Evening Star Newspaper, June 25, 1898, Page 14

14 Written “In for The Evening Star. r exp2cted to seo the day when ob- people would decline to take gold,” served an official of the treasury bank to a Star reporter, “but that day came some time ago, and there Is scarcly a day when people do not decline it and express a pref- erence for greenbacks or national bank money. For some time ther2 has been # ecarcity of paper money, and gold is new end has been for some months constantly paid out. Several of the departments Dave paid off their employes for two or thre months with gold, though they give out a few treasury notes as an accommodation. In every case the disbursing officers have to apologize for paying out gold, saying that they expect soon to hav2 plenty of notes. As a result there is a great deal of gold in circuiation in this city—indeed, more than in any other city except San Francisca, where gold has never be2n withdrawn from circulation. The clerks tell us that they have no special objection to gold, but that their wives are fearful of handling it, for the reason that they constantly mak» mis- takes in using it, and at night time are in danger of making a mistake in using the wrong piece.” < * KOR KK “What was once a very general custom in this city, ‘topping off,” as it was called,” re- marked an old bricklayer to a Star r2port- er, “has nearly died out, and some of the new generation of bricklayers have never participated in it. ‘Topping off’ occurred the day the last course of bricks was laid in a house and was to celebrate the event. On the morning the ‘topping’ was to take place, a flag was raised on the building. It was also a signal for the owner of the building to prepare a lunch and the cus- tomary drinkables, especially the drink- ables, for all hands engaged on the build- ing. Of course, it generally wound up in a mild kind of a spree, but it was the cus- tom, and no cne who amounted to any- thing ever refused to give a ‘topping out.’ The best kind of punches were often pro- vided for ‘topping out,’ though in later years it ran down to beer. In the days when ale was the drink I have known of a barrel of ale being used at a ‘topping out,” besides a barrel of sandwiches. The day Dr. Hall ‘topped out’ his house on C street near 43 street, which, by the way, was the first brownstone front ever put up his city, he not only furnished al! the d porter necessary, but used up three baskets of fried chicken, cakes and other things. It was the taik of the town for especially among mechanics. There also a number of other famous ‘top- ping outs” Mayor Berret ‘topped out’ his house on H street between Ith and 15th with fine champagne, as did also Mr. Galt, the jeweler, who built a house next to him. Many of the hod carriers were given buck- ets full of cakes, s and sandwiches at the cl of the ‘topping out.” But those days have passed, and when anything is said to the owner of houses being built | these days, they express ignorance of tke custom, and declin erve it when it is €xplained to them. xk kK x x “In the preparations for the present war, served a veteran to a Star reporter, “I ave failed to see that any provision has een made for sharpshooters, though Sharpshooters played a very important part in the last war. Of all kinds of army men, sharpshooters were the most inde- pendent. They seldom mustered and never had to drill, but wandered about to suit their own tastes, connecting themselves with such regiments as they desired or as asked for them. I was with Sherman on bis march to the sea, and at lots of places during and before that march our command had to use sharpshooters. The Johnny Rebs had a way of making themselves very annoying to our men, while out on picket duty or when engaged in going to the springs and wells for water, by popping away at them. There did not seem to be any way to stop it until our regiment got two or three of Berdan’s sharpshooters de- talled with us. The sharpshooters would generally climb up a tree or get a high oy somewhere, and with the aid of their leld glasses would pick out the places Where the annoyance came from. They took a special delight in picking out and killing the fellows who would shoot aman while going down to a spring or well to get @ drink of water. My own experience was that the sharpshooters, though there was hot much dress parade in their make-up or evolutions, performed in their way more than double the amount of service that the ordinary soldier did or could do. They were handy in many ways, though maybe their warfare was not strictly legitimate.” * * x * Several copies of the Messenger, a news- Paper published in Georgetown In the year 1816, have been sent to The Star office by Mr. John H. Steep. The copies are the early numbers of the first volume, and, while the space devoted to local news is not very great, as is usual in papers of that period, a good deal of curious in- formation in regard to the customs and the habits of the people may be gleaned from the advertisements. One reads as follows: “Nicholas Warner “Respectfully informs his friends and the public that he sti!l continues to carry on the Boot and Shoe Blacking business at his old stand, in the cellar of Mr. Reintzell, corner of Bridge