Evening Star Newspaper, December 25, 1897, Page 19

EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1897-24 PAGES. 19 CHRISTMAS IN THE ARCTIC. How the Day Was Celebrated op Hoard the Jeannette. “I was strongly reminded of -a certain Christmas experience I had in the arctic,” said Commodore G. W. Melville of the navy, “while listening to the recent lecture of Dr. Nansen, whom I had the honor of introducing to his audience. While he spoke I reveled as an older viking might have done over the deeds of a younger brother, and the vivid story he told started the blood tingling in my veins as it did seventeen or more years ago, when I was on the ill-fated Jeannette, slowly drifting along the north coast of Siberia. It was about this season of the year, and, as usual, we were preparing for our Christ- mas festival, as has been done time out of mind by all good arctic men, for, let the ice drift as it sould, let old Boreas howl as he might, and the gentle white mantle of snow fail and drift until cur good ship was all but snowe¢ under, still the hope of the future, the love of home, served to cheer us up, as we remembered the happy home and firesides of youth and those who were more dear to us than life itself. So as Christmas time rolled rcund we were not despondent. We we We had the happy cons tion of ng that there were others not so well off even as we were, and em cold comfort to! so much to be comparatively happy in frozen arctic in our well-built little were drifting God re happy that we ship, notwit only knew where. We ¥ Hi still alive and were buoyed up with hopes for the future. Following the customs of most of our rs in made for the »yaging, prepara- tricals on Christ- The talent of the crew was ed up with sa story results. An orixinal play was prepared for the occa- sion py Jerome Collins, correspondent of the Herald. Sailor like, being absent from the fair sex, it was nec y to cast one of the crew in the part of the young lady heroine of the pla “A prologue in vers was prepared by Collins, containing gentle hits at all the officers and men, which feature I am ased to cay was taken in good part by every one and added very much to the | jollity of the oc¢ n. Ele our North ‘American Indian, contributed his share to by executing native war . The minstrelsy portions . with its jokes, went off pa’ well. But the grand “slamanade called by the men, occurred w! cee of the loving blue- ppearance on the im- “ked out in a calico gown that would do credit to some of our Washington milliners. It is needless to there was a round of ap- plause when the young lady (7) flirted her skirts about, showing not the usual beauti- the performance and hunt dane of the pla. ticulart: provised sta: and a headdres. ful and well-turned ankle, but instead, good-sized moccasins stuffed with straw to keep the feet of the fair damsel warm. “t was sublime, though the effort lon: Nevertheless young Shar- the youngest member of the ship's company, with his clean-shaven face and feminine ‘apparel, made a very fine appear- ing young woman. Indeed, she looked so attractive that our good ‘old boatswain, Jack Cole, swore he wculd have a kiss of the young lady, even thoug vas a sl The calico gown and petticoats by the heroine were the nearest ap- » articles that there ocean at that time, there hin 500 miles of us. t off well. All hands were hilarious, in order to make Christmas more real both ¢ and men were served with an ex wrtion of grog with ar, hot water n peel added, to give # stic favor. We finish with an extra dinner with real plum ling | “E have ree Christmas days norta | I can assure my | seen greater hard- nd on other occa- a NOWHERE ON CHRISTMAS. The Curious Experience of Those on Board the Thistle. “I once expecienced the curious and un- vsual sensation of finding myself ‘nowhere’ on a ship bearing the stars and stripes,” said Chiet Engineer Harrie Webster of the Late in porter today said he, “the United amer Thistle, in command of a brave Sailor of the olden time, was cruis- the coast of West Africa, bound de Loando, that desolate Por- lement, from which a - has yet to be recorded. deported maiefac whose misdeeus ht them to St. Paul de Loardo stone walls do not a pri iron ba: no cre can rs kill those land; the sea ne who would escape by water. - Thistle were to the ef- to was io be me betw ‘hristmas day day, ship sailed glistening piles of bleach- lining tne beach of the everlasting sand dunes Pe. past the groups of into the tifeless and Atlantic oce n. t from th under the navigator, the Thistle soon dropped the low and ‘uninteresting shores of t African contine below the horizon, and stood away for Cape Palmas, lyirg in the direct route to the Portuguese Fair progress was made into the smooth and oily blackness of the great kight of Benin, and on tne third day out the navigator annou on Christmas eve that the morrow would bring a surprise so neve! that its like had never probably happened before. “As Christmas day broke fair and rosy, the ship's company, officers and men alike. were on the lookout for the promised sur? le feminine member of the | 76 very much like the colonel's suffused | his lid: ‘shows Time has touched him heavil. } Mose | cUm de givin’ out ob de gifs j you is, hay? |am madder ‘yit, an’ he say: jin dar 2 ly | ain’ menny men | woman an’ chile fur Crismus gifses.”” prise. Nothing happened, however, and the ship's monitor struck the usual ‘eight fells,’ with the accompaniments of ‘piping to dinner’ by the shrill-voiced boatswains’ whistles. “Disappointment was plainly visible throughout the ship, as the navigator emerged from the cabin after his custom- ~ mid-day interview with the captain. “Biuing on the quarter-deck for a moment to attract the attention of the officer on watch, the navigator at last gave the promised surprise: “Mr. » log the lat- itude and longitude as zero, the ship was nowhere at noon.” “And such was the fact. The good ship Thistle nad crossed the equator at noon of Christmas day, 1866, on the meridian of Greenwicr, and wag literally ‘nowhere.’ ” ——>—__ HENRY SHORTER’S CHRISTMAS. The Gifts the Old Kunnel Gave Him Down at Clober Fiel's. Old Henry Shorter is very well known to many housekeepers in the West End, where he pursues a livelihood removing ashes and doing odd jobs around his atrons’ premises. His grizzled gray hair » but he wears the imprint well. “Is I goin’ ter nab er happy Crismus? repeated Henry, in response to an inquiry. “I speck I is, suh, ‘cause I mosely duz, suh. I bin pitty lucky roun’ erbout dem times allus. Duz I rickoleck de bestest wua I ebber had? Dat I duz, suh; dat I duz. Twuz like dis hyah. My ole marster, ole unnel Dan'ls, wuz er mitey kine marster ter ‘is niggahs, an’ enny wunner um whut kin git de means ter buy hissef, de kunnel ud let ‘im do it. Weill, suh, de kunnel’s son, Prentiss, de boy whut I he’p ter bring up an” lun ter ride an ter hunt coon an’ ter hunt "possum, an’ eddycate datter way in gin’l, he dun git big an’ he he’p me ter buy myse’f. I'd dun git ma‘ied by dat time, an’ Sue, dat wuz my wife, she'd dun had er leetle boy chile, but she b'long ter de kunnel, an’ ’co’se Zeke, dat wuz my boy, he din b’long ter de kunnel, too. Sue wuk ‘roun’ de big house an’ de ladies like her mightily. Well, suh, "bout fo’ year atter I buy myse’f an’ gitter pores ja free niggah, Crismus cum ergin, an’ mornin’ w'en de niggers range quarters ter git dat Crismus dr gifses whut de kunnel an’ de : gin um, I wuz wid um dess de same zif 1 warn't no free niggah. “De ole kunnel an ole Miss Sally yourg Miss Sally, an’ Marse Prentis: iss Jule, de wun whut mairy Marse Tol'ver, an’ leetle Phil, her boy, dey ali dar, an’ rse Prentiss he tilt de myjawn an’ po’ out de bigges’ drams Clover Fiel’ niggahs ebber see befo’. Den s, an’ dey wuz er mitey pile un um, sho’s yer bawn. Bo: you ain’ nebber seen no ole Kriss Kringle time like we all useter hab down yonter at Clober Fiel’s. All de niggahs ud git up erount de big house an’ de w'ite fok=s ud dess beat dese yere nowadays Santy Clawses clean outer dey butes w’en it cum ter givin’ gifses. Well, suh, dat Chrismus I dun been er tellin’ you erbout, atter all de yuther niggahs dun git dey drams an’ dey -gifses, de ole kunnel, he holler out: ‘Whar dat dam woufless free niggah, Henry whar dat man Shorter at?’ I say, ‘Here me, marse kunnel.’ Den he say, ‘Oh, dere I like yo imperdens, comin’ up hyah wid all dese hyah wukkin fokes. Whut yer gotter say fo’ yo’se’f, suh?’ “Den I say dat all I gotter say is I wisht de kunnel an‘ ole Miss Sally an’ young Miss Sally an’ Marse Prentiss an’ Miss Jule an’ Marse Phil Tol'ver an’ leetle Phil er merry Crismus an’ er hap’ noo yeer, an’ skuse me fur bein’ erount. “Den, suh, de ol2 kunnel he luk bracker ‘Prentiss, go git whut dis yere no count man desarves.' Den Marse Prentiss he go in de dinin’ rum do’, an’ wen he cum out dar wuz Sue an’ Zek’l wid ‘im. “‘Dem's yo’ Chrismus gifses, Henry,’ say de ole kunnel, wid de worter comin’ into eye. ‘Dey’s dess ez free ez yo' 1s, yin’ ef any ob de fambly ebber leabes Clober Fiel’s I'll set de dawgs on um.’ ” Henry paused, reflectively, and a mois- “I ‘spec’ we'd a all bi it hadn’ bin fur de wah, : h, dem wuz day: down dar yit ef he said. “I tells an’ I reckon dey livin’ whut got dey ole Then head the old men toiled off, shaking his earnestly. —_—-— A Lonely Day for Him. “A Christmas that I will never forget is the first one I ever spent in Washington,” said Mr. Charles Moore, clerk to the Sen- ate committee on the District of Columbia. “That was just twenty-three years ago, when I came here from college to spend the holidays. I knew nothing about the ci A friend was to meet me at the Pennsyl- vania depot, but through a mistake he thought I would come by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. There he went and waited for one train after another and scanned the passengers as they alighted. All this time 1 was at the Pennsytvania depot waiting yatiently. A cold rain was falling and 1 got very little Christmas cheer that morn- ing. Later in the day, when I gave up ever seeing my friend, | went to the Ebbitt House and was comfortable, if somewhat lonely, there for the balance of the day.” Aaa aE HE WAS NOT SCARED. mas Eve and the Pince Was Haunted. Police Sergt. W. W. Perry, captain of the watch in the District building, tells a story of a Christmas experience at his home near Frederick, Md., more than forty years ago. It was the custom of the men and women, boys and girls, about Christmas time, to dress in Santa Claus costumes and distribute candies and toys through the neighborhood to the children. But each child who wanted the presents had to be subjected to a shower of switches laid on with light hands. In those days tie visit of Santa Claus was an event looked for- ward to by the children with more than ordinary interest. A Christmas party was never complete without Raphael Jarboe, who once Ived at Emmitsburg. The home of Sergt. Perry’s parents was a favorite meeting place for the party, and on one day before Christmas word was re- ceived that Jarboe would be a little late, as he had been called to Frederick on busi- ness. He was particular to enjoin upon his friends that they must by no means start on the pleasure trip until he returned. Jarboe lived about a mile from the Perrys, and to reach their house it was necessary for him to pass through a ravine on a piece of disputed land which was reputed to be haunted. Because of the dispute as to the ‘ule, the land had been surveyed a score of times, and the sound of the country sur- veyors’ chains could be heard there almost any time. “On this occasion,” said the sergeant, “our party had gathered and made ready for the evening’s trip, when word was re- ceived that ‘Rafe’ Jarboe would be late. We had our dough faces all and some one suggested a visit to the haunted ground to frighten Jarboe. About five inches of snow had fallen and the dough- faced men were in hiding when along comes ‘Rafe.’ The chains were rattled and ihose in the party imitated the surveyors the best they could, calling ‘stick,’ ‘stuck,’ and when they had ‘made their calls several times, ‘Rafe,’ who pretended that their presence on the haunted ground had not affected him in the slighiest degree, called back, ‘You can't scare me.’ “But almost instantly,” the sergeant con- tinued, “he started on a run, and did not stop until he encountered a big dog ear our house, and then his loud calls attracted our attention. He was almost out of breath when he came in, and his explanation was that he had been running because ine feared he would be too late to join the party. When he reached the house he was greeted by loud cheers and laughter, and the arri- val of his dough-faced companions a few seconds later called forth the statement, ‘You didn’t scare me.’” ee NO TURKEY THAT DAY. The Junior Officers Had to Be Content With Young Penguin. “The most desolate Christmas I ever spent,” said Capt. Samuel C. Lemly, U. 3. N., “was at the uninhabited island known as Desolation or Kerguelen, in the South Indian ocean, where I was on duty in a ship connected with the “Transit of Venus’ expedition of-1874. The transit came off in good shape on the 8th of December, at which time we were anchored in Christmas Harbor, toward the northern part of the island, whence we went to Royal sound and anchored in Three Island Harbor, near which was located the party of observers Here we spent Christmas; for, while the party had been very successful with their observations of the transit, they had not, previously to that time, had a sufficient number of satisfactory’ observations for longitude to accurately locate the position of their little ob: ervatory, so that we had to extend our stay unexpectedly and were rather short of ‘grub.’ We of the steerage mess had fattened a fine turkey for Christmas dinner, but to our consternation found, on Christmas eye, that he had been sacrificed on the previous Sunday—by mistake, of course—for the wardroom mess, so that we had to regale curselves with’ young penguin, which, though said to resemble rabbit, is more like fi: ne taste. “However, our colored steward got even with that wardroom mess. They had a fine lot of chickens, and he would go to the coop occasionally at night and with a sail. maker's needle Kill one of them by plercing its brain. He would then make it conveni- ent to be on hand the next moraing, when the wardroom steward cleaned the and ‘threw out the dead,’ and would ex claim, Don't frow dat chicken away, don't frow him away, gib him to me; he's good ‘nuff for de midshipmen!'—and he was.” eee FIFTY BELOW ZERO. But Christmas on the Yukon W, Jolly Affair, Mr. J. T. Dyer, the well-known real es- tate dealer of this city, has spent a rather remarkable Christmas. There were two of them, which were somewhat similar. ‘These were in the years of *66 and ’67, when Mr. Dyer was in Alaska, connected with the geological survey. The Christmas of 1887, when the thermometer was only a trifle of 50 or 60 degrees below zero and only a glimpse was had of the sun during the day, the party with which Mr. Dyer was connected managed, nevertheless, to have a first-rate time. They did not work on that day, and did nothing, according to nae vedas story, but eat, drink and enjoy nemsely Che party with which I was connected,” sald Mr. Dyer, “was at Nulato, about Goo miles up the Yukon. Dr. W. H. Dall of the Smithsonian Institution was at the head of our party. There was plenty of snow around and ice, so that things looked Christmassy enough. We did not hang up our siockings, from the fact that Santa Claus was not aware thac we were at that time residing so near his headquarters. The house in which we were quartered at Nulato was a very warm one, built of logs, and the room which we occupied was kept most comfortable by a large Dutch oven. “We stayed around the house most of the day. One of the party was Michael La- barge, the French voyageur after whom Lake Labarge was named. We played rds, sang and had a good time generally in the house. We watched with great in- t the preparaticns for the Christmas dinner, which were being attended to un- der the directions of Dr. Dall. We had been thinking of this for a long time and it was as good a dinner as any one any- where could wish for. We had been saving up for it for some time. We were fashion- able enough to have it served at 5 o'clock. Our table was neatly covered with cotton drill. The following was the bill of fare: Soup, a la Yukon; arctic grouse (roast), Alaska cranberry sauce, California (pre- served) peas and tomatoes, pies, dried ap- ple, pudding, ginger bread. a la Dall; iced cheese, coffee, tea, ice water, rum punch and p!pes ad libitum. “We had saved the iiquor from the stores. Liquor is not good, however, in those re- gions, as hot tea is a much better drink on all occasions. A pound of tea ia worth a gallon of whisky any time.” ae