Evening Star Newspaper, March 12, 1898, Page 23

——————— THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1898—24 PAGES, HAVANA DAY BY DAY Scenes in the Busy Life of the Cubans. a THEIR FASHIONS ARE UP-TO-DATE How the Large Hotels Are Man- aged. FEW BICYCLES THERE Havana Letter isf the Hartford Courant. A casual observer would say there was very little difference between the gowns ard costumes of the Havanese ladies and those seen in the large cities of the United States or Europe. They catch on to the prevailing fashions without much delay, and adept them to the extent of their purses. One does not see seal cloaks or other furs on the streets even in the winter months, when the temperature is between 7 and 0, although I saw a fur cape for sale in one of the shops. If a sale of them ever occurs, the purchaser is undoubtedly one who contemplates a trip north. Most of the women who appear on the stfeets In the day time hood their faces with black lace scarfs and use fans to protect their faces from the sun. Frequently you see young women walking together dressed ex- actly alike. This is so frequent as to be noticeable to strangers. On a Sunday af- ternoon I noticed in front of a fashionable residence five women, probably members of the same family, ail gowned precisely alike, in a heliotrope colored fabric. It was sug- gested that the head of the family was pleased with the goods and bought a whole piece. Very few of the women are pretty, according to the American standard of beauty. They age early and rapidly, and resort to cosmetics and powders to con- tinue their youthful looks long after their beauty, if they ever had any, has passed away c might imagine that everybody in Havana was rich, as there is an utter ab- sence of dogs, which cannot be accounted for by lack of poverty. Without asking for an explanation, one may conclude that they have gone with the reconcentrados. The Dieyele fad doesn’t seem to have taken hold of the Havanese. I saw but two bicycles on the streets, and those were on the out- skirts of the city, where there was a little patch of concrete pavement. There are very few streets in Havana where it would be a pleasure to ride a wheel. The busi- portion is paved with block granite, in good*condition. The roads in the suburbs are execrable. The favorite drive is on the beach road, but there is very little pleasure in riding—the road ts so full of Tuts and depressions that carriage springs are severely tested. The condition of the streets and the almost entire absence of country roads is probably the excuse for not indulging in bicycling. Hotel Life, The Hotel Inglaterra is considered a fine fotel for Cuba. You would not be satis- fied with the cooking and ¢ neral conduct of the diring room if in the United Stats. There is any variation of the from meal to meai and day to day. s printed in both Spanish and English, s the waiters cannot understand the h part of it you are hopelessly lost if ak» to give them an order. But ell you about the bed room. omy and at least twenty feet Ligh. Broad wooden blinds open out on an iron Iron bars perpendicularly “ s to your room from the ide impossibl. The floor is marble and walls are covered with a heavy dark Paper of a Moorish design. A half circle of colored glisses over your window make a very beautiful yainbow effect on the mar- ble floor whan the sun shines into the rcom_ The beds are a pretty picture to look at. The bedsteads are brass with a sym- metrically curved mosquito canopy taste- fully draped to protect the sleeper from thes: musical pests, whicn do business every month in the year. The picture is somewhat dispelled when you discover there is nothing between you and a very flexible wir> m except one thin quilt and a sheet. The effect is something like getting into a hammock. Another pecu- liarity of the room is that the partition which separates you from the adjoining room reaches only 2ight or nine feet from a chair, if in- ur neighbors. the floor, and by standin clined, you can look im on ‘There are a few lines of mul-s for motive power. ten cents and trav2l by this m d. When the war @ a grand oppor- is over there ought to tunity for enterpri a first-class trolley syste fares. The of transport tion in the city is by their one-hor: torias, of which there are thousand they will carry two persons from one point to another within the city limits for a pe- seta, or twenty cents of their money, equal in value to fourteen cents, United ‘States currency. This is about the only cheap article in Havana. The Cemetery. There is a commendable absence of drunkenness In Havana. I saw but one person intoxicated, and he was hanging around the American consulate, asking as- sistance. He was an American, I am asha: to say. His story was that he had been stranded here, and, being an American sailor, had been abused by the Spanish, to prove which he showed me the cuts on his head. He apparently deserved all he got. The cemetery is an interesting place to nd one is repaid for the trouble of a two or three-mile drive to see some of tue fine monuments there, especially one erect- ed by the city to the memory of thirty-six firemen who perished in a conflagration several years ago. It ts of Italian marble, grand in proportions and elaborate in work- manship. Medallions in life size of the dead firemen are cut in relief on one of the supporting blocks of marble, nine on each side. The main shaft is surmounted with f an angel holding the dead body man in its arms, and on each side beautifully worsed de- mmemorating the occasion. »le structure must be about sevent: high and possibly thirty feet square at It was made in Italy and must st severa: hundred thousands of The Havana funerals al! occur at -k in the afternoon and soon after me you see processions coming into the cemetery from all direetions. The car- s remain at the entrance while the rs carry the casdet to the grave, fol- i by the mourners. I saw several processions wending their way up the hill without hearse or car- These were of families too poor to ything but a plain coffin. This was being carried on the shoulders of men, and as the distance is sometimes several miles, it requires quite a number of able-bodied men, who relieve one another frequently. Nearly