Evening Star Newspaper, July 2, 1898, Page 20

ii A STREET IN LA PAZ. A WONDERFUL CITY Some of the Unusual Features of Life in La Paz IN THE VERY HEART OF BOLIVIA Surrounded by Walls Fully a Thousand Feet High. IN THE re SCENE MARKET (Copsright, 1898, by Frank G. Carpenter.) Bpecial (rrespondence of The Evening Star. LA PAZ, Bolivia, May 31, 1898. HERE IS NO CITY I in the world like La Paz. Away back from the Pacific ocean, across the highest range of mountains on our hemisphere, in the least-known country of South America, it Hes in a little basin on one of the highest plateaus of th> earth. I have seen the walls of Peking, of Jeru- salem and of Seoul, the capital of Corea. None of them is over fifty feet high. La Paz has walls a thousand feet high, and upon side of ft towars the famed snow- capped peak of Illimani, one of-the three highest of the Andes, which kisses the morning and evening suns at an altitude of more tnan four miles above the s2a. Man made the walls of other elties. God made the walls of La Paz. The great Bolivian plateau, which stretches away to the north and south almost as level as the waters of Lak> T ca, abruptly drops at La Paz so as to form here a basin which by actual measurements is about 1,000 feet deep. In n the elty is built and the green precipitous slopes form its walls except on one side, wher> the Andes, ragged and torn, ri rugged grandeur in all the colors of the Colorado Canon. Coming to La Paz on the stage from Lake Titicaca you rile for forty-five miles across a plain, by villages of mud huts, through litt! rley, quinoa and potatoes. On ou is th> mountain wall of the range, the highest of the you gallop on and on over a ingly endless plain. The team is one ht mules, changed every three hour: "sit with the driver, as I did, you grow tired at last and look in vain through the clear air for the clty. It is nowhere in sight. At last on the brink of a precipice the mules are pulled back on their hauneh-s, the stage stops and there below you lies La Paz. It Is so far down that you can make out oniy the outlines. You See a plain covered with terra cotta-roofed houses, jumbled together along narrow streets. Here and there is a church, at on2 end is the big white building which forms the penitentiary, and just under you the walled re inade of white pigeon holes ad La Pazites are stowed ch rent per year until their et to pay and the holes are rations to come. The over a road that curves ps and figure S's in getting y. You see parallel roads 1 at last, having left the e cobble-stone pay. The town you now find Its strests tiude fs such aik but a very few steps to breathe. tun Masquerade. Paz form a perpetual colors and curious look though 4 for the stage rather he roofs of terra cotta n in the clear air that you piece of which they are 1s of the houses are paint- puses €d in the most delicate tints of pink, sky blue, lav eliow, creams and green. They f one nd two stories, so open to the street that you can see much that on within. The colors on the streets n brighter than those of the houses. sn the city at least five Indians . and these dress in the goes brighte: ellows, blues and greens that an combined with the Indian taste for the gaudy can make. The es- bright garment is the poncho or 1 hole in the center for the very Indian man and boy ¢ usually colored in stripes end are almost constantly day and nicht. Every Indian has also a bright-col- ored k ap with knit ear flaps hanging down on cach side of his face, and he some- times has in addition a black feit hat. He wears pantaloons which make one think of the days when our girls padded their hips and panniers were in vogue. His pan- taloons are cut full at the hips and the tops of the pockets stick wide out at each side. The legs of the trousers are full and from the knee down at the back they are slit wide a to be wid ankles. art, showing what at first seem drawers, which flop about the Investigate them, however, and nd they are drawers made on the iekey shirt order, or merely a half leg of White cotton sewed fast to the inside of tc legs of the trousers, in order that he may the easier roll up the latter when in , the wet grass or crossing a stream. The Indian women wear hats and their dressez @re as gaudy as the blankets of the men, and everywhere there are other queer cos- tumes, as we shall see in the markets fur- ther on. Where the Cabman Does Not Rule. La Paz has about 50,000 people. It is the chief commercial city of Bolivia, “but it has not a street car, a cab nor a dray. I doubt if it has a dozen private carriages, end as for one and two-horse wagons these are unknown. In going about town every- one walks, and all of the heavy traffic Is carried on by mules, donkeys, llamas or more often the bare skih of a rose-colored leg. There are scores of Indian womel in still brighter dresses carrying bundles on their backs in striped blankets of red, blue, yellow and green, and there ere Indian men and boys wearing ponchos of the same gorgeous hues. There are ladies in black with black crepe shawls wound tightly about their olive skinned faces with fur prayer mats and prayer books in their hands. They have stopped at the markets on their way home from church and some are accompanied by. the men of their families dressed in high black hats, black clothes and black gloves. How quiet it 1s! There is the hum of conversa- tion, the chatter of gossip and now and then the jangle of bargaining; but the crowd moves in and out without friction, and though there are thousands about you hear scarcely a footfall. Take a look downward. Most of the feet about you are bare, and a large number of the Indians wear leather sandals, which make hardly a sound as their owners pass over the streets. The Bolivian Baby. What a lot of babies there are all about us. We have to pick our way about care- fully to keep from treading upon them. me lie on the cold streets and paw at the cobbles or play with the merchandise their mothers are selling. Some,are too young to crawl, and they are tied uy) in shawls on the backs of their mothers, who go on with their business with apparent disre- gard of the precious freight on their backs. There is one now peeping out of that red shawl below us. Its face is as brown as a berry and its little black eyes blink at us from under its yellow knit cap, the ear- laps of which stand out like horns on each side of its face.