Evening Star Newspaper, January 8, 1898, Page 19

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 1898—24 PAGES. A CORNER IN CHINATOWN. A TRIP TOCHINATOWN Where the Mcon-Eyed Mongolians Make Their Headquarters. DINNER SERVED IN ORIENTAL STYLE Not Ail the Members of the Colony Are Laundrymen. —_——_+ ‘UL MERCHANTS ed SUCCESS Star. HE CHINESE,LIKE Wuitten for The Eves 4 i/ i have populations, their own particular settlement in Washington. ofr course the laundry- here men, of whom there j./ are scores, are scat- tered all over the city, but the real Chinese quarter, where the stores and restaurants are, where the natives and holidays, and nese life is to be found, 1 ncok in this big city. y have made their a dozen buildings mnsylvania avenue together with houses on the west side elow the av 1¢. But in times aS musement rchants, of . with . Wh dozen cele ely about the reom sewing silence, siveness it. A Chinese articles and ode to a museum. 1 bility will searcely coax A Chinese Restaurant. quarter was one of al hours at people are ise in the morn- o'clock, 2nd breakfast 11. Linner come: rnoon, while the A Stolid Smoker. last meal of the day occurs not far from Midnight. The do not usually re- tire until 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, and spend the greater part of the night at their work or umusement, as the ease may he. in the kitchen I found several Chinese men and ene Chinese woman busy prepar- ing the’dinner, whiclr certainly looked in- Viting. Over a big brick range a chicken and several sniall wild fowl were roasting on @ spit, while some vegetables were boll ing on the buck of the stove. Quite re: sured, I entered the dining room and down ut one of the tabies. Orient both ent t Oceident and ed into the decorations of the room. A ¢ e calendar was hung next to a cam picture of McKinley @ud Hobart, while beneath some Chinese 1 pictures was that advance agent of jecle civilization—the bicycle. Signs setting forth the culinary at- ef the palace adorned the walls. here were a few in English for the bene- fit of the occasional Caucasian who st Chicken Chep Suey, 7: or merely “Chop 1 dish, however, seems to be This has the advantage of be- ap, and at the same time really ap- petizing. The bi of this dish consists of a kind of noodles through which pieces of broiled chicken, fried ham and lettuce a ttered. Tt is served in a bowl and en by putting the mouth down close the edge of the bowl, drawing up a tring of the noodles with chop sticks, and sucking the mixture in with an amount of noise and disturbance usually discouraged by the books on etiquette in this country. Right From Cornell. At another table sat an elderly oriental dressed not in the ordinary street costume, but in a rich light blue cloak and a black fez. He was apparently entertaining two young men of his own race who were spending the holidays in Washington. They conversed with me on the weather and other potite topics, and said that they were students at Cornell University. Both were dressed in the most stylish attire, with brown fedoras, silver-mounted canes, gold eyegla and link cuff buttons. The row of houses on 41% street where the Chinese live are in a somewhat dilapi- dated state, especially inside. One of the front rooms presented a peculiar spectacle of untidine A pile of coal had been dumped in the center of the floor, and one corner of the room was filled with ashes, while cooking utensils, unwashed dishes, food and clothing were strewn about the place in every which way. In gencral, however, the living rooms of the Chinese > clean and orderly. This is the more rkable when one stops to think that ure practically no women to shoulder » houschold responsibilities. é Chinese would be plete without seme’ mention of the Chinese A Young Celestial. Sunday schocls. There are flourishing and Chine Sunday — schools the Calvary Baptist, tne and the Metropoiitan M. than a nese quarter, Here also they interpreter, 2 missionary sted in the student efit of a C . Collins, who was js ‘much Inter here. Their Day om. y of the Chinese. their laundries in the and go down town for the day, = dinner in thi , and spending ir brethren or by or more of hem attend ail thr one or re held at noon and € = their countryme: 1 and w who are engag of the ae (4 a laundry, Chop Hing Tong Laundr profits have been very sed. It is perhaps not gen- ry e known that, although the Chinese do all their ironing, they frequently hire col- wemen to do the washing for their aundries. Besides the vast army of laun- drymen, there are a few empipyed as cook: x © cook is in charge at Fort Myer, Hearst alsc had a couple of Chi- , while there are doubtless others employed In the same way in this city. If the Chinese have their vices, they also have their virtues. Two of their most thor- oughly appreciated characteristics are pay- ‘ing their bills and abstaining from strong “ink. Phere is never any. trouble about cting rent among the Chinese laundry- It is a point of honor or custom, ft matiers little which, for the other lagpdry- men to settle for the rent if one oftheir number is unable to keep up his business. On Sundays the merchants down town usu- ally spend the afternoon going over their accounts and settling their bills, and all outstanding bills must be settled every year before New Year day. —_—.