Evening Star Newspaper, February 26, 1898, Page 23

SCANT ELBOW ROOM The Densely Crowded Portions of the Flowery Kingdom. MYRIADS THAT ‘TOIL HOPELESSLY A Year's Labor Worth Only Ten Dollars. ROW THEY RAISE CROPS From the Overland China Mail of Hong-Kong. in density of population Shantung ranks ‘first among the northern provinces of the pire. Half the province is more or less »untainovs, but on the broad plains live m 308 to 2,000 persons to the square le. Every village has some families of nics and artisans who own no land. unions exist in the germ, and even ches in which a bright pupt! could learn in a few months all that a master could teach him in a lifetime: it is neces- sary to take a three-years’ apprenticeship, with little chance of being able to set up for himself at the end of that time. When the apprentice is at last free and gets at work his master or boss receives a per- centage on his earnings for an indefinite period. The density of population makes it very hard to get a living in Shantung. There is a large class of men who have neither lend nor occupation. These sell “strength,” or hun, as they call it. The Jack of means to support a family is no barrier to matrimony in China, and cer- tainly not in Shantung, where Mencius lived. It was he who uttered the dictum, “There are three unfilial courses, but of these not to leave posterity is the chief.” ‘This view and the uniform procedure based upon it are held to have been for.centur- ies the curse of China. Selling “Hw In every village are women and children Who have no visible means of support. While the husband and father is away try- ing te sell “hun” what is his family to tive en? If he sells strength he is doing -well if he gets for a year’s work his food and 10 strings of cash, each string worth less than a Mexican dollar. It is impossible for his family to, exist on this pittance. It his wife knows how to weave cotton an@ has a loom, it is a clumsy machine made ages ago. Often two families possess one loom, one using it by day and the other by night. Whenever there is a bad year © loom has to be sold to buy food, and n the night of despair settles down. you can't catch vp in one step, you catch up in a hundred steps,” says & native proverb. and this is the condensed biography of millions of Chinese. They were born into the Mencian doctrine, and they starve in it, and are duly buried and «| to the only rest they ever know, to be followed by posterity which will repeat the same round. The prefecture of T’ao-chou-fu, in the uthwest corner of Shantung, has always fn a nest of robbers. -They cannot be ex- “erminated, for the reason that the farm- ers themselves unite highway robbery with their ordinary occupations. A peasant who Sees an unprotected traveler passing on the highway will drop his hoe, seize his and proceed to take money or life, or aceording to circumstances. Lawless Marauders. Memorials often appear in the Pekin Ga- e beth, z (te complaining of the intractable dispo- sition of these people and their congeners across the Kiangsu border. The latter part of July and the month of August are periods during which lawlessness is at a maximum, for it is then that detection ts next to impossible. The sorghum plants, which grow to a height of from 10 to b feet. practically obliterate all landmarks. Se far as knowing where one goes, one ight as well be plunged In a jungle. Even Ratives of the region sometimes get lost within a few li of their own villages on a ctoudy day. ‘The autumn crops of Shantung consist of millet, beans, Indian corn or maize, pea- Ruts, melons, squashes, sweet potatoes and other vegetables, hemp, sesame and €specially cotton Of all these products there are barely more than two which d. nol cause theit owners anxiety lest they be stolen from the field. The heads of srghum and millet are easily clipped off. Nothing is easier than rapidly to despoil a f corn or to dig potatoes. The lat- eed. are not safe from the village which have learned by ages of ex- rience that raw vegetable food {s much Letter than no food at all. What requires the most unceasing vigilance are the wa- termelon patches and the orchards. Of watermelons especially the Chinese are in- ordinately fond. Every field is provided with a lodge, and there is some one watch- ing day and night. The same is true of -the fruit rows. Birds, insects and man are the foes of the man who has apples, pears, hes, pluras, cherries, apricots and Armies of Watchers. darker and rainier the night the more essential it is that the watchman should be wid2 awake. If the orchard ts of any size there may be collusion be- tween the thieves, who appear at both erds at once. Both sets cannot be pur- sued. The crows and bluejays ars the worst bird robbers, but they can be scared of, specially with a gun. The human ‘The pilferers are not so easily dealt with. The — 's hope is that, sezing that some one Ss on tard, they will go elsewhere and steal from those not on guard. Hence tybody 1s obliged to stand guard over rything. Wher? the population is densest extent to which this watching must be carried passes belief. In such regions about dusk an exodus sets forth from a village like thgt in the early morning to & to the fizids to work. By every path the men, women and even children stream ferth. Light wooden beds, covered with a «r of stiff sorghum staiks, are kept out in the fields for constant use. A few sorg- hum stalks ars twisted together at the top and a plece of old matting tacked on the supny side, and under such a wretched shelter sits a toothless old woman all day Female thieves are common, hesitates to stzal from his aeighbors, ee LONELY ARCTIC GRAVES. The Last Resting Places of Some tl- Fated Explorers. Frem the London Mail. Beyond the region of human habitation the arctic zone is sparsely dotted with the Sraves of brave men who lost their Hyves while eagaged in polar exploration, or en- . deavors to find the pole itself. And subse- auent expeditions endeavor to preserve these graves as far as possible, and keep @ record of them. “pe Sabine, across Smith sound, in a southeasterly direction, is marked by a solitary grave, that of Prof. August Sonn- tag. the astronomer, whose skull and bones Were found exposed to view by Lieut. P durlug his last arctic trip, and by him restored to their tomb under