Evening Star Newspaper, August 20, 1898, Page 14

“Six hours after the blockade was said Mr. Manuel Roderiques, a cigar dealer to a Star reporter, “the cigar buy:rs entered Havana, but as was there were scarcely any cigars to be bought, and none of those of the lar brands. The buyers would bought hundreds of thousands nuld not get hundrads. The he troubles that have been r the past six months, and, a year, almost wiped up making who were not Cubans, and Cuban army, are an un- who only work Of course, they gement, for in Havana f indeed, for the t ar! workmen, arts them. gars. The cigar | a sumed is is that Cuban and it may ta growing. in their crop certain amount of old t en if this is mad very short of sup ‘op will now be pu year or so before the wn. During the blockad. cigars and cig: and more ex¢ ney smoked. as in his day prince * remarked an old habitue of th a Star reporter, “but of all the and said I only remember hi: As an epicure b lobby! was a s a lo ecess zs cooked and ore cold water. on a slow 1 of , or in other and a half delt- ound of s It is won rank taste orb it. A ay is much d ham that never had a Star rep internal revenue Ww rier, Some h the domestic stamps, jority in de the proprietary ary stamps. The whole out pout three dollars, and the harged for a canceled set ed. The run on Omaha ex- stamps has also been very has bee de-tracked, as it rnal revenue stamps. The has not been able te set of the propri various kinds lectors are as the furnished as government. The i tt amp col- two hundred tamps. Al ed from all and private is harc stag reign de- arge as It ere are in thi i stamp col- nternal revenue asy to be they w 1s within bour = outside. Many peopl t exactly stamp collectors are order- tions as souvenirs of the war adly taking advantage of the to gracefully show their pa- opporti triotism. wR KR KK “TI have tried a remedy for the bites and stings of wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, bees and insects generally this season,” re- mar! Montgomery county, Maryland, farmer to a Star reporter, “which, though yew to me, proved to be very effica- ous 11 mber of opportunities I have had t both on myself and my fam- ily and ds. There is no way that I stop the intense pain that fol- y after sting, but a care- ne stung part a few seconds of any two plants, herbs, r grasses that may be handy will » @uration of the pain, and in es pi ent the swelling wilich follows sc ings. It matters not what plants or herbs are used. First apply one and the: other. The theory of the cure is that if the juice of one of the plants does not ‘alize the poison of the sting . and that if both fail if tried they will work effectually as a Poison oak, or poison ivy, as m called, while an irritant itself, is the exaet opposite if applied as one of the parts of the cure. Recently I knew of a lady who. in a hurry to get weeds for agpainful sting of a wasp, used poison oak first and then stramonium, or Geadly night shade, either by themseives potsonous to @ certain extent under some conditions to many people. The combina- tion had the effect of stopping the pain from the sting and doing no harm them- selves, although under ordinary circum- gtances she was very susceptible to either. Poisonous weeds are not necessary. The Juice from the tomato vine, the cabbage lant, Dea or beans, or, indeed, any two lamis or vines, is preferable. It the combination of any two of them that for a year or so | explained | } {a journey with eight men, quitoes, | the a piece of bi | then he gav j; Was cut remarkably | was t EARD EEN® seems to be specially efficacious in stop- ping the pain and swelling.” OR KR KK “Though the war with Spain has been officially ended, as far as a protocol can do explained a clerk in the commissary general's office, War Department, to a Star reporter, “the contest between the hun- dreds and hundreds of commissary officers in camp and field and the commissary gen- eral’s office has just begun in earnest. One of the results is an inerease in the official mail and another is an increase of cuss words. The commissary officers think headquarters are unnecessarily severe and using considerably more red tape than is necessary, and that the circumstances should be taken into consideration. Our reply to this is that the business end of war is just as necessary and important as the fighting end, and that one cannot exist long without the other. The trouble with most commissaries is that they know more about other things than they do about the . Which is not to be wondered The commissary general’s office tries help, instead of hinder, them by prepar- ing and sending them blank forms to fill up and sign covering every contingency that can possibly arise, but there are a number of commissary officers who persist in sign- ing vouchers in the wrong place, or what is just as bad. sending them in without any AND aw Signature. Then, again, they report one meal that they feed a certain number of men, and at the next meal, without ex- plaining the increase, they report a much larger number. We had a case a few days ago where a commissary officer started on which made twenty-four meals the first day. On the second