Evening Star Newspaper, December 11, 1897, Page 25

IN COCKNEY STYLE “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” Most Wonder- fully Done in England. ee PERFORMANCE WITHOUT THE HS Costumes and Scenery Alone Worth the Price of Admission. gee LAND OF ALTH AND ‘OPE Harry Thursten Peck in the Bookman. ed to be spending time ago I hapy in Liverpool, g arrived a n advance of the sailing of my t was not the first visit, nor the nor the third: and so hours rather slow nd when the even- et ed to the theaters in quest nc and diversion. Oddly enough, > leading houses the stage was ys relating to American man- the first a drama whose name I all was billed as “A Thrill- of Far Western L now Pict ing the advertisement it a scene vas laid, with a slight geographical misfit, in Denver, Nebraska; and by an ex- cess « y on the part of the play- wrigh ains were provided—one be- ing Colonel Esek Siodge and the other plain A foot-note a In the F: dain F Ided the en- th Act, Joe Wil- il Sight of the Au- to see that play, hanging of Joe “Protracte the C cribed as “A Talent in the Furtherm oO was informed ler 1 that thi ali parts being entation af- ure of contem- Harris, George as delineated in that erican plays, entitled = Am Irresist After readir ouncement. especially the allusion American life,” there > but to get a ticket ure of five shill- best seats in the which the present n rise promptly at 8 family mansion of with the negro one of surp: of realism. marble Pillars, and and other tr in the backero: ters of an ink while far away ed the blue wa- ally recordec h were to be a few stray for every one is well aware gondola is a favorit notion with the na- tives of K > Scene Was So very beaut at first forgot to be proximity of the neg’ - white marble man- sion: for the distance between the two was, Well informed of of their dome progress of the ies. But it wa just why the quarters were n. It was to enable the She glut themselves with negro minstrelsy at any hour of the Gay and night, for pres- tly ands emerged and sang a hymn, ling which they repeated at regu: like a cuckoo-clock all throug! n they did so, the Shelbys any other occupation and uspende struck attitudes all over the place and listened. Costumed to Kill. Mr. Shelby was a fine figure of a man. He wore jack-boots and white duck trous- ers, while Mrs. Shelby, at 3 p.m., appeared in a low-necked dress and a tiara of prec- fous stones. When it subsequently trans- Pired that the Shelbys were deeply in debt, end that the white marble mansion was mortgaged up to its fastigium, I coulin’t help thinking that Mrs. Shelby might have raised a little money on her tiara instead of Phineas Fletcher, the Quaker. weakly consenting to the sale of George Harris and Eliza, and of poor Uncle Tom, all of whom presently appeared while the hands were singing their seventh hymn. George Harris was undoubtedly a typical mulatto slave, because the play-bill said so; but if I had seen him anywhere else I should have taken him for Albert Chevalier doing a coster turn. Uncle Tom was nice and black. When he was suramoned to ap- pear, in order that he might be informed that he had been sold to the heartless Haley, he came directly from working in the fields, and he had white cotton gloves on, such as were doubtless always worn at the south by the better class of slaves when hoeing corn and digging sweet pota- tees. He had a fine deep voice and a rich Whitechapel accent; and when he was in- formed that he had been sold to Haley, he otserved with some emotion that it was very ‘ard. But there was no help for it: so he had to go, but not before he, too, had sung a hymn, and listened to the rendering of still another by his fellow-slaves. George and Eliza, however, had more spirit than Uncle Tom, for they resolved to fun away, and they did so while Haley ‘was obligingly looking at the inland sea and the gondolas, and perhaps composing poetry, for he failed to hear a word of their intention, thotgh It was discussed by them in a loud and carrying tone of voice. Sudden Change of Climate. When he did discover it, they had already gore, and then he promptly called for bloodhounds and set off in hot >ursuit, waiting, however, to hear the field hands give a -endering of one final hymn, and also the encores for which the audience very kin called, perhaps to give Eliza and her child a better start. The beginning of the second act revealed a tavern on the banks of the Ohio river, to which place E'iza had succeeded in escaping. The tav- ern was simply but sufficiently furnished with one deal table and two chairs, ind it had a large window which commanded a sweeping view of the river. And here one A Garden in New Orleans. discovered a remarkable .fact as to the veriations of climate that can be found in Kentucky, for whereas the Shelby estate, when Eliza left it, was enjoying a tropi-al summer, the broad Ohlo, on th: the of same s was full of ic of » it is possible to suppose that she had umed six months or so in reaching the river, and had thus given the on time to change: but the speed with which she rushed in seemed to make this hypothesis unte Haley and the bloodhounds were on her track, and already a large pos- ter on the wall of the tavern prociaimed “One Hundred Pounds Reward for a Run- away Slave,” from which it appeared that Kentuckians prefer the English monetary ystem. As soon as Eliza saw the poster he felt faint and sat down on one of the ckairs, and when Phineas Fletcher present- ly came in, she confided in him at onc, be- cause he was a Quaker and said “thee” and “thou,” and because, as she told him, he had so good and kind a face. I