the loose stches that had been scattered about, prob- ably by wolves and bears. Another grave, a few rocks tumbled one Upon another in a deep rent between mas- sive toulders, is on Littleton Island, about seven miles to the northward on the east- ern side. Christian Ohlsen, aged thirty-six, was burted there. Dr. Kane's expedition on its retreat, reached this island in time to leave the body. ‘wo other mem- bers of Kane’s expedition, Baker and Schu- bert. died while the Advance, Kane’s ship, wintered at Fern ‘They were buried im ihe httle observatory there. On the west side of Smith sound, at Baird Inlet, George W. Rice, a member of the Lady Franklin expedition, died from en in ag to — ea his com- Tades a bine. companion, Fredericks, buried him in the ice. There &re five graves at North Star Bay. H.M.8. North Star, one of Sir Edward Belcher’s pa senreh of Sir John Frankt'r. end 1875 erected a brass tablet, brought from England, to mark his grave. He died at Thank God Harbor, November §; 1871, aged fifty. Two young Swedish students, Alfred Bjorling, botanist, and Evald G. Kallsten- ius, zoologist, twenty-one and twenty-four years of age, undertook an expedition to Smith sound in 1892. Three men besides themselves reached the Cary Islands. The little schooner was driven ashore. One man died, and the rest, taking their small beat, attempted to reach the mainland. So read the record found by Lieut. Peary in the little cairn near the grave. No trace of them has been foumd, and they are now iven up as lost forever. whe exes British expedition of 1875 win- tered in Lady Franklin bay, the Discovery and the Alert et Cape Sheridan. Com- mander Markham of the Alert had reached the highest north at 8 deg. 20 min. 26 sec. over the ice. Sickness and scurvy made them retreat, and after terrible suffering and struggles they reached the Alert, leav- ing one of their number dead. His name was George Porter. oan ear is probably the most noithern of any time. Near the winter quarters of H.M.S. Dis- covery, Lady Franklin bay, two other gTaves are ntarked with rough boards to the memories of James Hand and Charles Paul, seamen. Other graves Me scattered throughout the arctic circle, though many a polar explorer’s last resting place is not marked by so much as a cairn. i+ e+ — — WINDMILLS AND ELECTRICITY. The New Way to Secure House Light- ing. From Electricity. If we mistake not Dr. Fridtjof Nansen in his last attempt to réach the north pole bad the Fram equipped with a specially de- signed windmill, which when vperating é€rove a dynamo and furnished the neces- sary current for lighting purposes. An aer- motor erected on the roof of a building in Park Place in this city has been for some time successfully driving a dynamo in con- nection with a storage-battery plant, the current from which has been utilized for incandescent lighting. From this {t will be seen that there is nothing very new in the application of windmills to the driving of dynamos. There are probably several rea- sons why the windmill or aermotor has not been more universally adopted for the above purpose. In the first place, such a motive power is always more or less un- certain and cannot always be depended upon. There may be a claim just at the time it is found necessary to recharge the bat- terles, or the batteries may be in use when @ breeze springs up. This would: neces- sitate having two sets of batteries at a con- siderable.cost. Another reason why aer- motors have not been more extensively adopted is probably due to the fact that current can now be generated with steam as a@ motive power very economically, es- pecially in large quantities. The erecting of an aermotor and the installation of a number of storage batteries with a dynamo means a considerable outlay of money, es- Pectally when the cost of maintenance and renewals is taken into account. In certain cases it may be found that the interest on the batteries, generator and windmill, with the labor item figured in, will cost as much in the long run as the current could be pur- chased for on the outside. But probably the chief reason why the power of the wind is allowed to go to waste when it could be employed for generating electricity is the same as that which prevents the use of the immeense power derivable from the tides in both the Hudson and East rivers from being utilized, namely, conservatism, or, if not lack of progress, a slowness in availing ourselves of opportunities. ———ae The Virtue in Thrift. From the London Spectator. We should say that the virtue in thrift, so far as there is virtue in it—and we have met with it in some of the meanest as well as Some of the noblest of markind—lay in the development which the practice must give to the power of self-control. There are many higher occasions for the exercise of thai high quality, but there are none, ex- cept in the case of {Ill-tempered men, which recur so frequently. All men naturally like to spend, and to be thrifty the resolve not to spend wherever expenditure is avoldable must be acted on twenty times a week, and will in a shcrt time exercise a perceptible Influence 01 the character. The man learn: to resist momentary temptation, and ~he- cemes, therefore, a stronger man, just as a white man becomes more enduring from the ccnstant wearing of clothes. The weight of clothes is seldom great, but the per- petual habit of carrying them almost im- Pcreeptibly strengthens the muscles. The thrifty man ts more master of himself than the extravagant man, and in self-mastery is one most fertile seed of virtue. But thrift in itself fs not virtue any more than a plovgh is agriculture or mathe- matics accuracy of thought. The best test of this is that a Christian teacher, who in England would inculcate thrift. would in ™many another country be compelled to con- demn it as of all qualities the one which most interfered with freedom of the spirit. Now a virtue which is a real virtue, and not merely én expedient practice, must be as independent of national manners as of geography. No doubt in England the use of carefulness needs to be inculcated, the typical Englishmen, if he wants sparrows, being ready to shy at them with helf- crowns; but it should be taught as arith- metic is taught, not praised as a Christian virtue. The two :nost thrifty people men- ticned in the New