Evening Star Newspaper, July 23, 1898, Page 19

LLAMAS USED FOR CARRYING FREIGHT. MINES OF BOLIVIA The Whole Country is Rich in Silver and Gold. QUARTZ LEDGES OF THE FUTURE Some Investments in Which Ameri- cans are Interested. ANCE FOR POOR MED he Ew nk G. ning Star. Carpenter.) 2, 17, 1898. VIA AND P 3,000,000,000 nere tell me is true, she bids fair to soon come to the fri I went out yes clean-up of a belongs to a number of La Paz. The diggings guillo river, whic two miles from w his river has cut a gi 2d feet deep in the side of che mn in which La Paz is ve the cut a high wall cf to what is known as the ve the It ts in this gravel 1 is found. A score of I rk digging down the aill, is were tends car gravel in wheelbarrows and t into troughs or boxes ch from the viver was On the bottom of the troughs h. Shertly S turned pa of gravel water little @ earth wita great regu- of gravel of Now and the These m into by two hundred the spot upo! : here was found, in th enth century, a mass of gold which for $11,260. It was sent to the museum . Where it is said one of the keep- dummy nugget made to imita ven stole the original and melte sold it. While we were at the t eton of an Indian was dug up. 1 probably been mining here genera- ns ago and the earth had caved in and buried him The Bolivian Gold Fields. I went out to this mine with Mr. H. H. not in Strater of Philadelphia and Prof. A. A. Hard of Denver. Prof. Hard is a well- known mining engineer, and he has been by Mr. Strater in connection Philadelphia capitalists, who u placer claim on the thirty miles from La he great Illimant d the property mises to be one of s of the worid. The for its ¢ ordered from § large about piece -it must we go t me is a great r of wit tain aining some of the I globe. The formation is a eu: It has many alternate layers and fe of grave: that the clay, and it seems to me country between here and a is a sedimentary deposit n.was during the ages under the sea with only the peaks of the mountains show ing it. Wherever prospecting has been done in this deposit very coarse gold has been found. The gold everywhere runs in little nuggets like that you saw, and there ts Httle of what we call gold dust. These nuggets are very scattered. Much panning results in nothing, but al- t every yard seems to contain some I know of one instance where 400 yards of gravel run through a sluice box 433 ounces ef gold, worth be- en and eight thousand dollars. the gravel will onty pay when with machinery and on a large In all the gravel which I near La Paz to far up Mt. lilimani 1 found some gold. I saw numer- ous quartz ledges on the Sorati mountains hen I crossed them the other day, and I bt but that there will be’ exten- ines in Bolivia in the futur: x ot bringing in machin- y and the difficulties of development have » great that the people here have not prospected for quartz ledges. In fact, there has been little systematic prospecting in Bot The country has not been scratch- d, and the examinations made have been She | 1 / wil be put in the river and will excavate | y | of the Bolivian gold streams. of the hit and miss order. The gold that could be gotten out without the aid of machinery has been pretty well worked ‘by the Indians and Spaniards. The fact that no fine gold is found I consider an evidence that there must be somewhere very rich quartz ledges.” The Tipuani Gold Region. There are a number of Americans here who are about to start to the Tipuani (Tip-oo-wah-ne) gold fields. A Mr. Yost and his wife from Denver recently ar- ived, and two young Ohio men, Messrs. Scott and Rathbun of Lima, who represent the Deshlers and other capitalists of Co- lumbus, are now there prospecting. The most important undertaking in this coun- j try is that of a Denver syndicate in the charge of . and C. T. Wilson of Den- | ver, from whom I get the following infor- ation: The syndicate has #concession of n miles along the bed of the Tipuani and it has had a powerful dredge ected with which it can dredge the r bed to a depth of forty feet and to rock. ‘Th ige ade at Den and was tested constructed that it could be in pieces, aud ow being taken gold region ks of mul lians. The nut no sec- » pounds, is not heavier than The cost of getting Denver to the mine will ooo. It took more than rage pi pounds, from e than $1 | six months to get it here, and its journey jon to the mine is attended with all sorts | of dangers. has to go over high moun- » carried along the edges E me places Hamas Will it and at others men will have do the work. This machine has a ca- of 200 yards of gravel a day. It pits to bed rock, the gravel coming up be- washed upon the dredge. The bed rock will be swept and scraped by men in diving suits, and the prospects are that a Yast amount of gold will be secured. The Tipuant river is one of the most famous It was work- and the Span- ed in the days of the rds have had large amounts from it. he Tipuani ig a rushing stream 300 feet fe, lying on the eastern side of Cordil- about two eks’ travel from La Paz. The river flows into the Maperi and thence into the Beni, in which its waters find