Evening Star Newspaper, December 14, 1895, Page 18

18 THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1895—TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. FURS ARE POPULAR Stylish Tulle Gown, and How It is ; Made. GREEN I$ THE RULING COLOR = Some Facts About Winter Gowns and Coats. PRETTY HOUSE DRESS ip ®you EVER see such stacks of furs in your Hfe be- fore? It is the cost- Nest of all trimming, but somehow every- body eoms to get a little of it. A menag- erie wouldn't stand much of a show in \ a community where fur was scarce, for everything from cat skin to seal goes. Here are the names of some of the costliest furs: Fox, silver and blue, lynx, mink, chinchilla, ermine, otter, monkey, beaver, bear, Pers!an lamb and Thibet. Any of them will cost a small fortune made into the seasonable cape, and, oh, but they are swell looking: Lynx ig rather new, and cheaper than any of the others, and its yellow, paling into white, and th long gray-flecked hairs, make a very pretty trimming for a black gown. Thibet is dyed any color you want. A very pretty way of making one of the heavy Scotch friezes is to put two rows of fur at the foot, and edge the revers, col- lar and sleeves with the same. Make a waist of some one of the rich dark plaids, and the puffs of the sleeves of the same. Trim a wide hat with loops of plaid rib- bon and some feathers, wear a chamois undervest, and as you go swinging down the avenue in all the bravery of your new “togs’’ you will challenge admiration and astonishment combined, and -all the wo- men in the city will be wondering how to keep warm. Confidentially, a chamois vest {s really a great comfort, and you can make one yourself. It will save those won- derful sleeves from crushing under heavy capes or jackets. Young girls are to be sensible this sea- son and not hide their budding charms un- der dowager satins and velvets, but will wear soft, pretty silks and clouds of tulle gauze, lisse and chiffon, all in flowing lines. Here is a description of a tulle gown. There are two immensely full skirts of white tulle over an underskirt of white sole de Lyon, and all three are gathered on one band. The tulle skirts are hemmed, witb a vine heading embroidered in white floss, exceed- ingly dainty and effective. The decollete corsage rises in a slight point back and frent, and {3 draped in double tulle in baby fashion, headed by a garlard of forget-me- nots, which form shoulder straps to the bodice. The sleeves are made of many thicknesses of the tulle caught up with flowers and fastened down under a band of blue velvet at the elbow. A garland of forget-me-nots is worn around the throat, end from it depend eight fle chains, which fit over the neck ind are caught to the todice. The girdle is of sky-blue vel- vet, and an algrette of white rising from a cluster of furget-me-nots Is to stand straight up from the topknot of hair. Now Isn't that an {deal gown for a girl who has just donned her first social duties? Here is a Frerch suggestion for theater wear. Have a bonnet, neck ruche, and muff of cerise velvet, mingled with black lace The bonnet might be made something in the Henri IV style, with a ruche of the vel- yet standing out around the crown and a few loops of cerise, satin ribbon and black lace at one side, but don't make them stand up much. The neck ruche is very wide and full, and a quilling of velvet ribbon, with black la the center. The muff Is a creation of lace and certse velvet, and is drawn up at the top under bows of satin ribbon of the same color. These little touches of color worn over a_ plain black gown even will brighten it up won- derfully. Green ts the “go.” Do you want to know the shades you must for nis called “God's own color,” but really He would scarcely know it under the guise of Bevres green, Chinese green, phox reen or amethyst green, which is supposed to be the bird’s egg green, which is almvst blue, or the indescribably lovelv shade which the sea gives in certain lights. If you would be in the swim, you positively must have a bit of green tucked under the brim of your hat or under your chin, or on your gown. It ts quite easy to freshen up a plain gcwn these days, for collarettes, berthas and neck arrangements are made of ribbon, lace, silk, satin and velvet in such profu- sion and liberty as to style that it must be a clumsy fingered woman indeed who can- not look at the fly-away things in the shop windows and fashion one like them. Mohair still retains its popularity as win- ter dress goods. It sheds dust so well, and Noah's flood couldn't hurt it, and so it lingers for utility wear. Oddly enough the rext favorite, or rather the prime one, is the reugh material, such as frieze, boucle and something called tourmaline, which the shop girl said was a Swiss word! Maybe it is. The fabric is rough surfaced and loosely woven, and comes only in black, It Is very thick and looks like boucle bunting. Coats to tailor-made gowns are made shorter, only twenty-one inches to be exact, with a ripple in the skirt, and they must be lined with silk and not satin. Last month, last weck, mayhap, satin was the swagger thing for lining, but today it isn’t. Ermine {s one of the “daylight” furs again. For years it has been applied to evening dresses and wraps. It 1s lovely for night wear, but in the full glare of day— well, have a care, you who have crows’ feet and sallow skins, for ermine will deuble on the truth, and make you look haggard and worn. By the way, a handsome gown fof a wo- man who has crows’ feet and scattering gray hair ts of black velvet. The skirt, slteves and revers are trimmed with bands of blue fox, and the revers are of silver gray satin. The dainty lttle bonnet is of frosted gray velvet with pearl bead orra- ments and silver roses. A charming gown, simple in construction, may be made for a young woman who Is fond of black. satin, Though black satin !s much too old