Testament are Ananias and Sapphira, and their thriftiness was considered worthy of death. They were thrifty, no doubt, at the wrong time and in the wrong way, but still they were thrifty, and {t was not counted to them for virtue. A little less reluctance to reduce their bal- ance would in their case at least have been ccnsidered more consistent with the Chris- tian character. ————_+e+— Did Not Recognize Her. From the Pittsburg Dispatch. Scme trouble had occurred between the teller of a Pittsburg bank and his best girl. Both were very proud and high- spirited, and the young lady insisted upon repeating to the teller that he must never again speak to her: that he should never recognize her under any circumstances, and that if he did so she would consider it an insult. The teller was greatly offend- ed. He longed for reverge, and a few days later he had it. While shopping down town the young lady became short of money. She kept a small amount at an Fast End bank, but the money was needed at once. So she tripped lightly Into the teller's bank, filled out her check for a few dollars, and pre- sented {it to her erstwhile escort. “Are you acquainted with any one here?” asked the teller. ‘The young woman almost fainted. “If not,” resumed the teller, ‘I'm afraid I can’t cash your check. No doubt it is perfectly good, but bark rules require that we know and recognize both the -persons ond signatures of all those to whom we pay money.” “Phe gulf between them now can never be abridged. +e. An Honest Man. From Harper's Magaztue. “Now look here, Thompson,” remarked Brown; “it has be2n six months since you borrowed that five doltars from me.’ “Seven,” corrected Thompson, gravely. “Well, then, seven months,” snorted Brown, “and you promised to give it back to me in.a wek.. Promised faithfully, you dia, to return me it in seven days, instead of months.” “I know it," answered Thompson, sadly, drawing a memorandum-book from his pocket. “That bill was ‘Series F, No. 672,- 929, issue of 1887." I made the note, and then I sp2nt the money. Since then I’ve been trying to recover it.” eae ‘az ee Brown, “any other would lo eu.” ” responded Thompson, shaking lis hea “I'm a man of my word. When you gave me the bill, I said: ‘I will return this to you,’ and I meant it. Brown, old man, just as soon as I come across No. 672,920, Ssries F, issue of 1887, I'll see that yousget it, for I am not the one to go back on my Promise.”* ‘THE EVENING STAR, ROMANTIC RECRUITING How an English Regiment Was Raised by Written for The Evening FHF by W. '. Talbott. Kisses. Jean, Duchess of Gorden, Who Per- suaded the Highlanders to Ace ' cept the Queen’s Shilling. Mrs. Armytage in the Pall Mall Magazine. The somewhat romantic interest in this beautiful and romantic woman (Jean, Duchess of Gordon) has be2n lately re- vived, when the brave deeds of the Gordon Highlanders have been so conspicuously brought before the notice of the public; for it was entirsly owing to the Duchess of Gordon’s loyal activity that this regi- ment was originally raised in Aberdeen- shire. The writer (as one of her great- grandchildren) may perhaps be pardoned for the fesling of pride in being permitted to recall many of the personal incidents and traditions surrounding those first re- cruits for this most popular regiment, which now bears upon its colors the his- teric names of almost every battlefield where British troops hav2 fought and con- quered. Married to Alexander, Duke of Gordon, in 1767, Duchess Jean fairly took London by stcrm,-and at once became one of the great leaders in society. H2r reputation for wit and energy was almost proverbial, and had been well established during the first twenty years of her married life; so it was not surprising that the first rumors of a pcssible Franch invasion quickly reached the duchess, and were apparently discussed in royal circles, for it is said that when the prince regent spoke of the imperative ne- cessity of incrzasing very largely the num- ber of his majesty’s forces, the duchess joired in the discussion, and made a wager with the prince regent that she would raise a regiment befor2 his royal highness, though ‘she did not isclose the special manner in which she proposed to gain the victory. At this time the duchess must have been over forty years of age, and apparently still as irresistibly charming as in the ear- lier days of her life; while most certainly Ker energy was unabated, as in this very year the gossiping diaries of Miss Berry re- late that this lady spent sixteen hours out of the twenty-four in a constant round of amusement; relating that upon one day just then, “she had begun by attending Handel's ‘music at Westminster Abbey, then to Hasting’s trial, a dinner and a play, Lady Lucan’s assembly, Ranelaugh, and Mrs. Hobart’s ‘farse,’ and herself gave a ball in the evening before that morning in which she must have got a good way, be- fcre setting out for Scotland.” Probably that ball was the occasion on which the bet was made, as by her own letters the prince regent and his brothers, the Dukes of York and Sussex, were frequent guests at her house. But we must picture the duchess ard her son, Lord Huntley, a fine-looking young men of twenty-four years old, start- ing off on their long journey to Scotiand in the spring of the year 1794; and we know that an official sanction was sent to the Duke of Gordon to raise a regiment for the king’s service, and was dated February 10, 174. Lord Huntley, by her side, no doubt spoke eloquently of the glories of a sol- dier’s life, and his mother urged each stal- wart Highlander to accept the king's shil- ling with her sweet smiles and winning ways; and when at last all other persua- sions failed, tradition, well founded on fact, tells that just a kiss from the beautiful duchess completed the conquest; so no doubt all her charms hed outlived her youthful days, for the authorities at the War office in London were very quickly in- formed that the regiment was complete and @ thousand strong. ———— see. The Queen of Spat From the London Figaro. Spain is essentially a lazy country. In all Tanks the people rise late and turn night into day; but the queen regent—a tall, graceful woman, looking younger than her years—sets them an excellent example. Up at 7, her first care is given to her children, and by 8 o'clock