Daily Wabash Express, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 1 February 1885 — Page 3
44
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POETRY.
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When we would number the brief years Of eome eweet laughing child, Finding them all unstained with tears,
TJnvexedJby sorrows wild—• We crown her brow with roses gay, "Her summers are bat ten," we say.
But counting np the saddened years Of pilgrim old and gray, In riew of trials, toils and fears
Which he has known, we say, (And snch is aye the speech of men), "His winters are threescore and ten," [Elizabeth P. Allan. .M
Experience.
Along the dewy cool highway There tripped a maid who gaily snng A withered crone, grown old and gray,
Looked on and sighed, "I once was young."
Upon the maiden's lonely face No shadow lay of grief nor care,: But only tender thought's faint trace
The old crone cried, "I Once was fair."
When Just at eve the maid returned A lover's steps were nnreproved, for was his favorite wooing spumed:
The old crone croaked. "I once was loved." —Adelaide Cilley Waldron.
jjer gtory.
For years she longed, as other women long, To feel lore's arm about her, strong to ",|£. shield "v• Her weakness e'en as others sought the strong:
But lo! she loved too well his life to wrong, 5.ts'" And loving, did not yield.
As other women wept alone, she wept jgey That she had nanght to give that he might
take
3L
frit'
Yet, is ehe wakened when the great world slept, The hours of darkness still her secret kept,
Who suffered for love's sake.
And he dreamed not that she had given all, Who still forbade both eyes and lips to speak, Hor le iroed how she had deemed her gift too small,
From her whose maiden pride could hold inthrall, The oolor in her cheek. —[J. Orrin Shields.
Sometime.
Sometime, sweetheart, our paths will cross again And I will look once more into thine eyeB, And feel no more the sorrow and the pain,
While soft and sweet will sound thy sweet replies.
Sometime, dear heart, sometime, though ocean's foam And mountains rise between ns, we will meet Thy heart will find within my heart its home
And all my bitter life will turn to sweet. —John W. Dafoe.
«I SAY NO:
Or,THE LOVE LETTER ANSWERED
By WILKIB COLLINS.
BOOK THE THIRDrr- THE SPELL.
CHAPTER XXXII.
'v, IN THE OKAY ROOM.
The house inhabited by Miss Ladd and her pupils had been built, in the early part of the present centtny, by a wealthy merchant—proud of his money, and eager to distinguish himself as the owner of the largest country seat in the neighborhood.
After his death, Miss Ludd had taken Netherwopds(as the place was called) finding her own house insufficient" for the accommodation of the increasing number of her pupils. A lease was granted- to her on moderate terms. Netherwoods failed to attract persons of distinction in search of a country residence. The grounds were beautiful: but no landed property—not even a park—was attached 'to the house. Excepting the few acres on which the building stood, the surrounding land belonged to a retired naval officer of old family, who resented the attempt of a merchant of low birth to assume the position of a gentleman. No matter what- proposals might be made to the admiral, he refused them all. The privilege .of shooting was not one of the attractions offered .to tennants the country presented no facilities for hunting and the only stream in the neighborhood was not preserved. Inconsequence of these drawbacks, the merchant's representative had to choose between a proposal to use Netherwoods as a lunatic asylum, or to accept as tennant the respectable mistress of a fashionable and prosperous school. They decided in favor of Miss Ladd.
The contemplated change in Francine's position was accomplished, in that vast house, without inconvcnience. There were rooms unoccupied, even when the limit assigned to the number of pupils had heen reached. On the reopening of the" school, Francine was offered her choice between two rooms on one of the upper stories, and two rooms on the ground floor. Sh8 chose the last.
Her sitting-room and bedroom, situated at the back of the 'house, commu_/cated with each other. The sitting-room, ornamented with a pretty paper of delicate gray, and furnished with curtains of the same color, had been accordingly named "The Gray Room." It had a French window, which opened on the terrace overlooking the garden and the grounds. Some fine old engravings from the grand landscapes of Claude (part of a collection of prints possessed by Miss Ladd's father) hung on the walls. The carpet was in harmony with the curtains and the furniture was of light-colored wood, which helped the general effect of ubdued brightness that made the charm the room. "If you are not happy iere," Miss Ladd said, "I despair of you." nd Francine answered, "Yes it's very jtty, but I wish it was not so small.
On the twelfth of August the regular iutine of the, school was resumed. Alban orris foiind 't^o strangers in his class, to 1 the vacancies left by Emily and icilia. Mrs. Ellmother was duly estabhed in her new place. She produced unfavorable impression in the serts' hall—not (as die handsome chief .isemaid explained) because she was iy and old, but because she was "a perwho didn't talk." The prejudice inst habitual silence, among the lower """Wis er of the people, is almost as inveterV. ate as the prejudice against red hair.
In the evening on that first day 01 re#4newed studies—while the girls were in the rounds, after tea—Francine had at last ^completed the arrangement of her rooms, and riad dismissed Mrs. Ellmother (kept jliard at work since morning) to take a "little rest. Standing alone in her window,
Sithe West Indian heiress wondered what '--%he had better do next. She glanced at the girls on the lawn, and decided that they were unworthy of serious notice on the part of a person so specially avored as herself. She turned sideways, and looked along the length of the terrace. At the Far end a tall man was slowlv pacing to and fro, with his head down and his hands in his pockets. Francine recogniled the rude drawing master, who had torn up his view of the village, after she had saved it from being blown into the pond.
cid
mn0
Slje stepped out on the terrace «ana called to him. He stopped and Rooked
y«?ti want me?" he called back. "Of eo.r.m do." ••itir-' Seed a little to meet him, and from iingemejitx»rt»der the form of •gol$£ though his manners
Wijift's.i he had claims on ce.of a young lady who was tojfisiiptoy liei idle time. In
re mowyi
"Do you renlember how rude you were to me on the day when you were sketching in the summer house?" Francine asked with snappish playfulness. "I ex pect yon to majke yourself agreeable this time—I am going to pay you a compliment."
He waited, with exasperating composure, to hear what the proposed compliment might be. The furrow between his eyebrows looked deeper than ever. There were signs of secret trouble in that dark face, so grimly and so resolutely composed. The "school^ without Emily, presented the severest trial of endurance that he had encountered since the day when he had been deserted and disgraced by his affianced wife "You are an artist," Francine proceeded, "and therefore a person of taste. I want to have your opinion of my sitting room. Criticism is invited: pray, come in."
He seemed to b? unwilling to accept the invitation—then altered his mind, .and followed Francine. She had visited Emily she was perhaps in a fair way to become Emily's friend. He remembered that he had already lost an opportunity of studying, her character-and—if he saw the necessity—of Warning Emily not to encourage the advances of Miss de Sor. "Very pretty," he remarked, looking round the room—without appearing to care for anything in it, except the prints.
Francine was bent on fascinating him. She raised her eyebrows and lifted her hands in playful remonstrance. "Do remember it's "my room," she said, "and take some little interest in it, for my sake I" "What do you want me to say?" he
"Cnrne and sit down by me." She made room for him on the sofa. Her one favorite aspiration—the longing to excite envy in others—expressed itself in her next words. "Say something pretty," she answered "say you would like to have such a room as this."