he had vouchers for thirty i day meals, and on the third forty meals. Be- fore the week’s journey was ended he had run up to sixty meals. There was no evi- dence that the account was dishonest, and the officer got very mad when he was ask- d to explain. This is only a sample. It will be several years, at the least, before the commissaries’ accounts can be settled up, even if the entire army was disbanded next we Many of them pay no attention to the reques tion s of the office for explana- which complicates the matter seri- es KEETS DID IT, What Julius and Mare Suffered— Tragedy Turned to Farce. Written for The Evening Star. “You would not think it possible, an old actor to the writer recently, little festive mosquito to break up the per- formance of one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, and turn it literally into a farce, would you? Well, such is the fact. You remember Ned Buckley, don’t you? Used to be leading man in the Boston Theater; also with Booth and Barrett. One rather warm night in August, ‘79, Ned took a snap company out to a town in western Massa- husetts to do ‘Julius Caesar.’ It was not sumptuous performance by any means, but still it Ss good enough for the audi- enc Buckley played Caesar, and did it well. If I am not mistaken, Fred Bryton was the Mare Anton It became so hot re the performance had fairly begun that the windows in the rear of the was not very long arming with mos- tracted, no doubt, by tage. Buckley ‘had and he discov- hat there were So he got and whitened over strong light on th on a pair of whit I n small ho! , the h until the to bury Cae: Poor Jull vas } Mar: long smoothly me for Mare An- nd not praise him. ng on the bler, and just ration he felt the in- me ¢ Buckley a red that were educated. They just picked out spots where he had used the chaik. » stood the agony as long as he could, then he began murdering his tormentors. @ Julius slap his limbs, and y tim slapped he grunted with r f. He kept slapping his limbs and grunt- 1 through the oration, the audience suting with laughter all the while. The i E cause of the ry doing some tering on their own account. Buck- ood the agony as long as he could, Antony a tip and the oration short. The audience nd insisted upon actors gol veral times. The mosquitoes who made the hits went with them, and the performance was a farce for the balance of the evening. ery time that somebody began to act one of the auditors would begin to laugh and everybody would join in the chorus.” —— A Kindly Act. It was far, far into the midst of “the gloomy night when a man might have been kled |seen ascending the front doorsteps of a house on Capitol Hill which was the center one of a row of six or eight, and they were the only houses on that side of the block. | As he passed into the shadow of the vesti- }ed the length of the row once and cam bule a policeman, who had been watching his maneuvers, came along from the other direction, walking slowly and scanning the policemen at He pass- houses as is the wont of night when they are suspicious. back, examining the houses more closely than before. As he came in front of that house into which he thought the night lark had gone that party came out to the head of the steps and waved his hand at the officer as if to attract his attention. “Escuse me," he said rather thickly, but quite plainiy, “‘escuse me, but is your name Soares No, laughed the officer, wondering what |. you're in the wrong row, then, for I know the name of every man in this row, and if you ain't one of them I called you’ off your street. But tha's all right: Tw looking for this door for half hour before I found it and ain't found the keyhole yet. I quit looking for it jus’ to come out here and give you a tip. There’s another block like this ‘round the corner in the next street. You better try there. And say, keep your eye skinned for the policeman on the beat. He’s a temperance duck from Coldwater, Michigan. Goo’-night.” And the man disappeared in the shadow of the vestibule, leaving the policeman in a par- alytic condition. ee Up to Date. From Life. Mother—“Joe, why do you suppose that old hen persists in laying in the coal bin?” Joe—“Why, mother, I think she has seen Romer: ‘Now is the time to lay In your eaak > “Quigge writes me from Cubs that he has dropped off fifteen pounds.” “How could he? He was a living skeleton is | as it was.” “He lost a leg.”—Collier’s Weekly. FOUND AT LAST He had just alighted from a suburban trolley car at the corner ef 7th and U streets. He stepped ot quite alertly for the 7th street electric car. Then he stop- ped in the middle of the street and dived into his inside breast pocket. He pulled out his pocket book and overhauled it care- fully. A blank expression overspread his countenance, aud with his left hand he pulled out his handkerchief and mopped his forehead. Then he restored the pocket book to his inside breast pocket and began hastily to go over the rest of his pockets. No go, apparently. He unbuttoned his waistcoat and searched the inside pockets of that. No apparent result. He took off his hat and dug beneath tae sweat band. Result, apparently nil. Then he went all over bis pockets