*There is another baby a few months older being dandled on the streets by its Indian father, and on the other side of the street we see two little tots who are taking their meals at their mothers’ bare breasts. Let us stop for a moment and make notes upon some of the queer things sold all about us. The goods are spread upon blankets or they lie flat on the cobble stone street. The vegetables and grains are di- vided up into piles. There are neither weights nor measures, and almost all things are sold by the eye. You pay so much for such a number of things or so much a pile. The piles are exceedingly small, and things are bought in smail quantities. Marketing is done here from day to day. I doubt if there is a cellar in La Paz, and the average cooking stove would hardly be big enough for a doll’s play house in America. Think of carrying home a half dozen potatoes from market. This is the size of many of the potato piles offered for sale here. And such potatoes! Here is a brown-faced Indian girl who is selling some at our feet. I venture you never saw such little potatoes before, They are not bigger than marbles, and she us eight for 5 cents, What queer po- are! Some are of a bright vio- some are as pink as the toes of that who is playing among them, baby and some are as black as the feet of the Indian girl who has them for sale. Po- tatoes do not grow large at the altitude of La Paz, and, though there are also large ones in the markets, these come from the warmer lands lower down. Frozen Potatoes. But the most curious of all the potatoes sold in La Paz are those known as chuno (choon-yo). These are sold in large quanti- tles and you may see piles of them at every INDIANS. Indians. My trunks are carried from -one place to another on the backs of Indians and I pay each man about cight cents a trunk. The bread carrier of La Paz is a donkey with skin boxes in which the bread is kept swung across his back. The beer wagon is a mule who has a Jarge case of bottles upon each of its sides, and the fur- niture movers, whether the thing moved be a table or a piano, are Indians, who carry the articles upon their backs, heads or shoulders, from one house to the other. Freight is brought into the city on mules, lamas, donkeys and Indians. The fuel of the city 1s, as I have said, llama manure ‘This ail comes in on the backs of lamas in bags. Cocoa is brought chiefly on donkeys and Peruvian bark and rubber from the hotter lands lower down come the same I saw an odd load on a mule yester- It was a limp bundle about five and a half feet long and perhaps eighteen inches in diameter thrown over the mule, so that the ends hung down at the same distance from the ground on each side. Beside it on another mule rode a policeman and a crowd of Indian women came wailing behind. It was the dead body of a woman rolled up in a blanket. She had been mur- dered a few days before for about #0 which she was known to have saved, and the policeman was bringing the corpse and the criminals to La Paz. ‘The stores of La Paz are many and some carry large stocks of goods. These are, how chiefly in the hands of the Ger- . who, here as elsewhere, seem to ve monopolized the trade in all foreign goods. ‘The most of the smaller stores are in the hands of the Cholos, or half breeds, the offsprings of the Indians and the whites. These pecple do the real busi- ness of the city. Most of thelr establish- ments are little more than boxes or holes in the walls. In a space from six to ten feet square a tailoring, a dressmaking or a saddlery business will be carried on. There are no windows to these store: The light comes in through the door an you can lcok in and s his hands at. their y merchant is a manufacturer as __ well. Many of the establishments are managed by women. All of the fruiteof the city is sold by them and I doubt if there is chicha beer saloon in La Paz which ha not its Cholo woman as proprietor. Chi- cha is, you know, the beer of the Bol'vians, In the Markets of La Paz. A vast deal of the business of La Paz is done in the markets. There 1s one rquare in the center of the city which is filled with stalls and in which all week long the buying and selling goes on. On Sundays the streets outside of this for many blocks are taken up with market women and everything under the Bolivian sun is bought and sold. Sunday 1s the chief market day at La Paz. Upon that day the Indians come from mites around. ‘They buy little outside of that which they purchase in the markets, and here we shall see all the characters of La Paz, and its life, better than anywhere else. We leave our hotel on the Plaza in the center of the city and walk past the police station, down the hill to the point where Market street crosses our way at right angles. The streets are filled with buyers and sellers and we pick our way in and out of three blocks of Bolivian humanity before we take our stand in the center‘of a living cross of all the hues of the rainbow made by the market people and their customers. In front and behind us, on our right and on our left, the streets