Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, August 19, 1894, Page 13

THE OMA HA DAILY BE CAPITAL OF C OREA’ The Queer Oity of Beonl, Its People and Unique Customs, MAY BE WIPED OUT BY THE WAR Occupation of Corea by Chinese and Japa- nese Troops, COVETOUS EYES OF RUSSIA AMD ENGLAND The Eig Wall and tho Four Great Oity Gatet ENEMY’S GUNS - CULD SOON DEMOLISH IT The Dirtiest Streets in the World—Encouns ter with a Gatekeeper—Something About w —A Mad Palace Serv- ant and Coren Copyrighted, 1804, by Frank G. Carpenter.) SEOUL, Corea, Aug. pecial Corre- spondence of The Bee.)—I want to give you some idea of Seoul, the capital of Corea. It 18 the center of the war trouble between China and Japan. A battle may be fought in it any day, and the firing would wipe its thatchied huts from the face of the earth, 5 1t lies in a basin in the mountains and it is perhaps the most beautifully located cap- ital on the face of the globe. It s only twenty-six miles from the sea, and it Is con- nected with the port of Chemulpo by a poor wagon road, which climbs up the hills and over the mountains to get to It. The sluggish Han river flows within three miles of It, and it was up this river that I rode in a little steam tug to a landing place not far from the spot on which Kim Ok Kiun's dead body was cut into six pleces a month or s ago. But first take a look at Corea’s chief sea- port. Chemulpo Is the place at which Seoul gets all its provisions. It Is now the liveliest littlo eity of Asia. There are something llke two-score gunboats In its harbor, and the Japanese have all told twenty-elght gunboats and transports here. The harbor is large and land-locked by islands. The tide bas an encrmous rise and fall, often as high as thirty feet, and bosts which get close to tho town are left on the mud when the tide goes out. Chemulpo lies right on the edge of tho sea, with great hills rising behind it, and it is on one of these that still stands the house where Admiral Shufeldt met the Co- rean commissioners in 1852 and made the treaty which opened Corea to the civilized world. Since then Chemulpo has grown to bo quite a city, and It looks more like a slico of Japan than Corea. It has 2,500 Jap- anese and 3,500 Corean population. There aro less than 1,000 Chinese, four Americans, sixteen Germans and five Englishmen in it. The onJy American business firm in Corea is located in Chemulpo, anl this is, I think, now closed on account of the war. It has been about decided to regard Chemulpo neutral ground, and this will prevent its be- ing fired upon by either party. Were it otherwise a single gunboat could shell it out of existence, as its harbor is open and un- protected. The fighting has been at Ya San, which is about fitty miles south of Chemulpo. It was at this point that the Chinese troops first landed, and 1,700 came here at the instance of the king to aid him in putting down the rebellion. They did nothing to help, however, as had been incorrectly stated in the papers. They merely remained at Ya San. In the meantime the Japanese began sending troops to Corea, and by the 1st of July they had 7,500 soidiers in Seoul and 500 in Che- mulpo. This caused the Chinese to send more soldiers, but they landed all thelr troops at Ya San, being for the time appar- ently paralyzed by the Japanese invasion. I learn that there is a decided difference be- tween the equipment of the two armies. The Japs have landed their men with the best of erything and have their stores complete in every department. They have 250 cavalry and about forty fleld guns, including machine and mountain guns. They have full stocks of provisions and are supplied with pontoon bridges, telephone lines and ail the materials of modern warfare. On the other hand the Chinese are sald to bo calling on the Coreans to supply them with ponles, cattle and rice. Corea 18 very poor. The country Is on the verge of starvation, and the Chinese would not be able to carry on their war long by rations supplied In this way. THE LION AND THE BEAR. The Japanese have demanded of China 1 that she give up all pretense of soverelgnty over Cor If China does this she will lose her reputation throughout the far east and it may lead to the dismemberment of her gov- ervment. Her provinces are by no means closely tled together, and the fight that she 18 making may be for her existence as an empire as well as for a show of power in the land of Corea. In the meantime the danger of the other powers being involved in the war s very great. The Baltimore and the Monocacy, our two gunboats, are at Chemulpo. The French man-of-war Incon- stant, the German gunboat Iitis, the Eng- lish warship Archer and the Russian man- of-war Koreatz are also in this same harbor and the other ports of Corea contaln war- ships. The British are very much afrald of the Russlans. There is sald to be a man- of-war at Port Hamilton, which is, you know, some distance below Vladivostock, in Siberia. It Is put there to watch the Russian g movements, The Russians are said to sym- pathize with the Japancse, while England, who sells tens upon tens of millions of doltars’ worth of goods every year to China, favors her. If the trans-Siberian railroad was completed there is little doubt but that the Russlan troops would already be fin Corea. It may be so now, for Russia will not tolerato any coalition between China and England without coming to the assist- ance of the Japanese. At any rate, a great part of the war has to be fought on Corean soil, and Seoul will be ground between the upper and the nether millstones. It may be wiped out of exist- ence. 1f so, the most curious city on the face of the globe will pass away. I visited it slx years ago, and my visit of the present year included more than a month of hard work. I have spent days In wandering through its streets. 1 have been inside of its prisons and have walked through its laces. 