Evening Star Newspaper, June 19, 1897, Page 18

18 THE EVENING JELING- MACHINE UNITED PUTTING OWA HOOP OF-A 13 Ne GUN"KENTUC STATES GOVERNMENT GUN FAC TORY. GUNS FOR THE NAVY Work That is Done at the Old Navy Yard. MONUMENT OF AMERICAN INGENUITY An Output That Compares With the Best in the World. MARVELOUS ACCURACY sot SE (Copyright, 1897, by S. S. McClure Co.) Written for The Evening Star. D ow IN SOUTH- east Washington, on the site of the old Washington navy yard, stands the United States naval gun factory, a model institution of its kind, and a monu- ment to the in- genuity and perse- verance of naval ord- nance officers and the skill and integri of American labor. appreciate what the has accomplished in modern on it is only necessary to To understand and United State gun constru know creation, its growth, the difficulties over- come in its perfect equipment, and the character of the products turned out. Four- teen years ago there was not a modern, high-power, breech-loading rifle in the United States. Today every large gun sup- plied to our growing navy is manufactured at the Washington facto: by foreign, as well as our swa ordnance experts, to be the equal, if not the superior, of any guns in the worl. Before the civil war, when smooth bores and muzzle loaders were the only great guns known on land or sea, and cast fron was the material used in their construc- tion, the United States possessed the best guns afloat. after the civil war a Jong period of absolute inactivity followed in this country, both in the matter of ship- building and the manufacture of guns, while the great powers of Europe strove to keep pace with the demands of the times im everything pertaining to modern war- fare. The condition to whic ashore and t, were reduced P ter of his: With no ships worthy of d no guns those of pabie of pro- er countries. But tn 1881 step was ma rn » right direction, when four 1 modern steel Ff the Chicago, the Boston the Dolphi re laid dow w of a mod nd eff nt feet. Monster Guns. As a visitor enters th Bates he sees nothing ard by the north is—the sentinel A rosy, happy, laugh. ing baby brings the great. est happiness im all this wide, wide world to the wife and mother,—a baby that does not know ili- ness, ajveritable romp- i licking cherub. It ith woman herself joy this great hap- If she is affiict- with the weaknesses to her sex and does self for that great- 's life, motherhood, she t baby will suffer for her © puny and peevish. By tak- are of herself during the 1 mm the thood she can insure aby. disease of the organs , Dr. Pierce’s Favorite the greatest of all known remedies. It stops all weakening drains upon the system. It renders the coming of baby safe and easy. It is prepared by 2 regularly graduated, experienced and skil fui specialist in the treatment of diseases of women. Dr. R. V. Pierce, chief consult- fmz physician to the Invalids’ Hotel and Surgical Institute, Buffalo, N. ¥. ‘The wife that is, and the mother that is to be, needs above all other things a good medical book that tells her how to perform successfully the duties of wile- hood and motherhood. Doctor Pierce's Common Sense. Med- ical Adviser contains several ers devoted to the ductive physiology of women sete deen Se me aa ever ove thousand cos oma and diseases pecu! not properly prepare est event ii may be sure neglect anc Prescription i | the history of this great plant, its | and conceded | unusual, save what | walking back and forth before the en- trance, the watchman standing near the guard tower, houses built close together on either side of the gate for officers’ quar- ters, and the long, low buildings which re- semble store rooms, while the American colors float aloft from a 50-foot fagpole, and beyond some snow-white cruiser lies snugly moored at the dock. Passing down the main walk toward the water front, a long slate-colored building is seen, par- tialiy hidden by the high mound to the Tight. As he approaches this he seesethat | this building is an unusually large one, substantially constructed, with a heavy iron roof, in‘ which there are many sky- lights. Over the east door of the ouilding he sees the words “Gun Shop,” and after passing through it finds himseif in the cen- ter of the building, and totally unprepared for what he sees. His first, impulse is to | exclaim or hold his breath while he tries to grasp the enormity ef the machines and material before him. He has never seen anything like it. To the right there are monster guns in all stages of construction, massive lathes turning lazily with their heavy burdens, giant cranes traveling back and forth on overhead railways, while long shafts and tremendous pulleys revolve at high speed against the west wall, and hun- | dreds of heavy belts turn and twist as they | transmit the power that turas many iarge j and wonderful machine The sight is an impressive one, even to | a person who is accustomed to seeing large guns, for, while he may have seen the largest machine shops, many times larger than this one, containing a greater number ef machines, employing one hun- dred times more men and requiring many