should my- self have taken him for Jesse James, but Eliza knew her man, and when the blood- hounds were presently heard baying, he shut her up in a large closet for safety. Canine Tails of Woe. Haley soon appeared with his myrmidons and two bloodhounds. The bloodhounds were very large and fat, and they inspired real terror—not in Phineas Bletcher, but in Haley and his minions, who were obviously afraid lest the animals should lean up against the scenery and go to sleep, so that it became necessary, from time io time, to tread casually on their tails to keep them awake and baying. Haley had some talk with Phineas, and presently wanted to look in the closet, but when he grew insist Phineas, like a true Quaker, pulled a out of each boot and stopp2d kim. Later the myrmidions attempted the same thing, and then Phineas pulled two more pistols from somewhere down the back of his neck and stopped them. Then Haley weni out to get more myrimidons, and Phineas had to give up; so he rushed Eliza out of the se, and she ran across the river on the just as in the book, her passage being ible from the window. ‘The audience naturally felt a good deal of sympathy with E but for my part I was sore con- cerned for Haley and the myrimidons, since, in spite of the rigor of the climate which filled the river with icebergs, they were all clad in linen dusters and overalls, and I am sure their legs must have been very cold. Stil further along in the play we were introduced to the luxurious abode of St. Clare in the city of New Orleans, and to the details of his domestic menage. A good deal of the action took place in the garden, a noble plaisaunce inclosed in a dense thicket of fir-trees, and with contiguous mountains topped with snow. Miss Ophelia Was a Very prominent figure in these scenes She was a very ample lady with a bunch of keys at her waist and a rubicund counten- ance, and her language was intimately sug- gestive of Néw England, for she said “How shiftless!”” at least once in every two min- utes, though sometimes, when she varied the form and said, “Now, that’s really very shiftless, you know!” or “Drat it, you're really quite too shiftless!” one couldn't help suspecting her of being secretly an Arglomaniac. Couldn’t Pick Up the H's. She was greatly concerned with the gen- eral disorder of what she called the ‘ouse, ard went about picking up everything that anybody dropped, except the h’s, St. Clare was also an interesting character, though it was darkly hinted that he was given to @issipation, and, in fact, he showed this THE EVENING STAR, SA’ DECEMBER 11, 1897-26 PAGES. we oe be y 25 NEUTRAL USE OF CABLES Interesting Problems as to Submarine Tele- graph Lines in War Times, The Sovereign Power of the State Re- cognized in Periods of Stress Re- gardless of Ownership. Alexander Porter Morse in Albany Law Journal. Eleven submarine cables traverse the At- lantic between 60 and 40 degrees north latitude. Eleven of these connect the Ca- nadian provinces and the United States with the territory of Great Britain; two (one American, the other Anglo-American) connect France. Of these seven are largely owned, operated or controlled by American capital, while all the others are under Eng- lish control and management. There is but one direct submarine cable connecting the territory of the United States with the con- tinent of Europe, and that is the cable owned and operated by the Compagnie Francais Cables Telegraphiques, whose ter- mini are Brest, France, and Cape Cod, on the coast of Massachusetts. All these cables between G0 and 40 degrees north latitude, which unite the United States with Europe, except the French cable, are un- der American or English control, and have their termini in the territory of Great Britain or the United States. In the event of war between these countries, unless re- strained by conventional act, all these cables might be cut, or subjected to exclu- sive censorship on the part of each of the belligerent states. Across the South At- lantic there are three cables, one American and two English, whose termini are Per- nambuco, Brazil, and St. Louis, Africa, and near Lisbon, Portugal, with connecting English lines to England, one directly traversing the high seas between Lisbon and English territory, and one touching at Vigo, Spain, at which point a German cable company has recently made a connection. ‘The multiplication under English control of submarine cables has been the consistent policy of Great Britain; and today her cable communications connect the home govern- ment. with all her colonies and with every strategic point, thus giving her exceptional advantages for commercial as well as for political purposes. The schedule blanks of rates of the English companies contain the following provisions: “The dispatches of the imperial government shall have priority when demanded. The cable must not, at any station, employ foreigners; and the lines must not pass through any office, or be subject to the control of any foreign goverrment. In the event of war, the gov- ernment (of Great Britain) may occupy all the stations on English territory or under the protection of Great Britain, and it may use the cable by means of its own em- ployes.”” It is not a pleasing reflection that in the actual situation the United States is at a great and embarrassing disadvantage. Meanwhile it would seem to be the pol of the United States to overcome this dis: advantage by the muitiplication of sub- marine cables under American or other than English competing foreign ownership and control. Although somewhat indeterminate, the policy of the United States in respect