Evening Star Newspaper, July 16, 1898, Page 23

—— THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JULY 16, 1898—24 PAGES, SCHOOLS FOR BIRDS Many of the Finest Canaries are Taught to Sing. - BRINGING THEM ACROSS THE SEA Best Trained Warblers Come From the Hartz Mountains A BIG AVIARY SCENES IN From the Scientific American. Buying and importing song birds occu- pies the time and attention of several scores of people im New York, and as the distributirg center of this peculiar trade, the city is often the home of considerable mumbers of song birds gathered from all quarters of the globe. On the East side, in 4th street, there are several remarkable aviaries where, without doubt, a study of one branch of ornithology can be pursued under conditions mere favorable than else- where on this continent, and a visit to one of these bird conservatories of music is better than a trip to the fields or woods to listen to the songs of the wild warblers. The owner of the aviary is a German— more than probable from some little vil- lage in the Hartz mountains, where bird raising is the chief industry—and he not only feeds and tends his little birds with loving care, but teaches them to wittstle and sing in tune to the accompaniment of an old reed organ or flute. ‘There are several large importing houses of song birds in New York, and in the busy season they employ from twenty to forty travelers, who go back and forth from Europe to purchase the pick of the canaries, bullfinches and other European songsters. The consignments come chiefly from Germany and England. Nearly all of the canaries raised in the world for cage purposes come from these two countries, and most of the German exporting houses have distributing branches in New York. ‘The birds are sent over by steamer in jarge consignments, under the charge of an expert care-tender, who does nothing else but feed and doctor the little pets placed under his charge. One experienced man can take charge of five large crates, each (ne containing two hundred, and ten cages of birds, or @ little over a thousand in all. Sometimes during the rush season the care-tender has five hurricane deck- ers to watch, or fourteen hundred cages and birds to look after during the long hours of the days and nights. Canaries on Shipboard. That this work is not easy, any one who has had the privilege of looking after a single canary for a week can well un¢ 2r- Stand. Feeding and watering over a th u- sand birds, and cleaning out their cages every day, makes up a routine of work on shipbeard that begins at 4 o'clock in the morning and does not end until late in the afternoon. When seasickness makes life miserable for the passengers, the canaries are apt to be uncomfortable in their crowd- ed quarters. Sometimes a disease known as * “appen" breaks out among the can- @ries at such times, and as this is fearfully contagious, it sweeps through the crowded bird quarters on shipboard and decimates the ranks at a terrible rate. Cases are known where only ten birds have survived out of an importation of 800 to 1,000, the disease performing its terrible work in a Week's time. This is supposed to be caused as much by the overcrowded and poorly ventilated condition of the birds’ quarters &s by the rolling of the ship. If you ask Fritz if his birds get seasick, he will an- Swer emphatically, “No; but he will add softly to himself “‘schnappen.” And in that word is conveyed much of meaning that the lay mind cannot appreciate. When the imported birds arrive in port they are hurried immediately to the im- Porting houses, or to the different quiet @viaries in the German quarters, where ex- erienced bird-ralsers take them in charge. tis at this latter place that one may make an inspection of the singers which are des- tined to carry song and delight into so many homes. Most of them are trained birds, and they sing and: whistle to perfec- tion, and all that their German attendant bas to do Is to feed and water them proper- ly. 1f diseuse breaks out among them he is supposed to know just what to do, and in most instances he does prove an expert bird doctor. Receive Careful Training. In the mating and breeding season, how- ever, young birds appear in the grect aviary which must be taught to sing ar} whistle accurately. Most people imagir: that all the perfection of song cage-birds is inherited, and they would be surprised to learn the amount of labor bestowed upo them in order te make their tunes accu: ate. 1 oung birds that have the proper great artists are trained in the ‘areful manner. In the Hartz moun- tains, where canary training reaches its bighest development, the throat and volce of each young canary are tested, and those selected for the highest training are set @part by themselves. They are sent to a School of instruction that is unique in its Methods. At the head of the school is probably a canary of the St. Andreasberg tbe which strikes the right note for all the youngsters to tmitate. The young birds are taken into the room in their cages, with cloth draped over them to shut out the light until the proper time has come for singing. Then the light is admit- fed and the teacher begins her warbling. The young birds, which have probably Dever yet attempted to pipe, leave off their feeding and listen to the marvelous out- burst of pure song. They become uneasy end enraptured, and in a short time they try to imitate the song; but they make mis- erable failures for many days. Eventually Pome of them strike the right note, and at he end of the week the most promising @nes are separated from the rest and placed In rooms with the best singers. In ig way their voices are gradually culti- ‘ated, and new songs are taught them. Im the Harts Mountains. There are several such schools for ca- naries in New York, but they are devoted entirely to the comparatively few canarles raised for the trade in this country. Most @f those imported have already been trained to sing accurately, although after their long sea voyage they need a little extra training to bring their voices to perfection. The best trained canaries are the St. An- Greasberg canaries, whose notes are con- sidered the finest of any in existence. Orig- trally these notes were obtained by placing @ nightingale in the breeding room of the young canaries, and the natural, clear- toned voices quickly blended the song in with their natural notes. In time, by care- ful breeding and selection, the present type of the St. Andreasberg canary was pro- @uced, but the pure, bracing alr of the Hartz mountains {s considered necessary