The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 26, 1896, Page 19

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 1896 19 UMACACORI is the name of one of the most magnificent mission churches that the Sp sh padres who came to christianize the In- dians built on the North Ameri- can Continent, but it is now only an aban- doned ruin in the Santa Cruz Valley, in Arizona. The exact location of the old church is apout half way between Tubac and Calabasas and three miles west of the stage road that runs from Tucson to No- gales. It is completely off the beaten track of tourists, and, until a few years ago, was dangerous to visit without a ccount of the renegade large party on i n bandits that made Indians and Mex the place a rendezvous. history SSSbSSbsbbbb} i)3ii12442244 ernment will see fit to make a reservation of a certain amount of land around Tuma- cacori, and at least try to preserve the old mission. Probably less than twenty-five people visit Tumacacori each year, and yet it is one of the most interesting ruins in the world. TItislocated in a dry and barren spot, surrounded by mountains on all sides. The nearest water is in the Santa Cruz River, but that is now four miles &way, so the chances are that it has changed its course or that there was some sort of a spring close to the church in the old days. There is no vegetation for miles, except the natural growth of the desert. 1t is a difficult matter to tell just how large the mission building was originally. Many of toe additions were built of adobe, and they have long since been melted by the rains. The portion of the struc- ture at present standing is built of stone and burned brick, stuccoed with a peculiar cement that has baffled all efforts to find it in the United States. Nobody knows what it is and the Indians have forgotten how it was made, if they ever knew. The chances are that it was the receipt of one of the fathers. The mission building is about 125 feet longfand extends in a direction from north 10 south. It appears to have been made in three parts, as it is divided that way and each is of a different style of architecture. The northern portion isa The complete of Tumacacori m nw never be written for the rea- son that sall its records have been de- ved. Even the exact date of its is am of doubt. There nces to macacori in the re- splendid piece of architecture. VIEW OF TUMACACORI MISSION, [From a photograph.] cords of the early missionaries in Sonora so that it is probable that it was in exist- | ence as early as 1694. There are certain peculiar architectural features about the | 1ssion churches that were built in about | ime in Southern Arizona, or Northern | ora as it was then, that point to the | possibility of their all being designed by th ne man. The few records on the subject thatcan be found state that the Jesuit missionaries first established churches for the Indians in Sinaloa in 1590. In 1687 they were at work in Sonora, and by 1690 had estab- lished four missions, with the famous Father Kineo as superior. Indian co verts came from difierent tribes in the zed the fathers to come to and build churches for tbém. st mission church built within the | that now constitutes Arizona was | nown as Guavi. (At present it is an| almost obliterated ruin.) The records place | this at 1692, and further on state that ‘“‘at | the d of 1694 two missions had just been | lished as far north as the Gila River i all tue others were in a prosperous conditien.” g4 From this, several eminent authorities conclude that Tumacacori must haveal-| ready been in existence, particularly as it was in the heart of the country where the Indians lived who had asked for missions in the first place. Itisknown that there was no resident priest atany of the new missions before the year 1720, but there are baptismal records of visiting priests to show that Tumacacori must have been in existence many years at this time. From 1720 to 1767 the records show that Tumacacori passed through many severe trials. I the converted Pimas and Ceris Indians that broke out in 1751 and lasted over two years. Many of the priests were killed, | and the others forced to leave the country. | A number of the smaller missions were laid in ruins and never re-established. In 1754 this revolt was over and the In- dians returned to the missions and begged the priests to come back. All of the churches that had survived were found in a deplorable condition. Tumacacori had suffered less than many of the others, but it took the priests many years to putit in its old condition. When they felt thatthe worst of their bard work was over the edict came from Spain in 1767 expelling all Jesuit missionaries from the country. | For three years there were no mission- aries at any of the churches, although the Indians are said to have kept up their re- ligious devotions to a certain extent and given some care to the sacred edifices. In 1769 twelve Franciscan priests came to the district of Sonora. As there were over 4 ons each priest had to look several churches. Rev. Francis Garcez was assigned to San Xaxier, twenty miles to the north, and he occasionally performed services in Tuma- cacori. But tuis edifice never became of its old importance for a great many years. About 1796 it was inits glory. Every in- jured portion had been repaired, and the | interior