Newspaper Page Text
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NEW YORK’S PECULIAR WOMAN.
Bab Chats About a Certain Type of Gotham
* Femininity.
Clothe* That \re Put On With Iron Clnni|>* ...ill Hinge*nud Topped lij 11
Ilearne-llhe Bonnet—Her ( otn iiiiiiiuimli i|i With (lie \elj*
riche*—-stealing of W hich the Worl.l Sever Hear*,
Theft of Garment* nl Liineheon*.
'ew York. Jan. 9.—There is a type of
■man peculiar to New York. She al
ways suggests largeness and squareness.
And squareness Is not a virtue In wo
man. The feminine figure, to he correct,
should be described by curves. Then, this
woman invariably has a pronoun
ced aquilino nose, extremely thin, and
rather blue looking. A big mouth, that,
when it opens, shows large teeth that are
set far apart. And her clothes, while de
cidedly in the fashion, seem to be put on
her with clamping irons or hinges, but
they certainly are not held together by
the ordinary hooks and eyes. She is top
ped by a bonnet of the hearse-like order—
the plumes of which wave in a fashion
that say: “All men are flesh.” 1 have
never been able to understand why this
woman lived. Amiability is certainly not
Iter excuse for existence, for she is in\a
■ lably positive and positive to the last de
gree. Usually, she is spoken of as hav
ing a small income and belonging to an
old family. She is to be found, however,
among the newly rich who have come to
this big city, have plenty of money to
spend and long to get In with and be
counted among the famous " four hun-
dred."
They believe that this lady can help
them to get where they want to be. She
accepts their invitations to dinner; she
sits in their opera boxes; she borrows their
carriages; and she does not hesitate to
bint for and get from them valuable pres
ents; but she never Introduces them lo the
people they would like to meet. She will
announce, with pride “last night my
cousin, Sallle Blueblood, dined infornn'ly
with us and her husband, who belongs to
1 he real old Blueblood family, was so full
of fun!” but she never tries to mix water
and oil by bringing together the new
friend on whom she is sponging, and the
old ones among whom she is counted had
form but still as “one of us." Sometimes
Madame, the newly rich, is clever enough
to read her character and in a very short
time drops her; being certain that she can
elone more easily obtain her object in life
than if she were hampered by a lot of un
desirable hangers-on. This type of woman
is invariably the one who will undertake
arranging a Christmas tree, or a festival
of any sort for some society; she says, with
a certain amount of truth, but she says
it to herself alone, that she lias a right,
since she has worked so hard, to take a
few Bpecisl toys that she wishes to send
away for gifts, as a sort of wage, but she
isYi't honest enough to mention this to the
committee, and so she may be numbered
nrr.ong the polite thieves. She wants to
belong to no society unless she has charge
of the funds. Oh, of course, her accounts
are invariably correct, but, still she man
ages to get, either as a percentage from
the people with whom she spends the
money, or in some round about way, what
the darkies call, "pickings and stealings."
Apropos of stealing, there is a great deal
of that done about which the world at
large doesn't hear. All New* York, how
ever, has heard of the latest theft the
sable cape. At a very fashionable lunch
eon not long ago, the bride, in whoso
honor it was given, was the last to leave.
Her hostess went up in the dressing room
wlih her and to their horror, instead of
the superb sable cape which she had worn
and which was one of her wedding pres
ents, she found a tattered mink one, hav
ing inside it the name of a cheap furrier.
The hostess, w*ho had not lost her belief
In humanity then, suggested that there
must he a mistake. A note was written
to each lady present asking her If, by mis
take, she had taken a cape which had in
it the name of a famous English furrier.
An answer came from each one; in every
instance the writer stated the sort of cape
she wore; and in many cases there had
been worn capes of fur, rapes of velvet,
coat* of cloth trimmed with fur, or fur
coats. , ~
The next afternoon the pretty bride
wearing a coat of cloth and carrying in
her hand a very slmpie muff, was walking
down the avenue with her mother. She
suddenly clutched her parent by the arm
and said in a husky voice:
“There's my cape."
The two ladies quickly walked up to the
wearer of the sables. She was n girl of
good standing who had been present at
the luncheon, but whose people were not
wealthy enough to have bought her such
a cape as the one she was wearing. The
mother said to her with much tact:
"Miss Highbred, did you not, by mistake,
take mv daughter's cape yesterday?"
