Evening Star Newspaper, July 4, 1896, Page 20

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1896-TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. ‘WiS» eee = <2 = CHICAGS ro Deep TIDEWATER ., TO WASHINGTON 8G. . BALTIMORE — 61 pPHILADELPHIA— 66) PesNORFOLK; NEW ORLEANS —9 1 50H Boston 860 PORTLAND —890| THE NATION'S RIVER Advantages ofthe Potomac asa Deep Water Outlet. CONTRAST WITH THE MISSISSIPPI Why Western Products Should Be Exported From Washington. A COMPARISON OF FIGURES ———— itten for The Evening Star. T HE ASSERTIONS that the Potomac is the nation’s best navigable river, that its commercial ca- pacity is four times that of the great Mis- sissippl, and that Washington is the nearest deep water harbor for the export of western grain and other products, are statements which at first thought seem in- credible. But with the ald of the accom- panying diagram, and a few facts and fig- ures, thelr accuracy can be demonstrated most conclusively. ‘The widespread lack of appreciation of the merits and possibilities of the Potomac arises ftom the fact that, while intended by nature as a great highway of commerce, it has never been used as such. The Missis- sipp!, on the contrary, while far inferior for purposes of navigation, has always been associated with trade, and known as a great transportation route to the seaboard. More than a century ago, before the era of railroads, before the United States had ac- quired control of the Mississ‘ppi, and also before the construction of the Erie canal, General Washington was an earnest advo- cate of a canal from the head of naviga- tion of the Potomac to the Ohio river, to strengthen the political and commercial ties between the Atlantic states and the west. Then—as it should be now—the Po- tomace river, the navigable portion of which extends as far westward as the longitude of Harrisburg, was considered a natural trunk line for commercial exchanges between the great interior and the seaboard. Another and striking evidence of General Washington's appreciation of the import- ance of the Potomac river for commercial purposes lies in the fact that the first step taken in regard to a convention to frame a constitution for the United States was the outgrowth of the necessity for regulations governing the navigation of the Potomac and Chesapeake bay. ‘This recognition of the importance of the river was long before the nation's capital was located upon its banks. Today it is the ‘waterway to the seaboard for the capital of the world’s greatest and richest nation, and therefore doubly important for military and naval as well as commercial use. Its Commercial Capacity. There is, perhaps, no better way to dem- onstrate the great commerctal capacity of the Potomac than by a contrast with the Mississippi. The trunk line of the Mizs!s- pi river system below St. Louis has as tributaries forty-four other rivers, inter- twenty-two states. It is a trunk em comprising 16,000 miles of and connecting them with the seaboard. For these and other reasons its commercial capacity is almost universally supposed to be many times that of the Potomac. But the re- verse 1s true, for the commercial capacity of the Potomac, meaning depth of naviga- tion, is four times that of the Mississippi. From Washington, which is the head of navigation, to the mouth of the river the Potomac has a channel at no point less than twenty feet at low tide. The Missis- sipp!, on the contrary, between St. Louis and Cairo, during the months of August, September, October and November, the sea- son of the year when needed for shipments of grain, has such a low stage of water, so shallow a channel, and so many sand bars, that it is almost useless for commer- cial purposes. So alarming is the condi- tion of the river that in February last a delegation of prominent citizens of St. Louis appeared before the House commit- tee on rivers and harbors to urge a new plan of improvement. In their arguments they gave the depth of channel for a serles of years. The figures for the last year are, however, sufficient to show the situation, viz.: Depth of channel from St. Louis to Cairo in 1895, August 1 to 10, 9 feet: Au- gust 10 to 31, 7 feet; September 1 to 15, 7 feet; September 15 to 30, 6 feet; October 1 to 31, 4 feet: November 1 to 30, no naviga- tion on account of low water; December 1 to 20, 3 feet. The Depth of the Potomac. In very marked contrast with the above are the facts relating to the Potomac. taken from a letter in 1890 by Lieut. Col. Peter C. Hains, the government engineer then in charge cf the improvements on the Po- tomae. “In reply to your oral inquiries in regard to the depth of water available for vessels between the mouth of the Potomac river and Washington, D.C., I have to state that from the mouth of the river to Kettle Bot- toms about thirty (80) feet can be carried at low tide. Over the Kettle Bottoms there is an available depth of about twenty-one (21) feet at low tide, cr about twenty-two and one-half (221-2) feet at high tide. From Kettle Bottoms to Maryland Point there is ample draft for the largest vessels. From Maryland Point to Deep Point there 1s about twenty-one (21) feet at low tide, or about twenty-two and one-half (22 1-2) feet at high tide. At Deep Point there is a shoal on which there is a depth of nineteen (12) feet at low tide, or twenty and one- half (201-2) feet at high tide. From there to Glesboro’ Point there is an available depth of from twenty-four to twenty-seven (24 to 27) feet at low tide. Along the wharves in Washington there is about twenty (20) feet at low tide. “The depth in the river could be increased to twenty-four (24) feet at low tide by deep- ening on Kettle Bottoms and between Mary- land Point and Deep Point, the