Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, May 27, 1894, Page 17

PART 11 s 45 5 A A TADLISHED RAILWAYS OF CHINA JU Interior of the Great Empire to Be Pene- trated by the Iron Horse, LABORS OF THE VICEROY OF HUPEH He is Now Building the Great Trunk Line of the Future, PLENTY OF CAPITAL AT HIS BACK Immente Skops and Vast Rolling Mills Tuining Cut the Material, QUEER SIGHTS ALONG THE YANGTSE Carpenter Describes the First Rallroad Operated in the Celestial Kingdom and Its Devil Engine—A Birth- day Stops the Building. (Copyrighted 1504 by Frank G HANKOW, China, May 8.—(Special Cor- respondence of The Bee)—This is the Chi- cago of the Chinese empire. It is nearly 700 miles from the seacoast, and there are at this point three cities which face each other, much as New York, Jersey City and Brocklyn, which have an aggregate popu- lution of something like 2,000,000 of people. Standing on Pagoda Hill, behind the city of Hanyang, you Mok down in fact upon the homes of almost 3,000,000, and you seee hun- dreds of villages, thousands of boats, in Which families live and die, and have spread Carpenter.) 19, 1871. when factories of this kind private enterprises. Just now the ch movements in the dircetion of rajlroads ar from the government, and the idea is to | render China impreg ple In case of war, | This is the purpose of the viceroy here. He hates the foreigners, and he wants to drive them out of the country. Ho fs using them to build factories, nd he has a cottgn mill | run by steam and filled with modern ma- chinery, which is one of the largest in the | world. It contains a thousand looms, and | 1t 18 located on the banks of the Yangtse, In the city of Wuchang. It is now making | money, T am told, and it is profiting off the rise in foreign cottons through the fall in | the value of silver, aking of extravagance in railroad build- ing, [ doubt whether there has ever been erected a more costly plant than that which 18 now being put up here by this viceroy for | the turning out of a full equipment for the lino which is at some future time to run | from here to Pekin. The works are being put up by Belglans as foremen, and about fifty high-priced men are now employed here on salaries. 1 visited the works y terday. They are located at the foot of a nill just above the mouth of the Han river and a short distance back from the Yangtse Kiang. Accompanied by the rican con- sul and Mr. Burnett, an American who has lived for thirty years in the center of China, 1 rode in a long Chinese boat, sculled by a ragged-haired Celestial, up the Yangtse banks undér the shadow of the Hankow wharyes, We passed thousands of boats loaded with all sorts of freight, from Stand- ard oll cans and cotton bales to baskets of oll, boat loads of peanuts, rafts of poles with ba 00 housges upon them, and through hundreds of great junks of white pine, some- times ofled to a rich yellow and in other cases black with age, AS BAD AS AT BABEL. Bvery whart was filled with workers, and the coolies, with great loads on their backs, swarmed up and down them like gigantic ants. The men on the boats and on shore grunted or sang as they worked and the air was filled with a noise as great and as indis- Unguishable as that of the tower of Babel at the time of the confusion of tongues. Passing Hankow we reached the shipbuilding yards of Hanyang, where men perched in lit- tle bamboo huts, built upon four poles at least fifty feet above the ground, were twist- ing ropes of plaited bamboo. Each hut was not more than four feet square and was just out before you the three great cities of Han-of Jyree enough to contain the ropemaker, who kow, Hanyang and Wuchang. In front of you, facing the south, flows the broad Yangtse river, which is at this place still a mile wide, and which s £o deep throughout its course that the biggest steamers that #all the ocean can come up here and anchor at its wharves. The city on the opposite side is Wuchang. It has, perhaps, three- quarters of a million people, and the high wall which runs around it is twelve miles in length. It is the home of onme of the most progressive governors of China, and 18 the capital of the state of Hupeh, which s bigger than the whole of New England. Turn to your left and you see at your feet the city of Hanyang, with its vast iron works, for the making of stecl rails. Beyond it across the river Han, which is so filled with boats that their masts make you think of a thicket of hoop poles, is the vast plain covered with the buildings of Hankow, which is even larger than Wu- chang, and which is the commercial capital of this part of the empire. As you look over the landscape your eye meets as much water as land. The mighty Yangtse above and below you flows on like a great inland sea, its bosom loaded with a score of steam- ers and thousands of queer looking junks. There are boats before you which have come 2,000 miles down its waters through the deep gorges of Ichang, and mixed with them are ships from Canton, Amoy; Foo Chow aud othier great cities along the const. There are tea junks from the big Poyang lake and queer looking craft from a thousand different localities, cach having a build and make pe- cullarly fts own. As you look you realize the force of the as- sertion that China has more boats than all of the rest of the world put together. The Yangtse is here cut into by canals and the great lagoons lylng back in the country are spotted with sails. The river Han, which has flowed 1,300 miles in its winding course from Its source to its mouth, has brought down hundreds of river junks and ships are being loaded at scores of these wharves for all parts of the empire and of the world. Today the trade of this place amounts to about $37,000,000 a year and every dollar's worth of this has to be carried away by water. In the years to come a large part of it will go by land and railroads may make Hankow the greatest city of Asla, if not the biggest on the globe, HAS A GREAT FUTURE.. The probabilities are that this place will be some day one of the great manufacturing centers of the world. There is coal and iron near here in close proximity to one another and the water communication is such that coal can be shipped here from almost any part of the empire. Already a population of more than 100,000,000 are tributary to this point by rivers and: canals, and the great trunk line of future China will probably run through Hankow from Peking to Canton, taking in more big cities and a greater num- ber of people than any other railroad on the globe. Peking has a million of people, Tlentsin has more than a million, and it would be on the line only elghty miles south of the imperial capital. From thence it would cut its way further south about 500 miles through one of the most thickly set- tled parts of