Evening Star Newspaper, December 26, 1896, Page 16

THE. EVENING STAR; SATURDAY; DECEMBER 26, 1896—24 PAGES. OUI, OUI, MONSIEUR: “JOUR DE L’ AN.” Parisian Observance of the First Day of the Year. as CALLING IS STILL POPULAR eee ae Presents Are Given Instead of at Christmas Time. CURIOUS CARD —_+ CUSTOMS ‘The Evening Star. PARIS, December 20, 1896. HE QUESTION SS I with Americans in | oe fe Paris is not so much +E what they shall do on New Year day as how they shall do it. Here in a back- ward capital cf the 1 effete east New Year calls—with the \"j ui | traditional refresh- ment—are still in »gus. They are so uuch in vogue that to omit to call or err to make a bad impres- very outset of a new all things. The French wonderfully punctilicus in ne “Jour de I'An,’~ which real- its words—the day of all the year; as the colony must have some rules, these rules lean toward the French ideals, if only for enience. De he American affbassador receive ar day? This question has ered of late years, When was only minister—not to Messrs. Reid and Cool- ‘Then it was a ques- lerfoot in the colony of hall J,” the young man in a frock coat, white 1 silk hat, or in my evening As our ministers of that time t liberal to the public, inviting ans by newspaper announce- embly always was a very ve. out nher that Mr. Reid’s practice was lines of a graceful compromise. ion was by gas light, and Mrs. Tip the Con rR vening toilet. The sec- : also in evening minister him- ock coat, to keep f » of his fellow-coun- ed to put a dri > hour of 6 p.m usked. Our ambassador the question of at all for many. years the con- e have thrown into the breach, ourageously Tip ¢ Chnmbermaid. entertaining as lavisbly’aé thelr small fiat permits. The French themselves have an elabo- rate code for calling, with its rules of dress mong the others. The foundation of the formal, full-dress call is firmly laid in the foutine of the official world. The diplo- Matic corps must call in a body on the President of the republic—their first call } rank. of the day. They are in uniform, as are all military swells, and dress-coats an- swer to them on the backs of all civilians. All this is in broad daylight and no one seems ashamed. Indeed, throughout their daily life—at marriage breakfasts, christ- enings, furerals and memorial matinees and theatrical benefits, these Frenchmen revel in the dress coat. With them the rule of 6 p.m. applies only to the affairs of private life. The white tie and the swallow-tail constitute the hab‘t de cere- monte, do they rot? Then wear them, even though the ceremony be by daylight. The diplomatic corps has made its for- mal call upon the president. Then im- mediately each goes individually to in- seribe himself on the register of the doyen Dixcussing Your Liberality. of their order, then, later, on the registers of each and every of his colleagues of his Later still each gambassador re- ceives the various minist&s, charges d’af- faires, secretaries, attaches and all the test. The president of the republic re- ceives the calls of the presidents of the two chambers, and then sets out immedi- ately to return them. They All Make Calls. While this transpires, the officlal world below is similarly occupied, and even more laboriously. In a land where the govern- ment is all in all, where railways, telegraph and telephone service are in the control of state functionaries, alike with music and the drama, tobacco selling, funeral under- taking. the patronage of the fine arts and religion itself, the civil service clerk exists luxuriantly. On New Year day this army— g 10 per cent of the whole voting population—gives itself up to an orgie of call-making. The rules are rigid. 1._Every immediate inferior must call up- on his immediate superior. 2. Every immediate superior must receive his immediate inferior. That is to say, after hurrying to cail upon your chief, you must then hurry back to wait the call of your assistant. In great business houses and all corpora- tions, managers, head bookkeepers, confi- dential clerks and so on, make their first calls, or leave their first cards, on the members of the firm or the chief officers. And then they scatter cards upon each other as the snow falls, until the office boy, they say, begins to leave his card upon the lady typewriter. Retail shops, because they must be open on this present buying day, do not afford this pastepoard recreation to their employes, but in the great magazins, like the Bon Marche, the Louvre, the Pri temps and the Gagne-Petit, the most ex- quisite ceremony is observed in short but More Chocolates! not informal calls from shelf to shelf and from department to department. It follows from this whirt of purely bust- ness and official calling that the cabs of Paris on a New Year day are almost in- accessible to casual travel. The sviling of patent leather shoes is one of the timely jokes, and bad weather is playfully taken for granted. Fre Homes. In the French social world it is considered indiscreet to present yourself where you are not expected. Here an abrupt “Halt!” is called upon the New Year visit, and the card—accompanied by the present—finds its splendid place. In this French