The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 10, 1904, Page 32

TH}f SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JULY 10, 1904. R e TR R G Dr. Doyle Dances in Public. Epectal Correspondence. HEADQUARTERS OF THE CALL, 5 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON, June 24—I won- der if Dr. A. Conan Doyle's numerous readers in the United States have heard that he gave a public exhibition of dancing the other day? The dance “done” by Dr. Doyle was a reel, and the spectacle of its execution delighted | the hearts of several thousand people who probably never had hoped to see so distinguished an author tripping the light fantas Be it explained, how- Dr. Doyle danced, not &s a ished author, but as a political The attempt that is being ma ¥ creator of Holmes to get into Parliament for Ha- wick Burghes took him up to the Bor- der country the other day. Finding in full blast the open-air festivities which take place there every vear, the liter- ary candidate felt it politic to particl- pate in them—hence the reel. Whether Pr. Doyle kissed any babies has not been reported, but he did promise to captain one of the teams at a forth- coming cricket match at Hawick. The the national game, however, is much more | in the burly author’s line than danc- | I am told that Dr. Doyle’s recent | to t Border country have pro- vided him with the material for a novel which he means to begin work on soon after his political canvass is it results. In Dr. Doyle is trying to oust s Shaw, M. P., who now sits for Hawick Burghes. Doubtless mention has been made in the cable dispatches of the hard things that M Marie Corelli—who has a new mnovel coming out soon—has been saying about the English clergy, which | she stigmatizes as “pagan.” This is a strong term, though one that Miss Co- | relli probably would not have hesitated to use in any event. She borrowed it, however, from Archdeacon Sinclalr, who recently declared that London was becoming a pagan city, because people did not go to church. Writing with all her customary restraint, Miss Corelll says the trouble is with the preachers. “When great dignitaries of the church,” she says in a pleasant para- graph which is characteristic of her entire screed, “sit wine-bibbing at ‘swagger’ dinner parties, relating ques- tionable or ‘spicy’ anecdotes unfit for the ears of decent women, they have not only lost caste themselves have laid all the brethren of thelr:or- der open to doubt.” The Rev. best known to fame as the father of Anthony Hope, but, as most Americans know, he is also vicar of the historic old Church of St Bride's on Fleet street. This office, which he has held for twenty-one years, the Rev. Mr. Hawkins is now about to resign. He is and a younger brother of the famous Lord Brampton, who before his retirement was reckened one of the most able judges on the English bench. The question of who was Petrarch’s “Laura” has just been raised on the Continent apropos of the six hun- dredth anniversary of the poet’s birtn. For many years it has been supposed that she was Laura di Noves—member of an old Provencal family—who mar- ried Hugo de Sade of Avignon. But upon Investigation it seems there is no reason whatever for belleving this to be the case except the word of a cer- tain Abbe de Sade, who flourished in the eighteenth century, and who it 1s now suspected only wanted to flatter his vanity with an interesting geneal- ogy. Among those who have been dis- cussing the subject is M. Gebhert, the distinguished French writer on the Renaissance, who says all his re- searches have confirmed him in the opinion that the Immortal mistress of the poet is quite unidentifiable, but ‘was almost certainly of no importance and of plebelan origin. Evidently the researches which Eden Philpotis made a year or so ago in the Dartmoor country, with &pecial reference to its American associations, were unusually productive of *ma- terial” His novel, “The American Prisoner,” which was the first result of those researches, contained enough of both plot and local color for two ordinary romances, but it seems not to have exhausted the matter in hand. Mr. Philpotts told an acquaintance the other day that the new novel upon which he is now putting the finishing touches is also sbout Devonshire at the period of the Revolution and that one of the characters i5 a captive Yankee. The romance, which is called “The Farm of the Dagger,” probably will be ready for publication in the autumn, Some of the best “prize contests™ of recent years have been started by the rival London penny weeklies, Tit. Bits and Pearson's Weekly, and the “five pounds a year for life” scheme in. ventéd by the latter periodical ana closed not long ago was particularly alluring. Week by week the paper published drawings illustrating the names of railway stations throughout the United Kingdom. There were 246 pictures in all and the person who #gussped the most of them was prom- jsed the above mentioned weekly in- wome—326—for the rest of his exist- #nes, The winner, whose name has been announced, is a ologist - Y T fasmlly man of 42 and says that the Sherlock | but | Edwards C. Hawkins is | first use he will make of his added in- | | come will be take out an insurance policy on his life, | The success of her novel, “The| School for Saints,” pleases Mrs. Craigie s0o much that she determined to write another story in the same historical vein as soon as she could find lelsure—and a plot. The many other undertakings which the authoress pre- viously had laid out for herself now have been got out of the way and she has commenced her now long pro- jected romance. Its period is the later eighteenth century and Napoleon and Warren Hastings are two of the char- acters. John Bull’s “Old Probs.” Bpecial Correspondence. LONDON, June 24.