Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, May 11, 1890, Page 14

e —— 14 MUCH LIKE ERENCH GIRLS, Max O'Rell Tells All That He About American Women, AND TFINDS IT A DEEP SUBJECT. Knows In France Husband and Wife Enter the Dining Room Together, While in America Mrs, Jon- athan Leads the Way. A man was one ¢ that he had been ma out being able to understand his wi ould not complain of that,” remarked the friend, “I have been married to my wife two years only and I now understand her per- fectly.” The leaders of thought in France have long ago proclaimed that woman was tho only problem it was not given to man to solve, writes Max O'Rell in the New York Herald, They have all tried and they have all failed They all acknowledge it, but they are trying still, Indeed, the interest that woman inspires in every Frenehman is never exhausted. Par- odying Terrence, he says to himself, “Tam a man, and all that concerus woman intercsts me. To the Anglo-Saxon mind this sometimes | appears a trifle puerile, if not also ridiculous. But to understand this feeling one must re- member how o Frenchman is brought up, Tn England boys and girls meet and play together: in America and Canada they sit sido by on the same benches at school, not onily as children of tender age, but at col: lege and in the universities, They get accus- tomed to e s company; they sco nothing strange in being in contact witli each other, and this naturally tends to redice the interest or curiosi takes in the other. But in France they are apart, and the ballroom is the only place where they can meet when they have attained the ago of twenty. A PLUTTER AT £CHOOT. When Twas a boy at school in France T can well remember how we boys felt. on the subject. If wo heard that a young girl, the sister of some school fellow, was_ with he mother in_the common parlor to see her brother, why it ed a perfect com- motion, a perfect revolutian in the whol establish 1t was no use trying to keep us in order. We would climb on the top of the seats or on the tables to endeavor to sco hing of her, even if it were only the top b or a bit of petticoat neross the re- yard, at the very end of the school. Many “of us would even cly get inspired and compose verses addressed to the unknown fair visitor, In those poctical effusions we would fmagine the young girl carried off by some miscreant and we would fly to her rescue, save her and throw ourselves at her feet to re her hand as our reward. Yes, wo would gt quite poetical, or in piain English quite silly. Wo coutd not imagine that o woman was a reasoning being with whom you can talk on the topics of the day or have an ordinary con- versation on any ordinary subject. Tous a woman was a being with whom you can only talk of love, or fall in love, or ‘may bo for whom you may die of love, SMALL TALE. This manner of training a young man goes along way toward explaining the position of a womnan in France as well as her ways., It explains why a French man and a French wo- man, when they converse together, seldom can forget that one is a man and the other a woman, It mustonot prove thata French woman must necessarily be, and_is, affected in her relations with men, but she 'does not feel as the American woman does, that a man and a woman can enjoyei te a-tete free from all the commonplace” flatteries and compli- ments that badly understood gallantry sug- gests, Many Awerican ladies have made me forget, by the easiness of their manncr and the charm and naturalness of their conyersa- tion, that T was speaking with women, and with lovely ones too. This I could never for- get in the presence of French ladie: On account of this fecling and perhaps, also of the diffcrence which exists between the education received by a man and that received by a woman in France, the conversation will always be on some light topic—literary, art tie, dramatic, social or other. Tndeed it w be most deplice for a man to start a ver rious subject of conversation with a French Jady to whom ho had jfist been introduced. He would be taken for’a pedant or a man of bud breeding. In America men and women receive exactly the same education, and this of course enlaiges the circle of conversation between the sexes. 1 shall always remember o beautiful American girl not more t n twenty years of age’to whom 1 was once introduced us she was giving to a lady sitting next to her a most detailed des- cription of the latest bonnet invented in Paris, and who, turning toward me, asked me point blank if T had read M. Ernest Ren- an’s “History of the People of Israel.” I had to confess that 1 had not yet had time to read it. But she had, and she gave me, w out the remotest touch of affectation o pe antry, & most interesting and learned analysis of that remarkable work. When 1 related this fncident to my friends in France they exclaimed : DEAUTY A CRIME, “We imagine your fair American girl had a pair of gold spectacles on “No, my dear fellows,” I said, *nothing of the sort; i beautiful girl dressed with the most exquisite taste and care, most womanly no gold spectacles, no guy; an American woman, however learned she may be, is o sound politician, and she knows that the best thing sho can 'make of herself is a womun, and she remains a woman.” 1If, ina French drawing room, I were to remak to a lady how clever a woman looked, she would prob- ubly closely examine the woman's dress to find out what I thought was wrong about it, A French woman will seldom be jealous of another woman’s cloverness: she” will far more readily forgive her this qualification than beauty. In many other respects T have often been struck with the resemblance that exists be- tween French and Americpn women. When I took my fist walk on Broadway, New ks, on o fine afternoon some two years and o half ago, I can well remember how 1 ex- claimed: '“Why, this is Paris and all tho ladies ave Parislennes!” 