Evening Star Newspaper, July 30, 1898, Page 15

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1898-24 PAGES, A SYMPHONY IN BLACK Dovrttehs, tee, by 8. weraitwen IN BLACK AND RED Design for a Costume for Early Autumn Wear. > {ACE WILL BE IN GENERAL USE Dress Materials That Are Sure of a Hearty Welcome. ——__+ FAVORITE BODICE FORM ———— Bpecial Correspondence of The Evening Star. BRUSSELS, July 1898. The combination of black and red is so natural that fashion ever resorts to it when her great stock of other color har- monies is exhausted. Somber black bright- ered by ced is alweys pleasing to the eye, and becoming alike to blond and brunette. @rd will be the more acceptable in the autumn, since the summer has been over- of a variety of shades of bine, hion is slowly of. Our shows this which €iegant toilet for all occasion: combination in a most novel form. Scarlet red silk forms the foundation of tiring the skirt and bodice. The former shows a Variation of the inevitable serpentine fiounce. The upper part is covered with a large meshed silk net, having large polka dots of chenille. The flounce is veiled with @ squa hed black net, embroidered tn with black chenille. The jun flounce to the skirt is made with a narrow bias fold of black satin. The blouse bodice closes in the shoulder and under arm seams, and has a nointed yoke of squire meshed chenille embroid- ered tulle, edged with a small black satin | fold. The upper part of the sleeve shows @ similar pointed insertion of the square reeshed tulle, while the arm, as well as the lowe pert of the pouch of the boc Me dotted tulle. nelt’ encircle: on the left side s appended 1 Sash of scarlet. The hich likewise of folded scarlet si!k, and of searle wrist of the sleeve. silk finish tho A Charming Effect. A very charming effect is produced by interlining the yoke and bodice and sleeve, which are all covered with the Is weshed chenille dotted tulle, with a black silk t embroidered le, leaving the at interlinin ypearance of 2 interlined parts h and collar sta; d make a pleasing color grac All indicaticr square meshed This | ot Jace in the fall. Not only will whole toilets be made up of lace and lace net, applique embroidered and passemen- Be ture in bands, yokes, vests and tiny jacket effects will be in vogue, and such trimmirgs aiways mean rich dress materials, as satin, velvet and plain smooth woolen: terie deccrate many of the new from fur cape, where the applique figures, to tiny worn with low-cut gowns. ure the appliques are of ul pattern: but when black pattern is always floral. fall garment veivet m gu the scroll or flo lace is used ti Many silk gowns and jackets are trimmed with a loose front of white net or motsseline, appliqued with tapering vines or spr: Dres: black Chantilly lace. Materi Among the favored dress materia cloth foules. Dama with two-toned effects, crewels, mirzahs and Esquimaux are used for jackets an dcloaks. Traverse designs are noticeable among the woolens and have the advantage of needing little trimming, an advantage to be considered for the ordinary street or traveling dress. One pretty effect is seen in a design that the appearance of black braid embroid- on a colored ground. Black and colored checks are frequently executed in this way. For elegant wear taffeta applications on in duchesse or cloth edged with plain chenille or rarrow ribbon is noticeable. Lilac trimmings of this kind on ‘blue is a novelty. While the leading ateliers have exhibited the “Jong” skirt and the sensible public has broken into moody auguries of mi- crobes, &c., and madame, true to her maxim “Better dead than unfashionable,” was preparing to don the inevitable train, | fickle fashion suddenly declares the street train a chimera, and her faithful followers are relieved. Skirts wil continue to be fiworn long, tight over the hips and expand- | ing below, but the train will be forced back | to its proper domain—the carpeted floors of the salon and the smooth parquet of the ball room. The Favorite Bodice. The blouse form is still the favorite bodice and bids fair to remain so. Costumers have instigated a movement to introduce the | tight-fitting form, but have been unsuccess- ful, as the loose, graceful lines of the blouse have endeared themselves too much to the | public. The bolero jacket, simulated by | trimmings or independent, again makes its appearance and is always effective. The omnipresent serpentine flounce also decorates the fall cape,which will be largely