for the young to wear. The skirt 1s plain with a band of black velvet at the foot, and a band on each side of the front breadth. The plain yoke has the lower part of the waist gathered on it in baby fashion with bands of velvet down the sides and outlining the yoke. The elbow sleeves are banded with the velvet, and vel- vet finishes the belt and neck. Very elegant indeed is a house dress fash- joned after the design given. ‘The light brown silk skirt has chiffon of the same shade puffed in two bands down each side. The jacket is of dark brown velvet, full skirted in the back, but cut off on the sides and tied down with canary satin ribbon. The full front is of canary colored chiffon, and a plaiting of the same falls from the elbow sleeves. es EVOLUTION OF THE WALTZ. Comment Created When Thix Form of the Dance Was Introduced. From Notes and Queries. The great popularity of the waltz gave rise to many disputes whether the dance came from “La Sauteuse” or “Volte,” or the German national dance, the “Laend- ler,” whence it made its way to Vienna, and was introduced in the opera “Una Casa Rare.” By end by it found its way to France. Dr. Burney saw it performed in Faris in 1780, and remarked: “How uneasy an English mother would feel to see her daughter so familiar! treated, and still more to note the ol ing manner in which the freedom is re- turned by the females.” Crabb Robinson witnessed one at Frank- fort in 1800, and afterward described it in his diary thus: “The man places the palms of his hands gently against the sides of his partner, not far from the armpits. His partner does the same, and instantly, with as much ve- locity as possible, they turn round, and at the same time gradually slide around the room.”” By the directions given in the “Com- plete Dancing Master,” it was the cus- tom at Almack’s for only one or two quadrilles (and subsequently waltzes) to be danced at the same time, and thus it be- came a matter of exhibition, the whole company standing on benches to view the performance. Raikes, in his journal, declares that “No event ever produced so great a sensation in England as the Introduction of the Ger- man valtz” by Baron Neuman and others in_1S13. How profound was its popularity is proved by the existence of Lord Byron's diatribe: What! The girl I adore by another embraced! and by the fact that it supplied the title of a comic opera by Horn and Arnold, in the same year as the satire. John Oxen- ford also wrote a farce, called “A Waltz by Arditi.” Waltzing has become so common now that we of the nresent day cannot under- stand the commotion which it at first cre- ated. —____+e+____ Street Car Hooks for Bicycles. From the Sctentifie Amerfean. One of the olstacies in the way of cycling in New York city, and in other cities, Is the lack of facilities for the transportation of wheels on the street cars. Hundreds -of wheelers, anxious to take a morning or afterncon spin, are deterred on account of the long end dangerous trip required over the stone pavements and car tracks before the open country roads can be reached. The street car people inake no provision for the cyclers, and will not permit their wheels to be carried on the platforms. They do things differently at Butte, Mont. There the street cars are provided with exterior heoks, on which cyclers may hang their wheels The plan fs a great success, and is an eccommodation greatly appreciated by all lovers of the wheel. It might be adopted very easily by all street car com- panies, and would add considerably to their revenue: In Brooklyn, N on Sundays and holi- days the elevat i ys have be- ccme so far liberalized that they admit wheelers and their wheels to the smoking cers, a charge of two extra fares being made for the wheel. Hundreds of cyclers avail themselves of the privilege. ———_ - e+ A Soft Answer. From Punch, just look here! I can write my ue in the dust on the top of this table!”’ r, muri, So you can! Now I never had no edgercation myself! RIGHTS OF WOMEN As They Exist or Do Not Exist in This District, ABOUT HER CHILDREN AND PROPERTY Views of Local Educators on the Subject of Coeducation. IN THE PRESS GALLERY ——_+__—_ HERE IS A NO- tion prevalent that women in the Dis- trict of Columbia have fewer rights than anywhere else in the Union. I have never heard — any- thing different since I have been. in Washington. To be sure, there is the oc- casional woman who has rights, but she always has given me to unders:and that she is the only one of her kind existing under a general rule of oppress'on of the sex, and has made me quite Jespair of ever attaining similar rights myself—in case I should want them. As a matter of fact, I don’t want them. In my opinion, ‘a well-made gown, a be- coming hat and the determination to win are more powerful than the law, higher education or the right to vote in accom- plishing a woman's success in life. Others think differently, however. When I am fat and forty I may think differently my- self. Accordingly, to be sure of my fu- ture in Washington, let time'do its worst. I set out the past week to learn just what are the restrictions of woman's rights in the District of Columbia. I have found— tell it not to Susan B. Anthony—that here, the geat of the capital of a nation univer- sally advertised as being glorious and free above all others, the emancipation of wo- man has only just begun. In the first place, I was curious to know the facts about the law which has been made the subject of much discussion, and a senatorial investigation has been pro- posed in consequence of the remarkable case recently in court which raised the question whether a man has the right to dispose of his children, with utter disre- gard for any supposed right of his wife in them. What the Law Sa These facts, as given to me by Judge Jere Wilson, are: There is a statute in black and white on the pages of the com- Piled laws of the District of Columbia