The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 1, 1903, Page 12

THE SUNDAY CALL. SHeE s TRERE FRAME ™~ A DOoORTAL it's time for is remembered how , even at the d! . a the valuable qua t once be seen that experienced kely to do such a foolish cessary noises rop off at the shoulders, the cap- week when he These actions were five boats under t of their big sails were bous bright sea before s, The propulsion with the oars had only resorted to for the purpose of obtaining a good weather gauge. That once reached, heads were turned at had been pur- with the wind the sails set the course they that they might now, 4 with the least possible amount as a splendid sight, nt ships. before THE DerTwWS CREST T O ARD FRE s, broken-spirit- <imiy and methodic~ly qui 1y attending to their ng fosd an pursuing their, way, m like pirates upon a belpless m.r- harpooner was - now overy rerve tense, all h that they wo: the perisdical whales took place. n cases out of ten Da Silva's luck gnpeired to be emy, they lelped ever-acce@rating 1 a large bull of abo; the foremost whale, bs Iengths ahead of the ski sely he grow$4,0"Stand u siraightened itself and, raising the harpoon in while steadying hieell by flis left o the cfumsy cleat, a heroic figure, until, the steering oar, m to the whale's broad side and struck t the same moment as the harpoo ore nervous hands and buried it:¥f in % blubber up to the hitches Calm- ne out of the box over side, the bharpo, ser turned to go,. ft face of a man knowing that his .ty Without taking th: slight. of the tortu © near or the tremendous commotion in the water, he superintended the rolling up X unshipping of the mast where it would be out of the operations. boat swung @ been well dane. s zre apt to break I Lof 4k boat’ were thus ed-- with that skiil for wh'ch famous: had,. by means. of the teering car, maniptilatéd the boat wo that _-af .a safe dlsta from the whale. raiy pressed mionster, in orthodox fash- fon, finding that he could not free himself from 7 eajion, descended steadilr, tak- -a-gentie rate, while the cap- ds with the barpooner, un- orfte lance, and awaited the wdle to the surface. WWhile s0 toe Wis A SLGY 0 ferusdly. pect of. bloodshed seemed 1 the animal, and, as he ound upon bls crew they his eye. so terrible did he . .was compelled to forege hls ghtful occupation, for a while and remain quiet ab- possible for him to do, while, the whale went steadily down, down, down. Meariwhile, by a, plece of amazing g001 fort h-of the other boats had suce ed- ed; tting I to a. whale without any ac- £ 1 nt, ahd 'now they were all engaged in the r as the captain’s boat, wating, atience as the. officers could com- the suriace of thewr atnder of the school, all control of them- 1 y around the Yttle ny. of buats, goin 1y backward and ard, thrusting their great heads out of the ~‘r.without apr ly the siightest idea of tq 4o, or wheré to go, and arousing in ©ds of the efficers, especlally in that tain: ‘the flcrcest resentment at thelr o-take inore advantage of 50 sp en- unity as was now offered. After a .arly kalf an hour ail the har- T.oomed, whilee came to the rurface at nearly 3 afie moment and immediately the scene as compiete &s it is pos- wounded monsters, rush- direction in their valn ficree guttural yells of plicd their slender, gleam- n those vast bodies, the welling od" that befouled the bright ent to make up a pieture 1y land battle. 8o conduct of this firet enc twg hours had clapsed since the left the ship when the whole five o dead, the boats cleared up. and readiness for the prey to be taken the ship. She, being well and Wandicd by the three or four people nd having got well to wind- the area of battle. now ran.down to ain’s boat lay by the side of dead whale. Having made the line fast to 1ole in the whaie's fluke, he ordered his boat t run alongside the ship. and climbing smartly on board, he superintended the hauling of the whale alongside. Now, the ship being ham- pered by that gigantic body. made fast to her, it became necessary fur the crews of the other boats to tow their whales as best they could in the direction of the vessel. Fearfully long and tedlous was phe process, -and the im- petience of the capfain rose o a height of al- most maniacal fury; aithough he knew full well that every man was doing his utmost ‘to perform the tremendous task ullotted to him. Without a break they toiled’ until the sun was nor was one moment's respite until the whole of the day's cateh was secured alongside and asterm of the ship, Across Coveted Lands. . H. Savage Landor's book, “‘Across c:\ e‘x:d mei * has just been published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. An abstract of its contents would be too long for this codlumn, but some notion of the kind of book it is may be had from the following selection of a few from the very many head lines: Volume lL—Engiish mistaken ideas of the Russians, Journey from Resht to Te- heran. A gallop of 1% miles, changing 