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ECHO SONO.
I.
Who can say whare Echo dwell-
In some mountain cave me thinks.
Where the white owl sits and blinks;
Or in deep sequestered dells,
Where the fox-glove hangs its bells,
Echo dwells.
EcuO:
Echo I
n.
Phantom of the crystal air!
daughter of sweet mystery! i
Here is one haR need of thee;
1/ead him to thy secret lair.
Myrtle brings he for thy hair;
Hear his prayer,
Echo'
Echo!
11l
Echo, lift thy drowsy head,
And repeat each charmed word
Thou must needs have overhearJ
Yesters’en ere, rosy-red,
Daphne down the valley fled,
~ Words unsaid.
Echo!
Echo!
IV,
Breathe the vows she since denies!
She hath broken every vow;
What she would she would not now;
Thou did’st hear her perjuries
Whisper, whilst I shut my eye*
Those sweet lies,
Echo!
Echo!
Thomas Aldrich, in Atlantic Monthly.
IN THE EXPRESS CAR.
A messenger's ADVENTURES.
*
Even in these (lays of peace, with
every money handler armed for defence,
and surrounded by every safeguard,
hanks are “touched,’* stages held up,
express cars robbed, and the highway
robber and the horse thief have no com
plaints of lack of business. This being
the case now, you can imagine the state
of affairs during the war, even though
you were not a living witness. Along
about 1863 the bad men of the times
reaped s constant harvest. Money was
abundant, every day full of excitement,
and embezzlers and absconders outnum
bered honest men. And, too, hanks,
express companies, and other big money
handlers were green to many of the tricks
and schemes, and the idea of buying a
revolver for an express messenger out of
company funds would have been voted
dowu instantcr. He must arm himself,
and if he pulled through he was a good
fellow. If he didn’t, it was looked tipou
as “an act of Providence.”
For two years I had a run on the ex
press between Cincinnati and 81. Louis,
and between St. Louis and Chicago, and
during those years I carried enough
money to pay the national debt. On either
run it was considered an “off" time
when I did not have §20,000, and many
and many a time I checked up from
§IOO,OOO to 15150,000 without being ex
cited over the temporary possession of so ]
much cash. I carried the old-fashioned
portable safe, good enough to keep out
the rain, hut no defence against a ham
mer and cold chisel, and 1 had one of the
best Colt’s revolvers that money could
buy. I was only a year or two over age
when I made my first run, stout and ac
tive, and I think I had a fair share of
nerve and pluck.
Mv first adventure occurred while
making the run between Cincinnati and
St. Louis. 1 had been on the road about
six weeks, and the busiuess was so heavy
that we had to have an extra man. While
I took charge of the money he looked
after the parcels and boxes, and we had
a whole car to ourselves. My assistant
was named John Goodhue, and he had
been one of the check clerks in the
freight department of the Cincinnati
office. He was an easy going, good
natured mau of forty, much given to
taking things easy, but as he was the only
man the company could or would spare I
had to take him as 1 found him and make
the best of it. Whenever we pulled out
of either city we were very busy for the
ffrst half hour. I saw that everything
was properly checked off and accounted
for in the line of money and valuables,
and then assisted him if he was not al
ready through. It thus sometimes hap
pened that I was busy at iny safe in the
corner for the first twenty mites out, and
that little or no conversation was ex
changed between us.
On this particular evening Goodhue
was ten minutes late at the train, but ho
took hold with unusual spirit, and when
the stuff was all in we had the car pretty
well filled. I was at my safe when the
train pulled nut, and I heard Goodhue
moving about and going through the
usual routine. We had nothing to put
off until we reached a farm thirty miles
away, and then it was something in the
line of freight. I therefore took things
easy, and was smoking as I did my work.
I had on that night, in addition to my
own safe and $62,000, a paymaster's safe
which contained nearly a quarter of a
million. I was sitting on this and bend
ing over my own when I received a blow
on the head from behind. It fell upon
the left side of my head and glanced to
the shoulder, but it knocked me over
sideways in a heap on the floor. I was
not stunned, but it came to me in a
second to “play ’possum.” Even while
falling I realized that it was a plan to
rob the car, and I wondered who Good
hue had behind him. I rolled over on
-sgy back, groaned two or three times,
amfatjmn straightened out, and after a
tninute'Nmard a voice 6av; “Come out,
Jim—he’sWled!”
It was the voictof the man who had
struck me, but notfht voice of Goodhue.
I heard a second imtocotrc forward, and
then the plot was exposed. Either was
Goodhue, and both were strangeft,
“Guess you’ve done for him, Toii,”
said the last comer as he stood over me.