for the proper development of one of these superb singers. A true St. Andreasberg singer cannot, it is believed by bird train- ers, be reared outside of the Hart: moun- tains, and it ts claimed that only a out ten Per cent of those raised in thelr native place ever pass the critical examination of the judges. They are sold according to the Farfection of thetr song power, the best Imported bringing as much as $25 to $50 piece, and ordinary ones as little as $ to As a rule, they are very small and in- significant looking birds, and not until they have opened their little throats to sing does cne comprehend their mission in 2. German Bullfinches. The German bullfinches are imported into this country in larger numbers every year, rd, as they are trained with the greatest care, they are rapidly becoming as popular as the canary. The young bullfinches are taught thelr lessons when about two weeks old, They are then taken to a dark room, And at the proper time the trainer admits light and begins to whistle a tune. These German trainers are wonders in their par- tieular Although deficient in many gf the graces of life, they can whistle songs 5s correctly as another man can play them on a cornet or piano. One false note Would be sufficient to ruin the teacher's reputation. Only one bird at a time can be taught, and each one receives an hour's lesson every day. Then another pupil is brought in, and the German trainer renews his whistlirg. So he whistles and whistles morning until night, varying his la- bors only by teaching a different tune to a different bird. In Germany the young bullfinches are first taught by the strains of a reed organ. ‘They are placed in a dark room, while the trainer pltys on a small organ by the hour. The birds have this drilled into them so thoroughly that when they do pipe, they strike the right note every time. The flute is also used extensively now by trainers, and it Is a successful substitute for the whistle. The music formerly taught by the trainers was of the old style German hymns; but today nearly all of the bull- finches are taught to pipe the popular songs, operas and waltzes. Prices for bullfinches vary also according to thelr accomplishments. Ordinary tamed, but urtrained, bulifinches can be purchased in New York from $3 to $5, but those that are taught to pipe sell for considerably more. They are classified according to the number of tunes they have acquired. Thus a bullfinch that has mastered only part of a tune sells from $10 to $25, but one that pipes the whole of a tune without an error easily commands from $25 to $30, and a bird of two tunes is worth from $35 to $50. Extra fine builfinches that pipe several tunes, and have remarkably sweet tones, bring as much as $75 to $100 In this coun- try. is Nightingales and Larks. The song-bird dealers import many other gay singers to make life pleasant in our homes. The English nightingale is import- ed in fair numbers, and brings from $15 to $25 apiece. Thzre is a great difference in the singing of the nightingaie, as in all other birds, and only those that have been carefully reared and trained meet the re- quirements of ths modern trade, notwith- Standing their reputation for natural sing- ing. Defects appear in some of the birds which cannot be remedied for several suc- cessive generations. The P2kin nightingale 1s a less desirable singer, but it has a cer- tain popularity as a cage bird. Consider- able numbers of them are brought to this ecuntry and sold by the dealers from $5 to $10 apiecs. But they are not trained as the canaries and bullfinches. Other song-birds found in one of the east side aviaries, or importing bird stores, are the German chaffirch, the English skylark, the English starling, siskin, woodlark and European thrush. Prices for these in the ratall trade may serve to show the value attached to the different kinds of singers. The best German chaffinches can be pur- chased from $3 to $10; English skylarks, from $3 to $12; English starlings, from $10 to $40, according to the number of tunes they can pipe; English woodlarks, from $% to $15, and European thrushes, from $8 to $15. Native Song-Birds. Native song-birds are almost as much in demand as the imported, and every large bird siore deals in most of our prominent singers adapted to cage life. Our southern mocking bird, for instance, which rivals the English nightingale in the variety and brilliancy of its song, sells all the way from $3 to $50 apiece. Cage bobolinks are worth from $1 to 3; tamed robins, from $1 to $5; the southern redbird or’ Virginia nightingale, from $8 to $5; the inimitable brown thrasher or thrush, from $3 to $8; and Mnnets, from $1 to $5. These native birds are rarely trained. They whistle or warble the wild tunes of the forest, and these possess a certain flavor of spon- taneous music taat is often more gratifying to the hearers than the most elaborate tune of the cultivated Campanini or St. Andreas- berg canary. ————+e-+—_______ HEROISM IN COAL MINING. ‘The Worker Under the Earth Lives in Constant Peril. ° From the Kanawha Gazette. Every miner is a hero, for his life is hourly beset by peril. The world is now Tinging with praise of thé feat performed by the crew of the Merrimac in the Santi- ago channel, and had Lieut. Hobson lost his life in that daring act, a monument would have been erected to his memory, and his grave kept green by an admfring people. Him, we are proud of, and rightly, too; but he was fired by the enthusiasm of war, while there are hundreds of coal miners in the Kanawha Valley whose daily ayocation leads them into positions equally as dangerous, and to them we only offer contempt—the one feat is performed for the pride of a nation, while the other is con- tributed to {ts necessity; the one peril 1s enly momentary, while the other is a con- tinuous monotonous drag. Each day the coal miner takes his life tn his hand, and each morning as the thinly clad housewife places the frugal meal in the battered tin pail there is a tear glistens on her eyelash, for she does not know When it will be the last time. And as she moves about performing her humble house- hold duties, she is continually haunted by a foreboding of evil. A rap at the door startles her, for she is in constant expec- tation of the messenger whose mission is to inform her that she is a widow. A confu- sion of voices frightens her, for she knows not at what hour the crushed, Ifeless re- mains of her once kind better half may be conveyed a bleeding mass to her humble home. The coal miner Is the most charitable per- son in the