Evening Star Newspaper, June 19, 1897, Page 16

16 THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 1897-24 PAGES. TORPEDO WARFARE Like the Dagger Thrust of the Swordsman of Old. ONE BLOW AND ALL JS OVER —_—_+—_—— Life on the Little Boats is Fraught With Danger: ABOVE A LOADED MINE Written for The Evening HE MAINTENANCE of peace by force bears in its growth the ceaseless devel- opment of instru- ments and mas-es, today victorious, to- morrow vanquished, and all by the same restless ingenuity that, but yesteriay, gave the balance of might to the defeat- ed. The ponderous forces cf our latest and largest battle ships are really at the mercy of our small- est torpedo craft, and that craft, in turn, the especial prey of the torpedo boat de- stroyer. In the battle ship we have gathered powers of untold possibilities and housed them within walls of enormous strength. In the torpedo boat we have filled a fragile rame with great activity and charged it with a single but awful means of annihila- tion; while In the “destroyer” we have re- teined all of the torpedo boat's original de- structiveness bettered by speed and gun-fire of superior reach. Torpedo boat attack must be under ccver of darkness, or either in the gloom of fog or the smoke-shrouded confusion of battle. To the general conduct of modern warfare, the stealth and spirit of torpedo-boat ser- vice is singularly analagous to the dagger thrust of the ancient swordsman, and bears with it all of that essence of desperate cun- ning. As the natural foe to every other craft save the “destroyer,” the torpedo boat is into six compartments and within these are placed the propelling, the directive, and the exploding mechanisms. The boiler of this. small craft ia one of the six compartments and about ten feet kceg, into which air is crowded till a pres- sure of 1,350 pounds to the square inch is reached, ninety times that of the normal atmosphere, and a very dangerous force. This air is fed, under ingenious control, te @ wonderful little engine, which, within the space of a fair-sized firkin, develops an energy of thirty horse power, and, in turn, revolves the two screws with force cnovgh to send the torpedo, for a distance of 3,000 fest, on its way at a speed of thirty-five miles an hour. Its Terrible Rush. Its nose armed with a modern net-cut- ter, no ordinary fabrication of steel rope and chain could withstand the rush of that force; while once through and its wicked burden burst against a ship's bot- tom below the armor belt, the damaged «raft would be certainly doomed. The torpedo is fred from the tube by jvst- powder enough to fill a: good-sized cannon cracker. A little clip or catch turns on the pewer within the torpedo as it pass- €s out of the-tube, and by the time it has Gived, the engines have reached their full werking speed without sudden jar. Once well clear of the boat's side—regu- lated by circumsiances from fourteen yards io 300 feet—the striker on the head is free to detonate the charge within, Just back of this plunger He thirty-eight grains of fulminate of mercury—about the bulk of a large peanut—which, when {gnited by percussion, expands to 2,500 times its nor- mal size, transmitting, in turn, a tremen- dous blow to the charge of gun cotton and causing the latter to explode with frightful unity and force. In the hands of the ignorant or the. care- less, the torpedo is a danger alike to friend or foe, but under the guidance of the skill- ed and resolute, it is the most awful im- plement of warfare; awful in threat and awful in deed. Torpedo Boat Destroyer. ‘The torpedo boat destroyer is a magnified torpedo boat of great specd, ranging, with us, from 230 to 260 tons displacement, and in outward appearance built purposely like her natural quarry that she may be the better able to approach within striking dis- tance before her true character be dis- closed. With a sudden spurt, her superior speed would soon bring the smaller craft under the murderous fire of the destroyer's six-pounders, leaving to the torpedo boat only a choice of surrender or immediate destruction. In the destroyer, the battle ship and the cruiser have even a more dangerous enemy than in the simple tor- pedo boa for where the torpedo boat, by stress cf weather, Mmited speed or re- stricted endurance must halt, the destroy- er may coniinue to carry out its murder- ous mission. Everythirg that applies to the torpedo boat in the matters of great speed, de- structive power and mechanical skill, is applicable on a wider scale to the de- stroyer. Into a hull something like 210 feet long the wickedest aggregation of human skill an engine for dealing death and olition, of force enough to make the hardiest shudder; but 2s the watchful pick- | ‘ous armor-clad, the