Indianapolis Journal, Volume 52, Number 103, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 April 1902 — Page 25

TOE IXDIAXAPOLTS JOURXAL, SUNDAY, APRII. 13, 1902 IN THE LITERARY FIELD THE ISLE OF PINES PEOPLE THAT A RE --"Hot-Corn Pete" LiTi:itAHY twit;. ipi:ltam,y w MiVKL. It KADI Mi, IS I'KOtiRKIVK. AM KU I CANS MAKIN; lVITMi:MS TMEIU: WITH A VIEW TO IMIOl'IT. A Half True Tale of Ward Politics.

VATtT TITKKE

A Former I ml inn in n, Uho I AIo a 2No vollst, Tal Um About Itoo U n Length of the Mery (iosslp.

"I rather like bad wine, one Rets so bored with good wine," Disraeli makes one of his characters declare la "Sybil." It is one of the minor humors of literature, says a writer in the Philadelphia Press, that the novelist who made himself prime minister of England by sheer brilliancy of Intellect was never able to pi-11 correctly the name of this novel or the character to which it belonged. Uut returning to the quotation I do not suppose that anybody who loved literature could ever adapt the fantastic paradox and apply it to book?. Taste in reading Is progressive. The boy who begins with detective stories and tales of Indian fighting need not be despaired of. If he be & healthy-minded lad be sure that he will eoon become satiated with this class of sensational fiction. He will gradually advance to stories of adventure of a better type. The mere appetite for reading will demand variety until he finds himself introduced to the masters, English and American. I have said nothing about serious reading. History is taught in the school. It is the fault of the teacher if the pupil does not become interested in some of the great historical works und standard biographies. Girls who begin with stories by Charlotte M. Bracme and Bertha M. Clay get tired of fiction of that type as experience gives them a wider outlook on life. Librarians note a similar condition among adult readers. They begin with ephemeral fiction, are gradually led to Scott. Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot and Charlotte Bronte, and eventually discover for themselves the delights that lie in the great treasure house of English literature. Perhaps the generalisation does not bold true in all cases, but It is quite justified by the facts. I am not one of those who regard novel reading as an unmixed evil nowadays. "Writers of fiction are obliged to bring an equipment to their work which was not demanded twenty or thirty years ago. Then they depended exclusively on imagination added to a. more or less ample knowledge of men and women. I remember talking over this subject on one occasion with the late Alfred Walmesley. one of the most widely read men that it has ever been my fortune to encounter. Though an Englishman by birth, he spent the years of a generation of men in Philadelphia. During the greater part of that time he was chief proofreader of the Public Ledger. We were talking of Thackeray. "Why." said Mr. "Walmesley in his quizzical way, "if Thackeray were writing in these days he would lind it hard to sell his books. No magazine would have them. He didn't know anything. To write novels and stories to meet the present demand you must know all about mining coal, or building a lighthouse, or running a locomotive engine, or something of that sort. You must tell readers something they do not know, something they may imagine is useful, and put it in the form of an interesting story in order to gain the attention of editors ami publishers." I remarked that Thackeray , knew a great deal -about one thing human nature; but Mr. Walmesley Insisted that such knowledge was not enough for the modern novelist. Now there is a great deal of truth at the bottom of this. You cannot read an ordinarily well-written novel without learning something, or. perhaps, a variety of things. This is one of the interesting developments of the novel in our time. It is no longer for ft Jane Austin to come to the defense of the novel as she did with so much warmtth In a passage in "Northanger Abbey." Certainly I regard history and biography as better reading for young and old than fiction. To history, biography and memoirs the writers of fiction go for many of their plots and materials. It has always seemed rurious to me that readers prefer to take their history and biography diluted in the form of a novel when such a splendid