DIED ON CHRISTMAS DAY. A Young Soldier's Premontion That : Came True. Dr. Tindall, the secretary to the board of District Commissioners, who has an anni- versary war yarn for every day in the year, tells of an incident which occurred about Christmas time in his military experience. “There are so many of theSe incidents,” he explained, “that I hardly know which to tell first, but as The Star was kind enough several years ago to publish one of my nar- ratives, founded on a premonition of one of the officers of the regiment, which was strikingly verified by events, I might try my hand at-.another account with a pre- sentiment for its tneme. “Sergt. H. of my company was one of thousands on both sides in the war who, as Senator Foraker said of President McKin- ley, ‘took his musket in his boyish hands, responsive to’ the call of duty;’ and no bet- ter fellow or braver soldier ever carricd a musket on his shoulder. Shortly after the army crossed the Rappahannock river into the city of Fredericksburg, about December 11, 1862, my regiment stacked arms in one of the lower streets of the city, and the boys scattered ‘themselves all over the town as curiosity or hunger and thirgt guided them. With several others I was fortunate enough to find within the distance a few houses of the street where the ent was sta- tioned an unoccupied house which promised to afford a goodly amount of the creature comforts for which we sought. Somewhere in this house the boys: found a stove and nearly a barrel of fiour, and down in the cellar an immense jar, of raspberry jam. One of them found a silk gress, which he gave to me and which, I put in my haver- sack, without any special object, except that which impels a soldier to hold onto everything he gets that doesn’t belong to him. I had no use for it ang could imagine Bone, but I was too young and indifferent to the rights of pelligprents; or their allies on the other side to give a, thought as to what the owner's wishes might be. We carried the stove and flour into the second story and made slap-jack tarts with the raspberry jam as long as we could eat, and as often as appetite returned. Early cn the morning of the battle, which occur- red on the ith, Sergt. H. came to me and said that he had had a very annoying dream the night before; that he had dream- ed that he was shot in the stomach, which was of all places that in which he most dreaded to be hit. Foolish as the fancy was, he could not resist it. In order tu forestall fate, if possible, he had folded his bianket as closely. as he could inside of the breast of his blouse and fortified himself there with such other articles as he could conveniently apply to the locality. He said he had just heard that I had a silk dress and that some of the boys had said that silk compactly folded would offer great re- sistance to a bullet. I cheerfully gave him the dress, which he added to his other de- fenses. “I afterward learned that in addition to this armor he had tied around his neck the straps of his well-filled haversack, so that it also depended in front of the region al- ready so well protected. “When the regiment, in proceeding to the assault, had reached the railroad cut and commenced to deploy as skirmishers up the bank, the confederates opened fire from several batteries upon it. Our company, which was next to the last, received the full benefit of all the shells which were in- tended for it, as well as those which burst over the leading companies into scattered fragments, hissing destruction to every- thing within their deadly zones. One burst a short distance above the head of the sergeant and a large piece of it tore down through his fortifications, scattering them to the four winds, without even scratching his body, which he had thought so vulnerable, but crushing to jelly his foot from the tips of his toes to his instep. He was well and promptly cared for, and sent with many other wounded to a Washington hospital, where he was apparently in a fair way to recovery when lockjaw supervened, and on Christmas morning, he with heroic fortitude yielded his brave young life, a precious Christmas gffering to the cause for which he had exposed himself to ail a sol- dier’s risks.” CHRISTMAS IN MONTREAL. Sunday School Celebration With the Thermometer Below Zero. “Among the most pleasant Christmas experiet.ces that I have had,” said Re Dr. Hugh Johnston, pastor of Metropolitan M. E. Church, “were those I spent during my ministry in Montreal. “There the cccasion was made the an- nual reunior. of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday schools of the city, and I have seen more than 3,000 children in the galleries alone of my church on Great James street. These children came from every part of the city, most of them being conveyed in big sleighs, with the thermometer down to zero or below that point. “The exercises were;of @ rather unique character, and although there were many brief addresses by adults, the principal part of the program was vendered by children. Reports were made ag to; the amount of missionary money cojlecte@ by the mem- bers of each school @uring, the preceding twelve months, and sometimes as much as $4,000 or $5,000 was pald ower to the treas- urer of the missionary cause during the services of the day. Semetimes the oificers of my school would keep in the background and hold back the school’s report until af- ter all the others had.been-handed in, and if ours was less than :the largest, my offi- cers would individually contribute enough to make up a sum seas to win the prize which was offered.”” IN JAIL IN OHINA, ——=a How a Washingtonian Spent