so empowering a man, and this statute will continue in force until repealed by Con- gress, though Judge Hagner should over rule its authority in the particular case now before the court. This statute gives a father ihe right not only to dispose of his children by will, but also during his life- time by a deed conveying his right in them to others, and te may further so far deny a woma right In her child as to will away fiom the mother a child unborn at the time of his decease. This curious old statute was Incorporated into the laws of England under Charles I, in 1660, and, by Lord Baltimore, was en- forced in Maryland in good old colony times. The state of -Maryland preserved the body of laws under which the affairs of the colony were administered, and such of them as had not been repealed formed a part of the law of Maryland inherited by the District of Columbia at Its birth. Wills have repeatedly been made under {ts pro- visions, and not disputed until in the in- stance at present before the courts. Some years ago a contest arose over a will in which a man thus disposed of his children. ‘the contest, however, did not refer to this feature of the will, and only served to show the application of the law in this particular. It was argued in the Slack case that the statute Is so incompatih with the present state of civilization as to be analogous to the blue laws of Massa- husetts. It certainly accords with con- ons long since passed away, as the text in its extraordinary detail shows: Quaint Language of the Law. “That when any person hath, or shall have any child or children under the age of seven months and twenty years, and not married at the time of his death, that it shall and may be iawful to, and for the father of such child or chiliren, whether born at the time of the decease of the father or at the time in ventre sa mere, or whether such father be within the age of one and twenty years, or of full age, by his deed executed In his . or by last will and testament in writing, in the presence of two or more credible witnesses in such manner, and from time to time, as ne shall respectively think fit to dispose cf the custody and tuition of such child or children for and during such time as they shall respectively remain under the age of one and twenty years, or any lesser time, to any person or persons, the possession or remainder, other than Popish rescu sants; (2) and that such disposition of the custody of such child or children made since the 24th of February, 1645, or here- after to be made, shall be good and effec- tual against all and every person or per- sons claiming the custody or tuition of such child or children as guardian in socl- age or otherwise; (3) and that such person or persons to whom the custody of such child or children hath been or shall be so disposed or devised, shall, and may’ main- tain an action of ravishment of word or trespass against any person or persons which shal! wrongfully take away or de- tain such child or children, for the recov ery of such child or children; (4) and shall and may recover damages for the same id action, for the use and benefit of such child or children. Rights Under a Will. “Sec. 2. That such person or persons to whom the custody of such child or chil- dren hath been or shall be disposed or devised, shall and may take into his or their custody to the use of such child or children the profits of all lands, tene- ments end hereditaments of such child or shildren, and also the custody and man- agement of the goods, chattels and per- sonal estate of such child or children till their respective age of one and twenty years or any lesser time, according to ch disposition aforesaid; (@) and may bring such action or actions in relation thereunto as by law a guardian in com- mon soclage might do.” In property rights married women of the District. are scarcely better off than in rights in their children. An act establish- ing these rights in 1869 assures a woman cne point only. “The right of any mar- ried woman to any property, personal or real, belonging to her at the time of mar- riage or acquired during marriage in any other way than by gift in conveyance from her husband shall be as absolute as if she were unmarried, and shall not be subiect lof her husband nor liable to his deb’ Under the provisions of this act, you see, a weman can't take any real comfort in any Christmas present her husband may make her, for the law will sustain him in taking it away from her any time the whim seizes him. But this is the least of her property troubles, The worst is this: A man may desert his wife, go where he pleases, do what he pleases, for any length of time he pleases, and should his wife en- gage in business in the meantime he may re- turn when he pleases, and under the com- mon law, which entitles a man to his wife's services, he may appropriate her entire al. I want to tell wives, furthermore, to be reful how they sign mortgages. In the District a woman has no dower in an equity Should she, say, sign a mortgage of $1,000 on a piece of property valued at $100,000, m event of the death of her husband, she has no right in the remaining $9,000, ‘There is a provision In the Edmunds act rectifying this wrorg, but it has not yet becn deter- mined by the courts that it applies in the District. Her Right to Support. ‘The right of a woman to support from he husband has but lately been established and Is now not generally understood to op- erate here. In 1893 the Court of Appeals ded that a woman may collect alimony of her husband when circumstances of his faithlessness may not entitle her to a di- vorce. She may-uittmately even enjoy the satisfaction immediately obtainable by a neglected wife elsewhere of seeing her re- calcitrant Spouse under arrest. Should a man still decline to support his wife after being s9 ordered’ by the court, he is then subject to arrest for contempt. Belva