Evening Star Newspaper, January 2, 1897, Page 17

THE EVENING STAR; SATURDAY: JANUARY 2, 1897-24 “PAGES. NORTHERN TOURISTS IN THE ALHAMB CLOTHES IN SPAIN. As Displayed by Women Tourists on Their Way South. PARISIAN AND VIENNESE MODISTES ints of Straw Hat Shapes for the Next Season. a gees VARIETY IN aS FURS HE WAS A YOUNG English girl, and she was studying the make room for which Charles V pulled | down the winter pal- ish beggar, black- eyed and olive-cheek- ed, and he was rat- ce of The Evening St GRANADA, Spain, December 23, 1896. facade of the great unfinished palace, to ace of the Alhambra. He was a little Span- tling away in a comi- cal mixture of French, Spanish and English, acquired for the benefit of tourists: “Buful senorita, good boy is Federico. Voulez-vous donner moi un sou pour ‘get cut! for ‘go away! Un sou for ‘good by;’ give @ sou for ‘be off!’ Federico’s “get out!” showed by its em- phasis how he had picked up his English. The girl laughed, but shook her head. Fed- erico laughed undaunted and called out as he turned away, “Buful senorita, one sou menana. give a sou tomorrow for ‘good morning. The senorita was “buful.” She had the fresh pink and white complexion that comes of the moist air of Britain. She was slender and tall, with the very erect carriage, in exchange for which many an American girl would barter all the pret- tiest gow She had coiled her hair high in the English knot that tips the hat down over the eyes, and her front hair was curled in that abundant and carefully ar- ranged fine fuzz which distinguishes all the tures of the Princess of sisters and daughters. ‘The English senorita carried a handful of duil red chrysanthemums, and as she turned to look after the boy, one could ree that she wore—if It be not sacrilege to talk of fashions among the glories of the Alhambra—a simple traveling dress of a very tine blue cloth, a powder blue, with a dull soft finish that made one believe if would not wrinkle. It made no pretensions to any estate beyond that of a traveling gown, but in its own class it was perfec- tion. It reminded one somehow, and, in spite of the reputation of American women « better than other women, not ther comfortably, of the saying of a lealer in souvenirs that Americans buy colored photographs, the English black and whites, or else water colors. It is much to be or to have the best of a kind. An English Skirt. The dress had a skirt lese full than New York is wearing. It seemed to be some- thing under four yards round. It was cut smooth and almost glove-fitting about the hips, but curved gently outward to the hem. A band of sable fur finished the bot- tom and cleared the ground in cleanly fash- fon. English girls walk so much that their skirts average shorter than the convention- al length in America, though the difference is not marked enough to be noticeable. A very trim bodice set off the pretty fig- ure. It was cut as a glove-fitting basque under a tiny bolero edged with dainty em- broidery in black silk, and finished about with the merest thread of sable fur. A lin- ing of yellow silk gleamed now and again, hut was not allowed to make itself more than occasionally visible. The bolero opened upon a blouse front of dull red silk, whose soft shades harmonized wonderfully with the blue, and which seemed tq hide in its folds suggestions of green, of blue and even of iow, hinted at constantly, but never quite caught by the eye. Velvet, that one would have said had ‘ales and her been woven out of the threads that were left when the silk was finished, made the d belt and the stock collar, over which an edge of lace turned. The sleeves were of the powder-blue of the skirt, with small drooping puffs at the shoulders, smaller puffs than New York would employ. the wrists they were almost at the wrists they flared like in rufties of lace, but scant flamboyant ruffles, for this was « <own. wore smart, round-toed boots, low-crowned sailor hat of white Straw hats are not available in most parts of the United States in Decem- ber, but the English do not mind mixing fur and straw. The heavy dress is an ac- straw. knowledgment of the reality of winter nm sight of the snows of the Sterra Ne- da; the straw is a protest that southern €pain ought to be warm, at all seasons, whether or not it is so. Next Summer's Straw Hat. The straw hat was interesting also as a propitcy of next summer. It was of the shape that Americans will buy at Easter. Last summer's sailors were round and bigh-crowned. The new ones are oval and quite lew. Very fanciful straw patterns are used in the weaving, but the trimming is, as always, a narrow ribbon band with a In its flight southward to the winter world of the Riviera some considerable part of the flock of migratory birds of pleasure pauses at Granada, In the hotels on the Alhambra hill German Grafs, French counts, Belgian barons and their women folk mix with dark-eyed ladies from Madrid, “honorable misses” from every county in England and vivacious girls from America over the sea. tofl- ets that one sees are Paris and Vienna creations, especially prepared for the south of Europe campaign. most “Te- morning there was gathered a bose room” of the baths of the sultans. wonderful collection of furs in the old Granada