Memorable Chrigtmas, “There are two Christmas days which will Hye in my memory until time has ceased to be,” said Mr. Eugene Kernan to a reporter of The Star the other day. “And whenever the holidays come about I am forcibly reminded of one of them, and I thank God that I am an American citizen. I refer to a Christmas spent in China, away back in the fifties. I was a kid then and did not appreciate how near I was to death. Iran away from home to follow the sea. I first shipped on the Rattler, a mer- chantman, bound for Amsterdam and the Mediterranean. After an experience which only can be gained before the mast, I ship- ped with the bark Annapolis from San Francisce for Shanghai, China. About fifty mites from Hoosong our ship lost her keel we had to work the tides to make port. We of the fo’castle were always bent on. mischief, and although a young man my- self I reveled in anything exciting. “One night after we came to anchor (it was Christmas eve) a party of us slipped away, bent on a skore trip. We had no troulie in reaching the city, and imme- diately began to celebrate, as only sailors can who have been afloat for weeks. You can guess the result. We got in a fight on the outskirts of the city, and, as I after- ward learned, three Ckinamen and one American were killed. I was separated from the rest of the party, and when I re- covered my senses the ship's boat had dis- appeared and I was alone. I had evidently been asleep. for when 1 awoke the bark had Gisappeared. 1 looked about me, and saw a band of coolies appreaching from the west. They were evidently looking for trouble. They found it ali right enough, and me in the bargain. Up to that time 1 didn’t remember a thing of what had hap- pened, and when they bound me hand and foot and carried me away I didn’t know what li was for. “Well, to make a long story short, I was carried to Shanghai and thrown into a house near the wharf. There were several men already in there, and one of them I recognized as Jimmy McCreery, a pai of mine aboard the Annapolis. We stayed there a couple of hours and were then thrown, like sacks of flour, into a yawl beat and carried aboard, the United States steamer Plymouth. This was during the Japan expedition, and I firmly believe that I would have been kiiled had not the United States cruiser been tnere. Christmas day we were carried before the American con- sul at Shanghai, with an escort of marines from the Plymouth, and frcm there taken before the Shanghai court, where we were tried for murder before twelve judges. No damaging testimony was produced against us, and we were liberated; but I shall nev- ed forget the torture of that day. I after- ward learned the particulars of the fight from soine of the sailors. sailor named Bill Vallian had killed the three Chinks himself and was spegred,,to death while swimming to the shipy” One SSS A CHRISTMAS FOOT BALL STORY. — How the Team Froni Aijnapelis Came Down to Washington. “I remember one Christmas day,” said Ensign N. E. Irwin, dn duty at the Navy Department, “when the fo6t ball team of the Naval Academy “camé’ down to this city and wiped the eagth wp with the All- Washington team. Itowas/in 1889, and I think it was the only time the cadeis ever played foot ball in Wash{ngton. It was not supposed to be the Acagemy team, but it was all the same. ‘Thesmembers v-ere given leave of absence on that Christmas day and all came down to Washington in the morning. I don’t remember them all, but there were Catlin, Emrich, Sullivan; Taylor, Ruhm, Garthey, Williams, Latimer and myself, with Trench and Althouse as substitutes. Catlin was captain. I played at center. The Washington team was made up of college boys home on va- cation. Wells, the present captain of the Columbia, Athletic team, was one of the number, and the others were members of the teams of Lafayette, Princeton and Le- high colleges They were stronger indi- vidually than we were, but they had not practiced together and did not compzere with the cadets in team work. As I said, we wiped the earth up with them. The score was twenty something to nothing. Afterward we had a‘ fine dinner at the Ebbitt House and them went to the the- ater in the: evening» What else we ‘did I'l not say, but when we reported at the Academy next morning, the superinten- dent looked us over and remarked signifi- cantly that we needn't go to recitations that day. I guess he thought we needed a rest after our holiday experiences, and he was right.” ——— W. Pope Young’s Beans and Bacon. “The Christmas which is the most mem- erable one to me,” said Dr. William Pope Young, “was the last one of the war. That day I was seated in the pines near Peters- burg, writing to my dear old mother in this city and watching my dinner cook. The meal consisted of beans, not too multitud- inous, and a piece of bacon about an inch square, and so rusty that fat could not have been tried out of it in a furnace. I described my meal to my mother, and add- ed that I knew every Yankee sergeant within a mile and a half of me was having his Christmas turkey and plum pudding. The letter reached my mother, and she told me afterward that after reading it she could never partake of anything good to eat without feeling a choking sensation. But, I tell you, those beans and that morsel of bacon tasted mighty good. Hunger, yg know, is a great relish. ——S CHRISTMAS IN A DUGOUT. A Life Was Passing Away While the Blizzard Raged. “The saddest Christmas of my lif Webster Davis, assistant secretary of the interior, to a representative of The Star, “was when I went out west to visit a dear chum of mine who was dying of that most dreaded of