Evening Star Newspaper, May 9, 1896, Page 15

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1896-TWENTY-FOUR PAGES: THE NORMAL SCHOOL Where Young Men and Women Are Trained to Be Teachers. A PART OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM About the Work and How It is Carried On. Rs THEORY AND PRACTICE T Is AN INTER- esting fact that the young idea of the District of Columbia is being trained to hit the educational pill’s-eye by a corps of irstructors, the vast majority of whom are young men and women who have gone through the local public schools and have been given a special training as teachers in the Wash- ington Normal Scheol. The work of this branch of the public school system is, there- fore, highly impc , and in order to in- crease the efficiency of those placed in charge of the education of the children here, it has been determined to extend the term of the Normal School to two years instead of cre, as is at present the case, and the class to enter the Normal School next fall will not graduate until June, 1898. The pvrpose of the Washington Normal School is to sepply the city with teachers for its primary schools, these primary teachers gradually passing into higher grades, ard thereby making room for the later graduates of the Normal School,which ultimately, in the mzrner cited, puts its stamp or the work of the entire system. Because of its far-reaching effects, it is thought that no home in the city can ra- tionally be free from interest in this insti- tution. The relation of the Normal School to the superinter Gent of public schools is settled and defined by its purpcse, ing the superintendent with means to carry out his educational plz It is described as his right hand. sckcol must be a perfect exponent of his ideas, must serve as his confidential agent and must have his en- couragement ard suppert. The Normal School is related to the toard of education, and through the beard to the public. The board of education, as a business head, gives to the col suck advantages in the way of material appliances, perfect organ- ization and skilled teachers that it may be- come a perfect means to the desired end, moving si¢adily ant unrestrainedly toward the front of practical efficiency. What It Aims to Do. The Normal Schoo! has the character of a workshop, where material, crude from a professional dpoint, 1s shaped into power and skill. The work hinges on three points: First, knowing facts or having an education; second, knowing children, and third, knowing how to make the former gerve as a means of development for the I To meet these points the school has two parts, academic and practice. ‘The academic part of all, strengthens weak points in th cation of the normal pupil, and, incidentally, these latter are not few in number. It is one thing to poss information for a general purpose and quite er to hold it in mind sufficiently well So, therefore, the pupils of the hool necessarily must study, and study hard. Then they get their knowleds: in shape, anging and weighing it, to de- termine just what is important and essential and what, in this work-a-day world, would better be lopped off as unimportant or trivial he pr: ctice department the normal tudy children, it being considered le to instruct children until a orough knowledge of the little ones is se- cured. So the children are studied as are the lessons. The embryo teachers find out something of the temperament and the dis- position, and the body is studied, too. An effort is made to discover how children come into p ion of themselves and of facts outside of themselves; what stands in the way and how best to help the child to get over or around this obstacle so that he may go on. The coming teachers observe how trained instructors meet these problems, measuring the solution of them with minds that grow Steadily in the power-to estimate means rationally. After awhile they take a hand, usually to fail, but it is a case of try, try again, until out of mistakes and despair there dawns the light of efficiency and power. To guide the normal pupils wisely, to re- duce error to a minimum, to serve the children of the District faithfully is no small undertaking. Work of Preparation. The scholarship and mental discipline re- sulting from a course of instruction in the graded schools, broadened by an additional one of three years in the High School, af- fords a generally satisfactory basis for pro- fessional training. However, a sufficient amount of scholastic work is done during the year by the principal of the Normal School to insure accuracy and freshness of knowledge. For this purpose the subjects comprising the schools are currieulum of the public carefully reviewed. Each is also in the light of its origin, and plan of its development, its ion into par: contents and na- ture of these parts with their relation to one another, as well as the relation of each to the whole. A generalization follows, by which the whole is presented as a logica! unit; the purpose of each subject deter- mines its importance as an educational factor. The werk is rapid. since the facts are feneraily famiiier. Mvch is done to make the student ready and skillfu! in processes and results. In the construction or critic y unit, the pupil-teach are req to know Its _purpo: ‘ts parts, to disc:imi- nate against