to the landing of foreign submarine cables, so far, at least, as the executive branch of the government is concerned, appears to be based chiefly upon considerations that shall guard against consolidation or amalgama- tion with other cable lin while insisting upon reciprocal accommodations for Ameri- can corporations and companies in foreig: territory. The authority of the executive branch of the government to grant permi: sion is exercised only in the absence of legislation by Congress regulating the sub- ject, and concessions of the privileges here tofore have been subject to such further action by Congress in the matter as it may at any time take. Several bills are now pending in Congress relating to the landing of foreign submarine telegraph cables with- in the United States, and regulating the establishment of submarine telegraphic cable lines or systems in the United States, As this article is going to press, it Is r ported that the President has refused per- mission to a foreign cable company to re- new a cable terminus within the territory of the United States, and that the question raised as to the power of the federal gov- ernment to deny admission to the cable will be referred to the Attorney General for an opinion. Meanwhile the executive branch of the government holds to the doctrine that, in the absence of legislation by Con- gress, control of the landing and operation of foreign cables rests with the President. The question of the landing of foreign cables received some consideration from the late Attorney General, in connection witi an injunction suit brought by the United States against certain corporations en- gaged in placing on the coast of New York a cable having foreign connection. And he suggested for the consideration of Con- gress whether it would not bs wise to give authority to some executive officer to grant or to withhold consent to the entry of such foreign enterprises into this country on. such terms and conditions as may be fixed by law. The principal and mest important sub- marine cables traversing or connecting the great oceans are owned and operated by private corporations or companies. They are in number 310, and their length in nau- tical miles is 139,754. The length of cables owned or operated by state governments Is, in nautical miles, 18, a The policies of states, the movements of fleets and armies, and the regulation of the markets of the commercial world, depend upon advices, communications and orders that are habitually transmitted through the agency of submarine cables. In this view, the first aim is to safeguard from wanton destruction the delicate and expensive mechanism of these cables; the second is to restrain within the narrowesi limits prac- symbolically by parting his hair in the mid- dle and always appearing with a cigarette, which he was continually allowing to go out and then relighting. Once, however, after he had been no doubt particularly wild, he came in slapping his brow and ex- claiming, “Oh, my head!" and then Uncle Tom dealt with him very effectually. “Mahster,"" said Uncle Tom—who, by the ways wore his hat in the drawing “do you know where such courses 0,” said St. Clare, rather feebly. “Then let me tell you, mahster,” said Uncle Tom, with his deepest voice, “They bend in ‘ell: After this St. Clare smoked no more cigarettes, and always parted his hair on one side. But he must have had a relapse, for when he was brought in one evening, Stabbed, it was stated openly that the af- fair had taken place in “‘a drinking bar.” The last scene showed George and Eliza safe on Canadian soil. George was full of emotion. He announced that at last he had reached a land over which the flag of Hengland floated, where ‘ealth and ‘ope were possible to hevery one, and where, has hall men knew, Britons never, never could be slaves. As he said this he took cut of one of his coat-tails a large cotton pecket handkerchief, which displayed the Eritish emblem, and spread it under his chin like a porous-plaster. This was the cue for the orchestra, which struck up “God Save the Queen;” whereupon every one in the audience arose and the play erded with great enthusiasm. ———_ +00 —____ Emergency Doctors in Paris. From the London Hospital. In Paris a list of doctors ready to attend in case of emergencies occurring in the night is published for the convenience of the puolic. Originally, we learn, a fee of ten francs was the standard payment, but more recently a pool has been instituted, and the result divided quarterly among the doctors. This system has alienated the better class practitioner, and now the em- ployment of the whole class has becoine en- dangered by the death of a patient treated by one of the members who lives on £15 per annum, with a stock of instruments as scanty as his income. ee An Obliging Clerk. From the Springfield Republican. A clerk in a Springfield store had sweet revenge the other day on a woman who had annoyed him. She wanted to look at bas- kets, and for that purpose the clerk took from the shelves a large assortment, until all but two were scattered over the coun- ticable interruptions in the operation of cables, even in the midst of hostilities; and the third is to enccurage the establishment and extension of submarine cables owned and operated by American capital. All these ends may be advanced by the agreement of the powers to neutralize absolutely the submarine cable systems of the world. To do this will be a step in the direction of extending international jurisdiction, which is to be a controlling feature of the new Periodical about to be established at Berlin, and to be printed in