The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 12, 1897, Page 21

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1897. Moscow.” le sometning in this inscrip- | Pulaca Hotel regi-ter arrests m and piques the curiosity. It is mantic inc ¥, suc: as that which Venetian when caid ihe sig- Thibet, for the New Englana than the Russian steppes. puzz left on his gues aveler from aracteristic of description of a newspaper would read, ‘‘Enoch Emor merchant prince of Trader ders’ lane, be it known, is f Moscow. that this remarka- whom vou would entirely ri0ok in even a commonplace crowd, so deut, unassumin 4 nd > in physiognemy and dress, owns a r rchandising houses extend- es of Russian territory, five confidential assist- possesses a fortune only mated by the multipte of millions and is a large ownerof trans-Siberian railroad <ha What is more to the voint, he earned s fame and fortune single-handed, by virtue of Yankee pluck and sagacity, in the wiids of Siberla. His eminence and cord are aliogether more unique than | gers, those of the elder Vanderbilt, Gould or ge, since he won fortune in a ioreign the language of which is difficuit to achleved everything by an se suggestive of the rarest forti- The markets were the ield of his operations in a land w here auxiliary manipulations of the stock exchange are as yet unknown. Skortly after the war the present San BRIDGE OVER OSUR Smith & Co., | spirit of dar- iritans, estab- she a modest e house at N aevsk, the litle seaport rth of Vladivostok at the mouth Thelr prosperity | 1ty years ago they a visit otts they were en- Mr. Emo v told s ped riches ess end of the prin: nation 1to every 1 speilbo ory wa s then 16 years oid, an unsophisticatad boy, but of 1d spirit that make explorers | f e expressed the resolution to k in Siberia, and asked the ould t him along, ured him he might t change his mind betore | Boston. Faitntul to the promise | the boy, thougzh his parents sought tiscourage his ambition, the merchants | rto the Emory the day of de- ; him to join them, ¢ disposed to make trial of yntents of this letter "Mrs. Emory, ted by a mother’s fears and affec- , kept her soo, until such time he tho it woula be impossible for ot advantage of the invitation. to be thwarted, however, and in de. 1 1! pleadings ana pro- = lad made all haste to join hem on the day they ng to leave. He was meagerly , and his hand a small containing only a change of un- clothing and a few toilet trifles. Je merchants were as much impressed | hey were amused by the i .omplew-‘ nd gravity of bis apparition. When ankly told of determination to | company them in spite of his mother’s deception teiegraphed to nts and finally obtained consent | trom 1im No spite of the testations, hs pa on cing rried in T his yus the pa to outfit t give what was | deemed a folly a chance for | cure. ROSE DE BOHEME WR “Hold up, hurry I say, the horses is get- | tih’ uhead on us.” | Clatter, clatter, they hurry, their heavy | boots bangiag on the wooden sidewalk, | their cheeks puffea and ruddy, asthey ‘ tand pound along—a siring of eager, | sv little boys, as bent as any man of | ns on seeing some new thing. Liter- | ring, for, with praiseworthy dread tray, they are holding on to a | rope like diminutive Aivine climbers. “Bow- WO®-WOW-WOW-WOw-wow” — the | dogs are equally anxions to hurry up, and, | Laving no rope to hang on to, they follow | each other in tingle file, nose upon tail, glongz the central causeway. “Aint much worth seeing, I guess?’’ in- quires a lansuid twelve-year-oid iass, | with a shock of tawny huir gathered in a | ait down her back “You be:,” retorts a ditto ditto, racing “<ne’ve gota pink silx dress. “You don't say!” And thelanguid one, sudaenly alert, caiches up her friend ana, oining hauds, ihey race the boys and the togs I h even a wagging tail pa n» be bave no rope, no friendly hand, not 10 spur me on, but thusiasm i3 infectious and I suddenly i that it 1s my duiy to catch a| glimpse of tuat pink silk attire, so I| ciatter along in the wake of the enthusi- asts pursn ng three hack carriages which draw up before the guiet Ltalian churck: i Dupont street. P finaliy Of course it is a wedding. Does any- thing elce ever call forth similar excite- ment—ss indeed, a funerai, which i: not in keering with pink silk? The | pavement s crowde i, the stone staircases | leading up 1o tLe church are packed, ba- | bies are crowing in the armsof dark-eyed, | inconspicuous | | sidering the A few years after the return of the mer- | chants to Nikoiaevsk they decided to establish themselve. in San Francisco, and left their mercantile affairs in Siberia to the management of younz Emory. Three years later he bought them out, the | arrangement including a provision that | BIRD’S-EYE .“VIEW" OF Siberian region described, however s much severer than thatof the same Amer- ican parallel, many of its larzer rivers being ciosed to navigation each year as many months as the Yukon. The Russian transcontinental line has | been construcied on the same pioneering -°‘;"A —_—ghff?