4
"I should like to have your prints," he remarked. "Will that do?" "It wouldn't do—from anybody else. Ah, Mr. Morris, I know why "you are not as nice asyou might be! You are not happy. The school has lost its one attraction, in losing out dear Emily. You feel it—1 know you feel it." She assisted this expression of sympathy to produce the right effect by a sigh. "What would I not give to inspire such devotion as yours! I don't envy Emily I only wish—" She paused in confusion, and opened her fan. "Isn't it pretty?" she said, with an ostentatious appearance of changing the subect. Alban behaved like a monster he to talk of the weather.
I think this is the hottest day we have had," he said "no wonder you wfent your fan. Netherwoods is an airless place at this season of the year."
She controlled her temper. "I do indeed feel the heat," she admitted, with a resignation which gently reproved him "it is so heavy and oppressive here, after Brighton. Perhaps my sad life, far awaj from home and friends, makes me sensitive to trifles? Do you think so, Mr. Morris?"
The merciless man said he thought it was the situation of the house. "Miss Ladd took the place in the spring," he continued "and only discovered the one objection to it some months afterward. We are in the highest part of the valley here—hut, you see, it is a valley surrounded by hills and on three sides the hills are near us. All very well in winter but in summer I have heard of girls in this school so out of health in the relaxing atmosphere that they have been sent home again."
Francine suddenly showed an interest in what he was saying. If he had cared to. observe her closely—if he had only looked at her—he must have noticed it. "Do you mean that the girls were really ill she asked. "No. They slept badly—lost appetite ^started at trifling noises. In short, their nerves were out of order." "Did they get well again at home, in another air?" "Not a doubt of it," he answered, beginning to get weary of the subject. May I look at your books?"
Francine's interest" in the influence of different atmospheres on health was not exhausted yet. "Do you know where the girls lived when they were at home?" she inquired. "I know where one of them lived. She was the best pupil I ever had—and I remember she lived in Yorkshire." He was so weary of the idle curiosity—as it appeared to him—which persisted in asking triflng questions, that he left his seat and crossed the room. "May I look at your books?" he repeated. "Oh, yes!"
The conversation was suspended for a while. The lady thought, "I should like to box his ears!" The gentleman thought, "She's only an inquisitive fool after all!" His examination of her books confirmed him in the delusion that there was really nothing in Francine's character which rendered it neccessary to caution Emily against the advances of her new friend. Turning away from the bookcase., he made the first excuse that occurred to him for putting an end to the interview. "I must beg you to let me return to my duties, Miss de Sor. I have to correct the young ladies' drawings before they begin again to-morrow."
Francine's wounded vanity made a last expiring attempt to steal the heart of Emily's lover. "You remind me that have a favor to ask," she said. "I don't attend the other classes—but I should so like to join your olass! May I?" She looked uj at him^vith a languishing appearance of entreaty which sorely tried Alban's capacity to keep his face in serious order. He acknowledged the cempliment paid to him, in studiously commonplace terms, and got a little nearer to the open window. Francine's obstinacy was not conquered yet. "My education has been sadly neglected," she continued "but I have had some little instruction in drawing. You will not find fae so ignorant as some of the other girls." She waited a little, anticipating a few complimentary words. Alban waited also—in silence. "I shall look forward with pleasure to my lessons under such an artist as yourself," she went on, and waited again, and was disappointed again. "Perhaps," she resumed, "I may become your favorite pupil—Who knows?" "Who indeed!"
It was not much to say, when he spoke at last—but it was enough to encourage Francine. She called him "dear Mr. Morris she pleaded for permission to take, her first lesson immediately she clasped her hands—"Please say Yes!" "I can't say Yes till you have complied with the rules." "Are they your rules?"
She looked at him with eyes which expressed the readiest submission—in that case. He entirely failed to see it he said they were Miss Ladd's rules—and wished her good evening.
She watched him walking away down the terrace. How was he paid? Did he receive a yearly salary, or did he get a little extra money for each new pupil who took drawing lessons? In this last case Francine saw her opportunity of being even with him. "You brutel Catcn me attending your class!"-
CHAPTER XXXIII.
RECOLLECTIONS OF SAJI DOMINGO. The night was oppressively hot. Finding it impossible to sleep, Francine lay quietly in her bed, thinking. The subject of her reflections was a person who occupied the humble position of her new servant.
Mrs. Ellmother looked wretchedly ill. Mrs. Ellmother had told Emily that her object in returning to service was to try if change would relieve her from the oppression of her own thoughts. Mrs. Ellmother believed in vulgar superstitions which dlclared Friday to be an unlucky day, and which recommended throwing a pinch over your left shoulder if you happened to spill the salt.
In themselves, these were trifling recollections. But they assumed a certain importance, derived from the associations which they called forth. They reminded Francine, by some mental prticess which ithe was at a loss to trace,
totiirni
iOO., AS
efforts to occupy her idle time by relieving her. mother of the cares of housekeeping. For a day or two she had persevered. and then she had ceased to feel any interest in her new employment. The remainder of the book was completely filled up, in a beautiful clear handwriting, beginning on the second page. A title had been found for the manuscript by Francine. She had written at the top of the page: "Sappho's Nonsense."
After reading the first few sentences she rapidly turned over the leaves, and stopped at a blank space near the end of the book. Here again she had added a title. This time it implied a compliment to the writer: the page was headed: "Sappho's Sense."
She read this latter part of the manuscript with the closest attention: "1 estreat iny kind arid dear young mistress not to suppose that I believe in witchcraft—after such an education as I have received. When I wrote down, at your bidding, all that I had told you by word of mouth, I cannot imagine what delusion possessed mei You say I have a negro side to my character, which I inherit from my mother.. Did you mean this, dear mistress, as a joke I am almost afraid that it is sometimes, not far off from the truth.. "Let me be careful, however, to avoid leading you into a mistake. It is really true that the man-slave I spoke of did pine and die after the spell had beeil cast oi him by my witch-mother's image of wax. But I ought also to have told you that circumstances favored the working of the spell: the fatal end Was not' brought about by supernatural means. "The poor wretch was not in good health at the time and our owner had occasion to employ him in a valley of the island. I have been told, and can well believe, that the climate there is different from the climate on the coast, in which the unfortunate slave- had been accustomed to live. The overseer wouldn't believe him wheh he said the valley air Would be his death, and the negroes, who might otherwise have helped him, all avoided a man whom they knew to be under the spell. "This, you see, accounts for what might appear incredible to civilized persons. If you will do me a favor you will burn this little book as soon as you have read what I have written here. If my request is not granted I can only implore you to let no'eyes but your own see these pages. My |ife might be in danger if the blacks know what I have now told you, in the interests of truth."
Francine closed the book, and locked it up again in her desk. "Now I know," she said to herself, "what reminded me of San Domingo."