1t struck mo as being the same type of face, the samo uni- mation of features, the sumo bright- ness of the cyes, the same sclf-ussurance, the same plumpness in women over thirty, o my mind I was having a wull on my own boulevards, The more I became acquainted with American ladics the m forcibly this resemblance struck me, This was not i mere flrst impression. It hus been, and is still, decp couviction, so that when I return'to New York from @ journey of some weeks in tho heart of the country I feel that 1 am re- turning home, MESALLIANCES, After a short timea still closer resemblanco Dbetween the women of the two countries will strike a Frenchman most foreibly, It is the samo subtlety, the same suppleness of mind, tho same wonderful adaptability, Place a little Freuch williner in a good drawing room for an hour and at the end of that time sho will behave, talk and wall like any lady in the room. Suppose an American, married to & woman much below his status in society, is clected president of the United States; 1 be- liove at the end of a weck this wife of his would do the honors of the white house with the case and graco of a high born lady In England it is just the contrary. Of course, good soclety is good society every- where, The ladies of the English aristocracy are perfect queens, but the English woman who was not born & lady will seldom become o lady, and I beliove this is why mesalliances are more scarce in England than_in America, and especially in France. I could name mauy glishmen, standing at the head of their professions,’ who cannot produce their wives in soclety _ because these women have mot been able to raise themselves up to the lovel of their hus- bands’ station in life. The English woman has no faculty for fitting herself for a higher | position than the one sho was born in. Like tho rabbit, she will always taste of the cab. bago sho fod on, 1 am bound to add that this is perhaps a quality and proves the trathful ne her character. In France the mesalliance, though not rel- ished by parents, is not feared so much, because’ they know the young woman will observe and study and very soon fit herself | or her new p | And while on t of mesalliance why uot try W destroy au absurd prejudice | THE that exists in almost every country on the subject of France! E BOURGEOTS, 1t is, T belieye, the firm conviction cigners that Frenchmen marry for money that is to say, that all Frenchmen marry for money. As a rule the foreigners, discussing these matters, have a_wonderful faculty for generalization. The fact that they often do 50 18 not to be denied, and the explanation of it is this: We have In France a number of men belonging to a class almost unknown in other countries—small bourgeois, of genteel breeding and habits, but, relatively poor, who oceupy posts in the administrafion offices, Their name is | and their salary some- thing like $400 or £500, These men have an appearance to keep, and unless a wife brings them enough to at least double their income they cannot marry. These young men ar often sought after by parents for their daughters, because they are steady, cul- tured, gentlemanly ‘and occupy an honorable post which brings them @ pension for their old age. With the wife's dowry the couple can easily get along and Jead a peaceful, uneventful and happy jog- st life, which is the great aim _of the ma- of the nch people. But on the hand there is no country where you will see 80 many cases of mesalliance Indeed, it is a most common thing Frenchman of good family to fall in love with a girl of much lower stition in Jife than his, to court her at first with only the idea of Killing time, to soon discov tho girl is highly sectable and to finally marry her, Frénch parents frown on this sort of thing and do their best to_discours it, but rather than cross theirson's love they give their comsent and trust to the adapti bility of French women of which I was speak- toraise herself toherhusband’s ing just now C make & wife he will never be level and ashamod of. The Frenchman is the slave of his woman- kind, but not in the same way as the Ameri can fs. The Frenchman is brought up by his mother and remains under her sway Uil she dies, When he marries his wife leads him by the nose,and when, besides,he has a daughter, on whom he generally dotes, this lady soon joins the other two in ruling this easy-going, good-humored man, WOMANLY TACT. The Ameriean, T believe, will lavish atten- tention and luxury on hiswifeand daughters, but he will saye them the trouble of being mixed up in his affairs, His business is his, his oftice private, His womankind is the sun and glory of his life whose company he will hasten to enjoy as soon as he can throw away the cares of his busit partner,a cashier who tak an_adviser on stocks and the mereantile class, she i boolkecper. Entera shop in France, Paris included, and behind *Pay Here? you will see madam_smiling all over as she pockets the money for the firm. When I say she is a partner, I might safely have said that she is the active partner aud by far the shrewder of the two. She brings to bear her native sup- pleness, her fascinating little ways, her per- suasive manners, and many a customer whom her husband was allowingto goaway without apurchase has been brought back by the wife and induced to part with hiscash in the shop. Last summer L arvived in Paris on my way honie from Gerr to spend a few days visiting the exposition.. I one day went into a shop on the Boulevard to buy a white hat. The new fashioned hat, the only one which the husband showed ' e, was 0w brimmed, and T declined to buy any. 1 was just going to_leave, when @he wife, who from the back parlor had listencd to my conve tion with her husband, stepped in” and said “But, Adolph, why do you let monsicur got Perhips Lie does not_care to follow the fash- ion. We have a few white broad-brimmed hats left from last year that we can let mon- sieur have a bon compte. They areup stairs; go and feteh them.” ~And, sure enough,there was one which fitted and’ pleased me, und I left in that shop a little sum of twenty-five france which the husband was going to let me take elsewhere, but_which the wife man- aged to secure for the