she js already at work with her secretary. It is only after lunch, toward 2 o'clock, that she allows herself an hour of well-earned rest. And some idea of Queen Christina’s thoroughness may be gained by the fact that she no longer speaks German—her native tongue— save to those few Teutons who find their way to Madrid. : When she first came a bride from Vienna to Spain she had mastered but imperfect- ly the language. Now she talks Spanish correctly, and has, alone and unaided, ac- quired a real knowledge of the splendid literature of her adopted country. When speaking cf her son she seldom refers to his as “‘his majesty” or “the king;” usually it is, “my boy” or “my little one.” She makes no outward difference between the three children, but it is easy to see that her heart 1s specially bound up in Alfonso XU. '» Busy Life. —_—_-<e. Hunting in By-Gone Days. W. A. Balllfe-Grobman in the Pall Mall Magazine. What long apprenticeship the would-be huntsmen had to serve in by-gone days! Gaston de Foix considered a beginning should be made when the child has reached the age of seven, wien It should be placed in the kennels. King Charles says that to become a perfect huntsman the young gen- tilhomme who is intended for the post of veneur should be taken at the age of twelve; he must be healthy and well built, he must have good sense and especially a quick and, prompt judgment. One of the principal things required is that he should be painstaking. Alas!_a hundred and fifty years later we have D'Yauville telling us that a man needs two years’ tuition to qvalify as a huntsman! It was not only the paid gentlemen of the hunting estab- lishmeats, however, who became real con- noisseurs, for their royal masters took such personal interest in everything connected with the Chase that most of them knew all their hounds by name, and on the eve of a day's hunting would name each hound that was to be taken out. They also prided themselves on being able to faire le bois themselves—that is, go out with their lymers in the morning and quest for and harbour the stag. ———_+o+___ Australian Land Grants. E. L. Godkin in the Atlantic, ‘The Australians res:mble us in having an immense tract of land at the disposition of the state. They came into possession much later, when waste lands were much more agcessible, and befor3 they were covered by traditions of any sort, and when the air had become charged with the spirit of ex- perimentation. They have accordingly tried to do various things with the land, which We never thought of. South Australia, for instancs, had the plan of giving grants of land to small co-operative associations, to be managed by trustees, and supplied with capital by a loan from the state of not more than a -head. The state, in _ short, agreed to do what our populists think it ought to do, lend money to the farmers at a low rat> of interest. Some of these asso- ciations were plainly communistic, and the members were often brought together sim- ply by poverty. As a whole they have not Succeeded. Some have brok2n up, but. others remain, and pay the government its interest, but no one expects that it will ever get back its principal. ——+e+—______ Du Maurier’s Story of His Blindness. From Harper's Magazine. I went to Antwerp, where there is a f mous school of painting; and where I had no less a person than Mr. Alma-Tadema tures; it was a very good eye, much the better of the two, and the other has not im- proved by having to do a double share of the work. Moreover, certain physical disa- bilities that I have the misfortune to labor under make it difflouit for me to study and sketch the lusty things in the open air sunshine. My sight, besides being defective in many ways, is so sensitive that I cannot face the common light of day without es thickly rimmed with wire i SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1898-24 PAGES, RANDOM VERSE, Sweet Rqfsgning. “CHICKEN FEED” CURRENCY The Days of Fippeny Bits, York Shillings, ; Picayunes and Coppers, The Origin in Various Parts of the Country of the Colloquial 11 Coins, On tiptoe, very wide awake, Drawn for a : ‘A spell of pensive silépds ‘passed, When by # sudden impnise led, 4 “My papa says I's i With artless pride spé sgid. Then, pausing as the fytary glowed With promise in her, view: “Aan’, dwan'ma, whemik @& all dwowed, Den I tan fwost cakts, tho.” Grandmother stooped, #h4 ‘with a kiss Mabel was folded tora Hfbast Whose longings for her, future bliss Love-molstened eyesze “4 “Dman'ma,” she murmured, nestling there, Her sense of ‘fostering love complete, “I dwess dey’s fwostin’ on ‘ou’ hair, Betause ‘ou Is so sweet." John Spangler in the Galveston News. Referring to the word “picayune,” it may not be uninteresting to give a sketch of subsidiary coinage and currency as used in the past, and the various names under which it was known. In Ohio in 1844 and previously there was @ good deal of foreign coin in circulation, mostly Spanish, with some of the old state coinage of different states occasionally making its appearance. One of the most plentiful of these foreign coins was a piece which passed current for 6% cents. In Ohio this was known as a fippenny bit, a contraction, probably, of fivepenny bit. The half dimes of American coinage were also becoming frequently at that time, and as a distinction between the half dime and the fippenny bit, the former was contracted to the word “fip.” The dime went under its lawful name, while the old Spanish double of the fippenny bit was known as the “bit,” and the Spanish and Mexican quarter dollars were nearly always re- ferred to as “two bits.” The latter term, I think, still obtains in reference to quar- ter-dollar American pieces in some sec- tions. There was also a New York state “two bit” coin, as well as a “bit” of the Same coinage, which was sometimes called the “York shilling.” The pine tree state shilling, coming from Maine, was some- times seen, but not much used. Its value Was supposed to be 16 2-3 cents. The old- fashioned big copper cent of American coinage was plentiful, while occasionally an English halfpenny of copper was found floating around, generally passing on the same basis as the American copper cent. Queen Victoria’s head was then shown on the English halfpennies. Later, when, as a boy, I removed with my mother to Illinois, I