i
J
y
-
mO m
you ever make the trip in a
DID steamer plying between St
Louis and New Orleans The
height of the season of 1S97 has seen
the usual pilgrimage of tourists and
the belles and beaux of many a river
town have crowded the decks and
staterooms of the soft moving boats
that float out from some city wharf
and drp anchor only after many days
THE CAPTAIN
1250 miles away At the very outset
It Is interesting to watch the rousta
bouts tumbling over each other in the
haste engendered by the hoarse voice
of the mate loading merchandise
found for Southern ports They are a
eurions study these roustabouts with
their half clad powerful figures their
song song cry of heave he ho o their
jog tvt shamble and the reckless
abandon with which their work is done
They have no cares If they have any
niiibi1fn it is to get the big steamer
out of port lie lazily on the lower
deeks or play craps or sit and watch
1e wkite foam of the river as the boat
pfcmges forward on its way
When the last barrel box and trunk
is bestowed the big bell gives three
laps the captain from the hurricane
deck shouts Let her go there the
gangplanks are pulled in the prow of
the great steamer swings out and with
a wide turn starts on its delightful pil
grimage The captain is the patriarch
And hero of the expedition You can
iear his big voice at all hours of the
night sometimes ovvr your head where
he stands sentinel to see that all goes
well sometimes from the lower deck
where his vigorous and secular Anglo
Saxon arouses the mate and his rousta
bouts to duties engendered by new con
ditions and ofteuer on the promenade
deck where he talks politics with the
men and relates the history of each
point of interest a history which he
has come to believe is faithful by rea
son of its repetition Nobody knows
Ktfza ar where the captain sleeps The
hDOcftd buzz of his voice reaches your
stateroom in the still night and you
tteep off to sleep wondering if the cap
tiH ever does retire When you wake
Jn Hie morning there is the captain
aain freshly shaven clean bright and
heerful as ever with an appetite for
bapafcfast that only equals your own
BThile the Nile has been rolling along
ages in the same channel the
aissippi has oeen roaming au over iu
tlley twisting hither and thither
building up banks and then cutting
through them and suddenly abandon
ing the old channel for a new one It is
dping the same thing to day The vast
length of the Mississippi and its tribu
taries measuring 9000 miles of naviga
ble waters and draining an area of 1
244000 square miles must account In
a Targe part for the great quantity of
matter it cuts away but even when
these facts are considered the estimate
must still appear enormous It is stat
efl by experts that the dirt carried
down by tie Mississippi in a single
year amounts to a solid mass one mile
square and 1G3 feet deep This sedi
ment is being constantly deposited
along the shores and upon tb bars and
islands that abound in this remarkable
stream
The atmosphere of lazy floating days
on board a steamer crammed fall of
Bnusual scenes flashes of exdtemoit
grand and bewildering vistas of field
and flood and verdure clad hills in
which the beauties of the Hudson are
duplicated reproduced and excelled
with enough scenic luxuriance to cre
ate a score of Hudsoo Rivers cannot
be expressed or indicated upon a news
paper page It is altogether unique
and most of the people in this great
bustling country will never bf able to
enjoy the sensation in proper person
The rafting industry is exclusive It
is not carried on before a grand stand
or in the presence of a multitude Its
secrets are all its own and one uf these
days the material exhausted this in
dustry will disappear with all of its
traditions and romances and with it
will vanish from view the river types
the sturdy logger the peculiarly north
ern roustabout or rooster as he is fa
miliarly known and the rugged cap
tains who embody all the river lore and
are walking encyclopedias of every
thing that belongs to the history of this
great stream since the first Canadian
voyagers and hardy French woodsmen
penetrated these wilds
One of these rafting steamers is a
sight to see It keeps its bows against
the rear end of a mighty fabric of logs
in a position to push it down stream A
second steamer smaller in size Is fast
ened transversely across the front end
or bow of the raft and is pushed along
er pnsbes the entire mass slowly and
majestically down stream it soon be
comes evident what the function of the
bow iteamer is The tortuous course of
the river requires a constant shifting
zWk iflBnsp
UNBECOMING HIIARITT
in the head of the raft to keep it from
going ashore or into cross currents and
this is the duty of the assisting steam
er Lying transversely across the river
and attached firmly 1o the raft a few-
revolutions of Its wheel pushes the
front end of the raft away from a dan
gerous bank and by backing water the
head of the raft is dragged back into
the channel away from threatening
shoals
The difficulties of turning and twist
ing an invertebrate mass of logs in
narrow and tortuous channels will be
better appreciated when the actual size
number sufficient to yield more than
2000000 feet of lumber Scores of
freight trains would be required to
transport the members of this inarticu
late leviathan whose weight is almost
beyond computation
The passenger on a Mississippi River
steamer is expected to spend most of
the day in good weather on the prom
enade deck with field or opera glass in
hand viewing the delightful scenery