—— Cape Town's Slave Market. From the London Chronicle. "The “slave mart,” judging from an ar- ticle that appears in the last number to hand of the Cape Times, appears to be definitely established in Cape Town. The slaves, of course, are the Bechuana pris- crers, and, although there is ne sugges- that these wretched creatures are treated ‘with harshness while in the gov- ment care, they are clearly considered posed of precisely as if they were bales of goods or cattic. Careful watch and ward are kept over them, and the writer says that “It is not easy te puss the strict guar! at the gate unless you are a farmer, coming to pick your labor. * * * Round’ three sides of the square court 4 men and women are squatting impas- vely, or standing chatteriug In knots. They are ill-clad and exceedingly ill-favor- ed, but not fll-nourished, Ike the first ch of skeletons that came to town. A child here and there fs even bonny. There is no very obvious dejection, The nearest to it is a moody, passive look.” ‘The farn.ers,tco, quite enter into the rit of the “slave mart.” They go round the market, scanning the men, and “sort- ing out those of the largest size,” as did walrus and the carpenter with the ters. The natives cast expressionless ong glances at their possible masters while they are being appraised like goods in a store. Having selected one or two from a group, the farmer is chagrined at being told by a harried official, ‘We cannot break this lot for you,” as if the knot of negroes were a dinner service or a suite of bed room furniture. Back goes the farmer and locks the natives up and down again, and at length decides to “take them.” When the natives are duly indentured for five years their master unhitches his cart and mules outside, bundles his “labor” in, and Crives his bargain home, ARE DECADENTS ALL Freak Poets ‘Who Talk 8 Dea More Than They Write. FRENCH CAPITAL 18 FULL OF THEM The School Founded by Verlaine Has Countless Followers. PUBLISH THEIR OWN VERSES Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. PARIS, December 31, 1898. HE DECADENT “and symbolist poets of Paris! It is easier to read about them than to see them; it ls easier to see them than to hear them recite their poetry; it is easier to hear them recite their poe- try than to find their printed works; and the reason why is that they write so little, while they talk so much. Thus it is easier to describe them than to define them. What is a “decadent” poet? To every one outside of France the name has come to be applied to those young poets who are better known for their eccentricity than for their poetry. Properly a “decadent” is a youth who follows vaguely in the trail of Paul Verlaine. Labels are plentiful in France; and sometimes it is easier to found a “school” than to write anything at all. As to belonging to a “school,” that is the easiest of all. You only have to say so. So the “decadent” is the grand-nephew of the “Parnassian” and cousin in the twelfth degree to the “old romantic.” He {s the son of the moderniste, A grandson of the idealiste, And‘has a dash of the realiste, And so you can work it out for yourself. But, as some footnote ought to go with every genealogy, it may be stated that the “decadent” is a young poet who, being unable to elevate himself, is more or less resigned to stay on earth. He rather likes the earth; he prides himself on liking it. And that is why he calls himself decadent. It is not necessary to have either per- sonality or originality, but it is important to use certain words and to cultivate a certain look. It is well to talk of Schopen- hauer and Darwin. He adopts these names because they are so little known in France. As cold fact the “decadent” does not Know Schopenhauer, and he has never Studied Darwin. But he proceeds tolerant- ly from Maxeville beer to green absinthe, und from hot “grog Americain” back to the beer again. Afar off the “decadent” imitates the man ner of Baudelaire, who got some inspira- tion from our Edgar Poe, but mixed his own dirt with it. So the “decadent” has had his despairs, his disgusts, his rancors. Yet in t ring golden bells, and his heart is full of bitter heroisms. pse often stretch to plasphemy and the unme tion- able. The bitter heroism of Je n Richepin, when he was a younger man, brought him to jail. Fell From Grace. At that time a sub-class of or “hairy fellows, i They he decadent: were lifting took that name from Iichepin, who possessed a splendid head of bristling black hair. Others called them “hydropaths,” because their temper- ament was so surcharged with heat that only ice cold baths could bring them down to normal. It was also a gentle satire on their distaste for water as a beverage; be- a the second in importance of the Raoul Ponchon. While others grew more serious and sttll mire fell away to sing no more, Raoul Ponchon has remained through years, and still remains as he began—the drunken poet of the drunkards. The third of them in importance, also, Maurice Bouchor, was at that time not a vegetarian, to say the least, although he has since bloomed into the mystic, hiera prophet of the mario- nette attempted to revive And now, today, week, to show how evolution souls to turn and squirm, this very urice Bouchor has written songs for and little