are filled with these curious people moving to and fro in waving lines of kaleidoscopic colors such as you will see nowhere else in the world. We talk of the oriental hues of Cairo and Calcutta. La Paz has a dozen different colors to Cairo’s one and the cos- tumes of Calcutta would seem tame {f mixed with these about us. Reds, yellows, blues and greens are ever mixing one with the other, making new combinations every second. The most delicate tints of the Andean sunsets seem to have been robbed to furnish the dresses for the Cholito girls. There are hundreds of them clad in shawls of rose red and skirts of sky blue. There are hundreds who wear skirts of sea green and not a few with skirts as red as the sun at its setting. Their skirts are Propped out with hoops and they reach only to the full curve of the calf. Some of the Cholitos wear shoes of bright yellow kid with Parisian heels under the insteps. and with high tops which end, in sume cases, im rose-colored stockings, but step as you go through the market. There is a woman who has a large stock spread out upon a blanket before her. The pota- toes are as white as bleached bones. They are almost as hard, and when you break them apart you find them almost as tough. are ordinary potatoes frozen and after which process it is said that an be kept for a year without spoil- (he method of preparation ts to soak in water and allow them to freeze night after night until they bécome soft. Then the skins are rubbed off by treading upon them with the bare feet, and the po- tatoes are thoroughly dried in the open air, After drying they are as white as snow and as hard as stones. Such potato2s form one of the chief foods of the Bolivians. They are a staple article among the Indians of the Andean highlands. They have to be soaked for three or four days before they can b2 eaten, and are often served in the form of a stew. I have tasted them sev- eral times. All the life of the potato seems to me to have been taken out of them, and I find them insipid and by no means appe- tizing. In addition to the above potatoes Bolivia has a number of varieties which we do not have. It has bitter potatoes of a dirty yellow color, which will grow on the highest plateau. It has tubers which look like potatoes, but which have an acid taste and must be exposed to the sun before cccking, and others which look like dahlia roots and which taste somewhat lke tur- nips. The Indian Corn of Bolivia. I am much interested also in the Indian corn which I find here. There are many species of maize here which we never see in North America. Bolivia has varieties of corn the grains of which are twice as large as those of the largest: species of corn grown by our farmers. Some kinds are of a bright yellow color, every grain being as big as my thumb nail. This corn, when I bit into it, crumbled up almost like flour, and I can see that it can with a slight bruising be turned into meal. Another va- Cholos of La Pas. riety is white, and a third is of a mulberry color, being called “maize morado.” It also has a very floury: kernel, and I am told that it is used in making and coloring liquors. The most of these varieties of corn are grown in the Yungas country, to the east and far lower down than La Paz. The airs ies ight. It seems to me the varieti wish i oe the sr ave forwarded samples to our Secreta: of Agriculture, with a view of testing the matter. Another plant, of which I have al- ready spoken as growing here, is the quinua or quinea (pronounced keen-wah). It might be grown at Leadville or on some | of the highest parts of the Rocky moun- | tain plateau. You see ft almost every- where on these. Andean highlands. It is carefully cultivated, and its grains ‘when thrashed out are of the size of mustard seeds. They are sweet to the taste and make an excellent mush when cooked. At seems curious to-find ail sorts of fine grows from ten to twelve feet, United States, and | fruits away up here of the roof of the werld, There are fruit peddlers on nearly every square of La Pazj:and the market is filled with fine varteties: of quinces, pears, oranges and pinedpples.. ‘There are sweet and sour lemons and there are white grapes each berry of which 4s the size of a damson plum. re are clingstone peaches as big as the White Heath, and there are figs and other fruits which we do rot have. One pecullar{article looks like a mammoth green bean pod. It is known as the “Picae.”2 When opened it shows big black beans tnceased in a pulp which looks like the finést of white spun stik. You eat this pulp,tand when cold it tastes to you much like ‘a finely flavored ice cream. Thése fruits come from forty to sixty miles away fromthe eastern slopes of the Andes, perhapsia mile lower down than La Paz. Within from fifty to a hundred miles from Here+you can get into tropical Bolivia, and by going that distance can have all of the climates from trepical heat to frigid cold. The snow never ‘melts on Illimani. The climate here is about that of Paris and in the ®ungas and the Beni regions not far away the pineapples and the palm trees grow. There are wild oranges and wild cotton trees. There are coffee plantations, and in the forests the Indians are gathering rubber to be shipped down the Amazon to Para, whence some of it perhaps will go to the United States to be used in your bicycle tires. FRANK G. CARPENTER. eee ART AND ARTISTS. The summer brings no rest to Mr. George Gibbs, as it is just the season when he is mcst deeply immersed in book illustra- ‘ions for the publicaticns that will appear on the bock stalls shortly before Christ- mas. So, while the other artists seek cool- er places in which to spend the hot weather, he sticks to his studio, and does the hardest work of his