The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 7, 1904, Page 30

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUST 7. 1904. 2 London Literary Gossip. Special Correspondenca. HEADQUARTERS OF THE CALL. ‘s - HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON, July 23.—While in’ Westcliffe-on-Sea, the smart little Essex summer resort, recently I had the good luck to meet and visit an un- commenly interesting literary couple who make their home there—the Coul- son Kernahans. Kernahan himself is too well known in the United States to need any Introduction to American readers. He produced that weird study, ‘A Dead Man's Diary”; “God and the Ant,” which has been translated into eight languages, including Chinese, and “The Child, the Wise Man and the Devil,” of which 250,000 coples have -been sold. “Scoundrels & Co.” was one of Kernahan's last books. Incidentally, he is literary adviser to one of the best known of London publishers. Mrs. Ker- nahan's work is, I fancy, less well - known in the United States, but she has half a dozen novels to her credit, among them “The House of Rimmon" and “Frank Redland, Recruit,” and an- other coming out in the fall. “Thrums” is the name which the Ker- hahans have bestowed upon their cot- tage—a typical English one, half-hid- den by jvy—and it is one of the most interesting abodes it ever has been my iot to enter. The drawing-room is lt- erally crowded with souvenirs of dis- tinguished folk, which in almost every case have been presented by the cele- brities themselves. For instance, there are the original sketches of famous paintings by English artists, Rossetti among them; signed photographs of notable men in every walk of life, and what must be one of the most remark- able collections in this country of auto- graphed books. I hesitate to say how many shelves they fill, but practically every living English author is repre- sented, and in most cases the inscrip- tions on the fiyleaf gives me the idea that the writer and Kernahan are on unusually friendly terms. Here are vol- umes from Meredith, Swinburne, Watts-Dunton, J. M. Barrie, J. K. Je- rome, Max Pemberton, several from Marie Corelli inscribed in her own hand, Hall Caine, H. G. Wells, Robert Barr and Barry Pain, to name only a few that come first to mind. But what struck me and my compan- ion, Miss Constance Smedley—whose new book, “Heart of Gold,” is to be published by Harpers next mon‘h—as most interesting at the Kernahans' were the respective “‘workshops” of this literary couple. In the rear of their house is a2 lawn—upon which in sum- mer visitors are entertained at tea— and at the end of this are two small rustic huts, as alike as two peas . 'd about twenty feet apart. Each is fitted up as a “den,” and in one are to be found the writing materi_ls, manu- scripts and books of reference of Ker- naban in the other those .f his wife. Each of the “huts” is lihied by win- dows in every wall, and each is equip- ped with,a heating apparatus. Thus the literary couple are able to work, summer and winter alike, within a few feet of each other, and yet be respec- tively as undisturbed as if they were mfles apart. From what I saw of the Kernahans, however, I imagine that few hours pass without visits being ex- changed between the two “huts.” S8 B With the end of the season at hand, authors, like other folk are on the move. Thomas Hardy, who generally makes a point of coming to London when every one else is leaving it, ar- rived in “town" recently and has been epending most of his time since then in the reading-room of the British Mu- suem—presumably seeking material for the remainder of his famous Napo- leonic drama, “The Dynasts.” Mr. _Hardy was the guest of honor at a dinner given by Dr. Robertson Nicoll &t the Devonshire Club the other even- ing, to which a distinguished little company sat down. It included Ed- mund Gosse, Professor Henry Van Dyck of Princeton, Max Beerbohm, Clement K. Shorter and the Rev. R. J. Campbell. Percy White left London this week for Scotiand. He said laugh- ly that he knew as little as any one what his next book would - e, but that he proposed to get back to kis London home in Holland street, Kensington, and begin working on it some time in October. Derbyshire, which Britons _know as the “Peak country,” has been chosen by several writers as their rlayground this year. Even Phillpotts, who rarely deserts Devonshire, is at _ Hathersage. Near by Richard White- ing is staying at a little cottage not for from Hoimesfield, the home of Murray Gilchrist, and the two writers have been seeing moye or less of each |' - ogher. Coulson Kernahan, when I saw him the sther day, had just returned from Derbyshire, and Mr. and Mrs, Janvier, who, of course, are Americans, are there at present. Nothing has appezred in print as yet regarding Stanley J. Weyman's new story, but I hear privately that Mr. Weyman has once more chosen France as bis scene and that the period of his latest romance, which has not yet