The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 17, 1897, Page 20

il THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, DAY, JANUARY 17, 1897. ondon’s Yuletide Carols, Its Tribes of Street - d country the romantic uthors linger over descriptions of | ristmas festivities, and the jovial good- feeling, the general air of benevolence and good will exhaled by every one, rich or r. They grow particnlarly tender in the Christmas carols. The weels, , when I heard a f young calves in the ty ely under my window, I k out to see whether any- thing | arly barrowing had oc- curred. Three dim figures stood in the | street; each one held a large square of white pasted to his breast, and their emo- seemed to find vent in these howls nish. *‘What do these boys mean by yelling under my window in such a manner?” I| demanded severely of the maid who an- bell. She regarded me AN all delightful looks on English life | 49 in town swered my witl oo - ¢ plied. iristmas carols!"’ she re- you anything for them " Ay ch procured another song, give th reaoubled ardor. I listened with zreat respect and tried to awaken in my disillusioned soul some echo of all those Christmas stories that had created an ideal Christmas carol in my mind. “Peace on hearth!” came from the the din of tin pans, *‘good- Here an omnibus came clattering for- nd the carolers moved on. s continue from past dewy eve. At t tores pierce the frosty indefatigable carolers monious paths in the then 3 = the their 1 vely pe Wy se figures reveai them- less grotesque or pa- bands with their with disrepu- low a warm old mea and s wet with frost, table Siha highly came noses that colored T s two childri d yesterday I boy of nine standing in the bold as young | e girl of seve he wet s eagles. They had high, shrill voices too, and a most determined little way of ac- costing the passerby to say, “Merry Christmas, please, sir; merry Christmas, please, ma’am ! The two of them must have reaped a fortune of pennies. Itis a time when | charity is really spontaneous, but beggary assumes so many new and unaccustomed snapes in London it is necessary to keep a particularly firm hold of one’s purse. That tribe cf vagabonds who spring out of the ground, as you step into a cab or han- som, obsequiously and unnecessarily open the door, and cling to it until they have received a penny or have given you a piece of frankest advice; the venders of microscopic and starved-looking plants who foliow you for any distance murmur- ing: “My moder has no bread in the ’ouse, me little brothers and sisters, seven of ’em, hall under five years,” etc., etc.; the woman with a paper of rusty pins and four worn bootlaces and a general fra- grance of the public-house about her per- son—all these unfortunates and many otbers, better and worse, make the streets pleasant for the Christmas shopper, al- ready franiic with the calls upen his or her time and generosity. The papers print columns of appeals; every institu- tion, public and private, clamors for sub- scriptions, toys, turkeys or old clothes. Mr. Labouchere of Truth was the origi- nator of the Truth doll show for the benefit of poor children whose holidays | must be passed in workhouse or hospital wards. Seventeen vears ago the first doll show was held in the offices of Truth; it has developed from these small | quarters through stagesof the Marlbor- | ough and Grosvenor ralleries to the great Alvert Hall itself. There are 28000 poor children in the various charitable institu- tions of the metropolis, and 29,000 toys were sent from all parts of the town and country. | It has become quite an honor to send | the best-dressed and most ingenioue doll in the exhibition. So we find Li Hnung | Chang and Lohengrin and Charley” Aunt and little flower cirls and duchesses all associating together, rather stiffly | and unbendingly, 1t must be confessed, | s Perette are the most quaint little people, attired after pictures by the late Sir John Millais, and one of the most striking is a sauey | *‘Misfress of the Hounds” in the correct | “pink’’ with whip and hunting-horn. In | addition to the toys, one anonymous | child lover sends 11,000 sixpences, fr from the mint. Christmas day in Eng- | land is followed by Boxing day, and s this year of grace the day is it means that from Thursday even Monday morning London is practically reduced to the status of a village. Every- | 118 Witod | & calendar or a tlowering plant. SAN for the entire period. It is true that on | Boxing day tradesmen will call, but it is | for their Christmas *‘boxes.” In Califor- | nia the tradesmen who have rejoiced in the steady custom of their patrons present at this time, or for the new year, a slight token of grateful acknowledgment—a box of fruit, a highly ornamental frosted cake, Here it is the pernicious habit for the tradesmen to present themselves, firmly and haught- | ily, for their Christmas “box,” which may | take any form, from sixpence to ten shil- Beggars and It | T EsTiR L‘-‘oeij but on terms of absolnte equality. There | thing is closed; provision must be made | linzs CHARLEI3 BUAT™ Itis only then that you realize hi many people have contributed to your comiort during the year, and it is with tears of rage that you surrender more and more of the reluctant shillings, long after you have imagined to have sat- isfactorily closed your accounts and dis- charged yonr indebtedness. Theshops, of course, have been particularly tempting, with an almost bewildering display of cheap toys and trinkets. Everything costs 11d 3; nothing has ever been known to cost 1s. It's a little trick not unknown | to wily New York shopkeepers, to be highly recommended for its efficacy. The 24th the crowd is at its worst. The weather is unusually mild for the season and the people surge up and down the streets, not only in the great thorough- fares but in the small shopping districts. Every neighborhood has its own distinct Whitechapel road. I-happened to pass down tiat tortuous and black streel called Portobello. To pass at all between the booths and coster carts was to join the procession till a turning opened an avenue into a new and quieter place. It was gay as a fair and crowded to such a degree that you came into unavoidable contact with the bundles under the arms and in the pockets of your neighbors. Great smoky flames flared from the oil torches and the petroleum lamps sus- pended by brackets or chains, and swing- ing perilously in every breath of wind; the irregular light was singularly vivid and still mysterious as it flickered and | rose and fell again into impenetrable shadow. The noise of a hundred men and women calling, laughing, shouting, scolding over their wares, declaiming in sing-song that rose as they fondly imag- ined above the shrieks of the neirhbor on either hand, it all contributed to make a singularly striking and amusing scene. Not less striking was the odor, an inde- scribable mixture of old clothes and lamp | ofl and salt fish and oranges; now and then a whiff of roast chestnuts oran aro- | matic breath from the young fir trees, stacked up like firewood, waiting to be carted off by extravagant householders with families of small cbildren. Potatoes and vegetables and smoked meats, pyra- mids of bacon, piles of deadly pink-coated cakes, as hard as bullets, seemed the staple articles. As we force our way down the | street booths of cheap toys int:rvene, | whistles that threaten you with deafness | 20 off next to your ear, and the crowd pu-hes and clamors and yells, men and | women and children of all sizes and de- | scriptions, down to the infant pinned iuto | ashawl and suspended around the neck | of the panting mother on the watch for | bargains of food and wearing apparel. | And over all this swarming life stretches a vast wintry sky. Christmas morning brings a blessing with i1t in the shape of sunlight, rare, bright, beautiful sunlight. It shines apparently upon a lifeless and deserted city, in which only the blue-coated bob- bies and infrequent omnibus seem to have preserved the power of movement. Ev:vry- body has fled from the questionable joys of Christmas and boxing days. This lat- ter has a pugilistic sound, possibly de- rived from the manners of the recipients of “boxes.” In the smaller streets, but yesterday impassable, there are closed shops and closed house fronts; 1f there are people behind the doors and windows they give no sign. The few who are abroad seem very anxious to get to their destina- tions, and have a hurried harassed look. Now and then a child, hugging a new toy, looks out with inexpressible gayety, but is speedily Lustled back into the house or omnibus. The conductors have an air of joviality and high spirits that grows with every “pub” that is passed; a glass is handed up to the driver, too, so as to give him a corresponding air. The people in the ‘bus, on the contrary, have a concilia- tory and apologetic attitude; they ask for directions with great gentleness and never contradict the jovial gentleman with thy bellpunch. The pantomime attracts great crowds to Drury Lane, an ideal