boys and girls. The minister of public instruction opened a public the competition some months ago for best words adapted to forty melodies ered from the common people in the cne of the librarians of the of Music. These w ehor won the competition! His and pure and pretty, on “The Brave Men of Oid,” and “Dhe Christmas revelilon” is the midnight supper on Christmas eve, when children are permitted to sit up. sinte J'ai vu dans une armoire « ateau dore; Je crofs que lon va boire Un doigt de vin sucre! seen in a closet a certain gilded and I believe that we shall drink a finger of sweet wine.”) And then: “Our mouths are watering at the thought of goose and chestnuts!” Who They Are. So all’s well that ends well. In the midst of all those who pretended, with black hair worn in a fine disorder, Maurice Bouchor had the poet in his. So had Raoul Ponchon, who continues drunken, blasphemous and dirty. So had, mere than all, the great Jean Richepin, whose product of today might weil pretend to the Academy were it not for ail his decadent outrages and freaks of those years in the early eighties, Outside of France it is enough to bunch these peopte all together and call them “de- cadents." But you will scarcely find an actual person who will take it simply. The young twangers of the lyre today have seen a dozen of their genus come and go in just as many years; and of their hordes there are numberless ones not yet known. “I heve read your researches,” writes Gustave Guiches to an interviewer of the Echo de Paris, a morning paper which de- sired to make a list of all these song birds lately. “They move picturesquely through all the countless esthetics of the day. It is as if I were reading over again the ‘Temp- tation of St. Anthony.’ I have seen deflling best me symbolists, instrumentists, deca- dents, naturalists and neo-realists, super- naturalists, psychologists, Parr.assians, megicians, positivists, Buddhists, Tolstoiz- ers und Ibsenomaniacs. I have heard flerce imprecations, vitter laughter, cries of pity, solemn anathemas, subtle analyses, abso- lute syntheses, proclamations eloquently improvised. Everything has been said, re- said, unsaid.” “Evolution,” cried Paul Bonnetain, as he took his own turn in adding to this Babel; “evolution of a tor- toise wriggling on its back!” They do not dwell in harmony together. A certain poet of hypnotic phenomena, when asked to give a frank opinion of his rivals to another of the morning dailies, said: “I cannot persuade myself to belabor tke masters, to use my fingernails on the writers of my own generation, to cleave in twain my younger brethren, nor in any way to trumpet mediocrity or what is be- neath mediocrity. Nay, I cannot even ut- ter my own praises.” And yet it will be noticed that he got there all the same. “Net every man can be a poet, No more than a sheep can be a goat.” There must be a reason for this. Where do all these squabbling, sobbing and hair- pulling poets of the gay French capital come from? Ihave said that it is easier to read about them than to get to see them, though it is easier to get to see the great mejority than to find their poems in the shops, where the booksellers regularly have never beard of them. Each year some young man who appear- €d to be like all tke others shoots up into fame oz notoriety, as Catulle Mendes and Jean Richepin shot up years ago, true poets. But the great majority content themselves with bock and absinthe and ap- pearing in reviews. Here the true secret lies of their fertility and barrenness at once—the habit of estabiishing reviews. How Their Verses Are Published. The French are, above all other peoples, lovers of literature for its own sake. It is one of the happinesses of their language to put their cash together new réview, which never Pays. But each cam see himself in print. ‘The avowed objectiof these reviews of “the young” is to reforit Mtéeature. The little and bring out leaflets appear and 4! pear beneath the arcades of the Odeo eater, where the book stalls are. ik © The poets of each review adopt a name. They recruit their ranks. They hire a hall in the Boulevard quarter, where they de- claim or sing thett works. Or they in- augurate a new “artistic tavern,” selling beer at a good price and giving recitations of their poems free. Of all these the Chat Noir was the most celebrated, and it still exists. These poets wear tall hats of a peculiar shape, with broad, straight brims, or felt hats, depending on the nature of their poetry. They wear long hair. As soon as ever a group becomes notori- ous the papers take them up—the daily papers. Then a real poet is found among them. In default of this they attach tuem- selves to some celebrity already known. And so you have the succession of “schools” which attract the amazed attention of the world. The late lamented Renan summed them up as: “Ce sont des enfants qui se sucent le pouce.”” (They are children suck- ing their thiimbs). But all of them are nice, good-natured fellows, who in any other land less blessed with literature would be looked on with reverence. New Lyric Comedy. I have for an acquaintance one of these “young” poets, and I meet him weekly. He recites his poems—weekly. But we like it. There is a charming American family in Paris, with two of the prettiest daughters— two