Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1886 — THE ALASKANS. [ARTICLE]

THE ALASKANS.

Baroness Burpett Couits has the satisfaction of knowing that her yonng American-born hnsband beat the Mnrqnis of Lome for a seat in the Honse of Commons. The' Marquis is the Queen’s son-in-law, and it was her Majesty who snubbed the Baroness because she married a young man. A Binghampton commercial agent wore celluloid collars. The train on which he vrt.a riding slackened its speed, when he thrust his head out of the window to learn the cause. At that instant a spark from the engine struck his collar and ignited it. His whiskers were scorched, but fortunately he escaped serious injury. At a recent marriage in Ohio the bride, a Miss Morris, wore a dre3s that was imported from Paris in 1742, for a wedding, and has been in the family ever since, being used only on such occasions. It was worn again in 177 Gas a wedding dress, but not a?ain till the other day, when Miss Morris donned it, and it is in almost as good condition as when new. Cassius M. Clay, though not .far from 75, is managing a large farm in Kentucky, and nearly as vigorous in mind and body as he was in his prime. He has had a checkered and picturesque career, having been a lawyer, legislator, soldieiy lecturer, banker, politician and diplomat. Of late be has withdrawn from public life, albeit he periodically furnishes his views on leading questions to the newspapers. Three relatives of Schiller are living in Vienna, who did not—-being in mourning at their mother’s death—make themselves known to the committee in charge of the Schiller festival of 1859. They are the sisters Clotilde, Mathilde, and Sophia Kodweiss, daughters of F. E. Kodweiss, who was the son of E. J. Kodweiss, who was the brother of Schiller’s mother, Elizabeth Dorothea Kodweiss. Oe the nineteen Presidents elected to that position, four, W. H. Harrison, Zacliariah Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, and Jame 3 A. Garfield, died in office. Of the Vice Presidents, and those acting as such, George Clinton, Elbriflge Gerry, William E. King, Henry. Wilson, Thomjts Hendricks, died in office. Of the forty Presidents and Vice-Pres-idents, nine, or over 20 per cent, have died in office. This is a greater ratio of mortality than lias befallen any other class of men.

A farmer in Middlebury, Connecticut, lias discovered a valuable assistant in his farm work. lie lias a 13-year-old ox which in the past has annoyed him greatly because of a propensity to shake apples from the trees by interlocking his herns in the limbs. Being anxious to secure his immense Rpple crop before heavy frosts the strong ox was turned into the orchard and was soon discovered vigorously at work shaking the apple-tree limbs. The “farmer says die - ga 111 ere d more than :500 bushels of apples with the help of hi:? willing bovine. 5 . 'thiE following sentence written by Alfonso, the late King of Spain, in the autograph album of Miss Foster, the daughter our last Minister to that country, be read with special interest since his death: “A la Senorita Foster: El gefe del pais do la tradicion y los remerdon, que es un etusiasta admirador do las gigantescas creaciones de la libre America, del pais del parvenir,., Alfonso, Marzo, 1881,” The translation of this is:. “The chief of the country of tradition and memories —who is an enthusiastic admirer of the gigantic accomplishments of free America, the country of the future,”

It used to be a humor of Sarah Bernhardt, when she felt particularly hateful and sour of soul, to get in a coffin and pretend to take a nap. But Bernhardt’s playfulness seemed trifling, indeed, in view of the dreadful misadventure of Mme. Natalie, who also trod the French stage. While Mme. Natalie was playing in pantomime ~£t the Folies-Dramatiques, she swooned and passed into the state of rigidity that marks one who is dead. So they put the poor girl ipto a coffin. But, lo! at the first rap of the hammer on the lid Mme. Natalie awoke and stood up, to ' the amazement and terror of all at the grave. Mme. Natalie had been in a trance. That was in 1836. She reappeared upon the stage O 1838, and acted for thirty years, retiring then on a pension of G,475 francs. A few days ago this noted woman was again placed in a coffin, nor did she start when the lid, with < melodramatic solemnity, was tapped threo times. The millionaire roadities of New York have erected private stables of late years on a more luxurious scale than many a residence. Mr. William Rockefeller's stable oh Fifty-fifth street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, cost $45,000. Mr. Flagler, also of the Standard Oil Company, has a largo* liable on Fifty-fifth street, west of Sixth Avenue, which cost him $50,000. Tlie Vanderbilts’ stables, corner Madison Avenue and Fifty-second atreet, covers three city lots, and the

property is worth SBO,OOO. Mr. William K. Vanderbilt’s stable on Fiftyeighth street, within a stone’s throw of Firth Avenue, is valued at SOO,OOO, The building that shelters Muxey Cobb and Neta Medium, and the ground on which' it stands, corner bf Fifty-eighth street and Fourth Avenue,, cost Mr. Isador Chontield $45,000, But the most expensive and rechenche palatial stable of them all is Mr. Frank Work’s, where Edward and Dick Swiveller are domiciled on Fifty-eighth street, a few doors oast of Seventh Avenue; the estimated cost of the property was SIOO,000.

