Evening Star Newspaper, May 22, 1897, Page 16

16 ARAILWAY MAILCLERK ———— BY CY WARMAN. nd (Copsright, 1897, by the S .S. MeClure Go.) Written for The Evening Star. Railway mail clerks are not railway em- ployes, although they are under the orders of the railway officials when on the road. They are, as a class, a bright lot of men. ‘They bring more brains and acquired skill into their work than any class of govern- ment employes, in proportion to the amount of money they draw. They ride the fastest trains Im the country, and ride ahead. On most roads their car is coupled to the locomotive, and they take whatever is left when the grim reaper has finished with the engine men. Reliable statistics show that the mortal- ity among railway mail clerks through railroad accidents is greater than that among the troops in the civil war. These clerks are required to pass an examination at a rating of more than 00 per cent. De- partment employes at Washington are given thirty days’ vacation each year, but the railway mail clerk is called upon to | “wi You Jine Met” face the dangers of midnight rides twelve months in the year. The pay of these men is not what the government should give up for such work. and it is gratifying to note that while I write Congress, sitting at this end of the avenue, where the poor abide, is considering a bill for the benefit of those men who, net knowing what is written here, will guard this manuscript en route, and help to ce it before the editors to- morrow morning. I knew one mail clerk intimately, and found him one of the most interesting characters I ever me’ eventful life would time. and ought to be especially apropos | here as an iil the character of the averag: jerk, and of the dangers thre pass. The farm: upon which we were art, but “Doc,” who lived with his uncle, left’ home before he | was twenty-one ani went west. i had | been in town to get the plow sharpened, and en my y home I saw Doe climbing field behind a harrow, and out he hung the fence and said: 0 “Yes. Will you jine me?" “What's it cost?" I asked. “Forty-nine dollars, second class, Bt. Louis to Denver.” “Haye you got the money?” Doc shook his head. “Did you ever see that much money?? “Well, not at one look, but I've got it all figured out.” “How much have you got?” “Haven't got any, but I got a job at} Whiticer’s stable in ‘Carr street, an’ if you will go I'l! see that you never want. We can sleep in the haymow and beard around.” “How'll we get to St. Louis?” I asked. “Ride when we're tired o° walkin’, walk when we "t ride,” “I'm in silk and you're in the tassel,” he from | added, thoughifully. “Life is all before us, but you can't get anywhere on a farm. Look at the jays around here. What do | they know? They simply stand round on | one foot like a gander till the beard breaks | through the freckles, and then they push | THEY SAW ENVELOPES SAILING Billy Pinkerton. It was like-the Pinker- tons to detect in this almost beardless boy a ‘remarkably intelligent person. Pippin was offered employment, he ac- cepted it, and was sent at once to a small town in Iifinois to find out a band of thieves who were stealing hogs and robbing shops. If Doc had tried he could never have be- come a good dresser. Even clothes that were made for him didn’t fit, and he wore kis hat crosswise, like the leading man at a French funeral. His appearance upon this occasion was in his favor, and he was rot long in forming the acquaintance of the toughest lot of loafers in the town. They liked Doc, as every ome did who kiew him, but it was a long time before they would trust him. Doc’s money gave out, and he tried to borrow, and the gang gave him the laugh. “Git out an’ turn a trick— work,” said one of the men. | “What can { do? Show me and then watch me,” said Doc. “See that jay ridin’ out o’ town?” said the tough, nodding down the road where a lone horseman was going away with the sunset cn his back. , ‘he’s goin’ out to his place in the country—goes every Sat-day night an comes back Monday—hoid ‘im up.” Doc knew the man, as he knew nearly every man tn the place, by the description given him at Chicago, and by the middle of the following week this wealthy citizen had been notified from headquarters that he would be held up on the next Saturday night. Doc was at his post, and as the lone horseman came down the road the highwayman stepped out from the shadows of a jack oak and covered his man. That night the gang drank up the best 3 and voted Doc ‘a dead game The verdancy of the gang he had to deal with made Doc's work comparatively ecsy. He invariably drank gin and wa- ter, and by’a simple ‘trick that a child ought to have detected—the trick of drink- ing the water and leaving the gin—he was always sober ; When the proceeds of Doc's raid had been expended, together with the $7 re- ceived fcr the “Jay"s” watch, the gang de- termined to rob a hardware store. The job had been undertaken once, but had failed. The time, at Doc’s suggestion, was fixed vpon election night. A great many farmers, he said, would be in to vote and trade, and the people being either deunk or tred, would sleep soundly when once asleep, and the gang voted that Doc was a great thinke The time arrived, the store was enter- ed and when they were all tn, Doc ducked down