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LABOR DAY THEMES,
What the Industrial Holiday Sug
gests to Workingmen.
Samuel Gompers Writes of Toil—Mgr.
Ducey Explains the Pope’s Attitude
on the Labor Question—Other Lead
ers’ Sentiments.
(Copyright. 1894).
New York, Sept. I.—The unusually
great scale on which Labor day is to be
celebrated this year gives special interest
to the following opinions. This is the
first year of the national industrial holi
day, it having heretofore been observed
under state laws, according to which the
first day of September, the first Satur
day of that month, and the first Mouday
have been variously set apart. It is
highly desirable that unanimity be at
tained.
It will be observed that Henry \V. Can
non, from a great financial standpoint,
deems the immediate future of Labor day
very encouraging. Samuel Gompers pre
sents the industrial view in his usual able
way. Mgr. Thomas J. Ducy. the ardent
friend of the working classes, has some
forcible words on the hardships of labor
under existing industrial conditions.
Various labor leaders throughout the
country’, who have a word to say, are
likewise quoted.
SAMUEL GOMPERS GIVES HIS VIEWS.
Labor day comes this year with various
changes in the industrial situation
brought about by causes, however, that
are, special rather than general. That is,
the labor cause has not altered its char
acter, however events may have modified
its aspect. The needs of the country’s
wage earners are as urgent now as they
have been heretofore. The evils attend
ant upon the injustice to labor embodied
in our social system have been in no way
mitigated. Rather, they have in many
cases been increased.
But it is the prospects before labor on
the approach of its great holiday that are
of chief concern now. The passage of the
tariff bill, like the enactment of nearly all
measures ostensibly for the general good,
will have injured to the advantage of
special classes long before it becomes the
turn of the wage earner to share in such
advantages (if advantages there be) as
may be left. ,
'1 his is indeed a time in which we hear
much oi the wrongs and of the rights of
labor. The workingman, nevertheless,
sesms to remain pretty’ much where his
non-toiling friends first found him,
except where he lias himself set to
work to carve out his own destiny.
It is to a perception of this lact on
the part of the wage earner that we owe
that unwillingness on his part to entrust
his destiny to friends who, however well
disposed they may be, can hardly know
his needs as well as he himself knows
them. It is surprising that this circum
stance is not more understood than it is.
The workingman is not a child who must
have his way pointed out to him. Labor
is independent, self-reliant and able to
take care of itself when there is a fair
field and no favor. Unfortunately a fair
field and no favor is the great lack just
now.
Labor day, then, witnesses a great re
solve of the wage earner to act for him
self. He will take independent political
action, and this fall and winter endeavor
to send workingmen to represent him in
the halls of legislation. It( is not by
affiliation with any political party that
industrial emancipation is to be won. The
workingman must have his own class
movement. The great evolution that is
to transform our social 3,ystem and finally
abolish wage slavery must be accom
plished b.v the working man. And he will
never accomplish these things by asking
Others to begin. “If you want a thing
done, do it yourself,” is as true in the
cause of industrial democracy as in any
other concern of life.
For the rest. Labor day will this year
be celebrated with unwonted vim and en
thusiasm. All over the land organized
workingmen are making ready lo cele
brate their holiday. There will be open
demonstrations, speech making and a dis
play of interest never equalled, probably,
since Labor day was instituted.
And the future; I deem it encouraging.
Labor has, it is true, met reverses at the
hands of capital, but the conflict has
not been one sided, and above all we
have the future. Every day sees a more
general perception of the truth in
our country that if we would remain
free at all we must once for all put down
that form of slavery which is more insid
ious than that abolished b.v Lincoln—in
dustrial servitude.
And that labor will do this there cannot
be the shadow of a doubt.
