The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 6, 1898, Page 25

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 1898. -« 85 HE small girl of 5 promises to be a much-dressed young person this spring. She may be just a kinder- garten young lady, with big, won- dering eyes and a decided fond- for doll babies, but if she happens to have a fashionable mamma her wardrobe 1s quite as extensive and is given quite as much thought as her debutante sis- ter's. Of course she has half a dozen or so of > school frocks, fairly plain white and an every day coat. But her )e also contains a real Persias a bicycle suit made to order by k petticoats with frills in ty gowns fit for a real live £ and summer frocks for chil- a bit earlier than usu- shops are not only dis- 2 west fashions in light we cheviot school dresses, but organ- 1 -summer days and shirt v the baby the latest a tour of in do well to make t now, for though it may not be dressed r her to purchase the dain ch are now on sale she may n g wardrobe. ttiest of the new school dresses n bright plaids. and others are ma > of poplin. th fairly. smal are made up tle trimmin, worn with a hand, and the bi a 1§ frequentls of them k velvet wais ted ber ) inspiration and many useful | n them which shall be of practi- er in_maki her own little ome are in chev- | ATTOW TOW ; v bon. Plain cloth dr are trimmed lavishly with braid. Li gowns of blue or deep brown show collar, waistband of white eloth striped with narrow gold or silver bra For_very 1l giris the guimpe dress is still the | te. The daintiest guimpes have the made of fine tuc nd also groups e tiny tucks forming the cuffs. rgarten young lady who ing school there are ks which would make her down with joy, they are so ste for da blue 16 satin ribbons ar rdion-pleated chif frills ‘are each edged with n itline the low- st a su a guimpe or not etion of the small girl sses of nainsook and rn_over a and frequentl in_color is wo wear, vet they are pretty the most fashionable The gin in their pots. slightly tle frock de: elicate _green ttered with It has | om a walst- | full A SUNBONNET SHAPE ADVENTURES OF A WOMAN UNDERTAKER | joking, but as I was in earnest, I called E were talking about every- day topics when my happened to say she was in the undertaking busine: “Why, how in the world did vou have grit enough to take hold of such an occupation? Did it not seem horrible to you?” I asked. “Of course it did at first, but I made up my mind to grin and bear it, and I succeeded.” Mrs. Parks s one of those large, good natured women who seem to nerve and ambition to attempt hing. She has served a aining course In the strange sion. how did you conclude to be- undertaker?” I asked. by the merest chance;” she re- d upon a friend who was ready to go to the Golden rtaking Parlors to view the sister-in-law. I volunteer- » with her and dress the hair *ased. The offer was kindly accepted. As the body was not quite ready, the managerrequested us to wait for about fifteen minutes. Before many minutes passed he came in and asiced how the lady had worn her hair. I told him I had come for the purpose of dressing it. ‘Oh, have you? Then please step this way.’ he said. ““The manager assisted me, and as I ishment he com- plimented me on the way I had hand- led the head and advised me to learn the business.” “‘But from whom? I asked. ‘Oh, T'll teach you. Come in some time.’ “ ‘Al right,’ T replied. “I thought, however, he was only friend | 288ain. He seemed surprised to see me. ‘‘Did you really mean it? I thought you were only joking. Have you truly decided to learn?’ ‘“‘Why, of course,” I answered. you'll teach me.’” After Mrs. Parks learned how to lay out a body for burial, she entered a college of embalming, which met here last November. Prominent undertak- ers and doctors of the United States are e | at the head of this school, and come | here about once in every six or seven | years. Out of a class of thirty-two gradu- ates, three were women, namely, Mrs. Parks of San Francisco, Miss Wood of Oakland and Mrs. Ream of Sacra- mento. o “Did you ever attend an autopsy?” I asked her. “Oh, yes; and the first one I attended the doctors watched me for fear I would change color. But I had re- solved to be firm, and I kept up to the end, although several times I felt very uneasy. At the conclusion, one of the doctors congratulated me, and said he had fainted himself the first one he at- tended.” Mrs. Parks complained that the ma- | jority of undertakers are afratd to initiate a woman into the business, As one undertaker said to her: ‘“Why should we give you money that we can earn ourselves? As long as the public does not know that a lady can be em- ployed, why should we make them any the wiser?” —_———— In some weeks as many as 15,000,000 fowls reach London from poultry farms in France, Italy, Austria and Russia, the greater portion of which might eas- ily be bred in the United Kingdom, and at a profit = | walst has a rever on the right sid is edged with a frill of embroide: | The sleeve is unusually p: shoulder there is a small p fall two ruffles of embroide: one also forming part of the collar. At the wrist there is a band of insertion At the well over the little hand. 3 also be bought in white and yellow plaid | e e st > T e o in the