was highly decorated. There were | plenty of priests in the country by this time, and Tumacacori is said to have had ten of them. The entire surrounding coun- try was prosperous, and the Indians consid- ered nothing too good to lay on the altars. In 1710 the cry of independence was | heard in New Spain, and as a consequence the missions began to suffer for lack of money. Things went from bad to worse and reached a climax in 1827, when the fall of the Colonial Government in| Mexico compelled most of the missions to be-abandoned. A few secular priests visited Tumacacori from time to time, but most of them were killed by the Apaches, did considerable damage to the There a who also . i re no official records of 27, since which time it lias been going to ruin. % Tumacacori mission was practically un- known to the civilized world until 1855, in which year Major Emory or the first Mexi- can boundary commission discovered it and reported it to the Government. His letter statea that at the time there were three German families living in the old courch., They could scarcely speak English and were unable to tell how they managed to get to that part of the world. They said it was their iutention to make their homes in the locality, but the chances are they were killed by the Apaches, who made numerous raids in the years that followed. Just to whom Tumacacori mission be- longs to is a_ matter the Supreme Court will soon decide. In 1830 all abandoned church lands in Mexico were secularized. Tumacacori was considered on Govern- ment property and given in a grant to the grandfather of James Ainsa, who at vres- ent residesin this City. According to the treaty with Mexico the land should be- The worst of these was a revolt of | / It is built on to the main building in the form of an L, and is about 30 feet wide by 75 feet long. The most interesting part of it is a dome that is buils of bricks and covers the center of the edifice. In spite of its great age there 1s not a crack in it. The stucco has come off in places, but other- wise it 1s as good as the day it was built. There is a little cupola on top of this dome ana a flight of steps leads up toit, but what they were used for is a mystery. The center portion of the building is two- storied and appears to have been used for sleeping apariments. At the southern end of the building there is a tower about forty feet high. It is in the Florentine sed as & beifry. From a vareful examin- | ation it_would seem that this tower was | the work of the Franciscan monks and the other part the work of the Jesuits. From an architectural standpoint the building 1s beautifully proportioned and the different L harmonize perfectly. little left of the interior of the old church except the walls. All of the roofs that were originally of wooa have with debris. Several unusual things can tion, which is really an enormous arch. On the edge of a wall a tree has taken root. It has sent its tendrils down between the DOME AT NORTHERN END style of architecture and was most likely | be seen about the roof of the northern por- | ‘poring over a ponderous tome ut such sights are rare. At no time did I see anything like systematic study. Al- lowance must, as above, be made for the languor of the summer season; something, too, must be said about the inconvenience of the hours. The library is not opened until noon, and is closed at 4 o'nHock; thus the precious hours of morning light are lost, and when it is recollected that in hot countries the chief meal always oc- curs in the middle of the day, it will be ad- mitted that only severer students can be expected to avail themselves of tbe full time permissible. It istrue that the pop- ular reading-room is opened again for two or three hours at 8 ». M., but it is evidently undesirable that the upper chambers should be illuminated by artificial light. A minor inconvenience is caused by the uncertainty whether the library will on any particular day be open or not. For instance, on the occasion of a State funeral or a royal birthday it is irritating to the foreigner to find 1n locked doors the first intimation that he must intermit his studies for the day. Another slight incon- venience may be mentioned. As I said above, the Bibliotheca occupies a portion only of the convent; the rest of the build- ing is a police station, and beneath some of the reading-rooms are the celis or cages in which malefactors are confined when awaiting their trial. As is well known, the Portuguese have the peculiar custom of keeping their prisoners as it were in public, and free access of iriends and foes is permitted. Thus lively scenes are wit- nessed from the windows, and strange noises arise from below which are out of harmony with the traditions of the build- reader.