year. At present he ts engaged upon a series of gouache drawings for a historical novel by Grace King, a story dealing with the adventures of Hernando de Soto and his men in the land of Florida. For Mr. Gibbs this is an entirely new vein, introducing manners of life, costumes and scenery that he has not previously touched upon in his work, and he shows his facility by the manner i which he enters into the spirit of. the period. The action in several of the com- pleted drawings is notably good, a scene showing the Spanish adventurers in a Erush with the Indians being especially full of movement. In this the effect of rapid action must be credited partly to the man- ner in which the figures are drawn and partly to their arrangement. An illustra- tion which depicts the sighting of land by De Soto and his followers *s also very good in compesition. In scme of the illustra- tions Mr. Gibbs has not been able to bring the drawing to that point of exactness which marks his more leisurely work, but in all he has set down the important features in « very effective way. He will soon com- mence « series of drawings for a book by James Barnes, which relates the naval cx- ploits of Commodore Perry. * Miss Edith Ogden’ who was in W: ington during the winter, is now staying in Garrett Park, and expects to leave for St. Paul shortly. It will be remembered that she made an able contribution to the Gepartment of sculpture in the spring ¢ hibition of the Society of Washington Artists, and she is weli equipped for her work, having studied in Paris and aleo In New York under St. Gaudens. It is vrob- able that Miss Ogden will return to this city in the fall. * £ RR os The large canvas by Paussin, wht been placed on view at Fischer's, w emplifies the beauty that may be atta in landscape art, even by paititers fettercd by the strict observance”6f ‘thany artis‘ic conventios. The foliage’ot ‘the trees has a formality that bears ho very close re- lation to nature, and thécentire lan Iscape seems more like a poetic. vision of the artist's than like a Uteral interpretation of any actual seene. Much of the charm of the picture lies doubtless in [ts vers of realism, and in this alo lies its ciassic Cignity. The eye is fotiarrested by what some one has called “the little gozsip of Nature,” but is left free .to seize upon the big features, the essentiafs in the land- scape. Perhaps the most noticeable point of merit in the picture {sithe fine effect of almest illin.itable distance, and the mellow sunset light which floods the scene is well rendered. Ps * * x Next week will probably find Mr. Richard N. Brooke in his home in Warrenton, V ready to enter upon his summer sketching campaign. For at least three months he expects to remain there at work, and if all goes well he will retuin in the autumn the richer by fresh inspiration and a large suuply of valuable studies. During the last days which he has spent in his studio here much of his time has been given to an oll portrait that is noticeably fine in its quality of color. * ok ok Mr. H. B. Bradford is now busy with a series of six drawings delineating various types of “summer girls.” In one of the best of these he has depitted a pretty girl seated on the grass in a cool shady spot, plucking the petals, one by one, from a daisy. Both the setting of the figures and the figure itself are well executed, and the effect of the whole is restful and agree- able. In another capable drawing in black and white Mr. Bradford presents a*type of the Bicycle girl, a careful study drawn from life and executed in the open air. The series includes a drawing of a dashing brunette lolling luxuriovsly among a pile of sofa cushions and idly picking out a pcpular tune upon her mandolin, and the artist uses an effect of indoor lighting in one other illustration of the set. It por- trays a fair-haired girl, seated by a reading stand, in which the drawing is handled witha certain delicacy that is very pleasing and places it among the dest of the six. * _e Mr. Jeromé P. Uhl, who has been study- ing in the New York Art League for a year, came home to Washington for a short stay only, as he intends to go to Lake Chatauqua about the 8th of July. He brought with him a number of drawings that speak well for the progress he has been making. He has always been clever at pen and ink work, and some of his best things are still executed in that medium. He handles his pen with greater freedom now, working for the drawing and the values in the subject before him, and giv- ing as little thought as possible to mere technique. Mr. Uhl was one of the mos: ccnstant attendants at the sketch classes in the New York League, and profited a sreat deal by the practice and instruction which he gained in this branch of study so often underrated. MIL9¢ * ew as A new art club called;4he»Salmagundi Club, efter the organization’ bearing that name in New York city, Was°formed here @ short time ago, and a pumber of meet- ings have been held at sych places as the members find suitable forssketching. The club, which was organize@4at¢ely through the efforts of Miss Mary. Emiifé Glennan, is at present composed aljnost, entirely of students from the Corcgrane Art School, and it has seventy-nine memers upon its rolls. During the pont the meetings are to be held out of dooff, and are prac- tically sketching trips, but ig the winter the members expect to talks on art and other interesting features: The club will -hold an exhfbition some time next winter in order to display, the sketches made suring the summer. months. At a méeting held a little over a week ago, in the grounds of the old observatory, the members benefited by the advice of Mr. K. Le Grand Johnston and Mr. 8. Jerome Uhl, and also had