firm. REAL IAPPINESS, No one who has lived in France has failed to be struck with the intelligence of the women, and there exist few Frenchmen who do not readily admit how intellectually in- fertor they are to their country women, chiefly among the middle and lower middlo clusscs, And this_is not due to any special training, for the education reccived by the™ women of this class is of the most limited kind; how to read, write and reckon and their educition is finished, Shrewdness is inborn in them, and a peculiar talent for_ getting a hundred cents’ worth for every dollar they spend. How to muke a house look pretty and attractive with small outlay; how to make a dress or turn out a bonnet with a_few Jmick- knacks; how to make a savory dish out remnant of beef, mutton and ~meal, all this is ascience not to be despised when @ husband in receipt of a $300 salary wants to make a ood dinner and sce his wife look pretty. No doubt the aristocratic inhabitants of May fa and Belgravia, in London, and the Four Hun- dred (with capital letters) of New York, may think all this very smalland these French people very wninteresting. ey can, per- haps, hardly imagine that such people’ live. But they do live, and live very happy lives, too. Andl will ro so faras to say that hap- piness, real happiness, is chiefly found among clerks’ of limited income. The husbaud, a whole year has put quictly weelk,50as to be able to give dear wife anice presentat Christmas, gives her a far more valuable present than the millionaive who orders Tiffany to send a few diamond rings to his wife. That quict lit- tle French couple whom you see at the upper circle of a theater, and who have saved the money to enable them to come and hear such a play, are happier than the occupants of the boxes on the first tier, THE “mILLION." In speaking of nations, I have alway. much moreinterestin observing the “million” who differ in every country, than the *“upper ten” who ave alike all over the world. People who have millions at their disposal generally discover and adopt the same way of living. “People whoonly have a small incomo how their native instincts in the iatelligent useof it, All these differ and these only are worth studying unless you belong to the staft of a society paper. Lain proud to Eng- land and America are the only two count in the world where the ofilcidl organs of An- glo-Saxon snobbery can be found. The source of I'rench happiness is to be found in the thriftof thewomen from the best middle class to peasantry. 'This thrift is also the source of French wealth, We have no railway kings, no oil kings, no silver kings, but we have uo tenement Louses, no unions, no work houses. Our lower classes do not ape in ridiculous attive, tha upper clas cither in their habits or dress, The wife of a wnt or & mechanio wears a simple suow and a serge or cotton dress, The wifo of @& shopkeeper does mot wear any jewelry, because she taken cannot afford to buy real stones, und hertasto | is too good to allow of her weaving any She is_not ashamed of her husb occupation. She does not play the fine 1 while her husband is at work; she saves him the expense of a cashier or of an. extra clerk by helping him in his business, When the shutters are up she enjoys lifo with him and is tho companion of his pleasures as well us of his hardships. Club life is unknown in France, except among the very upper classes, Man and wife gre constantly together and France is & nation of Darby and Joaus, A QUEDN, There is, I believe, no country where men and women go through life on such equal terms us in France. In England—and here ugain 1 speak of the masses only—the man thinks himself a much superior being to tho woman. 1t is the same in Germany. In America I should feel inclined to believe that | @ woman looks down upon tain amount of contempt. hands attentions of all sorts, but I say that I have ever discovered in b slightest trace of gratitude to man. Will you have a fair illustration of the position of wouen in France, in England and in Amer- { Go to ahotel and watch the arrival of couples in the dining room. In France you will them arrive together, walk abreast toward the seat assigned to thom, very often arm in arm. In England you will sée John Bull leading the way, followed by his - meek wife with her oyes ‘cast down. - In America behold the diguified, nay, majestic entry of Mrs. Jouathan, & quéen going toward her throne, and Jobathan behind An Absolute Oure. The ORIGINAL ABIETINE OINTMENT Is only put up in large two-ounce tin boxes, and s an absolute cure for all sores, burns. wounds, chapped hands and all skin eraptions| Will positively cure all kinds of piles, As for the ORIGINAL ABIETINE OINT- MENT. Sold by Goodman Drug company at b cents per box—by mail 30 cents . orgetown college observatory has Just r ived from an unkuown donor the gift of $,000 to be devoted to the purchase of a thirteen-luch equatorial telescope, o man with a She receivi r that | UMAHA DAILY A LITTLE HELL IN HOLLAND. of for- | Where Men, Women and Children Seldom ' Draw a Bober Breath, | | [ THE DRUNKENEST OITY ON EARTH | Born With an Inherent Thirst the In- habitant of Schiedam Makes the Gin Bottle a Life Long Com- panion. A muddy canal lined with bulky boats with tattered sails and painted in the most glar- ing colors, red and blue and orange, a group | of windmills, poised like strange birds above the red-tiled roofs of the town, a blot of black smoke dimming the sky above—such are the fivst impressions o stranger receives of the great gin-producing center of the world— Schiedam, writes a correspondent of the New York Morning Journal. Viewed at o distance the battered, dirt houses, with grotesque gables and crookes doorways that line tho zigzag streets, are not without picturesque interest to the traveler and artist, but the Dutch themselves, for all their fondness for the product of its distiller- ies, have dubbed Schiedam “the hell of Holland,” and its natives “Dutch devils.” These uncomplimentary appellations have been justly earncd by the