Evening Star Newspaper, October 24, 1896, Page 19

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, “OCTOBER 24, 1896-TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. 19 TAKING A LEARNING TO BATHE Progress Made by the Parisians in Acquiring This Habit. SCARCITY OF TUBS AND OF WATER Characteristic Scenes in a French Bath House. —__-— OF HOME BATHS SS KINDS Correspor ‘lence of The Evening Star. PARIS, October 15, 1896. N PARIS THE habit of bathing the bedy has so far pro- gressed that there are joint stock com- panies whose busi- ness it is to bring baths to your houses. |The bath must be en- gaged the day be- fore. At the appoint- ed hour there is a rattle in the street, and soon three men are quarreling with the concierge. The cause of the disturb- ance is the bath tub. The men are carrying the bath tub up- stairs, up three flights, or four or five, to place it in your bed room, dining room or parlor. It is a large bath tub. They have brought it in a special wagon, built to haul it all around the city. These knights of the bath employ their lives in lugging it up- stairs and down wherever it is called for. That tub could tell strange tales! The bath tub has a hundred dents, where it has knocked against a hundred balustrades. They have brought the bath tub in a special wagon with a boiler for hot water, which they fetch up boiling, in their buck- ets, when they have installed the tub. And then they fetch up towels and soap and baby powder, sawdust, a cologne spray and a finetooth comb. Nothing is lacking. And when the bath is finished they will carry down the tub, the soap, the towels, the tinetooth comb and the cologne spray | and depart to others who have need of them. A crowd collects around the wagon | —which is painted red and yellow and dis- | tributes handbills—the horses champ their tits and shake their bells (for they hav bets), and the wife of the pork butcher runs across to tell the wife of the cheese \ | the bath alone. exposition of 1889 as correspondent of the London Milustrated News. Hermann had the tub built, and the plumber of the quarter was so proud of his work that he kept it in the window for a week, where it drew crowds of curious sight-seekers. Some said it was a war gong for the Ashantee villaze in the ex- position grounds, some thought it was in- tended for a distillery, while others held it was intended to [ry fish in a great restaurant. Hermann used the tub in peace till 1891, when he abandoned it, with the apartment. In_ 1896, m: ng into a new house with modern convemences, I sold the tub to a fish dealer on the Rue Montmartre. Its boudoir days are finished. When a real bath is wished, and when the tourist shrinks from calling on the traveling tub, he must go to a bath house. ‘There are bath houses, witn hot baths and cold baths and medicated baths and sul- phur baths, bran baths and perfumed baths; with sheets spread in them to pre- | The Gayeties of Hydropnathy. vent your coming into contact with their surface, and there are the Seire swimming baths for men and women, with wocden bottoms. If these latter nad not wooden bottoms, the bathers would be caught in the Seine mud. A French Bath House. But it is a serious inconvenience to go out, in winter's sleet or summer's heat, to wait in the forlorn ante room of the establishment, wh has a musty smell of cast-off epidermis, to wait there until a tub has been vacated and made ready, on the one hand, while the Seine baths, on the other, are impossible to all who do not care to swim in microbes. The tub bath houses must be looked for in the side streets. Their interiors are all alike—the lady cashier at the desk, the male garcon, who swabs the tub, the piquante demoiselle, who brings you towel: the little pent-up room, that reeks wit steam. The cashier takes your money for Then, separately. she. sells you pasteboard cartridges of bathing powder. Do you require a towel? It is so much. The girl will bring it. Thi h mixture is a kind of perfumed dissimulated in a larger quantity of ‘ered soap. The cartridge holds about a quart, end this you empty into the tub steaming with Seine water. Lining the tub and falling in pure folds around its outer edge, there is a sticky linen sheet, which you ought to be careful not to disarrange, or it will incommode you. Its mission is to give assurance that the bath is clean. This elegance of the sheet is almost femi- nine, thinks the American; and as the per- fumed water scents the chamber with its steam the senses are intoxicated as with incense in a temple. Ah, Paris! But no, it is the simplest and most ordinary pre- caution in the world. What is this knocking at the door? It is the garcon rattling his keys. Do you wish sawdust? Have you need of starch? Do you wish extra soap? Cologne water? Bay rum? Or oil, perhaps? Will you have tath- ing alcohol? Or quinine elixir? Shall he No Water. merchant, and the conciergé’s daughter hastens to her friend who works at the send for a cup of coffee? or a giass of brandy? The garcon also cuts corns. About the Extras. Next time it is the piquante