cost of which would not, in my opinion, exceed about $200,000. This is not an estimate, but a guess. This is evidently a very conservative esti- mate of the possibilities, for the former president of the Alexandria board of trade, who for a period of twenty years was en- gaged in Potemac river transportation, and who was very familiar with the facts, said he would for $300,000, agree to provide a channel of twenty-nine feet throughout the whole length of the river. Short Line From the West. ‘Viewed from another standpoint the mer- {ts of the Potomac are equally strong in contrast. By reference to the accompany- ing diagram it will be seen that the air line distance from Chicago, the grain transportation center of the great wast, to deep tide water at Washington 1s shorter than to any other point on either the At- lantic or gulf seaboard. The contrast by air lines shown on the map Is very striking, but if made by actual railway lines the showing would ve equally favorable to the Potomac. The Exports of Grain. In this connection it is interesting to note the grand transformation scene which has recently occurred in the shipments of grain from the west.to the seaboard. Until re- cently New York controlled the lion’s share ot the grain export trade of the United States, the grain going there by way of the —right in there!” great lekes and Erie canal, as well as by sail. But New York is rapidly failing i hind in the race, as may be seen by ¢! following statement of the export of corn, by ports, for the month of January of the present year: ae From Portland. From Boston. From New York. From Philadelphia. From Baltimore. From Norfolk.. oe From Newport News. From New Orlean: Total. : 100 As tke exports from Baltimore, as well as Norfolk and Newport News, have to Pass through the mouth of Chesapeake kay, the total exports of corn from that one point were, in January, 50.2 per cent, or a trifle more than half of the corn ex- perts of the whole United States. With these indisputable facts there is no earthly reason why Washington, with its fine harbor, its unexcellent river, and its great advantage in point of distance from the west, should not enter the race asa competitor for the ocean-carrying trade. ‘Washington Harbor. There are very few harbors on either the gulf or Atlantic coasts superior to that of Washington, either in Present depth of water or in possibilities for the future when proper improvements are made. One of the most prominent subjects for discus- sion by commercial conventions in the trausmississippi portion of. the United States, which country now prcduces over half of the corn and wheat, is a deep- water outlet on the gulf coast. After years of effort, aided by an appropriation of over $6,000,000, Galveston has just secured a depth of channel of twenty-one feet for ocean vessels. Washington has nearly that depth today, and with one-tenth part of the appropriation just mentioned could eas- ily secure twenty-nine feet. Coal Shipments. Few harbors have so great and important tributary coal fields as Washington. The great coal areas of West Virginia, tapped by the West Virginia Central rallroad, could here find a deep-water harbor. For some time past this. company has desired to secure the Chesapeake and Ohio canal as a road bed to Washington. Very re- cently it has contracted for the extension of the road westward to the Ohio river. ‘With an eastern extension to Washington the pet idea of Gen. Washington to make the Potomac a connecting link between the Ohio river and the Atlantic would be con- summated, but by rail instead of by canal. For carrying out this plan there are am- ple terminal facilities at Georgetown, or on the southern bank of the Potomac between Washington and Alexandria. There is no better way to promote the development of greater Washington than by securing tributary transportation lines of this magnitude. The right hand of wel- come should be extended to every well- planned movement in this direction. During the past sixteen years Congress has appropriated over $36,000,000 for the improvement of the trunk line of the Mis- sissippi. About $30,000,000 more have been appropriated during the past century for the improvement of the Miss!ssippl, Ohio, Missouri, Red, Arkansos, White and other branches of that great river system. Many millions more will be needed, and will be appropriated before the trunk line is in a suitable condition for the transportation of the products of the great Mississippi valley. But the Mississippi has been termed ‘the river of the nation and of all the states,” and therefore requires the special attention of the federal government. The same argument can be applied to the Potomac, which connects the federal capi- tal with the seaboard. It is pre-eminentl the nation’s river, and should, hereaftei receive due consideration by the nation’s representatives in Congress. ALEX. D, ANDERSON. —_—.