worn and comes in various forms and ma- terials. It is seen in cloths, silks, velyets or laces and is always elaborate and extrava- gantly lined. A handsome model of gray cloth has a serpentine flounce with an inser- tion of ‘kK gray shirred velvet. The flar- ing collar is also faced with shirred gray velvet, and the lining consists of white and old rose brocade. Hirscu & Co., Brussels. Amsterdam, Cologne, Dresden, and Hamburg. How to Dress the Neck. From the Philad ja Record. How co becomingly and at the same time sui 8 th is worn is often a question. A straight tucked band is too plain, and ruffles are not Iways becoming. ‘The stocks of white 2 have partly solved this problem, and notion of a stock to match the t satisfactory. A fashionable showed me the other day now tock is anged. The bodice med front is buttoned down the high collar with inner ffened m fastened to ‘is is tucked or shirred, the s going to form the width of The ends at the back are 1 brought around and tie in a in front. The ends are neither and the ends are pointed and mple way of dress- stock en suite can be white lawn rt waists it aper to wear collars k when a lawn frock | Oddity in Jewelry. From the St. Louis Republic. One of the most novel pieces of jewelry the puzzle-lock bracelet, the chain of which is secured by a lock formed of three revolving pieces engraved with figures or letters. Only by arranging these in some particular combination forming a private code can the‘lock be opened, and as the fig- ures may make an immense number of com- pinations the “open sesame” is well-nigh impossible of attainment’ except by the owner. The idea of this device is that the bracelet car be taken off and used to chain a bicycle to the railings while the rider is in a house or store, as a fastening to a traveling bag and for’ many other purposes of the sort. Most people would be apt to suffer qualms of anxiety in leaving it as a lock to a bi- cycle but for the maker's assurance that these bracelets, which are made in a va- riety of designs, are so strong as to render the length of time required for filing them through a risk which the bicycle thief would not venture to incur, while {t is im- possible to break the lock or open it in any other way than by the mysterious code. . Life Putlishing Company.) “Mary, is that young man in the parlor?” “I think he is, sir. Miss Jonnie has hung something over the keyhole.” A Glimpse of Some Homes Notable HISTORIC HOUSES in the City’s Record WHEN WASHINGTON WAS A VILLAGE Famous Men and Women Whose Careers Have Local Significance. THE PAST AND PRESENT ee After the Powtovwmack and Anacostia tribes of Indians, the first settlers on the site of the city of Washington were a com- Pany of Scotch and Irish, who emigrated to the banks of the Pewtowmack and call- ed the place New Scotland. As early as 1663 one of these settle Francis Pope, was granted land which included Capitol Hill. He must have foreseen that this would some time be the site of a city, and an important one, for he named the settle- ment Rome, the hill Capitoline Hill, Goose Old Van Ness Mansion. Creek, which ran thrcugh, the Tiber,~a name which it still bears, and of course he was the Pope of this Rome. It was with the descendants of these peo- ple that negotiations were made for the land on which Washington was built. It was from these hurable river farms in this quiet valley that there was to arise in di- rect succession, uninterrupted by human occupancy, untrampled by the heel of bus- iness activity, as it were, a beautiful city. a city whose buildings stand amidst acres of green grass and brilliant flowers, whose towers rise above trees contributed by every country and climate. These build- ings are peopled by scholars and furnished with the results of generations of labor, study and research. This is the mail, stretching in continuous and _ perennial green between the Witte House and Cap- itol, and in which the Smithsonian Insti- tution, National Museum, Army Medical Museum, bureau of engraving and printing, Department of Agriculture and Washing- ton monu t form a classic neighbor- hood. Th a great, green resting pla for Washington eyes, and its broad area is traversed every day by strangers’ feet. It was the gift of nature to art, of the past to the future, of primitiveness to culture, when this Arcadia became a part of Wash- ington. ‘The city was planned and thought out with great care and painstaking by Gen- eral Washington. “It was situated on the