128 horses. The Shah. His palace. His ha- rem. A speclal audience. Customs and manners of Persians described In full. The journey from Teheran to Ispahan. Hundreds of miles of underground aque- ducts. Attacked by brigands. Brigands and their ways. Blood feuds. A descrip- tion of Ispahan, its palaces and its piet- ures. The Jews of Ispahan, Their pe=te- the, (5 A& CAUTIOUSLS> fACIOvARLE SHIP cution by T 'rsians. Acrr s the mountains by caravan from Ispahan to Yezd. The city of the ancient Parsees. Their sacred fire smothered Fv Persians. Cruel perse- cution. From Yeézd to Kerman. Adven- Jures on the road. Riding at the rate of 100 miles a day across the desert. :.iore brigands. Forts to protect travelers from brigands. Missionaries. The ruined cities near Kerman. Shawls. Volume IL—In the desert. Catching up a large caravan. A solitary fortress-vil- lage in the desert. Attacked by natives. All men fever-stricken. Terrible heat, 147 degrees and 148 degrees in the sun. At- temrs of camel men to kill my servant. The ways of camel men. The Afghan frontier. Across.the desert to Sistan. A battle between Sistanis and Afghauns. Strong British influence. A& new trade route to India. An anclent riined city as large as London. Interesting instriptions. The journey to the Beluchistan frontier. Rostam's birthplace. Persia’s greatest hero. A weird abandoned town. A sait river. Russian intrigue. Criminal British government. Infamous demarcation of Perso-Beluch frontier. Dangers_of trav- eling in Afghanistan-Beluchistan. Treat- fes between British Government and Be- luch chiefs. Beluch customs, manners, traits, legends, superstititions, ways, mu- glc, dances, art, horsemanship, fighting ualities, -clothes, weapons, black tents, nd ‘mud huts. TAll the. plants of the-desert. A weird mountain, Sand hills and movement, of sand careful- ly studied and fllustrated. The great fu- ture commerelal center of Nushki. Ar- rival in Quetta after 600 miles of desert from Sistan. The political aspect and the commercial future of Persia, Beluchistan and Afghanistan. British and Russian struggle to get supremacy in Persia. How to educate men to do good work in East- ern countries. The Indian political ser- vice. By rail across India to Calcutta, g The Work of Wall Street. Every now and then, especially at the time of some bank failure in Wall street, a great deal is heard about the ‘‘over- certification” of checks, a term which to the average reader is wholly unintel.igib.e. It has remained for Sereno 8. Pra.t, in his new book, “The Work of Wall Street,” Just issued in Appletons’ Business Series, to furnish a clear and concise statement + of what this means. Overcertification forms an immediate connection between the bank and the stock broker. A broker, for instance, has bought stock for which, on delivery, he must pay $810,000. But before he can get any loans’ from the baunks on this stock he must have the stock in his possession 80 as to be able to use it as collateral for.the loans. Before he can get posses- sion of it he must pay for it. His bal- ance in the bank may not be more than $50,000. .What is he to do? Right here enters the new alllance between the banks and the brokers. It goes by the name of certification. The broker draws a check for $810,000 in payment for the stock. The check is sent to the bank, where the broker keeps his account, for certifica- tion. The cashier or paying teller in- dorses the.check across its face, thus cértifying that not only the signature is correct, but that the oanx will pay the amount of the check upon presentaticn and identificaticn, or when it comes to it through the operations oI the clua ing-house. But the broker has a balance of only $50,000, yet here i the bunk cer- tifying to his check for 3310,000, and this is what s called “overcertification,” an- other feature of the xr system of credits on which the traunsactions of Wall street stand. Overcertification 1is, in fact, a tempo- rary loan. There are a number of Wall street banks—not all—that do a regular business of certifying brokers' checks, but the larger proportion of this business is done by trust companies. Th2 broker enters into a definite arrangement with a bank whereby he agrees io keep a daily cash balance of, say $30,000, and in re- turn the bank agrees to certify his checks up to, say $1,000,000. This, un its face, seems startling, especially as the national banking law prohibits national banks from certifying checks for. which there is not money of an equal amount ¢n deposit. The law, however, is practically a dead letter. Moreover, the practice of overcertification as conducted for the con- venience of stock brokers is by no means as dangerous as it seems. ‘While the immediate cause of the Seventh National Bank failure in 1901 was overcertification, the real causes wers deeper seated, and as a matter of fact there has been no other serious trouble causced by certifications for brokers in twenty years. The violation of