When Francine rang her bell the next morning, so long a time elapsed, without producing an answer that she began to think of sending one of the house servants to make inquiries. Before she could decide, Mrs. Ellmother presented herself, and offered her apologies. "It's the first time I have over-slept myself, miss, since I was a girl. Please to excuse me, it sha'n't happen again." "Do you find that the air here makes you drowsy?" Francine asked..
Mrs. Ellmother shook her head. "I didn't get to sleep," she said, "till morning, and so I was too heavy to be up in time. But air has got nothing to do with it. Gentlefolks may have their whims and fancies. All air is the same to people like me." "You enjoy good health, Mrs. Ellmother." "Why not, miss? I have never had a doctor." "Oh.1 That's your opinion of doctors, is it?" "I won't have anything to do with them—if that's what you mean by my opinion," Mrs. Ellmother answered, dog-
fedly.
01
Sappho the
"How will you have your hair
one?" "The same as yesterday. Have you seen anything of Miss Emily She went back to London the day after you left us." "I haven't been in London. I pi thankful to say my, lodgings are let to good tenants." "Then where have you lived, while you were waiting to come here!" "I had only one place to go to, miss I went to the village I was born. A friend found a corner lor me. Ah, dear heart, it's a pleasant place, there!" ,, "A place like this?" "Lord helft you! As little like this as chalk is to cheese. A fine big moor, miss, in Cumberland, without a tree in sight —look where you may. Something like a wind, I can tell you, when it takes to blowing there." "Have you never been in this part of the country." "Not I? When I left the north my new mistress took me to Canada. Talk about air! If there was anything in it, the people in that air ought to live to be a hundred. I liked Canada." "And who was your next mistress?"
Thus far Mrs. Ellmother had been ready enough to talk. Had she failed to hear what Francine had said to her? or had she some reason for feeling reluctant to answer? In any case, a spirit of taciturnity took sudden possession of her— she was silent.
Francine (as usual) persisted: "Was your next place in service with Miss Emily's aunt?" "Yes." "Did the old lady always live in London?" "No." "What part of the country did she live in?" "Kent." "Among the hop gardens "No." "In what other part, then "Isle of Thanet." .... "Near the seacosftt?" "Yes,"
Even Francine could insist no longer Mrs. Ellmother's reserve had beaten her —for that day at least. "Go into the hall," she said, "and see if there are any letters for me in the rack."
There was one letter, bearing the Swiss postmark. Simple Cecilia was flattered and delighted by the chirming manner in which Francine had written to her. She looked forward with impatience to the time when their present acquaintance might ripen into friendship. Would "Dear Miss de Sor" waive all ceremony and consent to be guest (later in the autumn) at her father's house? Circumstances connected with her sister's health would delay their return to England for a little while. By the end of the month she hoped to be at home again, and to hear that Francine was disengaged. Her address in England was Monksmoor Park, Hants.
Having read th6 letter, Francine drew a moral From it:—"There is great use in
a fool when one knows how to manage her." Having little appetite for her breakfast, she tried the experiment of a walk on the terrace. Alban Morris was right the ail1 at Netherwoods, in summer time, was relaxing! The morning mist still hung over the lowest part of the valley, between the village and the hills^ beyond. A little exercise produced a feeling of fatigue. Francine returned to her room, and trifled with her tea and toast.
Her next proceeding was to open her writing-desk, and look into the old account book once mere. While it lay open on her lap, she recalled what had passed that morning between Mrs. Ellmother and herself.
The old woman had been born and bred in the North on an open moor. She had been removed to the keen air of Canada when she left her birthplace. She had been in service after that on the breezy eastward coast of Kent. Would the change to the climate of Netherwoods produce any effect on Mrs. Ellmother? At her age, and with her seasoned constitution, would she feel it as those school girls had felt it—especially that one among them who Uvea in the bracing air of the North, the air of Yorkshire
Weary of solitary thinking on one subject, Francine returned to the terrace with a vague idea of finding something so amuseher—that is to say, something the could turn into ridicule—if she joined the girls.
The next morning, Mrs. Ellmother answered her mistress" bell without delay. "You have slept better this time," Francine said. "No, miss. When I did get to/slee] was troubled by dreams. Anotfier night—and no mistake!"
•sud
tfqiute at
''li hasn't helped me as 1 eijpccted. Soiite people's thoughts stick fast'
Remorseless thoughts?" Francine inquired. Mrs. Ellmother held up her forefinger, and shook it with a gesture of reproof. "I thought we agreed,, miss, that there was to be no pumping."
The business of the toilet proceeded 10 silwjee. A week passed. During an interval in the labors of the school, Miss Ladd knocked at the door of Francine's room. "I want to speak to you, my dear,' about Mrs. Ellmother. Have you noticed that she doesn't seem 'to be in good health "She looks rather, pale, Miss Ladd." "It's more serious than that, Francine. Tlie servants, tell me that She. has hftrdTy any appetite She herself acknowledges that she sleeps badly. I noticed her yesterday morning in the garden nnder the schoolroom window. One of the girls dropped a dictionary. She started at this slight noise, as if it terrified her. Her nerves are seriously out of order. Can vou prevail upon her to see the doctor?'
Francine hesitated—and made ah excuse. "I.think she would be much more likely, Miss Ladd, to listen to you. Do you mind speaking to her?" "Certainly not."
Mrs. Ellmother was immediately sent for. "What is your pleasure, miss?" she said to Francine."
Miss Ladd interposed: "It is I who wish to. speak to you, Mr?. Ellmother. For some days past, I have been sorry to see you looking ill." "I never was ill in.my life, ma am.
Miss Ladd gently persisted. "I hear that you have lost your appetite." "I never was a great eater, ma'am.'
It was evidently useless to risk any further allusion to Mrs. Ellmother's symptoms. Miss Ladd tried another method of persuasion. "I dare say I may be mistaken," she said "but 1 do really feel anxious about you. To set my mind at rest, will you see the doctor?" r, "The doctor! Do you think I'm going to begin taking physic at my time of life! Lord, ma'm! you do amuse me— you do, indeed!" She burst into a sudden fit of laughter, the hysterical laughter which is on the verge of tears. With a desperate effort she controlled herself, "Please don't make a fool of me again," she said—and left the room. "What do you think now Miss Ladd
Francine appeared to be still on her guard. "I don't know what to think," she aai/1 avnsivplv.
Miss Ladd looked at her in silent surprise, and withdrew. Left by herself, Francine sat wiui her elbows on the table and her face in her hands, absorbed in thought. After along interval, she opened her desk—and hesitated. She took a sheet of note paper— and paused, as if still in doubt. She snatched up her pen, with a sudden recovery of resolution—and addressed these lines to the landlady of an hotel in London "When I was placed under your care, on the night of my arrival from the West Indies, you kindly said I might ask you for any little service which might be within your power. .1 shall be greatly obliged if you can obtain for me, and send to this place a supply of artists' modeling wax—sufficient for the production of a small image."
To be continued in the Sunday Express.]
HOW THE GIRLS BLUFF.
An Innocent Rural Belle Wlio Gets Away with a Jack Pot ou Two Dances. Philadelphia Telegraph.