Lockwood suggested to me still another measute of relief for a wife whose husband fails in hig financial duty toward her. She may run him in debt, and unless he anticipates this by giving notice he is liable for any sum compatible with her station. This pleasés me. It is full of glorious possibilities-in realizing a woman's rights in minor details, of which I had al- ways supposed the law was too unsympa- thetic in any -way to take cognizance. For instance, {f a sealskin coat 1s in accord with your position in society, why not un- der the beneficent provisions of the law go get trusted for one, and let your miser- ly husband howl if he wants? Ah, to be sure, there is a difficulty—to find the man who will trust you. The rights of a married woman are so few and secure in the District as naturally to increase the value of those compensa- tions for the lack of wedded bliss which higher education and the professions offer women. Here, again, a woman has small hope in Washington. All the universities present a solid front of opposition to the Sex, except Howard, where, in all the de- partments, women are admitted on an equal footing with colored men, who, it would seem, have preserved from their past slavery, a fellow feeling which makes them wondrous kind to woman. About Coeducation. Columbian University, to be sure, admits wemen to its school of arts and letters and the scientific school. This, however, con- stf{tutes no more than an exception that preves the general rule which Columbian in her law, medical and dental schools maintains. President Whitman assures me that as & matter of principle he is in favor of co- education in all the departments. “I am a corvert td coeducation,” sald he. “I must corfess that when I was an undergraduate at Brown's, had women been admitted I would have left the school. But the ten- dency of the times Is so manifestly in the direction of equal rights of women in the_ privileges of education that I have been obliged to broaden my views. Whether or not, as an ofiicer of Columbian, I would vote to open the university entire to women® I cannot say. Circumstances might render it inexpedient. I am told by some of the professors oldest in the experi- ence of institutions where coeducation Is established that the administration of schools open to both sexes is exceedingly difficult. This is no argument against the justice of the principle involved, though it might operate in the practical application of it. Still, I hope to see the door of every school of Columbian thrown open to women.” Dr. Schute, dean of the medical school of Columbian, told me that the banishment of women from this school, which for a number of years did admit both sexes, was due to no prejudice against women stu- dents animating the faculty. When I presced him for the harrowing details of this banishment I learned what I have never known to be different under the same circumstances, that women failed to receive thelr rights simply because they failed to deserve them. Not that Dr. Schute put it that way. He said only that women raised so many objections to the natural conduct of students in the dissect- ing room; that they were so persistent in their demand that the men should not be allowed to smoke—to provide a separate dissecting room for them seemed to be the only way out of, tkeir difficulties, and this the university was not able to do. Women in Law Schools. Then the straw that broke the camel's back was lald on, when the women began quarreling among; themselves, concerning whether some ®f their numbers were or were not nice enough to study.medicine. Of course, a school {s ‘not equipped to adminis- ter justice in a tea fight, and to preserve the reputation of the school, and incidentally to preserve the reason of the faculty, it was decided that the .women must go. Dr. Schulte, however, was So heroie as to say he looks forward to the time when they will return, and, confidentially, T will tell you that I know what Columbian University would like to find in her stocking Christmas merning—$100,000 to equip the medical ool for women. n the great belt of northern and eastern law colleges,” sald Dr, Whitman, “T do not recall one that admits women as students. Why this is so I cannot say, hut it fs a fact of fhe matter that would doubtless have expression in attempting to enter women in the law school of Columbian.” In tha absence of Father Richards, T saw the vice president of Georgetown Univer- sity, who said that Georgetown cannot con- sider the admission of women to the medical school. ‘There is not a sufficient number of applications to rrant providing an annex for them,” said he, “and under no circumstances would we entertain the idea of admitting t m to the same school with male students. I see no objection possible to be raised to their entering the law school, though, ro far as I know, there has never been an application to do so.” Opinions From the Law Schools. * I saw the dean of the law school, Judge Jere Wilson, who told me that the matter of admitting women has never been brought before the faculty. “I think there would be no objection raised to the matter,” said the dean, “though, of course, I can speak posi- tively only for myself. Personally, I am in favor of extending to women the most Kberal provisions for education in any line choose to follow." ecretary of the National Law School, Mr, Carusi, told me that while women are not now admitted to the National, the doors will doubtless be opened next year. “The pressure brought to bear upon us is so strong,” said Mr. Carusi, “we cannot hope to contiaue to stand out against it. All the schools will be obliged, sooner or later, to admit women, and I would be glad to see the National lead off in the movement.” This seemed to indicate that a woman's rights in Washingten are looking up until I learned from Dr. Garrigan, vice rector of the Catholic University, that