their way to the Amazon. In the Bolivian Gold Miners. rainy season ft fs a rushing torrent and the | Indians cannot work in it. It is so deep | that with their crude methods of panning | with w n bowls they have not been able to get to the be | of the cer | river, although rock they er of the sh along the nich 1 | edges of the stream every year with profit pay an | They stand in the water up to their waist 2 gid. at | and scrape the gravel her with their red il they have made a little pile n dive down and gather a panful, ften gettin ful of gra get of the or 50 cents out of a pan- st the other day a nug- f a pear, weighing two was taken out. There 1 0 worked the bed of | the river to a slight extent years ago. He a bucket brigade of Indians, who, | equipped with rude cowskin buckets and | standing on notched poles that served as ladders, passed the gravel and water from | one to the other until they reached the j top. It took two years of such work to get to bed rock, and it is said that the man took out during four years $140,000 in gold. Another story, which is questioned, 1s that he took out 900 pounds of gold in a year, and another is that he pan: 463 pounds in five hours. The pit where this Spaniard worked was about seven miles above the claims owned by the Den- ver men. It was, it 1s sald, only twenty feet square. Gold is also found upon the Yant river, which is not far from the Tipu- ant and in southern Bolivia. Some Peruvian Gold Regions. The Peruvian gold field that Is now at- cting the most attention is the Cara- baya district. This is rot a great distance from Cuzes, and can be reached by travel on mules and on foot from the branch of the Arequipa Puno railroad, which is extended toward that city. You | leave the railroad for the Carabaya on a mule and go two day down hill, then two ys up hill and during the last day you go down again for a distance of about 12,009 feet. This last journey is made on fect, and it takes about eight hours. You then find yourself in a region that cov- ered with trees and one where the vegeta- | tien almost tropical. A river runs | through it, and in this the Ind have we shing gold for centuries. an e In- jans are the descendants, it is supposed, of the Incas. The ‘e semi-civilized, and can be gotten to work for you for 20 cents a day, Up until recently all of the gold from this part of Peru was from placer washings. The chief work today is in the mines of Santo Domingo. Out of this 000 ounces of gold were taken in and it was later on sold to ay American syndicate for $285,000. Wheth- er the mine is only a pocket or not is not yet known. The ore, fam told, runs ver: bockety, though some of the quartz h: lun as high as $130,000 to the ton. The ore that is now being worked turns out about & ") to the ton. This is being put through ten-stamp mill. This mine was bought for the syndicate by a California man nam- ed Hardison, who came to South America to invesiigate the rubber business and got into mining. He managed the property for a while, but not successfully. He bought a lot of expensive machinery without consid- ering how he could get it to the mine. It was in too heavy pieces to be carried there, and some of it is now lying along the road. The syndicate has now a new management, with Mr. V. K. Speare, a well-known min- ing man of Colorado, as its Peruvian head. Tunderstand that the prospects of the mine are good, although as yet no large amounts of gold have been taken out. The Best Gold of the World. Just above Lake Titteaca, near the Bo- livian boundary at Poto, Peru, there are gold mines which are doing well. My in- formation concerning this region is from Mr. Charles W. Bellows, an American pros- pector who is now in the employ of the Santo Domiago mine. Mr. Bellows has re- 5 sel prospected in this part of Peru. id he: “There are at Poto placer diggings 16,700 feet up in the Andes, which are now turn- ing out $50,000 worth of gold every three months. The gold is 937 fine, some of the purest gold of the world. They are work- ing the mine with one hydraulic, but they could, I think, use thirty with profit. “There are other valuable gold mine: continfed Mr. Bellows, “just across the line in Bolivia. At Suchez, just east of Poto, and at the same altitude, there are placers which at times pay $20,000 a month and produce gold that is 963 fine, supposed to be the finest gold of the world. These mines were worked for 150 years by the Span- jards, but they are now in the hands of Messrs. Penie and Gibson, two young En- glishmen wao are developing it. They have a river with 130-foot fall, which gives them force for their hydraulic. In their sluice bexes are pavements of cobble stones, in which the gold falls, and they collect the fine gold with quicksilver. They have got- ten some nuggets weighing as much as three ounces. Above Poto there is another good mine. It is known us the Potorosa. It is situated on the side of a mountain 22,000 feet high. It is now in litigation, but the people who have possession have been making a good thing out of it, and they ship a great deal of gold to Europe 19 be