A craze for draw poker has gradually developed itself in the towns along the Olean division of the New York, Lake Erie Western railroad. It has affected rich and poor, young and old. Timehonored and semi-wicked juchre and dignified and eminently respectful whist are now seldom heard of in lively and social gatherings hereabouts. The fashionable card party now involves an ante of five cents and a limit of twenty-five. Society ladies can talk by the hour about the game, for its mysteries are to them as an open book.
Two well-known young ladies of Oilen -first-family ones at that—happened to meet in the boss dry goods atore of the place the other day. One of them was making a purchase which only the day before she had said she didn't thiak she could afford to make. She was questioned by her fair companion as to why she had changed her mind. What followed is on the word of the store owner: "Jack called last night," said the lady who had changed her mind, "and by and by other company came in, and after awhile somebody suggested a little game, and we made up a board- ante five, ten to come in, and twenty-five limit. We played till 10, and I. was ten cents out, and I felt just awful. Some one said, play one jack pot for a half, and quit.' Everybody agreed. There were five dollars in the pot before
any
one opened. Jack opened for
a half, the mean thing, and all I had to draw to was a monkey flush. Wasn't that awful? Well, everybody came in, and I made up my mind I wasn't going to be scared, and so I chipped along. Jack took only two cards. All the rest took three. 1 threw mine all away and took five. Wasn't I horrible? Jack bet a half. Everybody else saw him. I looked at my hand and raised this bet a half more. There were $8 in the pot. Jack
What? on a five-card draw?'- I said 'Yes.' Then he saw me and raised another half. All the rest dropped out, the mean things. I took another peep at my hand and raised Mr. Jack another half. 'See here, Jenny,' he said, if it was any one else I'd think they were giving me a bluff, but I guess you've got the beating of me, and so I won't invest any more. Take the pot. I opened on three aces,' said Jack, showing 'em down, and I drew in the money. Wasn't it sweet in Jack to think I wouldn't bluff him?" "Perfectly sweet!" exclaimed the fair companion. "What did you hold "I only had one little pair of deuces, Allie," said the innocent manipulator of the jack-pot. "Wasn't it just too "lovely for anything? ht I'd come over and buy the
asn
So I thou, goods to-day.
buy
Isn't it a bargain?"
Women Who Detest Marriage. Woman's Letter to Pittsburg Dispatch. Men marry the rattle-brains of society. They choose the pretty, good-for-nothing girls, for that is the kind they like they run after and marry the liveliest girl at a picnic or ball, though she may be a "holy terror" at home, they rush after the belle and the heiress, though she may be selfish and spoiled, silly they pass by the jewels and take "the snide," for that is all they know, and then, like Adam, they blame the fruits of their own folly on the woman. 'Twas ever thus. But, brethren— we wish to break it to you gently—there are women right here at home who have their own monev to spend as they please, who have their own pleasant homes and congenial occupations,who can,if the fancy seizes them, pack their trunks and take a jaunt to New Orleans, slip off to Washington for a few weeks, take in the cream of New York, or the balmy airs of Florida in short, have a royal time in any way they choose, who call no man master,-and who "wouldn't marry the best man that ever stepped in shoe leather." This will be a shock to you, belovad brethren, but it is none the less true. Women find pleasure and comfort and happiness outside of matrimony. It is not flattering to men, but there is growing disinclination to marriage among women. They are growing more critical as to the measure of a man. He will have to come up to *a nobler, higher Standard, or, in the poetical parlance of the day, he will get "left"
Fossils in Mississippi.
Enterprise (Miss.) Courier. Seeing in the papers the mention of some large fossils now on exhibition at the World's fair brings to mind the fact that there ajre some in this county. On the farm of Mr. Barefield, between Pachuta and Barfiet stations, are the retQalna of_a huge reptile), probably sixty or -few,,
EXPRESS, TEBRE HAUTE, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1,1885.
UNHAPPY CONGRESSMAN, at the last moment, j. 1 marry her. It happ
He ii Slottlv Writing Himself to »wth for Sin Constituents. Washington Stan "It isn't all the perfume of flowers and the smiles of fair women to be a member of congress. We dion't feed on locusts and wild honey and sleep on down," said a weaTy member as he tilted back in his chair and brushed aside the heap of letters piled upon his desk. He had a haggard look in his eye and his right hand hung limp at his side with a pen between the fingers. "If anvbody thinks it's clover, let him try' it! I started out with the idea that it was my duty to answer every letter I got. Well, I have involved myself in a problem of geometrical progression," and lie pointed in a despairing sort of way at the desk before him, the ample waste basket by his side and the floor about him—all fuWof letters. "They are accumulating every day. Every one I answer brings two more, and I answer them all. Just think of it I It makes my head swim. When I first came here I used to go out a little. I went to the theater occasionally, or Tto an entertainment, Or to a reception, ox to see a friend. Now I go liowhere. Each yeaj 1 am .. more closely confined. The walls are closing in around me, and' like the man in the 'Iron Shroud, I am waiting for them to close in and crush me. I've stopped going out. I leave my committee room at the capital only to go to my desk at home I swallow my dinner whole, as it were. I write late at nights-later each nigh t. The progression is working out, arid my mail's bigger eaen day. Presently I shall have to sit up all •night then reduce my meals to five minutes give up smoking. Write, write, write! Oh—well—think! 'Tis a terrible doom slowly to Write one's self to death. The pile of letters is up to my ueck. Soon it'll be over my head—daylight will be shut out—and—then— "No, sir we don't live in clover.' And he drew a long breath &id settled himself down in his chair as if resigned to his impending doom. "Whyj it started this way—it always has a start any member will tell you—it started this way: As soon as I got to congress I got a letter from ohe of my constituents congratulating me upon thy election, and saving that he knew now there would be some legislation the constitution should not be violated I must introduce a bill in the house to prohibit fishing in my district with three hooks to one line 'twas unconstitutional. I answered that letter, bewailing the utter disregard of congress for the national fisheries, and explaining the utter uselessness of attempting class legislation. That settled it. I got four letters from that neighborhood by returning mail, and they kept on increasing until the entire population was represented by autograph letters. My promises to answer any and all letters was heralded all over the country, and I was asked to pass all sorts of bills, from one to regulate the length of prayers to one for the suppression of kissing at pound parties. One man wanted to know whether the rope Guiteau was hung with was hemp or cotton. I referred this letter to the department of of ustice. The attorney general indorsed it to the warden of the jail," who returned it to me with a minute official description of the rope—the material, length and manner of make. This contributed largely to increase my correspondence. Everybody who had something to write about that no one else would notice was told my address, with the assurance that I loved to write letters. A large number of my letters now are applicants for places under the new administration. One man wanted a place that would take him to Canada. He did not not know what particular'place. His doctor told him that ii would benefit his health to live there, and if I" would just look around and find a place there for him with a pretty good salary attached he would like it. 'But, by the way,' he had children just growing up. 1 might take this into consideration, and get him located where there were good free schools. "Another fellow wrote that he would leave it to me to pick out his place for him, but I musn't get the salary below $1,200. He thought I'd be a better judge of good places than he was. "Some men may refer these letters to the waste "basket, but it don't do. They must be answered. I must write good-by. I musS't waste more time talking. 111 have to sit up late to make up fer it. I must write. The walls are closing around me." "Well, my good fellow, what can I do for you?" and lie turned to a suppliant in soldier clothes, who stood at his elbow with persistence in his face and a glazed cap in his hand. "I'm an American by adoption. In 59 I married an American woman with a mule—her grandfather left it to—'
But at this point the petitioner was thrust aside by a Mexican pensioner, who wore three medals and had been a personal friend of Win. Scott's, and wanted his pension increased.