}f-\ ] iUJ” Ll_LL"U”’J\Q'f!‘L‘-‘w o 1 would remain associated with him as| RIVER. the, American agents. The rise of the young New Englander was ra it is a story of thrift, pre- vi-ion, adventure and snrewdness, Fol- lowing the nayigabl: Amoor h- pushed his merchandising outposts on past Ir- kutsk until they met the advance of the trans-Siberian railway suiv he com- pletion of the merchant chain he had | planned took him eventually to Moscow, aud there heat length founded his central house, which driws ies from Europo. P.ofit i his every step and ve Mr. Emory is reticent as to the size ¢! the e ne has in the trans-Siberian project. but from credible very large. He is very sar future of the road and the try it opens to industry and The construction of the T railroad, which be, been pushed accounts it uine as to the rormous coun- ommerce, ns-Siberian v, 1890, has | is intervening y. h febrile haste and tremendous enerzy. To connect by 700 mi ilroad the capit Russia with a seaport on the Pac of Si- beria was an undertaking of magnitude. The announcen design on the part of the imp ment was met with incredulity sidesat first. When the scheme was al the practicab:lity of | made manifest and the work a-sumed definite organization the world,and more particularly the European on portion of it, faintly terful motive b-hind perceivea tne mas- the project. Con- naturil obstacles and the climaiic rigors the *p2ed of construction has been extraordinary; for it is now as- sured that the promiss of the Czar will be fulfi led—that passengers may ride from Viadivostok across the Siberian wilds and Ural Mountains to ‘Moscow in modern railroad cars early next year. Throush | | trains are now running from St. Peters. burg to Irkutsk, whiie the work from the western end is progre=sing rapid'y aloug the banks of the Amoor. The Trans-Siberian line traverses in zigzag courses the part of the northern Asiatic continent lying between the forti eth and fiftieth parallels—a z.ne similar to that lying in the United States between Cape Mendocino aua British Columbia at | the west and Philadelphia and Newfound- land at the east. The climate of tne barehcaded motners, who think with a| smile of their own pink-siik! days; | fair English - sveaking chiidren are wedged in between dark - skinned, bewrinkled dames, with black shawis over their heads and eager, puckered eyes | that seem to be glancinyx backward to | vears when wrinkles were not. Sonorous | Italian comments are heard on all sides with here and there a crisp French phrase | or Spanish exciamation. The crowd, the church, the very street suggest the south ol Europe, and America glides away in the background. 1 struggle up the steps at last. The | crowd, as an average, has come to see the pink silk, not the ceremony, and declines | to move on for an inside view. Buiit| makes way for me as a person of religious | tendencie~; the doors close behind me— | ciose on the external sunshine and en- ergy. Before me lieth the stillness, the | semi-darkness, the solemnity of the Lal- 1an church Advent Surday. | A double impression comes with the first glance—of earnestness and garish- ness. But the earnestness is the stronger and dwarfs ibe crudity of the decorative art glaring on the walls—the earnestness | of souls in travail kneeling solemnly be- | fore an altar where the very essence of their religion is enshrined. The forty hours’ adoration of the ! ulessed sacrament has begun and knees | are bent, heads bowed, lips moved, in | contemplation of the church’s mys- teries. | e T I had come in merry mood to see a wed- ing, and behoid, I find myseif in the oly of holies. 5 On my soul also, the soul of a pagan and unwerthy, falls the spirit of the hour. d h { more tearful principles as were the American lines, the object kept constantly in view being to | open hastily a way by rail that dodged all topographical problems, leaving the shortening and question of security to the future. The first advantage of th policy is political. The two extremi of the vast Russian empire wili be thus | wwhich the dirt 1s beginning to fly. MODERN VLAD improve it at pleasure to render it more secure for the commerce which is certain to increase to great proportions. | One hundred thousand workmen are | now e be finished this winter, alang the Amoor, between Baikal Lake and Knabarovka. Except the mechanics—the forgers, brick- layers and carpenters—the mass of labor- ers are convicts, under military surveil- lance. The work was greatly facilitated this summer by the operation of a line of transporis on the Amoor and Chilka b-tween the temporary terminal of | extension irom the east, Khabarovka, and Strietensk, which enabied the engineers 10 distribute the working force and neces- sary materials on sections which are rap- | idly linking themselves togsther. Tue | latter point was also made the base of supplies for tne trans-Manchurian