Imported ginghams Roman stripes. es will be worn more than ev spring and summer by fashion i The prettiest are all m ull skirts, baby waists and big « which are trimmed with i ruffles of white em- broider st sleeves show a frill at the er, which appears to be tied = — — in the middle with satin ribbon, the rib- | bon being fastened at the top in a bo | Pique gowns made in this fashion are al- ways worn with a guimpe. The separate | pique skirts with reefer coats to match will be worn very much throughout the summer with shirt waists. One of the most fashionable of the spring jackets for a small girl is made of | tan-color covert cloth with small sleeves HE time s not far distant when the people of San Francisco will point with pride to feeble infants gaining vitality while living in glass houses. The French system | | ot prolonging feeble infant life | has reached New York. From New | | York to San Francisco is not far, and | | if New York babies prove that the in- | | cubator system is adapted to their | needs the infants of San Franeisco will not have long to walt to share similar benefits. Local interest in infant culture was | actively awakened in 1895, when Mrs. de Marville, nee Caduc, dying here, left a baby a few hours old. The baby was so weak that there was little hope that it would survive. Dr. de Marville | devised an incubator that worked well. | It consisted of a metallic pan set in a box and provided with heat by the| flowing of warm water through tubes | which lined the box. The box was set in a trunk, the lid of which was partly open. The temperature of the room in | which the trunk stood was kept uni- form and high. The baby thrived well, soon took food and now is strong and active. The subject of preserving infant life long ago engaged the attention of men | of science in France, where the popu- lation is diminishing, and the ablest minds in the country are occupied with the solution of scientific problems. Forty years ago Professor Denuce of Bordeaux constructed an incubator which achieved satisfactory results. This was improved in 1880 by Professor Ternier; in his machine the air was heated by blocks of granite. This in- cubator was presented to the Maternity Hospital at Paris, and has been pro- nounced a success. But seven successive exhibitions held at Lyons, Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Brussels, Geneva, Berlin, Innspruck and Nashville, have awarded the first prize for the most perfect incubator to the one which was invented in 1891 by Dr. Alexander Lion of Nice, and it is now being adopted in all maternity hospitals. A building has just been erected in West Eighteenth street, New York City, for its use, and the institu- tion has become one of the shows of the metropolitan city. ‘When a baby arrives at the Lion Institute in New York it is carefully examined by the physician in charge, | who deals with the little mites—some of them weighing as little as two pounds—as if they were preclous jew- els He first determines whether the infant is free from contagion. In some of the European institutes children tainted with inherited disease or pre- vailing epidemic are not admitted. If no malady betrays itself the child's name, age, length, weight, temperaturas and general condition are entered into the record book, and it is handed over to the chief nurse. She notes whether it belongs to the class of simply feeble or prematurely born infants, and assigns it to an in- cubator, which i3 in charge of an as- sistant nurse. Its clothing is removed, it is wrapped in a downy white gar- ment which affords free play for the limbs, and it is laid on a pillow in its hammock, in the glass case. Bach incubator is in charge of a trained nurse, garbed like a sister in gray. Adjoining the hall where the In- 4 oubators stand is a room, frogting the | be fed through the nose. RAISING WEAK BABIES IN GLASS INCUBATORS main entrance, which is known as the nursery.. Here, all day long, a train of nurses feed the babies with food spe- cially assigned to each by the institute physicians; some of them suffer from mouth trouble which requires them to But one sel- dom hears the complaint so often made in private nurseries that the food ‘“‘does not agree with baby.” Back of the | nursery stands the nurses’ dormitory. They keep watch and watch, so that | the number on duty all through night and day is about the same. So perfect is the system that the death rate among the infants is not now greater than that among the people at large— low as that is in New York. Hospitals like the Lion Institute in New York are, of course, not self-sup- porting, nor could they be here. A pit- tance is granted in New York by the municipal government, which is sup plemented by an annuity generously be- stowed by the rich. Parents who can afford to pay for the salvation of the -~ ‘s . ATURKISH BATH ROBE. lives of feeble children are expected to defray the expense of caring for them at the institute. But the great bulk of the children who occupy the Incubators are sprung from the poorest.class, and the cost of saving them devolves on the community. It gets its reward ‘in a diminished death rate and in the pre- servation of lives which may prove valuable. One-sixth of the deaths which occur in San Francisco are of children