Evening Star Newspaper, November 13, 1897, Page 14

14 Written for The Ev.nirg Star. “It is difficult to convince the younger generation how this city has grown in the past thirty or thirty-five years,” remarked a well-known citizen to a Star reporter, “and particularly how that portion in the northwest section in the city, west of 1ith and north of M streets, has developed into @ residence, from a farm section. While the farms were not as large as the ordi- nary farms of the country they were farms, nevertheless, and some of them were large enough for all purposes. They were not garden farms exclusively, though the ma- jority of them were devoted to growing market truck. I will never forget the Miller farm, the house of which stood about where is now the corner of 16th and P streets. Mr. Miller not only raised a great quantity of garden truck, but he had two large grass farms connected with his place, on which he raised large crops of hay. Thirty-five years ago i was a big enough boy to play base ball, and was a member of the Eagle base ball nine, which played fine ball for those times. One of Mr. Mil- ler’s sons was a member of our nine, the shortstop, I think, and we were exceeding- ly anxious that he should play with us. When spoken to about it, the Miller boy said that hi her would not let him play until the which had been cut on the farm, had been raked up and stacked. The club wanted the services of their short- stop, and wanted them bad, and the only way to get him was for the entire nine, aided by at ieast nine others, who were members of the club, though not on the principal nine, for nearly all base ball clubs Fa those days had two or three nines, to go up there and gather and stack up the hay. It took cizhteen good-sized boys, with the the entire morn- jock in the after- help of two farm ha: ing and until nearly 3 0 noon, to do the work. We got our short- stop, but the game, which was played rly all games then were, on the White I mention this to show that there was a_very large crop of hay to be gathered. While up in that neighborhood a few even- ings I told some boys about our ex- periences in haymaking. As they looked | around and saw the rows of fine brick | houses they could not realize it, and to tell the truth. I hardly could do so myself. But what I told them was Gospel truth.” re ee eg “It is as clear to me as anything can be, that is in the future,” said a scientist who is prominently connected with one of the scientific institutions of the government to a Star reporter, “that it will not be very long before the stock of coal in this coun- try will run out. Already some of the best mines have 1 deserted, and many oth- ers are almost worked out. There is enough in sight to last some years, but the amount consumed is increasing constantly. There will have to be an end. What will supply heat and motive power? Where will our fuel come from? Electricity, I know, is de- pended upon, but it requires cual, and a lot of it, to generate electricity. Our water Powers, of course, can be relied upon to do @ great deal in that direction, and there does not seem to be any limit to the dis- tance that electric power and heat can be carried, as is instanced by the wonderfully successful experiments now in operation at Niagara and other places, where water falls are being harnessed. There is a theo- ry that at some time the electric currents in the air can be brought down to the earth and utilized as fuel and motive power, though the experiments so far in that di- rection have not been as successful as could be desired. It is only fair to add, however, that they have not been conducted on any extended scale. But granting that elec- tricity will prove all that is expected of it, I am convinced that it will all be needed and even more. Where is the addition to come from? It is nonsensical to go inte any such sort of calculations, but I am firmly convinced that those who are to fol- low us will bave to fall back on water. We have plenty of water, and after we have us it for ail other purposes will have water to burn. Of course, the diffi- culty will be to get a means to burn it. That it can be burned has been demonstrz ed. The component parts of water, hydr gen and oxygen, furnisk plenty of fuel, when they are separated or are found ‘in the proportions desired. Could we decom- pose water and get the hydrogen and oxy- gen in the shape we need them, there would be no trouble, and the gradual dis- appear! of coal mines would not be the source of alarm that it now Is. There have been a number of stoves made to burn water as a fuel, and in a small way some of them have dore so. After building a fire with coal in the ordinary way, if it could be arranged that a certain quantity of water could be onducted to it; that is, on the bed of coals, a fire could be kept up forever, making the ordinary calculations for the burning out of the stoves and other parts of the apparaius, which has to be done with coal or wood fires. One drop more than the certain quantity needed, however, the fire lence and invention i ally solve this matter, and it te of the next fifty years that arning water as a fuel to run ines, which, in turn, will else. That water contains “sary elements for fuel is sure. The probiem that is presented is to sepa- can get in proper Propet proportions, fn other nsumption as fuel.” #4 4 & “Those who have not given any atten- tion to the progress in the art of teaching and educational matters in general,” ob- served a public schcol teacher to a Star re- Porter, “are much more liable to criticise the present methods of teaching than oth- ers. O1 recently a