The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 19, 1902, Page 22

w [ THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 190z AMERICAN INCAPACIOUS, SAYS SANDERSON. By BLANCHE PARTINGTON. INTELLECT ID not & characteristic modesty | forbid, I could, and I would, ad- vance a valid claim to a humble share in the sudden and start-| ling critical eminence recentiy attained by San Francisco. Sybil San- derson has been ving things" about us in London, to The Call correspondent who | interviewed the singer about her Ameri- n tour. Mme. Sanderson reports herself | as highly pleased with the tour as a| whole, but has decided among other things that the American intellect.is as | vet insufficiently capacious to take in the | vast significances of Massenet's “Manon.” | the opera that had the homor to be bullt } around the varied charms of the fair Californian. But it is not the collective American opinion that seems to count with the singer in this or any other re- | gerd, and here is where we come in. It is the opinion of San Francisco, the Ish- mael among cities, the heretofore despised | and rejected of the criticized, that alone | appears to have achieved the dignity of | attention or comment from Mme. Sander- | son. Jt matters not at all that James | Huneker, possibly the most distinguished | musical critic in America, should say in the Musical Courier of January 1, in speaking of her performance of Juliet at the Metropolitan Opera-house: “She is a | charming woman of the Phryne, Thais, Esclarmonde type, not the type of Juliet, | though her singing days are over. Of that | sad fact there can be little doubt.” But when the same criticism is made in San Francisco it bounds at once into the place of consideration, and compels the singer | to reprisal even from far London town. We are certainly arriving. As with its two airs, finicky fineness, bodiless score and cheap, libidinous atmosphere, we are in neither musical nor moral danger in being unable to appreciate its peculiarly Gallic excel- lencies, and can plead guilty to not liking it with light heart. I do not remember that Mme. Sanderson was accused here | of being “too Frenchy” in the role of | Manon, though possibly the respected | critic of the Milpitas “Bran Mash” came | up on the milk train that night and was | startled into some such absurdity of ex- | pression. But we do not count him in| here, and should hardly be held accounta- | ble for his sins. As to the “Home, Sweet ; Home” incident—The Call correspondent | stating that Mme. Sanderson was re- | quested by some local jester to sing the | said song during the progress of the opera | —a la Melba—it can only be said that the | singer was wise in refusing to win a pass- ing appreciation from “some of the audi- | ence” by bringing the quaint old melody | into so unworthy company. Mme. Sanderson further flatteringly complains of the suddenly important critics of San Francisco that they said she was nervous on her first appearance. And she wasn't. So there! I have yet to learn that nervousness is a crime, and should fancy that a singer would better like to be called nervous than incompetent, when @ i e e @ PERSONAL MENTION. E. Cudiher, Sheriff of Seattle, is at the Russ. P. Handy, a merchant of Ukiah, is a | guest at the Russ. | C. Tinkham, a lumber dealer of Red Bluff, is at the Grand. W. T. Leake of Ontario is among the arrivais at the California. Warrell, a rancher of Bouldin Isl- a guest at the Russ. A. A. Boak, an insurance man of Van- couver, B. C.,, is at the Grand. Judge George B. Graham of Fresno reg- at the Grand yesterday. Jarnatt, a fruit grower of Co- a guest at the Occidental. i L. Elkins, a young capitalist of Phil- is a guest at the Palace. 114 a lumber dealer of Yreka, | zogno's address, but am sure that letters | addressed to Signor Sonzogno, music pub- + . it is a choice between the two. Buf tastes Qifter. The truth is, as Mr. Huneker puts it, that Mme. Sanderson’s singing days are over, unless by some altogether to be wished for miracle -she should re- cover her volce. It is a tragedy of the saddest, it is true, and the path of the rifst is strewn with such. But art is pitiless, forgetful of former victory and blind to the bleeding feet that fail to-day to reach her shining summits. She knows only the bloom and fruitage of her vants’ tears; so only may she preserve her integrity, and the artist is but food for her infinite passion for perfection. Mme. Sanderson could sing once, for there is still strong evidence of her former power to please, though the voice has never been a great one. Of its preseut lack enough has been said, but everything else the singer has in lavish measure—as hes also been said before. She has im- mense chic, style, presence and physical beauty. She is spirituelle, intelligent and 1s an actress of charm, temperament and distinction. But all these things do not make a grand opera singer, where the sine qua non is a voice, and I contend that San