smelted. Not a Poor Man’s Country. I fear that some of the statements in this letter may lead Americans without capital to come to South America to prospect. I should most earnestly advise such to stay at home. This is not a poor man’s coun- try in any sense of the word. There is no chance at all for the man without capital, and there is no chance for the man out of money to make money by his muscle in competition with these Indians, who live like dogs and will work for about twenty cents of our money per day. Many of them The Cold Weather Mask. are good mechanics, and as to bookkeepers and clerks the markets are overstocked. It takes a large amount of money to travel here, and without proper supplies the hard- ships are inconceivable. I met last week two Americans who had been prospecting in the Beni region of Bolivia and in the Carabaya district of Peru. They were the hardest-looking Yankees I have seen and their story was harder than their looks. They had attempted to live off the countr; and had had little more than cornmeal mush for three months. Some of the time they were almost starving, notwithstanding the fact that they had plenty of money with them. For weeks they had to walk through the rain and sleep at night with- out a fire in rude Indian huts, where at times they were only admitted because they forced their way in. There is lutely no chance for a man to ma expenses as he goes along, and as for tr ing to wash enough gold out of the streams to support him, this is an impossibility, for the surface washings and, in fact, all gold- bearing gravels that could be easily gotten at have been worked over and over by the Indians, first £ on when they w the days of the Incas, later under their Spanish taskmasters, and since then from year to ar for themsely: The gold regions on the eastern sides of the Andes are in many cases malarious, and those about here are so high that many cannot stand the rare- fied alr and have soroche. No American can work here as he can at hom: nd most of those who att on give it up. As to the rou avel here and in the Rockies th pass the mounta 10 comparison, T! ndes are over the ridg n through v and passes of 16, 1) fect com- cn. Mr.Bellow he crossed the moun- tains in one place at 19,000 feet, and when he got to the top the other side ed straight down, and his trip fr n was like climbing down the side of w Some of the roads over the me tains are by a series of s and mules are trained to climb and jump up from step to step. In some places the mules will sit down upon their hind legs and slide down the mountains, and you are often in such a situation that if you or your mule makes a misstep you are lost. Troubles of the Miner. Let us look at what it will cost the or- linary American to come here to mine, We will suppose that his purse fs lean and travels in the cheapest way. If by steerage from New York to it will cost him $30, and he will more for his steerage passage to Mollendo. It will cost him $22 for actual expenses from Mollendo to La Paz, and so far nothing whatever has been allowed for extras. At La Paz he must outfit, and here everything is high. A sack of flour will cost him $11. He will find no baking powder and no bacon, and he will have to stock up with such canned goods as he can find at the highest prices. The chances are that he will decide to live off the country, and that kis stomach will be turn- ed upside down as soon as he gets outside of the settled regicrs. What he will have to eat if he can buy it will be cholona. This is a sheep, split and dried whole in the sun. He packs this on his mule or burrow, and it forms his staple food. It is exposed to the rain and then becomes soft. A terrible stench rises from it, and it looks like putrid meat, as it really is. Another food that ts a staple is chuno, «r frozen potatoes dried. These are much liked by the Indians, but are not relished by for- elgners. Outside of these two articles you can buy nothing on the road. At the Indian villages you may sometimes be able to get vegetables, but no meats. Game {s very scarce, and there fs little wood for cooking except In the regions on the eastern slopes of the mountains. There {s absolutely no fuel for warmth in what are some of the coldest of climates. If you carry an oll stove you will have to pack along kerosene for it, and this will cost you for the Peru- vian variety more than $1 per gallon. Many people cannot realize that it is cold in South America. I am wearing two suits of under- clothing at this moment, and my feet are in @ fur foot-warmer like that we some- times use when out sleighing. I am only a little over 12,000 feet above ‘the sea, in a hotel built of sun-dried bricks. Many of the mining regions are 14,000 and more feet above the sea; there are no houses what- ever, and at certain seasons the winds of the Andes are damp, cold and bonebreaking. The wind and sun tan you, and as a result of my rides in the highlands my face neck are now the color of a bofied lobster, } while my rosy nose is peeling off in scales.