Evening Star Newspaper, February 29, 1896, Page 21

eee - DETACHED SERVICE Amid the Snowy Canons of the Uintah Mountains. CHILLY WEATHER IN THE HILIS What Happened to Some of the Party. CHATS BY THE CAMP FIRE {f Correspondence of The Evening Star. FORT DUCHESNE, Utah. APT. DAY AND feut. Cavenaugh, not having a suffi- ‘ clent acquaintance with the country sur- rounding the post, will proceed to White Rocks Canon, and with their camp thereat as a bas: study that region.” There are times when detached serv- ice is a pleasure, but no one in search would imagine it could be of found in the morth ef January, and in the a holday ntah mountains. Yet it was. And when Col. Rardiett, commandng Fort Du- Chesne, said there could be no possible ob- fection to Capt. Day's guest being of the Farty, the work of preparation proceeded all the mere rapidly. In spite of the fact that fientier garrisons are always ready to move there were many little things to look after; some of them sure to be for- Ridden im active field service of a more serious sort. But everything was ready at @ reascrably early hour the next morn- ing, and as soon as the word was given the six-line wagon, laden with forage, and the four-line escort wagon, full of provis- fons and bedding, pulled out of DuChesne and headed for the Uintah Indian agency, en route for White Rocks Canon. The morning was well advanced, though, when Capt. Day, Lieut. Cavenaugh and myself swung into our respective saddles and trotted after the wagons. It is question- able whether there could be found in all ; Utah more attractiva scenery than that which is spread before the gaze of those Who traverse the valley of the Uintah. A broad and fertile valley is bounded, or [appears to be, by a circle of mountain peaks, so grandiy impressive as to leave [mothing to ke desired even by the most critical observer of nature. From the jtrembling, turbulent river, which, in }Places, bad anticipated the work of spring {by bursting through its {cy cover, the tascent was gradual to the foothills on both . ills cal in- clination was perpendicular. =verywhere there was snow; several inch- es in the lower parts of the valley, where ;Sagebrush was conspicuously in evidence, ‘a foot or so in the higher places, and from i two to six feet deep in some of the “draws” and on top of the everlasting hills toward which the little expedition was moving. At the agency the guide was taken aboard, as it were; Johnny Reed, more white than Iadian; mounted feared neither sn ‘and that never onc y little horse that mud or water, at the forage wagon. From the 2 to the camping Place, just inside the mouth of White Rocks Canon it was truly work, and when the advance guard arrived at spring everybody was tired and cold. A Chilly Evening. Precisely how many degrees below zero , the thermometer indicated is unknown, for there wasn’t any thermcmeter there, but Bocd guessers were of the opinion that fif- {teen below was a conservative estimate; |the teamsters, the cook and the other en- listed men who were with the wagons talk- ,@d vaguely about twenty or twenty-five below as they thawed their feet out at the jToaring fire kindled by the advance guard, “Which was composed mainly of the officers. But the discomforis were soon forgotten, supplanted by the work that had to be done. Horses and mules were fed, snow shoveled from around the fire and from the site of the conical wall tent, which was to afford shelter to the detachment; two tents were on the program, but the hard, frozen earth damaged so many of the fron tent ins that only one of the canvases could put up. Simultaneous with the com- pleted pitching of the tent and the fitting and filling of its stove came supper. In the course of several enlistments Private Isaiah Johnson has cooked many meals—many g00d meals—but he never prepared one that was relished half so much as was the b lated supper that first night in camp at White Hocks. And then how comfortable everything was in the tent when Cornoral Barnes, who 1s a loyal Washingtonian throughout, and Private Jackson Lewis, the who is good enough to be a Washingtonian, had unrolled the bedding and had so ar- ranged three candles that the drippings fc THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 189(-TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. therefrom fell upon the red-hot stove with an incense-like effect that was charming, when you became thoroughly accustomed to it. And how marked was the increase in gayety of nations when one member of the party (unnamed because of his rank), who objected to the odor of twice-burned candle grease, so readjusted the candles that the drip from the leakiest of the three fell, unobserved for a time, into one of his overshoes, located near the stove that it might dry. 2 Campfire Stories. Lieut. Cavenaugh started the story-tell- ing ball a-rolling by mentioning the pet kitten of Fort Robinson, which at the time of its adoption was christened “Ben,” in honor of Ben. Paddock, then post trader. After it had become a feature of the gar- rison it proved to be not that kind of a so its name was changed to ‘Ben which made everything harmonize. That brought forth a reminiscence of an army officer, now dead, who rose from the ranks to shoulder straps. A likely-appear- ing young man, sturdy and evidently ac- customed