Miss Highbred drew herself up very
stiffly and said:
“I answered your daughter’s note, and
I know nothing whatever about her cape.”
The little bride, losing all control of her
self. said :
“Why you have it on!"
The young woman gave her one haughty
look, and annoueed:
“ You are crazy; the cape that I am
wearing was sent me by a cousin in En
gland."
What can they do? There is nobody
who saw her take the cape. She went up- i
stairs with others, and a maid helped her
assume whatever she picked up as belong
ing to herself. Nobody is willin 'to swear
to the sort of cape she came in. hough
every woman is convinced that the rali.es
which she wears with such effrontery
were a deliberate thefl.
A curious ease came immediately under
my own eyes. A hairdresser, who had
been brushing my hair for many years,
also brushed the hair of a friend. One day
when she was brushing this friend's hair,
a young girl called who was tniimato
enough to come into lier hostess' dressing
room; soon ufter her arrival a superb
bracelet, set with diamonds and rutiles
win shown, a present from a loving hus
band to his pretty young wife. The hair
dresser ieft the room once or twice to got
hot water or fresh towels, but was never
alone with the bracelet.
That evening It was discovered that this
bracelet, which had cost over $2.W>, wus
missing. A detective was sent for. and
with the usual stupidity of his kind, he
Insisted that the hairdresser hail taken it.
For two weeks she was followed and, dur
ing that two weeks. Inquiry was made as
to whether she had spent more money
than usual. At the end of the two weeks
the owner of the bracelet heard that her
friend was engaged to he married. The
gfiitii into whom she was engaged gave
a illnn* to some of Ills men friends and
the ni el day It was told that he hud ex
hibited us a present from his fiancee, a
superb ting, s- . with three ruble*. My
friend knew tint this girl, allhough the
daughter of a fashionable clergyman, had
nut enough money to buy such presents.
She sent for the detective, and talked
peer tlte matter with him; then, together,
the; went to see the girl's father. Horror
stricken, he brought the girl before them,
nnd she confessed what her hostess had
forgotten that, while the hairdresser we
in the bathroom getting hot water, he
XrJend left the room to speak to the butler
A
an l slie was alone there. Then she took the
bracelet, case anti all, put it in her muff,
and while driving with her friend
that whole afternoon carefully kept
her hand on her booty. She had
sold the bracelet to a Jew
eler, talking the ring, which she had given
her betrothed and a certain amount of
money for it. Of course, it had to he got
ten back, and equally, of course, tin man
to whom she was engaged had to he told
of this affair. The engagement was
broken.
Now, I never hear of this girl being in
vited anywhere that I don't feel as if some
body ought to warn her hostess. When it
was all over the poor hairdresser was tool
tlie truth. She had been utterly uncon
scious of the espionage over her, and she
wept bitterly to think that, after years of
service, her honesty could h .'*.■ tv ,-n ques
tioned.
But, my friend, all the ves do not
live on the side streets. Who has not had
line books disappear? Who has not miss
ed expensive trinkets, dainty bits of bric
a-brac, and odds and ends of lace or silk?
Servants don’t want these things. When
they steal they take something that can
easily be converted into money, or money
itself. But the little belongings that are
only appreciated by women of fine taste,
are. when they disappear, usually taken
by those who realize exactly the delights
to be gained by them. By the bye, some
body asked me w*hat sort of a man a wo
man likes. She is usually pleased by a
man who has that most exquisite of ail
enamels over the true gold of his heart
good manners.
She likes a man who is considerate of
her.
She likes a man who dresses well, but
she does not want him to look as If what
ho did wear was by order of his tailor.
She does not like a man who is effemi
nate.
She likes a manly hand, hut it must be
one which is kept in good order.
If a man is fortunate enough to be able
to sing well, talk well and dance well, he
will be that much more popular, but it is
more important that he should know how
to control a horse, row a boat, and pitch
a bail, since they are specially manly ac
complishments.
A woman likes a man who doesn't talk
about himself, but who does talk about
her.
She likes his respect, his reverence, his
admiration.
She likes to think of him as a good busi
ness man, able to win his own way in the
world, and therefore Independent.
She likes to think that, if the house
catches on fire he'll keep cool, save her
first, and then do no end of heroic deeds.
