Evening Star Newspaper, November 7, 1896, Page 22

22 also contained a large bundle of newspa- Pers and letters. This bundle the girls had already seized, and they were now cccu- Pied in dividing its contents. I examined this crate or car, and found that it hung by two iron trolleys or pulleys upon the wire rope, which, as I mentioned before, came from somewhere in or beyond the forest, extended across the stream and through the casement into the tower. I now found that the end of the rope was securely tied to an iron stanchion let into the wall, and that the car, sliding in through the window till it reacned this wall, had become fastened by an automaiic latch or catch, which prevented it from running back again out of the window, which it undoubtedly would have done without this contrivance. At this point I may as well state certain other facts about this piece of machinery which I learned afterward. This wire rope aerial railway extended from Castle Schreckensthrom to the count’s villa, the mansion where he or- dinar.ly resided. This mansion, culled ty the count ‘Auser dem Walde,” was three- fcurths ot a mile from Castle Schrecxen- strohm, stood just outside of the forest, and was situated about a mile from the of Orlendorf. By means of this air daily communication was established een the two places, and it was by this that the inmates of the castle were sed with the necessaries of life, and at ame time kept in tor with the out- s.de world. At the Schreckensthrom end it Was only needful to unfasten the latch and the car would start of its own weight and run across the torrent and through the for- est all the way to Auser dem Walde. This I knew of my own experience, as I after- ward had occasion to try it. To propel the carriage in the opposite direction, namely, from the villa to the castle, required con- siderable power, and this power was fur- nished by compressed air, the car being shot out of a window in the villa, like a shell from one of the pneumatic guns of the Vesuvius. The six damself now seemed to be mak- ing a great fuss over some matter which they had found in one of the newspapers. ‘They clustered around it and gesticulated wildly. Then Brunhilda, the queen-like, seized it and ran up to me, and the rest followed her, and all six showed by their faces and menner that they had taken a new in- terest in me, and that I was something more to them than I had been up to that time. And the lovely Brunhilda thrust the newspaper under my eyes and pointed out with her snowy and richly bejeweled hand the following paragraph: DUSSELBERG, July 18, 189——Balloon thief arrested. The government balloon which got away from Professor Schaff- n at Oldendorf on the evening of the » and which w: supposed afterward to have been stolen, was recovered yester- day from the miscreant who ran off with it. He was arrested as he was climbing down from a tree upon which the balloon had caught and gave his name as August von Dunkelheim of Munich. From docu- ments, letters, etc., found upon his person it is believed, however, that his name is not Von Dunkelheim, but that he js an American named Julius Waterbury. He Was incarcerated, and will be examined more fully tomorrow.” When she saw that I had read it she placed a dainty forefinger upon the words “Von Dunkelheim,” then pointing the same finger at me shook her head several times, and all the other damself shook their heads likewise. Then, indicating the words “Julius Waterbury,” she went through the same panto. ie, this time nodding in the most emphaiic and decisive manner, anil all the rest of the six sisters nodded Ike so many toy Chinese mandarins. Thus it was that in their naive and touching way they at last acknowledged their error. Thus it was they showed me that they now believed the necessarily fantastic tale which I had told them, showed me that they no longer identified me with the de- tested Ananias, whose company had been forced upon them by a brutai and cruel sire. “rom this tim six ingenuous was a pertect of conventi » on, between me and these and amiable creatures there nirstanding: the barriers wer aw: the . of hauteu h they had fur the suppose on Dunkel- ted like ow, and I be- teh the peen with t of hou ons as though o many weeks < ie difference was 1 the charming Brunhild: tatm if fla © tender giances which arned with intere tor an occasion r clo fitting declaration which I her, but there wes no when there were not fair prospective sisters-in- I might have spoken before Knew that this was net the ordinary way of doing it. aited until the evening, and gathered as on the precedir © drawing room, watchi, were the wait th the phinx kopt Ysolde to on L_ reached over x Brunhilda’s pad from her i! wrote upon it the following words: In the few hours since I first beheld you, I have learned to love you as never mcrial maid was loved before. With- cut you, life would not be worth the liv- ing. Write mine? I gave it to her and watcher her read it. As she became aware of meaning, ner long dark lashes sank deepened. She looked and I imagined = glance agnificent ¢ he turned d partly away and sadness seemed to steal over her features, like the shadow your answer here. Will you he my of a clcud upon the