is not cold in December, but it is damp and chill in the halls of the Alham- bra. Against the rich-hued stucco and til- ing stood out in strong contrast the heavy sables of a little lady from Brussels, whose title is longer than she Is. The cloak she wore was of finer fur than it often falls to one’s lot to see. It had not the look of be- ing bulky or voluminous, perhaps because its owner was so slender, but it enveloped her from head to feet. It was not heavy because it was not lined so zealously as Americans line fur, but very lightly with shot silk shading red and green, and flower- ed with dull pink roses. A flaring collar stood up about the face, and the lining here was the pink of the roses inside. The sleeves were full enough to go comfortably over adress. In its rich simplicity the gar- ment was the ideal robe for a climate not so cold but that fur can be adapted to the uses of beauty as well as to those of com- fort. Some of us Americans bury our- selves, Eskimo-like, in fur. A dark French girl of clear pale com- |! plexion wore a little cape of gray mouffion that was very pretty. The long silky fur would ave been too dull for her skin, but for the sable collar which came up to her soy and had again the gray moufflon in- A cape of marten fur and lace was more dressy than either of these. It was really a fur cape with a white lace scarf draped about the shoulders and wide black lace draped about the edges. I say “draped” advisedly. Tne border lace was too wide for flouncing; it was caught up with furry heads and tails in bewildering complexity. Music by Gypsies. An English matron wore a long, black velvet cape, rich with fur and embroidery. The group, you may believe, was a strange one fer its setting, the modish winter bon- nets and hats and the very correct clothes of the men of the party contrasting with the graceful Spanish cloaks of the guides and interpreters, and these again with the relics of the Moorish civilization, which made the backgrourd. Last evening the gypsies, who live in the caves of the Granada hills, gave a concert at the hotel, at which there was some very good guitar music. The ladies at the hotels went deep into their trunks and the En- glish girl, whose traveling dress I have already described, came out for the bene- fit of her masculine admirers in a delicate silver gray silk, striped with lines of pink and barred across with darker gray. The skirt was altogether simple. The bodice had a guimpe of pale blue chiffon with ruches of lace at the throat. A lace fichu was drawn about the shoulders below the sguimp and knotted upon the bosom. A gray velvet pointed belt confined the blouse front. The sleeves came just to the elbows. A very dark, handsome girl from Vienna wore a most striking costume. Its skirt was a rich, black brocade, figured in ara- besques and just suggesting, how it would be impossible to say, something deep and warm in crimson. With it she wore a Rus- sian blouse of black silk, showing openly and even flauntirgly arabesques of the skirt done in blood colors, where the skirt had the ghosts of the stain. Black velvet belted the blouse and black lace made its elbow sleeves. Deep lace ruffies fell from its collar. A lady whose nationality no person could guess wore a waist of sea green chiffon all a foam of lace. With it she displayed neck- lace and bracelets of turquoise as big as beans, strung with pearls. There is more to tell, but it must wait till next week, and then I write from the Riviera. ELLEN OSBORN. —_——__ HIS WIFE. They Wer: Both Married, but Oniy One Had to Go Home Early. From the Chicago Times-Herald. “Really, boys, I have to quit,” said the man with the biggest stack of chips in frent of him, as he gathered in another Jack pot. “Oh, come off; that's not square,” clared the biggest loser. Why?’ “You've got all the chips. Aren’t you going to give the rest of us a show?” “That's not it. You know I don’t care for your money, but——” “You're getting it. “Maybe I am. But I really must quit. You see, I am married. You fellows are single. It is 12 o'clock n@w, and if I don’t get home will be in a pretty mess. As it is, I expect to find my mother-in-law and my wife waiting for me. You are not mar- ried.” “I am,” declared the man whose luck had just returned. “And you are going to play all night?” “Tf I want to.” “And drink?" “Bet your life.” ‘And smoke?’ “Cert.” “Your wife won't eay anything to you when you go home?” “Not a word.” “Doesn't she object to your playing poker, drinking and smoking all night?” “Oh, I don’t know. I am not worrying about it. Stay all night!” - “There; you see, it’s a bluff!” declared the biggest loser. “It's all very well for Harvey to talk about the way he has his wife trained, but I can’t do it,” rejoined the man with the biggest stack of chip: ‘but I teil you what I will do. I'll give my stack if he will teil me how he manages it.” “Done!” cried the man whose luck had turned, as he reached for them. “My wife is out of town visiting some friends.” —_+0+—__. Aeres of Lettuce. From the Wilmington (N.O,.) Messenger. Mr. John F. Garrell has sixty beds of lettuce under canvas and covering an area of five acres, and the plants are of all sizes and looking splendid. He also has fine beds of young beets