three days by stage and five days on mule back to reach Chihuahua, averaging eight or nine hoars in the saddle. The mountain scenery is magnificent, but it hardly re- pays one for the arduous fatigue of such a journey. “The town of Batopilas itself, near which endo is situated, has only about , and is Jocated on a river of the same name—a morntain stream, low quiet nine months in the year, but mes rising to a mighty torrent in the iny season. A late freshet in that sec- tion carried away over two hundred small homes. These homes are mere shanties. wita palm-thatched roofs, and sides form- ed of interlacing boughs, in some instances covered with mud. And yet, owing to the steady work in the mines, Batopilas is more advanced, and has many more advantages than other towns in the vicinity. A Ladies’ Church Society. “This old Spanish Mexican town boasts several stores, a town clcck and public and private schools, from which four or five native young women have been sent out to schools in the United States. A ladies’ seciety is one of the modern institutions, through the efforts and labors of which the old mission church of the place has recently been repaired and improved. ‘o; there are no Pretestant churches nearby, and no theaters nor concert halls, even of the crudest description. There are amateur concerts, musicales and dramatic performances, however, as in other lands, but chiefly for the purpose of raising furds for some worthy object, as the repairing of the old mission, &c. habitan ‘0. Yexiean women are especially fond of music and dancing, balls and parties con- stituting the only social diversions in which the women of any class engage. A small string band, the only one near, furnishes the music for these entertainments. “The play and opera being pleasures of which they are denied, incessant balls, dancing, reading, and, strange as it may seem, study of the fashions, form the round of amusements indulged in by all women of the higher classes in that distant and old world section ef the country which has now been my home for fifteen years. A study of ‘the fashion books furnished them from Madrid and Paris is the chief thing a lady of Betopilas or Chihuahua has to occupy her idle moments. A Delightfal Climate. “How docs my own family amuse and eecupy itself? Well, my husband and sons are ergaged in superintending the large force and work at the mines, while my daughters and myself spend many hours In sewing and reading and enjoying the delightful climate and balmy air by which we are surrounded. One can spend a large portion of the year outof doors, a method of Nfe conducive to both health and content- and which my family and myself en- joy to the utmost. ‘San Miguel,’ our home in Batopilas, is an old Spanish hacienda, large and roomy, with many wiadows opening to the ground. All the houses have only one floor or story, the house and ground being enclosed by a wall. The climate of Batopi- las is delightful, and the winters are charm- ing. Frost or snow are things unseen and unknewn, and wraps are a useless acquisi- tion to one’s wardrote. “Als classes of people in Old Mexico are polite and charitable to exch other and are wonderfully kind and gentl® in manner. The women are beautiful when very young, but age rapidly. The chief occupation of the men is mining; they also play cards and trade horses. There are picturesque scenes aleng the streets of the town Satur- day nights, when the men sit in groups playing cards and variouz games. All classes are apparently happy. The ‘iron- ing’ woman, or the woman whose occupa- tion is to iron one’s clothes, is a degree higher in the social scale than her friend, the washerwoman. The laundry, as it is krown to us, is, of course, a thing unknown in that portion of Old Mexico: The method of doing the family wash is as primitive as picturesque, and would make a pretty pic- ture if caught by the srap-shot kodak of a wide-awake American. The women stand along the river banks just as they do in parts of Brittany and Holland, and dip the clothes in and out of the running stream, their children and babies roll and men while frolic about in the sand, or perch upon the stones, their melting dark eyes and slips of bright color making a theme for the brush of Millet if that painter of peas- ant and outdoor life of the working classes were still alive. About the Native Women. “The women of the working class spend much of their time sewing. There are many sewing machines, upon which a few of the native girls do good work. These women also make the earthen jar ‘Olla,’ used for holding water. The ‘Olla’ is por- ous and will keep water agreeably cool for some length of time. “How do the women dress? Generally in a calico skirt and sash of some bright color, and a ‘reboya.’ The latter is a dis- tinctive feature of the Mexican woman's dress and is composed of a long blue shawl with fringed ends wound about the head and shoutders. A biack shawl instead of the blue reboya is considered more elegant and distinguished. Bonnets and hats are worn by the upper classes, of course, but only since the advent of the railroad, which has at last penetrated the upper portions of the country. We are sur- rounded in part by the Tacuhamara tribe of Indians, who are quiet and friendly and who own a few cattle and sheep. The country is rocky and mountainous, leav- ing but little land for agricultural pur- poses. Hence, the American family living in the valley must import canned goods, butter and such staples. So many months of the year being dry there is also no pas- ture, and ccnsequently cow's milk is unob- tainable most of the time, goat’s milk be- ing the not wholly unpalatable substitute. “Constant Irrigation is necessary for the production of any vegetation, and things grow with difficulty and yield slowly. Th great inundations of ants spoil almost everything grown, for they eat about one-quarter of all seeds sown. Fruit and flowers are also scarce, only being per- suaded to gladden our eyes and palat now and then by the most exacting care, irrigation and attention. A few banan are raised, chiefly for foliage plants, an’ an orange tree here and there show: tempting yellow fruit, of which one wou! suppose there might be a larger yield. “Transportation? On horseback, and muleback, always. There are no wheeled vehicles of any description, and walking is rough and hard. Riding horseback is the only exercise in which the feminine sex may indulge, an exercise delightful and exhilarating when the roads are not too rough. We spend most of the time out of | doors except during the rainy season. The mails reach us twice a week and we have ample time to read many of the papers perlodicals and much of the newest ven- ap- tures in Literature that make their pearance in the United States. Woes of the Washerwoman. “There is one amusing thing in connection with the wet season that I must tell you about. The river rises with great rapidity at this period of continued rain, often car- rying the clothes spread along the banks away and down the stream. It is a time of trial to the washerwomen, for not only are the garments whisked-away by the swollen, rushing current, but the starving donkey, always present, the ever-hungry burro, puts a comical climax to the washerwo- man’s woes by greedily devouring each gar- ment within his reach spread out to ary. ‘This is a fact,” smiled Mrs. Shepherd, in recollection, “and I can vouch for it.” Mrs. Shepherd is a handsome woman, with a fine figure, dark hair and a com- plexion showing bloom and health. She has observed intelligently and well, and seems to enjoy her novel home and environ- ment in old Mexico. “Washington has wonderfully changed she remarked, “since I saw it fifteen years ago. But it has changed only for the bet- ter; and although I can see scarcely a fa- miliar face, which saddens me, the great improvements of the city, the beauty of its parks, structures and streets, charm and gratify both my husband and myself. When asked as to whether the ex-gover- nor of the District and his family would remain in Washington for any length of time, Mrs. Shepherd stated that they ex-. pected to spend the winter traveiing through the states, returning to Washing- ton after each trip, and remaining here in that way until early spring, when the journey will be retaken to Mexico and Batopilas. “Yes; far away and isolated as it is, it is now my home. My husband's interests are all centered in his mines and work in Batopilas, and we shall probabky not re- turn again to the United States to live.” an Se ee FUR IS THE THING. It in Used on Practically AM Articles of Clothing Except Underwear. Everybody is talking about fur just now. It seems to be trimming everything but underclothing, and one has no sure thing that it will not appear there before the winter is over. Women up in Alaska and those other zemarkable polar climates wear it, and it is not unlikely that it will spread with the other erazes. Just now the mad scramble !s to find cnough places on the gowns to dispose of a few hundred dollars’ werth of fur. A petunia purple cloth bears off a ten-inch band of mink elegantly, and if the owner wears with it an eminence purple velvet bodice with ermine-faced