meadow she wrote something underneath my «wn zues- and showed it to me, and I read e lin “It cannot be, for we six have vowed sisterly lov We have bound y an inviolable oath never to hile life endures. Were this rot t might have been, but now it cannot Nothing daunted, I wrote as follows: ou need not have to separate. Your five lovely sisters shall live with us al- ways.” She gave one glance at the words, lock- ed into my eyes with an expression in which there was a world of joy and trust and gratefulness and love, and immeli- ately wrote: “It is enough. I am yours forever.” Before 1 knew what she was going to do, she made gestures and summoned the other five maidens to her side, and showed them the writing upon the pad, so that all of them, at once, became conversant with the details of my courtship. This was embarrassing enoush, but what Yol- lewed was infinitely more trying, for they all, with one accord, flung their arms around her and Kissed ner and sned copious tears, and wrung their shapely hands, and otherwise gave evidence of the most unconsolable grief. The tears came into my own eyes as 1 looked at them, but my eympathy was wasted, as I afterwards found that they were one and all delighted with the occurrence, and that this was their way of showing it. The precise old duenna now cime for- ward from the other end of the room, and not knowing, of course, what had taken place, glared at te, as she would have done, had I attempted to assassinate one of the Graf's daugitters. ‘Then Brun- hi five sisters came up to me one after the other and clasped my hand and gazed at me affectionately; and some of them actvally fell upon my neck, and at that the patience of Frau Geiskopf was exhausted and she bundled them all out of the room, and that the last I saw of them that night. We spent the next day in evolving plans and projects for my speedy union with Brunhtida. L must say here that though my heart had chosen her as its absolut mistress from among the six damsels, yet were t rest of them not by any means displeasing to me. In fact, I had a tender liking for each and every one of them, and the prospect of having them all ever near me was not the least pleasing part of the whole affair. ‘They were like so many beautiful pictures or statues, and as such would grace and embellish household. ea of this household, with its silence solitude, where I’ would be alone t not alone, filled me with the most trable anticipatior.s. first step was to write a long letter he Graf von Schreckenstrohm, in which I stated fully my intentions in ‘regard to brunhilda and her sisters, asking his con- sent to the arrangement, and referring him, upon the question of my financial and so- cial standing, to the Hon. John Jenkins, United St consul at Oldendorf. In this letter I also advised him of the running away of Von Dunkelheim, and of the man- ner of my arrivai at the castle. I read this communication to my six fair co-conspirators. They were delighted with it, and insisted on taking and mailing it at once. It was about noon when, with much erriment, they ascended to the signal ower, and sent the letter off to the oid Graf, at Auser dem Walde. It may wel! be tmagined that we were all on the qui vive when the car arrived the following morn- ing. We were up in the top of the tower waiting for it, and pounced upen it the mo- ment it made its appearance. It contained THE @ quantity of female wearing apparel, jew- eis and finery, some of-it very rich and costly, and, among several letters, was the count’s answer to my epistle. I seized it, and, tearing open its envelope, read aloud to my pretty listeners as follows: “Herr Julius Waterbury: Letter received. Full consent given. Will arrive at 11 o'clock. “At two o'clock.” Pring Herr Jenkins and wife with me. Wedding in ‘castle chapel at 2 o'clock. Schreckenstrohm.” My cup of happiness should now have been full, but, for some reason or other, 1 Was not’ as well pleased with the Graf's answer as I should have been. In the first place it was too laconic, not to say brusque, and I did not like the idea of his bringing Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins. The presence of Frau Jenkins would dispel the chief charm of that silent place, and the thought of it jarred upon my feelings. Then, again, why should the ceremony take place at Z o'clock \wpon that very day? A week, or even a month hence, would be soon enough. ‘There was something in this rash, indecent haste which startled me, and made me uneasy. As, however, Brunhilda and her sisters scemed delighted with the arrangements, 1 could not let them gee the effect which they had upon me, and I therefore made as though nothing would have suited me bet- ter. My sweet and amiable betrothe1 now clasped my hand and we descended to the grounds and wandered here and there through the shady paths of the flower- perfumed grove, followed by my future sisters. And thg: they made us sit upon a mossy bank, and they brought flowers and plaited them into garlands, and crowned us with them, after the custom of the German maidens in the matter of betrothals. I was afraid that Jenkins and his wife might arrive in the midst of it, and I felt quite foolish at being thus orna- mented, but