—__ THE HORSE'S SIXTH SENSE. Strange Action of Two Horses Cross- ing the Prairies. From the New York Mercury. The exodus from the east to the Pacific coast in the early 50's is a matter of his- tory. Gold discoveries furnished the mo- tive, and the American instinct to “go west” gave the movement its impetus. I was stopping with a family in Illinois. ‘Yhere were four grown sons and two daughters, and five other young men— “hands.” ‘The imagination of the young men became inflamed by the stories of fabulous for- tunes made by those who were brave enough to undergo the hardships and privations consequent upon removing to the west at that time, and the ardor of young blood finally overcame the objections of age, the farm was leased to a neighbor, and we soon found ourselves on our way to the “bound- less west.” We hed three wagons, drawn by four oxen each; one wagon drawn by two horses, and having ten mares and a stallion and some fifty head of loose cattle, cows and heifers. We got across the Missouri river and our only sustenance thereafter for our stock was grass, and our only object for the sum- mer was to put as many miles as possible between us and civilization. ‘We used two mares to drive the loose cat- tle, which left seven, and sometimes eight to take along, and as the cattle and horses do not drive well together, it required two persons to handle them. That part of the cavalcade was turned over to me, with a twelve-year-old boy as assistant. In course of time it came about that I was sent on ahead to find a suitable camping ground, or back after a stray cow, or to communicate with the trains behind us. There was a large emigration that year, and the road was lined with trains, and I was often away from our train until late in the night. On returning from these trips the camp or train was hard to find, as they very often went off the road to camp, sometimes as far asa mile. 1 soon found that the stal- lion and a young bay mare could always find our company, while no other of the mares in our band could do it, at least, not so well. Either of the animats referred to could tell in a moment where our train had left the road, or if it had passed along, even if hundreds of other horses and cattle had Passed after. And they would follow on and find our company as unerringly as a hound finds his game. The horse, when he could see the band, would neigh and go to them, but the mare depended altogether on tracing, and did not appear to look for the others until quite close upon them. One afternoon I went away to look up a stray cow, which was supposed to have wandered off among ihe hilts up the creek. This was in the Platte river country, where there is little or no timber except along the river. I traveled along up the creek and over the hills, but found no cow. As night was approaching, and a storm brewing, I abandoned the search and struck out for camp. To retrace the route I had traversed would have taken more time than I had at my disposal, and accordingly 1 struck over the hills toward the river and across a bottom several miles wide. Night came, and with it a driving rain. It was very dark, but I knew the road was ahead of me somewhere. So I gave the mare her head, and trusted to luck and ker ability for tracking,which I was unable to comprehend. It was a smooth, open country, and, as go- ing on was no worse than stopping, I al- lowed the mare to take me whither she would. She walked steadily along, and after a while stopped, put down her head, and whin- nied. I dismounted and found we were in the road. I remounted, shook loose the bridle reins and urged the mare forward. She tracked a few steps along the road un- decidedly, then turned and took the back trail. She went perhaps half a mile, turned abruptly to the right, went around a grove of trees into a bend of the river, and there was our camp light in a tent. People say that animals do this by scent, but in this I cannot agree. I think animals have some faculty which we have not yet been able to discover. Probably 800 horses and cattle, with wagons and people, had passed over the road, yet the mare knew that her company was not among them. To suppose that she “followed by scent” is to attribute to her the power of excluding other and much stronger scents, and also & power and delicacy of smell very difficult for us to conceive of. The question sug- gests itself: Have animals a sixth sense, that we, as yet, do not know of? —___-e-____ Scientific Girl. From Up-to-Date. Miss Fodderingham—‘What a thoroughly up-to-date girl Miss Kittish is.” Miss Bellingham—“What has she dcne now?” Miss F—“Since eminent medical author- ity has pronounced kissing dangerous she carries a small vial of carbolized rose- water about with her.” NipBSone Reeasaca SOME SOCIAL TOPICS Experience of Young: Men and Women of the Period. DID THEIR PARENTS HATE MORE FON? Some Reasons Why Sécial Affairs Are Apt to Be Formal. ‘t PAST AND PRESENT THAPPHNED l that our mothers were discussing down stairs in the big re- ception hall just what we were dis- cussing up stairs in \ May's room over slices of thin bread and butter, and the @ tea cups. Our moth- ers dwelt on the “used to was,” and we on the prosaic “1s.” The topie was this: Whether our parents really did have a better time in their youth than we have now, and why. May thought it was largely a fiction, the story of the fun of twenty odd years ago; but I argued that— making due allowances for the inevitable glamor of time—our parents are, as a general thing, pretty truthful folk, and there is good ground for believing them. If it was the case, then, May wondered why. I suggested as the most obvious rea- son that boys and young men had more “go” in those days; but she replied to that that it is a standing complaint of her brother Tom’s that girls were most likely a lot jollier then. Just at this point my mother called me, so there was no time for further discus- sion, On the way home she told me that she and May’s mother had been comparing notes on the same subject. It began there by May’s mother asking my mother what I had been doing during the past fort- night, to which she replied that there had been a dance or so and some teas and card parties, a luncheon and a dinner, and calls and being called upon. The next question was, “Does she enjoy herself?” It seems that thereupon my mother held forth, in fact, they both did, on the inani- tion of the girls of today. They arrived at the conclusion that we are overcritical, easily bored, saying girls are silly and men are dull nine times out of ten, and that