+ I now wear the knit mask which the natives wear on cold journeys. It is of brown yarn and so made that it covers the whole head, leaving holes for the eyes, nose and mouth. It serves its purpose, but it makes one look a very Mephistopheles. The rainy season is a serious time for the American prospector. The grass on these high pampas fs of a soft, spongy nature. It holds the water, so that going over it is like walking on wet sponges, and no boots can keep your feet drys Rubber cracks and peels when exposed to it. In the gold re- gions of the Beni river, where it is warmer, the rains are heavier, and the vegetation is so dense that at times you have to cut your way through with machetes. Some- times it is impossible to make more than two or three miles a day, and in some re- gions you find savage Indians who think you are trespassing upon their territory and treat you accordingly. Most of the above evils, however, can be materially modified if not removed ff one has plenty of money, and for such the opportunities are, I believe, worthy of serious investi- gation. FRANK G. CARPENTER. es A Sacred Concert. From the New York Weekly. Mrs. Billson (Sunday evening) — “Can’t you go to prayer meeting with me to- night?” Mr. Billson— “Impossible, my dear. 1 promised Jimson that I would go with him to a sacred concert.’ “Well, I'll go there with you.” “Um—I believe ladies-are not admitted.” — ee Mr. Spouter: ‘An heirloom, Johnnie, is scmething that’s handed down from father to son,” That's a funny Panama need $35 Little Johnnik “Huh! name for pants,”"--Judga. THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JULY 23, 1898-24 PAGES, ART AND ARTISTS. ato Mr. U. 8. J. Dunbar hd now in his studio the bronze cast of hig. striking bust of Prof. Alexander Graham Bell, and is giving it the finishing touthes that it still requires after leaving the foundry. Some subjects by reason of their, lightness and delicacy seem ill-suited for reproduction in bronze, but the rugged character of this bust makes it well adapted ta it, and the sharp- ly defined lines of the metal casting bring out the best points In this work. Mr. Dun- bar has just cast in plaster a life-sized figure that he has ‘made of Al. Moran, the bicycle racer, showing the speedy cyclist in his riding costume bending over his ma- chine as he appears When racing. The arms and the legs from a point half way above the knee are bare, and this has af- forded an excellent opportunity to display the modeling of the well-developed mus- cles. Mr. Moran is finely built, with small clean-cut ankles, and the iegs in action have proved an interesting study for the seulptor. Mr. Dunbar expects to be in the city during the greatest part of the sum- mer. * x * For some time past there haye been ru- mors curreng in the studios about the re- turn of Miss Mathilde Mueden, who has been studying in Paris for three years, and there were many who expected to see her in Washington before this. Her original plans, however, have been changed and she does not now expect ta start for home before autumn. The portrait which she exhibited in the Salon won for her some- thing more substantial than mere compli- ments, and she has a commission for a full- length portrait, which she must finish be- fore leaving Paris. She intends to make it one of her most important canvases, and will probably give up a_ good share of her summer to this task, When this portrait is completed she intends to make a tour through France, Germany, etc., before sail- ing for America, * The work of relaying the hard wood floors In the Corcoran Art Gallery has been pro- gressing at a snail's pace, and at present 1s almost at a standstill on account of the contractors’ failure to supply themselves with sufficient material to keep the work- men busy. The task is much greater than might at first be imagined, as it necessi- tates the removal and replacing of all the steam radiators, and will entail an im- mense amount of cleaning and renovating when the work is over. Even if the work on the floors is pushed rapidly from this time forth it is estimated that it will take about six weeks to complete it, and the cleaning and refitting that must follow will take several weeks at the very least. It is therefore to be hoped that the progress of the work will not be arrested for many a longer, as much further delay may render it difficult to open the gallery at the usual time in the fall. * es Mr. Spencer Nichols leaves the city to- day for St. Louis to join the United States engineer corps in camf there. He goes in the capacity of an artist, and his regular work will be of a kind that is not uncon- genial to him, and it will afford him at the same time an excelfent chance to gather material that may prove of the greatest value to him later on. He Is not the first Washington artist to’énter Uncle Sam's ervice, Mr. Blag@én Snyder having been with the Arkansas voiunteers since they were first mustered in. Mr. Nichols leaves in his studio many unfinished things, as well as some recently eompleted drawings in black and whité;one of the best of which is the interior ofan artist's atelier with two figures in conversation beside the