behind the counter and reached the rear end of the store. Now a big bull's-eye was turned upon the gang, who arose from their work to look down the dark barrels of a half dozen shotguns. One of the gang, seeing Doc with the sheriff's party, made a play for his pistol, but the sheriff shoved his shotgun yet nearer the robper’s face aad sald, sdftly: “Be quiet,” and he was caim. The next day the father of one of the gang, who was himself a hard man, made an attempt to kill the detective, and, hay- ing done his work, Doc departed. Friends of the accused hired a lawyer, who made a beautiful picture of these innocent lads who had lived all their lives in this quiet country town, and who had never been guilty of a wrong until they were en- couraged and trapped into it by the wick- ed young detective. Alas for the criminals; one of the gang gave up to tie sheriff, and by the finding of stolen goods and the property of a man who had been murdered, they were all, save the.one who had weakened, sent to Joliet, where they are still receiving their mail. Young Pippin's success in this now cele- brated case wen for him the full confi- dence of the agency, and before he had reached Chicago other {mportant work was mapped out for him, but to the sur- » of the agency he refused to accept ancther i “I could not be: thovght of living Ne—to a sald to me, “the a1 whole life that was a pear always to be t {x and mingle cor ly of this world, in which » should be so mach happiness. “It ia a great and Ynportant work which ogght to be done. but it is not for me.” eturning to the west again Plppin en- tered the scrvice of Uncle Sam as a railway pcestal clerk. Finding a letter in the ma!l marked to me he took his. blue pencil and wrote on the back of the envelove: “Hello—Doc.— R. M. S.!" and I knew then that he was in the railway matt s2rvice. it was some time after the receipt of this brief message that the meeting in the sleeping 2ar, alreatiy referred to, occurred, and it was during his many visits to me at Denver that he related the deteciive stories herein retold. “How is it,’ I asked one day, “that you are assistant superintendent of the mail service in the west, when you are under thirty, and new, comparatively new, at the business “Hard luci said Doc, smiling sadly, x ghing and thumping his chest. Then it was that he began to tell me some of his experiences in the postal car, but be did not tell it all. He was as mod- est as he was honest, and would not tell to me, his friend, the real tales of hero- ism in which he was himseif the hero. He told enough, however, to interest me cr OUT OF THE BURNING DEBRIS. the old folks off and take the plow, and in @ little while get pushed off theiseives. Life on a farm is one continual round of work and want. Will you jine me?" The thought of getting up at morning and not knowing where 1 was going to sleep at night frightened me, and I told Doe so, and we parted. A few years later, when the west-Bound train stopped at a iittle bleak and dreary Mountain town where I, having gone west, had elected to drop anchor, I looked out from the car window and saw Dog sitting close up to the crooper of an old sorrel horse that was hitched to an exprese ‘wagon. I went over to him at once, for I was lonesome. A mountain town is not a thing one is apt to love at first sight. Desoiate. That is better than four columns of agate to describe the place. The dry March winds came out of the canon and swept the sand of the Mesa up into eddies that swished and swirled in around your collar and cut your face. The surlight was so dazzling that it bewildered and seemed unreal, and the cold wit.ds were constantly contradict- ing its warmth. “Are you homesick, Doc? I asked as 1 rode up town with him, for he was there to and cause me to find out more from a mutual friend and to verify the informa- tion by some of the records and correspon- dence, which I was afterward permitted to see. I found that his loyalty, bravery and devction to duty had been warmly commended in autograph letters from the highest officials in the mail service. it was, indeed, hard luck that brought him promotion and an easy place, which he could not have gained save through the Kindness of higher officials. He had been in any number of wrecks, for many of the western roads were new at that time, and railroading was not safe as it is now. Once there was a head-end collision, ia which the wreck took fire. Doc was dreadfully bruised, but he had all his limbs, and as the flames crept closer and closer to his car he busied himself carrying the mail matter to a place of safety. When his work had been completed and tne flames it up the canon, they showed Doc lying upon his mail bags, apparently dead. The trainmen found him and soon restored him to consciousness, for he had only fainted from overwork and the pain of his many wounds. It was nearly a year before he was able to take his run again, and this time his — people and their baggage up to the Rotel. “Nope,” he said. “It's the dry wind—i Dusted my lip so that I look like I'm goin’ to cry when I’m tryin’ to laugh. I'm goin" back home this fall," he added after a Pause “to get my money—I'm twenty-one now, but I'm comin’ back out here—this country is all right.” Doc, who had earned his title