we much prefer staying at home in peace to enjoying ourselves a3 rational young wo- men should. When they were girls, it ap- pears, they went in for everything heart and soul. They never sat out dances be- cause they were tired, forsooth, or because thelr partners didn’t happen to be just the right ones; they never thought of criticis- ing the cooking or serving of a dinnéi they left that to older folks, ta whom ea! ing appears to be the main object in life; they never complained—like a set of fat or rheumatic tabbies—that ft was too much trouble to dress for a luncheon; the dis- comforts of picnics went ‘totaly unheede in fact, I gather that they -rather liked bugs and gnats in their chicken salad, and wet shoes and stockings, and prickly burrs and hayseed, and dust and Sitting cross- legged on the ground until théir feet went to sleep as the only way iof escaping from the agony of the position in which they were placed. ’ Went in for Fun. - They never complained that they would rather not have danced the cotillon than to have had to dance it with Dick; they were never bothered about a man’s mental equipment, or whether or not he was a good talker. They went. in for fun, and didn’t expect too much, and. they enjoyed themselves a great deal more. It was urged against May that when ‘any one sent her violets she was only half pleased, be- cause they were not roses, and when they Were roses, violets were preitier; further- more, that she left them lying about, as often as not, forgetting to put them in water. To be sure, she thanks the sender sweetly, but the spirit of carping !s there. Our mothers were tickled hugely, I sup- pose, if it were a poetical bunch of pansies. Perhaps we would rather have a tiny, thoughtful bunch of pansies, too, if they only knew it; would rather have them than dollars and dollars’ worth of expensive, polite carnations and vielets, for we aré not all Marguerites, and we do not always prefer the box of jewels to .he bunch of Posies, wise men to the contrary notwith- Standing. The mothers could not determine whether or no it was a pose, or whether we were really bored and indifferent. ‘They thought that perhaps we were trying to model our- selves upon Mr. Davis’ girl in “The Hand- writing on the Wall.” I thiuk, myself, that most of us look upon her as a bright, shining type of a perfection to which we can never even hope to attain. Our worst fault—in this respect—is that we want to be allowed to go the even tenor of our Ways, reading, walking, riding, wheeling, writing, embroidering, practicing and pot. tering around the house. In my eyes, though, they might have worse things to complain of. We don’t want our friends to interfere with us, and we are like old and crabbed people in the smallness of our circle, and also in the fact that we have no chum in whom we confide o feelings. They admitted that we are not pessimistical with ft all. That we are quite ordinarily cheerful young women, but we accept these “pleasures” as tiresome duties that might as well be smilingly performed, since they must be performed, in any case’ Therefore, the outside world does not guess that we are rectuses in spirit. = The Edge Dullea. My mother, wishing to palliate our of- fense as much as possible, suggested that Perhaps our dislike of “society” was be- cause we had too much of it. When they were girls, she said, they never put their noses in at a party until they were regu- larly launched at eighteen or nineteen, and then they married a year or two later, as a rule, and settled down, so they really aid not have time to become tired and dull the keen edge of enjoyment. Then May’s mother bewailed the fact that there was no more of the good com- radeship between the girls and young men that they had known; no simple, enjoyable friendships, as in years agone. When they were young the boys and girls gathered around every evening in different houses and had a jolly, informal time. It seems that you never see any of that now. We go to regular affairs and dance in a half. hearted sort of way, or play cards like a lot of gouty old squires, and think that to be coolly polite and agregable is all that should be expected of us. They held a long pow-wow, these two, and talked around in a ‘circle, ending up just where they began; that’ in some way We are deficient. And then I gave my mother some new ideas tpoW the subject, and pleaded our cause; and this ig about what I argued: a We always know more thah our parents, of course, and it would be strange if we didn’t in this case. Le To begin with, I rathér tHink distance has lent enchantment td those days of thelr youth. I wonder {f: our grandmam- mas didn’t inveigh again#t their spiritless daughters? It makes mé think of some verses. I read once in mi¥ cHildhood that did my small heart so much god then that I have remembered themeyet since. They were to the effect that “Mamma says she never did this and never did the other; was never rude, and never forgot’ her lessons never tore her frock, nor dtfank her papa’s tea; but grandma says she was just like me when she was grandma's little girl.” My own particular mother undoubtedly was more charming than I am: and my own papa may have been more gallant than my brother, but I decidedly doubt whether the sum total of mothers and fathers was more charming and gallant than is the sum total of daughters and sons today. Formality of Society. It.seems to me I remember that I had a far better time at seventeen than I do now —and that was not so dreadfully long ago, either—but I see by my carefully treasured diary that I was very nearly as critical then as now. Then, too, civilization and communities and formality grow together. The wild hi- ur inmost larity of a corn husking