The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 2, 1901, Page 8

AY the words “fraternity houses” and see everybody prick up his ears. It seems as If there was something magical in the words. In reality the magic lles in the boys. Where else do the boys get such a chance to show what charming hosts they can be? Certainly not in their own homes. They feel their responsibility, and go well have they risen to the occa- slons that they have gotten themselves strictly into the business of entertaining. The Zeta Psi boys have the proud di: tinetion of owning the oldest “frat" house In Berkeley. It has, stood the bangs and knocks of dozend of lively boys for twenty-six years and is still in fine condition. And, wonder of won- ders, they have kept the same Chinaman for fourteen years straight running! No * Il 0 \I\\l\l\\\\\\\\\\\\ bribes or envious matrons have been suf- ficlent to induce him to leave his boys. He knows the old members much better than do the boys who live in the house. It is easy for them to have a dinner. All they have to do is to remember one thing —to let that marvelous Chinaman into their confidence. Then he does the rest. He sees that the house is In perfect order, plans the menu and hires the necessary help, if any is needed. The boys dress in their best bib and tucker and come down- stairs at the proper time, without further bothering their heads. Ain't they\ to be envied? The dining room is furnished in natural redwood, walls, cellings, all. A shelf circles the room and it is covered with stelns. One of the boys sald: “We asked the alumni to send us a stein with FHT GAMNMA _being hasti DELTA —— ription on 1t, and this is the re- Apparently some of the alumni thought that the popular cafes in town should be represented, and they are. The boys are all right, though. The Delta Upsilons are distinguished in a way. They are the only boys in Berke- ley who have a matron. Their spacious rooms are all as neat as a pin, and there are flowers on the piano and table. The shake of the pillows would tell the tale if nothing else did. They have a number “of typlcal bed- rooms; not covered with all sorts of trash, but cozy, comfortable and pretty. One of those rooms that one can go into without a minute’s waraing and without the closet kicked shut. Yet they are emphatically boys' rooms. To the gas fix- ture in one swings and sways a little bag. Upon investigation it reveals all kinds of hidden treasures—buttons of all shapes, sizes and conditions, pins, needles and thread. That fellow doesn’t have to run about crying *“Button, button; who's got the button?” Their house-mother gives them confi- dence in one way, If in no other. In speak- ing of the houses in general and asking how much room would be devoted to them, one of the fellows laughingly sald, “And what Wil: you have on me?’ We had lemon ple. Nine out of ten houses would have made a quiet visit to the kitchen before asking such a rash ques- tion. The Phi Delta Theta boys are noted for their orderly house. After the fire they planned one large room, that would serve as a dancing hall, reception-room and, in fact, a place to be given over to thelr guests. To look at it now one would never dream that the house was run entirely by a lot of students. Everything is exactly so, and one could look for dust with a micro- scope and not have the labor rewarded. But there are other rooms in the house ‘where there are probably all kinds of pil- low fights, but those are the rooms that visitors are not Invited to inspect. At the present moment the boys are very much puffed up. What over? Only over Brigadier General Funston and his victory. They clalm him as their very own; and Conger and Harrison and a few others just like them. The newest “frat” house at California is the proud property of the Beta Theta Pi fellows. It's a swell looking house, all right. It 1s way up on the hill, almost across from the rock that the founders of the college made a famous landmark. The house itself is a thatched affair and is bullt In a very quaint style. The front and sides are covered with climbing roses, and there are any amount of them bloom- ing and nodding in their garden. For they really boast of one, but honestly say that it *“looks better about class day, as the fellows get busy and cut the grass for the occasion.” The crowning joy of the house is the dance hall. It takes up most of the first floor and s unfurnished save for a rug, & plano and a cozy fireplace corner. Over- looking the room is a tiny balcony, which serves as a beautiful place to tuck the chaperones away in. The dining-room is paneled off. It takes no time to lift the three pleces out of their grooves, and the refreshments are alluringly near, as weel as having such a splendid chance to show off the pretty room. A broad veranda offers the dancers @ breeze and a quiet chation the side. Perhaps the jolliest people at California are the Sigma Chis. Their house is down- right boyishly comfortable. Cozy couches and soft pillows and bookcases near enough to reach out and help yourself on & lazy day and all sorts of little things that make life worth living have they. The plano is covered with music of ail kinds, from opera to ragtime, and man- dolins and banjos are scattered here and there, just whers the musical fit left the player. The veranda, which runs half way round the house, s seldom without an oc- cupdnt, for it's shady and it's sunny and 1t's everything that's nice and a prime e — THE WORLD'S INHABITANTS THAT STILL USE POISONED ARROWS logical Survey, has been making & study of polsoned arrows. Among other things he says: "The Aines of Japan prepare a poison for spreading upon bamboo or metal ar- ToW points to kill game with, a small por- tion of flesh about the wound belng cut out before the animal is cooked and caten, In Java, Borneo, New Guinea and other islands the practice obtains to a considerable extent, “The poisoning of arrows prevalls ex- tensively In Africa, particularly on the West coast, in the Gaboon, among the Somalis and with the Bushmen. By the Bushmen the juice of a plant is used, mixed with thh pulp of a venomous worm, “The best known and most active of ar- FOW polsoning is the woorara or uralri of DR. ‘W, J, HOFFMAN, of the Geo- South America. It is chiefly nsed for the tips of darts blown from the blow gun, and the most important Ingredient is the juice of the plant from which strych- nine is obtained, to which are added cer- tain other vegetable elements and. ser- pent venom. In Central America poisons are also employed on arrows and blow gun darts. The Caribs employed similarly a polson' made from the sap of a tree called the mancen {lles. The antidote wus the application to the wound of what we call arrow root., “The Seris of Northwestern Mexico pre- pared a polson by putting into the ground & cow’s liver, rattlesnakes, scorpions, cen- tipedes and other unpleasant things, and beating them with a stick. Into the mix- ture the arrow polnts were dipped, and it would be difficult to imagine a much more polsonous concoction or compound. The Apaches and nelghbering tribes were until recently in the habit of smearing upon their arrows a composition sald to be composed of a decomposed deer’s liver and rattlesnake venom. In some Instan- ces crushed red ants are also reported to have been used. ; “A microscopic examination of such a coating upon arrows obtained from Apaches years ago showed the presence of blood and a crytalline substance that was apparently rattlesnake venom. It is a well established fact that the venom of serpents retains its poisonous broperties when dried indefinitelv, “The Shoshone and Bannock indians state that the proper way to polson ar- rows, as formerly practiced by them, is to secure a deer and cause it to be bitten by a rattlesnake, immediately after which the deer is killed, and the meat removed and placed in a hole In the ground. When the mass has become putrid the arrow points are dipped into it. The Clallams of Puget Sound used to make arrow points of copper, which were afterwards dipped In Sea water and permitted to corrode. This Wwas a dead-sure death dealer. “I have never met an Indian who would admit the use of poisoned arrows In wat- fare against man. They will say they use poisoned arrows to kill £ame, but not to shoot In warfare. In nearly al instar Wwhen poisons are prepared by Indfans the operation Is performed with more cr less ceremony, chanting and Incantation, for the purpese of evoking evil spirits or de- mons. In their bellef the effects of poisons are due wholly to the presence in them of malevolent spirits or demons, which enter the body of the victims and destroy life, 3 \