society, which we Americans of the colony see only as through a glass darkly, New Year day is reserved to intimates and peculiarly to the family. Grandparents are supposed to have special rights. And mothe n-law sit enthrone: ty household with a pre- tense to s i splendid preparations ‘Mp the Postman. are made for the reception of intimates. When one dines with a family once a month or oftener—a very usual feature of French social life, which otherwise is not much given to entertainment—a call in per- son with substantial gifts is de rigueur. Again many French families, especially where there are daughters, are obtaining modern—te., Anglo-Saxon—ideas, though prudently. The thought that the old French plan of secluding the unmarried girls is unjust to the girl and also to the young men who ought to profit by her refining acquaintanceship, is. gaining ground dally. Paris mothers with no idea of forming a eae take a Sir ene season, that is to say, an and evening, and “receive,” exactly as Americans in Paris, and this “receiving,” which is for our lonely Americans the solid stand-by of thelr social life, begins to be the opening wedge for the French demoiselle’s emanci- pation. “Only we must go very. siowly!” they say. “Our young men are not used to ft, and they are eli tempted to neglect it or abuse it.” In si advanced “‘receiy- ing” families New Year gifts and visits may be well expected In return for hospi- tality. Flowers and expensive bon bons, being non-committal, and without assump- tion of intimacy, must always form the mainstay of such presents. The Exchange of Gifts. Among the French themselves one’s atti- tude at New Year is taken as a criterion for one’s treatment throughout the year. If the card or visit comes with a substan- tial gift, it is a sign that you desire to stand well with them. If one’s card comes simply, there may be disappointment or re- sentment or contentment or matter-of- course indifference, as the case may be. But if, by some neglect, one sends no card at all, one’s name is likely to be scratched from off the list. With our American disposition to a call in person for the mere sending of a card this New Year calling takes on in the col- ony all the old jelly features of the jay as known to our fathers. Every maid and matron in the colony appears to have a special recipe for making punch. Here flowers and bonbons are in order also, and among good friends the iiabit of the French of making all substantial gifts on New Year and not Christmas is beginning to prevail. This present-giving side of New Year day in Paris cannot be exaggerated by any en- thusiastic description. Christmas may be the day for children—thouga a republican society likes to ignore the sacred anniver- sary—but New Year is the day for youths and grown persons. So our Americans in Paris, assisted by the late arrival of many a gift from home, learn easily to look for gifts all through the week. In a society where many have only known each other for a short time an unexpected gift at Christmas will call for a return at New Year, and the specially religious character of Christmas day in France assists in mak- ing the change easy. Another species of present-givii our Americans are forced to learn distaste- fully. The postman, the concierge, the milkman, the bread man, the grocers clerk, the policeman on the beat, your own house servants, and those of all your friends where ‘you are intimate—in fact, each menial with whom you have been brought in contact through the year, ex- pects a gift in money. And these aré not small gifts. You can never give less than a two-dollar gold piece, and socfal servants, like one’s concierge, expect substantial sums. Mere cards are never wrong, although they take shapes among the French which appear strange to us. It is a custom of French gentlemen to put their dignities, honorary titles or other qualifications of merit on their ordinary visiting cards. These sometimes take ludicrous shapes. Here, for example, is “Eugene Baudin, formerly mayor of the tenth ward of Paris.” The Comte de S— has borne for yeers upon his card “Comte de S—~, brother of Gen. Z—, wounded at Sebasta- pol.” A grocer had after his name “Can- didate for the presidency of the republic.” I have seen the card of a large farmer near the Belgian frontier, which had in- scribed beneath his name “Decorated with the Order of Agricultural Merit, which he preferred to that of the Legion of Honor when his choice was offered him by Presi- dent Carnot.” These are serious, as se- rious as was the effort of the little French girl who thought she ought to send an- nouncements when her married sister gave birth to a baby, “Mademoiselle Irma has the honor to announce to you the birth of her nephew Anatole. Both aunt and child are doing well.” STERLING HEILIG. —— A Lovely Week. mm the New York Herald. “Such a lovely week as I’ve had of it!” said the volatile Miss Giddygadd to Miss L. Marguerite Rosebudd, between the acts at the matinee. “Such a perfectly charming week!” “Yes, dear? Well, I’ve had a lovely time, too. Saw you at the De Lange’s Monday night.” “Oh, lovely affair, wasn’t it?” “Lovely.” “Perfectly so. Were you at