the essential and non-essen- tial points, and to properly bai with reference to the comparative amouni of consideration due them. They are not called upon to wetch the teaching of les- sons in the practice schools till they have acquired intelligence in making plans of work and judgment in forming standards of criticism: The practice schools furnish a field for investigation and experimentation. The two lines supply data with which to build and test theories. Thus, during the year there grows in the minds of the pnpil- teachers a philoscphy of education based upon personal research and experience. To test the general truth of this philosophy, it is corapared with that already devel. oped and formulated by eminent educa- tors. Im the Practice Schools. To secure that intelligent and practical professional ability resulting from expe- rience alone, the pupil-teachers are in the main required to assume the responsibility of carrying forward the work of the prac- tice schools. On the other hand, the faculty of the Normal School is bound to secure for the children in these schools advantages equiv- alent to those enjoyed by the best schools of corresponding grades outside. To do this,the pupil-teachers are most carefully prepared for their work; they are closely observed and criticised, and occasionally supplied with models and standards of lessons given to the children from different members of the faculty. At the beginning of the school year two pupil-teachers are assigned to each of the ten practice schools. One, acting in the capacity of principal, teaches all but the four special subjects, music, drawing, pen- manship and health, and assumes the re- sponsibility of the progress of the school. The other, the assistant, teaches the spe- cial subjects and studies the nature and possibilities of the children as a prepara- tion for her own principalship. She is re- quired also to do a part of the work of the class room while acting as assistant. At the expiration of a specified time the prin- cipal resumes her work with theories of education, while the assistant takes the duties of principal, aided in turn by an- other pupil-teacher. - A study of the conditions has led to the belief that in the higher grades the sym- pathetic, persuasive disciplinary power so successful in the lower grades must be supplemented by a more dominating ele- ment. This has somewhat modified the plan of selecting pupil-teachers for the practice schools, and it has been thought best to obtain for the higher grades only those who have taught svccessfully in two of the other grades. In Two Sections. At present the Washington Normal School is divided into two sections, one at the Dennison building and the other at the Franklin. This plan of having the school divided, however, is considered unwise, and the members of the committee on Normal and High Schools of the board of school trustees are now considering the advisabil- ity of bringing the two sections together. The Normal School work is carried on by a faculty of seven, five of whom are from the Washington schools. Faculty meetings are held as often as conditions require them, and at such meetings reports of the work are given and general measures for the advancement of oth schools and pupil- teachers discussed. The principal of the Washington Normal School is Mrs. Ida Gilbert Myers, a nacive of the state of New York. Mrs. Myers went through the public schools and then took a course extending through four years and a half at the Oswego Normal School in the city of that name in New York. This in- stitution is the pioneer school, and supplies the greater number of teachers for the west. Mrs. Myers came to this city in the spring of 1885, about the time Mr. Powell Was appointed superintendent of public schools. She became a teacher in the Nor- mal School, and was soon thereafter pro- moted to the principalship, which position she has held ever since. Miss Annie E. Goding, the assistant prin- cipal, is from Bridgewater, Mass. She secured her early education in the public schools of New England, and also came to this city in 1885, and taught in the graded schools. While principal of the Blake School year before last she was appointed to her present position in the Normal School. The other Normal School teachers are Miss Elizabeth B. Browa, Miss Helen B. Wise, Miss Ella McMahon, Miss Elizabeth Hummer and Miss May Breen, all Washing- ton young ladies, and all graduates of the Washington school. ee GROWTH OF INSECTS. Influence of Heredity and of Environ- ment Considered. Fiom Meehan’s Monthly. Possibly few branches of scientific thought are more active at this time than that which is considering the influence which environment has in governing form ard general character. A recent author who objects to the extent to which environment has been carried in forming theories of evolution well remarks that it must have some influence or it could not have capti- vated so many leaders in scientific philos- ophy. But he contends that it is a weak and not a strong agent, and is limited in its powers. He illustrates by the common housefly. When an insect emerges from the Fupa stage, it has reached its full size. But there are small housetlies as well as larger ones—these do not grow larger or smaller after being once formed. It must have been some “condition of environment” that led to these variations in size. Pos- sibly some inability in one case to make evailable nutrition at a certain period of growth, made the dwarf, and opposite con- ditions favored the giant. But heredity is also a potent factor, and is able to hold what has been brought into existence. If the sinall flies could be so tsolated that they would mate with each other only, heredity might result in bringing about a race of small houseflies. Such a race might, under some conditions, be regarded as a species— yet it would be due rather to heredity than to conditions of envircnment. ‘The great probability would be that when “environ- ment’ again acted on some one member of the small race so as to change its puny character, it would be to remand it to the race of giants again, and thus make it again larger. ———_—_+-e-+___ Prayers in War Time. cott’s. From Lipp! Uncle Duff, hearing the noise, began to FP Aunt Saluda joined him fervently; Sem listened stupidly and in suffocating terror. Fifteen cannon thundered together, over beyond the bridge, and a flight of shells in the air made a prolonged whirring noise, followed presently by a rapid spluttering of musketry im the woods at the lower edge of the plantation. The regiment went across the field at double-quick step, knock- ing over the fences as they came in the way. “Oh, good Ler’, ef ye kin spa’ de ole man er leetle bit longer—” began Uncle Duff, but his prayer was interrupted by an explosion on beth sides of the river, rival batteries thundering at one another, and opposing lines of infantry exchanging long rolling volleys. Mrs. Farrow saw the cavalry scurry away from their lurking place under the river bank and disappear in the woods, while four or five heavy field guns, drawn by panting and overworked horses, trundled, rapidly along the red clay road, the drivers whipping and swearing. After a few rounds there came a short lull in the bombardment, during which a singular serenity pervaded the air and sky. “Dar, now, Lor’, stop de wa’ right heah, and lef’ de ole darkey—” But Uncle Duff sprang to his feet as an- ether awful cannonade began, and a shell burst en the railroad track in front of the door. He forgot his prayer. ‘Hell an’ fury!” he cried, “dat’s danger- cus! Gi’ me my hat, fo’ de Lor’ sake! I's gwine outen ye And he rushed through the back doorway and across the garden to the woods, followed by Sam and Aunt Saluda. see He Could Speak for Himself. From Harper's Round Table. The late Wm. J. Florence,the comedian, had a reputation for bright stories and practical jokes. The following one is said to have been told by him at a dinner one night, when the conversation turned on traveling theatrical companies: ‘Years ago,” said Florence, ‘I’ was in a small company skip- ping from town to town. We had met with extremely bad luck up to our landing ip the town of D—-. There we found the lowest ebb of all, for when the curtain rolled up there were just two persons in the au- dience, a young girl in an orchestra chair and a young man in the front row of the balcony. We went on with the perform- ance, however, possibly to warm ourselves more than anything else. According to my part I was helping the heroine to escape the clutches of the villain, and in one of my lines I said: ‘Have you noticed that even the bright moon is rising to light us on our way? Before she had time to reply the young man in the balcony called out: ‘I am not so certain about the young lady downstairs, but I can see it all right,” o+—____ The Light Side of Nature. From the Sketch. “Don't you know this little boy, Mabel? Why don't you notice him?” “Well, you see, Auntie, I danced with him six times at our party, and I'm afraid people are beginning to talk!"”—The Sketch. {In May some of IN EARLY SPRING Floral Beauties of Washington and Vicinity. : FLOWERS ABOUT THE WHITE HOUSE Out in the Woods During Gor- geous May. COLORED PEOPLE’S FAVORITES T RY AS HARD AS one will to keep it down, there is some- thing in the spring- time that makes folk long to go on pilgrim- ages, to dig in gar- dens and to write spring poetry. Wash- ington lends itself to enchantments. In the springtime it is fairy- land, both in the city, with all its trees and a flowers, and in the country roundabouts—across the river, among the hills, or all along the woody paths by the creek and its branches. In the city in the evening lights one may see down the streets a bronze horse and rider high against the sunset sky, with right at hand, on the terrace, a little water birch, gilded on every twig and branch and line with a red glow as of flame; or, down by the river, the purple shadows on the water ripple up with each little wave and lap the grasses on the banks—the long, low stretches of sedges are half hidden in the purple haze, the blue hills across the river and the monu- ment are softening to the same twilight tints. On a rainy, misty evening the War, State and Navy Department looks its bes: Then the shadows conceal the little window and insignificant pillars, and the massive outlines of the building have their rightful dignity. The Capitol looks well in glaring sunshine or in shade, by mvonlignt, sunrise or sunset, among clouds or rising, shining white, against a clear sky. There is an cld Persian proverb that only he who loves roses