The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 18, 1895, Page 22

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 1595. Some months tention to the slaughter of the meadow lark which is at present carried on, with the sanction of State legislation to lend it dignity. It is a pleasure to see that inter- est in the matter has not waned, and that other papers have come to the front in the good cause. 1n order that the sentiment in favor of the lark be not of a merely local and ephemeral character it seems fitting that the people be somewhat more definitely jnstricted concerning this bird which their lawmakers_have so lightly condemned to extermination. It is truly works of nature. A creature which the process of time has developed through ages innumerable cannot be swept from the face of the earth in a day without a deep responsibility resting upon some one. The wurderous vandals who s ghtered the hordes of bison on the prairies, and the brutal- fishermen of the north seas who destroyed ‘the great auk in its lonely fast- nesses—how much greater their sin than that of the ancient mariner who killed but one albatross! lows, who perhaps could not be expected to know better, severed as they were from all the refining influences of civilization, of home and of womankind. "When, on the other hand, A community of peopie, ostensibly advanced beyond the stage of barbarism, deliberately declares that a certain bird which God has so fondly and laboriously fashioned shall be exterminated, it is time to pause and see what we are about. I say deliberately de- clares; but this is, indeed, too great an in- justice, for it is largely due to the folly of i’]asle and the rashness of acting upon ill- gathered -information that we owe such legislation as this. There is in nature s curious balance of power more subtle than that which binds | Europe in its cobweb leash. Every creature | that exists, as well as every creature that | is past or to come, is connected and inter- | related in its life as well as in its structure. ‘Whenever you kill a fly you are altering the whole adjustment of animal and vege- table life to a certain extent. Nor is this to be understood as rhetorical hyperbole, but rather as a scientific verity. living being occupies a certain amount of room in the world, thereby crowding out some other being which might exist in its stead, Every animal lives upon other animais or upon plants, and is thus a destroyer. Through the course of time thisadjustment of.the formsof life has become so intricate that it _is like a house of cards. Remove one and all the others fall out of their | places and require to be newly established, .From this it is evident what a far-seeing 1ntelligence is necessary to safely pronounce upon the destruction of nature’s equilib- ridm. We all know the result of cutting down the mountain forests. but how many of us know the result of killing the meadow lark? For a féew moments lat us see what sort of a fellow this bird is, where he came from, where he belongs in the order of things and what he is doing in the world. At gome time in the long ago past there was a bird inhabiting the tropical portions of the American continent, in size proba- bly equaling or exceeding the robin, in | THEY CAOWDED THE FAR abundant and thriving species, for the | color a brownish gray, profusely streaked above'and below and in family character- istics between a sparrow and acrow. In its prime the bird was doubtless a very tropics, in the course of time, became too crowded to hold its numbers'and it wan- | dered forth over the face of the earth. In the course of its wanderings its habits or life_became changed to suit new sur- roundines and new conditions of existence ith which change came also modifica- tions in its color, structure and size. From this parent stock were descended the fam- ily of American starlings, blackbirds and oriples — the Icteridee — of which the meadow lark isa worthy and distinguished member. The streaked brownish gray color of his ancestor, somewhat modified by time, has persisted to this day upon his back, being of great importance to him from its inconspicuous hue, which affords | protection from his enemies. In order that he may be recognized from afar by the members of his own kind, he has two white outer- tail feathers, habitually con- cealed, but characteristically exhibited before alighting. Once upon the ground, however, espe- cially after .walking a few steps in his gquaint way (for the lark and his cousins are not hopping birds like the sparrows), it requires a sharp eye to detect his where- abouts. To atone for the unostentatious hues of his back the breast is of a bright fresh yellow .color, with a broad crescent of black upon the throat. This gay livery, T suspect b Stieen developeddoy tie ooy taste of the female, who would not mate with a somber-hued master, but chose rather a more gayly clad suitor. By thus briefly tracing the line of devol- - opment of the meadow lark from its ances- tral form, I have indicated the position it occupies in the bird world among the blackbirds, the orioles and the gay bobolink of the Eastern States. Of all this the worthy lawgivers who have doomed it to extinction are doubtless ignorant, but of its mischievous habits and its thieving propensities they feel very confidently as- sured. ‘Are we then to take it for granted that the bird is a menace ‘to the crops of the land, and that despite its sweet song and winning ways we must, for our own protection, destroy-it? O men of little vision, who can weigh a handful of grain