been named, is that of Henry IV. Mean- while, rumor declares that Mr. Swin- burne is working on a drama which h#s Savonarola its subject. George Moore, whose new novel is to bear the title “General Life,” is spending the sumr.er months at his house in Ely Place, Dublin. Regarding this resi- dence, there is a rather good story. It was formerly the house of John Phil- pott Curran, the famous Irish lawyer - and orator. Curran, who was a man of gome wealth and much dignity, had a good-for-nothing brother. Time after time he had helped him financially, but | at last, his patience exhausted, the lawyer declared that rnot another sou would the spendthrift get out of him. Whereupon the scamp, who might for the moment have been Eugene Field, ! set up 2 wretched little cobbler’s stall | in*Ely Place, just across from the ad- vocate's residence, and put up a sign over it disclosing his relationship. It ended in the lawyer's giving way and begging his brother to take himself and his stall away at’any price. S In France they are touchy and a writer can’t be too careful about nam- ing his characters. Not long ago Rene Bubreuil, a popular romancer, pub- lished a book which contained a char- | acter named Bishop Volaille. Volallle, of course, means fowl, and now the novelist is being sued for damages by Bishop Capon of Nice, who declares | that this is an allusion to him. 957 e . In Parisian literary circles they are ! telling a new story about Eugene Sue and the queer way in which he used to bargain over his serial rights. His “Mysteries of Paris” had just appear- ed and Sue was the man of the mo- ment. To him went the editor of the Constitutionnel, then one of the lead- ing French papers, for the purpose of securing the rights as a serial of what- ever new work he had in hand. “I shall want $20,000 for it,” replied Sue, “payable to-day.” The editor sald he was willing to pay it and produced his check book. “Hold on!” cried Sue, “there is one condition. I understand that you have the smartest carriage and pair in Paris. I stipulate that you shall send them every day to my house to bring me my proofs and fetch my copy.” Though the request was rather an odd one, the editor agreed to it, and as the work which he thus obtained was “The Wandering Jew” he proba- bly never repented of his bargain. HAYDEN CHURCH. The M ;alTlunxman. Stories about Hall Caine, the Manx author, always show interesting phases of his personality. The last time I saw Sir Gilbert Parker he said: “I was hurrying along the boulevard | in Paris one day when my progress was | arrested by a dense crowd in front of an art shop. Evidently, thought I, there is an extraordinary picture on exhibi- tion. The canvas was a remarkable | idealization of the Savior—a thin, strongly Hebraic face, with closely cropped red hair and beard. “Suddenly the crowd parted to admit a man who approached with bowed head. It was Hall Caine! He stood be- fore the portrait with folded arms, gravely studying the face and pose of the figure on the canvas. The similar- ity of the portrait to the man standing | before it was very striking./ “Caine turned to go, but seeing me came to my side. “‘1 say, did you notice how the crowd parted to admit me? asked Caline. “°I certainly did,” was my reply. “‘And did you see how these people make way for me as I go away? ** “‘Assuredly.’ “‘They think it is 1’ was the calm, matter-of-fact explanation.” ‘When the King and Queen recently visited the Isle of Man, Hall Caine was asked to drive with them in order to point out the objects of interest. He appeared to think that the only’ people of the island were the characters in his novels and regaled their Ma- jesties with something like this: “There is the exact spot at which lory Quayle is first introduced to the reader!” Again, “Donald MacSheaf passed through that gateway as he en- | countered the trusty laird from Doug- las.” And at another place, “Here the blacksmith shod the landlord's horse in ‘The Manxman.’ Thus the cicer- one continued for two mortal hours. Their Majesties were dreadfully bored. King Edward asked to be driven back to town and abandoned sightseeing. When Caine stepped from | the carriage he dropped upon one kpee. “Rise, Mr. Caine!” commanded his Majesty, according to the story. The author got on his feet, much chagrined. He had confidently ex- pected, it is said at Douglastown, to hear words that would create him a knight, “Rise, Sir Hali!” 7 Knighthoods had been liberally doled out, and Caine couldn’'t under- stand why he failed to get one.