The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 16, 1896, Page 19

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 1896. The Real Diseoverers of Silver in Nevada Chapter From Pioneer History Goncerning Jwo Prospector s Who Garnered Not the Fruits of Their Find Forty-seven years ago to-day two young | men landed in San FranciSco, unnoticed members of the great gold rush, who, nevertheless, deserve to be remembered by the entire Pacific Coast as the real overers of the silver mines of Washoe. Their experiences in Sun Francisco, in the Californian mines and in Western Utah (now Nevada) form a very interesting chapter of pioneer history, and have been recently brought to my mind by receiving from Dr. R. M. Bucke, a prominent Uana- dian phy: an, his manuseript narrative of the adventures of these two prospectors, tne Grosh thers. Many ol¢ ing men and speculators will recollect the excitement caused on the Comsta en the heirs of the Groshes | laid cl o the ownership of a large part of the famous group of great mines on the ground that those two plucky Californian prospectors had found and perfected their titles thereto. Dr. Bucke’s authority to speak for the Grosh brothers is derived from his per- ions to them and their family. them, in Gold Canyon, and they were on terms of mutual intimacy and | confidence. In his own words he took 1ed and prospected with them, or brothers, managed to keep soul and body together in this forlorn little Mexican town until about the middle of July tne bark Olga of Boston took them aboard on pay- ment of what money they had, permit- ting them to work out the rest in stern sea fashion, before the mast. This brought them to San Francisco, August 30, 1849. After the Grosh brothers reached San Francisco one of them was long very ill; the other obtained work in a store and took care of him. His letters during the last four months of 1849 give most realistic pen-pictures of pioneer San Francisco. The town was built of rough boards and fog-stained canvas; the streets were un- paved and nearly impassable after the rains began; gambling-houses abounded; shooting and stabbing were matters of daily occurrence. The prices charged by the storekeepers were a source of shocked amazement. Potatoes were 35 cents a pound, onions §1 25 a pouna, and cost of other vegetables was ‘“only limited by the conscience of the dealers and the { means of the buyers.”” Eggs brought | $6 per dozen; sweet potatoes and squashes sold for from $250 to $5 apiece. Piain, common farm boots brought $32 and better Canyon. One of theseis a perfect mon- ster.” Their winter’s mining in El Do- rado was a complete failure, and almost penniless they toiled for the third time across the great Sierra heights carrying their scanty outfits. A long letter, under date of June 8, describes with much detail the progress oi their quartz discoveries, giving a diagram which makes it seem certain to one who has studied the subject that they were really prospecting the South End mines of the Comstock at Gold Hill, or near it. The half-interest grub-staker had not yet developed on the Pacific Coast, but what an- opportunity these struggling prospectors would have gladly given to any San Francisco or Sacramento mer- chants two years or more before the great rush to Washoe and Comstock’s famous properties. “‘Our first assay,” writes Allen Grosh in August, “‘gave $3500 in silver to the ton.” This seemed to them too good to be believed, and they much preferred another ledge which assayed $200 per ton. The rest of the story of the Grosh broth- ers has become a part of the mining his- tory of the Pacific Coast. In August, 1857, Hosea wounded himself with a pick and died from blood-poisoning. Allen and his friend Dr. Bucke attempted to cross the Sierras late 1n the season, were caught in the grip of winter, struggled on for days, and finally, frost-biiten, crippled, reached Last Chance camp in El Dorado. There Allen Grosh died. His documents were lost in the Sierras, and when the Com- stock was rediscovered and the great ‘Washoe excitement began his relatives were unable to justify his claims in the courts. But the fact remains, now gener- aliy recognized, that these two patient, plodding, unfortunate Californian pros- pectors, the Grosh brothers, did really find the silver of Nevada, though they failed, through no fault of their own, to reap the fruitaze of their victory. C. H. SHINN. ke i i ik SCENE AT A MINERS” BALL. part in “many of the scenes and incidents of their eventful lives and deaths.” Not g to lapsing memory