and Green Sts.; where gentiemen can have their boots and shoes cleaned in the handsomest style, by the month or by the pair. “Gentlemen who may please to favor him with their custom may rely that nothing shall be wanting on his part to render gen- eral sutisfaction. “His terms are, by the month to regular customers who have their shoes cleaned every day, $1; those who have their hoes = 2 cleaned every other day are informed that the price will be 75 cents per month after the 12th day of October next; to those who have their shoes cleaned singly (on Sun- day) the price will be 12% cents; for boots, 2 cents. “He also informs his customers that he will be supplied this Fall with some of the water-proof blacking, which will prevent water from penetrating the-boot or shoe.” x ek kK x “There is living im my town,” said Mr, Louls McKenzie of Moorhead, Minn., in a conversation at the Arlington this morning, “an old lady with the most remarkable ex- perience I have yet heard of. She is the mother-in-law of our leading hotelkeeper, Col. H. A. Burns. The remarkable thing about her {s that, although she was born in Scotland near Perth, she has lived near-. ly.all her life on the North American con- tinent, and she has never seen New York, Chicago, or, indeed, any part of the United States except the northern portion of Min- nesota. She has not seen even our twin cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Oh, no; she isn’t blind, and she is as bright and as observing as the keenest boy or girl you ever saw. She is, in fact, a most charming old lady, well educated and a great reader. She came in 1833, when a child of ten, with her father, Captain Allan Rae, through Hudson's bay, to Fort Garry, where Winni- peg now stands. They passed through the straits in July, and the ice was so bad they lay there three weeks without seeing open water. There were two ships there, and the ladies walked back and forth on the ice to attend dinner parties. When the ship from York factory arrived where they were she was covered with ice two feet thick all over her decks. This ice was formed from the spray that dashed over heron her tempestuous voyage northward. That's a nice cool thing to think of on a day like this. The old lady has always been averse to traveling any more, and she has beeen wholly content to live and die in her northland home. Her reminiscences are, of course, very interesting.” x ok * “The great chances are that it will rain on the Fourth of July and that there will be a storm accompanying it,” sald a well- known weather expert to a Star reporter, “but it is regarded as unprofessional and unscientific to make any predictions of that kind any more. You may remember I vol- unteered a prediction in The Star for the last Fourth of July. It‘was somewhat sen- sational, I admit, for I had made up my mind that we not only would have a severe storm, but would have ‘snow and hail that day, though the two seldom if ever come on the.same day. The snow came all right, but it did not get as far east as I pre- dicted, though there was a fall of snow in Wyoming, Arizona, along the edges of Michigan and in other states, the nearest being in northern Pennsylvania. Practi- cally, however, my prediction was correct, but the snow did not fall where I thought it would. was over five hundred miles out of the way at the nearest point, which sort of cured me ef venturing on any more public predictions. It is a pretty safe guess that there will be rain this Fourth of July, however, though the conditions do not point to anything in addition in the way of side attractions. Ordinarily there is a certain amount of rain every year, though the emount varies, of course. In the past eight Weeks the rainfall in this section of the country and all through the south along the Atlantic coast has been very small. My idea 1s that the rain will commence in the next week or so, and keep up pretty steadily until about the second week of July, which will make the Fourth an unen- joyable day. I hope I may be wrong about it. If, as 1s claimed by many, and there are some reasons for the claim, the inces- sant discharge of powder, dynamite and other explosives on and about the Fourth of July produces rain, there will be a heavy shower, for the indications are for a very free celebration oc the natal day, as far as explosive are concerned.” aK Ke KE “The life of a Panama hat, that ts, if ‘t is @ gcod one to start with,” explained a hat dealer to a Star reporter, “compares somewhat with the life of the owner of it. One can run through either tn a hurry or hang on for a long time if it is desired. If carefully kept, a Panama hat should last all the way from ten to forty years. I know a gentleman who resides in East Washington who has owned and steadily worn during the summer months a Pan- ama hat for nearly forty years. It has been bleached every couple of years since and retrimmed and relined, and it is today to all intents and purposes as good as whan I first saw it thirty years ago. I know of another Panama hat now worn by a phy- sician in this city, which has had almost as long a life. Long before he got it his father wore it. I know dozens of them which have been in use from ten to twenty years. The lning wears