keeper | of narrow passes, the guardian of shallow bays and the broad reaches of navigable | rivers, ard the sentinel of seaboard cities, it bears'a burden of comfortable assurance to | the dearest lover of peace and a boon of security to the most titaid breast. Terpedo Boat of Today. The torpedo boat of teday is the product | of twenty-three years of mechanical ad- vauce; the rival of a quondam speed of scmething less than fifteen knots—just half of present attainment; and a throbbing mass of energy and high pressures. Taxing as a type the Rowan, now building, we have a torpedo boat, pure and simple, somewhat in advance of the first- class foreign craft of the same order, and, fn this superiority, meeting the more trying | exigencies forced upon us by our rugged coast line | With a length of 170 feet of finely formed ; and a maximum breadth of only 17 er will bear her dis- | ight of 80 tons. Of! is taken up by the | anisms—d .uble the | the fleet Colum- | s are turning the | times a minute, “0 pounds of steam, ”) horse-power will ed of et for the pond: required hen her engir ws four hund: pr | enty-six knots and more an hou-. With sixty tons of coal in her bunkers, and 19.5 feet beam are crowded engines capable of developing as much as 6,000 indicated horse power, a tugging energy of twenty-three horses for every ton of the craft's get-up, and well mey she travel at the respectable railroad speed of thirty- five miles an hour. A look into her stoke hold is something not to be forgotten. At full power the firing never ceases. Th ‘okers work with urflagging vigilance id the narrow spaces that eccremy demands, while the hot air swims with the coal dust stirred by the blowers that fan the seething fur- naces to a blinding whiteness dangerous to the naked eye. Flanked by these blazing beds, the firemen must goad the boiiers to their utmost, despite the fact that every acded pound of pressure is greater menace to life should a shot let loose the scalding steam within those throbbing caldrons. In the Engine Room. In the engine rooms a steamy, oil-laden | mist prevails. The journals foan with a mixture of water and oil, and the cranks and moving parts splash in every direction the constant rain of lubricants and cooiing water. The engines roar with a deafening rumble, and sliding parts race up and down, in and out, with a rapidity and cer- tainty that give to the fraction of a :no- ment a measurable dignity. The shafts re- volve four hundred times and more a nin- ute, and one might wonder whence came the needful steam did one not know that the boilers are capable of evaporating their entire contents every ten minutes—able to transform, in that time, ten tons of water into steam. The meaning of that work she will represent days of independent use- Iness; while the disposition of that fuel st the boilers and engines will shield for a time her vitals from moderate gun- fire. That the damage of a penetrating shot be localized, the boat is divided by bulkheads—unbroken even by wat o sdme ten or twelve werful pumps. i ions for the complem>nt | twenty-four ure_more snug ‘han com- | modious, and are fitted up with that nice | economy of space common to sleeping cars im the way of folding beds and other ad- furniture. and out, too, so far as n aling go, the voat is Ii electricity, while numerous auxt gines will do a score of helpful s lighten the labors of the crew. on deck she carries three 18-inch tor- pedo tubes on swivel mounts of wide sweep, together with three cne-pounder rapid- guns, while on top of the forward tower— Within which the captain will suide the eraft in action—she carries another gun of Uke caliber. ‘The purpose of the boat is really centered fm the four torpedoes carried, ggregating & mass of thirty-five hundred pounds, and the tons upon tons of other material are de- signed but to bear this modest burden to a Stecessful issue. These torpedo2s—playful- ly known as “steel babies"—are of the Whitehead type, and today represent the consequence of thirty odd years of tireless trial and study. The Modern Torpedo. The modern, automobile torpedo fs a wee steel vessel of marvelous self-sufficiency, impelled by @ miniature engine of great power and delicacy, steered by self-adjust- ing rudders that meet, automatically, the variations of subaqueous pressures and hold the torpedo at a determined depth, on its errand of demolition. ‘The cighteen-inch torpedo, so termed be- cause of its greatest diameter, is a blunt- headed cigar-shaped structure about six- teen feet six inches long, bearing within its bluff head a charge of two hundred and twenty pounds of gun cotton, the de- structive equivalent of a quarter of a ton of cannon powder. body is divided A DESTROYER AT WORK-—THE “FARRAGUT.” well