Evening Star Newspaper, August 21, 1897, Page 17

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, AUGUST. 21, 1897—24 PA 1T IN CENTER MARKET Novel and Picturesque Features of a Busy Day Crowd. FEMININE FADDISTS; THEIR METHODS A Study of Humanity, Both Inter- esting and. Amusing. SCENES AND INCIDENTS es Washington's Center Market is worth a visit any day. It is about the finest, clean- est market establishment on this continent, for one thing. For another, its aisles are paraded by peopleeso extraordinarily as- sorted that an hour or so spent in re- wewing the passing throng cannot be time gone to waste. In this town, marketing is, variously, a fad, a business, a habit, and a science—wherefore the study of Washing- ten marketers is interesting to a degree. In other large cities marketing seems to be, simply and prosaically, a business, and (language of the pave) a sort of do-others- Im Solitary Splendor. @r-they'll-do-you business at that. For ex- ample, the only fun to be had at the Wash- ington or the Fulton Markets in New York city is to watch the unintermittent haggling tetween customers and boothmen, and out of this incessant dickering, amusement at length ceases to be extracted. One visit to a New York city market contributes (along with so very many other things) to a still mo firmly rooted understanding of the fact that the “cosmopolitanism” of New York is a legend of the Golden Fleece. To employ another bit of mythology, a visit to a New York city market, somehow or another, suggests the Augean stables and the need for a modern Hercules. ‘The Fair Who Follow a Fad. Washingtonians who fancy that “every- bocy is out of town” at this season would be disabused of such a notion by a mid- morning visit to the Center Market. When a morning assemblage at the market is suggestive of the fashionable congregation a dog or a chrysanthemum show, it 1 appear that there are at least a few left in town. The summer solstice ho thread the stalls of Center Market are arrayed i, very many of them, as if a funetion—the marketing faddists, is. The marketing faddists are, for most part, young matrons and young fer that the women not yet matrons but in training for the title, their marketing, perhaps, a part of the training. They arrive at the market in barouches and victorias and landaus, even in dog-carts, some of them, so that the line of carriages exterded along the curbs is of matinee dimensions, or like the equipage display at an afternoon theo- sephical conclave. Huge, inspiring, high- skied as New Yorkers think New York is, over there they don’t have to have a beau- tiful cop with a beautiful mustache to call off carriage numbers outside their market storm doers. We do here. ne of the midmorning marketing fad- bring, seated alongside them in their nd aprons to serve as jome of them—not all; the ing in versimilitude, and to carry the hrough to a finish, it is desirable for atron or the is-to-he matron with the marketing fad to carry her own basket, just like the poor, dear things who've been packing baskets around all the days of their lives. So that, latterly, a good many of them draw up to the market curbs in solitary splendor, clutching their baskets as they step from their rigs. Awful Possibilities. Baskets? Yes, it is necessary to call them that, for they are made of wicker, and have the general shape and conformation of rket baskets; only they look as if they might have been designed by Lillipu- for Lilliputians. They are like the beskets the girls carry for nosegay gath- ering in Watteau pictures. Toy marketing s, threaded with double and triple rclets of pale pink and baby blue ribbon! One ders to think of the appearance the in ribbons would present should, iy, a couple of pounds of liver or kidneys, v egg or so, get adrift n their packages he basket. it would skets are horrible things. They are carried for the reason that bonbon boxes and fans quizzing glasses are carried—if any one this reason happens to be. are made to serve occasionally acles for flowers, and, it has been . the flowers always match the S. for the marketing-fad young wo- now their lor schemes as they know Khayyam. er morning a Star man was hing a bowed old lady with a Paisley wl, a poppy-laden poke bonnet, and a antic basket devised for business and jammed to the brim with cabbages and carrots and things, when the old lady's shrewd eye caught sight of one of these Marie-Antoinette-at-Versgilles toy baskets ! «x daintily to the arm of a tailor- young woman whose waist was en- clasped by an oxidized gold girdle, with a few dozen mysterious, jangling chatelaine things suspended from it—“like junk,” as a made b al man hath said. It was delightful to See the gaze of ineffable wonder and pity with which the heavily-burdened old lady ‘arded the young woman and her basket. Still more delightful was the flash of wrath in the eyes of the same young woman when a hovering black urchin, with a fine sense of the ridiculous and a soupcon of sarcasm, approached her, grinning, and pointing to the empty doll basket, inquired: “Carry yo’ basket, lady?” Where She Shows Her Judgment. ‘The marketing-fad young women look Greadfully wise and experienced when they are picking out things to buy. They ad- and general niceness will permit them tg. She Carries No Basket. Meats they poke with their fingers—poke ‘em hard and often (this being an infallible Way to pick out meats)—to the intense but suppressed inward joy of the stall- men. Judging from the way they go about it, they can’t be gold-bricked on the meat question at all. One would carry away this idea if he were not informed by a calloused, case-hardened butcher that the wise young women with the poster baskets invariably wind up by selecting the tough- €st, most decrepit and most outclassed meats on the counter—meats counted among the “also rans,” as the butcher, who is a “sport,” put it. Moreover, the butcher says that they can’t be dissuaded from doing this, and