inhabitants of this dingy town, who spend their own miserable | lives in manufacturing liquid misery for all parts of the globe, and the degrading effect of gin on the human system is illustrated here in all 1ts phases. g A visit to Scheidam is more effective and convineing than all the temperance lectures one could listen to in a lifetime, and it would be a_good move on the part’ of the American champions of total abstinence were they to importa family of “Dutch devils” as horrible examples to lend a realism to their discou New York diligent and | systematic drunkards. Chatham square on | Sunday morning displays Lighly interesting speciniens of human wrecks, but they are mere tyros in their art compared with thesots of Scheidam, From the cradle to the grave the “Dutch devil” hardly ever draws a sober breath, He imbibes gin with his mother's milk, and is apparently born_with an inherited thirst for the pellucid fluid that killed his fore- fathers and will some day Kill him As soon s he ean walk ho begins to smoke cigars, and it is not infrequent in the strects of Schiedam to sce children of fiveor six years of age sucking contentedly on huge ci- ars as they play sbout the gutters. I havo seen a group of little girls singing in a circlo on the highy h miss had a small bottle of beer or gin in her hand which sho furtively sipped at intervals with evident relish. Beer is rather a_luxury here, however, be- cause it costs 2 cents a glass and is too weak to promote hilarity, while a large bottle of gin can be purchased, containing several amiable drinks, for a little move thau 18 cents, The hedges and gutters in the suburbs of the town display astonishing collections of empty brown-stonie bottles deposited by ine- briutes who have wandered there to enjoy themsclves in their quiet way, The average “‘Dutch devil” prefers to do his drinking alone, without any amiable friend to help him. ' His idea of pleasure is to buy a bottle of gin, wander out into the country and quictly drink himself inte a state of somnolent imbecility by the road- side, Weddings in Schicdam currences, and are_generally considered as rather unnecessary in the community. When one does take place the bride and groom and guests can be seen arm in arm stretehed in a single line across the street, stumbling ulong in a delighted state of incapacity and singing at the top of their voices. When the Schiedam boy has become prop- erly permeated with gin, he goes to wovk in the distilleries where his'favorite beverage is produced. There are at present 220 manufac- tories of this popular intoxicant, and work- men_are allowed by their employer forty drinks a day. An attempt was made to cur- tail this allowance, but the men rebelled and refused to work without this daily stimulus, and ever since their demand has been grati: fied. A drink of gin there means about as much as could be contained in the average champagne_glass, so you can imagine tho amount each worlkman~ consumes in these 200 odd distilleries. As Schiedam gin is almost pure alcohol, it is no wonder the town is so filled with horvi- ble specimens of humanity, ghostly creatures that Lobble about the winding s shiver- ing as with a palsy or waving their shrunken arms or uttering hoarse eries like wounded animals, The forty drinks a day form only a part of the liquor consumed by the “Dutch devil; that is merely his allowance which he takes as regularly as he does his meals, After worlk is over ho spends his evenings in fur- ther sonking his system in alchol, often as- sisted in the performance by his wife and the entire family. The accumulation of liquor Quring the day, however, soon begins to take effect and he falls_asleep in the roadside, in the gutter and sometimes in the canal, just where he happens to be at the time, Frequently he does not wake up from his comatose state, and thus gives his family another excuse to resort to the brown stone bottlo to drown their sorrows. Tt might bo thougnt that working contin- ually in_the sickening atmosphere of a gin distillery, the laborers would acquire a dis- gust for this unsavory fluid, but on the con- trary their thirst becomes insatiable from the mouient they enter the employ of a gin mill, And it is & thirst that no other liquor seer to quench, each drink creating a desire for another until the unfortunate is willing to sell the clothes on his back to keep up the supply. T'he effect of Geneva or Schiedam on the system differs from any other liquor. Even the vodka of Russia, that flery fluid that corrodes the throat like sulphuric acid, is not 50 rapid in rousing the devil in a man or womun, A confirmed Holland gin drunkard, up to a certain point, does not stagger at all. He is quiet, and will talk to you rationally, though his very blood is alcohol. Then suddenly he will bo taken with a frenzy and rave and scream and fight with any one who falls in his way. Ina few moments ho is all quiet again and_subdued, his brain apparent clear, and he goes about his busiuess as if nothing had happened. All this time he b not_staggered, nor given any sigus of in- toxication except this momentary fit of mad- ness. 1 had an fllustration of this one morning while sipping some cabbage soupin at tayern, 'The proprietor wasa littlo man with mild eyes and a softvoice, who entertained me very intelligently with a deseription of the town and its inhabitants, There wa | nothing in his voice or manner to lead one to suppose that he had been drinking In the midst of our talk the landlord's daughter, a round and_rosy Dutch girl, en- tered the' room to wait on s new Arvival Suddenly the littlo man left me and with a scream flung himself upon his duaughter, striking her with both fists, She turned to remonstrate, when, still screaming, he opened the door and flung her into the stveet The wife next uppeared and she wa struck in the face and flung out in the same | manner. The frenzy scemed to give the little | innkeeper a wonde wgth, for when a burly friend of h d he was flung | headlong through the doorway after the women. He