the pleasure of watching these older artists work directly from na-, ture. To show their appreciation of the visit the members of the club elected the two artists honorary members. * *~* Mr. Emery Williams, who has been tem- Porarily occupying. Mr. Moss’ studio in the Barbizon building, left the city on Wednes: day, having decided notto remain here after the completion of ‘his series of illus- So. eeet ‘Fert of his 0d, ne ee ne ee au him to leave @ couple of mont Santer than ‘ho had planned: “een SSE THE RAM IN NAVAL WARFARE, — ‘What May Be Done by Hitting Below the Water Line. From the New York Tribune, A feature of naval construction and war- fare which attracted the attention of ¢x- perts thirty years or more ago, and for a time wag exceedingly popular, is the ram. The idea of putting a short, stout spur out on the stem of a vessel, at or below the water line, to be thrust into an enemy's ship, had occurred to designers of war ves- sels as early as 1859. In that year there was added to the British navy the Warrior so equipped and to the French navy the Magenta, similarly armed. But the final actual test of the ram on which its future largely depended occurred in 1862. The confederate ironclad Merrimac bore on her stem a spur which was used upon the Cumberland with such deadly effect that the latter vessel sank in a few min- utes. Four years later, off the Island of Lissa, in the Mediterranean, another in- structive engagement was fought. Admiral Tegetthoff, the Austrian commander, had a smaller fieet than the Italians under Per- gano, but he won a: decisive victory. The result must be attributed in some degree no doubt, to the Italian leader's bad man- agement. Yet the chief mode of attack was with the ram. And two of the ene- my's best ships, including the Re d'Italia, which had been the flagship of Persano up to the beginning of the fight, were sunk. A third contribution to the world’s knowl- edge of the possibilities of the ram was made in 1877 by the Peruvians. Their Huascar stove a terrible hole in the Chilean Esmeralda off Iquique. In consequence of this injury the Esmeralda, although she had foyght with amazing pluck, quickly went to the bottom. Two much more recent illustrations of the destruction which this weapon is capa- ble of working are cited by William Led- yard Cathcart in Cassier’s Magazine. The first of these was the tragic loss of the British battle ship Victoria in time of peace. Admiral Tryon was putting the ships of his command, the Mediterranean squadron, through an unusual maneuver. The order given involved either a slip of the toigue or an error of calculation, but it was implicitly obeyed, and within a few minutes the admiral saw.the huge Camper- down swung around so that she could not avoid striking the flagship. The Victoria kept afloat for ten minutes, but when she sank she took down 321 officers and men, including the unhappy Tryon. This event occurred In June, 1 Less lamentable in degree, but not less significant in character, was the disaster that overtook the German warship Grosser Kurfurst, in 1 while proceeding west- ward along the southern coast of England. Accompanying this vessel, and a little fur- ther off shore, was the Konig Wilhelm, an armor-belted frigate of 9,600 tons displace- ment. A small merchant vessel putting to sea crossed the bows of the Germans, and compelled them to turn their heads ‘tem- porarily inshore. The Kurfurst resumed her former course before the Konig Wil- helm did, and before the navigators of either vessel realized the danger the Wil- helm had run her ram into her consort’s side. The Kurfurst carried six officers and eighty-one men down with her. The other officers and men on board of her escaped. Soon after the battle of Lissa the British admiralty began to develop a class of ves- sels which were intended to fight princi- pally with their rams. The Rupert and the Hotspur were low ironclads, of 3,200 and 4.000 tons, and carrying one or two guns in a turret well forward. Then came the Hero and the Conqueror, which were big- ger and more heavily armed. These latter carried 12-inch guns and displaced about 6.000 tons. The Polyphemus (1881) was more exclusively a_ram, for her battery was a light one. She was equipped with torpedo tubes, however. The next set of rams, built between 1886 and 1896, and in- cluding the Furious, Vindictive, Arrogant and Gladiator, were ships of 5,700 tons dis- o and had light armor and pro- dec Their largest guns are of the 6-inch rapid-fire type, and no torpedo tubes are provided. The projection from the stem is massive, the bow is strongly braced, and the armor belt is wider out forward than elsewhere. Other important modifications were made in the design of these vessels. In order to facilitate rapid maneuvering there are two rudders, one just forward of the screw and the other aft. The dead- wood at the stern is cut away so as to favor quick turning. These and other war vessels of the same general type, not only in the British navy, but also in the fleets of other nations, have been called “ram cruisers” to distinguis them from other cruisers. The light con- struction of the ordinary cruiser, whose function is to hunt for the enemy rather than to fight him, which is built for speed rather than to withstand attack, precludes such collisions as a ram must encounter. Consequently those ships which are meant to fight with spurs on their stems are much more strongly built, especially about the bows. The idea of giving a vessel a prow that will rip open a hostile ship below the water line has been gpplied to the heaviest battle ships. The Camperdown displaces about 10,000 tons, and is much bigger than the Maine was. She is about as heavy as the Oregon and