win- dow. * x Miss Hattie E, Burdette has recently fin- hed a charming series of decorative de- signs drawn for illustration and executed in pen and ink, which is for her a new me- dium. The drawings are made to « pany brief bits of verse and the dec borders play an important part in each. One of the attractive subjects shows a beautiful girl playing on a guitar, but this drawing does not reveal as much of tk rtist's individuality as the graceful figure surrounded by a border of iris blossoms. The light of touch with which this is and the extreme delic and of the whole make the figure seem almost like a newly opened flow In one of the best-drawn designs the status ue maiden who lends beauty the illustration is placed well to the left side, thus allowing room for a large emp- ty panel where “a neat rivulet of text shall meander through a meadow of margin.”’ All of the designs are worked out with the most conscientious skill and are executed in remarkably fine lines, a delicacy that may prove troublesome when the drawings come to be reproduced. * ure painting: has claimed much of 8 Grace Atwater’s time during the past son, and she has several of the tiny por- traits on ivory to do during the summer. She has recently finished a profile view of athaniel Upham, which she painted under great difficulties, being obliged to work from an old silhouette and from the small and unsatisfactorily painted head in a sroup picture. The miniature of her fath- er, which she has started from life, is an unmistakable likeness even in {ts half-fin- ished state. Miss Atwater retains tho Same fondness for outdoor work that she has always had, and the quick sketches that she has made this year show her usual command over the technique of water col- or, She employs pure wash almost ex- clusively, and there is always a noticeably good handling in her skies and in her fol- lage effects. One of the sunniest of her open-air studies is an unpretentious bit of landscape down near the monument, ‘ * * * Mrs. Mindeleff ts another one of the local artists who has been spending a large part of her time upon miniatures, and she has produced some very dainty specimens of portraiture. Ameng her recent miniatures 1s a likeness of Senator Baker’s daughter and one of Miss Marian Cockerill, a charta- ing delineation of a fine blonde type. In striking contrast to this is the character- istic type of South American beauty in Mrs. Mindeleff’s well painted head of Ma- dame Lazo Arriago. The features are ex- cellently modeled, and the black lace man- tila is handled ‘with skill. One of the largest miniatures that the artist has done lately is a double portrait containing the full-length figures of two brothers. Both of the children are dressed in white flannel suits, to which the pale blue tles give an accent of color, and there is a pleasing harmony in the general effect. * * OK Mr. Lewis R. Evans, who has been mak- ing a brief stay fn the city, brought with him several oil portraits of people well known in Washington. The head of Ad- miral Dewey, which will hang in the home of the Army and ‘Navy Club, Is one of the best of these, and ig,extremely good in color. Another portrait which makes a favorable impress{on {s.the half-length view of Justice Field, as itis full of character and expression. Mr. Evans’ portrait of Speaker Reed possesses:-many good points, and the heads of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee and Mr. B. H. Warper: are thoroughly good likenesses. The artist's forte seems to le = ae ability to Sint a characteristic like ess. a6 e 463 tales! Prince Troubetzkoy, who closed his studio here a short time ago and left for his Vir- inia home, will be in Bar Harbor for a e this summer, as the guest of Mr. and rs. Barney of this city. * : * Another Washington portrait painter who expects to spend a portion of the warm Weather at Bar Harbor is Miss Juliet Thompson. She will be the guest of Mrs. Richard Townsend. a Has Its Good Points. “From the Indianapolis Jourual. Weary Watkins: “With all your gab, you got to admit that religion has its good peints.”” . Hungry- Higgins: “Well, that there idea of no work on Sunday is good as fur as it Bees.” : A DAY ON THE RIVER Such a Lot of Fun These Soldiers Did Have. MADE THINGS LIVELY ON THE BOAT Were Doughty Warriors When Armed With Knife and Fork. SWIMMING AND FISHING STEAMBOAT LOAD of soldiers from = Camp Alger went down to Colonial Beach a few days ago. They went just for fun. It doesn’t matter what regi- ment or regiments they belonged to. There was a sizable battalion of them. Probably not more than a third of them had ever _ before sniffed salt water. They enjoyel them- selves and they got their mone worth. The excursion was one detfrious whirl of joy for all hands, from the moment the steamer pulled out of her slip, an hour be- fore government clerks reached their desks, until she nosed into it again iate at night. The soldiers had practically the entire boat to themselyes, but ihere was no disorder to amount to anything. The men took so deep an interest in the uistorical scenes on either side of the river that