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HIGHEST ON EARTH,
I III \V monument
If* Mil l ll>I OF ITS KIND.
Interest I me Drfnilx ol Oh* Origin
Erection mill Completion of a
<.rent Obelisk Wonderful
View From the Top.
“T ~~T F.W people who have never seen
I.../ the AY ashing to ii monument
I can conceive of its strength, i
(% its majesty, and yet its grace
find beauty of outline. Indeed, it
jnsy well be regarded hk one of the
architectural wonder" of the world.
It is the loftiest structure ever reared
l>y man. From the base line, or,
rather, sill of the door of the main
entrance, to the aj • < x of the cap-stone
is exactly 555 feet and four inches.
This makes the Washington raotm
moiit the tallest edifice or structure in
the w 1 The next highest is the
famous Id Cheops pyramid in Egypt,
which l 543 feet, but as that is of im¬
mense area at its base and rises in
♦■any slopes to the summit, old Cheops j
conveys little more impression upon
thec\. than von Id a lofty mountain
from It plain. Tin- .'rent cathedral at I
Cologm lm a s ire which reaches
into tlii> heavem- >21 feet, and there
i« r. cathedral at Antwerp whose spire
■ U| > i i 176 feet. St. Peter’s
spin , or ratln r, dome, at Home, b
only 148 foi l. When the big tower
on the < ity Hall in PliiladQlphia is
completed it will rival tho Washing
ton monument, but even then will
not equal it, for it is only designed
to run that up 535 feet. The great
Washington obelisk, therefore, stands
alone m tho grandeur of its elevation,
tlic symmetry of its outlines and the
solidity of its construction The
world lias never seen auything like it
before, nor is it likely that the genius
aud patriotism of man will again
attempt so ponderous a work, As
there is never likely to bo another
Washington, so it may be safely said
that there will never be another
memorial limit to coni mem orate him
or any of his successors. The great
Washington shaft will stand alone, as
long as the Republic lasts.
Thousands have made the ascent on
foot, but it is a dreadful task, and
there is a certain something in the aw¬
ful solitude- the sense of being shut
in within four solid walls, with the
dimmest of light that makes ner
vous people long for .the end 13 ut
there seems to be n i < There are
900 iron steps to dim True, the
htairease is broad, but the faces of the
steps are worn smooth with the tread
of many feet, and the end well, the
the end is afai Long before you get
to tho top you wish you had not
started The guide books will tell you
that you can stop the elevator at any
of tliu landings and get on, but that
is a fiction rDo elevator make
straight run Lit some of the ele
vntors in Ohieago, it runs as a limited
express, though not a very fast one,
for it takes s< yen minutes to cover the
518 feet which lands one at tho plat
lorm under tin ipstone. To the man
who si np there is enough
inenunii HgMo S*o study of the
intaglios and
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VsuiNUTON MOVEMENT.
other tablets which adorn every fifty
foot level as high as 200 feet,but above
that everything is a dead blank. One
sees nothing but the dim light of the
incandescent lamps reflecting i’U tho
cold granite walls, the steel skeleton
frame of the stairway and the endless
wind aud wind aud wind upward.
They were a dear old lot of enthu
siasts who conceived the monument,
and right manfully did they prosecute
the work The movement bog m awav
back in 1829, when Gale «fc Seaton
then making enormous sums of money
on the Government printing contracts,
first mooted the project. They got
interested with them old Peter Force,
George Watterson, Librarian of Con
press, aud William (’ranch, an old
landowner, and formed a society, and
they succeeded iu getting Chief Jus
tioe Alarshall, then in his eighty-fifth
to act as President. The first idea
mhs to build the monument by dollar
subscriptions. but it was soon
found this would not work. It took
the society several years to
$30,000. Then they raised the “ante,”
so to speak, and in a short while they
hail about $100,000—enough to begin
on plans at least. Every man over
forty years oldremembcrs in his school
books and current prints pictures of
the “proposed monument to George
Washington. When tho committee :
was raising money they sent this print
out broadcast and thousands of them
are to-day stored away in the garrets
of the country, ihis the design
ol Robert Mills, at that time an arch
itect of the Capitol. His design
wns a huge building in the form of a
circular peristyle or colouuade 250
feet in diameter and 100 in height.