About the third day one begins to
take interest in the landings You want
to know how long the boat will stop at
the next town and whether you can
run up into the city and stretch your
legs You try it once or twice only
to find that the Captain has hurried
your return by a vigorous pull on the
bell This is one of the Captains little
jokes He doesnt mean it and as you
wipe the perspiration from your brow
he tells you how many points of inter
est you might have seen if only you
had not foolishly run back to the boat
The old days of the passenger steam
er industry are a vivid memory with
every river veteran the high gambling
days those when every inch of steam
was put to the danger point in a race
between two stately flowing palaces
There is still lingering reminiscence
here and there suggestions of those
brilliant exciting hours when life was
a reckless whirl for the deck hand and
a thrilling experience for the passenger
on a typical steamer The gamblers
the grotesque dancers the singing
roustabouts are nearly all gone but
the odd characters who have furnished
themes for many a captivating story
still haunt the landing places that one
passes in a trip down the Mississippi
River
1mm gration Figures
The highest immigration record ex
cluding the arrivals of aliens not so
classed is that- of 1S82 when the pro
digious riumberof 788992 came follow
ing the previous years 609431 till then
unprecedented In 1883 there was a
heavy falling off to 603322 and the de
crease went on until 334203 was reach
ed In 188G Then the tide again turned
and with some variations another cli
max was reached in 1892 when the fig
ures were G230S4 the third highest
mark and not far behind that of 1881
But then began another ebb with 02
917 in 1893 followed by 314467 then
27949S then by 3432G7 and now this
year by an astonishing reduction to
230832 as shon by a special bulletin
of the Treasury Department
Substitute for Coal
In the future we may be importing
masut instead of exporting coal Masut
is a by product in the distillation of
raw petroleum It is also manufactur
ed from a cheap brown coal found in
Saxony There has been until recent-
ly great trouble In finding a furnace
suitable for burning rit It is now
blown by steam into a special furnace
on the principle of the Lucigen light
and used without difficulty It is -10
or 50 per cent cheaper than coal and
is 20 per cent better as a heat raiser
Steam can be got up quicker and kept
at a higher pressure and more work
be done by the machinery From a
t a ardr i f77vvr u tuti t jt m w a
MM1tm
of the raft is understood In length it is
1200 feet and thus equal to several
average city blocks and its width is
almost 300 feet More than half the
raft is double decked meaning that it
is composed of two layers of logs and
it is estimated that not less than 10000
logs are included within its booms a
2A
TYPES ON A MISSISSIPPI RIVER EXCURSION
if
naval point of view these are vitally
important facts No sign of a ship un
der full steam will be shown in the
sky for masut is a smokeless fuel
Russia and Italy are using it in their
navies and Germany has lately made
some valuable experiments At Kiel
Wilhelmshaven and Danzig are tanks
quiet and unresisting with its wheel
motionless as a sort of cut water for
the unwieldy expanse of logs But this
is not its mission A telephone connec
tion is established between the two
steamers by means of wires stretched
across the raft and as the rear steam
DANCE ON AN EXCURSION STEAMER
RAFTING ON THE MISSISSIPPI
from which it can be pumped into
ships Its specifis gravity being so
much less than that of coal a ships
buoyancy is greatly increased when
the bunkers are filled with it Heavier
armor or cargoes can be carried The
heating capacity being greater the ship
can travel faster or farther It is yet
to be learned what improvements the
Germans have introduced info their
furnaces and what are the disadvan
tages of masut Chicago Inter Ocean
Perfume from Liivins Plants
Capt Smee has discovered a method
of gathering the scent of flowers as
the plant is growing Ho takes a glass
funnel and heats the thin end over a
spirit lamp He then draws out the
stem to a fine point This accomplish
ed the funnel is filled with ice and
placed on a retort stand the pointed
end being placed in a small glass bot
tle without touching it After this
the stand and the funnel are placed in
a greenhouse among the flowers whosG
odors it is desired to collect Gradu
ally the vapor rises from the flowers
and in meeting the colder surface of
the funnel condenses into drops on the
outside of the glass From the point of
condensation it trickles down until it
drops into the bottle In a surprisingly
short time a large amount of perfume
is collected and it is claimed that 00
per cent of the contents of the battle
is perfume the rest is water Strange
to say this essence of the flower needs
to be adulterated with sprits of wine
Otherwise it would become sour and
useless American Cultivator
It Has Cost Millions
The most expensive book ever pub
lished in the world is the official history
of the war of the rebellion which is
now being issued by the United States
Government at a cost up to date of
82300000 Of this amount nearly one
half has been paid for printing and
binding the remainder to be accounted
for in salaries rent stationery and
miscellaneous expenses including the
purchase of records from private indi
viduals In all probability it will take
three years to complete the work and
an appropriation of SoO0000 has been