—English folk | were a good deal surprised the| other day when they discovered that the British Weather Office is |run, not by the Government, but| by @ joint stock ltmited lability com- | pany aided by a Government subsidy. | | That interesting information was made | public by the report of a Parliamentary | | committee, which was appointed to in- | quire into the affairs of the company, | and which recommends that the organ- | ization be wound up and its work car-| ried on in something like up-to-date ! fashion, as a regular part of the ma- chinery of the state. The British Weather Office affords a | ing example of the muddling methods which characterize the man- | agement of so many important na-| tional (Institutions in this country. Fifty years ago it was created as a branch of the Board of Trade, with Admiral Fitzroy at its head. A few years later the admiral died and the Government, anxious to shirk all pos- sible burdens and responsibilities, be- | sought the Royal Soclety to look after| the weather for them, promising to supply the necessary funds. The Royal | Society undertook the job and appoint- | | ed a meteorological council to supervise | it. In order that the office thus turned out of doors by its parent, the Govern- | ment, might have some definite stand- ing, it was registered as a company | { and the council became the directors, | though no dividends were paid, no trade carried on, and the only source of revenue was the paltry Government grant of $76,500 a year. John Bull takes a long time to wake up, and it is after half a century’s experience of | the utter inadequacy of the system | | pursued that it is proposed to reorgan- ize the office and transfer it to the Board of Agriculture. | As at present constituted the Brit-| | ish Weather Bureau compares with the | American institution much as that | antiquated, slow and cumbersome | vehicle, a London 'bus, compares with a Pullman palace car. It is housed in a few little poky offices in Victoria street, and its scientific equipments | | are utterly insufficlent for an under- | taking of such vast importance to| commercial and agricultural indus-| tries. Most of the bureau’s work is| done by a small staff of underpaid | clerks, totally deficient In meteoro- | logical training. On Sundays, up to late in the evening, the place is closed up tight as a drum, and during the inter- | val the weather may indulge in what-{ soever vagaries it pleases, free from official observation. No efforts what- | ever are made to forecast “cold snaps,” accurate warnings of which would en- able fruit growers and agriculturists | to save many thousands of dollars. In sending out storm warnings the| | bureau is much hampered by the in-| efficiency of the postoffice, which con- trols the telegraph lines. “Such mes-| sages,” states the recent committee re-| port, “frequently reach their destina- tion fourteen hours after the observa- tions on which the warnings had been based.” Out of 120 warning telegrams | sent out on a certain morning only| nineteen were delivered on the same evening. As for such storms as are reckless enough to blow on Sundays, | tidings of them are more belated still. | The postoffice accepts money for such | messages, but the weather office being| a private institution, no exceptional fa- | cilities are granted for their transmis- sion and no responsibility is assumed | for their delivery. If the weather office | were conducted as a department of the Government messages emanating from it would be entitled to the exceptional | treatment accorded Government busi- | ness and “rushed.” But as things are| at present the rules and regulations of the postoffice admit of no distinction between a trivial private message and a | telegram conveying information of an approaching gale, and which if deliv- ered in time might prevent shipwrecks | and save many human lives. It is a| lovely example of blind devotion to the | requirements of red tape which is sol eminently characteristic of British of- | | ficialdom. It was some time ago sug- gested that storms might be forecast with much greater accuracy if arrange- ments were made for receiving me- teorological reports from Atlantic liners fitted up with wireless telegraphic ap- paratus. That a system of this sort would save to the nation annually a thousandfold what it would cost is ad- mitted. But