they took such innocent pleas- ure in the amusement that I was con- strained to humor them. Part VI. Shortly before 11 o'clock, by advice of Brunhilda, I took my stand with the six countesses on the porch of the castle, fac- ing the open place in the stone wall, and a few minutes later I heard, above the rush of the torrent, the grating of wheels, and Presently saw a lumbering, old-fashioned codch, with emblazoned panels, drawn by a pair of heavy, bay horses, and driven by a very fat coachman, come down out of the forest and draw up opposite us on the further side of the river. Out of the carriage now stepped briskly @ tall, strongly built old gentleman, with high top boots and a fiercely waxed mus- tache, looking otherwise for all the world like Prince Bismarck. He turned and helped out a lady, Frau Jenkins. Then Jack Jenkins got out, and the three waved their hands to us, as it was useless to try and make themselves heard above the roar- ing of the rapids. “How will they get across?” said I to Brunhilda. She pressed my hand, which she still held in hers, as though asking me to walt, and then she pointed toward the river. I looked in the direction she indicated, and at first saw nothing out of the ordinary; a black, voluminous, whirling mass of water, dashing and seething against the rocks of the island; that was all; but in a few second a remarkable change appeared in it. It fell away, diminished and sank I watched it, just as though it were being swallowed up by an earthquake, or, rather, as if its source had suddenly been dried up. Its surface went down actually 6 feet, before my very eyes, and in do- ing so it exposed and left high and dry a stone bridge or viaduct some 10 feet in width, reaching from the gateway of the wall directly across the now comparatively peaceful stream to the point where the party of three were standing. I did not wonder at it, nor did I permit myself to be in any way surprised. This was the bridge which Ysolde had spoken of. I re- membered the simple mechanism of the car, and I had no doubt that this apparent phenomenon would be explained as easily and as satisfactorily. I, however, made up my mind that it should be the first thing about which I would ask the old graf. Upon this still dripping causeway, which but a minute before had been hidden by four or five feet of madly rushing torrent, the party now advanced to meet us. The Count von Schreckenstrohm was first to arrive. Without waiting for an intro- duction, he seized me by the hand with a grip of iron, and almost wrung my arm off at the shoulder. I had always flattered my- self that I was rather strong, but com- pared with me he had the strength of a steam engine. I had only time to give Jack and his wife a few hurried words of greeting before they were taken possession of by the six young women and dragged away to some remote part of the castle. I was now left alone with the imposing sire or my fiancee. Without delay, he led me up the porch and into the chamber, which I have described as being devoted to tro- phies of the hunt. There we sat down to- gether by the open window, where we could look out upon the gateway, the forest op- Posite and the bridge; or rather, the place where the bridge had been; for when I now looked for it*it had disappeared. The flood of the Schreckenstrohm had risen even while we were entering the castle and it had vanished as completely as though it had never existed. Fiercely twirling his twelve inches of white mustache, the father of Brunhilda now addressed me as follows: “My young friend! first of all, I will set your mind at rest upon a matter, about which you are dying to ask me, namely, thé sinking or drying up of the Schrecken- strohm, a phenomenon which you have just witnessed. I always make it a point to ex- plain this occurrence at the beginning, as I hate to be interrupted, and I know that sconer or later you will ask about it.” “Herr Graf!” said I. “You are a mind- reader; but pray proceed.” He scowled at me with his bushy white Lrows for breaking in upon him, and then continued: “The affair is a very simple one. It is enly a question of diverting the river from its course, and then again confining it to its proper channel. Many years ago, I hit upon this plan for doing away with'a vis- ible bridge, thus making the castle ap- proachable, or isolating it and making it Unassailable at my pleasure. About two miles above here, in the forest, upon my own domain, I discovered a large natural depression or basin, the rim of which was but a few feet from the banks of the Schreckenstrohm. Into these banks, I had built a large gate, so that I could at will divert the river into this basin. The power for opening the gate is hydraulic and is furnished by the Schreckenstrohm itself, and this power is set in motion by an elec. tric current from my villa, Auser dem Walde, and also from this castle. Almost the whole volume of the river flows through the canal into the basin. In about two min- utes the electric fluid is turned off, the gate shuts automatically by reason of the cur- EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 189¢-TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. rent, it having been opened up