to manual labor, his captain con- cluded that the recruit was precisely the person needed to assist in the maintenance of cleanliness and comfort in his—the cap- tain’s household; good material for a “striker,” or in plain terms, a servant. “You report to Mr. at the house tomorrow,” said the captain to the “rukie,” and at the appointed hour the rukie re- ported, with no testimony on his visage that he entertained ideas In any way at variance with those of his troop com- mander. “Now you shall help me in my garden,” said the captain’s wife, when the soldier had announced himself. “What do you know about gardening? Nothing, mum.” “Well, you can learn; it’s very easy. You can start out by pulling all the weeds out of that big flower bed; the pride of the Pest that bed was. “Which are the weeds, mum?” was the meek inquiry; and when the differences bad been explained to him he was per- Mitted to proceed without supervision. An hour later the new “striker” tramped up to the door of the captain's quarters and reported to the captain’s wife that his task had been completed. The lady was delighted. “You are most industrious,” she exclaimed; “I shall have to speak pleasantly of you to the captain, for I did not expect you to get through until noon.” Then she skipped out to the bed and dis- covered that every flower had been ruth- lessly torn up by the roots, while every weed was untouched. She screamed and scbbed, and otherwise behaved herself like one in deep distress. She threatened the Poor recruit with every terror known to military law, and abused him volubly. To all of which he imperturbably responded: “Did I make a mistake, mum?” while the sufferer's tears broke forth anew. His unfitness as a striker having been de- veloped the recruit did duty with his troop at:d after awhile achieved a commission. Col. Randlett’s Watermelon. “Once in a year or two,” suggested one of the crowd, “the ignorance is by no means assumed. Col. Randlett could tell you about a cook who was in his service; one of the most verdant specimens of the Irish race ever transported to American soil. The incident occurred at a south- vestern post, where the colonel was in command. Some one had sent in a fine watermelon, ripe, and almost as rare in that region as the proverbial hen's teeth The paymaster was at hand, so the wat melon was saved as an especial treat. gaged in preparing the feast, the Milesian chef asked a sergeant, who chanced to be passing, how watermelon was served, and he, being a good deal of a wag, said that sometimes they were boiled, but generally they were put on the table in a raw condi- t ‘I'm quite sure the captain (the C. 0. was a captain then) likes them raw,’ con- tiued the sergeant. ‘You know how to fix tHe dish? No! Well, you cut the melon in two, scoop out all the red stuff you find in- side and throw it away, pare the green off the outside and slice up what is left in nice thin strips. That's the finest eating any- bddy ever tackled.” Just what bappened when the melon was put on the table is not pub! Col. Randlett smiles grimly whe ion- ed about it; the paymaster is even more reticent; the unfortunate descendant of the kings of Ireland says nothirz, except to remark in @ general way that ‘Some officers I know do lose their temper entirely widout s'fishn’t pro-vo-cation.’” The Red Cow Campaign. A great snorting and stir among the mules and horses having suzzested the ap- proach of a wild animal—a little black bear, said the tracks next morning—several per- sonal reminiscences came up and were duly discussed. Of these the most thrilling was the contribution of Private Jackson Lewis, one of the finest-looking soklisrs in Capt. Day's troop. Lewis served in the Pine Ridge campaign of 18%)-"01, and probably missed as few meals as anybody in the field. He is an expert foraser and can find things to eat in places where the average man would starve. Severs] smail detach- ments of the ninth were out looking for dead or otherwise damazei Indians after the fight at Wounded Knee. Trequently these Indians were found in the little “shacks” occupied by friendly Ogallalas until the turbulent Lrales came alors and drove the proprietors ot. and som MES a wounded red man would mak> un effort 10 kill at least one member of a search bg party. The shacks were, ‘herefore, ap- proached most careful'y. “There were two of us in the searching business that morning,” said Lewis, “and we Were both anxious to find a house with something in it. Several of our boys had picked up nice little trinkets, and I knew of half a dozen or more catching onto those fine hats the Sioux will spend six months’ pay to get. I wanted at least a hat, but I hadn't any idea what was going to happen in the-looking for {t. As we got close to one shack we thought we heard sounds in- side, but as we listened fcr some time and heard nothing we thougit that the place didn’t have any tenant. Rut we couldn't take chances then. My pardner he looked after the window, and I went to the front door, which was the back dour and the side door also. “TI walked on my toes and had my carbine cocked so as to be ready for whatever might show up. Then I cautiously pushed the door open with my foot, and as I did so called upon everybody -in hearing distance to surrender. My carbine commanded tke whole of the cne room, and I was