gentleman who re- sides in Georgetown came to me, and ex- Perienced great wonder, because his six- year- boy was being taught to write Sentences. ‘It seems to me,’ he sald, ‘that we really live in topsy turveydoms when children who have not yet mastered their a@iphabet are asked to write out sentences. How can they,” he asked, ‘be expected to Write when they don’t know their A B C's? I then explained to him that the modern system of teaching gave no attention to the A B C part of the educational systems of the past. To him it seemed like a con- tradiction, that children could be taught to write before they had learned their letters or spell even words of two and three let- ters, and yet it is a fact chat they can and are being taught by the hundreds of thous- ands in the public and private schools all over the country, and world where modern methods prevail. Learning the alphabet is not nece ry except as an incident in the system. Instead of being taught their let- ters in the old-fashioned way, the letters are used to teach how words are construct- ed. To illustrate: I have just got a new class of little ones. Of the twenty-three in the class, at least seven or eight only knew, when they entered the class, three weeks 2g0, two or three letters in’ the alphabet each. I do not know that they are thor- oughly familiar with any other letters yet, but this does not prevent me from making them copy sentences of three to five words each, for by doing so they are not only learning letters, but Mow to write. In the methods of the past, good enough, I ad- mit, for the past, but which have improved with present times, there were weeks and Weeks spent in teaching children their A B C’s, ana making simple words out of them. Then the words became more com- plex—up to that time the child only knew the Roman letters on the books, and a script or written letter was just so much Greek. They were forced to unlearn all they had learned when they began to write. First they were taught to print letters, and when they had learned to print them they were toid that printing was all wrong and that the only way to write was to use the séript or written letter and the printed letter was dropped rate them, so that they shape, in | second disappointment. forever. This was the | scorcher. EARD EEN? Then, as they pro- gressed, again the spelling became more difficult and the writing equally so. All that is of the past. There is no teaching of writing, as writing, until the child has matured, and in many instances it is not necessary at all, for writing, as the letters and spelling is learned by the appedrances of things, rather than by a combination of independent letters and sounds. The child has no need of learning the alphabet as a separate thing, for it can only be used in making words, and it has been found much better to learn children by the looks of things and the way they will-always have to use them than by the sound as they weuld learn by spelling by recitation. It ™may appear strange to many that the al- Phabet has been done away with as the a’phabet, but it is not necessary for chil- dren to learn it, except as an incident in writing and spelling.” ax ee “This is the time in the year when new carpets are being laid in the departments, and the time when kicking and growling is in order,” said one of the carpet layers to a Star reporter. “Of course, when the eld carpet is good it is relaid, but when it is worn out, a requisition is made for a jew one. The carpets are furnished by ccntract, which includes cutting and lay- ing them. It is amusing to hear the growls that are made, not: against the character or quality of the carpet, for that 1s provided for in the contract, but on account of the color. The women clerks are the hardest to please, indeed, so hard, that we do not make any effort to please them at ail. One wants a light color, an- other a dark, while another may insist on a medium. As there can only be one car- pet in each room, the number of clerks who are dispieased always exceed the num- ber who ave pleased. Men are much more finicky about such matters than fs gen- erally supposed. I think the patent office has the best plan of selecting carpets. The question of color is left to the judgment and decision of the three oldest clerks in the room which is to get the new carpet. Whether the color is good or bad, the re- sponsibility rests upon the three who select it and they have to defend it against all complaints. In the other departments the chief clerks or the chiefs of the division where the carpet is laid generally do the selecting. I was sent to a room in the War Department one day this week to measure a room for a carpet. One of the clerks insisted that the carpet should be green, another was equally determined that it should be red, while another thought a brown carpet would best match the furniture in the room. There were in all nine clerks in the room, and while I knew exactly what the color selected was | I did not tell the clerks. I let them be- eve that they could have any color they would agree upon. They took five ballots and every time there were no two of them agreed pon a color. As a matter of fact the carpet selected is not the color any of them wanted. There will be plenty of music in that room next week when I lay the carpet.” : ke KK F “The bicycle has come to stay, and it has to be provided for,” explained an architect to a Star reporter, “and already architects are considering the question of arranging for their accommodation. It is a decided nuisance to have to let them down into area ways, as it is to batter the hall doors in trying to get them