stream, and the Schreckenstrohim 18 exacuy as it was before. When the gate is open, tne bed of the torrent below it becomes substantially empty. ‘the current runs at the rate or about eight miles an hour; therefore it will be a quarter of an hcur after the opera- tion before the bridge is exposed, and it is exposed for exactly two minutes. I press the button at Auser dem Walde, come leis- urely down to the river, find the bridge high and dry, and have plenty of time to cross it before it is enguifed again. That is all there is of it, and I hope you under- said I, “your explanation is so concise and lucid that no one, unless he were an idiot, could fail to understand it thoroughly. Suppose, however, that you were upon this island and the electric cur- rent failed to work. What then?” “Potz teufel! Donnerwetter! Look at the verfluchten hund!” roared the graf, hait rising from his chair. “What is the matter?” cecnsternation. “That fat ox; that camel, that spitzbub of a coachman has gone to sleep on the box. 1 ordered him to drive back at once and fetch the preacher, and as soon as my back was turned he went to sleep; and it’s the third time today. Gott in himmel! but I'll waken him.” 1 ieaned forward and looked out of thc window, and saw that it was as he had sald. There stood the coach drawn up in the identical spot where the party had lefi it; and that the fat driver was really sound asleep upon the box, with his chin sunk upon his breast, and a short meerschaum pipe between his teeth. At that moment the sharp report of a pistol sounded withir two feet of my ear; I beheld the coach- man’s pipe shot out of his mouth and shat- tered into a dozen pieces, and turning t: the old graf, I saw him in the act of re turning a still smoking revolver about a foot long into his hip pocket. As to the scmnolent driver, he immediately straight- ered himself up, grasped the reins, and drove off through the forest. “That was quite a remarkable shot,” said I, and I spoke truly, for the meerschaum was a smell object to hit, at a distance oi fully 100 feet. “It 1s nothing,” said the old nobleman, with a ferocious and sinister look in his yellowish gray eyes. “The next time J will hit something besides the pipe. And now, in regard to this little matter about which you wrote me. You have asked for my eldest daughter, Countess Brunhilda. You have also expressed a wish that her five sisters should form a part of your household. Herr Consul Jenkins has satis- fled me as to your social and financial standing. I therefore say to you, Herr Jen- kins, what I have already said in my let- ter of even date; take her, take them, and be happy, and if you can’t be happy, be as happy as you can.” “Herr Graf!’ I answered, deeply moved, “my honored future father-in-law! I know not how to express my thanks.” Then do not try to express them,” said he, brusquely. “In the first place, I hate any kind of a demonstration, and, in the second place, there is, as you should know, nothing to thank me for. You understand thoroughly their pecullar and unbearable infirmity. You have been with them here for several days, and you marry them, I should say her, with your eyes open.” I exclaimed, in “They are off again.” “Herr Graf!” I exclafmed, “I am deeply shocked at your remarks in'regard to your lovely and unfortunate children, and I must protest against them. I would be no man, did I not do so. Their lack of speech, which ycu call an unbearable infirmity, is a misfortune which should render them treb- ly dear to a father or a love “Lack of speech?” he queried, with a puzzled air. “What mean you? Have a care, my young friend, for I lke not these idle jests. Superapundance of speech is what afflicts them, as you will find. But you are young and brave and may endure. They had it from their mother, and since her death they have come near to talking me into my grave. It hag only been by periodically shutting them up in their castle that I have had breathing spells and have been able to exist. Were it not for their infirmity, I had married them off years since. Not long ago I chose for one of them a husband, Herr Dunketheim, an estimable youth of Munich. He was under such obligations to me that he at once fell in with my plans. They wouid have none of him, and they raised such a storm of words about my ears that I immediately, in self-defense, sent them to the castle for a week. I informed them at the time that Herr Dunkelheim would visit them in a day or s0; that he would choose one of them for his wife. They at once rebelled, He Caught Sight of Me. and at the instance of Brunhilda, who is the quickest tongued among them, by rea- son of her having had longer practice, they registered a vow that neither of them would utter a word during the week of their imprisonment. It 8, of course, im- possible that they should have kept ‘their oath. Their week 1s up at 12 a’clock to- day, and it now lacks but a minute of it. There is no more to be said. The wedding will take place at 2 o'clock. I have given my word, and that word is never broken.” At that instant, from somewhere in the interior of the castle, there broke upon my ear a strange and discordant noise. I had heard nothing like it before upon the is- land, and