The industrial situation, while serious
enough to warrant the apprehension of
all who have any interest in tho welfare
of their country, is by no means compli
cated, as too many affect to think, by the
attitude of labor, but that of capital is
precipitating the conflicts which culmi
nate periodically in scenes such as so
recently drew the world's attention to
Chicago. These scenes were, indeed, fore
told. As far back as 1888 I toon occasion
to say in a report to the American Federa
tion of Labor, that no man who has given
the question of strikes and the labor
movement any thought, can look upon
strikes with favor, but to be continually
condemning them is entirely another
thing. To know when to strike and
particularly when not to strike is a
science not yet fully understood. To
strike upon a falling market, or being in
sufficiently organized, or if organized,
not properly equipped with the
ammunition so necessary to a suc
cessful strike—funds—is unquestionably
the hight of ignorance. The story of
the strikes that may have failed of
their immediate objects, yet have pre
vented reductions in wages and worse
conditions, will probably never be en
tirely told. Mouthing condemnation of
strikes, we find by experience, does not
abolish or even reduce their number. As
11 consistent opponent of strikes,
though, I do find that those organizations
of labor which have best provided them
selves with the means to strike have con
tinually less occasion to indulge in them,
ihe most potent factor to prevent or re
duce the number of strikes is a well organ
ized trade union, with a full treasury
ready to strike should the necessity arise.
It was a Detroit labor convention that
afforded me an opportunity for impress
'll u|>on the minds of working people
fhe absolute necessity that they should
keep in view that it is not bluster nor os
tentation that will win victories for
them. Such organizations of labor
P*a,v at times win victories from
employers but they are generally of a
transitory character. We must not only
he right, but have the power to enforce
that right. There is no argument so
potent with unwilling or unfair employ
ers to graut reasonable demands, as a
Jell-organized trade union, with a well
tUeii treasury, to stand them in need
should a strike be necessary to enforce
‘he demand.
]n fine, Labor Day this year finds its
c,, lebrators united, confident and hopeful.
I hrice is he armed that hath his quar
rel just.” Samuel Gompers.
mgr. nrcET on capital and labor.
Labor is a theme so full of sentiment
‘hat did I refuse to say a few words to
I feel that honest labor would have a
fight to excommunicate me, and they
""Uld justly claim this right by virtue of
“ ‘••nous document “given at St. Peters,
‘tome, the 15th day of May, 1891, the
‘ourtcenth year of our pontificate
. “Luo XIII., Pope.”
“ this famous encyclical on labor Leo
♦xlu. proclaims that the elements of con-
flict are unmistakable. The “momentous '
senousnessof the present state of things”
contl ' ct between capita! and
labor, fills every mind with painful appre
hension: wise men discuss it; practical
men propose schemes: popular meetings,
legislatures and sovereign princes all are
occupied with it—and there is noth
ing which has a deeper hold on public
attention. Of course, there is nothing
which has a deeper hold on public altcn
>roPer understanding of the rights
of class and mass, of the obligations of
capital and the just rights of honest labor
means the peace, order and perpetuity, of
governments, be they the government of
empires, kingdoms or republics. Wisely
then has Leo XIII. thought it useful to
speak on the conditions of .abor. He sees
clearly that it is not easy to define the rel
ative rights and mutual duties of wealth
and labor,but he recognizes that we are
face to face with the condition all over the
world, and he insists that all good, just
and vvise men agree that there can bo no
questiou whatever that some remedy
must be found for the misery and wretch
edness which press so heavily at this
moment on the large majority of the poor.
The Sovereign Pontiff further sees that
the contract system of labor is radically
defective and that the concentration of so
many branches of trade in the hands of a
few individuals, is radically wroug,
for such systems create corrupting
monopolies and trusts by concentrating
with thesmall number of the very rich
great powers of oppression that enable
them to practice injustice and may,
through the agency of corrupt legislation,
lay upon the masses o£ the poor a yoke
little better than slavery itself—l would
say. with all duo respect for the Holy
Father’s words, a yoke worse than sla
very which was known in this country
before the famous emancipation procla
mation of Abraham Lincoln. The indus
trial slavery of to-day is in many re
spects a more heinous crime against
the law of God than was the
chattel slavery of the south.