girls so pretty that you feel like wav- ing the American flag each time you see them. They are both devoted to the piano, at which they are, as a German friend of theirs has picturesquely put it in his strug- gling English, “highly distinguished dabs.” Their music brought to their salon a young composer. The composer brought the poet. What was the joy of that art- loving family when ft was made known that the composer of music and the poet were working in collaboration on a “lyric comedy,” but of a special type, whose like has never yet been known! It 1s under- stood that this poet is not at all a “deca- dent.” He 4s a poet of psychological analy- sis. But he is not tainted with Ibsenism and he scorns Maeterlinck. Their “lyric comedy” is to move upon the stage with triple unity. Spoken words are to be accompanied by the singing voice, and both are fixed to interweave themselves among the harmonies of a great orchestra. Both composer and poet smile at the af- fectation of those “‘symbolists” who sought to find a five-fold unity of words pronoune- ed, words sung, the orchestra, and colored lights and perfumes squirted at the audi- erce, all going on together like a circus with five rings. The triple unity of singing, speech and orchestration is sufficient for them. They are so young you wonder how they do it. The poet is but twenty-four, and the com- poser is but twenty-three. But there the fact is—they have done it. I have heard the lyric comedy a dozen times—at the piano, understand—for it has never been produced yet in public. A Novel Point of View. My friend is not a “symbolist,” although a suspicion of symbolism might attach it- self to his three-fold unity, when it ts looked at by mere careless, thoughtless People. The dramatic portion of his com edy is a real tragedy, although its horror and its pathos are concealed by a set of charming pictures of sweet life and youth- ful love. The subject is “The Youth of Don Juan‘ nd now,” the poet says to me, in ex- planation, “you admit that Don Juan is a type?” “Why, sure.” “Well, then, what does he typify? Is it not something thus far unexplained? ‘The world has never un- derstood it! Here is a man with two out- rageous characteristics—the desire to win the affection of woman ‘only to betray it, and, this is stranger yet, you note that he can do it! How? Why? Don Juan must first have loved and been betrayed! By whom? Why, naturally, by a woman! You have it there! So I have put it. From whom did he learn all the secrets of the female heart? Why, evidently from this woman who betrayed him.” That is not symbolism. As it proceeds you see that it is pure analysis. The sym- bolists are deep, but in another way. “Syms bolism” among French youth dates from 1884, on the appearance of the “Revue In- dependante.” It was in the Revue Indo- pendante that such men as Verlaine, Mo- reas, Mallarme and young Maurice Barr —now the political editor of the sensationa! Cocarde—worked to react against the “nat. uralism” of Zola and others of the old school. But, in accordance with Revue also published articles from’ Zo: himself. Here literary anarchism bloemed and many theories whic not of Iiterature pure and simple. anarchism was looked on as a diseas youth; for many of these genluscs w poor and shabby. The idea of “symbolism,” which now be- gan definitely to preva'l, ‘was to put more ideas into verse than the mere words would hold. Stephane Mallarme, its leader, is a very plain man, earning a’ precarious livell- hood by giving lessons in English. But hi poetry is’ not plain Ss won more reputation by rsation than its name, thi Ss cony by his po A publisher, on hearing him describe Afternoon of a Faun,” offered him a ge for the piece. He took it and he published it; but as an afterthought he told the poet he had not defined the kind of carriage, so he thought it wise to buy a donkey cart, which Mallarme accepted. Another publisher heard him going on in a drawing room one day about a vase of flowers; and, on the spot, he promised him a round sum to write out for his Review what he had just been saying. But when the oem came to hand it could not be used. Talk, but Never Write. The school of Mallarme has poets who have written nothing. They can sit around cafes all day. Their conversation is de- lightful. They know how a poem should be written; and the idea fills them with such joy they cannot spare the time to write. “We must exalt our sentiments,” says one. “We must give a symbolic consecration to our impressions,” replies another. “As for me,” goes on a third, “whenever I have an appointment to meet a pretty girl I choose a church. The incense, the mystic arches heighten with a somber splendor my emotions of love.” “When I think of the woman I love,” goes on the first, “I see rising on the horl- zon of my thoughts a lily unfolding its miraculous corolla in the midst of the sa- cred silence of a lake lost in the solitude of immense forests.” Waiter, four beers! The great chief of the first “‘symbolists” was the curious Greek-Parisian known as Jean Moreas. He himself has lately swung eff to another schobl, of his own founding, but he was long known ag a bona fide sym- bolist, the “passionate, pilgrim. They were ‘all passionate: pilgfims, and many of them still are, for #ymbélism flourishes