“Couldn’t help it, Jim—he’d have
given us a fight if I hadn’t. Now. then,
we’ve got things coopered. In five
minutes we shall be at Blaukville.
There's nothing to go off, but I'll open
the door. Sit here on the safe.”
The whistle blew, the train pulled up,
and pretty soon we were at a stand'till!
The robber opened the sliding door and
•tood as cool as you please for two or
three minutes, and I heard him reply to
the agent that there was nothing to gi
off. As soon as the train pulled out he
shut the door and came over and said:
“Open the other door. Five miles
from here is the stretch of woods,and we
must he rendv to dumn the safes at the
V I
word.”
My revolver was tinder me. iu its
holster, and I was helples*. The first
move I made would have brought them
upon me, and they would have been cer
tain to make sure work of it this time. I
had to let them carry out their plan,
but I was forming another. The stretch
of woods was two miles long, and be
tween Blankville and the next stop was a
distance of eighteen miles. The two
small stations between were not on our
time card. The train sped along at a
rate of forty miles an hour, and pretty
soon out went the safes. Then the men
ran out at the end of the car, set the
brake, and pulled the hell cord. That
was what they did, but I did not wait to
see or hear it. They were no sooner
clear of the car than I rose up
and took a flying leap straight
out into the darkness after the
money. There was a long pile of
gravel on that side, and I struck into
this, turued over and Jover half a
dozen times, and finally brought up in a
potato patch on the railroad strip, badly
shaken up, but not a hone broken. The
engine was whistling for brakes a mile
away, and as soon as I could free my
mouth and eyes of dirt I started down the.
track. I found the first safe on the edge
of the ditch, and the second a hundred
feet away beside a stump. 1 dragged
mine down to the paymaster'.-, then got
out. my revolver and hid behind a stump,
and pretty soon I heard the fellows com
ing down the track. They had brought
the train almost to a standstill, and then
signaled it to go ahead and jumped.
They were huntiug along the ditch as
they came, and I waited until they were
within five rods before I opened lire and
jumped up and shouted: “Here they
are, boys; shoot them down!”
They didn’t stand for a second, but
weut off a* fast as they could heel it, fol
lowed by my bullets, and half an hour
later I had the safes aboard of a freight
train. An Investigation proved that
Goodhue was blind drunk on that night.
He had accepted an offer to drink with
a stranger, and had been plied with liquor
until he fell down on the street. The
robliers must have known him well, and
have q|so been familiar with our way of
working. Who they were we never
knew.
In November, 1864, when I began the
l-uu between St. Louis and Chicago there
was scarcely a week that something did
not occur to arouse mv suspicions. The
heft of the money went South, but there
was always enough on eitl • • ruu to
tempt a robber to take desperate chances.
I had a middle-aged steady going man ns
assistant, mid it would have had to be a
sharp mau who could get the better of
him. Now and then, when we were
carrying big money for some army con
tractor,lie wasalowed to semi a man along
to act as a special guard. These men
were generally Chicago detectives or po
lice, and they rode on an order prepared
by the Chicago superintendent. One
afternoon, about two hours before traiu
time, and while 1 was at the office, a
military-looking mau, who claimed to be
a paymaster, entered and arranged to
express his safe to St. Louis. Its con
tents were said to be upward of §200,000,
and he applied for permission to send
two trusty soldiers along in the car. I
heard this much without having raken
any special interest in the case. When we
came to receive our stuff from the wagons
there was a paymaster’s safe, and a little
later on a man dressed in the uniform of
a Sergeant of infantry, and accompanied
by a private soldier, presented an order
permittiug them to ride in our car as
a guard.
While everything was regular, I did not
like the looks of the men. They seemed
io me to be tough characters, and when
I got a chance to speak to Graham, my
assistant, I found that he entertained the
same opinion and had become suspicions.
1 therefore gave them the other end of
the car and whispered to Graham that
we must keep our eyes open. The first
thing we did after the train pulled out
was to place our revolvers where we
could grab them on the instant, and as
we worked over our way bills we kept a
weather eye open for signs. For a time
it. looked as if we had done the men an
injustice. One took a seat on the safe
and the other in a chair. Each lighted a
cigar, and their conversation, as we over
heard a word now and then, related to
military matters and was honest and
straight. When Graham and I had fin
ished our work we sat down nt the
other end of the car find the quartet of
us rode in this fashion,with only a break
now and then, as we stopped at a station
and put off something billed there.