done can be appreciated only in the face of gccident; and unstinted praise should be metcd those whos? mission means the successful management of such forces. It is not only in the stokeholds and en- gine room that the tax is felt; to those in charge of the navigation of such sa craft comes a burden of grave responsibility, as well as a call upon their nerve and cour- age. It réquires a steady hand and a quick eye to meet the exigencies of a speed en- tailing certain death and a broken neck upon him who may be so unlucky as to falf overboard. Only a few turns of the pro- pellers, and the craft bounds forward like a startled deer, while at full speed she re- sponds to the helm with a wonderful but alarming careening quickness. The han- dling of such a craft in all her tactical pos- A Typical First-Class Torpedo Boat— U. Ss. T. B. “Feote.” sibilities is something we have yet before us; and something that we shall have to learn before we can ‘make the most of our growing flotilla; and it is needless to re- mark that efficiency then will prove a mat- fon = het c boats, the destroyers are fitted with torpedo tubes, and our Own 30- knot boats will carry at least two of them, so placed that they will afford the widest field = action. Each destroyer will carry from four ‘to six 6-pounder rapid-fire guns, and a liberal bey od of ammunition, and with that force to face, only an armored torpedo boat un- oe the happiest of conditions could hope to The Depot Ship. The development of the torpedo boat fas}. Jed to the building of torpedo depot ships, vessels of large size, good speed and con-' siderable fighting force, carrying as many as ten small torpedo boats upon their decks, and having within them a complete machine shop for the repair, refitting and the supply of the flotilla they guard. As has been said, “She is at one and the same time a cruiser, a fighting ship, a re- pair shop, a torpedo depot and a foating deck yard.” At a cruising speed of ten knots, she can range for a distance of 10,- 000 miles and bring her burden of torpedo beats and mines to bear upon well-nigh any harbor. As a cruiser, her powerful battery would enable her to hoki her own against no mean antagonist. Even in a seaway, immense hydraulic cranes will turn their long arms outboard and lift the wounded boais from the wa- ter and place them snugly on the broad bo- scm of the upper deck. Down in the bowels of the great craft, furnaces, forges, ma- chine shops, smithies and every other con- celvable means of repair are placed, while stores of torpedoes, tons of gun cotton, and mining and counteremining outfits | will make good the expenditures of action or siege. These vessels are marvels of ingenuity and mechanical advancement, and the growth of our own fleet of torpedo craft will lead to the construction of something of the sort for our flotilla, Service in War Time. Life on board of torpedo boats or their destroyers will be’ anything but an easy one in time of trouble. There will be but little time for rest, and less for nourish- ment. The moments of darkness and ac- tivity will be filled with a wearing, watci- ful alertness, to which the vibration of the craft will be a taxing aggravation. Death stares them in the face in almost every direction. Death by destruction, death by foundering, death by the explosion of the bollers or injured pipes, death by- colliston, or death by the premature bursting of their own petards. After dark and in times of hostilities, the torpedo boat will be shunned like a rabid dog by friend and foe alike. ‘The reason for this is two-foid. First, that her friendly signals of approach may not warn the enemy of the presence of larger craft and the same signals be simulated by the foe; and second, in the absence of such signals, that her friends may not fire upon her by mistake. The anxious alertness of a ship's cempany at such a time is too fickle to be depended upon for safe discrimination, and trying enough without the added worry of distinguishing these small boats. The re- sult will be, every approaching boat will be fired upon at once, and friend and foe or passing shadow treated with the same Gestructive welcome. The real protection of the torpedo craft Ués in her speed and her power of limiting that perlod—either attacking or fleeing—in which she may be under fire. To that end, she must creep upon her foe, and dash fcrward only when hesitation would mean ber certain ruin. On a dark night, her phosphorescent bow wave, or the will-of-the-wisp flicker of her smoke stacks, may betray her long before she reaches her fighting distance: and a torpedo beat expected is counted in naval maxims as a boat destroyed. The conduct of an attack 1s a fearful tax upon one’s nerves. Every one knows