1 have talked with all classes ind ave scen all sorts of new things at every turn. There are no guide books of Asla. .You will not find accurate descriptions of Seoul In any books of trhvel. The tourist who comes here without Introductions could not find a lodging place. There are no hotels, and I am Indebted to my frionds among tho missionaries, among the diplo- mats, and with some of the high Coreans for my éntertalnment through these many days. 1 despalr of glving you an accurate 1dea of the Corcan capital, it is so different rom any other city on the face of the globe. It fs such a mass of the beautiful and the ugly, of eivilization and barbarism, of the old and the ngw, that I don't know how to describe it. 7!' its situation. It lies in & greal basin surrounden by moun- tains, which in some placés are as rugged as the wildest peaks of the Rockies, and which in others have all the beautiful verdure of the Alleghanies or the Catskills, The tops of these mountains oft rest W the olouds and masses of vapor hang in their recesses above the greep plain upon which the city Is bullt. They change in thelr hues with every change of the heavens, and they give Seoul a setting more gorgeous than jew: THE CITY WALL. The basin below is just about large enough to contain the towh, ‘and a great gray wall 1 from thirty to forty feet high runs along the sides of these hills, bounding the basin and mounting here and thers almost to the tops of the lower mountalns. It scales one hul of at least 1,000 feet in he will enclosed the whole eity. In nine months by an army of 200,000 work- men, about 500 yoars ago, and It is a piece of solid masonry, consistihg of two thick walls of granite packed down in the middle with earth and stones. Ity top Is %0 wide that two carriages could easily driven about It, and it has, on the side facing the coun: try, a creneliated battlement, with holes large enough for its defenders to shoot through with arrows. Thers are no cannon upon it, and It will be no means of defens against the batteries of the Chinese or the Japs In the present struggle. Its only use in late years has been to keep out the tigers and leopards. This wall is more than six miles in length. It is plerced by elght gates, the arches of which are as beautifully lald and cut as those of any stone work you will find in the United States. Each of these great arches has a curved roof of black tile. This rests upon carved wooden pillars, which rise above the tops of the walls and which form watch towers for the soldiers, Over the great south gate, the main entrance to the capital, there are two guch roofs, one above the other, which are guarded at thefr corners by minlature de- mons of porcelain, who seem to be crawling along the edges of the structure. It wonld not take much more than a Gatllng gun to batter down the heavy doors by which these arches are closed. These doors are bigger than those of any barn In our country. They are swung up on pivots made by pins fitting into the masonry at the top and the bottom. They are sheathed with plates of iron riveted on with big bolts, and up until now the common Coreans have believed them a defense against the enemy. They have as much ceremony connected with them as other nations have with thelr forts, and there are officers In charge of them who would lose their heads if they failed in their duty. Every night just at sundown these gates are ed, and they are not opened again until about 4 in the morning. The slgnal of their closing and opening is the ringing of a massive bell in the exact center of the city. After this those who are In cannot get out, and those who are out- side cannot get in. The greatest care Is taken of the keys to these gates. The locks close with a spring and the keys are kept In the king's palace except at the time that they are used at the gates. The locks themselves are guarded all day at the palace and are only brought to the gates a short time before closing the city. I wish I could show you one of these locks. Each gate has two of them and they are each as heavy as a 10-year-old boy. It is all that one man can do to carry them from one part of the city to the other, and when I tried to lift one I found my back strained. They are of massive iron. They are made in the shape of a box and are two feet wide and at least a foot thick. They lock with a spring much like that of a padlock, and it tukes a hammer to put them together. When I lifted the lock the gatekeeper with horror warned me (o let it alone. He pointed to my neck and drew his finger rapidly around hig own in order to let me know that I was in danger of losing my head. I still held it and he rushed toward me as though he would seize it from my hand. As he came up 1 dropped it on the stones. It clattered and I stooped over and tried to raise it again. As I did 8o I stood it on end and the rod of iron which was partially thrust intd the iron box rested on the ground. The Corean gatekeeper's face became ashy. He grabbed the lock trom me, and as be did so 1 could see the reason for his fear. The rod on which the lock rested on the ground formed the means of locking it, and had I pushed down upon it the spring would have caught. He would have been unable to lock the gate that night without going to the palace to get the key and might have lost his head for his carelessness. My Interpreter showed me the trouble and he told me that the king would surely punish the man if he knew that the lock had been out of his pos- sesslon. I then went on to the gate and looked at the clumsy fastening Into which this lock went. The bar which I have spoken of was as big as an old-fashioned poker and the lock Jjoined chains made of links of wrought fron which were as big around as the biceps of a blacksmith, the rings being as thick as your thumb. It was just after this that the hour for clos- ing the gates of the city approached. I waited and watched. First two men came from the gate house and sang out in Corean the words that the gates were closing and the time was short. Their voices were as shrill as those of an iman of a Mohammedan mosque when he calls out the hour of prayer from the minarets, and they held on to their final tones for the space of twelve seconds by my watch. As they cried there was a grand rush for the gates. Hundreds of men In black hats and white gowns ran ghostlike through the darkness. Bare-headed coolies dragged great bullocks with packs on their backs through the doors, and porters by the scores, loaded down with all sorts of wares, came stumbling along. There were coolies bearing closed boxes, In which were their mistresses. There were officlals on horseback and nobles on foot, all pushing and scrambling to get in before the gates closed. As I watched the big bell pealed out its knell, and the two men grasped the great doors and pulled them together with a bang. It took the strength of both to move each one of them, and the gates locked with a spring. The key, which remains with the King over night, 18 not brought back from the palace till the morning. It i3 a massive bar of iron, and |v takes a sledge hammer to drive it into the lock. Similar locks are on the gates to the wall which incloses the palace of the king, and on each of the eight gates of the city. BIRDSEYE VIEW. Inside this great wall, within this set- ting of mountains, lles the city of Seoul. It is a town bigger than Cincinnati, Cleve- land, Louisville, Washington, Buffalo, or De- troit. It contains more than 300,000 people, and it has scarcely a house that is more than one-story high. It Is a city of wide streets and narrow, winding alleys. It is a city of thatched huts and tiled one-story