diseases—consumption. “John was the son of a poor old soldier, who had been crippled in the war of the re- bellion; we called the father “Uncle Ben,” for everybody loved him and treated him as a special favorite—indeed, Uncle Ben and John were loved by all who knew them. John’s mother had died when he was quite a little boy, and he was taught to give to his father that love and affection which usually goes out to the mother. When the great land excitement began to prevail in the western part of Kansas, in Colorado, Ne- braska and other western states. Uncle Ben and John caught the fever and went west and located on a claim. They made a rude dug- out and fitted it up as best they coutd, for they were poor; they had cultivated a small patch of ground and their harvest for the first season was not very good; but they thought, by strict economy and much care, they would be able to get through the win- ter all right and hoped to do better the next season. “John contracted a severe cold, which soon developed into consumption, and he sank rapidly. Hearing if his condition, I went out to spend Christmas with him and Uncle Ben. I found their home about fifteen miles from the nearest town and several miles from the nearest habitation. Poor John was very low, but he was able to greet me and talk some about the past. We sat and talked of days long since passed and gone, and lived over again, as it were, the past; the good old Christmas times of other years glided before us as a panorama. He knew he was soon to die, and spoke of the end with perfect calm- ness, and almost his last request was to be buried under a lone cottonwood tree that stood on a little kno) a few rods from the dugout; there were no other trees for miles around. “I shall never forget the scene in the dug- out that Christmas da Uncle Ben was busy, almost all day, trying to keep us warm, putting buffalo chips on the fire un- til the supply of fuel was nearly exhausted; the weather was very cold, for a fearful blizzard raged all day. None of the neigh- bors came in, z s impossible for peo- ple to get about; so there we were alone. “A few days later Jolin died, and by lov- ing hands was laid away in the place he had selected. When dear Uncle Ben came back to the dugout, old, gray and absolute- ly alone in the world, he broke down and wept like a child. Some one said: ‘Don't give up, Uncle Ben, you have some frie left.’ ‘Ah, yes,’ said he, appreciate them, too, but Uncle Sam is my best friend, for he has made a home for old, broken-down and homeless soldiers, such as I, and I will go to the Soldiers’ Home.’ He did so, and a short time after died and was buried with military honor: “Truly, that was a gloomy Christmas for me, and even now, though many ars have passed since then, on every Christmas day I find myself thinking of the little grave of my old chum under the lone cot- tonwood tree on the western prairies.” ee A MEMORY OF THE WAR. Each Christmas an Old Soldier's Gratitade Finds Expression. “Do I know of any especially interesting incident of Christmas time?” repeated Mr. J. Nota McGill,,register of wills for tne District of Columbia, when that query was put by a Star reporter. “Yes, there is one of which I always enjoy thinking, and it is this: “At the battle of Bull Run, along with the hundreds maimed and wounded on that memorable occasion, was a tall, handsome young fellow from the northern part of the state of Maryland. In active engagement, when the fighting was the hottest, a bullet penetrated his leg a few inches below the knee, rendering amputation necessary. He, with many others, was brcught to this city FRIAS BS PR ALAS SSS JARDIN DES PLANTES One Spot in Paris That is but Rarely Visited. GREAT MEN HAVE STUDIED THERE Now It is Given Over Altogether to the “Little People.” A REMARKABLE COLLECTION oe Speelal Correspondence of The Evening Star. PARIS, December 16, 1897. EOPLE DON'T visit it since the siege, when they ate up the elephants and the giraffe, the monkeys and the dromedaries, and tried their best to eat the hyenas, but could not!” For many years this has been the an- swer to inquiring tourists whose curi- osity has been aroused by some old-time book about what was once the most famous botanical and zoological garden of the world. Many are contented with what they are told, and go off to the spick-and-span Jardin d’Acclima- tation, organized as a money-making con- cern by a private corporation in a corner of the Bois de Boulogne. There they can view conveniently the great mandril ape, can ride on the minia- ture tramway, drawn by ponies, through the trees and by the lakes, and on Sundays and Thursdays licten to one of the good concerts of instrumental music for a few sous. So tMey forget all about the old- fashioned Jardin des Plantes, which is far away in a part of the great city. which no one who is anybody ever visits. The loss is their own, for it is still beau- tiful, it is full of reminiscences of some of the world’s best men, it has many things to show which are not found elsewhere, and the crowd that saunters and chatters and opens wide eyes without shame of their wonder are things to see in Paris by one who would know something besides the boulevard and the foreigners’ quarter. Where It is. The Jardin des Plantes covers nearly seventy-seven acres of land in the south- east corner of Paris, stretching back from the river Seine. It is the lowland across which the troops of Julius Caesar had their first sight of the Gauls, camped on the hill above, under their native king, Camulo- genes. The Romans did not have the best of it that time, but the leader of the Gauls was killed. On