Francisco was well within its rights in so saying. . . It seems that there is more than one ambitious composer anxious to win fame for California in the international compe- tition for the best one-act opera, in which Signor Sonzogno of Rome offers $1000 as a prize. For the iaformation of those in- quiring I would say that 1 am unable to find the street and number of Signor Son- find him. Al s The return of Miss Frances Graham, the statuesque and sweet-voiced contralto, to the Tivoli for the forthcoming comic opera season will be welcome news to her many admirers. In consequence of the illness of Anna Lichter the intended open- ing opera, ““The Ameer,” has had to be deferred until next Monday evening. “The Toy Maker” has been substituted, for this week only. . lisher, Rome, would . . Chance devised a more effective adver- tisement for Mme. Nordica’s present tour than any so far conceived in the fertile brain of her press ents in the railroad accident that she met with the other day. The accident happily had no further effect than that of drawing attention to the prima donna’s concert tour, and in response to numerous inquiries I am enabled to say that she has quite recov- ered from her slight shock and has kept every engagement sincé the occurrence. . e The Rosenbecker orchestra, that is also under the management of Messrs. Bou- vier and Greenbaum, will give at their concerts the Scotch symphony of Men- delssohn, Tschaikowsky's ‘Pathetique,” Beethoven's “Pastoral” symphony and the Raff “Leonore.” A CHANCE TO SMILE. Harry one day climbed up in a parlor chair in order to reach something he wanted. “Don’t get up in that chair ‘with your feet, Harry,” exclaimed his mother. “I just have to, mamma,” replied the little fellow. “I can't take my feet off.”— Chicago Journal. “Do you think that money is getiing the upper hand of politics?” “No,” sald Senator Sorghum. “I don’t think it is getting the upper hand. I think that people are merely beginning to realize what an important part it pla ‘Washington Star. “Those Gumleigh girls,” said Miss Maud, “put on such youthful airs, and they are as the hills.”” r arrivals at the Grand. Campbell and George Hunter of | both cattlemen, are at the Russ. | F. George, a Sacramento attorney, Grand, accompanied by his wife. | e B. Douglas, a capitalist of Ceder | Rapids, Iowa, is touring the coast. He is | at present at the Palace. —— | Californians in New York. ! NEW YORK, Jan. 18—The following | Californians are in New York: From San | Francisco—G. Blankenship, Mrs. G. W. | Stewart, at Navarre; W. M. Bramhall, at | Astor; J. J. Callundan. F. H. Callundan, at Imperial: W. Dowell, at Grand: F. Bernstein, at Victoria; F. G. Gould, at| Muray Hill; C. L Leman, at Herald | Square; T. L. Miller, at Ashland. 1 From Los Angeles—C. H. Baker, at Hoffman; L. Chamberlin, at Savoy. | F: San Jose—J. Nathan, at Cadillac. Fr Santa Barbara—Mrs. Spaulding, at Plaza | Californians at Washington. | WASHINGTON, Jan. 15.—The following Californians have arrived at the hotels: Shoreham, Robert Conrad and wife; New Willard, J. de W. Allen, M. A. Gunst; :\;a(wna], J. V. Young, all of San Fran-| cisco. | Trying to cut your own halr is shear | nonsense. POSTUM CEREAL. BLACK AND RICH Is the Way Postum Coffee Should Be. A liquid food that will help a person break a bad habit is worth knowing of. The president of one of the State assocla- | t of the W. C. T. U., who naturally does not want her name given, writes “Whenever I was obliged as follows: 10 go without coffee for breakfast a dull, | distracting headache would come on be- 1 discovered that, in reality, the nerves were crying out for their ac- customed stimulant, fore noon At evening dinner 1 had been taught Ly experience that I must refrain from coffee pass a sleepless night. In the summer of 150, while visiting a physi- clan and his wife, I was served with a most excellent coffee at their dainty and ant teble, and, upon inguiry, discov- this charming beverage was Postum ¥ood Coffee, and that the family had been greatly benefited by, leaving off flee and using Postum. in love with it, and so pleased glimpse of freedom from my one e of habit and so thoroughly con- at 1 ought to break with my at upon my return home I at more 1 do i . sow, and my nerves are steady and I sleep sound generally eight hours regu- larly. 1 used to become bilious frequert- ly and require physic, now seldom ever kave that experfence. 1 bave learned that long boiling is ab- | solutely, essential to furnish good Postum. That makes it clear, black and rich as any Mocha and Java blend. Please with- * replied Miss Mabel, looking at | them critically, “I wouldn’t quite say | that, but they are certainly as old as the mound builders,”—Chicago Tribune. “We shall need,” sald the officer who was arranging for the Government expe- dition, “food supplies for six men and a boy.” ‘Supplies for eight me! retary, jotting it down. Chicago Tribune, said the sec- “What else?'