At points equidistant on the roof of
this structure wrere to be bronze eques
trian statues of AN ashington, modeled
from studies of various incidents in his
carter. I rum the middle of this cir
cuiui colouiiftoi w a* to rise an obelisk
5oj teet high, this design was bold,
but the society abandoned it because
of .he cost, and resoived upon the
P ! ’ ; - ooelisk that we have to-day—a
lucay ohauge, many think, for most of
THE MONROE ADVERTISER, FORSYTH, GA„ TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30. 1894.--EIGHT PAGES
“ hituary of Washington which rep-'
it - the father of his country is
simply execrable in taste and horrible
in drawing and execution
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j t WRH a no fc 0 | cro vvd that witnessed
the laying of the corner stone of the
re w-ut structure, July 4. 3848.
Among them was the venerable Mrs.
Alexander Hamilton, then ninety-one
years old; George Washington Park
< ustis, then proprietor of the Arling
p, n> all( j father-in-law of Robert E.
; Airs. Dolly Paine Aladison,
widow of the ex-President, Mrs. John
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VIKW OF MONUMENT T'KOM DOME OF THE NATION AD CAPITOD.
Quiucy Adams, widow- of another ex
President; Chief Justice Taney, Lewis
Cass , of Michigan; ex President Alar
rwrvan BurSfi, and "Millard Fillmore,
who had just been nominated for
Vice-President with Zachary Taylor.
Robert C. AVinthrop, the Speaker of
tho House, delivered the oration, and
it will be remembered that at the final
completion of the monument and its
formal dedication, February 22, 1885,
the then venerable Air. Wiuthrop was [
again present, cue of the most hon
ored guests. But for many years after
1854 the project lagged. The associa
tion got to the end of its money (it
had raised aud spent $250,000) aud
then the thing stopped. The monu- 1
ment was up 165 feet, then it was ;
housed over and so remained. Nor j
was it until twenty-two years later, in
1873, that Congress could be induced
to do anything. The spirit engen
deredin the centennial year set the
machinery in motion, and the press
and people took the matter up iu such
vigorous shape that Congress made an
appropriation to begin the work of
completion. The result was that in
eight years thereafter the work was
complete. On December 6, 1854, the
capstone was set and the work ended.
It is a mistake to suppose that the
great shaft is a “marble column.” It
is not. For the first 490 feet the main
structure is of blue granite, the lower
walls being fifteen feet thick. The
thickness of the walls decreases until
about the 450 feet level, when they
cease, and the rest of the altitude is
reached by solid blocks of marble,
from two and one-half feet thick to
eighteen inches Inside this, hov>
ever, is built an interior structure aud
with a keystone which supports
capstone, that weighs just one and
ono-half tons.
Inside this shaft rise four iron
standards, which run irom top to bot
tom of the opening. These are bolted
to the inner walls and form the frame¬
work of the stairs aud elevator shaft. 1
Thev are marvels of strength. Iu
fact the whole interior of the great
shaft looks and is as strong as the
steel frame of any of Chicago’s sky
scrapers. If it were possible by any
natural or other force to topple over
or disturb the Washington monument
remits perpendicular, this interior
structure alone would keep it from
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-apstone of the monument, showing
the aluminum tep.
coming down. There is never the
slightest vibration, deflection or move
ment, the result of either cobi or heat,
The elevator is one o: t.:-* largest
and strongest ever made. It is sus
pended by four two-inch steel cables
and is drawn by a 175 horse power
engine in the basement of tne shaft.