met my _ first stumbling block in money names. There the fippenny bit was the picayune, while the fip had its proper name of a haif dime or & cents, But the larger coins retained the old names, as did the copper cents. As near as I can learn, the term Picayune originated with the French, who had set- tled St. Louls and had settlements at points all the way from New Orleans to St. Louis and the further northwest, and their names for money predominated in that region. Still jater, when I had strayed away to New York state, I again encountered new names for money. There everything was based on the “shilling,” which repr2sented 12% cents. A quarter of a dollar was al- Ways “two shillings,” and all sums under $100 were calculated on the same basis. When I asked the price of board I was told it ranged from 16 to 30 shillings a week. Th> price of a suit of clothes Was gener- ally stated in shillings. That was all right for the natives, but I confess I had fre- quently to brush up my arithmetic to get at what 33 shillings, A Sailorman, Written for The Evening Star by David Graham Adee. Z A sailorman sailed over the sea, When the billows were soft and low, And the winds a ballad of ocean glee Sang sweetly in gentle flow, A sallor-wife sat out on the shore. And dreamed of a ship on the deep, But her sailorman she saw no more, For he slept in a sound, sound sleep. The sailor sailed away and. away, Where the surges were flerce and wild, And was lost at the break of a stormy day To his wife and bis little child. The winds were sad and the waves were mild, And the sea sang a story of life, A lullaby to the saitor-child, A wail to the sallor-wife —_+__- Ifa. Written for The Evening Star. If those we mourn were murdered, We will prove the fact, and then Give no quarter to am enemy Of fiends in form of men! We'll remember the Maine, ‘And the victims slain, And keep stern acccunt with Spain} If those we mourn were slaughtered By accident alone, We'll apologize for hate, And for distrust atone;— But forget not the Maine, And.the victims slain, Aud wateh our account with Spaint If the harbor of Havana Is honeycombed with mines— Death traps for the unwary— ‘These prove the fell designs:— So remember the Maine, And the victims slain, And keep stern account with Spain} If we're morally convinced ‘That murder has been done, We will act for our revenge— North, South, East. West—as one: We'll remember the Maine, And the victims slain, And punish the dastard Spain! 0. 22 shillings, 17 shil- "| lings, or some other high number, amount- SSS gd to. It was all clear enough when It was March. 2, 4 or 6 shillings, but when it got above the dollar it r>quired some “ciphering” on the part of a stranger to get correct results, The 3-cent plece, originally coined in si! ver, came into general circulation in the Bemard Maleolm Ramsay fn the Pall Mall Maga- uine, Out of the cavern of Time 1 -sprin; On the dancing feet of ¢he win Wildly, Ohhwiidije ee north about 1850, and was later made in While the gray clouds ‘behind, nick:1, being coined in that metal at about Trailing a mantle far over sky, the saine time as the present nickel 5-cent And the maniac winds go bellowing by. Piece. hivwing fy. Some time before the civ!l war the old- ‘The seuddin; ‘asses all '. a ‘And the plats crouch spon to the carth, fashioned copper cont was replaced at the The ol oaks groan and the poplars sight the mirt with the present small copper But { laugh with a frenzied: mirth, Ard call on the tempest tq.moek thelr erles ‘With thunderous tongues and Gaming eyes, Not a trembling tree but lifts its arms With a vain appeal to the skies, Oh! I love their terrors and wild alarms, And the merciless, mad replies From, the foam-flecked , mouths of the chefing hounds ‘That I hold in leash 1o iy hunting-grounds, —_$>-_ cents and the 2-cent pieces. Later the first nickels were made, but almost went out of circulation during the war, and were suc- ceeded by the fractional currency of that day, issued in 5, 10, 25 and W-cent bills. These were n2ver very popular with the masses, and were looked upon by the gov- ernment as a temporary expedient. The most popular designation for them was “shinplast though in Memphis and some other parts of the 2ountry they were referred to as “chicken feed.” During the war there were many other substitut>s for money, mostly in the form of cardboard promises to pay everything from a drink of whisky or = ride on the cars to a sult of ciothes; from a quart of milk or @ pound of beefsteak to a week's salary. They have dropped out of use in Most sections, and in their place Uncl3 £am’s coppers, nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars and “dollar of the daddies” now Teign supreme. Her F¥own. Charles J. Bayne in Pacis ‘There is magic in the music, when the fountains of her mirth 253 Into quid waves of laughter xipple down; . | And her eyes a deeper rpture In thelr dreamy moments capture, But I cherish most her features archly gathered in a frown. - In the ‘masquerade of faces desolation wears a suile, While the gravest in demeanor is the clowns Bat I know that in revealing Every transient thought and feeling She is nearest when her forehead sweetly fur- rows with a frown. ——_——--+e+. JOURNALISM UNDER DIFFICULTIES. The Work of the Censor and the Press in Austr! Mark Twain, in Harper's Magazine. There is a censor of the press, and appar- ently he is always on duty and hard at work. A copy of each morning paper is brought to him at 5 o'clock. His official Wagons wait at the doors of the newspaper offices and scud to him with the first copies that come from the press. His company of assistants read every line in these pa- pers, and mark everything which seems to have a dangerous look; then he passes final judgment upon these markings. Two things conspire to give to the results a capricious and unbalanced look; his assist- ants have diversified notions as to what is dangerous and what isn’t; he can’t get time to examine their criticisms in much detail; and so sometimes the very same matter which is suppressed in one paper fails to be damned in another one, and gets published in full feather and unmodified. Then the paper in which it was suppressed blandly copies the forbidden matter into its evening edition—provokingly giving credit and detailing all the circumstances