this insti- tution, which has been ‘supposed to be about to admit women, has virtually de- cid: 1 not to do so. “Yhe faculty is entirely in sympathy with the movement to admit women,” said Dr. Garrigan, “but it was not contem- plated in the original provisions of the uni- versity, and to do so now would involve changes of a practical nature which are inexpedient at present. Moreover, it is a matter over which the directors of the university have no authority, and as the question was not discussed during the last meeting, which occurred at the time of the eucharistic congress, and there will not be another meeting until late in the spring, a favorable decision, if made, could not be acted upon before next year. As the holy father is really the founder of the univer- sity, he would also have to be consulted in the matter.” One View of Woman's Sphere. “Might this call forth a papal bull on the woman question?” I asked. “Oh, no; the correspondence would be personal and strictly relative to the econ- omy of the university, The position of the church is fixed on the woman question. It regards woman's funétion in the home ss her supreme right. Ail her powers are, or should be, tributary: 'to this, and all her other rights incidental in character and aim.” i To have “das ‘ewige weibliche,”” the aye- womanly, thus simply and clearly defined to my view, you possibly can fancy the scramble I had to readjust my perception of the truth, gojng as I did directly from Dr. Garrigan to Belva| Lockwood, that most radical exponent of the cause which seeks the development of woman, not in relation to the home, but to the world. I sought Mrs. Lockwood to know what are the obstacles a woman, having obtained her education, encounters in the practice profession in Washington, ‘the day is pas’ said Mrs. Lockwood, vhen she has to battle with anything more positively defined and powerful than prejudice. “She has her rights nominally and vir- tually, and yet in a thousand one ways that elude a declaration of them she ts hampered by prejudice against her sex in all she undertakes.” I asked a man lawyer why this fs so, and with the logic a man usually employs in arguing with a woman, he flatly denied that it is so. “I have seen a woman lawyer,” said he, “when the court ruled against her, He back in her chair and cry about it, and be- cause the judge did not therefore recon- sider his opinion out of regard for her gen- tle sex, I daresay that woman lawyer went home and told enterprising lady reporters that the sex is downtrodden in Washing- ton.” In the Press Galleries. In the experience of enterprising lady re- porters themseives, prejudice would seem to operate against the sex in the press gal- lerles of the Capitol. In. the Senate gallery the mere sight of Petticoats is accepted as profanation of the sacred rights of male correspondents. I have even been shooed out of the vestibule of the gallery, the very rustle of my skirts, that did actually embody nothing but wife- ly obedience to a thoughtless husband who had ordered me to wait there, seeming to menace the traditional exclusive right ot men to cross the threshold. In the House Press gallery the rights of woman are rec- ognized, but the possible contaminating in- fluence of the sex is provided against, and a wire fence so high the most ambitious woman couldn't possibly climb over tt sepa- rates the two pews set aside for woman correspondents from the seats occupied by the men. I never sit thus caged off myself that I don’t look for peanuts to be passed through the wires and to hear kind, pat- ronizing male voices exclaiming: “Pretty Poll;” or “Nice Jumbo.” ‘This seeming discrimination against the sex, I am told by Mr. E. G. Dunnell, chair- man of the committee of correspondents in control of the press gallery, is wholly ap- Parent, and ts directly due to the action of the gentle ones themselves,who have never permitted the powers that be to do any- thing in settling the woman question in the gallery beyond considering who is and is not nice enough and renowned enough to be entitled to a seat In the woman’s pew. I have it on the sacred word of honor of one of the former chairmen of the press committee that he has been obliged to argue this question with women until on the high tide of their emotions they have cernted away and been carried out in- wnsible. Women at Luncheon. There is just one point about woman's rights on which I am sensitive, and that is a woman's right to eat. “By their lunches ye shall know them,” is a test I have never known to fail in estimating the character of women. Thus, when I find the restaurants of Washington discrimi- nating against the sex in the matter of lunches, I feel that here is a vital wrong demanding public attention and spe2dy righting. In any of the down-town res- taurants that provide lunches for business men I am obliged to pay a penalty of 30 per cent for being a business woman, there being a difference to that extent be- tween® prices charged men downstairs at the bar and the prices exacted of women upstairs in the restaurant proper. Now, don’t tell me that I can lunch on equal rights at some nice dairy lunch counter. One cannot live by equal rights alone. In- deed, one Hves so much more by beef- steak, bread and cheese, that if somebody will assure my right to the latter at the usual price to men, no further word about the restricted rights of women in the Dis- trict of Columbia will ever proceed from the pen of PAULINE PRY. ———__ DUMAS’ LAST DAYS. What His Friends Thought of Him— His Feeling ‘Toward English. Paris Letter to the London Telegraph Alexandre Dumas fils in private life was as Ciffeggnt as possible from what he seem- ed to be in public. The first impression of a stranger on being introduced to him is not altogether favorable. He appeared to be haughty and reserved in manner; he had a habit of looking hard at his inter- Iccutor with his