times the power to run the machines, he has never seen such large machines, such heavy messes of steel being operated upon, such huge traveling cranes, while guns of all sizes are about him. In the presence of a 13-inch modern rifle the tendency is to keep silent. In the presence of many such munster guns, which shine like glass and are far larger than the finished cannon, | one is inspired with awe. The atmosphere of the place is in keeping with the feeling | of the stranger, for scarcely any noise is hez very few men are seen, and the large and powerful machines seem to run themselves. Yhe Big Traveling Crane. The north end of the shop is by far the most interesting, and to this every visitor to the works will turn. In this part of the shop is the 110-ton traveling crane, than which there is none more powerful in the eight .massive lathes and an | countr: | enormous riffing machine, all American creations. One of the lathes is 130 feet long, and is designed to make a 16-inch gun, which is the largest and heaviest in exisience, being 50 feet long and weighing 10 tons. Four others are capable of tak- ing guns up to 14 inches caliber, and differ from each other only in detail. In any one of them the gun can be bored or turned. In fact, they are so constructed and ar- ranged that both operations can be carried on at the same time. All of them carry tool carriages and clamps for cutting tools, | each operating independently. The other lathes are large, and are 68 feet long, has sufficient capacity to turn the exterior of the largest gun ddopted by the navy— tae 13-inch. 3 By far the most interesting machine in his interesting lot is the rifling machine, used to cut the spiral grooves in rior of the bore that impart to the rojectile a rotary motion. It can operate » heaviest gun made, while there are i res about its construction as accurate as an astronomical instrument. The rifling head, the creation of naval officers, is a marvel in design and workmanship, and arries four cutters, h the counterpart of the other and operating simultancously, This was a great advance in the operation rifling big guns, for previously the head had worked on one groove at ume. Turning from this wonderful wines, and the burdens, hard- iteresting, which they carry, one he center of the building the aces, Where the op- of heating und assembling of a built-up gun takes place. south end of the shop there is profusion of guns and material in the north shop, and 40 lathes are in of and while they would be very interesting in themselves, the disparity in size between the guns and machines in this shop and in the north shop impresses the vis- All guns of four inches, and up to and in- cluding those of eight inches caliber, are made here, and comprise by far the great- { number of guns used in our main bat- teries. But these are as toys compared to the big 13-inch guns, for while the latter weigh sixty tons each, the $-inch guns weigh fifteen tons each. So it happens that the visitor ‘will turn from this shop to the rriage shop, just beyond and to the ard. In this building, which is very similar in size and outward appearance to the gun p, every gun mount used in the navy is manufactured. As one enters the east door he finds himself in the center of a typical, thoroughly equipped machine ehop, pre- senting a busier, if less interesting, scene, than the great shop he has just quitted, In making his way around he will pass be- tween and around aimost every conceivable skape of metal castings, bracket plates, bronze cyiinders, steel pistons and -piston rods, large bronze, cdnical-shaped stands and combinations of wheels, levers, worms, racks and pinions. These are in the rough form, in the smooth and in all mtermediate stages. Together with the lazy little bor- ing machines, the small, light-running lathes, the steam drills, hammers, planers, and all other machines and tools for light werk, the material covers almost entirely the avallable floor space, The Breech Mechantsm Shop. This is all very interesting to the pro- fessional mind and the mechanical mind, as they see these metals worked accurately into odd shapes, but the layman will pass ‘on to the “breech mechanism shop,” where hundreds of small -guns, complete and and reliable eight-inch are blocked up on high wooden horses. In this the | at are not designed for boring, while each | | mains in the furnace | stonally lifted off, the cylinder sauged al geses to the rear. Wach and every part is made of the finest grade of steel, thorough- ly tested before using, and must be made as accurate in every feature, all dimensions as true as the best electrical! drills and oth- er tools can make them. No work is more accurate than that of making and fitting a breech mechanism, for on it principally the safety of the gun depends. Slits and grooves, cogs and worm-wheels, racks, pinions and levers, are scientifically com- bined and perfectly fitted. All breech clos- ures in our naval guns ere of the slatted screw system, and just here it is proper to note that all mechanisms for operating the breech plugs are the inventions of Ameri- can naval