world, for there is a sympathetic chord which binds him to the unfortunate, and when a comrade has been injured in the mine, no matter how scant his larder, or how meager his pay, a penny is provid- ed for the support of that comrade’s family until he is able to resume work. The sight of the blind always brings to his mind the possibiiity of a premature explosion, which may piace him in the same fix, and to the blind his purse is always open. The poor beggar child never leaves him empty-hand- ed, for he don’t know at what hour his own children may be left dependent upon a cruel world. The coal miner's work is harder than any other class of labor, for he is cnly paid for what he does, and if a minute is lost dur- ing the day it tells terribly against him. He is the poorest paid of any laborer, for if he is idle for a week, he must go through that period on half rations for fear of ex- hausting his credit at the office. ee Amber Bowls for Pipes, From the Tobacco Gazette. Amber pipes are the newest and the most beautiful. The amber pipe bowl, I may be permitted to explain, is merely the outer envelope, so to speak, in whitch the real tobacco receptacle, which {ts of meer- schaum, reposes. But one smoking such a pipe seems, to an onlooker, to be inhal- ing his smoke from tobacco actually burn- ing in amber. ‘The theory that our ancestora of one hundred and more years ago were alto- gethor more luxurious in thelr smoking and snuffing utensils {s one which writers on such subjects appear to be fond of cir- culating. These gentlemen tell marvelous tales of snuff boxes presented by kings and queens to ambassadors, papal nuncios and other high and mighty personages with whom is was their temporary interest to stand weil. I have seen some of the finest of these historic snuff boxes, and they never impressed me as being either very costly or too highly artistic. However, let that be as {t may, I maintain that the rich tobacco lovers of our own time are far more extravagant than their forefathers. Several Jewelers’ shops on Broadway and Sth avenue have windows in which there is always a liberal display of xold-mounted pipes, cigar and cigarette casas, many of which are adorned with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires. There must be a steady market for these high-priced goods, else the jewelers wouldn't make them. ——_—__+e+-____ Largest Meteorite Known. From the Independent. A meteorite, described as half the’ size of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, ts said to have fallen at Port Alfred, South Aftica. It made a hole in the ground 50 feet deep, 120 feet long and 60 feet wide, which would tmaake it the largest known meteorite on record. Being a single piece, apparently, it was probably solid iron, like other me- teorites known, some of which have weigh- ed a number of tons, but none of this size is recorded. And yet there is no reason to believe that multitudes very much larger. may not be traveling in the celestial spaces; and it-is only good luck that prevents our falling in with them. There is no inherent impossibility that a meteorite or little as- teroid as large as some of the multitude bea ot revolve between Mars and Jupiter might come within the sphere of the earth's attraction large enough to cover an entire state. They may be even moving in the tracks of comets, although we know per- fectly well that the bulk of the material of comets is very inconsidera) and the earth has more than once through the tafl of a comet without any mops Stact than a shower of falling stara. the effect would be of striking the head of a comet we do not yet know. THE EMPEROR OF CHINA He Looks Like a Man Who is Weary of the World. Description of an Audience Granted te the Foreign Ambassadors— No Interest for Him. From the London’ Globe. A Berlin journal publishes the following account from the pen of a well-known German traveler, of an audience granted by the Emperor of China to the foreign ambassadors at Pekin. The writer was the only non-diplomatic person present. Headed by the highest dignitaries of the celestial empire, our procession moved on between rows of privy chancillors of the first class, body guards armed with bows and arrows, civic authorities holding valu- able old swords under their arms, and un- armed soldiers of the palace. We passed by the black tents with the little, peeping windows, in which the ambassadors fore- gathered in former years before they were received by the emperor. Silently and pompously we passed over the dark carpet woven out of black camel’s hair and ascended some steps leading to the widely opened folding doors of a build- ing, from the front wall of which the out- side had peeled off, leaving the casing snd timbers exposed to view, moldy and worm- eaten. Thus we reached the audience cham- ber and were within three paces of the “son of heaven,” Kouang Sou, the “ruler of the middle kingdom.” He was seaced upon a raised platform, approached by five steps and three gangways, while from the right and left two narrow paths also gaye access to the dais. The latter and the bal- ustrade were covered with red cloth and trimmed with yellow. On either side of the emperor stood one of the Manchurian princes, upright, motionless, and with a stony stare, as though he were keeping watch over a bier. i In this hall, the “hall of the flowers of literature,” the “son of heaven’ sat before a table on the platform, so that only the upper portion of his body was visible. Upon the table lay a staff, probably of jasper, the “scepter of good fortune.” A small sqvare box, seemingly of antique cloisonne work, was said to contain the imperial seal. There were also upon the tabie the plate for preparing Chinese ink, a tray for unused writing brushes, a rack for holding these brushes when in use, a box of In- dian ink, and a vase of water for making the writing fluid. All these articlgs were made out of precious stones of the second rank, such as jasper, topaz, turquoise and the like. It seemed as if the emperor pre ferred to have these useful articles before him as the insignia of power, instead of the usual sword, scepter and orb. His majesty looks older than he really is. With sunken head and yellow face, he lcoked shyly at the assembled diplomats, and his heavy eyes were Ht up for the oc- casion by opium or morphia. A sorrowful, weary and rather childish smile played about his mouth. When his lips are parted his long, irregular, yellow teeth appcer, and there are great hollows in either cheek. His face is not entirely wanting in sympa- thy, but rather