— “When yoh sees a real mean man,” sald Uncle Eben, “it may be dat you orter feel kin' o'sorry fur ’im ’stid o' blamin’ ’im. Maybe he wouldn’ be so mean ef he warn’ too weak an’ skeery foh a out-an’-out fight."—Washington Star. “Mercy! There is somebody peeking in the window!” “Don’t worry. It is only that poor M. Santos-Dumont. He has caught his bal- loon on the window sill.”"—Cleveland Plain Dealer. Managing Editor—Why did you throw that visitor down gtairs? Answers-To-Inquiries Editor—He came up here and asked me if duck pants were made of feathers.—Baltimore American. “Miss Bliggins laughed at me when I proposed to her,” said Willle Wishington. “And yet,”” commented Miss Cayenne, “people say that women have no true sense of humor.”—Washington Star. He (boldly)—Do you think two can live as cheaply as one? She (blushing)—Yes; I do. “Let’s not become one, then.”—Yonkers Statesman. “Been fishing on Sunday, have you?” “Nothing of the kind, sir! I set the lines | on Saturday night and took these fish off | on Monday morning.”"—Chicago Tribune. | “Bernhardt is a powerful actress.” “Powerful! Why, she makes her own | hair stand on end.”—Chicago Record. Wonderful Stone Bridge. At Rockville, a few miles from Harris- | burg, the capital of Pennsylvania, can be seen a stone bridge that is five times | longer than any other stone bridge in the | world. It has just been erected by the | Pennsylvania Rallroad Company, to re- place an iron bridge of two tracks. The new bridge contains four tracks and per- mits two passenger and two freight trains | to pass each other at the same time on the bridge.* This cannot be done on any other bridge in the world. One end of this | bridge rests in Dauphin County and the | other end in Perry County. The Susque- { hanna River flows under it all of the | time, and in stormy weather the muddy !walers of the Juniata often find their way there also. There are forty-eight piers and forty-eight arches. bridge is fifty feet wide and is made of a light colored stone, brought from Cambria | County. Fifteen quarries were kept busy | ll of the time getting the stone out ana shipping it; there are 1,000,000 cubic yards of square stone infithe bridge, and it cost $1,000,000. Three hundred men worked on it constantly from April 1, 1900, until the present time, when it is practically com- pleted, with the exception of the laying hold my name, but you may use the let- ter for the good it may do.” of the tracks, which will not be done un- 1l pext soring J THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, JOHN D, SPRECKELS, Proprietor. PGS Address Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager SUNDAY ....... oo SR 2L o A T R 8 R SR e SR e AU SR Y i1g 1908 Publication Office .... Market and Third, S. F. THE PANAMA CANAL. ORE than a year ago The Call predicted that the Panama canal would come to the front, offering to the promoters of an isthmian canal a plain way out of the com- plications which were due to the inventive genius of the opponcnts of any canal. The Nicaragua route has offered a splendid opportunity for opposition to ambush behind everything, from pelf to patriotism. It traverses the two independent sovereignties of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and was complicated further by our treaty relations with Great Britain. As it used Lake Nicaragua for a considerable distance, there arose also the issue of treating its extensive shores as the bank of the canal, and altogether the complex questions presented were just to the hand of men who desired to defeat the project by pretending great solicitude about the large number of collateral matters. ¥ The franchises, concessions, control and all ofher issues pertaining to the Panama route are adjusted. Every question pertaining to it is settled. Every right is in assignable form. The engineering problems are all solved and the most difficult part of the work is finished. Only the single sovereignty of Colombia has to be dealt with, and there are no treaty complications with any other foreign power. The machinery for the work of construction is on the ground. There is a perfect equipment of hospitals, machine shops. officers’ buildings and everything needed, in readiness to go on with the work. If our Government acquire all this we will get a canal many years sooner than would be possible by the Nicaragua route. i 2 Another consideration of prime importance is the fact that if, we take the canal at the price offered by <he French company, it carries with it 68,000 out of the 70,000 shares of the Panama Railroad, and the control of that most important means of transportation and defense. The rail- road almost parallels the canal, and its use in the further work of construction is of the greatest economical value. It will be also an important factor in the defense of the work when finished. We are all aware of the importance of operating a telegraph line alongside of a railroad. The con- “ tiguity of a railroad and the isthmian canal is