The Uncertainty of Opera. Washington Republican. Onlyxme branch of theatrical business contains more or greater elements of un certainty than Italian opera, and that is English opera. Our friend Carleton has of late been playing in hard luck, as the boys say, and will soon be a standard (I hope the printer won't get that stranded) authority on the truth of the theatrical proverb. "The impressario proposes and the prima donna disposes," or, according to another reading, "The impressario disises and the prima donna discomposes.'' „jfore his first visit here he lost one of his best artists, Alfa Norma, who quitted the company suddenly and went back to New York. Then, with all excellent troupe still, even after this defection, he came here in December, but our people were not ready to go to hear him. Now that |he people may be supposed to have got ready for him he returns with his forces badly crippled by the loss of Mrs. Jessie Bartlett Davis and Richard Golden. There was something singular about the coincident misfortunes which deprived Mr. Carleton of two of his best people almost at the same time, and in such a manner that there was no opportunity to notify the public that he would be compelled to disappoint them after advertising the attractions extensively. By the way, this was not the exhe disappointment, either. The
With some
Mr. Alonzo Hatch was
announced, but I do not remember to have seen his name on the programme nor himself on the stage at Ford's during ihe week. Mr. Golden, it was learned, had had a painful operation'performed on him in Richmond, and had not quite recovered from the" effects of it. Mrs. Davis' absence was unexpected but later in the week it was given out quietly that she had been detained at her home in Chicago by an accident to her baby, who, it seems, fell out of bed on his precious little head. Cnriously enough, it was a strikingly similar accident to her baby which caused me, erster to suddenly desert Col. "Mapleson in Baltimore not many months ago, leaving the gallant Colonel to placate the disappointed Orioles with harrowing portraitures of the loving mother's distress and anguish over the misfortunes of her child.,
She Preferred Death.
Waenington Letter. These congressmen are quite like-other people. They enjoy their little jokes and like to rap one another on what may seem tender spots occasionally. Robertson, of Kentucky, who succeeds Proctor Knott, is, in the absence of Bedford, of Colorado, the reddest headed, reddest faced, reddest whiskered man in the house.
Riding up to the capitol in a bob-tail car a day or two ago were RobertsoD and a number of other members, mostly from the west. They were passing jokes in a promiscuous way, killing time as the raw boned car horse dragged them .slowly up the hill. (L _j "I don't Know whether you fever heard of it, gentlemen," Said one of Ithe party, "but they have a lawtjri Kentifcky quit*" peculiar to »he state, aTrti^ifeicJh«a mad my friend Robertson here famous In a certain way. It
come forward and
happened," he continued -"«•«. as the interest began''to
9rbertsoa
began
grow more Intense ana *»».. ®tpr to grow more embarrassed a* £he ecu., of observation", "that a woman was be hanged there one day. At tie last moment, when they had her upon the cart, under the gallows, the usual question was asked, whether there was any man there who would save her from death by marry inkier. Robertson was there, and, tender-hearted fellow that he is, came to the front %nd said, 'Yes, I will.' The wdman was blindfolded. She was told of the offer, and began, naturally, to ask for a description of the man she was about to marry to escape death. Thev described him as well as they could—his age, his size, his shapely hand and handsome foot and manly lorm, when suddenly she asked the color Of his hair and beard. An attendant whispered the truth in her ear. 'Then drive on the kyart, please,' she .said, and that ended Robertson's matrimonial ventures."
There was a roar of laughter, in which Robertson, who knows how to take a joke, joiued, and the crowd hurried out as the car reached the capitol steps.
HOLDING Wl lN»tCBMENT8.
A Bowl of Coffee, Two Donglinnts and Lodging for Teu Cents. Chicago Tirbune. "A bowl of coffee,'two doughnuts and lodging for ten cents," was the sign that hung froiii 319 Clark street yesterday,and caused several loafers to wonder what caused the manager to offer such inducements. Forty tattered customers were enjoying the coffee and doughnuts when a reporter called to inspect the place. It was not embellished in any great degree, but the surroundings were perfectly adapted to the class of patronage. "Competition is the life of trade," said the manager, "and the one who offers the best inducements is the man who is to walk off with the products of the bakery." "Do you find it a paying business?"' "Since I introduced the coffee ai^ doughnut, scheme trade has begun to boom—forty beds, all full last night. There is any amount of ten-cent lodging houses, but they donH throw in any inducements but the coffee and doughnut scheme will become universal before long. You see, a lodger generally wants a bowl of some kind of stimulant in the morning and though a bowl of ^coffee is not just the thing, still, a man prefers it to water. Some would rather have whisky, but they are dying off." •. W "What kind of coffee is it "It's not Mocha, I'll assure you but it's invigorating as well as strengthening." "The doughnuts, I presume, are flexible?" "Y-e-s 'they're *of the army cracker kind, invulnerable to tender gums, but when soaked in the coffeeare palatable." "Of course you "have feather beds and air-cushion mattresses?" 'No, sir, you're mistaken I'm not running the Palmer house. The beds are on the soft-plank order, with horse blankets for covering. There are no electric bells or Turkish bath rooms in this house, either. I'm running on the salubrious plan, and my guests are all healthy men." "Are you open all night?" "Yes but if you want a bedyou would better take it in advance, for 1 expect a rush. Doing a big business—very."
The reporter bid the manager adieu, and promised tp call later.
FAMILY SKELETON.