looked at me as if hesitating whether to treat me in the same manner, but evident chunged bis mind. I was particularly inte ested just then in studying u cobweb on the wall and kept very still Finding the rooin_clear of every one but me, his manner suddenly changed, he was again themild-eyed, quiet littlo man who a | few moments ago had inquired if the soup | was in my liking, There was 1o sign of in- bxication in his voice or manner and he di rected me to the nearest distillery as clearly as If he had not tasted a drop of Geneva that day The wonderful transform Jekyll empioyed must haye been nothing less | than a brown bottle of Schiedam'’s famous and infamous product. Certainly there is no necessity tq res to black magic to invoke satan when a few cents’ worth of Geneva will ummon up a whole legion of devils of every shape and form. A peep into some of the homes at Schiedam ves oue an idea what misery really is. T'hey are not so dirty as t tenements of New York, s the Dutch housewife inherits xn certrin iusanity from ber wnvestors for are infrequent oc- g fluid that Dr. BRI, SUNDAY, MAY serubbing everything serubbable. She e Jends more water on_the stones in front of her door than on the faces of her children, and toils for hours ovie a brick floor while her rags scarcely conhfher nakedness, . The poor houses of Schiedam are empty. There ar bed and an dron pot, but the fire is seldom visible. Dry and smoked fish and dry bread, washed dbwa by the omnipresent Geneva, make up the meals that are partaken of four or five times a ddy, cach member of the family helping himself when he feels in- clined. . A moroe ragged st ‘bt scarccrows than the “Dutch devil' it would be hard to imagin At night they flutter along the streets like uncouth birds, uttering hoarse cries when they meet, as if thef} throats were corroded from the ' libations aken during tho day. Screams are heard proceeding from many dark houses along the way, and now and then a doorway is flung open and a dark form is pushed stumbling fnto the road, where it lies groaning heavily, No use to stop and render assistance, or the Good Samaritan will find himself treated in the same way. Tho best thing for the stranger t0do is to hurry to his inn, bury himself under the mouniainous Dutch feather-bed and try to forget in sleep that Schiedam ex ists, and leave the next morning convinced that the hell of Holland is part of his dreams and “Dutch devils” jts infernal inhabitants. p e et SINGULARITIES. C. B. Nolan was fishing for shark on the Port Tampa dock and caught the largest fish ever caught on tho gulf coast. The fish weighs 48 pounds and mes 0 feet in length and 8 feet in circumference just back of the gill The London zoological soclety posseses a white peacock, The bird preserves the markings which distinguish _the species, par- ticularly the large eye-like spots on tho tail feathers. The effect of these spots is re- markable. They ave exactly like the pattern on a damask tablecloth, Sumter county, Georgia, is scourged with millions of fleas, Tiom the attacks of which small animals ‘and chickens are said to be dying by hundrec is of tho Mexi- 1 variety, brought here by the hundreds of and Mexican horses scattered over the country of late years, rIn the village blacksmith's shop at Audlem, Cheshire, hard by the blacksmith's bellows, a robin has built “its nest in a ledge close to the spot where tho horses are shod, and is now sitting upon its eggs. Neither tho tre- mendous din of the hammers nor_the fl sparks from the auvil appear to distur bird. Mr. E. Rice, postmaster at Carl, Ta., vouches for the following: William F. Snod- grass of that placo has a hen that has adopted a litter of seven pigs, although their mother is with them, She has stayed with them for a week, She clucks and scrafches for them and tries to brood them and acts toward them as she would toward chickens. A remarkable occurrence is reported by a native Japanese newspaper. Scientists as- ign its cause to vacuum due to atmospheric changes, while the villagers think it to be the work of devils. The circumstances are as follows: A man suddenly falls down while walking in the open air of in a house, when a slit in the flesh from one inch to one inch and ahalf in length and _about an inch in depth is found, the place principally attacked being the legs, At the time not much pain is felt, but half an hour afterward the pain increases as the blood begins to flow. The wounds are said to be very difticult to cure, There is a mine just above Howardsville, Colo., that is a_curiosity to tenderfect and a source of profit to the saloonmen bee-hives near by, 1tis an ice mine, and the ice is as clear and pure as that to be obtained from the purest lake. The claim is owned by the Nei- golds, who, in_the early 'days, ran_ a_tunnel through the frozen ground and struck aspring beyond, As the water flows out of the tun- nel it freezes, and the tunnel is now filled nearly to the roof with the ice, s long supplied ail the saloc ville with ice, and, as it never thaw ummer, the place is an objective point for curiosity secker E Pat McGrath of Woodford, Ky., posesses a remarkable cat. 1t was born with ouly three legs, and as soon as the kitten becamo large enough to leave its mother, Pat constructed a wooden leg and successfully adjusted it to the little stump that grew, out where pussy’s fourth leg ought to haye been. Pussy now trots along on four legs with as much ease and comfort apparently as though the wooden limb had been placed fhere by nature. But here is the wonderful,part of "the story: In- stead of killing rats aud mice with her claws, as cats usually do, pussy has learned to use her club leg for this purpose, and it is said to be @ very amusing sight to sec her run up to a rat and knock him into insensibility with her wooden leg. An engine driver on one of the Scotch lines reports that he has noticed that certain hawks of the merlin or “‘stone falcon” species make use of the passing of the trains for predatory purposes. They fly close behind the