—Julius Chambers, in Harper's Weekly. He Guessed It. Captain Eugene H. C. Leutze, U. S. N., commander of the battleship Mazine, has German blood in his veins, and vast knowledge of detail about naval ordnance in his head. Before he was given the Maine and last went to sea he was superintendent of the gun factory at the Washington navy yard, and gained the reputation of being a strict taskmaster. Habitually an “early to bed early to rise” man, Captain Leutze found him- self unable to sleep one night. He arose, dressed, left his quarters, and walked down to one of the gun shops. Although three shifts are needed to dispose of the great press of work now on hand, there was little doing. o Captain Leutze's sharp eye detected a mechanic sitting on the carriage of a great lathe, which was slowly run- ning to and fro, taking almost infinite- simal threads of steel from a twelve- inch gun. He was dozing, oblivious to all surroundings, when Captain Leutze reached his side and aroused him with: is “Well, what :re you what's your name?” The craftsman looked up and quail- ed. Then, with a resigned air, he re- plied: “Well, I guess it’s Dennis.” He was not discharged.—Kansas City Jonrn‘n.l. D. W. Freshfield, who ascended Mount Kangehenjunga with a party of friends, states that those persons who suffered from mountain sickness were most affected between 15,000 and 16,000 feet, and that there was no in- crease of symptoms up to 20,000 feet. doing and ‘no impression upon the theorists. ITHE SAN BFRANGCISCO CAT.1. JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor . . . . ..., . . Address All Communications to JOHN McNAUGHT, Manage: Publication Office .......c.e.ee Stttteereiiiiiicesssasassssasas ceeenes ae oo . Third and Market Streets, S. P. sevecssence... .AUGUST 7, 1904 THE RANGE LANDS. SUNDAY .. HE ‘meeting of livestock men in Denver for consul- T tation with the Secretary of Agriculture has re- newed an issue which will not down until it is set- tled right. The decline of the stock range on the public domain has engaged the attention of the meat, hide and | wool interests for many ycars. The use of the range in common has renewed in this country the experience of Australia, where the livestock industry was nearly exter- minated by use of the range in common, and a leasing system was adopted which has restored the range indus- try. Texas underwent the same cxperience and adopted the same remedy, and now is the leading livestock State of the Union, because leaschold control has restored the carrying capacity of the range. Moved upon by these object lessons, the livestock men of the West took up the question and sought a similar solution. They framed bills which were offered to an unsympathetic Congress without result. The theorists of the country, who had never scen the Western range, had a theory that it is all adapted to the same tillage as the prax’ries of Iowa and Illinois, and that the “cattle barons” were attempting to gobble it in order to prevent its use by the people for homes. As the theorists would not come and look at the country, and refused to believe the reports of those who knew the actual conditions, it was easy tq call the leasing proposition a “land grab,” and induce the non-action of Congress. The livestock men encountered also the stolid opposi- tion of the Interior Department. It proved impossible to convince that department that after all the land pos- sible of irrigation has been reserved for that use, and after all that can be tilled by partial irrigation or noné has been taken out, there will remain several hundred million acres of land that has not and cannot have any other use than grazing. This range in a natural state produced abundant forage plants, such as buffalo, bunch and gramma grass, legumes and ribbon grass, burr clo- ver and alfileria. If not overstocked these plants renew themselves annually. If overstocked they disappear and the land becomes desert again. The Agricultural Department took up the expert ex- amination of the range plants. Its trained agrostologists examined the range from New Mexico to Mon- tana and made truthful reports, which were pub- lished for the information of Congress. But these made The destruction of the range has gone on. The war for possession of its declining forage has grown more bitter. The Federal reservations have cut out the summer range in the mountains and our grazing industry is being driven to exile in Canada and Mexico. But our livestock men do not all intend to be ex- patriated without a struggle. They intend making one more effort to convince the Government that four hun. dred million acres of range is worth conservation and renewal. Hence this meeting at Denver, presided over by Conrad Schaffer, one of the pionger rangers of the West, a man of high intelligence and great energy. The Secretary of Agriculture was present. He is a Western man and has personally inspected the ranges, as have the experts of his department. In the meeting were Western Senators, members of Congress and Governors, The discussion was full and practical. The sentiment of the convention was expressed in its resolutions. These ask that the Federal forest reserves be put in charge of the Agricultural Department and that the same depart- ment be authorized by law to proceed to classify the lands on the public domain, segregating the range lands proper, which can serve no other use, and that these lands be leased under