beginning to feel safe, when there was a rush and a roar that paralyzed me, and the next thing I remembered was a bullet whistling close to my left ear as I laid on the flat of my back, where I had been knocked by the collision. For a minute I was sure I had been shot and I was feeling kind o’ grieved that the troop should lose so good a man. Then I moved my arms and legs and wriggled around un- til I felt as if I might be strong enough to make camp and live out the remainder of the day; so I made the effort and got on my feet. When that had been done I looked akout me for the band of hostiles that had assaulted me, but never an Indian was in sight, only a big red cow, with the longest horns I ever saw. She was the enemy, and when I found that out I was so mad that I recovered at once. And the shot that was fired? *Twas from my own carbine, which, being at the full-cock, went off when the cow bowled me over. My pardner? Oh, he rode away as hard as he could when he heard the shot; but he came back bold enough when he saw the cow. He ought to have had charges put against him for ccwardice in the face of the enemy, but the charges wouldn’t Fave amounted to any- thing when it was known that the enemy was only a cow. Besides, I didn’t care to stir the thing up any. As long as my pardner didn’t say anything I was willing to keep my mouth shut. If we had had a phonograph along we might, perhaps, have preserved the peals of laughter that broke forth when the cow made her appearance in the thrilling nar- rative. Watkins and Huston—two F troop privates—simply turned themselves loose and even the sedate chef, Isaiah Johnson, permitted a succession of oleaginous and contagious chuckles to escape him. From laughing at Lewis’ story we got to laughing at the laughing, and the paroxysms were body-racking and long continued. They ceased at last, though, and for awhile there was silence. How the Snorer Snored. But not for long. Slowly, smoothly, ani with unmistakably artistic effects, there was developed the phonographic opportunity of a lifetime; in fact, many a phonograph has gone into permanent retirement without ever having encountered anything half so worthy of preservation and reproduction as was that snore. No mere amateur ef- fort, but the finished product of one skilled in the production of nasal melody of the sort that was doubtless referred to by Bry- ant when he wrote: “The night shall be filled with music. It was a symphony, an oratorio, a reci- tative, a ballad, a war song, a prayer; the great organ, a monster chorus and a gi- gantic orchestra joined their forces occa- sionally in the fortissimo passages; the flute,the harp, the violin and an angelic voice occasionally produced the solo effects. Every measure told its story so that even the dull- est ear could recognize the descriptive powers of the operator, as scene succeeded scene. The sieeper snored. Down its rugged bed in the depths of the canon rushed the mighty torrent, laden with ice cakes that crashed into each other and tore from the thawing banks huge masses of auriferously rich soil. Gradually the stream widened as the open valley was reached. The Ice melted in the sunshine, the waters became crystalline; from the pool bright-speckled trout leaped beneath the green-leaved willows that overhung. Again the sleeper snored. Growling defiance at the hornets whose nest he had inadvertently disturbed a big cinnamon bear climbed the rocky hillside. Occasionally his tremendous weight would set in motion a stone that water had round- ed thousands of years before Columbus caused Spain so much trouble by discover- ing Cuba, and the stone would go rattling to the incline’s foot, a jack-rabbit wonder- ingly watching its progress. On the hill- top half a dozen deer browsed peacefully under the personal supervision of a sage hen perched on the upper branch of a scrag- gy_ cedar. Once more the sleeper snored. Mingled with the crash of carpine-fire and the screams of the Hotchkiss guns were the yells of Indians, the shouts of a maddened soldiery.the cries of wounded men,the moans of the departing. From the 4ndian village great sheets of flame swept across the little stretch of prairie, while beyoad the creek could be heard the pattering of a thousand pony-hoofs as a dozen troopers cut out the red man’s herd, and thus com- felled him to fight on foot without much hope of escape. Once again that snore. With Practiced Skill. Along a mountain trail a string of freighters’ wagons rumbled and bumped. Some of the axles needed grease, but there was evidently none to spare, for they kept on needing it. Once In a while the rattling of harness would suddenly increase, and then the rude, harsh voices of teamsters would sound on the summer air like unto the voices of men given to excessive pro- fanity. The suppliant tones of one Mor- eating tobacco id easily be distin- guished, but the reply was lost, because just then the mules_struck a soft place in the trail, and seemed to have all they could do to pull their respective hoofs out of the twenty-seven inch: f alkali mud with which the good, hard road was overlaid. The snorer turnedqyer once more. It was a day on @ Utak farm. First to appear was the farmer's wife, who, after she had aroused the entire household, pro- ceeded to get bre st by candlelight, while her husban eased