ail the lots in the cemetery are in- closed with iron fences, and almost every grave mark has a wreath of metallic flow- rs attached to it. There {s an appearance of neglect noticeable throughout the ceme- tery. but that seems to be characte-istic of the people. The Military. ‘The one predominating element in Ha- Vana at the present time is the soldiery. The streets are literally filled with uni- formed men and youth. ‘The averags Spanish officer or soldier would not impress an American favorably. As a rule they are not well set up, and they are generaliy undersizzd. They ali lack the West Point cut, which ts so much admired by Ameri- ccns. They may understand the theory and practice of War, but the true martial Brdor does net seem to rzach down into their backbone and legs. None of the ofti- cers would ever be accused of wearing cor- sets, as some of our fledglings in the mili- tary s-rvice are. The uniform of officers and men seems to be of the same material —a fine green and white stripe gingham, or some similar fabric for both coat and trcusers. The officers wear a few gilt stars on their coat sleeves and a white canvas cap; the enlisted men a Panama straw hat, with one side folded up and fastened with @ ror ette. The volunteers, corresponding to our Na- tiona! Guard, are doing duty in the city as an sapmet to the polics. They have an in- spection and guard mount every morning on the Prado. I twice saw this ceremony performed and never saw anything so sicvenly done before. Ther> was no sizing up of the men; a boy of five feet two inches would be between men six or eight inchos taller. Talking in the ranks seemed to be allowed at all times. At inspection the man becam> immovable only when the ctti- cer approached him and relaxed into so- cability immediately after the officer had passed. Some had leggings, many had not. They were a job lot of misfits, assorted s'zes and colors, from fifteen to forty. The regulars are having a hard time of it. in summer about fifty per cent sicken and die. At the present time some of them are beg- ging on the streets, not having received*| their pay for more than six months. This refers to the enlisted men. The officers are paid, and, apparently, enjoy themselves. No Kodaks Allowed. It is the pclicy of the Spanish authorities to suppress everything that illustrates the condition of affairs in Cuba. A careful search to ottain photographs of the peo- ple or of any event connected with the war was fruitless. The use of kodaks is re- stricted, if permitted at all. Views of the tomb of Columbus and the monument erected on the spot where he landed are freely offered for sale. One is a little skep- tical about believing that the remains cf the great discoverer are actually resting ia Havana, but good autnorities say that it is unquestionably ccrrect. : The morning after the Maine exp!osion an energetic photographer ook some very s00d views of the wreck, but the authur- ities very soon suppressed his trathe, and he retired with a generous stock of good photographs, although there was a great demand for them and fabulous prices were offered. It seems to a stranger in Havana that one-half of the population are engaged in selling lottery tickets. They ure offered you by all classes, ages and sexes. They are hung on hooks in elevators, and ‘he boy or man in charge of the lift suggests that you invest. Almost every store can supply you if you want them. Haif-clad men, women and children importune you in Spanish to help them out. The wonder is where all these wretched people get the money to start in business. Possibly they sell on commission, but it must take a great deal of confidence to trust them on the streets with so much valuable property. —— ACCIDENT THAT BROUGHT FAME. The Way the Making of Shot Was Discovered. From the Chicago Poat. All dreams do not go by contraries. If they did Plumber Watts of Bristol, Eng- land, in all probability, would have re- mained a humble plumber to the end of his days. But Watts dreamed a dream and it brought him fame and fortune. One after- noon, so the story runs, Watts was en- gaged in repairing the roof of a Bristol church. In some mannner he lost his foot- hold and was slowly slipping down the smooth slates when he got a new purchase and thus saved his bones, if not his life. This mishap worried Watts and he spent the remainder of the day speculating on what might have happened had he gone over the edge of the roof and dropped to the hard turf below. Still vexed with these unpleasant fancies he fell asleep and then in dreams he several times repeated his ex- perience of the afternoon, but with several additional features. One of these was that while he was sliding down the roof his ladle of melted lead slipped out of his hand and disappeared over the edge. When— still dreaming—he went in search of his lead, expecting to find {t in one piece, he was surprised to notice the ground was covered with hundreds of tiny globules, the metal evidently having been so divided 1 falling. When Watts wakened this inci- dent of his dream would not leave him. He did not for a moment suppose lead would act in such an unusual manner, but the dream seemed so plausible that he was persuaded to enact it in reality. So, with his ladle, he went to the roof of the same church and let the melted lead slide from the ridge. Then he hastened to the ground and his astonishment knew no bounds when he found everything as it had ap- peared in his dream. The ground was cov- ered with tiny globules of bright metal. Watts was sharp enough to realize what he had discovered and was not slow to profit by it. He had found a simple way to make fine shot and he realized a fortune of £10,000 out of his dream. ‘Thus it happened that the first shot tower was a church. Drop shot is made in the same way today that Watts employed after his first experiment. The melted lead is taken to the top of a high tower built for the purpose. It is then poured through a sieve and in falling through the air it be- comes broken into small globules. At the bottom of the tower is a pool of cold water into which the shot falls. From there it is taken and placed in revolving drums, where, by one shot rubbing against others, it becomes round and smooth. Several devices have been used to do away with the tower. One of these is a large upright tube through which, from the bottom, is forced a draught of cold air. This allows of a much shorter fall than where the old- style tower is used. Another method is to pour the lead through a sieve and allow it to fall through glycerine. The density of this liquid gives the same resistance and does the same in rounding and separating the shot as does a much greater column of air. The varying sizes of drop shot are made by sieves of different meshes as well as by the distance the lead is allowed to fall. Drop shot forms a considerable fea- ture of lead working and may be consid- ered one of the most practical and concrete things that ever came out of the misty realms of dreamland. In passing it may be noticed that the inventor of lead pipe—Rob- ert Seydell of Milton, Pa.