the empire to Hankow, where it would strike these cities of 2,000,000 From here on to Canton it cannot be more than 500 miles and the land is rich in the ex treme and it teems with millions. Canton is one of the great trading centers of the world, and it is sald to have about three millions of a population. The whole length of the road would be less than 1,500 miles and there would not be a waste spot on it. It will take but little grading, and it would, I judge, be a comparatively cheap road to build. It would be a bee line from north to south China and would be largely patronized as soon as the Chinese dlscov- ered its value. There are no people on the globe quicker to make use of & good thing and a cheap thing than these Chinese. As It is, they have the dearest modes of trayel, and though their wheelbarrows and boats carry goods for almost nothing in com- parison with the labor spent in running them, they are dear in competition with steam. As it s, the steamers in the Yangste are kept up by Chinese freight and passengers, and every steamboat I have se:n has been crowded with them. They ride first and second class, and many of them take a sort of steerage passage, Sleeping in bunks in a large compartment in the rear end of the steamers. PROGRESS OF THE RAILROADS. The first railroad In China was from Shanghal to Woosung, a distance of about twelve miles. Woosung Is the bar at the mouth of the Whampoa river, and th's road did & big business till some of the Chine'e thought it injuring their luck, and they complained to the authorities. The officials bought the road at a high price from (ho forelgners who owned it, and threw the loco- motive, which they said contained a devil, into the river. Some of the rails are still left, and it may be that the road will be again bullt in the future. One thing s very certaln, and that Is the moment the Chinese appreciate that they can make and run roads of their own thelr superstition will not stand in the way of making them, and many of the officlals are experimenting to kee what they can do. I saw a locomotive which had becn recently built by the Chin- ese machinists at the Klagnan arsenal near Shanghai, and it runs as well as any of our engines. I was shown railroad iron— 1 mean steel ralls—which they had made there with Chinese fron, and there seems to be no doubt but that they can manage a rolling mill very well. There s a vast deal of waste now, it is true, and this will con- tinue as long as the work s done by the officlals, who expect to get a big living out twisted at the coil which lay in rings within the poles on the ground beneath. Here and all along the banks of the river there were hundreds of bamboo huts, many of them no bigger than the top of a canvas-covered wagon and of exactly the same shape. These were the homes of some of the poorest of the million of Hankow and of many beggars. I stopped and photographed some of these as we went by, much to the consternation of their owners, who ran from the camera and called me a foreign devil at the top of their voices, One attempted to grab my camera, but I gave him a shove backward and jumped into the boat. Similar cries grected us as we landed at the wharf, where u score of Chinese coolies were unloading the great ingots of steel, wh ch have becn brought h.r2 from Burope, to mak: the first rails and to use until the Chinese shall be gble to turn out their own steel from theif own iron. Other coolies were unloading thousands of bushels of coke, also from Europs, and this carrying of steel ingots, coke and machinery has been going on for months. One of the ships on which I sailed on my way up the river hiad about 100 tons of these ingots, and its hold was packed with big boxes of heavy machinery. It carried 2,000 bushels of coke, and the captain told me he seldom made a tr'p without a lot of mate fal for the Hankow rollizg mills. Money, in fact, Las been flow- ing out here almost us fast as the current of the Yangtse river, and the viceroy has spent somewhere betwe n $5,000,000 and $10,000,000 already. The evidences are apparent that he will have to spend a number of millions more before he gets through, and at the present rate of extravagant mistakes he i3 likely to bankrupt himse!f and his state government before he builds his road. In the first place it costs Lim a fortune to make the foundations of his work. He has, I Judge, at least seventy-five acres, the greater part of which is covered with buildings. There was a hill close by, where he might have located the establishment. He chose, however, the low bed of the river, which s overflowed every spring, and went to work to make it safe from the waters. Laying out his founda- tions he filled in this vast area to a height of fourteen feet, the dirt being carried by coolies at 10 cents a day in little shovel- like baskets hung to the two ends of a pole, which they rested over their shoulders. It must have taken an army to do it, but it is done, and there is now a railroad running upon it a distance perhape a quarter of a mile from the rolling mills to the water. Upon this there were about 100 stcel cars und a steam engine or two of European make at the time I entered the yard. The cars were loaded_with machinery, and were being hauled to tfe rolling mills'in the rear. BUILDING SLOW BUT SURE. I followed one of the trains. We first came to eight large boilers, near which were what looked like vast hay statks, but which were sheds of mats, in whieh the coke was stored. Beyond these there were two massive furnaces for the smelting of the ore. Each was a hundred feet high, and I climbed to the top of one of them by the spiral steps on its outside. Below me I could see the roof of the vast machine shops which are now being filled with expensive works. These shops cover at least twenty- five acres, and there are here that many acres under one iron roof. A railroad runs by thelr side, and a smoke stack 150 fest high rises in the air behind them. Beyond them in the distance you see the buildings of the viceroy's arsenal, where he is mak- ing modern rifles and other guns, and near this s a brick works, where bricks are being made with the latest of improved Buropean machinery. I entered the ma- chine shops. The din of an immense boiler factory grected my cars, and I found my- self in the midst of hundreds of Chinese machinists, who were working in putting up all sorts of rolling mills and machinery. A large part of the works is already up, but it takes time to bulld a shop of this magnitude anywhere, and in China things go very slowly. The viceroy has been spend- ing s0 much that he has reached the end of his pile, and he is now waiting to get an advance from Peking. The government, however, 1s getting ready for the celebra- tion of the sixtieth anniversary of the birth- day of the empress dowager, and upon this will be spent enough to bufld a road from Peking to Canton, and the people will be taxed In consequence. It is not so easy, however, to overtax the Chinamen, as it is in other so-called savage countries, and the government s trying to economize In every way. There fs a railroad being bullt in the northern part of the empire, and the regular ppropriation set aside for this has been $2,000,000 a year. I seo by today's transla- tion of the Peking Gazette that It has been decided by the board of revenue of the em- peror to omit the appropriation this year, in order to use the money to whoop it up for the old dowager. It will put the road back ten months, but this makes no difference to the Chinese. CURIOUS CONVEYANCES, This northern rallway s the only working road in China. 