build- ings. On one side of it are the palaces of the king. They cover an area as large as a thousand-acre farm, and they are massive one-story boulldings surrounded by great walls and lald out with all the cegularity of a city. As you stand on the walls of Seoul and look over this medley of buiidings, your first impression is that you are in the midst of a vast hay field, Interspersed here and there with tiled barns, and the three big- gest streets that cut through these myrlad haycocks look like a road through the field You note the shape of the thatched house: They are all formed like horseshoes with the heel of the shoe resting on the street. The roofs are tied on with strings, and the thatch has grown old, and under the soft light of the setting sun It assumes the rich color of brown plush, and there is a velvety softness to tho whole. As you look closer, you see that the city is divided up into Streets and that these narrow and widen and twist and turn, without regularity or order. One part of the city is made almost entirely of tiled buildings. These are tho homes of the swells, and over there not far from the gate above one such building you sce on the top of a staff the American flag. That is the establishment of our legation in Corea, and the cozy little compounds about it are the residences of the missionarles and of the other foreigners Who reside in Seoul. Come down now and take a walk with me through the city. There are no pavements on the streets and you look in vain for gas lamps or the signs of an electric light. This city of 300,000 people is entirely without sanitary arrangements. There is not a water closet in it, and the sewage flows along in open drains In the streets and you have to bo careful of your steps, There are no water works, except the Corean water carrler, who, with & pole across his back, takes up the whole sidewalk as he carries two buckets of water along with him through the streets. The clouds are left to do the sprinkling of the highways, save where here and there a householder takes a dipper and ladles out the sewer fluld to lay the dust. All the slops of each house run nlm the ditches along the sldewalk and he smell comes up in solid ohunks ®0 thick that it could almost be cut into slices and packed away for use as @& patent fertilizer, Mixed with the smell 1s the -mu”. This comes out of chimneys about two féet above the ground, which jut out from the walls of the houses info the streets. Fit a stove- plps into your house at right angles with the floor of the porch and you bave the average Corean chimuey. At certain hours of the morning and evening each of theso chimneys vam{u forth the smoke of the straw which the peopls for the fires of thelr cooking and IH_MII' becomey blue. The doors to the ho along the stredt are more llke those of & table or barn than the entrances to residences. They are very rude and in the bottom of each is cut a hole for the deg. Such doors as are open give no insight to the bomes of the people, and T was In Seoul for some time before T knew that these doors facing the street wers merely tho entrance gates to large compounds or yards, in which were very comfortable bufldings. I thought that the nobles lived in these thatched huts. They are in reality only the quarters of the serv- ants, and the homes of the better classes contain many rooms and are in some cases almost as well fitted for comfort as those of our own. These houses along the streets have no windows to speak of. Thero are under the roof little openings about a foot square. These are filled with lattioe and backed with paper. They permit the light to come in, but you cannot see through them. Here and there I noted a little eye- hole of glass as big around as a red cent, pasted onto the paper, and as I go through the streets I find now and then a liquid black ball surrounded by a cream-odlored buttonhole, whieh forms the eyelids of a Corean malden, looking out. THE NATIVE WOMEN. I am human enough to want to study the women of every country 1 visit. I found this very hard in Seoul. The girls on the streets wear shawls wrapped arouud their heads, and only an eye peeps out through the folds. In India and Egypt the women are secluded, but when they go on the street, if their faces are covered, they think they are modest enough. The fair girls of Cairo care not that their dresses are open at the neck, if the black vell hangs o'er their cheeks, and the maidens of Hindoostan trot along with bare legs, while they pull thin white cotton gowns around their eyes, priding themselves upon their bracelet-covered arms and the an- klets, which reach half way to their knees These Corean girls are mere bundles of clothes. ~ Their feet in their wadded stock- ings look as fat as those of an elephant, and their skirts and their drawers hang in great folds, I happened to rub against one as I passed her on the streets of the city. She looked angrily at me out of the tail of her eye, and fled like a deer. As she ran I noted a gorgeous man clad in a red dress and a little hat of white straw, which sat on the top of his head, looking at me. He had a fan in his hand and he glowered flercely upon me. I asked General Pak who he was, and he told me he was a servant of the palace, and that he did not know but that he was related to the girl whom I had insulted by touching her. We looked at each other for some time and he jabbered at Pak in Corean. He was dressed ‘more gorgeously than Solomon in his glory. He looked as though he came out of a bandbox. He was, however, only one of a thousand strange characters that you may see any day on the streets of Seoul. There are no stranger people on the face of the globe. A masquerade of the na- tions could not furnish more strange co tumes, and in going through Seoul you rub your eyes again and again to find whether you are dreaming or waking. The Kingdom of Corea is made up of many classes of people, and each has its costume. There are hundreds of officials connected with the palace, each of whom wears a different dress. The nobles strut about In all sorts of gowns, with their retainers in all sorts of liveries, and you are all the while appar- ently looking into a great kaleldoscope of almond-eyed humanity with changes in colors and costumes at every turn of the barrel. There are different costumes for all positions In life, and every man wears a dozen different Kinds of dress during a year. It he goes to a wedding he has his own out- fit, and if he goes to his relative's funeral he must put on the garb of the mourner. Death gives more work to the tailors than woddings, and the mourners of Corea we long yellow gowns, with hats as big as umbrellas above them. You can tell some- thing about the position of a man by the size of his sleeve, and there is no