demoiselle who brings the towel or towels and peig- noir, which is a great bath robe, always much too large. It is always hot with re- cent ironing, for that is a part of all this luxury. They iron a damp one for you, hair dres:er’s; a dense crowd collects in the street, traffic is suspended, people knock off vork and everybody shouts and cheers, “The Durands are taking a bath!” ‘The Durands are taking a bath. The father plunges first in the pellucid flood, then madame, then Gugusse, then Marie and Estelle. A recent lawsult drew the veil from a more intimate detail of this life of the wandering tub. It was a servant girl who would not stay. yet asked for her month's pay. “Madame,” she said in her deposition, “forced me to go into the bath tub after all the others. The water was very dirty, but I went in, knowing my duty. Hut when madame commanded that the dog should also take precedence of me. I revolted. Madame struck me and I struck madame, and I want my wage Getting Use to It. The truth is that the French are becom- ing accustomed to habitual bathing a little later in the century than the English and Americans, so much so that Balzac, some fifty years ago, could write in good faith that for women cleanliness is the com- mencement of all wickedness. The Spanish and Italians are frankly not yet in the movement, and the Spaniards have a pro- verb that the healthy man does not touch water to his skin in forty years. The Latin peoples all have the idea that frequent changing of the underclothing answers all the purposes of washing. Their houses have no bath tubs built into them. You ought to see the regulation cabi- | { net de toilette of the regulation Paris flat. | It is a tiny closet, badly lighted, littered up with clothing, boxes, packages on every shelf and shoes and slippers scattered on | the floor. It has a tiny stand to hold a Washbowl and a pitcher, and a towel hangs | at its side. The bath of Svengali, who was content to wet his towel and wipe the dark spots from his face and hands, is still in Practice, and that divin parfum fauve which the decadent poets sing so raptur- ously is in the reach of all who come to Paris. ~ It is a serious question for English and American settlers. In five out of every six Parisian apartment houses you must elther have your bath brought in or else go out to take it. Do not imagine that the Parisians have any objection to your bathing. They only neglect the habit in their own case out of lack of habit. A stranger with the reputation of taking a tub—French word— each morning is looked on by the servants, concierge and neighborhood with vener: tion. It gives him credit in the neighbor- hood; but, on the other hand, he must pay higher in the local shops for every- thing he purchases. He is chic and €ernier cri, and chicness must be paid for. A Tub a Necessity. ‘The present writer, when he lived in an old house just off the Boulevard, a house that holds a dozen families and yet has no bath on any of its seven floors, thus kept a costly prestige for years. His tub, which was a great round platter made of zin: some three feet in diameter, but very shal low, with a nose or spout which neverthe- less did not prevent the floor from being flooded frequently, was inherited by him from the late Henry Hermann, who in- habited the apartment during the Paris warm and cozy every time, in order that you may not suffer from the terrible re- action of the bath. The piquante demoi- selle is used to compliments and tips. Her raison d'etre is tips, because, of course, the garcon might as well have brought the towels. The garcon must be tipped and eke the maid, and every minute accessory they force upon you must be paid for extra. In Paris they can do this, for when neo- ple go to take a bath it is with the ex- pansion and high-mindedness of some great act, where little prudences would be un- worthy, and not the ordinary daily habit of which Horace Valbert, in the preface to @ recent book, has boasted, ‘Mes ablutions matinales, old custom of my childhood, very healthy, very comfortable, very re- posing, and which I recommend io all my contemporaries, without pretense to have invented anything.” Apart from the lack of habit in which they have grown up, there is another ex- cuse for the poor Parisians which ought to be remembered when we chide them for not Soaking Herself. tubbing. The apartment-house system, so convenient and so economical in many ways, so ennobling and beautifying to a city’s architecture, Is terribly against ary waste of space. Between apartments with two bed rooms and apartments with ‘hree bed rooms there is a great gulf fixed. The price of rent immediately takes a leap. Water is Also Searce. An extra room counts more than it pro- portionately should, according to the thoughtless. And again, old Paris houses have no bath recms, no more than did those of our own ancestors. There were rooms and there were tubs, but special bath rooms were unknown. In Paris they have never been put into these old houses. Water alse ts fairly scarce, and when one family has the