they gave the steamboat a tremendous lst, now to star- board and now to port, in rushing hither and thither from e rail to the cther to take in the views pointed out to them, but the ballast roustabouls down below got in their work in trimming ship with the bal- last barrels, and the boat was on an even keel most of the time. The few cases of biffing that took place aft on the lower deck were child's play, and the chief dam- age done to the biffers consisted in the ripping of thir collars when they were yanked apart by pea vers of their own outiits 3 who took the down-the-river trip declared when it was over that they had had imore fun than they Great Sport. idering how the co had any right to have ellows down below”—the campaigning idiers down in the Indies, they meant— faring. A number of the soldiers had never be- been aboard any kind of pelled by hand. These were men who had passed their Hives in the land-locked interlor. They regarded the steamer with just a soupcon of suspicion when they first bearded her. a boat not fore Fun on the Boat. “Pretty big skift, ain't she?” said some of them. They examined the machinery criti- cally, and they did not look completely sat- isfied until a headway of ten miles or so was made. Then they concluded, appar- ently, that the boat was built to “go a route,” as horsemen say of racers of great er. endurance, and they looked ea: or three of them became so brave wanted to take a ride on the “pendulam’— their name for it—above the hurricane deck that swings the paddies around, but the steamboat hands vetoed th proposition. A very large number of the so con- cluded that the only comfortable part of a steamboat is ou the top of the padd? boxes, and these had to be snaked off th paddle boxes by non-commissioned offi at the request of the steamboat officials in squads and platoons. There was no ob- jection on the part of the steamboat hands to the soldiers around the w shaft running m width of the lower deck, but the chief engineer didn't espe- clally like it. Half a dozen sold ata time taking circular rides on a wheel shaft can diminish the horse power manufac- tured by steam quite appreciably, but there was scarcely any danger in the game for the soldiers, and the steamboat folks want- ed the boys in blue to get even a litMe mcre than was coming to them. Quite a few of the soldiers actualiy sat down for as much as ten minutes a time during the five-hour trip down to the Beach, and two of them were observed to remain seated for a whole half hour at a stretch. A very great majority of the men kept on Two the go, fore and aft, and abeam and athwart, right along from the start to the finish. When the boat reached the vicin- age of the mined waters, near Fort Wash- Farewell to the Ladies. ington, a sort of hush fell upon them as they leaned over the side, watching the tor- pedo removing operations. But it was not the hush of fear. It was the hush of mem- ory. “They didn’t get any kind of a show for it at all, did they, those fellows on the Maine?” was a question that went up and down the rail. “Just bing! and up they went! Oh, well, they're being squared— they’re getting hunk,” etc. Passing Mt. Vernon. The tolling of the steamer’s bell as the boat passed Mt. Vernon puzzled all of the men, until it was explained to them. Then they made affectionately irreverent re- marks about the father of his country—re- marks such as only Americans are permit- ted by Americans to make. “Understand the old gentleman liked a high ball or so occasionally,” said one. “He wouldn’t have spoken the language of our tribe if he hadn’t,” was the answer. “Must ha’ been kind 0° lonesome for George on that bluff,” said another. “Oh, I don’t know,” was the reply. “He had the fellows from back inland come over in bunches for a game of penny-ante every once in a while. After he’d won all their money and filled "em up, he'd load ’em onto ox-carts and send them back to their plan- tations. George wasn’t always writing farewell addresses and constitutions and declarations of independence, and all that, you know. He enjoyed life, arid he knew when to-knock off for a bat around.” The river resorts on the Maryland side in- poten ig prone na — - at ne the mona 'y groups of organdi iris who cro’ the slopes and piers to watch the boat go y- “Hey, there, you man!” yelled a hundred of the soldiers to the skipper up in the pilot house, “turn this thing aropnd and let us of right here. aus i & enough, Say, don’t you see those girls beckoning to wu! ‘Well, why don’t you stop then? Why, you low-live thing, you! Hey, girls, the man won't let us off! Swim out here and We'll take you along} Goodness gracious me! What larks! We want somebody to play with.” g But the boat whizzed past and left the girls waving their handkerchiefs rather | dismally. Points of Difference. When the boat reached the point where the river began to widen out the men from the Mississippi and Missouri valleys began to make comparisons of the Potomac with the streams they were brought up alongside of. “Yes,” said one of the eastern soldiers, “df the Potomac was yallery in color and