two obstacles prevent its | being carried into effect—lack of tundai and the absence of any postoffice facili- ties for the reception of wireless mes- sages. And thus the penny wise and| pound foolish policy has again tri- umphed. The British Board of Agriculture in its way Is just as antiquated and in- efficient as the weather office, and there is little ground for expecting that un- der its control there would be much| improvement in the weather forecast- ing. It is not surprising, therefore, that | two members of the committee dissent from the recommendation that it should annex the weather office. HAYDEN CHURCH. “What do you think of the idea of electing Senators by the people?” “I don’t know that it would make a great deal of difference to me,” an- swered Senator Sorghum. “Of course, it's a convenience to have all the votes | bunched in one Legislature, but I never saw the market yet that couldn’t be cornered by the right parties,”— Washington Star, P 'JOHN D. 1;THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL SPRECKELS, Proprietor . . . . ... ... Address All Communications to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manager Setessceanenciasasssnsssesnsrss sosssesssess. Third and Market Streets, S. F. B e e R R RS TR T SOTPPPSPPPPPPPRPPPRPRPPRRR 100 % 4 TS T THE CAMPAIGN. HE conventions of the two great parties of the country have been held, their platforms adopted and their candidates nominated. The issues of the Presidential campaign are therefore made up as clearly as it is possible for them to be expressed in words or embodied in the personalities of leaders; nevertheless a foreigner studying the situation would find it difficult to determine what is to be the issue of the campaign, There is indeed no particular point of national policy involved in the contest. The real issue is one of charac- ter rather than of any single political feature of the times. The differences of the characters of the two parties are noted in the personnel of the two conven- tions, in their methods of procedure, in the platforms adopted and in the candidates named. It matters not from what point of view the situation is considered, nor toward what aspect of it attention is directed, it will ap- pear to every observer that the Republican party pre- sents a clearly defined and positive policy represented by men who have a record for statesmanship, while the Democratic party presents nothing but an opposition, which, while vehement and wordy, remains always vague, discordant and confused. The Republican platform states specifically and clear- ly the policies for which it stands and which it promises the people to carry out if intrusted with the administra- tion of the government. These policies are not only in accord with one another, but they are consistent with the record of the party ever since it was organized fifty years ago. No voter has any doubt of what a Republi- can administration will do with respect to the mainte- nance of protection and sound money, the extension of internal improvements, the upbuilding of and pros- perity of all lines of industry at home, the enforcement of the Monge doctrine throughout this hemisphere and the conservation of our national prestige abroad. A reading of the Democratic platform will on the other hand disclose such vague declarations and promises on all these points as will leave the reader utterly at a loss to understand what is the promise of the party, or what could be expected if it were entrusted with the gov- ernment. The omission of any reference to the gold standard is perhaps the most notable feature of the Democratic platform, and it is not strange that Judge Parker has pro- tested against it, but it is by no means the most signifi- cant. The statements of the party with respect to revision ‘of the tariff, the upbuilding of American merchant ma- rine, the government of the Philippine Islands and legis- lation with respect to trusts are all so clouded with a multitude of words that no one will be able to draw from them a clear and positive declaration concerning a single one of those important issues. The vagueness and uncertainty of the platform is em- phasized by the character of the man nominated for the Presidency. No one knows what policy or what princi- ple of government is represented by Judge Parker. In a discussion over the platform in committee Mr. Bryan said that if David B. Hill were going to nominate a gold-standard candidate for the Presidency he should have a gold-standard platform, and Mr. Hill replied that he did not know whether Judge Parker is for the gold standard or not. When Bryan, with an amazement shared by the country, asked whether Mr. Hill had never learned Judge Parker’s views on finance, Hill re- plied he had never done so. Here then is a man whose political views are so colorless and indefinite that his personal friend and political backers not only do not know what his opinions are upon one of the most im- portant questions of the day, but have never even so much as thought it worth while to ask. The message