spigot turned the others on the floor above must wait, in all but the expensive quarters of the town. Three kinds of home baths ‘are, however; quite well known ag igsiosnne in the better classes of the little bourgolse. These are the sit-bath, the wet-towel bath and the celebrated foot-bath. It requires some courage to borrow your landiady’s wash tub from her once a week; the wet-towel makeshift is but throwing a wet blanket over a sweet, beneficial prac- tice, and the celebrated foot-bath is but a short step in the right direction. We must give the Frenchmen time to catch up wit! us, English and Americans. ‘Mother,’ asks a young Parisian demoisclie while dabbling in the surf at Trouville, ‘did my father fall in love with you because he saw you in your bathing costume?” ; “What an idea, child! In those Jays we did not bathe.’ Nor did our ancestors a century ago. All human society may be divided into two great classes, and they hold good with respect to the appreciation of Gothic archi- tecture, the Delsarte exercises, a just idea of cookery and many more important things besides the morning bath. These two classes are made up of those who have “arrived” and those who have not. But in order that the word “arrived” should have a meaning it is necessary, at some time or other, to belong to the great class of those who have not yet arrived. We Americans are learning how to cook, and we are getting some ideas of art, as are the English, too. To our good Frenchman both these things are old—and he is iearning how to wash. STERLING HEIJLIG. See TALKED WITII NAPOLEON. HE A Soldier at Hampton Visited Him at St. Helen: From the New York Sun. Major William H. Garland, an inmate of the Soldiers’ Home at Hampton, Va., and @ man with a remarkable history, is on a visit to some friends in Brooklyn. Major Garland came north to try and find his half- brother, Joseph H. Gallon. Major Garland is now ninety-five years old, and besides be- ing a veteran of two wars is, so he says, the only living American who saw, talked to and shook hands with Napoleon during his exile at St. Helena. He was one of the escort which accompanied General La- faycite in his tour of America, too; had the honor of sitting as a child on the knee of Thomas Jefferson and served as a powder monkey on the old frigate Constitution. “About my seeing Napoleon,” said Major Garland. “Everybody 1 meet wants to tall about that, and, of course, I am very proud of being, so far as is known of by authori- ties in such matters, the only living Amer- ican who saw and spoke to the great Cor- sican. It was in ISIS that Old Ironsid was cruising in the eastern Atlantic, and we stopped in at St. Helena to make a friendly call. I was only a boy thea, but being of French descent and an ardent ad- mirer uf great soldiers I was crazy to get ashore, for I knew that on that rocky is- land lived the great Napoleon, and I felt that here was an opportunity I might never have again Luck was with me, however, and I was ordered to accompany the officers ashore, a privilege I owed to my knowledge of the French language, for I could speak the tongue of my father as early in iife as 1 could speak English. “Well, the officers received permission to visit the emperor at his dwelling. He had been advised of their coming and met us at the entrance, dressed in his customary uni- form, but with the cross of the Command- er of the Legion of Horor as his only in- signia. He welcomed our party cordially and spoke freely, but in a sad voice and without the least attempt to impress us. He spoke to each one in the party and shook hands all around, not forgetting me with the rest. He even talked more to me than he did to some of the others, because he saw I was conversant with French, and it seemed to both please and surprise him. It is hard for me to remember the subject of conversaticn, but the picture of the em- peror standing in his doorway waiting to greet his American visitors has always re- mained with me and always will until I die. I saw him again at the island later, just five months before his death. “Phere is only one other thing about m self that I can think of that will interest you, and that is that I have shaken hands with every President of the United States from John Quiney Adams down to Grover Cleveland. ++ Uses for the Orange. From the Pittsburg Dispateb. In view of the prospects of the futtire developments in orange production in this country, attention has been drawn to the supplementary uses to which the products of the orange tree can be put. In their natural state the orange flowers serve to flavor drinks, candies, etc. When distilled they yield the much-esteemed orange flow er water, and an essential oli called neroli. When treated with sugar, the flowers form a delicious candy, which is said to be not only exceptionally palatable, but more wholesome than many other productions of the confectioner’s art. The flowers are lected with care, weighed and immersed in cold water for twenty-four hours, after which they are dipped in cold water, re- weshed, and finally spread