place where a uat means 80 much as in Corea. Fora long time I feasted my eyes upon what I con- sidered the pretty little girls of the country. They were dressed in bright gowns. They parted their halr in the middle, and they tied the long braild which hung down their backs with neat little ribbbons. Once or twice T emirked and I smiled, but I could get no smiles in return, and I know now that these little girls were no girls at all, but merely young boys, who, not being mar- ried. have to wear their hair down their backs. After they are wedded they will put on hats and wrap their hair on the tops of their heads in a waterfall. All of the men of Corea wear waterfalls or topknots. These are just about as big as the fist of a baby, and they rest on the crown of the head. They wehr gorgeous hats, and they are, I be- llevé, the best dressed men In the world. Their customs are as queer as their dres and they both fit so closely together that I will write of the two in the future. e PRATTLE OF THE YOU? “‘Pap: said Benny Bloobumper, who knew his father's weakness, “you know all about fishing, don’t you? “Yes, my son,” replied the elder Bloo- bumper graciously. “There is very little about that gentle sport with which I am not familiar.” “You know all about the right sort of bait to use, don’t you?" “Certainly.” “That's what I was telling Freddy Fan- gle, and we agreed to leave something about fishing for you to decide. We had a discus- sion_about it."” “Well, Benny, I am very glad to see you taking such an’ interest in fishing, as well as to see such confidence in your father's Judgment. What was the point on which you and Freddy differed?” “I don't know as we differed, exactly. Freddy didn’t seem to quite agree with me, though.” ‘“‘State the question, Benny.” “Well, fish run in schools sometimes, don't they, papa?” “Yes.” “That's what I told Freddy." “Didn’t he belleve it?" ““Oh, yes, he believed that all right." “Then what Is it you wish me to decide GSTERS. “Well, I told him that when fish ran in schools the proper bait to use was book- worms."* A 5-year-old daughter of a Germantown, Pa., minister has learned the nursery rhyme running, “If at first you don't succeed, try, try agui Recently she upset the family devotion by ending her little prayer in this wise: “And now, oh Dod, please make Lillie a better girl, an’ it at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Mamma—Now, Andrew, you musn't eat that candy, becauso it will destroy your appetite for dinner. Andrew—I don't think so, mamma. Mamma—Why don't you think so, dear? Andrew—Because, mamma, I haven't got a bit of appetite just now. The Teacher—It s better, far better to give than to receive. Now, Johnny, you may tell me what you mean to do toward following out this beautiful rule, Johnny—TI'll let brother Tommy do all the givin' when either of us has somethin' good. Al little girl had a Kkitten, She was very fond of it, and it was a great delight to hear it purr. One night she was restless and her mother sald: “Cynthla, why don't you lie still and go to sleep?” can't," I-nu;erem the little one; ‘“papa purrs so oud."” 1 Mamma—Who gave you t Willie? Willie—Mrs. Rich. "Did you thank her for It?” “No'm; I thought she would give me another plece, and I was going to thank her all at once." e Quartet of Querios. OMAHA, Aug. 14.—To the Editor of The Bee: By answering the following questions in the columns of The Sunday Bee you wili greatly oblige a reade: 1—Did the slavo owncrs (f the south bring the colored man to this country, or how did he come here? —Are they natives of Africa clvilized? 3—Who was their forefa her? 4—Can & persin i) hae his first (intsn- tlon) papers vote for president of the United States? 1—No. He was brought over by slavers, or men who made a special business of it, and were composed not only of Americans, but of Buropeans as well. 2—They caonot be called natives of Africa nor uncivilised, having adopted the ways of civilization. 3—The bible makes Ham their forefather and this s probably the only authority ascribing to them such a source. 4—In Nebraska he can vote provided he has declared his Intention thirty days before elec tlon, plece of ple, nd are they THE PRESIDENTIAL ~ TERM Why it 8hould Be fhortened and Divested of Unrepublitan’ Glamour, TWO YEARS CONSIDERED THE PROPER LIMIT Murnt Halstead Argues that the Presid and Viee President Should Be Chose at Every Eloction of a House of Repregentatives. (Copyrighted by Irving Syndicate.) The tendency of the expressions of the citizens who have been at the trouble to be thoughtful about the improvement of the ma- chinery of our government, s toward the elongation of the term of the presidential office, coupled with the proposition that the chief magistrate shall not be eligible for re- election. The contention of this paper is that the better way would be to choose a president and vice president at every election of a house of_representatives, and to leave the matter of re-election where it belongs, to the judg- ment of the people. We are amply guarded against precipitate popular action, which was the apprehension of the fathers, and the cause of the unchange- ablo president for the period of two con- gresses, Our constitution makers were too conservative. Where there are & crown and a dynasty under a constitution the peo- AUGUST 19 ple have their fling through a change of government by a vote of congress or parlia- ment. The principle of royalty fs relied upon as the balance wheel; and we have the fiction of personal sovereignty reduced to transparency. One of the lessons of the ad- ministration for over a century of our re- publican form of government is that we need not bo afraid of the people. If they cannot govern themselves mno ome can do it for them. Jefferson regarding popular sover- elguty was wiser than Hamilton. IMPEACHMENT RESTRAINED. It Is well that the executlve government cannot be overthrown by a vote of congress. The process of impeachment Is restrained 50 as to be almost inoperative, and it will certainly never be undertaken save after great provocation, or successful except under circumstances the most extraordinary. It is fortunate that impeachment failed in the case of Andrew Johnson, and the teachings of his trial will long be profitable to the coun- try. The public virtue of patience is to be commended exceeditigly. The people are apt when displeased with a president to long for the immediate exercise of their sovereign rights; but it is desirable to wait. Wait all winter or all summer and see whether the clouds do not roll by, Pause and note the flight of phantoms clearing the air. An executive-in-chief who could be deposed by a vote of congress would not be strong enough; and to give congress the power of summary removal of the cabinet would