and a quantity of cabbages that are thriving well. Our people have no idea of the extensiveness of Mr. Garrell’s trucking business and will be surprised to learn that he is the most extensive single individual grower of lettuce in the south. He has been making shipments of lettuce daily for some time and shipped to New York a whole carload of elegantly beaded lettuce. Up to date he has shipped 400 bar- rels, and we learn that he expects his ship- ments this season to reach from 8,000 to 10,000 barrels. de- ——~e-____ Reral Repartee. Rrom the Detroit Free Press. “A horse is no good any more,” declared the bicycle dealer; “ride him an hour and he’s tired.” “Yes, but one of altus tired before ‘you start to Hide iter ree piled the farmer, who was just looking |. HOUSEHOLD HINTS Pack your cloth dresses never so care- fully when traveling, you are almost sure to get them wrinkled, usually right down the front. If the cloth has been sponged before making up and is of a good safe co!- or, the trouble and delay of waiting for a hot iron may be avoided by damping the hand in clear lukewarm water and epat- ting the dress over the wrinkles. Then lay the spot over a smooth surface and gently smooth with the bare damp hand. Hang smoothly over a chair for a few moments to dry and the wrinkles will have disap- peared. Remember, the goods must be dampened, not made wet. The same holds good with black sili. How meny deserving people have you helped these holiday times? Perhaps you are far from rich yourself, but unless very poor we each have something that we might give to help those less well off than ourselves. Look in your old boxes. There are old coats that will make the wash- woman's little son a new jacket, trousers that will cut down for the next boy, and an old flannel petticoat that is frayed at the bottom, but will cut over beautifully for the shivering little maid who runs er- rands for you on occasion. Perhaps the giving away of these garments means a rug less for you—and nice woolen rags make such excellent rugs—but rugs only serve to cover grease spots on the carpet and kick up when you walk on them, and the knowledge that one has helped even in so small a manner a deserving person is worth a whole acre of imitation Turkish rugs. 5 Washing dishes is the bete noir of a housekeeper’s life. She dislikes to do dishes herself, and her daughters inherit the dis- like. ‘They all imagine in the first place that it “spoils the hands,” which is heresy, pure and simple. Using a lot of soap, run- ning out in the cold with damp hands, shoveling coal into the stove without gloves, all these tend to ruin the hands, but dishwashing, properly done, softens them. The dishes should be gathered up, cleaned of all scraps, and neatly piled on the dish table. Oceans of hot water will be necessary, but not a scrap of soap till the pots and kettles come. Silver comes first, pile in the dishpan and pour on scald- ing water, stir about with the dish mop, stand in a pan, pour on more boiling water and wipe on a dry, clean towel, and so on, through the list, throwing out each pan of water and using fresh hot water for each new supply of dishes. The hot water takes off the grease, and rinsing makes the dishes shine. When it comes time to wash the iron ware, set each greasy piece on the stove and fill with hot water. Let this simmer a few minutes while putting the other dishes away. Then take the kettle mop and rub the fron things briskly, and throw the water out. More hot water, and, if ecraping is necessary, use a thick-lipped cyster shell. More hot water with good, pure soap in it, and a clean mop, and the iron things are soon cleaned. The real secret of easy dishwashing is plenty of hot water and clean dish cloths and mops. ‘These should be washed and rinsed and hvung out in the air after each using. The true hostess knows that to put her guests at ease she must be at ease herself. A nervous, fidgety hostess will all but ruin her evening by rushing at her guests and insisting that this one is in a draught, that one has been served with cold coffee, re- proving her servants, adjusting her attire, and bemoaning little rifts that are always coming in her lute, but never in that of her friends. The true hostess greets her friends graciously, her manner saying that she has put forth her best efforts for their com- fcrt. She is never effusive to any one, yet makes each one feel that the occasion would have been all but a failure but for the presence of the last comer as well as the first. She does not air her own trials; she uses tact in warding off the telling of others’ woes to her. Never lift a child by the arms! That ad- vice is dinned in the ears of people from the cradle to the grave, and yet you see great big men with the strength of bears catch little children by the hands and swing them off into space, just to show off their prowess, regardless of the fact that the tiniest wrench might put the shoulder out of joint, or break the collar bone. The bones of children are not as tightly set in the sockets as those of adults, and it takes a very small twitch sometimes to dislocate them. Many cases of deformed backs and high shoulders are traced by physicians directly to the habit of lifting or swinging children