cut-of, | which has been fully surveyed, and on Dauring the year past the regular train | service hus been extended from the west end, Tcheliabinck, a: the foot of the Ural Mountains, to Irkutsk, in the heart of Siberia. i The most important city on this link is Krasnoilarsk, on the Yenisei River. Itisthe depot of a great mineral region, and since ' the railroad reached it, has attained an as- tonishing growth. Here an English com nas established a large mercant: house, which earries on its raffic with Great Briwain dur the summer months when the Yenisei is open to navigation to the open sea. As the road progresses, caravan routes are opened from it, more particularly to the southward, over a deal of Asiatic and European traffiz is finding its way already. In fact, some of these high- whicn | main line from the East. | or the purpose oi contending with v R 17,1 e IVOSTOK. its asperities, This work will require an outlav of about $60,000 a mile. while trains will ve Irkutsk on the Ancara across Baikal r i T [in the winter, owing to the rapidity of the by a subaqueous system of hot springs. while thie present route follows the river system far to the north and then due south again on its way to Valdivostok. Equi- distant between Strelinsk and Khaba- rovka is the new gold mining camp named | Blogovestchensk, at the mouth of the Zzia | River. This region is exceedingly rich in placers of the Klondike characteristics, which are mined in a similar manner. From Khabarovka the road runs due south 300 miles to Viadivostok along the Ousuri River, which is the eastern bound- ary of Manchuria. Here will beentailed | the greatest trouble and expense for re- pairs. All along its course this river re- ceives numerous destructive torrents and several large tributary streams, separated one from the other by ugly projections of the Sikbota-Aline Mountain range. No other part of the route has =0 many frail- | ties of structure improvised to avoid the costly piercing of the mountain elbows with tunnels Moreover, in this valley an extreme hu- midity reigns.’ An enormous guantity or rain fatls annually. Inundations are fre- quent and sudaen. As the grade haslong | reaches approximating the river bed it | will be many years before. this section is fortitied against washouts. The vegeta- | tion of the Ousuri, like its climate, is more | like that of China, to which it belongs | geozraphically. Here are immense for- | ests resembling those of Oregon and Puget Sound, and in them are found the panther and Chirese tlger, as well asthe marten Mean- | current for this distance and the fact that | and Siberian bear. The largest per cent of transported from | the temperature of the water is influenced | the population of the Ousuri couniry are | Russians, the last census showing 6500 ployed on the interior seciions, to | Lake to a feasible connection with the | The winter traveler through the ice-locked | aborizines, 13,000 Koreans, 8000 Chinese The monster { and snow-bound Siberia will be surprised | and 60,000 Russians. propeller ferries of 4000 tons displacement, | when he passes through this open stretcn 5 Crossing the Ousuri the road follows having a speed of fifteen or sixteen knots ' of river. While the water is not by any |for a short distance the river Lefau to k | ENOCH EMORY’S an hour, are to be the creation of Ameri- | means tepid its temperature is so much | can craftsmen. They will develop 3500 | horsepower anl carry twenty-five carsa trip. The distance of the ferriage is apbout forty miles, twenty-five of | which is frozen 1in the The ferries will be built especially this | FIRST MERCANTILE HOUSE higber than that of the ambient atmos phere that the vapor resulting produce: veritable fog all winter long. Between Strelinsk and Khabarovka a winter. | military citadel, and the residence of the | Governor, the rivers Chilba and Amoor afford navigation each year, from May to bound as firmly as if the road were of | rock ballast and stone culverts. The | route irom Europe to China will be es- tavlished, and Russia, master of it, may | | CONVICTS WORKING ON ways are already wded with commerce. It has been cecidel to coastruct at leisure the section around Buiikal Lake, between Irkutsk and Mysovsk, owing to 4 TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILROAD. obstac e. The remaining fifteen miles on the An- zara River, between Irkut<k and the mouth, present a phenomenal condition | September. The Trars-Manchurian cut® | off (intended to be the main line eventu- ally) starts from a point east of Strelinsk ana makes directly for the Ousuri River, AT NICKOLAEVSK. Lake Khanke, whence it passes into the valley of the Soiuffoun and on to Viadi- vostok, a distance of 85 miles. The in- undations of this little effluent of the | Japanese sea are even more severe and dangerous than those of the Ousuri. | Moreover, the roa¢ is very defectively con- structed, because of the fact that the survey was made harridly