out on a linen cloth or sheet to dry. When quite dry they are laid out in low, wide dishes, each flower separate from its fellow, and then sprink- led with double their weight of sugar, ad- ministered at intervals over a period of eight days. They are meanwhile moved and kept in the shade. At the expiration of that time they are once more placed in the sun, whose rays dry them completely. The orange flower water is made of equal proportions in weight of blossoms and wa- ter, which yleld on an average about one- fifth of a pound weight of water and flow- ers and aqua nanfa, with about .0W7 per cent of essential oll. At present the best manufactories of orange flower water are to be found in France, where a spirit ca!l- ed petit grain is produced by the distilla- tion of the leave: eg A Plighting Stone, From the Toronto Globe. The archaeological collection at the Can- adian Institute has been enriched by the addition of a valuable and historical curio from Scotland, known as “The Plighting Stane o’ Lairg.” Where it originally came from Is not known, but as far back as Scottish tradition gocs it has existed in Sutherlandshire, in the north of Scotland. It is believed to belong to the Druidical period. The stone is disk shaped, being worn out in the center, and through the hole, probably caused by the action of water, persons wishing to make an agree- ment, either relating to business or love, shook hands, solemnly promising to carry out the contract. This pledge has in all known cases been kept religiously. Mar- riages are celebrated in this way when wit- nesses are present. The stone was built into a small wall extending from the church at Lairg, but some seven or eight years ago the buildings were torn down to make room for a more modern edifice, and since then it has been in private hands. Mr. Hugh Nichol of Stratford was in Scotland a short time ago, and managed to secure it. Mr. David Boyle, the curator of the institute, says that it is about the only one procura- ble, and for this reason the museum in con- nection with Oxford University was very anxious to get it. ——__+«-+—____ Fashionable Corn Husking. New York Letter. For several winters the National Society of New England Women has been reviving one old custom from the land of steady habits, and it is under the auspices of the members of this organization that the “corn huskings” will take place. Last winter an old-fashioned “quilting bee’ was given by the society at the Hotel Majestic, and the great success of that affair led the members to hit upon the idea of imitating the “husk- ings’ of their grandfathers’ and- grand- mothers’ time. All of the plans for this unique entertainment have not yet been completed, but enough is known to warrant the statement that the Waldorf “‘husking bee” will exhibit a curious admixture of the backwoods and the highest refinements of society. a ——____- e+ ____ ‘Well to Remember. From Harper’s Round Table. What is good for one {s yot always good for another. This is fllustrated in a short tale told some time ago about a French medical student. While in London on a visit the student lodged in the house with @ man very sick with a fever, who was continually besieged by his nurse to drink very nauseating liquids which were luke- warm. The Ce ar Bo re Ci i to until one day whis- ee “Bring me a galt herring, and I will drink as much aa you please.” The woman indulged him in his request; he ate the herring, drank the liquids, un- derwent the required perspiration and re- covered. The French student, thinking this very clever, inserted in his journal, “Salt her- ring cures an Englishman of fever.” On his return to France he prescribed the same remedy to his Orst patient with a fever. The patient died. On which he in- serted in Ais journal: “N. B.—A salt her- ring cures an Englishman, but killa a Frenchman, UNCLE Siw’s SHARE In Contributing ‘to the Cost of the Politicat’ Campaign. = GIVES IMPARTIALLY TO BOTH PARTIES a Free Postage fér Public Documents and ‘Ofher Aid. > A GOOD ROUND SUM U NCLE SAM IS A liberal contributor to the campaign fund this year. Few peo- ple realize how lib- erdl this patriotic personage is in this matter. His direct contribution this year , 38 something over $2,400,000. This is a very moderate esti- mate. The.fact that no accounts are kept makes it impossible exact amount. This the amount covers the more direct contribu- to ascertain tion, and does not take into account that which is done indirectly. According to the very lowest estimate, the two parties, through their distributing agencies, have sent out 40,000,000 pieces of literature under congresstonal frank. The probability is that this estimate is alto- gether too low. Mr. Hanna has stated that the republican committees have distributed 600,000,000 docements. The democrats have not distributed anything like as many, but their number is unusually high. It is like- ly that at least a third of all the documents ent out were parts of the Congressio Record, and were sent under frank, free of postage. These documents are sealed envelopes, and