in the balance with asoul as pure as the spring that bubbles from the mountain side, as sweet as the notes of a flute and as full of happiness as the langh- ter of children? Who that has heard a flock of these birds on some clear February morning when spring is making the first timid "advances of the season can forget . the joyousness of thé song or the inspira- tion of a new life and fuller being which it engenders? No bird with which I am familiar has a more varied song than the lark. The thrush alone excels it in personal fervor. The oriole may sing more wildly, the lin- net more exuberantly, the wren more mer- -rily, the robin more heartily; but for sweet, sustained melody, for pure, joyous serenity, for .the rural poetry of plowed fields and ripening grain the meadow lark . ds unapproachable among his compeers. Another virtue which is not to be despised is the faithfulness with which he sings. There is hardly a month- in the year when ‘his voice may not_be at least occasionally heard. Even now in the month of August, when the grain is harvested and all other birds forget to sing, from some far-awa; 'meldow% hear now and then a stray mel- ody from.this insatiate songster. As early as the.middle of February the £irst signs of theé spring courtship may be Each | a serious matter to mar the | But these were rude fel- | | | and usually | offense, but that the carnal greed of the | preservation of this peerless bird. | most interested of all who paid any atten- ago THE CALL directed at- | observed. Habitually a fence rail or post is the point of vantage from which he sounds his call, but at this all important time he is not content with so humble a station, but instead takes his stand on the topmost spray of a eucalyptus tree to pour forth his passionate love song. His rivals occupy similar positions in adjacent trees, all singing, sometimes in _concert, but fre- quently in turn. their loudest and sweetest notes, like the festivals of the Minnesingers of old. Less musical, although full of animation and buoyancy, is the rattling call which they utter. Towara the latter part of March and in early April, when the duties of nesting are all-engrossing, the lark be- comes comparatively silent for a time, although never utteriy songless. The nest is placed in a hollow among grain or grasses of some sort, woven of soft grass, rched overhead with the same. Five or white eggs, sprinkled with dots of reddish brown, are laid therein, to gladden the hearts of the fond parents. ben the young are safely reared the birds assemble in_ flocks, remaining thus throughout the winter. In cold weather they betake themselves regularly to the hills just before sunset to find shelter in their tangled hollows. s to the food of the meadow lark, its diet is uncommonly varied. Insects and grubs are its choice, although seeds and grain may be moderately sampled in sea- son. I have yet to hear of a single reliable instance where a crop of any form of grain has been damaged by them to a serious extent, whereas negative evidence—of suc- cessful crops where larks were very abun- dant—can be found on every hand. The destruction of this bird will be at the peril of its slayers, for the grubs upon which it eeds are ten times as great a menace to he farmer as the bird itself. That the meadow lark, from ignorance or error, should be killed in self-protec- tion to the farmer is not so grave an gourmard or the gluttony of the epicure should be fostered at so dear a price is a wrong which no high-minded community could tolerate. To barter a palpitating spirit, blithesome with the sunshine of the meadows, vocal with untold melodies of spring, ardent with love and de-l sire, for a sizzling little lump of meat that can tickle the palate | for not more than five minutes at the longest—this were indeed a bargain worthy of the prince of darkness himself! Let ail good men and women lift their voices in protest at such barbaric self-indunlgence. Let us protect our song birds while we | have them, for anon they will be gone and | our meadows and woodland silenced; | when to bewail the follies of the past will be idleness, and to recall the glory that has gone from the land will be impossible. The timely articles in THE CALL from the pen of Miss Adeline Knapp, whirh first di- rected attention to this matter, and the | subsequent meetings of the Century Ciub | at which the subject was discussed, havi done much to arouse public interest in\}he | May the interest be cherished and extended!| May it be widened to include all our native birds which are suffering such havoc at the | hands of the small boys and the vain women who adorn themselves with the | withered corpses of creatures that were but late the happiest and most lightsome | of animate beings. CuaRrLEs A. KEELER. Saturday Night Parties Flll Aisles and Floors in the Pavllion. An Object-Lesson on a Small Scale on Home Manufactures—Art and Music. Saturday night brought out an extraor- dinarily large crowd to the Mechanics’ Fair, and this was more particularly ap- plicable to the young people, who were there in thousands — the same happy, pleasant and delighted throng as used to brighten the fair in years gone by. The crowds of visitors were interested in the display of mechanical devices and ma- chinery—the very forcible object lesson in home industry which has proved a strong counter attraction against all interesting features on parade. On a small scale were presented California bookbinding, paint- ing signs by machinery, silk-weaving, con- centrating and crushiag ores, amalgamat- ing metal