officers. Besides the shops mentioned, there is an erecting shop and power house, from which all power and electric lighting for the en- tire plant is supplied, pattern ~hops, a bronze foundry, chemical laboratories, test- ing machines, smithery, drafting rooms and offices, all complete and thoroughly equip- ped. The grounds cover an area of more than forty acres, of wnich more than twen- ty is occupied by butldings, including offi- cers’ quarters, and about twelve acres by shops and offices. Assembling the Parts. All modern high-power guns are built up, that is, they are made up of many pleces, and the manner of assembling the parts has many interesting features. In ma- chining the parts of a 13-inch gun a de- gree of accuracy is required in shaping, turning, boring and fitting that {s found in no other work done by machines on large tasses of metal. From the moment each piece is placed in the lathe, until the last groove is cut, the work must be done wita the greatest care. ‘fhe gun proper consists of a long central steel cylinder, called the tube, on’ the breech end of which a larger steel cyclinder, called the Jacket, is shrunk, and a number of other cylinders, called hoops, shrunk on over all. In preparing the parts for as- mbling, the tube is turned down to nearly | accurate dimensions. At the same time the jecket is turned dowa to rough dimensions and bered out to accurite dimensions, the intericr diame*er of the latter being a little less than the true exterior diameter of the former. When the interior of the jacket is firished the tube is turned down to its exact extenior diameter. The reason for this is apparent. If the interior of the jacket should, through any possible acci- dent, be bored too large, the tube could be turned’ to fit and the parts used without en- dangering the strength of the gun; where- as, if the tube were turne¢ down too much, such would not be the case. To appreciate the accuracy of the machine work in gun | construction it is only necessary to know that all the dimensions of the missive parts must be true to the 1,000th part of an inch. For the turning special calipers are made nd rigidly set at the different dimensions by Dringiig its points into exact contact With each one of a set of steel rods, one corresponding to eack different dimension, the length of each rod being determined by a measuring machine, which is kept in a ccnstant temperature. The interior cf each piece is accurately gauged by 2 most ac- curate gauge, which is also treated with Sreat care. When the tube and jacket are ready for assembling, or are prepared, rather, so far as the machine work is con- cerned, they are lifted from the lathes and deposited at the shrinking pit, where some of the- most interesting details of gun con- struction are carried out. Fitting the Jacket. The jacket is placed in a vertical position in the center of a cylindrical fire-brick fur- nace, where it is expanded. The brick fur- nace is inclosed in an iron cylinder, with a large air space between, and a heavy tron cover fits over the top of both. A constant supply of air is forced into the bottom of the outer cylinder, where it comes into con- tact wlth burning petroleum, and the heat- ed gases resuiting from combustion circu- late around the jacket, and bring it gradu- ally up to the a proper temperature, which does not exceed 600 dagrees. So gradual and equal must the expansion be, and so particular are those in charge to avoid any possibility of particles of grit or foreign matter adhering to the metal, that the products of combustion are not brought in- te contact with the jacket at all. It re- about thirty hours be- proper degree of expan- which time the cover is occa- fore it reaches the sion, during its entre length, and its temperature test. ed at different points by the application of strips of fusfble metal. In the meantime the tube ts placed in a vertical position, muzzle down, in the shrinking pit, where it is firmly clamped. Above the clamps stands seventeen feet of its length, bright and true, and over which the jacket must be shrunk, while a hollow brass cylinder projects from the floor be- low through the center of the tube,throvh which there is a constant flow of water at an ordinary temperature. This, that the tube may be kept at the same temperature throughout and unaffected by the heat of. the furnace, only a few feet away. So tm- portant is this that the slightest expansion of the tube, even the fraction of a thou- sandth of an inch, might be a serious mat- ter. As the jacket approaches the proper degree of expansion it is watched constant- ly by the master mechanic. Temperatures and dimensions are deter- mined frequently and with great accuracy, till, at the very moment the proper stage 4 muzzle energy of 3 ii: fl 5 § the jacket. e . Results of a:Small Error. The accuracy with which it must be guided, its great weight and the rapidity with which the operation must be per- formed, combine to make the shrinking on of a 12-inch jacket a most delicate mat- ter, and the strain on those in charge is intense during the 15 or 20 minutes that the