Evening Star Newspaper, December 12, 1896, Page 21

STUDENTS OF MUSIC How Young Men Prepare in Paris for a Mosical Oareer. OPERA AND THE CONCERT PLATFORM Large Prices Asked by the Well- Known Teachers. A TYPT@GAaAL DAY PARIS, November 25, 1596. respondence of The Evening Star. — HEAR A GREAT Wi of the American irl who comes to Paris for the cultiva- tion of her volce; but our young men have taken the habit as well, and no@ present themselves to the great Paris teachers in equal, {f not great- er, numbers. It is undoubtedly true that up to the present date our girls have ushed themselves most in music, ly as the young men have made the’ greatest name fn painting. One can count y¥ number of American prime donne, but few great tenors and basses. Perhars the day Is not far off when their native land shall hail with delight female Harrisons, Sergeants, Whistlers and Alexanders and It's a Mistake to Sing in Public. male Pattis, Eameses, Sandersons, Van Zandts and Nevadas. The American girl students of painting now in Paris think so, and the young men who sing their scales to Bouhy, Juliani, Trabadelo, Delle Sedie and the rest think so as well. They study with the same teachers as do the young ladies, with this difference: It is generally thought tmportant that a man should study singing with a man, because of the organism, the voice and the char- acter of the music to be committed to memory. A woman can hardly explain to a man how to produce his voice, and from the nature of things she is practically un- familiar with men’s roles. On the other hand, girls study 2 great deal with male teachers at the present day in Paris, and for a simple reason. If the truth must be told, it is this: As Marchesi grows old there seem to be no women teachers of great reputation to step into her place. Mme. Renee Richard, Marie Rose, Mme. La Grange and Mme. Viardot are all doing very well. But new girls flock to the men teachers—Bouny, Delle Sedie, Faure, Juliani, Trabadelo, Sbriglia and the rest. All these male as well as female teachers have been great artistes im their day, and when they make He Refuses to Sing. sppearance at the Opera and Opera ue now they are reco,nized and look- ed on with admiration and respect. Some of them, like Faure and Bouhy, are inde- pend tly rich, and teach only for pleasure om a sense of d It may be fm- ned that one and command high all Frices, and that coming to Paris for three, four, five or six years’ study is a serious financial undertaking for any one. Railroad Method of Study. Raw students who know nothing of sing- ing must reconcile themselves from the art to a long stay in Paris. When they afford it this beginning right has its advantages. There is nothing to and long residence in an artistic, r-musical, capital is an importani the formation of the artiste. r young men, however, go first ers to Germany, while others the two before attempting in of taly, combine tor r may be said against this rafl- z od of study, the thoughtful youth 9 embrace it have the advantage on re_ home of adding “Florence, Milan, Berlin, Brussels and Paris" to cards—and autobiographies. That y_ been a year abroad is not Prominence. Others of our have made long studies ud It thus happens that the majority of them look on the Paris teachers as fin- alists. is known among “hem as a “‘votce- as ts also Juliani: Tratadelo is @ tremolo-remover or tremolo-cre- I forgot which; Delle Sedie 1s looked S @ very learned old man and a book ; Faure is a Aiscerner of future stars, ke but four students at a time ng no money from them; Renee has a beaut little theater in and Sbriglia changes baritones He is just nuw operating on a from Den’ Method of o these young men study with their rated masters? One leaves home, lives road for years, draws money and at last back a great man. How has he ed it? © in Paris know as little of We meet them In society, refuse to sing. Their daily rou- tne goes on In a religious privacy. When one has the courage to ask “Why won't "—the answer is evasive. The dare not risk belittling selves by warbling on each vagrant nvitation. It is ruinous to the reputa- tion “Oh, Mr. Blank? Why I have heard him fn parlors a hundred times. We never thought him of much account.” Famtiliar- ity breeds contempt, and the public is not to be trusted. We should think of this when stars show themselves fantastic, dif- ficult and proud. It.is necessary to their self-defense. They would be glad to open their hearts to the public, but the public is a bad lot, ungrateful, unbalanced, ig- porant, bullying, disposed to take advan- tage, abuse the situation, bite the hand that feeds it and sting the bosom that warms it, @ very serpent. In Paris we know these students. Their world has -“Ba-a-a-a-a! points of contact with ours. But they show themselves coy and retiring. . ‘When one of these students was told that I wanted a short and plain account of students’ dafly routine, he gave it to me vera breakfast at T2320 It may * comes os seem a curious /kind of breakfast, being composed of a pint of cream and a of Jamaica rum. I use the word be explained, “because {t sounds well. The quantity of rum ts really only two good tablespoonfuls. With this there is one small roll and a little butter. This ts my breakfast. It comes, but ¥ do not eat it. It stands on my table while I do my first forty minutes of singing. Marvin, my cousin, who. is with me, goes to the plano Fifty Pages to Be Memorised! at 9 a.m., this being the earliest hour we are allowed to practice in this hotel de famille where we live. My cousin accom- panying me, I sing Bouhy’s own exer- cises, compiled