1 expect to go to Tientsin and travel over it. I understand that it has been pushed rapidly within the past year or so toward the Manchurian frontier, and that it was of service to the government in the recent rebellion there. It is for the purposes of defense that the Chinese will bulld rail- roads. The best thing that could happen to the country would be a first class war with the forelgn powers. This would lead to the pushing out of enterprise in every direction. Roads would be bullt and their buttonhole eyelids would be stretched far enough apart for them to see that China is by no means the center of the. eerth, as they suppose. This northern road was first bullt to take coal from the'mines to the Taku forts and the naval ships. When I was in China, five years ago, it was only about eighty miles long. It has, I am told, now about reached the great wall, and will soon penetrate Mon- golias There aro mow two factions here | are started as | means of defen the building of cars, the making of rails and | "OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 27, , and the other wants them for commercial purposes. Nelther, however, would advise the bringing of foreign capital to build them, and their motto {s “China for the Chinese.” We went back to the city after visiting the arsenal, which was much the same as the one I saw at Kiagnan, though not, so large, by the river Han, and as we did fo I got a picture of one of the railroad cars of the China of the past. It was a buffalo cart, with wheels as large as the front wheels of a farm wagon, made of a sinele block of wood and fastened to the axle with a wooden pin. The shafts were tied to the axle, and there was not enough iron about the whole to have made a hairpin The chief freight car here is a wheel- barrow made entirely different from those I have seen in other parts of the empire. It is stronger and it has handles at the front as well as in the rear, Two men usually work it when the loads are heavy and I have seen a_ton carried on one of these barrows. They are made with a screeching bamboo attachment, and the is no fron about them except the tires. The pleces are pinned together with wood and tled with rawhide strings. Each bar- row costs about $5 and it will last, it is said, for a lifetime. In some parts of China there are wheelbarrows which have sails fastened above them in order that the wind may help the men who push them ng the road These wheelbarrows, the Chinese cart and the boat form now the passenger cars of these millions of people. Hundreds of thousands of tons of goods are carried over the country on the shoul- ders and backs of men every day, and the trafic of the far north is largely freighted by little fuzzy donkeys and big woolly camels, Xl b, Canfutss - —— THE MODERN BONNET. From Harper's Razir. Or Is it a hat Peter's tell me that Dome of St. L ] concelved, crown, brim and It is broadly bow, It is kno But, plan Of the grandest ma And this, perhaps, is why at the play My thoughts from Hamlét or Lear will stray, And why to the bonnet in front T turn With “thoughts that breathe and words that burn.” erand with a grandeur grand, yov omehow, T hardly seem made on the kind of a grand young The modern bennet! Ah, who designed This torment of torments to those be For women may weep and men may The bonnet shuts out both plaver and stage And soon, with its artless turns and jerks Its nods and dips and turns and feminine quirks, Makes the poor wretch in the seat behind, Who has pald for his place, as good as nd. And still its challenge appears to be— “Pooh, for the play! Just look at me! My ostrich plume so long and handsome, Is"worth in itself a young king’s ransom. Two fect across and one foot high Is little enough for such as L' Oh, it spreads itself like a potentate! And yet, do you know, I pity the pate, The silly pate that is under or in, And doesn't know it commits a sin. She never suspects that the rights of man Are all at war with her bonnet's plan; And to gaze for three long mortal hours At its wide expanse, Its plumes, its flow Is more than a man will care to do Who has come, one may say, with a differ- ent view, Not to speak of the ticket's cost, And the time and tone and temper lost. And now 1 think of a maliden fair, Crowned with the wealth of her clinging air, Who weareth a turban close and trim, Her sweet face glowing beneath its brim; And I say to myself, “If ever [ wed, "Twill be with a turban mald, instead Of the poor, misguided feminine soul Who flaunteth a beaver aureole.” e PRATTLE OF THE YOUNGSTERS. “Now, children,” began the gentleman who had been asked to address the infant class, “‘you must all keep very still, for I am going to tell you about Moses. Moses was one of the patriarchs; he was one of the grand old men of the bible—no doubt you have all seen pictures of Moses; he had white hair, and a_long, white beard hanging from his chin. Now, children, you all know what a long white beard is, don't you?" There the gen- tleman addressing the Infant class paused for that reply for which such oraf seldom fully prepared. ‘“Yeth, thi up the smallest boy in the room from some remote corner, “I've theen ‘um—jes' like a billy-goat, thir!” e Bess Is one of those astute juvenile auto- crats who are strangely gifted in analyzing the secret and extent of their dominion over adoring relatives. ““Oh, no,” she was one day overheard to confide to another small girl, “grandma can't make me mind at all— she can’t do a-thing with me; but grandpa knows how to manage me.” “How does he do it, Bess?’ asked the impatient male cousin who was eavesdropping in a ham- mock on the piazza. “Why, he waits till he sees what I'm going to do, and then he tells me to do it."” e Sammy—Mamma, when T went to see Tom taplcford t!Is morning the ¢irl that ccme to the door said he wasn't at home, an’ I know he was. What did she want to tell me that for? His Mother—There may have been reasons why Tommy could not be seen. She