jacket moves slowly into place. From the moment it ta lifted from its posi- tion in the furnace it begins to lose heat and every minute ccunts. There Is a clear- ance of only 4-100th of an inch between the tube ard the jacket, and the latter. hot and heavy, it 1s, must not be al- lowed to come into contact with the tube at any point, or, at any rate, any contact must be extremely slight and momentary. The sitghtest touch might form a burr that would cause the jacket go stick, re- sulting in endless trouble and expense, if not the loss of the value of the jacket in material and labor. Happily, this accident has happened only once, as far as I am able to ascertain, and then it was not a very serious one, In all other cases this operation has beén a decided success, ana usually the jacket is in place in 15 min- utes after it is taken from the furnace. The parts remain in the pit for 48 hours to cool, after which the combined tube and jacket are placed in one of the large lathes, where it is turned down to recolve the hoops, which are shrunk on the jacket and about two-thirds of the length of the tube not covered by the latter. Hach hoop is heated and expanded and shrunk on while the unfinished gun is in a horizontal position, one of the large cranes doing the work, after which this enormous weapon ig turned down to proper exterior dimen- sions and placed in the large rifling ma- ckine and the tube rifled. The delicacy of this operation can be ap- preciated when one realizes that the piece to be operated wpon represents nearly $100,000 worth of material and labor. The grooves must be cut just the proper devth and width and length, and a cut too deep or @ cut too long, or any other mistake, may ruin the gun, But the machine is too perfect in its construction, too skilifully and thoroughly adjusted and too carefully watched and handled by the man operating it for any such accidents to oceur, and after ten days or two weeks on the ma- chine the rifling of the big gun is finished. From the rifling machine it is lifted on to @ large flat car in the center of the bulld- ing, and run out into the yard, where it is Geposited on blocks built up ‘several feet high, @ “house built around it and the breech mechanism fitted, and the gun is complete. From the factory it is shipped down the Potomac river to the Indian Head proving grounds, where it under- goes many severe tests before being in- Stalled on beard of one of our large iron- jade. : This marvelous product of machine work has been more than. six months in course of construction, and is worth, complete, $100,000. It is 479.1 inches long, weighs 60.5 tons, fires a charge ef 550 pounds of slow- burning powder, a steel projectile weigh- ing 1,100 pounds, threwn with a velocity of 2,100 feet per seco: and developing a fi27 foot tons, or T4,- 000,000 foot pounds, and is capable of pierc- ing 24.54 inches of solid steel at a distance of 1,000 yards fromthe muzzle. The plant, while just 10 years old, has sufficient capacity toamore than supply the demands for our growing naval armaments, is worth, including an estimated value of srounds and all-buildings, nearly $4,000,000, and has ar annual output of about $1,500,- 00. As a gun factory, it is thoroughly equipped, and the products of its manufac- ture are equal in material, workmanship, strength and endurance, to any guns in the world. As a business enterprise it is @ decided success, and is q most positive proof that the: United States government can operate a large enterprise on business- principles, when under the direction and supervision of men who are prompted by ambition and a desire to excel. HENRY A. WILEY, U. 8.° ——— as Common Senne. ©. 8. Rice in Boston Transeript. Of all the gifts this That ever were tv mortals given, ‘The best to have, the werst' to iiss, ‘The truest, sweetest source of bliss— ‘The oue rail left of Eden's tence— Stands the pure charm of common sense. ‘TD earn our right to “daily bread,” ‘To not regret when time is fled, To wisely ‘speak and act and To keep lfe’s boat from rut ‘To balance every hougs expense We need the aid of common sense. de of heaven Sometimes, no doubt, we need to view Fue lightuing bolts some gentus threw; ut now we need, well niacd and stirr With silent thought or spoken ‘worden A sort of human fool's defense— ‘The wholesome aid of common sense. Some things, perhaps, Where mighty minds’ thelr power inwrought; But how to guard: the priceless wealth Of peuce and love, of youthful health, And how to keep our own few pence, Is taught alone by common sense. We pray for faith, and light, and peace— For sin's remove, ‘and love's’ increase, Kor strength to meet the tempter's power, For dying race, for dying hour— But now, right in the present tense, Give us,/O Lord! good common sense. must still be taught, To keep from useless jar and strife, And bless the cinging path of lfe. ‘To make each fountain purer still, To take from loss its tutal chin, nd bring thy own sweet recompense, ‘We bow to thee, blest common sense. ——e+ Betrayed by a Spenking ‘Tube. From the New York World. A speaking tube running from the rear dcor to