cannot obtain in Boston, New York, Washington or even San Francisco. The older society gets, thy more intolerant of the informality of you it grows, until it is a crabbed ol of Tules that no one quite dares to bre: It isa molanchaly fonecar but it seems highly probable that as on we will reach the fearful pass to ich French young people’s society has come. It is not quite so bad in Engiand, but we consider even that perfectly deadly. It is partially —largely, in fact—formality that begets our lack of enthusiasm, and as society is ac- countable for formality, it is plainly soci- res here not we who are to blame. irdly. I should say we were surely the last to upbraid because there is none of the good friendship between men and girls thet our parents knew; friendship with no thought of love or “intentions,” and also none of the jolly gatherings at different homes for informal evenings. I venture to Say that there is not one house in five hun- dred where one ever sces more than the drawing room,with its stiff Louls XV orX VI. furniture. When young men go to the aver- age house, they are conducted to this room, and are obliged to seat themselves upon awkward little chairs. The young ledy of the house comes down alone. They talk of the weather, of what is “on” for the next week and of the last problem novel. What else could one talk of in a Louis XVI chair? If the man endures It twenty minutes he is brave; and he does not fre- quently repeat the experiment. Or if he can muster up the courage to come oftener than once a season, straightway the girl begins to think that if he can stand that much for her he must be in love, and ho knows she must think so. The Family Sitting Room. If he is in love—which of course he is not the largest number of times —it is all right; but if he is not and simply is trying to improve an agree- able acquaintance, people begin to link his name with the girl's, and he is more or less in honor bound to put a stop to the wagging of tongues by staying away. In our mother’s day John came into the bos- om of Mary’s family in the sitting room. He talked politics with her father and held yarn for her mother, and watched her em- broider as she talked—no—she did tatting. He saw the small brother in all his hide- ousness and considered Mary a saint for enduring him. As for brother’s truthful if not polite reflections upon Mary’s beha- vior before her beaus and behind their backs, John considered them the emana- tions of a depraved nature. What incentive to a jolly congregation is there in a spick-and-span drawing room, too, I would like to know? And yet in how many houses do you ever see more? To how many houses do you go where a caller who chances in at the hour of a meal is cordially asked in to partake of pot luck? Besides all this, if we are contented— knowing nothing better—with our lot, why not leave us alone? Why waken vague lengings for things we know not of? After all, perhaps we are just as happy and just as well off, that we go more quietly through life. Possibly we are possessed of few illusions, but then there are not so many to be shattered, and to rend our hearts with their broken fragments and be stepped on now and then by our weary, Way-worn feet all through the passage of life. If we like to be let alone after we have had our little experience, let us alone. If we prefer home, and our own qutet pur- suits, you are doing us a mistaken kind- ness to urge us out and to action before the world all the while. If we would as lef watch the dancers as dance, it can be no duty of yours to send us into the whirl. Do not mistake it for laziness and inani- tion. Never was the young world less lazy than it 1s today, only perhaps {ts activity is in ancther direction from the one you know. We are happy in our way despite problem novels and morbid books. I do hot even claim that we are more serious than you were, only that we take our pleasures differently perhaps. There are still enough men and women who like to be eternally on the go and in evtdence, to make e up the ranks of what is called so- so my advice to parents is, let the sons and the daughters, more especiall. retire into their shells if they like; very probably they will tire of that soon enough, too, for they have at least all the caprice of youth and will sigh for the things that are not—wherein, we understand, they dif- fer from the more mature. — MONUMENT TO LOYALISTS. Patriots of the South Honored by Some Unknown Abolitionist. From the Chicago Chronicle. Since Decoration day members of the Con- federate Veterans’ Association have paid some attention to what appeared to them to be an exhibition of sentiment against their organization and their dead in Oakwoods cemetery and an effort to displease the liv- ing. Decoration day several members of the association noticed a bowlder of brown marble on the east line of the confederate plat. It occupied all the space between the confederate plat and the roadway. The side showing to the road was polished, and the following inscription appeared upon the bioc! CBNOTAPH. To those unknown heroic men, Once resident in the southern states, Martyrs of human freedom, Who, at the breaking out of the civil war, Refured to be traitors to the Union; Who, without moral or material support, Stood alone among ruthless enemies, And, after upspeakable suffering, elther Died at their post of duty Or, abandoning home and possessions, Sought refuge And scant bread for their families Among strangers at the nort ‘To these poor patriots, who, i Without bounty, without pay, : Without pension, without honor, : Went to their grav Without recognition, even by thefr country, This stone 1s raised and inscribed, : After thirty years of waiting, By one of themselves, AN