—The Academy. VALUE OF JEWELS. An Interesting Addre St. Louis. Goodman King delivered a lecture on “The Value of Jewels” before the Young Women’s Self-culture Club, says the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Mr. King dealt with his theme from two points of view, the artistic and sentimental and the purely commercial, the latter, however, being given only a secondary place. From the remotest ages of ant.quity, he said, jewels had been highly prized, not only for their intrinsic value and their usefulness for ornamentation, but because they were sup- posed to possess magical virtues, which as- sured their wearers against dangers and evils of every nature. Thus various stones were assigned to different months of the year, so that those who wore the stone dedicated to the month in which they were born were supposed to be guaranteed from danger by this magical influence. For the month of January the garnet was used, signifying constancy; for February the amethyst, signifying contentment; for March the bloodstone, signifying courage; for April the diamond, signifying inno- cence; for May the emerald, signifying suc- cess in love; for June the pearl, signify- ing purity; for August the moonstone, for conjugal felicity; for September the sap- phire, as a preventive of evil; for October the opal, representing hope; for Novem- ber the topaz, representing fidelity of friendship: for December the turquoise, representing a prosperous life. Tracing the existence of jewels to the very remotest time by sacred and profane history, Mr. King declared that we of to- day came by naturalright and its heritage | toaloveof jeweis. That love wasnot due | simply toavulgar taste, as cynics with re- finement and cultivation dead within them would have us believe, for it served a wise purpose, by cultivating that love of the beautiful planted ir. us by nature in what- ever form nature has seen fit to produce |it. Among the ownersof the most famous pearls in the world came, first the Shah of Persia. He possessed one called the Haver- nien, taking its title from a French jeweler. | Its value 1s estimated at $650,000. The | Empress of Germany was the owner of a | necklace of thirty-two,pearls, valued at 000. Queen Victoria also owned an exquisite necklace of pink pearls, valued at $80,000. The most famous pearl necklace in the United States was tbat which be- longed to the Vanderbilts, given as a bridal giit to the young Duchess of Marborough | on the occasion of her recent marriage. It | was over three yards long, and was made up of single pearls, each costing not less than Delivered in ing and distracting to the most diligent long ago fallen in and filled the rooms4 $10,000, the total value being estimated at | $1,500,000.. The Queen of ltaly was some- times called the Queen of Pearls, becanse of her passionate fondness for those em- blems of purity. Every year her husband presents her with a necklace composed of | them as an anniversary gift. The Dowager Empress of Russia, as | well as the Rothschild family, was the possessor of a magnificent collection of pearls more valuable than those which | had been mentioned. The largestdiamond | in the world was said to be the Braganza. | is said weighed 1680 carfats, but it has never | been cut, being in the original state in | which it had been found, and grave doubts | ; It belonged to the King of Portugal, and it OF TUMACACORIL: MISSION. [From a photograph-| apart. But the wall shows no disposition to crack. spears are driven into the masonry so deep that they could not be dislodged without the use of tools. The nearest inhabitant to Tumacacori mission is seven miles away. The Indians that formerly lived near the mission have all been killed by the Apaches, and their old houses have long since vanished. THE NATIONAL LIBRARY, LISBON. ‘Where Many Literary Treasures Are . Deposited. After traversing several corridors and mounting two or three flights of stone stairs we gain access to the chambers in which the rarer books and manuscripts are preserved. Below ali is life and bustle, but here long to the, heirs of the man to whom it was given. But there are numerous lezal technicalities that have not been complied with, so the chances are the Supreme Court will declare it Government land and open to setilement under the desert land act. it is to be hoped, however, that the Gov- reign soiitude aud silence. In the three months during which I frequented this library the visits ot students were few and far between. Occasionally a few tidalgos might be seen consulting the genealogical and heraidic records of the Nobreza Portugueza (in which the library is very rich) or an ecclesiastic bricks and to a certain extent forced them | S 3 | really & genuine diamond or not. The In another place a lot of Apache | had been raised as to whether it was next largest was called the ‘“Jagersfon- tein,” which was found a few years ago in Africa. It weighed nearly 971 carats. It was valued, in its present rough state, at $2,000,000. It was presented bv the dia- mond company by which it was discovered to the Pope, and is now among the treas- ures of the Vatican. The “Grand Mogul’’ was the next largest. It had been found in the year 1650 at the Golconda mine, in India. It weighed 707 carats, but was re- duced in cutting to 480. The *‘Kohinoor,” or “Mountain of Light,” as the word was translated, was the most famous of Eng- land’s jewels, and was oge of the most beautiful jewels in the world. Itweizhed, when brought to _England, 186 1-16 carats. It arrived in England in 1850 and was pre- sented to the Queen, and two years later it was recut, the Duke of Wellington start- ing the cutting-wheel. It was valued at $7,000,000. It was generally supposed that it occupied a place in the crown of jewels of the L%uecn, which occupies a place in the jewel treasury of the London Tower. As a matter of fact, however, it had been replaced