the bed room of Henry Christain- son, who lives on the county road near Fanwood, N. J., served as an efficient bur- glar alarm last Sunday night. Mr. and Mrs. Christainson were asleep, when the latter was awakened by some strange sound. She listened and heard two men talking. She woke her husband, and he started to investigate, walking toward the speak- ing tube. As he neared it he heard the voices plai:er. He opened the tube and put his ear at the end for a moment. What he heard stertled him. The visitors were planning to rob the house and were then tampering with the lock on the door. He got his revolver and ‘fired a shot out ot the window. A moment after he saw two men run away: Investigation showed that they had tried 'to enter the house. +os—_____ It matters lite what it fs thatgyou want sywhether a situation or a servant—a “want” ad. in The Star will reach the person who can. fillwyour need. Burglars From Life, HOME, SWEET HOME —S oe H STAR, SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 1897-24 PAGES. Racing styles, at $85, style to the 1897 sacrifice as above. TANDEM, °96 TANDEMS AT REDUCED P To make room for 1897 patterns we will sell a few ’96 RAMBLER TANDEMS, MEN’S DIAMOND FRASIE, both Road and Fully equal in material and patterns, but we need the room and are willing to Formerly sold at $150 list. le, also at same figure. while they last. don’t fail to see t 4 é f NC IVI) pattern | One COMBINATION If you can use a Tandem We also can give you a fine line of SHELBY IDEAL Bicycles, at vastly reduced prices: Patterns that were $55, now $35. Patterns that were $50, now $40. Patterns that were $75, now $60. “A few '96 able for small men or bo at $25 to close out. patterns of above, 26-inch wheels and low frames, suit- , entirely new, and fitted with G. & J. tires, If that isn’t low enough, make us an offer. ormully & Jefiiery Mfg. Co., 1325-27 14th N.W. A STRIKING FIGURE General Sam Houston and His Life in This City DURING HIS TERM AS SENATOR The Interest That Attached to His ! Remarkable Career. SSS LOYALTY TO THE UNION Written for The Evening Star. HEN SAM HOUS- WV. ton began his life in ‘Washington in 1846 as senator from Texas there was hardly a citizen of the United States who had lived a more romantic life, or who filled a larger place in the popular im- agination. He had been reared by the Indians, had fought desperately under Gen. Jackson, winning the heart of that devghty oli warrior by his daredevil bravery; had studied law and had filled alt the political positions Tennessce could give him, representing her four years in Con- gress. Married to a woman whom he ar- Gently loved, he had left her three months after the marriage for some reason which he never revealed, had fled his state, be- cause cf this sad break in his hopes, and returned again to life with the Indians. He had fought duels, and had tnashed a mem- ber of Congress for accusing him of fraud. He had been commander-in-chief of the army of the new repubiic of Texas, and had won the battle of San Jacinto. He had been president and dictator of his coun- try, and finally howl succeeded in having it annexed to the United States. Then he came to Washington as one of its first two senators. Such a career was in itself enough to cap- tivate a hero-loving public, and it seemed probable that they would giye him the Place in their affection and suftrage which Gen. Jackson had heid. Houston's appear- ance when he went to Washington was just what the imagination would have devised for his career. He was ef great height—6 feet 4 inches, and muscular as an athlete. An open-air life with the Indians and in the ermy had kept him erect and bold, and he carried his big frame as a mcnarch—or Indian chief—might have done. His smooth face was ruddy, and his eye soft and ‘bright, for Houston's health was good, in spite of the fact that he had an open wound in his right shoulder from a rifie ball received at To-ho-pe-ka thirty years befcre—a wound which sumetimes caused him great pain, and which never healed. Picturesque in Garb. There was just enough savagery In his dress when he entered the Senate to eug- gest a wild origin and career. In his ¢ar- lier years he had affected much sore startling eccentricities of garb than in 1846, He even came to Washington once in full Indian dress, and when he was president of Texas he habitually wore fancy velvet vests, broad gold lace on his trousers, and instead of @ great coat, a gay Mexican blanket. When he became a senator this theatrical taste showed ftself im a vest of leopard’s skin, a broad sombrero and a Mexican blanket. Houston’s habits in Washington were such a contrast to his romantic story and his eccentric appearance that public curiosi- ty was doubly excited. To begin with, he was temperate, thus contradicting all’ the traditions of Indian fighters and filibusters, as well as all the popular legends about himself. This sobriety was not, however, of long standing. Three months after his narriage Houston had left his first wife because, it is supposed, she told him she did not love him, and had flod to the In- dians and the bottle for