from him, coming to the convention after the nomination was made, serves but as another illustration of the con- fusion in the minds of all concerned. In presenting his name to the convention as a candi- | date for the Presidency Mr. Martin Littleton, who nomi- nated Judge Parker, was very careful not to promise anything in his name or to venture upon even an intima- | tion of what his political principles may be. In endeav- oring to evade a question which Mr. Littleton must have known was on the lips of every one he said: “If you | ask me why he has been silent, I tell you it is because he | does not claim to be the master of the Democratic party, but is content to be its servant. If you ask me why he has not outlined a policy for this convention, 1 tell you that he does not believe that policies should be dictated, but that sovereignty of the party is in the un- trammeled judgment and wisdom of its members. If you ask me what his policy will be if elected, I tell you it will be that policy which finds expression in the platform of his party.” That is all that the country knew of the Democratic | candidate for the Presidency when he was nominated. If ever a people were presented with “a pig in a poke” the American people had that pre- sentation made to them in this instance. Here is a political organization without harmony in its own ranks, without consistency in its promises or in its record, without a single definite statement in its plat- form, presenting to the American people as a candidate for the chief executive office of the republic a man who was so absolutely without a record upon any political issue that his sponsors before the people were not able to say for him anything more than the platitude that he ex- pects to be a “servant of the people.” It is hardly possible that a majority of Americans will vote for such a candidate on such a platform backed by such a party. This is a country of positive ideas, whose people believe in action and who like to have a clear con- ception of what they are going to undertake. Tt may be put down as a foregone conclusion that the series of Re: publican victories which began immediately upon the panic years of the Democratic tariff will go on unbroken, and that the administration of this country for the next four years will continue in the hands of Theodore Roosevelt and a Republican Congress. —_— ‘ tremes of heat and cold with an occasional cy- clone for variety are unknown quantities, rarely comprehend the rigors of the Eastern winter or the sufferings of those in the cities unable to escape the ter- rific heat of the summer months. Eastern exchanges at present contain accounts of people dying from the un- bearable heat—one victim being the child of a well- known pugilist dying in the arms of its nurse in a street- car—while the telegraph has just given a description of a cyclone blowing an entire passenger train except the locomotive from a bridge near Oakford, Ill, at the cost of two lives and a dozen injured. A curious side to the question is shown in a story ' SUNDAY ICE IN THE EAST. ALIFORNIANS, living in a climate where ex- published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger of June 29, where a man, horror stricken at the irreligious dealers of that city who sell ice to poor families on the Sabbath, | has undertaken their prosecution under an old statute, | a relic of the blue laws. The Ledger says: “The thermometer registered 95 on Sunday, the hu- midity was unbearable, and that was the day the dealers were, forbidden under penalty of prosecution and fine to sell ice to the poor, the ill and the feeble. What is the object of this peculiar and incomprehensible cru- sade? All that is known of it apparently is that one George Vail is having the ice dealers arraigned before a magistrate and having them fined under a statute of 1704. * * * What shall the poor people do? They are not considered, hence they wondered at the conditions on that killing day. They besieged the places where ice is usually sold and surrounded the wholesale dealers’ sup- plies and begged for it in vain. Last week thirty-seven infants, an unusually large nuniber, died from causes in- cident to hot weather and heat prostration.” Such a picture is indeed a pitiable one. There may be those who think the prosecutor, afflicted with zeal in a good cause, has gone mad, or that he would better adorn a place that cannot boast even as many snowballs as Philadelphia on a June day. | Meantime we of California live on in the perfume of the mingled breath of the pines and the Pacific and regret that our climatic elysium is not enjoyed by all humanity. Russian critics have much to say in derision of what they are pleased to call the indecision of Generals Kuroki and Oku in the Manchurian campaign that the rainy season has suspended. It might be well for these chuck- ling observers to reflect that the Manchurian campaign is not yet over and that both of the Japanese captains have proved their ability to keep their own counsel until actions justify their words. T sided and each side