EXILED ABOLITIONIST. While L. H. Drury Post of the Grand Army of the Republic was assisting the confederate dead a gray-haired man, ac- companied by half a dozen companion: stood in front of the “Exiled Apolitionist’s monument and placed a wreath of immor- telles on top of the marble block. The con- federates who noticed the monument spoke to their fellows about it after the party had left the cemetery, and the Sunday following, and again yesterday, the block of marble attracted many curlous visitors, who read and reread the inscription. The plat upon which the monument to the loyal men of the south rests was purchased last summer, shortly after the unveiling of the confederate monument. The block of marble was placed in position during the winter. Inquiry at the cemetery office yes- terday failed to elicit*the name of the owner of the plot and the donor of the monument. Bismarck as a Hand-Organist. From the Youth’s Companion, It is credibly related by a German journal that during the reign of the Emperor Wil- lism I, when the present emperor was a bey, Prince Bismarck, walking one day through a corridor of the royal palace at Berlin, came upon a strange scene. Hear- ing within a room which he passed a great racket, he opened the door and saw the young grandson of the emperor dancing about, while their father, the crown prince, ground at ‘handle of a hand-organ. All were in high spirits, and seeing the chancellor, the young princes laughingly in- vited him to join in the dance. Prince Bis- marck declined, but he offered to turn the organ if the crown prince would join his sons. The crown prince consented, and the chancellor turned the handle with great animation. The laughter and sport grew louder with the increased speed of the playing. Just then the old emperor came in. He took in the situ@ion at a glance. “q see, my lord chancellor,” he said with a smile, “that you are beginning early to make the princes dance to your music! If the incident was accepted as prophetic, it was soon proved illusive. The eldest, at least, of the old emperor's grandsons—the present emperor—has never since then danced to any one’s music but his own. Sita eo eras Cycling Chaperons, From London Truth. I have been desired to insert the following notices: “Wanted, by a dowager, too aged to ride a cycle (eighty-four), an experienced lady cyclist accustomed to the very best society. Must be able to ride twenty miles an hour, so as to keep in sight youngest daughter, who is agile and Injudicious. Apply to A. B. C., 62 Belgrave square.” “A lady, highly connected, is prepared to chaperon (on a cycle) the ambitious daugh- ters of a millionaire. Is an expert in all paces (cycling). Can be trusted to keep alongside of the swiftest detrimental and to lag discreetly in the rear of an eligible elder son.” t WHAT WE OWE TO HOLLAND. Many Dutch People Intermarried With the Puritans, From the Chicago Tribune, The Holland tongue is a dialect of the Teutonic, or primitive German, but took a distinct form at the close of the eleventh century. It is a fusion of dialects, a mixed language, like our own English. In sound it is neither soft nor musical, yet dignified, senorous and emphatic, almost every poly- syllabic word being descriptive of the ob- Ject it designates. ‘To the Dutch Coster is conceded the glory of having discovered the art of printing— “the art preservative of all arts”—else we might have been writing on parchment to- day. Who knows? The correct version of the Scripture owes its origin to the synod of Dordrecht in 1618. The oldest literary compositions of the Dutch are very similar to the Platt- Deutsch of the Germans, which is to Ger- many what Provencal is to France. The great Erasmus was the literary king of Christendom and the first to teach the classic Greek to the English. In fact, Holland is a country noted for first things. When the Pilgrims sought ref- uge in Holland they lived within sight of the greatest university of Europe. The light of Leyden’s learning shone brightly all over Europe in the eighteenth century. That part of England from which the set- tlers of New England came swarmed with Dutch immigrants, weavers and brick- makers, and it became the very seed-plot of Congregationalism and Nonconformity, an outgrowth of Dutch Calvinism. As many went to England from the Dutch province of Friesland, Friesish was grafted ento the Anglo-Saxon and became one of the forbears of our own language. The Dutch laid the foundation for manufactur- ing and commercial supremacy in Great Britain. Although devoted to industrial pursuits, they were the inventors of ofl painting. “The first smile of the republic was art.” It seems a little out of place to say they invented ofl painting; the invention was more of an inspiration, when we view the masterpieces of Rembrandt, whose pic- tures are a conflict between light and shadow—of whom it had been said that, When conceiving them, he had visions of rays and shadows which spoke to his soul before he committed them to canvas. Dutch Influence on America. When the Pilgrims went to Hol.and some of them took to themselvss Dutch wives and brought them to America, so that the Mayflower strain isn't purely English. The Puritans, who came into New England ten years later, have conferred upon posterity @ purer English ancestry, providing the immigrants were not from the Dutch set- ted portions of England. Nearly all the military leaders of our colonists were train- ed in the Dutch armies. The founders of Connecticut, politically educated in Hol- lend, took as a model in writing Connecti- cut’s constitution the Dutch republic. see A Popular Aquatic Plant. J. T. Lovett in Farm and Home. There is no other class of plants so rap- idly growing in public