from sand, inkmaking, print- ing, shipbui]ding, chemical-making and numerous other branches of the industrial arts. Many of the visitors admitted that they had never thought that such work was ‘done 1n California, and they were the tion to the mechanical exhibits. The art gallery was well patronized. In color the art exhibit was very rich, very brilliant and, in fine, strong, from the in- tense sunlit open-air masterpiece by Miss Alice B. Chittenden—an old basket of flewers in the grasses—to the heavy brown canvases that were scattered tnroughout the rows of paintings. In the way of oil portraits so far there was not so large a number as on previous occasions, though there was one that commanded attention —the life-size picture of Tiburcio Parrott— painted some years ago by Henry Raschen before he went to Germany. Herr Scheel was happy leading his mu- sicians, for the noise of machinery had been abated to a minimum. He presented a programme of popular music, as follows: Overture, “Poet and Peasant” F. von Suppe Cornet s0lo, selected Touis N. Ri Gavotte, “Stephanie” Caprice heroique, **Awakening of the Lion ..De Kontski Night Grand election, Board a British Troopship” Overture, “Mignon”. ‘homas Waltz de concert, “Stories of a Vienna Woods” ... Strauss Bells solo. oseph Adelmann Grand potpourri, “Reminiscences of All Na- tions”....... Godfrey March, “Honey! L In point of interest, number of visitors and attractiveness the first Saturday night at the Mechanics’ Fair was an entire suc- cess. ————— The temperatare of vineries should be about 65 degrees by night and 75 degrees by day. Ventilation when the thermom- eter registers 70 degrees and close when the temperature falls below that point. Ermrramaviian The tendency in modern building in Ent,;lnnd is toward the abolition of stairs in favor of inclined planes. SOLOMON HOEFLICH'SAIM Says He Intends to Bring H. M. Levy to the Issue. HOW TO SUPPRESS SCANDAL. The Ex-President of the Hale & Norcross Will Be Accused of Using Money. In the matter of the suit brought by Solomon Hoeflich against Herman Zadig and H. M. Levy to secure an accounting in relation to the stock transactions of his late brother, Morris Hoeflich, THE CALL has secured further informauion through interviews with Warren Sheridan and Solomon Hoeflich, who has come 6000 miles from Germany to sift the case to its bottom and discover if possible what has become of the papers which he charges H. M. Levy in his complaint with secur- ing from the residence of Morris Hoeflich shortly after bis death. Hoeflich committed suicide in a house on O'Farrell street on May 2, 1891, and the following morning a strong box of per- sonal effects and papers was taken from his home on Stockton street. This re- moval was accomplished at the instigation of H. M. Levy, so Mr. Hoeflich charges. The case has a peculiar history. Through a chain of circumstances made whole by conversations with Solomon Hoeflich and others it was learned that this particular case has its infancy in the days of heavy stock deals, and reaches back to a period when the ex-president of t hold of the box for the purpose of tear- ing up some very compromising love-let- ters that my brother had received from some of the best families in the City. He explained to _me that Morris wasa gay Lothario, and that he (Levy) thought too much of him to have it leak out. Has Mr. Levy always béén so energetic in hushing up scandal? “Imagine my surprise when shortl; afterward I was told by Mr. Jerry Lync! that if I had one book which he knew was contained in that box it would be worth $100,000 to me. ““This is not the end of that particular box history. I have found a man, whose name I will give you, but I would prefer not to have it mentioned, who will go on the stand and testify that Wirdell told him he had receivea $1000 for giving up the papers and letting Katzenstein and the nurse go through my brother’s rooms. Mr. Levy, however, found some things which he did not destroy. One thing wasa silver flask presented Morris by the late J. C. Flood, which the generous Mr. Levy pre- sented Ned Holmes, the secretary of the Savage, and the other was a gearl pin, which 1n the fullness of his heart he turned over to Katzenstein. All of these charges are in my already filed complaint. ‘“These trivial affairs, however, do not bother me. Itis the papers and an ac- counting that I want, and I will have them ;gfI stay in San Francisco the rest of my ife. “There is another thing I have discov- ered, but I cannot get my hands on the papers. Some years ago Morris owned, in company with Levy and Zadig, a mine called the Golden Eagle mine, located in the Silver City mining district. He held 10,000 shares. Adjoining this mine was one worked by a man who now runs the Baldwin Hotel barber-shop. His name is Brodek. He unconsciously drifted from his mine into the one owned by Morris, Levy and Zadig, and as soon as they dis- covered it he had to pay them $5000 for ore removed. About three vears ago I inad- vertently heard of this ineidentand I went to Levy and demanded my brother’s share of the property. The result was thata little later on I_got a notice through my attorney, Mr. Highton, notifying me of a 15-cent assessment. They simply tried to freeze me out. Now, there must be some evidence of the Hoeflich interest, but 1 am A\ Nadeive = 05 SOLOMON HOEFLICH, A BRU 'HER OF MORRIS HCEFLICk, SPECULATOR WiO COMM.TTED SUICID: THE HERZ IN 1891. [Sketched from life for the Call” by Nankivell.] the Hale & Norcross mine had no capital and practically no prospects. There was a time on