to- day. “Passionate piigtims!” exclaims a “‘symbolist-decadent,” a, evolter, to a re- porter of the Echo $8, Pa ‘pilgrims with- out a pilgrimage, khd’ passionate—oh, no! No one has ever mét two of these pilgrims upon the same routet” 1 Yet the “passionate pilgrim’ of Jean Moreas is a volume,of pote. A sample of his earlier style will show his tendencies and those of all symbolism: At the Four-Roglis-Crossing the Mysts Trace pentalphas, , And their m Admire the retrdg: moon! Jean Moreas drinks ©: rum and water, unless he has changed lately. He used to come into the cafe at the head of the dead- broke and hard-up disciples and say to them: “Here, you young poets ought to drink coffee and milk. Paul Verlaine and myself are the only ones permitted to drink rum.” “Decadent” Was His War Cry, Poor Paul Verlaine, an old man among youth, and the real poet of them all, gulped bis rum down until his life’s end. But to Jean Moreas the rum has always been but decoration and to show originality. He ad- mires himself in the glass, talks patroniz- ingly of the great modern poets France, and declares himself jealous of country- man Pindar. Yet, it is on his, shoulders poet the mantle of Verlaine is said to have fallen, In Moreas {t is two-thirds symbolism and one-third rum. In Verlaine it was two- thirds rum and one-third decadentism, Paul Veriaine wrote a few of the finest lines in all French poetry, many that are mod- erately beautiful, and many more that range from the nasty te the worthless verse of an impecunious frequenter of ca- fes who wrote for money and who wanted it_ quickly. I shall never forget the last time.I heard him thundering out against the stupidity of everybody and everything in general. There he sat in a wretched little cafe of the Quar- tier, his glass of rum and water before him, cursing and pounding the table with his fist and ridiculing the “‘cymbalists.” “But, these young writers, do they not make use of your name?” asked some one. “Let them prove that I have their parentage: Tread my poems! “I have had pupils,” he goes on, “but they were pupils taken in revolt. Moreas is one of them. Yes, indeed, I am a bird, as Zola is an ox, and there are evil tongues which say that I have formed a school of cana- ries. It is false. Even the symbolists, al- Jowing for certain reserves, are birds, too. Moreas is one of them—but, no—he 1s more of a peacock.” “But how is it that you have accepted the title of ‘decadent,’ and what do you under- stand by it?” The great old man then lifted up his voice again. 5 “It is a very simple matter. They flung the name at us as an insult. I picked it up as a war cry. But it means nothing in par- ticular that I know of. Decadent! Is not the twilight of a glorious day worth many dawns? Decadent at bottom means just nothing at all. To fight, we want phrases!” STERLING HEILIG. SS UNIVERSITY NOTES Georgetown University. The university opened Wednesday for the first time after the Christmas recess. The law school opened Monday with a very good attendance. Judge McComas de- livered Lo lecture to the juniors and sen- iors Wednesday, as he was unexpectedly called frcm the city. The faculty for the present term, endirg March 12, includes the following gentlemen: Judge Louis E. McComas, Judge Seth Shepard, Rey. Rene Holaind, S. J., Mr. Charles A. Douglass, Mr. George E. Hamilton, Mr. Talmadge A. Lambert and Mr. D. W. Baker. Mr. J. Nota McGill, register of wills, lectured to the post graduates on Monday and Wed- nesday of this week, and will speak again Monday next on the subject, “Practice Before the Orphans’ Court.” Next Friday Mr. Hamilton will commence his lectures on common law practice. Instead of Thursdays and Saturdays, as heretofore, the micot court wili hereafter convene cn Tuesdays and Thursdays. The essays for the Edwerd Thompson prize on the subject “The Merits and Demerits of the System of the trial by Jury, and How the Last May Best Be Remedied,” must all be in by the end of February. The following are candidates for positions on the relay team which is to represent Gebrgetown at th athletic meet of the Boston College, to be held at Boston: Wef- ers, Walsh, Maloney, Dessez, Collins, Me- Irery, Devereaux, Cody, Fleming’ and Owens. The base ball team is expected to com- mence practice outdoors in about a month if the weather permits. There are a num- ber of candidates at the university proper and more in the law and medical depart- ments. Plans have been prepared for the new grand stand, and it is hoped that it may be completed by March 15. Its seating capacity will be 1,500. None of the various societies held mect- in, this week. Examinations of all the classes in the college department are now going on. Examinations in English were scheduled fer Wednes while the y last and again Mo: A ‘kK students will be examined on the 1¢ The Merrick debate, which is to be held on the 22d of February, will be on the subject, “Resolved, That It Would Be for the Interest of the United States to E: tablish a National University Having Con- trol Over All Collegiate Degrees. Catholic University, Tuesday was the first class day after the holiday recess. The students who left for home during the holidays have returned. The University Chronicle made its ap- Pearance last. week, announcing that here- after it will