train, near the ground, partly hidden by the smolce, but carefully’ watching for the small birds which, frightened by the train as it, rushes roaring past, fly up in bewilnered shoals; the merlins then, while the little Dirds ave thinking more of the train than of lurking foes, swoop on them from the am- bush of the smoke and strike them down with east, If they miss, they return to the wake of the carriages and resume their flight and their hunt. They can, it scems, easily keep pace with an express train, and outstrip it when they please, A novel method of ridding steamboats of rodents has been successfully tested at Pitts- burg. The youngest son of the captain of a river steamer was some time ago presented with a pair of spotted snakes, which, as they were perfectly harmles, were deposited in tho Il of. thd boat until they could bo cons veniently housed. A few days agoa great commotion was uoticed among the rats,which always infest_steamboats and bavges in great numbers, and hundreds of them were ob- served scampering ashore on the handspring and stern lines. The evacuation continued all night, and in the morning the captain found both snakes dead, having been literally torn to pieces by the infuriated animals, bu not one of the latter was found on the boat. —_— IMPIETIE New York Herald. Warm was the day—the drowsy air Scarce moved the colors’ folds; and when At *ifthly” Chaplain Militaire Toolk fresh hold of his text, the men Cursed their hot uniforms and then Resumed their stolid, hopeless stare, The colonel vainly tried to keep Himself awake, s on the sermon sped; And whilo tho soldiers swore, not loud but deep, Beside his father's nodding head The colonel’s baby popped up his head and said - ““Tention, battalion! by platoons, go sleep! There are persons now in hell who might have been in heaven with half the trouble. 1t does not look exactly right that ministers should take their vacation right in the height of fly time, There's a silver lining to_e there wouldn't be long if New ever got to heaven, SHff back seats and four part sormons assist materinlly in keeping up the attendance at Sunday base ball games. wcher—*And nosy, heard the story of Ahanias should we learn” fron hisi fate t caught,” vl {n the Sandny school at Quiney, Mass., when asked what -a missionavy wus, replied: A missionary is & man who come around to get our mohey.”? “I tell you, George, if there was less money in the world 'there wbuld bo more religion. “That may be; but the collections would fall off.” The best sermons are not always those which are preached from Scriptural texts, 1t is fortunate that charity covers a multi- tude of sins, for in theso days there is & mul- tiude to cover i My husband attended the revival meeting and bias got veligion.”” *fs ho a bona fide convert? “0O, yes,” “Then I suppose he will go out of the'ice business.” Mrs. Van Twiller (who mistakes Dr. Jovial for n physicial) —And where do you practice, doctort ~ Rev. Dr, Joyial—Ab, ‘madam, I do not practice; T only preach. A Minneapolis clergyman is delivering a series of lectures on “Heaven and Hell." A cording to the papers up thero the two plac are only & few miles apart and ave usually re- ferved to as the *Twin Cities,” Friend—How did you come to know Scud der 50 w I he & member of your chury Rev. Knote (of Chicago) —Yes, but th nothing to do with it. He gets e to marry him now and then ery cloud, but ork aldermen children, you have What lesson Tommmy— Judges others by hinsclf—The justice who sits alone on the bench, ) O0- | GRECIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY, The Magnificent Uelebration of the Last Anniversary at Athens, OHANCELLOR MANATT IN GREECE. The Generous Position Taken by the ited States in the “Holy Struggle''—The Worship of Lord Byron. Arnese, April 15— [Special to Tre Ber.)— Sixty-nine years ago today dates the new dawn of old Greeco, On the 23th of March, 1821, (0ld style), the Archbishop Germanos gave the word of revolt by raising the standard of the cross at the monastery of Laura, near Kalavryta, in Achala. So at least runs the legend of the Holy Struggle,as the Greeks delight to call it; and whether fact or fiction, it has fixed the date of their Independence day. Perhaps I eannot chose a better moment for giving you a glimpse of new Greece; for I am sure our countrymen must have a feliow- fecling for o people who have fheir own “Fourth of July” and know how to celebrate it. Of the Holy Struggle itself, waged like our own through seven long years, volumes would not tell the story; but it is pleasant to remember that our countrymen, then in the honeymoon of their own young liberty, lent voice and heart and hand to the Greek cause, Henry Clay was their champion in congress; Samuel G. Howe was with them in camp and council; Stuyvesant brought over and dis- tributed cargoes of food, given by himself and the generous merchants of New York. It is pleasant, too, to have a demonstration that GREECE IS NOT UNGRATEFUL. It has been my good fortune already to welcome here the sons of two of these Amer- ican Philhellenes and toseo the name of Howe honored very much as we revere the name of La Fayette at home. Dr. Howe rose to the rank of surgeon-in-chief of the Greek fleet, and it was his hand that dressed the death wound of the hero Karaiskakis when ho fell in the flush of victory. Norwas his Philbellenism the mere fancy of an impassioned youth, for nearly forty years later he came back to assist Crete in her ineffectual struggle. No wonder royal decorations and popular honors waited upon him, and that his son vis- iting Greece so many years after the father's death should be received almost as a national guest. The historian Finlay, an Englishman Wwhosé pen is too often dipped in_ gall, makes this acknowledgement of Howe's phil- anthropic services as the almoner of Ameri can bounty: *“The amount of provisions and clothing sent from America was very great. Cargo after cargo arrived at Poros, and fortu- nately there was then in Greece an American Phillicllene capable, from