the Comstock when those on the ‘‘inside” were very scarce, and the jobbery that has since come to light was not even suspected. During those periods a great many men, through what might have been good fortune, were thrown into associations that afterward made them rich and familiar with the ropes through which this variety of good luck was brought about. unconsciously drawn into deals, the mag- nitude of which they did not appreciate until some designing manipulator had woven a system of strange dealing around them and they were practically a part of the operating force. Sotomon Hoeflich, who is a brother of the deceased, said of the case: “I will at- tempt to prove that my brother lefta great many valuables that I have not since been able to get my hands on. have charged in my complaint that Levy knows where all these papers and effects are, and Iclaim that as the representative of my mother ané¢ having her power of attorney it is his duty to turn them over to me at once and make an accounting of all the stock transactions which he had with my brother Morris while Levy was his artner. 1 will attempt to prove that Mr. vy is familiar with the whereabouts of these papers and effects or has them in his ‘possession. “‘My complaint further states that I ar- rived in San Francisco as soon as it was ossible after the news reached me in Ber- in. I went at once to the office of Mr. Levy and found him on the steps talking to a entleman whom I learned after was John 6&'. Mackay. I was introduced and said that I had come 6000 miles to learn some- thing of my dead brother. He trembled with nervousness, stuttered and put me off with the statement that he was very busy. 1s that the way for an honorable partner to do to the brother of his dead asso- ciate? 1 went again the next day, and I con- fess I was a little annoyed by the fact that Ihad seen a mention of both Mr. Levy and my brother in the Hale & Norcross suit, which I read in a paper in Paris, where I was traveling when the case came up. “Finally I got an audience with him, and we talked the matter over. I gave him a document in which an $800,000 stock transaction was mentioned. He evinced a great desire to get hold of it and I let him have it. That was the last I ever saw of the paper, and I have never been able to get an answer from him since. “‘Another strange piece of business was the remarkable interest he displayed in sending to the regular residence of my brother, who resided in a house located in 2 small alley running from Stockton to Dupont streets, and securing from the pro- rietor, 2 man named Windell, the strong x in which Morris kept his papers. A man named Katzenstein and the old nurse of my brother were Levy’s emissaries in tLis matter. The strange proceeding took place at 5 o’clock in the morning, and 1 subsequently learned from the generous and faithful Mr, Levy that he had merely A great many men were | unable to get hold of it. Was it in the box? ! ‘‘From several quarters I am getting in- formation regarding various business transactions that Morris had with differ- ent firms, but the was always careful disappeared. “Mr. Levy avoids me on the street, and we have notspoken for the last three years. If he was as well disposed toward Morris as he claims he would certainly act more like a man. I have got some evidence that will play a very important part in the suit, and I propose to carry it to the en whether or not I lose all T have.” Solomon Hoeflich further alleges that he had to go to Public Administrator Freese and buy back his brother’s personal effects that were not contained in the box, which he claims is in the possession of Levy. *‘T was unable to get anything from him without paying for it,”” he said, “and everything I finally secured cost me money. I cannot understand this when Mr. Levy had the authority to select whatever he wished and distribute it among his friends. I had the power-of-attorney from my mother, but it seemed to be of absolutely no importance. When I have finished with the case now pending T will develop some more surprises and o much deeper into the case than one would suspect. There are a great many things to be in- vestigated and I have not half begun.” RAISING THE ASSESSMENT. City Taxes Will Probably Be Higher Than Usual This Year. Chief Deputy Hugo Herzer and half a dozen experts from the Assessor’s omice are preparing to go to Sacramento for the purpose of opposing the proposed raise in San Francisco’s assessment, which subject will be taken up by the State Board of Equalization on the 28th inst., according to current report. . Gossip around the Assessor’s office has it that the equalizers have already de- clared their intention to make this raise, and that it will require an exceedingly strong showing to change the programme, the injustice of which is apparent. The Assessor’s figures for this year fix the assessment at ,537,317. Deducting the amount taken by the Board of Super- visors, $700,000, and {ha assessment stands at about $327,000,000. The Supervisors’ de- cision on the City and County rate is likely to fix this rate higher than usual, so that City taxes will be high enough to suit most people should the Board of Equaliza- tion keep its hands off altogether—a thing not at all likely to happen. 