that the odds are dangerously against success— one well-directed shot being enough to send the tiny craft into oblivion, but the glory of that success spurs them on, and in the face of those silent, but loaded batteries, she creeps toward her quarry. The sense of impending death !s awful; the cold night air searches to the marrow; and the dark waters rush by with a forbid- ding chill. The boat thios with a taxing shudder, and the heart beats with a convul- sive fullness up in one’s throat. Down be- low, the engineers and firemen find a help- ful distraction in their active duties and the service of the engines and boilers; but on deck, beside the ‘onded torpedo-tubcs and in the conning tower, the feeling of suspense Is terrible. When the Blow ts Struck. Once within the fighting range of 800 yards, and forward dashes the boat, to swerve a moment later and to deliver the burden of one of the loaded tubes. The noise of that discharge and the flash are noted, to be answered a moment later by responsive sheets of flame that seem to burst from every part of the great craft at- tacked. In less time than it takes to tell, the torpedo has struck its mark, and a towering mass of luminous water rises a Monument to that success, but to fall a moment later with ponderous force upon the doomed snip; or, if it has failed, or the enemy's guns have reached their mark, Perhaps great rents in the torpedo boat's stacks or the debris of her littered deck Tay tell how true has been the foeman's aim, or only a rippling swirl be left to tell where the tiny craft had lately been. Men there are in plenty cool and cour- agcous enongh to face such fearful odds; and upon them will depend the commission of those deeds that call for a total forget- fulness of self and death in the all-absorb- ing glory of a flag’s defense. Compared with the trig white bodies of our other vessels, the dingy, sea-green hulls, the absence of bright work, the free- and-ensy dress of the seamen, and the somber mission of the boats all tend to make them anything but creations of beauty. They secm to teem with a sugges- tion of official piracy: and even in times of harmony, when the mighty battle ship is naught but a simple guardian of the peace, a torpedo boat, puny though she may be, carries with her a menace, like the warning of a loaded weapon or the threat of a bared blade. On her deck one stands really above a loaded mine, for, besides the tor- pedoes about him, below ile the magazines and the boilers throbbing with their dan- gerous charges. Such, indeed, is the spirit of danger that fills her fra!’ but surcharg- ed frame; and who can fail to marvel not only at the tax upon those that man such craft, but the stress upon those to whom they are opposed. Ne The Heart's Story. Exchange. I will not doubt, though all my ships at sea Come drifting home with broken masts and sails. I will believe the hand which never falls— From seeming evil worketh good for me; And though I weep because those sails are tat- tered, Still will I ery while my best hopes are shattered, “I trust in Thee.” I will not doubt, though all my prayers return Unanswered from the still white realm above; I will believe it is an all-wise love Which has refused these things for which I yearns nd though at tmes T cannot Keep from grieving, Yet the pure ardor of my tixed believing Jndimmed shail bura. I will not duabt, though sorrows fall like rain, And troubles swarm like bees about to hive; T will belleve the heights for which I striv e only reaci ry anguish and by pain, And, though I groan and writhe beneath my crosses, I yet shall see through my severest losses ‘The greater gain. I will not doubt. Well anchored in this faith, Like some stanch ship, my soul braves every gale; So strong its courage will not quail ‘To breast the mighty unknown sea of death. ‘Oh! may I ery, though body parts with spirit, “I do not doubt,” so listening worlds may hear it, ‘With my last breath! — A Credit Sale. From the New York Times, In one of the small New York towns where the residents swap farm products for groveries a boy was sent to the store by his mother, and this is what an aston- ished outsider heard nim say to the store- keeper: “Mister, ma says you're to please give me a eggs’ worth of mustard. The hen is on.” How She Picked Winners. From the Chieago Times-Herald. Last summer a young woman from Kan- sas City while visiting friends in this city placed a emall bet on a race at Roby, picked the three winners in thelr order and pocket- ed $3,000 in cash. That night sho was busily explaining to @ group of friends in a Dearborn avenue what she would do with her new- fcund wealth, when I asked her how she gained such @ remarkable knowledge of the turf. “Why, bless you,” she said in surprise, “I don’t know anything about such things.” “Then how did you happen to pick three winners out of a big field?’I asked. “Well,” she said easy. tained a list of the entries at Roby. I turned the paper over and stuck a hair- pin through it.. The first name I hit 1 Set down for first place, the second one for second place and the third for third place.” cee i? ROYAL PALACE BANGKOK. OUR ROYAL VISITOR The King of Siam May Come to This Country. ONE. OF THE RICHEST OF RULERS Wonderful Palace at Bangkok. Description of His NO CURB TO HIS POWER (Copyrighted, 1897, by Frank G. Carpenter.