betokens indifference, and trcm its features nothing of interest can be read; in fact, the emperor impressed me as being self-restrained, cold, apathetic, want- ing in capacity, worn out and as though half dead. I felt that whatever passed befcre his eyes had not the slightest interest for him; and that it mattered not in the least to him whether he understood the meaning of the ceremony. I may, indeed, be wrong in my judgement, and it may be that the Em- peror of China is a highly intelligent mon- arch, educated, well read, a keen student and anxious for the welfare of his people. I may be entirely wrong, but I cannot be- Leve that am. A man who wears a look as if life were a burden to him must surely be on the downward grade; I must be bold enough to reproduce the ‘‘son of heaven” as I saw him and as he struck me, and not as others would wish me to picture him, For a quarter of an hour I stood only three paces from the emperor of the celes- tial empire, and I watched him aarrowly the whole time; there stole over me a feel- ing of regretful sympathy with this poten- tate, who governs more than, 400,000,000 people from the ruined chambers of a vast prison house. After a deathly silence of some minutes the doyen of the diplomatic corps, Col. Denby, minister of the United States, read an address in English. Princes Kung had previously been made acquainted with the text of his address. He mounted with dif- ficulty the smaller staircase on the right, bowed very low, knelt before the emperor on the left, touched the floor with his fore- head and translated the address into the Manchurian tongue. The “son of heaven” sped in Manchurian a few words that could scarcely be heard. Prince Kung then interpreted these imperial remarks to the audience in Chinese, and finally the drago- man of the Russian embassy gave them out in very faulty French. Prince Kung then shuffled backward down the steps of the throne. We drew back three paces, and, keeping our faces toward the emperor, passed backward in his presence through the front door, and thus quitted the “hall of the flowers of literaturo.” It may here be re- marked that hitherto ambassadors had been obliged to leave this hall by a side decor, ‘The emperor remained seated upon his throne. To have turned one’s back upon him would bave meant punishment by death. + Leng Distance Mails. From the New York Times. A letter sent from New York to Bangkok, Siam, travels overland to San Francisco and thence by water, reaching its destina- tion in about forty-threé days, having been carried nearly 13,000 miles. A letter mailed here for Adelaide, Australia, also goes via \San Francisco, travels 12,845 miles, and is delivered usually within thirty-five days. New York mail destined for Calcutta goes by way of London, traveling 11,120 miles in twenty-nine days, while mail sent from this city to Cape Town, South Africa, goes 125 miles further In two days’ less time. Mail communication between New York and Hong Kong ordinarily consumes one month of time; the letters go by way of San Francisco, and cover 10,500 miles of distance. To reach Melbourne, Australia, from this city a letter will travel 12,265 miles In about thirty-two days, and to reach Sydney a letter will travel 11,570 miles in thirty-one days. The mail route from New York to Yokohama, via San Francisco, is 7,348 miles long, and about twenty-two days are consumed in transit. To go to Honolulu from this city a letter travels 5,645 miles in thirteen days. Leaving New York on steamer days, mail matter is scheduled to reach Rome in about ten days, Madrid in ten days, London and Liverpool in eight days, Rotterdam in nine days, St. Petersburg in eleven days, Vienna in nine days, Paris in eight days, Berlin in nine days and Athens and Alexandria in fourteen days. Communication with South American ports is muoh slower. It takes twenty-four days for a letter to go from New York to Rio Janeiro, which ts only about fifty miles further from this city than is Alexandria. Mail matter going from New York to Buenos Ayres, which fs 8,045 miles distant, consumes twenty-nine or thirty days. ———_—_+-e+_____. Tangled by Marriage. From the Topeka Stnte Journal. A few weeks ago a rather peculfar mar- riage took place at Dillsboro, Ind., David Gray marrying his granddaughter by a for- mer marriage. It would appear that the Grays believe in peculiar marriages,” for Gray’s father married his stspsister, whose mother was the aunt of his present wife. The people at that point have dropped the war question and are endeavoring to solve the relationship of Gray to his wifs, and of his wife to him. An Ohio county genius saw the announcement, read it, pondered ever it, set to thinking and here is the out- growth of his fertile imagination: % “I married a widow who had a grown-up daughter. My father visited the house very often, fell in love with my stepdaughter and married her. So.my father became my son-in-law, and my stepdaughter my mo- her, because she was my father’s wife, me time afterward my wife had a son; he was my father’s brother-in-law and my uncle, for he was the brother of my step- mother. My father’s wife—thet is, my step- daughter—had also a son; he was, of course, my brother, and in the meantime my grandchild, for he was ths son of my daughter. My wife was my mother’s mo- ther. I was my wife’s husband and grand- child at the same time. And, as the hus- band of a person’s grandmother ts his grandfather, I was my own grandfather.” RANDOM: VERSE. 20% s ¥ Written for The Evening Star. Rob. Eyans,, Chevalier. Rob, Evans, wéhavelheard of you. ‘They call you" ‘ing Bob."