he took notes time, or soon after, of the various at the occurrences to be herein retold, and he | beef, 20 cents per pound; veal, 50 cents; fterward shown all of the letters | pork, n by ¥ m the time they their deaths in 1857, 1 and intelligent t, a curious fact that nearl me tary surface traditions. The interest of the Grosh episode, as | their clerking in stores, were on their way especially typical of the real toils and | at last io the mines, like thousands of dangers of pioneer mining life, has, there- fore, in way, missed its fair expres- sion. tagonisms their names once long ago ended, and it is time em preper place in the of the Pacific Coast. Th aroused mini Se Allen Grosh, born in 1824, and Hosea Ballou Grosh, born in 1826, both in Ma , Pa., were the sons of a quite nt Universalist minister. The ly moved to Utica, N. Y., and thence Reading, Pa., where the boys were living when the discovery of gold in Cali- fornia led them to join a company of forty men, who started for the new El Dorado from Chestnut-street wharf, Philadelphia, February 28, 1849, in the schooner Newton, Jantain George H. Smith, clearing for Tampico, Mexico. (C. W. Haskins in his “*Argonaunts of '49’’ gives the date of this departure as March 1) The company were mostly young and not very well provided for the journey before them. Among those whose names will be re- membered by many Californians was | Robert Farrelly, Thomas Diehl, S. M. Dane, Cap:ain McDowell and Robert Rob- inson, but the modest Newton expedition was only one out of more than a hundred which set sail from various ports that eventful spring of 1849, The Newton had excellent weathet until within sixty miles of Tampico, when every one was making ready to 2o for the land journey across Mexico. storm, however, drove them out to sea, and five days were lost in beating back to Tampico. They landed and spent a fort- night in outfitting, under thy leadership of Captain J. R. West, to whom they had each paid to land them in San Francisco. The expedition started from Tampico for | San Bias, on the Pacific Coast, April 10. Dr. Bucke says that the journey ‘‘seems to have had nearly all the unpleasantness and drawbacks that such a journey couid have and still be finally accompiished.” Water was scarce in the hot, barren coun- trv over which the forty Arzonauts passed. Their mules and horses often strayed and many were not recovered. West's out- fitting had been extremely parsimonious. The fleas, sand flies, mosquitoes and other insect pests drove men and animals pearly wild. Long before the luckless expedition reached the Pacific many of its members were sick with malarial fevers, dysentery and other disorders. Lastly, to cap the climax, Captain West, who had foolishly been paia in advance to take them to San Francisco, went to pieces financially and disappears from the story, leaving many of his unfortunate victims nearly penni- less, as one and all had expected to pick up money by the busbel in golden Cali- fornia. The forty, however, took possession of West’s horses, mules, wagons, harness and whatever assets were in sight, and managed to reach San Blas on June 23. When the mail steamer Panama came along two or three of the pilgrims had money enough to pay their fares to San Francisco. Several stayed in Mexico, but most of them, includibg the Grosh A. ana H. B. Grosh to their | biead, 25 to 50 cents a small loaf; butter, left home in | $150 a pound: dried peaches and apples, With such | §1. biographer | A smal! shanty in the outskirts of the nd willing all these years to give nation about the Groshes it is, to say | all | ness center, where light, frail houses of those who have written of the period have | one or two stories on small lots sometimes been contented to gather up and tell over | rented for $50, $80 or even $100 a day. and over again the misleading and frag- | A violent | grades were rated at from $60 to $90. This was written in a letter of December 1, | 1849, and in January, 1850, they gave an- | other list of vrices, as follows: Fresh cents; mutton, $4 a quarter; All other articles in like proportion. | Clty rented for $250 per month, and prices increased very rapidly toward the busi- By June, 1850, these hard-working | Grosh brothers, having saved a little irom | others. As described by Dr. Bucke, they | were of medium height, slight figures, | good iooking, fairly well educated, quick | of observation, ready with expedients, | thoroughly honest and honorable in small | things asin great, absolutely devoted to one another, industrious, persevering, | manly