the hill, only a step from the upper entrance of the Jardin des Plantes, there has been recently dug out one-half of the amphitheater, Which the conquering Romans built for their gladiatorial game: when they came back to take final pos- session of Perris. The stone benches and the steps leading down to the arena have been restored, and children play about them. The visitor can tigure to himself the fine risian ladies of that time looking down on the combats bi tween men and wild beasts. Nowaday: they scruple to allow a moderate buil fight, and the beasts are confined in cages here in the buildings that surround the famous Jardin. Across the street to the west is the great wine market—Halles des Vins—a town by itself, carefully inclosed, with streets along vhich are the warehouses, cellars and of- through which must pass all the wines iaat enter this wine-drinking city. History ef the Place. It is a strange history how the Garden of Plants became also a garden of beasts and fishes, stuffed and alive. It took sev- eral centuries of progress and revolution to do it. Long ago, when it was no easy task to get around the world, only kings could Pretend to menageries. The good Haroun- al-Raschid, when he was Caliph, sent to the mighty Emperor Charlemagne a monkey ard an elephant. Many centuries later, Bocaccio, the story teller, reckons it one of the greatest happinesses of riches that they allow one to keep a monkey. In Paris itself, it was the reverend canons of the Cathedral Church of Notre Dame who kept the beasts inside the cloister, or t of the island which was reserved to the clergy. But in 1245 along came a dele- ate from the po; who ordered the lonely canons to get rid of their “boarders,” which were, so he sald, a ridiculous distraction for men of serious profession. Then the French kings went into the show business, and we can follow the court e [i Christmas. | Holly green and mistletoe Berrguewelledted and white; Sweet bells chime across the Promises of Jong ago. Hymns of peace and blessings shed Through thesilence orients Told by angels bending low O€r the Chrishchilds manger bed: And.the radiance of a star, S111 undimmed thes streaming By this way of shine and Tears (night fia 0 MgUp. like Ex ay ms m ba ora ? (years, CG SS Lights the land where shadows NI Vv Dearer with the flight of time, OX Ly Holly green and mistletoe, and pleced in an improvised hospita? down near the Long bridge. “When his suffering was very intense and his hunger great, two ladies, of that noble band who ministered to the wants of the sick and wounded of those days, observ- ing this young soldier, and learning his wants, brought bim a most temptingly cooked fowl. “The gratitude of that man has found ex- pression each succeeding Christmas since that day. He is now an official of the gov- ernment, and although at times a great sufferer, he never fails to select the Christ- mas turkey for the survivors of the family ‘who so charitably helped to alleviate his sufferings over thirty years ago,’ —_——_ ‘Waggles—I tell you, I talked to him like @ father.” . Wiggies—“It won't do any good, if he listened Journal. Va S — PCA Berry:Jewelled ever grow When these lips are cold thal rhyme. | ta through the different royal palaces of Paris by keeping track of the whereabouts of the royal menagerie. It was first on the island, where visitors now go to ree the Sainte Chapelle. Then it wandered successively to tke old Louvre; to Saint Paul of Dumas’ phi gree covered and began astonishing Europeans with its products, to ‘Versailles There Louls XIV_ built a home for his beasts, just_as he built the richest of the development. great after Linnaeus, the Swede, whose name has been given to a neighboring street. Tournefort and the three Jussieus in succession, with unweary- ing labor, here mapped out the details of the science of plants as we now know it, Here, too, Buffon wrote bis giant work on hatural history, which made the study of animals popular, and it vas he who gave the present plan of the garden, with its long lime tree alleys reaching back from the river. Mineralogy was constituted here as a so ence by the classification of Hauy. La- Voisier presided over the beginnings of mod- ern chemistry, and here Geoffrey Saint Hi- laire and Lamarck made those speculations on the origin of animal species which were afterward taken up by Charies Darwin an¢ have given us the evolution theory that now rules natural science. Most illustrious of all was the great Cuvier. His house is Still preserved close to one of the entrances of the garden. At the present day the schools, with lec- tures by men of authority in science—free to all, like everything else in republican France—are well worth the attention of those who make some stay in Paris. There is also the precious Hbrary, with a collec- tion unique in the world. This ts a series of painted designs of plants and animals, done on parchment and begun before the time of Louis XIV. It has been continued down to our own days by some of the most eminent painters of plant and animal life. It already forms 100 folio volumes, with 6,000 designs of plants, mammais, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, shells and the rest. Its Latter Day Visitors. In the botanical gallery, the herbarium has over 500,000 specimens. In geology the systematic collection of earths alone has 10,000 samples, and in the department of anthropology there are 13,000 specimens of man in all his different races, with over 3,000 skulls and 200 skeletons, each of a aif- ferent human variety. But all this is only a beginuing of these endless collections, which have been under