Great Post road, exactly equidistant from the northern and southern extremities of the Union, and nearly so from the Atlantic to the Ohio.” “The ground was surveyed in the spring of 1791, by General Washing- ton, Major Eliicott and Major Pierre Chas. Enfant on horseback.” Major L’Enfant is regarded as the architect of the city. He was a Frenck officer in the American revolution. He was the first civil engineer of any marked talent in the country, and General Washington considered him a val- uable man in the laying out of the capi- tal. But he had a strong will which some- times clashed with those of his superiors, and it was Major Ellicott, who finished the plan which had been so ably begun and carried forward by Major L'Enfant, and this plan was authorized and accepted. Major L’Enfant’s last work was Fort Washington, about ten miles below the city, which was built as a fortification against the British in 1812. He was a bachelor, and died at the Digges farm near this city in the spring of 1825. His grave is in the garden of th? farm and unmarked by any stone. One of the Land Owners. Of all the sturdy settlers with whom Gen. Washington had to deal he found the Scotchman, David Burns, the most ob- durate. He had to be approached often, and at last with great decision before he cculd be persuaded to part with his beloved lands which had come down to him through a long Scotch ancestry. At last, with the assurarce from Gen. Washington that the streets should so run as not to disturb his cottage home, he yielded, and this great farm became a part of the national capital. It was situated on the north side of the river, and extended from the site of the White House on the west to that of the patent office on the east. It was “Davy Burns’ cottage” to the old neighbors, who used to drop in, after the day’s work was Cone, to sit around the fireplace and talk over old times and new, but after the sale of th: 600 acres had made Davy a rich man, and Washington, Hamilton and many noted people were his frequent visitors, it came to be known as the “Burns’ man- sion.” It was simple and primitive tn every way, with only three rooms besides the attic. A small room on the ground floor was called ‘Tom. Moore's rcom,” for there, in 1804, the poet sojourned and wrote the poem expressing his ridicule of the grand, and as he supposed, impracticable plan of the city. That was in the days of “mug- nificent distances,” deep mud end few com- ‘orts— “An embroyo capital, where Fancy sees Squares in morasscs, obelisks in trees; Where second-sighted seers the plain adorn With fanes unbuilt, and heroes yet unborn; Though naught but woods and Jefferson they see, Where streets should run and sages ought to be.” The light of the Burns’ home was Marcia, the only child. Endowed with goodness and beauty and afterward wealth, she lacked not for friends or suitors. She mar- ried Gen. John P. Van Ness of New York, The Octagon House. and for years after their marriage they lived in the old cottage. But when their daughter came home from boarding school in 1820 there was a new home waiting, and this was a mansion indeed. It was built very near the old place and ‘was then the most elegant house in Wash. ington, costing $60,000 and finished in fine woods and marble. Ann Elbertine Van Ness was married to Arthur Middleton, but in less than two years from the time they removed to the grand home she was Luried with her baby in her arms. After this the life of Marcia Van Ness was given to doing good. She made to the city the gift of the City Orphan Asylum as a memorial of her child, and adopted motherless children into her home. She seems like a personal friend when we stand in the great house, now go- ing to decay, and think how from here in juiet moments she would steal over to the old cottage from whence her father and mother had gone and sit-awhile in the light and atmosphere of the olden time. She died at fifty. Her husband was may- or of Washington at the time and her fun- eral was marked by gublic honors as well as general mourning.