under one vear of age. The exact figures for | the last municipal year were: Total | deaths, 5966; under one year of age, | 997. Of these Infants 263 are reported to | have died of atrophy and inanition; | that is to say, they died because the | feeble vital spark was not nursed into | vigorous life by proper care in earliest iiniancyA It is not unfair to assume | that a considerable proportion might | have been saved by the incubator, be- | sides a percentage of the 734 other in- | fants whose death is ascribed to other | causes. In London the new improvement has | created & new industry. Portable in- | cubators are made of glass and metal, | which can be washed, disinfected and | carried in a vehicle to any point where they are required. From the depot where they are kept in stock an incu- bator may be dispatched to a house | where a feeble or premature child has just been born, and can be handled by any intelligent trained nurse. They | will only be needed for a few days; at | the end of two or three weeks the in- | fant will have acquired vitality enough to resist a breath of fresh air, and the incubator can be returned to the depot. e PESTS TO KILL PESTS. Some remarkable bugs are being hatched and reared at present by ex- perts of the Government Bureau of En- tomology at Washington. This kind of scientific work has a very useful pur- pose in view, notwithstanding the fact that the species selected for breeding are the most pestiferous that can be found. On the shelves and on the floor are glass jars and boxes, with glass sides, containing a great variety of plants, fruits, dried-up vegetables and pieces of branches or roots. The purpose for which injurious insects are bred in this hatchery is twofold. In the first place it is desired to study their history, be- cause knowledge on this subject yields pointers as to the best methods of at- tacking them. Particularly it is desir- able to discover what parasites prey upon them. The fact I3 that every spe- cies has its parasitic enemies, and one of the most effective’ methods for at- tacking a pestiferous bug is to identify and encourage the multiplication of its insect foes. One of the most remarkable insects bred in the insectary Is the ‘“shothole beetle.” It is so called because of queer little tunnels, resembling holes made by small shot, which it bores in wood. The ‘“sawdust” produced by boring is chewed to a pulp by the fe- male beetle and is put by her into mushroom beds. In due time the beds furnish mushrooms for her young. ‘When the parasite of an ihjurious in- sect is found it is coddled and petted. Efforts are made to encourage it to breed. Eventually it is let loose exper- imentally on an infested tree or other plant. Fierce beetles, which are to the insect world what beasts of prey are to the mammal kingdom, are propa- gated and placed where they will have a chance to tackle their victims. Fun- gus and bacterial diseases are commu- nicated to healthy bugs, in order that they may be let loose and disseminate artificial maladies among their kind. The Bureau of Entomology is breed- ing parasites of the cotton-boll weevil —the insect that is doing s0 much damage to cotton in the southwest. Other bugs under propagation are the borer that invades oak tree roots, the scale insect of the peach, the cottony maple scale and the creosote scale, This latter is found on the creosote FROM A REAL % SPRING FASHIONS FOR CHILDREN. # % % and a fly front. It is a tailor-made jack- et, but instead of showing the conven- tional strapped ~seams the seams are corded, and both the upper part of the sleeves and the yoke of the coat show rows of the same fine cording which has much the effect of groups of tiny tucks. Russian blouse coats for girls from 6 to 10 will also be worn for early spring days. The most fashionable show the blouse both in the k and front, and .are trimmed with either black braid or black | velvet ribbon. | When the hats and bonnets were de- | signed this year for the small girl of fashion simplicity apparently forgot- ten. The hats for baby girls are quite as elaborate as those worn by society young women. The fancy bonnets are dreams of loveli= ness. The daintiest, and incidentally the most expensive, are made of white silk batiste embroidered in some faint color. One of the latest novelties in these bon= nets_greatly resembles an old-fashioned sun-bonnet in shape. It iS made of white silk batiste, embroldered in scroll designs in pale blue silk. The bonnet i{s trimmed with bows of delicate blue ribbon, and wide ribbon strings tle in front beneath the baby chin. The inside ruche, which fits closely to the head, is caught here and there with sprays of artificial forget-me-nots. An- other new idea is the fancy bonnet of white lawn showing the body of the bon- net, made entirely of rows of insertion, alternating with embroidery beading run with narrow ribbons. ‘The prettiest of the new hats show a combination of coarse but silky straw and silk mull ruffles. The crown is gen- erally framed of the straw, and three or four tiny ruffles make the brim. These | littie hats are very becoming. Some- times they are trimmed with just a sin- | gle big bow of ribbon, and then again | the erown is encircled with flowers. For everyday wear the cloth hats, both in