of more importance. This Panama project was cher- ished by General Simon Bolivar and by his successor, President Santander. A report made to Congress in 1836 cn the subject says that the Panama route is preferable on account of its shortness. Lloyd’s report to the Royal Society in 1831 says: “The great chain of mountains is broken at the spot where the continent of America is reduced to its narrowest limits, between Chagres on the A‘lantic side and Chorrea on the Pacific side.” Radcliffe in his exhaustive report caid the Chagres River is navigable at all seasons to a point forty miles from its mouth, to the town of Cruces, or within fifteen miles of the Pacific coast. It is interesting to read in the report to Congress in 1839 this statement: “We may daily expect to hear of this enterprise (the Panama canal) being undertaken by private enter- prise, in which case the grander cosmopolitan project of a ship communication would be super- seded and indefinitely postponed, and special privileges secured to some minor private interests, for doubtless half a century, hostile to the interest of the world at large. The duty is peculiarly incumbent on the United States to take the initiative in this work. Our position as the first of the American republics and the principal national interest and power in the Western Hemisphere —our own experience of the results of the stimulus and development of national resources by the creation of similar facilities of national intercourse (referring to the Erie canal) seem to point peculiarly to the United States as equally entitled to the glory of the undertaking and respon- “sible to the world for its accomplishment. We are already in possession of a sufficient basis of facts to justify an initiatory proceeding, and we trust that the next Congress will not adjourn without providing a liberal appropriation for the purpose. It would be enthusiastically sus- tained by public opinion, and would reflect unfading honor on the administration under whose auspices so grand and glorious an undertaking should be commenced.” That was sixty-three yeats ago. Martin Van Buren, descendant of the Hollanders, was President. Now that the project is about:to be wundertaken and finished. Theodore Roosevelt, descendant of the Hollanders, is President. Let the poets deal with the romance of it, that Hol- land, the land of canals and dykes, should send her impulse through the ancient settlers of New Amsterdam, to the digging of the greatest canal the world will see constructed. a GIRLLESS TELEPHONING. IRELESS telegraphy has been virtually attained and now we are promised, where the system is not too extensive, a practical means of telephoning without the use of girls at the central station to make the switches. According to the Boston Globe the new system has achieved its greatest success in operation at Fall River, and the test there is said to have proven to the world that it is practicable even when the service is of no small limitation. In giving an account of the Fall River experiments the Globe says: “‘Briefly, the working of the automatic system is as follows: A metal dial is affixed to the telephone box. Then little holes are cut in this dial. The holes are numbered 0 to 9. With the receiver off the hook one puts one’s finger into a hole. The dial is jerked around until it catches. The dial swings on a pivot and moves back into its place automatically. Thus, for the number 1742 one inserts one’s finger into No. 1 hole, and for the other numbers twists the dial. As the disk comes back to its starting point, one pressés a button just below. This rings the bell'at the other,end, and the connection is made. If the other end is busy a buzzing sound announces the fact.” : While the report of the operation of the system is encouraging, there is no reason to believe it can be made available in large cities for a long time to come. Mr. Mansen, manager of the New England Telephone Company, is reported to have said that the complication of the new machinery in a large central office would be so great as to render it impossible to suit sub- scribers. He stated further that in its present form the new system is not so economical as the old. It is true it enables the telephone companies to dispense with the use 6f girls in the central office, and thus effects a saving, but in place of the girls there is required the employment of a number of highly skilled electricians to keep the mechanism in working order, and their salaries more than counterbalance the saving effected by the discharge of the girls. While these objections to the new system are valid at the: present time, their force will diminish with each succeeding improvement in the switching apparatus. The Globe estimates it will take ten years for the system to be carried to a degree of perfection that will make its operation practicable in large cities. For about that length of time, then, the “hello girl” may be sure of her position. After that