appeal Is made to the imagination in works euch as those of Motley, Prescott and Farkman. which are written in a style that few writers of fiction have ever equaled. The LeiiKth of the Story. New York Times Literary Review. What is a desirable length in a story. This is a question that often puzzles the beginner in literature. And yet it is by no means difficult to answer. Most editors of periodicals agree with regard to the ideal length of the short story; that it should be between 2.0) and 3,000 words. It sounds as If it might be easy to write a story of this length; but professional story writers know better. They will tell you that it is more difficult to take a good theme and develop It logically and convincingly, at the same time bringing out the full dramatic value, without writing two or three times 5.X) words. One successful short story writer says that he writes without thinking of the length of a story, letting It develop Itself. When it is finished he has it typewritten, then he carefully revises it. cutting it down to the average magazine length. In this way he occasionally sacrifices several thousand words; but he believes that the pruning greatly strengthens the work. "There are always weak places In a story that a writer is perfectly well aware of." he says. "I -all them 'soft pots." Well, when I cut, I try to remove those soft spots, and It is wonderful how much more vigor the whole story seems to gain." Some magazine editors consent to publish stories as long as S.m) words, but only for exceptional reasons because the work is particularly tine or because it comes from an author strong enough to merit the privilege. More rarely stories of between 12.000 or l:;.cr words lind acceptance in the periodicals and are published in two parts. There, however, are less short stories than novelettes, and It Is a well-known fact, greatly devlored by the way, by Mr. W. D. Howells. that novelettes are not favored by the American public. Mr. Howells has dolefully referred to the charming work in the form of the novelette done by the foreign writers. Besides being too long for the periodicals, the novelette is too short for lKiok publication. Of course, several novelettes by the same author may be brought out in book form, but a volume of this kind is dreaded by publishers because, i-o frequently neglected by readers. Henry James is one of the few writers among contemporary American and Fnulish writers who have boldly t-ornbatteel tills condition of affairs. He has written nor- novelettes thsn any prominent novllst using our language during the past twenty-five years, and ha brought them out in "collections." His favorite form of story telling seems to be the tory of about 'J'."t w..ri. The ideal Wr.sth of nov from the publisher's point of view, has notably increase! In the past few jears. No publish, r likes to bring out a nov.-i ..f less than w."1" word, it is true that m.-iny novels as sh.Tt as J . are placed !.uc n covers, but always with misappr h nslon. unites they have qualities lint mike a good sale extremely pmt-able. A fair lenah for a novel Is about 7."i word.-. Kn more liKeJy to attract i the mn.l .f lvm. iVyond "this number of word a tun! cannot go without running th risk of seeming formidable to the reader, in ti.ls country books become formidable much more easily than in England, where radrs. trained to the o'd-fash.oned English t hrec-vohime novel, maintained for many years by the circulating library system, look askance on romance which promise? only a brief and unsatisfactory entertainment. Talk with n NoirllM. Washington Pot. Mr. .; urge r.iry EggIc--ton. author of "Carolina Cavalier," "iWothy South." and A number of other well-known books, is in the city. Mr. Egglestoa came to Washington from his home in New York yesterday, and will viit here for seeral days. "I'm writing a history of the Confederate war and a romance of the civil war, which will bo issued next spring." Mr. Eggleston replied, when atked about his work. "My new novel will not be a sequel to 'Dorothy South.' but the scene is laid in the South immediately after the time of Dorothy South.' it will r.ot contain the fame characters. I don't believe In equelx People get tired of having the same people; In a number of books." Mr. Ejfglesto.n ir.ughed at the suggestiqn Uut the public may tire of romantic not-