his knowledge of the poople and from his energy, honor and humanity, of making the_distribution with promptitude and equity. Dr. Howe requires no praise from tho feeble pen of the writer of this history, but his early efforts in the causo of liberty and humanity in Greece deserve to be remeinbered even though their greatness be eclipsed by his more mature labors at home. He found able_coadjutors in_several of his countrymen who were guided by his counsels, Thousands of Greek families, and many mem- bers of the clergy and the legislature, were re- lieved from severe privations by the food and ciothing sent across the Atlantic. Indced it may be said without exaggeration that thes supplies prevented a large part of the popula tion from perishing before the battle of Nuy- arin.” In an elementary school the other day T was delighted to hear little girls of six to eight years reading THE STORY OF WASHINGTON —Basigkton is the best the Greek alphabet can do for the great name—and then rchears- ing it con amore. And one of the most dis- tinguished of living Greek publicists and and scholars—a man who has represented his country at Washington and other capitals— hias spoken feelingly to me of the obligations of Greece to America. We are in fact the only people whose fricndship for Greece is of necessity disinterested, for we have no chest- nuts in the fire of continental politics, The Greeks are often called the Yankees of the Levant; and, amusingly enough, the man who imagines he knows Greece best, after six weeks in America last summer, fired a part- ing broadside at us, as no better than the Greeks. 1 refer to Mahaffy, who has long since pronounced the' last judgment onr the Greeks, both ancient and modern, and now, on six ‘'weeks' acquaintance, advertises his opinion that we are on the same high road to the devil. And all, forsooth, because the Groeks and wo both preach and practice uni- versal education! For one, I am no pessimist about Greece, and believe my own country is still salvable. Like all the modern world we owe a debt to old Greece that can be m ured only in terms of civilization itself; and to new Gireece we are still more bound by the the memory of kindred struggles and by com- mon_aspirations. All of which malkes me think that a glimpse of a Greek Independence Day may not be unwelcome to American readers, TLike most things in Greece, 1t begins the day before. Last night the Hill of the Nymphs —now the seat of the National observitory. was splendid with pyrotechnics, As my win dows overlook that and all the other glori of Athens, I could take it all in from my ¢ chair; and T assure you the blazing rockets up a scene that would be HARD TO MATCI IN NEDRASKA, For the Hill of the Nymphs is but a bow- shot from the Acropolis, and by night Sala- mis looms weird and picturesuue in the back- round. Falling asleep to this rockety lulla- v, I woke to the reveille of cannon—i hun- dréd and one guns ushering in “the day we celebrate.” The city was a flutter of fligs everywhere the white cross of Greece, while from the three principal hotels on the & of the Constitution floated our own ‘r white and blue.” At an early hour the squares were thronged, and soon the streets leading from the palace to the cathedral were but lanes between long lines of troops, and through these at 10, es- corted by two ‘squadrons of cavalry in dark green uniform and mounted on those short necked steeds which always recall their an- cient prototypes on the fricze of the Parthe- non, the royal family drove to the cathedral where all the digni s of the church and state were alrcady gathered with as many people as the great edifice could hold, Hero was obseryed the central function of the duy —a solemn te deum magnificently chauted by the metropolitan and his highest clergy with the usual assistance, The occasion recalled vividiy. tho historiau's account of 'tho sceno £ ks sang their first thanks to God for victory. The ny was performed on the banks of the torr that flows by Kalanita. Twenty-four priests oficiated and 5,000 men stood around Never was a solem service of tho ortho chureh celebrated with greater fervor, ne did hearts overflow with sincerer devotion to heaven, nor with warmer gratitude to their churchand their God. Patriotic tears poured down the cheeks of rude warriors, and ruth- less brigands sobbed like children.} From that day to this the anniversary of Greek independence has been in r thanksgiving day, as indeed the holy stru was primavily a_conflict of religions. The press remarks the unusual solemnuity of the present commemoration, id the cause is summed up in the greeting that is said to have been the only one exchanged as friend met friend today. “God grant that next year w may celebrate this day of liberty with ¢ brothers, the liberated Cretans.” It is a sub. ject on which I am not free to speak, but th whole Hel ms profoundly stirred by the sorrows of Crete—to the oldest daugh o e, daughter most heroic and most free.’ That the stricken isle orove the kindling point of a Euro agration, there is much reason to fear. Today the Cretan refugees, who have thronged Athens and Piraeus for months past, and who are always pioturesque und often majestic figures, aitracted unusual ut tention} less, however, than & few Sundays 2 ) of them were gathered in stadium to debate their cq hens thronged the steep amphi theatre of enclosiug hills whence the old Athenians were wont o watch the Paua 1 thennic contests, Aud uow those refugees worthy while half I'WENTY PAGE? bave scized the occasion to orgun of their eause, which they VOICE OF THE OPPRESSED, The te deum ended—and it was happily unlike some of the endless cathedral fanc- tions I have witnessed, notably a royal wed ding where guests stood on their feet threo Nours and a half, The royal progress and the military pageant were repeated and the great congregation broke up, In the evening the king gave a great dinner in honor of the surviving heroes of the war, and tonight the palico and public buildings 'are illuminated, and