his boots, smoked his pipe, and, with his feet on tho parlor stove, wondered why in thunder daylight didn't come. Then the birds com- menced to sing and the chickens to wake up; the hired man took his usual allopathic dose of bacon, home-grown coffee, soda bis- cuit and sirup; the icalves bleated; the scent of sage brush was in the air. By and by the dinner horn sounded, and the hired man fell off the fence on a young pig in his anxiety not to be too late at the table. Both the farmer and the hired man plowed all through the afternoon, and the hired man couldn’t keep his mold-board clean, and, consequently, became impatient and even querulous. It was wonderful to note with what fidelity to nature the snorer reproduced the graceful gait of the plowman and the unyielding outlines of the patch which protected a large area of the plowman’s overalls from the inclem- ency of the weather. Then the sun went down, and everybody ate once more. Night, with all its darkness and dreariness, came on; the hired man and the children went to bed; the farmer snored near the stove; the farmer's wife worked right along, just as she had been doing for eighteen or nine- teen hours at a stretch. It was a marvelously realistic piece of work. We all enjoyed it very much; all of us, except Capt. Day, and he would have enjoyed it, too, had he not been asleep while the performance was going on. Almost a Dead Cavalrym: Some of us went hunting nearly every day; some of us chopped through from twenty-five to thirty inches of ice and fished; all of us were tired when night came, whether we had been successful or not. It is harder work to hunt and not kill anything than ft is to fill three or four wagons with game. Every day was over- loaded with incidents of interest, yet nar- row as were some of the escapes, no one was seriously hurt. Capt. Day achieved the distinction of getting closer to the next world than any other member of the party, but he was not puffed up with pride there- at. It happened this way: He, in company with his “‘bunky,” was atop of a ten-thous- and-foot hill away up White Rocks canon; that is, the hill was and presumably is still ten thousand feet or so above high-water mark on the Pacific coast. A big buck, whose tracks they had been following, hav- ing eluded them, they turned their feet campward. In the narrow valley of the canon were the horses, a mile away tnd precipitously downhill. Jumping from rock to rock Is easy enough for mountain sheep, but it is hard work for a cavalry officer who has been on a college detail for awhile, so there were frequent halts for recupera- tive purposes, the altitude combining with the exertion to render occasional inactivity des rable. Landing on one very large chunk of rock, the captain jumped therefrom to a softer spot, intending to sit down for awhile; had he done so, some of him would be there yet. The stone must have been halanced al- most precisely, for its primary movement was hardly visible. A shout of warning, that echoed and re-echoed a dozen times bi fore it was entirely dissipated, caused the captain to jump aside with more of alacrity than he suspected was possible, and only in the nick of time. The monster of many tons grazed his near shoulder as {t toppled over and started down ihe declivity. It cleared a pathway fully a quarter of a mile long, cutting down cedars and pines in its wild rush, and displacing other boulders, until the noises were simply thunderous. The shock of collision was simply terrlfi Watching that chunk of quartz go down- ward, it was easy to‘Understand why the proverbial rolling stone gathers no moss; when a decent sized stone gets started it has no time to fool with moss. Day seemed thankful for hisyescape, but he said 'd_ be regretted™by all the cavalry who would hate gained a file had en less spry in responding to the warn- Harder Than Ph@raoh‘s Heart. There is In the Ulntah mountains a stone so much harder thag adamant that it maj be worth while to miné4t when the reserva- tion is thrown opepis diseovery was made just after t re ‘ing stone tumbled. At a moment when everything appeared to be well, the captain's companion permitted his feet to violate the laws of gravitation; for a moment or go the feet and all else that was mortal of the unfortunate man re- mained unsustained in the air, and then the man sat down with violence sufficient to have shaken the credit of every financial institution west of Omaha. Comparison of the sensations with those incident to sitting suddenly on a curbstone, a fire-plug and in the seat of the scornful were gll in favor of the Uintah hill rock. A sample taken to camp appeared somewhat soft and brittie, but on Its. native heath and under certain circumstances that rock is several degrees harder than the way of the transgressor. GEO. H. HARRI The Medicine Man. From the Adams (Mass.) Freeman. “Mary,” asked the old man, “whose ple- ture fs that on the front of the paper you have?” “That is a picture of President Cleveland,” sald she. “Great Caesar's ghost!" exclaimed the old man; “has he mon asking another to lend him a bite of been cured of something, too?” REAL ESTATE GOSSIP A Good Demand for Brick Report- ed by a Manufacturer. MATERIAL BETTER THAN WORKMANSHIP Some Problems That Confront the Average Suburban Community. ERECTION OF BUILDINGS “We have orders