for his pupils, and continue this work forty minutes by the clock. They are exercises I have studied over mentally the night before, and which 1 must be perfect in at Bouhy’s lesson. Forty minutes {fs a long time singing or. an empty stomach. After Breakfast. “And after that you take this extraordi- nary breakfast?” I asked, wondering, for i: is a tall and lusty youth, who would not look out of place lassoing steers. e“Yes. It is the best kind of morning practice.” “Then I suppose you go in for rest or recreation, like some of the young ladies of my acquaintance?” “No, for I have an extra course of study. I want to be able to sing French on the French stage, and it is only with the great- est difficulty that we foreigners can make ourselves acceptable. It was her accent that hurt Miss Van Zandt. Miss Sanderson escaped the difficulty by living practically most of her life in France. Noting this erying need on the part of foreigners, es- pecially Americans, two French girls some time ago began t> make themselves special- ists of what they call ‘phonetics.’ They are the well-known Yersin Sisters, and have been so successful that they can charge absurdly high prices. I am going for a lesson now. Would you like to come along and see what it is like?” In a Studio. I walked with him to the studio of the phonetic sisters. The lesson commenced immediately. It appears that there are fiftéen or more French vowel sounds, all of which are difficult to catch in singing as in conversation. The lady goes to her piano. The pupil stands beside her. She strikes a note—the scales. ‘‘Ba-a-a-a-a!” " The great bass voice sobs— “Ba-a-a-a-a!”. They go through the con- sonants, fitting each to a vowel, ascending always one note at a time. This lesson, which lasts but half an hour, though it seems longer, is as monotonous as it is important. A When the fee, fi, fo, fum exercises are over the teacher goes over the words of such a song as the pupil has been commit- ting to memory to assure the habitual pioper pronunciation of each word in sing- ing. As for example, ““My—stere pro— fond!’ would be worked on something like this, ““Mee-mee-mee stair-air-air! Mee-mee- mee stair-air-air!” until the temptation of the mere unmusical layman to take to the stair in order to get out into the air is irresistiple. And when one reflects that these half hours of store and stress cost 10 francs, or $2 each! The Opera Class. When I next saw the future basso pro- fundo he was eating his lunch like any other. I told him that I should like to go to the opera classs. “That will be for tomorrow,” he answ: ed. “This afterncon at 1:30 my French teacher arrives and works with me an bour. After that I am free till 4 o'clock, when one of two things happen. Either I go to Bouhy for my private lesson with him, or else his master of the opera class comes to me for an extra coaching lesson en his cwn subjects. In the same way my mornings are alternated. On Mondays and Thursdays the opera class takes up the time which on other days I give to the Yersins.” “Exactly!” I hastened to remind him, “T een and heard one of those lessons!” “I cannot take you to Bouhy,” he went on, “because he is a peculiar man and will not allow third persons to be present dur- ing his lessons.”” What are they like?” I take three lessons a week from Bouhy himself, each one lasting a half hou: “And costing?” “I don't mind telling you. He takes $ a lesson, like the most of them. This is when you are going through a regular three years’ course, with three lessons a week. He asks 2s high as $$ apiece for cccasional lessons. During the first three years the three lessons a week are obliga- tery. After that two lessons a week are deemed enough.” A moment's reflection gave me to see very clearly that this opera-singing is an . Interviewing a Famous Man. expensive education. The student of paint- ing has scarcely more than his board and lcdging to think of. From $ to $16 a month is all they need give to their mas- ters, and at the pinch it is not difficult to get three or four years’ credit for colors, brushes and canvases. A Lesson With the Master. “While I cannot take you to one of Bouhy’s lessons,” he was saying as I woke up from this dream of dollars, “I can tell you exactly what one is like. I am sup- posed to arrive always ten minutes be- forehand. Whether this is to rest the lungs from climbing four pairs of stairs or merely for the purpose of meditation, I have never been able to learn. But it ts insisted on by the master, and it has its due effect on us. It gives an impression of sanctity and reverence to the half-hour lesson which even the remembrance of its price might fail to impress on the more thoughtless. The lesson begins with all the exercise work that he had given me the lesson before. “One must know everything by heart. There are no notes or other foolishness. The longest and most perfunctory exer- cises must be committed to memory, be- cause the training of the musical memory is as important as anything else. I stand at one end of the room. Bouhy stands at the other. When anything is wrong he breaks in: ‘Do that over.’ And over and over again he will have it. Then we go to the opera piece or song which he had given me as well. Here it is repeat, re- peat: He will insist on going over a word or phrase a dozen times. Whenever he gays, ‘C'est bien,’ or even ‘Ce n° est pas mal,” his pupils feel delighted, for it is his highest praise. One morning I went to the opera class. Bouhy has enough- American pupils of both sexes to justify an opera class, com- posed entirely of a come. oe or ten young ple were’ present, Roe Sag” _— sixteen, I-believe. aldejo, master of ceremonies, 9 brill- his time and “quite” well known in America, at New Orleans, at least, was at the piano. Sometimes, when he must occupy himself with gesticulation THE, EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1896-24 PAGES. 