Evening Star Newspaper, September 19, 1896, Page 20

20 THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1896-TWENTY-TWO PAGES. NEW GOLD CAMP A Visit to Bich Deposits Lying Near Salt Lake City. VAST QUANTITIES OF LOW-GRADE ORE | Wonderful Extent of the Mercur District and Its Possibilities. DOWN IN THE DEPTHS — (Copyright, 1896, by Frank G. Carpenter.) SALT LAKE CITY, September 14, 1896. HE MOST WON- pee derful of the new PD gold regions of the = United States is now ‘ being developed with- in three hours’ by rail of Salt Lake City. It is only thir- ty miles away, as the crow files, and its treasures have until now lain undisturbed within almost walk- ing distance of one of the liveliest centers of the west. For years some of the most expert miners in the United States have worked in or near it. It is known as the Mercur mining district, and it {s on the site wiere Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston had his camp at the time of the Utah war. Be- tween 1870 and 1880 it was known as a sil- ver region, and in one mine a single pocket of silver produced $120,000, some of the ore averaging $2,000 to the ton. At this time the late Senator Hearst and Marcus Daly were among the mine owners. The assay- ers told them that the district contained gold, but they could find no color in the rock and no paying means of getting out the gold. Marcus Daly reduced the ore to powder, and day after day panned and washed it looking for gold: At last he threw down his pan in disgust and said that the assayer was a fraud. He left Utah and went to Montana, where he bought the Alice mine, and from it devel- oped the biggest copper region of the world. America’s Johannesburg. And still this district is now said to con- tain more than enough gold to pay the na- tional debt. I have gone through one mine which has’ already produced more than a million dollars" worth of gold, and which has paid to its stockholders a half million dollars in dividends. Other mines have been opened which have gold ore in sight of an estimated value of more than $10,000,- 000, within the past eighteen morths | more than 2:4 mining claims have been within it. It is aow producing x) worth of gold a day, and I see | mated that {ts product this year The camp, as ned, 's only abcut | been. made possi- | the invention of the new cya- 5 for getting gold out of the . the gold is being mined at t. in all probability, than in any uning district in the world. Its ore | h like that of the Rand mining « nuth Africa that the people amed it the Johannesburg of Ameri- n be mined und treated, m half the cost cf the td.The charge for reducing pple Creek is $7.50 mist of the great Me: the cost of minin shine mine, about four miles a an be dug out and turned 1 for less than Th-re are already five « m in the di: trict, z there are others in course of construct.on. Three Golden Blankets. But let me give you some idea of th Jast great gold discovery of the world. ‘The story is so wonderful that I fear to write what I believe to be the truth, lest I be cherged with exaggeration. Imagine, if you can, three great blankets of golden rock, cach from five to fifty feet thick, ly- ing one above the other, with blankets of shale between them. Let these blankets begin about four miles above the town of Mercur, at a distance of a mile and a half above the sea, and let them slope off in the shape of an inclined plane, cropping out here and there through the mountains and valley for a distance of eight miles. Let the biankets be nearly a mile wide, and let the golden treasures within them be worth all the way from $5 to $2,000 per ton, and you have some {dea of this won- derful camp. The gold does not Ife in little veins between walls of granite, as in other alone for a million. | property for about $10,000. mines. It is distributed with much regu- larity through these enormous blankets, so sky as clear as that of Italy, and all about us rise the great shaft houses of the work- ing mines. In the nest or valley, winding about in the shape of a horseshoe, is the town of Mercur. It contains 2,000 people, and it consists of shanties running along the one street which skirts the gully. This street is filled with men, the most of whom have their pants in their boots and who wear no coats, their flannel shirts being stuck into their trousers. At first you think they are lazy, but you soon learn that they are miners, and that the mines work day and night, in eight-hour shifts, so that there are always men off duty walt- ing for their turn to work. About Mercur the mines are to be seen on all sides. At one end of the horseshoe are the Golden Gate mines. Those rude, factory-like build- ings with what seem to be gravel banks beside them are they. The gravel banks are piles of ore, and that dust is worth $15 a ton as it les out there under the sky. Back and to the left of the Golden Gate is the great Marion mine, whose mill has been grinding up fifty tons of rock a day since 1808, and which has three miles of tunnels through solid ore with 200,000 tons of gold-bearing rock in sight. Further on is the Geyser mine,which 1s now producing fifty tons of ore a day at a cost of $1.77 a ton, and adjoining them is the Brickyard shaft houses, sq called be- cause the mines connected with them are under the site of an old brickyard. Facing the Golden Gate mine behind you, several miles down the canon, are the great Sun- shine works, where the golden blankets are sald to be seventy feet thick, and where great timbers, the structure being built up- ward the gold ore is taken out. The tunnels were so wide that we could walk through them without stooping, and so high that we appeared at times to be passing through vaulted corridors. Every few yards ‘we passed openings where other tunnels quite as wide jutted off, and in many places there were spouts or chutes down which the ore was rolled and loaded into the cars by gravity. Every tunnel had its railroad track within it, and here and there we found cars loaded with ore. There were hundreds of miners at work dressed in blue overalls, blue shirts and slouch hats. Each man had a pick with him, and each carried curious candlestick of steel, which looked