again, elaborately and thoroughly. While he was doing this ‘he policeman standing on the corner address2d im. “Gone, hey?” inquired the cop. “By jing, yes!” said the searching citizen, with the big drops standing out on his brow. ““Where d’je lose it?” asked the peeler. “Say, this is warm weather to reply to that kind,” replied the distraught citizen. “Ask me a dead easy one and you may have a look-in for an answer.” He was still ploughing around among his pockets, “How much did it amount to?” asked the policeman, after a pause, stepping off the curb and walking over to the perspiring suburbanite. “I didn’t figure it up before starting, swelterer answered, “but it was a siderable figure, I know.” “Hard game,” said the cop, comforting- ly. “You haven't Leen bumped up against by any suspicious-looking ducks in a crowd, have you?” “Nope; not that I remember,” said the man. “Well,” put in the cop, after a pause, “I'm afraid you've got a pretty slim show of getting your money—” “Money?” exclaimed the hunting citizen. “Who the dickens said anything about money “Why,’’ said the policeman, “wasn’t it money that you've” “Money, nothing,” was the disgusted re- ply. “It's a list of things my wife wants me to get for her down town that’s got away from me. If it was nothing but mon- 1 wouldn't mind it a little bit. I could square the loss of that somehow or anoth- er, or get some more; but I'll never be able to square myself with her if I don’t bring this bunch of things home that she wrote out a list of. Wonder where the deuce she could have put it? She said she put it somewhere in my clothes.” As he spoke, his right forefinger wandered to the unused watch pocket of his trousers. The right forefinger struck against a bit of paper. The man’s face brightened as he pulled it out, and he opened it with ail the eagerness of a leading lady diving into a letter in a play. “Gosh!” he exclaimed. “Here it is. She made a wad of it about as big as a stamp, and there’s—let’s see—there’s seventeen ar- ticles written on it that she wants. And the idea of her stuffing it into that pocket that I hardly kpew I had.” “Wimmen's a queer bunch,” remarked the cop, and the relieved citizen got on his car. the con- —_.___ A WOMAN'S CONSCIENCE. It Pricked Her After She Had Played the Trick. “I wonder if street railways have any such things as conscience funds?” she ask- ed her husband at dinner the other evening. |. “‘Because, if they have, I’m going to mail on2 of them a cent." Of course he wanted to know about it. “Well,” she said, “I cal'ed upon Mrs. Gig- lamps this afternoon. You know she's moved away over to the west end. After I came away, possessing a sort of feeling that I wasn’t particularly strong in a mone- tary way, I look2d into my purse as I stood waiting for the car. My suspicion had been correct. I had only four pennies. Now, you know that I couldn’t go into a drug store and ask the proprietor for a penny—I might have been arrested for begging had I done that, might I not?—and yet it was, of course, impossibla for me to walk home from Mrs. Giglamps’. So I evolved a crafty scheme—really, I begin to grow ashamed of the awful things I think of in emergencies— and I put i¢ into effect. I took the four pen- nies out of my purse and held them in my Then I stepped into the car, as bold s you please. It was an open car. I jin- gled the pennies in my hand absent-mind- edly—apparently, that is—when the con- Guetor came along in my direction for my fare. Just as he got within a few feet of me, and a curve in the line providentially favoring me, I gav a little screech and the pennies flew out of my hand. 1 pretended that the lurch of the car had done ft. The cenductor looked sympathetic—he was real- ly an amiable man—and said he'd pick the pennies up. He groped around and found the whole four of them under the seats. Of ceurse he couldn't find the fifth. I toid him the five pennies had comprised my entire funds er mind, lady,’ said he; ‘I'll find the other penny when all the passengers are out at the end of the line,’ and I thanked him hypocritically. Wasn't it dreadful?” “And you talk about my baing foxy!” said her husband. “Why, I’m not a marker.” SS WHY COST OF BEEF I8 GOING UP. Fewer Animals Being Slaughterea Than Last Year and Larger Demand. From St. Louis Butchers and Packers Magazine. The probabilities sre that the price of beef will advance, not from any artificial causes, but because the live cattle are on the up grade. The demend is good and the supplies of desirzble animals are not exces- sive. There is mcre beef consumed by the armies in the field, or rather the prescribed ration calls for more, than {f there was no war and the men composing the armies were at home. The waste ts more, and that tends to increase the censumptive demand. There are plenty of cattle in the west, al- though fewer than for several years, but there are many of them that are’ not beeves now, ior will they be for some time. This statement is verified by the fact that the receipts of cattle are smaller than at the same time lest year. Last month the receipts of cattle at Kansas City, Chicago, Omaha and St. Louis were 34,349 less than in June, 1897, while