she must marry or hunt a new job. % JUST GOVERNMENT. HE American people receive with great satisfaction the act of our Government in restor- ing to China the money taken by our marines from the salt yamen at Tientsin. This, in connection with the prospect that our Government will return to China $18,000,000 of the $25,000,000 indemnity allotted to us on account of the Boxer out- break, makes an American feel proud of his Government as standing for honesty and justice in the world. We could keep the salt money and all of the indemnity in spite of China. That country is incapable of forcing us to restore either. But we propose to take and hold nothing because wé are strong enough. We restore and do justice because we are stronger than armies and navies can make us, in the sense of right, and the desire to be an example to the world in dealing with the weak and defenseless. : The4mpression will not be lost upon China. The act advances us far more than victories in battle. This nation is exalted by righteousness, and others will envy and endeavor to reach the high mark which it sets. This restoration proves that we went to China with our land and sea forces only to do what we said we would do, and not to gain a foothold for aggression, nor to effect territorial designs. We treat China as a Government of human beings, with the same motives and feelings as are com- mon to all mankind, and we have perfect faith that-this treatment will bear future fruit of good report in the advancement of that empire. . Tt is useless to say that we are rich and can afford the luxury of justice. National need is no excuse for theft, injustice aqd oppression, and the truest riches isa wealth of equity. American women are reported to have spent in Paris last year more than $300,000 for corsets alone; and it is to be hoped the figures they acquired were equally handsome and attractive, ; -~ — s 3 " ELOCUTION TO BE GIVEN \) TELEPHONE GIRLS. By GQUISARD. e LESSONS 7 EO HE lineis bisick alla gen.” It is unlikely that the ear of the lucky subscriber of the Indianapolis Telephone Company Wwill long be affronted by such haplessly fami- lar jargon as the above. This superhu- manly considerate corporation has ar- ranged to give lessons in elocution at its own expense to its operators, particular- 1y to those concerned in the long distance service. The officials of the company, with a brilllant disregard of corporate conventions, acknowledge that clear speech on the part of their operators is a right of their subscribers, and have taken this very practical method of in- suring it. It now only remains for them, to carry out the good work to its logical conclusion, to set the wordwrights to hammering the tongues of their subserib- ers into intelligibility, and when that is done we can give them a life job here. But it is a curious commentary on the national school system that one of the first essentials to gentle living, clear and musical speech, the right use of the voice, is all but entirely neglected in its curri- culum. Here are young women, presum- ably all with a good common school edu- cation, unable to use their own tongue with sufficient clearness to be understood at the other end of a telephone wire. They have, in very truth, to be taught how to speak, and all honor to the corpo- ration that has grasped the situation so effectively. One wonders if the sweet reasonableness of Indianapolis will stop here. Or if the leaven will penetrate the theatrical lump and persuade the Indianapolis managerial oracles that their subscribers also have a right to hear that which they have paid to hear. 'Tis a sweet, too sweet, dream, alas! . Speaking of voices, one may go far be- fore finding so pleasant a voice as that of Louls James—clear, round and well-modu- lated. He reads with distinction, also, and is always easily audible. Henry Aus- tin Clapp has an amusing anecdote of Mr. James in the November Atlantic Monthly, by the way, concerning his im- personation of Cardinal Wolsey, that we have been privileged to see at the Colum- bia Theater this week. Says Mr. Clapp: “Another case of professional misfit (he had been speaking of Beerbohm Tree's inefficient Falstaff) which worked less serlous results, and, indeed, made a re- markable display of ingenuity, appeared during Miss Genevieve Ward's last en- gagement In Boston. The play was ‘Hen- ry VIII,' Miss Ward impersonating Queen Katherine. Mr. Louis James, her lead- ing man, was cast for Cardinal Wolsey. The Cardinal’s part is long and hard to learn and very likely was new to Mr. James, whose position was onerous. He got through the evening without incurring or causing disaster. He hit his cues with necessary precision, and it is also true that he performed the astounding feat 8¢ presenting Wolsey's words in an original paraphrase ex tempore. Of the Cardinal's lines not so many as one in three were exactly reproduced, even the most familiar sustaining some twist or variation. Sometimes the origi- nal