for brick that will re- quire three months of steady burning at the fullest capacity of our kilns to fill,” said one of the largest brick manufacturers in this city. “I know of another brickmaker who has crders for about 1,000,000 brick, and he has only about 20,000 on hand. The demand at this time of the year is a very good one, and from present indica- tions there will be a good deal of building golng on during the year. The outlook is certainly much more favorable than it has been for some time.” As brick is so generally used here as a building material, and as the above state- ment may be taken as representing the conditions of that industry here, it can be concluded that the coming season will wit- ness a good deal of activity in the building line. All the brick used for building pur- poses in this city, with the exception of the varieties made of clay of fancy colors, is manufactured in this vicinity, and, as is well known, the article turned out from the Lrick yards cf the District is equal to a similar product in any part of the country, and superior to that which is made in a great many localities. Substantial Buildings, It is found that the clay in this locality is of superior character for brick-making purposes, and there is no reason why build- ings constructed of this material should not be substantial. As far as the brick is con- cerned, all structures in which it is the Frincipal material would stand the test of time if the other material were of equally gcod quality and the workmanship was first-class. As it is, it is extremely diffi- cult to destroy the average brick wall, and in spite of the flimsiest construction, walls are found to maintain an upright position for a surprising length of time, and under conditions which would seem to make any other fate than a collapse impossible. There ig no reason why the residents of handsome }ouses should find it impossible to keep comfortable indoors during extreme weather except the carelessness and the dishonesty of the builder. When the ccld air sifts in around a window everyone knows that it does not come through the brick, but through the aperatures which the shiftless workmen have left. The same causes which render a house uncomforta- ble in cold weather have a similar effect in hot weather. It is a fact that a house that is cold in winter is also warm in suimmer. A Pure Water Supply. Of more than usual interest was the dls- cussion at the last mecting of the board of trade of the subject of public health and sanitation. Elaborate statistics there pre- sented, and the conclusions based upon them, all pointed to the importance of the purity of the drinking water used by a com- munity. One of the speakers, who has given the subject of public hygiene much atten- tion, went so far as to say that if a good supply of water could be secured the ques- tion of a sewer system was of secondary im- portance, It was ho doubt surprising to a good many people when they read this statement, for the general idea is that a system of sewer- age Is essential to the public health. It must be acknowledged that in a thickly settled community that fs practically the case, but in places where the houses are not very close together the opinion seems to be that sew. age disposal is not a matter of prime im- portance. On the other hand, people have come to understand that it is impossible to keep pure what is known as a local water supply. Whether there is a sewer system or nol, the ground in the vicinity of human habita- tions becomes filled with impurities which corrupt the water that is drawn immedi- ately from it. When, however, the water supply is obtained from a source where there are no local contaminating influences and is conveyed to the homes of the con- sumers by pipes, then it is certain that the community is free from the greatest of modern dangers. It is quite evident that, with an independent water supply, a com- munity could become quite a large center of population before a sewer system would be an absolute necesssity. There is a local im- portance in all thi: s the small communi- ties which are scattered throughout the ex- ter sive suburbs of this city are now in many instances considering the subject of mu- nicipal sanitary measures, and it is im- pcrtant that there should be a clear knowl- edge of the evils that threaten and of the correct solution. Some Improvementa, A fourteen-room house will be erected on Massachusetts avenue between 9th and 10th streets for Mr. Samuel C. Smoot. Plans have been prepared by M. Hunter Jones, architect. The house will be three stories in height, with cellar, with pressed brick front, trimmed with stone, tiled mansard roof and square bay window terminating in a tower. Plans have been prepared by J. F. Den- son, architect, for remodeling the residence at No. 505 Massachusetts avenue and the addition of another story. A residence is to be erected near Massa- chusetts avenue, on 13th street southeast, from plans prepared by R. R. Rothwell, architect. It will have a front of pressed brick, with brown-stone trimmings and slate mansard roof. It will have an En- glish basement. R. J. Beall, jr., architect, has drawn plans for a row of nine houses on G street between 6th and 7th streets northeast, with stables in the rear. They will be two stories in height, with pressed brick ffonts, square bays and towers. The corner will be occupied by a store and dwelling. Geo. P.