has reflected alarm to the whites of the South. The extraordinary fecundity of the race seemed to indicate its final complete pos- session of several Southern States. The prospect of the whites being overpowered by sheer numbers was not pleasant. In Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina it seemed sure that the increase of the blacks would in a few decades leave the whites no choice but to move on and leave the land to the descendants of their slaves. A careful sifting of the facts of the census of 1900 materially soothes the alarm. is the negro birth rate decreasing, but the death rate in- creases. The white population of the South shows ex- actly the opposite, an increase of birth rate and. decrease of death rate, and the process is aided by increasing white immigration and increasing black migration. The negroes show an increasing tendency to move into the Northern States, where they are distributed in smaller numbers, are not crowded and thrown back on them- selves so much, and as a result are improved in every way except the birth rate, which is far lower among the Northern than the Southern blacks. It would appear that nature is at work on the problem by securing a bal- ance and that the grim forebodings that the South will become another Hayti or San Domingo are not justified. But there is before the South,a change of feature that promises to be of the greatest interest to the whole country. Slavery kept domestic and foreign immigra- tion out of the South. There were only two classes there, slave labor and its white owners. As all countries are founded on their labor system the South did not rest on free labor, and as men go where they can use their labor freely almost none went South and the great tide of foreign immigration rose upon the North. This had some good effects and some bad. It brought to us some virile strains of blood from Europe, but it materially lowered or crowded out the original Ameri- can type in New England and the West. The Northern States suffered as much as they gained by it in tie classifying of their people by nationality and occupation. and the planting here of the racial feuds and prejudices imported from Europe. Saddest of all was the impor- tation of European ideas about a distinct laboring class, always set apart and exclusive, which threatens to do finally as much harm to us as chattel slavery did and to require the same surgery of war to eradicate it. The South, not getting foreign immigration, has until now remained the most distinctly American part of the country. It had less admixture and whatever the occa- sional faults of its people they have kept closely ta American traditions. Now it is probable that all this will be changed. Unless our immigration laws are amended and the river of foreign immigration is turned it will inundate the South, and as the negro retires it will take his place, and very soon intermarriage will give the South the polyglot population that in many impor- tant respects will be less desirable than the excellent chardcter type which it displaces. Our foreign immigration instead of being digested and assimilated by us is digesting and assimilating us, and the South will soon turn from the negro question to consider one that may be of far more importance to her. We have the negro with us. He is a workman and he is a soldier. He has absorbed American traits and feels that this is his country. It may later appear that he is preferable as an economic and national factor to much of the foreign immigration that other countries are send- ing to us for their good and our injury. THE NEGROES DECREASE. HE negro problem in this country has been many When one reads the speech of John Sharp Williams, delivered as the keynote of Democratic policy in the national convention at St. Louis, and reflects upon the masterpiece spoken by Elihu Root as the exponent of Republican theory and practice, the thought is inevitable that Mr. Williams, having neither argument nor sug- gestion, was forced to the last resort of the partisan. Having no case he must abuse the opposing counsel. The time is fast approaching when the Knights Temp- lar from every State and Territory in the Union will assemble in San Francisco. It is opportune for us now to prepare to receive these guests in such manner that the good name of the people of the city for generous hospitality shall fittingly be sustained. We have won much for the method of our entertainment to visitors within our gates. —_— Bogus bands of the United States are being circulatad in Europe and several financial capitals of the Old World are sending up signals of alarm. If the shrewd old money changers of the Continent cannot take care of themselves in affairs of this kind something new, indeed, has happened under the sun, 2 ~ It is proved that not only | A British “House” in Paris. The “house” which it is proposed to found in Paris is called a church | house. But there is nothing exclusive- |ly churchy about it, though the pro- | Ject is under the direction of the Brit- ish Embassy Church. British young