Current
o
and
Care for "Brain Fag.
President Jordan of Stanford univer
sity , California , IB a hard worker him
self , and has but little patience with a
person with indolent habits. In spite
of everything , however , the tasks Im
posed on the youths under his care
have proven too much for them. Here
and there one or two would drop out
of the race and were soon forgotten by
almost everybody at the university.
These fallings by the wayside were the
subject of frequent thought on the
part of John J. Lewln , chief electrician
of the university , whose misfortune It
was to have a special friend drop out
through Inability to maintain the pace.
Mr. Lewln set himself to the task of
discovering some way of giving back
i Avard students such aid as would prevent -
, . vent them from falling behind. That
j was five years ago , and Mr. Lewln Is
I now ready to give the necessary stlmu-
i lent In such cases. His investigations
HITTING THE BRUSH ,
have convinced him that electricity is
a sort of elixir of , youth ; that it is a
sure cure for Grain fag , and that it will
nurture the mind of youth and stimu
late the' wisdom of age. Mr. Lewin
has ponderous and exact ways of de
scribing just how all these miracles
may be performed , but the young men
at the university express the same
ideas when they refer to the treat
ment as "hitting the brush. " They
unanimously agree that by following
the electrician's instructions the human
brain's ability to withstand the fatigue
of labor is vastly increased. Those
who have taken the treatment are also
at one in the assertion that no harm
comes therefrom.
Will Jfurse Lepers.
Miss Ella May Clemmons , sister of
Mrs. Howard Gould , has just sailed for
China to devote the remainder of her
life to humble service In a leper settle-
ment more fright
ful than that'of
Molokai , where
) Father D a m i e n
gave up his liie.
And for what ? The
impulse is a purely
spiritual one. She
has become a dev
otee. She believes
that a divine obli
gation has been
laid upon her to
immolate herself
for the most wretched people on earth.
In setting sale for the war-stricken
East she has no compunctions , no re
grets.
Not on her rich sister's account will
it be any sacrifice to her to leave for
ever this hemisphere. Mrs. Howard
Gould , rapt in the gayeties of Paris ,
which her husband's millions bring
within her reach , holds no communi
cation with the votary and allows it to
be understood that she has no sympa
thy with her self-sacrifice.
Ttvo "British "Beauties.
The beautiful Gunning sisters a cen
tury ago , the lovely Moncrieffe sisters
forty years back , and now the hand
some Wilson sisters , whose beauty is
the talk of English society , keep alive
the tradition that once in every fifty
years nature is pleased to create in
one family a group of physically per
fect women.
Two of the Wilson ladies , the young
Countess of Chesterfield and Miss Lou
ise Wilson , made their bow to the
queen a few days ago ; in fact , the
countess was presented only this year ,
and though there were scores of fair
young matrons and debutantes at the
drawing room , she easily distanced
them all by her marvelous red-gold
hair , brown eyes and matchless com
plexion. Experienced beaux and
judges of beauty who could remember
the Countesses of Dudley and War
wick , Lady Helen Vincent anl the
Marchioness of Londonderry in their
prime , conceded , that the young Lady
Chesterfield surpassed them all , and
for the present the daughters of the
enormously rich , ship owfler of Hull
are the leaaTng\ibeauties of the. most
fashionable society of Great Britain.
Gcront'mo Insane.
Geronlmothe , Apache leader , has
become a raving maniac as a result of
his being held in captivity , according
to a dispatch from Vinita , Ind. T.
With other Apache braves he has been
a prisoner at Fort Sill , Oklahoma , for
ten of the fourteen years since their
capture by the army. It Is said that
constant fretting
and -a growing de
spondency over-his
captivity have
wrecked Geroni-
mo's mind.
The Apaches led
by Geronimo were
known as the Chl-
rlcahuas , predatory
"hostlles. " who
ranged the terri
tories of Arizona
Geronimo.
and New Mexico
until , worn out in patience , Lieutenant
General Sheridan ordered the pursuit ,
capture and destruction of the merci
less chief and his followers. The ex
pedition was led by the late George
Crook , who effected a meeting with
Geronimo March 25 , 1886. To the de
mand for an unconditional surrender
the Apache chief declared that he
would give him&alf up only on con
dition that the band , with its families ,
be sent East for a period not to ex
ceed two years and then return to the
reservation. On the way the Indians
escaped and General Crook withdrew ,
his place being taken by General Miles.
Then followed the famous pursuit of
Geronimo and his last capture by the
present general of the army.
Americanizing Canada.
Now that the Canadian parliament
has adjourned , after a session of six
months , the newspapers of the domin
ion are calling attention to the length
of its session and are discussing vjs ?
in which it may be shortened. IL is ad
mitted generally that six months is
rather long to spend in transacting the
business of 6,000,000 people , and that
unless the members change their pres
ent methods of doing business the
length of the session will increase.