Our longest run was between midnight
j and one o’clock. We then passed two or
j tbroo small stations without stopping,
i making the mu about nineteen miles. If
the men were not what they represented
they would show their hands during this
run. They appeared to be sound asleep
when we entered upon it, and Graham,
| who sat near tue. was nodding in his
chair. They had the end of the car next
to the engine, and all of a sudden, while
i was looking at them from under the
vizor of my cap, both arose, stretched
themselves, and as the Sergeant started
for my cud of the car. the other unlocked
the door and admitted two men. Things
' moved like lightning. Both of us saw
| what was up, and as we sprang to our
I feet every man in that car began shoot
{ ing. I can’t say whether the tight lasted
| one minute or five, but when it ended I
i had a flesh wound in the left arm, a rake
| across the check and a bullet hole iu my
j,cap. Graham had an ear split bv a
| bulYct and another embedded in his
> shouldet*aud the car was iu darkness. I
j struck a lftfUch. lighted a candle and
I found we wer>-alone. Not exactly
alone, but safe from 'farther attack. The
i Sergeant lav dead .on fas back, shot
through the head, and 'freymfa him was
one of the men who had beta- admitted,
so near dead that he gasped his last as
we raised him up. The door was open,
and the other two had leaped from the
platform. One of them at least was
badly wounded, as a trail of bleod
proved
The train had made its run by the
time we had sized up the situation, and
a doctor was put aboard to dress our
hurts as we continued the journey. Both
corpse* were carried into Bt. Louis for
inquest and identification, but they could
not lie identified. As you have surmised,
the paymaster's safe was a dummy. It
did not contain one dollar. The whole
job was put up to get hold of express
money, and the fellows didn’t propose to
give us any chance to save our fives by
giving it up. I think that one of the
robbers who jumped also came to bis
death, as a man was next day found at
that spot who had been cut in fragments
under the wheels. Some parts of this
adventure reached the, press, but the ex
press company hushed matters up in
every way possible, and in this effort they
were aided by the Government. It was
afterward said that every member ef the
gang was a Chicago crook, and that the
man who personated the paymaster at
the office was the Sergeant aboard my
ear.— New York Sun.
Fighting a Prairie Fire.
Purcell, Indian Territory, might very
well he called the prairie fire land.
There are men here, says a correspond
ent, who assert they lxave not seen a day
iu years when no prairie fire was in sight.
By day the rolling clouds of smoke and
by night the red glare of the flames
marks the works of destruction on some
range. Not infrequently, iu fact com
monly, at this time of the year there are
a dozen tires in sight at once. Viewed
at night from the high bluffs of the Can
adian above the town the picture is won
derfully beautiful.
Tenderfeet who come here are always sur
prised to see the indifference with which
prairie fires are regarded by the natives.
To the tenderfoot it seems that an awfulj
death for every man and beast lies in the
path of every prairie lire. But he soon|
gets over that, only to be again wrought!
up to a state of excitement over the cow
boy method of putting out the fires, not,;
as might be supposed, to save life, but!
to save the grass for the hunches of cat
tle in their charge.
A week ago some one started a fire J
over west of Fort Reno, and the condi
tions being prime it. spread on the wings
of a rushing gale. After a while its wirl-,
ening swath attracted the attention of
William and Henry Brass, who were,
holding a thousand cattle on the range,
there. The lire was going to burn over!
the entire range and something had to
be done, and that quickly. One of the'
boys spurred his pony a mile or so over)
the prairie so as to size up the extent or,
the line of tire, nud then riding down ou(
At -i J i-- .-a. —a. _ _i — a
iut; aciu nr cut uuu .t atcci nuu iaa it
over near the fire. There he drew a re-,
volvcr and shot the beast. In a minute 1
he was on the ground by the body with a,
big knife in hand, stripping off the hide
lie was joined by his brother, and in an
incredibly short time the beef was 1
skinned. Then the body was split, the 1
skin, flesh side down, was secured to the
backbone of the upper half and the ends
of two lariats to the feet of the upper
half.
Then the lariats were tied to the pony
saddles,the men mounted, and away they
went dragging the warm and bleeding,
carcass and the skin wet-blanket fashion’
after them between the two horses..
Reaching the fire, then but a few rods
array, they galloped along the fine of the
flame one on the burned side and one on
the unburned. It was a hot job,but beefi
and hide and pluck prevailed. In an
hour some miles of fire fines had been
smothered and the range saved. 1
Riches in New York Real Estate.