by docter- ing his uncle's horses, had inherited a lit- tle fortune of $1,800, and when the im mer had come and gone he went back home fn a Pullman car, for he had saved $50 out of his salary of $60 and board. every month. Five years later, in the dawning of the morning, as I was climbing out of an up- per berth at another mountain town, a man caught hold of my coattail, and I found that the “man under my bed” was Doc Pippin. He zaid he was living in Denver: so was I, and in a few days he came in to see me. He came often, and told the best stories I had ever heard. He was thin and pale, and I noticed that he coughed and inded his left lung when he did so. stories were not told to me for pub- Mecation, but I know he will not care, for he is careless now. Doc went to Chicago after receiving his money, and became acquainted with a well- known detective. I think he said it was reute lay over the Santa Fe system. One night, when the train came roaring down the canon, the engine jumped the track, the mail car went to piezes against the locomotive, the coaches piled upoa the pieces, and the wreck began to burn, When the trainmen and passengers came forward to look for “the fellows up ahead” they saw large and small envelopes sailing out of the burning debris, and they knew at once that the mail agent must be fast in the wreck. The whistle valve had been fcrced open, and now the wild, ceaseless ery of the wounded engine drowned all other sounds, and made it impossible for the men to hear the cries of the imprisoned postal clerk. All. this .he.knew, and while the hungry flames were eating their way to where he lay, he pulled: the register bag to him, and began to shy the valuable mail out into the sage brush. ~~ When the steam was exhausted and the cry of the engine iad hushed there came no sound from the enginemen, for their leath. voices were hushed in dk Abo sound of the ther comet hear Doe calling to them from his piace be- low th2 wreck, the ve train crew worked desperately right’in the very of the fire to rescue the THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, MAY 22, 1897-24 PAGES. tainter and fainter, and before the res- cvers reached him it hushed entirely. At last, just as they were about to give him up, as he was now apparently dead, they succeeded in dragging Doc fro.n the wreck, and to the joy of all, he goon re- vived. He was yet alive, but had breathed so much of the fiames that his ieft lung was almost ruined, and he was néver able to resume his plece on the road. It was this unfortunate wrezk and the siory of his heroism that gave him the im- portant position of assistant sup2rintendent oi the western division ot the United States mail service when he was noi yet thirty years oid. It was the burn in his breast that made him cough and beat his left lung, that pinched his face and made his eyes look larger than they were. He went on sliently—almost cheerfully—doing what he could, but we who wa‘cied knew that the hidden scar he had there was wearing his life away. Not long ago 1 returned to Denver, and meeting the chief clerk in the street asked im about Doc. I had been wanderiug oyer the face of the earth for nearly two years, and was “behind the times,” as 02d coun- try folk say, and now as my friend looked at me, his face took on a sadder snaidle and he answered slowly: “‘We buried Doc six menths ago." —_.—___ PHOTOGRAPHERS BOTHERED BY DUST. How It Affects Their Plates and What They Dv to Escape It. From the New York Among the many evils which are attrib- uted to the all-pervading, never-to-be- escaped city dust, there is one which con- stitutes a grievance peculiar to photogra- Phers alone. It is the injury which the flying particles, sifting into the room through every possible aperture, cause. to. the delicate films and sensitive plates. All films are made of preparations of gelatine, and a large proportion of the glass plates now used are also coated with this sub- stance, which, because of its soft, sticky nature, is particularly likely to attract every atom of dust in the surrounding air. The Particles, however small, leave their im- bress in the form of opaque spots upon the sensitive surface and seriously mar its per- fection. To remove the damage, a great amount of retouching is necessary; which is not only laberious and tiresome, but which cannot always be satisfactority ac- complished if the dust is very thick. What is known as the “carbon process” in pho- tography is probably more easily injured by dust than any other, because an ex- tremely delicate film of gelagine is used. Chiefly on account of this drawback the carbon process is seldom employed in this country, although photographs are made which resemble the real carbon pictures so closely in color that they are called ‘carbontypes.” In England, where the car- bon process is more common, it has become customary for London photographers to send their developing work out of town to be done, in order to escape the dust and smoke of the city, but this practice has not gained much ground here. * The photographers in this city, as a rule, perform all their operations in the same building in which their studios are sit- uated, and, for the sake of thus keeping the developing process at home, they are obliged to