the law s In gnost cases more technical than actual, for a broker is obliged 10 make deposits the I},nk,:_u quickly as he recelves ciecks for payment of certificates dellvered, without waiting until nearly 3 o'clock and then making one deposit for the day. Deposits and certifications are therefore going on simultaneousiy. The national banks are gradually with- drawing from this business, and the State banks and trust companies are takiug their place. They are, however, adopt- ing another system which has the merit of simplicity and freedom from fllegality. They are making morning loans to bro- kers of an amount that will cover their probable certification for the day, based on the “single named paper” of the bro- ker, that Is to say, his individual, unin- dorsed note, and the broker has to hig credit a deposit at the bank sufficient for the day's business, while technical overs certification is avoided. Books on Craftsmanship. There is a broad purpose in the series of handbooks on !The Artistic Crafts” which the Appletors are ‘issuing. It is the Intention to provide trustworthy textbooks of workshop practice from the point of view of experts, who have ac- curately examined the methpds current in the shops, who are prepared to say of what good workmanship consists and to establish a standard of equality in the crafts, more especlally associated with design. Workmanship where separated by too wide a gulf from fresh thought— that s, from design—eventually decays, end. on the gther hand, ornamentation apart from workmanship is apt to be urreal and affected. Furthermore, there fs o demand for such standard works from those who put artistic craftsman- #hip hefore people s furnishing reason- able occupation f@ those wio would gain a livelthood, with a chance of reaching a distinct measure of success. “Bilverwork and@ Jewelry,” just pub- lished as the second volume in the series, is a practical gulde to some_of the more simple processes of the jeweler's art. The author has been sgareful to avoid the fault of vagueness common to most hooks of thig gharacter and at the expense of a certain amount of repetitith has de- scribed the operations of each process consecutively from beginning to end. The subject is treated not from the standpoint of a trade, but from that of an art. In former times the arts developed un- der the hand by the contéct of tools and material; but in these latter days, as the editor points out, it is far too customary to design, as it is called, the shape of some vessel, be it of silver, or glass, or potter's clay, and then to coerce the mi- terfal into the prevonceived form. But any one ¥10 has waiched the process of hrowing a pot on the wheel, of blowing glass, or of beatirg up wetal out of sheet, wiil have noticea how dazens of vitally beautiful forms &€ yroduced on the way to ihe final dullne~s predestined by the drawing. It is the thought of this indi- vidual development uf ideas that is up- permsst throughout the book, to stimu- late the student's native powers and en- courage his originaiity. The student j= even taught to make his own tools, to beat his own mwn~tal, to draw his own wire, and, in short, to complete the en- tire operation from beginning to end. : The King’s Agent. rrominent among the ihlef personages of “The King's Agent,” published by R. Appleton & Co., are the Earl of Marl- borough and Hugh Montgomery, a lad of fire, also of a bumptiousness that not infrequently got him into trouble. When this lively lad first reached London he quickly - crossed swords with Karl Brown- ker, the confidential agent of, Willlam of Orange, owing to a quarrel over the wine, and later he crossed him in love. The elder man wished to win for his wife a sweet girl, who could not do more for his sake than call him a friend. But Hugh Montgomery had the right charm to win from this maid her heart and when Brownker discovered the truth he elaborated a plet agginst Marlboroush and sought to gain 1Isabel by moking Marlborough!s ~ saféty (he was Isabel's guardian) the price. of her consent. The are several dramatic scenes' of unusual: peint ‘and". vigor in the ‘story and inall cases the characterization is successful; Flower’s Newspaper Apprenticeship. Elliott Flower, whose stor; Ned Bar- rett’'s Wife,” appears in the Februar: Lippincott's, served a long apprenticeship as a newspaper reporter, and not infre- quently he uses his personal recollections of that time as foundations for his fics tion. But the story of the only time he ever wrote up a prizefight is so harrow- ing that he never has had the heart to put one of his heroes through such an adventure. “I never was much of a sporting editor,” is the way Mr. Fiower tells it. “One day the city editor told me to go to a prizegight. He didn't know just where it was going to be, but of course I could find that out. Well, I did. That was at 8 o'clock in the afternoon, and at 4 I was in touch with some of the sports and had learned that a speoial