toll you that cut of politeness. Sammy—Yes, she acted as If she was out of pol.tene:s. B Little Frank had long importuned his father to buy him a pony. At last papa said: “If I were to get you a pony, Frank, you wouldn’t know what to feed him.” O, yes, 1 would, papa,” replied the boy. “I'd feed him horse radish.” You have a bright look, my boy,” said visitor at the school, Yes, sir,” replied the candid youth. “That's because [ forgot to rinse the soap oft my face good.” e Robbie—Mamma, doesn’t it make your hands warm when you spank me? Mamma —Why, yes, Robbie, it does. ~Robbie— Wouldn't it do just as well, then, mamma, for you to go and hold them over the Iiitchen range? e — Mustard and Marriage. The London correspondent of the New York Herald tells this story: Did Mr. As- quith get one of the mustard plasters? It seems that his bride-elect, Miss Margot Tennant, war staying in a country house where there was a hunting party. The guests were to return a very few minutes before the dinner began, and they all had their dress sults laid out ready to put on. Some sprightly genius sewed mustard plaster leaves inside the shirts, In.the hurry no one noticed the plasters, which were deftly concealed, but at the dinner it was observed that the squirmed in their chairs and looked puzzled. Some turned pale; others perspired. One by one they excused themselves and presently none but the women remained. Comparison of notes revealed to the men the fact that there had been a dire plot. But English society s so prim that people mustn't talk about shirts in company, and no general investigation could be held. It leaked out, however, that the scheme was the invention of Miss Tenant, but of course, that may be pure surmize or even cruel lander. e The Borrowing Woman. Indlanapolis Journal: “How many things Qid the woman next door borrow today?” ked Mr. Figg. Only the telephone,” answered Mrs. Figg. “It was the first time she had ever used one, and I don't think I ever saw a woman more disappolnted.” “Couldn’t she use jt? “Oh, yes, she learned how to use it quickly enough, but what broke her heart was that it was fast to the wall. She had thought she could take it home with her U thelr stealings, but it will be dllorent} favor of rallways, Oge wapts them as Llo keep till we called for it,” men | THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD Resting Placs of 8eventeen Thousand Heroes of the Civil War THE HISTORIC SHADES OF ARLINGTON tion's Dend, Its Natural . Winding Paths Jountless Monu Necropolis of the N Beauties, Artistic Gt and Drives, and —~The Crows. Thres miles due west of the national capitol, on the timberefl heights of Virginia, sleep nearly 17,000 of @he soldier dead. Of the seventy-two, national cemeteri's Arlington is re ded! the most beautiful. Each of the others immortalize some great battle fleld, didicated as a resting place for the heroes whose 1if4 blood reddened its verdure. Arlington combines memories of many, and beneath Its grassy slopes rest the remains of many of the distinguished leaders of the union armies. Sightly and beautiful is this hallowed spot. The r sun salutes it among tho first of Virginia's helghts and is last to recelve adicu at eve, iile the rippling Potomac rolls an eternal ulem at its foot. he cemetery s and street rajlway accessible by carriage Cable cars land ngton visitor at Georgetown, whera afford conveyance a the Ige-and connect with the trolley winds around the hills brneath and lands you at the western Fort Myer road. This is one the cemetery and is known cs the Fort My:r gate. The main entrances to the grounds are along the Georgetown and Alexandria ro The first of these s the Ord and Weitzel gate, flanked with tall columns inscrib d with the names of Generals Ord and Weitzel. Next is the Sheridan gate, a massive structure of four columns supporting a stone cross- plece, on which is inseribed the nume of the great cavalry leader. The McCellan gate 13 an imposing structure of red sandstone of artistic design. Over the gateway is the name of the hero of Antietam and beneath it an appropriate inscription. The fourth is known as the new gate, which swings be- twe:n massive masonry that once formed a portion of the old War department building. Near the southwest corner is the McPherson gate, leading into a circular grove form- ing the apex of the irrcgular plots whire sleep 10,000 of the soldfer dead. From each of the lower gates the road- ways wind through beautiful groves and all converge at the Curtis mansion. The Ord and Weitzel road leads the visitor through a narrow strip of ground, less than two acres, in which the first burials during the war ‘were made. Here are about 5,000 graves. Then (h: read, afier winding arounl beds of flowers, suddenly plunges into a wood, 50 dense and wEd that the sunshine rarely penetrates to the ground, crosses de p ravines, loops the hillsides and finally ter- minates in the open, well-kept space sur- rounding the historic mansion. AN IMPRESSIVE SIGHT. The writer entered the cemetery by the Fort Myer gate. It was a warm, cloudless day in early May. Trees wer: in full bloom. The fresh trimmed sward gave evidence of loving care. No passing breeze stirred the lecaves. Here and thege a bird chirruped warily. Even th \\'orgmen, busily laying granolithic walks and repairing roads, spoke in whisper tones and permitted no harsh or irreverent sound to break the solitude of the city of the dead, To the right, after entering the gate, are long rows of unpretentious headstones, ex- tending far into the timber. They are of uniform size, granite or marble, rising a foot above ground and laid with such regi- mental precision and apparently so endless in number that the perspctive becomes a line of white dots, fringed with green. Cach slab bears a name and a date. Along the edge of the general tions and front- ing the walk are iron tablets bearing, in ralsed letters, a stanza from the famous elegiac poem of Colon:l Theodore O' Hara: The muffled drum’s sad roll has beat The soldler's last tattoo; No more on life's parade shall meet That brave and fallen few. road the W carryalls aqueduct b line, which Fort Myer, gate on the of the ix gates to ross On Fame's eternal camping ground Thelr silent tents are spread, And Glory guards with solemn The bivouac of the dead. . . . . round . . THE OFFICERS' QUARTERS. To the left of the road are the sections set apart for the interment of officers. Here every officer who served his country with distinction fs entitled to burial. Many handsome monuments have already been raised over the graves in these sections. These attractive piles of granite and marble are in marked contrast with the severe simplicity of the acres of headstones across the road. ‘Ihe government here only permits a departure from