out, but the body of the hat keeps geod. Of course, care has to be used to keep them such a long time, but the Panama itself is almost inde- structible. The original cost of the hats that I refer to was not exorbitant, none of them costing over $14." * KK KH “I have been hunting up. information about the great hall storm of 1856,” said Dr. Stone of Brightwood to a Star reporter, “but I have not, so far, been able to get at the exact day, though I think it was some- where about the end of June. It was that stcrm which destroyed nearly all the glass in the Capitol and the public buildings, at least on the front which was exposed to the heil. I remember the storm myself, though I was but a lad at the time. My father often referred to it, and especially to the very pecullar copper-colored cloud that breught the hail. I have seen many hail storms since, but none to compare with that. I don’t know that, copper-colored clouds are the forerunners of hail, but I am inclined to think that maybe there is a connection somewhere. I am free to admit that if I ever see such a colored cloud again I will seek safe quarters and advise all others to do the same. ———__ Mrs. Wiggles—“I didn’t know that Mr. Binks had a titl Mrs. Waggles—“Nelther did I. What ig “Well, his servant says that everything - comes addressed ‘James Binks, C. O. D.’” —Somerville Journal. NOT THE KIND OF BULL Brom Harper's Weekly. THEY WERE LOOKING FOR. “Ceramba! They said ‘That he woulda’t dare fight! But—!! 777% he wasn’t half 3°: BE o@ he looks! That he was all bluft! ‘THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1898-24 PAGES, MUCH TO HER DISGUST] AN EFFECTIVE PUNISHMENT Rg ORE 2 See: The motorman adjusted the trolley and “I read thecother day,” said an old Bol- moved the fender to the front of the out-} dier of the régularsarmy, “that one of the Ward-bound Brightwood car, and all was in| District’s ih Blue, down in Tampa, readiness for the journsy. The first pair of | was given a bit of fog-shouldering to do as passengers was a young girl and her mo-|@ punishment: Thig is the first time I’ve ther, The mother had @ very'square coun-| heard af that old#ime army punishment tenance, and she wore common-sense shoes} being revived: Yt used to be a regular and. ringlets. She look2a as if she might} guard house’ pu it. when I was in be able to make a home peacefy, by force | the regular owtfit: ,& man sentenced to ten of arms. She stepped ponderously into the| days in the guard house would elther be next-to-the-last seat. Her young daughter] sent out to ri the morning, policing remain2d on the running board, and eaid: | around the et of, he would be given his “Mamma, those are the smoking seats.| two-hours-on;and-fqur-hours-off tours of There are plenty of vacant seats up in} jog-humping. dHe'd have to carry his log front, aren’t there?” just as the ‘men ‘én guard carried their “Never mind the vacant seats up in front.| rifies, in so fdr as burs of duty were con- We sit here,” was th3 reply. “I guess they | cerned, exc {he was permitted to won't #moke. They wouldn't dare. Smok- 00, except that. o , at 'The logs weighed from ing seats, indeed.” And so the young me po ae See ent was daughter obediently stepped into the car} arot employed in the regular army, but and sat beside her mother. this was finally eonsidered too much of a As tha militant-looking mother made her good thing,.and.when the log-humping last remark about smoking seats, four old} punishment was abandoned the ehunks of soldiers, bound for the home, climbed into| freos only weighed something lke fifty oe ee ee fy pects Soo Sere “pounds. But it was no soft guar = ey Ww! at each other. ij ‘g Up and down in was smoking, but their clothes smelt to-| eve" 2 fifty-pound log up an front of a guard house, in the hot sun es- bald she to! Pate ee noticed this, and) deciany, for two hours at.a stretch, as 1 happen to know. , In truth, the punish- “Mamma, I told you these were the} mbhen {0 Know, : In trutto many men mraghing ecets. ‘Theve men will smoke, | drank aaa fought eee ie toe, punish oO -mal arti: nm rr not smoke. ‘They would not have the tm-| Tent was in vogue ‘as is the case NOW. when policing around posts is the guard Three brawny working men climbed into ffenders on the samo seat with the defiant mother and | cUse Punishment of military offen her young daughter in time to hear this| *,Ryo0r Scale. os ort Teaven- Geclaration. They smiled at each other sig-! worth in '77, Chief Douglas, one of the nificantly, and then they caught the eyes| Tow? In {7% Chiet Douglas. one of ve oe tng, four old soldiers in the rear seat and} Perce tribe that had recently been rounded smiled at them, too. The car rapidly ie sate up from this time on, and when the start | Keeping Pit, nthe Ear Oe to arces was made every scat was filled. es When the conductor pulled the bell-rope| 22 corralled and under a strong chain the four old soldiers in the rear seat and | fuera Dack of the post, and at Are! Dole: the three workingmen in the next-to-the-| tripe, But he was an Indian of the agitat- last seat pulled out their ploes, as if at a} ing iands wes Thngiae aad he caused So Drearranged signal, filled them’ altogether, | much mutiny. amene the pent-up bucks end then seven