train was to leave at 6 to carry the party over the State line into Indiana. I went with it, naturally. We went to a town where it was customary to ‘pull off’ minor Chicago fights, but there had been a change of administration or something and we were warned away, after stand- ing in a drizziing rain for an hour whi.. the managers dickered with the officials. We moved on about ten miles to a siding, which was said to be near a barn which could be used. We plodded through the rain and the mud for a mile and a half to the barn and had just arranged pre- liminaries when a farmer and his two sons appeared on the scene with pitch- forks. There was+a parley, after which we plodded back to the train. Then we tried another town, and here we had better luck, although we had to stand out in the wet for an hour or so while the proprietor of a pavilion was being routed out of bed. However, he proved tractable, and the necessary arrange- ments Were made. “Wet, tiréd-and sleepy, I watched that fight—+a very protracted one—for over an hour. It was daylight then, so I went out to get something to warm me up. When 1 came back 1 saw men climbing through the windows and there were various fights going on at the other exits. 1 asked what the trouble was. ‘Rald by deputy sheriffs,’ a’ native in- formed me. “I hadn’t lost any deputy sheriffs, and I saw no reason why I.should try to find any. My appearance, after my night out, was very much against me, too. So I kept in the background while getting the rest of the story, and then got back to Chicago on a freight train, it being toy late to telegraph anything to a morning paper. 1 reached the Tribune office just twenty-four hours after I had left. “‘I was there,’ I sald tersely, as I stood beside the, city editor's desk. He surveyed me from head to foot, and then returned, with one of his dry chuckles, ‘You look it.” “‘But I got the story, I urged. * ‘A paragraph will do for us now,’ he sald. ‘The afternoon papers will have it first. “And that was adding insult to injury.” The Story of Alchemy. The latest addition to the “Library of WWERS w3 : ; EADILY DOwWN DownN, Dot Useful Storles.”” published by D. Appleton & Co., New York: is “The Story of Al- chemy,” &y M. M. Pattison Muir, M. A., fellow and praelector in chemistry of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Professor Muiir prasen 3 the idea of fhe book in a brief prerace, in which he sa “The story of alchemy .ind the begin- nings of chemistry is very interestiny in itse... It is also 4 pregnant example of the contrast between the sclentific and the emotional methods of regariing na- ture, and it admirably illustrates the d°°- ferences between well-ground d. sugges- tive hypotheses and baseles. specula- tigns.” The book contains some interest- “ing pictures {llustrating the subje. , and will be found an addition to the other volumes of this ex~ellent library. Price 35 cents. S % Manual of Physics. & The American Book Company, New York, has just published a “Laboratory Manual of Physics,” by Henry C. Ches- ton, Philip R. Dean and Charles E. Tim- merman of the “‘ew York City high schools. The seventy-three experimerts in this little manual inciude all those de- ‘sired by the College Entrance Board, by Harvard University and hy the New York State Regents. The course is sufficient for one year and affords a broad basis for class teaching. It contains but lit- tle theory with the fundamental prin- ciple or which the pupil is not familtar from observation and deduction. half the experiments are adapted to be performed by the class and recorded in a The Conquest. Nothing in American history has had a more profound effect upon the future of the country. than the expedition headed by Meriwether Lewis and Willlam Clark, which left St. Louis in 1804, passed up the Missouri River and over the mountains to the headwaters of the Columbia, thence to the Pacific Coast, returning overland in 1806. This magnificent conception of President Jefferson has been seized upon by Mrs. Eva Emery Dye of Oregon as the backbone of a book of fiction, published by A. C. McClurg & Co. under the title of “The Conquest.” The narrative, how- evir, begins with the au:tive fife of George Rogers Clark. the explorer's elier broth- er, during the war with the Indians pro- vosed by Lord Dunmore in 1774 to dis- trat¢ the atteption of the rebeliiots co'- ’irgina, follows him *iirough the fighting with the British and their savage allies in the F.colutionary war along t.e western frontler, and does not end antil Willlam Clark's death ° September, 1835, after he “ad been at the nead of Indian 4ffairs ot the natiun for a full genera- This covers the settlement of the United States from the tidewaters of th. Old Dominion to the extreme northwest ern corner of its boundarfes, and enables Mrs. Dye to bring into the - “ope of her work all the deeds of the nation for a period extending over sixty-se.en of /'s most vital years. 