by an imitation, the Queen keep- ing the original in her possession. . Mount Pilatus, in the Alps, is 9050 feet high. BACK FROM NEW GUINEA Wilhelm Ahrens’ Story of the Exploration of the River Augusta, WOMEN, PIGS AND DOGS RAN. The Savages Had Never Before Seen a European and Thought the White Would Rub Off. Wilhelm Ahrens, who has been explor- ing for two years in the unknown wilds of German New Guinea, is at the Occidental. He had some remarkable experiences. Mr. Anrens, who had recently arrived weapons, necklaces,. bracelets, earrings and, 1n fact, everything they had that would illustrate the habits of these wild people. “Now it may seem singular to you, but do you know thac we were able to get everything we wanted for the merest trifies that in one way or another had been collected about the ship? We bought their bows, spears and earrings, their clothing of bark manufacture, and skins of animals which they had, and everything of that kind, and paid them in empty beer bot- tles. And finally, seeing that our stock of beer bottles was running_short, we broke them up and merely used pieces of them to buy what we wanted. These pieces of glass were seized upon with the greatest avidity by the natives, and treasured by them asa Eurepean would treasure the Kohinoor diamond. ‘‘But their astonishment was greater and our interest certainly none the less, when finally they gazed into the large mirrors aboard the Isabel. They looked, cried out and ran away, their astonishment being something which pobody could ex- press. We took along some hatchets and knives and things of that kind, not especially to trade, in fact we had intended to do notning of the sort, our idea being simply to explore, but these were priceless to the natives. Wilhelm Ahrens, One of the Explorers of the River Augusta and Other Wild Parts of German New Guinea, Who Has Arrived Here. |Sketched from life by a “Call” artist.] from Germany, went with Governor von Schleinitz of British New Guinea, in the 700-ton steamer Isabel, owned by the New Guinea Company. ¥ They had a party of fifteen men aboard, and collected a large quantity of the arms of the strange natives. The exploring party was outfitted by the New Guinea Company, which possesses a sort of char- ter to the island. Their explorations were in part along the Augusta River, the great waterway of German New Guinea. The story of dan- gerand death which he and others expe- rienced during these explorations has barely been hinted at hitherto. It is a story of deep interest. ““There had never been a boat on the River Augusta before, aside from the canoes of the savages,” said Mr. Ahrens yesterday. “We went up the river for a distance of 250 miles, and for the entire distance we found it could be navigated by a steamer carrying 12 feet of water. “In a great many places along the river the natives came forth armed with spears. They are tall and rather fine-looking ople, being superior to those in the in- mbited portions of German New Guinea, as also to those of New Ireland and else- where that I have visited. Their hair is very thick, kinky and_black. They were a very bold people, and when they saw us they thronged the banks and endeavored to throw their spears through the boat. ‘We had to keep our distance. “They had never seen any white men and did not_know what to make of them. I soon found out they disliked white men, for though we were able to establish cer- tain friendly relations with them in a good many instances, and prevailed on them to come in_their canoes and bring their wild fruit and curiosities to us, the momentour backs were turned we were liable to be speared. I saw this done in several in- stances. One of the sailors had ventured with the chief afew vards into the inte- rior. The chief and a_native were appar- ently very friendly with him, but he had scarcely turned to leave them when the chief himself speared him through the shoulder and then ran away. “I found they were a very curious peo- ple. 1am very light-complexioned by na- ture, and my har, a8 you see, is nearly white. It was always so. Well, these black barbarians did not know what to make of me. They swarmed around and touched me on the face and hands, and tried to rub off the white. They did this with the others, too, and the most puzzled expressions came over their feces when they found that the color stuck. “The spearmen are so expert that I have seen them take their spears, which are some twelve to fifteen feet long, and throw them through the hard root of a tree. I have also seen them spear a small bird a long distance away in the trees. All the islandsare full of birds. There are wonder- ful white cockatoos and paradise birds without number and of the most exquisite plumage to be imagined. The birds, | may say, have become so much in demand by ornithologists that the New Guinea Com- pany charges $250 for a permit to hunt them. I saw five kinds of the paradise bird there. “The Augusta River in many fact nearly its whole length, is 1ull of alli- gators, and a peculiar thing about the natives is that they never kill any of them. It is a superstition with them that if one of them is killed ruin will come to him who did it, so though the alligators kill plenty of the natives, it never occurs to them in their superstition tokill them. “‘We had aboard the Isabel two magnifi- cent