would be subject to letter postage if not sent free, The average post- age would be 6 cents or more per piec Taking the lew estimate of 40,000,000 do ments, the postage would amount to $2,400,- 000, This is one item, There is a good deal Lesides that Uncle Sam does. The printing of documents is paid for by the committees, but to a very large extent they are saved the cost of composition on speeches and congressional documents through the use of stereotyped plates made at government expense for the Congres sional Record. How much this government ccntribution amounts to it would be diffi cult to calculate. It is not a direct e: pense to the government. In addition to the parts of the Congressional Record which go through the mails free, under frank, there are many documents from the departments which go free as official matter. Much matter of this sort has gcne out under the covers of the bureau of statistics, the Trgasury Department and the Department. of Agricuiture. Cost of Folding. Of course the cost of collecting informa- tion cannot be takenjdinto account, but if this had to be done by the campaign com- mittees the cost fo them would be enor- mous. Those carhpatgn documents which are a part of the Congressional Racord are folded, that is, .put: into envelopes and sealed, at government expense. One dollar a thousand is paid:for:this work, and the is always a large: appropriation made for this purpose. This year the amount of folding was so great that the appropria. tion was exhausted about three weeks ago, and the work has beenaone since on credit, under a promise joined in by the Senators and .mtmbers of tha, House on the tw campaign committees»that they would se- cure a deficiency appropriation from Con- gre tq pay the bills as,sqon as the next ion beging.” A large number of persons re engaged in this work, and have been making good ‘wages out of it. The aver: is not below, $4 a day,-end a few, who a expert, mak much as $12 a day. Some yeurs ago the franking privilege was extehded to all members of the House and Senate for their correspondence, both private aml official. This was regarded as an abuse, and an act was passed with- drawing the privilege. Being deprived of the right to send their letters free of post- age-added a great deal to the expense of congressional life, and was regarded as a great burden by Congressmen. ‘The money spent for postage made a hole of no small size in their salaries of $5,000. It cost mem- bers anywhere from a dollar to three dol- lars a day. During the last session of the Fifty-third Congress an act was passed granting the fsanking privilege in all offi- cial correspondence. This relieved Con- gressmen of the expense of postage on all except, their private correspondence. The term “official” is given a broad construc- tion and many a two-cent stamp is saved. With Free Postage. This is the first general election under this new dispensation of free postage, and the volume of official mail has been im- mense. It is impossible to make anything like an adequate estimate of the amount it has cost the postal revenues. During the sessions of Congress fifty letters a day for each member is not a high average esti- mate. The average has probably been higher than fifty during the last two months of the campaign. This item, theze- fore, may be safely estimated at about 000 for the sixty days. Moreover, the Senators and members have had to a large extent the services of the salaried congressional employes and have had their private secretaries. The entire sum of Uncle Sam's contribu- tion to the campaign is not smail. eee LAID UP FOR REPAIRS. Cutting Of Corners Spoiled the Tres- passers und the Man Himself. From the Detroit Free Press. “It's funny,” said the man who was fill- ing two seats in a car, while a woman with a baby in her arms stood, “but I have no- ticed that people who set out to do a dis- agreeable thing usually get their comcup- pance in the same way. Now, there's my neighbor, Jorkins; his lawn has a corner that has been worn smooth by the public for years, and what did Jorkins go and do but cut it off without a moment's warning.” “Well, who had a better right?” “I know that, but it was the way he did it. He just put up an invisible wire fence, and a man who was,running for a car, and had taken that ;¢orner all his life, would be knocked'silly,,, Children and dogs were piled up promisc{jpusly, and the wire fence was never f4zed.,, “But the biggest fuy was with bicycle riders. They had, been,in the habit of rid- ing on the side: mn this particular street, and as they couldn't see that measly fence, they went fyll ti{t across the corner and just lay over the grass as if a cyclone had ‘struck ‘em. they had their re- venge. Jorkins ig, laig,up In arnica and mustard and won't be,gut for a month. “What happened, to him?” “Retribution, Ee home late one night on his bicycle, forgot all about that wire fence, and cug acyose the corner in a hurry. They maedl Pigces of him, but the bicycle is a total wreck.” At that moment.the woman and baby sat down suddenly onthe yan