Nowadays, there is no fighting In the
ring, there is no chance of a contest with
a bull or a lion, and so a man must win
his spurs in other ways. But a woman
does adore a man who would be, she is
sure, under any circumstances, as bravo
and as gallant as Chevalier Bayard.
She doesn't like a fool. A woman is so
eonslttuted that she often adores a fool
to annoy a hero. It seems to her as if he
ought to be deviled with pin pricks. She
forgets that he might meet a tiger with
out a quiver and be smothered to death
by a fly.
She likes a man who, in some peculiar
situation, cannot only rise superior to it,
hut master it. Indeed, when she is a very
real woman, she likes a man who can mas
ter her.
She likes to win a man to her way of
thinking by feminine persuasion; she de
spises him when she can order him about.
Sometimes she does this, and then she is
the mother of children who have only fear
for their mother and an intense love, but
no respect for their father.
She likes a man who can buy her a rail
road ticket without getting flurried over
it as she does, and who can mark, on a
railroad time-table, just what the story of
the train means—a something that to her
is like a famous Greek riddle.
Well, I suppose, to sum it up, one ex
plains it best, when one says that a wo
man likes a man who Is tender at heart
and a bit ashamed ol' it; loving In reality
and a hit troubled about it: but with a
nature of the purest gold, w’itli a body that
is essentially masculine, wearing clothes
that fit well, having manners that are
good, and a heart that in time becomes
hers. That's the sort of man that would
get a medal, because he deserved it, from
Bab.
\ iron'l l XE FOR Oil ESS
Mrs. O. H. I*. Belmont Is gai<l to
Spend, and For a Winter YVnrb
robe Only.
From the Baltimore Sun.
In speaking of the enormous sums spent
annually by some of the society women of
New Y'ork, such as \frs. John Jacob As
tor, Mrs. Herman Oelrichs. Mrs. Lorlllard,
Mr* Belmont and others of the same set,
the Statement has been made, says the
Boston Post, that several of them spend
from 130.000 to $25,000 for their winter ward
robes alone. Mrs. (>. H. P. Bc.mont is
said to have spent $23,000 for her wardrobe
the pre ent season. How this can be done
will be seen from the following list:
Ten gowns for ball and opera, $3,000; ten
bonnets, $950; one sealskin cape, $•!••'; two
ur muffs, $150; one ear muff. $123; on pra
cloak, $300; one opera cloak, $250; six pa.is
wa.king shoes, S9O; four pairs dancing
shoes S4B; four pairs kid slippers, $00; three
dozen long gloves, $300; four dozen gloves
for driving and wa.king, $144; ten tea
gowns $2,200; six dressing gowns, $500;
three riding habits. s4uo; fourteen corsets,
s42o* twelve pail's silk stockings, $00; four
dozen pair lis.o stockings, $144; two pairs
bedroom slippers. S2O; four suits silk un
derwear, $120; ten suits woolen underwear,
$2oo; lingerie, $1,500; four dozen handker
chiefs. $45; two dozen handkerchiefs, S4B;
two dozen handkerchiefs, S3B; three dozen
handkerchiefs, S3B; toilet articles, $1,000;
ten gowns for walking and driving, $1,000;
three hath robes, $180; three fans, $75; three
pairs riding boots, $75; two bicycle suits,
$300; two traveling outltts, $200; two win
ter'wraps, $200; two winter wraps, $150;
three skating outfits, $275; trimmings,
ribbons, etc., $300; four umbrellas. sls; one
sable-trimmed wrap, $1,000; three dinner
gowns, $1,200; two evening cloaks, $800; one
dozen vlels, $150; jewelry, $5,000; one fur
wrap, SBOO. two fur boas, $200; two morn
ing gowns, $200; two sleighing outfits, $400;
three theater costumes, $300; one fancy
dress-ball costume, $300; six pairs over
shoes, $8; total. $25,7-19.
This does not include any of her other
personal expenses, such as the cost of
(lowers, the pay of ladles' maids, money
given In charity, the cost of opera and
theater boxes and the charge for enter
tainment ami household maintenance. On
clothes alone Mrs. Belmont thus spends
in a single winter season what would be
a fortune to the ordinary man.