can grow them success- fully. There must be a love between the flowers and the colored folks—perhaps there are certain qualities of naturalness and sim- plicity that endear the race to the flowers. Certain it is that from the first timid little crocus to the last gay, ragged dandy of a chrysanthemum, there are no finer blossoms than those grown around the little frame houses where dwell the darker parts of our population. Violets run riot in the grass, La France beauties—proud as they are—grow merrily in the humble little gardens in beds marked off with oyster shells and crowded with primroses, wall flowers, pezunias and geraniums. Red roses clamber all over the porches and fences, lilacs do homage with splendid clusters, and lilies cannot grow thick and fast enough, they are so anxious. the gardens along our streets are wonderfully pedecked. Gaudily Bedecked. It is a whimsical, half pathetic sight to See the sorry old cart herses with the most dejected tails and the roughest coats all tricked out in the fairy blossoms of the pear tree. The flowers are so typical of hope and grace and the cart hotse is usu- It is ally such a miserable looking beast. no unusual sight, though, to see garlanded with flowers. The darky dresses his horse up gaily and sallies forth to haul dirt with loud shout and a certain carni- val spirit that seems to animate the beast a bit, which will try to frisk and prance in spite of his stiff joints. The darky loves to decorate his steed. Every gala day there is a brave display of flags at the creature's ears, and bits of jangling bra Lig red tassels, plumes, ribbons—any | of bright finery that comes into his posses sion or that his lady folks will let him have, goes on the horse. Perhaps it is an indication of his warm southern blood— this love for colors, decorative effects and gayety. If he could he would hang rugs out over his balconies, twine rose wreaths around pillars end float’ many col- ered pennants on his towers—if he had rugs and balconies and pillars and towers. In the White House Grounds. The lilacs are nodding over the walls and lilies of the valley are flinging little fleet- Ing whifts of fragrance out into the streets, roses are all budding, and the fleur de lis is about to put out its banners, purple and white and brown. Sweet pea seeds have been planted long ago and are an inch or so high already, and pansies are being set cut in many gardens. The pansies in the White House gardens are always very fine and worth a special trip to see. There is usually a border along the north wall of the conservatory crowded thick with them ly —a delight to lovers of the quaint blossoms. In the White House grounds, near the east gate, is a group of fine lilacs. They seem to have double’ clusters, and are a wee bit handsomer than the ordinary blos- soms, but not a whit more lovable. Also near the same gate is a peach tree that bears double blossoms that are not in the least prettier than the single ones. they be so pretty. Near the west gate is a smail dogwcod that bears pink blossoms quite un- like the ordinary ores and very pretty. In Franklin Park are two beautiful blossom- ing trees—an apple and a pear with double flowers—flowers that are like tiny roses and wonderfully fine. Out in the Woods. Out in the woods a host of flowers are in full spring celebration. The dagwood has spread its “white tents” on the edges of the forest, the dandelion is “fringing the dusty road with its harmless gold,” the cinquefoil is threading the grass with yel- low blossoms, and the gold of the butter- cup is beginning to glint in the fields. A daisy or two has ventured forth, but their time is not yet. The spring beauties are “painting the meadows with delight;” they blossom up the hill and down again, cluster all pink and white around the roots of a great beech tree, contrasting most prettily with the fine gray trunk; they run down the banks to the very edge of the stream, and carry their dainty colors everywhere through the woods. The bloodroots seem unusually large and snowy this year. They usually blossom in crowds, sometimes a few stragglers will go way out to the edge of the road, and occasionally a little bud will grow far away from the others, but will be too lonesome to blossom. At the Zoo. Jacks-in-the-pulpit, a plant that the chil- dren love, are preaching away to the flow- ers out at the Zoo. One little fellow has fcund a withered brown oak leaf right over the place where he wanted to grow. The leaf would not move nor be pushed aside, so the Jack-in-the-pulpit bud stuck its sharp point right through the leaf, and as it grew, lifted it away from the ground some six or more inches. Whether it will be able to get rid of its burden when the time comes for the bud to unroll its pulpit, one cannot say, but it has begun so brave- ly that it is to be hoped that the leaf will give way. It was so curious a sight to see the leaf impaled and upborne thus that we left it. The English cousins to the Jacks— the children there call ‘“‘lords and ladies’— they call the ones with the purple hoods the “‘lords,’”” the ones with the pale green hoods the “ladies.” However, really it is thought that the truth of the matter is the reverse—that the purple leaves belong to the female plant, the pale green to the males. Bluets, the most spirituelle of