at first I did not know what it was. It grew louder, clearer and more strident, and at length there was no longer any mistaking it. It was the storm, the raging tempest, the confusion and the mad- dening din, caused by a number of strong- voiced females, all speaking at the same moment. As the father's fear caught the sound, his eye giittered, as he exclaimed: “Their time is uff, and they are off again.” I said nothing; ‘but in that moment I did more thinking thon before I had ever done in an ordinary day. I gazed out of the window and bebeld, the coach coming down the hill out,of the wood on the op- posite side of thé Shreckenstrohm. The head of a clericalelooking man appeared at the coach win I immediately arose and said to the count: “You must parden me, but I wish to go up to my room f6ér 4 moment. I will not remain there. long.” The old Graf granted me permission to withdraw by a magnanimous wave of the hand, and T at once left him and ascended to the landing in frent of my door. instead cf entering my chamber, however, I chose the opposite door, and passing’ throu; several corridors znd up one or two sta Ways, which, by this time, were perfectly familiar to me, I at last gained the upper jloor of the signal tower. To my great de- light the car was there. I immediately got into it, 2 king up as comfortable a position a: sible, I pulled open the le Which held it fast, and at once the vehicle cid along the wire rope across the chamber and out of the casement. I was but a second in passing over the torrent. In that second I looked down and saw the Graf von Schreckenstrohm strolling about in the court yard of the castle. He looked up and caught sight of me, and his hand im- mediately went to his hip pocket. I duck- domy-head below the rim of the car, and heard the report of a pistol and felt the vali singe my hair as it passed through the crown of my hat. I was but a minute in passing from Castle Schreckenstrohm to Auser dem Walde, the ccunt’s villa. ‘The car traveled at the ra: of about fifteen miles an hour, and I rattled along at a tremendous rate through the icaves of the dark and savage forest. As I anticipated when I wert out, my speed diminished materially as I went up the in- cline of the rope where it approached the ia; so that it was very genily and slowly that my conveyance finally passed into the open tower belonging to the counv’s residence. I had no trouble in alighting from the car and finding my way to the ground floor. There I met a lackey and gave him my card, telling him to present it to his master and to inform him that I would write him from Japan. I have no time to describe the villa. 1 started out immediate- ly for the railway station at Oldendorf, and half an hour later was speeding away on the train toward Paris. Since then I hay heard nothing either of the Jenkinses or the “six dumb belies of Schreckenstrohm.” (The end.) pS GRANT IN WAR TIME. Personal Appearance of the Com- mander of the Army. Gen. Horace Porter in the Century. A description of Gen. Grant’s personal appearance at this important pericd of his carer may not be out of place here, par- ticularly as up to that time the public had received such erroneous impressions of him. There were then few correct portraits of him in circulation. Some of the earliest pictures purporting te be photographs of him had been manufactured when he was at the distant front, never stopping in one place long enough to be “focused.” Noth- ing daunted, the practicers of that are which is the chief solace of the vain had photographed a burly beef contractor, and spread the pictures broadcast as represent- ing the determined, but rather robust, feat- ures of the coming. hero, and it was some time before the real photographs which followed were ‘believed to be genuine. False impressions of him were derived, too, from the fact that he had come forth from a country Iéather store, and was famous chiefly for striking sledge-haminer blows in the field, and conducting relent pursuits of his’ foes through the swamp of the southw He was pictured in the popular mi striding about in the most approved swashbuckler style of melo- Grama. Many of us were not a little su pri: to find I him a man of slim fi ure, slightly stooped, five feet eight inches in height, weighing only a hundred and thirty-five pounds ‘and of a modesty of mien and gentienéss ‘of manner whieh seemed to fit him morg for the court ‘than for the camp. His eyes were dark gra and were the most expressive of his fez ures. Like nearly all men who speak li tle, he was a good listener, but his fac gave ttle indication of his thoughts, and it was the expression of his eyes which furnished about the only response to the speaker who conversed with him. When he was about to say anything amusing, there was always a perceptble twinkle in his eyes before he began to speak, and he often laughed heartily at a witty re- mark or @ humorous incident. His mouth, like Washington t letter-bcx shape, the contact of the lip forming @ nearly horizontal line. This fea- ture was of a pattern in striking contrast with that of Napoleon, who had a bow mouth, which looked as if it had been modeled after a front view of his cocked , was of the hat. The firmness