by the arms. It seems very odd that “air famine’ should cause the death of nearly a third of the children who die before the age of seven. Air is so free that the poorest may have all he wants, yet the children of the well-to-do perish for lack of it. It is a common thing to find mothers and nurses who consider that cold air is pure air. Really, cold air may be of the impurest character, and it certainly is when it is found in a cold but hermetically sealed nursery in the morning. Each sleeping room should have a cold air entrance from the outside during the night, and the room should be well aired in the morning as well. The covering for children should be light but warm, and they should never be permitted to get in the habit of sleeping “under” the covers, breathing the same air over and over again. Even the wee bit of a baby should have its small head covered with a warm cap and its nose and mouth out to get fresh air. Shoes that have stretched till they feel “as big as barns,” and make the wearer feel that they are clumsy, may be made comfortable again by cutting insoles out of an old felt hat and lining the sole, using a little mucilage to fasten them in. It is really better to leave them loose, however, a to take them out each night to air em. For the tickling cough that breaks out at inopportune moments, carry in the card case or pocket book a few tiny shreds of slippery elm. When the cough begins to worry, take a shred of the bark and chew it, and the effect will be felt almost at once. “Poor child, she makes a good many of her own disappointments, and then broods over them,” a mother not longsince, in ing of her discontented daughter. Do we not all do this thing? It is so human to let our desires outrun our judgment, and when they fail of fruition we brood over them and spoil Ln ante for Gaye ata ime. very happiest people the jorid are those who refuse to see clot w THE LAND O% CAKES” Three Kinds That Givé Scotland That ~*~ Sobriquet: es How to Make Seotch Gatmeal Cakes, the Famous Hijins ana" ~ Shortbread. . sas aes My patriotism and my,pride as a Scot- tish housewife are sadly @uffied over-an ar- ticle appearing in the Jéhuary number of The Ladies’ Home Jourm#i that purports to give a few of the national New Year cakes of Scoiland. The first glaring error is made in referring to Scotland ‘as “the land 0° cakes” in a manner that suggests that it is a land of sweet cakes, which it is less, 1 believe, than any country of modern civili- zation. The cakes referred to in the sobri- quet are, of course, the oat cakes which fcrm the bread of life of the Scottish labor- er, and are no more allied to cakes in the sense in which the word is used in the ar- ticle referred to than is the hoe cake of “Old Virginny.” Again our delicious shortbread is con- terted into a mongrel “shortcake,” a term and a cake utterly unknown to Scotland, and, further, any description of the compo- sition of the “bun” also mentioned—the ceke of all Scotch New Year sweet cakes— is entirely omitted. Oatmeal Cakes, The cakes which have given to Scotland its name of “the land o’ cakes” are made of catmeal—and here it should be said that the oatmeal which forms so important an ar- ticle of diet of the Scot is ground much finer than that used in this country, which is too coarse to make oat cakes—with salt to see son and cold water stirred in to make the cempound of a consistency that it may be rolled out. It is then turned out on the baking board and rolled out very thin, gen- erally with a corrugated rolling pin. It is made round to fit tne big round “griddle” that has been dusted with the floury meal and hangs hot from the “crook” over the oper: peat fire, Thus it is cooked until it is crisp. Freshly baked and spread with but- ter it is fine, with something of the tooth- scmeness of the crust of the hoecake. It is baked once or twice a week in large batches, which are kept in the ‘meal bewie” for daily use. The New Year Bun. New Year day is regarded as the most important holiday of the year among the laboring classes of Scotland, Christmas is but slightly observed, a remnant of the disdain of the old Scottish Covenanters for any observance of a holy day of the times before the reformation. The “guid New Year” is ushered in with many a quaint ceremony, and the “bun” referred to is chief among the sundry and divers re- freshments that are offered to the caller during the day of festivity and generally throughout the week following. It is rather a rich compound, and is usually baked a week or two before the important day, as it is decidedly improved by being kept for a while. What remains dfter the holiday season is over is put carefully by for spe- cial occasions during the year, and the “bun” frequently lasts fom one New Year to ancther. Here f#'ft8 receipt: Four pounds raisins, 2% pounds‘cufrants, % pound almcnds, %2 pound orangé”peel, 1 ounce cloves, % ounce ginger," %‘ounce alspice, 22 ounces butter, 5 potfids ‘bread dough. Directions for preparing::” Work the butter into the dough, then lay aside one-fourth of the dough for the cdver!! Roll out the rest and lay the fruit on {€ and sprinkle the spices over the fruit!and knead all into the dough. When it is’ welf-kneaded, roll out the cover, and