matches furnished flame to} that the commanding officer thought it the bowls of seven pipes at once. ey 7 Weren't fine meerschaum and briar pipes, | Wiser to put him away from the tribe. | So sither. Five of them were short clay pipes, and the other two were corn cobs. The ef- fusion of smoke was something to make even a tobacco-seasoned man catch at his breath. Probably no seven men ever smok- ed so industriously or so blindingly before. They puffed and puffed until their faces were hardly distinguishable in the clouds they created. The militant-looking woman got red in the face with wrath when she saw the mon on her seat pull out their pipes. When they lit them she was in a tempest. “Ker-choo, poof! Oh, the nasty brutes! How dare they? Whoo! Tha impertinent A GOOD THING IN .EGGS “We are all so much interested in the war nowadays,” said Col. John R. Wells of Seattle recently, “that most of us have rather forgotten the Klondike, with all its Tich possibilities of news and wealth. But up in my country we are still very deeply interested in the Alaskan gold fields, and thousands of our people have invested their time, their money and many of them their lives in the lottery of gold digging. I be- lieve I am a partner in the most diabolical and unique of all schemes to make money out of the poor devils that are toiling up under the arctic circle. My only justifica- tion is that if I were not doing this partic- ular thing somebody else would be. You know eggs are way up in that far-away cold and desolate region, where the com- mon fowl of the barnyard is as much 4 foreigner as the Hottentot or the Terra del Fuegan. I did not go into it until 1 was asked, and it was not my own idea. I have that muck to my credit with the recording angel. It was my nephew in one of the little country towns about ten miles out from Seattle who thought of the thing. He has for several years been interested in poultry and knows ail the fine points about It. hen the excitement first arose about the gold discoveries he came to me and said he thought of shipping eggs and dressed and frozen poultry to Dawson City, where the prices were bound to go high in winter time and at any time of the year would afford a handsome profit. I encour- aged him, and finally I put some moncy in with his experience. He hadn't got on very far in the business before he thought of a scheme that beats any Yankee idea I ever heard of before. Of course, he buys his eggs here and there among the farmers, and some of them are inferior goods that wouldn't stand shipment. To make sure of eggs that would keep he bought half a dozen incubators and began to hatch his eggs just as if he was in the broiler or the duck business on a large scale. In this Way, if an egg had a germ in it he knew it would not kecp, You see, it is a case where the bad eggs are the good ones. If an egg will hatch it will not keep. If it is in- fertile and will not hatch it will keep in- definitely, especially in a cool climate. The experiment has proved a great success. We now have thirty 400-egg incubators running day and night hatching out infer- tile eggs, you might say. The more infer- tile or bad eggs we get the happler we are. The chickens we hatch are simply a by pro- duct, like gas tar or crude petroleum. We get good prices for them, but the thing we are really after is the greatest quantity of infertile eggs. These we are now selling at Dawson for $4.75 a dozen. Last fall our first shipment brought $9 a dozen at whole- sale. We do not have to run the machines a full three weeks on our eggs. In seven he locked him up in the guard house. Douglas was a magnificent big specimen of @ brave, and after he had been in his guard house cell. for a week or so the offi- cer of the day recommended to the com- manding officer that the Indian be given some long exercise, to keep him from pin- ing away. The commanding officer agreed, and Douglas was led out of his cell to the porch running around the second story of the guard house, and shown the log he was to carry. Four or. five soldiers, serv- ing guard house sentences, were humping their logs some distance away, under the eye of a sentry, Douglas looked at the log with an expression of contempt, grunt- wretches! Ker-chiff! Did you ever see the : af Sontempt, Grunt; | days a fertile egg will begin to germinate, Uke in your Ife? H’nist-st-st!_ The filthy | fy, Wmiter of ave Aue conte that the chief and with what is called an egg tester it is stuff! I've a good mind to have the con- yy matter to tell the hatchabie from didn’t want any.exercise had him taken back to his cell... After thinking it over, however, Douglas sent for the officer of the day and told him that he was not only willing to pack .a log up and down the porch, but that:he was anxious to do it. So he was given an eighty-pound log, and began his march up and down. The sentry patroHing No. 1 post, in front of the guard house, was told to watch the Indian, but the sentry didn’t anticipate any treachery, and so he didn’t pay much attention to the strapping chief walking up and down the porch above with the log on his shoulder. But about ten minutes after Douglas had begun his log patrol the sentry saw a dusky figure flying through the air from