and fearless. In all respects they were men who deserved success. | The Grosh boys began their career as 1 prospectors in the Coloma district, El | Dorado County, and made $2000 or $3000 | above expenses in the first year after reaching the mines. Then they joined an | association to turn a river and mine the bottom of the channel. Hundreds of thousands of dollars had been made this way, the gold being scooped up by the pound from the bedrock in some cases; but the Groshes lost every cent they had in the world. Then they picked up a few dollars “crevicing,” and spent 1t ‘ grub-staking ”’ themselves on various prospecting tours. Abandoning the placers | fo_r 2 time they hunted for quartz veins. | Like every one else in the mines, they felt | the charm of the outdoor life, and their | letters show how much they loved it. { Allen was offered a position to write for | the Pacific News at $75 a week, and Hosea | wes offered $300 a month to go into a | store, but they were born prospectors and | could not abandon tueir chosen occupa- tion. Through 1851 and 1852 they staid in the El Dorado mines, working placer claims to pay their expenses, and looking for quartz. Part of.the time they tried a ésmall stock ranch, but met with misfor- | tunes, and in July, 1853, decided to cross | the Sierrasinto Western Utah, from which region came rumors of new placers. They | prospected for gold in Lake Valley at the | head of Tahoe, and at many places on the way, finding nothing of value. They { settled down at last in Gold Canyon, above | Dayton, where a few Mormons and wan- dering prospectors were making a precari- ous living In ravines below the as yet un- | discovered Comstock ledges, In the autumn of 1854 the Groshes went back to El Dorado and mined for a time at Little Sugar Loaf. Their bad luck con- tinued. *In fact,” says Dr. Bucke, “they | do not seem to have had any other kind | of luck all their iives. They still just | made enough to keep ithemselves alive.’’ | They wrote to their tather from El Dorado | in March, 1856, however, and gave the | first glimpse of then unknown silver FIESTA OF TEMECULA INDIANS AT SAN DIEGO, In San Diego County every year the Temecula Indians have a fiesta. It promises to be bigger this year than ever. Runners have been sent out to all the reservations and rancherias, from Saboba’to Santa Catarina, and all the bucks and belles will be there. The festiv- ities began at Temecula yesterday and will last as long as there is anything left of the wassail and wampum., There are many fiestas among the San Diego County Indians during the year. ‘The Temecula fiesta and that of San Lms Rey take the prize for long-drawn festiy- ity and dancing. The 8an Luis Rey fiesta has its headquarters at Pala, but it spreads during the time of greatest virulence and takes in the Cuca, Rincon, San Dieguito, Agua Caliente and all up and down the’ San Luis Rey River. At Temecula horseraces are the princi- pal diversion. Thereare plenty of Indians through that country who own horses, and good ones, too. Then the Mexican rancheros take a hand themselves, their young vaqueros esteeming it a great honor to win the race against the supple and wiry young bucks. All that the riders have to hold on with is a strap around the sleex and steaming body of the bronco and a hair lariat slung around the lower jaw of their mount, Money, ponies, lariats, saddies, shotguns, hnnt: ing-knives, sombreros and even wives are wagered on the agility of a chosen pony. In dances the Temeculas are prolific and versatile. They don’t brandish rattle- snakes nor jab firebrands into themselves, but they frequently take the platform an(i hold it against all-comers for a night at a stretch. The women chant long stories or ! songs, and the bucks sing, too, when they can’t do anything more noisy. Uncle Sam tries hard to keep his cop- pery children from imbibing whisky dur- ing the fiesta, but whisky is one of the diversions of Lo’s appetite during the red- letter days. Marriages are common soon after the fiesta, and many an old fellow with a colony of fifty to eighty descendants points to some far-off fiesta as the begin- ning of all his woe. At San Luis Rey the white man goes and looks upon his dancing, howling brother and ponders upon his ways. At Temecula the dances are not so public, but they attract all the people in the neighborhood. The eastern savant wouid walk ten miles to hear the monotonous caper, while the rancher living in the radins of the red brother’s forage-ground would gladly swap the whole fiesta for the