The master in slave days looked
after his chattel servant very much in
the same way that the rich, dishonest,
legal robber of the trust and monopoly
looks after his valuable horse. It cost
him so much money, it must be cared for,
fed and housed, that it may give pleasure
and create other beiugs to ada to the
pleasure and luxury of the master. The
trust and monopoly robber of to-da.y, who
will give $20,000 and more for a fast
horse, would not dream of giving 810,Ik (l
for a human being endowed with intelli
gence. willing and able to labor,
possessed of an immortal soul, that
bears the image and likeness of
God. On the contrary, he believes in
the few hiring brains and muscle at the
lowest possible figure and using the crea
ture’s life blood for his own security and
luxuriant indulgence. It is this system
and acts like these that make the Holy
Father LeoXIII. say: “Therefore these
whom fortune favors are warned that
freedom from sorrow, and abundance of
earthly riches, are no guarantee of the
beatitude that shall never end, but
rather the contrary; that the rich should
tremble at the threatenings of Jesus
Christ, threatenings so strauge in the
moutli of our Lord; and that a most
strict account should be given to the Su
preme Judge of all we possess.”
You have here facts and sentiments
coming from the mind and heart of tho
head of the Catholic church, appealing to
the clergy and laiety throughout the
world to take a deep interest in the
greatest question of the hour for the
safety of society—the labor question.
Leo XIII says: "Every minister of the
holy religion must throw into thisconliict
of capital and labor all the energy of his
mind, all the strength of his endurance.”
and he warns the bishops throughout the
church that they should be the leaders
in this movement: that the priests, sup
ported by the authority of the bishops
and encouraged by their example, should
never cease to urge upon the high as well
as the lowly’, the gospel doctrines of
Christian life, and by every
means in their power strive
to bring about the kingdom of God's jus
tice upon earth, and seek te have God's
will done in justice in the midst of men.
Now, there are. 1 think, over 10,000
priests in ths United States. If all these
men, led by the bishops, sounded this war
cry of the holy father all along the line,
do you not think they would make the
sugar trusts and the whisky trusts and
all the other trusts utterly’ unworthy of
being trusted? And no matter how much
money the sugar mongers might have,
when they acknowledge asF. O. Mathies
sen, one of the principal promoters of the
sugar trust—for a number of years I have
made 900 per cent, at least upon the
amount of my investments. Seven per
’ent. is 'an illegal rate of interest
in the state of New York, usurious
and dishonest. What can the country
think of a man who has the effrontery to
boast that be has made 200 per cent. ?—of
this same trust of wiiich Mr. Wilson said
a few days ago: “The sugar trust has
the country b.v the throat.” In a Sun
day edition of a New York paper of Feb.
10, 1890, we read these words: “When
the inside history of the sugar trust
(which refuses to publish any reporti is
brought to light-Lns it surely will be one
of these days—a most surprising chapter
will be added to the annals of specula
tion.” Might it not be added to legal
highway robbery? The Messrs Have
meyer received about BLi.oOU.ooo 0 f
the $50,000,030 of certificates issued
by the trust, and, moreover, held the
highest position in the board of trustees,
it may be now asserted that the whole of
the Havemeyer 816,000.000 of certificates
were sold out last summer for from 8100
to $125 per share, and that they did not
begin buying them back until a few days
ago. B.v this act of the Havemeyers one
of the most gigantic turns of speculation
on record is presented to us. a turn which
shows them a profit of something like
$6,000,000. which they regained upon their
entire $16,000,000.
To quote from Mr. Cleveland's letter to
Mr. Wilson of West Virginia on the Sen
ate's tariff bill, “how can these men with
their millions and their agents in the Sen
ate and congress face an honest and in
dignant people alter indulging in such
outrageous discriminations and violations
of principle.”’ 1 thank God that 1 have
no trust corruptors and monopolistic out
laws in this congregation. I would much
prefer being the pastor of the much-con
demned and censured rum-shop keepers. I
rejoice at the approach of Labor da.y. The
laboring men who assemble and march,
directed by law ard order, are a grand
protest against the combinations of cor
rupt capital, corrupt trusts and the dis
honest legislation of Senate and House
for the past twenty years. It certainly
is now high time for the 10,000 priests of
this country to follow tho direction of the
Holy Father and protest from their pul
pits Sunday after Sunday against the
corrupting use of dishonest riches. It
does seem such a farce to hear ministers
of religion preaching to the poor
and oppressed about the dangers of
riches, of which danger they know
nothing, while very frequently we
kiss the hand of corrupt power and bend
the pregnant hiDges of the knee and kiss
the hand that smites humanity—the
hand of such men of whom Jesus Christ
has said “the rich man died and was
buried in hell.” 1 wonder if this was a
Frophecy about the sugar trust angels,
welcome Labor day.