the porch above, und’ by the time he had got his wits and saw that the dusky figure was Douglas, the Indian had picked him- self up, and was off:for the woods only 100 yards or so away like a dger. The sentry gave a whoops an@ he yelled’ after the fly- ing Indian to Halt. (Phere wasn’t any halt in Douglas, however, and he kept right on like a race horse. <The sentry fired after him twice, but th® Indian chief disap- peared in théo:brugh. Fort Leavenworth was a big post atidthat time, for it was the national scttbo¥ of application, and there were over 2,000(troops there. They were all turned out within si#‘minutes after Douglas made his leapj/cavalty and infantry, but it was no go, althoug?? the sun shone bright- ly for six hotits after the chief made his escape. “They got* Douglas just four months later if Oregon, a good 2,500 miles from Fort Lea’ enworth, % ductor stop the car and put them off! Ker- choo! Kerst-st-st-st!” Th2 four soldiers and three workingmen were enjoying the scenery a great deal, but not enough to cause them to relax thelr industry on their pipes. They all smoked like men trying to color pipes a rich, dark bronz2 on one car ride. Their cyes met oc- casionally, and they smiled with beautiful confidence at each other, but none of them spake any word. “Ker-snift-ft-ft! Conductor, you come here this minute. Don’t you see these filthy animals making a groggery of this car? Hinst-st-st! How dar> you permit such a thing in the presence of ladies?” “Smokin’ seats, ma’am,” said the conduc- ter, calmly. “Plenty of room up front when you got on, ma’am. Three last seats reserved for smokers.” “Stop the car—ker-choo!—this instant, I say! Lena, we'll g2t off! We shan’t stay another minute fn the company—ker-choo! —of such animals! But I'll report this to the—" And she and her obedient daughter were off, standing on the dusty road waiting for the next car along. The car from which they alightsd was no sconer under way than the four old soldiers and the three workingmen, as if by a com- mon impulse, knocked th2 ashes out of their pipes and replaced them in their pockats. “Didn't want to smoke, anyhow, did you?” they inquired of each other. ——————— AN IDYLL OF THE WAR. the infertile or non-hatchable ones. «Thus our capacity is enormous. The fertile eggs re taken out as soon as found and consol- idated in machines by themselves and al- lowed to run their full time of three weeks, It is an ingenious and a very profitable business. The eggs are far superior in quality to those you have here in Washing- ton by the cold storage plan. They have a good flavor and are distinguishable from the freshest of eggs only by experts.” ——>+—__ A STRONG APPEAL, Its Hard to See How a Man Could Resist It. Secretary Alger, who ts easily touched by any story of a sorrowing mother or an afflicted family, is having all he can do to repress his feelings and enforce mili- tary laws. Every day he is besieged from Some direction to release from the army some soldier who hastily volunteered without taking into consideration his du- tles to his family or to himself. Occa- sicnally some man is allowed to leave the army, but the Secretary is doing all he can to discourage this. The other day a fair-haired, smooth- faced boy walked in to see the Secretary at the War Department. “I came to ask you to release me from the army,” the boy said. “I do not care myself, but my poor old mother is dying trom grief.” The appeal of the ‘little fellow, whose boyish face quickly caught the Secretary, made: an impression, but in the kindest Manner the Secretary said: “My boy, I do not know what your story is, but every day I recetve these appeals. I was a soi- dier myself. Let me say to you that you may always regret this. Write your moth- er consoling letters and go forward and do your duty, determined to come out of the war with a name and a record.” “Yes, Mr. Secretary,” said the boy, “I realize all that. I am anxious to go to the front, but look at this note from mother.” The Secretary glanced over the tear-be- Spattered note, which spoke of “my little soldier boy.” In the note she sent the son a lock of her hair. It was gray, slmost white. “You see the color of my hair now,” she wrote. “You know what the color was when you went away.’ Taking from a packet a wat2h chain made of hair, the soldier boy said to -he Secretary: “Here, sir, you see what a few weeks have done. From this beautiful brown my mother’s hair has turned gray. God knows I love her. I love my coun- try. I do not know what to do.” The appeal was a strong one. “I will investigate your case,” the big-hearted Secretary said, as he walked away to his office, just a trace of moisture showing in his eyes. 3 AN IMBORTANT QUESTION. Plas saumsant The» Answer! Wawe°AN Right; but Ft Ortyipled the Speech. “' A’ certain’ member of the House of Rep- )resentatives. waa called on not long ago to deliver a few remarks toa gathering of Sunday school scholars,‘and he chose “De- termination” as the theme, of his discourse. Ranging along among those characters in history who have made themselves familiar by their courage ‘and resolution, he logi- cally touched upon the career of Julius Caesar. “And last,” he said in an oratorical flight, “Julius Caesar, filled