contain all the general items of local interest, while all such matters will be eliminated from the Bulletin, which appears but once in three months. Among the other articles contained in its sixteen pages is a rarrative of the exercises in honor of the feast day of the iniversity, the Immaculate Conception. The full text of Dr. Kerby’s sermon on that occasion follows a general article on the exercises, ard other items of interest follow. The f t of the Immaculate Conception was observed with the usual solemnity this year. Pontifical mass was celebrated by Cardinal Gibbons, with Very Rev. P. J. Garrigan, D.D., as assistant priest, and Rev. John S. Dunn and Maurice O'Connor as deacon and subdeacon respectively. Rev. Jimes J. Fox and Re . O'Meara were v. Paul P. A ward and Rev. Donald J. masters of ceremonies. Mgr. Conaty Mgr. McMahon occupied seat3 in the sanc- tuary, and the various professors, attired in their academic robes, were presen Through the courtesy of the officials of the national and state bureaus of labor, 150 volumes of reports have been added to the scciological Hbrary. Complete sez received from some of the states, forts will be made to round out. th ich are incomplete, by purchase. For- eign publications of a like character yhich may be deemed valuable and literature cir- culated among the trades unions are els being collected for the libracy. Dr. Cameron, formerly of the univers faculty, but now at Cornell Unive spent a portion of the holidays at the 1 versity. and ity, Howard University. ‘The university reopened Tuesday. The Christian Endeavor Society will meet this evening and besides the discus- sion of the regular topic, “How to Pray,” under the direction of Mr. Thos. Fraser, leader, will elect officers. A week of prayer was observed this week at the university, exercises, with Profs. Moore, Fairfield, Ewell and W: den as conductors on successive days, be- ing held Tuesday. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The C. E. has organized a Bible class, which will hereafter meet weekly, under the direction of Prof. Moore for the study of the Bible reading and discussion. The election of officers for the Eureka and Alpha Phi societies occurred last evening. Practice 1s indulged in by the candidates for the base ball team when the weather permits. A schedule of games, both in and out of town, is now being arranged by the manager and challenges are re- quested. Regular indoor practice is taken. ‘The date for the public debate cf the Alpha Phi Society has not yet been an- nounced, Columbian University. The untversity reopened Monday with a good attendance of the pupils. There will be a meeting of the Law School Debating Society this evening, at which permanent officers will be chosen. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week the American Chemical Society met at the university. Prof. Munroe was chosen president at the election of officers held on the last day of the convention. Prof. Lodge gave his first lecture Mon- Gay on international law, and next Wed- nesday Prof. Jeffords will commence his course in criminal law. The law school adjourned at 7 o'clock ‘Wednesday evening, and at 8 o'clock the Alumni Asscciation held a business meet- ing and social reunion. The January number of the Columbian Call made its appearance Wednesday. The cover page was embellished with a re- production of a photograph of the cfficers of the post-graduate class. Altogether the peper contains eleven, pages of reading and advertising matter. ‘The Enosinian Society met last evening to discuss the question: “Resolved, Tha: there was a corrupt bargain between Hen- ry Clay and John Q. Adams.” All the tenants have moved, in accord- ance with notice, out of the old bailding on Sth street, where the new law school and office building is to be erected. ———a Memory to Blame, From Life. “Josephine, where is my golf suit?’ “Don't ask me, Harry. You ought to have a place for everything, and every- thi place.”” oT dos but I never can remember where the place is.” . - HIS -ACTIVE CAREER A Chat With Ex-Seoretary Richard W. Thompson. PRESIDENTS WHOM HE HAS KNOWN Tells the Secret of Good Hea‘th and Long Life. STORIES OF MR. LINCOLN — (Copyrighted, 1897, by Frank G. Carpenter.) Spectal Correspondence of The Evening Star. TERRE HiAUTE, Ind., January 4, 1898, pe TO TERRE Haute to have a chat with a man who saw Thomas Jefferson, who was danidied on the krees of James Madison, whose boy- ish head was patied by Monroe, who saw John Quincy Adams when he was in the White House, and Was serving with him in Congres when he dropped dead in the hall of representatives. ™an was given political advice v started out in life by Andrew n. He knew Martin Van Buren. He was one of the presidential electors who put William Henry Harrison in the Executive Mansion, and he refused the mission to Ausir when it was offered to him by Preside Taylor. He had close asscciations with Fill- more. He was a friend of Frankiin F and he knew well James Buchanan. He served in Congress with A’ am Lincoln, he was trusted friend. He krew Joheson; was a friend of Grant's, and during the presi- dercy of Hayes he was the Secretary of the Navy. With the exception of Washington and John Adams, he has as- seciated with every President of the Uni ed States, so