piercing eyes, and his re- plies, even to compliments, were of the briefest and most abrupt. He seemed to have assumed a habitual attitude of mis- trust, such as we see in certain wealthy financiers, who behave as if they thought that everybody they speak to wanted to get something out of them. Similarly Du- mas’ reticence gave a stranger the impres- sion that he set a watch over his tongue as strict as a financier sets over his purse. All this coldness of manner melted clean away under the influence of intimacy, and gave place to an infinite charm. In at- tempting to describe the effect he produced on strangers I am trying, indeed, with some difficulty, to recall my own primitive impressions. I must confess that I was at first rather prejudiced against him, partly because I thought that his earlier writings were calculated to do harm and partly on account of his apparent dislike to every- thing English. At the time I failed to realize the full extent of the bitterrfess of feeling that the events of 1870 had evoked in the breast of patriotic Frenchmen. They cculd not forgive the fortune of war, which had gone against them, and in their isola- tion they looked on all foreigners with sus- picion. Alexandre Dumas fils had, moreover, a personal reason fcr disliking the English, for, wnile denouncing his works, they did not scruple to take them, without acknowl- edging, either financially or otherwise, their indebtedness to him. It is true that ul availed themselves of their legal rights, but in the eyes of the person robbed this is small consolation. It is impossible, indeed, for an Englishman who has not lived in France to realize the amount of ill-feeling that has been caused by our formerly unjust copyright laws. I allude to it now in order to explajn, if not to justify, the mistrust felt by many French literary men.- Alexandre Dumas had stories galore to tell-of the way in which he had been defrauded of his rights. But when he trusted a friend his_conti- dence was absolute and complete. He was delighted to unbend where he felt that he wes at home, and when surrounded by his intimates he indulged in fun with the ar- dor of a boy. I do not speak of his manner to his children, for he was their slave, but to the bonhomie he exhibited as soon as he found himself among congenial spirits. If he came to a large partf where he knew no one he would remain silent during half the meal, listening intently to all that was said, fixing every speaker with his brilliant eyes, ond it was only when he had taken the measure of every one present that he would let himself go. But he much pre- ferred dining en petit comite. ————_+e+ DISMANTLED WHITE CITY. Fate of the Beautiful Statuary at the World's Fair. From the Chicago Chronicl.. The court of honor does not look so grand now as it did when it was surrounded with the white palaces or when illuminated at night with thousands of incandescent lamps or tinted® with ali the colors of the rain- bow from the electric fountains. The buildirgs are gone. The beautiful peri- style, with its statues standing out against the eastern sky, is gone. MacMonies’ grand work of art is gone. All is gone save a lone Neptune and a shivering horse or two, and, rising majestically above the ruins, unharmed by the fire or winter, the statue of the republic. The monumental figure is in white now instead of gold, but with only the sky for a background it shows its proportions and lines to better effect now than before. Other statues have not fared so well. Most of them were destroyed in the various fires which laid waste the entire central portion of the grounds, from the terminal station to the lake. If Columbus should come to Chicago and take a train out to Jackson Park in*order to get away from his specter on the lake front he could stroll all around the court of honor, where in former days he was so populous, and only find one of himself. The only’ Columbus standing is the one in front of the ma- chinery building, and Inasmuch as this is headless, it is doubtful if the real Colum- bus would recognize it. If he did he would beg to be given a Christian burial or at least to be taken to the convent of La Rabida, in the bare rooms of w h he might find a more congenial atm The Evolution of a Mathematician. —The Sketch. CHRISTMAS MAILS Valuable Advice to Those Intending to Send Gifts Away, A TALK WITH POSTMASTER WILLETT How to Insure the Safe and Prompt Delivery of Packages. PREPARING FOR THE RUSH The city post office ‘authorities are mak- ing preparations to handle the immense in- crease in the mail which always occurs just previous to and around Christmas, and from now until the last gift is sent and received through the medium of the government mail bags about the busiest people in Washington will be Postmaster Willett and his energetic assistants. With a ilttle care and foresight, the people who patronize the post office and take advantage of its facilities can assist the men who have this important branch of government work in hand in a very substantial manner, and at the same time save themselves and their friends a gfeat deal of annoyance and vex- ation. First ard foremost the persons who {tend sending holiday remembrances to friends at a distance should attend to this pleasant portion of their Christmas duties before any others. This system, if gener- ally followed, would insure the delivery of such articles, if sent by mail, to those they are intended for in time to add to their enjoyment of the greatest day in the year when the day arrives. It is the ex- perience of almost every one to have re- ceived gifts from far-away friends two or three days after Christmas has come and gone, and while their receipt is, of course, gratifying, it is not as much so as it would have been if the remembrances had reached them in time to be enjoyed with the others. In almost every instance where such delays occur the post