control of the Agricultural De- partment. The proposed transfer of control from the Interior Department to that of Agriculture has every merit and no-demerit. The most of the business of the Interior Department is in taking care of the unsold public do- main. When that domain passes to the control and use of the people, as it should, that function of the Interior Department ceases. Hence for years we have had every possible obstruction put in the way of the use by the people of the natural resources of the West by the In- terior Department. So tense has the situation become that a citizen desirous of acquiring public land has come to be treated as a potential criminal, whose laudable de- sire is evidence of evil motives. On the other hand, the Department of Agriculture is concerned in promoting the productivity of the land in private ownership or control. The head of that depart- ment is always a practical man, in sympathy with the soil and those who till or graze it. The Secretary of Agriculture believes that every acre should be put to its noblest use and that its capacity for such use should be promoted. In his hands the ranges will have their ca- pacity restored and the good days of our range industry will come again. The Denver meeting was highly useful and may well be the initiation of a wiser policy that will stop the de- struction of the range and arrest the exiling of our livestock interest to Canada and Mexico. —— The young lady who was forced by a court the other day to return her engagement ring after she had thrown over the swain that had placed it on her betrothal finger may soothe her chagrin in the reflection that the fellow she refused wasn’t good enough to have anything worth keeping anyway. RECLAIMING A LAKE BED. T large proposition. The reclamation of the bed of Tulare Lake is desired. Formerly the lake was navigated by steamboats. It has disappeared from the map as a body of water. In the.depression where for- merly were its waters agriculturists find rich soil. A mass meeting was held in Hanford recently to find out what can be done to make the entire lake bed available for agricultural uses, It was represented that a tract of land 21,000 acres in extent had been flooded out this year because the waters of the Kings River were not carried off in drainage canals. It is possible- to permanently reclaim these 21,000 acres and 700,000 additional acres of arid land can be brought under cultivation if the Kings River is prop- erly controlled and its verdure sustaining moisture is wisely applied. No one questioned the accuracy of these figures. Some discussion followed. The outcome was the appointment of a committee of twenty-five citizens to prepare a plan of procedure, having in view reclama- tion. In the course of discussion it was developed that the overflowing of ‘thousands of acr® of crops this year was due to the incompleteness of a canal system that wil eventually surround the boundaries of the old lake. This canal has the double object of preventing overflows HE people of Kings County are interested in a and providing means for distributing water on acres that are arid. The building of levees is considered only a temporary cxpccjient. The hope of the movers for per- manent benefit rests on the prospect of united action among the prosent owners of the lake bed. Vi Tulare Lakg was cighty-seven feet below the point on the Kings River at which water is taken out to irrigate about the old lake bed. An organization has been effect- ed to be known as the Tulare Lake Reclamation and Ir- rigation Association. This much progress has been made and more is expected. Seven hundred thousand acres, if made agriculturally productive, will add largely to the wealth and resources of Kings County. The Hanford Journal reports that much interest is manifested in a proposition to have the United States | Government reclaim the land under the arid land law. The alternative is that the people shall, by concerted ac- { tion and the use of their own money, effect what is | found to be necessary. Engineers will be employed to consider the projected work from the expert point of view. It reads something like a romance that the land about.a lake that was navigated by some living Cali- fornia pioneers has so completely changed its environ- ment that irrigation is necessary to sustain crops. Like all lake.bnttoms washed by waters that are not laden with chemicals detrimental to vegetation, the hollow that marks Tulare’s former site is very rich. With the super- inducing climate of Kings County added it will prove very productive, the necessary water being provided un der control as a requisite. l A Chicago professor, more confident in the accuracy of his vision of the future than most of us are in ours, risks his fame for prophecy in the assertion that in three years China will be the center of the world’s stage in commerce. now rules in the Orient be any guide to future conditions in three years China’s commerce will