—discovered the process in a somewhat accidental way. His method was very crude, but it served others, not overscrupulous, to begin the development of the present lead pipe in- dustry. Seydell was born in 1800 and dled in 1847, having during his comparatively short life given many proofs of exceptional mechanical genius. but reaping no marked profit from his skill. eS A Fascinating Island. From the Mexican Herald. “Of all fascinating places under the sun,” said a gentleman who has traveled much, “the island of Tahiti, one of the Society Islands, 1s the most fascinating. In that country, a little earth lost in a vast ocean, nature has done everything to make indo- lent souls happy. The climate is temperate and even all the year round, the vegeta- tion is luxuriant, the women beautiful, and the nights, full of perfume and mys- tical light, stir the most practical mind to love of meditation and dreaming. The influence of this dreamy, lazy life is very insidious. It is not necessary to work, aS the island furnishes food without the labor of tillage. I know a number of Ameri- cans and French who have gone there for a visit, and have become so enraptured with the languorous’ existence that, like the visitors to lotus land, they lie down and forget friends, home, ambition and everything. I remémber bow I used to feel the influence steal upon me. Many a time I wished earnestly to cast my lot with those languomus people. I can look back now and s myself as I lay one night against a ec nut tree in a sort of ecstacy of meditafion. Overhead was a sky bright with aymillion stars. Sounds came to me in a strange fashion, blending into a murmur. A short distance away a group of natives, girls and men, were shouting the rhythmic chant of the upu- upa dance. I thought of myself on this little isle, with ocean on every side and New Orleans so many miles distant. Noth- ing seemed real to me but that spot in which one could hear indistinctly the chant of the singers and the sobbing of the Waves; a mysterious charm possessed me.” —-o-+__ _ Two Remarkable Feats. Frem the New York Herald. Mr. Henry Wolfsohn recalled yesterday a r2markable feat of memory by Signor Gore, who traveled as conductor with a concert company organized by Campanini. The music trunk not having arrived in time for @ concert, Signor Gore accompanied from memory on the piano the entire third act of “Faust,” at the same time transposing the music half a ton. An interesting story is told of Mascagni, the composer of “Cavalleria Rusiicana.” One of his friends had casually said that there was no work of any of the six most famous composers, whose names were - tior which Mascagni could not play. tau! ly from m2mory. The statement being ridiculed as le, Mascugni re- luctantly consented, in order to settle the dispute, to. make the effort. A number of musical experts wer invited to attend ‘the recital, cach one in turn selecting a compo- sition for performance. In vain they tried to baffle the composer, who. not anly-an- swered the challeng> brilliantly in every instance, but filled up the intervals with de- lightful improvisations of his own. BEHIND CHINA'S THRONE The Emperor a Nonentity, the Dowager Em- press is “It.” Characteristics, Surroundings and Physical Appearance of the Young Ruler. From the Westminster Review. There is a young man in Pekin who would be trembling just now in his skin if he were only able to realize properly the. danger that is threatened to him and his empire. He is the Emperor Kuang Hsu, euphemistically known as the son of heaven and brother of the sun. He is the most secluded monarch on earth. When he appears in public, which is rarely, matting is hung up in front of all the houses and strips of cloth are stretched across the alleys and side streets through which the imperial procession must pass. He is in- variably accompanied by a vast retinue of soldiers and an army of courtiers, and the man who peeps around the corner or has hts eyes fastened to a hole in the matting is Hable to be blinded by a bullet or an arrow. When he is at home he is carefully hidden away in the center of a big Tartar city (which is in the center of the Chinese city) at Pekin, and you have to go through three sets of walls—simply an impossible task for a European visitor—before you ap- proach the building in which he is kept, guarded by eunuchs. Though he is generally credited with the possession of an ugly temper, which incites him to smash the bric-a-brac of his apart- ments when he cannot have his own way, his efforts at ruling go no further than doing what he is told to do. He is kept in order—ancestor worship being a strong point in the celestial moral code—by the old empress dowager, who practically runs the state show, and who is influenced some- times by whims, working through a thin leaven of diluted statesmanlike feeling, and sometimes by that backstairs palace in- trigue which works through the favorable medium of her favorite eunuch, Pitsian-li. Kuang Hsu—which means the illustrious succession—has been under the old lady’s thumb since he was four years of age, when he was chosen to succeed T’ung-chi. She supervised his education. She picked out his wives for him, and she makes the ladies of his harem skip today if they don’t walk chalk in her presence. Of course, she took her own friends when she selected his wives, and she has hin so hem- med about with her officials