in the main doors. Housekeepers don’t want them lying about on their uncertain foundations in halls, and tnere is no reom for them in the average dining room. They are decidedly out ot place in parlors, and it is not convenient or Practical to get them into houses by the back doors or alley gates. Besides that, most alley and back gates are locked on the inside, and riders could not open them from the outside if they desired to: The question constantly presents itself, how are bicycles to be housed? ‘I know of a board- ing house uptown which is kept full of boarders, not because the board there is Specially good, but because there is a side yard, which furnishes an easy entrance for wheels. Once inside the yards, the wheels are run under a shed, which keeps them out of the weather, and, besides, is safe. The ordinary boarding hause, as a rule, has no place for bicycles except the main hall, and it is not the best place to leave them. The boarding house keeper does not take kindly to the wheel. It is well enough when there are only one or two wheels to be housed, but when there are from five to seven, and even more, it is a rather diffi- cult problem. It is the same way in private houses. Often the man of the house has a wheel. So has his wife, and so have from one to three children.’ What to do with the wheels is a live and important ques- tion. It is something new to architects, and its treatment is not provided for, as is almost everything e!se that ordinarily goes into a house. The wheels can be hoisted up to the ceilings in the main or basement halls, and thus got out of the way by a pulley arrangement, but that is not a very nice solution of the difficulty. There are many more complications about it than one would suppose.” ————— FROM THE KLONDIKE. ‘The Gentleman From the Gold Dig- gings Tells About the Weather. He had just returned from the top of the Chilkoot Pass and was apparently glad of it. “How was the weather when you left?” inquired a friend. “Cold?” “Yes, but not so bad as it will be along in January, after the mosquitoes get out of the air and let the wind have a chance. Then it gets good and cold. A man told me who had wintered up there seven years that it was so cold in January that they freze the flames of their candles and sold them for strawberries. He said they kept ‘heir fires over night by putting them out in the air and letting them freeze and then thawed them out in the morning. He said he had seen four men die of colic from eating whisky that was frozen so hard it wouldn’t thaw inside of them. He said the cows all gave ice cream till they froze to death. He said he knew a clerk in a hotel on the Yukon that got rich selling the diamonds he wore, said diamonds being nothing on earth but ice crystals that didn’t thaw till after the clerk had got out of the country. He said he had seen a man fall off the roof of a barn and freeze so stiff before he lit that he broke in two whea he hit the ground. He said he had seen smoke freeze in a chimney till the fire wouldn't draw, and he knew of one case where the smoke froze after it got a hun- dred feet up and fell back on the house, knockirg a hole in the roof big enough to drive a yoke of steers through. He said the reason the rights were so long in that country was that the dark got froze so hard the daylight couldn't thaw its way through in less than six months. He said: “Excuse me,” interrupted the friend, “did this party have affidavits with these state- nents?” “He suid he had, but I guess he must have froze to death hunting for them, be- cause he never ceme back when I asked him to go after them for me,” and the re- turned Chilkooter smiled a smile that was childlike and bland. —— Deserved It. From Life. Tenderfoot—“But isn’t it rather severe punishment for stealing a bicycle?” Native—“Dat ain't HIS VERSION OF THE AFFAIR JItomy Houlihan 1s a stable boy, attached to one of the many racing establishments quartered at the Benning race track. The other evening Jimmy came into town to attend the theater. He is a stranger in Washington, however, and as he expresses it, “went the wrong course,” landing in one of our most prominent churches in- stead of at the theater. The church was brilliantly lighted, prettily decorated and crowded to the utmost, the occasion being the wedding of a young couple prominent in social circles. In some inexplicable way Jimmy “got in de push,” as he explained it, and witnessed the ceremony. This is the way he described the event to his friends the next day: “Well, say, de push was immense—de grand stand bein’ packed an’ de quarter- Stretch lookin’ like Coney on Suburban day. De wedder was fine, as de press- stand guys say, wile as fur de track it was lightnin’ fast. De start was fixed fur 8 o'clock, but dere was a strong tip out dat dey wouldn’t go to de post ’fore 8:30, an’ fur once de talent struck it dead right. At 8:30 de bugle sounded, ail right—dat ts, I means de organ, a fairy next to me pipin’ out dat it was frum Low an’ grin, I t’ink, an’ down cantered de filly, her colors bein’ all _white—hisn black an’ white. “She was a peach, an’ no mistake, bein’ in chatge of her sire an’ ‘tended by de whole stable. An’ say, she was fit as a fiddle, fine 2s silk, an’ you could tell in a minit dat bout everybody had a ticket on her. De fellow didn’t seem to have any following ‘tall, outside his trainer, who walked wid him down to de Post. He was @ good Icoker, all right, but den he ‘peared to be short of work an’ a leetle too leggy fur my fancy. Still, a guy ‘cross de way from me sez to annuder dat he ought to be aos enough if breedin’ goes fur any- “De starter called ‘em ‘fore him, an’ after givin’ ‘em some instructions dat he read from a book, he sent ‘em off at de fust break. As dey got dere stride de feller do- in’ de music act give ’em a blast de self- same fairy said was Meddlesome. De pace fur de fust quarter was slow, both seemin’ to have had waitin’ orders. But passin’ de quarter dey hit it up a little, an’ at de half was goin’ good an’ strong. Nearin’ de three-quarter dey let out a wrap or two, an’ turned into de stretch wid a move on em dat brought de push to dere feet. “De filly seemed to be leadin’ as dey reached de eighth pole, but he soon was on even terms wid her, an’ so Wey rated ‘long Hil in a few jumps of de finish, when both Went on fur all dey was worth. ‘Dey hung it up as a dead heat, an’ I tink dey divided de money, dere bein’ no run off ’nounced.” —_~—-__.. TRAVELED ON A PASS. And So He Thought He Owned the Whole Road. “It brings joy to my dul to see a grum- bler laid low,” remarked a traveling man to a reporter of The Star, recently, and when asked for the story implied, the fol- lewing was related: “We were making the run from New Ycrk to Washington. tl was a fast train, in charge of an amiable ccnductor, ‘The porter in our car had the patience of Job and the good nature peculiar to fat men. There were no crying babies aboard; not a single bridal couple; no complaining old maids, and no “boy orator.” In fact, it was én ideal traveling combination, with a sin- gle_excepticn. “In the face of this all-aréund comfort, there was a well-known Washington man aboard, who had as much fault to find as if he were a passenger on one of the 14th Street cars going north, at the present writing. Nothing suited him, and the ser- vice and attention he demanded proclaimed bim nothing short of a bank president or a Cirector of the road. During the entire run we heard nothing but complaints. ‘The roadbed was uneven as a cobblestone street. There wasn’t a thing obtainable in the dining car fit to eat. The smoking compartment was so small a man could hot stretch his legs,’ and so on, until the rest of us would have willing endured a wreck to put a quietus on the kicker’s disagreeable tongue, or at least furnished him 4 substantial reason for his wholesale complaining. “It was a trying ordeal for his fellow- passengers and our combined sympathy went out to the continually abused porter. The grumbler made the atmosphere of the car heavy with the most ¢mphatic oaths in the unchristian language and the air was rendered a dark blue by his profane elo- quence. A general prayer of thankfulness ascended heavenward when the grumbler finally slept. We even endured his snoring without a murmur. The next morning, which was Saturday. he was the first per- son up, and he made things lively in that car, Pretty soon everybody else was up, and the people were sitting in their seats Folding on to grips and umbrellas ready to fly directly the train steamed into the station. “The grumbler was being brushed by the perter down in the front end of the car, and every movement of the broom in the por- ter’s hand was accompanied by a volley of profanity. At the conclusion of one of these startling outbursts, a mild-looking old gen- tleman at the other end of the car glanced toward the offender and in the gravest manner drawled out this innocent inquiry: “Say, my brother, where do you preach tomorrow?” The humor of the question was appreci- ated by the other occupants of the car, who roared with laughter at the expense of the grumbler. I never saw a man so completely knocked out by a chance blow. The general amucement of the pasengers was too much for the grumbler and + he made the remainder of the journey out on the platform. “Somebody asked who he w: The porter said he knew him well. “Dat man ain't no account, anyhow, spite of his airs and grumblings. Der wa’n't nuffin’ good nuf for him, sure, and he was traveling Geadhead clean through. Barring this tickle he just done gib me, I guess he ain't epent one cent on the trip.’ ” ———_—_ WAS A BRIGHT Boy. But He Wanted the Monument Open- ed on Sundays. “Say, mister, have you ever been up in that place?” said a boy, probably fifteen or sixteen years old, addressing a stranger on one of the Wait line cars. The car was just passing the monument lot, and the boy pointed to the sheft as he spoke, “What's it like?” he asked, his first ques- tion having been answered in the affirma- tive. “I should think a boy like you would Lave been there for yourself,” replied the stranger. = “I've been thinking about it for a long time,” replied the boy, and 1 guess I'll do it. When I go by in the morning it looks so big and strange standing in the mist, with just a little sunlight on the top. Then when I come back it’s mostly dark and the great white shaft stands out against the sky. I always look at it, and I want to go in it and get away up in the top. Some of these days I'll do it. Do you think I could make it in half an hour I might stand to have my pay docked for half an hour. But I’m efraid that if I got up there I might stay longer and then I'd |.be short on money to pay my board that week. I go there Sundays and walk around is sometimes, but it’s shut then Say, do you know, mister, I believe that if e ‘Washington was living he would have that open for a little while on Sundays and hol- idays. I've been thinking that maybe it might be open a while on T! ving day. If it ain’t, I'll go there some day, anyhow, and get docked for it.” “Where do you work?” asked the strang- er. “Down here in a sawmill. You see, I get only $4 a week, for board. Horse tpleveg, said the philosopher in one of his I res tO his class, are