19 and stage business, a pianist appears, and @s flutists and; vi I have ¢%en heard ae toes ges rene dents themselves, ‘oc- Srunetie, coutralte trees’ Obig. cooks it ines atceniety inte her head to sing the part of tophe- les” in “Feust.’ ss Today it 1s strictly business, aad Valde: is at the piano. “We are taking up the fighting act in the ‘Pre aux Cleres,’ and a very good act it is for you, -tmdeed,”. he | says. Indeed, it was very jolly and lively, | they did it beautifully, these young folks, each in a proper part-and with the rest to thunder out “Eine feste Burg” at the right, moment—something I had never ip: ‘before. “We have good times here!” they chor- used joyfully. And I-could readily be- Neve them.. I thanked my guide, for his Kindness in ghowing:me about, and ‘then, hinting. that he.might remember me for the Christmas eve mass at the Avenue Hoche—e fashionable time and place and @ great crush—I took my leave reflecting. Certainly these students of vocal music | are wonderfully different from the embryo | artiste pelntre. They must have .good, healthy bodies from the start; they must be of fine figure and presence; they must have something which is much more than artistic. temperament, that Is to say, a voice; they must have extraordinary pa- | tence—and a long, long purse. Their mere board—for one must live in a proper quar- tier—will amount to $15 a week. The les- sons with the great teacher cost the same. Daily French lessons, at a dollar apiece, will make it $6 more. The opera class is extra—I forgot how much. These phonetic | lessons, if one takes them, come to an- other $6 a week. The coaching given by the head of the opera class is also very ex- pensive. What do the poorer pupils do then? The simple truth is that they have a wretched time of it, harassed continually to keep afloat, in constant difficulties—and debt. Expenses are always greater than it was supposed at the beginning. Home calcu- lations do not seem to hold good in Paris. Parents of beautiful young girls should take account of this. STERLING HEILIG. —_— CHRISTMAS DECORATION. A Scheme for Beautifying the House on the Festive Occasion. From Harper's Bazar. : While the rich green of hemlock and holly and the bright red berries of the latter fill the body of the church with cheery warmth, household decoration should be entirely different in character, and a great mistake is made when ever- greens are thrust into every available cor- ner and lavishly wreathed about chande- liers and pictures. The mistletoe bough is allowable on Christmas eve, and where there are little people the time-honored Christmas tree in one corner is a pretty sight; but while the whole house should be at its freshest and brightest and exhale the very atmosphere of good cheer and hospitality, it is not desirable to hang it with wreaths and ropes of green like a public hall. The Christmas dinner table should be the central point of decoration, and this can be carried out with a very moderate amount of trouble and expense. On the fine damask table cover should be laid a central strip of sash-curtain silk in scarlet or old red, ex- tending from end to end, and bordered all around with guipure lace. A strip of any other material in rich coloring may be substituted for the silk, only heavy lace would be appropriate, and a narrow fringe could be used instead of lace. The central ornament of flowers is placed on this strip, and great white chrysanthe- mums, brightened with holly berries and leaves, are particularly in harmony with the season. The shy Christmas rose, which is really more of an anemone than a rose, can sometimes be found, but it is not pro- lific, and its delicate beauty is lost when mixed with other flowers. A ruby-tinted, long-stemmed glass with a spreading top displays this shy blossom to the best advantage, and the only foliage used should be the daintiest of ferns or the delicate tendrils of the graceful maurandia. Such a decoration on either side of the chrysanthemums and holly berries would please thé eye with a sense of harmony. Or a crystal bowl of crimson roses would also be appropriate and a wreath of holly leaves about the edge of it might be used effectively. Glass candlesticks at each cor-_ ner of the cloth would be pretty with red candles, the receptacles being wreathed with smilax. This delicate vine should also drape the | chandelier overhead, with small clusters of holly berries arranged so that the smilax will look as though caught up here and there with careless grace. A red rose with tiny ferns for each lady, and holly and mistletoe for the gentlemen would make appropriate boutonnieres, To carry out the scheme thoroughly the viands dispensed at the Christmas board should, as far as possible, represent the colors of the season. Thus the soup might be spinach, asparagus or mock turtle, with plenty of the green coloring, while the blue | points could be served on individual blocks | of ice wreathed with smilax. The trencher containing the turkey should be wreathed with holly, and all sorts of pretty and ap- | propriate dishes scattered about would help | to make the table attractive. | Molds of cranberry jelly trimmed with little tufts of mistletoe; Spanish cream col- ored with pistache, and wearing a necklac of holly berries; small glass corner dishes of strawberries