men and women of all denomina- tions—or no denomination at all—will be welcomed to make use of it. The originators of the project want money, ! for the acquisition of which they are | holding a bazaar, just opened by Sir | B. Monson, the British Embassadar, 'and Lady Monson. The project was | launched some years ago by Lord Duf- | ferin during his tenure of the office | of Embassador here. He mentioned | the subject in a speech delivered by him at the Guildhall, London. He invited subscriptions. He was a per- suasive beggar. Guineas were at- tracted to him like iron fllings to a magnet. So that the result of his Ex- cellency’s intervention was a haul of £2000. It was characteristic of Lord Dufferin that he gave up the luxurious rooms of the British embassy for the holding of the first bazaar. The™sum mentioned above was made up partly of the profits of this bazaar, partly of subscriptions from FEngland. This year’s bazaar is held at 25 Rue Pierre- Charron. A second sum of £2000 is needed to start the house. The amount realized yesterday fell short of the de- sired total. To-day the bazaar was opened by the Countess de Castel- lane, daughter of the late American | millionaire, Jay Gould. The proposed house is to be a place, as Dr. Noyes of the British Embassy Church de- scribes it, for “Soclal gatherings, re- | liglous meetings,” it will be provided with books and newspapers, its “doors will be wide open, early and late; should you want an English doctor you will be able to hear of one there. Should you require a gentle, skillful English nurse, you will only need to apply there. Should you want a gov- erness or a tutor, you will only have to mention the fact there. British young men! you will find there a club, | where you can spend your evenings without spending your money.” Dr. Noyes winds up his description of the house with a request for contributions. You will see that the new Institution s intended to serve the purposes of a registry office. It should prove highly useful to young English women wha come to Paris for employment, and who—as I pointed out in an article on the Anglo-American Home, a most ad- mirable institution—are often victim- ized by the ordinary “bureau du place- ment,” the private, exorbitant registry offices, against which employes and professional people are agitating in almost every French town.—London Mail. Such Is Life. I marked a man whose beaming face Showed that his heart was glad. 'Twas in a 1u£ck lunch eating place— A slab of ple he had. I understood his joy, for I Observed that it was cherry ple. — s Most of these exceptions have in thetr Ppenultimate the vowels { or u, which are always short in Japanese, and In many words and names are omitted altogether colloquially. The samural, or Japanese army officer, is popularly pronounced sam'ral There are two Japaness loan wordy in English which have been naturalized in their shorter form, minus the silent u, viz, the famillar mousme (Jan., musume), and the botanical term moxs (Jap., magusa). In Japanese orw thography the full forms alone are em« ployed. From this it happens that sev- eral names written with four syllables —e. g., Shimotsuke, Yokosuka—are spoken with three, Shimots'ke, Yo- kos'ka. A good example is the name of the reigning Emperor, Mutsuhito. In its termination hito the h Is excessively palatalized. so that, the ! disappearing, it sounds like shto, and the name Is heard as a trisyllable, Mutsush'to. En revanche, the English reader is often in danger in taking for three syllables a name which really has four, e g. Inouye, Nilgata, Terauchl. The secrst is that each vowel must be separately enunciated, I-no-u-ye, Ni-i-ga-ta, Te= ra-u-chl. Music in the Park. The following is the programme of band music in Golden Gate Park to- day, Paul Steindorff, conductor: PART L “Star-Spanglea Banner. March, “A Missouri Mule’ .. Overture, “Sounds Fro Waltz, “Santiago™ . Solo_for flute, *Carni vartations Six. A, Lomb Selection, “Prince of Pilsen”. (a) Novelette, ““A Whispered Thought" Johnson (b) American sketch, “Down South’”.Myddleton Ballet music from “Faust’ y Hunt in the P - Vollstedt Grand selection, “Alda’ . Verdi Carlyle's Contempt of Man. Carlyle’s opinion of Herbert Spencer as “the most unending ass in chris- tendom” must, of course, be read in conjunction with Carlyle’s derision for mankind in general. ‘“Mostly foels," he cheerfully thought of us all. Dar- win, we know, he would not have at any price—not & word of him. Car- Oh, how that luncher's eyes did shine ‘When first he took a bite! An ecstacy that seemed divine, A pure, serene delight INlumined with its radiance His whole expressive countenance. And this. I thought, is happiness— Unmitigated bliss! Too seldom providence doth bless Us with a joy like this. I mused upon capricious fate The while I watched him masticate. But suddenly—and this was strange— He dropped his fork and swore. You never saw a swifter change; He simply ripped and tore. You would have thought the man insane | To hear his shouts of rage and pain. And this is life, T mused; we seem | _ To