the uniform style of headstone pro- vided elsewhere, consequently the fancy of admiring friends and comrades is permitted to riot in stony pile and epitaph. Further on, at a turn of the road, the most striking memorial in all Arlington comes into view. Itis a massive block of rough hewn granite containing the bones of 2,111 of the 4,394 of the unknown dead buried in the cemetery. The remains were gathered up by loying hands from the by- ways of the varjous battle fields north of the Rappahannock, and suitably honored in the nation’s necropolis. The sarcophagus bears this simple inscription: “Here lie the bones of 2,111 unknown soldiers. Their remains could not be iden- tified, but thelr names aud deaths are re- corded in the archives of their country, and its grateful citizens honor them as of their noble army of martyrs. May they rest in peace.” THE GRAVE OF SHERIDAN. Further east on the sloping ground are the sections reserved for the burial of officers of the army and navy who achieved high distinction in the sérviée of their country. The spot containing the ren eral Phil Sheridan, with its a monu- ment, 15 a magnet attrecting every visitor. It is & few yards from the columned portico of the Curtis mansion. | A gravel walk sur- rounds the plot, which|is enclosed with a chain attached to granite posts. ment s a block of highly polished dark gray granite. Upon its face s a bronze flag and medallion, the lattey cantaining a head of the dead eneral In high rellet. - The bronge cast is the work off Samuel Kitson of Bos- ton and Is regarded as an excellent likeness. Beneath the medalllon, ® raised capitals, is the name “Sheridan.” 'The location of the grave Is the most sightly on the grounds. In life the gallant and dashing cavalry com- mander rose to the highest wilitary office in the gift of an admiring people. 5o in death his resting place Is commandingly in front, flanked and followed by the graves of brother officers and the countless host of troopers who In clvil strife went down in sorrow and in triumph, Through the broad Tift in the surroupding forest of oak the city of Washington Is distinctly visible—a cluster of red and gray walls and towering spires, the capitol dome and the Washington monu- ment overtopping all in massive and unap- proachable graudeur. DISTINGUISHED DEAD. Near that of Sheridan Is the grave of Ad- miral David R. -Porter, whose illustrious career on sea equalled the former's on land, A few yards away is a handsome shaft marking the grave of Surgeon General J. H. Baxter, who died in 1570, Here, too, rest the ‘remains of General George Crook, ! whose brilliant career in the civil war was capped with numerous notable victories over the treacherous and revengeful Indians in the west and southwest. Other graves in this section are those of General Abner Doybleday, Brevet Major General J. H. Motver and Ceneral S8amuel David Sturgls. But a trifie less lllustrious are the names 1891 TWEN’ The monu- .| IY PAGES on the monuments in the officers’ sections, back of the amphitheater and rostrum. An object of general Interest is the sarcophagus of dressed marble containing the remains of General M. C. Melgs, quartermaster general of the army during the entire civil war, and those of his wife, Loufsa Roger Meigs. Other members of the family a buried here, including Lieutenant John Roger Melgs the eldest son of the general, who was killed in battle in 1864 An undressed granite shaft grave of Brigadier General Willlam B. Hazen, for years chief signal officer of the United St who died in 1887 ar by rest the remains of Brigadier General Gabriel R. Paul, who went down to death in a furious charge at Gettysburg. A granite column marks the spot. A beautitul gran ite block marks the grave of Brevet M General John H. Kirk, and near it the gr of the hero of Corinth, Miss., Brigadier Gen eral Plummer. A simple marble slab marks place of the venerabls General plain granite ghaft rises above the grave of General James Frewerton Rl ketts, a vel an of two wars, a participant In twenty-seven battles of the reb:llion, who died of wounds received while commanding the Sixth corps in the Shenandoah valle A cube of granits, severely plain, marks the grave of G:neral Myer. The grave of General Jones, for a number of years Inspector general of the army, Is marked by a tasteful shaft A block of pure white marble with a carved cavalry sabre marks the grave of Captain von Dachenhausen. Captain Charles Parker of the Ninth cavalry is buried near by and his grave Is marked by an upright slab of white marble, Other notable graves are those of Generals W. W, Belknap and W. W, Burns, both unmarked monuments, and Rear Admiral Charles S. Stedman, whose grave is marked with an artistic pyramidal monument of polished red granite, marks the the resting Harney ANCIENT RELICS. Adjoining the officers’ section on the north is a collection of weather-beaten shafts and labs of sandstone and marble with quaint old epitaphs in antique letter They bear the names of famili's prominent in the colonfal and revolutionary periods of Am can history. These ancient stones, eleven in number, marked the graves of officers ot the revolutionary army and public officials of the carly years of the century and were removed to Arlington from the old Presb: terian cemetery when the latter was d molished. Dircetly south of the Curtis mansion is a large garden, in which flower beds are ar- ranged to repres:nt badges of the different army corps. The names of Grant, Sherman Sheridan, Garfleld and others appear floral letters. 1In the center of the garden stands the “Temple of Fame,” a circular structure composed of eight columns, sur- mounted by a dome which rests on an octagonal cornice of stone. Chiseled on this cornice are the names of Washington, Lincoln, Grant and Farragut. The columns bear the illustrious names of McPherson, Sedgwick, Reynolds, Humphreys, Garfi=id, Mansfield, Thomas and Meade. Just beyond the garden is the rostrum and amphitheater, where Decoration day exer- cises arc held. The rostrum is a raised platform of stone, resembling the remains of a Grecian temple. An ornam>ntal marble slab serves as a reading desk, while twelve stone columns support a level Toof of lattice work thickly covered with cre-ping vine: The amphitheater is a circular embank- ment of earth, enclos'ng a space large enough to hold 1,500 persons, A BIT OF ARLINGTON HISTORY. Apart from the hallowed memorics wh'ch now cluster about it Arlington possesses assoclations extendjng back almost to the foundation of the republic. As far back as 1669 it formed part of the grant made by Sir William Berkeley, governor of Virginia, to Robert Howsen. Later It passed to the Alexander family, from which the city of Alexandria took its name, and from the Alexanders it was