the hog deficiency was 781, and that of sheep 58,070, so that there were fewer arimals slaughtered in the west in June, 1898, than in tho same month jast year. Not only were the num- ber of cattle marketed smaller, but being lighter in weight mostly, they furnished, in addition, a less number of pounds of beef than if they had been of the usual weight in previous years. Consumers of beef, and they include prac- tically the bulk of the population of the United States, are divided into classes, and in consequence their wants are varied. There are cuts for the well-to-do, those in moderate circumstances and the very poor, and the prices vary in proportion to the quality. Meat-eaters, however, when the price of one kind becomes too high, can make a change to a cheaper kind, as was the case with the increased demand for corn for export when the prices of wheat advanced so greatly. The cattle raisers are doing well these days, after the long period of depression, and while they are realizing fair prices, it is because the slaughterers are forced to pay them, in accordance with the law of supply and demand. —_+e+—____. What It Means. From the Detroit Free Press. “Hov yes absirved,” asked Mr. Gilhooley, “th’ noomber av people yez meets an th’ street nowadays thot wears specs “I hoy thot, Gilhooley,” answered Dinny Sullivan, “an I've wondered w'at ut manes. “It manes wan av three t’ings, Dinny.” ‘Phwat?” . It manes ayether that th‘ woorld is a dom sight mure intellectual than it wor in my day, er thot there air more suckers in it than there uster be, er thot th’ doc- thers is a hape sight cleverer than I’ve ivir givin "em credit o” bel: ——__-e+_ One Girl’s Opinion. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I don’t like that Mamie Strawboard. She looks shy.” “Does he?” “Yes, she does. She looks to me like a girl who would announce her engagement to Hero Hobson, and then write and ask him how he dared to start such an absurd THE REFORMED JACK The young matron, in her pretty bijou home on Capitol Hill, looked very melan- in her two palms and sighed drearily. Her two call- ers, also youngsmatrons, exchanged glances. brutat to her,” the glances choly. She rested@ her chin “Her husban read. = = “Why, Etheldteda¥t they chorused aloud. “You seem so. unhappy! Surely Jack is raat: $ “Oh, no!” imterposed young matron, “Jack is decidedly moment. You see, I'ye reformed Jack. That's why I'm so wretched.” “Well, of all’mysteries the meaning of— “Don't utter that word ‘reform’ hostess, dismally. “I have learned to de- spise It. It has lost for me my old Jack, and I don’t fancy he'll ever return to him- self. Shall I tell you?” “Do!” said they both, as they themselves. “Well, you both know that before we Were married, and for a little while after, too, Jack drank just a teeny little bit—not very much, but once in a while, and then not very seriously. I decided to exert my influence to have him stop, for I had no- ticed, you know, two or three times, when Jack returned and kissed me in the vesti- bule, he sort of drew in his breath, with the idea—the poor, foolish silly—of keeping it from me that he had taken a drink or two down town. This made me rather blue, and I thought I would use my influ- ence with him to have him stop drinking altogether. Well, we had a little harmo- nious talk one Sunday afternoon, and Jack stopped drinking altogether. I noticed that he was growing cross and irritable at times after that, and he changed a great deal. 1 fancied then that perhaps Jack smoked too much. He was forever smoking cigars, and pne evening T asked him if he didn’t think he could do as well without them alto- Sether. “Yes,” he said, ‘I think I can,’ and he did. He abandoned smoking entirely, put, gracious me! how cross it did make bla Beal ne was perfectly fe-ocious at ‘ 6 e veeks er he stopped smoking oe Se ats “After a while, however, he regained his food nature, but he seemed peuriousls changed from the old Jack. First, he be. gan tinkering around the house when he came home in the evening. He'd hammer and paint and whitewash and engage in all that sort of thing for hours after dinner, So that we had scarcely any quiet time to- gether at all. ‘Then he began to take an interest in the question of hygienic foods. and he decided that salt was injurious an article of diet. To please him I re- moved all of the salt cellars from the table, and seasoned my own dishes in the kitchen surreptitiously. Then Jack con- ceived a violent dislike for coffee and tea— and he had always been so devoted to cof- fee! Well, coffee and tea were tabooed. and I had to take an occasional cup of coffee when Jack was at his office, I craved for it so. Well, last winter Jack took it into his head that going to the theater was all a matier of habit, and one evening when I asked him to take me to see a play settled he replied, ‘I've got no money to look away. What benefit do we derive from going to the theater? I couldn't, of course, enter into an argument with ‘him about it, and so I had to go to a matinze occasionally with one of my women friends. You are not to suppose that Jaci became stingy. Not in the least. But he seemed to develop so many crotchety no- tions!’ The Potomac water displeased him greatly and he, purchased two expensive fliters—one for the drinking water exclu- sively and the other for the cooking water. “After a whilé he stopped going out alto- gether. Really, I couldn't get Jack to budge out of the house. He would read his evening paper for an hour or so after din- ner, and then he would go in for cabinet work or something lke that. And then, worst of all, “he began superintending things in the kitchen. The stuff he read about the hygienic preparation of foo got him into this, and, truly, it was terri- ble! Three of my cooks left within two months. They ‘ald they conlda't stand it to have a man fussing around their kitchen. I had the most awful time getting girls to remain with me, and when I spoke to Jack about going into the kitchen ae simply froze me with looks! “About a month ago he informed me that, after carefully weighing the subject from every viewpoint, and reading up all of the best authorities on the subject, he had decided that the use of animal food was deleterious and wrong, and he pur- posed adhering to a vegetable Uet alto- gether henceforth. He invited me to join him in the vegetarian plan. Of course, 1 could do nothing but accede, for it wouldn't do for me to have meat on the table If Jack didn’t partake of it—and, girls, do you know that I am just starved! I go to mamma's twice every week, and she has a big, thick steak for me, and I lcok for- ward to these events yearningly. Well, last night when Jack came in from his lodge, which is the only place he visits, I met him at the door for the usual salnta- tion. Jack told me that he had decided— he was sorry, but he had decided—to aban- don the habit of kissing. It was a daneer- ous practice, he sald, and Mable to commu- nicate and propagate germs or something like that.” The little woman dabbed the corner of her left eye with her handkerchier, “And I wish I had my old Jack back!" she concluded. ——— CALIFORNIA PRUNES. 84,000 Tons of the Fruit Will Be Gath- ered This Year. Written for The Evening St: “The magnitude of the prune industry of California,” said a gentleman who {s largely interested in the cultivation of that €ainty article in Pomona county, “is little realized by the people in the eastern states. In a decade the growing of prunes has gone forward in California by leaps and bounds, and today $25,000,000 is in- vesied in it—that is, in lands, trees, irriga- tion systems, agricultural tools and pack- ing houses. The total production of prunes that will be gathered from trees through- out the lower part of the San Joaquin val- Jey and the horticultural valleys of Pomo- na, San Gabriel and Santa Ana will amount to about 84,000 tons this year. Of this quantity nearly one-fifth will be shipped east as green fruit, for sale at fruit stands and for canning purposes; the remainirg four-fifths will be dried for market, mak- ing about 24,000 tons of dried prunes. “Twelve years ago the total area of bear- irg prune orchards in California was less than $,000 acres. In 1888 there were 11,000 acres of bearing prune trees, and about 6,000 acres more of young prune orchards. ‘There was an import duty of 2% cents a pound on dried prunes in those days, and the growers sold their crops on the trees for sums varying from $35 to $50 a ton. In 1890 the total area of bearing prune orch- ards was 13,000 acres, and there was a! enormous planting of prune trees that’ year in all of the fruit-growing valleys of California because of the large profit in the industry. Twelve thotsand acres of prune orchards were set out in the winter of 1891-92, and 24,000" acres more were Planted in the next” two years. These orchards have now cOfme into bearing, and it is estimated that there are 55,000 acres of bearing prune‘orchards in California to- day, and about 10,000 acres more to come into bearing within the next year or two. Conservative estimates put the total crop of California prunes-in a favorable year at not less that 99,000 tons. In a few years more a full yield of the fruit in this state will be mere than 100,000 tons of Rreen fruit.” 4 (Copyright, 1898, Life: Putlishing Company.) a the melancholy not. Jack is. Don’t®fancy such a thing for & exclaimed the two visitors ih unigon. ‘Reformed him, and now you are wretched? What can be any oftener than you can really help,” said the THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1898-24 PAGES. THE CAPTAIN'S-TYPEWRITER ‘When the U. 8. S. Baltimore limped into the harbor of Honolulu, twe years ago last January, on her way from the China sta- tion to San Francisco, she was a pretty tough-looking man-o’-war, as she had a li- cense to be, for she had been about twenty- five days out of Yokohama, and had been hove to, in one of the worst-typhoons ever known in the China seas, for eleven solid days—right in the trough of it, angl often enough in danger of completely turning turtle. She had lost a couple of seamen, who were swept overboard by the green seas that washed the to’gallant fo’e’sle, and her ship's carpenter had been killed by being jammed about while making some re- pairs. The Baltimore wasn’t structurally damaged, but she was