Few people, even in New York, have
an adequate idea of the extent of the
property held by the great estates and of
the operation of the “unearned increment”
process—as labor professors term \t —by
which it has appreciated in value.
The Asters, who are among the very
hugest holders, think nothing of pur
chasing almost an entire block at a time.
They own every house on Twenty-first
street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues,
with the exception of the Union Club
building, and are claimed to be the
largest owners of improved real estate in
the world, the next being the Duke of
Westminster, in England.
The following list will give an ap
proximate idea of the phenomenal rise in
values in the great New York estates:
Present Original
Owners. values. cost.
Hammersleys $6,000,000 $1,750,000
Wolff ; 2,500,000 600,000
Rhinelanders 4,500,000 1,000,000
Loriilard 4,000,000 Uncertain
John D. (’rimmins 2,1X10,(XX) 750,000
Varan Stevens 5,000,000 2.000,000
Cuttings 10, (XXI,OOO 8, 500, (XX)
Asters *350,000,000 25,000,000
Goelets 35,000,000 4,000,000
Hoyts 7,(XX),(XX) 1,'250,000
John I). Morgan 2,000,000 500,000
O. B. Potter 10,000,(XX) 3,000,000
I). O. Mills 10,000,000 3,200,000
Trinity Corporation.. 50.000,000 *1,300,000
Cyrus W. Field 3,(XX),(XX) 700,000
Stewart Estate 5,000,000 *1,100,000
W. R. Grace 4,000,000 1,800,000
♦Estimated.
—New York Journal.
An Odd Will.
Capiaiu H. Smith, of Hagerstown,
Md., who died recently, leaving a hand
some property, directed in his will that
his funeral expenses should not exceed
§3O, and that his remains be conveyed to
the burial place in a spring wagon. It
directed that his body be wrapped in
doth, packed in unslacked lime, and that
§5 be set aside for some one to pour
water into his coffin until the lime cre
mated the body.
The Bird of Freedom’s Fury.
Au eagle attacked a peacock on the
farm of Henry Huber, near Baraboo,
Wis. A boy who tried to drive the bird
away was attacked in turn aud was badly
hurt. Two men, who finally came to the
boy s assistance, captured the eagle,
which measured nine feet from wing tip
to wing tip.
BUDGET OF FUN.
HUMOROUS SKETCHES FROM
VARIOUS SOURCES.
The Miss of a Miss Pleasant for
Auntie—A Common Feature-
Very Ridiculous. Indeed j
Cause and Effect, Etc., Etc.
* —- ( j
A maiden stood with a snow-bal^
Her sweet face all aglow;
She waited and she waited.
And then she made the throw.
she hit her object?
W eii, no! 1 grieve to say,
She only broke a window,
For her neighbor o’er the way.
VERY BIDICULOUS, INDEED.
“Avery ridiculous story was circulated
about 'me last week. Did you hear it?”
“What was it?”
“I was said to be suffering from an
overworked, brain.”
“I beard it. As you say, it was very
ridiculous. ” — Society.
FLEASANT FOR AUNTIE.
Johnny (waiting for his plateful of the
(.ttrkey)—“Mamma, you’ve put the mus
tacho cup at papa’s plate.”
Mamma—“Hush, Johnny, that is all
light.”
Johnny—“ Why. no, it isn’t. Aunt
Jubilee needs it a good deal more than
he does; don’t you, auntie?” —Chicago
Tribune.
A COMMON FEATURE.
“How’a the world using you?”
“Badly.” *
“Lost money?”
“Yes; I’m the victim of Brown's fail
ure.”
“I didn’t know Brown had failed.”
“Yes, he failed to pay me §25 that he
borrowed six months ago.”— Washington,
Capital.
CAUSE AND EFFECT.
Mrs. Crossgrain (during a squabble)—
“I flatter myself that what I say is gen
erally true.”
Mr. Crossgrain—“Yes, Maria, you
have said a few good things. When we
were enernoped fnr instnnei* von Raid Hint
—o~e* — 1 j
you couldn’t imagine what I saw in you
to love. Hi, there, help! Don't tear
nty hair all out!” —Lawrence American.
ACCOUNTING FOR TltE STICKINESS.
“I observe the Twistem girls are very
lofty in their manner—quite stuck up—
since they have got into society,” re
marked the Judge.
“Well, that’s all right and perfectly
natural,” replied the Major.
“How so?”
“Old man made his fortuuc in the mu
cilage busiuess, you know.” —Pittsburg
m -M
--1//HVRR K.
WHAT MAKES PIGS* TAILS CURLY?