full o’ sand-bars and snags, it "ud be just like the Big Muddy or the Mississip,” and then he got chased up forward to the eyes of the boat. “I s'pose this boat could go right on over to Spain?” esked a guileless-looking young fellow of one of the deck hands. “Whut, dis heah boat?” was the reply of the darkey, who happened to have been a deep-water man in his day. “Go ‘way, sojer, yo’ all's on’y foolin’. Dis heah boat ‘ud git all knocked to teenchy kindlin’ wood befo’ she dun got outside de Capes.” “Well, I'll be durned,” said the soldier. When the ateamer pulled up alongside the pier at Colonial Beach, and the gang- plank was placed, the rush of the soldiers for the pier was like a dough-boy charge. The men were bungry. Arrangements j; Me establishments, right,” said he, reflectively, “I’ve stepped on @ contact mine. and it’s taken off my legs, ['l bet two bits," Then he walked #lth difficulty to the beach and let on¢ of his swaddies pull off the two husky sea nettles that had wra: ped themselves around his legs and numbe them. The swimmers’ misadventures wi* crabs were numerous, but they found a use for the crabs that clung to them by picking them off end suddenly placing them on the bare necks of their intimate and un- suspecting friends. The soidie: found a way of be acquainted with the young womr mering Gown at the Beach—all pr introduced by the proprietors of th of course, By were not enough girls to go around, and in the dancing pavilion m of the sol- diers had to double up among themselves for dancing. They got along all right this way after a bit of practice, except that all of the soldiers wanted to be the “man,” and at first made a hash of the business of Deing the “girl.” Fall of History, One of the young officers, who had probe ably read up on the thing before start- ing on the excursion, made a little speech to his companions. “This place around here, boys,” said he, “is just full of history. George Washing- ton was born right over the way, at Wake- field; Monroe, the old boy that got up the Monroe doctrine, first happened right back of here, and the Lees and a whole lot of other warm people who've got their names Planted in the school books mads this neck of the woods their stamping ground from ‘om had been made for feeding them at all of the public houses along the beach front. They knew it. They didn’t know where to go, but they were corralled by guides and distributed in bunches. “Will you fellows take a swim before you eat, or afterwards?” asked one of these guides of his gang of twenty and odd sol- Giers. “If there's any afterwards after we get through eating,” answered the spokesman, “we'll go in swimming; but I don’t figure right now that there's going to be no af- terwards.” Hearty Appetites. To a man with a jaded appetite the sight of these men eating couldn't have been ether than diverting. A batch of iwo doz- en of them walked into a dining room, un- der escort of the proprietor, and when their eyes caught sight of tables loaded down with big platters piled high with fried oy- Sters, fried fish that had only finished kicking half an hour before, broiled spring chickens, crabs, hard and soft, just yanked This is a trance. It ain't right, that’s all. sorts to match, the four men in the van of the party put their hands to their heads as if they w dizzy, reeled, and then turned around to the men following them. “Boys,” they said, "ve been doped. This is a trance. It ain’t right, that all. It’s one of these here merages that we've heard the old-time regulars tell about. Watch the whole lay-out disappear and go up in mist.” They made queer moves of th> magician sort with their hands pointing in the di- rection of the tables, but the tables remain- ed. They had not been doped. It was true. And in another second they were re- ducing the platters. The boss of the house was out in the kitchen superintending the frying of more platters full. The black servants were peering in through tha | cracks of the rear doors, watching the tren in blue eat. “Tt sut'n’ly do cah’y me back to de wah t' see dem po’ stahved chillun eat dey vit- tles,” said an old black mammy, with a red bandanna around her head, in the kitchen. “Um, um um! Lookee yondah at dat re haided boy chew up dem chicken bon Well, fo de lan’ sakes! He dun eat t’ree o* dem chicken, Ah know, An’ co’n! Ef dat boy hain’t dun eat seben years 0’ co’n, Ah’s uh ohdnah’y yalluh niggah!” The old mammy watched the red-haired soldier with a fascinated gaze during the | remainder of the meal, although he didn’t know he was under such delighted observa- tion. In the Water. Soldiers tn the field have often been called upon to swim rivers by regiments right af- ter me and, consequently, soldiers are not supposed to regard and such rules of health as that, for instance, which re- quires folks not to swim for at least an hour after eating. These soldiers didn’t re- gard it, anyhow. They made a break right from the tables to the bath houses, and those of them who succeeded in getting bathing suits were in the water In an in- credibly short sp A good many ng suits, for a bat- large