Evening Star Newspaper, October 29, 1898, Page 15

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1898-24 PAGES. PALACE OF THE DOWN IN PATAGONIA ee a Life in the Most Southern City on the Globe. LIKE A BOOM TOWN IN THE WEST Sheep Farming Has Come to Be a Great Industry. ee THE BUSINESS PROFITS OF rrespondence of The Evening Star. Copyrighted, nk G. Carpenter.) Patagonia, mb 24, 1898. ARENAS [8 southernmost city of the world. It is at “the bottom of the South American continent, 1.200 muse nearer the south pi than Cape Town, at the lower end of Af- | rica. It MX) miles : south of New York, and its latitude 1s that of Labrador. Still its winters are warmer than those d just now, at its green. the the n s covered with northern midway of between oceans, more th h of Cape Horn, ¥ mmercial capital of a t and land w is alme of world. for: of Magellan, the the t opposite e rest t number id behind eds of miles, s of provisions t to supp bis tas bee Back wide | | balance your way over t of sh ur- | wrinkled pair roots but | y color | | | is very high. America What is here corner in good = r 4 man to me y, i to ner just above the } ' cost me 4 postage stamp, ‘ 0. The days for wever, are past, and SS are going every year h of t ‘operty has a vue, and Several business u h would out of place in & city the Palace of the Magelians. i T is one residence here which would bea ont best part of Washing- ton city It is by all ods the jest i pear : it has cost more than | autiful | art ac r of our | cons da a Russian | w fortu: si ) raisin { = fortune nh her husband, } she MS fd) res of | a thousan: Her t sated on the bite | Square. This is a grass plot of about :wo | a t with a wooden paling. It has | w hways running through ft and a | Band seict th nter. On the sorth | s is the governor's house, 2 leng | LU w Story structure, with a wall of | & e rear. On th St is a large tr S ding, the new barracks of the | nattonal guard, and on the east are some ® s d the palace of thts millionaire w w 1t is made of red brick covered With stucco, so tintshed that {t looks like & light brown stone. It has two stories and a mansard, with several towers and | Dienty of gingerbread work. The artists &re now decorating it. They were im- Ported from Buenos Ayres for the purpose. @s were also the carpenters, the brickiayers and, in fact, all of the laborers connected | eack | Was only an emp with it. The were also imported. fivery bit of the furniture will come from and the house when finished will omfortable as any in Paris. It i however. a Arenas, the me the only house of its kind in Pun. tof the other dwellings the mainiand. He is a young man, but possesses remarkable business ability, and makes a very excellent consul. On a Big Sheep Farm. The manag>ment of one of these larg? sheep farms is interesting. Take that of the company which has two and one-half million acres in Tierra de} Fuego. Its one hundred thousand sheep are divided up into flocks of two thousand each. Each flock has a pasture tract about six miles square allotted to it. This is just the size of many of our American town- ships, and if you will imagine a township as one field you will have an idea of the ordinary Tierra del Fuego pasture. This, to many of our farmers, would seem a large amount of land for this number of sheep, but th> grass here is short, and in Tierra del Fuego from two to three acres of pasture are required for each sheep. very flock has its own shepherd, who watches the sheep on horseback. He has a number of dogs which he so trains that they will obey his signs. Most of the dogs are Scoteh collies, which are very intelli- gent, and which understand their masters almost us well as though théy could unde and language. Wh2n the shepherd makes a motion to the front they know that they are to go ahead, a motion to the rear calls them back, and the raising of his hand in the air brings them to a standstill. Other motions send them to the right and left, and, in fact, they act for him almost as well as if they were human beings. The ing one-story siructures, which could he built for from $50) to $1,500 in the United States. It shows you, however,that all of the People here at the tail end of creation are not poor. On the contrary, Punta Arenas more rich men, perhaps, than any frontier town of its size in the world. It is the me- tropolis of the great sheep industry of southern Patagonia, and there are rich sheep owners here who live almost as lu uriantly as do our millionaire miners Denver. There are thirty-three men and companies who each own and control from twenty. thousand acres to two and on, half million acres of land. They have their sheep by the tens of thousands, and several of them have an annual wool clip worth more than the salary of the Presilent of the United $ They Are Cosmopolitan. The citizens of Punta Arenas come from all parts of the world. You hear English, German and Spanish on every corner, and your eats are dinned with the jargon of the Austrian, the Italian and the Russian. Some of the richest of the people are Ru Sian, and others are Scotchmen, who have come from the Falkland Islands to engage in sheep farming here. The niards, smooth-tongued Argentines and hard-looking brigands from Chile. The lower classes are chiefly sailo and shepherds, and among them you ma d as many rough characters as in our mining camps of the west. There are no licensed gambling dens or sporting hous but there are