with which the general's square-shaped jaws were set when his features were in repose was highly ex- presssive of his force of character and the strength of his will power. His hair and beard were of a chestnut brown color. The beard was worn full, no part of the face being shaved, but, like the hair, was al- ways kept closely and neatly ‘trimmed. Like Cromwell, Lincoln and several other great men in history, he had a wart on his cheek. In his case it was small, and lo- cated on the right side just above the line of the beard. His face was not perfectly symmetrical, the left eye being a very little lower than the right. His brow was high, broad and rather square, and was creased with several horizontal wrinkles, which helped to emphasize the serious and some- what careworn look which was never ab- sent from his countenance. This expres- sicn, however, was in no wise an indica- tion’ of his nature, which was always -uoyant, cheerful and hopeful. His voice was exceedingly musical, and one of the clearest in sound and most distinct in ut- terance that I have ever heard. It had a singular power of penetration, and sen- tences spoken by him in an ordinary tone in camp could be heard at a distance which was surprising. His gait in walking might have been called decidedly unmilitary. He never car- ried his body erect, and having no ear for music of rhythm, he never kept step to the airs played by the bands, no matter how vigorously th bass drums emphasized the accent. When walking in company there Was no attempt to keep step with others. In conversing he usually employed only two gestures; one was the stroking of his chin beard with his left hand; the other was the raising and lowering of his right hand, and resting it at intervals upon his knee or a table, the hand being held with the fingers close together and the knuckles bent, so that the back of the hand and fingers formed a right angle. When not pressed By any matter of importance he was often slow in his movements, but when roused to activity he was quick in every motion, and wétked with marvelous rapid- ity. He was ctvil to all who came in con- tact with him, arfd! never attempted to snub any one, or tréat/anybody with less con- sideration on account of his inferiority in rank. With him there was none of the puppyism so éften bred by power, and none of the dogmatism which Samuel John- son characterized as puppyism grown to maturity. > deepest ocean. OSCOSSOSEOSSOS 4 . the bottle. due its merits. O6OS960 DO So eS a has the medal. OSOEOOSES Still have doubts? SOOSSOHOS OS OSES SOE COSSSE SSSSSSSSS SCSSOOSEEOES BUBBLES or MEDALS. “Best sarsaparillas.” When you think of it, how contradictory that term is. one best in anything—one best sarsaparilla, as there is one highest mountain, one longest river, one And that best sarsaparilla is —? --.-. There’s the rub. You can measure mountain height and ocean depth, but how test sarsaparilla? You could if you were chemists. But then, do you need to test it? The World’s Fair Committee tested it-and thoroughly. They went behind the label on What did this sarsaparilla test result in? Every make of sarsaparilla shut out of the Fair except Ayer’s. So it was that Ayer’s was the only sarsaparilla admitted to the World’s Fair. committee found it the best. They had no room for anything that was not the best. And as the best, Ayer’s Sarsaparilla received the medal and awards Remember the word “best” is a bubble any breath can blow; but there are pins to prick such bubbles. Those others are blowing more , “best sarsaparilla” bubbles since the World’s Fair pricked the old ones. True, but Ayer’s Sarsaparilla The pin that scratches the medal proves it gold. The pin that pricks the bubble proves it wind. We point to medals, not bubbles, when we say: The best sarsaparilla is Ayer’s. Send for the “Curebook2 It kills doubts and cures doubters. J. C. Ayer Co., Lowell, Mass. PICKING CHICKENS TO MUSIC. Customs of the Italian Poultry Deal- ers of San Francisco. From the San Franciaco Call. The sailor has his musical shanty to which he keeps time as he trots about the capstan until the anchor is hoisted to the peak, the farmer trills a lay to lighten his labors as he pitches hay into the wagon, and these scngs are familiar to many, but whoever hea or saw a gang of Italian chicken pickcrs sing and denude fowls to the time of the music? Such a scene can be witnessed any Friday evening at the Cley street market, while the employes of the big poultry houses that have taeir places of business there are pre- paring for sale the chickens that the hous wife buys for the Sunday dinner. The men seat themselves in a half circle and each takes a fowl. One stroke of a sharp knife across the throat puts the un- | ferturate squawking broiler out of its mis- ery, and then the foreman of the gang starts his song. As they catch the air and the time the others chime in, and in an in- stant the plucking begins. With rhythmic motion the nimble fingers grasp the feath- ers and pull them out during all the time of the song. Feathers fly in all directions, but the sonz goes on unlil the last pin-teathers are re- moved and the carcasses are tossed into a pile, ready for the man who puts on the firishing