purchased by John Park? Curtis, the son of Martha Washington, and the immediate ancestor of George Washing- ton Parke Curtis. With*the latter's lif2, closing in 1857, the history of Arlington is intimately associated. Within the portals of the Curtis mansion, which crowns the crest of the hill, have assembled men and women distinguished in th= nistory of the country. It was bullt early in the century and designed to suit the tastes and meet the demands of hospitality characteristic of the Virginia gentleman of the period. Tall, massive Grecian columns form the portico. Wide halls and spacious chambers, even in their present dismantled condition, bespeak comfort and el:gance. Lafayette was a guest at the house in 1824. The Masons, the Fitzhughs, the Randolphs and other noted Virginians had the entree of mansion and grounds, and statesmen like Clay and Webster were partakers of its hospitality. In the main drawing room, where visitors are now requested to register their names, the dashing and esteemed young army offi- cer, Lieutenant Robert B. Lee, wedded Miss Mary, only child of Mr. Curtis, on the even- ing of June 30, 1831, The marriage of Licutenant Lee to the heiress of Arlington renewed the gayety of the estate. From Arlington Lieutenant Lee started for the Mexican war, in which he achieved dis- tinction and ‘promotion. From Arlington Colonel Lee started in command of a com- pany of Washington marines to subdue the raiders under John Brown at Harper's Ferry. And in the historic mansion Les penned the letter dated April 20, 1861, res signing his commission in the United States army. FROM PEACE TO WAR. Five days after the letter was written and three days after Lee's departure for Rich- mond, the camp fires of the union army were lighted among the oaks of Arlington. The mansion became the headquarters of the commanders of the troops on the ground and the “pomp and circumstance’ of war su ceeded the sweet tranquility of domestic life. The trumpet of internecine strife sounded the future fate of Ariington, The establishment of Arlington as a na- tional cemetery is due to General Meigs, who, with President Lincoln, ordered bur- fals there on the 13th of May, 1564. The first to rest beneath its sod was a confeder- ate soldier, who died in Arlington hospital while a prisoner of war. The impression that the property was confiscated as an act of retributive justice is a mistaken one, The necessities of war forced the government to use it as a ficld hospital. It was bought at tax sale in January, 1864, the government paying $26,000, and subsequently after litigation ex- tending down to 1882, the government se- cured valid title on payment of $150,000 to the younger Lee. ~ DECORATION DAY, Arlington presents an impressive sight on Decoration day. The beauty of the location, the vivid color of trees and grass, the per- fume of flowers, the incoming crowds keep- ing step to the mufiled roll of drums, unite in & composite picture of inspiring patriotism framed with oak and emerald. From early morning till noon approaching roads are crowded with vehicles of every conceivable description, Footmen are numerous and street cars thronged. The gates are con- gested with crowds, while the procession of the Grand Army with difficulty pushes its way to the amphitheatre. No grave Is unremembered on this day. Over every mound floats the colors under which the occupants fought. Flowers are strewn in abundance where. Here and there are floral pleces of speclal design marking the graves of loved ones. The vault of the un- known dead recelves speclal attention, and is usually covered with loose flowers and wreaths. The graves of Sheridan, Porter, Crook, and other famous officers are covered with floral tributes from admiring comrad and kin. After these tender evidences of love and remembrance come the oratorical flowers of affectionate regard and the Inspiring notes of national song. The assembled throng, broken into groups, surround varl- ous monuments. Some comrade tells of the herolsm of the occupants. Some are on bended knee uttering prayers. Others un- cover and bow reverently before a modest slab. The crowds are rapldly hurrying back to the city. The sunset gun at Fort Myer salutes the passing day. Oathering dark- ness warns the lingering few, and soon the INGLE nhonored dead fn Arlington are alone in the “undisturbed tranquility of endless T CROWS AT ARLINGTON, Huve Settled Upon tlonal Cemetery. It fs not generally known, but noverthe that Arlington cemetery cupled not only by the silent gathered from the sofl enriched by their blood, but is inhabited every night by army of a million or more of feathered na tives of Virginla. Just before daybreak every morning, writes a correspondent of the Philadelphia Times, the soldiers of Fort Myer notice a stir in the tall tree tops, in the branches and on the extreme limbs of the primeval ost which has sot aside as a_natlonal cemetery The stillness of the early ¢ the heights and the pulse of the night is making its last feeble throb. In the far east there is a very faintish flush, or rather the reflection of a flush, which Indicates the rising of the sun. A golden hue, a pur- ple tinge, and the silvery horizon becomes warm with the glow of commencing day. As the light penctrates the leaves and branches of the forest the feathered sleepers are awakened and rise with a bound into the zure blue. The morning air is stirred with high-pitched notes as they are sung by the army of crows. Like an army with banners, well trained, mystic, wonderful, these denizens of the forest rise in graceful flight, and with the lightness and graceful- of gyratory curves they fall into the with tremendous energy and the old Potomac river, where the Grant memorial bridge 15 supposed to be built, over ancient Georgetown and northern Waslington, hiding the rising sunlight from the suburban village of Bladensburg, the an- ent ducling ground for the national capital, e Army of the Potomac crows marches across the fresh morning into the upper Chesapeake bay atmosphere. The head of the column usually reaches the bay and commences to settla down to work by the time the rear guard has left Arlington. Late in the afterncon, just about or a little before sunset, the observer will see a long and constantly growing army of these birds retracing their steps, or rather re- flying their tracks, southward to thelr nightly home at Arlington, The number of this migratory flock, as well as the regular, periodical character of their diurnal flight, produces a_spectacle of more than ordinary interest. Their going and coming has at- tracted a great deal of notice and been a subject of scientific Inquiry for a number of years, As a matter of fact ever since the Potomac valley was settled the ancestors of this great army of