be with death and devastation and the bloody greed of predatory nations. —— T to sink no more merchant ships. Skrydloff found such use of his guns more congenial than in fight- ing the Japanese navy, and was so exultant over it that he treated his gallant gunners to the beer. The press of the United States was no more inclined to advise submission to Russian piracy than was that of Great Britain. It has been especially refreshing to fol- low the course of such strong opposition papers as the New Yqrk World and the Times. The World say: “Russia has grossly blundered in making war on neutral commerce. Her position is un- RUSSIA BACKS DOWN. HE naval commanders of Russia have been ordered tenable and must be abandoned. Apologies, reparation | in full and assurances against a repetition of such law- | less raids will be demanded by the aggrieved powers, and must be granted.” The Times says: “It is simply intolerable that a cas- ual naval officer should be allowed to take the adjudica- tion of such a case into his own hands. The plain fact is he has prevented the ship from being brought before a court for adjudication and that therefore all presump- tions are in favor of the owners and against him. A full restitution in value is what the British Government is entitled to demand, and the Russian Government to grant, and what our Government is entitled to ask and Russia to grant for such of the cargo as is owned by Americans. As for the futyre, in case of other Russian cruisers whose commanders are given to magnifying their oflices, it would be well that the authorities of an American port which an American steamer leaves for Japan should be satisfied that she carries no contraband, and that an American man-of-war, more powerful than any cruiser of the Vladivostok squadron, should thereupon be detailed to accompany the merchantman to see that she completes her voyage without molestation.” That is the right sort of talk, and Americans will al- most regret that Russia backs down and prevents the pleasure of such a meeting on the high seas. The backdown is only one more added to the many humiliations that Russia earned. More will follow un- til her pretense of ruling the world will be the world’s laughing stock. l The wheat growers of California have organized to ask the Legislature at its next session to appropriate $6000 with which to conduct experiments with the cereal and to discover if possible the causes which have contributed to deterioration. As the fame of California rests more upon her ‘agricuiture than upon her gold it is obvious that the plan of the farmers to protect their most vital interest must meet with popular and governmental ap- proval. ABOUT OVERALLS. N one of his thrilling editorials in the Examiner, Mr. Hearst frankly lays a wounded spirit where the public can see it suffer. This injury has been caused by "his discovery of a rich man’s son, clad in overalls, an apprentice in a machine shop and learning a trade! Mr. Hearst is of the opinion that a rich man’s son should have an ambition above wearing overalls and learning a handicraft. The overalls seem to be spe- cially offensive and are referred to with a bitterness of expression which we thought could not be excited by that harmless and necessary article of clothing. Mr. Hearst is of the opinion that a n‘cb man’s son should put in his time doing good, elevating his fellow mnam, as it were, and declares that this young man in overalls is not fulfilling that high mission. We can see no occasion for all this fuss. Men who have had trades and worn overalls have done many a good job at ele- vating their fellows, and history asks no question about what they wore. whether trousers or overalls. Without taking time to fully examine the ethics of the question, we should say that it shows a very com- mendable spirit in a rich man’s son that he desires to | jein his fellow-men in a workshop, learn their trade, take pot luck with them and train his hands to skill in a useful and honorable occupation. He will then have an honest calling by which to earn a living, if his riches take wings. v s Mr. Heasst puts in par§ of his time writing edi- torials degloring the exclusiveness of the rich, a theme upon which he is occasionaliy almost eloquent and al- ways fervid, :nd now he bucks because a rich youngster has dropped cxclusiveness and wears overalls and chews his lunch out of a tin bucket. +As Mr. Hearst is rich in experience as the son of a millionaire he should explain more fully his objection to overalls. We are of the opinion that they are 100 per cent better than no “pants” at all, and we are minded to defend them against this unexpected attack from the rear. & If the chaos of warlike uncertainties that | The Persevering Jap. “If the Japanese army gives the Czar as much trouble as one little brown man gave me a few weeks ago,” said a well-known lawyer a few days ago, “the Russians will have a merry time of it. “I employed a Japanese seevant for a number of