touches and prepares them for the inspection of prospective purchasers, The rapidity with which a chicken is stripped of its feathers is astonisinng to the uninitiated who has tried it but a few times, and so edept have these men be- come thit they finish their fowls almost simultaneously, and the process is repeated in unison. Three dozen birds are not con- sidered a heavy night’s work for one man, and when pressed for time they manage to compass even more than that. The song they sing rkably li and sweet, and much resembles the song of the fishermen as they row their boats, though the time is much faster. +o+ EWS FROM ARS. ™ Astronomers’ Latest Idens About the Interesting Planet. From the London Standard . The planet Mars, which has attracted so much attention during the last few years, popular as well as scientific, is the subject of a lucid article in the current number of the Edinburgh Review. The interest felt in it of late—as, for instance, in August, 1892, and in October, 1894—was due to the fact that on both those occasions it was exceptionally near to our own planet, and that these oportunities generally occur only at fairly long intervals. On August 4, in the former year, Mars stood right opposite to the sun, and at the comparatively mod- erate distance—that is for celestial bodies— of 35,000,000 miles; but its position in the sky was not very favorable to observers in northern latitudes, for its altitude above the horizon in London was only sixteen de- grees. On October 20, 1894, Mars was 5,000,- 000 miles further from the earth, but its place in the sky was fifteen degrees higher than on the former occasion, which almost compensated for the increased distance. One result of the curiosity thus awak- ened in the constitution of that planet has been the publication of three separate books, one written by Prof. Schiaparelli, another by M. Flammarion, and a third by Mr. Lowell, who has an observatory at Fagstaff, Ariz. Of these books, the Edin- burgh Review gives a critical summary. Martian physiography presents several problems, but the most interesting is this: Is Mars habitable, and, if so, Is it inhabit- ed? Of the three authors, Prof. Schiapare:- li is the most cautious. He confines him- self to stating facts which seem well estab- lished by observation, and drawing infer- ences from them. Thus, he does not assert the existence of living cretures to be im- possible. M. Flammarion goes further—the seeming habitability of Mars produces in him a strong conviction that it is tenanted by thinking beings. Mr. Lowel stoutly ar- gues on the same side. The possibility of the existence of living creatures on that planet, of course, depends upon the phy- sical condition of its surface and atmos- phere. The evidence for their existence can only be obtained by detecting them, or indications of what may reasonably pre- sumed to be their work. The size of the planet is about one-eighth that of the earth. Its disk it mottled in a rather sin- gular way by extensive areas, peculiar in form and different in tone, one group being a dusky color, while the other is bright. Besides this, there are snowcaps on the polar extremities, which increase or dimin- ish according to the season, and have been known to disappear, while the presence of ice-clad mountains in these regions can be detected. There is an atmospher though its pressure and density must b far less than that of our plat: Martian air is commonly estimated to be only one- | enth of the den: of terrestrial air. | he barometer at sea-level there would | stand at about the same elevation as it would do in a balloon as high again from ihe earth as the summit of Mount Everes' Lut attenuated as this atmosphere must bs identy poss one remarkable prop- Mars is about half as far aw from the sun as is our own planet, its “thermal income” is less than half that of the carth. vidently is a perfectly mild ty “The polar snow melt rapidly and almost completel nearer to the equator, frigid conditions ar if not wholly absent, extremely zards are unknown, and no cyclones carry station at express speed across land and sea.” Therefore, its atmosphere mus have a constituent, in addition to water vapor, which is even more powerful than the latter as “‘a trap to catch a sunbeam Eut the arguments in favor of a Martian population rest mainly upon a discovery made in 1877. In that year Schiaparelli observed for the first time the singular markings on the disk of the planet which he has called canals. They appear to be traced in a cordance with definite laws, for they follow great circles of the sphere, hortest distance from point to point. y in aspect. become dim and nar s for a few days, or even are changed into two uniform and parall But besides this there is an ssociated system of dark circular or oval s. These are supposed to be lakes. At rate, the whole system of dark marks on Mars—seas, canals, lakes—is so obvior one that they must receive a common ex- planation. Mr. Lowell draws from his chief argument in favor of Mars 1 inhabited. He believes that mainly depends for its water supply on th melting of the polar snows, and that we see a great system of water storage and irri- gation. But Schiaparelli is far more