Evening Star Newspaper, February 13, 1897, Page 21

€ THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1897-24 PAGES. NOTHING TO EQUAL IT New York to Have the Greatest Hotel in the World. ASTOR AND WALDORF 70 BE JOINED — Description of the Arrangements of This Mammoth Hostelry. A WONDERFUL BALL ROOM 2 Written for The Evening Star. ROBABLY VERY few even of those who have watched the walls of the new hotel which John Jacob Astor ts erect- ing at the corner of P climbed up beside the Waldorf, fully realize what a colossal struc- ture these two hotels, which are practically nit, will form. The two buiidings are complementary; they will he under one management, and though under different ownerships, will be so connected as to be simply arts of one stupendous whole.” Taken together they will comprise not merely the largest and finest hotel in the world, bui the most colossal occupied struc- ture in existence. Indeed, there probably never was but one roofed building to sur- pass this in size. That was the imposing hall of manufactures, designed by Architect George B. Post, and erected at the world’s fair. This was the greatest building ,ever erected by man. It was nearly S00 feet wide and nearly 1,700 fect long, and over 200 feet high. The ground space it occu- pied was twice that of the great pyramid of Cheops, ard though any church in New York could be placed in the vestibule of St. Pete yet this was three times the size of the great Roman cathedral. The Coli- seum, again, though that was but an epen- air circus, seated, something like 80,000 peo- 34th street and 5th avenue, New York! city, as they have | tne traveler will find himself in the midst + of a brilliant spectacle. The entire lower room, the waiting rooms, the halls, the of- fice, the cafe, the garden court, even the bar room, will be cut off by partitions of glass, so that from this doorway the eye Tay ‘sweep the entire scene, the view un- broken save by the iron columns and the floral decorations, which will be @ charac- teristic feature. A Ball Room Like a Theater. Altogether the most notable feature of the hotel, however, either in point of beau- ty or in its wonderful construction, will be the new ball room. The latter will be on the second floor, and in the area of unob- structed floor space and in the magnificence of its decorations it will be, its architect thinks, something unequaled anywhere in the world. It will occupy the eutire west- erly end’ of the building, and the dancing ficor will have an area of 85 by W6 fect, The ball room will rise through three stories, to an extreme height of 40 fect, and overlooking the floor will have two tiers of galleries, divided off in boxes on the easterly side, while a conservatory will extend the entire length of the room on the westerly side. Lighted with a thousand electric flames, with the usual lavish dis- play of flowers and adorned by the beauty and fashion of New York. it is likely that here, in the social season, the eye may rest upon as dazzling and movipg a spec- tacle as the social world may present. Not far away, and also on this floor, will be another spacious apartment, feet in length, and extending through two stories, along the street front, directly over the main entrance, This will be called th: “Astor gallery,” and will Wzewise be sump- tucusly decorated and furnished. It will be used as a banquet room or for private balls and dances, and outside the long por- tico over the main entrance will form a ecvered balcony, in front of the rooms, vehich will be used as a promenade in fa- vcrable weather. Splendid Feats of Engineering. Neither the gallery nor the bail room will be obstructed by @ single supporting column. How, then, are their ceilings to bear up the tremendous weight of fourteen stories of steel and stone which rest. upon them? That was the problem which the architect had to solve; it was something unique in architecture and called fof an extraordinary piece of engineering. To suppert this immense weight three enor- mous steel trusses had to be devised for use above the ball room, and three others above the dining room, and these be borne upon columns of unprecedented strength. The whole had to be so arranged and re- lated as not to interfere with the arrange- ment of the halls and apartments in the stories through which they pass. These monstrous trusses are each 51 feet in height. They extend from the fourth to the sixth floor, rising from a broad base THE NEW ASTOR HOTEL. | ple, while the huge structure at the world’s | fair would have seated 300,000. Rivals the World's Fair Buildings. It is difficult to compare the hail of man- ufactures and the Astor hotel, since they are of such widely divergent character. The | first contained but a single floor, the latter | fifteen and eighteen. The floor space of the | world’s fair building was over a million and @ quarter square feet; that of. the Astor Hotel will be rather more than a million square feet. Something like 6,000 tons of steel and a thousand tons of iron were used in the construction of the manufactures hail; some 10,000 tons of steel are employed . hotel alone, and nearly the, Astor hotels for a century. Take another comparison: The largest ure of the antique world was Roman Pantheon. It was 158 height. The wrface covered by the Astor hotels y larger than that covered by and their extreme height is There is enough steel, brick - hotels to build three or and the Russian ‘of our own, could be army, not mobilized Costlicst on the Continent. t constructions aside, the new comprise the costliest structure tinent. The hall of manufac- ompleted at an expense of $1,- total cost of the Astor hotels ir furnishing and equipment will re- 0 more. The roof of the new y feet higher than the soar- t on Bunker Hill, whi the Trinity spire and the weather e hotel are almost on a level. ‘or hotel—it !s not yet named —grows out of the remarkable