with it line a large bread pan, leaving enough of the dough to ferm a top; lay the Wun ‘fhto this, then cover ft neatly with the’top, trim it round the edges and prick the “toy with a fork; set In a pretty quick ovén, dnd just before you take it out glaze the ‘top with the beaten white of an egg!!! i Scotch Shorihread. The foliowing is a tittte-hbnared receipt for the most delicious of Bdotch shortbread: To two quarts of flour take six aunces of sifted sugar and of candied citron, orange peel and blanched almonds two ounces each. Cut these in rather large slices and mix them with the flour. Rub down among the flour a pound of butter in very smali bits, melt a half pound more, and, with this, work up the flour, etc. The less kneading it gets the more short and crisp the shortbread will be. Roll out the paste into a large well-shaped oval cake, about half an inch thick, and divide this the narrow way, 80 as to have two cakes some- what the shape of a Gothic arch. Pinch the cakes neatly around the edges and prick them on the top with a fork. Cara- way comfits and a few strips of citron pee! may be strewn over the top. Bake on pa- per or on baking sheets rubbed with flour. SUSAN HUNTER. ———_—. The Cat Took the Pail. From the Philadelphia Record. Many milkmen in the lower section of the city serve their wares in small tin cans, which are left upor the front door- steps. Generally the li@s of thgge cans are fastened down so tight that if requires a@ pretty hard tug to get them >ff. On Christmas morning, however,the can which was left at the door of a house on Watt street. below Ritner had no lid at al. This oversight on the part of the milkman attrected a homeless cat, which had been prowling around all night. The cat sniffed about the can, and discovering that it was full of sweet milk spezdily introduced her head into the can. It was a hard squeeze, and when she had drunk her fill she found it utterly impossible to withdraw her head. She scratched and clawed,and finally dash- ed off down the street like mad just as the housewife appeared at the door to take in the family’s milk. The cat hasn't been seen since, and the milkman has lost a brand-new can. see. Mlogica! From The Wave. “The female sex,” said Monsieur Calino, lately, ‘is the most illogical in the world.” “What new proof have you of the want of devotion of women to the cations of logic?” he was asked. “Why, take my wife,” answered Monsieur Calino. “I had all the trouble in the world to get her to enter her thirties, and now, a core years later, I can’t get her out of them.” FOR JEWEL LOVERS Semi-Precions Stone Discovered in Mexice } and Approved by.Expertes Slight Similarity to Opal—Hew It W: Found—Efforts to Obtain a More Abundant S$: ay. The accidental find made by an opal miner in Mexico has given a new semi- Precious stone to the world. It is an- neunced as the result of a secret examina- ticn by experts from the United States and Europe that this new gem is unlike any stcne previously discovered, and is fitted to set in any kind of jewelry. The new stone approaches the opal in value, and this is a matter of considerable mcment, for it is one of the oddities of the year that the superstitious avoidance of the opal has largely ceased. and that that gem has come to rival the diamond in pop- vlerity. The stone first came to the notice of the jewelers several months ago, when a leading Chicago firm received from a miner operating in Mexico about twenty speci- mens, which, the miner said, he had dis- ecvered while searching for opals. Their appearance at first was not such as to at- tract particular attention, but upon being treated an astonishing beauty developed. While in the rough some of them bore the appearance of smill snail shells, while others were like tiny rosettes. They varied from the size of a French pea to that of an ordinary hickory nut. In shape they were hemispherical. The appearance of the round part resembled that of translucent quartz, and in the cen- ter of the flat side a daintily colored nodule was seen. Over this nodule the substance of the stone appeared to be laid in strat.. In accordance with the request of the man who sent in the stones, an immediate and thorough examination was made, and to the surprise of the men engaged in this work, they were found to be gems of great beauty. After the upper side had been polished, the nodule was distinctly in evi- dence, and almost invariably appeared a dusky red in color. The eye-like center was not well defined in some of the stones, but in almost every instance it was noticeable that the color- ing matter was clouded across the entire stone. A striking feature was the remark- able resemblance to an eye of the center of each stone, and it is this fact which caused Edward J. Smith, the Chicago diamond ex- pert who examined them, to give them a name. He declared that a stone of this sort should certainly be dubbed “Cyclops,” and Cyclops it has been christened. Foilowing the examination by the Chica- go expert, a specimen of the new gems was sent to George F. Kunz, the well-known diamond expert, who indorsed all that had previously been said. The men who had the stones in charge then sent Mr. Smith to Europe to submit specimens to several con- tinental