‘ Gen. Van Ness died at seventy-five. His house.was the rendez- vous for Congress and wag,noted for royal hospitalities. ils As the years pass’ over “an old house a veil of mystery is Woven"around it, and, this being an imaginary and not a real fab- ric, it grows thicker as time passes. There is a legend connected with this house of Van Ness that “six headless horses gallop around the house thé: anniversary of his death.” There will soon be no house to gallop around, for the place has steadily yielded to time and weather, standing help- less amidst the appointments of a modern athletic club, which Tlow Has possession of it. The historic Burns cottage, once so con- scizntiously preserved by. the father of his country, has been/ruthiessly torn down and done away with. Where President Madison Lived. If a person is inclined to ask himself where was the old Washington—the Wash- ington of Clay, Monroe, Madison, Everett and all the rest, and does not realize that before most of us were born Congress met and Presidents and statesmen had_ their homes here, let him step out from the west entrance of the State, War and Navy De- partments. The Burns and Van Ness place, although so entirely apart of the past, is only a few rods to the south. The classic structure of the new Corcoran At Gallery is the only modern innovation between these two representatives of Washington, past and present. Leaving the thick of modern city life two blocks behind, one finds himself entering a locality which flourished in past generations. Going west one block we reach what must now be one of the oldest houses in Washington, having been built in 1789 by Colonel Ben- jamin Tayloe. He had a vast domain and owned five hundred slaves. After the White House was burned by the British in 1814 President Madison rented this house \for the winter. The treaty of peace was ratified in the front room over the hall. Both these rooms are round, the doors and all the woodwork conforming to the per- fect circle. Mrs. Madison held her elegant “drawing rooms” here. There is a story of this house that when the owner died all the bells in the house began to ring and con- tinued to ring until he was buried. Prob- ably it originated in the fact that the ser- nts were kept busy at the time going to and fro in answer to bells. Mr. Madison removed from here to a house on .the corner of 19th stre2t and Pennsylvania avenue, a house also occu- Pied by Elbridge Gerry while he was Vice President, and James Monroe. Still going west the ample size of many of the houses and the style of their archi- tecture tell that they were in their prime “befo’ de wah.” The Pleasonton mansion is one of the old landmarks, although it was somewhat changed during the reconstruction of the city. It was built in 1802, of yellow stone, which is crumbling in places: Black staing show where the rains of years have trickled, but the charitable ivy is climbing up as if to combat time in his work of de- The Pleasonton Mansion. struction. The famous cavalry commander, Gen, Alfred Pleasonton, was born here. It was his father who, when the British made their attack in 1814, secured the most im- portant public documents, broke the glass and removed the frames from Gen. Wasit- ington’s first commission and the Declara- tion of Independence, rolled them up, load- ed twenty-two two-horse wagons with valuables and saw them all safely hidden in a barn in Leesburg, Va. The British made a visit to this house while going through the city, but did not _ seriously damage it. They ‘moved on to Baltimore, where they were repulsed and the admiral killed. About four squares away is the house built by Edward Everett, and where he re- sided when Secretary of State under Presi- dent Fillmore. The next occupant Jef- ferson Davis while Secretary of War in the administration of President Pierce. Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Ir terior under Buchanan, lived there during that four years of office, and gave famous entertainments. During the war it was oc- Blair Mansion. cupied by the quartermaster’s department of the army, and then by Henry A. Wise, U. 8._N., who married a daughter of Ed- ward Everett. The old mansion of Willlam Wirt was a near neighbor of the Everett house on the east, but, like many of its time, when one looks for it today, a modern structure has taken its place. ‘The Porter mansion-on H street was built by Richard Rush in 1826, while Secretary of the Treasury. Another story, including a ball room, has since been added. The oc- cupants of this house have been Ham- ilton Fish, afterward Secretary of State in Grant's cabinet; Lord Lyons, British am- bassador from 1858 to 1865, who gave many brilliant entertainments in honor of the queen, and lastly, Admiral David D, Porter, during whose long residence here the house has been the center of bountiful hospitality. The Blair mansion was built about 1820 by Joseph Lovell, surgeon