Everything about the elevator gives '
wav to safety precautions. The safety \
clutches are double clutches. The ■
frame of the elevator is light but made j
of the best of steel. The elevator is j
limited to thirty people, but it would
carry weight three times that number.
But it runs very slow—another meas¬
ure—and no amount ofpersuation will
induce the elevator man to get a move
on him. After looking at the shaft
from a distance one is surprised to
how much room there is in the plat¬
.
form from which a visitor looks out
over the country. On each of the
four faces of the pyramidal cap are j
two lookout windows. From the ground
they do not look larger than bull’s
eyes, but once up there there is room
for ten people at each window. Fifty j
penile can move about on the upper i
landing and never once get in each !
other’s way. The view from this land¬
ing is one of the grandest ever spread
before the human eye. It makes a
nervous person shake a little, and not
every one cares to glance downward
to the base of the shaft, for the effect
is disturbing. By the laws of per- j
spective, parallel lines converge in
Lie distance, and the effect of this is
List tlle base of the monument, by
convergence of its two visible corners,
seems smaller at the bottom than at
the top, and the sensation is that the
whole shaft is just about to topple
over - By the same laws of perspec
Lve objects not so far away look
smaller, even though they be larger
*han those in the greater distance.
Thus the Capitol looks a good deal
smaller than the old ship house in the
Navy Yard, a mile farther off And
the tower of the Soldiers’ Home, two
miles farther away, looks twfice as big
as the dome of the Capitol.
An interesting study of the monu
ment is the tablets—the memorial
stones, which for more than a genera
tion a patriotic people and an admir
ing world have been sending to adorn
the interior of the structure. These
tablets date from away back in 1849,
and some of them are immensely
funny viewed at this late day All
sorts and kinds of human impulse
seem to have prompted these memori
als. National patriotism, local pride,
corporate vanity and rivalry, religious
zeal, private greed and hope of gain,
all these conditions are visible, and
not only visible, but palpable.^ Some
of the tablets are very elaborate and
must have cost a great deal of money,
Tho-e, for instance, sent by the cities
of New York and Philadelphia
splendid specimens of marbl© 3SS)|>
ture.
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IN THE ELEVATOR.
A’irgioia did not content herself with
one tablet, but has a dozen, in which
naturally references to the “Father of
His Country” and “Virginia’s Noblest
Son” predominate. The Western States
are but poorly represented. Some of
the tablets which seem now odd and
out of place are those, some of them
Vt - r y handsome, donated by the old
volunteer fire departments of the vari
ous cities. There are others, too, by
fire and hook and ladder
companies. The chief aim of the fire
laddies of the past seems to have been
to get their individual names embla
oued upon the tablets of fame. Thus
very memorial sent by an engine
look and ladder company has the
name of every member cut in the face.
New Y’ork, Philadelphia and Baltimore
em to have got up a generous rivalry
s to which should have the biggest
representation in the monument,
Some of the offerings are very elabor
ate sculptures in marble, and must
have been costly. The favorite da¬
s i§ ns were representations of old hand
engines, hydrants, with hose coiled
about, firemen's hats and trumpets in
vignette, and pictures of fire laddies
rescuing women and children from
buildings.
Of Sunday-school looks tablets there is
no end. It as if during the ten
years before the war every Suuday
school in the Eastern states had ac
eomplished a memorial tsolet for the
V ashington monument. And the game
with the Odd Fellows and Masons,
hav* altogether, over seventy-
five offerings; some of them very
handsome. Foreign countries are also
represented by Brazil. Arabia, China
(in native language), Greece and one
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ENTRANCE TO THE MONUMENT.
from Switzerland inscribed, “This
block of stone is from the original
chapel built by William Tell in 133S,
at the very spot, Lake Lucerne, where
he escaped from Gessler.”
Some of the lesser tablets are very
odd. In 1856 B. Norris & Co., loco
motive builders of Philadelphia, got
out a locomotive in basrelief, carved
in marble, and, with their name and
occupation on it, the stone now occu
pies a conspicuous place. New Bed
ford, Mass., sent a stone with nothing
on. it but the name of the town aud
a representation of a big harpoon,
which, of course, at the time, told its
own story. Another old stone is a
block of granite, inscribed “From D.