who was talk- ing, and. his eloqyence; was totally extin- guished by the bogmerang of fate, —————_—+«. AFRICAN ETIQURTTE. A Traveler Tells. How to Get Along With the Dusky Chiefs. From the Century. : In African travel it is always wise to vis- it the biggest chief in any part of the country. One can always learn from other chiefs at a distance who they are and something of their character. In approach- ing them, always send word of your com- ing, and get, if possible, information in ad- vance of the feeling of ‘the chief teward whites. Upon nearing the village, send on ahead to announce your arrival, and. wait until your messenger returns with some of the villagers to escort you to their chief. Greet the chief civilly, and as& him to send one of his people te show you a good place for your tent, if you decide to camp in the village, which I have done invariably in this country, though it is not always ad- Visable in every part of Central Africa. When you have rested, the chief will come to sce you. Then state to him your busi- ness, talk frankly with him and explain your needs, whether you want guides or to buy food. I seldom stayed in a place more than one day, and generally the first night I called the chief privately into my tent and had a long talk with him, and gave him a pres- ent, consisting generally of a good cloth, four yards of Americani, four of wide blue, four of narrow calico and about an eggcup full of beads, and sometimes an empty bot- tle or two. Invariably I received next day the co-operation of. the chief in every way, and also a big goat or sheep or bullock, and fifty or sixty pounds of flour. Sometimes I gave a small additional present before leaving. If the chief took a fancy to any particular thing, and I could spare it, I did so. Sometimes one wanted a sheath knife, and another a hat. Old Kambuidi was de- termined to have a shirt. He wanted a candle, matches and needles, which I gave him; and as I had previously given him cloth, I suggested, as a feeble sort of joke, that, as he now had cloth and sewing ma- terlals and light, he might sit up at night and make a shirt. Immediately the old fellow replied: “It is the candle that is in- terfering with my success. Here, take back the candle and give me the shirt.” I finally yielded and gave him a much-patch- ed garment, which satisfied him. ats ee Japanese Competition in Indi From Travel. In view of the threatened competition of Japan in American markets in various manufacturing branches, it is interesting to note the effect of Japanese enterprise in India. An Indian journal says that the figures modestly offered by Japan in 1885, and again ten years later, speak with a voice that drowns all sneers at the output of a people who wear grass clothing and use paper handkerchiefs. Her total e: ports and imports for 1885 came to $77,200, 000, In 1895 they reached $216,000,00 The increase, 700,000, is about three- fold in the ten years. The contrast offer- ed by some of the figures for exports alone 1s almost dramatic. Textiles rose 11,30) to $22,177,626; matting from $9: $4,461,260. In ten years the export of cot- ton umbrellas was multiplied by 410, and the total value of the “Satsuma” and Kaga vases and other cheap curios went up from over $2,000,000 to over $11,000,000, The secret of Japan’s enormous strides In tex- tiles has been that the great proportion of the work is domestic. Last year’s re- turns show over 1,000,000 weavers among the people, a large proportion of whom are women, who work at home at what is their traditionally natural occupation. The employment of children has hitherto been winked at, and the little ones are taken from school to earn two sen a day at rug and mat making. Although it is believed that the national temperament is noc one that invites the labor agitator, and it will probably be long before socialism or hatred of the capitalist takes root in a land of such uniform prosperity and content, it is stated that the Japanese workman jis al- ready showing a disposition to imitate his western brother in the matter of demand- ing higher wages. These are all factors in the commercial future of Japan in its bearing on other nations which cannot be overlooked. loo Venus’ Long Day. From the Philadelphia Ledger. If the observers at Flagstaff are right in their conclusions that Mercury and Venus make but one revolution on their axes during their journey round the sun, so that each day is a year long, these planets can- not be inhabited by people constituted like those on the earth. It has been supposed that Venus at least was very similar to the earth in its pheromena and characieristics, and might be peopled by much the same kind of beings; but as Venus’ period ef ro- tation is nearly the same as that of earth it must have six menths of uninter- rusted sunshine and six of “continuous night—conditions which, in the case of the moon, have been accepted as implying un- bearable heat during the day and unen- durable coid during the night. The Flag- Staff observers have the best opportunity for observing this difficult