made of almond paste, shaped and colored in exact imitation of | the fruit; diminutive tarts, with green fill ing that proves to be of the same materia but colored with pistache, and the inevita. ble plum pudding decorated with a bright central cluster of holly—are ail in char- acter. The hostess would look Christmasy and | attractive ir a gown of red silk, with much | soft lace at the neck and sleeves. A soft | white dress trimmed with green and bright- ened with red roses would be equally ap- propriate. e Se ee Ahead of the Times. From the New York Herald. ‘The eminent dramatist had designed a burlesque, and he was jubilant. “Wonderful!” he said exultingly. limit and no mistake. Fairies enter on trol- | leys; Undine on a water bicycle: good fairy’s talisman, a soap ‘ad’ worth $1,000 a night; ghost ascends from the earth in an elevator, cage in full view of the audience: goddesses lighted by incandescent lights, and when the hero is in hard luck, calls | up the genil from a sound-proof telephone booth right on the stage. The fairy god- | mother enters in a horseless carriage “About the cast?” suggested the manager. Best of all,” rejoined the enthusiast, “voiceless. prima donna, legless ballet girls—" “I'm afraid, Mr. Golightly.” sald the manager sadly, “that it will not do.” And he sadly turned away. “Tt's the! Lady (calling on Edith’s “Edith, how old are you?” Edith—Three years old. I should like to be four, but (with a sigh) I supgose some one must be three.” mamma)— j for the public market. | eover which required an | 100,000 square LOVERS OF FLOWERS a Tn Money Spent in Flotat-Decorations for Social “Events, = yl HOLIDAY s GREEN S A FLOWER-LOV- ing community ‘Washington easily leads all other cities of its size in the country,” said a local florist to a Star reporter yesterday. “There are more than twice as many thriving florists’ es- tablishments here as there are in any other American city of equal population. “To say that flowers and plants give to the home a certain atmosphere of refine- ment and delicacy is to repeat one of the most trite of truisms. There are very few Washington homes the dwellers in which do not make some sort of effort at flower decoration, from the 10-cent bunch of chrysanthemums on the dining room table to the expensive orchids or roses in the parlor or sitting room. “At this season, when cut flowers are more expensive than at any other period of the year, owing to the immense demand created by the holidays, the daily consump- tion of flowers in Washington is sufficiently remarkable to astonish the florists of other cities of approximately equal Violets, for instance, are pretty costly just now, owing to the difficulty of getting enough of them during the cold weather to supply the demand. Yet the florists of Was’ ton are selling every day more than violets. During the spring and summer months, when violets are much cheaper than they are now, Washington people use all the way from 150,000 to 200,000 of them a day. “There has been a great scarcity of roses during the past two months, owing to the fine weather, which has ed the demand for them for personal adornment to keep well up with the supply, and roses have been rather more costly this season than during the same period last year. Yet 10,000 a day is a fair average of the number of roses of all kinds which the florists of Washington have sold from the middle of October to the present time. More than 20,000 roses a day were sold to Washingtonians during the months of the past summer. C “Cut flowers of all sorts are about thirty per cent cheaper here than in any other American city that I know of, with the possible exception of San, Francisco, the markets of which are fooded by the waxy, splendid-looking, but ‘unfragrant, flowers grown in southern California—for the flow- ers of the slope are.something like its fruit, handsome tn appearance, but pithy and tasteless. Raised in This Vicinity. “The comparative cheappess of flowers and plants in Washingtor=is due to the fact that the great bulk éf’them are raised in the near-by environs ofthe city, and, in selling them, the cost of transportation has not to be added to the:cost of production in crder to make the business profitable. “In the immediata. neighborhood of Washington there are pearly 500,000 square feet of ground devoted tothe cultivation of flowers and plants under glass by flor- ists who possess their: own nurseries. I don't,think tt 1s generally; known by Wash- irgton people that Anacostia is one of the most. notable flower-yroducing towns. in the middle Atlantic states. In Anacostia | there are more than 125,00) square feet of flowers, chiefly roses, cultivated under glass. Alexandria has a fiower area of about 75,000 feet under glass. Bladensburg and vicinity is a very important place in the flower-raising business, and has nearly 120,000 square feet of flowers and plants un- der glass. Flower nurseries take up more than 25,000 square feet of space glassed over on the Chevy Chase road, and on the Falls Church road near Fort Myer it re- quires 20,000 more square feet of glass to protect the tiowers and piants grown there Finaliy, a great number of the flowers sold in Washington are raised in the Brightwood nurseries, to ftem of about It is safe feet of glas to say that of all the flowers and piants in the national capital nine-tenths of them are produced within a radius of j ten miles from the Capitol building. Roses and Violets. “In the production of roses the nurseries of Anacostia lead those of all the other places that I have named. Anacostia roses are rapidly becoming famcus in