Thomas J. Ducey.
H. W. CANNON EXPECTS BETTER TIMES IN
THE NEAR FUTURE.
The financial and trade disturbances
which culminated in the panic of 1898
have paralyzed and benumbed the ener
gies of our people, and the capitalists of
our country ha\o suffered severely.
Prices for all commodities have fallen,
and tho sales of manufactured goods
have decreased to an enormous
extent It is difficult for men who labor
with their hands to fully appreciate the
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER 2. 1594.
losses sustained by the great railway and
industrial corporations in this country,
and also by individuals. The price of a
day’s labor at the present time will pur
chase more comforts and conveniences
than ever in the history of this country,
and while the interests of those who
furnish capital for corporations, and
those who are employed by such corpora
tions, are in a measure identical, it is dif
ficult for the employes to realize the ex
tent of stagnation in trade.
There is. undoubtedly, a better appre
ciation of the true situation of affairs on
both sides than earlier in the year, and I
have no doubt that strenuous efforts will
be made by our railway and industrial
corporations and individuals to furnish
employment for as many persons as possi
ble. even if the returns are not large.
There is a growing sentiment in favor of
an earnest endeavor to resuscitate busi
ness throughout the country, and I be
lieve that both capital and labor will
unite in this endeavor, and that capital
will realize reasonable returns, and labor
receive remunerative compensation in the
near future. H. W. Cannon.
P. M Arthur—Labor is vindicating its
claim to the confidence and respect of the
fair-minded everywhere. The wage earner
is the hope of the republic.
James K. Sovereign—Labor’s position
was never more trying in our history.
But every good cause has its trials and
labor's cause will trlump as every good
cause does in the end.
Eugene V. Debs—Some defeats are
worth many victories, and labor even in
adversity is not robbed of hope. Labor
is the foundation of society and its holi
day should be the most festive in the cal
endar.
Terence V. Powderly—lt is very hard
to say anything on the .subject of labor
that has not been said. Actions, not
words, are the essentials.
DOFF’3 HER SAINT’S ROBE.
End to Miss Kate Maraden’s Scheme
For the Relief of Siberian Lepers.
From the New York World.
Miss Kate Marsden, who went across
Siberia to establish a hospital for lepers
near Yakutsk, must lay down her saintly
robes and take a back seat. The com
mittee of her friends formed in St.
Petersburg to inquire into certain
charges that were brought against her
have decided that she must close her
work, and that the whole scheme for the
relief of the Siberian lepers must be put
aside.
When it is known that there are only
sixty-six lepers in Siberia, that these
lepers belong to a semi-barbarous race,
that they are cared for by the Russian
government and that there are actually
more lepers in London than in the whole
of Siberia, this announcement will per
haps excite small pity and no wonder.
But what possessed Miss Kate Marsden
with the idea of nursing Siberian lepers?
A brief outline of her history will be
the best answer.
Of couse this is no place for the repeti
tion of the private scandals which have
erystalized around the name of Miss
I Marsden That part of her life which
has been lived before the public will be
quite sufficient to explain her fondness for
Siberian lepers.
It was announced in Berlin in 1889 that
a wonderful woman was going to do a
! wonderful thing. The wonderful woman
! was Miss Kate Marsden, then residing at
\ an English boarding house in Germany’s
j capital, and in very straitened circum
| stances. She was a prepossessing woman
i of -hi, and she had heard that there grew
in Siberia a plant vVhich was a specific
against leprosy. This plant she intended
to transplant into England, where the
Prince of Wales was then presiding over
his leprosy commission. Leprosy was
in the air. Miss Marsden said
she was a hospital nurse. She
wrote to the Empress Frederick, who
wrote in turn to her mother, the
Queen of England, and to her sister-in
law, the Princess of Wales, and the
Princess of Wales wrote to her sister, the
Empress of Russia. The intelligent Miss
Marsden then got the press to talk about
her. Ihe Graphic illustrated her. The
medical world took an interest in her.
and the Prince of Wales’ Leprosy Com
mission looked up her record That was
the beginning of the end for Miss Mars
den.