asked making a total cost of nearly
3000000 The work will consist of 112
volumes
Ferguson It says here that no for
eigner is allowed to be forty eight
hours on Turkish territory without a
pass Nixon It must be tough on the
railroads that have to issue them
Boston Transcript
A man gets very little credit for
what he does in this world but he gets
lots of blame for what he doesnt
A woman has to purse up her lips In
order to carry car fare in her mouth
CHINA AWAKENING
She Pollows the Example of Her
Civilized Sisters
Says the San Francisco Argonaut
Though industrial expositions have be
come thus general throughout the
world the latest announcement comes
in the nature of a surprise China
which uncounted centuries has
shut herself within her wails self-satisfied
and confident of the superiority
of her civilization is about to hold an
international industrial exposition and
has invited the heretofore despised out
side nations to exhibit their wares It
is not of course intended to be an ex
position on the lavish and extensive
scale of those of the Western nations
but it is to show to the Chinese at their
own doors the labor saving mechanical
contrivances by which America and
Europe have made such rapid strides in
material development
The surprise with which the an
nouncement is at first received is nat
ural yet this move is in keeping with
the more modern tendency of China
It is barely ten years since willingness
to accept outside ideas or to allow
communication between the natives
and outsiders beyond what was abso
lutely necessary and forced upon
China has developed yet in that brief
period much progress has been made
The difficulties to be overcome in in
troducing these innovations are enor
moushow much so it is difficult for
those unfamiliar with the conditions
to appreciate The Government is
overburdened with a complicated and
corrupt bureaucracy which is neces
sarily conservative since change may
curtail the illicit revenue of the office
holders the people are fanatically sus
picious of foreign influences and the
cohesion of the different parts of the
empire is so weak that revolutions are
almost continuous The building of
railways encounters these obstacles
and there are besides the engineering
difficulty of constructing bridges over
great rivers and viaducts over net
works of canals the economic difficulty
arising from the fact that the new
method of transportation will compete
seriously with the business of the large
proportion of the natives engaged in
water transportation and will reduce
the revenue of the mandarins from
tolls on the canals and roads anu the
even more serious ethnic difficulty re
sulting from the worship of ancestors
which holds it as sacrilege to disturb
or remove the graves which dot the
whole face of the land
Despite these obstacles some rail
ways have lately been built and others
are in contemplation The first line
constructed was in 1S7G connecting
Shanghai and Woosung its port The
next year however in deference to
popular prejudice It was purchased by
the Government and torn up A short
railroad from the Kaiping mines to the
Penung River had been in operation
for some years for the transportation
of coal In 1SSS it was continued down
the river to Taku and thence up the
Peiho River to Tientsin giving a total
length of eighty five miles and in Oc
tober of that year it was opened to gen
eral traffic During the next few years
this road was continued north along
the Gulf of Pechili until now it has a
total length of about 200 miles It is
being pushed along the same line and
is intended ultimately to join with the
Chinese extension of the Trans Caspian
Railway Another road is projected
south along the coast to Shanghai In
1SS9 a royal edict was issued sanction
ing a railroad from Peking to Hankow
a distance of rout S00 miles but unan
cial difficulties have as yet delayed its
construction
The progress in railways has been
significant of the inclination of those in
authority rather than on account of
what has been accomplished The prog
ress with the telegraph system has
been more marked The difficulty ex
perienced in communicating with the
distant parts of the empire in 1880 dur
ing the Russian war scare opened the
eyes of the Chinese and gave an im
petus to telegraph construction The
system of lines now connecting Peking
with the seaports and all the principal
cites of the interior joins with the
Russian system at its Amoor termina
tion and with the British system at
Port Arthur in Burmah and British
India It has a network of 10000
miles In other directions too the
adoption of Western methods is seen
Chinese capitalists are learning and
following the methods of Western
finance as applied to industry joint
stock companies have been organized
for the manufacture of such articles as
silk cotton wool glass and iron two
large and well equipped steel plants on
the Bessemer and Siemens Martin
methods have been established at Han
kow and the first bonded warehouse
was opened at Shanghai in 18SS
The convention recently entered into
with Russia granting railway and even
military privileges to that country on
Chinese territory and making mutual
concessions intended to extend the
trade relations between the two coun
tries offers further evidence of this
general awakening and a treaty with
France entered into a few years
earlier grants similar though not so
extensive privileges In the southeast
Much of this work had been done be
fore the war with Japan but the ex
periences of that conflict will increase