in cour- teous and inoffensive language—and of course the censor cannot say a word. Sometimes the censor sucks all the viood out of a newspaper and leaves it colorless and inane; sometimes he leaves it undis- turbed, and lets it talk out its opinions with a frankness and vigor hardly to be surpassed, I think. in the journals of any country. Apparently the censor sometimes revises his verdicts ‘upon second thought, for several times lately he has suppressed journals after their issue and partial dis- tribution. The distributed copies are then sent for by the censor and destroyed. I have two of these, but at the time they Were sent for I could not remember what I had done with them. In her eyes there gleams a splendor which no shadows can subdue, Like the glint upon the waving flelds of brown; As the glowing embers mingle ‘With the ashes on the ingle Glows her soul among the thoughts which gravely wait upon her frown. All the shifting lights and shadows which her April eyes assume Wear a charm of which this aspect is the crown; And if she could guess the ardor Of my thoughts as I regard her, How I wonder would her features coldly gather in a frown! ——_—__-e-—______ The Picture. Margaret Gilman George {9 Youth's Companion, There isa picture in my room No stranger eyes shajl ever see, Fit food for mirth to them, perhaps, A holy thing to me. She labored in a barren land, Barren of hills or river shore; Barren of woods or prairie sweep; Small things about her door. Her face was brown with sun and toll; ‘Her eyes were truthful, etendy, grays Her bands were firm and ‘fixed to’ work ‘Through all the changeless day. Between the tasks she painted it. Z A child’s cheap paint ‘box all sbe-hadg The drawing, color, you would say, Al ly, Wholly ‘bad, . In hands but used to wield a root Put ail her starving soultm this, Her love of bird and bloom. She saw a faint, gold, sunset. sk ‘That glorified the brooding bill She saw. the river still with light Like fo-a soul God's presence fills, , She saw the birds filt silently. He ind against that tender lights She felt the fragrance of the rose Before the dew of night. Deep feelings made her heart grow great, Grow great within her as she w! ite What ee But she who held the wretched brush, m, hand that held the brush Was id and untaught? The poor, pathetic, faded daub, With the cheap tints and shaky Grows glorious as 2 mast When enee the eye divines. I, who have tried in halting rhyme fe a the as my — would [al away ym scorn eyes, ‘A holy ‘thing to meen ——_+o+—____ THE EXTINCTION OF THE GIRAFFE. Hines, - How the Animal is Being Hunted to x its End in Africa. » From the’ London Times. % The untimely and most regrettable death of the young South African giraffe which lately reached England serves again to re- mind us of the increasing scarcity of these animals, and of the immense difficulties which attend their capture: It is a remark- able fact that until the year 1895 no living giraffe had ever reached Europe from Sout! see; I Kissed ihe Cook. James Courtney Challis 4a" jynat to Eat. 1 Kissed the cook—ah mé, anebivas -dlvine! Cheeks peachy, dark brow: es, Mps red as wine; "eee apee wie Sar cap as wtege q A Ww é Africa. The old stock, so long familiar in By AAs, Yoo senrtlne no peat te atk the Zoological Soclety’s Gardens, were de- 1 kissed the cook, this angel -from the skies, scended from animals captured in Kor- And sets 1 cid mot tnke' duet hy surprise,” ofan by M. Thibaut, @ French trader in u'll tht, vow” the Soudan, as far back as 1834. These But it y ‘To keep ft, T'll'tell you ow 2 the cooks I kissed the cook—poor, ‘bi Little lass, | - Jn Shan’ ap ted cont it it ps Her hands were, dough; | I kissed the eook. But then I guess North African giraffes bred freely in cap- tivity, and the last of this stock died so recently as 1802. In 1895 the Zoological So- clety was fortunate enough to purchase young female captured by Boer hunters in Southeast Africa. This animal has thriven remarkably, and it was confidently hoped that its union with the young male which has just died would resuit in the reproduc- tion of a fresh family of these strange and interesting animals. Throughout ns giraffes have been, of late years, principally to the closing 23 is within the writer's knowledge that quite recently, during ‘two seasons’ hunting, not less than 300 giraffes. have been shot by na- tive hunters near Lake Ngami. That slaughter, within a limited district, repre- sents naturally only a small portion of the extermination which is, month by month and week by week, going forward in the African continent. Not until firearms and horses were intro- duced into Africa did the present lament- able period of extermination set in. Native Africans, with their own primitive weapons Spears and bows and arrows—made little impression on the numbers of these stately quadrupeds. Even in the pitfalls and ho- pos, once so abundant in the interior of South Africa, tew giraffes were taken as compared with other quadrupeds. But as soon as breechloading rifles, and especially hunting horses, appeared, the gigantic mam- mal became almost surely doomed to ex- tinction. Even with the modern rifle the European on foot finds it difficult to ap- proach and stalk such shy and suspicious game as giraffes. Moreover, in the greater Part of those regions of southern Africa in which these creatures are now to be found, the country is almost waterless, and the foot hunter has no possible chance of at- taining his purpose. In the northern part of the Kalahari desert, for instance, where large numbers of giraffes still roam, it is impossible to approzch these animals ex- cept on horseback, and then only with great difficulty. Giraffes have the faculty, in common with several of the anteiopes, such as the eland and gemsbok, of being able to support life for long periods without touching water. For tnis reason, fn their last southern stronghold—the north Kala- hari—giraffes have thus far been able to resist utter extinction. But with the aid of horses and water carts considerable per- tions of this vast waterless tract of coun- try are now being rendered accessible to hunters, and even there giraffes are grad+ ually being swept from existence. The Kalahari is not by any means a sheer des- ert. It lacks surface water, but much of its flat yet