}+ ‘Written for The Evening Star. H 1S MAJESTY KING Chulalongkorn is now in Europe, and is expected to cross the Atlantic in his royal yacht to make a visit to the United States. Chu- lalongkorn is the King of Siam. He is the richest ruler of the world, with per- haps the exception of the czar, and he has ’ more power over his Subjects than any monarch outside of the petty tyrants of savage Africa, I heard much about him during my stay in Siam a few years ago. His majesty was away from his capital at -the time of my visit. He had gone up the River Menam in one of his royal hofasebbats, with about thirty of his wives, aid Was not expected back for weeks. I mgt, however, the men closest to kim. I had letters from our cabi- net ministers at Washington to the leading Siamese offfdials; and was given an inside view of matters connected with his majesty and his government. His majesty isycalléd Chulalongkorn for short. His real title is Prabat Somdet Pra Pramend Mitha Chulalongkorn Kate Klow Chow-yu-Hua. He is the ninth child of Maha Mongkut, who was the last king. Maha Mongkut had eighty-four children, and of these Chulalongkorn was chosen ‘to be placed upon the Siamese throne. He ‘hag ‘thirty-four half brothers and forty-nine Half sisters, and he liked one of his half sisters so well that he has married her, and she is now the queen. The king is forty-four years old. He is about 5 feet 4 inches high, has a plump, olive-brown face, beautiful eyes of a liquid black, a broad, high, rather full forehead, and short, straight black hair. His nose is short and half flat, his lips are rather thick, and his upper lip is decorated with a silky black mustache. He dresses in clothes which might pass well for those of a bi- cycler. In the place of pantaloons he wears a wide strip of black silk, or surong, which Siamese gentlemen wrap around their waists and pull between their legs, so that .it forms a pair of loose knee breeches.. He™wears long silk stockings and low shoes, while the upper part of his body is clad in a military coat. His majesty sometimes wears a helmet. At other times he sports a derby hat, and it is only upon state occasions at his home that he puts on one of his enormous crowns. He has several such crowns in his palace. These crowns are pyramids of jewels set in gold, rising in circular tiers, and ending in a long point, like that of a pencil, 18 or 20 inches above the head of the wearer. He Has Money to Burn. The king is practically the owner of Siam. He has one of the richest countries of Asia. It is bigger than Germany and richer than Egypt. There is no land any- where which will produce more valuable rice. Its mighty forests are full of teak wood, and its mines contain gold, silver and precious stones. The king has hundreds of elephants, some of which are worth $1,000 apiece, and his income is sald to amount to more than $10,000,000 a year. I was told at Bangkok that he had between $30,000,000 and $40,000,000 stored up for a rainy day and that be he pleases. gets his money from all sorts of sources, from gambling to farming, ple in his kingdom. Spo es pro} G put him to. He in Bangkok, and within the past few yesrs team railroads have been con- A number of new roads have id there is one being built Korat, about 165 miles into the interior.~ will eventual- ly be made with Burmah, and at no dis- tant date we shall be able to travel throughout Farther India by rail. ah on ent a large part of the interior tran: - tion has to be done upon elephants, the only beasts which are able to make their way through the thick jungle. Tee es speaks English fluently and reads ¥t With ease. It is not etiquette, however, for bim te use anything else than his owa language during his audiences, and for this reason he will have an interpreter during his trav- els in this country. ‘The Land of the White Elephant. The elephant ts the royal beast of Siam. You see elephant pictures on all the flags. several 5 structed. The old coins had an elephant printed on [° them, and the white elephant, in fact, forms what you would call the coat-of-arms of the king. The Siamese are Buddhists. They believe in the transmigration of souls. They