By JAMES

One Sunday morning in early September not many years ago, a cab drew up at the door of a certain New York club which has long prided itself upon its exclusiveness and the air of quiet decorum which prevails within its walls. From this cab stepped a gentleman of dignified, almost distinguished mien, who was saluted with much deference by one of the younger members, who paused to greet him on the steps. "I shall go back to-night." said the newcomer. "1 only came over for the day to straighten out a little matter in one of the down-town districts." Then the gentleman of distinguished mein made his way to the smoking room, seated himself at a small round table and called for a cigar and the morning newspaper. Now the membership of thi3 club Is made up largely of wealthy, distinguished and conservative citizens of advanced years, and three or four of the oldest and most clannish of these were grouped about the open fireplace as the newcomer entered. They eyed ' him suspiciously ani wondered who he was. No one could recognize him, and the belief grew that some stranger had strayed in at the easily swinging doors under the impression that he was entering a cafe. The attendant was questioned, but he did not know the mysterious visitor's name. Thereupon he was dircted to bring the signed check to the group at the fireside, in order that they might read the name and see if it was upon the club membership list. Tho servant did as he was told, and, just as the visitor passed down the the steps to his cab, the leader of the inquisition deciphered the autograph on the bit of colored paper and startled the others by reading it aloud. It was the name of the then President of the United States. And while the old gentlemen were looking at one another In blank surprise and wondering how it could have been that they had failed to recognize a visitor of such distinction the cab was bearing him swiftly to a quarter of the town which is situated about one mile to the south of the aristocratic club in which he had passed unnoticed. Not far from Grand street the cab turned down a narrow street, passing the kettle of a hot corn vendor, which was beginning to send forth its appetizing odors, and plunged Into the very heart of this district, where history i3 reckoned from the reigns of the different police captains and politics Is the chief industry of the inhabitants.Eying to the east of the Bowery, and taking in both sides of that thoroughfare on the blocks where, the cheap lodging houses are the most plentiful, this assembly district has long been regarded as one of the most important political battlegrounds In the country, and one whose vote in a close contest might easily determine the result of a presidential election. Half a dozen men were standing in a group at the corner of a narrow, evil-smelling street that runs parallel to the Bowery. "There he tomes now." said one of them, as the cab drew up in front of a small, dingy-looking saloon, ostentatiously closed, barred and padlocked In deference to the law. The President alighted and walked quickly through the ride door, which Hew open the moment he touched thQ pavement, and closed sharply upon him as he passed inside. The hnlf dozen men strolled away, ami the next morning the - whole district gloried in the knowledge of something that never found its way into print, and is even now known to but very few of the citUcns of Manhattan. Once inside the door, the President walked swiftly through a narrow lane formed by rowj of dusty liquor casks and into the dark and grimy back room, in which sat the taciturn, hard-headed little Irishman, who was at once the owner of the saloon, the leader of his district and the wlelder of a political power so great and far-reaching as to compel the presence in his groggery that morning of the chief executive of the Nation. And while these two men the one a selfappointed Irish-American Warwick, the other a ruler chosen by the franchises of a free and enlightened people are facing each other across the liquor-stained table, eleep in their discussion of the entanglements which have arisen over the distribution of patronage regarded here as the legitimate loot of political battle let us take a glance at the extraordinary system that has grown up from the ballot box and rendered possible just such a meeting es I have describee!. The assembly district in which this meeting took place is situated in the most elenscly populated corner of the town and contains about !. votes, for here population is not estimated by human souls, but by votes. Women and children, being unable to exercise the franchise, are not considered in the count. The district contains a comparatively small native and Irish element and a very large number of Russian and Polish Jews, together with a goodly sprinkling of German. Hungarian and Bohemian immigrants, who have lost no time in becoming citizens of the republic. Eike other assembly districts, this one is divided into voting districts, each one of which consists of a solid block or square and contains from two to five hundred votes. Each of these voting districts has its own captain, who reports to and works under the district leader. In nearly every case this captain is a saloon keeper, a circumstance -which has given ris? to the expression "saloon politician," and to which is due the belief prevalent in the more polite grades of society that political power is maintained by the simple process of supplying the voters with free drinks. As a matter of fact, the disels. "All the world loves a lover in just the same old way." he replied. "I remember that Mr. Howells mid me many years ago that a novelist must depend on women readers for his success, and what Is so acceptable to women particularly to young women as a romantic tale? It is almost tautology to speak of a romantic novel, for 1 believe that nil novels are romantic to a .certain extent. Of course, we went through twenty years or realism when many famous w riters brought their work down "closer to real life. But we've emerged from that period and t jaln the pure romance Is in fa vor. "Mot of the literary men in New York are busy grinding out work, which they hope to get on the market before the book boom dies out. Personally. I am not worrying about the remarkable Improvement in the book trade. I feel that it Is a permanent improvement. Fifteen years ago Don Piatt to!d me that in a few years there would be a phenomenal increase in the sale of books. He pointed to the number of pupils who are graduated from high schools every year, and said to me that these young people have acquired a taste for reading, and must be supplied with reading material. His prophecy has come true. The number of readers is growing apace with the number of writers, and there is no reason to believe that the sale of books will not Increase every year. Mr. Piatt ventured the statement that the time would come when many books would have sales as large as 5M.0U0. I wish that he were alive to see the remarkable sales which many of the popular novels have had in the last few years. He would reallte the truth of his statement that our educational system is developing readers. "I was talking with a number of literary men a rhort time ago about how novels gain their popularity, and we agreed that in most casts book owt their wide circu

L. FORD. Author of ("The

Wimm NÄgiÄT WW , 1 f'mf'