cities like New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Balti- more, to which places they are shipped in large numbers. There is uo especial rea- son why better and more hardy roses should be grown under glass in Anacostia than in Brightwood, for instance, for the soil and climate are essentially the same, as are the methods of cultivation. Yet Anacostia roses are far in the lead of all of the other.roses grown hereabouts. The Anacostia flower nursérymen make a spe- cialty of the exquisite but misnamed Amer- ican beauty roses (misnamed because the historian Bancroft brought the first Ameri- can beauty rosebush from France to this country along in the thirties, when the variety was thoroughly well’ known io French horticulturists), and large prices are paid for them when their scarcity is unusu- al owing to protracted spells of cold weath- er. Retail flower dealers get all the way from $3 to $18 a dozen for them, according to the season, and the flowers’ size and condition. “The best violets grown in this vicinity are raised In the Alexandria nurseries, and the Alexandria nurserymen make a’ spe- cialty of violets for the Washington trade. There is not so much money in the ratsing of violets as there is in the growing of roses, for the same reason that vineyards find the production of still wines more profitable than the production of cham- pagnes, namely, the failure of a large pro- portion of the product. As about one-half of the sparkling wine bottled for fermenta- tion is lost owing to the premature popping of corks and the bursting of bottles, so about one-half of the violets planted under the glass frames fail to mature and blos- som. It is owing to this fact that the price of violets is so high. There is scarcely any money in retailing them in small quanti- ties. Florists get from $2’to $7 a hundred for them, according to’ their variety, size and freshness. ait “Brightwood leads all o: the flower-grow- From Life. ze TOO DREADFUL TO THINK OF. ing districts in the vicinage of Washington in the cultivation of orchids for commeréial. Burposes. In my opinton, the Brightwood crehids are the finest raised in the United { States. When Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, who is one of England’s enthusiastic ama- teur orchid raisers of distinction, was in Washington, he spent @ good portion of his time at the Erightwood orchid nurseries, and he declared that some of the specimens raised there for market purposes eclipsed’ anything .he had ever seen. It is the amount of care it is necessary to bestow upon orchids in raising them that makes them so expensive. It is rare that orchids of any sort can be bought from florists for less than $6 a dogen, and the more frequent price of them ts $12 a dozen. They are chiefly used in Washington during the social season for purposes of table decora- tion, and the orchid bills of social leaders here are probably heavier than the bills for the solids and liquids consumed at their dinners and teas. “On account of their comparative inex- pensiveness and their hardiness, carnations are greatly in favor among Washington flower buyers. The price of the best of them is $i a dozen, and the nurseries on the Chevy Chase road produce the most of them sold here. Something that is not gen- erally known, I think, is the fact that H- lies of the valley, which are used in Wash- ington in great quantities, are practically grown to order. When a big social func- tion is to be given, in whith lilies of the valley are to compose in large measure the floral decorations, the florists are notified about three weeks in advance, when they take the lily of the valley plants from their cold storage houses and force the blossoms in the nurseries, a process which requires from fourteen to twenty days. This ac- counts for the expensiveness of lilies of the valley. Proper Flower to Wear. “For dress adornment, violets and roses are the preference among Washington la- dies. Lilies of the valley come next. The proper corsage bouquet for young unmar- ried women is composed either of violets or roses, while matrons and more elderly wo- men who cling to form wear lilies of the valley. Among persons conyersant with this unwritten law in the wearing of flowers there Is, of course, an excellent chance for the young men who wish to stand well with the matrons and elderly ladies of un- certain ages to flatter them in an insin- uating fashion by sending them violets and roses for their corsages. “The proper boutonniere for a man is one or more carnations. It is now considered a sign of cffeminacy for a man to wear a bunch of violets in his button hole. An at- tempt has been made to introduce the beautiful japonica as the proper bouton- niere for men, but for some reason or other it was not very successful, perhaps on ac- count of the fragileness of the flower. The day of the chrysanthemum is passing. Or- ders for them for purposes of decoration are decreasing rapidly. They have become too common. For purposes of dress adorn- ment, both for men and women, they are being rapidly abandoned. ‘The trade in potted plants is very large in Washington, especially in the item of | | palms. It is possible to raise all varieties of paims in the nurseries hereabouts, and one or more palms give a fine, fresh tone to a house. They are retailed all the way from $1 to $50. Brazilian ferns are one of the rages of this season In potted plants. They are hardy, beautiful and compara- tively inexpensive. Holiday Greens, “The mistletoe, holly and other green stuff which is used in such immense quan- Uties for purposes of house decoration