Danish dogs. One day I was crossing from the steamer to the shore in a boat, and the two dogs were swimming, when an alligator rose up and killad one of the dogs before my eyes. The cther dog was pursued, too, but he managei to get away. The dog that was killed was a very fine animal, of great value, and we would not huve parted with him for a great deal. “One of our main ideas, in addition to finding if there was gold up the river, was to collect all the curiosities we could the natives, such as the different kinds arts, in o 1 Wherever they could get a hatchet or |a tomahdwk their eyes sparkled and | they could not have been more pleased, no | matter what we gave them. The fact is I think the hich cnief would have been willing to give balf the island he supposed he owned for one good tomahawk. ‘“We found the natives had no money of any kind and mno gold or silver appeared | among them in any form. I don’t doubt there is gold there, because the forma- tion of the mountain shows that; you can | see quartz everywhere and the'sands of the river have the appearance of being alluvial. We secured ‘spears, bows and !arrows and arm-rings made of pearl shells | and tortoise and turtle shellsin large num- | bers. The natives have a habit of dis- | tending the lobe of the ear until it gets so large that you can put your fist through it. _“Undoubtedly all the people up this river are cannibals. We saw the strongest evidence of that in the character of the vessels used by them at their cannibal feasts. The natives appeared not to kill each other—that is, the natives of the same tribe did not do so—but in the wars with other tribes persons that they gained possession of as prisoners of war were sac- rificed in this way. We steamed the Isabel during the day and at night we dropped our anchor in the stream. We always had at least four men on guard, for it would notdoin a country like that for us all to lte down and go to sleep; the natives would be out in their canoes directly, swarming aboard the ship, and this would simply mecan death to everybody aboard. “We found all kinds of country in going 250 miles. Tuere were great level stretches of beautiful valley, and there were frown- ing banks and rugged mountains, but on none of the mountains did we see any snow. It was a hot, tropical country, with all kinds of tropical trees and tropical fruits incident to a country of this kind. I also found out that there were volcanoes in the country, for while we were out there was a mountain which threw forth lava and ashes till the waves rolled high and in some cases swept over | the low islands near the mouth of the river. It was at this time that the steamer Otilie of the New Guinea Company was out also on an exploring trip. Aboard of her was Mr. von Below, who had been for years an explorer, and Mr. Huhn- stein, a very rich man and an experienced explorer, who had been all over the Aus- tralian colonies and secured a fine col- } lection of ornithological specimens. They were in command of the expedition and | bad sixty men with them. All were killed by the overflow of lava, with the ex- ception of turee of them, natives of New Ireland, who were found some time after- ward at sea on a log. They had been sent from the steamer Otilie a few miles in the interior to try and get some water. Thig volcano was on one of the little-known islands off the coast of German New Guinea. “Nearly everywhere we went we saw an abundance of wild pigs. ‘The wild pigs in many parts of the country have been do- mesticated so that they are right around the houses. This leads me to the state- ment of a singular thing. The moment that any white man ventures to the cabins of the natives immediateiy the women, pigs and dogs vanish instantly. Where they go to nobody knows, but you won’t see one around as long as a white man is there. Among other wild animals besides the pigs are the wallabies. The air is full of flying foxes. They are not a bat nor a vampire; neither are they the chipmunk or flying squirrel, which I understand you have in :his country. They are dark brown in color, having bodies eight inches long and with fur something like a fox. When their wings are distended they look very large. 1if you ‘shoot at one likely enougn you will kill five, so thick is the air with them. *The natives of New Guinea that are half-tamed are very hospitable. I had an instance of this 'in visiting the Tami Isiands, fifteen miles east of Finsch Hafen. Each native householder keeps an extra house for his guests, a big, fine house, and you walk in there and you own it. On the occasion I speak of they brought us all kinds of fruit, and t}'e“ed us in the most considerate manner.” 