planet that has ever yet beer given to astronomers, and their conclusions are, therefore, most likely to be correct; but it may be noted that Schroter and the two Cassinis have all cal- culated its revolution to be accomplished in about twenty-three hours and twenty- one minutes. The phenom on which their calculations were based, however, were confessedly few and uncertain, and if they were incorrectly traced the conclusions drawn from them are necessarily worthless. +ee- An Enterprising Peach Grower. From Forest and Garden. The great Hale peach orchard in Georgia covers 1,078 acres, 600 of which are in bear- ing trees, and the remainder in nursery stock. There are avenues running north and south through the orchard 500 feez apart, with a cross road every 1,000 feet. ‘There are two large packing houses 100 feet long and 40 feet wide and two stories high, and a lodging house or hotel has just been built for the help. Last year some 400 helpers camped in barns, wagons, tents, &c. At picking time about 500 men and women, chiefly colored, and 75 horses and mules, are employed, while 5) men and 20 mules are employed the year round. At the lodging house rooms and beds are free, and board costs $2.50 a week, while families and parties can furnish their own food and have it cooked for themselves, if they choose. This year the curcullo a tacked the peaches, and Mr. Hale waged prompt war upon the insects, jarring the trees and catching the insects in sheets tacked to light semi-circular noop frames. Two of these were brought together about a tree, which was struck by a ruph2 padded club, and the insects which ‘Iropped were then thrown into buckets and car- ried by boys to barrels in wagons and drawn away to be burned with the stung fruit which dropped with them. Fifty men were busy for nearly two months, from early April onward, at this work, which cost $4,000. But while in other crch- ards from 6) to ® per cent of the fruit was lost, and in scme orchards the entire crop the Hale orchard alone had a full crop, and many of the trees were so over- loaded that they required severe thinning by hand. Se Supreme Court on the Value of Gold. From the New York Evening Post. In Bronson vs. Rodes, 7 Wallace, 249, the Supreme Court, after reviewing the coinage act, says: The design of all this minuteness and strictness in the regulation of coinage is easily seen. It indicates the intention of the legislature to give a sure guarantee to the people that the coins made current in payments contain the precise weight of gold or silver of the precise degree of purity declared by the statute. It recog- nizes the fact, accepted by all men throughout the world, that value fs in- herent in the precious metals: that gold and silver are in themselves values, and being such, and being in other respects best adapted to the purpose, are the only proper measure of values; that these val- ues are determined by weight and purity, and that form and impress are simply certificates of value, worthy vf absolute reliance only because of the known integ- rity and good faith of the government which gives them. : —_—__+ e+ —___ Henry M. Stanley Turning Biack. Berlin Letter. Henry M. Stanley, the famous African explorer, is gradually turning black, as the result of having negro blood transmitted te fis veins as a protection against the deadly malaria while he was traveling in the dark continent. It is a well-knewn fact that the climate of certain portions of Africa is ex- tremely dangerous to foreigners, and, ar Stanley had .to pass through the “fever country,” he had a@ skillful native or perform the operation of transfusing blood from a negro to his (Staniey’s) veins. That the operation was successful cannot be doubted, as Stanley traveled repeatedly through that district without ever heving the fever. Hie skin, which was formerly very fair, has now assumed a dark color, which’ is thought to be caused by the negro blood, - ——___+e+___ ‘An Important Adjunct. From the Philadelphia Nertts American. “Sadie is all right, but her father don’t like me.” “But you’re not going to marry the fa- ther.” “Not exactly; yet he controls the check beok.” CHIEF UL S. INSPECTOR. Another Well Known Citizen Who Owes Health to Paine’s Celery Compound. Above Is the pictare of another of the thousands of well-known citizens w Jeund has made well Chief Post Office Inspector M.D. Whesler of Wasbingtoa, D. C., writing to the proprictors of this most wotderful of curatives, says: “I have used Paine’s celery compound with mark- ¢d improvement in health, At the time I com- menced using it Twas very much run down frow overwork and was advised by a friend to try it. I began almost immediately to Improve, and after taking three bottles felt well enongh to discontinue Its ase, and have been permanently benefited. I heartily recommend it to the pu! Mr. Wheeler has found out what every one should learn—that putting heart and soul in one’s business no longer means sticking to the desk, counter or werk room Ull the head grows dizzy, the back aches and neuralgic twinges shoot through