* We know you never ‘sought the name, Because you re noi snob. But still, when fights were passing round, And each mah ‘et hs station, We've known yor stréfeh a point or two, To draw a dopble ration. And sometimesy/we hue beard it sald, In rather cardless thoots, You mix up andient ‘Bible words In waya to shock {ye prides, it, AFecent fight, In which, to save your men, You held the sbips a mile apart, And pitched in shot like rain. But when your foe lay wrapped in flames, And helpless on the water, Her decks piled up with mangled men, Aad red with buman slaughter, You quite forgot ar never thought, These men in sore trava! Had fought against yas ai And fed you iron hall. your flag, ‘They say the smoke got in your oyes, Ym gazing on the scene; And so you could not see the’ flames Creep toward the. magazine. ‘You wiped your eyes, and lafd your ship Close to that burning wreck; c And held her there’till every man ‘Was safe upon your dec Her chief, bowed down with weight of grief, His sword to yleld essuyed; But dimness {tt your eyesight, Bob, Concealed the offered blade. Bob, should you lve a hundred years, As every brave man prays, And every year be rich In fame, As you grow old in days, You'll never do a braver deed, And men will never hear, Of a vobler thing, than when you gave Your vanquished foe a tear, W. A. BL —_+—__. Written for The Evening Star by Mabel Haughton town, The Yankee Volunteer. (To the Boys of '98.) Aye, boast, old Exgland, if you will, Of valor fierce and wild, And flaunt the emblem cf your king, On whom the War God smiled. With you, we take the goblet up, Ard toss it off with cheer— You name your menar-h—glass to glass, We name Our Volunteer! All hail! a Nation’s proud applause Shall spur him to his goal — The blood of patriots is his, And freedom thtills his soul, No drafted braggart he to turn, Or feel a coward’s fear — ‘The pillar of our Nation's strength Is he—Our Volunteer! Wherever dark oppression riles— ‘Tis there he takes his stand— And “Liberty or death," nis ery, Has rong from land to land. Proud England, take your goblet up, Your monareh ioud we cheer; Now, drink with us a double bealth— “The Yankee -Voluateer!"* ———- The Bivouac’of the Dead. (Written on the oceasiom of the reinterment in Kentucky of the troops frei Inthe Mexieate tmyPs ftom that state who fell The mufiled drums sad roll hi pate soldier's daat Lasioo! Seer ‘9 nore on life's. parade sball meet That brave aud talon few, On Fame's eterpad campin; Tholr alent teas are ante et And Glory guards, with solem: ‘The ‘bivoune of the dead nt TOUnd No rumor of thé foe’, advance NAOW, swells upon the Wiad: jo troubled thoght af midaight ha Of loved cnsa tek behind: . — No vision of the worraiv's strife The warcior’s [team alarms, No braying horn’ or spfpaming fife At dawn shal? call ty arms. ‘Thetr shivered grukdy‘are red. with hetr pliimed Beads. ‘are nian em vashed i$ trom each brow; Aud ‘the prond forins, by battle gashed, Are free from anguish now. The neighing troop, the flashing blad ‘The bugle’s stirring Dlast, ‘The charge, the dreadful cannonade, pthe, aia Aud shout, are passed; for war's wild note, nor glory’s Shall thrilt with flerce delight Loe Those breasts that never more shall feel ‘The rapture of the fight. Like the fleree northern hurricane That sweeps his great plateau, Flushed with the triumph yet to gain Comes down the serried foe. Who heard the thunder of the tray Break o'er the field beneath, Knew well the watchword of that day Was victory or death. Full many a norther’s breath has swept And long She piteine ey ig the pitying sky has = Above its moldered alain, Pt Taven's scream or eagle's fl Or shepherd's pensive lay. | et Alone now wake exch solemn height ‘That frowned o'er that dark fray. Sons of the Dark and Blcody G: Xe must not slumber there, en Shall be your fitter rave: She claims from war sof ts richest spoil, The ashes of her brave. Ties “meath their ‘ar from the gory fiel Borne to a Spartan mothe On snany a bloody sbleld. Parent turf they resi field, istome ‘The sunshine of their native Smiles. sadly on them heres? And kindred eyes and beasts watch ‘The hero's wepulchre, “> Weteh OF Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead! Dear as the blood ye gave, No impious footstep here shall tread e herbage of your grave. Nor shall your glory be forgut While Fame her record keeps, Or Honor poluts the hallowed spot « Where Valor proudly sleeps, ‘Yon marble minstrel!’ In deathi voiceless stone I song shall te When many a vanished year hath flown, ‘The story how ye fell; Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's flight, Nia a ret n dim one ray of holy light That gilds your plorigus fom. —THEODORE O'HARA. ————__+«. The Death of Childhood. Edith Rutter in the Pall Mall Magazine. ‘Love's pain is childhood’s death." Teo walked through the lonely, orchard-land, tapp’d and i The twilight bus seem'dto undewtand Oe ‘That love and gladness. were passing by, The clover lifted their ereamy crowns, mae geet Herne tod er area TCU] Shook their len gowns, And tapp’d her Shoes-with: a bright caress. jbave Nt your u Mogcape.pave i a ' the robe you wear} A dark tace peep’a trough agh the Jaughtog Jeaveny Brown eyes Ww a bill ‘dread, And a Took crept Tee tg recelves . in) thet” ite budstand fs birds are dead, my face, me 90!"* girl smiled- inher resting place, girl sob das eho turn'd to go. A bird: flew a ae all the colors, grew pale forget-me-not, And stretch’ p intoimaise as and rose, a fi tet at ee shadows weave, fts Wings were shot that aunset knows} WEALTH OF ROYALTIES Rulers of Europe Who Are Among the World’s Richest People. Victoria Not as Well Of as Many Others—Some Own Property in This Country. From the London Mail. The queen, though the ruler of the big- gest and richest empire the world has ever seen, is by no means th> richest person on the earth. In fact, her salary, £385,000 a year, is one of the smallest paid -to any ruler on the globe. And of the £385,000, all except £96,000 is spent by the lord chamber- lain, the master of the horse and the lord treasurer, who are responsible for the maintenance of the royal household. And of the £96,000, £36,000 is put by for a rainy day, so that the exact amount re- ceived by her majesty is only £00,000, as fixed by parliament. Compared with the huge incomes of many of her subjects, this is paltry indeed. Hers, too, is the smallest salary that any British sovereign has ever received. Most of the qu2en’s predecessors on the throne had at least £800,000 a year, On the queen’s accession this was reduced to the present amount by the nation taking over the crown lands, and paying instead a fixed sum annually. At one time the qu2en’s expenditure far exceeded her income, and had it not been for a couple of legacies from: her subjects the court »xpenses would have had to ba curtailed. John Camden Nield bequeathed the whole of his property, more than £500,000 fn value, to the queen, and Mr. Newnous>, dying without heirs, left £10,000 to her majesty. — ~ Riper years Lrought wisdom, and by economy and frugality the queen has been able to purchase 37,000 acres of good land in Great Britain, yielding a rent roll of about £21,000 a year. She also owns consid- erable property in Germany, a large quan- tity in New York and thousands of acres in Manitoba and “out west.” Claremont House, Osborne, and Balmoral are the private property of the queen. The first named, standing In its estate of 460 acres, she bought for i74,000—a decided bar- gain, for it originally cost Lord Clive £150,- 000. Balmoral and Osborne are said to be worth half a million sterling. In addition to her property at Coburg the queen also possesses a villa at Baden, bequeath2d to ker by the Princess of Hohenlohe. The royal family is not only the cheapest this country has ever had, it is also the most in2xpensive in the world. The entire expense of the whole British royal family amounts to only £165,000 a year, for against the total expenditure of £580,000 must be set the receipt of £415,000 from crown lands, leaving the above net cost. Nearly all Europ>an sovereigns receive much bigger salaries than the queen. The Emperor of Russia has control over the revenue of his country, but he only draws £2,500,000 a year. The sultan takes £1,500,- 000, the Emperor of Austria £930,000, and the Kaiser Wilhelm £730,000, The King of Italy receives £585,000—the same sum as the whole British royal family—and the King of the Belgians gets only £125,000 a year. As our empire is the biggest in the world, and as our sovereign receives nearly the smallest salary, it must be admitted that Victoria ts the cheapest as well as the best of rulers. . The private property of foreign sover- eigns is also vary great. ‘The Russian im- perial family is the richest of all royal houses, and probably among commoners also. Apart from his salary as ruler, which amounts to two and a half millions yearly, the czar, as head of the house of Homan- offs, owns 21,000,000 acres of land in dif- ferent parts of Russia. These yleld more than £2,000,000 p2r annum; £500,000 of this is paid in allowances to’ forty-six grand dukes and duchesses, and the remainder 13 at the disposal of the czar, who thus en- jeys the enormous income of £3,500,000 a year—£400 per hour. ‘The czar is also the own2r of much valu- able property all over the world, and espe- cially in the United States, The daughter of the czar and czarina, the infant Grand Duchess Olga, is the richest heiress in the world, The week she was born £1,000,000 was settled upon her. The sum was in- vested in British, French and foreign se- curities as a precaution against th3 possi- bility of a revolution in Russia. The Hapsburgs, the royal house of Aus- tria, are very little, if any, poorer than the Romanoffs. They own immense landed es- tatss, and have also inherited large private fortunes. The income of the Anstrian im- Perial family is not less than £1,500,000 in addition to the grants from the state. ‘The Hohenzolierns have a private income of nearly £1,000,000 per annum, partially de- rived from large investments in New York. ‘The Italian royal family have a private in- come of £600,000 a year, also very largely derived from American property. ‘Thus the British royal family is by far the poorest of the great ruling houses. The Sultan of Turksy as a despot is, of ceurse, fabulously rich. His annual ‘ex- penses are said to amount to six million sterling. A miliion and a half of this goes for the clothing of his harem, £80,000 for his own wardrobe, £1,500,000 for presents, £1,000,000 for pocket money and another £1,000,000 for his table. It sees incr2dible that one man cin spend so much money in one year, but when it is remembered that some 1,500 people live within the palace walls, liva luxuriously and dress expensive- ly at the cost of the cfyil list, it appears more comprehensibi ——___++-_____ A PONDEROUS FLOWER. The Blossom Weighs Fifteen Pounds ma is a Yard Wide. = From the Providence Jourzal. Among the marvelous plants that the last century has made known none is more re- markable than the huge parasite Rafflesia. It derives its name from Sir Stamford Raf- fles, who, in 1818, was governor of Beneo- leen, in Sumatra. He was at one time on a tour of the island accompanted by Lady Raffies, Dr. Arnold and quite a party of Europeans and natives. Suddenly they alighted upon a flower of prodigious size and repulsive odor, more than a yard across, and weighing fifteen pounds. Its color was a light orange, mottled with yel- lowish white, the whole thing livid and ‘visited by carrion insects. Later investi- gations showed the plant to consist of flower alone, directly parasitic on a species of cissus. It never has stem or leaves be- its own. The famous Robert Brown be- stowed the name on the plant Rafflesia Ar- noldi, commemorating thus the titles of both discoveries. Several species are now known, differing much in size, but little in essentials. Their entire growth occupies but a few months. They first appear as knob-like P eacsrriieer teed protruding from the bark of various species of cissus. The flowers remain expanded only a few days, then becoming a disgusting mass of putri- tion. As in the similar case of one well- known carrion flower, the insects, attracted by odor, also assist in the abet ‘These ites flower at a different time from the host plants, thus making the! own blossoms more prominent. They have been cultivated in various botanic gard- ens, especially in the east. This plant is among the giant flowers ranking in size with the great water Hly of the Amazons, and with some of the huge tropical aroids. A peafiower in Trinidad is feet in length, no corner unfinished for the reason that it is minute. —_——_+-e+______ RUSSLA’S STRATEGIC CANAL, ‘fhe Great Waterway to Connect the fleets of war vessels. The most re ducte Ft emai foe chomasting: rea naan Wi of a and a seas. The canal the is for Set te AS ae ted tk weg 23 at the Riga, the canal follows the course of the river Duna as far as Dunaburg, and from there an excavation is to carry it from Lepel to the Beresina, along this wa- tercourse to the Dneiper and then down this river to the Baltic sea—over a total length of 1,080 miles. By using the rivers, the artificial construction has been reduced to some 125 miles. At the ends of this canal are the cities of Riga on the north and Cherson on the scuth. The latter is to become a great naval arsenal. Active ope- rations along the route were to be begun during the last week of June, and it is ex- Pected the canal will be completed and open to traffic in four years, at an expense of $97,000,000. The canal is to have a depth throughout its whole extent sufficient to take the largest battleships, and the con- struction will be of such a character that a speed of six knots an hour can be obtained without eroding the banks by the wash of the steamers. It is estimated that a vessel can pass through the canal in less than a week, and this time may even be decrease’ as a much higher speed can be maintained in that part of the canal which follows the natural watercourses. Along