*Newton has broken ground and taken out permits for a row of eleven houses to be located on Emerson street be- tween E and F, 13th and 14th streets north- east. The houses are to be two-story brick structures, and will contain six rooms and bath. On the first floor will be the parlor, dining room, kitchen and pantry, and on the second floor, three chambers and bath room. The fronts will be of press brick with stone trimmings and gctagon and square bay windows. Mr. Newton has just completed the brick work of six houses on Emerson street, which will be finished similar to the above. —_—__ The Boer and His Rifle. From the St. James Gazette. If there is one thing more than another upon which the boer sets store it is hie rifie. His marksmanship enjoys, of course, a worldwide celebrity. I remember a Boer who used sometimes to join our buck- hunting parties, and who, at any distance up to 300 yards, could pick off any given cne of a line of springbok going at a very fair rate of speed. We had only to name our buck—first, third, middle, tail of the line—and that buck fell. He rather enjoy- ed banter about being born with a gun in his hand, saying that it was little short of actual fact, for almost before he had ceas- ed to crawl his father would send him out into the veldt with a muzzle-loading gun containing a bullet and a single charge of powder. With this he was to bring home a buck; and since the penalty for missing consisted In going supperless to bed, with the application of “strap” fre- quently thrown in, it follewed that his misses were few. Sometimes, in a mo- ment of paternal indulgence, he would be- allowed an extra charge, but not often. And that, he declared, was the way to teach Loys to shoot. nd Telegrams to Wome From the Atchtson Globe. The telegraph messenger who keeps his eyes open has an opportunity to note many curious phases of human nature. One told recently that women never opened a telegram without turning pale, and when the message wes not alarming they looked disappointed. He delivered about two death messages a day, four birth messages, a great many business messages ,and once in a great while a love message that makes him tired to carry it. He carried ently tu a young man in town that How are you today ing?” The answer went promptly and was to the effect He once carried a message of death to a colored woman, and after reading it her emotions ove that she caught the messenger in arms and soundly boxed his cars, An- other colored woman refused to open or sign for a message, but walked the floor and beat her amed, ing it announ When neighbors b some than ack by the boy, am better, love.” |e rest read the mess a notice that the woman's sister would come up from Leavenworth that evening to see her. +0. Acquiring Knowledge. From the Chicago Tribune. Papa, what is an old saw—not the saw you saw with, but the kind this paper speaks about?” “What old saw does the paper speak about?” That's what I want to know. It says, ‘Everybody has heard the old saw, “never look a gift horse in the mouth. I want to know where the saw comes in.” “Well, there’s your old saw. An old saw is an old proverb. “Why shouldn’ the mouth?” “Because—because, it’s in bad taste. ungrateful, and all that sort of thing.” “All what sort of thing?” “Why, to look a horse in the movth that has been given to you shows that—it shows that you are not thinking of the giver, but of the value of the gift.’ What would anybod horse in the mouth for?’ “To tell how old it 1s.” (After a pause.) “Papa, can you tell how old a saw is by looking at its teeth?” ——_—_-e+—__ Not a Flyer. From the Germantown (Pa.} Telegraph. McTavish—“Hoo faur is’t to London?” Cockney—“Ten miles as the crow flies.” McTavish—“Hoot, toot, mon, I'm_no gam to fle>; I'm’ gaun tae waulk. Hoo mony miles is't 1s the craw waulks?” you look a gift horse in Its want to look a A USEFUL CIGARETTE. In the Moment of Necessity It Came as a Boon to # Sick Sufferer. From the New York Times. “Christmas day,” remarked a tall, ath- letic-looking man in the corridor of the Fifth Avenue Hotel, “always excites in my mind emotions of the tenderest sympathy, for the cigarette.” The man proved to be E. H. Hume. He said he was from England, but claimed New York as his home. “It was just six years ago,” he sald, “that I was with the English army in Upper Bur- mah, and a week before Christmas I found myself taken down with black diphtheria, There ha@ been an epidemic of the disease in the town and vicinity, and I, always sus- ceptible to contagious diseases, was one of the first in the regiment to take it. Every day I grew worse, until the surgeon finally gave up all hope and told me that I could not live twelve hours longer. My comrades came to bid me good-bye and a few of my intimate friends—fellows from my own home—stayed with me to tell the folks how I passed my last hours on earth. “My throat had become so swollen that I was in great pain and the phlegm had col- lected to such an extent that I could not speak. Breathing had become all but im- possible. “I knew that I had but a short time to live, and as a last request asked for @ cigarette. “It seemed to be the only thing on earth that I wanted. The surgeon refused to give me one, but