A flood of light is let in on the singular spread of Socialism in the German capital by statistics showing that in Berlin no less than 94,00(1 families, comprising nearly 400,000 individuals, have to live, sleep, and often work in “suites” of a single room. In 3,000 of these rooms there is neither stove nor fireplace. One-fourth of their tenants are poor lodgers. Twentyfive thousand families live in cellars under sanitary conditions that are characterized as absolutely shocking. Such meagre accommodations as the despised New York tenements afford, with their two or three rooms to each family, are at a premium, and would be accounted a great boon by thousands. Only of the poorest and the best classes of dwellings—those renting at 10,000 reicbmarks a vear or over—is * there abundance, for the Berlin builder is a speculator and not a philanthropist The poor have not even the chance of going to church of a Sunday to meditate on better things to come, were they so minded; for all the Protestant churches and chapels in Berlin have together hardly seats for 50,000, while the servant girls alone number over 60,000.

The latest novelty in jewelry consists of a curious and effective portebonheur that has been knowq,in Egypt for the past eighteen centuries, and is made of gold or silver and worn as a charm or bracelet by ladie3, and a cravat pin by men. The name of this pros-perity-bringing talisman is “oudja,” signifying luck and happiness, and shows the eye of Horn , from which a tear-drop flows, intended to represent the River Nile. The peculiar property of tho “oudja” is to bring good luck; but the Pharaohs looked upon it as an emblem not osly capable of warding oft' adversity, but also of ltavjng a large influence over the goodly yielding of the earth, containing, as it does, the main principles and fertilitv, i. e., fire represented by the sun, Horans, and water, by the tear flowing as the Nile. This charming little amulet is being adopted by many members of the aristocracy, and is presented by friends one to the other with the graceful wishes usual on such occasions, to such an extent that by Christmas, not a Parisian with a particle of superstition will exist without his or her “oudja.” The bangle pendants are made of gold and precious stones, of pure gold and silver, to accommodate all sorts ©f conditions and purses.

The late Wm. H. Vanderbilt’s home is a palace of which a Doge of Venice might have been proud. It cost hint about $2,000,030, It is ©f brown stone and is mere elegant than showy in ap pearance. It lias a fine gallery of paintings which is open to artists and others at certain intervals. Here are examples of the best work of contemporary artists both in this country andin Europe; here are canvasses by Corot, Meissonior, Daubigny, Jean Francois Millet, Delacroix, Whistler, Mbran, Miliais, Watts, and many others, hot to mention the sculptors represented. Mr. Vanderbilt is said to have been a better judge of paintings than some had supposed. The appointments of hi* palace—for it is nothing less, are elegant, not to say gorgeous, in the extreme. One of tbe bronze doors is said to*have cost SBO,000, and the bronze ratling around the house $60,000. But it happens that the splendid house is overdecorated. It is too-too, as the early icathetes would, say. There is scarcely a spot big enough to place ypur little fingernail that is not covered with some device, the result of money and art. Mr. Vanderbilt has been in the habit of giving art receptions, and tickets for these were eagerly sought by connoisseurs and society people. Very recently, however, he announced that he would give no more public views of his art works, and for the last year thetreasures ho had collected from two •continents have been visible only to his intimate friends and visitors of the family. His collection of contemporary and, other French art he valued at over $1,000,000. A grand fancy-dress ball was given in tho new mansion the night of March 26, 1883, and on this occasion, for the first time, the actors arid other shining lights of the first society of the city appeared in Mr. Vanderbilt’s drawing-rooms. The ball was the event of the season, and was said to have cost tbe opulent host $40,000,

A benefit tociety in London, lately established, has some good features. Its basis is the payment into a common fund of $25 a year by the firm, and from two to six shares ar© allotted to each workman, according to the average amount of.his weekly earnings. On euch of these share he pays 5 cents a week. Sickness brings $1 per share; after three months 50 cents a share is paid. In case of |a death each wo~kmah is taxed 50 cents. v