bad in what- ever light you take them. They demoral- ize the moral sense of the community, as “keeper besides making people walk instead or | of the cats” with a circus and has had a Fide, andthey.gon’t half take care of the | great experience with all kinds and varie- horses after they get them. A horse thief | tles. He does not fear any of them, and will steal’a hundred dollar horse, ride him nearly to death, and then sell him for twelve dollars and a drink, gll of which is calculated to wound the pride and self respect of the gnimal to a hurtful extent. they seem to be aware of the fact. Recently in conversation with a Star re- porter he said that in order to handle ani- mals properly, as in everything else, the person must understand them thoroughly. Some before trolley cars came | They have much more sense and under- in and te e horse market there were | Standing, he says, than they are_generally numerous, wis. of organized horse | Siven credit for. They can tell in an in- tant when any one is afraid of them, and will take advantage of it in a moment. At the same time, he says, nerve is not every- thing requisite in going among wild beasts with impunity. Their moods and tempers thange just the same as do those of per- sons, and treatment which will be well re- ceived one day, will probably invite an at- tack another. “If there is any familiarity to be indulged in between a keeper and an animal,” said Mr. Blackburne, “always let it come from the man and never from the beast. If he wants to pet an animal, all well and good, but he must never let one of them have an idea that it can presume. to ‘jolly’ a Keeper. If this takes place control is lost over the animal, as it immediately imag- ines It is as capable of running things as its keepers. The old adage that familiarity breeds contempt is never more truly exem- plified than between a keeper and an ani- m: thieves ig. the jild and woolly west, who, when not engaged in the serious occupa- tion of horse lifting, varied their after- Trocns by little stage robberies and inci- dental murders. One of these outfits in the neighborhood ‘of Deadwood became es- pecially annoyii to the authorities and to those citizens who were happy. or un- Lappy in the possession of a pony. Finally patience ceased tg be a virtue and the or- ders came from headquarters to the mar- shal of the district to organize a posse and bring the gang in so that retribution could be meted out. ’In’a short time the Depart- ment of Justice was informed that the posse had been formed, had gone on the hunt and had returned with three prisoners, who were ‘turned over to the authorities and whose fate is not set down in legend or song: After a time, however, the department here was grieved by receiving without ex- Planation a bill reading “the United States Gcvernment, dr., to the Deadwood posse, $'2,000 for the expenses of catching three horse thieves.” Although with a doubting mind the department sent the bill to the Treasury Department. The treasury did not spend a moment in doubting, but with 2 promptitude and a harshness barn of cng experience turned the bill down; in fact, turned it upside down. The auditor did not contend himself with a turn-down, but added some American language about people who wanted four thousand dollars aplece for catching everyday horse thieves, wken the variety could be picked up any day on the road for $10 a head. The au- ditor closed with some uncomplimentary allusions to a department that would send vp such accounts. The Department of Justice felt even more grief at this rebuke than at the receipt of the original bill and sent a friend of mine, who was in the ser- vice, out to investigate the account. This man went out to the Deadwood neighborhood with a mind filled with preju- dice. Primarily he objected to an extrava- gant valuation on horse thieves, and sec- ondarily he had his opinion of a posse that, starting out to round-up a gang of horse thieves, only succeeded in capturing three. al. “There is a great deal of difference in the methods of training animals. “I should much rather have to deal with a spirited animal which would most likely make an attempt to attack, the first time one~en- tered its cage than with one which would sneak around and try to get out of the way. The former animal can be trained to do almost anything, as it shows its su- perior intelligence in making an effort to defend itself. A sneaky animal I have found can never be subdued or trusted at any time. One that will have every ap- pearance of being mortally in rear wnen its cage is entered and will strive to get away wul spring in a moment if one’s back is turned. “There is a difference in the caste of animals even. Dunk, the large elephant, is a much higher caste animal than Gold Dust. That can be told almost from look- ing at-the two animals. Dunk is tractable and docile. He seems to understand that it is much better for him to be so than otherwise, not because he is afraid of pun- ishment. On the other hand, Gold Dust is apparently docile because he is afraid that he will get the worst of it if he does anything wrong. The other has naturally ne desire to overstep the bounds. Gold Dust is more of a scrub elephant, and he looks it. Thirdly, he di | No matter how much he is fed he will not wood at all. “At aay Tate, he becan tay ead-l ecome fleshy. There 1s almost the same testimony. difference in their manner of eating, when His first inquiries consisted of an in- formal talk with the big leader of the posse, and what he learned went something like_this: si “How many members were there to that horse thief gang?” “Well, about twenty-five.” ‘And