office people are blamed for it, but if the critics could only get a glimpse of the enormous amount of mail that is piled into the various post offices of the ccuntry a day or two before Christmas, they would wonder how the greater :ass of it was ever going to be transported at all. Postmaster Willett’s Directions. “We are in splendid shape for handling the holiday mails,” said Postmaster Willett today, “‘and there will be no delay in +the prompt collection, transportation and de- livery of them if the public will only deposit their packages and bundles by degrees, so to speak, and not wait until Christmas eve to deiuge the mails with them. “I would like to impress upon The Star readers who contemplate sending gifts out of town the wisdom of following a few easily understood directions: In the first Piace, packages intended for the mails stould be carefully wrapped in strong pa- per and legibly addressed to the persons to whom they are sent. The name and ad- dress of the sender should also be plainly written at the upper left-hand corner of such packages in order that they may not be sent to the dead letter office in case the pestage upon them Is not fully prepaid. By this course the sender can be informed of the amount due, and the delivery of the package assured by the addition of the Postage necessary. “It should also be borne in min; tinued Mr. Willett, “that the postage on packages of merchandise which are unsealed is one cent per ounce, while on sealed pack- ages the full letter postage of two cents per ounce is necessary, and must be paid. A package tied with string or fastened with paper fasteners is unsealed, and when securely fastened in this way is just as sefe for transportation and delivery as if it were sealed with wax.” Well Worth Remembering. “Merchandise is liable to be returned to the sender if it is misdirected or illegibly addressed; if it bears insufficient postage; if the package contains unmailable matter, or if it contains writing and is unsealed. It is well to also bear in mind that only bona fide samples of merchandise can be sent to foreign countries unsealed; all seal- ed packages must be fully prepaid at letter ratcs, and if they are supposed to-contain merchandise they will be stamped ‘liable to customs du* “I hope,” repeated Mr. Willett, “that these who expect to send Christmas gifts to out-of-town friends, and especially to these who reside in the distant states and territories, will mail them early, if they purpose using the mails, and will not wait until a day or two before Christmas for this purpose.” Directions From the Department. In connection with Postmaster Willett’s advice the notice issued in October by First Assistant Postmaster General Jones is Interesting not only for the present time, but the future as well. Be sure you have sufficient postage on packages. Inquire at post office if in doubt and avoid delay of packages in post office or in dead letter office at Washington. Packages sealed require letter rate. Pack- ages unsealed, with writing on inside in the nature of correspondence, require letter rate. Certain articles of merchandise, sealed or ursealed, to foreign countries are stopped in the dead letter office unless fully pre- paid at foreign letter rate. Many articles of merchandise are abso- lutely prohibited transmission in the mails; therefore inquire before mailing. Parcels to Canada or Mexico must never be closed against inspection. Inquire always if in doubt, money and prevent delay. Extra Wagon Collections. Beginning with December 19 there will be an extra force employed at the mailing de- partment of the city post office, and extra ¥-ugon collections will be made from the various substations of importance. At the min office on G street in the corridors there will be employes stationed to weigh packages and bundles, and tell the senders the exact amount of postage required on each, and to give any other information de- sired to assure the safe and speedy delivery of the mails. In this way a person can purchase stamps without any delay at the window. The extra wagon collections will be made from the following substations beginning December 19 and ending Christmas morn- ing at 10 o'clock: Station No. 1—14th and P streets north- west. Station No. 4—Connecticut avenue and L street northwest. Station No. 5—ith and T streets north- and save No. 7—85 H street northwest. No. 8—751 8th street southeast. No. 11—14th and Stoughton north- west. Station No, 12—0th and H streets north- east. Station No. 13—7th and Q streets north- west. Station No. 18—12th street and Pennsyl- vania avenue northwest. Station No. 22—The Cairo, Q between 16th and 1th streets northwest. Station No. 27—14th and T streets north- west. Station No. 28—ith street and Pennsyl- vanla avenue southeust. Station No. 29—-0th and F streets north- west. : Station No. 24—2h Pennsylvania avenue. Station No. 380—lith and Pennsylvania avenue. Collections from these stations will be made, beginning at the first station, at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. In Love With Fragments. From the Cleveland Lead +r. The elopement of the “one-armed and one-legged champion bicycle rider of the world” with a well-known and popular young lady of good social standing in a nice Ohio town is a reminder that in some respects the new woman is very unlike the old man Imagine a man who had a good home, popularity in society, and generally com- fortable surroundings, eloping with a one- armed and one-legged champion “lady rider” of bicycl Who ever yet, in ail the tangled history of clopements, knew of a case where the bride lacked two limbs?) When and where did man ever show such capacity for devotion to frag- mentary objects of affection as women, new as well as old, advanced as well as old-fashioned, seem to possess? GRAY OR BLEACHED HAIR is only safely restored to color by using TAR IMPERIAL HAIR REGENERATOR, Your physician will tell you—as court ‘TradeMark. teste have shown—that the Regenerator contains no lead, caustic, soda or copper—rank pol- ‘sons, as most preparations do. Remember the trade. mark and don't be laiposed upon. Sold by all drug- gists and hairdressers. Price, $1.50 and $3.00. No. 1—Black. 