TUE trict captain is generally a saloon keeper because the business of liquor selling is one which can be profitably run in connection with politics. A saloon is a convenient place of meeting at all times of the day and night, and ranks with the barber shop as a collecting and disseminating point for all the news and gossip of the neighborhood. Living, as he generally does, in rooms above his barroom,' and spending most of his time behind his own bar, or in his little private office in the rear, it is an easy matter fdV the saloon politician to keep in touch with every one that dwells within the four streets that mark the limits of his 'kingdom. He must know the name and face of every voter in his territory and to a certain extent those of their wives and children. He must keep the run of all births, marriages and deaths, and attend every christening and wedding. Above all. he must elo reverence to the dead, for in the moment of bereavement it is easy to get close to the hearts of the poor, the dependent or"the exiled. If there is a wake in the district the captain steps softly in among the mourners, presses the hand of the sorrowing mother or widow., gazes pityingly at the corpse and praises in low, sympathetic tones the virtues of the dead, lie accepts an invitation to drink, and on taking his departure leaves behind him a bottle or two of whisky and a box of cigars. At the funeral, if the deceased has been a person of any local consequence, the captain is uFiinlly to be found with mourning emblems on his person in a carriage very near the hearse. . But the saloon politician must be able to serve his fellows in many practical ways, or his power will soon disappear. If a Jew peddler is arrested for selling without a license, he must use his influence with the judge to have him discharged, or if that is impossible and the culprit is fined, he will find it expedient to pay the line himself in the hope of making the poor emigrant believe that he the rich and powerful saloon keeper is the only friend the poor foreigner has in the country. He must, moreover, obtain bail for any of his clients who are held for a bailable offense, and he is not infrequently called upon to provide counsel for those who are put on trial. All these friendly offices help along his political aspirations and in due time build up for him a personal following, but I doubt if all his efforts would have much avail were it not for the extraordinary power placed in his hands by the distribution of what are called "labor tickets," and this labor ticket is the backbone of the whole system of municipal politics as practiced in the city of New York. The labor ticket i3 simply a card entitling its holder to a job on some specified municipal workj Whenever men are needed for work on the big pipes, or In Central Park, or for street paving or street cleaning, or for anything else that may be undertaken by the city government, or by the corporations that desire the good will of that government, these tickets are issued according to the nu.nber of men required. When there is a distribution to be made the fact speedily becomes known in all the wards that are populated by the poorer classes, though there is very little excitement in the "brown stone- district, in lation to the advertising given them by young women. When a woman likes a book she tell3 all her men friends and her women friends about it. Then women have more time to read than men. and the writer who would succeed must strive to please them." An Unusual Itonkneller. London Mail. Mr. W. M. Voynlch, who has acquired an almost international reputation as a dealer in early-printed books, has had an unusual career for a bookseller. Mr. Voynlch is a Pole, and belongs to one of the oldest Polish noble families. It is remarkable, by the way, that the Tolish nobility used no titles, and that the titles of count they use nowadays were bestowed on them either by the Russian or Austrian governments. Mr. Voynlch was born in an age of revolution. He read Karl Marx's "Das Kapital" when he was thirteen, and was arrested for student agitation before ho was fifteen. Afterwards he became an active revolutionist, and was finally banished to the arctic region of Siberia. After many attempts to escape sufficient money was conveyed to him to bribe his way out of Siberia, through European Russia to Riga. Money is apparently all-powerful in Russia, and Mr. Voynlch was luckily able to obtain funds enough to close the eyes of the police on his long Journey. From Riga he came to England on a Baltic steamer. After a few years as secretary of the Free Russia Society. Mr. Voynlch started business as a bookseller with a capital of something less than a sovereign. He bought a sack of books at a penny each from a mm

Literary Shop." Etc.) - - - - -