Miss De Gall’s at‘home Tuesday afternoon?” “Yes, indeed; and it was a lovely affair. F 'No; I had to pour for Helen Shoddy’s tea that afternvon.” “Oh, of course. I saw you there. How stupid cf m2 to forget. But I went to four teas that afternoon. Lovely affairs, all of them.” “I went to two Wednesday afternoon, and to Mrs. Upstart’s musicale and dance in the evening. Had a lovely time at the Upstarts.” “So dia I. Lovely little dance, wasn’t it?" “Lovely. “Saw you at Birdie Gabbleton’s luncheon es afternoon. Lovely affair, wasn’t tn" “Perfectly elegant. Birdie does entertain so sweetly. She went with me to Mrs. Brainless’ four to six after the luncheon.” “Have good time ‘Lovely. Perfect jam of people. Street packed with carriages. Dining room all pink and green. Oh, lovely! Elegant re- freshments, Orchestra behind palms in the hall—just lovely! And, oh, what an ex- quisite Httle german that was at Mrs. Clement-Jones’ Thursday night!” ‘Wasn't it, though? And such a ravish- ing lot of pretty dresses, and the supper served by De Centi!” “Heavenly, wasn’t it? Then I saw you at Matdie Frothingly’s morning whist party on Friday, and at Mrs. Lollypad’s great reception in the afternoon, and didn’t I catch a glimpse of you at Mrs. Posingley’s in the evening?” “Yes. I looked in for a few minutes on my way to the De Huntley’s great ball. That ball was just the loveliest 6f lovely balls. “Really?” “Oh, it was. Then I'd a lovely time at the readings by Prof. De Cheekley at Mrs. Store-Murray’s this morning, and here's this lovely matinee this afternoon, and I've an elegant dinner on hand for this evening. Dear’ me, life is evorth living, now, isn’t it?” “Irdeed it is, when one can have such perfectly charming times as we've been having all winter. I have had such a love- ly week, haven’t you?” “Oh, lovely!" “Charming!” “Perfectly so! ——__+e+—_____ A Shepherd on a Bicycle. From Our Animal World. Every pleasant morning I enjoy seeing a flock of fluffy white sheep ard round,plump lambs pass my grounds on’ their way to pasture, and at evening I watch for their return to the safety and shelter of the barnyard sheds. A flock of sheep and lambs to the animal lover is always a beautiful and interesting spectacle, but a rovelty is lent to this one by the fact that they are driven by a boy of fifteen riding upon a bicycle. It is a funny sight. The old sheep go scampering along as if they were followed by an avenging fate, but sometimes one of the lambs will make a detour to nibble the wayside grass; but the wheel so quickly and silently surrounds it that it skips back into line, surprised out of its evident intention to say baah. Or- dinarily it would take an hour's time of a man or a boy or/two and and a dog to get the sheep to pasture, and as long to get them home again, but Harry and his wheel do it in less than Nalf the time. “It is a great saving in that way,” says the lad, “‘and then it proves that sheep are not so stupid as many people think them, for as soon as they see me on my wheel they keep the path; and it proves another thing, that it pays for a farmer's boy to have a whee: to take him quickly on the numberless errands that form a large part of his work—and riding a wheel is not work, it is fun.” eee Michiga: Rich Copper Mines. From the Chicago Record. An Idea of the richness of some of the copper mines of Michigan may be gained from the fact that they have thus far pald their owners dividends of fully $70,000,000. The dividend of $25 a share just declared by the Calumet and Hecla Coppar Mining Company for the current vear is especially notewcrthy because it is the greatest divi- dend ever paid by this remarkable prop- erty. There are 100,000 shares, so that the total sum distributed among. shareholders Wi 500,000, When jt is considered th: the original value of all these shares w: Just the last amount mentioned, the tremen- dcus earning powers of the property will be appreciated. The selling value of the steck is about thirteen times tts par value. The year 1896 has been the most prosperous ever known for copper mining, owing to the. great foreign demand for American copper. The home demand was restricted by the Gi usiness, but iepressed condition of bi this falling off has been more than pthee the demand from abroad. During ten months ending November 1 the Eu purchases of copper amounted to 225,000,000 pounds, nearly double that of the same period last year. This was 00 per cent of the entire output of this coun and was drawn principally from the Superior copper mines. y Written for The Evening Star. HE SUDDEN IM- petus that has been given to arctic ex- phorations through the remarkable achievements of Peary and Nansen, seems likely not only to carry this form of research, for some time at least, on the flood, but to call out the energies of work in a manner and to an extent that have not heretofore been known. Ten years ago any plan of attaining the pole by means of a balloon sailing from a latitude not higher than that of Spitz- bergen would have been scouted as the visionary illumination of one hardly better than a maniac; today the plan of Andree, however wise or unwise it may appear, however unmeritorious