and girls that if he had a will of his own he wouldn’t know how to use it. The empress dowager, awho has bossed the tsung-li-yamen for a generation, is now sixty-three years old. She was the secondary wife of the emperor Hsien Fung. She was at the head of the empire during a greater part of the Tae- ping rebellion. She managed its affairs during its war with France, and she has had more than one taste of Russian diplomacy. She is said to have a mind of her own, and all of the Chinese respect and fear her. She is a stickler as to form, and insists that all business shall be done through the young emperor, though sho really directs what he is to do. She is even more secluded than the emperor, and when she receives her officials and the cabinet ministers her practice is to sit behind a screen while they talk at her through it— unless she has something strong to say to them. ‘The emperor is twenty-sevep, lean, under- sized and uthealthy. His features are Tar- tar as contradistinguished from Chinese; the reigning family belrg (as every one should know, but probabiy does not) ‘Tar- tar. He does all his business at night and he sleeps in the daytime. He begins his work about two in the morning after a mid- night breakfast, when he receives his cab- inet ministers, who, on being ushered into his presence, go down on their knees and perform the seven-faced ‘‘Ko-tou”—that is, bump their heads again and again on the floor. They’ also remain on their knees while before him. Everything about and cornected with Kuang Hsu ts regulated by law, even to his meals. According to the old Chinese books there must. be placed before him daily thirty pounds of meat in a basin and seven pounds boiled into soup. He has a daily allowance of about a pound of hog’s fat and butter, and he has the right to order two sheep, two fowls and two ducks, while his drink for the day is re- stricted to the milk of eighty cows and the steeping of seventy-five parcels of tea. It is probable that his real diet is different, but these are the regulation provisions, and if he desires anything that 1s not on the menu the board having charge of the imperial table has to be consulted. It is more than doubtful whether his majesty realizes his exalted situation and his power. He has been hemn-zed in and fooled all his life. He knows nothing of modern civili- zation, and, in spite of the recent war, next to nothing of modern warfare. He has never reviewed, and is not capable of re- viewing, his army, and his common amuse- ment is to shoot with a bow and arrow. If he ever had in him the makings of a char- acter they must have been ruined long si.ce by his mode of life and his surround- ings. —__-+e-+_____. The Decay of Stone. From the Architect. Whoever expects to find a stone that will stand from century to century, deriding alike the frigid rains and scorching solar rays without need of reparation, wil in- deed search for “the philosopher’s stone.” There is scarcely a substance which, after having been exposed to the action of the at- mosphere for a considerable time, does not exhibit proofs of “weathering;” it may even be observed on the most densely com- pacted siliceous rocks. The fullest extent of this Inquiry can only be to elucidate rel- ative duration and comparative labor of ap- Propriation to useful or ornamental pur- poses. By examining the various productions of Nature we find evident proofs of her in- dustry In all ages; changes have been going on from the remotest antiquity to the pres- ent time on every substance that comes within our observation. All the actual com- binations of matter have had a former ex- istence in some other state. Nothing ex- ists In nature but what is likely to change its condition and manner of being. No ma- terial is so durable as always to retain ia present appearance, for the most solid and compact bodies have not such a degree of impenetrability and so close a union of the parts which compose them as to be exempt- ed from ultimate dissolution. Even in the great globe which we inhabit nothing is more evident to geologists than @ perpetual series of alterations; there can be discovered no vestige of a beginning, no Prospect of an end. In some bodies these changes are not so frequent and remark- able as in others, though equally certain at a more distant period. The venerable re- mains of Egyptian splendor, many of them executed in the hardest granite between three and four thousand years since, ex- hibit large portions of exfoliation and grad- ual decay, thereby following the primitive, immutable and universal order of causes and effects, namely, that all objects possess the materials of which they are composed only for a limited time, during which some powerful agent effects their decomposition and sets the elementary particles at liberty again to form other equally perfect com- binations. Thus by divine and unerring laws order is restored amidst apparent con- fusion. ——— How the Japanese Sleep. K. Mitsckuri in the Atlantic. When night comes, beds are prepared. Bedding is brought out from the closets where it has been put away during the day. One or two large thick futons or cushions are spread directly on the mats of bed rooms, and coverings Which look like enormous kimono or clothes are spread over them. Every traveler has told of the pillow made of a wooden box with a little cylindrical cushion on the top, but this kind of pillow is going out of fashiom RANDOM ['VERSE. eee Little Wink Toes. Written for The Eveting Star by W. T. Talbott. ‘When the Shadow: Glant ‘Comes across thé land, Dropping see@$ of ‘slumber From bis djwy ‘hand, ‘Then the household darling, Little Tiny Does, Cries in Mog atcents, As to bed she ghes, Ere the slumber blossoms — All about hér creep: “Tum sn’ tis$ me} mamma; Den me'll go to s’eep."” Pretty little sly-boots, ‘Though she’ calmly Iles, She's not alwWays sleeping When she shuts her eyes, Mamma may have kissed her Many times tefore, Yet you'll hear her pleading, While her eyes once more Through half-lifted eyelids O'er the bedclothes peep: “Tum an’ tiss me, mamma; Den me'll go to s'eep.”” So the household darling, Little Tiny Toes, Fights the Shrdow Gtant Ere she finds repcse; As the tranquil twilight Slowly disappears, Pleads for good-night