How th« Lat« Earl of Lonsdale Died. Special Cablegram to the Globe-Democrat. LONDOU, January 27.—Mr. Edmund Yates, editor of the World seems determined to give Lord Lonsdale abundant opportunity for future libel suits. Mr. Yates is now undergoing imprisonment in Holloway jail for allowing Lady Stradbroke to say in the World that Lo?d Lonsdale had eloped with a young woman who was unnamed in the paragraph, but was easily identified as Lady Grace Augusta Fane, daughter of the Earl of Westmoreland. Her father and her uncle, the Duke of Beaufort, vigorously assisted Lord Lonsdale in prosecuting the libel suit against Mr. Yates, and their iniluence at the home office was sufficient to prevent his having many of the comforts and small luxuries which are usually allowed to the rich prisoners in Holloway jail. Mr. Yates now says frankly that he is sorry for the trouble that has been brought upon the Westmoreland family, and he sincerely hopes that Lady Stradbroke will hereafter keep to herself the knowledge regarding the acts of her titled but scampish relatives. He has, however, no great respect for the Lonsdale family, and he makes a revelation regarding the last earl of that name, which would probably never have got into print if it had not been for Mr. Yates' prosecution and imprisonment. The story relates to the elder brother of the present Lord Lonsdale. He was a" young gentleman of 27 when he died, two years ago. He had been married for four years to Lady Constance
Herbert, sister to the Earl of Pembroke, and had had one daughter, who is now 3 years old. Mr. Yates says that this gentleman "ended a disreputable life by a most awful death, which was so shudderingly hideous- in its details that only Zolo's pen could fitly describe it." Mr. Yates says that it is an open secret that his late lordship died in a fashionable brothel, and in the arms of a burlesque actress. These facts were known at the time to the staff of the World, but they were suppressed at the entreaty of the Lonsdale family. "And now," concludes Mr. Yates, "I am rewarded with a prison." The Chloral Habit and Life Insurance. "The chloral habit,'^gays the Baltimore Underwriter, is "steadily on the increase, not only among sufferers from constant insomnia, but among persons subject to milder forms of nervous irritation, to the strain and excitement of speculative ventures, or to the wear and tear of late hours and fashionable dissipation. This nepenthe is more seductive to pecmle of refinement than the juice of the poppy, and habitual surrender to its domination is harder to break than the opium habit. To the usual questions in the application for life insurance as to the use or abuse of alcohol drinks, tobacco and opium, may well be added scrutiny as to hydrate of chloral, for many persons who never use the former would nave to plead guilty to more or less frequent recourse to the latter."
:*f':i.
A iPortnne in Celery.
Philadelphia Ledger. Fifteen years ago Len dert De Brazen, a Hollander, was a poor gardener near Kalamazoo, Mich., trying to make a living off of some marshy land he had purchased. After other things had failed, he experimented with celery, and is now a rich man. What was a dozen years ago a swamp is to-day a vast celery field, be side which a hundred-acre lot is but arden. The shipping season begins in
Tuly, increases until the holidays, then gradually disappears until the crop is lisposed of in the spring. Fifty tons daily are now being s«nt out, and the crop of 1884 will reach 5,000 tons. Twenty thousand stalks are laised upon an acre of ground. It is said that 2,000 persons in that locality are engaged in this industry. The Monument as an Observatory.
The Washington monument has already been turned to a scientific use. Prof. Simon Newcomb has been using the top of the monument for measuring the velocity of light, and believes that he has obtained more accurate data for estimating the distance and magnitude of the snn The velocity of light is measured with a degree of accuracy never before obtained. Prof. Newcomb tells a reporter of the Philadelphia Times that he thinks the error in his calculations cannot exceed one four-htindred-millionth part of a second. It is-quite possible that these and other usee of tlie unsightly pile on the Potomac may render it beautiful for usefulness, and therefore a gt Wmahinffton.
A WOMAN'S WEALTH.
ParirtmnwT of One Who Banks as the Richest In the Country. Mi*. E. H. Greene, whose alleged( trotAks la connection with the Cisco bank f'aiWr* fecefred so much attention.of late, has considerable of a local history. From information gathered from several parties iii the city, all of whom had more or less business relations with her, it is easy to judge that so Shiall a matter as withholding $500,000 or so, due the bank by her husband, would be enough to throw her into strong hysteria. It is the general opinion of her St. Louis business associates that had she been swindled or cheated out of a five-dollar bill it would haVe had an equally alarming result. "Money-making and money-keeping, particularly the latter," said a gentleman, "seem in her case to have been mild idiosyncrasies inherent in her nature, but qualities which showed themselves^ under systematic training, to be susceptible of high cultivation. Her vast fortune,"Climated at $35,000,000 to $40,000,000,- is not counted and estimated by her in any such vague -terms. Her mind seems to be incapable of grasping such enormous terms, and her money is, to her, made up cf separate dollars, each of which contains 100 cents, neither more nor less, and the accumumulation of these small coins is one object of her existence."
Her career in this city dates back some time, and the first record found of any importance relates to the foreclosure and sale of the building on the southeast cor-ner-of Third and Locust streets, in 1879, under a deed of trust given by General McNeil. She bought the property in, and immediately assumed control. The building at the time was in a notoriously filty condition and it is said that she personally superintended the cleaning process and even used the scrubbing oftish and broom herself. Certain plumbing arrangements, usually thought absolutely necessary in an office building, were deemed by her to- be extravagantly wasteful of water, and the edict: went forth that they must be removed.
she was on hand to superintend. It may be safely assumed that for once there was no Overtime charged in that plumber's bill. Had she been able to do the work herself there would probably have been no plumber, and the necessary expense manifestly required retrenchment amd reform in some direction to offset that expense. So the lead pipe and other appliances were taken across the street, and she tried to dispose of them to one of the landlords of the numerous office buildings in that vicinity. She was unsuccessful, and the plumber got partly even by purchasing tnem at what she deemed a ruinously low rate. On the occasion of her last visit to St. Louis she stopped at the La clede hotel, and was accompanied by her husband and two children. Personally she is far from handsome, but is rather above medium weight, and has a general air of great determination of purpose and untiring energy. Her husband was a man of above six feet in height and looked like a very monarch—when she was absent. No one of the quartet was extravagantly dressed. A $12 suit of hand-me-downs was apparently the only suit of clothes Hubby possessed, and he was apparently under the thumb of_ his vigilant spouse, and apparently but little affection was wasted between them.
Mrs. Green herself had nothing about her dress to signify that she possessed an almost fabulous fortune. She was so simply, dressed that she would have ordinarily have been taken for a maid of all work, temporarily out of employment.
The children accompanied their mother wherever she went, and the trio wasted but litt'e ei. the street-car monopolies. The children were plainly dresred in ready-mades, and were not toted" along for mere ornanient—they made themselves useful in a variety of ways.
Pier relations with her agents and with her tenants have always been marked by that same watchful economy which is the ruling passion of her life. At the time of her visit to this city repairs were necessary 0:1 much of her property, but not a bill was paid until she had inspected each and every piece of work and visited personally each mechanic to see that there had been
110
overcharge. The
bursting of a water pipe on the premises of one of her buildings nearly caused a panic in her household when the water meter was examined and the bill tent 011. The following is not vouched for by those who knew her, but the story was current here "at the time of her visit, and is given for what it is worth: It seems that her husband had a birthday while here, and for some two months previous he had received various and numerous intimations of a handsome present that she was to give him on that occasion. Her husband naturally thought that he was to receive a million at least, was :respondingly elated, and told every one as much. On the morning of his natal day lie found under his plate at lnvukfav a. large envelope which contained something very bulky. He opened it, his wife giving him an approving smile, and disclosed twenty-five one dollar hills, lie was forced to make the best of the situation, but doubtless felt sore over the mutter. The above are samples of -this woman's daily habits and iwHiricjlie-s they might be multiplied indefinitely, but all would exhibit tne same one characteristic—an intense thirst for gold. It is a mono-mania with her, and is more.of a disease than otherwise. A necessary expense is a misfortune to her—an overcharge a crime that, makes her wonder that our social fabric does not totter arid fall in amass of chaotic ruin.
Poieon in Kissing.