5 Last year after the Board of Sng:rnson had done its work, sitting as a rd of equalization, the total assessment of all roperty, real and personal, amounted to ,108,898. The raise of the State board added exactly $46,458,744. - The performance of “Tannhauser” at Covent Garden Thester, London, was still going on at twenty-five minutes to 1 the other morning. apers which I know he P to keep seem to have In a Hawarnan ‘WaLnaLLA. BY JOAQUIN MILLER. I had been invalided, and had become a recluse at the base of a Honolulu lava steep, in a queer little cow and horse pasture in which I had planned to pitch a tent. This was on the trade-wind edge of Honolulu. But the harbor side is quiet. It might bore you to tell how I had just completed, at the point of the sword, you might say, 8 history of a thousand pages for a rushing Chicago firm, and had sought the islands, or almost anywhere, for seclu- sion and rest; for my nervous forces were all dried up, and I was on the edge of death from malaria, quinzy, nostrums, nervous exhaustion and all the other dozen ills and ailments from overwork. But how receptive is the mind, the body, the whole being at such times! How the howling trade winds do howl! How one remembers all that is fantastic, weird, tender! The dreamful smell of sandal- wood will fill my nostrils while I live, and the wild and tremulous winds of that cow pasture with its hali-prostrate palms, its rickety and rattling cowsheds and its half- roofless old cottage will roar in my ears till I have set foot in the brink of the River of Rest. I had bought a tent, the better to be alone, and the privilege to pitch this there was my share and interest in the renting of the rickety cowsheds at the remote end of aristocratic Judd street, on the windy edge of Honolulu. A man with intermittent malaria don’t want too much wind. I asked the enter- prising owner of the cow-cottages, when he was showing them to meone windy day, how it happened that the palm trees and mango trees and tamarind trees came to be leaning along with the trade winds av an angle of forty-five if the place was, as he protested, *‘as restful as a lamb,” and he said there had beena few earth- quakes and landslides and volcanoes and little things like that lately, and so the trees had got a little twisted; but if I would just wait the wiad would go down ana I could pitch my tent and all would be lovely and lamblike. I waited—waited a week, waited a month. Meantime he turned in his cows tand his second-hand horses. They turn their horses out on the islands to eat—to eat lava, presumably, as the hay is about all brought from California—and the little horses soon get woolly, and they rub and rub against your house, your trees, any- thing and_everything, till the wool and hair hang in ma%s and knobs. Then they look as if they had been stuffed and the stuffing was coming out, as if they were old sofas. That is why they seem so second hand. The cowsare also littlebits of bony things, sharp-footea and sharp-featured, thin and light. so they can climb the lava crags and crevices for sandalwood. People say they climb trees. I have seen pictures of cows climbing trees in the islands, and they look as if they could and would really do so if they could get anything to eat by it; yet in truth I never saw them climb trees. But I will tell you what I have seen. I have, time and again, seen cows sitting back on their hind legs in that same hired cow-pasture of mine where I wantea to pitch my tent, ana eating mangoes out of a tree, and the tireless trade winds kept roaring and roaring like a cyclone. Why didn’t I goaway out of the nerve- destroying trades? ell, the reasons would need a volume for themselves. Briefly, war times, troubles; two big, red- faced mounted German policemen riding up and down the lane before my door night and day daring me to make any sort of move so that they might arrest me for treason! And thus, and so, until martial- law was lifted from off Honolulu was I in | mine own hired house, pent up in those belligerent days of wind and weird cows and woolly second-hand horses. As I sat shivering one afternoon on the sunny and lee side of a cowshed watching a cow with a giraffe neck and tongue as long as my arm reach up, and up, anc up through the leaning top of a mango tree | for a clump of mangoes which, I am glad to report, proved to be in the end not quite out of reach, a crowd of silent, sad and wholly respectful natives approached. “Do you know a place about here where the wind don’t blow?” I chattered this gruffly through my teeth and felt mean and vicious, as if they had made the trades | and were responsible for my malaria. A sad-eyed and beantiful girl came forward. “We do, Santa Claus, we do.” Fancy yourself bundled up so that chil- dren call vou Santa Claus in aland hot enough to bake a sweet potato! The natives looked at one another, glanced half-unkindly at the slim, nervous little girl and then furtively at the abrupt end of Judd street and the dense jungle of algeroba trees against the steep lava moun- tain. “Take me there, then, please. I am dy- ing, dying of this tireless and eternal roar and rush of winds.” ““We will need lanterns, lots of lanterns, Santa Claus.”” The others of the party were the body, but this little, nut-brown nervous sprite was the soul of that sad and curious com- pany of natives. Lanterns? Yes, I had lots of lanterns waiting to light that tent—that tent that never saw the light of sun, lamp or lan- tern, and we were off straight for the al- geroba thicket at the abrupt end of Judd street, the little barefooted and brown- limbed sprite running farahead. Pushing myself through the thorny copse, at her heels, she soon turned hastily back. Two brown and haggard old women had confronted her at the dark mouth of the cavern, and she was as white as any little brown body could be; but the old women melted silently