plenty of saloons, manage by hard-featured young women, who sit in the doorways during the day and smoke cigarettes. Knots of bearded men, with their trousers in their boots, and clothes of all descriptions, are to be seen on the street. The order kept is, however, very are treacherous Sp Police Station. y Seotchmen, who come rontracts at from $25 lo vith the understanding shepherds are usual here on five-year gold a mont that they are to hove meat, fuel and houses fres. The meat is mutton, the fuel they cut themselves, and their houses are little two or three-room shanties scattered over the farm. They do not have very hard work for most of th2 year. They have ‘o feed the sheep. This is not hard, for all the feeding that the sheep get is from the pasture, for the grass is always green on the Magellans, and the sh-ep can graze in Tierra del Fuego all the year around, Shearing Sheep. They have a iittle harder work at shear- ing time, but here much of the work is done by professional shearers and the shep- herds only assist. The shearing time begins in January, and on a big sheep station it Patagonian Indians, good, considering the population. The gov- nor of the Magellans lives here. He is »pointed by the president of Chile, and he y the Magellans, but the whole Tierra del Muegan is of the Hie has four hundred soldiers t You hear the mili- morning, they begin their drill, and again at sunset. or at about 4 o'clock in the after on. The soldiers act as the police. Eacn them has a long sword at his side, and "Ss not scruple to use it in making an of archipel stationed tary when go in bands playing at 9 in the ne Of late some of the soldiers have been using sword-canes. You think they ive nothing but a walking stick, but if you resist them they jerk the stick apart ou-a thrust under the fifth rib 1. and give 3 with a sharp blade of ste A Town of C| Dm. It seems funny to think of a club down here on the Magellans, in the home of the suanaco, the seal, the whal> and the naked orig Fut Punta Arenas has its lubs, where the better classes of men meet for a social good time, a game of poker and t of liquid refreshment. ‘The club is uso the company. for here, as in many of South American cities, the fire compa composed of the best men in the place. In Punta Arenas the club pz rs are over the engine room. Th well furnished. They have two bi bies. {Wo poker rooms, a reading roc but not least a bar. The bar vund in every clab and in every hotel in h America a rule, much put- tronized. At hotel where I am living in S you can get nything from champazae to Manhattan cocktail pm a sherry and L porisse dea! of drinking at We are so far 1 he ‘kK now at 4 p.m. B%ests have no ing p! but the room, a every night at about four rmers, merchants, clocks others drop in Ket their nip before nner, As dinner does not come on until half-past 6 they have plenty of time to fill up before that. ‘The favorite mathod buying drinks is man in the party throwing dies the loser paying the bill. Liquors are very high bere. This is so, notwithstanding that Punta Arenas is a free port duty is charged. Champagne e. silver dollars a bottle. This last TL know to my sorrow, for in a g2nerous mood while : king sheep with « number of farmers t night I ordered champagne for the crowd. The bill was astoundiag. Sheep Farming in Tierra Del Fuegy. You can't tell a man down here by his clothes. One of these sheep farmers, a oung fellow of thirty, whose income runs to the tens of thousands a year, wears a faded $10 velveteen suit, shirt, these is to be fi to a glass of vermouth or There is a great the it is di hotel sou Tie bar and @ 75-cent wool slouch hat and a pair of high boots Half the time his shirt is unbuttoned at the neck and to look at him you would not think him worth a cent His sheep farm as big as an OFio county, and at the st nting his sheep numbered 60.000 head. Another of the barty Was a your Englishman, who was dressed in a cos that would not have been out of pla Hyde Park. He had swell riding boots. with a well-cut suit of Scotch tweed. lie loye at a big sheep sta- tion. A third man was dressed much like an American busiuess man. He was the janager of the biggest sheep ranch in ierra del Fuego. He had the supervision of more than a hundred thousand sheep and of a grazing territory of two and onc. half million acres of land. Sheep farming has now become the great industry of this part of the world. A large part of lower Patagonia ts given up to it. and all of the available lands in the that | lasts for two months. The sheep are not x hed before shearing. The wool is cleaned after it reaches the European m1r- ket. The price paid the shearers is $4.50 per hundred sheep, at which rate a good man can make big wage Within the past year.or so some flocks in Tierra del Fuego heared by steam. A set of knive pers, like those used by our barbers for clipping the hair short, is attached to a cord running on an overhead pulley and a man m: these clippers over the skin of the sheep, clipping off the wool. This is said to ‘nike a cleaner and closer job and does not cut the skin. After shearing the fleeces are carefully spread out, bein laid one on top of the other, and so packed in bales of 500 pounds The most of the wool gocs to the English markets, where it briags from 8 to ents a pound. All of those have their managers, ov. and bookkeerers. y ‘y one has a store, where its men can get their supplies, and’ every