formation for more than a hundred years— and which the tourist seldom takes the pains to see Apart from all scientific interest the Sun- day crowd of “little people”—shopkeepers and workingmen, women and children of the neighborhood—is well worth a visit to see. They have all the virtues of the French race—families taking their pleasure together, frugally, content with the little they have and wondering at everything they see without shame, like children whcese minas are not haunted by the thought of respectability. They press into the museums, gaze at the statues—some, like the bronze snake charmer, works of high art—they buy cakes and thin drinks at the stands—which Paris does not think interfere with science—while the elderly meditate on the nothingness of earth and the scarcity of leaves and flow- ers. For it must be said that the live plants seem most wauting, though there are here 13,000 different species—with 1,800 varieties of the pear tree alone—in this wonderful, ancient, yet comparatively unknown Jardin des Plantes. STERLING HEILIG. _— A Lucky Accide From the Detroit Free Press. It is seldom that you hear a wealthy and fashionable woman relate such an experi- ence, but she has the same good sense, the same kind heart that made her so ad- mirable in the deepest shadows of adver- “It is rather an old-fashioned Christmas story,” she said, “but it is associated with the happiest event of my life. Kate and I were left vil alone on the old farm, where our lines had fallen into troublesome ex- perience after we had both secured a bet- ter education than was common among country girls at that time. We were not the most efficient maragers in the world, und a point kad been reached in our af- fairs where the mortgage was to be fore- closed the week before Christmas. “The man who was to throw us out of our old home, as a mere matter of busi- came to look over his prospective s sions, hiring a livery rig at the n est station. There was a runaway, and found an unconscious and unknown young man not a hundred yards from the gate. It took us some time to nurse him back to Strength, and while doing all we could for him, we told him in detail of the misfor- tunes that were about to culminate in the joss of home itself. Kate had a sharp tongue, and the way she abused the holder of that mortgage brought me to his fense. I insisted that he was not a mon- ster, and that he must have extended a financial favor in order to get the claim he had upon us. “Material for our Christmas feast came as did manna to the children of Israel, and after our guest left that evening I found a release of the mortgs in a stocking that I had thrown aside while darning. I sup- pose I was the consideration, for the morte Begee now calls me wife.’ Gums dames Conversation: 1 Dilemmas, From the Golden Penny. Some amusing stories are told of conver- sational plights from which escape has been found with more or less success. Lord Dufferin, whose hospitality while viceroy of India has passed into a proverb, was in the habit of sending his “shtkarri” with such of his guests as were in search of sport. Returning one day from one of these shooting expeditions, the shikarri met the viceroy, who asked: “Well, what kind of sport have you had today?” “Oh!” answered the “boy,” with charming di- plomacy, “the young sahib shot divinely, but God was very merciful to the bords.”” Less hapsy was the east end curate to whom a carpenter, one of his parishioners, brought a photograph. ere’s the likeness of my boy,” the carpenter said, “you said you'd like to have one.” “Ah, yes!” the curate answered, “it's awfully good of you to bring it, and how is the dear little fel- low “Why, sir, he’s dead, you know,” the father said, reproachfully. “Oh, yes of course I know that,” the curate an- swered. “I mean—eh—how’'s the man who took the phctograph? ar. Thomas Carlyle. The latest generations of men will find new meanings in Shakespeare, new elucida- tions of their own human being, “new har- monies with the infinite structure of the universe, concurrences with later ideas, affinities with the higher powers and senses of man.” This well deserves meditating. It is nature's highest reward to a true simple great soul, that he geis thus to be a part of herself. Such a man’s works, whatso- ever he with utmost conscious exertion and forethought shall accomplish, grow up withal unconsciously, from the unknown deeps in him—as the oak tree grows from the earth's bosom, as the mountains and waters shape themselves with a symmetry grounded on nature's own laws, conforma- ble to ali truth whatsoever. How much in Shakespeare lies hid; his sorrows, his silent struggles known to himself; much that was not known at all, not speakabie at all; like roots, Ike sap and forces work- ing underground. Speech is great; but silence is greater. —+o2+—___—_. Vaccinated om His Toe. Frem the Walton (Ga.) News. “While on a recent visit te Walton, Judge Nunnally of Lithonia was recounting the incidents of @ smallpox scare that came along when he was a boy at school. The children in all the rural districts were vac- cinated, and usually the human virus was used—a much more dangerous method than is at present in vogue. One big boy at school decided that he would vary the regu- lar practice of vaceination in the arm and he was inoculated in one of his great toes, and thought it great fun. In due time the big toe swelled and then inflamed, and then it swelled and inflamed some more until the toe was as large as the enterpri ing youth’s head. Finally the swelling was assuaged and the boy could walk ag: but nobody clse was vaccinated in the toe. see