elevated expanse is covered with great forests of giraffe-acacia and other ‘timber, bush and excellent grasses. Grad- ually all this country will be settled Pastoral farmers, weils will be sunk an permanent waters opened up. y that time—not very remotely distant—ziraffes south of the Zambesi will have become ab- solutely extinct. With the horse the chase of the giraffe is renderea comparatively easy, as even tive hunters have, unfortunateiy for the anima., long since found out. It is true that giraffes are possessed of very consid- erable speed and great staying power. But the secret of their downfall is very easily discovered. If t+= hunter presses his horse ‘"t topmost sp — with whip and spur for the first two or three miles of zhe chase he can run right up to his game (untess the troop has gained an inordinate start), and either shoot the animal he singles out easi- ly from the saddle or turn it from his fel- lows and bring it shortly to a standstill. At their own pace giraffes can run for hours tog&ther; but, pressed beyond their speed, they become winded and fall eas victims. A solid lead bullet, planted som where near the root of the giraffe’s tail, penetrates through the short body easily to @ vital part, and the animal fails crashing to the earth. With a broken limb the giraffe is at once disabled. Accomplished South African hunters, and especially the Boers, if a long distance from c:mp, are accustomed, having once run their quarry down, to drive it before them for miles and shoot it close to thelr own wagons. This is a masterly operation, however, dependent somewhat upon the direction of the wind, and is only to be accomplished by skilled and veteran hunters. sor LOVED BY NEGROES AND ’PosstMs. The Persimmon After It Has Been Wrinkled by Frost. From the Pinehurst (N. ©.) Outlook. Just two years ago I went forth one fine January morning to search the surrounding country for some plants I needed for the plantations in town. In due time I found what I wanted, but instead of being con- tented with my easy success I went fur- ther on and soon came into trouble—that is, I lost my way—and dinner hour came before I knew “where I was at.” I did not need to starve, however, and it was then and there that the resources of this seem- ingly so desolate country became apparent to me, and though no hospitable shanty Was visible, the woods laid the table, and a dainty one in the bargain, for I could feast on persimmons, drink my own and the rest of mankind’s health in clear ice cold spring water, and finish up by finding my dessert in prickly pears. It may not be quite devoid of interest that I discovered soon after that I had not been far from Pinehurst at all, only had circled around the town instead of cutting through. Since that day I have preserved a deep gratitude toward our native fruits, and I always try to cultivate the taste of our guests from sar north so that they may share my lik- ing. For those who like to know a little more of the whereabouts of the persimmons I write the following notes: The persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) grows nearly every- where in North Carolina and is found as far north as New York state and Rhode island, but commonly it is not hardy be- yond Philadelphia. It will be easily recog- nized in our woods by its perfectly sym- metrical growth, and its grayish, some- what rough bark, and, last but not least, by its fruits. Though usually not higher than fifteen to twenty feet with us, there are specimens in this vicinity over forty feet tall and of a trunk diameter of about fifteen inches. (McKenzie’s farm.) The foliage is bright green and glossy, appears early and changes to purple before drop- ping. The rather insignificant whitish blossoms open in June, are fragrant and much relished by bees. They are follow- ed by the quickly developing fruit, which attains its full size and color by August. But woe to the investigating stranger who might be tempted to try these inviting looking plum-like fruits. Holy horror will soon depict itself upon his face, and his mouth will at once take all kinds of form’ from whistling to a broad grin. He will swear off the use of persimmons for ail time to come, and—will like them th: more later on. For, mind ye, at that time the fruits are puckering and astringent above all things, and want to be left quite alone. Everything, however, cometh unto him who waits, and the first early frost will accomplish quite a marvelous metamorpho- sis. Instead of looking smooth and plump any more, they will then be somewhat withered and, best of all, the despisable as- tringent taste will have made way to a delicious sweetness resembling somewhat that of tes. Now the time has come for man and ‘possum to revel in simmons. The gourmet will fare even better yet by fol- lowing the old druggist’s adage, “Shaken before taken,” and accordingly he shakes the tree and does not mind to the juicy fruit from the ground. The ripe fruits are sometimes used in the making a beer—simmon beer—which is sald to “not bad;” while the fermented fruit fur- nishes a brandy that improves with age. ‘The wood is found very useful for shoe lasts, mallets and violins, and is regarde« as an equal to ash or beech and nearly coming up to hickory. A decoction of the astringent inner bark is supposed to be salubrious against intermittent fevers. There hails from Japan another species of persimmon, the Diospyros kaki, which of- fers some special advantages. If bears much larger, and, if possible, sweeter fruits than our native representative, and the fruits are as delicious before as the: are after frosts. This Japanese persim- mon is fairly hardy with us, and unde propagation now in our nurseries. ——+o+—____ “My Uncle” and “My Aunt.” From the London News An ingenious French writer has been ex- splendid gold watch that had been given to ‘f EZ fi i - Ei ; i ? i i i pick up | a i 4 Hi Z i LIFE BELOW GROUND Acquired Characteristics of the Bur- rowing Animals, BIRDS THAT LIVE UNDER GROUND Subterranean Granaries for Winter Support. RABBITS, MOLES AND RATS From the London Spectator. An interesting: find of buried treasure has just been credited to a mole. Coins were Seen shining in the earth of a freshly cast- up mole hill at Penicuick. near inburgh, and a search showed that the mole had driven his gallery