like a ring fastened to what looked to be an immense knitting needle and of such a na- ture that a man could stick the handle of the candle into the earth. In some places men wero drilling, and in others they were getting ready to blast with dynamite. Mining With Your Fingerna! In all of the tunnels and in every room the gold-bearing rock was pointed out to us. As we Icoked we could see how easily and how cheaply it could be gotten out. In some places the strata is like clay, and you can scratch it off with your fingers. I took out my penknife and dug out the soil con- taining the ore. Think of mining sold with your fingernails. Still, that is what might be actually done in some parts of this mine. In other places the gold is in a part of the gravel or crushed quartz. You could casily dig it down with a pick. Again it is found BULLION AT THE SMELTERS. the miners work right into the ore from the start. In these mines 300,000 tons of ore are blocked out, and some parts of the gold-bearing rock can be reduced for less than a dollar a ton. Near this is the Over- land property, which is largely owned by ex-Congressman George W. Dorsey, who, by the way, is one of the shrewd investors hers; and to the right of you, away up on the side of the mountain, you see the shaft houses and dumps of ‘the great -Mercur mine, one of the first gold mines which was opened up, and probably the largest pro- ducer of ¢ll in the camp today. Out of it has already been taken more than a mill- fon dollars’ worth of gold, and it has paid its stockholders more than $500,000 in divi- dends. How Some Nebraskans Made Millions. The story of the Mercur is as romantic as that of the treasures of Monte Cristo. Six years ago its chief owners were com- paratively poor men in the little town of Freemont, Neb. Its presidefit, Mr. John Dern, about a score of years ago, was driv- ing a team in a lumber yard. He was a poor German, but he saved his money and at the time ‘he invested in this mine he was, I venture, worth not more than $40,000 or $#),000. Today his income runs into the !thcusands a month, and I doubt whether he would sell his interest in this mine It was with him that I went through the mine, and from him I got the story of its development. One of the Freemont men knew that this Mercur rock contained gold. He got up a com- pany of Nebraskans and they bought the ‘They worked it with experienced miners, but though the assayers told them there was gold in the rock they could not get it out. They wasted thousands of dollars in trying to reduce tke ore by quicksilver, but failed. | Then they tried the cyanide process and again failed. The rock when reduced to flour became pasty and dough-like and ; the sclution of cyanide and water would not percolate through it. At last as an experiment, inetead of crushing the rock to flour they put it into the pans in lumps of about the size of a pea and in this shape run the cyanide solution oyer it. This solved the problem. The cyanide solution soaked into the crushed gravel and carried away the gold. They have now here one of the biggest cyanide mills in existence, and though they still lose about 17 per cent of the gold they get enough out of the rock to give them an enormous profit. ‘The ore as it is taken from the earth has no sign of gold about it. Such of it as is ground into a powder looks not much dif- ferent from the dust of a limestone road, and after it has gone through the cyanide solution the gold which {s taken out is mixed up with a lot of dust, which looks for all the world like the scrapings of soap- stone. After going through the mil! I was shown a lot of this golden dust. If the same material was in your backyard and GOLDEN GATE SHAFT HOUSE. that you may start your mine in places where the vein shows out of the sides of the mountains and dig on and on, taking nothing but ore-bearing rock for miles. The district as defined by its working mines is known to be at least elght miles long and at least 3,000 feet in width. It ts supposed to be much larger, and claims have been taken up and holes have been sunk for miles around. One man, a well- known miner of Leadville, Maj. Bohn, be- lleves that the blankets extend more than seven miles In width, and he is sinking a shaft away over the mountain, almost a half mile further down in altitude and seven miles away, in the Utah valley, on a sage brush prairie. He says that he will go down at least 1,000 feet, and he then expects to strike the golden blanket. Many of the miners are, however, skeptical as to his success, but should his theory prove correct the riches of this district will be beyond human conception and the rela- tions of gold and silver the world over may be changed by the result. As it fs, at the most conservative estimate, the probabili- ties are enormous. Three blankets of gold ore eight miles long and 3,000 feet wide will turn out riches hitherto unknown in gold mining. The ore seems to grow richer as the blankets dip down into the earth, and the Golden Gate mines, which begin in the valley in which the town of Mercur ts sit- uated, Utah miners day are to be the big- gest mines of the world. Already §5,000,- 000 worth of ore has been blocked out within them, and within a short time their mills will be reducing this to bullion. In Utah's New Mining Camp. But let us pay a visit to Mercur. It is only fifty-five miles. by rai) from Salt Lake City, and we may ride down the Utah valley either over the Union Pacific or the Denver, Rio Grande and Western railroads to Fairfield, where we get the wonderful standard gauge which by many loops and winding turns drags us up the mountains and lands us in the little nést in the hills where the mining town of Mercury les. We are now a mile and a half above the sea, and surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery of the United States. The mountains are as gray and silvery as the hills of Greece. The sage brush on their sides seems to be covered with frost, and the bills dre dotted with fowers of all colors. Above us shines a you did not know what it was you would probably want to sell it for ashes. It looks not unlike ashes. It is, however, the heaviest dust in the world, and when I