Armed with her letters and with money
proiided by charitable old ladies, she
proceeded to St. Petersburg and was re
ceived by the czarina and made much of
by the princesses and countesses of the
brilliant Russian court. Then people
lost sight of her lor a time. It is said
she discovered her plant and found it
wanting.
When she returned she stated that
Siberia was full of lepers, but they were
i rotting amidst snow and ice, and that
humanity should make a start to help
them This was a sacred duty.
Collections of money were made, and
Miss Marsden started for Siberia in or
der to distribute the funds herself. The
Queen of England sent for her and
blessed her, so to speak, and there was a
general flourish of trumpets for her send
off. This was in 1891.
In the meantime the leprosv cotnmis
’ sion had been investigating her history
I and her stories of leprosy in Russia, and
: tneir conclusions were distinctly unfavor
aole. They oven satisfied themselves
that Miss Marsden was an adventuress.
On her return in 1892 Miss Marsden
I published her book, “On Sledge and
Horseback to Outcast Siberian Lepers.”
I It was severely handled by all the more
| serious English papers. It revealed
many signs of exaggeration, and contained
many inaccuracies, to put it mildly.
In this hook Miss Marsden advocated
the establishment of a hospital in Siberia,
and stated that she had already formed a
committee in St. Petersburg for the col
lection of the necessary funds. She also
organized meetings in London and all
over England, and collected considerable
sums of money. It is needless to add that
she was herself to take charge of this
leper hospital, and intended to haudle the
money.
But the investigation of the English
leprosy commission, tho denials by the
Russian authorities of her statements,
the unfavorable impression of her book—
which was an extremely snobbish produc
tion. tilled with portraits of the queen,
the Empress of Russia, archbishops and
other great people and fac similes of flat
tering letters by them to her—all these
things set people’s tongues a-wagging.
The saddest thing of all was that cer
tain old ladies, all from New Zealand,
came forward and made charges of an
unpleasant character against Miss
Marsden. accusing her of living upon tho
charities of others all her life by dint of
misleading stories.
These "calumnies’' Miss Marsden was
too proud to repudiate. Her friends
gradually began to fight shy of her;
stories were told of elegant toilets
bought to wear at the Russian court,
of a lady who had boot victimized in
Berlin, of another in England. Finally
the Bt. Petersburg committee made an
investigation into the charges against
her. which were in effect that she was
an impositor and adventuress, and the
result has already been stated.
It will be interesting to learn what
Miss Kate Marsden will do next.
It has long been held that Incandescent
electric lamps were perfectly safe, and in
surance companies have not been accustomed
to increase their rates on account ol the use
of such, but recent tests go to show that the
Idea Is erroneous, and tbal while not nearly
so dangerous as arc lights, fires may te
started b.v the Incandescent current. During
yhe tests an incandescent lamp was placed on
the ground, covered with powder and the
globe b’-okfn No harm resulted. A lamp
was then dropped inio a receptacle full of
powder.•and the globe smashed. The result
was not what the experimenters looked for.
The powder went oft with an explosion which
wrecked the room and seriously burned the
over confident experimenters.
FAUNTLEROY IN REAL LIFE.
The Famous Original oi the “Little
Lord" Is 111.
Vivian Burnett, Who Was Made
Famous In Two Continents by His
Mother’s Pen, Again Attracts At
tention.
From the Philadelphia Record.
Washington. Aug. 25.—Vivian Burnett
will always, I suppose, be “Little Lord
Fauntleroy.”
He might say, as Polixenes said to Her
mioue in the “Winter's Tale":
■We were fair queen.
Two lads that thought there was no mpre be
hind.
But such a day to morrow as to day
And to be a boy eternal,”
for he is certainly to be “boy eternal ’’
“Little Lord Fauntleroy” can never
grow old, and so Vivian Burnett must al
ways be your.g in the mind of the great
public which knows him only as the noble
boy of his mother's story.