general of the army. It was then purchased by Francis Preston Blair, editor of the Globe. His son, Francis Preston Blair, jr., was a congress- man and major general in the Union arm Mr. Geovge Bancroft lived here during nis stay in the city as Secretary of the Nav 1845-6, under Polk. ‘The next occupant was John Y. Mason, Secretary of the Navy from 1846-49. His daughter was married to General W. T. Sherman in this aouse May 1, 1850. The President and his cabinet and a large number of distinguished per- sons were present.! Three years later the house came to beSoccupied by Senttor Montgomery Blair,Wprother of the major general, tis ot Homes of Lafayette Square. The north front of the White House looks upon Lafayette ‘SPark, laid out and named by Geneyal fashington. Once a burrying ground,for {h2 Indains, it is now confronted on three sides by houses which have almost without exception be- come historic—largéely the former homes of cabinet and nayal ‘officials. Many of these men -have, takjgn an important part in the historySet r nation, and as time goes on their “figuges dim not, but stand out in stronger rel as the light of the-present throws shem. inst the back- ground of the pasty*Th@every air seems charged with the stared-dp history of well nigh one hundred years, since this city has been the residence of the government, and those who have been appointed to conduct its affairs. The lives of these public men ard their families have often been colored with romance, perhaps partly because of the intertwinings of life at héme and abroad through our foreign representa- tives.. What brilliant’ gatherings of distin- guished personages, what gay festivities, what never-to-be-fargotten banquets have transpired within-the walls of these old mansions! And if their histories cou!d be written’ there would be many long chapters of farewells, di intment and fuilure, and dark and rdays of hate and tragedy, = 5 - 4 The White House was the first building erected on the square, the corner stone having been laid in 1792, and remaine? the only one until after the war of 1812, when St. John’s Church. was built. The next erection was the house of Commodore De- catur, or the “Van Buren-Decatur house,” in 1819. Beside the usual grand furnish- ings of such a house, there were gathered here a great variety of rare and curious things—captured prizes, with many a tale attached to them of bold exploits on the high seas and far-away cosa gold medals, gifis from C tories won through skill new mansion was the sce entertainment, but for ont: the commodore's life, fo a year curing on March 22, The Decatur House. 1820 he fought the duel with Commodore Barron at Bladensburg, and was brought home to die. His widow lived here alone tor three years, and ended her days in the convent at Georgetown. Since then the hcuse has been the home, respectively, of Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, who as Secretary of State to President Jackson cut a window in the south wall, that he might seé the signals from the White House. Signals would be non-visible now on account of the great growth of trees between the two houses. Da Edward Livingston, George Charles Vaughan, British min P. Benjamin, afterward secretary of the confederacy, and Ger ue the list of re x Gen. Beale was a grandson of Commo- dcre Truxton, and it is interesting that Ccmmodore Decatur had served under Ccmmodorg Truxton as midshipman. Gen. Beale was an intimate friend of Gen. Grant, and his frequent host under this notable roof. On this west side of the square are the former houses of Vice Pres- ident Schuyler Colfax and many others whose names are familiar. Not exactly on the square, but a little above the Décatur house on the other side of H Street, is the brick house which was the home of the historian, George Bancroft. Next, that of Judge Bancroft Davis, and Admiral Shu- brick’s home on the corner, where his daughter still lives. Now to commence a new block, on the north side of the park the noble house on the corner, diagonally opposite the Deca- tur house, is one that was owned and lived in by Daniel Webster, but subsequently bovght by W. W. Corcoran, whose name means the beneficent founder of the Cor- coran Art Gallery. During the civil war it was rented to M. de Montholon, minister from France, and witnessed some magnifi- cent social events. One of these, perhaps the grandest ball ever attended in Wash- ington, was given by order of Louis Na- poleon, in February, 