The members themselves say that the
chief fault is that they get only $1,000
for six months' work , and say that
their pay should be increased or made
proportionate to the length of the
sessions. This remedy , however ,
would not be likely to shorten the
duration of parliament. A better plan
is that suggested by John Charlton ,
M. P. , who says that some way should
be found to check the "wind-jamming
style of oratory that mistakes quan
tity for quality.5 He favors the in
troduction of the plan used in the
American house of representatives of
limiting the time for debate and then
dividing it into five and ten minute al
lotments for certain members.
of Ltscttm.
Mrs. Liscum is prostrated with grief
over the fate of her husband , the hereof
of Tien-Tsin , who fell while leading
li - - y n * ir * jt V *
MRS. LISCUM.
the Ninth regiment , U. S. A. She is
now at Manila with Captain Ahern and
his wife.
Fi-tie-Cent Telephone.
The American Toll Telephone com
pany has recently commenced business
in Cleveland , O. , the scheme being to
scatter automatic telephones of an im
proved description
through Cleveland
and other cities.
The instrument be
ing introduced has
several novel fea
tures. It is purely
mechanical , having
no electrical con
nections , and oper
ating entirely inde
pendent of the tele
phone. The signal The Autophone.
to the operator is
made by a mechanical buzzer , which
can be heard through the telephone.
The coin is placed on the horizontal
slide shown , which is pushed into the
box. The coin drops , tripping the
buzzer , the spring of which has been
previously wound by the act of push
ing forward the slide. If the coin is
a nickel it is shown at the glass in the
center , but if a small coin it falls
through without tripping the buzzer.
The hole in the slide is exactly the
size and thickness of the nickel , so
that it is impossible to use a mutilated
coin. This is one of the strongest fea
tures claimed for the device , since slot
machines are frequently thrown out of
order by being .clogged.
0e
e
a
May Ftght "Duel.
It is believed by many that a duel is
not unlikely to be the outcome of the
Astor-Milne insult incident. The half
hearted apology printed In the Pail-
Mall Gazette a few days ago is not
sufficient to satisfy the friends of Sir
Berkeley Milne or that gentleman him
self , and it is believed that the code ,
which still obtains to considerable ex
tent in the higher classes of English
society , will be resorted to.
The Prince of Wales and other
friends of Sir Berkeley feel that the
indignity placed upon him , not only in
his private capacity , but also In that of
SIR BERKELEY MILNE ,
a captain of the royal navy , calls for
more ample satisfaction than Mr. 'Astor
has as yet conceded.
Grant's Grandchild.
Princess Cantacuzene , to whom a son
was born in Paris the other day , was
Miss Julia Dent Grant , the grand
daughter of Ulysses S. Grant and Julia
Dent Grant. Miss Grant became the
Princess Cantacuzene last summer.
The wedding was
solemnized in New
port and was one
of the principal
events of the sea
son. The princess
is a young woman
of striking beauty.
The strong linea
ments of the hero
are reproduced in
the face of his
grandchild , softened -
oned and beautified ,
: j of course , by her
1 sex. She has the
The Princess. brown hair and
eyes of her mother , Mrs. Fred Grant ,
and her figure is tall , willowy and
slender. The Cantacuzenes trace their
descent back to the Emperor of By
zantium , for , although they are Rus
sianized now , they are Greek , or By
zantine , rather , in blood.
Chicago's "Auto-dans. "
Automobile rides for a nickel each
have been added to the other joys
Chicago offers to country visitors. A
dry goods firm put three electric omni
buses into commission last week.
Seven more carriages will be added to
the line as fast as they can be turned
out of the factory. The new carriages
look -like overgrown theater wagons ,
THE AUTOVAN.
seat eleven persons beside the driver ,
and have a maximum speed of twenty
miles an hour.
Organ fo Go.
New York is seriously considering
the question of banishing the hand or
gan , and if that city frowns upon the
crude melodies of that instrument
other cities will follow the example.
The hand organ is looked upon as
a rather doubtful blessing , and , while
there are some people who are like
George Eliot's heroine , Maggie Tulli-
ver , and think any barrel organ splen
did , others dislike to have their rev
eries and their work interrupted by
the floods of its tempestuous melo
dies.
Wed a "Baron.
Miss Bessie Macdonald of Chicago
whose engagement to Baron Rudolph
de Hirsch of Munich , Bavaria , was an
nounced last week , received her first
musical instruction
in Chicago. While
in Munich she re
ceived an offer
from the Grau com
pany to sing at the
C o'v e n t G a r d en
Theatre in London.
While fulfilling the
engagement she
succumbed to an
attack of nervous
prostration orougnt
Macdonald.prostration
Miss Macdonald.
on by overwork ,
and returned to Chicago , arriving last
August. In January last she assumed
leading roles with the Castle Square
company , and it was expected she
would join the Savage-Grau company
next autumn.
fr\ % pj-
On last Sunday the attendance at the
Paris exposition reached the enormous
total of 540,000 for the day. This Is
within 200,000 of being as high a figure
as was made at our own world's fair on
Chicago day , Oct. 9 , 1893. The dally
attendance at the Paris fair is , how
ever , much above the Chicago average ,
being about 100,000. While this beats
the Chicago record , It should be re-
membered that there is a population of
80,000,000 within a radius of 500 miles
of Paris and excursion trains are run
daily.