It was little Dot’s first visit to a farm,
and she went with her aunt to see how
the pigs were fed. The little one gazed
in astonishment at the young porkers for
tt moment, r-nd then, placing her hand on
her curly hair, she said reflectively:
“Auntie!”
“Yes, dear.'’
“Does ’oo put all the piggies' tails in
curl papers?”— Tid-Bits.
JUST HIS MISFORTUNE.
The astonished surgeon explained:
“My good man, lam here to save your
life."
“That’s just it,’’ shrieked the wounded
man, “I’ve been paying premiums to an
accident insurance company for fifteen
years and now, when my estate has a fair
chanee of getting enough to pay all my
debts, you want to rob my creditors of
it. Get away, or I’ll break every bone
in your body.” —London Tit Bits.
PROVED IT BEYOND DOUBT.
“Gracious, Henry!” said the doctor's
wife, “where on earth did you get that
black eye? You look as though you had
been ruu through a threshing machine.”
“One of my patients.”
“Who?”
“Jinks. He broke his arm and I have
had it in a sling for the last two months.
He insisted that he was well and I said
he wasn’t.”
‘■What then?”
“He went to work and proved it.”—
Washington Capital.
KITCHEN DIPLOMACY.
Lady of the House—“ Rosa, who is
that dragoon you had here iu the kitchen
yesterday?”
Servant Maid—“Ah! That was ray
sweetheart; but I shan’t have anything
more to do with him because he is al
ways making remarks about everybody.
Only yesterday he said: ‘Rosa, your mis
tress is the handsomest lady I ever saw. ’
What business has he to talk about you
in that fashion?”
Lady—“ Still, he seems to be a very
decent sort of man and I don't See why
you should jilt him.”
it’s wait.
She was a young woman of an inquir
ing turn of mind on her way home from
college, and during a delay at a station
she walked up and down the platform
calculating the probabilities.
“I wonder,” she said to her papa,
“what is the weight of this train?”
“Really, my dear, I couldn’t say,
but ”
“I know what it is,” interrupted an
impatient drummer, “it's about four
hours and a half.”
Theu the girl went in and sat down to
:hink awhile.— Washington Critic.
TIME WORKS WONDERS.
Husband (married three months) —
“Good-bye, darling. Do you wish any
thing from down town? Any gloves,
feathers, flowers ?”
Wife—“ Nothing, dearest.”
***** *
Same Husband (one year later) —
“What’s that you want!”
Same Wife—“ Ten cents’worth of hair
pins, please.”
Same Husband—“ Great heavens! It
seems to me you are always wan'ing
something. You must think I'm maue
of money.”— Epoch.
“SLIGHT FAVORS,” ETC.
“Have you done anything for me?”
asked the condemned man in pitiful
tones as his lawyer entered tnc ceil.
“Yes, indeed,” said the legal gentle,
man, gleefully.
“Oh, what is it?” demanded the mur
derer. “A pardon?”
“No.”
“A commutation of sentence?”
“No.”
“Then in mercy's name what?”
“I have succeeded,” said the lawyer,
“in having the day of your execution
changed from Friday to Monday. Fri
day is an unlucky day, you know.”—
Yankee Blade.
HE ELUCIDATED.
“Room 93,” said the fresh hotel clerk,
as he tossed a key to a very unassuming
individual who had applied for accom
modations. “Don't blow out the gas,
please.”*
“Don’t do what?”
“Don’t blow out the gas.”
“My young friend you have a very
strange misconception of things. I
might, if so disposed, blow out the flame
caused by the igniting of the aeriform
substance used for illuminating purposes,
but as for blowing the gas out, I fear it
would be too much for ordinary lungs.
Good night, young man.” —Merchant
Traveler.
EASY ENOUGH WHEN HE DIDN'T TRY.
Driving over the hills of western Jer
sey last week, a reporter stopped at a
lonely little cabin, in front of which an
old man was chopping wood, and in
quired the distance to Anthony. The
lank and aged citizen straightened up
and attempted to reply. lie got as far
as:
“T-t-t-t-t-ttt,” when his face grew
red and his grimaces became distressing.
He stopped, took a full breath and tried
again with no better success. He was
thoroughly mad now, and his distortions
were really suggestive of an attack of
apoplexy. The old fellow suddenly gave
it up, and broke out without any diffi
culty :
“Consarn ye, drive on and ye'll git
there afore I can tell ye.”
The reporter drove on. —New York Sun.
FORCOT SOMETHING.