10 THWART THE FROST, Valuable Suggestions and Data in the United States Weather Bureau. WATER USED AS A PREVENTIV;E Advice as to the Best Locaticns in Which to Plant Fruits and Other Crops. In view of the fact that the climate of California has varied somewhat from the normal in the beginning of the present year, a discussion has arisen among agri- culturists and business men as to the pros- pects for the fruit, grain and wine crops this year. On the subject of the condition and prob- able outcome of the fruit crop very reliable and extensive data have been gathered and are on file at the Weather Bureau in this City. From these data many inter- esting facts may be collated. For instance, the month of February of the present year is distinguished as being the warmest of any ever recorded in this State. The first three days in March were signalized by heavy frosts, which caused great disaster throughout the State. While the temperature of February aver! aged five degrees Fahrenheit above the normal, April is averaging five degrees below the normal, and within the past week four frosts have occurred throughous the State, which will undoubtedly prove disastrous to the crops, the favorable en- vironments for an early harvest having been obliterated by the low temperatures following the February warm spell. The State seems to have taken a wrong stand with reference to the storm center, and instead of the usual April heat there have been coid showers from the north- west, with hailstorms and local frosts. But the reports of damage by frostsin March were, generally speaking, exaggera- tions, and there is reason to suppose that while the weather of April will greatly diminish productiveness, fruit, by reason ot its limited quantity, will command a higher price than when plentiful. The result of the frosts upon the navel oranges will illustrate this idea. Early in the sea- son estimates of the crop varied from 8000 to 10,000 carloads, but the total ship- ment reached only 5437. Now, while the loss of several thousand.carloads was occa- sioned by frosts, the orange crop this sea- son brought a better price than it'did dur- ing the past five years. At the present time advice given by W. H. Hammon, forecast official of the Weather Bureau, who has the welfare of the agriculturists of California especially in mind, will prove of value. He gives information as to the best locations where orchards or gardens will be the leastliable to injury by frosts. He directs to avoid as far as pos- sible placing the tenderest plants on low ground, especially en the bottoms of nar- row valleys with high hills on both sides. In addition to the loss of their own heat by radiation these valleys will become filled on frosty nights with the air which has been cooled by the rapid radiation on the slopes and has then flowed downward into the bottoms. Bottom lands opposite the mouths of canyons should be espe- cially avoided for the same reason. The converse of this is true that plants on gentle slopes are less liable to injury than bottom lands. Slopes facing ‘the south are preferable to northern slopes, because they receive the rays of the sun more directly and for a longer period dur- ing the day. Slopes facing the west are to be preferred to those with an eastern ex- posure, since they receive heat longer in the afternoon, and being shaded for a time in the morning from the direct rays of the sun the slower disappearance of the frost seems to cause it to be less injurious. The fact that frosted plants are more seriously injured by being suddenly warmed in the dry_air than when the frost disappears gradually seems well established. Localities that can be easily flooded for the purpose of protection are to be pre- ferred to dry sections of otherwise similar location, for the evaporation of the moist- ure of the soil on dry, cold nights will tend to raise the dew point of the air, and this aiminishes the probability of frost. The irrigation of the hillsides about a valley in which protection is desired and the growing thereon of plants or trees with a large quantity of ioliage will by the evaporation from the soil and verdure tend to raise the dew point of the surface air as it flows downward into the valiey. When the dew pointis thus raised to 32 degrees the probubility of frostisannulled. in places where irrigation can be prac- ticed it will be found of great value asa preventive. Let the water be turned on until the ground in thoroughly moistened. The evaiwration of the water from the damp soil will tend to raise the dew point. Since evaporation takes place near the surface this method is especially valuable in protecting Jow plants and shrubs, and has also been found very valuable in pro- tecting citrusgroves from freezing weather. The irrizgating should be done at as early an hour as possible, preferably on the day preceding the night when afrost is ex- pected, and the ground kept thoroughly wet until all danger is passed. A modi- fied form of protection which is valuable in orchards is to spray the trees with water. This plan is probably more valu- able than the other in protecting citrus and other plants which are not injured until the temperature has fallen several degrees below the freezing point, for in these cases the water will tend to freeze before the fruit is inidred. and in freezing will make sensible a large quantity of heat, thus preventing further cooling of the air. For the method to be successful the spray- ing must be continued until the tempera- ture rises. “JOHNNY ON THE SPOT.” A New Phrase Which Has Become Very Popular in Town Nowadays. Current additions to contemporary slang find their way inio popularity by odd means. An expression once made and often repeated gets finally a sort of vogue, especially if it seems peculiar. Such an expression, popular for a long time was “out of sight,” though there was no es- pecial significance to the phrase when distorted to cover a variety of cases. A person wae said to be “‘out