3 .10 SR S Literary Notes. “The Journal of Arthur Stirling” de- scribes the trials and tribulatiors of a man of education and culture who had high literary aspirations, his wanderings amons publishers and magazine editors, the liapressions he gained by the way and his death by suicide. Of this tragedy the New York Times and the New York ‘World in June of 132 gave full repo-ts, wrth a letter addressed by Stirl'ng to one of his friecds just before he drowned Jim- seif in the North River. It is published T ACRARENTL Sm aeTensien LOVED AND LOoST PRISCILL A vy D. Appleton & Co., New York. Pricw 312, The publishers, Doubleday, Page & Co., are advertising Justus Miles Forma new ncvel, “Journey’s End.” as a book with a “Lady-or-the Tigerish problem The question is t)> put to the geader who might suppose himself to bA luck enough to have unexpectedly come into an English Dukedom, and to have sud- denly become famous as the author of a successful play in America—whic would choose: the “Honorable Mo well,” assoclated with his English life and traditions, or “Miss Evelyn Berke- ley,” the fascinating young actress, who has made his play a success; knowing, of course, that either would have him for the asking. Piquancy is added by the rumor that the story is a more or less accurate picture of a very successful young American actress. An interesting account of Jefferson Da- vis' two years' experience as a prisoner a: Fortress Monroe and the loyal service rendered him in his distress by his de voted wife is given n “Civil War Stories.” soon to appear (The Whijaker & Ray Company, San Francisco, publishers). It begins with his capture at Irwinsville, Ga., and ends with his parole in May 1867. One of the Interesting features of this chapter is a letter written by ¢ rles A. Dana, then Assistant Secretary of War, to Secretary Stanton, describing the transfer of Mr. Davis from the vessel which brought him to Foriress Monroe to the cell which waa to be his home for 80 many weary months. Then follow several letters written by Mrs. Davis to President Johnson, of the most pltiful character, on behalf of her husband—re- cently so powerful, now so helpless. For several months General Nelson A. Miles, now leutenant general, had charge of the prison, and the extremest measures were taken by him upon orders from Stanton to safely guard the late President of tha Confederacy, and when, after agonizing appeals had been mgde by her, Mrs. Da- vis*was finally permitted to see her hus- band she solemnly pledged herself not t» convey to him any weapon. by which te could take his own life. It was then eupposed that he had been instrumental ;n the assassination of President Lincoin, and his own execution had probably been determined upon by the administration. One of the stories of the March S.nart Set is “The Secret of Princess Paul,” by Florence Wardsn. Following tils comes “The Shadow of a Dream,” by Justus Miles Forman, a story both strange and full of power. Richard Le Galllenne con- tributes “An Editor's Conscience™ “Amontillado,” by John Regnauit Ely son, is a curious narrative, with an amaz- ing denouemen-. G. B. Burgia, in “The Gay Lord Gayle,” is at his best, sprightly, lascinating. Other. stories of merit are “The . Nluminating Moue,” a clever psychological _study, by Emery Pottle: “The Honor of the ..egiment.” a tragic history of av. incident In German army life, by Edward Breck: “The Other One.” a clever dialogue. by Walter E. Grogan: “The ‘Third 'Elopement,” by Prince Viad- imir Vaniatsky: and “An Hour of Earth,” by Theudosla Garrison. Rupert Hughes has written for this number an essay’ entitled “Musiclans as Lovers,” wherein he sketches the story of many loves, and reaches some very interesuing conclusions regarding the musical temperament. ‘The most notable poems are by Madison Cav.»n, Clinton Scollard, Willis Leonard Clanahan, Willlaxa Hamilton Hayne, Victor Plarr: Theodore Koberts, Arthur Ketchum, Clinton Dangerfield, Ethel M. Kelly and Fisa Barker. And, too the humor, both in verse and prose, is of the cleverest. Amorz Vaeccontributors to this department are R. K- Muaki‘trick, Ed- ward V. Barnard, Toms P. Morgan, George Birdseve., Roy Farrell Cireene, John Elot, -Felix Carmen ana -Aler Ricketts. —— Raoks Received. A WHALEMAN'S WIFE—R° Frank To Bui- len. D. Appleton & Co.. New York. $1 50. PRACTICAL TALKS—By,John A. Hoilars Pre.a of Hudson-¥ imherly ° Publishing Com pany. Kansas C'ty, Mo, CALIFORL.IA—Supplementary vajume, b Harold W. Falrbanks, Ph.D. The Macmillan Company, New Yk SILVERWORX AND JEWELRY#By H Wilson. D. Appieton & Co., New York. $1 40, PRRSONAL R®MINISCENCHS OF PF-NCE BISMARCK—By Sidney Whitman. D. Appie ton & Co., New Yurk. $1 50. THE LIFE WITHIN—Aniiym Pubiiehing Gompany, Boston.. $) PIPE DREAMS AND TWILIC By Birdsall ‘ackscn. .F. M. [ New York. #1 25 THE MEANING OF PIC0'RES—By John C. Van Dyke. Charlero Seribuer's Sons, New York. §1 25 e Lothrop AR IT 1S IN THYF, PHILIPPINES-By E4- -;-rk?‘;. Bellass. Lewis Scribner & Co orke. o <