German, French id English, under the name of “Kosmodike. ————_"+~-—_. Who Are the Greeks? From Lippincott's. In everything the modern Greek does or says there is to be detected a glance out of the corner of his eye, to see if the Test of the world thinks he is acting as his ances- tors would have acted. No nation believes that so much {s expected of it as does modern Greece, and no nation could strive harder to, fulfill those expectations. The modern Greek believes that the world is constantly comparing him to the ancient Greek, and is expecting him to take the aine commanding position in modern ciy- ization that his ancestor did in ancient civilization. Everything that brings back the outward symbol of the ancient life is hailed by him as joyfully as if it brought back the spirit of the ancient life. The re- vival of the Olympic games is more to him than a successful war. Every reconciling of the modern language-to ancient usage, every substitution of an ancient word or construction for a modern one, is a matter of more gratification than the appearance of some literary masterpiece in the mod- ern language. He looks forward to a time when once more Greece shall be a light to the nations, an eventuality whose crowning word of praise shall be not that Greece leads in the modern world, but that she re- sembles and equals her ancient self. With his intense pride in the past of his nation, with his every thought turned to- ward it, more grievous than the loss of provinces would be the successful demon- stration of the theory that modern Greece is a changeling, a supposititious child, a cuckoo of Servian, Gothic, Venetian de- scent. ——+e+—___ A Story of Kipling’s Youth. The London Academy tells a story of Mr. Kipling when he was a2 lad. He went on a sea voyage with his father, Mr. Lockwood Kipling, the artist. Soon after the vessel RANDOM -VERSE. ——4—i9 biw ‘Trabblin’ on) Togedder. Written for The Evening Star. (@edicated to Dr. Wim. P. Young.) -"Way las’ June de Doé en ‘him, Dey trabbled out togedef, : ‘Wid ‘rangements hadfer fish en sport, "Gardless ob de wedder. Bait dey had, en good grifp, tu, De’s birds ob single feder, Bites ter git, ef nuffint more, While ploddin’ on togedder. Dey cast der lines enjeb’r¥ stream, Es well as eb'ry riber, |: But neber a bass wua cotehed by dem, Trabblin’ on togedder. De leaves am gone, de 'pdssum cum, En, golly, did ye ebber, See such sports wid broken hearts ‘Trabblin’ on togedder? RICH'D SYLVESTER. SaaS Patchwork Verses. From the Detroit Journal. “One kiss, dear maid,” I said and sighed— (Coleridge). Out of those ps unshorn;—(Longfellow), She shook her ringlets round her head— (Stoddard). And laughed in merry scorn.—(Tennyson). Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky;—(Ten- nyson). You. heard them, O my heart.—(Alice Cary). "Tis 12 at night by the castle clock.— (Coleridge). Beloved, we must part.—(Alice Cary). “Come back, come back!” he cried in grief —(Campbell). My eyes are dim with tears.—(Bayard Taylor). How shall I live through all these days.— (Osgood). Or through a hundred years?-(T. 8. (erry). The laughing bridal roses blow—(Patmore). » To dress her dark brown hair.—(Bayard Taylor). My heart is breaking with my woe.—(Ten- nyson). Most beautiful, most rare.—(Read). I clasped it on her sweet, cold hand.— (Browning). The precious golden link.—(Smith), I calmed her fears and she was calm;— (Coleridge). : Drink, pretty «reature, worth). drink. — (Words- And so I won my Gene vieve.—(Coleridge). And walked in parad i—(Hervey). The fairest thing that ever grew,—(Words- worth). Atween me and the skies.—(Osgood), ——_+ e+ __ No Royal Road. There is no royal road to God! The humblest clod Who kneels him down and dares Send one or maybe many prayers Up to the Heart that waits At Mercy’s open gates Treads it, aye, us the elect have trod. no royal road to God! ening rod lence has a sting beggar and for king, And if each soul ob: What, then, can lead ti Though one be bare richly shod? em far astray of fot and one most There is no royal road to God! The common sod = Are we, though on a thronv, Or born low down to gzieve and moan. All our inheritance {s this: A thoroughfare to Hternal Piiss, That, if our eyes but See, is smooth and broad. —EDWARD WILBUR MASON. The Broken Toy Soldier. Marguerite Tracy in December St. Nicholas. No pension bureau offers-us reward for service done; We wear no medals on, our. breast for gal- lant battles won. Yet no one of Napoleon’ sar’s host, Has made-himself a regord auch as even I can boast. They work toy soldiers harder than real soldiermen, you | A march of fifty thousa much to me. I lost a leg at Marathon, an arm at Mon- rey; Was left for dead at Gettysburg—all on the self-same day. roam, I wish some millionaire would found a poor Toy Soldiers’ Home. + Kaiser William. From Pick-Me-Up. “You are young, Kaiser William,” the old man said, “And your knowledge of music Is nil, And yet you conducted an ode that you made— What gave you this wonderful skill?” “In my childhood,” the kaiser replied, with a smile, “My own little trumpet I'd blow, And as I continued the practice, I style Myself a musician, you know.” “You are young,” said the sage, ‘‘as I men- tioned before, And have never yet been in a fight, But somehow you lecture your soldiers on war— Do you think at your age it is right?” “In my childhood,” the kaiser replied to the sage, “I sat on some soldiers of tin, And the knowledge I gained at that critical stage Has helped me my lectures to spin.” “You are young,” said the sage, “and your hands are unused To drawing with pencil or paint, Yet you knocked off a poster which