Massachusetts of the American navy. The French battle ship Brennus, which has a spurred stem, displaces 11,395 tons, while the Italia, also equipped with a ram, is a vessel of nearly 14,000 tons. The formidable character of the kind of warfare here described will be better real- ized if one will remember that the biggest guns now used in the navy deliver pro- Jectiles only thirteen inches in diameter, whereas a ram will cut a hole big enough to admit a two-horse team. Tegetthoff himself was so shocked by his achievement ae battle of Lissa that he afterward sa If I were to live a thousand years I would never ram another ship. The effect produced is different from anything else you have in naval warfare. You see the vessel attackefl at one moment. and the next eight hundred ‘men sliding into the sea with the vessel following them. You are left with a perfect void, without any commotion, without any smoke, without anything to make one feel that he was in battle.” THE FOUR-INCH NAVY GUN, A Most Popular Weapon for Offensive and Defensive Purposes. From the New York Tribure. The main batteries of all the gunboats in the navy are made up of 4-inch rapid-fire rifles, which are altogether the most popu- lar weapons in the service for offensive and defensive purposes on the lighter vessels. The Castine, the Helena, theaMachias, the Nashville and the Wilmington are each equipped with eight of these guns, while the Annapolis, the Marietta, the Newport, the Princeton, the Vicksburg and the Wheeling each mount six of them. The Bancroft relies upon four, and the Dolphin upon two as their chief fighting powers. Even the formidable Iowa has six of them upon her superstructure to deter the ap- Proach of torpedo boats, and the armored cruiser New York mounts twelve in her secondary battery. .The fastest two vessels in the navy, the Columbia and the Min- neapolis, have eight apiece, and the double- turret monitor Puritan is provided with six to support her four 12-inch monsters. The chief advantage of these guns lies in their extreme rapidity of fire and ease of man- ipulation, while their penetrating power at all ranges enables their projectiles easily to Pierce all unarmored cruisers and lightly protected.gun positions. This gun of four inches caliber weighs, without its mount, one and one-half tons, or exactly 3,400 pounds. Its length is 13.7 feet, and its greatest outside diameter is. thirteen inches, its total length of bore be- ing 157.5 inches, and the length of rifle bore 128.12 inches. The twist of its rifling be- gins at zero and increases to 1 in 25, th being thirty grooves. It fires a 83-poun shell with fourteen pounds of clear through @ 5-inch plate at 1 ards dictancs. crews on all the gunl ity of fire of six a OUR OWN GREAT DAY Some Noteworthy Celebrations of the Fourth of July, WHEN If WAS FIRST OBSERVED The Fiftieth Anniversary and the Great Centennial. FIREWORKS AND FIREWATER Written for The Evening Star, The first Fourth of July celebration took place in Philadelphia four days after the adoption of the Declaration of Independ- ence, on July 8, 1776, “a warm, sunshiny morning,” as one of those who were pres- ent described the day. John Nixon read the declaration in the yard of the state house, and the great assembly of people “gave three repeated huzzas.” The king’s arms were torn down from their piace, and then the proclamation was read before each of the five battalions on the commons. In the evening, which was clear and starlight, bonfires were kindled, cannon were fired, bells were rung, “with other demonstra- tions of joy upon the unanimity and agree- ment of the declaration.” On July 9 Washington himself directed the celebration which was held in New York. The declaration was read in the presence of the army, and the assembled people induiged in displays very like those of the preceding day in Philadelphia, though the New York celebration went a step farther, for in their enthusiasm the people tore down, beheaded and melted the statue of George II in Bowling Green, “the troops long having had an inclination so to do.” The news was hurried forward to Boston, and the messengers made such incredibly fast time that they arrived on the Isth of uly. The people were dressed in their “holiday suits’ and with the soldiers thronged the streets. Exactly at 1 o'clock Thomas Crafts arose in the town house and read aloud the declaration, and the men stood up and repeated the words oi tneir officers and swore to uphold the rights of their country. The town clerk read the declaration from a balcony to the crowd, “at the cluse of which a shout, begun in the hall, passed to the streets, which rang With loud huzzas, the slow and measured boom of cannon ana the rattle of mus- ketry.” Then there was a banquet in the council chamber, “to wh: all the richer citizens were invited,” while great quanti- ties of liquor were distributed among the people, and in the evening there a gen- eral illumination of the entire town. There Was no statue of King George to be broken, but the people did the next best thing, for they tore down the lion and the unicorn from the east wing of the state house. Celebration by Congress. One of ithe unpublished letters of John Adams gives the following description: “The thought of taking any notice of this day was not conceived until the second of the month and was mot mentioned until the third. It was too late to have a sermon, as every one wished, so this must be de- ferred to another year. Congress deter- mined to adjourn over that day and to dine together. The general officers and others in town were invited, after the President and council and board of war of this state. In the morning the Delaware frigate, sev- eral large galleys and other