Their Antiquity—queer I dean About Steal—The Bout Children in the World. In his report to Congress of the Point Barrow polar expedition, Lieut. Bay devotes pne chapter to the natives of Alaska. , Of origin and descent, he saya, we could get no trace, there being no record of events kept among them. Their language abounds in legends, but none of these gave any data by which we coaid judge how long these desolate shores have been inhabited. That the ancestors of the people have made it their home for ages is shown by the rains of ancient villages and winter huts along the seashore and in the interior. On the point where the station was established were mounds making the sites of three hnts, dating back to the time when they had no iron, and men “talked like dogs.” AtPerigniak a group of mounds mark the site of an ancient village. It stands in the midst of a marsh, a sinking of the land cansing it to t>e flooded and consequently abandoned, as it is their Custom to select the high and dry points of land along seashores for their permanent villages. The fact of our finding a pair of wooden goggles twenty-six feet below the surface of the earth points conclusively to the great lapse of time since these shores were first peopled by the race of man. - They are a robust, healthy people, fairer than the North American Indian, with brown eyes and straight black hair. Then men are beardless -Until they attain the age of frjpm 20 to 25 years, and eyen then it is very light and scattering, and is always clipped close in the winter; at that season they also cut Of their eyebrows and tonsure their crown like a priest, with bangs over their forehead. Their hands and feet are extremely small and symmetricab They are graceful in their movements when unencumbered by heavy clothing. * They are kind and gentle in disposition and hospitable to strangers; though they may rob a stranger of every means of obtaining a subsistence one moment., they will divide with him their last piece of meat the next. They have no form of government and live in a condition of anarchy. Though given to petty pilfering they rarely, if ever, break into a cache or enter a tent of hut for that purpose. During the first winter we had stoves, of which . they were in great need, in a Sibley tent, and they all knew they were there; and although the tent was tied, with no regiilar guard over it, nothing was ever disturbed, though if anything was carelessly left out it would be stolen at once. They never make the slighest resistance to our reclaiming property when discovered, and would laugh about it as though it were a good joke. A more obedient or a better lot of children cannot be found in all Christendom. I never saw one of any age do a vicious or mean " act, and while they were always around the station during the fall and winter, they did no mischief, but, on the contrary, would busy themselves in shoveling the snow out of the tunnels and running on errands and doing any work they could for a little food each day. The children would wait around the door for members of the party to come out to take their daily exercise, and would accompany each member, and every few moments they would say “nanmitanity” (now let me see); they would scan the traveler’s faco for frost-bites, and were ever ready with a handful of snow to be applied, should they delect the slightest sign of freezing. The games were very what we see played among children of our own race, and in imitation of the pursuits of the elders, we often saw them with play-houses cut into the hard snow, with snow images set ujj and the little fur-clad mites of humanity bustling around, playing keepingffiouse afnd making calls; ’with the thermometer at 40 degrees below zero.

There is no marriage ceremony among them, but children are often betrothed by their parents at an early age, and this promise is faithfully kept, and they enter upon their marriage relation at the age of 12 to 15 years. Where there has been no childhood engagement the mother makes selection of the wife for her son, and the girl selected is invited to the lxrase, where she takes the place Of a servant for a short time, doing the housework and cooking, generally returning to her father’s iglee to sleep. They often have family disagreements, the husband resorting to blows when the wife is sulky and disobedient, sometimes with the result of her running away. We knew of one instance, where, owing to a slight mistake the husband had made in his estimate of his wife’s character, he obtained results not anticipated. While out on a deer hunt he attempted to chastise her. She retaliated and gave him a severe thrashing and then fled to a village seventy-five miles away. At the time we landed at Uglaamie, this same woman carried on her back a box of lead weighing 380 pounds a distance of ©ver 200 yards. - When a man of matured years loses his wife either by death or from incompatibility of temper be selects one for himself and sometimes uses force. A native from a village to the westward. whose wife had left him, came up to Uglaamie to obtain another. One day we were attracted by loud outcries from a woman who had been waitiaor around the station for food. We found our friend from Sidaru vigorously cuffing her ears, and it was some time before we could make him desist. He explained that he wanted her for a wife and was persuading her. Their dead are carried out and laid on tho tundra without any ceremony other than the near relatives following the body to its last resting place, o Tt is usually wrapped in deer skins; if a man, his sled and hunting-gear are broken and laid over the body; if a woman, her sewing kit and some few honsebold utensils are placed at her head; but everything so left is. broken. With but few exceptions I never knew them to pnv any atlention to their dead after they were carried out, and all showed great relnctaoce about speaking of them. The bodies are usually eaten by the dogs, especially in the winter, and it i 3 no uncommon sight to see them gnawing the bones on the roofs of the huts. While they all claim that it is bad to use anything that belonged t© the dead, I noticed that no matter how good an outfit a .man had

when living, his was the most worthless sled and gun that could be found after his death.