blossoms, looking “like puffs of blue smoke clinging close to the hillsides,” are sturdier than they look. They can grow in the most un- promising places—among the stones, in the sund, and in sunshine or shade, growing a deeper blue in the shady places. A goodly bunch of them is pretty for a small vase. They bear transportation better than mosi of the other flower&, and will keep fresh and blue for several days. Trees and Their Foliage. The oaks now are a pretty sight. They have tiny leaves as pink as any coral. Scme of the older leaves that have spread themselves out in the sunshine are green, but covered with a white downiness that is like the white light on velvet. At the foot of the tree, where the new shoots are springing up, their leaves are a deep red, almost ruby-like. The Indians have a way of designating the spring season as the time when the ‘oak leaves, e the ears of the young fawn.” T! ech is just shaking out its finely pleated leaves, each one discarding a papery @sg and coming forth crisp and crimped to,perfection. The sassafras is putting forth jeaves and mod- est blossoms as fragrant as,@ rose, and the birch is opening tiny leaves. 1 Gorgeous May}! The arbutus is gone, the,May apples are about to blossom, the Dutchman’s breeches, which, by the way, are related to that sen- timental beauty of the old-fashioned gar- dens, “the bleeding heart{”'“will soon be out. Violets, purple and white and yellow, end those rare ones that have the velvet petals—the pansy violets—are: in full beau- ty. The wild honeysuckle,{which, with the laurel, seems to be a favoftite resort for ticks when there aren't any girls handy, is just pinking itself. The Judas tree, which blossoms with the dogwood;4s in flower, and the ground ivy is purpling the earth wher- ever it has a chance. The ferns are uncurl- ing their fronds in that graceful but sur- prising way that they have, so that one is half tempted to beg their pardon for having caught them at their toilet. And so the spring is well under way, and it is well to believe all that the spring verses say and to go out to watch the skies, the leaves, the flowers, the butterflies and sunshine, to hear the birds, bees, frogs and running streams and to see the beautiful land that we live in. E. P. M. — PAYING RENT, The Old Lady Simply Sat and Waitea ‘on the Doorstep, From the Philadelphia Press. Commend me to the old lady in Roci- ester who sought novel and successful means of collecting. her house rent last week. She was an old lady of ideas and a knowledge of human nature gleaned from a lifetime of experience with the world. She owned a house and lot in Rochester, and the income from it was the substance upon which she depended for life’s necessi- ties, It was rather an ostentatious house and lot, and the tenants were persons with a reputation to sustain, although apparent- ly embarrassed for ready money. Two months’ rent was due, and the agent was not able to collect. The old lady said it was simple enough. She would collect it herself. Now, she wasn’t a stylish nor an artistic old lady, but she was sturdy and imperturbable, and her proportions were ample and her spirit unfaltering. Sne rang the door bell at an early hour the other morning and inquired for the head of the family. The servant glowered at her and said he was not to be seen yet for two hours, because the fam- ily had not*yet risen. The early caller was cheerful, and said she'd sit on the door steps and wait. Finally she was granted an audience with her tenant, who put her off with smooth promises. “I'll st sit here and wait till you can pay it,” replied the righteous col- lector, and she settled herself once more on the door step, took some knitting from her basket and prepared to spend the day. She made a quaint-looking picture, and all the neighbors wondered. When any one came within conversing distance and stared rudely at her she explained in a friendly way that she was waiting till the tenants paid their rent. She looked truthful, and no one doubted her, and her plan worked like a charm. The rent was paid long be- fore sundown, and she ambled home more than ever convinced that nothing is im- Possible. = GOT DRUNK OPPORTUNELY. Spree of an Insurance Adjuster That Saved His Company a Fortune. From the New York Herald, “I have no patience,” observed a well- known insurance man_ yesterday, people who keep i such thing as luck. and the Insurance business. Have you ever noticed that the most promising r! are the first to mulct a company, whereas the old rookerles that ought to have burn- Chance ‘rules the world ed to cinder twice in every twenty-four hours stand out against the shocks of ill fortune? Well, in my busincss adjusters who go about the country. looking over risks assumed by the various agents of an insurance company are présumed to have a soft thing, and so they have as far as the traveling money and:the other extras go: They live high, but. their employers hold them to a strict accountability, and whenever a loss occurs they get all the blame. Now, there's where the majesty of luck comes in. A certain New York com- pany sent a fellow T know down to Jack- scnville, Fla., a couple of years ago to look over the risks there. He got drunk on the train and had heen steadily inebriated for twelve days when I met him in a Jackson- ville hotel. He explained his mission to me and I asked him what he had done. Of course, he hadn’t even been near the agent. “Look here,’ said I, ‘you'd better go and see your man, drunk as you are. Go to the office, anyway, and cancel something, just to let the home office know you are alive.” “I didn’t see my friend for several days after that, and when I did encounter him In the bar room of the hotel he was drunk- er than ever. I took him outside and asked him if he had followed my advice. “Why, yes,’ he responded, quickly. ‘I went down there and canceled every blankety blank risk on the books.’ “I tried to reason with him, but he would not listen. I besought him, if he valued his place, to let me straighten things out, but he only leered at me and returned to his quor. Well, sir, that very night Jack- sonville had one of the greatest fires in her history, and my drunken friend’s company was saved by my drunken friend's idiocy from a loss of $180,000, They didn’t do a thing to him but give him a fat job and present him with a magnificent gold re- peater, in which was inscribed the glorious history of his shrewdness. And yet I sup- pose some people wouldn't call that dumb uc.” ———_+ e+ ____ How a Sun Burned Up. From the St. Louis Republic. In December, 184, the astronomers be- held the most wonderful sight that has ever greeted mortal eyes. They were watch- ing the queer antics of a star of the ninth magnitude, when all at once it flamed up like a smoldering brush pile to which new. fuel had just been added. Within forty- eight hours its brilliancy increased sixteen Told, and then the star slowly disappeared from view. The astronomers believe that what they saw was a sun “burning up.” The final flash which they saw probably left the doomed orb twenty or even fifty years ago. It is a well-known fact that there are stars removed from us by dis- tances so great that they might have been wiped out of existence 100 years ago and the light still be coming to us through space. Drawing the long beau. —Harper’s Bazar. GARDENING AT HOME Cultivating Flowers at a Window Conservatory. ROOMS MATE BRIGHT AND PRETTY Directions for an Admirable Form of Recreation. PLANTS EASY TO CULTIVATE FTENTIMESIN leaving a house after va completing a call one aA finds one’s self filled with an ill-defined feeling of reluctance at having cut the visit short. The peo- ple were old friends, and the separation is to be of no duration, substantially, and, in- deed, there is nothing tangible to account for the regret. If the feeling is analyzed it will be found that it is due to something cheery and inviting, something home-like and comforting that impressed us while there. It might have been the glow of a crackling, open fire, a comfortable cushion in the chair, a pretty arrangement of draperies or pictures, a warm, inviting coloring in carpets or furni- ture, or, more likely, a few graceful plants at the window, with the sunlight kissing their leaves and blossoms. There is noth- ing. that lights up and animates a room more than living flowers, and when it is considered how litile real care is necessary to have them and to keep them, it is a won- der that more sitting rooms and dining 1ooms, and eyen 1eception parlors, are not supplied with them. There will be a chorus of negatives at this assertion. Scores of women will declare that flowers are such a bother and such ceaseless trouble, and “dirty up everything” so much. Still, these same objectors will nurture canary birds and even parrots, while pet dogs will fill their bosoms with delight. Why Flowers Are Troublesome. The fact is that flowers at home are not troublesome at all except when they are made so by their guardians. The average woman who undertakes to grow flowers be- gins and ends by pampering the poor things to death. She is continually snipping at the leaves and branches, and every morning she religiously gives each pot a sousing flood of water, under the impression that the plants are dying for want of moisture. Nature does not treat her children in any such generous manner, and why a woman should try to outdo nature is one of the peculiar things no one can find out. Flowers, Indeed, should not be watered more than twice a week, and neither time should the soil be soaked. A good wetting, pouring the water on slowly, so it will enter the soil equably and thoroughly, is the secret of the hygiene of house flowers. Most house flowers are killed by too much water. The present is an excellent season for per- sons who wish to beautify their homes with P&S to go about the prepare to be gratified with the beautiful revelations. Whether one has a house or exists in a single room high up in the roof story of a city boarding house, she may safely embark in the garden business with confidence in future pleasing results. Some care and at- tention will be required in the interim, to be sure, but then everything we accomplish in the world is bound to be preceded by more or less of these, so such reasons are not worth consideration. There are many receptacles in which flowers may be cultivated in a room, and a square box. neatly painted and lined with tin is about the best. The box need not be square unless it is to be placed upon a table. Oblong is a good shape, the width of the sunniest window and capable of being sup- ported on the