that today he forms, This n he were, a bridge between the past and the present. ‘The man I refer to 4s Thompson of Indiana. eight years cf age, Mr. Richard W. He is now eighty- but his intellectual R. W. Thompson at Eighty-Fight. faculties are as bright as they were when he managed the navy of the United States, and his soul is as young as when he was admitted to the bar, now more than sixty-four years ago. Tall, straight and fine looking, his blue eyes Shine with life, his skin is as fresh as that of a baby, and the chief signs of his age are in his silyery hair and the slightly feeble way in whi« he moves about from place to place. His voice was strong as he chatted with me.and as 1 looked at him I could not realize that he had lived more than twice as long as I Upon this earth, and I him the secret of his wonderful vitality. Mr. Thompson replied: How to Grow Old. “I suppose the secret of my good health is largely due to temperance in eating and drinking. I drink very little, and 1 ney eat anything that does not agree with I was born, you know, in Calpeper, Va. and when I was approaching manhood the dcetors held a consultation ove decided that I would die of co me They my only salvation was to ke cut of doors, and my father made me take ah nd tour over the mountains to Ken| and spent’ the on 3 ho: ch more fle ho started, ing when I and ink the doctors kne in exc ent I don't t king about ehack ridin: you u: es; I have smoked all my life, most of the time to excess. Not long ag I became subject to a sort of fits, and doctors told me that it was due to nicot poison. They said I was otherwise pe fectly healthy, but that my system ‘ated with nicotine. I then propo: to stop my smoking, but the doctors vised me to reduce my limit to four cigs a day. I have done this, and am now free from any bad tendencies of any kind.” A Healthy Old Man's Habits. “Tell me something about your habits, colonel. “I don’t krew that I have any,” was the reply. While I was Secretary of the Navy at Washington I did not touch a glass of wine and do not now. I take about three teaspocnfuls of whisky a day by my doctor’s advice. My best meal is my break- fast, and I enjoy good beefsteak and eat plenty of it. I drink one cup of coffee this time.” ‘How about cakes’ ‘I like cakes and wafiles, them.” “How about the other meals?” “1 don’t care much for them. I eat only plain food and very little of it.” ‘Do you take much sleep?” “Yes; I have always slept a great deal, and I sleep late now. When I was in Washington I had to be up as late as 1 or 2 o'clock every night, but I usually re- mained in bed until late in the morning.” “Do you believe in cold baths?” “No, I think one should bathe simply to keep clean. This I do. One taing which has done more for my health than anything else is the use of a pair of horse-hair mit- tens. With these I rub my skin until glows from crown to sole night and morn- ing. This keeps it in excellent condition. I have done this for more than forty years every night and every morning, and I doubt not it has saved me from ill-health, My skin is now as soft and rosy as that of a baby. I perspire easily and the rubbing keeps the pores of the skin open. The pores of the skin are, you know, the sewers of the human system, and I keep my taou- sands of sewers always open.” “You speak of not using wine at Wash- ington, Colonel Thompson. Mrs. Hayes, I believe, set the example to the capital by not using wine on her table at her state dinners?” ‘Wime at the White Houre. “Yes, that was the case,” replied the ex- Secretary of the Navy. “But my use of wine at Washington was not confined to the period while I was in the cabinet. I never drank a glass during all my public service, in Congress and elsewhere. I felt that I had the need of ali my faculties and that I could not afford to impair them by the use of wine. As to Mrs. Hayes, she in- sisted that no wine should be used at our cabinet and at her private dinners. She did not do so at the state dinners given at the White House to the diplomats. She re- fused to serve wine at the dinner given to Alexis, although Secr tary 10 do so. The om.ssion ich a decided sensation that she Department thereafter and I eat g | were national matters and not “@ private entertainment over which she had control.” “Mrs. Hayes, however, was a very strong- minded woman, was she not? You know it was charged by some that it was she and not her husband who ran the govern- ment during the Hayes administration?” “That is not true,” replied ex-Seer-tary Thompson. “Mrs. Hayes was a woman of strong character. She was a » Wwo- man in every respect, but not an am) one in the way some pec thought. don’t think she bothered herself at about the policy of the-edminisiration. liked the social position which came with the presidency. She was fond of being t lady of the White Hous he was aiw present after each cabine ting to sh hands with us € came out of the room, and she seemed to delight in seeing p and making them happy. At one time, I Temember, we considered t dvisability of moving the busine: e to the State but Mrs. Hayes ot » would not then be of the cabinet and of th she so delighted to meet. Stories of Lincoln, ‘When did you first meet Lincoln?” I asked. “Lincoin and T grew up to: same time,” repited Col Was on one side