return of the fatted calf or the glad bark of his vanished vellow pup. But the red brother smells the thick clouds of steam rising over the caldron of soup and dances before the calico-bedizened females who squat cross-legged and roll cigarettes in the ardent sun. NOVEL WAY TO GET RID OF STREET BEGGARS. There is a gentleman of this City who is so fortunate as to be able to converse in several languages besides English, and has the remarkable faculty of speaking each without an accent foreign to that language; in fact, his accentuation of the language he chooses is so perfect that he is frequently mistaken for a native of the country in which the language is the mother tongue. He has adopted a novel way of ndding himself of the importunities of the professional striker. When he is stopped or approached by one of the class he talks to the fellow in a foreign tongue and it is not long before the importunities cease. A few days since this gentleman was on Kearny street when a tall specimen of the mendicant class, whose breath was strong with the fumes of liquor, stepped up to him and asked for a dime to get a meal. “Que voulez-vous?” politely asked the gentleman turning toward the fellow. The beggar looked amazed for a mo- ment, but he repeated his question and he received another retort in French from the gentleman, who moved on about his business, but the fellow followed him and, after repeating his demand half a dozen times without producing the desired effect, he exclaimed in disgust, “Whdt in thunder is the matter with you? I can’t understand a word you say.”” Then in a moment he added, ‘‘Say, you old bloke, what are you doing in this country, any- how, if you can’t talk English ?'’ The gentleman has tried this a dozen times or more of late, and as he has not been annoyed by one of these beggars for more than a week, although he has passed many of them, he has come to the conelu- sion that ‘de gang is onto him’’ and will let him alone in future. Tree That Split a Bowlder. The above picture shows a tree in Mill Valley that has split a huze bowlder into three pieces. The tree is of the laurel variety and is a natural curiosity in its way. Miss Eastwood, of the Academy of Sciences, says the oddity is the only one of the kind in the State. —————————— The Hungarian Grown. The Hungarian crown, the royal head- dress worn at their accession by all the Austrian Bmperors, is the identical one made for Stephen and used by him at the time of his coronation, more than 800 years ago. It is of pure gold, and weighs nine marks and six ounces (about fourteen pounds avoirdupois). Itis adorned with filty-three sapphires, fifty rubies, one em- erald ana 338 pearls, but no diamonds, it being a notion of the royal Stephen that diamonds were unlucky. ——————— The Duke of Athollis the only nobleman who clothes his men servants in Highland dress in London. The Three Tailors. Three little tailors, to have a Went to the tavern of xngolnegm,d e On the Rhine, on the Rbine, ;g:l;“y::m: woere empty. but still they nursed some one would With Wine, with wine " helF thirst! “Sir host, we are broke, we have not a cent; In seeing the world our gold we've spent. - Bt com e Ehne, on the Riine, ut come, we'll show you some wond, In'return we ask you give us for nie o rioKe! Some wine, some wine. ” “Ye fellows! the keeper of Ingelheim Wil sell vou & glass of wine for a dime, On the Rhine, on the Rhine, But for all your tricks with needle and thread A punch on the head bhe'll give you, instead Ot wine, of wine.” A sunbeam one of them caught In his hat, And nimbly threaded his needie with tnat, On the Rhine, on the Rhine. A broken wine glass he sewed wiLh the beam o well that no one couid see the seam, In wine, in wine. | ledges: *“Eversince our return from Utah we bave been trying to get a couple of hun- dred dollars together for the purpose of making a careful examination of a silver lead in Gold Canyon.” Native silver, they said, was found there, but the ignorant placer miners thousht it was lead. In spite of strenuous efforts, they remained $100 in debt, and finally went to Western Utah in September, 1856, illy provided, but determined to develop several pros- pects. They worked a few weeks and returning to Ei Dorado to winter wrote: “We found two veins of silver at the forks of Gold The seeond tailor caught hold of a gnat As on the bridge of his nose he squat, On the Rhine, on the Rhine. The gnat wore socks with a hole like a dot; He darned it 50 finely you noticed it not, For wine, for wine. His needlc of steel the third one