along glacial banks and slickens deposits kept con- stantly in motion by the rains and scor- ings of tbe river. About twelve miles from Vladivostok the road takes the | shoreline of St. Peters Bay and follows it to the seaport. Iu case of war the navy l of the enemy could at this point cut com- | muaication, a consideration that may cause the building farther to the east of a | secondary link with the main line. Many of the Ousuri sections cost about $65,000 a mile. Viadivostok, *‘Ruler of the East,” which has grown during the ‘two years past with the energy charactsristic of American cities in the West, was founded i 1861, at the extremity of a peninzula which divides into two parts the bay of Peter the Great. Beyond tbis peninsula is a group of islands. The strait separat- | ing the principal one, Kozakevitch, from the continent, is known as the Oriental | Bosphorus, and opposite this on the peninsula is Vladivostok, surrounded by hills. Here is expected to mature the Constantinople of the extreme orient, | Its climate, though it does not resemble | that of Marseilles, situated on the same | parallel, is milder than one would sup- pose. Germany is the country from which the largest percentage ot the imports are re- ceived. Seventy-three per cent of the commerce of the place is controlled by “mmgnm in the following order: Ger- mans 30, English 13, Japanese 13, Chinese Americans 5. The two houses are German and Russian. | Mr. Emory is really the only American | who has achieved commercial eminence | and power in Siberia, but his investments | and energies are concentratea in the in- terior, where the obportunities for Ameri- | can mercantile enterprise can be likened bost to those which were opened by the early Pacific railoads. CrLayTON PIERCE. principal There are 200,000 different species of in- sects know I creep stealthily 0 a side pew, close by | the small chapel of St. Joseph, and use my eyes respectfully, not to say medita- tively. Their first glance falls on a Crucifixion, signed Tojetti, 1897. The painter, I b - lieve, deserves the reverent criticism due to the prematurely dead. His work bas not vet acquired the mellowness wkich vears alone can give, but its most dis- tinctive feature is 1ts painful realism. Never was a more emaciated, ascetic Son of man depicted on the cross; never did a | Magdalen kneel in wila despair. 1Ii is surely Magdalen and not the Virgin Mary—witness her flowing, green-b ue draperies, which give a touch of coquetry even to her grief. Yet the bereaved ‘Mother of Sorrow’’ would be more in keeping with that appalling | vision of suffering hanging from the cross, | | | @i ton e My thoughts revert to the pink dress. How does it feel amid such surroundings? Surely none but Italians would come to wed in this church on this particular Sun- dav. 1spy the pink silk at last, surmounted by orange blossom and sedate among the kneelinz worshipers. In front, humbled before the altar, are 1wo girlish figures, closked in pale blue, white veils over their raven tresses, At first 1 taks them for briaesmaids, then, their attiiude being dist netly non- festive, I suppose them to be novices in some unknown order. Iam wrong. The | vlue cloaks and white veils only denote that their wearers are enrolled in a secular zuild under the special protection of the Virgin, and they ure taking their turn at the adoration which must last for foriy consecutive hours. Are those picturesque, girlish heads entirely busy with the vrayers of the dav? Have youthful fan- cies been 8o utter.y subdued that even the pink dress does not rustle enticingly be- hind them? The heads never turn, the bowed fizures never move, and at their back the littie wedding party sits as mo- tionless. . - . There is a stir about the altar; two choirbuys kneel reverently, an assistant priest lights some extra candles among the statuettes and artificial flowers. I zlance at the white silk and gold canopy standing at one side of the church and be- think me that its time for useisapproach- ing. Iam wrong again. There is no use for the canopy to-day. The candlesare lighted for the serviee—not for the cere- | mony—and atsight of an old surpliced priest the weading party rises quictly and passes up to the altar of St | Joseoh just in front of my pew. This is | convenient, but disappointing. I know what a side - chapel weading betokens, and I feel that either Advent Sunday or a limited purse has robbed the pink silk of iis appropriate surroundings. 