1866. A French ship lying at Annapolis came here that her officers might attend. Gen. Grant commander-in-chief of the army the appearance of army and nav in full uniform the occasion was me by the presence of two brides, Mrs. Chase Sprague and Mrs. Gen. William formerly wife of Stephen A. Douglass. M Sprague, daughter of Mr. Salmon = = Chase, renowned for her beauty and lead- ership in society, wore a dress of moire silk, its white and green loveliness height- The Corcoran House. ened by emeralds and diamonds. The Marquise de Montholon was resplendent in a Parisian gown, embroidered in jeweled fleur de lis, and bearing the insignia of the French king and the house of de Montho- lon. Dancing was kept up till well into the day, for the crowd was so great that it could not commence till nearly dawn. When it broke up many of the gentlemen went directly to their business, and some of the ladies made early calls in their ball dresses. At the close of the war Mr. Corcoran re- turned to his home and passed the remain- der of his life there. Next to this mansion is the former home of John Slidell. How utterly divergent may be the lives of people separated only by two brick wal While M. de Montholon was the representative of France in the United States, Slidell, his next-door neign- House of John Slidell. s bor, was endeavoring to represent_ the southern confederacy in France, and Capt. Wilkes, another near neighbor, as his captor on his way to Europe. This was also the home of Gideon Welles. Next to St. John’s Church, across 16th street is the massive three-story and man- sard house, which was formeriy the Brit- ish legation. In 1842, when Lord Ashbur- ton was sent over to settle the question of the boundary between the United States and Canada, it was in this house that the agreement called the Ashburton treaty was so happily made with Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State. As a token of the pleasant relations that existed between these two statesmen, Webster named one of his grandsons for Lord Ashburton. Some years later Sir Henry Bulwer oc- cupied the legation. His private secretary was his nephew, Lord Lytton, who in 1860, wrote the beautiful poem, cile,” under the name of Owen Meredith. And now we come to the Arlington Ho- tel, which has enlarged itself from time to time by absorbing the adjoining private ‘Where Owen Meredith Wrote Lucile. houses. One of these, on the corner of H street and Vermont avenue, retains its identity, although embodied in the hotel structure. It is the red brick house which > PPP PDP > Pr EDD > EOE D Be DDD > > Telegraphy. Translation: “*Ship immediat land’s baking powder for the >> >>> rrr >>> correspond to clicks of the telegraph ely fifty thousand pounds Cleve- army.” The dots and dashes instrument, The com- binations make letters and words, Cleveland Baking Powder Co., New York. Cleveland's aie saad BAKING {POWDER © (KARR AKKERAKAKEERKERKK ERO KER ERO RRR RRO Rh was the home of Charles Sumner for the last nine years of his life. The house of Reverdy Johnson has lost its identity if not wholly removed. Diagonally opposite the Sumner house and heading the east side of the park is the “Dolly Madison” house, now occupied by the Cosmos Club. Mrs. Madison return- Dolly Madison House, ed here to live after Mr. Madison's death, and here is where she “held court.” It was purchased by Capt. Wilkes, who cap- tured Mason and Slidell. During the war it was the headquarters of Gen. McClellan, his staff, including the Prince de Joinville, and his nephews, the Duke de Chartre and Count de Paris. The former home of Wm. Windom, Sec- retary of the Treasury, comes next, and | then that of Col. Robert Ingersoll, the next house having been the home of Ogle Tayloe. The land adjoining this to the south vw s once Owned by Henry Clay. | On it a house was bi by Commodore | Rodgers. It was afterward the home of | John C. Calhoun, the Washington Club, then | of Wm. H_ Seward, and here his assassina- | attempted by Payne. Latertheman- | novated and became the home of . Blaine, and now, alas! it is a thing of the past, for it is supplanted by an entirely modern structure of brick and iron, whose garish newness reflects the sunlight that used to touch its venerable and his- tory-fraught predecessor with such tender- ness and reverence. Home of Webster. The later residence of Daniel Webster is in another part of the city, Louisiana avenue between Sth and 6th streets. More } than thirty years ago the