from the Acropolis rockets are ascending that momently relieve the Parthenan like a clear-cut, ercamy cameo against the backs ground of darkness, I should mention also the special commemo- rations by the clubs, particularly that of the “Syllogos Byron™ this afternoon with music, speeches and poems- among them an ode to “Byron, the Burd of the ok Revolution.' And in this connection T should say that after all our American Philhiellenes oceupy but o secondary place in Greck estimation g nothing of other European allies, Byron is their idol. The Syllogos bearing his name i one of the agents and evidenc of this and the Greeks have raised statues in his honor. The st of his mournful death” at Mesolonghi is well known, and his Quixotic devotion to the reck cause is boyond a doubt; but, with all his poetic appreci cce and his genine passion fo 3 clear that disappointment and ambition were influential motives. Indeed, one of his biographers insists that in his' Greek adyen- ture he was playing for a crown. Certuinly he would havemadea king to five the Hellenio imagination, a ver . METEOR AMONG MONARCHS, But his real service to the Greel cause was rendered not as a eivil or 1 in both capacities lie was conspicuously out of his element. It was in_his proper chiar: ter as poet that he made himself the benofac- tor of Greece, and his brief three months’ service in the revolution, closing with mour ful death at Mesolonghi on April 19, 1821, was chiefly useful as attesting the sincerity of the nd awakening a new enthusiasm for use in_Kurope and Ameri Hence the Syllogus did well today in direc Mg attention "to Byron as the bard of the revolution. One scarcely realizes, except upon the spot, how much he has' doneto idealizo and glovify for the modern werld these sacred places of old renown. His lines haunt the memory as ono looks out from the acropolis upon Sulamis and Movew's hills, as ho stands on the plain of Marathon, as he climbs ‘Sauium's marbl d_steep’ or i rocky brow.” Even the wellread classic scholar finds himsclf quoting Byron many times in the presence of the holy places of Greece, while reminiscences of the old Gree fnaugurate an Il the were not given to the interpretation of natur AndsoI conceive that it is to Byron, the poct, that Greeee is chiefly indebted. In practical effective service at the hour of need Dr. Howe outdid him. The pri- vate and the English loan which provided o promoted were, in the judgment of history, largely squandered or misapplied; THE DENEFACTIONS OF AMERICA in Dr. Howe's hands were wisely and effect- ively administered and (in the words of the historian already quoted) “‘prevented a large part of the population from perishing,’ Tt is also interesting to remark on sueh day how the Greek revolutionary names sist, I have already mentioned K, wsis as marshal of the day, and a Botsaris rode in the king's suite. What American school-boy has not declaimed Ritz-Greene Hallock splendid poem on the death of Marco Bo. 7aris, the suliote chief, with bis ringing bat- tle-shout: Strike till the last Strike for your altars and your fircs, Btrike for ihe green graves of your sires, God and your native land! The poem_immortalized the poet as well as the hero, and one is pleased to find the heroic name still borne by a member of King George's court. Fora month past Capodis- trias has been my table-companion; he 15 the present head of the family of the martyred president of the Greele Republic. Last wee 1 assisted at a state funeral; the cathedral was thronged even as today and king and princes were among tho mourners, The grand old man, whose dead face still bore the amp of strenjgthand majesty as ho was car- ried in the open coftin through the streets, was a university professor of fifty years' ser: vico and he bore the heroie name'of Soutsos. Remembering how we stono our own prophets, one could rejoice in the evidence that Greece has laurels for learning as well as for valor and patriotism, In contrast with our own ‘glorious Fourth of v s struck with the quictness of this . Even cannon_und rocket aro less noisy than with us and of young Ameri ith b ceracker there s not even a suggestion, 1 think we usually con- ceive the modern Greek as an cxcitable and peppery character, and the news columns of the Athenian dailies abound-in_incidents that £0 10 justify the impression. I might oven mention recent episodes in the chamber of deputies_which would match the liveliest pranks of our lawmakers at_Lincoln. But nowhere in Europe or America have T observed such rmed foe expires, PERFECT ORDER AND DECORUN as characterize the Athenian populace, They are not only not noisy, they areundemonstri- tive. His majesty, With " his courtly caval- cades, proceeds from palace to cathedral be- tween two multitudinous lines of soldiers and subjects, all respectful and eager spectators, but there is hardly a zeto. I recall an annit versary of Seden in_ Leipzig, when old Em- peror William, with Von Moltke and Bismarck, Crown Prince Frederick and the Saxon king, made a similar progress, and the very heay- ens were torn with terrific Hochs} and 1 smile at the common view of the phlegmatic "Peuton and the peppery Greek. Indeed, to- day's demonstration, as well as gréater detmonstrations lust October when our royal wedding drew to Athens half tho royalties of Europe, goes far to show that the modern Greel In the mass possesses much of that statuesque repose, that golden moderation rhich old Greek philosophy inculeated as an ideal, however little the old Greek demos may have exemplified it in facts. As I close these observations on my fivst In- dependence day in Greece, it is with but one regret. o mike the day perfect our fleet now lying ut Corfu should have been unchored in the Piraeus, and the big guns of young ca should have thundered their re- to tho littlo morning-guns of free That would have made a reveille to wake the old Persians sleeping now these four and twenty centurics under the waves of alamis, InvING J. 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