PRESIDENT. AND THE WARD LEAD habited by bankers, merchants and lawyers. The taciturn little Irishman whom we left just now ii intimate consultation with the President is certain to be on hanei in order to secure for his own district as large a proportion of the tickets as possible. And he in his turn is beset on his arrival at his own saloon by all his captains, eacfi one of whom wishes to get the lion's share for his own followers. The saloon of one of these district captains is the scene of unusual bustle and activity on the day of one of these distributions. Every man on the block who is out of work and that frerpiently means a large percentage, of the adult male population is to be seen leaning against the ar or buzzing in and out of the ever-open door. Those who have money spend it ostentatiously, for they know that willingness to buy liquor is a personal trait that, in the eyes of a district leader, enjoys- an evn higher rank than the cardinal virtue of political zeal. It is usually laic in the day before the captain returns, and as he passes round behind his bar to his private office, pausing only to glance at the figures on the cash register, the poor devils who are looking for a chance to make their bread ami butter flourish their coins in the air in the hone of catching his eye. It is scarcely necessary to say that in distributing the tickets the captain lias a keen eye for the main chance, which in this cast !s his own saloon. And if it e-omes to a qliestlon of choice between l'at, who can be counted on to pour at least one of his two dollars a day into the publican's till, and Tim, who has contracted the bad habit ef bringing the bulk of his wages home to his wife, it will be safe to assume that l'at will have the ticket if for nothing better than as an encourager ent to the rest. Now at the time of which I write no Assembly district in the town was kept so thoroughly in control as was this one of :,"' 0 enfranchised souls by the silent, uglyfaced ami resolute little Irishman who sit in intimate conversation with his distinguished visitor on this Sunday morning In early September. (It Is a curious thing, by the way, that the Jews of the lower East Side arc more easily led by an Irishman than by one of their own race.) And among all his thirty lieutenants there was none more loyally zealous to the party the year round nor more eliicient at the. polls on election day than ex-Asseriblyman Jimmy Martin, the captain of the voting district that can boast of more cheap lodging houses than any other block in the eity. and the proprietor of the very prosperous Howcry saloon that marks the center of his domain. Jimmy Martin was always deemed fortunate in the number and loyalty of his followers, but there was one among them who was beyond all compare in those characteristics which are the cardinal virtues of New York politics, and that paragon was "Hot Corn Pete," whose caldron, set up this morning directly across the street from the Martin saloon, is already beginning to hiss ano! bubble and send forth an appetizing advertisement of the delicacies cooking beneath its tin lid. For more years than can be counted Pete's kettle had been set up every August in front of the saloon which was his home or "hang-out," as he would have phrased it. for he slept on the roof of its extension just who had three railway arches full of them in the East End. and resold them at a profit to dealers and collectors. From this small beginning, and' with, of course, considerable original knowledge, Mr. Voynich has in five years established a business that is almost unique in this country, and his stock of mediaeval books is of very great value. Mrs. Vnvnieh Is well known as the authoress of "The Gadfly" and "Jack Raymond." She is an Englishwoman and the daughter of a Cambridge professor. Gilbert Pnrker in Fiction. Philadelphia Times. Among the things said by Gilbert Parker about the art of fiction in an address to the Sesame Club. In London, a fortnight ago. were these: "A man must know truth to write fable." "Fiction can be learned, but cannot be taught." "No great writer haa ever had the idea of founding a 'school of this or that of idealism or symbolism or romanticism or realism. Really great men have little time for promulgating theories; fuey get hold of a few principles and by these thev live." "In the art of fiction the individual Is thrown on his own Innate talent." "Love and fighting are not necessarily romance; nor are sonp kitchens and divorce courts necessarily realism." "In the very first chapter of the book the note must be struck whiea shall recur throughout the book like the motif In an opera." "There is only one test for a novel: that it be first and before all a well-constructed story; that it deal sincerely with human life and character; that it be eloqoent of feeling; that It have Infight and revelation;