At a county medical meeting in Utica, N. Y., last Tuesday, Dr. M. O. Terry presented a paper on "Kissing as a Medium of Communicating Disease," which read as follows:
Lives are daily sacrificed and diseases are daily communicated by the promiscuous habit of kissing. As a custom, it should be abandoned among women^in their meetings.
It is within my remembrance that a boy was suddenly stricken down with that dreadful malady, diphtheria. The mother kissed the son most affectionately, but it was the kiss of death for her. I have no doubt other physicians have noted similar observations.
In the sacred precincts of the fireside, when death has laid its relentless hands on one of its members, the common practice of kissing is liable to induce septicemia, and thus other precious lives be
exposed to the venomous sting of death. As you can see more easily the action of a drug when given in a large dose, so you will see more pointedly the danger arising from kissing by giving an illustration of a malignant disease.
There is no longer any doubt in regard to the inocuability and infectiousness of oonsumption. It is not an established fact that it Is not contagious. When yyi remember that more die by its insidious hands than from any other cause, but few
families
or relatives of families can be
exempt from it. This being true, should not persons visiting such unfortunate individuals do away with the accustomed mode of greeting by kissing? A disease which has resisted the treatment of the moat skilled up to the present day should be prevented if possible, Is humairdife to be sacrificed for the sake of conforming to a custom Change the custom, and other ways of greeting will be equally popular,and mtich more sensible and safe. The bacilius of phthisis is a minute form of organized life which acts so subtle that the introduction of it into the system would not be manifested by any immediate symptoms. As surely as "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump," just as surely will be the microscopical germs multiply in the system in the most marvelous manner. Soon there will be a hacking cough, some elevation of the temperature, hoarseness or or shallow voice, and the work of destruction now noticeable goes on until its victim can no longer resist its invasion, and death claims the victory. There is a disease more terr®e than the two previously mentioned. kt ib peculiar to no grade in the SOcial^R.]'^ jg handed down """J® JjJ1® ^liSWaiirth generawh£i» c»^d in
ate, destroys the heatifi'g,* softens and disintegrates bones, and in its hereditary descent produces malforn&ations of brain and body. It is known as syphjllis. It exists vety extensively in this country, but more so in other parts of the globe. A person may have the appearance of health, yet the system may be poisoned by it. Such a person kissing another upon the lips free from the disease could communicate it. Every physician has seen these cases in hospitals or in private ractiee. Laying aside the question of heredity, a dissolute husband may convey it to his wife, and she in turn to k&r children or lady friends through kissing.
What New York's Mrs. Grundy Says. Mew York Mail and Express.
That the Episcopal church is ju#t now very much and unfortunately criticised. That a funny mistake last week was sending out wrong dates for dinner-par-ties.
That violet ink hits been brought back into style by note^cribbling young ladies.
That a Murray Hill girl has been discovered who does not possess a tuilor-made suit."
That the retail shop keepers report a very decided improvement in their business.
That leading actors are now quite busy coaching young ladies for amateur theatricals.
That prominent ladies oT society now •all have the fuH-sued-portrait-in-oil-craze.
That a good many mining stocks can not be purchased exclusively by the pound.
That the modern artist doesn't wear long hair, shabby clothes and live solely •n ait.
That the new generation of "society" pegle have things all their own way this season.
That a good m»j receptions nowadays are magnified by the newspapers into "balls." V'.v
That the fashionable young leaders of
They were removed, and again he German are becoming very much ei'
hausted^ That everybody remarks upon creasing nuriber Of informal funerals.
the inprivate
That Mr. Gosse's lectures at private houses are the correct erase among literary ladies,
That it is highly important poisoned candy should be kept out of the reach of milady's pog.
That Florida hotelkeepers are wonder, ing if the present condition of things will continue long.
That the latest scandal tells how "a gentleman hit his wife's maid on the head with a poker."
That voting ladies of the period are trying to "learn half a dozen foreign languages at once.
That everybody's Sallie or Johnar seems to be home from school with •whooping cough.
That there will be" a great exodus of New Yorkers to Montreal, next week, to attend the carnival.
Low Heels for Soldiers,
Toronto fllobe. M. Marcy, experimenting apd studying tk* March of French soldiers, discovered that low heels have a favorable influence on the pace which a persdn walks, and that the rythm of the step has an important influence on the speed. The rythm was studied by means of an electric bell, actuated by a pendulum of variable length to enable the subject to keep exact time, and the distance traveled was recorded on the odograpk by elefitric signals sent along the line every fifty meters traversed. It was then found that the length of the step incrtfased little until sixty-five steps per minute are taken it then decreased until seventy-live steps per minute are taken it then decreased until seventy-five, and afterward increases until-a higher rythm is reached. The speed of travel increases with the acceleration of the rythm ,op to eighty-five steps per minute,' and decreases at higher rythms.
Key West and Havana Cigars,./ Boston Journal. There is not a leaf of tojjaeco grown on the island of Key West. It all comes from Cuba, and is manufactured into cigars, which ought for all reasont- to be as good as those of Havana, .but for some mysterious cause they are not There* is supposed to be some fragrant potency in the air of Havana which gives cigars a flavor they can get in 110 other locality, but what it is and why its charm does not exist elsewhere neither the tobacconist nor meteorologist can explain. Tobacco grown front the same stock, manufactured by the sanje men in the same way, has a different flavor, or boiiquet,".as they caii it, ii" rolled into cigars in Key West froin that it has if done up in,Havana.
The Romance of Kvarts Lile. Senator-elect Kvarts is aiuongthe statesmen who figured in youthful love romances. He fell iU love with his wife when she was Its and he a green boy at college* She was the daughter of Governor Wardner, of Vermont, and was as pretty as young Evarts was homely. They became engaged at her father's home in Vermont, and Evarts went away to New York, promising to return when he had made enougli to warrant the proposed union. At 25 he had made a name for himself as a lawyer and was a member of one of the chief New York law firms, of one making, if is said, $60,000 a •ear. At that time he married, and his wife, afterbearing him thirteen children, is still well and happy.
Eye-Glasses from the Mayflower. Troy Times. Something else has been discovered that came over in the Mayflower. This time it is a pair of spectacles that were worn by one of the pilgrims. The bows are of steel, an eight of an inch wide, and the glass is as thick as plate glass, making the weight of the spectacles live ounces. From such ponderous appliances as these, then, have the modern eyeglasses of the typical Boston girl been derived, says the Boston'Herald, andf it thoughtfully adds: "This also accounts for the large noses of the pilgrim#. They had to have been."
The Birthplace of Monsoon In lhf plains of India at Ae commencement of the monsoon storms occur in which the lightning runs like »nakes all over the sjty at the rate of three or four flashes in a second, and the thunder roars without a break for frequently one or two hours at a time. Yet it is very rare that any tree or animal is struck by the electric current. The explanation of this- is the great depth of the stratum of heated air next the ground, which keeps the clouds at such a height that most of the flashes pass from cloud t* cloud and very few reach the earth.