place for Christmas spectacles from time immemorial, even though Cromwell attempted to check the | evils of the playnouses and sternly for- | bade all Christmas performances there as | perilous to the soul and mind. The pan- tomimes are the attraction for the chil- dren of the middle classes not out of town—but all their elders who have the mesns or the friends to take them out of Loudon have departed for the country. At the present hour it is vesper time, and there is a sweet jangle of chimes from comedistant churcn-steeple; the stillness is something to be felt. The street is wet with mist and reflects the lamplights in little quivering ribbons of gold. Itisab- solutely deserted save for a drunkard who lurches from side to side and clings to the garden raiiing as to his hopes of saiva- tion. VAN Dyck Brown. London, Dec. 25, 1896. treet th ternoon a soc an, or Japane meets g clu presi Dr. Kurozawa, kindly to visit the place and s of the members The nt, side his enthusiasm, th hid- e, the Giyudan,” isn vocabulary ow'a n his ch renders his speech “At the Giyudan native words, somewhat puz learn to use the gun and to do as ould in battle. In the Shimbukan v use the sword or bamboo.” alley and up two well- and underneath a ange garments drip- et, I followed the genial president. to which we went was large, v filled with Japanese boys in all stages of dress. “Not all here to-day,’” said Dr. Kuro- zawa. “We have two hundred members; only about one hundred fiity here. Four yearsago we have only ten.”” And the doctor laughed heartily as though it were a good joke. After the stranger had received a chair— the only one to be had—the president signaled to a pleasant-faced man, who ran to the further end of the room, caught up a bugle and began playing upon it with ear-splitting earnestness. Still it had the desired effect. The men formed into, line, an old n with as much of a military * bearing as his small stature would allow stepped forward and adcreszed them in their native tongue. The bugler stood back and waited: “Him?” He bowed politely. The Japan- ese are painfully polite always. “He's the teacher. Muto! of him ? war against China and killed seven or eight Chinamen himself.”’ Muto was an elderly man, with a falt beard and a strong face. Short in stature washe; vet you were compelled to respect what there was of him. He was unmistak- ably a student. He had caught up a foil—not slender and long like our foils, butshort and broad. As he brandisbed this weapon, with his head well thrown back, and pranced to and fro, he reminded one strongly of a drum-major worried into a frenzy by the carelessness of his musi- cians. No doubt he had killed a number of Chinese if he had the opportunity, but that he paused to make a chalk mark as each had expired one must question. He becoming escited with his exercise | in earnest! Have you never heard | He's a great man; fought in the | How Japanese Wattiors Are Made er room at the back of a row of | the foils were lying and grasped them;teachers would take their men back to then they began to parry blows, their | white teeth clenched, their bright eyes glistentng, as excited and nervous as though it were life and death. The mstructor watched them, now and then calling sometuing unintelligible. | Suddenly he stopped them pereraptorily and began explaining They get so excited,’” said the bugler, “that they forget sometimes the rules.”’ He was excited, too. In all the number no two were graceful. Some of them understood thoroughly and | made no mistakes, still their thrusts were awkward; their ieints were too apparent, though in the excitement the adversary could not do more than to wave his foil wildly and receive the ensuing thrust or ward it off by luck. | After a number of the most expert men 1 their country to fight.” Muto went back to his pupils. The bug- ler, who had been having his turn at fencine during this conversation, now took up his stand again with his bugle. As he wiped the perspiration from his forehead | his hand urembled visibly, and he was | breathing hard. “Is it bard work?” He smiled broadly. “Yes; I getall out of breath; but T like it pretty weli. Some of the boys don't like it.” | “Then why do they come?” He looked wonderingly. *‘The Japanese Government wishes it,” he answered. “But if they do not enjoy it they are not | compelled to do so.” He forgot his ner- | ness over his recent combat. | “Yes, we are compelled to do so. Not | by force, of course—they could not do that | | had finished their practice for the aiter- | over