social and fir ancial success achieved by the Waldorf. ‘The lat 4 by Willlam Waldorf completion a year or iately became the pub- y York. Throughout rooms and its dining halis crowded, and it has paid so y that John ob Astor readily up with a suggestion to build a com- ntary hotel on the adjoining ground. and much more so ne Waldorf, yet its style lea being to form a unit er than two dis- ctural entities: tyle of the German the exterior and in- the same. The el conform to that being of Baltimore red Longmeadow S4 feet long, from center to center of pins, to a narrow top chord, 17 feet in length. The central column of the building car- ries a colossal load of 5,400,000 pounds. It is only 30 feet long, and yet it itself weighs 46,000 pounds. In the manufacture of the 10 and 12-inch pins by which the main members of the big trusses are joined to- gether, the finished pins were subjected to such test of resistance and strength that it was some time before a tough enough metal could be made to stand the require- ments of the architect. The main trusses over the dining room feet deep and 51 feet long, and both these and the ball room trusses are so con- cealed in the partitions of the building that no one passing through the corridors would for an instant suspect the presence of these giant pillars and atlas-like spans, by which the weight of this mimic world is borne. There will be a roof dining room and garden, inclosed on all sides and top with glass and iron, outlook from which is al- most without obstruction to every point of the compass. It takes in New York bay, the Hudson, East river, Grant's tomb and Washington Heights, Long Island sound and the distance bills of Jersey. One of the upper floors is to be set apart for club purposes, and there will be many private dining rooms and special apartments which it will cost a king's ransom to occupy. The “Back” of the Hotel. Hardly less wonderful, in many ways even more, is the world below ground. Two floors beneath the sidewalk. will be given up to the electric lighting plant, the size of which may be imagined from the fact that it will supply altogether some- thing like 20,000 lamps. It is, indeed, the largest, finest and most complete isolated electric lighting plant In the world, and the illumination,which it will provide for the larger apartments, like the dining room and lower floor, the ball room and the large gallery, will be dazzling in its effect and beauty. For that matter, the laundry room, like- wise, is worth a study, for here at times 40,000 or 40,000 separate pieces must be cared for within the span of a single day and night This requires the equipment of an immense laundry simply for this hotel alone, and so fast musi it do its work that there is no time for drying In the open air. This is done artifically, in ten or twenty seconds, with hot air supplied from the engine room. The latter, too, is worth a visit. Here, below stairs, fifty or sixty men will be employed constantly, running fifteen or twenty engines, that’ perform every variety of work? There is an tce- making and refrigerating plant, capable of supplying twenty-five tons of ice per da: for the Waldorf alone. That for the n hotel will double this. And round about in odd corners there is a paint shop, a cabinet shop, and a blacksmith shop, and a printing office, and no end of curious things, each supplied with its staff, who attend to nothing else. There is one man who does nothing but wind clocks, and me, substructure. 1a Block Long. the new hotel with its radical changes in the of the Waldorf. The of the latter will be new hotel, so that it will re front of the block front- e. The beautiful garden jorf will likewise be dupli- w hotel, doubling its present pper halls of the Waldorf : ed and continued with new hote E details than in other ‘onstruction of the rew ho- ng room in the en there is another staff that does nothing but clean windows, and another that scrubs floors, and for every separate de- tail of all the multifarious work of this great establishment there is an appointed attendant, or a staff with its chief, Provision Bills Three Millions a Year. Altogether, the combined hotels will re- quire over a thousand employes, and the bay roll for these alone will be over $35,000 per month. But this is a mild item. Last year the provision and wine bill at the Waldorf alone was more than a million dollars, and as the new hotel will consid- erably more than double the accommoda- tions, it 1s easy to see that between two Its frontage on 34th street, roken facade extending 350 © street, and more thaa 200 its topmost cornice, is altogether t sing thing of its kind to be ding along the base of this facade Y portico, covering the side- about 16) feet, two stories in and supported by twelve polished columns. In the center of this pcrtico will be the main entrance. The lat- ter will be semi-circular in form, with a lefty fountain tn the center. In this por- tco @ driveway will be formed, through which carriages can drive im and out en- tirely under cover. The colonnade which will surround the entrance will be all of plate glass and fron, door included, and will be one of the mest notable architect: features of the bullding. os Walls of Glass and Mirrors, Entering through this splendid vestibule, and three millions a year will be required for the purchase of foods and drinks for the completed caravansary. Nearly $200,000 worth of wines are kept on hand all the time, in a locked wine cel- Jar, where, nine men aro constantly em- , and no one is admitt Pinging o¢ ‘sei ed without the ~to the monthl: provision bill, Pipe les Bor Supplies and renewals and repairs of ever: Sert—add to all this the annual rental’ ‘and troke of your pencil will disclose a sum ‘hing into several millions. What the rental for these twin hotels will be prob- ably very few people will ever know. Cer- tainly it will not be made