that it is the part of wisdom not to attempt to dissuade them, else they'll immediately conclude that the crafty butcher man is saving that especial bit of meat for some other customer, and grow aggrieved over it. When the marketing-fad girls want to buy butter they infallibly taste any num- ber of different samples of it all over the building. They seem to do this as a sort of penance, for they certainly make dis- tressingly wry faces over it. They bridle up at suggestions from the boothmen as to buying and look as if they desire it to “be distinctly understood that they've been engaged in the table-supplying business for any number of years, all by themselves. ‘They are extremely well versed on prices: after a tour of the building. Incident: “Canteloupes just like this, same size and everything, are five cents apiece cheap- er right at the next stall,” said a young woman to a wax-mustached boothman the other morning. “Madam,” said the wax-mustached booth- man, urbanely, ‘‘the proprietor of the next stall is a close business associate and in- timate personal friend of mine. He chris- tened all of my children. But he is poor and struggling, and has to undersell me to get along. Buy of him, I pray you.” And the young woman actually got mad and sailed away in a pet. The Bicycle Girl Means Business. The bike girl in the bike costume swarms through the Center market corridors in large numbers. She carries no basket and has everything she buys “sent up. She looks neither wise nor pro- found—apparently doesn't want to look that way—but she knows precisely what she wants, and gets the best of it all the way through, for she has a nod and a smile and a quip for this and that boothman krown to her, and the boothmen fall over each other in giving her the best they've got in the Shop. The bike girl carries no tiny celluloid tablet scribbled over with a list of things she has set out to get. She carries the whole thing under her Tam O'Shanter, and never comes back with “Oh, I forgot!” etc. The old-maidenly man with the lynx eye is ene of the first arrivals of the morning— any number of him. He has plenty of time, and he employs it all. He doesn’t use his whatever, The Butler. fingers to poke at things. He uses his um- brella for that purpose, and he classes the boothmen among the things to be poked with it. In his mind, he is no more to be buncoed by the deep, cunning, conspiring purveyors of the stalls than (in his mind) is the proprietor of the Keokuk general store buying autumnally in New York. He cherishes the {dea that all of the people selling stuff in the market have organized a secret society with the only end and aim to give him the worst of it. He handles and dabs everything with the elaboration of an elderly spinster attending io a parrot cage, or of a quite young woman exasper- atingly adjusting and readjusting, to the end of time, the tasseled silk draping on a fancy easel. One pictures him messing around a kitch informing a colored mammy of forty years’ culinary experience how to boil potatoes. The chip he carries on his shoulder is a chip from a California redwood. (For the size of such a chip, in- quire of some recently returned Christian Endeavorer). “I wonder can he work doylies?” muses ene stallman, watching his receding figure. “Kind of a man that’s always got a ham- mer and nails, putting in wire screens end weather felting, and tinkering around the house, and superintending the cooking, and makin’ a general nuisance of hisself,” muses another. The Hotel Steward. There are several ways of picking the hotel steward touring the market aisles. First, the majesty of him; second, the re- spectfulness of his reception by boothmen upon whom he bestows a vagrom word; too many other ways for enumeration. The hotel steward is a very great man in the market. The hotel steward knows it. His patronage means an income in itself to the stallkeeper upon whom he casts an approv- ing eye. His progress among the stalls is slow, but Jove-like. “Fair tomatoes, those,” says he, conde- scendingly to a boothman; “what are you getting for them?” The boothman is getting such-and-such for them. The steward smiles like a school teacher reading a peculiarly raw essay of a par- ticularly crude pupil. The steward passes on, smiling. “But—" says the boothman, calling after him. Perhaps the new price catches the steward, and perhaps it does not. “My man,” says the hotel steward to a1 other boothman (he nearly always says “my man,” as expressing the gulf that yawns between him and the stallkeeper). “My man, that was exceedingly poor let- tuce you sent up yesterday; I might even say that it was very bum lettuce. Don’t do it again, my man—not again; that's all.” No profusion of apology whatsoever can Square a stallkeeper in a scrape like this. He has to undergo his sentence of suspen- sion at the steward’s hands for a week or so, when, if he is in luck, he may regain the steward’s good will. Butlers and Boarding House Keepers. The butlers of families out of town are also very haughty on their marketing tours. They are only buying for them- selves and a few other left-behind servants at this season, but this fact doesn’t put any estoppal upon the discrimination of their buying. The stall men are bland to the butlers, for prosperity and affluence repose in the palms of butlers’ hands. “Hi ‘ad no water crecses for me dinner yestiddy; yer bloomin’ cart boy didn’t fetch ‘em in toime, Hi made ‘im tike ’em back w’en ’e did,” said a beefy butler wi ith. @ porter countenance to a stallkeeper the other morning. The boothman Raa to just their heads critically to one side and endeavor to look just as desperately | P¢ dowager-like and severe as their prettiness browbeat the “cart boy” for a good five minutes b fore the butler’s wrath was ap- ased. The stallkeepers also welcome the board- ing house mistress. They know that they are to be token by assault when she ar- rives, but they are used to this, and