have too much flavor of royal ceremony, and tend rather to magnify the constitutional advisers of the president by assocfating with them an excess of individual responsibility. Our sys- tem holds that the act of a cabinet officer is the act of the president; and it is vindi- cated by the fact that as a rule the strongest presidents have called about them the strongest cabinets, If there is a man in the country too large to go into the cabinet, the president is too wealk for his place. The cab- inets of Washington and Lincoln are illustra~ tive. It is a fatality for a commander-in- chiet to be jealous of his subordinates, and he is a great man when he is pleased be- cause others gather harvests of glory. WE NEED TO REPUBLICANIZE OUR IDEAS, We, the people of the United States, have felt the harness of republican government, and are satisfied that it is strong, and we may say rather too stiff in some particulars. The question is whether we should not relax the restraint that is imposed by the consti- tution upon the rapid exercise of the public will. Do we not need to republicanize our ideas as to presidents? We should have object lessons of education that the president is not our ruler. We are ruled by funda- mental and statutory law, and not by a per- sonage. The fault of the French in carrying on a republic is that they continue the old habit of mind attributing to the chief magistrate something of imperialism. They do not re- gard simplicity as dignity. They are fond of sashes and plumes and parades and in- sist upon a splendid officialism. There is, however, a great deal of true republicanism in France. The blue blouse and rough shoe in the galleries of art, and the absenco of cringing in the presence of the representa- tives of public potency, tell that the revolu- tion was mot In vain. We must guard the presidency Itself from sudden invasion ow- ing to a swift impulse from some rushing folly, and we' should secure the office from all imputations of uncertainty and impetuos- ity. This Is admirably done by our system of presidential electors. Much has been said favorable to the abolition of this alleged complication, and the choice of presidents by the popular vote. The election by elect- ors has, however, more than once been the salvation of the government, and is now keeping the peace. In so vast a nation we must cling to local responsibility, and the half million popular majority given in one corner of the country where suffrage is pe- culiar has power enough, and Indeed too much in selecting state electors. The pop- ular majorities in remote and obscure re- glons to overcome by wholesale the groater and more enlightened communities would be Qangerously disputed, for universal suffrage is not safeguarded so as to carry on its faco the warrant of absolute confidence. WE LIVE IN A RAPID AGE We travel so rapidly now! across continents and startling rate! world morning and evening, and through the journals we are actually engaged in the Parliament of Man every day. Time is more valuable than it was, and the years are longer than they were. If we have a presi- dent who is too strong-headed or—and it amounts to the same thing—wrong-headed, four years are rather too long to have him blocking the way, while we cultivate the in- stinct of conservatism and console ourselyes by the reflection that the republic is far more inflexible than a monarchy and im- pose limitations upon our will more sover- elgn than royalty. The most natural and pertinent sugges- tion of remedy for the inconveniences of which wo are consclous {s that the period of the presidency should be precisely that of a congress—two years and no more; and along with this should come another change —that the day of the:inauguration of a pres- fdent must be that of the meeting of con- gress in regular session. This adjustment would hold fast to all that is solid in the limitations the people impose on themselves for their own good and give the public will greater freedora and force. The wheel does not lose strength because there is more play on the axletree. SOME OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. The first objection offered to two-year terms of the presidency is that we should have the terrible and costly disturbance of a presidential election twlig: as often as under the existing regulations. The answer 1s, we should not have at all such profligate agita- tions as now attend presidential contests. Elect a president every two years and we take the plethora out of the office, strip the unrepublican glamour from it and free our- selves of a sentimentality that is almost a superstition. If we liked a president well enough we could glve him four terms; and it we did not like him we would not have so long to walt to get at him. The two-year terms would glide easily into each other, The strain and the racket of a change would be reduced. The Intensity of office-seeking for the time of an administration would subside. There would be something more of comradeship than we have now between the president and congress. There would be loss talk about our “ruler,” and a real civil servico reformation take place. The presidential ofice would not, if the term were two years, seem 80 Inaccessible We oceans at such a We know the news of the glids as now. There might be a greater number of candidates, but their anxieties would be lessened. The celebrated bee in the bonnet would not make so much nolse. of ex-presidents The supply would probably increase, | and thelr occupation ceas Our form of government popular, and not less strong. 1 have found In presenting these viows that %0 thotoughly have the friends of the longer presidential term, without eligibility for re- election, occupled the public attention given the subject, that a directly opposing state- ment is, as a rule, received as if it bore a label of eccentricity and ought to be con- sidered as amusing rather than of the higher order of grave matters. The welght of the proposition that the terms of the presidency from troubling. would be more should correspond with the years of a con- gress, {5 that it republicanizes the office without weakening it, and gives ft rather assimilation with, than distinction from, the congress which {s representative of the states and the people. BLAINE FAVORED TWO YBARS. T will add, for the fact possesses interest for millions, ‘that James G. Blaine was of the Judgment there was no overbearing reason for changing at all the constitutional pro- visions as to the presidency, but held it there was a change it would be better to make the term two years than six. This he expressed In conversation with me, when the time had come for him, that he no longer looked upon the office of the presidency as one that was desirable or possible for himself. MURAT HALSTEAD. New York City. el S CONNUBIALITIES. The Nebraska farmer who came to this town, says the New York Recorder, and ad vertised for a wife has not been abie to find one. Our New York girls are not built on that plan. An agitation against the use of engagement rings has been started in Boston. One ac vantage of the reform will be, that if a rup- ture occurs the young man will not be that much out. She—Postpone our wedding till October? Impossible! If T don’t marry you in August 1 can't at all. He—Why not? She—Oh—er —Mr. Simmons asked me to marry him in September and 1 promised to. “Have you scen Ethel?’ said mer resort girl. “Yes," replied the other. he s dreadfully worried.”” “Why?" Harold Skiffins fs coming from the city to see her tonight and she has forgotten which engagement ring is his."” She (tenderly)—Tell me boldened you to propose? How did you guess that I loved you, darling? He—To be frank with you, love, your papa intimated that if I didn't mean business after coming to sce you for two years, I had better clear out and let some other fellow have a chance. One of the first of the September weddings of interest to New Yorkers will be that of Miss Du Val, daughter of Captain Du Val of the United States army, to Loufs Eugene Marie, son of John Marie of Philadelphia, and a relative of Joseph and Peter Marie of New York. The wedding will be celebrated at Fortress Monroe on Tuesday, September 18, Bugene Suprer of Westfield, Mass., is his first wife's son-in-law, his present wife's step-father, his own son-in-law, also his own father-in-law, and the grandfather of his own children. He is now suing his first wife for $20,000 for alienating the affections of his second wife, who is his first wife's daughter and his own step-daughter. The newest engagement announced in New York is that of Miss Constance Coudert, the accomplished fourth daughter of Mr. Charles Coudert, to Mr. William Garrison, son of William K. Garrison, who was kifled in a railway accident at Eiberon, N. J., several years ago, and a grandson of Commodore Garrison. Here is a curious matrimonial advertise- ment _published in an American newspaper in 1737. “A middle aged gentleman, barely turned 60 and as yet unmarried is desirous of altering his condition. He has a good estate, sound constitution and easy tem- per, and, having worn out the follies of youth, will be determined by reason in the choice of the lady he intends to make happy. She must be upwards of 15 and under 25 Her size must be moderate, her shape nat- ural, her person clean and her countenance pleasing. She must be lively in her humor, but not smart in her conversation; sensible, but utterly unaffected with wit; her temper without extremes, neither too hasty and never sullen. Then she must Invariably observe all forms of breeding in public places and mixed company, but may lay them all aside among her acquaintances. She must bave no affectation but that of hiding her perfection, which her own sex will forgive and the other more quickly discover. St shall be restarained in nothing—the, gentle- man haying observed that restraint only makes good women bad and bad women worse. In some things, perhaps, she may be stinted, which is the ‘only meihod he will take to signify his dislike to any part of her conduct. Any lady whose friends are of opinion (her own opinion will not do) that she is qualified as above, and has a mind to dispose of herself, may hear of a purchaser by leaving with the printer hereof a letter directed to C. D.” IVPIB1LES. one sum- dearest, what em- “Here's a Brooklyn clergyman,” began my friend X.'s wife, indignantly, “who Is re- ported to have said that there are no women in heaven.” ‘“He must have taken his text from Revelation,” remarked her husband, checerfully, “‘where it is mentioned that there was silence in heaven for the space of half an hour.” “It is also mentloned,” retorted his wife, “that heaven is filled with those who have come out of great tribulation, which makes me think they were pretty nearly all women who had had husbands in this life."” It is a great disadvantage to know the bible only for purposes of quotation. The following advertisement appeared in The Churchman of last week: “An experi- enced clergyman, aged 28, will be open to en- gagement in September. He seeks to estab: lish rousing congregational worship; fearless, wide-awake, gospel preaching; the awe-in- spiring and instructive ccremonial befitting God's special presence In the sanctuary of His one holy Catholic and apostolic church. Write definitely to ‘Christian Unity,” Church- man office.” There must certainly be a mis- take in the giving of the age. An all-around genius such as this modest advertiser is could not possibly be more than 20. A volored preacher, who was closing his sermon with touching exhortation, concluded impressively: “I tell you, bruders and sis- ters, dar be jus' two roads befo' you fur you to choose: one goes ‘way down, down to demnition,” and he paused with a look of terror on his face, holding his congregation breathless; then, raising his arms and look- ing upward, while his expression brightened and beamed with happiness: “De udder g ‘way up to perdition!” The full murmu of amens showed that there was no lack of faith in the preacher's words, however he might choose them. Colonel Ingersoll once called upon Rev Phillips Brooks, and the great preacher re- celved him at once, although he had declined to see many distinguished preachers. ‘‘Why have you snown me this marked distinction? inquired the caionel. ““The reason (a sim ple,” replied Dr. Brooks; “if those preache die’ I'll b> sure to meet them again heaven; whereas, had you gone died, 1 should never have met you again, I thought I had better take no chances. in away and The sedate, smooth-shaven, ecarefully-at- tired young Sunday school superintendent from Englewood sat down in the chair pro- vided by the bootblack. “I want & good shine, my boy,” he said. “I'm a little particular about my shoes, “You bet,” responded the urchin, heartily as he openéd his box of implements and be- gan operations, “I'm onto all dat. sportin’ men's de most p'tickler custo we's got.' A convert to Christianity in Syrla, who was urged by his employer to work Sunday, A clined, “But,'"” sald the employ “does not your bible say that If a man has an ox or an ass that falls into the Sabbath day he may pull him out Yes," an swered the convert, “but if the ass has th habit of falling into the same pit every Sab- bath day then the man should either fill up the pit or sell the as e Della Fox's new opera Is called he Trooper.” It tells about a pretty milliner who falls in love with and marries a sol- dier who !s & teacher of fencing; that she becomes jealous of him and follews him, Alsguls as a trooper, to