was given a long-handied shovel and asked to lift a shovelful I anticipated no trouble. I drove the shovel easily into the dust, but Mfting it was like lifting so much lead. I found that there were twenty pounds of weight at the other end of the handle, and upon asking, ¥.as told that there were about $250 worth of gold in that which I raised frora the ground. The ore is so reduced, and this dust is then sent to the refining furnaces to be turned into pure gold. In the Catacombs of the Mercar. The Mercur Mining Company owns 160 acres of land on the side of the mountain above the town, and it is believed that there is gold under the whole 160-acre farm. Think of a quarter section of land underlaid with three blankets of gold-bear- ing rock lying one on top of the other. Let each blanket run from five to thirty feet in thickness and let-there be a blanket of shale or limestone between the golden blankets and you have some idea of the Mercur mine. So far, wherever the ground has been pierced it has struck the gold, and this is the same with nearly every other Piece of mining property in the eight-mile stretch which I have described. The up- per blanket is not quite so thick nor does it average quite as much gold as the two below and still it carries about five dollars’ worth of gold to the ton. In one place they have gone through the blanket lengthwise 4,000 feet, and at others they have run cut into the blanket at right angles a dis- tance of 1,000 feet. I was shown places in which the gold crops out in the side of the mountain, and I walked into a tunnel which had begun thus at the surface, and which went down, down, down for 1,000 feet, The blankets of ore dip at an angle of degrees and they spread out in a wavy shape over the territory. The tunnel which we entered was high and wide. It was cut, as I have said, right out of the ore, and as we went down into the earth we found on each side of us great chambers reached by other funnels. the whole mal me ik of the catacombs near Rome. so large that you might Washington inside of many stories, the | saved as eich tees chambers. Were put the Capitol at them. Some ha ve floors being upheld by in solid quartz mixed with deposits of ar- seric and sulphur. The arsenic is pure. You could commit suicide at almost every step if you wanted to, and the sulphur is so strong in places that with your candle you can burn it and fill the caverns about you with flames of brimstone. In other places the gold is found in a black rock which locks for all the world like slate, and other wheres it appears in solid rock. It is not found in nugxets, or grains, “or pockets, but It seems to be a consistent part of the clay and rock, distributed in infmitesimal particles at the rate of a quarter of an ounce and upward to the ton of rock. A quarter of an ounce to the ton would be about as much as one part in 96,000, and if you will- take 96,000 shot and imagine one of them to be ground up and its dust to be distributed equally through all the otkers you will have some idea of Hom, the gold runs through a ton of this rock. The average last yéar was only $12 to the ton, or just a little more than half an ounce to the ton, or about one part in 48,- 000. Still, it is out of these low grade ores that much of the product of the world’s gold is coming today. The ore of this regton is so easily gctten out that it can be mined at a great profit. The rock of the Golden Gate mines is said to be much richer than that of the Mercur, but it is mixed with arsenic to such an extent that a great loss occurs in reduction. All of the large mills about Mercur have their chemical labora- tories, and at the Golden Gate there is an experimental mill in which the most ex- pert chemists and metallurgists that mon- ey can command are at work trying to find the most economical and best methods for getting out the gold. The Mercur, as well as the Golden Gate and all the other mines here, is run on business principles. No money is spared to cheapen the cost of Producticn, and the cents are as carefully in the Wall street counting house where the broker saves the envel- opes of his corespondence to figure on. As it is, however, the Mercur still loses 17 per cent of its gold. It has mountains of refuse about its cyanide mill, and every ton of these mountains contains from $1.50 to $2 worth of gold. In the future some one may discover a process by which this refuse may be worked at a profit. Down the Mountain on an Ore Car. Think of riding down through silvery mountains on a bed of gold! It was in this way that we came from Mercur to the Utah valley. Our party consisted of Mr. John Dern, the millionaire of the Mercur; Mr. Heintz of the Rio Grande railroad, Mr. Hanson, the city editor of the Deseret News, and myself. Squatting on a rock pile of gold-bearing dirt and rock worth at least $300, holding on to the jagged stones for dear life, we flew round and round and in and out on our way down over one of the most remarkable rallroads of the world. It was built in 1894, at a cost of $150,000. It is only four miles in a straight line from the point where it be- gins to the point where it ends, but it takes more than eleven miles of winding curves to make the journey. It begins at @ little over 5,000 feet above the sea, and in this distance it carries you upward an altitude of almost half a mile. I have gone up the little narrow-gauge railroad which takes you from the plains of India to Darjeling in the Himalaya mountains. It is only two feet wide, and its cars are not much bigger than store boxes. The Mercur and Salt Lake railroad is of the standard gauge, and it has curves so short that standing on the rear of the train we could at times almost touch the engine as it flew around them. Now the engine seemed to be climbing an inclined plane nd we were pitched almost straight down to the level below. We could see the line running in parallel tracks down the mountain, and it seemed as though we could easily have jumped from one track to the other, thus cutting off the distance, which by curves required several miles. As we went down we hung in places, as it were, on the sides of the mountain. We could gee the great Utah valley stretched out below us, the Utah lake shining like silver in the horizon, and beyond it, on the opposite side, a wall of mountains, the Wasatch range, whose silvery peaks with their ragged edges cut the azure sky. And 80 we went on and on, winding in and out like a snake, now traveling toward the east, now to the west, now to the south, and again to the north in making curves, until we came to the foot of the mountain. Here we stopped before a large frame building. Our cars carried us up on a trestle work, and we stood on the track and watched the ore dumped into the crushers of the Mercur cyanide mill. We were shown the various processes of re- duction, and then taking the train, found ourselves in little more than an hour back heme in Salt Lake City. FRANK G. CARPENTER. ——.