it may seem té those who are perhaps best acquainted with arctic conditions and possibilities, receives at least respectful consideration. More tha. this, it has received government or roy: support. The year to come is likely to pu to test the possibilities of polar aeronautics. Following closely upon the Andree aberra- tion—for in its radical departure from past methods it can be properly so-called—comes now the plan of M. Pesce, a French en- gineer, to reach the pole by means of a submarine vessel. This astute semi-scientist asserts that various models of immersion vessels have demonstrated the fact that good conditions of navigation are found at depths of at least 25—30 meters (80-100 feet), and that habitation at this depth, so far as length of time is concerned, is merely a matter de- pending upon the size and form of con- struction of the boat. The two main ob- Jections that might appear to this form of exploration, as stated by M. Pesce, are the sel and the in- visibility through the regions of “watery darkness.” The former, it is claimed, is hardly a true difficulty, as the proper direc- tion of the vessel could readily be deter- mined by the compass; but Mr. Pesce does not inform us just how the magnetic varia- tions would be co-relate with position, when the position, either terrestrial or solar, itself remains unknown. As regards the second difficulty--of not seeing just where you are going—it might be overcome by the proper use of electric illuminants, either now in use or to be contrived. The plan of operations, however, does not contemplate a continuous passage be- neath the surface of the waters, but a pas- sage of this kind only in such places which are densely charged with ice; in other words, it means surface sailing where it is at all practicable, and “ducking” under where the surface is clogged with pack ice and drifts. The conception is as novel ax it is picturesque, and yet it may not be pos- sible to say just where any really insur- mountable obstacles to the scheme are to be found. Naturally, a long traverse be- neath an ice-pack a hundred miles or more in extent is neither a pleasant contempla- tio nor an enviable situation, but it is perhaps not very much worse than being buffeted about in a balloon in an adverse or contrary wind. It’is M. Pesce’s con- ception to supply his boat with balloon ap- paratus, and also to discharge at regular intervals small pilot balloons, from which the world is to derive its informatiort re- garding the progress of the exploration. North American Continent Mountains, The joint English and American surveys which have for some time been conducted in northwestern North America, mainly for the purpose of determining the exact boundary line between Alaska and the British possessions, and the results ob- tained from which may lead to the recogni- tion that the giant St. Elias is located without the realm of American territory, call up again the question of the culmi- nating point of the North American conti- nent. For many years prior to 1800 Mt. St. Elias enjoyed undisputed claim to this dis- tinction, its altitude at that time being rated at about 19,500 ‘feet. The second highest summit was assumed to be Popocatepetl, the great “smoky mountain” of Mexico, with approximately 17,600 feet elevation. More recent re- searches and remeasurements have, how- ever, developed the fact that the Peak of Orizaba, or “Citlaltpetl,” in Mexico, ex- ceed famous Popocatepetl by about 600 feet, and almost simultaneously it has been shown that the height of Mt. St. Elias is only 18,100 feet; so that as far as these two summits are concerned, the advantage lies with the Mexican volcano. It would seem, however, that about twenty miles northeast of St. Elias, in what is indis- putably British territory, a second moun- tain exists, the crest of which is claimed to rise full one thousand or fifteen hundred feet above that of Mount St. Elias. If this is true, then the claim to “superiority over all” must rest with Mount Logan. The question necessarily Hes between Mount Logan and thé.Peak of Orizaba, with St. Elias as second or third in distinction. An Animal That Never Sleeps. With food in abundance, capable of yield- ing a continuous supply of energy, it seems a strange physiological paradox that all animals should not be able to work unceas- ingly. It is, however, impossible, or was so regarded until the experiments carried on by Professor Hodge and Professor Aikens, in the physiological laboratory of Clark University, at Worcester, Mass. The latter have found an exception to the apparently universal law of the animal world, that work produces fatigue and fatigue compels rest. They have found an animal which seems never to sleep, nor even to cease from the most restless activity; and fur- thermore that is not only tireless, but possessed of an insatiate hunger as well. This extraordinary creature belongs to the lowest type of animal life, the protozoa, and is little more than a minute speck of living matter—protoplasm. It differs from a microbe chiefly in that it is an animal, whereas bacteria are microscopic vegetable organisms. It is difficult for the mind to grasp