text was entirely suppressed. But Mr. James' speech did not halt, and his mind demonstrated extreme address, furnishing his tongue with phrases that carried a considerable por- tion of the dramatist'. meaning, and even fell decently in line with the rhythmic scheme of the verse. Willlam Shake- speare, or John Fletcher, or whoever Is responsible for Wolsey’s share of the dia- logue, would have been tickled by the actor’s performance, which was in the line of ‘descant’ that Elizabethan gen- tlemen were expected to be able to supply with the voice, upon any melody, at short notice.” Both Mr. James' Macbeth and his Wol- sey of to-day bear witness that he has not yet lost his improvisatore faculty. * e . Shakespearé gives way at the Colum- bla this week to light opera, “The Prin- cess Chic,” with a former Oakland song stress, Maud Lillian Berri, in the name role. The company is sent out by Kirka La Shelle, whose production of “The Ameer,” with Frank Daniels at its head is remembered as a bright spot in loc; comic opera annals. Mrs. Berri first e: sayed her present role—in Marguerite Syl- va’s place—just a week ago In Denver, with immediate success, according to an Associated Press dispatch. She will be well supported, according to her press agent. E R There will be more Shakespears this week, despite the Columbia’s fall from the “legitimate.” . Frederick Warde comes to the California with “Julius Caesar™ and “King Lear,” not to speak of *“Vir- ginlus” and “The Mountebank.” Mr. ‘Warde’s engagement begins to-night, with “Jullus Caesar,” also to be given to-mor- row and Tuesday evenings. “King Lear” will be presented on Saturday night. s e e An interesting actor, Edwin Arden, will begin a starring engagement at the Grand Opera-house this week in the Alexander Salvini version of “Don Caesar de Ba- zan.” Mr. Arden has been under the Frohman directiory for some years, play- ing last season_with Maude Adams in “L’Alglon” as Prince Metternich; with Julia Arthur in “A Lady of Quality,” and in other popular successes. He has writ- ten as well as acted plays, and a product of his pen, “Zorah,” will be seen during the actor’s present engagement. @ ittt il @ SAVING A HERO. The following happened in Georgia In the peace which followed the terrible war, says the Columbus State. It illustrates the love that so many of the old slaves had for their masters and how that love was shown: ° A negro man, strong and healthy, but getting gray from years, was on trial in one of the county Superfor Courts for murder. He had killed another negro and had been lying in jail for some time, awaiting his trial. The testimony against him was given by other negroes who wit- nessed the killing. When the case was called for trial by the presiding Judge an old man rose and in a voice deep and low, but full of marked gentleness, said: “Will your Honor please mark me for the de- fense?”’ It was General Robert Toombs of Geor- gla. His face was wrinkled some with age, but it was large and strong, and the lines of intellect made deeper wrinkles than those of age. His hair was white, but it rolled back in baby curls from the most splendid brow that ever graced a man. His form was tall and straight and full sized, though his movements wese slow with the years. His eyes still flashed as when he stood in the Senate chamber at Washington. The case was tried. The witnesses all seemed unfriendly toward the prisoner. In his own statement he claimed that the killing was in self-defense. General Toombs addressed the court and jury at the last, and after fully discussing the testimony of the eye-witnesses he con- cluded thus: } “Your Honor, please, and gentlemen of the jury: A few years ago my only brother fell wounded on the battlefleld of Gettysburg. He lay there bleeding to death, with no friendly hand to help him. Shot and shell, the flerce, flery stream of death were sweeping the earth about him. | No friend could go to him, no surgeon | dared approach him. The singing of bul- lets and the wild music of the shells was to be his only requiem. My brother had a body servant, a negro man, who waited on him in camp. The negro saw his mas- ter’s danger and straight out into the sheet of battle and flame and death he went. A cannon shot tore the flesh from his breast, but on he went, and, DIMENSIONS OF HEAVEN Taking a verse from Revelation as the basis of computation some Industrious and probably uneasy fellow has again been figuring on the dimensions of heaven. The text is in verse 15, chapter 21, and reads as follows: “And he measured the city with the reed, 12,000 furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal” He concludes that this Tépresents a space of 469,783,088,000,000,000,~ 000 cubic feet. The enterprising statis- ticlan sets aside one half of this space for the throne and the court of heaven, and one-half of the balance for streets. which would leave a remainder of 124,198, 212,000,000,000,000 cubic feet. He then pro- ceeds to divide this