outer sill or resting on a support inside. The Soil and the Drainage. There should be small orifices in the bot- tom of such a box and a layer of broken pieces of stone, ur of moss, or, better still, of charcoal, half an inch or an inch thick laid on the bottom, to assure drainage. On top of this the soil is placed. It may be secured for a few cents from a florist. The best soil for flower raising is a composition consisting of two-thirds Totted sod and one-third rotted stable manure. If the sud is not sandy a handful cr two of clean, sharp sand should be added. A stump or two of a beau’s cigars unrolled and. the leaves mixed with the soil will prove an excellent preventive for insects. If pots are preferred they should be filled in the same way. Thus prepared, even a novice may suc- cessfully begin to cultivate flowers at home and be assured of good results and a pro- fusion of blossoms when the cold. days come again. It must be always remember- ed that dust is dangerous to flowers when it is allowed to collect upon them, and that plants should never be subjected directly to a cold wind blowing on them. y There are hundreds of flow ers that may be cultivated at the window as easily as in 4 conservatory in such boxes and pots as those described. Exquisite Indoor Bloomers. The otaheite orange is a particularly sus- ceptible plant for home cuiture. It is really a dwarf orange tree, and its blossoms are deliciously fragrant, while the fruit that follows is sweet and pleasant to ‘the taste. The tea olive is another easily cared for flower, and an almost constant bloomer, bearing a profusion of fragrant, small white blossoms. The Mexican primrose is another attrac- tive house plant. It grows nine or ten inches in height and droops over the side of the box or pot, bearing pink flowers in luxuriance. For a hanging basket or a tall vase the Russelia Juncea is advised. It has long, rush-like foliage, with scarlet blossoms ai the ends. Annunciation lilies are not difficult to bring to perfection at the window, and the Spanish iris in a variety of delicate tints and shades blooms during the winter with great constancy. Other Attractive Varieties. A very beautiful and attractive flower is the Brazilian plume plant. It is a genial plant, and grows anywhere, sending out from large, dark-green leaves a number of long shoots, with pink flowers at their tips. Wax piants are another species of flowers that flourish indoors, and if one would have heliotropes all the winter it nee%S but plenty of water and a removal of any dust from their leaves to have them in plenty. The “fountain of gold” is well worth the little time it requires, too, in the brightness it adds to a room in winter. Its name is the Genista Canariensis, and when in bloom it is covered with soft, yellow blosoms of great beauty. Plumbago of every variety will grow luxuriantly indoors, and sweet alyssum blooms in winter abundantly. The list could be indefinitely continued through the geraniums, begonias, oxalis, freesia, chrysanthemums, while for box edges noth- ing sets them off so well as wandering jew. Then there are the fuchsias, of which some varieties bloom throughout the year; the Cuban lily, or, as it is also called, the Peruvian hyacinth; the Allium Neapoli- tanum, whose clusters of delicate white flowers cre peculiarly charming, and which retain their perfection for weeks, while for contrast there is the black ¢alla lily, which needs plenty of light and a warm nook. All these flowers may be secured with little expense in slips or bulbs, and a well- selected lot of them will give great pleasure when they reach maturity and fill the room with beauty and fragrance — + The Bicycle in Texas Politics. Waco Correspondence of the Dallas News. The bicycle has entered the city canvass here as an important adjunct to those can- didates seeking to attend several ward meetings the same night. To neutralize the advantage possessed by the wheelmen, some of the other candidates have secured fast- moving horses. The bright moon, the good weather and the nearness of election day cause nightly meetjngs in all the wards. These meetings begin about 8 and close at 10.30 p.m., 80 that an active candidate can speak at several of them the same night. Waltham Watches Made by the American Waltham Watch Company are the best and most reliable timekeepers made in this or any other country. Ask to see the name “Riverside” or “Royal” engraved on the plates, and always the word “Waltham.” For sale by all retail jewelers. fe22-s.tu&th38t-40 Sessesseseeesssecsees eases § Wilson's Going Out of Business Sale. 3 Retiring Sale; {Reductions :On Shoes. —Not the ordinary surplus stock sale shoes, but fine fashionable footwear that all Washingtonians know the quality of. There is a genuine bargain here for you, but don’t delay, because there’s no telling when the sizes will become broken. Real values have been cut in this manner: All $2.50 Shoes, $1.68. All $3.00 Shoes, $1.95. All $3.50 Shoes, $2.68. All $4.00 Shoes, $2.95. All $4.50 Shoes, $3.19. All $5.00 Shoes, $3.85. All $6.00 Shoes, $4.15. —Lease and fixtures for sale. WILSON, High-grade Shoes, ‘929 F St. ap11-3m,80 POOPSESHCOSELE SOHO IOS EG6- PLDI IDI I NEW ! POPOIS PPO GGGS46G990 DO OOEETDE TOPS EHPELEPLEES SH PRP PPPed PERLE OPIOID POG GOOHHDG OG OD LO OOOMDEDSHIDODAOOODHODGH AO EDS: t LIFE —will be infused irto the system, and strength and vigor restored by the use of Hop Bitters. if you bave no appetite this is just | what you should take to restore it. Tue greatest known remedy for dys pepsia, biliousness, liver troubles, neural- ia, constipation and all spring complaints, For Sale in Washington by E. P. MERTZ, F and 11th Sts. fe24-1y-42 F % ; Electric Fans.! Time now to give them thought—to be 5 thinking of your comfort while at the okice this summer. No light is cooler than the elcetric light, and no power is more § stable, convenient and inexpensive. We can tell_vyou more about both. Call up = *phone 77. U. S. Electric Lighting Co., i 213 13th Street N. W._ up22-20d force i a5 Buy at Siccardi’s AND PAY LESS MONEY. 