—__ An Old Belief Shattered. Margherita A. Hamm in Mail and Express. ‘Ten years ago a pet notion of ultra-con- servative people was that if women ever entered public life they would merely echo the sentiments of their husbands. Nothing has been more completely upset and over- whelmed by experience than this foolish theory. The last illustration comes from Mon- tana. The republican state convention, it is reported, has named as a presidential elector Mrs. E. Mallory, who is a ram- pant geld bug. Her husband, on the other band, is a frantic silverite, and enjoys nothing better than a joint debate upon the monetary question, in which he and his better half espouse the affirmative and negative views of the problem. At the St. Louis convention one of the women delegates, an active populist work- er, was a leader in the struggle in her own district against the democratic organiza- tion of which her husband was a member oe she: uty committee. © in both cases the difference merely se1 to Increase the affectionate relations yor twéen husband and wife. It may be, after all, that the old, philosophic rule is cor- rect, namely, that opposites in character and temperament attract each other with more force than do likes. Strack It Rich. From the Chicago Record. “Mudger seems to be coining money now- oqaya.” es, he has invented a safety coupling: pin and grappling iron to keep: women’s shirt waiste and skirts togeth JACKETS -AND CAPES|ART A What the Styles for the Autumn Pro- vide for Women, NO LONGER PINCHED ——— Correspondence of The Evening Star. LENOX, September 16, 1896, W HEN THE SUMMER girl stands with re- luctant feet where the summer and au- tumn meet, she be- gins to think of many things in the way of brave adorn- ment, and to wonder —well, for one thing, if the new sleeve Is jn any wise appli- cable to outer rai- ment, afid, for an- other, what may prove the prevailing type of autumn jacket. Fluff of lace is not yet quite put away, for the bright, fluttering creatures that gather to watch the boat races on the Stockbridge Bowl lift their field glasses with hands be- wristed in white cuffs, and their Immacu- late white sailor collars are edged with lace, as in real salt water yachting they would never be. The smartest and newest golfing sult here, frankly influenced by English modes, adopts a tight sleeve, with but the slightest suggestion of fullness at the shoulder. The skirt bottom and cuffs are heavily stitched about five inches from the edge; there Is a white strap belt; the bodice 1s double- breasted, and in the collar, rather oddly, there is a panel of black velvet such as one secs on men's overcoats. The material is what is called a “aeather mixture,” a sort of finely chopped hash of the clan tartan colors. Fitted with a spotless white tam cap or with a Glengarry in the heather mixture, the same sult would do finely for bicycling, were the skirt cut somewhat shorter. Another combination which stamps itself as “new” at a glance—a walking dress—has rather quieter mixed colors, a strap belt and a@ jacket with double pointed lapels of white. The jacket front shows a strip of white embroidery edged with, narrow lines of blue silk; the collar is white embroidery, and a white Homburg.or Alpine hat with quills and a black band is worn, The Double Lapels. These double lapels, the one opening right over the other as if to say “yes, I quite agree with you,” must be called an easy distinguishing mark of the season. One ‘sees thei upon quite heavy jackets, even upondriving coats,.and the collar is often white, or at least much lighter than the cloth. It's just a fad as yet; if it lasts, it's a mode. Hats of ceremony are of moderate brim, wide and flat ‘of crown. Gowns of cere- mony—let me describe one used at an “au- tumn leaves”. frol{e, The skirt anything you like so that it is figured silk and edged with a wide ‘double frill of chiffon. The belt a wide satin ribbon. The vest and un- dersleeves are, bullt Hine upon line and ‘pre- cept upon précept of Uny, narrow, close- fitting frills of lace, and over the unde~- sleeves at the shoulders are swept two folds of the figured’ silk in the wreath-like style so much used just now for evening gowns; the lapels and collars are satin rib- bon again. Of course, such a gown belongs rather to the passing summer-than to the autumn that is here. And oh, the autumn! The frolic of rust- ling, clean brown leaves in the woods’ aisles, the trails of clematis bursting into its clouds of winged seed sails, the bitter- sweet showing the red heart under tts yei- low coat! If {i could only stay autumn, and {f the shortened days need not mean that winter time is near, how beautiful it would be! For frolics amid the golden glo- ries of the season there {s no wrap finer than. the little shoulder capes the women are wearing, easily dunned or doffed, and feather-weight for the attending gallant to carry. I have seen a very pretty one made to match its gown, trimmed with smallish round buttons and lined down the side with groups of knife pleats, three in each group, to bear out similur lines of pleating in the otherwise plain skirt. Some Stylish Jncke They aréwearing a gteat deal’ this | fall those.smart Norfolk jackets; with big but- tons, square, double-breasted fronts and wide lapels. And you shall see, also, jack- ets with odd and strange lapels cut in double scollops and other queer shapes. Jackets are worn square and box-shaped