kisses. In the mother’s ears Sweet, ab, sweet! the drowsy Nestling’s parting cheep: “Tum an’ tiss me, mamma; Den we'll go to s’eep. + Albert of Belgium, Written for ‘The Evening Star. Prince Albert—(h of frock-coat fame) Is paying us a visit, And is not hunting female game! His chject then—what ts it? . Can we believe that there is aught On this side of the water That can command bis princely gaze, Save some bemillioned daughter? ‘The Belgian Minister has said— And glad we are to hear it— “Prince Albert has not come to wed An heiress’’—still we fear it. Our girls have all succumbed long since To figure, face and sputter Of attache—besides—a Prince! ‘They'd “love” each grunt he'd utter. Poor girls—why should he tell the dears ._In this most heartless fashion ‘That smiles, nor sighs, nor even ti Can make him feel “the Passio ~ And yet—'tis kindness on his part ‘To tell them he's bespoken— For otherwise no female heart Could long remain unbroken eee When Celia Smiles. Written for The Evening Star by 0. "M. When Celia smiles her eyes illume My path, which else the Fates would doom To winding ways through endless night, As Fays with fire-fly lanterns light A wanderer through their woodland gloom, And damask dawns the tints assume Of roses fair that riehly bloom Upon her cheek, and flowers grow bright When (elia ismiles, es Then, like a knight with lance and plume, T leave one world's dull strife and fume To rove a realm in béauty dight, Whose fields and gkieg;bewitch the sight, For darkness ghost-like seeks its tomb When Celia smiles. = Song-Crhtt. Cksrlotte M. Packard in The Independent. How do the wise Birds baffle us Who count ourgelyes,,as sage? The Milter on yon treuibling bough, ‘This prisoner of, the, cage, With gleaming crest and mocking eye, Give to our minsirelsy, the lie. ‘The world is listening: yet to hear + _The thrush’s angel song Turned to angeliq. phrase; ah me! ‘The world will Jistem: long: For He who made the \poet's heart, Gave to his. birds the ‘singer's art, ’ Mortality. Hew many times have I lain down at night And longed to fall into that gulf of sleep, as Whcse dreamless deep Is haunted by ho memory of ‘The weary world above; And thought myself most miserable that I Must impotently lle So long upon the brink Without the power to sink Into that nothingness, and netther feel nor think! How many times when day brought back the light, After the merciful oblivion Of such unbroken slumber, And once again began to cumber My soul with her forgotten cares and sorrows, And show in long perspective the gray morrows, Stretching monotonously on, Forever narrowing, but never done, Have I not loathed to live again and said, It would have been far better to be dead, And yet somehow, I know not why, Remained afraid to die! —WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS. —-1ee——_____ Cuba. Is it naught? Is it naught ‘That the south wind brings her wail to our shore? ‘That the spoilers compass our desolate sister? Ts it riaught?” Must we say to her: “Strive no ere,"” With the lps wherewith we loved and kissed er? ‘With the mocking lips wherewith we sald: “Thou art the dearest and the fairest to us Hear ye not? Hear ye not From the hollow sea the sourd of her voice, ‘The passionate, far-off tone, which sayeth} “Alas! my brothers—alas! what choice The lust that shameth, the sword that slayeth? ‘They bind me! they rend my delicate locks; . They shred the beautiful robes I won me! My round limbs bleed on the mountain rocks; ve me, ere they have quite undone me!"* Hear ye not? Speak at lust! Speak at last! In the might of your strength, in the strength of your right, Speak out at ‘last to the treacherous .spollert Say: “Will ye harry her in our algh? @ shall not trample her down, nor soll her! Loose her bonds! let her rise in ‘her loveliness, Our virginized sister; or, if ye shame her, Derk Amnon shall rue for her sore distress And her sure revenge shall be that of Tam: Speak at Inst! ea = —E. C. STEDMAN. The Scoop of the Spring Poet. Fiem the Chicago News. - Up, Pegasus! Up, Pegasus! Five Spring and'we Suse spring tt And scoop the weather and the bards Who into verse would sling it. Get up and dust, for you must trot Full fourteen japs of sonnet, And many a kite-sheped roundel Must have your hoof-marks on it. "Tis true a frosty, icy blast We meet where'er we’! us, But we can catch the proper glow By gazing in the furnace. Where birds should filt about the wold cles But there are pet ain birds To glad us with their singing. Of flowers in field id Woodlard now ‘There's not the slightest rumor, But in the florist's ithey bloom At Atty cents a bloomée. ne ee ee ir anclept wilting, But ‘there are banka with long, green bills ‘That we may culltey isting. So up, my nimble Pégasas! Gat up and hosp en aaow hatled me God of.wood and niead and river; bailed me Lord of forest, field and brake: m trees ‘a-quiver MPa eS ae ee oan ORLA SSA RMS fae i a Nor dread of night, nor darkness dread. do- |. Bat lived for ever with the dasaling dawns. THE FATEFUL THIRTEEN Leyden ts also credited with having been able to repeat an act of parliament or a lengthy legal document after having heard The Superstition in Regard to It is Wide- spread. contain frequent allusions to the case of a Tan named Thomson, who drew plans of a dozen London parishes, including every church, chepel, yard, court, monument, Jamp post and innumerable trees and pumps, without refersnce to a single book, The Italian Respects It, the Norsk Fears It, the Frenchman Omits It, eis orig Seep les weak intellect who lived about the same time, who could remember the names and ag>s of every man, woman and chiki who From the London Telegraph. For good or for ill, the superstition about the number thirteen has clung to the thoughts and imagination of men from a period of remote antiquity. It would be difficult to exhaust all the different forms which this obstinate delusion has as- sumed among various nations, both of the east and the west. Every one knows that it is highly inexpedient, if not dangerous, to sit down thirteen at table, and there are a large number of intelligent men and women in the metropolis who under no circumstances would consent to be in- cluded in this precise number of guests. There are streets in Paris, as