—Lane county. Kansas, which has de
clared Itself bankrupt, is named after
Senator “Jim" Lane, the “red icg,” as his
enemies called him. It was Senator Lane
who elicited from President Lincoln the
declaration that “in time of elvi. war
•■very foul bird flies abroad and every
dirty reptile raises Its head!'*
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, * JANUARY JO, 1807.
TAI,WAGE'S SECRET.
lion* He ••Made n Break” and Drew
Large Congregation*.
From the Chicago Times-Heralfi.
The story as it was told me.
We were missionaries together in a fron
tier town of the gTeat northwest; he a
stiff-back, strait-laced Presbyterian, wno
had swerved from the old Dutch Reform
church of the Mohawk valley to fill a
more modern niche. I of a more liberal
faith. He was an old man; I young. In
one of our many long conversation*, for
we were cronies, and I liked to hear his
reminiscences, he told me of his school
fellow, Talmage. "What, T. DeWitt?"
"Yea, verily, the same, we were In col
lege and in the theological seminary to
gether.” Being encouraged, the dominie
went on. "Robert Talmage was the great
Ta.mage of the Talmage family. He was
born great, he has been a
China many, many years, but DeWilt
has made himself great.” "You interest
me, genius of birth and of growth both in
the same family. Tell me of the genius
that grows, develops—there Is hope for
some of us, maybe.” A broad grin spread
over his face as he complied. "We wove
installed in charges not very distant from
each other, and as two young men began
our work. It was among the good old
Dutch Reform brethren, not far from New
York. Being in the same presbytery, as
we call it now, DeWitt and myself wfcre
brought together from time to time. We
Were interested, yes, glad to know of the
growth of the Lord's work in each other's
hands. During the first year we met one
day, and to my hail, 'DeWitt, how goes
the times?’ he made answer, ‘Slow, slow,
8., siow.’ How is that?’ ‘Well, there are
too many empty pews. I tell you, 8., I
am going to make a break.' I laughed
and said; 'You better spend more time
with your Bible; be on your knees more
for your people. Agonize mof*e for souls.
He replied hastily; 'I do all those things;
am wearing myself'out to no purpose that
way, and 1 am going to make a break.'
"We went our several ways, and had
forgotten his threat, if, indeed, it was a
threat. “I am going to make a break."
when one day we met on a committee,
ana I grasped his hand with the ‘Well,
old boy. how goes it?’ His answer was
‘First rate, splendid,’ and he looked it.
'But,' 1 whispered, 'they say they are go
ing to ship you down there.' 'All right.’
said he, 'l'll go to a larger place-.’ 'You
made the break, and have no empty pews;
tell me about it.' And this was his story.
He noticed the show people and theater
people had the willing crowds, and the
churches the unwilling few. What was
the secret? Who had the secret? Evi
dently the actors. We have had the best
of training, but the drawing power is not
with us or our teachers. Christ had the
multitude, why not we? Talmage had been
long thinking on those lines, and with
him to think was to act. He immediately
wrote to a friend in New Y'ork city for
the address of someone who would be
a good trainer fbr the stage, and in due
time by engagement was greeted at his
loor. It was his annual summer vacation.
The man looked surprised when he learn
ed DeWitt's errand, seemed to hesitate
for a moment, and then said; ‘Mr. Tal
mage, 1 suspect you are a clergyman, and
I never train a clergyman, so cannot take
you as a pupil.' DeWitt bridled at the
thought. 'Why, sir, why?’ 'Simply im
possible. You would not do as I tell you,
and if you did they would expel you from
the pulpit.’ ‘But I will do as you tell me,
and 1 will take the risk of expulsion.’ But
let me give you the story in his own words.
The trainer went on to say: 'You were
educated all wrong according to our
standard of speaking. Ail ministers are.'
I answered promptly, 'I believe you.’ He
continued: 'You speak from a little box
pulpit high up?’ ‘Yes. sir.’ ‘Will you
agree to abandon that and have a large
platform like a stage for you to walk
around on to talk to men from?’ 'Yes,
sir,’ with some hesitation, as the ghosts
from the unchanging past. 'However,
of ministerial propriety glared % ai me
Mr. Talmage, the greatest difficulty to re
move I will find in yourself rather than in
the church building. There is not
a thing you have been trying
to do but is wrong.' He was growing in
teresting. 'Mr. Talmage, you believe in
this book,’ picking up a small Bible, 'that
men must know its truths?’ ‘Yes, sir, I
do.’ ‘That if they would be saved they
must receive them. That the choice of life
or death is here?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘That thous
ands will go down to death unsaved un
less you teach them to receive Christ?’