be supremely blessed, Then, swifter than the lightning’s gleam, You see us sore distressed. | The man? Oh, he, of course, had bit Sore toothed, upon a cherry pit. —Chicago News. First Briton in India. The first Englishman who is known for certain to have gone out to Indla was, according to a recent correspond- ent in an Indian paper, a certain Thom- as Stephens, a member of a well-to-do | Wiltshire family and an Oxonian, who | 1anded somewhere near Goa about the year 1579 and spent forty years in | Jesuit missionary work in Goa and the | neighborhood. Stephens not only suc- | ceeded In mastering Marathi and Kon- | kan, which were the languages spoken | by the majority of the people on the | west coast, but left behind him among other works in Marathi of literary merit the “Purana,” an epic, and it is in his capacity as the author of this that Ste- phens’ name is best known among the west coast [nhabitants. The poem contains over 11,000 strophes | of four lines each. It narrates in a lofty | style the events that led up to the es- tablishment of the Christian religion, and from the creation to the ascension of our Lord, who figures as the hero of the epic. A new edition of the “Purana” is to be published in Manga- lore, no printed copy of the work being | now available.—The Athenaeum. Pronouncing Japanese Names. It has been suggested to me that many readers of “Notes and Queries” might be glad of a few hints as to the pronunciation of those Japanese places and versonal names now so prominently figuring in our magazines and papers. There is little difficulty in pronouncing Japanese correctly, since the vowels are all sounded as in Italian and the consonants as in Eng- lish. It is worthy of remark, how- ever, that although theoretically sh should be sounded as in English, some of the best Japanese speakers reduce it to a simple s. Hence we get Sikoku for the island of Shikoku, and Tsussima for the island of Tsushima. The reduction of ts to s is, on the other hand, merely a blunder of our journalists, some of whom the other day degraded Tsushima into Susima, just as some maps degrade the Tsu- gara Strait into Sugaru. The stress generally falls upon the penultimate: Himejl, Osaka, Hakodate, Nagasaki, Yokohama, Shimonoseki, Utsunomiya. There are exceptions, such as O'gawa, Kanagawa, O’shima, Horoshima, Mat- sushima, Katsura, Komura, Satsuma. dinal Newman, he estimated, had “the brain of a medium-sized rabbit.” Ruskin was a bottla of soda water. “Al bad young man” was his sum-up of another eminert writer, whom we need not name, for he is still living. But these hostile phrases were sub- Ject to considerable modification if the man against whom they were almed came near enough to Carlyle te da him a personal favor, even to pay him a personal compliment. Disraeli, whom he had described as & mounte= bank dancing upon John Bull's stom- ach, offered Carlyle a baronetcy and elicited from him, together with g refusal of the titls, many tributes tg his magnanimity. He sald very MNttlg about Disraeli henceforth in print and in private he spoke of him as very tragical comical fellow.* - 4 1l o2 j TUTUILA ISLAND-F. W, City. 3 United States came in possession Tutuila Island under the provisions of the Anglo-German treaty. POPULATION—S. 8 &, City. The population of London, England, at the beginning of the current year was 4« 579,110. That of New York was 3Tl 137, " NORTHAMPTONSHIRE — M. City. Northamptonshire is & central county of England, extending length« wise, northeast and southwest from Lincolnshire to Oxfordshire, seventy miles, breadth varying from seven tq twenty-six miles. Its area is 937 square miles. PHOTOGRAPHERS—@. B, Berke- ley, Cal. This department is not une in which the business places of photog« raphers or any other business is ad- vertised.. For such addresses as you desire, consult a San Francisco direc- tory, which you can find efther in Berkeley or in the Free Public Library in Oakland. SLEEPING BAG—R. D, City. The lightest and most comfortable sleeping bag for campers is the rubber one that is inflated when required. There are a number of houses In this city that sell extracts that can be readily car- ried by campers to be converted into food, but this department does not ad- vertise such houses. THE . THAMES—E. 0. S, City. There are thige tunnels under the river Thames. Two miles below London bridge is the Thames tunnel, com- menced in 1825, finished In 1841, for- merly a footway for pedestrians, but now used by the East London Railway. A little below London bridge is the Tower Subway, commenced in 1367 and finished in 1870 for foot passengers, and the Blackwall tunnel, commenced in 1892, and opened for traffic May 22, 1807, This one cost $4,350,000, is 6200 feet long, has a carrlage roadway six- teen feet In width and footways on each side three feet wide. ——eeeen Townsend's California Glace fruits in artistio fire-etehed boxes. 715 Market st.® ——————— Bpeclal Information supplied dafly to bustness and public men by the Press Clipning Rureau (Allen's), 230 Cal~ ioruia strect, Telephone Main 1042 «