well as else- where in France, where houses are num- bered “12 bis” and “112 bis,” while in many American hotels no room has 13 painted on the door. The Parisian who makes his living by dining in other people's houses goes familiarly by the name of Quatorzieme, because it is his chief func- tion to add a welcome fourteenth to the un- lucky number. The Italians never use it in making up their lotteries, and in one of the games the thirteenth card bears the figure of death. Similarly, in Turkey the number thirteen is very nearly expunged from the vocabulary of the people; nor is there any lack of explanation of this al- most universal idea. At least two are fur- nished for our choice: In the old Norse mythology, when the gods in Valhalla were holding high revel, Loki came in as an uninvited guest. The consequence was that as soon as Baldur arrived he made the number of guests ty-five years, together with the dates of burial and the names of the mourners present at the funeral. That great mem- ories are not the product of civilization is proved by an instance recorded by Dr. Mof- fatt, the great African missionary. Dr. of negro2s, and was shortly afterward al- tracted by the gesticulations of a young savage addressing a number of blatks. On hear the savage reproducing his own ser- mon, word for word. ———_++ HYPNOTISM ‘ INDIA, So Says This Man Concerning the Tricks of Juggiers. it was all imaginary on the part of the with western nations, was too animalized, and consumption of alcohol to retain or ac- cept any deep spiritual teachin; “The most exciting performance that he gave for my amusement was the converting of a bamboo stick into a native servant. Afterward—in his absence—i tried it on. thirteen, and fate decreed that he should | 2nd to my surprise the same man was | die. Christians refer to another and more | fore me asking for instructions. I directed solemn incident. There were thirteen who | him to fill the chatties on the veranda with | 1b partook of the last supper, and Judas, who left the table first, went and hanged’ him- self. It was in consequence of this that the number was accused, together, apparently, with all combinations of figures into whic it enters. Sooner or later it was, of course. inevitable that so widespread and so fas- cinating a superstition should be challeng- ed. Some thirteen years ago—the very in- terval of time is an odd coincidence—a club was started in New York for the express Purpose of waging war against the asso- ciations connected with the luckless numer- al. The members were always to consist of some multiple of thirteen. They dined together on the thirteenth of every month, thirteen at table, and their club dues were thirteen cents a ‘month. It will be remem- bered that only a short time ago a similar institution was established in England, and a farcical entertainment was provided, at which knives were crossed, salt was spilled, death’s heads and cross-bones or- namented the walls and the waiters were chosen because they squinted and posse ed the evil eye. The, American club hab- itually published reports to prove that, in- dividually and collectively, they are as healthy, prosperous and long-lived as other members of the community; nor, so far as we are aware, did any serious calamity fall upon their daring imitators in London. Water from the well in the compound. This he proceeded to do. When he had filled them all to overflowing I requested him to stop. He, however, took no notice of me, and went on stolidly bringing in the water, until, in my excited imagination, it seemed that the bungalow would be washed away. Finding that I could not arrest or stop his movements, he passing through me as though I did not exist, I drew my sword and lay in wait for him. Making a slash, I apparently cut him in twain, when lo! a but ne ments of Mr. Row from doing so. I heard a quiet laugh behind me, and on turning I found it was my instructor, who disappeared, the stick resuming its place on that he should be invisible to me, and that I thought had taken place. huge cavern, which I knew was not t before. As I entered a number of huge e' It is idle to imagine that an inveterate | phants and camels issued from It ine can, superstition tein Oe Bt, Tid of by such | tinuous stream, yet 1 could not touch ons | fats <atrical bravado as this. The |of them. They apparently passed over me case stands with it as it does with a sim- ia mot rien aedinieaion as though I did not exist. H gai a “ flar idea about the folly of undertaking a ean ASE Ghia he meee any serious enterprise on Friday. There are whole classes of mankind to whom these notions form a sort of unwritten appeared, and there any exodus of any kind. creed. Every one knows that a sailor docs ‘ 3 or not like to have his ship to be commissioned ere UAC: OF MSRUEMAUE: at on a Friday. Indeed, one of the explana. | 7 tions given of the disaster which befell | “POKG™ by Speer pe! meat pr the Thrasher torpedo boat was that it had a eee unluckily commenced its cruise on the pen- ultimate day of the week. Soldiers, though not quite so superstitions as sailors, are by no means free from similar prejudices, and gamblers who live the life of the nerves believe in luck with obstinate tenacity. he theatrical profession, again, has its xed beliefs. From the Forum. The Esquimau language, which is spoken at the extreme north of this hemisphere, is also found in the north of Asia. The people have been called oraria: habit a narrow strip of country around the oe THE COMMERCE OF THE LAKEs, Total Tonnage of the Soo Double That of the Suez Canal. From St. Nicholas. ‘The commerce of the lakes is enormous. The outle: from Lake Superior to Lake Huron has always been a serious obstacle to commerce, in that it was not deep enough to allow the larger freight and and about the bays and straits to the north; then to the west around Alaska, and still further along the arctic eastern continent. They thu: the winding island and main! more than 10,000 miles, inhabiting a row fringe of country by the sea and taining their livelihood therefrom. More than 10,000 miles of coasti: extend an Engin clretan measles seat | WHERE THE WOK Moffatt once preached a sermon to a group | SHOOTING THE going up to the group, he was amazed to | Fm the London Spectator. The ambition of the modern big gamo hunter is to return with a mixed set of series of the content with a son's “still hunting” in the Cana- st, when the first light snow has id moose and cariboo dian for From Scottish Nights. 