by 409, the number of cubical feet in a room sixteen feet square, and this process gives him 30,- 821,843,750,000,000 rooms of the size Indi- cated. He then proceeds upon the hypoth- esls that the world now contains, always has contained, and will always contain, 990,000,000 inhabitants, and that a genera- tion lasts for thirty-three and one-third years, which gives a total number of in- habitants every century of 2,297,000,000. He assumes -that the world will stand 1000 centurles or 100,000 years, which ‘would sive a total of 3,970,000,000,000 inhabitants for this period of time. He then reaches the reassuring conclusion that {f one hun- dred worlds of the same size and dura- tion, and containing the same number of inhabitants, should redeem all the inhab- itants there would be more than one hundred rooms of the size indjcated for each person. Men have not thought so much about the size of heaven. They have probably always felt that thers would be ample room for those who would be able to get there. If a lack of room were possible, in the divine order of things, it would probably be at the other place, judging from the pronouncements that are made from time to time. Room has never been a matter of serious con- sideration with men who have paused long enough in the whirl of events to meditate on the blessings which are to follow a lite of righteousness. The main question, and the one in which all men are most con- cerned, is the simple question of thg shortest, best and safest way. Put in different language, they want to know how to get there, and if the studious statisticlan will figure out some plan that gathering my brother in his arms, the blood of the man mingling with the blood of the mas- ter, bore him to safety and life. Jim, open your collar!” And the jury saw on Jim's breast long, jagged scars where the shell had ripped for my brother has a soul too te to have killed a man except in defense of his own life.” Jim was cleared. Peculiar Fate of Trees. Spontaneous combustion is a mysterious thing at all times, but as long as it con- fines its attention to inanimate objects there is nothing very uncanny about it. But when trees become subject to it there is no telling where it will stop. . The banks of the River Cam, in Cam- bridgeshire, England, have recently ex- hibited an unusual number of such cases, and young growing willows have been the victims in nearly every case. Cambridge used to pride itself upon its beautiful wil- lows, and it was therefore with sorrow that the people discovered one morning the charred remains of what had once been a really beautiful speclmen of the willow tree. SR The tate of the naturally attracted attention to the prenomenon, and there- after but too much opportunity was af- forded for the study of it. At one point in the river in particular the process was seen. Gfi:m"f:““::"red with rich asses of suddenly burst Tnto-conflagration and burned 1o p very cores. Fine willows in full ured’ forth clouds of smoke from thetr alf burned stems. - An examination of the cl remains of the trees revealed nothing in the wa. as the trees whic! den ends is not sl formation of mb&thm ves. may have i something to do Will meet with general satistaction along this line he will probably smooth out the furrows which now mark the faces of uneasy sinners, A Novel Fire Escape. Should Jorgen M an letter carrier, not save the lives Mm many people in the future it will be na fault of his. He has patented a fire-es- cape that promises to minimize to a marked degree the risk that one takes in occ a room in a hotel or office building that has no exit except to jump in case the passage below is obstructed with flames. His device is a simple thing, yet appears to be effectual. It consists of a box- shaped affair that contains steel tapes, which have hooks fastened to the upper ends, go they can be attached to the win- dow sill or anything in a room. Below the box containing the steel tapes are two handles, which a person grasps, and still further below is a leather belt that passes around underneath the individual and in which_ he can sit. By pressing the han- dles the speed of the machine can be gov- erned or can be entirely stopped. As the machine descends the steel tapes unwind from the box until the ground is reached, when they wihd up again by the assistance of two springs carrled in the coll box. The total weight of the escape will not be over six pounds, and the in- ventor expects to have them made much lighter. S———————— Ex. strong hoarhound candy. Townsend’s.* ———— Cal. Glace Fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend's.* A R Townsend's California glace fruits, 50c a pound, in fire-etched boxes or Jap. bas- kets. A nice present for Eastern friends. 639 Market st., Palace Hotel building. * —_—— Two men never come to blows unless they are angry and foolish at the same time. —_——— Special information supplied daily to m-— houses and public men by the Bureau (Allen’s), 510 Mont-