500 Switches at $1.50. 375 Switches at $2.50. 425 Switches at $3.50. 1,000 Front Pieces from $1.00 upward. Shampooing, Hairdressing and Manicuring by first-class artists. M. Siccardi, 711 11TH ST., next to Palais Royal. Late of 1224 Broadway, N. ¥. my4-20d Se SPS HOE EEE ;Equally Good fors sKilling Moths -¢ —as for killing any It kills ail k house. It's 80 € always fresh. Bed Bugs, Ants, about the house. TFL. cans, $0e.; Yelb., 1c. Saguple cans, 1c. 'W- Thompson, 793 8. Pharmacist, : isth. my8-28d S40 Hs - Ot Great Reduction Oo 40 20 @' In Hair. 50, formerly cl formerly ch formerly a formerly ches, 4.50, formerly First-class attendants in Hairdressing, Pooing, «te. our “Curlette” for retaining curl S. HELLER’S, 720 7th Street N. W. my7-200 MANLY MEN nd its pleasures. Have E—disease of the OUS SYSTEM or CATARRH? — Con- B. RENCH, 623 E st. n.w., grad- uate and registered physician. Office hours, 8 to li a.m., 1 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Sundays, 9 to 2, Prompt cures. No experiments. ‘Charges Yery_moderate. iny4-3m-12 you a BLOOD, You get the finest Hams in the world when you buy SMITHFIELD HAMS. _ Ai- ways perfectly cured. We have them—in small sizes. N. W. Burchell, 1325 F St. my8-14d Bad Odors bout the House * ** Place the life of every member of the *¢ family in danger. Much of the serious illness in summer is due direetly to the prevalence of foul odors. SANI- TAS DISINFECTANTS destroy all odors. Can be used in every room be- cause it has the sweet odor of pine. 40c._bottle. 7S. & 8. Vermin Exterminator, 50c. pint. Chemists, Scheller & Stevens, Gems... COR. 9TH AND PENNA, AVE. myS-20d NI eS . Terre e ey . eeeeseces 15 The very name plate, Columbia, is a distinctive “Caste” mark among bicyclists and bicyeles. Pope Mrfg Co., . J. Hert Brittain, Local Mgr., 452 Penna. ave. my8-38 :Prices Less ae Wholesale. 3 NOW’S YOUR CHAN TO BUY GROCERIE: Hotels, boarding houses and pri- vate families can how buy fine gro- cerice at much less than they cost at wholesale. We are closing ont the entire stock of Wines, Liquors, Wooden Ware, Cigars, etc.—and to make it sell faster we will offer bigger induce- Letts than ever for next few days. ©FCell and examine the goods and compare prices with those you have been paying. Groceries, Jas. L. Barbour and Son, Jno. A. Hamilton, Receiver, 614-616 Penna. Ave. LODOEH 400 FEO09-0-04-000005400006- Tried and True. MASON’S FAMOUS “CREAM” BISCUIT. It would be impossible to offer your cuests anything more delicious and suited to the most fastidious, than these same Cream Lise cuits, but be sure you have “Mason's.” Far superior to any “Cream Biscuit’? ever made. Don't forget. A for “Mason's” Famous Cream Biscuit. SUPPLIED TO THE TRADE BY Edw’d Derrick, Agent, FOR MASON BRANCH, 818 19TH ST. N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. Gray Hair ” Crystal Dise mh21-s,tu,th,tt ay OF 10 davs— r from. fall and makes the nicest dressing No sedi- al size, Tae. S438” TPH te auy part of my7-tf The woman who cooks the meals over a hot coal fire in summer is to be pitied! The best summer fuel is COKE. Housekeepers save time, trou- ble and worry by using it. No dit or clinkers. Inexpensive aan and best. 40 bushels (ancrushed) $2.90 40 bushels (crushed) $3.70 DELIVERED ANYWHERE. 413 10th St. N. W. or | : (WASH. GASLIGHT CO., ¢ WM. J. ZEH, 926 N st. "Phone 476. 28d wa Save $25 In buying the Crawford. You went the best—but In Bieye doesn't mean t The regular FORDS bas been redy is no superior—other and $40, Come to utral 7 my, ovr Ninth street Market, and examine e ted wheels. Si T TO CLUE Trimmed Hats Nearly Half-Price] No need to tell you that ours is the Most stylish millinery The Hats are now being sold at nearly half usual ‘Trimmed Hats for $4 SS Trimmed Hats for $5. $10 Trimmed Hats for $6. Roses Half Price! Just secured an Importer'’s balance of & Jot, of Hands es (all col- ors), thal Bee ‘Hutchinson’s’ Parlors, 1329 F St. my6-424 ‘Mezzo Tints” Please Every One. * _ Our photos ha * Bot we hav been” popular, always, made au photos that leased 80 many as our “Me Tints." hey are new—dainty—and finished in our best sty Just like steel engravings, LF Only $4 a dozen. W. H. Stalee, 1107 F St., Successor to M. B. BRADY. myS-164 COMPLEXIONS Are beautified by Dr. Hepburn’s Skin Soap. (“DBRMAREX”) my6-3m,12 SOLD EVERYWHERE. NE THING SURE—cur & Corn Shield will cure where have led. Bunions and Corns treated, 2c. up. Hours, $ to 8:30 pau. ‘Sanday, to 12, Prof. J. J. GEORGES & SOX, Chiropodists, 1115 Pa. av Dlustrated catalogue sent free. ap%-108 jon and all others