“Now you’re sure you have everything
in the trunk, my dear?” asked Mr. Young
love, before beginning the back-breaking
process of roping his wife’s trunk when
they were about to start for a little trip
west.
“Yes, dear,” she said, “I’ve every sin
gle thing in.”
“Well, be sure now: I .wouldn't mi.
rope and rerope this thing again for a fifty -
dollar bill.” And, half an hour later,
when he was lying on the floor panting
and gasping from his efforts, Mrs. Young
love said sweetly:
“There, dear, I have forgotten some
thing after all. How careless of me!
Would you mind opening the trunk,
dear, and putting in my dressing sacque?
I entirely forgot it, and I really can’t
get along without it. And here's my
box of handkerchiefs; and my slippers
are here in the closet, and—oh, here, are
my cuffs and collars and my little shoul
der shawl. I believe I left my box of
ribbons in the drawer—yes, here it is,
and my common fan, too, and one of
your shirts. Here’s my rubbers and
waterproof and my little black turban
and the basque to my blue suit, and my
watered silk sash, and my little workbox
that I’ll be sure to need before we get
home. How careless I am, anyhow!
Hurry and open the trunk, dear; it’s
most train time!” —Detroit Free Press.
A Joke on the Bishop.
Here is a good story about a bishop—
indeed, it would be a very good story
even about a dean. Bishop was home
ward bound from the United States,
traveling luxuriously in a double cabin
with Mrs. Bishop. It wa3 a very hot
night, thunder in the air, and the Atlan
tic liner slipped through the water, do
ing her eighteen or nineteen knots an
hour, the cabin being lit up with the
lightning flashes. Mrs. Bishop could not
sleep for the heat. Bishop, appealed to,
lumbered out of his berth and opened the
porthole.
Suddenly there lobbed in through the
porthole a wooden ball attached to a
string. Bishop was perplexed, but he
tied it up, coiling the string by a nail in
the wall, and then retired to rest. The
ball was an apple of discord in that peace
ful cabin, for it hit against the side of
the vessel as she lurched, and Sirs. Bishop
grew querulous and disturbed. Up
started the poor Bishop again, and to
end matters he uncoiled the cord and put
the ball safe ,and sound under his pillow.
There was a heavy thunderstorm, but the
Bishop slept soundly that night. Next
morning at breakfast, the captain presid
ing, he told the tale with a good deal of
Episcopal solemnity and detail.
The captain laughed immoderately.
Bishop laughed, too, thinking his story
a good one. Then the captain told him
that the ball was the end of the lightning
conductor. Bishop that night looked
under his pillow before going to bed and
slept with a closed porthole.— Pall Mall
Gazette.
Fossil Footsteps.
A great discovery of fossil footprints
has just been made at Bosworth’s quarry
at Holyoke, Mass. Here is a clean sur
face of shale about 100x40 teet, on
which are seeu about two hundred tracks.
Nearly all of them are in rows, the long
est one containing seventeen tracks. The
tracks are from six to eight inches in
length, and were probably made by a
reptile that, if it had front feet, seldom
used them. This is, without doubt, the
largest uncovering of tracks for many
years.
German statistics estimate that Ger
many wiil have to import during the
cereal year ISS9-’9O 375,000,000 bushels
rye.
FIJIAN FOODS.
SOME OF THE EATABLES POPU
LAR AMONG THE ISLANDERS.
The Home of the Yam and Sweet
Potato —A Bread Fruit Silo—
An Annual Feast of
Worms.
" ' I
Writing from the Fijian Islands to the
New York Herald, W. Churchill says:
Nowhere is a kind Nature so bounteous
to her children as in these tropical isles.
Food comes ready to hand, needing
scarcely more than the reaching out to
pluck it, and seasons of harvest are al
most unknown in the lavish profusion.
The staple is the yam, which grows wild
on the slopes of the mountains or in neat
patches is cultivated by the upturning of
the earth with sharpened staves of iron
wood. The tubers are huge in size, the
larger, indeed the better, and are cov
ered with a tough bark-like rind which
insures their keeping sweet for many
months. Boiled or baked they are never
mealy like the potato, but there is al
ways a crispness and a crackle as the
teeth crush through the cream tinted
food. It is somewhat astonishing to
note what a pile of yams will vanish
from a Fijian dinner; three pounds is
not an unusual allowance for each in
dividual.
Next the yam stands the sweet potato,
of which some ten varieties are carefully
cultivated. The history of the westward
migration of this plant, indigenous to
America, is lost in the mists which, close
at hand, shut in the history of the sav
age people who dwell upon the Pacific
Islands. Everywhere its planting and its
harvest are marked by peculiar ceremon
ies, showing that at some past time a
peculiar interest attached to its cultiva
tion which was found worthy of special
religious observance. The sweet potato
is one of the staple foods of the Fijaus.