don’t mind it. From the instant the boeraing hcuse mistress makes her appearance ai the far end of the building the stallkeep- ers assur.e their apologetic mask. They know that everything they sent up to the bearding house mistress yesterday (albeit she picked it all out very carefully herself) Was no good, not fit to be eaten by civil- ized human beings, had to be thrown out, etc., ete., ete. So when they perceive her in the offing they stand by to comfort her as best they may. They admit they are thieves. They own up to being daylight robbers. They ask the boarding house mistress’ prayers for their _sins—and sell her another big basketful. For the board- ing hovse mistress (after she has delivered herself of the scathing criticism on ye: terday’s batch of stuff) is, as a rule, amen- able to reason; and if she is on the hither side of fifty (as a good many Washington bearding house mistresses are), and, there- fore, susceptible to flattery, as often as not she departs from the market beaming—for among the qualifications of the men with ee jong; white aprons diplomacy is not the least. Others Seen Occasionally. The suppressed man ts occasionally seen with his wife on a mid-morning market tour. His appearance at such an hour is apt to suggest reflections as to what he dces for a living. He is pretty quiet, the stppressed man with his wife, and he al- ways has a recedirg chin—which probably accounts for his suppressed condition of servitude. He cérries the basket, and, he is wise in his generation, saws wood. A few of him were observed to make mild suggestions to their wives the other morn- ing as to certain purchases. The penetrat- ing stares with which their wives regarded them were ill augurs for after seances on the way home, and the- suppressed hus- bands looked as if they felt the fact deeply. The dieamy-eyed, very-much-bored-look- ing young woman being instructed in the prosaic, carnal science of marketing by her fat, florid-faced mother, is often seen ficeting through the aisles, as much inter- ested in the busiress in hand apparently as the Lady of Skallott or Sappho might have been in turnips. She gravitates nat- urally in the direction of the flower stalls, and can only be led away from them by the exercise of main force on the part of her mother. Sometimes the mother grows impatient with her daughter’s impassive- ness on the question of spinach, roast pork and such. “Etheldreda,” she says, in an expostula- tory tone, “are you never going to take an interest in things you ought to know?” “No, mamma, never,” Etheldreda replies, and continues humming the first three bars of a nocturne. —_——_—_ “IN VINO VERITAS.” Physician Denounces the Ancient Axiom as a Fraud and a Fallacy. From the New York Mail and Express. “No greater fallacy has ever been ut- tered than ‘in vino veritas,’’’ said a well- known physician, “and none that has mas- queraded so long as an axiom. It became a saying long before there was accurate scientific knowledge of the effect of alco- hol on the human organism. There is no ‘truth in wine.’ A man under the influence of liquor does not, as many people believe, speak his innermost thoughts and show bis true nature. The dilation of the blood vessels dilates his mental processes, and he becomes, not his real self, with his heart upon his sleeve, but an exaggerated, distorted libel of himself. “I have half a dozen patients now un- dergoing treatment for alcoholism. One of them is a physician of refined tastes and cultivation. Under the stimulus of alcohol he will seek for companions the longshoremen and dock laborers of West street and discuss the most commonplace subjects with them, forgetting for the time all his knowledge of the law or his rich store of literary treasures. I doubt if during these periods he could tell whether ‘Vanity Fair’ was written by Cervantes or Thackeray. “Another case is that of a merchant who goes astray once in two years. He be- comes a maniac for the time being, pos- sessed of a homicidal and suicidal mania. He b2comes completely transformed, and seeks to injure those for whom he has the greatest love and affection, following with French and Spanish scholar, and who, un- der the influence of liquor, is unable to ar- ticulate a word in elther of these lan- guages. His vocabulary in English is re- duced to eighty or ninety words, and he spends his time in low bar rooms, treating everybody until his money is gone. It is impossible to arouse him into a sense of his degradation until the alcohol is all out ‘im. sir, ‘in vino veritas’ should be stricken out as a fraud and a lie. It is based on ignorance and has lived so long that its great age gives it an air of veri- similitude.”” ee MORNING OR EVENING PAPERS. Which is the Best Advertising Me- diam? From the Rochester Times. ‘The morning paper is bought on the street or delivered in the driving, hurly-burly hours of business, and it becomes relative- ly stale and is crowded out by the pushing evening journal later in the day. The busi- ness man, if he rises early, may look over his morning paper before breakfast, or on a street car perhaps, if he does not ride a wheel, but the telegraph and local news, with display headlines, first attracts his attention, and more than likely before he is done with that, he is in the midst of his work or business, whatever that may be, and the next daily that comes into his hands is the wide-awake and cheap after- noon paper. ‘This contains the latest telegrams, local transpiriugs of the day and editorial com- ments, and will be taken home and read and discussed by the family in the leisure hours of the evening. This gives opportu- nity to see what business, as well as news, the papér contains, and’ prospective pur- chasers in any particular line will make up their minds just where they will look for bargains, perhaps the following day. The evening paper may or may not have a larger circulation than its morning con- temporary. If it