favor as aquatics, and there are many gocd reasons for their popularity. They are successfully ratsed with great ease, and are not affected by long seasons of drouth, such as have prevailed during recent years. While the beauty of old garden fevorites has been impaired by drouth, aquatics have bloomed on in annua? beauty. Aquatics not only bid defiance to drcuth, but the hotter and brighter the weather the more profusely they bloom. The great beauty and merit of the flowers are the chief reasons of their popularity. The home culture of aquatics Is very simple. Grand results may be secured by these who have means to construct large tanks, but these accom- modating plants can be raised to much perfection in tubs made of ofl or molasses barrels cut in two. These tubs can be grouped in a rockery or arranged in a row, and be Prepared about the middle of May by filling them half full with a mixture of loam and manure; plant the roots in them and then cover with an irch or so of sand to give a neat finish, as the water soon be- comes perfectly clear and pure, made so by growing plants. These plants may also be planted from one to three feet deep on the margin of a lake or pond, and will grow and bloom admirably without trouble or care. The true sacred Egyptian lotus produces leaves twenty to thirty inches in diameter on stems five to six feet high. The double blooms are frequently over a foot across, of a novely milk white, shading into clear bright pink at the edges. They are easy to grow, and most profuse bloom- ers. The tubers should be planted below the ice or fros line 1f to be left out over winter. —_—__—_-e-_______ Fought With Fresh Eggs. From the Los Angeles Herald. Mrs. Riley, who keeps a boarding house at 419 Geary street, and Margaret St. Clair, one of her lodgers, engaged yester- day in a novel fight. It is asserted that Miss St. Clair purchased a bag of fresh eggs and requested Mrs. Riley to allow her to cook some of them on her stove. Mrs. Riley objected. Then, it is stated, Miss-St. Clair got into action. One after another of the choice eggs were thrown at the landlady’s head. The young woman was a good shot, and by the time the twelfth egg had been smashed among the frizzes of Mrs. Riley’s front-piece that lady was in a deplorable condition. She was mad, too—very mad—and she dcubled up her fists and struck her lodger a blow in the eye. Miss St. Clair is something of a pugi- list herself. She sent in a right swing, and a cry of pain from Mrs. Riley announced that it had landed. Then there was some close in-fighting. Fer a time things were pretty lively. The two women were finally separated by some of the lodgers. Later Mrs. Riley had Miss St. Clair arrested on the charge of battering her with eggs. a --8e A Bicycle Road Tax. From the Pittsburg Commercial Gazette. The move is advocated in Philadelphia of levying a tax of $1 upon al] owners and rid- ers of bicycles, and that the sum collected be set apart for the improvement of the city streets in their interests. As an amend- ment the Record of that city offers the sug- gestion that the tax be levied by the state instead of the city, to the end that the roads throughout the state be improved for the benefit of people who ride the wheel. Peo- ple are opposed to taxation on general prin- ciples, whether it benefits them or not, and the votaries of the wheel probably will not be found special exceptions to the rule, though the cycling clubs have done a large amount of work and spent in the aggregate an immense amount of money in road and path work, which has inured not alone to their benefit, but also to the advantage of the general public. Certain it is that the wheel people would not cheerfully pay the proposed dollar tax, or even a less sum, if the application of it to the benefit of the roads were to be left to the discretion of the road supervisors and pathmasters. Their journeyings over the covntry roads have not begotten much con- fidence in the makers thereof, except where the latter have been interested wheelmen themselves. In the event of the levying of such a tax they would be justly entitled to demand the expending of it in ways desig- nated by them—that is to say, with particu- lar reference to the wants of those footing the bill. They would kick, as they would be entitled to, upon paying it Into a gener: fund for country road making by the gen- eral methods now followed. MITE OF A MONKEY BABY. The Second Born in Twenty Years in the New York Zoo. From the New York Journal. The Missing Link is at the Central Park Zoo. It is a mite of a monkey mannikin, born Friday night. When Watchman Don- oghue discovered it Saturday morning it almost paralyzed him to see the father pacing excitedly up and down the cage, while the mother held the little one io her breast with maternal solicitude. The birth of a -nonkey in captivity is one of the rarest of things, and this is only the second time it has occurred at the Zoo in twenty years. The Missing Link has fine features and form, and if it were not for its size and its tail it might readily be taken for a human baby. From head to heel it meas- ures only four inches. Its head is like a big marble, and on it is funny black fuzz, parted in the middle. Its ears are the size of dimes; its hairless arms are like pencil its fingers ure like pins, and they cling to ite mothe furry coat. It squirms; it wriggles; it jabs its mother in the stomach, and insists upon keeping her awake, just as if it were really human. And the mother walks up and down, gurg- lingly sings to-it and thinks it the finest baby ever born. She will not let the little one out of her arms for a mon.ent. The father is dist onsolate. His wife and child have been taken from him and placed in the