]). Hitner’s Quarry, Montgomery
County, Pennsylvania.” Air. Hitner’s
“Query's” fame is thus perpetuated
through cpuntless generations.
The control of the monument is
vested with the War Department, and
it is under immediate charge of Col¬
onel AYilson, of the public buildings
and grounds. Congress appropriates
$12,000 annually for its maintenance.
—Chicago Herald.
Calilornia Flying Fish.
Eastern anglers unacquainted with
the California flying fish find novelty
in its peculiar habits and character¬
istics. Fish are supposed to confine
themselves to the water, but a fish
that can fly does what man is unable
to do successfully.
The California flying fish, which in¬
habits the coast from San Diego to
Alonterey Bay, is, of all flying fish of
the world, the most remarkable for
superior powers of flight. It is no
mere skipper, like the so-called flying
fish of the Atlantic, commonly known
as the “skipjack,” but is a true flier,
the same as a bird. The flying fish
swims rapidly, having an exception¬
ally powerful tail. On rising from
the water the movements of
the tail are continued some sec¬
onds until the whole body
is out of the water. AVhile the tail is
in motion the pectoral fins vibrate
rapidly and the ventral fins are fold¬
ed. AVhen the action of the tail ceases
rue pectoral and ventral fins are
spread, and, so far c seen, are
held at rest. On 4 ,|s plane of out¬
stretched tins the fish seems to sail
through the air several feet above the
water, without any percejitible move¬
ment of its wings. As the fish begin
to fall the tail touches the water and
the motion of the pectoral fins begins
again, enabling the fish to continue its
flight for a quarter of a mile or more,
and ends by a fall into the water with
a splash While flying it resembles a
huge dragon-fly. The motion is swift;
at first it is iu a straight line, but this
becomes deflected to a curve, the pec¬
toral fin on the inner side of the arc
being bent downward. The fish is
able, to some extent, to turn its course
and shy off from a vessel, although
the motion of the fish seems to have
no reference to the direction of the
wind. These fish are about eighteen
inches long. Frequently they fly in
flocks.
One of the amusements of the guests
at a seaside hotel near San Diego is to
spear flying-fish at night. With a
torch, rowboat and spear the angler
patrols the ocean not far from shore.
The fish fly at the torch, thus becom¬
ing easy victims of the spear. It is
novel sport to have the fish literally
flying into the boat. Ardent sports¬
men have tried shooting these fish on
the wing in the daytime with some
success.—San Francisco Examiner.
Uliinitahil ity of Space,
“A cannon ball,” says Sir John
Herschell, “would require seventeen
years to reach the sun, yet light trav
e ls over tHe same space in eight min¬
utes. The swiftest bird, at its utmost
e P eed , would require nearly three
weeks to make the tour of the earth,
Light performs the same distance in
much less time than is necessary for a
single stroke of its wing; yet its rap
i d ^J is but commensurate with the
distance it has to travel. It is demon
strable that light cannot reach our sys
i em f rom the nearest of the fixed stars
In less ttan five J ears » arid telescopes
disclose to us objects probably many
ti mes more remote
Farmer Greene’s Mistake.
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Eurasians hali-breedsi, according
to a recent decision of the Indian Gov
eminent, are not to be allowed to en
ter British regiments, or even to form
a regiment by themselves
WIT ’’ HrYl. A TI\ u T nArV\ \ L1 Jl' T Wl? -Ciiill 4 "R
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FASHION’S LATEST DECREES
FOR COOL WEATHER.
Tailor-Made Gowns and Coats—Hats
and Sleeves—Black is Fash¬
ionable—Capes Are Pop¬
ular for Wraps.