Baked or boiled, the breadfruit is a
starchy, somewhat sticky vegetable, with
no earthly resemblance to bread. It dif
fers from the yam in that it may not be
preserved for further use, but in its
natural state must be eaten at once. Yet,
preserved it is, after a peculiarly distress
ing fashion, not at all pleasant to the
civilized taste, which makes a position
to leeward of a village at dinner time, a
position not at all to be de.sired. The
ripe fruit is stripped of its sticky rind
and is grated on blocks of coral, and
when reduced to a shapeless mass is
vigorously pounded with a pestle in a
mortar. While some are thus preparing
the pulp others are engaged digging
pits on the pebbly beach about half tide
level, each pit of about a bushel capacity
and lined with banana leaves. Each of
these pits is then tilled with the pulped
breadfruit packed hard, the stones are
thrown back upon it and a little heap
marks the spot where the dainty is pre
served. Twice every day the tides come
in and saltlv saturate the buried food,
twice every day for at least four months,
for short of the expiration of that time the
preserve is not considered at its best, the
limit in the other direction is certainly
not less than a year. As need for the
food arises the pits are opened, aud then
the reek of rottenness spreads down the
wind. The process of preserving is but
that of decay aided by the sea water,and
it naturally results that the preserve
smells to the skies wheu its repose is dis
turbed. Little do the Fijians care for
this smell, on which they have been
nourished, though to the last man their
gorge would rise at caviare or high
cheese, such as is in favor with us. The
fruit that went into the pit as a pulp
comes out a thick custard aud is molded
into little cakes of the size of a man’s
hand and, each wrapped in banana
leaves, is put into a pot and steamed.
After cooking the distinctive odor ap
pears to be redoubled, but the cake is
sweet and extremely pleasant to the taste
if only the nose cau be coerced into giv
ing over its lively repugnance to that
which goes beneath it to the mouth.
This is the Fijian bread, which is every
where eaten and relished.
If the sense of smell is offended by
the. Fijian bread it is the sight which
rebels against the balolo, that mysterious
meal that rises from the sea but one day
in each year, and marks a feast of gor
mandizing for every Fijian who can
make his way to the beach. The prob
lem of the balolo is a little too much for
the naturalists, and they can give no ex
planation for the remarkable appearance
of this marine worm on but one day in
all the year. At the third quarter of the
November moon, just when the tide be
gins to make flood, the sea within the
reefs is thick with a mass of worms a
foot or so in length, of the girth of a
pack thread, and each composed of scores
of segments, each equipped with two
spines and two leg3. For months the Fi
jians have looked forward to this day, and
as the turn of the ebbing tide approaches
they have taken up positions on canoes
and rafts and anything that will float.
The eventful moment arrives, some sharp
and watchful eye catches sight of a dark
green worm outlined in the clear water
against the glistening coral below. A
shout is raised, but soon all are too busy
for shouting, the water is a writhing mass
of wriggling worms and every Fijian is
intent upon filling all the vessels in his
canoe. When the harvest of the sea is
reaped, and in a few hours the balolo has
disappeared as mysteriously as it came,
the shore is lined with little knots of
feasters. The worm will not keep for
more than a few hours. It must be cooked
and eaten at once or it will spoil. Hence
a balolo feast is a scene of ungoverned
stuffing and cramming, each eater strives
to crowd as much into his stomach as it
will probably hold and only desists when
the sleep of repletion comes upon him. If
any one can overcome a natural distaste
to dining upon worms he will find the
balolo to greatly resemble spinach iu
taste, somewhat oily and highly salted.
Estimates on the cotton crop of
1889-90 have been made by 150 cott,..
firms at Memphis, Tenn., and they aver
age 7,178,174 liales.
Continental Trotting.
Captain Chester, author of “2:30 and
Under,” and an authority upon turf mat
ters, tells me that trotting is fast grow,
ing in favor on the other side of the
water.