public, for the tax assessor has a watchful eye for dis- crepancies that mute appear were the figure named in print. It is certain that the sum will not fall below three or four hundred thousand dollars, and it may be twice this. The two hotels, with the ground upon which they le, will have a value of not leas than ten or twelve million dol- lars, possibly more. The little private street which John Jacob Astor and his Britishized cousin have made merely to completely isolate the two buildings is alone worth several hundred thousand dollars at current prices. $ Expenses Ten Thousand Dollars a Day All this outgo, averaging eight or ten thousand dollars a day, goes on with the steady flow ot a river, without the possibil- ity of stopping it or damming it In any ap- preciable degree. So long as the hotel is open it must be kept up to the highest standard; its prestige depends upon its spicndor. The management of such a prop- erty requires all the executive ability, ex- perience and capacity that it takes to run a railroad. But, on the other hand, the income of a prosperous hotel is something enormous. The new Astor house will have, combined, some 1,300 rooms, and in the busy: season it is probable that they will turn away guests each day. An average of $4 a day, and this is certainly low, means an income of $5,000 a day from this source, and the restaurants and dining rooms and bars probably bring in twice this. The baronial boniface who presides over the destinies of this magnificent establishment may there- fore pass with equanimity the long sum- mer day when fashion has deserted the city and his doors swing only to the entry of the unhappy victim ‘detained in town.” ——— TO ACQUIRE GRACE. Practice Before a Mirror Did Wonders for the Awkward Girl. From the Chicago Chronicle, Every woman of society desires to be graceful on all occasions, but many find it extremely difficult to master the art, while many are compelied to acknowledge the impossibility of accomplisiing the task. One woman, who was far from graceful by natural gift, but who overcame all ob- stacles to the attainment of the coveted faculty, tells how she did it. “All through my girlhood,” she says, “my mother lec- tured me on my manifold awkwardness. My walk, my carriage, my sitting down and standing up were a series of angular movernents, simpiy intolerable to her artis- tic nature. ‘But it never seemed to me that I could help it. I was ‘made that way,’ and how could I change? “Well, one day I chanced to read of an actress who always studied her parts be- fore a full-length mirror, in order to be sure that her gestures were graceful. It caught my attention in some way, and I thought of it many times in the next few days. At last I came to a deliberate reso- lution that I would adopt her plan and see what would come of it. Thereafter all my spare hours were passed in the drawing room, where there was a large pier glass. I took my books there to read, and chose an old-fashioned armchair to’ sit in. At first 1 merely looked at my reflection after I was seated, and actually blushed at its ungainly les. ‘Then I observed the fig- ure, approaching the mirror in short, jerky steps, and blushed again, umtil I was as dissatisfied with myself as my poor mam- ma, and became absorbed in my endeavor to improve. I studied pictures and copied their attitudes as closely as I could. When I went to the theater I gave earnest atten- tion to the movements of the actresses, and when I went home tried to imitate them. “I am afraid that all this sounds as if I had developed into a most self-conscious prig and poseuse, but I can acquit myself of any such feeling. I was studying grace of motion as one might study drawing, and with no more egotism, but, indeed, ‘most humble se!f-depreciation. I practiced stand- ing until I learned to correct the faults so arly visible, in that inspiring glass, un- til my limp spinal column acauired ‘self- reliance and firmness, and the protruded chin drew back into line. I practiced walk- ing on the line suggested by a mere chance sentence in a novel: ‘She walked with rather long, rhythmic steps, as if to music,’ and studied the different rhythms until I found one that seemed to me most grace- ful.” EASY House Hunting in England. From Harper's Baza. Hiring a house in England is not the simple straightforward process which it is in America. So many and deep are the pitfalls of the law, that the unwary are sure to fall into one before long if they trust to their own devices. There is a use- ful member of society here called the fam- ily solicitor. He will do almost anything short of buying tooth brushes for the fam- ily. He is so clever that he can generally, by dint of a vigorous correspondence with the real estate agent or the owner of the house, reduce the demands of the land- lord and secure the property for his client at a much smaller figure than that ori inally named. Even then the affair is not at an end; the drawing of the lease is a solemn and complicated performance, in- volving considerable expense. In it the les- see engages to paint the house every few years and to pay a certain rent; or he pays what is called a “premium,” and takes over a long lease, scmetimes for as much as ninety-nine years, so that, having bought the lease, he virtually owns the house during his life, and can will it away to nis heirs. tee Spending American Money in Cuba. From the New York ‘Tribune. If you want to go shopping cr curio hunt- ing in Cuba, it is essential first to give careful study to the currency problem, which is complicated enough to make even a boy orator tremble. Here is what Mr. Halstead makes of it: There are three money standards in this country—American geld, Spanish gold, and silver, and there is a great time in close calculations. I noticed a newly arrived American citizen in a cafe, treating three friends to beverages of their several ticrs, and partaking of bis own hospitati and you will observe this means four drinks. Payment was made with an Amer- ican $5 geld piece, and, settling the ac- co.nt, he received in change a $5 Spanish geld piece and forty cents. He was so weil plersed that he “treated” again, this time paying with the Spanish gold piece, and his change was five silver dollars and forty cents. “Now,” said he, m going to study out this thirg and get up a scheme. It seems there is money to be made by taking to drirk. The more liquor I buy the more morey I've got. This must be the double star dard.’ There was 20 per cent premiwm on Amer- ican gold compared with Spanish, and 20 per cent on Spanish gold as compared with silver, so my friend’s computation was cor- rect. He had, out of $5, spent $1.20 in drink, and still had $5.80 in silver. Se Famous American War Horses. From the Outlook. The most celebrated battle steeds of the civil war were Cincinnati, Traveler and Winchester, the favorite chargers of Grant, Lee and Sheridan. When tae hero of Vicksburg visited Cincinnati a few months after the close of that brilliant campaign he was requested to visit a dying men, who was exceedingly desirous of seeing him. When they met the invalid said: “General Grant, I wish to give you a noble horse, who has no superior on the continent, as a testimony of my admira- tion for your character and past services to our country. There is a condition at- tached to the gift—that you will always treat him kindly.’ Grant accepted the magnificent bay, of course, faithfully keep- ing his promise, and named him Cincinnati. He was a son of Lexington, with a single exception the fastest four-mile thorough- bred that ever ran on an Aemrican course. The general was offered $10,000 for the horse, as he had a record of speed almost equal to that of his famous haif-brother, Kentucky. Cincinnati was a superb and spirited steed of great endurance, Grant riding him almost constantly during the Wilderness campaign, and passing from end to end of our long line. The noble horse wes retired soon after the close of the war, enjoying “an old age of dignificd leisure” on a Maryland estate, where his master frequently saw him, and where he died and received honorable burial in and the amounts paid for | September, 1874. ———-+ee-______ e A Young Ma: “Coming Out.” From Harper's Bazar, Some of the New York girls are giggling over a “coming-out tea” which e@ young man is going to give to bring out his younger brother. They are all wondering whether the debutant will carry a bouquet, and there are rumors that vegetable ‘bou- ee been ordered to be sent to him bis bow to nis boy epoca. HIS LAST’ LETTER Story of the Night of Prosident Lin- coln’s Assaé#ination, SENATOR STEWART'S: REMINISCEN How Secretary Stanton’s Life Was Save. SWEARING IN OF JOHNSON —___+—___. Written for The Evening Star. “I probably received the last letter that Lincoln ever wrote. I didn’t keep it, but I would give a thousand doilars for it now.” It was Senator William M. Stewart of Nevada who was speaking. He was telling in a graphic manner the story of the as- sassination, and was describing some of the scenes of that fateful night, und also giving the facts of the swearing in of An- drew Johnson as President. He was one of the four men present on that occasion, and is the only survivor. “The day before the assassination,” said the senator, “I was in New York, talking with s Searles, an old friend I had known in California. He was then a judge and is stili living. “I have come to have a very high opin- ion of Lincoln,’ he said. ‘I would like to meet him.” “ ‘Come over to Washington with me and I will arrange it,’ 1 replicd, and he agreed to do so. “We took the night train, and I remember we had sections opposite, and remained up ail night talking over old times, not having Seen each other in ten years. We enly got little nap in the morning.” * the President was unabie to see Stewart and his friend during the day, but they went over to the White House in the even- ing and sent word to the President that they would like to see him. _ The President wrote a note in reply, say- ing to Senator Stewart that he and Mrs. Lincoin were going to the theater, and asked him to cali with his friend the next morning, fixing the hour at 10 o'clock. The Last Letter. “hat note,” said the senator, “was the last thing Lincoln ever wrote. It was signed ‘Lincoln.’ I probably tore it up, never dreaming that it was the last paper to which that immortal name was to be signed by his own hand.” 7" Stewart and his friend stood chatting at t mirance of the White House, and Were there when the President and Mrs. Lincoln came out. The President shook hands with the senator, and Judge Searles was introduced. They talked a few min- utes, and Lincoln left the White House, to return no more alive. On his return from the Baltimore and Ohio station, where he saw Mr. Searles off, Senator Stewart went to the rooms of Sen- ator Conness of California, who had fine apartments on 13th street near F. While he was there Senator Charles Sumner came in, and there was a general discussion of the affairs of the nauon. “Sumner,” said Senator Stewart, “was. talking loud and making a speech, Vi much as if address- ing the Senate. nate The First Sad Ne “In the midst of the talk Senator Con- ness’ colored servant came in and said: ‘Secretary Seward has been assassinated.’ “We all jumped to our feet,” continued Senator Stewart, “and, walked rapidly to the Secretary's residence, afterward known as the Blaine house, and now the site of the Lafayette Opera’ House. When we teached the door we met Hugh MeCulloch, Secretary’ of the ‘Treasury, coming out. “The Secretary is ‘seriously wounded,’ he said, ‘but with care will recover. The phy- sicians will allow no one to enter the room. We turned away ‘and went over to the White House—Sumnerj Conness' and my- self. Soldiers were'pacing up and down in front of the dacr and about the grounds. We inquired if they had heard anything concerning the attempt on Seward’s life, but they had not. It was while we were talking with them that a messenger came running up to the door. “Lincoln has been killed; shot while in the theater!’ he exclaimed, breathlessly. Of course, we were stunned for a moment. Conness seemed to be the only man who grasped an idea, and was the only one of the three who really did any good at that ume. Stanton Saved. “They mean to kill the President and all his cabinet!’ he said quickly. ‘Go, go at once to Stanton’s house and he may be saved!’ Two soldiers ran to Stanton's house, and as they arrived a man was ring- ing the bell. He ran away as the soldiers approached. Stanton himself answered the bell and came to the door. Had it been the stranger instead of the soldiers who were there Stanton, too, would have been killed. He was saved by the quickness with which Conn had taken in the situation.” ‘The three senators hastened to the house where the dying President lay, Stewart, sturdy and vigorous, arriving in advance of the others. He met the surgeon general at the door. “He is mortally wounded,” said that offi- cer; “it is only a question of time until he dies. The room is tco crowded now. You carn go in, but you would do more harm than good.” An Awful Night. Stewart did not go in, nor did Conness, to whom the surgeon general repeated his statement. Sumner, on the contrary, in- sisted upon going in and remained, while the other men went about the city and as- sisted in allaying the excitement. “That was the most awful ever experienced, said Senator Stew- art. “The city was wild with ex- citement. Everybody was out; all wrought up to the highest pitch.” It was a wonder there was not riot and bloodshed. No one knew what might occur next. No one knew how far the conspiracy extended, nor how many were involved, and who were irarked for death at their murderous hands. Seventy thousand frantic people surged through the streets demanding ven- geance. There were 30,000 confederates in the city, either as prisoners on parole or night I deserters from the rebel army. Occastonal- ly, in fact, frequently, there would be heard a demand for their extermination. A voice would ring out: ‘Let’s kill every one of them; no loyal man is safe with these traitors in the city!’ But a thousand times that night desperate acts and violent meas- ures were prevented by some one saying to the excited person who counseled bloody leeds: “ ‘Step! What would Lincoln say if he could speak?” “That was effective. The use of the name of the man who lay dying on 10th street saved the city and the nation. “Amidst the excitement, amidst the clamor for revenge and the bitter feeling against the perpetrators of the foul deed, was also a profound sorrow. I saw more men weep that night than in all the years of my life. Lincoln was familiar to the people; he was their friend. They felt th: they had lost one like a father. But above and beyond all there was fear as to the effect upon the nation. Fear of what was to come made the night horrible to men who loved their country. It was a night of terror.” The Next Day. A most interesting feature of the remi- niscence by Senator Stewart was the swear- ing in of Andrew Johnson as President. After a restless night, a night of such in- tensity as was never experienced in the nation’s capital, not even during the dark- est times of war, the morning dawned. Lincoln was dead! The nation was without a ruler. Immediate action was necessary or an- archy would soon reign rampant. Solomon Foote, a senator from Vermont, was Presi- dent pro tempore of the Senate. He had presided over that body since the inaugu- Tation, Johnson being absent about all the time. In the mist of an April morning Senator Foote drove down Pennsylvania venue in a carriage much the worse for wear and covered with mud. Mud on the wheels, mud on every part of it. Penn- sylvania avenue, now a smooti: paved thor- oughfare, was little better than a quag- mire. The carriage lurched into ruts and mud holes, the driver whipping the jaded horses and vigorously urging them into a semblance of a trot. In front of Willard’s Hotel Senator Stewart was standing. Sen- ator Foote directed the driver to stop at the curb. “Lincoln is dead,’ said Foote. “‘We must swear in Johnson at once. There must be head to the government.” Stewart got into the carriage, and together they drove to the residence of Chief Justice Chase. He joined them when their errand was explain- d, and the three drove to the Kirkwood otel, where Johnson had apartments. The Kirkwood was at the corner of Pennsyl- vania avenue and 12th street; the Raleigh now stands on the same site. “We want to see Mr. Johnson,” said Sen- ator Stewart. “No need of sending up cards; just tell us where his rooms are and we will find him.” How Johnson Was Sworn Johnson occupied two smail rooms at the head of the stairs. These were pointed out to the chief justice and the senators. After rapping sharply on the door the Vice Presi- dent came sleepily to it and admitted them. “We have come to administer the oath of office to you as President of the United State: said Chase. Johnson mumbled something and went back to his bed room. He appeared after a time with his panta- loons and vest on, and was putting on his coat. He did not make a very presentable ppearance. He was not just the kind of man that would have been picked out then for Lincoln's successor. But he had been selected long ago for the emergency which now arose, and there was nothing byt to swear him as soon as possible and give him the reins of power. Under the Constitution he was the man to take the office. In solemn tones the chief justice admin- istere the oath which made Johnson President. After this ceremony he seemed a little doubtful as to what he should do. The title “Mr. President,” by