•Yes, sir.' 'And this is the way you go
about it.' Changing his quick, nervous
earnest ways to great deliberation, he
straightened up to his highest, seemingly,
buttoned his coat, touched up his hair,
slowly adjusted a pair of glasses, dropped
his arms by his sides and began a dead
march in Saul pace to the imaginary pul
pit. A face of chalk would have had as
much expression as his as he calmly open
ed the book and read in a perfunctory way
some scripture. He cleared his ministerial
voice and turning to me, said: 'Mr. Tal
mage, did I do it justice?’ 'Yes, too true
to life.’ He came back to my side, un
bottoned his coat, put on an alert look,
strode to his pulpit, opened the book with
eagerness and with flashing eye and ferv
ent voice read scripture, making my blood
tingle. His every hair seemed to believe
and speak, his flesh to creep as if pent
with a great message. He talked as
though he stood between the living
and the dead, as though for the
lasl time. As though earth as a grain of
sand were being lost on the shores of ob
livion and frosted and palsied all the
achievements of man. If lifeless with
dignity before lie was now all life, all elo
quence. He stopped and said, ‘Mr. Tal
mage, will you do like that?’ I said, 'I
will try.' He said, 'note this, you minis
ters express what you believe in such a
way that people do not believe you be
lieve it, while we actors express what we
do not believe in such a way that people
believe we believe it.’ So you see,' said
Mr. Talmage, '1 have the secret and the
multitude.’ ”
My north western friend laughingly con
cluded: "When you again see the great
Talmage trying to force his lingers into
the wall to scramble up the side, as he
describes the sinking ship, and man's
sinking condition, you will remember that
it all traces back to the time 'when ho
made a break’ in our early ministry, when
lie became a real man dealing with living
Issues, before a real multitude. Talmage
allowed himself to be made over, he ex
presses the fire and fury of our Saxon fore
fathers. He was taught that God ex
presses himself In life; life In face and
feature, iVi foot and form. It is so rare and
racy and right that men pay princely
prices for Tulmages—ssoo for one of his
lectures—while I am forgotten on this fron
tier, but 1 am not lonesome. I am one of
a great host who remain In the rut; a
minister not mannish, like Talmage, but
munnerish.
"Young man, make a break; make the
world believe that you believe what you
believe.”
—Alexander Waltzfelder, well known on
(he race tracks as a bookmaker's cashier,
has died from blood-poisoning, caused by
carrying paper money in his mouth, says
a New Y'ork letter In the Philadelphia
Ledger. He was a noted handler of
money, and was In the habit of keeping a
wad of banknotes in nis mouth while ht
hands were occupied In making change or
entries. One day he bit his lip, and it is
believed that poison from the bills enter
ed his system and ultimately killed him
l—Lod! yer comes de pawson. Wnat kin I do wif dese pullets o' h:s n?
i, % ■ ' .... •
~"~* rT <" t w*r *
2—ls'e got er idear ter roll down hill in er snow ball.
" ~ ''''
3—! ! ! ! ? ?
■5
4—My King, but dat wuz a narrer escape, suah.
During the Minuet.
He—That fellow Huggins is a regular bear.
She— Um—or—yes, ho does impress one that way.
DOGS 1H G II nil OIT.
Idaho Man Rescued Irtmi Peril ly
Two Faithful Animals.
From the Mountalnhome Republican.
On the morning of Dec. 1 Frank An
dreas was saved from an untimely death
l>y Ills two noble dogs. He was on his
way to the blacksmith shop, some distance
from the mine, when he was caught by a
big snowslhle, which started about 200 feet
up the mountain, lie was carried quite a
distance and lodged against the gulch und
covered over with four feet of hard-pack
ed snow. His two dogs, which are quar
ter St. Bernard, escaped the avalanche.
They soon located their master and began
to dig away the snow.