grabbed— ‘With all his might in the wall he stabbed, On the Rhine, on the Rhine. A Tightning fiash through the needle eye slipped— I saw the wonder myself while I sipped My wine, my wine. ‘The host of Ingelheim said: “I see The truest, smartest men of you three, On the Rhine, on (he Rhine.” A thimble he took ana filled (o the brim, ‘And laughingly sald: *Now, boys, take s swim In wine, in e —From the German of Herloszsohn, by John Volk, in the New York Sun. 10 ask: Then sach tiresome discussions on what each is going to take, Humorous Newspaper Rhymesters The Picnic by the Lake. Oh, I love the gentle summer for its long and pleasant days, For its sweet romantic evenings beneath the moon’s S0ft rays, For its flowers, and its sunshine; but I hate that hastly fake, Thet travesty on pleasure, called the picnic by the lake. First thers comes the burning question—oh, it is 10 easy task— X Of deciding on the people you think good enough In the matter of provisions to the picnic by the lake. When these vital points are settled and the party is atloat, There are maidens five, a8 matron, and a lone man in each boat, ‘Who takes the oars and struggles tili he thinks his pack will bre: As he rows elght by the lake. ‘When at last the voyage is ended he must clamber to the spring, Which is “somewhere up the mountain,” that the ‘water he may bring. He must get a load of drifiwood, and the campfire he must make; Though it’s hotter than—the tropics at the picnic Dy the lake. Then he has to mock his hunger with s diet of sardines. Of hard-boiled eggs aud sandwiches, relieved with T'hl:;l.‘ scarcity of chicken, but a plethora of the place to get dyspepsia is & picnlc by th mlnkeylm by the While the maiden he would flirt with, however well he plan, Devotes her whole attention to the only other ‘miles to windward—to tire picnic man— Atleast, so I was told by the one who got the give & picnic by the shake. And I'll never another lake. —H. G, P.ln.filfllmu"l ‘Bazar. songs and see the young bucks dance and |, One of Six Survivors of the War of 1812 Hosea Brown's Eventful Career of More Than a Gentury-The Story e of His Life The men or women now living at the age of 84 years were in their cradles or in their nurse’s arms when the war of 1812 commenced. And there are very few of any age now living who have any distinct recollection of the events that took place during our second war with Great Britain, How much more remarkable then must the fact seem when the statement is made that there are five or six actual partici- pants of that war still surviving and regu- larly in receipt of pensions from the United States. Among this latier number is Hosea Brown, now residing near Grants Pass, Or. e was born July 18, 1792, in the town of Westmoreland, Cheshire County, N. H., and is now in his one hundred and fifth year. His father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and was wounded in one of the early engagements near Boston. Hosea was one of thirteen chil- dren and comes from a long-lived race, two of his brothers having reached the ages of 90 and 93 years. His early educa. tional advantages were limited according to the appointments of a century ago. From the time he was 9 years of age and for a period of ten years after he attended the ordinary loghouse school three months during the winter An honorable exception to this ignoble flight was the command to which Hosea Brown belonged. It stood with unflinch- ing courage, maintaining its position and blazing away at the hated enemy with good effect. Butour smallerforce was gradually made weaker by losses, and, wearied by constant efforts to stand their ground, was compelled to at last fall back and take refuge in some log barracks. Their position here was extremely hazardous, and it appeared that the enemy’s des- perate efforts to dislodge them would soon prove successful unless relief came. In this emergency General Brown attempted to rally the fugitive militia by sending out messengers informing them of the enemy’s repulse. This stratagem had its desired effect, and several hundred were collected and formed in broken lines a mile or more from where the engagement was still raging. Here General Brown ad- dressed them, loading them with re- proaches for their lack of courage and de- claring he would have every one shot if they further failed in their duty. His manner awed them, and they asked to be led into the fight. This was done, and more than 200, led by intrepid officers, gallantly attacked the enemy, and by their heroism not only redeemed themselves HOSEA