crows occupied the woods and wooded hills along the river in Alex- andria and Fairfax counties. Before the war they occupied an Iimmense strip of pines bove Georgetown, but the woods were de- stroyed during the war, and the modern crows were obliged to forsake the homes of their ancestors and seek the'r nightly refuge in the natural groves about the ancestral home of the Lees. These wonderful birds occupied the primeval forests long before the coming of John Smith or the other ad- venturous spirits who plowed the Potomac with their small boats €0 many years ago. It is probable that they will continue to dwell here and make their daily pilgrimages for all time to come. The crow is not the enemy of the farmer in this section of the country, but rather his friend. It Is true that he will follow the grain sowers and pick up a small portion of the seed that s sown, but the crow has an appetite for an‘mal food, and is always on the lookout for cut worms and other epe- mies of the farmer. Thousands of these crows, in their flight toward the Chesapeake in the early morning, stop on their way, like stragglers and foragers from an army, and scttle down upon the farms for half an hour or more, during which period they gather up millions of worms of various kinds, and re- lieve the farmer of them, while at the same time they satisfy their own appetites. They are helpful fellows, are these crows, and the farmers in this country do not put up scare- crows as they do in many portions of the United States. There is a little legend which is told by the colored people and superititious whites in the neighborhood of Arlington concerning the transfer of the crows from the George- town side of the Potomac to Arlington for- ests. It is said that shortly after the grand review in Washington in May, 1865, the con- federate general, Robert B. Lee, came several nights alone to hie old home upon the Vir- ginia hills and spent hours of prayerful =oii- tude beneath the grand old trees and in the midst of the numberless dead soldiers slum- bering there. Immediately after this oc- currence the crows left the pines back of Georgetown and nightly roosted in the trees of Arlington. This is a very pretty legend which will be related in an elaborate man- ner by some poet of the future who will make the romance of the Potomac Valley one of charming, interesting, sombre, yet lightsome and bright melancholy. Whether the crows go to join their cawing with the weeping of the defeated general or not, it is a very pretty legend and the crows are still there and will be there for the future novel'st and poet. The people of Washing- ton, sleeping as a majority of them do until 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning, seldom wit- ness this daily fiight of the crows, yet it s one of the most interesting events of the day at the national capital. The river men, that is those who dwell along the banks of the Potomac, or who are engaged In boating or fishing, generally see the entrance gates grow black in the evening as the wearied predatory peripatetics settle there. The reader probably knows that at cach of the entrances to the National ceme- tery fron gates are hanged from immense granite pillars, surmounted each with a slab hiseled name of some of our great military leaders. The pillars were for- merly used in the portcos of the cld War de- partment building. They can be seen with the naked cye from the Washington side of the river, and when the crows settle there— whele platoons of them—the entrance gotes appear to be draped In mourning, while the trees are darkened into a semblance of crepe dressing, as though all animate nature were ready to weep for the fallen brave men and true who slum- ber there. In the spring time and fall, es- pecially, when their numbers are greatest, the epectacle presented fs truly Imposing. Gradually the black speck settles upon the slab which crowns the pillar, grows before the vision, and as the advance guard covers the gate the remainder of the army, waving thelr black flags, sweep shrieking over and beyond until every leaf is obscured almost wholly, by the amazing host. Fully an hour is consumed In making Qispositions for every private in the ranks for the night, and the air is laden with the orders of the gencrals, the majors and the captains of hundred: ‘and tens. The crow quartermaster general must be a busy fel- low at nightfall, but at last he sees his troops comfortably ettled, and the word “siler is pasked all along the line; then the tremendous army sinks to slumber, A signal officer at Fort Meyer says that these black soldiers of the air are well drilled, observant of rules and subject to d’s- cipline. Their daily course is regular when cbserved In !ts entirety; although seem- ingly irregular and ragged to the caual ob- server. They travel in squads and com- panies, which have military cohesion, and all being related to each other in platoons, regiments and brigades. Their d'scipline 15 rigid and thelr tactics as perfect as that of thelr human prototypes, albeit upon a Qiffer- ent plan, fitted, of course, to thels eircum- stances and conditions. They have skrmish- ers and outlying sentinels, whether in flight by day or at rest by night. Moreover, they are truly guardians of the dead, for neither man nor beast could enter Arlington at night without arousing the crow sentinels, who weuld glve the alarm, and millons of throats would at once respond, cawing their announcement of the intrusion and calling for action to repel the invasion. i i Dl Washington Star: “Its a good thing a man to attend striotly {o s own § ness,” remarked Senator Sohnso. Perhaps 1t replied the constituent, ho had been keeping tab on absentees, “but it's funny that some men never seem to realize that untll they get elected to Capgresat Great Flock the Na- A fa 18 o it is sleoping heroes an been surrounds nes line of march speed across for husl- S o ns oo PAG:S 1120 COPY FIVE CENTS BLOCK N0, ONE-FORTY-SIX Omalia's Rapid Growth Recalled by the Sa’e of the Lowe Propoerty, STORY OF A SIXTEENTH STREET CORNER ! Residence Site Clty's Ploneers by Indians Street Acquired by One of the Teo ty with the Value Through Gradings. Lost Interesting reminiscences are brought to mind by the little item that appeared In the columns of The Bee not many days ago. The paragraph in question announced the completion of the sale by the placing on rec- ord of the deed from General Lowe and his wife of the old Lowe corner at Sixteenth and Harney streets to John Lowber Welch of Phil- adelphia. At the same time It was stated that Mr. Welch, owns considerable property in Omaha Bast Omaha, was buying the' site as an investment, Intends ing some time to improve it with a busi- ness building, General Lowe meantime con- tinuing to reside in