be at great trouble in protecting it. Some of the methods employed for this purpose were mentioned to a Tribune re- porter the other day by a well-known Broadway artist. “In the first place,” he said, ‘“‘we not only keep our dark room itself, but the whole top floor in which it is situated, spottessly clean. The floors are all oiled until there is Pot a crack in their surface to hatbor dust, and they are theroughly washed every morning before we begin our day’s work. All the tables, trays and everything we use are kept equally clean. The win- dows, instead of being in the side wails, where the wind would strike them and bear the dust in with it, are in the roof, and very little dust can come in that way. All cracks in the doors or around the window frames are stopped up, and we keep the dark room tightiy closed as much of the time as possible. With these precautions, we manage to get along pretty well, but a certain quantity of dust seems bound to creep in, and it causes us a good many hours of extra work in retouching.” Practically the same struggle against dust is the experience of every photogra- pher in the city. One remedy which has been tried occasionally with success con- sists in filling the room in which the plates are kept with steam for a few moments each morning. This usually suffices to lay the dust fer the entire day. se ane ied Greece and Turkey Bankrupt. From the Indicnapclis News. Greece and Turkey are both bankrupt. Greece, with a population of 2,200,000 Gust about that of Indiana at the last census), has a debt of $155,000,000. How would In. diana feel with a debt of $155,000,000? And yet Indiana is incomparably richer than Greece. New York city, which has a popu- lation not much less than Greece, has & deb: of $18,000,000, but the wealth of a single ward in New York exceeds that of all Greece. In 1804, the last year of which returns are published, Greece paid only 30 per cent of the interest due on gold loans, These bonds are held principally in Eng. land and Germany. They were worth from 38 to 30 cents on the dollar two years ago. They are now quoted at 19 to 2 cenis. It might be a fine speculation for the Roth. schilds to buy them up at these ficures, and then induce England to occupy Greece “temporarily.” That is said to be the plan that succeeded with Egypt. The expendi. ture since the war began has been greatly in excess of the revenue. Turkey is worse off financially, but infinitely better off politicaily, for’ her creditors dare not, as things go now, allow her to suffer. ‘She Owes a debt of $1,000,000,000, and this does not include the indemnity of $10,000,000 levied by Russia at the close of the Russo_ Turkish war, and payable in fifty years. The Turkish revenues amount to $84.000,. 000, and this sum is $18,000,000 a year legs than th: expenditures. Corruption riots in every part of the revenue system. Tur key, of course, will try to help her finaness by demanding a large war indemnity from Greece, and this opens possibiliti is Greece going to pay it? pee! ———+2+— Col. Burns’ Reception Home. From the Chicago Times-Herald. Colonel Burns of the 155th New York. was shot through the head in one of the charges at Spottsylvania. He feli as though stone dead, and those who t ook the time to Icok at him said there was no use of carrying him back, but he was finally taken to the hospital, where his wound was dressed and his case pro- reunced by the surgeons a hopeless one. He was laid away to die. But the gallaat Irishman was not ready to go. He pro- pcsed to live. He was taken to Washing- ton and a month or two later from there to his home in Buffalo. He was a mere shadow of his former self when he reached that city. A dispatch had been sent through mistake, stating that Colonel Burns body would arrive on a certain train, ‘The colonel had remained on the car untii the crowd had dispersed so that he could walk without being jostled. Those who had come to the train to receive the body had gone away in the belief that they had made a mistake in the train when he reached the platform. One large man, an Irishman, an old friend of the colonel, still remained. Seeing Burns’ blue suit he walked up and asked him if the body of Colonel a had come on that train, Dont ‘telt “Don't t me that you are Burns; I know him.” ‘a et “But I do tell you, Jim Hughes, that I = Burns, commander of the 155th New 1 His weak voice, thin face and spare body, so unlike the Burns the Buffalonian had known, were not yet recognized. He said: “You are not Colonel Burns. Besides, Col- onel Burns was shot through the and killed; a man can’t be shot through the head and live. “But Iam Burns.” Then he pointed to the two red spots, one on each side of his. head, where the bullet had gone through, and at last his old friend recognized him, picked him up in his arms as he would a child and carried to an easy convey- ance that bore him to his home. ——_- +0 — Prepared for It. From Puck. Family Physician (solemnly)—“Your wife is a very sick woman—do you want to. know the worst?” Certainly, certalniye-toll me the wore is a a ie ranch, Saratogs, Richfield Springs, it Long Branch, or Europe?” SRS SS oe because MT. ST. ELIAS—FROM PHOTOGRAPH. MOUNTAIN CLIMBING Hardships and Dangers of Travel in igh Altitudes, OVER ‘TREACHEROUS