1 j AILOR-MADE cidedly ing, with being much chic and single-breasted smaller gowns trim are rovers look¬ de¬
than last winter, and buttons are
small and quite close together. These
coat bodices are either quite long or
short, as the wearer prefers The
skirts are round and full, very similar
in cut to those of last spring. A
stylish costume seen last week was a
tweed mixed in color, but in effect a
rather peculiar shade of steel blue,
round skirt, short bodice, single
breasted, small revers, strap seams,
which almost ornamented the skirt,
white chemisette, standing collar with
turn down collars and four-in-hand
tie
The first sketch is a new shade of
golden brown cloth, long coat single
breasted, with collar and cuffs of black
velvet, the revers of cloth, small black
rimmed Vmttons. As the season ad
vances, and it grows too cold for thin
chemisettes, one of black velvet full,
also collar, would make this costume
more rich-looking aud more dressy.
The hat is of brown felt, with pon
pon, and band of black. These long
coats may be a sort of warning of the
approach of redingotes, and there is a
whisper that embroidered polonaises
will be next in order. Chemisettes of
full soft materials, such as silk, surah,
crepon, and mousseline de soie, are in
high favor; the latter is also used to
make dog-collars, arranged in folds
and kept in place by bars of jet pearl
or steel. They are considered very
elegant. Lace
bodices, with silk sleeves and
fife mm
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FADE AND WINTER FASHIONS FOR THE CHILDREN.
skirts, are very pretty; also chiffon
bodices made in the same style
Blouses of all kinds still continue in
favor. They are mostly tightfitting,
and made of very rich materials, for
afternoon and evening wear. AIous
seline de soie in white, trimmed with
guipure lace, is the most dainty for
evening wear.
Black is to be fashionable, Black
embroidered net make handsome even
ing dresses, and certainly the crepons
are very handsome, a narrow border
ing of fur to edge the skirt, and'full
front of black chiffon trims the bodice
w-ith straps of jet to brighten and re
lieve the dull effects of the crepon.
The fashion of sleeves of a different
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material from the gown has been re¬
vived, and many rich silks will be
used, also Turkish and Persian ma¬
terials. Bayadere stripes are prom¬
ised us, but checks seem to be striving
for the first notice, judging from the
appearance of woolen materials, which
are in mixtures of two and three
colors, so blended as to be indescriba¬
ble. Some of the new fancy silkk are
in checks the size of dice, in three
and sometimes four colors, dark blue,
white, light golden brown and black,
or olive, light blue black and white,
and many other shades well blended
together. They will not look well on
short stout people, but Dame Fashion
seems good-natured enough this sea¬
son to have provided for one and all,
and those who wish to look tall and
slender, can find an endless variety of
stripes, some so small as to seem only
a thread, others pin-head stripes,
while many silks have, satin stripes of
about half an inch, with shot effects
in colors between
Indications point to capes of all
kinds as the popular w-rap, velvet, jet
and lace for dressy occasions, cloth
trimmed with fur, aud the English
military cape, now called bv various
names, Scotch, tourist and golt.
The second sketch is of dark blue
! Cloth, with lining of cape ami hood f
of plaid silk in dark blue black and 1
tan, crossed with red. Many are made '
reversible cloth, having one side in j
dark colors, and the other in gay
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plaids, some of rough cloths, others
tweeds in exceptionally fine quality,
reversible, and are procurable in
many different colors, one of the most
successful having one side iu oak
brown, and the other in a smart red
and blue check. Very pretty also are
tho combinations of fawn black and
white, with a check in pale tan color
crossed in red, and cigar brown, with
a tan check crossed with pale blue.