the house now standing there, To the early who and residents of Omaha— those of 1857 thereabouts—such as Major George Armstrong, Dr. Miller, First Postmaster A. D. Joncs, A. J. Hanscom and Doc Smith, the reading of a bit of news of this sort must produce an effect like that of good old Rip Van Winkle's awakening. A single lot in Omaha for $130,000, when (to them) but a few years ago the whole town- sito could almost have been bought with the doilars represented by the first two digits and ene cipher added instead of four! Al though so short a time in point of years Omaha, like many people, has lived 8o fast and experienced so much In those years that the events of the early days are in- deed history pure and simple and of great interest to all her children whether resident born or immigrated. The story of General Lowe's lot above indicated is the history of Or ha, particularly of its days of short clothes. Could it but tell its own story it would be a romance in real life, for it would tell tales of claim clubs, ete., which men are not so willing shall be paraded in public, and other tales, though perhaps not suf- ficently important to have made an indeli- ble impression on the memory, sull none the less interesting for reauing. Block 146, the block on which Is located the Lowe properly, has always been the home of General Lowe and was the home of Dr. Enos Lowe, his father, before him. The general's memory of the historical events clustering about thiz place is excellent and like Major Armstrong he Is in his element apparently when he has about him a group of listeners to his narratives. The general in relating the way his father became possessed of block 146 says: “The founder of Omaha, my father, Dr. Enos Lowe, his brother, Jesse Lowe, Samuel S. Bayless, General Samuel R. Curtis and A, D. Jones, acquired title to the ste by virtue ot @ treaty with Logan Fontanelle, chief of the Omaha Indians. Following thiz was the organization of the Council Bluffs and Ne- braska Ferry company, under whose auspices the townsite was taken in the usual way. Distribution was made by 1ot to all interested parties, 1 now have in my possession the original allotment book, showing the names of the original owners of all lots in the town- site. On allctment various trades were made among the lot owners and my father selected block 146 for his future home.” The record: of the register of deeds offica show this land to have been entered under the homestead act, October 28, 1857, by one Cade W. Rogers. That the entry was sub- sequently cancelied and patent issued to John McCormack July 5, 1859, prior to which time or September 24, 1857, the Ferry company conveyed title to lot 1 to Enos Lowe. Lot 3 went to Samuel R. Curtis and 3 to H. C. Pur= ple, and both soon thercafter to Enos Lowe, the latter through A. J. Hanscom. —The rec- ords at Neligh, the then United States land office of this district, how also that McCor- mack made original entry.July 5, 1859, about two years after the entry of Rogers. It Is to be surmised that Rogers failed to comply with the provisions of the law as to living upon and improving his claim. Only two months after making the entry, however, Rogers =old his title to Je se Lowe, as mayor of Omaha, and David Belden, also as mayor, in 1859 conveyed to Enos Lowe, presumably to cure any defect which might exist on ac- count of Rogers' appearance in the claim, So much for a chronological brief furnished by the musty records in the big vault at the court ho 3 This now almost sacred allotment book discloses some Ipteresting things, among them that a certain number of these plo- neers conceived thé fdea of a railroad to the Pacific ocean long before the question wag brought forward in congress and obtained a charter for the.same and made it valld by breaking ground for construction. The Lowe homestead was among the very first brick structures in Omaha, and all the mill work was brought by steamer from Cin- cinnati. Less the wonder then, as General Lowe says, In continuing his story, ‘“that the original cost was about $30,000.” The general warms up to his subject when he touches on the question of grade, and with “good and sufficient cause,” for although the street grade about him has been lowered three times, each time “permanently,” he has never received a dollar of damages. The place once occupied a beautiful natural site, with the surface sloping to the streets in all directions, but is now perched up in the air thirty-one and a half feet above the sidewalk.” The foundation of the house was placed on the level of the ‘“officlal’ grade of Harney street as established by Mr. Phillips, a civil engineer brought here in those days from Pittsburg, Until, by the succession of ‘“booms’ through which Omaha has periodically passed, the ground has been demanded for building purposes, the north half of block 146 was covered with a varlety of pines, cedars, shade and ornamental trees and shrubs, and also fruit trees, and the south half occupled as a vineyard. At last, after s0 long a struggle for existence as a dis- tinet relic of Omaha ploneer days, the Lowe homestead will soon be a landmark no more. CH. E. W. day and —e MODES FOR MEN. It is safe to say that there will be lots of the regulation soft flannel and silk shirts worn, and In these the same leaning towar quiet effects in colors are noticed. Cuffs should be of the same materlal as the shirt. It is not now considered good form to wear white cuffs with colored shirt The cuffs may have elther round or square corners, fastened with link buttons. In tourist hats there are the Albert and Eaton, the difference being that in the Baton the fullness is in the back, while in the Al bert there Is a fullness pretty much all over the crown, with a leaning toward the front, It you have on hand a good sample of the last year's regulation white straw hat, with its comparatively low crown and wide brim, you may wear It with safety this season and still be In style. There Is not so great a change In straw hats as has been expeoted there would be, probably because last year's styles were held in such high favor. In soft hats, which may be worn by those who prefer, the Alpine will be the favorite for street wear. The best tint is pearl. The colors run also from bellanutria, the lightest shade of brown made, to maple and dark brown. Black bands, as distingulshed from last year's style of light gray, are afiixed to them for stylish wear. he high-banded, turn-down upon the plan of those worn by the West Point cadets, 18 In favor, It should be worn with & colored shirt and with & scarf of the club-tie pattern. Ties of various descrips tions may be worn with any of these styles of shirt ‘bosoms. That most in favor Iy | the club tle or plalo straight striog ties . J collar, bullt