the frame. They are the shortsighted men and women who put up with this state of things when the risk ts 80 great and the remedy so easily within their reach, AS weakness, nervousness, languor and sleeplessness are clearly the result of low m nutrition, so permanent relief will come frc idly building up the wasted rerve tissues. TF celery compound is the means best calculated for this end. celery compound purifies and reinforces AN HISTORIC ON. The Gan From Which Was Fire Last the New Orleans Pleayune, The cannon which fired the last shot in the last battle of the last war is a gun worth knowing something about. Hence, the sale of the S-inch columbiad, “Lady the From Slocomb,” which is advertised in the Mobile ; Register, arouses the interest of old soldiers 1 and old soldiers’ sons. “This last engagement,” said an old sol- dier yesterday, “took place at Spanish Fort. This engagement, of course, was not a regular battle, and is not, perhaps, recorded in history as such, but it was, nevertheless, a conflict fierce. Gen. Forrest had sent to Spanish Fort during the last days of the -| war a sufficient force of men to guard the place, and among the number was the Sth Battalion of the Washington Artillery,Capt. Cuthbert Slocomb in command. The Lady Slocomb was brought there, and there fired its last shots when Wilson's raiders stormed the place and took it. There the Lady Siccomb, for a few hours before the old fort was surrendered, belched forth fire and scattered death, but to no avail, as the enemy numbered several times as much as the garrison. “After the surrender of the fort some of the members of Capt. Slocomb’s command one night rolled the Lady Slocomb off the earthen embankment into a lagoon, or old siush hole. and buried it, giving as their reason that they did not want the gun to fall into the hands of the enemy. It was afterward dug up and carried to Mobile, where it was purchased by Henry Badger, a prominent confederate of that place, who had served through the war, and the excellence of the Lady Slocomb. The gun was named after the wife of Capt. Cuthbert Slocomb, who went out in 1862 in charge of the 5th Battalion of the Weshington Artillery. The gun at the bat- new of “Vell, now dot— =~ the blood in a way that no her remedy i ttained. ‘There comes an immediate the jaundiced, muddy complex! nw and ‘sick’? headaches cease to al and the formerly Wretched sleeper enjoys the blessings of sound, re. storing sleep. Given the hearty appetite, the sound p and the pure Wl things that go tou health are sure to Low spirit tnd tmaginary sli all the other needful what H perfeet t brooding over fancied wr , melancholia and frettfy zs ness are ax they deserve. ‘They are evident foults of the tired, nervous sy and are to be corrected by putting an end to the ne- glectful condition of those vital parts. Don't wait for nervous prostr When hea inue keeps up, or on. and that tired fee th get the body from Its unhealthy condit ft not only these symptoms, but of the underlying causes, by prompt recourse to Palne’s ce pound. js creat nerve and brain res not leave a vestige of kidney dixease, unhealthy state of the liver or heart trou Its way of curing these alarming dfrect and unfailing It replaces unhealthy Uscues by new and healthy parts and cleanses and purifies the Mood until the tired body re; 4 high spirits that are the sure aecompan perfect health tle of Shiloh spat out its first smoke, and spread its desolation in the ranks of the eremy. Through all the memorable sirug- gles of the Army of the Tenne it went, and everywhere it gained we nown. It was prettily mount at that time, probably is now, some gun. Now the old relic is to be sold. The estate of Henry Badger is being wound up, and the gun, aiong with other relics of the con- federacy, is to fall into the hands of others. Years ago several efforts were made by the Washington Artillery to buy the gun, and they will in all probability be heard from at the sale. —-se- An Enterprising King. From the London Sprctator. King Khaulalonkorn I of Siam, who hat just celebrated his forty-third birthday, succeeded to the throne when only fifteen years old (October, 1868). He is said to be @ dignified monarch, and has a thorough knowledge of the English language. He was educated by an American, Rev. John H. Chandler, who was for many years United States consul at Bankok. He favors western methods of government, has en- couraged the construction of very fair roads in Bangkok, has established telegraphic connection with Europe, and has introducec the electric light and tramway, with six miles of line. In 1801 he cut the first sod of a railway which connects Bangkok with the mouth of the river Mecam. -t]e0- On a Stil Hunt. : From Judge. “So you have captured the moonshiners,” said the chief to his lieutenant. “Good enough! How did you happen to be so suc- cessful?” “Well, sir, we went on a still hunt plied the lieutenant, merry jest. re- who dearly loved a “It’s oily your gray hair that saves you from a good thrashing.” “I bat removed dot obstacle, sail in.”—Life.