for driving, close-backed and open-fronted for cycling, but the basic idea is the same in all, and the length varies little—say about to the level of the hip joint. Jackets and capes, the fermer rather in the lead, are good from now until snow files, if it files as soon as is its wont. There is considerable use made this year of braiding and stitching, as means of marking and trimming gowns and wraps. Braid, when it is used, is apt to be narrow: not wide braid such as one sees In white upon blue yachting gowns. Three lines of fine black braid, for instance, are consid- ered to have a very horsey look upon the sleeves and skirt-of a driving coat of gray or tan. Chiffon is—well, it’s conyenlent, which is almost as good as being fashionable. It remains quite a favorite material for the shoulder pufts,which are to mask sleeves of the new slenderness. Nor will its useful- ness be limited to the coming frost. Pleated chiffon fs still almost, if not quite, the best all-'round material for bodice fronts if the gown be not elaborate. Chiffon might be dubbed the business woman's friend. From the-hat brim, however, chiffon and crepe and all such stuff have vanished quite. About the Waist Line. One reason why the modistes worry so much about the disposition of the ‘“walst line” is that “they hain’t no such a thing.” Dame Nature never made a waist, and if the Almighty had meant a woman to be corset-shaped, He'd doubtless have made her so. The wide corselet belt, pointed above and below the waist line, has been very popular, but it’s only for slender wo- men or those who insist on considering themselves so,, The new “Venus waist,” about which Wé heat so much, seems to be a fact. It is ay ‘defined. A Venus wa{st is oe which fs about three or four inches larger than it was last sea- son. And it really Makes the entire figure look more slerier, $écause there is no such bulging of disptaced’tisse above and below {t as the disfigpring,corset compels. They say it is rowan et except in England, that one nowadays fees a woman in really high society with a pinched waist. As for Paris, it was fhere the idea began, and it succeeds admirably because of the support it receives from the.very strong art senti- ment of the edthetic*world’s capital. The only honest “Way to have a small waist is to nCO the muscles of the chest and back-by exercise and by the same means fight off fat ‘from under the belt. Almost any woman can get a fine fig- ure, just as eyery West Point cadet does, and by sii ‘medfis. ; ELLEN OSBORN. ——_+o+___ He Proved It. From Tid-Bits. A recruit, wishing to evade service, was brought up for medical inspection and the doctor asked him: “Have you any defects?” “Yes, sir; I am shortsighted.” “How can you prove it?” “Easily enough, doctor. Do you see that nail up yonder in the wall?” “Yea” “Well, I don’t.”” —e<—____ A Sure Criterion. From the Buffalo Times. He—“Do you really think Jack is in. love with you?” She—"Certainly. I have the most posi- tive proof. He never knows whether my hat is on straight or not.” Since her return from a pleasint stay at The Plains, Va., Miss Juliet Thompson has been again devoting herself to her por- trait work, and she has-in prospect a num- ber of orders, which will keep her busy during the fall. She has recently made a clever sketch in pastel of Miss Elsie B. Lord. It is extremely pleasing in color, and the laughing expression of the face is very well handled. Miss Thompson is now at work on a pastel portrait of Louis Glavis. She has obtained permission’ from Jean Jacques Henner to make a copy of his Joan of Arc in the Corcoran Gallery, and has commenced work on his quaint depic- tion of the Maid of Orleans, whose eyes, with their fixed intent gaze, seem contem- plating an inward vision rather than an outward reality. In December Miss Thomp- son expects to hold an exhibition of her work in portraiture at Fischer's, * ** Early in the summer Miss Katherine Chipman established a studio in Bristol, R. L, and in this atelier, pleasantly sit- uated on Narragansett Bay, with its win- dows overlooking the water, her summer work has been done. A large part of her time in the hot months was given over to rest and recreation, though she painted quite a number of heads, but now that the cool weather is coming on she is eettling down to work in earnest. One of her re- cent portraits is of one of the beauties of Baltimore, and she is now at work on the full length figure of the little son of one of the artists of Providence. * Mr. Robert Keeling, who does such good work in miniature painting, 1s back from Paris, and about the first of October will open a studio in the Corcoran building and continue in his chozen branch of art. x * Miss Emily Scudder has been spending the summer in Belgrade, Me., and has been working entirely in water color. This sea- son she has given her attention almost ex- clusively to the picturesque roadside views to be found on the old Maine highways. Sketches of gnarled old trees also pre- dominate among her studies. By the mid- dle of October Miss Scudder expects to be again in Washington to reopen her studio here. * * * This summer Mr. L. S. Brumidi has been busy largely with outdoor figure studies, and intends to make some water colors of this character for the exhibition of the Water Color Club, which is to be held in December. He may also send a couple of foreign studies, which he already has in his studio. They are executed in the deli- cate tones of which he is so fond, and would represent him in a very creditable manner. Mr. Brumidi has commenced an oil portrait of Mr. W. H. Coleman, the father of little Miss Nona Coleman, of whom the artist made such an interestin; full length last winter, and he Is ulzo ¢ ing to paint a likeness of Mrs. Coleman. He has completed and sent away the set of book illustrations in gouache, upon which he has been working for some time past. * ** Miss M. G. Irwin is still in Pittsburg, where she has been the greater part of the summer. She has been quite busy there and will probably remain through the fall, and may possibly stay until well into the winter. x * * Miss Neilie Stafford was up near Rock- ville with Mrs. Hoyle during a part of the