its entire length the canal will be lighted by electric lamps so as to permit of trav: ! by day or night. Strategically this canal will be of the greatest importance to Russia, as it will enable the combined Black sea fleet, which now has no outlet, as it is forbidden to pass through the Dardanelles, to be united with the fleets of the Baltic sea without passing through foreign territory. Russia has now ten armored and nine unarmored ships in her Black sea fleet, which in war time could reinforce the ships in the Baltic sea; so that in less than seven days her entire fleet could be concentrated in either sea without being exposed at any time to the warships of the enemy. The commencement of this great stra- tegic canal again brings to notice the neces- sity for the Nicaragua canal. The recent feat of the Oregon in making the long trip from San Francisco to Key West ts re- markable, and it is a powerfui object les- sen and brief for the construction of a great interoceanic canal under the control of the United States of America, which would bring our Atlantic and Pacific coasts within about one-third of the distance each of the other that they are now. Admiral Walker promise: the report of the Nica- ragua canal commission in the near future. His statemeat that the project is feasible and that the cost will be about $125,0),000 will help prepare the public mind for the report, which will find American citizens more interested in an isthmian canal than ever before. ——__- «e- WARNING TO PRINCE H!NNERY. Dooley Says That Dewey Will Brook No Interference. From the Chicago Juurnal. “If I was Prince Hinnery of Garmany,” said Mr. Dooley, “d'ye know what I'd do? I'd go away somewhere an’ play peeknuckle fr th’ beers. Prince Hinnery’s in @ place where he's lible to be rolled. “Ye see, Hinnisy, this Prince Hinnery is a brother iv th’ Impror tv Garmany. That's why he’s a prince. If he was @ brother iv me frind Schwartameister down th’ street he'd be tindin’ bar on th’ night watch. Whin a Garman gits along in th’ wurruld he has all his fam’ly wurrukin’ fr him. That’s where they’re diff’rint fr’m our own people. We're too proud to wurruk fr wan iv our own fam'ly. We feel above thim. So, whin Willum got to be Impror iy Gar- many he give his brother a good job. ‘Hin- nery,’ he says, ‘ye’re gettin’ to be a big. sthrong fellow,’ he says, ‘an’ ye haven't done annything but set around,’ he says, ‘gettin’ up bowlin’ turnymints an’ practisin’ f'r the mannerchore,’ he says. ‘’Tis time ye wint out,’ he says, ‘an’ showed what they was in ye,’ he says. ‘Go over,’ he says, ‘an’ kill a Chinnyman,’ he says. ‘All r-right, Bill,’ says Hinnery, ‘all r-right, yer majesty, Le says. An’ he wint over in a boat an’ pulled down laundhry signs an’ bruk windows an’ whin th’ Chinnymen come r-runain’ upstairs wr-ringin’ th’ soap- suds out iv their hands, he took thim be th’ pigtails an’ beat th’ gr-round with thim. “Whin a Garman is at peace with the wurruld an’ rayspicts his neighbors an’ is happy to set out in fr-ront iv his place r-readin’ his Fried Press an’ passin’ th time iv day with his customers, he’s a gintleman itn’ usu'lly votes r-right. But, lave a Garmark win wan fight, an’ both sides iv th’ sthreet wont hold him f’r pride. ‘T'was so with Prince Hinnery. Whin he'd licked th’ Chinnymen he wint walkin’ up an’ down th’ front iv th’ contynint iv Asia with his thumbs stuck in his vest, eockin’ his hat at all th’ wurruld an’ mintionin’ what he done to ivrybody that passed that way. ‘Th’ way I threated thim haythin Was a sight yet,’ says he. ‘Aber,’ he says, ‘Tl do annywan that falls in me way,’ he says. ‘Bedad, I will.” he says. “He was lookin’ f’r fight whin he heerd that George Dooley an’ Packy Mountjoy was mixin’ up, an’ away he wint to take a hand in it. Cousin Geerge was just through with th’ Spanyard an’ was seitin’ on top iv wan iv his boats playin’ on the cornet f'r to pass away th’ tirie, whin along come Prince Hinnery. “ell, me Garman frind, what can I do f'r ?" says George. ‘I've come up,’ says Priace Hi nery, ‘f’r to interfere in this fight,’ he say ‘I don’t like th’ way ye have rolled me frind, Packy Mountjoy,’ he savs. ‘He's a towny iv mine, an’ I may have a fuss with ye whin I hear frm me hrother, already,” says he. ‘All r-right,’ says George. ‘All r-right, me buck,’ says he. ‘All r-right,’ he says, ‘I'll wait f'r ye,’ he says, ‘to hear fr’'m home,’ he says, “but,” he sa: ‘in th’ meantime,’ he says, ‘if ye get between me an’ Packy,’ he says, ‘whin Packy comes out frm th’ manhole,’ he says, ‘I'll have to push ye ar-round,’ he says. ‘I'll take no advan- iv ye, he says, ‘but th’ postal facili- ties are poor,’ he says, ‘an’ if ye was in th’ way I might take a kick at ye whether re'd got a letter fr’m home or not,’ he says. ‘An Irish fight,’ he says, ‘is no proper place f'r a Garman boy,’ he says. An’ he wint on playin’ ‘O’Donnell Aboo’ on th’ cornet. “What happened to Schwartzmeister’s brother Hans ‘ll happen to Prince Hinnery if he don’t look out f’r himself. Ye know Looey—a big chunk iv a r-round-headed, good-natured lad, with no more har-rm in him thin a fishball—a thurough man in his thrade, too—cud carry half a dozen steins on each ar-rm over a steeplechase coorse Without spillin’ a dhrop. Well, wan night Looey had been loadin’ himsilf up with kimmel an’ curse¢ wather, an’ he wint out with th’ two Regan boys that was ciliy- bratin’ their havin’ carri’d th’ prim’ries Willum J. O’Brien be rollin’ beer down into th’ Chinese laundhries. Weill, he had the’ divvil’s own time, though he didn’t know what ’twas all about, him thinkin’ it was seryous, an’ th’ Regans on'y doin’ it be way iv a joke. An’ iy'ry time they rolled in a kag th’ Chinnymen r-run out in their ondacint clothes, an’ y an’ th’ Regan boys thrun bricks at thim, an’, oh, ‘twas gloryous spoort f'r th’ Regans an’ mighty inthrestin’ to Schwartzmeister, him thinkin’ ‘twas seryous, “Afther a while th’ Regan boys see a man goin’ up th’ sthreet that’d wanst empired a ball game again thim, an’ they put out fr him, But Looey bein’ a Garman an’ not knowin’ how to l’ave off, wint on rollin’ beer Down be th’ bri gerty, boots on his bench. dusthrees man an’ needed a r-rest an’ he dhropped his hammer an’ come boundin’ man, an’ not seein’ t ’ pint iv th’ joke that th’ kag was rolled - . Haggerty with th’ ol’ man, an’ nex’ day. ‘Ogoost, must keep ye'er boy he says. ‘If he goes on into a fight,’ he says. bic hope,” Mr. Dool a NY IN THE SUEZ CANAL nme How the Ships Are Sent Through That Great Waterway. ee A SIMPLE SYSTEM OF SIGNALING Can Now Be Used