its size. It bears about the same relationship to man, in point of bulk, as man does to the earth itself. In other words, were a protozoan magnified to the size of a man, the latter similarly enlarged would be about the same size as the globe. The type of protozoan studied by Profes- sors Hodge and Aikens, known as a vorti- cella, is really little miore’than a mechan- ism for digesting food: Supplementing this is a motor mechanism’ beautifully adapted to capturing it. Evidently it regards this agency for a food supply &s a good thing, for the animal keeps thesé sensitive hairs, or cilia as they are called, going all the time, and no matter*how much plunder these little tentacles gather, this Hungry Joe of the micro-organi¢ world never gets enough. It is, however, exceedingly fas- tidious in its choice of eatables, and is alert to push away the tliings it does not want. All the while it keeps its cilia lash- ing the water in which it lives, setting up currents which will draw food particles within its reach. Wher a particle is touched by a cilia, ay Hct of choice is clear, for Instantly it ts carvied*toward the ani- mal’s mouth, or whirled away. Other cilia are employed to sort the food, take them into the body, and eject the excreta and debris. There ts practically a continuous stream of food and detritus flowing in and out of the animal's stomach. The vorticella is violent in its likes and dislikes, and expresses them in the most summary manner. In order to protect it from bacteria, and other animals, the ex- perimenters at Clark completely sterilized the water supplied the creature, and then introduced into the stream @ suppty of pure yeast cultures. * above periment. Imagine, if you please, that these infinitesimal gourmands, so small that they are invisible to the naked eye, can indeed be seen only with the aid of a powerful Inieroscope, that they are single-celled and lcck much like a rubber pouch with long, slender hair reaching out from its opening or mouth—imagine this to yourself, and you begin to appreciate how lowly is the origin of all emotions. These animaticules were observed for spaces of five days together, and in all this time they seemed never to leave off their ceaseless quest fér food for a moment, nor did they seem to show any considerable relaxation either in activity or in attention. They were always wide-awake, and eager for prey. They multiply by conjugation and division, often several times a day, and yet €ven this does not seem to interrupt their other work. Careful experiments were made as to the creature's sensitiveness to light and sound, but with no response. No one can watch a vorticella for an hour un- der a glass without wonder at its exceed- ingly delicate sense of touch. The slightest jar of the instrument is answered by an in- stant contraction of the stalk, and particles rardly visible even with the highest mag- uifying lens are sorted with the greatest pparent precision. Does N See or Hear, But it seems insensible to all other stim- ti, Musical sounds of every pitch and vol- me were tried, but the vorticella “never smned a hair’—as it would have done had \ received any sensation. Bright sunlight was flashed upon it from complete dark- hess, and it did not so much as wink—with its cilia. All colors of glasses were put in the path of light, but the animal refused to be enthused. In short, so far as can be ascertained, the universe for the primal type of life must consist of a series of touches, possibly also of tastes and smells. It does not see, nor hear, yet it is con- scious, and, so far as its physical organiza- tion will permit, it displays all the pro- cesses of psychic activity known to the higher animals. The rise in the scale, all the way up to and including man himself, represents no more than a widening range of sensations and a more complex physical organization. Man himself, as a celebrated physiologist once put it, is nothing more than an enormous aggregation of these single-celled protozoa. Why, then, is the protozoa able to work without rest or sleep, and eat without satiety, while man and the higher animals are not? Before physiolo- gists answer that question they will first find out a working theory of the nature of sleep. —. __ AS KNOWN IN LAUNDRY CIRCLES. Victims of Strange Signs Tell How ‘They Have Been Branded in the Wash From the New York Sun. “Since T came to New York, twelve years ago,” said one man in the group, “I have been known in the laundry world as ‘R 9.’ I don’t suppose I could get rid of that mark whatever I should do. It identifies me as persistently as a hand with one finger gone. “It came about in the most accidental way. I sent my clothes to a certain laun- dry late in 1888, when I moved first to New York, They came back marked ‘R 9.’ Every successive laundry has put that mark back on them until I am now so firm- ly fixed as ‘R 9 that I never expect to be designated under any other device.” “I'm ‘W Z,’"" answered a small, meek man, apologetically, “and I never could fathom the imagination of the washer- woman who decided to label me “W Z.’ My collars are only 14’s, and there's nothing about my clothes to lead anybody to think I ought to be branded with any such im- possible combination of consonants as ‘W Z.’ There are undoubtedly men that ‘WZ’ might suit, but I’m not one of them. The difficulty of the matter is that these laun- dresses may be picturesque enough in the first instance, although when one makes a mistake of judgment the rest follow, like sheep. Any woman who keeps on marking a 14 collar ‘W Z’ shows a lack of invent hess that is painful even in a laundress. “My name is Jones,” the third man of the group said, “and I haven't a drop of German blood in my body. I never had a German ancestor. and I know nothing about Germany. But in the laundry annals 1 ain irretrievably known as ‘Krauss.’ Nine years ago I moved to New York, and came here after having traveled for several weeks. I put all my wash into my trunk, and when I reached New York there was quite an accumulation. I went out to a laundry in the neighborhood, and told the man to send around to the house for my clothes. Before that I had told the serv- ant to give my clothes to anybody who called, and it happened that a boy came first for the clothes of a lodger above me. Of course, he got mine instead, and it hap- pened that the other man’s name was known: So my entire laundry came back marked ‘Krauss.’ How they happened not to notice that they had never been marked before I don’t know. But I am still known as ‘Krauss’ in the laundry set; collars wear out and shirts fall to pieces, only to be known anew as ‘Krauss.’ The other man told me that his clothes came back from the laundry marked ‘J. Krauss.’ That was the only tribute to my name, Jones, that was shown on that occasion. Whether the other man’s name stuck to him or not I never heard. But I have been ‘Krauss’ for nine years, as much as the marks on my linen can make me that.” ———_+o+_____ QUICK SAW MILL WORK. What Machinery Was Able to Do in Slicing Up Lumber in Chicago. From Cassier’s Magazine. . ‘Two splendid saw mill exhibits were made at the Chicago fair in 1893 by the Stearns Manufacturing Company and the E.P.Allis Company. They consisted in each case of a band mill and a complete set of finishing and conveying machinery, and were in operaticn for short periods every day dur- ing the fair, affording, thus, admirable demonstrations of what can be accom- plished in this line in point of working speed. The sawing exhibition was always witnessed by a greaily interested crowd. The rate of sawing the stock boards, usu- ally twelve inches wide and sixteen feet long, was from twelve to fourteen boards per minute, once, is it claimed by the Allis inen, reaching fifteen boards. This is a Need hitherto unattained with the band Sa.., sixteen boards per minute being the highest record with the circular saw. The running speeds of the Allis eight-foot band mill and the Stearns mill were about the same, being 400 sevolutions per minute, making the speed of the saw 10,000 feet per minute—the usual speed for white pine. The log carriage, which would weigh, with the log, about two and a half tons, was propelled in each direction by a steam cyl- inder of nine inches bore and twenty-eight feet long. Fourteen boards per minute gives 4.3 seconds to the sawing of each board, the actual sawing time for each board being about 2.3 seconds. This leaves two seconds for gigging, reversing and set- ting over the log for the next board, thus making the sawing speed about 260 feet per minute, and the gigging speed about 500 feet per minute. This is more like the action of a vegetable cutter slicing up tur- nips to feed stock than the old way of saw- ing boards. The marvel was to see the man remain on the saw carriage while it ;was shot to and fro. He did his work at the proper time, kept his place as if he were ‘part of the machine; a fly on the wall was not more at home than he. ———_+o+___ His Middle Name. Cassius Marcellus Loomis of Chicago tells the Chicago Tribune how he found out what his middle name and that of Cassius M. Clay was. At his birth he was named Cassius M., after Clay. “But,” he says, “no one thought to inquire what the letter ‘M’ stood for in the name.” Time ran on for some thirty-eight years, when the newly born, having inherited an inquisitive turn of mind, wrote Mr. Clay for the red a tciendly note, in Med f a directly what his "aatadte Snes cose ee Be juoted two lines from "3 got Cy Pope's “Essay and added: “You will find your name In couplet.” : ; u omen cent nents saints for 1897. Nilsson, Albani and Emma Juch, gives very practical advice on choice of teacher, diet, practice, etc., its object being The girl who wants to “be Its size is 10 by 24 inches. Calendar is published exclusively by {2-Color Calendar FREE. Sl SSlSlSiSlSSisiSiSiFisiSisisisiFiFlsis | AFTER OFFICE HOURS Siebiied Scenes in the Great Department Buildings When the Clerks Leave. SS eS SWEEPERS AND SCRUBBERS REIGN ee Early Morning Happenings Before the Day's Work Begins. a A DAILY EXPERIENCE HERE IS A TINGE of the mysterious, a certain quiescent air as of a place haunt- ed, about a govern- ment department building after its army of employes has deserted it and the corps of laborers and charwomen has dene with the work of cleaning It. The