suc- cessful sheep station must be managed af- ter the be ness methods. Sheep ra ing is by no means all profit. It takes mon- ey to make money here as well as where. I heard of one farmer who paid $10,000 for “dip” last year. “Dip” is. the term used for the fluld in which the sheep veral times a year to free from the scabs. The scab is a para- which spreads so rapidly that it will infect a thousand sheep within a few da Profits of Sheep Raising. with all this dees sheep farming pay? Yes, if you can get the land and the heep. But the land about here and in Tierra del Fuego is all taken up, though I am told that there is some to be bought in Argentine Patagonia. Much of the Chilean nds are held under lease from the gov- nment, but nearly all 1s In large tracts, nich is necessary on account of the thin- of the pasture. Sheep here are worth the average about $2.50 gold a head. r els) p: them And n on It is estimated that the ewes will produc: an ine: » of about 45 per cent of the flock a year, and taking the wool and the erease into consideration every sheep in the flock should oprietor avout dollar a year. r of emplo needed is comparatively small, and this is being considerably reduced by fencing th: pasture fields with wire. At present it kes a iarge capital to go into sheep ing in this part of the world, and con- say sidering everything I should anees for the ordinary Ame small investor would be aardly worth consideration. FRANK G. CARPENTER, — IN THE CHURCHES Le Moore of this city was in New York this week in attendance at the Universalist conference for the territory cevered by the middle states. While in New York Mr. Moore assisted in the dedi- cation of the new church of the Divine Pa- that the Rev. ternity, which has just been completed at cost of $600,000, ‘The organ, which cost 20,000), was the gift of Andrew Carnegie, nd is a mcmerial to Mrs. Carnegie’s p: erts. There is in the edifice a memorial window to the late George M. Puliman. A vast space under the auditorium is to be ecnyerted into a school for organ playing, and will be named (he Emma Abbott Hall, in honor of the opera singer. Miss Abbott left $5,000 to the church. The money has been accumulating since her death und will be applied to the equipment of the hall. Emma Abbott was educated at the ex- pense of the members of the congrega- tion of *he church, and her gratitude took this practical form. The new church 1s to be open every day. The congregation was organized in 1838, Monday next will mark the 38ist anni- versary of the qventful day in the history of religion whe® Martin Luther nailed to the door of the cathedral at Wittenberg his ninety-five theses condemning the granting and sale of indulgences. The day a'so marks the birthday of the Protestant Reformation. There will be no special services in honor of the two events except that the Lutheran ministers throughout the city will, it is probable, refer to them in their sermons on the previous da Prominent members of the Protestant Episcoyal Church who are responsible for the safe keepirg of diocesan and other funds are endeavoring to bring about a change of method ir, al! dioceses and have issued a plan, which is, however, still in tertative shape, upon which they desire receive suggestions. The salaries of Episcopal bishops are paid from invested funds and contributions from churches. ‘These invested funds run from $30,000 in the weaker jurisdictions to $200,000 in the stronger ones. Then there is the fund for aged and infirm clergy and moneys be- lorging to different churches in the diocese. Chilean territory of the Magellans, inelud- irg Tierra del Fuego, have been eliher bought or leased. It will give you some idea of the growth of the industry when I tell you that tn 1878, just twenty years ago, there were only 185 sheep in all the Megellans. Seven years later there were 40,00, and in 1892 the number had increas. ed to 480,000. In 1885 it w: estimated that there were 900,000, and now on this fsland alone there are corsiderably more than a million sheep. The sheen farmers irally came here from the Fal land Tsland! but sirce then Australians, Freach, Ger- mans, Russians and others have joined with them in gobbling up the lands. The majority, however, are English and Scotch. One of the largest cwners of sheep here ig our American consul, who is also inter~ dg in many other things. His name js laurice Braun. He is a Russian by birth, but the most of his life has been spent in the Magellans. He has 340,000 acres in Tierra del Fuego, and ts interested in a number of other large farms there and on The plan proposed is that the managers of these funds arrange with trust com- panies of assured standing, both to hold existing securities und to advise concern- ing the investment of accumulations. There has been talk of establishing a church trust company to do a national business in church funds, with perhaps branches in large cities. It is stated that not only would Episcopal funds be better cared for by such an arrangement, but that other denominations holding such funds will adopt the idea. There are said to be at Icast $100,000,000 of such moneys held by all churches in the country, and this outside of hospitals, asylums and (he like. The funds to be affected are those only for which a church organ‘zation of any kind ts directly or indirectly responsible. Mr. John C. Parker has been chosen to represent the Lutheran churches of this city at the next