summer, and while there confined her at- tention entirely to outdoor sketching, painting a number of pleasing landscapes during the course of her stay. Since her return she has again taken up her work in still life, and has recently painted an- other vegetable piece. She seems to have an especial penchant for this kind of still life subject, and sees the artistic possi- bilities in beets, carrots and other vege- tables, which most people are accustomed to view solely from a gastronomic stand- point. x x * Mrs. J. Mindeleff has recently painted the likenesses of Mrs. Graves’ two children so successfully as to win praise from all who know the little ones. She almost invariably obtains good results in her portraits of children, and her likenesses of Mrs. Cam- eron’s little son are no exceptions to this rule. The first one she made was £0 well liked that she has since done three gthers in different positions. Mrs. Mindeleff in- tends, before long, to commerce work on some mcre pretentious figure studies, which she is going to send to the ‘exb@ition of the Water Color Club, * Ok Mrs. Mary M. Hyde has spent the sum- mer very pleasantly out in her cool studio }- in the old stone tower at the gateway to the Chautauqua grounds at Glen Echo. She has had all the advantages of being easily accessible to the city and yet situated in the very heart of a picturesque region? She has made, besides her landscapes, many charming little studies of the wild flowers that are so abundant around her studio, and has also made numerous still life studies, “* Mr. A. G. Heaton has spent his summer on Stony Man mountain near Luray, where he has stayed regularly for several years pest during the warm weather. The facili- ties for figure painting, which 1s Mr. Hea- ton’s forte, being very poor there, he na- turally gives himself over largely to rest and recreation. * ~_* Mr. W. W. Christmas, who has just re- turned from a five-wéeks’ stay in the vicini- ty of Ocean City, brought back’ with him several very interesting studies in oll. He had everything ready preparatory to paint- ing a very large canvas there by the sca- shore, when he was unexpectedly called back to the city, leaving several smaller pictures also unfinished. * ** The bust of Justice Harlan, which Ru- dolph Evans recently made, will shortly be exhibited at Veerhoff’s. Mr. Evans is going to have some more sittings from Frederic Bond, as he is making another medallion of the actor. He will start before long a bust of the late Father Walter. —_.__ Substitute for an Income Tax. From the London Spectator. ‘The French minister of finance has rec- ommended a substitute for the income tax which is free from most of the objectiona- ble features of the latter. While the in- come tax principle is not as offensive to Frenchmen as it is to Americans, the dec- laration of the amount of property owned and the inquisitorial methods of prevent- ing false returns are strenuously objected to. The new proposal does away with these. It raises the tax on house property, levies 4% per cent tax on the income from mortgages—thus transferring the burden resting upon land from the mortgagor to the mertgagee—and levies a heavy tax on certain outward signs of wealth. There is to be a tax on the rental of residences above a certain amount, a tax of 5 per cent for every male servant and one of — per cent for every female servant, and one of 10 per cent for every carriage horse or riding horse. The socialists and radicals are satisficd with this substitute, and it is believed that even the conservative servant will approve it. Peasants and artisans will find their burdens considerably lessened, and the taxes on doors, windows and fur- niture will be done away with. ——-+eo—. A Wheel Combine. From Up-to-Date. Witticus—“I see there is to be another combine on wheels.” Scorcher (apprehensively)—“Is that a fact?” Witticus—‘‘Yes, several state insane asy- lums are to consolidate.” ———-+e+ A Reason for It. From Up-to-Date ~ Scoggins—“That man Foley don’t drink anything but the worst kind of whisky; I oSottstg rhe see h. His wife’ si easy enough. a snake'Charmer. if - = ND ARTISTSINOTES OF FASHIONS The Loose Coat is Stylish, but Per- haps Not Artistic. FEATHERS AND QUILLS THE FAVORITES About the New Hats, and How They Look. FOR COLLARETTES HE LINEN DRESS- es with silk linings are as heavy as an ordinary silk gown, and are therefore being worn quite late. A fortnight ago there were scores of girls who wore their summer organdies to the Labor day mati- nees in New York, but now these have all been packed away to await remodeling According to present indica- next year. tions, there will be plenty for the remod- elers to do before the winter is over. All sleeves are smaller, and in many cases they can be fashioned quite easily by cut- ting down last year’s sleeves. The new coats have moderate sleeves, not so large as last year, but far from small. They are tight from the wrist to a point several inches above the elbow, and from there they bulge out into a good-sized puff. There are no cuffs on this year’s coats, but some of them have a three-cornered plece stitched down tight to the sleeves and trimmed with a fancy button. Some of the buttons are very fanciful. The outside rim has the appearance of having been shoved over to one side, push- ing tt completely off one edge. These are smoked pearl, and are used on coats of beaver and covert cloth, A dark green and a mouse color are the favorite colors in jackets. Coats are very high in the neck this year, but not with a stand-up collar. The collars are flaring, but at the beginning they hook together snug under the chin, and then stand out straight from the neck. These are all jacket-length, coming about eight inches below the hips, and there are no indications of any longer wraps, but cold weather may bring them out. About the Loose Coat. The loose coat, which makes no pretense of fitting the figure, will be more of a fa- vorite this year than it was last. There was one at the theater the other night, and though an artist would doubtless consider it very ugly because it conceals the beauti- ful lines of the figure, it cannot be denied that it was very fetching as worn by a