1 should have liked to have seen that pink silk framed” by the white and gold canopy, with the two biue-robed worshipers kneel- ing like gusrdian angels. But evidently my tancy fliis 100 bhigh. The litt'e| pink vride 1s perfectly satisfi-d with her wedding mass, she stands, calm and | erec’, a coniented smile upon her cream- tintea face, and if any one is nervous in the matter it is the somewhat sqaat and shefiling bridegroom. He has not re- hearsed his role quite so often as his fu- ture mate, and ne is mortally afraid of doing something ridiculous; possibly he thinks he is doing something ridiculous. There are only iwo friends him throagh the ordeal, a very small best man, almost a boy, and a lady, who looks s apbarentiy re presenting the materna element. This young dame eviaently thoughta good splash of color was needed to enliven proceedings, for she has a cos- tume that equals anythine ever seen amid therainbow attire of the Neavolitan popu- Iace—a prune-colored skirt is surmounted by a bedice of various shades of gieen and yellow and my teeth go very much | on edge as 1 survey her poitly figure. Hove those pretty blue-cloaked wor- <hipers not noticed? Nay, even to this their eyes are sealed, droop, the motionless attitude of adora- tion continves, Never a glance do they apparently saint, who for some unknown rea:on is supposed to have special patronage of the matrimonial estate. His altar is not required for long to-day, a few, a very few, rapidly spoken words, a curtailed ceremony, a clatter of gold on the plate, & gift of a ring, and St. Joseph nas dore with them for the present, they vass into the vustry, where the law com- pletes the church’s work. But for those twain. whom Bt. Josept: and the priest have made one tune law has no power worth mentioning. They are indissolubly one bv the word of the churcb, and ail the divorce facilities in not enable them to break troth without also breaking wiih their church. Is the pink silk, whose wearer changed from maid to matron in these severe sur- roundings, likely to secede [rom a church where the worshipers of the Adoration were witnesses of plighted faith? to support | scarce a day older than the bride, but who | heads and eyes | direct to the altar of that| the wide world will | | It strikes me that that pink silk is facing married life more seriously than | some white robes. While the wedding party are in the | vesiry two other girl worshipers glide in | by a side door. they look in their rich red cloaks and white veils. Members of the guild of the Sacred Hear: these, hence the biood-sug- gesting tint of their garments. Though scarcely more than children they kneel with the grave devotion of their elders, and presently the blue girls, exchanging glances, rise simulianeously and glide | away by the side door. Their worship is i over for the time being, the Sacred Heart has come to revlace them and the perpet- ual forty hours’ adoration is insured. Presently past the red-cloaked meli- tants, Who never move a muscle, steps | the wedding party, radiant amid the still | solemnity. Even the bridegroom has for- | got his nervou-ness and walks with erect | head and flush of pride. The pink silk is his life-possession, to have and to hold, to love or 1o tyrannize at his pleasure—or is it at hers? ‘The wearer of the pink silk looks very quiet and amiable, but there is a spice of | determination on ber smiling lip, a gleam of eye. Piobably she has made up her mind | to manage the househeld, hold the purse, way. If she does not get it she will take it. But the bridegroom locks as if she would | getit. He has the laughing, boyish face of Northern Italy; he will enjoy being managed, eschew the passionate jealousy of the south and rejoice in having stum- bled on one of the faithful, helpmeets i which the Latin races so often produce. Little “Colieen Bawns" | und common-sense in her soft, black | mind her husband and have her own | 10150 450 To be sure, Italians bave more ways nl loving than one. I had to marry my | husband, thougn ha is much too old for | me and very cross,” once quotn a young | and handsome Neapolitan matron. Do ¥ou mean that your parents forced vou?” Iasked, rather scanda ©*Oh, noj; ne forced me by his great love. Do you see that?"” “That” was a great scar, marring the symmetry of one cheek. *‘He did that with a redhot poker.” she observed contentedly, ‘‘because, you see, he loved me so madly. Of course I had to marry him after that.” | My guiet young bridegroom with the | orange-buds in his buttonhole will not go in for hot pokers—he is well satisfied. As he leads the pink silk down the stons | steps amid audible comments ana places her in the hired carriage which represents careful savings, he glances first at her and then at the crowd with quiet confidence in the future. And she returns his smile in kind and then turns with a bright happy remark to the elder sister sitting opposite. Already they feel like Darby and Joan. And inside, beiore the altar, kneel ihe red-cloaked little- virgins, subporting, by prayerand meditation, the dignity of that church, which has just linked Darby and Joan for life. Where'er he awells, where’er he goes, His dangers «n 1 his toils I share ‘What need be said—she was not one Of the ill-fated “Bri tes of Q DE Bonenz. It is estimated that 000,000 is ine vested in the linen industry in Ireland, which gives employment to an army of skilled workers at its 850,000 spindles and 28,000 power looms,