silent, echoing corri- dors have the spirit- dampening, forlorn effect of a regimental barracks, the boisterous, skylarking occu- pants of which are in the field. A footfall on the tiled or stone floor has the rever- beration of a distant hollow explosion. The tick of the big hall clocks sounds ominous, wernful of the swift passage and the with- ering touch of Time, with a capital T. The portraits in the secretaries’ offices cf old gentlemen with fobs, garrote-like stocks and bear’s-greased hair brushed forward of their ears, look inscrutale and sinister, and rake up memories of that gloomy line, “The path of glory leads but to the grave.” The occasional banging of a storm door scunds like the explosion of a thirteen-inch rifle under a copper sheath. The ceaseless thumping of steam and water pumps down in the engineer’s department 1 the base- ment, never noticed during the hours of the day, seems big with meaning. The tur- meil of the outside world only penetrates the deserted government depargment build- ing as the far-off murmuring of a lulled sea. A human voice, pitched no matter how low, sounds resonantly oraterical. A mau- soleum on a vast scale, a forsaken modern Parthenon, a labyrinthine catacombs sans skeletons, the interior of a Rameses- wrought pyramid—an emptied depart- mental building suggests any and all of these things. For three hours, however, atter a depart- ment's force of employes has departed. the building is lively enough. From 4 until 7 it is in the possession of the charwomen and laborers. Each Gepariment building is in charge of a superintendent and a cus- todian. More than a million of dollars is Spent every year in order ‘hat the govern- ment departments of Washington may be kept clean. Of late years .the members of the cleaning forces of the departments have been compelled to work harder than should be necessary, according to the state- ments of some of the departmental build- ing superintendents, on account of the growing practice of putting men and wo- men whose names are sisted on the labor- ers’ rolls at clerical work, which materially decreases the size of the scrubbing and scouring brigades. The Force of Charwomen, Department buildings of the size of the war, state and ravy, and treasury edifices employ from 75 to 100 charwomen and from 150 to 200 laborers as permanent cleaning forces. The laborers potter around at va- rious specific tasks ang chores during the regular office hours of the government day. The charwomen report for duty in the basements of the department buildings at ten minutes to 4. They are about evenly divided as to color, and all seem partial to Paisley shawls. The white charwomen are in the main widows with large families of children. The charwomen work hard for their small salaries. Assembled a few minutes before 4 in the tool rooms and material rooms, the char- women seize the implements necessary for the performance of the work ahead of them, and silenUy stand by, like a bat- tallion of soldiers at a parade rest, for the emptying of the building, for they are not permitted to put a bropm or a swab to a floor until the last clerk has left the build- ing, providing there are no clerks working over time. When the building is entirely disgorged of its day-working force there begins a sweeping and a sprinkling and a serifbbing and a scourirg. The charwomen get down on their knees on the floors and scrub and rinre and dry them in the old- fashioned way with navy hand swabs, and “house maid’s knee,” which most readers of “Three Men in a Boat” fancied a purely fictitious ailment, is common among char- sisisisisisi¢ Lillian Nordica the distinguished singer, will speak ‘The Youths (@mpanion Madame Nordica’s article, following those by Dow to Train the Voice. considered in the choice of Companion contributions for 1897. There will be many articles of the helpful type of those entitled “ Nursing as a Career” and “ Flower-Growing for Profit.” One of the most beautiful CALENDARS issued thi will be given to each New Subscriber to The Companion. It is made up of Four Charming Pictures in color, beautifully executed. The satects are delightfully attractive. be sold in Art Stores for less than One Dollar. Subscription Price of The Companion $1.75 a Year. New Subscribers who will cut out this alip and send it at once with name and address oe FREE — The Youth's THE YOUTH’S COMPANION, 201 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass. s1sisisisisisisisigigigisis|sisis| 18151818 to ambitious girls through somebody” .has been specially year This ie YoutH’s COMPANION and could not and $1.75 will receive week SISSIES SSS SSS SiSiSis SSS SFiS SiSiFisisiFisisiFisisisisiza 1S1F1S1S1$ % departments, and the era of the corn broom is passing. The charwoman detailed to clean the carpeted rooms give the win- dows of the departments a housekeeperly look by shaking the desk rugs from them, but when they are caught, as once in a while they are, throwing any tiny bit of rubbish out of the windows, they are se- verely reprimanded. When it is considered that the waste pa- per of a department iike the treasury or the interior figures up to two tons in weight every day. it