dur- ing the holiday season, all comes to Wash- ington from the surrounding woodlands of Maryland and Virginia, and is garnered chiefly by the employes of the marketmen. The florists handle it chiefly in the filling of orders on a large scale given by wealthy people, who do not appreciate the cheap- hess at which it is sold on the produce markets, Frankly, the florists are a litle down on the mistletoe and holly idea, for the use of this sort of green stuff unde- niably militates against their business dur- ing the holiday seasen. “There has been a good deal of fiction published,” concluded the florist, “as to the vest amounts of money expended by weaathy people for flowers and plants used in decorating churches and residences for weddings and other great occasions. For Instance, when the Duke of Marlborough awarried Miss Vanderbilt, the New York pepers stated that the cost of the floral decorations footed up $100,000. I should like to have had the contract for the decora- tions for $10,000, Washington society people go in as heavily for floral decorations as those of any other city in the country, including New York, and yet there is very rarely a function here where the flowers and plants used for decorative purposes cost more than $200. A church or a house can be magnificently adorned with flowers for that amount of money. When Senator Gorman gave his dinner to the Gridiron Club he or- dered his florist te present an array of flowers to cclipse anything ever seen in Washington, and the most that could be expended in doing this was $500. “Florists require two or three days’ notice in advance of social functions, especially weddings, in which to do their work. In decorating a church for a wedding there are a good many things to be taken into consideration, the most important of which is the costumes to be wora by the bride and her bridesmaids, which the flowers must match. Washington florists have, in emer- gencies, completely decorated ball rooms with flowers and plants in hours, but this Is a sp which they are not fond —— GOLD LETTERING. two or three es of hustling of How the Burnished G the Window F id Letters Are on Produced, From the New York Sun, The sign letterer Who is putting a good sign on a window paints the letters upon the outside first, but these letters are only for a guide—the gold is put upon the in- side of the glass. The gold leaf is so thin ard light that the faintest breath would be enough. to blow it away—it is carried in the familiar little books. The letterer brushes the inner side of the glass, back of the lettering painted upon the outside, with a brush dipped in water containing a trace of mucilage. Then, with a wide and very thin camel's hair brush, which he first brushes lightly back and forth once or twice upon the back of his head, or perhaps upon his coat, to dry it, if it needs drying, and slightly to electrify’ it, he lifts from the book a section of gold leaf sufficient to cover a section of the letter and places it on the giass. He repeats these operaticns until the glass back of the letter painted on the front if covered with the leaf. It may require three or four sections, such as can be picked up with the brush, to cover the letter, or perlafs more, depend- ing on its size and shape. When he has completed the application of the leaf to one letter he dampens the back of the next and proceeds with that in the same manner, and so on until the letters are-all backed with the gold leaf. ‘Thus applied, the gold leaf overlaps the letters more or less on all sides. It is bright in color, like all gold, but it is not shining; it is burnished by rubbing it gent- ly en the back—of course, it cannot be rub- bed on the face, for that is against the glass—with a soft cloth. It burnishes, how- ever, ‘on the face as well as on the back. Then the letters are backed. The exact shape of the letter is painted over the back of the gold leaf to fix it and protect it, and when the back ts dry the gold leaf pro- jecting beyond the outline of the letter is brushed off; it is rot sought to save this projecting leaf, there is not enough of it to pay for the labor that would be involved in gathering it together. Then the outside let- tering, which is done with paint that is but little more than oily is rubbed off, and the lustrous gold lettering is revealed. ————-+e+- The Grimy-Facéd Boy. From the New York Press. “Bay-bee, bay-bee!”" faced urchin, coaxingly. The baby with the white fox fur coat and the kid gloves looked sidewise toward the curb. Its mother was one of the crowd in called the grimy- -front of the store window, and looking at a perfect love of a bonnet. “Bay-bee, bay-bee!” came the invitation again, Totteringly the baby approached the curb and smiled trustfully up at the dingy face. The urchin dropped down on his knees, laid the papers he was selling on the pavement and fave | the little kid glove with his red, dirty little hand. “Pretty It ¢ is 10 by 24 inches. not be sold {2-Color Calendar CLOTHES FOR MEN, Some of the Features That Make the Styles This Winter. From Trafficdom. It may not be gainsaid that golf—as the ultra-fashionable game—has been an im- portant factor in gaining for the Scotch goods the precedence that otherwise might not have been attained. Subjugated gay- ety, as 2 result, will most aptly designate the colorful tendency that imbues and ac- centuates“the fabrics for gentlemen in the autumn and winter of 1896." Certain is it, however—and surely welcome withal—thai there is an overwhelming radiance about the commingled color jottings of the “Scots” that even the black background and