meeting of the general syn- ed, which will be held at York, Pa. At the recent meeting of the Lutheran synod at Taneytown, Md., Rev. Dr. Parson of Wash- ington secured the passage of a resolution indorsiug the work of fhe foreign board and expressive of the confidence of the synod in its officers It 18 sald to be the most im- portant matter, in view ofall the circum- stances, transacted during the meeting of the body. : The board of bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church South ha¥ determined to extend the bounds of therehurch to the proposed new American possessions, effect- ing such organizations. in them as exist in the states. Bishop Candler, who has been elecied to inaugurate thé work, will at first go to Havana, then to! Porto Rico and to all the larger citiescef the islands. Only a small group of assistants will accompany Bishop Candler, but he has arranged to have many pastors follow ‘him. The work is to be conducted upen a much more sy: tematic plan than is usually attempted. The islands will be treated as states or territor- jes and regular state organizations perfect- ed. It is expected that the West Indian churches will be represented in the next general conference. Rey. Dr. A. W. Pitzer, pastor of Central Presbyterian Church, has gone to St. Louis to attend the meeting of the Pan-Presby terian executive committee. The committe is composed of some of the most prominent members of the denomination in the world, and Dr. Pitzer stands in the very front rank. As will be remembered, Dr. Pitzer organized the church of which he is pas- tor a number of years ago. In addition to his ministerial work the doctor been active in public affairs, and his prominence in the early history of Leavenworth, Kan., was such that the Kansas State Historical Society has caused a life-size portrait of him to be placed in its gallery of portraits. He filled the chair of biblical theology in Howard University in this city from 1Si6 t 1990, and he has been president of the Washington Evangelical Alliance since 1873. He has been six times a commissioner to the general assembly, and at the Atlanta as- sembly introduced the resolution to esti Lsh more fraternal re.ations with the North- ern Presbyterian Church. He has also rep- resented fis branch of the church in other important bodies. He is likewise the author of many books and leading articles in re- ligious periodicals. According to advices received here, Com- mander Ballington Booth of the Volunteers of America has perfected plans for the founding of an organization which will, it is expected, have at least one branch in Washington. The movement is entirely non-sectarian in its character and has, it is said, received pledges of support from many of the leading religious denomina- tions. Commander Booth will be president of the federation and there will be about fifteen vice presidents, who will be selected from among the bishops of the various re lgious denominations. Several bishops hav already given thcir hearty support to the movement and have agreed to act as vice presidents of the federation. Among these are Bishops Vincent of the M. E. Church North, Fitzgerald of the M. E. Church South, Fallows of the Protestant Episcopal Church and Gen. O. O. Howard of the Con- gregational Church. Rev. Dr, S$. M. Newman of the First Congregational Church has gone to Con- cord, N. H., to attend the annual meeting of the American Missionary Association, of which he is a member. Much of the work of the association is performed in the south, as follows: Chartered institutions, 6; norm. and graded s 40; common pools, 25; instructo pupils, 11,6 The special elementary schools under the care of the church are chiefly in isvlated places, not cared for by the public schools, and are ustially associated with the rural churches. There have been many conver- sions among the pupils. The statistics of the church work in the South are: Number of churche: aries, 138; and mission- 11,061; schol- 202; ministers nurch members, s in church and mission Schools, 15,059. e receipts uuring the year amounted to 7.487, and the expenditures to $271 ving a credit balance on the year of 650. At the beginning of the year there Sa debt of $54.45, all of which r paid. The contributions from wome sio. to “The Brotherhood of the Methodist Epis- copal Church” has been formed. The ob- ject is to promote religious work among men in Methodist. Episcopal brother- hoods existjng for 1 religious work among and for men. It is not the intention to interfere with any existing organization in the church, but to help,ail. The chief element is individual work by men for men. Rev. Dr. F. D. Power, pagtor of the Ver- mont Avenue Christian Church re- turned from Chattanooga, Tenn., where he presided at the annbal’ meeting of the American Christian Missionary Society, the largest’ organization. of the — Christi Church. During the year just closed the were employed by the society 401 mission- aries; 2H churches were organized, and 15,500 persons were brought into the church by missionary work. The total income for the year was $41,345.67, a gain of $3,446.40 over the previous twelve months. The re- port of J. Z. Tyler, superintendent of the the Christian Endeavor movement of church, included the following point October, 1892, there were 1,21 soc in 1803 there Were 1,685; in 1804 there we 2446; in 1 there were 3,085; in_ 18% there were 3,654; in J897 there Were 3,987, nd in 1898 there were 4,¢ It is understood that an American saint will soon be added to the list of holy per- sonages canonized by the Catholic Church. Canada has its spiritual patrons, who: deeds have been recognized by the sacred congregation of ri the ‘tribunal of canonization in Rome.’ South America is also repres nted in the communion of the 4, Virtues are extolled, that their light may shine before the men of succeed- ing generations. St. Rose of Lima is the name of the holy woman whose work South America clevated her into the asse blage of saints, but up to the moment when preparations Were initiated to place the name of Bishop Neumann of Philadelphia on the role of canonized hierarchy, North America had received no official - tical acknowledgment of the virtue: have distinguished its priests and la en, As has been heretofore stated in The Star, Bishop Neumann was one of the most ven- ; hos erated ecclesias succeeding Dr. rick on his removal to Baltimor testan nd Catholics alike res and his learning. When he died, on the eve of the national struggle t plunged the country for four years into strife and mourning, he was followed to the grave by scrrowing throngs. Asbury Church, 11th and K streets north- West, one of the most prominent colored churches in the city for more than half # centu, has been newly dre: ‘d and im- proved at a cost of $4,500 and will be re- opened tomorrow. Able ministers have been ecured, among them Dr. W. H. Brooks of vk, Drs. J. A. Johnson, Geo. W. alter H. Brooks, E. W. 8. Peck, R. K. Hart, and Revs. M. W. Clair, J. F. Chest- nut, J. A. Taylor, J. H. Griffin and Mc Lake of Washington, Revs. M. J. and N. M. Carroll of Baltima W. H. Gaines of Alexandria, Va. cises will commence Sunday, October 30, and end November 11, The music will be furnished by several choirs, Dr. 1. L Thomas, the pastor of the church, will be- gin revival services Sunday, November 13. —— The Niger. From the Gentleman's Magazine. ° Park died in the belief that the Niger found its way to the Atlantic through the Congo. which alone at its mouth seemed to possess an adequate body of water fur so long a river; and, while Maj. Pe2die in vain attempeted to follow Park’s route from the Gambia, Lieut. Tuckey was, in consonance with his theory, dispatched by the British government in 1816 to follow up the Congo from its mouth. But. both expeditions Froved equally disastrous) Eight years later Lieut. Clapperton, on his first expediifon from the Barbary coast, learned at Sackatoo (or Sokoty) that the Niger flowed southward to the sea With a view to determine this, he was zent out again in 5, and this time landed at Badagry, rear Lagos. in the Bigh: of Benin, not a very ereat glistance, as !t afterward turned cut, from the long-sought mouth of the river. From here he and his companions traveled overland, reaching the Niger at Bussa, just below where Mungo Park had met’ with His death. Then, instead of following his instructions and descending the river to its outlet. he started off on an ambitious de- sign to cross the continent to Abyssinia, and died at Sokoto in Apri!, 1827. It was Clapperton’s servant, Richard Lander, who, with his brother John, in 1830, settled the question of the outlet of the Niger by descending it in canoes from Bussa, or rather from Yaurl, where they had first gone to try to recover Park's papers. The mystery was solved, and the river was found to enter the sea by a num- ber of mouths, which for hundreds of years had been known to our merchants as the Ol rivers, and which, being individually smaller than the united stream, had given no suspicion cf their being the outlets of a great river. The Landers seem tc have met with fewer obstacles from the rapids, which had proved so fatal to Park, than from the unfriendiiness of the natives. eee All Washington an Andlence. The Star's “Wanted Help and Situations” columns are carefully read by thousands daily. Fifteen cents pays for fifteen words. i Written for The Evening Star. OOM PAUL'S ADVISER Peter Gillingham is the Power Be- hind the Throne. HOLDS NO HIGH OFFICIAL POSITION Yet He is Consulted on Almost Every Important Matter. FEATURES OF BOER LIFE RESIDENT KRU- r of the Transvaal man who may be classed as ap- proachable—with lim- itations, Through all seasons he rises in the morning at 5:30/ o'clock, and tmmedi-} ately fortifies himseif | with a cup of strong black coffee, so hot that, to use a tropli- | cal simile of the old burghers, it will burn the hair off a lion. After this he reads the Bible and prays exhaustively, some of his | most intimate friends at times joining in the orisons. Then the president is ready to hold an informal levee on tho quaint little veranda, up the posts of which creep sleepy-looking nasturtiums and vari- colored morning glori From 6:30 to lock Mr. Kruger sits in a rocking chair, giving rapid little puffs at a meerschaum pipe, filled with Boer to- bacco, sometimes talking very rapidly, with a semi-sputter to one of his executive council on state affairs; sometimes laps- ing into silence, his eyes narrowed to a mere glint. and again reaching forward his buffy little right hand, which is minus a thumb, to greet an old Boer who may have trekked eighty miles and camped over night in the church square in order to con- sult Oom (ancie) Paul abont something of vital interest to the rural population. In this respect Mr. Kruger has not departed from the pastoral and patriarchal