Yet. as a matter of fact. Vivian Burnett
is almost a man, for he was horn in Paris
on April 5, 1876, and is therefore well
into his nineteenth year. Time Hies so
fast that when it was announced the
other day that Little Lord Fauntleroy
was seriously ill with typhoid fever it
was difficult for those who had not seeu
him to realize that the lovable child had
become an attaactive young man. and it
seemed very strange that he should have
passed his preliminary examinations for
Harvard. He will never he very tall, for
he is like his father aud mother, who are
both under the medium bight: but he is
an athletic fellow, strongly built, and
may be stout. He has a fine face, with
dark eyes, thick brown hair and indi
cations of a moustache. He has all
the charm of Little Lord Fauntleroy, for
he has the real courtesy of the heart. Ho
has been entirely unspoiled by all tho at
tentions he has received from the time
his mother’s story appeared, and is with
out any affectation. He has decided talent
in several directions. In the public
schools of Washington, where his parents
for good American reasons had him edu
cated. he stood high, and he graduated
from the high school in June a year ago
with credit. Meanwhile he had had the
advantage of being much with his father
aud his mother, lie wan abroad with his
mother three or four summers, and after
his graduation he went with ber to
England and remained until last De
cemner. Since then he has been com
pleting his preparation for Harvard under
tutors. He had passed the first examina
tion creditably, and was to have taken
the second examination this fall, out his
father says he must wait till next year
now. and will probably go abroad for the
coming winter. He is a groat reader and
he writes well, although ho has never
publisned anything for the public except
an account of his experience as an atna
ture printer which he wrote for a syndi
cate of papers last winter.
FIRST ATTEMPT AT PUBLISHING.
In view of the fact that his mother
prefers that he shall be a publisher rather
than a writer, it is interesting lo read
what he wrote about his first attempts at
publishing an article.
“1 commenced,” he said, “when I was
about 7 years old, with a small Balti
morean press, which had been given me
as a Christmas present. At that time 1
had a friend working in the office of a
newspaper and it was he who had fired
my ambition to become a printer. Wo
had in tho beginning a ione font of type,
but our ambitions were not small in pro
portion to our possessions, for in the be
ginning we aspired to nothing less than
to publish a newspaper. It was called
'The Reportr,’ and would have been 'The
Reporter’ had not the e’s in the font given
sut. Buoh as it was, however, it itad a
circulation of nearly twenty divided up
between the members of the household,
and we reaped a profit of 20 cents on the
only issue that ever appeared.
"This time we aspired to pocket money,
and, after having added more type to our
plant, we set ourselves to scouring the
neighborhood lor individuals who wished
visiting cards printed. We soon had
quite a number of orders on hand. I will
not vouch for the workmanship on the jobs
printed at that time, but the people who
got them were satisfied and they brought
in money. Tho money in the treasury
was immediately invested in more ‘plant)’
and our office kept glowing larger and
larger, until finally it had to he moved
down stairs into a room by itself. At
this point, through the generosity of the
‘home office,’ an appropriation was made
to get the shop a large press. Christmas
being near, it was not deemed necessary
to stint our demands, so a fine largo foot
power press was added, besides a great
quantity of new type. Then, indeed, did
we think we had started on the high road
to success.
“Finally, following our former princi
ple of investing all oar money in ‘plant’
and having added other presses to our
equipment, we blossomed forth iq a news
paper again. This time it was moieofa
permanency. It w as not as large as one
of our dailies, but it served its purpose:
and tor three years’ running paid a hand
some dividend of several hundred per
cent.”
The rest of the article was a practical
description of his printing office, illus
trated with photographs, including one
of himself in his suirtsleeves at his
press, which lie took himself, for he is as
good a photographer as he is a printer.
FRIENDS AMONG OLDER PEOPLE.
He is fond of being out doors, and is ac
complished in several sports, especially
tennis. He likes to dance. He has ap
parently very few intimates among boys;
tnose that he has are quiet fellows with
congenial tastes. But he has a host of
friends among older people; for everyone
who sees him like him. One of them
said to me to-day: “Fauntleroy, beloved
of two continents, he loft his sash, his
velvet and laces, even his long golden
hair, far behind him; but the same in
fectious laugh, deeper and stronger, be
trays his whereabouts; he has the same
social nature, the same receptive faculty,
the same Catholic taste in friendship, in
w’hich his eye discerns merits and at
tractions often invisible to the world at
large, and the same delight in offering
hospitality and gifts to those he loves.