somber dominant colors in innovation shades of brown, gray and green cannot completely quell. The Scotch goods are in a series of stripe effects in plaids—form- ed by 1-8-inch stripes crossing at 2% inches interspace. The backgrounds, while som- ber in tone, are punctured ‘at intervais, more or less apart, by miniature jottings in a variation of bright colorings that in- fuse the requisite enlivenment. I will vouchsafe that the individualistic four-button double-breasted waistcoat will play a very important part in the ensemble. It will be worn invariably—and in the ultra patternings—with the double-breasted frock coat. It will be worn also with the black cutaway, sack and English walking coats. A distinct flavor of the fine arts pervades the neckwear. Among the variations in bright color figurirgs many are akin to those employed in the suitings and waist- coatings. The sack suitings will be made with peaked lapels in consonance with the dou- ble-breasted waistcoats that will cross just below the upper shirt button that it will be worn with. The length of the coat will be three-quarters over the hip. There will be slit pockets in the sack suitings, as no decoration is necessary. They will be made to fit easil The English walking suits. The coats will be long in the waist and short in frock within the three-button cutaway effect, with laps over the pockets and in length coming just down cver the hip. The lapels will be peaked, as the double-breasted waistcoat is part of the suiting. If°an in- dividualistic waistcoat is worn with either the sack of English walking suit, the de- sign must be chosen fn a comporting color. Buffalo horn buttons will go with both the mixed suitings. z The double-breasted frock coat will be about one-third longer in the lower than upper portion, which will bring it down to just above the knee. It will be in contra- diction to the sack and English walking coats—made to fit snug to frock that will impart that distirgue flare that prevailed with the gentry in this country in 1s when high collars were worn on the coats, necessitating stocks, and the very much bell-crowned hat that was doffed with an almost ground-touching swe fer- ence. The double-breasted is now the recognized ¢ mal wear, The trcusers are going to be conservative in shape, which is neither loose nor tight, but, “you know,” just right. The dress coat with wide ‘silk-covered peaked lapels, the double-breasted, four- button white waistccat, showing a wide e: posure of shirt frcnt and three shirt studs er buttons—for this is a set complete—will continue to prevail. The fashionable collar will be 23-4 inches at maximum height. The cuffs will be linked. The colored shirt should not have a place in the calendar of belongings for gentle- men in the autumn and winter of 188, be- cause with the neckwear and suitings there will be an ample sufficiency of coloring, and the colored shirt will constitute an overdoing that would endanger its future. This would be a matter of regret, for worn at the right time and in the right way it is an acceptable attribute of attire. The hats are in @ conservative trend for the first time in several seasons, and therefore becoming. Happily, the abnormal toothpick-pointed shoes are on the wane, and, best of all, there Is a strong liklihood of the obliteration of the D-F collar, by which is meant that paradoxical neck circlet that is a stand-up-turnover or a turnover stand-up collar—whichever the disordered intellect of the designer wishes to convey. However, it leaves an uncome- ly vacuum on the band; it is uncomforta- ble, far-fetched; there is no reason or sense in_it—therefore the D-F collar. The new colors in gloves are: Oxford tan, cinnamon tan, orange tan and lemon tan. The white pesrl veloute continues to be the correct glove for evening wear, aud the pearl gray veloute with semi-formal attire. There is a heavy white glace glove for the opera—correct and serviceable on wintry nights. ——— os A QUEER CHINESE RITE. coat rment for semi-for- They Burn « Pariermache Devil in Portland. From the Portlard Oregonian. The second incineration of the Chinese devil occurred on 24 and Alder streets at | 4 o'clock this morning. His majesty’s ashes were carefully picked up and carried away, and now only a few bluckened paving stones remain to mark the spot where once the proud form of the spirit of evil towered majestically over the crowd of admiring heathens. At 1 o'clock this morning active and in- dustrious Chinamen poured ferth in streams from every nook and corner of their irregular residences and commenced the crusade against the evil one. . On both sides of the street for a block great fires were kindied at intervals of a rod, and two still larger fires blazed in the middle of the street at either end of the alley of flame thus formed. eodore Roosevelt the Police Commissioner of New York City, whose work as a Reformer is known to The Youth's , fompanion ” for 1897, touch upon his greatest public achievement, — the re-organization of a corrupt metropolitan department. He tells of the life of a New York policeman, its official beginning, its rewards, its penalties and its “« chances, as well as of the brave deeds that gild the record of The New York Police. A companion article to this will be ‘Cleaning the Metropolis," by Col. George E. Waring, Jr., who transformed New York from a dirty city to a clean one, and who willl tell how the street-cleaners work. One of the most beautiful CALENDARS issued this year will be given to each New Subscriber to The Companion. It is made up of Four Charming Pictures in color, beautifully