govern- ment under which the Boers lived when they made their “great trek” from Cape Colony in 1835, on which expedition the lit- tle band killed 6,000 lions and fought in- numerable battles with the savages. And it is for this reason that he is loved so much by the old Boers, Mr. Kruger, however, makes one excep- dion vo the guests at his early levee, and that is newspaper correspondents. He will occasionally talk with a representative of the Johannesburg Standard and Diggers’ News, the Pretoria Press of the Volksteln, all of which papers are subsidized by the Transvaal government, but for the corr spondents of foreign papers it is next to impossible to gain an audience and an interwew. Seeking an Interview. Mr. Ellerthorpe of the Londen Daily Tele- graph, and a representative of Black and Whe, had been working unsuccessfully for two months to this end when the writer reached Pretoria, though they were handi- capped by Mr. Kruger’s interse dislike for everything English, so intense that he will not allow the language to be taught in the Boer schools. is It was, therefore, with no little misgiving that wre set out to accomplish this deside- ratum, wnich had been on our minds ever ce leaving New York, three months be . and which was t ht about by a man who occupies such a unique position in the Transvaal government that he in- ed us equally with Kruger himself, a modest frame house, the front part of which is occu bakeshop and confectionery counter, holding no posi- tion other than justice the peace, and not even having the merit of being a native Boer or Hollander, this man wields an fluence equaled by no other resident in the Transvaal. He is, in fact, the political boss of the South African republic. He Is consulted by nearly all the members of the raad, in both the progressive and conserva- tive parties, advises the executive council, and 1s persona grata with President Kra- ger, who treats him as his most intima‘: friend and looks to him for clever advice in ticklish political crises. And yet Mr. Pe Gillingham claims allegiance only to Ire- land, though he speaks the Duteh language fluently, and is hesrt and hand with th with the Englt the Transvaal th years, going there from Cape Colony i capacity of a genc yeculator, How well he has succeeded In this no one knows, but Boers in their differences hi He has been in Pretorian: that behind the counters where he di ginger cakes and bread m, Iris man and Boer, car- whicn he has ac- tle, coupled with ded by the patrona esses af. quired by bri the advantag of the president. To Eke Out an Income. On leaving New York for a tramp thrcugh South Africa with a fellow-news- paper man on a very limited capital of the most important points, as it seeme¢ to us, Was to secur? just such an in! view, with Oom Paul. Several foreign con- suls offered to give vs letters to their rep- entatives in the Transvaal, but could not one premise that they wer> in such close touch with the Grand Old Man of South Africa as to insure us a welecme reception. In this predicament we were directed to C. O'Con: nor McLaughlin, a well-known New York jovrnalist, at that tme secretary of the Irish National Alliar ce, who, looking over a time-wern volume cn his desk, found the name of McBride. Here is a man,” said he, “who will put you on the right track. Our directory gives him as a weighmaster in the min2 Landlaagte estate, two miles from nesburg, near the Simmer and Jack. I heave no idea where that is, and T never heard of th> man, but if you give him this letter and tell him you are # good Irishm: he'll get you the introduction, for we are very strong in that country.” It was not such an easy matter to find McBride after getting to Johannesburg. Even after the Landlaagte had been located {t seemed to be operated Brides, and it was only after considerable search that McBride the weighman was lo- cated in the second level, 2,000 feet below the surface, whither the American mana ger gave us permission to descend on a passenger car This was not an inviting expedition and it was rather discouraging after the run to hav? Mr. McBride tell us he could not furnish the introduction. “I will give you @ letter to MeCann, though,” he offered, “and he will send you to Gillingham, and Gillmgham owns Oom Paul.” Meeting Mr. MeCan: Our next step toward securing the in- terview, therefore, was to meet Mr. E. C, McCann, proprietor of a hitle tailor shop, near the Barnato bulidings in Jo- hannesburg, and the reception accorded us there nearly tured us from our pur- pos>. Neither of the two empivyes at work on the counter looked at or spoke to us for some time. “What do you want?” finally inquired a large man, with immense shoul- de and a forbidding face. We want to see M McCann,” we re- plied, modestly. “We have a letter from the National Alliance in New York. We're gocd Irishmen and wish to get an intro- duction to Mr. Kruger through him.” At this there Was a great clatter in an adjoining room and from the doorway emerged a tall man with an exc »edingly red nose, a gray dragoon musi veloped in a !ong frock coat. “I'm McCann, the tailor,” he said, ing at us keenly. “Who ar you?” without giving us a chance to answ stepp2d up the two letters and disappear- ed in the street. Astonishment gave way to anger at this shabby treatment, and we were on the point of giving vent to the latter when the tailor attracted cur attention from the oppo: ner by winking violently and _bec “You never want that,” he said. angrily. “If you are good Irishman, ax you say you are, you ought to know that the English government has spies all through th> Transvaal, and you never know who you are talking to.” With that he led the way to a basement saloon on Commissioner street, selecting a small room in th = “Ben,” uid to a tough-looking citi- uswered the clectric summons, “ntlemen? Well, lock the dopr on the outside and don’t let them out until I give the word. Taken tor Spies. ow,” he continued turving “what's your same? If you think you can come it over old McCann, why guess again. You are no mere Irishmen than the Prince of Wal S are not Irish, che and en- le to make a break like he to us, s. Your nam er are your faces. You are spies, by you've come here to find out the Alliance is in Johannes- burg. Well, you got in the wrong shaft. I don't require a before I tumble.” It was not until ot our ani one house to fall on me we admitted that none had ever seen Ireland that the eccentric old tailor's eye softened and a genial smile fllumined his face “Now, boys,” he said, “that’s different. I see your game. u want is to meet Ocm Paul thr » influence. You're straight’ Am Which is something usual to see I lke you, 2 ad if you come to my store in two days I'll have the way prepared.” McCann’s preparation consisted in writ ing to the “boss,” who undertcok the mis- sicn, apparent i me way 1d Ireland. with the impression that it we for th rod The tailor gave us our cre- Gentials and Lid us good by, with the part- ing injunction For heaven's sake, don’t refuse coffee, should the president offer il, evea if it se S you speechless.” “Boss” Gi.lingham is the busiest man in the Transvaal. two days bet We had been in Pretoria we found him at home In company with numerous speculators and foreign agents we haunted th ?. Gillingham, Baker,” under another legend in smaller type, tice of the Peace. sign of “P. h which is “And Jus- Impertince of Gillingha One of the men was [rom Daytort, O., and sought Giilingham’s influence to sell Oom Paul a phaetor an American Another represented e firm, and he wanted to build a masoleum for the president and his family. Some of them had alrea: and talked with this influential “ testified U he mar and wes no myth, as we ha xer concluded after & told continually that he wes “not at home” or “had a meeting to attend.” Eventually we were ushered through the bakery into a small sitting recom, where the president's right bower receive: his callers, and met a man with keen by yes. light hair, mustache and chin beard, of well-sei figure square shoul- pure English. He i got right down to Gers and speaking grected us warmly busines: “I've told His Horor about you,” he said, “ard he is anxicus to meet you. If you will come to my house at 6 o'clock to- morrow morning ['ll take you you can talk to him as long as he He's in a good humor now and wi if you know your busine: Gillingham was not disposed io speak of himself and evaded all questions bear- ing on politics, but told us with no little pride that be was but thirty-nine years He was born at yarents, and there absorbed the customs of the Dutch se thoroughly that he is regard- ed in Pretoria as a stanch burgher and good Dutchman. Though born w der the English flag, he has no love for it, ard that is the secret of his pepularity ‘with President Kruger, who, though a mightly shrewd old hunter and politician, has points of weakuess bor- cering on fatuity. Gillingham made his first coup with Kruger at the time of the Jamison raid, when England threatened to wipe out the little republic. With th hosts of England arrayed against the Tiansvaal, ard no friends, this plucky Irishman got together some of his coun- trymen and offered to raise a regiment to fight for it against the British. Further- more, he communicated with Irishmen tn America and proposed that they arm and equip forces to send down to aid the Boe! Oom Paul, who is just as gererous as he (Copyright, 1898, Life Publishing Company.) the Cape, of Irish | | | | port, th: is vindictive, was quite overcome by this offer, and he has ever since kept a warm spot in his heart for the Irish, Has a Long Herd. More thaa this, however, Gillingham ha a long heal, kt.ows when to advise, when” to keep quiet, and is so genial and adapta- bie that he ts always “in the know.” This is appreciated by GOom Paul, to whom the Irishman is loyal, for such ts the political strife In the Transvaal that Krager is often at _a loss to know whom to trust lingham bas no other position than Justice of the peace, seeks for no publtc honors, is never written about and poses as a strictly neutral person. In this ca- city Kruger pts his advice on the most important national and international avestions, and the only way he profits is by_concesstons. Concessions are granted for the most ab- surd purposes. One man has the exciusiv right to make jam in the Traansval. The dynamite corcessionaires give the govern ment 5 shillings cn each case, and clear about 50 rhillings. Such a high duty ts put upon the American article, which is vastly superior in qvality, as to practically ex clude it. The *unsubstdized press is very Litter against Mr. Kruger on account of this cone>ssion business, and goes so far as to ask how the president could amass a fortune of more than a million on a salary of £7,000, and how his son-in-law, Eloff, could build a $250,000 palace on no salary. 