continental armed vessels, the Pennsylvania ship and row galleys and guard boats were all hauled off into the river, and several of them were dressed in the colors of all na- tions displayed above the masts, yards and ing. At 1 o'clock the ships were manned; that is, the men were a’ aloft and arranged upon the top shrouds, making a striking appea men drawn up in order in the air. went on board the Delaware with the President and several gentlemen of the marine committee, soon after which we were saluted with a discharge of thirteen guns, which was followed by thirteen others from h of the armed vessels in the river, then th2 galleys followed the fire nd after them the gunboats. Then the President and the company returned in the barges io the shore and were saluted by three cheers from every ship, galley and boat in the river. The wharves and shores were lined with a vast concourse of people, all shouting and huzzaing. * * * At 3 we went to dinner and were very agreeably entertained with excellent company, good cheer and music from the band of Hes- slans captured at Trenton and by continual volleys between every toast from a com- pany of soldiers.” The letter then goes on to describe the processions and salutes of the sdldiers, and expresses the surprise of the writer in the evening to behold almost every house lighted by candles in the windows, “though a few surly houses were dark. I had for- got,” he continues, “the ringing of bells all day and evening, end the bonfires in the streets, and the fireworks played off. Had General Howe been here in disguise, or his master, this show would have given them the headache.” When Peace Was Restored. The anniversaries had been celebrated in the army by the discharge of guns, the setting free of prisoners, and festivities in which the wives of the generals had been very active, Mrs. Knox and Mrs. Greene being especially interested. The year when peace was declared witnessed the introduc- tion of the oration. Guns and bells, of course, continued to be very much in evi- dence, and toasts were drunk and respond- ed to at the dinners which were provided on every village green or city common. “George Washington,” ‘The Constitution,” “The United States” and “The daughters of America” came in for a goodly share of attention in oration and in toast. “Squir- rels, chickens, green corn and vegetables of the season” were piled upon the tables, and were free to all, while firewater as well as fireworks abounded. The introduc- tion of the “oration,” however, chiefly dis- linguishes the celebration of 1783, and dates frem that time. The fiftieth anniversary was the “jubi- lee,” and was the most elaborate of uil celebrations up tc that time. Three of the sigrers of the declaration were still living, although the weakness of old age prevent- ed them from taking an active part in the festivities. The struggle of the South American countries to throw off the yoke of Spain and the popular sympathy with Greece helped to inspire the American peo- ple. Bands, bells, cannon and processions abounded, and the oration held a conspic- ucus part. Josiah Quincy was the orator in Boston, Edward Everett in Cambridge, while in Washington an “honorable mem- ber” delivered a great speech before a greater crowd from the steps of the Capi- tol. New York had not yet made so much of the oration as had some of the other cities, but did not lack in enthusiasm. A long procession marched from the Battery to Washington Square, and was there re- viewed by DeWitt Clinton, the governor of the state. Ten thousand people were in the assembly and aided in disposing of the “ox feast’ which had been provided. The enthusiasm throughout the land was Intense. The “Monroe doctrine,” the “lib- erty of man,” “the oppression of effete ‘mcrerchies” were expressions used not only by the orators, but by all men. Doubtless the “jubilee” ee a mighty impulse for the nation, thea ust passing out from its child‘ood. ‘The Centennial. Marvelous were the chaazes which the fifty years had witnessed since the jubilee, but they were no greater than the changes in the method of celebrating the great event in American histery. Noise of bells and cannon was still retained, to the in- expressible delight of young America, but selence, art and Iiterature all received their due share of attention, Upon the very spot where the republic was born Senator R. Hawlay extended a welcome to bie pe a gr ema ge and ti chair Vice President of the United States. William M. and ance of hen I dered not only for its material @isp! but for its orations and poems as weil Among the Various Fourth of July orators on that occasion were Richard §. Storrs, Henry Ward Beecher, George William Cur. tis, Horatio Seymour, Lucius F. Chitten- den, Henry Barnard, Cortlandt Parker, John A. Dix, Fernando Wood, Leonard Bacon, Robert C. Winthrop, Charies Fran- cis Adams and innumerable other lesser lights, . 