greatly amused The public—it seems very quaint.” “As a child,” said the kaiser, “I painted the door Of my nursery crimson and green, aoe that wasn’t art, I have never be- ore: Been told so—by artists, I mean.” “You are young,” said the sage, “and the ruling of men, Of course, is a difficult task, Although you are getting on nicely, but when Will you govern yourself, may I ask?” “I have.answered three questions, and that is enough,” Said the kaiser, “‘and if you assail My rights as a heaven-born ruler as stuff. And nonsense, I'll put you in jail.” oo —____— Bessie’s at the Chafing Dish. From What to Eat. L Bessie’s at the chafing dish, Stirring, mixing, I will tell you, if you wigh, What she’s fixing-, "Tis crab terrapin, my Bessie neat Eee Has a way delicious—here’s Her receipt: es AG ees Pint of crab meat—chop half hour; Boil a cup and half of,¢ream. Blend two tablespoons of flour And of butter till they. seem Smooth; then add the yelks of four Hard-boiled eggs. ;Then this you With the cream, and-sti some mot With the rest then-mix:it in. Then you add the crab meat fine (Stirring all the while the pot), And a cup of sherrynwin&, Serve in bouillon cups pene hot. £ thin i + Bessie’s at the chafing dish, No. Nor is he frying fish, jo. jor But frogs’ legs— a Litttle “jumpers” from the ‘What a dainty dish they make ;mor one of Cae- nd miles is nothing And as I lie forgotten now, no longer fit to RARE FIRST FOLIOS Nine Copies of Shakespeare's Original Book of Plays, All Perfect and in Good Order, and There Are Doubtless Hundreds of the Volumes in Existence. From the New York Tribune. There appeared a few weeks ago in “Notes and Queries” a list, compiled by a cerrespondent, of forty-five copies of the first folio of Shakespeare which are trace- able today. Its compiler did not claim completeness for his list, but he considered it a step toward the ascertainment of the number of such folios in existence. Of the forty-five which he mentioned, four only were in America. These were credited to Robert Hoe, Augustin Daly and the Lenox Library, New York, and to Robert Roberts of Boston. Instead of three, the writer has been able to find nine. Of these the Lenox Library owns four, Columbia University one, Mr. Hoe and Mr. Daly each one, as stated, and the remaining two copies are the preperty, respectively, of E. D. Church and W. A. White of Brooklyn. It has frequently been observed by liter- ary authorities that the first, or 1623, folio of Shakespeare is not, strictly speaking, a rare book, except in a state of perfect preservation. If all the battered and de- fective copies were counted the list, says one writer, could doubtless be extended into the hundreds. The nine mentioned here, however, and presumably all those in- cluded in the English list, are known to book collectors as “perfect copi. Of the four specimens now in the Lenox Library one is the old Astor library copy, which was recently taken uptown when the consolidation of the two institutions caused scme changes to be made in the arrange- ment of the books. This was known in England as the Stowe copy. Not much is Known about its history beyond the fact that it was bought by Bohn in 1849 for £76. It measures 125 inches by 8% inches, nd has the Ben Jonson verses, opposite the Droeshout portrait, inlaid. The most famous of the Lenox folios is the Baker or Litchfield-Baker copy owned by James Baker, King’s Arms, Cole- man street, London. It mei 8% inches and cost in 1855 i distinguishing peculiarity is that it has two canceled leaves in “As You Like It.” It may be said incidentally that all of these folios present some slight differences in the text, so that each has a certain in- dividuality. The most remarkable thing about this copy, however, is that it bears the date 1622 instead of the usual 1623. The discrepancy has been the subject of much argument and opinions seem to have been divided as to whether the alteration was made by accident or design. Of the third Lenox copy no history is given. It is a fine one, similar to the one just described, except that the date is the usual 1623, It has been bound by Francis Bedford in red crushed levant morocco, with gilt edges and tooling on the sides and back. The fourth and last of the folios now int library was formerly the prop- erty of Samuel J. Tilden. It is inferior to the others in condition, and is kept locked up instead of being ‘on view in the cases. A remarkably fine copy is that owned by W.) A. White of Brooklyn. It measures 12 3-16 by 7 15-16 inches, and was bound about twenty-five years ago by Francis Bedford. This folio was once the property of Sir William Tite, from whose possession it subsequently passed into that of Eu- gene N. Robinson, and then into the library of Brayton Ives. What would be considered by fastidious collectors a slight defect serves only, Mr. White says, to make his copy more Valua- ble to him. This peculiarity consists of a small wormhole running through the first part of the volume and reaching to the “Comedy of Errors.” It guarantees the fact that the portrait, the leaf with the lines addressed to the reader, etc., are all as they were originally. E. D. Church of Brooklyn owns what has been called by experts one of the finest known copies of the 1 foli Its size, 15% by 8%, is exceptional, and is the same as that of the celebrated Daniel copy, pur- chased at the Daniel sale in 1864 by the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Mr. Church's copy is sound and perfect throughout, and has never been cleaned. He bought it ten or twelve years ago from Dodd, Mead & Co. for $6,500, an unusually high price even for