In other respects the Paris show does
not differ much from the World's Fair
of 1893. Nearly all the leading fea
tures of the Chicago exposition are re
tained. The Midway Plaisance is re
produced with great preciseness. The
The new Pennington motor has been
given a trial In England , and the latest
"wonder of military mechanics" is not
the ridiculous failure it was expected to
be. As a matter of fact it seems not
only to be the strongest but the fastest
yet in existence , and its use is expected
to revolutionize modern warfare. This
is to be accomplished by means of a
traveling fortress capable of running
at the speed of an expres strain overal-
most any kind of ground. A most
stringent series of tests have lately
been made with the new machine. Last
week it was run across country for 15
miles without any deviation from its
straight course for obstructions it met
with on the way. The engine jumped
ditches , hillocks and large rocks , and
crashed through fences with ease.
The motor itself sets low to the
ground , and is so rigidly built that it
can withstand any shock , while the ar
rangement of heavy traveling wheels ,
formingapracticallycontinuous rolling
surface enables it to hang over an em
bankment almost half its length with
out disturbing its balance. It would
be thus possible for it to cross a deep
ditch , almost half as wide as the ma
chine is long , without toppling over.
It is scarcely possible to give an idea
of the resistless force with which this
mighty engine quietly crushed down
every obstacle that came within its
path. Part of its force comes from its
great weight , part from its powerful
machinery and part from its momen
tum which , over part of the cross coun
try course , brought it up to a speed of
40 miles an hour. While going at this
speed , a stone fence , two feet thick ,
was crushed into and the masonry was
scattered like chaff , leaving a smooth
passageway the width of the engine ,
much in the form of a bullet going
through a rigidly framed pane of glass.
"Dr. "Barnado's Homes.
At the thirty-fourth annual meeting
of the directors of Dr. Barnado's home
in Great Britain , statistics were given
showing the enormous extent of this
charity. Last year the disbursements
reached nearly $1,000,000. During the
y.ear 3,011 children were admitted to
the homes and , adding these to the
4,448 children in the institutions at
the beginning of the year , the number
maintained wholly or in part during
the year was no less than 7,459. The
boast of the homes is that during the
year no application made by or In be
half of a destitute child was refused. ,
Dr. Barnado's homes now number
twenty-two in the United Kingdom ,
besides which there are four in Can
ada , and it is proposed to establish
others in Australia. Another branch
of the work is the sending out of chil
dren as emigrants to the British col
onies , and thus far 10,609 boys and
girls have been sent , most of them to
Canada.
A letter from Stephen Crane to
Richard Hovey sold in London last
week for ? 50. .
"Streets of Cairo" is the great drawing
card in that section , just as It was at
Chicago. The camel ride is as popular
over there as it proved here.
Occasionally we hear that the Paris
exposition Is not a success. Perhaps
It isn't an artistic succcess , but finan
cially it has proved a splendid invest
ment for Paris and likewise for
France. To date it is a success.
Chinese /Imcrican.
A little over twenty-five years ago a
rich Chinese merchant of San Fran
cisco , well educated and well born ,
fell in love with the daughter of a
white man who owned a ranch high
up in the foothills of the Santa Cruz
mountains. The father threatened to
shoot the Mongolian on sight , but the
girl loved him well enough to leave
home and parents and run away with
him to China. They were married , and
two years later they had a son , Ah
Fee Lin. The child grew up , speaking
English as well as he did Chinese , and
'
when the war with
Japan broke out
he was given a
commission on a
Chinese man of
war. He was pres
ent at the battle
of Yalu river and
was wounded by
fragments of a
'shell. When the
ship on which he
served fell into the
Ah Fee Lin. hands of the Jap _
anese he was made a prisoner. A few
weeks later he escaped and after a
month of hardship and wandering he
finally landed In Honolulu. There one
night he was drugged and "shang
haied" on board a schooner engaged in i
smuggling opium to the United States. f
When the little vessel finally came
to anchor in a bay on the coast of
southern California he took the first
opportunity to slip overboard in the
darkness and swim to shore. He was
entirely without money or acquaint
ances , and the next few months he
had a hard time to get food and shel
ter. He served as bootblack , as a dish
washer , a fruit picker , and as a min
ing prospector. He was knocked
down by a highwayman and robbed of
what little he had accumulated. At
last a letter came from home bringing
plenty of money. He started on his
travels. In Chicago he worked for a
time as reporter on one of the great
newspapers. Then he drifted to Bos
ton. Since his arrival at the Hub he
has published two novels and a book
of verse , and the critics declare that
he is likely to make a name for him
self in the literature of this country.
"Problem "Before "Planters.
A letter from Greensboro , S. C. ,
printed in the New York Commercial ]
asserts that the South is suffering
from a scarcity of plantation labor. It
is said that fully 75 per cent of the
workers who handle the cotton crop
consists of negroes , and the number
of these who are willing to work on
plantations decreases each year. AS a
result the cotton planters are suffer f
ing , for there is no substitution of
white labor , and during the picking
season there is an inadequate supply
of workmen and the planters find Jt
difficult to gather their crop