the barracks; that she takes the part of her supposed rival and resents an insult by fighting a duel; that she discovers that she has no cause for jealousy, and then the play ends happily, Miss Fox will play the part of the mlilliner, the trooper, & peasant and a grande dame. SHARPENED WITS AND PENS | Interesting Reminisoences of Brainy Oon- groesional Reporters, AMUSING HAPPENINGS COME THEIR WAY Stories from the Halls of Debate Told the Men Whose Hands Fiy Along the Country's Legislators Talk Statecraft. by o Fow people who read each morniog the proceedings of the provious day In both houses of congress realize the amount of skill and {ngenuity required to reduce the speeches and colloquics of members and senators to writing fn so short a time. have occupied the galleries of the lower house during a debate, writes a correspondent the Philadelphia Times, have noticed men, note books in hand, flitting about from one member to another, and taking with lightning rapldity the words as they come from the lips of those engaged in discussion. These men aro the congressional reporters—the editors of the Congressional Record, There are five In the senate and the same number in the house. Their work is arranged systematically in “takes" of about one column of the Daily Record, which sts of 1,200 words. In ordinary debate the reporter will cover this in about ten minutes, in running debate from fivo to eight minutes, and in the case of fre- quent roll calls he may bo half an hour in oLting a column. The reporter has, during lis “take,” entire charge of the floor, that is, he is required to report all that is said until he is relieved. He then retires to the reporters’ chamber and reads his cons steno- graphic notes into a phonograph; a skillful | operator of the typewriter then takes the ma chine and reduces the matter to typewritten form. In this way they each proceed until the speech has been delivered, and in less than half an hour from the time the mem- ber speaking has taken his seat, no matter whetlier he has spoken one hour or twelve, his speech is placed before him ready for re- vision, if any he chooses to make. AMUSING MISTAKE Some amusing mistakes take place o slonally fn_transeribing from the phonograph owing to the similarity of words and indis- tinctness. Once in the senate the reporter gave the following sentence which had ap- peared in deba *And Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.” 1t was directly after the great prize fight at New Orleans, and when it came from the typewriter it read: “And Sullivan, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.” At one time in the house a member had used the following expression: ‘“‘We have ‘seen’ the senate bill and ‘gone’ it a great deal better. The typewriter, in transcribing it from the phonograph, into which it had been read by tho reporter, made it appear thus: “‘We havg steamed the senate bill, and warmed it a great deal better.” The reporters in the senate are under the veteran chief, D. F. Murphy, who has becn in active service since 1818. arly all the great men of the nation have been re- ported by him, and in his note books at the capitol are stenographic reports of speeches made by Clay, Calhoun, Everett, Sumner, Edmunds, Conkling, Blaine, Fessenden, Jeff Davis and many others. It was he who re- ported the impeachment proceedings against President Johnson. His books also contain the report of that famous word contest, full of invective, between General Breckinridge of Kentucky and Senator Baker of Oregon, which took place in the senate chamber in July, 1861, as well as that later one between Blackburn of .Kentucky and Ingalls of Kan- sas. FASTEST IN THE WORLD. The stenographic corps of the house and senate embraces the very cream of the pro- fession—the fastest writers in the world. The salary they receive, $5,000 each a year, seems large to the uninitiated, but is really very modest to those who fully appreciate the tre- mendous amount of work involved. It Is said that the strain caused by the excessive amount of work in reporting the great tariff debate on the McKinley bill caused the death of one of the best stenographers at the capi- tol, who died during that session. Imagine the nervous tension when a speaker, whose vocabulary embraces a vast everyday number of words not in common usage, and whose rate of speed Is from 220 to 250 words per minute, talks steadily for an hour at a time. True, few speakers accom- plish that, but in a speech in the house dur- ing the Iifty-second congress, Johnson of Indiana, a very rapid and fluent speaker, made the remarkable record of 220 words a minute for exactly an hour and a half. This great speed would not have been so bad but for the fact that the speech contained a larger percentage of many-syllable words than al- most any other speech on record. The parliamentary reporter must be a many-sided man. The range of subjects with which he has to deal is almost endless. Then he is often called upon to pass from one sub- ject to another without hesitation. In the Persons who of | | However, some friend of his, who was some- | 1 of Columbia.” | m proceedings in congress, in the course of a few hours, he may have to report debates on land claims which involve the most intricate questions of Spanish and Mexican law; he may have private pension bills, options and trusts, quarantines against infectious diseases, tarift ‘debates covering every branch of in- dustry, and questions of constitutional and in- ternational law and parliamentary rules, and a thousand other things, which make the re- porter think he was born a fool to ever un- dertake shorthand. A DIFFICULT TASK. That his position Is not an enviable one can be readily guessed from the fact that an or- dinary day’s work when debate s on consists of about fifty-two columns of the Record, making about 52,000 words, and many times this averages 165 words per minute for the day. Then again .he must change from speakers who never talk faster than 125 words per minute to those who reach 260 | words in the same time. He must report in congress the law: | ’ , professor and doctor, as well as the banker, farmer and manufa turer, ete., so that he may not only encounter rapidity of speech, 1.' a vasi of tochnical words. In . .ny is called upon to report sp. ches containing an- | clent quotations, Latin phrases, proverbs | couched In every known language, with his- | | | | number instances he tory, geology, philology, etc., followed in rapid succession with poetical quotations from Shukespeare, Byron, Milton, eic. He must follow one speaker to the clouds in flights of poetic fancy and accompany another with equal grace and ease through the prosaic valleys of commonplace speech. Occasionally a member unused to debate will fall into