SNOW AND ICE Two “Attémpts to Be Made Upon . Elias This Summer. WILL -FIX. ITS ELEVATION a Copyizght, 1897, by 8.8. McClure Co.) Written for The Evening Star NE OF THE MOST important and per- haps most difficult pieces of mountain work that has been planned for many years is the ascent of Mt. St. Ellas, the colossus that stands almost on the junc- tion line which sep- arates the American domain in Alaska from the British pos- r sessions. ‘Two par- ties hav& ddtermined to make the effort during Pie Goming summer, the one di- rected bi’ Mt, Henry G. Bryant, vice pres- ident of the Geographical Society of Phila- ‘delphia, and the successful explorer of the Grand Falts9r Labrador, and the other, conductéd by Vittorio Sella, probabiy the most eminent of landscape photographers that the;workd has yet seen, and Prince Luigi ofBavby, Duke of Abruzzi, with a retinue 6f-some of the most experienced of Alpine ghiaés- ea ‘The expedition under the direction of Mr. Bryant. pentemplates the scientific exami- nation gf, the, St,, Elias region, central to which are the ascent of the giant moun- tain, the, determination, of its geological, zoological. and potanical features, and the examination of the claims of Mt. Logan (estimated to be 19,500 feet in height) to be the loftiest, summit of all North America. Mt. Logan is distinctly on British terri- tory, but the valuation of its altitude is de- termined from measurements of Prof. Israel C. Russell, calculated in the bureau of the United States coast survey. Ascending St. Elias. The attack on Mt. St. Elias, it is ex- pected, will be made from the side of the Malaspina glacier, to which a seemingly most accessible face is turned. Mr. Bry- ant will be accompanied by Mr. Samuel J. Entriken, who was associated with the Heilprin-Peary relief expedition of 1892, and subsequently, 1893-4, with Mr. Peary and a special topographer from the United States service at Washington, ‘Three or four additional aids will be taken up on the California side, one of whom served as special guife’to the Russell party in 1893. The elevation ef Mt. St. Elias, as re- cently determined by Prof. Israel C. Rus- sell, is about 18,100 feet, or nearly 1,500 fect lower than was assumed from the ear- ler measurements made by officers of the United States coast survey. The moun- tain, consequently, lacks between three- quarters of a mile and a mile of the aiti- tude of Aconcagua and the Pioneer peak. But tt has a factor in its construction which will tend largely to increase the difficulties in the way of its ascent. This is the enormous development of its snow covering, which has a greater vertical ex- tension than is known on any other moun- tain, extending continuously from about the level of 2,000 feet to the summit, or through an interval of 16,000 feet. It is this condition which will tax the best en- ergies of the mountaineer, and call out a resource which perhaps no previ = tain exploration has done. evenes Knowledge of a Mountain, Nothing so convincingly demonstrates for successful mountain work the need of that Particular knowledge of a mountain which is held by and is seemingly inborn with the class of men known as the Swiss guides than just these very successes at- tained by them. Whymper, in his remark- ably rapid ascents of the equatorial Andes —Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, etc.—had the serv- ices of the famous Alpine guide, Jean-An- toine Carrel; Hans Meyer, in his ascent of ieilima nisrgn oe upon the resources of 'urtscheller; ‘onway took Zurbriggen with him to the Himalayas, and now Wiz. gerald is essaying the seryices of the same mountaineer in the Argentinian and Chile- an Andes. What, if may be asked, is the special knowledge of a mountain that these Alpinists possess—a knowledge that nermits {itself to be applied from the mountains of one part of. the world to those removed thousands af;miles away? To the inex- perienced, mqguntain faces look largely allke, ang thay seemingly present few fea- tures of contour or structure that are not within the grasp of the lay student. In reality, howeyer, they are very complex, and only, long study can fully satisfy the wants of effort ayoldance of danger ar consiacratt Te bes know where these study w: long, tof perience, tion to and not a least important this Mnowledge is-that which fats to foreeasting the weather, to e tem rature and movements which are the ritance the mountain world. ihe ‘Treacherous Snows. the;mountaineer if success in an with him. To be able te follow wjth the eye an available ridge or nows, of the positions es of snow, ice or rocks are likely to'imperfl the traveler, of the firmness;or insecurity of ice bridges, ete.