with the spirit that leads men on to glory and to everlasting ‘fame, looked toward the wonderful capital of his country sitting on her seven hills and from her throne of beauty ruling the world. He felt ‘the pulses of his future greatness throbbing in his coursing veins and from his serried legions’ front, far to the north, he saw the path that stretched from the tent door of the plain commander of the Roman sojdiery to the golden steps of the imperial cture that crowned the Capitoline Hill. en he gave the order to march and thé hosts swept shouting for- ward until thelr course was stopped by the rolling floods of a mighty stream rushing resistlessly to the sea. Here Caesar halted, but for an instant only. In that instant the glorious visio of..more glorious -Rome filied his ambitious being and Caesar cross- ed the Rubicon. Crossed the Rubicon,” he repeated to intensitfy his period, and then asked with all the: orator’s fervor, “And why did Caesar cross the Rubicon? I ask you, why did Caesar cross the Rubicon?” “I know,” piped up a small boy before the speaker could get’to his next sentence, “He crossed it ‘cause he wanted to git on the other side,” and there spread over the boy’s face such an innocent look of pleased triumph in having helped the orator out that it was really heartless to reprove him. But it crippled the speech badly. eS seer Weyler as a Business Man. From the New York Mail and Express. Let us give the devil his due. Weyler may be a bad soldier, but he is a very tal- ented business man. He, through his agents, in the past two years, bought 11,000 mules from the United States and Mexico at about $30 apicce, and then sold them through other agents to himself as rep- resenting the Spanish government at $128 apiece, making a clear profit of $98 a mule. ‘With all allowance for transportation and feed, insurance and labor bills, all of which were probably paid by the poor govern- ment, the clear profit must have been $800,000. Equally shrewd was his cattle syndicate. The cattle conéession was given to a concern in which he is said to have been the chief pee They bought cattle, both live frigétated, at six cents per pound. Th min that city is over a hun ‘thoupand pounds a day, the profit over $10, ain 600 days the total profit would ba said to have hii a A Woman Who Could Be as Brave as Any Soldier. “Harold.” i The word came tremulously from .the quivering lips of a fair girl whose:golden tresses were strewn across the manly bosom of a young fellow in the uniform of a National Guard private. “Constance,” he murmured in reply as he stooped and touched her pure white forehead with his trembling mustache. The sound of that dear voice seemed to give her courage and confidence, and she spoke in firmer accents. “Harold,” she sald, ‘if I should ask you not to go— “Don’t, darling,” he remonstrated. _ “If I should ask you not to imperil your dear young life,” she went on, regardless of his appeal. “If I should ask you to give up your ambition to be a soldier. If I should ask you not to make yourself a tar- get for the dreadful bullets of th Span- ish guns. If I should ask you not to face the fatal fever of those Cuban swamps. If I should ask you not to take the awful risk of disease by flood and field. If I should ask you not to undergo the thousand discomforts of the camp and the weariness of marching. If I should ask you not to give up your life of luxury here in the city for the miserable living of the private sol- dier. If I should ask you to forego all the trials that must fall to you while fighting for the freedom of those poor Cubans, If I should ask you for my sake, Harold, for the sake of your dear Constance, to wait until your country really needed your ser- vices, would you—oh, Harold, would you—’ Harold was on the point of telling her that under the circumstances, perhaps, well, perhaps—don’t you know—when she impulsively threw her soft white hand across his mouth. - “But I shall not ask you, Harold,” she went on. “I cam be a brave little woman and suffer, knowing that you are doing your duty so nobly,” and Harold went forth suffering fully as much as his dear Constance was, if not a good deal more. —_+— Pagodas as Sin-Offerings. From Travel. Just .as brewers and other evil men in England conciliate heaven by erecting churches, so the bold, bad, bloody-handed Burman makes it all right for the next ex- istence by erecting pagodas. In proportion to the height of the pagoda his heap of sin disappears. And as the Burman, like the rest of us, looks after “his own wants rather than those of his ancestors, he builds a pagoda all to himself and allows his grandfather's to topple over. An uncle of the deposed king must have been round- shouldered with the weight of his wrong- doings. Anyway, at the foot of dalay Hill—a nice, breezy eminence, ble to give you an be gps and a pain in the back—he built 129 , though the ides count wrong and say there are only . But perhaps they mention the smaller Semis out pe comes for aie monarch’s uncle, not wis! to expose the real mag- nitude of hts sinfulness. The pagodas are all white and set out in rows, and under. each were what we pronounced to be tomb- stones. We were wrong, for the inscrip- tions were not to the dear