experts. Each of these gentlemen highly praised the stones, and at ence classed them as gems of a high order. As a result of this investigation and gen- eral approval, an effort is now being quiet- ly made in Mexico to locate the exact scurce of this sort of gem, and to ascertain whether enough of them can be found to yield a fairly continuous supply. a EFFECTS OF TEA SMOKING. Physicians Alarmed at the Growth of the Habit Among Women. From the New York Press. Physicians and specialists on nervous troubles are treating numerous cases of ex- treme insomnia and nervousness in young women without disclosing to them that their condition is the result of practicing the new vice of smoking tea cigarettes. The habit is increasing. From observations of its effects, a West Side physician de- clares that “a tea cigarette is a genuine brain excitant. Any one who uses it and yet does not work with her brain would go half crazy with nervousness, but with these who do brain work it is different, for the stimulus produces strange intellectual activity. S “After a couple of green tea cigarettes, a poem, for instance, will almost write itself, I am told by one of my literary patients. The effect of the tea cigarette, while stim- ulating to the brain and its flow of thoughts, acts as a pure sedative to the rest of the body, quieting restlessness, uneasiness or actual pains. The after effects are bad if they have not been worked off by unusual mental work. “At some houses green tea cigarettes are handed around after dinner, and I know three actresses of considerable reputation who give tea smoking parties twice a week. One woman, to break off this habit, on which she had expended nearly $10 a week, has lately voluntarily placed herself under private restraint. She had concealed her habit from her husband by using an art- fully contrived cigarette case. It resembles a bunch of keys, each key containing one cigarette. “So much has the habit spread that sev- eral tobacconists and druggists are keeping tea cigarettes in stock for regular cus- tomers. The active chemical preparation of tea is theine, just as caffeine is of cof- fee and nicotine is of tobacco. When theine is administered to a frog or a small animal it is found that it chiefly influences sensations which caffeine or coffee does not. In larger doses theine produces spon- taneous spasms or convulsions, which caf- feine does not. This is, in fact, the ulti- mate effect of smoking numerous tea cigar- ettes, finally producing ‘fits’ or convulsions. “Theine also acts as a local anaesthetic, quieting painful nerves. Green tea con- tains much more theine than ordinary black So you see that the habit of smoking garettes is terribly pernicious.” a ed What He Knew About It. From the Chicago Post. The new woman orator waxed eloquent. “And what,” she demanded, as she came to the climax, “is to be the result of our emancipation? She looked around with the calm assur- ance of one who had asked a poser, and this was too much for the little man who was waiting for his wife in a far corner of the hall. know,” he shouted. ‘Ah,”’ returned the new woman on the platform, scornfully, “the little man with the bald head thinks he has solved the problem that we came here to discuss this afternoon. We will gladly give our atten- sed while he tells us what is to be the re- sult.”” “Cold dinners and ragged children,” roared the little man. A LOGICAL From Harper's Bazar. y agree 7 te BNow come REASON, from?” heaven, I Little Girl—I guess so. 1 Contant! tome from: the other piace. It's too echt: HOW A BICYCLE GIRL CAN BE MADE. MAIMED BICYCLISTS Lost Limbs Supplied for the Use of the Un- fortunates. Mechanical Ingenuity in Making an Artificial Leg Capable of the Ankle and Toe Motion. Written fo- The Evening Star. The mechanical bicycle girl is not an in- animate invention, but a living, breathing human being. Science, exhaustive experi- ments, research and nature have combined to make up a bicycle girl. As a result the wheelwoman might be said to consist of more wood, springs, steel, bolts and wires than flesh, blood and bones. She may lack arms, legs, teeth, hair, or one of her eyes, and still be a scorcher. So marvelous are the achievements of_certain maimed bi- cyclists that students of the wheel have taken to figuring out just how much of a woman it is necessary to add to the artifi- cial accessories to make a real, genuine-ap- pearing bicycle girl. At first the obstacles that presented themselves seemed almost i.surmountable. To make a leg on which @ person could walk w ease and natural- nets of gait was one thing; but to con- struct a limb that would propel its wearer and a bicycle over all sorts of roadways Was quite a different proposition. While these new bicycle legs and arms are constructed of the same materials as those used for ordinary purposes, they are provided with certain additional improv: ments which fit them for the work they are specially called upon to perform. Be- sides this, there is nothing in the new mechanism which in any way unfits them for everyday wear, so that a set of these will serve for any service that may be re- quired of them. The bicycle limbs are all made of pre- pared willow or bass. Special attention is paid to having the wood