“On the other side,” he said, “Eng
land, France, Germany and Austria have
all taken it up, especially the three lat
ter, and in France an American driver;
even of mediocre ability, can make a
handsome living. Only the other day a
man called on me, who is by no means a
first-class man with the ribbons. He
went over to Paris about a year ago, and
told me that what chiefly amused him
was the get-up of the drivers. Their get
up is topboots, with jockey jacket and
cap of most fantastic design. They carry
no whip, but a miniature club. The rules
of trotting over there, he told me, are
vastly different to ours. There a horse is
disqualified according to the number of
times he breaks. Instead, as over here;
of bringing the horse back to the gait
with the reins, the French driver rises in
his lumbering cart and belabors his steed
with the club until lie or she returns to
the trot. An American is always scooped
up by the owners of trotters over there;
and can get as much work to do as he
pleases. Their tracks are on the grass;
and the course often four miles; in fact;
that is the favorite distance. In trotting
races they handicap the horses by dis
tance allowances, exactly the same as
handicap races among men.”
4 ‘ls there much of a demand for trot- !
ters by the foreign markets?”
“Yes, much more so than is generally
known. The continental countries ol
Europe pay extraordinary prices for oui
best stock, but the South American Re
publics, especially the Argentine, give
even better prices. In South America
there are now many ranches breeding
trotting stock, and they don’t seem to
care what price they pay us for sires and
dams.”
“Do you think Maud S.’s record Of
2 -.081 is likely to be soon beaten?”
“Yes, I do. I think Simol will brd&k
it next year.”
“But Sunol is only four years old,” I
said, “and Maud S. was nearly nine
when she made her wonderful record.” I
“That is so,” he replied. “I have
seen a horse do the half mile in one min-‘
ute. The surroundings were ail that
could be desired and the track a down
hill one. It showed, however, that the
pace was there if only you could keep up
the stamina of the animal. Sunol is a
downhill mare. She stands three inches
hisrher at the hind quarters than at the
withers, and is to me the very epitome
of a trotter, and may perhaps realize our
dream of two mimutes a mile.”
“Do you know what Mr. Bonner gave
for Sunol?”
“No, Ido not, but lie has said be
tween forty and fifty thousand dollars,
and I expect it was (§45,000.”
“What induced Governor Stanford to
part with the mare?”
“Not money, you may be sure. His
great ambition is to breed the best trot
ter, and he and Mr. Bonner have had
different ideas on the subject. When
Mr. Bonner made an offer for Sunol, it
was an acknowledgment that the Gover
nor had won, and, besides, Mr. Bonner’s
ambition is to own the fastest trotter, no
matter where it comes from, and he
would be the first man to bow to the suc
cess of a friend.” —New York Star.
The Corean Legation at Washington
The members of the Chinese, Japanese
and Corean Legations have a great liking
for society. The three members of the
Corean, Ye Wan Yong, \c Cha Yan and
Kang Sing, are especially fond of going
out. When they came here last winter,
says the Washington correspondent ol
New' York Tribune, they called every day
in the week and went to every luncheon,
tea and reception. Unwilling this year
to wait until the formal beginning of
the season, they have already begun their
rounds. Only the Secretary, Ye Cha
Yan, can talk English, but they are all
pleasantly received by every one except
the servants. They seem to have an
antipathy to these three Mongolians in
their wide trousers, blue tunics and
steeple hats, which they never remove.
Their head-dresses denote their rank,
and it is the greatest indignity to refer
to them. They have been all over
Washington, and it was only this week
they were disturbed. They called in a
body at the house of a Supremt Court
Justice on Monday. When they entered,
the butler, who chanced to be new, eyed
their cards with disfavor. As they were
about to enter the drawing-room door,
he planted himself squarely before them
and said:
“No gemmen’ ase ’lowed in de parlor
with dey hats on.”
The hostess rescued the poor foreign
ers and their treasured hats from the in
censed butler.
Great visitors as the Corean men are
their wives are even greater. When they
are not calling they sit at the windows
of the legation and watch every street
incident with the greatest interest. One
of them was taken ill with a cold a short
time ago, and when a neighbor asked for
her her husband gravely replied:
“My wife she sit at window to watch
procession go by. She catch the cold,
ft is woman-like to sit at window,” he
added, chuckling.
The good-hearted neighbor was inter
ested in the little Corean woman, and a
few days after she met a Corean who she
thought was the husband, and said:
“I hope your wife is better to-day.”
“Yes, she better,” he replied; “she
dead. Me a widow.”
She had mistaken the widower of the
corps for the husband, as the Coreans to
American eyes are as alike as two
peas.
At a bull fight in Cadiz, Spain, the
other day, an espada was not quick
enough in giving a bull the coup de
grace, and the animal killed him in the
presence of 5000 spectators before anoth
er espada was able to come, to his rescue.
It is estimated that United States ex
cess of exports for the last six months ol
1880 is §100,000,001 against $48,000,
000 in 1888.