years. He went back home, but before leaving he sent me a fellow countryman to take his place. The newcomer was a good servant, but very independent and saucy and {he was not in the house a month when I had trouble with him. I stood it for about two weeks more and then gave him a little more than was com- ing to him and discharged him. He went to pack his duds, as I supposed, and I left the house. About noon I received a phone from my wife ask- Ing me to come home; that Yati, as we called him, was in the house and refused to leave. He was 50 im- pertinent, she said, that she was afrald of him. & “Well, I went home, grabbed that little brown man, escorted him down the stairs, and, hitting him a tap on the cheek, told him if he did not keep away I would make mincemeat of him. He started down the street, talking to himself, and I thought I had seen the last of him. But I was greatly mistaken. “He was at the house when I came home for dinner. I repeated the noon- time performance, varying it a little by giving him a kick instead of a slap. Even this was not enough, for the rascal sneaked into his room in the basement that night and the next morning frightened the life out of my | wife by appearing as he usually did. She screamed and called me, and what I did not do to that Japanese in the way of a good beating is not worth mentioning. He gave me a merry fight, though, and never quit strug- {ghing until I packed him out In the street and dropped him on the pave- ment. The last I saw of him he was going down the street with a big po- liceman, whom.I had summoned and directed to give the Japanese a good scare.” Homeward Bound. I sail across conflicting seas, Dark, fog-girt and profound; Hope leadeth me and bears me on, And I 2am homeward bound. The night is long, and drear, and dark, And darker seas arise; But on the tempest's wrathful breath My home-bound pennant flies. | I know not when the mist may lift Its gray wings from the sea— Somewhere before I know there lies Safe anchorage for me. I know not when on even keel h Shall ride my storm-tossed bark— Sometime I know the call, “All's well"— ‘Will echo through the dark. Sometime upon mine ears shall fall The welcome cry of “Land!” | And on my worn and wave-washed deck My Pilot soon will stand. | Sometime the veiling mist will fade, ! And then across the foam— { Across the troubled, breaking bar, { Will gleam the lights of home. And He, who knows the sea I sail, Will take me by the hand; And, smiling on my battered ship, Will lead me safe to land. —GEORGE N. LOWE. > “Uncle Joe's” Overcoat. Joseph G. Cannon, Speaker of the House of Representatives, is not as careful about the details of his dress as some other members of Congress. Since his elevation to his present po- sition he.has paid more attention to his apparel than he did when he was merely one of the many on the floor, but even now he forgets sometimes to the extent of leaving a few inches of waistcoat unbuttoned or a cravat crawling up to his ear instead of keep- ing under his chin, A few days before Cengress adjourned, he appeared in a | brand new suit, the fit and general style of which indicated the work of a finished and up-to-date tailor. This had the effect of reviving a story of the old days when he did not even dream, perhaps, of occupying the seat made notable by Crisp and Reed. “Uncle Joe,” as he is familiarly called, has always been economical and firm- ly believes that a dollar saved is a dollar earned. One of his methods of |laying up money along these lines | used to be to buy ready made clothing and to pay not more than $15 for a suit or an overcoat. The result was sometimes too marked to be alto- gether acceptable to the members of his family, and ultimately his daugh- ters worked out a plan which they thought would solve all the various problems involved. The scheme was simply to go to the clothing store where their father traded, deposit a certain sum of money with the propri- etor and instruct him to bring out his best stock when his distinguished cus- tomer called, but to say nothing or do nothing that would give him a hint that the clothing displayed for his in- spection was not his favorite $15 grade. Then, if he chanced to select a suit worth $45 he paid his $15 and the remaining $30 was taken from the amount deposited by his daughters. All went well until- some of the neighbors were let into the secret. One day “Uncle Joe” came proudly down ithe street wearing a handsome new overcoat for which he had just paid $15, but for which the storekeeper had also deducted an additional thirty- five dollars from the trust fund. A friend who had become ' acquainted with the modus operandi of the deal met him and.expressed excessive admi- ration for the naw garment. “Yes, it's a fine coat,” said Mr. Can- non. “Only cost me fifteen dollars, rris e “You don't say!"” was the friend's re- sponse. “Why, I'll give you twenty- ‘| five dollars for it!” “Uncle Joe” thought a moment, re- membered that while at the