- - Copyright, 1902. by James

EH. outside the bedroom of the ex-assemblyman, and came down early in order to sweep the place out for his morning cocktail. But now he was sleeping at the Progress Hotel, and "hanging out" at the saloon of Florence McManus, who was known to covet the captaincy of the district and whose fealty to the organization had been seriously questioned. In fact, for the first time in all the twenty years that he had lived and voted in the district and at the very beginning of what promised to be one of the fiercest political struggles In the history of the country Hot Corn Pete had kicked over the traces. Jimmy Martin's tin extension roof knew him no more, and the early morning bartender swept out the saloon himself to an accompaniment of blasphemous mutterings. The whole district knew of his defection, and many there were who declared his cause a just one. Meanwhile the McManus saloon prospered through a rush of sympathetic custom. The Irish leader of the district, ever on the alert to scent possible disruption in the party ranks, rent for the ex-assemblyman and told him that the trouble must be squared without delay; but Pete, whom he found cheerfully crying his wares further up the block, refused point blank to return to the fold, affirming that the party had "done him dirt" and threatening to look to some other header for the reward that twenty years of patriotism fairly entitled him to. The captain conveyed this ultimatum to his chief, the latter looked grave and angry, and Pete's sympathetic following began to assume alarming proportions. Discussion of the matter soon overstepped the limits of the district and was heard in Fourteenth street, in the City Hall, at the Albany Capitol and finally at the seat of the national government. Eike port wine that is sept round the cape, it lost nothing in importance through its journeyings. That the moving of a hot corn po. from its Bowery corner half way up the block should become a subject for serious consideration at Washington may seem laughable to those who regard the man who sweeps out the saloon for his cocktail as .ne of the least of the many unconsidered li;im::n trifles that make up the flotsam and jetsam of the East Side population. It is much casur to realize the importance of the matter when wo consider that Hot Corn Pete was tiie master of two trades not only hot corn, but politics as well and that all these things happened on the eve of an election that promised to be as closely contested as that memorable one in which 5.7 votes taken from one side and given to the other in this very State would have made Blaine President of the Fnited States. Moreover. Pete's dislike for hard work was so great that he never asked for or delireil one of the labor tickets that were so eagerly coveted by the toilers of the neigh borhood. and now Jimmy Martin himself was forced to admit that no henchman of his had ever done more effective work oj been content with smaller rewards than this one who had suddenly bolted for no reason on earth save that Ids demand for a Y-laee in which he should have good pay and nothing to do had not only been ignored, but treated as a huge joke. Worst of all, the ex-assemblyman had had the that it preserve idiosyncrasy; but, before all, that it be wholesome." Litern ry .etes. The future New York home of William Dean Howells is to be the house at Cli West Eighty-second street, which the author has purchased for I2,t(0. The word "sentimental," a good word, a word with matter of mirth and irony in it. is believed to have been coined by Laurence Sterne. Mr. Herbert Paul says that it was first used by Sterne in 1740 m a letter to Miss Lumiey, whom he married a year afterward. Librarian Eaton, of the "Booklovers' Library," makes a plea for the current fiction about which Mr. Carnegie is so dubious. "Beginners." he says, "read from the present back into the centuries to-day's newspaper, then the latest magazine, then the current book. From this baselln? the plodding is slow and sure back toward the masterpieces." Mr. Robert Steele, of London, is arranging to edit and publish the complete works of Roger Bacon, tne mediaeval monk who did not Invent either gunpowder or spectacles, despite the popular belief that he eJid. He was. however, says the London Mail, the first man of his time to found philosophy on experiment rather than on authorltj". the process of reasoning followed by Dr. Squecrs In th education of pupils at Dotheboys Hall. Renan produced an unpleasant effect one of physical grossness on Lord., Ronald, as he did in hi later years upon other visitors. "I called, with Mr. Pitman, on another celebrity. Monsieur Renan. He is one of the uncouthest and uncannlest-lookln of mortals all head and belly, no legs to speak of. A general look of a half froy half human