should, in any given in- stance, have less, still, it is the testimony of experienced merchants that its columns usually pay them best. The Passing of Paradise Alley. From the New York Jouraal. Every Sunday, down to her home we All the boys and all the girls they love her so. Always jolly, heart that is true, 1 know; For she’s the sunshine of Paradise Alley. Paradise alley—famous in Song, notorious in crime—will pass into history within a week. Over a year ago the board of health issued the flat that the old building in the alley, which has sheltered over 1,000 hu- man beings at one time, must go, and the other day. the last tenant moved out. Yes- terday the work of demolition was begun, and the policemen on the beat viewed the proceedings with feelings of gratitude. Par- adise alley ran back from No. 86 Cherry street. In its time it has been the rendez- vous of members of the Cherry Hill, Whyo and other gangs of desperadoes. Many a policeman has left its shadows maimed and bruised, and many a dark crime has been perpetrated there. Yet the old place is dear to certain people. Some of those who lived in Paradise alley have been law-abid- ing, honest, hard-working peuple, with their moments of light heartedness. The plunkety-plunk of the banjo, the drone of the concertina and shrill if not always me- lodious voices in song have often sounded thence in token of easy conscience. This brighter side of the alley has found expres- sion in the ballad of a local bard. Who does not know the “daughter of Widow McNally, the Sunshine of Paradise Alley?” Her fame has spread wherover the English language is sung or spoken, and even the cafe chantants of Paris are now stirred nightly by the ditty, done into French, But the doom of Paradise alley has been pro- nounced, and soon it will be only a memory. —-es______ Perilous. From Puck. Miss Summerleigh—“Do you think I read too much poetry?” Dashleigh—“Well, the great danger in reading poetry is that you may be tempted to write some!” —————+o-_____ “Want” ads. in The Star they bring answers, pay because ESCAPED FROM LIBBY How a Yankeo Tailor Sowed His Way to Liberty, A UNIFORM FOOLED. THE GUARDS The Prisoner. Donned It and Walked Out a Free Man. ————>—— BACK IN WASHINGTON (Copyright, 1897, the S S. McClure Oo.) When Gen. John Morgan; the famous confederate raider, visited Libby prison, early in ’64, he said: “There is no under- taking in the world that you have not men in this prison qualified for; that’s why it is strange that more of you fellows don’t try to get away.” : In Libby prison, at the time of Morgan’s visit, there were about 1,400 officers, from beardless second lieutenants, in their teens, to grizzled leaders of brigades and divis- ions. These men came not only from every state and territory in our own land, but they represented the armies of nearly Cooper Stepped Forth. every European nation. We had lawyers, doctors, clergymen, college professors, en- Bineers, editors, and every variety of skill- ed mechanic. Among the latter was Capt. Ceoper of Connecticut, who had learned the trade of tailor in his youth, and who Was conducting a large clothing store at Hartford when patriotism dominated profit and sent him into the army. 3 Where every man “felt sick and mean,” to use an expression common at the time, only the very sick and helpless were sent to the prison hospital, the eastern, ground floor reom of Libby. Dr. Sabal, the con- federate surgeon in charge of the prison hospital, was as generous and sympathetic as he was handsome and able, and that is saying much This gentleman kept the hospital full, and thesfact‘that it was much warmer than the other quarters made it a desirable place. i A Proposition. There is one ailmext which, at the front or in prison, “old sdidiers’ could assume without immediate tear 6f detection, and that is rheumatism,’ Rhépmatism of the affected chardcter has kept many a man, with more cunning than courage, out of the range of the enemy’é rifles. I was myself in hospital, recovering from typhoid pneu- monia, when Capt."Cooper was brought down from the lower’ east room. Rheuma- tism in the legs had so crippled the captain that he could hardly crawl, but his arms appeared to be all right: ‘The nurses in the hospital were-detailed' Union soldiers who had been confined in:the Pemberton bulld- ing, a warehouse lower down and: across the street from Libby. Capt'Cooper prov- ed to be a jolly good'feliow; but it was noticed that when the confederate authori- ties were not ‘about his’ rheumatism did not seem to interfere with agile locomotion. Where Cooper got his needles and thread I cannot imagine, but he had those coveted appliances, and he used them to repair the damages in the old uniforms of his com- Trades. One day, while Cooper was sitting cross- legged_on his cot, repairing the rents in Capt. Bohannan’s trousers, Touche, the prison adjutant, came in and watched the flying needle with unusual interest. La Touche was a stout man, whose thick neck and florid face bespoke a love for good liy- ing. He was very neat in his person, a bachelor, and no end of a gallant, as ‘we ee learned. “See here, captain,” called out Adit. La Touche, after he had watched Cooper for ‘are you a regular tailor?” some time, “That is my trade,” replied Cooper. “Think you could make me a full-dress uniform if I furnished you the materials?” was the next question. * “Yes, if I had your measure and a plate Hee Bee . , we have no plates, but I can give you the details; I know al! about ome "Then the confederate adjutant went on to say that he had secured all the materials, but that tailoring had become so expensive in the confederate capital as to preclude the D of the clothes. €e,” continued La Touche, “there is to be a ball at the state house in two weeks, and if I could have the suit made up at a reasonable price, in time for that event, it would take a great load off my A Big Price. Confederate money had depreciated very much