BROWN, THE CENTENARIAN. of each year, at all other times helping to clear and cultivate the farm, upon the proceeds of which the entire family depended for the necessaries of life. On reaching his twentieth year his father *‘zave him his time’’ and a little money. With these and a still further capital, consisting of hope and independ- ence, he went to Onondaga County, N. Y., where he worked as a farm laborer for the sum of $i2 a month. He was nearly 20 years of age when the war of 1812 was declared against Great Britain, and less than a year later he was enrolled asa private in Captain E. Bur- giss’ company of New York Volunteers and marched to the defense of Sacketts Harbor, on Lake Ontario, which had been greatly weakened by the withdrawal of much of our land and naval force for the expedition against York, and which proved so successful to the American cause. Assoon as the comparatively de- fenseless condition of Sacketts Harbor was known Lo the enemy an attack by the British under Sir George Provost, Gov- ernor-General of Canada, was planned to take place May 28, 1813. Troops to the number of about 1290 were embarked in small boats from the enemy’s ships and, re-enforced by a considerable body of In- dians in canoes, started for the shore. This movement was temporarily discon- certed by the unexpected appearance of alarge number of small boats, in which were a part of a regiment of our troops, under Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Aspin- wall, who were hastening from Oswego to the relief of the garrison at Sacketts Harbor. These latter were attacked by the British in overwhelming numbers, who captured twelve boats and seventy men, but by vigorously plying their oars the remainder effected a landing ana added about 100 men to the effective force at the harbor. During that night the enemy landed a party of Indiansand by making a detonr hoped to attack the militia, which consti- tuted our reserve, in the rear, but in this they were frustrated. At dawn the next morning the British, in trying to land thirty-three boats filled with armed troops, were met with a scac- tering fire from our militia, to which the guns of the enemy’s vessels responded and under cover of which the enemy suc- ceeded in gaining a landing, after which they formed in line and returned our fire instantly, killing Colonel Mills. This cir- cumstance, coupled with the sounds of musketry and great guns and the screan of solid shot and swishing of bullets, al- though causing no havoc in the ranks, created consternation among our un- tramned troops and caused them to retreat in panic-stricken confusion. In fact it was nothing but a disgraceful act of cowardice on the part of the rank and file in which the officers participated. Itis related of one of the militia com- manders, who had talked very valiantly, that he became less valiant as he saw the enemy’s boats approach the shore. As they came forward in a swarm he became less and less hopeful, until at length he told his men that he doubted tae ability of the American force to cope with the enemy. “I fear we shall be compelled to retreat,” he said. After a pause he con- tinues “I know we shall, andas I am a little lame I’ll start now,” and away he went as fast as his legs could carry him. The American commander (who by the way was a General Brown), stung by this disgraceful conduct, used every exertion to rally the fugitives but without success, they not even stopping to refire in the shelter of some woods on their route, and in which they were to halt and re-form in the event of being forced to give way. but covered themselves with glory by con- verting an almost certain disaster into a glorious victory. After completing his term of service Hosea Brown returned to hisold home, and at the age of 24 married Miss Hester Smith and became the father of two boys and three girls. In 1825 he moved to Cat- taraugus County, New York, where he ar- rived in March, and after discharging his obligations had just 18 cents for a working capital. Here he took up land and built a cabin. He cleared and cultivated 1and by the light of the moon and during the day worked for neighbors, sometimes thresh- ing grain with a flail and receiving in pay- ment for his labor every tenth bushel. Buat he prospered sufficiently to be con- tent, and in this spot he lived for forty years. Losing by death his entire family —his wife, the companion of his early trials and hardships, dying in 1857—he “went out to Missouri,”” and for a time stopped in Worth County. Net having any one to look after