berc; but by love. If our country | The Japanese Fencing Club. noon and were busy assisting some of those who were not so proficiens, the pres- igent brought Muto to explain all about the club and its doings. The doctor had relieved himself of his black broadcloth coat and vest and his stiff collar and tie. Around the middle of his bcay was strapped a leathern apparatus, reaching well up under his arms and down to his “They have to wear those,” si Maro, ‘‘or they would get hurt. We all become so interested that we forget we are not trying to kill. It might be a brother, and it would be all the same; we ars g0 much We use the bamboo because it is lizht, and make it very blunt so that it cannot hurt. Sometimes the thrusts are severe as it is. We could not use your kind ofa foil. Our swords are not like that, and besides some one would get an eye put out. We once tried boxing ip this club, but in their earnestness the Japan- ese boys forget to be careful and overstep the rules, and too many got hurt, so we gave it up. We are not cool-headed; we are too quick, too nervous and excitable. We put all our thought in what we are doing. “Everywhere in Japan since the late war they are teaching this fencing. The clubs are formed all through Japan and they teach it in all boys’ schools. Itis not merely for sport. During the late war with China the Government found that it would be necessary for the people to un- derstand how to use a sword. Japan can- no: keep a standing army of any size, so her subjects have to be trained. That is the reason why I came back irom Japan 10 teach here. *‘The Giyudan? Yes, that is more ad- vanced than this. They learn to hanale guns after they are good fencers. They are trained to be cool and deliberate; but the boys do not like it so well as this. It is harder work—more like your militia— so they have not such a large club. “The teachers of the Giyudan are the ex-officers in the late war. The Japanese Government sends them out—always has and the men about him were catching the enthusiasm. They became restless. First they applauded, then two rushed to whernl | men who have had experience, and they are all over wherever there are any of our people. In case of war in Japan these| sends this brave man to teach us, should we not learn?” “There are a great many Japanese over here who do not belong. Some of them think only of themselves; they do mot care. Have you not Americans like that? Then some who work in families are busy on Sundays: and the Japanese in the mis- sions—they will not come. They are too busy with their religion. They think it1s not right to do this on Sunday. Most of us work at all other times, and wedo not think this is wrong ” Then the bugler hur: to the president’s call. the afternoon were over. d away in answer The exercises for The 150 men, Professor Muto, laughing and talking, huarriedly began dressing, apparently forzetting the exist- ence of any one but themseives. One by one they hurried from the hall and disap- peared on the other side of the clothes- line, into the dingy alley. The instructor came 10 me. ““We have an entertainment in Febru- ary—our New Years,” he said. “They | will fence for medals. Will you come?” The bugler seated himself in the farther corner by a window and began to bugle to himself, with better intent than result. Muto and Dr. Kurozawa passed out and went their separate ways. It was very cold and late and almost darx in the empty room, which was but just freed from the noise of hurrying feot. The young man looked up from where he was sitting and laid the instrument on | W his knee. *“Come again,” he said, watch. I go home pretty soon, too. very cold.” Then he resumed bis practice. In what strange ways heroism shows itself and in what queer places it abides. JEAN MORRIS. “It is nice to Itis A Difference. T guess my pa was orful bad afore he grew so tall, A regler boly terror with lots an’ lots er gall, For he tells me the funniest stories of how he a1’ Uncie Ben Stole apples an’ went in swimmin’ an’ played hooky, too. But when He caught me stealin’ apples an’ playin’ hooky, 160, He didn’t seem 1o see things as he used to do. There are some things about father that I can- not understand You should hear him telling of the time he thought he owned the land And went a-courtin’ mother. But the other evening when Poor Tom forgot 'twas time to go and stayed till heli-past ten, Pa cannot have remembered when he was twenty-two, For he diun’t seem Lo see things as used T'll bet the governor must have been a pretty sly old