house was doubled in size and duplicated in style, forming what is now called the Webster | Law building. The front door, which was in the left-hand corner of the original house, was replaced by a window, and the sandstone steps were moved, and are now i | | doing duty before the present entrance. As one looks down at them one thinks of the dignified, judicial form that u: io Bancroft House. Pass in and out here. Going through the hall and raising a back window, there is an open space to be seen, pitifully neglect- ed now, that used to be Da Webster's garden and orchard, a beautiful place, with lawn sloping down to the street, fine fruit trees and sweet flowers. A circle of angular stones, set edgewise in the ground, | shows where the fountain was. Only th back part of the garden remains, for the | relentless pick and shovel dug up and re- | was | moved built. Only a few rods away is the old of Salmon P. Ch When Mr. ¢ @ young man and studying law in the i office of William Wirt he was a friend and | the rest when the addition visitor at the home of Col. Berry, one of | the original settlers in the District. This place was about two miles from the ¢ of ideal ituation, commanding weoded heights a fine and extensive view, | of city and country. The house was built | ezrly in the century, but so substantially that it seems to show no signs of age. The bricks are very lerge, and laid, alter- | nately endwise and side that the | walls are unusually strong. from 1 se, Edgewood. Mr. Chase greatly admired this spot and made up his mind that, if possible, it should some time be his home. This ambi- tion was realized after about forty years, when it was offered for sale, end he bought it, giving it the anpropriate name of Edge- wcod, and enjoying it as his home about five years before his death. The fam'‘ly of this distinguished man_ still live there. There is his library and the lofty rooms are full of the contributions of ar: and foreign travel. SE RS A New Issue. From Life. Kanses Farmer—‘Is it true, jedge, thet th’ war with Spain is th’ cause uv th’ rise in wheat?” Judge—“TI believe so.” “Then, by jingo! ez a leadin’ poperlist, I shell immejitly advercate a decerlashun uv war agin Urup, Azyer an’ Afriky.” ——_-o-_ “Puffins answered an advertisement in which somebody offered to sell him the se- cret for preventing trousers from getting around the bottom.” | the middle pair of feet. | who, GOOD FOR THE PORTER, The Dangerous Work It Did, and Did Well, at Santiago. From Scribner's. With the first shot from the torpedo boat Porter began to a tention. In the printed plan of issued to the squadron on the day before, Admiral Sampson had said Por- ter, when the action begins, will cross the harbor mouth behind the Iowa and get close under the cliff to the eastward of the Detroit and torpedo any 5; sh cruiser trying to get out of the In obe! arbor.” ience to this, she had rolled along under the walls of the battle ship, that Was now turning across the mouth of the harbor herself; in fact, lay with her broadside facing the first anchorage. But; now the Porter began to draw ahead, and in a few minutes had reached her station. It seemed a safe station at firet— so far as the guns of Morro Castle were concerned it was perfectly so—but within! a few minutes—it was at 5:20 lock— a gun in one of the works over near the Tierra Gate suddenly awoke with a report not born of a smc Another and another followed from same works, and then two rifles from neat the market place, and two more from the height of land just back (to th theast) of the old Morro, spurted flame white smoke. Nor wes that all t spurt- ed, for from each white burst me something with an ea) cry, that made the nerves of the tomed quiver as never before. It whining unaccus- sailorman to look at a weapon li smilingly, but Captain John C. Fremont of the Porter is just that. He his boat within e range of the guns, and its ‘armor, as he called its walls, was just three-eighths of an inch thick. Worse yet, he was within musket range of the nearest works, and he might have been swept under the sea by a fiald piece located anywhere alongshore. But from 5:30 o'clock until peremptorily or- dered out of range by the admiral at 8 the Porter flirted to and fro over roll- ing seas, where all might see and shoot —fiirted, to the exasperation of every sal low gunner ashore and the exuberant de- light of every man afloat. Exuberant is used advisedly, for, when word was passed on the press boat