rather than curb the tendency
Something He Forgot
When Mr Jenkins went to his bed
room at half past 1 it was with the de
termination of going to sleep and with
another determination that he would
not be interviewed by Mrs Jenkins
So as soon as he had entered the door
and deposited his lamp upon the dress
ing table he commenced his speech
I locked the front door 1 put the
chain on I pulled the key out a little
bit The dog is inside I put the kitten
out I emptied the drip pan of the r
f rigcrator The cook took the silver to
bed with her I put a cane under the
knob of the back hall door I put the
fastenings over the bath room windows
The parlor fire has coal on
I put the cake box back in the closet
I did not drink all the milk It is not
going to rain Nobody gave me any
message for you I posted your letter as
soon as I got to town Your mother did
not call at the office Nobody died that
we are interested in Did not hear of a
marriage or engagement I was very
busy at the office making out bills I
have hung my clothes over chair backs
I want a new laid egg for breakfast I
think that is all and I will now put out
the light
Mr Jenkins felt that he had hedged
against all inquiry and a triumphant
smile was upon his face as he took bold
of the gas tap and sighted a line for the
bed when he was earthquaked by the
query from Mrs Jenkins Why didnt
you take off your hat -x
Gold Is Not Everything
His poor work calloused hands were
despairingly entwined his emaciated
form was bowed down with woe and
the hollows in his careworn ehceka
were slowly filling up with tears that
ran down from dull tired eyes He
was a young man whose early life had
been spent amid careful home sur
roundings under the influence of Chris
tian teachings and now in this hour of
dark despair and deep dejection whea
reason tottered on her throne and fierco
pain pangs assailed his flesh the habits
of his youth were strong upon hi
With -weary footsteps he crossed ther
floor and from an oilskin pouch drew
a Bible
The last gift of my mother he mat
tered before I came to this accursed
place
As he looked at it in his hand ho no
ticed a certain bulkiness about it andl
felt a heaviness he had never felt be
fore A thousand wild conjectures
flashed through his maind and many itt
stances of where fond mothers had se
creted treasures in the Bible presented
to their departing son came to him at
memorys beck
Dear mother he murmured a big
fat bunch of currency I suppose and
with a half smile he opened the bulgiBgj
Bible
An hour afterward he recovered con
sciousness
Thank heaven he cried Joy does
not kill Mother dear old mother by
what divine inspiration did she gaze in
to the future and see my hour of bitter
est need Ill just send her a millioa
dollars by the next mail
And with a ravenous running gulp
the young Klondike miner devoured
one of the three apple fritters he had
found in the Bible San Francisco Ex
aminer
Typical of Grant
A story is told of Gen Grant whirf
is illustrative of his tender and gentla
nature On the day of a great review
h turned wth eyes dim with tears
from the slgfli ot nrs ou troops-
ing I dont believe I can stand it Z
dont believe I can stand it In the
same spirit is the following souvenir
The parade of the Grand Army
which was part of the centennial cele
bration was an occasion of wild excite
ment to us We were not far from the
balcony where Gen Grant reviewed
the troops and therefore saw all that
could be seen a seemingly endless pro
cession of soldiers cannon and bras3r
bands
And how the people cheered But it
puzzled us why the cheers were loudest
and longest for the most forlorn stain
ed and tattered old flags until we un
derstood that the flags too were veter
ans
By and by the great show was over
and Gen Grant was going away Ha
did not seem at all gay I wondered
why
Dont you enjoy it Wasnt it nice
to see all your old soldiers again I
asked
But they were not all there he aa
swered gravely
I realized what it meant to him to re
view his old army Those tattered
flags had been carried by men who
went to death at his command Those
dark stains had been the life blood of r
men who died obeying Mm To others
it had been a day of jubilee while h
great heart had ached as he- thought fj
the price of hi victories A ChilTsi
Recollections of Grant in Current Lit
erature
Two Images Tlironjjli One Glass
A certain wonderful mineral fouadl
in Iceland possesses the strange prop
erty of producing two images of a sin
gle object On looking through it at a
pencil for instance you will see tw
pencils both of which will be cleariy
defined The mineral is translucent
and crystal like and goes by the name
of Iceland- spar The mine in which it
is found is located on the eastern coast
of Iceland and is controlled by the
Danish Government The spar is ex
ceedingly valuable owing to Ks many
uses in the sciences particularly for
the manufacture of optical instruments
and for experiments in polarization It
brings about S27 a pound in the market
and even at that price the dealers canr
not supply the demand
ID so lrity
Youre not going to the Klondike
region are you said the impecuniona
mans friend
No
Dont like the climate
It isnt the climate Its the stir
face conditions There are too many
mountain passes and no railway
passes Washington Staiv
A WonTerfn Example
You say your next door neighbor
has nerve
That isnt the word for it He woko
me up at 4 oclock in the morning antt
insisted upon borrowing- my law
mower Detroit Free Press
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