which he was addressed, seemed to disconcert him somewhat. det over to the White House as soon as possible,” urged Chase. “It is important that you should be there soon; the head of the government should be in his office in this great crisis.” Johnson said he would go at once, and the men who had participated in the cere- mony left him. Later in the day Senator Stewart saw him at the White House and he presented a different appearance, as changed as a man would be who has had a bath, a shave and donned a new suit of clothes. When it was known that the new President had assumed the office quiet was somewhat restored. The people had worn themselves out in the long weary night. No more assassinations were anticipated. The conspirators were fleeing for their lives, and were being pursued in every direction. ‘The government lived, but the nation mourned. ARTHUR W. DUNN. Crystal-Gazing in London. From Harper's Bazar. Crystal-gazing is extremely fashionable in London. Some ladies in the best society faze.” It is done by simply holding a r glass ball in the hand in a way to exclude surrounding objects, and then con- centrating the attention on the ball. If you are an inspired person—a ‘“‘psychic’’— you will see a series of pictures, small but clear, in the crystal; these are often of a prophetic character; and I am bound to say that I have heard of several extraordinary cases in which these prophecies have been fulfilled. Miss Donnelly (as I will call her, fer she is Irish), besides crystal-gazing, goes into trances (when hypnotized), and tells for- tunes with cards, ordinary ones and “tar The latter, she says, never lie; they have strange pictures on them, and are exceed- ingly old und respectable in the estimation of the psychically illuminated; but I heve clean forgotten their pedigree. —— Sure of One Reader. From the Boston Transcript. John Brougham, in the old days, pub- lished in New York a comic paper which he called the “Lantern.” William E. Bur- ton was no friend to Brougham at that time and there is reason to believe that no love was wasted on either side. Brougham, on entering a restaurant one day, found Burton with one of his chums seated at a table. Burton, as usual, was “fatigued. Observing Brougham’s presence, Burton roughly replied to his companion’s ques- tion, “Have you read the ‘Lantern’ this week?” by saying, “No, I never read the — thing unless I'm drunk—unless I'm drunk! unless I’m drunk!” Brougham im- mediately arose from his table, advanced, hat in hand, to the end of Burton's table and, making a bow in his most polite man- ner, observed, “Then, Mr. Burton, I’m sure of one constant reader.” Mrs, Flowerly—"Come and sit moth You must be tiredr? “ Little Master Peron ‘may have my Chath eatmey Ee, * 4 down, Decorating Dead Walls With The- atrical Posters. ALLOWS NO DELAY SoS A TASK THAT Why the Aspect of the Bill Boards Changes Weekly. . OF THE SHOW AN IMMENSE UNDERTAKING io The whole general appearance of the streets of Washington undergoes a weekly change that js st first felt vaguely, and then sharply noticed. This change con- sists in the Matter of decoration—the lurid ornamentation of bill boards, the garish, vari-hued displays of paper in shop win- dows. On Thursday mornirg the man who walks or rides to his office becomes idly aware that along the entire length of his route his eye is being treated to a new kaleidcscope, but he does not generally take the trouble to analyze the phenome- nom. On his way home on Thursday even- ing, however, the thing is made plain to him. He perceives that it was the com- pletely changed panorama of the dead wails and fences and the transformed as- pect of the smaller shop windows that un- conscicusly wrought upon nim on his mornirg trip. But it is not for several days that he begins to examine the free show of the sirects in detail. When he dccs begin to do this the efforts of the — bill poster have rot been in vain. The bill-pcster is a handicraftsman in the whole public eye. He hikes Washing- ton. He flourishes here. He comes in ium- bers to enjoy the Washington winter, after @ spring, summer ard part of an attumn chead of a circus, whut time, the gorgeous illumizator of village bill boards, he is everywhere the thrice welcome heraid of feverish joys to come, the courier of hap- piness for children of all ages, the cheer- ful emblazoner of things that never were on land or sea. Here he remains until the crocuses begin to pop. Then he is off again. The bill poster is not engyved by the conditions of ordinary iife. In large mezsure, he resembles the typical printer, in that today he may be quite content in Washington, while tomorrow's sun will discover him equally happy in Lexington, Ky. He has ever been, ever will be, a wan- derer, it takes three days to thoroughly “bill” Washington for the theatrical attractions of a week, although after the biil posters have been at the job a single day there is a gocd deal to show for their labor, for these men work with almost incredible swiftress as a matter of necessity. Theatri- cal bill posting is no longer done by the advance employes of theatrical companies, 28 was formerly the ease. All of the cities have bill-posting firms, which handie the “paper” of the traveling organizations by contract. The amusement outfit slips its posters ahead to the bill-posting firm for spreading, and the latter does thé rest. Police Censorship. Theatrical organizations that are to visit Washington ship their posters to the bill- posting firms here, so that t arrive promptly on the Wednesday preceding the Monday upon which the first performance 1s booked to take piace. Then the bill posters are all ready to take it in hand 2 paste it broadcast throughout tne city. But before they can do this there is in Washington, alone of all cities in this country, a little ceremony to be gone through of a censorship character, which several other