By the faithful work ofthe dogs and
the use of his left arm, which was fortu
nately In an upright position. Mr. An
dreas soon gained a small opening which
enabled him to breathe. He declared that
a few minutes more and he would have
been dead. One hour and a half of hard
struggling, and by picking away the hard
snow from his body and throwing It out
of the opening made by the dogs, brought
a most welcome relief, and one that will
not soon be forgotten. The gulch proper
was tilled with snow ten feet deep for u
distance of seventy-live feet.
AVomlerfal Presence of Mind.
Genuine Hospitality.
‘Talk about hospitality,” remarked a
broken-down actor to the Washington
Star, "the place to find it is In the far
west. The last time I was out there we
were playing Uncle Tom’s Cabin, with a
real mule. We played to fair business,
and paid our bills until we reached Red
Hluff. There the owner of the opera
house had a piano for an orchestra, and it
stood Just below the stage. When the
mule came on seme one In the audience
got funny, and, throwing a lariat around
the neck of the animal, pulled him off the
stage. The mule ami the piano got mixed
up, which ruined the orchestra, and when
he got away from the piano the mule kick
ed down one of the boxes before he walk
ed through one of the seats to where the
fellow with the lariat wanted him. I had
a mouth organ, with which I went on with
the orchestral accompaniment, and we
closed the play with the fellow that cap
tured the mule riding him around the
opera house.
"The manager of the theater claimed
damages, .captured all of the box receipts
and We could not get out of town. Of
course, we expected to walk, but I’ll be
blamed If the landlord didn't pack us all
with our baggage in a box oar. give us
plenty of lunch, and send us clear to Vir
ginia City without our paying u cent. The
l most hospitable fellow I ever saw. 1 ’
FIRE IN A SKY-SCRAPER.
FIHE CHIEFS CONSIDER THE MER
ITS OF A MORTAR ENGINE.
Aluminum Grenades Fired to the
Top Story—By Compressed Air the
Bombs Con Be Sent 1 1> at the Rate
of Sixty Per Minute—They Burst
and Put Out the Fire hike Hand
Grenades.
Copyright, 1897.
New York, Jan. B.—Fire Chief Bonner,
of New York city, has come out flat-footed
against the sky-scraper. From his view
point it will lower his record as a fire chief
and treat his city to a fire by the side of
which Chicago’s historic conflagration of
twenty years ago will be a mere bonfire.
Chief Bonner's views are indorsed by
the fire chiefs of all cities where immense
ly tall buildings are being constructed. Si>
of the fire chiefs, notably those in the
cities where the twenty-story building
are going up, have appealed to the legisla
ture to aid them. Failing to receive helj
there they say they will appeal to the gov
ernment at Washington.
The objections set forth by the fire chief:
are that, in case of fire in a sky-scraper
there will be no way of fighting it. Tilt
most powerful stream of water can hard
ly reach above the eighth story of a build
ing, and here its force is weak and uncer
tain
With a fire extinguisher the firemen a
the present day climb to the tallest avail
able point of a building, and from there di
lect the water upward.Th’ey can thus cas
the stream higher than though using a
hosq. standing upon the ground in th<
street below.
With fire in a sky-scraper, in any build
ing over twelve stories high, the time con
sumed in getting up to a top floor would
be very great. Fifteen minutes' valuable
time would be wasted climbing stairs.
If a fireman could step into an elevator
with a hose on his back and be quickl>
lifted to the twelfth floor he could fight
the fire easily with the aid of other firemen
arriving by other elevators. But in time
of fire elevators do not work and hose ar:
not easily carried up. The electric plan
becomes dangerous to handle and eleva
tor operators do not care to trust theii
lives to ropes around which fire is playing
Climbing up, either inside or outside, i:
the only expedient left the firemen, and
this is slow and dangerous.
The hook and. ladder service, too, fails
with the sky-scraper. Although very ex
pert in throwing the hook from story to
stjjry and running up patched, ladders, as
they are flung upward from floor to
floor, no man has the head or the strength
to keep on ascending after he has reached
a dizzy hight from the street. More than
that his fire chief would not allow him to
scale up the front of a building beyond a
certain number of ladders.
Architects assert that the sky-scraper is
absolutely fire-proof. Recently, however,
the Mills building, that perfectly fire-proof
structure off Wall street, where Cleveland
had his law offices and where Henry Clewo,
D. O. Mills and a third of the millionaires
of New York transact famous money deal
ings daily, took fire, it is said, and three
floors were burned through before the
flames could be put out in this perfectly
fire-proof building.