by Night as Well as by Day. En aE PE SOME FACTS AND = FIGURES From the New York Tribune. Among the great canals of the world ths one through the Isthmus of Suez stands ab- solutely alone as the example of « certain type of construction. While it is a mag- nicent piece of engineering work, it seems almost an error to call it a canal, since it has no locks, gates, reservoirs or pumping engines—in short, it has aothing in common with other canals oxcept that it affords a short cut for vessels passing from one body of water to another. It js an artificial strait connecting the Mediterranean and Red seas, and because (hese two seas are on nearly the same level the particular kind of construction of the Suez canal be- came possible. The entire length of the canal is eighty- eight geographical, or about one hundred statute miles. Of these eighty-eight geo- graphical miles, sixty-six are actual canal, having been formed by cuttings: fourteen miles consist of dredging through the var- fous lakes which lay in the path of the work, and eight miles required no labor at all, since the natural depth was equal to that of the canal. This depth was a twenty-six feet, but the canal was widened and deepened about ten years ago, so that now vessels of twenty-six feet draug' a pass through it easily, with som iz to spare. The surface width is 325 feet for most of the way, but in the deeper cuttings this width decreases to 196 feet. The lakes which the canal traverses—Lake Menza- leh, next to the Mediterranean; Lake Tim- sah, about half-way across, and the Great Bitter lakes, near the Red sea—were merely dry depressions before the cutting of the canal, but the inflow of water at once con- verted them into large inland lakes. Along the Canal. The ground in the isthmus along the canal is generally very low, and the only Tock encountered was soft gypsum. in the lakes a channel of sufficient depth and breadth to admit traffic has been dredged out, and the surface of the water extends on each side beyond this to the natural edges of the lake. The channel is marked by iron beacons 250 feet apart. At every five or six miles along the canal there is @ siding, or passing place, so that large vessels may moor for the night or stop to allow others to pass. Everything along the entire length of the canal is controlled from the mata of- fice, in a place locally known as Terrepiem, @ part of the old town of Suez. No such name as Terreplein appears on most maps of the canal, but to those who live in Suez the made land, the filled-up marshes and the chains of nds which project into the gulf nearly two miles from the mam part of the city are known not by their official names, as Port Tewfik or Port [b+ rahim, but as Terreplein. A long, narrow embankment connects Terreplein with Suez, and from the train which runs be= tween the two places beautiful views are obtained of the lofty range of Attaka on the right; and on the left, across the sig- nal posts of the canal, ‘the sharp aad jagged ridge ef the Gebel e] Raha. The Signal System. In the large office at Terreplein there is almost perfect silence, though the em- ployes are working steadily, each at his especial task. Sometimes there are as many as forty ships tn the canal at one time, and the slightest mistake in signalling between the stations might lead to seric consequences. All these vessels, whether they are in the narrowest cutting, whether they are moving along at full steam through the twenty-three miles of deep water in the Great Bitter Lakes, or whether they are leaving the canal at Port Said, are under the direction of the man who sits at his desk in the office at Terre- plein. The method of working the canal is in- genious, yet comparatively simple. At one side of the room against the wall is a nar- row shelf, along which runs a groove. At intervals this groove has deep recesses, which in two places are much larger than they are elsewhere. The groove represent® the canal and the recesses the sidings, the two large ones being the Great Bitter Lakes and Lake Timsah. When a vessel has been signalled and is about to enter the canal—at the Suez end, for example— 8 toy boat or model about four inches lor is chosen to represent her. A group of these little models stands ready near the mo@el canal, and each one is furnished with a flag to denote its nationality. The. English flag is naturally the predominating ensign, though all countries are provided for. As the real steamer approaches and her name becomes known it is written on a slip of paper and placed on the toy boat, The number of ships actually in the canal can thus be seen at a glance, and also the exact positions in which they are situated for, as the telegraphic signals give notice of each vessel's progress, ner toy represens tative is moved along, placed in a siding, or shown crossing one of the lakes. Keeping Track of Ships. Signals are sent from this office to the various “gares,” or stations, naming the siding at which each ship must stop and wait to Jet another pass it. The official on duty moves the models according to his dispatches, and when two vessels going in opposite directions are both nearing the same siding he warns their pilots by means of the signal balls and at each station, which he controls from the office, and in- dicates which of the two is to give way to the other. The arrangement, except in the case of occasional accidents, works perfectly. The clerk can tell in a moment the name, na- tionality, tonnage, draught and precise position ‘of every ship in the canal; be knows who her pilot is, how fast she is moving, her breadth of beam and various other details, and he has absolute control of her every movement. Most of the Sues pilots are of Greek origin, though English- men and men of other nationalities are oo- casionally met. The pilot's chief duty is to prescribe the rate of speed, as the officers of @ vessel would have really no difficulty in taking her through the eanal without dance. In the narrow cuts the speed is limited to six miles an hour, but vessels mey much faster in the lake seo- tions. Two pilots are always employed, for one goes off and a comes on at Is- Lake Timsah. mailia, on Canal Tolls. The average time of transit for the 3,408 ships which passed through the canal in the year ending in June, 1807, was 15 hours and 53 minutes. About two-thirds of these ships were English, the remainder being @!- vided among the other European nations, The canal tolls at this time were ¥ francs @ ton for laden passenger or ce vessels and for ships of war; 6 francs 30 contimos