you captured three?” ies, we put three of them in Jail.” ave the rest of the gang been givin, —— since then?” ated “Well, one watches It, as there is between that of a highly refined society woman and a low-down tramp. Just watch them.” Hay was thrown to both the animals. Gold Dust hardly waited for it to touch the floor in front of him before he whipped out his trunk, grabbed up a bunch of it indis- criminately and shoved it into his mouth as if he had been a man taking a huge bite of bread. Dunk carefully spread out his hay, taking a wisp of it at a time, the no, they haven't troubled choicest portions, until he had made a roll neers “S| about a foot iu length and two or three ke ee you must have captured the | inches thick. When it had been arranged leaders?” to his taste he put it into his mouth and “No, can’t.say they was. The three we | chewed it up, finishing it before beginning brought in dida’t amount to much; they | on some more. The other elephant had eat- only cooked amd carried water for the |en all of his hay before Dunk had half reo Hi finished his. It was simply a display, on a “Ump! large scale, of the table manners of Beau That closed the first round, and after | Brommel end a hobo. light refreshments the inquiry took a new line, the man from the department having | - a neaee San faken on some additional prejudice eects AND THE BLOW ALMOsT— ing the case. ---—— “Well, how pany were there in that | For It Meant Twenty Years of Labor it of pure, % Thrown Away. (Stranger, théfe was just twenty-four.”’ R ye Eddy of Minnesota has “U, 1 Five! . ‘epresentative Eddy of 3 0 How nee sycuindred Gollara apiece. | tne cleanest meerschaum pipe in Washing- “We was out ¢xactly twelve days.” ton. He is a man who makes a friend of ei ae oe pour dollars a day.” | his pipe. It is his comapnion when cee = id Fon ad nd tas thing some way. | He dreams over it, philosophizes over it, Wi dia Sou diftnc nest gay? and it is a sort of condiment to aid in the “And ‘the precha— ee digestion of the books he reads. For anat d4¥ We, sufprised the horseys in | twenty years or more he has had one fa- nba 366. Py) vorite meerschaum pipe. It has been pride and the comfort of his quiet hours. It was a beautiful and expensive pipe when ke got it, and year after year a ceeper richness of coler came upon it, until it came to be just about as perfect in every + “Well, we fit some” i “Were any, of the thieves hurt?” “Some stx of them were shot u - erable.” iP consid. one “eid arent” respect as a meerschaum can be. A few “We rode {ike h. days ago the amber stem got broken. “The next—” Mr. Eddy took it to a foreigner who has # shop on a side strect in this city and who was recommenied as a repairer of broken. novelties. The next day the mender of nevelties appeared with the pipe care- “We come onto the horseys as thi crossing a ford.” ni php! “Any thieves hurt?” ‘We buried five of them afterwards.” i fully done up in a cloth. TW niet ed ix “Ah,” he said, “I dona a bea-u-tiful re- ratel: unted horseys sepa-| pair.’ It is, ah, so bea-u-tiful lika new,” and as he unwound the cloth a proud smile played across his dark face. Then he held the pipe up to its owner's eyes. A new amber replaced the broken stem and the pipe was white and new looking. “It _was, oh, so dirty. I thought I cleana it. With alcohol and sandpaper, very fine sandpaper, I vleana it bea-u-tifully.”” The pipe had been carefully sandpapered —very carefully sandpapered. ‘Any “fighting?” ‘Well, there was considerable shooting and cutting. I believe five of them was ready for the reserrection.” “What about the sixth day?” “That day we got the drop on six of them in @ canon and had *em tied before they knew it.” “What did you do with them?” “Well, stranger, the boys hanged them six. Being ar‘officer of ‘the government, of course I didn’t také‘no hand in it, but kept my back turned until it'was all over. The next day we caught the Jast three. They threw up their hands THE USE OF CORAL, By No Means as General as It Was hrew hands soon as we got in Formerly. shooting range. The boys was going to| «« hang them, too, but I said ‘No! No sitvecs | “The beautiful coral necklaces and I said. ‘The United States government has sent you out to catch these horse thieves; the United States government is paying gcod wages, and expenses, and I'll be d—d if the United States government shan’t get something for its money. These three hcrse thieves goes quietly back to jail; be- sides,’ I says, ‘they ain’t no regular horse thieves, anyway, they’s only cooks and wa- termen.’ Then we rode peaceful back to camp, being 200. miles therefrom.” My friend was a little weak by this time, but he managed to continue. ‘Wasn't anybody in your party hurt?’ “Oh, yes. We was all considerable shot and cut wu “Anybody killed?” “Fourteen of the boys was killed out- right and two has died since then.” “What was your idea of disposing of the $12,000 you have asked?" “Well, the boys thought the survivors ought to get about $25 apiece for their services, and that the widders and or- phans ought to’take the rest.” “Colonel, will you take a drink?” “Some!” Then the man from the department sent a telegram to his chief saying that the Deadwood bill was all right, and that the auditor was an ass. The philosopher said he did not know whether the moral of his story was that treasury auditors did not know as much as they thought they did, or that horse thieves were worth more dead than alive. wee Parigian Economy. “In Parid notMing is wasted, not even the brooches that were once so fashionable are seldom worn now by women in this coun- try,”” said a New York dealer in