executed. i 2 The subjects are delightfully attractive. This Calendar is published exclusively by Tae Yourn's Companion and could Art Stores for less than One Dollar. Subscription price of The Companion $1.75 a year. ew Subscribers who will cat out this ‘with name and address and $1 FREE-The Youth's ia received and send It at once will receive ‘Companion stood at the south end of the block. At the other end, sufficiently €ar removed to keep away all contagion of evil, was another and larger stand containing a miniature Josshouse. Here were three pries:s in red robes, two in blue and a small boy, also in biue, whose duty it seemed to be to con- tinuallly light paper on a cawdle in front of him, and cast the flaming sheets to the ground, to his own infinite delight and the imminent peril of his flowing nether gar. ments. In the music stand were also sev- eral musicians, who discoursed sounds hideous enough to reconcile the devil at the other end of the block to death by fire or any other way, if he could only escape the music. The priest chanted, the Chinese fed the fire and the band played on, till 4 o'clock, when some one seized the devil, carried him twice down the line between the fires and then heaved him on a pyre prepared especially for the purpose, where he crackled merrily until the last of his ob- noxious form curled and wreathed in smoke over the roof of the dwellings of his sub- jects. Then ensued a grand scramble for two tubs of holy water, which stood at each end of the block. Whoever got one of these when they had been duly blessed came in for unbounded good luck the rest of the year, but the priests Intended to reserve them for themselves, so each was guarded by a policeman, who used his club liberally on any Chinaman who approached the tubs with intent to take, steal and carry away the same. ‘One tub was taken before it was blessed, but it was generally conceded that th’ brought no good luck, The other was blessed in the regulation way. In a scrim- mage over it the water was upset and the tub was cast on the flames and destroyed So the Chinaman who covets a lead pipe cinch or good luck will have to defer his ambitions another year. This performance will be repeated at this season in 1897. It was witnessed by a great number of Chi- nese and a few white people of owlish ten- dencies. At 6 o'clock this morning every vestige of the festivities, save a few flakes of charred tissue paper, had becn removed, and no one passing through would have suspected that he was on the scene of the orgies just described. AURORA ON THE YUKON. The Unwarming Light Flashes on Frozen Rivers and Grent Snow Banks. From the Alaska 4 During the winter months the aurora on ews. the Yukon is very brilliant, and intensely beautiful. It, commences early in the fall and lasts, with more or | brilliancy throughout the Iong arctic winter. It gen- erally commences upon the setting of t sun, although in midwinter it has some- times been so bright that it was visible at noon, while the sun was shining brightly. The rays of the light first shoot forth with a quick, quivering motion, are then gath- eyed and form a great arch of fire spanning the heavens. It glows for an instant, like a girdle of burnished gold, then, unfolding, great curtains of light drop forth. Th royal mantles of bright orange, green, pink, rose, yellow and crimson are and waved between heaven and earth as with an invisible hand. The rapid gyrations and scintillations of light and blending colors are intensely bewildering and superb- ly beautiful. ‘The whole phenomena of waving wreaths, flickering, flames, rays, curtains, fringes, bands and flashing colors, the strange con- fusion of light and motion, now high in the heavens, then dropping like curtains of gold and silver lace, sparkling with @ wealth of rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds, penetrating dark guiches and darting through somber green forests, light- ing the whole landscape as with a thous- and electric lamps, form a picture of which words can convey but a very poor idea This unwarming light, as it the fro%en rivers, the great banks of snow, and reveals the huge mountains of «listen- ing ice and black Hnes of fir, indeed is of the purest arctic cast, and causes one to button his coat closer over his chest, and with a shiver he is glad to seek a light ef jess brilliancy, but one of Mfe-giving warmth. At the breaking up of winter the hours of sunshine are rapidly increasing, and continue so until midsummer, when the sun beams forth twenty-two hours ont of the twenty-four, while on the high moun- tain peaks it is for a period of several days in June not entirely out of sight during the twenty-four hours. During the months of July and August the weather becomes very warm, and even hot, and miners are glad to seek a shady retreat in which to do their labor. After this period the hours of sun- shine gradually decrease, until, during the shortest days, the sun shines but four hours out of the twenty-four. But at this period the aurora is very intense, and helps very materially in driving darkness from that dreary land. The thermometer goes down to 70 degrees below zero in winter, but the atmosphere is very dry, und ¢o: sequently the cold is not so perceptible as one would imagine. suspended — = GANGER Mra. A. H. Crausby of 158 Kerr st, Memphis, Tenn., paid no attention to « small == lump im ber breast, but it soon developed foto a cancer of the most malig- nant type, The in New York treated her, and finally Geclared her case hopeless. As a last resort, 8. 8 & was given, and am best physicians i i z ees h FE i il