great municipalities are thinking of adopting. That is, every bit of theatrical paper that is publicly exhibited on the streets of Washington must first be passed upon by the police of Washington. A few years ago the posters of extrava- ganza and opera bouffe companies became somewhat too risque for general accejt- ance in this town, and the police depa ment was asked to undertake a censorship. Thus, when the theatrical posters arrive at the officers of the bill-posting companies here on Wednesdays a captain of police is on hand to have a look at them. Hach of the posters is spread out before hin for examination. If the captain of police deems it fit for public exhibition, all well and good. If he does not, it simply can't be put up, and there is no appeal from nis decision Nowadays the censorship does not often have to be exercised, for the lithographers for theazrical companies took their cae from this vers insticution of police inspec- tion of thei: work in this city, and as a mere matter of business common sense they ceased the issuance of paper of such a doubtful character that it stood a chance to be utterly thrown our in so important a theatrical city as Washington. Even the posters that are really not indecent or sug- sestive, but which display rather too gen- erous a portion of the female form, are re- quired by the police censor here to be toned down by the pasting over the too muca exposed figure of large, well-hiding date bill The police censor finishes his work of in- spection Wednesday night, and posters start out to work Thursday mo ing. They divide the city up into districts. In proportion to its siz. there are said to be more dead walls and fences in Washing- ton than in gay other city in the United States, owing to the great a:nount of ui! ing that is always going on here, and thus the bill posters’ gang who work a Was! ington Cistrict have got their work cut out for them. The bill posters travel in d' Bangs of two, and occasionally three three men comprising a gang when the posters to be put up are unusually large. The gang go out in a cart, piled high with che paper the paste barre! in the forward end, under the eye of the vart driver, who is alse the paste mixer. The young fellow of the gang, who Is only learning to be a bill poster, does the stripping of the dead walls and fences. That is, he works like a beaver in pulling and scraping off the posters of the previous week. Then, while the passed bill posters are separating the sheets, he gives the wail or fence a coat of paste. As has been said, the bill posters do their work with the greatest rapidity. Their labors look simple enough, but bill posting is a trade that requires both definess and a knack for unraveling puzzles. People who have stood and watched bill posters at their work—and who has not?—will under- stand the necessity for this latter qualifi- cation. The sheets, for instance, compris- ing a 20-sheet poster are indiscriminately dumped from the wagon on to the ground, and to the onlooker it would appear that the bill poster is in for a big job of bringing order out of confusion so that he can gO on with his work of posting, He doesn’t appear to have any trouble at all, however, but goes right ahead, and when he wants a certain sheet to fill in his mosaic picture, it is miraculously at his hand and on the end of his brush. It is a process of separa- tion which the layman cannot well see through. Their Work in Detatl. It is interesting to watch a bill poster at work in a high wind. When the force of the wind is compelling the whole’ world to chase its hat, and people have to walk backward the better to oppose themselves to its strength, the bill poster calmly goes on pasting his sheets, seeming to stand # gale, but it never blows a sheet from th tip of the bill poster's brush. It is a deft. ee id _— of practice in enables the bi rt thus defy the wind. Wkgesten The gang of bill posters do not cover of the work, the better to serve the advertising the posters. Friday and ‘Saturday are & everything to telepathy. me “all things that ever I did” (and how glad I felt they were not worse!), and end- ed by spelling out a name. show me the letters, but I couldn't see anything but a mass of unmeaning lines, and an irregular marked, politely, meant it as a compliment, and she took it as such. Her fee was ten shillings and sixpence (she earned it well), which I paid and then I left her, full of thought. 5| now asks a guinea, and her door is be- sicged by the carriages of the great. abies tells how “Jean Valjean” a man of enormous strength held up the broken cornice of a wall until braces were brought, thus pre- venting the collapse of the entire building. Sometimes when the human constitution is so undermined by dis. ease that it threatens te collapse, the strong e-m of Science upholds the tottering wali of life ua- sil Nature's sustaining power can be exerted. ‘ There are hundreds of instances on record where strength and vitality were completely gonc weak and emariated he body the digestive organs powerless ; the nervous sysiem shattered ; and all human hope of recovery apparently exhausted when t] marvelous resource of medical science Dr. Pierce’s Golden Med- ical Discovery by its wonderful blood-vital- izing, strength-making, flesh-building prop- erties restored compiete health, vigor and activity. - This remarkable discovery gives the di- gestive organs power to make rich pure lood full of the life-giving ted corpuscles, Its nutritive properties are vastly greater than cod liver oil emulsions. It does not make flabby fat, but solid muscular flesh, nerve force and vital energy. Ralph Green, of Williamsburg, Mo., writes: “Before I commienced your treatment I could not take a drink of water without great suffering in the stomach. Could not eat. suffered sol could not obtain more than three or four hours sleep at night. Iwas fast sinking. I had five different doctors to examine me, and each one treated me, but without doing me any good. At last im friends advised me to call for your advip._ I di 80, and took four or five bottles of your Golden Medical Discovery,’ and today I am in better health than I hav: been for fe years. Iweigh 157 pounds.” A great deal of sickness may be saved by keeping ou hand a copy of Dr. Pierce's thousand_-page illustrated boo The Com- mon Sense Medical Adviser."’ Sent free, paper-bound, for twenty-one one - cent stamps to pay cost of mailing on/y; or cloth- bound for thirty-one stamps. Address, World’s Dispensary Medical Association, No. 663 Main Sireet, Buffato, N. Y. atrical posters. The average weight of a sheet fs one-tenth of a pound. Thus th weight of this mass of bills spread o the country each year is 2,000,000 pounds, or 1,000 tons. The cost of a single sheet of a the: poster, ready for spreading, vari three to ten cents,, according to t of its Mthographic execelience and the amount of work expended upon it. The average is about five cents, which makes the cost of the 20,000,000 theatrical sheets spread last year exactly $1,000,000. Size and Cost of BI All sizes of bills are commonly seen upon the streets of Washington. They vary in size from the “gutter snipe, the long, slender strip is called, a single ver- tical line compcsed of on rd, which is one-tenth the size of regulation There from he degree the “shect” measuring 30 by 40 inches. are also quarter and half-sheet bills, but these are gradually passing out of w the smallest bill c monly 1 1 for post- ing now being the sheet. The most ordt- nary poster used by theatrical organiza- tions is the three-sheet poster. When it becomes Lecessary to use me! tuan one sheet to display the attractic priised, this multiplication of sh ia “stand” in the bill poste salar There are stands of all sizes—three, four, six, eight, twelve, sixteen raal- ly even fitt Clveus and spetacular theatrical mpanies occasionally use much larger biils, a hundred sheets being som: times necessary to me of posters. In one ins’ ") sheats required to make up a sir The cost of the large post enor- mous in the aggregate. A twenty-sh wood cut costs from 6 to 8 cents a shi according to the number of colors u At the very lowest figure, the lithograph show bill costs 10 cents ‘a sheet, so that each of the large posters represents a value of from $1.20 to $10, with the cost of it~ ing to be added. The posters of a certain big circus cost last year,an average of 7 cents for the 5,400,000 Sheets spread, a matter of $406,000 alone, to which was added the cost of posting, which was over $200,000. This circus’ bill posters used up 5.200 barrels of paste last year. The circus employs a large force of 6 men to make its advance bill board displays. The: le picture. divided inte brigades, and travel from town to town in special cars, ornately painted and handsomely fitted up for er & The dally labor of each of this circu posters is 400 sheets, making a dai tribution of sea son. The shop windows of Washington make a notably large display of theatrical ers, but bill posters dog’t have anything to do with the distribution of these. That is a branch of the business that Is at- tended to by the local theaters. eee. OCCULT SCIENCE IN LONDON, Some Remarkable Achievements of @ Hair-Raising Order. From Harper's Bazar. Every daughter of Eve has a hankering after the occult, therefore I make no apol- ogies for the subject of the following ob- servations. We are, too, very credulous (as most men will admit), and it is gen- erally easier for us to believe in a ghost than to investigate it. On these hanker- ings and this credulity hundreds of per- sors, more or less clever, trade. Some of them believe in their own pow: and a deeply hurt if any one hints that they pos- sers only imaginations. I have had person- al experience with a few of these far-se: women, and they impressed me with tin abrolute sincerity. One is a palmist—a chi- romancer, or whatever she calls herself. tells the character from the hand, often wth startling exactitude; she informs you of various incidents of your past life—of which you are already very well aware, yet which she can't possibly kno in a way to raise the hair; and she predicts, with irdifferent success, the fature. She is the only person I ever heard of who can read names in people's hands. Be- were, oh, woman! If there be one person who kas influenced your life more thao all others, the name (shall I say his name is written in your hand! It is a positive fact that Mrs. -— can read it there less, indeed, one accounts for the mystery on the grounds usually taken now b) the Psychical Research Socicty, who attribute The palmist told She tried to I turned cold, and re- “You are the devil.” I —_+ e+ — A Cure for Corpulency. From Harper's Bazar. . A physician who makes a specialty of physical culture and the reduction of obesi- ty tells a ratber amusing story of a side- walk peddler who came to him for some remedy to check inis growing corpulency, ‘Tke man was a dealer in toy balloons, and the most prominent portion of his frame was his aonormally large abdomen. physician prescribed no drugs, but advised the man to change his line of goods, and to offer for sale some mechanical toy that would be displayed on the sidewalk. The new prescription obliged the patient to stoop over two or three hundred times a The at a pe voted to fi in th hi months’ time this exere lett unplacarded as a result of this sys- | Without diet or medicine, had reduced the tem. The bill poster's work is finished only | ™2"’s girth eleven Inches. $8 pave be atvertionments fat the Rt | peg lowing week's shows on the bulletin boards Facial Treatment, It requires about 5,000 “sheets” a week| - Sham: ing & properly season of ing. organi Epetial Care posters. apd Pitupies, it will’ be q - 10-8 st. METZEROTT BLDG, epee ‘Parlors 20 end 22, °