L,. Ford.

audacity to offer him a ticket entitling him to the privilege of doing hard manual work on the big pipes. It was then that the worm turned at last, and the very next day Fete was crying his succulent specialty a hundred yards away, and the captain was beginning to wonder how he was to get through the enormous amount of work incidental to the canvass and election without his assistance. Now Tete is a gentleman of leisure from the first Tuesday after the first Monday In November until the opening of the hot corn season in midsummer. No sooner are the market stalls heaped high with the greentasselecl ears than he sets up his kettle and devotes himself to the delightful practice of a branch of the culinary art in which he has not a single peer. Politics begins with the waning of the hot corn season in the East Side calendar, and Pete's duties, which begin with the canvass, are of a kind that can be performed only by one who, like himself, is thoroughly in touch with his neighbors. Working under the direction of his captain, he must see to It that all the drunken, careless and uncertain voters on the block are duly registered. He must attend all political meetings in company with his gang, or "push," as it is called in modern slang, andbe personally rc sensible for the heartiness of their applause. Through his offices th'e same band of patriots are induced to march in the political parades, bearing torches and transparencies and cheering frantically as they rass the residences of those candidates who have had the forethought to "see" Pete in due season. And at the conclusion of these meetings and parades it is Peter who is intrusted with the 510 note that Is to be spent in treating the boys, and careful he is, too, to do the treating in the saloon of his own captain. As electfon day approaches,, he contrives to see the various voters in the interest of his captain and "get their promise," as the phrase is. This part of his labor culminates in a burst of unusual activity on the Saturday night before election, when the voters are coming home from work with their wages in their pockets. And it is astonishing to learn how faithfully the promises made under these circumstances are kept. But it Is on the day of election that Hot Corn Pete finds himself with work of a really delicate and confidential nature on his "hands. At the opening of the polls he seats himself just outside the booth with a list of the voters in the district in his hands and carefully checks off each man as he enters. At 1 o'clock the district captain, who has been busy getting his followers to the polls since sunrise, takes a look at the list. "Has Denny Dinecn voted yet?" he says. "No," says Pete. "He's working over at the Erie basin and I told him we'd vote his ballot for him." "Here, you, Pat," says the leader, turning to one of the loungers, "go in there and vote Denny Dineen's name for him. You, Tom, go in and vote for Patty Moran. lie registered the day before he was killed." in this way a score of votes are cast for men who are working at some distant job, or too drunk to appear themselves, or who have di'd between the days of registration and election. It is Hot Corn Pete's duty to see that all these illegal votes are east in the interest of his own party, and so long as no attempt is made to poll those that belong to the othf r side no objection Is raised, the watchers taking the ground that no fraud iü committed, as the votes are cast with the full consent and in accordance with the political belief of the men who registered. It was on the strength of these and other services rendered to the party that Hot Corn Pete based his claim for recognition at the hands of the United States government, and it is because of its refusal to met his demands that he started a mutiny, which might have spread through the whole city had not the gentleman of the distinguished mien come en from Washington for the express purpose of squaring the matter. That the matter was squared, together with sundry others in the course of the interview between the two men in the district leader's saloon. Is a fact well known to every one at all conversant with New York politics. At any rate, before the week was out. Hot Corn I'ete once more swore fealty to his party leader and returned to his old lodging place on the tin roof of the extension. In his inside pocket was an official notification from Washington, signed by the recretary of the treasury, and sotting forth the fact that on the recommendation of the collector of the port. Hot Corn Pete was duly appointed inspector at the rate of V a day. And to Ida credit, be it said, that those faithful ones among his "push" who went out with him had their reward, too. For not one inch would Peter move his corn pot until every man jack of them had received his appointment as laborer at 52 a day. And neither the inspector, Tete, nor the laborers who were appointed at his instance, have anything whatever to do except to sign their names to the pay rolls every mornirg and draw their wages at the end of the month. And often n summer evenings when the voice of Hot Corn Pete is he.ird on the Bowery lifted up in praise of the contents of his iron pot, men familiar with the history of the district will point him out to the stranger from afar, saying: "That's Hot Corn Pete, the man .that kicked up such a fuss that thev couldn't f;Ht!e it till the President of the I'nlted States came on from Washington to square it himself." heing. He is most amiable and courteous in manner, but he has a tiresome way of apparently agreeing with whatever is said." The Tattler conteir.s the following interesting bit of gossip: Mr. Marion Crawford was to have written the next serial story for the Sphere. It was to be entitled "The Harvest of the Sword." and was to have been Mr. Crawford's most ambitious effort. Including Dante. Paolo and Francesca. and other well-known characters of that period In its scheme. But Mr. Crawford has a conscience over his work, and having written more than half the story on lines that did not give him satisfaction, he has destroyed his manuscript, and consequently postponed publication for some months. Hook. Srtme pcopl like to !elve. In lore Sent downward from th? misty past. And some o'er Shaksienre' i pore, tbervlns how each line is caat; Ah, let the trapic jw.et's charms Entrance the tenant aM the old I want a book in which Hi? arms Surround Her when the tory's to!d. Let bitllomarlacn cry out With Joy o'er musty tomes and rare. And babble foolishly about Th date they find imprinted there; I rare not how my book is bound. ' Nor what edition It may be If at the end His arms purround Th malflen who U fair to e. I bear some critic algh for "style." And ctbers this and that deplore; For, some the dull, bleak s?fiy. whlla Tn? crowds ariae demanding jurt; I do not tearch for tyl rr eara How e.ft the author may eitfnd If He that lavaa the lady fair Cornea uy triumphant at the nd. . E. KUer, 1 Cue Record-Herald.