through a hoard of an- cient coins of the date Edward I. Life underground and in the dark is ab- solutely contrary to the normal habits, tastes and structure of almost all animals except the very few, like the common moles, tuce-tuco, and the marsupial sand moles, which obtain their food below the earth surface as diving birds catch fish be- low the sea surface. It Is almost an inver- ston of their normal way of fe, and is probably due to some such compulston as has also forced many animals to become rocturnal. Nor fs it doubtful that if once this necessity re removed their tendency would be to abandon this unnatural life, and return to the regions of light. How strong the pressure must have been which forced them underground may be gathered from the list of English terrestrial mam- mals. Twelve of these are bats; but of the remaining twenty-nine no less than sixteen, or more than half, live either wholly or Partly underground. The list includes tho fox, three shrews, the mole, the badger, the Otter, three species of mice, two rats, three voles and the rabbit. Besides there are several species of birds, as widely different in habit as the stormy petrels, sand mar- tis, puffins, sheldrake ducks and the king- fisher, which for a time live in holes exca- vated In the earth. ‘To abandon the sun, to bask in whose rays is to most animals one of the most agreeable of physical enjoy- ments, Is an almost greater sacrifice than the relinquishment of fresh air. Yet the sacrifice is made, and the creatures, though not without occasional suffering and loss of kealth directly attributable to this cause, have succeeded in adapting themselves with great success to the new conditions. Eyes im the Dar How most of the burrowing animals find life endurable at all is difficult to discover. No one who has seen colliers coming for their lamps and about to descend into the pit can have failed to note the marks of Physical strain exhibited by all—from old men to boys. But burrowing animals ere among the merriest of the merry; there ore few creatures more full of galety and buoy- ant spirits than a prairie dog or even a sand hill rabbit. Some have coats so close and fine that sand runs off them like water does from feathers; others have “shivering muscle by which they can shake their Jackets without taking them off. The eyes of most burrowing creatures are by no means protected against if the rat and the rabbit had a e over their eyes, as a snake has, or overhanging eyebrows and deeply sunk orbits, the moul- fication would be ut once explained Ly evo- lution, but they exhibit no such modifica- tion whatever. On the contrary, poth of them have prominent, rather staring eyes, without protection, and no eyelashes to speak of. We believe that, just as divers learn to keep ‘their eyes open under waster without feeling pain, so many of the min- ing animals can endure the presence of dust and grit on the eye without discom- fort. Tame rats will allow dust or fine sand to rest on the eyeball without trying to remove it, and it may be inferred that rabbits, mice, voles and shrews can do the same. The mole's eyes have become #0 atrophied that when a mole is skinned the eyes come off with the skin, but this is Probably not because the mining hurts the eye, but because the mole, having learnt to work by scent and touch, had little fur- ther use for sight. Ventilation, or rather the waat of it, must be another difficulty in the under- ground life of almost all mammals. The rab- bits and the rat secure a c forming a bolt-hole in their system of passages, Dut the fox, the badger, and many of the field voles’ and mice seem indifferent to any such precau- tion. There is no doubt that whatever gave the first impulse to burrow, many animals look upon this, to us, most unpleasant ex- ertion as a form of actual amusement. Property Rights. Burrowing also confers a right of prop- erty. Prairie dogs constantly set to work to dig holes for the love of the thing. If they cannot have a suitable place to exer- cise their talent in, they will gnaw into boxes or chests of drawers, and there bur- row. A young prairie dog let loose In a smell gravel-floored house instantly dug a hole large enough to sit in, turned round in it, and bit the first person who attempt- ed to touch him. Property gave him cour- age, for before he had been as meek as a mouse. It is noticeable that the two weak- est and least numerous of our mice, tho dcrmouse and the harvest mouse, do not burrow, but make rests; and that these do not multiply or maintain their numbers Ikke the burrowing mice and voles. But the fact that there are members of very closely allied species, some of which do burrow, while others do not, seems to indicate that the habit is an acquired one. In this connection it is worth noting that many animals which do not burrow at other times form burrows in which to con- ceal and protect their young, or, if they do burrow, make a different kind of a more elaborate character. Among these nursery burrows are those of the dog, the fox, the sand martin, the kingfisher and the shel- drake. Fox hound litters never do so well as when the mother is allowed to make a burrow on the sunny side of a straw stack. In ume she will work this five feet or six feet into the stack, and keep the puppies at the far end, while she lies in the en- trance. Vixens either dig or appropriate a clean burrow for their cubs, which is a natural habit, or, at any rate, one ac- ! quired previously to the use of earths by = | adult foxes. Saving Food. The sand-martirs are, however, the most complete examples of creatures which have taken to undergrourd life entirely to pro- tect their young, and abandon it with joy the instant these have flown. How far the Kingfisher and the sheldrake contribute to the making of the burrows in which they y thei is doubtful, but it sn ocr gine ot habit in birds o7 strong flight and open-air, active habits. Ii may be paralleled by the case of the stormy petrels and fork-tafled petrels, true ocean birds, which, nevertheless, abandon the sea and air to dig deep holes in the soil of the Hebridean islets, and rear their young in these dark and tortuous passages. Rabbits, rats and some other rodents make @ nursery gees ofa ent igen wane 8 one opening, which suites chase mp - ween Senving the user. i li [|