cau- tious. He points out, and rightly, that un formity may be exhibited in the geometry of nature as well as in that of man, so that the remarks are not necessarily artificial in origin. A body, contracting regularly, if its crust were of fairly uniform strength, would crack after a regular pattern. Con- sequently, while the possibility of the pres ence of inhabitants on Mars, differing, of course, from human beings, cannot be de- nied, very much stronger evidence must be brought forward before their existence can be regarded as probable. AMERICAN DOCTORS. { ing the plan EARLY Some Queer Details of Their Educa- tion and Practice. From the American Monthly Magazine. It may be well here to refer to the meth- od of obtaining a medical profession in those days. There were but two schools of medicine in the country. The one at Har- vard College, just established, and that at New Haven, organzed in 1784. But by rea- son of the dangers and expense of traveling they were by no means well attended. In general the medical education was such as the student could pick up by serv- ing as an apprentice to some noted practi- tioner, which combined the duties of a student with many menial affairs. He ground the powders, mixed the pills, rode with the doctor on his rounds, held the basin when the patient was bled, helped to adjust the plasters, sew wounds, and run with the vials of medicine from one end of town to the other. It was a white day when such a young man ejoyed the rare good fortune of dissecting a half-putrid For there can be only | saddle & CSDOOOSSDOSS OOOO The © © 6 © e @ e @ @ S ) © © e © 9 SE SSSEO erm. So great, indeed, was the difficulty of obtaining anatomical subjects that the medical school at Harvard College made a single body do duty for a whole year. Under such circumstances the doctor’s knowledge was practical, and derived from Personal experience rather then from buoks. The advantages of study were spar- ingly enjoyed. Few physicians boasted of a library of fifty volumes. His apprenticeship ended, the student re- | SPOODODOOE turned to his native town to assume the practice of medicine. At that period, with the exception of the minister and the judge, the doctor was the most important personage in the community. His genial face, his eneaging manners, the sincerity with which he inquired afier the carpen- ter’s daughter, and the interest he took in the family of the poorest laborer, made him the ‘favorite for miles around. He j knew the names and personal of 8 of every house he passed. lads pulled off their ats to him, and the girls dropped cour s he passed. Sunsh rain, t and darkness, were to him. He would ride ten miles in the darkest night over the Worst of roads in a pelting storm to ad minister a dose of calomel to an old womaii ld in a fit. The drugs were stowed away on the shelves of the villas among heaps of shoes, Rohan hats, packag. seeds and flitches of bacon. The physician was compelled to com- pound his own drags, make his own tinc- tures and put up his own prescriptions, His bag was the only drug store within forty miles. Each spring the blood must be purified, the kidneys excited and the damsel who fainted profusely bled. Large doses of senna and manna, and rhubarb and molasses taken daily. It is safe to that more mecicine y n every year by the well than is now taken by the ick in the same time ij Water was denied the pa with fever. In iis stead w ty of clam juice. Mercury was taken lips turned blue ard the gums from the teeth. t tormented ven a small the until fel aw: i her burning i Her brother, overhearing what was going on, rushed into the room, ‘ou will kill her, From the Chicago Post. “Mrs. Doolittle man, isn’t she?” “Um—yes—I suppose she i to be on the go all the time. “Yes; she tells me she has hardly a min. ute she can call her own. She's so devoted to the interests of the children, you know.” “Interests of the children! Why, hers are playing in the street practically all the time. They have less care than any othen children in the block.” “Yes. Too bad, n't it? But she can't help it. She says she can't afford a nurse, and so she has no one to leave them with while she attends the mothers’ meetings and kindergarten associations and makes a study of the development of infant minds, and she would naturally feel that she was neglecting her duty if she didn’t learn all she could on such an important subject.” skier STs Dining Pirates. From the Pittsburg Chronicle. “You will pardon the question, I know, ff you think it obtrusive,” said the enterpris- ing newspaper reporter, as he talked through the prison bars to the captive train robber, “but why do you gentlemen always so through a train before breakfast?” “Well, 1 don't mind telling you,” replied the bandit, “seeing that I am likely to be out of the business for a year of two. We to get ahead of the dining car uch a progressive wo She seems ae eetippp. A Very Light Weight. From the Indianapolis Journal. “I was just talking with Biffs, the pugi- list.” “Biffs? Lemme see. heavy weight, isn’t he?” “Heavy welght nothing. He is an ex- treme light weight. Doesn't fight above @ whisper.” Biffs?” He is a From Life. SUGGESTION FOR A KITCHEN FRIEZE. HER GOuSIN HER AWECTCART=