The nouses of the Abyssinian#, The majority of houses in Abyssinia are plastered inside with mud. Within live the occupants with cattle, fowls, dogs cats aud a Noah's ark of insects, which the natives foster with the greatest care by not touching soap and using very little water. There is plenty of water, however, and the soap grows on trees, but an Ethiopian will tell you without a blush that he is necessarily washed at birt h, washes himself on liis marriage® morn, and 1 topes to be washed alter death.
Bernhardt Has Fits.
Paris Figaro. Y': .In the last act of "Theodora," on Tues day evening', Mme. Bernhardt met with a deplorable accident. Near theflu^lof the scene with M. Marais she was suddenly taken with a nervous fit, and fell over backward with great foroe, and as if lifeless. The curtain was lowered, and a few moments elapsed before M. Marais appeared and announced to the audience that the actress was happily out of
!Pr
PUNCH IN SOCIETY,
Too Much Liquor end Not Knoalk Ercla.lV.B8.. ,t Wa*hlngrton Inceptions. Washington Special.
The recent scandalous outbreak at a ball given at Castle Stewart suggests tlie ide* of the necessity of having
a
keeper for
the majority of weak-headed young men who co out in Washington society The trouble with most of the reception give., in Washington is the unrestrained furnishing of liquor to the guests. A person who gives a deception in this citv Without providing enormous tub-like punch bowls full to overflowing with strong punch voted slow. Then
the
re
are generally too manv peobU invited. Many of them are sonally unknown to the family
e:JTn(,
the entertainment, and are consequent^ under less restraint. It is a custom wit), a number ol leading entertainers to invite to their general receptions everv one who calls upon them. In such
:wx
a
large number of the guests perfect strangers in the house where they are received. This fact permits eheekv people to go to large receptions without anv invitation. A number of easily accewible houses of Washington are simply regarded as so many lunch-routes, 'and are treated accordingly. Probably in no city in "the country occur more'disgracefnl scenes than are common incidents at some of the overcrowded receptions of this city, it is not an uncommon thing for young men to become thoroughly intoxicated at fashionable receptions. It is only wheresucli a scene occurs as the one at Castle Stewan that the public attention is called ^the fact. At the Russian minister's theab night a young society fellow becadSiso much overcome that he fell down arid hsil to be carried home. It was at place, last winter, that a young a stir by sitting down by the sidej old lady chaperon whom he did not and then gently lopped over on herl shoulder and went to sleep. This yotS man who so disgraced himself upon tlfl_ occasion was immediately shipped oft' ii Europe for reform. He lias been reform^ ing in Paris now for over a year.
IS!
baojuj.^
Those who'abuse the hospitality of eutertainers in Washington are generalir •rery young men. The atmosphere of Washington is not wholesome to the development of a good class of young feF lows. There are no business omvirtnnitW--1 of any kind here. There jftRTscope fer a proper manly ambitioh for the average youngster. The result is the development of the poorest possible kind of young men. They are taught to look forward to a government position as the summit of earthly ambition, and to circulate in Washington society as the extreme of the most ardent desire. These fellows read nothing, and spend their time idling about the cheap drinking places of the town. Those who hav« official connections throngh their father* or their relatives use the houses where they visit as places in which to get drunk without cost. The number of these animals at the public receptions of Washington is relatively small. The average of Washington society is very high. One meets here in going out more noteworthy and distinguished people, than in any place in the country. Tae one great flaw in the social picture is the presence of those unlicked cubs, who should be marked and dropped*
The Schools ofc .New Xork. H«w York Commercial The school attendanHB^he state of New Yorkforthe vear eMpblug.20.'84. was 1,000,057, a decreaseHg th# year previous, whioitS for by the fact that the scho legally shortened by one month an&tetT* days. The attendance at colleges, normal and private schools was 172,123, in addition to the public,, school's total. value of school properties in the si
f900,000.
1,000 from piccounted year was
iven at $31,937,961of The cost of maintaining the common schools, academies, teachers'institutes, normal schools and other institutions supported by the state, with the salaries of the state officials, was $12,212,-v 361.
Secret Revolt Against the Multan Philadelphia Pres.. There are few intelligent Mussulmaiw who do not secretly or openly profess si* preme disgust at the Sultan and abhorrence of his system of government. The Pachas and governors of the- various disj tricts are required to send a specified sum. lo Constantinople, the monev as best they may. Their meujdit-«/__eoi-lecting the sheep tax is typical. owner ofra flock is rated at so much a head, and the rate is nearly the full value of a sheep. Therefore, to secure the means of living, he keeps as many more, than he pays for as he possibly can, a system of cheating which the Turks cap by perpetually raising the rate.
Victor Napoleon's Diplomacy. Brooklyn Eagle. .Prince Victor Napoleon has not only attracted all the young Bonapartists to.,.., his side, but many of the leading functionaries of the Second Empire throng his bachelor salons every Thursdfiv for «hat^ and a Cup of tea, the onlyF""refreshmenfc served. He is rathe? a silent young man, and is going into training for full Napoleon V. Oi course, he has no connection with the house over the way—his papa's. But he is along way off from the throne, about as distant as the Compte de Pans.' The republic is very portly and healthyr has no signs of premature death, and the only danger it h&s to encounter is—Bis? ,: marck's love.
The Revolver in Paris.
Paris Morning News. The carrying of revolvers has become alarmingly common in Paris. Almost as ny women as men are armed with, them. A gentleman belonging ®oneof the respectable clubs said yesterdiqf^S^gj left the club at 1 o'clock. There was nF porter in the hall and I did not know where my great-coat was, but I thought I should recognize it because I had a m* volver in one pocket. Well, I touched twenty great-coats, and in all I felt revolvers, and I was still searching whin, the porter entered and gave me whic* he had forgotten to hang up.'
Illiteracy 'iy""""
The Governor of IrWRgfc, Russ' out some months ag{MS) explore th ritory over which he ruled, and across a town of 500 people, with houses, four ancient churches and uable Cossac relics, of which the Ru1 government has never heard. This town was found to have a
and
dan"
r«Iter three'
ih
1
yr
I, S*. if L-
repubJi
fprm of government, although not on the inhabitants could read i^wnte_ language. Oddly enough they loTd Th* governor they were sorry they had been discovered.
Transfusion for Cholera.
Boekn transcript. Transfusion^f blood has been successfully tried in the collapse «t cholera by a member of the Paris faculty of medicine. The patient, who was moribund when the remedy was tried, recovered from tn death coma ]n a tew minutes, and fro tlie
tuicomaju a —',— i_ moment of transfusion spontaneous! 1 rapidly improved. Human blootf was employed in the case
nf
transfusion spontaneously
bnt
menu are to be made with be blood1 of domestic animals, particularly eattle.
A New Tipple.
Philadelphia Ledger. A peculiar article produced by the negroes of Georgia is called by them persimmon bread. Five pounds of it, it issaid, will make nearly a barrel of .delicious beer, sweet, healthful and non-intoxfl-oating. The persimmons are gathered when thoroughly ripe, the mass fc kneaded till it is of the consistency of hre*^ dough, made inti» a cake, and into an oven and baked. winter, and can be
,lsed
Jil
spring.
-r wfid to the botS