his little property, in the centennial year he disposed of it and moved to the home of his grandson, Orr Brown, with whom he now lives. At the last Federal election in 1892 the old soldier was placed in a chair, and, es- corted by a band of music, was carried to the polls, where he cast his vote for Harri- son. In politics he has never been any- thing but Federalist, Whig and Republi- can. While in the enjoyment of most ex- cellent health he has not walked for over three years. His mind is still vigorous and his memory good, for he relates with exactness many events that took place a ceniury ago, and he reads withours glasses. A most remarkable thing has happened to him during the past year. His hair, which up to that period was silvery white, began to turn, and it has since become as black as it was in his early manhood. Under the original pension law made for the benefit of all surviving soldiers of the war of 1812 he received $8 per month, which was increased by the act of March 19, 1886, to $12. By a special act of Con- gress on March 3, 1891, he was granted a pension of $40 per month by reason of ex- treme old age, and on the 21st of March, 1895, through the efforts of Congressman Binger Hermann, his pension was further increased to $50 per month. As Hosea Brown is the oldest surviving sol- dier in the United States, the clerks of the Pension Office take especial pleasure in preparing his voucher and remitting the amount due him quarterly before any other pavment is made. Thus this more than centenarian, nearly thirty-five years after passing the ‘‘three score and ten' of allotted life, finds himself surrounded by relatives and friends, who tenderly admin- ister to his comfort, while a grateful Gov- ernment is not unmindful of his pas services in its defense, but liberally fur~ nishes the means whereby its oldest sur- viving soldier may have an abundance to make comfortable his last days of life. DEPOSITIONS TALKED INTO THIS MACHINE The graphophone plays an important feature in the speedy reproduction of the very long depositions in the Fair will con- test. As thisis something newin San Frauncisco, or new at least in this applica- tion, some little description may be of in- terest. The notes of the stenographers are taken on the ordinary plan and they must be transcribed by typewriters. The o < X graphophone isan intermediary. When a stenographer comes in with a book of notes he sits down in front of a machine, the most striking portions of which are a revolving cylinder and a mouth trumpet at the end of a flexible tube. The revolv- ing cylinder is covered with gelatine, so sensitive that it will faithfully record and reproduce all the inflections and enuncia- tions possible to the human voice, the only limit being that the speed must not be so great that the enunciation fails of distinctness. The stenographer reads his notes into this machine at a speed of from 150 to 200 words per minute. Then he turns the cylinders over to the custody of the typewriter. The last-named places the cylinders in rotation in another ma- chine and applies ear-trumpeis to his ears. The cylinders are made to revolve, and as he sits at the machine the typewriter has the depositions spoken as directly into His ears as if he were in the room where they were taken. He hears every question and every answer verbatim. He has a brake by which the speed of the revolving cylinders may be regulated. He has no notes to decipher. His function is to listen and to work the typewriter at top speed. This is the way the Fair depo- sitions are speeded to the attorneys aud others interested in the cas: POINTERS FROM A CHINESE GUIDEBOOK. News comes from Paris that Li Hung Chung has extended invitations to certain eminent Frenchmen to visit him in Pe- king, and, as it is quite probable that the distinguished Viceroy will extend similar invitations to such Americans as may take his fancy, it has seemed advisable to the New York Herald to cull from a Chi- nese guidebook a few phrases for the guid- ance of such fortunate Americans. There are in this country as good lin- guists as there are anywhere else, but neither here nor in any other country, ex- cept China, are there many men who know even the first rudiments ot the Chi- nese language. Some of the following phrases, too, may prove useful to those who may be introduced to the Viceroy when he comes to this country, and who may be inspired with the laudable desire to show him that they are not utterly ignorant of his mother tongue. ON ARRIVING AT PEKING. Can you conduct me| Ni k'o tai ouo tao to & hotel? |¥-ko k’o-tien mo? Yes, sir. Doyouwant|” K'o-y. Lao-ye a hotel in a Chinese k’o-tien tsai villa? tech’eng mo? Certainly. I would| Tseu-jau. Ouo yao like to see the interest- k’an tsal Pei-king so- ing places in China. veou kK’o-k’an-u. ive me & room. Ni kei ouo y’ko ou- yao ouai- tseu. Here 15 one. | Yeou. What is the charge| To-chao teien y per day? vien? One tael (one dollar.)