well seasoned and strong enough to endure prolonged strain, as well as the shock of an ordinary acci- dent; hence weod of only the very finest and toughest grain is used. When the outer shell of the leg has been properly formed and trimmed to the length that will match the natural limb of the would- be bicycler, the next step is the fitting on of the foot. This is an extremely import- ant factor in the bicycle leg, as the foot must have exactly the same ankle and toc action as the natural foot. With that fact in view, rubber has been selected as the best material. and it is found that it serves as effectively in pedaling as though formed of flesh and bone. The body of the foot consists of a wooden core, which is sur- rounded with sponge rubber of great por- osity. In its construction a miniature spring mattress of steel is floated in the melted rubber, nearer to the bottom of the foot than to the core, and an air space is made in the heel immediately above the spring. ‘The steel mattress, which extends from the heel to the toes, unattached to the core, is composed of a number of tempered steel strips imbedded in canvas. Metal tips are placed on each end to prevent the springs from creeping. The pneumatic chamber makes the false foot equally compressible with the real one, and.thereby insures a perfect unison of action when resting on the pedal. As the shaft of the leg is sunk @ considerable distance into the rubber, the pliability of the artificial bicycle leg at the ankle is exactly the same as that in the human joint. With the exception of added strength to the springs, which serve to give additional propelling force to the KWmb, the genera! plan of the mechanism of the bicycle leg is nearly the same as that used for an ordi- nary walking leg. Special styles are pre- | pared for different conditions, of course. For instance, in many cases where ampu- tation has taken place above the knee the missing joint must be supplied by me- chanical device. No matter to what extent the limb may be lacking, however, the missing portions can be supplied and laced on so securely to the stump that, owing to its imperviousness to fatigue, it will do greater service than a natural member. In the case of a missing arm, the lack can be even more readily supplied, as these members are not called into use in cycling to anything like the same extent as are legs. A case in which both an arm and a leg had been amputated for injuries re- ceived in a railroad accident is that of a young woman living in New York state. Before the accident she was an enthusiastic wheelwoman, and when she had recovered from the shock and become convalescent her greatest regret was that she could never again indulge in her favorite pas- time. When she came to be measured for artificial limbs, however, she was delighted to learn that the genius of the manufac- turers had le it possible for her to re- sume her riding. Should a bicycle girl have both legs and both arms amputated, leaving but the bare trunk and head, there is no reason why she should not be fitted with new limbs and ride as well as ever. ‘The matter of false teeth, false hair and glass eyes is a condition liable to be within the range of any woman rider. Those who are now making a study of the situation say there is no reason why all the defects could not be overcome, even if they were combined in one person, who would by the aid of science be made an up-to-date bi- cycle girl. ‘The expense, however, is considerable. The latest improved bicycle legs would cost from $100 to $150 each, according to the difficulty found in making the proper ad- justments to the trunk. The arms reach- ing from the shoulders, and including sus- penders and all other attachments, would cost her $75 each. The other defects could be supplied at prices to suit the purse. In other words, a girl, who, through accident or disease, is today lying absolutely helpless, may, by the expenditure of $500 to $700, array her- self in limbs of wood, and with a fair chance of winning a prize. —_—_>——_ What is a “Chinook?” From the Portland Oregonian. A pioneer citizen, long a resident of Clat- sop county, objects to the warm south wind, which took off the snow, being called a “chinook.” He insists that the chinook is the northwest wind which blows in the summer, and that the name is only local, and belongs to Clatsop county. This may have been so when he lived there, but the use of the term “chinook” for the warm winter wind widich takes the snow off the |THE HAIR FALLS OUT Curious Effect of Eating the Wild Tama- rind. Helpless Cockatoes Hopping About Like Toads—Pigs and Donkeys Stripped of Every Bristic. According to a lecture recently delivered before the British Association by Dr. Mor- ris, one of the most eminent of English botanists, the fruit, the leaves, the young shoots and even the seeds of the wild tam- arind, or Jumbai plant, produce depilaiory results of an extraordinary character. The plant tn question is to be found in all the tropical portions of Asia, Africa and Amer- ica; but It is especially in the West Indies that Dr. Morris has had the opportunity of studying its effects, not only on hu- man beings, but also on animals and birds. The latter after a prolonged diet of Jum- | bai