— some of the details of mountain ich,,can only be acquired after per- know counterg particular dangers w! are fre- auentiy™ aot readily ‘appreciable on their face. ‘The ayal has be an ‘unremitting to and its year will often dislodge a hanging cornice, with its mantle of snow, and even the clapping of the hands has been known to turn a bed of peacefully lying snow into the rag- ing and tempestuous avalanche. A step toc low on the meuntain slope may likewise dislodge a movable bank and convert it into a swift-flying avalanche. In the pas- sage of the Piz Morteratsch by Prof. Ty: dall, an avalanche, carrying his party dcwn the side of the mountiin, seems to have originated in the mere slipping of one of the members. The Gincial Crevasse. Few there are, probably, among active meuntaineers who have net had experi- ences of one kind or another with a glacial crevasse. Slowly climbing or descending « steep outer mountain face on the back of a glacier, with glacial crevasses zigzag- ging through it at near intervals. may be anything but a pleasant sensation, espectal- ly to him who is not adequately provided with Alpine rope, ax and fob nails or creepers as part of his footgear. A fall, a slip, and away you are hurried, possibly te eternity. Some of these crevasses are hundreds of feet in depth, and their verti- cal sides of adamantine ice make escape trom their lower depths impossible. It has not infrequently happened that human bodies accidentally precipitated into these rifts have been recovered only after inter- vals of years, when washed out from the under surface of the extremity of a gla- cier. The passage of the crevasses by means of natural snow or ice bridges con- stitutes one of the sources of chicf danger to the mountain climber. Weakened by melting through the sun’s heat, they are a to steps that incline to ultimate destruc- tion. It is in such crossings that the ex. lence of good guides becomes a neces- and many an ugly piunge that might otherwise have resulted fatally has been turncd to an adventure of hardly more than laughable proportions. The Imminent Storm. There are few, except those who have themselves had the experience, who can concetve of the extreme rapidity with which mountain storms originate and discharge i themselves. From a perfectly clear sky and surroundings, an hovr, or even a mere frac- tion of it, will frequeatly suffice to plunge the traveler into darkness and into a region j of the utmost turmoil. Angry clouds sweep by in mad turmoll, an ice-cold wind bites deep into the marrow, and wee be to him who is caught on a dividing crest without shelter or covering to properly withstand the force of nature's arms. A personal ex- perlence on the Grimsel, where from an ab- solutely clear and tranquil sky, August 23, on one side of the pass we plunged into the darkness of night and a tempest like that of the ocean on the other, has been sufficient to convince me of the possibili- ties that lie in this direction. Only through the timely assistance of a Paic of St. Bernard degs, whose kindly ministerings prevented that silent sleep which falls to him who ifes deep buried in snow, was on this occasion a rescue effect- ed. Yet the possibility of the conditions that actuaily presented themselves was emphatically pointed cut to us by friendly guides, but we, presuming on superior Knowledge, discarded, rearly to the point of meeting death, the advice bought by long years of experience. A lesson thus taught is apt to be lasting in its effects, ANGELO HEILPRI > Divorces in America. From the New York ivoning Post. Mr. R. Wayne Parker of Newark, N. J. who fas been connected with commissions seeking uniformity in diverce laws, in ad- aressing the Liberal Club of Buffalo re- cently on the question of divorce in the United State® said that he had concluded an inquiry on that subject with a feeling of pleasure. Although it is true, he con- tinued, that the legislation of many ot the states allows the family bond to be brokea for trivial reasors, that the ad- ministration of these laws is corrupt and careless, and that the jurisdiction claimed in many states to grant divorces to non- residents is a travesty on justice, yet there is no country where the marriage bond has greater force than in ours, or where purity has been held in more regard, and there is no time in our own history where the honor that attends personal purity and the penalties that wait upon its breach are so distinct and universal. Giving the statis- tics on the subject, Mr. Parker showed that the United States has the largest pro- portior of married people of any in the world, thirty-six in every 100. It is only in a few states that the number of di- vorced persons is appreciable, there being one divorced man to each 100 in New Hampshire, and one divorced woman each in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Florida, Utah and Nevada. The whole number of divorced persons in the United States in 1890 was 120,996, cut of a total population of 62,622,230, the Givorced constituting, therefore, but one-fifth of 1 per cent of the whole population. ——___+-+______ A Leading Characteristic. From Puck. “Sandy is an enthusiast on golf. you ever notice how he plays?” “Why, yes; he’s played it so long and so hard that he’s got a bicycle face.” Dia vacherous pathway and lead the unwary | IN THE CHUR CHES At the recent conference of the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held at Providence, R. 1, some appointments were made for -1897-"98 of interest to this city. They were as follows: Members of commission on ecumenical conference— Bishop John F. Hurst, Washington, D. C. chairman; Rev. Luther B. Wilson, minis- terial, and Senator Joseph B. Foraker, who is accredited to this city. Contributions to the general building fund of the Central Union Mission appropriating over $1,500 have