| Y leang yt'ien. Al right; I will take| Hao, ouo tsai tche- it, coul tchou. I am hungry. Give| Ouo ngo lao, kei ouo me some food. toung-si t'che. What do you want?| Ni yao che-mo? Chinese dishes. What noung-kouo ts'ai. have you? |Ni yeou che mo? We have swallows’| Ouo-meun yeou yen- nests, pigeons’ eggs,|ouo, ko-tan, yu-pieul, fisn, shrimps, peaches tsieou, chia-mi, t'ao, and nute. If you want ho't'ad; tsi eou mei wine we can give you|kouei-lou. rose dew. All right. Iwill taste them. Afterward give, Ni t'oung-t’oung kei ouo, ouo ich’sug y me a pipe of opium. tch’aug: tch’e - fan- St heou, kei 0uo ya-plen- en, Ni kel ouo si-lien Bring me some water chouee; na ousn t'cha and siso a cup of tea. lai. I have not yet seen| Tsai Pei-king ouo any Chinese ladies. hai-mei k’an-kien niu- Where are they to bejeul-meun; tsai-na eul found? Ko-y k’an t’a-meun, Ouo_k'o-y kei-ni tai ki-ko lai. Iwill show you some. | SOME USEFUL HINTS. When he goes to pay his respects to any Chinese gentleman the American visitor must say, “Ouo lai kei-ni ts’ing-an.” When he expresses a desire to know what places in the Chinese capital are worth seeing, the answer will be—-Kou-toung plou; n'a-em m Kk’o-y houan-kia. Hai ye'ou tien-t'an, ti-t'an, kouan-sing-T'ai, kouo-tseu-kien, Mei-chan, Pei-t’aug teng- tch’ou.” When he goes to a theater and exclaims, “What a pretty actress!” (Ahyah! tche che y’ko hao k-an-tiniu-eul meun), h- will be told that the pretty performer is not a woman, but a man dressed in woman’s clothes, as in China women are forbidden to perform in public (Pou che y-ko mu-eul-meun, tshe che y-ko nan- jen tahouang niu-eul-meun-ti-ta-pan, tchao lu-li pon tchoun niu-eul-meun tch-ang tehi). Finally, when he asks at the close of the day how persons spend the evening in Peking (Tsai Pei-king, ouan-chang yeou che-mo k’o tso-ti?) he will be told that they go to bed early and sleep heartily (Tst chang tch’ ouang tsiou choui- kiao). Few of the above vphrases relate to women, for the reason that Chinese gentlemen do not expect foreigners to be- tray any solicitude about the wel- fare of their female relatives. In- deed a foreigner who should - in- quire as to their health would be guilty of a grave breach of etiquette. On the other hand, Chinese gentlemen know that we are less exclusive in this respect than they are, and they do not hesitate to speak in high praise of the women of Europe and America, Of French women they speak rapturously, dwelling with en- thusiasm on the beauty of ‘“‘their cherry lips, their bair like biack clouds, their somber, mysterious,eyes, their small feet, their perfect forms, their skin, white as snow, and their stately walk, which re- minds them of bamboos stirred by the evening breeze.” B p S How to Live to Great Age. The latest fad in England is to insure longevity through the use of a special diet. The promise is held out to those who im- plicitly follow out the prescribed regimen that they may attain to the age of 110 years. This, among the most melancholy people of the globe and to whom one would fancy that life were the less worth living, has aroused considerable enthusi- asm. Cooks and kitchens are to be abol- ished, meats, bread and vegetables are for- bidden; existence is to be main- tained exclusively upon nuts and ba- nanas., If we compare this with the dietary system of Dickens, which represents that of his period, his _comparatively carly decease will excite no surprise. According to English standards he was an accomplished gastronome. Beefsteak pudding was his ideal, a horri- ble concoction only fit for a crude or de- based palate. His highest conception of a dinner was a baked leg of mutton with the bone removed and the cavity filled with a stuffing of oysters and veal. This was ac- com panied with gin punch, in the making of which Dickens tdok especial pride. It was made as follows: A brass kettle of water was heated over a spirit lamp. ‘When_the water came to a boil it was poured into & jug, with a bottle of old gin, lumps of sugar and chips of lemon peel. The mouth of the jug was then closed with a napkin and the mixture allowed to brew for a certain number of minutes.— New York Sun.