a perfect first folio. Another copy known to collectors for its size and general excellence is that owned by Robert Hoe. The entire inside is abso- lutely perfect, the only place where there has been any retouching being on the up- per right-hand corner of the title page. This had become torn off and new paper has been substituted, with two or three letters inlaid. No details could be learned regarding the folio owned by Augustin Daly beyond the mere fact that it was sold to him about ten years ago by Dodd, Mead & Co., who acquired it in England. It is said to be re- markable more for its perfection than for its large size. The last of the nine copies mentioned, that at Columbia University, found its way into that library as a part of the S. Whit- ney Phoenix collection. Mr. Baker, the Co- lumbia librarian, says it has been pro- nounced by experts to be a beautiful and valuable folio. There was a copy of the first folio in the Pope collection in Brooklyn, which was sold two or three years ago with the rest of that library, but the name of its pres- ent owner could not be learned. It is Pos- sible that there are still other copies in the ighborhood, but the addition of the fore- going to the “Notes and Queries” list is interesting as proving the existence of sev- eral more American copies than were men- tioned there. —————_~e-—_______ CAPARILITIES OF ENGLISH. It is a Most Flexible ‘Tongue. From the London Mail. As our alphabet ncw stands—even after 6,000 years of perfecting—it is a string of singularly ambiguous signs, and affords an unequaled opportunity for tormentors, just as a man who cannot express himself clear- ly can be plagued with sophisticated ques- tions. The confusion of English sound and letters is well illustrated by spelling coffee without one correct letter—kauphy, which spelling is nearer the original than the one in use, for a pamphlet was printed in Ox- ford in 1659 on “The Nature of the Drink Kauphi, or Coffee.” The artistically bad orthography of many of our funny writers is made possible by the glaring inconsistencies of our alphabet. But some instances of naturally funny bad spelling are perhaps equal to any artificial ones. Here is a note that was sent to a doctor: “Cer—Yole oblige me uf yole kum un ce me I hev a Bad kowd am Hill an hev lost my Happy Tight.” The following, receivéd by a school mas- ter, was likely to be misunderstood: ‘Sur—As you are a man of nolege I in- tehd to inter my sen in your skull Here is a bill sent to a gentlema aosafada . atacinonimomagin and Mobile - Pade—J. Jaxn. The items are not apothecaries’ articles, as might be supposed, but merely “A horse half a day and a taking of him home Many eccentric devices of literature de- pend on the peculiar arrangement of let- ters. Some of these have fine-sounding names, and are recognized as famous rec- and forward, is one of the most difficult of all feats of letter-juggling, and has en- ' the attention of the world’s cleverest brains. anagrams to secure the credit of discoveries which they did not wish to reveal. Louis XIII retained in his service an anagram- ™matist named Thomas Billon, with a pen- sion of 1,200 livres. Calvin calls himself by the anagrammatic name of Alcuinus, in the title of his “‘In- stitutes,” printed at Strasburg. Alcuinus was the great restorer of learning in the time of Charlemagne, and substituting u for v (the letters in those days being equivalent), the name Is an anagram for Calvinus. It was deemed a prophecy of fate when it was found that the name of Louis de Bouherat could be transposed to “est la bouche du roi (is the mouthpiece of the king) that of Francis de Veloys to “de facon suis royal” (of royal strain). The fascinating Marie Touchet procured a li eral pension for the writer who deduced ae her name “Je charme tout” (I charm all). But history doesn’t mention anything about Napoleon Bonaparte pensioning the transposer of his name into “bona rap‘s leno pone” (raseal, yield up your stolen possessions). ——_—_—-e-____ THE PAS: OF THE BUTLER, Maids in Neat Costume Replacing Him in Small Establishments. ew York Sun. Some of the best-known people in town, who have for years had their butler and second man always serve at table, now have in their places well-dressed waiting maids, who have most admirably taken the men’s places. The waitresses are all dressed alike in black cashmere gowns, or some- times dark blue, made perfectly plain: { white collars and cuffs, a small tie at the throat, large white muslin apron, made full, with broad bow and ends behind, and straps over the shoulders, and on their heads small muslin frilled caps, with black velvet bow. It amounts to a sort of uni- form. They are noiselessly saod, and move about the table in the most systematic and charming manner. They are light of foot and most attractive to tie eye. Women who command the position of class waitresses must learn the pro- lion, for profession it is. They have first to learn to held themselves erect, to move quickly and quietly and not to break. In fact, there are so many requirements for the expert waitress to become proficient in that before being able to hold such a place the women must go through a long siege of not only hard work, but hard study. There are classes here in New York and elsewhere where women go io acquire gcod taste and knowledge in the decora- tion of the dinner table; not only the floral decoration, but the proper and cal arrangement of the siiver and table napkins. Th become an art. So it is that as wom proverbially gifted with mor cretion in these matters than From t! men, are supplanting them in the dining room. Of