7 fallen, A correspondent writing from India re- lowed with surroundings and equipment garding the theory that the jugglers per- | Unchanged form their tricks by “will power,” says: | because he can “During the course of the Indian mutiny 1] be and made the acquaintance of one of these | The climate and surroundings are aimost gentlemen of India, who tried to instruct | Perfect; me how to perform these tricks. He said | ¥ith of small But what he spectators, as he simply willed that they ic: should see those things. Yet I, in common | hides or m when he sires is, if in skins of che ind black bear, hor sensual and materialized by flesh-eating | CATD00. Dlack-taile must go further afield, to the mountain forests British goat no Mashonaland, in the Upp In any of these magnificent India. those two other first- mounters of skine and horns. Envy of Hanters. The size and splendor of some of these trophies surpass there were two men bringing in the water, | 5°U™S, except in that of Mr neither of whom could I restrain or prevent | Child at Tring. The mere bulk of same of the animals passes belief, “I was completely out of my depth, when] cence of the furs average Englishman wildly held up his right hand and the two men | them. the veranda, and to crown all, there was | trophies, not the slightest sign of any water having | skin of the g: been Lrought in. I excitedly appealed to | to Mr. J. him for an explanation. He said that he | and had been present all the time, having willed | spine, head at Tring, with tusks nin I should imagine myself to see and do what | The In order to | av prove it, he asked me to step out into the | one compound, and directed my attention to a| tanned spread out for ins! of the after it . Tolman, measured thirteen fe t for trophies ction before death wou! vasingly rare in ‘The rifles are modern big ceurate, his hand and the cavern and animals dis- | destru no indication ef | big game ‘Those who doubt it shoul such great hun’ =. G. Loder w of the at the times, two bullets, left, in moving target no larger than a saucer. New Region) Fortunately there are new regions opening out for him very reason to be- will offer he finest sport, and of the most satisfac margin of Greenland and to the west of | tory kind yet found, except perbaps in the Baffia’s bay, around all the great islands ; days of the and down the coast shore of Hudson bay | Africa. even now. that is, “dwellers on the shore.” They in- | lieve that one of these climates in ar- | Amoor is b- | the valley the Amoor at th Tepeated the whole poem from the begin- hing to whore the passuge occurred which HY HUNTING he wished to recall. it onc>. The newspapers of January, is”, | A Bearskin Thirteen and a Half Feet GAME NOW i? had been buried in the parish during thir- | Liberia Offers Untried Fields tg Tempt the Sportsman. WILD BOAT ——_>__—_. same kind, n be fol- of Montcaim, nly” get moose black-tailed 4 nd cart- e deer, and he can have this sport antxed na North coiter of riezly bear wapiti, moose, y mountain for this he magn or in can amass les which sportsmen’s merely in transit between ntry house, always changing the establish- and taxidermists and or n in mu- Waiter Roths- nd the mag: » ob- tain something himself which shall match size of the example the according t end of the ne de to this writer has seen at taxidermists the newly of a lion the brother the insta 1. But fully a hots. frigh ous atch the shoot- or four a me hunter almost lion hunters in South alley of the Upper Amoor, and its great tributary the Ussun. On the former, bear, boar, and the mag- ores of the | nificent maral stag abound. most land coast for | pest in some of the one of the The Lower except in winter; but of the Ussuri river, which Joins where the latter nd are turns due north, and forms the boundary Passenger boats to pass comfortably | pied by a people who speak one language. | {2twren Chinese Manchuria and the Rus- through. Locks have been built at goy-| But in Newfoundland there « tribes | sian coast province, holds the finest beast ernment expense, at the cost of many mill- | Wich, Speak another tongue mixed with | of prey in the world, the northern or Si- the Esquimau, while on the southwest coast there are other tribes speaking mixed tongues; and the same is true of tribes in- habiting the northern co call all thes2 tongues Esquimau, then the principal tongue is still homogeneous and a common medium for the communication of tribes occupying, as I have said, more than 10,000 miles of the most difficult coast known to mankind. While there is inter- communication, it is infrequent because ot | the difficulties and perils of arctic naviga- tion. Thus, in all that stretch of country there is but one language. ——— os A Specimen London Fog. James Payn in New York Independent. fons of dollars, which now allow the pass- age of large boats; and two more locks aze being built—one by the Canadians and one by the Americans—which will still further increase commerce. The new lock on tne American side is larger than the old, and, when completed, will be one of the most wonderful pieces of masonry to be found in ‘the country. It will allow the passage of vessels drawing twenty-one feet of wa- ter. It has cost several millions of dollars, ard will not be completed for a year oF Wo. For many years the great Suez canal was looked upon as the most wonderful piece of commercial engineering in the ‘world, carrying enormous cargoes through its gateway from the east. But in this newer land the commerce of the lakes has dwarfed the Suez canal. The total ton- nage of the Soo during the year 1897 was 16,500,000. ‘The tonnage of the Suez canal in 1896 was 7,000,000. This tonnage of the Soo does not ‘by ‘any means represent the entire commerce of the great lakes; it is only a portion of it. Hundreds of 'thou- sands of tons of merchandise and supplies of all kinds are shipped annually up from Lake Michigan points through the Straits of Mackinac eastward, which do not pass through the Soo, and