aside into the brush in a moment, and, lighting our lanterns, we entered the lava mountain, the child ahead as usnal, the others in a string behind. The women of the islands are fat, as a rule, especially the elder ones, enormously so. Commodore Wilkes, U. S. N, tells us (vol. 4, page 10) of a daughter of the first king of the islands who was ‘‘more than six feet in height and of a giant frame well covered with fat.” But these two women at the mouth of the cave were aslean, hungry and hollow-eyed as Macbeth’s witches, and quite as uncanny to see. They set me to shaking again. Maybe that is why I remember them so vividly, but I think there is something more than that. There are times when you feel rather than see. There are atmospheres that are like daggers. Even a dog can tell in a second whether or not you like him or he likes you. But this is deep water and we must get on, For the first few hundred yards we walked erect almost. if not quite all the time. Then we found places where we had to stoop and to hacdle our lanterns carefully, so as to guard against the jagged lava on the sides and underfoot and over- head. After half a mile or so wesawa pool of water before us, glittering, gleam- ing, phosphorescent. We passed bones, heaps and heaps of bones, all along. Oftentimes we sank to our anklesin uofi. carpet-like substances, with a strange and ugly crushing of bones—dust of the dead. e found the water bridged before us when we came to it—bridged with coffins or pieces of coffins. These were modern, of redwood, lined with native red cloth, and this cloth fastened to the boards with big-headed brass nails, such as used to be seen on the hair-covered trunks of halia century back. We had got out of the trade winds truly by this time, but curiosity compelled me hurriedly forward now. All this was too modern. We must have ancient, sweet-smelling sandalwood and tread the dust of kings, A full mile more and the girl stopped in a stately court of the dead to wait for me. I was exhausted and came but slowly. I N had called back for the others, but they were not in hearing nor in sight. Yes,she knew a place further on where there was some precious sandalwood.. She would get it for me. ¢ 2 The classic and odorous sandalwood is of a stately tree tipped with a pale pink flower. In its perfection it attains to the height of sixty or seventy feet and three feet in diameter. But it has perished from the islands, is ashes now, asarule. In & few remote places, inaccessible to wild goats, wild hogs and wild cattle, and these places are few indeed that can be ap- I.u-onched by man, you can find the pretty little flower struggling up out-of some crevice in the lava crags, and you may sometimes be able to pluck an odorous branch, not bigger. than a hazel, but that is | about all you can find of what was once worth a veritable gold mine to traders.. The story of this Biblical tree’s destruc- tion is a sad one. The Chinese first be- gan to gather it about the beginning of this century, giving silks and all sorts of costly fabrics in exchange. The cruel na. tive chiefs, who claimed all the lands of the islands, made the submissive sub- jects,women as well as men, bear the wood down from the mountains on their backs. By the end of the first quarter of this-cen- tury nearly all of the sandalwood was in ashes or in foreign ports, or found only. in the deep, secret caverns in which the bones. of great chiefs were buried. The precious wood laid away with their dead, the na- tives told me, was first saturated with shark’s oil. This made it comparatively imperishable when hidden far away from the light and changes of air in the deep hot hearts of the lava mountains. I sat down facing countless skulls on shelves of stone. Other bones were in heaps on either side. There was no artis- tic arrangement of them as with the old brown bones of the Capuchin monks at Rome, but they were all strangely white and bright and ghostly. More than once I fancied I saw lanterns burning before us and behind us, but these dim and fitful lights were of the dead. *‘No one comes here, none but the two,” said the girl. “But your friends will come?'’ T asked. “No, they don’t know the way here. They have gone by the main way."” “And has this cavern branches and cross-roads?” “Plenty, plenty—dozens! This one has a way out. About a mile farther on is a little hole where the two old women and I can get through, but you will have to go back. I must go on into another branch of the cave to get sandalwood. I dare not take anybody there. You wait: I will be back soon,” and taking my lantern she was gone as a shadow goes. It was a grewsome, ghostly place at best, but to be left alone there in the dark was dreadful. I shivered now as never before. Ibegan to think of my sins, and they were many enough. Dim lights began to come out all along the rows of skulls like the early lighting of electric lamps. I recalled | how we are required to hold on to a string, when in the catacombsof Rome, so that we might be able to grope back again if the lamp fails or we take the wrong way. I remembered the terrible story about some parties who got lost and were never found 1in the old burial grounds of Rome. That girl’s lantern was already nearly burned out. What. did she mean to do? Pass out by the other way and leave my bones to the two old witches? The place was hot and close. It was horrible. I be- an to want air. Even the air of the terri- le trades would be welcome. Indeed I would gladly have traded for all time the whole court of kings for five minuces of the wild and