think that the souls of their heroes or greatest men go into elephants, and of the very greatest into the white elephants. It was for this reason that white elephan' were worshiped in times past. Today the king keeps a number of white elephants in was stucco and that the building was|his palace stables. I asked to be shown made of brick or stone covered with plas- ter. It was, however, imposing. It covered a vast area of ground and rcse to the height of three tall steries before the high ridged roof It had many steeples and towers, and the wide stairways which led to the front door were guarded by immense elephants of some metal plated with gold. Passing by tnese golden elephants, I went up the steps and entered the king’s council chamb2r. He has here a throne which looks for all the world like a bed, and upun it I was told that his majesty, as a rule, sat with his legs crossed like a Turk while he received his cabinet ministers and discussed mat- ters relating to his kingdom. I learned that the chief work of the palace was done at night under the rays of the electric light, and that the king and the cabinet ministers did a large part of sleeping in the day time. On the opposite side of the hail I saw another large room. these beasts eo pd pad to a —— I expected to e animals Jecora: with gold and purple and fastened with golden chains. I was shown some- thing far different. The stables were dirty wooden sheds, ang the elephants were tied with rough ropes to wooden posts. The keepers in charge of them were dirty and there was no sign of royalty about them. The elephants themselves looked freckled. They were mot pure white by any means and I have since learned that the white ele- phant is a diseased elephant. His white- ness is more like that of leprosy than na- ture, and he is the ugliest beast of the ele- phant kind Where the King Worsbips. I spent some time in the wonderful Budd- hists temples of Bangkok. There was one right next to the palace of the king, in which his majesty daily worships during This was the king’s reception room for | his stay in his capital. This temple has a foreigners. It is gorgeously furnished and containg rare vases from Dresden, beauti- ful carvings from Japan and China and spire hundreds of feet high made of coil after coil of masonry plated with gold. There is, I was told, more than $100,000 some wonderful gold work from the jewel-| worth of gold upon it. lt has doors of ers of Siam. There were elephants’ tusks, beautifully polished, standing here and there in the corners, and oil paintings Icoked down from the walls. The next room into which I was taken was the most wonderful I have ever seen. It was the ebony inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and it is lighted with candles of all sizes, some as big around as your finger, others of the size of your waist. These candles are in candlesticks plated with gold. They will burn for weeks and their flickering flames throne room, where upon great state occa-| are supposed to dispose of a multitude of sions the king receives ministers of state. Royal Princes Taking a Ride. The room covers a vast extent, its cell- ing being at least fifty feet from the floor. It is longer than the east room at the White House and as wide as a theater. At the back there is a rostrum, upon which the king sits at such times on a go'den chair, under royal umbreilas upheld by servants. Around the room runnihg along the walls and exterding some distance out from the ends there is a very thicket of golden trees and bushes. These little trees Lave their trunks and branches plated with gold. The leaves are of solid gold, as are also the smaller twigs. They are made by the cunning gold workers of the different provinces, and are sent by the governor and subordinate officials in different parts of the kingdom as presents to his majesty. On one side of the room I saw a number of silver trees among the gold ones, and it seemed to me that the amount of metal required to make them must have been worth a fortune. The Queen and the Harem. It is according to law for the king to take one of his half sisters as a wife and to make her his queen. This keeps the royal family comparatively pure, as only rer sons can ascend to the throne. The Present queen is, I am told, about fifteen years younger than the king. She is said to be a very progressive woman, and to help him considerably in the conduct of his government. She manages his household establishment and rules the harem. Her majesty is a fair type of the best-looking Siamese maidens. She has a light brown ccmplexion, oily black hair, which is cut short, and which consists of black bristles, like those of a shoe brush, standing out all over her head. Her majes- ty smokes