store he had seen several coats exactly like his, which the salesmen had told him were held at the same price, and then, nof being averse to picking up ten dollars ‘with so little effort, said, “I'll go you.” “The exchange was quickly effected. While walking on toward his office “Uncle Joe” met one of Hhi: daughters. She scolded him for w\ himself to W——ee the weather without an overcoat, and, I thereupon, he told her the story of hig recent deal. Then he sauntered on to' the store and purchased another ccat like the first for fifteen dollars. “You don’t know your business” ks sald to the tallor, as he related the sale of the first garment; “you're selling these coats too cheap.” “I think you'd make a bettar trades. man than politiclan,” sald the tallor tn reply. But the grizzled old wislder of the nation's gavel did not see the joke une til, some time later, his daughter told him the secret.—Success. Park Music To-Day. The Golden Gate Park 4, unden the leadership of Paul Stéindorff, will play the following programme in the park this afternoon: flute, fantasie on Grand' fantasia, * Paraphrase, Loreley” Selection. ““The Burgomaster” . Coronation March Answers to Queries. IN EUROPE—B. N. City. Great Britain, which includes England, Scot- land and Wales and the Irish Isle, al- though distinct islands, always rank as a part of Europe. BAROMETER FLOWER — Subseri- ber, Oakland, Cal. What is known asa barometer flower is an artificlal one, colored with chloride of cobalt. In dry air it is blue, in moist air it turns pink. LARGEST STEAMER-J. ¥. D. City, and 8. of K., Oakland, Cal. The largest steamer afloat is said to be the Baltic of the White Star line, 725 feet long, 23.000 gross tonnage, and capacity for carrying 3000 passengers. The length of the Great Eastern was 692 feet. Her passenger capacity was 5000. CARRYING A WEAPON—New Sub- scriber, City. There is no law in Cali- fornia that prohibits a person while actually traveling thyough the State from carrying a weapon of defense, nor is there any law that will prohibit an individual while hunting from carrying weapons. In San Francisco no one not an officer of the law or a soldier is per- mitted to carry a weapon concealed without having a permit to do so. SCHOOL OF MINES—H. U., Dedrick, Trinity County, Cal. Professor David Starr Jordan of the Stanford Univer- sity writes: “In a recent answer to & correspondent is one in regard to the Missouri School of Mines. This institu- tion is a well-conducted branch of the University of Missouri, and is situated at Rolla, Mo. It is not listed as a sepa- rate school because it is a branch of the university.” This furnishes the in- formation the correspondent from Ded. rick desired. HOBSON'S CHOICE — A Subseriber, Sacramento, Cal. “Hobson’s cholce— that or none,” had its origin from the action of an old English livery-stable keeper. In the time of Charles T Hob- son let horses to the students at Cam- bridge. He would never break his rule of letting the horses In strict rotation. Persons wanting horses had to take those whose turn it was to go out or they could not have any. Hence the saying, “That or none,” which was transformed into “Hobson's choice.” MEASURING MOUNTAINS—Valam- brosa, Cal. The barometer is an instru- ment for measuring the wéight or pres- sure of the atmosphere. It is also used for measuring mountains. When the barometer is at the foot of a mountain the pressure it sustains must be great- er than that to which it would be sub- jected at the top by the weight of the column of air intervening between the summit and the bottom of the moun- tain. When it is known at how many feet above the earth’s surface the pressure of air becomes so far lessened {as to cause the mercury in the long tube to fall one inch, at how many feet it falls two inches, three inches and so on, the process of ‘measuring the height of a mountain becomes a very easy one. Of course, the number of feet cor- responding to inches of depression was ascertained in the first instance by actual measurement. This depression varies with the size of the tube, and it is also somewhat affected by the tem- | perature and by the amount of mois- ture in the air. These latter differences | must be tested by actual experiment. Allowance must also be made for lati- tude. To meet these conditions and to insure verfect accuracy in the result, complex formula and tables are used by mathematicians, but for ordinary use measuring barometers have been made on which are recorded the heights indicated by varying levels of the mer- cury, as the degree of temperature is recorded on a thermoumeter. Stores Wanted On main business street. All communi- cations confidential. W. S. Townsend, Cal. Glace Fruit, 715 Market st. - —_—— Townsend's California Glace fruits in artisti¢ fire-etched boxes. 715 Market st.® —_—— Special information supplied daily to business houses and public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 230 Cal- ifornia street. Telephone Main 1043, *