been made. In spite of this the directors are much crippled in their summer religious work by lack of means. Rev. Father Foley, assistant priest at St. Paul’s Church, left this week for Charleston, S.C. He will return in about two weeks. The gereral assembly of the Presbyterian Church began its arnual meeting this week at Winona, Ird. The ccrgregation of the Ninth Street Christian Church have decided favorably | on the plans of a New York architect for the new kcise of worship, and it is ex- pected that work will begin as soon as the nec*ssary financial arrangements can be made. The last regular meeting of the Pres- byterian Ministers’ Association ts to take place next Monday morning at the Church of the Covenant. The third of the bi-monthly mass meet- ings of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew for this year in the diocese of Washing- ton was held Monday evening last at the Church of the Ascension. The regular pro- gram was preceded by a business meeting, after which there was a Ciscutsion on the general topic, “The Svecessful Chapter. The tocal brotherhood will commence ac- tive preparations for the international con- vention at the Juiy meeting. The Rev. John A. Aspinwall, rector of St. ‘Thomas’ P.-E. Cnurch, has returned from a ten days’ trip to Atlantic City. A feature of Vespers last Sunday at St. Ann’s Cataolic Church was the unveiling pew ‘statue of the Sacred Heart of t was the gift of a member of arsh. The sermon on the occasion was preached by Rev. Father Caughy of St. Stephen's Church. The. Atlantic ‘trict conference of the German Evangelical Lutheran synod of North. America closed its sessions in Bal- timore on Monday. Among the ministeriai delegates elected to the general conference was Rev. Paul A. Merzel, pastor of St. Paul's Church, this city. At the Easter epllection and since then rearly $3,000 has been ratsed in cash f the completion of the new St. Thoma Protestant Episcopal Church. Work, how- ever, Is not to begin until a Mttle more money is raised. St. Luke’s branch of St. Luke's P. E. Church has furnished a bed for colored miners ir All Saints’ Hospital, McAllister, I Ee “What ought to be done to bring church- es up to their standard,” was the topic of Rev. Henry Baker, D. D., formerly pas- tcr of Metropolitan Church, at the meet- ing on Monday of the Methodist preachers’ meeting. The pastor of the Metropolitan Presby- terlan Church has organized a “Young Men's League,” the idea of the members being to bring young men into the church. The ladies in charge of the Salt Air Heme for Children at Colonial Beach have invited the local council of the Brother- hocd of St. Andrew to start an Episco- pal mission there during the summer. It is propcsed tu send down two members of the brotherhocd each Sunday, and they will Le provided with a temporary chapel at the home. Confirmations are to take place in a numter of the Catholic churches of the city shortly. Cardinal Gibbons ts to con- firm, May 30, at St. Arn’s; Right Rev. A. A. Curtis, the same Sunday at Holy Trin- ity parish, and the first Sunday in June; Archbishop Martinelli at St. Aloysius’. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week a festival] was given at the resi- dence formerly occupied by Mr. Harkness, cn New York avenue, for the benefit of Mc- Kendree M. E. Church, under the auspices o2 the Ladies’ Aid Society. “Hamlet Revainped” was the title of a burlesque last Tuesday evening given by the choir of Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church, in the parish hall. An unusual feature of a church social given last evening at the Metropolitan Presbyterian Church was that all the de- tails and arrangements of the program and refreshments were in charge of the men of the congregation, the ladies being their guests. Garr.scnvitie Chapter of the Epworth League, Fairfax county, Va., has been ( admitted ‘to membership in the Washing- ton District League. The Ladies’ Aid Society of the Fifteenth Street Methodist Church has undertaken to look out for the interest on the debt on the parsonage and also to keep the par- soroce furnished. A church. council was recently held at Salem Baptist Church for the purpose of ordaining to the Baptist ministry’ Rev. . Lomax. Revs. Walter H. Brooks and W. J. Howard assisted in the cere- meny. eee solic Svening St. Paul’s Union of St. Paul's Church held a meeting Thursday A Goop Frem Life, TIME, cessful ed Woodward, a four months’ leave of ab- sence from Ma: ———————eeae=aelewD@“O0XNXVmmo—X—X—X—Xx—<!:=[—>—=—™~™EEEE=EE—— GOOD LOOKS. PAINLESS PLAST! that make people 10 to 20 also operations for the correct Ml-shaped ears, noses and all tion of Facial 0 « No. 1 removes w No. 2 removes rinkles. “crow's feet.” . B sets the ears closer to the bead. . 4 operation for the cure of catarrh, . 5 reduces the bagginess of the chin, reduces nostril partition, removes the hemp on the nose. from dro Ing eyelide, no M. eek Institute 0. 