stunning girl from the door of the theater to her carriage. The coat was made of gray eloth, and-hung loose from the neck in three godets at the back, with a large bow of gréen satin ribbon, caught with a buckle at the top.. Phere was a fiaring col- lar of green satin, and the fronts hung loose and straight. The sleeves had good- sized puffs at the top, but fit tight below the elbow. With thif' wrap was worn a hat of mouse-colored straw, trimmed with black plumes. Feathers and quills are the favorite—in fact the necessary trimming of the season. They are as indispensable as were flowers on the hats of May and June. And when one says feathers, that is only the begin- ning of the story. Not a branch of the winged family escapes the milliner this year. The king of the barnyard contrib- utes quills and cockades that may sit side by side with the plumage of the bird of paradise, and one has to look very close to recognize the particular species to which a wing or plume belongs. The most pronounced fashion in the style of hat trimmings that has already taken root, as it were, is that of placing a clump of osprey feathers on each side 60 as to droop over the ears. This is a fashion which was adopted on the late summer hais. The Big Hat Again. A ludicrous attempt was recently made by some young ladies who had come from the seashore to board at a country farm house in the mountains to introduce the Narragansett Pier fashion of wearing hats on gl occasions. One of them had a hat of the aboye description, which she persisted in putting on to come to her meals. But the osprey feathers kept continually get- “ting“into:the Sie until oa Pro- puleie iRok legislative measures and for- bade the wearing of large hats at the table: > Eeis suek bate as.these that the theater will have to contend with this winter; ‘an@ Tet no one imagine because the plumes are seemingly transparent and pliable that they do not obstruct the vision of those be- hind. A conversation which was overheard at a recent matinee goes to show that even ettes are objectionable in this respect. should think,” said a pretty girl in a small blue bonnet, “that that girl would have more consideration for other people than to weer such an immense bow on her hat to the theater.” “Pardon me!” said a friend who sat be- hind, “but I think aigrettes are quite as bad. ‘Then the other remembered the clump of blue aigrettes in her tiny bonnet, and was silent. But nothwithstanding the coming popu- larity of the feather, there is nothing airy fairy, or unsubstantial, about the hat of the season now opening. Its general shape is round, and it sits solid on the head, ex- cept in the few cases where those very small high crowns are worn. It turns up in the back, and has a little more inclina- tion to tilt up on the left side than the right. It may be left plain under the brim or decorated with lace or jeweled trimming —not flowers or leaves, for everybody is tired of them. Features of the Fall Hats. The hat that turns up in the back has a rosette or something on the middle of the brim in front of the crown, and on each side are clumps of cock feathers or osprey feathers. Ther there is some kind of pleated trimming at the back, made fan- like to hide the turned-up brim. This is usually made of silk bound with a different shade of black velvet, for ribbons are not so much in favor as formerly. It is characteristic of the fall hats to combine two or three colors in some defin- ite manner, as, for instance, to make a band for the crown out of three shades of satin, such as black, white and green, or green, white and pale blue. Wings and feathers are dyed in this way, in blacks and whites, purples and yellows, and many others. Evening hats are substantial-looking af- fairs that are not, however, calculated to obstruct the view, as some of the “picture hats” do. The most of them have velvet crowns in a squarish shape, that suggests but is not the Tam O'Shanter. For brim, they have a pleated ruche of velvet, with a little lace edge. The trimming ts a fluff of lace and a clump of osprey feathers that droop over the brim and down over the back hair. Collarettes of silk or ribbon and lace are very fashionable for early autumn, to wear until the November winds drive us unwill- ingly to furs and jacketed helplessness, ————+e+______ The Result Was the Same. From the Detroit Free Press. The little boy whose head has a tendency to bulge out at the top like a mushroom, owing, as his parents truly believe, to the extraordinary amount of knowledge it con- tains, was gazing gravely at his father, who was making his breakfast off ice water. “People change a good deal when they grow: up, don’t they?” the boy observed. “Of course,” his mother answered. “And yet they're very much the same, after ail,” he continued musingly. “What are you talking about?" “About grown men and boys:¥When a boy goes out and eats whatever he wants and pays no attention to what anybody says, the next day he has a stomach ache.” “Very cften.” “and when a grown man goes out to a banquet, the only difference is that the next, morning he has a headache. The ache seems to move around, but it’s there, just the same.” rf D wa Qyvlu S19 Gladness Comes. Wits better understanding of the transient nature of the many phys- ical ills, a vanish before proper ef- forte—gentle efforts—pleasant efforts— rightly directed. There is comfort in the knowledge, that so many forms of sickness are not due to any actual dis- ease, but simply to a constipated condie tion of the system, which the pleasant family laxative, Syrup of Figs, prompt- ly removes. That is why it is the onl; remedy with millionsof families, and: everywhere esteemed s0 highly by all who value d health. Its beneficial effects are due to the fact, thet itis the one remedy which promotes internal cleanliness without debilitating the ives on which it acts. It is therefore all important, in order to get its bene- ficial effects, to note when you pur- chase, that you have the genuine arti- cle, which is manufactured by the Cali- fornia Fig Syrup Co. only and sold by all reputable druggists. If in the enjoyment of good health, and the system is regular, laxatives or other remedies are