that Fremont was shoot- ing back with his little one-pounders at the nearest Spanish fort, the firemen im the stoke hole came up on deck to yell their approval. LIVING LEAVY OF FLORIDA. How These Peculiar Insects Seared Away a Party of Spaniards. From the Philadelphia Inquirer. A party of Spanish soldiers, landing on the coast of Florida to procure fresh water, were alarmed by seeing a supposed shower of leaves suddenly become animated, jump- ing, walking, fluttering over the ground. They left, declaring that the place was be- witched. One of them averred that on their retreating the trees started in pu’ it. How those brave men would } stared had they known that is was only a harm- less insect that was at the bottom ol it al The Phillium scythe, or leaf insect, leads ve a sluggish life, making its home on the branches of a tree. Its body is very thin and flat, its large wings shaped, veined and colored exactly like a leaf. When urbed it tucks its legs under its body, thus per- fecting the resemblance to a leaf. with petiole and stem complete. In the mmer its wings are bright green, but in fall they change with the deciduous le: ves to a brown, withered hue. Its hold upon the branch is slight, a puff of wind being enough to throw it upon the ground, when it at once sets out to regain its home such manner as terrified the Spe diers, There is another race of leaf in: terflies. While the upper surfac wings is bright, like a flower, th: sembles a withered leaf, with fungus-like blotches. Their fight is very swift, and they gettle on twigs only, never on leaf or flower. When pursued and hard pressed the leaf, butterfly has a way of vanishing as sud- denly as a full-fledged ghost. Inf the twin- kling of an eye the insect has become a leaf, as far as its pursuer is concerned. ot lower re- } Settling on a twig, it folds its wings close- back to back, with the head and az hidden between them. The tiny tails wings touch the twig, forming a perfect stalk to the leaf, which is held in place by While thus at rest the most observant eye would not suspect it to be other than a withered leaf. ——+0+ Unreasonable Hatred. From the St. Louis Republie. The battle cry, “Remember the Maine, still rang in the ears of the wounded Amer- icans on the field of Santiago. Kound about lay the bodies of the dead, keeping silent companionship with the wounded. Groans and sighs filled the air. The brushwood, thick and sturdy and straight, trampled down by the hoofs of the Rough Riders’ horses, was saturated with the blood of friend and foe, until it no longer hid from each other's view the fallen of two nations. In the distance the sharp report of the guns told of the onward march to victory. It goaded the wounded Americans to action —the stricken foe to revenge. From behind a tuft of grass on the blades of which blood hung congealed a head arose. It was the visage of a Spaniard, deathly pale, with a stream of blood trickling from his temple. His fiendish gaze was fastened upon the outstretched form of an American soldier, face downward, lay with his head against a tree. He was still, as one in death his life blood ebbing away, he thought, through a wound in his side. Slowly the Spsniard propped his arms beneath his body and grasped hts gun. There in the brush besije him was his deadliest foe. Crawi to his aid? Not he. He would riddle the body with Mauser bullets. He would rejoice to muttlate even the life- less to demonstrate bis hatred. Quick as a flash he fired, the bullet striking the Amer- ican in the leg. The sting of the lead brought the soicier back to consciousness. At a glance he took in the situation. The gleam of fierce, fiendish hatred in the eye of the Spaniard convinced him that this would be a duel to the death. He returned the fire, and sent chot after shot toward his antagonist’s quarter. A fusillade fol- lowed, and ceased only with the death of, the Spaniard. The American, who had dropped in his tracks beyond his battle line, was rescued by his comrades, who had been attracted to the spot by the terrific struggle of the two wounded men. ———-+e+-__ ‘What a Man Says. From the Atchison Globe. A woman's idea of a poor dry goods store is one where they can’t match her little piece of ribbon. ————_ -+ e+ ——__ “Look here,” said the young licutenant of @ great father, “this uniform you have made for me is entirely too large.” = “That's all right,” explained the tailor, Paice pt ge gy eg EERE wi a perfect "—Philadelphig North American. + - =