of sight” when, for any reason, he or she was superior to other persons in any par- ticular, and a man might be “out of sight because he was less well dressed than his poorly attired associates, and a woman was said to be ‘“out of sight’’ because her apparel was a good deal brighter and more stylish - than that of her associates. Simi- larly the word “mt,” recently so popular, has been swerved from its original mean- ing to serve many other rurposes. It isof German-American origin, being a corrup- tion of “nicht,” and among Germaans it is not an unusual thing to state an affirma- tive proposition by first stating the prop- osition and then adding the word *nicht.”” The grammatical genesis of “Johnny on the spot” cannot be traced very clearly, but the phrase certainly originated from the longer and less expressive one, ‘“Johnny is always on the spot when wanted.” A “Johnny on the spot’is a man or youth who may be relied upon to be at a certain stated place when wanted and on whose assured appearance confi- dent expectation may be based. Itis not sufficient that an alert and trustworthy individual, to be thought deserving of the name “Johnny on the spot,” should re- strict his beneficent activity to the matter of being at a cartain place when needed. . He must, in addition, render such serv- ice and attend to such business when there as the occasion may require, and such a “Johuny” must be on the spot not merely to attend to the business of others, but alsa to look after his own.. Hence an in- dividnal who is prompt and farseeing, alive to his own interests and keeniy sen- sible of means for promoting his own ad- vantage, is a “Johnny on the spot.” The expression is, to some extent, a variation or rather a continuation of that other phrase, ‘‘he gets there.” The expression, *Johnny on the spot,” has come into popularity very suddenly, and it will probably go out of popularity after some pretty hard usage in par: ers’ columns, variety theaters, campaign speeches and cheap plays, in an equally unconventional way, but until a successor is found it is likely to be in pretty general use hereabouts.—New York Sun. A GRAND WATERFALL. The Rains Have Made the One in Red- wood Canyon a Magnificent Sight. A party of scientists a few days ago visited the head of Redwood Canyon, on the west side of Mount Tamalpais, and were surprised and delighted at the mag- nificent appearance of the waterfall there. Just at presentit isa difficult matter to reach the spot on account of the havoc wrought to the trails by the recent storms. But it is the storms that have made the waterfall the most beautiful to be found within several hundred miles. The stream that has its source in Red- Upper Portion of Waterfall in Redwood Canyon as It Appears When Swollen by the Rains. [From a photograph.] wood Canyon has naturally a small water- si:ed. This causes the waterfall to shrink almost to a thread during the summer season, when it is eady for visitors to reach the locality. But it is always beautiful, no matter when it is seen. From the place where the water becomes the small brook and plunges over the rocks to the bottom of the canyon is at least 100 feet. There are a number of ledges in the first twenty-five feet of the descent, and in the warm season there is a pool of clear cry water in each that reflects the dark ro that form walls on both side of the ravine. For the summer it is a peaceful spot, and the water murmurs so gently it can scarcely be heard. To go to the place now one would scarce- 1y recognize it.” What was a small brook, is now a raging torrent seve feet deep, with the water surging and foaming as 1t rushes through the narrow opening at the head of the precipice. It reaches the first ledge in almost a solid stream and rushes over with scarcely a ripple. Atthe second ledge there 1s a pool several feet deep, and the water pours into this with a loud roar and churns itself into clouds of spray. The rest of the descent is a series of wild plurges from ledge to ledge until about sixty feet down where there is a sheer drop of forty feet to the bottom. The water Ialls into a large vool filled with bowlders, and its roar can be heard for miles. The accompanying picture shows onl the highest thirty feet of the waterfall. The lower portion is grander, but it was impossible to obtain a photograph of it. ——————— Residing with her mother and brothers and sisters in the town of Caledonia, not far from Portage, Wisconsin, is a girl of 17 who weighs 435 pounds. She is only middle height, comely of countenance, apparently healthy and wonderfully ac- tive, everything considered. Her name is Caroline Drown. None of the other mem- bers ot the family is of unusual weight or size, gt The large bunch of feathers growing on the head of tho owl are not in any sense ears. NEW TO-DAY. Your Doctor will tell you that Cod-liver Oil will make better, richer blood, bring back color to your cheeks and put on flesh where health demands it; that Hy- pophosphites tone up the nervous system, relieve exhaustion and permit healthy activity of =nd. To obtain these results he will tell you that you must be sure to get Scott’s Emulsion, which con- tains the purest Cod- liver Ol and the largest amount of Hypophos- phites happily united by its own peculiar process and producing results which no other Emul- sion can promise.