will be seen that the job of ng the waste paper baskets and re- ating them is a pretty large task. It is done according to system, and there ts rot a scrap of waste paper in a single room of a department building ten minutes after the clerks have left off work. The Chief Room. The charwomén detailed to attend to the cleaning of the Secretary's office are picked out for this work on account of notable neatness. Cabinet officers are often ex- ceedingly fussy as to the manner in which their offices are gone over by the cleaners, and there was a cabinet member of the jiast administration who supervised the “policing” of his room himself, remaining after the regular office hours for the pur- pose. He had lost an important paver from his desk early in his cabinet career through the tidying-up efforts of a char- Woman, and this made him so nervous that he couldn't bear the idea of going away from the building leaving his desk piled with papers. So he watched the cleaning of his room himself, and when the charwo- man unconsciousty edged in the direction of his desk, it is said that this cabinet :ninis- ter exhibited symptoms of great agony. Several of the members of the present cabinet habitually remain at their desks for several hours after all of their depart- ments’ clerks have departed, and ail of them insist that their presence shall not in- terferé with the necessary cleaning of their rooms. It is instructive and interesting to observe the care and quietude with ¥ hich the Interior Department charwomen clean Secretary Francis’ office while he is labor- ing away at his desk. Secretary Francis often works at his desk as late as i0 o'clock. He pays no attention to the scur- rying hither and thither of the busy wo- men with baskets, rugs, grate fenders and other office paraphernalia, and the squeak- ing of the carpet sweepers doesn't bother him a little bit. The average charwoman, however, has a deep grievance against the clerks whether voluntarily or necessarily their desks after regular office hour: are a lot of such clerks in the pate who spend several hours after 4 o'clock in brushing up for examinations for promo- tion. The charwoman does not seek to make it particularly pleasant for these, and the fortitude of these students, con- ning dry tomes on mechanics in the midst of clouds of dust and blown upon by icy blasts from open windows, is admirable and deserving of commendation. The Engineer's Force. The work of rough cleaning by the char- women is all over by 7 o'clock, and they leave the building to silence. The only oc- cupants of the buildings besides the watch forces and the clerks and officials working overtime are the members of the engineer's gangs. Steam is kept up in the govern- ment departmental buildings all the year round. The elevators and the dynamo en- gines have rot to go in summer as well as in winter, and there must alw: be suffi- cient steam pressure to work the pumps in case of fire. Each department has two engineers, one a chief and the other an as- sistant, and from seven to a dozen firemen. Stoking is being done in the boiler rooms day and night by these firemen, and, when the buildings are deserted, the clink of their shovels is company for the night watchmen. The citizen who feels aggrieved over the consumption at his horie of a couple of tons of coal a month can take comfort in the that about 2,500 tors are burned during a single winter in the furnaces of the Interior Department—enough 0 propel a first-class modern cruiser of the new navy a distance of 22,000 miles, Thou- sands of cords of wood are consumed be- sides in the fireplaces in govermment de- partmente every year. The charwomen turn up again at’their respective departments at 7 o'clock in the morning to do the dusting, the dust being given twelve hours to settle. They stand around waiting for the early-coming detail of male laborers to build the fires in the fireplaces and to renew the fuel supplies of the rooms before giving the final clean- ing touches. The Ice and Towel Me' The department icemen’s wagons rumble up before the buildings in the neighbor- hood of 7 o'clock and spend about half an hour carrying tons of ice into the depart- ment refrigerators. Then come the towel men. Each government department js fur- nished with about 1,000 clean towels every day. The contracts for washing them are given out to contractors making the highest bids for the work. About 8 o'clock the milk and provision wagons of the purveyors to the people running the dunch rooms in the departments begin to arrive. The messengers of the cabinet officers and high officials turn up as a rule about half an hour before the official day begins. It is their business to renew pens in penholders, ink in ink wells, blotting pads on desks, to see that the steam is turned on or that the fires in the grates are ablaze, and to make the final preparations for the comfort of the occupants of the rooms. Then the vanguard of the army of clerks begins to arrive, and work of making laborers be- Pligrim—“Is this the 1 o'clock train?” Ticket Agent—“No; this is last Tuesday's 30 o'clock express. We're three days late en EE ee RR he wil “You will table.”