forgetfulness. So commen was it for him to be dead with Mquor that the red men culled him “Big Drunk.” Long after he became the great- est man in Texas he kept up these de- bauches. In 1840 he had married again. The young woman, an Alabama girl of twenty-one, had been captured, Desdenona- like, by the romantic life and deeds of this reckless, carousing Othello, and had mar- ried him “tc save him,” as she after-vard confessed. Her experiment was successful, for Houston never was drunk after his ly to bring about bet husband’s conver- sion. ‘The idea of converting Sam Houston a pocket full of Texas cedar and a sharp krife, and thus equipped defied dullness and care. He was really an adept at whittling, cutting out all sorts of little objects, which he gave away right and left to children. His masterpiece was a cross. Whenever he met a lady whom he particularly ad- mired he made a cross as another man might have made a poem, and with a gal- lant bow and speech, begged her to accept it. Many of these crosses he cut out while in his pew in the Washington Baptist church. The crowds which went to the church to see Houston usually waited after the ser- mon to shake hands with him. He was fond of these attentions from’ strangers, and never failed. to be cordial. In the ves- j tibule as he went out he held a second re- ception for the colored people from the galleries, who delighted to boast that they had shaken his hand. His Religious Life. Houston's interest in religious matters increased yearly after he went to Washing- ton. He took to reading religious books, his favorite being “Nelson on Infidelit: So convinced was he of the value of this work that he kept a stock of copies on | hand to give to doubting friends. Finally he became persuaded that he should make a public profession of religion and join the church. In 1854 he was immersed at In- dependence, Tex., and on his return Congress he united with the Washington church he had so long attended. That his | conversion was thorough his pasior vouched for, telling the following as proof: Houston was to partake of his first com- munion, and had asked the pastor if there Was anything he could do for him before the rite was administered. “General,” re- plied the minister, “you know the aliena- tion between you and brother W. (a sena- tor.) You wili meet at the Lord's supper meet till that difficulty is settled. Now I wish you to let me bring you two together after service on Sunday morning, and with- out a word of attempt at justification on either side, 1 wish you to take him by the hand, and say with all your heart that you will forgive and forget, and bury the past, and that you wish him to do the same, and hereafter to meet you as a brother in Christ. “The fire,” continues the minister in his report of the affair, “began to grow in his eyes, his brow to knit, his teeth to clench, and his whole frame shook with the strug gle of the old man within him; but in an instant the man, whose passion had been terrible, indeed ungovernable, on so many a bloody battletield, was changed from the lion into the lamb. He meckiy replied ‘Brother S., I will do it.’ And whgt he promised was done and with an air of ma- jJestic frankness and nobleness of soul Such as ed every beholder. From that hour I have never doubted that Gen. Hous- ten was a men renewed by the Holy Spirit.” Rare Social Qualities. Houston's relations with his friends was another feature of his life which attracted attention. He was eminently companion able, and the younger men pari ly adered him. He always addressed those he liked as “Sonny,” and as a peculiar mark of favor let them come freely to his room at Willard’s. There they wrote hi letters—he kept no secreta franked his documents and listened to his stories. On cool evenings he gathered in a company of congenial triends, built a great wood fire, spréad himseif at full length on a Mexican blanket on the hearth, and then talked late into the night. Sometimes he read these friends parts of his weekly letters from his wife. Mrs. Houston was a woman of some literary ability, and her letters to her husband were long and carefully written, inspired no doubt by a woman's laudable instinct for arousing her husband's admiration, as well as by a noble desire “to keep him straight” while he was away from her. Houston was very proud of these letters, and read them to friends as a special mark of cenfidence. He spent a great deal of time every week replying to them. The whole of Sunday afternoon was regularly given to this task, and a frequent feature of the letter was a digest of the sermon he had heard in the morning. Of course, Houston was one of the con- spicuous figures in the hall of the Senate. He was not always an impressive figure there, for he lost immensely in dignity by keeping his chair tilted back and his feet on his desk; nor was he often an interest- ing speaker. It was only when deeply aroused that he became eloquent. On the Indian question, which, after Texas, was the subject dearest to his heart, he spoke most entertainingly, for he filled his speeches with personal experiences and