badly bunged up, and everything washable on all decks had been carried adrift by the terrific seas. Her fighting tops rested on the spar deck—they had to be lowered, to give the ship better righting qualities in the blow—and, in gen- eral, when she crawled into Honolulu har- bor at the rate of about two knots an hour, the Baltimore—a beautiful cruiser, when right—was a seedy enough looking fighting packet. She anchored alongside the yacht-like Bennington. Anchored about a hundred yards on the starboard side of the Ben- nington was one of the most beautiful steam pleasure yachts in the world—the Eleanor of Providence, R. I. The name of her multi-millionaire owner—the son of a famous philanthropist—need not be given here, for he figures largely in the story; but people who know about wonderfully beautiful yachts know about the Eleanor. She had been in Honolulu harbor about a week, and she was proceeding leisurely to San Francisco. Her owner, the multi-mil- Honaire, a man of about forty, was aboard of her, with his beautiful young wife < id their two-year-old baby. The multi-mil- lionaire’s wife was a tall, slender and very beautiful young woman of twenty-three. They had been making a tour of the worid on the Eleanor and had been aw from the United States for more than a year. The officers of the Bennington had been charmingly entertained aboard the yacht, and the multi-millionaire often went off from his yacht in his steam cutter to the Bennington. The social relations between the gunboat and the yacht were very pleas- ant. When the Baltimore dropped her mud hook alongside the Bennington a number of the officers of the latter ship went aboard of her. They were accompanied by the multi-millionaire owner of the Eleanor, who had been dining in the ward room with the Bennington’s officers. The Bennington party went aft aboard the Baltimore to see the commanding officer, who was, and is, one of the genuinely genial officers of the American navy. The captain told the Ben- nington's officers of the severe time he had had of it with his ship. “I'm rather worried about getting in my report of the blow,” said the captain. “The Australia is going up from here tomorrow morning to San Francisco with the mails, and I'd like to send my report to the Navy Department up in her. But I haven't even begun to write it yet, and the yeoman who has been doing all of my typewriting on the Asiatic station was hurled out of his ham- mock during the blow and badly bruised. Hi now in the sick bay. He’s the only man aboard who knows how to manipulate a typewriter, and I want to send a type- written report. I fear I'll have to defer making the report until the next steamer Ps not, captain,” said the multi- millionaire, stepping forward. “I ey I can undertake to get you a typ2writer. She's on board my craft, and acts as my secretary, and I think I can guarantee that she'll take your report on the typewriter if you care to dictate it to her.” The captain of the Baltimore was delight- ed, and he thanked the multi-millionaire cordially. The latter stepped into a steam cutter, went over to his yacht, and in ten minutes returned with his charming young wife. Th2 Bennington’ officers understood, nd smiled. The captain of the Baltimore did not understand, but he was pleased, nevertheles: aptain, permit me to present to my secretary,’ said the multi-mil ire, stepping aft on the quarterdeck of the Bal- timore with his blushing wife. “He viees are yours until you have fin dictating your report of the typhoon The captain escorted th pung woman aft to his cabin and immediately plunged into the dictation of the report. The 5 woman's fingers flew over the key than kept pace with the dicta unding officer, and when he came to looking up from more words to get aon a you handle that machine with marvelous rapidity,” officer, smilingly, to h He dictated for some hours, port was finished. Then the naled to, and the yacht ; rrying the multi-millionaire, went along- side the Baltimore to take’ aboard the young woman “‘secretary.”” “I very heartily appreciate this kindness,”* said the commanding officer to the multi- million; “You have an extraordinarily skillful secretary.” “And quite a miable a wife,’’ said the multi-millionaire, smiling. Then he pre- sented his wife as such to the somewhat confused commaréing officer of the Bulti- more. “T had the honor to become acquainted with my wife, you know,” sald the multi- millionaire to the captain, “‘when she was employed in my office in’ the states as a typewriter.” typewriter pro tem. and the re acht was 5! ed ABOUT CIGAR BOXES. Spanish Cedar is the Best Wood, but It Comes From Cuba. Written for The Evening Star. “There are something like 14,000,000 cigar boxes used In the United States annually, and about nine-tenths of that number are rade in this city, where the trade rivals the clothing industry in point of capital in- vested, and the number of people employ- ed,” said a leading cigar box manufacturer in New York to the writer yesterday. “The raterial out of which the best boxes are made comes principally from Cuba, and is known as Spanish cedar.’ The recent war with Spain has shortened the supply and increased the price of the article to such an extent that many box makers whose stock of cedar was small early last spring hav been ccmpelled to use a cheaper and less desirable grad= of wood for the purpose. “One New York firm has been experi- menting with timber from the unexplored Paraguayan forests, which are said to con- tain the finest cedar wood in the world. They have, however, experienced consider- able difficulty in selling their boxes, as cigar manufacturers and connoisseurs in- sist that<4t spoils a fine cigar to put it in any box not made of genuine Spanish cedar. The latter wood always retains the flavor of a good cigar. Indeed, some peo- ple claim that it improves the flavor. The reason given is that it grows in the santé localit'es as the best Havana tobacco. “Attempts made to use cedar grown in the United States for cigar boxes have not been very successtul. The Florida and South American cedar contains a peculiar gum that melts when the wood is exposed to the heat of a store or house, and thus the labels and sometimes the cigars in a box are spoilt. Of course, the smokers of cheaper brands of cigars are less particular about the quality of the wood used for their boxes, and a veneered cedar, made from a peculiar sort of cedar that grows in Mexico, is often substituted for the Span- ish article, But it cannot be done without the cigar dealers finding it out, and the consequence is that even a good cigar when packed in such a box sells at a cisadvant- age. —S “We” Gave Them Fits. From the New York Commercial Advertiser. A small Canadian boy whose loyalty to the British flag has got him into no end of scrapes with patriotic American youths of equally tender years, came up to his father shortly after the battle of Manila was fought, and, with a woebegone expression, sald: “Say, father, didn’t the English ever lick any other boats without losing a man?” ‘The father was forced to confess that they had not. “Weil,” said the youngster, “I guess the Americans aren't so bad, after all, are they?” On the Fourth of July when young Amer- ica was celebrating the naval victory at Santiago, the youthful upholder of Great Britain was in the midst of a band of ultra- patriotic boys setting off firecrackers and cheering with the best of them. “Here, portent are you cheering for?” ering for? Ob, father; didn’t PHILANDER. JOHNSON» Horrors of War. They sing of the pomp and the glory of strife, Of the splendor of banners and guns; And they vow that romance glamours fine o'er the life Of Mars and his uniformed sons. But amid all the pictures of glittering array Disenchantment so stern intervenes— The thought of that menu, unvaried each day, Of hardtack and bacon and beans. There are all sorts of courage. The great- est, no doubt, Is that which unflinching will meet The foemen who gather with volley and shout And which scoffs at the thought of re- treat. Yet many a man reared in luxury’s care Might be calm ‘mid the battle’s fierce scenes Who would quail at the terrors of that bill of fare Of hardtack and bacon and beans. But the red and the gold soon will shine in the tree Where the fruit smiles again t> the sun; And the grape dons the purple. All nature in glee Waits to welcome the heroes who won. And there's nothing too good to be lavishly set On the board till it totters and leans In an effort to make the brave ladcies for- get About hardtack and bacon and beans. * * Waiting. Farmer Corntossel’s eldest son was walk- ing leisurely down the path to the front gate, His mother stood with a tea towel sus- pended in mid-air, while she gazed at him and his father, who was sitting on front step, gave his head a quick little nod sidewise, in the direction of the pro. as he confidentially told one of the bourd- at there was a boy whose beat wa: found in the United St: can he de to b “Wl who lack of “Anything,” was the answer. 3002 man around the far y He knows more Volumes of Useful I is he a good hand horses and digging potatoes?" “Are you talkin’ about the the hired man?” m talking about the boy, of course. "t drive no bosses, excep’ whe’ buggy-ridin’, and he doesn't dig no . excep’ after they're mas an’ ace fur the gravy. But you ht to hear him tell about things th: orter have been put into the Constitutic of the United States, so’s to make t run smoother no" Doesn't he do anything?” “But “Not yet. You see, that boy’s ahead of his times; way ahead of his times. Me an mother, we talked it ove cluded the best thing doing nothin’ fur a year or so, an’ times a chance to catch up to him, * > Getting Started. The young man with mild manners stepped into the office of his somewhat crusty uncle, who was engaged in the prac- tice of la Well, said the old gentleman, “now that you are out of college, what are you going to do for a living? “I guess I'll study some more and adopt the profession of law “That's right,” was the ironic rejoinder. “Go ahead and have your own way. Don’t you take any advice. I thought we had a talk about that the other day. the profession is overcrowded now. But you won't believe me, of cour: You've got to go ahead and put in a few years finding out for yourself.” “I'm willing to take advice,” replied the