at this time, so that the prices of ar- ticles, ordinarily plentiful were fabulous. Knowing this, the cautious Yankee asked: “What would you have to pay a Rich- mond tailor for making such a uniform?” “About $400,” blurted out La Touche. “If I guaranteed you satisfaction and charged one-half, would you give me tho Jeb?” “Gladly,” said the delighted adjutant, and the contract was closed. La Touche must have thought the transaction irreg- ular, for there was much secrecy in his manner when the next day he came in alone, carrying a large bundle, in which was the material to be made up. Cooper examined the goods, and after taking his customer’s measure (the cus- temer brought a tape line with him), when La Touche turned to leave, Cooper called out: “I don’t want a deposit, adjutant, be- cause I’m afraid you'll clear out and not come back to my shop for the goods; but, as you know, a hard-working man needs mcre and better feed than one who’s doing nothing. So if you could let me have a lit- tle on account from ‘time to time it would give me nerve for the work.”” La Touche took the hint and left $100. As there were no di us cases in the hespital at this time, the visits of Dr. Sabal and his assistants sere confined to the morning and evening. On such occa-- ions Cooper had his work hidden away. under his blanket, and his rheumatism was invariably “‘No better, sirs! ‘With nothing to read amd only th? old home or the present situation to think of, time hung like an ever-crushing- weight cn the hands of the prisoners. But as 3002 as Cooper started into work in the hcs- pital every man who could crawl from his blanket gathered about to watch. Every day, soon after goon, La Touche danced silently into the hespital sto be fit- ted enn te mee ow the ore of art was essing. At each; vi: e grew more lighted. “I'll have;it ready the day be- fore the ball,” said Cooper. All Had the Same Idea. The night before this creation in gray, blue anil gold was completeé—it had al- ready been paid for—Capt. Singer-of the 83d Ohio, who had about recovered from a gunshot wound in the thigh, received at Chickamauga, drew me to one side and ‘I have a plan for. escape, dnd I want you to help m te . “Of course I'll do it,” I said. “‘But why let me in?” “6 Ne can’t,” = not cg not?? i “Because, confound it, there 1s suit?” Soa : Now, ever since the cloth began to assume form, this idea had taken shape in my mind, and I so told Singer. We drew lots to see which should try it, and my com- panion won. In my anxiety to see how Singer made out I kept awake all night. On larceny intent, he left my side about an hour before daylight. I watched him moving to where Cooper lay, about fifty feet away. Then followed a long silence. A half hour Fasvet. and I was wondering at Singer's slowness, when Cooper's angry voice broke the stillness: ‘A man who'll try to steal from a fellow soldier in prison is no man at all!” he said; but he did rot raise his voice so as to be heard by the guards outside. “But the stuff isn’t yours; it belongs to the enemy,” Singer protested, hotly. = “Belongs to the enemy, eh? Not by a Jong sight It doesn’t. That uniform’s mine. Why, confound you, ever since La Touche left this afternoon I've been at work re- ducirg the girth so that it'll fit myself. ‘ou are going to try it yourself?” ‘I am, captain,” chuckled Cooper. “Now, old fellow, go back to your blanket; and if you keep your mouth closed and your cyes open, you'll soon see one of the best-dress- ed confederate officers in Richmond waltz ing out of this prison, with a hundred dol- lars in graybacks in his pocket.” Singer came back, but there was no need to re- Port, as I had overheard all. Superb Coolness, Cooper's purpose was soon known to all the men in the hospital. It was also known that the doctors came in at 9 in the morn- ing, and that La Touche would be on hand for his uniform at 12, and between these hours Cooper must make his attempt. The doctors left at 9:30, and the guards about the prison were changed at 10. As sooa as the doctors went out, Cooper, who kept on his old clothes, for he was a thin man—we Were all thin then—slipped on the uniform, which included a gray cap, with a perfect maze of guld lace on the crown. We had never seen such a transformation. The new guard had been on about five minutes ‘when Cooper laid his hand on the door. He took no leave, and made no fuss. He reasoned very properly that the new guard, seeing he was an officer, would suppose he had entered the hospital while the other guard was on, and had just completed his mission. At this instant Cooper’s coolness was su- perb. His eyes were clear and steady, and there was not the twitch of a muscle to be- tray the nervousness he must have felt. At length, to the great relief of all, he swung open the door and stepped ‘out. Through the brief opening we saw the guard saluting and the officer returning It. Then the door closed with a bang, and Cooper was free. The next we heard of him he was safe in Washington. I have seen some apoplectic anger, and have heard much fierce swearing in my time, but I never saw so angry @ man as Adjutant La Touche when he came in for his clothes at noon and found the tailor had carried them off on his back. The last thing La Touche said, as he bounced out of the hospital, was: “If I catch him! I never kee trick!” that fellow Cooper, I'll shoot heard of such a doggone Yan- ALFRED R. CALHOUN. —.