When I first saw him. long ago, he was a
round, soft bail of red and white, with a
very few clothes, ana a head that looked
like a hunch ef floss silk In a high wind ;
his cheeks were wet with tears and his
legs laced with long red scratches. Ho
had fallen asleep culled up in tho parlor,
overcome with the ingratitude of a large
fierce cat which he had tried forcibly to
adopt and which had scratched him pain
fully, though it was the wounding of his
feelings which made him cry. He was
really as quaint as his mother described
him and quite as original. Fauntleroy
and his brother Lionel—the beauti
ful boy who faded out of life
several years ago—were so im
pressed with a Sunday school lesson
about the burnt offering that a day or
two later they built up an altar in the
cupboard of their pley room, laid on a few
treasures and touched a lighted match to
it. ‘A pitty little fire, dourest,’ he ex
plained afterward to his mother.‘but it
got naughty and climbed too high and
’haved so queer we got scared and locked
it up and ran away.’ The neighbors
were scared also, for the fire spread to
the roof and was with difficulty extin
guished.
They were always natural, simplo and
frank children, und Vivian has lived a
thoroughly whoh-some life under the
best conditions for his development. He
and his father are inseparable chums, and
tbecoupauioDsbip is invaluable, for Dr.
Burnett is a man of rare talent and un
usual culture as well as high character.
Any time after office hours, if you go to
the doctor's delightful study, you will
find the slender, boyish figure of the
father either lost in the voluminous em
brace of the son or buried under his sub
stantial figure. "One chair does for
both,” they say laughingly, as they rise
to receive the visitor with the courtesy
so noticeable in both. Tho father sel
dom calls the son Vivian, and never Faun
tlero.v, but has hit upon the queer pet
name of "Jones” for him. and it has been
gradually taken up by the close friends of
the family. The boy himself seems to
like his nickname as well as his real
name- The doctor and “Jones" have
great talks in that old sleepy-hollow chair
-talks full of fun; for they are both
witty and love to chaff each other, yet
full of instruction to the boy. There is
nothing frivolous about “Jones.” Fond
as he is of fun, he is just as much in earn
est as he used to be and works just as
hard at whatever he undertakes. He
will certainly succeed in the best sense of
the word.
SOLICITUDE FOR ntS HEALTH.
The esteem in which Vivian is held was
well shown by the anxious inquiries which
came pouring in by mail and by telegraph
when it became known that he was so
sick, and by the congratulations which
are beginning to come upon his probable
recovery.
Dr. and Mrs. Burnett had nootherehild
except Lionel, Vivian’s older brother, who
died of consumption four years ago in
Paris. Lionel was in a different way us
attractive as Vivian, and the two as
young hoys together were a remarkable
pair. Mrs. Burnett used to dress
them like “The Little Princes in
the Tower,” and they made a
very pretty picture. Lionel, who was
several years older than Vivian, began to
fail, and his mother took him abroad,
hoping to restore his health. Lionel did
not know that he was likely to die, even
when the end came. He fell asleep in his
mother’s arms, murmuring “good night,
mother, you will be with me when I
wane!” ’Those who know what a shock
Lionel's death was to his father and
mother will appreciate their feelings
when they get the cablegram from his
uncle and aunt telliug of the unexpected
and serious illness of Vivian, and their
relief when they arrived to find him bet
ter. Vivian had the best of care in their
absence, not only from his relatives but
from family friends, who were glad to
have an opportunity of showing their re
gard.
MONTE CRI3TOS CASTLE PRISON.
Death of Pere Grosson, Its Aged Cus
todian.
From the Springfield Republican.
Grosson, keeper of the Chateau d’lf,
where Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo was
imprisoned, has just died. The chateau
is picturesquely situatod in the blue
Mediterranean, off Marseilles. Around
the rocky coves of the little island grow
lavender, fennel and rosemary; fishing
smacks with bright colored sails Hit over
the waters, as the ships of Ulysses once
did. But the charm of the old castle does
not depend upon these things so much as
upon the fascination of the romance of
Dumas; which brings there many visitors.