course, in many houses the gentleman of the house prefers a butler and men ser- they vanis about him at dinner. wine celiar becomes suddeniy there are now and a the men in the pantry or sei recom, he will take his wife’ do away with the men in hi urely. A rich but when his leted, and s bet * dining and id en- n in town, who keeps up a very sweil establishment, and whose wi gives the best-appeinted’ dinners imag- inable, is quoted as saying: ,“I have had my butler for five ye nd the second man ore year. I know very Mutle abut the aomestic arrangements in my household. I pay the bills and require that my dinner be well served and my gen- 1 welfere looked after while at table by My wife and I dined out not long since, and on returning home about 11 o'clock we found the house in an uproar. The butler and second man had evidently had a bottle of wine between them. They got to fighting in the putler’s pantry, and the women servants in the house were frightened to death. I di: missed both on the spot, and since then have had our meals served by four of the best-trained waitresses I ever saw. Never again shall I have a man in house, ex- cept to attend to my furnace. Of course, the butler will ne entirely. In some famil lute necessity. But it is a well-known fact that men servants, for indoor service, will soon have to take a back seat, and pretty maids, with caps and aprons, will take their places. ‘Three winters ago a large luncheon party was given uptown by the wife of one of the most prominent men in New York’s business world, who prided herself upon entertaining in the most ap- proved manner. Three very pretty wait- resses, with dark blue cashmere gown: turned-down white collars and white cuffs, aprons end caps, waited on the table. It was a luncheon of twenty of the most fashionable women in town, and great was their surprise when they found themselves being waited upon by women. The change was commented upon after lunch, and the hostess heartily congratulated on her inde- pendence. She was the first woman who had dismissed her butler and engaged maids in his place. The same rules which applied to the but- ler now apply to the head waitress. She governs in her own department, and has all the other waitresses under her control. She is the one who takes the orders from the lady of the house, who has the keys of the wine cellar and’ serves the wines at dinner. r disappear She Is an abso- —_—___+ e+ _____ Seal Hunting a Brutal Industry. From the Illustrated American. Seal hunting in its legitimate form upon land is brutal beyond other industries be- cause it depends for success upon qualities that we admire in animals, tractability and tameness. Attached to the herd there 1s a contingent of youthful “bachelor” seals. Their celibacy is enforced by the gruff old dogs that keep all the love-making to themselves. It is the unfortunate bachelors that are doomed to lose life as well as love. They are not needed in the propagation of the species. The world will not miss them dead, and wcemen desire their furs. Aleut Indians, who share the islands with the seals, separate a few bachelors from the herd and drive them up the hills, inland. The docile creatures flop painfully along— no movement is as awkward as the pro- gress of a seal out of water—proceeding by short rushes and long pauses at the rate of about half a mile an hour. In six hours they reach a secluded “killing ground.” The Indians separate them into groups, se- lect the finest animals, and beat them to death with clubs—taking care not to break the furs, lest they be unacceptable upon Sth avenue. ———_+- e+ ____ Sleep After Eating. From “How to Live Longer,” by Dr. Hayes. A derivation of blood from the brain to the stomach takes place when the func- tions of the brain are partly suspended by sleep. By so doing the brain gains new strength, and meanwhile digestion pro- ceeds energetically, and soon both body and mind are refreshed and _ energized. The lower animals always sleep after eat- ing a full meal if given the chance to do so, and the human being is governed by the same physiological law. The stomach, stimulated by its contents of a good din- ner, strives to carry on its marvelous chemistry of digestion, and demands an ample supply of blood for the purpose, and obtains it in greater quantities when the person sleeps: Among the dyspeptics, or ‘those inclined to dyspepsia and indigestion, this knowledge of the demands of the stomach after a good meal and practice of sleeping afterward should prove to them one of the remedial measures for relief. Long Span of a Few Lives. landing of William The writer of these in the i i Fy er i i i F i i i een" LAND OF PENNIES Effect on German Character of the Pfennig. SMALL ECONOMIES PREVAIL The Many Things That Can Be Had for Little. THRIFT IN SMALL COIN a F ym the New York E ening Post. The very existence and us a coin worth # quarter of a all erywhere m common circulation or Germany, give notice to the American tray- eier that he has reached a land of smalt economies. in France the centime exis’ | and may oc most a curi Parisian shopk asionally be y to fore . but ers; pe it is aps tl pers think that the prince- ly Americ would be offended by the = fer of so small a coin as a centim ne= fifth of a cent; so they keep all nge until the value of a cent, and I don’t think any traveler will complain, for the copper sous now in circula: bersome as cur old c years ago, are nuisance enough without th addition of centimes. How the French, the leaders of Europe in matiers of taste, can persist in filling their pockets with pounds of copper change jong after Belgium, on, big