__. IN THE GUMBO OF MONT: NA. A Soil Which Has the Stayin; Quali- ties of Glue, as Travelers Found Out. }#rom the Helena Independent. H. M. Parchen and Henry Klein have returned from a trip to Cascade county. Everything went well on the trip out, but returning they encountered a heavy thun- der storm with a fall of rain, and in a few minutes the road was made almost im- passable. The soil is thick clay, of the or- der known in some localities as gumbo, and when a little water comes in contact with it a substance not unlike due is the result. The wheels soon became so weighted with the stuff that travel in the wagon was impossible, and it was resolved to take chances afoot. There is a pecu- liarity about gumbo that it sticks like fly paper to everything that one doesnt want it to remain attached to, and it somehow won't stick to the ground long enough to step out of it. The members of the party first tried tiptoeing along. Gradually the sticky substance accumulated under the walls of their feet until they were lifted far from the surface of the ground and still it accumulated more and more. Gumbo is not as light as some other substances, either. Each foot that a pedestrian raises from the ground adds several pounds to his burden of woe. There is a limit to a man’s carry- ing capacity. When he has acquired a stilt on each foot that weighs 125 pounds or so he feels like stopping to rest or rid himself of the burden, or both. Mr. Parchen was the first, it is said, to try to kick himself loose from his appen- dage of mud. Poising himself on one heav- ily laden foot, he kicked out with the other with all his might. But one can't kick gumbo from his shoes. The stuff has been Known to resist the efforts of the pick. Mr. Parchen had not calculated on that. When he kicked the momentum of the heavy weight carried him forward on that foot, and to save himself and recover his balance he was forced to thrust his other foot forward with considerable vehemence. That foot, too, was heavily laden with the same sort of mud, and the momentum of it had a similar effect. As each foot be- came heavier by the accumulated weight of gumbo each other foot became heavier, too, so that the increasing brake upon the pedestrian’s speed was compensated for by the increasing momentum furnished. The accumulation had grown to alarming fis- ures, if expressed in pounds, when Mr. Parchen encountered an up grade and was saved. He secured implements fitted for the purpose and managed to scrape off the bottom of his shoes, making a nice new surface for more mud to cling to. The experiences of the other members of the party were similar. They all plod- ded along the line of the Great Falls and Canada railway into the city, which they reached at midnight. They were in a bad plight. Their horses had been turned loose, and they reached home later with bells of mud clinging to their tails as big as foot balls and smaller spheres of mud hanging pendent from their manes. Mr. Woods took a hunting dog.with him, and the animal lay down in the mud to roll. So much of it clung to her that it was with difficulty that she dragged herscif into the city. Faithfully Guarded His "Master. From the Hartford Times. Ludwig Lein of Bridgeport is subject to fits which are liable to come upon him at any time. On a recent evening he was un- fortunate enough to suffer from one while enjoying a quiet walk. He was accompa- nied by a big Newfoundland dog, a hand- some animal, and one which has been a favorite of the Lein family for years. When his master fell to the ground the dog went to him and began to lick his face in a vain endeavor to restore some evidence of ani- mation. The pitiful attempts of the dog aroused the sympathy of the bystanders whp had noticed him fall, and they at- tempted to assist the sufferer. Here an obstacle was met in the shupe of the dog. He was faithful to the trust re- posed in him by the members of Mr. Lein’s family and would not allow any one to come near his master. Several tried and succeeded in getting within a short distance of the man, but here the dog interposed. He growled, crouched, and showed every inclination to interfere with the first one who dared to lay a hand on Mr. Lein. The Wewfoundland dog kept up a constant barking and several times made a dash for the crowd when it came too near. He would not leave the spot, neither would he per- mit his master to be helped. After a little while the attempt was given up and a call sent in for the ambulance. Before it could respond Mr. Lein had so far pecoyered that he was able to make his way jome. ‘Why He Thought So. From Puck, x Summer Hotel Clerk—“I don’t know what his business is; but I suspect him of being a life insurance agent.’ 2 Proprieter—“What makes he think so?” Clerk—“‘His nerve. Why, comes here in the middle of August and actually kicks about the accon.modations!”’ ise An Animated Plant. From Harper's Bazar. uti oP PEND — Swi, what step would be for the best, Maso alone stood out for independence absolute. er way out of the atm- ‘we must either be free men or be slaves. Spain will permit no Cuban to be anything but a tax-paying serf. If we would have self-respect. we must have independence. This Spein will never give until compelled to. “If we cannot enjoy freedom ourselves let us fight and win it for our children. To me, the very thought of autonomy under the Spanish flag is degradation and dis- grace. Rather than submit to it I would go to the mountains and live the life of a hermit. There I might at least be free to think without paying tribute to Spain.” Maso, like all Cubans, is a great admirer of the United States. “I have studied your republic carefull: he once said tome. “I have great confidence in your people and in your institutions, but still I do not un- derstand them. Your government ts sup- posed to represent the people. It is select- ed and placed in power to carry out their will, and yet this it so often seems to fail to do. Your rulers, when in office, do not seem to be studying the desires or the wel- fare of the nation. To me they seem rather to be trying"to see how few promises they may fulfill and still remain in office. Hir Opinion of the jed States. “I trust the United States (the people), and I do not trust her. That is, I put but little faith in the party pledges and admin- istrative promises which are so often held out to Cuba. Your congressional resolu- tions and legislative expressions of sym- pathy have many times raised great Lopes in our breasts, but the frresponsive and to us cruel indifference of your administration has put an end to such thought long ago. We feel that from the United States, at least, we are entitled to the recognition of belligerency. We will be grateful if it ever comes, but we have ceased to expect it. “The single star of our flag is emblem- atical of our fate. We have got to fight our battle for freedom alone. This century seems too busy to furnish us with a Lafay- ette. But, what is it you say in English? “We will get there, just the same.’ ” GEO. RENO. ———- -__ THE X RAYS. CUBA'S PRESIDENT Will Be Bartolome Maso, Father of the Revolution. WASTHE FIRST MAN 70 TAKE UP ARMS He is a Man of Uncompromising Spirit, Decision and Tact. HEROIC SELF-SACRIFICE Recent dispatches brought from the island by Special Messenger Mazora render it almost certain that Gen. Bartolome Maso will be the next president of the provisional government of Cuba. There is probably no man living who is better fitted or more entitled to occupy the presidential chair than this intrepid and uncompromising defender of Cuban inde- pendence. In no other way can Cuba show her grat- itude and appreciation of those sterling avalities which have caused Maso to be loved and admired by the million and more of patriots who are praying and fight- ing against overwhelming odds for liberty. But it is not gratitude alone which prompts the selection of Maso to fill the position of chief executor. He is in every way eminently fitted to Successfully handle the reins of govern- ment during these trying times of war, which require a happy combination of firm. hess, tempered with tact; of decision, min- gled with diplomacy. Maso Is not an obtrusive man, but his Presence in quiet council or heated debate is always felt. He is an effective orator, legislator or fighter. He is the Richelieu of the Cuban republic. Small of stature and slight in build, he is still a most mag- netic man, and one can almost feel the thoughts that emanate from the mind be- Prof. Roentgen Makes Public Farther Discoverics in Regard to Them. From the London Lancet. Prof. Roentgen has again made a com- munication to the Royal Academy of Sciences on his great discovery. He states that while the X rays are passing through the air they traverse it in every direction. When a plate impervious to the rays is Placed between a fluorescent screen and @ source of the rays, so that the screen is overshadowed by the plate, the platino- cyanide of barium nevertheless becomes luminous, and this luminosity is visible even when the screen les directly upon the plate, so that one might imagine that some rays had traversed the plate; but if the screen placed on the plate is covered by a thick piece of glass the fluorescence becomes weaker and disappea*s completely when the glass is replaced by a cylinder of lead 0.1 centimeter (equals 1-25 of an inch) in thickness surrounding the fluores- cent screen. Prof. Roentgen’s explanation of this phenomenon is that_X rays eman- ate from the irradiated air. He considers that if our eyes were as sensible to the X rays as to ordinary light the appearance would be as if a candle were burning in a room filled with tobacco sm Prof. Roentgen has, moreover, invented a new apparatus for measuring the intensity of the X rays. He has succeeded in ascer- taining by means of this apparatus that the intensity of the rays is infl weed: (1) by the course of the primary current; (2) by the interposition of a Tesla trans- former; (3) by the rarefaction of the air in the tube, and (4) by some other agen- cies not yet known. He concludes: (1) That the rays issuing from a discharging apparatus consist of a mixture of rays of different absorbability and tntensity; (2) that the combination principally depends on the course of the discharging current; (3) that the absorption of the rays varies according to the absorbing medium, and (4) that as the X rays are produced by the cathode rays, and have similar fluorescent, photographic, electrical qualities, it is very probable that they are both phenomena of the same nature. Bartolome Maso. fere they are uttered. Maso is very ob- servant of details, an excellent listener and a brilliant conversationalist. Although making no pretense as a poet, many bright stanzas, containing both rhyme and rea- son, as well as measure, spring from his brain, affording entertainment and instruc- tton to those around him. A portion of his education was acquired in Paris, as well as his knowledge of ihe French language. Of English he knows but very little, but that little he knows cor- rectly. I had been several weeks in his ccmpany, not dreaming that he understood a word of English, when he one day in- dulged in a comment so well placed and pronounced that [ was astonished. But no arrount of coaxing could induce him to at- tempt a conversaticn in the language. Devoted to the Cause. Maso studies men as a doctor would patients, and he seldom makes a mistake in diagnosing their true strength or weak- ness. He is effectively diplomatic where the present occupant of the chair is in- clined to be combative. And yet both of trese grana old men are devoted to and toiling for the attainment of the same pur- Pose, the freedom of Cuba. Cisneros’ ad- miration of Maso’s ability is so sincere that he has even offered to resign in his favor at any time. a Shipping Frozen Milk. From the Newark Advertises. Farmers and dairymen in New Jersey may experience a new form of competition from long distances in the sale of milk in nearby cities by a process now in success- ful use by the milk dealers in Denmark and Sweden. The milk is collected at a central station from farms within a cer- tain radius. It is then Pasteurized and frozen. The blocks of the frozen milk are placed in stout wooden casks holding about double the volume of the blocks, and the extra place is filled with sterilized milk, ‘There are many reasons for this universal | after which