hospital ward, and he mopes in a corner of his lonely cage with tearful ey: Max, the Bellrinzer, is the father. He was presented to the Zoo a year and a half ago by Dr. Suttle, because he used to es- cape from home and ring neighbors’ door bells. Cleopatra, the mother, was given to the Zoo # year ag> by Mrs. H. Rowland. ~—ee-—_____ U tended Humor. From the Philadelphia American, Since “wit” has been defined by Noah Webster as the “felicitous association of objects not usually connected, so as to pro- duce a pleasant surprise,” may not the pu- pils of public schools, who gave the follow- ing answers to their examination questions, lay claim to it? The record here given is bena fide, having been read recently at the graduation exercises of one of the leading grammar schools of Bosto! “Who were the Pilgrims?” “A dirty, filthy set who lived under the ground.” “Name a domestic animal useful for cloth- ing, and describe its habits. “The ox. He don’t have any habits, because he lives in @ stable.” “If you were traveling across the desert, where would you Choose to rest?” “I would rest on a stool.” “Mention five races of men.” men, children and babies.” “Describe the white race, and show that it 1s superior to other races.” “A white man will nod at you when he meets you on the street.” “Of what is the surface of the earth com- posed?” “Dirt and people.” fame a fruit which has its seed on the outside.” “A seed cak ‘Name five forms of wate cold wate ice water. “Name and locate the five senses.” “The eyes are in the northern part of the face an@ the mouth in the southern.” “Who were the mound builders?” “‘His- tory cannot answer these questions. Scl- ence only can.” “Define “flinch,” and use St in a sentence.” “Flinch, to shrink. Flannel flinches when it is washed.” “By what is the earth surrounded, and by what is {t lighted?” “It ts surrounded by water and lighted by gas and electricity “Name six animals of the arctic zone.” “Three polar bears and three seals. “What is yeast?” “Yeast is a vegetable flying about in the air, hitching itself on to anything.” “Why do you open the damp. when lighting a fire?” ~” in and the nitrogen out.” “What did the Constitution do for the country?” “It gave the President a head.” “What are the last teeth that come to @ man?” “False teeth.” “Men, wo- “Hot water, faucet water, well water and rs in a stove To let the oxygen — Corn Started in Flower Pots. From the Philadelphia Ledger. Isaac S. Long, who owns 600 acres of farming land in the Lebanon valley, has made an experiment in corn-planting which will undoubtedly prove of interest to agri- culturists at large. In planting corn he is very precise, putting exactly the same number of stalks in each row, and for years he had the finest corn fields in the Lebanon valley. Some ths ago he came te the conclusion that if he planted corn in flower pots and raised the plants in that way there would be no delay in their growth in case any of the corn had to be replanted in his fields. So he purchased 5,000 flower pots, placed them in his garden. this spring, and planted a seed of corn in each. Several weeks ago, when it became necessary to replant the corn fields, a hole was dug wherever there was a stalk mit ing, and one of the tender corn stalks was transplanted from the pots. The potted stalks grew well, and are just as large as those planted in the field in the spring. This experiment was made on Mr. Long's farm, near Myerstown, Pa. Mr. Long is a member of a firm of commission mer- chants in New York city, and divides his time between the management of his busi- ness there and his fine farms. ——____++ The Poser Was Blind. From the Chicago Tribune. He had followed her for blocks. Un- noticed, the hundred sights of State street passed him by. He saw neither the win- dow displays nor the fair women, nor the brave men, nor the policemen on the cross- ings. He had eyes for none but her. He did not notice even the friend upon whose arm she leaned. “Wonderful!” he muttered into his mus- tache. “Beautiful! I have never seen any- thing like it. If I could but paint the poise of her head! Still, it would be useless; no one would believe it.” He was not the only one who had no- ticed her. Others looked after her in ad- miration. In all that crowded street, from Randoiph to Van Buren, she was the only Woman who did not crane her neck, look first over one shoulder, then over the other. She faced the way she was going, and the carriage of her head was that of a goddess. He quickened his steps and came opposite her. Covertly he peered into her face. The woman was blind! Working in High B From the New York Su: Some of the men who spend half a dozen hours or more a day in rooms on top floors of sky-scraping office buildings are talking atout a new ailment that they alleze is the result of doing business so far from the ground. “I never was troubled with headac Aizziness,” said one of these me moved into my present officc ticed that about an hour after I had settled dewn to business my head would feel and at times I would be slightly diz- . These feelings, on certain days, in- creased the longer I remained in my of- fice, and half an hour after 1 had descend- ed to the street they would disappear. Sev- eral other men who are on the top floors of big office buildings have complained of similar symptoms, and on comparison we have come to the conclusion that they were produced by the same causes. Possibly the fact that the air is slightly more rarifed at the altitude at which we work may ac- count for this feeling of uneasiness.” dings. until I Then I no- “Ah! You may laugh, but when you've had my experience you will know that can't be too careful when the season for firecrackers and tin kettles arrives.”—Life.