seeds are described as rapidly losing aél | their feathers—the numerous parrots and | cockatoes in particular. no longer able to fly, hopping about like toads in the under: growth in a state of most helpless and r diculous nvdity. Horses, mules, donke pigs and sheep are affected in a similar manner. Brush makers would be unable to find even a solitary bristle upon a pork- er who has been gorging himself upon the pods of the wild tamarind. Jackasses which have been feeding upon its leaves present a singularly mangy aspect, while the first effects of the plant upon the horse is to deprive it of any caudal graces that it may possess, converting that particular form of equine adornment into what is known as @ “cigar tail.” Still more striking are the results of the wild tamarind upon the human being. It immediately diminishes the growth of hair, and If the diet is continued, not only does it produce complete baldness on the crown of the head, but even brings about the disappearance of eyebrows and eyelashes. Dr. Morris attributes this singular effect to the presence of some volatile alkaloid in the Jumbai plant, but this was con- tested by some of the other members of the association in the debate which followed his address, and it was pointed out that meat, which does certainly not contain any alkaloid properties, produces similar re- sults when taken in excess. Dogs, that e fed exclusively on meat almost in- variably lose their coats, while the famous Japanese wrestlers, who feed almost ex- , clusively on raw beef, present both in their abundance of fat and in their ex- traordinary lack of hair much the same appearance as a pig that has been feed- ing upon the pods of the wild tamarind. On the other hand, baldness is practically unknown among the poorer classes of Eu- rope, who are compelled by their poverty to subsist almost exclusively upon a vege- table diet. Indeed, some of the most em!- nent doctors of the old world who make capillary conditions a special study de- clare that they frequently succeed in check- ing the fall of hair by prescribing milk, rice, eggs and fruit, meat being strictly barred. ———_ «ee NOT CUT OUT FOR IT. He Wanted to Become a Detective, but Was Easily Persuaded to Resign. From the Detroit Free Press. After the discussion of an important ar- rest, stories that the subject suggested naturally followed, and this one was told by a leading business man who would not jcare to have his name accompany tt: “Like the great majority of boys, I was infetuated with detective yarns, and by |Teading them became possessed with the idea that I had the special qualifications of a great thief taker. The practical men in this line of business did not encourage my | desire to enter their ranks, but persistency is one of my characteristics and I was given a chance as a volunteer without pay. “Just at the time I began operations there were a number of footpads operating in the city, and I secretly determined to win my spurs at once by rounding up these knights of the pavement. I conceived the } brillicnt idea of making myself up as a de- coy, putting on a fine suit of clothes, plug het, plated chain and paste studs. Then I betcok myself to the more retired portions of the city and wandered about in seach of geme. “As a Gecoy I was a howling success. I had just passed a dark alley when I was swiped to the earth with a sandbag, a re- volver muzzle was inserted into my right ear and I had a very misty comprehension of what was going on while being stripped of my cheap adornments, arms and pocket- bool “I rested from the effects of the assault for about ten minutes, but was very shaky on my pins. This must have created the impression that I was a swell on a toot, for I was held up three times in as many blocks and soundly thrashed each time for not having something to reward the ruf- fians for their trouble. “You can be sure that the case was never reported and all I have ever said to the de- partment was that they would have to get along without me because I had stumbled upon @ much better thing. I still think I had a great scheme if the footpads had only stocd in with it.” + 0+ His Dogs Dug Him From the Snow. From the Mountanbome (Idaho) Republican. On the morning of December 1 Frank Andreas was saved from an untimely death by his two noble dogs.. He was on his way to the blacksmith shop, some distance from the mine, when he was caught by a big snowslide, which started about 200 feet up the mountain. He was carried quite a dis- tance, and lodged against the gulch and covered over with four feet of hard-packed snow. His weit pd which are quarter St. Bernard, escaj the avalanche. They soon located their master and began to dig away the snow. By the faithful work of the dogs and the use of his left arm, which was fortunately in an upright position, Andreas soon gained a small opening, which enabled him to breathe. He declared that a few minutes more and he would have been dead. One hour and a half of hard strug- gling, and by picking away the hard snow from his body and throwing it out of the opening made by the dogs, brouxht a most welcome relief, and one that will not soon be forgotten. The gulch proper was filled with snow ten feet deep for a distance of seventy-five feet.