4—Chestuut. ‘Xo. 2—Dark Brown. 5—Light Chestnut, No. 3—Medium Brown. 6—Gold Blonde. No. 7—Drab or Blonde Cendree. Sole Manufacturers and Patentees, CHEMICAL MPG. GO., 292 5th A) In Washington: SOLD BY W. P. MERTZ, AND 11TH STS. APPLIED BY 6G. WAGNER, 1826 11TH ‘ST. Ye World’s Fair! HIGHEST AWARD. HIPERTAL, ANUM, The STANDARD and BEST prepared FOOD Prescribed by physicians, Relied 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! myi8-s John Carle & Sons, New York. = FEMALE MURDERERS. Desperate Characters Whose Appears ance Belies Their Acts. From the Cornhill Magazine. The women in the Neuderf Convent prison were all so kindly in their ways, so! peaceful and good-humored, they differed) so completely from our preconceived ideas! of criminals, that we were puzzled to im- aginc what could have brought them into prison. We had never a doubt but that their offenses were of the most trivial na-. ture, and we sald so. The superior gav us one of her odd, humorous smiles. “Did you notice that woman in the cor-, ridor?” she asked. “She is Marie Schnel- der.” That insigrificant-looking little woman,| who had stood aside with a gentle depre-j cative smile to allow us to pass, Marie! Schneider! Why. in any other place one would have set her down at once as the hard-working wife of a struxgling curate, so thoroughly respe-table did she look. And she is Marie Schreider, a European celeb- rity with more murders on her conscience than she has flugers ou her hands! “And you Ist her stay here?” “We have nowhere else to put her,” the inspector, who had joined us, replied, “and we don’t hang women in Austria.” Nor is she, as we soon found, the only no- toriety in the place. One of the prisoners, is a delicate-looking girl, with large brown eyes and golden hair—a type of beauty al- most peculiar to Austrians. She has a low, cooing voice, and a singularly sweet, inno= cent expression. “What on earth can that girl have done to be sent here?” I whispered. “Done,” the inspector replied, grimly’ “set a house on fire in the hope of killing a man with his wife and five children.” The girl must have had extraordinarily sharp ears, for, although we were standing at some distance away, she heard what he said, and she gave him a glance such as I hope never to see again in my life. It was absolutely diabolic; had there been a knife within reach the man would have died on the spot. Yet only a moment before she had been looking up into my face with a smile an angel might have envied. Several of the prisoners are in the con- vent for killing their own children; soure for killing, or trying to kill, their husbands; others for stealing or embezzling: others, again, for no more serious crime than beg- ging. There are all degrees of guilt there, in fact, and all ages, from girls of sixteen to women of nearly eighty. And they all live together on terms of perfect equality; for there are no distinctions of rank there—no one is better or worse than her neighbor. When the convent door closes behind them they have done, for the time being, not only with the outside world, but with their own past. They start life afresh, as it were. SS ee HE WAS A “JINER.” Peculiar Ground Advanced to Secure a Divorce. From the Springfield Republican. “Anon” sends the following story to the Republican accompanied by a sworn state-| ment to the effect that it is a true narra- tive. The characters are, of course, un- known to us, and the moral ditto, the story being presented for the light it throws upon a queer phase of modern life that is not unknown in this city. We proceed with the manuscript of “Ano. She was about forty-five years old, well dressed, had black hair, rather thin and tinged with gray, and eyes In which gleam- ed the fires of a determination not easily balked. She walked into the office of @ well-known law firm in Court Square The- ater building and requested a private audi- ence with Mr. C. Having obtained it and eatisfied herself that the law students were not listening at the keyhole, she said slow- ly, solemnly and impressively: “] want a divorce!” “What for? I sppposed you had one of the best of husbands,” said Mr. C. “I s'pose that’s what everybody thinks, but if they knew what I have suffered for many years, they'd Wonder I hadn't scaid- ed him long ago. 1 ought to, but for the sake of the young ones I've borne it and said nothing. I've told him, though, what he might depend on, and now the time's come. I won't stand it, young ones or no young ones. I'll have a divorce, and if the‘ neighbors want to blab themselves hoarse about it they can, for I won't stand it an- other day.” “But what's the matter? Doesn't your husband provide for you? Doesn't he treat you kindly?” pursued Mr. C. “We got victuals enough, and I don’t know but he's as true and kind as men in general, and he’s never knocked any of us down. I wish he had; then I'd get him into jail and know where he was nights,” re- torted the woman, “Then what is your complaint against him?” “Well, if you must know, he’s one of them plaguey J'iners.” “A what?” “A yiner—one of them pesky fools that’s always j'ining something. There can't! nothing come along that's dark and sly and hidden but he j'ines it. If anybody should get up a society to burn my house down, he'd j'ine it just as soon as he could get in; and if he had to pay for it, he'd go all the swddener.”” { = Serap Rook Pictures, ‘Toy cr Plueg taper tinsel, | FOUND ‘otton Animals, “Snow.” Embossed pe Tissue, Paper Napkins,at GOULD'S cit STORE, 421° 9TH ST, Gold Paint, Candy, ‘Cornucopias, Jap Dolls, Monkeys, Santa . Rope ‘Tinsel, Toys, Sea Shells, &c.