the casks are hermetically and unbounded faith in Maso. With hand | Sealed. The milk is thus safely trans- and brain he has always been ready to fight | PoOTted as far as England, and it is pri served for about twenty days. By this process milk from the middle west can be set down in New York in as good condi- tion as milk fresh from Essex county. Kipling’s Labors for Fresh Air Fand, From the Book Buyer, for Cuban independence, and, although the son of a Spaniard, he would never be con- tent with anything but independence abso- lute. With his two brothers, Rafael and Isais, he fought through the “ten years’ war” from ’68 to winning the rank of major general. His brothers lost their lives, but begged him never to give up the Rudyard Kipling’s pet charity when he struggle until Cuba was free. He refused oh in Si cet i to sign the treaty of Zanjou, and when | !ved in Vermont was the fresh-air fund. Marti, on February 22, 1895, gave the word | AS he was constantly receiving requests for the beginning of the present revolution, Bartolome Maso was the first man to take up arms against Spain. He did not wait to see what others would do or who would follow: he left the city of Manzanillo, his birthplace, and went to his country estate of “La Jaquita,” nine miles distant, where he commenced to gather about him a force of patriots. Here he was visited by a delegation of autonomists, head- ed by Herminio Leyva,who tried to persuade him that a struggle such as he proposed was ill-advised and ill-timed; that the cause of autonomy, properly advanced, might bring success, but independence was chimerical and impossible. The First Battle. Maso replied: “‘Herminio, you and some of your followers in the old war signed with me an edict which made it an of- fence punishable by death to approach a Cuban soldier with a proposition of peace based on any condition but absolute independence. From this moment on I shall establish the same rule in my camp, and if you say another word on the sub- ject to me I shall put that law into execu- dion. You will kindly take back with you $10,000, which I owe to Mandollas of Cien- fuegos. I do not want it said that I have gone to war to escape my debts. Pay the money to this Spaniard, and then I am done with the race, except to fight it until we have liberty and independence in Cuba.’ The next day Maso was joined by Ama- dor Guerra and Enrique Cespedes. To- gether they marched with thirty follow- ers upon the village of Calcito, which they captured from the Guardea Civil- lia, getting a small supply of arms and ammunition, which started the revolutio in Santiago de Cuba or the “Oriente. When Maceo landed there In March and Gomez ir early April several battles had been won and friends in arms were wait- ing to welcome them. The letters of Gomez and Marti give to Bartolomei Maso the honor of being father of the present revolution. Dur- ing the first weeks of the war word was sent to him offering $60,000 for La J: This Maso refused, saying that he would rather apply the torch while the estate was still his own property. That night he burned every building to the ground. Maso is sixty-seyen years old, although he looks ten years younger. His eyes are keen and bright and an abundance of fron-gray hair covers a well-shaped head. He is a great reader and student and an enthusiastic supporter of education. His bammock swings under the same canopy with that of Salvador Cisneros, the present president, and between the two there is not only perfect harmony, but a genuine brotherly love and esteem. Should Maso, by any accident, become president of Cuba tomorrow there would be no radical change in the policy of the administration, and even the present cabinet would probably rel tact. for his autograph, he conceived the idea of selling his signature for the benefit of the fund. A letter which he wrote to an auto- graph hunter is publishe for the first time. It reads as follows: “Naulakna, Waite, Vt.—Dear Your order of the 22d instant has been filled, we trust, to your satisfaction, and the stuff is returned herewith. “We did not know that there would be such a mass of lumber to put through the mill, and we note, also, that your order covers at least two supplementary orders— (a) in the case of a young lady, aged nii teen (not in original contraci), and (b) an autograph book, for which we have sup- plied one original hard-wood verse. “Our mills are running full tim, ent, in spite of busir are very reluctant to turn away any job that offers. Under these circums: and making allowances for time consumed in unpacking, sorting, packing, crating and returning finished goods, we should esteem it a favor if you could see your way to for- warding an additional $10 to the fresh-air fund. Very sincerely yours, R. Kipling & Co. “P. S.—Autographs supplied on moderate terms; guaranieced sentiments to order, Verse a specialt; No discount for cash.” i ppp eae: Largest Dry Dock. From the Chicago later-Ocean. There is now in process of construction in England, at the order of the Spanish gcvernment. for the port of Olougapo, in the Philippine Islands, the largest floating dock of its kind in the world. It is over 450 feet long, 117 feet wide, and 38 1-2 fect deep. This dock, the sides of which are of steel, will rest on six iron pontoons, each fourteen feet d Powerful pumping en- gines will lift vessel weighing 12,000 tcns in two hours. The dock will accom- modate a vessel 500 feet long. Herr Pumpernickel’s dachshunds grew so lcng In the body that they sagged" in the middle and touched the ground. Herr Pumpernickel set Determined to Be Free. But one thing is most certain, there would be no, possibility of compromise with Spanish arms. Under his adminis- tration there .can be no home rule, no autonomy, no peace until the monarchial himself to thinking, with this result.—Lito, oe ; If want an ad. star’ it unybody has what Jou wish, Fon and seemed to in doubt as to will get an answer, . ee