Jn the sky-scraper if this were to happen
the fire authorities claim that there would
be a collapse in the middle. The floors
would fall through. If the top floor cauglr
fire it would be compelled to burn, as no
water could be earned up to it. Soon i
would give way. Iron safes, heavy furni
ture and office machinery would eras!
downward, and then the building wouli
be doomed. The lower floors could not
stand the strain of the upper ones fallin:
upon them. Before the building could b
emptied the great loss of life would mak'
a national hon\>r.
Builders and real estate owners hav*
stirred up inventors to their best efforts t<
bring forth something that would figh
fire beyond the reach of water, and if hal
the things that are in the office of the fir<
chiefs wore to be shown they would mak
a museum of fire preventives.
One of these, however, is of the utmos
practicability, and will shortly be tested
It is the mortar engine for throwing
bombs up to the top story of any building
The bombs are called grenades, and th,
fire laddies are fire grenadiers. It is thi
invention of Samuel Lownsdale, of Law
renceburg, Ind.
The principle is one of hydraulics. Stearr
and compressed air give the motive power
There is a powerful engine mounted on a
wagon drawn by horses and arranged very
much like the present fire engines.
At one side there rises a large, round
cup-like affair which is the mouth fron
which the grenades are fired. The schem
is to load the mortar with grenades an
send them flying into the air at the rate ot
one a second.
The fire grenade is a thing that is now
universally accepted. Every public plan
has its little rack of hand grenades to b
broken in case of escaping flames. Thes,
grenades act upon the same principle
They are sent Into the air with rapid sue
cession and with great force. Landin;
high in the building they explode, and th
fire gradually subsides. Meanwhile th
fire laddies are fighting it from below
sending up streams as high as they* can.
A glass grenade would be too light fo
such use. The danger would be that of ex
plosion before the hight was reached. Th<
very force of the expulsion would brea'
the glass. The strength of the project!!
would still carry it well up in the air
though broken, and it would fall upon th
heads of the crowds below, doing grea
damage.
The trouble, which at first was an in
surmountable one, has been done awa;
with by making the grenades of aluminum
The shell is filled with the grenade conipo
sition. This is a patent liquid warrants
to subdue flames. The makers guard wel
the secret of its composition.
Caps are fitted to four sides of the gre
nade. These are not percussion caps, but
quite the contrary. They are hard meta’
withdut a particle of explosives in tlieii
make-up. But they are located over thin
spots in the bomb, so that on striking
they are driven through the aluminum
and thus they liberate the confined fluid.
A fusilade as fierce as this bomb-throw
ing mortar is calculated by the inspectors
of the new machine to extinguished a tin
with twice the rapidity of water. Om
mortar In operation equals in velocity and
fighting quality two large streams of
water.
The expense of opetating a fire mortal
is great compared to the tire-engine ser
vlco, and naturally there is fierce opposl
tton among the taxpayers to this additlor
to their city rates. But this has been over
come as a minor point by an agreement
among the owners of all buildings Built a?
sky-scrapers. It Is proposed, if the tax
payers win not adopt tho mortar engine
to equip the town with three of these tire
fighters, to be used in ease of need. Tin
owners of the sky-scrapers are to pay a I
costs of keeping the apparatus. This they
would be glad to do if assured that legls
laticn would not put a stop to their high
building plans.
The injury done to a building by fire ap
paratus is one in which the fire insuranc
companies are specially Interested. Tr
them It Is a matter of life or death whethe
a tire apparatus destroys office propertv
or leaves it undamaged. The fire engine
now in use are so destructive that the In
surancc companies have their "protect
Ives" that go from tire to fire spreadln
their tarpaulins over furniture and rrscu
Ing valuable papers. The streams of
Dreadful
Rheumatism,
No disease has puzzled the doctora
so completely as rheumatism —that de
plorable condition of the blood which
so often renders the strongest man as
helpless as a babe. Their mercurial
and potash remedies may in some
cases impart temporary relief, but are
sure to ultimately result in wrecking
the entire system.
Rheumatism is a deep-seated blood
disease and only a real blood remedy
will have any effect whatever upon
it. Most of the so-called blood reme
dies are at best only tonics and can
not reach an obstinate blood troubie.