then not needed. If afflicted with any actual diseace, one may be commended to the most skillful physicians, but if in need of a laxative, one should have the best, and with the well-informed everywhere, Syrup of Figsstands highest and is most largely used and gives most general satisfaction. HOUSEHOLD HINTS Not many lovers of plants know it, but an honest old florist will tell you that if you want geraniums to flower in winter you had better select year-old vlants in the spring and keep them picked clear of buds till autumn. Then they will blossom all winter icng. These are called “corn oysters” and al- most shame the bivalve: Select the best canned sweet corn, when too late for ear corn. Take one pint of corn, one egg, one third of a cupfu) of flour and three table- spoonfuls of thick cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper, fry in sweet butter or beef suet on very hot griddle and serve one at a time, crispness being a desidera- tum. Many a little woman nearly cries her eyes out because her house plants die inch by inch when she “takes such good care of them.” The fact of the matter is, house plants in gas-lighted rooms simply a deatW¥ of terture. You will have to give up gas or the plants. “Does your mother like to be left so much alone?” asked a quiet girl of her companion recently, as they left the latter's house for en all-day picnic. “I don’t know,” was the reply. “I never thought to ask her, and she never has objected.” Yet it was a fact thatthe aging mother did get very lonely, indeed. Girls of the age are rather too careless of the comfort of their ¢l If they can but have a good time themselves they don’t seem to care much whether their mothers drudge and mope at home or not. If Li Hung Chang were to inquire into the home life cf the average American. he would be horrifed at the lack of rev ence for tho parerts. That is one lesson that a “heathen Chinee” could teach us. It is said that the rubber bands of fruit jars will recover their elasticity if soaked a few hours in ammonia water. Creamed cabbage is nourishing. Cut a small, firm head of cabbage in half and soak for an hour in ice water. Shake free of the water and chop fine after removing the heart. Put into boiling water with a lump of charcoal the size of an egg. When nearly done drain off the water and cover with sweet milk. Simmer till done, then drain into a hot dish to be served, and cover with this sauce which you have been making; Melt a large tablespoonful of but- ter and stir into it when hot two table- spoonfuls of sifted flour and a scant spoon- ful of white pepper and salt to taste. When creamed, add slowly a pint of boiling milk, cook, and pour over the cabbage. A piece of horse radish in a jar of pickles will give strength to the vinegar and keep the pickles from getting soft. What to do with dry bread puzzies most housekeepers. In the first place, cut spar- ingly. @sS soon as remcved from the table wrap each slice by itself in a long, clean cloth and it will do to serve again. After that put in the stone bread jar, which should be cleaned and sunned at least twice a week. Make up in various kinds of toast as fast as possible and never let it accumulate, for it molds and is soon ruined, A 4elicious “cold morning” dish is made as follows: Take good dry bread—real hard dry—end cut in inch dice. Pick these out of the fine crumbs and put in a tureen and place in the warming oven, throwing the crumbs away. Set to boil a quart of nice, sweet milk to a quart of the bread dice. When hot, put in two tablespoonfuls of but- ter and salt and pepper, rather more than for oyster soup. It should, in fact, be pretty etrong of both. Remove immediate- ly and pour over the bread. Serve in hot sauce dishes and avoid “mushing™ it. If a scratch or cut that should heal at once remains sore, you may be sure your blood ts impure. A simple remedy is sul- phur in sirup, stirred to a thick cream, Keep in a glass, and take a teaspoonful on retiring each night for two weeks. Stop @ week and take two weeks; then quit. Use a silver spoon, and remove and cican cach time used. Another blood thinner is a tea- spoonful of salts in a glass of water. Take a spoonful three or four times a day for @ month. They are simple, harmless, but helpful, remedies for one in full blood. If run down, tonics prescribed by a physician must be resorted to. If the children get up in the morning listless and pale and cross, look after the ventilation of their sleeping rooms. If pos- sible, never put a delicate and a robust child to sleep in the same bed. The : ® ng- er child is bound by laws of nature to sap the vitality of the weaker. Teach your children to sleep on moderately hard beds, and with small cr no pillows at all. Make the covering light as possible. A sheet, blanket and thick, downy comfort ought to be enough, if the comfort Is properly made, either cf down or of fine, loose cotton, loosely tacked. Heavy bed clothing Is @ positive th. A nice little relish is made of stale cheese and soda crackers. Always preserve in a wiic-mouthed glass jar, ccvered with @ thin cloth, all the bits of cheese. If you keep them in a dry place they will never mold. Grate the cheese fine and sprinkle thick on each cracker; then lay in a tin in a hot oven for five minutes. Se hot, or they are nice cold, with pickles and sar- dines, for lunch. Too much cannot be said against the in- discriminate use of the fine comb. Its sharp teeth irritate and tear the skin, form- ing scurf and dandruff, and ultimately causes the hair to fall out. Brushing the hair is mach more sensible and accom~ plishes the same end, removing dust and foreign particles. A ‘tiny bit of vaseline rubbed into the scalp is a splendid haix dressing. —__————_ A Drawback. From Harper's Bazar. “Willie Taddells,’ said the school teacher, firmly, “you have a piece of chewing gut in your desk. Bring it to me instantly, “Yes'm,” replied Willie, “but it ain't the flavor you use. Yours is orange, an’ this is wintergreen.” From Judge. “Old Popley was caught in the storm ang struck by lightring last night.” “Why, I saw him this morning.” “Oh, it didn’t hurt him much. His whis- kers were wet, and the bolt ran off into the ground.”