departed, but constituted a complete copy of the law in the Pali tongue. —_--—__ QUEER LEGACIES. Some Peculiar Conditions That Have Been Attached to Wills. From the Brooklyn Citizen. Here are some amusing particulars of legacies with strange conditions attached. Early last year a peculiar probate suit, involying some $500,000, was imminent, the disinherited relations wishing to up- set an old gentleman's will because he had left the sum named to found and en- dow a church on the condition that every Sunday befere the service the whole of the Thirty-nine Articles were to be read by the clergyman outside the church door. A strange condition was attached to the legacy the late Sir Edward Bates, who died last year, left to his married daugh- ter. He stated that he had seen his son-in- law’s Scotch property, and he considered it would be a gross injury to his daughter and her children, considering “there are no neighbors within miles, and there ts no medical man within six or seven miles,” if she lived there any considerable time. So he arranged that, if his daughter stay- ed more than six months in any year, “and those six months not in inter,” at that gpot, the income derived ym the legacy for the twelve succeeding months should go. to the residuary legatee. During this year a gentleman who died at Mons left a legacy of $3,000 to five friends, the money to be spent on dinners served in different restaurants, and at cach meal a certain dish to be eaten, and @ certain wine, of which he was very fond, to be drunk. Furthermore, his memery was to be toasted at dessert, the five com- panions’ were to dine in black clothes and gleves, and enter the room preceded ‘by a flag and the music of an accordion. A wealthy gentleman recently left his scn a large fortune on tHe condition that oo —__ England’s College of Arms. From the Chicago News. > Do you want a coat-of arms to emblazon upon your stationery“or your carriage pan- els? Pay your stationer a fee and leave to him the task of equipping you. He will find a coat-of-arms belonging to some one of similar surname, will give it to you and you will be elegant in the eyes of all who dcn't know any better. In England there is a college of arms or There only cap the person of English an- Validity "of his | BY S PHILANDER *Z JOHNSON? Written for The Evening Star. A Song of Heroes. They sing about the admirals; likewise the | commodores, why you should make me a confidante con- cerning any cardiac complications with which you may be afflicted.” Lucretia ts all right in the classics and the other ordinary branches of higher education. All she An’ the men that take their orders up | needs now is a course of instruction in the foolishness that comes natural to most on deck. y An’ the lads that feed the big gun while | Sire of thie seuss? OF flowers, and that it rears its head and roars . A-pinin’ for to see another wreck. You'd think they’d gone clean through the list aud never skipped a thing, With their “jolly tars,’ “hooray,” “yo-heave-ho!” But there’s none as tunes a string While he lifts ‘is voice to sing Of the Jackies wot's a-stokin’ down be- low. Oh, it’s here's to him a-fightin’ Where the shot kicks up a spray. It’s glorious and excitin’ When ke rushes to the fray. But there ought to be some snatches On the way it stirs your soul When they batten down the hatches While you shovel in the coal. -_* A Thorough Enth 5 Aman of timid demeanor entered the and | hydrographic office. He looked beseech= | ingly around and then walked on tiptoe to the desk of one of the attache “I'm willing to pay a fair price for what I want,” he suggested. “What is it?” “I'm almost afraid to tell you, for fear you'll say you haven't it. I can bear sus- pense rather than disappointment.” You'll have to give us a clue, or we can’t possibly oblige you.” want a map.” “We have a great many different kinds.”* “Yes. But I'm afraid you haven't this particular one. I recognized the importance of this conflict with Spain, and I started in to keep a record of it from day to day. I made a scrap book and I got a map and followed the movements of all the shipae We don’t go much on uniforms. In all that heat and dirt, With flames a-reachin’ out to eat the air, It's just a waste of etiquette to wear a woolen shirt. You never have your picture taken there. It's no use to deny it. In your throat there comes a lump, As you think of home and wonder where you'll go While your heart begins to bump Like the wheels that clang and thump Round the Jackies wot’s a-stokin’ down below. Oh, it’s here's to him a-fightin’ And a-takin’ steady aim. If he’s hurt, there's some delight in Thinkin’ he can do the same By the first un’ that he catches— But we don't know wat's the goal When they batten down the hatches While we shovel in the coal. It’s a glorious consolation in the toilin’ and the thirst To wipe the wetness from our brows and think That we're handsomely provided for, case we meet the worst, With a million-dollar coffin when we sink. Our hearts is in the fightin’ tops; we're wishin’ we was there A-doin’ of our duty by the foe. But each must take ‘is share And they couldn't hardly spare The Jackies wot's a-stokin’ down below. So here's to them that’s fightin’; Here's to the pllot, too. We