10 produces a dimpic H, Wondary Dermat John New York, 42d st: Falnut st; Be Vinter xt.; " Chicago, to 127 West 42d'st., > which was addressed by Mr. George W. White, whose subject was “The Land of Evangeline.” The Lutheran Ministers’ Association held ils annual meeting M at St. Paul's Lutheran Church. The association, which numbers twelve ministers, elected the lowing officers: President, Rev. Dr. L. <uhns, and secretary and treasurer, Charles H. Butler. fol- M A full choral evensong was given last Sunday evening at St. Mary's Vrotes:ant Ep‘scopal Church. Rey. Dr. r Alexan Mackay-Smith preached the sermon, 4 the service was participated in by O, L. Mitchell, E. Waller. The eastern district of the Lutheran ynod of Missouri adjourned this week at Baltimore. . Mrs. Sarah 1. Fleetwood, president of the Woman's Guild of St. Luke's P. E. Church, has resigned, and her vs. V. Tunnell and Owen M being filled tem tor of the church, Rev The Clericus, the organization of Pro- testant Episcopal clergymen of Washing- ton, was entertained on Tuesday eon by the Re rector of Christ Church, We nington’ The Baptist Young People’s Unioa held a “Chattanooga rally” yesterday evening at the Metropolitan Baptist Chur: Among those who spoke were the pastor of the church, Rev. Granville 8. Williams, D.D., and the president of the union, Mr. R. A Ford. The Ladies’ Mite Society of the Metro- politan Presbyterian Church has ordered a handsome lectern, which will be 4 for the first time next week. The presbytery of Washington city Is to meet Monday, June 7, at the Fourth Pres- byterian Church. Special exercises for the children of the Sabbath schoel are to be held tomorrow at McKendree M. E. Church. The Toronto convention committee of the Washington District Epworth Frank T. Isrec!, chairman, began up the convention this week by addr meetings at the Alexandria M. BE. Ch on Tuesday and at Douglas Memorial Church last night. Two addresses were delivered at a meet- ing of ministers of the local colored Bap- tist churches Monday at the Vermont Ave- nue Baptist Church by Rev. A. Met of Oklahoma and Rev. Hill of the England corference. It is announced that the pastor of St. Mary's Mother of God Chureh, Rev. Geo. Glaab, is to return to Washing:on about the Ist of June. Father Glaab went to Rome last fall for the purpose of taking a course in canon law. The Women’s Band of the Central Union Mission held an all-day prayor meeting Wednesday. The leaders were changed every hour, and there were Bible lessons and other devotional exercises. The Gos- pel Wagon has now begun its full summer campaign, Next Tuesday night the anrual business meeting and election of officers of the Lutheran Young People’s Union ts to be held at the Luther Memorial Church. It is expected that Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota will address the meeting. Arrangements have been made to bring all the old and decrepit members of Wes- ley Methodist Church to the service to- morrow in carriages, when the pastor, Rev. J. Fred. Heisse, is to preach a ser- mon appropriate to the observance of an “Old Folks day. The debt of Marvin Church has lately been reduced by $1,000. The music by joint choir of men, boys and young girls at St. Luke's P. E. Church on Easter Sunday was found so pleasing that the director, Prof. Thomas A. John- son, has decided to continue the organiza- tion. Dr. Butler of the Lutheran Memorial Church proposes to observe Memorial day with special features at his church. Rev. R. F. Weidner, D.D., president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Chicago. addressed a meeting of the local Lutheran ministers this week at St. Paul's Church. Rev. Charles A. Stakely, D.D., is visiting Atlanta, and is not expected to occupy his pulpit tomorrow. ‘The plans prepared for the completion of the Keller Memorial Lutheran Church are in the hands of contractors for the pur- pose of securing bids. It is expected that the entire building willl be completed and ready for dedication in the fall. The choir of Immaculate Conception Church will give an unusual and delightful service Sunday, May 30, at 7 o'clock p.m., in the form of a vesper service, with or- chestra. This will be a charming finish to the services peculiar to the month of May, including the usual May devotions. One of the attractive features of the service will be an “Ave Maria,” by Gounod, sung by a chorus of lad This is not the usual Bach-Gounod “Ave Maria,” but one con- sidered quite as beautiful, and but little known. The choir of this church, while composed of volunteers, does fine work. At benediction Mr. Rakemann will play the violin obligato to the “O Salutaris,” a composition by Pizzi, and sung by Miss Annie Grant, which will be followed by “Tantum Ergo,” arranged to the “Pil- srims’ Chorus,” from Tannhauser, to be given by full choir, organ and orchestra. The mustcale given by the Christian En- Geavor Society of the North Presbyterian Church Friday, May 14, was a very suc- entertainment. Notwithstanding the Inclement weather, a good audience rendered. Muir, D.D., pastor of the E Street Baptist Church, returned t Pittsburg, Pa. ohne vpon the Baptist anniversary meetings. While there he secured the Rev. K: e Wheeler, D.D., the Sy ivine of Chicago, to preach for him to- morrow morning. . where he was in attendance eminent and weli-known Wesley Chapel Sunday school has grant- its superintendent, Mr. Wm. Redin iy 24. Rev. J. Fred Heisse, pastor of Wesley toward painting the outside of the church. service for children, under the auspices A of the Daughters of the King, will be heid in the Church of the 4