9f poems, William Cullen Bryant, John Grepnieaf, Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Bayard Taylor and others fur- nished their best. Perhaps the ‘poems of Bryant and Whittier will live long and that of Bryant especially was not only his- toric but also prophetic. He “celebrated” the past and did not forget the future, as he wrote: _ And thou, the new-beginning age, Warmed by the past, and not in vain, Write on a fairer, whiter page The record of thy happier reign, ——_—$—$+9+ - STORIES NOT IN THE RECORDS, Two Good Tales That Will Not Appear in History, From the Detesit Pree Press. An old soldier of Detroit has a couple of Stories of the late war that will not b> pre- served In the archives of accepted history. “In the pioneer brigade, to which I be- longed,” relates this veteran, “there was a Wisconsin man who seemed to have the sift of perpetual good feeling. After Bragg had left Tullahoma on his way to some safer locality, we pushed on to Blk river io repair a bridge. The Wisconsin man, whom I remember as Hank, went down the stream a little way to take a swim, and while he was disporting himself in. the water five of Bragg’s boys appeared on the bank, covered him with their guns and cor- dialiy invited him to come in « of the wet. He promptly ytelded to the persua- sion and dressed while laughingly telling his capiors that if the h nm but four of them he would have declined to recos nize them as a superior lar E feught them from the water. “While the prisoner was an crder to march, the surprised him by staeking their arms, n ng him that they surrendered and asking to be taken into camp. Like hundreds of others in lower Tenne during the summer of 186, Were tired of the fight and glad to get with- in our lines. The jast time I was at a na- tional encampment I came across the hero of the occasion, and I'll be blowed if he wasn’t telling in solemn earnest how he de a sudden dash upon those fiv: John- nies, surrounded them, disarmed them and marched them to headquarters. Such stor- fes are apt to grow, even with one who participated in the event, and I was con- vinced that Hank thought he was telling the gospel truch,”” The veteran's other story is about a big member of the red sash brigade*who had done yeomaa servics in the pine woods of Michigan before he entered the army. “I didn’t see this,” he acknowledges, t 1 can bring the proof if it be demanded. At the Bull Run retreat the woodsman stop- ped to assist a wounded comrade, While he was doing this good Samaritan work he Was suddenly surrounded by pursuers and ordered to surrender. He had not yet been weaned from th> favorite method of fight- ing in the lumber camps, so he threw aside his gun and bayonet as useless incum- brances and sailed in for a rough and tum- ble, repeatedly announcing that he could lick the whote outfit. The onslaught was so sudden and so, ludicrous that those as- saulted were temporarily paralyzed laughter, and half-a-dozen of them had gone down with damaged heads or bleeding noses before they could rally. en the bold puncher w: ken by a good-natured exertion of force, and was only reconciled when assured that some man would be found to do him battle in a rough and tumble. e GRE! a cNLANDER'S BOAT. ‘The Exkimo Kaink ts a Craft to Handle. em the Philadelphia Inquirer. There ts no craft so difficult to handle as the Eskimo “kaiak.” The only boat fa- miliar to us which in any way resembles it is the racing shell; but if a crack oars- man of one of our crack colleges were tied into a kaiak and told to shift for himself even in smooth water, he would have a hard time of it. The “kaiak” has been evolved through hundreds of years of necessity. Without it the Greenland Eskimos, at least, would not be able to provide their daily bread, + more properly speaking, their daily blubber. It is singular that all the materials used in the construction of the kaiak come from the sea; driftwood for the frame, sealskin for the covering, thongs for the harpoon and dart, ivory and bone for bow, stern and keel, and for the various implements. The women prepare the skin covering and stretch it over the frame till it is as tight and firm as the head of a drum; on such occasion there is great excitement in the community; a regular ““*kaiak bee” is held; even refreshments are not lacking, for the owner of the “kaiak” treats to coffee all around when the work is satisfactory done. The completed boat is a triumph of in- genuity and skill. It is about eighteen feet long, stiarply pointed at each end. Its greatest depth is six inches and its width about eighteen. It is entirely covered save for the little round hole into which the owner slips, pushing his feet underneath the skin deck in front. This hole is fitted to the person for whom the boat is designed, and his thighs com- pletely fili it up. When he ts seated in it and his waterproof jacket Is tled securely round the edge, he is able to defy the waves which dash over him or the rain which beats upon him. The six thong loops ar- ranged on the deck in front and the three of four behind hold his implements—bird darts, lances, knives and, most important of all, his harpoon. A little stand is ar- ranged directly in front of him, upon which is coiled the harpoon line, and behind him on the “kaiak” is the harpoon bladder which is attached, inflated ready for use, to the line. The most expert are apt sometimes to be overturned; it may be by the attack of a walrus or even a seal, by a careless move- ment or an unexpectedly large wave. If he does not right himself at once he is in- evitably drowned unless a comrade comes to his assistance. The usual method of turning the “kaiak” upright again is by using the paddle as a lever, holding it along the sid® of the boat, pointing it toward the bow, then sweeping it through the water; but those who are thoroughly pro- ficient are able to Go it by means of their throwing stick, their arm or even their hand. peice eaninee Jones—“I met Howard today. He was surprised to know we were married. Says you told him once you wouldn't marry the best man living.” Mrs. ‘Jones “Well, the fact is, T did.” Jones——"How did you come to change your mind?" Mrs. Jones—“Well, the fact ts, I didn’t.” —Harlem Life. aD eeeieeee “I understand that the United States commission to the Paris exposition for 1900 has asked for 20,000 more square feet of epace, “Indeed! What for?” “We'll need it to exhibit our contempt for France's attitude toward us in this war.”—Harper’s Bazar. After the Ceremony. (Copyright, 1898, Life Publishing Company.) : 4