Plaids of all descriptions, in fact, aro
used for one side of these reversible
cloths. These new wraps are comfort¬
ably long, and smartly cut with stylish
hood, and most ingeniously arranged
with straps from the shoulder, which
i cross over the chest and then pass
around the waist, so that the cape can
I be thrown open to any width without
j folding There from is the little shoulders, iu reference
very news
to coats. The sleeves of gowns aro
still very full, and as long as they
continue to be in vogue let us hope to
wear something that will not ruin our
! dispositions and sleeves at the same
time, and certainly coats accomplish
both. If the very full sleeves stay
j looped-up with us, neither skirts will we draperies, have many not
or
withstanding the signs of their appear
ance in earnest before winter, as
broad shoulder effects demand plain
flaring skirts, with little fullness at
the waist.
VELVETEEN IN FAVOR.
Y r elveteeu, which formerly was such
a despised material, and which has
figured as such so largely in novels
and tales, is now woven with a glossi¬
ness and coloring which makes it de¬
sirable for handsome gowns rho
richest weaves have ribs, stripes and
various patterns with figures of dots,
stars, Vandyke and electric lines, and
these of bright contrasting colors with
the plain or moire grounds. The lat¬
est thing in this material is a cotton
plusb, which washes well and is prin¬
cipally used for morning dresses,
blouses and dresses for children. The
useful and the beautiful are now be¬
ing combined by the mechanical
genius of the age to an extent that
our grandmothers never dreamed of.
Certainly they never imagined a day
when plush waists and dresses would
be thrust unceremoniously into the
family wash. Another improvement
in this line is a style of ribbons in
various fashionable colors and in
black, which wash perfectly aud are
i intended for the ornamentation of un¬
dergarments, so that the decorations
of these articles of clothing need not
be laboriously withdraw: ©very time
a garment is laundered.
PRETTY NEW PETTICOATS.
Some of the new petticoats are
works of art One very handsome
skirt is of Alerveilleux satin, shot in
three colors, with large satin checks
in pale coral, turquoise blue, and
garnet Handsome black satin skirts
are trimmed with colored ribbons and
lace Some ot the skirts are frilled
up to the waist at the back, suggest¬
ing the coming use of steels. Brocade
is extensively used, and for those who
love the rustle of silk are lined with
glace,
That Artistic Crease.
Some genius has invented a simple
little instrument, by the use of which
the dudelet can always easily keep his
trousers properly creased without the
expense of sending them to the tailor
every few days, or the trouble or re
sorting himself to the sad-iron. It is
a pair of small iron roller.-, mounted •
on scissor-like handles, so arranged
that the creaks can be clamped ba
tween them and pressed hard. A daily !
rolling every morning is warranted to j
keep the desirable crease iu f r-.t-rate 1 ■
condition,—New Orleans Picjvune
(TRIOUS FA<TS.
Chicago is 251 miles long.
Steel pens originated in England in
1803.
Tn Holland the cows are always
tethered.
The best bricks are made by the
tribes of Central Asia.
Painting iu both oil and water colors
was known in Egypt 1900 B. C.
The use of the Christian era in
chronology begun in Italy in 525. It
was not employed in England until
816.
The celebrated Plymouth (England)
breakwater contains as much stono as
the great pyramid, viz., 3,800,000
tons.
Iu Florida a jury recently escaped
from the jury room at night aud seren¬
aded the judge, the lawyers, the plain¬
tiff and the defendant before they were
recaptured.
Incitatus, the famous horse of the
Roman Emperor Caligula, was ordained
as a priest and consul, had a manger
of ivory and was given a gallon of
wine from a gold pail every day.
While some workmen were digging
recently among the ruined temples of
upper Egypt they unearthed an iron
box containing a metal plate, which
two scientists who have reputations at
stake declare to be a camera and lens.
The skull of a mammoth human be¬
ing of prehistoric times was discovered
in Southern California some time ago,
and recently it was discovered that a
cavity in one of its teeth was tilled
with gold iu tho manner employed by
modern dentists.
Game birds appear to be coming in¬
to favor as subjects for ornamental
pins for both women an 1 men. A
prominent firm of New York jewelers
shows woodcock, grouse, partridges,
snipe, gamecocks and pheasants made
of tiny diamonds.