rare and curious ornaments to a Star reporter recent- ly. Thirty years ago the material was in great demand for all sorts of articles ot personal adornment. At the present day coral is used largely only in such countries as Abyssinia, the Congo, the Cape, India and Ceylon, Siberia, China and Japan. The choicest pleces are used for the buttons of Chinese mandarins, or for ornamenting the turbans of rich Mussulmans, while the in- ferlor qualities are sent to less civilized untries, where they are employed for va- j“Coral has been often used as money in oriental countries, but that use of it is now declining. Barbarous and semi-civilizea peopies employ it largely for ornamenting arrows, lances and pikes, and also for dec- orating corpses before interment. Prices have varied much of late years, a rapid de- cline in value having taken place, owing principally to the scarcity of good and the comparative abundance of inferior quali- ties. “Besides the Icss accruing to the fisher- men, the present scarcity of coral is very seriously affecting the large number of people employed in preparing the material for market. There -has been a great de- cline in the number of women thus en- gaged at Leghorn, and the same state of affairs is evident at Naples and Genoa, the other principal seats of the industry. Now- adays the proportion of inferior quality is so much larger that fewer persons are re- quired to manipulate the quantity. Noma- chinery or mechanical process is employed. The workman simply takes pieces of coral into his or her hands, one after another, and, according to their thickness, quality and defects, works them into certain forms. Their wages run from 15 cents to 35 cents per day.’ @ source @f profit. Old: provision tins, for instance, dre fut! of money: © JOHNSON» Written for Tae Evening Star. f A Refrain. " Gaily came a minstrel singing, As he journeyed fast and free, From his heart gay fancies flinging, “She is all the world to me; Night or day time, Toil or play time. She fs all the world to me.” “Shall I seek the far-hid jewel Where life's fiercest foemen he, When her glances kind or cruel With their shifting lights I see? Nay; I rate her Glories greater. She 1s all the world to me. “Warmer than the tropi¢’s breathing, As it sweeps the southern sea; Colder than the snow drift’s wreathing; Radiant as the blossomed lea; So her changing Moods go ranging. She is all the world to me.” * * * A Reconciliation. “I just thought I'd call in,” he exclaimed as he genially bulged kis way into a priv- ate office, “an’ explain to you newspaper folks as how I took it all back.” “You mean you want to publish a retrac- tion of some kind?” ‘ “No. I don’t want to publish anything. But I've beer. a-doin’ you an injustice in my thoughts, an’ mebbe in my speech, an’ I thought as long as I was in town I'd come around an’ tell you that I see how it is. I don’t hold no grudge, an* ef you've heard of me sayin’ any unkind things in the past, you needn’t have no fear of their kein’ repeated in the future. I’m the man that wrote an’ offered to.send you pieces about the ‘goin’s on in Slippery Ellom, which is about as lively an’ progressive as eny cross roads you ever see. Of course you remember the reason you give me fur not printin’ what I. wrote?” “It was something about the pressure guour columns being too great, wasn't “Them’s the exact words. I didn’t be- lieve 'em, though. You've got my wife to thank fur bringin’ us together an’ gittin’ tris matter straightened out. As soon as I told her what you wrote, she went an’ got a paper. This is it,” and he pulled a paper from the sidepocket of his great ccat. He unfolded it io a page on which most of the matter was printed in very fine type. “As soon as I seen that I understood the case an’ I was downright sorry I badn’t talked with my wife about it sooner. I want to tell you right here, frank an’ free, as man to man, that I don’t blame you fur not tryin’ to git no more into yer paper. After you've got the pressure so great as to squeeze all the letters together that way, I cculdn’t, as a reasonable man, expect that you'd keep right ahead an’ run the resk of breakin’ somethin’.” * x * A Discovery. The merry wag who appears to think that all tha remainder of humanity was cre- ated for the sole purpose of affording him opportunities to amuse himself, had gotten through his repertoire of signing the names of perscnal acquaintances to fictitious ad- vertisements, sending sawdust in’ express : packages and the +, like, clear around to we [7 the loaded cigar. 2 With his character- istic disregard of ex- bow” pense when a chance = to be humorous is concerned, he invest- ed in some fireworks of this description. One of the peculiari- ties of a practical joke is that it is most effective when the victfm is a per- son whose nature is devoid of sym- pathy with such things. The manner in which it serves to drag somebody whose mind is on matters of importance back to every-day earth for a little .while, thereby preventing over- taxation of his intellect, may be what in- spires the perpetrator with the hallucina- tion that he is a philanthropist instead of a fiend. The proud proprietor of the loaded cigar, who is a contractor, selected as the subject of his first experiment a man whose acquaintance he has made in the course of business; qne whese extensive interests have made him sedate, but not exclusive. The gift was trustingly accepted, and, as tke recipient proceeded to smoke, the young man stood off and waited with repressed glee for the nax, His joyful imagina- tion pictured everything from a dead faint to emotional insanity. In a few seconds there was a puff and a cloud of smoke. When the latter cleared away, the business man was seen holding the remnant away from him, in placid con- templation. “W—weren’t you frightened?” asked the young man. “Weren't you even annoyed?” “Not much. I believe in getting knowl- edge wherever I can find it.” “T don’t quite understand.’ “You remember how the building you put up for me burned down.” “Yes. But I don’t see any connection.” “There isn’t any immediate connection. But it is really interesting to me to dis- cover that the ciger-makers have adopted those same ideas of slow-burning con- struction.” * * * Superiority. White folks hab de learnin' Cullud folks hab sense; Dey don’ hafter read an’ write An’ make a big pretense. White folks takes de paper; Watches it all year To fin’ de proclamation, So's dey’ll know Thanksgivin’s here. Turkey in de bahn yahd; *Possum in de tree; Goodness is a gatherin’ Whah de ’simmon waits foh me. Chicken coop is noisy; Isn’ any fear; T'll need a proclamation “But what's the use o’ wastin’ your time. You don’t have a ckance to go to none of ers or pugilisters or somethin’ similar.” “You don’t mean fur Jake to go on the stage!” I do. All Jake Corntossel, cham- peen greased-pole climber of the world, needs to make him a fortune is a play. An’ that won't be hard to git, nuther. I've read a heap o’ the plots, an’ all we'll need is to have the villain run off with the girl an’ be brought to bay at the foot of a telegraph pole. Swift as thougnt he will grab a pan o’ lard from a little giri who has been to the grocery, and, claspin’ the heroine around the waist climb the pole, greasin’ it behind him so as to pre- vent pursuit. Then jest as ‘all the men folks have give up tryin’ an’ the women is standin’ around sayin’ “Merciful heaven, what shall we do,” Jake comes along an’ climbs the pole while the audience gocs wild weth enthusiasm!” * . A Destre for Blesance. The impressive man who had been talk- ing to a number of the citizens about his plans for making Crimson Gulch the me- tropolis of the far west was heartily salut-_ ed by Derringer Dan. “You seem in a very cheerful mood,” he mented with patronizing amlability. es, sir, It’s only once in a while that much style strikes th® settlement, an’ it's kind 0° soothin’ to me to know that I'm goin’ to be in a position to live up to it. See that saddle?” he went on with glee that was almost juvenile. “Yes, “Ef you was to see anybody ridin’ a sad- die like that there, wouldn't you feel like givin’ in an’ sayin’ he was purty high- toned? Of course, I don’t mean to say that & man with an old saddle can’t be jest as Sood as anybody; but there seems to be ec ways of sizin’ things up that I ain't onto, an’ I was merely tryin’ to hit the trail.” “Where did you get it?” “I won that saddle,” was the reply in de- leberate tones, “in a poker game, by means of my personal prestige.” “I am afraid I don’t quite understand you.” i “Don't you know what ‘personal prestige’ ar ‘Yes. In a general way.” ‘Well, we thought we might as well bring it down to particulars. Havin’ noticed that wh€never a man come around working his personal prestige it turned out to be a bluff, the trustees of the Benevolent Asso- ciation of Dead Game Sports couldn't see no reason fur not officially adoptin’ the more elegant term.” —__.__. AS A TRAVELING COMPANION. A New Use Discovered for the Run- m Blouse. The reason of that new-fangled feminine fancy known as the Russian blouse was discovered by a Star reporter on a@ trip from Jersey City to Washington a few nights ago. The train had just begun to move out of the Jersey City station when a young woman, rather on the “new” order, swung herself aboard. She was al- most breathless from hurrying, and, unlike the majority of her sex, was singularly unhampered by luggage. A neatly rolled umbrella and a jacket were all the travel- ing gear she carried. The young woman occupied a section by herself, and it was apparent that she con- templated retiring, for she requested the porter, with every indication of weariness, to make up her berth with all possible haste. Yet was The Star reporter mildly curious to observe that the young woman had no grip in which it is usual to carry toilet conveniences. He wondered if she contemplated lying down in an immaculate tailor-made shirt and a fashionable Rus- sian blouse. As the making up of the berth neared completion, the young woman rose and pro- ceeded to the lavatory. Every one in the car looked at her, for she was exceedingly handsome and possessed a trim little fig- are. Pretty soon she returned to her sec- tion, and the reporter marveled more than ever. She was arrayed in a black India silk neglige, and she carried ker blouse over her arm. Several observing women ex- changed wondering glances, for they, too, had noticed the absence of all luggage, and were puzzled at the transformation. This fascinating traveler was the object of general attention next morning, as the train was rolling into Washington. The young woman sat calmly in her section, rolling into the smallest and tightest bundle possible the India silk garment. This com- pleted, she closed a folding comb, put a tooth brush into an oil silk cover, and with a dexterous movement from under- neath, which looked like the stretching of an elastic bend, the young woman sii neglige, comb and tooth brush into her Russian blouse. A handkerchief and veil soon followed, and lo! the traveler sug- gested one of our West End girls arrayed for a morning stroll on F street, without a suggestive sign of having passed the night on a sleeper. —-—.—_ A Poor Peace Offering. He got off the car with a bunch