4 Gillingham is in the front rank of con- cessionaires, and it was one of these con- cessions that kept him engaged waile we were there Kruger and the English. Among tte ons put to Mr. in our Interview was the following “Are you not afraid that, without a sea- Enetish will starve you out?” “If God wills it,” he replied, “they can do it. If not, the English might build a wall around as high Jericho, and we would live comfortably.” At this he looked to the wily Irishmar as though for assent, and Gillingham informed us later that Mr. Kru- Ker was greatly delighted at his proposi- tion to erect huge cold storage warehouses, wherein 25,001 beeves could be stored—a, safeguard against being starved out in case of a war with the English, He heen granted the concession to houses, The first question asked us by President Kruger when we finally reached him wi “Are you from Rhodes?” He looked at us rather sharply from the slit of one eye, imbedded in putty flesh, seamed with wrine les, and we hastened to reply in the neg , ative. “They're both good Irishmen, added Gillingham, and the half dozen mem- bers of the read. Paymaster General Van Alpen, Commirsioner of Mines Kroebler and Commissicner of War Smidt, all of whom came along to hear the interview, laughed heartily “What's your religion?” was the next question, and this put us for a moment in a trance, from which we were extricated again by the Irishman’s wit. “The Reform ed Church ts very strong in New York,” be observed carelessly as a cue. We remem bered thea that the president is a most quest Kruger as had just butld “the bigoted Dutch Reformer. and explained to: him that while an American newspaper man’s religicus views must necessarily be very elas‘ic, we were at the present mo- ment stanch Dutch Reformers. Two Shrewd Men. At this Oom Paul puffed fast, smiled wide and eventually chuckled, whereupon We took occesion, at Gillingham’s sugges: tion, to ply him with a volley of questions. At the end of the interview we hardly knew which interested us most, the shrewd olf Boer or the clever young Irishman, who emed to understand each other | thor- nly. Gillingham lives In more simplicity even than Mr. Kruger, who dines with his coach- n. m: His two sons, Joseph and Parnell, town school (though Mr. Gil- nds giving them a college edu- cation), and they may be seen at times be- hind the counter Aingham lives plainly and dines plainly, his only indulgence be- ing good cigars and a fine pair of horses His team is usually on the go all day, for he is in no one place for many minutes. He is closeted wits Mr. Kruger more fre- quently than any one else, and the prest- dent often calls at the bake shop and chats in the rear room with the proprietor about doings in the Rand Though seldom seen actively engaged in his place of business nowadays, no false pride absents Gillingham, and when we led in the evening to bid him farewell he Was engaged in wrapping up some hot buns for a comely Boer maiden. He looked al us w... a benign smi shook hands warm- ly, and then tipped an almighty shrewd wink, as though he would say: “It’s a smart man who can tell a valuable dia. mond in the rough ALLEN SANGREE. ———_ ++ School Holidays in France. From the New York Herald. The small boy who has to go to school In New York looks upon the small boy who has to go to school in France with some- thing of the envy with which Lazarus may have looked upon Dives. It is the question of holidays which constitutes the difference in favor of the lad who attends a public school of instruction in the French republic, The school boys of France have more holl- days than work days in the year, and in that fact lies the grievance of the Amert- can youngster. The average boy, be he a native of Manhattan or a child of Timbuc- too, is more fond of a holiday than he ts of a Workday, theorists and moralists to the contrary nothwithstanding. And the more holidays he has the better terms is he on with himself and all the world Two hundred and six holidays in the year, as against 159 school days! That's the record of public instruction in France. To begin with, there is the regular midsum- mer holiday, Which covers a period of six- ty-four day That's pretty good for a starter. Then there are the Sundays. They are holidays, of course, everywhere, but they count an additional fifty-two days. Then ten days are allowed for the proper celebration of Christmas and New Year. To be thoroughly observant of the great feast of Bastertid, days are he more days for three two days fifteen days are given. Thurs- ays, and that means fifty-two no labor. All Saints’ comes In ays’ holiday, St. Charlemagne Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wed- meniay Whitsuntide three days, and three days to make merry when the national fete in July rolls round. The rest of the year the children are supposed to study Ss — Wants Quickly Filled. At this season, when so many are seek- ing situations, and, on the other hand, so many seeking employes, it fs of interest to know that advertisements under the classifications Wanted Help and Wanted Situations are inserted in The Star at a charge of 15 cents for fifteen words, _—_— The sword might as well be turned into a ploughshare, as, in the face of these quick-firing modern guns, the sword isn’t of much account, anyhow.—Puck, THE EDUCATIOS OF MR. PIPP. While in Paris Mr. Pipp, just after dinner, steps out for a few moments with a chance acquaintance. It is now 2:30 a.m.