cigarettes, as do all the ladies of her harem, and she is very fond of chew- ing the betel nut. Betel nut chewing is common among all classes in Siam. This nut is the green nut of the Areca In some respects it makes you think of a green walnut. It Is cut into little pieces and mixed with tobacco and pink-colored lime, the mixture forming the cud which Slamese ladies chew with more gusto than any of our American girls chew wax. Betel chewing is far more disgusting than wax chewing. As the fair betel chewers masticate their toothsome cud its juice colors the saliva red, and their mouths seem to be filled with blood. Their teeth become as black as jet and their lips are turned dark brown. Black teeth in Siam are a sign of beauty. The people have a saying that any dog can have white teeth, but it is only those who are rich enough to afford the betel nut who can have beautiful black ones. Not only the queen, but also all the ladies of the harem chew. I visited a large store right near the palace, which furnishes the ladies much of their finery, their sweetmeats and their articles of toilet. Among other things which are sold are betel spittoons. ‘These are little cups about the size of a sheving mug. Every one of the king’s wives has one or two, and each lady keeps one always by her side, lifting it to her lips from time to time and squirting out into it her surplus saliva. Every lady of the harem has also her betel box. This is for the materials of chewing. Some of the boxes are of silver, and those of the king They were loosely made, and were decorated with ribbons and Swiss embroid- ery. The man told me that most-of the women preferred to go barefooted, and that most of them wore anklets of try, and I was told that the nobles court were anxious to taken up by the king, as throt they were able to secure fat jobs sins. In this temple there is one room the floor of which is covered with a carpet of woven silver wire. Its chief idol is the famed emerald god. This god is about a foot high. It is made of pure gold, mixed with jewels. It is set with diamonds, topazes, sapphires and ru- bies, and it represents a vast amount of money. The idol is placed high up above the floor of the temple, almost under the roof. It is so high that it is hard to ap- preciate its value, but so holy that the king bows before it every morning, and the hundred ladies of the harem come in now and then, and, bending their naked knees upon the cold floor, pray to it. Siam has hundreds of other temples. They are by all odds the finest buildings in Bang- kok. The contributions to them and the priests do much to keep the people poor. There is no city of the world that has so many Buddhist priests as’ Bangkok. Siam is the home of Buddhism and Bangkok is the central station for its worship. There are 25,000 Buddhist priests in the city. These are of all ages, from sixteen to eighty, and the religion is such that any man can be a priest if he chooses. Every Slamese man is expected to become a priest for a certain part of his life, and King Chulalongkorn has, I am told, served two terms in the priesthood. This being a priest charges a man’s relations to his fellows for the time. He is then considered holy to his femily as well as to others. I saw mothers bowing down to their boy’s sons who were acting as priests. The priests shave their heads. They go about with nothing but yellow strips of cloth wound around them, relying upon the gifts of the people for food. They have certain times in the morn. ing and evening during which they go from house to house for rice. The people bring out the rice in pots, ready cooked. When the priests come along they drop on their knees, and, folding tReir hands, as though praying, they ask the priest to accept their gifts. I wasstold that the priests never make direct requests for alms, and that the offerings to a large extent are volun- tary. FRANK G. CARPENTER. ———__ FOUGHT A NOVEL DUEL. Kegs of Gunpowder Were the Wea- pons Selected by the Belligerents. From Harper's Round Table. Shortly before the revolution, when the air was heavily charged with forebodings of the approaching struggle, old Maj. Put- nam happened to be in Boston. The major disliked the redcoats, and sometimes in- veighed against their arrogant supercil- liousness in no gentle terms. One day an officer of his majesty’s regulars overheard Putnam assert that the provincial army, untutored in arms as they were, would fight with the courage of trained soldiers. The officer resented the assertion, end after some hot words challenged the major to a duel, provided he dared to dght. “Dare!” shouted Putnam. “Why, at any moment, but I choose the weapons. “Name them,” haughtily replied the officer. “Two kegs of gunpowder; the time, to- morrow; the