hated winds outside. E One hour, two hours! I had ceased to shiver and shake and was now burning up with fever. . At last there was a cat-like tread in the soft, crunching dust of the dead. then a hand on my shoulder, and I nearly leaped out of my skin with terror. “The lamp has gone out, but I got two sticks of sandalwood. We can light them if we have to; but you better carry the wood and I will lead you.” Did ever a strong, gruff, burly and bully- ing old man, with a bad case of malaria submit to the slightest hint of a child an be glad to do it? I have some slight ac- uaintance with one who did it then and ere. It was dark, except for the ghostly and fitful light of bones, all the way out, and dark when we got out, except that the evening star burned on bher high altar from each of her five horus, like a ship on fire in a sapphire sea. Swiftly other stars lighted up, then slowly, stately and full-faced the moon awegz up, as if it were an imperial glory to draw the mi%hty tides of these half-world waters after her. g And the winds were at rest! Was ever the world so still, so stately, so entirely great? The trade winds were at rest for the first time in forty days and forty nights. And there at the mouth of the cavern were the gentle young men and the pretty brown girls of the party who had turned back. %‘hey had gone and brought poi and baked fish and bananas and mangoes and many another fruit, and we gathered around a great lava rock near the mouth of the cave, and the women and I ate while the young men played and sang and sang and played on sweet-stringed instru- ments, all of their own make, as if they would never weary. And such melody! It was worthy the night, worthy the moon and the stars, the Pleiades and the belt of Orion, the soul and the center of the mighty American ocean! Then the little brown girl took up and lighted the sandalwood and laid the sticks blazing on the top of the big rock; and then we all gathered around close, and then with the weird. dim light on their sad, earnest faces and the sweet perfume from the flame of the tombs they sang the low, soft, tender and far-away songs of the dead. Let us pause here. It were aimost like profanity to say more, to dare attempt to describe the pathos of these perishing chil- dren of the great, warm waters. They sang as if they knew, as they surely knew, that they, too, would soon be of the dead, and that none of all their race would sur- vive to burn sandalwood or sing the song of the dead for them. L A LAST JOLLIFICATION. Company B, Naval Battalion, Closes Its Existence With a Ban- quet. Company B of the Naval Battalion of the National Guard held its final social func- tion as a distinct company of the State militia last evening. The affair partook of the nature of a farewell banquetand was held in the banquet-hall at Delmonico’s. The company is that branch of the Naval Battalion which has been recently mus- tered out, or consolidated out, as the mem- bers put it, they having joined the remain- ing two companies of the battalicn, as provided for in the order which ended the existence of Company B. The banquet was a great success, and was entered into with that zest that usu- ally marks an occasion of the kind when it is known that it will be the last. The guests and members of the company assembled in the anterooms off the ban- guet hall at § o'clock, and as Bugler J. K. urke blew “first call” and ‘‘mess call, the officers filed in on one side and the seamen, under Boatswain C. A. Gould, marched down the opposite side of the hall. As “colors” was sounded by the bu‘;zl‘le’r, the assemblags took their keats at table. % 5 o “The movements were -carried out with a precision that suggested deep-appreciation on the partof ail the last orders. - 3 Lieutenant Cecil C. Dennis presided at the head. of the table, and addresses.appro- priate to the occasion were made: by Lieu- ‘tenant Dennis, Lieutenant . C, A. Douglas of ‘Company C and charter memiber of the company.and an old navyman.. x . The spetial guests of the evening were: ‘Adjutant « Geueral Barrett, Lieutenant~ Colonel N. T. James -of the® Gov- ernor’s . staff and- inspector .of the battalion, . Lieutenant L. H. Turner of Comipany D, Lieutenant C. A. Douglass of - Company C; Charles H. Crocker, . ex-com~ manger of Company B; H. B. Smith, chief signalman for'staff; Dr. Kindleberger, as- sistant surgeon of the cruiser Olympia, and Ensigns Freeman and Doddridge, also of .the-Olympia. . Besides ‘a nnmber-.of ex- members there were present these mem- bers of the company: . Lieutenant Ceell C. Dennis, Lieutenant (jun- 1or grade) Guy C. Calden, Ensign William F. Burke; Ensign Charles R.'Moody, Chiéf Pett Officer Charles A. Gould; ass petty offi- cets: Thomas Nixon, A.G.Quinlan, John J. Driscoll, James Peters; second-ciass. peity offi- cers: Charles J. Dutreaux, John F.Schmidt, ‘Albert T. Emmrich, -Humplrey W. Lynch and Bugler J. Burke. Seamen—Barca C. Benrimo, Frank -Blythe, John C. Borghoff, William E.’ Bouton, Toseph Brown, Fred J. Bivent, William F.” Buckle Charles F. Butt, Joseph V. Cline, Charles ¥ Conger, William P. Corliss, D H. Cumniins; K. L. Dunean, John V. Dunmore, Thomss F, Fal: lon, Willfam J. Fleming, F. J..Fredenthal, Carl Q. Hilpish, John'D. Hines,” William_ H. Hines, George F. Hornsman, L.M. . James Kelly, -Harry. A. Knéll, : Charles H: Krider, Charles Krueckle.Jr, R. J. Lathrope,. C. F. Mars, J. F. McCarthy, Thomas McGeorge, John D. MeGonigle, D. M. T. MecLennan,.John J Murphy, Garl W. Murphy, A. J. Redeuilk, Rus. sell F. Reed, William.H. Regan, Alpho dag, WK Seasion, Vg}’e(q;;ic%hl:i-leiufluom ieme Jr., G. Tietjén, § on, f\"‘xg;r"‘;ki:’,e?:mer. T.S..Watson, Dave Weir, E, 0. Wuncher: . e > ———— Liberal newspapers are trying to.derive comfort for their defeat from the fact. that coalition Ministries havenever lasted long. That of Lord North and Fox in 1782 lasted only eight months and a half, “All the Talents” only thirteen months,from Feb- ruary, 1806, to-March, 1837, and that of the “‘Whigs and Peelites, under Lord Aberdeen, a little over two years; from December, 1852, tc Febraary, 1855. It is an” unfortu- nate .analogy :for them, as the first two coalitions were followed each by eightéen vears of unbroken Tory rule, while the iberal Government that followed the last was only thtee'years in office. ¥ ; —e———— Lord Albert Osborne, youngest-san of the Duke of Leeds, has been arrested for-refus- ing to pay his perfumer. NEW. TO-DAY. Are You Weak? Some Points on the Development of True Mannood by Electricity. Reasons why Dr. Sanden’s Electric Belt is the Only Sure Remedy for the Recovery of This Vital Power. HE FIRST INDICATIONS OF A WASTING vital force, the first evidence of weakness may mean the total collapse of all sexual and mental vigor in afew years. It is dangerous to treat this symptom with indifference, to suppose that it means nothing. It means a great deal. It1sthe forewarning of complete exhaustion that is coming. It tells of the result of past follies, excesses and over-exertion of mental, physical or sexual powers. It means that you are beginning to fall, and swift is the course of destruction once started. Like the serpent’s warning it should urge prompt action. Effeotive means 0f checking the waste and restor~ ing the power lost can be found in eleofricity, Vital force, animal magnetism, Is infused into the failing nerves and organs from DR.SANDEN'S ELECTRIC BELT. There are thousands of vigor- ous men to-dsy who owe their recovery solely to Dr. Sanden’s Belt. It gives steady soothing cur- rents of electricity into the weak parts, reviving the vital powers and restoring a healthy and, vigor- ous manhood. Don’t you'think you are missing the best part ot your life by living it in misery through the want of that which makes life a pleasure? : “My sexual strength is gaining every dsy, and [ am beginning to feel like my old self once more,” writes James L. Craven of Carson City, Nev., un- der date of January 12, 1895. : Dr. Sanden’s Electric Belt offers you new, fresh proot of its cures. There are no claims of cures made five or ten years ago, but to-day. Every day brings new ones, and right at your doors. ‘Woutd you believe it if your closest friend con- fided to you hig cure by & certain remedy? It s a modern remedy, up to daté, and cures when the-old ideas fajl. Simple! As simple as two and two. It is elec- tricity. “Electricity is life.” It fs nerve force. By excesdes or errors you waste nerve force, and Dr. Sanden’s Belt renews it. Even electriclty is useless If not intellfgently 'ap- plied. Dr. Sanden has devoted twenty years to close study of the nerve and sexual forces and even 1f other belts fail his treatment will care. Cheap, clumsily made electric belts are Iike cheap jewelry.. You think you are getting a high-class article at a low price, but your experience tells you that you pay for twice what you get. . Read what a mariner says after thirty days! use of Dr. Sanden’s Electric Belt: 8 : STOCKTON, Cal., May 1, 1895. Dr, A. ‘T Sanden—DEAR StR: I will now write Jous complete history of my case in my own was, would consider it very uncrateful in me not to speak of the merits of yourgreat invention. When T bought the belt from you I did not promise my- self much success, as [ had very little faith. in it. But It didn’t take long to satisty me. In two weeks T was convinced of the great benefit 1 would re- ceive from it. My trouble was like a: great many others. I was broken,down with debility. My mina was depressed and my thoughts ark. bated company, as I was always confuséd and could not _collect my thoughts. I could not_sleep ‘more than half the night and woke up in the morn- ing tired and’ weary. My whole body was . weak and relaxed: in fact, I was seemingly on the road to ruin when I saw something in the paper about your belt and sent for your strongest power; and [ will neyer regret it. Icanonly sav that it.was a lucky day for me when I got it, and I thank God T am to-day a different man—in possession of power and energy In the highest degree. 1 canslecp sound and feel strong and fresh every morning. am now a strong man. and wish that every, man who is weak would try Dr. Sanden’s electric’ beit. With hearty thanks for what sou have dons for emair, your ; me, L xemalin YOur £ PES B KUCHLER. ° 33 North Sutter street. g Don't hesitate to write to Dr. Sanden because.of the distance. Four days from the time youwrite will bring you an answer with full information con- cerning his wonderful Belts. Hundreds of people in San Francisco have discarded all other treat- ment and are now using Dr. Sanden’s Eleciric Belt with pleasing results. s A permanent cure Is guaranteed or money re- funded In all weakness of men. A pockej edition of the celebrated electro-medical work,” “Three Classes of Men,” illustrated, is sent free, sealed, by, mail on application. Every young, middle-aged or old man suffering the slightest weakness should read it. It will point out-an EASY, SURE AND SPEEDY WAY TO REGAIN STRENGTH AND HEALTH WHEN EVERYTHING ELSE HAS FAILED. Address 2 SANDEN ELECTRIC CO., Council Building, l’ortu.nd.,‘ O;cgon. piésent. that they were G. Whisker, a - g