bird, Or he tells the biggest whoppers that I bave ever heard, Of what the fellows used todo when he was young and gay— | He says it was before the time he settled down to stay— But when 1 told him how we boys had worked & thing or two, He didn’t seem to see things as EDITH A. BRADLEY. Sacramento, January 14, 1 Sleep as a Preservation. In reply to the question,'*Is it wise for a man to deny himself and get along with a few hours’ sleep a day to do more work ?” Tesla, the great electrician, replied: ‘‘That is a great mistake, I am convinced. A man has just so many hours to be awake, and tue fewer of these he uses up each day the longer they will last; that is, the longer he will live. I believe that a man might live 200 years if he would sleep most of the time. That is why negroes often live to advanced old age, because tbey sleep so much. It is said that Gladstone sleeps seventeen hours every day; that is why bis faculties are still unimpaired in spite of his great age. The proper way to economize life is to sleep every moment that is not necessary or desirabl+ that you should be awake.” — Philadelphia Record. .qlfll\f"‘ ,,g,o ‘ | T The Sectet of Aerial Flight Revealed OT a thousand miles from the Golden Gate may be found resi L39Y ing a man of quiet, unobtrusive presence, living in a snug cottage over- looking the ocean, surrounded by, per- haps, three or four acres of vineyard. The product of the vines is not, howev his chief means of suprort. The gentle- man is well fixed, as the term is, in mat- ters of finance, and the vineyard is simply a means whereby he is enabled to pursue his peculiar studies uninterrupted by the curious, who might otherwise intrude upon his labors were it supposed that he vag not what he appears to be in that lo- cality—a grepe-grower. The cottageis a small dwelling of perhaps hzalf adozen rooms, and beside it is a long, one-story structure, at the end of which is a tall | lattics fence thickly covered with vines which effectually hide the interior of the cured by thoroughly washing the soil, re- jecting all portions that are not dissolved water, then evaporating the solution. The solid portion remaining, in the form of an impalpable powder, is then subjected to a peculiar process of electrification, re- sulting in the production of what you now havein your hand. It is exceedingly strong, its tensile strength surpassing that of steel. Its iridescence is due to the microscopic wrinkles upon its sur- face. But that is notall of its character- istics. It possesses the remarkabie quali- ties of being easily rendered apergent.” “What?” I exclaimed. “Apergent,” he replied. “Apergy is a force obtained by blending positive and negative electricity with ultheic, the third element or state of electric energy, and a body charged with this fluid, ‘apergy,’ 1s not only unaffected by gravitation, it is Tne gentleman is about fifty inctosure. years old; that is, he looks to be about that age, and is evidently of foreign ex- traction, having dark skin, thoughtful dark eyes and the general characteristics of the Hindoo race. I am not at liberty to state just how Icame to learn of his peculiar work, but will describe as clearly as I can what it is, and leave to the think- ing portion of Tur CALL's readers what- ever in‘erence they may draw. Necessarily much of what I here write must be in the words of the gentieman himself. As I entered the garden-like inclosure, peside the cottage, my attention was arrested by what I took to be a pleas- ure boat. It was about twelve feet long and five wide, forming a very convenient carriage for half a dozen persons. On each side of the body of the boat was a wing-like blade hinged, and over the boat, supported by six slender rods, was a broad sheet of metal larger than the breadth and length of the boat, and probably a quarter of an inch in thickness, which glittered and glistened with all the hues and tints of therainbow. But the strangest part of the affair was that the boat was not resting upon the ground, but was at- tached to it by a couple of stout cords. As 1 stood looking at the thing with astonish- ment depicted on my face, the gentleman approached the boat, which swayed to and fro about three feet from the ground, and placing his hand upon a metal knob, justinside the boat’s edge, [ saw it sink to the earth and again rise to the limit of the ropes. Not a word of explanation was offered me concerning the queer affair; but I was requested to step inside, and I followed into the shed beside the cottage. The shed proved to be a workshop. In one corner was a small gasoline engine | and a dynamo. Along one side of the long room extended a workbench, and shelves. An sbundance of tools were present. At the further end of the room was a large furnace, now cold, and on the shelves were a number of elaborate elec- trical instruments. I saw on the work- bench a piece of the same material as that of which the boat cover was made, and I took it in my band. It was very light, and was evidently some kind of metal. My host smiled as I examined the ma- terial, and asked me what I thought of ir. 1 asked, “What is it?’ “Radlum,” he replied. *“Itisa metal. “Iam not aware that it is obtainable except in Thibet, on the southern slope of the Himalayas, near Tirthapuri, and here on the western . President Kurozawa. slope of the Coast Range. It occurs in the repelled from the earth with the same or Law of Gravity Overcome. greater force than that with which it for- merly was attracted, so that if the body is liverated it will move away into space. Radium is as yet the only material I know of that will retain the apergic force. You stirely must, as a chemist, know,"” said my host, “that neither synthetical nor analytical chemistry will satisfactorily account for certain phenomena constantly occurring. The worid will never learn true science until it is ready to learn from nature’s open books. Everything in the material universe 1s constructed upon a system of triads. In other words, there are always three phases or conditions of the same thing. Water may be a solid, a liquid or a gas, and in each manifestation be only water. Just so in everything. Electricity is known to the many as only positive and negative, while in fact its third condition is never absent, although unrecognized. An apple falls to the ground from the tree, and science an- nounces that a subtle force called gravity brought the apple down. But as to the second or its third phase science knows nothing, and, in fact, is appareatly too conceited to desire to learn. I have learned something about the opposite force—the second phase of gravity. I call it ‘apergy.” The boat that you saw sway- ing in the yard hasitsroof stored with apergy sufficient to cause it to lift the boat with me in 1t and soar to any height that I may wish to reach.” “But,” I asked, “how can you control vour ascent or descent?” “Simply enough,” he answered. *‘The soil as a tel'uride, and the metal is pro- number of thin bands of specially pre- pared metals, forming, in fact, a very powerful storage battery of the ‘dry’ type, as no liquid is required. Perbavs you might better understand it by com- paring it to a leyden jar, only its dis- charge is slow—not all at once. There are two complete systems of these bands, each insulated from the other. When I use the beat I first charge one set of bands with positive electricity from yonder dynamo and then charge the otier set with negative electricity from the same source. Then I join the like poles of the twe systems and, of course, thus connect- ed, get no current that would be meas- urable by an ordinary galvanometer; one system is neutralizing the otner; but now using the two systems of bands con- nected as a single circnit, I charge them with a further current of what you may call ‘static’ electricity and create a force which, applied to certain materia! capable of storing it, as does radlum, produces apergy in that material. I can weaken or destroy the apergy in t e radlum by a re- versal of the direciion of the applied cur- rent. Thus, I am able to increase or diminish the buoyancy of tbe boat. Did you ever think what was that marvelous power that maintains the planets in their positions as regards the sun? Gravity alone will not fill the requirements. That force-alone would simply precipitate them upon the sun. But apergy acting with gravity "holds them as they are. The apergic force of the san repels and his gravity attracts. In the meantime, as the sun is swifily moving himself through space his family of satellites is moving with him and the apergic force harmon. iously blended with the gravic force ¢ @ cles them around the central power, for the reason that the two forces are never always exactly of the sams intensity. They regularly alternate; one is always a little more powerful than the other. Notbing 1n nature is absolutely uniform. sxo abhors many things besides a vacuum. THere is no such thing as a perfect circle inner sides of the boat are lined with a | ’ in nature.” F. M. Ciosk, D. Sc, s Wonderful Doll Show A | % #