a young Irishman who knew how fond I was of smoking took one from his pocket, saying that it would not possibly hurt me, as I was already dying. “He held the cigaretie to my lips and I inhaled a lot of smoke, which I thought would choke me. Instead of that the smol poured out and brought with it the whole mass of phlegm which for a week the sur- geon had tried his best to remove. The cigaretie was the only thing, possibly, that would have served the purpose. In four days I was on my feet, a well man, a have never had a day's sickness since, ——_$__s0—____ A Harbor Herm From the San Francisco Call. Hermits who make their homes in the caves and forests of California are plentiful, but a hermit who makes his home on the water is not so common, The first one that has ever been seen in the bay of San Fran- cisco is now living in a small scow, or ark, in the cove near Black Point. There he spends his days, and with the exception of an occasional drifting cruise along the front in a small skiff he never leav@# the home he has made for himself on the old, battered craft, which is named “Southern Pacific. Every morning, rain or shine, he is up be- fore sunrise. Climbing a ladder raised against an impromptu mast he reaches @ small platform. On this he kneels and be- gins his morning orisons. First he sings @ hymn, Sometimes his voice can be heard chanting the meiody at Black Point, and at other times he can barely be heard by tht fishermen who are waiting the turn of ti in Black Point Cove. Then he will read a chapter from the Bible, and after that he prays that the kingdom of the Messiah may come, and that heaven be established on earth. If it is a fine morning the sun by this time is well up in the heavens and the sunrise gun has been fired haif an hour previously. The hermit descends from his lofty perch and pumps out his frail craft in order to keep her afloat for another twenty~ four hours. bias Tracheotomy in Horses, From the Londm Standard. The horses which came in first, secon@ and fourth for the selling steeplechase at the Manchester recond January meeting carried, each of them, a silver tube, called by the French a “rossignol,” in the wind- pipe. In other words, they were rank “roarers,"" had undergone the operation of tracheotomy and had been provided with an artificial apparatus for breathing pur- poses. We are not told how many more of the horse there were an. and i or had rot, been treated in lar fashion. But three out of four are ficient to show that the infirmity, which was rendered almost llasirious and even commendable,to judge frora remarks print- ed in some of the sporting journals, by the wonderful horse Ormonde, is rather on the increase than the decrease among us. ———_ + e+ —__ A Pigeon’s Costly Meal. From the London Daily News. The other day at Venice a gentleman who was visiting that city bought some Indian corn, with which he fed the his- torical pigeons in the Plazza San Marco, While the birés were feeding a diamond fell from the ring he was wearing and was immediately swallowed by one of the pigeons. ‘The gentleman put out his hand to try to catch the bird, but in so doing frightened the whole fiock, which flew away to the doge's palac —eoo— Consumption Caught From Parrots, From the Galignani- Messenger. Two more deaths have occurred in Paris from disease caught from parrots suffer- ing from consumption in an infectious form. As was recorded in previous cases, the persons who have died were in ths habit of allowing the parrot to take seeds or other food from their lips. ce the first session of the Forty-ninth Congress the project of constructing a me- morial bridge across the Potomac river has Leen pending before the national legislative body. The idea has been to combine util- ity with sentiment ‘by building a bridge to connect Arlington with Washington, serv- ing as a public convenience and at the same time standing as a memorial to the nation’s soldiery. The project seems to be nearer consum- mation at this time than ever before. A bill authorizing the erection of the bridge has passed the Serate, has been favora)ly reported by the proper House committes, and is now awaiting passage by the House. The bill fixes the limit of cost at $600,000. Since 1886 up to the present time the building of this bridge has been urged re- peatedly upon the attention of Congress ty Successive Secretaries of War, chiefs of engineers, and quartermasters general of the army. Within a brief period the quar- termaster general of the army, represent- ing not only his own views, but stacing that he spoke by direction of the Secretary of War, has strenuously set forth the entire inadequacy of the present means of com- munication with the large military post of Fort Myer, the insecure character of the Aqueduct bridge, and the fact that it would take twice the time to reach the capital by means of that bridge in an emergency than would be required for that purpose under the conditions presented by this bill, } A Grand and Beautifal Park. | The Secretary of War in 1893 reported as ' fonlows: | “Very large sums have been appropriated | by Congress for the construction of roads | to cemeteries, more or less unimportant, in | various parts of the country, but a like 1 DESIGN OF THE PROPOSED BRID) ACROSS THEPOTOMAC TO CONNECT THE NATION'S gencrous care has not been bestowed upon Arlington, the most important of all. The Arlington Heights grounds contain 1,100 acres, with a frontage of about one mile on the Potomac. They constituce one of the grandest and most beautiful parks in the country, the national cemetary oceupy- ing about one-fifth of the inclosure. In ad- dition to its historical associations, the park abounds in rare natural beauty, and has been most carefully kept and improved. Few cities have so fine a park contiguous to their borders. Arlington cemetery, where so many heroes lie buried, has in a large measure become, like Great Britain's Westminster Abbey, the nation’s ‘Wal- halla.’ Consecrated as it is to our illus- trious dead, with Its stately and expressive monuments commemorative of the deeds of patriots, its hallowed associations and its lessons appeal strongly to all visitors to the nation’s capital. But the journey thither by a roundabout way, over roads controlled by local authorities, which ure rough at all times and frequently well-nigh impass- able, is not only tedious and uncomfortahl but ‘involves an expenditure of time money which deters great numbers from undertaking it, “A bridge over the Potomac at or about the terminus of New York avenue, nea Observatory Hill, would furnish a’ skert and direct route to the park and cemetery, and would, in fact, bring them to our vel doors. But the park and cemetery are n alone to be considered. As a means of rect and rapid communication between the capital and the important military post of Fort Myer, which adjoins the park on the north, the value, in a military sense, of a mated. Such a bridge would also practical- Ny bridge at this point cannot be overesti- | { ly join this beautiful park to the large area of reclaimed lands on the river, all of which is to form one grand park. Plans for such a bridge have been prepared by the engineer department, and its construc- tion is urged as a necessity. It Is respect- fully recommeneded that Congress be re- quested to make an appropriation there- for."” A Military Necessity. In his last annual report the Secretary of War said: CAPITAL WITH ARLINGTON AND FORT MYER. “Improved means of communication te- tween Washington and the Virginia shore must very soon be provided. Another bridge is not only a conceded necessity to the population of both sides of the Poto- mac and as an approach to the national cemetery at Arlington, but also as a mili- tary convenience to bring the principal gar- rison of the national capital within easy reach of its strects and public bullaings. “Twice I have submitted the suggestion that such a structure can easily be made the most impressive of the world’s me- morials to heroism. The natural advan- tages of the site are unsurpassed. The region is associated with war as no other region of our country, and the site ts dis- tinetly national. Such a memorial bridge, ornamented with statues of our great avar- ricrs, with symbolical figures of the strong qualities that warfare brings into play, and with representations of the crucial events in national history, would be the same incomparable memorial to the grext- ness of a peaceful people aroused by war as our single shaft to Washington !s the worthiest_ monument to individual great- ness which human genius has yet executed. It is not proposed that the embellishmen of the bridge shall now be provided for but it is urged that its ultimate memor character shall be considered in the first designs and earilest appropriations.” Opinion of the House Committee. The House committee on interstat< and foreign commerce in reporting on the bill a few days ago. said: “We are satisfied, however, that, con- sidering the necessity of rendering speedily and ‘safely accessible to the capiial its chief military post at Fort Myer, the pro- priety of a fitting approach to the great national cemetery at Arlington, where are gathered so many of the nation’s honored dead, and the desirability for these rea- Sous of subjecting the use of this bridge to the control of the War Department, none other than the government should be allowed to build it. For the same reason, and because tramways of every kind are excluded by this bill from the use of this bridge, it is proper that the cost of build= ing it should be borne exclusively by the government.” Plan of the Proposed Bridge. The engineering features of the bridge were prepared by Capt. T. W. Symons of the engineer corps, and the architectural portion of the work was designed by Smithmeyer & Pelz. The picture of the plan here given represents an imposing structure. Something of a monumental? character is given the bridge by the two central piers and the towers arising above them. These piers are 160 feet apart, and the towers rise to a height of 240 above the water. Thy are to be of gran- warry-faced. The roadway of the is to be supported by steel arches ing above high-water line from the nite piers. Near the central towers the are 240 feet wide, and next to they are 120 feet wide. shington ond of the b rounds of the old n the extension of New York ave- the Virginia terminus will be in ¢ with the northern gate of Arling? The bridge will support a carriage way forty feet wide, with sidewalks on each side ten feet wide ‘Provision was also made in| the original plans for a draw between the central piers, if nec 5