the Aipine and the Tam o' Shanter shapes, which are made with stitched brims, ‘are not only practical for young schoolgirls, but most fashionable as well. ‘They either have a full satin rosette as their trimming or a high quill or two caught at the sid; To complete 2 nable small | girl's wardrobe she must surely have a bathrobe made of either eiderdown or Turkish toweling, a mackintosh cut in the latest design, besides her bicycle suit. | The small boy these days has quite as | elaborate a wardrobe as his young sis- ter. His waists, with their big _sailor collars, rival her shirt waists in beauty and daintiness. When she wears her silk dancing gown he appears in a velvet | suit. He has vests trimmed with gold | braid and shields to wear with his sailor its, on which great big anchors are em- broidered. He has a baseball suit, = spring overcoat and hats, gloves, and neckties for every occasion, even if it happens to be only a few months 2g0 that he reached the dignity of trousers. e One of the best-known European trainers of horses, who was also the husband of that daring circus rider, Miss Ada Smith, has retired from pub- lic life because of the death of his wife. He lately disposed of all the horses | and properties of his great circus, with i the exception of eight magnificent { thoroughbreds, which would have sold for an enormous amount of money. These horses were so dear to Oscar Carre that he shot them all, so afraid was he that they might go down in the world and end their days‘between the shafts. e There will not be a total eclipse of the sun visible in Great Britain for about 500 years. PARIS MODEL MOST VALUABLE PLAT OF GROUND ON EARTH HE most valuable plat of ground in the world, at least the one that has commanded the highest price, is located at the corner of Broad and Wall streets, New York City, in the heart of the great finan- cial district. Several years ago Mr. Wilkes established a record for high- priced realty by paying $168,000 for 508 square feet of ground on this site, or $330 70 per square foot. The immensity of this rate of valu- ation can best be appreciated by meas- uring off a square foot of space and then comparing its dimensions with those of $330 in money. Such a com- parison will show that if Mr. Wilkes had paid for his property in $1 bills he would have been able to cover his en- tire lot with eighty-two layers of green- backs, or he could have paved it with four tiers of silver dollars placed edge to edge as closely as they would lie. Doubtless if the worthy Dutch burgh- ers of New Amsterdam could return to earth they would be astounded to learn the value of the land on which they pastured their cows 200 years ago. Though no other piece of ground has commanded an equal price per foot, there are several other plats in New York City which are quite equal to the ‘Wilkes property in value. For exam- ple, a considerable larger lot on the northwest corner of Nassau and Pine streets, one block above the Wilkes property, was sold last year for $250 per square foot, and the opposite cor- ner of the same streets, including 6043 shrub all through the southwest. The shrub itself is not of importance, but the substance of the scale formed by the insect makes an excellent commer- cial quality of shellac. The Japanese shellac is obtained from a similar bug. feet, was bought by the Hanover Na- tional Bank for $1,350,000. The lot on thecornerof Broadway and Maidenlane, and the site of the Commercial Cable Company’s building in Broad street, are also properties that could be covered fitty feet deep with dollar bills out of their purchase price. Probably the largest amount ever | paid for the site of ‘a single building | was that given by the Broadway Real- | ty Company for the lot on which the | Bowling Green building has been erect- | ed. This sky-scraper, which is the larg- | est in the city, extends from Broadway ‘through to Greenwich street, and cov- | ers 29,152 feet of ground, for which $3,- 000,000 was paid. This is $10290 per | foot, and, though the price per foot is less than has been palid for several oth- er plcts, the total represents an enor- mous sum to pay merely for the ground on which to erect one building. One peculiar effect in real estate val- ues that has followed the sky-scraper era is the extraordinary price which has been put upon sites that are suit- able for very high buildings, spots with open surrcundings, on which other lofty structures are not likely to be built, are, of course, the most de- sirable for this purpose, and such places are few in the city of New York. The result is that many buildings which are already very profitable are being torn down to make room for the erec- tion of sky-scrapers. It is now said that the famous old Astor .House, which is still a paying and prosperous hotel, will soon be torn down and replaced by a twenty-five- story office building. This site faces the churchyard of old St. Paul's on one side and the open space about the Federal building on another, sc that it is an exceptionally advantageous loca- tion for a tall building. Of course there are many big real es- tate tranmsactions in which the actual prices paid do not appear, but it is not likely that there have been any in which the figures have surpassed those i quoted above., :