ob- servations. Sometimes these talks were of blood-curdling interest; again they were bitter in their sarcasm on the injustice and falsehood with which the whites had re- paid the good faith of the reds. Nothing in Houston’s work for the Indians was more relished by the public than his In- dian talks and letters. He imitated their own figurative language in his communi- to | next Sabbath evening; you ought not to | Down-town Agency, 429-31 10th N.W. cations to them, and with good suce b as this fragment fram one of his letters to an Indian chie€ whom he was trying to persuade to peaceful ways shows: “The red brothers ail know that my | words to them have never been forgotten | by me. They have never been swallowed | up by darkness, nor has the light of the | sun consumed them. Truth cannot perish, | but the words of a liar are as nothing. I | wish you to come, and we will axain shake | hands and | chiefs with you counsel Ti together. Bring other ik to all the red men to make peace. War cannot make them happy. It has lasted too Jong. Let it now be ended and cease forever. Tell all my red brothers to listen to my commission- ers, and to walk by the rds of my coun- sel. If they hear me and keep my words, their homes shall be happy—their fires shall burn brightly, and the pipe of peace shall be handed round the hearth of their wigwams. The tomahawk shall be no more raised in war, nor shall the dog howl for his master who has been siain in battle. Joy shall take the place of sorrow: and the laughing of your children shall be heard in place of the cries of women.” Loyalty to the Union. | The most dramatic life as a senator w: event of Houston's s his refusal in 1854 to | obey the will of Texas and vote for the | Kansas-Nebraska bill. This act led to a bitter quarrrel with his colleague, Rusk, | Who had been elected with him as one of | the first two ators of the state. Rusk upbraided Houston violently for betraying Texas. The two men parted in anger. Houston threatening to challenge Rusk. lf friends had not interfered a duel would undoubtedly have ulted. irmlly the angry Texan gave up his desire for blood, | but turning on his friends he said he | Kansas-Nebraz nll may pass, but let me | tell what will be the result. The north will never consent to see slavery in the free ritories: onists will elect a Pres- ident, na will secede, other | states will follow her, and we shall have | the bloodiest war in’ the history of the world. The norih has the army, the navy, the money. She wil kade our ports, occupy our territ ish slavery, put the south under military rule. and fi we shall haye a dictator. There is no hope | for Us Unies it is in the common sense of | the masses. : | Throughout the rest of Houston's term in | the Senate—some five vears—he fought the | idea of disunion, and his last wo there, | uttered in February, 1859, were a hope that the “perpetuity o Union might be se- cured to the lates rity.” Returning . he Was elected its governor. In his first message to the legis- lature, in January, isd0, he declared, “Tex- | as will maintain the Constitution and stand by the Union.” When Ligcoly was elected, and threats of secession filled alr, Houston told the people that the result of an election was no reason for dissolving the Union. “The Union is worth more | than Mr. Lincol he could | do nothing. on party | deposed him, « southern | confederacy. Houston, i : take no active part on e , and, un- happily, he died before the contest over—in July, 1863. IDA M. TARB oo Mrs. Chant Smoked a Cigarette. | From London Trath. Mrs. Ormiston Chant, the well-known social reformer, has smoked a cigarette. ; This momentous fact is chronicled prom- | inently by the British press, and the pub- lic is gravely discussing the matter, for the-reason that Mrs. Chant has been the j incarnate ideat of British virtue since her | crusade against the London music halls. | She has explaired that she smoked the cigarette when she was detained*in the | Turkish lines, where she went in connec- | tion with work of the Red |in order to see if it would gliay the pangs of hunger. The experiment was a comp! | success. There were certain urwleasant | Sensations not unusual in such cases, but she now sympathizes with the fondness for tobacee. Suil, she does not believe in women smoking. ‘oss Society, +02 Echo Used to Measure Distance. From Science. A most interesting method of employing. the echo of a sound has been deviséd for the location of the carriers which some- times lodge in the underground pneumatic tubes. Knowing that sound travels at a speed of, roughly, 1,109 feet per second, and knowing the time measured in thousandths of a second between the firing of a pistol shot in the @onduit and the arriving of the echo at the ®uilet of the tube, a simp! caiculation gfves the exact location of the obstruction. The means of five experiments in the recent-test gave 2,783 seconds, and when the sound velocity was corrected for air temperature the obstruction was lo- cated at 1,537 feet from the instrument, which was the exact location. FAIR WARNING ‘TO THE BOARDERS. From Frank Leslie's Weekly.