nephew mildly. “The fact is that I'm try- ing to take all the advice I can get. When you told me to give up the idea of practic- ing law, I went to a friend who is a civil engineer. He said my general education ought to give me a good foundation for any profession, but he advised me to let civil engineering alone. He said there were too many people in the business now. He said commerce was the thing for a young man to t.y and he gave me a letter of in- troduction to a friend of his who keeps a drug store. The druggist said that I could go through a college of pharmacy without any trouble, but he wouldn't advise me to do it, as there were as many people in ] who were ing for work. He thought a good bricklayer or Kind. So I hunted u I might make something of that s a bricklayer and talked it over with him. He said the brick- laying business overcrowded and that he should think a man with my training would be a lawyer. So I came back here, and I’m willing to start in and go to work studying with you, or go through the list again getting more advice, whichever you think proper.” * * * A Cherished Omen. Of course ther 's nothing much in signs, We're privileg-d to joke At weather saws and jingling lines By dear old-fashioned folk And yet, when hope And earth is fever-tossed, t to hear the katydid almost hid, In ieafy ma She takes her y And tu’ he k id. ks till frost.” w ference he stepped to the head wait n to business ¢ fa line of r tran ac ousin e window of the while she reac fingers drummed the young He smiled m into nervously her p his on the ¢ shelf, and his eyes looked tar away, expression of one who hopes holds better thing: die of c At last she drew forth a little bun- eks which had been tightly to fit into the smallest compart- ment of her pocket booi fold- ed su a The with a sr which i the long line of men seen it, “I want the iey on those. he young man looked them over and ex- 1 told you | getting into pr hese have bee: that. I ma money for th rand got ut myself n 1 went 2 all back yoig nts.”” confess I don't quite understand fhe war is over, isn’t it?” ertainly revenue stamps ck was to that we've got Port Islands and a wt things, of cou ° heart to her she rk, who ate Honors to Irving. Kisn Ch ors conferred universt heir marks which re unquestiona er equippe Mr. Irving for the work « na, but there is p quipped who is at the same tor and manager in the most of » terms. H though not of the highest, s fies the conferring of the LL. D., while his career on the stage marks him out above all other men now living in England as the person most worthy to receive from the hands of the university a signal evidence of deep appreciation of the importance to so- ciety of a well-conducted stage. It is not too much, we trust, to hope that in this country the time is not remote when a similar spirit will be shown by our insti- tutions of learning. It high time that the long estrangement between several of our Jeading religions denominations and the theater was terminated. tage and the church have both suffered the aliena- tion, and both will n by the establish- ment of a concord which ought never to have been broken. 208 A Queer Business. From Tit-Bits. Count Rocco the ness of his sven years vitch has m m the chief t ty-four of the life for thi he has lived, for the pur hering infermation for a book is anxious to write on the subject. At thirteen he left his home and went into Prussia, where he was arrested for trespassing and sent to prison for three months, working at chalr making. From that time to this he haf never been free from t re to continue his prison e From thirteen un- til he was was in and out of more than y prisons in Belgium, Prussia, Poland and Russia. His first ea perience of gaol life in England was in Liverpool, which was one of the worst he was ever in, filled with drunken sailors from all over the wcrld. He stayed there six days, when he paid his fine and got out, the first time he faited to serve his sentence. Then he went to Ireland, France, the business as it would stand. He asked | Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey, then to me’ why I didn’t take up medicine. I thanked him for the hint and went to see our family physician. He told me that it was an exacting life in which the percent- age of eminent sucess was small. In fact, he said that there were more physicians now than there was practice for. He had heard me sing and asked me if I had never thought of a career in music. I went to see a musician and he tried my voice.” “What did he say?” “He wasn’t as gently considerate as the | ways have a good time wherever they go. others. He said there were hundreds of people with better voices than mine look- Egypt, where the gaols are the worst in the world except Australia! next to India and Japan, and then to America, where he remained for more than a year, spend- ing most of his time in gaols and peniten- tiaries. ———__ +e + —___. The Mystery Explained. Frem the Chicago Record. “I can’t understand how some people “That's easy enough; they take it along with them.” (Copyright, 1898, Life Publishing Company.) “Now, I told you, Rosanna, we'd get = here before them folks was dressed.”