many thousands more go eastward from points below the Soo on the other lakes, to be exchanged for other supplies for points also below the ago. They were so thick that one literally cause thirteen people would be there and Year by _year this immense traffic is growing. From the great west there come to the gateway of the Soo wheat and flour ard lumber and iron ore—all the natural products from a vast area of country, drawn to the lake route because it is so ™uch cheaper to move goods by water than by rail. In return, the east sends the west vast quantities of manufactured gasds and immense supplies of hard and soft coal. The west furnishes raw materials: the east manufactures these materials and sends back the products of her factories and mills. There were received at the ports of Duluth and Superior during the year 1806—that is, during the lake season— 1,775,712 tons of coal. On the margins of these lakes, particu- larly on the shores of Superior, there are ore-bearing rocks containing iron, silver, copper and gold. The iron ore is of re- markeble commercial value and practically inexhaustible in amount. Immediately trib- utary to Lake Superior, in some cases on ite very banks, are iron mines, the output of which riv that of any mines in the world, and the supply in “sight,” as the miners say, will furnish the world with iron for centuries to come. Some of the lumber which goes east by way of the lekes is sent eway on to South American points without separation, tak- ing first a journey of perhaps several hun- dred miles down the rivers to the mills, then a thousand miles and more on the the Welland canal to get to Ontario, and then trying a few thousand miles of calt water—a picturesque voyage indeed. WONDERFUL MEMORIES. A Man Who Could Repeat Parliament. From the London Standard. Scaliger, the philologist of the sixteenth century, who 2dited several of the classics, night, and, after taking ieave, drove three old couple who had a lantern; it was of great assistance to them, till ihey beard a Hide the lantern, there are some people be- hind us actually making use of our light,” whereupon all was darkness. It was curicus that what was called It was not a winter fag May 29, reached Dijon ‘on June 14, Itaiy on the 16th, and thence to Stockholm and Moséow. : eee Se EES Organ Music and Bach. Ad ‘M. Alexandre Gcilmant in the Forum. music since the day of Bach, it has been due to him. Bach’s music is polyphonic; and polyphony is true music. To its found- i | i im Act + 4 3 i i 58 4 g Bs eh | Hai aT ey H eee! dimensions th One owned by othe Both these northern x were recently so plentiful on the Ussuri that the Rursian government offered a large rewerd for their destruction, and gave every encouragement to the officers of the East Siberian army to go and hunt We have had some fine fogs—-if one may | there. But Russian officers have not that call them so—this winter, but no champion | passion for sport which seems inbred in e: - | Englishmen abroad, ene in town ten years | cattle of the new Russian settlers are still a most serious drawback to colonization. could rot see one’s hand. I remember being | The wild boars of the Ussuri are also very asked by an old friend and, neighbor to | fine mem inet Hai Rntd agit myeadir | the Trir useum, y do make one of a dinner party one night, be- | the dimensions of the huge European boar the Carpathians, recently exhibited his wife was superstitious. Wnen I reach- | at the International Fur Store, This Eu- ed his house, with some difficulty, though it | Topean boar, shot within a few Was but ten doors away, I found nobody | rall from London, welghed six hundred and there but our host and hostess. One couple | twenty pounds, beating the record of the drepp-d in an hour late, and begged for | Chestnut-fed boars of the Caucasus. beds rather than venture home again. Tais | bristles were so wiry, long and thick that Was a common occurrence. Some foiks 1| they looked like @ plece of rough heather e thatching. know were dining in Russel square that arbre is Best Siberian hunting field times around the square, and had to re- | 'S developed another will probably be once turn to their host's for a shelter for the | More open to the British big game hunter. can have any notion of the “thick dark- | Of the a visi tie Pine ness” that is produced by a London fog; it | Cupation by the Dervishes was al ely 1s a palpable night. It offered on one occa- | {h® finest sporting ground left im Afric sion an example of human selfishness which | It Was the land of the I believe to be unparalle]; a friend of mine 4 4 . ar excellence of the was walking with a companion behind an | Cover: and the home, pare: African carnivora of many species, large laces of the elephant female voice indignantly exclaim, “Charles, | Antelope and in places eet from “hunting Arabs, water and Increase of Game. It is believed that an immense increase zs f wild animals has recently taken place the great fog of 178% when ail Europe | % thought the @nd of the world had come, | there, partly because the popftlation hi London was by no mealis the chief sufferer. | been too harassed by the triangular war at all, but a dry | between Dervishes, Abyesinians = 3 pated first 5 fans to kill off the game, and par May 29, reas a Jane ie teen cause the famous tribe of sword-hunters, the Hamran Arabs, were nearly extermi- nated twelve years ago by an epidemic. The Klondike discoveries will give, indi- rectly, better facilities for reaching ‘North British Columbia and Southern Alaska than have hitherto been available, and though not “new” hunting grounds, they will come within range of a much larger number of sportsmen. The forest of the Black sea coast of the Caucasus will probably remain, as it is et present, the home of great quantities of big game, but an impossible hunting ground. The valleys are full of fever; diphtheria seems » one quite knows to what Siberian tiger will not grow. Mr. Hagenbeck of Hamburg of Asia. If we | was a far larger animal than he or any cver seen either alive or rep- resented by its skin. The coat is immense- ly long in winter, of a rich dark orange, with arn undergrowth of fur, an incomparable trophy. and makes tigers and bears and recent accounts vs by and smaller