re- vers, and collar of the mink, and a picture Fat of brown braided cloth and brown plumes, she will'do to go anywhere—except to the opera. Big hats are still tabooed there. Speaking of the opera reminds one of epera wraps. They will be more than ever sumptuous. One magnificent one is of cream brocade satin, shot with silver and lined with imitation ermine. The winglike sleeves and down the front have bands of silver passementeri2. By the way, women are doing their best to get silver into cir- culation. You see it everywhere in trim- mings and embroideries, and in ornaments, most cunningly worked in with silk and satin, velvet and even the firmer woolens, It is almost dirt cheap, too. ee OBEYED THE CUSTOMS. One Custom Made a Man’s Fortune, Another Would Hang Him. Two gentlemen in the lobby of the Riggs House were talking about Yankee inge- nuity, and a Star writer overheard the fol- lowing gcod incident illustrative of the subject: “You know Jim Dutton?” said one. “Yes.” “Well, Jim made his money by paying attention to the customs of the country. Near Brownwood, Texas, there are several large pecan farms. Before the farms were established pecans grew wild in great quantities. It is a valiey which used to ve called “Sulphur.” although why I have never been able to learn. The pecans were eaten by hogs, the animals growing very fat. Farmers turned their hogs in and allowed them to run wild. Each owner had a brand registered, and the possessor of a registered brand had the right to kill hogs whenever he needed meat and could find them—a sort of Bellamy socialistic ar- rangement. Dutton was very poor when he went to Texas, but raised enough to pay 75 cents for a shote and get his brand registeréd. He turned the hog into the valley and went gunning for pork. The first year he killed 300 good fat hogs and sold the meat at San Antonio, buying cat- tle with the money. These were turned loose on range and he succeeded in brand- ing six calves to each cow he owned tho first season. By paying diligent attention to the customs of the country he had a good bank account.” “Why didn’t he stay there?” inquired the friend. “There was another custom of the coun- try he overlooked,” was the reply. “When the vigilance committee began to investi- gate the matter of so sirict an adherence to the other custom Jim went home to Maine and opened a summer resort, where enterprise wouldn't get aim into trouble.” UNFORTUNATE GIFT. A Present That Starticd a Sweetheart and Her Household. A civil engineer who boards at a Capi- tol street house has just returned from a surveying trip. Immediately opposite him at the table sits a young lady, with whom tbe man of lines and figures is Mnfatuated. She greeted him as he came in at noon from his trip: “Oh, I am glad to see you. I know it must be horrid to have to sleep in all sorts of places, and such chilly nights, too. Now come right in with me and tell us all about i” ‘The young man, conscious of having had to sleep on the ground the night before, wanted to get to his room unobserved and change his clothing, but it was too late, so he concluded to go immediately to the din- ing room. There the conversaticn was renewed, and the civil engineer having reached the poetic stage of love's young dream expatiated mest eloquently upon the beautles of na- ture, the sense of peace ani rest denied when lying upon the green carpet of earth under the blue canopy of heaven, and other teuchingly pathetic and charming similes. Then he remembered that he had found an exceptionally pretty clump of moss, which he had brought heme for the object of his adoration. “While out in the woods I thought of my friends in the becuse,” he said, “and have In my pocket a sample of nature's beauties, which I hope you will allow me to present to you. Then, with a bow, he drew forth from his pocket the moss, also a small-sized snake that had crept in and curled up in the warm pocket. The reptile darted across the table, the young lady fainted, the other boarders jumped on the chairs, everybody screamed, while the reptile glided around, seeming to play hide and seek among the dishes. Finally cne of the gentlemen pres- cnt killed the snake with the carving knife, and after the landlady had bestowed a withering look upon the young man and told him that she was “in the habit of en- tertaining ladies and gentlemen only,” and that “ro gentleman would play such a joke,” he wes allowed to go, and he will never re- turn. wet, Very Secret. From Harper's Bazar. ‘That man has @ “You make a mistake. secret vice.” “What is it?” “No a question! If I knew, it would rot be wh