ot Included In Porto Ilirnti Irrntr, but Annexation 1 Desired The .NaturnI Henircei.

Isle of Pines Letter hi Philadelphia p.eccrd. The irrepressible American is making his way into every out-of-the-way corner of the world. Here in this lor.g-ab.indonej haunt of tho West Indian buccaneer ho is taking up his abode and applying Ids restless energies to the pursuit of trade. Under tho shadow of the gloomy old quartei. that for a, century held within its dark confines the haplrss victims of Spanish displeasure, there is a new sixty-five-room hotel owned by Americans. A c'entlst from Tennessee has put out Ms shingle; a blacksmith from Alabama says he is doing well; a man from Iowa is selling groceries; a Pennsylvania capitalist is building an ice plant; a Georgia man has made a. start in the turpentine business; there are several orange-growers from Florida and California who have commenced the culture of that fruit; one Pennsylvania has cleared a large trad of land and will raie winter vcxctabK-a for sale in the States, while another man from the same State is preparing to quarry granite. In addition there are several syndicates which have purchased immens tracts ot land, and will cultivate on a. larsa scale oranges, tobacco and other products. The Isle of Pines is located Just south of the western part of Cuba. It has about 1,1) square miles of territory, being thirty miles wide and forty miles long. A l.goon, shallow and narrow in some places and a. quarter of a mile wide at other;, practically divides the island into two parts. The elevation of its highest mountain is l,7t0 feet. It has about 2.;vn) inhabitants. WEALTH OF TIIK ISLi:. Its wealth consists, principally, of formations of rock, some of which is fine enough lor st ituary purposes. The best quality of this stone is either pure white or dark gray. It is free, of cracks or flaws and is situated in such a favorable manner that Flabs of any desired size can be taken out. The beds vary from Ave to twenty-five feet in thickness. There are also largo forerts of valuable hard woods, such as mahogany, e-rdjr and ebony, that hretifore have served n other purpose than to make tirewood for tne natives. The so'l in the more favored parts is a rich loam mixed with sand, and the elimate is very elesirable. so that almost everything that grows in tropical countries, such ai fruits, tobacco, eolfee. rubier, ."near cane, etc., c an be produced. A lim quality of native grass that grows all the year make? c?ttle growing an industry of mucii promise. The capital and principal point on thIsland is Xueva (Jerona, about a mile and a half from the mouth of the Las Casses river. It has about No) inhabitants end is glowing rapidly. Santa 1-V, thirteen mile? distant from the capital, is the next place in importance. The first government roa-t built on the island connects these two towns. These two places are elbtinguish- 1 by being the only postoffices on the island. Santa Fe has some mineral springs that are quite noted. A man from Arizona and Pevcal Knghsh people were very willing to testify to benefits received during their sojourn there. Many people from Havana frequent the place. The ownership of the Isle of Fine has given rise to considerable discussion. When the Paris treaty was signeil there was a paragraph In it which read: "Spain cedes to the I'nlted States the Island of Porto Rico and all other islands now under Spanish sovereignty In the West Indie." This, it would pe-em. ertainly included the Isle of Pins. w.iclLjt !ojJfd abmejrjy jnj, from Cuba. But it noon developed that there wa a doubt about the matter, the claim being advanced that it was a part of Cuba, and therefore not contained within the meaning or scope of the paragraph quoted abovei from the Paris treaty. The matter w;s taken up in th Piatt amendment, which, contalns'the following paragraph concerning it: "That tho Isle of lines shall l omitted from the proposed constitutional boundaries of Cuba, the title thereto being left to future judgment by treaty." ANNEXATION IS CERTAIN. While, this provided a means of Fettlirg the dispute, the real point at issue is still undetermined. It is quite likely, however, that the island will be formally annexed to the United States during tho present session of Congress. More than half the land on the island 1 owned by Americans, and nearly all owners of other nationalities prefer annexation, to any other form of government. A petition has just been sent to Congress asking to be taken in. anil there is every likelihood of its speedy passage. Tho Cubans d not stem to care much about retaining: the island. It was for many years a Spanish penal colony, used for copftnlng Cuban patriots and others, and is regarded much, the same by the Cubans as the Iloers loo upon St. Helena eir as the friends of Dreyfus think of Devil's island. The syndicates are going ahead with their investments in "The Pines" us thougU they were e-ertain of its future. One concern has bought up the land f several largo atat'-s. and now controls 17r.0 aen nearly one-third of the inhabitable part of the entire island. This concern operates its own steamer and owns the hotel referred to in NOeva (Jerona, besides a large amount f other pronerty in und around tho capitaL I called upon the promoter, S. H. Pcarcy. formerly of Nashville. Tenn.. and asked him for a statement of the plans of his company. He said: "New York capital is invested in the venture, and the stock Is all taken. Instead of offering our land for sale we propose to develop it. We have SM ac res renee.j wun seven strands of galvanized barbed wire, over acres of which have been cleared nnd are ready for the plow. We have alnut iy) tobacco barns erected and ready for use, and we will enter extensively Into the cultuie of tobacco and oranges. On account of the frequent cold spells in Florida many of the orange growers from there are Keeking other tields. and we have made arrangements with many of these to cultivate our land on fhares. The soil of the island will nroduee a quality of tobacco equal to the liest produced in Cuba, and we expect to produce large quantities of this valuable staple as soon as we can complete our plans and get them into effect. TITLKS ARK GOOD. "We own the entire northwestern corner of 'The Pines,' and expect to make a port at the mouth of the Rio Nuevo river, which, Is the largest stream of the island. There are about i"0 acres in this tract, which includes the entire peninsula." When asked about annexation Mr. Pcarcy replied: "We, of course, desire to tc annexed, and think there Is not the slightest doubt but that we hall bo. but in any event we have spent large sums in perfoctll:g Oul liil-, tuna v mi. " n v matter what the result of this ownership, question may be. If we get annexation it will menu a great saving to us In duties, as the Fnited States is the natural market for all our products." The capitalists who are investing such large sums here claim to have every assurance that their expenditures will bring them a return. One concern will rai.--? lemons. At present the Fnited States gets the bulk of its supply of this fruit from California and Sicily. The duty on the product of the latter country is 1 cent each, or ? cents per box, which would be quite a a item of profit in itself In the course of .i year. In the matter of tobacco It Is said there is very little risk, for the reason th:tt the soil has been thoroughly teste. 1 am! Its adaptability proven. One of the large tirms of Havana cultivated 2. acres here .lurii g the late war and the crop was so simlUr to) the noted Cuban product that the company was enabled to keep its brands on the market without any appreciable decrease in their quality. It is said there are fully T't klrvls of f.h in the waters of the Ile of Pircs. To re are about two hundred varieties of bird, and almost every ort of tree, plant and shrub common to the tropic. The native holds the beautiful royal palm In much tfte same regard a he does the Hot Spring. lie knows the soil is very rich where the palm grow . It supplies him w ith leat for th roof of his house and bark for the sides thereof, while his pig Muds excellent forage on the berries that full from it. Inasmuch as it supplies the most of the natie wants a Is a friend indee-d.