and cum- pper coinage of forty many and Austria have discari pper for nickel ir one of the Paris puzzles, ani the change of French currency recently de- cided upon will surely be wel natives as well as visitors. In the copper pfennig exists and is day use, but it is a small coin, and it is sel- dem that I find more than half a dozen of them in my pocket at a ume. Less Than a Cent. In fact, if you wish lustrate to a German the extravagance and high cost of life in America, you ha y to s Iteraily nothing—not ever or a shoe-string—is sold t one cent. Such in ab: a box of ere ¢ of things is to a German. for less t nce oO good landlady in Munich that a few years ago nothing less t the five-cent piece was known in California. fie: she replied, “but that is bec in Californi. you have only to pick up whenever you want money.” Labor-saving devices do not seem to be much prized in ef erland; bi sugec Some way of saving a pfen ad you w earn the gratitude of a peop have just bad occasion to mention that a single box of matches costs two pfennigs, while a package of ten boxes costs tea plennigs or twelve, according to the shop. Thus a box of matches costs really about one ptennig at retail, and yet to what devices have I not seen people resort to save a few matches. It was but a few a YS ago that a man next me the railway car between Berlin and Dresden was about to light Lis cigar, and had a match out ready to sirike against the box. Just then he noticed a whiff of tobacco smoke from the next com- partment to ours. “So,” he muttered to himself, as he carefully replaced the match in the box. Then he got up, went into the next compartment, borrowed a light from the smoker there, and returned, treading on my toes in so doing, and sat down with a well d air. He had saved his match “th part of a cent. ving Matches, T have still another illustration in my note book of the care taken of matches. A clock- maker urged me to buy a certain kind of clock, because by pulling a string it struck the hour. I would save matches in the night, he said. Clocks with this device, by the way, were once far more common in Germany than they are now, and in the days, or rather nights, when matches were unknown, it must have been convenient to be able to know the hour by simply pulling the string. I bought one near Munich which strikes both the quarters and the hours, but up erent gongs. Thus, when I pull the string in the night an r the lighter gong strike three and then the deeper gong strike two, I know that it is a quarter of thre match on my It is no uncommon thing in these to see men fill their p is with matc from the box on the tables in the cafes and restauranis. The small allo’ e of sugar to a cup of coffee is a constant source of sorrowful amusement, if there be such a@ thing, to traveling Americans. Such a thing as a bowl full of lumps of sugar is rea~ e first customer would empty it lump. I have seen much more things than this done. I have Iressed women take the of a steak or chop off their plate in aurant and carefully wrap it in @ piece of newspaper for future consump- tion. almost unknown, perhaps for the goo. son that t of every curious Left Nothing Behind. And no German was ever known to leave a bit of sausage behind him. As an old jady, a German, of course, once remarked to us as we were dining together at an inn in the Tyrol, “You have paid well for all this food, and why should you leave half of it on the table, as you rich Americans al- ways do? It is a sin.” So she put the re- maining sugar into one pocket, the figs and nuts into another, and wrapped the bread up in her handkerchief. I have nothing to say against this practice; I merely mention it as curious to Americans. To economize labor is, as I have already remarked, apparently of no importance. Servants are worked in a way unknown to us. They do all their work without the aid of any of our housekeeping devices, and the German housemadchen trudges cheer- fully to market with a basket that our maids at home would refuse to carry upou any terms. The military caste makes the social laws here, and it is against the rule for an army officer to carry a bundle or even an um- brella in the street, partly because he must have his hands free at all times so as to be ready with his military salute, and part- ly because a lot of bundles would detract from the imposing appearance the uniform is expected to lend its wearer. So we have the curious spectacle of officers walking with ladies and letting the ladies carry the bundles if there are any to carry; I have even seen an officer marching grandly along, his sword clanking upon the side- walk, while beside him trudged his wife, meekly carrying his hat box. Or, more curious still to American eyes, I have seen a big strapping officer, full to overfiowing of beer and sausages, going to the railroad station followed by a servant maid carry- ing his heavy valise! And I saw the girl cerry the valise to the car, and not only that, but aboard the car put it up in the rack for him! Brutal to Women. The custom of the country seems to be to give women the hardest and most unpleas- ant work. In southern Germany women mix mortar for new buildings and act as hod-carriers; women clean the streets, and I have met scores of women dressed in trousers working upon the country roads. The sight of a woman and a dog pulling a cart together is almost too common in the streets of Munich and Dresden to be men- tioned here. The whole custom seems to come from the desire to save pfennigs, for women will work for less than men. Not to stretch this account of the im- i : | ue i é i z 3 i § a 5 = ha a