One of the most frequent symptoms of
rheumatism is a tingling sensation of
the parts affeated, generally brought
about from a lack of free circulation
of the blood through the very small
blood conductors. This trouble is al
ways eliminated by the use of S. S. S.*
it thins the blood, gives it a free and
forcible circulation, destroys the pois
onous microbes and restores the circu
lation to its normal condition.
Mr. Robert H. King, a prominent
and influential citizen of West Point,
Va., writes of his experience with this
dread disease:
“About five years ago I was a great
sufferer from rheumatism. I was
treated by ail the leading physician*
Mr. Robert H. Kino.
In the state, but without relief. Ia
fact, my sufferings grew worse daily,
until I despaired of ever being cured,
“I had been in this wretched condi
tion for many months and was almost
a complete wreck, when I first read the
advertisement of S. S. S. Having tried
a dozen or more ‘rheumatic cures’ and
‘blood remedies’ with no success, I was
almost hopeless, but decided to give
your medicine a trial. I did so, and in
a few weeks it had made a permanent
cure of me. I was soon a well man
and have never had a touch of rheuma
tism to this day. S. S. S. is indeed
a wonderful medicine, and I shall ever
recommend it to all sufferers from this
worst of blood diseases.”
S. S. S. stands out distinctly to it
self as a real blood remedy, and for
half a century has been curing obsti
nate and deep-seated blood diseases
which other medicines fail to reach.
S. S. S. is not a drug store preparation
and no druggist can offer a substituta
for it. It is guaranteed purely vege
table, and contains not a particle of
potash, mercury, or any other product
of the chemist’s shop.
S. S. S. never fails to cure Rheuma
tism, Eczema, Cancer, Scrofula, or any
other disease of the blood, it matters
not what other treatment has failed.
Dur . ooks on blood and skin diseases
■vill be mailed free to any address.
Swift Specific Company, Atlanta, Ga.
eater now in use by fire engines are pow
-rful enough to knock down the strong
st man and to break any but the stoutest
urniture.
The mortar grenade is said not to be as
njurious to furniture as water. It does
tot soak furniture and papers and it
will not break woodwork. Its main ob
lection is its destructiveness to glass. The
ront of a building against which the fire
nortar engine had been directed would be
ibsolutely barren of glass. Rut of course
ine cannot expect to escape scot-free
L'roin a fire.
The danger for the Are grenadiers is not
,-ery great. Unless they are told to scale
t building with a small mortar upon their
iack—Which is one development of the
nortar engine similar to the “ex
inguisher ” which the fireman now
arries upon his shoulders —there
s no great danger unless a bomb happens
o burst prematurely. Then the grenadier
s liable to injury around the face.
Tlie mechanism of tlie mortar is so slm
le, compared with the intricate tire en
inc with attached hose, that experiment
vith it is easy; and after all the sky
craper may have come to stay, for with
he mortar in operation the greatest ob
ection to the tall building will have been
emoved. Albert Cameron.
EGGS KIiAVOHEU TO ORDER.
’onltryman Finds n Way to Give HU
Produce Novelty.
From the New York Press.
Ringnampion, N. x.— inomas rtenoncks
i farmer in the town of Lisle, thinks Ip
las made a discovery regarding poulti
ind egg producing which will prove va,u
able. Recently Mr. Hendricks sold a final
ity of eggs to a family in this city, wlv
romplained that they were almost worth
'ess, owing to a strong taste of kerosene
He could not account for this; but when*
rakery he had been supplying refused 1(1
■eceivo any more of his goods for the same
eason he began an investigation.
He found that the chickens had eaten *
Hiantity of corn left lying In the vlcinf.
>f two kerosene barrels. This gave h" 1
in Idea, and he began to experiment. I* l
onllned three hens in a coop and fed the
in corn that had been soaked over nit-:
n water strongly tinctured with extra .
•f vanilla. The result was that the eg*
ould not be eaten, but when used
ooklng Imparted a delicate flavor to *
ake or pastry-, without the use of otn
iavoring. He took some of these egg*
he bakery, where they were tested a
■ronounced superior to anything Id
lavorihg line.
-The Duki of York will be made s rr,r
dmlral. To uttaln this honor he will jnn-'
•ver a hundred captains senior to him** 1 ■
nost of whom entered the British 1
oeforc he was born.