of the Wa in Minois, and T was on the oth Indiana. We had known aby for s before we came tog of course, ef his el n, an first of the session T say a t man coming across the b esentatt with as ew that it must me in the reached me he held out his i “How e you, Dick.” you. Abe nan fri died. fond of WU on. “We were term i his fir ious I is som eh ublic men whom li, he mile on He appare ot ntiy ain very t from Vir ption early ta disting! w dhe shed lady of mine, gave a About fifty number. went to my friend and told ber that I i an invitation for him, s I wee s that she should meet hi She I remember how the com- me the invitation. n looked as he sat amon that night. F was, yeu know, tall, angular and awkward. Some time after his r tion he became engaged in ¢ on with my lady friend, taking a her a very low rocking chair at s he grew interested in talk ng closer and closer to his hos- was so low that hi - me to his chin, and to he wrapped thi As he grew mo his knees to: seat on uit man has elements of all those at my house la e the best chance of United States. Th defo: residential candidate In and the Boston Man turned to I Mr. Thompson t Line here when nate the a very ry neoln did not orig ries. He h and store¢ away € His mind was such t nt Li memor he eble iustra he to us h thir His favorite a was by a st t which ocx the White me wa an i urred on. How an inci I was « spending t Lincoli a _loun: in a cha with his f up t me. We had chetted for or when the clock struck half. ten. IF then got up and said that I must go home. I told the President that he must be tired and that he ought to go to bed and the rest which he needed to fortify him for the wor- ries and troubles of the morr: “-No,’ replied President Lincoln, ‘a yet. y a half hour longer. I an appoiniment at cleven o'clock with a man from Bosten, who has a claim of something like $200,000 2 st the ment. I have told coul papers here at nd he will surely the minute. right,’ said I. 1, the man w truck eleven. ok hi his ma “F will stay.’ announ! as the ame in Presi- and said: ‘I will leave nas I Phere w th ar r of parties oppos- could that the some idea before he lef ho} ain and 1 a to get aim, Ss were He ing to draw t preciated hi teered a ident out. a Id the followi ou make me think of a law Illinois who wanted to turn mer eded at the law fecling out unt 1 he in He te r of offered his fellow-a’ ys as The wholesale house wrote to one of tt would-be Tom Jones. to the storekeeper, The reply s follows rk Tom Jones is ¢ I know he a . I should say, amount He has, in the first beautiful,” dark-haire brunette, who is worth to him or to ony man $100,000, Tam - he would not sei! rer for that. I know I should not if she belonged to me. a boy re il whom we which wa: y of the is rich. to 3 s also two children, is pe ola, ly 1 ix He bright, energeti I don’t think he could be bought p I know Jones would not a for $w.000. T think that $4 a low estimate for the girl, as she has the making of a geed woman in her. In addition to these ims, Jenes has a table in his office worth two chairs worth 50 cents each, an inkstand worth 15 cents and a double- bladed Barlow knife, which I put a dime, and. besides, there 1s in his office a great big rat Lole, which is worth looking into. And so,” concluded the President, “although 1 don't know much about your claim, I think there may be a great big rat hole there which may be worth looking into, and I will look into it.” The maa laughed and went away well pleased. “You knew John« Quincy Adams quite well, did you not, Mr. Thompson?” “Yes; I sat beside him in the House of Representatives for several years. He wat a pleasant man, but a very dignified on Life was a serious matier with him, he spent little time in frivolity. Still, 1 was kind and gentle and fond of children. Advice to a Young Politician. The conversation here turned to Jackson, ard Col. Thompson described for me his inauguration in 1829, speaking of the solem- nity with which he kissed the Bible and giving a vivid picture of the scene. Said he: ‘I was nineteen years old at that time and I came to see the inauguration with my father. Father was a strong Jackson men, and he had a personal acquaintance with the President. I did not agree with father as to his political sentiments, and I told him that I should never vote for a man like Jackson. A day or so after the irauguration father took me with him and went to call upon the President. He and Jackson chatted together for some time, and then, just as he was about to leave, {ether horrified me by saying: ‘Mr. Presi- dent, I want to ask you to give some advice to my son. He dces not hold the same views concerming you as I do, and I wish yeu could say something to keep him in the traces of the party.” “I expected a reproof from Jackson, for he had, you know, the reputation of being rather severe and dictatorial. On the con- trary, he looked at me with a smile, which in a few seconds faded into seriousness, ard then seid: “My bey, if I could give you any adyice, it would be to think for your- self on political matters and to always act upon what you a. amg believe to be right.’ President J: on was, indeed, so kind that day that I have never allowed n.yeelf to say a word against him. He was his not having written his are untrue. I have letters in