trust em to be right in Any job they're out to do. in I have traced the reported course of the Spanish fleet all over the Atlantic ocean. it was a hard job, but I kept at ‘em until tap got "em bottled up in Santiago har- r. “Well, that’s about all there is to it.” , It isn’t. I never leave a thing w npleted when I once take hold. I have set my heart on seeing this business clear through to a finish. I have covered the entire surface of the hemisphere with that fleet, and I don’t propose to be baifled at the most important point. I want a map Pkg bottom of the Caribbean sea, star a n ish, sea plumes and all, so that I can fol- Maybe we're to meet our matches— low every one of that lot of boats to its But it’s all past our control ultimate destination.” When they batten down the hatches * While we shov: coal. *¢ hile w ovel in the coal. She Meant Well. He was a young soldier and she an ad- It ain’t the bloomin’ admirals; it ain't the commodores miring girl. That the Spaniards ts a-wishin’ for to- “Of course,” he said, in response to her day, sympathetic suggestions, “there are hard- Nor yet the lads that handle ammunition out 0’ doors, Where you stand a little chance to get away. They've had fighters in their fam’lies and the cubs'll fight again. But they answered up most cautious-like and slow ‘When it come to askin’ men To be huddled in the pen— To be Jackies wot's a-stokin’ down below. Says they, “We'll do your fightin’ But that locker ain't our size, Where you wedge the men so tight in”— Fur them Dagoes realize What uncertainty attaches To the fellers in a hole ‘When they batten down the hatches While we shovel in the coal. * ships connected with this life.” “Its too dreadful,” she murmured, “to think of what you will haye to go through. “The only thing to do,” he answered, to go through them without thinking abou! them.” “1 can see you now,” she proceeded, with half-closed eyes and outstretched hand, “leaping into battle.” “Oh, no,” he interrupted, somebody has been migieading you. We don’t leap. It’s rot & swimming bath or a gymnasium, you know. We just form into straight lines and xo Into battle the same as we go any- where else.” “I can hear you shouting defiance to the foe!” she persisted. “I don’t think I'll shout any defiance,” he returned with some hesitation. “You know, the foe doesn’t speak English. And anyhow 1 have an idea i'll feel like keeping my mouth closed and squinting along the gun barrel most of the time.” She made one more effort. “Don’t you feel some tremor when you think of how you will be where the fire is hottest and the bullets thickest?” “No,” was the reply. “To tell you tho honest truth, I don't. It’s time enough to put your mind on such things when tho emergency comes. It’s troubie enough to now,” replied his wife. co Fe ink of gol where the coffee ts coldest “Yes. But I want her to take a special baer yas Anca Rtrono gy = course of study. It may be for a few weeks * or it may be several months. It all de- pends.on her aptitude. I don’t suppose I'll find the sort of a school I want, but if I don’t I'll start one myself. She's got to be educated some more.” “ “If some people,” his wife commented rather sharply, “knew half as much about the classics and English grammar and trig- onometry as Lucretia does—” “That's all right. She knows ‘em all. She can go into a museum and read the door plates in the mummy department. And what’s-more, Lucretia is a nice plain, sensible girl, who is willing and able to help around’ the house when the servant goes on a strike. Do you know young Mr. 3 t stall Deficient, “It's a forlorn hope,” remarked Mr. Bly- kins as he picked up the paper, “but I’ve got to do something. What page are the educational advertisements on “Why, you know, Lucretia has just graduated, and it’s the vacation season * * An Impression of the Infer: The shade of old Dante was heard to re- mark, 'Tis lucky I wrote years ago That tale of my trip through the regions so dark, Where the wicked are cast into woe. “Italian was all well enough for that day, But now all my chances would vanish Of selling the book if I let a spook say A syllable other than Spanish.” —_—_—_ Twiggs?"" Taking No Chances. ee He called on Lucretia yesterday | prom the Caicago Tribune. evening.” : “He did. But he won't come back any more. He's an intelligent, industrious young man of good family. Lucretia is the eldest of four girls. I happened to over- hear a little of their conversation yester- day, quite by accident. He sald: ‘Dear Miss Biykins, what I have to say may sound strange to you, but I wish you could look into my heart and learn my feelings.’ “You don’t mean it!” gasped Mrs. Bly- kins. “Yes. And Lucretia answered in a very haughty voice, ‘Mr. Twiggs, I fall to see “Isn't there something in my policy,” asked a caller at a La Salle street insu’ ance office the other day, “about my hav- ing to ‘report any charge of residence?” “Yes, sir.” said the man at the nearest desk, picking up a pen. “Where have you moved to? ibiial “I haven't moved anywhere,” “I have made a change in my the caller. residence by painting it a light-straw color and putting a jack on the kitchen chim- ney. I think that’s all, Good day.” (Copyright, 1898, Life Publishing Company.)