distance, ten paces; the fight to be as follows: You sit on one keg, I on the’ other, a slow fuse to be attached to each and Nghted, and the one who holds out the longest shall be declared the winner. There was nothing for the officer to do but accept the unusual weapons, and on the following day, at the appointed time and place, the combatants took their seats upon the kegs of gunpowder. The fuses were lighted and began spluttering, rapidly approaching the kegs. The officer was deathly pale, and watched the growing danger with dilated eyes. At last he could stand it no lenger, and with a leap he left his keg and raced like a madman out of sight. When he had gone old Put laugh- ingly kicked the burning fuse away, and disclosed to his friends a keg of onions. ‘When the matter came to light the officer was subjected to the laughts and gibes of the entire command. —————— It matters little what it is that you want— whether a situation or a servant—a “want” ad. in The Star will reach the person who can fill your need. ———__-e-________ From Other Fellows. She's the star of his existence, Is the girl of whom he sings; And he thinks she must be Satura, For she has so many rings. A Popular Actress in Twe Picees. From Punch. DR. MeCOY ‘GIVES FOR THE SUMMER The Uniform $3 Rate Orig- inal in His Practice. wp at a And Extends It So That It Applies to All Patieats and All Diseases. This announcement of the &3 rate for the summer jure Hes in these facts: All thone diseases sages; that attack the throat, ¢ ing irrit it the breathing are absent. In winter even the Doc- tor’s skill is often taxed G Nature in one i the good he has been rm in a week. In summer nature helps the Doctor. One m: of summer treatment for € worth two months of the most cai winter treatment. If enough to ttle of the summer to treat- ment there would soon be few cases of Catarrh to treat, cases be reduced to a McCoy departs usnal custom in this tm- stance only by making the £3 rate cover all diseases, It applies not iy to Summer Treatment firs. Margaret A. Seward, 814 L st. s.e. Cured of deafness. Corel of Catarch - Cootentted During the War. William H. Miller, 336 12th st. s.e., Washington, D. C., employed in the Pension Office: “I bad catarch for years. I think my trouble dates back to the war, and was the result of exposure during the service. It grew worse con- stantly year after year. My bead felt all stopped up, and I had a harsh, barking cough. There seemed to be something sticking in my throat Mke & Gishbone—something 1 could not cislodge. “I kept losing flesh right along and got very weak. I got so run down that when I went ap- stairs I had to sit down. I had a dull bead- ache all the time, and the discharge from my bose was somethiag terrible. “My stomach troubled me, too, very badly. If I only drank water it burt me, and if I stooped to pick up anything I would have intense palm I was always gagging on account of mucus im my throat. “The treatment has done me a wonderful Jot of good, I have zaized eight pounds in weight. My nose is perfectly clear, the sorencss is all gone, and I sleep well. I feel perfectly well.” She Is Cured of Catarrh. Mrs. B. J. Comer, 162 F st. new “I had been a great sufferer from catarrh, end Doo- tors McCoy and Cowden have cured ine. My trou- ble began with a severo cold. My tose became 80 stopped up I could not breathe through it, and soon I found the sense ot sinell leaving me, and in a short thne it was lost entirely. ‘1 was always hawking and spitting, because of the “mucus dropping into my throat, and at night I could not sleep. My rest was broken, I would wake up frequently with a smothered feeling, and find my mouth #0 dry from constantly breathing through it that I could scarcely swallow. But the greatest difficulty was in eating. I would have to stop after cach mouthful to get my breath, for-1 could not breathe throngh my nose at all. My throat was filled up so at times that I could scarcely speak; it was an effort to say @ word. “Last winter the catarrh exteated to my stom- ach, and disturbed me greatly. After meals 1 would bloat up and there was a constant beavy, miserable feeling. “I was treated by two well-known physicians, but recelved no benefit from them. My improve- ment under Dre, McCoy and Cowden's treatment has been wonderful. My nose is perfectly clear. My stomach no longer troubles me. My sense of smell is wholly restorad, and I can heartily say that 1am cured.” Mrs. Seward Was Almost Totally Deaf. Mrs. Margaret A. Seward, 814 L st. s.e.: “I had been deaf for five years. Both ears strects—the clatter of the berses’ hoofs, or the wagons and cars. I was troubled constantly with roaring noises in my head, like the rumble of machinery that disturbed me so I could is