u | number of blunders in grammar. In each case he must be equal to the occasion, and | it the language be unbecoming or slipshod ! ho must take away a little here, add a little | there and be able to make the wholo pre sentable. Often in the midst of a epeech the speaker may stop to answer a question, some one may knock a book from a desk, or sneeze or laugh, causing the reporter to lose the climax of the sentence. Here again he is called upon to supply the missing por- tion. BLUE PENCIL WORK. One of the most difficult duties of the re- porter is to distinguish in the midst of a heated debate that which is Intended for the public ear, and that which Is merely privato converzation. An Instance of this was given during a recont roll call, whon a member had bren endeavoring to submit a dilatory motion | which the speaker had ruled as out of order. The Record of that date showed that th member was engaged in private conversation | with anciher member on the floor of the | house when tho speaker ordered them to be | seated, The congressman 4id not obey, and was heard to remark that he would take his | seat when he got ready. This brought about an animated discussion, and one of his col leagues moved that the offending member bo brought for reprimand to the bar of the house o member afterward explained that the remark was mado in private conver sation with another wember, and was not In tended for the speaker to Still the swift pen of the reporter had caught it in the midst of & nolsy colloquy, and calmly treated It i syoh & waunuer that the Record showed the precise facts, and placed helther the speaker nor the membor 1 A falfe position, It the really private remark of the mem! had been omitted from the Record It woul have left out the key to the whole siiuation, Tt 1a this Fare combination of shorthand sKIIL ahd cool, swift and fmpartial Judgment, which 18 so ncessary In reporting the bitter, tumultious outbreaks which so often oceur in the house LEAVE TO PRINT. On many occasions members who have never aspired to speech-making and who have been electod to congross, have thelr speeches written by some one oxperienced, and under “leave to print,” insert it in the Record. An incident of this kind recurs to my mind. A member could not muster up the courage requisite to stand up and make a speech In the house, so he wrote It (a really good one) and had it printed in the Record under the rule nting leave to print remarks. At varlous points he inserted the words, “Laughter and applause,” “Great applause in the galleries,” and sich other xpressions which appeared to have been aken by the reporter. This speech he sent in large numbers to his admiring constitus ents, who at once concluded that he was & great man and resolved to re-elect him. what of ‘a wag, caught on of his specch-making and gave him away to some one, and his constituents straighte way nominated and elected another man. Another circumstance, which took some years ago, shows the abuse of the privilege to print in the Record. Two mems bers of the house from the same state, and whose distriets joined, wanted to say some- to the manner place thing in support of a bill then before the house, but nelther cared to try to make & speech on the floor. They had never spoken on the subject for discussion, and knew very little about it, in fact, so they resolved to have a speech written and submit it under leave to print remarks. As neither one knew of the other's intentions, by a cus rious coincldence they both employed the. same person to write a speech for them. This person, not knowing their districts folned, wrote the same speceh for both, and it was printed in the Record and sent out in large nfimbers to the stat mbers came. 1t happened that th ulated {n both districts and were the constituents of both members, and the similarity was quickly discovered. It neediess to add that these gentlemen hadias o) “dickens” of & time explaining matters, tat s the satisfaction of their constituents. A WYOMING On_ April 12, 1830, S. from which the POET. W. Downey, then a member of the house from Wyoming, intro- duced @ “bill providing for certain paints ings on the walls of the national capitol.” The next day he arose and offercd a printed argument in support of it and asked leave to have it reproduced in the Record. This leave was granted, and the next day the other memb rs were astonished and indig- nant to behold in the daily Record, as the ole argument, a poem covering sixty pages, and _entitled “The Immortals.” The poem was “dedicated to “the Congress of the United State It was, however, effectually expunged from the bound Records. It is not Infrequent that laughable mis- takes in speaking are made by the members, especially during exciting debates. One of the most ludicrous was that of a member, who, in referring to one of his colleagucs, said “The gentleman, like a mousing owl, Is always puttting in his oar where it is not s wanted." On another occagion occurred this expre siof “The iron heel of stern necessity darkens every hearthstone,” and another member, in a very forcible and dramatic manner, asked the house this question: “Would you stamp out the last fiickering embers of a life that is fast ebbing away?" No less a man than James G. Blaine, in looking over the report of a speech of his made in the house, came across the word “illy,” which he had used in the sense of an adverb. Turning to the reporter he sald “Illy; 1 don’t know any such word. Illy is a devil of a word.” A mistake in the shorthand notes of the reporters is an unknown thing, so accurate and careful are they, but that prince of stenographers, David Wolfe Brown, relates an amusing mistake that an amanuensis of his once made in taking some proceedings on a “bill to regulate bar rooms in the District When transcribed from his notes it read: “A Dbill to regulate the bare arms of the District of Columbia."” THE HAIR CONQURED. MME. M. YALES BXCELSIOR HAIR TONIC Its Mighty Ruler. or the first time in the history of the world gray hair is turned back to its original colo without dye. Mme. M. Yale's Excelsior Hale Tonic has the marvelous power of giving th natural coloring matter circulation, consequents Iy restoring the gray hairs to thelr orlgin slor. Its complete mastery over the human has created a sensation all over the world that will never be forgotten, as its doscovery has been hailled with endless Joy—no more gray hair to worry over and no more necessity for using fnjurious haie dyew. Mme. Yale's skill as @ i3t has never been equalled by man or man—she stands alone o queen and conquerer, The whole world bows down to b . plonw and sclentist, Excelsior Hale will stog any case of falllng baie in from twenty-fou a 1o one week. 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