Old Grosson in his prime used to talk of tho
Abbe Faria aud Edmond Dantes as if they
were historical, and there is an amusing
incident told of tho visit of the great
novelist in 1870, the year in which he died
to the place he had made famous. Show
ing him through the dungeons, Grosson
came to the hole in the wall through
which the abbe communicated with
Dantes. “This hole,” said the custo
dian, “the abbe bored with a fish bone.
Alexandre Dumas says so.” “Then,”
said the vistor. "Alexandre Dumas was
acquainted with a good many things. uPer
haps you know him(” "Know him!” ex
claimed Grosson, “Alexander Dumas is
one of nay friends.” “He is glad of it,”
replied the great romancer, slipping two
golden louis into the man’s hand, which
he grasped.
Grosson complained, says tho London
Daily News correspondent, of the stingi
ness of the municipal authorities, who
left the custodian of the Chateau d'lf
dependent on the generosity’ of visitors
merely allowing him to live rent free. I
saw him a year ago for the last time. The
poor man was already in his dotage. Peo
ple were teasing him about his yarns.
••You know Monte Cristo,” they sug
gested mockingly. “Don’t you know be
never existed?” replied Grosson pettish
ly. “1 will show you the cell if you like,
but the whole thing is a fiction.” From
this I knew that poor old Grosson was
drawing to his end.
Pere Grosson had the whole history of
the castle at his finger ends. It was gen
uine history, and even tatter. His yarns,
repeated and amended in the course of
half a century, and improved with glean
ings from the wit and erudition of many
thousands of tourists, made him one of
the most interesting personages it has
been my fortune to meet. He finished by
believing in his own talcs, and his listen
ers were ready to plunge with him into
dreamland.
Or ov. Fennoye Shows Bis Populism.
From the Portland Oregonian.
Yesterday afternoon Gov. Pennoyer,
populist; the Hon. A. Bush, democrat:
and the Hon. E. P. McCormack, republi
can, boarded the Southern Pacific local
train at Salem, bound for Portland. They
were soon seated together in one of the
coaches, and an animated political discus
sion followed. When matters were
growing rather warm the conductor was
seen cotr ing down the aisle toward the
group. Mr. Bush, democrat, smiled
knowingly, and told the governor to get
his ticket ready, adding:
•‘Now is my chance to see a real live
governor produce a railroad ticket he has
really paid for. We will now see the
populistic battle cry of 'anti railroad
pass’ demonstrated. Of course, governor,
after your speeches during the recent
campaign about public officials being in
fluenced by railroad passes, you, of all
men. wont present one.”
• May I never hope for pardon if 1 think
so. governor.” put in Mr. McCormack,
republican, with a significant wink.
But Oregon’s about-to retire-from-offlee
governor wasn’t the least bit discon
certed. Calmly drawing a small leather
card case from his inside pocket, there
Hashed into view any number of com
plimentary transportation annuals. One
marked ‘Southern Pacific” was pushed
to the top with the thumb and forefinger
of the right hand that once wrote "you
must mind your business and I’ll mind
my own.” Remarking something sound
ing like populism sometimes having a
string to it, he dropped back into his seat
with the most guileless of glances at his
astonished travelling companions.
The conductor passedson with the gov
ernor’s “number.” Mr. Bush, democrat,
winked at Mr. McCormack, republican ;
Mr. Pennover, populist, said something
about the extreme heat, the subject was
dropped, and a political incident was
ended.
Perched cn the church towe-s in various
out of the way places In Britain, says Condon
Answers, may be found some quaint and
curious vanes Of these there are few more
remarkable and interesting than that which
Is oil the summit of Great Soroerby church,
near Grantham It takes the furm of a tludle
aud a bow. The church crowned with this
curious ornaimnt was built by an itinerant
fiddler, who was Horn in that Lincolnshire
village. He was in the habit of visiting the
fairs arid feasts of his native rounty. and.
after a few years, saved sufficient money to
enable him to emmigrate to America. There
he accumulated considerable wealth by wise
and ludlclons Investment, a portion of which
he decided to expend on building a church In
his native village To the gift lie attached
but one condition, that a metal copy or his
old and lastoved fiddle should be placed on the
top of the lower. This condition was faith
fully complied with when the church was
built.
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MORNING NEWS, Savannah, Ga.
13