The will of the late Edmund Yates
contained a clause in which he ex¬
pressed the desire that his jugular vein
should bo opened immediately after
tho physician had pronounced him
dead, iu order to prevent any possi¬
bility of his being buried alive.
A unique trolley car fender is pro
posed by a Boston inventor He lias
taken the large revolving brushes from
a street sweeper and placed them in
such a position under the car so that
a person who happens to fall in front
of the car will be swept from the track.
The title of doctor was invented for
the especial benefit of tho learned
Inernius, of the twelfth century. The
title w as conferred by the University
of Bologna. The first doctor of medi¬
cine was William Gordenio, who re¬
ceived the title from the college at
Asti, in 1329.
Fridolin von Holbein, tho last living
descendant, of the famous painter, has
been admitted as an inmate int) the
poor house at Aussig, Bohemia, old,)
decrepid aud without moans living of sup¬
port. He had earned a scant as
a photographer’s assistant for many
years at A r ionna, Budapest and else¬
where.
The idea of a postpaid envelope
tion originated in 1653. The first applica¬
of it was by AI. de Yolfyer, who
established a private postoffice in Paris, 1
placing boxes at the street corners,
and having regular time3 of collection'
and delivery. The plan did not work,'
however, because of the reluctance of
the people to intrust their correspon¬
dence to theso unguarded receptacles.
The boxes were repeatedly plundered,
and were finally removed and tho sys¬
tem abandoned.
The Zuyder Zee.
Holland, or the Netherlands, enjoys
the peculiar distinction of being a
land of ever-changing extent, as it is
always subject to great losses from
erosion, while the work of reclaiming
land is constantly in progress. Thus, 1
in 1833 its area was 8768 square miles,
which modern engineering activity
had increased to 12,731 square miles
in 1877. Portions of the country so
largely artificial are sixteen feet be¬
low sea level, while about half of it is
protected from sea, lakes and rivers
by dykes, some of them sixty feet
high. In two of the eleven provinces,
North Holland and South Holland,
about ninety lakes have been convert¬
ed into dry land, tho draining of tho
Lake of Haarlem—the greatest achieve¬
ment—having been accomplished be¬
tween 1839 and 1852 by means of
steam pumps, which displaced the
windmills so characteristic of me¬
chanical operations in Holland. It
has been now decided to undertake a
still greater work, which has been
long contemplated. This is the drain¬
age of the Zuyder Zee, a gulf which
was formed by an irruption of the
German Ocean early in tho thirteenth
century, and which now covers about
1300 square miles to an average depth
of twelve feet. It is proposed to close
the entrance to this gulf by a dam fif¬
teen miles long, to eonrect the little
island of Wierengen with the coast on
either side, and then to pump out the
water. It is estimated that the un¬
dertaking will cost about $72,000,000,
exclusive of compensation to fisher¬
men, and the expense of new meas¬
ures of defense that will be made
necessary, and that 469,490 acres of
valuable land will be gained.—Tren¬
ton (N. J.) American.
Burglary 1nsnranee.
“It is not likely that burglary in¬
surance will ever become very gen¬
eral,” said Thomas H. Alaguire, a New
York insurance man, who was at the
Southern yesterday ‘It opens the
way for too much fraud, and the
losses can hardly be appraised accu
rately. Alany accident insurance com¬
panies are now insuring people against
the risk of being injured by a burglar,
and as about one person in a million
gets so hurt every year, such insur¬
ance ought to be very profitable In
surance against loss from housebreak¬
ing is the result of a joke perpetrated
by a man who w as going to Europe
and who asked an insurance man
whether ho would insure his goods
against burglars during his absence.
To his surprise the broker took him
up, and to the broker’s surprise and
annoyance, his client’s house was ran
sacked from cellar to garret while he
w as away. Ihere are three or four
insurance companies doing a profita
ble business iu London, but it is only
"here the police supervision is very
strict that it is sale to carry such
risks. ’—St. Louis Globe-Democrat.