gang of men to rig out on short notice in swimming gear. A the time they first saw the light. More- > In the Water. over, Thackeray, that wrote the book about F ed another book of his right on this stretch of here. Therefore, you want to all f 0’ solemn and historical for a Ittle wh out of respect to the memories of the swe boys in our annais who used to thro’ rocks at jellyfish along hére. What do y say if we give the whole dead and gone lot of them three good ones and a tiger to boot 7’ The young officer had collects4 quite o little crowd by this time, and the soldi responded to his suggestion with an en- thusiasm that made people some distanc away fangy that some unfortunate co! pany butt was being ket. When the steam mcnitory blasts warn assemble aboard for the return boys who had captured fiat boats « ‘way out in the river a-fishing, seen doing some tall work ¢ oars. Two of the boats raced in. They e about a mile off when they started, and it was any- body's rs until the when a ttle wiry fellow row boat buckled down and bro: his tina geod three lengths to the good. When he dropped the oars to make the boat fast h> of reached down in the bottom and pulled up a poor on to a piece of rope. the boat The @ couple of inches in length. “Maybe I can’t catch as many fish as you ¢ said he, address he big sol- dier in the beaten boat at can run faster then you can on land or water.” The big soldier hauled up a big ng of sizable rock The Retarn Trip. y was fu The trip back to the cl cidents of buck and wing performance by all hands of © ballads of river trip si I First Took Nelly Home, mus gan, My Michigan,” “Illino! and so on, As the boat soldier up on the out in a megaph “What's the name o: Too Good to Be True. lot of the men who weren’t at the bath houses in time to capture swimming suits, swooped down upon good-naturedl civilians and got old trousers and outing shirts and rigged out for swimming in this gear. There were some crack swimmers among the soldiers, and many others who couldn't swim a lick. These latter got ducked in deep water, scared out of humor for the time being, and found no way of getting back at their tormentors except by chuck- ing pebbles and stones at the good swim- mers. It was all in good part. About twenty of the soldiers started out from the pler for a long swim. They were closely followed by a pair of little girls who swam like dolphins. “You children better go back,” yelled some of the soldiers to the little ones, after they had swam about a quarter of a mile. “You might get drowned.” The little girls went the whole distanec with them, however, and the soldiers couldn't make enough’ of them when they reached the beach after the long swim. Unmixed Sport. The soldiers captured all of the flat-bot- tomed boats stranded on the beach, and, with the good-natured acquiescence of the owners, floated them, man-handled the non-swimmers and filed them into the oats, and then sculled them out to deep water. Then they threw the timid non- swimmers into the flood and picked them out again, and got themselves punched for it by their irate comrades, whom they would knock out of the boats again. One of the non-swimmers, who kept josely to the beach, was seen to stand up ight and ponder. ‘I’m due to get a pension out of this, all i hers?” The Potto-mac!” was the dee ing chorus from all over the beat. “What's the name of a town in e that's all right, all right? shi “Weill, the sold re, then,” sang backs Handless Painters, From Tit-Bits. A Belgian artist, one of Watteau’s st dents—Caesar Ducornet—was handles, having been born without arms, and with only rudimentary legs, and yet he carried off all the prizes at Lille, won golden medals in Paris and had pictures in the Louvre. He used to hold the palette with one foot stump and use the brush with the other, A slender scaffold was built in front of bis easel, and on this he writhed and twisted, climbed and crouched, leay- ing traces of color wherever he passed, traversing the canvas with the swiftness of a fly upon the wall. Antwerp had an artist who copied the masterpieces of Rubens, and yet had no hands. All his werk was done with his toes, and so well did he paint that his pictures fetched a higher price for their artistic merit than these of any other artist in the city, The handless painter, Mr. Bartram Hiles, at the age of sixteen had exhibited his first picture at the Bristol Academy, and suc- ceeded in winning the national scholarship of the value of £100 for two years. He both paints and models with his mouth Herr Adam Stepen of New York is other armless artist who guides the brush- e3 with his toes. The young Swiss artist, Aimee Rapin, no arms, but manipu- lates her crayon in a wonderful manner with her rigat foot. A German lady, krown as the “foot artist” (because arm- less and painting with her feet), four years ago married a professional singer. The wedding ring was placed on her fourth toe, and she signed the register with her foot. tee A philosopher is a man who, having dis- covered that 2+2=4, makes a noise about it. —Life. (Copyright, 1898, Life Publishing Company.)